The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1059 - The Dallas Cowboys Retain Mike McCarthy, Dan Orlovsky, P.K. Subban, Coach Chuck Pagano LIVE In The ThunderDome, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: January 18, 2024

On today’s show, Pat, Chuck Pagano, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about Mike McCarthy officially being retained by the Dallas Cowboys despite everyone calling for him to be fired, and some of the other coaching interviews including Kliff Kingsbury interviewing for the Bears OC position, David Shaw interviewing with the Chargers for their vacant Head Coaching position, Bill Belichick doing another interview with the Atlanta Falcons, and which other positions are seemingly already filled as we also look ahead to the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Joining the progrum to chat about the Mike McCarthy situation and why he wanted him gone, Mike Tomlin staying in Pittsburgh, Jerod Mayo’s first press conference in New England, and what he expects out of the Divisional Round matchups is 12 year NFL veteran at Quarterback and ESPN NFL analyst, Dan Orlovsky (20:47-54:02). Later, 13 year NHL veteran, 4x NHL All-Star, and now ESPN NHL analyst, P.K. Subban joins the show to chat about the Oilers hot streak and why Conor McDavid is putting together one of the best seasons ever, Sidney Crosby’s continued dominance, which teams will be buyers and sellers at the deadline, and what happened to his beloved Cowboys (2:03:39-2:25:21). Make sure you subscribe to YouTube.com/thepatmcafeeshow to watch the show. Or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. See you tomorrow, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome. On this Coach-a-Moth Thursday, January 18th, 2024, this sports program starts now. Football! It's the topic of conversation damn near every single day today, but I believe we'll also chat a little bit about basketball in a second hour. Okay. And the NHL obviously took the topic of conversation yesterday as we talked to Marc-Andre Fleury. There's a chance we talk to P.K. Subban today in the third hour talking about the NHL.

We're doing all the sports, but the sports that we normally cover, football, both college and the NFL, more specifically the NFL, has a lot popping off right now in the coach conversation. Now, Bill Belichick allegedly going to be the Atlanta Falcons' next head coach. Mike Tomlin back with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has a press conference talking about the decision that he's coming back, whether he was going to step away or potentially they were going to move on from Mike Tomlin, which some people were throwing out into the universe.

His press conference will start in a matter of moments. When it starts, we will certainly bring it up and hear what Mike Tomlin has to say because if you do recall, whenever he's in front of a microphone, it is good TV. His quotes are fantastic and even when he says absolutely nothing it is hysterical mike mccarthy spoke earlier today he is being retained as the dallas cowboys head coach even though the entire world seemingly outside of the dallas cowboys locker room wanted him to get fired so we'll have some clips from big mike mccarthy's press conference that was about an ago. Mike Tomlin's press conference should be starting in about a matter of moments.

And there's so much more to chit-chat about. I'm lucky to do it every single day alongside the toxic table. At Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. I love the elephant because, you know, I might forgive, but I won't forget. That's a big-brained animal right there on your chest. Bingo. And just like you mentioned in the intro, you know, Gerard Mayo comes out and has a great press conference.

Of course, there has to be somebody that gets pissed off about it. Now, did I see people calling him racist going into it? No, I did not see that happening. That is what happened. So, you know, I brought out the elephant because, yeah, sure, people can say a lot of things, especially now. I love that nobody really liked it outside of New England. So it's a great day

to be talking football. Love that Gerard Mayo is the lead man for New England. Yeah, I did see that he was called racist. Yeah, that's right. I did see that they were going after him. I appreciated the personality that he had. Bingo. I appreciated that he was wide open.

I'm hearing a lot of stories from ex-teammates of his and people that know him pretty well. Seems like Gerard Mayo is a dog. And when he's chit-chatting about what they're going to do with the number three overall pick, that never happens in New England. Never. He even alluded to, like, you know, our relationship with the press is going to be better. You know, like, our coordinators, offensive and defense coordinators,

are going to have titles because those matter for people's professions and their careers and their lives. It feels like Gerard Mayo was saying, hey, we appreciate what Bill Belichick has built. No one more than me. Bingo. They actually call me Gerard Belichick. I'm very lucky. I played for him, won for him, coached for him, coached with him. It's like than me. Bingo. They actually call me Gerard Belichick. I'm very lucky. I played for him, won

for him, coached for him, coached with him. He loves everything about him. But he was, I think, the only human that could come out and say, but we are going to evolve a good bit without being attacked potentially by Patriots fans saying, oh, you're better than Bill Belichick already on your first day. I love the press conference that

he had. I appreciate the fact that everybody's trying to kill him, and this is how it's going to be. And Gerard, I just want to let you know, as somebody new to potentially the head coaching line, they're going to be coming for everything you say. Forever. Okay, so there's a chance you do just move to the we're on to Cincinnati instead of

giving actual answers, because everybody wants transparency from people that are in the limelight, but then whenever they get transparency, they go bananas about the answer that they get, causing the people to potentially get scared and never say anything again. So we would like to let you draw a mail. It's your league, Drod. Your team, you're allowed to say whatever the hell you want.

Ty Schmidt, Jordan Love was ranked the fifth scariest quarterback on Dan's A-list earlier today on First Take. Seems like the Jordan Love kind of slander. You can find it if you want to still look for it, even though he has been absolutely bawling as of late. That's fine. People can say what they want about Jordan Love.

They can bring up the clip from draft night and say, hey, you guys thought he sucked from the get-go. Not true. Been on the Jordan Love train this entire season, and it's just nice to kind of see him finally start to put things together. I'm ready for Saturday. I'm sure he is, too. One half of the hammer, down. Cowboys Town

Diggs is your big Pittsburgh Steelers fan and 36 years of coaching football. Chuck Pagano is here. Mike Tomlin is speaking. Let's get to that right now. Probably not the place to address contract issues and things of that nature. It's just a very individual thing and on game day

I doubt any of us are in that mindset. Certainly I am not. What's required to do what it is that we do, the amount of focus pouring into a collective, I'm just not in that mind state, and I just don't believe that's the appropriate venue to talk about things of that nature. I'm certainly open and willing to do it today in this venue. In assessing our last performance in the season, you know, I'm proud of the guys. I'm proud of their fight. I'm certainly disappointed that we're not preparing to play this week. I know that they are. It comes to a screeching halt.

These are awkward days kind of at the end of the season. And so we're finding our footing. We're doing appropriate things. Exit interviews, I'm in the midst of beginning those things with players and staffing. The players themselves are exiting appropriately, meeting with coaches, departmental meetings, training staff, equipment, strength and conditioning, etc., nutrition. Those are the things that kind

of go on this time of year in an effort to review what transpired, to gather information all so that when the time is right, man, we start building for 2024. We do so with that information, with those lessons learned, with that experience individually and collectively. And so we've got a lot of work ahead of us. There were some things to be proud of. Obviously, there's some things that require a lot of attention and work. But first and foremost, man, we got to information gather. We got to assess what transpired. Those who are lacking health obviously have to address that sooner rather than later. We're not into medical issues lingering into the offseason. We probably have a few surgeries scheduled.

I don't have that list. Nothing major, some cleanup procedural things, but nothing major. TJ's rehabilitation is going well. He probably would have been available had we played this week. Got a couple guys in the concussion protocol from the last performance, Joey Porter Jr. and Allen Robinson. I imagine that that is running its course. Joey Porter Jr. and Allen Robinson. I imagine that that is running its course.

The rest of the things are exit interview in nature, cleanups, et cetera. We got some guys that are on IR, that have been on IR, that their rehabilitation processes are running their courses. From a coaching perspective, obviously, things never stay the same. I'm appreciative of this collective and what they were willing to do, all the while understanding that there will be changes. I think those of us that are in this business understand that. That's good. We'll thoughtfully and intentionally go about that

um just really at the infancy of of that as well um in terms of gathering information about outside candidates and what the process of interviewing looks like in 2024 particularly from the coordinator perspective there's some procedural things that you got to go through in an effort to be compliance with in compliance with new york We'll respect those things and go about those things appropriately. But more than anything, man, I'm just disappointed we're not working. I understand the road gets narrow, but, man, we worked 12 months to be on it, and we have to acknowledge that we're not. There are consequences of that obviously and so it's tough but we're built for it. This is the life we chose, man.

It's an honor to lead this group, to chase what it is that we're chasing continually. I'll pause and open it up for questions. chasing continually. Relentlessly. I'll pause and open it up for questions. Mike, do you foresee either Eddie or Mike Sullivan being candidates for... Mike Tomlin speaking to the media and to us

for the first time since it has been announced that he's been brought back. I think big news there for Steelers fans listening. More specifically, a cowboy here, a hammered down cowboy. He said procedural things are the only thing kind of holding up, maybe changing the coordinators. But we did hear that we're changing the coordinators, it sounds like, which is not a normal situation for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

You got jacked up about that. Yeah, at least he's talking about making changes at those positions because I love the whole opening. I love Coach G. Just listening to him talk, it makes you kind of drills that home how much I love him. And then the fact that he said we have to go

through the correct channels with New York, meaning he can't interview coordinators until after the divisional round for teams that are still in the playoffs. I enjoyed hearing round for teams that are still in the playoffs. I enjoyed hearing that because those teams are still in the playoffs for a reason. And I think a lot of Steelers fans are hoping they go outside of the building because they've just hired from within, obviously, the last seven years and it hasn't worked.

So I think that's the correct direction to go, and I'm excited that's the direction they're at least going to look at. How about this? Mike Tomlin, a very loyal human. Yes. Very loyal coach. Always has been. They have hired from within.

If you're one of his guys, you're going to move up the ranks. If you last long enough, that's kind of how it's always been. They've always had success over there. Obviously, 17 years above.500. The playoff record, though, has not been seven years since a win. Has not been something that the Pittsburgh, the Yinzers people, have not been exactly thrilled about because they would like to still be in the football conversation. Just like Tomlin said, I wish

we were still working. The road does get narrow, he says. Great metaphor for only eight teams remaining in the entire NFL. Whenever you hear him talk, Chuck, what are you thinking? And who's the proper guy, you think, to maybe go in there? They need something explosive? Do they need a full change-up? What do you think this message is saying to the locker room

and to the Steelers fans? Chuck? Yeah, I think a lot of it is just standard protocol for teams that are no longer competing, no longer playing. Love listening to them. Yeah, visiting with the players right now, doing all those

exit interviews. He talked about a lot of different things, a lot of different departments. This takes time. But initially, you're going to handle your players because they're wanting to get the hell out of Dodge. They've got plans to probably get somewhere that's a little bit warmer than here, a little bit warmer than Pittsburgh.

Not more beautiful than Pittsburgh. Trying to do that, but you've got to have those interviews. He's obviously met with Rooney's talk to Omar. What's obviously met with Rooney's, talked to Omar. What's the vision? What's the plan? Those will be ongoing since he did say, hey, look, I'm coming back for 2024.

He's in the last year of his contract. I find it hard to believe that this organization, being how they operate, three coaches in the last 58, 59, 60 years, right? 100 years, yeah. Whatever you want to call it. I find it hard to believe that they're going to let him unless he chooses. Like, okay, I want to do this. I'm going to bet on myself, whatever.

He doesn't really have to say that, do that, looking at his resume and his track record. But I find it hard that they would allow him to go into this last season with just one year left on his contract. I don't think that will be the case. Okay, so they'll renegotiate that. He'll probably get a couple years extension, whatever he wants, I assume, for however long he's thinking about coaching.

He told the players in the locker room it's all nonsense. Anybody talking about him stepping away, that is not the case. Still, a football guy will always be a football guy. I appreciate, though, that they're making some changes. Now, not big changes that some people were potentially hoping for. Seems like a lot of people are calling for people to lose jobs these days.

But if you look around real quick, Steelers stick with Tomlin. Dallas Cowboys stick with Mike McCarthy. Saints stick with Dennis Allen. I mean, there's a lot of teams sticking with their coach. Jets stick with Robert Sala, even though Belichick, who's allegedly already going to Atlanta, second interview taking place now, first one maybe on a yacht

with just Arthur Blank, one-on-one, three and a half, four hours, they're just talking about the team, where Bill is, where Blank is, life probably, what type of wine you like, probably in there getting to know each other, would this be able to work between ownership and coach, now he's

going down to meet the executive level, which I would assume would be Terry and anybody, the lead counsel probably, everybody they've got going down there. But a lot of people are kind of saying that's already taken place. So Harbaugh would be the one that you would potentially look at your coach and say, is my coach better than Harbaugh?

Vrabel would be a guy that you'd look at your coach and go, is my coach better than Vrabel? Seemingly, around the NFL, everybody's been like, yeah, we're going to stick with our guy no matter who's available at this particular juncture. The Mike McCarthy stand there, boy. Dallas Cowboys fans were not happy. So mad.

Not only Dallas Cowboys fans, there were sports pundits from all around. We'll talk to Dan Orlovsky in about seven minutes. Dan Orlovsky put out into the public, as a person who speaks about the NFL on a daily basis, a man who's been in the NFL on a regular basis, they're not trying to win the Super Bowl. Nope. Okay. Not serious about winning the Super Bowl.

All talk. The Dallas Cowboys are all talk about winning the Super Bowl because they kept Mike McCarthy as their head coach was Dan Orlovsky's first response. Now, I assume that was an emotional response in the moment because he had been expecting them to potentially move on from Mike McCarthy and I believe he was probably saying it publicly so now what he has been saying publicly is wrong in the actual happening so he's probably in the middle of it he wasn't the only one though no everybody was basically like they're keeping this big fat stooge from Pittsburgh in here they're not trying to to win at all. This guy goes 12-5, 12-5, 12-5 to first year he was. Six and ten, I think.

And Tony, you kind of became the guy on the internet. Definitely. Not kind of. You kind of became the guy. Face. Everybody was saying, what are they doing? Get rid of this guy. And I think we would have been indifferent.

I would have been indifferent with it all. Absolutely. Him staying. We got another Yinser still as a head coach for the Dallas Cowboys. Good luck down there. It's the Dallas Cowboys. So always going to be talked about. Him getting fired.

Okay. I assume Big Mike will find another job if he wants to want to do this whole thing. I'm excited to see who they hire. This will be a good conversation for our show. So I was very indifferent. You, though, last night on the internet, you're like, you know what? It needs to be said. You started going to bat for Big Mike and for coaches sticking around,

and I think you should be pretty proud of yourself. Absolutely. I think you should be pretty proud of yourself. Great show. Tony Hogan. Great show. Hell, yeah. Coaches have to love this.

I didn't. I wasn't. I was probably asleep. I had your back, too, Chuck. That's awesome. It was past 6 o'clock. Well, no, I'm from Pittsburgh, and we just don't fire coaches there, like Chuck said, three since 70 when Noel took over.

And I don't know if I would have been indifferent to the Cowboys' decision, but I don't think I really cared too much last night until you put out your at-a-baby Big Mike tweet, and I put a happy for Big Mike tweet. And then I saw all the pundits who were, it was egregious that they're not trying to win a Super Bowl or a lot of people were giving out the definition of insanity. Which we have looked up before.

It's actually ineptitude. That is the repeated thing. Doing the same thing, expecting a different result. And especially for the Cowboys fans, I got people, listen, you come to Dallas to coach for championships. Well, they haven't had a championship in 30 years, so maybe their expectations should be a little different, but

12-5 the last three seasons and I was just like, Big Mike has the same record basically as Sean Payton, Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh. Now, you're not hearing a lot of currently right now about any of those guys that like when Mike Tomlin was coming back and kept, there wasn't be outside of Pittsburgh. Okay. Outside of Pittsburgh, the national media wasn't attacking saying Mike Tomlin, that the Steelers organization

doesn't want to win a Superbowl. No one's attacking right now after the Broncos season that, and what happened with Russ that Sean Payton needs to go out. No one's saying Harbaugh right now needs to go to the one seed in the playoffs. So it came back, and I looked a little bit. Andy Reid over his first four seasons with the Chiefs after being successful at another organization with the Eagles, just like Big Mike was successful at the Packers. Andy Reid basically had the exact same record situation as Big Mike does in his last three.

He was 11-5, I think, 11-5 in a 12-4, 1-3 in playoffs. And then, okay, Andy Reid gets Patrick Mahomes. Quarterback's got a little bit to deal with it. Hold on, you're saying Dak Prescott's not a good quarterback, then? A lot of Cowboys fans are playing at both sides. They're saying Dak Prescott's a terrible quarterback, but Big Mike needs a win with Dak Prescott as well. What I'm saying is the Chiefs stuck with Andy Reid,

and look what's going on there. Of the teams that are currently in the divisional, Andy Reid's been on the hot seat, and I found articles for all these. Harbaugh was on the hot seat last year. MCDC's been on the hot seat. Shanahan's been on the hot seat because he can't win the big one. Now he's not in the divisional right now. Zach Taylor was on the hot seat because he had two horrible first seasons,

but then you get Joe Burrow, a quarterback, and things turn around. Now, it's just like maybe, but the Cowboys have a way more talented roster than all these other teams. Okay, people say the Chargers have a talented roster. They fired a coach, though. They had a, yeah. By the way, PFF folks, they were all saying,

oh, you need to talk to Bobby Slowick, you know, guys, PFF, Wasn't Staley your guys' guy? Wasn't Brandon Staley? But that's what I'm saying. You could have – Not getting into it today. Easy, Chuck. Would you rather have Big Mike going 12-5 every season

or with a talented roster, or would you rather have Staley with a talented roster and not making the playoffs and stuff like that and having to get fired? And I'm just some slappy, okay, who doesn't know shit. I know that. I know that. I get that. But you know who has a similar mindset to me? Saints GM Mickey Loomis, who has been there for over 20 years

and has a Super Bowl, and this is what he had to say yesterday about Dennis Allen. Bill Belichick. Here's his first three seasons, 6-10, 7-9, 7-9. Tom Landry, 0-11. Can't do that, Tom. 4-9, 5-8, 4-10, 7 and 9. Tom Landry, 0 and 11. Can't do that, Tom. 4 and 9, 5 and 8, 4 and 10, 5 and 8. Are you kidding me?

Bill Walsh, first year, 2 and 14, second year, 6 and 10. I'm not going to be able to hear the stats, Tom. The easy thing to do is look at the results and say, oh, no, we've got to have a change. You've got to look beyond that. What are the reasons why we were 9-8 instead of 13-4? And look, it's collective. It's the players. It's the coaches.

It's me. It's our personnel staff, our roster. It's variables, sometimes that we don't have any control of. Dennis Allen is a good coach. And again, with Sean Payton, we went 10-6 the first year, but then we were 7-9, 8-8, and I heard some of the same noise. But at the time, I knew we had a good football coach. And so I think sometimes the hard thing to do is to be patient

and recognize your other shortcomings and get those fixed, and that's what we're doing. Well, there's a shortcoming you got, Bowen. It's chewing gum directly into a damn microphone. I almost just exploded there, and it's hard to listen to that. But what he's saying, you go back to some of the greatest coaches of all time, obviously the first couple years might be a little bit difficult. They might be trying to find their way, might be trying to build their culture.

Seemingly, Mike McCarthy, four years in, 12-5, 12-5, 12-5, has a culture. A lot of his members of his team have come out. Jake Ferguson put out a tweet basically about Big Mike. Many, many, many, many, many, many men wish that Pommy dog I don't cry no more. Now, he was talking about how people wanted Mike McCarthy out of there. And he stuck up for him. Obviously, we all know No. 87 has been a stallion for the Dallas Cowboys.

One of the many men who wanted to wish death upon Mike McCarthy's tenure at the Dallas Cowboys is this guy. Ladies and gentlemen, Dan Orlovsky. Dan Orlovsky. Dan Orlovsky. Ferguson was tweeting directly at you and the others that wanted big Mike McCarthy out of Dallas. at you and the others that wanted Big Mike McCarthy out of Dallas. We just heard Mickey Loomis

in between gum chews directly into it. I'm losing my mind. I can't even do it. What's that called? It's called something. Misophonia or something like that? Yeah, my dad chews. He literally drives me crazy. I always thought I was soft, but it turns

out it's actually a thing that a lot of people potentially have, misophonia or something like that, whatever the case. You've been calling for big change down there in Dallas. Now that he's around, after you heard him speak today, does it change? What are your thoughts on the Cowboys going forward? Because your initial thought, I think a little emotional response on Twitter was not serious about winning the Super Bowl, all talk.

So where do we stand as of this moment? And what happens if Big Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott just come Dak all over your face next year? Yeah, that's a weird word. Listen, I thought on Monday change was needed, given how the game went. Not that they just lost, given how the game went. Is it the right decision?

I think it's a mistake to keep Coach McCarthy. We'll find out in a year. This is what's going to happen. The Cowboys will be really good next season. Everyone will go, well, is this the time? Is this Dallas' best chance? And we'll all probably go like, yeah, because they're really good. And then they'll go to the playoffs and they'll lay an egg like usual.

So, like, that's just what they are. So, let me hear this out of Big Mike McCarthy's camp, or from you, I guess. Stephen A laid out a great – he had Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers. Now he's got Dak Prescott. And Stephen A, I think he alluded to it. You guys tell me he's great.

He only has one Super Bowl throughout this entire thing or whatever. His offense is, though, always renowned as good. Always. Right? It feels like Mike McCarthy. So he's obviously reaching the offensive players, motivating the offensive players, inspiring the offensive players in the locker room.

Why do you think he potentially, or the Cowboys inevitably, are being labeled as a team that just will, their last game of the season will be a lay of an egg? Why do you think that happened to the Dallas Cowboys do you think maybe they just didn't have a good one and it all came together in a spot where the Green Bay Packers the fifth scariest quarterback Jordan Love was uh that's on your list was Dyson like why do you think it happened and how is Mike McCarthy potentially the one that should shoulder the blame for what happened to the Cowboys in your eyes I'm not

saying you're wrong yeah well why did it happen is it was a bad matchup from the beginning because of the things that Green Bay excels at they put Jordan under center they go a ton 12 personnel they run a ton of pre-stop motion to play action that is stuff that throughout this season Dallas has struggled with the next level is they were absolutely outcoached. There's no question about it. Dallas defensively aligned multiple times against the looks that Green Bay had, and you were sitting there going, there's no way that you can, human being-wise, stop a team from running the football here. And that's what happened. Or they handled motion. Dude, I have clips, Pat, where they would motion Jaden Reed, Green Bay would be. And if you're a Packers fan, you know that kid is unbelievably talented and fast. And they would run a linebacker with him in man coverage. That's bad coaching. Dan Quinn knows a thousand percent more football than I do defensively, but that's bad coaching. And then offensively, I had someone look this up.

