The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1416 - TNF Preview, Jeff Passan, Mike McCarthy, Nebraska Coach Matt Rhule, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

On today's show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys preview tonight’s Thursday Night Football game between the Seahawks and the Cardinals, and look more into the marquee games of this weekend in both the NFL and college football. Joining the progrum to chat about the insanely compelling end of the season here, the AL MVP race, and where we’re at right now with four days left of the season is ESPN Senior MLB Insider, Jeff Passan. Next, Super Bowl Champion, former Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, Mike McCarthy joins the progrum to preview tonight’s Thursday Night Football game, and give his biggest takeaway’s thus far after 3 weeks, as well as looking ahead to this weekend’s slate. Later, Head Coach of the Nebraska football team, Matt Rhule joins the show to chat about their tough loss to Nebraska, recruiting on a bye this week, the outlook for the rest of the season, and more. Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you, we’ll see you tomorrow. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our Humble Abode, the Thunderdome, on this NFL week for kickoff Thursday, September 25th, 2025. This program begins now. Football! It is amazing, and we've made it to another week of incredible football. The Saturday college football slate is impeccable. Tonight, we have an NFC-West Division battle between the Seattle Seahawks traveling out to Arizona to take on the Cardinals.

favored by point and a half on the road. The Seattle Seahawks team is a damn good squad. Obviously in its second year building around McDonnell and Sam Donald gets paid this offseason. They have a defense that's stingy and an offense that's explosive. Jackson Smith and Jigba is actually doing things that hasn't happened since Marvin Harrison was on the Colts in 1999. And on the flip side, Marvin Harrison Jr. is on the Arizona Cardinals.

How's that going? Not great thus far. Well, Kyler and he turn it up as Arizona host Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime with Kirk Herb Street. Al Michaels, Kaylee Hartung on the call, and we celebrate another weekend of incredible football kicking off. And it's not just a normal weekend of football.

This one's bigger. 9.30 a.m. on Sunday. Yeah. You wake up after a great college football Saturday. That whiteout will be happening at night. Then there'll be some West Coast football happening after that. You'll pass out. You'll wake up. Maybe if you have a kid or a daughter,

You'll wake up, have a good time there, do a little hey, good morning, maybe go dance a little bit, maybe take a walk outside. There's still going to be some do out there. There's going to be a little bit of the morning buzz still, and boom, over in Dublin, Ireland, they're going to be kicking off a football game. And it's not just like a shite football game. No. We got the Minnesota Vikings with Carson Wentz, possibly in a middle of a resurgence, in the middle of his career,

like we've sent a lot of other quarterbacks do, taking on Aaron Rogers and the Pittsburgh Steelers who are all in. Okay? I know that place is going to be incredible. we've gotten a chance to experience Dublin as a host town for a football game. It was electrifying. We are expecting Dublin to show up in a big way. In Dublin to become a normal for the NFL going forward in international games. Pittsburgh Steelers are staying at a castle.

Yeah, it's awesome. So cool. Pittsburgh Steelers are staying at a place. It's two golf courses. The NFL told them they're not allowed to go out early. I think there's a chance like Tomlin and Kahn. That's horse shit. Maybe Aaron and T.

Everybody was like, where are they putting us at? Oh, they're going to put you guys up at a castle that has. the finest amenities, basically. You'll get to go to Ireland and live the actual royal king life over there if they were to have that. And Steelers like, okay, so we'll go over there on Monday. We'll get used to the whole thing, and then we'll have a game, and it'll just be, you know, we'll do an international week. NFL's like, I don't think so. Okay, that used to be a decision you were allowed to make.

You used to be able to travel over whenever you wanted to. It was actually a strategy piece. Whenever we played in England, we had a strength coach. He was a good guy. I think he was a good guy. Great ball head. He was good guy. He was with the Miami Dolphins Zone whenever they were.

went over and played. And I guess they went over earlier in the week and they lost. So his big cell was, we've been there, done that, need to go over later in a week and just kind of operate as if it's East Coast time is what we're going to try to do, not really try to make the change. We lose to Blake Bortles in Jacksonville, Jaguars. Sure. So that ends up happening. And the dolphins lost whenever they went over earlier. So I don't know if there is a right answer for an entire team because each person is going to operate individually. But I know if a team wants to go over on Monday and treat it like a bowl game, you're already sending them to a different country.

They should be allowed to be able to go ahead and do that. I don't love that the Steelers were not allowed to head over there early, especially with what they were going to experience. If they think that's what's best for their team, they should be allowed to do that. Well, it's not fair. It's like, well, the other team have them. What if they're staying in some shite place? What if the Minnesota Viking are in some shite?

If they see Carson, they're not putting them up in some... This is a recent discovery of the Ireland's team. A long time. Yeah, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a lot of connections over there in Ireland. That's one half of the hammer. God. Cowboys, massive Pittsburgh Steelers fan tone digs. The toxic tables here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt.

The 9.30 a.m. kickoff Sunday is very exciting. And if you're over there, you need to know that friends of ours have things going on, festivities. Obviously, the Minnesota Vikings have an official Vikings pub at our friend J.R. Mahin's place. We were over there for the college football. The owners of this particular pub, good lads. Yeah, great lads. Hard working lads. Willing to make everything happen.

They got meet and greets happening with Kyle Roe. Rudolf. Tad music is traditional music. Hup, hop, hop, hop, hop. A lot of this, a lot of this, a lot of this, good times. You know, they'll have a lot of music, pub quizzes, hangouts, after parties, everything. Go ahead and check them out if you're a Minnesota Vikings fan. Or if you're just football fan that happen to be in Dublin.

This will be where like-minded people are at. And then there's an unofficial Pittsburgh Steelers place. Kennedy's on Westland Row. That's the address right there. Got a meet and greet with Brett Kiesel on Friday at 2 p.m. And all the rallies are happening basically around this bar. So if you're in Ireland or in Dublin for the game, whether you're a Steelers or Vikings fan or whatever, I believe these two places, and I know there'll be plenty of others, we'll be having a good time celebrating ball.

Let's celebrate ball tonight. Seattle Seahawks favored on the road against the Arizona Cardinals. Tone, I think you told me earlier, 75% of the money is on the Seattle Seahawks. Nobody has any hope in Arizona at home, or is it just that these Seattle Seahawks are a very good football team as the Pittsburgh Steelers found out. Yeah, I think it's because people think Seattle's a good football team. obviously they went on the road and won in Pittsburgh, and then they just absolutely blew the doors off the Saints last week. And even week one, they were driving down to score

and Bosa wrecked the game. They were in the red zone, had Sam Darnold fumble. But I think like ZHawks, JSN is the second leading wide receiver in all of the NFL, only 10 yards behind Pook and Nakua, who what we all know is unbelievable. So JSN's having a great year. Sam Darnold is off to a very good start. Gray's able, the first round left guard who they took.

has been unbelievable. The thing for the last few years is that the Seahawks line has been shite. It has not been shite. It's been really good. They've run the ball with Ken Walker, Sam Donald's had a bunch of time. But on the defensive side of the ball, Byron Murphy, he is first as far as interior D-Linman. He was drafted out of Texas last year in the first round.

He is first in sacks, first in pressures, first in run stops. And then Leonard Williams, Jaron Reed, and DeMarcus, Lawrence. They've been unbelievable. They are getting pressure with just four. They're in the top five in the pressure rate in the NFL. And they blitz the second least only to the Bengals. And there's some stats here that Hembo sent over. Kyler last year versus McDonald in two games.

Three picks, seven sacks, and had a 34.5 QBR when only rushed for defenders. So, you know, it's kind of like a thing where people think Seattle's good. They haven't really seen Arizona play well yet. They've had some, you know, whatever games. And then, you know, the stats this year have been great. Okay, so Hembo Sat. Cincinnati is the only defense in the NFL that blisses less frequently than Seattle. 16%.

Kyler threw three picks and took seven sacks in his two games versus Mike MacDonald last season, had a 34.5 QBR against their four-man rush. Now, the question is the Arizona Cardinals, will they be able to be better than that? It is obviously the expectation. But also, are the Arizona Cardinals the same Arizona Cardinals as they're always going to, like, is this, this is a game the Arizona Cardinals lose. And I think that is the sportsbook and what people are thinking. Why not the Arizona Cardinals?

What is the thought in the conversation around this team? other than the fact that AQ Shipley is the color commentator for their team broadcast, and James Connor out, which we certainly miss. He's a massive piece of that offense. Yeah, James Connor being out is a huge deal. You mentioned JSN doing

stuff for the first time ever since Marvin Harrison. Actually, Marvin Harrison Jr. is also doing stuff for the first time since Marvin Harrison. That's dropping football unfortunately. Marvin Harrison had a tough go. No, this is why I think everyone's on Seattle. The Cardinals stock is as low as it's ever been.

James Conner's ankle falls off his body, has to get surgically put back on. He said it wouldn't even show a replay. Yeah, yeah, genuinely, teasing piece. That sucks. He's been through a lot, still doing it, you know, cancer way back in the day with the Steelers legend.

This is where the fantasy football helps you, though, when it comes to games like this because his backup, Trey Benson is a guy that, not a household name probably, but from a fantasy football perspective, you're drafting Trey Benson late because if James Connor goes down, this dude's unbelievable. Their backup running back is really good. So that's probably not out there as far as like public knowledge when it comes to betting. Like hey, they're down James Connor. That's the storyline. Not as much Trey Benson being great. Marvin Harrison Jr., that one's tough. But again, I think everybody has faith in the fact that Marvin Harrison Jr.'s going to figure it out. Like everyone's high on the Seahawks. But I think just like, you know, a lot of teams right now, you really don't know. The Seahawks beat the Steelers and they beat the Saints. So they're two and one and one next to their

name looks awesome but this could be a toss-up I don't think everyone should be as down on the cardinals as they are okay here's the injury report a lot of names for the cardinals and obviously that doesn't have James Connor on there who's already out for the season he's one of their mainstays will Johnson yeah I think there is a lot of question obviously doubtful he's potentially he's great football player obviously we like him so at this stage we're already having a lot of injuries to teams and anytime we're playing Thursday night those questionables are always like do we rush here or do we give a full two week break basically. So we'll see

what teams are out there tonight. We'll see who's playing and we're excited that the NFC West is kicking off a great weekend of football and hopefully this game is an absolute shite. We've got some news staying in the NFC West. Brock Purdy's taking first team reps again with San Francisco 49ers. He said it was a walkthrough but him taking first team reps as opposed to

Mack Jones taking those first team reps. I think we'd say welcome back Brock Purdy. I think that is kind of the expectation we have after reading that particular news. I think good morning football had that up across their lower 3rd out there in San Francisco, we thought there was going to be a little bit of a situation, potentially brewing. And let's stay in the NFC, Minnesota Vikings, team that's playing in Dublin. I guess there was a question already about, hey, if JJ's healthy and Carson continues to play.

Carson played one game. Played very well. Very well. Didn't turn the ball over probably in the first time since he was eight years old. All the upside of Carson Wentz was there. None of the, Carson Wentz, was there. And you listen to KOC talking to. them before the game.

KOC's like, hey, it's you and me out there, okay? You're doing this for me, with me, by me. This is the entire time. Play by play. We're going to do this entire thing. In a way, Carson, like, responded to that. It was truly as if Kevin O'Connell was setting it up as, hey, we're a tag team right now, okay, let's go ahead and do this.

And like, don't let me down. Like, I need you not, just do the shit. And then I'll be thankful whenever you do the shit. Then we're, we're in this thing together. It's kind of how KOC was a cool thing because of how much success he's had with all these quarterbacks, because he's been in their position before. So he understands where they're at. and he's an incredible play caller of this guy.

So the way he kind of motivates and finds each person's best is the reason why he's coach of the year, a reason why they're already talking about him potentially being top two coach in the NFL, and he's out there in Minnesota, and they're making magic happen. But Carson Wentz plays good, continues to play good.

What are they going to do with J.J. McCarthy? Obviously, J.J. McCarthy came into this year as the starter. Aaron Rogers, you guys want him in Minnesota? Nope, we feel good with J.J. McCarthy. They did offer Danny Dimes, more money than the Indianapolis did for him to be a backup for J.J. McCarthy, but this was supposed to be his year. He gets hurt,

one good quarter, really good quarter. One really good fourth quarter. Gets hurt. Carson Wentz comes in and balls. Their team's built to win right now. The decision for KOC will be, do we ride the hot hand with Carson if this continues, and let JJ kind of watch and experience this even more?

And is Carson going to get hurt inevitably? Not guaranteed, but chance. And then you slide JJ in. I don't think Kevin O'Connell should be in any rush if this Carson Went's experience goes very, very well. And I assume that's how he feels as well. Yeah, I mean, I think as of right now, the thought is, hey, they'll let Carson Wentz have the European trip.

And, you know, when he gets back, maybe JJ will take over from there. But I think if Carson Wentz, I mean, it all comes down to how he plays on Sunday and the following Sunday, I guess. But if he goes 2 and O'N O'O in Europe coming back, I really don't think they'd be in any rush to say, okay, let's move JJ back in here. So, I mean, we'll see. This is what O'Connell said. First and foremost, he's got to get healthy. Okay, so he's not healthy right now. So this is not a conversation that has actively taken place.

and then I don't think it's one of those things where it's hey he's healthy the night before a game we're going to throw him out there and say hey go figure it out type of thing so Kevin O'Connell doesn't have to answer the question right now that's what that was right the situation he put up if he was healthy the night before a game we're not going to throw him in there we don't know what situation is because he's got to get Kevin O'Connell is viewing this entire thing but with that being said if Carson goes out and crushes it again I don't know why you would feel an urgency to get JJ back out there other than the fact that you need JJ to develop right which is kind of a conversation with JJ, which goes back to the entire NFL conversation. Yeah, and it's that and it's a confidence thing, and if you look at their schedule, obviously they have the Steelers this weekend, but then you follow up with the Browns, with the Eagles, with the Chargers,

with the Lions, and the Ravens. Those are all really good football teams with some pretty good defenses, so it's like, do you want to put JJ back in there and take his lumps, or how do you want to deal with that? It's, I mean, it's a real thing. Pittsburgh's defense, okay, normally really good. Right. Five turnovers last week.

turnovers last week. Pittsburgh, Cleveland's defense, historic rate. Yeah, maybe best ever. Maybe greatest defense of all time. Maybe greatest defense of all time. Philadelphia's defense, literally just won a Super Bowl. Okay, defense unbelievable. Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, okay, they're in there.

Right there. You could see, you could smell them. You could definitely hear them, you know, because they're going to be doing that. Then the Los Angeles Chargers. They've been pretty good. Unbelievable. Yeah. All on a string. And then the Detroit Football Alliance. And then the Baltimore Ravens if they haven't figured out by then.

Okay? Yeah. Now that's week 10. There was a stat that was floating around the internet for the Baltimore Ravens defense about how last year until like week 10 they were considered a bad defense and then they turned it on towards the end of the year. Right now they are the worst defense in the NFL, which is what we don't expect at all

from this Baltimore Ravens team. But you look at that stretch right there. So all right, JJ, you're healthy. Go get them. Yeah. And if Carson, who's been there done that, is one tough son of a bitch we know that about Carson Wentz he will go out there with an entire broken

body the entire skeleton broken he will go out there and play football which we appreciate and we love but he's also seen it before and this is the resurgence of these quarterbacks seeing the defense before understanding what's possible where am I going to die what is the opt out here like if Carson Wentz is making

all the mature decisions that Danny Dimes is making here that maybe Baker's making down what Sam Donald's making now it's like that that era of quarterback getting their second shot right now really striving. It looks like Carson may be the next guy to do that. Yeah, Carson playing overseas makes a ton of sense. The only thing is, like, when you look at the JJ stuff,

their whole team, their whole offense looked back because Christian Darrasaw wasn't out there. Yeah. Like, he didn't have his starting left tackle. Like, as someone who watched Drake May, you know, for his rookie year without a left tackle, it looked terrible. Now that he has a left tackle with Will Campbell,

it looks completely different. So, like, as bad as it was for JJ, They lost to the Falcons, and the Falcons' defense looked great, and then the Falcons lost 30 to nothing to the Panthers. And it's like, do the Falcons, is the Falcons defense good? Or did the Vikings' second best player is Christian Darisot playing left tackle? And they didn't have them. Like, Carson playing overseas makes sense.

So, like, there's no reason to put them out there against Pittsburgh, which is going to be a Pittsburgh home game. That's going to be a Pittsburgh crowd. The Steelers own Ireland. That is a fact. And then Cleveland, you know, Cleveland's defense on the road, we'll see. they've already given up 40 once, but it still is one of those things where the Cleveland defense might come out hot. So I'm not, like, I feel like Pennix is more of a worry than, like, J.J. McCarthy just because, like, without that guy, you just said it.

Like, they're worried about where they're coming from. Without Derisaw, it was coming from the left side of the line, every single snap. I get what you're saying there. Making a decision if Carson continues the ball to go back to JJ with Christian Darasaw or not is going to be a tough one for chaos. Yeah. I mean, that is going to be a tough decision for KOC. It's going to be. I mean, especially if they go on the run that they're about, if they beat all these teams. Do you imagine they get wins over Pittsburgh and Cleveland, or they get a win over L.A. right there. Like, that would be.

They'll be favorite in both. That'd be gigantic. They've done that, though. But to your point, too, about, like, hey, if we want to develop JJ, like, those games that you said in that stretch after they get back, like, that's not a, hey, we just can't have you lose the game for us. Like, hey, we're going to need the quarterback to make plays in these games. I don't think you can rely on their defense to score two touchdowns a week. Carson, like we've said, when he's playing his best, like, he can be a guy who can go out and win you a game. And then Carson, does he become the next Danny Dimes that Minnesota Vikings can't keep around?

Kirk Cousins that they can't keep around. Sam Donald, that they can't keep around. Then you think to yourself, but do we waste games trying to develop a guy when our entire team is built? It's like such a... We are giving Carl a lot of credit, though. Without a doubt. This is his six team in six years. They're not going to do this. We're giving KOC credit.

If they wanted to win the Super Bowl this year, they would have hung on to Sam Donald. Like this whole year is because of JJ. I know we're talking about like, hey, they can go win the Super Bowl. The whole year is dedicated to JJ McCarthy's development. Like Carson Wentz, guess what? He's not going to win the Super Bowl. I really do.

I enjoy the Carson Wentz thing. How do you know that? Because they won 14. They went 14 and 3 last year. He knows they have a good team. If they wanted to go and win the Super Bowl, it would probably make sense to pay Sam Donald $40 million and then let Jay sit and watch him.

But instead it's like, hey, we need to get JJ out there to play. to develop him. So this year might not be... What if they thought JJ was going to do very well? With or without Christian Dairsaw? Like that is kind of what was being kind of discussed. So we see... Without Dairsaw?

We see seven quarters, though. We see seven quarters of not good football. And then he murders the Cincinnati Bengals. I mean, and now the Bengals, what is the Bengals defense? That's a whole other conversation. There's a lot of those. But I'm just saying, KOC's decision-making process

in the reality of the situation, if they were winning and Carson's playing good, you how do you that would be very difficult i think for chaos to do and if he does i think that's his confidence in j j jay but what if jay over the next couple weeks he carson ball out maybe it makes him better and then he comes back and he's the best version of himself like he was in that fourth quarter all these things are possible that's why football is the greatest uh another sport that's doing a okay right now and this is crazy this is happening at 12 18 yeah okay on a thursday with thursday night football week four of the NFL season kicking off tonight.

Okay, I don't love that this has happened. But this is a necessity for the good of sports. Baseball is in the middle of something right now. MLB is having huge things take place all over the league with playoff implications happening all across the board. There's history being made. There's MVP chases happening. There's dong shots taking place.

