NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Rule Changes; Coach Matt LaFleur and Aditi Kinkhabwala

Episode Date: March 27, 2019

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Chris Wesseling get you up to date with all the latest news around the league including the rule changes from the owners meetings, (5:30) Jordy Nelson retiring (17:00) and the Cardinals incorporating ‘phone breaks’ into their meetings. (26:57) The heroes were in Phoenix, Arizona for the NFL annual league meetings and got to sit down with Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur about Aaron Rodgers (31:10) and NFL networks Aditi Kinkhabwala stops by to discuss what’s going on in the Steelers locker room with Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell gone. (43:42)Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL 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. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast. Thinks Cliff Kingsbury has a sexy voice. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanses. I am joined in a room filled with some heroes, Chris Wessling and Greg Rosenthal.

What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. Yo. Eo! We are back in California after spending the last previous four days in Phoenix, Arizona, at the Arizona-Biltmore Resort, the site of the NFL annual meeting. And we're going to get into what came out of that, including. a surprise rule change. It's going to have a big effect

on the 2019 season. On Monday show, of course, Freddie Kitchens you heard from, Sean McDermott. Well, today, in an interview we did over the weekend, you're going to hear from Matt LaFleur, the new head coach of the Green Bay Packers,

not to mention another pack show boys. Adi Kinkabwala, NFL Network's own, really plugged in on the ins and outs of the Pittsburgh Steelers. We had a nice conversation with her about the state of the Steelers, the locker room and their present and future. And then there's some fun interact,

you know, a different vibe between her and Mark too, I thought, which was interesting. It was a lot of interpersonal play. And it was a deep dive into the Steel City. You know, we go into the fish tank. We've been in the Ravens Nest. And this was, I don't know,

going into the Steel mills. Yeah, well, hey, get to work, Eric. There's a new drop to put together. It's the steel mill. Can't wait. Sounds exciting. sounds fun because you get to pour the molten stuff into the metal thing, whatever they do. Yeah, exactly.

I deal in coal, so I don't know what's happening in the steel mills. Wes is barely alive. He took a Z-pack and combine that with some fun living. So he's recovering at a decent pace, Mark, under the weather. He meets Freddy Kitchens. He squabbles with Aditi, and now he's not here on our show back. So we hope to have Mark back soon before he leaves for a big. big trip to South Korea.

So there's a lot going on. What is happening right now? That's an understatement. Yes, that's well said and well put. Nothing else needs to be said. All right, here we go. Let's get into it. Oh, and also, we're going to talk a little bit about the breakfast.

What are they called? What is the official? Coach's breakfast. Coach's breakfast. Greg, you check that out and have some takeaways on that. But let's start with the news. That's what we do. He drinks a gallon of milk.

every day for strong bones. Yeah. And I think it's the milk that's not pasteurized either. I think it's right out of his teeth. Wow. Jay Gruden, Redskins coach on Colt McCoy, who just had his second surgery on his leg that he broke last Thanksgiving, I think it was.

Was it Thanksgiving? Yeah. Yeah. And I guess he drinks, wait, how much a gallon of milk and it's unpasteurized straight out of the what? Right out of the teat. You know, everyone's got a John Gruden impression,

but Jay Gruden is underrated for the way he, like, defines each word so clearly I love it. And he had the greatest, in the annual coaches picture, which now we're down to about 14 coaches that get their picture taken. I don't know. Somebody's got to ramp up the attendance of the demands for that. It's somehow... Belichick's led to anarchy by never showing up, and now everyone else is like, well, if he doesn't do it, I don't have to.

The photo of Jay, and I can't believe this. This was the best photo. I guess 17 other guys were blinking. He's slapping at his thighs with his hands. Like the classic move where you, oh, you have a moment of panic. Where's my keys or my cell phone? And that's Sean McVeigh.

Or Jay Grude. Jay Grude in the team picture, the coach's picture this year. Maybe past year, really taking a hit here. He's taking heat. He's taking heat. And what is Jay saying?

I mean, we'll save it for the milk podcast. But, I mean, the milk we've been told for, decades, centuries even, you know, that's good for the bones. It makes you grow. And here's Colt McCoy, who's basically on injured reserve every four, you know, every four starts of his career. Erica, how do you feel about being forced to drink milk? Forced to drink it.

You see, you know, Wes, it's funny. It's funny. I don't know if I've ever gotten to tell you this, but when I was, you know, younger, my mom, she'd put a whole glass of milk at the table and I couldn't get up from the table until I drank the entire glass of milk. And even when I came home from college, I would be home from college, and my mom would be like, you can't get up from the dinner table until you finish your milk. And apparently I told Wes that story five different times in London.

It has scarred you. Was it a whole milk? Was it fresh out of the tea? Actually, no. Not up until college. High school, yeah, deaf. College, no. Out of the teeth?

Yeah. Gross. Wait, really? No. Oh, we have to save this for the milk podcast because I know Mark has strong. I mean more like the non-pasteurized, yeah. Mark believes that like nobody over the age of three should drink milk. So we have to save this for the podcast.

Mark also believes no one should eat over the age of three. All right. Let's get to the big, big story that came out of the owners meetings. The owners voted on Tuesday night. They locked the doors and brought in boxed food for owners. That's how serious this was. To approve a rule proposal that allows for offensive and defensive pass interference, including non-calls that are now for the time.

2019 season is a trial balloon, but that usually gives way to, you know, full-time rule. To be subject to review, coaches can challenge those calls in the first 28 minutes of each half. In the final two minutes of each half, those calls will be subject to booth review. Owners pass this 31 to 1, the Cincinnati Bengals, as is their way, we're the only team to vote no. Greg, you mentioned you've been doing this for 15 years and this is just. It always used to be 30 to 2 and Al Davis.

and Mike Brown would vote against the rules, and now it's just Mike Brown. So coaches will still have two challenge flags, only now it's open to both calls and non-calls. And Greg, we'll start with you on this. To me, I thought this was great, and I think it was obviously a direct reaction to what happened in the NFC title game.

A team got essentially robbed of a chance to go to the Super Bowl, that being the Saints, of course, on a no call, and this happens. I mean, there's no way to deny that if that play doesn't happen, this doesn't happen. No, because it was Sean Payton leading the way, and I think it's something, because I believe this rule will stick in some form. I think it'll wind up, you know, being tweaked over the years to improve it because there will be issues.

But Sean Payton was getting backslaps. He was hugging with Gail Benson and the other coaches and owners were saying what a important job he had and kind of leading the way Mike Tomlin was part of it, Bill Belichick was. And I think that's cool because I think that's a unique thing

about the NFL over the last 50 years is they're always looking for better ways to improve the product and improve fairness. And yes, there's going to be some issues that come up with this. But ultimately, I think you want to get the calls right and as the technology keeps improving,

this was always a bit of a blind spot in the review process. I like that they're not allowing the amount of challenges that you're allowed to take to go up. So coaches are still going to have to be careful what they do and what they don't challenge. But why not try to get the call right?

