The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1054 - Bill Belichick and the Patriots Mutually Part Ways, Nick Saban Retires, Rob Ninkovich, Aaron Rodgers, Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning, Bobby Wagner, Ian Rapoport, Rece Davis, Coach Chuck Pagano LIVE In The ThunderDome, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: January 11, 2024

On today’s show, Pat, Coach Chuck Pagano, AJ Hawk, and the boys react to the breaking news that Bill Belichick and the Patriots have mutually agreed to part ways as they listen to the joint press conference between Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft, react to the other breaking news that Nick Saban has officially retired as the Head Coach of Alabama, all the different openings and changes and how these decisions impact those, as well as previewing Super Wild Card Weekend. Pat and the boys are also joined by several incredible guests including: Rob Ninkovich about the Belichick era (41:34-57:55), Aaron Rodgers on Belichick and Nick Saban (1:18:09-1:23:45), Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning to address rumors he’d be the next Alabama Head Coach (1:33:54-1:42:51), Bobby Wagner on Pete Carroll’s legacy (1:52:16-1:53:28), Ian Rapoport about the Belichick situation and all the different coaching vacancies (1:55:20-2:30:12), and Rece Davis after a lengthy sit-down with Nick Saban (2:42:43-2:49:57). Make sure you subscribe to YouTube.com/thepatmcafeeshow to watch the show. Or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. See you tomorrow, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robert and I, after a series of discussions, have mutually agreed to part ways. And for me, this is a day of gratitude and celebration. Start with Robert and his family. It's great. So much thanks for the opportunity to be a coach here for 24 years. It's an amazing opportunity. Received tremendous support. We had a vision of building a winner, building a championship football team here and

that's exceeded my wildest dreams and expectations. The amount of success that we were able to achieve together through a lot of hard work and contributions of so many people. so I'm very proud of that and and I always have those those great memories I'll carry with us those with me the rest of my life and of course after you know Robert thanks the assistant coaches you know I've had so many great coaches here they've made my job so much easier it's a long long list, but the amount of work preparation and diligence that they do, every one of them. And I say this about the players and the coaches regardless of how long they were

here, how many years they were here, how many years they coached and what the position was. It was a great team effort and everybody put everything they had into it. And that's why we're successful. So for the coaches, the support staff, everybody, you know, put everything they had into it. And, and that's why we were successful. So for the coaches, the support staff, it's an amazing staff here that, that supported me in every way. All the scouting and all the football support people from equipment and training, security, video operations, and so forth, right and down the line, like dining room I mean it's all it's all

first class it's all you know extremely extremely good and you know special thanks to bears and Nancy they've been here since day one and you know made my life a lot easier or I've made theirs a lot harder however you want to look at it but that's a you know a big shout out to them. And of course, a great deal of thanks and appreciation to the players. Players win games in the NFL and I've been very, very fortunate to coach some of the greatest players that have ever played. Some of the greatest players that have ever played for the Patriots, some of them are already in the Hall of Fame, many more are going.

But again, regardless of how long any of the players were or weren't here, what their role was, or how many games they played, or even if they didn't win championships, I respect the way the players come to work here on a daily basis. All of them. I've coached well over 1,000. Work, prepare, train in the weight room, train their bodies, meet, rehearse over and over again what we need to do things right to be successful, to win. I have so much respect for all the players. And certainly we've had many that have been here for a long time and had great contributions. Too many to name at this time. But, you know, great thanks to the players and to the media for you guys.

I don't know that anybody's gotten more coverage than I have or we have in the past 24 years. You know, I meet with you guys a lot. I respect what you do. And you're our voice to the fans. Even though we don't always see eye to eye all the time, most of the time, but not all the time, I do respect what you do. And finally, to the fans. The fans here are amazing.

There's so many memories of the fans, the send-offs, the parades, the Sundays, you know, whatever the situations are, the letters of support, the, you know, seeing the fans, you know, away from here, you know, at a gas station or a grocery store or, you know, wherever you bump into them, Patriot fans here, and not just in New England, but they extend nationally and even internationally as I've traveled. It's amazing how far the arm reaches. We saw that this year in Germany.

So, so appreciative of the fans for all the support they've given me, my family, and this football team. And it's with so many fond memories and thoughts that I think about the Patriots and I'll always be a Patriot. I look forward to coming back here. But at this time, you know, we're going to move on. And I look forward and excited for the future. But always very, very appreciative of the opportunity here, the support here,

and, you know, what Robert, what you've done for me. Thank you. you know, what Robert, what you've done for me. Thank you. That was Bill Belichick, obviously, addressing the mutual parting of ways with this man, Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots. Good afternoon, everyone. And as Bill mentioned yesterday,

we met and mutually agreed to part ways amicably. And like a good marriage, a successful head coach-owner relationship requires a lot of hard work. And I'm very proud that our partnership lasted for 24 years. I don't think in the NFL there's been any other partnership that lasted longer and has been as productive as ours. I trusted my instincts to bring Bill back to New England in 2000 after immediately regretting not hiring him after working with him together in 1996. When I did hire him, I was still making the transition from the fan who bought season tickets in 71, sitting on the metal benches in the old Foxborough Stadium with my boys to try to become an experienced owner. Bill has taught me a lot over those years, and we had high expectations for what we could achieve together.

I think we were the only ones who had those expectations, and I think it's safe to say we exceeded them thanks to you it's hard to put into words really when I think back to sitting on those metal benches and that we'd have an opportunity to go to 10 Super Bowls together and bring six Lombardi trophies home to Massachusetts. At heart I will always be a sentimental sports fan so this is a very emotional day for me. Some of my happiest and most memorable moments were celebrated with my family during Bill's tenure here. I recognize that it also is a very emotional day for many of our fans and most of our fans, as it represents the end of an era, one that hopefully will always be celebrated in this region. The man standing to my left brought the leadership and coaching skills that were

needed to make this type of unprecedented success that we have had possible. Coach Belichick will forever be celebrated as a legendary sports icon here in New England, and I believe go in as a pro football Hall of Famer on the first ballot. Why? Because he is the greatest coach of all times. Yeah.

Which makes this decision to part ways so hard. But this is a move that we mutually agreed that is needed at this time. What Bill accomplished with us, in my opinion, will never be replicated. And the fact that it was done in the salary cap and free agency era makes it even more extraordinary. I thank Coach Bill for his hard work and dedication. It'll be difficult to see him in a cut-off hoodie on the sideline, but I will always continue to wish him continued success, except when he's playing our beloved Patriots. So I thank you all for coming here today and being part of this celebration. Thank you. A couple handshakes, a couple hugs. He's got a cold, so I'm not going to kiss him. Thank you.

I didn't know Bill Belichick got sick. He doesn't. After you and Roddy. That's that. Bald-headed guy in the corner. Good work. I'll take my water. Got a lot of life to live.

50 more games to win. Between me and historic record. Yeah, of course. I've got a lot of life to live. Fifty more games to win. Right to the film room. Between me and Historic Record. Thank you, guys. Media that wants to stay in here during their broadcast window here are allowed to stay. Anyone that wants to go back to the media workroom and start working, we'll lead an escort back. And we'll likely be back in here close to 2 o'clock. We'll get details to you

in the workroom whatever just chill david me you chill yeah just want to hang out anyways uh welcome ladies and gentlemen to big news thursday here on this glorious pat mcafee show january 11th is going to be a historic day obviously because of what we just witnessed there with bill belichick leading off the entire press conference saying i haven't seen this many cameras since we signed Tebow. Then he would go in to talk about how they mutually agreed to part ways and then obviously give thanks to everybody, including the media, which was a little bit quicker and obviously one that is very hilarious because of the relationship that we've seen between he and them over the years has not necessarily been described as a good one. He'd go in there dressed like a hilarious homeless man.

He would kind of just grunt at them. And then that's when we got to, we're on to Cincinnati. We're on to Cincinnati. We're doing this. We're doing that. No other coach could get away with it. You know why? Because everything that man did seemingly worked for the better part of two decades.

He would cut a player that none of us really understood why you would get rid of them. Why would you not want this person on your team? He'd get rid of them, and then all of a sudden they win another Super Bowl, and it's like, well, Bill Belichick's doing it. We trust it. Yep. The greatest coach of all time, the greatest GM of all time, and a lot of people, obviously, whenever I said that on college game day, and he and Tom Brady obviously put together the magical dynasty that will never be duplicated.

Never. Unduplicable is the dynasty that they built up in New England together. I think we all realize that. But whenever you start thinking of him as the general manager, he's in his kitchen there. That's great. He had groceries in front of him. He was the one that was picking these players that would go on to win six

Super Bowls, to be the most successful team in the history of the toughest league, the biggest league on earth. And all the while, coaching the players up, developing the plan, scouting, contract negotiating, and winning. This man has committed his entire being to football. And obviously, we're pumped it's going to continue. He's not a bad little sand shatter. Good hands.

Guy's got pretty good hands. We know he's got a barrel chest. We saw that on a ring cam. He's got a hysterical costume and wardrobe. He loves his boat. And forever, we'll call him the greatest coach of all time. His time ends in New England, but it was a beautiful one. Hell yeah.

Congratulations to New England Patriots having the greatest dynasty of all time. Com man, we got about 55 seconds until we transition over to ESPN from SportsCenter, which we're very thankful for them passing the baton to us over there. This is a moment in one word, how you could describe it? Emotional. Watching you watch that and then watching all of us watch it, we kind of got captivated by it because you think you're kind of in a movie. You think there's no way this is reality. You think to yourself, this is a marriage that'll be able to last forever. And when Bill retires, he'll retire a New England Patriot. Uh-uh.

Robert Kraft actually said, good luck to him. Wish you success. Except for whenever you're playing against us. Now, we'll be transitioning over to ESPN with a baton handoff from the fine folks at SportsCenter. I'm sure they're pumped about that. We can't wait. Ladies and gentlemen, there's two different counts happening. We're either at 10 or we can't wait. Ladies and gentlemen, there's two different counts happening. We're either at 10

or we're at one. Thank you, SportsCenter. It is an absolute honor to be here on this big news Thursday, January 11th, 2024. Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots are parting ways after the greatest dynasty in the history of professional sports. I appreciated the fact that they both had their prepared statements. They took no questions, and then they just waltzed right off. Robert Kraft will be talking at 2 p.m. Eastern time. I think he'll be having his own press conference, so we'll probably get some more answers about how the conversation went and how long he had been thinking about this potential divorce.

But Bill Belichick led the whole thing off saying he hadn't seen that many cameras since they signed Tim Tebow. And then he said, we mutually agreed to part ways amicably, which was a statement that was echoed by Robert Kraft, which never happens in anything, especially when egos and pride and millions and millions of dollars are on the line. So shout out to the New England Patriots seemingly doing it the right way on the way out. And while it was happening, the greatest of all time.

Now, obviously, I'm not alone here. There's a man who coached football for 36 years who's going to have some of the ins and outs of the conversations that had to take place, not only in New England, but also in Seattle and down in Alabama. A lot of legends seemingly on the move and in a different chapter. Chuck Pagano is here. We appreciate you, Chuck. One out for the Hammer. Don.

Cowboys, Tone Diggs is here. And the Toxic Table is here as well. At Ty Schmidt, obviously Green Bay Packer owner and a man who is incredibly pumped that Jordan Love is seemingly the third one in a line of great quarterbacks for the Green Bay Packers. Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, you know, being good today and in great

spirits, and I just feel for Conman. And to the exact point that you just made, the other member of the toxic table is a die-hard New England Patriot fan. A man that would actually take a bullet for Bill Belichick. Whenever the Tom Brady Bill Belichick thing split, obviously he loved Tom Brady and he appreciated him, but Bill

Belichick here is the guy that is the brain and the mastermind behind all this success. Had to be that way if you're a New England Patriot fan. You obviously softened on Tom as the years went on and appreciated him, but you were willing to ride and actually die for Bill Belichick. Now it is official. The Bill Belichick era is over. How are you feeling? And did you feel like you were watching a movie there as those two gentlemen spoke? Yeah, it was like a movie. I honestly can't really tell you how I you feeling and did you feel like you were watching a movie there as those two gentlemen spoke yeah it was it was like a movie i honestly can't really tell you how i'm feeling because the day woke up i mean i started with checking my phone as most people do and seeing the news right away it was not mind-blowing because that would be naive to say that i

didn't see this coming or at least the possibility of it coming but it is just something you can't really wrap your head around completely yet. My entire life has been Bill Belichick football. That's all I've ever known. It's really the thing that I could hang my hat on no matter what throughout my entire life too was whatever's going on with the other teams in Boston, who cares? We have Bill Belichick at the helm in New England.

So seeing it is crazy. Thinking about the memories is crazy. Like thinking about me and my father and my brother, you know, watching New England Patriot football for my entire life with Bill Belichick on the sideline. So it's incredibly emotional to be completely honest. I'm trying not to cry or anything. That was awesome.

Because it really is like one of those things where you don't believe that something is ending like that. You really don't. I personally wanted Bill to stay. That was the feeling that I've had. Frabel earlier in the week, that's one thing, but that's for another day. It's just one of those things where when you really look back at the entire thing of the dynasty, it's just so much gratitude.

I'm so grateful that i was able to be a patriot fan in the era of tom brady and bill belichick i feel bad for the future patriot fans that didn't get to experience that and so for me personally it's just super appreciative uh it's it's really is a bummer because you are we are going to see him in a different you know with a different team and that's something something that with Brady was one thing because Brady kind of came out of nowhere. At the end of the season with Brady when we lost to Tennessee, pick six at home, his contract was kind of up in the air.

You weren't sure. With Bill, it was one of those things where it's like you see the end. You could prepare for it as best as you could, but you could never really get yourself to this moment here where it's actually happening and there's a press conference and everything's going on. So it really is tough. I started out pissed, you know,

and then it worked its way into, you know, hope of the future. Hey, let's be pumped about what could be next. And now it's just sadness. It's just complete sadness. And, you know, it is what it is. This is what happens. I think Bill Belichick would also echo like hey if you go 4 and 13 yeah stuff stuff has to change you know whether that is him or

the players or you know the front office or whatever it is but things have to change when you go 4 and 13 and that's something why the patriots are so successful like there are so many different players you mentioned it that he would bring bring in as a GM or that he would draft. And maybe they would play it unbelievable and they would still move on. And there's a list of those guys that you could mention. And there's a list of guys who came in on a one-year, two-year deal that Bill knew, hey, you bring this guy in, you're probably winning the Super Bowl. Rivas. Rivas.

Browner. Same exact thing. I mean, Chandler Jones had one of the better Super Bowls against the Seattle Seahawks. And he got shipped out of town because Bill knew like hey this guy is so good there's a massive chance we're not going to be able to pay him and re-sign him and like those decisions I think get looked at in the moment as like what the hell is this guy doing but then when you go back and look at him it's like this guy is so smart he sees two three years ahead of what everybody else does so not having that anymore is crazy having the thought that we're not just hiring a head coach or hiring a gm

like the twilight zone that i'm in now is more crazy to think about than anything there's never been a point in my life where there hasn't been a you know leader in the clubhouse if you will or a guy that you know that is going to be doing everything he possibly can for the team as a whole like right now not having a head coach or a general manager it's not scary I mean this is football it's a sport but as a fan it is it's shocking especially as a New England Patriot fan I mean he just went through it 10 Super Bowl appearances six Super Bowl wins. Things like that don't just happen. And you can go down the line of those coaches on that all-time list that he's passed.

None of them can hold their jock when it comes to success in championships when it comes to Bill Belichick. And Chuck mentioned it in the free agency in the salary cap era. That is unheard of. It's never going to happen again. The Chiefs right now, it's incredible what they're doing and everything and they've gone to four possibly five straight afc championships but at the same time it's like a lot of the players that they loved and wanted they weren't able to hold on to and you know you see guys leave all the time and guys kind of plug in place and nothing be affected too much but i don't think anybody

can point to any other team than the new England Patriots when it comes to that aspect, because there has been so many hall of fame players come and play for bill and then leave and talk about, you know, how great of a coach in person bill Belichick is. And I think that's like the biggest thing for me right now is just like thinking about how incredible it was, what he did for the new England Patriots and then seeing him get emotional.

Talk about the fans. That's what I was noticing here because you talking about him, obviously you're getting emotional. And the only time that Bill really got emotional there was when he was talking about the fans. And then you saw him start reliving moments where he was on a trip or a visit somewhere and somebody comes up with a Patriots merch on or whatever and he said, and my travels in there.

And he got a little choked up. That's a beautiful thing. You guys have built a beautiful thing up there. And it was you guys against the world. I know everybody else says that. But like the Patriots versus the world, the amount of, you know, gates that took place, that bunker mentality, that entire area and that entire team were in abundance. I mean, it was loud up there

yeah him being again emotional is what got me for sure but like you think about the 2004 to 2014 you know era like all those great players that weren't able to win a super bowl like him talking about them that that is so cool and it's just one of those things where like i look forward to like talking about how great he was you you know, down the road. Because it is something. I'm just so lucky to have experienced the entire thing. We zoomed out to see Bill Belichick has literally been staring at me since the first day of this particular studio in Thunderdome. I do wonder how long you keep, because you got the Bledsoe one still up here.

Yeah, Bledsoe, obviously, massive piece of the entire story. Oh, yeah. Then you got Bill Belichick there, another piece to the story. And I know we're in the middle of a celebration. Both of them told us that. Bill Belichick said, this is a celebration.

Shakes hands, little hug. Robert Kraft goes, thank you all for coming to this celebration. Shakes hands. They do a hug, then they walk off or whatever. The celebration will come whenever Bill Belichick's done. Just like the Tom Brady celebration came whenever he was done at the Buccaneers. This was all a formality.

Had to happen here. I wonder how that conversation went. And, you know, this follows Coach Carroll seemingly getting kind of told that he's no longer the head coach at Seattle. If you had to guess what the Bill Belichick-Robert Kraft conversation went like, because I assume you've had to be in a couple of these before in your years of coaching, how does that normally go? So can you walk us through what something like that would potentially go like,

and who do you think was potentially in charge in this particular convo? Obviously Kraft, I guess, would be the answer there. You know, honestly, after a 24-year run, I can imagine maybe after a first contract. Like I've been in a convo with an owner after a first contract expires, and you're trying to get a second contract. And it's like, okay, where are we going? And how are we getting there? What changes are going to be made? Staff wise, roster wise? What's the vision? Is it the same vision that you had when you walked in here? Is it a new vision? All those kind of things. You know, do you want to be here? Do you still want to coach here? Is there still goals?

Do you still have the same, you know, dreams and aspirations the minute you walked in the door? I can't imagine, like, between Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick, other than maybe, because this just didn't happen overnight, I got to assume. Of course, 24 years. You know, 20, no, but, like, even this last year this this had to be maybe two years ago three years ago post tom brady maybe this you know who's in robert's ear who's he listening to who's he talked to is it his son con man i mean like who gives him direction

now moving forward because he hasn't had to there hasn't been a coaching search or gm yeah gm forever those are two massive hires for any owner to have to make and now robert craft who i believe is an incredibly intelligent human being yeah i think he is obviously he spent some time during his statement to flex a little bit as he should congratulations because there's some stats we got from hembo here about the bill belichick era and obviously you can place them with Robert Kraft era too because he's the one that hired Bill Belichick Bill Belichick never lost a playoff game in which his team won a turnover battle which leads to another stat during Belichick's 24 seasons in New England the Patriots had the fewest turnovers 477 enforced the most 691 he's plus 241 or something like that over his time there.

So they played like incredibly smart football, sound football, which is probably the story that he was selling to Robert Kraft whenever he was interviewing for the job the first time, whenever he said he thought he missed him, whenever he didn't hire him, and then obviously he resigns from the Jets shortly after becoming the head coach of the Jets to go up there. But whenever you think about what the Patriots were before Bill Belichick, when Belichick got to New England, the Patriots had played 40 seasons,

were 37 games below.500 all time, and had never won a championship. So obviously it wasn't like they inherited a great franchise. They turned one into one. And they've never really had to make any changes at the two biggest spots that change an entire franchise. So now all eyes are on what's next. What's next? What's next? Which is a damn shame.

And we'll do a lot of nostalgia. We got Ninkovich joining us here in about 20 minutes to tell some stories about life as a New England Patriot underneath Bill Belichick. Negotiating with Bill Belichick whenever he's up for free agency. Because once again, he's the GM. He's handling all the contract negotiation during the offseason as well, which is unheard of, by the way. Absolutely absurd. The amount of time that all of that takes is insane.

I don't know how the guy's able to get it accomplished 24 hours, seven days a week. But whenever you think about what's next, everybody's saying there's going to be a transition process here in-house. Isn't that what's kind of being leaked at this moment right now? Right now, Tom Curran, which his report initially, Bill being out, correct, him being out after the Germany game wrong. But Tom Curran right now saying that Gerard Mayo has been the succession plan, which is

kind of what a lot of people figure because last year he got a lot of head coaching opportunity interviews that he ended up getting extension, New England staying. That's one of them. Obviously, the Vrabel buzz has been there. I think it's pretty simple. It's just one of those two guys. I'm happy with either of them.