There's teams maybe running out of the play. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now at 1219 on a third. Thursday in the middle of football season. The voice of a sport for an entire generation. Ladies and gentlemen, jet passing. Jet, uh,

you know, you know, I don't dude, dude, no, no. We don't need to be labor this at all. We're going to make it worth it. We absolutely are. So let's get right into it because there's a lot happening right now, Patrick. And I'm psyched. Like, I am fired up that I'm here right now. Thank you for bringing

me on this early. Let's get after it. I just want to let you know, I'll tell you, this enthusiasm that you had on the call this morning, because I was sitting with the boys, and I think it was Ty goes, lots happening in baseball right now. Lots happening in baseball right now. So fire up the jet, FaceTime Jet Passing. And I literally say to you, I hate that I'm even doing this. Okay, it is football season. This is a very abnormal thing.

But I watched that Mets guy from center field throw Buddy out at home last night in real time. Send a text to my Cubs friend. Wow, what to play for you guys. it gets overturned. Yikes! That is, that is tough to kind of handle it all. And then on a flip side with the Mets app, so I was in the middle of it. And then you said, bud, everything's happening right now. Is this the greatest time baseball has had? It feels like there's shit across the board jet and you laid it all out for us. It's so good. And just like last night, seeing Aaron Judge go and hit two home runs, the first is 50, the second is 50 first,

in the middle of the MVP race and then to have that followed by Cal Raleigh hitting numbers 59 in an absolute bomb to the upper deck and number 60 becoming the seventh player ever joining Babe Ruth and Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa and Aaron Judge and Barry Bonds and Roger Maris

this MVP race in the American League is absolutely incredible. Paul Skeen's goes out and throws six shot out in to end his season. The Detroit Tigers, a historic collapse in the Cleveland Guardians getting not just back into the race, but taking over first place in the American League Central. And on top of all that, you've got the Mets, they stink, you've got the Reds and the Diamondbacks with an opportunity, they lose an extra innings.

It was just an incredible night of baseball man. And considering the way that this season has gone and its whole trajectory, I was not anticipating it was going to be an exciting September. So this is like a, for somebody who loves baseball like I do, this is just such a little beautiful surprise and I'm just enjoying every single day on this calendar. Absolutely. The highlights on the internet that are hitting and then the storylines that are developing are must watch. Baseball has been good to us during the off season and now it's showing up in the middle of football season. Paul Skeen's throwing his last pitches last night, obviously watching his lady go through the anxiety of him becoming the first player in the modern era to have his first two seasons be a watch. 1.96 ERA or something like that.

Every pitch mattered, literally. History was on the line with every single pitch. And Livy experiencing that the entire time. I loved watching. But also, Paul Skeens is an absolute animal. Happy to hear that he is still a monster on the mound. We need to build that team up around him. We've come to another offseason, Bob.

Now's the time to kind of maybe build that team up. And let's talk about the things. Go ahead. It's like Paul Skeens is going to win the National League's I'm award unanimously this year. and deservedly so in his first full season as a major league baseball player

and for all of the hype that's what I love about false geese he came up with so much hype and he has not just lived up to it he's exceeded it he has been better I think than people thought that he was going to be and you surround him with the arms that the Pittsburgh

pirates have right now whether it's Bubba Chandler or Braxton Ashcraft or Jared Jones coming back Mitch Keller Hunter Barko making his big league debut. The Pittsburgh Pirates are three bats away from being a playoff team right now. And the only way that they are going to go out and get those bats is if their owner goes out and spend some freaking money.

And if not now, then when, Pat? At what point do you see all of this talent that you have and say to yourself, we need to take this opportunity and give the fans of Pittsburgh what they deserve? The losing, we've had enough of it. And you've seen opportunities that have been taken by the Kansas City Royals and by other smaller market low-revenue teams to go and change their lineup in an off-season. The pirates can do this. The question for Bob Nutting is, will you?

He already sold seven springs, okay? That's the greatest tube and hill in western Pennsylvania. Sure. Sold the entire place. That was years at a billion office. That was years at least. we're talking about the greatest skewery So many years ago

So many years ago Okay, so we thought maybe he was selling that To maybe get some players Turned out that one right into his fucking stingy pockets That's what we learned about Vail bought seven springs, okay? They got a lot of money They'll keep doing that

Stick of it, Vail. Notting keeps taking money And just putting in his pockets Instead of putting in the team And I think what we need to say to this guy And to be clear, he looks like he's a pretty oblivious guy Yeah Yeah, he looks perpetually

Just pretty big, a little Mimbo-y. A little, if you will. It'll be one of those. Hey, Bond, you win, okay? You make more money, okay? So if you win, it's crazy to think. I was at a baseball game where the Cy Young winner was pitching, and there was 6,000 people in the stand.

Matt, in the stand. That's generous. Okay, if you win, not and guess what it goes up? The ticket sales. And then guess what else goes up, especially in Pittsburgh, the booze sales. And the icy lights are flown. And guess what? I need a hot dog. I need some nachos. God damn. Is there pizza and wings here? Give me some of that. Players awesome. I want a jersey.

Oh, I might buy some merch. This is cool. Holy great hat. Bob, you spend a little bit of money. We need three bats. That's what I just heard. I didn't do my own research, but I assume Jet knows for real. You get three bats, Bob. You're going to make more money. More than seven springs money, Bob. There's a chance that you make really good money, especially with the logo, the brand, the stadium. Everything is there. Pat, I think, I'm sorry to interrupt you here, but we have a test case with this, and it's the San Diego Padres. And I know it's a baseball cliche, if you build it, they will come. But what the Padres have done and going out, and for years and years, I mean, there was a, there was a fan group called Change the Padres, where they wanted new ownership

in place and people who were actually going to spend money. Peter Seidler comes in, and he tries to build it. He tries to build something by signing Mani Machia. and by giving Fernando Tatis Jr. a long-term contract and by locking up Jackson Merrill. There are things that they have done that have shown their fans, okay, we believe that you deserve something more. We believe that we, it's on us, it's incumbent on us to give you a reason to go to the ballpark. So let's give you some reasons. And that's all Pirates fans want. They want a reason to go to the ballpark. They want to feel like ownership care. as much as they do. And right now, that's just not the case. But in this off season, you sure

can make the case that it is. It's right there for the taking for the pirates. And the eternal question with that organization is, will they? I understand it's unfair the landscape in Major League Baseball right now when you have one team that's spending $500 million in the Dodgers and another team that's not spending even a quarter of that. And there are a few of those teams. And you have teams like the Cleveland Guardians path who don't spend a lot of money and win every year. Milwaukee Brewers who don't spend a lot of money and win every year.

So you can have your cake and eat it too, but there has to be a baseline level of effort amid this landscape that you can't change. Like until the new collective bargaining agreement, there is no changing what your reality is. So how about you operate within that reality going out and trying to win as many games as you can, rather than lament the existence that you're in.

I love that. Great way to describe that lament the existence that you're in. And you said that fans want to see that he cares about winning as much as they do. Even if you don't, Bob, just care about money. If you invest into something, more money will come. Like, it's clear that that's what you're in it for. Just know that you can get more by having success. That kind of goes hand in hand.

whole thing. Tone is a diehard Pirates fan and we have buried him for it for a long time. Well, no, but it is exciting though because I think the Pirates organization does know that they need those three bats. The only issue is they think those three bats are probably Tommy Fam and IKF and Cutch and they're just going to roll them out there

against. Well, so that's not what we're talking about you. Love Cutch. Would like Tush to be around. Easy on Tommy fans. All right. He'll find you and he'll get you. He's got a good swing. He's a mean Cush. He'll throw bombs. He'll beat the out of you if you're, you know, bumping gums

or... Which I like. Tom Phaam likes to fight. And he gets from both sides of the plate, right? He could. Yeah, he punches from both sides of the plate, too. Thunder and light, yeah, on both sides. Okay, let's talk about actual baseball stuff now. Ty has a bunch for you. Yeah, Jet, I want to go back to the

ALMVP, because I think I saw a clip that maybe you said, like, you would give your vote to judge, but you know, it'd be tough. And I don't like doing this, because we've been doing this in the office, where basically because of my bias being a Yankees fan, I don't want to say I've had to shit on Cal Raleigh,

but, you know, Pat's really getting me going, basically saying, basically trying to say that Cal Raleigh is 100 times better than Judge, and I have to kind of just tell him like, hey, listen pal, you are very misguided in this. But also, with this, like, is there just a level of judge

fatigue, and we've gotten to the point where people just don't admire how great he is or don't realize how great he is? Because we see it, see it year over year like is cow rally going to win the MVP or what how how should we look at this situation i think it's going to be really close and here's the reality tie there's not a bad vote like you can make a very compelling case for aaron judge and you can make a very compelling case for cow rally and both of those are being made right now i think a lot of it just comes down

to how do you view the baseball world like if if you're a baseball person perspective is through the lens of what is best story, then Cal Raleigh's the MVP. He has the round number home run that everyone's looking for, like 60 home runs, and doing that from the position of catcher.

Is that more? Is that more? Yeah, just let him keep going, though. We'll get to the stats that matter too. Okay. See, this is what happens. He gets all fired up. No, because... I didn't realize Todd, like, singles so much. Yeah, oh, I didn't know a... That's not the only of the lines,

You can't say that because Judge has hit over 50 home runs, but it's basically... Excuse me, I've never seen... This is Cal Rale's setup right here. Two bats, brother. Okay, we're on one side, we're on the other side. Sure. He's doing 100 squats a game, this guy. His mitt...

Well, that's hit ball. Go play outfield. I don't want to hear that. He decided to play catchers, so don't give me the squats bullshit. Go play first base. Go DH. But, Judge, or Jet, is this just turning into, like, hey, whoever hits the most homers is going to be NBCC?

He's bad. He's not. happy, Judge. I love Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge was great for our show. We love Aaron. I'm just saying, Ty started getting a little bit of, what are we even doing here whenever the national narrative started becoming Cal versus Aaron?

And I think that's because Ty thinks Mr. Judge is like best player on planet. Mike O'Down is the best right handed hitter of all time. So that's Ty's argument. What I'm saying is, two bats. Touching the ball every point. I'm saying. I get it. I get it.

He's in there. But this is what I mean, too. I didn't want to get in this because I love Cal he's awesome but you've been fighting against Cal pretty heavy I have to I have to go to go to my He does because he's Pat he is threatened right now because he knows how good Cal Raleigh's

cases that's the problem like playing catcher tie You cannot deny that playing catcher every day is an incredibly difficult thing to do a whole lot more difficult than what yeah keep doing your squats pat because that's what the big number

is doing that. That's why his ass is as big as it is. Yeah, he's got that fat one, honey. Yeah, he's got that big dumper. Yeah, he's doing that. And what we, what we have right now is a case where I think, Ty, you said

Aaron Judge Fatigue, I don't know if among voters that's real, but I think among fans it is. I think we take for granted just how great Aaron judge is. And all of a sudden, you have this guy who's named the big dumper who literally is like known for having a large butt and he goes out and hits 60 home runs

carries his team to the division title for the first time since 2001 dethrones the Houston Astros who haven't in a full season lost a division in the American League West since 2016 and does it with an awesome September where they've won 15 of 16 games and look like the best team in baseball and have the highest odds to win the world series of any team on fan graphs projections right now it's a pretty damn good story right and so what you're doing is is you tie are on the side of the nerds i hate to say it but you're sitting there and saying in this case yeah yeah you're sitting there and saying but he's got a hundred seventy seven ops points more than cow raleigh does right now how can you possibly look at a guy with all the other things that

Cal Raleigh has in his favor. Are you telling me that that makes up the gap? He's almost 100 points higher in on base percentage, which is the one statistic if I had any to judge a baseball player on, I would judge him on. He's slugging 686 this year. It's Bonzian-like performance. And you're telling me that a guy because he's got a fat ass and his team is winning

because it sucked for a quarter century, deserves to be MVP. Okay. All right. That's the case. Very well said. That is exactly what the... Hold on. Well said.

What you just... That's exactly what I'm saying. Yes. Right over there. He actually said that. That is why... I love that you know both sides of the argument so much, but the voters are nerds, right? Isn't that kind of what it is?

The voters are nerds? Let's put it this way. I did talk with a friend who was a voter yesterday. And he said something very interesting to me. Like, most of us who do vote... And I stopped voting a while ago. But most of us who vote... Like we take it really seriously.

We take it seriously because that's what the award was. Not everybody, not everybody, but we appreciate that you did. Tone does as well. We've seen some other voters for things come out and basically say they. Yeah, listen, yeah, there are some. But the person I was talking with was taking it very seriously to the point where he asks a lot of people who play the game and who know the game, frankly, better than we're going to because they're out there every day, because they experience it because they face. Aaron Judge because they face Cal Raleigh.

And my friend said every player he asks, says Aaron Judge. All right. Every player. Well, is every player a former Yankee or a fan of the Yankee? That is how Ty and Bruce are talking right there. No, this is also somebody who does not cover a team

in the American League East. This is somebody who is not based in the East. So there is no coastal bias going on there. Two massive stories happening and they're both on a roller coaster going this one. Who is it, Ty? Yeah, Jet, I mean, I know we're talking about the Tigers as being like maybe one of the biggest

collapses in like sports history, but do you think the Mets are kind of getting off the hook as well? I mean, I know both those teams are still holding on to a playoff spot right now, but for people who don't know, can you kind of contextualize how bad both of these collapses have been. Ty, the Mets were 45 and 24. They owned the best record in Major League Baseball through 69 games.

Everything was going nice for them. It has not been nice since. And it has been the slowest, like most painful three months for Mets fans. Just watching this team, uh, I use the word disintegrate.

That's kind of what's happened. Like they looked like they were going to be a world series contender and now they're flirting with 500 and the only reason that they still have a playoff spot is because the teams that are surrounding them frankly are not all that good either and at the same time the tigers had a 15 and a half game advantage in july over the Cleveland guardians 12 and a half game advantage a month ago jeez uh a double digit advantage in september and to watch the tigers lose not just the eight games in a row that they have right now including the ones, the guardians that you're seeing

right there with George Valera's home run with Jose Ramirez coming up with yet another clutch hit. But for them to be in the position that they are right now, it would be the biggest division collapse in Major League Baseball history and Major League Baseball is in its 150th season, gentlemen. So just to give you

the context of that, we have like, this is like the dueling pianos of Sucketude right now. They are both terrible at this point. And we're going to, I think at least one of them, going to make the playoffs, honestly, because the Astros, who should be taking advantage of what's going on with Detroit, have lost five in a row as well. It's not just that they've blown their lead

that they've had over the Mariners all season, but the Astros are now behind the Tigers in the wild card standings. It's going to make for an awesome last four days of the season. I'm just really excited to see how it shakes out. And to know that on the 162nd game of the season, it could be one that determines the fate of multiple teams in the postseason. And beyond that, guys, we've got the Yankees and the Blue Jays, by to top the American League East. They're going to be fighting for position. We don't know who's going to be hosting games in the Ailes.

It's going to be the Yankees. It's going to be the Jays. It looks like it's going to be the Mariners at this point. But there's just a lot going on right now. It's why, on any other Thursday, I would have, like, I would have known better than to say to you, I need to come on early. We need to talk about this early. Baseball's worth it, guys.

Baseball right now is as good as it gets in sports. That's Big Dumpur Baseball, and that's what we're talking about. And we're very thankful. Glad to me this whole fam. They're so good to us, you know, and obviously put on a hell of a show. As did you. Thank you for representing for baseball. And we can't wait to talk to you soon, man.

When's the start? When's the playoff start? Playoff start on Tuesday. And ESPN, in fact, is carrying every single wildcard game. I will be up in Bristol in studio with our friends there and we got a great month ahead. All right, we can't wait to watch.

We appreciate the hell out of you. Good luck to dump her and Aaron Judge. Good luck. On the races to immortality. You're the best. Ladies and gentlemen, Jetpassing. Yay, Jay. Yeah, the hemi V8 is back for RAMTrucks.

Fired up and RAMRMRAM to go. Get in on. A motor trend has chosen RAM-1500, the best truck down the line. Oh, duh. As it's a truck of the year. wow not a day let's go not a week no uh-uh not a month no fortnight none of it the whole damn ram year love it congrats to them man uh ram trucks are also back on a track and return

a nascar craft uh craftsman truck series for the 2026 season what's the next race they got over that was uh they're probably in delir this weekend they're probably around polkaona or something let me check Oh, upper mountains, yeah. Because they're on that thing. Because it's going in circles. But that is the difference with the ram truck race car and every other race car. All the other race cars sound stupid. Yeah.

The ram on rammer. their office week next race is down at martinsville who was a tough track wow tough people tough track short track who won the hay C 250 that was not what's a good question it was not I can't I'm not I'm not going to answer that's not what's called really the HACC 250 you sure that's 500 I think oh yeah sorry that's the the little seeds run the 250 I'm not who won the Hacy I'm so confused right now So who won the HATC 5? There's no winners. Nobody won the race.

Everybody stopped. Let me look it up. They better finish on Green Flag, too. I'm about sick. I know. I'm by sick of the caution finishes. I can't take it. I can tell you that second best race out there.

Obviously, Corey Hime is leading the series. What's he driving? What's you riding? You don't want to know. Yeah, I do. He's driving Toyota. Yeah, we'll just wait until next year, bud. Ram, ram, ram, ram, ram, ram, it's coming back to ram ram rammermer,

your ass off the track. Okay. And who knows, maybe Corey Haim, now that he realizes Ram's getting back into the race, maybe he says, I want out his Twitter. Yep. Like anybody would. I want to get a ramp from there. Especially if it's got that hemi V8 in it.

Oh, yeah, you got it. I can't believe they even let that type of truck in these races. They don't at the H.C. 5, tell you that. You should put that race on, maybe. What are you talking about? It's already going on. No, it sounds like it's not. He was pretty offended.

I thought that was maybe a name as well. I guess it is not a name. No, I know. I mix it up. I mixed up my races. I think they run the Fat Hick 250. That is not how that works. You don't know the racing community at all.

No, I forgot. It's not that 855 in that one. It's the load of Hicks. This is what we know. The Craftsman Truck Series in 2020-26 season is going to be dominated by one truck and one truck alone. Exactly. It's a ram-truck.

So get it in now, Toya. That's right. Get it in now, Ford. Because they're ram-ram-ram-ram. The Watt family has disclosed what they fed their kids. You say to yourself, like the Grongowski family, how the hell is there so many athletes coming out of one family? Holy shit.

They're huge. You start looking around. How does this happen? The Watt, you start thinking to yourself, like, was Mr. Watt asked maybe to racehorse this thing? Yeah, sure. You know, because what he was able to create. A stud fee. Yes, I didn't want to have to.

Oh, my bad. I thought we were looking for the name of it. No, I think we all. Hey, I was looking for it. Okay, when I said Rayxor's this thing, you were diving. You did not know that we were talking about one day. I forgot what the terminology was. That's what we're talking about, though, because of the

studs that have been created, obviously, within his family. There's obviously many others where that has taken place where brothers or a family is incredibly athletic. And, I mean, the McCaffrey family, I believe, if you go through their entire thing, it's like, whoa, what's going on? Well, T.J. Walt is in on the entirety of it. What an

absurd eating schedule. I mean, all they do is eat. Here's the video of CJ talking about it. This is to deal with the two dinners daily. Yeah, five o'clock and then eight o'clock. We'd wake up to a five-egg omelet every morning. I mean, you'd always have a full breakfast, either omelette or pancakes or muffins or something fresh.

