The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1072 - Super Bowl Tuesday With Will Compton, Las Vegas Raiders Head Coach Antonio Pierce, Darius Butler LIVE In The ThunderDome, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

On today’s show, Pat, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat Super Bowl opening night and who stole the show, the demeanor of the Chiefs being the underdogs and getting booed by 49ers fans all night, and everything else surrounding the game as things are really starting to ramp up. Joining the progrum from the set of the show is 10 year NFL veteran, and host of Bussin’ With the Boys, Will Compton, to chat about stealing the show last night at the media portion, his thoughts on the Raiders hiring Antonio Pierce, if he knows which player the coyote bit, Ben Johnson saying the Commanders front office isn’t comprised of football people, and more (17:19-36:33). Later, Super Bowl Champion, Pro Bowler, and now Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, Antonio Pierce joins the show to chat about restoring the Raider Way, getting the seal of approval from guys like Maxx Crosby and Davante Adams, what he learned through the process of interviewing with other teams, his relationship with Tom Telesco, his initial conversation with Mark Davis when he was named interim coach, and much more (57:01-1:15:32). 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, Live from Radio Row in Las Vegas. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome. On this Super Bowl 58 Tuesday, February 6, 2024, this sports program starts now. Football is beautiful, and this weekend, a champion will be crowned at the NFL season. We'll be heading out to Vegas this evening, and we'll be there the rest of the week at Radio Row with a stocked lineup of guests that we cannot wait to chit-chat about as we get ready to celebrate the NFL season that was. You know, last night while I was at Monday Night Raw

in St. Louis, Missouri, with some things, you know, happening in the WWE world that'll be settled, I believe, more settled at least on Thursday. T-Mobile Arena, 4 o'clock local, 7 p.m. Eastern. The boys of the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers had their media night, their opening day.

We're getting a chance to not only hear from the coaches and the players, but Roger Goodell also spoke yesterday on the season that was and is. So today should be a fabulous conversation about everything NFL related. We'll be joined by the boy, Will Compton. He's kind of taken up residency in Las Vegas with Uncle Dana White. He and Taylor LeJuan obviously are bussing with the boys. He'll be at Radio Row

a day before us. We'll be chit-chatting with him there. They kind of stole the night last night. Got some good quotes from not only the friends, George Kittle, Travis Kelsey and others, but they were peacocking around as they should. David Lombardi and Nate Taylor will join us for a feel of the beat in the second hour. Obviously, Lombardi himself covering the Niners, Nate Taylor covering the Chiefs.

What are some stories that we aren't keeping up with? Coyote been a guy. Yeah. Whoa. Coyote been a guy. Very serious. In Las Vegas at Lake Las Vegas that we knew existed before last week

whenever we found out that the teams are staying 25 to 30 miles away from the strip. The NFL's doing everything it can to be like, hey, boys, let's go ahead

and keep you separated out there. Well, there's a bunch of coyotes. One of them bit a player. And then how about the field? What do we got going on with the field? The practice field because obviously

Schefter told us they're pissed. People are not happy about it. Then Kyle Shanahan came on and said, what are you talking about? Roger Goodell said, what are you talking about? Then ESPN NFL posted it on their Instagram, and then ESPN NFL clarified in a comment section, like, all the speculations that the NFL and the NFLPA agreed to,

this grass field, natural turf field that was put in for the players is up to all the regulation and the code, but what other stories are happening around these teams that we don't necessarily follow as closely because we're more of a broad group of doofus. Sure. Then we'll be joined by Antonio Pierce, the new head coach of the Los Angeles.

Whoa. And a third hour. Should be a massive day. We're lucky to be here. The talk table is here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt. That's a wolf, the older brother of a coyote. But I would like to see how this thing was handled with the coyote. I mean, I'm not sure. There's two wolves.

Actually, there's the yin and yang wolves as we've mentioned, but yeah, I'm glad it wasn't a wolf out there because I'm sure a coyote can, you know, hold its own. You get a wolf running up on you, you're dead. You're dead in the street, my friend. I don't know if there's any desert wolves. I'm not 100% sure. I don't know either.

I guess coyotes. 100%. That's what coyotes are. Yeah, they're kind of just like... Desert wolves? Battered wolves. Yeah. I've seen them out here in Indiana.

Oh, yeah. Just jogging right down the middle of the street. Some of them are the size of a German shepherd. Some of them are a little bit smaller. Some of them are a little bit bigger. Huge. Depending on how good of a hunter said coyote is, I think is depending upon the size. But they do look like very kickable.

Yeah. Like right in the head. Yep. If it was to attack you. Ribs. You have to have those thoughts because you've got dogs, you've got animals out here in Indiana. You accidentally let them out at night. Yep.

And all of a sudden you hear, and you look out and one of these little bastards is attacking your dog. You've got to have it in the front of your mind where you're attacking that thing. From my standpoint, after eyeing a coyote and having the visualization of it attacking my dog Valerie. Now, Chuck, if a coyote was to attack the fattest corgi of all time, Chuck, I don't think Jaws would be able to get around. Chuck would actually wear it down. The coyote would tap out from submission from not being able to beat the flubber that the corgi has. But my pit bull Sharpay, 11-year-old Valerie,

she looks like she could be a little bit of an attackable at this stage. So I thought about what I would do to a coyote. I'm going right boot, right to jaw, and that thing is yee, yee, yee, yee, yee, yee, yee, yee, yee, yee. I wonder if that's what whichever player got attacked by this coyote did. Name yourself. We would like to hear who it was. And did you protect this house? Because I would like to hear if my plan of did you protect this house because i would like to

hear if my plan of attack for a coyote will work for the good of my dog and also others around the country so that's a big deal for us to learn what happened with this coyote and this nfl player one half of the hammer done uh cowboys i'm betting that the nfl player broke the jaw of the coyote yeah i looked it up coyotes you biggest, they get normally around 45 pounds. So I'm thinking they handle this coyote pretty well. If it was a wolf, thank God it wasn't a wolf because I think they're, I'm pretty sure they're the size of a minivan. Like you walk up, a wolf walks up on you.

A moose? Yeah, basically. You're talking about a moose? No, I'm talking about a wolf. No, one of my friends had a half wolf, half shepherd. Called it Damien. That thing howled. I howled alongside of it.

How big was it? Big. Put its paws up on my shoulders trying to help me. That's only half a wolf. That thing tried to have sex with me. That thing tried to have sex with me because I howled. It howled alongside of me. Wolves are massive.

Coyotes are small. But we got players getting attacked, though. We can't have it. We can't have that. We got fields being questioned. Okay, you suspend this guy for how long? What? You spend Big Dom for what? Six, seven,

eight weeks? Oh, yeah. Where's Big Dom? Yeah. Why can't Big Dom be out there with a .50 cal sniper rifle on the top of one of these hotels just picking off coyotes all night long? Because I know he would. You're talking about the Big Dom for the Niners or the Chiefs, obviously, because Big Dom is only for the Philadelphia Eagles.

I think for the Super Bowl, Big Dom should be there to protect both teams. Did anybody ask Roger Goodell yesterday about Big Dom? That is going to be some follow-up that we will certainly have to all of this stuff that took place in Roger Goodell's press conference that used to be on Friday open to the public. Big press conference. Oh, yeah. We used to all literally watch and be like, okay,

Roger's going to say some shit without saying some shit, but he'll be able to lean into what he's thinking about for the future in these questions and it's the first time anybody gets kind of hammered with questions then i got moved earlier in the week now it is on monday and i think it's invite only for uh media and i'm not saying he just got layups but like i liked watching roger goodell work yeah like i enjoyed watching roger have to dance i enjoyed him showcasing why he gets paid $60 million a year.

He's the greatest political speaker of all time. Can take you on a ride, give you an answer without giving anything up at the same time. Feels like yesterday

was a little bit of Roger Goodell didn't want to throw his fastball to the world. We need that back next year. But I do appreciate him talking about the state of the NFL.

Nine-year NFL vet. Football IQ through the roof. Host of the Man. Nine-year NFL vet, football IQ through the roof, host of the Man to Man podcast and everything DB, good D, bad D, Terry Butler. You look incredibly cool. Did you see anything last night from either media opening day or Roger Goodell's press conference that caught your

eye that we should start with? The Chiefs really being the villains, getting booed like that. I love to see that because you know that's only going to bring out the best in the guys like Mahomes, Andrew Reid. Obviously, some of the things Goodell was talking about, kind of talking about getting, you know, getting tailored to it, the script, all those different things. So, some interesting things from opening night.

Okay, so let's start with what you were talking about, the boys being the villains. And obviously, Travis Kelsey is a very beloved character before this particular season. Patrick Mahomes, very beloved human being before seemingly all the success came down his, you know, came down his chimney, seemingly dropped out of nowhere. Here's Travis Kelsey talking to the crowd, the 49ers fans, and how much he's embracing being the bad guy.

And it's been awesome. Y'all are firing me up, making me want to play right now, baby. Woo! guy. And it's been awesome. Y'all are firing me up and making me want to play right now, baby. I love the booze more than I love the cheers, baby. Keep them coming,

Niners gang. Keep them coming. Okay, so he said, I love the booze more than I love the cheers. That's kind of happened this year

with Travis Kelsey. He's on every single commercial. He's dating Taylor Swift. They're in the middle of a dynastic run. His podcast is the biggest on earth. I hate this guy is the natural reaction.

I assume a guy who considers himself a fountain and an energy giver didn't love that he became the bad guy. But now, classic Ohio dude out of Cleveland embracing the world hating him. We might see the greatest Travis Kelsey for the next 10 years, Ty. Yeah, I mean, at at a certain point I'm sure if you're a competitor like these guys are like you know you get all this stuff and especially this year for him like he can't escape his

own image you know it's like everywhere he goes he's probably seen like you always talk about like hey I'm in certain places like I'm seeing way too much of myself right now like I you know you kind of just want to get away like he can't do that he has the biggest podcast in the world. He's literally the it couple. World-renowned celebrity

couple, which I don't know. There's a handful of people in the world who actually know what that experience is like. And then on top of it, you're in the middle of this dynasty. It's probably nice. Okay, yeah. Getting all this praise and adulation all the time is nice,

but at the end of the day, people are booing you, and you go into other people's house, and you get to kind of just rip their throats out. You're a competitor. You're a football player. All these guys deep down, whether they say it or not, and now they're kind of starting to show that they do. They love it.

You have to love it. Stone-cold killers on that Chiefs team. Chris Jones, Patrick Mahomes had the same exact thought, but let's not get it twisted. San Francisco 49ers filled that Chiefs team. Chris Jones, Patrick Mahomes had the same exact thought. But let's not get it twisted. San Francisco 49ers filled with very similar humans. Brock Purdy was asked about, you know, breaking the heart of Taylor Swift. Whoa. If it comes down to it, Brock, and it's late in the fourth quarter,

are you prepared to disappoint Taylor Swift? Yes. I'll leave it at that. Say it again? Yes, I'll leave it at that. Okay, well, she might get you a nice song about it. Spot Hanson, obviously host of Red Zone. He's hitting all the hot topics.

What we all noticed is obviously that Brock Purdy seems to be very comfortable in every moment. But what you just realized too, thought there would be a little bit more of a size difference between Brock and Pat. Thought it would be a little more Drake May Sam Howard. No, no. Kind of right there. Same hand size. Hey Brock. Brock Purdy, same hand size as Patrick Mahomes. On the same stage as Patrick Mahomes.