But even you just reading those stats, that's another thing that gets me. It's like crazy thinking about what it is. Everything the site is making it worse. It is. It's like crazy thinking about... Everything the Saints make it work. It is. It's crazy. Bill Belichick had a 500 or better record against every single team in the NFL during his 24 seasons in New England. That's absurd.

You know, they talk about Tom. This guy's got a above 500 record. He's got above 500 against everybody in the entire NFL. Belichick went 52-28 in New England in games decided by three points or fewer yeah 52 and 12 special teams that's 65 of coin flip games is how hembo just uh described that and then the big stat here that really goes to the question about getting the next coach

and the next gm The other 31 NFL teams, and we have an incredible graphic about this. The other 31 NFL teams, 213 head coaches. New England over the same time period, one freaking boss. This is coming from the Dynasty documentary series that's coming to Apple.

He sat down to do an interview, and he rose his head. And, like, at this exact screenshot, he just looks like the Don. He looks like the actual godfather, which is what he has been up there in New England, running the show. Well, and 213 head coaches, like, we need to add in the GMs because that's north of 300 people. Like, that's what's so absurd about the entire thing. And people forget that. They've forgotten it for most of his career. It's like Bill's lost the locker room, all that bullshit

when things aren't going well. Bill actually picked the locker room. Built the building. Obviously, Robert Kraft had paid for everything, didn't put anything on the city, which is another incredible thing about the New England Patriots. But it's just like this guy has done everything forever and the fact that it's over is just still mind-blowing.

Now, I will say the Indianapolis Colts fans, the Pittsburgh Steelers fans, I guess Baltimore Ravens fans in there, the ones that were snakebitten. The AFCs. Yeah, the entire AFC, the Jets fans, the Bills fans. All the AFCs. Dolphins fans.

All the coaches for all those teams as well. Big sigh of relief this morning as they woke up to take their morning dump and they read that it is officially over. The Belichick Patriots dynasty over. There's a lot of people that are obviously emotional about it. Sure. It's a beautiful thing that has come to an end. Professional sports provides us things that we could have never imagined having. A relationship with a guy that you love that you probably never really actually met. But all the happiness and joy that he has brought to your family

and to you throughout your entire existence has made you revere this man as a icon. Yeah. It's gone. See ya. It's over. You're heartbroken. A lot of people are incredibly pumped, though,

that they don't have to deal with Bill Belichick in the AFC anymore. To your point, during the Belichick time, the Steelers, I believe, were 3-4 in AFC championship games. Those four losses were all to the New England Patriots. 3-0 against anyone else they played. 0-4 to Bill Belichick

and the New England Patriots during that time. So there was a stat, I believe, that the most amount of playoff games won ever is by Bill Belichick in New England in like 30 or something. 31 or something like that. And then the Steelers and Seahawks were second and third with most playoff wins during that time.

And combined, it was 29 or something like that. So they had more playoff wins than the next two playoff wins combined over the same time period. When you talk about dominating Chuck Pagano, when you talk about being a dominant dynasty for so long in a league that is promoting parity every single year with the salary cap and how it's made up, how the draft order is, how you can get one guy, change a program, change a franchise,

you can do that. You can have a couple injuries and fall off a cliff one year. You can literally be at the top and all the way to the bottom in a matter of two years. I was on a team that was undefeated until we chose to lose. A couple years later, completely defeated until Dan Orlovsky almost lost to Sandra Luck by winning a couple games

at the end of the entire thing. The NFL is not supposed to be run by one organization. And Bill Belichick was running it from the coach and GM position for so long. Why? Why was that the case, you think? Why is Bill Belichick an alien? from the coach and GM position for so long. Why? Why was that the case, you think? Why is Bill Belichick an alien?

Why is he able to do stuff that nobody else is able to do? Chuck Pagano? I just think back to the decision he made just when we're staring at Bledsoe here, right? When he gets injured and he plugs in Tom and then Bledsoe comes back and he's healthy, right? And he says, uh-uh. So the decisions that have to be made when you sit in that chair and the decisions that Bill made over the course of those 24 years there, not everybody's built like that.

Not everybody's wired like that. Not everybody can go and grab Corey Dillon. Like, Corey Dillon was like nobody wanted anything to do with him, right? What does Bill do? He grabs him, brings him, nobody wanted anything to do with him, right? What does Bill do? He grabs him, brings him in, and he has an unbelievable season, right? 1,400 yards. Okay. Okay, Randy Moss.

I'm in Oakland at the time, 05-06. It's the end of the 06 season. Okay. He trades for him, gives him a fourth-round pick for Randy Moss. So, Randy Moss is, like, dead, right? How many touchdowns? He brought his record this year. Yeah, in all the touchdowns.

23 or something, yeah. This one. This was every year, every weekend. And you can go on and on about the decisions that have to be made. You said he was always two, three years ahead, okay, with knowing when a player's, like, starting to do this. And that's hard to do especially when you develop and he's and I know there's a soft side there I know there's a human side to coach Belichick because

those players they they don't talk about a guy just because hey he wins he's a great coach he's this he's that those guys know he gave a shit about him but he also was strong enough in those moments to say hey it's time to move on. Or, you know what, this guy's got something left. We're going to bring him to our place, and he's going to excel here, and then we're going to move on. It might be one year, big deal, but then you win a championship with him. It's like unprecedented, the decisions that he's made over the course of his coaching career,

24 years in New England, that led him to this. And to do it in this era of football, you mentioned the parity. You're not supposed to be able to do that with the salary cap the way it is, the way free agency is, the way the draft is. The way human nature works. What he said about Drew Bledsoe. We talked about it in the man in the arena. It wasn't like Drew Bledsoe, like we talked about it in the man in the arena. It wasn't like Drew Bledsoe was some guy.

They paid him $100 million. They paid him $100 million. He comes in, beats the Steelers in the AFC Championship after Birdie gets hurt, and then still has the gall to make the decision like, yeah, we're still going to go with Tom. Normal humans don't, like the rest of the dudes, the 31, most of them don't do that.

They don't have, but it's all, but he, nobody watched more tape. Nobody spent more time. Everybody's going to tell you they, but. How many years? How many years? How many years? 49 consecutive seasons he's been coaching in the National Football League. Now I

coached 16, 18 total right? I went 16 straight and then got whacked in 17, took 18 off, and then two more years in Chicago, right? That's 16 straight, right? He's got 33 more than that, okay? And? Still going.

You mentioned, hey, there's a sigh of relief, right? But yes, the rest of the league is still on hold to see where this son of a gun lands. Please don't land in my division. Don't land in my conference. Seriously. The relief, too. What if he gets a team? They're saying,

oh no, big Mike McCarthy. You better do something. Or Jerry's going to be like, come on in, Bill. You don't think every owner? Because when you look at these guys, you look at Pete and his presser, you look at Belichick and his, those guys don't look 72 years old. No, they don't. They don't speak like they're 72 years old. I'm drooling.

Bill's 71. Bill's 71. He's 71. He'll be 72 in April. I'm sorry. Yeah, those guys are young. They got energy. And then somebody's going to figure out, okay, damn,

I can maybe make a run with this dude he's got at least three three five years but if he does hold on though you get him on good graces with you you know like peyton goes over to denver he lives in denver full-time yeah he's in their building full-time right he's like around in full whenever they show a picture of him he's a denver bronco yep it's like Bill Belichick can go somewhere else. Now, Peyton had to win a Super Bowl. Bill will have to have success wherever he goes, but you potentially can poach him for post-coaching too, where he's around the building and helping everything out as you go forward.

Like the advisor thing that has been offered to Pete Carroll, although Pete Carroll has not ruled out coaching somewhere next year. That situation is certainly one that is getting buried in the Saban and Belichick convo because we're talking about two goats here, college football goat and NFL goat. But then you think Pete Carroll, he's the only guy that's ever been able to do it. Not far behind.

I mean, you're talking about three absolute legendary coaches that are currently in a brand new chapter. Saban going into retirement. I'm excited to see what he does next. There's been a lot of rumors swirling, obviously. We've enjoyed the hell out of the year that we got to have with him. Did he enjoy it?

Is he thinking maybe, you know, this talking thing, not too bad? Oh, he's going to move to India and join the show five days a week. Right there in that little desk at AQ Sitson. I mean, he said the last time he was on, he was like, hey, listen, NFL coaches right now, they kind of have a better lifestyle than college coaches. Maybe he's joining Bill's staff

and going somewhere. Is he going to the NFL? Is he going to that beach house that he did the show from last week? He's not retiring. I mean, I showed him. He's back at work today. He's back in the building today. Same exact time he always gets there. Yeah, I think a friend of ours is actually talking to him today from the building. It's like, everything's very interesting. That kind of seemingly came out of nowhere.

What did we ask him last week? Like, hey, how come everybody just says you're going to retire all the time? And he says, it's because I'm old, I guess. And then there's the clip of him talking to Kirby Smart before the SEC championship where he said, I'm way too old for this, I believe is what he tells Kirby Smart. So I guess there has been a couple little tealies and a lot of people rumoring and hindering towards it. But it happened and kind of came out.

And it's the same for the Belichick news. It's like we've talked about it here ad nauseum for a couple years. Like I remember the first time I really got brought up on the show this year, though, we asked Schefter, we said, is Bill Belichick going really got brought up on the show this year, though. We asked Schefter. We said, is Bill Belichick going to get fired up there in New England? And he goes, that is not in my world. I'm not hearing it. But even the thought that we're saying it is pretty crazy, right?

And I'm like, yeah. Yeah, it is. It is pretty crazy that we're even talking about it. And then now that's reality, it's like, where's he going next? Who's his staff? If they're gonna hire drop mayo okay what does that mean for steve belichick what does that mean on the offensive side i think josh mcdaniels is available bill o'brien's available like are they put are they taking the whole gang just to a new city like is he gm again is he head coach again like now we have to because we're

sports media assholes yeah we have to ask those questions. I'll be very fascinated to see because like David Tepper in Carolina, second wealthiest owner in the entire NFL. Yearning for credibility. Yearning, screaming for credibility, throwing cups of

ice on people. I've heard those people. In a coma, I think. Future earnings because everything that was lost from that ice cube I've heard those people. That guy's still in ICU. In a coma, I think. Future earnings because everything that was lost from that ice cube hitting exactly where it was. Yearning for credibility. There's an opportunity there for him to say, you're GM, you're head coach.

And we talked about him rebuilding the Patriots. I don't think he wants to do that to another program or franchise. But you'd have to guess what his take would be on Bryce Young, I think, would be the big one there. And he obviously loves Saban. Him and Saban have a great relationship. He's from Alabama. I assume he knows a lot about him. But what if he comes in and is like, $35 million. We'll pay you every single year.

You're the GM. You're the head coach. Do whatever. Just please make us good. And Bill's just here. Are we meeting on Mondays? No. We don't meet on Mondays. And then we keep it moving it's like that could be a little and then you talk about yearning for another ring before you know i mean the guy's old cowboys like that being talked about you could certainly see jerry jones doing something like that oh yeah now big mike mccarthy has had a phenomenal year the best year he's had as a head

coach of the dallas cowboys he's doing more this year than he's ever done The best year he's had as a head coach for the Dallas Cowboys. He's doing more this year than he's ever done in the past. He's more of a reason for the success that they're having. And everybody's like, well, he better, yep, better go get a ring. We don't get another banner flying Jerry World? He's out. It's like, what an insane profession that you can be a guy who has a Super Bowl already and big Mike McCarthy.

You can have your best year that you've ever had. But now that Bill Belichick's available, it's like everybody's on the hot seat. And I'm very thankful that Shane Steichen has proven he's the next Bill Belichick here in Indianapolis so we don't even have to dabble in the conversation. But to what Coach Pagano brought up earlier, he's like every owner is currently looking at their head coach.

Bingo. Looking at their GM. Mm-hmm. Hey, I'm going currently looking at their head coach. Bingo. Looking at their GM. Mm-hmm. Hey, I'm going to need you to come draw. I mean, you said you got Belichick, Carroll, and Saban. Why not just throw it out there? All they can do is say no. They should all coach together.

But that was, I was going to say, like, how about we run it back to Cleveland days, right? And we got Belichick and Saban goes as his DC. Oh, Saban just defensive coordinator, by the way. Doesn't have to deal with all the other stuff. He would love it. Bill Belichick not talking to media anyways. No.

He'd do it. Who's GM there? Both of them? Don't matter. Shit, let Carroll talk to the media. He's great. Yeah, Pete Carroll's our – Lambeau comes back.

Yeah, let Pete Carroll talk. He could be the motivational, the Tony Robbins. What a wild January we've had. Absolutely ridiculous. The one team that doesn't get talked about because they had a great year to finish the season was the Raiders. I don't think I would rule out the Raiders. Who's the owner?

Who's the part owner? Mark Davis, who obviously football family. Man, Antonio Pierce, though. Yeah, no, it stinks for Antonio Pierce, but Brady. Could you imagine Raiders hiring another New England? I don't know. I think it's different with Bill. That one.

You're hiring the Patriot way, I guess. That's okay. Yeah, and who's the quarterback there? That's okay. This one's okay. You think Antonio Pierce is like, actually. I get it. Can I work?

Can I stay still? DC for this? Can we at least do some of that? You think that's how Antonio Pierce would look at it? I don't know. I hope that would be the case, but what about the Chargers? I think Antonio, I'm sorry,

he's earned that. That's what I think. I think so, too. That's why obviously they have an opening. It's being talked about, but all of us have seemingly just been like, that's Antonio Pierce's job. That's the thing, though. He did earn it, but that was before Belichick was available. Now that Belichick's available, you would have to think that every owner,

at the very least, is like, yeah, we have to. I mean, I guess except for the commanders who have already said they're not interested. Joining us now is a man who played for Bill Belichick for a long-ass time. Won a couple Super Bowls. This man loves cars and engines. He'll actually go fix one right now if you ask him to. He'll get in there,

he'll toss a spark plug in there, ratchet some things up. How many ponies got? I think got 400. We can make that 415 with a little right here. I love that about him. A stud, a stallion, a man who also played alongside Gerard Mayo for a long time, which is seemingly the next

head coach of the Patriots if you listen to some sources. Ladies and gentlemen, Robert Ninkovich. Pat, what's up, man? How are you doing? Hey, I'm fantastic. Connor actually almost broke down and started crying at the beginning of the show after the statement was made by Bill Belichick, where he got emotional when he was talking about the fans

and how appreciative he was of them. And he's been doing a lot of, like, nostalgia, going through old videos, old photos of him at parades, him at games with his dad and his brother, and what Bill Belichick has brought to him in the entire New England area and Patriots fans. Obviously a bit emotional. How are you feeling while watching that all kind of take place

in a dynasty officially being over? Rob Mankiewicz. So, Pat, I'm going to be honest with you. This shit got me emotional, man. all kind of take place in a dynasty officially being over rob minkovich so pat i'm gonna be honest with you this shit got me emotional man it's it's a it's insane because you're you're looking at bill belichick he's leaving after 24 years the dynasty and just the way he's talking and clearly robert craft is talking about well when we see him on another sideline and a cutoff hoodie so he's going to continue to coach clearly that was that was a statement made by robert Robert Kraft is talking about, well, when we see him on another sideline and a cutoff hoodie, so he's going to continue to coach. Clearly that was, that was a statement made by Robert Kraft

that Bill Belichick is going to continue to coach. And the emotional part, obviously Bill gave me an opportunity. And with that opportunity, I was able to take that play a long time, win a lot of football games, win championships. And, you know, it's, it was an amazing opportunity for me at the time. Cause I was out of the league, basically out of the league. I had an ACL injury and he was the only guy that gave me a chance. So I owe a lot of what I have today to Bill Belichick and giving me that opportunity, but you know, the emotional side of it, it's, it's pretty tough because moving forward, you look around the league right now, there are teams that have, eh, and the coaching, eh, kind of like iffy coaching,

and Bill Belichick is walking out the door. So it's a weird time. I mean, you look at Seattle right now, right? And Pete Carroll is not going to be the head coach for that football team, a guy with a ton of experience. And then Bill Belichick leaving the Patriots is going to clearly go and coach somewhere. It's definitely a weird time in New England, probably the first time in a long time that anybody has felt this way as a Patriot fan. Yeah, certainly 24 years of success at the GM and the head coaching position,

which leads me to my next question for you. Obviously, as a head coach, he's the greatest of all time. Everybody kind of talks about that. I have said, though, and I think you kind of alluded to that, where you're out of the league, nobody gave you a chance, and he brings you in, and you become a Pro Bowler, multiple-time Super Bowl champion. Nobody talks about his – did you ever make the Pro Bowl?

No. Well, that's the fan vote. I'm sure the player vote I would have got in, but the fan vote, the. Well, that's the fan vote. You know, the fan vote. I'm sure the player vote I would have got in. But the fan vote, you know, the popularity there, I didn't get it. But it's okay. I was close. I was pretty close.

I think I was like on the average Joe team. I think I made that once. All right. Well, hey, there we go. Pretty good team. That's a good team. That's a good team. I was on that one a few times as well. But nonetheless, had immense success.

And he saw that, found that, brought that in. Did the negotiations. He did the whole thing. Never gets talked about how great of a general manager he is because he didn't build the team in the same way that I think they would want to dream fantasy football, build a team in general management. So like six Super Bowls as GM.

Do you think he just gives that up? I think he said in a press conference that he doesn't have to be the guy that's being GM, just wants to do whatever is best for the team. But whoever brings him in next, let's say it could be any job. Let's say anywhere. Do you think he's GM and coach and they're bringing the whole song and dance to the next place? Or how do you think this is kind of aligned going forward?

And what was he like as a GM day-to-day as you had to work with him? Well, he's definitely a very smart negotiator. He understands the leverage aspect of contracts, right? So Bill's the best. You're not going to get one over on Bill in any type of contract negotiation. So, you know, as far as him going somewhere else, I would think that he would look at this as an opportunity to go somewhere that maybe has some more talent

offensively, maybe has an offensive line that he doesn't have to go and build up or find a quarterback or get a receiver, all those things that in New England right now, you know, if you watch this team this year, it struggled offensively in a lot of areas. So if you're Bill Belichick, you don't have time, you know, four or five years to build something. You want to go somewhere and you want to win right now. So you look at this environment in the NFL right now, if you're a team that maybe you're a one piece away, maybe you need a quarterback and Bill's able to go and find somebody, bring in somebody and work with what they have, you know, it'd be an opportunity for that team to do some, some great things. So, you know, even for you to look at the Cowboys, I think,

I don't know who said it on get up, but I do believe that somebody was saying that McCarthy, if he doesn't win that it might be his last year. And I could see Bill Belichick, you know, say Green Bay goes down to Dallas and takes care of business. I could see Jerry Jones saying, hey, hey, hey, Bill. Hey, man. How much?

I only got so many times left, so to speak, at the old Glory Hole. So, you know, Bill will be licking his chops to go down there to the Dallas with a team that's loaded like that. Yeah, Glory Hole is always tough to find. I used to watch that gold rush. They're always looking for that glory hole. That's it. They'll find that hole right there. Yeah, the glory one. There's gold on the other side of it, obviously.

There's that meme where the guy with the axe is walking. He's just this far from the glory hole. And then he turns around and he quits. Jerry ain't going to do that. We know that. That's a funny... We brought that up because whoever said it on First Take or Get Up wasn't like the first person to say that. A lot of people were like, Jerry Jones feels like the right person to work alongside Bill

because Jerry understands Bill Belichick. They've been around each other for so long. Anybody that hires him has to be a guy that understands who they're getting, right? And it kind of goes back to what I was originally asking about.erry jones and his son steven i think are the general manager president things you think bill would just want to say in that entire thing as opposed to doing the whole job and just focusing on coaching or how do you think that would go i think he would focus on coaching and you look at the process right over the years he was able to he walked into the situation where

the Patriots when he first started you know they were a team that was now they were they're kind of middle of the road but they had a bunch of talent right and he was able to take that talent defensively and and really make it a championship level defense so if you let Bill Belichick come in and just coach your team up specifically on situational football. You know, there might be less, oh, I don't know, before the half time management issues with timeouts. I mean, we've seen that in the past everywhere, but you know, those are the little things that at the end of the day, your head coach is there to make sure he manages all those little situational football things that Bill really, I mean, he could do that in his sleep, right? So I think that with the situation correct and the good roster,

Bill would be okay with coming in and saying, you know what? Y'all do the personnel, and I'll stick to what I do best, and that's coaching this football team. Cowboys or wherever is obviously ridiculous with Bill Belichick as the head coach thinking about, but Mike McCarthy is 12-5 last three seasons. He's absurd. Could be.

Because that's Bill Belichick, though. I think a lot of media people that maybe have been jaded by Bill Belichick don't have a grasp on the reality of like, hey, this is the guy. 71 years old, who cares? We'll take him over whomever. And you think he has success again? Conman has a question for you. But for me, you think he's able to get to the mountaintop one more time?