And then they would send us to school with two peanut bar and jelly sandwiches, one you'd eat before lunch and one you'd eat after lunch. And then you would have two lunches. you'd pay for two school lunch at school yeah which i didn't even know that was a thing yeah yeah double lunch so yeah of chicken patty you just get too old them obviously um and then um after school you come home at like from next level or track practice and you'd eat dinner at five and that'd be like a spaghetti with garlic bread or something and then at like what seven 30 or eight o'clock my dad would make like salami sandwiches or whether it's that or he started five a m a um

thing so like i went to noodles the company i love the japanese pan noodles he'd like i can make the japanese pan noodles so then like that'd be like something later than each other never the same but i give him a lot of credit you know like we were into the chicken bacon ranch at subway he thought he could make it exactly the same and it never quite hit the same his dad fireman too i think right so probably cooking for the boys uh down at the fire station the amount of eating that so maybe that's the trick i got two-year-old mackenzie starting congrats to her she's got a 5 a m omelet or muffins or pancakes, something fresh, he said. Omlet or muffins or pancakes, something fresh.

I'm like muffins and pancakes and omelet, a little bit different of freshness scale. But I like that we're having spaghetti at 5 p.m. every day. And then we've got a peanut butter sandwich before the double lunch and then a peanut butter sandwich after the double lunch. Listen, the amount of protein we're going to be getting in here. And then also we're going to slip in carbs in the middle of the day. And then also at night, yeah, we got a sandwich coming out of. Like salami sandwich. You can kind of get in there.

It needs to come back from track or something. Think about the lifting schedule that they also had in there. I mean, that might be the trick. Who do we learn from Ted Carras? Ted Carris, the offensive lineman for the Cincinnati Bengals, formerly of the New England Patriots from Indy. He's from Indianapolis. His dad was in the NFL.

I think his uncle was in the NFL. Correct. And when he was in high school here at Cathedral, he didn't think he was big enough. His family didn't think he was big enough. His dad said, you're too small for how slow you are, and you need to be much bigger. drank a gallon of milk every day through two three years that's for shoot too make sure

let's hammer this home right one full gallon of whole milk every day throwing up all the time my dad took my side in eighth grade and told me I need to put on way I get 100 pounds one of you're drinking a gallon of milk before school every day for school I didn't forgot about 100 pounds yeah that's crazy one year 100 pound growth yeah on purpose how could your body react, I guess, pretty well. It became an NFL, that got going, playing the NFL wins, super bowl. These things don't happen by mistake. Yeah, legitimately, though, the Watt family, because you see the dad and you see the mom, and then you see the Watt's, it's like, okay, I don't, I don't think this was expected. You know, like, I don't, I don't think this was

like, hey, we're going to have a six foot seven monster of a man who's going to be a first ballot hallfamer. And oh, yeah, we're going to have another one of those, that's six foot two or six three or whatever it is. He's five. He's all six, six five. Yeah, okay, six, six, six, six, five next to JJ doesn't look as tall or whatever. And then oh yeah, we got a tough son of the fullback in the middle of that thing who's I think a genius they say. Oh yeah. He was the high school

one too. Derek was the biggest deal early on. I remember I think JJ told a story about how there was a homecoming game and everybody as like a, for the fans dressed up like Derek Watt instead of not T.J. or JJ. Yeah, I appreciate the fact though

that it might just be force feeding the kids. Yeah. Yeah. Just how much food can get any of these things let's do that what happens if you end up as that 700 pounder on dr phil though you know or on uh or on morey i think they have fact yeah that's why they're doing four workouts a day too that's the part that they all miss yeah that's the part that a lot of kids are going to miss and hearing this from t j o'clock they're going to say yeah 17 meals this got a eat bunch i'll be tj what do the whole thing that's right workout as well i i think you know there's some there's some stuff out there that is making people not want to eat

Okay, nowadays. Sure. And then there's also people that are hearing that and not working out at all. So their body is becoming a bag of leave. And it's like, hey, you're allowed to work out while also doing that. There's going to be people that hear what TJ do and just eat all the food without doing a workout, a long shot of it. And those are to 500 pound lives. Yes.

Those are to 700 pound lives. Little of they know, they are four workouts a day away. Yeah. From leading the NFL in sacks forever. 40 mil a year. They were so close. Instead, they're putting the crane in the roof. Yeah, exactly.

Getting them out of there. Some of that is so, I get so sad. Think about the entire existence there. How do we get there? How do we get there? TJ was like, well, I tell you how you don't get there. You have track practice. You have three workouts. You got to swim lesson at night.

You got to go fight fires with your father or two, three, and whenever things happen. The Watts are built different, man. The Watts are double lunch at school just immediately off the jump. Yeah. Yeah. If we've got chicken patties, obviously we're having two chicken patties. All the other kids eat wine and a bunch of losers.

I'll bowl you. That's what we do as Watts. I appreciate this. Pittsburgh Steelers in Ireland, Minnesota Vikings. This is a make-a-break game for you guys? For fans? For fans? I think the fans are already partially.

This would break the back, I think. But it's a tough matchup because of Van Ginky and Grinard and Hargrave. They're defensive. We're looking to play a team with, with not a great defensive line in the defense. Vikings are not that team. They have a great defense. But on the other side,

you know, Wents can give you a few. So it could be similar to the Patriots game in that matter. But I don't know. I don't know. I like 40 and a half, I feel like under potentially. But last time Aaron was international, right? Didn't he have a good game? I think it was against the Vikings.

He had a good game, right? Yeah. Through a pick six. To Vancouver. They lost. And they got killed by the Vikings. The Jets did. And I remember when he was with Green Bay

in England, it was a year the Giants were really bad and they beat them at Wembley. So I don't think Rogers has fared very well internationally. Yeah, but this year it's different. It is different. It's our. It is. It's not It's Dublin. Hup! Hop! Hop! Hop! I'm going to see a lot of videos of NFL fans

doing that. A lot of NFL personalities are over there. They get any of that trad music, traditional music. There's going to be a lot of hopping over there. Vives awesome. Good time for football. Perfect. Good for American football. painted the pitch onto a Gaelic football field,

I do believe. GAA, is that what that is? I believe that. Yes, Gaelic football field, which is an interesting sport. I mean, there's a paddle a thing, a running, a jumping, a catching, a throwing. It is very physical as well. Interesting sport. Huge fields, all these sports that these people play on. Australia was down there for that Aussie rules football. That field is

a cricket. It's a massive circle. Huge, just absolutely gigantic. They're running all over the place. you know that's the difference i think between the european sports and american sports i think the reason why some of them have a difficult uh time of like getting into american football is because there's a break taken like every eight seconds 10 seconds over there like their sports are like hey you got to be cardio vet you got to be constant motion flow you're a conditioned now golf obviously different and we're about to beat their ass this weekend oh let's get

to that rider cup starts come on now now i hate that it's happening during an incredible football weekend. An incredible football weekend. It's almost like the college football schedule maker said, oh, Ryder Cup thinks they're going to have a Saturday? Yeah, right. Let's go ahead and put five ranked games back to back to back to back. And then the NFL said, Ryder Cup thinks they're going to have Sunday morning? Yeah, right. Let's have a game kickoff at 9.30 in Ireland. Who's that team going to be? Oh, the Pittsburgh Steelers are the most popular teams in the history of the game. And Minnesota Vikings, one of the best teams in football right now. So it's tough to watch all this, but we do know if America's playing

against somebody else, we're pulling for America. Yes. feel about our team? Have we looked at the rosters? How do we... Yeah, just by looking at the team face value and I'm not talking about how well these guys play golf, but I'm just you know, there's a couple guys you can hang your hat on a couple guys I'm pretty unsure

of, but I'm willing to see what they do for America. Yeah, for America, exactly. But yeah, several of these guys, if they're on tour, yeah, they'd be some of the last guys I'd want to see win a tournament. So that kind of, you know, hurts me a little bit when it comes into this. I agree. Can we go to the European team, please? Yeah.

okay so we can match a lot of moxie on these guys are way cooler yeah they all had full suit and ties on last night they looked good we were a little loose loose yeah we're acting like we won last time and we didn't who's cooler on this team barb macon literally everyone our team oh tommy flewood's super cool victor hollins super cool shane lowry cool tar tar how he had unbelievable rombo bombbo obviously doing his thing what he's got going on Roy McElroll, he's chirping, Bryson D. Shambo. D. Shambo wasn't up for the fun of games last night. No.

He wasn't YouTuber last night. He stood up, gave fist bumps, sat back down. He's representing United States of America. Remember, he's a member of the captain. Yeah, he is. He's on the super duper fitness thing. He is. With the president of the United States.

Can we go back to the United States team, please? We shouldn't be putting them up around. You know, we kind of got stuck on a European team. Let's remember, we got legends over here. Remember Bryson D. DeCambo? Yes. Yeah.

You remember? Yeah, he thought one of the guys were, worried about. How about calling more, Cowell? I'm going to need to see a lot from him this way. He is a good player. He's got good iron. So at Beth page, that should be good, right? He's what they're saying? You would think. I've seen some people struggling with the rough over there a little bit. There's some videos coming out of guys not

being able to get it on to the green. Matthew Fitzpatrick. Left hand underneath two, he thought he had to figure it out. And the American chirpers in New York are going to be good. Yeah. Like, I think it's going to be a good atmosphere for the United States for America to win. What's going on, Tony? You okay? I had to look back there, see if Foxxie was wearing a red code or not. Son of a bitch. Because he kept the European team out there so long?

That, he's rooting for him, which is weird. Their team is just cooler than our team. That's all I'm saying, okay? Yeah, now's not the time to act like that, Foxy. Okay? I'm just keeping it real. I am just keeping it real. We have the better golfers. Our team is a better golf team, but they have the face value. They have the cool guys on their team. Do they have Scotty Schaeffler? They don't.

No, they don't. They don't have the cool guys on their team. But let's be honest, like Ty said, PJ event, Sam Burns. I'm sorry. Cantley, I'm sorry. English. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Ben Griffin, I'm sorry. Henley, I'm sorry. Cam Young, 50, and then Spawn, I love you because you're your Open Champion.

Okay, on that note, that's the first time I've seen Ben Griffin's face. Exactly. This is my entire point. This guy was like a pharmaceutical salesman, like a year and a half ago. So we like this story. It's an good story. It's a hundred-dog story. It's American dream story. And then on this side, you got just people that, I mean,

even Sepp Straucca. You know that. We know all these guys. I don't know Robert McIntyre is, but I know he's going to be a problem. Bobby Mac, he had quite the come up the last couple weeks of the PGA season. He was hot. He was sitting in the room watching when Spawn made his putt.

Oh, yeah. Unbelievable. That was Terrell Hatton, who said, Oh, he hold it. Unbelievable. I have some songs that I've wrote, written, I guess, that I'm going to like I would want to make very soon.

I'm going to try to make these songs just because they've been sitting in my notes section for so long. gotta add that unbelievable before one of these songs certainly one of the greatest sound bites of his and to that point that guy's entertaining on the course he'll break a club yes he'll throw that thing in there he'll chirp a little bit at himself he'll say terrible things to himself

so that united states crowd could potentially get him down in dumps but on the flip side he could become an absolute monster exactly in that place who's our uh mr roderick up isn't it patrick no it's uh reed Justin Thomas, but yeah, yeah. On this team, it's JT, but Patty Reed, yeah, has been nails in the Ryder Cup. I remember when there was a thought of us going to this. Remember that?

Yeah. That was never going to happen. Probably not, but while we were talking about it, it was sweet to be like, we're going to the Ryder Cup. It was cool in the moment to, you know. I mean, we all do. We all knew. Record-wise, Cantlay and J-T are the best records as far as guys we have on the team.

Come on, J-T, this is your thing. Here we go, boys. Roll-tide. Go Todd. Go tide. USA. A lot of those chances we did. All right.

Next hour we'll have Coach McCarthy join us. And then two o'clock hour, we're going to have Matt Rule and conversation with Stanford Steve. Hell yeah. Big college ball hour. We did baseball this hour. They golf this hour? Mm-hmm.

Did football this hour? That's right. Anything happening in basketball? At WMBA's taking place. Yeah, we don't have to talk about sports. It don't matter. We can stay the football. No, fever matter.

Fever about to win his thing. Kelsey Mitchell is about to win the MVP. And tonight, week four of the NFL season. off. Hell yeah. We're doing it. Yes, we are. This is a good game that I think on paper and all the people are going to be excited about this one. You know, just natural. Very fair. But I think the game's going to live up to the billing. I think out Michaels and Kirk are going to call a great game. I think the kickoff crew there and the nightcap crew there are going to deliver a spectacular show. I'm excited for week four to kick off because that only means

Rotter Cup Saturday, Sunday, Monday night. Holy hell, we're in the middle of the great times. Let's never forget it. Talk about stepping up. It's time to level up your game. Introducing the all new ESPN app. All of ESPN, all in one place. Your home for the most live sports and the best championship moments.

The electricity is palpable. Step up your game with no annual contract required. It's the ultimate fan experience. Level up for more on the ESPN app or at stream. You've seen the headlines. Heard the debates. The three-point ball has created a monotonous rhythm to the game.

Has the three-pointer ruined basketball? And how did we get here? The rise of the three-point shot can be partially traced to an eccentric Kansas genius named Martin Manley, whose story didn't turn out quite the way he imagined. I decided I wanted to have one of the most organized goodbyes in history. 30 for 30 podcast presents. Chasing Basketball Heaven. Available now, wherever you get your podcast.

Football. It's magical. Tonight, the NFC West will battle in Arizona. Now, that's a glorious city, Phoenix. But a lot of people do not think that they stand a chance against the Seattle Seahawks that are coming into town. Sam Darno will be leading an offense. MacDonald, the head coach, will be leading a defense.

And if you think about that Baltimore Ravens defense, you know, the last couple years, beginning of season, they've started out as trash. They lost the defense coordinator who became the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks team. They painted over the walls there after kicking Pete Carroll out. Kind of a rough start, but now it feels like his culture's in there. Sam Donald's very comfortable. He's spinning it all over the place.

And they're taking on an Arizona Cardinals team that what are they? Are they the same thing they've been for the last couple years? Everybody feels that that's the case. But maybe tonight's the night that they say to the world, no, we're different this year. Danon gets the boys buzzing. Tyler starts making all the right reads. Marvin Harrison Jr. lives up to everything that we assume that he's going to be at some point in his NFL career.

There's a chance that that happens tonight at 8.15 p.m. Eastern Time on prime. The toxic tables here at Boston Corner at Ty Schmidt. One half of the Hammer, Don. Cowboys, AP, Tony, is here. What's percentage of money on who? 74% is now on the Seahawks, so it's dropped 1% since we have started the show. Let's go to the other half of the Hammer, Don. Cowboys, Bobba Gumpino. Gumpy, what are you on your head yes for?

I just love it. I love everything about it. Everyone's on the Seahawks. The lines flip. Minds me a lot of Monday night. Everybody was on the Ravens. Guess what? Lines win. And no reason at all, Cardinals going to get it done tonight. Yeah, I mean, two different teams, Lions Raven, Seattle Seahawks, and Cardinals. But I like that you're on the Cardinals. I appreciate the fact that that is the case.

Let's ask a Hall of Fame nominee, ladies a gentleman, a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Rotter Cup winner. And in high school, this guy was the punter. I think he had a 60 or 70-yard punt in the game. And then he was a running back. I think he had 100 yards rushing, four touchdowns. And then he was a starting linebacker. He had 35 tackles. Ladies and gentlemen, Centerville, Elk, A.J. Hawk, are we going to do that as long as you're a nominee.

We're going to go through, you know, the history of things that need to be said. That's all right. That's all right. I think it's a bit over-exaggerated, maybe. I did play those positions, but I think you're pumping my stats up a little bit. No, remember you had 30 tackles in one game, twice. Yeah. It was in one game. You had 30 tackles in two games. Is that accurate? Yes, thanks to Larry Knopfsinger, my linebacker coach. That was, you know, every JOP, every time I was around the ball, I think he gave me credit for a tag.

Who can? You go to the ball, good things happen. You know, so 30-some tackles you were the running back to. I think you rushed for over 100 yards regular basis, right? I don't know if it's a regular basis, yeah, sure. What are we doing? What are we doing? What are we talking about is this guy's a whole of it.

He might be staying whole thing. That's what we're doing. That's a whole year of this. When did they make the announcement of who made it? until you get that knock. Yeah, not for NFL honors, maybe, after the season. Yeah, that's right. So buckle up, bud, new fun football stat for A.J. Hawk every day.

AJ, big game the night, Seahawks, Cardinals. Tone told us 74% of the money is on the Seahawks minus one and a half on the road against a division opponent on a Thursday night. What are your thoughts as we look at this game or what are you thinking about as you try to make your pick? man I I have my early leanings were definitely Seattle like I like what Sam Donald is doing I know on the road you know we'll see what happened short week all of that stuff I've heard people think that makes a difference I'm not sure they're not traveling too far but I don't know I'm honestly still waffling on this one I'll give you a picket by the end of the program but right now I I was leaning heavy Seattle and now I'm not

exactly sure both teams obviously two and one against the spread have made some people some money thus far this season even though the sports books have been winning right yes they like heavily heavily yes like it's been a swatter like like if you look at the top five games that have been bad on each week the sports book is one four out of five basically every week what's that old bad age

why is that AI doing it for them is that why yeah which we talked about yesterday we got to beat them and debuts said live is the way we get them live is how we get them because they don't have a sense of feel or awareness or what's going on or momentum or anything like that now granted that's going to take a lot of attention being paid to your phone while games are

happening and obviously being in the moment and maybe predicting not as easy but in the live we can beat these AI pieces of not mine you guys are good yeah thank you guys mine are too mine are great AJ said terrible things about you AI over there a lot AJ said they know they're watching listen to everything they know I don't say terrible things about them that's what you're just saying you're just saying stinky AI state state AJ said this stinky AI in my pocket always gets a wrong answers what's that and then just just yes be nice to AI's people were trying to turn me to rock yesterday i didn't love that um think about this like all you need is one like last week was the browns okay that ruined everyone's money line parlays or teasers everyone either teased the packers down

to one or pick them in their money line parlay you get one of those games a week you're everything is ruined yeah um panthers winning by 30 that way i bet you there's a lot of falcons moneyline parlays as well there are some blowouts and there's some thrillers the blowouts do kind of ruin a lot of things but unless you have touchdown parlays for the team that is doing the how have you been on the touchdown parlias i know you and Dumpy have been cooking up some magic early in the season. That continue in a week three, and how do we feel looking in the week four? Not terrible.

Week three was tough just because of some of those games. You figured that there was going to be high scoring when it came to like Bengals, Vikings. So you expected, you know, a Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase. None of the stars have scored as much as you would have thought. I don't think Puka has scored as much. Leading the NFL in receiving. Yeah, leading and receiving, but not in touchdowns. Like there's a lot of situations like that.

Jackson Smith and Jigba leading in receiving yards. I think he has one touchdown, maybe two. You know, there's a lot of those. So touchdown parties have been few and far between, but a lot of the big guys do score multiple on a regular basis. Well, here's the thing, especially if we got the dimes dive and the tush push and all this stuff. You get within six yards, five yards.

That's going to one person on a team normally. And that person is just going to get. Jerome Bettis, I forget the stat line he had in the game, maybe like four touchdowns, two yards rushing, something along those lines. I forget what it was because Willie, right? It was, Willie Park, is that his name? Willie Parker would get him all the way down, all the way done, just on his back, basically, balling, taking big shots, getting up,

making massive plays, bang, we're getting all the way down. Fast-parking. Everything, standing in there for better, you name it. And then they would get down to the three-yard line. It's like, oh, bring in the bus. Wheels on the bus go ride there, right. And you see Willie just walk over, like, all right. All right, well, way to go.

