The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1431 - TNF Preview, Nebraska Head Coach Matt Rhule, Mike McCarthy, Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti, Andrew Whitworth, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

On today's show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys preview tonight's Thursday Night Football game between the Steelers and the Bengals, why the line is Steelers -5.5, and some other storylines floating around the NFL as we enter week 7. They are also joined by several great guests including Nebraska Head Football Coach Matt Rhule, Super Bowl Champion and former Head Coach of the Cowboys and Packers, Mike McCarthy; Indiana Head Football Coach Curt Cignetti, and Super Bowl Champion, Walter Payton Man of the Year, TNF on Prime panelist, and tonight's Ruler of the Jungle, Andrew Whitworth.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 Humber the Boat. The Thunderdome. On this NFL week seven kickoff Thursday, October 16, 2025, this program begins now. Football! It's magical, and the NFL kicks off its seventh week this evening as an AFC North battle will take over Amazon Prime. Kirk and I will be on the call as Aaron Rogers and Joe Flacco. You know, a couple OGs in the league. A couple old guys, made men, if you will, Super Bowl champions.

People that have made over hundreds of millions of dollars playing football will lead two teams that they are very new to. One, very, very, very new to. The other, in his first season, as the quarterback and commander of the offense that is doing better than it has done over the last seven years. Aaron Rogers looks good. And here's a little stat that came from Hembo this morning. This Pittsburgh Steelers' offense, they're number one in the league in yak yardage.

Okay. Seven point something average yak for every single pass. Cincinnati Bengals defense, worst in the league and giving up yet. I don't know if that's tackling or coverage or angles or leverage, but we do know that potentially what the Pittsburgh Steelers do well on offense, the Cincinnati Bengals defense does not do well at all. Actually, worst in the league. First, first, worst. Anytime you see that type of stuff, you have to wonder what it's going to look like. And then on the flip side of that, Cincinnati Bengals' offensive line hasn't really been able to protect any of the quarterbacks to play quarterback for Cincinnati Bengals, which is not a good thing because that's what the offensive line is supposed to do.

Right. Then you think about, well, who's rushing a passer tonight? Well, it's a lot guys. You got Big Cam Hayward. His head, the size of that stadium they're going into. And we know Andrew Whitworth is a ruler of the jungle, but Cam Hayward's head alone could rule a jungle. Okay, that's how big his head is. And then you got Herbig Ouse coming into his absolute own. And then T.J. Watt, he didn't have a great PFF rating. Okay, not even the best in his own game at one point. but he's coming off a fresh ass beating of the Cleveland Browns. It seems like this defensive line could want to hunt. Then you think about Jalen Ramsey.

What a perfect off-season pickup for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They spend money for the first time, long time, and pay people a lot of cash to come join what they have and seemingly go all in. They've already had a buy week. They're four and one right now, looking to become five and one. They'd be the third team in the NFL to become as such.

And that could happen in a divisional game that is kind of reminiscent of the entire division. Cleveland Browns, they are what they is. Okay, they are what they is. Tony Rizzo will tell you what they is. And we appreciate the hell out of Tony Rizzo. The Baltimore Ravens, boy. Uh-oh.

What the hell is going on over there? Yikes. They should be good on paper, whenever they're healthy. Are they ever going to be healthy? Is this a year where they're like San Francisco 49ers and they're just not healthy? They just happen to not have any good fortune from the football gods. So are they going to stink forever?

Maybe they make a run late here when Lamar Jackson comes back after the buy, which is certainly possible. And then the Cincinnati Bengals team, I mean, they're on the third quarterback. They traded in the division, Joe Flackner doing his thing. Trey Hendrickson, the whole offseason storyline. What's going to happen with him? He was the odd man out that wasn't paid while he had a back issue.

Now it's his hip thing he's on the injury report for. Trey Hendrickson, hip, he is questionable for tonight's Thursday night football. He's obviously a valuable piece of that defense. If he's playing on a short week after an injury on Sunday, if he's playing on a short week, that's obviously better for them than worse for him. But whenever you look at everything going on between these two teams, it's hard not to be like five and a half. doesn't feel like enough.

True. But boy, oh boy, these sports books have been winning. Let's go to one half of the Hammer. Die Cowboys AP Tone. You are a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, obviously, through and through. Not a University of Pittsburgh fan, but a Pittsburgh Steelers fan through and through. And five and a half for the Pittsburgh Steelers with the way these storylines are. And there's a stat, obviously, that's been floating around.

I think our show might have even started it off of Hembo's brain. And we're not claiming that. Everybody says the same shit on TV in different ways. Mike Tomlin is 0 and 6, okay, or something in the division on Thursday night football. That is a very real stat. Like, there's coaches that are very good after by weeks. Tomlin's one of them, I believe. There's a lot of, like, situational games that coaches are good at and coaches are bad at.

Thursday night football against divisional opponents, opponents that know you very well, is not good for Tomlin, has not voted well. But in this case, this is a brand-new Bengals. I mean, Joe Flacco's playing for the Bengals now. He's played everywhere else. What do people say here? What is the percentage of money on? this particular game and how do you feel as a Pittsburgh

Steelers? So to your point, Coach Tomlin, 15 and 4 after a buy after last week, so he's good in those situations. Thursday nights in general. Two and nine on Thursday nights, just in general. On the road against the division opponent, O and 6th. So that is the situation tonight. The spread is

Steelers minus 5 and a half. The money 51% is on the Bengals tonight. So maybe they're seeing those stats. Or... I'll take Steelers minus 5.5 a half. It's a 51% So I would be on the minority here? Yes.

Yeah. Okay, that's why I wanted to do this week anyways. That was my entire move this week because I've been getting my ass beat by the NFL book. And I've been thinking alongside everybody else been thinking. And how have bets gone that have everybody else has been thinking tone this year? So 60% or more, we're looking at 15 and 36 now. Teams that are getting 60% or more are 15 and 36. And the 60% or more bets are the obvious ones that we think.

Yes, correct. This is a very good team taking on poop team. This ain't enough. this is what's going to happen. So we all get excited about it. I've been riding that wave. And I decided this week, don't pass line. No pass line.

Okay. Okay. You guys are rolling the dust. I'm sitting with the house. Okay, I'm looking for you to hit a seven. Okay, that is what I am waiting on this week. That is one of my main things I'm looking at, because it feels like these sports books.

And, you know, there's always like a, the public will come back. The public will come back. Sure. That's always the thought. What if AI's gotten too damn good? What if we don't come back? I mean, last year, the public started the hottest they've ever been in history of sports books.

And then the books got back at the end of the season. Now the books have been hot to start this season. And obviously, you know, you know, Mike, I was wondering, like, why are the Bengals 51% or whatever? You know, maybe people have seen the Mike Tomlin trend. There's a lot of people who still don't believe in the Steelers. Also on primetime games this year, favorites have lost six of the last seven on primetime so far this year. Dogs are now 12, 9, and 1 straight up. Dogs this year on primetime have a winning record.

They're 15 and 7 against a spread at night. That's the first time since 2002 that dogs are over 500 on primetime after week six. It's got the tail of the tape. A lot of numbers coming out here. A lot of records. Look at these. Yeah. What is this?

4 and 1. Don't look at it. I'm not looking at it. Don't look at it. I don't listen to staff. Look how bad the Bengals look. But also there's a lot of big double digits on the left side. The number on the left, the biggest it can be, is three.

You're right. Okay? So you see a lot of twos in there. It's like, I didn't know any of this, especially after watching them. They look so efficient. But you can pluck stats that you want to make your case. Bingo. You can plucks you.

Now, I'm hearing a lot of stats that are potentially going away I'm thinking, against the way I'm thinking. Because for me, Aaron and Tomlin, okay? Aaron, we can say, right, one of the best offensive minds in the history of football? No doubt. Yeah. Old school, West Coast offense. Any of the run out, has seen it all, has done it all. He's been around forever.

I'm not saying he's the only one who's played football for a long time at quarterback position. I think everybody that plays quarterback for 20 years in the NFL should be deemed a great offensive mind. And I think if they were all to retire and do any media or break down the things, we'd all say, wow, that was really smart. So, yeah, Drew Breeze is doing that shit right now. Drew Breeze, great offensive mind, okay?

And whenever he's saying shit, it's like, hey, wow. This guy knows what he's talking about, huh? Yeah, it's like, no shit. This guy completed, like, 75 straight passes or whatever it is. So let's assume Aaron, good offensive mind. Artie Smith, right, has shown to have great success on the offensive side. Tomlin, good defensive mind, I think we can all agree on forever. Austin, D. Coordinator, right?

Yeah, Harold. Good. So I think this year, they feel Cam Hayward, Jalen Ramsey on that side of the ball. I think they feel as if, like, there's a lot of good minds coming in. Don't it feel like they're kind of changing each week? feels like they're getting better and better. And then you go back to Jalen Ramsey whenever he was on the pivot from training camp

and he said, whenever I heard what Aaron's Y was, I was all in. It's like they all have the same mindset and it feels like it is very much a fuck everybody mindset that's happening and kind of going all in. So I think they only going to get better and better each week. So I think this Thursday night trend doesn't really fit because this is a brand new Steelers team.

Like this is not the same old Steelers. It is a very different Steelers team, I think. So, yeah, and you say that, and that's what I, like, that's what I want tonight because the same old Steelers team of the last five years would play with them tonight, would have to win on a last second field goal, it would look ugly. Like, Ty, last week, wanted the Green Bay Packers to come out of the buy and bury the Bengals. And they did not, and he was not happy with that game. Now, on this Thursday night football, I would love the Steelers to come and bury the Bengals tonight. Let's get on to the next week. So if it's a situation where it's close and they're hanging around and, like, yeah, the chance we're going to be disappointed tonight.

Like, I would love for them to just put this one away, look like a good football team, and we can all be happy. And on the flip side, Ruler of the Jungle, Andrew Weaver was back in time. Big. Joey Flack is back. Jack at home. Again, the place is going to be going crazy. Joe Flack has first night Bengals game in the jungle. I think it's a whiteout, too.

Oh, Joey Flack is going to love that. He's going to be all over the place. Jamar Chase is going to go crazy. You know, he's already expecting a tough one. A very tough one. A raw toughling. Yeah, you're right. That is what he is expected on it.

It's going to be a physical fight. We would assume it's AFC North football. But the Bengals where they're at, in the conversation around them, it sucks for them. Okay. Anytime your multiple $100 million quarterback gets hurt and your entire offense hinges upon him and everybody you paid is hinging upon him doing his job perfectly. Anytime that person's missing, you're in a bad spot. So we have a lot of empathy for the Cincinnati Bengals.

that sucks that happens. Godspeed to Joey Burrow, by the way. We love watching him play football. But he's kind of their thing. So the negative narrative about the Cincinnati Bengals, I think it is a valid one whenever people talk about them on the field. But on that note, you get a couple of these wins. Zach, keep the boys motivated.

Without a doubt. You know, you can really flip it. Now, if you lose this one, prime time bad, you got Trey Hendrickson is still looming before the trade deadline here. Like, hey, this is the final year on contract. You might be able to get something for them. Okay, you might be able to get something for them. for him here, as opposed to just letting them walk in free agency after this season, which is what

you guys agreed to whenever you added $13 million to his contract. So it's like a lot of shit can happen tonight after this game, I think, in the AFC North. Yeah, I agree. It's almost like, you know, if they, I don't want to say delay in the inevitable, but like you said, like Tray Hendrickson's name is mentioned in every single trade deadline piece. Like ESPN just put out one today. They're already pontificating like, hey, well, Bengals lose tonight. Does Tray Hendrickson get traded to a team like Detroit who, you know, like is really buying. So I mean, but I'll tell you what, like the Bengals came out and they played with the Packers last week. They looked more alive than they had in several weeks. So maybe you're thinking,

hey, you know, shot in the arm with Joe Flacco here. Let's go win some football games. Who do you like? You were pretty animated as there was a lot of stats being said. Yeah, I think now and Big Mike is going to talk about it later when he comes on, but he sent over some stuff he wanted to mention. And I think one of the things specifically is kind of just about, hey, the teams are what they are now. We're not in the, hey, let's figure out who we are. We're middle of October now. And I love the all-white jerseys. I mean, that damn near flipped me. But this is AFC North Football. It's O-Line D-Line. And that's all that really Howie, thank you. And that's all that really matters when it comes to these type of games.

So you add in the Rogers factor. I think Tomlin was really pissed about Flacco because he knew, hey, if we got a bite out of the Jake Browning app, we don't even have to get ready for this game. And now I actually do have to go coach a little bit during the week to get ready for Joey Flack. But the Jamar thing, I mean, Joey Flacco has been talking about how awesome it is. Like, Jamar Chase is great. I mean, he can do anything. I basically just throw it up to him. Tomlin's going to probably double triple Jamar Chase, maybe let T. Higgins go off tonight.

The two tight ends that are out, that's big. But the Bengals do have Noah Fant who they got in free agency. So probably a huge night for him if he's getting used. If Flacco can get rid of the ball. I really don't know if the Steelers D-line, after Tomlin comes out and buries the entire trade, is going to let that fly. So as of a few moments ago, ESPN bet moves to four and a half. So everywhere else still at five and a half. ESPN bet currently minus four and a half.

So if you'd like to bet on the Steelers, ESPN bet currently has minus four and a half for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Everybody else is still at minus five and a half. I think that was a good move by us getting that up so quickly. That's good work in the back there. ESPN bet right now minus four and a half for the Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Steelers. If you like the Steelers, that's probably a good place to go. The village.

What do we think? What do we think? Put the village on it, people. We don't know. This is not gambling advice. No, no, don't say that. Don't say that. It's not.

It's not. Yeah, do not say that. Yeah, we need to knock it into that. But just from our football minds and tomorrow's show could be a lot of, see, that's why we don't know shit. I'm sorry. Yeah, it could be a lot of that. That is daily. football that is daily sports conversations because these games can go so many different ways but right

in my mind when i woke up i guess it was a couple days saw the early spread and then this morning morning day of spread what it is and i saw it i'm just so confused this is just something that it's like this feels like two very opposite teams two very different vibes to everything else and everything i believe in is like vibes of team matter that's like kind of my thing like yeah matters and they are all locked in in Pittsburgh. They are Super Bowl-minded. That is, all goal is. Every work, every, and I'm not saying that they're not, Cincinnati Bengals still working their asses off their professionals, and a lot of them are at the top of the world at what they do, so they want to continue to do that. So I'm not saying that they're mailing it in. But boy, it's a lot different

feeling whenever you're going for a Super Bowl with a lot of great people around you, and everybody is trying to handle their business. In the past, there might be some positions of maybe guys that don't know how hard it is to make it to the Super Bowl, or how hard it is to win a game. So maybe they take a week for granted and for granted means just like losing focus on a couple different situations and that turning an entire game now for the pittsburgh steelers it feels like in a lot of very important positions there's guys that have been around and they know how hard it is to get to the mountaintop and how hard it is to win games just in general so i think there's a different i don't know just from looking outside in it feels like it's a whole different mindset in pittsburgh yeah i mean

you had the leadership was there but then you bring in sleigh won a super bowl last year jalen ransy knows what it takes to get there erin rogers obviously knows to take what it takes what to get there So, like, on every level, every side of the ball, they've added leadership that knows what it takes. DK, obviously, is a closer. And they paid him $30 million a year, never played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. That is the most wild move. I think we've seen the Pittsburgh Steelers ever do. Pay somebody from the opposite country, obviously, I don't say that.

But pay a guy that has never been a Steeler, more money than all of the people that you have in the building. Because Pittsburgh's so old school, it's like a university, like a college. Like, hey, you come here, this is what it is. And then alumni come back and they still do it. like very abnormal for outsider to get all money from inside building because how much they believe in building. And it's worked out very well. And Aaron obviously taking $10 million or whatever it is,

that has helped out immensely. We could pay a lot of our quarterback $10 million. And he's first ballot hall of famer guy. Like that is quite an advantage in an asset to have while they're building this roster as well. Which once again goes back to like, I feel like this team's trying to get to the mountaintop. this team's just trying to literally survive right now. So I don't know anything, I guess, is what I'm learning whenever I look at these things.

When we talk about having a different feeling. Like I have a different feeling seeing Trey Hendrickson on the injury report. Normally in the years past, you see Trey Hendrickson on there? Whatever. He's going to play, sure. Now, I mean, with the injury changing 24 hours ago is a back, like you said, now it's a hip. I have a different feeling with Trey on the injury report. It's like, why would he?

We got to be wrong, though. I don't think so. I think at this point, especially with how you've been seeing the boarding college, I see that kind of now coming over to the end of that. I hope that's the case. Yeah. It's going to be a good game. I don't think so.

See why? Go ahead. Unfortunately, it will be. And you're saying that is obviously a Steeler fan. And I'm saying it as person that has just let off our show for the first 60 minutes going, I'll see how this is even a game tonight. So I do apologize to the people of Cincinnati. And I'm excited to say it's AFC North Football. And I'm excited we're going to get us to see it,

team that is, this team is constructed to go all. This is just like baseball that's happening right now. Okay, so we talked about this earlier in the think tank over there. If the Dodgers go on to win this again, there's going to be a real call for a conversation about a salary cap in baseball because the team that has just spent the most money now. And obviously the Mets have, and it has not worked out for them, they didn't even make the playoffs. But if the Dodgers here go back to back and just become a dominant franchise, and they're also the only ones that are spending the amount of money that they're spending on everything that they're doing, well, all the other franchises might then agree, okay, yeah, we need to maybe go ahead and handle this.