If not, do you think he can? Do you think he will? Because obviously Tom going to Tampa, winning, huge part of the whole deal. Peyton Manning going to Denver, winning, huge part of the whole deal. Matthew Stafford going to Los Angeles Rams, winning, huge part of the whole deal. It Stafford going to Los Angeles Rams winning huge part of the whole deal. It feels like that is a part of it. You think Bill is able to do something similar? Andy Reid goes to Kansas City, wins.

I mean, do you think that is something he'll be able to accomplish and will accomplish? Yeah. I mean, I think given the right circumstance and a little bit of luck, you know, Pat, in football every single year, you lose one or two guys and you're in trouble, right? So if he was able to go to a roster that had a great quarterback,

things that he was able to work with and things worked out well during the season, he didn't lose anybody that was a major piece. I think Bill, obviously, whatever team that he goes to, they would clearly be a team that you would think has an opportunity to get to a Super Bowl I think with his pedigree and the way that he does coach everybody and everybody says he's a defensive coach Bill is a three-phase football coach you know he was a special teams coach you know when I first got there I made the team as a long snapper punt team guy. I bet. Right? Hell yeah.

Right? So I got to that team. The only way that I made that team was to go in at 5 a.m., meet with Brian Flores in a little cubicle, and every day, because he was an assistant special teams coach at the time, and me and B-Flow would go through everything. That's because Bill said the only way you're going to have a chance here a chance here you got to do multiple things and you got to play on teams and he was a special teams coach he's a defensive coach we all know that but he's also an offensive

coach so wherever he goes he's going to help every phase and he's going to feel rejuvenated I'd assume as well that's what we talked about with Aaron whenever he got over to the Jets those first OTAs there's somebody in here that has never seen Aaron Rodgers throw a football before. A whole new training staff is getting to watch Aaron Rodgers warm up. So now his warm up is even the best that it's ever been. You've got a whole new tone and a standard that you have to show to people that maybe have never seen it but have certainly heard about it. That can really do something, Especially to a motivated human being. Con Man has a question for you, and I'll tell you what,

Ninko, you said you were getting emotional? So was he. That was beautiful to watch. It was beautiful to watch Con. Yeah, it's a tough day, Nink. You know that. And, you know, Pat mentioned you're two-time Super Bowl champion. Thank you for those, by the way. Not just two Super Bowls, either. The Malcolm Butler

Interception Super Bowl, Seattle comeback, Atlanta Falcons, 28-3 comeback. From those two games or even before the game leading up to it, is there anything that stands out to you that you remember from Bill specifically, whether it was a pregame speech or even a

night before speech like he's done before? Everyone goes back to the Philadelphia Super Bowl that we won in 2004. Yeah, against Andy Reid. And about how they already mapped out the parade in the Philly newspaper for that Tuesday leading up, and he showed the team and everything. Was there anything like that that kind of hit you that you weren't expecting today or one that you always go back to when you're thinking about your time

in New England with Bill? Yeah, so there was a moment in, I go back to when we were playing the Giants in Indianapolis, actually. And I remember it was the fourth quarter, right? I'm sitting, I'm actually on a knee. And I remember this like yesterday, the helmet that I have from that game actually still has the paint on the backside of it because I was leaning on my helmet. And there was a point in that game where the offense had the ball, they were driving. And I remember looking up at the scoreboard and I was thinking to myself at that time, we're going to win this game and I'm going to win my first Super Bowl. I'm going to win my first Super Bowl.

Okay? And then we all know what happened. Wes, there was that throw. Wes drops the pass. We should have been able to put the game away at that point. It didn't happen. We go back out on the field. A couple crazy catches.

They march down the field. You know, defensively, there's a term called Rolex, right? And when you hear Rolex, that's the worst possible thing you can hear defensively because you're letting them score. No mas, no mas. You want to save time. Now, offensively, that's the best call you want to hear because they basically tell you not to score, right? Rolex, Rolex, don't score.

So we let them score. Bradshaw should have stopped. He tried, but he rolled in the end zone. So they go up. We lose that game. Now going back from that point on, I kept thinking about the moment that I looked at the clock and I thought to myself, I was going to win a Superbowl. So going up to the Seattle game, right? So we're playing Seattle. This is 2014. This is the night before the game. And Bill gives a speech to the whole team.

And at some point, it just was like a lightning bolt, and it struck me because he said, all right, at some point in this game, we might be up or we might not be. We might be down. You might mess up. we might not be. We might be down. You might mess up. You might miss a play. You have to make sure that you forget about what happened the play before and you can't look to two plays ahead.

You can't look to the end of the game. You can't look at the clock and think we're going to win this game based on any situation. And when he said that. He's talking to me. He's talking to me, right, He's talking to me! He's talking to me, right? He's talking to me. But I think it's human nature

at certain points in a game to look at the time left on the clock. You look at the score and you think, we got this. We are going to win this game. And he brought it back to

think about what your responsibility is in your assignment for the specific play that's about to happen. You could be punting the ball and you're trying to get it inside the five. You could be on kickoff return and your job is to kick out the tackle. You could be on punt team and you got the two, three twist, right? All those things that every single guy has a responsibility on the team. Think about what your job is for that specific moment.

And if you can do that and then move on to the next play, move on to the next play. Don't think about the end of the game. And there were moments in that game where it was tough to do that, right? We go up. We go down. Before the half, Russell Wilson throws a touchdown pass. Then we come back in the second half.

They're driving the football. The crazy catch with the tip pass when Malcolm comes in, right? On the five, they run the ball, and then they throw the interception. That whole time, I just kept thinking, I got to do my job. I got to continue to just focus on the next play. Bill's speech before that game really struck me and made me do that throughout that whole game. And then we won that game. It was the, it was like a weight coming off my chest because it had been 10 years since the Patriots had won a Superbowl. It was Oh four. And then it was 14.

And I was the diff. I was the new regime. I was the new chapter, the Patriot way of the, the new defense coming in. I wasn't variable. I wasn't Vrabel. I wasn't McGinnis. I wasn't Bruschi. You know, I was the new guy, right? But I hadn't won anything. You know, when you played for the Patriots in the early 2000, 2010, 2011, 2012, everyone thought you won a Superbowl. It's like, no, I lost one. And now I'm trying to win one. So 14 was such a big moment for me because it had been 10 years. A lot of people don't realize it was 10 years between 04

and their next Super Bowl. And he was there the whole damn time. What a stud. Just like you. We appreciate the hell out of you, Ninko. What's the name of your podcast? This is the Dan and Ninko show. So we do it once a week. It's a fun show. We review beer. We have a great time. We talk about local New England sports.

Cars, because you know I love cars. Love it. Love it. Hey, Pat, I know you got a few. Take care, man. Appreciate you, Ninko. Love you, Ninko. And they go.

Football. He's currently experiencing a moment, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, I'd say that. Where three massive historic names in coaching of football have all been required to experience change at the same damn time. Nick Saban in Alabama yesterday announced he's going to retire. Whoa.

Still shut up at work today, though. He's going to help the team, the coaches, the players in this transition era. Doesn't want to leave them high and dry, but knows he doesn't want to do another college football season as a head coach. And for that, we say thank you for allowing us to experience your last year. Thank you, Coach. Greatest of all time, which led to an SEC championship and obviously a loss to the inevitable national champions in the Rose Bowl.

Then Pete Carroll kind of forced out his head coach for Seattle, but ends up on terms with Seattle that he will remain an advisor for the Seattle Seahawks going forward, unless seemingly a place wants to offer him a head coaching job. Kind of what we heard in the press conference yesterday. Now, that might change. We might have misheard. But that is certainly something that our ears picked up while he was talking in an incredible fashion, very complimentary

fashion, but also in a way that made us feel like, oh, Pete Carroll's kind of forced out here at 72 years old in the Seattle Seahawks, which was a shocker. Obviously, Vrabel fired a few weeks ago, and then Bill Belichick and the Patriots amicably parting ways announced this morning via Adam Schefter, Ian Rappaport, every news outlet.

And then they both gave statements about how appreciative they are and they move forward. The talk was here at Ty Schmidt and at Boston Connor, who is obviously a diehard Patriots fan, who's experienced a lot of emotions this morning. Yeah, a lot of emotions. It's a weird day. It's a weird day for me for sure. I haven't felt these things in a very, very long time. But, again, just grateful for it. And, you know, we're on to the next chapter.

Are you? Absolutely. We're not still just on that last page still? Maybe thinking about... We go back. Go back a couple pages. Oh, I will later but for for the rest of the show yeah no i'm we're on to the next chapter later an hour and 56 minutes yep i'll watch believe me i got a lot of sad sad sad montages bookmarking my twitter i'm gonna have a

great great night i suppose i saw like 10 minutes after it was announced. Yeah, they were ready. No, believe me. People had them queued up. I actually, funny you say that. We might be talking about the same video. I watched 10 seconds of one of these sad montage videos. Nope, can't do this right now. And I haven't watched it yet.

Not ready. No, not ready whatsoever. Well, it did feel like a movie as they were both speaking. Robert Kraft will speak again here in about 56 minutes. He has his own presser. We will stream it. If there's nothing coming from it, we will certainly cut it and then talk about what else is happening over there. One half of the hammer.

Cowboys turn digs here. Diehard Pittsburgh Steelers fan. The big bad wolf is seemingly out of the AFC. Stays in the AFC still a problem for everybody. Yeah, but it is because he was the big bad wolf in New England. Now, is it going to happen somewhere else?

Maybe. Probably. He's the greatest coach of all time. But, you know, the big bad wolf is out of New England, and that goes hand in hand. So, yeah, a lot of other fan bases are celebrating. The dynasty is officially dead. 36 years as a football coach, 18 in the NFL, 18 in college.

Chuck Pagano. That's wild to say, wild to think about, and wild to be here. Surreal. Yeah. You were on multiple teams while he was up there doing his thing. You going to go back to coaching, Chuck? Yeah, you thinking about it? You're not 72.

Yeah. Yeah, I feel good. I got great energy. I got great juice. I beat the shit out of Ugly Joe. I thought I was walking down to the court to play some ping pong, and next thing you know, I'm staring down Ugly Joe. In a three-round battle.

You beat him. You beat him. Decision, but you beat him. It's amazing just to think of the guys that the profession has lost for the meantime. Who knows if they come back and coach again. I'm sure that at least probably two of the three do, if there's an opportunity.

But, I mean, we throw around the word goat loosely sometimes, and rightfully so to people we know and we care about and this, that. Yeah, make you feel good. And they're in a conversation. They've done amazing things. But when you look at the numbers, Bill Belichick and Nick Saban, what they have done, seven natties

in college football, six Super Bowls, go to nine. I mean, it's unprecedented. And then do it in the era that he did it in, when you're not supposed to be able to have sustained success like he had up there. It's phenomenal. It was a hell of a run.

It was a beautiful run. Now there's obviously a lot of conversation about who's going to end up where because both Kraft and Bill Belichick alluded to him continuing to coach. He's 15 wins away from the all-time wins record as a head coach in the NFL. I assume he's already got the GM one. I assume that has already taken place. The winningest guy to ever GM or coach in NFL history is 15 wins away. We all assume that is what has been driving him and motivating him

in knowing that he would continue to coach. Joining us now is a man who's the all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers, a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, and the current president of Ohio. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Haas. Yeah, A.J. Haas. A.J. happened this morning quickly out of nowhere. One tweet, one A.J. Haas. Yeah, A.J.! A.J., it happened this morning, quickly, out of nowhere. One tweet, one post, one press conference, two statements, and it was over.

Here we are now. The dynasty's dead. How do you feel, A.J.? I mean, honestly, I'm watching Con Man talk about it, and I get it. Like, good for you, Con. That's what's cool about sports. You remember who you were with when you were doing those things, when you were going to games, when you were watching stuff.

So I think that's why it's sad. That's why you're thinking, yeah, and as you get older, you do think about things that end like, wow, it's weird to think this is it. Bill is not going to be coaching the Patriots anymore now. As Robert Kraft said, he will be on another sideline very soon. It sounds like. I don't know where that might be. But, yeah, it is kind of sad, man,

seeing Bill almost get there and get like he was starting to get a little emotional. It's cool to see, but it's super sad at the same time. I appreciate the fact that Bill took a little bit of time during his statement to flex a little bit. Yeah, had to. And then, you know, whenever Robert Kraft asks a couple questions, I think we've exceeded expectations.

And we have. Yeah, we did. Yeah, just on. Yes. Yeah yeah we started bill acknowledging his success for the first time here out of late seemingly i'm happy for it because that's like hey there's a human having some happiness in there because you don't know if he gets to have even during this statement today he said this is a celebration is it how you tell me, buddy. Chuck dropped a stat on us earlier. 49 straight years of coaching in the NFL for Bill Belichick. Wow.

When I say coaches get institutionalized, like how do you function in society when you've been coaching for that long? This guy is unbelievable. Dude, this is red or whatever, you know, from Shasha. Exactly. Sweet wristband. He gets outside for two, three weeks, experiences what retirement is. He's just thinking about grabbing.

I got to go back. I got to go. Get me back. Tom Moore. Tom Moore is a guy that a lot of people don't know. You look him up. He's been on NFL sideline for 150 straight years since the league was actually began and he's still coaching somewhere somehow advising doing his thing

but bill belichick hasn't just been 49 years the last 24 years of it he's been the general manager and the head coach and a pirate at a halloween party so talk about wearing hats yeah exactly that's a lot of them that is a lot of hats and uh you never heard him bitch ever you know no never never like i'm tired no hey why'd the team do this we got screwed by the refs you never ever it was always just ball this is business this is what we're doing and then you hear the stories behind the scenes. It's like, the guy talks shit. He's hilarious. People love him, enjoy him. It's just like, it feels like he's done it all right.

And obviously whenever you win, Taylor Swift said this, people throw rocks at things that shine. That's true. And this son of a bitch has been shining a long time, not only with his rings, but just what he's been doing. And him and the way he operates and the fact that he never lost his hard edge either is one that I appreciate. going into commercial break on christmas yes yeah against

the steelers this past year four and twelve yeah yeah four and thirteen yeah at the time though oh at the time i believe four and eleven three and eleven three and eleven 3-11 at the time. 24 years in. Okay? 3-11. 2-and-whatever-it-is. He is heard chewing out a referee on a hot mic on a zoomed-out blimp shot of the stadium. You can't do that!

You gotta give us time after you spot the... Into a commercial break. It's like, how does this guy have the competitive stamina aj how does this dude have the energy the juice in the want to continue to be this guy you're talking about one of the most competitive humans to ever exist i think no if anybody could have just like said whatever and not pay attention but you talk you everybody talks about the details the details the details do your details, the details. Do your job.

The culture was really simple. You could ask anybody, Joe Ma on the street walk by, what's the culture in New England? Do your job. But all anybody ever talks about is the details. And he's relentless. He has never taken his foot off the gas, taken a sigh of relief. Never, ever. And that's what separates him from everybody else. All right, so let's move along to another coach that is no longer in the same place that he had been for a very long time, a guy that built a culture and has built a brand and built a name not only at the college level but at the NFL.

Pete Carroll out as Seattle Seahawks head coach. That's how it was reported originally. Yes. Pete Carroll out as head coach of the Seahawks. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. What does that mean? Then it's like he'll be an advisor. We're like, oh, this is the Brad Stevens situation for the Celtics where you basically say, hey, coach,

do you want to potentially do this other role as the president of the team as opposed to coach? And Brad Stevens is like, yes, I would love to do that. They've had great success. And then we heard his press conference and then he talked about how he competed to keep his position as the head coach of the seattle seahawks here's the clip from the press conference that i don't think a lot of people heard because it was in the question portion after the written statement portion in which he was emotional and fantastic, as Pete Carroll always is. This question, though, caught all of our attention.

You went into the decision to step back, or I guess agreed to step back and not be the coach. Why did you agree to do that? Well, I competed pretty hard to be the coach, just so you know. I just wanted to make sure that I stood up for all of our coaches and the players and the things that we had accomplished, not so that we could be the coach still, but so that we could continue to have a chance to be successful and keep the organization going. That's what I was fighting for.

So in that regard, that was what I was representing in our discussions. And we got to a good part, a good clean spot where it made sense. And I went along with their intentions. So he explains right there that he competed for the job. That means he went in there, like you explained earlier, laid out his vision for the future, what they could do, how they could change it, and they just didn't agree with that, and then they said, we don't like that,

and then they amicably come to a decision to move forward, and he helps with the transition as an advisor, but still potentially is going to be a coach later. What's going on over there, and how do you think Pete Carroll sees it all? Yeah, so he obviously walked into that meeting with John Snyder and had an agenda, had a plan, you know, and full of enthusiasm, you know, piss and vinegar, positivity as Pete Carroll is, and said, okay, this is how I see it.

And obviously, John Snyder or whoever, down to john snyder hey we need something new we need a change something something happened there and you know the general manager john you know i'm guessing i don't know this is the guy that said hey look we you know we're thinking about you know maybe moving on we want you to around. We want you to be an integral. He's telling them all the great things that he did for this organization, two Super Bowls, won a Super Bowl, all these wins, all this stuff. We want you around, but we don't want you to be the head coach. It's wild to think about for Pete Carroll because he's built that brand, AJ.

It's almost like Seattle Seahawks is the Pete Carroll brand. Obviously, he was there, Legion of Boom, Russell Wilson. Without Legion of Boom, Russell Wilson. Without Legion of Boom, Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson leaves still Pete Carroll. And I guess it's one of those situations where they're looking at the glory days of what it was at the beginning of the Pete Carroll run, and they're hoping that that will come much sooner again. But who's better than Pete Carroll?

That's the big question, AJ. Who's better than Bill Belichick? Who's better than Pete Carroll? Who's better than Mike Vrabel? And I guess they're all just assuming, yeah, they can find one of those. And then you look around, it's like not easy to find these guys or girls, I guess, now that there is many opportunities around the NFL. There's not easy to find these coaches that are able to get a culture,

sustain a culture, move a culture, let alone all the X's and O's. It's like you've got to find a real leader. Peteroll has been that this entire time it's like we'll just move on now he's 72 so this time had to come at some point but seemingly earlier than pete carroll expected aj yeah that's what i want to know like why why now what what was like what happened throughout the season i guess that made this happen now but didn't uh pete even say in his initial comments, like, I'm excited for John to kind of have control of this thing, meaning John Schneider, the GM,

so he can truly make all the decisions that GMs normally do? Is that what he meant? Yeah, and if you listen to some of what Schultz said yesterday, Pete Carroll had a lot of say, I think, in how things go. So it's like, was there a trade? Well, didn't they have Pete before they brought in John? I remember that whole hiring process. John Schneider came came from green bay i was in green bay with him he's the man he is awesome so i think they were like they were hand in hand and everything so i wonder if they were thinking to themselves we want to give more power to this guy will that be the

case if you're still that's probably a weird handover can't just all of a sudden after 14 seasons say all right well i'm going to step back on the roster management for a little bit. I don't know if that would work. Were you going to say something there, Chuck, about the power? He had the title of VP of football ops, too. I think the minute he got there. Head coach and vice president, football ops. So he had final say? Yes, he had final say.

So Pete got there in 2010. John Schneider also got there in 2010. Ooh. But Pete was giving power to help him be hired. I didn But Pete was given power. But Pete, yeah. To help him be hired. I didn't see it as the, I'm excited for John. I saw it, I was like, I'm excited to see how John takes over this game. I mean, think about that, though.

He goes from Russell Wilson to Geno Smith. And this was before Geno, you know, I didn't write back, though. They wrote me off, whatever. That was before that happened. So for the fact that Pete Carroll went from their franchise Super Bowl winning quarterback who, I mean, people feel the way he feels. Russell Wilson was unbelievable at many different moments for the Seattle Seahawks. To go from him and then right into a 10-7 playoff season,

where sure they went and played the 49ers, were beating the 49ers at halftime, actually, last year in the playoffs, but still ended up going from playoffs to nine and eight. It feels like they pushed him out and they want a new era. Yeah, they left him for dead after they

left Russell Wilson. He makes it to the playoffs and this year they're a game away from the playoffs. He still clearly wants to coach. That's why I don't understand why he would just... I mean, I guess if you don't want it to be messy, just accept like, hey, I'm going to move it. Like, look at his ties in LA. I would imagine Chargers wouldn't bring in Pete Carroll for a head coaching

interview. I just, I don't understand why if he does still want to coach and he was kind of being competitive about wanting that and wanting to do that, why he would just be like, okay, actually, you're right. I'll just step into this kind of senior advisor role and just be okay with that. That just doesn't make any sense.

Pete Carroll being available to coach right now around the NFL, and then you look at Harbaugh, right? He's hired an NFL agent. He has a successful record. And then Bill Belichick, he's looking at him for able. Not a great time to be a free agent coach right now. Or a guy on the block finished, you know 500 or less Nobody was talking about their team getting fired or them getting a lot. Hey, you go home. Hey parties on right?

