The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1469 - TNF Preview, Sherrone Moore Fired at Michigan, Pete Thamel, Miami Head Coach Mario Cristobal, Coach Mike McCarthy, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

On today’s show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys preview tonight’s Thursday Night Football game between the Falcons and Buccaneers, they also dive deep into the Sherrone Moore situation at Michigan as last night he was fired as Head Coach for cause, and all the fallout that has followed. Joining the progrum to give a complete breakdown of the Sherrone Moore situation and where we currently stand, as well as what comes next is The authority of college football, College GameDay contributor for both football and basketball, Pete Thamel. Next, Head Coach of the Miami Hurricanes, Mario Cristobal joins the progrum to chat about the last couple of weeks for the Miami program, getting into the dance, how they’ll prepare for the playoff game at Texas A&M, and more. Later, Super Bowl Champion, former Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, Mike McCarthy joins the show to chat about tonight’s Thursday Night Football game, why he’s a believer in the Packers going forward, the parity in the NFL, how difficult it is playing in the cold this time of the year, his thoughts on Phil Rivers playing this weekend, and more. Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you, we’ll see you tomorrow. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome. On this NFL week 15 kickoff Thursday, December 11, 2025, this sports program begins now. Football! It is magical, and week 15 of the NFL season kicks off this evening in the NFC South. There's two teams coming off what some people could call embarrassing losses. I'm not saying that because every team that's in the NFL is a good football team. The Bucks lose to the Saints last week. The Falcons lose to the Seattle Seahawks.

how much? 37 to 9 and nobody was there. Geez, Louise. Kirk Cousins has Drake London at. Baker Mayfield has Mike Evans back. Buck's favored by four and a half on Amazon Prime. Kirk Herb Street, Al Michaels, Kaylee Hardtong, Carissa Thompson, Gonzales, Witt, Fit,

Sherm, and I think that's pretty much it. The whole squad. You guys crush it. Can't wait to wash tonight. Week 15 of the NFL season kicks off in a beautiful way. There's a lot of people saying this game might be ass. This game might be shite. Kirk Cousins, Baker Mayfield on Thursday night,

let's assume something magical happens. But I remind you, the last time Kurt Cousins played against the bucks, bowed out. Four touchdowns or something like that. Zero interceptions, one absolutely crazy. Is that going to happen tonight? Who knows?

Is Baker Mayfield going to go crazy after a loss to the Saints? Potentially. Tonight we kick off week 15. There is zero, zero playoff clinch. There is zero division clinches. There is zero teams that have everything stamped in stone. and what they'll be doing going into the playoffs. So this weekend could be a special one.

And there's a lot of big time matchups. We're pumped that week 15 is often running. We're also very, very, what are they being like, knowledge of a situation, very in the know, I guess, of what the hell is going on in Michigan right now. Yesterday was one of the most wild rides on the internet that I've had in sometimes around the sports world. You know, go home from the Thunderdome. after a great day here in another U-ball championship run of D-But and D-Bone. Obviously, congrats to the bone and butts, the D-Block.

They continue to be the champion. Go home, hang out with daughter, get a chance to put her up to bed. Every time you check your phone, though, there's a new thing happening with Sharon Moore. So many troll accounts, so many AI, different stories, everything's going crazy. All we do know is Sharon Moore is not the head coach of Michigan anymore. Shrone Moore is currently detained in a jail, I believe, in Michigan. Not because of the reason why he got fired, but because of what happened. immediately after he got fired or acknowledged of the fire.

