The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1039 - Monday Night Football Recap, UCLA Head Coach Chip Kelly, Aaron Rodgers, Colts Head Coach Shane Steichen, Darius Butler LIVE In The ThunderDome, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: December 19, 2023

On today’s show, Pat, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about last night’s Monday Night Football game between the Eagles and Seahawks that saw Drew Lock lead a game winning drive and give a very emotional post game speech to Lisa Salters, before asking if the Eagles are in big trouble, the Seahawks inching closer to the playoffs, and everything else happening around the NFL. Joining the progrum to chat about his comments about where college football needs to go and to elaborate on them is the Head Football Coach of UCLA, Chip Kelly (24:22-46:20). Next, 4x MVP, Super Bowl Champion/MVP, Quarterback for the New York Jets, Aaron Rodgers joins the progrum to chat about his rehab and recovery, how the Jets being eliminated from the playoffs changes things, what type of input he’ll have going into the offseason in terms of roster construction, wanting to get back out there with all the talk from the media about cleaning house in terms of the coaches, what his favorite Christmas movies are, and much more (1:02:18-1:58:44). Lastly, Head Coach of the Indianapolis Colts and Coach of the Year candidate, Shane Steichen joins the show to chat about how the season has been thus far, why he loves this team so much, the importance of Gardner Minshew, his relationship with Jim Irsay, who invented the Brotherly Shove, and much more (1:58:50-2:13:16). 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

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome. On this Aaron Rodgers Tuesday, December 19th, 2023, this sports program starts now. Football! It's happening, and it's the perfect time of year. Christmas is right around the corner. Hanukkah has just wrapped up. I believe Kwanzaa's coming around the bend. It's a magical time, and there's a new year on the horizon.

Football is fantastic right now. We are all healthy. We are all alive. We are enjoying the hell out of the opportunity to talk sports every single day. And it's not just me, obviously. It's the Talks at Table at Boston Corner, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and at Ty Schmidt. Hell yeah. I mean, still an animal.

Still a graphic t-shirt. I figure if it is dog, it still counts. Yeah, and that dog will hunt. That dog does hunt. Always. It says Taylor Swift, but it's not Taylor Swift. What's that all about? I think it's like a combination of the two. I think it's a play on Taylor Swift and it is just Dog the Bounty Hunter. We will not take

any negative comments about Taylor Swift swift definitely not negative well is that what you're doing are we saying dog the bounty hunter isn't a compliment so taylor swift right now still selling out stadiums all across the world dog bounty hunter couldn't find that yeah the last thing i heard he did not find him yes he did he was already dead no brah wasn't i didn't see leland with the paintball gun no i didn't see a full stand-up and rest in peace to Beth, by the way. And then he got remarried quickly shortly thereafter.

But some people say Dog maybe lost his fastball. Had it at one time. He was painting. Bruh. Cigarettes, catching ice. I mean, he was doing the whole thing. But they said he has lost his fastball since maybe Beth passed away, bruh. So to put Taylor Swift's name on top of that at the exact time where Taylor's the hottest

thing on earth right now, I think maybe a little bit of a mixed messaging going on. I think, I'm going to be honest, I think all you guys are pretty damn soft for making this into a dog to bounty hunter doesn't deserve to be talked about or Taylor Swift doesn't deserve to be in the same name. Listen, dog saved a lot of ice heads from a lot of stuff. Yeah, but here we are. Okay, I understand that. Why are we tearing him down then?

I'm not tearing him down. Yes, you guys are. You're bringing up the last thing he did and how it wasn't successful. But Dog was very good for a very long time. So let's not just say, hey, Dog the Bounty Hunter, don't put him on a t-shirt with Taylor Swift's name because Dog the Bounty Hunter's lost it. Go to hell, all of you, for insinuating that he shouldn't be in the same realm as Taylor Swift.

Now, maybe at the bottom of the realm. Hold on. Maybe at the bottom of the realm and T-Swift's at the top of the realm but still in the realm. All right. Damn it. I appreciate your passion. And obviously, your intent is not a negative one with how passionately you just defended Dog

to Bonnie in 2020. I think Dog's in the same realm as Bonnie who performed at the halftime of Cowboys Thanksgiving. That's Dolly Parton. That is one half of the Hammer. Cowboys disrespected somebody

that you should not disrespect either. I am sick of this show already. What is it, December 19th? And we've already taken shots at potentially three people that we genuinely like. No way. What is your problem? No, no, I agree. And I love Dolly.

I just sometimes, you know, amnesia of the brain. But I'm just saying, like, she's still got her fastball when she needs it. Dog still has her fastball when he needs it. Dog still has her fastball when he needs it, but they're not in Taylor Swift's realm. Yeah, Taylor Swift fastball is done. You guys are ridiculous. Let's move along here.

Nine-year NFL vet. I'm not even going to ask. Dog's fastball is clocking at like 75 miles an hour these days. Let's just call it what it is. BP. Yeah, exactly. He can still throw it. He's done with that.

And at one point, he did. Take him off the pass. 99. Put him down. That dog? That pass. 99. Put him down. That dog? That dog. That dog won't hunt. Son of a bitch.

That dog. Darius J. Butler is here. Did not expect to start the show like this, obviously. Me neither. I didn't even see that shirt until as I was looking over at you. Because with where your microphone is placed, too, it's right down the middle of his face. So I just saw like half a dog to bounty hunter with his eye looking at me i'm like holy hell this takes me back to a and e you know i mean it's back to the time where he was smoking cigs at a chain

like fashion oh yeah goat fashion protecting the streets out there they always got him in the end they always did that's his dog hunts and this dog stillts. And I will not stand for this bullshit this early on. I don't understand why Taylor Swift is cross-balling. Me. I don't either. I don't either. But I don't make the shirts. Okay?

I just buy them. And that's how this shirt came. I wish that was like your Wolf shirt. You know Dog to Bonnie Hunter? Yes. He has lost his fastball. We all agree. Taylor Swift throwing 110 on the paint.

Right. That's the only conversation we had happy we're passing because you had no ill intent obviously we heard no you guys did well yeah you guys did and you said to tony i didn't expect us to take shots at three people i just wanted to be known i took zero shots okay i did not shit on anybody i am strictly here as a dog fan and that it goes with the animal t-shirts. Okay. Alright. Thank you for talking about that. I'd like to apologize for a potential ricochet shot at Dolly.

Taylor Swift is a unique combination of pop culture and crime fighting. Boom! Let's explore the meaning of this collaboration as well as the style and appeal of the tea. You know what? I got Batman on my shirt. If they had to match up a singer with a crime fighter, I'm happy that it was. Okay, they got it right.

That's all. Great shirt. Thank you. Thank you very much. Great shirt. You too. I like that one. All right.

Great night for the Seattle Seahawks. Yeah. Okay. And their crowd in that stadium is obviously going to be talked about every time they're on TV for a good reason. They impact the game. Every player that speaks about playing there is like, yeah, it's different here. Yeah, it's problematic.

The way the stadium is built, straight up and down, it's whenever you yell, you actually hear your yell coming back because it's naturally an echo chamber in there. And they felt Pacific Northwest fans, we understand that they are lunatics. They are the closest thing we have to European soccer fans. Now, college football fans will obviously have that fight as well in certain places but pacific northwest the way they show up for things is bananas it's soccer like fandom and they do it for football they have done it for the seahawks forever that stadium weapon home field advantage for real on the road with a sick

quarterback eagles favored by three and a half still. Drew Locke gets a start over a Geno Smith that could have played, but wouldn't have been nowhere near 100% with a groin injury. So Drew Locke leads them on this 92-yard game-winning drive at the end. Oh, my God. The Eagles lose three in a row. Drew Locke has a fairytale moment. He hits DK Metcalf.

He hits DK Metcalf. He hits DK Metcalf. And then he throws a row. Drew Locke has a fairytale moment. He hits D.K. Metcalf. He hits D.K. Metcalf. He hits D.K. Metcalf. Then he throws a bucket to Jackson Smith in Jigba. That catch was phenomenal, obviously by D.K., who's bigger, stronger, faster, and more athletic than you. Jackson Smith in Jigba with a

phenomenal catch. He goes and gives the ball away. In the moment moment i was thinking to myself well maybe we give that one to drew maybe we give the ball to drew because of what he you know was able to accomplish and what he has been through in his short nfl career thus far drew lock got a chance to speak immediately after the game and it was beautiful remember this is week 15 this is what this league and these games can really do to somebody's life and somebody's entire being. Here's Drew Locke getting a chance to chat about the magical night

that he had on Monday Night Football. Amazing won't do it justice. Amazing won't do it justice, but amazing also doesn't do justice with the O-line, what DK did on that catch, what the receivers did, what Ken Walker, Zach Charbonnet did all game long, the tight end. It takes a special group to rally around a guy that, you know, has come into his second game of the year, right? Used to the same thing all year long, same cadence, same spin of the ball, everything.

A team like that, not just the offense, the defense to rally around. Me tonight, man, that was amazing. I hear some emotion in your voice. Great follow-up. It's been a long time. It's been a long time. I'm just blessed. I'm just blessed.

Blessed with a great group of guys, a great city, great coaching staff. It's just awesome. It's a wow. Drew, when did you even know you were going to be playing tonight? Oh, there's a long story going into that one. But I kept the mentality that I was going to play, regardless of what was going on, how people were looking and whatnot. I was just like, you know what, you're going to go out there and play.

So just be ready to play. Found out when we got here that I was going to get the nod and roll the dice, baby. Let's go. That's right. Back to the touchdown pass to Jackson. Just what was the play call? Take me through. Yeah. I mean, I'll remember that play call for the rest of my life, but we're breaking the huddle. I knew Jax had the one-on-one. Good reminder from Shane in the headset. I said, hey, Jax, you're one-on-one. I'm throwing you this pill. Sure enough.

Gave us a one-on-one look. Corner was soft. Jax hit him with some speed. Back pylon, back box throw. Came down with it. Again, Drew, we can see the emotion on your face. We can hear it in your voice. Can you just describe what you're feeling in your heart right now? Yeah.

It's so hard. It's so hard to describe the feeling of not playing for so long, or at least what feels like a really long time to me. And then you sit there, you watch games, you wonder, can I do this still? I haven't been out there on the field. That's the human nature of it.

You get back out there last week, I'm like, you know what? I'm the man so I can go do this. And then you got another test this week where I didn't know if I was going to play or not. Sure enough, ended up playing. We're playing the Eagles tonight. The boys around me rallied tonight. And it just, gosh, it feels so good.

It feels so good. I'm so proud of everybody tonight. Congratulations to you. We're all happy for you. I'll pay Drew Locke. We are all incredibly happy for you. And having a game-winning drive like that in a moment that he'll remember for the rest of his life was something that Pete Carroll spoke about immediately afterwards as well with a backwards hat on.

I know a lot of us on the East Coast probably didn't see a lot of this, but I think this is a pivotal part of telling the story of last night's game. Here's Pete Carroll, who is now 8-0 against the Eagles, with a backwards hat in a press conference postgame. Beautiful football. Just beautiful football. I mean, the poise that we talked to you about last week, I mean, that's where he's been. He's been on it.

He's been in command. You know, there's a couple incompletes in that drive. Came right back and hit it and converted and made the first downs and all. And then to throw the touchdown to win a football game. You know, it's amazing stuff. He would be the first to tell you about the guys around him. The offensive line did a great job tonight running the football, won and also passed Proen.

They did a beautiful job against these guys and gave us a chance. And, I mean, we couldn't ask for more from him in that game tonight. What was the proclamation? Oh, man, I'm so thrilled for the kid, really. First off, it's a memory that you're never going to lose. He's going to hold on to this Monday night forever. He earned it. He deserved it.

He played up to the great moments in the game and came through. And it's been hard for him. Any guy that backs up, that has the brain of a starter and the brain of a championship kid, it's difficult as heck to have to wait. And so he's had to do it. But he had his chances and he almost you know put together a game good enough last week uh and then this week he did the whole thing so it was amazing that is amazing yep pete carroll obviously great with words we had uh

somebody come speak to us uh during training camp and this person was trying to teach people how to become a president of the united states whenever they speak to the media, his name's Frank Luntz. I believe he does like focus groups. Sure. And they had a bunch of NFL people speak and they had these focus groups and they had a line on the screen where it would go like up green and then down red with like everything you said because the focus group was told if you don't like how he's saying what he's saying or what he's saying, push down. If you like what he's saying, push up. Pete Carroll was the one that was shown that literally the green arrow was just up the entire time. The way he speaks to the media is like expert level, master class,

never going to give anything away, always going to compliment his team and others while delivering a message. So whenever he starts talking about Drew Locke with a backwards hat, I don't know if they would have went thumbs down or thumbs up on the backwards hat. I'm thumbs up all the way. I'm thumbs up, but there's some people that will judge that, of course.

Last night for Drew Locke, huge moment for him as the athlete. Huge. Huge for Seattle. Happy for him. The Eagles on the other side, D-Blue. This is three straight losses. And Bradbury has been attacked, not only by Drew Locke, but by every other basic quarterback that they have played against and lost against. And then

Bosa came out and said that we laid the blueprint on how to beat Jalen Hurts in the Eagles offense. Since then, 0-3. Do you think the Eagles are done, though? Is that what Drew Locke and the Seahawks did last night? Or how do we get this whole thing fixed in Philadelphia? Well, sure. I'll speak real quick on the Drew Locke thing.

Obviously, he got traded over there to compete for a starting job, lose that job. Pete mentioned it. He mentioned it, just waiting. You know, the peaks and valleys it is for a quarterback. And then him, to hear him after the job, lose that job. Pete mentioned it. He mentioned it, just waiting, you know, the peaks and valleys it is for a quarterback. And then him, to hear him after the game, shot everybody out. Didn't leave anybody out. The O-line, the defense, the running backs, Geno, like everybody.

So that was dope to see. Obviously leaned on Kenneth Walker for the majority of the game. And then when he needed a 92-yard drive, drive the team down and win it. On the flip side, Eagles, tough, tough loss. Obviously, Jalen Hurts played through the sickness. And after the game, he had some surprising comments. I know both made some comments, but him coming out and saying, hey, I don't think everybody's locked in enough.

Everybody's not putting in. So that's a big wake-up call. Because they're still in the spot now. They control a lot. They can win out the rest of their schedule. It's not tough by any stretch of the imagination. So they can still win out and be in a good position going into the playoffs. Obviously, you make a change, a big change,

like changing the defensive coordinator midweek or going into this week. That's tough. Bradbury has been struggling. Slay will be out for a few weeks. He just had surgery. So they got to find some answers back there quick. Yeah, the Philadelphia Eagles, it feels different this year. And the difference is they don't have as many, they don't have the same

coordinators. Both are coordinators real good. Both are coordinators got head coaching jobs because of how good they were. Remember Shane Steichen took Jalen Hurts from being a guy who, is he going to be in the NFL after this year? Is he going to be back up to highest paid quarterback in the NFL after the year we're going to the Super Bowl? Shane Steichen was a part of that. Obviously,

Sirianni and many others, but you see how Shane Steichen who'll be on our show today. 205 Eastern Standard Time has done with the Indianapolis Colts, who are very banged up. It's like losing that guy, probably a difference maker. And then Gannon, now I'm not saying that the Arizona Cardinals are going to go on to win a bunch of

games and everything like that, but they have certainly fought and seem to be a much different team than what we thought they were going to be going into the year. Maybe Gannon, who is a person that once you leave the building, not just X's and O's calling plays, but also in the building as a whole, they lose two potential real

culture setters out of there. Now Matt Patricia getting the nod again on the defensive side only has a few days. A lot of people are saying, Matty P, geez. Ten play. Uh-oh. 92 yard touchdown from Drew Locke Monday Night Football your first game back

take that Ticonderoga break that thing in half you ain't got it anymore but I think Matt Patricia can take a little bit of time to maybe implement what he's thinking, what he's doing is that possible? Can you change much? It's like on the offensive side you always talk about a coordinator change and it's like well the offensive side, you always talk about a coordinator change. And it's like, well, the plays are already implemented.

Everything that we have is already in there. It's just who's calling it and how we're calling it. Is that something that can change on the defensive side? What can Matt Patricia do that will change how that defense is doing? That's just it. What you're calling because you can't change. You build your roster based on the type of defense you call. Like if you're Chicago, you're drafting defensive defensive bringing defensive guys over who're going to play zone

coverage you're going to have good ball skills if you're a man-to-man scheme you're bringing coverage guys over so you can't pretty much change the the bones of your defense but you just change when and where you call things uh and that takes a while even for players because as a player you mentioned it with jalen hurts as a player you want to be comfortable and have that continuity with your play caller to where if it's third and eight on a two-minute drive, I already know it's going to be one of three or four calls that my guy is going to call as opposed to getting that call and then going through all those different things in your brain. So that's a different thing you've got to work with.

How he's managing the guys throughout the week, how much of a voice did he have before compared to being the guy now, that's a big change. And then you're missing Slade too, who's your best cover guy, especially in the back end. And they've struggled for not only these past few weeks, but I think this entire year compared to last year as a unit. You know, not a lot of continuity there.

Maddox being out in the slot is big. Not getting after the passer like they did last year. That's obviously huge on the back end. And then Bradbury. I mean, you can talk about Matty P, but if I'm a defensive play caller, I'm putting Bradbury on the rookie on the outside. I expect him to win that one-on-one matchup.

You know what I mean? The DK, I got him on DK on some. DK's going to win some of those. Double team, he goes up and makes a catch over two guys. What happened with Bradbury? Just lost confidence? Lost spin? What happened?

You know, it happens. And that cornerback, everybody sees it, just like a quarterback. Like, everybody's going to see if you have a run. It's not like linebacker or D-tackle or old, you know, it happens. And that cornerback, everybody sees it, just like a quarterback. Like everybody's going to see if you have a run. It's not like linebacker or D-tackle or old, you know, your offensive guard where you have a little tough stretch. When you play those positions, everybody's going to see it. Everybody's going to be an expert.

And he hasn't been playing up to the level that he can play, and hopefully that he can turn it around this last stretch. Yeah, they're going to need it. And then on the offensive side with Jalen Hurts and the boys, Bosa had some real – I mean, Bosa's saying, we laid the blueprint out on how to beat them. And since then, they've going to need it. And then on the offensive side with Jalen Hurts and the boys, Bosa had some real – I mean, Bosa's saying we laid the blueprint out on how to beat them, and since then they've gone 0-3. Now, obviously, they've played great teams, but here's Bosa of the San Francisco 49ers talking about what they did

to the Philadelphia Eagles maybe being what everybody needs to do. Yeah, I mean, you see it on tape, though. And then, obviously, we put the blueprint out there. Hopefully the Cowboys watch the tape. We made Jalen we put the blueprint out there hopefully the cowboys watch the tape um we made jalen stay in the pocket and escape outside instead of those big gaps and paid off uh let because jalen's looking at the rush every play um so yeah you just have to be disciplined and not give him that quick escape route where he could get to his guys quick and then since then cowboys have done that Seahawks have done that, obviously,

and who knows what will happen going forward. Jalen Hurts saying not everybody's committed enough is a little bit alarming. And on the flip side, Seattle Seahawks are always going to be in it. Hey, they're always going to fight, aren't they? Absolutely. Pete Carroll's chomping that gum and motivating the hell out of a football team. We haven't really seen a lot of videos from practice this year or the last couple years of the Seattle Seahawks, I think,

because it's just like the new norm. But remember their practices. Pete Carroll, like, in warm-ups. The energy's always there. Think about the way Drew Locke talked there. The inspiration and the amount of competitive juice he still had in his mind. It's like Pete Carroll, always going to be a good ball coach. Congrats to the Seattle Seahawks for getting a massive win.

And the Philadelphia Eagles having some stuff to figure out. Now also, we would be remiss if we didn't chit-chat about the fact that college bowl season has officially begun. And the reason why it's begun is because something absolutely absurd happened just yesterday in a bowl game where a team was down 28-0. 28-0. Let me set the scene first. Please do. This is the famous toastery bowl at Jerry,

at bad guy Jerry Richardson's stadium. Okay. He's not a good guy. He's not a good guy. Okay. This is the ghost of the Bahamas Bowl. This bowl only exists because the Bahamas Bowl isn't being played this year because the Bahamas Bowl stadium is under construction.

Got it. Damn. I hope it comes back stronger. Absolutely. Western Kentucky is out. Their top three linemen and their starting quarterback, Austin Reed, going into this game. Now let's get into the highlights.

Against who? Old Dominion. ODU. ODU. Good football team. All right, so we get into this. Right now it's 14-0. And quarterback for Western Kentucky, Turner Helton,

who is the son of Clay Helton, USC football coach, who got fired. That was a pick six to make it 21-0. Why am I showing this? Why am I showing this poor kid? Because he gets benched after this, okay? He gets benched after that. ODU goes up 28-0 here. And then the story of the game happens.

In comes quarterback for Western Kentucky, Caden Veltkamp. Caden Veltkamp decides that he is just going to go to wide receiver Dalvin Smith, who does not need two hands, my friend. He goes up and catches it. Filthy. Filthy. That's not the only time. Does he need two hands on this play either?