We got another year getting contract. Hold on hold the phone Bears fans. Uh, there a lot of Bears fans not happy about them keeping Fluss and all these guys being available. It's loud right now for the Chicago Bears. Could that change? Could that happen, though? Honestly, if someone really wants Bill, could someone fire their coach that's there right now?

So the thing about it is I wish Zito was here. We miss Zito. Congrats, Zito. Congrats. Love you, Zito. Love you, Zito. But like Chicago Bears fans, I understand that they're getting upset potentially about, you know,

Eber Fluss being the guy and everything like that. Towards the end of the season, it felt like his culture finally set in. They played well. Yeah, it felt like they— Especially defensively. Since he took over when Allen Williams, you know, got run out of the building, and he took over defensively, they finished it. Anyways.

I'm sorry. His culture— We've had enough. That's on me. Yeah, we have. That is on me. I went rogue. I'm sorry.'ve had enough That's on me That is on me I went rogue His culture seemingly started hitting For sure

And going So it's like For the Bears fans I assume they're a little bit like Finally Do we go for the Justin Fields Fields finally is going

They move on from Getz It's like What do we What do we do here I think there's a couple teams There's probably multiple team Fan bases around there that feel the same way. Thank God not the Indianapolis Colts. Yeah, by the way, you said we got the next Bill Belichick and Shane Steichen.

We should just stop doing any of the next Bill Belichick for anybody. For anybody. That isn't to you. That's just in general. You're right. You're right. As it was coming out of my mouth, I thought it was a little disrespectful. I don't know.

As it was coming out of my mouth. MCDC has the new Bill disrespectful. I don't know. As it was coming out of my mouth. MCDC has to do a Bill Belichick. See, don't. There it is. Disrespectful. And he can be a different iteration. Mike Thomas is the next Bill Belichick. Okay, see, listen. Here's the deal.

What are you saying? What are you talking about? What do you mean? How long was he there? 24 years? Yep. Okay, so we got five Super Bowls coming in the next eight years yeah you're right okay so possibly maybe what's pittsburgh steelers mason rudolph bro uh-huh yeah mason rudolph have you seen him what are you talking what are you laughing at chuck mason rudolph ended pete carroll chuck don't laugh oh why is everybody being so mean? I don't like what they're doing to Pete. I don't.

It's just not right. He's a good guy. He's like Mr. Rogers. He is. That's all I feel. He was talking yesterday. I'm like, there he is. He's going to chew gum.

The neighborhood coach. That's what I think he's doing every morning. Exactly. And then he showed videos of him running with those Air Maxes and chewing his gum. We're competing today. No look throws. And he's got the basketball hoop in a team meeting everybody's buying in will ferrell's coming in out of nowhere and then you talk about people it's like when you

get there the culture is just different you know it's just different it's that's just what people say and he's he appreciated he actually shouted out bobby wagner multiple times it was like bobby thank you for reminding us always to have fun and also you're the reason why the culture was able to maintain because you guys bought into some of the stuff that some people probably wouldn't have with me as the coach. Like, I think he was – they call Jim Harbaugh quirky. I think Pete Carroll probably behind the scenes was viewed vastly different than how most coaches is.

He was very, here we go, here we go, every single day. It's like, I would have loved to have been in that building. Go ahead, AJ. Sorry, cutting you off there. Credit to him and his presser, too, saying, oh, I competed. No, I wanted this job. Some other guys would try to protect their ego maybe

and act like they were okay moving on or it's a mutual type thing, but Pete, that's always been his thing. I know they want to compete in every single thing they do, and they have fun while they're doing it, but for Pete to even say that in that presser, I give him credit because some guys wouldn't do that. Bobby Wagner just texted me. I think we're probably going to have him on at some point today

to chit-chat a little bit more about the Pete Carroll culture. Joining us now to chit-chat about massive names being, you know, amicably departed from two teams at a very, very high level is a four-time NFL MVP and a man who is a super bowl champion ladies and gentlemen the last human that bill belichick talked to on the field as the new england patriots head coach aaron rogers aaron how you doing pal can you guys see me yeah you look fantastic you look great clearer than whenever you usually call us from wherever okay good yeah because i'm out here in the woods so i'm i'm glad i can't see you guys so this is perfect you look great you need to know that you're out in the woods obviously doing your

off-season stuff activities activities ventures uh is that a good way to describe it that the off-season has begun yes okay perfect uh i'm happy you take some time here to chit chat with us because obviously with bill belichick you were the last human that he talked to on the field as the new england patriots head coach now we know that for sure whenever you think about them moving on connor got emotional about the dynasty ending officially what are your thoughts on bill belichick leaving new england but definitely going to play somewhere or coach somewhere else is that what he said did he say he's going to definitely keep coaching yeah he's the life yeah he seems like a lifer um it's tough i mean you have not just bill but uh but nick saban announced his retirement is that

true as well yeah yeah yeah i've been kind of um you know, insulated here from a lot of the internet. The internet's a little spotty here, you know, in the woods, so it's kind of nice. But I did see that, and it's too bad. You know, those are two iconic, iconic coaches. I think, in general, when we play this game, we love this game. There's this idea about game changers and people who actually change the game. And in actuality, there's very few people who really moved the game forward, players or coaches.

But when you're talking about people who actually made a difference in the game and moved the game forward and were trailblazers and game changers, Bill Belichick and Nick Saban were those guys. And Bill did things his own way and had a ton of success with it, and people tried to copy it and couldn't do it. I think that's the greatest compliment you can give Bill besides the respect of competing against him. And that's what I always tried to give him when I saw him.

You know, one of my favorite things about Bill is his love for the game, whether he's talking about the top 100 players or, you know, watching some of those segments or whether it's him and i bs on the field before a week 18 would ultimately meaningless as far as in the standings game about a 2019 game that happened at metlife and uh you know throwing a backside uh post route to alan lazard in the kind of a torrential uh you know, snow down, was just the guy he is. But my favorite story of my own interaction with Bill was we played him in 2018 and 2022. And both times he

waited to make sure that he saw me after the game. And I just thought that was one of the classiest things ever. And I have so much respect for him doing that. 2018, I was having a conversation with Tom. They beat us at their place, and he waited. And after, you know, because coaches a lot of times just go over, shake the other coach's hand. Sometimes there's some words back and forth, but go over, shake the other coach's hand, and then they're out, right?

But Bill waited for me. And then in 2022, I actually was doing an interview on the field after we beat him in a game that went back and forth, and Bill waited until my interview ended. And I just thought that was one of the coolest, classiest things ever. I mean, this is an absolute no-brainer, Hall of Fame, game-changer, guy who was a trailblazer in the league and did things no one's ever done before.

Arguably the greatest coach in NFL history and probably will have the record for wins if he wants to keep going in the near future. And he waited for me to finish my, you know, my press conference or on the field interview to say something nice. So I have a ton of respect for Bill and Nick as well. I mean, I interviewed with Nick Saban at Berkeley in 2005 when he was head coach for Miami Dolphins. And we obviously went our own ways after that. And he had incredible success. And I've enjoyed watching him on the show this year on your show. So kudos to Nick on a Hall of Fame career.

And the amount of players, young men that he's impacted is exponential. Bill, love you, man. So much respect. You changed the game and continue to do that. I know you will keep doing that. So I don't think it's a retirement for Bill. Not sure about Nick. I mean, I feel like he's a life or two.

Maybe he wants to go on a coaching or or sorry, on TV and out of coaching and take some stress off or spend more time with his kids, grandkids, wife, whatever it might be. But the game is better with his college or pro when those guys are in it. Hey, thank you for taking time out of your Woods retreat that you're on right now

to give a little love to Bill Belichick and Saban as they move into a next chapter. You're the man. Mustache looks good too. No darkness here. This is, you can tell. There's a lot of light. There's good books to actually read behind me. So we're not doing that darkness thing anymore. Smart, smart. Well, I

appreciate you. Get back to it. We appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, Aaron Rodgers. Yay! Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. What's he doing in the woods? Bro. What's he doing on the show? I tried to reach out. Yeah.

I was just going to say. Yeah, he's not allowed on the show. He can't come on the show. I was told. Yeah, we must have called the wrong person. Zeta's not here. That's fake. Yeah, that was the whole thing.

Deep fake. Is that a clone? Deep fake. They got cloned. That's AI. No, it is. You know, he found it to be pretty important, too, you know, because he has a lot of respect for Bill. Oh, yeah.

Wanted to pay, you know, his respects to Bill Belichick, obviously, now that it's taken place. I've learned that a lot with a lot of the people that I've kind of chatted with here as the day rolls on because this gets dropped in the morning and it's like heads up. Now, we know, some of us know, that Aaron was – this is what off-season would look like for Aaron when football ends. Where's he at?

Central America? Yeah. Where he's hungry? Like to travel. He talks about his love of travel, right? Yeah, but it's not just travel, too. It's just like, hey, I don't even know what phone is. Free scaling mouth.

Face of a cliff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alex scaling mouth. Face of a cliff. Alex Arnold. It's like, you know? He was out buying those cool crystals last year. Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of that. I mean, there was a lot of everything. We've heard the stories.

Enlightenment all the time, right? Enlightenment, awakening. Bingo. And he's on a constant pursuit, seemingly, whenever the season ends. That's his thing. So yesterday, I'm just getting absolutely crushed. I'm like, how do I explain to all these humans that Aaron Rodgers has an offseason too? He enjoys doing.

And this is how this has always kind of gone with Aaron Rodgers Tuesday. When his football's over, normally he's got – now last year a little different because the whole situation that was kind of yeah taking place but it's like that was wild we're getting absolutely killed they're like you turned your back on Aaron Rodgers it's like do you know how many things I've been through with Aaron Rodgers just in our short relationship it's like yeah I was not pumped to be in the middle of any of that we all have friends that put us in situations where we're like did we have to did we did we did we i've been that one's a bit unique yeah unique situation it was like yeah it's like okay so you know today whenever and he's at the i don't know

he had to go up a hill pretty much. Yeah, you got to find some service. Anyways, a lot of people paying respect to Bill Belichick and Nick Saban. Oh, we didn't ask him about Pete Carroll there. He probably doesn't even know.

No, he doesn't. He'll be shocked by that as well. About Braves. Does he know about Braves? Oh, that's a whole nother. Yeah. Yeah. We talked about that as well. What about Braves? Does he know about Braves? Oh, that's a whole nother. Yeah, we talked about that on TV.

Nobody really picked that up. No. That was how it was. That was pretty good. None of those clips got picked up. But us explaining to him that Pete Carroll also would have been a mind blower there. That's on me, Matt Host. And Iberflow Stan.

Well, yeah. Okay. He was actually clamoring to know about that one. So, Chuck, let's get back to that about that one so chuck that is uh let's let's get back to that now that we got a chance to kind of hear from a guy who's also first ballot hall of famer talking about another guy's first ballot hall of famer who happened to have a lot of respect for each other it's weird how some people don't for either but the two that are at the top seemingly have all the respect in the world how about that think about how humbling that had to feel for aaron rogers that Bill Belichick is just waiting off camera.

Multiple times, too. Multiple times just to say, yeah, it would feel awesome no matter who you are. Yeah, uncomfortable, too. You need to, hey. Can you wrap it up? We're done. Aaron probably felt so uncomfortable. Absolutely.

Like, hey, Bill Belichick. Filling up. Yeah, he's sitting right here. Before the game, too. He's got to negotiate a contract, scout a player, drop a play, or strategize for next week. That's a fantastic thing. That's a lot of respect, obviously, and I'm thankful that he got a chance to run up a hill, find some service.

Nice guy. Where is he? Where is he? He's in the woods? You know more than I do. There's woods all over the place. Tell him to drop a pin. The way his hair looked, if I could just dive in, it looked as though he was wearing a beanie. So I don't know how warm temperature he was. Probably Bigfoot

hunting, I bet. Yeah, there's a chance. I mean, legitimately, there's a chance. So thankful to hear that. Let's go to that Chicago job, though, with Eberflues, because they're not the only ones, Chuck. And you mentioned that if you're a coach who was like 500 or near there, you're starting to wonder, oh, my God, does my ownership love me as much what's the reality of a situation because when tom brady left new england i was on a microphone much smaller at the time on the internet saying everybody's gonna want tom brady in the building when tom brady comes in the building your equipment managers get better your chefs get better your athletic trainers get better literally everybody in the building gets

better let's not even talk about sales ads ticketing everything merch everything gets better when you bring tom brady in the building allegedly that was not the viewpoint of everybody in the nfl allegedly his market was not as big as some of us thought it was going to be now we've heard the commander said they are not interested in bill belcher correct which is awesome to think about not interested this is just like when atlanta was not interested in Bill Belichick. Sure. Correct. Which is awesome to think about. Not interested. This is just like when Atlanta was not interested in Lamar Jackson, and we're all like, why? That makes no sense.

But speaking of Atlanta, allegedly Atlanta very in on Bill Belichick. Are these teams that are coming out publicly, do you think it's true? Do you think it's accurate? And why do you think we're kind of hearing these names so quick? Yeah, I don't know why you'd come out and say you're not. Why would you? What good does that do? So this might be Dan Snyder trying to, you know, kind of hearing these names so quick yeah i don't know why you'd come out and say you're not why would you what what good does that do so this might be dan snyder trying to you know kind of no it could be a ploy to it could be gamesmanship i wouldn't put that past anybody but it could be him trying to sabotage the new ownership's view with the fans true like saying hey i've heard that

they're not interested until we hear from magic johnson or josh harris true i don't think i'm gonna take it serious but i don't know why you would want to be public with saying, nah, we are not in on this entire thing. That part makes no sense, but when you're talking about Jerry and with the Falcons, with Arthur Blank, do you think part of it is, like you mentioned, these guys are older. We don't want to go hire an unproven head coach who it might take five or six years to get his culture in place,

get his vision set up. It's like by that time, like who knows if I'm still going to be around? Am I still going to be alive? Like I want to take the last couple years when I'm sound of mind and like can actually enjoy this, and I want a guy who can come in and win year one. Like Belichick's the kind of guy who could do that. If you give him enough resources and things like that,

like you don't have to go back to the start of the line and have some wunderkind OC like who's going't have to go back to the start of the line and have some wonder can OC, like who's going to have to take his bumps and bruises. I thought it could be the commanders just being very, very self-aware and being like, Bill's not coming here. If Bill wants to get that wooding record,

he's not coming here. We Sam, how Sam, how can throw it? But he's either quarterback. He rebuilt the Patriots. We don't want to put on him. No,

we have too much respect for Bill Belichick to be like, Bill, Bill. And then they could say, when they hire their guy, that's the guy that we always wanted. Like, they don't have to be like, oh, we lost out on Bill Belichick, so we had to hire this second guy. You know what I mean? Maybe that was them being like, Bill's not coming here. That's a hilarious thought. AJ, Chicago, where else? Let's see.

Obviously, Las Vegas is locked in with Antonio Pierce. Amy Strunk, though. Here's Amy Strunk talking about why she didn't trade Mike Vrabel as opposed to just firing Mike Vrabel in a sit-down interview with Tennessee Titans Media. There's been discussion in a lot of different circles about the possibility of trading the head coach. Great question. Was consideration given to trading Mike Vrabel? Well, yes, there was. But there's a bit of misconception about a coach's contract, say, versus a player's contract.

A coach's contract, you can't trade them unless they're a willing partner to that trade. So, yes, we thought about it. But at the end of the day, with league rules the way they are, it would have maybe put us back three weeks. And, you know, honestly, to get the right head coach, I was just not willing to go to the back of the line and take a chance of missing out on someone we really wanted. Well, so she could be at the front of the line and take a chance of missing out on someone we we really wanted well so she could be at the front of the line here yeah right with bill belichick now the thought of

not wanting to deal with a trade situation which is very standard in nfl practices and will be in the future of her existence of being an owner of a team and having to take place what if they or what if like car with Tepper? You know, like I feel like everybody's kind of linking them to the Chargers. Chargers have a chance to go. Maybe the Cowboys, a big Mike can't win, which is crazy. He's been 12-5 the last three seasons. But some of these owners feel desperate, don't they?

And this would be an immediate legitimacy move if they made it, AJ. Absolutely. What do you mean? I think every owner is desperate. I mean, listen to Jerry Jones talk about winning another Super Bowl and how bad he wants that. I think every owner, they're all super competitive as well. There's a reason they're billionaires.

I mean, some of them inherited the money, but they've kept it going, and they're still running the team or whatever. But you want to win. Everybody wants to win, and I think the owner, the top dog, wants to win probably at all costs. So who knows? Yeah, it would be very tough to go back now and try to fire your staff after the whole thing has already kind of happened but I don't it would not shock me if it did happen someone no salary cap for coaches yeah none whatever you know hey this ain't on you but such and such just happened

to come up and also your, we'll pay it. Yeah, we get it. If you're making $12 a year or whatever, sweet. We're giving this guy $35 million a year. He's our GM and our head coach. Sorry, Pat. As many guys are getting interviewed these days, why wouldn't you, just as an...

You don't call... Put a line in the world and just bring in a Belichick, bring in Pete Carroll if they want to talk to you and just do some fishing around. Just to pick their, you know. They do that though. That's an interesting thing. Like we'll build Belichick. No, that was my next point.

Like he's going to have a checklist. Okay. I'm going to talk to A, B and C or A and B. How about congratulations? Yeah. Yeah. You have been selected as a team that I will interview with. I will see you at this time, at this place.

Nantucket needs you to come to the house. Need a good presentation like KD whenever he's available. I mean, what a time for him. Now, that's not the only coaching vacancy where obviously there's massive chatter. The Saban retirement out of nowhere seemingly became a hot

topic in conversation of the college football world immediately. Names were being tossed out. Who's next? Who's next? Who's next? Well, this guy was the name. They were tracking his plane. What?

They were watching his movements. What? They were checking his team's schedule. What? This dude was the head coach of Alabama before anybody even asked him. Ladies and gentlemen, the head coach at Oregon, Dan Lanning. Yeah, Dan. How are you, coach?

What's up, Pat? Doing good. How are you guys doing? Hey, fantastic. You crushed it this weekend. I think you've got to go to your left. Your left. No.

Yep. The other one. Oh, yeah. It's delayed. There we go. I got you. Is that your right or your left, though, just so I know for future reference? It's my left.

You did it right. You did it right. Come on. I feel pretty good about that, Coach. I think you did it right, too. We just watched the video that you released on your Twitter. X account. I said X there first.

I didn't even say Twitter. That was phenomenal. But anyways, you walk into the team meeting, and you talk about commitments and goals and loyalty. You say there's a lot of starters, there's not a lot of finishers. And then the next thing was, if you're worried about your coach leaving, come to us. And you basically said, I'm staying at Oregon. We literally had this conversation at the game day desk this past weekend,

and I think Herbie brought it up. Herbie was like, hey, they're saying whenever Saban goes, you're the next guy, you're the next guy. You went, we were in the middle of a 35 second commercial break. You went into an immediate pitch of why you're not leaving Oregon. Like why you love Oregon, why Oregon is a place that you can accomplish absolutely everything and your family loves Oregon. I assume that went into this whole decision-making process and the decision was made before you were even offered the job. And why do you think everybody automatically put you in there, Coach?

Well, I think, you know, getting your name put in the conversation speaks to what we're doing right here right now. But, yeah, this decision has been made for me since I took this job. You know, I love what we have here. I love the support, the administration I have. I mean, we've got the things built to where we can be that team. And we just got to continue to take, you know, steps in that direction to get where we want to be. Go ahead, AJ.

So I guess with all this stuff going on, when people say they're tracking your play and they say you started team meetings late and all that, how much do you pay attention to all that? And like, we know this is going to happen every year with you. And it's a great compliment, I think, to great coaches that they're we know this is going to happen every year with you. And it's a great compliment, I think, to great coaches that they're going to get, obviously, offered other places. How do you kind of quiet that down?

And how do you deal with it, especially with recruiting? It was a distraction last night. My 13-year-old son came. We just started watching the Jason Bourne movie. And my phone's blowing up. And it's like, Dad, it says you're in tuscaloosa right now it's like we're watching jason bourne focus on the movie put your phone on do not disturb so it interrupted what we were we were in on last night but uh yeah we got great players that we're looking to sign

all that became a distraction for sure young players on our team reaching out and they know where i'm at 10 toes down okay so 10 toes down in Oregon. How come? You got a chance to explain a little bit at the game day set, but like what are the things that you have to see for you to be like, yeah, this is my spot? Because a lot of coaches, especially with Alabama, with the facilities and the resources and the history, tradition, SEC, warm weather. Right.

Warm weather, you know, Oregon up there is, you know. Yeah. It's way up far away. It's beautiful. Yeah, you're right. It is beautiful. It. You know, Oregon up there is, you know. Yeah. It's way up far away. It's beautiful. Yeah, you're right. It is beautiful. It was beautiful when I was up there, but it's far away from where a lot of recruits are and everything.

