The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Wade Phillips Discusses The DeAndre Hopkins Trade And The Draft

Episode Date: March 27, 2020

Former NFL Coach Wade Phillips joins Matt and Ross to share his thoughts on the current situation and it's effect on sports, the trade of DeAndre Hopkins, and getting ready for the NFL Draft amid the pandemic

This is the Matt Thomas Show. 103 on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show. And we are pleased to be joined by one of the greatest defensive masterminds in the history of the National Football League. He is a fellow Houston Cougar. And the book, Son of Bumps, should be something all of you should be reading. We have nothing else to do because you're going to learn a lot of great things about football. and life and fatherhood and being a great son,

Wade Phillips here on the Matt Thomas show. Coach, it's Matt and Ross. Thank you for spending some time with us. How are you today? I'm doing all right. You know, I'm not doing nothing and I don't start until noon. Wait a minute. What time do you go to bed at night?

Tell the truth. I don't know. We stay up later now, I guess, you know, because you're sitting around the house all day. Yeah, preaching. I understand. When you were in the prime in terms of, no matter where you were, in terms of your coaching stops, what was the normal sleep habits that you would have?

I'm curious about that. Because there are always stories about guys that were sleeping in their offices and on the couch. I mean, were you able to get some normalcy or there were a couple nights a week where you were one up in the couching or the coach's chair trying to get a couple of hours of sleep? No, I mean, you, you know, I even start one by dad. I mean, you know, I think you're nonproductive at a certain point, you know. So, no, we try not to stay up all night. Now, playing against Tom Brady, those nights seem like a little longer before you're going to play somebody like that. But seriously, I think you, you know, you put in the time it takes to help your team win.

And then, of course, the players have to do a big part of it, too. I mean, it's not just what you do. It's what they do. You mentioned Tom Brady. Is he number one on the list? I mean, is there three or four that come right to mind of I spent a lot of time looking and trying to find something wrong in their game and had a very difficult time doing so?

Yeah, well, obviously Brady and Peyton Manning and those guys, I mean, you know. And then I tell you lately, this Mahomes kid is really something, you know. So Brett Fav, I mean, you go on and on with all the great ones, you know. Jim Kelly when we played against him. I had Elway, but also had to play against him. There's been a lot of great with it. Sometimes no matter what you do or what you think of, they're still going to find a way to beat you.

You wrote the book, Some of Bum, a couple of years ago. How long did it take you? And I know you wrote it with Tom. Who was the gentleman? Vic Carucci. I was going to say Tom Verducci, but that's not right. How long did it take it? Are you thinking about doing one more before your writing career?

has come to an end? It took a little while, and then, you know, I really didn't have a time to go out and promote it, you know. So we've got a little time right now, so that's why we're kind of coming back with it. So, but I got a lot of stories, that's for sure. But I don't know if I could put them all in the book or in a book. Well, then you should do like do a podcast, like stories I couldn't write in the book, but I want to tell somebody. That'd be a great way to introduce yourself to a new audience. Yeah, maybe so.

Yeah, maybe so. What did you think about locally here? We're all kind of still shell-shocked about DeAndre Hopkins wearing somebody else's gear. That had to throw on you and the rest of your friends and the coach you were turning it off a little bit, seeing him move on to a different team. You bet. You know, D-Hops, awfully hard to stop. I mean, what a receiver, you know. So, you know, anytime you lose a great, great player, I mean, it's kind of.

got to hurt you some. I don't know. Surprising, but, you know, they know what they're doing, or at least they, I mean, they've won the division several years and, you know, he's done a good job here. So, you know, maybe it'll work out for him. But, you know, playing against him, I mean, you just have to game plan, try to stop him and you couldn't, you know, that was a big thing. To me, what makes him so attractive, and I'm sure you had to defend a lot of great receivers as a coach over the years.

but the fact that he won almost every 50-50 ball. I know there have been a lot of guys in the NFL coach that were way faster than DeAndre Leverby. But in terms of quarterback throws a ball up in the air, you got a really good chance if DeAndre is near it to grab that football for a catch. Yeah, I think he's the best in the league at contested catches. You know, yeah, a lot of guys catch the ball and so forth

and run with it. But as far as contested balls, he's a guy I'd pick every time to get one, and he got most of them. So Bill O'Brien was the guy that made that move that we've been talking about, coach. What do you think of Bill O'Brien as a head coach in the direction the Texans are going? Well, I mean, you know, they won the division several times, and, you know, we won it a couple times when I was here with Coobes, and, you know, it's hard to do. It's hard to win the division and get to the playoffs, so I think they've done a good job there.

I know everybody wants to win. more, but, you know, it's still hard to do. Those Super Bowls and championship games and all those things are tough to get to. I know you've got a lot of friends still in the fraternity. How is everybody handling with, I don't know how much phone calls you've had or text messages or whatnot, how's everybody handling the current situation in terms of getting ready for the draft right now? Well, they're looking at the players at home, you know.