Nope. This guy's awesome. Wide receiver Dalvin Smith. Now, Veltkamp, the quarterback, is actually in the transfer portal, by the way. So he is the third-string quarterback. He's in the transfer portal, by the way. So he is the third-string quarterback. He's in the transfer portal. He's leaving Western Kentucky after this game. Let's go to the fourth quarter.

They are down 21 points. A little swing outside. Whoop! Oh! Oh, wow! That is Elijah Young who hurdles and goes in to cut the lead to 14 there. Now let's fast-forward a little bit. Who was that wide receiver earlier?

Dalvin Smith, baby. Val Camp goes right back to him again. Now let's fast forward a little bit. Who was that wide receiver earlier? Smith. Dalvin Smith, baby. Vellkamp goes right back to him again. No, he uses two this time. He's right in his chest, so he had to use two. Now we are down fourth and 15. Fourth and goal, 23 seconds left. Vellkamp again for his fifth touchdown of the day. We go to overtime.

Old Dominion gets down to the one, gets stopped. Has to go for the field goal. Sco gets down to the one. Gets stopped. Oh, no. Has to go for the field goal. Scoop and score? No. That's out. So close. Be an athlete.

Western Kentucky gets the ball. 35-35. Chip shot. Field goal. Win the game. 38-35. Velkamp finishes 40-52 for 383 and five touchdowns. Jeez.

As he hits the transfer portal. As he hits the portal, I think he made himself some money. Come on, UConn. Hey, congratulations, Velkamp. I don't know if UConn's going to be able to afford him. I don't know if UConn's

going to be able to afford him after what he just did there. And that is beautiful. That is what bowl season is all about. Because we're watching that game immediately after the show ends yesterday

and Bruce Brown's like, oh, I waffled. I took Western Kentucky or whatever. And it just became a runaway for Old Dominion. We go back out somewhere, come back in. All of a sudden, we got a ball game. It's beautiful. College football is magical. Remember, college football playoffs start January 1, National Championship January 8. Until then, there's bowl games all

over the place. That is what the current college football world looks like. That's right. Let's talk about what the future of college football looks like this weekend a video hit the internet of chip kelly at a press conference answering a question now this answer was not thought out no it's not that thought out but it seemed to paint the perfect picture of what college football could be in the coming years what is the the biggest issue that you might have right now whether it be realignment nil transfer portal and what would your your plan maybe be to to try to solve it? I think they're all a problem, and I think we need to have a conference commissioner.

I think football should be separate from the other sports. Just the fact that our school is leaving to go to the Big Ten in football, our softball team should be playing Arizona in softball. Our basketball team should be playing Arizona in basketball. But because football left, and they're saying, well, how do you do that? Well, Notre Dame's independent in football, and they're in a conference and everything else. I think we should all be independent in football.

And you can have a 64-team conference that's in the Power Five, and you can have a 64-team conference in the Group of Five, and we separate it, and we play each other. You can have the West Coast teams, and then every year we play seven games against the West Coast teams, and then we play the East. So we play Syracuse, Boston College, Pitt, West Virginia, Virginia. Hell yeah.

Then the next year you play against the South while you still play your seven teams. You can play a seven-game schedule. You can play four against another division opponent, and you can always play against one Mountain West team every year so that we can still keep those rivalries going. Not that I've really thought about this. Not that I've allowed to spend the time on this. But I think if you went together collectively as a group, and so there's 132 teams,

and we all share the same TV contract, so that the Mountain West doesn't have one, and the Sunbelt doesn't have another, and SEC has one, and they have another, that we all go together, that's a lot of games, and there's a lot of people in the TV world that would go through it. You can sponsor each one.

Instead of calling it Group of Five and Power Five, you can call it Amazon, Nike, bid that out to things. You can do a lot of different things. But I think if we still do the same thing and take all that money, and I would do this, and I think this needs to be done, that money now needs to be shared with the student athletes, and there needs to be revenue sharing, and the players should get paid, and you can get rid of NLI, and the school should be paying the players

because the players are what the product is. And the fact that they don't get paid is really the biggest travesty. Not that I've thought about it. Hey, listen. I don't know if that just came up on the spot off the top of the dome or if he does have an entire elaborate thing about how we can make this happen, whatever the case. To further elaborate on that particular point and many others,

three-time Pac-12 champ as the Oregon Ducks coach, then he went to the Eagles, now he's at UCLA. Ladies and gentlemen, Chip Kelly. Yeah, Chip! What's up, Coach? What's up, Pat? How are you? Hey, we were kind of watching you watch that back. We forced you to watch your entire take.

Second time through here, were you thinking to yourself, ah, pretty good i i did nail it did you miss anything in there you think coach there's a lot we missed and there's a lot all of us have missed you know i think college football is the greatest game out there and we need to protect it and we need to promote it so i think we need to get some smart people in the room and let's iron this thing out because there's a lot of issues that I think over time have just accumulated. In the old days, you started on Labor Day, you finished on Thanksgiving, you had some bowl games in December. And now our season's so long that people are getting on players. Here's another

thing about opting out of bowl games. Well, do you know what the players learned about opting out of bowl games? From coaches. Because coaches coach their team for the regular season, then they're not with them for the bowl game. So there's as many coaches that are opting out of bowl games as there are players that are opting out of bowl games. But our calendar needs to be changed. The recruiting calendar needs to be changed.

We've got to somehow get the transfer portal and nil taken care of because right now it's really free agency with no salary cap and you can be a free agent whenever you want at some point in time it just doesn't get changed pat someone's going to transfer at halftime of the game and play for the other team coach let's talk about the rules let's talk about some of that the no rules thing we've talked You know what I mean? Let's talk about some of that. The no rules thing, we've talked to Commissioner of the SEC Greg Sankey about this and many others. It's like the players are also signing deals that aren't good for the players as well.

Like, obviously, quarterbacks are making a lot of money and everything like that. But there's other positions that are signing NIL deals. And some people are giving up, like, 20% of their forever career earnings to these agents that are representing them. And that all falls into the guidelines where agents have to at least be legitimized through a group of people so that they can make the proper deals. What do the contract structure look like normally so that everybody can kind of play in the same field? And then I think the big conversation takeaway, and we talked to Matt Rule about this two weeks ago.

It's like the coaches aren't even allowed to talk to the players about money they have to talk to a third party that isn't even associated with the team allegedly not allowed to be associated with it so like who has the best interest of what in heart how do we make these changes though chip how will that ever come about because it seems like an impossible task to make it all right with where we are right now coach coach? Now, I mean, I've always believed that the secret to victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious. It's a real simple thing. The best sports league in

the world is the NFL. So follow their model. I mean, they're printing money. Players are making money. Fans are enjoying the games. Every game is close. If you win, you pick close. If you win, you pick last. If you lose, you pick first. You all have the same salary cap. They've had it down for a long, long time, but we just won't look at them and use their model. And I don't know why we

don't want to use their model. But if we're still going to have our head in the sand and say that student athletes aren't allowed to make money and that we're still in the amateur part of it, that's out the window. That's gone out the the window so then let's treat them the way they should be treated the product is the players and if we don't take care of the players then we're not going to have players much longer and that's that's the travesty of it you know the pac-12 was a 100 million dollar business and it just went out of business and if you're at any business school in this country, they're going to study what happened to the Pac-12 and say, how did that happen? We went away like Bed Bath & Beyond went away. I mean, it's a million-dollar corporation, and we couldn't figure that out.

And really smart people try to figure it out. But we got to do something because I think when the Pac-12 went down, which I never was going to happen we better use that as a as a as a light and say wait a second we went we got to figure this thing out or something's going to happen and we're going to turn around and say there's only 60 schools playing football now and no one else plays football so because have you have you pitched your ideas to other than like thank you for doing that at the press conference. Cause I think a lot of us who have become massive college football fans, we have, we've got a chance to fall in love with college football.

Cause I've gotten a chance to get baptized into college football with the most absurd environments and cultures and everything that is college football, how special it is. So we've got a chance to really fall in love with everything that it is in this transition era, and we think money coming in is definitely a good thing for the sport. There's still eyeballs, ratings are still on college football. Whenever you say that at the press conference,

a lot of us were like, that's the right idea. That is the right idea. Have you said this to anybody? Who would have to come together and do this? The commissioners of the conferences? Who would be the people that would make this ultimately happen coach yeah i mean the decisions are not made at the coaching level nor should they be i mean we have jobs to do and and uh but i think coaches should be consulted you know i've always we'd be in league meetings and they'd bring up a subject to the

coaches and we would vote and then we presented to the athletic directors and then they would present it to the presidents and the coaches vote 12-0, the ADs vote 10-2, and the presidents vote 0-12. And so we don't do it because they decided they didn't want to do it. You know, I think it's not the streamline through the NCAA isn't the way it should be. You know, and the NCAA has to govern so many schools. You know, I started off my coaching career at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, an unbelievable school, great Division III school, plays in the national playoffs. But they have the same rules that we have. They're in Division III and we're in a

Power V. There's a difference between UCLA and Johns Hopkins. And now both really good medical schools, but a little different on the football field. And I think they try to do it for the whole, and I understand that. But you have to understand, even in our sport, our sport is different at Division II, Division III, Division I than the other sports. So why can't we break away? Oh, it's different. You know, Pat.

I mean, so why can't we break away? And why aren't we independent? And the fact that everybody does everything together, the realignment thing just blows my mind. Football is going to go play in the Big Ten. Why do the rest of our teams have to go play in the Big Ten? There's so many traditions, as I said. Our softball team is off the charts. They're unbelievable. They've won multiple national championships. They have a historic, historic rivalry with Arizona. And now they're not going to play Arizona anymore because football left. That just doesn't make sense.

And when things don't make sense, that's when I say something. But I don't have all the answers. And I just threw that out there. You know, I drive to work every morning really early. And I think about a lot of things. And that's where that came from when I was thinking about it. So I don't think it's really hard. I think about a lot of things and that's where that came from when I was thinking about it so I don't think it's really hard I think there's it's logical you could have eight divisions instead of like the NFL but instead of four teams in it you got eight teams in it you know the scheduling in

the NFL you know that Pat you know who you're playing seven years from now you're playing the NFC East and you're playing the AFC South and then you finish whoever finished first it's all logical it's it's math and it's easy math because I'm not a math guy but that's easy math I just I think it's very simple answer um are they willing to do it and do they want to keep everybody together in this whole group and say this but I think for it to work and for us to protect this game and promote this game, that football should be separate. And the rest of the conference realignment, they should go back to where they were. There's a whole full conversation about Title IX that would have to take place

and who would fund all those other sports. But if the schools are making money off their football team. No, no, no, no, no, no. We'll fund the sports. That's what I'm saying. If the schools are making money off of this thing, they should be able to allocate the funds to supply the rest of the athletic department and you brought up a good point i think whenever you're giving one of your answers it's like tv networks are going to want this now if everybody's in there because if you're

able to get the big 10 goods against sec goods here we go you know if you're able to schedule that throughout the year now with the playoffs being what the playoffs are where you earn your way in it's a much different conversation than if it was a four-person playoff where there had to be conversation about losses because why are you going to schedule it it's like everything kind of gets regulated and i assume the money would be in abundance for everybody as opposed to just some people there's a ton of money out there and i think if we went to the tv people with all of us together as a collective group. You have 64 teams as opposed to 12 in this conference and 12 in that conference. The Pac-12 dissolved because they weren't going to get the same money as the Big Ten and the SEC.

If all five of those schools went together and said all five of those conferences went together to the television people and said, what is that worth? I think it would be equitable for everybody. And I think you would still take that money. Right now, we're supposed to get $75 million from the Big Ten. That money still goes to the UCLA Athletic Department, and they distribute that out to all the other sports, and we understand that. And I think you can do that. I think you could make more money for each school if we all went together. That's 32 games a weekend as opposed to 16 games a weekend in the NFL. The ad space is there. You know what it is. Everybody wants to be involved in live sports because you can't fast forward to a commercial. What did you say?

You said we can do Amazon. We can do Apple. You can do whatever you want. Yeah, you can look at the conferences. Let's sponsor. Pat, you got cash. You sponsor one of the conferences. No, no.

I've talked to all those people that do have cash, and you're 100% right. That's why I was so flustered by the Pac-1212 by some of these schools not being able to make a deal it's like i literally just talked to you know before the espn deal took place i talked to all the platforms i think that they were probably talking to and it's like they are yearning for sports right now everybody every platform is yearning for sports because they know if you get a pay-per-view type event with a fight or something that's going to get people to your platform if you get a live event you're going to get their fans to your platform then it's like on you to keep them there that's kind of everybody's game like we're trying to get you to our platform and then we're going to

supplement that with more content and programming hopefully to keep you on our platform longer it's like they got a lot of money to do that these people are worth trillions at this point oh you know it's like there's money out there i think you're what your pick i think that's why when i listened to what you said i was like yeah this feels like the right play i think we all kind of agree with you there yeah and i again it's such a great game and we need to protect it and promote it and it's um but the problems and i think they're getting more amplified now because we don't live in the information age we live in the information overload age but i'll tell you a quick story about bars bars that you think it in the morning right there yes you driving to work too much information that's awesome to think about that

there was there was ever there was a player at west virginia This is a true story. At West Virginia, they played Lafayette in football. After the game, he stayed and played for Lafayette the next week against Penn. True story. When? Do you know when that happened? Do you know when that happened, Penn? No. In 1896.

His name is Fielding Yost. So this has been going on for a long time. Fielding Yost played at West Virginia. They played Lafayette. He stayed at Lafayette. They played Penn the next week and beat Penn. And Penn was up in arms on why did this guy from West Virginia play against us? Because there was a transfer portal way, way back then, over 100 years ago.

He then went on to win six national championships as the coach at Michigan and become the athletic director at Michigan and one of the forefathers of the NCAA. And he was involved in Transform Portal in 1896. Go look at Wikipedia. You can look it up because that's where I learned it. Holy hell. This guy would be going to be a dog too. I don't like the fact that he just said, I don't want to go home with the West Virginia boys. But he went back to West Virginia after he played against Penn. Then he went back to West Virginia. He just had a gripe against penn oh they didn't let me in you guys got them next week let me do a week of prep here let me go ahead help this entire thing

out so when people talk about problems this stuff's been going on forever but i just think we need some smart people to just say hey what are we doing and let's let's let's do it and there are so many i think think Gene Smith at Ohio State, who's retiring, is one of the smartest people I've ever had a chance to talk to. And I think he loves football. I would ask him if he can help. I think Greg Sankey is the premier commissioner right now. He has the most skin in the game. I would get him in there. And then I would also get coaches involved because I think coaches can tell you about what it's like on the ground level. And really, I think sometimes the coaches don't have answers.

And I think there's some people like David Shaw, Chris Peterson, David Cutcliffe. Take the five of those guys and put them in a room and then come out and tell us what we're going to do. And I would follow any plan that those five guys can put together. What state are you from? That little one, right? I'm from New Hampshire, yes. Yeah, a little baby one. They should put your dumb ass from New Hampshirepshire in there too you know what i mean sounds like you got some great ideas i do not i'm i'm an idea guy i'll throw ideas out there but i got a lot of work to do we got we got oh yeah i got a meeting yeah we got meetings football all that other stuff so hey figure it

out now this is what we need we're figuring it out uh i hope this is what we need figure it out i hope it happens, genuinely. I do, because it sounds like it. I really do. Yeah, me too. Who knows who will be able to get it done, but hopefully somebody will be, because you've got other stuff to do, obviously.

Let's talk about the other stuff that you do in coaching. We have some questions for you, if that's okay. Yeah? Yeah. My man. Darius Butler has a question for you. We finished our bowl game, so I got time. Hey, how'd it go?

We won. How'd we do, though? We beat Boise. Okay, congrats. We beat Boise on Saturday. Hey, way to go go? We won. How'd we do that? We beat Boise. Okay, congrats. We beat Boise on Saturday. Hey, way to go. Was that the LA Bowl? That was the Gronk LA.

Yeah, that's it. I have no idea how to do Zoom, so this has been up on my Zoom for four weeks. I messaged him. I said, hey, your video that came out of the press conference, awesome. Incredible. Need to talk about it.

Can you point me in the direction of the person that sets up your interviews and everything? I don't have that person. All right. All right. So can I have you? Will you come on the show on Tuesday at 1220? Perfect. And then now we're learning he has no idea how to operate any of this stuff.

I love that. I love that about you, Coach. Ball coach. Here we are, normal human. I appreciate that. How was Gronk's National Anthem? I love that about you, Coach. Ball coach. Here we are, normal human. I appreciate that. What do you got? How was Gronk's national anthem? It was Gronk-esque, I would say.

Okay, nice. He was awesome, though. He's another guy, Pat, like you, and I think the two of you guys are awesome for football because we need to continue to promote this game. Gronk's personality is Gromson personality is infectious. Your personality is infectious. And in this game is still about having fun. And I think the more you guys shed light on it,

I think the more fans are going to come out and watch it because it's football's the best game ever invented. So I appreciate what you do. Oh, it's the best football. It's great. It is so much fun to watch. It's always good.

There's drama, you know, there's business too. You heard this business we just chatted about. There's so much that goes into it, and I appreciate the fact that you even know that our show exists. We appreciate that. Darius has a question for you, Coach. Yeah, Coach.

Another great part about football, I feel like, is the discipline part of it. We talked to Coach Rule a couple weeks ago, and he talked about the difference of being in the NFL and being in college. Now with the NIL and the transfer portal, have you felt like you've had to change your coaching style at all when it comes to kids either getting a little softer with them because now they can just leave whenever they want to or are you still the same coach? No, and I think if you have standards and I think if you make sure the players understand the standards

before they get there. One of the reasons with the transfer portal, in my opinion, is that kids get recruited one way and they're like, man, this guy was a dog when he was recruiting me. I loved him. And then they get on the field and he's like, he's a totally different person. You know, I think you have to be the same

and you have to be consistent in your approach. And then if that's something that the players gravitate to, then you're going to get them. If that's not what they're looking for, then you're not going to get them. But getting a player that doesn't want to be at your place isn't good for him, isn't good for you either. So I think if you articulate on the front end kind of how we do things and what's expected here, what our standard is, and I think Mike Tomlin says it the best,

you know, that you got to have a standard. And if you have a standard and we live up to the standard, that's what it's about. And I've always learned that if you set the standard, I think people try to live up to a standard. If you tell them about rules, people try to break standard. That's what it's about. I've always learned that if you set the standard, I think people try to live up to a standard. If you tell them about rules, people try to break rules. Oh, Boris. Hey, Chip, you're deep thinker. Those drives in the morning got you.

The standard is the standard, is what Coach Tomlin said. Coach Tomlin? Yeah. He's one of the best, I'm telling you. I know you know him. I've got all the respect and love for Mike. Mike's awesome. Coach, we all do.

But I'll tell you what, Pittsburgh's not very appreciative of Mike Dallman, right? Uh-uh. That's the NFL, though. That's white football. I mean, obviously. I know. Yeah.

I know. I've been there. I've done that. Yeah, Tony, there's a question for you, Coach. Yeah, Coach, let's talk about the most important position in sports, and that's quarterback. And this time last year you landed a five-star there in Dante Moore. Now he left.

He's in Oregon now. Does something like that happen where you recruit a five-star high school guy and he leaves after a year? Does that change how you recruit that position, or do you go, like does it make you think, like, maybe I'll just do transfer quarterback some of the time? How is that? How are you treating the quarterback position with the portal

and with the freshmen coming in and things like that? No, and I don't think you can cookie-cut or anything. You can say, we did this, we'll do that. I love Dante. I think he's a special young man. We have a quarterback competition here, and Ethan Garbers really, at the end of the year, took the job and earned the job.

And we played really well. We beat SC. He played really well in our bowl game for us. It's just the nature of the position. I think if you look at the transfer rate for all quarterbacks, it's probably the highest position that transfers in college football. Impactful quarterback. Named quarterback. It's crazy.

Only one guy can play. full name cornerbacks it's crazy only one guy can play and i think when you factor in some of the other factors like nil and some of those things um it becomes a different world but i don't think you'll ever say we're not going to do this we're not going to do that i think it's you treat everybody as as uh an individual and you try to get to know them as well as you can based on the ncaa rules um and then you try to make it work and that's that's what you try to do and it's um sometimes it works somewhere for some. Same in the NFL. Guys that you see them at one team and they don't do anything,

then they go to another team and they flourish. You know, it's an interesting dynamic in this game. But I think you continue to, going back to what I talked about earlier, is this is how we do things and does that fit for what you're looking for? What is the plan for your UCLA team? Like, obviously, we're going into the offseason. We're going to get stronger. We're going to get faster. Have you mapped out what you think the next few years look like for your teams? What are you expecting?

We're excited because we're going to the Big Ten for the first time. We get to play different opponents. We get to play at some really cool places. We get to play at Penn State this places. We get to play at Penn State this year. We're really excited about that opportunity. We have an out-of-conference game. We played LSU a couple years ago here. We have to now go back to LSU. So we get to play in some of the coolest places in college football this season coming up. And our players are genuinely excited about that. You know, there's obviously a lot of work to do to play against teams like that. But it'll start for us on January 8th when we get back for winter quarter.

Our kids are off on break now because we played on Saturday. So we'll hit the ground running when we get back here on January 8th and prepare for the 24th season. Enjoy that break, boys. Enjoy that break, boys. If that January 8th start is anything like what it used to be like, we're right back in it. Oh, buddy, we are hitting the ground running a lot.