How come Oregon is a place that you can't get pulled away from? Why is that? When I think of Oregon, I think of innovation. And we all know that college football is changing like crazy right now. And we're ahead of the curve. You know, we've got a plan. We've got great support. If there's something I need, I can go ask for it. And, you know, a lot of things that a lot of coaches are driven by, that's not really my motivation. It's one thing. Can we win? Can we win at a high level? Can we compete for

championships? And that ability exists here. You know, I think we have a program to be the best in the nation as long as I keep this thing on track. Coach Saban talked about how he was going to hire you as defense coordinator for Alabama, but Kirby had gotten ahold of you either a day or two days before he was going to make the official offer. You coached under Saban. Now that he's retired, what do you think about whenever you think about Nick Saban? The GOAT, man. I actually, like on my phone, I have a voicemail saved of the very first time Nick ever called me. It pops up on your phone, you know, unknown caller, you know, no caller ID. So I didn't answer. It was the greatest thing I ever did because now I have a

voice message on my phone for the rest of my life. When I was a DB coach at Sam Houston State, you know, that popped up. So I have that saved. It's something I still cherish, you know, working for Nick. That was the most influential career, you know, year of my career. I got to work with Nick, Kirby, Lane, Mario, Mel Tucker, Billy Napier. I mean, it was an all-star staff of people that I got to be associated with. I felt like I got my doctorate in college football that year. Okay. Coach Pagano has a question for you, coach. Hey coach. Good to see you. Congratulations on all your success there. I'm really glad to see that you're staying, just going through the recruiting process and talking to the families and all that stuff. I

can't imagine how difficult that would be standing up in front of them and saying, Hey, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. And then all of a sudden you're out, you're out the door. But if the NFL, and then all of a sudden you're out the door. But if the NFL, there's eight jobs open right now. If the NFL were to come calling, is that something that may not happen this year, but looking down the road, is that something that you've got in the back of your mind? 10, 15 years. Yeah, you know, I used to dream of coaching in the NFL.

I'm from Kansas City. I grew up a big Kansas City Chiefs fan. But I'll tell you this, there's nobody else in the nation that I want to coach the Chiefs other than Andy Reid. So he's got to keep going. That guy solves problems. I'm cheering for Andy every week. Pat Mahomes, Travis Kelsey. I mean, the Chiefs got to keep winning.

But I love where I'm at. I think that's really clear. This is where I want to be. What did you play? You played D5 football out of high school. What did you play? NAIA. NAIA. Some of you don't even know what that means, but it just means I love football.

That's what it means. This guy's washing his own pads, washing his own clothes, just wants to play football, continue to play football, and that passion radiates through you whenever you speak to your team and to us in the media. We love what you have built in Oregon. Ty has a question for you about the future. Yeah, Coach, when everyone used to talk about college football, it was always the SEC kind of being head and shoulders above everyone else.

But Michigan obviously just wins the national championship, and then all the top-end teams from the Pac-12 are now coming to the Big Ten. Was that also a big part of the decision, that you're going to play in one of, if not the best conferences in all of college football. And just like a side note to that, uh, I am an Iowa alum.

So I'm just curious, like, are you already losing sleep over the thought of having to come play in the winter or how does that go? Yeah, no, absolutely. All of those things,

uh, just get me more excited about what we're doing here. You know, this place has direction, a sense of direction. We're drawing one of the best, if not the best, conference in college football, like you said. And watching that game the other night, it lets you know what you're about to be playing against. So when I was a G.A. at Pitt, we went and played at Iowa. And I love that experience. I mean, it's just a special place. You know, we ended up losing that game in the fourth quarter when I was at Pitt. But I remember like, hey, that's their NFL team. It was really, you know, impressive the support they have there.

Okay. Future is bright, not only for Oregon, but for the Big Ten and obviously for Dan Lanning. We appreciate you, man. What's next for you? What's the football schedule? What do we got next? We're on the recruiting board this afternoon, 2025.

So here we come. Who are we getting? Who are we getting? What do we need? What do we got? we're on the recruiting board this afternoon 2025 so here we come who we getting who we get what do we what do we need what do we got where are we going because con actually has a question for you yeah coach one of the things throughout throughout the offseason for you guys at least so far has been dante moore and dylan gabriel both coming to town a lot of people are surprised by that what was the decision behind that just because the fact that you know like hey this isn't just a one-year thing you need to look a few years ahead you know competition is a secret and uh those are guys that want to come compete want to be you know the best version of themselves and they know they can do it here i think they've they see what i see in this place and we want to go get great players and one

thing we tell our players when they come like the minute you get here we're going to try to bring better and continue to bring better and that's how you get the best out of yourself. We want competitors. Those guys are both great competitors, great quarterbacks. We're going to have a bunch of them on this team that can make us great. Okay. Well, good luck moving forward. Good luck on the recruiting trail. You love it, seemingly, which is what you have

to do, I guess, to be a great college football coach. To have your name... Recruit or die, man. Okay. Respect. Go ahead. Good luck out there, ladies and gentlemen. Head coach of the Oregon Ducks. Damn it. Yeah, coach. All right.

His name, he was the Alabama Crimson Tide head football coach. Oh, yeah. He delivered. It was like decided. Done. And then it's been very cool to get to know some of these guys, you know. So I got a message from him late night, and I've been putting my phone down a lot lately sure mark sure i like stay away from this thing you know this phone's telling me a lot of things that weren't good about me so if i just don't open it

stupid phone never says it doesn't exist it's not easy whenever you have to run a show though with a lot of stuff happening you know you have to kind of keep up with it all. But I got a message from him last night that I didn't see until this morning. It was like, hey, for your show, I'm not going to Bama. Okay? Just can you tell somebody? Like, pretty much that was like how his messaging was. And then I started thinking about what his life had to be because recruiting, this is all you need is just one little.

Legit. And then all of a sudden, oh, is that right? Okay, I'm going here. And that player goes on to be three-time All-American, greatest player of all time. That's the difference between winning a Big Ten championship and potentially competing in the playoff, too, not having a job anymore there.

That's why that college football lifestyle is one that Nick Saban talked about. The way we've set up our college schedule is not the best lifestyle. NFL has a better lifestyle now than what we have. It's all year round, and one little distraction can affect the next 10, 15 years. He said recruit or die at the end there, and I wanted to be like, so how many Alabama players have you called today?

Well, Shador Sanders has already put out a bird call. It's like, hey, Alabama guys, go ahead and tap in. I think they have a 30-day period where they're allowed to transfer if your coach retires. So we're going to see. I mean, I don't know. That's why Saban's in the building today. Yeah, exactly.

How many guys are just going to be, hey, at least he's still here. Saban's in the building today, hopefully trying to keep his own guys recruited. I assume they're going to hire from. Probably should. What did you. How about that whole staff? I don't know.

I assume they all get jobs because they worked at Alabama, but I don't know what they do going forward. You know, AJ, what are you about to say? I mean, they get, yeah, they get jobs, but yeah. I wonder if they don't know what they do going forward. AJ, what are you about to say? They get jobs, but yeah. It sounds like they didn't know. Didn't they say Saban was on the phone an hour before he told the coaches that he was retiring, recruiting or talking to somebody?

I like the thought of Saban and Wink Martindale down on a beach in Florida just being like, this is a lot better than any of that. Loving this. Any of that. What are you going to do?

Yeah, I'm just going to tell him it's all good, and I'm just going to say I don't want to work anymore. Okay, and then what are you going to do? I'm going to retire. All right. All right. Handshake. Hop on the blades.

Saban retires, you know, because he was in Florida. We saw him whenever we talked to him. He was down in Florida. That is obviously a time of reflection after the season ends, him and Miss Terry having a time down there just chit-chatting about, like, what do the next 12 months look like? Do we want to reinvest everything? Because he did this year, right?

People are saying greatest coaching job that he's had, the development in which that team showcased throughout the year after the early loss, the resilience, the toughness, all the way to make it to losing to the national champions obviously the michigan wolverines congrats to them are great football it's great yeah jim harbaugh still up in here i don't know what's going to happen there but for saban i assume that's what he did right like for you whenever you knew it was probably over and done what was it you just examined what life is going to be like if you wanted to sign up for this again is that what took place yeah and it was a after covet you know so that took the wind out of everybody's sails just took the fun out of you know but now let's say if you're saving

you're thinking ahead to the net what you're signing up for if you go back to coach them and then you're just thinking yourself life could be much better than what i'm sure he's got it well planned out he's been very organized for a long long time and is. I'm sure he's got it well planned out. He's been very organized for a long, long time and detailed. So I'm sure he's – Chuck, wasn't it tough though? Chuck, I'm sorry to cut you off, but players – they talk about players transitioning. I would imagine if you coached for this many years,

transitioning to the real world has to be difficult no matter what your age. It's so freaking – because you've been a part of a team for your whole life. And when you don't have that team, like you've given that back to me, being part of your team. And I'm very, very grateful for that. But when I was done, AJ, to your... Hey, me too, Chuck. Team on three.

One, two, three. Team. Yeah, so that was... And I drove my wife crazy. You got to have a plan. You got to have something to do. You got to have your next life's work. And that's why, I's why this was a lifeline

for me. I can't imagine because those guys are football lifers, so there's no way. Pete, Saban, Belichick. I don't think Pete had any idea. You can't feel more than he's done. Bill was still in football. For sure. Saban, though, you would assume he has something

is what you're saying that there had to be something that is going to pique his interest pique his um intellect too like he's going to have to feel challenged like you can't just go to a point where it's like he's very oh I'm just moping around accomplishing nothing either like that he can go on a speaking circuit like I mean he's already done it they'll be lined up for miles to get him to come in and talk to their organization. They're building about leadership, team building, all that kind of stuff. He can do that. But don't you think there's got to be some type of succession plan to where, like, he made that decision. He obviously loves and cares about all those players and all those coaches, right? So there's

got to be some kind of plan in place to where the majority of that thing, if not everybody's going to be able to stay. You would hope. But in the modern college football, I mean, shit is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. That is college football right now. That's how you spell banana.

He's going to be the number one car salesman at one of his dealerships next year. You think he's going to be moving some Ferraris? Yeah, nine to five. How many of those are you selling? And aren't those selling themselves? Because people are looking to buy Ferraris or just finding places that have them. Yeah.

And buying. That seems like the smartest car dealership to own, actually. By far. Because you're not competing. If you're looking to buy a Ferrari, I'm going to buy a Ferrari or a Lamborghini today. Okay, sell me. You don't really have to, right?

No. It's just normally humans who have an absurd amount of cash or need to get rid of an absurd amount of cash buying those things they're searching for it that might be the perfect place to be a car salesman but you're right because if someone walks in you're selling a car it's not like you're upselling someone from like a tourist to sure you don't want to buy a lambo or ferrari instead it's not working like that i got massive respect for the car salesman i got a chance to experience that one summer with the Deal family from Deal Automotive. Them living and dying with every car that comes in.

Oh, yeah. They do it a lot. Everybody's like, oh, these car salesmen, they're slimy, they're dirty, they're trying to rip us off. It's like, I don't know if they're trying to rip you off, but I do know they are certainly trying to make a sale. They are living and dying with all of that. The fact that he has that business, I'm assuming he has other investments.

His resume is where it's at. Probably got pretty easy for him and Miss Terry to come to a conclusion of like, all right, let's move on. A lot of people have been calling for this all year. For sure. As soon as he decided to come on our show, I think it was like week two, it's even done. He ain't doing this.

I never thought it. I never thought it. You know, I told you now, coach is coach, man. I didn't think it was like week two. It's even done. He ain't doing this. I never thought it. I never thought it. You know, I told you now, coach is coach, man. I didn't think it was going to happen. And then every week when he sat there like this, you know, and he had like the game plan. Oh, yeah. Tennessee.

This big, this thick over here. It's like that guy is still – and before we go live, every once in a while we'd see him walking about his office or whatever. It was always like on task. There was always something. He was standing up. As we were finishing the interview, he was always standing up because he knows he's getting to his next thing.

I got something to do. Thank you. All right. I put this over to here, obviously. Now I got to do this. We got a game plan for this. What happens if we get into a fourth and 31? Well, got to have Gravedigger.

Let's draw that one up. It's like it never ends, dude. It never ends for those types of dudes. That's why we're lucky 36-year coach Chuck McGowan's in a building on this day. Hell yeah, Chuck. On this day. And as we wrap up here on ESPN, with

a few moments left, obviously, we can't say enough about how honored we are to be live when this is happening. Crazy. Like the Belichick-Kraft press conference is one that we are to be live when this is happening. Crazy. Like the Belichick Craft press conference is one that's going to be, you know, that's going to be shown. Forever.

That's going to be in documentaries and dynasties. It's going to be shown probably NFL Hall of Fame somewhere. It's going to be remembered. And then shortly thereafter, it was us and Conman representing pretty much New Englandland patriots fans today was a cool day even though kind of sucked for the history of football for sure that a lot of change was kind of made but today was a very cool day yeah it is cool and like it is nice going back through the bill era and even the people who are calling for him to be fired i think even those people

are going back through it like damn we really did have it made in the shade. I love what Bill said, hearing him talk candidly. I don't think I've ever seen Bill get emotional about anything, let alone the fans. Stuff like that is really cool. It is still exciting as a Patriots fan. It's a new chapter

in the book, but it has been one of those days that I'll always remember. One, for waking up and seeing that Bill Belichick is fired, but also the part of it that, you know, it was a hell of a run, and it was great to live through it, and reminiscing on it will be fun forever. AJ, Pete Carroll, we only have two minutes. If we were just to call Bobby Wagner right now, it would be rude. But the third hour, pretty packed.

He said he's watching. Let me... Pete wants a job, it sounds like. Yeah, certainly. Let's call Bob. Go to college. Give him a college gig. He's got the juice. Call Bob.

Hey, we're live. We're live. We're live. We're live. What up? What up? What up? We're live.

Is that all right? Yeah, yeah. We're good. Okay, so we only got like two minutes, too, but we wanted to get your words because you were called out by him numerous times in the press conference. Why did you and Pete Carroll get along so much, and what did he mean to basically your career up there in Seattle, Bobby? What up, fellas?

Hey, Bobby. I'm glad to be on the show. Nah, Pete, when I left from college to come to the NFL, all I heard was how serious the game was, how, you know, not fun the game was. And so when I got there and I was playing with Pete and he starts to meeting off shooting basketballs and and all that stuff, I'm like, man, there's no way this is the real NFL. shooting basketballs and all that stuff. I'm like, man, there's no way this is the real NFL. And his culture and what he meant to everybody and how much he cared about his players. I mean, I'm pretty sure I saw it in a press conference.

He really cares about the players and their well-being far beyond football. And I think that was what everybody loved about him. Well, Bobby, we appreciate the hell out of you, pal. Let's have you on next week. Stay lit. I'm on. My man, appreciate you, Bobby, we appreciate the hell out of you, pal. Let's have you on next week. Appreciate you. Stay lit. I'm on. My man.

Appreciate you, Bobby. See you. Okay, so everything we thought about Pete Carroll and his relationship with his players was just legitimized by a man that played there for a long time in Bobby Wagner. Incredible success out there, Pete. And then you think about Saban. Saban won seven national championships,

but most by any coach in the april ap poll debuted in 1936 alabama won at least 10 games in each of saban's final 16 seasons the longest streak by any program in the ap poll era saban has had 49 players drafted in the first round while 44 of them at alabama in 17 seasons at alabama nick won six national titles and only lost five games by 14 points or more. And 13 of the last 15 national title winners were either Alabama or a team that beat Alabama. He's a man. He's a pretty dominant performance by those three men. Hell yeah.

We appreciate your contributions. Excited to see what happens next. We will transition to ESPN Plus and YouTube, while SportsCenter continues to cover a massive day in the history of the biggest league on earth. AJ, today was sweet. Today was awesome. Today is historic. Historic, bittersweet day, though, at the same time. It is. But every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

True. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye. Nice. Goodbye. Nice. That one was I was talked. That was division one. That was a division one out right there. That one felt pretty solid. It was perfect.

I'm happy to hear that with the clock and the sign. I obviously had that prepared since the show began. Should we watch that? That's how I was going to sign off with this entire thing. I had that prepared. Right here. I wrote it all down. Make sure you I was going to sign off with this entire thing. I had to prepare. Oh, yeah. Right here, wrote it all down. Make sure you hit this right at the end of this entire thing. Senior NFL insiders are having a field day, I would assume, during this week.

Joining us now is a man who used to be an insider in the New England area. Now he's a daily show host. Wow. Ladies and gentlemen, Ian Rappaport. Hey, what's up? Oh my. What's up guys? Look at it. How's it been being a daily show host? You crushing it over there? We are crushing it it's something you know i always respected what you guys did having to bring it every single day for three hours um and we have to bring it for a little less time and a little we were you know i see you wear sleeves now we all wear sleeves and not nice stuff but like like semi-nice. It's tough, man. It is challenging out there. I respect

what you guys do even more than I did when I used to appear on this show on a regular basis. Yeah, well, we always hold you near and dear in our hearts and my dad was a truck driver, my uncle a firefighter. I don't think anybody's ever gonna feel any empathy for having to talk to a microphone every single day,

but I do agree and I do appreciate this sentiment and i've heard you guys have been slaughtered oh yeah keep it going we absolutely love it i can confirm okay we appreciate you aren't i the source of that yes bingo you were the one that leaked that you guys are doing great which is not a bad little play not a bad little play and then that gets aggregated reworded game of telephone happens and boom, it gets to us now. And every time we hear about you, it's always good. How's the family?

How's the family? Family good? How's the family? Family's good. They're doing great. You know, they're still in school. We haven't sent them away. They're in the house almost every day.

I didn't know if there was, like winter wonderland for like three, four months. It's gotta be something. Well, you know, I'm kicking them out of the house tomorrow to go skiing while I sit here and, you know, do the hard manual labor that I'm doing for a living.

So they're going to go for your family. My wife is going to, I'm kicking her out also. Jeez. But they're going to go, they're going to go play and I'm going to stay here and work, which is challenging. But I'll tell you this,

they miss you guys. They saw you guys when they were in the airport in Atlanta, took a picture and was like, there's Pat and I'm going to stay here and work, which is challenging. But I'll tell you this. They miss you guys. They saw you guys when they were in the airport in Atlanta, took a picture and was like, there's Pat. I'm like, yep. Not AJ, though. Well, tell them a lot of AJ stuff this week. Tell them we miss them. Tell everybody we say hello. Hey, Rap Sheets.

Will do. Hey, Rap Sheets. Now, you're working this week, but that is not the norm for the Rap Sheet family. We have to remind people if there's anything to be done that is manual labor, it is most certainly Leah, who is Ian's wife that is taking care of everything. We have followed along closely with this thing. We have been embarrassed for Ian numerous times, but that's just how they operate. And when they go to Harry Potter World or whatever, Ian leads the way there.

He does. He's a hero. When they go to Legoland, Ian's crushing it. Absolutely. But if they need anything done at the house, Lee is handling it. Right. Worried if it snows these next couple days. All right, let's talk about your job, your hard manual labor that you do for that family

so that they can go to nine-month getaway trips in the woods, in the cabins. You cannot wait for that. Yeah. It seems like you have a countdown, you and your wife probably. You did a lot of time in New England, obviously, before you became NFL Network's senior NFL insider. What do you think about today? How long do you think this has been brewing? And how many people knew that this was going to take place on the day that it took place?

Because it seemingly came out of nowhere this morning. I think a couple people knew. Like inside, well, I'll start with the last part first. Inside the building, they were kind of starting preparations. Like we heard about this, let's say yesterday afternoon, that like something was going on today, and they were probably going to have a press conference or something, and then it's like, what is it?

If he's staying, they're not going to have a press conference. So then he's obviously leaving, which I kind of felt. I felt on Monday after the Belichick-Kraft discussions that Belichick's thought was basically like, I can't get there. We can't get to a point where this makes sense that we're both going to run it back. Well, some of the half measures that were being discussed, like, you know, and even I tried to convince myself of this over the last couple weeks, like none of that in reality made sense. A clean break probably made the most sense. So you could sort of feel this building. And then I think by last night, it was obvious everyone was moving on. Then it was just this morning making sure like that today was going to be the day. And I felt weirdly

sentimental like i spent three years there connor cried connor got to your well connor cried no been there sorry you know bill did too when he's talking to the fans yeah yes he did i actually so the fans cried and Bill cried. And like, you know, it's amazing. So one of the weird things that happens when you are a daily beat writer of a coach is not only do you start kind of like talking like them. Like when I covered Alabama, you start saying like I like Nick Saban. And you start explaining things like Bill Belichick when you cover him on a daily basis. And like these guys take over your lives, right? And we do football as much as we do.