Why not try to prevent situations like that from happening again? I think it's a great thing. And I'm shocked because we entered the weekend. Hearing the owners didn't have much of an appetite. It was the coaches coming together. Really, 32 to nothing, they voted on a proposal. And some owners like Jeffrey Lurie, who were frustrated with a lot of these entrenched old school owners

have now been around for a while who didn't want to make any changes saying we got to try to be better let's not let what does it best be the enemy you know better be the enemy a good like they're trying to improve it and they're going to try to improve it even more maybe after this year i am staunchly opposed to all extra work stoppages in sports entertainment this will have more stoppages in the game and what the NFL really wants to do what they've said they want to do is have fewer stoppages so i don't like it on that count i that was the main ownership argument right and i don't like it on the count that is going to increase priest controversy. It just is because past interference is a controversial call. And when you take the time

to review it, the fans on the losing side are going to be teed off every Sunday night, every Monday morning. This is going to keep going on. And I think the heart of the problem with the NFL's replay review system is it's in the hands of coaches. And it should not be. They have a worse viewpoint than referees on the sidelines. There should be one game official who works for the NFL assigned to review egregious calls every game that's the way you fix replay not by giving coaches who are control freaks more chances to have work stoppage

I like that I like that there's not an added challenge so there's it's not they're not adding more opportunities to stop the game I like that in the inside the two minutes it's basically it's folded into the way the system is already set up and listening to Troy Vincent the EVP

for NFL who's in the middle of a lot of this he's saying, listen, people are worried about Hail Marys. What's going to happen with Hail Marys? There is not going to be a situation where you're going to see the booth come down or the game stopped on a Hail Mary at the end of the game unless it is something absolutely blatant. That's what they're saying.

They're saying the officials are going to, there's going to be an exercise and judgment not to let this go crazy and haywire. And I think that's important to this too, to not go nuts now and over-legislated. You're right, West, that it can't be touch calls. I mean, it can't be these 50-50. Right, but coaches are going to go, they're going to throw flags for touch calls. And that's against the spirit of replay as it was instituted in the NFL. It was instituted for egregious calls, clear in.

But then how do you prevent the egregious mistakes on PI calls? Like I said, have one FSU who works for the NFL who can stop play at any time for an egregious call. That's how I would fix replay. And I think I predict that will eventually come to pass as the solution. I agree. That's the thing is that I think the time, like, I think the time aspect will be improved over time. Maybe they can put a shot clock on it eventually. But that's, I'd rather take the short-term hit of making the game better for the long-term game.

But I don't think it makes the game better. I just don't. I think you can fix this without doing it this way. Like I said, you take it out of the coach's hands and then I'm on board. You also have to see how this plays out. It's going to be an experiment. And for instance, you're saying coaches are going to be. throwing the red flag for things that could be perceived as tiki-tack.

If they're going up the challenge and shooting them down... I guarantee that will happen. Yes, but if as the season starts playing out, let's say that is happening. And every time they challenge something that's tiki-tack or borderline, they get voted down. They're going to stop throwing the flag. Oh, because they've been doing this with the catch roll for you.

Like they throw, they throw ticky-tack stuff. And like I said, Mike McCarthy did it twice in the first five minutes of game where it was, you know, could have gone 50-50 on a catch. And it was like for four yards. This is the stuff you can't allow coaches to do. But what I'm saying is if it becomes a situation where they're uniformly getting shot down, eventually that's on the coach

and they lose the challenge. But I think there will be a learning curve as long as there, I think the only time you really should reverse it is if it's something that's blatant. And because that's, think about, what happened with the Saints and Nicol Roby Coleman could not,

it can't happen again. That's why this happened. Everyone was an agreement that it can't be deciding seasons and fates and fan bases, hearts cannot be shattered over something that is so horrendous is what happened. So again, this is a one-year trial balloon. And if it doesn't work, maybe they will either drop it or try something different. I don't think it's a bad thing to try it. And the coaches need to be better. I mean, I agree with you, Wes, that part of the issue is the

guy who's upstairs calling, you know, it's ultimately not the coaches who are calling for replays, you know, the majority of the time. It's someone upstairs. stairs. They need to be better. They need to do it. They don't get them enough time to be better. They need to be a, well, that's part of it is you have to make a split second decision and decide whether it's egregious or not. And like, I think that can be improved upon. But this is, this is something that's been raised for years for more than 10 years. Why does the coaches need to have this power in the game? Let's hear what Roger Goodell had to say about it. But it's, you know, replay has been an important tool for us. And, you know, it wasn't able to correct.

something that we wanted to have corrected in the past. I think that, to me, it was a driving force. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I think our clubs, including all our coaches, owners, and everyone else, realized that our job is to get these right. And we should use every available means to get them, right? And replay is a great means to be able to do that. Will this solve every problem?

Will this get us to perfect? It was the old thing, right? Don't let perfect get in the way better. and this is a very natural evolution and obviously a very positive thing me and Raj on the same page there there you go did you write his comments

I don't know no I don't know so I'm on the side of Raj and Wes is on the side of Mike Brown I mean like if you cared about integrity so long why did you have a catch roll that made no sense and messed with the integrity of the game I just like the integrity word bothers me in the past you have lauded the NFL

for seeing things that are flaws and the rules and not being afraid to take chances and try to address them. That's what they're doing here. Absolutely that I have said that in the past. What I think is the difference here is I think they have the wrong solution here. I think it's wrong and I think they're putting themselves behind the eight ball. You know the saying in politics, nobody ever sacrifices. If you give somebody power, they're never going to give it back.

The more power you give to Congress or the president is going to keep snowballing. That's how I think replay review is going to be. The replay hasn't evolved that much over the years. It has a little bit now that. that there basically is someone in New York that's assigned to each game that's ultimately in charge of the reviews. It's not the officials that are there.

It's someone in New York. And so it's slowly gotten better, but it hasn't nearly caught up to the incredible advance in technology that we've had, the incredible amount of cameras that are at these games. Like the NFL has to start catching up on that front

and you hope that this puts a little fire in them because I think it can be better. Like I just think it, as Sean Payton put it to all the owners and the, like, we're not trying to split the assets, Adam here. This shouldn't be that hard for the NFL to figure out. I do think you get a lot better than it's been. Make the game faster. That's all I have to say. All right. Other rules that didn't go through, the NFL owners reject the onside kick alternative proposal. We talked about that with Ian Rappaport on Wednesday's show. The idea that the team trailing has the opportunity to maintain possession of the ball, a fourth and 15 from their own 35 yard line. And in lieu of attempting an onside kick, shot down. And John Mara, the co-owner of the Giants,

found it gimmicky, saying, what are we, the arena football league? That's fair. Fair, I get you. And also... He's the same one. I think that was very against the replay changes initially. Yeah.

Another vote that did go through, league owners vote to eliminate blindside blocks and NFL football operations on Twitter stated that one-third of all concussions on punts are caused by blindside blocks. And the NFL has done a lot of work to try to make the game safer. Maybe not, NFL doesn't get enough credit

for they really have made, in my opinion, a concerted effort in recent years. This one seems like a no-brainer. If one-third of concussions in their studies connected to this, well, get rid of it. And they've started to, over the last few years, certain blindside blocks, and now they're totally off.