We are hitting the ground running a lot. We are hitting the ground running a lot. Ty has a question for you, Coach. Coach, I'm curious, with NIL now, like, L.A. used to always be such a major selling point, I feel like, when you would get guys from, you know, the Midwest or wherever it may be because of, you know, the weather and all that kind of stuff. Has it almost turned into, I don't want to say a detriment,

but a little bit tougher because of the, I don't know, maybe the expectation with Hollywood being right there and guys coming in kind of expecting a certain thing in terms of what they're owed money-wise. Have you noticed that at all with your time at UCLA or not really? Yeah. I mean, there are programs in college football that are like the New York Yankees, and there are are programs in college football that are like the new york yankees and there are other programs in college football that are like the pittsburgh pirates and it's

you just have to adjust no i'm just pat you know do the do the pirates have as much money as the yankees well we don't know the pirates involved with Juan Soto? No. No. Okay. Because they can't afford that. So I think everybody understands, no matter where you are, what are the rules of engagement based upon the school that I'm at, and then you adjust.

But I will say this about, and I like this all the time, there's no crying on the yacht. Like, we're coaching Power 5 football. Like, this is, we got to figure it out our job is to come up with solutions to to figure out no matter what the situation is if this school has different than we have that we don't really concern with that um i think if you build your program on strong principles the right guys will find you well coach we appreciate the hell out of you joining us on this glorious tuesday what's the rest of the day look like? What do we got the rest of the day?

Hypothesizing? More ideas? We got more ideas? No, no, no. We're working. We got a lot of transfer portal film to continue to go through because kids keep coming into the portal every single day. Signing day is tomorrow. We got to just make sure all of our kids will get their stuff in tomorrow morning and prepare for that.

And then our coaches will have a little bit of time off for Christmas and New Year's, and then we're right back in the office. All right, well, good luck with signing day. Good luck with the transfer portal. Good luck this offseason with the workout. And we appreciate the hell out of your brain. Ladies and gentlemen, coach, the UCLA Bruins football team, now in the Big Ten, Chip Kelly.

Yeah, Chip. Imagine the amount of shit that he got from volleyball teams. Oh, my God. So we got to go to Happy Valley, Penn State. That's a six-hour, seven-hour. And we got to drive an hour and a half to get in there for a volleyball game. Because you guys won, right? Play your game.

That's a basketball team, too. They got a lot of history in the basketball team. Yeah, like what he was saying with Arizona. That is a massive deal that UCLA and Arizona aren't going to play in basketball anymore. Two of the most storied programs in the history of college basketball. The conference champions.

How about him saying, we're a $100 million company. We disappeared like Bed Bath & Beyond just out of nowhere. That was like over a week period. Remember, they potentially had a deal done with Apple. I think it's what we all heard and thought. And then the next week, no deal. And then all of a sudden, the contract just gets ripped apart by a network.

Not this one. No. And then all of a sudden, Pac-12 schools, hey, you're shit out of luck. You've got to figure this whole thing out. And then it's like, well, now we're going to Big Ten, ACC. There's two schools out. It's like, damn, that happened very, very quickly. I love his idea, though. Let's make this thing

just divisions. We'll play against other divisions. Now, if you pull the SEC as a division, you're going to have a long day, potentially. You're going to have a long season. But you have the NIL. You have transfer portal. You can make your teams good, too. The amount of money that could potentially be used for college football as a whole, CFB, is just what it's called, right?

Say the NFL would just be CFB. Who do you got this week? Boom. You'd still be able to have the games, the marquee games in prime time. It would make everything better. It would be very good. But the amount of shit that has to get figured out to get to that point, the amount of humans you have to get on the same page.

He just talked about how the coaches would say something then the ads would say something and then the presidents would be the complete opposite you have to have all those people on the same page that's just a one school very different group of humans too yes academia people are now involved to do just go one commissioner yeah i think personally i believe you have to have one person yep making and then obviously he has a team there has to be a finger to point somewhere, I think, whenever you're making big decisions. And I think you would need one commish. And then if he's not doing a good job or she's not doing a good job,

you get them out, you get another commish. But getting everybody to get to the point of where we have a league is so many agreements that have to take place. And so many people have to be on the same page, including money people. And it's like, I don't know. You're starting a multi-billion dollar... Yeah, that's a long, that's a lot to get done. I appreciate he's saying, we smart people figure

it out because that's our line. Hey, smart people, figure it out. That's our line. But that is what we potentially need. How many of them are there? And think of like, because I don't know how you would do it where like everyone evenly gets a piece of the pie because that's not necessarily fair either and like some of these schools that are in conferences that have a pretty cushy like setup where it's like you're getting all that all that money and like you're never really

gonna win your conference championship but you're still getting a big chunk of that pie like why would those schools ever be like yeah we don't really want to do this anymore we'll we'll evenly redistribute all this and then you look and it's like oh we're making actually 30 million dollars less than we would have been had we just stayed in the big 10 or whatever what do you say we're getting 75 million dollars from the big time yeah that money's going everywhere that's a big number i thought it was like 40 something i thought it was too it must have i mean after the them adding the four i thought they were getting less because they came in a year later after the deal was already done.

But, yeah, the original Big Ten teams I knew were getting close to 70. Good luck out there. Hey, we're just having to be a small part of it. Listen to Chip. Get to watching. Make too much sense, though, so you know it's never going to happen. No chance. No chance.

Did you hear the judge in West Virginia extended it for the entire year as opposed to just two weeks? Well, you saw what the NCAA did. The same day that the AG was on, what did they come out and say? That there's no guarantee that you won't get penalized after? Yeah, but then it got extended for the rest of the year, I believe. And I don't know if the NCAA came out again and said something. But I do know there was a couple other schools that said,

You heard it. We're back. They're playing the people. So who knows what else is going to fall into the limiting wages thing that has now been added into the lawsuits against the NCAA because money being involved with players means you're, that's a worker. That's somebody trying to earn money for themselves and their family. So if you were holding them back,

you're potentially holding back growth in a business sense, which is not legal in the United States. So then good attorneys, Attorney General of West Virginia, Patrick Morrissey, in front of all those books,

was like, wait a minute. This isn't just like you're screwing student-athletes like this is an employee, employer type situation also that you're hinging upon. And judges, I think they're more apt to lean in favor of workers, especially in 2023 with everything that took place the last couple years. It's like that's a whole new added weapon for these people to potentially attack the NCAA. But then the NCAA comes back and they're like,

well, we have him on scholarship. Scholarship doesn't matter anymore. That whole conversation starts in there. But I feel like there's massive change coming. It's so wild right now. I saw yesterday. So Deion, not a shock. He's been killing the portal again.

He got four new offensive linemen. And then obviously the five-star got out of. Number one tackle. He got five new old linemen. But the one who went from iu to colorado just flipped his transfer portal uh call from colorado to oregon so like people are now not just they're transferring two places within the same transfer portal window so they probably come to a deal with colorado hey you got more here and then they're here late

last sec which adds in a whole other thing about rules, about business guidelines, and how everything could go. But the more money these players get, good for them. Put it all on them. You want to talk about money. Oregon got Gabriel and Dante Moore. I wonder what they're paying for two quarterbacks. Yeah, Dante Moore young, right?

Dylan Gabriel old. So one year probably Dylan Gabriel. And they probably explained to them they've got to do this. And Phil Knight's like, cool, we just drop him this year. Gabriel, old. So one year, probably Dylan Gabriel. And they probably explained to them they've got to do this. And Phil Knight's like, cool, we just dropped him this shoe. Yeah, easy. Whatever you need. You know what I mean? We just dropped a brand new version of the shoe that we dropped 10 years ago.

Looks the exact same. But since shoes have gotten to a point where they all look so asinine, everybody wants to buy what our old shoes look like. So we can get 10 Dylan Gabriels if we'd like out of there, no problem. And that's the weapon of having Nike literally pushing you. Nike sponsors a lot of schools. A lot of schools benefit from Nike. Nike pays a lot of money to a lot of people, but they're paying the most amount of money to one particular school and they always have. Like back before this NIL thing happened, do you remember what Oregon's locker room used to look like? I used to see pictures of that while I was sitting in a high school type locker room

in West Virginia my freshman year. Just worst locker room maybe I've ever been in. Maybe ever that freshman year at West Virginia. And you get pictures of what Oregon's locker room looks like. It's like, oh, these guys are living like kings. Now everybody has that particular thing. And not only the locker room, the lounge area, the rehabilitation area, the barber is always set up.

It's like that's everything. Oregon had that before everybody, though. Oregon took advantage of that. So they're smart with the way they utilize all their money as well. So good luck to everybody in this new world that is college football. Let's go to the NFL a little bit. Matt LaFleur spoke out about the defense coordinator for his particular

program, saying he'll be the defense coordinator for the rest of the season, so everybody just needs to relax. Matt LaFleur has potentially openly stated that he has Joe Barry's back as defense coordinator. Now, the hate against Joe Barry as the football coach, not the human. Football coach, defense coordinator, good human.

We don't know. At all. Probably. Assume. Hopefully. He's committed his life to football. We appreciate that. Right.

But as a defense coordinator, it's gotten very loud about how bad this guy sucks. Ty, one of the loudest people saying it on his birthday yesterday, became a voice of reason for almost all Packers fans. I was reading a lot of the comments that came from the video in which you roasted Joe Barry and what he did and what the future probably looks like with Matt LaFleur, who's too scared or won't pull the trigger on firing a guy. A lot of people were saying, preach it, preach it, preach it. I didn't know if today you wanted to walk those things

back maybe because it got too loud or if you wanted to expand upon some of your thoughts because this is the first time I've seen you diligently Googling things and then handwriting these notes. Would you like to talk a little bit more about Joe Barry, the defense coordinator, who will be the defense coordinator for the rest of the season?

Yeah, sure. I'm absolutely not going to walk it back. Okay. I mean, I don't know. Can't do that. Can't do that. Everyone who watches the games knows. And, you know, this morning I didn't plan on doing this.

I was just like, okay, whatever. But, you know, this morning I didn't plan on doing this. I was just like, okay, whatever. But, you know, some people on Reddit, it's gotten too far. It's gone too far. Everything I said yesterday I felt was right. But, again, you just never know. It was a moment of passion. But luckily people on Reddit have kind of compiled something that's a little bit more palatable to say out loud.

So since 2000, there have been 68 defensive coordinators in the nfl who have had at least five seasons as a defensive coordinator only four of those have never had an above average uh defense in the nfl joe berry is obviously one of them so is chuck's brother uh john pacano yeah well i saw that broke my heart a my heart. A couple others. Jim Haslett was in there too and then some other guy I'd never heard of. He's had three defensive coordinator jobs. It started in Detroit. Rod Marinelli

was the head coach. He is married to Rod Milner's daughter. I assume that's how he got the job. 2007, they were 31st in points per drive or points allowed total defense terrible no big deal he gets the job next year what do they do they go in 16 he gets fired so does everyone else goes to washington gets hired by jay gruden okay 2015 banner year for joe berry best best defense

he's ever had they were 19th in points allowed per drive 28th in total yards so you know not bad as the that is the best defense he's ever had in his career yeah exactly ben but don't break They were 19th in points allowed per drive, 28th in total yards. So, you know, not bad. That is the best defense he's ever had in his career. Yeah, exactly. Ben, but don't break. Sure. I didn't check what their record was, but I'm guessing that Washington was dog shit that year. 2016, bounce back a little bit.

24th in points per drive. So, you know, not terrible. 28th in total yards allowed again, and then 29th in defensive success rate, whatever that means. Basically, to sum this up, in his three years in Green Bay, they are the 31st ranked defense when you tabulate all three years together. So, no, this guy

has never gotten any better. He still sucks. He should be fired, but he won't because that's the Packers. ...in Ohio. He's a man who's a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner, a father of 10, a COVID survivor, and the current president of the state of Ohio, A.J. Hawker. Yeah, A.J. Hawker, how you doing, pal?

You look fantastic. The hair's growing in phenomenal. Oh, yeah. Yes, it is a little bit. I'm impressed by Chip Kelly, not only the fact that he laid out that whole situation of what college football could do, but do you think there's a lot of college football coaches that know what Bed Bath & Beyond even is,

let alone the fact that it's bankrupt now or it's out of business? So he, that is funny to think that there's some football coaches who go into coaching and nothing happens in the world outside of football for 20, 30, 50 years. That is just kind of how the football time capsule happens for some of these coaches. He said in the morning, you know, he drives and he thinks. I think that's when he starts. We just went out of business while he's driving.

Turn signal. We just went right out of business. We really did. And then there's probably a going out of business sale sign on something. He's like, we're like them. And then bed, bath, and we're like bed, bath, and beyond. The amount of deep thinking that man does in the car in the morning is, I think, something maybe he should film someday.

Because he had bars. Everything. We're dropping bars on everything. You know, you set a culture because if you make rules, people want to break them. It's like, all right, okay, so I heard you say that to a team before, I would assume. And then he, Aurelius? Yeah, Marcus Aurelius. Marcus Aurelius.

Yeah, the success of an organization comes in the managing of the non-obvious. Right. Or something along those lines. He had that. I was impressed as well. He did let me know that he may or may not have never seen our show before, but enjoyed being on. Sweet.

And had a great time, AJ. You know, that's a good thing. Yeah, he was impressive. He really was. I like his backdrop, too. What he said, he's been stuck there for the last four weeks. He doesn't have anybody in there to change it for him. Yeah, he has no interns that set up his media either,

just like direct conversation. Massive respect has grown for Chip Kelly over the last few days. Very thankful he stopped by. How about our respect for Drew Locke, though, in the Seattle Seahawks team? Wow. AJ, last night was one of those games in primetime that we hope for every single time a primetime game comes on. Obviously, it appears as if the Eagles got it, the Eagles got it,

the Eagles got it. They're going to put this thing away. Two minutes left, third and seven. If they pick it up, game over. Instead, they don't pick it up. I think last year they would have. Seattle gets the ball back on their own eight. In Drew Locke, DK Metcalf,

the offensive line, and inevitably Jackson Smith. That catch was absurd. Off his thigh. Off his thigh. DK Metcalf makes a play. But that final drive was Drew Locke, DK Metcalf. That's a big one double team come down big fella great ball boom give me that dk metcalf and they could have done this all game you would

assume but whenever they needed it they certainly were able to do it and then the game ends with jackson smith and jigba getting the rock and one-on-one coverage against bradbury and drew lock after the game said as we broke the huddle, I told Jax, I said, hey, if you're one-on-one, I'm throwing the pill. I'm throwing the pill. And they absolutely did. Massive comeback dub in Seattle. What a moment for that guy who's been doing the tux or suit celebration for a long time.

Moxie through the roof. Chit-chatted about whenever he wasn't playing because he was doing the Russell Wilson trade from Denver to Seattle. When he wasn't playing, you know, you start wondering. Human nature starts wondering. Then last week he got to play. He said, I'm still the man.

And then he does what he does. What a night for Seattle and Drew Locke, AJ. I know you played his post-game interview on the field. That was cool to see, man. Like how you see, okay, this truly means so much to these players. And obviously Drew Locke getting emotional, and you even said, great follow-up, like, hey, I sent you getting emotional. That's just, you should do that.

And he was very open to talk about it. So credit to him for how he played. And I think how he handled it and let him know, like, hey, I'm not too cool for school. Like this does mean a lot to me. And he gave credit to everybody around him. Which Pete Carroll. Yeah, that's a great example. Show that to your focus group.

I know you talked about Frank Luntz. Show that. That should get some positive reviews. Did Frank Luntz come to the Green Bay Packers and talk about his focus group? Yes. Yes, he did. Yeah, I don't know if it really resonated with the room, but, you know, there's a time and place for that kind of stuff, I think.

Training camp, tough place to speak. Oh, my God. Football locker room, tough you know, there's a time and place for that kind of stuff, I think. Training camp, tough place to speak. Oh my God. Football locker room, tough place to speak. Just in general. Coming in and talking to these people as if everybody's running for President of the United States of America and don't say anything. It's not just his fault. He was set up

for failure because all the PR people were like, this is the guy that we need to be bowing down to. This is the guy who has all the answers. And it was like, he had American flag shoes on, which are cool. Did he wear those with you guys, I assume? I don't know if he did. I think it would have been a big hit if he did have American flag shoes.

Well, he was wandering around the room a lot. So I saw those shoes moving. He had khakis on. I remember like it was yesterday because I did go to a couple sociology classes in college. And Frank Luntz's social groups were actually utilized in a couple of the studies. So when I heard he was

coming, I was like, oh, I've actually read about him. I've actually read a little bit about this guy. Joining us now is a man who I assume loves focus groups. And the focus groups on him this year say what he's doing is a lot. Nope. Not a lot of recover from an Achilles this quick.

Four-time NFL MVP, the current quarterback of the New York Jets, who might be medically cleared to play. Whoa. Going into week 16 when he suffered a torn Achilles in week one of the NFL season. Ladies and gentlemen, Aaron Rodgers. Aaron! How you Hey, Aaron! How you doing, Aaron? Hey, guys. Good to see you.

Hey, we're talking about training camp speakers there. Frank Luntz made his way over to you guys. How'd that go? Pretty good? Yeah, it was fantastic. Yeah, really, really good speech. When was that? I don't know the year, Aaron, but he was there you i don't know if you maybe aaron opted out of that one but i'm not sure after 2010 sometime oh there's his american flag shoes

boom boom there's literally there he is that was him in the overall president of the united states yeah he did you were there was he a pittsburgh i don't i don't remember the pittsburgh guys that came and spoke so i'm not sure well if p if Pittsburgh people are speaking, you should listen, from my understanding, because it's either going to be incredibly entertaining and competent or, you know, intelligent, one or the other. Let's talk about your life right now. Where are you right now? Green screen? We're doing a movie shoot?

We're on Avatar? I am in John Vieira's office here at the facility. Just finished up some rehab for the day and some conversations. Thought I'd stick around here to do this with you guys and then head on home. We're thankful that you're doing it. I wish we could change the background there.

We got the North Pole here. It's fake. Yeah, it's fake. That's the North Pole. It's a live stream. Live looking. See the snow falling? Look, they got the sign and everything Snow's not falling

Look at that North Star Shining bright That's a little one Where's the Magi? Is that supposed to Is it Connor Ty and DB are the Mag or what what do we got what's

uh well it's the modalities within magi we just don't really touch that is the magi is magi what is the magi i don't know magic like magic is that what three three three wise three three wise men who wouldn't saw jesus they followed the star I think that's what you're pointing to there. Brought him gifts of gold, frankincense, and gold. Frankincense, there we go. And North Star's been used a lot for a lot of people. I did not think about the Magi, though. I thought that was Bethlehem.

Jeez. You said Jesus. Did Jesus live at the North Pole? Not Bethlehem, PA, though. Okay? Not Bethlehem, PA. No, it's over. Great city, though.

Great city. Speaking of great city, New Jersey is a state, good. Not Bethlehem, PA. No, it's over. Great city, though. Great city. Speaking of great city, New Jersey is a state, obviously. New York is a city, though, that is pumped about your future with the New York Jets. We saw a video this past week, and a lot of them of you on the sideline during that game that was not great for the New York Jets against Miami. A lot of facial reactions, a lot of head shakes, a lot of... I saw a big bubble blow at one point. You know, you're one of the best bubble blowers still on TV in 2023.

I want to let you know that. Always chomping on the gum. You seem disgusted with a lot. Obviously, the game did not go anywhere near how you guys thought it would. There was a video, though, that was sent to us from iRocky83, which was watching you on the sideline. And we noticed some things here, Mr. Rogers. For instance, we wondered if you're ever going to be able to get up on your toe.

That was the big conversation. Look at the rock. Look at the rock. And ooh, we're up. Ooh, we're up. Ooh, we're up higher on that one. Now, we appreciate the internet sleuthing there that Irocki did, 83, to get that. But there's a conversation now about you being medically cleared. And we see you going up on your toes.

We see you last week at practice. How do you feel? Where's your state of mind? And what are we thinking and talking about when it comes to playing football again? Yeah, I mean, I've been progressing steadily. and talking about when it comes to playing football again? Yeah, I mean, I've been progressing steadily. Once I was able to start jogging on the Alter-G at about between the eighth and ninth week, things have progressed pretty good.

I came out here right before Thanksgiving, continued my rehab, and was able to get on the practice field in a limited fashion the last three weeks. Most of my stuff has been, like you've seen, kind of thrown on the side, individual work. This last week I took Gibby Center Exchange. I did some stuff with the running backs. I've been doing the seven-on-seven flight school, which is basically twos and threes, piece-wide guys, that I've asked to do at the end of the day.

So that's been fun to do that. Didn't do any 11 on 11 stuff. I think the whole time it's been, you know, hoping that we're still in it because it was unrealistic to think that I would be 100% to be medically cleared at any point during the regular season. I do feel like, you know, in the next three to four weeks, it would be very possible to get to 100%. But obviously not there. And so the conversation was away from 100% medical clearance to a willingness to play. And that's never been a problem for me. In 2018, when it was a rough year, as Ty remembers, we had a rough stretch. Mike got fired.