Bill Belichick has had a major part of my life, like major. And so I knew this was going to come at some point, kind of thought it might be this year. But it is surreal. I think they did the right thing i thought that moment of those two guys standing at the podium was you know i didn't you never know how something with bill belichick is going to end things these things do not always end great that ended perfectly i thought well it was a celebration they both told us that go ahead aj uh ian so uh do you have any any insight on who the patriots may hire to be the head coach

and also where Bill could go? And second part of that, do you take anything from Kraft giving Belichick two one-arm hugs and Bill never extended an arm, really? He just kind of took the hug. It was like one quarter of a hug. A full hug is too long. He doesn't know how to. No, he knows how to.

But first of all, Belichick, he has a cold. So I think he didn't want to spread the cold. Kraft did mention that. So I thought that was one of the final moments as a Patriots coach. One of the nicer things you could do is like someone hugs you and you're like, whoa, whoa, I have a cold. You don't want this. You don't want this.

Right. What I got, you don't want. I actually looked at the body language of the hug. what i didn't see was a pullback like belichick okay he didn't go in but he didn't pull out either it was more like oh you want the hug i'm here for the no no no what are you guys saying yeah you you said said it. You say, then, boy, just left that thing in there and said, let's roll the dice. They both answered. That's what you said. Neutral.

Neutral. So, yeah. So I did notice the hug. So the other thing, where do the Patriots go from here? They have a really, really good in-house candidate in Gerard Mayo. And, look, this year was weird in the building for the Patriots. I just, you know, it's never perfect. And I think it kind of was odd having the heir apparent literally there in the building while Belichick is also there knowing that his

clock is ticking and there's Mayo kind of like poised to take over. You know, to me, having Mayo there and having Mayo take over makes a lot of sense he knows the program he played for Bill he coached for Bill he is extremely smart players like him needs to find a quarterback and fix the offensive side of the ball but the defense was balling that may now Vrabel makes sense too but like I've always thought that the crafts viewed Mayo as the next guy so to me like they'll you know they'll do a thing but like that makes sense as far as where bill lands is harder to me because like if he wants personnel control which as craft said he has earned then it's like most of the places have a gm

i don't i would be surprised if he was with the chargers the panthers make some sense. They don't have a GM. And I know Tepper looked into Belichick last year. That makes Atlanta potentially too, but I think those places would be kind of one that wants to watch. Okay, on that particular front, Connor has a question for you. Yeah, obviously those are teams without head coaches and some of them without

GMs. Are there any teams now, though, that maybe re-evaluate who they have currently? Anybody who had maybe a down year or a year that kind of dropped off after having success last year, a la the Giants, who they were also looking into Bill allegedly in the past. Will those teams kind of think about, like, hey, if we can get Pete Carroll or obviously Bill Belichick or even one of these other guys other guys Vrabel if you will will those teams reevaluate too and then we might see a little more movement from elsewhere

yeah the well first of all the Pete Carroll thing was interesting because he you know sort of gets moved aside or moved upstairs or whatever and then says he really wants to coach and I'm like you do like I don't I mean I don't look think he's awesome. So that would be okay if he wanted to, but he's also under contract. So like, now that's a team that could theoretically trade for a coach if somebody wanted. But so I looked at the kind of landscape today, I took a little look and I thought in my brain of like, who would fire their coach for Belichick? And I haven't really found anyone just yet. And some of the places that I was wondering, like,

would they make a move? The bears, the saints, they all seem to be moving forward and sticking, you know, now could there be a team in the playoffs? Could there be a team that, you know,

would be widely discussed as a potential spot for Belichick who has in the past had some tough playoff performances and a coach that no matter how good he does, he's always perpetually under fire. Could they move on if Belichick is sitting there? Potentially. Okay, so there's a lot of potential, potential, potential. Tone has a question for you.

Yeah, you kind of, we know you were talking about the Cowboys there, Ian. Is there any, well, kind of, is there, don't forget – we know you were talking about the Cowboys there, Ian. Is there any – well, kind of. Is there – don't forget, we know you. Is there any – 12-5 last three years. 12-5. Pretty damn good. Is there any other – let's just keep the Cowboys out of it.

Is there any other playoff teams that if they have a bad showing that their coach could potentially be a change there? I don't see one. Now, this is always bad because you say this and then someone goes out and does something crazy. I would be surprised if any of the playoff teams end up moving on for their coach. Now, the playoff situations can change things.

I remember last year, Chargers were riding high. They go down, lose a huge lead to the Jaguars, and I'm waking up the next morning going like, are the Chargers going to make a change? And I think they did consider it, ended up sticking, and probably should have moved on. But maybe the games will dictate if something horrific happens, and that all tends to get magnified.

But I don't see right now one of those places. Ty, I have a question for you. Yeah, Rapshie, you mentioned Seattle and the stuff with Pete Carroll. I think we all kind of felt the same. but I don't see right now one of those places. Ty has a question for you, right? Yeah. Rap sheet. You mentioned Seattle and the stuff with Pete Carroll. I think we all kind of felt the same. Seems like he definitely still wants to coach. So that whole situation is weird,

but then they were talking about Dan Quinn being a likely replacement in Seattle. How likely is that to happen? And also does that make Jerry's decision to get a guy like bill potentially easier? If Dan Quinn leaves, does he go ahead and just, you know, barring whatever the Cowboys do in the playoffs,

fire McCarthy and then let Bill bring his own staff in? Well, I think, first of all, the relationship between Jerry Jones and Bill Belichick is a really good one. Right? So this would not be like if, you know, I'm not saying anything's going to happen because I really do think McCarthy stays, but if something does happen there's a long history there with with Belichick and Jerry Jones as far as the Dan Quinn thing you know when he I'm not going to say when he

removed himself from consideration last year I don't want to get into what we just talked about when he physically removed himself from being a coach candidate last year, my thought was always he's waiting for Seattle. Now, he's going to have options this year. He is a really strong candidate in a year where I think there's some good coaches out there, but maybe the resumes aren't what they've always been. There'll be some teams taking a little bit of a risk. Dan Quinn is not a risk.

He's been to the Super Bowl. He's a really good coach. I think Seattle, you know, I think there's some mutual interest, and that would make sense. That's always seemed like the logical thing. And culture is so important there. You wouldn't have to teach anything. Like, he gets it.

He knows it. He lived it. I think that one, you know, some dots connect him, but that one would work for me. Feels like a perfect handoff. The Pete Carroll situation is alarming, though. I don't think any of us knew that he was potentially going to get... Yeah.

I mean, like, if you would ask me earlier that day, I would have said, look, it's kind of weird there, and obviously it's up to Jody Allen, but I think he stays because, like, I thought all those conversations... You wouldn't have said that. No way. You wouldn't have said that. No way. You would have. What was weird there? What was weird throughout the season?

Well, no. So I would say the last two weeks of the season when I tried to get answers on whether or not Pete was staying, the answers didn't come because it was always like, well, it depends on what Jody Allen thinks. And, you know, some of the owners I do know, her I do not. And to get inside the mind of the one person who's making the decision is what makes this time of year so hard. So I thought it was going to be okay. But I was always like, maybe the rebuild hasn't come fast enough. And maybe she thinks the team underachieved, which obviously is what she thought.

Now, I don't think they did underachieve. I thought they were regular. But that's why these decisions are so challenging because it's literally one person going, this just wasn't good enough. Yeah, Robert Kraft said in his press conference that he's hoping to find a person that will get him back to the playoffs and sustain success.

Obviously, that's what he's looking for. So the failures is why this started happening. And remember, Robert Kraft was telling everybody, even on the sideline of the Germany game whenever he was interviewed, like, I've never experienced this before. I've never experienced this before as an owner. It was those types of things that I think piqued all of our interest. Like, maybe this is the end.

Now that we're officially here, it's obviously weird. There's a couple other places, though, that names keep popping up a little bit. Yeah, Ravshi, what's the deal with the smoke in Philly? There's been a couple different reports where it's like Nick Sirianni, keep an eye, he might not be that safe. And obviously now there's words about Jalen Hurts not being able to throw a football all week, so that doesn't bode well for them in the playoffs. And then why hasn't Antonio Pierce been hired by the Raiders yet?

That felt like the easiest layup of all time this offseason. Second question first, they have not completed their DI requirements and they have not completed the interview process. Now, they could theoretically do it, right? If they interview two people of color who are not currently employed by NFL teams in person, they could theoretically hire Antonio Pierce. They have done, I think they've done one, either had done one or are doing one, and they would need another to fulfill that. I don't know that that is

shut and done yet. I do believe he's got a strong chance to get the job. And like, if he doesn't, I don't know what else, Honestly, I don't know what else you need to do. But I would say that's, you know, that's probably a good question. As far as Sirianni, I get Philly. I'm not from Philly, but I do have some kindred spirits there in Philly. My good buddy Mike Garofalo is a Philly guy, and sometimes he'll call me up and just yell. And I'm like, oh, that's what Philly's like a little bit. So I get the angst.

He has won 11 games. He literally went to Super Bowl last year. He is not going anywhere. And the thought that he did, that he could, is so wild to me. I know some teams have moved on from coaches that won like 14 games and all those teams end up regretting it.

You have a good coach who's capable of winning consistently. Don't let that guy go, and I don't think Philly will. You've got to figure out the coordinator situation quick, though. That's going to have to be something that's going to be tasked with going forward. Yeah, I would say at least defense. We'll see about offense as well. Yeah, maybe another year in the system will make it work. Jalen, though, the knee, the ankle, now the finger.

He's had a much different year this year than last year. Football gods haven't been as nice to him this year as they were last year. That'll all get back to normal. Sure. Big Dom DeCastro will be back on the sideline. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's big.

Yeah. Yeah. What's their record without him? Not good. Not good. One in five? Not good. And honestly.

Forget about the coordinator change. Maybe it's a Dom situation. Yeah. Yeah. I know you haven't been on the program in a while. That is obviously what we've been pushing. As you could probably guess, that is our entire angle in this entire thing. As it should be.

Yeah. Bingo. Yeah. And there's a chance, you know, and this was kind of something floated in this particular world. We're not allowed to float anything, but we will float this. A Michigan man who won a national championship said, what if Dom DeCastro had some corner stallions in him?

What if Dom DeCastro on the sideline is a security guy, but also cover three? Smart guy. Makes sense. What if he's been a weapon on the sideline? Dare Ernie Adams. He's just been hidden under the, look at this big Italian. He's a security doofus.

That's what they say. But on a sideline, no, no. Maestro. It's covered too. Can he do his thing from like a box or something, whatever his thing is? No, no. Boots, 10 toes down. Yeah, presence.

10 toes down, that's right. Boots on the ground. Needs to have. You think he's up in a booth with us? No way. That's big dog. Go ahead the ground. Needs to have it. You think he's up in a booth with us? No way. That's Big Dom. Go ahead, AJ. What about Jim Harbaugh?

Does he have any interviews set up? It seemed like it was a no-brainer. He was coming to the NFL, and now there's a ton of guys out there that want jobs in the NFL, some legends. Where does Harbaugh kind of fall in? He'd be another one. So the national championship run is kind of a whirlwind. It seems like he's just kind of

like decompressing from that now the weird thing about the cycle and for those of us who you know do this on a daily basis it is a grind and tiring not quite like driving a truck or a real job or manual labor but it is a little bit or the military obviously or a thousand other things. Construction. Teaching. Brick laying. Bud. Landscape. Making pizzas. Smoking meats. Smoking meats. Yeah. Barbecue.

Porn. We did some meats this past week. That is hard work. Yeah, you're right. Anyway, hardball. Hardball. A lot of these hires are going to happen in a couple weeks. You can't even interview a person employed by an NFL team in person until the 22nd.

So there's no rush. But looking around for hardball, and I'm not saying, like, I think there is a real chance that he gets a job. I just haven't found it yet. And I think that's one of the hard things is, like, we all know what a good coach is. And if he is in the NFL, I do think he would win. He is really really talented and awkward and uncomfortable and very talented whoa um i just don't know where like i know people talk about the raiders i haven't sensed that i haven't you know the chargers i

think could be interested that would be potentially one i haven't seen any other places so like yes i think it would make sense i just don't know where it would be. After getting to talk to him personally in a big time journalism, sit down. Oh, I saw that was good. Thank you. How you're so busy.

Yeah. Well, I actually had a rapid board evening the night before, you know? Yes. Oh yeah. Colts Texans game. Then we had to fly to Houston.

We did some more rapid boarding. Yep. Then we got to the lobby, ran into Stanford, Steve and a few others. Did some more to fly to Houston. We did some more rap reporting. Then we got to the lobby, ran into Stanford Steve and a few others. Did some more rap reporting. And then went to bed for 30-45 minutes or so. Missed Gumpy

in the lobby. And then headed... What? Gumpy ditched him. That did not happen. We're not doing that. When you roll in there, are they looking at you like? No, because I didn't get like.

I was just up. I wasn't like. I would have like one beer for like an hour. It wasn't like. I tried that. I wasn't really rapaporting, I guess. Yeah. One fourth rapaport.

Yeah, it was like. Maybe one sixth. You know how they have have the lawnmowers? There's the rabbit, and then there's the turtle. So that's a Rappaport lawnmower. I was on turtle. The thing about Rappaport is he's always on the rabbit. He's breaking that thing going past

the... Always. He's actually lifting up the side thing so he can go faster because whenever it bounces. And there's another hard job. Yeah, for know. Yeah. So anyway, when you walk in, they weren't like. No, no, no. You kind of played it off.

Well, I took a good shower. You know what I mean? I took a good shower. Was it uncomfortable? No. It's only uncomfortable if you make it uncomfortable. You know what I mean? It's only awkward if you make it awkward. It's only awkward if you make it awkward.

That's my first time being in one of those really nice rooms. The good news was Reese Davis kind of set the tone. Reese Davis talked to him first. What are you reading, Rep? What's going on? Some of your people are reacting on my Instagram that I am on the show. Hi, people. Nobody wanted you back from what I heard. All year.

I don't read the internet, so I wouldn't know. You want to hear my most awkward Jim Harbaugh story? Well, I just want to let you know there was a sign at one of the places we went. We want rap sheet back. It's like, well, tell him to stop doing the Daily Show. Burn that sign, bro. I actually tell him to suck at his Daily Shows. I actually have that in my garage, which I thought was nice.

My brother was holding it, so that was cool. Okay. That makes sense now that we think about it. What is your Harbaugh story? I was at one of those coaches' breakfasts they have at the league meeting, where you sit down. You don't really eat breakfast, but you're at a breakfast table, and then you interview all the different coaches, right?

Really comfortable setting. Yeah. And it's the one where you've seen the meme of Belichick drinking the orange juice like that same thing so Harbaugh sits down and he's got

black coffee in front of him and it's literally just me him and one other reporter it hasn't really started yet I'm early and he sits down he looks at the coffee

he shakes his head he goes up he gets cold water he pours the water into the hot coffee, looks at it, and nods to the coffee, puts the water down, and starts drinking it. And I've never seen that

way to drink coffee. It was too hot. It was too hot. He wanted to cool it down. You dilute the coffee if you put water. It makes no sense. He didn't care about the taste. He cared about getting that thing done. It was way too hot. It's burning my tongue. He looked at that, saw the smoke It was way too hot. It's burning my tongue. Right, trying to chug. Yeah, that's all.

He looked at that, saw the smoke, and was like, I'm not doing that. That dog won't hunt. He said, I need that coffee now. Yeah, exactly. Can't drink that. I got to take a shit for 20 minutes. I used to dump ice cubes into it. I used to dump ice cubes into it.

No, you have to. Straight up shot. No, it messes up the ratio. Unless you get one of those coffee ice cubes. Those are a little extra, but those are good. Those are kind of cool. No one gives a rat's ass about the taste. You think Harbaugh was worried about the barista's feelings of the coffee taste at that particular moment?

Hell no. Obviously not. He just got done with a half a tin of dip, just woke up. He's trying to find a little juice so he can give you the best answer possible. Speaking of best answer possible, you might be able to deliver this. Chuck has a question for you about the cycle. Hey, so, Ian, the obvious names are coming up on the interview list for these guys. You know, the two coordinators in Detroit, Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn,

Mike McDonald, the D.C. over in Baltimore. Are there any dark horses that are coming up? Like, you know, you look at the job Jim Schwartz has done. He's been a head coach in the league before, a job he's done in Cleveland. Are there any dark horse names we should be looking for? Joe Barry? Yeah. I'll tell you an interesting one.

Anthony Weaver. Oh, Tony? He is the defensive line coach and associate head coach for the Ravens. And the kind of guy, if you watch the Ravens, their defensive line plays absolutely insanely hard and are also awesome. And he's one of the reasons why. And, like, obviously there's a lot more to being a head coach, but he is a real leader.

And, you know, you guys love Dan Campbell on the show. It seems like the Dan Campbell effect has kind of permeated these coaching searches where, like, I think there's going to be more kind of like leader of men. We like that, right? This is good news. Yes. I mean, I think so. I don't know what makes a good head coach or not,

but to me, it's never been about who's the best play caller. Who cares? Helps. It doesn't matter. Lead the people. Raheem Morris is another one. Like, I think he's got a pretty good chance.

Aaron Glenn. I think really good chance this year. Those guys come out and our head coaches, because of the kind of leadership they can exhibit. Steve Wilkes just interviewed, right. With Atlanta or Atlanta requested for going to. Yeah.

When's the, what's the schedule now? When are they going to interview? Didn't they change that this year? Yeah. So they can do. Don't be so. You're devastated.

It takes so long. It just takes so long. Oh, my God. Oh, no. I'm not. I am. Oh, let me say that. You know, seriously, I am for what they are trying to do.

I want this process to be more diverse and slower and i think it'll lead to better more diverse candidates all this is good from a selfish standpoint okay you know you get to mobile and you get to the super bowl and there's still searches going on and like you know that's been like a month. Like, do I need to be frantically calling my good buddy Tompo Saturday? This guy's working so hard. Yeah, geez. Oh, man. Plus, the Super Bowl is in Vegas this year.

Oh, my God. There's good golf courses and booze everywhere. There are good golf courses. You going to play out there? You going to play when you're out there for the Super Bowl? I hope so. I played that course of the win. That was kind of weird but kind of cool. Hopefully I'll get to play at least one round.

Sometimes I've got to work is the only thing but see if I can sneak it in. Are you guys hosting that show through Super Bowl? Is this going forever or what's going on? I believe there will be at least a Super Bowl show but I'm not positive. I think it's through the Super Bowl and that's it.

That is my thought but I don't positive. I think it's through the Super Bowl and that's it. That is my thought, but I don't truly know. Hell of a run. I mean, middle of March, Insiders would be awesome. That's when we need you. Middle of May. I mean, middle of May is... Those are when I would come on here and you'd be like, can you stop playing

golf and get us some news? To which I would say, more golf. And then you went to Harry Potter Museum. He did, yeah. And the Pez Museum. golf. And then you went to Harry Potter Museum. And the Pez Museum. That was good. The Pez Museum. People are lining up to go there. Love that place. I want to go back just so I can get

buckets of Pez. I'll tell you what's amazing. Since we've been apart, my kids have moved on from Harry Potter and are now into Percy Jackson and Rubik's Cubes. The kids these days are crazy and Rubik's Cubes. Kids these days are crazy. Rubik's Cubes is a little too advanced.

Can they figure it out? They can do it? Jude can do it in less than 20 seconds. Dude? What about Max? Prove it. Max? Max can do it in about a minute 30. Can you? Can you take that?

Not only can I not, they are annoyed Max can do it in about a minute 30. Can you? Can you take that? Can you? Not only can I not. Okay. They are annoyed. Like, Jude cannot believe that I can't do it. Like, how could you not have won? Embarrassed by you. He's doing it in less than 20 seconds.

It would be tough to tell him anything. Did they teach him at summer camp how to do it? What's that? Did they teach him at summer camp how to do it? Because I don't know that many people that can do it. Me neither. There is an app, like a GoCube app, that kind of mimics and teaches you

the algorithms. He got into it and he learned it. He is all over it. You ever see the talented ones? Five seconds. That's horseshit, though, using an app. There you go. Ty, you can do it.

Oh, yeah. I don't know if I can still do it, but I'm definitely... Wait, can you do it? Let me think. What's the trick? The intimidator. Just drop Dale. Just drop Dale.

The intimidator? Dale down. Oh, no. Dale down. Five second rule. Five second rule. Thank God. Who is that?

You guys. No, no. Zoom in. Zoom in. Yes, Ian. Five-second rule. Who is that? You guessed. Zoom in. Zoom in. Yes, Ian. This will be great. This will be a good little indicator. Here we go. Who do you think that fun pop is?

Oh. That would be Dale Earnhardt, right? Wow. It would be. Okay. Good job, Ian. Holy hell. What a moment that could have been.

That could have been. I was hoping for it. I was going to be like, you know, one like, you know, Lewis Hamilton or one of the F1, but, you know. No, no, no, no. I want to host Dorks. It's the same thing, but it's just a different concept. It's not the same thing.

Oh, my God. You mother fucker. How many steps forward and then sprint backwards? How'd you end up doing that? You made yourself look terrible. You knew who Dale was. Let's move along. Now you bring in F1, this Mickey Mouse.