Now, the players are going to have to buy into that as well, and there's players that have multiple $100 million deals that are already been signed, and there's guys that are up for multiple $100 million deals that are potentially the next generation. How do you get them to agree? It's a wild, wild west over there in MLB, but they're trying to kind of corral that right now. But I, personally, if there is no rules against it, I like that the Dodgers are spending more money than everybody in trying to win. I like the Texas Tech down there, obviously in the Big 12.

I like that they had people that were like, hey, we'll spend money. They spend a lot of money. It's working out. I like whenever people try. I like whenever people invest. I like whenever people put money where their mouth is, especially in a competitive atmosphere that you're allowed to do and go for it. Now, the counter to that is, well, how many of those owners exist, though?

Like, and it's like, well, that sucks for them. Then you think you're so, it sucks for the Pittsburgh Pirates forever because this guy's alive. Yeah. And it's like, yeah, kind of. So then people are like, well, do you think we should put some guidelines, a little bit of rules on it? And me is now looking at it from that front. It's like, yeah, you're right. The people in Pittsburgh shouldn't be punished for their entire lives because they have an owner that can never keep up with somebody else.

It's like, well, good a better owner. It's like, this fucking guy won't sell. Okay, this guy will not sell the thing. He's been offered. They've tried. There's been chance. He's taking pictures with people wearing and sell the team shirts right next to him and smiles in the picture and goes, no, not doing it. I'm going to continue to cash, he's checks.

So in Seven Springs, we thought maybe he was going to do a sell-off. I'm selling everything I own. He, nope. He actually came out, hey, guys, back with the Pirates, did a lap around town, did the entire thing. So the people of Pittsburgh now are just going to have to pay for that, I guess, forever, is kind of the opposite argument. Like, because I have respect for the teams. Big time, yeah. I like that.

Just as a athlete, former athlete and also a person that enjoys sports and enjoys, like, competitors in greatness. It's like the people that spend every moment of their life trying to be great. They're more committed than other people. I like whenever they have success. The people that are willing to do what other people aren't willing to do with whatever to make it happen. It's like, I like when that happens. Now, if it backfires, I like that too. That's like, you dips shit.

Yeah. I enjoy those moments as well. But baseball has to figure that out. And are the Dodgers going to win this thing again? Is that what it feels like at this moment? I mean, it looks like that right now. But like you said, like there is the flip side of it. Like, you know, because guess what?

If you spend all that money and you don't win, like the, Mets, like your ass is on the line big time. You invested so much money and you're not reaping any of that. So it's like, you know, the Dodgers kind of realized that it's just like, hey, you know, it's just money. If we keep winning, like we will make more money. So I, you know, like I saw someone sent that into the group this morning. I have no idea how this plays out because like you said, there are multiple teams who kind of do it this way. The Dodgers have just done it better than everyone else. And right now, even with what happened last night in Seattle, like it's hard to envision a team being able to beat the Dodgers.

because they have so much money, they're just so deep. They have so many players who are good. So if guys get hurt, it doesn't matter. They can just add and add and add at the deadline. So we'll see what happens. Well, and like the Mets, that guy's asses on the line, but even, you know, any sport, you spend a bunch of money,

it doesn't work. Yeah. Your asses on the line. So like, is the different... Penn State? Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So like, yeah, you get fired.

Yeah, you get fired. And the difference, I guess, in an MLB, which is crazy, and the MLB is, like, Like the money difference is just massive, right? Like the Dodgers or the Mets guy, he spent a ton of money, so he's in the shit. But as a Red Sox fan, there's been guys who haven't spent that much money. And then the players they get haven't been good. And guess what?

That guy's still in the shit, no matter whether it's $100 million or $700 million. $229 million difference between the Dodgers and Brewers in their payroll this year. Right. And I think that's what people really is like there, because there are certain players who teams like the pirates or the brewers might be like, hey, we'd be willing to give this guy $100 million or $120 million for seven years. And the Dodgers can basically just come in and be like, oh, well, shit, we'll just, we'll get him 175 over seven years. So it's like that they're, yeah, or 300. You know, there is no convert.

It's just like, hey, if they want a guy bad enough, they can offer him more money than anyone else. So that's why you guys, you baseball people, whenever Paul Skeens is happening, you say he's going to be a Yankee in three years. Or somebody says he's going to be now a Dodger in three years. It used to be a Red Sox? Was it a Red Sox? Yeah, I've been pitching. Yeah, Red Sox do pay a lot of people. But in this particular case, I'm saying as soon as you see a young, good player, when his contract is up.

Especially in a small market team. You know what teams are going to be in. Like, Mets are going to be there. Yes. Is there games? There was a game. Oh, yeah, there was. Yeah.

We watched it. Didn't we were talking about it? I loved it, dude, Vladdy. I mean, I might get a Vlad jersey because Vlad's hotter than a stove brother. He went four for four. Yankees loose. That's Vladdy Daddy, right? If we're talking about the right guy.

That is Vladdy Daddy. And last night, you know, a lot of people saying, hey, this series is over. Well, let me tell you what. The Blue Jays went out and hit five home runs. And absolutely assaulted. Seattle in Seattle. They started in the top of the second Andres Jimenez ties out. He's their

nine hitter. He's not that great. So when you got production from those guys, you know it's going to be a special night. Then George Springer in the top of the fourth solo shot off George Kirby, who was Seattle starter, and then here's Vladdy. Straight away. He was, and this has kind of been the

big thing. He was 0 for 7 in the first two games in this series, and you could probably point to that why the Blue Jays were losing. He was for four last night, and then big tubby, Alejandro Kirk. Big tub? That's not his nickname. That's kind of just what

I like to call it. Big tub. Yeah, big tub, big wobble body, whatever you want to call him. And then a little bit later, Addison Barger rounds out the scoring with another solo homers. So there are eight homers hit in that game last night between the two

teams. So it wasn't very close, but it was very entertaining to watch. And now the Blue Jays this will be a little bit of a fight. It's two one. There's two more games tonight for both sides. Toronto, L.A. would be good for baseball, bad for baseball? See, I don't... Is there anything that's necessarily bad for baseball or

whenever we did the NBA stuff and the Pacers beat the Knicks? Right. You know, we were like kind of forced to read about all the stats about the amount of people you're going to lose out on and viewers and ratings like that because the casual Knicks fan, you're going to lose out on... There's a lot of people that are in that area. There's a lot of people in that market.

So if you lose New York out of anything, it's not going to be great news that's why the NFL would love if one of these teams over there would figure it the fuck out yeah they would love that just because correct the amount of humans that are just in that area that would happen to watch if it was on a primetime game the casuals if you will is a big deal for baseball l a part of it is off that's really all that matters i think like i i don't know i mean i know like blue jays fans are a big deal for me being american like i do not want to see a team from canada win the world series like it just just kind of the way it is like and I don't think

I mean Toronto's a big market obviously so like you know people will care about that but really I think the MLB is just thinking like hey we just need the Dodgers to make the World Series otherwise yeah we might be getting the Thunder and Pacers treatment going into it

oh Tyrese mega star congrats than Netflix they have the Netflix sports I don't think has a clue what they're doing but the stuff that they got going on ends up good yeah so I think that's high production so maybe they do know what they're doing. Congratulations on starting five. We've seen some clips. We've talked to Tyrese, obviously throughout this entire process of him filming. He said filming and everything has been

nothing but like first class, very cool, very thankful. And he shared a lot of very intimate moments with him. And obviously his run, I'm happy that he got it like documented because that was special, man. So cool. Like what Tyrese was going through all the way back from like Olympic, you go through Olympics all the way through. He had some strength. He was hurt. He wasn't in shape. He was hurt. There was times there and Carlisle's team runs. You know, and then the All-Star Break happens and he comes back. And then everything that just kind of leads to it all and then that magical playoff run where he just showed the world what he had been doing here in Indiana for a while. I think people are just kind of getting woken up to it. Just like the Indiana Hoosiers football team, I don't think the world like sees it. We just so happen to be here. So we literally see it all whenever it's happening. If I didn't live in Indianapolis, would I know Tyrese and everything he's about? probably not we just so happen to live here he's awesome dude's a great superstar he's like a perfect face for our team he's uh trying on new hairstyles now he's going through uh he's going

through uh his rehab of his Achilles he's kind of in uh what's that called whenever you're kind of locked in quarantine uh no yeah but uh something uh when you're locked in Oh, Cabin? So Cabin fever? Cabin fever? Is that whenever you're like locked in? Yeah. Yeah. He's in the middle of rehab.

That is he's looking for anything right now. So we got new hair. We've got new this. We got to do this. We're, he's getting through with a very positive mindset. But he is, he's special.

And then obviously the access that they're going to be able to get to somebody, Kevin Durant's in there. It's like, that's goat. Yeah. That's like a goat conversation guy. And he doesn't really do a lot of shit.

You know, he talks to Kay, I think, a couple of different times throughout the season. K Adams on Up and Adams. He did the, David Letterman, my next guest is. That was dope to obviously listen to. And he does some other stuff I think with his boardroom company with Rich

and that, but you don't really see a lot of Kevin Durant. He kind of moves kind of differently than everybody else. Not scared to mix it up on the internet, obviously. He is a legitimate megastar and a goat when it comes to basketball. I hope they show some of the stuff from the Olympics when he just

took it over for our country. That was incredible. So all of this. And then obviously, SGA, like, guy just one MVP. Greatest season ever. At all time, it just got broken off. It should be very good. I think this should be incredible, at least from what we've seen and what we know of who

they're shooting. Yeah, dude, the Olympics stuff. I mean, that's such a good point. Imagine the KD and Ant and like that relationship on the Olympics, them go into, you know, the steps after they always won. And then like Jalen Brown, he wins the finals and then doesn't get picked for the Olympics. Like, I wonder if they have stuff like that. SGA with Canada would be so.

cool. And then what's Jimmy Harden doing? What does he do? Yeah, I don't, we don't even need him on the court. What does James Harden do? That's all I want to know. But yeah, that'll be awesome. And like the Tyrese stuff, the clip of him and Reggie Miller that's already been kind of released like that, I mean, it gives you chills.

Just thinking about what, going back to when that happened for Tyrese and his Achilles and everything. And then just the mindset that, you know, Reggie Miller kind of walks you through that Tyrese might have been going through when he's deciding whether or not he's playing game seven or not. It's like, I mean, I'm getting

chills right now just talking about it just because of what did happen, you know? Because Reggie Miller says, like, go back to game six, look at what happens in game six, and then go to game seven and look what he did. You know, like that is a shit. It really It's good for Tyrese to be able to see it though too. Yeah. You know, like later in life.

His kids, yeah. Relive it, you know, because it was a magical run. And he, you know, he has the mindset of, I can't live with the what ifs. Because what if he drops 45 in game 7. Looked like he was going to. That's not 1,000%.

That's etched in history forever, this dude. He was crazy. Had five game winners throughout to see. Greatest run ever in the playoffs. And in game seven of the final. The last game he goes for 45, which was a possible while being injured already going in. Triple double.

Which I'm excited to see what they cover of that whole process too. When he was hurt, how much was hurt, what was happening, the decision of him going and playing whenever I assume there were some people saying like, don't do this. Don't think you should go right now. him like yeah right dude he's playing out there like he's a mega star he's a superstar we are very thankful that he is in our city now before we get too much further we have to cover a couple things that have hit and then we got an interview with matt rule from this morning before he traveled

to minnesota for tomorrow night's game that i think is a good convoy about college ball uh but there's a video from tua that uh a press conference that i think was handled incredibly well i will say and maybe this is something that is good for the future of the miami dolphins All right, so, you know, I, as a leader of this team, of the Miami Dolphins, you know, the comments that that had been said, I would say I've made a mistake and I'm owning up to that right now. You know, I've talked to guys on a team about it, talk to the leaders about it, and, you know, that they know my heart, they know that the intent was right.

But no matter the intent, you know, the intent can be right, but when things get misconstrued or however the media wants to portray it, you know, that leaves a void of silence and a lot of questions for the guys on our team. Now, being one in five, you know, we talk a lot about, all right, we got to get this going, we got to get this going, come in excited to go to work, forget about the noise. and I feel like I just added on to that for our guys. You know, for myself, I got to look at myself as the leader protecting the team. I don't feel like I did that to the best of my abilities. I felt like I let the emotions of the game get to me after the game. And, you know, that's something that I can learn from as a leader on this team. And what happens in-house should be protected.

And none of that should have gotten out. So I want to publicly apologize about that, want to move forward, and now I want to focus on Cleveland Browns. Got any questions? I love that. Incredible. Opening statement. That would have been the first five questions.

Obviously, this goes back to whenever he was talking about players on his team, showing up later, not showing up at all, the players-only meetings. And everybody was like, hey, dude, shut up. Like, we don't want to hear that. You know, and they talked about leadership being leaders and what they need and everything like that. And everybody's like, hey, we don't want to hear that. And then obviously, every ex-NFL player, every ex-player is like, hey, don't

need that. So I assume that some of that creeped in there. We appreciate the hell out of Tua, immediately owning it and addressing it that way. Maybe that's good news, Gumpy. Maybe this is a good sign of things to come down there in Miami. I think that's real leadership right there what I just saw. Yeah, for sure. I would have, you know, maybe a little bit earlier. Waited until Wednesday, let the coach get ahead of it and say he apologized as well. But I liked what he said. He's got a hurricanes. It's all about the you, baby. On that note, let's talk about some college football.

We got a chance to catch up with head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers earlier today. Riven and Convo. A lot of Penn State chatter right there. Where's there? We'll see. Take a look. Ladies and gentlemen, the head coach

of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Who, hey, don't look now. Everything is still sitting right out there in front of them. Ladies and gentlemen, Matt Roole. Yeah, coach. All right, let's talk about going on the road, getting a win. obviously didn't look good early, you guys end up getting a dub.

What did you learn about your team and how do you feel coming out of Maryland? Well, first of all, let me say this. Maryland's got one of the best young quarterbacks in the country. And we thought, hey, you know, we'll disguise on them. We'll try to fool him. My man didn't get fooled. Malik is a fantastic player. And, you know, we got up 10-0 right off the bat.

And he brought him back. We took the lead again. They took it back. And things didn't look good in the fourth quarter. And we got two fourth stops, two 80-plus-yard drives. It's the first time, Pat, in eight years that the Huskers have taken the ball on offense and gone down and win the game. And so they seem to love it. They were excited about it.

We had 10,000 Husker fans out there. It felt like a home game. It was awesome. I love that. Your Nebraska fans are a real deal, huh, brother? I mean, that is, I think we see that with the volleyball. And obviously, we know from Yes, Man. I know it from Yes, Man, where Jim Carrey goes and loses his mind in it.

But it's like, it's kind of just chatted about, hey, like, the Nebraska fans are very loyal, very passionate. and they show up for their team, even in the thin times through the thick times. Right now with how you guys are building, is there a different level of energy coming from her, or is this who they are all the time, Coach? This is who they are. I mean, I knew we would have a good crowd because when I was looking at this job two years ago in 22, or three years ago in 22, when, you know, the coach had been let go. They weren't going to make a bowl game.

They went to Rutgers, and there has a huge contingent there. It's one thing when people make the hour-long car ride, but our fans flew from all over the country to come into Maryland and be there for that game. And so they deserve to have a good team because they've been there, as you said, they've been there for 60 years showing up every single week and now we're trying to show up with them. It's like an hour and a half before the game too, they're in there, right? It's like the stadium is the hangout. This is the tailgate. We are in here together, right? Isn't that kind of the story over there?

Yeah, in the state of Nebraska on home Saturdays, the Memorial Stadium is the third largest city behind Omaha and Lincoln. And so it just, it's unreal, and they're good fans. Like, it's Nebraska nights. We take care of the other team. We care about the other team. They cheer for good football, and they travel with us. So, you know, it's a Friday night in Minnesota.

You know, you're on the road. At least you know that you're going to have Husker Nation show up. Do you guys have any cool things like during the National Anthem with the Kansas City Chiefs, where you know exactly at a way game, how many Chiefs fans are in there when it's in a home? And you got the home team just like, yeah, it's great to be home here. There's not a lot of Chiefs fans. in here, you know. Of the... And then you hear a third of the stadium.

Chee! And it's like, oh, shit. They're out here right now. What are the Nebraska chance? I don't think I know what the chance are. So we're sitting out... So Maryland has a small locker room. So I literally, Daniel Hogerson and I sat outside on the grass. Like, fans were just could have heckled us if they wanted. We just sat outside for like the two hours before the game.

And like the 30 minutes before they would even let fans in, you could hear go big red chance out in the parking lot. Like they were at the gates, waiting for them to unlock the gates to be able to go in and take over the stadium. And so you hear go big red, go big red. You feel like you feel like you're at home. But that idea, that chief's idea about the national anthem, that might be something Husker Nation will pick up. They would crush that. I'm telling you, it is a good tone setter.