Green Bay, who has not been good on defense this year. Bryce Young and Tommy DeVito played against them and got NFC Players of the Week. This past week was the closest they have been coverage-wise when it comes to some of the numbers that say average yards of separation. Their average yards of separation, when was their average yards of separation, when it means like their defenders to the offensive team, was the closest they've been all year. So that tells me they had a pretty good beat on what Dallas was trying to do, or pretty good feel for what Dallas was trying to do. So that game, yes, they were exposed

personnel-wise. We knew they don't have defensive tackles or inside linebackers but to get completely woodshedded like that is coaching but then that goes back to last year like they were out coached again in the san francisco game two years ago that game ends because of a clock management situation so like that's why you sit there and go no question mike mccarthy's a good coach no question but at some point we can't that's why i sit there and go, no question Mike McCarthy's a good coach. No question. But at some point, we can't. That's why I said you're not serious about a Super Bowl. Because if you were serious about a Super Bowl, you can sit there and go, Coach McCarthy's a good coach.

Not good enough for us to get to the Super Bowl. Got it. And are you feeling that way about all the jobs that are potentially sticking with their coaches? For instance, Steelers staying with Mike Tomlin, legend. Saints are staying with Dennis Allen. I assume saints are staying with dennis allen i assume chicago is staying with ibra flus like do you feel about all those just sirianni and philly do you feel about all those jobs the same way well no i think one dallas probably has the most stacked roster out of those that group that you just said um and the most talented i mean everyone continues to point to well 36 wins in three years for Mike McCarthy,

and that has to matter for something. Of course, like I'm not ignoring that. But in a division that has Washington and the Giants who have struggled, you should win a lot of games when you have a quarterback who's a top 10, top 12 player who played at MVP level this year, a wide receiver who was the offensive player of the year candidate, three all pros on your offensive line. You have a offensive player of the year candidate. Three all pros on your offensive line. You have a defensive player of the year candidate in Micah Parsons.

DeMarcus Lawrence is one of the best 10 to 12 to 15 defensive linemen in all of football. Trayvon Diggs, Deron Bland broke an NFL record for pick sixes, and you have an NFL defense that leads the NFL in takeaways. You should win a lot of games in that situation. Matt Iverflus is just taking over a bad situation in chicago um with the mike tomlin because people have compared then the whole comparison thing between mike tomlin and um mike mccarthy my point and that argument is this what coach overachieved and what coach underachieved given what their football team was and their

drafts over the past couple years and rosters and quarterback spot what coach overachieved and what coach underachieved it's not even close between the two situations so i don't look at them as as the same no well the season's ended both the same weekend uh so i understand where you're coming from dan i just you know it's tough like because there's a chance and there's been so many examples in the past. Mickey Loomis went through it, and obviously Andy Reid had this situation take place. It's like that Dallas Cowboys team could go win it all next year. For sure.

It could, but that's kind of the story of the Dallas Cowboys, I guess, which is what he's kind of chatting about. All these places could just go be great, and you just have to take it all back. Do you ever think about that whenever you're like, this guy should be fired? You ever think about that on TV? Because a lot of people hear everything we say. I'm learning. I'm learning very quickly.

You know, I'm learning. Yeah. Listen, dude, like, I'll share a story with you when it comes to the whole, like, fire the coach thing that we sometimes get put into these situations, right? So when I was younger, this is an honest story. So when I was young, like, my first or second year on TV type of thing, I went really hard at Matt Nagy when he was the head coach of the Chicago Bears. And no question crossed a line of, in your opinion, do you think this coach should get fired or not? I went really hard at him. And in the moment, I'm thinking, well, this is what you do in this television world, you know? And, and I had the chance, he actually like wanted to talk to me

this past year in Germany and really good conversation. And he had the chance to kind of open my eyes to the other part of that, you know, and Hey, like, Hey, when you're doing this and I know you have a job to do, there's a, there's a part of this that, you know, the personal and the line and the families and all that, that are connected to it and the kids. And so I kind of made that decision of like, Hey, I'm not just going to go and crush these guys that I think in those situations, when you're asked fired or not, and I try to, in your opinion,

football wise, do you think that person should be the coach or not get fired so and when i've answered that question this week i've tried to even with nick sirianni kind of use the phrasing or the words of like by the way this team played and the way that their tape looks you can justify that coach no longer be the coach or that coach being fired so i'm you know it's it's a delicate balance we're placing those situations where we're asked those questions I'm trying to not keep it personal or make it personal yes yeah I well I appreciate the growth there and I assume big Mike McCarthy is not

going to hear the football side of it from Dan Orlovsky I assume Dan Orlovsky's just going well it was Dan no you know that's Mike McCarthy's asking that today to family members that are telling him about what you're saying because you're one of the leading pundits for the entire NFL. So whenever you say something, obviously it matters a lot. We're all listening to it as is the entire NFL. I appreciate you taking your stand. You did.

But boy, Mike McCarthy has Dan Orlovsky's face, I assume. Right there in the office. In the office. It's the reality I assume. Right there in the office. In the office. It's the reality for us. I have to be... I also am a person who's fortunate enough to call games.

I could potentially be saying, having an opinion about something, and then I got to go sit down and talk with that coach. It's just the reality of the business. Hey, that's not a good time.'s college stuff you know we do that college football stuff and my first year full-time on game day like picking games i'm just like yeah this team oh this team sticks it's like obviously they don't stick this team is pretty good but in the moment when i'm picking against

it and then like two weeks later, we're on that campus. It's not just like I'm meeting the guy that I said, this guy can't get his team motivated. I'm also the whole fan. All their fans are sitting four feet behind me. I'm like, going to run into these people. Radio Row, same exact thing. Whenever we're talking about people, it's him.

Yeah, they all got to run into us now. After everything they've said all year, that should be a fun time. I mean, two years ago, Coastal Carolina, you chose the other team just to howl. Yeah, that's it. Not because you knew anything about it. These Chanticleers don't have a chance today. Give me Arkansas State, the Red Wolves. Howl!

Just so I could howl. Literally, that's all. I just wanted to howl. I thought it was a hilarious thing. And then all of a sudden, I got a hit piece basically coming out from the Coastal Carolina. Hey, Patty boy. Yeah. Videos come videos come like oh my god everybody hears everything so i appreciate that you understand that you try not to keep it personal but boy some of the stuff you say it's like damn it feels like this guy would like this this guy loses his job but it's a part of the

business tommen alluded to it mike mccarthy alluded to it everybody alluded to it now with that being said a couple bigtime games coming up. Tony, there's a question for you. Yeah, there is, Dan. You talk about the Cowboys and how they have a great roster. There's a couple teams with great rosters this weekend in the Bills and Niners that haven't won the big one. Are either of those two coaches potentially on the hot seat

if they don't win this weekend? I don't think so. I think the fact that the Bengals are in the final eight, given kind of the injuries that they've dealt with and then also, obviously, the coaching change. You know, this team lost starting defensive tackle, who's one of their best defensive players, middle linebacker, who's not one of their best defensive players,

one of the best defensive players in all football. Starting corner, who's one of their best defensive players, middle linebacker, who's not one of their best defensive players, one of the best defensive players in all football, starting corner who's one of their best cover guys. They lost to those guys. And the fact that Sean McDermott has gotten that team to this place in the midst of coaching change on offense when everyone was like, whoa, your offense is good, but why are you changing coaches? And then obviously the piece that came out about some of his team meeting language or motivation tactic. what was that dan what was that what was that i don't think i

saw that i was so yeah i was i had my blinders on for what we had going on google it google it man it's it's uh you know there there was there was some stuff that was shared about team meeting so i think the fact that he's gotten this team. He had to apologize like an hour later. Right. That's what. Yeah. What?

Yeah, I remember that. And I also think he's got Josh playing at the best version of Josh. And then for San Francisco, no, it's just Kyle's too good. Kyle would get picked up in a heartbeat. I think Sean McDermott as well. So I don't think either of those games are easy wins for those home teams. I don't. I don't think any game this weekend is an easy win,

which is going to be great for the NFL. But I think both those guys are unequivocally safe. Five blowouts last week. Hopefully these four are good ones, two Saturday, two Sunday. Cannot wait to watch. A couple big spreads, though, which is telling us that Vegas thinks maybe there will be a little bit of an underwhelming game or two. But with all these teams, anybody can go win it.

I mean, any of them. Houston Texans, why not? Why not? You know, Baltimore Ravens, here we go. Now's your time. Especially with home field advantage. Baltimore is beautiful. That stadium, the way those fans will be going bananas, that'll be a real home field advantage. Why not the Green Bay Packers? Speaking of, Ty has a question for you.

Dan O? Yeah, Dan, good to see you're alive and well after, you know, I assumed this morning when you came on and did your top five scariest quarterbacks left in the NFL and you were dancing, I thought you melted the Seaport Studios. I mean, this was just the definition of someone in their bag feeling it. Absolutely loved it. I might need a dance lesson or two from you.

That's really bad. Is this your first time seeing it, Dan. Is this your first time seeing it, Dan? Is this your first time seeing it? Yeah, you could see in the camera I can see myself and all I just kept thinking was white and long arms. Oh, whoa, racist. Easy.

Get him off the screen. Not on this show, Dan. Son of a bitch. Not on this show. But yeah, of a bitch. Not on this show! But yeah, you look the whitest I've ever seen a human look on television. Yeah, that was the most Caucasian thing I've ever seen. You know, your head and your arms are not timed up. It looked like you knew what was supposed to happen, but didn't fully know how to execute it.

It's like when you did the gritty. You had it, but just your natural bones. I can't put my finger on it, but for one reason or another, everything just couldn't really tie together. But we do appreciate that you really went for it. I loved how loose you were. You could tell you were just having fun up there.

When you look at your list, I understand Lamar and Josh Allen with the running component, but Jordan Love at five, I think you could argue that he is playing just as good if not better than anyone else playing quarterback in the NFL right now so what what is like the scary aspect of it like how did you decide that and also scarameter yeah the scarameter if you will um and then when you look at this weekend

like if he does play like he has the last couple weeks and last week, especially how likely or possible is it that the Packers do go into Santa Clara and beat the 49ers? Yeah. So I think like for that list context, you know, I'm trying to, I'm trying to take the player and the way that the player is playing and also understand of what they're up against.

And obviously, you know, going up against San Francisco's defense is a big challenge for Jordan Love. So it's like that's part of that conversation. I think Jordan's playing tremendous. I don't think there's a lot of quarterbacks, if any, that you could sit there and say, hey, that person's clearly playing better. Here's the difference. Do I think they can go there and say, hey, that person's clearly playing better. Here's the difference. And do I think they can go there and win? I do. I think that, one, Matt LaFleur has done such a

great job. And that's really the change since, I don't know, week nine or week 10 tie is they sat there and said, hey, he's talented. We have to protect him. So every play LaFleur starts with, how do we protect him. Sometimes it's extra tight ends. Sometimes it's, you know, they did a great job this week. Aaron Jones was always the person that they play fake at Micah Parsons with. So then he could ship Micah Parsons. So I think that helps a goal when he gets the San Francisco defense.

Jordan's been great versus zone defense here recently. San Francisco runs a ton of zone. The little hesitation I have in this game directly with Jordan versus that defense is everybody has fallen in love with like the sloppy mechanics, throw fade away, you know, off my back foot throw. And it's awesome. And he's one of those rare guys that could do it. And it's great. But when you play against a team that San Francisco is, from their defensive line rush perspective, more fundamental and disciplined than Dallas. Dallas wants to just create chaos when they rush you.

That's all they want. They want to create chaos. But when you create chaos, you can create some seams. That's throwing a wicks is sick. It's definitely sick. So you can move a little bit you saw him move a little bit San Francisco doesn't do that San Francisco wants the walls to cave in on you with your Rush so mechanically you're gonna have to be a little bit more on top of it and a little bit more in rhythm and in time because they will play that zone

defense and not man defense so you're not going to have you know dobbs running one way and then completely on the other way and losing defenders so there's going to be moments where you sit there and go again some of those awesome athletic throws they're great but you can you can get burned with them as well and that's my only hesitation Playing against a great zone defense Jordan Love has seemingly made all those off-balance Throws for like the last 10 weeks Like it's just a part of who he is Like Patrick Mahomes has this capability

To make absurd throws Feels like, and obviously Patrick Mahomes Multiple Super Bowls, multiple MVPs He's the next one, everybody's going to be comparing everybody to But Jordan seemingly has the same I mean we've seen a couple Like baseball whip He's the next one everybody's going to be comparing everybody to. But Jordan seemingly has the same. I mean, we've seen a couple. Baseball whip.

He is so cool. And he's this big. Hasn't even started. Because he still has that in his game, too. Now, granted, taking on that San Francisco 49ers defense, Bosa's had like two weeks off. They fly around. Yeah, they are some hunters.

How about Fred? We haven't seen him play in weeks. Greenlaw. Oh, my God. We forgot about that. Yep. I can't wait to watch Jordan Love actually joust with them. Now, Jordan Love jousted last week with the Dallas Cowboys defense,

which everybody said was very good as well, until it wasn't. Coach Pagano has a question for you, Dan. So, back to Dallas, Dan, with Dan Quinn. Number one, two-parter, number one, do you think he's still, I know he's interviewing at a bunch of these places, do you think he's going to be a head coach in the league this year? Is he going to be the head coach at Seattle? Let's say he doesn't get one, do you anticipate him going back to Dallas? You talked a lot ad nauseum this morning and in the past about the roster,

about things that are coming. They're going to have to pay the quarterback. They're going to have to pay CD. They're going to have to pay Micah Parsons. But just looking at the personnel and the breakdown of that defense, is this thing too predictable? Do they need to change on defense there? Do they bring Dan Quinn back? And when they lost Vander Esch and you're playing with those two undersized inside linebackers and trying to stop a team like we saw Arizona do it to them, right, early in the year over in Arizona and just run downhill at those guys.

We saw what Green Bay did to them. So is Dan going to be a head coach? And if he does come back – and I also wonder about the personnel decisions. Does that fall on Mike? Does that fall on Dan? Did they go to Dan? Did they go to Steven? Did they go to Jerry and say, hey, look, we need some inside line, and they just didn't address it? Yeah, Coach, great to hear from you, man, and great questions. I think Dan

Quinn gets a job, yes. I think, you know, obviously that game was poor, but you could sit there and point to, well, you know, at least run game wise, we weren't set up to defend it with humans. I would push back on the, well, how do you mess up so many different motions and the lack of communication on your back end? And that wasn't the only game that it got exposed in Buffalo, obviously San Francisco, obviously. Buffalo, obviously, San Francisco, obviously. But I do think that, you know, depending on what happens with Coach Belichick and if Harbaugh goes to the NFL or not, like some team is going to sit there and go, hey, you know, because of the impact that he's had on Dallas, he's going to get a head coaching job. In the world that he doesn't, I would imagine he goes back to Dallas.

Coach, my answer, and I would love for your perspective on it is this. I think Dallas absolutely, Coach, you can I would love for your perspective on it is this. I think Dallas absolutely coaches. You can't play defense in the NFL right now at a high level. If you don't have a good spine, you better 10 years ago, you can get away with not having great off ball inside linebackers. You can't anymore. We're cyclical teams are figuring it out. We'll put big bodies on the field and we'll pound the football at you. And if you don't have real linebackers, you're going to struggle.

Watch San Francisco this next weekend. Watch Baltimore play this next weekend. So I think they've got to get back to getting fielded. Unbelievable. I think they've got to get back to having two real linebackers. And I think they've got to beef up the interior of their defense. But fundamentally and starting point for me is this. I think they've got to get to a defense that isn't solely dependent on

we're good when. They're good when they get takeaways. Or we're good when we get a lead. I look at it in Baltimore. I look at it with San Francisco. But with Houston, those defenses suffocate you. They're not dependent on taking the ball away. They are dependent on shutting down the run, tackling well in space, getting off the field on third down. That's suffocating because as an offense, when you play against a

team that's dependent on takeaways, well, if you focus on that and emphasize it and we make it a very clear message, and if we make that the number one key in the game we got a chance and i think dallas and dan quinn got to get to a point where like they they're not just dependent on the takeaways to your point there packers win the toss take the ball we need to have a lead against this team that's how this needs to go that's how we need to attack this entire dallas cowboys team hopefully big mike mccarthy realizes that and i think he does. He's a little emotional today, obviously.

I talked to the boys that were in with Jerry. He's a little raw right now. He wants to spend some time with his family while Dan Orlovsky's trying to shit me out of town. So that's what he's saying. But you're right. I think we all kind of seemed what was exposed by the Dallas Cowboys in the biggest moment.

I don't know how they changed that, though. I don't know. We actually talked, though. I don't know. We actually talked to somebody yesterday and said, maybe the complex is too nice. Yeah. Who was that? Too cushy. JJ, wasn't it?

Yeah, JJ Watson. Their facility is the nicest thing I've ever been. It's like a spaceship. You say, maybe it's too nice. Maybe people get a little bit too comfortable down there. So in those massive moments, it's like, oh, they tighten up because all of a sudden it matters. But they have all the skill. They have the ability. They have the resources. And

they have an 82-year-old owner who decided, I'm not dealing with all the bullshit of rebuilding with a new coach. We're going to stick with this. We're going to do it. I'm excited to see what they become. Now, with that being said, Tone has a question for you, Dano. Yeah, Dano, not us. Not us. No one here. Okay. But there's some people on the internet who are saying all the jobs that you're saying that you could see that they move on, that you want the OC for those jobs. Now, you didn't say – you didn't list Pittsburgh in one of those jobs where you said people should move on.

And Tomlin said today that they're going to go outside and they're going to hire a new offensive coordinator and that Kenny Pickett is going to be quarterback one, or as of right now, he is quarterback one. You don't want that oc job because of kenny or what's the situation there and where honestly where do you think they should go outside potentially yeah um i i am not not uh marketing myself for any oc job if i ever got a call for it and did get a call i would obviously take the interview, but once again, not marketing myself. You heard him, Sirianni.

Once again, not marketing myself, but wife from Philly, you know, didn't know. There's some other places, maybe, but if somebody wants to call, I'm not begging for these jobs. No. But I'm certainly listening. Who would I be? I'll pick up. Not to listen. We understand, Dan.

Can I answer the question? Yeah, well, you did. You did answer the question. Two different ways, though. But it was beautifully done. I think here's where I am, John. If you look at the final eight teams right now, six of them are from the

like Coach Harbaugh and John Harbaugh called it the McShanahan tree. The McVay or Shanahan tree. I'm a big believer in that offense. I think that offense always gives you a chance to play well, both in balance and at the quarterback spot. So if I was Pittsburgh, you know, I think Mike Sullivan and Eddie Faulkner did a really good job of giving them an identity and solidifying something.

But I would be entertaining trying to find a coach from that world, the Clint Kubiak, a Brian Greasy, somebody from that tree that I know knows that offense and can call plays. And I'd say this about Kenny. I would be pretty adamant that we needed to bring in competition for that spot and high-end competition. If Kenny beats him him out then we're in a good place but i with coach tom and i don't think you can go into next year thinking just kenny pickett okay well kenny pickett has you know a lot to prove because he's seen mason rudolph and what's possible with the weapons that they have on that team well the offense quiz another offense

though kenny you know for them to try to learn I appreciate that they're going to try to figure it out outside. Last time they did this, Todd Haley? Yes. And that had great success. Yeah, it was incredible. Shane Waldron would be another name that I would throw in there from Seattle. He's really good, loves using tight ends. Obviously, Pittsburgh has a couple good ones. That would be another one I would entertain.

Darnell Washington, Pat Fryer. Me! Conman has a question for you, Dan. Yeah, Dan. Hair, beard, and makeup looks fantastic today. Yeah, guys. Really good. Really good.

You just look incredible. Obviously, big news in New England is Gerard Mayo being the head coach. Now, his press conference went on yesterday. There were a lot of comments about it on both sides. Some people said that he was kind of racist because he saw color. Other people said, hey, this guy might just be a fraud. People in New England, I believe, are very happy about it. You're in Connecticut, kind of the state that wishes it was part of New England.

How do you feel, and what are the kind of words that you're hearing around Mayo? And obviously, Patriots need a quarterback. Do you think it is very easy as just, hey, we can look at Drake May, Caleb, and Jaden, but at the end of the day, whoever's there at three is coming to New England? Yeah, Connecticut's essentially like the wealthier version of Massachusetts. Yeah, kind of. Just full of douchers.

Jeez. Jeez. He said it. You fit right in. He said it. He said it. You walked into it. Weren't you a valedictorian or saluted victorian or something after college in Connecticut?

Yeah, thanks, dude. Just shut up and answer the question. You didn't deserve it. I'm going to pretend that didn't happen. You didn't deserve that. It always gets hostile with Connor. It just gets hostile. That's with everybody, by the way.

You should see what he says to Chuck. Yeah, you're not the only one. Doggone Chuck already 10 minutes into this thing. But seriously, he's answering. He said his bedtime is 6 p.m. And then JJ, I mean, he dunks. So it's with everybody. I think it beats a lot of you.

Oh, that makes me feel better then. Yeah. If he jumps at you, he likes you. So you secretly like me. Yeah, because if he doesn doesn't you just don't exist That's true I didn't catch all of Mayo's interview I saw some of the snippets that got released

On social or what not I think that The biggest question for me Not one of the biggest questions Is like is he going to be different Than the culture that has been there and how and why? Obviously, it's been really good, but you want to go be your own person. I have no idea if he's going to be a good head coach.

I know this. He won't be unless they draft better because their drafts over the last 10 years have stunk. They've jaded 18 guys in the first or second round since 2013. 18 of them. One pro bowler, Mac Jones. Zero all pros. they've taken 18 guys in the first or second round since 2013, 18 of them, one pro or Mac Jones, zero, all pros.

And not a single one has resigned a second contract with New England. So he, he's not going to be a head coach unless they draft differently. Who's going to be the general manager. Um, I don't think it's as easy as like, Hey, take a quarterback in three and all our issues are resolved. Absolutely not.

Um, I would actually say that they're not in position to take a quarterback at three, given what their roster is right now. If they were at one, I would probably lean differently and say, I think one of those two kids is so talented you take him. I haven't studied Jaden Daniels enough to know if he should be the third pick or not. So maybe that changes by the end of April. I haven't studied him to make a definitive thought on him.

Fascinating. So quarterback, most important position by far, no matter what. You're just saying a three. Yes. In the Dano scale, we don't know if Jaden is necessarily the answer for your program. Maybe another position would be the right answer for the program at three. For Dromero, you're talking trading out of there and getting more picks to build up an entire roster.

