The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1030 - Trenches Wednesday With NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, JJ Watt, AQ Shipley and Darius Butler LIVE In The ThunderDome, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: December 6, 2023

On today’s show, Pat, AQ Shipley, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk, and the boys are back in Indianapolis at the ThunderDome as they deal with a few technical issues to start the show. They discuss Roger Goodell potentially banning the Brotherly Shove, why Brock Purdy doesn’t get any credit for the season he is having, and everything else happening around the NFL as we prepare for a real barn burner tomorrow night to start week 14. Joining the show to chat about the success of the NBA in-season tournament, what improvements he would consider making next year, if this is going to be an every year tournament, the global growth of the NBA game, handling the intersection of gambling and the NBA and where he see’s it going in the future, and much more is the Commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver (21:16-48:07). Later, future Hall of Famer, member of the Houston Texans Hall of Fame, 3x DPOY, 7x All-Pro, 5x Pro Bowler, 2017 Walter Payton Man of the Year, JJ Watt joins the show to chat about his biggest takeaway’s from this past week in the NFL, his thoughts on the College Football Playoff, his thoughts on tomorrow night’s Patriots vs. Steelers game, being a Pizza Hut delivery driver in college, and much more (1:00:29-1:53:57). Make sure you subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow to watch the show. Or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. See you tomorrow, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to the Pat Mackey Show, here live on ESPN. All right, we had a little bit of a studio meltdown about a minute and a half before we went live. I guess all the sound from this particular studio was not getting sent out to the fine folks at ESPN or even to our YouTube. We want to let you know, thanks for hanging around. We have a huge Trenches Wednesday today. Obviously, J.J. Watt will be joining us, which he does every single Wednesday. But also the commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, will be joining us on this particular program in about 22 minutes. I'm happy you're going to be able to hear it because we're going to do it anyways.

But we're going to get a chance to chat with him about everything popping off around the NBA Cup. This is Adam Silver's baby. This middle-of-the- season tournament that has made things matter. We'll change the court a little bit. We'll put $500,000 on the line for everybody on the roster. And at the beginning, everybody laughed and said, well, it's just a mega ball. What is this? The Flint Tropics

trying to get into eighth place to continue to exist. What a fugaze. What a joke. Now you hear all the players that are involved are like, yeah, there's a little bit of added energy. There's a little bit of heightened thing. My family, my friends, fans of the game, we're getting a little bit more excited. And also half a million dollars for the boys at

the end of the bench is good for everybody. So it's being heralded a huge success. We'll talk to Adam Silver. We'll also have some other questions about the NBA. Now listen, are we necessarily the people that you go to for NBA news? But today, we are. That's right.

Today, we got an opportunity to talk to another commissioner. Yeah. Damn right. We talked to the NHL commissioner. Bettman came by. It was great to chat with him. Absolutely. Asked all the questions that we saw people were potentially upset about and got some

good answers, I think. Yeah, even some of the hard ones, you know. The MLS commissioner wants to come on the program. The NBA commissioner's coming on the program. Hey, Raj! Don't be scared, Raj. What's the deal? Quit talking. I just wear a tank top. We're just a bunch of

doofuses. Yes. Don't be scared, Raj. You're giving interviews to everybody. You're doing a whole song and dance everywhere you go. Adam Silver's not scared to come dance in the Thunderdome, is he? Not at all. Not one bit. No. But Raj is, isn't he? That's what it feels like. It does. He doesn't want to dance. I don't know why he doesn't want to dance.

We see him dancing all the time. Why not dance here? And AQ, I know you just gave an incredible answer, and that was a nice rehearsal, but a lot of people didn't hear it. Roger Goodell is looking to ban something else from the NFL, is what we're all thinking. And we learned it from the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelsey, where basically Roger Goodell is looking to ban the tush push.

Roger Goodell is looking to ban the brotherly shove. Roger Goodell is looking to ban the brotherly shove. Now, this has been something he did. He added the fair catches in for kickoffs this year because that was basically his instituted rule. We assume if Roger Goodell gets behind something, it's going to happen. So the brotherly shove, we need to enjoy it for the rest of this year because I think it's going to be gone, AQ. It seems Roger wants to keep banning a lot of the things that make football good.

Does it seem that way? Doesn't it? It seems Roger wants to keep banning a lot of the things that make football good. Does it seem that way? I don't understand why we keep trying to mess with this game that has been the same way for hundreds of years, maybe 100 years, whatever it is. The league's over 100. The game's been around a long time. He just ran slants. Yeah, he did.

You should have seen him. Holy hell. Unreal. There was this big puddle on the field that the defense had to go up and around. The rain came. He just, boom, and then right across the top of that puddle. Got up the rail. Unbelievable.

It was like he was on ice almost. They did his cross. And then there was, what was old buddy's name that hung out with him a bunch? Moses. John the Baptist. Judas. Judas, bad guy. Judas was a mean cuss.

That wouldn't have been much. He was Ray Lewis before Ray. John the Baptist, bad guy. Judas was a mean cuss at St. Peter. That wouldn't have been much. He was Ray Lewis before Ray. John the Baptist was his guy. So John the Baptist has that two accuracy. Oh, yeah. So, you know, you can run those slants on water like Jesus did, and John the Baptist is going to make the most of it. Now, not everybody thinks you need John the Baptist to be throwing the ball at Jesus Christ.

You do, though. You should. When you got Jesus Christ running across the top of water, running around quicker and more explosive than anybody else, anybody can throw a ball. Here's Micah Parsons from Micah Parsons' podcast. Speaking about the job of quarterback whenever you have great weapons, we would like it to be known we are massive fans of Micah Parsons.

And Micah knows in here he's talking completely out of pocket. Here's him from his podcast you look at you know what purdy is doing purdy is playing great football for a second year qb regardless i think but the thing about it i think his playmakers are just making better plays um as you see debo's runs those are quick passes yes he's getting it to him but honestly sometimes truth will be about or not and i am talking crazy right now i am talking crazy right now yeah we agree and i'm and i'm talking very crazy yep noted i truly believe i could be tyreek hill's quarterback okay micah i could throw it up to Tyreek Hill.

Yeah. I could throw a screen pass to Debo. And this might be the crazy Madden side of me, but these players are just that good. Christian McCaffrey's just that good. If I get to get the ball out to Christian McCaffrey in space, he's going to make someone miss. He's going to make a play happen for me.

Just throw it to Debo. Take it easy. You kiddo, they're a great playmate. If you watch that game sure they were able to make people's miss and obviously make big plays off of it small pass precise passes kept in front of them you look at this this the pass chart right those those aren't hard passes. They're good passes. But those players are really freaking good at what they do. They're some of the best. Some of the best.

These players top five at their position. That's right. Okay. But they're just super good. And that's just what they do. Okay. All right, Michael. We appreciate you.

All right, Michael. Michael is much better at football than I'll ever be. Me too. So I will take whatever he says. Me too. As a matter of fact, until I have a differing opinion, that just think like, yep, that's not right what you just said. Yeah.

Because his own teammate, Trey Lance, couldn't do it. Right. You know what I mean? That guy's on the Dallas Cowboys, could not do it. Why do you think there continues to be this narrative? Micah's just another one on the list. You know, we all know Dan Orlovsky. Yeah.

And we know there's many other people that are just like, he was Mr. O. So the scouts coming out didn't think he was good. He can't be good. Why does this continue to be the narrative about Brock Purdy? I get it. That, yeah, throwing a screen to Christian McCaffrey is easy to do. Sure. Now, granted, you have to hit him on a slant to D-boat. get it that yeah throwing a screen to christian mcafree is is easy to do sure now granted you have to hit him yep in stride and yeah on a slant to d but you gotta hit it you gotta put him right

there and i bet micah with how athletic he is absolutely can put a ball in a bucket i believe and i know micah without what he knows football he can dissect the defense quickly and know exactly where he's supposed to go and put the ball into a one-foot-by-one-foot keyhole spot on perfect timing. I think Micah can do that. That's how athletic I think Micah is. But Micah's now added to another list of people that just think what Brock Freddie's doing isn't impressive. Why is this the case, you think, T-Bone?

I mean, because of how talented the guys are around him, and that's just a credit to John Lynch and the team he put together. They are surrounded by dogs. But all those things you mentioned, you mentioned the guys who've been in there. Sam Darn, I mean, Brock Purdy was barely out of concussion protocol. Hey, nah, you're playing this. Get your ass out there. So, I mean, it's so much that goes into quarterback play from game planning,

from not riding the ebbs and flows, from making those on-target passes, reading coverages. And Micah's obviously a phenomenal athlete. If there's one player that I had to say, hey, we got a team, not riding the ebbs and flows from making those on-target passes, reading coverages. Micah's obviously a phenomenal athlete. If there's one player that I had to say, hey, we got a team, we got to pick one guy that has to play all 11 spots, Micah would probably be the first overall pick in that type of draft. But this is what Micah does.

And I love that he has a podcast and a platform. He did it with Jalen Hurts last year, talked about the offensive line and this group around him. I came back. Obviously talking about Tua and Eric. I could throw the ball to Tyreek Hill. This is right up. I could throw it up to Tyreek Hill. He might get it.

He might get it. I mean, look how fast he is. Come on, you're wide open. Throw the ball as far as you can. Yeah. I love it out of Micah. And once again, Micah has earned the right to say whatever. Now, there's people that aren't Micah that are saying similar things, though,

that have only worn suits their entire life and gone to school to be in the media. And all of a sudden they're allowed to say whatever they want because they are graduates of a brainwashing media school. So that is something that some people start talking. But Micah certainly feeds those people even more whenever he says things like this. It's his opinions. It's his thoughts. But I think what we all say is like, hey, those people's is different. Tua, different.

Hardy, different. There's levels to this. And he wants his quarterback to win MVP too. I actually want that. Who's playing great. Who's surrounded by some pretty good talent as well. That was an easy throw. That's an easy throw. He did leave that.

That's an easy throw. That's an easy throw. Now, did he put it right in? Yeah. He did. But that's easy. That's an easy throw. Now, did he put it right in? Yeah. He did. But that's easy. It's easy. Jawan Jennings, too.

Everybody knows who that is. Oh, yeah, of course. Most guys know. And I don't want to turn this into a we'll go to bat for Brock Purdy show. I will, though. But it's starting to become that. Yeah. Because this dude is phenomenal at football.

His swagger and moxie is awesome as well. And he doesn't really ever make it about himself ever. He's handled it all perfectly while playing lights out football since day one getting the opportunity. Do you think that's why though? We see how he dresses pre-game. He's wearing the stuff from Kohl's or Old Navy.

He's never talking shit. He's always praising everyone else. It's never anything about him. He could always play better. He could always do better. Like, if he was one of those guys who postgame was a little fiery and was, like, talking shit and kind of saying, like, yeah, I'm very, very good. No one wants to talk about it.

No one wants to admit it. But if he came out and said that, maybe people would change their tune a little bit. I don't know. It was that three-game stretch, too, when Debo was out. Sure. That was tough. Then you lose three games at it you look at the stats you look at the film brock still played well well cleveland defense too also cleveland defense you know obviously not a walk in the park brock still played well but you have that three game skill

when you do lose a guy like i said they are phenomenal players but once again you have to have a guy that's understanding that can pull the trigger was this a a shot at CeeDee Lamb as well and stuff like that? He didn't say he could play a quarterback for his own team. And you know what? All this slander about Brock Purdy bums me out. I'm not going to lie. Yeah, it bums me out. You're bummed out?

Because he's a really good quarterback. And just because he was Mr. Irrelevant and all that, it bums me out. Okay. The way you say that, almost as good as Ed Bechtold in Pittsburgh who missed a triple overtime hockey game because the power went out in Pittsburgh and he was interviewed. And here's what he had to say to Tom at WTAE. So I hear I missed three overtimes, but we did win.

That's all that matters to me. Are you bummed out you didn't get to see it? I'm bummed out. I'm bummed out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is that the biggest impact from the storm overnight? As far as I'm concerned, yeah.

Not even a power. Just the hockey game. The power could have went on after the hockey game. But missing that three overtimes upset me a little bit. Ed Bechdel was bummed out. Bummed out. I don't know if he's as bummed out as you are about the Brock Purdy slander, but Mr. Bechtel, we appreciate the hell out of you for understanding that,

yeah, I'm a disabled Vietnam vet. We lose power. Probably affects my life in a lot of different ways. But you're telling me the Pens won triple overtime. We won that game. We were in a little bit of a skid. We needed that win. Yeah, it does bum me out.

I didn't get to see shit. I apologize for having to do that that early in the show. But, you know, I am bummed out about it because, you know, I don't like when guys don't get credit when they deserve credit. And a player doing that to another player in the league, that's bullshit. Okay. Thank you so much for taking a stand, Tone. The thing about it is Mike is allowed to say whatever the hell he wants.

Absolutely. Mike has earned the ability to say whatever he wants. But it does feel like a lot of people say the same thing about Brock. Yeah. And it's like, how long does that last for? How long does, you know what I mean? Because we're in the second year. We're still in the second year right now.

And you look at the ranks. Yeah, he's great at everything. He's pretty good. Yeah. And he's, his brain is the thing that, you know, I guess you could just judge his arm and how fast he is in the size in which he stands and operates and how he walks and the clothes he wears. Yes. But what you can't judge, which has been the determining factor for greatness forever in sport is the old

right here. This dude's a killer oh yeah that is something that they got wrong in the entire draft process i just wonder how long it'll be until everybody kind of recognizes and appreciates that yeah i think a long time like he could win probably two three super bowls if he's with these guys it's still going because as crazy as it sounds it's a lot of people who really didn't give Brady that real, like, okay. That's until he left in Tampa in 1-1. Because, oh, he's a system guy. Vinatieri saved him. Belichick. I mean, if you really know football,

he was a long time ago, but a lot of people, because of being drafted in 199, not being a Peyton Manning or that guy from, you know, who was the chosen one from the jump. If Brock was drafted three overall, this wouldn't be a conversation. MVP conversation. It wouldn't be a conversation. MVP conversation. It wouldn't be a conversation.

Forever right now. I think it's just more so the fact that it doesn't look the way the early greats, at least in the past five years, has looked. Like when Mahomes came in, he's throwing in a mile. He's running around. He's sprinting back 15 yards and turning around, making a touchdown pass. Lamar, he comes in. Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs, are you think? Yeah, they're fine. I mean, they're fine. All right, go ahead. yards and turning around making a touchdown pass lamar he's all right patrick mahomes are

chiefs are you think yeah they're fine i mean they're fine all right go ahead yeah just because he's just standing in the pocket and making unbelievable throws and going 19 to 20 in games and scoring touchdowns not making mistakes people just think okay well he's got a great o-line and good weapons he can do that versus you know a mahomes a lamar i mean you could even throw dac in there dac got killed early but now he's doing well and because of the fact that purdy's just kind of like the old school prototypical quarterback you could say stand in the pocket make the throws hand the ball off manage the game which people bash even though that's what you need every single damn quarterback

yeah that is why i think that he'll just never have that and even if they you know the books gave him love though they did yeah theyucs gave him love, though. They did. The Bucs gave him love. He's the favorite for the MVP, but chatter isn't about that ever about him. The one thing that people don't, they can't ever put their thumbprint on is these scouts. You're supposed to look a certain way, right? Whenever you come into the league, you're supposed to be 6'3", 6'4".

You're supposed to have this arm strength. You're supposed to be able to do all this stuff. You're supposed to have longer arms strength you're supposed to be able to do all this stuff supposed to have longer arms supposed to have longer arms i was a product of this i understand the way this works so whenever somebody exceeds those expectations or has maybe the mental capacity or maybe the driver the will that maybe exceeds what the the people in the front office say you're going to constantly question it because now you're making them look bad a little bit right and so now when he starts to exceed they're trying to prove that everything we thought was right exactly and it's over and over and over again but it's like they can't put into the fact that he leads the team

he runs the huddle he's running a can system he has to read the safety he's putting them what you know if the safety is down here we go can we send it the other way they put the dummy cans they got all the different lingo and he's putting everybody in the right place oh Oh, and by the way, the ball's coming out on time. And it's exactly the way the offense is supposed to be in a bucket. Yeah, I think his accuracy, too, is just another. Next level. It's just because he's throwing around people, too. So that's a whole other thing.

Arm angle. We watched the Iowa Hawkeyes play. That's right. Boy, that was horrendous to watch. I mean, we're talking maybe worst football game I've ever watched. Well, which is ready for tomorrow night. That Iowa Hawks. Well, you're right.

I did enjoy watching their defense, though. Yeah, it was fun to watch defense. Torrey Taylor hit a couple balls in one big, a long way. Michigan, obviously, it was fun to watch. Blake Corham's doing their thing. But, like, you, that Deacon Hill guy. Yeah, Deacon. Somebody comes running in his face like this,

he isn't even thinking about getting that ball around that person. No. Or trying to move. He threw it right at a face, blocked a couple passes from somebody on defensive side. And with Brock Purdy being seemingly undersized is what they would say, he always finds a way to get the ball out. He just has this natural instinct, too, in all these situations that make him seemingly a great quarterback.

We're big fans. Hey, Brock, I'm sure you've – I don't know if you've heard it actually all the way out there in the West Coast. We're big fans though, pal. We're big, big fans. There was actually – I don't know if it was on the broadcast or not, but they – I guess during that little stretch, Kyle came up to – I believe it was Coach Shanahan who came up to him and was like,

hey, what everyone's saying,, that's a bunch of bullshit. And Brock's like, what is everyone saying? I love that. Keep it locked out of your mind. Keep it completely out of there. That's how it should be. AQ, let's pivot to something that you also know a lot about. I didn't know that that was going to turn into a draft scouting evaluation convo

about AQ Shipley. They say his arm's way too short. Too small. Gut way too big. Not better. That's what they were saying. say his arm's way too short. Too small. Gut way too big. Not bitter. Had two rounds. That's what they were saying. How many years? Leg's too short, right? Well, not bitter at all.

I couldn't tell by that. Four times ever. It's only been a baker's dozen years since that. Still thinking about it every morning. These guys don't know ball. These guys. What you do know, though, is about sports hernia injuries, which are now being labeled core muscle surgery.

Okay, so it came out Christian Kirk will miss eight weeks with a core muscle surgery. Now, that happened first play, I think, his first reception, and it didn't look like much. And then he goes down in a heap, and he kind of grabs to his groin area. Now, you didn't know if it was groin. We didn't know if it was something maybe with his baby maker. We had no idea what potentially took place. Now we have learned that is the core muscle injury. You had two of those, one on your right side and your left side. What is this?

Is this sports hernia? And what is the whole process of this entire thing that you had to go through two times? So the old term is sports hernia. Yes, they have since changed the name to core muscle surgery. I guess it sounds better. I don't know. But Dr. Bill Myers out of Philadelphia is the guy who does it all. He does every single one of them.

You've got your pubic bone like this, and you have an ab muscle that wraps around from here. You've got another muscle from the leg that kind of wraps around here. And if either one of those tear, you can tear from either side. It's considered a core muscle or sports hernia, right? And so what happens is you go up there. You get, I mean, the guy, you want to talk about a factory? This guy, you go in on a Monday.

You get your MRI. He does the surgery on Tuesday. The next crew comes in on Wednesday. You get your MRI. He does another surgery. So he does surgery two days a week. You get the MRIs the day before. And it's boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

It's all day long. This guy is the guy. He's the guy. He's the only guy. I mean, he has a monopoly on the market. It's iniladelphia and downstairs is the mri downstairs of the surgery above is the rehab you start your rehab process there immediately after surgery within hours two let's say two three hours you're already up walk and it's a pretty aggressive protocol and it is six weeks to the day return to play okay oh wow misinformation six

weeks return to play after the surgery that's great news for the jags because they're obviously holding on hope that they're going to be around still although we are going into week 14 of the nfl season there's a chance jags still going around especially with the pair of the afc and with how many backup quarterbacks are playing do we learn anything about trevor lawrence uh high ankle sprain ian rapaport put out a tweet like maybe he plays this week. Yeah. And then he had to quote tweet that and say basically would be a long shot. Yeah.

No shit, right? It's a high ankle sprain. We assume that's going to be a few weeks. But the Jags still very much in the middle of this entire thing. Yeah. I mean, Trevor Lawrence, obviously a big piece of this. Because I don't think most people outside of probably Ty expect much out of CJ Beathard at that quarterback position.