I think that one was a home run. I would have liked to see the fourth and 15 concept. It was fun. but I get, I totally see where Mara is coming from on that. There was also some thought of doing it at the 25. You know, the AAF, I think actually does fourth and 12 from the 28. So there's different ways you could do it. I think that would have been one that would be worth a shot

because I think it would be exciting. And I think, okay, yeah, you haven't done it in the past. You haven't done a lot of things in the past. People thought the two point conversion was like heresy. And now it's like you can love it. You can call any rule you don't like gimmicky. Right. And it's just the way it works.

It would have been fun. Jordan Nelson has reached the end of the road. He's turning 34 years old next month, or in May, recently released by the Oakland Raiders. He ends a career that for a period, especially over about a five-year span with the Packers, he was in the conversation as a top five wide receiver in the league. Tremendous success with Aaron Rogers. He finishes his career with 613 catches for over 8,500 yards. and 72 touchdowns.

Wes, there was an ACL tear in there that took away a year of his prime and he faded obviously very quickly. Not a Hall of Famer, but one of the best receivers of the decade at his peak, right? I think there was a five to six year span there where he was the best boundary receiver in the NFL. One of the best route runners in the NFL,

the best back shoulder receiver in the NFL because he had a mind meld with Aaron Rogers, and he was a red zone weapon and a deep threat at the same time. He was one of the best all-around offensive players in the NFL for a five to six years span. And I think when you look at Rogers' struggles last year, maybe you could even say the last two years, relative struggles. You know, part of it is losing that mind meld with Jordy and Jordy not being the same and James Jones and Greg Jennings in that group.

I was talking to Michael Cohen who writes for the athletic. And he was saying how, you know, Rogers would sometimes call audibles in games for plays that they hadn't had in their playbook for three years. And that, you know, that's the type of thing that would drive Mike McCarthy crazy. But it was a type of thing that you could pull off when you had Jordy Nelson and James Jones and Greg Jennings and these guys that all they had been running this offense for so long together that he could play that sort of schoolyard, audible or change it to a play that they hadn't run in forever. because these guys all knew it and they were a great like group and then once that group kind of went away Rogers can't do that sort of stuff anymore

Ring of Honor dude Oh yeah not a Hall not a Hall of Fame guy though No Hall of very good Packers Ring of Honor That sounds right In other news so better career Greg Jennings or Jordy Nelson I'm going Jordi Jordie was better at his very peak Yeah I agree for everything you said Wes

He was a monster when he was You know before the ACL Terry He even won't come back player of the year Ethel came back, but he was kind of in the decline at that point, leading into that ACL year. He was on top of the, yeah. He was one of the best in the game. All right. Rob Grunkowski, obviously over the weekend announced his retirement.

His agent, it's a funny story, Drew Rosenhaus, that same day, and he's there. He spent the entire weekend in and around the hotel where we were in the lobby. And in fact, there are multiple times where I was just maybe sitting outside or he was always talking to somebody you could always hear him talking about gronk and you know openly discussing well you know maybe he'll come back and he went on he went on a media tour and said the same thing that he wasn't necessarily convinced uh Greg i'm i'm just wondering if this gives you uh pause slash hope that gronk could still be lining up week one for the new england oh no not week one because i think that week eight or the way it was framed it was like okay maybe they're in a playoff run and they give old gronk a call

But Rosenhaus also said when he presented a plan to the Patriots or he wanted to Gronk where essentially, hey, what if I present this to the Patriots where you don't have to show up until the middle of training camp or who knows, maybe even later than that, see what the Patriots think. Gronk wanted no part of it. He was definitive right now and what he thinks.

He is only 29 years old. I don't know. I've said it on the last spot because I love the way he walked away. I wouldn't want him to come back like that, but I'm sure if they needed to help and he starts rumbling down the field, I'd change my mind. Like he's never taken the first three months of the season off and that just showed up for the playoffs.

He just did it last year. Oh, please. I mean, he's out there getting... Dan had him retired in November. I mean, he was getting crack. He's out there for 60 snaps getting cracked back blocks at the back. You tell him he's taking it off. He was an amazing block.

No, I'm saying he's getting crushed by defensive players who are taking shots at him. So whether he's producing or not, it wasn't fun. Okay. How dare you come after his honor? Belichick is notorious. hard to predict. How do you feel he would handle that request?

Is he so much of a team builder that he would say, no, absolutely not yet to be there. I think for Gronky would have done whatever. Okay. All right, boys. It is now time for golden moments presented by McDonald's, introducing the Big Mac with bacon,

cheesy bacon fries, and quarter pounder with bacon at participating McDonald's. Mickey D's for a limited time only. Is it the best thing to happen to McDonald's? Classics or to bacon? Yum. Who doesn't like bacon? You're all the way back.

I'm back in. We got that free, that free, you know, biscuit the other day. But, you know, now I'm back in. Yeah, especially if it's free. Erica. Absolutely. Get us some of these. Let's milk this a little bit.

Let's milk this teat. Yeah. All right. So the golden moment was Tuesday morning. At the breakfast, Coach's breakfast, Greg, you were boots on the ground. What are some takeaways you had from that breakfast? A variety. Should I just, like, power through these?

Yeah, because I had a couple, too, just from, you know, reading around. Okay. If you don't hit him, I'll hit him. I'll go rapid fire. Number one, Zach Taylor, not getting a lot of publicity. I really like this guy. Tell people who he is. He's the coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.

I thought he was a sitcom star from the 90s. He also, I know. He also, I know. Every once in a while, I have to, like, recheck what his name is because I have this mental block that he's Zach Robinson, who is this random quarterback in the NFL. He also, like, looks like a guy that... It doesn't help that the Rams just hired Zach Robinson to take his place. Oh, that maybe is part of it.

And, like, he's... Yeah, it looks like he's just going out to play 18 at the local, you know, kind of municipal course, just like a regular guy. But I really... He seems really comfortable in his own skin. I think he was being genuine when he talked about the amount of talent that's on that Bengals team. It's not that bad. And he just seems like a guy after speaking to him, being around him,

that is going to be captivating for the players. I think can be a leader. And I think hasn't gotten a lot of punch. was impressed with him. Frank Reich talking up Devin Funches really struck me. I was sitting next to Frank Reich, and man,

he is convinced that Devin Funches is going to be a huge part of that offense because of his footwork and his route-running ability. That stuck out. Andy Reed, when asked who's a leader

on their defense, was flummoxed. Like, Hamana, how-ha-a-ha-ha-Mathieu was the first person that he mentioned. Tyron Matthew hasn't, you know, practiced. That was it.