Wow. Handling questions about Taylor Swift. He has to think to himself, just two years ago as Iowa State, nobody thought I was going to do anything. I was maybe going to have, just two years ago, I was at Iowa State. Nobody thought I was going to do anything. I was maybe going to have to go back to school, get my degree, figure out what the hell I would be doing if I wasn't a professional football player. Maybe the XFL. Maybe the USFL.

And now he's answering questions about breaking Taylor Swift's heart and maybe being a part of the Tortured Poets album coming up here on April 19th. Yeah, that's right. Not to mention, I mean, I know we had a conversation about this, but there's been a little bit conspiracy theory around, you know, the number 13 in Brock Purdy with Taylor Swift because, you know, February 2nd on the 11th, you had those together. What is that?

13, Taylor Swift's favorite number. Brock Purdy, quarterback for the Niners. February 2nd on the 11th. Well, 2 is February. 2 is February. February 2nd. 2 plus 11, quarterback for the Niners. February, Saturday, 11th. 2 is February. 2 plus 11. 13. Brock Purdy. And that's the year 2024.

You just don't even. No, no. Right here. Month and day. Always. But if you do 20 minus 4, 16. You remember that game 24 back in the day? Dominated. I was very good at that game 24 back in the day? Yeah, dominated. I was very good at that game as well.

We were both in gifted and talented education. Bingo. Only for that game. Yeah, they said, hey, you guys are too smart to be with the regular kids. You guys need to go learn math and play 24 all day long. It was sweet. Which we did, yeah. Actually, we were just competitive, and you were putting numbers in front of our face.

Seems like we just ate the nerds alive. I've never been considered smart in school except for when they put that 24 game. This guy might be a genius. Nope, just want to beat the nerds here. This is pretty simple in there. But what is the conspiracy theory that we're hearing about? Essentially, the conspiracy theory is on both sides. It's like, okay, hey, because Brock Purdy is number 13, Taylor Swift's favorite number,

he is going to be the one to take down Mahomes and the Chiefs, which everybody wants that to happen. But the other side of it is because Brock Purdy is the number 13 in the day and the month. There are so many people mad right now listening to this. Oh, I bet. I bet. This is a conversation on the internet, people. This is not doing – by the way, I mean, there was a video,

and Travis Kelsey was asked about his fade in the article, where Travis Kelsey is like, them putting that out on February 1st is just throwing me to the wolves. Yeah. Us talking about Taylor Swift in the 13 and Travis Kelsey and them relating is just building up how much everybody hates him. But that's life at the top. This is the Super Bowl.

Everybody's going to be talking about everything that takes place there. Roger Goodell's press conference is something that normally draws conversation for months and months after the Super Bowl because he normally alludes to a lot of things. The big thing we learned last night is, oh, numerous, but Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Friday night of opening week, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Philadelphia Eagles lose a home game to Brazil, and it's the opening weekend or whatever. And we had learned about Brazil's fan base

through whenever we were working alongside DAZN. DAZN has the international NFL ranks. And there were some countries that were very large into the NFL. Germany was one of them, obviously. I think Italy was another one. Spain, Canada, obviously. Mexico, huge. Brazil seemingly had a fan base for the NFL

that was much larger than many of the other countries. So now they're taking a game there. How you doing? The NFL continuing to expand and evolve, Con Man. That was the biggest piece of information. Me and Michael Cole, before the show goes, last time on it at Raw, me and Cole just talking. Kind of going through some stuff.

Hey, this is who this person is. This is who this person is. This stuff happened. I'm like, thank you, Cole. Can't wait to get out there. Con Man, just like last week, whenever he heard the I love you's from Travis to Taylor, he goes, yes, we got it. And I'm like, what?

He goes, Roger Goodell just took a home game away from Philadelphia Eagles and sent it to Brazil. And it's happening Friday night, opening week. It is big news, though, because as they continue to expand and grow into these international games, more home games are going to get plucked from some of these cities. People are going to get pissed whenever they start losing money in games,

especially when they're paying for season tickets over generational stuff, like Philadelphia fans have for a long time. And Brazil's going to be such a great venue. It's going to be ridiculous. It's going to be nuts. All those people in Sao Paulo, it's going to be incredible. Sao Paulo? Sao Paulo.

I, for one, am excited because it's a Friday night game. We've always talked about, hey, the NFL stays away from Friday night because Friday night lights in high school football. And obviously that is a real thing. But if we can see what the numbers would be on a Friday night NFL game abroad, and it's Philly, I do worry about Philadelphians in Brazil. I'm just going to put that out there now. I think they need to be on their P's and Q's.

I think they need to be very, very careful. And they shouldn't be running their mouths. What happened with that swimmer? Didn't he just make something up? Ryan Lockheed. Oh, Lockheed, yeah. The fake rocker. Remember that?

He got all of his stuff and destroyed a gas station. Wow, wow. He's got time to kill me. John, I was just talking, dude. John, bro. But the Brazilian fans, I think, will show up. Absolutely. And as these continue to grow, like what Germany did last year,

and obviously London has done over the years, what Mexico has shown to do, Canada, same exact thing. It's only going to continue to grow. It's good for the business. grow like what germany did last year and obviously london has done over the years what mexico is shown to do canada same exact thing it's like only going to continue to grow it's good for the business and you talk about numbers and everything like that roger goodell talked a lot yesterday about numbers the amount of people that watch that only available on peacock thing he addressed the number of people he's expecting to watch the Super Bowl, he's saying 200 million. He said 200 million people in America are going to watch this game. Last year it was like 120 or 114 or something like that. He's thinking 200 million people are going to watch the Super Bowl.

That's absurd. Everything is up and to the right for the NFL. But from what Roger Goodell is being told by people I assume that are in the know, it's only growing exponentially. Go into Brazil, they take a game to Australia, take a game into Africa, continue to grow into Europe. It's like global expansion is happening right in front of our eyes with Roger Goodell, D-Bud. That's what they want.

I think ultimately it's going to be better for the game, too. The more you see it happen in the NBA, the more the game has got globalized, the more superstars come from these different countries different places you start to have different clinics or camps or school where you can cultivate different talent in different places and i'm sure it's a dream right now for goodell it's good it's good to be obviously attached to the nfl but in the position that he's in and you were talking about it earlier before we went on there you know some people feel like he's the smartest man in the world he's you know manipulating all these things you know it's scripted it's this that and the third and then he's the smartest man in the world. He's manipulating all these things. It's scripted.

It's this, that, and the third. And then he's just growing it. The owners, I'm sure, are happy. He's happy. So it's dope. 200 million people. What is it? 350 million in America?

Yeah, somewhere around there. About 30. That's a lot. You can see it. And just to say that number, because if it's under, now Roger Goodell is going to have to answer about why he over-projected the amount of people. And Roger never does. Roger's always, shh, shh, shh. And I know he's a genius businessman.

He's proven that through time and time again. Just look where the NFL is. And now the great sport of football helps. Football is a fantastic sport. It's obviously easy to sell to a lot of people. But the amount of credit that people give Roger Goodell to script every single season and to make sure everybody keeps a secret. I assume at night when he's laying down with his wife, eating his peanut M&Ms on a leather chair

or whatever the case is, he's like, these people think I'm a super genius. But I assume he's also like, how do these people think I'm able to do all these things and keep everything in check? He's Roger Goodell. That's why. Speaking of a man who's able to keep everything in check, this dude's running the game right now. He's running his own race, too. He's a host of Bussin' with the Boys, obviously an incredibly popular sports podcast from the Barstool Sports Network. He's a man who got gypped out of the final year

of his phenomenal, phenomenal decade run as an NFL stud linebacker and special teamer. Ladies and gentlemen, friend of the program, Will Compton. What's up, boys? You are, aren't you? Are you at our set? Yeah. Brother, you requested me to come on.

I've been telling everybody, hey, I'm going on the Pat McAfee show. I'm going on the Pat McAfee show. We walk over to the security guy and say, hey, what are you doing? I was like, isn't Pat set up over here? He's like, oh, he doesn't get in until tomorrow. And then I'm learning that it's a Zoom time and i don't get to see the boys and hug you in person but yeah i'm snuck on your set right now they got you set up nice there's jp in the back hey what's up jp hey how's the desk is the desk seem to be sturdy that is hilarious the desk is

good i was working on my i was working on my pat mcafee pose i was trying to get all this stuff make sure everything's set up right but you're set up nice out here thank you for doing that you and me add both make sure that thing can move get up get down you know you got to do it all you were at that's hilarious by the way well you are you are a classic human being continue to be so and i can't wait to watch the heights that you'll soar alongside busting with the boys taylor speaking of last night you guys kind of won you you know, opening night at the media day. Is that the first time you've been there? What was the energy like?

And how do the boys feel? Feels like everybody's kind of calm and ready for the game. Yeah, so last year we got to do radio row. We didn't get to hit the media day. But this year we got the credential to get into media days. And it was kind of like we didn't know what to expect. It's kind of, hey, let's kind of physical our physical stature to sneak up to the front and then just obnoxiously yell at the boys who kind of knew that we were going to be there and just have like fun

questions like we got to ask andy reed about the cheeseburgers we got to ask travis kelsey he's like oh i see you got the the travis kelsey i was like brother what was it like benching 315 but we just asked a lot of fun questions, and it was a great time. Like me and Taylor, well, Taylor sniffed the Super Bowl. I never sniffed the Super Bowl. So just being around all of that, it's been incredible. Okay, so you got some great answers. I did see from Taylor LeJuan's question that the New Heights podcast gave credit

to Bustin' with the Boys for being the inspo. You know, that is fantastic news. And you said that you wanted to use your physical stature to maybe get some uh maybe respect from those who are up on the thing did you hear this rumor and obviously you're tennessee titan and uh coach rabel's favorite player from what i've been told did you hear that diana rossini said that when she was down at the senior bowl one gm told her that rabel's physical stature in those meetings is kind of scary to some people. And that might be why he didn't get hired as a head coach after getting fired from the Tennessee Titans.

Now, obviously, this is an alley-oop for us to go about a thousand different ways here on the fact that a football coach is not getting hired because he's too much of an alpha. He's too big of a dog. He's in too good a shape. He's too much of a dog he's in too good a shape he's too much of a specimen that is what football is in its whole but how do you feel about that and what are your thoughts on Vrabes not having a job seemingly in 2024 in the NFL so I think Vrabe he's just enjoying his time right now I think he's he's probably got a lot of different options I mean when you're a head coach that gets fired you got a nice little buyout so you can kind of sit back and weigh what options kind of pick your right situation. I saw Diana yesterday.

I said, hey, Diana, you're kind of going viral in those little bot news programs out there. And she was laughing. She's like, yo, she's like, I know they're taking me out of context, yada, yada. But speaking on Mike Rabel's presence and stature when he walks into a room that is spot on i'm talking about the intimidation factor of mike rabel is 10 out of 10 but as a football guy that is exactly what you want in the building to do commands respect i think that that you know some of that bullshit that these little bot uh these little bot twitters out there have like they just report reports they make up shit they say breaking

like it's the most insane thing going on right now and i think it was taken out of context i hate it because i know rape he'll he'll be hitting the jewel and he'll be scrolling and he'll see it and he'll get a little hey what's going on here so i think it's a little out of context yeah hitting a jewel chewing a gin also with some coke taking a marllboro, chugging a beer. He is everything that is like old school dude, football guy. He's everything you would want and a phenomenal football coach. We listened to the clip that Diana Rossini said it. She certainly kind of laid it out as a GM saying that that is potentially one of the reasons, not necessarily the reason.

And back to your point about these aggregator accounts, buddy, they've thrown us into like six wars right now just taking our stuff and throwing us in. Bro. It's not good. It's crazy. It's good the amount of people that are in, like fans of the NFL and passionate and want to cover it. But, man, there's some real narratives being built that just aren't real at all happening in our world in real time, Will. Yes.