That's his fourth touchdown of the day. Happy, he's getting them all. What was it? In 2004, it was five attempts, three touchdowns, one yard. That is. What a game. Yeah. So this is starting to happen there for some teams.

Like, Jaylen's going to get the touchdown. Jalen's going to get it if they're within a three-yard line there. Danny Dimes is going to get it for the Colts if it's within the five-yard line. Because we are, even if they stop it, we'll do it again. Henry normally on the one, you know? Derek Henry, yes, because they're not going to. going to let Lamar take that hit right there. So it's like, when you start looking at that as

well, whenever we're viewing touchdowns, it's like hey, this person is going to get the close one. And then these other people, they might be stars. Whenever it's like a layup touchdown, they're not even in the line. Like, they're not even in a layup line. Yeah, some of the thing about for tonight with that thought is the Kenneth Walker situation with Zach

Charbonnet. Walker has been getting those carries. He played so well against the Steelers. He's like established more so as the one. And then for Arizona, because James Connor is out, you would think the thought is instead of handing it to a Trey Benson rookie younger guy or second year guy or whatever

multiple times on the goal line maybe Kyler Murray gets a carrier two towards the goal on so a Kyler touchdown maybe around the edge he also hasn't scored yet. You know what you might see because this is a copycat league you might see double pitch you might see double pitch tonight

Kyler seems like they potentially could be possibility for that and I will say this every team as soon as Dan Campbell ran that showed that to their team. A, what are we doing if they do this? Because that looked too easy, didn't it, AJ? That play looked way too easy, and everybody's going to try to mimic that thing. Yeah, they will, but that's the thing.

You've got to execute that. You've got to practice that many, many times. There's a lot of ball handling for guys that aren't used to ball handling all the time on the football field. So, yeah, to trust the guy to make that pitch right there, which Amman Ra is the right guy for that. But you better trust that receiver, whoever's doing it. I think I saw, how about golf handing it off up and down for him to be able to grab that That's like that's a tiny detail that once again they practice and work through. Like, hey, if I give this to you, can you just, instead of me having to turn that thing, can you just, yeah, absolutely.

That's like tiny little details there that obviously Jared Goff hits in the biggest moment. And then the Monro has a guy in his face immediately, doesn't panic. I can make that pitch coach. He does make that pitch. How many people can do it? How many people try it? There's a, anytime an innovation comes around, you see some people get excited if they have the personnel. This play, I guess Dan Campbell was a part.

I don't know if you guys saw the clip. He was playing for the Cowboys. He was tied in on right side. They ran this play to left side, basically, so he was just kind of in the muck. I don't think he even remembered them running that play from what the conversation was. But I do like how offenses aren't scared to roll the dice a little bit.

Let's talk about the Detroit Lions. There it is. That's the play. He's down there on the right. He's down in the line, on the bush. Go block. Yeah, he got his arms inside and straight-armed him there. He had full control.

obviously that guy wasn't doing nothing that guy wasn't doing nothing did you see the play this weekend from Purdue that's so sick they're kind of spin on it quarterback yeah definitely fine it quarterback handoff this is probably the 15 going in

they're close they're in the red zone quarterback handoff running back takes ball quarterback peels out running back gets to the line of scrimmage turns throws to quarterback who peeled out catch walk in touchdown that look for that one because it was

automatic and it was an unbelievable play. I love any time people get creative age. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is the man. Was it a scare to go deep on a playboy. That's right. This is a Super Bowl champion. It's coached everybody. Most recently,

he's coached to Dallas Cowboys. In his past, he's coached plenty of Hall of Famers. Oh, yeah. Might have another one on that list. Ladies and gentlemen, our coach, McCarthy.

Hey, coach. How you going, Coach? Doing great, doing great. Congratulations, AJ. That's incredible. You've got to be excited. That's awesome. Oh, yeah, I appreciate it.

What's your background today? Coach, what is that? No, Jesus, son of him. Roberto Clemente. I just wanted to, you know, let everybody know when you come across the Roberto Clemente Bridge, which's right there in front of you, the great one. Coach, coach.

Oh, there you go. Syong winner, Paul Skeen's, rest of team, ass. Game's over. Why don't you tell the owner, he'll probably. listen to you let's get some bats let's get some bats in the pnc park barn let's get some bats in there coach hasn't it been too long they've sucked you're old enough yenzer that you experience good days with the pirates my dad and older generation experience good days with the pirates i'm 38 i have not experienced really a single there was a playoff run there for a little bit with

touching their team i haven't really experienced a good pirate's time they got the guy now at pitcher why don't they spend a little money coach won't they spend a little money and make this thing happen? No, I definitely I agree to you, you know, as far as it's time because you had a great run in the 70s. You had a good run there in the 90s and then, you know, the mid-teens are around 14, so I'm with you. It's time to get, let's get

another run going. So, just an unbelievable ballpark, though, to watch a baseball game. Just looking at the highlights here. How about 7 Springs? You ever go up there? You ever go tubing up there? You know, that's notting owned that thing. He sold it. Obviously, we thought he was going to spend

that money on the Pirates, but he did not. He put in his pockets. Seven Springs under better leadership now. We know that. We understand that. Well, yeah, from my neighborhood, they made us go to Hidden Valley. We couldn't afford something. Good tube in there as well. Beautiful place. Yeah, yeah.

Coach, let's talk a little bit about tonight. We have another division game here on Thursday night. Thursday night games used to be just division rivalries, and they would all get dressed up and everything like that. We're early in the year, another massive division game here. How excited should we be about these

two teams playing? And just like last week, is the knowledge of the other team, is that way heavy in the outcome of every one of these fights? Absolutely. I think, you know, number one, the Thursday night game, all these division games has been awesome. You know, and as we've talked last week, the division games are the best games in the year. I've always felt that. And I think just really what's going on in a league so far from a division perspective, I think with the Chargers being 3-0, and then when you look at the NFC West, how competitive of their division is, clearly by a win percentage,

the most competitive division in football record. You got one team of 3-0 and three teams of two-and-one. And if you look at both Arizona and the joke... Oh, no. Oh, no. It's going to be a hell of a battle down there in Arizona because I know when, you know, the first thing I always look at from the numbers perspective is,

you know, how are the teams trying to play, especially when you're going through September football. And when you look at the numbers of both these teams, I think they both have done a really good job of staying on time. You know, you look at the turnover ratio. You look at the ball distribution, which is, you know, rushing attempts and completions, and you look at time of possession. So I think these guys have done a really good job

with trying to play to a specific time clock and it's been productive for them because they both have, you know, they're one losses, both came against San Francisco and in tough division, and hard-nosed low-scoring type football. Both he seems two-and-one against the spread. Sam Darnold having great success with the Seattle Seahawks immediately upon getting there. We thought we'd never see him again.

Like, hey, he had a good run with the Vikings. He took the bag from Seattle. They're in the middle of a rebuild. They lose DK. They lose everybody. That team's going to stink for a while. See you later, Sam Darnold. That's not the case at all. They are a great football team.

McDonald's defense is a real deal. Sam's had time, and he's spinning it all over the place. Jackson Smith and Jigba is the leading receiver. in the entire NFL. He's on pace to do stuff that nobody since Marvin Harrison has done with the amount of deep shots and explosive plays that he's converted already over the first few weeks. They're special, huh? Not a lot of conversation about them.

Obviously, they beat the Steelers. So Steelers fans all have their attention. This morning, whenever we bring up the Seattle Seahawks versus Cardinals, every Steelers fan in the building goes, that's go football team. Go football team up there because of what they did to the Pittsburgh Steelers. But I don't think a lot of people really talk about the Seattle Seahawks like that, Coach. Other than like, go ahead. Go ahead.

I'm sorry. No, no, go ahead. Well, I was going to say, always loud stadium. Always like, they got a loud stadium, but they're in a train. They kicked Pete Carroll out. Like, that's how we talk about them. That's how I think a lot of people talk about them. They're a damn good football team coach.

I don't think anybody really expected that out of them this year. Yeah, definitely. And I think, you know, obviously what's saying there, but I see a different, you know, different mindset in the way they're playing up front. I really like the way they're playing both offense and defensive line. And I think, you know, obviously this battle tonight, that's where it's where it will start because they are definitely getting a big play production from their perimeter. So very good football team, you know, beating Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh,

obviously an excellent way, an excellent road win. And this is going to be a tough, tough road environment for them down in Arizona tonight. That was a 10 a.m. start for them local time against Pittsburgh. I mean, that's the hardest of hard. That's a home opener for Aaron, right? Yeah. Home opener for Aaron, home opener for the Steelers, 10 a.m. local. All the juice is on the other side of the field.

And the Seattle Seahawks did what they did to them. Congrats to them. I'm excited to see if they can continue to go tonight. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, coach, switching to Sunday night. the Packers traveling to Jerry World taking on the Cowboys. Obviously, Micah coming back after, you know, seeing, he wasn't that long ago.

Micah was in that facility. Now he's coming back. What kind of game do you think Micah has? And what's that atmosphere really going to be like in that stadium? Oh, I think it'll be a great atmosphere. I mean, it always is. And especially when you have a team that travels like Green Bay. So it'll be electric.

It'll be a Sunday night football. But I think once that ball gets kicked off, it's going to be about, you know, going back to the trenches. So obviously they know Micah very well. He'll get plenty of attention. I say it all the time. You know, he's the most disruptive defensive player that I've worked with, especially, you know, in a training camp environment, so forth.

So they'll be double teaming him when he gets off the bus. But I think it'll be a hell of a football game. And, you know, just like I said, I'll think week one. I'm a fan this year. I get to root for the Steelers openly and room for the Packers and the Cowboys. So I just think it's going to be a hell of a football game Sunday night. NBC has sent all of their shows, basically, down there. They're making this a big spectacle, as they should.

Packers, Cowboys, two legendary teams. And you talked about the trenches and the big boys and Dublin, Micah, and everything like that. That Dallas defense is going to have to do a lot. They were on Darius Butler's Everything, D, B, Good D, Bad D, and there was a quad box for the first time for Bad D and it was four different plays. Different? Four different plays. Guys were just wide-ass open.

Oh, geez. Wide-ass open. Not for, like, anything too extravagant either. It was Chicago Bears. Now, obviously, Caleb Williams with a revenge game against Iber Flues' defense, and he does his thing. But that Cowboys' defense did not look good at all. And with his Packers' offense, they can get you.

So obviously, you're going to have to tighten those things up. But as a whole, whenever you talk about playing, go ahead, Ty. Yeah, and that's coming off a week where they allow 450 passing yards to Russell Wilson. We saw what he looked like on Sunday night football against the Giants. But coach, as a whole, when it's the defense, offensively you got potentially CD out you're going to be missing one of your linemen I think they're missing another lineman already so they're going to be very banged up but just as a whole like is there anything they can correct in a week from looking as bad as they

did last week to to maybe get into a point where this will be a more competitive game than a lot of people anticipate uh definitely and I think really I think the quick turnaround helps because you know I think like a lot of things I think September football has components that you see each and every year. And I know being grateful to being coached before the CBAs and post CBAs, you have seen a change on how you're able to train your team and some of the things you experience in September that you didn't in the old days.

So I think you definitely have some of that. And when I look at Dallas's defense and obviously, you know, having personal knowledge and relationship-wise to the men of that locker room, I just think you've got to look at it. They're on their third defense in three years. So, you know, you go Dan Quinn, Mike Zimmer, and now, you know, a new coordinator. So there is a difference, particularly in the coverage component, as far as their base philosophy, how they're playing. So they definitely need to correct what they need to correct, especially the last two weeks.

But, you know, it's week four. Clearly understand the magnitude of the Cowboys versus the Packers on both sides of it. But they just need to stick to what they're doing. It's an excellent coaching staff. Really, really exceptional locker room. I would say that from firsthand, and it's week four. And I do believe that there's a lot of football left to be played. Some of these stats are saying,

there ain't that much football left to be played. And I know the coach, your entire mission, especially of the team, and I don't know how many of those seasons you've ever been a part of, to be honest, because it feels like you win all the fucking time. Yeah, doesn't it? Yeah, legit. Have you been a part of any, like, 03 starts? Oh, yeah.

I mean, I go back to AJ our first year together. I mean, that was a hard year. So we were one in four, and then we were four and eight, and then we won the last four in a row in 06, and really felt like it gave us a lot of momentum going into the off-season program. And then, you know, came back and was the youngest team of football both in 06 and 07 and played the NFC championship game and lost in overtime to be a Super Bowl. So, yeah, I think we've all been there.

You know, it's, and that's why I go back to it's week four, It's a new coaching staff on the defensive side of it. I think you can see the carry over the Dallas has on offense, and I think they'll continue to carry the water as the defense goes through this transition. It happens. It happens every year. But you just got to stay, you know, them players will stick to it, and I think they'll come out of this.

Shoddy, first time head coach, I assume he's younger than Iberflux, not 100% sure. Is there a conversation that has had by head coach there? Like, does Shottie have to have an uncomfortable conversation with the Ybrose about, like, hey. Giving up 50 points a game. Is that happen? Or how does that kind of work as the head coach?

Like, this is a first time Shottie maybe, because what the offense is doing versus what's going on with the defense, it's like, how does the head coach have to handle that? And how do you think Shottie might be handling that? Or any new coaches in those maybe uncomfortable conversations that have to take place as a head coach? It doesn't have to take place at any other position, or am I kind of blowing that out of proportion?

No, I mean, I can only tell you how it goes from personal, experience and obviously having a lot of history with Brian, I think it's a constant conversation. I mean, I don't think you just wait to talk to somebody when it's not very good. So I think evaluation is a seven-day, 24-hour thought process, and I'm sure that he's going about it that way. So, you know, I know, learned it from his father. You know, you get in there early Monday mornings, and the most important video is the video that you just got done playing because it's very, a very natural, you know,

path where you want to just Monday, hey, let's get on to the next opponent. I know players and coaches you feel that way, but I've always adhered to the most important video of that week as the game we just play it. So I'm sort of going through it and the corrections are being made

and it'll continue to grow from it. If they saw the four clips that we saw everything, D.B., good, D. Bad D. I think Shottie's going to be good. Did we practice? Are we trying to? What is the... And obviously, that's what happened. It's week four. That's right. It's week four.

September football. It's law for football. Yeah. Law football. Figure it out. There you go. That sounds like another T-shirt. There's some teams, though, that we're talking,

hey, they might win the whole damn thing in September. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, coach. And more specifically, specifically. That's a tough one, though. That is a tough one. Not normally, but today, maybe. Really?

I don't know. Specifically, that's a tough one. A lot of specific. and then a f in a k in there. That's a lot of sounds. I'm glad we got you got this though. There's no way. Could you nail us specifically right now?

No, I'm from Pittsburgh. Exactly. It's tough for our accent. Yeah, I think that's tough. But no, specifically talking about the division. Well done. Chargers are 3 and 0, and then you have the Bills, Niners, and Bucks who are all 2 and 0 in their divisions.

When you have a great start to the season, it's one thing. But talk about when you have a great start in the division as well, being undefeated in the division to start. the year? Well, I think it's huge because, you know, I think like anything, just got done saying there's a lot of football left to be played and, you know, game, you know, your season's not determined in September, but boy, when you can get those division victories in the back, especially on the road, those are huge. And I've always felt that because, you know, victories bring confidence. You know, road victories bring a little more confidence. And road victories and

division victories bring even more confidence. And that's just something I've always believed in. I think as your team grows each and every year, you've got a stack success, and that's all part of the momentum that you're building. And, you know, it's a long year. So, you know, getting that momentum rolling and keep building off a week by week is, it's awesome. So to have that in September, I mean, it definitely gives them a nice springboard going into October football. Roberto Clemente had a good run. No signal back here.

You see that? We lost the photo. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Did it? well we didn't you did

bye by Roberto Pittsburgh Pirates ain't My first IT issue There you go Hey open the tab Open the Go to the webs

Go to Safari And then go to history Clear the cookies Coach, clear the cookies The starting 3 and O in the division though That is such a great head start just to start your season.

I mean, legitimately, what a relief, I would assume, that is, as you get those out of the way. But whenever you see the schedule have that many division games that early, you know coming out of the blocks, we have to play our best football. Feels like the Chargers are doing that for all these teams. How hard, like the Colts, for instance, and the Chargers, all these teams that are playing great. How easy is that to sustain? How hard is that to sustain? Like, what are your thoughts on dealing with a team being great early? Like, the Indianapolis Colts right now are playing the best football that they've maybe ever played, okay?

the Colts as a whole. How do they sustain that for how long the season is? Obviously, we're crossing our fingers about injuries. That's going to happen in the NFL. But other than that, do they continue to get better in little things? Like, what is your thoughts on sustaining success, especially a hot start like this? Yeah, that's where I go back to the evaluation process.

We spoke on earlier. You cannot change your Monday process, regardless of the outcome of the game. So long as you keep evaluating the same, win or lose, you know, keeping things realistic, because we've all been there. We've all been part of game. where you play very well and you haven't won and there's games where you didn't play very well and have one.

So I just think staying in tune with the reality of where you are each and every week and continue to build off of that and grow. Because there are things, there are more little things in September. I think it's only natural because you only have so many pad at practice. You know, the double team blocks aren't as tight. The pad level is a little high, you know, the spacing, you know, we'll go on to special teams. I don't know if we're going to talk about that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Next.

Yeah, I mean, you've got to look at the big plays on special teams. So, or the alignments, right, it's the time clock of the snap and a hold intact, or the pads too high on, you know, on field goal protection. Because, you know, those are the things that, you know, how much time are you putting to that? And I know as a head coach, I always looked at it as the challenge of scheduling and training your football team versus the other 31, you know, coaches is so important. And it always put a lot of time into that.

how much time we're going to spend on each, you know, situation. If red zone offense and defense wasn't very good in 22, then, you know, I'll tell you, 23, we were going to work on it more. So think so, but you only have so much time in this, in the CBA era. So all those little things add up, because the little things always add up, and that's why I just think it's so important on how you've got to find ways to win in September. It's critical. That's why I just have so much respect.

I think it's, I mean, I don't know, the charges three and own division after three weeks. I only, has that ever, I don't know, has that been done before? that seems very unique to come on and play three division games and now will be sitting there at 3 and 0. So, I mean, that's definitely, you know, there's a lot of positive juice in the building right now for sure. I appreciate that Roger Goodell went down to schedule maker or somebody and said,

last couple of years, beginning the season, you're shit. Division games. We need the best games early, actually. The teams have all told us they don't want that, though. Well, that's good. You know how much Jeff Bezos? How much money here? We would like to entertain.

That is clearly a mission this year, it felt like. With the amount of division games early, and especially the primetime games, it's like they want their best games leading off the season because there has been a lull at the beginning of these seasons. And I think that's potentially because of the CBA era that you are referring to, where there isn't much training, isn't much working,

and then preseason, what does that become? But if they start putting these very important games at the beginning of the season, all of a sudden, preseason becomes very important for these teams. So it might have been a good answer, even though coaches are going to have to dodge and kind of duck, dive, and dodge through this entire thing. Yeah, through the early rigors of a schedule.

Now, on that note, you mentioned something that people have been taking advantage of this year more so than last year. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, coach, a lot of game-winning kicks so far this year. I think we had four this past weekend. We also had a potential to score kick for the bucks to go up. Instead, the Jets take it back for a touchdown. Rams, Josh Cardi's got a chance at a game-winning kick.

blocked for a touchdown. Special teams seems to be a massive deal so far early on in the season. What do you think so far about field goal operations, things of that nature? And then how do you feel about some of these kickoffs? The Rams, Josh Cardi, and the Panthers, Ryan Fitzgerald.