That stuck out to me. And then Cliff Kingsbury, he's in a, tough spot. But, you know, he has to speak in a time where he really can't say anything. But when he's asked about Kyler Murray to compare him to someone, he literally says, I don't know if there's really another comp in NFL history that combined the running ability of a Michael Vick, which I think he basically has in a true drop-back passer, that I think he's one of the great, he said, one of the great dual threat players of all time. That's what I mean, so to me, it's like,

what was he saying that about? Kyler Murray. And his eyes are. are just lighting up and then he's asked about Rosen and he says the things that you have to say but it just it's like you know what are we doing here you know I get it

you can't you can't declare it but we talk to people that are in and around the owner's meetings everyone knows it yeah this is what's happening Kyler Murray is their quarterback and well let's wait

see if it happens I feel like it's just 90 95% but when yeah it's awfully high to me it's hard not to read into these things when when he he literally was asked about whatever happened to the rule that you don't trust anything you hear about the draft for

the two months leading up to the draft that's fair i mean and then he's asked about nick bosa and quinnon williams and he had like an eight-second answer seriously it was it was just like oh those guys are game changers speaking of kingsbury at the meetings he told reporters that he will implement implement a plan to keep his players attention a practice that he used at texas tech cell phone breaks that's what it is now kingsbury said they're itching to get to those things I think coming from the college ranks, obviously, those young men, it's got to be quick hitters, 20 minutes at a time, give them a break and get them back in, Wes, your thoughts.

You know, when I worked for the post office and I worked at a law firm in downtown Cincinnati, I was always flummoxed by this ability of random smokers to just take breaks whenever they wanted. That always said, I'm totally with you. It's not fair. But cell phones make sense to me. Like if you're going to allow smoke breaks, you definitely allow cell phone breaks. So you definitely allow cell phone breaks. Like you have this habit, this addiction to nicotine

and allowed your workday to be like 30 to 45 minutes shorter than the person that abstains from smoking. And then you come back on the elevator and the whole elevator stinks because you've been smoking out there with all your good time buddies. Ricky puts down two packs a day. So she's, you know. No, it's so frustrating when I was waitressing. The bartenders or a waitress, they would take their smoke breaks.

And it's like, we're in the middle of a rush and you need to go out and smoke a cigarette for 15 minutes. What if I was like, no, I'm going to go stand outside for 15 minutes. I'm not leaving you in the weeds like this. It's ridiculous. I don't really know too many people that smoke anymore, but there is still a sizey portion of the population. And they all have chips on their shoulders like, don't tell me what I could do with my body. And it's like, well, you just ignore all the science on secondhand smoke.

And the fact that your clothes and hair stink. And now I stink because you do. But you don't have freedom to do that. Wes is right. But if you're a listener to the podcast and you smoke cigarettes, that's cool, man. Just in moderation. Acknowledge secondhand smoke as a thing that exists. I do like this idea of Kingsbury as kind of like the millennial, you know, whisper that he's going to come up with.

Is it a seem a little on the nose, right? No, but it's not a bad idea. It's fine. It's funny. Larry Fitzgerald. Everyone's going to be doing this in five years. Larry Fitzgerald was talking about, right, exactly. Larry Fitzgerald was talking on the Mina Kimes podcast.

How that's like one of the biggest differences that, you know, it's kind of like a cliche thing for an older guy to but just that it's true everyone in the locker room is on their phones uh you know and so it's like a different vibe but it is you know it's just life changing you just got to recognize it you got to roll with it don't fight against it yeah but you know all we ever talk about it on this damn podcast is how bill belichick is ahead of the game and the patriots do things smarter and better do you think bill does this what do you think bill thinks about a guy's needing to get to maybe a few years i think there are um psychiatrists or psychologists i always get confused on which one to use win, who have told Bill Belichick this is a smart thing to do. I think they have told

all NFL coaches this is the way it's going. You'll get more production out of these players if you allow them to use cell phone. What else, Greg? What else did you hear? Those are the top ones. How about Bruce Ariens on Gerald McCoy, his superstar defensive tackle? Or is he? He's owed 38.4 million over the next three years of his deal. He's been floated around as a possible trade candidate. and Ariens as he so often is was candid when asked about where McCoy is in 2019 he's not as disruptive as he was four years ago

he's still a good player if he if he's here he's our starting three technique no doubt about that Ariens continued what I'd like to see would I like to see him more disruptive yeah we can use him if he's here he's going to be used a bunch

it's just a matter of what happens there's like an unwritten role among NFL coaches that you don't talk this way about a veteran unless you really want him to take a pay cut or trade him I was thinking it was maybe not going to say this production's declined I was just thinking he's like hey come out us with the draft give us a give us a third we'll give you a seven thing we'll give you this guy who's no longer disruptive right that sort of doesn't make sense because he's a solid player I did good I did remember one other thing which is when I asked

Andy Reid it's I just went to the coaches that After Kingsbury, I just decided to go to the ones with the fewest people around him. Taylor only had two, so it's just three people there. Frank Reich only had two or three. And Andy Reid surprisingly only had a couple. And so one of the things I asked Andy Reid was, you know, like having a guy like Mahomes with that much like raw talent, like does that get your, you know, juice is flowing? Because he's pretty good at like staying ahead of the curve when the season starts. And he said, yeah.

And he's like, he's like, that's just, that's what I love doing. and I'm a teacher. He's like, if I was your English teacher, I'd have you, you know, primed up and ready to go for your next article. And I kind of read into that that he was saying, he knows us from doing the podcast. He was saying I'm kind of like the Patrick Mahomes of writers.

Oh, I see that. See, that's where my mind going as well. What was Andy's plate just out of curiosity? He wasn't eating. He didn't have any in front of them. Anybody eating openly? The coaches that I was, I sat in here did not bother. I think some of them went and they got the food afterwards.

You know, they get in there, they're shuttled, it's a lot. And then the little breakfast bar still open for 30 more minutes. All right. So do students still take a class called English? Of course, yes. It's not called something else? I believe it's English class. But I'm a little less.

Yeah, I need to. I have young, young children, and I'm like 20 years out of high school. So I'm not the best person to ask, but I think it's probably still a thing. We would have heard about it. Just feel like it would be called communication or something else by now. All right. just a question I mean English language

has been getting it done for a long time you've got to stick with it but you learn to speak it by the time you're won so you don't really need a high school teacher to teach English well it's like reading books you could call it literature if you wanted but it's kind of all encompassed

yeah lit lit's a thing class those are golden moments presented by McDonald's and that gorgeous new cheeseburger with bacon all right as we promised here he is Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur

all right we are very excited to have a new head coach, the new head coach of the Green Bay Packers. Matt LaFleur, welcome to the Around the NFL podcast. I appreciate you guys having it. We like to kick it off a little rave music. Does this match your sensibility as a man at all? Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, right off the bat, you are a rookie head coach. Rookie mistake. You show up. You are very dressed up for the owner's meetings. Andy Reid we had here last year, and he wore like an open Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts.

You are well-dressed. Are you going to rectify that in the future? Or are you going to show up other coaches by being the best-dressed coach at owner's meetings? What's your angle here? Jason Waller's definitely set me up for this. It's all his fault. All right, the Packers' PR got you there.