We'll have Pete Dam will joining us in about three minutes to break down what's real, what's not real, because if you're on the internet last night, boy, there was a lot of things. And with how good AI is, I'll tell you. I was seeing a lot of different stuff. Pete Dam will break down what we know, what we don't know, very serious stuff, very serious allegations, very serious storyline that obviously will lead into what the future of Michigan is and who's their next head coach and how they go forward. Biff Pogue, who's businessman billionaire, extraordinaire, will be the internet.

head coach for the Michigan Wolverines. He was this earlier in the year when Sharon was suspended for a couple games. They play Texas, on New Year's Eve in the Cheez-It Bowl. Texas, playing arch, playing their entire team. Texas is not happy about not making it in college football playoff, gearing up for next year to kind of do their thing. They're only six and a half-point favorites against a Michigan team who's starting quarterback has already taken Michigan all the way out of his entire social media status. And Michigan for the next two weeks is poachable for any coachable to go and get them. It's a wild time to be alive.

Maybe that Texas Michigan game six and a half might get taken off the board, depending upon who is all on that. That's not for us to care about, though. Just something to think about as we put this out into the world. Texas currently only six and a half point favorites against Michigan. Who knows what this Michigan Wolverines team looks like by the time New Year's Eve comes around? Just something to think about. The talks of tables here at Boston Connor at Ty Schmidt.

One half of the Hammer, Dodd Cowboys AP Tone is here. And, gone, man, I'll talk to you about this. The internet was alive last night. Oh, yeah. And in our position, okay, we have learned, we have stubbed our toe a few times, okay? We're live. We are live, three, four hours a day. Boom, boom, boom.

So what we say one day might not necessarily be the exact truth, like a week from them, because we're living in the moment with the information that we have. Last night, a lot of information, a lot of misinformation, a lot of stories, because we're talking about the biggest rivalry in college football. Oh, yeah. We're talking about college football fans, and we're talking about AI being able to create anything. This story seemingly came out of nowhere, okay? I heard a lot of people on the internet, now a lot of things,

but a lot of people were saying, like, kind of had rumblings of this. We kind of heard this was going on. It's like, I didn't. I mean, I was just up there a few weeks ago. We talked to Sharon on College Game Day. I talked to Coach Jerome Moore the day before to get a little info on his team. It's like, I didn't know any of this was happening. So I was kind of blindsided by it all.

And then boom, he's in jail. It's like, what a whirlwind of a day for everybody. Family involved, obviously, other lives involved. Very serious allegations. It's like, last night was an insane night on the internet. And I think it's showcased, I don't think it's a good thing, but college ball. Yes. Ohio State people, obviously.

Burner accounts that have information that nobody else has somehow. Michigan State. Michigan State people getting it. I mean, it was, last night was insane. And all we know is that Michigan's future is just one big question mark, I guess, head coach. And what yesterday was, I think, is kind of one big question mark for all of us as well. Yeah, yesterday is one of those when you're on the internet.

You read everything, you react to nothing. Because you really just don't know what is going to be real. not going to be real. You don't want to get in a situation where you react to something that is just completely wrong or from one of those teams, one of those fans rather of a team that is rivals with Michigan. But I think because of what's the last three weeks of college football has been that also amplifies it. Like it hasn't been as much college football playoff as much as it's been coaching going other places. Lane Kiffin, you know, Summerall, all these other spots that have been open. Jail. Yeah, that as well. But like,

Like, Michigan, if you were to tell us, or if you were going to tell everybody two weeks ago, Michigan was going to be a job that was open, you would probably say Michigan is up there with the LSU. Like LSU was kind of the open spot, and then after that, the tier was everything else. Michigan goes into that top tier. Okay, joining us now as a man who has all the information on what's real, what's not real. We appreciate him. You know, and he's had to report some stuff that Michigan fans didn't like in the past, but he'll report against any school that has anything going wrong. That is why he is the authority, ladies and gentlemen, from college game day, both football and basketball, the authority for ESPN, Pete Hamill. Yay! Pete, we appreciate you joining us. Obviously, you and Wetzel, big part of the storylines yesterday.