Yeah, probably trading out. Again, once I studied Jaden Moore, I called a couple of LSU games last year. This dude's ready to buy ten jerseys right now of quarterbacks at three. I think all of New England is just quarterback at three. Yeah, I already got them. I got three custom Williams, May, Daniels jerseys just waiting to put one of them on. Yeah, that's where teams make mistakes, though,

when they take quarterbacks that early and expect instant results when the roster's not healthy enough to support the young quarterback. I called Jaden Daniels' games at LSU last year. Maybe like week two, week three, something like that, where they were having conversations of going to a different player at the position. So I just don't know enough about his game to make that decision. I do know this. They are not talented enough to just take a

quarterback and win right away right now. I think that if they have the opportunity, they're not sold on them and they have the opportunity To trade down and get a bunch of picks to draft better I think that's probably this year The best way, but that might change With my thoughts on Jaden once I study him I like that Brian Kelly was like, this Heisman winner We might not even play him

This year, might not, week three, that's a lot of development Obviously a lot of growth Kirk Herbstreit gave a glowing speech About Jaden Gaynor's after calling a lot of his games and what people in the NFL are going to think about him after chatting with him. I'm excited to see you learn about him a little bit. Go ahead, Con. Yeah, I also love how you say they haven't been good at drafting the last 10 years

even though they're picking between 25 and 32 and then we finally have a top 5 pick and you're like, hey, get rid of that. Get more picks because you guys will probably still suck at picking. That's kind of what you're saying? Well, the person who was selecting the players isn't selecting the players anymore. It would be different if Coach Belichick was still there,

but Coach Belichick is not there. So I would imagine the people and or the person selecting players is going to be different. All right, Dano, we appreciate the hell out of you. I think Gumpy had a question or two for you, maybe about how you've been acting on the internet, too, as we go out of here. Yeah, we don't need to be calling for jobs, Dano. We appreciate the hell out of you. I think Gumpy had a question or two for you, maybe about how you've been acting on the internet, too, as we go out of here. Yeah, we don't need to be calling for jobs, Dano. I mean, you said it

yourself. That's all we need to do. Thank you for getting that out, Gumps. Gumps looks cool today. Yeah. You look good, too, Dano. Yeah, I mean, trust me, I don't like doing it, but when I get asked a question, you're like, uh... Have you ever seen the way Herbstreet operates on college game day for that?

So, I'll get like a rundown for the show. We obviously don't, I've never really operated in that fashion in my life, except for the people with College Game Day where it's like, hey, here's A block, here's B block, here's rundown of everything. And then there'll be like a question, like C block or something like that. Which one of these 10 whatever would you take over the others? And then I'm the first person to answer the question. So I actually give an answer because I thought that's what we're doing.

And then Herbstreets next will go, I'm not going to do that. But everybody here is really good that we're talking about, obviously. And I'm like, I didn't know that was a possibility. I just could not answer the question that you're asking. I guess you're not really in that situation for the shows that you're on to be like, nah, I'm not going to answer that. But I think that would be awesome if Greeny goes, Dano. Got to fire somebody. Who is it? He actually did it today.

He didn't pick Bill's Chiefs. Oh, yeah. You put a question mark for Bill's Chiefs today. You've done this before. Maybe that's a new angle if you're not 100% sure. Well, I told him I wasn't picking that because I got to see if Terrell Bernard's going to play, if Russell Douglas is going to play, if Taron Johnson is going to play.

Those are big pieces in that game. If those guys aren't going to play, I'm more than likely to pick the Chiefs, but I don't know if they're healthy or not. Gabe Davis, is he playing? Gabe Davis, another good point. I got to see if those guys are going to play or not. Is Sam Martin? I think they signed Matt Hack. Mitch Morse's point. Whoa, whoa,

whoa. What was that? Did you see that guy? He was going to scoop that ball one-handed. Somebody hit him with an ice ball. Yeah. He pegged. Sam Martin, anyways. All right, Dan.

Have a great afternoon. Can't wait to watch NFL Live, 4 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Later, guys. Be good. All right, see you. Be done. See you, Dan. See you, Dan. See you, Dan.

When they tell me I've got to fire somebody, I've got to fire somebody. So what do you want from me? Simple as that. It's my job. It's his fault. Chuck had a couple things. He was like, we should ask him. And I'm like, Chuck, you should not be asking Dan Orlovsky those questions.

It kind of ruins your credibility with that type of thing. Thanks for saving me. No, yeah, no problem. I'm still learning. Well, you even said to him, like, which coach do you think? It's like, Chuck, you're the one that needs to be answering that question, not Dan Orlovsky. But Dan Orlovsky does know the business so he's certainly

more than able to answer the questions you're asking but some of the questions you ask we need to ask you the one you wanted to talk about was a gm for new england for gerard mayo they have two guys now named matt grow who's a legend from what i've been and elliot wolf macro moves the needle from what i've been told whenever you just Wolfe. Matt Groh moves the needle from what I've been told. Whenever you just mention his name, New Englanders go. They're both in the house right now? Yes, sir. They're both there, Elliot?

Yeah, you mention Matt Groh in a bar right now, you're getting tossed out. I'm just telling you that right now. Elliot Wolfe's got the name. Elliot Wolfe has the name, and he's from Green Bay, and they have done an incredible job drafting. Okay, so those two, allegedly, until at least the draft, Robert Kraft will not be hiring anybody as GM for Gerard Mayo. But I think Gerard Mayo, the expectation is that he will have some say in this entire thing. And Robert Kraft said he'll be hands off the wheel like he has been, a fan of the operation this entire time. So I'm curious, like, so this is like GM and waiting, or they're auditioning for it?

This is like GM and waiting or they're auditioning for it? Because I love the fact that Mayo said, hey, look, I'm going to give titles to the OC, the DC special teams. It matters. No, it does. It does. Because there's too much, there's not enough clarity out there on who was actually calling, what was your role in this whole deal, etc. But, you know, is that going to be the same for one of these guys as far as the GM title goes? The thought was they've gone through this entire process since last year of trying to put together, like, the scouting reports and all that for the college guys. So why bring in a GM now and then just kind of throw out all the work those two and the whole departments have done?

So instead they'll go through the draft with those departments and then decide, hey, we should hire a GM either outside or one of those two problems. Bill Belichick seemingly at the Falcons. So who will follow, who will stay? It's in-house. So there's an opportunity for people to not have to follow their guy. Because normally coaching trees, guys will bring in their guys. But their guys might not have to move their families, move their houses, not have to move their daily routine,

because Gerard Mayo potentially eyeing the same candidates as Bill Belichick. Yeah, Steve Belichick, he's been offered a job, assuming that's D.C., and he also has a family, like some young kids. So that is one that everyone's looking at now, like, hey, is Steve Belichick going to be the D.C. now? Or is he going to go around his grandpa? Bingo. Those kids' grandpa. So he is staying?

We don't know. We don't know. Offered a job, has not accepted. Yet. There. In New England. In New England. Yet. There. And doing. Okay.

So that whole GM thing, like say, okay, when it comes down to draft day and you got a board set, somebody's got to make the decision. Who's making that decision? Football! It's beautiful. Football has a plethora of stories happening in and or around it right now and we're lucky enough to cover it all i'm not alone here no no i have a great group of gentlemen here well the top i agree second that to the well or the well you have a group of gentlemen here there's a group of fine boys here.

Nice. Nice. There you go. The talking table. That Boston corner and that Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer. Done. Cowboys turn.

Diggs, 36-year football coach. 18 in college, 18 in the NFL. Chuck Pagano is here. Hey, baby, Chuck. Chuck, how'd you pick last week in the Super Bowl wild card round for the bets you gave us? Do we remember? I think I did well.

That'll bet. He's still batting hot. That's right. That'll bet. Hey, baby, Chuck. And joining us live from Do we remember? I think I did well. That'll bet. He's still batting hot. That'll bet. Joining us live from Anattica, Ohio, is a man who's a college football national champion and a Super Bowl champion. The all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers, ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hall.

A.J., massive news yesterday once we got off the air. Mike McCarthy will be retained as the Dallas Cowboys coach. Obviously, you know Big Mike very well. You played for him in Green Bay. You won a Super Bowl under his leadership. What are your thoughts on Big Mike getting an opportunity to go back? And if you got

to see any of the press conference, what are your thoughts on his mood right now? Seems like he's pretty bummed out. He's still a bit numb, as he said. It's raw. That's the thing. Big Mike is an emotional guy. When he would address the team nights before games,

like things, he'll get choked up. Like, you know this dude cares about his players. He cares about his team. But every offseason now, are we going to have, like, three or four coaches where we have to make these huge proclamations that a coach is coming back? Like, what are we doing? It's our fault.

We're part of the problem. Mm-hmm. Is it? Like, this hasn't happened that, like, this seems like at least the most I guess egregious announcements of, hey guys, guess what? We're not firing this dude. We're bringing him back.

And then you just open him up to even more criticism, I feel like. It's everywhere. It's our fault. We're part of it. Sports media. Daily sports talk. Because we have to drive up some conversation. And normally with our particular program, we're like, this team can win a Super Bowl. So then the fans' expectations get to the point of, yeah, we're supposed to win Super Bowl.

So when they don't, oh, what happened? I was told this team was supposed to win Super Bowl. We need to find the person that will win us the Super Bowl this year, next year, year after. And I don't care. The year after that as well. Some teams have done it in the past, have been able to have sustained success

at a massive rate quickly. That's what we want. Now, I appreciate fandom. I appreciate optimism. I appreciate that thought, but then social doesn't help either, you know, because on social these things like the gossip. So whenever you get on the same page as somebody, retweet,

repost, yeah, we are supposed to win. Then here's this coach. He would be able to do this what this guy can't do. So it's our fault. It's our fault, but it's because the NFL was more hot, more popular. You know, people are going more fanatic over the NFL than any time in history. So it's a good problem. But it's also a terrible one if you happen to be a Big Mike or a Mike Tomlin or a Nick Sirianni or a Dennis Allen on this particular coaching psych or Ibraflus or I

guess Vrabel got fired. So, I mean, there's like, it's just, it's certainly a new thing that has been added about every single year. This guy's getting fired and I don't love it, but it is certainly intriguing to think about Bill Belichick being a Dallas Cowboy head coach. You know, there is like, it was Vrabel going down to the Dallas Cowboys. Oh my God. Him spitting all over that stadium, Jerry World, with Zen and Cope in a big cowboy hat every single day.

I mean, you start fantasizing about what could be, and then whenever it's announced, now we're sticking with Big Mike, then everybody's like, this is boring. Why do they have to give all the reasons why they're sticking with the coach? If I was an owner, I wouldn't feel obligated to lay out a list of why we haven't also, like, talked about. I know, and Diggs has been fighting a good fight. I agree with Diggs, what he's doing online, fighting with people saying have a little bit of patience with these guys.

But I don't feel like it's your responsibility as an owner, even the GM, to sit there and list out 50 reasons why the coach is staying. Yeah, but I would assume that the coach appreciates hearing that a little bit publicly. Absolutely. You've got to come with something. Like Jerry Jones saying, I have 100% confidence in... Yeah, yeah. I'm saying like more of the gum chewer in New Orleans.

Oh, my God. He's talking about all of that. Why do you feel obligated to give us all these stats and everything? Just say, hey, he's a good coach. I believe in him. I believe in him 100%. He's our guy. That's the highest level. We guy. That's the highest level.

We cannot. That's the highest level. It's the biggest league of all time. They have the greatest microphones in the history of microphones. I heard every single pop and snap from that guy's mouth. Brutal. You've been at GM for how long? 20 years?

Yeah. How many microphones have you spoken in front of? How has nobody been like, hey, cow, pig, horse. What? Can't have. Swallow your gum. What are we doing? Do that again. we're going to shoot you in the head the only difference between us and barn animals is the ability to chew with our mouth i think he's close friends with pete carroll and he that was his stand

for pete okay so he was just that was in in honor of yeah like whenever wrestlers come out they do thank you dx right why is it an honor to Stone Cold Steve Austin? What do we say? Millions! Hey! Millions! That's an honor to the Rocks. So in the football world, for Pete Carroll, he said, you know what I'm going to do, Lake?

In between every word, I'm going to chew this gum six times directly into the microphone. All right, it makes sense now. I appreciate what you did. Make you do some more of that. We need more people giving each other's backs. I love it. But, Coach, to your point, you want to hear now. I appreciate what you did. Make you do some more of that. We need more people giving each other's backs. I love it. Coach, to your point, you want to hear these people stick up for you publicly, I would assume, if you're the coach that's currently sitting on the

hot seat publicly? No, absolutely. I think he's probably talking more to his fans, right? The fan base. I think everybody in the organization, they've obviously sat down and talked this thing through. The staff knows it. The players know it. But I think you're talking to everybody outside. AJ, I don't disagree with you. Those guys don't owe anybody anything other than they are the biggest deal, right? They are worth $9 billion, whatever.

But I think he just does it to probably give your head coach the nod. It's most definitely, Pat, more for Mike and building Mike up. He's going to need it. It looks like Mike's going to need it. He's pretty bummed out out there. He's pretty bummed out. Mike Tomlin had a phenomenal press conference. Basically laid out what he's thinking for the future. Outside the team, offense coordinator

coming in. Quarterback friendly, he said. So look for him to open it up a little bit more. I believe Mark Caboli reported that he said next year is a huge year for kenny pickett that many years basically yeah that's markabully put eight years in it okay whoa and he said that was actually a massive piece of describing like hey next year this is it now kenny got to figure it out from mike tomlin's point of view who's probably speaking for the Roonies and for the con artist Omar Khan, the current general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Seems like Pittsburgh people are pretty appreciative of the press conference

that Mike Tomlin just had, Diggs, immediate response? Yeah, I mean, he opened it up great. He said, I'm in a better mood today, so if anybody has any contract questions, let's get those in today, which is a great way to start the conference or the press conference after he walked off the other day. And then Caboli also said it was probably the most honest press conference that he's ever heard from Mike Tomlin, which I think was necessary

too because Steelers fans were tired of hearing the same old, same old bullshit. And yeah, going outside and getting OCs, great. That'll be huge. Kenny, quarterback one with competition. That's good to hear. Yeah, we need some fires to some asses. What we need some fire some asses. Fire

some asses? We need to light a fire on your asses. Okay, you bundled those words. You know, like Patrick Mahomes. Short form. Yeah, exactly. You just kind of bundled everything kind of together there. I don't think we all understood what you were trying to say, but I'm happy we

figured it out there. So it seems like we're past the point of the teams are keeping the coaches that they're going to keep. Iberflue seemingly in the clear. Harbaugh seemingly going to the Chargers. Antonio Pierce seemingly going back to the Raiders. And maybe Mark Davis just said, Antonio Pierce has earned his way into seeing what other buildings are like.

He's earned his way into head coaching interviews. I'm happy for him maybe he needs to go do that see what other ships are looking like way before he comes back to the Raiders yacht maybe that's why Mark Davis didn't just immediately hire him I know there's a whole process that he has to go through to do that but seemingly Antonio Pierce is back to the Raiders so now you still have Rabe's available yep yeah Pete Carroll's still potentially out there if he's looking to coach. Raheem. And there's a couple. Raheem Morris. Ben Johnson. Aaron Glenn.

There's a lot of potential situations. How many games are open? How many spots are open right now? There's seven to eight total. Seven. Yeah, so just Gerrard has been hired. Only one, so seven left. Seven spots left. But if we just did that musical chairs, that gets rid of the Chargers, the Ra Gerard has been hired. Only one, so seven left. Seven spots left. But if we just did that musical chairs, that gets rid of the Chargers,

the Raiders, the Falcons. Titans, maybe. Titans. We're hearing Titans, Aaron Glenn. Yeah. Really? Essentially. Pretty much done.

Even though he hasn't even been able to interview yet. Yeah, so, like, procedural-wise, not a lot at all. Right. Everyone's saying that Ben Johnson, he's Washington's number one choice. The Panthers aren't going to have a coach. Tepper's going to be a coach. I'm hearing Callahan.

Dan Quinn has a five. Brian Callahan. The maker of American Big Tom Callahan. Big Tom Callahan. We're not getting into this. We're not doing this to him. It does sound like it.

Have you ever seen Tommy Boy? Chris Farley? No, sir. Yeah, I have. In a minute, right? Anyway, any time the name Callahan is mentioned. Oh, he died? Chris Farley is very dead, yeah.

Which is a damn shame. Because, boy, he would have been right in my... Perfect for today. I was young when he passed. I didn't really get to experience him, but I watch his documentaries and highlights, and it's like, that would have been... He was just getting started.

Timeless, man. He's timeless. I watch Chris Farley movies with my kids, and it still holds up a bunch. They love him. Anyways, the Callahan. Belushi in my era. Yeah. Rest in peace.

Kidding me. Yeah, RIP. Tommy Boy, though, Callahan, anytime we hear that name, that's who I'm going to immediately think of. You're talking about the Bengals OC, I believe. Is that who that is? Yes. Okay, so he's going Carolina?

That's what we're hearing. Okay, what type of personality is he? I don't know him. He's got a mouse in his mouth? What? Who is it? Who is we? Are we going to start?

Yeah, who is we? Look, we're having a good day so far. Yeah, you and Tina? You and Miss Tina are hearing this? This is what you and Miss Tina are hearing? We're hearing. We're hearing. We got some big names flying in.

Well, how about him saying Belushi was his time You mean Charlie Chaplin Oh jeez Thank you Are you fucking kidding me Whoa Jesus Look what you made me do

Hope you're happy I'm sorry coach I mean I expect that I just come to expect that. The good is let a couple slide through five hole, too, as I play. Chuck is like 20 years too early to chaplain, too, by the way. Jesus. But, yeah, we start doing the math.

There's only what? What's the spot that's open that we haven't covered there? I mean, people say there's in Washington. Yeah, but we just figured those out, right? Yeah, if Vrabel goes to Seattle. They're out. Okay, so Seattle would be the spot. And we apologize once again to the Seahawks fans for not mentioning that.

Well, we're thinking Quinn there, right? That's what everybody's thinking. So Vrabel's left out of the carousel? Yeah, so what the hell happens with Vrabel? He comes to the Indianapolis Colts just to hang out. I think he'd be the D.C. He had a year on his deal, right? You think he's going to golf?

You know what? I don't think. Anybody that's been doing this for a long period of time, to have a year, like if you have the luxury, you have a contract, and you have the means to actually just take a step away and do something else for a year and just reset, recharge, reflect on everything, and then come back stronger, better than ever, that's an unbelievable thing. You got to do this, right?

When I got to do it in 2018, best thing that ever happened. Do what you worked with. You worked with the officials. I went with, yeah, I was at 345 Park Avenue in the AM, in the AMGC, or the Art McNally, you know. That's NFL offices. With the officials, and I had an unbelievable experience. Got to sleep a little bit, got to enjoy life a little bit. The wife got to travel a little bit.

Oh, down there in Costa Rica. See the volcano down there? We were ziplining, we were sailing, we were. But then you got to a point where you were yeah probably some ayahuasca down there for the pecanos uh not another day we're not diving into it don't we don't need you to yeah if you did ayahuasca though we would like to hear that story at some point off season right off season that's the time if you're going to get paid for it you have the resume that you're going to get a job later not a bad idea maybe just take

a year to kind of chill maybe visit coaches coaches. Remember Doug Peterson? Sure, yeah. Doug Peterson took an entire training camp, building tour, kind of learned some stuff, had some days to himself. And then inevitably, both you, your wife, and your family are going to be like, yep, time to get back into coaching. And that's going to be the right time because you're going to want to get back in there anyways. The way, I mean, I had a chance to go visit. My brother was coaching at the Texans. Billy O'Brien was the head coach there.

I went to Alabama. Nick was gracious enough to let me come down there for a few days. So you just get to kind of work on yourself. Look at everything that you did good. Look at everything that you did bad. And then look at everybody else and find out different ways because there's always different ways to do everything. And do some family stuff and, you know, figure

out, like, okay, I need to get back to work. Do you think he'd be a coordinator? Or do you think Vrabel, obviously, and I think in all of our minds, is a head coach, but do you think he would be open to the idea of being a coordinator? It's got to be the right situation with the right head coach. It's in New England. And I'm not

saying this as a Patriots fan. I'm actually saying, like, do you think that would be a place where Vrabel would be? Vrabel could help Gerard Mayo through a lot of shit. Don't a lot of young head coaches... Excuse me. I'm sorry. To have that in your building, like I had B.A.

So when stuff had come up, first time head coach, right? Okay. Hey, B.A., if he wasn't golfing, he'd let me in. And Clyde wasn't far behind him, you know? So I'd go in and have an old sage like that, the wisdom and the experience that they have, and shut the door and say, hey, this is what's coming down the pike. What do you think?

Have you been through a situation like that? It's invaluable. And that's why you see a lot of young coaches who have have former head coaches on the staff now you worry about potential looking over shoulder and maybe this is how i would do it instead of how this person's doing it but i don't think gerard mayo no no has a personality where that's even possible from what i'm learning yeah he actually said in his opening press conference like hey i'm not looking for guys to echo like i want everyone to challenge me i I want other ideas. I want older guys. I want younger guys.

And that was what he brought up with the Optum when he left the Patriots to go and do finance for two years. He talked about what he learned there. It's like, hey, you need to listen to everybody no matter how old they are, no matter what they are. And that's why Vrabel, it feels like, would be someone because he wouldn't just be a yes man. And he doesn't want that. By the way, if it's working, though, everybody should be on the same page. Yeah. You know what I mean?

For sure. Everybody says, we want to hear a conflict of opinion, a conflict of opinion. It's working. So how about we just all just keep going in one way? But as you're building your culture, Trot Mayo is going to want to hear from everyone. And having big brains on the staff is great news.

I agree. But I actually feel like Pittsburgh or New England would not be the place for Braves to do that because if things start bad, that call for Braves would be so quick for Braves to be the head coach and it would get so loud for the current head coach that

might not be the right situation. What if Bill brings them along? What if Bill gets the Atlanta gig and tries to bring Braves on to that D.C.? And everyone gets cooked. If the Patriots and Steelers start off bad, sure, there might be some of that. But everyone will get slaughtered. It won't just be Mayo. They'll be like, Brable shouldn't have been the D.C.

Billy O shouldn't be the O.C. Mayo will get the brunt of it, of course, because he's the head coach. But I feel like no matter what, if those two places in particular start bad, then it's always live. Everybody's looking for D'Amico Ryans. Everybody's looking for the turnaround that happened in Houston where it was a dumpster fire. You bring in D'Amico Ryans, who J.J. Watt calls Cap, basically.

And then you, not for bullshit, but like Cap as a captain. He's not Cap-in. He's Cap. Like Captain America. Boom. He's captain of the Texans formerly whenever the place was awesome. you know like captain he's not cap in no he's cap but okay okay like captain america boom yes he's captain of the texans formerly whenever the place was awesome he comes back obviously a phenomenal coach cj stroud rookie quarterback he comes phenomenal quarterback greatest rookie quarterback in the history of the nfl so everybody's expecting that immediately let me tell you what you don't have listen to the football iq on domico ryan's here talking to christian harris during the game

this past weekend. You just hang right there and just play the quarterback. Play the quarterback as soon as he snaps. Step in front of it and go, peace. Tell him. Tell him. Tell him. Fourth and two from the Browns, 33. It's picked off. Here we go to the left, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5.