Just in an away game, too, it's like a good temperature check. Like, hey, how many people are here? You know, like Steelers fans all have terrible towels. So you can see them immediately upon away games before the game even starts. It's like, hey, what's it going to be like in here tonight? And then the Chief's getting that thunder, boom, right at the beginning in somebody else's house is beautiful. Happy to hear your fans did that. Let's talk about Friday night action against Minnesota, obviously another Big Ten matchup.

What are your thoughts on their program? You know, PJ Flex's been there for a very long time. Obviously, you guys have everything still very much in front of you. Your only loss is to Michigan, and it was three points. So if you win out, which, looking at your schedule and your team, certainly possible. One game at a time, though, Coach. Let's not get too crazy ahead of ourselves. One game at a time.

What are your thoughts going into Friday night's game against Minnesota and where your team sits currently at and you're messaging to them about the possibilities? Yeah, I think the thing about our team is just, hey, the last few games, we've been up 14-0 and 10-0, and we've allowed the other team to get back in it. So we're still kind of playing up and down, riding the highs and lows.

And, you know, we have the youngest team in the Big Ten. So that's not an excuse. you just have to teach them. You have to teach them like when you're up 14-0, don't go out there smiling and relax and let them score or make it 14-7. Put them away. And so we're trying to just put together a complete 60 minutes

and not have to have Dylan and the defense and Isaiah and them go down and win the game in the last seconds. But that being said, Minnesota has been down double digits and it's two Big Ten wins and they've come back. And, you know, PJ Fleck, I respect him immensely. I've gotten to know him personally over the years. He teaches his kids how to play football at a high level. We also teaches them as men.

They're really, I love them coming out in the draft. And so I know they're going to be tough. I know they're going to be sound. They have a redshirt freshman quarterback playing his seventh game, who's dynamic, and they have a great defense. And so it'll be a great football game for everyone to watch on national TV. What is it, October 17th the game? What do the weather be?

Minnesota's going to be cold. It's cold. It's cold. Yeah. Have you said, go ahead. No, they said a little rain. Luckily, it rained here for two days. We practiced outside in the rain.

And, you know, it doesn't really bother. there are guys. And it's supposed to be in the 60s, maybe dipped down in the 50s. I mean, that's cornhusker weather. Oh, perfect football weather. I mean, that's a great Friday night in the Midwest, baby. I like to hear that because like two weeks from now, Minnesota, that's going. All the way

down. And you talk about PJ Fleck and getting to know him. We got to know him at the beginning of his run here at Minnesota a little bit. What a lightning rod of a human being. Just necton mentality is what he talked about to us. One of the first times he talked like a shark has necton mentality. It's always

hunting, like always moving forward, you know? And obviously the buy-in with the boat and everything. And then whenever he was at, which Michigan was he had up there? Western Michigan. He was trying to build that program up and build them traditions. So he was making videos in his office and sending them out to the students like, hey, on

third down, we're all going to do this. Okay? We're going to go, boom, boom, and then we're all going to go like this on third down. We're trying to make this play stuff. It's like the way he approaches it, former player, obviously. And the way he attacks it, it felt like he had a special rocket on his back. And now he's been in Minnesota for some time.

Game Day was there, 2019, maybe? 20. Eric Decker. It's like, it's an interesting dilemma there for, like, a lot of teams, especially in the Big Ten, whenever it's been so dominated by two teams. It's like, what success, what is in success? Which then immediately leads to your hometown. And I don't want to have to distract you here because, obviously, you're in the middle of a season.

And you've already answered this about how much. like, hey, that's my hometown. Like, I love that place. Like, I always will. Everybody loves their alma mater. That conversation's only going to heat up around you, you assume? And you said before, like, hey, this is what happens. I was at Temple.

I was at Baylor. Anywhere you have success, this type of shit happens. I'm used to this. This is a good thing, not a bad thing, that other people want our players, one our coaches, myself included. That's kind of your been your messaging. You've been here before. What does that look like for you with team, with everything,

with how hot that's going to get in the kitchen? like it's with my team it's just unbridled honesty tell them the truth tell me exactly the truth and don't don't b s them because they'll know and um and and secondly like it's just out there like you know this is it this is part of it like it's better than when i was in carolina and they were chanting to fire me right so it's better than being on any hot seat list so having other schools maybe be interested in you is is is critical and but i don't do that during the season i don't mess around with that i don't play that and at the same time this is not a this is not a jumping off job. This is a destination job. This is one of the greatest places in the world.

This is a town of 300,000 people. This is some, everyone says like Lincoln. It's 300,000 people here in Lincoln. Like, I can do whatever I want here. I have a great young team, the youngest team in the Big Ten. Think about how good we'll be next year. Now, I'm not thinking about next year, but where we are right now, we're learning, learning, learning. Think about where we're going to go with Dylan and all these guys. So I refuse to be distracted. At the same time, it's when it's your alma mater. You have to show it love and respect. And I love Pat Kraft. They'll find the right coach for them,

whoever that is. But this is a destination job that should be a national bully that should be a beast. And I think we're making our way to doing that. Yeah, and I think with the third year of Matt Rule at every place, I think that's a pretty good prediction, and especially with the way you're going.

But if you lose every game going forward because you're distracted with other shit, nobody's going to want to hire your ass. We got the Carolina Panther chance coming back. That's exactly right. And so I just tell my kids all, time like hey you're you're one game away from either side of it so just stay right in the middle and just who you are man all right next game obviously friday night conner has a question for you

yeah coach with the friday game how much does it change kind of your prep i know early on you guys already played during the week but does it you know on sunday was that different just because you guys were a day behind or what what is the biggest difference between the friday night game and saturday night game when it comes to preparation during the week that's a great question um you know Monday is usually our day off. And the captains, I met with the captains. I was like, hey, guys, we'll do a traditional Tuesday, you know, old school, bang, and practice. Wednesday will be the same way, just maybe a little less.

Thursday we'll walk through, and normally we practice on Thursday. So today, we'll walk through them. We'll travel up to Minnesota, walk through again tomorrow and play the game. But the captains voted. They wanted meetings and walked through on Monday. So I said, if that's what you guys want, we'll do it. So we just added a little bit on Monday. They'll get Saturday off.

I told them, man, find a way to win the game. There's no greater feeling than watching Pat McAfee on Game Day sitting on your couch. like a regular, like a regular fan just enjoying the game. I mean, so we got to go play well Friday night and they put the work in on Monday. Did you get that done? The games on Saturday have been electrifying. So let alone watching Game Day, which I am very lucky to be a part of. And we love, I love that the show is a part of college football as a whole.

It's such a beautiful sport, man. The tradition, the pageantry, everything. Like, obviously you've gone to the NFL. I, from Pittsburgh, which is NFL town, only really understood the NFL world. the NFL lifestyle, the NFL fandom, everything like that. Then obviously I got an incredibly lucky opportunity to play in it for eight years. So it's like I felt like I knew the NFL literally since birth, you know. So then college football through the NFL, you start watching game day.

That's kind of like your dabble into college football. Then you may travel with a teammate back to their university, go see what it's like for a game there. Maybe you go hang out another place and it's like, wait a minute, this isn't like the NFL at all. Certainly same sport. Certainly same sport. We get it. They're playing football out there. but the tradition and pageantry and environment and culture and buy-in that is in college football

that you talked about with Nebraska, it's the greatest on earth. And you can feel it through your TV every single Saturday. I mean, Friday night, obviously, we'll be able to see it with your game. But Saturdays from when we start, obviously because the fans everywhere we go, which once again we're so thankful for, are insane. You hear the tradition, you hear the pageantry through the fans there, all the way through the nightcap games. We've got some good West Coast teams playing right now. all the way until like 1 a.m. college football is just throwing a fastball and it is it's been

spectacular on that note there's some conferences there are better than others is what everybody's saying i has a question for you yeah that's what people would say coach and obviously you're a big 10 guy uh i'm a big 10 guy so we know how tough the big 10 is but the you know national media wants to say hey listen the SEC might get six teams in the playoff that with what has happened to pen state the the big 10 is top heavy and then there's just a lot of shit underneath that. What would you say to people who make that statement? Because as we know, I mean, hey, listen, anybody can get anybody in the Big Ten every single week. Yeah, I think there's a lot of partisanship throughout all that, right? Like, even, like, we beat

Cincinnati and at the end, they came back and made it a close game score-wise, and they did an excellent job. And I'm a big Cincinnati fan. But they're voted ahead of us right now. And they're voted ahead of us because, for whatever reason, people might see them on a Saturday. I would just say this. Is anybody actually watching the film? Is anybody actually watching the tape? I watch some teams that are right and I'm like, that's not a very good football team.

I watch other teams. I say, man, that's an excellent football team. What we've done in the Big Ten is we have basically propped up a couple teams and they've earned it. Ohio State's earned it. Don't get me wrong. But we haven't like the propaganda machine hasn't pushed the middle teams, the middle tier teams, the Illinois.

Even when Indiana got in last year and they deserved to get in, it was kind of like, yeah, but because, you know, they've been Indiana last several years. years. But Lane Kiffin went to Ole Miss, and that place took off. I mean, what he's done is, they've taken off with Ole Miss. And we just say, well, it's, Ole Miss is a great team. But they are a great team. But so is Illinois. So is Indiana. So are the teams in the Big Ten. I think the Big Ten, the SEC, personally stand alone. And then ACC, Big Ten, all great conferences, we should play each other. But when we play each other, the Big Ten of the SEC wins a lot.

And so I think the Big Ten has to help itself. You know, part of me being out doing things like that. We have to help ourselves get our names out there because, like, Nebraska's a blue blood. Like, we have to earn it. We're not in that common. I'm not talking about us yet. But some of those other teams that have won eight, nine, ten games, they're kind of dismissed in the Big Ten, but they don't deserve that. They're better than that. I mean, you mentioned Indiana there, and everything you just said, I love hearing

from, especially a coach active currently and a coach that's going to go down as one of the greatest college football coaches of all time for what you've done in a lot of places. You think about how everybody viewed Indiana going into Oregon. I mean, it was just like, Indiana's going to get smack, because nobody wants to believe that Indiana's good at football. Like, that is kind of that, like, it's hard to

believe that Indiana is still good at football. And to point, I think there's a lot of teams in the Big Ten that are like, yeah, we understand they play football there, but it's hard to believe that they're good at football or great at football at this point. And with NIO and Transfer Portal and marketing machines and brands, it's like literally anybody can win any game. That is kind of what we've, that is kind of what we have figured out through the last couple years of college football. If you want to talk about the system, hey, is our system a good system? Now, meanwhile, we have the NFL that shows us how to do this all right. But is our system a good system?

The poll to start the season had two teams at one and two who aren't even in it anymore. Like, why even have a preseason poll? And before anybody, before anybody has a vote or says anything, like, tell me which games you've at. Tell me how many times you've watched the Huskers play. Tell me how many times you watch Indiana play. Like, I had to go back on Monday and put on the tape of Indiana, Oregon, to see, like, what Indiana did. They didn't gimmick them. They didn't, that's a great football team with an excellent quarterback.

Like, just give them their due. But we're still in college football, looking at the logos, looking at the perennial this, last 10 that instead of people actually watching the ball. So Indiana, ranked number three highest they've ever been ranked, obviously. And I think Oregon good football team too. I think you watch that game and it's like, hey, these are two really good football teams. I actually said, can't wait to see both

you in the playoffs because I think that is the case. But if they were both to make the playoffs with a lot of the projections, there's only going to be three big 10 teams that make it. It's like, well, who else is battling? It's like, well, there's still a lot of football to be played. And there's still a lot of opportunity for a lot of teams. In the SEC, I know a lot of these teams are ranked high

just naturally, I think, and potentially, because a lot of the five stars and everything that they are able to get down there, they all got to play each other. Some of those games might get real ugly. Like we might find out who's the levels in the SEC over the next few weeks because they've got to play against each other, all of them. And it's like, is Texas A&M actually much realer than everybody could imagine? And then also, Ole Miss.

Old Miss got Georgia this weekend. It's like, okay, here's a big test. But if Georgia gets back to being who they are, there's a chance that one gets. I mean, it's like college ball right now is so fickle. I mean, it is a very fickle place right now. There's only like three teams that have been dominant through it all. Those SEC teams, too, who end up making it, better hope they get a home game.

You got to come to the cold up there. You've got to come to that cold rule. Right. Come up and play in the snow and the ice like the NFL does, like every other sports league does. We're the only league that plays in domes to protect warm weather teams. not to protect it, but it does protect the warm weather. Let's play on home campuses to protect the things that you're talking about, Pat,

like the pageantry of college football and see who can actually play in the weather. And that would change everything. And to your point, I love what you just said. Like, let's just play it all out. Like, that's why the NFL, like, you're not voting on who's going to make the playoffs in week six. You're just watching them and letting the games play out. And forever college football has been an elimination tournament. Win once and you're out.

And we got the playoff. And so now you can have good. matchups and good games and you lose a game you can fight back. Like last year we were talking about nine and three teams getting in which I think is great because now you can go play good games have excitement throughout the year and then have a lot to talk about the last three weeks

of the season. It's all very good. Everything's very good. There's just a chance that humans will make it bad, you know, and that's going to happen in everything. But the Ohio State Tennessee game last year is going to be referred to by everybody in the north whenever the college football playoff comes around. Well, this team's better than this team in a

big 10 because look on me five stars they got. They got guys that run 4-3. It's like, well, maybe we can't up here in the north have everybody that runs 4-3 because it's going to be 32 degrees by the time we get to November. And it turns out the 4-3 guy, he runs actually a 4-6, just like everybody else in that weather. And we need some, we need some power up here. So it's just two different style as a ball. And it's like, well, which one is deemed better? Well, it depends where the game's being played. Bingo. Which is why the 12-team playoff happening is a beautiful thing. I don't think any big 10 teams necessarily want to travel into the fucking belly of the beast down there in the SEC.

No doubt. I think that is, that's a whole different ball game too. Tennessee, 102,000 people down there, depending upon how hot is. I know it gets cold in Tennessee. I think it's a little different ball game. Tennessee home game. LSU hosting a game at night. I think that'll be a little bit of a different.

Alabama, like, I think it is a very important. You've seen A&M is fucking outrageous. I mean, they are all on the same page. They are all PJ Fleck. in the stands because they have practiced the night before to do. It's like, I think it is a big deal. But then once again, imagine walking into Columbus in the middle of January. You've got to take on a team that's not only built for it, but also used to it.

And it's freezing, and you've never seen this before. They cracked three helmets. Nico Iyamaleva's helmets, three of them. The equipment wasn't even ready for the cold, let alone the players. The equipment was too cold. Said, fuck this. Crack three of them. Get me out of here.

It was like, that's going to be talked about a lot. Then the SEC's, well, we'll all play each other down here. It's like, all right, well, who cares? Who's coming to the cold to do it? It's a good time for debate in college ball, which I think is how it's always been. Last question here for you, coach, from Tone. Yeah, coach, we talked about how it is going to be a great Saturday,

Ole Miss, Georgia, Tennessee, Bama, USC, Notre Dame. Are you going to take advantage of being off on Saturday to watch some of those games, especially maybe that last one, because if USC upsets the Irish, there might be a big one in a couple weeks against you and that team. Um, I, my, my goal is not to leave the couch on Saturday. So, um, I, I, I want to be a college football fan. I have two daughters that play volleyball. And I like, what times the game? The first game, we get back probably at one in the morning. The first game's at eight. I was like, I'll take the eight o'clock game. I will be back to watch game day and watch the whole day. I, uh, I love college football.

And, um, I, uh, when I even, when I speak about college football, I'm speaking about the game overall. So I will watch everything. I'll have the YouTube TV, four TV going. I mean, I'll be, I might, I might bring in a second TV downstairs. I have one that wrong roller. I mean, I'll be like a, you think I'm a gambler, though I do not gamble. You think I'm a gambler. I'll be watching so many games at once. But that's, I love it, man. I love every second. I love watching the games last night. I'll watch college football any chance I can get. I'll tell you, it's hard not to love it, man, whenever you're in it. If you're a football person, it's hard not to fall in love college football if you're not a college football person. If you are a college football person,

obviously that's still, they put dirt on top of you. You are going to love college football. But if you're not a college football person, which there's a lot of new football. fans that are coming into the college football world. That's what the ratings are telling us. Ratings are going up. Now, the NFL's ratings are obviously still whatever they are. Okay, they're 15 million more than most college football primetime games in comps. But a lot of the numbers going up for college ball, it's like, I think those are NFL people

potentially coming in being like, hey, this is a good sport here. It's the second biggest sport in America. Yes. No questions asked. And there's still so much room to grow. And everything you're saying is the exact reason why. It's fucking awesome. And you have no idea who's going to become a star.

when the game kicks off there might be a dude that's on that bench that hasn't done anything and then all of a sudden two passes three passes superstar and then a team becomes relevant and then a university becomes relevant it's like so special it's very very special do that point coach all this talk made me think about this so like when you're watching on midweek conference USA or max or whatever then we're maybe even tomorrow on a Saturday will you see a player make a play and you're like oh i could see him in a wait a minute you write a name down to call him later or? No, no, no, no, no. You ain't get me on that one. I didn't know if those tampering or not.

Oh, yeah, Coach rules out here trying to pluck guys off of Wednesday night football. We appreciate you, coach. Thank you for joining us. Safe Travels to Minnesota and good luck, brother. Thank you, you guys. You're the man, dude. You've been really good to us. We appreciate that. I appreciate you guys. Shoot. Thank you guys for having me on. You're a good football coach, too. I think that is your boy. Hey, a guy, I just saw the tweet as we were coming in. One of your players gave a speech at halftime.