Joe became the interim coach. We played Atlanta at home, beat them, and then went to Chicago and lost. I think they might have won the division that day. We were kind of eliminated from the playoffs. Next week we played the Jets, and there were a lot of people thinking, was I going to play or not? And my thought was always, well, nobody's 100% in week 16, but I felt like, okay, I'm feeling really good.

I want to play. I want to be out there with the guys. We had a really kind of magical game that day. And again, it was overtime, and we ended up winning on a touchdown walk-off to Devontae. But that was, you know, I felt 100%. So there was never a question whether or not I should play. If I was 100% today, I'd be definitely pushing to play. But the fact is, I'm not.

I've been working hard to get closer to that, but I'm still 14 weeks tomorrow from my surgery and being medically cleared as 100% healed is just not realistic at 14 weeks. So I think everybody says that makes a lot of sense.

If you were willing to risk not being 100% to get back in there for a team that had a chance to go on a run and make the playoffs and do everything. I think that would have made sense to his people. I think we would have been like, all right, that makes sense. If he's at 70%, 65, 75%, whatever it is, but they still have a chance to go on a run. This is still a storybook, right? This is still a story. It still would have been, you know, again, we're in the hypothetical world. Again, we're in the hypothetical world, so it still would have been, I would have, you know, if we win Sunday,

then I need to go through a week of 11-on-11 practice, taking team reps, seeing how I respond to that, seeing how much I can move in the pocket, seeing can I get out of the pocket. So there still would have been a conversation. It wouldn't have been, hey, we won, you're activated, you're for sure playing. Now, obviously, being a competitor, I would have pushed it as far as I could this week, but it still would have been a conversation. I would have had to check all the boxes, practice well, respond well the next day

after some of these 11-on-11 sessions, the next day after some of these 11-on-11 sessions, and then the conversation between Woody and Joe and Robert and Dave and the medical staff and Neil Elitrosh and myself to determine whether or not they were going to ultimately clear me. Okay, so there have been a lot of steps to get through, but there's potential that we would have been able to. Do you still feel as if all the hard work to get back as quick as you are was good? Like, you feel like we changed the...

I think so. I think, like, you changed the thought on the Achilles this year, even though we're not seeing you back this week, apparently, or the next couple weeks, because the team has been completely eliminated and you're not at 100% yet. So do you feel like there has been a change?

I think so. I think it's still a job well done out of you. I hope so. I hope so. I hope that, you know, I have talked to a lot of different people that have sustained Achilles injuries since mine and passed along all the information that I could about what's worked for me and what hasn't worked. I'm still checking in on Kirk and Jalen and JK and all the different guys that I've gotten to know during this difficult time. But I think, if anything, it shows if you were to have this injury, an off-season workout, summer workouts or something, that coming back to play is not just a possibility but a probability if you do it the right way and you rehab and be smart about your diet.

Obviously, I'm a firm believer in Neil and everything that he does and the amazing people, Heather and Double A, Ed Elite, and all their incredible therapists there. But there's a lot of great people across the country who can do this rehab. There's a lot of information out there. There's a lot of different, like we joke about, modalities you can do to increase your healing. But I think diet is very, very important. I think getting on your feet as quickly as possible is very important as well. There's some doctors that don't do that. They take their time with it, which is fine. I believe in getting on your feet and moving it quickly. And I think that there's hope that if

you were to have an injury in the off season, that it's not out of the question to be ready for week one and definitely not out of the question to be ready for the season. So hopefully this isn't looked at as kind of a one-year kind of loss of a year death sentence moving forward. And, you know, the surgeries have gotten better. The rehab ideas have gotten better. And there's ways to supplement that through really through diet and vitamins, I think, that can put you in a better position.

Go ahead, AJ. Coming back at such a quick pace, are you worried that you're going to rupture that same Achilles again, or is it something else in your body that tends to go? I know that when you hurt something, you can make up for it and tear something else. What, I guess, is the biggest worry when you talk to doctors about coming back early? Well, it's what we talked about the entire time, about the difference between stretching and stressing. You know, you got to allow that Achilles to heal up completely before you're

stretching it. But there's, you know, again, there's a lot of different ways to attack this rehab. I tried to get on my feet quickly and kind of cut a lot of the protocols in half just to see if I could do it a different way. And I wanted to push on my feet quickly and kind of cut a lot of the protocols in half just to see if I could do it a different way. And I wanted to push it for the first two months as hard as I could and get to that eight-week mark and see where I was at and then adjust accordingly the rehab schedule. After that, for like eight weeks, I felt really, really good. I was walking basically normal. I was able to start jogging on the Ultra G. So that's why I pushed it as far as I could. I wouldn't have done anything differently. I wanted to get back. Were we in

a position where we were looking like a playoff team and the possibility of getting into playoffs without me was going to happen? Being ready for first round of playoffs to me would be an absolute no-brainer. I had kind of always circled the 24th in my head from the day I got hurt to the next day. I thought, okay, no one's come back quicker than 18 weeks. 14 weeks would be the week of the Washington game. I'm going to put my sights on that, focus on that. So I feel good about where I'm at now to at least there would have been a conversation about it.

But it was always going to be difficult rehab and always going to be a difficult comeback. But, you know, I'm thankful for all the people that reached out throughout the process, all the information that was shared with me, all the great, you the great attention I had from not just the amazing people here at One Jets Drive, but everybody at Elite, and obviously Neil has been fantastic through this whole process. There's been a lot of these injuries, and I feel that through what I've learned on my own, through my rehab, through my own research, and through the research of uh you know triple a and double a and heather and all the amazing people i've been around uh you know i have a better idea about how to pass on the knowledge that i've learned through this process but um you know there's always the fear about the re-rupture

if you're if you're going too fast but this allows me to uh you know i'm not going to slow my rehab down i'm going to keep attacking it every single day. But now without a timetable to come back, obviously we can be as smart as we need to be. Yeah, we can't wait to see it all. And it's been an honor to learn all this about the Achilles. Oh, yeah. You know, I've learned more about the Achilles

than the world has over the last 14 weeks than ever before. So we appreciate how open you've been about the entire process and how aggressive you've been in your rehab to get back and make it happen. And that Achilles factory, you know, it introduced us to Arnold Schwarzenegger. So we're very grateful. You know, we're very grateful

for it all. We appreciate you though, man. Way to kick ass for this whole thing. Way to kick ass for this whole thing. There can be a lot of hard times during recovery and rehab especially whenever you're trying to do something that nobody's ever done before very publicly you know like kind of there's gonna be a lot of people that want to we appreciate you man genuinely now let's talk about next year darius has a question oh yeah now that uh probably not fully flipping the switch because obviously the season's still going on with your team, but individually not coming back this year.

Now you've been documenting some of this behind the scenes as well. Is next season, will next season be the last dance for A-Rod in New York? I don't think so. You know, I felt like when I came here that I got kind of a renewed passion and love for the game, and everything has been amazing here just the people i've gotten to work with the relationships i've gotten to form with my teammates and amazing men and women at work here at one just drive has been really special i wanted you know at least two years i feel like this year is kind of a lost year now that i only played a couple snaps and

wasn't able to go out there and improve what I'm capable of and see what we're capable of as a team. I don't think that next year will be my last year. With some of the things that I've learned over the last year, taking care of my body and surrounding myself with some great people who've been helping me with my nutrition and my functional training at a more acute level. I feel like I can play more years and I can be effective into my 40s, which is crazy because I thought that I'd probably be sitting on the couch somewhere at 40, but now I want to be a starter at 40. I want to be a starter at 41. I want to see what I can get out of this body. I believe in

the leadership that we have here. I believe in our guys. I think it see what I can get out of this body. I believe in the leadership that we have here. I believe in our guys. I think it's not a situation where we have to rebuild. We need to reload a little bit, and there'll be some tough decisions for sure, but I like the pieces that we have in place. I like our young players. We got a lot of great young players who are stepping into more of a leadership role in their second and third years. There's some guys who just got paid who are incredible players like Quentin Williams, who's got a chance to be an all-pro in the league for a long, long time. His brother has had one of the most outstanding years for an inside backer, I think, in the league, and I think he's finally getting the respect that he deserves. CJ has been a rock for us as our captain on defense, but a lot of great performances this

year, especially on the defense side of the ball. I think Sauce, although you won't see the interception numbers jump out, has had a fantastic year. Nobody really throws his way. And then the other side, the guy that's getting a lot of work, DJ Reed, has had a fantastic season. So proud of those guys. I think Tony Adams has had a really nice year for us um as a you know undrafted player who's just gotten better every single week jordan white has been uh great for us in the back end our d line speaks for itself they're six seven deep and they've been fantastic all season long quinn and obviously he's had a fantastic year inside um quinn jefferson's had a really nice year playing interior tackle for us solomon thomas has had a fantastic you had a great game uh jfm is a stout

you know solid player on the edge for us bry Bryce Huff has made himself a lot of money this year. Uh, Will McDonald is a bright future in the league. Um, so there's a lot of pieces in place. Most of those guys will be back. Uh, some of those guys might get opportunities to get paid somewhere else. And, and, uh, hopefully they do. I want to see everybody get paid offensively. We got to, you know, we got to reload a couple, uh, in a couple of reload a couple spots, but I think we've got some great pieces in place. We have two outstanding game-breaker players to build around, Garrett Wilson and Brees Hall, who've had nice seasons. I think the future is very bright in New Jersey for our guys, and we'll finish out this season the right way and be a long offseason for sure.

But I like the men that we have on the squad. I like the characters that we have. And we just got to add a couple pieces to it and the goals will still be the goals. It's getting real loud, bro. It's getting real loud. Everything you just said, I agree with. You said amazing things. And this year, the way it was supposed to go got derailed,

literally four plays into the whole thing. But it's getting loud out of those Jets fans. First time, long time, going into the season, real hope, real optimism. Super Bowl. And it almost made it even worse because then all of a sudden they had hope and now it's gone completely. And then things like this past weekend happened it's getting which leads to this from con man yeah aaron uh real quick to conspiracy update massive list coming out next year you should be pumped

about it we all are but uh one big thing that's being talked about right now and you know it's happening everywhere it's not just new york and obviously it's amplified in new york but i mean they're talking about firing bill belichick who's's the greatest head coach and GM of all time. So no matter what, when your team struggles, those conversations are going to happen in the media. But with everything that's happened with the Jets this year, for you personally and just in general, for players who are injured and who are watching and can't actually help during the game, is it much more difficult when that is happening and also the guys that you have grown to love

and have relationships with, Sala, Douglas, Hackett, when those guys are getting dragged, does it make it even harder just to be watching? Was that like an added motivation throughout the year that you wanted to get back? Was that something that also kind of attributed to the, hey, I want to get back? Was that something that also kind of attributed to the, hey, I want to get back to prove these guys right in the mind of the people who are covering the team

just because it has gotten so loud? Yeah, of course. I think to not say yes would be to deny a natural human instinct to protect those that you love and you care about. And I believe in Joe Douglas. I think he's put together a lot of great drafts and a great roster. We obviously had a number of difficult injuries this season. I believe in Robert Sala. He's a fantastic coach. I think he's about the right stuff. And what you emphasize, you're going to get. And I think he emphasizes the right things,

being about the right stuff, how to be a professional i believe in nate hackett you always have i think the offense that he runs is quarterback friendly and uh you know obviously it was geared around me and my ability isn't what i do well and my ability to get to the line of scrimmage and get us in a good play and to survive bad plays you know i think that's a a role for a quarterback to do as anything is how do we survive a play that maybe nobody's open or somebody gets beat right away or just doesn't look good pre-snap. And I think that's part of a quarterback's job. It's not just to make the splash plays,

but to make the right play when things don't look great. So, yeah, it comes with playing in New York and being a Jet or a Giant. You know, it's a great media, very passionate. Our fan base is incredibly passionate. You know, 13 years without going to playoffs is tough. And so, naturally, this reaction from fans across the league, albeit sometimes misguided, you know, I think people want snap decisions and I can't believe the Belichick stuff because I played against Bill a number of times I've had most

of our respect for him he's been the best coach in the league for a long time like you said you got to say Pat which is so awesome at the army navy game just reminding him who he is out loud so everybody can hear that you're the best coach and GM of all time. I think that's a pretty fair assessment. So for people to call for his job or whoever else's job, I understand it. I respect people's opinions. They feel so strongly about it because they love their team so much and they want to be great. You have to also understand that there's some things that great quarterback play can overcome. I think every great coach over the years has probably had a pretty damn good quarterback

and pretty good play. I mean, obviously, Tom and Bill had incredible success and won six Super Bowls together. And it doesn't make Bill a worse coach that Tom's gone. But you need stability at the quarterback position to be successful in this league. And look around the league, the teams that are playing the best are having stellar quarterback play. And they also have stellar offensive line play. And we've had a ton of injuries up front. You look at the five that started the season, Connor McGovern had a season-ending injury, ABT and Achilles, season-ending injury. Lakin and McKay have been kind of the only ones that have held on.

Joe's been guard and now at center for us. Billy and Jake, you know, fighting their asses off on the right side, but weren't expected to be starters starting the season out for us. So, you know, our best teams over the years, you look at the 2014 team I go back to many times, you know, we were really dynamic on offense. We had Jordy and Randall, who were playing at a super high level, and a young rookie, Demonte Adams. We had Eddie Lacy

in the backfield, but we had five guys up front who were really freaking good. Bakhtiari, Sitton, Corey Lensley, TJ Lang, and Brian Balaga. And those guys played together. There wasn't a lot of injuries. They played most of the games together.. There wasn't a lot of injuries. They played most of the games together. We didn't have a lot of turnover. That's a big part of this whole thing. And with our center going down, our right guard going down, Makai flipping sides, Dwayne going down, we've had a lot of moving pieces up front. And that's made it difficult for the quarterback throughout the year. And it's just kind of been one of those things. You can blame whoever you want to blame,

but I would wager to guess things would look a little bit different, you know, with some consistency in guys staying healthy up front and me playing quarterback. And I look forward to showing that next year. Hell, yeah, I think everybody's excited. That's why they were so excited this year about what it could have been. Although the offensive line was certainly a question going into training camp.

It was, and Robert Sala talked about it. So hopefully that'll be something that gets fixed for next season as the dreams and hopes of all Jets fans will come back as number eight is running on the field with the American flag. Yeah. What a moment that was.

We'll always hold on to that night until next year starts. We're going to have more moments like that. That won't be the lasting image that you see of me in a Jet jersey. There's going to be a lot more amazing things to come. It's going to be a long offseason for sure. And for Jets fans, it's going to be an extremely long offseason. But the night is darkest before the dawn,

and we're going to rise again, and it's going to be exciting. The night is darkest before the dawn. That is right. Amen. You need to rain so you can enjoy the flowers. That's right. These things, you know what I mean? If it wasn't for a rainy day, cloudy day, you wouldn't appreciate a sunny day.

Ever. This is just 13 years of a setup for next year's happiness. In flowers, in sun, in the brightest dawn that there's ever been. We're all the way back. AJ, go ahead, pal. Have you thought about what your offseason is going to look like with the team? I know this last offseason you took part in a lot of the OTAs and different things. You were out there slanging it around. Have you had any kind of talks with anybody

about what it might look like this year? Well, not really. Out of respect for finishing the season right, I think it's important to not be talking about your off-season travel plans or your schedule. I think that's not really what it's going to be. No, it happens for sure. But I think it's important to finish the season the right way,

to be professional. You know, this is the last time this team will be together in its entirety. And there's something special about that, regardless if you're playing for the playoffs or not. Doing things, finishing out the right way, being a professional. It's a who-you-know league. So doing things the right way goes a long way for you as a player to make sure you always have a job in this league. Same for coaches. So we've got to do things the right way goes a long way for you as a player to make sure you always have a job in this league

same for coaches so yes um we gotta do it do things the right way but i'm gonna be uh you know doing my usual uh working out on the west coast and then uh once we kind of get get revved up around the draft i'll be uh i'll be back here and uh trying to get this thing right. I think it's important, you know, to make sure I keep putting my stamp on this offense and we'll have some new pieces. So I want to make them get on the same page. But I'll still have, you know, things to do in May and June that'll take me elsewhere. But I'll try and be around. Darkness, dolphin, sex parties?

Maybe the latter. The former, though, I've been there. And we'll be around. Darkness? Dolphin? Dolphin sex parties? Ooh. Yeah, what is it? Maybe the latter. The former, though. I've been there. I don't think I'm going to go back in a dark cave anymore. I think I've had enough time for contemplation this entire year. You've retired from darkness.

Wow. Congratulations. Welcome to the light. Welcome to the light, Aaron. Welcome to the light. Holy hell. You beat the game. It was huge.

Thank you so much. Thank you. You went into the hole and beat the game. Breaking. I don't need to go back. Nope. What are we game? Thank you so much. You went into the hole and beat the game. Breaking. I don't need to go back. What are we doing? I already done that. How many days were you in there? How long were you in there? Five days and four nights.

Is that real right now? Or I thought it was three. Is it really five days you were in that thing? It was three entire days and then parts of two other days. Five days and four nights. When are you going to check in? The afternoon of the first day, it came out the morning of the fifth day. The hotel racketed.

You can't check in until 4 o'clock, too. It's like, okay, just get the rooms done. Airbnb, too. I got three hours now because my only flight in here was at this time. Oh, thanks. I just got to sit here? Okay, that's my fault, I guess. Darkness is my fault.

I think there's some people on the show who could use some time in darkness. There's some anger issues from the talk table that could probably get worked out through a little contemplation in the darkness. I like my anger issues. I want them. I'm in the light right now. I'm seeing the light. Is that dog?

You got a dog on your chest right now? With Taylor Swift written below it. Well, I don't understand. You have no idea. This is how we start the show. This is how we start the show. Two things on the shirt at the same time.

Okay, potentially. We didn't even think about maybe it is a Pfizer shirt. I had no idea. No, no, it is not. It is not sponsored by or anything had no idea. No, no, it is not and it is not sponsored by or anything of that nature. It's just two goats. Lift up your sleeve. Show us your bandage. Two titans of industry.

Look, Tony, I got my one jab, okay? You can just leave it at that. But just two titans of their own kind of world, you know? We're in the middle of like a very serious Jets conversation earlier and like Connor holds up the question. What's it ask?

Perfect. That's for right now. Send it over. Before we get there, Aaron, there's a list coming out next year. They keep updating. K with breaking news today. You don't think he knows? He's on the internet a unique amount of times.

True. Put it on the ticker. Yeah, you're right. That is breaking news. That is breaking news. Trying to get his name off that list probably. You? Whoa. Yeah, you're right. That is breaking news. That is breaking news. Trying to get his name off that list, probably. You? Whoa! Oh, jeez.

I mean, 170-some people. It's going to open some eyeballs, I bet. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. Speaking of interesting, this guy's turning 40 here. This guy over here. You know that, right? At the Capitol again? Yeah.

Him and Arthur Smith. January 6th. Yeah, we know. We know his birthday. The whole world knows his birthday. That's right. They all know his birthday. He might have been one of those undercover agents. He didn't miss the show that day.

He did. I mean, not just AJ. There are a lot of people in Atlanta saying Artie Smith also, undercover agent. Yeah, they're putting Artie Smith in a lot of pictures trying to get him canceled. Cool. Their AI. Was there anybody with a great mustache there? I'm confused.

He does have a fantastic mustache. Have to compliment him on that. Boy, Falcons fans do not seem to enjoy old Artie Smith, which goes back to the NFL, which is easy come, easy go league. You have success. We love you. You don't. We hate you.

Artie's on the ladder there, down there in Atlanta. Yeah, especially after that Carolina. I'm a fan. For whatever it's worth, I'm a fan. Me too. He's a weapon. He's styled, too. I saw him down in Atlanta in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

And I said, much more strapping. He's kind of jocked? Kind of jocked, yeah. I said, much more strapping than you could have ever expected. Artie Smith, he goes, that was quite a backhanded comeback. I was like, well, I mean, he is. He quite a backhanded company i was like well i mean he is he's a lot he's pretty yoked up that's devil dog makes sense yes that is a marine one of 10 kids is that what it was yep insane uh anyways let's go back to your off season there's a big

question for time yeah aaron uh a lot of rumors basically saying that like hey the jets are still gonna go all in they're gonna sell out do whatever they can to make sure that they can trade for davante adams now we also saw the alleged reports that as the Jets were courting you, you wrote down a list and basically said, hey, if you don't get these guys, I'm not coming, so figure it out. Just curious, though, going

into next year, what is your expectation in terms of your involvement with the roster construction? We talk about having to retool a little bit, whether that be like the draft or free agency or like acquiring people via trade well i think it'd be pretty similar to various parts of my career where i'm a pretty decent recruiter so they have a certain person they want making sure i'm in the loop to have the right conversations with that free agent.

So I enjoy those conversations. I think, you know, we'll try and get high-character people in here that are about the right stuff, about what we're trying to be known for. And, you know, Joe and I got a great relationship. So, you know, the lines of communication are always wide open. I was actually just talking to him before I came down here. We talk weekly but don't get a chance to sit down all the time. We're always in communication.

It's a good line of communication between Robert and Joe and myself. I'm always trying to help out with, you know, the chemistry and character stuff. And, you know, I just think that we need guys in here who are about the right stuff, and I think Joe's done a good job. I mean, the guys he's drafted the last couple of years have been pretty outstanding. Look at some of the big playmakers in the second and third years here.