But you get Trevor Lawrence back in there. They're sitting at 8-4 right now. So they have a little wiggle room where they can maybe even lose a couple. Obviously, the AFC South is tight right now. But Trevor Lawrence getting there, let's say two weeks, then get back in there. Kirk will be out, but you still got Ridley. You still got Ingram who's been having a great year etn is back healthy um so they definitely

have weapons where you can spread the wealth around for sure doug peterson also an absolute dull yeah and colin plays and strategizing last year i don't know if you saw but there was a kind of a similar hit that trevor lawrence took where it looked like his ankle was gonna explode again and then i think he played two weeks after it. It was a very similar thing. Sprained ankle the whole nine. And that Parker Washington kid also kind of came on a little bit on Monday night. He could be a dog at wide receiver form. Now, I know this is never going to happen because they're NFL quarterbacks and they're competitors, and this will absolutely never happen.

So for someone to suggest that a starting quarterback would sit a few weeks just to get healthy is never, ever, ever, ever going to happen. But Trevor Lawrence facing the Browns in Ravens. What are you referring to? Sounds like that was something you were referring to. There's a maybe voice drop in there in the middle. I thought I saw someone on the Internet suggest that Jalen Hurts not start the next few weeks or something like that.

That's not because Jalen Hurts is hurt either. Who said that? That is strictly talent. No, no, it was because he's hurt. David Carr, I believe, said that. Oh, okay. All right. I knew it was something.

Oh, yeah. Did not know the background there. Yeah. Heard in the voice. You were looking down when he started talking. Bingo, yeah. I was actually seeing, you know, looking some stuff up real quick. And as I heard it in there, I'm like, ooh, Tone's talking shit on somebody.

Something's going on. That is what that was there. Okay, David Carr said that Jalen Hurts should maybe sit for a couple weeks. He said Sirianni should potentially go out to him and say, hey, maybe Mariota starts the next few weeks while you get healthy and stuff like that. Okay, so that would be load management. Joining us now is a man who's had to have enough load management conversation.

I think he's probably done with it for the rest of his life. An absolute stallion of a human who has created a tournament that has captivated not just the basketball world, but the sports world in the middle of the season in which he is the commissioner of. The fifth commissioner of the association, ladies and gentlemen, Adam Silver. Thank you. Thank you for that intro. Hey, I want to let you know this, Adam. Commish, Adam, Mr. Silver, what should I call you?

Adam, please. Adam, Pat. Okay. Adam, there is never a time in my life where I thought this would be happening right here, me and you. So, like, thank you for doing this. Yeah, absolutely. Hey, long-time listener, first-time caller. Okay. I like to hear that. Now, you need to remain a smart human being, so let's listen to our show in short bursts so we don't ruin you.

Let's dive in here, though, Adam. So, the in-season tournament, the NBA Cup, whenever it was first announced, I think a lot of people thought it was a sham, a fugaze, what is this? Last night, obviously, with the way that game ends, there's a big conversation, but then Kevin Durant was interviewed after the game.

Here's what he had to say about the NBA Cup in the in-season tournament. I wasn't a huge fan of the in-season tournament when they were announcing it and coming up with the idea. But today, leading up to the game, it felt like a playoff game. Can you stop? It felt like a playoff game from just friends, family, fans just so excited about it. The courts was different, just the vibe around it. Last night was a great night for the game with those two incredible games that were on. It felt like a

playoff game coming into it and like waking up this morning so uh i wasn't a huge fan but now i'm excited about the end season tournament i'm pissed that we're not going to vegas to try to win this thing but um it definitely made me a fan okay so obviously that is a huge motion of support from one of your biggest stars in the league. Are you taking a victory lap with this thing? Because we saw the reaction whenever it was announced, and you stood firm behind it. How do you think it's panned out, and when are you giving yourself a parade for this thing, Adam? Well, no victory lap yet. Let's wait until we get through Saturday.

So we got, of course, Thursday semifinals and the ultimate cup game. And thanks for wearing that jersey on Saturday. You know, one thing that we knew from the beginning, it was so interesting to hear Kevin there, because when people ask me, how would you know if it was successful? Of course, you can look at attendance. You can look at ratings and social media chatter. And even the fact that we're talking about it now are all signs of success. But I said, it'll be measured in terms of the enthusiasm of the players. Will they take

it seriously? Will they compete? Will they play, you know, as opposed to load management in these regular season games? Will they care about winning? Will they care about going to Vegas? Will they care about the prize money? And it seems like Katie just checked off the whole list right there in terms of things, including the colorful courts that I know are a little bit controversial. But so I think from that standpoint, a great start. And in terms of our, you know, belief that this could be successful, again, you think 30% of the players in this league roughly are born outside of the United States. Many of them grew up soccer fans around the world or competing in international basketball tournaments where there were often cups along the way. I mean, I had a kind of conversation the other day with JJ Redick, of course, a colleague on ESPN now.

And even he and I were talking about when he was at Duke that they didn't call them cup competitions, but there was holiday tournaments and, you know, the Alaska shootout and things like that. And so, as LeBron said, I think it was last night, too, after the game, that these are the most competitive people in the world. And if you give them a format to compete and their prizes and, you know, it's structured in a way where they can do things like get to Vegas and get additional prize money, they're going to be all in. So I'm thrilled to see that. you know, it's structured in a way where they can do things like get to Vegas and get additional prize money. They're going to be all in. So I'm thrilled to see that. You know, I'll only say in terms of the victory lap, you know, a lot of learning from the first time around.

A lot that people want to talk about. I'm sure we can improve on it, but we're off to a great start. Yeah, you talk about this tournament. I think Dickie V Classic is happening right now at Madison Square Garden, amongst other things. Anytime you put a little bit more elevated pressure on an event, normally the athletes, incredibly competitive humans, will show up for it. Your NBA guys have. What are you learning about this one for next year?

And is this going to be an every-year thing now? That's obviously the plan. The plan would be for it to be an every-year thing. I think what we're learning, there know, there's been some controversy around the point differentials, using those to decide seeding. Again, that was another concept we took from international competition, not just international soccer, but in FIBA tournaments, even in the Olympics, they've always used differentials during that initial, you know, group stage before you get to the knockout round to decide ties.

So that was something we did here. And I heard some of the commentary from coaches, some of the players, about whether we think it's the right message where teams are increasing leads beyond the point that's necessary to win, but where those differentials become important for seeding. Again, it may be that once everybody has a full understanding that this is part of international competition, they'll be okay with it. But I also want to react. I guess I understand it's culturally different here. And if people think that goes against the notions of sportsmanship that we grew up with, maybe we got to

make some changes there. I think on the courts, I like the colorful courts. I'm a big fan of those. You know, because it was sort of a last-minute initiative, they were somewhat cookie-cutter. I mean, teams had color options, but there's a similar look to all of them. I think next year we could have a lot of fun with teams saying, here are the parameters, but do the Louis Vuitton court. Do some fun stuff. Go out there, have partnerships. We could have fan contests around the courts and stuff like that. Obviously, there were some initial issues of players where there was a concern of whether the way they were painted, there was some slipperiness and stuff.

Obviously, we've got to make sure they're safe. But I think it's sort of a license. We've had the play-in now with the in-season tournament, just to do more, you know, honestly, you know, look what you've done with your show and chart, you know, new formats, new approaches, new ways of doing things. That's, it's not that different for us. You know, we're all competing for an audience. We're competing for interest and we learn from each other. Well, you all have brains. We do not. So everything you do will be calculated. And on the courts thing, whenever you're walking through, let's say, an airport or a restaurant or something, and you see it on a screen, you're naturally just going to stop and kind of look. So I think as a stooge, as like a kind of zoom, I liked it.

I enjoyed it. Could you imagine a skims court next year? Adam Silver in his tights from one side of the court to the other? Just a whole side of that thing and your skims? That'll be great! You need a skims deal. No, no, no. They got tank tops. They got

a whole wardrobe for you. But you know what's interesting? Hearing Katie on the courts too. One thing I've learned over a lot of years at the NBA, that players are not that different than fans in terms of, and you know, as a NFL player. They were once fans. Once fans.

But also, as a guy, like you're responding, even when you're in the league, like to what your friends are saying, to what the media is saying. And I think the notion, I hadn't thought of this, that even players would get up because they see that the court's different. That, you know, we were thinking in terms of the visual medium, the tear point, somebody walking through an airport in a bar or flipping their channels and seeing something different is going on tonight because the court looks very different. I hadn't thought that much about the fact that a player

taking the floor would be saying, yeah, something's very different tonight. It's not a regular season game. The court looks completely different. And I always forget sometimes all those trappings are as meaningful for the players and the coaches and the community as much as the fans who are watching it. Yeah, it just feels different. You know, anytime something feels different, it's like, because 82 games is a lot of games.

And obviously you chatted about load management. We were talking about that. I think the 65 rule feels like that's a good, hey, feels like you figured it out. Feels you threaded the the needle in that entire thing i want to talk though about the international conversation because you said 30 of your league is international and obviously superstars now joker mvp luca obviously yannis yeah there's just so many of why do you think your game and your league is so international so diverse whenever it comes to you know players from other countries coming in and do you see that growing or are we

at the peak right now where it's at oh it's i mean and add to the list the first pick from last year's draft victor wimby yama of course in san antonio now the french player right hey he's cheating any any kind of cheating that guy you know So, you know, I think a lot of credit, I would say, goes back to, frankly, James Naismith. When he created this game, he was a missionary. You know, he was a Christian missionary, but he began this game famously at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts. Massachusetts. He then, the YMCA organization, then took this game globally in the 1890s to China, to throughout Europe, you know, to Australia, to everywhere in the world, because they saw it as an opportunity for young men, that's it was focused on men at the time, to stay active. It's interesting, the values, put aside the religious aspect of it are not all that different

than the values we preach today in terms of the importance of physical activity of team play of respect i mean if you go back to the to the origins of the game but so anyway like by virtue of those people who began who developed the game and saw an opportunity to take this game globally, it then became an Olympic sport in the 1930s. And we're a huge beneficiary of that. And even now, if you look at those international players that we talked about, those star players in the league, most of them came up through state-sponsored sports systems, which is, you know, I was reminding people outside of the United States, most governments have a cabinet level officer, sort of a minister of sport, you know, a secretary of sport that oversees sport in that country and oversees development. I mean, for example, if you think about a relatively small market like Australia, which has about 25 million people,

at last I looked, I think they have 13 NBA players, you know, from a market that's small. And it's not DNA. It's because of the systems they have, you know, in place to help, you know, teach physical education, to identify top stars, boys and girls, develop them along top-notch competition. You see in Serbia, Slovenia, you see these small countries with these great sport traditions. So I think as we continue to be engaged in international competition, our World Cup of basketball, everybody talks about the World Cup of soccer, football internationally, but the World Cup of basketball is beginning to get more attention. And, you know, we have a Paris Olympics coming up in the Summer Olympics. Basketball has been a huge deal. Then

you're going to have LA, you know, in 28, coming after 24 in Paris, you know, we have a Paris Olympics coming up in the Summer Olympics. Basketball has been a huge deal. Then you're going to have L.A., you know, in 28 coming after 24 in Paris, you know, will be a big deal there. So I think as more young people get connected to this game and that's where social media and digital media has been incredible. We're expanding. You know, we added a new league in Africa in the middle of pandemic. We got listen to the statistic. Ten percent of current players in the NBA were either born in Africa or one of their parents was born in Africa. So they're, you know, a continent with over a billion people, 55 countries, enormous amount of basketball being played there.

We're the number one sport in China right now in terms of participation and interest. We're making leaps and bounds in India, in these huge population centers in the world. I think part of it is because it's an incredibly difficult game to master, but it's a relatively easy game to play. I always say, like, growing up in the suburbs of New York, it's why they use basketball in gym class. It's like, here you go. You run that way or that way. You got to dribble it. You can't carry it. And you can grasp the concept and you can keep kids physically engaged. So I think that number, as you can grasp the concept, and you can keep kids physically engaged. So I think that number, as you look at the pool of players, boys and girls who are playing this game around the world,

that number getting close to 30% of international players in the NBA, similarly in the WNBA, those numbers are only going to grow. Okay. I think I saw some videos of some monks. Oh, yeah. Some step back. I don't even think they were talking to each other. No, no. They were letting their game speak.

I saw a little hezy. I mean, it was... Hey, some of those monks were a problem. Some of those monks were a problem that I was watching. Do you feel an obligation to be a part of international relations? I mean, you said one country that I think we're not necessarily the tightest with right now.

Are you a part of that? Do you get pulled into those types of conversations? I get pulled in, though, not always in a positive way. Yeah. What we're doing. I will say, you know, I was reading a lot of those long obituaries around Henry Kissinger's death, you know, at 100. And, you know, I were he was sort of an exemplar of one

of the great global diplomats. And I want to say, I understand. I mean, this is going to be far afield, maybe your question. I, of course, believe we have to have a strong military. I'm a big believer in it at the same time, you know, call it soft power or call it diplomacy. I think through sport, through culture, through arts, it brings connectivity together with, you know, people of diverse cultures and backgrounds. Basketball is one of those sports. I mean, you know, again, you know, as an athlete, even I think what connects you to people, you know, by virtue of your career in the NFL, talking about sports, but then using that as a platform, just as we are now to talk about other things. So, you know, I'm not, you know, I'm a sports

executive. I'm not a diplomat, but I think the things that we do around the world by participating in these national games, Olympic games, by taking our games globally, by bringing international players to the United States, by showcasing the very best, by people seeing our values of this game around the world, these principles, I call it like the rule of law. It's interesting that the World Cup of soccer and football was in Qatar, you know, 200 countries participating. Everyone accepted those were the rules. Whatever was going on in those countries, whatever autocrat or dictator, whoever was running those countries, everyone accepted for on that pitch, on that soccer field, when the ref made the decision, they may disagree with it, but those are the rules. And then a winner is declared at the end

of the tournament. And that's sort of sports teaches those values. And just lastly, you know, this is an issue in the United States, but really for the whole world. Even though we're seeing more prosperity in many places, you continue to see issues around childhood obesity, diabetes, and in many cases because kids aren't active. So that's a whole separate issue that you need fun, engaging platforms like sports just to keep kids running and engaged and wanting to be outside and wanting to do things with physical coordination, you know, playing football, you name it. I mean, so that all becomes very important. And I think sports is very unique from that standpoint. Sports are the greatest thing on earth, Kamish. Sports are the greatest unifier.

Sports are something that bring everybody together. Sports are something that actually have people actually put their swords aside and let's go ahead and compete. It's the greatest thing on earth. And sports are the reason why I know so much about Serbian horses. That's right. I know a lot about those horses over there. When the Olympics were created, they stopped war for the Olympics. Just to your point about putting your swords down.

Yeah, sports are awesome. Let's talk about the business side of it all because you obviously have to handle all of that. I've always argued, now the NFL's ratings are stupid you know the nfl you everybody knows that the nfl's ratings are bananas that's that's a compliment roger yeah roger don't watch his you know roger doesn't watch his show but if he does you know you're like hey roger check it out you know it happens um whenever i've always said that the NBA runs social, you know, you guys are a social media league. Now, linear ratings certainly matter. I understand for business wise, those things matter. But you guys dominate on social and on digital. I assume that's a strategy.

That's a plan. And how do you make that business profitable for you guys? Because you're going to be tasked with kind of leading into the new frontier of being a league that has fully embraced the digital and social media landscape. You know, like I think part of it is endemic to our game. When you think about our players, unlike athletes and other sports that may have helmets or pads or be wearing hats or being in dugouts or only playing, you know, you know, coming to bat every so often or, you know, playing one way or whatever it is. I think in the NBA, you know, they're dressed like you are, Pat. It's like, you know, it's like you see them, their full body, the best players, they're on the floor virtually the entire game. And they become, in essence, like YouTube stars. And it's

interesting they are when you look at the kind of social media followings they have, and that by fans feeling that proximity to them, I mean, even if you think of the courtside seat at an NBA game, what other sport has that where the athletes are literally spilling onto you in the middle of the game? And I think by developing that closeness, that it onto you in the middle of the game. And I think by developing that closeness, that it creates interest in other aspects of the players. And one thing that's been fantastic about social media, we've always known these athletes were truly multidimensional. But when through social media, you say, all right, this is what this guy wears. This is what he cares about. This is the music he listens to. This is the car he drives. This is what he cares about. This is the music he listens to. This is the car he drives.

This is where he's from. This is, he raises, you know, thoroughbred horses in the off season, you mentioned that. So, you know, to me, I, but I also hear you that, that over time can't be a substitute for the live game. Instead, it should be a tease. It should be used as a way to engage people to say, OK, I now know more about Victor Weminyama. I know his dad's from the Congo. He grew up in France. He played professional basketball there. He's seven foot four. He's an elegant guy. He speaks five languages.

But now I want to see him play basketball. And that can't be lost. And I think that's part of our job, just like this in-season tournament, to bring people back to the game and the competition. And using, I'll just say lastly, you're talking about social and digital media. To me, and of course ESPN is our partner, we're just scratching the surface in terms of the broadcast themselves on how much more engaging we can make them. And part of that will come through streaming technology where you can, look, a lot of people don't want anything to do with sports betting, but if you want something to do with sports

betting, you'll be able to engage in the telecast because you'll say click, click. And for people who want nothing to do it, they won't have to see odds or anything else, but people are interested. For people who want to buy the shoes that the player is wearing, click. People want to see different statistics. People want to play fantasy games. People who want to be talking to a group of friends while they're watching a game, they'll be able to do all that as well.

And I think that will create a much more engaging experience for fans. I've learned Kevin Hart's doing a megacast this year, too. All right? Kevin Hart's going to be important. On ESPN2 on Saturday night during our championship game. Okay, there we go. Kevin Hart's getting involved. That means the numbers are going to go up.

But you just mentioned something there that is obviously a massive piece of the puzzle for all sports going forward. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, Commissioner, you mentioned sports betting. And every league kind of deals with the whole, you know, oh, this is rigged because fans get pissed when their team loses and the nfl right now and last year was going through the whole you know this is scripted section of you know their league but with the growth of sports betting how do you manage not only like what you know books or companies you're associated with but

also maintaining kind of the league and the game in its purest form before, you know, the sports gambling got all involved. And obviously it's so early in its transition. Where do you see it, you know, 10, 15, 20 years down the road? Right. So, you know, many great points. And I just begin by the system that I grew up in and lived with at the league for most of my time here. And then the regulated legal system we have now. So in the so-called old days, with a few exceptions like Las Vegas, sports betting was illegal.

Certainly sports betting online was illegal. certainly sports betting online was illegal. And for the most part, because there wasn't the internet as we know it now, the illegal betting took place largely in person, you know, betting slips, you know, meeting in certain places to, you know, to settle, et cetera. And that's how betting worked. And it was almost impossible short of a scandal for the league to track the kind of money that was moving on our games. So now move to the regulatory structure we have now, which I think was largely as a result of the Internet disrupting sports betting in the same way it's disrupting television. Now, when you think about streaming, it's really just internet television. So it's now disrupting this industry. And in the regulatory framework now, where to the extent it's legal, people are betting with their credit cards.

Therefore, they have to identify themselves. And if there's any unusual activity, it kind of analogize it to a stock market. If there's insider trading or something's unusual happening, very sophisticated computers from the stock exchange, their algorithms go off, flags go off, they at least know to investigate. Why is this stock moving so much at this moment when there hasn't been a disclosure of any new information? So we can do similar things around our games now to try to track unusual behavior. So to me, the choice that we have as a league isn't, is there going to be sports betting or not sports betting? It's going to be, is there going to be transparency? Is there going to be a legal framework around it?

So your question about our partners. So we choose to license our data. We're not directly in the sports business, sports betting business, and don't think we should be, but we license the data feeds from our game to companies like FanDuel and Draft Kings and MGM and others so that they have the authentic feed from the game. They get it in real time because as you guys know, a lot of the betting now around games, and this is something that's very different from betting that took place years ago, is what they call in play. People don't want to just bet the game and then check what the results later. They want to be doing things right. Quarter scores, you know, number of defensive rebounds in the first half. Oh, you know, you can almost imagine any permutation that people can bet on. And they are. And so on one hand, I think it's frankly great for the league that it caused creates additional engagement. On the other hand, just like any problematic behavior, we have to monitor it. We have to work with government regulatory agencies. We have to work collectively as leagues

to do everything we can to monitor problematic gambling, to make sure that, you know, minors don't have access to it, to make sure that people who do engage in it don't do it over their head. I mean, it's not that different from the fact that we're in the business of selling beer and alcohol. It's also, you know, it can be an enjoyable aspect of people's lives if done in a reasonable way, but also can cause enormous problems in people's lives. Yeah, the football world is dealing with that there for a bit. People are losing their jaws every single weekend, pretty much. That all falls under your belt, I guess, as commish. What all do you oversee?