And then they just, because you're right it's like they do like they cover stuff that you're kind of like okay it's good to see this right now i guess they got it first yada yada whatever it is or they're just reporting a report but there's times where you're just like you're literally doing this just to what do they call it farm engagement um but i think i think it's insane because they're just – I don't know. Now, you saying that Diana actually said that, I feel like that's a little bit of a different story. As a bad brain that follows the internet, sometimes I just see the bot post and I just get a little triggered myself.

But if she's quoted saying that, Diana, she's got to – you've got to learn to pick your words wisely, especially when you know Coach Braves is out there. He's looking. He's watching. Yeah, he's – I mean, that's hilarious to think of him just – is that right is that right all right is that is that what it is is that and we're seeing the context and how you deliver the words matter that's why whenever it's just typed up it can be different i don't think she was saying it as a matter of fact more so as she heard it could be a possibility nonetheless that should not be a possibility in the nfl whenever

we're talking about right winning some damn games. Darius has a question for you, Will. Will, I know you're out there and it's early in the week, but it's been that you have boots on the ground. What's the early vibe check from both teams right now, San Fran and KC? I'll tell you what, the energy last night was fun. Just because some of the boys are going back and forth

when they were up on stage. A lot of boos coming from uh the 49ers faithful uh a lot of a lot of cheers when any niner would speak and they're all up there together so it was like it was fun to be around because the atmosphere you can tell fans are showing up they're showing out allegiance stadium is just magnificent magnificent possibly the greatest stadium in the NFL, built by the one and only Max Crosby. But the energy right now is all-time A+, 10 out of 10. Speaking of Allegiant Stadium, Tone's got something for you, Will. Yeah, Will, I believe you're in the

Ring of Honor for the Raiders, so I figured I'd ask you about Antonio Pierce being the head coach, a former, a fellow linebacker being a head coach. How do you feel about Antonio Pierce being a head coach how do you feel about antonio pierce being the head coach of of your esteemed program brother i appreciate you bringing that up i do you know i do want to point out that there is a brick with my name on it at allegiance stadium etched in

history forever once a raider to talk always a raider brother uh ap man you just you see like hey you know like when the an entire locker room is behind a head coach and wanting them to get the job like we saw it the first time around with rich passaccia he didn't get the gig you go mcdaniel you realize that's a mistake and then you have ap you make the right decision by hiring ap i think he everybody says you guys do a great job covering it he emb embodies everything it means to be a Raider. Culture, attitude, leadership. He's a player. It's a player-led locker room with him having a pulse at all times.

That is super important in an organization, and it seems like he's making the right moves, hiring the right guys, and making sure they keep going and build on that momentum next year. Max Crosby said the first day that he was interim coach, the Soul Train line came back, and then the mini hoop came back in the entire thing. And he's been, like, going to bat for him since the beginning. I saw you were on his podcast, right?

You stopped by. We love Max. How's he doing recovering from a surgery? He's the best. He does a great job. I texted him. I saw he got a second surgery and thought he, like, fractured his forearm and was playing through or something.

I'm like, hey, brother, are you all good? He's like, oh, I just got my thumb fixed. I'm like, dog, stop showing out for social media out there talking about unbreakable more is required max is the absolute best we love busting balls but he like it's crazy to think that he got drafted in the fifth round has a story that he has and truly is about being just the greatest player of all time. Like, I think he got, like, second in something, and he just responds, more is required.

It's like, brother, you are the man, and he just always wants to chase that extra 1% that guys are obsessed with chasing every offseason. Yeah, and just taking the surgery stuff and just getting a whole body tattoo, that's sick. Awesome. I mean, that's real commitment. I didn't even know that was possible.

Hey, you're going to have like 17 portraits on your body when you wake up in about eight hours. You're going to have maybe the coolest tattoo on your whole body tomorrow morning when you wake up. Would you like to do that? Sure. I'm in there. He looks awesome. Oh, yeah. I mean, i mean his body decoration great and he never stops and that doesn't make any sense well obviously you're known for just having you know hard hat guy first one in last one out high motor high motor yeah coach's son the whole the whole thing he epitomizes that like times 50 it

feels like max crosby how hard he goes all the time, I feel like it's obviously abnormal, but he's the picture of everything they say about white dudes that play certain positions. I'll tell you what, you know he's starting on my team. I don't know if you want to get into that, but he's definitely starting on my squad. But, dude, Max, he's got the intangibles, right? He's got the tangibles all combined.

It's like DB, Pat, you know off seasons where you feel like you went so hard just to have like set yourself up for a good year. And there are times when you're on the field getting gassed. And knowing that Max is a pass rusher, setting the edge of a play, getting after the quarterback, down in and down out, like the entire game. And the fact that he's able to hit of that motor it blows my mind because I'm thinking like man I felt like I worked pretty hard but I'd be out there gas like god I hope they just I hope they like check it down or the boys get home like I gotta run deep middle I'm

trying not to run that far but Max is just like on constantly at all times and he's just he's the best man he's the king of the city he's in in the silver and black. He's tatted. He's got the face mask, the visor, the surgeries, the history to go with it. You know, I can't say enough good things about the boy. The cigars. I mean, everything about him. The cigars. What a perfect pillar for the Raiders and Antonio Pierce going forward. Motor's crazy.

Usually when a guy has a motor like that, they're not, you know, that talented. So they got to outwork everybody. But he has the talent in the motor combined. Absolute dog. Perfect Raider. It feels like before he had all the talent and then now he's kind of put all the everything aside too. And he's like laser locked in. Lucky to have him. Taylor! What's up, dude?

What's up, babe? Hey, I can't hear a word you're saying but you look fantastic as always. You guys have a great show. Hey, ask him how Blackjack's going. Ask him how Blackjack's going. Hey, Taylor, they want to know how Blackjack's going. They want to know how Blackjack's going. Ask him how Blackjack's going. Hey, Taylor, they want to know how Blackjack's going. They want to know how Blackjack's going. Tell them the truth. Tell them the truth.

So it's been positive. I will say this. I have my buddy Kenny Proden in town. Small town guy doing house renovations. We were able to win 100 last night. Cost the boy 30. It was a very beneficial day for the boys. Hopefully he can come out and play.

I know AJ's in. 100,000, he said. Yeah, yeah, 100,000. 100,000. So he's up 70? He's up 70,000? Yeah, yeah. Taylor was up 100, and Taylor's kind of asking how everything's going, and the boy

was like, I got some mold going on in my house. The kids. Taylor's like, don't you worry, brother. That's awesome. I've seen it on the internet. Taylor and Uncle Dana go into a room, seemingly a private room, with a dealer, that's awesome that's a phenomenal i've seen it on the internet just yeah taylor and uncle dana go into a room a seemingly a private room with a dealer and then there's just hundreds of thousands of dollars walking out the door seemingly every single time now it seems like it's a ride though taylor almost dies every single time almost has to remortgage the house and everything but then

by the end of the night he's out is that that an accurate depiction of how it goes? Yeah, he's had a couple tough nights, but Dana, I asked him the other day, I said, Dana, have you ever like, do you know of anybody else that wins like Taylor? He's like, Taylor's the only friend that I know that is up on Vegas and knows Vegas nothing. And he's shuffling cards behind you right now? Yeah, yeah,

he's shuffling. Yeah, yeah. Thank you, Taylor. We appreciate that. It is wild. We're back there. They're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you, Taylor. We appreciate that. Yeah, it is wild. We're back there. They're like, hey, you guys want ice cream? And it's like, if you guys are giving us some ice cream, I'm back here.

We got some tunes going, and it's just a different world out here. Yeah, you guys are living out in Vegas seemingly. It's fantastic to follow along with. Conman's got a question for you. Yeah, well, something going on in Vegas. This is a very serious question because you said this is Max max crosby city in las vegas but it sure sounds like it's the coyote city in las vegas right now apparently a former nfl player or current nfl player rather was bit by a coyote last night you are boots on the ground yeah here it is

super bowl attacked by a coyote last night at Lake Las Vegas. Yes, there's a lake. Who the hell was this player? Do you know who it is? And can you find out if you don't already know immediately? Con, brother, I do not know. But now that you said that story, I will be boots on the ground and I will find that answer for you, bro. And I will get that message passed to you. But what a story to have.

That Super Bowl week I get attacked by a coyote and live to tell the story. So do you. Way to go, Will. Good work. Way to go, Will. Did you kick it in the mouth? That's fantastic. Last question here for you as you're enjoying our set at Ray.

It's a nice set, right? It feels like it's a nice set. Dude, they got you hooked up. You got a basketball goal right there. You got a little putt-putt, a little putt-putt course. The couches look phenomenal. They're covered right now. The lights, like I told you, they're off.

But you're in good hands for the rest of the week. Yeah. Did you just walk right in there? Is there anybody saying, like, hey, don't go in there? I'll show you. I'll show you. It's that old guy right there. Hey, you see that there's a rope?

And I was kind of standing on the outside. He's like, hey, brother, you can't go in there. I was like, hey, listen, I know it's going to sound crazy. I was face-to-face with Pat, and he was saying that I could come use his studio. And he's like, okay. We had to talk a little bit of wrestling. I was like, hey, how do you feel about Roman Reigns and The Rock? Are you pissed off like everybody else?

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Cody, finish the story. How do you feel, Will? How do you feel about it? Listen, I'm not like, I loved wrestling growing up. So The Rock, Stone Cold, like, it fired me up when that, here comes some more, just comes out of nowhere. Like, I'm electric.

But reading all the comments, reading how massive it is, like, I'm not in the generation now to feel that strongly about Cody. What I do think happens is all that negativity is good negativity. And The Rock is so calculated. I saw he's already dropping another Under Armour line coming out. Today! That dude's just in there. Yeah, today! Like, he knows what he's doing. He's going to play heel a little bit. People are pissed off, but I think it's good for the sport. It's bringing those generations that loved his time, like myself, back into the pool. Like, I kind of want to see what's going on. Everybody that hates him is going to continue to watch so it's just going to grow it even more

it has been a fascinating like social study because it is like generational no it is like a generational type thing happening and nothing's been made official yet which i think was the big storyline last night like when i got the money that raw me and cole were talking i'm like friday was crazy and cole's like nothing's been made official. I'm like, no, I saw it on here. Everybody's pissed. He's like, nothing has been made. We have not said Thursday we're doing it. It's like, all right, well, people, everybody on earth was talking, Will.

And the fact that The Rock is right in the middle of it is just obvious. Classic. That's how it goes. Yeah, exactly. Last question here for you, Will. Ty, go ahead, pal. Will, another team that you're a surefire Ring of Honor member, Hall of Famer, the Washington Commanders.

We saw recently you weighed in on the whole RG3, Jay Gruden situation, which was awesome. But now we're hearing Ben Johnson basically was supposed to potentially be the head coach there. He said, hey, listen, these are basketball guys in their front office. They're not football guys. I don't want to be there they hired dan quinn and cliff kingsbury do you think the commanders are one of those teams who are kind of just destined to be shitty forever uh once you left and like are do they have the right guys in place

to turn things around you think potentially you guys know how this game works like dan quinn i'm sure he'll get a couple years tops to see if it's going to be a program that's like you know on the rise but everything that i've heard about dq like when shanahan lafleur was on that staff nick williams this little scrappy receiver had all the intangibles in the slot uh he was with the falcons that i spent time with in washington and the way that they say like uh dan ran the culture and everything else a lot of pete carol-esque and they just talked about how the vibes all the time like similar stuff basketball goal in like the team's bought in there's a theme of every day

of the week like I do think that they have a good guy at the head coaching at the head coaching helm and as far as Ben Johnson like if you're a coordinator now and seeing the way the NFL is with not giving guys a lot of time, I saw Tony Dungy. He had a really good tweet, I think this morning or yesterday about, hey, how about these coaches in their first two years? And they were abysmal. And he's like, we wouldn't have seen nine of their Super Bowls had they have been ran like the way the NFL runs these coaches out these days. So I feel like when you're a coordinator and a promising looking one like Coach Johnson, Coach Ben Johnson with Detroit, you really want to pick the right situation.