You know, look at the defensive side of the ball with, you know, with Sauce and obviously Garrett on the offensive side of the ball and Jermaine Johnson has had such an incredible year for us on defense. You know, we've got to keep drafting well and bringing guys through about the right stuff. You know, we'll see what happens with any trades or any of that stuff. But, you know, I'm always kind of in the loop. I'm excited to hear your recruiting tactics.

Yeah. Like are you taking the bird somewhere, laying and saying, let's go to the diner, let's do this entire thing. You know, because a lot of these college coaches you can learn from in the recruiting world, especially with the transfer portal. You know, there's ways to hook this thing up, let alone all the chains that are tossed around over there at the Jets. Remember?

Oh, yeah. Sauce got one. Woody's got one. I mean, that could become like a whole new thing. Welcome to the team. I'm excited to see what the team looks like next year. Remember, Aaron, on the ticker, told Darius Butler earlier, we got a few years left.

Oh, yeah. 40-41. This ain't a one-year thing. AAA's got me feeling right. I got abs now. We wrestled the other night, and I won. That was an enjoyable experience. As opposed to what it could be with AAA. And your body's feeling better than ever, right? I mean, that is basically what we said earlier. Body feels good for sure.

I mean, I think, you know, people are always trying to bring up science this and science that. Diet is the most important thing for dealing with a lot of things that are going on with your body and if you're eating fake food processed food genetically modified organisms uh high inflammatory foods you're gonna have a hard time what are inflammatory the ones that taste good is that what you're saying there's saying? There's a lot of different ones. And I think it's important. I saw something that Dana White was talking about the other day about a doctor that he went to. And blood test is important to figure out.

Everybody has different types of blood and different sensitivities to certain foods. And just making sure you're eating stuff that kind of gels with your body uh constitution is important so um the lot of stuff that i've done you know with triple a in the past year and really since uh 2015 just kind of trying to be a lot more intentional with my diet has been important now some of these guys are absolute genetic freaks and doesn't matter what they eat there's guys that still enjoy mcdonald's which i don't know why. I can't understand why, but they can still ride away and not put on a ton of weight.

Yeah, the apple pies. Didn't you ever do that when you were growing up where you put a Big Mac in the classroom for the entire year and watch that thing not age a bit? Yes. No, I didn't get accepted. If you did that,

it's like finding out how sausage is made. If you do that, you stop eating that kind of stuff. Don't tell me that about quarter pounder with cheese. That's a different animal. Big Mac, obviously. Chicken nuggets for me. I love those things. I wouldn't eat those.

I've never met somebody that's ever not liked chicken nuggets. Let's leave chicken nuggets in the barn, okay? We can talk about everything. Well, I think that's what he's saying, though. Everything in's ever not liked chicken nuggets. Let's leave chicken nuggets in the barn, okay? We can talk about everything else. Well, I think that's what he's saying, though. Everything in the barn is in chicken nuggets. Oh, no. I think he's right. Well, you know what?

I don't know if – and I'm only speculating because I saw a couple of you guys. But during the year, you know, it's hard. Coaches, you know, spending crazy hours game planning and all that stuff. And a lot of them tend to put some weight on. I feel like it might have happened a little bit during the football season with some of the members of the show. Maybe this offseason, as football

is on the back burner, we get on Weight Watchers or start to do some things to trim it up a little bit. DB, I'm not talking to you. DB, you look great. I appreciate that, Aaron.

Isn't that nice, Darius? That must be nice. Hey, geez, doesn't that feel so good, that type of compliment? Darius actually looked like a cross-country runner when the season started. That's right. He is back to looking properly jocked, which is great to see. Been hitting the Hawk House. There you go.

A lot of boys in great shape this year. A lot of boys. Last year. I'm not saying you've got to be like AJ and only eat eggs and chicken, which is bizarre. And luckily he's got an amazing wife who takes care of him. But there's one guy that comes in there pretty regularly as well who played at a certain weight and seems to be trimmed up

and pretty jocked himself. And I'm talking about the initials, AQ. Yeah, the Q's are going to be really pumped to hear that because all we've done is just completely shame him. Yeah, it's the worst. He's still alive? We got a wellness check on him? Hey, he's not just alive. He thrived a crush. I saw him in a video.

Yeah, we got a highlight tape for tomorrow? Yeah, we got a bunch of them. And the camp MVP. The Green Berets. It wasn't Navy Seals. He set us up to get Wick. The Green Berets, it wasn't Navy SEALs. He set us up to get killed because I'm like, he's got this Navy SEAL thing. And then he posts a photo of Green Beret camp. I'm like, you make me look like an asshole, AQ. You know what I mean?

I don't think he knew exactly where he was headed. Sure. He had a great time, though. He did do well. Yeah, he was crushing it. I just want to put a challenge out there to the boys who are coming out for Tahoe again this year. Like, you know, when you take that shirt off, I want to see you take it off with a lot of pride. He doesn't know about Tahoe.

It's a oomph. Yeah, I don't know. When you jump in that freezing cold lake, I want to see you pretty jocked. I don't think I was invited this year to Tahoe. It was a shame. I don't believe that. I don't believe that. Man, I didn't see the email.

Did you guys get the email already? I don't believe that. I don't believe that. Man, I didn't see the email. Did you guys get the email already? I haven't seen one yet, so I think you're fine. Okay. I think you're going to be there for a while. Now, we've got to start getting you to climb up the rankings a little bit. You're going to have to get a lot better at golf. You're going to have to get a lot better at golf.

Also, you're going to have to get a lot better at walking. The shoes are going to have to be – I've gone two years in a row here trying to like – I want shoes to look good. Sure. I'm wearing them. We have no excuse. Jim McMahon's out there on a little scooter, you know, and he's still playing. Okay. He's mentally tougher than I am.

I will tell you that. I would not go out there if that was the case, but Jim McMahon's a dog. Come on. Don't be soft. We saw Butch. Yeah. Butch was still out there getting it. War veteran.

I would be bummed out if I missed him. That's what he's saying, though. Butch is sinking 35-foot putts as John Deere, you know. I'm missing six-foot putts in front of everyone on a regular basis. It is a humiliating event. It was very long, but the company's fantastic. And it is a great, it's a nice little mental vacation. Whole body's sore.

I got bruised toes, all of them. Just about to get a chance to go to bed. What a warrior. You're a warrior. Thank you. People forget about that. I'm walking there and my whole body hurts and I'm like, Duffner's just been rolling around these golf courses

for like 15 years John Daly is smoking cigs drinking beers walking these courses it is not enough respect is given to that at all speaking of respect we're in a time of year that I think you have massive respect for Tone has a question for you speaking of respect Aaron let me

remind you be a friend tell a friend tell somebody something nice it might save their life today and so far today you've called me fat and you left me out of the three mogwai. Something to think about there. We're less than a week away from Christmas. Any Christmas movie recommendations or anything that we should be

doing here in the last couple days before the great day? Well, I think we've got to first decide, is Die Hard a Christmas movie or not? Yes. I'll allow it. Okay, Christmas movie. I think we've got to first decide, is Die Hard a Christmas movie or not? Yes. I'll allow it. I think we also need to have a debate on what the best Home Alone is. Two.

Two is very... I watched two the other night. It was fantastic. Fire. Is two your favorite because there's a cameo from Trump or some other... That is why Connor enjoys it. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't put words in my mouth. Don't put words in my mouth.

I never said that. But it helps. So he did. Listen, if you want nostalgia, we used to watch White Christmas on Christmas Eve, an old Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye movie from right when television was color. That has some nostalgic feelings for me. And then It's a Wonderful Life we watch on Christmas.

A couple of great old nostalgic movies. I think Elf is still probably the best Christmas movie. Okay. And definitely one that I like watching every year. But yeah, you know, it's Christmas. Everybody has their own traditions. You know, I remember AJ likes to eat Chinese food on Christmas. I don't understand that. Oh, nice.

It's strange. It's like I'm AJ. Not that he's actually eating anything at the Chinese restaurant besides chicken skewers. What about Christmas Vacation? You left that one out. What about Grinch? You also left that one out.

Jim Carrey, obviously, committed to the bit. He was actual asshole Grinch. I like the old Grinch. Cartoon, I can deal with that. I like the cartoon. Yeah, I like the cartoon. Jim Carrey is the Grinch. Phenomenal.

Santa Claus, Tim Allen, Scott Calvin, solid. Santa Claus 6 is probably the best one. but yeah i like the cartoon jim carrey is the grinch phenomenal yeah santa claus tim allen scott calvin solid four christmas six is probably the best one santa claus six okay all right yeah there's no reason to make a mock friend okay there's no reason what about what about krampus that's pretty good christmas movie yeah sleigh ride with bill goldberg i think i think the most underrated christmas movie also has the most swear words in it in any movie, I believe, and that's Bad Santa. Bad Santa's a solid movie. That is good.

I enjoy the... And also, if you make a banger during the holiday season, it's going to run forever. So everybody gives a shot. Basically, any movie with little people in it is going to be in my top 25. Okay, just because of the commitment to the. Willow.

Yeah. Willow. Oh, Willow's legendary. Okay. Nice. Star Wars Return of the Jedi. WWE. Jackass.

Harry Potter. Okay. Harry Potter. Willow. All right. Love that. What about We Man? Yeah.

We Man crushed. Elf as well. He's a Royal Rumble. Elf. Yeah. Pete Danklage. Jojo Rabbit. Who about We Man? Yeah, We Man crushed it. Elf as well. He's a Royal Rumble. Yeah, Pete Dinklage. Jojo Rabbit. Who's the boss? That's more than 25 movies all of a sudden. Now you're in trouble.

Those are all my top 25. Okay, sweet. Hey, before we get out of here, can you list us your top 22 whites? Because we got an all-white versus all-black game going on. Rashard Mendenhall threw this out into the social media sphere. And obviously everybody that's ever been in the NFL or in a locker room before started dying laughing and then started saying,

wait a minute, though, let's start piecing this together. Why? Because we have too much time and we're in a locker room. And this is how actual friendships and relationships between black people and white people actually go. You know, people that have actual friends of the other race, like, can joke about it. Where some people get incredibly upset about everything. Rashard Mendenhall, super racist. If this was the other way around, he would be canceled.

It's like, we would all talk shit on him, though. All us sports people people if it was the other way around and that's just how the sports world is that's how we go have you give this have you given this any thought or consideration and i'd like to let you know i made a big move for the whites yesterday oh yeah huge move huge move yep i negotiated a deal publicly one-sided without speaking anybody on the other side that we get some more Paul and the Ooses. The Ooses are on the white team, which is great news. And in return, the black team gets any Asian player that is to play.

So that was the deal. That was the negotiation. Young-Way Koo is the kicker for Atlanta. He's the second highest percentage in the history of the NFL, right behind Justin Tucker. He will be kicking for them, which is a big deal. Have you thought about this? Have you seen the reaction of it at all?

It is awesome how the Internet has responded. I didn't know about it until this second. So I think just off the top of my head, spitballing, we need to have a draft, and it's got to involve Dave Chappelle. So we should have a draft, right, because there's, you know, a couple people that we're not sure which team they'd be on. So we need to have a draft. We got Patrick Mahomes there.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And Mike McDaniels, our head coach. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Got to have a conversation. There's a lot to be sorted. That depends if you're first pick or not. No point. We'll see.

But, I mean, as we saw in the racial draft with Chappelle, it just matters where you're picking, right? Not who you're picking. So I think we should probably have some sort of draft. But, you know, I think it's – what is he really saying? He's really talking about who is allowed to speak and not speak, right? And I think a lot of current players, you know, who are getting criticized hold on to that. Like, oh, well, that person never played, so I don't really give a shit about what they say, you know?

And on the flip side, there's interesting comments about certain guys who do say things. Like, I saw what Cam Newton said, right? Cam took a lot of flack for what he said. And first of all, he has the right to talk about whatever he wants, number one, as a human. But number two, he was MVP and a pretty damn good player. So if anybody has the ability to talk about, again, they're talking about it with their opinion.

Like everybody should. But secondly, Cam, he can say whatever he wants. He's been there, done that. He played in the league at a super high level. He won MVP. He went to the Super Bowl. Cam can say whatever he wants with the authority that he played at a high level, knew what he was doing, and also it's an opinion.

Everybody on TV who never played has plenty of opinions that don't get questioned the same as – and I don't know what else Rashard said, if that was the only thing he said or not. He said a lot. He certainly – he seems to not like the Watts. I don't know if he – I don't think he likes the Watts. I could understand. But I think that it is interesting who we allow to speak and who we allow not to speak.

And obviously people have questioned my ability to speak on certain things because I don't have an official doctorate degree. But that's neither here nor there at this point. But when it comes to Cam, I think Cam's opinion, for me at least, carries a lot of weight because I respect him for what he did in the league, how he played, and the stuff that he said I think for the most part was interesting. It's his opinion, which is awesome, but I don't think he was too far off. Yeah, okay. So you just said a lot there at the end.

I don't know where to go with this right now because I was going to say that doesn't necessarily mean that you agree with what he's saying. You're just saying that he's allowed to say whatever the hell. He's Cam Newton. He has earned it. But a lot of people are judging Cam Newton off how he played in New England. In his last couple years after he had that shoulder injury where he wasn't able to throw, I think there's a lot of humans that are like, that's Cam Newton in their eyes,

as opposed to the defensive end that showed up in the NFL, who was bigger, stronger, faster than everybody, and took over an entire stadium whenever he was playing for the Panthers, all the way to the Super Bowl. All the way to the Super Bowl. So it's like, I think people forget about that in the world that we're in. Yeah, and I honestly didn't see a whole lot of what he said. First thing I just saw, he posted like a 10-minute video,

and I watched the video. One, I think Cam's a really interesting person. And two, I've always had respect for him. I saw him as a rookie in 2014. We played him in Carolina, and we won late. I hit Jordy for a touchdown catch and run, a long play. 2012, sorry. 2011, when was that?

When was the first year? Oh, when was that? CT's kicking in. But he threw 40 yards that day. He was unbelievable. And, again, he accomplished a lot in the league. I trust opinions like Greg Olson, and Greg and I are friends, and I think he does a fantastic job on TV.

Him and Kevin do an amazing job with that Fox 1 team. But, you know, when you talk to Greg about Kim, he has nothing but glowing things to say. Like he talks about his leadership, his ability, his instincts on the field. And so, yeah, people remember, you know, for whatever reason right now, they're remembering him in New England or whatever after his injuries and different things. But Cam was an MVP player, and Cam has every right to speak on what he believes. He's doing like he's owning his media now.

It looks like he's doing really well. I saw what he said. People are going, oh, you're bitter about this. You're bitter about that. From what I saw in the 10-minute video, Cam seems to be in a great spot and seems to be enjoying life and happy and that doesn't always sit well with people either if the former players you know happy and just shooting from the hip and speaking their mind ben roethlisberger too so ben roethlisberger is doing similar things with his football and pod in pittsburgh cam's doing his thing it thing. And then there's people that get really upset about,

oh, there's all these podcasts. Everybody thinks they have it. It's like the more we hear from people that have done it, the better. That is not saying, though, that you have had to have played to talk about this sport. No. But it's just the angle in which you talk, though. Like, for instance, I was only a punter in the league.

So when I'm talking about some things, I will defer. Like, I do not have the answer for that, but there's some people who've never played, have never been in a locker room, have really no idea. And they speak as if they're an authority on things. And I think that's an easy way to potentially with the lack of self awareness for everybody to be like,

we hate this guy, you know? So we're not saying you have to play. We're just saying, no, there's some incredible reporters who spent their life studying the game, being on the game, writing books, whatever it might be, who know the game, who have the clout to be able to speak on that. But it doesn't mean that their opinion and their clout should silence a guy like Cam or Ben. I mean, Ben won two Super Bowls.

Ben's a Hall of Fame player. And in the end, why do we have to get so damn offended by what everybody says? It's their opinion. If you don't want to hear it, don't watch it. If you don't like it, don't listen to it. Just cancel people and quiet people and censor people because we don't agree with their opinions. It definitely doesn't

create an environment of free speech and appreciation for everybody's opinion. Kudos to Ben for speaking up. Big kudos for Cam. Nothing but love and respect for him. And kudos for Rashad. Hey, speak your mind. That's your truth? Cool. Bro, whatever. That's fine.

I'm about sick of seeing these little white profile photos on these frat boys who played in high school telling me I was garbage. Okay. I'm better than your goat. I'm better than your goat, whoever you're like. On these frat boys who played in high school telling me I was garbage. Okay. Oh, okay. I'm better than your goat.

I'm better than your goat, whoever you're like. That was awesome. He just had it. He was so sick of opening that app. Yes. Seeing something. Let me find out about this motherfucker. Who was he mad at?

Who do you think he was pointing that to? I think there was about 14 to 15 fuckboy whites. We all know. Trolling. We all know. We have all met them before Seen them before Who played high school football Studs

Studs They were so good Varsity We're talking lettering They were studs And They probably just Shit talkers as well

So it's like Let me go ahead and find this guy Let me go ahead and bury him a little bit And this guy just fed up And I fucking can't take it anymore That's it Seems to be one particular group of people That are saying the same shit Let's go ahead and find this guy and go ahead and bury him a little bit. And this guy just fed up and I fucking can't take it anymore. That's it. Seems to be one particular group of people that are saying the same shit. Let's go ahead and settle this right now.

Well, in that case, I do agree with your shot. As you know, as many, as many of, you know, the seasoned long-term awesome reporters who are great at their job and have

researched and been around it forever. There's, there's a lot of bums and we've called out a few of them on this show over the years, but there's, there's definitely quite a few bums who don't know what they're talking about and don't, you know,

ever say anything nice about anybody and just want to stir shit up. And that's their prerogative. That's their prerogative. And to be clear, to be clear, everybody's calling Rashard racist, which I could certainly see how you could read it that way. I think it's brought a lot of NFL guys back together. It's almost become like an alumni, a reunion. It's always been like a reunion.

Robert Mathis was quote-tweeting it last night. He's like, yeah, this is kind of a mid-range jumper, too, for conversations we could get into in his entire thing. It was a beautiful little depiction in there. And, Aaron, you powered right through the hard out. So the people didn't get to hear the end of your one answer that you were given that was phenomenal. But today was a good one. I didn't know what to expect today.

I didn't catch the signals there. Nah, I didn't even get any. I just started looking at the clock, and I was like, huh. I figured once you said fuck that we were off of the main network and back on YouTube. Shout out to YouTube. Because nobody got crazy that we'd ruin the streak that obviously was fake anyway.

Whoa. Whoa. We're journalists. When you guys tried to cancel me, I said fuck last week. And actually, we'd already been past that. There had been 13 straight days. Yeah, we got a miscount in the Thunderdome. Yeah.

Because in New York. It was a road game. Yeah, it was in another. It was a hostile environment. Exactly. We had never seen those people before. They were very nice, by the way. Yes, they were.

Completely baffled that our show is our show, though. For sure. You know what I mean? Yeah. Especially when you do like... That was a cool little setup. It was, wasn't it? That was nice. Yeah. Yeah. Did you sign a jersey for Greeny yet? Because remember, you just dogged... He's had that thing in the studio all year. Yeah. He's actually like held it up and spoke for it and

prayed to it and everything. And you're like, we need to make that better. That's kind of... Yeah, it's just naked, I feel like. It is naked. Like a snowman without any facial features or genitalia.

Carrot. Balls. Couple of them. Got a nose and a penis. A couple pieces of coal. Hey, look out for snow, Dickon. I just saw it. People are doing it. Kids in Pittsburgh. First snow of the year. They're drawing dicks on

windshields in the snow. That's not what I meant. I thought you said Snowden. I thought we were going to get into a new conversation about Ed Snowden. I've learned about him. I asked a chief of staff about Snowden. Is that what the chief of staff are the heads, right? Of each one? One came and spoke to us. I asked about about him. I asked a chief of staff about Snowden. Is that what the chief of staff are? The heads, right?

Yeah. Of each one. One came and spoke to us. I asked about Snowden. That was when? That was like five, six years, seven years ago, whenever Snowden really started. I think Wiccan and Bernie should pardon Snowden,

Assange. That's the start. That's the start. That's a start. I get it. And Manning. Manning, Snowden, and Assange. And the guy that did the Silk Road, too. All right.

Pardon them all. Weekend at Bernie's, if you're listening, pardon them all. All right. All right. Hey, we appreciate you. He's responded to you in the past. Yeah, he certainly has. He has certainly mentioned and remembers what you've done, you know, and your choices.

First of all, he doesn't remember any of it. All right. He doesn't remember any of it, okay? Come on, man. He might have said something at some point. He doesn't remember that either. Nope. We'll show the clip.

We'll show the clip. Anyways, I'm happy we could go there on this glorious Tuesday. First snowfall. I wish we brought this up when we were still on the network, but I do appreciate it. Excellent. And let me just send a warm Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our Jet fans.

And listen, we love you. We want it as badly as you do. We care about it as badly as you do we care about it as badly as you do we're as pissed as pissed as you are but we're asking you i'm asking you stick with us to believe in us to start manifesting positive things not thinking about what could go wrong in 2024 and just trust that today is, what is it, the 19th of December, 2023. That the 19th of December will probably be the 18th or the 20th next year

when I'm on this show. But it'll be a different conversation. Hell yeah. Boom. Just trust it, baby. It's been a long 13 years. But the optimism you had going into this season, let's just bottle that. Let's open that bottle and let's start drinking it for next year.