Touchdown, Christian Harris. Second pick six of the game. Zone defense. So here's Harris. His eyes are on the quarterback. And at the last minute, he breaks underneath in front of the intended target, Harrison Bryant. He's had to run over. I know.

I'm sorry, baby. You know it's exciting out here. I don't want to hurt you. Please, though. I was about to run over. I know. I'm sorry, baby. You know it's exciting out here. I don't want to hurt you. I got you. No, please, though. I'm sorry. This dude's awesome. D'Amico's awesome.

You know, I know how everybody was looking for Sean McVay, and there might be some people that are going to be trying to find MCDC in the future because of the leadership that he's been able to bring to the Detroit Lions. And we have some grit sound bites that we're going to run here in a bit. But what D'Amico has brought there is just energy I think everybody loves him and it's working out AJ love to see it from the former player yeah D'Amico seems to be a guy that he is like the rare combination of being an X and O guy on defense can as we just watched when you can show something

to a player and instantly make him better like and especially in especially in a game, in a huge game like that, and all of a sudden, boom, you execute it, that'll stick with you for the rest of your life, I think. But D'Amico has that rare combination of being able to do that and help you out with the X's and O's and all the stuff inside a game, but also be a leader of men and lead the whole squad and kind of keep them all together. So that's very, very hard to find, though.

There's not a lot of those guys. Speaking of leading the whole squad, he is a defensive guy. Brilliant, as we just saw in that clip hey just right you see and then he's the coordinator the d coordinator matt burke is doing a great job as well and i know him personally he's he's an awesome coach and i would assume to me because a great person lean on and they're probably a great tag team together there as he's laying that out but you wonder how's the defensive guy being able to relate to the offensive side of the ball uh inside the nfl which is now on netflix congratulations that deal is on CW now.

It's also on Netflix. They ran another clip about him in the offensive side with C.J. Stroud more specifically. Throwing darts already. That's the Miko. Have some fun today, baby. Can't wait to see you ball out. Yes, sir.

Stroud to throw. CJ with time. CJ takes a hit, throws downfield. He's got Nico inside the 10, a roll-down catch. He can make every throw. He was a first-round pick because he can hold it. Keep balling, keep balling, keep balling. Keep it going.

CJ fakes the give, steps out to his right. He's got a lot of time. You've got Cleveland being overly aggressive and pursuant. Use it against him. Go the other way. And this crowd is on fire. Great call, man. Great call, love it.

Great call, man. Listen to that. To the OC, to CJ Stroud, to everybody. I mean, he's what everybody is looking for, and that type of turnaround now is almost going to be expected by some fan bases. Abnormal, Chuck Pagano. The energy, the passion, the confidence that he obviously instills in everybody, his coaching staff, the players.

Nothing more fulfilling as a coach to be able, in that deep, going back to Christian Harris, a kid out of Alabama, being able to show somebody, you break this stuff down hours after hour after hour after hour, and you show them, you show them, you show them, and you come down to a situation, down in distance, it's fourth and two, and you've already gone through this in the meetings, right? Your third down meeting, your fourth down meeting,

and said, okay, they get in this formation, and this guy's sitting right here. Read the quarterback's eyes. We're going to step right in front, and then in this formation, and this guy's sitting right here. Read the quarterback's eyes. We're going to step right in front. And then when it happens, like you got that guy for the rest of eternity, number one. From a credibility standpoint, and for D'Amico, I mean, that's all you do, right? He's a player's coach, and he just wants to put those guys in the best position he can to be successful. There's nothing more fulfilling.

There's nothing more rewarding. Yeah, and they've certainly been having the success alongside it. Go ahead, Tom. Well, it jumps out. The beginning of that clip when he comes out and he's dapping up Stroud, it's just loose. He's super loose. And then at 17-14, still super loose. Like when you talk about the Cowboys, they came out and played tight. The Texans team is not playing tight.

Great play call to Bobby, to Slowik. That's huge for this coaching cycle, too, because normally he'd be getting head coaching interviews, too, but because everyone's already in their spots, too, Texans get their OC for another. This is a team that's going to have their reset. I guess Slowik, a big PFF guy, by the way. I learned that on the internet.

Oh, really? Everybody was saying that JJ and Slowik need to sit down and talk about PFF a little bit. That's what everybody was saying. If that's how Slowik's making his decisions on who gets the ball, how they get the ball, how he's calling games, then more power to PFF being the case. With that being said,

Brandon Staley was also that guy. For a little bit, it hasn't worked out inevitably, but Slowick, sensational. But I think it's because CJ is trying. Hey, dude, this guy. We talk about D'Amico being like this in that big moment. CJ, he's like throwing darts all right.

Like there wasn't even a sense of like discomfort. Nerves. Tightness. And that's because he played so much football in so many big games at the Ohio State. I genuinely believe that's a massive piece of it. Now, his body, how strong it is, his arm, how accurate and powerful it is, like that's obviously a massive piece of it. His arm, how accurate and powerful it is, like, that's obviously a massive piece.

But his mental toughness is what has made him so phenomenal here in his first year in the NFL. And he gave credit immediately to Ohio State. But having the comfort in those massive moments makes me believe, why not the Texans? You know, the Baltimore Ravens obviously have it as well. But this team can do whatever the hell they want, AJ. Yeah, it is. It's crazy to think that, like, how close they truly are to going to the Super Bowl. Like when you actually sit back and think about it,

wherever this team was, what, a year ago, 18 months ago? It did not seem like a great job to take. Obviously, we said when D'Amico got hired, yeah, of course, it makes so much sense for D'Amico to go there. He's a great player there. All of this stuff. Oh, man. Wiggle.

Nice. I like that little head movement there. He had a drop earlier, too. Remember? Oh, yeah. Schultz had a drop earlier, too. So that, you know, had to get a get back. Think about CJ, though, Pat.

CJ comes in. I think not just Ohio State. Any huge program that you can't lose a game. Think of all these. Yeah, think of these college. Yes, West Virginia. Boom. You lose one game.

The sky is falling. They want everyone fired. They want to bench every player. Well, when you when you're under the helm, no matter who you're playing, if it's in college or whatever, that's still a lot of pressure on the quarterback. And he's got a ton of reps in those situations. So it can only help once you get to the NFL, obviously. I used to tell people, you know, like how do you – like people would talk about the big moment

because I missed a couple kicks in the first quarter of a game that was huge. So there was always a lot of conversation on like, well, what's going through your mind whenever you got some big stuff going on? The kicking and punting position is a lot of in between the brain. And obviously everybody knows that professional athletics is done right here.

There's a lot of people that can run. There's a lot of people that can throw. There's a lot of people that can catch. Everything is happening in between your brain. I'd go, well, yeah, whenever you're at the table and there's one cup left, beer pong, sometimes you can only know how nervous or tight you can get because of the moment. So whenever there's 50 people sitting in a room and you got one cup left and all eyes

are on you, you got a rebuttal, you got to answer. It's like there's nerves there and you can tell who can quickly handle it. And then there's ways to adjust and get better at those things. The more times you're in that moment, probably the better you're going to be. So I think CJ coming in as a rookie already calloused, right's calling for him to get fired get shipped out of town he'd been in big games lost big games won big games it's like he's missed that shot you know he's missed the cup more than enough and then now it's just a walk in the park for the dude none of this should be as easy as it looks for this houston texans team of it should be. And damn it, they've been fun to watch.

And we got to see them live. Yeah, it's unbelievable. And just talking to him in person, like the way he carries himself is unbelievable. Just thinking about who he is. But like you look at the Texans, I never thought I'd say this or think it, but like I want the New England Patriots to be like the Houston Texans. Like we have D'Amico Ryans, right? Former captain for Houston.

Gerard Mayo, former captain for New England. Both played linebacker. Both are defensive guys in the league that is so like, hey, got to go get the next offensive guy. There are so many of those things, but the biggest is just the hope of it. The hope that the Texans give

teams, and it was the Bengals before because they were so, so bad. They get Joe Burrow. All of a sudden, they're a Super Bowl contender every year. Texans with Stroud now, they're going to be a contender every year you would assume, especially with D'Amico. That formula, that feels very new. Is this one of the

first times where a coach like this comes in with a rookie quarterback? Granted, since Chuck Pagano and Andrew Luck, but legitimately, it gives hope to so many different teams, especially the bottom teams, but even some playoff teams that maybe need changes in certain places. It probably also gives them hope that you can have that success

with a rookie quarterback. Now, granted, nobody else is going to be like C.J. Stroud. Nobody in the history of the game has. Yeah, aside from whoever the Patriots get next year. Well, it's not just Stroud, too too that's the thing is they all these rookies like and granted Stroud being so good helps elevate these other guys but like all these other guys that they drafted in this last draft like they're making huge impacts in the game and like it just that's typically not how the NFL goes but obviously like when you have a guy like Stroud, it's very evident to see

he is one of those guys where you don't need a bona fide number one receiver because he's going to elevate the play of everyone on the field. Love everything that's happening in Houston. Down there at the Stroud House NRG Stadium. The Stroud House down there in Houston. I'm enjoying watching it. Let's go to the other side now

where people are calling for change. That's Philadelphia Eagles. Obviously, Nick Sirianni got popcorn thrown at him whenever they go to the other side now where people are calling for change. That's Philadelphia Eagles. Obviously, Nick Sirianni got popcorn thrown at him whenever they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and he got eliminated by Baker Mayfield, thrown for over 300 in three touchdowns. Excited to see how he plays against the Detroit Lions. Got some stuff on that coming up later with him and CJ GJ already kind of verbally jousting.

But Fletcher Cox, leader of the Philadelphia Eagles team, has been on the Philadelphia Eagles seemingly since I was a little boy. Yeah. It feels like I've been watching him play for the Philadelphia Eagles for the last 30 years, probably a voice of the locker room in many ways. Here's him talking about Sirianni's future with the Philadelphia Eagles. You know, gotten any wind on what's going to happen to Nick? You have confidence, and if you do come back,

I think that confidence in him defe he's also the head coach. Like any news about, what about Nick? Nick, I mean, there's obviously some speculation about whether he may be fired or not. Huh? Yeah. Come on, man. Man, he's the head football coach of this team, man. Come on, man.

We ain't, there ain't even no discussion about that. Okay, you don't think it's going to happen? I don't got nothing to say about that, man. You're a clown, bro. Get out of my face. So we got Tom walking off. Tom Bowles going, you know we're inside playing a dome. And then we got you a clown, bro.

Okay, ready for somebody to get out of my face. They're less than a foot away from each other. So I respect all of it. But I do appreciate that Nick Sirianni has seemingly not lost the locker room. Although everybody outside has thought that maybe he has lost the locker room because he has antics and he acts differently than most head coaches. He's not scared to talk shit walking out of a tunnel. So I think it's easy to say all the fun stuff is over. The team lost him. Fletcher Cox, who's a voice of locker room, is like, the consideration of that out of your mouth is

complete clown. Now the reports are that the Philadelphia Eagles are searching for coordinators and maybe the next coach. So there is going to be change, obviously, just like within the Pittsburgh Steelers organization. But Sirianni's back, and it sounds like the players appreciate that, AJ. Yeah, Fletcher Cox, I mean, this is a pretty good defense of your coach, wouldn't you say? Like we were breaking it down with JJ,

trying to read between the lines when they would ask players, oh, do you think your coach should be here? What do you think? Like we JJ trying to read between the lines when they would ask players, oh, do you think your coach should be here? What do you think? Like we always try to read between the lines. I think he's pretty clear. He's pretty blunt here that you're an idiot for even asking this question. So when your leader on the defense, the leader on the team, like you said, that seems like he's been playing there for 25 years making plays.

When he does this, yeah, you would think, okay, this locker room seems to be okay with him. Coach Sirianni, obviously watching that back has to make you a little emotional and a little happy, even though the season didn't end anywhere near how you wanted it. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Fletcher's a dog. He's always been a dog. That reporter, come find me.

I'd like to beat that guy's ass. I know exactly what he's trying to do, stir something up in the media, get things going. Hey, yeah, maybe Fletcher slips a little bit and says something, and then this guy's writing, you know, the next day, hey, Fletcher Cox says he wants Sirianni's dumb ass to get fired. You know, I know the games that these guys are playing, people throwing popcorn at me saying I'm a big, dumb, dipshit.

I'm not, okay? I've been to the playoffs three years in a row. Oh, sorry, you know, we go to the Super Bowl last year and damn near win it, but apparently that's not good enough for these fans in Philly. I love Philly, okay? Let's get that out there. But, I mean, you want to talk about ingrates,

you're going to see Philadelphia fans in the dictionary next to that. It's as simple as that. Chuck, whenever Coach Sirianni, obviously we just heard it from him live there at a press conference, that feels good. Just like when Jerry comes out and speaks about Mike McCarthy or anybody else speaks about somebody, your players, the ones that matter the most, the people that you are trying to motivate and inspire

and get the best out of, whenever they're speaking up for you and actually getting disrespected by the questions that are seemingly disrespecting you, Sirianni, the paisano, has got to be flying high over there. That's huge. That's everything. It's one thing for an owner gm excuse me but when you're choked up he's choked up yeah so choked up about it that's what i'm thinking sirianni got as well

can you imagine i mean after taking all the flack i mean two months of just i mean shit bad right 10 and 1 and then we all know what happened but yeah to hear that out of you know your stud one of your captains one of your captains, one of your leaders in your locker room, he ain't going to just say that if everybody's not on board. And you're exactly right, Ty. I mean, three straight years to the playoffs. Coach.

Coach, who? Sorry, Coach. Three straight years, the playoffs, a Super Bowl. Should have won that thing, could have won that thing. Three-point loss to the Chiefs. I mean, come on, man. It's like ludicrous, but it's like we've got to have something to talk about, right? So why not just throw him into the fire, too, and go after him?

Yeah, well, we are a part of the problem. We understand that we are a part of the problem. The modern sports world is a part of the problem, but we need more sports coverage in the world as opposed to anything else. So we're not going to slow it down, although I'm assuming all these head coaches would wish they'd be not the target of the convo. Speaking of the target of the convo, whenever this man came into the NFL in Detroit, he was ridiculed. You want to talk about a big, dumb dipshit coach, Ty Sirianni.

I don't think there was one human that wore a suit and talked about sports that didn't say, is this the dumbest human to ever exist that has gotten a head coaching job up there in Detroit? MCDC has turned the entire culture around in Detroit. Representing the city of Detroit in a way I don't think the fans have felt like the team has in maybe a century. Now, they're on the precipice of making a run that would make the entire city of Detroit mayo all over themselves. Amen. Bingo. make the entire city of Detroit mayo all over themselves. Amen.

Bingo. Coach MCDC was asked about what the word grit means to him and what it has been like from day one to now where his culture has come. The grit thing that you've adopted and you're wearing on your hat, when you made your infamous bite your kneecaps thing when you were introduced, you got a lot of national play and laughs for that. But seriously seriously it's something you've tried to institute here and I'm wondering if that was a tough sell at first. Well no I mean I don't know because if it was I didn't notice it and I wasn't

gonna listen to it anyway it's what we were doing here and the players that are here are for that reason the players that have been able to stick. And it's what we're about. It's what we'll always be about above everything else. If you don't have that and you don't have intestinal fortitude or mental toughness, resiliency about you, then you're not going to be able to play here. That's the bottom line.

But, no, our guys believe that. The coaches believe it. The whole organization believes it. It's the bedrock of what we're about. Being gritty is one of the greatest compliments you can kind of give to somebody because it means they're willing to do whatever to get the job done in a good way, obviously in a good fashion. I happen to be on a team where grit was the actual

motto of the squad so much so that grit chips as if they were challenge coins were handed out to everybody on the team now that coach that did that was kind of mocked and ridiculed but i think what we all took it as was hey we got to do the dirty work to become the best that we could possibly be and the whole team bought in just like they're doing up in Detroit. That head coach was Chuck Pagano. Chuck, whenever you see grit across his forehead and grit on the wall up there, does that make you feel proud of the fact that we had a very similar motto, or what are your thoughts on it, and why is grit the best word to describe how you want a football team to be?

Hey, look, we're so fortunate to be able to coach and play a kid's game, right? And there's real-life stuff going on. Like this is nothing, but stuff's going to happen. You're going to face adversity. There's going to be obstacles. And what I love about Dan, like from the beginning, he talked about it, right? And he's never wavered. And who's had more obstacles?

Who's faced more adversity than this group? And then to see where they're at right now, we started like life's tough right and as soon as you figure that out it starts getting a hell of a lot easier and the fact that you are going to get hit in the mouth you're going to have some bad losses you may have one two three four whatever it is as long as you don't like put down the axe and you just keep chopping right and you keep fighting and you keep swinging, you keep believing that it'll turn. Like most people don't get to the mountaintop. You know why? Stop climbing.

No, they look up. Oh, okay. And they just think it's insurmountable, right? And there's no way I can accomplish this goal. So you've got to have grit. You've got to have resiliency. You've got to have resiliency. You've got to have perseverance because there's going to be some stuff. You're going to be faced with some challenges.

And look, you have what it takes. You just have to figure out a way to pull that shit out of yourself when stuff hits the fan, when things get tough. And so that's what you've got to love. And they've taken on the personality of this guy. Things get tough. And so that's what you've got to love. And they've taken on the personality of this guy. And to see where they're at right now based on Angela Duckworth wrote a book on this a long time ago.

She's the author of a book called Grit. And that's where I first learned about it. And then we adopted it and brought it into our program, you know, at the Colts. And so, yeah, you're going to face some stuff. And you know what? There are no pity parties. You remember after the Jacksonville game? Yeah. And we had that game won, and then Blaine Gabbert hit Cecil Shorts on a skinny post,

and we lost that game. And the next week, I'm down at Simon, right? Yeah, yeah. And I get echoed. I get that call. Hey, you have this. And you're like, what? And that's right when you say, okay, this is when I need this the most.

And there are no pity parties. I remember, you know, Robert saying that to the team. There are no pity parties in life. There's no pity parties in football. So let's look at the tape. Let's man up. Come back tomorrow and let's keep moving forward. And when you get news like

that there are no pity parties in life that's all he could think about and you look at your family you look at your wife you think about your kids and you think about the team and the job that you got like okay what the frick do i gotta do to overcome this shit i'm winning this battle and you got to make up your mind like that group made up their mind like hey we're sticking by this guy we're not backing down from shit. We're going to see this thing through and now look at it. Hell yeah. Hell yeah, coach.

Hell yeah, coach. That was awesome, guys. Hell yeah. That's the meaning of grit there. Yeah, that was sweet. Stick-to-itiveness. That's right. Stick-to-itiveness.

I think it's a real thing. The grit coins were awesome. These grit chips he tossed out, so cool. Can you gather, can you get more if you do something gritty or what no everybody just had one you better have it too yeah it's not being embarrassed you know how you know how you get challenge coins what remember we went on the uso tour we were japan every military base you get a challenge coin right and so those military guys when you have that coin if you're in a in a unit and they ask the leader of that unit general the general comes up to you, whoever, right?

Say, hey, let me see your challenge coin. If you ain't got that challenge coin on you, it's your ass. And so that was a part of that deal, too, because it had wind on one side, right? I think it still had it. It had grit on the other side. So we got in the habit of everybody carrying that down because somebody could challenge you, hey, you got your grit coin. Yeah, it was a gimmick that outside the locker room at the beginning, I think people

laughed at. And I think inside the locker room, we're like, okay, so we got props. I was like pretty pumped up that we got props in the entire thing. Never seen this before. But then lo and behold, it became a thing inside of our locker room. And it's like, that's all you're trying to do as a coach is you're just trying to reach a team. MCDC

has clearly done that, AJ. But just like other people are going to be looking for the next MCDC, I think he's one-on-one. How does he remain so strong? Like his neck has not – Because he probably is jacking weight up seven days a week at 4 in the morning. What's his coffee order in the morning? Two ventis, douche, douche, with an extra espresso shot in each,

and then I'll actually do another venti, man, right after that. Drinking about 1,000 milligrams of caffeine before 10 a.m., man. Yeah, and he says two black eyes. Yep, two black eyes. Yep, that's the espresso shot. That's the douche. That's the douche douche. So, yeah, I need my coffee, man.

Dude, he is an animal. I saw somewhere it said it's the equivalent of 10 Red Bulls. I don't know if that's possible, but I saw it somewhere. I believe it. He's a big guy. Every day, dude. That's so much. Remember how big he was in person at the Colts training camp?

Yeah, so Jim Irsay, who is going through some very, from what we're being told, very serious stuff right now. So, obviously, we are sending positive thoughts and love towards Jim Irsay. But when we were interviewing Jim Irsay, we were supposed to have MCDC on. And MCDC in the background of the shot is just like standing there like, I'm going to go talk to the team, man. Because like Jim was answering questions how Jim Irsay answers questions, which is, I mean, you might not expect a 35-minute answer to come. I'm going to go talk to the team, man. Because, like, Jim was answering questions how Jim Irsay answers questions,

which is, I mean, you might not expect a 35-minute answer to come. Just standard question. How are you doing? Yep. Okay. Boom, and he's off. Green flag racing. He is.

You know, so we powered through the start time, and there was no end in sight for an answer from the Jim Irsay answer no so there was no so it's an interesting scene actually but all of us turned around and looked at Dan Campbell one point he was like 10 feet away from us and we're holy wow Jim's talking holy shit massive look how big that guy is just strapping lad absolutely strapping lad I think that's another piece of it in that locker room. I genuinely do. Doesn't hurt. They see him in the weight room. He does up-downs with them before practice.

Former player. Yeah, former player. And as he's giving speeches, he's like, all I do is think about you guys. It's just like what we said about Vrabel. It's like he's a player on the team, but he's the captain. You know what I mean? He's the guy that has to keep people in line. He's the one that has to create the vision.

But I feel like the boys view him as like, he's here with us. He wants to win alongside of us. That's not easy to find. I think people think that that's going to be easy. That's not. That's a rare leadership ability that very few humans in the history have. And he's been the same guy since the beginning. Yes. Jocked and gritty. Yeah.

And it is awesome to see it work. And on a day where we're talking about firing head coaches and whatnot, year one under MCDC, this team started 0-10. 0-10. We actually thought they were going to go 0-17. Year two, they start 1-6. That's when everyone wanted him fired.

Nope. They rally the troops. They go to nine and eight. They almost make the playoffs, and then it leads into this year. I mean, I couldn't picture a better person for the city of Detroit either. That's the best part. And he wears the IndyCar helmet whenever the race is on. The Detroit Grand Prix is coming. He talks about the city all the time.