Everything? You have your, like, for instance, I read on the internet this morning that you were the one that allowed the timeout to happen last night by LeBron to Austin Reeves because that won the game for the Lakers. That's what I heard. You were on the phone while it was happening and said, that was a timeout, was it not?

That's what I heard you do. Can you clarify whether or not you do that? And that's how you spend your evenings, Kamish? You know, that was so, it was late Eastern time where I am. I was, truth be told, I was watching the game lying in bed. I don't have any buzzers or buttons or anything that had any impact on me. You were breaking! That's breaking news!

And I don't want to say, as I was watching that, that's what is known at the league office as a very close call. Very close. Very close. It was a close call. Yeah, very, very, very close. Yeah. I do find it funny, though, that as the commissioner, and I guess you get paid well enough to kind of handle it, anything that seems up, or with the gambling now,

or with obviously fan bases, it goes immediately to Adam Silver. Adam Silver's the one who made him call it last night, and that's just your life. Hey, you're doing an incredible job, though. I think you should take a victory lap at some point. And you coming on this show is so incredibly stupid. I assume there's a lot of people that told you not to do that. We're very grateful you did, boss man.

We appreciate it. By the way, no one told me not to do it. And it's a thrill to be here. And I'm going to be... And by the way, Indianapolis, are you right in Indianapolis or outside Indianapolis? We're outside Northeast, but we'll come to you, pal. We'll come to you down there for the All-Star Week, which is going to be fantastic here in Indy. You know we're using Lucas Oil on Saturday night. For the

skills challenge or what's it for? Yeah. For the skills challenge. We're going to use Lucas Oil. Are you having Larry Bird come out? We're going to be in your home stadium and that's also where the celebrity game is going to be. Ooh. Celebrity games in Lucas Oil Stadium? Oh, the opposite. And I think you would be bringing in a big crowd

if you were there. No, nobody wants to see me. You got your jersey already. Ooh. Thank you. This is not for Jordan. It's for the year, 2023. NBA three-point line over here. That's an NBA three-point line, but I'm in this gym.

I'm in this Thunderdome. We got the hoops here. Obviously, we're big fans of the sport. But the stadium, this is like whenever the Final Four goes into the back. It's tough to shoot. It's tough to shoot early. Oh, no, Adam. I'm going to have to start working outside.

Your limo will come right to the Thunderdome, pick you up for the celebrity game. Okay. We'll be ready for you. All right. Well, we can't wait to host you. We appreciate the hell out of you for joining us, and congrats on the success of the in-season tournament, the NBA as a whole, and everything you've got going on.

Ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver. Yeah, come on! A ball! It's happening tomorrow night. Yeah. And tomorrow night's game actually has the lowest over-under since... 1993! That's one half of the toxic table at Boston Corner, whose New England Patri. That's one half of the Toxic Table at Boston Connor,

whose New England Patriots take on one half of the Hammer. Dodd. Cowboys tone Diggs' Pittsburgh Steelers. And the other half of the Toxic Table at Ty Schmidt. We can't wait to watch. Cannot wait. Listen, I've been watching stuff like this all year. It's nice when people are finally talking about someone else

setting a record for the lowest over-under ever. It's actually quite refreshing. We got an Iowa Hawkeye football game happening tomorrow night on Thursday Night Football. We have Bill Belichick, Steve Belichick, and Robert Kraft taking on Mitchell Trubisky and

T.J. White on prime with Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit, Kaylee Hartung, Carissa Thompson, Ryan Fitzmagic, Tony Gonzalez, Richard Sherman, Big Witt. I think it's everybody. Marshawn Lynch.

Maybe Ben. Oh, Taylor Rooks. I didn't forget Taylor Rooks. Michael Stringer usually pops up in there. What? Kyle. In the Dude Perfect Boys. Tyler.

Tyler. Tyler. Come on. Also, potentially the Barbershop. Yep. Yeah. Uh-huh. Mav.

I'd recommend. That's a big. Think about all the humans. We just, big production. Amazon's like, hey, we're trying to do the NFL right. Amazon's like, we want to be in business with the NFL for a long time. So we're going to, you know, we're making it one game each week. We're going to try to do it as big as we possibly can.

The people they hired to run this thing, all very high jobs at other places before. They did like the Apple thing where you just take like the top people. Like, here we go. You get Al Michaels. Let's go. Do you believe in me? Hey, Here we go. You get Al Michaels. Let's go. Do you believe in me? You get him. Do this whole thing. Herbstreet's been

the number one guy in college football for 30 years pretty much. Let's bring him in. Call him for him. And we just did the whole thing. And it's like, tomorrow night. Strap it in. The Eagle Patriots. Pittsburgh Steelers. Damn right. Two proud franchises who are performing god-awfully right now.

Battle it out for a show of all shows to kick off week 14. I want to preface this by saying I am someone that absolutely loves Maction. I watch it every Tuesday and Wednesday, okay? I am someone that doesn't believe in these bad primetime football games. It's not. You bet unders. Exactly. I love every. You bet unders. Exactly.

I love every single thing about them. All those people you said, you shouldn't see their faces one time tomorrow night. Don't turn that on. Don't do it. I wouldn't recommend it. I highly recommend against doing it. You're saying take a Thursday off. Take a Thursday off.

Okay. We are right here. Week 13, week 14, whatever it is. Maybe we recharge our batteries tomorrow night because it's going to be a long rest of the season. Okay. And there's no reason to waste any energy on tomorrow night's game. Conman, you're saying you need to watch this

because it's an accretion. It's a primetime game in Pittsburgh. You don't think Ed Bechdel is going to be down there? I don't care if it was on the moon, Pat. Which we have been. We've talked about it plenty of times. I wouldn't even watch it then. People love different settings. We've learned that with our show.

You just put our show somewhere else, people will just, what is that, just like Adam Silver said with the new courts. That's a little different. What's going on there? Still dumbass. Alright, we'll change the channel. But nonetheless, Accra Shores is an environment. Yenzers are going to be jacked up. And also, Yenzers know what they're signing up for

going in. Their last game is going to stink. I'm interested to see if they do show up tomorrow night. What? Tony. Tony, they're going to be there. They're going to be there. Prim latest game is going to stink. I'm interested to see if they do show up tomorrow night. What? Tony. Tony, they're going to be there. They're going to be there. Primetime game in Pittsburgh? They're going to be there. What are you saying? I hope they do. Holy shit.

What is this guy talking about? 12-year NFL vet Super Bowl champion from Pittsburgh. More specifically, moon timeship. The same place as Joe Narno, greatest weatherman of all time. Love you, Joe. The only person that doesn't like him, A.Q. Shipley. A.Q.,

did you hear this about Pittsburgh? What happened to our city, dude? I don't know what happened, but if they... Remember, you couldn't go to a game as a kid. You couldn't. Literally, the reason why I'm... You couldn't go to a preseason game. The reason why I'm such a big Penguins fan, only game that my family could really go to, except for punt, pass, and kick, if I want our way down to the entire thing.

Impossible to get in there. Tickets, the ones to get in, so overpriced because there's not a chance to get in there because this is what people do. Their fodder, their fodder's fodder, their fodder's fodder's fodder's fodder's neighbor. They've been doing that this entire time. And now primetime football against the New England Patriots.

And Tony Diggins saying he's worried. What the hell happened in Pittsburgh, AQ? That's not real. But can you imagine if we turn on that game? And it looks like a pit game? Third and fourth quarter. And they're playing. Oh, my.

And it's empty? No way. That would ruin the whole thing. They don't play it. And they're playing, oh my. And it's empty? No way. That would ruin the whole thing. They don't play it. No. Don't play it. Don't do it. Don't play Renegade tomorrow night if it's not so well.

I overreacted. I just looked at SeatGeek. There's not very many tickets available. Yeah, people are going to be there. Okay. Jesus. What are you trying to put into the universe? You're telling us not to watch it.

You're saying people aren't going. What's your deal? Pittsburgh Steelers are on prime time. Yes. Get a chance to show off at Accra Stadium. Get the Patriots. TJ Wadham, man, who's getting conned by the NFL. Yeah.

Guy's getting held every single play. This guy's getting robbed. Biggest fan base in the sport. Well. That's nine-year NFL pick, Darius J. Butler-esque. He's right. It's true. It's 100% true.

These are the two biggest fan bases in the NFL. I'm just saying this is going to be the worst. Cowboys fans would say they're bigger. Niners fans, I guess they've been kind of... Stats would prove differently, though. Okay, I love that. Pittsburgh's fans are everywhere. Pittsburgh might enjoy this game, though.

A defensive battle. That's right. You know? Everything TJ does. Yeah. Oh, mama, I'm in fear. What if they do that ten times tonight?

Instead of doing it just once, let's do it ten times. Anytime TJ beats his guy. Oh mama, I'm in fear. And then Bill Belichick would just be so caught up in the music because we know he's a man who fancies good music.

And other things. Football? That's what you're talking about? Yep. What if he's just so distracted? Army Navy? It's so bad. Army Navy? Yeah, no, absolutely. I am on the opposite end of Tony's

spectrum here. I think this is the biggest money game we've ever had. This is where, if you're down this season, gumbling, this is where, if you're down this season, gumbling, this is where you get it back. Because guess what? You can guess the score. 3-0, 2-0, 10-0, 7-0, 3-3, 6-3.

A lot of options. 10's crazy. But really, you just need to pick those bottom options. And yeah, it is crazy. Let's look at the NFL right now. We're talking about a lot of backup quarterbacks, right? I'm more pumped to watch New England Patriots going forward for the rest of the season

than I ever have been this year because of the fact it's time to find our backup quarterback. We need to figure out who's going to take the reins. Who's going to be backup to whoever you guys draft? Who's going to be the guy that is going to help the real guy next year? And that's where

I'm already at. Now, I'm looking for a hell of a performance from Zappi. I'm thinking 10 of 17, 115 yards, maybe a pick in there, maybe 15 rush yards, big fourth and five that weekend. Oh, with a momentum. Massive momentum. And then next play, TJ Watts, strip sack. But again, I think this is where you get your money for this entire NFL season going into Christmas.

And we're not sure if he's right there. This one could be a high-scoring affair. You never know what Mitch Trubisky's going to do. That's right. Joining us now might be a guy who has a little bit of a clue. He's the all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers. This guy has big brain, loves being the one that projects ideas and thoughts on what could happen in the future.

He's a father of 10, a COVID survivor, the current president of the state of Ohio. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Locke. A.J., did you hear Tone Diggs was worried that maybe the Yinzers weren't going to fill up Accra Stadium? And then Connor's like, listen, I'm looking for next year's backup. Who's potentially going to be backing up? Not a lot of hope on this Thursday night coming up, A.J.

Yeah, that's surprising for tone because anyone like steelers fans travel right anywhere you go i know when i was playing if if you're like steelers fans are like packers fans you go to an away stadium you're going to see a ton of steelers fans there so why would you think they're not going to show up to their home turf tone they've been there we done that we like going other places yeah well the other places normally it's where people live now and and it's near, and they feel like an obligation to go put on for the Pittsburgh Steelers. What Tone is saying, I think, is that the Pittsburgh fans

are feeling a little bit differently about the Steelers this year than maybe years past. Sure. And even though they're still above 5, hey, here we go. Yeah. Still above 5. Probably the 5th seed in the playoffs. Got an opportunity to really do this thing still.

That's right. Everything's still in front of them. Everything's still right there in front of them. Now coming off a tough loss to Arizona. Obviously. Real tough. At home. A couple delays.

Obviously a lot of people dressed up like seats toward the end of that game. You asked them to go into the concessions a couple different times whenever there was lightning and they were losing this Arizona Cardinals team that only has two wins on the entire season. And with everything that's happened, it was tough for the injuries to say,

yeah, we should be doing this instead of something else. So they maybe bailed out of there.. But this year, it's been a different vibe from Steelers fans. I'm not 100% sure why. I don't know why this has become the season where more people are giving up on the hope that we can ugly win football games

forever, even in the playoffs, but it does feel different this year. I think there's a realization now that you can't ugly win yourself to a Super Bowl, and that's all that really matters. It's kind of getting frustrating. Amen. How many Lombardis? Six. Come on, D, but you know how many Lombardis.

Tie, right? Six, six? It's a big one tomorrow night. Who's the better six Lombardi trophy having program? Let's put one on the line. Let's put one on the line. Yeah.

Six versus six. Two Lombardi swing. One goes home. You do that, we're talking 45 million people, 50 million people watch this. Boom. Okay. Do it. Easy.

Maserati news. Do it. Why not? Do it right now. Kraft, do it. Put it up. Rooney, do it. Tomorrow night, Thursday night football. Maserati News Do it Why not Do it right now Kraft Do it Put it up Rooney Do it

Tomorrow night Thursday night football Lombardi's on End season tournament How about this too End season Call it the Lombo Cup The Lombo Cup

Yes Love it Losing head coach maybe Guess what You're fired How about that Wow What if we do that

Two legends The Lombo Cup is becoming Yeah Hall of fame coach fired cup fireball paint the grass gold the end zones will be gold tomorrow you hear what we're doing here aj yes these are all these new crazy ideas i heard adam silver come on and talk about all the things in the future that's what you guys are doing in real time adam silver did say it i'm not making this up he said he learns from each other. We all learn from him. As if we were a part of that.

We got a bunch of them, Rod. Rod, we got a bunch of these ideas. You should think about it. Wow. Definitely. Paint the field gold. That would be so sweet. Think about how happy Bezos will be on his yacht. He'd be so happy. Jacked up. Oh my god, we're doing this.

We got the Mega Bowl. Boom. We got the Mega Bowl. Bill's got to coach the game shirtless. Yep. Tony and I will do jerseys. If the Pittsburgh Steelers win, I'll wear a Steelers jersey Friday. Boom. That's already happening right now.

And it's a Patriots win. Even if Roger Goodell doesn't agree and Kraft and Rooney don't agree to put up a trophy and Roger Goodell doesn't agree for the Mega Bowl announcement to happen within the next 24 hours, you two definitely do the jersey thing. Absolutely. Have to do it. Tony already agreed to it, even though this is the first time this has been brought up. He's already agreed. Thank you, Tony, for doing that. That's a really good program. Don't worry. I got a beautiful

red Mac Jones jersey that you won't be wearing. What jersey will he wear? You're either wearing or Ike Taylor or a Terry Bradshaw jersey. Bingo. TB. Bingo.

We know where we're headed. Joining us now is a guy who might have some more thoughts on how his brother's team tomorrow could potentially win a Lombardi trophy. The Megaball. In the Megaball. Record-breaking. Ladies and gentlemen, D-Butt, brilliant. Maybe the D-Butt claws you.

Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, obviously, future first round, first Ballot Hall of Famer. He's the third person ever in the Houston Texans Ring of Honor. He's with us every single week. Ladies and gentlemen, J.J. Huat. Hey, J.J. Okay, good shirt today.

Everybody loves his shirts. That's good. Nice shirt yourself, buddy. Okay, good shirt today. Everybody loves his shirts. That's good. Nice shirt yourself, buddy. Nice shirt yourself. Glad to be here. Happy to be on the show. Sounds like we're in the middle of a beautiful think storm right now. Just keep it rolling.

Just keep it rolling. It is a think storm. And we're not bringing any umbrellas to this entire thing. No, we aren't. All ideas are good ideas right now, JJ, okay? So what Darius basically alluded to is tomorrow night's game that doesn't have a lot of intrigue, Thursday Night Football, Patriots, Steelers. We need to put a Lombardi trophy up from each of them.

They each got six. Put up the pink slips, and obviously winner takes both. Hey, you added this graphic, correct? I'm sorry. The graphic is great. What a graphic. You added Steve and the owner in there, correct? Or is this really going out on Amazon?

That's pretty good, AJ. Jeez. What are you talking about? It looks perfect. It looks amazing. Honestly, you got me. I assume this is what they're running on Amazon right now. Nah, Amazon did run the Bill Belichick one.

This one's better. There was certainly a decision made to add a couple more key figures that will be in tomorrow night's game. That's right. Robert Kraft could be in here more than we ever imagined if he just offers up one of his Lombardis against a Rooney. J.J., do you think that is a fair kind of proposal for tomorrow night's Thursday night football game

between these two storied franchises, J.J.? I think the interesting question about it would be which team would be more comfortable doing it. I think obviously Steelers being at home. Connor doesn't sound very confident whatsoever. I've got a phone call. Is that Rooney? Is that a landline?

You have a landline? No, wait, can you turn the screen so we can see? Is it the? That's the old school. Oh, yeah. You got a plan line? I'm in one of my best D-line coaches of all time, one of my favorite guys ever, Bill Kolar.

He's getting inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame last night, so I'm in Vegas for his induction into the Hall of Fame. This guy's always on the move. You're always on the move. You know that, J.J.? I mean, this is coming from the guy that has a private jet in his backyard, ready gassed up at any time. What was that? What was that?

It's all electric. It's not gas, obviously. You know that. We're taking care of these things. Well, electric's even worse. But I'm always here. Yeah. You were just in New York.

But every time I talk to you, where am I at? Right here. Every time we talk to you, where are you? New York, Vegas, Houston, Cushing, London. Oh, big win on Saturday. Big win on Saturday. Hey, Gumby, what happened on Saturday with the Burnley boys? 5-0.

The lads were buzzing. Didn't have to park the bus. Unbelievable from the boys. Oh, man, that's awesome. I like that. Big momentum, obviously. We're just rolling right now. We're back. Big win streak. Yep. Huge. Huge. 5- man, that's awesome. I like big momentum, obviously. We're just rolling right now. We're back. One game win streak?

Yep. Huge. Huge. Five-nil. Nope. Nope. Ran into a tough Wolverhampton squad yesterday. What? What do you mean? They already had another game since Saturday? How? Molyneux Stadium's a tough place to go and get points. What happened? Lost one-nothing. Oh, we scored five

on Saturday. We can't score one? Come on. I thought we had it. Is that the actual caption on his tweet? Lost 1-0. We scored 5 on Saturday. We can't score 1? Come on. Come on. I thought we had it. Is that the actual caption of his tweet? Yeah. Wow. What would you like it to be, Connor?

We suck. Whoa. What's this, guys? They just won 5-0. That was too far. I'm sorry. We just won 5-0. We had one blunder. We had one big. There you go, huge result.

Look at how happy Brownie is. He just looks so happy. It was great. It was a great day. You're saying Brownie, you know his name. That's huge. You know all the boys' names? Yes, absolutely.

Any photo would have popped up there. You would have been like, oh, look at Tootsie. I love that guy. You would have been able to do that with the boys, with the squad? Yes. I know them very well. I know them all. It's starting to get really tough to remain

a fan. Everybody I know is into this European soccer. I played soccer growing up. I never really got into it. And now I have a team. I got a hat. I got a hat. Burnley's my team. And then all I realize is, I feel like Mara, the Giants owner. All I do is spend my time explaining why our team stinks. And I'm sick of it.

Done with it. I'm sick of it. We need to start winning, JJ. I am bummed out. I'm bummed out about it. Saturday was the highlight. I was telling everybody. You see them Burnley boys.

Check it out. You see Tootsie. You see Benny. Hell yeah. It was fun. That'll be fun. We're going to do that? That's what we're going to do?

Yes. Yes, we're going to get it rolling. We're going to get it rolling. Well. All right. I enjoy it. I appreciate the fanhood. I am very thankful.

It has been really cool for everybody who watches and follows along. It certainly will be a lot more fun. The 5-0 was a lot more fun to get the text messages on Saturday than yesterday and other days. Yeah, so, hey, boys that are watching over there in Burnley, let's live happier lives, all of us. Yeah. Let's put the ball in the net more than the other team does. There it is.

And when we put it in, guess what? Everybody stand on each other's shoulders right in front of that net for the rest of the game. Exactly. Just stand there. Just stand there and nobody move. Do you want to win or do you not? You tell us.

Let's move along to a team that is winning, a team that you might play for, actually, not just own. Houston Texans. It's not just, obviously, we had C.J. Stroud on yesterday. He was awesome to talk to. And his story, we're learning more and more about him. The better and better it gets on this. It is a wild phenomenon that Houston Texans have a front man.