Okay, you sent us over a timeline of what you knew, or what you know. Could you potentially walk us through where we stand right now? Because the internet was ablaze last night with so many different things. It could be real, could not be real. What do we know and where do we stand right now? Pete, thank you. you for joining us. Yeah, thanks for having me, Pat. This is what we know from a timeline perspective yesterday. You know, sometime midday, Sharon Moore was dismissed from the University of Michigan with cause. One of the things that stood out to me about that, Pat, is they were very clear that this was because of an inappropriate relationship.

And rarely in these cases is that as explicitly stated as Michigan said it. So they clearly relayed that information to Sharon. You know, not long after that, police in Pittsfield, Michigan, Pittsfield Township responded to investigate what they called an press release and alleged assault. Not long after that, Michigan had a team meeting where the team was told of Sharon Moore's dismissal. This was obviously shocking to the team and staff. They did not know this was coming. Michigan announced things.

I think it was 4.43 p.m. was the official time of Michigan announcing this. And then around 7.15 last night, the city of Saline, Michigan announced that Moore had been detained and they were working in partnership with Pittsfield Township. And then it emerged through court documents last night that Sherylmore had been booked in Washington County Jail. He's still in custody in Washington County Jail. Dan Wetzel, my colleague, just got a statement from Washington County Prosecutor's Office, which basically said no announcement of a decision on charges is expected today. day. So we will wait to see the fate of strong more. He remains in custody. We will wait to see if he is charged and then what he could potentially be charged with. And then, you know, obviously, obviously legally things would proceed from there. Okay. So thank you for the timeline. Thank you for the information. We saw a lot of stuff on the internet yesterday. There was a

potential threat, a suicide threat. And then they say alleged assault. Do we have any more information on the situation that arose from him getting put into protective custody or into jail? Because that was kind of even kind of miss. I don't want to say misworded, but it was like kind of a little bit of a guise on what was actually happened. Is he arrested? Is he taken in for his own protection? Like how do we know any of the information

on that particular fact? Had until the police come out with a clarifying statement or a police report, I don't think anyone can be certain the exact nature of what he could be charged with. Obviously, the police specifically said they responded to an alleged assault. So

that's the baseline fact set that we are going to, we are going to work off of. You know, this projects to be very complex. And certainly, you know, the notions you referenced on the internet have been bounced around. But I think, you know, to be responsible here, you know, the police documents that will inevitably emerge through public documents in this case as the days unfold here are going to be the guide to what is actually happening. Okay, what are the next couple of steps here, both for Sharon Moore and for the University of Michigan? Because obviously they have a bowl game. Biff was put into the interim head coaching role. They are currently six and a half point dogs against Texas in the Cheez-It Bowl, which is certainly one of the biggest, most popular bowl games this particular season, Michigan and the Cheez-It Bowl would be a big deal.

What are the next steps for Michigan? What are the next steps for Sharon? Get out of jail, obviously, first, but everything else along those lines. Sure. Sharon's expected to retain an attorney. we'll find out if he gets arraigned. If he waives that, pretrial hearing, I'd expect him out in the near future. That's just how these cases typically go. We'll see if his cases is different than that. But usually when someone has brought in on this type of allegation, there's, you know, a process that unfolds in a relatively quick time frame. The assumption from talking to lawyers in that area about how these things work is that, you know, he'd be released on some type of bond in the near future. As for Michigan, Pat, obviously, you know, you and Connor just referenced this volatile coaching carousel. Michigan enters it at an inopportune time. And this is obviously shifting from very serious Sharon Moore situation to football. And, you know, this will loom as a giant football story over the next couple weeks. Michigan is one of the best jobs in college football.