He says we. It's like a perfect marriage, AJ. It's a perfect marriage. I would bet the team, too. Think how many guys on any NFL roster are disgruntled or kind of pissed off that they feel like they're not getting enough time. There's always going to be that, no matter what. I would imagine the Lions with Dan Campbell feels like, say,

one player is saying something about the head coach or complaining about the head coach. I could see the Lions, Dan Campbell feels like say one player's like you know saying something about the head coach or complaining about the head coach I could see the Lions the other players became no you don't get it man you haven't been anywhere else you don't understand how good we have it how awesome this guy is so shut your mouth like I would assume they kind of self-police all that kind of stuff because that can kind of trickle in if there's like factions of certain people that like the head coach certain people that don't all that stuff, it feels like they're pretty much a unified one big unit over there. Oh, yeah, little cliques, little gossipy, obviously. Brad Holmes brought in the right people, though.

Yes. And Spielman. It feels like they've done it right from the ground up. Well, and you just look at a situation like the Raiders. Could you imagine, let's just say in this theoretical world that McDaniels and Antonio Pierce had the exact same message and they wanted to do the exact same thing but obviously what Pierce has done as a player and who he is just on a

day-to-day basis clearly is so much more well received than a McDaniels who although McDaniels has the offensive coordinator Super Bowl's resume type stuff he just doesn't communicate with the team like the way you were talking about MCDC does. Well, and in terms of the team building, like he just said, I mean, Chuck would obviously know more about this or anyone who is in a GM role, but it seems like a lot of times when guys get drafted, certain places are okay with drafting a guy and then saying, hey, we'll mold you into what we want you to be for this culture. MCDC just said it right there.

We're getting guys who are kind of in my image. There are certain guys who just won't work here, so he's okay with getting Jameer Gibbs or Jack Campbell and having everyone say, hey, you reached for these guys. This isn't a premium position. You shouldn't have got these guys here. Whatever, man. Yeah, exactly.

But he knows, no, these are the guys who are kind of in my image. They're going to be successful in our program, whereas other teams don't necessarily always do that. Biggest compliment, I think, to a brand is whenever somebody can say, that person is a boom. You know, like I think Stanford was trying to do a bad. That's a Stanford guy. That's a Stanford guy.

That's a Michigan man. That's a Michigan man. Penn State. I think people will say, well, I think. That's what they said to you. For a little bit, yeah. I wasn't a Penn State guy when I was told by Mike McQuarrie, yes, that Mike McQuarrie. But I think people will say, like, he's a lion.

Yeah. You know? Hell yeah. And when you have an identity, that is really all anybody that is a failure is trying to search for. And normally the only way you can build an identity is you have to have success. Because if you have failure and you don't get the success, well, the identity is going to be changing anyways because you're going to be searching for it now it's almost like you can watch some players and it's like that he'd be a good lion like he'd be a good lion that was never even thought of in the past about the detroit lion no and you don't get that unless you're a

good franchise because like i mean growing up you're like oh that guy fits stealer stealer that guy fits perfect as a raven that guy fits perfect as a Patriot. Like, you don't – that doesn't happen to bad organizations because they don't have a guy. Like, once you find out who you are as an organization and you build that culture, you have guys, and then people can identify those guys, and it actually probably makes it easier to build your team. All these guys hiring new head coaches, that general manager,

we talk about a lot, right, and head coach relationship, Brad Holmes and MCDC, right, they come in together, right, and they have a vision and they have a clear picture and it permeated throughout the, and they paint, Dan painted that out to Brad. Brad was obviously in lockstep and said, okay, here are the character traits that we're looking for, that we're going to build this program around. These are the type of guys, right?

And so now this last draft, you look at like Jack – is it Jack Campbell? Yeah, 46. Yeah. Like he's not a freaking lion. You look at Aiden Hutchinson, the way he plays the game, and his football IQ, Jameer Gibbs. I'm on raw. Laporta.

Sewell was their first pick. Every one of them. The receivers catch a ball and they turn the frick up the fucking field. Oh, sure. Hey, Jack. He's a guy, man. No, but you're talking. He's excited.

Yeah, I appreciate how excited you are because the team plays. That's how important that is, that relationship between the GM and the head coach. Like when he walks in and says, hey, I got a guy for you. And they go, I bet you do. And they watch the film and the guy, hell yeah, that's one of our guys. Now, to your point, though, about like Amon Ross St. Brown, his dad like world champion powerlifter. This guy's been in the gym since he was a kid.

It's like whenever Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes and Spielman heard that, they're like, this kid's been lifting since he's four years old? Okay, what time do they lift? 4 a.m. Oh, this guy knows hard times. This guy goes through it. And then as soon as, he got what, seven catches for seven first downs this past weekend? Yep. I think he's the staff that I saw.

Come on. That's absurd. And you know they're watching a bunch of tape on some great, great players, but when they go and dig, you've got to dig to find out. Because, like, you can't quantify dig to find out. You can't quantify what's inside somebody. We can see a 40-time. We can see how high a guy can jump.

All those numbers are right, but what you can't quantify is what's inside a dude. They go and dig out and try to find at these places what's inside and what makes this guy tick. There's great players, and I'm sure they've said, nope. Last one in the building, first to leave, doesn't like football, his teammates hate him.

And I don't give a crap if he's 4'2", he can jump 44 inches, this, that, and the other. They're not going down that road. Somebody else will, but the brand new Lions. They ain't doing it. I love that. Good for you, Foxy. Seems like no matter what happens, there's sustained success around the corner.

Exactly. Fired up about it. You're going to that game this weekend, huh? Yes, sir. I cannot wait. First Lions game in a long time. First playoff game ever. I'm very, very fired up.

There's a chance now I've heard that maybe Foxy touches turf. Whoa. What? Ten toes? What? We don't know if he'll be on his tippy toes or if he'll be on his heels because he'll be a little nervous. I'll be floating, actually.

Oh, you'll be floating above it all? Yes. Sweet. I appreciate that. It is legal in Michigan. I hope you bring some back for the boys. But Eminem's going to be right here. Tim Robinson's going to be right here.

Harleazy. Jack Harlow. Kid Rock. Kid Rock. Kid Rock, yeah. Obviously, Jack White. Barry. Calvin. And then. Kid Rock, yeah, obviously. Jack White. Barry. Calvin.

And then Foxy's going to be sitting there with his beard. Tim Allen. Tim Allen. Yeah. Has Tim Allen made his way back? I haven't seen him on. I think he was there last week. Last week, he drove a Mustang.

Simmons going this week? Do we know? He's from New York, AJ. Ninja. Oh, my bad, Con. Ninja was there last week. Oh, yeah, he was. Ninja will be there.

Oh, yeah, he's diehard. The Lions are all the way back, baby. Better than ever, literally. And you hear Chuck? Can't help but swear. Yeah, yeah. Incredible. The loss of the team's culture is.

And not to get lost in it, too. Don't be sorry at all. Goff, awesome. Like, what happens if Hendon Hooker is just nasty, too? Because he's just sat behind Goff this entire time, and they have the next guy just in line already. Like a Jordan Love situation. Yeah.

Happening in Green Bay because Hendon Hooker was able to get it completely healthy yep not rushed back at all and if you remember what he was doing with hypo with tennessee option routes throwing the ball now what does the offense look like after ben johnson leaves yeah that's a big question but i'm happy that they were patient with golf i mean like i said they were oh and ten one and six golf that first year it was tough like i give him a lot of credit he's a big part of that gritty stuff so we'll see how it goes sunday i'm very very very excited though basically all roads are leading to atlanta for bill belichick he is in his second round of interviews down there meeting the executive level of the atlanta falcons

where the first time it was just him and arthurank on a yacht seemingly is what we've kind of gathered from the internet and other sorts. Did Bill chopper out to it or what? How'd that go? I think he actually canoed. Yeah. He's really, that's why. World-class swimmer too. Yeah. He might've just butterflied his whole way. He probably took his yacht. Oh yeah. Might've. Of course. What are we talking about? He took eight rigs. What's that? I'm pretty sure that this first round of interviews, because they have a date, they have a new deal based on the rules from New York, that everything is Zoom, the first round of interviews. That's why you get so many guys interviewed from the jump. So I don't know. This is probably the third one you're saying?

Tampering. Oh, you're saying he didn't go on the yacht. This is just the Internet. No, that's what I'm saying. I think that's just the Internet spec you're saying? Tampering? Oh, you're saying he didn't go on a yacht. This is just the internet. No, that's what I'm saying. I think that's just the internet speculating and saying that. Because I think Monday, this Monday, is actually the date where you can start having in-person interviews. Okay, so anyways, Arthur Blank and Bill talked for three and a half hours. Yes.

Was it on a yacht? We have no idea. The internet said it was on a yacht. But it might be, you know, now they're at the time where he is making this take place. Bill Belichick to the Atlanta Falcons. Seemingly, in everybody's eyes, going to happen. AJ, your thoughts on Billy B taking over down in Atlanta? Well, I mean, I'm all for Bill.

If I was running a franchise, I would definitely want to bring Bill in and have an interview. I just want to see what he has to say. How do you want to run this franchise? What are you going to do? But also, yeah, I mean, I think it's going to be awesome. I think the people in Atlanta will absolutely embrace Bill if he does get the gig. But he's got to figure out the quarterback situation first. Yeah, they have the eighth overall pick, I believe.

And they have some pieces they could probably move. If they're able to have success down there, he needs 15 more wins to become the winningest coach in the history of the NFL, which I assume is the only reason why any of this is still taking place because he's so damn close. As a Patriots fan, how do you feel about it? I feel fine, actually. I think no matter where he went, I was going to root for him.

I kind of wanted Dallas just because it would be a great partnership. I'm more so worried that David Tepper might blow up the city in Carolina just because of the fact that he's going to realize, okay, now I don't have a head coach. No one wants to be here. The greatest coach of all time and GM of all time is in my division. I bought a team that isn't going to win

for the next 25 years. I don't know what to do, but I'm happy for Bill. Okay. Come to an end on ESPN. That's what I'm worried about. NFC South, good spot to be. Great spot. Unless Baker just continues to cook. There's a lot coming out about him. He's playing

his best ball right now. Oh, yeah. The Buccaneers love him down there. Bill versus Baker. Check that out. The stats? Yeah. This is a new Baker. I agree. Just like it could be a new Bill. It'll be the same dumb show tomorrow. We'll see you then. Be a friend.

Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're all in this together. Goodbye. Nailed it. Nice. We did it. Another day on ESPN without starting wars, but certainly two fucks.

Yep. Son of a bitch. This guy right here. They both did get caught. Hey, way to go, Dick Goods Department. Hey, baby. Thank you. He knew. He was like, this guy. Sho Dick Good's department. Did he get them? Yeah. Thank you, Dick. He knew.

He was like, shoes on, Chuck. Okay. Yeah, yeah. We all said the same thing when we saw him. The shoes, good shoes. These shoes? Is his name really Dick Good? Mm-hmm.

Richard Good is his name. And I don't even know if he's the actual guy that does it. It's his department. Right. I think he gets kind of credit for it a lot. So I don't know how the internal conversations are going over there, but it's Dick Good's department to make sure those get censored out. We're only on like a two-minute delay or something.

We need the name of whoever is pushing the button. I think it changes. Oh, okay. It varies. I believe. When do you transition to Dick from Richard? I have an Uncle Dick. I've never asked him.

I should, though. When do you say, hey, no, it's Dick, actually? So Richard Good never did. We're the only people that call him that. Correct. I'm saying for people that called that. Correct. I'm saying for others that might really do that. I thought it was like a bar mitzvah, like when you turn 16. I was thinking like 45.

Yeah, I don't know. If my name's Richard and I find out Dick could be my nickname, I think I'm going for it. Game, set, match. But I got Richards in my family. I don't think they go by Dick. And now that I'm starting to wonder, how the hell was that the case? I'm getting mine changed. It'd be a weird year of transition.

As soon as I figure it out. Dick, Chuck, this could become. No. Change my name. Oh, Richard to Dick? No. Oh, from Richard. Whole new name.

You mean Richard? They're going to start calling me Dick? No, thanks. I'm John. Yeah, but Rich. You also have Rich in your bag. That's fine. Rich is good.

Nobody brings up Richie. Richie. Imagine as a kid on the playground, how many fights. Richie April. I was there. Bring Big Dick over here. You'd love it. You'd be great, Chuck.

Hey, Penis, you want to play soccer? Yeah, but you've got to be good. Yeah. If you're good, all of a sudden, that whole thing stops. Old Dickie Pagano? Yeah, you've got to go Dick. Yeah. If you're good, all of a sudden that whole thing stops. Old Dickie Pagano. Yeah, you've got to go Dickie. Dickie P. That's a great name.

Now a guy played golf with an 83-year-old back in Boise. Dickie Z. He's got Dickie Z. Now that's awesome, Dickie Z. But at 83, who's going to F with him? Nobody. Yeah, but that's what you're playing the game for. You know what the Pupilardo is? Yeah. You know what the poopalardo is yeah you know what the poopalardo is i feel like

i just figured it out yeah like when you play poker the joker you're playing poker is the poopalardo okay aces straights and flushes like when you get dealt the poopalardo okay the nuts we're playing a game of poker one time at camp. Bobby Cortese was the old coach that ran the cards. And we're playing a game called pay to pass. So you get two cards down, show you a card. If you don't want it, you put a dime in the pot. Pay to pass.

Or you can take it. And usually you split the pot. What are you building? You're building a full hand? Low and high low. You're building a full hand? Low and high low. You're building a full hand, or what are you doing? Full hand. Five cards.

Seven? Yeah, seven to play your best five. Got it. And so I get the Pupilardo. I don't have any idea what the Pupilardo, you know. I don't know what you can use in aces, straights, and flushes. I put a dime in, right? Laughing stock.

Dickie Z. Jesus. No, not Dickie. This is a whole different story. But Dick Laughing stock. Dickie Z. Jesus. No, not Dickie. This is a whole different story. But Dickie Z is the Pupilardo of our country club, Hillcrest Country Club. Oh, he is the wild card. He lives on the same street as Scotty Butterfield. Leon Rice.

Leon's the head coach at Boise State. Hey, you know. These guys are classics. Oh, my God. Dickie Z. He's down there with Butterfield. Scotty Butterfield. They got the Pupilardo.

After what you said about his name, I don't think you're playing golf with Dickie anymore. This doesn't have anything to do with Dickie. He's in a whole different bucket of dicks. That's what we're talking about. If your name's Dickie, you've got to get yourself into that bucket. You can't be in the penis bucket. Find a good dick bucket.

Yeah, you need to be in the good D. You can't be in the bad D. You've got to be in the good D. Let's get to a break. You eat like chocolate. Yeah, he loved that one. Now you're a You guys could see me at home. I couldn't even fathom it. I hear a whoo. You guys could see me at home.

I couldn't even fathom it. Yeah. All right. Chucky P and Dickie Z. Yeah. Running wild all over Boise. Brother. Jesus. You guys still got card games, huh?

It's hard to find good card game. I used to be a part of a couple good ones. Then it got a bit inconsistent. I think everybody grew up and got families. Tough to do that type of stuff. At Bob Cortese, he heard of an overthrow. We were going to overthrow him from being the Grand Pupilardo of

running the card, bringing the card. There's some drama. So we show up. First card game. We used to do it at my dad's camp, Mile High Football Camp. Every night until 3 in the morning. Cards, right? And he's got two pistols sitting on the floor. Oh, great. He's letting you know. So Johnny Passetta,

myself, Joey Penunzio, the whole group, he'd go with me. We're going to overthrow Cortese. You didn't. He's going to shoot you. We saw the two guns. Yeah, you got the game. Okay, I heard a little rumbling, a little rumbling. I've played in a couple card games where there's people that were very strapped at the door.

Made me feel good, actually. Yeah. I was like, this is where I want to be. But then you start looking around if things are either going too good or too bad. Right. It's like, am I getting worked here or how the fuck am I getting out of here? Yeah. That's a, yeah.

I've had a couple evenings where I've stuck around just to get money back, you know? Mm-hmm. Gotta lose some of these. Gotta lose a couple of these hands here. Yeah. That's a yeah. I've had a couple evenings where I've stuck around just to get money back. You know? Gotta lose. A couple of these hands here. Alright, we had fun! We had fun. Sorry. That first group with the Colts team, I won't say individual names because they all have families down and I don't think they'd be embarrassed by it, but

there were some guys who hosted some massive games. Massive games. And I got invited to be the fish, I think. They thought I was coming, you know. No, sir. No, no. I get cards. I don't know why.

Yeah. I'm very, whatever the game is, I'm probably going to get cards. And I don't know why. I don't know what to say. AJ's the same fucking way, by the way. This guy gets, I see it. Great cards. I see it.

Does that happen in, like, Vegas, too? Like, when we go to Vegas? Yeah, I win normally pretty good at the Black Jays. Oh, this guy, he I see it. Great card. I see it. Does that happen in, like, Vegas, too? Like, when we go to Vegas? Yeah, I win normally pretty good at the Blackjack table. Oh, this guy, he's trying to – I normally win pretty good at the Blackjack table, yeah. I don't know the rules, though. I need to read that book. I'm not, like, a professional.

You are. Honestly, you know it. You know. Pretty basic. Don't you start. You know. No, I'm talking about the 21 one. Right.

The one, like, actually where you're beating the game. Like, Dana does. You need a team, though. You need four or five people for that. Yeah, but Dana White is allegedly just like, he'll fucking take the whole thing. You know, I know. You see a three, four, five, six, two. Let's get as much money on the table as we can.

Yeah, that's how we play. Yes. Yeah, there's time for that. Your only chance. Yeah, but there's these people. The other side of it. There's a movie of people. Yeah, but that's not fun. Yes. Yeah, there's time for that. There's only chance. Yeah, but, like, there's these people. The other side of it. There's a movie of people. Yeah, but that's not fun.

21. Chuck, this guy wins so much, he'll just walk away from the table with stacks of money just laying there, and the pit boss will take it, save it for him. The next day, he comes back, oh, Mr. McAfee, here you go. Here's the money you left. Chuck was asking earlier if we wanted a table. That's awesome. I hope that happens.

I get real lucky. We're going to roll up. It's going to. I get real lucky. It's absurd. People get very pissed playing cards against me. I'll just say it, too. Not a good time to go right now. Oh, he's bluffing, he's bluffing, he's bluffing. They think I'm bullshit, and I'm not.

It's like, yeah, I just got it. It's been my whole life. I started playing cards with my grandma when I was eight years old. She taught me how to play poker, me and my grandma. It's been this way basically my entire life. It's so much fun. I love it. Yeah, it's awesome. I love playing.

That's awesome. It is. It's a blast. I love it. And then you run into cheaters. Yeah. And it's like. AJ gets cards though.

He does. He does. He's a good player. Why do you think some people get cards and some people don't? That's. Karma. Karma is real. I don't know.

We all get the same kind of cards just how you choose the player no if i'm not getting good cards i suck there's people who if they don't get good cards they still win somehow yeah so people are like cards are a big part of my story actually won me into a camp that got me a scholarship like it's a big part of my entire life story so i'm very thankful for cards. But if I'm not getting cards, I fucking suck. There's some people out there that, like, still can work. I cannot.

You talking about Chris Moneymaker? So, I don't think. Bingo. Ronders? Bingo. Chris Moneymaker. Who's Fossil? That Fossil.

Yeah, the Fossil. Daniel Negreanu. Still doing it. Phil Ivey. Phil Ivey. Phil Helmuth. Yep. Daniel Negreanu. Yeah, I agree. That's, I Ivey, Phil Helmuth. Yep. Daniel Negreanu.

Yeah, I agree. I mean, that's where we can't do. Oh, they're still doing it. They're still playing. Same old song and dance. Yep. They're waiting for some drunk sucker to come into a casino. I don't see it as much.

Why don't I see it as much? I think it's on like the Thundercast radio. Yeah. It had a good run. Had a great run. Poker on TV. World Poker Tour is still still playing if you're up late enough you can find it on the guide world i used to watch all of it i watched all of that stuff

me too buddy because i saw we saw chris moneymaker just middle-aged middle america basic bland white yeah win seven million dollars it was like, wait a minute. That's an option? All I got to do is do this? And it took off. I mean, I think we did in Pittsburgh. I assume you did when World Series of Poker was playing. We had games every single night in somebody's house, somebody's garage,

somebody's somewhere. There was all these kids trying to work stuff like, hey, whenever I scratch my face I got to nuts. It's like, you don't. You don't fucking know. So yeah, that was the whole thing that was our generation they need to bring that back that was my college we had a poker table in the little room in college that we would play together all the time first house i had here in indianapolis dining room was living room was kitchen sure pretty much the whole thing had a dining room table that you take the top off. Full craps table in there.

Full size. Being the house of the craps table is awesome. Jesus Christ. So that dates me because in our dorm room, when I was going to college, what year? 1922. Yeah, so backgammon. Hey, a lot of money in that, right?

It was huge. Yeah, well, yeah. And then I think it was... No, baccarat. Baccarat. Baccarat. I'm talking was no back rack baccarat what baccarat or backgammon backgammon where they sit there on a little board and they roll dice i have no idea how it works yeah the

little chip up and down the yeah it's yeah do you play cribbage cribbage was huge sure backgammon still is and then one of us we had a pong deal the old atari yeah yeah the old a pong deal, the old. Atari? Yeah. Yeah, the old one. Little deal. Yeah, the first video game.

How about how simple you guys were back in the day? And we had a bracket put up in the dorm we lived in at Y.O. We had fist fights. I mean, yeah. That's good. It was awesome. Need more of that, too. What's that?

The Baccarat is where they all try to make the sustained big money, right? Yeah. That's like a 10-hour sit-down, 12-hour sit-down, I guess. Marathon. That's what poker is, too, though. If you want to play poker, you have to be able to. I got eight hours. I have to sit here if I need to.

I want to win. Obviously, it's been a while since this has happened, since the show. I don't really get to live that much. I don't. But I will someday. That's what we're working for. But it used to be you get a little boozed up, you're walking through a casino, and you see a poker room, and it's like, oh, maybe I want to go in there.

And then you start looking, you're like, I'm going to have to be here for 10 hours. Okay, I'm out of here. We need to get a game. We need to get a game, don't we? For charity? It's been a while since I've played. It's great when you have the chips and you have everything. It's fun, man.

I think you can do a game for charity, like Knights of Columbus. Yeah. Used to have a game here in Indianapolis. Do you think Suns Italy? Do they have it out here? I think VFW would. I don't think. Elks. Should open a Suns Italy. That's what we should do. Those are awesome just to walk into.

Just sit down. Professional dealer. Get up, go get a drink over down. Professional dealer. Oh, yeah. Get up, go get a drink over here. I know nobody here, so I got headphones on. Yep. Just playing cards for like four hours. It was great when I was in the substance abuse program.

Sure. I wasn't allowed to do anything fun. So I'm going to go play cards for five hours every night while all my friends are hammered drunk having a blast. Fine. Sending me pictures. I'm not even allowed to look at that. I think the NFL will find me if I look at you guys doing that.