I believe both those teams lead the league in opponents' starting field position. I think the Panthers right here, this is Ryan Fitzgerald. They lead the league. Their opponent's drive start. In the drive start, their opponents to start their drives on the 21.

Vrable said he watched two hours of this special team stuff this week to prepare for the Panthers. What do you think of all this, Big Mike? And how do you think it's going to affect the game? Well, I mean, going back to the first part, I know historically, for me personally, the teams that I've coached, you know, being in charge of a draft and developed program,

always had a little more anxiety towards special teams, particularly early in the year, because being a young team, obviously your special teams are even younger. So that was always a bit of a challenge and something was a really focal point for me and a special teams coach as far as how we were trying to play

coming out of training camp going into the season. So I do think you see some of that that can affect the opportunity for potentially more big plays. And I think clearly on the kickoff, I think the league is getting exactly what they want. I don't know specifically, I don't recall specifically with the numbers, but I think they were down to 20%

returns. 80% kickoffs. And I know the goal was that you get it up to, I think it was between 70 and 80% returns and, you know, 20 to 30% of, um, okay, there should be touchbacks. And I'm not sure those numbers are now. Way up. I know the way. Yeah, I know the way up. No, but they are, they're celebrating that. The NFL is celebrating that. Yeah. That's a big change. The whole kickoff day should was a huge change. And they're saving it, they said coach. Everyone to save the kickoff is what they were saying. Definitely. And I'm a big and I love to play also because I mean it's I think it gives you a chance also when you get into roster development to make sure you're

given you know the turpins of the world opportunities to affect the game and and things like that because there's definitely a place for those those type of players. So I think it's great that the kickoff is back in the game. 2006 bears started three and o in division. You should remember that. They made the Super Bowl. Yeah. My first game is a head coach. sorry sorry sorry I didn't mean I'm open bad memory right sorry it was a hard day agent yeah I'm sorry let's talk about that

we made up for later though we came out of put a trophy in the building okay that's uh I heard the Steelers I think it was uh Joey Porter yeah I think Joey Porter spoke at training camp and he said that his group basically we added a trophy

to the building we feel like we did our job that's like a good way to kind of to view it all back to the kickoff thing they're hitting a squib Okay, these two guys are hitting squibs, good squibs. They're going to a dirty ball, a knuckleball. This is a squib. This is what a squib used to be.

And I don't know if I love the kicker hitting the squib. I think the punters should be working on hitting squibs. Just the thought of a kicker having to hit a ball fat, I don't like. I just personally. That's with their field goal kick. I don't like it. Yeah, just them seeing the ball come out shitty like that. When they're taking their field goal steps, I don't personally love.

But these dudes that hit good squibs, I think it's a real weapon. It is. It is a real weapon coach, and I assume there's going to be more people that are going to try to do it. But remember, if you hit this thing and it lands too short, if it lands in front of the 20 there, that ball's all the way out to the 40, which is like basically 70% or 60% scoring percentage or something like that. Whenever it's inside to 20, it's like 15% or 12% or something like that. So it's a huge deal if you're able to hit one of these good balls. And the fact that Vrable is paying attention to it, I obviously basively respect.

But I think special team's importance is very real this season, more so than ever. and the kickoff's a big reason because of it. Yeah, definitely. I've been very blessed to have two exceptional kickers in my career, both starting in Green Bay with Mason Crosby and then down there in Dallas with Brandon Aubrey. And it's a great place to be, you know, as a head coach because it definitely makes you approach certain situations differently.

I mean, Mason used to have an unbelievable spike on side kick that, you know, I would try to, you know, space it out almost every four or five weeks or six weeks who were always looking for the opportunity to utilize that. And then he also had a couple different sky kicks, you know, different spots on the field. So I always looked at him as a tremendous weapon, especially playing outdoors in Green Bay,

especially in the winter. So it is a nice part that has been added back to the game. So I'm definitely excited to see the kickoff back. And then, you know, Brandon Aubrey, I mean, what can you say about him? I mean, you used to go into games and talk about the game-winning field goal spot would be 33, 30. 35, 36 yard line. Now you just got to get it closer to 50. So that's a nice weapon to have.

So very, very blessed with those two guys. That's a really comfortable spot to be. He said he hit a 60 yarder in warmups and it was close. He had to hit a 66 yarder. He just told his body, hey, we need a 66 yarder here. That's a good thing to be able to do if you're a kicker in the NFL. Yeah, I have no idea how far I can hit it, but I know I need it to go 66. So just kind of, all right? Just figure it out. And he does. He did. And you stand behind him, man.

That ball is like a rocket coming up. It's, you know, just over the years, you know, that's where I would always stand during the special teams behind the punter or behind the kicker. And, well, when we brought him into training camp that year after he was done playing at USFL, it was obvious on the first five kicks that this young man was different. You know, the ball just exploded off his foot.

Smooth swing, too. Never really trying hard. Just like a super smooth swing, perfect form every time. and he said that none of his balls are the same and he's never back at the same spot because he doesn't want to become a robot he said he just wants to kind of keep it all kind of fluid which is the complete opposite

of what every other kicker basically says which is why I love them I love them even more it's like this dude is an anomaly the kickoffs though Aubrey's a talented ball striker talented enough ball striker to figure out all these guys are but I don't like kickers taking their field goal steps and then the ball

in my head I'm just too mentally weak I wouldn't want that you know I just Cardi potentially on that last one too I know it gets blocked yeah that thing's pool because they hit that squid you gotta hit that fat coach

you understand you know what I'm talking you gotta hit that ball fat you gotta hit the middle of that thing you do not want to do that on a field goal I mean that is like and they're talking about the difference is like this much so like that much of a difference between Matt Prater

yeah the other night and then hitting that thing perfect in the straight it's like I don't want to dance with it but good luck to all the ball strikers and I appreciate the fact these kickers getting better the surprise onside kick out of the game coach I feel like we're all to blame for that you know and you talk about crosbie he was so good at that just casually running up and spiking that thing off the ground he's a weapon janikowsky

maybe the best of all time especially whenever he was out at oakland on that baseball field he'd spike that fucker off that dirt and that thing would hit the top it would hit the weed clouds that are hovering above that coliseum out there it was it was outrageous yeah good time special team's back hey oh yeah special teams you're back they're talking about that leaving the game coach I'm happy that's not the case. Hall of Fame nominee, A.J. Hawk has a question for you. Coach, I don't know if you saw last week. We see Andy Reid kind of give Travis Kelsey, I think, a nice little shoulder on the sidelines.

I thought it was a positive interaction. I think it shows both these guys care about their job, and they want to get the job done. They want to win. Did you, over it all the time you've had in the NFL, if you, not you person. I haven't seen any footage of you getting in a fight with anyone, but have you witnessed any great interactions on the sideline like this? Or something much better maybe back in the early 90s when coaches and play. players sometimes legit would fight. Oh, my God.

I mean, 90s was a whole different error. I mean, without a doubt. But yeah, I'm just watching Andy's interaction for the first time it's awesome. But I think it's... That's your first time seeing that? That's your first time seeing that? Yeah, it's awesome.

But I think that stuff's really... It's really healthy. But also, what I like about it, I think it says a lot about the relationship. You know, because, you know, being from Pittsburgh, as you know, punching on guys is a sign of love. I mean, I think that's an expressing from our generation. And I think that's really cool.

I think it tells about the relationship, obviously, whatever needs to be said or whatever was happening at that time, obviously that they were addressing something. But, you know, what happens on the sidelines is definitely needs to stay on the sidelines. And especially being a part of NFL pre where they had the mics in your face and so forth, I think people are more conscientious of it now because, I mean, it's hard not to notice a boom mic coming flying down over your head and things like that where obviously the you know the 90s was a lot different and I know when I first became a head coach you know my mother used to tell me all the time that my language is terrible and I says well she because you can't talk like

that when I had the camera on you I said I have no idea when it had the camera on me she goes well you you need to clean up your language so but it's it's a different area now but I think the 90s was a lot more fun that's for sure okay so I didn't get to experience the 90s my mom as well whenever I become a kicker and whole world change for my family and all of a sudden our first game was on national television against Syracuse okay it was on ABC my first football game

freshman for West Virginia and I just got out of the soccer world I would show up on Fridays in high school this is like me just getting dropped into that and I miss like from 47 or something like that and I drop a nice clean motherfucker just immediately you know that's the immediate reaction then I walk

into the locker room I apologize to the boys for that then we kind of get off and my mom mom was like, hey, you just need to know that they are zoomed in on your face as soon as you miss. So what you said there was very loud. So I would, for a couple weeks, you know, I feel like I didn't do it all the time, head down. And everybody's like, oh, he's pout or whatever. No, I'm, yeah. There are some terrible things being said about myself going straight down. But in the moment, it's hard not to get caught in it. I think that's what Andy Reid did with Travis. And I think it goes back to what you're talking about about the relationship. Andy Reid and Travis

Kelsey got to get along very well, both for what Travis did to Andy. Yeah. And then now what Andy is doing to Travis. And then Andy Reid came out, and I don't think I like this, Mike McCarthy, and I'm Pat McAfee. He said, you know, Travis is Irish, too, so we got a, he gets a little fiery sometimes. Is what, did you hear that coach? Hey, I mean, truth, hey, truth can hurt sometimes, Pat. I agree with Andy.

You can't dispute that. I mean, it's, I think it's part of the Irish genetics. Oh, yeah. Bill Pollyon, text me. after I got arrested for a public intoxication. Alleged story, definitely publicly intoxicated. He sends me a text. Hey, when you get in, come to my office, we'll have a conversation.

And he put in there, I know you're Irish. I'm Irish as well. Let's just have a conversation about everything that took place. And that was the first time that I never had that said to me by somebody. And I was like, oh, this guy's like, hey, we're not screaming each other in here. Just want to let you know that this is not going to escalate at all. That was, I don't think the Irish people should be judged like that. I don't think we should be judged like that.

But it is reality of situation. I would want to be associated with that as well. I'd rather be that way than any other way. Let's talk about this weekend. They're playing in Ireland. Minnesota. Pittsburgh, 9.30 kickoff for us. Central time, what is 8.30, I guess.

Kickoff all day, getting a chance to enjoy it. Pittsburgh Steelers obviously very popular, we think, in Ireland. Dublin, being a Steelers' home game is how everybody is feeling this. Carson once, though, I think the Irish could potentially fall in love with this thing if they see him walking around the streets. How do you feel about these international games? How do you feel about them playing in Ireland? I love it.

I didn't really get to experience much of it later in my NFL career, but I always enjoyed, you know, the Tokyo Bowl and things like that. But, you know, I was at the University of Pittsburgh, 1989, we had a chance to play Rutgers and the Emerald Owl. See how I can I understand. Emerald Classic game over there in Ireland. And that was just such, I mean, that was the coolest experience. and then just to see all the Pittsburgh people come over there for the game.

So I think it's just going to be an incredible atmosphere for the NFL, obviously with the Rooney family, Runei family's connection to Ireland. So I think that's going to be a really cool game. Hey, so Packers didn't do international games until what, Brazil? No, until when they went to England to play the Giants a couple of years ago. Brazil was the second time. Runway's too short. Yeah, runway's too short.

We can't get there? Yeah, exactly. It's kind of unfair. We can't get over there. He's too short. Sorry. Can't build any more, too. The land's bought. So we can't fly anywhere. And then Dallas, does Dallas? I don't think I remember at 9.30 a.m. Dallas? I doubt it. Jerry, I could see never letting that happen. So you guys didn't do that, huh? No, Mexico. Jerry, Jerry would go to Mexico, but I don't think going over there was an option.

But, yeah, AJ, we missed, we missed the European. Ted Thompson never wanted to go, never wanted to go across. But I think, I think it's cool when you get to do that. I've never heard anybody. dislike it. I played I coached in the game down there in Mexico when I was with the 49ers in 05 we played the Cardinals. That was a neat experience. That was the first regular season game outside of the United States.

So I think it's been very positive not only for the NFL, but it's been great for the fans. I like hearing that from you. If you get back into coaching somewhere, we know that Australia is looking to have a game. Sounds like he would love that. Yeah? Coach.

Well, maybe not Australia. And Coach, make sure we got to a buy week here, Pat. Can you get that done? We've got to make sure you're by week on the way by. By week before and after. I mean, 16 hours over to Pacific you're going, let alone to get

to L.A. or whatever, but 16 hours over the Pacific to get there. You just did that trip, right? Yeah, there's no Wi-Fi either. You're Amish there for that entire, you are doing it, and it's a long way. You've got to really do it. But once you get there, the place is beautiful. I mean, it is, that place

would love American football if it was fully around and ever present. It's just the timing is crazy. That's why them thinking about taking a game over there is absurd. Life clock is going to be set back for weeks for guys, I think. I think it would be maybe too much

for the players, no doubt. You definitely have to build in some extra time there. Coach McCarthy will take his team over here. Yeah. Yeah. You're a good bloke. I'll do anything right now. Yeah, you get me doing anything right now. All right, let's do this. How do you think tonight goes? Because we know you're not a against a spread picker.

No, you're not a golfer. You would never want to do that. But if you were to, with the way you've been describing these games, we'd just like to let you know you would be two and one right now. Last week is the one, okay, in two and one, and you waffled on that. Coach. You even said in your statement, this is how I believe. And on that note, I don't believe that tonight.

You went directly against yourself last week. So you're two and one. I think you're seeing it well. And I think you need to go with your gut. Isn't that kind of the mission? Especially because, I mean, Coach, I don't know if you want to say, but I believe Big Mike unfortunately caught some gruff last time he was up in Green Bay from a bartender, letting him know like, hey, I bet on the bills because you told me to,

but now you're sitting at my bar and you just said that's too many points for a division game. What the hell is going on? Well, that's because he won't get his own, right? You want to get your own intuition? No, I just, I do. I mean, just my personal experience, division games are so damn tough. I mean, to take that many points. but, you know, I was kind of around, you know, just watching Josh Allen play that week and so forth, you know, you think it all they can handle, but I almost need to apologize to Miami.

That's just a tremendous amount of points in a division game. So, yeah, I just do, I know I felt like to say this every week. The division games are the best games. I mean, it's going to be tight as hell. You look at the games that both teams have played so far. They both have lost tough games to San Francisco, tough defensive battles. You know, both these defenses are playing well. I think that you look at all the numbers

because the first thing I always look at is obviously you look at the score of the game but you look at the turnover ratio, ball distribution, time of possession, then you go look with the big plays. But the one thing that really factors into these Thursday night games more than we probably give credence to is the injury port. And

based off what I saw this morning, I think Seattle is a healthier team coming in this than Arizona. So I'm going to go with the Seahawks. Okay. This doesn't even have James Connor, obviously one of their staples over there in Arizona. He's out. Backup running back is good, though. Connor has done film for fantasy football teams into him. And then the Seattle Seahawks, they seemingly are playing great ball

right now, too. Like, it's not even a question. I know they lose. And obviously, what are the Niners going to look like going forward? Brock Purdy's getting one reps. Bosa out, though. So what is the San Francisco 49ers? Do they make a big trade for a pass rusher? That's what they're talking about kind of alluding to in the past with the San Fran 49ers. Like McCaffrey was one of their acquisitions mid-season when they were really... And then they'd start giving him the ball. Yeah, and it worked for them, big time. They did, they get Bryce Huff

in a trade or free agency, and then they, who did they draft? Mike L. Williams out of Georgia. So they do have guys at those positions. They're not Bosa, obviously, but they have guys at that position, so it would be interesting to see. What about Hendrickson? Yeah, Trey. What about Trey Hendricks? Especially with

how it looks like Cincinnati's season could go from here on out. And he's a free agent at the end of the year, so that's one of those things that could potentially take place. We're just, we are, this is no intel. No, hypothetical. This is hypothetical. This is no inside information. We are just making this up on the spot, which is kind of what the show is, which is why we appreciate you joining us and being a part of the bullshit, coach. You're the best. Well, I mean, bullshit and wit, man, I'm glad to be part of it. I mean, it's just, it is impressive, though. I mean, you threw out

some great, great ideas there. But as you know, all teams operate this way. They're looking at everything every week and so forth. And I'm short of 49ers will obviously involved in conversations, just like every team is. So that is happening every single week at every team you think. There's like, who could we add, potentially add, will we probably not, but this is available? That has to happen at each team now

at this stage of where the NFL is? Oh, I think so. I think if a personnel department's not involved the conversations 365 days a year, they're not doing their job. Hell yeah. That's been my personal experience. So that's the way the organizations

that I've been a part of operate. That's your personal personnel kind of experience, I like. like that. I appreciate that. Hey, Coach, anything you say the team on the way out here? Great job, guys. I mean, it's an adventure, and I'm enjoying it. I'm loving it. Team on three. That how we do it? Team on three. Let's get the Hall of Fame or breakers down. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, yeah, you're right. AJ Hawker. What do you got, Bob? Coach, you ever go on Jerry's yacht? I meant to ask you that a while ago.

Yes, it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. We'll hear about that. Maybe next time. It's a good tease from next time. Team on three, one, two, three. Team. That's good. That was good. Yeah, we may we do hear about that. It's Coach Clarks. Thank you, buddy. Good question, H. We saw Jerry drafting from that thing.

Oh, my God. And they took that drone outside and shot it, and that drone just kept going. Just kept going. Thought it was crucied. That's Jerry Jones. Yeah. It's too big.

Had to recheck into Bluetooth on the other side. Got two different Wi-Fis, two different passwords. The AirPods are reported as missing when if they're left on the other side, to your phone on the other side of the yacht. what a special place Jerry has built down there

NBC, it's been reported they're sending everything everybody. Jerry's like, of course they're sending out of course they're sending God damn right, bring him down. What you think this is? They got the Ryder Cup obviously

happened, that's great, that's special. Guess what's a nightcap? The show. And guess what? Somebody we made into a star, do you know him? Maka Starsons is what I like to call him because he had a star on his helmet

so that's why the people, if you don't recall, we made him start, you're welcome, he's coming back in to the place that made him. I birth this man, and now he's coming back to my world. We will not be showing a video, okay? There will be antidotes for that out there. Outside, you'll see maybe little coosies and things like.

There's enough welcome for him around, is what he said. There's enough welcome for him around there. It's like, from who? It is, uh, this is special. Were you surprised, though? Did you think they're going to have a video for him? No. No.

No. I don't think so. Like, four years. four years. Yeah, four years, not a long time. Now, he was pretty great. Four great. He's amazing. Unbelievable. The wound is still fresh. And every year after his, you know, the Cowboys

season, it is always like, geez, another disappointing season for the Cowboys. It has never been since Michael was there at least, like, hey, great season. That's part of it. Good season for the Cowboys. But seriously, I mean, if you win something, I feel like you get

a tribute, isn't that kind of... Well, Emmett's a little bit different now, fucking Emmett. I almost gave him percentage of a team. Okay, he, two, two, he did a lot for the star. That's different. Jerry Jones' life a lot different before Emmett Smith and after Emmett Smith.

We will certainly pay homage to Emmett. And if Troy wanted to come back and play somewhere, hell. I guess we'll put fucking eight up there. Micah Irvin? The playmaker? Mika? We'll have him hit that siren, actually,

if he's playing for another team. Mika Parsons now, I'm not a hundred, I don't think that's a lot. appropriate. I don't think that's appropriate. I don't think the Colts did it for Edge. I was there for that. That's different. Edge played for the Arizona Cardinals. When he came back, there was a nice tribute. And also, we know how close Jim and Edge were. They're like very good friends. So I assume that was a very difficult decision. Joseph Adai, though, was unbelievable running back for us. Same with Dominic Rhodes. So I think that decision was certainly one that Arizona made for everybody whenever they

offered to pay the amount that they offered to pay for Edger and James. But when he came back, they showed it, Edge did a fool. Peyton Manning, obviously, during the 1812 battle on Sunday night football, that was cool. I think NBC sent everything out for that particular night, too, as Andrew Luck took on Peyton Manning in the building, the Peyton Manning and the boys helped usher into the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. It's like, that was special, you know, but he got a fool before the game. I think NBC even offered up the time.