For the next 15 years, they're going to be saying, that defense though, J.J. Hey, they're balling over there. They're a real deal. This team is a real deal, J.J. It's pretty crazy, man. They've got such a young core, which is awesome to see. C.J. is obviously incredible.

Sad to see Tank go down the way he went down. That's tough because he's such an impressive young player. But then you go to the defensive side of the ball. You got Will Anderson Jr. with two sacks, batted balls, TFLs. He's playing incredible against the run. He's now starting to get the sacks to go along with the pressures he's had all season. And then you got Stingley, who just comes back. He's got four interceptions in three games.

And those are two young guys on the defensive side of the ball that are playing extremely well. You got John Grenard on the other side from Will Anderson. So I got to give credit to the defensive coordinator, Matt Burke. He was my D-line coach last year in Arizona. He's now the D-coordinator there doing some incredible things with this defense, and I think you just see them growing in confidence as the year goes on, getting better and better. I've said it. I think that D'Amico should be the coach of the year. think that you guys in indianapolis have a guy who's also got a great argument for coach of the year and shane steichen um but really really exciting stuff happening in houston and i think it's going to be exciting for a long time why do you think it's happening well you know

like everybody's gonna try to do this obviously young guys hit yeah but like why are the young guys hitting you know because a lot of excuses are made for young guys that don't hit. They go, I got into a bad situation. There was no situation worse in Houston a couple years ago. So it's like, these guys are just special, you think? Like CJ said, Derek Stingley is the most talented guy on the team by far with everything he has, most athletic guy. Is it just they picked the right guys?

Is that what it was? I mean, I think they certainly have had success with their draft picks. I think they have got some guys who are special. But as you know, as AJ knows, as we all know, in this league, if you get put in a good situation with a good coaching staff who has the right mindset, who has the right knowledge base, and who can get that information across to you properly and get you to understand it and implement it, that's when you're successful. And this coaching staff, D'Amico, starts with him and then it trickles down through his whole staff.

These guys have the ability to take their knowledge, to take their wisdom and pass it to the players in a way that they understand it and then also give them confidence. And these players are just building that confidence week after week. And it really, really helps in the National Football League when you've got a quarterback who plays at the level CJ is playing so early on and also has the confidence and the leadership ability to do the things he's doing. Not everybody has that. He is a special cat. Go ahead, AJ.

JJ, what makes somebody a good coach? You mentioned, like, yeah, they can explain what they're thinking or whatever. You mentioned Matt Burke, your old D-line coach, who's the coordinator there. I was lucky enough to play under him in Cincinnati for a year. I love the dude. Super smart guy. But what makes somebody good? Like, honestly, there's a lot of bad coaches.

We know that. But there's also a lot of good coaches out there. What do you think sets the good ones apart? I think it's a combination of things, and I think having the right combination is what makes it great. So you have to be knowledgeable. You have to be able to understand the game, to be able to game plan, to be able to change within a game, to see, you know, play that chess match. Okay. This is what they did on their opening 15 plays. We need to,

this means that they're trying to get us into man coverage and see how we're going to make our adjustments. Okay. Now I'm going to adjust like this to try and throw them off. You have to have that knowledge base to be able to do that. Then you also have to be able to give that knowledge to guys who may not have the same level. So it's really tough for a rookie coming in to get settled in a new city. They're literally getting a new house. They're getting a new lifestyle. They're getting a new induction into the NFL.

And also you're trying to teach them cloud coverage. You're trying to teach the quarterback how to read these route concepts. You have to be able to deliver that and have the patience and the care to be able to do it. And then on top of all that, you have to be a motivator. You have to be able to pull the best out of your guys. I was talking about Bill Kolar yesterday at his event. And one of the things that he was able to do is extract greatness from me that I didn't know I had within myself. A great coach can pull something out of you, can get things, can get you to do things that you yourself didn't even know you had. Yeah. Whenever Tom McMahon came into my life, uh, he was my last special

teams coordinator. It was like the way he talked to me to like, make me better. It was like, oh, this is probably how people should have been. You know, like oh this is probably how people should have been you know like this is probably how people should have been doing this for all sports that i played not just this one like a little bit of shit talk but then also when i wanted to go to war with somebody like yeah let's go rot like let's let's tear yeah let's go kill this person and then also back it was like he almost understood you you know and it's like like I felt like he understood me as a person. That's not easy to do, though. Some coaches, that's a very special trait, I think, that some people have.

Yes, and I think that it really is something that separates great coaches from good coaches. And I also think it separates how good a person's career can be, how it can change lifestyles, literally. Like, think about every guy that gets drafted every single year, and we judge these guys quicker and quicker every year. We want first-round picks to be great the second they step on the field. We don't give them any time to develop. We want them to be great, and we don't take into account the coaching staff. We don't take into account the situation.

We just say, you need to be good. Well, in reality, not every coach has these abilities. Not every coach can develop a player. And we're just moving on faster and faster. Yeah, but we just assume they do because he's the NFL. He's the NFL coach. That's literally what people think, I think. You know what I mean? Yeah.

I mean, I thought that myself. Like, I got to the NFL, and I just assumed everything everybody is doing is how it's supposed to be done. So I got on the plane on my first road trip in the NFL. And you know this. They go down the aisle. They bring your meal. I'm like, yeah, sure, I'll take the steak.

Thank you very much. And then they come down with a full tray of candy, every candy bar you can imagine. I'm like, yes, I will take Reese's. I will take Kit Kat. I'll take that. Then they come down with an ice cream tray. And it's like ice cream sundaes or hot fudge. I was like, oh, wow, this is how we do it in the NFL.

Yes, I will take an ice cream sundae. Then they come around with warm chocolate chip cookies. I was like, this is fantastic. I love this. This is great. I just assumed that, like, this is what you do in the NFL. You eat everything they offer you, and they wouldn't offer it to you if it wasn't good for you because you're in the NFL. There's got to be some protein in the ice cream.

Sure. And then, like, three months in, I see a picture of myself, my rip and tear. I'm like, dude, you were fat as hell. Like, I had baby fat out, so I had to cut out all that and, like, recalibrate. Oh, okay. Maybe not everything in the NFL is exactly how you're supposed to do it.

I think that's every business. There's a lot of greats in the NFL, though. Go ahead, D-Bug. Oh, yeah. You played with one of them, D-Hop, who played a long time, put up crazy numbers with, I would say, not the greatest list of quarterbacks. Not going to throw any of your teammates under the bus. But another guy in that category.

Who are some of them? Probably in his own category. 10 straight thousand-yard season now for Mike Evans. What do you see from this guy? Hall of Famer, man. Hall of Famer. I think, Mike, the consistency, the level at which he plays at, the ability to do it over years. And like you said, it's not necessarily, he had

Brady for a couple of years, but it hasn't necessarily been with the most elite level of all time. And I think the crazy thing about Mike is that he just doesn't get the same hype as you feel like he deserves because he's kind of like he doesn't he's reserved he's he doesn't do anything like crazy flashy he's not out there a ton and I think that he is somehow for a guy who's had a thousand yards every single year of his career he's underrated and he shouldn't be like he he should be a first ballot hall of famer I think he will be and uh I think we should appreciate his game because it's it's pretty special what he's doing at the highest level. Ten straight.

Sir, sir. That's crazy. Just health-wise, how do you last? You know, let alone quarterback and change and everything like that. Got a Super Bowl, too. I mean, his quarterback's also in that D-hop range. Yeah. He's a free agent, right, after this year? Where's he going?

Hey, he needs that. I said it before the year started when they had the back and forth. He should have got that Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals treatment. Forever. Like Tampa. Hey, as long as you want to be here, you're going to be here 10 straight thousand-yard seasons with that list of quarterbacks. Come to Indianapolis.

Yeah. Come to Indianapolis. That would work. I told CJ yesterday he needs to take a couple weeks off every season. I don't know if you saw that. Told him to take off his two weeks. No, they're doing a good job in Indapolis, man. That would work. I told CJ yesterday he needs to take a couple weeks off every season. I don't know if you saw that. Tony, don't take off his two weeks. No, they're doing a good job in Indy, man. Shane has done a really, really good job up there.

It's very impressive what they put together. Gardner's playing well. I mean, they're doing a good job. DeForest, Zaire, it's a good crew, man. Yeah, hell yeah. You're damn right it is. AFC South in general. People sleep a little bit on it.

Obviously, Trevor just got hurt. But AFC South is rolling. Might sleep a little bit on it. Obviously, Trevor just got hurt. But AFC South is rolling. Might be three teams in the playoffs. Jeff Saturday brought that to my attention yesterday. He's like, hey, three AFC South teams might be able to make it with the way everything's set up. Now, Patriots at 2-10 are still in the hunt somehow. So there's a lot of hypothetical scenarios with the playoffs.

Big-ass bubble right there. Yeah, there's a lot of bubbles. Make it win out. There's 12 backup quarterbacks, though, out of 32, nine of them in the AFC. I mean, there's so much that can still unfold. Now, let's go to college football real quick, and good luck here. Ty, go ahead. Yeah, JJ. Yeah, great.

This is great. Listen, basically everyone has an opinion on this. A lot of people are pissed off. There's a lot of swords being shoved into people's throats and people's backs. Georgia fans are pissed. They think they should be in. Probably should be in. Florida State, obviously, is up in arms.

You go undefeated. Do everything you can do, but they're on the outside looking in. What's your opinion on the way this kind of all played out? What are you laughing about, JJ? Is this a joke kids are in this is not a laughing matter and also i'm curious i'm pretty sure you played in a rose bowl but like now for like georgia and florida state like how many of those guys do you think are just gonna say like ah screw it i'm not gonna play in my bowl game because we don't

have the opportunity anymore and now i'm just going to focus on going and playing in the nfl yeah i mean there is uh no no real way to win this question yeah here we go let's take a stab at it why don't we um the first thing that i look at is as a player like i sit there and i think okay if i'm a player what am i thinking about like a florida state player sitting in that locker room, went undefeated all year, won their conference, the ACC, like it sucks for them. Like it really does suck for a player that put everything on the line and yeah, your quarterback's out, but you still found a way to win and you have no idea what's going to happen in the future. So you're going to judge us on that. Like all I think about is if you sat there and as a player and you were like,

what more did you want us to do? You can't say anything. There is nothing more that that team could have done. So I think it really, really sucks for those guys. I feel really bad for them. As far as the other teams, and I will say at the same time, as a college football fan, am I not excited for these four teams to match up yeah like it is i do think this is going to be a great matchup in the college football playoff so

like i also can't act like if somebody was getting screwed somebody was absolutely getting screwed yes i agree and you know obviously florida state i would if i was a player on that team or my boy was playing on that team i would not be happy but also, I think I would at least try to motivate the team to be like, if you beat the back-to-back national champions, who also have a gripe in this entire thing, who won 29 straight, then they lose a game in a neutral site after beating everybody for how many years. It's like, if you beat them, you just claim yourself a national champion. You are a national champion.

If you're undefeated and you beat the back... A thousand percent. A thousand percent. And I would take that forever. And everybody would be like, well, they did. They did beat the back-to-back national team. And next year, they can't come soon enough

with the 12 teams. Cannot come soon enough with the 12 teams. Fascinating. On campus, playoff games, that's going to be so sweet. I think Georgia would be hosting one this year. Yes. So that would be obviously bananas down there in Athens.

You also give these dudes a chance if they make a mistake or have a bad day. It's like, aren't we looking to give opportunity? One day, their whole life is ruined. That's pretty much what college – I mean, it happened to my team. It happened to me pretty much. Because we had one game against Pitt that we should have won. We win that one.

We're in the national championship. We win, probably, against both those teams that were potentially in there. So it's like, now they open it to four, but it's like, you have one bad day. It's hell to get you. Georgia, 29 straight wins, back-to-back national champions.

They lose one game. It's like, now can't defend your title. It's like, that makes sense. And then Texas loses to Oklahoma after beating Alabama three months ago, but Alabama's a completely different team now than they were then. And Texas is a different team. It's like, they were never going to get it right, ever. No, no, it's an impossible task.

And, I mean, be i would love we should have put a camera in there i don't know how we don't have like the footage it would be that would have done prime time numbers i would assume that everybody in there does not want no you know with the takes that they're having in no patronus uh the cfo of florida which i'm not sure how many states have cfos, he said, yep, they need to disclose their votes, and we're going to do something about this. And I understand why the CFO would be potentially about it.

Because the amount of money in these national championships and these college football playoffs that come to these programs, let alone the exposure and everything else that comes, it's a real deal. It's just like in James Madison when the Attorney General of Virginia was like, we're going to sue the NCAA for for this i'm like okay all right well good luck i mean we were talking about it on the cbs said a little bit on sunday morning before the show started and we were

kind of just talking amongst ourselves and they were like who do you actually think gets in not who do you think deserves not who do you like who do you think actually gets in and i was like not who do you like who do you think actually gets in and i was like just follow the money man like which so that's a whole nother thing like we're on espn now so anything we say is obviously espn tells me to say it's like okay uh also espn owns the acc network okay for like the next five years i think i don't know I think it's five more years. So you don't think they want to see an ACC? Yeah. Why is that

automatic? Last night with Adam Silver, he wants LeBron James and the Lakers. You don't think he wants Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and that Phoenix Suns team in there either? Those things are always awesome. Oh, you're saying no. You're saying no. I mean, I'm not saying those aren't big

things, but when you put one thing against another thing, one thing is going to be bigger than the other thing. Yeah, but you think they're willing to sacrifice everything for that? No, but I think when everything else is tight and people are like, which one, which one, which one, I think

the natural choice is to You think the committee thought about that you think the committee thought about that in there when they were talking because that's like athletic directors oh yeah the head of the athletic the head of the whole thing is an acc athletic director boo corgan the man who says nothing for the entire season until after the thing he gives full answers but like he's that you think that is that's a wild thing to just assume for humans i can tell you this if he he's the head and he is the head of uh acc or whatever and uh there was already rumblings of florida state trying to leave the acc before the season which was absolutely which would absolutely crush his school so he would want florida state in you remember oh yeah you're saying okay you're not saying you held that against florida but yeah

like what does this decision say to the ACC? It says you can win your conference and it doesn't matter. So now if you're a team in the ACC, you're like, I got to get out of here, man. Well, they were trying to get out of there because TV deals that were potentially happening other places as well. I mean, it's all a shit show. AJ, a lot of people, I mean, the Ohio State-Georgia thing has been a very big discussion as well. Obviously, neither of them made it in, but Ohio State being ranked lower than Georgia is also a pretty interesting one. Ohio State's only losses to the number one team in the country. Georgia's losses to the number eight team.

I'm not saying right or wrong, but let's hear your thoughts. Let's hear your thoughts, Aiden. Ohio State, you guys are just worrying about who you guys are buying to be quarterback next. Yeah, you guys are worrying about who we're buying. I mean, yeah, that's everybody, it seems like. No, I mean, I think, honestly, Ohio State people probably feel, hey, if we're not in the top four, you might as well be 100. Like, who cares?

It doesn't matter. That's a shame, too, isn't it? End up as five in the country. You should put them at 100, then. If AJ – put them at 100. Yeah, you're right. Do it. You're right.

Make them play. All right, we took care of that. Same bowl game. Same bowl game still. Nope, nope. Make them play in the Belk Bowl. Yeah, points to that. That Georgia-Florida State Bowl.

Beautiful. I hope they take it serious. I hope they play in it. Donnie Wilson declared for the draft today. I don't know if he's playing or not, but that's just another reason. I don't know if he would have played in the playoffs. No, because if Florida State wins, there are all these people that are very, very angry. Rightfully so.

Yeah, it is a bummer. Even bummed out. Yeah, they should be bummed out. They're kind of bummed out. We're bummed It is a bummer. Bummed out. They're kind of bummed out. We're bummed out about it for them. But the system is terrible. What if they'd have blown them out? What if they'd have won in a landslide in the ACC championship? That's the only way that they probably would have put them in, correct?

Yes, because everybody's talking about the Cardale Jones one. It was like, yeah, it was 59-0. They kept talking about that. I don't make any of these decisions, by the way. None. I don't have a vote for anything. I'm on that game and everybody knows why. I'm just, you know, I'm firing off.

I mean, Herfrey gave Jaden Daniels the Heisman two or three weeks ago on the show. And it's like, yo, that guy has an actual vote. Like, we got to listen to that. Yeah. We got him in the bowl game, too. We play LSU in the bowl game. Yeah, you guys stink. All right.

All right. Look at 50 touchdowns. Who's Ohio State have? Missouri? No. Yeah, they do, yeah. In the Cotton Bowl. Oh, yeah.

Oregon's got Liberty. Yeah. That'll be a great game. Hey, last year. Fiesta Bowl, crazy things happen. Last year, Tulane had to play USC, and people said the same thing. Tulane won. Whenever we played Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, crazy things happened. Last year, Tulane had to play USC, and people said the same thing, and Tulane won. Whenever we played Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl,

Stoops actually said, we think we should be playing a better team like the week before I was playing there. Don't look at me. I mean, I'm not betting against you. Pat White's on the field. Pat White is playing football. Pat White, Steve Slayton. Steve was not there. No, I wasn't. Noel Devine was,

that was, you know. Noah Devine. Yeah, man. What a name. Yeah, Owen Schmidt was running wide open. Tito Gonzalez, one of our wide receivers, he ended up catching like a 65, 70-yard ball or whatever. But, yeah, we beat the shit out of him. I mean, it wasn't.

What are we even? It's Pat White, dude. What do you think is going to happen? So I guess that can happen. You know, there's upsets that can take place. Nowadays, though, it feels like if it's not the semifinals, people aren't your best players. It's almost like a next-year game, which is wild

because this Florida State thing is never going to have an answer because if they're not playing their best team and Georgia's not playing their best team, it's like we can't even use it as a judgment of anything in this entire situation. Yeah, it makes sense. It's kind of one of the things we were talking about earlier with the NFL, with coaching, with developing players.

It does feel like that's now trickled down, obviously, to the college level with NIL, with transfers. If you don't play your freshman year, boom, you're out. One of the best things for my – at Wisconsin, they develop walk-ons. They develop guys. Offensive lineman comes in as a freshman. He bulks up. He learns a program.

He gets in the strength program, and then he becomes a first round draft pick like i feel like we are starting to lose a little bit of that development we're starting to lose a little bit of that patience where we understand appreciate that people need time to grow people need coaching people need a strength program people need a nutrition program we need to develop players and i feel like at both the professional and the college ranks, we're starting to lose a little bit of that development. And for me, that's unfortunate and sad because I think there's a lot of great players that just simply need that time and development, and we're not giving it. Yeah, and with this NIL stuff, our dudes, you know, 18, 19-year-old guys get a million bucks.

Are they going as hard, do you think? I don't know. They're going to have to be super mentally tough that's all i'm saying could you imagine dude could you imagine just like rolling around campus in a lambo i i was rolling around on like a vespa scooter that i bought with my pizza hut money and i thought i was the shit like if i pulled up in a lambo pizza hut money is that what we heard you worked at pizza yeah Hut? Yeah, I worked at Pizza Hut. The best pizza, right? We all agree. Did they have a salad bar?

Lunch buffet is great. No, I was a delivery driver. I was a delivery driver. Smoking weed, delivering pizza. I thought it was the sweetest job ever. I was like, so are you telling me I can just drive and listen to music and drop pizzas off at people's house and they'll tip me? Yeah, this sounds great.

During your breaks, you can make your own pizza. So I would experiment, make my own pizza. Oh, the JJ Watt Pizza Hut. So are you a Pizza Hut fan or just any pizza shop would have done for you? I just needed a job. JJ? I needed a job. You don't know what you just walked into.

Tread carefully, my friend. What's going on here? What's going on here? I'm in. I love this. This is the show. Let's talk. Let's talk. Well we you are yeah you're doing a lot of yeah you are a lot of talking right now so pizza you don't like you don't like pizza i didn't say anything but i just said i loved eating on my breaks no he said i just needed a job and you know he's he's talking

about i was driving a vest but everyone knows if you work at a pizza hut you probably could have bought a lambo because everyone's buying Pizza Hut. Why is that? Well, because it's the best pizza that you can find in the world. It doesn't matter where you go. It doesn't matter where you're from. Pizza Hut will always

deliver, no matter what. JJ will. Yeah, JJ will deliver to you. We were just in New York. JJ, you've been there all the time. I'm sure you've grabbed many slices of pizza. It's like, wow, this is delicious. But at the end, you know, when you take that last piece of crust and put it in your mouth, there's just a little voice in the back of your head

just saying, like, man, Pizza Hut still shits on this. This is crazy. I thought this was the best pizza ever. Pizza Hut is the best pizza in the world, JJ. That's kind of what we were waiting for you to say. You went the opposite direction. You did. I was forced to work for the Hut.