Please don't breathe on me. You have booze on me. They will test me. It's a wild time, AJ. All right, let's get back to sports on the other side. Actually, poker is a sport. Oh, yeah. Yes, it is.

ESPN introduced that to all of us. Yeah. That's when we were all watching ESPN all day, every day. There you go. Literally, whatever you put on there, we were going to watch. Are poker players athletes? That's the whole question. Oh, are NAS all day, every day. There you go. Literally, whatever you put on there, we were going to watch. Are poker players athletes? That's the whole question. Oh, are NASCAR drivers athletes?

Golfers athletes? Yep. I think some of them are, yeah, for sure. I think poker players are gamers. Like, I think they're gamers. Like, under pressure, very cool. You got to have some mental toughness, for sure. You can be an athlete and not be athletic.

All right, we'll take a break on that one. Think about that. Boy, that's deep. That is pretty deep. And to be honest, I don't know how I feel about it. I don't know if I agree with it, which maybe. I'm with you. Same here.

I don't know. Maybe Connor's on to something, but maybe it's completely stupid. Think about it. Need an example. Think about it. Because I'm sure we can fight either way. Think about it. What about baseball?

Patrick Reed. Say some pitchers, probably either way. What about like baseball? Patrick Reed. Say some pitchers, probably. Right. What's that? Like you don't need to be super athletic, but if you can throw hard as shit. Is throwing a baseball really hard athletic, though? No, but you're still an athlete. Well, now you're arguing what is an athlete.

That's another. That takes time. Being able to throw something, project something. Being able to control a baseball is an athletic move. For sure. For sure. Yes. So that's but I'd say like some of the Patrick Reed a golf swing. You have to be an

and I can be a non athlete and be a good golfer though. That's what I mean. So I think AJ probably stands in the department of gut. Let's see him throw a ball. Yeah, you gotta be able to shoot it've got to be able to shoot a basketball and not look like a wrestler to be an athlete, I think. Yeah, but wrestlers are athletes.

Yeah, they are. I agree. Athletic. And freak athletes. So they can't shoot a basketball? No. But that's the thing. You walk up and you say, here's a basketball.

Are you a wrestler? Yes. Okay. You're good. We'll do another test. Are you a wrestler? No. Okay.

Shoot the basketball. Same with hockey. Yeah, hockey is very athletic. You got to take skating into it. Football. Here's what we normally talk about. That's AJ Hawk. The Talks Table is here at Boston Corner. And that's how you make talk about, that's AJ Hawk. The talk's tables here at Boston Corner and that's Ty Schmidt.

One half of the hammer. Dad. Cowboys, Ty and Diggs is here. And 36 years he spent as a football coach, 18 in college, 18 in the NFL. The people's coach, our coach, Chuck Pagano. And we are incredibly lucky now to be joined by ESPN, NHL pundit and superstar. A man who played 13 seasons in the NHL as a stud. Not only a menace, but a goal scorer, a power, two-time All-Star.

A man who changed the game every time he stepped on the ice. Friend of the program, ladies and gentlemen, P.K. Subban. Hey, P.K.! How are you, man? Am I ever happy to see you guys again Hey thank you for joining us I know this was rather last minute Best show in sports media right now

By far The Pat McAfee show I watched the show You're doing a great job Keep it up PK thank you I don't believe that is the case And it doesn't feel that way on a majority of days

Immediately after the show ends, and I check my phone, but I appreciate you giving us that love. We try to do that every single day. We do what we can. Hey, PK, if you were a part of our team, we would love to add you, pal, so we appreciate that. That means a lot. Anyways, lucky to get a chance to chat with you here multiple times during the NHL season. The NHL is popping off right now.

How about the Oilers, huh? How about the Oilers? We were at the game against the LA Kings. Now, since then, the LA Kings, I believe, are 0-4-4. Yeah. I believe is what the Kings are. But on the flip side, the Oilers and McDavid are on fire. Are they the teams going to win this whole thing?

What are a couple of the storylines we need to pay attention to, PK? Okay. Well, first of all, I think McDavid hasavid has been unbelievable i think that edmonton has benefited from his play if we go back to november i think it was night um i i remember i had spoken about edmonton specifically around that time and that you know it just wasn't good enough they start the season off they get blown-1. Coming off of a season of promise where everybody saw them as a Stanley Cup champion, and I'll give them credit, since the coaching change, since Jay Woodcroft was removed as the leader and the bench bop of the Edmonton Oilers,

Connor McDavid in that span, 48 points. 48 points. He's got 58 points on the season. He did all of his damage after that coaching change. That was a wake-up call for their team, but somehow it woke up Conor McDavid, and now I believe in the hockey world. We are witnessing one of the best seasons

by an individual hockey player ever in league history. So the Edmonton Oilers are going to go as far as Conor McDavid takes them, not to take anything away from Zach Hyman, Leon Dreisaitl, Evander Kane, some of the players that are playing good hockey. Sidney Crosby. Don't get me started on him. We'll get to him in a second.

But right now, Connor McDavid is having the best season that I think anybody's ever seen. From where that team was to where they are now, I think we're witnessing it, and we just need to have fun watching the rest of the season. Go ahead, AJ. Let's get to Sidney Crosby right now and see what everyone wants to talk about, especially these Pittsburgh guys on this show.

What do you make of what he's been able to do? Obviously, we know how great he is, but just continued sustained success. What does he continue to do that just continues to blow everybody's mind? Well, he's 36 years old. He's got the Pittsburgh Penguins now. They're second, I think, in the East, the wild card spot in the East. I've watched Pittsburgh.

You know, Sidney Crosby, this is a guy who, you know, took a Stanley Cup ring off of my finger, literally. Sorry about it. I've had many battles with him. I didn't take it personally. If you're going to lose to somebody, you lose to Crosby.

But I had so many battles against him. I didn't take it personally. If you're going to lose to somebody, you lose to Crosby. But I had so many battles against this guy, and so did everybody else in the league. But my respect for him as a player, I can't speak more positively about him than I do, and we're watching it now. You watch this guy. He still is, in my opinion,

top to bottom experience, leadership. You could put skill in that category he's willing to go to the dirty areas that's what makes Sidney Crosby amazing the way he sees the eyes he's still the best player in the world as far as I'm concerned if it's a must-win game and you need a go-to guy you want Sidney Crosby driving the bus and like listen not to take anything away from Connor McDavid. Connor McDavid is a phenomenal hockey player. A lot of it has to do with his situation and his team.

But what Sidney Crosby has done, we cannot be so quick. And sometimes we're very quick to do that. The world turns. We have new players come in. The expectation is that guys are going to fall off. He's 36 years old. And in my opinion, he's still a player that everybody and every team in this league should want. I mean, you talk about he's tied for 11th and scoring in the league. He's been phenomenal, big goals. He, you know, when his team needs him

to step up, he's still doing what he's been doing his whole career, which is amazing. There's been no drop off for him. If anything, he's aging like a fine wine, and he's still good-looking, too. So Sid's doing it all right now for Pittsburgh. Yeah, incredibly handsome, just like yourself. He's tied for sixth in goals, PK. Sixth for goals, 11th in points. Yeah, 11th in points, sixth in goals. So normally he's playmaker all the time.

Now it's like he's scoring two out of the three goals that the Pens are scoring. So he's got 26 goals. i think his season high was 52 and i think he's on pace to surpass that why does sydney crosby score so many goals the guy uses a curve like this like honestly for the best goal scorers in the world none of them could use the stick that sydney crosby uses he uses his blade is straight. This guy is committed. If you go back and you watch his 52-goal season, I'll never forget this. Guy Boucher, when I was playing in the minors, he would always talk about Sidney Crosby because he coached him. And he said, Sidney Crosby, if you look at that 52-goal game season, a season that he had, a lot of his goals, it might have been 26, 27 of his goals,

were around the paint. And this is something that I want to talk to a lot of young players about. You want to score goals in this league, you got to get your hands dirty. You got to get in the crease. I see him one leg down on the goal line, in front of the net, one knee, behind the net. This guy is, and with all due respect, you guys know what I say, he's a glorified grinder

this guy has the skill and talent of some of the best players to ever play the game but his mentality is to be a fourth line third line grinder get in there score by any means necessary and win by any means necessary and it's showing right now he's pulling the pittsburgh penguins into the playoffs again yeah because we're out of it just a few weeks ago. Now we're all the way up at the top. Sid's going to continue to do this until the day he's dead. He's going to be in Depend diapers. And he's going to be doing that one knee down, drag tap, also sauce passes.

And he's not scared to be petty either, BK, which is a great part of hockey as well, which I am a big fan of. Yeah, he's driven my head into the ice a few times, right in front of the ref, no call. And you know what? The greats get those calls. So, you know what? It's a part of the game.

No, he didn't do one of these. Not one of those, right? Oh, yeah. He had my head. Go look it up on YouTube. He had my head. Bang, bang. You like that?

Looks at the ref. Bang, bang. Played it like a drum. What'd you do to him? Obviously, you had to do something. Well, that's the thing. I think the ref saw me maybe get in his kitchen a little bit earlier and kind of let it slide. So

it is what it is. That's part of the game. Hey, Pat, you know the deal. Some days you're the hydrant. Some days you're the dog. You know the deal. Yeah, hammer nail situation, but certainly have not heard the hydrant dog one. Yeah, some days you are getting picked on. What about some days you're the bug, some days you're the windshield?

Yeah. I like that one, too. Heard that one. That's normally used for, like, rivalries, you know, like whenever people want to talk shit about it. The Hydrant and the dog one, I have not heard of that. That's a great one. Yeah, that's probably the best of the three. I think so.

Yeah, I'm going to add that in. Is that a Canadian thing? Gumpsh. How come we haven't heard that out of Canadian Gumpsh? That one's new to me. I don't know that one. How cool is that? I've got to give that one.

That one's from Chris O'Sullivan, my buddy in Boston, my best friend. He's from Dorchester. I don't know if that was cooked up in the dot or not. All right. Boston, Connor has a question for you. Yeah, I've got plenty of those up there, PK. I don't know any of them because I'm an idiot.

But something we're all bummed about as hockey fans is Conor Bedard getting hurt. Now, obviously, that team is so, so bad at hockey, so it is one of those things where it's kind of maybe you give Bedard a season and put on some weight. Is this anything that hockey guys are worried about at all, or is this

kind of natural for guys that come in this young, this good early? They do get banged up, and how long do you think it is before the Blackhawks kind of natural for guys that come in this young this good early they do get banged up and how long do you think it is before the blackhawks kind of get players around bedard to you know take that step and be one of the better franchises again in the national hockey league well no one comes in like conor bedard comes in really when you think about it there's maybe been a handful of players to come in at 18 and establish themselves as premier players in the league this early. With all that being said, he has so much growth to go.

He still hasn't played in every arena in the NHL yet, but yet he's amongst some of the top players already. Skill-wise, for sure. Shot-wise, hockey IQ. You've seen the stuff that he's done so far this season and nobody really expected that, you know, but me, really, and a few other people, but nobody really expected him to do that. I said he would get between maybe 20 to 30 goals, 80 points. You know, he was well on pace to do that, but no one's going to be able to predict what he's going to do because he's going to surpass your expectations. That's what players like Conor bedard and conor mcdavid do they surpass everybody's expectations conor mcdavid's doing it every night and conor bedard will do it again when he's

healthy and back there these guys are worth the price of admission to watch play because of their skill set and it's once in a lifetime you know these players don't come along every year they really don't so i know it might seem like that but they don't you got to take the time to really appreciate their skill set and the game we talked to uh math yesterday mark andre flurry and he said normally there'd be like 12 guys that you that you gotta want six of them have talent four of them have talent bottom half not so much he said now everybody has talent. It's like the level is ridiculous. So whenever you're talking about

Bedard and McDavid being guys that kind of stick out amongst the bunch, the NHL's in a good place for seemingly a long time. He's going to have to... Yeah, well, listen. No, no, no. Here's the thing. His legs, his lower body strength... Oh, no. We're popping watermelons

with our thighs. Exactly. He's got the quads he's got the tree trunks he's got the lower core the abdomen he's got the strength and that's important in hockey that's why you don't see him getting knocked off the puck as much his balance is exceptional his edge work is exceptional through the roof so for him yes he's got to be careful and aware of putting himself there's date there's danger zones on the ice and he'll learn that um sometimes you got to learn that the hard way you know i think that for him uh watching that hit when he took it he took it like a pro he's not complaining he went he'll be right back out there and you know what it's a learning thing

for him i think it's going to make him a great player but i am not worried about conor bedard when it comes to the chicago blackhaw, I'm looking everywhere else but there. That's their guy. They're going to build an amazing team around him. And I see that team getting better a lot quicker than people think because of the fact who doesn't want to play in Chicago and who doesn't want to play with Conor Bedard. The guy can do it all. He can score. He can pass. He can skate. He can set up. He can do it all. So guys are going to want – I think there's going to be a long lineup of guys that want to play there that want to be drafted there. So I expect them to be in the mix in the next two to three years.

I really do. I think they can pull it off. I hope so too. PK, is there any teams that are flying under the radar right now, like a gritty bunch that you think could make a run in the playoffs that people really aren't talking about too much right now? Well, I'm going to tell you this right now. Coach of the year, it's got to be John Tortorella right now.

This has to be my favorite coach. And, yes, the Philadelphia Flyers are getting some love. I know they're fourth in the Eastern Conference right now, but they're 21-14 this season. Last year they were 31, and I believe it was 38 last last year i think they only had 75 points but you know torts what are things i know he went into this season and said what are things that we can be exceptional at well one is defending i'm going to put the pressure on my goaltenders to make sure that they give us a chance to win and the penalty kill defending is

a choice i know a lot of people think that it's a skill i think it's a choice it us a chance to win, and the penalty kill. Defending is a choice. I know a lot of people think that it's a skill. I think it's a choice. It's a choice to want to defend and defend hard and be hard to play against. And Torts is a coach that just doesn't accept mediocrity. He doesn't accept mediocrity from the media. He doesn't accept mediocrity from his coworkers, and he definitely isn't going to accept mediocrity from his players because he knows his job is to get the best out of his players and he's done that

every single place that he's coached you may not love him but he is going to make sure that he gets every bit of juice out of you and as a fan that's what you want from your coach i could talk about some other teams in this league that ain't getting that type of coaching and aren't getting that type of leadership. So for me, the Philadelphia Flyers are a team to watch. The deadline's approaching. They make a move and pick up some scoring. They could be a dangerous team.

So, you know, they're already a dangerous team, and I expect them to make the playoffs. Here's from at since Flyers Cup, since Flyers last Cup. It's been, they haven't tweeted in three days, 17,768 days since the Flyers have won a Stanley Cup. Just a reminder, you know, as a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. I don't think they're winning the Cup this year. If I had to make a choice, I'm not picking them to win the Cup this year. Well, listen, listen to me.

I got into it with some of those Philly fans, too, and Gritty was bringing signs to the warm-up for me and all that stuff. Gritty, that son of a bitch. I don't know those Flyers fans anything. I don't know them a thing. But, yes, they're on the right track, and I believe as long as John Tortorella is manning that ship, they're on the up and up.

No question. His press conference was awesome. Unbelievable. Unbelievable press conference. It was great. His press conference was awesome. Unbelievable. Unbelievable press conference. It was great for the Flyers. Yeah. Obviously. Sidney Crosby goes in there and does his thing all the time. Dog on Hydro. He's the winning

player against the Flyers in history. Most goals against Flyers in history. And then Kyler Murray goes in wearing his jersey into playing the Eagles. I mean, that's a beautiful thing. As a Penguins diehard fan, that's a beautiful thing, PK. As a Penguins diehard fan, that's a beautiful thing to kind of watch come together in the football world. Ty has a question about something you mentioned there, actually. Yeah, PK, speaking of the deadline,

who are a couple teams you think are going to be big-time buyers, and are we going to see any marquee players get moved? I know when we had you on at the start of the season, you thought my Golden Knights were going to repeat. It seems like every time I watch them play, they fucking lose, which kind of stinks. Jackie Aces, obviously surgery. He's out for a little bit right now. So do you see teams like Vegas being big time buyers at the deadline and which other teams who are kind of on the precipice of making a cup run, do you think we'll see be very active as the deadline gets closer? Well, how about this?

I hope the Toronto Maple Leafs buy a new coach because you know what? Mediocrity. Listen, I can't stand watching teams accept mediocrity, whether it's the Leafs, whether it's teams that I played for, Edmonton Oilers. I really believe that the Toronto Maple Leafs need to be buyers at the deadline. They need to find a way to shift some money around and get some defense. They need to fill out the defense.

They have three guys in the top 10 in scoring. These guys are all making $9, $10, $11, $12 million a year, and they're doing their jobs, right? So you're not accepting mediocrity from your players because you're paying them and they're performing. So right so you're not accepting mediocrity from your players because you're paying them and they're performing so why are you getting mediocre results like why is your team i'm looking here toronto maple leaves uh their record in their last 10 game is it's four and six the record since december is nine and twelve they're it's a mediocre team and you're

paying all these guys this money. And I look at it, I'm listening to quotes and people are saying that, oh, you know, it's the players aren't buying in. Well, then you got to get a coach that gets the players to buy in. We just spoke about John Tortorella, who doesn't have three players in the top 10 in scoring that are making 11, 12 million bucks a year. But look at what he's getting out of these players. So, you know, when it comes to buying, we can always look at personnel and say, you know, the Toronto Maple Leafs definitely need defense to fill out their roster.

They probably need some depth guys up front on their third and fourth line just to fill out the team a little bit, bring some physicality and some size. You might be looking at the Florida Panthers again. If they pull you into the alleyway, you're going to need some guys that can handle that pressure. I don't think their team's ready for that again. I really don't. And I think it starts with your leadership and accepting mediocrity as a team. The fans don't

want to accept it. Why should you? Go out, fill out your roster, get the players that you need to build this team and compliment a guy like Austin Matthews, who hasn't stopped scoring since he's been in the league. The guy doesn't stop scoring. If he's not on that team, they're not even in the playoff picture. So for me, the Toronto Maple Leafs need to be aggressive. They have too many good players on this team, too much talent, to just go through another year losing in the first round

or potentially not making the playoffs. Austin, good American boy up there in Toronto leading the NHL in goals. Bring him home. Obviously, good American boy up there in Toronto, leading the NHL in goals. Bring him home. Obviously, that's good news. And there's a lot of chatter in my ear from hockey people in the back room that are saying, wow, the Toronto team is very similar to Dallas Cowboys team and everything you're kind of saying there.

So, hold on. Hold on. On that note, I wore my chain today, and if you can see it, I got jacket you can see the jacket it's teed up right there i'm not i'm taking it on right on the chin and i'll even compare it to the toronto maple leaves yes i am a fan a diehard fan i'll always be a fan of the dallas cowboys i understand that i am accepting mediocrity two days ago they just rehired the coach that absolutely stunk up the joint this season. I don't want to hear anything about regular season records and how many games won.

It's mediocrity. We're trying to win Super Bowls. We're trying to win Stanley Cups. It's not about winning games during the regular season. I don't care. You got to get to the dance and then you got to win. And if you don't win, there's got to be

accountability. So whether it's players, whether it's on personnel or not, no one in their right mind can tell me that this coach deserved to be rehired that quickly after the season. As a Dallas Cowboys, I'll still be a Dallas Cowboys fan. I'll rep my team. I love Jerry Jones.

I just don't like that decision. I really don't. Every fan's allowed to have their own thoughts and opinions. And I assume Mike McCarthy has heard you and many others loud and clear. But, hey, it is pretty cool. I got nothing against him. I got nothing against him. Listen, I think he's a nice guy.

I got nothing against him. Is that how you guys say the word against? Is that real? Is that how Canadians say the word against? Is that real? Is that how Canadians say against? Against. Is that real? Against? Everybody talks about a boot.

Yeah, a boot. We need to talk about against. We need to talk about that one. It's better than a boot. About. What's that? About. About.

About. About. Hey, whenever it's somebody playing, what's that word? Against somebody else? Against? Against somebody else? Against? Against. Against. Is that every time you say that word?

That's how it sounds? So what do you say? Against? Against? Yeah. Yeah, how it's spelled. What about oven? Do you say oven or oven?

Oven. There's no way. There's no way. What? There's no way. That's how Canadians talk. You say oven? Oven, Mitch? Oven. There's no way. That's what you said. There's no way. What? There's no way. That's how Canadians talk. You say oven? Oven mitts.

Oh, my. Oh, I'm an oven guy. Me too. Wow. Me too. Yeah, I think we all are now. I didn't even know that was an option for how that fucking word is. How about A-G-A-I-N?

You know, just the beginning of against. Okay, do you want me to say it the way you say it? No, no. Do you say time and time again? Is that what you say? I say time and time again. So you're speaking English one time. You remember Chris Jericho would always drop the again.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, you're right. I forgot about the super Canadian accent. What part of Canada are you from? Toronto, baby. Look, that's where I'm at right now. There's Roy Thompson Hall. Oh, wow.

Look at that. Beautiful. The sixth shot. Beautiful city. The sixth? Beautiful city. Are you and Drake doing your thing up there, or what's going on? You know what?

I actually just spoke to a security guy, Chubbs. He's hooking me up. I might be doing a little something around All-Stars, so he's teeing me up with security. They'll be on tour, but the boy is always around. This is his city. He is the sixth god. We love Drake down in Toronto.

Hell yeah. No issues with him down here. Absolutely sounds smart. Or up here. Or up here. Yeah, cold as fuck, though. Ladies and gentlemen. It is cold.

Hey, we appreciate you for joining us, pal. Hey, thanks, guys. Honestly, let's hope, fingers crossed, that the Dallas Cowboys and the Toronto Maple Leafs do not accept mediocrity this season or the next. There's a lot of people hoping that both do, though. A lot of people don't like it. Obviously, that's what

comes with being those two teams. Hopefully, we get to do this again soon. Go, Penguins! Nice. That was great. You did really good there. That was smart. That was a smart play.

Crosby, anything's possible. Thanks, boys. I appreciate you guys having me on. Absolutely. As always. You're the man. PK's your man. Yeah, PK!

I will never do this again. You want me to go against him? I will never go against again. You want me to go against him? I would never go against him. No. Ever. Hey, Gumpy, what do you have against the Canadian accent? How come I never heard you say that? That's East Coast, West Coast we talk about all the time.

Oh, I did hear the aboot there. Yeah. I am a big aboot guy. What about Oven? No one's ever said Oven. Oven's pretty awesome. That is not real. It is.

Yeah, now that we know that's an option, though, we should think about calling that. Yeah. Oven's pretty awesome. That is not real. It is. Yeah, that was, now that we know that's an option, though, we should think about calling that. Yeah. Oven. I will never pronounce it oven again. Ever? It is spelled oven all the way. All day. To quote the great P.K. Saban, when I put it in the oven, I knew

there was a potential problem. I cannot wait. Think about it. Open. Oven. Over. COVID. I think wait. Think about it. Open, oven. Over, COVID. I think he's right. It is an oven. Right beyond something. Tina's going to go, will you preheat the oven? I'm going to go, what are you talking about?