Hey, we'll give you guys, what time do you want to do your thing? Before the game, there was the full, I don't know if you remember this. during like throwing time for him before coin toss stopped his throwing helmet off full embrace of the crowd yeah that was a big deal yeah i'm warming up on the field there that's punting time as well and i'd never seen peyton take the helmet off in that because that's like locked in time yeah yeah and it felt like he did get emotional during that like that felt like a real like because this city is very grateful to Peyton manning and i think in that moment he got a chance to like kind of experience it. And I do think that kind of, I think that was a little bit of a gamesmanship, yeah.

Yeah, I think there was a little bit, you know, this sort of like running the, like running the military family out between the third and fourth quarter and the dad surprised them and I'm sitting the sidelines balling in my helmet, watching the daughter run and hug the guy. Like, yeah, that does something to you. Crying our faces off, dude. Because normally those are happening during times where the field's open. So I'm on the field punning, okay? So then if something's happening in the middle of the field and a ball,

accidentally goes near there I'm the worst person on earth okay so I'm paying attention to all these things and the military surprise come back home every time water works on the field punting I'm like blurry like literally punting the ball looking over oh my god this is so awesome he was supposed to come up for three months yeah he was supposed and then like the little kids obviously the full surprise you know mom might have a little sense something's up sure mom I ever or dad if mom's coming home might have a little sense that something's up The kids, though, have no idea.

The kids have no clue. So whenever old dad or mom pokes their head out of whatever it is, he can't help but just like start to ball. You think that was a strategy, though. I didn't even view that as a strategy for teams potentially. Maybe he's both. No, I don't think the military thing is, but I think definitely honoring the guy.

It's a little bit of both like, hey, we're going to put a great package together and make them feel great, maybe even cry a little bit, maybe get him off his game because we know how dialed in this dude is. We got, you know, he knows who would respect us as competitors doing this. It would be cool if maybe they showed the boys on the home team the video, hey, this is what's going to happen? Yeah. Okay, get the waterworks out now. This is going to happen right for fourth quarter.

The other sidelines are going to be bawling their fucking faces off. Let's hit them. So here's Sunday night football. This is the war of 1812 as Peyton Manning returned back to Lucas Oil Stadium. Now remember, Peyton Manning was cut by the Indianapolis Colts, and it was during a time where they didn't know if he was going to be able to grip a football. again because what he had going on with his neck and his spine and everything that was taking place and it was also during the lockout i mean there was here it is right here yeah thank you thank you thank you thank you and you got remember the say that peyton had in the city uh

he would literally forever do this number and everybody in the city would shut up whether they were at the game or not if he did this babies stopped crying downtown at riley children's hospital like Peyton banning's children's hospital his own children's hospital baby stop crying when he did this. And then if it was this time, they went crazy. That dude, obviously statue well earned, and the Colts fans that night delivered. They were so loud against him. They knew exactly what he

didn't want. And they clap for him. At the very beginning, yeah. It was like a perfect thing. How does that happen in New England? It was just like Brady. It was the same exact thing when Brady I mean, you experienced with Vinny kind of. Yeah, on the field. Yeah. Love you. Love you. Love you. Once the

clock starts, this is the guy is, yeah, exactly. This guy basically pissed on my mom's face. That's how much. I hate this guy. Treason, yeah. That is what people were saying to Adam Vittittary because it's a little tight there. So as we're jogging on the field, this guy has done a lot for the New England Patriots. He's jogging on the field. Place go, and welcome back.

He's a top five Patriot all time without question Adam Vittanyterre. But he started it. He started the dynasty. Exactly. And even before the dynasty, like the Herschel Walker thing, kind of before my time, but like my dad when I bring up Adam Vintyri,

my dad's like go-to is yeah, Adam Vintyterry tackled Hershal Walker, obviously, he's a dog. So whenever he goes on the field, hey, welcome back, Vinnie, good to see you. And then as soon as that shit started, there's some terrible things to out of it. And the net's like right there, very close at that stadium.

And then as soon as the game was over, all right, Vinny, thank you for everything. Safe job. Jobs out. It's like, damn, this place is awesome. Pittsburgh would do the same exact thing. It was nice to see Indy do that. Dallas, probably the same exact thing with Micah, if I had to guess. Although this thing has gotten really sour

really quick. Yeah, it might be on Micah's side, I was going to say, it's going to be interesting because he was traded and he kind of wanted to stay as everything we've heard. And I also appreciate Jerry instead of, you know, making him cry. Let's mispronounce his name. Call him Michael about 100 times before he comes. Welcome back to Michael. Yeah. We'll continue digital.

We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye. That came quick. That was a premature here. A little bit. That clock. It's been an hour of 57. I had no idea.

Yeah. That first hour, we flew. We did baseball in the first hour, AJ. Did you see that? You did a good chunk on baseball. Yeah, Jet brought the juice. I called Jet this morning, FaceTime. I go, I fucking hate that I'm doing this.

Okay, it's Thursday. Week four, the NFL season's kicking off. We need to have a baseball conversation. We need to pay respect to what's going on in MLB. Okay, we need to pay attention to what's going on. I think we should showcase it. And Jet goes, I'm only available in the noon hour. And I go, Jesus.

Jet, first hour, brother. I said, I don't know, dude. I said, we're trying to build during that hour, you know? Like, there's a chance. Oh, no, I bet if we look, it's more than a chance now. Okay, well, I told that to Jett, but then out of respect for sports as a whole, and the argument that Jett laid out immediately upon me saying that, he's like, this is what all happened last night.

Banga, bang, da, bang,na, bang, it, boom, a bang, and a pow. Here's what's potentially coming up. The playoffs start on Tuesday. We got game 162 about to determine like four or five different teams' fate. Like baseball is really having a night. And last night I happened upon that strike from center field from the New York Mets on Chicago Cubs, it was an electrifying environment. And I think I saw somebody with long sleeves on.

I'm like, oh, yeah, we're in the time now where baseball really matters. And Jet won us over. So we did the baseball. And also, anytime you can get in there, Paul Skeen's won't a Cy Young. You got to. Hey, the best pitcher in baseball is our game. guy. Yeah, that's good. And do people know, other than, if people who aren't diehard

Paul Skeens or baseball fans, do they even know he had such an unbelievable season? So that's what, also, that was another part of the, we should do the baseball here on Thursday, week four, kickoff. So we did that. We also talked about golf. Yeah. How do you feel about our Rotter Cup team, AJ? We haven't heard from the Hall of Fame nom here.

Hoffnom, what are your thoughts on the USA team and on the European team? Well, I don't there's been some slander to towards this American team from this program. I mean, I know, what are you guys saying? They're not cool or they don't have moxie or they're not a lot of moxie.

What's your problem? What's your problem? We don't need moxie. If they were in Europe, they would need moxie. Our boys would need moxie. But we're in America. Our fans will have enough moxie for our players. Players just need to lock in, dial in,

and maybe not start verbal sparring with Rory beforehand. Yeah. And Bryson D. DeCambeau, to his credit, last night, no games. No, it's saying about chipping Irma House. No. It's saying about putting a ping pong ball into a cup so that somebody can wear a Ferrari

in my living room. They're saying about having a good time in the back of your Thunderdum getting very close to a whole one multiple times very quickly. This is about beating the shit out of Europe for the United States of America. And I like that he's locked in. I like that he's dialed in, AJ. But with that being said, you look at the European team,

it looks much cooler than R team. Don't show it. It's up there. Don't show it, Foxy. I get it, but I don't know. I have a good feeling about this American squad. I do. I think Keegan, you know how much, like, I don't know. I cannot imagine. Keegan feels like he's on the brink of a heart attack at all the times

because he's so excited about this opportunity and what he's doing as the captain of this squad. So I think J.T., he's becoming Mr. Rider Cup, right? And he's going to get everybody juice. Bryson's going to go for it on the first hole they claim. Hey, be alert for Sam Burns top left. I think Sam Burns, he's a stud. I'm looking for big things from him.

Yeah, but we didn't know who that guy is right below Sam Burns. Did we? He wears the shades, right? He wears the big, like, Aviator shades. You mean the number 11th ranked golfer in the world who Foxy said sucks? This isn't about how good we are or rankings or any of that shit. I'm saying face value. I'm not rooting for a lot of these guys on Sunday.

Thank you. You go to the Europe team. I'm rooting for a lot of these guys on Sunday. You're pulling for anti-American propaganda on Sunday. No, this has nothing to do. This is the Ryder Cup. I'm rooting for America through and through. But I'm just saying they have a lot of cooler dudes on the Europe team than America does.

And it's just unfortunate, that has to be pointed out. The thing we do have going for us is Rory said in his interview, like, hey, America is the greatest country in the world. So, like, for Rory to be saying that as we're going in, I think we have it. I mean, this basically tells you all you need to know. Everyone wanted to make it in America. It's the land of opportunity. And I still believe it's the greatest country in the world. And if you come here and you work hard and you dedicate yourself, you can be or do whatever you want.

We already won. He's unbelievably grateful and lucky that I got to come to America early on. And I think success is celebrated here. I think there's a wonderful sense of work ethic. And yeah, I live here. My wife is American. My daughter is American. You know, I have a lot of affinity towards this country.

And I think everyone that lives here should have that same affinity because it is, it's a wonderful, it is a wonderful place. Don't be showing that right now. I don't need to see that going in a week. This feels like Foxy really wanted that to be run. Because he's on Team Europe, it sounds like. I'm not on Team Europe. That takes me to the Team Europe a little bit right there. We all know America's the greatest country on Earth.

Why would I not run that video right there? Especially going into this weekend. Rory's not thinking about Europe. He's not thinking about his homeland. He's not thinking about all of his fans in Europe. He's thinking about America because it's the greatest country on Earth. He's trying to warm up these fans. That's what he's trying to warm you up.

Mark? We have the better team, and that's all that matters. I'm just saying they have some cool dudes on that side. I believe it was 2000. Do we have the better team? I think it was we do. I think it was 2000. We do.

The last time that an away team won. When was it? 2012, I believe. It's every two years? Yeah. I don't like that. Starts tomorrow morning. Yeah, tomorrow at 7.10, I believe.

So just real quick. The COVID something happened there, so I think. Okay. it back to an odd year. Yeah. We got rocked last time, right? Was that Paris? Yeah.

Yeah, they were doing that cool chant on the bus on the way home with the unbelievable guy. What was the chant? Oh, I thought he was just saying, you're unbelievable. Oh. Might have been that. I don't remember.

Oh, he's a hold it. Oh, wow, he hoed it. Wow. Unbelievable. It's hard not to root for that. guy. And then Rory's saying America's the greatest. Exactly. And then on the flip side, you got Patrick Cantlay, who I want to see, miss the

cut and get last place every single week. So it's going to be very hard for me to come back around and wish him success on Friday. I will. I'll do it, but guess what? If he goes too down on the first two holes, oh mama, I'm going to be ruthless. I hate that guy.

Oh, mama. Hate him. Oh, Mama. What did Patrick Canton? He sucks. He takes He takes forever to get a fucking spug face. Yeah. He's just, nothing about his game is compelling. Nothing.

He's an American. That's it. Sure. I get that. There are a lot of fucking Americans out there, too. I don't particularly like, but they're not playing golf for the country this weekend. That's what I'm saying. So I can let by guys be by guys.

But having said that, this fucking guy better win every point. He better win every fucking point for the U.S. while he's out there. We're going to put that in a video tonight to show the old boys. Hey, no one believes in, even your own guys. No, no, no. I didn't say no one believes in the team. I said, I don't believe in him. I don't like him. I believe in the boys. We got fucking Scotty Schaeffler. You're right. Can't lay? You better

fucking pick up some points for the country here, pal. What if he does? Will he win you over? No, absolutely not. What? I hate the guy's guts. He does everything. good for our country, though. You maybe turn over a new leaf. You've got Yankees right there across your forehead, obviously, for the New York Yankees, but there has to be some sort of American press.

What if this guy goes out there and dominates? Pitches a perfect game? Then I would say, yeah, you're on the fucking Rider Cup. It's about time, pal, because you've been on this team how many times before and we're always losing. And I'm always seeing that goofy fucking look on your face after we lose. So, you know

what it would take? He needs to hold like a 75 foot put on 18 on Sunday to win the rider cup for the U.S. and then maybe I'd get back on his side a little bit. There's a chance. There's a chance. That's golf, baby. That's golf. I think America wins. I'm pumped for it. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen

has become a weekly conversation and we're incredibly thankful for it. He has a wealth of football knowledge, and his team had a tough loss to Michigan. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team,

Matt Rule. Sorry, man. Hey, Matt. Thank you for joining us, Coach. You're on the road right now recruiting, right? What state are you in right now? Well, I would listen to the conversation. I could tell you this. I'm in Pierre, South Dakota and Mustang Aviation.

And every single person here is counting on the U.S. to win the Ryder Cup. There is no debate who we're rooting for here in South Dakota. Thank God. I'm happy to hear that out of you, coach. That's why we like, there's no debate on who we're pulling for, boys. I actually don't like the culture of this stunt for them all of a sudden. I couldn't agree more. There is no debate on who we're rooting for.

Rooting for America. None. It's not the name on the back of the jersey. the name on the front this week. It's USA. Tell that to Patrick Cantlett, Coach. Okay, hold on. You're pulling for him this week. I am. I am. I am. Because he's on Team USA. Yes. That's what we're saying. He's saying it sound like you guys are a little bit

conflicted on who you're pulling for. And I don't like that that being a representation of what we have going on here. We're pulling for America to be Europe, right? Foxy, you too, with the, this team's so cool. And then he put it up there like four or five different times. Yeah, and it's true. Remember back in the day, we used to have Tiger Woods, Mickleson, where's Brooks Kepka at? Where's Dustin Johnson at? They stink at golf. We love those guys. They need to get better at golf because they're cool dudes, okay?

Dustin Johnson would be cool up there. Thank you. He hasn't shot under part in two years. I know, but I'm saying if he was to somehow be good at golf again, maybe he goes talks to Wayne though, kind of does some osmosis stuff. It would be cool to see Dustin up there. It'd be cool to see Brooks up there just because the big, fat, fucking lipper. Yeah, I realize this was a cool

contest. I thought this was a golf contest. Yeah, I don't want to take it. I think it's part of it. I think it's part of it, with this amount of crowd and chirping and everything like that. I think our boys can be locked in, no, Foxy. So why don't you come back to America, okay? Why don't you come back to America? Like I said, we're the better team.

We're going to win. I'll be rooting for the boys. But if we lose, I know what I'm going to blame it on. Yeah, it's Cantlay's ass if we lose. We don't know. The Mustang Aviation, FBI, up there in South Dakota, is a beautiful one. Obviously, you're hitting the road to get good players. We respect that.

Let's talk about what happened against Michigan. We have to. This was a big one for your team. I think this was a massive one for the story of the big 10. I think this was going to be considered a measuring stick for you, I think, but also for what your team could be this year. Do you agree with that? Or do you think we're still early in the process of figuring out who the hell we are at Nebraska? Well, I think both can be true. I mean, there was a chance to play a game versus a perennial top

25 team at home. They have a rookie quarterback, freshman quarterback. So, you know, you've got to go win that game. And we didn't. So, I mean, we have to be disappointed. But, you know, we're also not going to put on, you know, black shirt, black tie and just, you know, call to season. I mean, you know, we, we look at that game, Pat and I say, you know, we gave up seven sacks, we gave up 286 yards rushing, so they got after us in that ways, and we lost by three. You know, I told our guys, like, I mean, we got, we got playmakers making plays all over the field. We just, we got to get a little bit better in a couple areas, and, and that was a good measuring stick for us, and you know what, we're going to have to play a lot more good

teams. We've got Michigan State in two weeks. We'll be ready. Okay, so everything's still in front of you guys? Obviously, yes? heck yeah i mean uh you know we're going to have a chance to face a lot of good teams and i think that that took our pulse right it let us see like hey you know what we knew the the line of scrimmage battle would be one that you know we'd have to wait and see but you know we held them to a hundred yards passing we we uh we covered them all over the field we play good we played we threw the ball dill and threw the ball for the ball for three hundred and some yards so the things that we've tried to get better at we've gotten better at it

now you can't win in the big ten if you don't control the line of scrimmage so we have to improve that. But yeah, we're not seeding anything, man. We're going to, we're going to, we're going to battle back. Tell me about Michigan a little bit. Tell me about their team. Obviously, Bryce Underwood, phenomenal recruit is what everybody was talking about, five star, build, everything. Tell me about their team. What did you see from them? I think two things really stood out to me. Number one, you know, the week before they moved Jay Sean Barnum, they moved him from middle linebacker. You know, we played at Maryland. They moved him out to their outside linebacker. Man, I walked up to him after the game. I said,

well, you're a top 10 pick. I mean, that move disrupted everything. You know, he didn't play that against Oklahoma. He played off the ball, and he's a great off the ball linebacker. But he is a difference maker coming off the edge. And then Justice Haynes, the tailback from Alabama, you know, we gave up 286 yards rush. We gave up three carries for 168 yards. It's just he's a, he's a, you give him a crack and he's gone.

And so, you know, to win in the Big Ten, they're going to have to throw. the ball more. You can't throw the ball for 105 yards on screens. You're going to have to throw the ball down the field, but they got two guys there that I thought were top 10 tight players that are going to be difference makers in the Big Ten. I can't wait to see what your team is by the end of the season

and what this Michigan team is by the end of the season. Everybody basically growing at the same time. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, speaking to that coach, in your past as a coach, I'm sure you're always paying attention to it. How good can your team get from the beginning, from game one until say, game 12? What kind of progress

can you make? What kind of momentum can you build? Is that something you feel like this team? Obviously, each and every game, win or lose, like you guys are getting better. I just wonder when you look back at the end of the season, you look at, hey, week one or two, and you think, I know, I've sometimes been like, we were a different football team back then. Like, we don't make those mistakes anymore. We're so much better. Do you see that for this team and for, you know, teams you've had in the past? Yeah, no doubt. I mean, you know, the interesting thing in that game, AJ's, we went down the field in two minute before the half, I end up throwing a Hell Mary for a touchdown. We go down the field at the end of the game and go down and score a touchdown.

So in critical moments, you know, our inability to block their pass rush, but in critical moments, you know, those two-minute drives, we move the ball. And so it's not a, oh my gosh, we can't. It's that, hey, we didn't. And so I think, you know, sometimes positions like O-line and corner, positions where, like, if you mess up, everyone sees it, like, you almost have to go through a game sometimes where like, you know what, you had a bad game, you regroup, you you wake up the next day, you're not dead, and now you go out and say, okay, I played against Barnum, he's an elite player, what am I going to do moving forward?

How am I going to get better? And, you know, I showed the guys the other day, like the Ravens, you know, Lamar Jackson got sacked seven times. There's going to be days like that. I mean, this is a team in Michigan that, you know, beat Ohio State to end the year, beat, who I think maybe Alabama in the Bull game. I can't remember who it was.

Like, they're a good, good football team. And it's a team we lost 55, 7, 2 years ago. Now there's no moral victories. But our, we lost by three. We had every chance to compete. We scored a touchdown, you know, we stepped out of bounds. We didn't get to four points. So you're a player or two away, but you have to make those plays up.