Is that accurate? Yeah, Jacori Barney, our young sophomore receiver who's dynamic. He's leading the country, I think, in punt returns. He's in the middle of the half time, we were in this small, terrible locker room, and he was like, man, what's wrong with y'all? They couldn't put all the stuff out that he said

because it was, but he was like, man, he started doing like, like, man, we're up. You heard me? Up seven other, you heard me. Defense going to strap these bitches. Six and five, we're going to get his act together. We're going to fucking go. And I was sitting there, like, the whole time, like, oh, God, how do I follow this?

I was like, let's go to the field, guys. Team, one, two, three, go. Here we go. That is, that's like, hey, that's good culture, brother. That's good culture. Hell yeah, it's fun to be around. It's fun to be around. That's, you know, it's funny for me.

I've always, the three places I've been, not the Carolinas, but the two colleges now here, we've spent a couple of years to build the culture up and get the football right. And then I've always kind of left afterwards. And so that's why for me, you know, I'm like, I'm like, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm going all in on this place. Like, we can make this whatever we want. That's a huge statement at the very end. Obviously, asked about at the very beginning as well.

His name, because he's from State College, Pennsylvania, Happy Valley. He went to Penn State, has a lot of ties to Penn State, still has to, feels obligated to show love and has love for Penn State, and it's in a big ten. They got access to everything, and he has history with the athletic director. He says, I understand that. Hey, some jobs are right from, I love this place.

Ty? He said it there at the end, why not go all into this place? And finally get to reap the benefits of the culture that I so. for the first three years. I feel convinced legitimately. Utah, how do you feel about it? I can see both sides personally. I think if he were offered the Penn State job, he would go back. He just said he literally wouldn't.

I know. He just said ESB, he literally just said three times. Hear me out. You got 20 seconds. Hear me out. He's from there. He went to school there. Like, whether he, hey, he loves Nebraska. I get it. Wife. Yeah, exactly. Like, that's a very special place. Okay. You get the opportunity to go back and win a national championship there.

Okay, Joe Paterno, like Matt Ruhl is the best coach in the history of Penn State. Okay, but he's also, could be the best coach in the history of Nebraska. Be a friend telling him something nice and I change your life and see you on the other side. With Amex Platinum, access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot trackside. So being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and vary by race. Terms and conditions apply.

Learn more at mx.ca.com. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ. Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence. While Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift.

flow and go. Explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at OnePeloton.ca. Football! It is magical. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living where we talk about football way too much. And are we always right? Absolutely not. But do we get some things correct? Absolutely. Like tonight, we're going to have a good AFC North football game. Tonight, we're going to see two OGs clash in primetime, probably for the last time. Actually, we don't know that. You never know? idea if they're going to play 10 more times these two guys. Aaron Rogers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, his first season there. They could become a five and one football team after tonight.

Already had their by week. They get a long stretch to go, but they've looked better than they've looked over the past seven years. In the past three weeks in specific, they've looked much better on the defensive side. And offensively, Aaron Rogers, D.K. Metcalf and the boys are only starting to catch their stride with Mount Washington, a 315 pound tight end who has the nimbility of a ninja when he's out in the open field out of Georgia. This guy was behind Brock Bowers, so nobody really talked about him. The Pittsburgh Steelers picked him up, and all of a sudden they start

saying, hey, we got Mount Washington out there. We got a tight end who's gigantic and he can move. He was able to do this in college at Georgia. Everybody thought his knees wouldn't be able to hold up because he's so heavy, he's so big. That's like a natural question. Hey, that human is a tackle. He should not be able to run like a tight end. His knees

are inevitably going to give up. Pittsburgh Steelers said, we'll find out in ABC North football. He's been a weapon out of the field, or deep down the field, but also in protecting Aaron Rogers so that they can run their offense. They've got an interesting offense right now. They're going to have an extra offense alignment on the field for a lot of it. They might have Aaron on the run, or they might be comfortable enough against this particular Cincinnati defense line without Trey Hendrickson, if he's playing or not, where they have him a little bit more in the pocket. But they're moving,

they're grooving, they're protecting Aaron, and they're letting their dogs kind of take care of everything downfield. It's been fun to watch. Aaron's been playing out of his mind. Aaron's been playing very, very good, even though PFF has him ranked 39th. 39th in the NFL at the moment. So I'm excited to see what they're able. They might have adjusted that because they heard someone say something about it, so who knows? Well, on that note, it does feel like the scoring system is subject to change if it is

publicly scrutinous. So whenever it is a definitive number and then all of a sudden it's not, we'll take a different look at it. So how many are we taking a different look at these things? And Chris Collinsworth was on with K. Adams on up and Adams today and address

JJ Watt and JJ's kind of differences with him. We have not been able to watch it because it's an eight minute video, so we're not able to see everything that he has said, but PFF has responded. Chris Collinsworth had a PFF hat on when he did respond the entire thing. And Chris, we appreciate what PFF has brought to football. That's no question. Cincinnati is near the home, I think, of PFF and this entire thing. And Joe Flacco now calls Cincinnati his home. Tonight, four and a half is still the spread at ESPN bet the Steelers are favored by in Cincinnati.

Andrew Whitworth of Amazon Prime's coverage and also L.A. Rams Super Bowl champion and long-time Cincinnati Bengal will be the ruler of the jungle tonight. He will look very cool. He will have a hoodie underneath a sport coat and he will look incredible. I don't know if he hits something as a ruler or grouse. Oh, I don't know.

All white for sure, though, because it's a whiteout. Oh, yeah, so he'll be in. Just like up in Penn State. I think Coach Saban's got a suit for it if you want to. He loved that thing. I think he wanted to hang on to that for the rest of his life. The ruler of the jungle, also known as the lion, I believe. we looked this up because

you know you could say Cincinnati Bengals, the tigers are the ruler of the jungle, the lions, the king of the jungle, so then we asked AI and AI said ruler and king, same thing. So he's the king of the jungle tonight. He's the ruler of the jungle and I believe

that he's going to give them the willpower to go ahead and start pretty hot. Joe Flacco's going to look up there and show him like, oh, I remember when we were playing against each other, I was a raven, he was a bengal. There's a good old days, man. Jeez, shake his hand. That first one, Joe Flacco, time, Joe Flacco? Paul.

You're going to throw that thing as far as he can. Yeah. That's the talk to table at Boston Connor and Attachshman. One half of the hammer. Cowboys, Tony Diggs is there. And a man who grew up as a Cincinnati Bengals fan. He's a college football national champion. Super Bowl champion.

Ryder Cup winner, ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawkins. Hawker, Joe Flacco in prime time with Cincinnati Benglis. Four and a half. I started the show last hour saying, I don't know. Five and a half doesn't feel like enough. It goes the other way. So it actually goes complete opposite of what I was thinking. What are your thoughts on tonight's matchup?

And what am I not seeing about this Cincinnati Bengals team? Yeah, well, I like the graphic with the question marks around Trey Henderson that really paints a picture. We're not sure what's going to have with him. I think it's a big deal whether he plays or not tonight. But, I mean, let's just say, you guys took, what, the first 19 minutes of the show just to annihilate the Bengals and say how terrible they are? It was 16 minutes. And it wasn't an annihilation. It was a complimentary fest.

A glazing, I believe the Youngs would call it six, seven, you know. So we were glazing the Pittsburgh Steelers, I believe, for everything they had going on. And in turn, we did leave out the other team that is playing in a two-team game, the Cincinnati Bengals. And I would like to, if you watch the tape back, I recognize that throughout the 16, 17 minutes, that we are doing everything that we hate people do, which is completely leave out one half of the entire game. Sure. But yes, it was a very heavy Pittsburgh Steelers start to the show today, if you were just judge it as a whole, AJ. Yeah, that's definitely how I.

consumed it, how I took it. But, I mean, first of all, look how sweet Joe Flacco looks at that white Bengals helmet. Doesn't that look legit? That's worth at least three or four points, I would imagine. That's a good point. I think the AI sports books now would account for that. You would think that the AI sports books would be ahead of it, and they would get the jersey game, and they would understand they'd be able to put Joe Flacco at different errors.

Hell, I bet you AI saw Joe Young Joe Flacco in this jersey and said maybe this is what he was supposed to be all along. There's a chance that already happened. We don't know. Nobody knows. There's mistakes of YouTube. Yeah, nobody knows. It's in the back whenever we're doing our connection.

with them. So there's answers. We don't know these AIs. Sportsbooks AIs might know how cool Joe Flacco looks is what I'm saying AJ. Okay. I don't know if they take that into account, whoever is programming these AIs, but I don't know, four and a half. Didn't you say if you want Bengals, couldn't you get five and a half here?

Yes, Bengals could be plus five and a half at every other sports book, but ESPN bet. ESPN bet has the Steelers at minus four and a half and that's the only place as we speak. So if you're looking to bet on the Steelers, there is a minus four and a at ESPN bet. Now, we do not want to promote that too much because, boy, I have not got a lot of

these right on these particular things. There will be a guy joining us here in a couple moments, Coach Mike McCarthy, who has been seeing these Thursday night games rather well. He, if he was to be making picks, would be five and one on these Thursday night. So we will certainly be listening to what he has to say, but let's not leave out the fact that he's going a little home game. That's right. He does. He's a little home game here with the Pittsburgh Steelers. So whenever he gives his pick, we got to know that there might be a little bit of, uh, little bit of a bias. Joining us now,

ladies and gentlemen, Super Bowl champion, Yins are legend, former head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers may be coming to a city near you.

Oh, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach, Mike. Yeah, Coach. All right. Good afternoon, man. Good to see you, Coach. You got your game face on,

huh? Yeah, it's a big night tonight. You know, I'm trying to get some things, right? Yeah, it's a big night tonight. AFC North football on primetime. You know, obviously we're excited about.

That's cool. Hey, that's what we're talking about. I see six offense a line. and black and gold night. So we're obviously excited for that. What do you got behind you there? A couple of rings? Just letting people know we got a couple of days.

Yeah, we had a little dilemma in the house this week. You know, AJ, I don't know if you've gone through this yet, but my 13-year-old won the national volleyball championship down there in Skyline, Dallas, and she was kind of bragging about how bigger ring was. And made a comment that it was bigger in our Super Bowl ring. So I had to line that thing up and see what the hell we got going here. It's close.

It's pretty close. I'm trying it with everybody. Have you running into this yet? AJ? No, I have not. You know, Texas does things a little different, Coach. We don't have any national champions yet 13 over here. But, yeah, it's pretty impressive.

You run into this problem? My daughter's ring almost bigger than my Super Bowl ring. Had to line these things up, get a different eye on it. Congrats to your daughter, man. We were obviously chatting with you during the draft. I think that might have been the beginning of the season. We didn't really know what I was going to happen. They ended up winning the national championship.

Hey, let's go. That's awesome. Congrats. Yeah, that was good. great. What a great team. They won nine tournaments, first place in every tournament, won the nationals. So it was an incredible year, incredible run. So I'm very proud of her. And she almost won the biggest ring in the house. Almost. Almost. Almost. Yeah, we got, I don't have to get back to work and win another one. 13 years old, bringing home a ring like that. That's

scary. Okay. I think's bigger in Texas, I say. Yeah, especially whenever you're winning nine in the national championship, congrats to them. Let's talk about you saying I'm going to have to get back to work to maybe win another one. We have already started floating your name for any job that is available both college and the NFL. You let us know when to stop. We will. And obviously, you did not tell us to do this. So we just want to let you know the situations we are putting you in publicly anytime a name pops up. On that note, coach is getting fired here already. Callahan down in Tennessee gets fired. I don't know if you've ever been fired in the middle of the season. I'm not, I don't know your entire history of that. But what do you think goes into that

decision-making process? And then if you're a staff that is still there after a coach gets fired, what do you think the mentality is for them there? Well, I mean, it's very difficult. I think just like anything in our profession, you always look at the personal. And this is very difficult on the families, you know, and I think as coaches in our industry professionally, we understand it's part of the job description, you know, because there is change each and every year. So that's the first thing that I look to is just, you know, how's the family? Because there's things that you go through. We were released near the end of the season in 19. And really the toughest part is what the kids have to endure, you know, at school and in the

neighborhood and things like that. So that's the tough part. But, you know, the game goes on. And that's the way this business is. And it's a brutal truth of it. But, You know, the first thing I always think about is, you know, I just hope that, you know, the families are good. There's, you know, there's a new direction. There's going to be changed. There's going to be adjustment. It's, it happens each and every year, really throughout every organization. It's just a matter of how much.

So it's part of our business. It's the tough part of our business. But, yeah, I just think that times like this, you know, it's a gut check for, because you don't, you can't last very long in this league without going through some adversity in that area. on that note so you said gut check not only in that building probably around the league right whenever one team fires a coach it's like hey this potential i don't want to say floodgates open but there's obviously other jobs that are being talked about publicly which is what the NFL is sucks for the families sucks for the kids all bad i mean that just absolutely sucks what they have to go through in their actual lives day to day but now other jobs is there a thought like hey and i don't know if you've ever been this position either because it seemed like all you did was wind or in a regular season whenever we watched you so i assume you'd have to go back in the day and but like other places around the league, is there like a little bit of a chatter? Okay, there's the first one almost.

There's the first card to fall. Is that something that happens amongst coaches? I think the obvious is, you know, it's part of, you know, the media exposure that everybody is in tune with. I mean, you have to because it's part of your job. I mean, I used to, you know, keep my head in the sand in the old days. And that, I mean, it just doesn't serve you very well. You've got to be aware of what's going on around you.

because if you're not, you know, your players are, your, you know, your co-workers are, your assistant coaches are, their families are. So you have to be in tune with all that. Personally, I'm not a fan of making changes in season regardless. Now, you know, that's above my pay grade. So those are conversations that, you know, really probably go on above the coaching staff and coaching operations. But I just feel when you're going through these difficult times, you know,

there's so many people involved in what it takes to win. You know, your support staff, your personnel department, everybody involved. And it's an incredible opportunity, in my view, that gets wasted when you make change in season. Because I think there's so much more to learn from others. You know, we all understand the responsibility of the head coach and the coordinators and things like that. But adversity is part of it. I mean, you lose two, three, four in a row. You know, that real coaches, you have to dig out of that.

I mean, that's part of, you know, surviving and in advance in this league is to go through those moments. So, yeah, I was, you know, this is just my personal opinion. I just wish that these opportunities would just push forward and let these coaches try to fight their way out of it. Yeah, that's a very good personal opinion. You're allowed to give your personal opinion. How many years in the NFL did you spend?

Have you spent? 1993 so 30 31 32 plus that's pretty good it's a long time so I think you're allowed to have your own personal opinion yeah I think you're allowed thank you I think you've earned it and we appreciate that okay go ahead AJ yeah coach something that actually seems to fast track some of these coaches getting fired is injuries that happened to these teams we look around the league obviously with Tampa Bay they're handling it well they have a bunch of guys down still winning sand Fran just a rash of injuries it seems like the last few years How is that something as a coaching staff that you guys talk about leading into the season, like playing on depth?

Like how do you handle that? Because you know at some point you're going to deal with the old injury bug. You just hope it's not to certain areas of your team. But how is that something that some teams find a way to work through? Other teams seem to really struggle. A big believer in trust your tradition, trust your experiences, AJ 2010 is something I reference all the times. I hate coach, you know, 77 players that win a Super Bowl. when you're able to keep, you know,

you break down to the 53-man roster at the end of training camp and keeping 68 players in the building, every single one of those guys is so important to the journey because, you know, you think about we had 68 when we started a season, but I think we might have been 65 back then.

It took 77 players, so 12 guys came from outside the building to contribute to a Super Bowl victory. So, and now you have 17 games. So I think it's even more prominent. You have to develop your younger players you've got to get your younger players ready. You know, last year we, in 24, in Dallas, we knew our depth was going to be younger.

You would hope maybe your injury challenges would have came later in the season, you know, give your younger players a little better opportunity to be ready. Sometimes it goes away. Sometimes it doesn't. You know, it's so important to find ways to continue to develop the young players in season. So much has been taken away from the training environment, and, you know, particularly in training camp in the off-season program. from the players, especially the padded work.

I mean, the injuries to the offensive line, I don't know what the numbers are. I'm sure you guys have it analytically. I mean, sitting in this chair watching the league from this scope, it just, I can't just, I can't believe how many injuries there are week in and week out. They have to be super high for comparables throughout the history. I've seen nothing like it. Every time we talk about a game, that's the first thing.