No offense. No offense. Even a lot of people. Whoa. A lot of people. F1, I can't believe you just did what you just did right there. Sack of salt. F1's great.

Sack of salt. I got to get to a race. That makes sense. You know I lived in Alabama for three years and never went to Talladega once? Come on. I do believe that.

Yeah, it makes sense. Yeah, I do believe that, actually. All right, Rap, anything we need to know from your world over the next few days? What's next? You got eight head coaching positions?

Oh, Foxy has a question for you. Sorry. Ian, any update on Sam Laporta for the Lions this weekend? Need it. Sorry, Foxy. Yeah, Sam Laporta, he's got hyperextended knee and a bone bruise. So it's basically the same thing that Travis Kelsey had at the beginning of the year and played and was kind of limited.

Seems to be a long shot. We should be finding out soon. I would be surprised if he plays. But if that's the case where he is now, I would say if they advance, probably as a shot next week. I mean, this draft class by the Lions is pretty filthy. Oh, yeah? He's a big piece of it.

Do you remember the reaction as it was happening? What the hell? Everybody's saying it's bad. That's funny. I mean, to all the picks, I think, right? Like, pick a linebacker in the first round and, like, a running back early, and all these guys are killing it. Absolutely. Just like you, pal.

Are you in as good? You look good. You look like you're in good shape end of year, right? That's accurate? Appreciate it. Yeah, I'm, you know, I'm on the Peloton grind, which is good. Needs to be. Bike or treadmill? Bike. Bike. Yeah. I'm on the Peloton grind, which is good. Needs to be. Bike or treadmill?

Bike. Bike. What's your handle? Oh. What's your handle, bitch? You don't want that smoke. It's rap sheet. It's rap sheet?

Lowercase, all lowercase? It's the R's uppercase and then the S's uppercase. I don't follow anyone, but if you follow me, I will follow you back. You'll be my one person. It's a date. You guys are riding together. What's your name? Chucky P on there?

What is your name on there? Chucky Meatballs. Chuck Strong. Chuck Strong. Hell yeah. Rap Sheet. You guys are riding together. Do you do Jess Simms' classes?

No, but the kids do. She does a family peloton, and they do that and she's great i try to i try to give some songs just some ideas before a game day production meeting goes smart i'm always like suggest you're yelling at these people yeah i'm like have you heard this one i start playing songs they're trying to start the meeting like banger yeah who's your favorite instructor excuse me no you're all right i'm cool with that uh i do a lot of the british people They're trying to start the meeting like banger. Who's your favorite instructor? No, you're alright. I'm cool with that. I do a lot of the British people.

Leanne Hainsby, Sam Yo. Aren't you on there too, Ty? Ben Aldiss is a dog. What are you, riding a bike? With Ben Aldiss? Can you do a little Ben for us? He's big on going into the music.

All right, Peloton in three, two, one, let's go. And then he's a former DJ, so he's got the moxie. I want to do that. I want to take that class. I want to take that class as well. Ben Aldis? British people are great. I love that.

Yeah, he's the man. And then during the ride, is he yelling at you? What's that? Because I don't like being yelled at at this stage. No, that's why I like, because everyone loved Alex Toussaint. He was like the big guy. And I was like, I don't need this guy fucking yelling at me the whole time. See, I do need that.

That's why I go with Toussaint. Okay, so you're a Toussaint guy because you need a little direction and discipline and yell. But I don't need that. At this stage of my life, I'm okay. I don't need somebody yelling me on screen I'm paying for. But you. Yeah, Ben Oldis, like maybe like 15 minutes in, 30 minutes in, 45 minutes in, he'll be like, come on, Peloton, let's go.

And that's really all it is. And then it's just the music carrying you. Sam Yo's English too, isn't he? Sam Yo? I don't mess with anybody but Ben Aldiss. Holy shit. Are you Ben Aldiss' biggest fan? Yeah, got your guy.

I don't want... I don't need anybody yelling at me literally ever. And that's one... They got a good vibe there, so it's all pretty encouraging. They used to have... At the beginning, they had people who would kind of get after you, and I think now it's gone more toward

good positive vibes. Allie Love. Allie Love. Very positive. I like to hear that. I'm going to get on. Ben Aldis? Yeah, he's a man. How about at the end when I need a little extra boost? What's Ben Aldis saying there?

Take me home. Almost done in 10, 9, 8, 7. Come on, Peloton. 6, 5, 4, 3. Almost there. 2, 1. Cool down. Cool down. He's the man. Five, four, three, almost there, two, one. Cool down, cool down.

He's the man. I feel like I just did a class. I appreciate it. In my mind, I was working out. That's enough for me today. Rap, it was great seeing you again, Power. You still smoking meats or no? Yeah.

So we didn't do smoking. We did some grilling last week. We had Spinalis, which is like a ribeye cap, which is kind of rare, which was amazing. And then we did a Wagyu bone-in ribeye. That's definitely not how it's pronounced. It's Wagyu. You don't have to say every letter in the word, I don't think. It's Wagyu. No, I think that's how it is.

Wagyu, right? Yeah. Wagyu. Only the Wagyu. You got it. I can't even say it. Wagyu. No, no, he's got it.. Wagyu, right? Yeah. Wagyu. You got it. I can't even say it. Wagyu. No, no, he's got it.

Yeah. I'd like some Wagyu. You got it. It was delicious. I could hear that through the mic. No, that was off air. I promise you it was. I don't know.

I think it might have went through behind you. I thought it got, yeah, someone. Anyways, we appreciate you with your Wagyu. You're a Daily Show host. you deserve it all we appreciate you ladies and gentlemen rap board you miss your rap sheet good to see you hold on is he still there yeah he's off call back no next time we're gonna ask him i was just gonna bring up how like you know i want the bat for him to come on the show. Yeah. And then he signed on to do a daily show at the exact time of our show,

and then all our fans started saying, yeah, you didn't change the show. You didn't sell out, but where's Rapshade? Rapshade, how come you didn't say? Yeah, I appreciate you going to bat for that to happen, and then me just kind of. Leaving you for dead. I wanted that.

It's been great. Where's his show? NFL Plus? Is that where it is? Sure. NFL Plus! I think also NFL Network. I don't know how many hours are on what.

There was an exclusive time on NFL Plus and then they went on to NFL Network. Then there was a time where they were both on NFL Network, I think. And then there was...

I don't know. I do not know. But I do know I see the clips because obviously rap sheet's plugged. And Garrett Fuller's not happy. He was serious. Is that what I heard?

Sounds like it. Is that what you heard over there in Philadelphia? Chuck, as we look ahead to the games this weekend, as we wrap up this glorious show, and we don't have Thursday Night Football, obviously, and big thanks to all of our guests today. Rap Report, Bobby Wagner, Dan Lanning, Aaron Rodgers, Rob Ninkovich, Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, Tommy Curran.

All made appearances today. I think Albert Beer was on there too. Oh yeah, I did hear him introduce himself. Sorry Albert, I'm sure you asked a great question. Rhys Davis sat down with Nick Saban and... Today? Yeah, like as we were live. That's why I was looking at my phone.

The time frame in which he was going to be speaking with him had moved a few different times. So I think we're going to try to get Reese whenever he is done with that particular interview to join us. He might have a SportsCenter hit happening right now and then he will join us. I'll be excited to hear what he got from him. And I think there were some clips that, yeah, they're showing clips right now on SportsCenter hit happening right now, and then he will join us. I'll be excited to hear what he got from him.

And I think there were some clips that, yeah, they're showing clips right now on SportsCenter of the interview that he literally just recorded. So it's a nice sit-down. He's sitting in a chair, Saban's sitting in a chair, dark around, lights. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. Intimate is how they describe that. Reese Davis, Alabama alum.

So I think he'll be free in like four minutes or so. We'll give him a call just to kind of put a cap on this historic big news Thursday that we've had. But before that, Chuck, you look at these Super Wild Card weekend games. We got two on Saturday, three on Sunday, one on Monday. I mean, we got some magic here. And you were a great Thursday night football against the spread all season. Higher hit right to aim by Arnur. When you look at this game, what are some of the games you're looking at?

What are you thinking about whenever you're looking at them? Obviously, the cold is going to play a factor in some games. Maybe some teams are hot, some teams are cold. What are you thinking about, Chuck? That Cleveland-Houston game is interesting. How come? They just played a couple weeks ago, week 16.

Cleveland came away a winner. Quarterback C.J. Stroud did not play in that game. I think it was 36-22 ballgame. So, be interesting to see what transpires there. I mean, he's as good a quarterback as there is a league right now. You got something? No, no. I was going to put the games back up there just in case you were trying to see

if you had anything for the other ones. Buffalo was like 40-mile-an-hour wins, allegedly, with the Pittsburgh Steelers going in there. Certainly a potential advantage for both teams, depending upon how you look at it, right? Yeah, no doubt about it. I just, Buffalo, I can't see Pittsburgh going into Buffalo. The role that they're on right now and doing any good. I like Buffalo there. I like Cleveland at Houston. I think Green Bay can, if Green Bay will go in there, they've got two runners.

Keelys Hill for Dallas is, they've been, you know, a little susceptible to the run. So if Green Bay goes in there and shortens the game and runs the football, Jordan Love moving around, doing his thing, playing as good as anybody in the league right now at quarterback position. I mean, if they fall behind a couple scores, then that plays right into Dallas' hand.

But I think they're going to be smart enough to control the clock in that one. Could you imagine Green Bay goes in there to beat Dallas and then the conversation that's happening immediately upon that game taking place is, oh, Bill Belichick's the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. I think that's why it plays into the Packers' favor. Obviously, it's the playoffs. All of these games are very stressful and there's going to be

pressure, but if they potentially like, I mean, it's house money for the Packers. Aaron Jones has rushed for over 100 yards in three consecutive games. He's all the way back. He's playing unbelievable. Jordan Love's playing unbelievable. It'll ultimately just be whether or not their defense can keep Dallas in check.

Okay, so you like Cleveland. You like Buffalo. You seemingly like Green Bay to keep that one close. Scared to death about Rams going in there for the same reasons Foxy is. I mean, Matt Stafford right now with Pukunuku, Cooper Cup, and that offense in McVay. I mean, I'd have a hard time betting against McVay and Stafford going back there. I just think the defense for Detroit in the back end, they can't cover these guys.

So Jared Huff. If they don't generate some pass rush, because it can't be just one guy, they're going to take Hutch out of the game, obviously. They're smart enough to do that. If they can't generate a pass rush and they leave those DBs on the island, he'll carve them up. Well, so Jared Goff came out and spoke about how this isn't a revenge game for Sean McVay. He's actually thankful for Sean McVay. Here's the clip right here. Can you just share just what are your general feelings on Sean McVay? Yeah, Sean and I are good. I think he's a great coach. I think he's,

you know, obviously we had our differences there at the end, but he's a great coach. I think he's, you know, obviously we had our differences there at the end, but he's a great coach. He's done a lot of great things, and, you know, he's a guy that taught me a lot. Motivation obviously speaks for itself this week, but is there anything extra, you know, playing against your old team, your old coach? No, I think no. I mean, obviously there's a personal connection there,

and not just for me but for a lot of our players and some of theirs as well. No, I think I so badly want to win a game for this city and win a playoff game for this city that hasn't had one in so long. We got a home playoff game for the first time in so long. That's so much more important than anything personally for me. I want to be a part of this win and do my job to the best of my ability. You've got a love here in that, Foxy, but I would have appreciated a little bit of like, yeah, I hate you on me. I appreciate him taking a high road. And I assume behind closed doors, his family, his friends,

even MCDC potentially telling him how thankful he is that the Rams wanted to get rid of him and how thankful they are that they were the ones that chose to take on his contract at a moment where nobody knew if he still had and how great he's become. But that certainly adds to the storyline of this entire thing i mean this is this is cinema matthew stafford jared goff in detroit playoff game with where each of these teams were considered to be this is a masterpiece by the scriptwriters 100 and that's been goff this entire time for the last three years nothing but class he's embraced the city he's embraced

the community he's been fucking awesome and i don't think it's been talked about enough, especially this week. It's been all about Stafford, Stafford, Stafford, Stafford. Rightfully so. He won a Super Bowl. He was there for 12 years and whatnot. But this is a big game for golf. Golf probably wants this just as bad. I'm very excited. And what I love about this match, I know coaches scared of the defense. I'm scared of the defense. Stafford will throw the pill all over the place. But this is a Lions team that is unlike any team Stafford had in his 12 years because we can ground and pound, and it would be a beautiful way to win this one. All right, good luck this weekend.

Good luck to all parties. Anything else on the Sunday night football or Monday night football games? That Tampa one's interesting to see. I mean, talk about limping in. Jalen threw the ball. I don't even know if he can grip a ball. To AJ's point, they said he hasn't thrown a football yet, and he said it was a mistake to go back into the game with where it was.

Did you see that? I mean, and Baker's practicing his ends in his pocket. That game's over. It is. I'm sorry. That game's over. It is. I'm sorry. But, Matt and Patricia. Yeah, but you're in your emotions right now. I am in my emotions.

But, you know, two teams, right? Kind of one and five is how the Eagles finished. We have a graphic also, actually, that kind of where things were week 10 and where people are now, who's hot, who's cold. And you can kind of get a feel for some of these teams and what they got going on. If you just go back to week 10, like look at the Bucs, for instance, four and five, okay?

Now they're nine and eight, sneak it in. But they're doing their thing. You look at the Niners, what they've been able to do. You look at the Cowboys. You look at the Ravens. You look at the Bills, five and five. Then they end up 11 and six. You look at the Cowboys. You look at the Ravens. You look at the Bills. 5-5. Then they end up 11-6. You look at the Bronze. They put in Joe Flacco. What happens?

6-3 to 11-6. It's like some of these teams are getting hot at the right time. The Rams and look at the two bottom seeds in the NFC. The Rams and Packers were both 3-6. That is nuts. That means you're battle tested. You've been through it.

You're calloused. You've had to win games. You felt the pressure of a playoff game already this year. You've already been through it numerous times. We lose this week. Our mathematical equivalent to make it is like 2% or something like that. But if we win this week, we're up over 60%. Those are the playoff-like atmosphere games.

A lot of these teams have had them. Some of them have not. How about Jacksonville? Oh, buddy. 8-3. They were, what was it, 96%? Playing for the one seed. Playing for the one seed and going to be in the... Right into the jaunt. They fired the whole staff down there, too.

All right. Well, we're excited for this weekend. Chuck, I feel like we got your picks there. Do you feel as confident in those picks as you have in your Thursday night football picks all year? Yeah. Cleveland. Cleveland, go ahead.

Denzel Ward got hurt in practice today. Oh, no, I was just going to say because Denzel Ward, Emerson, and who's the other D back, the number zero? You got Ward, Emerson, and Newsome. Newsome, correct. So they got three guys that all can play tight man coverage with that front and that pressure that Schwartzy's going to bring, make it really hard on.

The one thing that Stroud struggled against was tight man thrown into those windows this season. If you were going to pick him apart in any way, it would be that. So that's big right there. Yeah, knee as well. So he's questionable right now. Boy, that sucks. For Cleveland? Yeah.

And for your pick of Cleveland, it sounds like? I was taking Cleveland. Because of that? Do you still stick with that? Yeah, because Flacco and Koop, I mean, Koop only had 265 yards. Flacco also going for the Reds. And Joku's like always open. Always. He's got five

guys around, all open. And Flacco's got this connection with those two. He's got five guys around, all open. And Flacco's got this connection with those two. He don't care. You think the Browns can win this whole? Can what? Win the whole thing? I really believe, if you look at the way this thing's set up, Flacco's going to be in Baltimore in the AFC Championship game playing the Ravens.

We got Stafford. We got Stafford in Detroit. Flacco potentially going back to Baltimore. They got the number one defense in the league. Cleveland does. Now, this thing, this sucks right here. We're about on the road. If he's hurt, hurt.

Yeah. Denzel Ward. That's a huge blow. You need pass rushers. You need cover corners at this point. At all points. But now, for certain. Before we move on, how about CJ Stroud, though, being like just so perfect?

Yeah, just counting them out, too. Well, I like just so perfect yeah just counting them out too well i'm not even talking about you counting them out we're in a wild card we're in the playoffs i'm not saying just because you pick against it doesn't mean anything but like he came on our show the other day everything he said was perfect i saw him he is yeah like like not corny not fake not like trying to be a movie character quarterback. Just like genuine the fucking guy. It's what you want. As a Patriots fan, I just want... Talking shit a little bit. Yeah, I want to see Jay Stroud.

Handling it, humility, flexing. I mean, it was like perfect. It was absolutely perfect. All of it. Head coach, quarterback deal between those two dudes. Perfect. Wow. Talk about hitting the home run. Yeah, congrats Dyer. So now everybody's going to have an obnoxious view on what it can be like whenever you go to the draft.

CJ Stroud was number two overall pick. That's who the Patriots are going to get. No big deal. We'll be able to do that. Just like people have been thinking that what the New England Patriots did for so long is duplicable. And then what people thought what Saban has been able to do at Alabama, it's duplicable.

And it might be. I mean, maybe with this Georgia team. But I think a lot of people assume that this is going to be an impossible feat, especially in the modern college football with free agency taking place and temptations and how the schedule is. I think it's going to be tough to ever replicate the amount of success that Saban had for as long as he did at the University of Alabama. To join us now is a man that went to the University

of Alabama, is one of the voices of college football, and just got out of a sit-down interview with Nick Saban. Ladies and gentlemen, host of College Game Day, both football and basketball, Reece Davis. Reece! How are you, buddy? What's happening, boys? How we doing? Hey, good. I'll stand so you don't

look uncomfortable and not the only person standing. Why we didn't bring me a chair? It all right aj would stand but the addict doesn't have enough head space especially with the size of head that he has uh let's dive in reese we saw some of the clips on the tv here we haven't got a chance to see them completely sit down interview you and saban face to face how long did you chat what did you chat about what's the biggest takeaway if you just want to kind of give us a brief on what we're potentially going to see. I think we were, we talked for 35, 40 minutes somewhere in that neighborhood. We visited a little bit before the, before the interview started as well. I think the biggest takeaway, Pat, was not really that

much of a surprise in that this was extraordinarily difficult for him, but sort of true to his standard. The reason he said, you know, he said there are no health issues, no health issues within the family, other than the fact that this season took a little bit more out of him than normal in terms of energy. And he wanted to make sure that he was able to go at a high standard, new coaches, potential new coaches coming in, players wanted to know, are you going to be there three years, five years? And he said, I couldn't be honest about that anymore because I didn't know. And he felt like this was the right time.

Yeah, it had to be tough for him and Miss Terry. They're down in that Florida house, we thought. And he was potentially just looking out at the ocean and just like, this ain't bad. No, no. Did he talk about anything in the future? Did you lead into that what he's thinking how will he get his football fix that we assume every football human especially football lifer is going to need i think he's really interested in doing broadcasting and he did speak quite a bit about wanting to be an advocate for the good of the game and whether

that was to help uh find some parameters you, he really emphasized that and really wanted it known. The NIL transfer portal stuff, that did not chase him out of coaching. I mean, I think he managed that pretty well over the last few years. But what he says is for it to be sustainable so that it's good for the players, that there needs to be some type of framework. And if he can be involved in any way in doing that, he wants to continue to have a voice i think he said they were going to give him an office over brian denny stadium he told the

players uh and i'll and you know me pat i try to keep the language clean but he said he told some of the players i can get on your ass from there just as easily as i can from here so you know he's he's still going to be involved and i look it's secret. I think we know that he's really interested in broadcasting because he's really good at it. You guys see that every week when he joins you. Yeah, we love him. They're talking about college football playoff, college football commissioner.

People are like, Saban needs to be the guy. And if you listen to anything he said all year to us, whenever we bring it up, it's like he has ideas. He has a passion to want to change it and fix it. And I think all of his players will go on the record saying, he's always looked out for us. Even whenever he brought up the insurance policies for guys playing in bowl games and other things, it's like

he would be the perfect human that I think has the resume that people would respect for him to be a potential one voice, potential go college football needs it. We all recognize that. Who knows how it's going to take place. I appreciate him thinking about that. Go ahead, AJ.

Reese, did you guys talk about who might be coming in as the new Alabama football coach? Does he have any say? Does he want to set somebody up? Did you guys get into that at all? He didn't go into that per se. We talked a little bit about what the new coach might ask him about in terms of advice. I think a new coach would be a fool not to at least reach out and talk to him because he wants to be a resource and a sounding board for them. The one thing that struck me around it is that

so many of the assistants said, look, whoever the new coach is, they'll put their own twist on it. They'll be their own man. They'll do their own personality. But the infrastructure is so sound and the people understand here what it takes and how to work that there will be a great opportunity for the next coach to have great success. And I think that's what Nick said that he wanted for the next coach, whoever that might be. I think that, you know,

he will offer advice and answer questions when asked. And I'm certain that he will be asked and probably already has been. And should be. You work for ESPN, so you obviously have an SEC bias. We all know that. Yep. Of course. SEC, ESPN, right?