They're looking at the tapes at home of the players. And they did have the combine so they can look at that tape, too, and they had taped interviews there. So, you know, they're on top of that. I just, how valuable was this time of year for you when you were coaching? I mean, some guys will try to overestimate how much the value of having those in-face conversations are. Some will say there's never, never enough time to review film.

How much work could you get done in the months of February and March, and would there be a big payoff down the stretch on that kind of thing? Well, I mean, you know, coaching-wise, you have to catch up. You know, scouts have done all that. And so once a season over, you've got to catch up by watching the film you're talking about. And I've always thought, you know, and I think it's true. It's still, it's not what you can do in shorts. It's, you know, how he played the game.

And so you look for certain skills. And we're still wrong on a lot of it. I mean, you look at first-round picks and, what, 50% of them are busts or don't do what they think of first round they ought to do. It's a tough evaluation to get players. But I think the best thing is

to watch them on film and see what you like about them as far as their skills as far as and it's changed the direction. It's not just all out speed. It's changed the direction. It's movement skills. It's you know, it's decisions.

You know, quarterback decisions, but defensive players have to make a decision on every play and where the ball is. And so you look at those things. And how much does that add to the experience of being able to meet these guys, which, of course, the teams aren't able to do this year, Coach. I mean, is it, would you say, I mean, where on the priority list is that?

Because you say, of course, the film is important, but if you didn't get to meet any of the guys personally, is that a huge loss or is it not that big of a loss? I don't know that that big, especially, you know, these eight, and stuff. They prime them for, you know, what to say. You know, they're in the one-on-one meetings. You can get some kind of feel, but you, they do a pretty good job of prepping those guys on the right things to say. Visiting with Wade Phillips, the longtime NFL coach, name of the book, Son of Bum, Lessons. My Dad taught me about football in life that Carucci

helped Wade to put the book together. You know, obviously the practice is, The number of padded workouts changed since Bum was coaching. If he was with us today, what would he think about how the NFL has changed, how teams are practicing now? You know, we were one of the teams when I was coaching with him, way back with the Oilers. We practiced in shorts, not shorts and shoulder pads, but we didn't practice in full gear all the time because he didn't,

he thought that, you know, you beat him up too much if you, if you had full tackling and full things that a lot of people did at that time. So I think he'd be comfortable with it. Now, as far as life for you, does your wife want you out of the house already? Or once the coasts are?

Already we got, hey, we put a piece of tape right through the middle of the living room, you know, so we've been together a little too long. You got one side and she's got the other? Yeah, one side. Yeah, that's it, baby. Do you got the TV at least? Yeah, well, yeah, I got the TV side.

Okay, I'm glad. Yeah. That's actually very funny. My wife's been social distancing with me for like a decade, coach, so trust me, it's something new for me. If I was to, if you were to watch two or three games, because we're all doing a lot of retrospect, watching NFL network and some things on ESPN and ESPN and ESPN,

and ESPN classic, what are the two or three games you'd like to see over again on television? Super Bowl 50 for one. Yeah, for sure. That was a real good one. Yeah, no. Well, I don't know. I mean, you know, I don't like to see all those high-scored games. You know, no, with the Rams, we beat Mahomes of them, but it was 54 to 51, so that was a great defensive game.

But that was an exciting game, you know. But just one to we won, you know, although the old order, games against Pittsburgh, you know, even though they won the ASC championship, or won the Super Bowls, you know. I'd like to go back and look at them just to see, to re-see it, I guess. I saw it alive, but we had some good games against them, too. So, you know, I don't know, on it on. I've had a lot of ball games that I enjoyed being in, and most of those were wins, obviously. Yeah, those are the ones you do want to enjoy.

Well, you know what? We need to see you back on campus more often next year if you're not working in the league, because I'd like to see what Dana does in season number two, and I know that you still keep in touch with the Cougars quite a bit. Yeah, I went out to their practice the other day, you know, before all this kind of came on and watched and practice. So I hope they do well. We'll leave it at that.

It's a son-a-bum lessons my dad taught me about football and life. The book is available through Amazon and other places. I was going to say go to your favorite bookstore, but you can't do that now, but you can just go online and find it. Coach, it was a real pleasure having you on the show. We wish you nothing but the very best and keep that tape separated for you and the wife, so she didn't get the chance to change a channel on your television, all right?

Okay, Matt, thanks. You got to take care of yourself. Wade Phillips joining us here on Sports Talk 790. Always good to visit with one of the truly nice, nice people in coaching. You know what we were talking about earlier, how coaches are nice? Yes. He was very nice about Bill O'Brien. Very, very nice.

Well, he's won the division. It's hard to do that, Matt. It's a fact. I like that he and his wife have taped off the living room. I guess I just got a text of my wife. Tell Coach Phillips, great idea. Love Kim. Oh, okay. Thanks. 114 is our time. We check in on the NBA in 15 minutes on Sports Talk 790.