You know, you look at the injury report, how it affects the matchups. Where's the stress point on the O line? D-line because everything starts right there. And, you know, you used to think if you had eight really good offensive linemen, you can navigate and get through the season because, you know, the consecutive starts of five offensive linemen equates the winning. The numbers are crazy, like 12 plus ones a year,

anytime the five offensive linemen start every single game. And I think there might be only two teams right now that have five offensive linemen that have started every game. The reality of it at today's NFL, I think you need 10 offensive linemen in your building that are ready to play because you just see these injuries are obviously high. And also, you know, you have to factor in 17 games. You know, I think when you play on Sunday,

then now you're going to turn around and play on a Thursday game, you know, you're not as quick to bring the guy back that you might have been three or four years ago. So I think all those things play into this. But the number of, you know, games missed by starters due to injuries, I just can't believe it's ever been higher. And I think it's something that needs to be addressed there needs to be more, you know, because you can't keep just going like this because, you know,

at the end of the day, it's about the product and the competitiveness of the games, which they're still there. But, man, I just think there's so much up and down each week when you, when you watch these teams going through these injuries. Since we've started the show, the injuries have always been a part of the conversation. Then a couple of years back, it was like backup quarterbacks. The amount of backup quarterbacks ended up playing was like 90-something or something like that. I forget it was like absurd. Every year there's some injury storyline.

This year, it does feel like it's much more prevalent. and especially in the teams that we thought were going to be very good. Now, you mentioned something in there about the 17-game season in choosing when guys come back and when they don't come back. Maybe we'll steal another week of rest here so we can get it on the back-end. These Thursday night games, like Trey Hendrickson, for instance, he was an ounce as injured because of a back, is what I remember, a back. And then now he's on the injury report for a hip,

and he's questionable on a Thursday night. Anytime somebody questionable, I think for Thursday night, there's always the thought like, ah, probably just keep them because you get like a two-week break here. You can probably steal something. has that always been the case for Thursday night football games or the added game into the season kind of up that a bit for these Thursday night games?

Yeah, I agree with everything you're saying in theory, but I do, in my experience, has been with the medical staff. You know, every injury is specific to the player. And I've always felt that way. And, you know, the input from the player to the training staff, then to the coaching staff. I mean, that's, you have to have a protocol that's in place because you know, because you want consistency.

because, you know, you want the players to have the confidence in the medical, you know, procedure and everything to get back on the field and so forth, that's critical. But also you want the coaches to be able to plan accordingly. I mean, I would much rather know about a player not playing early than a player playing late, you know, that's going to play late because, you know, he gives you a chance to play and plan and he gives a chance to get these players the reps during the week than get them ready to play because at the end of the day, you know, everybody in the building is going to be. to contribute. Every one of those players in the locker room, I mean, that's part of their job description. So, you know, AJ wants to know who's playing next to him. You know, he wants those practice reps and communication like that throughout the week. So that's the reality of it inside. I mean, the injury reports is, I mean, there's a lot of conversation that goes. And really the, you know, the projection of your training staff to if a guy's going to play

not play, that's a big part of the factors in the game planning for coaches. When's that happening. That's happening in Monday meetings after a game, Tuesday, Monday afternoon. Yeah, it's not, nonstop. I mean, you know, you get the scans. I mean, if you, you know, you have play a game on Sunday afternoon, you know, like in Dallas is the same way in Green Bay. They have so many MRI slots that are already reserved for Monday morning. So you can get guys scans that anybody needs to get scanned. So, you know, you usually as a coach have a general idea, you know, by dinner time, you know, you know, the ballpark of, if apply, if, if, if, if, if a player is going to make it or not.

So because, you know, you start game playing on Monday nights. And then as Tuesday, then they come in for Tuesday treatment because, you know, some things don't, you know, injuries don't really, really show themselves until, you know, 408 hours. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we are referring to Torval here as well. We're referring, not in Green Bay, obviously. You said it, you said it? Yeah, yeah, yes, I did. And I've lived. I've played along here.

I've lived it. I've lived it. I've lived it. The Monday night, you said by dinner time, you normally know or have a good sense of who's going to play, who's. not going to play and there's obviously well no I wouldn't say who's going to play I mean kind of where they are got it in their in their injury you know journey to get back what are we have for their wings are we pizza what is the solid what is like a soup soup and salad

I mean come on wedding soup coach wedding soup so good dude wedding soup is really yeah I'm not a wedding soup guy right yeah I'm not here clam powder really what are you talking about you're not a wedding wedding soup is delight yeah I'm old school I like the vegetable soups. Okay, you like the vegetable soups. Like tomato, you love good. Minestrone. They got that minestrone at all of garden.

Beef, that kind of stuff. Okay, so what's, we're a meat eater, obviously, big steak. We have a big steak there. Big fish eater. Oh. Up in Dorkani or just all the time? Presbyterian. I grew up that way, Catholic.

He'd fish every Friday. I mean, that's something eating it in my whole life. Okay, so your house and fish? How about the little fish sticks? Are we still eating those? The little fish sticks that we're having? My kids have grown out of that now. But, yeah, I definitely had a few fish sticks in a day when the kids were young.

Oh, my God, this is awesome. Say, growing up. Ketchup on those? You put ketchup on those, obviously, right? Ketchup on those, for sure. Heinz, what else is there? Isn't it disgusting? Has some people from some places don't put ketchup on everything the ketchup is supposed to be on,

strictly because Hines did not come from their city? Isn't that crazy? Because I'll meet some people. I'm like, you put that shit on eggs, right? No, never. It's like, yes, you do. I think it is a different animal whenever you grow up in Pittsburgh

because of how delightful Heinz is on everything. Absolutely, the pride. You know, there's pride in the ketchup. It's just, the other stuff doesn't taste the same. You put it on hot dogs? Put on hot dogs. Put on eggs? You put it on eggs? I'm right there with you. Everything.

Pretty much anything. Not eggs. Yes, eggs, AJ. That's what we're talking. You're exactly what I'm talking about. Scrambling. Scrambled eggs only. Yes, definitely scrambled eggs. You're not put them on sunny side up. AJ's not what you're trying to do?

You said eggs. That's what AJ's saying, though. AJ, you're putting these on... Yeah, well, not on hardboard eggs, either. You got to put... I have a dip a hardboard in there. No, you put salt on a hardball, no problem. That is certainly what you do.

Tabasca, that's... That's a little to go-to. On the hardball, and are you taking the whole thing down? Are you doing a cool cut around to getting the yolk out of there because cholesterol? You got to throw that out. You're just only eating the white of hard-balled eggs. Yeah, I'd say post-40 years old,

take the yolks out. Yeah, but pretty four. definitely was eating the whole egg. Okay, now I know the keys to life. I appreciate that. Now this is part of much, go ahead. Oh, go ahead. Well, I was going to say it's a part of maturity.

That's what this is. This is maturing. Yeah. This is living life. This is taking a yoke out. This is developing. This is becoming who you could possibly be at your best version of yourself, which leads to this question, which is going to be maybe the most high intellect conversation

we've had on this particular program in some time. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, coach. I hope not because I should not be asking this question. if that's the case, but you brought up something pre-show about NFL QB's EQ as a mark. I had no idea what you were talking about. So we Googled it, the emotional quotient of NFL quarterbacks. And this was the definition essentially.

What do you mean by NFL QB's EQ? How can you actually measure something like this? And then when you think about the quarterbacks who have been, you know, in first year offenses like Danny Dimes, Drake May with McDaniel, Sam Darnold in Seattle. I mean, you could even go to J.J. McCarthy because it was his first time really playing in that offense. How do you kind of judge that EQ? And for those guys who are first years in those offenses, does that kind of mean they have a high NFL QB EQ just because of the fact that they're having immediate success?

Or how do you judge something like that? Well, I mean, that's a more specific individual. you know, criteria to it. I was referring to, I was kind of spinning off of our conversation last week when we're talking about, you know, Baker Mayfield. When you look at Baker, look at Sam Darnold, he's in Daniel Jones, and you can even put Aaron into this category, you know, these guys that are kind of were disrespected, you know,

kind of a pissed off group of quarterbacks. And you look at their success, but you look at their path. And I just think there's so much to learn from when things don't go right. I mean, there's so much value in that, you know, because it does. It gives you a heightened awareness. It gives you, it heightens your anticipation ability, you know, conflict resolution. You know, you definitely learn to deal with that. Handling success when it comes off of that, so now you don't get too high.

So I just think when you look at the EQ of these guys that are just, you're playing their ass off. And, you know, and Aaron's kind of an exception of the fact, but, you know, because he's played so much football. But, you know, so much it led up to the season. And I think they're really becoming a team that we all were hoping that they're going to be. But, you know, and now, AJ knows better than anybody. He's at his best when he's pissed off and plays with a chip on his shoulder. But I look at these guys that have gone through, you know, so much. And they're just playing great football.

And I just think it says so much about them personally because of what they had to go through. I mean, they go to Green Bay as a young. young first round pick and have to sit for three years before you play. There's some emotional maturity that goes with that. So, I mean, that's hard. And I think, you know, your point, Connor, about, you know, J.J. McCarthy. I mean, there's some maturity coming off a national championship and then ability to watch and learn and be behind Sam and now it's your time.

So I just think the EQ, because, you know, there's so much it goes into the evaluation of every NFL player. And, you know, the mental breakdown, the physical breakdown. done, you know, the video studies and this and everything. But, you know, the EQ is really where the goals at and, you know, how you judge that and how you evaluate that, how you quantify that. That's, that's really the beauty that's in the source of every organization's evaluation process. Coach, I'll tell you what, you being the guy saying EQ is what we need to be looking for. The emotional quotient is certainly right on par with every conversation we've

had with you thus far, which has led to numerous situations where potential back to. hand of compliments have come from one of us to you, more specifically me. You bringing up the emotional quotient being one of the most important things of a quarterback. If we can put the graphic back up, please. This is literally exactly what you need in a leader of an organization. I mean, this is what, whenever you're going through the draft process, we should be trying to figure out the EQ of every one of the guys that are going to be put in positions of leadership. Self-awareness, AJ, how often have we talked about that being the most important thing in anything? Every single day, about every aspect of your life.

not even just sport. You talk about be who you can afford to be. That is strictly from self-awareness, and that is not just in football. That's in any leadership position, or just in life, self-awareness, understanding this situation, who you're allowed to be,

who you're not allowed to be in this particular situation. Self-regulation, obviously, that's discipline. We would like to know the discipline of the people that are going to be having a leader. Social awareness, obviously how they interact with their team, how they interact with the media, how they interact with marketing, even if you get in,

how they interact with everything is a massive ordeal. And then relationship management, I've never seen something that leaders have to have at a high level just described so perfectly. I mean, the emotional quotient, whenever we're talking about, hey, how do you know the right guys to draft it to position? You know, we all know they can run,

and we all know they can. It seems like the EQ, as Coach Mike McCarthy is saying here, is what we've been looking for this entire time. So I'd like to tell you, Coach, thank you for introducing that into my life. And also, thank you for letting us behind the scenes a little bit on what goes into being a great leader, a quarterback. It is the EQ, is what we're looking to do.

is the ability to understand, manage, and express your emotions while recognizing the influence ours. That's a quarterback in the NFL. That's a coach in the NFL. That's a CEO. That's a manager. That is literally everything we're looking for whenever we talk about loving ball. Who's also committed?

It's EQ level, Carter. Yeah, coach, to Pat's point right there about managing, is this something that GMs have to have a very, very high, you know, not tolerance, but awareness of? Just because, you know, Andy Reid came on. He talked about how Brett Veach would tell him, you know, his read on a player, and then that read would be correct and that's kind of how he rose through the ranks. Is that something that GMs have to have

when they're evaluating players then? I mean, let's be honest, your whole leadership hierarchy has to have it. And obviously, when it's coordinated and it fits together, then now you're working at such a different level. But yes, I think clearly from ownership to president, to GM, to head coach, I think, you know, all that ball. There's nothing worse as a leader

finding out after the fact. And I would say, if I said it once in a staff meeting, I said it a thousand times. I don't need to be the first guy to know when AJ skips his workout in the morning, which he never did. But I don't need to be the first guy to know, but I can't be the last guy at all. You know, you can't, you know, it's just having the awareness to make sure that, you know, everything we ask the players to do, everything we ask each other to do, everything we ask the support staff to do,

it's done for a reason. You know, we don't just do things because this is the way so-and-so did it back in the 60s. So, I mean, have a purpose for everything you do, but it has to be done

because if it's not done, then now the credibility starts to go away. Then the culture starts to erode and things like that. So have a reason for why you do it, but you got to have people that buy into the structure,

understand where the walls and the boundaries of the structure are, and just adhere to it. And I just think common sense goes, such a long way in that journey. And for all of us, if you can take the emotion out of the tough,

you know, the tough moments and learn from it, you know, I think it gives you a such higher, you know, higher opportunity for success. Yes. Hell yeah,

coach. Yeah. That's some good spoken word. Sometimes common sense isn't common sense though, right? In their situations, coach, well, I assume that was common sense.

And that's not always the case. Some people don't have a whole common sense. I couldn't even imagine. I think that's a great point, AJ. No, I think that's where continuing education comes in. Common sense to me is definitely going to be maybe not be the same as a 24-year-old too. So that's my responsibility. You have clarity, clear communication, clarity of what's expected.

And I go back to not having 9,000 roles. You know, we used to hand out that we'd have that fine schedule every year that you had to put up in front of the team. I mean, it's, you know, how could you just make it, you know, bring it all together? And that's where I always felt this, we have one role. No disrespect. No disrespect. It covers everything. Yeah, it covers everything.

So, I mean, being late for a meeting. Yeah, I mean, if you put a ton of energy into a 10-minute presentation, and you're putting together for the team, and then you've got guys are going to walk in late, I mean, that's disrespectful. So, I mean, in my view. So I just think, and just giving clarity and understanding the group dynamics is, it's an unbelievable journey to have, you know, to go into a situation

each year, try to build a team that's going to now navigate and grind through a 17 game season and then you've got to really go play the real games and play a football. I mean, there's nothing like it. There's nothing like it. So I just think keeping it consistent, concise and clear, it just goes

a long way. You're a weapon, dude. You're a absolute way. We're very thankful you come on this show. Hearing a Pittsburgh guy talk about leadership is, I mean, it hits even more home, I think, me, but it is, you've been phenomenal, brother. You're just breaking down your entire culture and how you build it and how you build it

and what you're looking for out of people that work for you, like, hey, you need to buy in here, okay? You're buying in or you're getting the hell out. Those conversations also not the easiest. Snooping out, after making a mistake, I assume, not the easiest as well, trying to figure it out and move on. I appreciate the fact that you are

so open and transparent with us about how you operate because obviously AJ got to play for you and we know AJ wasn't late for a meet workout. Now, I know he didn't laugh. I mean, he's still going to get my humor. Yeah, that's a lot later. I mean, yeah.

Or my jokes are still that bad, I guess. Please laugh. You should have dropped that afterwards. Drop the self-awareness on the EQ. Yeah, that would have been incredible. But that was an awesome little glimpse into how you operated your building. Now, you talk about the voyage that you have to do in building group chemistry and everything like that.

We're seven weeks into this now after tonight kicks off. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Coach, you mentioned how the Steelers are kind of rounding into the team that a lot of people maybe expected them to be right now. Going into week seven, a lot of like the good teams have kind of established their identity. If you're one of those teams who hasn't yet, like is there still a chance for those teams to kind of, you know, make something of this season? Or at this point, do you kind of know who you are and how you have to win and those teams

that don't are kind of shit out of luck? No, absolutely. You know, you always, you always remember November, but what's most important is December. And that'll never change in this league. You see it, you know, I won't say maybe every year, but it happens. You know, it happened for us in 2010, and we've had other teams that got hot at the end of the year and went deep into the playoffs. So, yeah, that's still, that's still the case. I don't think that'll change, especially with the extra game, 17.

I think it's probably even more so. There's an opportunity. And I love what the league's done with the division games, you know, still at the end of the year. So everything lays up for that. So I think you can definitely still get hot and bring it. But I think really what you get to this 6, 7, 8, 9, you know, week mark, I always felt that, you know, we work all off-season, you know, you build your roster, you're taking the steps through the off-season program.

You get the young guys, you know, integrated, and you go off in camp, and you have this really great idea how you want to play and which your team looks like and how they're going to grow. And then all of a sudden, you know, the injury challenge hits and all the other challenges hits. And so you're not maybe really playing the way you hope to be playing or like to be playing, you know, Cincinnati, you know, losing Joe Burrow. I mean, that's a huge hit, you know.

And I know we'll talk about the game here in a minute, but I... Oh, I like your hosting. Yeah. What's that? You're hosting. You're giving teases right there. That was a tease. You're a host. That's good.

Well, see, you're bringing me along in this TV world. I appreciate that, too. I'm learning, too. Yeah, well, teams are learning as well. And it feels like as long as the challenges are minimal. You know, the injury challenge can change your team in later in the season. But it feels like at this point we're starting to learn a little bit. It's what you're saying.

Yeah, definitely. But I do think Pittsburgh is starting to be the team that we all thought they would. I love it when Aaron, you know, end up going to Pittsburgh because, you know, the defense, Mike Tomlin, the veteran coordinators, you know, T.A., you know, Ther Austin. And, you know, Danny, and you also got, you know, Arthur there, too. So, I mean, you got a veteran coordinators, you got a lot of experience. It's a veteran football team. You know, you're going to be in every game because of that defense and, you know, who's one more two-minute games in Aaron Rogers?

So that was how I viewed their team on how I think they're going to be able to Ryan through the season, win the close games. They're going to beat her each and every week, you know, and take care of the football. They're off to a great start in the turnover ratio. So I really like the identity of that team. And I'm going to look at Cincinnati, you know, watching the Cincinnati Green Bay game. you know, I think Cincinnati may have found who they need to be, you know, moving forward with Joe. I thought Joe Flacco in the second half, you know, just his ball distribution and the time clock that he was playing, you know, he gave them a particularly chance to be in that game in the second half in the second half in the second half in the second half in the Green Bay game.