And I think that's the mindset our guys have to have. On that note, Connor has a question for you. Yeah, Coach, what do you look for in your team when you're facing adversity? Is it just, you know, the week of practice, especially when you don't have a game the next week and you can't really get back out there and prove it? Are you just looking for effort, looking for energy all this week? What are some of those things? And then is it part of it, too?

you also kind of, you know, letting up a little just because they are probably beating themselves up so much for the loss itself, you know, at home that you almost don't need to get on your guys versus, you know, when sometimes you do if you're playing, you know, a team under your guys' skill level? Yeah, I think that's a great question. Number one, I think having a bi-week, the week after a game like that is torture. Like, I'm tortured right now. Like, this is absolutely miserable because you want to get back out and play. I think the other thing, though, is if I took the approach with them of, like, hey, it's okay, we lost, it's Michigan, you know, da-da-da, then they wouldn't respect me. Like, to me, it's like, no, no, no, no. Like, we know they're good, so you guys are good, too.

And you know what? Like, Ohio State lost Oregon last year in game four by one point, you know what they did? They came back and they won a bunch of games. They got angry. They got pissed off and they came back. So we're not going to sit there and say, hey, it's okay. Like, hey, fix this, fix this, fix this. You know what we did? We went out, we went out. You know, coaches had their practice schedule. And, bro, I put the ball down on Tuesday, and I said, all right, well, ones on ones,

let's go, play. Two's on Tuesday. And we went for about an hour and 15 minutes. And the guys had so much fun and wasn't punishment. Sometimes you have to, like, you put so much pressure, you've got to go back to just play in the game. Just go play. Have fun.

Enjoy it. Fly around. We did that Tuesday. We did that Wednesday. This morning. We practiced this morning. And then I headed up here. So just wanted them to get back to like, hey, you're a good.

football team it's a play to hear a play there now go make those plays and uh i think we will how the boys play 115 who won that defense or offense everybody get their legs you know what it was probably the best practice we've had all year um i think the defense you know when you give up 286 yards rushing it's like uh like your soul has been crushed and you can say it to play here it's it's soul crushing so i thought the defense they came back and answered it you know what i mean it's like hey as you guys know like on defense you can't wait for someone else to make the play. You've got to do your job, but then you've got to run the ball. You've got to knock the ball out. You've got to strike somebody. You've got to get off a block and make a play.

And so I thought I saw some of our younger guys starting to be like, you know what, I can play better than this. And so I think our defense made a jump this week. That's awesome. I can't wait to see who they are next week whenever you get back on the field against Michigan State. Hey, Michigan State's going to go green. Go white, coach. You're putting points up. The defense, I don't know, but those boys are putting points up on offense. Yeah, defense's going to get tested again. They got a great wide receiver. How's old buddy doing. Nick Marsh is doing great. He's a little banged up, but he's having a good year so far. Okay, Michigan State's good. I think it's a good team to have because not terrible.

Oh yeah. Good. Good test. Just lost to Michigan. Okay, I'm not going to say anything about the brothers, which one, you know, in the state of Michigan. I wouldn't. Stay out of that. One of them has 14 billionaires given money. I don't know how money. Michigan State, I think got that one guy that was sitting next to me at that basketball game. Yeah, we got guys that need to start pulling up because we do have billionaires. I know that. Okay, so we're saying, hey, Foxy needs to maybe start spending a little bit. We can't Phil do that. We can Phil send some of your check right over to Michigan

State to get players for that football. Oh, you're talking about me. No, I'm good. Oh, okay. Not that, Ford. Okay, I don't know. There's another huge game happening this weekend that obviously you have some familiarity with at least a home.

Go ahead, Tom. Yeah, Coach, there's a few big ones in the Big Ten this weekend, but obviously the nightcap, the whiteout at Penn State, Oregon traveling to Penn State is the headline maker of that one. What's your early read on that one? I know you play Penn State later in the season. You don't play Oregon, but what do you think about Dan Lannin going to visit Happy Valley? I think it's going to be a great game. I think one of the

unique, interesting things is going to be. I mean, Penn State at night at the Whiteout, it might be the loudest place I've ever been. And while Oregon, I've heard how loud it is there. I'm really interested to see Oregon, their communication with a dynamic young quarterback at Dante, you know, but just to see how they handle the crowd noise, how they handle the crowd. That's really, to me, a key factor in the game. And then on the flip side, Penn State, you know, obviously you lose Ty Warren, you got the great backs, like how explosive can they be in the passing game? Drew Allen's a great quarterback, but are they going to be able to get open versus the secondary that Oregon has? And so it should be a back and forth, back and

fourth game, but I really believe the crowd noise and playing in one of those elite Big Ten environments at night. That's something that, you know, it's going to be interesting to see how it working with a young quarterback, how they handle it. I heard some crazy like 112,000 plus going to be there. So many. And they're in the middle of renovating that stadium. So I don't even know what it's going to be whenever it's fully renovated. They got a great supply of people that are supporting that program. Whenever you look at teams around the Big Ten, obviously you've talked about you have great support in Nebraska is one of the reasons why that was a job. It feels like the Big Ten is more teams are stepping up than maybe in the other conferences.

Do you agree with that? And do you think the Big Ten right now at this point, by far, I think I heard Urban Meyer talk about how when he was down in Florida and then he comes up to Ohio State, you know, and he's won national championship everywhere, by the way. I mean, Urban has won everywhere. He said it was definitely back in the day, maybe not so far history. SEC was by far best conference, no question asked. geography where there was an advantage, everything there was advantage.

More primetime games also, and the environments and the cultures are crazy. I mean, it was SEC. Urban said now it feels like the Big Ten is certainly deeper than it has ever been. And maybe at the time is we are the best conference in America. Obviously, national champions there from the last couple of years. How do you feel about the Big Ten? How do you all kind of discuss it as coaches, understanding that the strength of the conference is a good thing, especially with the way the college football playoff is set up.

Yeah, no doubt. I think the Big Ten has really emerged. And obviously winning the last two national championships helps. But the advent of NIL, you know, there used to be like, you know, Ohio State had all Ohio players. Alabama had all Alabama players. It was, you know, we kind of all recruited regionally. But now with the portal, with recruiting, we're all recruiting all over the country. I mean, I'm leaving here and I'm going to Texas, right?

Like, it's just a completely different animal now. And so that benefits the Big Ten a great deal. It was really weird last week to have Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson, do our game, you know, the 230, 330 Eastern CVS game. I mean, that's been the SEC forever. And what the Big Ten has done is they've bought a lot of those prime time spots. You're like, you know, like, we were the national game against Michigan. And so I think the Big Ten has made some really big moves.

And obviously, bring it in USC, bringing in Oregon, bringing in Washington, who, that's a sneaky good, I mean, they're scoring. in points. That's a sneaky, sneaky good team right now. Eight and a half. They're getting eight and a half at home, and people talk about that being the loudest place maybe to play. That place is difficult to play out there. It's a far trip, too, coach. That's right. I think when you factor

in the travel, when you factor in the weather, when you factor in the last two national championships, and then the teams, adding the teams from the West Coast. I mean, I think the Big Ten is at a point that it has never been before, and it's only getting better. And, you know, like, even last week, we're disappointed. We lost, but, like, you don't need that to be 55-7. You want the good games in your conference to be

30, 27. You want there to be barn burners coming down. Who would have ever thought Oregon, Penn State would be like a conference game on national TV, but it is now, and that, to me, that's what's making the Big Ten so proficient and such a good league.

I don't want to talk any shit on anything, but I think the noon game being the biggest Big Ten game every single week, and obviously that's a good deal. I appreciate it. I respect what they've done for college football, a lot of investment and everything like that. We see it whenever we travel to a couple game day, spots. I think national

recognition of Big Ten, like, cultures kind of go down because the primetime game isn't what it is. They're about to fucking see it with Penn State. That place is about to be alive. You know, that is a spectacular cult up there. I mean, they are all in, and they will be.

The, oh, oh, oh, oh, we are saying. It's about to be legendary. But boy, if Oregon gets hot early, Like Ohio State did to Oregon at the Rose Bowl, you can take a home field advantage and kind of make it your own in that. It's all about how you start, I think, of those games. Do you agree with that, coach? Absolutely. I think you have to take the, you know, you have to take the crowd out of it early on.

You know, one thing about Oregon is they've played in big games, right? And they've played in loud stadiums. And they have a coach, Dan Lanning, to me, is one of the best coaches in football. He's got elite swagger. And so he's not going to tiptoe around the moment. He's going to be ready for the moment. Now, you go back and look at their year, you know, the Oklahoma State win isn't quite as, when I saw 693, I was like, oh, my goodness, but then, you know, they scored whatever 10, 12 points against Tulsa.

So I don't know what that is, but I know this. They've got great players. They've got a coach who isn't afraid of anything. And you go out and you play well early, and all of sudden the stifling crowd noise that makes you be on silent cadence. It kind of dissipates it. Now you just get back to playing football, settling down. and that that would be very much in Oregon's favor. Go ahead, AJ.

Coach, you mentioned a fast start. We always talk about that. Every coach obviously wants their team to have a fast start, but what can you do as a coach to facilitate that, to make sure it actually happens? Yeah, and I think a unique thing is when you have that big of a trip and that much travel, making sure your guys, like, their legs are fresh and they're energized and they're juiced up.

I don't know if Oregon went two days ahead or not, but even in the NFL, you don't make this many cross-country trips. So there's a travel component to the fast start. I think one of the biggest things early on is throwing your best stuff at them. And that's not just defensively. If I'm at Oregon right now, I'm saying, hey, we need to hit the quarterback. We need to get to Al or early, whether we blitz, whatever we do. We need to make sure he knows that we're here.

And then offensively, you have a young quarterback. This is his first moment in this level situation. I want him to start off eight for eight, you know, eight for eight, even if it's for 88 yards. like be eight for eight get in rhythm feel really good early on come over to sidelines you have a bunch of different guys who caught balls and then all said everyone starts saying like okay I'm ready for this you know you don't want guys having their first catch to be in the middle of the third quarter of third and seven like let's get the ball pressed around let's get the quarterback in rhythm and let's make sure their quarterback isn't in rhythm because this game

will come down to in my mind which quarterback plays the best dante more's been spinning it drew holler's stats have not been spectacular with their start they haven't really played anybody have they been hiding everything? That is kind of the narrative around the Penn State team right now, which is never good if you haven't been hiding anything. No, we've been playing our best football, actually, and everybody just thinks we're holding back.

Dan Lannning spoke about the Whiteout, and he said, play the game, not the occasion. Basically, is his messaging to the boys. We've seen a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff of how Dan talks to his team. I like the way you described him. He's got a lot of swagger. His team carries that.

As does your team, good luck in recruiting out there in South Dakota. That's a beautiful state, brother. They've got a lot of dogs out there. They do. They do. So we're happy to be up here. Evil Knievel. Yeah. Adam Venetary. Cold Anderson.

Yep. McCuio. Of course. Dallas Goddard. Dallas Goddard from out there. I think Brock Lesnar born in South Dakota. Yeah. Tucker Kraft. Tucker. Boom. Who? Baldo. Didn't he do it? He lives out there. He's in Montana. You're right. You're right. It's not South Dakota.

I think he left that silver ball in Dakota. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, on a recruiting visit, which we appreciate him making time. Good luck the rest of the way. Friend of the program, host of House Rules. That's right. Hey, Will Compton, not a bad looking bald guy. Obviously, would rather still have

hair, but not a bad looking bald guy. He looks pretty good. It was hard to shoot House Rules after losing this week, but we put it out with Joey McGuire from Texas Tech. You know, you know what? Part of being a man is doing everything every week, so like I said, we'll be back, though. We'll be celebrating on the show here soon. Yeah, you've got to answer the bell.

And you did here today. We appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Matt Ruhle. Yeah, Coach. All right, let's get to a break. On the other side, we'll make our picks. We'll cover everything that we haven't talked about. And then we got Stanford Steve conversation about college ball.

It's a great time to be a football fan. It's a great time to be a sports fan. Baseball is crushing. Hey, I actually was captivated by baseball this night. I mean, you've watched it in the past. Like, the baseball playoffs are awesome. I get, like, it's a slog getting to that point because our sony. in how many games, but look at it.

162. The season is going to come down to the last game of the season. Like, it's fucking crazy. And there are multiple teams who still have a chance or who could choke. But once the playoffs actually start, like that, those games are, they're awesome. Yeah, but if it was 100 games, Detroit Tigers good, New York

Matt's good. All these other teams. Good point. I like that, actually. You know, like, but now it's 106, two games. Tigers just ain't got it anymore. It's because, you know what, you got to play the whole season. because sometimes the cream rises to the top and sometimes the teams who are pretenders all along, they fall off.

Oh, yeah. Exactly. Rest and peace. This isn't just another ESPN fantasy football season. It's your shot at greatness. With a refreshed design, the ESPN fantasy app is sharper than ever, so you can draft like a pro and dominate your league. And introducing gridiron gauntlet,

a new game mode where the best compete to be crowned the number one fantasy football player of 2025. One app, one shot, one champion. Download the ESPN fantasy app and sign up to play ESPN fantasy football today. I'm John Quignores. Vanessa Guillen, a 20-year-old soldier, vanishes while on duty at an army base in Texas. Her family demands answers.

How can she go missing on a military base? That's too ridiculous. The search goes on for, months and a dark story starts to unfold she told her family that she was being sexually harassed and wasn't reporting it out of fear of retribution and retaliation what investigators finally uncover is horrifying find out how one soldier a beloved sister and daughter ignited a movement and sparked a reckoning in the U.S. military. Listen to Vanished.

What happened to Vanessa? A new series from ABC Audio in 2020. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Football! It's 233. We will start this third hour now. That is Hoffnom, AJ Hawk right there. Boy, Hawk.

It would be Hoggle. Hoff, nom. Hoff, nom. Hoth nom, Hoth, NOM. You get it? Yeah, I think I get it now. I get it. Hoth.

Hoth. Hoth, NOM. Okay. It's abbreviation. Not nom like Viet. No. It's NOM like NOMAN-E. So then it would be Hoth,

NOM, Hoth, NOM, Hoth, NOM, Hoth, NOM, Huff, NOM, Hoth, NAM, H-J-Haw. Right there, right there, Hoff-NOM. Hoff nom Hoff. Hoff. That's where that's the that's your abbreviation. Some people go to school to get PhDs. Some people are

doctors. Sure. Some people we call Masters of Love or no what is it called? Whenever you get a Master of Love Ceremony, Love Guru. Ordeaned? Yeah, but it's called something.

Pastor? Ministry. Those exist. Oh. Oh. was uh yeah hmm love doctor no it's close you're gonna fit officiate you can officiate weddings yeah it's like 35 bucks they overnight yeah i got it's the doctor of universal life ministers yeah that yeah that is what it's called but it's called something you become you become something or somebody you are ordained minister you ordained something of love though i don't know about that oh anyways yours is hoff norm so that's a that's a pretty

cool that's a pretty cool sir title or whatever the hell it is toxic tables here at Boston Corner at Ty Schmidt That's a sweet shirt That thanks, Kit and Khan I haven't worn in a while I saw it at the top of pile So I'll grab it A couple planes in there

You got the Wright brothers flying around Oh yeah It's supposed to be King Kong But just with a cat Oh I get it because the kitty cat Kitty Kong yeah yeah Right there's not too shabby Not too shabby

I'll tell you what that cat Would raise a lot of hell out of it No doubt about it Yeah especially with the way those planes look That'd be a big toy for that cat I mean that would be batting the shit out of that Cats are very athletic Very nine lives

Yeah well Always land on their feet no shoulder blades well is it the shoulder blades cats do not have shoulder blades so that their arms when they're straight when they go back instead of stopping yeah they don't stop because they don't have shoulder blades that's amazing

they go all the way down I think they also flying squirrel they make themselves into like their body naturally like becomes a like a parachute like a parachute for them as they're falling there's four cats at my house one of them is three leggy cat

AI says Google says yes cats have shoulder blades they're called scapulate in scientific terms. Cat shoulder blades are different from those of humans in several ways. They have different shoulder blades. Excuse me. Yeah, Bruce. This is Bruce Brown. This is a fucking vet.

This is Bruce Braun. I love this poise today. This is Bruce Braun. This is unbelievable, Bruce. There's no reason for the... It was just so tempting. Not even called shoulder blades. Just seeing the yes that they obviously have some kind of shoulder blade. I just thought it was funny. But you should have looked up

the parachute of the cats, what they do as as they fall. I watched a Instagram video of cats showcasing how athletic they are, so quick, so dynamic. My three-legged cat lands, same exact thing. They're a good animal. I couldn't even imagine one being a size of King Kong right there with those particular. There's people jumping out of planes. That's probably the right play. One half of the hammer. God. Cowboys AP tone is here. 74% was the last time we got the update on this game. Is it still at 74%? 72% now on a Seahawks minus a point and a half

traveling to beautiful Phoenix. Well, Glendale, I guess, Arizona. wonderful stadium, great fan base. Will the Seattle Seahawks beat them by more than a point and a half? A.J. Hawk will start with you. Last week was not good for either of us, but this week could be our best week of all time, and that's how we need to view it. Seahawks, minus a point in a half against the Cardinals. AJ, how do you see it going?

So I was leaning Seahawks early on in the show. I talked about it earlier. I heard Conman talk about the Cardinals and what they have going. I understand that. I think Cardinals are a little bit banged up on the other line. We'll see. I know there's some questionable guys on the injury report, but I'm going to take the Seahawks on the road behind this fearless Sam Donald. I think the Seahawks find a way that I think they get it done.

I think they win by six, seven, ten, who knows. Okay, on that note, Rappaport just reported that Zach Charbonne, who is listed as questionable for the Seahawks, is expected to play tonight against the Arizona Cardinals. He'd been dealing with foot injury, but it was full participant in practice just yesterday. Okay, so we should see one of their best players on the field. Jackson Smith and Jigba for the Seattle Seahawks leading the NFL in receiving

And then on the other side, Kyle Murray and the boys It's hard for me to be even I used to bet on the Cardinals a lot Remember that? It was like two years ago I was like Collar Because of shots and explosives

Yeah, I was going to make some Kyle plays, but you know Some highlight real place for sure It was mostly because I believed in collar Like I think I've always believed in collar I've lost a lot of bets believing in collar Beginning of the year though Normally they start out pretty good

two and one thus far. Would the Cardinals go three and one? Oh, that's an interesting thing. If they're three and one, you've got to have a conversation about the Cardinals all of a sudden. Especially if they get a winner over the Seahawks, only lost being to the Niners. Now, Grant, they're going to have to get that back later in the year, you would think. But are the Cardinals for real, are the Arizona Cardinals going to, Gumpy really liked them. Gumpy really liked them because the percentage of people that are betting on the Seahawks.

Is that the only reason why? Is there any other reasons, Gumpy? No, not at all. Absolutely. I've just been riding that and it's been working, you know? Let's just, prime time games. If you fade the public, you usually got a pretty good shot. Okay, 70 plus percent, too, is a no-brainer for you? Is there any number? If it was like 55, 45, 45, would that be a sway for you?

Once you get over 60, I start to worry a little bit. Like, it was very loud that the Ravens were just going to smack the lions. I know the lions are very different than the Cardinals, obviously. Also rivalry jerseys tonight. Oh, my God. Arizona sent us. Yeah, the sandstorm. In the box, yeah.

Dittl a little. Is that sandstorm? Oh, yeah. This is the new color rush? Oh, it's a rude. Sandstorm. That's their thing. They actually sent us their uniform.