Drinking it like it's Iron City, you know? Just pound them like it's Iron City. Hell, yeah. I see a lot maybe a little mango in that. Yeah, hell, yeah. We appreciate you, man. You're the best. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Hooga. Hey, have a great day, guys. Merry Christmas. And say something nice to somebody. You never know. It's going to your day. Have a great day, guys. Merry Christmas. Say something nice to somebody. You never know. It's going to change your life. Tone, love you, buddy. Love the cowboy hat. Love your shtick. Love what you're about.

I love that. Love your fake ass shtick. I'm going to take it. Character tone. Love you, man. Appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers! seemingly has completely fallen apart. Your best player isn't going to want to play there. You're going to have a brand-new rookie quarterback. You're going to have to build literally from the ground up, brick by brick through this entire thing

with some distractions along the way. Where's he at now? Oh, I don't know. Might win the AFC South in his first year. Ladies and gentlemen, head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, Shane Steichen. Yeah! Hell yeah, Shane.

What's up, fellas? Hey, what's up, dude? You're doing great. How's the Thunderdome? It's great. You remember, I think you made a shot, missed a couple, made a couple other ones right over here. This spot is saved for you whenever the offseason comes around after the Super Bowl.

Of course. For you to come back in any time. We appreciate you joining us on this day. I guess my first question will be, the last time we saw you, you were a zero win, zero loss head coach. Going into a season with a rookie quarterback in the Jonathan Taylor situation. Now, you're a guy that's up for coach of the year. Why do you think it has gone this way this year for your team?

This is not normal. I don't know if you know that, but this is not a normal thing to take place, especially with all the distractions that could have been taken as distractions earlier in the year. Why do you think you are where you are right now with your team? I think it's a credit to the players, the players and the coaches. I truly believe your best players and your best coaches are your best people. And I think when you got good people in the building that want to do things the right way and work hard, I think that goes a long way. You know, there's going to be ups and downs in a season. Shoot, we lost three in a row, and we were three and five, right?

And shoot, we had to climb out of a hole, but we had to do it together. And everyone was on board. And shoot, the secret to success, like we always talk about, is working hard. That's what it is, right? Everyone says work smarter, not harder. I think you got to work smarter and harder. And I think that's the secret to success, and that's what we've got to get done. Go ahead, AJ.

How do you work smarter and harder? I know we talk about that a lot, but what can you do, especially as the season progresses? I'm sure every single day you're trying to come up with new things to kind of stimulate guys. Yeah, no, that's a good question. I think part of it is doing the little extra things and the details. All that stuff matters.

And, you know. With players, especially, it's a grind. As you know, being a former player is putting in that extra work. November and December, football is important. When you got a chance and you're playing meaningful football in December, you got to do everything in your power to get your mind and your body right. If that means watching an extra 45 minutes of tape, getting more treatment, more time in the weight room, whatever that is, get that done. Because you never know, you watch that extra 45 hour film, you know, you might find that little nugget that's going to win you the football game. And that's what we want to do here as players and coaches.

Having players that buy into that is obviously a weapon. But having coaches that adjust to their players is a big deal as well. Whenever we talked to you and Anthony Richardson was going to be the guy that you were going to have to build an offense around, you said, I'm going to make use of all the things that make him special. We saw him a lot of running. He was electrifying early. Obviously, he has a shoulder injury. He's out for a year now. Gardner Minshew is the guy. He was with you in Philadelphia. Whenever we signed him to Indianapolis, we were all pretty excited and we assumed it would work so if you had to put a pause on the offense that you were building for anthony richardson to build a gardener minshu offense that you've been running

this year or are they similar or what have you had to do differently now that gardener's the guy as opposed to the young superstar that was electrifying Anthony Richardson in his first year? Yeah, you adjust a little bit. Obviously, the terminology stays the same. It's just adjusting certain little things. You know, the pass game is the pass game in my eyes. But obviously, there's things, you know, obviously the zone read stuff. We don't do a ton with Gardner.

But, you know, Gardner stepping in to the role he stepped in has been tremendous. I mean, just a great competitor. A guy, again, like I've talked about, just loves football, loves the process of it. And every time we step on that field, he gives us a chance to win. And that's what you want in your quarterback. And he's been great for us. The boys have rallied around him, even since the day in training camp when I was there. The way the offensive linemen, we're talking about Anthony Richardson, they love him love him obviously and they're like garter minshu like we love this guy as well he said fully focused on ball fully committed to ball acted like a starter was willing to help out anthony richardson as well seems to be the perfect guy for the situation that you are in right now yeah no he's great i mean just

to have a guy that's you know knows the system knows the terminology and then he's been tremendous with anthony you know in that role uh when he was in that role earlier in the season with Anthony, helping him along with, you know, all our coaches, Jim Bob Kuder, our offensive coordinator, Cam Turner, our quarterback coach, getting these guys prepared and ready to play. Like I said, it's been great to have Gardner here. Yeah, he's fun to watch too with his little shoulder shimmies and his little hips.

He'll throw a pick, It does not phase him. He's going right back in there and throwing dots all over the place. We love watching him. It's not just through the sky, though. D-Bud has a question for you. Yeah, speaking of something fun to watch, especially as a former Colt against those Steelers this past Saturday, I don't know how many straight runs there was.

I think 17, 18. What was the thought process behind that? Was that a mindset thing? Because I know as a defender, absolutely demoralizing when an offense does that to you. I know we were banged up in the backfield. What was the mindset with you calling those plays? Yeah, I think the biggest thing there was, you know, we had the lead there, you know, whatever it was late in the third, early in the fourth. And shoot, let's run a little bit and see where this thing goes. And obviously you got to have success running it to keep calling runs. You're getting whatever it was,

four yards a pop, keep calling them. Don't get bored calling the same plays over and over again if you're having success with them. Our guys up front did a heck of a job. All five of those guys in the backs that stepped in, Goody and Trey Sermon, were running hard. It was awesome to see

all those guys. I had no idea Sermon was on our team. I was sitting in there and they said, Trey no idea Sermon was on our team. We had no idea. I was sitting in there, and they say, Trey Sermon. I'm like, that's an Ohio State guy. He's a good ball player. He's a great ball player. And then this Goodson guy, I'm like, who the hell is... There was a couple guys I'd never heard of, and it's like,

this is the story of this Colts team this year. A lot of big injuries, a lot of big people out, and you've just kind of maintained and kept it moving. Got stars at the right place. Feels like the culture's all the way back. Can you feel that? Can you feel your culture kind of settling in with the locker room? Can you feel the culture in there? Yeah, I mean, part of it is to win it, right? That helps it, right? I mean, you can build the culture and shoot, here's the culture and this is how we want it to look like, but you got to go win. You know what I mean? And that's the mindset every time we step on the

field. Like, we're going to win a football game you've got to go win. You know what I mean? And that's the mindset every time we step on the field. Like, we're going to win a football game, right? We don't want to settle for anything less. And, shoot, we know it ain't going to be perfect every time we step out there. There's going to be good times. There are going to be bad times. But let's go out with the mindset that we're going to win this game. And, shoot, I don't know what it's going to look like.

We don't know how it's going to look, but we're going to play together and do it together. Well, it's worked. Yeah. It's been fun to watch, Coach. Loudhouse, Lucasville Stadium, has been enjoying it. I've seen a couple of mic'd up moments of you two. I like your moxie on the sideline.

I like the way you handle the boy. I like the speeches afterwards. Shane, you're special, man. A lot of Indianapolis is falling in love with you. I hope you know that. Ty has a question for you. Yeah, Coach, this might be something you look at after the season's over, but is there one area of being a head coach

that you can point to and say like I'm so much better doing that now than I was at the start of the season or when I first got the job um yeah that's probably after the season thing but you know it's really just the whole the whole picture right it's everything that goes with it you know obviously coming from a coordinator position to being a head coach uh just kind of you know overseeing a little bit of everything, right? Obviously, you have 53 guys when you're a coordinator. You've got whatever it is, 28, 30 guys to worry about, and that's what it is. It's looking over the whole picture, but again, I'm very fortunate.

The guys I've got around me, the staff I have around me, the players that we have, just good dudes that love football, and that's what you want. Yeah, absolutely. We love watching it because over the last couple we have, just good dudes that love football, and that's what you want, you know? Yeah, absolutely. We love watching it because over the last couple years, Colts fans, boy, boring football? Yep. Hey, you do not call a boring game, by the way. At all.

At all, which I am very, very grateful for. You're a fun – 20 points. There was a run there where you were the only team in the NFL that had scored 20 points every single week, and we're dealing with the same injuries that everybody else is dealing with. You're a fucking weapon, Shane. Speaking of that, go ahead, Conman. Yeah, Coach, obviously right now looking around the NFL,

there are certain teams that lost a lot of guys. The former team you had, Philly, there's a lot of conversation about how losing you and Gannon in the same offseason is a much bigger deal now looking back on it with what's going on over there. But is that something you ever think about with your staff now in Indianapolis, kind of the fear of other coaches getting poached? Obviously, you want them all to have great success and to move up the ladder. But at the same time, is that something you keep in the back of your mind?

Like, hey, I might have to replace some of these guys just because they are so good and they're going to get more opportunities elsewhere? Yeah, that's part of the business. Obviously, that's in the back of your mind, but I do. I want all my coaches on staff. When we have success, right, if they have a chance to move up the ranks, like, don't hold them back from doing that. Like, that's a big deal. Obviously, people have goals in this profession, you know, to move up the ranks.

And if those opportunities, you know, take them to new heights, I think that's awesome. Hey, what do you think about Jim Irsay? I saw him dancing. The man. I saw him dancing. He's the man. Dancing in your life.

Oh, yeah. Didn't it? Yeah, he was getting after it right next to you. You're like two feet away. And you take – I assume that was the first time you've seen Jim Irsay dance. I'm not 100% sure. Yeah, he was getting it. Yeah, he was getting after but yeah he was getting it yeah he getting after him getting it learning of Jim Irsay and learning about Jim Irsay how has

that been this year for you what a one of one one of one nobody really ever will understand that yeah he he loves he loves the Colts as we all know um and he's all about winning right and and and the resources uh that he's provided since I got here have been second to none. Just a tremendous person. Generous as all get out. Just loves the Colts. Loves the passion for this organization. Loves the passion.

Has the passion for this city. Shoot, it's our job as an organization to go put on a show every Sunday we step out there. Did you feel obligated? You guys were kind of dancing there. Oh, no, I was rolling with him. I was rolling with him pretty good. I'm like, shoot, he's got it. Let's go.

Yeah, I thought you were going to make me jump in. We had a little, you know, Jim, that's Shane's arm right there. He's got a lot of circulation. Yeah, he was. He's squeezing the hell out of that. Yeah, breaking him. Yeah, he's squeezing the hell, especially with Jim Herson. He's rolling.

Look at him. Former strength. I love it. Yeah. I love it. Absolute dog. The boy's having a good time. Love that in the locker room.

Heck yeah. Go ahead, AJ. Coach, speaking of celebrations, have you had the chance to hang out with Gardner's father at all and get one of his celebratory hugs where he smacks the hell out of your chest and gives you a few bruises, but you know, hey, you are loved? I haven't. I got to meet his dad. I'm sure he'll be

at the game on Sunday, so I'll have to holler at him after the game. But I was there, shoot, when we were in Philly. That Jets game he won, shoot, that was awesome to see. I was just sitting on the bus watching it. It was awesome to see that stuff. It's special. Leather jacket, too. I mean, absolute dog. Oh, the bomber. Yeah.

Phenomenal. The Minshew story in the Minshew mania right now, in the Minshew mania in Jacksonville, you know, it's been almost everywhere he goes. Now, where you were in Philadelphia, big-time play. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Coach, I got a question, and now that you're not there, I want an honest answer from you.

Did you create the tush push, or was it someone else on that staff, and do you need a quarterback that squats 600 pounds to do the tush push successfully well i will say that they do a heck of a job of doing that and it starts up front with kelsey and jaylen and the guards uh the way they get low and create that push is phenomenal and obviously they've been doing it at a high level for the last two years um shoot, I know we've had some wrinkles off it. They do wrinkles off it still. But it's pretty impressive to see every time they do it. So who created it?

We were in there. Nick came up like, hey, let's put a pusher there. And then the next week we're like, oh, let's do another pusher. And then it just took off, man. It took off. They're trying to get them now. You saw that false start last night. I don't know if you got a chance to, man. It took off. They're trying to get him now. You saw that false start last night. I don't know if you got a chance to see it.

It's interesting. That's an interesting little wrinkle about did he move the ball. I think it's what John Perry said. We don't know if that's what their actual refs were talking about. But if that's what he does every single time, and Pete Carroll must have alerted the refs to it or whatever, it's like they're trying to stop. Now they're trying to get it.

You know what I mean? That's how they're trying to attack it, Coach. Yeah. I mean? That's how they're trying to attack it coach. Yeah. I mean, shoot, they're having these rules, moving the ball. I know, shoot, shoot, we played the saints. They got called for it down there on the goal line against us. And we play them at home and moving the ball there, you know, it's a point of emphasis for them right now in those situations. So how have you enjoyed all that stuff? Like being the head coach.

Now you got to be the one that is filing the ref reports right and dealing with all the fallout the day afterwards not that i remember any colts games where we've potentially i don't think we've gotten robbed by these oh yeah there was one clear one the bronze bronze game oh yes okay so now dealing with that as a head coach how are you there how do you deal with the officials and handle that entire – yep. Yeah, no, I know they've got a tough job to do. Shoot, and is it going to be perfect every time? No, just like we're not going to be perfect every time as coaches and players. But I've got a lot of respect for what those guys do, and we go from there.

Smart. Nice. Smart. All right. You're the man. We appreciate you taking time out of your Tuesday. What do you got the rest of the day? We're game planning right now? Yep. Going to watch some third downs right now.

How do we feel? We feel pretty good, Coach. We got a team. It feels like we got a team, Coach. You like the boys, right? Like the boys. Shoot, it'll be a heck of a challenge. Got a lot of respect for Arthur and what he's got down there in Atlanta.

Got a lot of weapons on offense, too. They got good defense. So it'll be a tough task for us, but we're excited for it. Michael Pittman got folded in half. He's back, is what I've heard. Is that right? He's feeling good. He's feeling good. He's a dog, dude. Yes, he is.

He is, right? A lot of them. If I talk about the definition of toughness, it's Michael Pittman. He got folded. That guy got suspended the rest of the year. He was on the other end of that. Entire year of suspension on the other end of it. Folded. Boom. He'll be back, though.

That's great. Team, love the team that you're building. We appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, Shane Steichen. Yeah! See you, Shane. They've got a tough team. How valuable is that? How valuable is that, though? Your stud receiver, as he said, is

one of the toughest dudes. He's always been like that. Just like super quiet. Doesn't really talk that much. I think he has a great personality, though. I think if we had to guess, he has a great personality. Gotten exponentially better since his first year. At training camp, he caught that pass and then ran into the – and said, hey, what's up, everybody?

To the microphone. Ran right – like very smooth way. But he doesn't – Refused to give his number up. I'm not giving up 11. Yeah, which hindsight, though. My shit, and now to give his number up. I'm not giving up 11. Yeah, which hindsight. My shit, and now we look back at it. Right decision.

Good decision. I was judging him. I'm like, fucking. It's the quarterback. Why don't you catch some balls? It's the time of Carl Wentz here. You catch some balls before you tell the quarterback no for the number. And then now it's like Michael Pittman says whatever the fuck he wants.

Bingo, yeah. Carson Wentz and the Indianapolis Colts. I'm happy he didn't hold that against me forever because that was when he was very young because he could have held that against me because I was like, oh, shut the fuck up. It's the quarterback. It's the quarterback.

And instead, he's just shown up and balled. He's one of the most reliable fucking guys that we have had in some time. I like him. He's owed money, too, I think. Yeah, he was like fifth in the NFL in catches before he got hurt. I think he might have got to 100 with the five he had. But could you imagine if maybe Pittman was going to give it up and Wentz walked in and Pittman just gave him a,

you're not the guy. You're not my guy. You can just tell by the mocks. Yeah, this guy isn't going to stick around. I'm keeping a love. And you know what? If he read the books like that, it's, you know, and Carson, he's on a team now, right?

Rams. He's on the sideline cackling. I thought of him. Didn't you think of him with all these backups playing? I thought of Carson. I'm like, yeah, where is this? So he's on the rim. Yes.

He was working out. Remember, he had a commander's helmet, eagle shorts, coach jersey. He was working out. He looked good. He did. He looked really good. He looked like the good... I've always said this. If Carson

Wentz can play good Carson Wentz football, top seven in the league. Yeah, filthy. Top seven in the league. We'll see him again. We will see him. I think so. Yeah, Gruden. He was working with Gruden. Gruden gave him some tips.

Of course. On football. We'll see him again. Just on football. Yeah, we will, for sure. His name was floated for the Indiana job. It was. Oh, yeah, for a second.

He still says it. Hey, whoa. Hey, Jay. That didn't feel real. What? People were saying it was real. Well, he refused to yell. It might have been.

We hate Purdue! So they wouldn't hire him. Hey, Indiana football, don't look now. Roll it. were saying it was real. Well, he refused to yell. It might have been. We hate Purdue! So they wouldn't hire him. Hey, Indiana football, don't look now. Rolling. Yeah. There's a new momentum behind Indiana University Hoosier football. And it is Signetti. That Signetti train has come to town and it is rolling.

The people are rallying around them. They are. They got a collective. They're making money. They're raising money to pay people. Just at the right time, too, with USC and Oregon, Washington coming The people are rallying around them. They are. They got a collective. They're making money. They're raising money to pay people. Yeah. Just at the right time, too, with USC and Oregon, Washington coming into the Big Ten. What? Yeah. Nebraska now.

Cignetti's rolling right over to Washington now that that is a recruiting town for him. And saying, welcome to Indiana. This is my town now. That's right. Because who do we hate? Purdue! And? And Ohio State in Michigan! Thank you! Love it.

Not done yet. Is that real? I've got to see the real one. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's very nice. He owned it. He's taking that photo with a new iPhone, okay?

That's iPhone 15 Pro. You can see in the reflection. Look how nice the office is. That's at 4 a.m. too. Overlooks the stadium. James Madison. Yeah, we're just looking through the coach's book here. Do they still have Mellencamp Pavilion?

John Mellencamp sponsored their indoor facility. I don't know if they still, I don't know. Yeah, I think they took that away after he refused to stand for the flag. Yeah. Where? What'd you say? A lot of seats in that place. He refused to stand.

Amen. He did. That was in Hersey's suite? Yeah. What a scene that was. And he was eating. Brother, you gotta do it in my suite? Brother, come on.

That was last year. It was a good year for... Let's see how quickly things can turn. Hey, we'll just talk Shane Steichen, obviously. And Connor, you brought up a good point in a question that you asked. You lose coordinators, you're a different team. You get good coordinators, you're a different team as well. Now, the Philadelphia Eagles last night, not only that game,

but all season have been dealing with two new coordinators. Now they have a third coordinator that's been added, and Matt Patricia getting an opportunity to run the defense for the Philadelphia Eagles. That's a big deal, AJ, isn't it? Like, who's calling the plays, how they're calling the plays, how they're seeing and thinking what the other team is going to be doing. That's a skill.

That's a talent. And I think whenever we saw this Philadelphia Eagles team, especially with how much success they have their tenant for, I mean, there's still, that's a lot. Teams would die to have that record right now. A lot of teams would love to do it. But every once in a while, a situation will pop up where you're reminded,

like, Steichen was a great play. He is. Great play caller for Indianapolis. Gannon, we think, was a pretty good force over there, especially on the defensive side. If you see how their defense is now versus how it was last year, and they're on a second coordinator trying to replace him, it's like, that's a big deal this Philadelphia Eagles team has been

dealing with all year, AJ. Yeah, especially a team, like you said, that's 10-4, and they make the head coach switches. Who's calling the defensive calls? So Sean Desai, that's his name, correct? The guy who got put back in the box? Yes, sir, Desai. And then Patricia is down in the field calling the plays, like in the helmet.

He's making all the defensive calls, even though we know they're both a part of its collaborative effort throughout the week especially. Yeah, you can't just overhaul your whole defense, but you could, I guess, change the way, okay, we normally play quarters down here in the red zone. We're going to start blitzing them a little bit more, maybe some zone blitzes, whatever it may be.

But you can't really make wholesale changes. But for a team that is as good as they are, it's just kind of a unique situation to do this, especially late in the year. Going into the season, especially with what the defense was last year, now you lose a couple pieces, obviously, and Donald Kassou is there. Yeah. And –

Limbaugh, Joseph. CJ, GJ. CJ, GJ is now with the Detroit Lions. He's back this weekend. That'll be a big deal. So they had different personnel, but they feel like they replaced some of it through the draft, obviously. Yeah, they did.

But, like, going into the season, I don't think we expected Jalen to – because Jalen, I don't think he was having as good of a year as he had last year. It was like, did they get used to what the offense is? Now, once again, they are 10-4. So they've lost their last three. They were 10-1 at one point.