I needed a job. Yeah, kind of. Yeah, I missed a bit. I missed a bit. It's not a bit. Oh, now you're making it even worse. It's not a bit. Try not to drop an F-bomb here.

It's a way of life, okay? Their breadsticks are fire. Yeah. The wings. They're on the wings. Wingy. I used to have the chocolate breadsticks or the cinnamon breadsticks. My favorite pizza.

I made a thin crust with the buffalo chicken with some ranch and some jalapenos. It was spicy. Buffalo chicken with jalapeno. I like that. You like it hot, hot, hot. Yeah, I respect that. Pizza Hut does always deliver, though. Maybe even J.J. Watt being the one delivering.

That'd be cool. Shout out to Pizza Hut. Yeah, but we talked about this yesterday. Pizza Hut does load that up with so much grease, and who knows what else ingredients in there, that immediately upon eating it, you feel like you're the same shit. I know. I did it. That's all part of the experience, though.

Like, when I order Pizza Hut, I'm like, God, I cannot wait to eat this, and I also cannot wait to shit until I'm basically pooping out blood later. That's part of the experience. That's why I love pizza. I don't think so. I thought there might have been a pizza endorsement with the show until now.

No, no, no. This is just no bit. This is not a bit. This is a reality of the situation. This has actually been a conversation on this particular program for about five years. It has been. So it's only brewing now that it's at ESPN and probably getting amplified a good bit.

Another fun fact, too. Pizza Hut was founded in Wichita. What was that? Oh, really? Wow, that was really good. What place was that again? That was Wichita. Hey, good job.

Who else has some memorable stuff with that particular? Barry Sanders. Run, Barry, run. How come? He's the greatest running back ever. Yeah, but what happened with Barry Sanders? What was the story? He allowed the hometown paper, the Wichita Eagle, to break his title.

It's tough. How close were you to Wichita right now? It's tough. It's a battle every time. You can see the wheels turning. You can see the wheels turning. I'll tell you what, I almost – It has almost become Wachita, Kansas.

I have to. It's not good. All right, let's move away. Let's get back to some football. Tony has a question for you, JJ. Yeah, JJ, we're going to run a clip for you. And while you listen to this, I want you to take your time, answer to the best of your ability, and let me know if you agree.

You look at what Purdy's doing. Purdy is playing great football for a second-year QB regardless. I think – but the thing about it, I think his playmakers are just making better plays. But the thing about it, I think his playmakers are just making better plays. You see Debo's runs. Those are quick passes. Yes, he's getting it to him.

But honestly, sometimes, truth be told, and I am talking crazy right now. I am talking crazy right now. And I'm talking very crazy. I truly believe I could be Tyreek Hill's quarterback. Yeah. I could throw it up to Tyreek Hill. I could throw a screen pass to Debo. He's a great athlete.

And this might be the crazy mad inside of me, but these players are just that good. Christian McCaffrey is just that good. If I get to get the ball out to Christian McCaffrey in space, he's going to make someone miss. He's going to make a play happen for me. course same thing with debo iu kiddo they're great playmate if you watch that game they were able to make people's miss and obviously make big plays off of it small pass precise passes um kept in front of them. You look at the pass chart, right? Those aren't hard passes. They're good passes.

But those players are really freaking good at what they do. They're some of the best. These players top five at their position. But they're just super good. And that's just what they do. I'm talking crazy right now. I am out of pocket right now, but Micah could say whatever the hell he wants,

but this is like a narrative out there, JJ. Well, I mean, yeah, to his credit, he said I'm probably crazy like six times. So he did preface it with an acknowledgement of the craziness of what he was about to say. So touche. I do think it is. I do think that Brock doesn't get enough credit.

I mean, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, like, you know, like Tom had not throughout his whole career, but he had Randy Moss. Like the quarterbacks have had great receipts. Like you can't punish a guy because he's got incredible weapons. There is zero denying he has incredible weapons. The weapons around him are unbelievable. But that doesn't take away from the fact that he's delivering, that he's orchestrating, that he's leading,

that he's doing everything it takes. I think it's very easy for us to sit and say, you know, anybody can do that job. But the reality is there's 32 starting quarterbacks in the National Football League, and not a lot of them are performing anywhere near that level. And then backups come in, and they don't perform near that level. But then Jake Browning has a great night, which was an incredible night. He deserves credit for that.

That was spectacular. But I think Brock, like, it's not like he did this for two games. Like, it's not like he just came in, replaced somebody, and had two great games and then fell off. He has consistently shown that he is able to do this, that he's able to read the defenses, that he's able to deliver the ball, that he's able to do everything

this offense needs him to do. Give the guy some credit. It sucks when everybody just picks apart performances by a guy. The guy's playing lights out. He makes throws, too, that are just in a bucket. I'm very thankful for him. But the only reason why we bring it up is because the confidence that Micah has is awesome.

Yeah. I hope he keeps it. Awesome. Awesome. It is fantastic. But that is like a narrative about Brock. But it's not by the books. Not by the books.

He's currently odds-on favorite to win MVP. Way to go, Brock. Way to go, Brock. I believe he has moved to the odds-on favorite, which, you know, wouldn't have happened, I feel like, just a few months ago. No. The conversation, he's gimmick, he's gimmick.

The sportsbooks are finally giving him some credit. Dak Prescott has had a phenomenal year. Very, very. Jalen Hurts, obviously, all that guy does is win and produce. How will they respond after what happened with Brock Burdick? Good question. And the Niners. Patrick Mahomes, how will they respond after what happened with Brock Burdy? Good question. And the Niners. Patrick Williams, how will they respond after what happened

with the Green Bay Packers, obviously? And then Lamar Jackson, they've been dominant on the AFC side. A lot of people say they're the most complete and consistent team on the AFC. Is it because Lamar Jackson? And how about Tua driving that Lamborghini, that 700 horsepower offense to perfection while also playing.

Eric Clapton on Monday Night Football. It's a great crew right now. It's a great crew of MVP candidates, and Brock Purdy's at the top in the sportsbook size. I hope the humans all kind of help. I think we need to go to a best quarterback award and a best player award.

Because Tyreek Hill, the season he's putting up is unbelievable. It's like what he's doing on a week-to-week basis, the numbers he's going to have at the end of the year, like he absolutely deserves. And, yes, we're probably going to give MVP to a quarterback. We're probably going to give offensive player of the year to Tyreek. But, like, he deserves some sort of recognition for the season he's putting up. It is mind-boggling what he does on a weekly basis.

But, as I've always said, the MVP is 100% a quarterback award, as it should be, because the most valuable player is the guy that touches the ball every single snap and the guy that controls the whole game, and that's always going to be a quarterback. But, like, a guy like tyreek deserves credit for what he's doing it's it's incredible i saw you give a speech on uh uh cbs on sunday i believe about that entire topic it was great very well delivered you know the angle because who won it over you the year you were the best player in football uh aaron oh aaron who uh aaron rogers Aaron. Aaron who? Aaron Rodgers. Oh.

Yeah, your best friend of the show, conspiracy theorist. Whoa. In New York yesterday. Going at journos, going at the journos. Yeah. Journos. Yeah. Great, I mean, Hall of Fame. Did you win it any other year?

No. He got four. Like, he couldn't even just give up one. Yeah. Great timing. Hall of Fame. Did you win it any other year? No. He got four. Like, he couldn't even just give up one. Yeah. Like, he's got four. Like, come on. Aaron Donald probably should have one, too. Oh, that's a thought.

So you had to answer that question a lot, I assume. I've answered it my whole life. But I stay with it to this day. Did you imagine you have an MVP as a defensive player? Wow. Sweet. Most valuable player is a quarterback. Like, it should be. It always will be. stay with it to this day. Did you imagine you have the biggest defensive player? Sweet. Most valuable player is a quarterback. It should be. It always will be. There's no point in even having the debate or the discussion.

That's just physically how it will be. You could be the best player on the planet, and you will not be more valuable to your team than a great quarterback. Touch ball or play? Every play. It does feel like you're a little r Every play. Yeah, you are a little. Yeah, you're. It does feel like you're a little riled up.

Is everything all right? No, it's a fact. We ended 9-7. I mean, it was literally scored offensive touchdowns, defensive touchdowns, it doesn't matter. We still finished 9-7. Like, you have to, like, a quarterback is the most valuable player on the team. It's a fact.

All right. And you're just saying it shouldn't, maybe the award that we should be getting pumped up about is BP, best player. Yeah, there we go. I just think a guy like Tyreek is doing an unbelievable thing. He does deserve some form of credit, and he's going to get it in Offensive Player of the Year.

You're saying it's bigger than that because this could be a defensive player that's doing this. Yeah, and it's crazy that he's not even on that list you just showed of, like the top 10 on odds. He's not even on the list. Plus 1,600, I think. Hey, Tyree, keep going. We appreciate you.

Keep going, Tyree. You're up for the BP on this show. We love you. You're up for the BP. That's a big deal. That's a BD. One of those BPs. PMBP.

Big, big award. PMBP. Did he win a middie? There it is. Yeah, he won an offensive middie. We're handing out middies. Obviously, everybody bashed us for the name. It was midway season.

So we didn't make it up. It's just the way it goes. Conman has a question for you about a big one here, week 14. Yeah, JJ, first of all, I think I speak for everyone. You're an MVP in our book. Yeah. Okay? Agreed. Just so you know, when you lay your head down at night, we think you're an MVP. You're an MVP in our book. Yeah. Okay. Agreed. Just so you know when you lay your head down at night,

we think you're an MVP. And a WP M-O-Y. Bingo. Also that. What do we actually need to think about with this game tomorrow night? Obviously the gimmicks of putting up a Super Bowl. I think that should be done. I also think Rooney and Kraft both have to take a snap at running back

and middle linebacker throughout at one point in the game. But what should we look for here? And should I be nervous that the Patriots will leave Pittsburgh with zero quarterbacks because your brother's going to have 18 sacks? What's the over-under on this? 30. I'm actually curious. 30.

Wow. Wow. Yeah, unless it changed. Yeah, I think we should be looking to see if we can hit that number because the way it's been going, it kind of feels like we're – I don't know where that's coming from. But it's – I mean, it's Pittsburgh. It's New England.

It's two massively historic franchises. Again, we talk about this all the time. You guys talked about it earlier. Like, Pittsburgh's 7-5 and in the fifth seed in the playoffs. We're acting like it's some down-and-out team that's not having any chance. They're literally the five seed right now. But I think that speaks to the expectation level when you have six Super Bowls. Also, on the other side of the game, the Patriots talking about possibly having Belichick move on after this year, that speaks to the level of greatness that organization aspires to and expects when you

have a guy with six Super Bowl trophies and you're kind of like ushering him out the door a little bit. Those are the levels of expectation that create the greatness. And it just seems that neither team is quite meeting what their fan bases expect right now. But I mean, if I'm watching the game Thursday night, which I will be, obviously, I would say it's probably going to be pretty low scoring.

You said, I will be, obviously, because you're a supportive brother. You're definitely going to be watching that game. You won't fall asleep in the middle of it. Yeah, I guess you're on West Coast. You don't. No, I will not. I watch very, very closely. Hey, TJ said that the NFL is against them.

Did you see that? I mean, he had a half sack taken away in this game that I truly do not understand. Like, I've been in the NFL for 12 years, and I've argued sacks, and I've had sacks taken away. I've had sacks given. So I know very well what the criteria is for getting a sack and for getting a half sack. And the half sack that they took away from him this week was truly bizarre.

Here's TJ Watt talking about it all. I don't know. The NFL has something going against me, so I don't want to talk any more negatively towards them. Yes. I don't know what I did, but I'll leave it at that. That's awesome. Now they're saying that's on a miss holding calls.

Sounds like there is some holding calls, but what you're saying is also the statisticians are trying to get them a little bit as well. I did not know that was the case, and I didn't know that happened. What is that process that takes place? So, like, there's obviously the statisticians watching the game. They score the play however they want to score it, whether it's a sack or it's a half sack. You know, generally it's the first guy to hit him, and then if you guys hit at the same time, it's going to be a half.

If one guy hits him first and clearly is going to get him and another guy joins, then that first guy gets it. In a situation like it was this Sunday, the quarterback's going down. It becomes the first player to touch him, gets the sack. It's literally how it's always been. And then there used to be a review process during the week where if you had one that you wanted to dispute, you had your team turn in the into play a video with a written thing saying, this is why we believe the stats should be changed. Now they've recently changed it to, there's a team in New York that does in-game changes. So they'll watch the plays back, any controversial plays, they'll watch it back during the game, change the stats in real time.

So I'm watching the game from the CBS studios. I see TJ get the sack. I'm like, yes, that's a full sack. I look at the stats. It is a full sack. And then a quarter later, I go back just to see how many tackles he's got, and it's changed to a half. And I'm like, what the – because this happened in an earlier game. He had a half sack that he was given, and it got taken away. And, like, when you're in a situation where you're at the top of the board

and you're possibly going to be the NFL leader in it or you could set records, I mean, he got one taken away when he was going to break the record, the Baltimore Ravens game're at the top of the board and you're possibly going to be the NFL leader in it or you could set records. I mean, he got one taken away when he was going to break the record. The Baltimore Ravens game in the last game of the season. He should have broken the record, and they took it away from him. So it's like, yeah, people can say stats don't matter or whatever, but you know how it is. When your legacy is dependent upon it.

Yeah, they do matter. Here's the play, I think, and I'm bummed out about this. Super bummed out. I'm super bummed out. Yeah, like that's 100% TJ's sack. I don't understand how that's – They gave TJ the sack first, and then they went back, reviewed it, and they split it between the two.

I don't – like it's pretty clear to them. Hey, congrats to Highsmith picking up a half sack. Good sack, Alex. But on the flip side here, so this is not the first time this has happened with TJ, you're saying? No, no, it's not. I think that's part of the reason he feels a little certain type of way because it's, I mean.

Run that video again from TJ now that we've seen the video and this has happened before? I don't know. The NFL has something going against me, so I don't want to talk any more negatively towards them. What do you mean, JJ? Or TJ? I don't know what I did, but I'll leave it at that.

So he genuinely, huh? Yeah. Shoot. Pissed. Yeah. The NFL is actually fucking me. Yeah. In real time.

We all see it. So you tell me. I mean, am I wrong? Everybody here watching that video, am I wrong? Is that not? No, and I had no idea that there was a full process because I always thought there was a favorable statistician for whenever things are happening

or when a record is potentially about to be broke. But I would assume that that did take place for so long that the NFL had to come in and step in in the name of fairness and everything. And now it's like, what if there's somebody in one particular position that feels a certain way about a potential record too? You don't know the history of that person's fandom. Oh, yeah. Of every, I mean, there's so many things.

They get pissed. Like Robert Mathis used to be still talking about shit on like Thursday. Like, oh, he gave it to me. We sent the diss in. And then you see how Smith, you see them. They both, they know the rules. Hey, look at this. Get this first touch.

You see guys going. Guys just reaching in, get the finger in to get a half. I love it, man. Yeah, I do. Oh, yeah. And then the rule is, so like one guy could have a quarterback completely wrapped up. But if you knock the ball out, you get the full sack. It doesn't matter. You could just tip the ball and you get the full sack it doesn't matter you could just tip the ball and if you get the full sack so like there's all sorts of little things pass rushers care a lot and d-butt knows there's also a big thing where

if you get a sack but a db got like a pass interference or a holding penalty you don't get it so that but then on the flip side of that i once got a roughing the passive penalty when we got an interception and i have never felt more bad in my life. I went and apologized. I'm like, I'm so sorry. I know how hard it is. That's like an offensive lineman jumping off sides or maybe a holding call.

It's the worst. When you're on the opposite side of the run. Oh, it's the worst. It's the worst. You turn it. You have a big screen that goes like 50 yards, and you turn around. I've heard from a young offensive lineman, not a teammate of mine, but another place, that there was a play

that was called for one particular wide receiver and they were saving that play for like a special time and old buddy jumped off sides on said play, so didn't get the run play and wide receiver reminded

offensive lineman immediately upon getting into the huddle. So after the name has been announced to the stadium of being offsides, we got a five. Hey, that ball was supposed to fuck. That was a touchdown. Yeah. That was,

uh, I was supposed to score a touchdown, right? Just want to let, just. Thank you. Thank you. That's a real thing.

Like you're, you're, you're legitimately mad. It's not like,'re you're you're legitimately mad it's not like uh not like hey it's okay no i'm fucking pissed off hey there's a careers hat here yeah and uh and things to take place well we hope they start treating tj a little bit more fair it's about time i will say uh we started our show with no sound we ended our show on espn with you just talking uh it was it was a home run back here in the thunder you know what i mean what happened We started our show with no sound. We ended our show on ESPN with you just talking. It was a home run back here in the Thunderdome.

You know what I mean? What happened with the sound? We just didn't have it? Yeah, there was a fatal mistake that was made. And the sound has been an issue two or three days this week. Yep, that's right. But the good news about tomorrow? It's going to be good. Perfect.

Another off. That Nework studio adjustment buddy that one was tough that was not it was a lot really there was a lot of moving pieces a lot of firsts in that studio a lot of we'll make an exception for your show i guess and then anytime that happens oh this never happened before so now we gotta yeah it was a lot of it was yeah so when you guys go into there i'm fascinated by the logistics of this. Like, do you guys just kind of take over the set and you run it as you would? Or do you, do they run it as they normally run it?

And you just are like guests. So your questions are good ones, you know, we still have them. We still have those questions, you know, because yeah, camera people were awesome. They had no idea what our show was. So they were experiencing our show for the first time in the studio with us while it was happening. And we just had PTZs everywhere. So we apologize for not having humans on these cameras.

But somebody having to sit behind that camera and watch me. that camera and watch me you know yeah yeah what i and then you guys yeah there's somebody who is a very professional very very accomplished camera person just sitting there and you know you two give a speech on whatever you wanted to give a speech about pizza hut for instance yesterday absolutely it's just like we felt terrible for them you know then the behind the scenes stuff like how our show is just kind of freewheeling you know it's not like we got the blocks yeah there has to be a lot of communication between both me and back and then me too back which doesn't isn't a normal thing i don't think and then also like when others talk who can hear i don't know if people can hear people talk on tv with the way i was being told exactly so we

wonder why some people say the things they say i think they can't hear anybody else that is on the set with them yeah and they're just kind of told like your turn on san francisco it's like here we go i have my entire because there was you know what i mean so we don't know we don't know what's normal what's not normal so but we will say say everybody worked their asses off to try to figure it out. Thank you, people. I also have to say, I know you've been giving credit for it a hundred times, but the Georgia-Alabama pick on game day on Saturday, just chef's kiss. That was a lot of fun.

That was a lot of fun. Awesome. I did not know that that was all going to happen. I didn't know how filled it was. Yeah, a lot of people. When I started talking, and then they showed on the screen the jib shot, and I was like, damn. And then I heard it echoing.

I'm like, whoa. Wow, there's a lot of people here. That was awesome. I mean, that was some grade A level television. Good work. That's what they say about our show, Good TV. That's right. Had no sound today, and we just powered right through the hard out.

And Monday. And Monday, we did the same with no sound. And we also had a control room in Bristol call into our show live. That was perfect. I heard that. That was awesome. Dan in Bristol. So we're terrible at TV.

Check one, two. They can't hear me. They should not be able to hear me. heard that that was awesome dan and bristol so we're terrible at tv but we can check one they can't hear me they should not be able to hear me i can't we can dan we can anyways jj we're very thankful for you pal have a great one out there in vegas what are you doing today you uh hitting the tables a little bit bud no i'm'm flying home right after this. We're done. We had a little golf outing for him yesterday. He loves golf. We had a dinner. It was really incredible.

He's impacted so many lives. I mean, Gary Kubiak, Wade Phillips, DeMarcus Ware. I mean, there were some massive names here to support him. It was really, really cool. And he's been a coach for a very long time. Finally retired. He wrestled a bear his rookie year when he was on the Cincinnati Bengals. He was a first-round pick.