It obviously in this era has myriad resources that it can leverage. We saw that with the Bryce Sunderwood signing last year. And it comes at a time where we have seen, you know, about a dozen power jobs open. So obviously big coaches have moved. You've also seen another half dozen really high profile coaches get extensions or get close to being extended. So in theory, the pool for Michigan is smaller than it would have been if the job had opened in a traditional hiring and firing timeline. Now, I've been told this morning that that is not going to quell Michigan's ambitions, right? You know, Michigan, obviously, institutionally, feels like I can go get a great coach. So the conversation about this is going to start with Kalin DeBoer of Alabama, whether he

wants to go, whether Michigan can get him, whether the timing could work would remain to be seen. I would be skeptical just having been around this long enough that Kalin DeBore could navigate the high wire to leave in the middle of the playoff. And also, no one has indicated that he'd be interested at all either. So I would expect some clarity on that. fairly soon, just because, you know, from the second this job opened, his name was the, his name was the first one to emerge. From there, I think you'd have to look at a trio of sitting head coaches who are all excellent, Jeff Brom at Louisville, Eli Drinkwitz at Missouri, and obviously Jed Fish, who's at Washington, who had been at Michigan in less controversial

times under Harbaugh before things, you know, the last four or five years, there was this spate of scandals that we've seen. Fish was not involved in any of those. He brings an extensive NFL background. When you look at the DNA of Michigan football, obviously, you know what had when Rich Rodriguez went there. They tend to want to be NFL style, right? That did not, that experiment did not work with your former head coach there when they

went more spread and tempo. Michigan kind of, that reinforced the DNA of that program being sort of defiantly pro-style NFL style. So I would think, you know, I saw Jesse Minter up on that list. He's certainly, you know, a guy who has been there. who had a lot of success as a coordinator, whose name will be mentioned. So, you know, Pat, Michigan officials are in shock right now. You know, I mean, this is, it's hard to overstate just the, you know, just the human nature to this there. So I don't expect a decision, you know, in 48 hours or anything like that. Just just in terms of having to gather yourself, there's going to be a lot of board input on something like this. How much say does Ward Manuel have in this higher is, you know, going forward is going to be a question. I think that looms over this search. So there is, you know, it's going to be, it's going to be from a pure football standpoint,

you know, perhaps the most compelling search of this whole cycle. Okay, so thank you for all the information. There's so many different follow-ups that the boys will certainly hit in different, whether it's Ward Manual or the players or the Michigan officials and everything like that, how long everybody has kind of thought that maybe this was taking place and information, because it feels like a lot of people were talking like as if they knew something was coming. But there's a two-week period in this modern world that we're in right now, where players are allowed to get poached, right, if you change your coach.

And obviously, you mentioned Bryce Underwood, and you talk about the resources. He's eliminated all Michigan stuff from his profile. There's other, obviously, commits that had gone to Michigan because of Sharon Moore. There's other players on the team that say, well, if we can potentially see what other options are, we're definitely going to do that. That feels like the world that we're in right now. Is that two-week period start today? Is that kind of how that old thing goes?

And what are we looking at for Michigan when it comes to, like, what their roster? is going to look like by the time we get to the bowl game on New Year's Eve? So, Pat, there's been a rule change, and this is my understanding of it, and these rules have changed a lot. But I'm fairly certain now, if your coach leaves, you are allowed to enter the portal. I believe the number is five days after a new coach is hired. Now, obviously, the portal itself is going to organically open on January 2nd. So it was, you're correct, it was you know coach gets uh leaves gets whatever it is it was you could just go free right and that that shifted this summer uh that's that's my understanding off the top of my head here

to to how this how this unfold so it used to be coach leaves its free agency season and uh as we're in this new era and things are changing my my recollection of the rule is that okay all right sweet uh thank you for the information now let's talk about the information now let's talk about the information and who had it when. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Pete, you talked about athletic director Ward Manual and obviously, you know, there's a lot of people upset with him on the internet and a lot of people upset with Michigan in general on the internet on the timeline of potentially when this investigation started and when they knew because just a week ago was early signing day. So a lot of people were upset that they just let their signing day go on with, you know, no information of this to the recruits and people that signed with them. Do we have any idea when this investigation started in relation? to that or just in general, when Michigan knew, potentially?