You don't just want to grab at anything. So I'm not saying that there's negative stuff surrounding Washington. Like, that's always that potential. But at the same time, like, he's in such a good culture and such a good staff that, hey, wait for the perfect opportunity to go. Because you know Dan, like, all of them, like, he's competing with Aaron, Coach Glenn with the D.C. on head coaching jobs. Like, they're all talking.

They're all supporting each other. So he's probably just waiting on the right opportunity to leave Detroit and go lead a football team. The Raiders seemingly trying to change a little bit in it. They only offered Cliff Kingsbury allegedly for more here in a two-year deal as opposed to the standard three-year deal. And that's why he was with the Raiders. Now he's at the Commanders because the Commanders gave him a three-year deal, but it makes

sense to shorten it with how everything is going. To your point, it's like if you don't fire a coach, the perceived notion to your fans who are very loud on social media is that you don't care. You don't want to win, but if you stick with them and build a little patience, maybe you'll win long-term, but we don't got time for that, Will. We want

to win right now, especially with these Houston Texans assholes doing what they did down there. Will, enjoy the hell out of the week, brother. We appreciate you stopping by. Boys, I love you guys. Pat, thanks for having me. You guys are the best. Hey, Bustin' with the Boys.

When episodes drop when? Every Tuesday. Today we're dropping at 6 p.m. Central, but usually, yeah, usually in that evening slot, morning slot, Tuesday. We let you know. Follow us on Twitter, boys. At Bustin' WTB. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, Will Compton. The vibes are high on the ground.

Love that. It feels like this generation handles things better than maybe in the past. Doesn't it? In which way? Just these younger, they seem more mature. Really seem more mature. Really? Just as adults.

You don't think so? How much younger are we talking about? What generation? We got whirly birds in the mirror, I guess, happening for. Oh, baby, yeah. Baby elephant trunks. Yeah. You know, just looking for peanuts and water.

If that guy didn't already have it all. Boy. Yeah, thanks a lot. What are you guys talking about? They're screwing us all. Anyways, but it just does feel like there's a much more mature crowd. It feels like these younger guys are more mature now. They don't go out.

It feels like they're all very comfortable. Brock Purdy has handled everything. Now, he might just be an anomaly, obviously. We've been saying that he is an anomaly and should be treated as such. But, like, last night, I felt like there was good vibes. I felt like everybody was kind of loose. Everybody was happy. Patrick Mahomes had to handle some tough questions.

Didn't matter. He's 28 years old already in a GOAT conversation. It's like the state of the NFL feels like a very mature state right now. Yeah, when you word it that way, when you're talking about the young professional athletes, I think you are correct. I think they are more mature now. I'd say they're more prepared for what they're going into than before.

Yeah, they're treated like professionals almost as high scorers. Last night, Purdy was asked, somebody asked, do you know the six or seven quarterbacks taken in front of you in the draft? And he was like, no, I don't operate like that. I was the last pick in the draft because that's just kind of what I earned, and that's kind of my destiny. I was like, that was a very mature answer of him, and that's not something our generation, I think, would have done.

We would have known every single person's name, they were from why they why we were better than them in our mind stuff like that but purdy was like no i don't care i mean i was i was drafted there because i was drafted yeah it feels like they're i mean cliche answers are always going to be a part of it but there's like new cliche answers there's like new ways for these guys to answer things to seem more professional i love it like i, like all the clips I saw from last night, I enjoy the fact that the NFL makes that a big deal. That wasn't always a big deal. Whenever we went, it was in a conference or in a convention center,

and it was during the day. It wasn't like a thing. And obviously nobody had a clue who I was. I was just walking around. Now there's entrances and announcements, and Buffer was doing his entire thing. They let everybody in. Crowds in there.

Obviously the Niners faithful were very loud in there. It's like I enjoy that everything is made into a thing because it's the Super Bowl. This is the Super Bowl. This is what we want everybody to want to get to. This is the crown jewel. This is everything. I'm happy it's being treated this way. I think it also obviously just speaks to how popular the NFL is now.

When you were in the Super Bowl, that's one thing. But even what, you know, 11, 12 years later, like that's how much the NFL has grown over that time where the opening night is you got all these people coming out, banging on drums, like it's the opening ceremony of the Olympics. And then in terms of like the players, I think Twitter probably has a lot, at least for the younger guys, has something to do with that because at this point, like you've seen and heard everything.

You can formulate your own response to how you would respond to stuff when you have people just constantly ripping you down and talking shit or saying different things. It's almost like having to deal with all that kind of stuff. It kind of forces a lot of these guys, I'm sure, to mature much earlier

than previous generations had to. I couldn't handle some of the things that are said about these people at the age that they are. Just think about me going, I've got to respond to everybody. What was that? What was that? You said what? It would have been impossible. It was rough on X. You search your name,

especially playing corner. Everybody's an expert. You give up a touchdown. You miss a tackle. It's not like you're a D lineman and it's a 5-7 yard game. It's probably 6, 50, 60 yards. You give up a touchdown, you miss a tackle. Like, it's not like, you know, you're a D lineman and it's a five, seven-yard game. Like, it's probably six, 50, 60 yards. So, yeah, you got to be callous for sure. I know the demo probably is more, you know, TikTok. And so it's instant, it's quick.

Instagram. I know kind of our generation is more like the Twitter generation. But, yeah, it's a lot they got to deal with on a daily basis. Yeah, and also you got commentators blaming people that make it. It's not the fault of. Yeah, sure. Everybody's an expert. You have a pretty good game.

You go into your locker. You open your phone. That was a safe. What are we even? That was not me. That was a safety. But now, are you going to go bury your teammate? Can't do it.

Can't do it? No. So I just got to take this and move on. It comes with the job. Speaking of coming with the job, Roger Goodell has to answer some tough questions every once in a while. Last night, he spoke at length. This is a long answer.

We debated on whether or not we're going to run four minutes of Roger Goodell talking. Certainly, large conversation about it before the show started. But he talked about the future of watching the NFL. The question basically was forcing your fans to watch a playoff game on Peacock

was obviously a massive topic of conversation going in. People weren't happy. What are your thoughts on that and the future? Roger Goodell lays out a very sound answer about tomorrow, today, and trying to balance the both of them while being the hottest thing in any town that the NFL's in. Well, Sam, I think you first have to back up a

little bit and sort of understand where the media landscape is going. It's changing faster and deeper. Consumers are moving off of paid television services and going into digital streaming services and platforms. And we as the NFL have to be able to reach our fans there. One of the most positive things about the Peacock game was not just the fact that it outdrew the broadcast audience a year earlier in the same window. So people went there, experienced it. It worked technically in an incredible way, and our partners at Peacock

and NBC, we give a lot of credit to them for that. But it also reduced our average age of the audience by almost 10 years. Is that good, he said? So youth audiences are going to those platforms and those apps and we have to make sure our content is there. We still have over 90% of our games on free television. No other league, no other sports comes close to that. When we were in the 80s, when we moved to ESPN and we went behind to pay TV, there was

the same outcry. But what we did is we created a platform that fans can engage with, have access to, that is actually beneficial to the consumers because that's where they are. We have to fish where the fish are. And we have a lot of consumers that are on those platforms. And Peacock Games showed that. Amazon showed that over the last two years. Their ratings were up 24% this year.

We saw it with YouTube and our Sunday ticket package doubled the number of subscribers. So our fans are on these platforms. Our fans want to access them. The technology is extraordinary. You can do things on some of these platforms that you can't do on a linear platform. So for us, it's part of the future. I don't know where it goes from here, but we're going to continue to reach our fans where they are with the best possible production,

the best possible technology. Just to follow up on Sam, I get the question often lately, could we see a streaming Super Bowl in the future? Certainly not in my time. I still believe, and even on some of the pay services, listen, one of the secrets of our success is we are really committed to broadcast television. As I said, 90% of our games are on broadcast and free over-the-air television.

I think it's the reason why you will see over 200 million people watch this game. What's that? Here in the United States because it's on broadcast television and the broadest possible platform. And our credit to CBS, they've built a great platform for us. But there's also a digital stream of Paramount+. And we want to support that because there are some fans that are watching on Paramount+, a lot.

So I think it's, again, we'll see Super Bowl continue to be on the broadest platform. I think we'll continue to see the NFL on the broadest possible platform. 23 million people watch that wild card game. By the way, following up on the question about the peacock, I guess for the average person, how much money is too much money for the NFL to try to get out of the little man? Well, this is developing platforms. Just to be clear, this is developing a platform

that a lot of consumers are on. A lot of our fans are moving in that direction. They're not just getting an NFL game, they're getting a value in the sense of $5.99, I think it was, for a month of the service, and they could get it for $30, $29.99 for a year. That's entertainment, that's where people are going. They're looking for those opportunities to expand

on the amount of content they can acquire through these platforms. That's ultimately good for the consumers, but it's important for us to be on those platforms because that's where consumers are, particularly the younger demographic. Great follow-up there. Hey, how much is enough money?

Come on. Okay, aren't we sick of it? I appreciate him asking that question. And then I appreciate Roger at the end of that not saying any more brain busters as I do this entire thing. Anytime he speaks, we learn stuff. Him saying 23 million people watch on Peacock at the end of that not saying any more brain busters as i do this entire thing anytime he speaks we learn stuff him saying 23 million people watch on peacock is also him publicly negotiating

with apple in the future and google in the future he talked about amazon being up 24 percent that was a direct message to bezzo saying huh see we are the ones that will drive these platforms that you're trying to build the big stat though and though, and he hit on it again at the end, 10 years younger was the average demo for the people that were watching on Peacock, which is more than a year before the entire audience. So it seems like all the people that are bitching about it don't actually follow through with what they're bitching about. But also, it doesn't seem to be a problem for the next generation of fans which is all any business is seemingly trying to attract now you can't run away

your core though and it feels like he thinks with the numbers he's seeing he's not doing that while attracting a younger brand it's like everything they're doing the nfl it seems to be hitting home run home run home run when everybody else is plateauing or going down. That's what I heard there. Yeah, and the younger generation growing completely outweighs the older generation maybe falling off. Sure, it's a bummer if there are the 70-plus senior citizens, if you will, that can't get on to Peacock. But they can get on them.

Yeah, exactly. Which I think is what everybody said. It's a challenge. It's a challenge. It's a challenge. But it's kind of a win-win, though, because like in my house, my kids, like I'm the only person in the house that watches cable television. Like everything else is a streaming service that I've had to download already. So if I'm going to watch football on it, the kids are going to use Peacock

or use Disney Plus, whatever it's going to be on anyway. And that's like our generation, you know, 30s, 40s. So that demo is not going anywhere. But it is important to get that younger demo because it's going to be on anyway. And that's like our generation, you know, 30s, 40s. So that demo is not going anywhere. But it is important to get that younger demo because it's hard to keep intention for two minutes, let alone three hours for these kids to watch these live games. And we've seen the ratings. Football, like live sports in general,

is what's keeping linear cable alive right now. So, you know, I see what he's doing. Yeah, I mean, NFL is king. Pro Bowl just – the Pro Bowl games that everybody hates, you know, NFL is king. Pro Bowl, just... The Pro Bowl games that everybody hates, you know, not everybody. We didn't mind it. That was pretty entertaining. Actually watched it. There was some stuff that was certainly corny.