So, you know, those are the things you have to adjust, you know, who you want to be. but who you have to be. That's always the question I always felt as a head coach that you're always looking at as you get through the course of the season. But I think Pittsburgh is really, I love the experience level that they have on their team. I thought the veteran guys that they brought in all the way through have been excellent. You know, if they could stay healthy, I think they're just going to get stronger and stronger each week. As Coach McCarthy teased it, we will talk about tonight's game right now.

Coach, you don't make picks outright, okay? And we respect that for you. But you do give us how you feel about games. And if you were to be picking games, you would be five-in-one on these Thursday nights. Out of baby! Let's go, Coach. If you were to be, that's very good.

Now, you talk about how week seven you start to know what team you have and everything like that. Six games into it's not a fluke. You know, first couple, you might have just been blindside or boring. You know what I mean? You might be able, you might be just blind squirrel

finding a nut in there. And broadside of board, you might got lucky there, you know? That's been a good case. Six and being five-in-one, you're seeing the board here, brother. And tonight, it's another divisional game. AFC North football.

You talked about Flacko in the second half, maybe becoming who he's supposed to be, not just who they want to be, but who they have to be. And then on the other side, you got Aaron Rogers, the Pittsburgh Steelers. What you said looks like the team that is everything we hope they would be.

Now, it was minus four and a half at the ESPN bet, like an hour ago, 45 minutes ago. It is now returned to minus five and a half as of a minute ago. So it's minus five and a half. and a half across the board. Bangles plus five and a half across the board. Could have stole a four and a half for the Steelers at ESPN bet for like the last 36 minutes or so. It's all across

the board five. How do you feel about this? That a lot of points? I saw a little grimace on your face there whenever it was at five and a half as opposed to four and a half. It feels like five was your line in your head that you're making if you're making lines and if you're making picks, coach. Well, I was definitely hoping to be less than six. I think the biggest thing, you know, as I think I've already said, I like what Pittsburgh's playing. I think they're playing through their identity. I always look at the big picture.

And it's something like, you know, we always put in front of the team on Wednesday. You know, you put the stats up, you know, kind of the vital signs, you know, total offense points and all the, you know, the regular stats you see each and area. There you go. Perfect. And if you look at the numbers, you know, when I see Cincinnati always in the 30s, but they lost their starting quarterback. So, you know, you're going to get

knocked out of the top 10 right away on some of those things. That's just the way it goes when because there's a transition of playing, you know, with the backup quarterbacks and things like that. So I don't really feel as bad about those numbers, you know, about Cincinnati as far as those numbers. I don't think they truly reflect, because I do like the way they tried to play against screenbay, and I think the way they played in the second half is a formula for them to win games. But what I love about Pittsburgh is, you know, they're taking care of the most important. I mean, their turnover ratio is outstanding.

And that's who they are. You know, if you take care of the football, run the football, obviously they're run offense versus their, since he's run defense, looks to be potential advantage for Pittsburgh. So I think the important things that you have to do when you go into a road, you know, on the road is run the football, take care of the football. And I think clearly with Aaron, you know, with the ball in his hand at the end of the game, is somewhere where you want to be. So I know we're not supposed to pick games here, but I don't, you know, I'm going to go home next week. so I've got to take the Steelers. Okay, we knew that was going to be the case. Actually predicted that you were potentially going to be a little biased about going home now.

Back Eric Greenfield, you know, he saw it last week, you know, going back with two rings in the family now, not just one here as we bounce back to Pittsburgh. I appreciate everything you said today. Thank you for the leadership advice. Thank you for the pick. And it feels like you're seeing the board maybe better than anybody else that's gambling right now. And I know you're not gambling, but if you were to be gambling, and you have been for all of us, I want to let you know.

We've been winning, brother, and we appreciate the hell out of you. We'll see you next week. All right, man. You guys have a great weekend. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Coach Michael Corp. Yeah, Coach. James are. Okay.

Through and true. Western Pennsylvania legend. We go from one coach that has those accolades to another coach that has those accolades. Now, AJ, whenever you listen to Mike McCarthy, you can hear the Pittsburgh in them. You can literally hear the steel that was. was in the water that he drank his little baby boy growing up or on the street, you know? You can, you can hear it in there. You can tell, by the way, he acts.

Now, his leadership shit, I don't think I expected that, AJ. That has been a mindblower for me from outside looking in, AJ. He's a, he is like one of those guys very curious, always learning, always trying to progress like and evolve and figure out how to get his message across. So, yeah, it's not surprising for me because I've heard it for years, but yes. Maybe on the outside, it might not look like he's that guy, but he is. Well, he's a yinzer, too. so I think people naturally expect us,

oh, grunt hard, hard nose, work hard, you know, that whole thing. Let alone emotional quotient is what we're looking for here. And then I forget what he said a couple weeks ago where it was like, hey, that was very deep what you just said.

No shit. Yeah, like that is, he has been phenomenal. Let's too. You know he's Western Pennsylvania. You know he's Pittsburgh. There's other coaches where you watch them operate. You know they're Western Pennsylvania.

You hear him talking shit. Hear him leading groups. You hear him kind of disrupting everything. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is the head coach of the IU football team, the head of the who, who, who,

Hoosers, Kurt Signetti. Yeah, Coach, 100% our fault. We want to take accountability for yesterday. That's on us. Thank you for taking the time yet again here today with us. You're welcome. Great to be here. Love you. Hey, I know we're looking ahead. Okay, we got another game. We won't go back

yesterday. We got a lot in front of us. There's a lot opportunity still. I know all those things. Coach, I just want to let you know. Man, we had a great Saturday in Oregon, didn't we? That was a good job. Yeah. That was a good job, man. I want to let you know.

I appreciated your team. I had a lot of faith in your team. I respect the shit out of your team. Let's talk about your team. I also respect and appreciate Oregon as well. I think they still have everything in front of them, which is why it was such a big win for you. This year, feel more mature, felt ready for that type of game? Do you think going into that?

And what does this mean for your team going forward this year as everything literally is right in front of you still? Well, you know, I was confident going in. thought our team had a great mindset. We got a lot of veterans on this team, a lot of great leadership, good players that have high character, and we had a great week of preparation, and I thought we were prepared now until you step on the field and play the game and how do you match up? Because obviously last year was a tremendous year, year one for us, you know, doing what we did, starting 10 and 0, didn't trail to game 9. But we, you know, we didn't get it done against the highest state in Notre Dame. I guess you

could say we were competitive for a quarter and a half against a high state. We were up seven none, but we didn't get done. And so I thought Oregon was an extremely impressive team on tape. I have a lot of respect for Coach Lannning. They got a lot of great players. And it was a hard place to play, you know, and been a while since they had lost a game there. So I thought it would be critical that, you know, number one, we have a great mindset and that we would be able to overcome adversity during the course of the game without flinching ever letting doubt creep in being resilient, so to speak. And I thought it was a physical hard-fought game, but we did a great job on defense, particularly in the second half. You know, things got done gave up three points and

got two turnovers. I think they had 40 total yards in the second half outside the last pre-vent drive. Offense answered their scores with 75-yard touchdowns. Great drive again at the end of the half for 24 seconds. We did that the week before against Iowa, too. Special teams was really good. Been good all year at 58-yard field goal,

two other ones. We've been pretty good in all phases, so it was a great program win. Yeah, I'd say, and you talk about being pretty good in all phases or great in all phases.

I, because I live here, seen it, you know? The reason why that game is such a big deal, I think, for the brand of IU football is because the whole world saw it and heard about it.

And I think that's huge for you. You know, I love that you're a Gatorade zero glacier freeze guy. I am as well. It's by far the best one. It is by far the best one that they have. No questions asked. Great taste out of you. I like what you're doing. But yeah, exactly. Cheers to you. I assume IU's

getting paid. If not, they should be. We are not. I am not. This is just, you know, zero sugar that's keeping moving. But Kirk Herbstre brought up a good point, you know. And Kirk has respect for the Big Ten. Kirk has seen the Big Ten. But there was a stat that was out there. It was like, Indiana is one in 71 in these games in the history. And I

immediately said, well, the IU football program literally just started last year. Okay, so that is kind of how I feel about it. And I know I'm not the only one. There's a lot of people around Indiana that feel that way. Do you feel the same energy or even more energy than last year with the hot start that you've had this year? How does this support feel for my you? Because this is all brand new to Hoosiers fans. They're all football people, but Hoosier football is very new to them. How has it felt? Kind of rallying for the, you know, the next five, 10, 15 years of a program here that you're building from scratch in Bloomington. yeah well you know we have the largest alumni base in america right now over 800,000 we

took over number one a month a month and a half ago wow you know i think we built on our successes all the way around and all the things that are important to a program i mean uh the games are sold out the fans are crazy and nutty uh giving has really increased and we're getting more high profile high powered donors into the program uh facilities are improved improving. You know, obviously we're in RevShare now and NIL will be a key component in that as well, staff salaries, those kind of things. So we're definitely moving in the right direction. And obviously there's a lot of excitement, especially, you know, after this last game, Illinois game was a big game too. You know, they were number of nine in the country. And then you go to Iowa. That's a really hard place to play now. And that was a hard fought game and win that one. But I think it's really important. and address this Monday with our team that we ripped the rearview mirror off. And, you know, this team's met every challenge up to this point, but why have they met every challenge? It's because of their commitment to the process, doing the things they have to do to be prepared

and give themselves the best chance on Saturday. And then even when you are totally prepared, you've got to put it on the field. You know, plays at 1 to 150, and you've got to play a certain way. You know, so we have things we preach. I really believe in college football, you know, game one and game two, everybody's ready to play. After that, who shows up ready to play? And we have to show up ready to play this week and have a great mindset and do the things you got to do from a preparation standpoint because anyone can beat anyone. 95% of teams and people are capable of beating one another on any given day.

And Michigan State's got good players. They got good coaches. They went on the road. two hard-fought road games at USC and Nebraska. They were dog fights, and I'm sure they're disappointed by their last game at home against UCLA. But they got a lot of character on that team, and I expect their best job. As you should, because you're not taking anybody by surprise anymore. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Coach, Roman Hemby, you're running back. We saw him, obviously, in a couple of those highlights against Oregon. I guess how nice is it to bring him in for Maryland and to see how he's kind of developed as not. It feels like he's actually a great

leader for the team of veteran player, but the guy runs so hard. seems like he's very versatile and can do it all. Like, what does he do for your offense? Yeah, I think you hit it right on the head. You know, you bring in guys like Hemby, you know, Coogan, and there's others. But Hemby's a warrior. He shows up every day at practice, and he's 100% effort all the time. Finishes, runs, and team run drills.

Great hands out of the backfield. Pass protection, we needed to work on a little bit when he first got here is really improved. And you saw it, you know, against Oregon. I mean, he's a hard downhill runner to have good speed, great hands out of the backfield. And he's just very consistent. Like, you know, a lot of times when you go in the portal, you can research them, you see the stats. Maybe you played against them. You hear good things.

But you really don't know these guys until, you know, you go through spring ballfall camp and play a few games. I mean, just he is an A-plus in every area. that you're looking for in terms of getting ready to play and playing to your full potential. Everybody's trying to do what you do. You just talk about not knowing who these guys are out of the transfer portal until after spring, through fall camp, and then a few games. Everybody's looking at what you were able to accomplish and saying, hey, if we have a good transfer portal run and we get the right guy in here, we can turn into a number three team

in the country in two years. There's a question now Connor has about what you've been able to do with the, you know, there's a lot of people in that transfer portal, and you've talked about the stars and everything what you're looking for. has a question. Yeah, coach, to pass point right there, you know, Mendoza was a name last year, but now he is one of the names in college football. And, you know, you've turned him into that. We talk about it in the NFL at Baker-Mayfield in his OCs. He makes his OCs, you know, head coaches, you basically make these quarterbacks absolute superstars.

What kind of trades do you look for when you're in the portal, when you are recruiting, to, you know, know that this kid has something in him that you can kind of, you mentioned full potential, bring out his full potential. Is it character? I heard you talking about character of Michigan State and your own team heading to Oregon, and that felt like a massive thing. We just talked to Coach McCarthy about QB-E-Q, emotional quotient, and just about the importance of that when it comes to football. What are the specific things you're looking for in all the players that you currently have in your team? Well, I mean, you know, you got to have a blueprint and a plan, first of all, for how you're going to run your program, but this business is

all about recruiting, development, and now retention. So, you know, I think all my years as a recruiting coordinator really helped me from an evaluation standpoint. And I've always, you know, evaluated anyone we are considering coming into the program, whether it's a recruit, a portal guy, or a coach, obviously. Because it's all about people. It is all about people. And you've got to have the right kind of people on your staff and on your team.

You know, development is huge. You know, there's a lot of good players out there. I really believe that. You've got to do a great job developing them. You know, in the weight room, off-season program, you practice in the meeting room, and the kind of culture you create in your program. And, you know, in terms of the quarterback,

first of all, Chandler Whitmer's done a great job with Fernando Mendoza. You know, he's in his first year with us as quarterback coach, co-offensive coordinator. We've had a great running quarterback. You're right. I think we've had five, four, five in a row that we're playing. a year in a league and Curtis Fork had a great year last year

actually was second team all conference, but I think he led the country in QBR. They've all been different. We've had the pocket guys, the dual guys, and the in-betweeners. And you've got to build around their strengths and around your offense's strengths. And, you know, all those guys

have flourished and Fernando's done the same thing. He was an easy guy to evaluate. There's a lot of physical talent there. You know, he's tall, he's smart, he's got quick releasing, make all throws, he's mobile. When he got here, we had to settle him down a little bit in the pocket, work on his footwork, and, you know,

process a little bit and just calm him down a little bit in the pocket, you know, because he didn't have the best protection at kill. The progress he has made in the pocket, really, is unmoved. And, but as much progress as he has made, he's got that much more he can make because of his ability. And he's the kind of guy. I mean, he is extremely intense. intelligent. He is super high character. He wants to be a great player. And I've never been around

a player anywhere I've ever been that prepares like him. Let's go. Wow. I love that. I love that. And cares about people, involved in the community. Teammates love him. But he's not a real raw, rock guy now. You know what I mean? He just, he leads by example. That's high. how to play with easily. Hey, that's high EQ, I think, is what I'm hearing from Mike McCarthy, the emotional quotient for him through the roof, physical talent, through the roof. His accuracy is insane.

You know, you watch him play. It's like, oh, that's a Sunday guy right there. That is a Sunday guy. Can extend to play as well. And now he's doing something special down there in Bloomington that we've never seen before in this state. Now, on that note, whenever you got here, you were something that I don't think anybody has seen in D1 ball.

Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, and it was a breath of fresh air, coach. And obviously, everyone, you know, right. after, you know, whether it was you saying, hey, listen, I've never taken a backseat to anybody. I'm not going to do it now. And maybe kind of jousting with Ohio State a little bit in Purdue and then the Google me, you know, I win. That's going to follow you the rest of your life because you continue to do it. Do you think, like, are you at a point now where you don't feel like you have to maybe, quote unquote, talk shit or do any of that stuff anymore? Because it's like,

hey, guess what? I can say whatever I want to say, but we're playing on Saturday and we're coming in there to kick your ass and now people know like hey indiana actually really might come in here and beat our ass yeah there's no doubt about it i mean i you know i feel like this year i'm back to who i was this maybe 44 or 43 for me i don't know you know the other 41 years uh but you know just like you know what's our response going to be uh this week against michigan state coming off the organ win what you saw last year for me was sort of my response to my first eight hours on the job here, but I detected, noticed, and saw, and didn't like. And I wasn't going to lower my stand. I'd come from a championship program. We'd won five straight championships. Hell yeah.

And I wasn't going to have my standards lowered by everything I felt, saw, and heard. And so I got a little mad. Yeah, I did. And it all started at the basketball game. But it didn't. It started when when I stepped into the stadium for the first time ever and got on the elevator. with the AD, and he got an earful. And then it just took on a life of its own after that. I get it. So, yeah, I don't need to do that. We've established...

Yeah, I don't need to do that anymore. We establish eight hours in, okay. A lot needs to change. I'm sick of all of this, everything. The questions were probably condescending. The things you were seeing were probably condescending. All of a sudden, well, this is a tall task. we don't have this, we don't have this.

I'm sick of this, okay? We were winning here because I decided to come here. That's why I was going to get. And you're going to talk to your shit. I love that. And now you're at the point where, I mean, after the Oregon win, it certainly helps. And I'm excited to see how your team responds as well. This is a big test for your team now.

They talk about, you know, handling failure. Handling success is obviously the hardest thing. That's all you've ever really done. You can Google that. I'm excited to see your boys respond. But I also appreciate the fact that you look around and you're like, all right, I don't have to tell everybody that we're going to beat the shit out. They kind of understand that now.

You're the man, coach. We appreciate the hell out of you. Well, you know, I love you guys. And I heard you talking about the Gateway Gators against the Club Mustangs the other day. Hell yeah. You know what I mean? Terry Smith is interim head coach up there at Penn State.