So, so, Tone, this is my understanding of the, of the timeline, and Dan Wetzel reported this morning. There was an initial investigation into this, and nothing credible was found. It came from anonymous tip. So that information, once it was brought forward and nothing was found, was then closed. And then within recent days, very, very recently, I believe Ward Manuel was in Las Vegas at the Football Foundation event, as most athletic directors are this week. So that just shows, and they hired Kerry Combs as a special teams coach three days ago. So this wasn't an organization acting as if they knew something was imminent. They fired the special teams coach last week, brought in a veteran guy in Carrie Combs.

You know, business was operating as usual. Dan was told that within the past day or two, credible information emerged that, that was overwhelming in nature that changed the investigation and led to the decision yesterday. So over the last couple of days is really when the people that are in positions of power at Bishkin found out about the credibility of these allegations that had come from an anonymous tip maybe months before? I would certainly say, I would certainly say weeks, Pat. You know, I would certainly say it was weeks. But then they did an investigation. What you're saying is they did an investigation into the anonymous tip and found there was, nothing that would be deemed to the initial investigation did not find what this latest wanted

okay and what the difference there was we are not certain of yet but it went from not enough to move forward to a definitive decision with a very public declaration of uh of what they of what led them to their decision obviously sure more would have been owed 12.5 million dollars if he had been fired for just simply losing games and said he was fired for cause so the school doesn't plan to pay him anything. It's fascinating because, you know, the world we live in is obviously one that has a very active internet. And then there's a lot of tweets coming that like saw this coming from trolls and burners. And it's like, well, if these burners knew it, who's running these burners? Who's talking to the burners? And then it's easy to kind of just say, well, everybody, if these people do,

then everybody must know what you're saying is there was a knowledge of a situation. An investigation took place. It was cleared from their investigation. And then within the last 48 hours, more stuff are coming. It's like, whoa, this is very much something that needs to kind of get settled. I guess that that is the, I guess if you're Michigan, that would be the best possible outcome is that we did our investigation and we didn't find anything. We didn't just let this continue to happen under our watch, which was certainly what was being talked about. Once again, we're in the middle of the fire right now. We will only learn more as it continues to go.

As it continues to go, it would be the coaching conversation. You alluded to it a little bit before. Connor has a follow-up. Yeah, Pete, looking at the coaching situation, Michigan is one of the top jobs in the country. It's hard to argue that in general. But do you expect any of the coaches who are now moving, you know, whether it be Summerall or any of those other guys going up, maybe a step to maybe get poached? Do you expect any of the names that were allegedly floating around Penn State to maybe then float to Michigan?

Yeah, Matt Campbell, but him being more so one of the names that might get poached. I mean, guys like Marcus Freeman, guys like, you know, Brahm, I believe was the guy. Lane, would he even be possible? Dan Lane, Laning, would he be one that could get poached to Michigan? And then any of the NFL guys, you know, are there any guys that you could see maybe? I mean, John Harbaugh has been talked about getting fired from the Ravens for the past four or five weeks. Would he be a guy that maybe says, you know what?

My time in Baltimore has kind of come to the end. Maybe I go to Michigan now. Is everything on the table? Do they have Mike Tomlin? Is there a specific thing that they're looking for? What would you expect their cycle to look like? And is it like the Penn State one where like everybody is going to get an opportunity? Like, is that how you kind of view this end up going?