Lady. The oven? You mean the oven? You ever been in there before? You're talking about the oven. Speaking of, nope, not going to bring that up. Nice. Smart.

I don't know what it was Sean Strickland on his shirt said The Oven should be Occupied all the time pretty much yesterday While he Yeah, he certainly doesn't care About making any friends Boy

Man I'm excited to hear what the arena does He's wide open He is wide open I'm excited to hear what the arena does. He's wide open. He is wide open. I'm excited to hear what the arena does, though. Like, when he comes out, you know. Where's it at?

It's in Canada. Yeah, it's in, I thought it was in Toronto. You said a few disparaging things about the country as a whole. Yeah. A few. Some other things as well. A few, a few people, other things. Sean Strickland, though, if he wins, it's only going to... Oh, yeah, heel in that place.

I mean, it's only going to be... I'll watch the fight. That thing was seen by, what, 100 million? That clip was seen by 100 million people in about 10 minutes yesterday? So many. And there's press conferences? And multiple clips. Hey, some of those fight press conferences get wild.

They're absurd. They get wild. They're incredible. You know what I mean? I don't know. Those are the best pressers in sports. Those are not fight ones yeah because they there is no there's no like hey you can't say this can't say that it's like oh promo good luck it's fucking absurd yes and as you're watching it's like goddamn where's this at and they turn this shit ton of people yeah it is

uh the fight game's a wild one and uh they got a big one this weekend right yeah yeah yeah drick is duplessus they have already fought outside the ring yes bingo this time they're fighting in the ring correct god after he's he asked the lady and child please move a little step aside i'm about to fight this guy right behind you excuse me thank you and we're off and running yeah all right here we go good luck to all everybody fighting on saturday night Duplissus has to feel pretty good. He doesn't even have to say anything. No.

Promo the fight already happened. 100 million people saw exactly where he stands. How about that cauliflower on his ear? Oh, yeah. They both go. Have you seen that? I don't like to sound like too big of a dipshit whenever it comes to things, but we've all kind of had a very similar rule if you grew up in a city

in which fighting was possible and could happen. There's some cities where no fights are going to happen, just naturally. People are going to talk a lot. There's maybe a little yelling and then a do-si-do. There are separate ways. Some places you walk into, though, it feels like there would actually be maybe a blindside shot to the face here.

We've got to stay. You know what I mean, AJ? There's some places you're at. Check their ears. Check their ears before you make any decisions. Always. Yeah, that is a matter of fact. That guy's four foot eight. I don't care.

Doesn't matter. Look at those fucking ears. Look at those ears right there. That thing has leverage on you that you don't even know. Not only does low man win, but somehow he'll have you kissing your own asshole somehow. You'll be splayed over in a second. German pretzel. They'll get you like that. No problem at all.

The Oklahoma football players just happened two years ago. In the bathroom. They both had a foot on each of them. Pound for pound. Very strong, those guys. Athletes. They'll die. That's what I they'll die You have to kill them

High school, they're wearing garbage bags Running down the side of the road For hours and hours and hours on end And then they're spitting Skipping lunch all week Mentally they've been Going through it since they're like 10 years old Trying to make waves.

They've seen some shit. True life wrestlers is like one of my favorite true lives when they made it because what those kids did was absurd. Yeah, so that's what those years indicate. And I know it's 2024, and I hope nobody throws hands with anybody ever again. I hope everybody gets along with everybody forever. I hope all fights are sanctioned. I hope there's refs, and I hope people agree to rules before a fight happens.

Oh, yeah. But if that's not the reality, which potential, very, very real, look at those ears, talk your way out of the situation, and fucking leave. Yeah.

Just a heads up. With your life. And be thankful. It's good advice. I think it is. I think it's very solid advice. Like, first time I seen Brock Lesnar, what the fuck? You know?

I think that. You actually think that. Because I have that cauliflower ear mentality already in my brain that if I see one, natural reaction is be like, don't even. Let's not try this. Let's be nice. Let's make sure we're nice to that guy. But then he's the size of a barn, okay?

And he's taller than you are. And his hands go down to his fucking ankles. So it's like, he're nice to that guy. But then he's the size of a barn, okay? And he's taller than you are, and his hands go down to his fucking ankles. So it's like he has the reach on you. He's bigger than you. And look at those fucking ears. This guy is willing to go through whatever. It's like that's a machine. Yeah, he's a moose.

His daughter, though. He is a moose. Shot putter. Shot putter, right? Yeah. Just broke the Colorado State record. What does that mean? Oh, that was going to happen on the journey anyways.

She's at Fort Collins, right? CSU Ram? Yep. 225. Yeah. She's crazy about Brock, too. That guys have gone into the ring with him and beat him. That makes it even more ridiculous. Yeah, those people also. Those guys also.

Those guys also had the call flyer here. Him becoming just a heavyweight champ in like, what? I think a year or something worth of training. He's a maniac. Maniac. He's a dog. And then you see him.

He just broad jump or base jump basically up onto the ring at, like, 275 pounds, 280 pounds. I'm watching the old clips of him. Shooting star presses. Yeah. Backflips jumping forward off the top rep at 280 pounds. He was in our studio, and he was incredibly nice to us. But you knew the entire time that you should be on edge. On edge?

What? You should not be on edge. That's the complete opposite of what you should be doing. You're safe. Safe with him there. How about when you shake his hand, and his fucking hand just touches your elbow? He's the one that broke the desk, right? He hit the desk, and it went, right? He hit the desk and it went...

Yeah, broke the desk. Just always be ready. Size breaks shit, he said. Yeah, we understand. He was great. If I was you, I'd do the same. Guy's bam-bam. You know what I mean?

Let's look at this weekend's game, get some Chuck picks here. Chuck, did you tell us to take the under in that freezing cold Kansas City-Miami game? I don't remember if that was the one that you said you liked a lot. I think Lambeau said he liked it a lot. We took that as our team pick.

Yeah, I did. It was a team pick. 43-and-a-half. That was full team pick, and it hit, by the way. Yep. Good for us. We're on a 1-0 streak. Chuck has been hot all season long, both on Thursday night and in Super Wild Card.

Let's look at the weekend here, Chuck, and see what you like and what you're thinking about as each of these games decide who's heading to the championship. That first one, Houston at the Ravens, first time they played week one, it was 25-9, 7-6 at halftime. Two different teams right now. We straddled through for 245 yards in that game. I like the Ravens in this one, but I mean, Houston with their quarterback

and the defense ain't bad. They sack Lamar four or five times in that game as well. Ravens are going to win, but I have a hard time giving nine and a half. Okay, close game too. That's what I just heard. I just heard we have maybe a game. Because remember, five out of six games this past weekend

Super Wild Card weekend, not great. So now you're saying Houston Texans cover nine and a game. Yeah. Because remember, five out of six games this past weekend in Super Bowl card weekend, not great. So now you're saying Houston, Texas cover nine and a half. I like that for that young squad going into the offseason too. Like, all right, we now know that we can and what we have to do going forward. No, everybody says, hey, they're playing with house money and all that stuff. But this one is like real, real.

Like, they're going to be pissed if they don't go up there. I think they'd walk into this expecting to win this game. Well, they better. I mean, if you're playing in the game. No, I know, but you know what I'm saying. Some would be like, okay, we made it this far. It's our first year. We don't want to win too much. All that BS. Hell no. Not with D'Amico

in this group. I like that, that that's a thought. There is a weather Gumpy just sent in. There will be winds as high as 18 miles per hour with gusts up to 38 miles per hour. That is breezy. That's very, very breezy. Every Lamar Jackson playoff game has gone under as well. Yes, it has.

No snow, but feels like temps as low as 9 degrees. What's his record, Gumpy? Do you know his record? 1 in 3, I believe. He beat Tennessee in Tennessee. It's vastly different than Lamar, though, this year. Nine and a half seems like a lot, doesn't it? Doesn't nine and a half seem like a lot?

It does seem like a lot until you hear 30-mile-an-hour Gus, because CJ threw the air a lot. Not that they haven't really had him run as much as he probably could, but you think about Sloak and that offense, just Nico going and Weapons going and Schultz going. And I know they have to have a run game to be able to do any of that. But if you think it's going to turn into a running affair, we've just naturally seen the Baltimore Ravens really dominate on the ground if that had to be the case. They have Dalvin Cook now, too.

Just signed him. Now, didn't really work out with the Jets, but obviously a lot more on the line, maybe a little bit more focus and, you know, inspiration behind that entire thing. But I enjoy this Houston Texans team. Nine and a half points is a lot. We don't have to make our picks until tomorrow, AJ, which is thank God. But Chuck is taking Texans plus nine and a half. I like that. Green Bay, Sam Fran,

taking the points there. Oh, nine and a half for Green Bay? I was going to say, I didn't mean to apologize. No, no, do not worry. Those teams haven't played for three weeks. Yeah. You know, they rested their guys week 18. They haven't really –

What's first half? Now, they've done some practice stuff. So there's always that, you know, that rust factor, the chemistry, getting back in a rhythm, all that stuff. So that's going to – that could come. To your point, what is first half? Do they don't – when does that stuff go out? It's – good question. Because, like, first half spreads. So that could come. To your point, what is the first half? When does that stuff go out?

Good question. Because first half spreads you can do as well. So if you're going to think they're going to be a little bit rusty and Green Bay's going to be hot and Houston's going to be hot coming off of what they just played last week, we're not saying that they're necessarily going to win the game in the first half, but it might be closer than what the books think. Yeah, five, five and a half? Five and a half for Texans-Ravens, so I assume the same for...

Five and a half, first half? How do you feel about that? I'd much rather have six. I like that. Oh. It's actually six and a half, first half, in Green Bay and San Francisco. You like that?

That's right. Like, Green Bay, like, it's hard to find any weakness. I don't know what you guys think or A.J. thinks in that San Francisco defense. There's a couple players in the back end that I'd be worried about that I think we need to highlight, the matchups. Ambry Thomas has been a little bit dinged up, but he's playing opposite of Charverius Ward, number 20, cornerback number 20.

And then Diamador Lenore has been moved into the nickels. He's played well, but go back and watch that Washington game. I just went and re-watched it. McLaurin kind of had his way a little bit, so I'm thinking that LeFleur and Love and those guys in this wide receiver

group for Green Bay, I mean, they're young, but they are dynamic. Plus six and a half for the first half sounds like you're a big fan of. Now there's a chance the Niners show up and just be the Niners. For sure. A little bit of rain in the Niners. Yeah, I just don't think LeFleur is not going to do that, though.

He's not going to let this thing get out of hand. He's going to go up there and do the same thing that he did to Dallas. He's going to run the ball. He's going to control the clock. They went 75 yards, eight minutes off the clock, up 7-0. I mean, you've got to go with the same script.

You've got to go with the same game plan. Keep Sam Fran and McCaffrey and Iuke and Debo and Kittle. Keep them on the bench. That's part of your best defense. It's going to be your offense in that one. Super cool photo coming out of the San Francisco 49ers. Brock Purdy and the boys. Armstead back for the Niners, too.

Pretty huge. Nice. Big deal. Yeah. What's that? Armstead back. Eric Armstead. for the Niners, too. Pretty huge. Nice. Big deal. Yeah. What's that? Armstead back. Eric Armstead. Oh, yeah.

Okay, so we got two bets on that one. You like the Packers plus 9.5 and first half plus 6.5 because there's a chance to come out a little bit rusty. Not that we're saying that they're going to lose the game, but there's 6.5 points is pretty good for a first-half spread. And then Bucs lines, you like that as well? Anything there you want to pass on? What is that number?

6.5. That's going to be a good one. And Bucs lines, you like that as well? Anything there you want to pass on? What is that number? Six and a half. That's going to be a good one. Both, you know, Bucs can't run the ball, but both have great run defenses. Both are in the top five in run defense. So it's going to be difficult for both teams. I think this comes down to, I think I was telling Foxy earlier today, we were talking about it. Who takes care of the ball?

Which quarterback, you know, values the ball more than the other one in this one? Both pass defenses. Basically the opposite of the run defenses. Top five run. Very gettable. So you got Detroit's pass defense. I think Bake and Evans and Godwin. And then tight end.

I like this. Otten. I love Otten. He dropped an easy. The easiest one he had. He dropped and he caught everything else that was contested. A fucking parlay with that too. I'm sorry. I saw one

where you won 10 grand. You cashed out. Don't cry for me. Just give your pick. Don't feel sorry for me, motherfucker. Yeah, bingo. Jason Kelsey. Yeah. The pass defense, I worry about it for the Lions. I trust, you know, Jamal Dean, Carlton Davis,

Antoine Winfield Jr., the pass rush. I don't think, certainly Ben Johnson and MCDC are not going to leave open edges, you know, when it comes to throwing the football. And you just rely on, you know, your five guys up front to try to block those guys, AQ is exactly right. It'll be something totally different because you're not going to just go blitz into seven- and eight-man protection.

They're going to have two tight ends in there. They're going to have a pair or have them on each side, and they're going to chip and do whatever. But they're not going to leave Goff hanging out to dry. They're going to give him some time. So you like both teams and just want to win it? What's that? You like both teams to win here?

This could be the first ever game where both teams win. Over? That'd be so cool if both teams win. Hell yeah. No, I'm taking the points in that one as well. Wow. Three dogs. Bucks plus six and a half. It's going to be a close one. I think a great tease. All the road dogs?

I'd take all the road dogs and tease that baby up, and you got yourself a four-team winner. It worked this weekend. Well, it would have worked this weekend for every team except for the Dolphins. Let's go to this last game. Obviously, you're part of a teaser here. Not bad. You would be able to get six, six-and-a-half more points on all those.

So, whenever you're talking about nine-and-a-half spreads, that's a good way to just kind of open that son of a bitch up. You get up over two touchdowns. That's a great thing to go ahead and half. Kansas City, Buffalo, two and a half. Chiefs getting on the road in Buffalo. Yeah, all those. In those first ones that are nine and a half,

you're going through the key number of 10 and 14. In the bottom one, you're going through 10 and 13 with Tampa and the Lions. And then through three and seven with KC Buffalo. Those are good teaser numbers. The only thing you're teasing is yourself though, right Chuck? That's what people say. Whenever you do a teaser, you're only teasing one thing. I've learned that lesson the hard way a few times.

Well, not me. Thoughts that you've said to people. How other people have experienced it. No snow in Buffalo. No snow in Buffalo, even though a band has hit middle of the week, they haven't figured out they're Buffalo. They're one of the greatest cities of all time, the stories we hear. Oh, yeah. Just so incredibly cool up there.

Going to be chilly, but got Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes for a third time in the playoffs already. I said this is the next Tom Payton of the AFC, not of the entire league. So give me a break. It's like, it is. It's primetime. It's Sunday night. It's the AFC.

And they have ran into each other now three times, and it's the biggest game of the year. What were the ratings this past weekend? 40 million. Peak at 60, I think. Yeah, for Cowboys. This is peak, I think. That was peak back there.

That was just up on the screen. And then this one is the average viewership, I believe, for the games. Average 40 million, Packers-Cowboys. That's pretty good. Wow. I'll get it done. Now, what does that mean, we don't? You know, like some of our ratings just got released.

How do they judge that? I guess just Nielsen ratings? Who has boxes? What's the math? Whatever the case, everybody fucking watched all these games. Yeah. Just like everybody's going to watch these games this weekend. And Patrick and Josh are a great storyline about the two top guys battling in the biggest game of the weekend.

Greeny called it the trilogy. Oh. I like that. I like that a lot. Like Star Wars. How do you see it going? I'm kind of like with Dan. I really think this is Josh's year, where this team came from.

Six and six, and now where they're at and what they overcame. You talk about a gritty bunch. I think McDermott's done an unbelievable job. He's just steady in that deal. Ever since. But their defense, they just lost so many guys. And he mentioned Bernard. I mean, they're playing with Klein and then I forget the name of the other guy

they finished the game with. Miles Jack. No, no, no. That was Pittsburgh. That's Pittsburgh. The linebacker situation in that game on Monday was tough. It was. Miles Jack.

He only got back-to-back penalties, right? Face mask and then. Who, Miles? Miles, poor guy. I mean, that's not how he won his season. He was retired. He had a good time. He drilled Stephon Diggs.

What's that? Gump? He was an electrician two months ago. Yes, he was. Just living his life. You could tell. He still hadon Diggs. What's that? He was an electrician two months ago. Yes, he was. Just living his life. You could tell. He still had his belt on. White jerseys don't help, especially with how cold it was.

Yeah. Jesus. Mahomes ate one in his career as a dog. He's going to need that. He's probably going to be back splicing wires together. But, hey, geez. He knew the defense. They needed somebody that knew the defense.

He's a smart guy. He's a good guy. He was out of football for a while. Give him a break. Off the couch. There's a lot of those this year. How's Kevin Van Nooy going to do this week? Keith Van Nooy doing this. He's been enjoying the show a lot lately. Big Keith was a big fan of the PFF stuff.

Yeah, the week before, too. All right, so you're not making a pick for the last one. I respect that. No, I respect it. Pending injuries. Oh, okay. I don't want to put you in a spot. Make a pick, Chuck. Don't be like Dan. No, I'm going to make it. Just because I have no idea, but I'll take the dog there, too.

I'll take the road dog. All four dogs, Chuck. Because Pat Mahomes, I mean, you can't bet against Patty because he's already done it. And that defense, I just think Kansas City's defense right now is humming, and they're obviously a shit ton healthier than Buffalo's. AJ, how do you feel about Coach's picks? Do you think it's maybe the hot run? Is Chuck Pagan over? Oh, no. No, no, how do you feel about Coach's picks? Do you think it's maybe the hot run? Is Chuck Pagan over?

Oh, no. No, no. I do not think. I think he is. He's on the right track, I believe. He definitely informs me for me making my picks tomorrow, so it has a big impact on what I do. Don't give away your picks, AJ.

I'm not. I'm not at all. Big seg tomorrow. That's right. Oh, I know. I'm just teasing. Just teasing it. Oh, teasers.

Good tease. Oh, that might be. Good tease. Wow. Okay. Wow, I know. I'm just teasing. Just teasing it. Oh, teasers. Good tease. Oh, that might be. Good tease. Wow. Okay. Wow, we could really do it. All right, Chuck, before we get out of here, after you made four great picks, five actually if you do the first half.

He's not boxing again, is he? Don't make him box. You ever play ping pong? Like a nine round time play? There's actually, there is poker in that Oculus. Really? That's sweet. I think you can sit down and play.

Real money or? I think you can in some states.. Real money? I think you can in some states. That's sick. I think so. Because they have that on your phone. Certain sportsbooks. Where you can play in certain states and certain places, but then you can't. You can do blackjack on your phone in some places.

Most days. This one, not. Michigan, you can. Wow. That would be... I thought about getting one until you told me that. Yeah, dangerous. What, a phone? Oculus, now that you tell me that you can wow yeah that would be true yeah i thought about getting one until you told me that yeah dangerous what a phone oculus now that you tell me that you can play cards for real i think you can play cards for real in some games you should be able to release you can go sit court

side of the game you can sit right next to the ice in the nhl they're gonna make that really awesome i agree it i have found myself not wanting to put the fucking thing on. I hear you. You know what I mean? Like, not wanting to do the whole song and dance. Well, you know it's going to... Simple goggles. Well, he thinks it's going to become contacts, AJ thinks. Yeah. Put your little contacts in and take you wherever you want in the world.

Hey, did you watch Self Reliance yesterday? No, not yet. I'm going to, though. I didn't watch it either. Bad guy. I told Jake right to his face I was going to watch it. Other stuff. You're doing other stuff.

You're watching it at some point. I'm going to watch it tonight. Yeah. Okay. No Thursday Night Football. Yeah. Yeah. I'm watching it tonight.

Self-Reliance, it's on Hulu. Jake Johnson, who was on the program yesterday, from Tag and New Girl. And also the voice of Peter B. Parker in Spider-Verse Beyond the World. Is this guy who's got to recruit friends to help him stay alive? Yes. That's self-reliance.

Talk, watch it. He said it was sick. Is that right? Talk. Talk. Just thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs in the middle. Your thoughts on self-reliance.

He's the only one in the Thunderdome that watched it. We all made an agreement we were going to watch it. Not one of us did, except for Talk. I guess one of us did. Talk is the guy. Talk, thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs in the middle, you think, pal? Whoa, he's behind you. Holy shit.

Thumbs down. Talk, you said you loved it. Talk. Just on the show. What the hell? Sorry about it. He needs to explain it. And you know you're going to get the truth. From Talk? Yes. Oh. Just on the show. What the hell? Sorry about it. He needs to explain it. And you know you're going to get the truth.

From talk? Yes. Oh, yeah. For sure. He had a great break down. Didn't even do a middle. No. Yeah, gave him an option for this one.

No waffling. Yeah. Yeah, what's that all about? What did he not like about it? Love is conviction. He didn't get it. There's no reason to dive any deeper. He didn't get it.

I assume he didn't. You just need some vitamins. You know what I mean? Somebody scared the shit out of him. Yeah, Jake said that, didn't you just need some you need some vitamins you know i mean somebody scared the out yeah jake said that didn't he yeah ty bullied him the other day and we had to have a full h and r situation yeah we had and we had an hr situation brewing yesterday too um i'm just having a full scrap right here today as well with chug yeah chuck's saying the f word h and r meetings are coming in abundance, I mean, that's just how it goes whenever you're in the Thornhill. Exactly. That's life in the Thornhill.

Harassment deal, right? Well, talk for sure. What Ty did, yeah. Wow. Did you get written up? That's not harassment. No, I think we're still in the process of kind of figuring it out. He overreacted big time.

So that's going to be my argument. But we'll see. We'll see how the cards are dealt Ty's been in front of the jury before he's certainly been there before he's not scared to make his case not scared at all to make his case you think he's just going to roll over

and apologize you don't know a time and chance but Talk I don't think you overreacted Talk you didn't overreacted. Toc, you didn't. Yeah, amen. Toc, you didn't overreact, bud. You're perfectly you. Love you, Toc.

But also, Toc, I don't like that you're that potentially uncomfortable at work. Nobody's going to actually hurt you here. No. This is a safe space for you. Unless you're standing with a ball four feet in front of Evan Fox. Yeah, exactly. And there's a chance somebody's going to try to snipe you. What happened there?

Well, Nick tried to hit Evan Fox in the face with a little dodgeball type thing. Was not in the face. Well, Nick has such precision aim whenever he's throwing a ball. He was aiming for somewhere different than his face that was next to his face. Foxy got very mad about it. Nick said, I was never intended to hit you in the face. Foxy said, do you know where the hell the ball is going when you throw it? And then there was a little bit of a thing.

