OverDrive - Wyche on Mike MacDonald's winning culture, Mike McCarthy's arrival in Pittsburgh, and an expanded NFL international slate

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

NFL Network Chief National Reporter Steve Wyche joins to discuss Mike MacDonald rebuilding a winning culture in Seattle, the best NFL coaching hire this cycle, and an expanded international slate starting next season.

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Okay, let's bring up. We've got Steve White's the NFL network coming in. That's big news, though. We'll get back to that later this hour. We're live here at the Super Bowl. Radio Row. We've had Christian Watson join us earlier this hour. we're going to have, I believe, our boy, Luke Wilson coming up.

There he is. How you doing? Good to see you. Thank you, man. Thanks for joining you. Thanks for having me. Great to see you. Thanks for having me.

How many Super Bowls is this for you? I want to say it is 22. Wow. Okay. I covered a couple in the 90s and I covered the NBA for several years. Yeah. Picked it back up in about 06-07. So that's a lot of Patriot Super Bowls you've covered.

A lot of Patriots. Patriots fatigue or does this feel different for you now? It feels totally different. Yeah. This feels so different because, you know, we didn't see this coming. I mean, with Tom Brady, like you expected it. And with Bill Belichick, you expected it. But this is, I mean, this is the 4-1 team last year. Now, Drake May has come in and Mike Frable's come in. It's so new. And then everyone keeps on doubting them. Like, oh, they had a light schedule.

They played some compromised offensive teams in the playoffs. They're here, man. Yeah. They're here. They made it. This is new. Yeah, it's incredible. And, you know, we've talked, I would say, more about the Patriots, you know, because of May, because of Rabel, Robert Kraft and the Hall of Fame stuff in the last week.

But for Seattle, like, you look at their head coach Mike McDonald, and I don't think we've talked enough about him. Hardly at all. Hardly at all, which is on us. But this is a young guy, he's 38, I think. He's in a division with McVeigh and Chanahan. Yeah. What's on the line for him in terms of legacy, in terms of just putting his name on the map

if he finds a way to get a Super Bowl? The latter part of what you said, putting his name on the map, because especially in this era now of the quarterback whisper, the great play designer, the master offensive mind, we've got two defensive coaches,

one is established in Mike Vrable, and now Mike McDonald. He was always someone who was associated with John Harbaugh or the Harbaugh fan. Now he's carved out his own name. He's got this great defense, a team very much made in his image, much of what we saw him do with the Ravens,

and they've got this really good offense. They've got a quarterback and Sam Darnold who still probably has to prove something to some people. But the way he's come in there and taken a culture that had gotten kind of a little stale, because Pete had been there for so long, they lost all the Legion of Boom type players, and rebuild it so quickly, with a new quarterback and Sam

Donald this year, to me it says a lot about the culture building and the ability to lead men the right way to push through the toughest division in football and get his team in the Super Bowl because that's a loaded football team. Absolutely. Steve White's with us of the NFL Network. Do you have

a coaching hire that sticks out the most to you in this cycle? Do you think anyone that just hit a grand slam for you? A grand slam. You know, I think Wow. I mean, that's a tough one. I'll tell you one that's not really sexy,

but I think that could work is Mike McCarthy. In Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh, because he's a veteran guy. This is his third bite at the apple. But he's an offensive guy, right? They've got to figure out their quarterback situation. I don't know if it's going to be Aaron Rogers. But, again, I don't know if it's a slam dunk

because, you know, they've got so much they've got to find out about themselves. But I think that's the one with the most intrigue. The Pittsburgh guy going home, they didn't do what they typically do and go out and get a young guy to build a roster with. So I'm looking at that. With Kevin Stefansky and Atlanta, too, though, I think he's got an opportunity to put something together real quick.

As long as his quarterback, Michael Pennix, can play, is healthy and can play. I think he can show that that two-time coach of the year he got in Cleveland wasn't just some type of smoke and mirrors. What did you make about Buffalo and what transpired there? first starting with the presser and I mean it was crazy stuff yeah the Pagula

Brandon Bean presser then the higher like what do you make of the whole situation yeah that was weird because one the timing of the firing of letting Shaw McDermicko I know some people were kind of it's been out there for a while and there's all that smoke about possible

turnover tends to lead to something like this the press conference was just like real you know with Terry Pagula because a lot of people up in Buffalo would be like, well, this is what he does with the Sabres, right? Right. He's involved. He's heavy-handed. He's jumping in where maybe he shouldn't be. It's his team.

But you're watching that like, oh. But then the promotion of Joe Brady, that clearly was a move for Josh Allen, we know Joe Brady's a heck of a play caller. Now he's going to be the next one. Can he lead men? Because the issues to me weren't on their offensive side of the

ball. Now, they've got to get some wide receivers. They've got to stop playing games when we can win with what we have. They've got to get some game breakers there. But defensively, they've got to fix that side. They've just got too many injuries and just too many holes on that side of the ball. Steve White's with us with the NFL Network.

Nine international games next year. Yeah. Like, how much further can this go in your opinion? Without having a team over there. They're going ever, exactly. They're going to Paris this year. And they're in London all the time. And they're down in Brazil. And it's like. Oh, surely. They're opening, kicking

up the season in Australia this year. Yeah. Like is there anywhere else they're thinking of going or what? Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah, there's plenty of other spots. I mean, at some point they're going to build out a 16 game international slate. That's going to be, they're going to need the 18 game season to do that.

But that's the goal. I mean, look, this is all about, yes, expanding the footprint internationally, but it's also about selling these games off to some of the streaming networks or whomever wants to pay for them. Because the revenue streams keep on expanding. And look, they've done a great job of doing it over in London. You used to go to games and you'd see a stadium full of a million different jerseys from all the different teams. Now they're Jags fans there.

I mean, it's legit. They understand the footprint. But they're going to keep on expanding to some of these other markets or playing game maybe in two different cities in Germany or two different cities in Spain. It's going to keep going. And I think when they get to Australia, because those sports fans over there are absolutely. absolutely insane. They're going to find a good footprint. You just can't play too many games over there because of the whole time zone. You know, Australia's a day ahead of us in North America. Right. Yeah, that's going to be tricky. But if there's a way, the NFL will find it. Oh, yeah.

Find it. Steve White's the NFL network. Great seeing you. Thank you so much for coming by. Thank you. Thank you for having you on, guys. Appreciate it. Enjoy the Super Bowl. Great scene. There you. Steve White. We're live at Radio Row. I'm Dylan Playfair. And I'm Tyler Smith. We're putting loneliness. in the penalty box by talking to some of our favorite athletes about the importance of friendship. This is bromance. Bromance is brought to you by Charm Diamond Centers, proudly Canadian-owned and operator. Charm has been part of your love stories and bromances for over 50 years. And you can find Bromance on the IHeartRadio Network or wherever you get your podcast.