That's right. That's what they say. Have the ACC network as well. Have many others, but certainly SEC Bice. And you're the host of College Game Days. You have to be non-Bice. Have to be.

You're incredibly professional. You always have been. I feel like you shoot it straight regardless, which is why we all have so much respect for you. But as a human that did potentially graduate from the University of Alabama, how's the alumni, how's Alabama taking this? How are the boosters taking this potentially? How is the ripple effect pretty much around Bama right now with the loss of the greatest college coach of all time that you can feel or sense?

I can't tell you how many messages I've had from friends, people that I know well that are Alabama alums. There's a lot of anxiety because they know, they're smart enough to know that you're not getting this again, no matter who you hire. This was the greatest dynasty in the history of the sport. Whether you want to count championships, whether you want to count consecutive 10-win seasons, postseason success, beating number one, whatever it is you want to count by, or if you just want to watch the play, it's the best dynasty that has ever existed in the sport. So they realize that it's almost impossible not to take

some type of step back because I don't think you're not to take some type of step back because I don't think you're going to see this type of dynasty again anywhere. But I think overall, Pat, there's an overwhelming sense of gratitude from the alums because people were laughing at Alabama. People got on national TV and radio and said, Ah, they're delusional. They'll never be what they think they're supposed to be. Look at those crazy people at the airport. Look at that crazy woman, you know, there to, you know, there to try to kiss Nick Saban when he got off the plane in 2007. And even the most rabid fanatic could not have envisioned the success that he's had over the last 17 years.

So I think there's, I think there's just an overwhelming sense of appreciation among almost all Alabama alums and fans. Same thing's happening up in New England right now as well, and let alone the Pete Carroll situation in Seattle. In just a few days, obviously, man, it hasn't been around as long, but like Vrabel as well. It's a wild time for coaches. It's a wild time for Reese Davis as he has another call.

We can't thank you enough, brother. Sorry about that. I forgot to put it on. Do not disturb. My bad. No, you always should be disturbed. You're the man that has all the answers. We appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen. Reece Davis. Yeah, Reece! Love Reece, dude. The man. He's so nice.

He's great. He is so nice. When he came in here for the ESPN Red Zone. So cool. Yeah, the coolest. Hey, what do you need? Like, what do you need? You give me just some Diet Dr. Pepper. That was it? You guys got McAllister's?

I'm like, what do you mean just Diet Dr. Pepper? You just give me like six to 12 Diet Dr. Pepper cans. That'll be fine. That'll be good. You want these chilled or? They can be room temperature. Room temperature. Either or. It'll be fine. It'll be good. You want these chilled or? They can be room temperature. Room temperature. Either or.

It was awesome. He just sat here, hosted for three and a half hours. After hosting game day all morning, just plowed through some Diet Dr. Pepper. Ordered us some food. Guy was a great guy. That brain. That brain. Solid.

Solid. Very. He's also a guy who naturally says what when he speaks. Instead of what, he's what. He speaks like that. Really? Yeah. It's wild. It's wild. Why do you think? He wouldn't do that.

I don't know. I think he's just like... Classic. I met a neighbor of his at one of the college game days. And this guy sounded like Waterboy Cajun guy. Like, with the Southern accent. Yeah. We should have, we know, since I was like four or five years old,

we're going to grab this week. This whole thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the only thing I took away from that is like, Reese probably sounded like this motherfucker at some point. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, if they grew up in the same area,

and I asked Reese that, he was like, I have a Southern accent, but I do try to project words properly or whatever. I'm like, all right, Reese. But every once in a while, you get a little tired, he'll start slipping into it. You can hear it. Yeah, you can start hearing him slip into it. He's a machine. Is he from Alabama?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know what part? The part where they talk like that? I don't know. I met his neighbor. That was one of the greatest mornings.

I was so tired. Yeah was one of the greatest mornings. I was so tired. Yeah, that was the second Bama one, too. I was very tired. I was about to pass out. There's some of those game day mornings where I'm just chugging five-hour energies just like every hour, which isn't good. Trying to get 15 hours of energy. You know, in three hours. You're not supposed to do that.

Sure. I don't think you're supposed to do that. So immediately afterwards, you know, there is a bit of a almost, you you know a little bit of a drop of energy or whatever and i'm on the way out and somebody stops i forget it's like uh reese's neighbor wants to meet you or whatever and i'm like i would like to meet reese's neighbor i assume this is going to be some hello yeah like i was like yes i would like to be i would like to ask questions about reese off air just to learn some stuff. Like, hey, when he's having some whiskey or scotch, you got to smoke with scars.

Like, what's some things? Like, just so I can bring it up to Reese the next time I see him. I'm like, Reese heard. You know what I mean? Drop one of those, which is always trying to gather. Always trying to gather information, you know, for those types of moments. And I go over, and that was not the case. It was the complete opposite.

I grew up. And I'm like, this is awesome. Half asleep. Why aren't you on fucking game? We need to get you on a microphone immediately. Some of those Southern accents sound better than ever. We have some breaking news out of the NFL. Jair Alexander had kind of a freak deal yesterday when he stepped on someone's foot and rolled an ankle.

LaFleur said he's considered day-to-day. That was during a jog-through situation. So you got Ward in Cleveland who hurt his knee in practice. Yep. And then you got Jair Alexander who seemingly hurt his ankle in a jog-through freak deal. I assume he was doing something awesome. Yeah.

Oh, for sure. Oh, my God. Somebody's probably Lil Don in their dumps. And Jair Alexander said, what are you doing? Boom, boom, boom. You know what I mean? Exactly. And then he's out of there.

Now we've got to worry about whether or not this defense is back to being full. He'll be out there. We need Jair Alexander in a super wild card weekend. Absolutely, yeah. Really need him this weekend. He played unbelievable last weekend. Going to need him again. The pack's back in.

Awesome. Off the news. So good. This guy's the best, AJ. This guy's the absolute best. He is the best, but what's also interesting to see, I don't know if they still do it, but the Packers, they used to vote for playoff captains.

That would be the captains throughout the playoffs. Is he a playoff captain? Here we go. He better be. Yes. Yeah, I'm right. I hope so. What if he goes out with a boot on, can't play, got to see, no pads,

just a jersey over top of a hoodie, shades on, probably a beanie if I had to guess. He goes out there. And he's talking, by the way. Oh, yeah. He's talking. I got this. Boys. Right?

Put the defense out there. Jameis Winston, the more I think about it, just the better. Yeah. Even cooler. I forget who I was listening to talk. There's people pissed. I've heard people that are pissed at Jameis. Jameis Rolfe. Shane Sharp won him. Jameis Sharp won him. I caught him today. It's weird

because he was taking care of his teammate at the same time, but yes, you're disobeying the coach and all of it, but he was trying to take care of his guy, I guess. Yeah, it's one of those things where Jameis can definitely grandstand and say, I'm a good teammate. Yeah. It wasn't for him. If Jameis would have snuck it in, that would have been really good.

That would have been awesome. Just real quick. Converse, converse. Yeah. You got a $250,000 incentive. Yep. You know, something like that. But then Dennis Allen, you know, Shannon Sharp,

I think his point was like would you ever see this in a bill belichick or andy reed or any other place no never right and i guess that's the same question that was asked about jair alexander elected himself captain and then going and speaking and potentially getting it wrong it's like i don't know if you can just necessarily say that like would bill belichick have a jair alexander in the building i think his reputation has said yes yeah but would jair alexander have to buy into the bill belichick i think their reputation in history says yes also yes absolutely but that is not like necessarily how the floor is known for running his operation or da is known for running his operation so i think it's just

like different cultures and i don't and i think humansameis, there's not a lot of Jameises out there. No. Not a lot of Jameises out there. I don't necessarily need him on my team, but I'm happy he is on a team. Yeah, sure. I would like that to continue forever. Did that kid have a lot of carries down there, Williams, Jamal? He had zero ties.

Well, Kamara was out for the beginning of the season. And then, obviously, when Kamara's back, Kamara gets the lion's share. But, no, I mean. I mean, 17 to no touchdowns, zero. I mean, the biggest thing, he did it out of victory, right? If he would have just put him in a formation, but then Jameis would have probably said, well, probably wouldn't have scored if I put him in an I formation.

Yep. So, Jameis actually, this is actually the best play call, actually. For you to score a touchdown, we need to fake the kneel. You know, Dan Marino, Peyton Manning, they've all faked the spike. We need to fake the victory kneel at the one-yard line here. Hey, do you think those offensive linemen were, like, talking to, like, Atlanta guys and saying, Hey, we're coming, guys. Take your fucking cells, boys. We're coming, we, hey, we're coming. We're coming, guys. Take your fucking cells, boys.

We're coming. We're coming. We're coming. We're coming. We're coming. Because on the outside, you saw some guys that weren't in on the decision. There were some guys that were certainly like. But then you see McCoy.

McCoy in the picture, one of these. He was very pumped. And Jameis said, I told DA, we voted. Sorry. Sorry. Taysom Hilton didn't vote. Don't know. Sorry about it. Arthur was mad at you. I get it, we voted. Sorry. Sorry. Taysom Hill didn't vote. I don't know. Sorry about it.

Arthur was mad at you. I get it, but he should have been mad at me. I didn't get to tell him in real time. I don't know if he would have understood. Hope he doesn't hate me. What if Jameis runs over in the middle of that? Me. I'm the...

I called that. And then Dennis Allen and Artie Smith both start yelling at him. That'd be awesome. And then Jameis breaks both their arms. What the fuck? Give them their eyes. My God. Williams needed a touch.

He's awesome, dude. Speaking of awesome, today was a pretty wild show. A lot of news. A lot of people. A lot of different people joined. Well, it was Big News Thursday. Oh, yeah. Look at Big News Thursday.

Big News Thursday. Sweet. A lot of big news Thursday. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Amen. Look at big news Thursday. There it is. Big news Thursday. Sweet. A lot of big news today. 111. 1- 2021. 1- 2-

0- 2- 4- Big one. Big one. Big one. Fun day. Chuck, we appreciate you, buddy.

Appreciate you, Chuck. You want to give away some money, Chuck? I think we did a giveaway. It would be a great way to end this thing. Oh, yeah. A lot of people, we appreciate you, buddy. Appreciate you, Chuck. Want to give away some money, Chuck? I think we did a giveaway. It would be a great way to end this thing. Oh, yeah. A lot of people are very grateful, I guess. Just going to say, I don't know about that. Maybe push that one back.

Oh, you think maybe we just cancel giveaways? For a little, yeah. I actually 1,000% do. All right. Well, we are a democracy. That's where my vote stands. We should do a vote. You know, because like Jameis, I would like to know what the guys would like.

I think you should suspend the giveaways. Cancel them. Or fire them. Or actually, you know what? Why are we talking? Why did that become? Ask ESPN and see what they wanted. Okay.

All right. That's a great point. That's a great point. Is it their money they're giving away? I don't think so. I don't think that matters because people won't listen either way. What about the college game day kick? Is that their money? People won't listen I don't think so. I don't think that matters because people won't listen either way. What about the college game day kick? Is that their money?

They also won't read either. Yeah, that was phenomenal last night. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters. It is crazy to think that once it gets going, it's done for. Runaway train. It's a game of telephone. And then it's gone.

And then by the time you reply, no, that can't be real. Well, I'm the actual fucking... No, you're not. It's not telephone either. Let's have people just do it either way. Take 500 away. Oh, we steal from people. I'm not saying that.

I didn't mean that, people. Chuck makes it, people send 500 in. I think we go higher, Pat. I think we always go higher. You've always gone higher. Alright, let's do that. Let's go makes it. People send 500 inks. I think we go higher, Pat. I think we always go higher. You've always gone higher. All right, let's do that. Let's go, Chuck. Let's do a giveaway.

Let's do a giveaway. I cannot stress enough. I wholeheartedly disagree with this. Chuck, let's go, baby. Let's go. For the people. There's been a lot of people going to bat for us, too. I saw a couple people underneath a lot of those going, that ain't. That ain't what's.

But then they were. There was a lot. Those people were immediately crucified. I'm like, Reed, I'm like, well, thank you for going to that ain't. But then they were. There was a lot. Those people were immediately crucified. I'm like, thank you for going to bat for me, but also I need to mute this conversation. Good luck. I know you're getting right now, but also me, I need to get out

of here. Just so many things that aren't real. I'd like to play this right down the middle like I normally do. You do normally do that. A lot of ingrates out there, but you know what? You mean sycophants? Well, obviously. I think my big thing is just there's a lot of people that just like

lie. Well, for sure. Why? What does that do? I don't know. I mean, with all this stuff, you can certainly see on Twitter, you know, like, you know, you get those endorphins where you're going to put out just some bullshit. I got it. Hey, ball down.

That can't slow us down. Let's throw one. Give me another one, Chuck. I don't know. We don't have enough balls. Keep throwing them my way. I like this game. I don't think we have enough balls. I like that we're warming up here a little bit. Can you make that pitch, coach, or what? Oh, oh, oh.

Ty saved it. We actually had three giveaways yesterday, too, our most in a while. Yesterday? Of course. That's really good. We had three giveaways. You mean announced on the graphic? Correct.

No, but we're also a bunch of bitches. True. I've sold out and have no brains, and I'm a coward, and everything like that. Maybe just one for all the glory. One for all the glory. Yeah, Chuck. Chuck, even though

it doesn't feel like it, there's a lot of support for us out there. And we appreciate the hell out of those people. And for those people, you're going to throw that football into that hoop right over there. And 25 people are going to win $500. If you're able to bury it on your first try.

For the good people. Chuck Pagano. 36 years as a coach. An absolute... That's... Oh, I thought he drained it in your face with that. Connor tried to... No, my hands are so sweaty.

Connor said it's horrible. He said stay fair. Connor tried to... No, my hands are so sweaty. Connor said carnival. Okay, he's saying stay fair. We need fairness. It's lit. That's unbelievable. The same rules apply because of what he did. He's trying to sabotage you. 25 people.

$500. Without any distractions from Connor, who wants to see no money go to anybody outside this Thunderdome for the rest of time. Amen. Chuck Pagano can win $12,500. He's scared. Stop looking at the rush.

You can't be looking at the rush. You can't do that. Come on. Eyes went down, AJ. Focus on the job at hand. What's that all about, AJ? I thought Chuck was tough. I don't know.

It looked like Conor was going to try to hit him right in the balls with that stick. I get it. I can look down, too. No, I said it. I sat back. I don't know if he's going to hit you in the dong or hit you in the ball, but you need to not worry about any of that. This is a game of you in that hoop.

It ain't about Con, man. No. It ain't about the people who are saying terrible things about us on a regular basis that seem to have no idea what they're talking about. What this is about is 25 people, $500, on this historic day in NFL history. Chuck, do it for the people. Do some cat and camel. Get loose.

Oh, yeah. Oh. Bam. Are you still sore, Chuck, from taking on old buddy, Ugly Joe? AJ, I just got rid of that soreness. It was like six or seven days. I mean, that was performance. Did you wipe your ass or not?

No, I couldn't. Oh, man. Tina, I had to help? All right, here's a diaper. That's the day. I said, when it comes to that, honey, just give me the pill. Whoa. Viagra?

Euthanasia. Euthanasia. No, he's talking about euthanasia. Cyanide. What's the pill? Chill? No. Yeah, euthanasia.

It's part of it. Have somebody come wipe your ass. You got cash. I'm with you. You're successful. You're allowed to have somebody wipe your ass. Yeah. You don't have to just die.

Come on, Chuck. They'll spread you out. Yep. Wipe it down. God, that's tough. Huh? That'd be tough. You go back to like when you were like.

Yeah, the baby. Like McKenzie, you got her down, wake up. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Chuck will be fighting. Chuck's fighting the whole time, too, peeing on the person. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Chuck's fighting the whole time, too, peeing on the person.

Yeah, he's not happy about it. I want my own ass. You know what they say. You come into the world the same way you go out. That's right. In a diaper. Yep. Don't do the pill. If you're going to do it, hire someone to shoot you in the head when you don't know

it's coming. Yeah. Like a cool way. Yeah. Like assassin. Waiting in line somewhere. Say don't know it's coming. Like a cool way. Like an assassin. Waiting in line somewhere. Say, buddy, you versus me. Three years.

You know what I mean? Maybe you're on the run. Maybe you're on the run. That's how you go out. On the run. That would be awesome. Don't you think? I mean, if you're just going to take a...

You might as well... Might as well make it cool. Might as well make it... What's that, AJ? I don't think that would be cool. If you said, hey, the next three years there's a guy going to take a... You might as well... Might as well make it cool. What's that, AJ? I don't think that would be cool. If you said, hey, the next three years, there's a guy going to come try to kill you, you got to be ready at all times.

But I think you're allowed to write in return. I'm going to kill him back. Yeah, good. That'd be a fun way to walk around. Oh, boy. You're already... You got to remember, you're already dead because you took the pill.

Yeah. This is alive. We're keeping you alive. That's what we're trying to do. We're already dead because you took the pill. Yeah. This is alive. We're keeping you alive. That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to keep you alive. Or just go do all the drugs that people want to do and just, it'll kill you eventually. Well, nowadays with fentanyl, I don't think anybody should do any drugs. No, no drugs.

No, you're right. No, you're right. Hey, that's scary out there. Legit. Hey. I don't get it. I don't get it. We don't have a lot of teenagers that watch this show, but for those that do, like back

in the day, there used to be adults and humans that could experiment with stuff. You guys can't now. There was a code. No, but you guys can't now because all the drugs are basically just killers. That is not how it always has been. So you hear these stories potentially of what...

Don't. Now is not the time. And it's just the way it is. Super scary. I'm scared to death with my daughter coming into the world yeah and it's like i feel like she's probably gonna have a similar personality to me where she's probably gonna have some friends that have a good time and like that's gonna be something that's coming up and it's like hey this ain't this ain't 20 years ago this is nowadays it's a kill like they are trying to kill you with that kind of thing

so i don't think you need to take a pill or any of those drugs. No. Maybe think about an assassin. Yeah. Long time from now. That's when you can't wipe your own ass. Yeah. Right? That's a long time from now.

That's right. I didn't even think about your arm being terrible because of Ugly Joe. Yeah. One week ago, this man beat Ugly Joe in a decision bout. Went three rounds. Yep. Threw 110 punches a round. Did you see the stats? Yeah, I looked it up.

You weren't landing many of them. But you were certainly throwing them. And for that, we respect you. Yep. Now, you could win 25 people, $500. All you gotta do, in that great gray look, look at the shoes, accessorizing with the shirt. Sweet. With the undershirt

AJ. You see how cool he looks from Ohio? And the hair. Chuck figured it out. Chuck figured it out a long time ago. He did, didn't he? The game's been changed because Chuck Pagano and today 25 people's lives could be changed. All you got to do is put that ball in a hoop over there. Historic NFL Day. Let's make it a celebration.

I don't like that at all. Did you like that one? No. From when? When was the moment? When it left your hand or beforehand? Connor's still in your head or what? This one's going.

Yeah, it is. 25 people, $500. You put that ball in the hoop. Oh, boy. That was the one in for my end. Yeah, it sounded like it did. We all would have cheered. It would have.

Yeah, for real. Yeah, but this show is about the gypsy. You're right. You're right. 25 people, $500. Oh, my God. Is that the universe? Not even the net.

Yeah. You got raw. What do you think I speak for? Oh, my gosh. Well, everybody. The universe. Jeez Louise, Chuck. All right.

It will be. It will. Hey, what will be will be. 25. I don't think so. Chuck didn't want to. I think Chuck's sick of it, too. Bummer.

It's been a long couple days over here at the Thunderdome, obviously self-imposed. But we appreciate you all so much. over here to thunder them, obviously self-imposed. But we appreciate you all so much. We do wish that maybe we could become a society that doesn't just run with things that are not accurate, that then build up a narrative. And then the narrative is one that people will never change, even if it's not real at all and has been rebutted and proven to be wrong you're allowed to change your opinion on things you're allowed to as you develop and learn more information you're allowed to decide you know what i was wrong that's completely okay and in 2024 that's what we're gonna do hell yeah hell yeah included. We do it every single day.

You should see how much shit we're like, well, now I learned that. I'm in. Or now I learned that. That's part of life. We're very lucky to be able to do this

every single day for a living. It is stupid that we get to do this every single day for a living. We are thankful that this is our job. But I'll tell you what over the last couple days it has been exhausting you know and it has been something that

uh is not what i retired from kicking balls to do for sure so we're gonna get back to that hopefully talking balls having a good time and uh yeah just shit talking about sports especially because sports are needed in the world that we're in, in society. It will be needed going forward. Thank you all so much for watching. Thank you to all our guests today. Add Reece Davis to the bunch. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. A lot of people today. Yeah. Tons. Back lineup. Fun lineup. Oh, yeah. Big News Thursday is over.

We'll see you tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. Goodbye.