It outdrew pretty much everything else. And the NFL knows that that's what they're doing. And you can't run away the people that can't afford these new streaming platforms. But I think what Roger Goodell was saying is we're being told that these people are already when when 599 back in the day for something that was added to a family that was living paycheck to paycheck there's people that would say no nowadays somehow i don't know how it works but seemingly everything's more expensive seemingly impossible

to have but everybody has it i don't understand how any of it works. And I think that's what Roger Goodell is saying. It's like our fears of maybe driving away people that wouldn't be able to afford that were not substantial fears. The number is up from last year. And the people that were in were the same people that were in whenever it was on television, which, by the way, you have to pay for a service to get that type of thing. It's all very interesting happening in real time, this transition to streaming and digital while linear television exists. We're kind of in the middle of it as well with what we're doing at a much smaller level. In the reporting

of what's on this, what's on YouTube, what's on TikTok Live, what's on ESPN Linear, and all that, how do you market that, how do you sell that, how do you balance all that, how do you do that? It's like the NFL is doing that on the biggest of possible stages, bigger than anybody else,

and almost kicking the door down to what tomorrow looks like for the rest of, seemingly, the business. I think that's an important and interesting distinction that a lot of people forget about is all these other sports leagues who most of their games are on ESPN or TBS or TNT or whatever. Every

NFL game is either on Fox, NBC, or CBS, which is like you can get that with an antenna. You don't have to have cable. I mean, you obviously know that, but you don't think about that. You don't have to pay for a cable package to watch 95% of NFL games. It's just these Thursday nights

and then the one playoff game on Peacock or whatever and a couple of the games that are overseas on ESPN, but the majority of their games are free for the public. 200 million. It's a wild number. In America, it's a wild number. That's a shocking number and I'd be shocked

if it got there, but Roger didn't say that for shits and gigs. Like you said earlier, he's not throwing out that 200 number, and it comes in at 170, and then what happened? Yeah, Roger Goodell talked about a lot of things. He also talked about

the refs and kickoffs. Let's start with the kickoff rule, because he's not just talking about kickoffs anymore. He brought in another play that is very near and dear to this particular program's heart. We said last year, first off, as you know, this was a one-year rule. Fair catch is a kickoff. For me, I thought this rule was

necessary for the one year because we need to innovate. We need to work with our coaches and our competition committee and those across the league to find a way to keep the kickoff in the game. It's an exciting play. It's important for us.

The same for punts. But when you see a higher injury rate for that play, you can't ignore that. What? And we haven't yet found that solution. And I think we've proven over the last several years you can make the game safer and more exciting at the same time. And that's our objective here. I'm confident we'll get to that. It's going to take a little

work, but this is a one-year rule, so I hope that that will be a major focus this spring. Uh-oh. Ponce might be going bye-bye. Why is he saying that? Good run, Ponce. This guy is calculated. Cerebral. Every word is thought

out, and there's a reason for everything he says. It's planting a seed for what the future holds. If you were to go back years and years ago at this press conference, he chit-chatted about sports gambling potentially leading to people talking about, oh, that muff kick must have been on purpose and scripting.

Roger Goodell plants seeds for the future with everything he says. Kind of delivers it and goes, hey, what's the response to that? Don't love that he snuck punt into that thing. Hey, Rog, I don't like that what you did for the kickoff made it less exciting and less important and potentially took jobs away from special teamers around the NFL and strategy and scheme and football IQ removed, just eliminating a play that could change a game on its head, change an environment,

change a city, change a trajectory, change a city. Yeah. But now he's added another one. That's right. Can't have it, Raj. Raj, the punt, two damn important football. Ask Jim Trestle. Most important play in football. Ask anybody that has been around football. What's the first meeting

of the day? Special teams. What's the first thing we're going through? Punt. The football game is a game of territory. The punt is a way to say, yeah, we might not have got it, but we're gaining territory in this entire thing. There's strategy involved in it. It's a massive piece of how

you put together a game plan. Field position matters. It's the third most important stat behind score. Most important stat. Sure. Turnovers, pretty important stat. And then field position. Who won it? Normally because of special teams is an indicator on who won the game. We can't be

getting rid of it, Darius. Can't do it. First player defense. Why is he doing that? Can't do it. And what can you replace it with? What can you replace the punt with? Like fourth down, fourth and eight. I've never seen an injury on punt either, by the way. I think Raj is making stuff up. What can you replace the punt with? Like fourth down, you're fourth and eight. I've never seen an injury on punt either, by the way. Oh, they happen. I think Raj is making stuff up.

They happen. Yeah, there's certainly an opportunity for some big-time plays to be made, but everybody that's playing on the punt play signs up for that. They know exactly what they're signing up for, which has been a big part of the discussion for all of us that are former players now granted they didn't get a massive lawsuit smacked against them sure about cte and tell the truth dr will smith and the entire thing like that and they change rules and try to get better and it started this conversation about we got to make the game this we got this many practices we got to change the way the hits are over the middle to the game that we see right now that he alluded to where

you can make the game safer and more explosive and exciting and he basically said we're trying to do that to the kickoff right now it's like how about we just get the guys that go on kickoff as they're going on the field just sign with their blood you can even and just say yeah i'm cool with it whatever and go out there because the kickoff is football the punt is football we need to keep football football and we can't just say well there's gonna's going to be injuries. No shit. It's football. There's a chance collisions are going to take place. There's a chance people are going to be off balance.

There's high speed. There's action. That's why 200 million people are going to watch the game, Rog. I have nothing but respect for Rog Goodell's brain and what he's done for the NFL. He's made mistakes, sure. Has he screwed over a bunch of teams with punishments that aren't fair for them? And would he give it to other teams? Who knows? He's a commissioner, sure. Has he screwed over a bunch of teams with punishments that aren't fair for them and would he give it to other teams? Who knows?

He's a commissioner of a league. He's going to be hated by everybody at some point in time because of a decision he's going to have to make. And I understand he's just a shield for 31 billionaires and one publicly owned team. But just adding the pun in there, slow down, Raj. Okay? Before you eliminate the kickoff, let's stop with that,

but let's not even start setting our sights on another position that we're trying to eliminate from the damn game, Ty. I mean, football's three phases and we're slowly just eliminating one phase. Can't have it! Can't have it. What are we doing? People aren't just taking dumps anymore when the punt plays happen. No. Well, okay. Unfortunately. I mean, it looks like

they're partnering with the toilet paper company because it sure seems like they want people to take dumps during the punts and kickoffs. I'm sorry, but that's just the reality, and we're probably two, three, maybe one year away. People used to go take P's whenever a kickoff was taking place. When the punts were happening.

They want that back. They don't do it anymore. It's exciting. It's fun. It's a big play. He's trying to save the game, Pat, because, look, as violent as it is, concussions, all these things, a lot of people are saying, hey, I'm not going to let my kid play football.

In what cities? Where? It's happening. Florida. Maybe Florida. Pittsburgh. It ain't happening in Pittsburgh. That's the mecca.

It's not happening in Pittsburgh. It's not going to happen in Florida. Maybe those states don't need to play football. What's that? Maybe those states don't need to play football. Yeah, we don't want it. None of their people come from there. Don't play. We don't need that on this program. No, we don't.

Well, unless you feel that way. I love the fourth down on it. If you feel that way, you should say what you mean to say. Say what you mean to say. Say what you mean to say. Say what you mean to say. Say what you mean to say. You know what I mean say, Rog, is with all due respect, stop it. Okay?

Knock it off. Just go ahead and start talking about streaming again, and maybe let's go to work on the kickoff because we ain't doing that Bush League XFL thing either, and we're not doing spring football punts where the punter goes out and there's no coverage. It's like, let's keep football football a little bit. But I understand we've got to transform and evolve

as more stats are presented, but let's keep the game a little bit. But I understand we've got to transform and evolve as more stats are presented. But let's keep the game that we love the game that we love. For the reason that we love it. As we're growing around the globe because of how good the game is. Has the punt not helped grow the game in Australia? Yeah, bingo. Hear, hear. Rest in peace, Toby Keith.

You're a damn good American. Cheers to football and Super Bowl week. I appreciate you all. Cheers. Cheers. Love you, Toby. Love you, Toby. Miss you, Toby.

Now, he's the coolest head coach in the NFL. Now, granted, he just got named the head coach of the NFL, but he's formerly Super Bowl champion as a player for the New York Giants. I believe he's the only head coach in the history of the NFL who showed up in a drop top with stud earrings in. Ladies and gentlemen, lifelong Raiders fan, now the man in charge in Vegas, alongside Circle K, who are crowning some behind-the-scenes champions

all week. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Antonio Pierce. Yeah, Coach! What's up, man? Man, can I get that intro on game day in the Legion Stadium? That was awesome. That would be cool to come out to that intro. I saw you walking around with Black Air Forces, and I've seen your speeches afterwards.

I feel like you're the only one that needs to be speaking on game day. And from what we've learned from talking to people that played alongside you back in the day whenever you were with the Giants or how Eli Manning spoke about your incredible football intelligence and your IQ, feels like you've always been a coach. Is that kind of how you viewed it? Did you know you were going to be a coach after your playing days? And how nice is it to be in a perfect fit, seemingly,

with the Raiders and who you are? Yeah, I think it goes back to all of us, like, sitting here on this platform. We all wanted to know the why, right? I want to know the why, and I want to know the explanation of why I was doing something and where we were going with it. So that way I can explain to my teammates why we're out there on the grass in between the white lines. That call comes in, what, 30 seconds prior.

They're sitting there guessing what's going to happen. We're about to watch what's going to happen. And sometimes you go with your gut. So all those guys I played with, I kind of like leaned on them throughout my career. I was fortunate to play with some really talented players. Think about Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, Jesse Armstead, LaVar Anton, Daryl Green, go on and on. Like I bring around some real dudes, man, Strahan, those guys. So what I learned was how to be a leader,

but then also use what I can do mentally just to make us a better football team. Did you know you were going to be a coach? Did you feel like you were going to be a coach? Because A.J. over there, obviously, all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers, he has openly said, just like me, like, never going to be a fucking coach.

Never. The amount of time and everything that goes in, it feels like that's got to be something within you. Did you know you were going to be a coach? Man, I love ball. It was my first love. You know what I mean? It was something I always wanted to be a part of. After I got done playing, I went into broadcast. I did that for a year. It's kind of like you guys. Put the makeup

on, look good. What you mean? You got a little powder on, baby. Now, come on in. I don't know. This ain't spray tan either. I'm just naturally like this right here. I'm naturally red, Antonio. I'm't know. This ain't spray tan either. I'm just naturally like this right here. I actually read, Antonio. I naturally read. Some of us don't have that.

But honestly, I knew I was going to stay around the game of football, and that was going to be something I wanted to do my entire life. And obviously, I got a great opportunity at the lowest level, to be honest, in high school at Long Beach Poly. And then took that to Arizona State, and then obviously was blessed enough to come here with the Raiders and now be the head coach. Congrats, coach.