Yeah, so I'll answer the first part of the question. I don't think anyone that just moved would be a viable candidate. That's just very, very hard to do. A coach that just got extended could end up being a viable candidate. I didn't mention Clark Lee last time. Clark Lee, from a fit perspective, from how how Michigan views itself, you know, would be a wonderful fit at Michigan. He's obviously pennant Notre Dame has deep ties to the upper Midwest. That would make, you know, that type of move where someone who has signed an extension could still maybe then go is more viable than, you know, a guy like Summerall or Campbell. Now, if this job opened three weeks ago, I would think Matt Campbell would have been the top candidate. he'd been at Toledo, which is right down the road from Ann Harbor. He is of the Midwest. That had always been sort of one of the jobs that people had pegged him for. It just had never opened in a timeline where he could have gotten it. But he is not going to walk out of Penn State to go there. That's just not reality or based in, you know, just based in anything. As for NFL stuff, you know, that's not my world as much as it is Adams and some other people. But what it's supposed to,

surprise me that the one fortunate part of the timing here is if you're trying to hire a NFL coach, Pat, in like mid-November, that's hard, right? You can't even see the end of the season. Now that we're sitting here in mid-December and the, you know, the franchises that are struggling, it would be more, it would be less off-putting to leave if you're, you know, if you're out of the playoff and you can kind of exit, you know, a little more gracefully. Just that, I mean, when does the NFL regular season end? It's like the second week in January, correct? Yeah, coming up soon. right around that. So it's just, it's always been, as the calendars have changed,

it's just always been hard to sync up an NFL, like sitting type head coach to college, sitting type head coach. Maybe that's one, you know, dollop of, you know, serendipity in the timing here is that that could be a little bit more, that could be a little bit more tenable than it might have been in November. You might have hit maybe 10 to 12 of them today. I mean, tenable is just your most recent one, but you really been. and serendipitous. Gallup of serendipity. Yeah, I mean, there is.

You're really on it today. This is a big Pete Thamble Day. Obviously, we appreciate you joining us as the information continues to roll in. Go ahead, Ty. Pete, you mentioned Kalin DeBore kind of being the guy who they're potentially going to go after. This is all hypothetical, obviously. But if Alabama were to lose in the first round next week, and then he turns around and let's say he does go to Michigan and they have that, you know, five days where guys can enter the

portal, like is there a chance that could Michigan pull out of the chief? at bowl? Like, is that in play at all if there is a mass exodus of players? And, like, is there a chance that we don't get that Michigan, Texas game? Or at this point, is that off the table? Excellent question. Not when I've put a ton of thought to, Ty, to be honest with you. There is, you know, if you look at Iowa State and K-State, not playing in their bowls, there's a half-million dollar fine, this game's obviously going to be a ratings monster. So the Big Ten is going to be incentivized to want to participate. in it. Now, if the roster isn't, you know, available to play, that would certainly be a

different conversation. I think it's so early, you know, we're not even 24 hours from this happening. It's difficult to project. But, you know, New Year's Eve is, you talk about serendipitous timing, right? Like, that's fascinating with the portal opening essentially 48 hours, 48 hours later. Look, with these big brand programs, your high-end NFL guys aren't going to play in the bowl anyway, right? That's just the, the, the, way of the world from Christian McCaffrey now, it went from an anomaly to just the, you know, the expectation. So I think ties just too early for me to have any kind of feel on that. But I have not heard anything that, you know, that indicates the roster is shaken to a point

where, you know, where they wouldn't plan a ball. We appreciate you, Pete. We'll continue to follow you on X. You and Wetzel have done a great job through this all. Thank you for keeping us what's real and what is it. We very much appreciate that. And if we see any good memes or are things. We'll send them to you to look into. Yep. Love the memes. Thank you, Pat. You're the man. Hey, they're calling you, Buckeyeed again.