It was a beef. AQ got on a fake phone call, walked out of the room. Yep. It was a real beef. I was so mad. It was a real beef. I was so, so mad. It was all it was.

You get hit in the face. You do. You get hit in the face with anything. Your natural reaction is just throw a punch. He didn't get hit in the face. I mean, he didn't. It was literally like right here. And I had a basketball in my hand.

And I turn like this. Nick is this close, by the way. No exaggeration, this close. Crow hops into a throw as hard as he can. I just so happened to turn, and the basketball and his ball blocks it, and it would have been right here. I was so, so, so bad. It might have hit him in the chest.

Maybe. But like we said, Nick is Matthew Stafford, so he can put it in the keyhole so he was aiming right there i wasn't around for this but it is a super shocker that it was the one that nick nick was the one that was throwing this yeah first time i've ever seen nick he was punching books out of a kid's hand yeah walking through so h and r has heard about nick as well yeah yeah h and r is trying to change him. He's got a potential baby on the way. He's got a baby on the way. I apologize.

And just like Ty said, talk overreacted. I'm sure Nick could say I overreacted a little bit, but I was hot. I was pretty angry. I will say, in a complete opposite fashion, Nick overreacted as well. I wasn't going to hit him in the face. Why do you know? Which made me more mad, actually.

Because I wasn't trying to. I threw it low. It went a little high. It wasn't. Which made me more mad, actually. Because I wasn't trying to. I threw it low. It went a little high. It wasn't near his face. No harm done. I don't know what we're talking about. Foxy was holding a basketball, I guess. Ball hit basketball.

How close was he for real? How close was he when he threw it? Like, he's very close. Five feet. So close. Five feet's a fair number. And you were just trying to throw it and hit him in the chest or what? Yeah, just messing with him.

Hey, here's the ball. Boom, hit you. Wasn't at his face. My point is I don't want to be like Toc where I'm scared all the time walking around. So I said, yeah, we're not doing this ever again. It's like a little foam ball. It's a foam ball. Like a mini basketball hoop ball.

A little foam, yeah. But it does have some smack to it. It does. It does. It little foam. Yeah. But it does have some smack to it. It does. It does. It would have some slack. Oh, yeah. When you pick it up, though, in Nick's defense, you do immediately want to throw it at somebody. There you go.

Thank you. It is perfect size. Yeah. I just thought about gym class when someone's shooting a full court shot and you're under that opposite hoop and you get smacked in the face. That's the worst feeling in the world. Yeah. Don't be honest.

I'm happy you didn't experience that yesterday. I know. Me too. But that's why I got mad. I said, this can't happen. We had the worst feeling in the world. I'm happy you didn't experience that yesterday. I know, me too. But that's why I got mad. We had a full H&R case. We settled it. It was all good. Did it get heated? Like, for real? AQ, fake phone call. Walked out. How long did the little argument go on? 35 seconds.

Oh, okay. You guys are good then. But continued. Oh, no, yeah. Once I got it out, the feud continued until they both left. So, yeah. Well, I brought it back up. I brought it back up to make sure we're all, hey, we got... I don't think it's over. I'm looking at Nick's face right now. It's over. It is over. It's over.

I felt obligated, you know, sometimes in a locker room, if it wasn't addressed, if somebody fought at practice, to be the guy and go, wow. Yep. Huh? Just kind of... Take flight of it. Yeah, just kind of bring it up. Whoa.

Saw you guys throw in ball. Are we good? Huh? We're good? Just like so everybody sees it. It's like. Let's actually clear the air. Hey, we all saw this.

We all saw this. We all experienced it. Let's move along. So I did the same exact thing yesterday. Like at the end of the day, I'm like, Foxy got real mad at you, Nick. And Nick was there. I didn't mean. I wasn't going to hit him in the face ever.

And Foxy – then again, Foxy goes right back in the – you hit me right here. And if I wasn't holding the ball, I'm getting hit right in the face. I mean, Connor's signature is, oh, it's still going. That's what me and Connor are thinking to each other. And then inevitably, I apologize. It's okay. I apologize as well. Boom, they're out of the building.

Was it baby deerskin? Hmm? He's talking about Foxy having baby deerskin. You have skin like an armadillo. If you don't have skin like an armadillo, you got baby deerskin. I don't think either of these guys had baby deerskin

in this particular situation because I was in a different room and I heard the ball smack off the basketball. So I think from Foxy's standpoint, he heard the smack and felt how hard it was and was like, if this hits me in the mouth, we have to fist fight. You're not going to do that to him.

You're not going to do that to him. You're not going to do that to him, so you're not doing it to me. I think Nick at the beginning was like, fuck you, but then also like, all right, I respect it. Then the boys went their separate ways. I admitted I threw it probably a little too hard.

Yeah. But not too high? No. Nick's got a live arm. I stand by that. He knows that. Got a live arm, man. You got to watch it.

You got to showcase it, too, sometimes. Remind people. You got to let them know. You got to remind people. Just like Joe Flacco. Exactly. Just like Joe Flacco with that first snap with the Rams. Bingo.

Against the Rams. Yep. I'm going to throw this thing 20 yards over. Hey, this doesn't get resolved unless there's love and respect for each other. And both those men have that for each other. That's right. Thank you, coach. Well said. Love you, Fox.

Look at that. That was wonderful. That was good H&R. Tone! Next H&R appointment is with you. Starting to pot. Alright, Chuck. We haven't done a lot of giveaways since everybody's just attached us for everything. Sure. I have resisted the urge to just give away money to people for some reason.

But our people have been nothing but lovely and supportive. Wow. As of late. As of late, sure. They've had to go into the trenches for us. Yeah. So I think Chuck should win 30 of them, $500. Wow.

Whoa. 30 people, Chuck. They've been in the trenches for us. So I think Chuck should win 30 of them, $500. Wow. 30 people, Chuck. They've been in the trenches for us, battling for us. These people have called us everything under the sun. Actually, from all different angles, our people have done that. I like you. Do it, Chuck.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, Chuck. 30 people, $500 if you put that ball into that hoop right, Chuck. 30 people, $500 if you put that ball into that hoop right over there. Remember, 30 people can have their lives changed in a beautiful way with one throw of a pigskin from Chuck Pagano. All right. Recalibrate. Yep.

Recalibrate. Aim a little left. Aim a little left. AJ. AJ. Chuck, you know David Chow Aim a little left. Aim a little left. AJ. AJ. Chuck, you know David Shaw? Yeah, what's up? David Cho?

Shaw. David Shaw. Stanford. Chargers has interviewed him. I was kind of surprised by that. He's been on everybody's radar. We can't hear you. What's he saying?

I'll go back. He's been on everybody's radar for a long time. Hey, not only, I didn't know that. He's been in the NFL. He's been on a's radar for a long time. Hey, not only, I didn't know that. He's been in the NFL. He's been on a couple committees too, I think, right? Yeah, remember he did the draft stuff? He always had him doing the draft stuff. Yeah, I think they've tried to keep him in the football world,

obviously, since he's left Stanford. A lot of people have an immense amount of respect for him. Good coach, good human. Okay, good for him getting an interview. Also, Cliff Kingsbury has interviewed with the chicago bears for the offensive coordinator position which is obviously a massive ordeal because he was at usc this past season caleb williams seemingly the number one overall pick chicago owns the number one overall pick so is this a thing for oh caleb and cliff coming together to chicago eberfluss got

the defense cliff kingsbury's got the offense with Caleb. They're all the way back. What's that mean for Justin Fields? That's what's happened today while we've been live. That is actual news, AJ. Also, it's a chance for the Bears to do some homework and see how Cliff truly feels about his quarterback, about Caleb. Hey, maybe we're doing

some research, too, to see if everything checks out, if we want to take this guy. Also, today, Mike Vrabel has interviewed with the los angeles chargers who have interviewed harbaugh shaw vrabel this is all publicly we don't know who else they've chatted with but vrabes gets his first public interview since he is fired from the tennessee titans everybody believes he's a great ball coach as well i think all fan bases would be pretty pumped about whoever you hire right now to be the next head coach of your team, which is a beautiful thing. It's not always

like that, AJ. It's never like that. That's what I'm saying. This year is an abundance of riches as far as free agent coaches or coaches that are looking to get another gig. And allegedly Aaron Glenn to the Titans, Bill Belichick to the Falcons, Dan Quinn still allegedly to the Seattle Seahawks,

Antonio Pierce back to the Raiders. Carolina Panthers, David Tepper's coaching them. Now, speaking of coach, our coach, Chuck Pagano, will attempt to win 30 people, $500. All he has to do is put that football into that hoop over there, and 30 people are $500 richer. Good line. Good throw.

Good aggressive throw. That was a good bounce back. That was a good bounce back. throw. That was a good bounce back. That was a good bounce back. Chuck, that was a good bounce back. You know, Chuck, we were talking a little bit about these coaching positions that are open and roles and coordinator positions and maybe advisor and consultant positions. And we almost had Chuck saying he wants to go back in and coach football.

Yeah. Earlier today. Perfect situation. Why not? Right, Chuck? Why not? So you're saying you're ready to go back? Okay. Perfect situation. Why not? Right, Chuck? Why not? So you're saying you're ready to go back. Okay.

Right situation. We talk to guys all the time, players, coaches, former coaches, how much they miss it, how much they miss the competition, the guys, camaraderie, locker room. What? I mean, you just can't replicate it. And if you've got juice and passion and energy and you've still got a burning desire

and your health's good and everything like that, why not? Why not? Let's go. Why not? And you know what? With that on our minds, why don't we win 30 people 500?

Come on, Chuck. Do you have the juice? Do you have the energy? Do you have the ability to put that football into that hoop right over there for 30 people 500? Come on, Chuck. Do you have the juice? Do you have the energy? Do you have the ability to put that football into that hoop right over there for 30 people to win $500? Ooh.

You're not getting hired anywhere. A little more left. You're not getting hired anywhere, I don't think. They're going to say that was the universe. Oh. I don't like that at all.

Here we go. I would love to see him back on the sideline. Yeah. Me too. Maybe. Absolutely. AJ, could you imagine

him doing one of these on the sideline with the headset on doing the whole thing? That's amazing. That's awesome. Where's Ron Rivera going to be D.C.? Are you going to be D.C. and Green Bay?

Carolina. All right. Are you going to be D.C. and Pittsburgh, Chuck? A lot of D.C. jobs open up. Ron Rivera's up there. Are you going to be D.C. and Philly, Chuck? They're not moving on. Terrell, right?

You never know. Everything's open. You never know. New England's open. He's a good coach. It's 2024, Chuck. What about Green Bay? New England's 2024, Chuck. What about Green Bay? New England's open, Chuck.

What do you think? I think. Okay. That was 48-16. Six minutes to go in the fourth quarter, boys. Which one? Dallas-Green Bay. What are you saying?

They only scored two touchdowns. They did a hell of a job. Joe Barry. Dominated the first 85 minutes. Got them figured out. Yeah. Figured out how to play his defense. Right time to do it.

You guys showed that. That play Savage made. Oh, yeah. I mean, Jair's pick was everybody's clamoring, screaming for SPI, SPI. He ran the route for him. Sorry. And he's got every right to that ball. Why?

As much as the receiver. That was incredible. And then Savage coming down. And they ran. It's, you know what it is. Just as much as the receiver. That was incredible. And then Savage coming down. You know what it is? It's like D'Amico telling Harris, right? Here's the formation. Here's what's going to happen.

Here's the down and distance. Here's everything, right? And then they pressure him. He's coming down. He's playing three receiver hook, A.J., right? Fire zone coverage, three under, three deep. Darius did an unbelievable job. So it's the Ernie pass. Back goes away. Number three under three deep. Darius did an unbelievable job. Right? So it's the Ernie pass.

Back goes away. Number three dives underneath, and it's a little F post by number two. Ernie Zampezi. We just call it the Zampezi. In Oakland, we call it the Norv pass because Norv was our head coach. But it was the Zampezi. Norv stole it. He comes down just like this, and he – oh, yeah, I got this.

I got the cut. Wow. Boom. Unbelievable. Some people call it the Norv. Some people yeah, I got this dude. I got a cut. Wow. Boom. Unbelievable. Some people call it the Norv. Some people call it the Zampezi. Yeah. What the Green Bay Packers call it is too easy.

Ho! Ho! Ho! 30 people, $500. Chuck, all you got to do is put that football in that hoop right over there. 30 people enjoying life a little bit more. There's a natty ball. I don't know. Yeah. There's a natty ball. I don't know. Yeah, there's a natty ball. I don't know how many balls we got left.

There's a Bama ball. There's a Kalen DeBoer. Hey, why is everybody transferring out of there? I don't know. You think it's because people think Kalen DeBoer looks like a nerd, maybe? No way. I understand the defensive guys a little bit. I don't understand the offensive guys. Kalen DeBoer is awesome. The man. As somebody that got a chance to meet him, watch his

team, see how his team reacts to him, I thought he was the perfect hire following Nick Saban. You know, following Nick Saban. Caleb Downs leaving, that's like best player in football. So I think his free agency is going to be great, but that's not good for That's that freshman safety. They're saying he's the next one.

Ohio State may be right for him. Who? Ohio State? Ohio State's rumored to be in the running, yeah. He's got a big bag coming, I assume. They have everyone coming back. Ohio State does? Except for a quarterback. Yeah, but Ohio's there. I got an early ticket on them winning next year.

Ohio State? Yep. They got a young kid, Aaron Nolan, coming in in the quarterback position, too. Lefty, and then obviously the transfer. The Bucs? I saw Michigan do what Michigan has done over the last few years. They're like, we better buck up a little bit.

Caleb Downs is available. Let's go ahead and get him in our program. Quentin Sean Jenkins coming in from Ole Miss. Great player. Alabama Center is coming over. Travis McLaughlin. Henderson stayed. All the defense stayed.

Okay, here we go. Did Ohio State have an OC? Brian Day. Brian Hart stayed. Okay, here we go. Does Ohio State have an OC? Brian Day. Brian Hartline. Well, yeah. They got a linebacker on the staff there that they need to James Ornitis. Let's give him some more power. Don't you think, AJ?

Yeah, James is the man. James was born to coach. We knew that. I knew that when he was a freshman at Ohio State that he was going to be a coach. He's born to lift, too. I think weights. He is. I had a little conversation with him about WWE. I'm like, hey, you've never – I bet you you go back over there, they'll give you a nice welcome home or whatever.

He goes, sure. He started telling me stories about it. He grew up with Charlotte Flair and everybody else, obviously. We always told him, we're like, you've got to do this, man. You've got to wrestle. He's like, no, I've been in the ring since I was a little kid. He's like, I knew, like, that's my dad's thing. It's not really mine.

Yeah, and it hurts. He said that a couple times. Laura Knight is a legend. Maybe Ohio State. Ohio State. Maybe. Maybe Ohio State and Michigan, too. All right, Chuck.

30 people, $500. All you got to do is put that national championship football into that hoop right over yonder. Different ball. Same outcome. It was a miss. He is the best thrower of the West tip. The more Bama ball he's made. Duke,

18 years he threw these. There you go. In secondary practices. 30 people, $500. Oh my god. Kind of got screwed there. I thought that was the one. There's a Bama ball here. 30 people, $500. Oh, my God. Kind of got screwed there. Kind of got screwed there. I thought that was the one. There's a Bama ball here.

Dorsal fin. Yeah, I mean, he's made the dorsal fin. Did you calibrate it? Yeah, it's been calibrated. 30 people, $500. If you put the Russell Wilson dorsal fin football into it. Nope, no chance. Get the Bama ball.

Go on. Behind the Terminalist series book. In the red hoodie. People are saying it's bigger than dorsal ball. Go on. Behind the terminal of this series book. In the red hoodie. People are saying, speaking of Dorsal Finn. Hold up. Russ is going to be Bill's quarterback down in Atlanta. Yeah, I'm sure they'd get along. Yeah, maybe they will.

They both like to work hard. They're vitamins. I mean, see what happens with Cliff in Chicago. True. People are saying Kirk C happens with Cliff in Chicago. True. People are saying Kirk Cousins down in Atlanta. Is he going to be healthy? If he was calling Brady Tommy Foxborough, what do you think he's going to call Russ? Johnny Foxborough.

Okay. Either way. And that was just Giselle saying that. Who knows if that's true? What are you saying? You think Giselle would lie? I'm saying I think Giselle would have done anything to get out of New England. Because to her credit, she's from Brazil, and the winters are pretty tough up there.

And if you do 20 of them, yeah. I'd say they were calling him Johnny fucking Foxborough, too, if that helped you get out of town. There's a chance they were calling him that, though. There's a chance, of course. There's a chance everything we've heard is bullshit, too. About everything. Forever. But you know what isn't bullshit?

Chuck Pagano. 30 people. A relationship that'll be built forever. $500 for 30 folks? Looks like it was bullshit. That's the universe talking. Yeah. Don't give money away yet. People are still being huge.

You can fill in the last word however you want to. Huge allies of ours. Bingo. There you go. Which we appreciate. You know, because through all the negative that there has been, I've seen a lot of positive and we're very grateful for it. Thank you so much for rocking

with us every single day. Chuck, great work today, pal. I appreciate you. How about him? Maybe back in the nfl yeah i can't wait to see you on the sideline come on my team's right here great to have you on this particular team yeah you know i'm grateful to be here and know that this team would watch along if you're back in another nfl team and say a lot of hilarious things about you remember when chuck was throwing that dorsal fin football now he's leading the number two defense in the NFL. Why was he ever in here?

Great question. It's because you reset your mind. You got batteries. Yeah, took the game out. Put it back in. Maybe you're better than ever. Yeah, he did say fuck twice. He's already back in the locker room.

Yeah, maybe coaches that take years off, they're like, hey, you know what I got to do? Get to the dome. Do a season there and then go be a DC somewhere else. Because we did think there for a bit. AQ was trying to get a gig. Yep. You know, it turns out he does not want one.

The opposite. It's like coaches rehab for Bama, but it's just human rehab for mental well-being. Bingo. You bring them in. Yeah, you nailed it. Thank you very much. You bring them in. You really did. Yeah, you nailed it. Thank you very much. You bring them in. You really did. Hey, that one connected. Thank you very much.

I realized there was real rehab halfway through that sentence. Yeah. You had the end. This is one of those things. You had the end. Yeah, bingo. How are we going to get there? We got there. What was yesterday's? Where we had to close her? We got a bunch of mayo.

Splooge his mayo all over the building. Or is this something about making Splooge bunches of mayo? Yeah. What a moment. That's a serious, like 15 seconds of a serious question just to get to the Splooge mayo, whatever part. And then you go, yup, I did, I did, yup. I'm sorry.

We're journalists, boys. That's right. People forget. Valid question. I guess Monday's show is viewed by a lot of people. boys. That's right. People forget. Valid question. I guess Monday's show was viewed by a lot of people. Yeah. That's crazy. We appreciate you guys.

What happened Monday? Something happened? I don't know. I have no idea. Just, you know, a super wild card weekend wrap up. Division around Monday is going to be crazy. Probably. That's going to be pretty wild.

Yeah, maybe. Who knows? People might just stop watching. I've been told that a lot. Well, who knows if those numbers still. What's real? Yeah. Yeah, we don't knows? People might just stop watching. I've been told that a lot. Well, who knows if those numbers still. What's real? Yeah. Yeah, we don't know anything.

No. I can't wait to see your guys' picks tomorrow. You know, today you kind of led me into some thoughts, because nine and a half is a lot of points, but five out of the six last games were fucking all, you know what I mean? They're all blowouts. One seeds last year, too, if you remember those games, I mean, they're all blowouts.

One seeds last year, too, if you remember those games when the Cowboys went to San Fran and the Giants went to Philadelphia. Excuse me. And San Fran was. The wild card weekend has been good for dogs. The divisional has been good for favorites. Yeah. Let's keep that in mind as Chuck goes for all four dogs this weekend. All right.

We'll be back tomorrow making our picks. It'll be a beautiful feel-good Friday as we go into divisional round weekend. AJ, great work today, pal. You really crushed it. Good work, Hawker. Good work, guys. Boys in the back, great work. Gumpy, best outfit you've ever had on the show.

Hell yeah. By far. Yes. By far. You feel good about it? Because there was a lot of contemplation on the beanie coming in. Yeah, I questioned it when I first walked in with it. I feel like he should be a 24-7

beanie guy. He does look so cool, doesn't he? If he was on Deadliest Catch right now. Still not completely sold. You are straight out Deadliest. Longshoreman. Gumpy said a couple times I don't know if you guys are fucking with me. Before the show

I was like we gotta stop complimenting him because's going to think that we're fucking with him. I'm being serious. Yeah, me too. I love it. Us saying I'm being serious doesn't help. Yeah, it doesn't help. No, I take it. Yeah, I can't tell.

You'll usually know when you walk in a room. Like, if someone's bullshitting, like, as soon as everyone saw, they're pretty quick. Like, usually if you were bullshitting, you'd take a couple seconds. I don't know, though, but just to be clear. That's what I'm going to tell myself. As you should. As you should. In this particular story, that is how you should take it,

because that is the case. Yes. But with this group of assholes. Yeah. Exactly. Somebody walks in, there isn't a, looking like an asshole. I mean, there will be an immediate, whoa. Sometimes I think there is like if somebody walks in there

and then we all look around and see who's going to say it first. That's the delay. Foxy used to be like, can't wear new stuff in here. Everyone gets riled up. Everybody gets jacked off. That's my go-to line. That's because you were coming in wearing some absurd stuff there for a bit. But you could pull it off.

Was he really? What was he wearing? Just like anything that was basically on a mannequin in any store. Silk. You remember what the All-American Rejects lead singer was wearing last week? Yeah. Basically that. Yeah.

It's a great compliment. The All-American Rejects saw us. Handshake. Yeah, they gave a handshake to us. Handshake X. Shout out. Shout out to the AARG. Love you, Rejects. Love you, Rejects.

Speaking of Rejects, let's get the hell out of here. Richard Jefferson's on TV right now on ESPN. I'm sure he's breaking it all down. Golden State Warriors had an assistant coach that passed away at the age of 46. Yeah. Heart attack. That's really young, man. Very sad. Really? Out of Serbia? From Serbia, I believe is what I read?

I believe so, so yeah rest in peace nicola really yeah golly that's early 46 let's be taking care of ourselves let's be checking in on ourselves let's be checking in on our friends and let's remember that if something's wrong maybe there is something actually wrong we're allowed to go get it checked out and become better you're allowed to become better you're allowed to take care of yourself and let's continue to enjoy the hell out of this ride. AJ, see you tomorrow. People, you're the greatest on earth.

Thank you so much for everything, for allowing us to do this for a living, for being as supportive as you have been, for keeping me going pretty much and all of us going. You're the greatest people on earth. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're all in this together.

Let's never forget it. Goodbye.