So, all right, here we go. You have a great history with football, but it all started with the Omaha beef of the national indoor. Take us through your time with the beef. That was a very, very, very interesting experience. Now, what league are they in? I don't even know if that league still exists. It is, slash, was.

Indoor Football League. That's correct. The NIFL. And you were the quarterback? Yeah, it was more of the backup, but I got a few opportunities to go in there and run around. What's the uniform look like when you're the, Omaha beef? What was the color

It was black and orange. Do you remember that Lady Gaga dress you wore at the Grammys like five years ago? It was just all meat. It was like a meat dress. Maybe something like that, I can imagine. We did have the rump roasters as the dance team. Really? That is amazing. So now you're in a slightly more high profile

position as Aaron Rogers is head coached. I mean, is that, Rogers is a living legend, essentially, in Green Bay and one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. Is there any level of intimidation, walking into the job when Aaron Rogers is the guy?

No, more excitement. I mean, to have a guy that has that ability, I mean, these jobs just don't come open. So I'm very excited to get that opportunity to work with him. When you become, like, the Green Bay Packers head coach, do you suddenly have, like, is your phone blowing up?

Like, is Brett Farv reaching out to you saying, welcome to town and stuff, or not? No, Brett Farv. I'm still waiting on that one. Come on, Brett. Pick up the phone. When you watch, go back and watch what Aaron Rogers did last year. Do you see a guy?

You're still confident. I've got the best quarterback in the NFL. Yeah, he's certainly got all the talent. And I just, again, it's looking forward to that opportunity to really sit down and get into the football component and, you know, try to teach him our system. You have some history with quality quarterbacks. You were QB coach of Matt Ryan, his MVP year, Jared Goff,

Marcus Marriota and now Rogers you've had pretty good luck or you've been surrounded by some really high level quarterback talent but really nothing at this level I mean is Rogers the type of guy and I know last year was a big disappointment for everyone

involved but is Rogers type of guy like anything's possible because we have that guy in the building? Yeah you feel really confident with when you got a guy of that caliber at that position because we know that is definitely the in my opinion, the most important position in all of sports

because they got the ball in their hand on every play. So certainly it's not just about Aaron Rogers, though. It's about our football team. And I think we've got a lot of pieces there to work with in some young pieces that we're really excited about moving forward. Is there one coach that you've been with in the past that prepared you more than any other to become? Suddenly you're a head coach.

It's like the job is completely different than anything you've done before. Who prepared you? You know, you take pieces from all the guys that you worked with, but being in L.A. with Sean for one season and being so close to him and watching him implement his culture into the Rams, I certainly took a lot from that experience. I noticed during the Combine, because you talked about, you also worked with Kyle Shanahan, of course,

You were on his staff with Sean McVeigh, but, you know, a lot of people got to know you, you know, when you were with the Rams. I kind of noticed, though, you sounded a little competitive in terms of the age that you said you were, you were better, you were better looking than you are old, like that you're, like, you're not as old as you look, that you're grouped with these younger, you know, coaches, but it was almost like kind of a quiet flex that actually, you know, I just look young. These guys are young. Yeah. Am I reading that correctly? Yeah, you know, I'm a month older in Kyle, so. But I've got seven years on Sean, so, yeah, he's still the baby of the coaching. Are you competitive with those guys, like in other avenues other than football?

Always. Like what? Geez, I mean, it's hard to pinpoint just one thing. But anytime we get together and we start doing anything competitive, whether it's playing cards or whatnot, certainly we're all going for each other. other's throats like hair is that something there's a little bit of disagreement of like who's got the best yeah I mean I feel like I've stepped up my hair game since I've become a head coach good thank Greg you're making Matt uncomfortable let me let me ask you

we play a game here it's called they say mm-hmm we're not saying it but other people they say it they say yes you have Aaron Rogers and yes did a nice job building up that defense from Mike Petten with the big signings of free agency. But they say you guys are not doing enough to build around Rogers with offensive playmakers in free agency. What do you say to those people that say that? How dare they, first of all? You're not going to please everybody. So I think Goody and his staff did an awesome job going out and getting some, you know, key players for us. And it really opens up the draft for us, you know, as an entire. football team.

You know, when it comes to Goody, like, is it annoying when media people call him that when we don't know him? We saw that as a question, like, during the combine, someone called him Goody, and that just seemed a little bit. A little presumptuous to go with the nickname if we have no relationship. Oh, really familiar. Well, pronounce his last name. Good canst.

Good can't. Yes. Goet const. It's easy. People don't know how to do it. It says here we did some research. You were a substitute math teacher in local high schools. and also a graduate assistant at Saginaw Valley State.

Is that right? Kind of. Kind of right. I once got a 39 in a state-mandated math test in high school. Does that, I mean, could you possibly respect me less? Because you're a guy with a math background. Does that change how you think of me a little bit? No, I think the world of you.

Wow. That was very genuine. That felt real. It's unconfirmed that he thinks about you at all. I had a question about Aaron Jones. Should we expect to see him featured a little bit more than he's been in the past? Yeah, I'm really excited about him. But I think anytime at this level you better have multiple backs that can carry the workload for you

because that is a pretty physical position. And just kind of like what we did last year with Tennessee and then going back to Atlanta with, you know, Devante and Tevin Coleman, I think you're at your best when you can rely on multiple people at that position. I mean, the Packers fans for so long had the same offense with Aaron Rogers. What would be different? What would be in terms of identity or what you'd want to stress? What would be different this coming season? I just think you'll see a lot more condensed formations, probably more motion than you've seen in the past.

When we, Dan asked about free agency, was part of that equation that it was a little less active in terms of the skill position? and almost like a vote of confidence in the guys that you have there, especially like the rookie receivers that had pretty good production, you know, for guys drafted a little. I didn't say that. They said that. They said that. Yeah.

Oh, actually, you did. Oh, okay. Go ahead. No, no, certainly when you watch the tape, those three young guys, and then you combine them with a Devante Adams. I mean, you're pretty excited about what you got to work with right there. All right, it's time. It's the crucible.

It's the speed round. It's the lightning round. Whatever you want to call it. It's real. Vaunted. You ready? I'm scared. There we go.

Matt LaFlorah. Let's hit it, Ricky. Best movie ever. Gladiator. Last movie you saw in a theater. A gladiator. The last episode of Sopranos. Did Tony die?

Yes. You say that with certainty. Yeah, I've never watched that. Oh, okay. Is the podcast industry worthy of respect? Absolutely. Best decade for hip-hop. Oh, it's got to be 90s.

Yeah. DMX. Netflix and Chill? Or a hot night on the town? Netflix and Chill. Worst demise, a submarine catastrophe or grizzly bear attack? That's a tough one. We'd have to go grizzly attack.

Cardi B, overrated, underrated, properly rated. Overrated. I don't like it. Favorite athlete growing up. Oh. Michael Jordan. Best bar food. Cheese skirts.

Interesting choice. Like that. Like that. Beer of choice. Miller Light. Who will sit on the Iron Throne? Do you know what the Iron Throne? I do not know what that means.