And he went to Cincinnati, and they were like, you want to make an extra 50 bucks? And he was like, yeah. And so they took him on the street corner in Cincinnati. They had a declawed bear, but a real bear, and he literally wrestled it on the street corner in Cincinnati, Ohio. Who's this? Legend.

Bill Kolar, defensive line coach, legend. He played at Montana State, was an All-American Conference Player of the Year, first-round draft pick, and then he was a D-line coach. He coached me. He coached Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, Derek Wolfe. He coached a bunch of great players. All right. Shout-out Coach Kolar.

Did he pin the bear? Yeah. Did he pin the bear? No. And I also, like, I've been dying for video of this my whole life. I think he has a photo of it, like a black and white photo, but no video. But it was, I mean, it was a good, like, four-foot tall bear, so it was still shorter than him, but

they were, like, grappling, and he actually had a, the picture that I saw, he had it behind the neck, you know, like a, it was Anybody worried about the mouth? I know they don't have any claws, but the mouth. He had to be muzzled, right? Was he muzzled? Yeah, I would imagine, I can't say I recall at the moment, I had to, I mean, physically, it had to be, there's no way. They get mauled. Yeah, I would imagine. I can't say I recall at the moment.

I had to. I mean, physically, it had to be. There's no way. They get muzzled. Yeah, because they would like to gnaw on you. Could you pin a four-foot-tall Barry J right now? I don't think so, but honestly, the more you talked about it, like that sounds like that would be a good time.

Are they still doing that anyway? I don't know. Maybe a three-and- and a half footer. I'd do it for a hundred probably. It'd be fascinating. I mean, declawed and muzzled, that would actually be a pretty cool thing to watch. Inflation. Can't be doing it for 50. I need to talk to whoever puts the muzzle on.

That thing better be tight and not come off, though, because that'd be rough middle. If I got that thing on his back and the muzzle pops off, we're screwed. I do like the fact that you have that thing on its back, though, in your head. Yeah. You got a bear. Three and a half footer. Three and a half footer. Three and a half footer. We got that thing smaller. The orangutan,

no way. Hell no. No way. Yeah, you're more confident on a bear than an orangutan. Absolutely, J.J., you know that. You have to be. Why wouldn't you? You have to be. If he's declawed, I mean, you can't. If you cut a chimp's hands, feet, and head off, then yeah yeah i feel okay about it

the arm length of the orangutan is really what scares you i mean it could keep you far away with that arm yeah but also what we've learned and video is proving from one particular zoo that orangutan grabs that person's shirt oh yeah right in the right in this area. Come here, fucker. Yeah, and just starts banging him off the cage. I changed my tone a little bit after seeing that video because that was a happy orangutan. You know what I'm saying? Come see the big happy orangutan. Wasn't that big either.

No. Long ass arms. Oh, yeah. They got reach. Good grip strength. All right, JJ, you beating up the bear? Yeah. I always say I'd rather wrestle a bear than a snake or a scorpion.

I don't like little things. I don't like little quick things. I want something big that I can see. I'd like to think with a muzzle and deep claw, I could pin it. Well, sometimes you get the bear. Sometimes the bear gets you. The bear gets you. If you see me fighting a bear in the woods, help the bear. Okay. The bear gets you. If you see me fighting a bear in the woods, help the bear.

Okay. Nice. All right. We appreciate you, man. You're the best. Enjoy Vegas. All right. Nice.

J.J. Water. J.J. It's happening tomorrow. That's A.J. Hawk. The Talks at the Table is here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. One after the hammer. We'll be right back. each year and this year was army they're favored by three three yeah going into gillette on saturday for army navy college game day will be there i cannot wait to be on the grinds uh friday i'll be there live from a one-person set okay logistics i guess were a complete nightmare for us to take the entire program even though we planned on doing so not only because we respect the hell at army navy in the military but also to get con man back in his natural environment. But logistically, allegedly full-on nightmare, so not going to do that.

Would like to have a good show. Would like to have a good program. We'll have to return to the Revolution region at some point. And we will certainly pay our respects to Army, Navy, and all military members as the show rolls forward. Army favored by three. Did we expect this? Yeah, they've come on late as the season's gone.

Yeah, two different momentums. Yeah, they beat Air Force. Army's kind of been up, or sorry, Navy's kind of been up and down all year. They've gone through a lot of quarterbacks. And Army, fun fact, has won five of the last seven. Navy, fun fact, I think they have four yinzers on the offense. Look out. Now we go.

I think it's center, fullback, I think halfback. I think there's four yinzers on the offense. I would have Now we go. I think it's center, fullback. I think halfback. I think there's four yinzers on the offense. I would have to do a little bit more research. But yeah, the ones that are forward facing, head docking, running through, yinzers. Four of them on Navy starting offense. So I'm, no offense. I'm a non-biased person.

But from what I know about yinzers, So I'm, no offense, and I'm a non-biased person, but from what I know about Yingers, having four of them at pretty physical positions, not that they're more tough than anybody else, but there's a chance. Yeah, they are. As you said to me earlier, too, you can throw the records out for this one. That's right. This is what the legacy is about.

This is what the conversations forever are about. This is whenever you're on a base far, far, far away, and you talk back about in Gillette Stadium whenever we – yes, do you remember? Oh, yeah. Do you remember? Do you remember? What? A lot of that happening forever.

So I'm very grateful to be a part of it this weekend, very lucky to be there, and it feels like you think Army swag is better than Navy swag this year. I like the – I love the idea of the Navy one. I believe it's the Silent Warrior or Silent, which is they're going with the Submarine Division, I believe. But, you know, it was just like a dark blue. There wasn't

a lot of contrast. And then I went over to the Army merch and this was sweet. Yeah, well, let's just say there's more Army-Navy merch that will be in this office pretty soon. Who knows? Maybe it is Navy. Maybe it's Army. All we do know is both merches are so sick.

We here on this program support the troops. Hell yeah. Well said. A product of, I believe, the troops. Nine-year NFL vet, host of Everything DB and the Man to Man podcast. Born in Germany on a military base. Darius Shabal. Happy New Year. You canyear NFL vet. Host of Everything DB and the Man to Man podcast. Born in Germany on a military base. Darius Shea Butler.

You've been watching the Army-Navy play this year at all? I have not. Who do you think is going to win the game? Army. Of course. That's because family ties? Got ties. Big brother, dad, uncle. I actually had my best college game in that

stadium. Really? A lot of history in that stadium, obviously. I'm had my best college game in that stadium. Really? A lot of history in that stadium, obviously. I'm going with the Army. Four Yinzers on Navy. Let's remember that. Speaking of Yinzer, 12-year NFL vet and Super Bowl champion. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you. Hosting the trenches, which we will certainly

dive into. Big news coming out of the shot-putting world. Did you see this aj i did see this this is awesome so shot put is something you got to be like ridiculously explosive yes right because you got to be able to move a rock that is incredibly heavy a further distance than everybody else in doing so you're building up momentum obviously you're doing a little spannerini but then you got to be able to time it all up. So your timing has to be perfect.

Your explosion has to be phenomenal. And your technique has to be no wasted movement. So it's really a test of a lot of things in a short burst where there's no professional. Like, you're not going to get. No. There is Olympics, though. Hell yeah.

The daughter of Brock Lesnar, one of the greatest athletes to ever be put on this particular earth, just broke Colorado State's shot put record. Let's go! Way to go, Maya. Way to go, Maya. Now, sources have told me that Maya is now 224 pounds of all muscle, ready to throw a rock for the United States of America when her time comes

and beat the hell out of everybody else. This is the record setting toss, Huck, and obviously she's jacked up, but I'm happy to know that Maya Lesnar's exist. Yes. Okay, I'm happy to know that the United States has that and everybody else doesn't. Shout out to us. Shout out to Maya. And shout out to Shot Pudding, showcasing some true beast traits, AJ. You know what I mean? I mean, so how many gold medals is she going to win, honestly? I haven't even seen her winning throw yet.

I've been seeing Shot Pudding in a while. My oldest brother did it for a little bit. But, man, this is unbelievable what you have to do. Yeah, and you've got to Like, look like, I haven't seen shot put in a while. My oldest brother did it for a little bit, but man, this is unbelievable what you have to do. Yeah, and you got to remember, you know, it's a, and a lot of people are wondering, hey, would you talk about this if you didn't know her father? Maybe not. But the fact that we know her father

and we know what is in her DNA. Yeah. We know that, yeah, yeah. Maya's going to go do this. She's a junior at Colorado State. I think she has transferred. Her full source cities have told me her full training regimen and everything is like, we're full time. Nice.

We're all the way in this. Love it. Fully committed to becoming the best that she could possibly be. She's a junior. Just broke the Colorado State record. From this program to the Lesnar family and to Maya, congratulations. Congratulations, Lesnar. to the Lesnar family and to Maya, congratulations. Congratulations, Maya. Congratulations, Lesnars.

Could you imagine Brock and Maya with those aliens dropping down there? Yeah, they'd go right back up. I hope she doesn't stop at shot put. Do the decathlon. Let's see her throw a javelin. You think she can't throw a javelin fucking 800 yards probably? I would assume anything. That's what I mean.

Disc. You know? Let's win the decathlon thing. Why not? Just sweep every field event. Maya, we need you out there. Need you. Need you, Maya.

Go get them. Could you imagine having the last name Lesnar, too? The amount of pressure it probably is. Oh, immediately. Because it's like the, you know. I literally saw, that's the alpha male of our species is actually who he is. Yeah.

And then his family, like the name though, you know, like, oh, this is a bad motherfucker. Oh, yeah. Carries weight. And it's like Maya walks in. People would, I would assume, like to beat Maya. You know, there's a target. For sure.

So that's not fair necessarily for her entirely. But my source have told me that she just works her fucking ass off. So congratulations. Hope you get to enjoy it, Maya. Hell yeah. We'll get the gold. Obviously, breaking a record is something you can hang out. Medals is what we're looking to hang.

That's what we're looking to hang. You know what else we're looking to hang? What's that? A big brain trophy for our program. Okay. You know, our show gets smarter every single week. That's right. When we not only get a chance to talk about all the sports headlines

every day, which is a dream, we get to get smarter. Ladies and gentlemen, there's no man smarter whenever it comes to defensive back play and defensive play than the man that's about to break down some film. The host of Everything DB, front of the program, ladies and gentlemen, Everything DB with Darius J. Butler.

Let's go. T-Butch. T- with Darius J. Butler. Let's go. T-Butch. How's the mic? Sounds good. I just want to let you know, we got a new little satellite antenna. There it is. Antenna up here.

It used to be down here behind Connor's ass. And the more lunges that Connor would do, the thicker his ass would get. Maybe the antenna wasn't for you think it used to be down here behind connor's ass and the more uh lunges that connor would do the thicker his ass would get maybe the antenna wasn't able to get through as much so we moved that son of a bitch up to the sky so he should be 100 good because what you're speaking the people need to hear i need to what aq speaking the people need to hear but it's not just the people that need to hear we need to hear it Hell yeah. We got some good stuff today. Hell yeah. Good shit. Let's get to it. First one we're going to have Derek Stingley.

Now, hey, every teammate of his it seems since going to LSU when they probably had one of the top three most talented football rosters ever in college. They say this was the best guy on the field. Now, it's a quarters coverage. You got Stingley, you got the safety here. The way you're

going to attack quarters and Russ, if you can remind it to the beginning, Russell Wilson actually checks to this play because this is the perfect play to run against quarters is a dig and go. So you get your big time receiver. He runs the dig. He fakes it and goes up the field. Quarterback pumps it because, you know, with the coverage house built in, the safety is built to drive that. And technically the corner should be over the top for the double move, but offense is rarely running. You saw earlier in the season with Will Levis, his first big game with D-Hop. One of his touchdowns was dig and go.

So it looks great. They got what they wanted from the safety, but you never expect this corner to actually be, because this is something you go over time to time again, and you maybe see it once, maybe twice during the season. So for a young corner to get back in there, didn't start off the season healthy. What did he say, four interceptions last three games?

Something like that? Unbelievable playing this game. You can see, obviously, fourth quarter. So this is a big moment. This was a close game. Came down to the wire. This is a big-time play from Derek Stingley on the pump and go. Dig and go.

And a good job from Petrie, too, doing his responsibility. He's responsible for the dig route, for the curl route, to be underneath it, to pick it off. So he jumped it. But, I mean, just look at that finish. It's a great finish. That's why the guy got drafted number three overall a few years ago out of LSU. Big time play from Sting.

There are great secondaries, but like Petrie, Ward, and Stingley, are they up there now? Good player. Stevie Nelson, too. Don't forget about Stevie Nelson. He's been playing some good football for them. He's been playing good football a while. Running back for a little bit, this is something I love. I always talk about verbal

and nonverbal communication for defenses. It's more important for the nonverbal communication at home if Houston's actually putting ads in. JJ said they were sold out. Of course he did. He posted the seat. JJ said they were sold out. Okay. Of course he did. He posted that picture.

He said, we sold out. Yeah, so the nonverbal communication here, you'll see him tap his right thigh, maybe just confirming the coverage. He's giving this now, and then he gives something else. He's going to tap his thigh. You see the nonverbal communication between those guys. So love to see it. Oh, Judy. Boom.

What, down here at the bottom? Yeah. Yeah. That's the tough part because that's a wheel route, that out and up. That's on that quarter's defender, quarter flat defender. You see Russ? You got the look you wanted. Bring it tight in a little bit.

Great job. I mean, there was a place where he, but he didn't want to throw it because of this guy over here? You can't throw it that far over because you do have that backside safety who can overlap. I mean, Jerry Judy going up that sideline running out and up on the linebacker would have been the better place to go with this ball, but Russ wants the home run in this situation.

You linebackers are too slow. That's right. I agree that out and up is a brutal situation for that backer to be in right there. And as I mentioned earlier, quarters coverage. Once again, quarters coverage down here. This is fourth quarter, 16 seconds left, third and goal. So you got quarters coverage and a typical adjustment in quarters coverage. Once you have it, you rewind it back to the beginning versus a bunch.

That's three receivers close together. Once it's bunched, you get it on defense. The adjustment is a box. So you're high outside of the box of the corner. You're high inside. So you take the deep inside cut deep outside cut you have the low outside cut cut you have the low inside cut so these four defenders over those three offensive players that's going to be the coverage and you just kind of play them as they come out so you play here this is jimmy ward here as a safety steven el the outside. So now the routes develop down the field.

Got Judy going across. Safety drops him, leaves him with the linebacker, makes his way back out while Russ is avoiding a sack. And now he's – so Russ sees him right now. He's open. He knows he has this guy who on paper is supposed to occupy that safety. Jimmy Ward does a great job letting him go, getting back to his responsibility, making a big – a game-winning interception right here.

A lot of trust. A lot of trust is passing that off to the linebacker there. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, but look where we are. We're on the nine-yard line. So you got Jerry Judy. Once again, that matchup again, 53 on Judy. You only got 19 yards, and you're not worried about the deep ball here.

So he's in a decent, you know, position. Jimmy Ward, great eyes, great feel, getting back there, putting his foot back in the ground, and then going up to get this ball. Did Judy and 85, I don't know if that's Troutman or not, do they know the play? Because off the line, they're like throwing their hands up in the air as if they might not know it. Let's see if I know why.

There was a little hesitation coming off. Both of them, they put their hands up at the snap of the ball, like what the hell are we supposed to do here? Right here. They're both just like a little bit coming off. Both of them, they put their hands up at the snap of the ball, like what the hell are we supposed to do here? Right here. They're both just like a little bit. A little confusion. This was kind of, I don't know if they had any timeouts. I don't think they did.

Yeah, so it was kind of like one of those rush situations where it's on, obviously, the quarterback to get the play out there, and then we saw it earlier this year when Tyler Lockett was confused on that play because the quarterback gets it out, and and you got to relay that call. So maybe it was some confusion there, but a great job execution. You know, if offense don't got this shit together, hey, fuck them. Oh, man. Big time play.

Good pressure. Three picks on Russ. Yeah, I mean, this one, you know, you're trying to make something happen, but it is third and goal. You break that sack. You know, I've never been in that position as a quarterback. I throw it away, and then, hey, we get in the huddle. We call our best play, fourth and goal.

We got a chance for the nine-yard line. But, you know, Russ has made plenty of those plays. Another guy who has made plenty of those plays, Patrick Mahomes. Situation, Keyshawn Nixon, slot defender, does a great job. Sky Moore in the slot. Once again, quarterback sees the look that he wants. I know what I want. Pick route.

So he wants him to come pick him, get some traffic. If he goes underneath, you throw it over the shoulder up top for Sky Moore. If he goes over the top, you put it back shoulder. These DBs were prepared. I believe that's Ballantyne up there, 37. Keyshawn Nixon in the slot. Young player playing some snaps out there. Important snaps.

Big Sunday night football game. Executed properly. Sky Moore sees that it's covered so I don't think he thinks Patrick's gonna throw him the ball Patrick does he beats him to the spot great ball skills big-time play yeah big time I mean I love seeing DB's great ball skills obviously he's a returner so he knows how to find the ball is comfortable finding the ball in the air. But great job executing this. Being on different levels when you're in man coverage,

that's how you avoid pick routes. And then getting over the top and finishing the play. And once again, it's the fourth quarter. You know, 5.20 left on the clock, so that's a big time interception. You get your offense on a plus 34-yard line. You should be able to get down there and get some points. Yeah, I got a field goal on that. Yep, yep. Let's go. That's a lot of. I got a field goal on that. Yep, yep.

Let's go. That's a lot of red. Great job, Keyshawn. Oh, yeah. A lot of Chiefs fans. Bunch of Chiefs fans. A lot of red. Oh.

Mm-hmm. You ought to travel Lambeau. Yeah, yeah. Massive game. Have to travel Lambeau. At what point with Sky Moore do you think they're just going to kind of – This is big. And, AQ, you've been in those offensive meetings,

but especially when you have a quarterback like this. And Patrick Mahomes in the media, I'm not sure where he is, behind closed doors, but in the media he always says the right thing. He's never going to throw anybody in the bus, a coach, a player. But when you kind of – and we saw it early in the year with, I think it was Devontae Adams ran like a – no, not Devontae, the other receiver, he set the pick. Somebody ran it flat, and it was Devontae Adams ran like a, no, not Devontae, the other receiver. He set the pick.

Somebody ran it flat, and it was a pick six because he kind of stopped. Sometimes receivers will see, like, we got some shit dialed up. Ah, they got us. He's not going to throw. Oh, shit, he threw me the ball. And you see guys do it sometimes running deep. Quarterback throws it. They trust their guy.

That's how you lose trust in your quarterback. All right, get out of the bush, guys. They caught us. Yep. Come on out. They got us. They got us. They just give up on us. They got us. They got to just give up on us. They got us.

They came in 87 in the block on this one. Yeah, I mean, that's what happens when your tackles kind of stink. And, you know, they got some good outside. Hey, Van Ness. Are you worried about it? Are you worried about it? Van Ness made another big play. That was big.

Donovan Smith went out early with a neck injury, I think. Oh, yeah. Backup tackle the whole game. Yeah, I think Van Ness just bullied him. Yep. He got a sack. He got a sack earlier. Gary had three sacks on Thanksgiving.

You worried about Chiefs? Shit, I am. I'm worried about them. You know, we know what their track record is. We know what they've done. We know their history. But, you know, we're not used to seeing them lose these type of games in December. You know, this is the point where first eight weeks of the game,

oh, they'll be all right, they'll be all right. But, you know, it still is the Chiefs, still Patrick Mahomes, still Andy Reid. But, you know, not worried about them. I mean, I am worried about them. I'm sorry about that. Okay. Well, here's a team you might be worried about. Ooh, uh-oh.

Hey. Hey. Detroit Lions, great, great, great play design here with this motion. You got this 20, 21 little. So you got two running backs, no fullback, tight end, two wide receivers. You got Laporta up here. But this motion, I believe this is cover three with the corner up here pressing on that cut split receiver. So that's a corner pressing, cover three.

So he's deep third. I believe Tyron Matthew will be the flat defender. And this motion from Jameer Gibbs kind of takes his eyes, right? He's the flat defender, and flat defenders are also responsible for those out and ups. They're responsible to be up under those seven routes. So he takes his eyes with Gibbs coming across the motion, and you've got Laporta who's going to find that void in the defense. Wide ass boom. That's brilliant in the defense. Oh, wow.