Gateway Gator great. And that's a great football coach. Let me tell you he'll do a great job there. As with you. That's the head coach in Indiana, Coach Nett. We'll continue digitally. Cheers. Goodbye. All right, we're still live.

We're still live. So don't say that, you know, don't bear it. You're still live. There's people still live. watch it. Coach, we love you, man. Congratulations on all the success and thank you for the time. Got to keep it going, man. All right. Can't wait to get back down there, brother. Can't wait to get back down there. Maybe stop out of house.

I'm glad you're in our state. You're my homeboy now. Damn right. I'm glad you're in our state. You should go down in a house. Fuck yeah. I need to go down the house. Putting green, the whole thing. Tell the family we said hello and gratsy down there. Okay, let's go. That's an open invitation. All right. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, uh, Kurtzignati. Coach! Stop leaving savings behind at the pump.

Get up to 7 cents per liter in value every time you fill up at Petro Canada. That's 3 cents per liter in instant savings plus 20% more points when you link an eligible RBC card to your Petro points. Find out more at RBC.com slash Petro-Dash Canada. Conditions apply. Talk about stepping up. Bye! 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.espn.com. Sign up now.

He's hilarious. The best. He is himself. Oh, yeah. He said pocket, like the way you did with the golf club. Come out of the pocket. So he's Western Pennsylvania. I mean, we had Mike McCarthy and Kurtzignetti.

We're talking about Pittsburgh just having its, you know, influence on football, still happening, still very real. But him walking into that building and just everybody there just being like, why would you come here? What are you? Do we have a wait room? Not a good one. We got half a one.

Hipped being on edge all year. And just being like, oh, I hate all this year. No way. I'm moving my whole family here. I'm moving my whole family here. I'll move my whole family. I mean, he called his shot. Can you imagine if he does all that stuff and they go four and eight?

Like, that's not good. But he knew. He's like, fuck it. I'll call my shot. And then we will just beat the shit on everybody. Do you know how coaches speak through the media to their players? He was speaking to the entire state of Indiana. He was like, obviously he was talking to college football.

But he was also talking to IU alumni, which I just saw the tweet, $805,000 now is there alumni, which I don't know how that happens. couple months ago. Indiana University is now home to the nation's largest living alumni network powered by more than 805,000 living alumni. I use vast alumni network provides unparalleled opportunities for connection, career advancement, and lifelong growth. That's also comma and NIL for our football team and our basketball teams. You can also add in there. So are they like they were tied with another school and somebody passed the rest in peace. It must be a network. It must be like some sort a website.

They sign up. Either that or like my assumption. Also like the football team being as good as they were last year, I wonder what that did for enrollment this year. You know, like that that's a big deal for kids going to college. Like oh shit, we might get a college football playoff team next year. Like yeah, if I'm on the edge between Indiana and Ball State, like probably going to IU.

Indiana also good time. Yes, for sure. Noted good. Big Ten school. Bloomington noted good time. Yeah, you're right. I guess that is Big Ten school. All Big Ten school is good time.

legit everyone i've ever been to yeah yeah because like west virginia obviously just professional good time i think you know the dropout rates hilarious for your first semester you just kind of go crazy every night there's an opportunity to do something cool and you're gonna do it okay and that's just a part of it and then there's other party schools you kind of hear of and then yeah i guess now that i just kind of think about all the cities we've been across in the big 10 i mean at iowa we had there was a beer waiting for us at the hotel so awesome lady had a baby keg while we were checking in a hotel tell for the Iowa Hocknize game. See you. Columbus is obviously Columbus. I mean,

Penn State. Penn State, outrageous. Hey, how is it out there? Absolute destruction. Like, where? Everywhere. Pure chaos is how Stanford Steve kind of called it. What else? Michigan. Madison is a great time. Michigan was a good time. Michigan was a good time. Oh, there it is. Boom, Northwestern sucks. Yeah, but City of Chicago. Michigan State is a big party school. What school is it? Well, it's funny while we're talking about... Northwestern, we just said, because we immediately went from Northwestern,

we want the city of Chicago as opposed to the school. Maybe any of the inner city campuses? Yeah, because there's not enough for, there's not a lot of room for like the frat life or whatever. But yeah, if you go to a city school, you just go out in the city. So the city counts as the, like Pitt, for instance, in Oakland? Yeah, yeah.

I've had good times in Oakland at like apartment parties, house parties and things like that. But it doesn't have the opportunity to do, like, what big campuses. You've got like a fake idea and go out of the board. Bingo, you're going to the city. Interesting. And do they still do all this stuff? Yes.

I hope so. Oh, yeah. They do. Down in the south, I wonder, I assume just every, because I only see their tailgate setups and everybody's having a good time. They know. They know how to, yeah, they always have great setups. Like, yeah, down south, they, they have the great college experience, I feel like.

I'm happy we got good times all over the place. So it's all bad. We need more good times. Amen. The world needs more good times. So if these are being. generated via sports or just other opportunities. We're happy about that.

Now, tonight, let's start this week, week seven. Perfect. Now, AJ, I would like your take on Tua's. We didn't really talk about that, but we could do it tomorrow. Actually, we can just move past it. I thought Tua did a great job on that statement. Did you as well? Absolutely, yeah.

If he, yeah, go ahead, address it, let him know. And like you said, start off the press conference like that because I know every question will be about that. Yeah, hey, hand up. That was on me. we go. It's move forward. My intent, I explained to the boys what my intentions were to just talk about. And he said, the guys know my heart. They know my intent. They know, and I'm like, yeah, that is very true, actually. Usually it's the case. I did appreciate him throwing a media under

bus like we misconstrued it. Yeah. I give that one. That's a good move. Yeah, it's not a bad place. I give that one. What I meant, because it happens to us. What we actually said, first, what you are saying, we said two different things. But in this particular case, every ex-player basically said, come on. We don't need that. Come on. You're throwing all of us under the bus. Yeah, yeah. We don't want to, you're throwing yourself under the bus.

You don't even know it right there. You're literally just throwing yourself under the bus right. Nobody's winning here from this particular statement. So I appreciate him owning that and moving forward. Rishi Rice is back for the Kansas City Chiefs. That's going to be, I mean. Huge. Yeah.

It's about to happen. Yes. It started happening. Okay. The Chief's wagon started to kind of, you know, forged a river a little bit and it started rolling slowly surely this team stinks they're dead i even fell into it i'm like you know what maybe it's hard not to maybe they are done dude this is a bummer i don't like it but i'm thankful that i got to watch it with how great it was that's how i started

feeling in here and then hold on hold on the chiefs remember they're the chiefs patrick roams hears that too he hears that too i think he he loves that he starts putting a team on his back like he actually starts like running he he starts like running he starts it's like taking hits, taking run. Travis Kelsey starts, oh, wait a second, here we go.

Xavier Worthy, okay, hold on. Kareem Hunt, Hollywood Brown, Ju-Jew Smith-Schuster. All these guys seemingly start having better games and it's like,

wait a lot, this is more weapons than they've ever had. And then all of a sudden, wait a second, Rishie Rice is coming back too. So now they might have the most weapons

that they've ever had. They're playing good football, and this is why that they are sitting in the position that they're in, which is everybody saying they're going to insert pool again. That's where we're saying

in week seven. For sure. It feels like AJ. Yeah, definitely does. I mean, watching Patrick Mahomes work and watching, like, you can tell, I don't know, the guy's just an ultra-competter, and I love watching him. And I think when he is in that mode, when he's alive, when he is breathing, the Chiefs always have a chance. Yes, I think that's how we should view it forever, especially with Andy Reid coaching as well. So we should remember. That's punched by Jack Cam. We keep run this play. I'm sorry, we ran us a bunch.

I love watching Jack Cam will come in and throw this unbelievable haymaker here trying to get the ball. It's so funny to me. I don't know why. Why didn't you do a little bit more? Watch this. He let him get up, too. He let him get him right in the balls, too. He probably had glanced. Yeah, he might have got a glancing

below with the balls there. We're not 100% sure. But him perfectly timing for when he got up. Like, hey, nobody touched this guy. He's getting up. That's classic play by veteran defensive player. Jack Campbell certainly flies around. But on that note, Patrick Mahomes in Rishie Rice

last season, Weeks 1 through 3. Okay, Hembo sent these stats over. Weeks 1 through 3 last season, 24 receptions first, 185 yards yak, 280 receptions yards, 32 targets, and then he got injured in week four. Mahomes is getting less yak this season, 5.7 yards per completion than he ever has.

So Rishie Rice should be adding to that. Little on all the weapons that Andy Reid now has to kind of draw some shit up. That feels like huge news football-wise. And, yep, I'm back to only picking the Chiefs blindly until I lose all my money like I did a couple years ago. I assume sports books are going to react the same way, though, with them. Yeah, I was actually, I can't...

They are... are they this weekend? I mean, he's the favorite to win MVP now, and they're the favorite for the Super Bowl. So sports books are already... Oh, they're minus 11 and a half against the... There you go. This says 12 and a half. I assume that either of those could work across the board. Chiefs minus 12 and a half

hosting the Raiders, and we know that's a petty game. That's a big number. Big time. And if you remember, however, she writes got hurt. My homest might feel a little bad because it was actually Mahomes who fell on his light to get him hurt last year and then that's carried over into the suspension. So maybe my homes is going to say, you know what? I owe you

six touchdowns. It feels like everybody on that team loves them because they're just openly, proudly, very loudly supporting. Everybody's like, don't you do that? They're like, it's our guy. Yeah. So they must be very, very pumped for him to come back. Mike Vrable is going to take on Tennessee Titans. Obviously, Tennessee

Titans fire him unceremoniously out of nowhere in a lot of our eyes. He then goes to Cleveland Browns for a year as an advisor, as a council, and then he, boom, becomes the head coach of New England Patriots, and boom, they're really good again. So Vrable, who had success, in Tennessee with the Titans will be facing them for the first time as a head coach at a new

place will he remember that or this be strictly business for mike frable a j hawk well i don't know what do you think pat i think he may have an idea he may have a little memory of what it was like to get booted out of there but but will the sports book taking this whole interim head coach bump that usually happens the week after a firing uh you think for callahan and the boys down there after the fire is it McCoy i believe McCoy is the interim head coach yeah i didn't love what McCoy said too because he basically said like well on offense we're only going to do what Cam Ward does well now and we weren't really doing that per se so not great for New England but if you're talking about like hey the players are going to because it's not just him

Harold Landry who's the leader on the defense now he used to play for Tennessee I forget if he got cut or just signed somewhere else who knows but there's there's a few of that this Bob Spillane Jack Gibbons the other middle linebacker like there's a few Titans on that roster and I feel You talk about it sometimes, too. Like, it's a big time. Like, Brable can say what he wants, but doesn't the locker room more so I have to be like, hey, we need to do this for fucking coach no matter what he says. That's what Terry Smith is saying up at Ben State about to the team and to the coaches.

Like, hey, we got James Franklin fired so we can rally around this. You could definitely rally around your head coach and put up for him. I didn't even think about the fired head coach bump that happened. That's like one of my rules. I don't have a lot of rules. McCoy's a respected guy, too. Like, he's a respected legit coach. It's a revenge game versus the fired coach.

first game. Yeah, it's tough. I stay away from this. Yeah, it's the Battle of the Football God's kind of, you know, who knows? Yeah, who knows? And we like Can War. That's what sucks. Like, we all, I think, I like Canwar.

I think he's nasty. So it's like, shit. You're taking Braves minus six and a half? I didn't know the points were that much, but I'll see tomorrow how I feel. But right now that's where I'm leaning. You should know very similar to a lot of situations where, like, the bills, everybody's taking the fucking paths. I mean, everybody and their mother's taking their pets.

Everybody and their mother is saying pads are going to kill them. What's the stat again? 75% of the bets right now are currently on the Patriots. And what's the stat? 15 and 36 teams that are getting 60% or more of the public bet. AJ, this is the week. I am not a public puppet. Are you sure?

McCoy said players not plays when asked about how he would change the approach with Cam Ward. What does Cam Ward do best players not plays? What does that mean? Boy,'s got to lock in a little bit. What does he do? This is fucking week one game, week seven. It's fucking bullshit. Okay.

Well, good luck to you guys. Thanks, man. Ladies and gentlemen, before we make our picks, we would like to say that AJ's college roommate and high school friend is currently battling through something I just learned about in the last few days via post on his social media. Basically, I had a chance to chat with him, and AJ obviously has more information.

him and Nick are literally best friends. So Nick is currently looking for a kidney with the type O blood. And if you are interested in helping him as he's battled chronic kidney disease throughout his entire life, and he said that he knew that this moment was potentially going to be coming for him. He had no idea it would be this soon.

He had been on dialysis since August, I think. Yeah, that's what he said. I think he's been on dialysis since August, which is three times a week for four hours each session. And they're basically pumping out his blood and then pumping it back in to clean it because that is the job of his kidney and his chronic kidney disease had gotten to a point where the kidney is not operable. So now he is looking for a donor to give a kidney that could potentially match his blood type. And that would happen in November, I believe. He has to go through dialysis for a few more weeks before he can even get to the point of getting or receiving said kidney.

So you are not past this storyline to help. And it's not just obviously Nick Mangled. How many people are currently on dialysis? I believe it was 550,000 in the United States and like over 800 million worldwide. Okay, so even if you have any interest in helping Nick Mangold or anybody else, there's a lot of people. You go to this website, you can scan this particular QR code, and then you'll click on the link, and then you'll go through some things, and they'll check and see what your blood type is and what's all possible for you to be able to help out a football legend,

obviously in Ohio State legend, New York Jet Legend, and a young man that I didn't even know this was really possible, AJ. You've been close with him your entire life, went to the same high school, same college, and obviously still talk to him today. Did everybody know about this? And what did I miss, maybe, in describing that entire situation? No, you pretty much hit it on the head. No, like, everyone was not aware of this by any means. I mean, we were, like, we were aware of that he had a situation, but we didn't know how serious it was, and we didn't know he'd be getting, you know, needing a kidney transplant at this point in his life. He didn't either. That's what he said. He even, like, was joking with me saying, hey, I go into this dialysis. this, which is not a great situation. It's not fun. And I go with, I'm in there with a bunch

of 60, 70, 80-year-olds. I was like, yeah, they've got to say, who is this giant mammoth human with long hair and a beard walking in here? Why is he in here? And Nick is asking the same thing. Like, yeah, I didn't think it would be at this point, but he's also super positive about it and saying, hey, there is like an answer. If I can find

a way to get a kidney, I can go and hopefully live a normal life after this. But yeah, it's scary, man. He's got four kids, everything. Just totally upends your whole life. We are sending super positive vibes and well wishes and good luck to Mangold and his entire family on receiving a kidney. But also, I think there's a chance that Nick is on the other side of this is going to be able to raise a lot of awareness about things that we have learned over the last couple of

days through Nick Mangold's story here with chronic kidney disease about the many other people that are just looking for a little bit of health, I believe, or a little bit of help. I believe the body has two kidneys, but it is understood that you only need one to really operate a body. So if you have an extra and you're willing and you happen to match, if you go to this website and find out. Type O, you can be the person that potentially saves Nick Mangled's life and many others that are currently going through the same thing. So Nick, we love you, buddy. We love your brother. We hope you get it. We hope you get it. Now tonight, AFC North football, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, Aaron Rogers, Joe Flacco, minus five and a half for the Pittsburgh Steelers on

every single sports book. You could have got them in minus four and a half about an hour ago. It is switched back. Everybody sees it the same way. Almost. a touchdown favorite in Cincinnati in front of Andrew Whitworth, the ruler of the jungle. AJ, how do you see it? We're fresh off a tie, brother. We're fresh off a tie, and we're tied for the season, too.

We're three-three for the season, and we're fresh off a tie last week. So whenever you talk about what tonight means, it's a potential perfect slate for one of us, or both of us, if we see it the exact same way. Yeah, it is. I mean, this is Coach McCarthy. I know he's on. I got to go home next week,

So he's taking the Steelers, obviously. He usually doesn't like a lot of points like that, especially in the division. I've gone back and forth with this one, but you know what? Honestly, give me Joe Flacko and give me the Bengals, plus five and a half of a home. Wow. I don't know. Didn't you hear big Mike say, they make a founder. You heard a little bit in the second half.

Yeah, he said Joe Flacko, they're doing what they need to do to win football games, which is such a football way or football coach way to talk about a team that's decimated by injuries and also in a situation that a lot of people. but don't think they'll be able to win. Football coach looking at them and go, they have ways to win games, though. And they started playing ways to win game is what he said last week. Yeah, but AJ kind of let it off with his real feelings. You know, pig bike has to go home to Pittsburgh. AJ's got to live in Ohio. And that's exactly why I picked a bank off. Oh, yeah. And he's probably going back to Centerville for some

celebration of him punting 50 or 30 touchdown, some sort of. Homecoming King. Do you have a celebratory AJ Hawk Day back there at Centerville for the Oaks? No, we do not. Everyone dresses up as Hawks. Don't lie, Hawk. Everyone dresses up as Hawks, walks around the hallway. Everyone has to get 33 tackles today. Okay, and also rush for 130 yards.

Yeah. And they even have the wings. Exactly. Everybody, you've got to go like this while you're walking. And it gets kind of tight in the hallways, but they do it for A.J. Hawk. A.J. Hawk. A.J. Hawk. They got it turns out.