His face just went ashen. Greatest meat. product? Filet. That's right. Does life exist beyond our planet? Probably. Okay.

Good answer. There we go. I like it. Coaches are open to the worlds outside of our own. That's what we've learned. I agree. I think the answer is probably. That is the right in.

Yeah. All right. There we go, Matt. Thank you so much for joining us. Best of luck to you. Hopefully you and Aaron are like best friends. Some people say he's tough to get along with, but I feel like you're a guy that's going to have

Aaron Rogers, on Locke, great relationship, championships. It feels like something that could happen. Absolutely. All right. Matt LaFleur, thank you very much, and good luck in the upcoming season. Appreciate it, guys. Thanks for everyone on. All right, there goes Matt.

What did you guys think about, Mr. LaFleur? He gave some good answers. You know, I think Greg has said that the Green Bay media, you know, they're not sure about him yet if he's going to be boring. I thought he did give a few interesting answers. I think he's, and you see this with young. coaches sometimes is going to learn on the job that the media part of it is part of the job. He has said openly, so I'm not putting any words in his mouth that he does not like that

part of the job. And I think he's trying to, in situations like this, warm up to it. But it's tough. You don't want to get all those, you know, Green Bay is not, it's not New York, but it's also kind of a big market in terms of football just because you have 30, 40 people there. I mean, they're covered as the most important thing in town. You don't want all those people against you right off the bat if you start out one and three.

Yeah, I think he's, you know, and it's when you're a first year coach, I think the experience, even the owner's meetings, and going through the car wash, that's probably all different. I know he has history and his career as a coach going back years and years, but he's still a young guy. I'd be interested to see what he would be like in year two compared to year one. Exactly. It really hit home when he said, I guess I'll have to get a big get-back coach.

He's never had one before, you know? He's just the baby. It's a new era in Green Bay. Also, as we teased, Adi Kinkabwala. We wanted to talk Steelers. We wanted to talk her relationship with Mark Sessler, and we got all of that. Let's listen in. Here from the owner's meetings at the Biltmore, and we're joined by a woman who's never been on the show before.

And you know what? It's overdue. She's NFL Network's own. Aditi, Kick-up Walla. Welcome to the Around the NFL podcast. Thrilled to be here. I'm wondering why it took so long to invite me, but I'll try not to hold out against all of you.

That is some music with Rabatoss. I know, seriously. It was the music that was kind of throwing me. Yeah. Welcome to the show. Yes, it is overdue because for a lot of reasons, but we thought that the opportunity here at the Boatmore to get together and have a conversation.

And the team that you cover many teams for NFL network, but the Steelers, I don't think anybody in our building knows as much about the Steelers as you. How about, you know, like, double the amount of what anybody else knows, yes or no. But that's not always a good thing. I mean, Dave Damashach liked me more

before I knew as much about the Steelers as I do. But is Dave Damashick liking you a good thing? Well, you know, I've ruined it. My husband, actually, My husband is a lifelong Steelers fan. He sat on the season ticket wait list for 21 years. This year one day he said to me, you have ruined it for me.

And I said, well, sorry, root for laundry. Why? Do you know too much, are you dropping like negative insider bombs on him? Just reality. You know, like I think part of fandom is not accepting the truth. It's this idealized image of my such and such is this, my such and such is that. This is what happens inside a locker room.

You know, you imagine it to be. something and just before you came on with us you were your your husband lovingly with his with your child tried to call you and do a little face time and you sort of just gave him the big old heisman you just gave him a little bit of a strict voice you know what let's be a little accurate here since i am in the business of reporting facts first there was a face time my child was on the face time then i was very loving and i said baby i need to mama needs to do something right now can i call you back in 10 minutes. Oh, then the second call came in.

And I thought I made myself very clear when I just said, I'm calling you back in 10 minutes. And the second one was the husband, who is 35 years old. Well, he's 35. He should know better. The tone was different. And you're sending a lot of messages. The 10 minutes is kind of a subtle, passive, aggressive, like, keep this thing short. A lot was going on.

Has everybody here been married? I mean, not you, but everybody else has been married longer than me. Have we been? Currently. 2012 here. We're all in, like, the 5 to 10 year range. I'm at 12, speak for yourself. Wow.

12. And the tone that you had with your husband is the real tone of a husband and wife when they're not putting on any type of show for anyone. So that was fun. Which is very important. It's important to be authentic. Well, I don't think I have to worry about that. All right. All right. Adi. You said, because you don't think. You don't think less of me. I mean, I don't know. Wes, you got to answer. Is this why? I have not been invited on the podcast before. That's because of Mark. I think a little less of you, but that's okay. That can be good. Wait, minute. I've been a Brown's champion. for many, many years. Why have you not?

That's in the past. You've started to use that tone with Mark ever since last night when you learned so much about him. Before we started, Aditi said she's learned so much about Mark in the last two days and she's not sure she likes what you know.

I don't remember if that's a good or bad thing. I don't know what I shared with you, but I would be concerned about where 12 hours ago what I was sharing verbally. Well, good to know. All right. Adi. Here we go. Let's get into it because,

and that's a. fascinating little nug. We call it on the show, A la Raville Magnifico, when someone says something without maybe even realizing. Your husband, a lifelong Steelers fan,

no longer interested in season tickets. No, no, no, no, that's going a little too far. But he's not happy with what he sees slash hears from his wife. Now, let's talk about reality because Levyon Bell no longer with the team, Antonio Brown no longer with the team. Both of them had negative things to say

about the quarterback on the way out, the door. So let's start here. Big Ben, do you sense he has an unusual place in his locker room compared to other franchise quarterbacks? Where his vibe is, where people view him, or is it just kind of blown up in Pittsburgh? Where do you come down on that? This is so dicey because I have to go back into that city and into that locker room. They don't listen to this show. Honey, you have like five million followers in Scotland. dish dish what you know no we'll heavily redact it if necessary but let's just have the conversation so every quarterback operates differently joe flacco is a different personality than tom brady who is

a different personality than eli manning who is different personality than ben rothusburger ben rothusberger has been the quarterback for 15 years or is entering his 15th year this pittsburgh's organization is 100% unequivocally behind him we heard art runy say that we heard my, Kevin Colbert say that. Kevin Colbert reiterated that yesterday when he said this is a team that is completely comfortable with Ben Rothesberger's style of leadership. Is he different than other quarterbacks I have covered? Yes, he is.

He is also brings different things to the field than others do. I think at the end of the day, the only thing that matters here is that Ben Rothesberger answers to his bosses. His bosses have absolutely no issue whatsoever with what he does, how he operates, how he leads. And I asked Mike Tomlin not more than 30 minutes ago because we have talked so much this year about Ben Rothesberger's radio show and how weekly this past year he went on the radio and was unbelievably frank in saying Antonio Brown should have run that route differently. Marquis Pouncey should have blocked that guy differently.