So it's like this team, very good football team, but maybe we didn't think about how the change could potentially affect them this year. Yeah, and even when they were winning, when they were rattling off however many wins in a row, people were still pointing. Like, oh, you know, it's ugly. They're not winning.

They're not playing. They're pulling some games out. But it's tough, man. And we talk about it a lot with the coordinators and people moving on. Obviously, we got a great coach, Shane Steigen, here. He's calling the plays. Mike Medanio, Miami. Kyle Shanahan is saying Fran.

Andy Reid obviously has his hand in it. But when you lose that coordinator, that person, however collaborative that effort is throughout the week, that's a big deal, especially for a young quarterback. And Jalen Hurts seems like an old guy but still a young quarterback, you know, still don't have that many games under his belt. So having that voice, you know, every day in practice, every day in the meeting room and then going to a new guy

and then maybe a new guy after that if he's good and gets hired somewhere else, that's tough. And we talked about it a few weeks ago on the show about how many guys in the meeting room and then going to a new guy and then maybe a new guy after that if he's good and gets hired somewhere else. That's tough. We talked about it a few weeks ago on the show about how many guys in the league, even Patrick Mahomes. You look at both quarterbacks who were in the Super Bowl last year and you look at them this season with different offensive coordinators, that offense looks different. Not only just them, but the surrounding cast as well. It's a big deal. I don't think people

have given us credence to. Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles have basically been just run out of the conversation with the NFC. This morning I was asked, now that the Eagles and Cowboys are dead in an email, pretty much, who is another NFC team that we could potentially see challenging this San Francisco 49ers team?

And all of us love the San Francisco 49ers. Everybody that watches football loves the San Francisco 49ers. They loved them last year going into the playoffs and obviously the Philadelphia Eagles beat them in the NFC Championship after a lot of things happened in thaters. They loved them last year going into the playoffs and obviously the Philadelphia Eagles beat them in the NFC Championship after a lot of things happened in that game. They've reloaded, retooled, and playing again how

they were playing last year. Maybe even better with Purdy, even more confident and a better handle of the entire playbook. Don't look now though, AJ. How about the Detroit Lions? They got the Vikings twice. They got the Vikings twice and the Cowboys, so there's certainly

going to be a little bit of a test there at the end of the season because playing the same defense, especially a very good defense like that one, two times in three weeks, it might be a difficult challenge for Ben Johnson, but we think the Lions are going to do okay going down the stretch here. 100%. We're indoors too, so this offense

loves to put points up when we're indoors too so this offense loves to put points up when we're indoors and then we'll probably have a home playoff game for the first time in my lifetime so as long as we're scoring i'm not worried about the defense one bit who did look better on saturday night well how about the brand new lions though aj how about the brand new lions being in the conversation for the nfc now granted we still have faith in the eagles on this particular program oh yes we still have faith in the Cowboys on this particular program. Sometimes you just get your ass beat. Sometimes that just happens.

It's not a fun day at the job. Can't have anybody laughing about it. That certainly makes life worse. Food tastes worse. Sleep doesn't work as well. Your dumps are a little bit wetter. Not always a bad thing. Everything depends on what you're going through.

You don't want it to be too. No, no, no, no. Can't be liquid piss. But that's what losses do. Losses are miserable. They are terrible. And sometimes they just happen. It's like three in a row for the Philadelphia Eagles.

They got to get a hold of that. They certainly got to get a hold of that. Because once too much misery starts creeping in and then it becomes just like understood that this is just how this goes like you can't get that back so I am worried a little bit about the Eagles but like the Cowboys they just got their asses beat like sometimes that happens and I think that that's going to actually benefit them going forward do I think that's going to make them beat the Niners no but I am not giving up on the Cowboys just as yet it seems like everybody else kind of is that that's going to actually benefit them going forward. Do I think that's going to make them beat the Niners? No. But I am not giving up on the Cowboys just as yet.

It seems like everybody else kind of is. The thing about the losses, you know, they couldn't be good, but if you keep losing the same way and you're not changing, like obviously Ty has been going off about the defense in Green Bay. Like if it's something or say it's special teams, I remember that was the issue with I think the Chargers a few years ago. Like that thing has to change. Like if you lose one lose one way okay three weeks later we lose a different way okay it was just their day it wasn't ours but if you keep losing the same way you don't change

anything that's where it gets big and obviously uh the cowboys are they gonna be able to stop the run are they gonna be able to play on the road the eagles can they be more consistent and stop you know jaylen hurts is leading the league in turnovers right now he was on the completely opposite end of that spectrum. Defense can't stop anybody. Can you change those things going forward? At least if you're going to lose, lose a different way. AJ, did you hear what Bosa said about Jalen Hurts and the offense at the Eagles?

Yeah, I was going to eventually ask Aaron about that, the whole blueprint situation. Yeah, because that is a pretty wild thing to hear Bosa. It's nonchalant, too. You hear Bosa saying and talking about it is what also was funny. Yeah, because home field advantage on the line here. So Bosa's like calling out to everybody like, hey. He stares at the rush.

We did it. Hey, we got it. This is it. You're welcome. Since that, they're 0-3, obviously. Here's what Bosa had to say about figuring out the Eagles' defense. Yeah, I mean, you see it on tape, though. And then, obviously, we put the blueprint out there.

Hopefully, the Cowboys watch the tape. We made Jalen stay in the pocket and escape outside instead of those big gaps and paid off. Because Jalen's looking at the rush every play. So, yeah, you just have to be disciplined and not give him that quick escape route where he could get to his guys quick. Who do the Eagles have left? Because that's who Bosa was talking to right there.

Bosa was literally just talking to them like, hey, yup, we got it. We got the answer. Watch. This is how this whole thing goes. Could you imagine Santa Clara being the home of the NFC? Certainly could be. Vastly different than having to go to Philadelphia. Giants twice they have.

And I think I saw the back page that Tommy DeVito got whacked. So I'm a little worried about that. I did see the back page. What do you mean? Well, Tommy DeVito got whacked is what the back page said. Here's the Philadelphia Eagles, what they have left here. Giants twice and the Cardinals. Okay. Okay. Should win all and the Cardinals. Okay.

Okay. Should win all of those. Okay. Okay. Okay. Now, Tommy DeVito, you know, he might have taken a little bit of a car ride. It's not shotgun. And one of his friends was sitting behind him.

He's going to bounce back. Well. Big. Against the Eagles? What? Are the Eagles good? How about it? How about that's what they said?

How about good fellow DeVito smacked around as Giants' fleeting hopes die in New Orleans? Unreal. Welcome to New York City. He knows that. Hook, line, and stinker up top there against the Dolphins. Zach Wilson, you get killed over there. You know, if you're any of the New York team's quarterbacks I wonder what the reaction, so congrats to the Eagles

Seemingly going to be able to get back on track For sure, we think so But Dayball What's that? I said it could be 13-4 If they run the table And Wink Martindale, he's coached defense in the NFL before You know what I mean? So he probably heard the bird call from Bosa

Before Bosa even said it. Wink's like, yeah, we have been watching. Okay? We have been watching what you were doing. So who knows if they're able to get that shit fixed, but we do know that the NFC race seems to go through the San Francisco 49ers or the Detroit football line. Hell yeah.

And that is a wild thing to say with a straight face. Congrats to Detroit having that. Way yeah. And that is a wild thing to say with a straight face. Congrats to Detroit having that. Way to go, Detroit. Hey, just two years ago, the Lions were 0-10-1, and MCDC got his first victory as a head coach. Oh, yeah, and he cried, and everybody made fun of him. Oh, yeah, it was awesome. Not us.

We said we loved it. Yes. We said we loved how emotional he got. He said he was going to coach the boys a little bit harder. It showed up, didn't it, Fox? A hundred percent. And that's the biggest difference of this Lions team and past Lions teams. That's literally the brand-new Lions.

It's all coaching. And it shows how important culture is, and it's just awesome to watch. Yeah, let's go, Lions. We're happy for them. Come on. And on the AFC side, what, everything goes for Baltimore? Yeah. For sure.

How about the Dolphins? Just kidding. Can't do it. Still got a chance. Definitely. That's what I think. Cowboys. Baltimore does have the Niners this week.

We're going to learn a lot. I think it's primetime, right? Is that in Baltimore? That's on Christmas Eve or Christmas Night maybe? Yeah, that's Christmas Night. Christmas Eve is a stinker. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. That'll be a nice treat. That will be a nice treat. That'll be a tasty treat. That will be. Get a nap out of the way. At Christmas Eve, you can just watch movies. No, no. That's the holiday classic. We've got to watch that.

Who's playing Christmas Eve? Wait, you guys are the kings of got to watch this game. Christmas Eve is Broncos-Pats. Yeah, that's why I'm saying I'll watch this one. I don't think you guys have to. Christmas Eve? Yeah. Sunday Night Football.

I'll watch football Christmas Eve. Holiday classic. I'll watch it. What's that? That's what they're calling the game. The holiday classic? Yeah. This is us, the NFL, just going to the NBA and saying sorry about it.

Send a video. Sorry about it. Send a video. Sorry about it. They keep saying the same thing. Send a video. That's what the NFL just said to the NBA. It's cute though, right?

Christmas was on Sunday, and the NFL said, oh, that's fun. This is ours now. And the NBA said, oh, that's fun. This is ours now. And the NBA said, wait, we'll let the attorney handle that. And then the NFL said, no, it's just our day now. Christmas is just our day now. That's what we do. Got the Eagles, the Chiefs, and the Niners. Let alone Baltimore and Lamar

Jackson in prime time. They stacked it. You know what I mean? Those spreads, man. Well, the games... But going into the season, you got Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, and the San Francisco 49ers and Lamar Jackson. Yeah. When they scheduled, they're like, yup. We did it.

We did it. Yeah. I think the Raiders are going to play Kansas City Chiefs a little closer than 10. Yeah. First team ever to score 63 and be a 10-point dog the next week. And first team ever to get shut out and score-point dog the next week. And first team ever to get shut out and score 63 as well the next week. And that game has

much, much bigger meaning because that is a Christmas Day game where the Kelsey's and the Swift's are supposed to meet. Well, I heard through Entertainment Tonight. E.T.? Was it E.T.? E.T. just learned about football. Who's hosting? Yeah, it was.

Who's hosting Entertainment tonight, though? Mario Lopez. He hosts every day. He's on the hotel. He's on the hotel TV, every hotel I go into. King of the Castle. I don't know if he's E.T. Has he aged? At all. Not at all. I think he's 50-something. He looks like he's

10. Phenomenal. Look at him. I met him at a WWE event. He had the A.C. Slater bop still. I don't doubt it. He boxes. Yeah, duh. I think Travis asked Taylor's dad. That's what the internet was saying.

What? That's what the internet was saying. For her hand? Now, I would like to say that there's a chance they're all wrong. Yeah. All the reporters. Yeah.

Yeah, they've been wrong before about everything. What? And that could be something where you just start piecing something together. Like, oh, is that his first time meeting her dad? Oh, yeah, he might have. He might have. Did that whole thing, which is probably what it is. But I do appreciate the fact that we're all football world and Hollywood world

at the point where we're like hey we're happy for you real couple it's true love they really are yeah you see those moments where they're hanging out afterwards wonderful they're perfect for each other true just like i've been saying all of all you have anything to say you have anything to say i've been with you from day one you can't fake a relationship like that come on now i agree there's a lot of people saying that though and i thought to myself just from following from following along with Travis Kelsey's kind of life, Ohio guy, you know, a lot of respect. Sure.

And then from what I learned about Taylor Swift from my wife's fandom and the documentary, it's like these two might actually be perfect for each other. Definitely. For real. See how bummed out he is when he's not with her, when he's on the bench? Super bummed out. Well, he also heard it was funny, but it wasn't funny. When she's It's real. See how bummed out he is when he's not with her, when he's on the bench? Super bummed out. Well, he also heard it was funny, but it wasn't funny. When she's there, too, he's bummed out sometimes.

What? Well, yeah, because he wants to be up in the booth with her. She's up there. He's getting clamped. And also, she sold out those stadiums all by herself. She's looking around these stadiums going, how many of you out there? Geez.

Can't even fill this place up. That's what she set up in New England. Well, I mean, she fills up. She said, Travis and your friends. Against Bill Belichick and his friends. Can't fill up the stadium. So did Carolina. Well, she does more than fill up the stadium.

Let's remember, that entire football field is also seats. Oh, yeah. So every stadium she goes to. And then Bill Belichick said, she's tough, man. She said she stood out there three hours in the rain. In the rain, yeah. Sold that entire place out probably multiple times. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

I think she did a Thursday, Friday, Saturday, I think, in New England. I think this cannot get lost on the fact that some football fans have got sick of Taylor Swift quick because they were tired of hearing about her during football games. It's like if you watch and learn about her, fucking dog. Yes. Absolute dog. Business-wise and everything.

Selling out stadiums around the world. She should be worth billions. Hey! Billions! Business genius, man. People were sick of it. I don't think it was because of her. I think it was because people just didn't want to hear Chris Sims talk about it. Why was that?

I mean, there's a lot of people that talked about it. Yeah, but nobody listens to those. Yeah, that knucklehead. Sims has done great, I thought. They got a whole new host up there. Who is it? Maria Taylor, congratulations.

Good luck. We were watching Football Night in America as Kornacki broke down a playoff situation and then Maria Taylor at halftime basically said, I'll be gone for the rest of the season because she will be giving birth to a beautiful baby boy, I do believe. Congrats to her and her family. And now the new host is?

I do not want to get his name wrong, but I have seen him on TV before, and he is a bit of a dog. He is a good watch. Yeah, I'm a big fan. Okay, Football Night in America, great show. I think we all watch it. I think it's the only show that literally everybody watches. As soon as that last game ends, it's like, all right, I'm a big fan. Okay, Football Night in America, great show. I think we all watch it. I think it's the only show that literally everybody watches. As soon as that last game ends,

it's like, alright, we're heading over here. Give us a rundown of what we could have potentially missed. Let's go through some highlights. I like Garrett a lot. Me too. By the way. I think he does phenomenal. He'll get talked about. I like Kornacki.

Sorry, but did you see Kornacki last time? He went through his whole scenarios, and he is, that dude doesn't miss. He doesn't flornacki. Did you see, sorry, but do you see Kornacki last time he went through his whole scenarios and he is, that dude doesn't miss. He doesn't flub a word. He's boom, boom, boom,

boom, boom. He's enlightening all of us. And then he throws it back to the desk and they just said, yeah. And they went right to the next thing. I was like, we need to cut.

Can we get five seconds to at least clap for this guy or tell me, take that job. That was amazing. Like you just gave us so much information and how you presented was very entertaining. Like he's great. Phenomenal. And he was even projecting next week's games and the you presented it was very entertaining. He's great. Phenomenal. And he was even projecting next week's games and the games ahead of time.

They're at 34% right now. At one point during the game, they were 23% to win this thing when they were down 10%. Actually, it went down to 7% to score on this particular thing, and they end up getting the win. And then next week, with the odd predictability here, that means this team now has a 22% chance. So, really, Kansas City might be. Like, it is. He's phenomenal. You're 100% right.

We were actually thinking about running the clip. Like, we were trying the next day on Monday, but for some reason, whenever it got uploaded into our computer, no sound, so we weren't able to run it. But I sent a message to the people I know at NBC. I'm like, hey, can we run the Kornacki shit? I don't know if there's anybody else that could fucking do what he does right there. He's phenomenal at that.

How does he, so does he have any sports background? Or he was just so good at the election board that they're like, hey, here we go. Come into football. That is precisely, I think, what happened. He has to pay attention, though, all year. Yeah, he do. Like, you know, to get, like, the narratives and storylines of what the team – They've been up and down.

Like, he was even given, like, kind of – like, it was wild. I was thinking the same thing. I'm like, hey, this political geek guy knows a lot about balls. Yeah, he does. It was pretty impressive. Now, is he right, I think, right? Yeah. I mean, he's – All the time. Just based on what the numbers are telling him. Now, is he right? I think, right? Yeah. He's all the time. Just based on what the numbers are telling him, yeah, he's right.

Even the one where he goes, now for the bottom of the NFC, the NFC wildcard race, he actually draws a line in between the R1 and the middle one and he goes, well, these two play each other on Thursday night, first one of the day, boom, they might take the place.

It was, yeah, I like that Football Night in America show. Great show. I am. I think Maria Taylor did a good job just getting dropped in there. Mike Tirico, one of the greatest hosts of all time. Yeah. He's out. Just builds in for all Mike.

How about Devin McCourty? Devin McCourty's done a great job. Rodney. Rodney Harris, a lot of Patriots up there. Yeah, a lot of Patriots up there. Florio. Yeah. I love when they just send a Florio. Jack Collins there. Yeah, a lot of Patriots up there. Florio. I love when they just send a Florio. Jack Collinsworth.

He had a good one recently. Jack Collinsworth, good host. Shouldn't hate him just because his dad is Chris Collinsworth and he got a job at the same place. People do, though. He's going to have to live with that. Internet does. That's what his life is. Matthew Barry, his best bets of the night, little fantasy nuggets.

He gave a parlay this past weekend. Have any of these hit? I'm not talking about hit just his, but like... Greeny's undefeated. I'm really happy that we are out of that game. Now, D-Butt's still in that game. Yeah, that's brutal. That is a terrible game.

It's not fun. At all. Do you remember how much pressure and stress that was? That was fucking terrible, AJ. I'm happy that's not happening. It's a lot tougher. Yeah. You think like, when you're looking at it,

I'm like, yeah, of course. Yeah, that's only like two or three things. This will definitely happen. And then the complete, it doesn't even come close to hitting, or it comes one yard from hitting. Which happened? Hey, it was a kneel. Oh my God. Super Bowl. We had 240,000 people betting our bet alongside

us. Patrick Mahomes doesn't throw for 250 yards. They win the Super Bowl? Okay. What? Hit everything else in the first quarter. And it was trending to, hey, let's just fucking relax. Okay, we won. So much money for so many people.

And the coin toss hit. We're going to end the season with a bang. Instead, it was more of the same. Just, yeah, fuck you from the gambling gods. I'm so thankful we don't have to do that anymore. Those messages and tweets I would get the next gods. I'm so thankful we don't have to do that anymore. Those messages and tweets I would get the next day not cool. So mean.

Hope you're happy my baby can't fucking eat formula for the next two weeks because I put $30 on your bet last night. You guys call it a must win. It's like I don't think that's my fault but also I I'm sorry dude. Hope you're happy Christmasmas is canceled at our

house because we've arrived with you for seven goddamn weeks seven oh seven you just went all right i'm sorry there's risk for anybody 240 000 people so many people biggest group bet in the history of sports gambling and guess what And guess what we did, boys? Let them down. Whoops. Patrick Mahomes did. Yeah. Not us.

That's Gable. We're on the right side. That's what people say, right? We're on the right side. Yeah, but when you're publicly giving picks, it's not easy. No. D, but how are your bets doing this year? Not good.

Bad. Yeah. NBA, I thought was doing well. NBA is, yeah. Yeah, you'll get like one or two out of your five leg, right? Yeah. NBA? Yeah. NBA is good. Bad. Yeah. NBA, I thought was doing well. NBA is, yeah. Yeah, you'll get like one or two out of your five leg, right? Yeah. NBA? Yeah.

NBA is good. I'm just not tapped into NBA yet. Still, still. Football. Be where your feet are. Smart. How are you gambling this year? Pretty good?

Dominating. Really? You said pretty good like last week, and then now you're saying dominating. Do you have stats? It was a good night last night. Oh, really? So we're riding whatever you've done for me lately. Yeah. What'd you hit on last night? Last night was 3-0 in the NBA

and then what was it? 4-1 in college basketball. Is that good? And? No. Well I gave out Old Dominion. Oh. But I did live bet because Bruce told us to on Washington Kentucky but that wasn't for the people. See but it's not hard. I don't care if the people win or not.

told us to on Washington, Kentucky, but that wasn't for the people. See, but it's not hard. I don't care if the people win or not. Well, technically, if Tony wins, the people win, so it does kind of make sense. Yeah, but Tony, you should care about these people that spend their time with Hammer. You know? People that ride

this season alongside you. So, thank you for listening and watching. We love you. But, you know, they're also a terpy bunch. Is college basketball good this year? So far? That was my first night doing college basketball. Gumpy's been crushing college basketball. College basketball just an easy thing to gamble on? You just gotta find the nuggets

like Chicago State last night. A team like that, you know. The nuggets. You gotta get in the weeds of college basketball. You're not gonna make money betting games like Florida-Michigan, okay? Just find Sacramento State against Idaho at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday night. Because the Bucs aren't paying attention either. Not a sniff.

Okay, so you can beat them. Yes. How do we feel about ESPN bet? How's it doing? I've seen there's some people that are pissed off still about the parlay thing. I assume that would have got changed. They should put that out, and they should scream it from the mountaintops

because I think a lot of people are assuming the opposite. So that did not get changed. I've not followed. It's been pretty nice not having to pay attention to any sports books, to be honest. It's been really nice not having to do that. But how else is it? Hasn't crashed, right?

Seen that? I think it did for me. You guys have been winning on there? Yeah. I think it did for me. Okay. Congrats, ESPN. That parlay that? I think it's good for me. You guys have been winning on there? Yeah. It's good for me. Okay. Congrats, ESPN. That parlay thing, I assume, had to have been changed.