We love to see you. Go ahead, AJ. I know you leaned on some legendary coaches as well. I know Tom Coughlin, I believe, was helping you out throughout the year and throughout the whole hiring process. Marvin Lewis, I believe, is on staff. How important is it to have some of those guys around

that you can lean on and kind of bounce ideas off? Listen, there's nothing like experiencing guys that's been there and done that right so for me those are gentlemen that know me since i was 22 23 25 26 years old and for me that was important uh to sit there and be able to bounce things off of them ask ideas okay look i just came up what would you do what was you know is there anything different do i need to look out for this i don't want to make mistakes we We get one opportunity for the most part to be a head coach of the National Football League. Some guys are fortunate to get more than one. But for myself, I'm going to take advantage of all my resources and go that direction. Yeah, you seemingly had success immediately becoming the interim head coach. We talked to Max Crosby. He said you brought

back the Soul Train line and the hoop in the in the locker room and you even numerous times you know you started with the Raiders chant in the locker room it's like how easy of a decision was it for you to be like the Raiders is the Raiders what are we even talking about let's get back to who we are and let's take pride in it and how much did Mark Davis love that from you and like how do you feel about the transition back to who we are and let's take pride in it. And how much did Mark Davis love that from you? And like, how do you feel about the transition back into who the Raiders actually are? It seems like. Yeah, well, first of all, just like what AJ talked about, why guys, why former players don't want to coach?

Because it's not fun. You forget the love of the game and why you're doing it. And you put in all these hours and you don't have the enjoyment of doing it, right? Guys win the game Sunday and coaches are mad about one or two mistakes. Hell no. We just worked our tails off for six days to get to that victory Monday. Right. See Wednesday type speech that we talked about. And I think with our guys in our locker room, you talk to Max from you probably talk to Devante. We just needed some excitement and some joy, some love for the game.

I said, man, go back to when we was in Pop Warner, fellas, and you didn't know what the hell the play call was. You didn't know what your dad was telling you, where the ball was. You just went and got the ball, right? You just took the ball into the end zone. Keep the game simple. It's not a very difficult game, but more importantly, love what you're doing. Love being around one another.

And when I look at the Raiders, man, it's swagging. It's confidence. It's in your face. You know what I mean? Like, what are we talking about? Like, when you wear the silver and black, you know what time it is when you walk in the building right so for us like man that's what we need to do we need to intimidate teams mentally before the game even starts and then obviously we gotta go out there and play did you feel like do you feel like you have the locker

room for it felt like it was an immediate response from the guys in the locker room whenever you kind of asked them to become what the raiders have been known for whenever they were successful but maybe lost their way a little bit yeah we just talked about that uh throughout my time 22 months as a linebacker coach of just what it's like not even be a Raider but be a pro like what is it like to play the game the right way how it sounds how it looks what it feels like what it smells like what does winning look like what does winning stamina look like each and every week. What's a winning performance? Not just by the coaches, not by the players,

but by the guy that's mopping the floor, by the kitchen, the chef. The food tastes a little better when everybody's all in, right? Hell yeah. Upstairs, we're making money when everybody feels a certain way when you come in the building. So to me, it was like, listen, man, what we need to do is I need from bottom up. First floor to third floor, I need everybody all in. If you're not in, you need to go see Mark Davis and Sandra Douglas Morgan and probably get your check and get out the building.

Because this is how we're going to rock from now on. And it wasn't hard, man, because that's what the guys wanted to do. That's the feeling we want. That's why we play this game. It's no different than why you're doing your show, right? You love what you do. But, God damn it, we only got a short window to play this game a certain way for this organization, this team, and this league.

And this is how we're going to do it. The guys bought in. And, listen, we need more wins if we want more wins. But I'll tell you what, we're going to do it with some style and flash. We're going to do it the right way. Yeah, I love it. I love everything you're saying. Hey, Coach, I wish I could play for your team.

Tone's got a question for you. Come on, man. You look good. Come on, you slow. I'm not passing any tests. I'm mad that you don't got the tank top on though, man. I was like, you know, you got the Rolex on. I was rocking mine.

I'm like, come on, what are we doing? Well, you have a full sweatsuit on. Do you have a tank top on underneath? That Raiders gear? It's raided. No, it's just black. It's raided outside. We don't mind that.

Hey, I heard rain and cold out there. What the fuck? We were coming out there this week. It's warmer in Indiana than it is in Vegas. What's the deal? I don't know. This is on you. This is on you. It's too much rain. It's warmer in Indiana than it is in Vegas. What's the deal? I don't know. This is on you. This is on you.

It's too much red in the city. Silver and black. Football gods, I understand. Go ahead, Tony. Coach, you talked about Devontae and Max Crosby and them coming out and basically saying, we don't want to be here if AP's not our coach. What did that mean?

How did that feel for you? Are those your leaders, your two leaders moving forward? Yeah, I mean, that's huge, man. I mean, for those guys to step up, that speaks volumes for them, that they're comfortable in their own skin, knowing that it might not make everybody happy in the building. I'm sure Mark Davis didn't like that. We talked about it afterwards.

And I think there's a way you go about it. But I think what it shows is that we were connected. We all see the same thing. We all want the same goal and we see the same vision of how to get there. So when you got somebody in place that you're comfortable with, that you feel is pushing you to that level to get where you want to be. And at the end of the day, listen, it's all about winning some productions. Right, fellas?

I get the whole glamour and all that, man. We're about winning. I mean, our goal is to try to be the best team in this division. And we know we got to go through the team in Kansas City. And number 15, it starts with those guys. And we got to knock them off each and every year, along with the rest of our division. But to have your two best players,

not on the Raiders, but in the National Football League, talk about you. I mean, that little pressure on AP now, I got to come with you. I got to do a good job this offseason. But yeah, listen, look. Max is saying he's trade me, fucking trade me. Yeah.

You don't bring ease. No, don't do that, though. Hold on, slow down, man. That's not how you get a phone call, but we're good. We're good. We're good. We're good. It felt like it was just a natural fit, and then, obviously,

with what the players said, but Ty has a question for you. Yeah, Coach, going off all that, then there were the reports right after the season where we were saying, hey, this is a slam dunk. Hire this guy right now. It just makes sense. All his best players want him to be hired as well. Then there were the reports that a couple other teams brought you in for interviews.

What was that process like, and was it kind of just a formality? Was it always Raiders or Bust for you? Well, I'll tell you what, just to go through that process, I think, and what I told Mark is, to be very simple, like, I don't want Mark making a decision based off the noise or what he's feeling pressured to do. I said, when you make your decision, I want you to go home at night and sleep well. But that's my guy. I made the right decision. No second guessing. If you second guess, let me go. Let me walk. And we had a great conversation about that. I think the formality with the other interviews was a great process for me. I didn't want to cheat any of this process. I wanted to

go through it. I wanted people to poke holes in me and my process and what my vision was for football team and the National Football League and get feedback, right? Because I know it one way right now, right? And that's the right way way but it's good to hear from other people other gms other organizations of how they see things what they see when they saw antonio pierce and the raiders for those nine weeks so for me great feedback obviously great opportunity for me to get better but mark davis and raider nation know where i wanted to be this whole time okay so because we thought that there was a chance that mark davis said you've earned this opportunity to go interview somewhere else. And why don't you go see what it's like and then come back home?

What did you get a chance to take away from other places? Is there stuff you're going to take away and kind of implement with the Raiders? Or did you guys see how it worked last year while you're in them? And it's like, let's build upon that. Yeah, I think what I got out of it was just the processes, right? You know, how you look at your staff, what's your philosophy in the draft, free agency, how do you build a team? How do you set the culture? How do you maintain the culture? How do you work together with people with inability? How do you get together with the

communities and get out there and outreach and do things of that nature? So, and then also, when you talk to other organizations, everybody runs their place a little differently, right? It's kind of like, wow, okay, you do that. You don't do that. That's really cool what you do. And you take and say, all right, look, what can we do better, Mark? What have I seen or heard from outside? Because

again, really a tight-knit group of owners and organizations where they don't really talk, right? It's all these secrets and these back channels. And when you kind of infiltrate that a little talk, right? Nobody, it's all these secrets and these back channels. And when you can kind of infiltrate that a little bit and get some information, it makes us better. Yeah, and obviously whenever you have a high football IQ and you see what's good and what's bad, you know,

because some people see stuff and it's like, oh, we should implement that, and it's shit. Yeah, it makes it worse. When you're a football genius from what people say about you, that's not you saying it, that's what your teammates say about you. And an incredible motivator. Can't wait to see what the Raiders become because an AFC West is a fucking monster right now. Go ahead, AJ.

Yeah. Hell yeah. Come on. Come on, AJ. Once you were named the interim head coach there, was there any doubt in your mind that you were going to become the full-time head coach? No. no. I told Mark today that we talked on October 31st that I was going to blow his mind, that he didn't know what was about to happen.

I kind of laid it out to him what we were going to do each and every week. I was very upfront. I'm really big in communication. And I told Mark exactly what we were going to do and how I see games playing out in our mindset. And let's go to that Christmas day game. I told him to a T what we were going to do to that offense. I told him how we were going to finish that game. I felt it. Our players felt it. We built it up all week. We learned from our mistakes, you know, a month prior when we blew a 14 lead at home and said, no, we're not doing it. We're going to, we're going to put the fear of God in that offense and have them running for their lives.

And that's kind of how it played out. No different than when we got shut out at home against the Minnesota Vikings. I was embarrassed. It was very embarrassing for our organization, myself, our staff, our players. We had four days. I told our guys, get out the building for an hour. We walked back in that bad boy. We washed our face.

We went back to work. I said, look, man, we're going to roll. I said, I didn't think it was going to be 63 now. I will say that. But I told Telesco, I said, look, man, we're going to roll. I said, I didn't think it was going to be 63 now. I will say that. But I told Telesco, I said, hell, when we got to 63, I was going for 71 because I was going to go for two to get that record. But that was going to piss him off. But, you know, that's just our mindset, man.

And really what I've done with Mark and our relationship is really, really cool because we talk a lot throughout the week. Each and every day we talk just lines of communication so there's no surprises. But, yes, when he gave me that job, I had no plans or thoughts to let it go to anybody else. That was not going to happen. The moxie of being a Raider seems like you're the perfect fit. Speaking of finding those, Connor has a question. Yeah, Coach, you just mentioned it with Tom Telesco.

How has that relationship been early on so far working with him? And what is the vision that you guys have as a team, you know, going forward and building it together? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's been great to be honest. It's been kind of a unique situation with me and him because he's going and looking at our staff, our roster, our personnel, our needs, obviously three agencies coming up. You got the combine, you got the draft. So he's working on his end and I'm trying to build a staff together. Right. So we kind of been bouncing things back and forth with one another,

but what he does have is a lot of experience. He's been in places that they've won, you know, and I'm trying to build a staff together, right? So we kind of been bouncing things back and forth with one another. But what he does have is a lot of experience. He's been in places that they've won. You know, go back when he was in Annapolis. He had a great mentor in Bill Polian. So he knows how to build a team, how to build a roster, both through the draft and free agency, and just bouncing ideas off. He knows I'm super aggressive.

I'm going to sit there. I'm jumping for the stars, landing on the moon. Maybe I'm on Earth at some point. But it's a great balance between us two. And it's also like, I got to push him along a little bit. Like, hey, man, we're rolling. Like, this bad boy, we're in Vegas.

We're rolling. Like, there's no time to wait. I'm not saying we're going to win the Super Bowl next year, but goddamn, we're going to be really competitive, and we need to get going now. Finding Raiders, you know? It feels like there's an identity,

there's a culture. Now we got to find the players that can continue to build it. Now, moving away from the Raiders, let's talk about the Raiders' home for the week. You know, there's another team there that's in your division, and you know the defense pretty well. Darius has a question for you. Yeah, you play for Spags.