James Washington needs to do this differently. extremely frank in putting all of that out there publicly. And we've heard from many players, including Antonio Brown and Levyon Bell, that that didn't necessarily sit well with them. So I asked Mike Tomlin if he has had any conversations with Ben about the way that he has publicly chosen to lead his style of leadership or if he plans to. And Mike Tomlin said no.

So at the end of the day, it seems like sort of wasted energy for us to sit here and talk about it when his bosses don't really care. that was a yes fair enough i like that answer so he if you're thanks chris if you're a future hall of famer type can i interrupt a second i've learned a lot more about chris over the last 12 hours too oh tell us that too and i'm very happy with everything wait why hold on what is the this now now i now i'm annoyed but go on what is it that i want no no no what is it that i shared with you that you suddenly feel are you sure you want to ask that question no i will ask you later but Like, oh, Chris is amazing.

He's marrying Lakeisha. Everything's so great. She has so many friends. It's like, I drop some sort of information factoid on you. Not everything is amazing. Like, I'm not really happy about this whole idea that Ohio is the South. That's another country. Part of Ohio.

Just Cincinnati. Well, we're going to get to the, we'll get into this later. This is fascinating. This is, I am. Mark is getting more and more upset with each minute of this interview, and it's fun. All right. So. Mark has everything to be.

happy about. Have you seen what the Browns have done recently? He's in a great place in life. If you, did you, what if you were to ask Mike Tomlin, would you switch Cleveland's roster with Pittsburgh's right now? What would he say do you think? He would not give an answer. He danced around. You know what? We've talked so much this offseason. Look, and here's another thing. From the beginning of the time that I have been associated with the NFL, that I've covered the NFL, people have talked about the Pittsburgh Steelers as one of your top five organizations. This is a club that just about every player in the league wants to play for. They have been. Right, and it means something.

It's a franchise that stands for something significant. Now, this past season, all you're hearing sort of in the public chatter in the public sphere is that the Steelers are a circus, that the Steelers are a laughingstock, that the Steelers have not fulfilled their potential, that players want out of Pittsburgh. I mean, when was the last time that you heard players, not only Antonio Brown and Levyon Bell, but a guy like Morgan Burnett is demanding to get out. So I said to Mike Tomlin, does any of that, affect you? Does it, in the sense that do you feel that this organization that you feel so

tied to that you have such an affinity for is being tarnished in some way? And he just was again, very, you know, it's chatter. It's not, you know, like, they're Teflon. They're not letting them affect them. And what's interesting about that is sometimes when you keep hearing the same thing, do you need to take a minute and say, okay, this is out there. Should we kind of examine this? I mean, if all four people sitting here, saying, you know, this thing about Mark Sessler is a little bit interesting. Should Mark kind of say, hmm, is it really interesting? Or should Mark say, I don't care what anybody says?

I'm going to take the Tomlin, you know, angle on this and not change anything at all about yourself. Exactly. And so that is exactly what's happening right now. It's funny, though, because they have that reputation. Yet, like, you know, Mike Tomlin's won three more playoff games, you know, in Antonio Brown's era than Mark has. I mean, it's like they have that reputation as a, I'm at the, top five team, but they don't have the results

under Mike Tomlin for a while. Greg, and I know and for arguably, for five years running, they had a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback who is ostensibly a future Hall of Famer. Okay, the GM said that he's definitely a future Hall of Famer. You had arguably one of the top two receivers in the

game, arguably one of the top two running backs in the game, arguably a top five offensive line, and you had a defense littered with first round picks for five years. And the sum total of those five years was three playoff wins. I don't understand. Yeah, I mean, I just don't see how you don't feel that's an unbelievable waste of talent in some way. Do you sense that in that building? Like, first the

Levi-on-Bel drama, and then the Brown drama follows, and all of a sudden, and they still, you know that James Connor and Juju Smith-Schuster, and they still have players, and I think we're all in agreement, we've talked about this, that the Steelers are going to be a competitive team again next year, regardless of those superstars being gone. But the organization, Do you sense that we really let this get away? This might have been the greatest missed opportunity in the history of the franchise, what we had in five years and we just couldn't get it done? I don't think.

I hear that from players. But I also hear right now from players just a sense of relief. Because if there's anything the New England Patriots have shown the rest of the league over the last five years, it doesn't really matter what your star power is. It's far more about the buy-in. It's far more about everybody being willing to accept a role and work towards a common goal. And you look at that Patriots team, and this past year, Rob Gungowski was a shell of himself, essentially. But, I mean, Tom Brady is the greatest of all time.

But who else is really, truly a transcendent player on that team? And meanwhile, the Steelers had all these transcendent players and couldn't do anything. So, and Mike Tomlin talked about that today, too. You know, he reiterated a line that he said at the end of the season, we don't want hostages, we want volunteers. And he also said it's really, really important to get good guys. guys who want to do what we want to do and check our boxes. And if not, then we'll just part ways. And so maybe this is a recognition that the sum of the team is much greater than the

individual parts. And while they had individual parts. No, but the last thing that I would say is that I do believe that leadership fosters, I think, and this is something I talked about at length with John Harbaugh yesterday, and it's sort of a chicken and an egg thing, right? Do you get the right kind of guy and therefore you have the right personality team? or do you get a guy and do you mold him into the kind of guy that you want?

Or is it some sort of mix of that and have the Steelers enabled and allowed guys to sort of turn into me, me, me guys? Because I'll tell you this, Antonio Brown was not anything like what he was this year. I mean, he has, we have seen a personality change. The GM, who I like to call Kevin Colbois. Colbert.

I know, but I don't agree with how he pronounces. I've never heard you say that before. I just feel that way about him. But, like, he's always like, oh, there's no drama. Like, we disagree with the idea that there's drama. It's like, okay, but everyone watching the Steelers from the outside feels the drama was the evil ingredient that separated star power from this roster. And you know what's so funny about that because I was listening back to. So Mike Tomlin, when he comes to the owner's meetings, does this little session with just local reporters.

And I have been invited to that the last two years. Humble brag? No, it was sort of, it's not even a humble brag. It's just I'm lucky and I am on tender hooks that it doesn't get taken away because of whatever we may happen to say in this podcast. But last year, you know, it's sort of a free flowing. He's a little more relaxed. You know, we talk for about 20, 25 minutes, whatever, and it's a very small group and we sit around a table. So last year, I said to him at the end of the, you know, session, I said, well, you know, next year I'd appreciate a little less drama.

I'm not sure I can take it and he said back to me I'm not worried about you but I foresaw this coming I mean a year ago and I actively said at that time last year less drama would be good this year

we only saw more drama but now this year here's the key doesn't more drama mean more ADD on television I suppose but you know what here's a truth about that more stern phone calls to husband I'm about to go on live Please stop calling me on multiple devices.

You know, guys, this is such a, professionally speaking. It's great for us when there are things to talk about and when people are fascinated by whatever it is you are talking about. But I'll tell you very, very honestly, when I fell in love with this game, when I fell in love with journalism, when I got into this, it wasn't stories like this that got me going. And while, sure, in some ways, this is nice for my career

that people are fascinated by what I am talking about. It's not any fun to talk about this. Who wants to talk about guys who miss Woffner is? Another great answer, Adi. Wow. I think that's the only two things I said in this. Oh, Wes is just building it.