Yeah, no, I don't think so. Genuinely. That feels like a layup, doesn't it? Yeah, there's a couple layups. Hey, everybody on earth feels one way. Oh, speak of layup, John Morant returns tonight, right? Oh, okay! Swing!

Nice job. Hey, he's back, too, huh? We'll see. Taking Uber. He's not going to be... How's the team doing? He's back too, huh? We'll see. Taking Uber. How's the team doing? I don't know. I haven't heard one single thing about Memphis. They are so bad.

What? Jaws back. So, yeah, they need to win like 60. They lose Dylan Brooks to Houston, who was knocking down game-winning threes. Just got booted. Okay, and he had an R in his braids. Yeah. Looks super cool. That was sweet.

Super cool. He also was standing just staring at LeBron James. He's a character. He's no longer on the Memphis Grizzlies. Is any of the team that was on there last year with John Moran on that team? Bain's still there. Xavier Tillman.

Steven Adams is still there. If I'm remembering this right, they just went out every night, that team. They were just living. That was the rumor, except for Steven Adams. Yeah, because Steven Adams did the whole entire team with his Australian accent saying, boys, you need to stop screwing around. And then everyone was like, okay. And then they went to the bar right after.

Okay. Yeah. And then that was when all the photos of everything came out. Yes. A lot of money. They're on the road a lot. Yeah, and then that was when all the photos of everything came out. Yes. A lot of money. They're on the road a lot. Yeah, and they play at night. So it's not like us.

We play at 1 o'clock or whatever. So we're in at 11. They fly into the city. No real curfew. Got to shoot around or something the next afternoon or something. So, I mean, obviously, you can get after it, but be responsible. Send a video. Be a pro.

Jeff Teague. Send a video. Be a pro. I don't know if you a pro. Jeff Teague. Be a pro. I don't know if you've heard anything Jeff Teague has said lately, but he is in a gem about talking about playing in the NBA. Oh, yeah? I think when he was in Atlanta, he was the starter, and then he got benched,

and they put in some other guy to start at point guard, and he basically said after that game, he was like, fuck, we got to go out every night because I got to enjoy this shit while we're still doing it because i don't know how long i'm gonna be here now and then there's another video of uh lebron it was game four in the playoffs in the hawks were about to get swept by lebron again this is like during the 10-year run where he went to the finals every year and there's just this video of of lebron going up for a layup and jeff t just shoves him and people were killing jeff t because of it and he told the story later on he was basically just like man i've been swept by fucking lebron james six years like i was sick of it so

yeah i shoved him and after that he was like that was the first time i ever had to delete my instagram because everyone was saying if you touch the broad again i'll fucking kill you he's like that's when i I had to get off social media. So Jeff Teague is a good listen. He is incredible. I'm excited. Him and Gilbert Arenas have been swinging a hot bat in their basketball stories. That's awesome.

I can't wait to watch. Also, Kevin. Oh, yeah. Kevin Garnett. KG. He's awesome. He's the fucking best. Anytime a Kevin Garnett video reaches my algorithm, I watch it.

I'm sticking around. Him and Paul Pierce have a great relationship. I don't know. That's my favorite thing. Well, I love those two together. Honestly, they're the best. If anybody here watched KG play live in his prime? No.

Oh, my gosh. Oh, yeah. One of the most intense competitors. Because, obviously, basketball, you can hear everything they're saying, so you're sitting close to them. He's coming out. He's walking. He's talking to the fucking thing that holds him.

He's spitting, talking shit. Even when he's on the bench, talking shit the whole time to the coach, the players, the crowd. Right out of high school, right? Oh, yeah. The documentary that he talks about how Pat Riley comes to watch him play, and he's not watching and looking at his phone. And he dunked the ball and screamed at Pat Riley while he was just sitting there.

And then Pat Riley was like, oh, shit, okay. I'll watch this kid now because clearly he's a guy. Guy's got a little moxie to him. Yep. All right, well, shout out to the NBA with some big news yesterday. Huge. Taking over the internet. You went for 32-8-5 last night?

Yeah. What you talking about? Banner night? Lakers? What happened? Lakers lost on Banner night.-8-5 last night? Yeah. What you talking about? Banner night? Lakers? What happened? Lakers lost on Banner night. Banner night was last night? Yeah, that's not what we're talking about. In-season tournament banner? Yes. A lot of Lakers fans pissed off about it. A lot of fans in general

should have heard me. Yeah, it's been a big conversation. I saw on the internet people getting real pissed off about an in-season banner. And as somebody that walks into Lucas Oil Stadium every single week and sees an AFC finalist banner that's hanging on the far left, I can understand why some people might be a little bit disappointed about something that isn't a real championship being hung from the rafters. But this is the first one ever.

Who knows what this could become? You know, LeBron wants this to be remembered as a big deal, would like it to last, just like I would like the pro football focus to last. They named me the partner of the decade. We would like that place to continue to have great success because if it dies, it dies. The in-season tournament, they want it to be

a big deal. They want it to be a big deal. The Lakers want it to be a big deal bigger than anybody now. Because they want it. They would like this thing to last. Adam Silver does as well. I don't love hanging banners just for anything, but I can see why the Lakers... For the NBA Cup, you want it. They would like this thing to last. Adam Silver does as well. I don't love hanging banners just for anything, but I can see why they like it. For the NBA Cup, you hang it.

It's one banner, though. Maybe in a different, not like near the championship. Put it in your aux gym. Maybe in the lobby. Have it hang in the lobby. They said they made it different colors from the other one. It's different colors and it's just one. So if they win again, they just put the year on it. They don't hang another banner.

So it's more so like if the Colts had a banner that was like AFC finalists and then it was every year they were in the AFC championship. Like I even think that one would be a little more okay. That's sick. It's a sweet looking banner. Look at the NBA cup. They should hang that fucker in the lobby though. So when you walk in, that's a sweet-looking banner. It really is. Look at the NBA cup. It's the NBA cup, dude.

Bro, they should hang that fucker in the lobby, though. So when you walk in, that's the first thing you see. Let people touch it? No, no, up in the sky. Just like it would hang the banner, but in the lobby, away from. They should hang it from the Jumbotron so it's like 10 feet off the floor. They jump up and touch it. Every time you run a bit through.

Yep. You guys are making a mockery out of this NBA Cup. No, no, no, not me. Not me either. Big win. Big win for the league. I saw Perk when he was on the show talking about how big it was that LeBron took the series.

Pacers are going through a little bit of a NBA Cup loser hangover. Well, they say it's hard once you go to the NBA Cup finals. Exactly. And you lose. It's hard mentally to get over. Exactly. So the Pacers are going through it this year. There'll be another next year.

Put everything they had into it. Tyrese Halliburton couldn't miss a shot on those fucked up courts. That's the NBA Cup. These courts that they're playing on now, too boring. Tyrese Halliburton needs a little bit more excitement on his court. City edition. You know what I mean, AJ? Definitely.

I went to the Cavs' off this weekend actually great time right games are a good time bro I'd say Trey Young got to watch Trey Young play in person you know my daughter loves basketball our friends had some tickets asked us to go every time like I sat there in I'm probably annoying for anyone sitting around me like every single shot hold on like wow like every shot my jeez oh my like I was they just hit shots that you take when you're a kid and you're trying to like mess around and hit these crazy fadeaways. Like I'm just – I tell you all the time, I'm just blown away at the shots that these guys hit over and over and over again.

And Trey Young, obviously he's around all these giants and just manipulating his way around the place. Boom, he had 30-something, I believe, but they got beat. But, man, those guys are good. How about the banging underneath? If you get a chance to sit close, the the big bodies like seven foot banging on seven foot it's like they're not running at full speed like football is but there's some contact down there and then they call fouls they're just like terrible when i just saw two guys basically fighting each other here and

then i don't understand it but basketball is good time coming to indiana for the all-star game yeah pumped for that. And then Stadium Series NHL is the same weekend, I think, right? In Jersey, yeah. Let's go. Football, three weeks left. Yeah, yeah. That's why I don't want to.

I'm excited for that stuff. What's that? For the NBA. Yeah, we got to start teasing that, though. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? We got to start letting that enter our minds. Because there's not a lot of football left, boys. Did, yeah. You know what I mean? We got to start letting that enter our minds because there's not a lot of football left, boys.

No. Do you hear Chip Kelly? Yeah. He said, our season's over. The boys are already home. Yeah. That's college ball.

The boys are already home. That's it. Jacksonville State, first year in the FBS. Huge win. Win a bowl game. Mm-hmm. Ripper.

What a kick. Unbelievable. Shout out to the Ripper. Shout out to? Mm-hmm. Ripper. What a kick. Unbelievable. Shout out to the Ripper. Shout out to his pre-kick routine, too. Love it. That's right. Yeah. Their season's over, though.

Mm-hmm. It is. NFL, three weeks left. Jeez. You knew that Chip, they won the Gronk Bowl, didn't you? Certainly. Kidding me? Who didn't watch?

I saw a lot of clips from that game that weren't. Well, you game coach, I thought you were about to say, well, you swore we were game planning, coach, but you've got a big bowl game coming up. I thought you might ask that. I didn't know. I assumed he was promoting the bowl game, honestly. I watch a lot of these. Yeah, there's a chance.

There's a lot of bowl games on and i've watched i would like to say i watched 80 of them at this point which i feel like is pretty good with all the bowls i've at least seen a couple plays that have happened it's hard to keep up with the balls like the la bowl has become the rob gronkowski saying the national anthem bowl yeah sure you know and then like last night's bowl the toastery bowl becomes the western kentucky with a quarterback in the transfer portal somehow did something absurd bowl. And then, like, when West Virginia beats the shit out of North Carolina, in the Mayo Bowl, that's going to be like good sandwich West Virginia wins.

Yeah. That's what bowl season is, moments. So I do forget. There's a moment. I don't know if you've heard about it yet. There's a new bowl this year. It's the Pop-Tart Bowl. Oh, I love that.

And the coach of the winning team gets to eat the live mascot yeah the mascot is walking around as a real life-size pop-tart so that'll be a moment so what happens hold on now so winning team gets to eat real pop-tart mascot i don't know if it's a pop-tart i don't think i'd want that because i you think you do with pop tarts is you pop those things in half and then you eat from the middle. You're not going to be able to do that. I don't know if it's a pop tart with arms and legs

and it has a soul. It's got a part of the pop tart. What's your flavor? I would do like I would do the like the graham cracker. S'more? Brown s'more.

S'more. I'll do the s'more. I'll do the cinnamon one as well. There was this berry mix. Wild berry? Yeah. Did it have a purple frosting-ish? Yeah, they had a little.

Purple with the blue squiggles on it. I like the chocolate fudge one, too. That was always delicious. Too much chocolate there, but I understand where you're coming from. I like strawberry. Cook cookies and cream was strawberry all day that's old school yep that's og i you know i will eat it but normally it feel like that one because of how light the pop tart is it crumbles more yeah you know what i mean that one crumbled that one seems to crumble do you toast it i i know there are people that do I do not take the time No I do not

Never Quick little one on a toaster Lightly toast Yeah every time I mean if you gotta run And just grab something To eat out the door I don't mind that but

What was that Is Pop Tarts brought to you By Kellogg's Yes So Kellogg's bowls Weren't gonna have the bands play Right Yeah

Cause I was playing in the Cheez-It Bowl Which is also Kellogg's yeah the citrus cheese it bowl and they were gonna have gavin de graw play at halftime instead of the iowa hot guys no i don't think oh yeah hard hardly got some hits gavin de graw yeah no thanks fucking guy had one hit 20 years ago what was the the hit again? I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately.

That's all he's ever fucking came up with. That is a banger though. It is, sure. Does he have that picture or something? I want to see the fucking Iowa Hawkeye marching band and I also want to see Tennessee playing fucking Rocky Top at halftime. And so does everyone else. No one is going to that game saying, you know, I'd like to see what that has been, Gavin DeGraw.

Whoa, that guy's going to bang her. He does. So does Wham. Bring me them. Wake me up before you go-go. I'll get excited about that. George Michael's dead. Yeah, I know he is.

So can't do that. Looks like we've got to have the bands play. Iowa Hawkeyes band. We're on a Metallica Instagram post. Exactly. Sick. And how do we reward them? Yeah, you guys can fucking play for four minutes before the game starts.

And then. Didn't they change it though? They changed it, right? I have not seen that they have. I know on Facebook and stuff like that, like they were just getting killed by both Tennessee and Iowa fans. Facebook a thing? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Big time. Kidding me? Hawkeyes fans, I assume, love Facebook. But they're not getting any new. A lot of hayseeds. And they're not getting any younger subscribers. No, I did.

That was Ty from Iowa. Yeah, I did. Yeah, that was Ty from Iowa. So when's Gavin playing then? That's all I care about, Ty. Halftime. Yeah, I bet you do, you son of a bitch. Are you still playing at halftime?

I think they made a change. He better be. He better still be. I could have sworn that. I thought the Pop-Tart Bowl was having similar issues because every Kellogg's Bowl was like, yeah, we're going to get superstars in here to sing at halftime. Guys have bangers.

Girls have bangers. And then they didn't even think about the bands playing because I think it's the first time maybe dabbling. Hawkeyes fans protest. That was on December 8th. Many universities, Kevin Carlson said, noting the Pop-Tarts Bowl and the Frisco Bowl Maybe. Dabbling. Hawkeyes fans protest. That was on December 8th. Many universities, Kevin Carlson said, noting the Pop Tarts Bowl and the Frisco Bowl are also curbing band participation. Has there been an update, though?

I think there was an update. I think in the last couple days. I don't know. Because I wanted you to take... You know, Ty was not happy about this. I'd be pissed, too. Ty sent me this information. Because we saw the Iowa Hawkeye band up close and personal in Indianapolis.

The leader of the band, cool. Yeah. Great mustache. Mm-hmm. And then they, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. I was like, oh, hey, here we go. An electric guitar and a band. I didn't know that was the case.

There it is. Hawkeye Marching Band will perform during the Citrus Bowl halftime show. The Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band will officially play at halftime during Hawkeye's bowl game. in the Citrus Bowl halftime show. The Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band will officially play at halftime during Hawkeye's bowl game. The announcement was posted on the University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band's Facebook page on Sunday as we were speaking about. Previously, the Hawkeye Band was only scheduled

to play before the game for seven minutes without a performance during halftime. Now, the Hawkeye Band and the pride of the Southland Band will perform after Gavin McGraw's halftime performance. Gavin's still playing. Good luck following that up. They'll be just fine. I wonder what he's going to play. Oh, no, I don't because he's had one good fucking song and no one's

ever heard of any other songs he's done. It's still bullshit. So what? They're each going to get three minutes? You can't do the whole fucking come on the field spell out. Can't do it. Can't do it. So they'll just play the fight song then.

They won't be able to play any Metallica or anything like that. It's a fucking shame. Oh, these kids don't work hard all year? Band kids? Don't, you know? If Gavin McGraw wasn't performing, would they even show the bands at halftime? Yes. They won't show any of it.

On TV, it won't be on. Oh, you're talking about on TV? Yeah, on TV. So, like, us being able to watch. Oh, no, I was never going to be able to see. Yeah, we never watch. Yeah, we'll. So like us being able to watch. Oh no, I was never going to be able to see. Yeah, we never watch. Yeah, we'll never be able to see it. Ever. But for people down there and for

the kids in the band. Yeah, how about the parents of the band? Boom. That's what I'm pissed about. Yeah, but now we actually, Mike, because they're probably going to show Gavin on TV. Certainly going to show Gavin. They're definitely going to show Gavin on TV. I don't want to be anything other than what I've been lately.

Or if he's singing like Best I Ever Had. Let me hear that. Go on, Tone. The Drake song? It paid $1.8 million, I heard. Go on, Tone. Drake sampled it? I think so.

Wow. I thought he did that picture song. See, I thought it was real. Pictures of you. Yeah, so many. Pictures of me. Is that him or no? I don't fucking know.

I'm not a diehard Gavin DeGroff. Sounds like you're all the time. It feels like you are. And now I got a grudge until the end of time against this son of a bitch, unfortunately. I bet you Gavin's a good guy. I'm sure he is. Gavin's probably so excited. Get to play in front of Ohio Hawkeyes fans.

Hey, love. I hope he's not wearing that goofy little fucking top hat and leather wristband like he always does either. It's not goofy. His wristband. Sure is goofy. Come on. That looks like an asshole.

No, he does not. 22 or 48. No, he does not. He has a banger, bro. He's talented. It's a cool hat. It's unbelievable. I understand why you're upset, though, because I saw that Iowa Hawkeye motion. He just put out a Christmas

album. It's great. He's going to play a couple of those. When's the game? Just so I can make sure I see this. New Year's Day. He's playing 12 songs. We will not see it, unfortunately. New Year's Day, geez. Taking a hit. New Year's Day? It's getting eliminated. Is that a New Year's 6 now?

Citrus Bowl. Citrus Bowl, yeah. Alright. Good Bowl, yeah. All right. Good luck, Gavin. And to both fans that are now be playing. For two and a half minutes. Let's get the hell out of here, shall we? It's been a good day. Great day.

Christmas is less than a week away. Yeah, it's wild. At the North Pole. That screen is sweet, honestly. It is. It is pretty cool. It's on the screen. My bad. That window. That, honestly. It is. It's on the screen. My bad.

That window. That huge window. Boom. Is that close to Antarctica, Con Man? Well, that's what I think Aaron was trying to get to. It's the opposite side. Even though he brought up Maji. Magi.

Magi. There it is. Maji. I thought it was dying. Three guys in, right? That's right. That's what we learned. Yeah, you didn't know that.

No clue. Me neither. Do you have any thoughts on the all-black team versus the all-white team now that you've slept on it? Do you think you guys have a chance this year? Yeah, we only have one weakness for the center. And long snapper, which I guess... Those are massive.

Touch ball, you're playing. You don't have a good center, you're fucked. No, not with our tackles. I mean, Thompson, Trent Williams, guess who's standing over the center? Touch ball. No, we're going for it. Touch ball or play. You don't have a good center, you're fucked. No, not with our tackles. I mean, Tunsell, Trent Williams. Guess who's standing over the center? Vita Vea. So you better figure out who's your center.

We can help him. No, you can't. We can leave those guys on the island. Mm-mm. Because guess who's out there, too? Who? TJ. Boses. Wide.

Max. Trent. Wide. Tunsell. Yeah, Trent's tough. Well, what's Trent going to do when we just line up TJ, Bosa, and Max, Trent, Tonsil. Yeah, Trent's tough. Well, what's Trent going to do when we just line up TJ, Bosa, and – On one side. Yeah, wait until you see our NASCAR package.

NASCAR? Yeah. I thought you were going 41-person. Oh, you mean on defense? On defense. Yeah, we're not worried about it. You guys won't be able to handle the Amoeba looks we give you. Yeah.

We're going to run exotics. Yeah. Vita Vea, deep third. 70 exotics. Four verts., deep third. 70 exotics. Four verts. Better hope the ball is able to get out because we're going to be getting the quarterbacks as fast as we possibly can.

We're bringing everybody. Every play. Gauge eight. Everybody, every play. That's the whole. That's our motto. See you on the island all night long. Everybody, every play.

That ball will get out. We'll see. It'll be trouble. When's the last time you defended triple option? Boom. Oh, it's cool. Clock's going to run quick. That game's going to be fast.

Not a lot of possessions. Miles Garrett. That'd be so sweet. Pat Ricard up the middle. I saw some people trying to get Travis Kelsey away from our team. Relax. Travis Kelsey's all right. He's a white guy.

Hey, I was disappointed with our tight end group. I was going over the roster last night. You're on Joker. And Kyle Bitts. He's phenomenal white guy. Hey, I was disappointed with our tight end group. I was going over the roster last night. You got Joku and Kyle Pitts. He's phenomenal right now. But if Flacco's not his quarterback, doesn't matter. I think Flacco's just the first guy to be like, we got. This guy's huge. Just a few years ago, and Joku was getting punished going to the jugs machine.

He saw that in Hard Knocks. Hard Knocks, yep. Now he's like the epitome of the Browns, pretty much. What a good story. That's football, baby. That is football. That is football. Sometimes you learn, you grow.

You get closer to people that you never would have guessed you'd get close to. Like Joe Flacco is now a Cleveland hero. Remember what his Ravens teams used to do there? Not that. He was not heroic for a long time. Football is a beautiful thing. Let's always enjoy it, especially during the holiday season. We'll be back tomorrow with a Trenches Wednesday

with a guy who's swinging a hot bat, J.J. Watt. Hot hat. Swinging a hot bat right now. Coming back from London. Oh, yeah, fresh off the plane from over the pond. Fresh off a big, fat... Big win? Tough loss.

A loss? They got time, right? Who did we lose to? Everton. Sean Dyche came back into his old town, had a few pints at his pub named after him, and smacked Burnley around. Oh, yeah.

Connor said that was going to happen. Yeah, we knew that. We're going to relegate. Yeah. Nottingham Forest just sacked their manager, so, I mean. Whoa. Gump wants company. All right.

Let's keep it positive here on this holiday. We will see you all tomorrow. AJ, great work. Boys, great this holiday we will see you all tomorrow aj great work boys great work we'll see you all tomorrow be a friend tell a friend something nice it might change their life goodbye