We had Eli on, I think, last week, and he was talking about, you know, how you guys would go back and forth at the line of scrimmage. You'll be changing blitzes from the side what is it about that defense um over there that spags is running in kansas city and are you bringing some of that that you did at the giants in that defense to that raider defense which did a great job when you took over last year yeah what you see with spags is somebody that's going to be aggressive the closer you get to that goal line or to midfield that's when the heat comes down right that's when to be aggressive. The closer you get to that goal line or to midfield, that's when the heat comes down, right? That's when you get your zero pressures.

That's when you get your overloads. He does a good job of always giving you the same picture, right? You see those two corners. You see Snead really physical, putting his hands on guys. Heller, Danner, choking out every receiver he can if possible. And then you've got a really good corner in McDuffie. And at the end of the day, he's got the beast in the middle. You know, he's got Chris Jones.

I mean, they just move him up and down the line. And they got a great middle linebacker who does a really good job of just kind of orchestrating that bad boy. It's kind of, it does remind me of myself, you know, listening to the mic call, listening to where the direction of the slides going and then flipping that bad boy going from right to left or up the middle. I mean, they got it all. And that's why you really have to give credit to what Spags has done with that defense. Because they're young. This is the first year they've really had a legit top 10 defense, and they've done it each and every week and really laid on the defense more

than offense. And Spaggs got zero conversations for head coaching, so he's just going to be there. He's going to be there in the division seemingly forever just doing what they're doing. Obviously everybody's getting better in the AFC West. We're pumped about you getting added into the head coaching picture that takes place in Hawaii or wherever the hell it is every single year.

Can't wait to see what you wear in that. Versus what Andy Reid has. I got to go a little bigger, right? I got to get a little bit bigger. I think so. You showing up at a drop is the coolest thing of all time. I want to let you know that. But I had that car for a while.

It's crazy. First of all, I was cool before I was a head coach. You're changing it all. You're changing it all. And you're not just doing it in a bullshit way. You teamed up with Circle K this week to give back to the city

of Las Vegas and all the people that are kind of behind the scenes. It's a beautiful thing. As soon as we heard about this, we were like, we'd love to talk about it. Love to spotlight it. Why'd you get involved with Circle K and what are you doing this week for the Super Bowl behind the scenes for the is a beautiful thing. As soon as we heard about this, we were like, we'd love to talk about it, love to spotlight it. Why'd you get involved with Circle K, and what are you doing this week for the Super Bowl behind the scenes for the people that are working? Yeah, I think you just hit on it, right? With Circle K, it's always about the people

behind the scenes. Everybody knows the frontrunners, who's there, who's making all the calls, but it's really about this cup right here, right? And this only thing red I'm going to really hold around this week because of Circle K. But more importantly, I got a little something here. It's not coffee, right? It's not espresso, but it's a $250 gift card for all these people behind the scenes.

I'm going to walk around down here on the strip in a bit and I'm going to hand out this gift card to some people like, hey man, look, you need to go ahead and join up with Circle K and myself. Giving back to the Las Vegas community. It's always about the people that are behind the scenes. The bottom, I call them the bottom feeders. The ones that nobody talks about. No recognition, but they're the ones that really make this bad boy work

and obviously if you know my story you know comes from the underdog mentality the underdog world well these are people from behind the scenes that people don't get enough credit to that tonight and today that's what we're going to do and then you can check out my social media got some cool stuff coming later man i'm not gonna quite tell you guys yet gotta wait for the surprise i can get my followers up a little bit more in likes, but you know how that works. We'll do that on my social media. Hey, active. I was checking out Antonio Pierce on X. You're active in there.

Hey, he's active. Come on. Grow it. How many coaches are active on social media? You know, the other key part, that's how you follow your players. That's where you know where they're at. Where you at, man? They're all doing it from a ghost account. You're doing it from your actual account, which is why we appreciate what you're bringing to the NFL.

The future is bright. You're the man. Thank you to you and Circle K taking care of the people that are doing it out there. And enjoy this entire offseason as a head coach, pal. Enjoy? Man, I got work to do. Let's go, man. Let's go.

I'm fired up. All right, I hope it's fucking miserable dude ladies and gentlemen head coach of the Raiders Antonio Pierce enjoy it what are you talking about this ain't fun

yeah the work you do alright we'll try to look around at least you know try to smell the roses if Super Bowls are won

like just off of mentality like they're gonna win yeah I'm a big fan of I can see you just he's acting 100% If Super Bowls are won just off of mentality, they're going to win. Yeah, I'm a big fan of him. He's acting 100% as himself. And it's like Mark Davis is like, I'm sick of this shit.

This is why. You know how much money I'm paying these coaches that aren't here anymore? I don't even know where the Raiders are anymore. It's like, we need to get back to when I was a kid. I was around here and everybody feared the Raiders and there was an identity and a culture and at least we knew what we were getting. It's like, I hope it works because I appreciate whenever brands do things like this,

which is get back to who they are and not be scared about it. He's not scared to be himself. He's confident enough to be himself. It's like, I hope it works because that's how it's supposed to be. Yeah, just on the surface, he seems just a little bit different than Josh McDaniels.

What? So, you know, at least not like a ton, but a little bit. You can see why it might have been a bit of a breath of fresh air in there when he took over the job and guys actually enjoyed going to work again and stuff like that. And Max Crosby didn't bury Josh McDaniels. No. And I don't think any of the guys buried Josh McDade. And they could have.

They certainly could have. But, boy, they were talking about how great it was. Yeah. And, boy, how nice this is. This is really fun. I didn't know it could be like this just a couple weeks ago. It was not saying anything about anybody else. But it's fun now.

But, boy, we fucking love coming to work now. And you can win that way whenever you get everybody to buy in, AJ. Absolutely. If you can do it. Like, he seems to have found the balance of, hey, we're going to work now. And you can win that way whenever you get everybody to buy in, AJ. Absolutely. If you can do it, like, he seems to have found the balance of hey, we're going to have fun, do this thing, we're going to try to intimidate the other team before we even step on the field, but also still holds them accountable. Like, that's the thing. You've got

to be able to make sure guys are not showing up late and doing all that. I don't think anyone's doing that with Antonio Pierce at the helm. Connor, seems like you're a Raiders fan all of a sudden. Definitely not. But I will say think anyone's doing that with Antonio Pierce at the helm. Connor, seems like you're a Raiders fan all of a sudden. Definitely not. But I will say it's crazy just thinking about the division. Like in the next three to five years, one of Antonio Pierce, Sean Payton, and Harbaugh are going to be talked about as if they fucked up their franchise.

No matter what. And, like, I love Antonio Pierce, and I think they're going to do well. Genuinely do. Pending who their quarterback is. Sean Payton's in there. Exactly. Jim Harbaugh's in there Sean Payton's in there. Exactly. Jim Harbaugh's in there. Andy Reid's in there.

Yeah. Two of them need a quarterback. Yeah, Sean Payton got a 10-year deal. What are they going to do? I don't know. Hey. Trade up. They have to.

All the quarterback situations are fascinating because, you know, the more we learn about Caleb Williams from Lincoln Riley, right? Who knows what Chicago's going to do? Yeah. People were plugging the Lincoln Riley, some of the things he said, unfortunately, about the – To us? Yeah, strictly I just saw people say on –

What are you talking about? I'm getting there. I'm just saying people were saying – No, let's make sure we get there in a full – Okay. Lincoln Riley gave an answer about how, you know how they were thinking about not offering Caleb Williams, and Caleb Williams told them, hey, Coach, that don't even matter. I'm going to walk on if you don't offer me.

A lot of people were saying Lincoln Riley trying to say that he wasn't going to offer the number one quarterback in the country for that class is a pretty bold statement. But I don't know whether that's true or not. He was the top-ranked quarterback coming out. When he went in for Rattler, who just won the MVP of the Senior Bowl as a South Carolina quarterback going into the NFL, congrats to Spencer Rattler having the whole thing, there was Caleb Chance because of who he could be

and what he was supposed to be. So Caleb Williams' hype was real deal. He was a five-star number one quarterback. Yeah, so him saying that was just people were poking holes through that. But they had their quarterback, so maybe they weren't. Yeah. Maybe he was just thinking about, you should go play somewhere else. We got Spencer Adler.

He said, I'll walk on because I'll love Sooner so much. Yeah, that's my favorite part is that Caleb was like, oh, okay. Well, I won't take a different one. Lincoln Riley did. I feel like he knows him better than we do. Absolutely. He's been with two different places with him, been around him, has had success with him, been with the highest of highs, lowest of lows, I assume very emotional moments.

And he said, like, low maintenance. The guy loves ball, loves winning, low maintenance. That's all good stuff to hear. I mean, I can see it from Caleb's standpoint. You know, Lincoln Riley developed, you know, a couple highs in the winter, number one pick. So, if I'm the top quarterback, that's probably the guy I want to go for. But, I mean, Lincoln Riley.

Dick, what do you say? That was the debate. It was bullshit. It was just on air. Didn't have scholarships. He was just trying to say how much he loves ball and how much he wanted to be a Sooner. Yeah, that might have just been a conversation at dinner where Lincoln Riley was just trying to test the cut of his gym. I'm not going to give you a scholarship.

How about that, Caleb? I'll walk on then. How about that? Holy shit gym. I'm not going to give you a scholarship. How about that, Caleb? I'll walk on then. How about that? Holy shit, I fucking love this guy. Give him a scholarship. And maybe Aiden O'Connell is the Raiders quarterback. Now, was he the best quarterback? No, but was he a pretty good rookie quarterback?

Yeah. Yes. And Purdue, that could spin it. At Purdue? Yeah. Purdue! Indiana's football team is crushing it right now. Yeah, they're still keeping an eye on Purdue and Ohio State and Michigan.

But, yeah. Coach Cignetti's rallying the money. He's a winner. Coach Cignetti, head coach for the Indiana University Hoosier football team, freshly out of JMU, and he does just win. Another guy that just wins no matter what is without a job in the NFL. You know why? Why's that? Potentially because

he's too big of a dog. What? Too big of a dog? Like inside of him or physically stature? No, just physical. No, I think also what's in... What's inside of that absolute monster strapping lad from Ohio, mike vrabel there was a

podcast that was done for the athletic i believe and this has been a pretty heavy the athletic show yeah shout to the journalism taking place over there diana racini was speaking on a podcast where she said down at the senior bowl she caught up with an anonymous gm did not give the name that said you know i've been in these rooms before. There's a chance. And maybe Vrabel's just too fucking big to be a head coach in the NFL. Here's the clip. What's your sense of why Vrabel doesn't have a head coaching job right now? I don't think that there was a fit for him.

I don't think he sat in front of any owner who thought that his style was going to work for what they were looking for. Do you know I had a GM at the Senior Bowl who mentioned to me Vrabel's physical build, that he's a very large human being and can be very intimidating to people in an organization that are going to be part of these decisions. And that is a factor, which I laughed. I said, stop. That's not something that's real. Who cares what someone physically looks like?

And he said, I'm just telling you, I've been in rules. And somebody's physical presence can make a difference. What is your sense of why like Grable doesn't have head coaching coverage? See the size of that fucking guy? Huge. You see the size of that guy? You want to talk to him? Are we going to disagree on trading our number one wide receiver on draft night?

Do you want to have this discussion with that guy? I don't think you do. How many zins did he have in his mouth when he walked in here? Eight. He had two of those zin pins in his mouth. Hit a vape. Look how fucking big he is. Is that who we want to be our head coach of football?

What are we talking about, AJ? Who's this anonymous GM? How do we smack him in the mouth? And how do we say, what are we doing? That this is even a part of the conversation for why Mike Vrabel wasn't a fit anywhere. Now, we respect and appreciate Diana Rossini. She's obviously plugged in, tapped in, has done great reporting football for a very, very long time. She's just reiterating what she was told by somebody who's a decision-making and has been in this room before.