I do have a question. Aditi and Wesa. Go ahead. You jealous? No, I just like, I can see where it's going. We talked about how the players felt about Ben Rothesberger. How did the players feel about Levyon Bell and Antonio Brown by the end of the year?

I don't think, you know, at no point has anyone thought that Levi-on-Bel or Antonio Brown is a bad teammate or a bad guy to play with or not a hard worker or not to say that that's what they think of Ben. These are two separate questions, but there's never been any negative thought. I think that what happened at the end with Antonio just became a little bit too ridiculous. And I think the team itself lost its appetite with the appetite for any of this. I mean, you heard Jesse James go to Detroit and he played for his hometown team, the Steelers. It was a dream.

And he got to Detroit and he said, you know what? It was just time to get away from the drama. And you have Ramon Foster, who's one of the years of that offense. And the team paid him way more money than the Steelers would have ever paid. And had plans to use him. Well, and had plans to use him in a variety of ways that are greater than the way the Steelers used him. Sure, there are multiple reasons, but he still said that. You know, and it's the same thing that I would say to you that being around all of that, week in, week out, the constant.

It's exhausting. It's tiring, and there's not that lift of, there's an energy, any reporter who regularly spends time in a locker room and tells you that he or she doesn't care if the team wins or loses is full of it because a winning locker room is always a better place to be. People are in a better mood. They're more gregarious. They have more time for you.

The question asking is not so onerous. It's always better to be around a happy team. Well, final question, because it kind of ties into what you're saying. And you saw the storm clouds gathering entering 2018. It played out that way. If you look- No, years ago, I saw this. Years ago.

If you look above, where's the Steelers' home base again? What's the address there? It's like one Steeler drive or something. No, it's Southwater Street. All right. You look above Southwater Street. Is that ruining his narrative, basically? A little bit.

What does the sky look like right now? I mean, are the clouds clearing with all this bad energy? Yes. 100%. Okay. I do think that it very much feels as if. No, it will still. go on a little bit and we were talking about that today that this feels like the most

exhausting season can we turn the page and move on but until Ben Rothesberger speaks because as you reference Ben Rothesberger has taken quite a beating on the national stage for his leadership for his style his personality he will have a contract extension at some point he will then have a press conference he is bound to be asked about what Levion and Antonio and et cetera have said until that is all addressed. I don't think that it's fully 100% page turned, but I definitely feel that the organization has had a weight lifted off to shoulders to some degree. Do you have anything else to share about your encounters with Mark and West before we say goodbye? Well, I was just really desperately disappointed

that you chose not to break bread with us last night. Well, tonight maybe we'll catch up. That could be fun. All right, good. We could potentially do that. Took the night off. That's all right. You could do What about Greg? That was a soft now. Is Greg going to be social? Well, they have the whole, you know, we're all going to the same party. The little thing where the people walk around. The little thing where Greg, it's like an alien trying to describe what a party is.

It's like, hey. How would you describe it? It's like, hey, it's Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia eating sushi. Well, you know what you missed yesterday, Greg, is that it was indeed Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia sitting just a table away from us. And Mark was gathering. encourage to go talk to Bill Belichick about all the letters that he wrote him as a young man. And I was told by Lindsay Rhodes, like, no, like when the moment happens and suddenly you have a chance to meet your young hero, don't go pursue that person. Wait till later. It's like, okay,

now that's not going to happen. So it's bad advice from me. He's like, now I've gathered too much courage. Talking about breaking people, destroying people's dreams. So when I was a young kid growing up in New Jersey, I was a massive Yankees fan. And I used to go to Yankee game. and go, Mr. Mattingly, Mr. Mattingly, you know, because I wanted him to sign a ball. And then I grew up and I covered the Yankees and I'd be in the clubhouse with Don Mattingly. This better not be a negative Don Mattingly story. I won't have it on this podcast. Well, you know, one day I said to him because we became friendly.

I said, you know, I used to be a kid who would say Mr. Manningley, Mr. Mattingly. And he's like, oh, and I definitely came and signed your ball, right? And I said, no, never. Not once ever. Wow. But I will leave you with this. Ricky Henderson, who was my all-time favorite player. I got to meet him as a writer

And he was tremendous Like I remember going home and being like I got that one right I got that one right You knew okay Yeah unlike Maddingly Donnie signed my ball I ran up to his car

As it was leaving to get on the Bronx River Parkway And he opened his window And Kim his then wife Did not work at well But Kim was like Donnie come on let's go Let's go He's like no I got to do this

Sign the ball and he said, you're my hero. And he's like, thanks, man. Rolled up the window, pulled on to the highway. On to the Bronx Expressway or whatever that's called. And he never, I never spoke to him, clearly. He never felt compelled. I think it was Dan's, like, the hair.

You mean, as a kid, you had hair? I know, that would have been weird. I was probably wearing a Yankee out at the time. No. All right. He was 38. It just happened. Aditi, thank you so much for joining us.

Follow Aditi on Twitter. Or don't. And maybe. Can I, can before we end? Can I just say, I really love Mark. And of the four of you, Mark was my friend first. And we bonded over the Browns about six or seven years ago. And this is all done.

It seems like the friendship is ending first as well. No, this is all done just to poke fun because I thought Mark could handle it. But apparently. If there's anything that we've known about Mark, he handles poking fun great. I will handle it the way I'll handle it. Adi D.D.I. Gawal, thank you. Your thoughts on the Steelers, Greg, based on Adi. he said. I thought she had

you know, I mean, I wasn't as you know, a kiss ass as Wes in terms of praising her, but they really were good answers. She was overdue to come on the show and maybe we should maybe we should bend that rule. We're not really into phoners. We only want to do something in person. So that's why we don't have a lot of

these reported because they're not really here. They're off doing their thing. But I thought she provided a lot of good context. You could read between the lines with something. She towed the line with the Mattingly comments and I'm still deciding whether she'll be back on the show. You can call me a kiss ass, but I really appreciated how deep she was willing to think on these issues and consider it from multiple angles, gave nuanced answers. You're right. You're right. Very deep,

thoughtful answers. All right. Good stuff. Great stuff, in fact. That's our Wednesday show. We'll be back on Friday with more action. It's going to be a wild show on Friday. We haven't planned it yet, but I feel like whatever we come up with, people are going to be happy. It's our annual Bacchanalia episode where just things get insane. Not much clothes being worn, just it's wild. It's just, Erica, you're like Matt LaFlor in a way. This is all new to you.

You've never been a part of our Bacchanalia show. So get ready. All right, that's it. This is Dan Hansa, signing off for The Mailman and the old boss in Ricky Hollywood behind the glass. Thank you,

for listening. And come on back for the Buccanelea. Till Friday pressure. Hey, everybody. 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 Sundays. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move The Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant And I'm Michael Fiorio And together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast

Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast Your ultimate source for player news Draft Tips and Winning Strategies Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This is an IHeart podcast.