Oops, oops, oops, or that might be how you rack up a couple tackles. You know, instigate a little contact, get a little brouhaha going. and then boom, you just got a fucking melee in the hallway. Right here underneath the teachers hate it. Yep, exactly. A chicken wing, you get an actual hawk wing, I guess. Yeah.

Yeah, because you got to... Yeah, teachers are doing it too. Yeah, that's what I mean. They hate it, yeah. Their costume smell, they've been doing it for years. Think about, yeah, because every year they've got to do it since he did that. Think about them having to hold their books while they're... Tough. You know, like this... What do you even do with the backpack?

Beak? Well, that's part of the Hawk day is working out. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, shoulders and traps are dying by the end of that. That's what you love. Yeah, that's what you're growing. It means you're growing. It means I'm growing if I'm sore, right? Amen.

That's right. Pain means gains. I'm also. Always. That's what we're doing. Flap. You're saying you're not in the bangles? Flap.

Flap. Flap. If this goes in, I'll take the bangles. Okay. Okay. I'm sure you'll make a good, solid attempt. I don't think so but boy right online I don't know what to do

this is a five point game that's what we just learned we just learned it's a five point game and you can get four and a half or five and a half we got an answer here holy shit it went out yeah okay yeah that one did you don't have a choice you have to trust it Joey Flacko plus five and a half

I mean if you go back and listen to the beginning of this show just two hours ago at this exact moment it's 2.16 for 16 minutes in two hours ago you would not believe that I mean that's two balls there. Yeah, have to. That's the universe talking to you. Whitworth.

You have to listen. White helmets. White hot. Whitt's going to dominate that. The ruler of the jungle too. I believe the pants and also the jersey are also white. Oh, white helmet's pants and jersey? Yeah. Cleats?

That's a good question. Flacko is. Got those white cleats. They even painted the walls of the field white. I saw that. Flackos got these cleats right here. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

They'll just paint them orange. They'll drop them in there for orange. These are actually flakos. That's, yeah, it's not alive. Hey, we're live. We're live. We're live. We're live.

Okay, okay, I'm live too. Let's go. Okay, I like that you're live. Both AJ and I are both taking the Bengals plus five and a half. AJ likes it because he lives in Ohio. Me, I throw a football. universe ball into the hoop it goes in two of them based Fitz what up baby hey why should I feel hey Fitz good to see you dude why should I should we feel good about

this or no like what are you doing are you talking to team are you playing what's all expected for you I'm just the rule of the jungle but because I'm the rule of the jungle it's going to be a big night baby and you know what I'm going bingles tonight too I'm with you oh he died his beard today all day let's go yeah the boys are saying you got your beard white for the white out tonight is Fitz do doing the same? Fitz is not going to do the same. He does his beard back colors.

He doesn't want to admit it. But here's the truth. I also got the white bangle stripes in my hoodie tonight. I'm representing all white with the team. Let's go, baby. All right. We can't wait to watch it. We appreciate you.

Tell Fitz we said what's good, too. We'll do, Pat. Appreciate you, brother. See, good luck tonight. A lot of pressure on him. It's bullshit. He shouldn't be allowed to be there. Especially with how good he's going to look.

Now that, I mean, the white beard sold me. Do not put the village on the feelings? What does the ruler do they eat? Like a gazelle or a bunch of meat? Yeah. Okay. They get a staff, I believe, is what Bruce just dropped into my ear. I just, I watched, the one time I've ever seen it was when I watched what Gary Owen, his, like, rehearsal. He filmed that. I watched the clip of him doing it. I've never, it was not happening when I was there.

They didn't do it back in the old Riverfront Stadium when I was a young kid going to games. But it looks pretty sweet. We knew that Gare had a tall task there. And showed his weight, by the way. But I think Witt should feel good, staff, plus five and a half. I think that's what he should say. Yeah. When he puts that thing out.

Hold on, this is what, gee. Okay. Cincinnati this week's rule of the jungle is me. I'm so excited to be here. We're going to strike the jungle. I'm excited to be rule of the jungle. Yeah. It's time, baby.

Yes, it is, gee. So, Witt better pick it up. Yeah. Okay, so it's not like, they're not like a Bengal. They're like, Tarzan. That's what it appears to be. Yes. What?

No, they're not trying to be a tiger. Okay, yeah, yeah. They're a human in the jungle. They're Tarzan. Well, first of all, Tiger, I mean, I guess if I was a tiger fan, which I was, I wrote a school project on in fourth grade about tigers, how much I respected, appreciate him. We had to do a hanger, and then we had the color of the animal, and then we had to write

a little thing about it. It was so sick. I remember, like yesterday, I lied about everything. I had the fangled tiger as well. That was the first time I lied about everything, and I knew the teachers weren't reading it. I said, these tigers take their food into the bush, just lied completely. They might, though. They don't know that?

Sometimes they carried up in the trees. I wrote it that morning, literally, as I was taping this thing together because it was a full challenge you had to do. Yeah, I just lied. the whole time got in maybe because I guess the tape looks good I like the tigers I don't think tigers though are naturally known as the rulers of the jungle they're not no I don't think that is the case it should be though well the ruler of the jungle yeah which is the king of the jungle yeah but it is the jungle over there because the hooday people make it pretty wild yeah it's true and lions don't

hunt that's the thing tigers do it all that's why you would think they'd be the ruler and the lion would be the king because the lioness is bringing the food to the lion so it's like a king whereas a ruler thing would be like hey that guy's patrolling fucking shit up like a tiger and a bank but I think people would say a king is a ruler yeah he rules all the land so you're saying a lazy ruler

I'm almost thinking like Dutch and Dutch excuse me Duke and Duchess like know how that works yeah yeah like the king is the lion and like the queen is the lionesses and then like the Duke and Duchesses would be like the Tigers the rulers yeah

so instead of like general or captain it's like bingo got it's in the hierarchy of the jungle they're way up there way up there major but just ripe yeah because because good because it looks because i don't because it looks cool now the tiger looks cool though oh yeah super cool it looks cool it looks cool i mean you've seen a liger right yeah those are big those things are fucking awesome coolest animal out there those are big tiger still in jail? Is he still alive? He's alive.

Holy fuck. He was trying to get pardoned by Trump. I don't think he gave it to him. Man, what a launch into an era of life that we had there by him? Yeah. Probably living the dream. I see him the other day, he looks a lot different.

Yes, Joe Exotic is still in jail. He's serving a 21-year sentence for his role and a murder for hire, plod, and all-life crimes. I'll tell you what, there was a lot of backstabbing in that in that zoo safari world. A lot of rulers of the jungle. Yeah, no, there was zero rulers of the jungle. I think that they needed a ruler of the jungle.

They needed a tiger to actually come through there. See, he was ruler and King, he thought. Yeah, there you go. Tiger and King, he was doing too much. He never did one thing. And he's currently incarcerated federal medical center in Fort Worth in his earliest release date of schedule for 2030. Okay, so he's close.

His real name, Joseph Mulnall, pass. I think he's sick, though. I think that's why he's at the medical center. I think he's sick, for real. All right, Tiger King. We appreciate you allowing us to see your life at the time in which they did. Nailed it.

I don't think you did it all right, though, which is what kind of we all liked. I hope you're better. It's win our best thing. Hell yeah, boys. How about the universe ball? Two of them. Me too of a row. We'll find out if it's real or not, I guess.

Good luck. Be your friend, tell a friend something nice if I change your life. We're in this all together. Let's never forget that. Team on me. Hey, great work in the back, boys. Great working in back. Good work, boys.

Graphic boys. Good work, boys. Everybody in Thunder, do them really good work. too. You too. Good work, boys. Foxy, congrats on still being you ball champion, bro. Just like we said it would. It's a tough game for you, you, you, you. When we do, do, do, do what we do, do, do in the ball of you, you, you.

We're very good at this game. Now, this is a game that anybody can win. True, certainly. Because DeBone has done that a couple times. All right, see you on me. Stop cheating. He needs to get in the air for his tips. Oh, I meant you, Voxy as well, but, yeah. Us?

Oh, not you, but. What are you talking about? Foxy's on the ground. We didn't take any points for us. Yeah, I didn't take those points. Gentlemen's game, though, you guys said, you know what, that was a cool play. Here's a couple points for you. Yeah, because only you can decide if you want to, you know, utilize the rule at the time.

I will say, good internet judging if Debo was on the ground or not. Great. The still photos really did him in. Yeah. Because in real time, when you're watching it, Oh, look at the big man move. You're kind of looking here, look you here. You're not looking at another place.

Big man on the ground needs, ooh, look at that. Oh, no looker. First one ever. And Team D, Bohn and Buts. Maybe the D block, maybe the D-Boys. I mean, I guess that's a work and progress on the team name there. The original name I thought was bone and butts, but they have changed. There you kind of see a little special athleticism out of our national champion.

And whenever you slow it down and take a picture, his foot's clearly on the ground. Clearly on the ground with the ball and said. Oh, yikes. Clearly grounded right there. Now, this does feel like refs trying to slow down the game, but I love that we're holding it accountable. Well, so New York, actually, is Foxx's phone. And he's the one that called it out. Nobody else called it out.

Yeah, after Foxy lost. I think that was Bowen's big point. Wait, New York called? I thought it was ruled on the field. Oh, that's interesting. Oh, that is weird, Tony. Oh, that's funny. Oh, Foxy, in this sense, you're the refs.

Yeah, and then Bones the Lions? The Lions, oh, yeah? Bone would be the Lions, Fox. I think you're missing this. I guess Bone is the lions in a situation. But then the refs said in the pool report that, no, New York didn't call. us, but then Dan Campbell says, yes, New York did call, and they did make that play. So what's going on?

Are there these New York in with the Chiefs? That's what everyone's saying here. Do we get some stories straight, maybe? No wonder why the Chiefs are back. Why? Because I've seen the AI pictures that you've been making out there? You mean the ones of 15 in the stripes together? Yeah, they're smooching all the time.

I'm not sick of seeing Patrick Mahomes and he's a refs smooch all the time. It's all over my algorithm. It's all over my algorithm. They're always sucking face. They even got the new one. They said new angle. of the jujuice miss juster thing and it did look like a new angle

I was like all right let's see you know if there's anything said between the two what's said and then lo and behold it was just Patrick Mahomes walking back and then him walking right to a ref and sucking face I'm like enough with this enough with this too much now I will say

conflicting stories cannot be happening out of the NFL especially whenever it comes the refs and chiefs and a touchdown get the story right that's insane not the only one what's that I mean I don't got a pound the drum anymore, but the refs, I mean, they're

completely fucking up the games. I saw a guy that had $500 to win like $2,000, and he had Diggs 30 yards, and he didn't get it. So, I mean, like, now there's a bunch of money on these calls that are, look,

again, I'm not pounding the drum anymore, but the referee that I have a problem with, he'll be reffing the London games so you guys can see for yourself. 9.30 a. Yeah, obviously. There's Adrian Hill, sorry. Okay, so I appreciate that. I can't wait to watch him do his thing and his crew do his thing. The conflicting stories, though, never happens. Why is the New York thing a problem? The New York thing should

never be a problem. That's what I don't understand. Yeah, I don't think it's an issue at all. Them lying about it happening, I think, is probably the bigger problem. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No question. You can't, yeah. You have to be on the same page. Massive deal. We know that. If there's people who have 8K streams at all times around them in New York and they got all eyes on them, I don't have a problem. with New York, because why are they even wearing the shit? Yes. If New York can't be like, hey, pick it up or something like that. I think that is

probably how it's supposed to go, right? Isn't that kind of how it's supposed to kind of go? That's why they had to run over that one special spot, put the things on, because they've got to talk to the thing. Now with the person up in the stadium, you know, maybe they're in constant contact with people in New York, so I don't know how it got kind of construed.

But them saying, no, it's not from New York, and then it being from New York is like the shadiest shit of all, that could possibly happen. problem yeah so if they know if they would have just said from the beginning new york called this one in yes exactly then at least they could come in and say this isn't the only one we've called in there's a lot of things that we think are obvious or change calls just to make the game better that we call in but instead they're like no new york wouldn't do that and then it's like

yeah actually that's exactly what they do it for oh oh do we know so now they kind of put themselves in a little bit of a bind you know because they just because of faulty communication I think they should just own that New York is doing shit AJ, that's what I think they should do Absolutely, I mean Yes, of course they should Like when you try to lie about it

Even if you, they're not doing anything weird It makes it sound like you are So hold on Right So So why didn't you tell the truth The beginning you think it looks bad? You think it is bad?

What do I don't think I would have thought it was bad Until you lied about it being bad Then you have to start questioning So what else? Yeah, exactly And it's pretty easy to tell when someone's lying but like when you're talking about like the streams and the pool reports,

do we know if the AK streams are live in New York when it comes to the NFL games? Okay, we're not talking about that because we did see that ESPN Plus. Double checking. ESPN, did you hear this? No, what? I've not been able to check it out personally,

but there's certainly a large group of people that are investigating currently on the internet about ESPN Plus has live games, right? A bunch of live games. And they're going to have to figure this out. I guess there's a chance that they run advertisements which stopped the video and then after the advertisement you go back to where the video stopped at so then however long that

advertisement as you see you're automatically behind let alone in the lag that's happening so if it's a 15 second video and you go back your 15 second behind but what's the lag is another 15 seconds or 30 seconds behind then all you do that again get another advertisers somehow you back it up so as the game goes further you're kind of getting off I think is what the storyline was and then the immediate question is well why aren't they just run their ads whenever they're running the commercials and it's like well they might have been actually which then they're stopping back in the commercials actually.

So they're actually making you wash a commercial break longer than it was setting back again. There's a chance. I have no idea. But it's just like, you've got to figure that out. You got to figure that. And if you want to do it, you got to do it with Red Zones. Foxy, Ram trucks, please.

This is what you just, this is the answer. Like if they're trying to steal more time or more money off the thing or add or, you know, profit off the amount of people that are watching these live games to pay for the product in which you're spending a lot of money on the coding and engineering in the back end to make sure all that shit runs. It's like you can't have the game stop. You've got to keep it going. And if it's during the commercials, I don't think people

care you drop in there that the new V8 hemmy is back. No. I don't think people would care. Yeah, that it's ram-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r. Right and around. Motor Trending shows in RAM-1500 is a truck of the year for 2025. Ram trucks are also back on track and returning to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the

2026 season, and we're assuming they're going to win. That's the best truck down the line. Nothing stops. rammer ramming whenever it's rams um yeah so that can't happen that that's what uh i mean we're on ESPN plus right now there's probably people five minutes behind us yeah but we don't it doesn't matter for us because you can't really gamble on what we're doing the live betting stuff whenever these games and then you're saying it's a lot it's uh well that and that's like a massive part of like the selling point is like hey you want to cut your cable cord it's like well yeah but i want to watch

the games live because otherwise like what am i get the out of market stuff but like it's it's not An alternative to TV, if that's the case. Gumpy, as soon as this started going on the internet last night, there was somebody that cracked the case. Alad, I forget your name, I apologize. He really dove into it all. I should give you credit. I don't remember it.

He started going last night, and then this morning we bring it up, and Gumpy's like, I'm getting the notifications two minutes before it's happening on my screen. I can't do it. Minutes, legit minutes behind the Texas hockey game the other night. It was insane. I was like, what the hell is going on?

And then I fast forward it. I had to fast forward to get back to live. Yeah, catch up to live. You can catch up, but they don't like, you the you wouldn't know unless you get a notification on your phone that somebody scored exactly so it's blowing the entire scene is there a package to pay for more to not get those ads probably available i don't know because that's insane to me if not that does sound like a good gauge especially if they're but if you do that dorn of commercials now all of a sudden

yeah we're now we're doubled you're doing you're adding to the pool hopefully to the humans over there that's crazy be a friend tell friends i'm like hey you guys are figure it out over there in new world ESPN plus has so many games lot of options yeah okay so the back end of that shit okay the amount of the amount of that's happening at all times can't have anybody crack in the coding to keeping it up not dropping the network the platform has to be able to be strong enough for the amount of people that are coming onto it has to be smooth like that's a lot of shit okay now they signed up for that that is what he has been signed up for whenever they got all the rights that's a lot of shit so we understand that they need to make

money to be able to power all this shit because if you don't make money that's not going to work and it's going to be the worst thing of all time we just need to do it this more we'll do that we'll do that yeah yeah are we working there are we working in the in the place because we can can't do that we can't do that guy I don't have the ability we can but we hope they know the people that can do that so we can continue to move on with live sports the greatest thing on We'll be back tomorrow talking about that. Be your friend, tell your friends something nice might change your life.

We're in this together. Team on me, team on three, one, two, three, K, goodbye. A 20-year-old soldier goes missing from a U.S. Army base. How can she go missing on a military base? That's too ridiculous. What would come to light is horrifying and ignites a movement that sparks 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. Eight years ago, I blew my football career. He dropped in at the one-yardler! Chad Powers has arrived on Hulu.

If I can't play as Russ, I'll play as someone else. My name's Chad. And last name? He did. From executive producers, Eli and Peyton Manning. Remember, you're wearing a prosthetic mask? This is acting. And starring Glenn Powell.

He thinks you're a rubber chuteo-telling. Not rubber. My man, made a flesh. The Hulu original series, Chad Powers, is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply. New episodes Tuesdays.