That's brilliant. That's great. And the corner helped him out to that side, because a lot of times when you're playing cover three as a cornerback, if I have one receiver, a lot of times you just get up there and press it. It's mostly man to man coverage anyway, unless that guy, that receiver up there just runs it under. You just kind of zone it off. But once that top receiver runs vertical, you can kind of man it, and then once again it'll be on that flat defender to sink back. But, I mean, Laporte, the timing of it, first down. Jared Goff leads the league in first down play action,

completion percentage, yardage. You see a lot of these chunk plays too. Sam Laporte, who's on pace right now to, like, break pretty much all the rookie tight end records. Yeah, he's pretty good. Yeah, and that's when the Saints were kind of coming back, too. It was kind of like we needed that one to get this one going. Late in the third quarter.

It's brilliant, though, because as soon as he gets past him, it's no longer his responsibility. Nope. Right? You kind of end up with two guys, you know, kind of covering grass, honestly, with Double D in the back. This guy's got cleared out. Yeah. Because you got everybody pretty much playing zone, grass, honestly, with Double D in the back. This guy's got cleared out.

You got everybody pretty much playing zone except that corner up top who just said, hey, I'm going to press it and man it. That's the area that becomes vacated, that deep third. Ben Johnson. Ben, that's a brilliant play design. Gives motion, too. Great timing for it, too. And then Laporta kind of just being patient with it, too. But I think the biggest part

of his play, honestly, was the Jameer Gibbs motion. So he's not, like you said, he's playing it man because there's one wide receiver that side and cover three. If the motion coming that way, he shouldn't have bumped out of that technique? Personally, if you rewind it to the beginning of the wide shot. Well, there's no cover zone, D, but you've talked about it. Like five yards, usually, like, hey, you let him throw that, and you react, and you gang tackle. Don't jump a guy, you know, within five yards. Yeah, so that's a no-cover zone.

That's a rallying tackle. But honestly, and I've been in this situation personally, when it's a guy like Jameer Gibbs or Jamal Charles or Alva Guerrero. Don't want to give him that much space, right? Yeah, you want as little space as possible. And as a corner, sorry, if you go back to the beginning, Pat, when a tight end is that close, that's kind of when I would back up and just play it as a zone because I have another threat

that can potentially be into my deep third. Now, when he's wide off, we call it, when he's in that off formation, typically that's not where tight ends will run deeper routes. Once again, another great job by Ben Johnson, you know, with the formation, that late motion, and then just executing during the play. Tough play especially when that corner gets up in the press. Genius. And that's

2-9. That's a D-roll, so I'm sure it's on film that he likes to get up and get his hands on guys. Could be a New England next year. That means you would have to move on from Bill. That'd be a big decision. Yeah, I want it. That'd be a big decision. Bill might be here, right? Some people are saying commanders i've still got a lot of money over there i mean i don't know michael parsons could have made this throw michael could have made this

one i believe on this one we agree i don't he probably could have called this defense better as well because no deep safety after the motion this safety rotates down the only deep safety is on the complete opposite side of the field of tyreek fucking hill like i don't know how this happens third and two you got one that's tyreek that's the cheater right there you got one db response from him he completely whiffs this looked like when i was going over this earlier with bruce he's like bro this is like some high school shit yes it does you fired your you fired your dc whoever's calling the plays, whoever's dialing up,

like this is, I mean, like what is this? Balls in the air so quick. Like what is this? Yeah, he's looking because pre-snap two of Cs, okay. It's no deep safety. Maybe this corner,

maybe they're doing some inverted deep half. Nope. No, and Tyreek said after the game, I mean, I appreciate you guys basically for, you know, disrespecting me.

Like what is that? Absurd. How does that happen? 32, he thought he was going to jump it. He thought he was going to run some of the sticks or something probably. Like, what are we doing? That's Riverboat wrong, baby. That's Riverboat wrong.

That's right. He will roll the dice. Is he calling the plays right now? He might not even know who Tyreek Hill is. He might be. Oh, this guy's pretty fast. We should cover that. Why don't we have that guy on our team?

I'd be the MVP of be the MVP conversation right now. Flores calls a good offense now. Man, that guy's really good. Shit. We should think about it. Who is that guy? And then the last one, game winner for our coach. Speaking of a guy really good.

OT. Once again, the offense knowing what the defense is going to be. And a lot of times, this point in the game is overtime. The game plan is in. We've seen what these guys are. They were already in this situation earlier in the game, so they knew they were going to get man-to-man coverage. So you motion over.

And this is one of those Peyton Manning specials. You got man-to-man and what beats man-to-man combo coverage. When you're passing off routes, the worst thing for that are double in-breaking routes or double out-breaking routes. They send Pierce underneath. Michael Pittman pretends like he's going outside and turns it up to like a bang eight. That corner on the outside, pass it off. Now he's outside leverage.

Gardner Minshew puts it on the money. Big Michael Pittman, 11 receptions over 100 yards. Seals the game. Big time win over divisional rival Tennessee Titans. Game one on third and goal, N-O-T. Steikens. I mean, that's absurd. That's genius, too.

Yeah, Steikens. That's knowing what you're going to get on tape. Being prepared for it. Hell of a route, too, though. Watch out. I mean, Pittman gets his head right back to Gardner, too. Like, let him know, hey, here we go. Big body, too.

Big body. Those, you know, throws in the rear. Sells it outside. Sells it. Oh, yeah, I'm going to run to the corner. And then, boom, as he turns back, his head gets right back to Gardner. Big body. Those throws. Sells it outside. Sells it. Oh, yeah, I'm going to run to the corner. And then, boom, as he turns back, his head gets right back to Gardner. You watch. Minshew puts it on him.

Bam. Seed. Man. Ballplayer. Good execution right there, man. Nice patience too. Like, okay, here we go. Only a two-man route too.

You know, so we can protect. You got to win. Two-man, once again, double ins or double outs. That's the toughest thing on the combo because if Pittman just goes flat, Pierce comes in, we both pass it off. We both got great leverage. But if, you know, let's say Pierce went flat and then Pittman went deep seven, now that inside guy would have the bad leverage.

But great execution right there with some big receivers. That was really good. Thank you, Dee Bot good. Thank you, Dee Botch. Thank you, Dee Botch. You should get out and watch these guys' plays. You should go to SeatGeek. Thank you to today's sponsor, SeatGeek, the best ticket-buying platform on planet Earth, and the Blue! Plus, they gave us this beautiful ticker,

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They're not going to do that. But shout out to SeatGeek. We appreciate the hell out of you. Love you, SeatGeek. Tickets are a great gift, too. Oh, yeah. Great, great gift. A lot of games coming up that people will want to be at.

Yeah, and those under $30 tickets. I think you can go to a Patriots game right now with that code for $10. Love that. Also, maybe a Steelers game tomorrow night. I probably looked. No, you can't. It's going to be sold out tomorrow night. Yeah, just like we thought. We were going to be so

bummed out if that place wasn't sold out tomorrow night in Pittsburgh. Why don't you go to the game? In Pittsburgh? Bombat. If that place wasn't sold out tomorrow night in Pittsburgh. It'll be sold out. You're not going to be bombed out. Why don't you go to the game? Yeah, you should. Why don't you go to the game? In Pittsburgh?

Yeah. I live here now. Bring Ed Bechtold. Yeah, you and Ed Bechtold, disabled Vietnam vet. Guy who didn't get a chance to see a triple overtime win for the Pittsburgh Penguins because the power was out. Here's him talking to local WTAE about it. So I hear I missed three overtimes.

Is that right? But we did win. That's all that matters to me. You bummed out you didn't get to see it? I'm bummed out. I'm bummed out. Yeah. Yeah, I'd say.

The biggest impact. It came to his house for this? It had to. I just need to get a little quote. Yep. Not even a power. Just the hockey game. The power could have went out after the hockey game

Missing that three overtimes Upset me a little bit Let's get Ed to a game, Pence This guy fucking missed two games Three periods And three overtimes It's two games Is that Donato's?

Sorry, what? What was it? How did they know to come to his house? Because he's bummed out Is that Donardo's? Sorry, what? Station? Yeah. What was it? WTAE? Joe Donardo? How do they know to come to his house? Because he's bummed out. Because everyone knows bummed out. Ed Bechtold was telling everybody in town how bummed out he was.

Exactly. And he said, we got to talk to fucking Ed and see what he was so bummed out about. Then he learned he's a disabled veteran. And they're like, you know what? We've been doing it right since the days of Donardo. We need to give Ed Bechtold a fucking platform. Exactly. And Ed said, I'm bummed out about a fucking platform exactly so one of his okay i'm bummed out about it yeah one of his neighbors called said hey listen ed's fucking bummed out

get over there and cheeseball please get a quote you know that guy had said we're still number one around here yeah just a couple years ago after a fire and ashes got on his front yard barry pingore yeah and he said this is what you gotta deal with to live in pittsburgh so be it we're still number one out here. We got another one of those in Ed Bechtel. Awesome. You heard the ref, first time. That's 15-yard penalty on defense.

Another first time. We need more of this. We need more random interviews around Pittsburgh all the time. I agree. Please, God, can we make that happen? I associate with Ed more than I do Barry because Barry was a little too positive. I like being bummed out. You know what I'm not bummed out about?

What's that? We get an opportunity to learn about the fat boys on the football field. I love it. But they're not fat anymore. These dudes are just properly jocked and big. If you call them fat, too, they do get bummed out. No, they understand, I think. they're the only group of people that just get called fat and have to be big boat to do your profession which is a shame because a lot of them

you know don't love eating sure a lot of them don't like being considered overweight right a lot of people try to lose as much weight as possible at those positions as soon as they're done and actually lose half their body. We've seen it numerous times. Yonda? Yonda. So skinny. Russell Okun? Alan Kovanica?

Coach Jeff? Yeah. You want to talk about being a bump dog? Wait a minute. Oh, wait. Did you guys just see when it was from? No, no, no. Don't stop it.

Sean Kingston? No. Oh, no. no. Don't stop it. Sean Kingston? No. Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. Oh. When did he die? I saw it below that clip.

Oh, no. I believe it was this summer. Thank you for your service, dude. The clip from was May or last May? Mikey and Big Bob Wooden, though, currently doing their stuff for the 20th year finding toys for the great kids of Pittsburgh

that's Mikey and Big Bob doing that obviously and Tall Kathy, appreciate that they're the ones that had to break the news to the world that Ed Bechdel is no longer bummed out what Ty? I mean when I saw his video is no longer bummed out. What?

I mean, when I saw this video yesterday, I said it right away. You know, literally any conversation I was having with anyone when we were going down to that elevator, I said bummed out about 150 times in 15 minutes, was planning on doing it for the next month and really just beating it in the ground and killing it. The expression. And you already did. And now it just doesn't seem right anymore.

And I'm really bummed about that. Rest in peace, Ed. Miss you, Ed. Miss you. Miss you, Ed. First job. We appreciate you, Ed. My bummed out. I miss you. I miss you. First Joe. We appreciate you, Ed. My bum dot.

I'm a little bum dot. I'm getting a little water on you. I know. Me too. So I hear I missed three overtimes, but we did win. That's all that matters to me. I doubt you didn't get to see it. I'm bum dot.

Yeah. I'm bum dot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he's crying because he missed it. Thank you. Him and Joe are watching games together in heaven now. You're goddamn right they are.

And we're bummed out we don't get to be there. Yeah. Thanks for your contributions to society, Ed. And thank you for serving the United States military. Amen. We lost a good one at some point. We love you, Ed. We love you, Ed. At some point.

We don't know when he was alive. We don't know when he was alive. Six months ago. Some say we lost him in Vietnam, never came home. No, he did come home. He was home. Mentally. I'm fucking bummed out.

I know. I'm really bummed out. We know some Bechdelts. There's some Bechdelts in Plum. I don't know where Ed Bechdelts from, but the Bechdelts family I know from Plum, legendary as well. Yeah. All right. Rest in peace, Ed.

Yeah. Holy fuck. I don't know how we go forward from here. It's a massive bummer. I'm not going to listen to anything AQ says. I'm too fucking bummed out. I don't. I'm too fucking bummed out.

I mean, Ed would probably want us to go into the trenches, though. Yeah, absolutely. Definitely. Just like he lived in the trenches. This one's for Ed. Ladies and gentlemen, for Ed. For Ed. For Ed.

For Ed. For Ed. In the trenches is AQ Shipley. Don't bum us out. Yeah. It's tough. Bumped out. Tough act to follow. Jeez, we got some Colts clips, though, today.

Whoa, really? We got a couple ones. We're going to start with the Detroit Lions. Hey, first thing I want to talk about, because I don't really understand this. So, he goes in motion. They bump. That tells me we're in zone coverage. Yep.

That's what I would see, correct? Absolutely. All right, now let's let it run. Let's let it run. We let him go across. Now we're going to send him back in motion. I don't understand why DeMario Davis runs with him like we're in man coverage.

What's DeMario doing? Because that just got their best defensive player out of the whole middle of the field for us to run it right here. Great single right there. Great climb right there. He's got to beat one. He makes the corner miss. Oh.

And he's gone. Hell, yeah. Everybody in New Orleans. You got to get in. He's gone. Pretty bummed out. That's it. It's going to be tough, AQ.

It's going to be tough. I know. We're rolling with it. I'm just going to tell you, right? You're doing great. I appreciate it. Well, I did to Mario. I don't understand.

How did Ed die? Did we figure out how he died? He went down swinging. I know that. He went down swinging. Are you goddamn right? Yeah. Like at air?

Because he had dementia or something? I think he fought 15 people. I think he went to Cleveland and fought 15 Cleveland people. Okay. And at the end, just one final punch to the mouth. What's the thing in the papers called? With someone? Yo Bits.

He wasn't in that submarine, was he? Jesus. What submarine? Submarine. The one that went to the Titanic. The Titanic one. Ed, you think Ed's fallen for some scheme to go down and see the Titanic in a shoebox? Maybe it was one of those, you know, what do you call them before you die?

What's those lists called? Your final bucket list. My bucket list wasn't a bucket list item. Go see the Titanic. I don't know if Ed's watching the Titanic and deciding his bucket list needs a trip in a tin can. His name is Ed, but everyone called him Butch. Butch, back to old Butch. So when was it? January 11, 2023.

Oh, God. 2023 is a real fucking son of a bitch, wasn't it? What it did to Florida State. Yeah. Took a butch. Oh, he's a chief. He was a fire chief at Edgewood Fire Company. I was going to try and guess where he was from based on the accent.

I was going to say. Veteran of the U.S. Army. Edgewood? Turtle Creek area, I was going to say. I was going to say Turtle Creek. How'd he pass away? Just in his sleep? He dressed up as Santa for disabled children during the holidays. That's the fucking greatest human being.

That's how he died? No. Jeez. Who's January? See, it's guys like him. It's guys like Joe who give back to the community and who are absolute legends in the area that I love that we like to give praise and shine a on yeah how'd he die god damn it he was a war hero that's how he died i mean i'll take that but did he re-enlist to go to the ukraine or something

he's aj re-enlist not re-en maybe, you know, go be a rogue soldier. He never left, brother. He was a general in the Army, right? Is that what it says? No. Hey, Butch, you've done good, Butch. Done good, Butch. One last time.

One last time. Done great. From our guy, Butch, just so we can really, heroes. So I hear I missed three overtimes. You did, Butch. But we did win, that's all Yeah, Butch You bummed out you didn't get to see it?

I'm bummed out I'm bummed out Yeah The biggest impact from this storm overnight As far as I'm concerned, yeah Not even a power Just the hockey game The power could have went out after the hockey game

But missing the three overtimes upset me a little bit. Rest in peace, Butch. Love you, Butch. You're in overtime right now, Butch. That's right. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. He's in overtime in Scott.

That's right. Looking down on great trench play for the Detroit Lions. AJ, why did DeMar DeDavis run out of there? I don't know. They're still too busy looking atchers, whatever that was. His popped up. Was that from his funeral? That was his obituary.

Oh, his obit popped up. Why did he run out, though? I don't know if we have the sideline view. I'm curious. What's outside of him? There's no one out there? No, he's running with them. There's one receiver out there.

Yeah, no, I'm saying he didn't have, like, I'm surprised the safety or someone doesn't come down. That's what's weird. The bump one way, and then bump one way, and then we're matching this way right that's what i'm not really sure about you know what i like on his play what it's like he didn't get bummed out when the hole was not there you know he like kept his patience to stay out because he could have come back here but then he probably gets got. Instead, he remains patient out here without getting bummed out, remains confident, optimistic.

That's because he knows the corner's trying to tackle. He knows corners don't like to tackle. This is true. He chooses that instead of inside safety. Bingo. That's good running. Good running. Look at this.

Detroit Lions on a pass one and on a run one. Oh, yeah. You know what bums me out, though? What's that? He didn't get the touchdown at the end there. I really wish Gibbs got that. Who did they give it to? Montgomery. Montgomery.

I thought he said he doesn't want them. He did. Didn't he do that this year? He did that one. One time. That bums me out a little bit. Give back the favor. I'm not.

AQ, come on. I'm waiting. Here we go. Oh, I'm not. Hey, Q, come on. I'm waiting. Here we go. Oh, I love this one. Hey, Q, you bummed out about Butch. No. The fact that it was a year ago. What's your problem?

I love the fact that he was talking about a, what was that, the 2017 Stanley Cup, Nick, three overtime game against the Senators. I love that. It was an old clip. I love it. What? That clip wasn't yesterday? No, it has to be from 2017. It has to be from that clip. I think it was a Louis Domingue game.

No way! I think it was May 2022. Yep, it was. They went three overtime with Louis Domingue? Yeah! Standing on his head! And he won. You know what a lot of people were saying. They were bummed out.

They were. I bummed out. They were bummed out. That's another first time. That's two times in the last three months here where we've really been captivated just by a Ginzer. It's hard not to be. Not just any Ginzer, though. Butch Bechtel.

Thank you, Butch. Thank you, Butch. Miss you, Butch. Love you, Butch. Oh, yeah. AJ, Butch. Thank you, Butch. Miss you, Butch. Love you, Butch. Oh, yeah. AJ, Butch would have fit right in with this show. He would have. He would have been.

Can you imagine Butch in a Thunderdome? Oh, no. He got me straight in the putts. Wow. He's fucking cheating. No way. Holy smokes, man. Watch out for the green.

How'd this guy die? For real. Make the putt, Butch. No way. Has to go in. AQ, you better hope this doesn't go in put the sword aside holy hell look at that how's he hit the driver crashes it what are you talking about that seat moves same Yeah, same way. See that seat belt?

He locks that thing in. Swills that. And then there's a full swivel. Oh, you were asking how he had. How he had. He starts five yards behind it and gases it. They say water polo or horse polo. Yeah.

Oh, man. Sorry about it. I think he's wanting to take the pit. Boom. Right there. Suck it, Vietnam. What a move. All right.

What does the offensive line do for the Dolphins? Dolphins, great play here. I love this. We get a little toss play, but check the eyes out here because we get the motion. If you start back in the beginning, here's what I love about this because there's a lot of things going on here. See what I'm starting out here? This is a hard reach for the center.

Super hard reach. Look, he's all the way in the plus C gap, right? Now we get this little start motion here. Let's let it run. And this bumps them back in makes it a much easier block for him gives him an angle by the time he motions back out they can't adjust quick enough still gives them the angle now i see the tight end holds him freezes him freezes him allows him to get the block we get the. Allows him to get the block. The other thing, Tua

typically does the pitch this way or they do the handoff from the motion toss. He goes this way and then pitches it back, which I love. Watch this. Fake here and then pitch on the toss. Just an added wrinkle. A lot of shit they're doing. Matt McDaniel, he is a

clever, clever guy. A lot of stuff. A lot of stuff. Hell of a down block, too, by Ingold, the fullback, on the defensive end. Keeps them inside. You always want to let them get you underneath. You never want to let them go over the top, so if you win your block with them going underneath, it's huge. Dompy, you're not bummed out about this at all, right? No, I am

saying Finns are going to the Super Bowl right now. I feel very good about this team. You see that, A. Cush? I love it. They might be the best team in the AFC. There's no question about it. Just setting himself up to be bummed out. A little bit.

Because they're going to face the Niners. Oh, speaking of. Speaking of. Wait a minute. You think Mike Medea is going to lose that revenge game? Butch ever make a home run? Yeah. Yeah.

That was it right there. So we got Kittle out here in front. We got the center out here in front. Obviously, this is a pass play, but it's behind the line of scrimmage, so we count it as a run. How did Butch die? I know. Does it say that in the obituary or no?