Look out. You're the man. Lazy. Yeah. Oh, gee. Yeah. Oh, geez. Oh, geez. Of course. They are. Listen, I'm just trying to do my job. My fault, they're always in the middle of it. They're always in the middle of it. They're right in the middle of it. This is very, this is a, this came out. See, that's why I was so confused because I feel

like we are, I mean, somewhat plugged in the college world now, you know, because I get a chance meet these people in travel and there was a lot of people on the internet they were like this was known this was known it's a different section of the internet i didn't know any of this legit talking to sharon i was like happy for him now you lose to ohio state you don't make the playoffs they just paid 16 million to a quarterback for you like the natural yeah college football fan objective is if you beat to ohio state it's all this you know yeah they get into the playoff it's crazy to even think maybe it's another three game suspension instead of that's what i'm saying like it is uh sports are an insane thing

They are a great unifier, but they're also, you know, potentially something that can expose things. And this is just a sad situation. Sharon's always been nice to us. But all this stuff that we learned about quickly and turn around, it's like chaos was happening, I guess, behind the scenes over there. How do you even win a gay? I don't know. Well, like you said, that's why it was so hard to track last night because some of the tweets that you were seeing were backdated like two weeks ago. and there were like shreds of truth in those and then surrounded by a bunch of other bullshit.

So it's like, well, this part might be correct, all of this, who knows? So it was like, you know, it really was just, you know, trying to keep your head above water because, I mean, it's such a crazy situation that you can kind of talk yourself into believing certain parts of all the kind of more sensational stuff that's out there. Well, especially with the AI being able to make mugshots. Right, yeah, exactly. It is outrageous on the internet. Okay, let's pivot away from Michigan and what's going on in college ball.

We'll visit with Coach Mario Cristobal here in about 15 minutes or so. His team is in the playoff. Okay, you should be pumped. Oh, yeah. And breaking news, we will be doing a field pass for his game versus Texas A&M down there in college station. We will also have Mike Elko joining us tomorrow to chat about what's going on. So we're very thankful to both of them. We will be fair and biased.

Fair and unbiased. Yeah, you're right. Non-biased and fair. whenever we do the coverage, but also we have so much respect for both these teams. We cannot wait to get down there. We're so excited for the college football playoff to get started, which is why all this negative news potentially happening kind of sucks because we have so much great stuff around the corner in college football.

This week, Army Navy, can't wait for that. Heisman, obviously excited for that. And then the college football playoffs start now a huge way next week. And college football will showcase why it's great. And that's what we're excited to be a part of and lucky to be a part of. And JMU? Tuft. Don't look now.

Tulane. I'm worried about Oregon. Yeah, there's a chance. Oregon. Oh, Ole Miss. Whoa. Now, if they win by 50, Oregon and Old Miss there over Tulane and JMU, does that help maybe guide a conversation in the off season about what we need to do with these 12 spots?

Potentially. You would hope so. So we would like to say Tulane and JMU, you're not just playing for yourselves here. You know that. You're playing for all future group of five. Because with how loud it got this year and everybody was kind of aiming at Alabama, and aiming at Miami, and obviously, Notre Dame were the mad ones. If Tulane and JMU go in there and lose by 70 points each of them,

which I'm not saying it's going to happen, certainly possible, but any college football game can have that happen. But those games, not saying it's a definite, but they're certainly possible, especially with how much Ole Miss can do it, right? Allmiss can run it. They can run it up. Oregon, if they just start pounding you. He's darned at neutral sites either.

Yeah, these are home games. Yeah. So there is a chance these get ugly. And if that is the case, then maybe there is a conversation. But if JMU and Tulane hold their own as champions, as one of the two of the top five ranked conference champions in the country, I think we're just kind of status quo going forward. So a lot on the line in those two games.

Obviously, Oklahoma, Alabama is going to be special on Friday night and Norman. Cannot wait to get out there for college game day. Then we'll travel over to college station. Saturday morning will be college game day. And then we'll be field pass on the sideline for another college football playoff game. That's the dumbest thing of all time. I can't believe we get to do that. Without a doubt, can't we?

And, you know, like, you've been there a couple times. Like, I've never been to Kyle Field. I'm so ready for that atmosphere and not just like a big game week two of the season. Like, this is a playoff game. This is insane. You guys should be going to the Midnight Yale practice the night before. Why not? Yeah, you guys should be doing it.