But that's absurd. That's ridiculous. And if that's the reason why Vrabel didn't get a head coaching job, I'm disappointed. I'm bummed out. I'm bummed out. That's where the NFL is. I'm bummed out. I'll tell you what.

I give Diana – I'm glad Diana pushed back and said, stop, stop. That's not real. And the guy doubles down and continues to say this. Don't put that guy's name out because that guy should be fired. If you were saying, this guy's too tall. He walked in our room and he's too tall. Real tall. He was actually a confident human and had a plan.

So we feel weird hiring him. How did Dan Campbell get a job? How did any big guy get a job? That's what they're saying about Sheila Ford Hamp. Sheila Ford Hamp is a fucking dog. She looked at MCDC and said, yep, I want that guy in my building now. And Chris Spielman.

Well, Spielman's a big guy. Sheila Ford Hamp's like, yeah, I want some fucking dogs. What are we talking about? So he's supposed to walk in there deflated in lack of confidence with no presence. That's who you want leading? Bad posture. Just sit there and slump down and tell him you don't know what you're doing. No zings? What are we talking about? How boozed up was that GM?

Oh, just talking. Yeah. He just make. He ain't get he's too fucking big. You see that? You see that? All these big guys think they're so cool. Oh, okay. Yeah, we don't want to make that pick, fucking big dumbass. Okay?

Jeez. What are we talking about? We got to get another size chair at the table? I don't think so. You going to punch me because I disagree with you, big man? No, I don't want to do this. Diane, do you have a job? He does it.

Just like I fucking said. Probably right. Probably correct. You guys know how Pete Carroll said that these are non-football people making these decisions maybe this is uh small dog people making these decisions that they they're not big dog people okay so i don't want to go deeper into this whole thing but let's lambo is like everybody wants to do a collaborative effort everybody wants to be oh let's do a collaborative effort collaborative effort collaborative effort and lambo is like hate to break it to you you're gonna need somebody that's going to guide

a ship. It might be the modern era of thinking that maybe Mike Vrabel won't listen to outside opinions because he's so fucking big. Which is, I believe, sizist. I think there is some sort of ism that is taking place here that I don't like. Not one bit, especially for

our friend Vrabel. But this can't be how the world operates especially the NFL when we're talking about a meritocracy AJ yeah and I'm glad we played that and Diana did push back and do all that not Diana's fault she did the right thing by saying stop

you're joking this isn't real like you gotta be kidding me and the fact that they continue to say that man I'm just curious who that might be and if that person was even 50% serious with that comment. And if we can figure out who it is, bet against that team. Is that why

Belichick is not? Because he's fucking barrel chest. Because of that video. That ring camera screwed him. He's so fucking strapped. Drake's never going to get a job. I was going to say, that's why people are very intimidated by Drake whenever he walks into a room. Not about the size of his body.

AJ, what do you mean? That dude is slapping that thing around, huh? I don't like it. He's a victim right now. How did he get out? He deserves privacy just like anybody else. The guy was wrestling an anaconda. What do you mean how did it get out?

The guy's got a fucking baby elephant trunk in between his legs, and he was fucking swinging it around. We learned a lot about him on the internet this morning while we were getting ready for the show. Obviously, we like to keep track of internet trends, and Drizzy, Drake, and Wow were all trending at one time. His popularity soared today. Yeah, he almost took off from his bed like a helicopter. Well, he actually was spinning like a dreidel at one time. His popularity soared today. He almost took off from his bed like a helicopter.

Well, he actually was. Spitting like a dreidel at one point. I mean, it's certainly a world we live in at times, but I don't like the Vrabels getting judged. You think going forward he has to go to all of his interviews in like a wheelchair? Here's the deal, Vrabels. Get the Ozempic.

Yep, there it is. Lose half a body. You want to get back into head coaching? You need to stop being so physically imposing. Stat. Or do you not want a job? He told the Boston Winter Boys he'd cut off his penis for another Super Bowl. Would he cut off half his body?

Because that's what he needs. You prove it to us, pal, whether you want it or not. That's on you, Vrabes. And, AJ, I know you'll talk to him much sooner than I will. We would like an answer from him on whether or not he's willing to maybe stop working out, stop taking care of himself, maybe stop standing with his chest out like he's confident in something that he's accomplished.

Maybe don't speak at all. Don't have any words to say. Just keep it down. Shut your mouth. Lose some weight. Lose some muscle. And maybe, just maybe, you'll be a head coach in the NFL. So I would like to get an answer from him.

Okay, yeah, and he definitely, it doesn't help that he goes out there and he puts the big chest top hat on. FaceTime him. And he's playing with, you know, D. Lyman at these pro days. He's having him jacking him up, doing it in pregame. He's hitting these dudes. That doesn't help his cause, I guess. I'm FaceTime.

Cold call FaceTime. Tell him to do the Kevin Nash wheelchair gimmick. That'll help. To be clear, he certainly would. Cut him in half. Yeah. He's never answered a FaceTime from me in his entire life, let alone live. Maybe his phone isn't capable of FaceTime.

He got rid of that function. Maybe he just does a FaceTime. That's what I mean. That's a possibility. Yeah, but we're on a show. We need to see him so people know it's him. So he has to FaceTime. He could what I mean. That's a possibility. Yeah, but we're on a show. We need to see him so people know it's him. So he has to FaceTime. He could also go to the office. Oh, he's too big to answer a FaceTime,

huh? Okay. Oh, wow. Maybe that's the reason why. Text him a Zoom link. Wow. Hey, both of his kids are big humans as well. That probably doesn't help the cause. Like, oh, the whole family. Jeez, what are we talking about? Jen was a college volleyball player, too. She's a stud. His wife. So, yeah. So he said faith, family, football. Yep. Okay, Jen was a college volleyball player, too. She's a stud, his wife. So, yeah.

So he said faith, family, football. Yep. Okay, we can deal with his God being big and him being big, but his family's going to be big, too. Everything's got to be big. Are we just looking up the whole time? I've got a bad neck. I hate this guy. I can't have it.

He should just get wicked fat. I think we're at the bottom of our barrel. I think so. We've got down to 130. He got, like, 135. People think he's sick. He's like, no, I'm just trying bottom of our barrel, dude. I think so. We got down to 130. He got like 135. People think he's sick. He's like, no, I'm just trying to get another job, guys. Like Matthew McConaughey in that Dallas Buyers Club.

Yeah. If you want to be a head coach or not, dude, that's what we're trying to fix here. Good luck. That's senior ball. That's a GM, she said. Acting GM. Yep. Current GM.

I've been in those rooms before. Some of those big fuckers. I don't want to hire him too much. We need to get a video. Do they do the GM picture? Just trying to figure out who it is? I mean, I believe they do. We can figure it out.

There's one guy that we all love a lot. It's a smaller GM that maybe he could have been one of the guys. What are you talking about? Don't you be sizist. I'm not being sizist, but if we're just looking at it from a scientific angle here, the people who are probably disparaging the biggest are probably the smallest. We don't know that. We don't know that for sure.

Who is the smallest? Once again, I don't want to be this guy, but I do believe that there's a GM who is 5'8", 150 pounds soaking wet, and his name is Tom Telesco. And I love the guy. Tom Telesco. I do. He's like Antonio Pierce.

Yeah, Antonio Pierce. You think he's scared? Who's the smallest one out there, guys? You tell me. What's that? L3. Row 1. Howie Roseman's a tiny little guy. Yeah, but he's got the fire. Yeah, who is L3? Row 1? Howie Roseman's a tiny little guy. Yeah, but he's got the fire. Yeah, who is L3, Row 1? We don't need to be judging guys like this.

Who's right in the middle? Les Snead. Big Baldy? No, no, no. That's looking at the camera? That's the fuck your picks were. Howie Roseman? 4, 5, 6. L6.

Remember Travis Kelsey on the new Heights pod? And he went through the new head coaches? He's like, I like coaching his division. Yeah. I've never seen that guy before. It's not Joe Douglas, I can tell you that. No. Ain't John Lynch.

No. And ain't anybody that's been around football. So then that kind of, guess who? It's probably like an analytics. It's definitely a front row gay. All right. We'll save this conversation for another day in the off season because we will get to the bottom of this.

This is journalism. One of our guys is being judged against his Topgolf. Reminds us that if you book on the app right now, half off Monday through Wednesday. So obviously you can today. You can book yourself today at your Topgolf location for half off. I don't believe it works at the Las Vegas location, but at Arkansas where you can see a lot of things.

That's right. And in Indianapolis and every other city in which there is a Topgolf location, if you book through the app, you'll get half off Topgolf, which is a beautiful thing. The environment's awesome. Families can go. Couples can go on a date, and it's an active thing, so you don't have to feel like you've got to carry a conversation the entire time.

The boys can go. Because food comes directly to you. You can chit-chat. There's privacy. If the weather's terrible, we've got heaters. It's brilliant. It's a fucking brilliant concept, old Topgolf. The best.

And we're thankful that they joined us. Legit. Love you, Topgolf. Now, these Topgolf golf balls that we have in our last day here in the Thunderdome, D-Butt, you want to try to bury one of these things so that 20 people can maybe win $500? Come on, buddy. On the Super Bowl 58 Tuesday? Now, the golf balls do fly, these little.

Yes, they do. Pop the top. These fluffy balls. They move. Is that waterproof, that whole outfit? That's such a cool white tee you got on, dude. If water touches it, it changes color. Is that Louis Vuitt whole outfit? That's such a cool white tee you got on, dude. If water touches it. That's a cool white tee. Changes color.

Oh, that'd be cool. Is that Louis Vuitton white tee? Robert Barricat. Whoa. Bobby Barricat? Hold on. That might be. I've worn a couple of those.

That's how you pronounce it? I always said Baccarat. Well, Baccarat, we could potentially play for like 45 hours in Vegas. Yeah, absolutely. But you'd be able to win a bunch of money, they say. D. Butch, all you got to do is put that top golf ball, which is a ball from a company that's all about fun and having fun. Yeah, that's right.

From the gods. Into that garbage can right over there that has Dwayne the Rock Johnson, who's looking to finish his family story. Yeah. You know, looking to potentially finish his family story at WrestleMania. He does have a story of his own, doesn't he? And so does Roman, yeah. So does that family, that island, everything. The tribe. But Cody Rhodes has been working his ass off. He does have a story of his own, doesn't he? And so does Roman, yeah. So does that family, that island, everything.

But Cody Rhodes has been working his ass off. He has. He put the company on his back. We'll see what happens on Thursday. We'll see what happens on Thursday, 7pm Eastern on Peacock and all the WWE socials. But if you put that top golf ball into that trash can right over there,

20 people, $500 on our last day in the football season. Right to left, it will be a draw if you throw it. Athlete! Athlete! Oh! Deep watch! 20 people, $500.

That's how you go in to Super Bowl week. We'll be live tomorrow. Love you, Topgolf. Hell yeah tomorrow. Love you, Topgolf. Hell yeah, we love you, Topgolf. That was awesome. Incredible.

We can't thank you all enough. Thank you to our guests for having conversations with us every single day. The next three days live from Radio Row are going to be absurd as we propel into the greatest Super Bowl weekend of all time. AJ, great work. Boys, great work. Let's all travel safely. Let's enjoy the hell

out of this. And let's never, ever forget that we're incredibly thankful to be alive. We're lucky to be here. And without all of you that watch, we wouldn't get to live the dumbest lives of all time. You're the greatest humans on earth. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Goodbye.