Can we get the helmet? Gumpie has it on. Yeah, Gumpie has the helmet. I don't think we can see it. Can you come out here, Gump? Yeah, Gump, can you come out to the light? It was once in the shade, and it was in a box that was filled with sand, actually. The Arizona Cardinals sent a package to the Thunderdome with Sunderdom with

sand inside of it. Ficked off. Spilled everywhere. A lot of seconds. Are you serious? Yeah, I was not here whenever it was open, but from what I heard,

not a lot of happy parties in the Thunderdome that they put actual fucking sand in the box. With that being said, what they pulled out of the sand? Greatness. This thing looks sick.

Great color. Obviously, Gumpy looks more athletic than he's ever looked because of this helmet. Turned to the side there a little bit gumps. Oh. Okay.

In a uniform, I assume, is going to match. Did a uniform coming to box of sand? Yes. There's a Marvin Harrison, To bang his head on the wall a little bit, see if it works. Yeah, is it a tough... Above the chips, Bill.

I think you can hit the... I think you can hit one of these pillars, Gumpch, see if it's a good helmet or not. Take a couple of headbuts. Oh, my goodness. Okay, and now Gump's, because you are... You look like Kyler kind of out there. Let's go ahead and do a universe shot here. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. Let him throw... Drop back a little bit, scramble around with your Kyler. Yeah, you got to... Take the helmet off and then we'll get you. I'm muckle it. Oh, no. Your bud?

That's a sick jersey. That's a game jersey. That's how tight they are. That's a legit jersey. Looks good. Good teamwork. Oh, those are sweet. Now we talk.

Now we're talking. Is that a professional athlete? All right, cops. You look like Kyler. Okay. All you need to do now, this is for Arizona, this is universe right here. Yeah. This is something you would wear in public on a regular day.

So I do appreciate the fact that, you know what, that can be yours, bud. Wow. That's yours. Now, Arizona Cardinals win tonight if you put that football into this hoop right over here. And that's big. It's a lot of pressure here on the throwing arm of Gumpy that is not, normally the best. Grew up playing soccer.

Grew up a soccer player. Ransom sprints this morning, actually. Could be a little bit tired. True. Could be a little bit winded, but he knows the fate of the game tonight is literally in his hand. Good.

That's a great play action. Oh, left hand, too. Both hands. Yeah, I like left hand, left leg too there. That's very athletic. Pitch, is a good play. AJ, anything to say? Gump here before he hucks one out here.

Can we get someone to give him a shotgun snap? They don't have to take it under center, but shotgun, he can move around a little bit. Absolutely. Like he's Kyler? Shotgun snap. There you go. Call it, Gump. He said call.

Yep. Lou, 42. Yep. Okay. Up. Get in. All right. That looks like there's kick-ups.

I thought that was going in for sure. That looked like a squip. That looked good to be. He definitely got the laces. That I'm dumb laughing on the flas. I'm not playing you're fucking here. And on that note, I'm picking a Seahawks. Okay.

I was thinking about it. I was thinking about it. I would have let you know. If he would have put that in, I was going to pick the Cardinals. He looked so good in that uniform that they're going to wear tonight. I almost picked the Cardinals strictly because of that. It's a good duty. But I like the Seahawks.

I do. And it's week four. You know. Are the pants that color, dude? I think so. I think it's probably a while. What's the rookie? What's the rookie?

What's the rookie? really really in that uniform what's that brother yeah that's the rookie receiver Tori Horton that guy's legit too he's he's emerging as a star he had the 90 yard kick at Cooper Cup too man

why do we keep forgetting about Cooper Cup true true I did not remember Cooper Cup right there yeah he just said his name good football team he killed the Steelers that's a Steelers fan in the back

saying they're a good football team let's never forget it catching ball at your own five obviously an aggressive decision unless you're going to crib that thing yeah wow he's very oh shit yeah he

He caught a touchdown in this game, too. Oh, punter just got absolutely fucking killed. Can he go back a little bit? Hold on. What a good block. I did not know that that punter got fucking murdered like that. Way to put the body on a... No!

Oh, no. And the arm straight out. Oh, no. Hey, Powell. Boom! Did he see him or did he? He wasn't trying to take it on the block, I feel like. I don't know if he didn't see it.

We, okay, Foxy. Jeez, Bruce, whoever's in, whoever's doing this right now. Let's take it easy. The guy already lived it 10 times. in his own brain. His brain is probably bouncing back and forth. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I guess he didn't see the guy

or maybe he thought he was going to get around him. I don't know. We need to stay out of that area, though, brother. That's one of those areas we need not be in. That's where Kevin Huber was. You remember that? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

You're either back or you're all the way in. You're either all the way in and they didn't block you so you're past everything or you are last line. You're at the back. If you're anywhere in that other area, that's called the mixer. And you can be the one that's getting mixed, basically.

that is where you need not be I appreciate that he stuck his face in the fan though yeah I give him credit he did go into the mixer he didn't come out of the mixer that was last time we saw that man who was that who is the punter for the Saints

oh man I don't know if we need to do that what to Connor's point that was a great punt he fucking murdered that ball yeah is it Kai Kroger I think it's Kai Kroger cool player No one's current punter is Kai Kroger who signed

I was South Carolina. Oh, yeah, I remember him. He's a good punter. He's willing to go in there. I give him credit for honestly putting his head in there. Agreed. And that punt, if that's not caught, probably goes out of bounds at like the four. I mean, that's a great punt. He hit an absolute bomb in the corner, and then all of a sudden, I'm going to ruin your life

is what he said. Yeah, that's what the returner said. That was fun. You did a good job. Let's make sure you remember this as a terrible experiment. All right, football kicks off tonight. Rider Cup begins tomorrow. Life is amazing. We had a chance to catch up with Stanford, Steve, what's about to happen on Saturday, great lineup of college football.

It's another football convo, college football convo, with Stanford. Steve, AJ, have you downloaded this show? Oh, yeah. I saw last week. That was week one, wasn't it? No, that was week two. I was week two last week? Wake up, boy.

I've seen both of them. It has its own podcast thing. It does. You can download. RSS feed, right? Yeah. Bingo, started one from zero there. Could have just snuck it in under ours doing the entire thing.

Didn't want to do that. Wanting to show respect to college football have its own entity. I think it has its own socials already. We're starting up there. So, you know, good luck to that college football show. But it's great catching up with Stanford Steve every week. Awesome. He wore that bandana thing, the...

Matia? Mm-hmm. Defer? Oh, yeah. Yeah. You and I thought of at the same time. Thanks, Steve. That was two weeks ago.

He played a game in between. Maybe it was late. They won the game day after Steve won it. You're right. That's a good point. Okay. but maybe he was just like on a wagon and it got their way after

Sooners and that's what they ride in He did tweet today though The surgery went well boomer sooner He said Dr. Chin's the best or something Shinn, Jesus I knew it was along those lines Shin Yeah, Dr. Shin

Could have been Dr. Chin He is Doug Goat Yeah When's he back? So they got a couple weeks here before Texas And I don't know what the expected return time is but it felt like the way everybody was talking is he's going to be back for important football. Yeah, Red River.

They were hoping that they said hopefully by the end of October. That's? Yeah, it's tough. I was going to say, yeah. He's coming back early. I think so. If we know anything about material. What if he plays lefty?

He could. Run the ball 80 times. Why not? He's built like a horse. Drop back lefty and just play a whole game as a drop back lefty can. Matt Zenitz, M. Zenits, who I do not. know, but he says, I appreciate his intel and his family. Lovely. The current hope is that Oklahoma Star quarterback John Mateer will be back before the end of October, says CBS Sports.

Michael Hawkins will take over for Mateer, whom ESPN had previously reported was expected to miss about a month. Number 7-0 has a buy this week. Then please, Kent State, Texas, South Carolina, and Ole Miss. Okay, before the end of October. So who knows if he's back for Red River? That's the 11th. That's what I'm betting on. You think? Because Mattier? It's a tough son of a bitch. It's the 25th, two weeks. And Dr. Shin is The goat. We all know that.

All right, so is Stanford Steve. That's what we're learning. He brings it every week. He does. He does. We get a whole Tuesday night, the whole thing. That's what it's about to be. And that's very kind of him to do that.

We are very appreciative of him to do that. And also this college football slate, AJ, how's Ohio State going to be? How is Ohio State going to be? We've got a big test at Washington. It is a legit test. They're a good squad, and that's a tough place to play. Matt Roles said it.

I think tone told me yesterday, 33 game. 33 is Georgia. 22 is Washington. Okay, 22 straight home wins for Washington. 33 for Georgia down there as Alabama comes in. Wow. Yeah, we dive into all of that. And have enough people said to Ohio State, like, hey, tough place to play.

Like, don't sleep on Washington. Eight and a half point spread as of the other day. I don't know where it's at right now. I think it's down actually to seven-ish. Can you pop that tweet back up about, home win streaks. Who's home streak is at risk this weekend? Does anyone think Oregon and Bama's going to lose their home win streak this weekend?

Yeah, I thought that was weird. And they're just putting the longest active win streaks out. The question you're talking about the words, it's like whatever team's social media account tells us we're about to see highlights and we get one play. Yeah, you're right. But I do appreciate the information that's coming from. Good information. Yeah, that is a good graphic. 33 down in Georgia, that's a tough place to play a lot of dogs.

between the head is down now. Yeah, especially with how I'm going down? I got to text from a couple of bulldogs, actually. What did I say? I don't want a name drop, but I'm going to. Colt Ford just texted me. He said, go dogs. Go, Doug Ford.

Yeah, Col Ford. So go dogs. Apparently Gilbert talked to him last week after I picked against the dogs. Why did you do that? That's what he said. Overtime win over Tennessee. He felt even better. He felt even better.

Georgia might be all the way back. Cole Ford sings that song. Which one? Do it. that one cold for it's got bangers who the fuck is cold for i'm sorry i don't know that i'm sorry i'm sure i'm sure this is bad i can't play this i can't play i can't just to play the songs i can't just can't get is there a photo out there you need

to just go spot five okay you've heard five the one like fucking toes somewhere insane no that's zach brown he's also a dog he's also a He's also a dog fan, I believe. Yeah, Zach Brown also from Georgia, you know, the highway, Tony Ride over there, yeah. Just, you just maybe Colt Ford would be a good discovery for you. I think Cole Ford's not my cup of tea. No, I think he is, actually. Okay, I'll try.

What are you expecting from the name Colt Ford? Cold beer. Probably, probably exactly what I heard when I was at the HACC 500. Okay. What do you think it is? What do you think it is? Yeah, liquor in my cabinet, fucking beer in my gut, fucking meat on the grill. So what?

I'm sweet. That's what I assume. I don't think he's, he would take him by surprise. Cole Ford has bars. Okay. Yeah. Cole Ford has lived a life now. Go Ford has lived a life.

I'm excited for you to discover him. If we pull up a photo, I'm sure I know. I don't. To be honest, I'm not a hundred percent sure if you would, if you did see a photo of him. And also what he looks like now versus what he has looked like, very different. I think he had a couple life situations kind of take place. Reform Faso? I think so, yeah.

Okay. has taken care of himself has been forced to I think but bangers in the set list you should dive into court for it but what I'm saying is all the Georgia fans are happy with where Georgia is right now should be

there's one woman that's talks about more anybody else in all sports yeah that's true just calling plays Carly or say no sister Jean I know she retired she did I don't know if she's still getting talked about as much as she should be

You got in an emina, Bob. Yeah, Enemone of Patre, Pellini, but I think the one you're talking about. Taylor Swift, I think. Taylor Swift is part of sports. She gets talked about a lot in sports. Yeah.

Right? Yeah. I think probably a lot. A lot. A lot. Ceylon Clark, Kelsey Mitchell now. Asia Wilson, just won the MVP. Serena.

Serena. Do you know the answer to this? I do not It was on cover of Us Weekly or US Weekly Oh yeah okay I knew this answer I don't

I'm cool with whatever I am cool with whatever Whatever Bill Belichick wants to do She runs digital and social I think every team has those people That do that and they are around Okay so if that's They are always around

So if that is who is running that I know a lot of people don't love it especially her being on the sideline and all the drama and attention, especially with how the team's playing. But like social people are around nowadays, more so than ever before. So if she is the designated social person for team and Bill decided that or whoever decided that, they should be around, I think, regardless. Saying you're the most talks about women in sports is a wild, that's a wild thing. I think that is a wild. That is an absurd thing to put out there, but also it feels like they're working at all times.

they're always working always got something cooked up do you think that obviously not expected it out of Bill do you think Bill likes it though at this point that they're always working I don't know all I know is

I got my name I got his name tattooed on my arm and if this continues down the same path I'm just going to have to cut my arm off no yeah so no we'll see what happens

what do they win football games no maybe they do it sucks because I grew up in Belichick has always been Bill Belichick. Whatever the fuck's going on down there sucks. I think him going to college was a huge mistake and I think

everyone's realizing it now. And I love Bill. He damn near fucked the last 20 years of his life up. No, no. But that's fine. There are people saying that this is

a Jason Whitten in a booth type situation where people forgot how good Jason Witten was at football when he went into that booth because he was heard by every football fan in America every single week. And it wasn't the most comfortable place, I think, for him or the best setup. So people forgot how good of a football player he was. He had to go play football again a reminder about, hey, hey, the reason why that happened is because how good a football player I am, how good of a teammate I am, how good, all those things. I think they came back to being positive. But he got really negative there for a while for Jason Witten's brand as a whole. Right now,

Bill Belichick's brand, he's very low. I mean, I mean, Jason Witton got back. He did. I don't think Bill's getting back anymore. Good run. Maybe they win. ACC, Dada.

I hope. Who gives a fuck? He was winning Super Bowl. The ACC, that's tough league. Dabob's sweetie's talking about it. Eight out of the last 10 years were in the league. Dabo's getting fired. I mean, who gives a fuck?

Yeah, so maybe Bill goes down to Clemson. You know, maybe. Yeah, there you go. He needs a different call. He runs down the hill. He runs down the hill, just like Dabba. I'm telling you I don't love it I don't love the way everybody responds to everything

the bill does you know but everything Bill does now we all go that ain't what wild the whole thing is wild but he's having a different era hey there's different eras of this entire thing most talked about woman in sports I guess we're talking about

so she said that yeah we did she said that yeah we kind of leaned in we're part of the problem I mean I think most people would say they'd hear that from her and they'd say she would say that and on that note

we hope everybody's happy. Yeah, we do. And after Bill's retired from coaching after winning an ACC champion here in a couple of years, we assume, or if he gets back into the NFL, whatever happens, which I don't know if that's going to happen

at this case, because I think owners are a pretty big, like, higher on brand-type people, I think. I don't know if anybody's going to sign up for all of it at this point, especially if they're not having success in North Carolina.

But we got to remember whenever he's done coaching football, which, whenever it is, we will still remember the greatness, right? Yeah. Right? No matter what? Banners last forever. Right, AJ?

Yeah, I think some old people will, for sure. What about, are we old? You know, younger, you know, yeah, I'm old, so I know. I remember when the Patriots had their dynasty, but, you know, like, young kids have no clue. And by young kids, I mean 28-year-olds. Yeah, but 100 years from now, when they tell the story of the NFL, guess whose name is going to be there for 20 years? Bill Belichick, so he will never die. but as people who were fans of him throughout this whole thing,

people who were fans of him when he was the head coach of the Patriots, I think for a lot of people, after that, it will be hard to separate the two, no doubt. He is living his life, right? So we should be happy for him. This won't survive 100 years. The six Super Bowls he won will. I think it might.

AJ, don't be. What are you? What are you doing? He was on our... Last impressions publicly, you know, like, I think it might. AJ, it didn't even last 25 years for Ray Lewis, brother. What? I think you know what.

No, but I'm saying that's, well, I mean, we can go, I think a lot of the worst stuff in people's careers gets forgotten, I think, which it should because of what they give. Unless it's the end, which is, I think, what he's saying. He's saying our last impression is going to be. I think it's an NFL gig and wins a Super Bowl. Well, that's not going to happen. Whoa. We don't know that. It could.

I mean, do we know if Tom Landry dated some point? 25-year-old when he was done with coaching, I don't know if we do because we don't remember that stuff. But he coulda. But old guys. Yeah. Bill Belichick. He's living. He's in a vastly different life than any of us could have expected. Yeah. Yeah, he's losing. Hey, as long as he's, he's all in and he's happy. Valid. I don't think anyone anyone could have expected him to lose down there in North Carolina. Caput Hill is beautiful, though. God, it is. So nice. That first drive, too. We were there. Nice golf course.

Country Glibrator Exactly Pais on Lombardo's Literally in a cave Love you, Mike We do love you Lombo We got faith in you guys Takes time

It takes time Build your roster There's people saying Some really mean things Oh yeah People Trying to sue I think The whole thing

Trying to get them Really I'm thinking There's a lot of shit Going around down there As soon as he got there There's just been a lot It's been a

But if you You win games, guess what? All goes away. That's football, baby. It's always going to be a year two. And then year three. And then another one. A magazine cover two.

And then another one. They didn't pose for that, to their credit. What? It's a picture from a while ago. We know that. A picture from a while ago that they posed for. They didn't pose for a cover of a magazine. They didn't bring them into a studio.

We're on the cover of us weekly. Yeah, and they definitely didn't pick that photo either to be used as the cover. I think she may have had some. created control over which picture was used. If this relationship, unfortunately, doesn't work, I can't wait for Bill to be the Golden Bachelor. Oh, yes. Boom.

How do you think about him? There it is. This relationship is going to work. I said if it unfortunately doesn't. And he's the Golden Bachelor and she's the Bachelorette. We'd like to put him fastest on, unfortunately. Yeah. If it unfortunately does not.

But we think it will work out, especially with how committed he seemingly is. Because we love, love. I mean, he's got to be fully committed to this. Yeah. He's on magazines. He's doing Instagram. He's doing the entire thing.

So we are happy for him, but boy, they got to win some fucking games. They got to win some games. All right. Be your friend, tell him something nice. Hey, here's something nice to a friend up down there in North Carolina. You guys need to start winning games really soon, really fast. Okay, it's going to get really low. You know that, though.

You guys have been born in it. They'll figure it out. I don't like the most tough. It's like Taylor Swift actually. She's sports girl. Yeah. That's Jordan. That's Jordan football

We're in this thing together, never forget it Let's enjoy tonight Are we all in the Seahawks? No You're on the Cardinals? I like the Under Cardinals. Gump's on the Cardinals, right? Toxitables both on the Cardinals.

Yeah. I like the under. 40 and a half, you like the Under. Yeah. Gump, you're on the Cardinals. Yeah. All of a sudden, are you starting to wonder that everybody else is on the Cardinals

with your kind of thing? It's a percentage. It's not this rule. Bruce, who do you like? I'm with Tony on the under. I would take the Seahawks if it was a gun to my head. Same. Nick?

Go, Hawks, go. It's a good football team. Steelers need Seahawks. You're going to see a guy Wilson for the Cardinals. And I only know this because I've watched it live twice. This guy brings a fucking wood. It's not just Buddha anymore. There's another guy back there.

Safety? I believe he's, I don't know if he's a safety. If he plays linebacker, if he's like Harold Perkins Jr. but he fucking flies around. I can't wait to watch him. Loran Landry wanted to be safety d-end. That's kind of what it reminds, hmm? Okay, I like that.

I like that. And it was possible at that time. All right, AJ, it feels like we're kind of on an island right now. We are. I'm holding strong, though. 73% island. No, no, that's people we don't know. Oh, yeah, we don't know that.

Talk about our friends. And that number, who knows? On that, rest and peace, can sick. Hell yeah. Have a great night. this is a dream come true of getting to talk ball for a living and the fact that you guys let us do this we're incredibly thankful for another football convo with stanford steve follows this let's have an incredible night team on me team on three one two three team goodbye