Oh, Butchuary? We know how AQ's going to die. Got to rename him now. Kill himself if we keep doing this dirt. Thank you, Respects Butch. I roll with it. You know that. You know, he knows Butch, too.

He knows about 10 Butches. Yeah, he knows 10 Butches. I know that. He knows Butch too. He knows about 10 Butchers. I know a lot of Butchers. This is the team that's winning the Super Bowl you said. I think so. I think they're killing it. When they have everybody healthy they're the best team on the field every single week they step on it. Overseas?

No, no, no. Once you become a war hero,'re always war heroes that's how so that's how we do it yeah amen uh-huh get him he did this how many confirmed kills hundred and seven hundred and twenty seventy two I guess get more we got source off source off here I'll take the higher number though I'm wrong I take the higher number wait oh I'm butchers in the sky it's more than the sniper you can see duty Hey, Q, Butch is right above you How'd we get him there?

Look at him Tickle his chin, AQ How'd we get him there? Tickle his chin Is he up on this TV? Low respect, AQ Where's the TV? I'm gonna put my hand on my heart.

Do, do, do. Do, do, do. Do, do, do. Do, do, do. Do, do, do. Ha! Ha! Ha! So I hear I missed three overtimes, but we did win.

That's all that matters to me. You bummed out you didn't get to see it? I'm bummed out. Yep. I'm bummed out. Yeah. Here's to you, Butch. Thank you, Butch. Thank you, Butch.

Rest in peace, Butch. Hell yeah. Bill, I didn't see you in attention for fucking Butch Bechtel. Bill, son of a bitch. Oh, Bill. Butch was a good man. He got some good pics, though. Wow.

Allegedly. I question that, too, you know, because how is he not distracted by Butch's good name to take a good photo? Good point. How about that? Especially with what we know about Bill, him and Butch would have been the tightest. Oh, my God. Nick Steve's.

Bill killed Butch? Oh, no. Did he? That means his body is near if he did. No, no, I think he's been in a tub of battery acid for months if that actually happened. Bill did not kill anybody. No. Bill's a... Today. Bill's a...

AJ? He's a... Well, to be fair, Bill just purchased a silencer for his pistol, so we're thinking that he's doing a couple rogue ops coming up soon. Well, to be fair, Bill just purchased a silencer for his pistol. So we're thinking that he's doing a couple rogue ops coming up soon. He went through a course to potentially get that done. January 9th, 1950, a legend was born. Okay? And then two days after he turned 73, he said, I'm about done with the earth.

And he actually chose to leave. He didn't kill himself. He just said, I'm done here. Yeah. And he walked into the next life. Way to go, Butch. Thank you, Butch. Butch.

I'm done. I've done enough here. All right. Yep. I'm actually kind of bummed out that there's nothing more to do. And he just walked right into the next. Yep. I'm going to the next place.

We'll see you there, Butch, hopefully. See you, Butch. You know who we might see in the Super Bowl? Who's that? This 49ers team. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Hey, this looks eerily similar to that play the Steelers ran against Cleveland.

I can make that throw. It's a little hot route. Remember there was a hot route? I don't know if this is a hot route because these receivers all got the memo this week. We're going to block, guys. We're going to block, guys, here. We're going to throw the Debo out in space. We get a block.

We get a block. We get a block. And we get Debo down there for plus 15 down to the five. These are the plays that Mike is talking about right here. This is the one? I think so. Just because this is one play, obviously, of like 70. But in theory, Connor could catch that.

Now, he's got to be not scared of the Philadelphia Eagles defense killing him. I'm not. So you have to comfortably call the play, get the cadence, catch the snap, flip your hips, and throw without even thinking. No laces. No, you would have to do that. Now, maybe you're able to do that. Perhaps. Physically. Got to be careful because you're off target. That's a fumble. No, you would have to do that. Now, maybe you're able to do that. Perhaps.

Physically. Got to be careful because you're off target. That's a fumble. Yes, it is. Watch out. Watch out. Who was that? Jennings, I think, right?

Juwan. Yeah, that's Juwan Jennings. Great effort by Kittle as well. Huge effort by Kittle. How about Kittle blocking two people? I don't know if that's going to make it or any trenches or not. That was incredible. Great job.

Center gets out. I mean, it's just everything they do. I think I said this to you on Sunday. They were, I think, minus six yards in the first quarter, and then they just took off because they are so good at adjusting on the fly. And then here's another play that's awesome. Let's attack the edges. We got a great defensive end.

We're going to send Kittle. Get him wide. Leave him for use check because they're working in cahoots. These two, if he stays wide, Kittle blocks him, and then Juszczyk goes. But he goes inside. Juszczyk takes him. He climbs to the corner. Trent's awesome like he always is, and he doesn't get touched for 15 yards.

They were talking about running left. Yeah. They were talking about running left. We need to run left, run left, run left. Why do you run left? Is he the best in the game? Yeah. Yeah. It're talking about running left. We need to run left, run left, run left. Why do you run left? Is he the best in the game, yeah? Yeah. It's not even a question.

By far, yeah. Yeah, you just watch this entire game. Watch him run off the ball. He just moves people at will at all times. You're going to see another play coming down the road here. Look how fast he is. Look how fast he gets up to the second level. Like, that's not normal.

His feet are unbelievable. And he explodes. Like, okay, you want to be a linebacker right there, and you got Trent coming right. Look at how fast he is. And he's engulfing you. He's not normal. His feet are unbelievable. And he explodes. Like, okay, you want to be a linebacker right there, and you got Trent coming right. Look at how fast he is. And he's engulfing you. He's on you. There's nothing you can do.

You can't do anything. That guy. That guy, that's a professional athlete. Great reach. Great angle. Because they always do a great job of creating angles, too. They're always working back to a guy because they use a fullback. Every other team that doesn't use a fullback, you have shitty angles.

But because they use a fullback, now you put him on the frontside guy, and now everybody can work their combo blocks backside. That's a big game. You're saying these O-linemen in this scheme love this scheme? They love this scheme because they always have great angles. No worse. So, yeah, I would imagine if you went from this scheme to another one, wouldn't you struggle a little bit if you came into the league running this scheme if you were a blocker?

Pause this right here, right? So if Juszczyk's not in the game and this is just a single-zoned front side, this center and guard now have to work to 41. You see that? This combo now has to work here. But because of that, now we can put Trent there. Now this combo works there. This combo can now work to work here. But because of that, now we can put Trent there. Now this combo works there. This combo can now work to 31. So they get their angles.

They can slow everything down, be thicker and heavier on the down guy as they work to the second level working back. Does that make sense? Yeah. They have to run through your body. If you want to get there, either take the easy way out underneath, which is always a win for the offense,

or run through my body like, good luck. And look at Kittle. You know, this guy could be your, like, a diva because how good he is at catching the ball. He gets, like, jacked when he blocks something. He's the best blocking tight end I've ever seen.

And I'm not even kidding when I say that. He blocked two dudes on that one. He escorted Debo. Yeah, Debo. Into the end zone. Yeah, into the end zone. Boom, and then put his arm out and got the other guy. Nope, didn't even cry for holding. It was just like, yeah, that one guy beat both of us.

Yeah, that's just how it was. It was just kind of a matter of fact. Good mindset over there. I think we got another Niners play coming up. Oh, buddy. Okay, so this is the play I kind of want to talk about about Trent. So first, we're going to start here. Then we're going to go to the center.

Then we're going to go here. Watch Trent're going to go to the center. Then we're going to go here. Watch Trent move here. Jesus. Now look at this. Now look at him move, first of all. Bypass here. Now he's going to have a great angle on 41. Now watch him chip him, put him back on the center.

Boom. Now the center gets him. Now watch the right guard with the cleanup. Jesus. I mean, it's like poetry in motion watching these three guys just work in tandem as they work to just beat the shit out of 41 who had a rough game, by the way. Rough game. Well, yeah.

He got blocked by three guys on this play. I can see how he could have a rough. Boom. Oh, jeez. They come with bad intentions. Bad intentions. Because they're taught to run off the ball. That's the beauty about when you watch them, when you watch Miami.

They run. They run. Yeah, they're having a good time. They're having a great time. Great time. Yeah, they're trying to hurt people. I mean, Debo just untouched for 50. Yeah.

And there's another play maybe you throw. Yeah, Micah, maybe. He can probably throw that one. Yeah, Micah maybe. He could probably throw that one. Yeah, Micah definitely. I don't know about anybody else that's talking. But if those are the only ones you could throw, they're going to sit on us. He's two for two for about 111 right now. Yeah.

That means better than what we're going to see from nine or ten. You're going to sit on us. Yeah, true. Number 75, Will Fries. They get him in the seventh round out of Penn State a couple years ago. They got him starting at guard here. By the way, the other guard, Quentin Nelson, is having an awesome year. He'll be him in the seventh round out of Penn State a couple years ago. They got him starting at guard here. By the way, the other guard, Quentin Nelson, is having an awesome year. He'll be

back in the Pro Bowl. Okay, Quentin! Awesome year. He's back in the Pro Bowl. They get their center back off concussion, so they got their full group, and they put together. They played awesome on Sunday, but check my guy. Look at him. He sees it from the get-go. He sees it from the get-go. That one's hungry. There's ribs.

Yep. This one's a good one. Boom! Now watch him finish. That's a mean cuss. That's what the Colts are, by the way. Welcome to the A.C. South. Another thing we're not going to mention, because obviously we're looking at that one. Rewind this one more time.

Here's what's pretty awesome. A lot of times you have back help whenever you pull a guard. There's always a back helping you whenever you pull a guard. They put Quentin Nelson one-on-one out here with a defensive end. That's what gets this touchdown. Look at him just eat that one-on-one block in space. That's a much harder block than he's making that look, I promise you. It's his old teammate, too, right?

Yeah, it's Miko Autry. And this is awesome. Bam! Bam! Come on, Will. We were friends. And it's go. What a ball. Awesome. Alec Pierce's first touchdown in season. And this is awesome. Bam! Bam! Come on, Will. We were friends. And back up. What a ball.

Awesome. Alec Pierce's first touchdown in the season right now. Big time. That a boy, Alec. Way to go, Alec. Now we close with Quentin Nelson, I think. I think we close with Quentin Nelson. Got a great view from the backside here.

He comes with bad intentions here. He wants to finish. He's playing at a high level. Gets underneath. Strain, strain, strain. Go for the swim. Barry. Oh, it's Barry.ined, go for the swim, bury. Oh, it's buried.

Oh, it's pancake right there. That's right. Little pancake. Yeah, it is a little pancake. Yep, yep. Some things were said about you yesterday. Yeah. Did you hear that? No, not me. I didn't say it. You heard what Tony said, right? I think it was Tom Diggs. What did I say? Tom Diggs said, we have AQ Shipley trying to tell us stuff that goes on,

and you're much better to Jeff Saturday. Is that what you said? Does that seem like something I would say? That's my ride every morning. That's my guy. My guy picks me up. That doesn't mean anything. Name drops your segment.

He was with Jeff Saturday yesterday. He was. He was all with you. What? You picked him up yesterday. No. Unbelievable. He's sitting right next to him.

The lies that happen sometimes on this stage. Z, you can probably bring it up from yesterday's show. That was an hour. Good luck. That's a lot. Gumpy the Splunker would be able to find it. I'm thankful that you showcased the Colts a little bit because we got a good team. First time all year.

Very good team. We got a good team, weren't we? First time all year. Hey, great work there, AQ. You really had to battle through the elements there, and the elements were Butch Bechtel. It was fun. Always fun.

But we all learned at the same time that that man died, and I'm pretty bummed about it. Yeah, bummed out. Bummed out. Pretty bummed out. Bummed out. I was going to fire up a shot for Butch. For Butch.

Figure. But if I missed. Yeah. Everyone's going to be bummed out. Bum. For Butch, figure. But if I missed. Yeah. Everyone's going to be bummed out. No, he's guiding it. Trust it. Butch is up there looking down.

All right, well, let's see what he does with AQ then. He's up on that TV right there. Butch knows. AQ doesn't want to putt after. Anytime the Steelers lose. I can't putt after what he did. I can't. After what? After what Butch did.

He loves golf. Why don't you honor him a little bit? He's a great golfer. Why don't you make some putts? Is that what you want? Because he wasn't, I don't think Butch was putting with a slope in the middle where he can't make it. He's sitting on a 2,000 pound riding lawnmower.

A John Deere. Yes. You're saying you got it harder than Butch? Come on. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. You're saying you got it harder than Butch? Come on. Oh, wow. You're feeling real bad for yourself. What do you want to do? You want to throw a football? Yeah, let's throw some football.

For Butch? Let's throw a hockey puck. I don't know if we have any of those or if you should be throwing them. Hey, you look good, by the way. It's a good costume. It is. Hey, you did a good day. It's a good costume. It's a good costume. It is. Hey, you did a good day. Thanks, guys.

It's a really good fit. We still losing weight, or maybe we gaining some now that the holiday's getting close? Not gaining. I'm right there. I've just been leveled out. How long have you been back? How's he back? Behind you.

Where is he back? From Butch Bechtel, a man who lived until he was 73 in two days in Pittsburgh, For Butch Bechtel, a man who lived until he was 73 in two days in Pittsburgh, who served the United States in the Army during the Vietnam War. Why don't you make that football into that hoop over there for 20 people to win $500. And if you miss, it's not just Butch. All of us will be bummed out. Don't lie.

We don't want to be bummed out. There we go out. Bummed out. Don't lie. We don't want to be bummed out. There we go. We want to be elated. Yeah. We're not bummed out. Oh, that was a pretty good line. Good effort. We got more opportunities.

We got more opportunities. Good effort. I feel good about that one. Yeah, you should. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Oh, buddy. You think you're just going to rapid fire it off here? I was trying to get in a rhythm.

Look over your right shoulder one second. What do you see? Turtle Creek. That's what you see? That's it. I can understand. Woodland Hills. W-O-D-Y.

Woody Hop. He's got a purple heart. Home of the Taylors. It's on his hat. Yeah, right thereors Sally McAfee Maybe Butch I don't think Butch went to Woody High But he was a firefighter

The Taylors, Jason and Joy Thank you For the good of Butch Maybe 25 people win $500 You put that football in that hole But if you don't, guess what It's not just 25 people. No, mmm. It's thousands of people Billion bummed out bummed out. Here we go. Don't bum people out aq

That was the one the one just a little off that wasn't the one Foxy say he's coming. I promise. Getting close. Hey, will you turn around one second and just look in those eyes? What inspiration are you drawing from Butch right there? Grit. That's right. Stick-to-itiveness.

I see grit. Persistence. I see a man who is worthy of winning 25 people $500. Don't you think so? I do. You put that football in that hoop right over there, and Butch's good name, 25 people $500. All right.

If you miss, though, yet again, it'll be compounding bum dots, and nobody wants to be bummed out five straight times. That's right. 25 people want to win. Let's go. For the good man is Butch Bechtel. A.Q. Shipley from Moontownship. Oh, that's it.

Ooh. We're not bummed out. We're not bummed out. We're not bummed out. First one all year, boys. We're not bummed out. I'm back. Yeah.

I'm back. Come on, Butch! Butch! Butch! Butch! Butch! Butch! That was awesome. Wow. Let's go. All you gotta do is repost this, say something nice to somebody, and you know, put the easiest way to pay you digitally in the same exact

response. Just remember that Butch Bechtel lives so that we can all have a good time. That's right. Thank you, Butch. Love you, Butch. Love you, Butch. Miss you, Butch. Thank you. We're happy. We're all bummed out.

Great work this week, D-Butt. Boys in the back, way to battle through some adversity and get it all figured out. Because if you wouldn't have, we would all have been pretty bummed out. We'll be back tomorrow with a good one. Hey, Thursday night football tomorrow. Hell yeah. The lowest over under in? Since 1993, and that game's final score was 7-2.

30 years. Okay. Go ahead, Tone. It came in the group earlier. I'd be remiss if we didn't send more T's and P's out. Big Mike, I believe, had his appendix maybe removed today. Mike McCarthy? Yeah. He's going to coach on Sunday, though.

He had appendicitis? Yeah. He's been in his on Sunday, though. He had appendicitis? Yeah. He's been in his bag with appendicitis brewing in his appendix? Uh-huh. And he's back on the sideline? Is he going to be in the same car that we saw Butch putting in? Maybe. From the Cowboys, Coach Mike McCarthy experienced abdominal pain this morning

that warranted further evaluation and resulted in a diagnosis of acute appendicitis. He is slated for surgery this afternoon and expected to be released later today and anticipates catch-on. A little dust-up with my appendix. Way to go, Mike. In and out. Literally. Both me and my appendix.

That's Big Mike. I bet you Butch Bechtold and Big Mike have probably drank from the same waters before. For sure. And when you look in the eyes of Butch and Big Mike, what do you see? The Monongahela. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Also the?

Allegheny. Mm-hmm. Which form the? Trident. Which make the? Point. The point. Three rivers.

What's the fucking river that is? The Ohio River. There it is. The three rivers. Which flows into what? A tributary in the Mississippi. Hell yeah. Damn right.

Hell yeah. Well said. Those were the waters that Butch Bechtel and Big Mike McCarthy were drinking from that we were very lucky to chug from as children. And the grittiness is something that you can't learn. It just gets kind of fermented in your body. Big Mike McCarthy is a spitting image of that. Same with you, AQ.

You too, D-Butt. Although you didn't grow up in Pittsburgh, the boys would have loved you. Tony, you know the deal. Yeah, I do. Nick, you know the deal. That's why stolen valor from you would not be accepted anymore.

I know the deal. No, you don't. Yes, I do. You don't. I know the deal. You see Butch Bechdel, and then you think to yourself, you know, I'm going to continue to perpetrate a lie

that I'm from the same town as Butch Bechdel. Not a lie. Hey, good shirt today. Much better than your one yesterday. You got called out by Aaron. I disagree, but... It's a good shirt. You got a moon. Does that say the witching hour on it? There's a book. There's a map. There's a moon. Your left nipple has witching iron on it? There's a book. There's a map.

There's a moon. Your left nipple has witching iron on it. You don't think that's a better shirt than the one yesterday? There's a lot of stuff going on on that shirt. Absolutely. But I love the three wild horses running around wild. I mean, sure, you can like the cats, but I'm a wild horse guy. No, it's not just the cat.

It's everything else that's going on. There's some real attention to detail in that. Oh, yeah. I mean, they all are. I think that's the thing is that when it's not the entire shirt, people think that it's not as detail-oriented. But then when you actually look at the shirt itself, there's much more into it.

Aaron really, you know, I thought he liked it. It was wild. Yeah, I mean, that's fine. You know, I'm not trying to please everyone. I'm just trying to wear what I want to wear. Amen. Well said. Butch Bechtel would have loved that.

He would have. And I love Butch. Ty, final thoughts for Butch on our way out of here? I'm going to be bummed out for probably the rest of the day. But I'm not going to be bummed out because he lived a full life, a great life. Yes, he did. And if it's up to me, let's posthumously give Bush the Medal of Honor for what he did in NAMM.

I agree. All right. Seems reasonable. I think so. I don't know what all the qualifications are for the Medal of Honor. He met them. He met them. He's got a purple heart.

Biden can just say, fuck it. No one needs to be bummed out anymore. Let's give this guy a Medal of Honor. He met them. He met them. He's got a purple heart. Biden can just say, fuck it. No one needs to be bummed out anymore. Let's give this guy a Medal of Honor. And also, I hope, at least at the funeral, they ran that triple overtime game so he could see it. Yep.

One last time. I agree. Put him in the Penguins Hall of Fame. Put him in a statue. Yes. For him. Make him a statue. Yeah.

All right. We'll be back tomorrow with more of this. Also, Heisman finalists, big deal. Also, Heisman finalists, big deal. Heisman finalists, big deal. Jaden Daniels seemingly going to win that thing. Over, it feels like. Yeah, but why not Pennix?

Undefeated team comes back. Bo Dacius, Bo Nix. The entire year, basically, we've been trying to win the Heisman with big billboards in New York City and everything like that. And then Marvin Harrison Jr., are we talking about best player? Do we think he's in there? What are his thoughts? Who knows?

Then Army-Navy happening this weekend. Bowl season kicking off. Then we got Week 14 kicking off tomorrow. The NBA in-season tournament. We had a commissioner on there. Yeah, we did. Hey, life is good. Hell yeah.

All right, we'll see you all tomorrow. Hockey will be awesome. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice that might change their life. Goodbye.