When in Rome? Definitely. Yeah, you guys should definitely be doing that. Can they change it to 10? What's that? I know you got kids. For those who have children. Yeah, I don't think they will.

I think it's pretty standard. timing. I think everybody kind of understands the deal, but I don't, I had a chance to sit outside the stadium. I guess I was laying at the time. I was staying in a bus with where they had my bus at was right outside of the stadium. And obviously there's a large amount of people just gathering to go in and I was told that it was going to happen. I don't think I fully understand what was going to take place. They are, I mean, they are loud. It is a, that is a midnight yell. It's a special atmosphere. It is a beautiful place down there. I think you guys are going to love it. And it gives us an excuse to dress like cowboys.

Bingo! Yeah, I mean, we're talking. Maybe spurs on these boots. Trying to get their early Friday hit up every cowboy hat store down there. Where was the place? We went to a spot down there. I forget what it was. They got me finest, finest of hat. And I got some little casey boots. By the way. It's not the stockyards. Remember where we were first round last year? That's Fort Worth. Fort Worth. Yep.

Remember last year where we were first round? Where at? Ohio State. Oh, yeah. A little chilly. 70 and sunny in College Station. Wow. That was a treat. I was expecting it to be a little chilly, but that's all. As of right now. So we can do the full cowboy spurs.

Exactly. We can do the whole thing potentially. Yeah. Because we're going to be able to, we might be sweating. What if we did it on horses, on horseback the entire game? Something to think about it. Dump that. Or anybody else do that.

Or instead of, if we can't get the horses, just for safety reasons, we go toy horses, just the horse head. Oh, I saw another group of white, people doing that on the internet Tyler oh nice the world championship not Tyler yeah the uh who won I saw a group of white people just doing this thing here where they're oh those people oh the hobby horse yeah the hobby horse there is that what it's called I believe so they're talented they are not somebody needs to tell them anybody to do what you're doing okay this isn't a thing but I do appreciate that you're out there

and you're active but that is the whitest thing I think I've ever seen that question that that's the most Caucasian thing that has ever hit the internet okay so I thought you're talking about the humans that actually gallop like a horse. Oh, no, that's the, sorry. That's up there. That's the most Caucasian. Yeah, yeah, so let me do that thing. But on that note, we appreciate that you're out, yeah, I appreciate you're out there doing it.

I appreciate you're out there doing it. Hey, yeah, I mean, that's good play. I like what you're doing. That was the ones that are on all fours acting like their horses, also a thing. I saw a fight coming out of Russia probably or somewhere over there to have. heavyweight professional MMA guys, taking on 10 amateur guys. Okay. That feels like something that only happens over there.

Certainly. Very Eastern European. I'm excited that we get a chance to kind of see what the outcome would be over here in our country where we'd never let that happen. But I do appreciate that this is happening. Oh, my God. Yeah, this is all out chaos. Yeah, just full out chaos. Not a lot of English words have ever been spoken by any of these people, but this is happening in the world.

Okay, this is just happening. What are those refs supposed to do? You see that guy running in there? Well, I think they're dragging bodies, right? You have been eliminated, okay? It's now two verse nine. They're even doing the Squid Games announcement. It is now two verse six, you know.

But there was a little bit of the amateurs attacking from behind, which was a smart play. So this is happening in the world, just like the pony rod and is happening around the world. And the fake horses are happening around the world. Let's talk about what's happening in the NFL world. So in the NFL, I guess every single year at this time, there are winter meetings. You know, I guess that's what the MLB calls it, but the owners have met at this time for a long time. This year, they decided we're not going to do it. We'll just meet virtually.

Yesterday, some group met. Today, the owners will meet. And this is when we start getting some news on maybe some adjustments that are taking place. Big adjustment that's about to take place. The NFL and the refs are about to have a new deal. In May, the NFL refs unions deal with the NFL is expiring. So the NFL, I believe, has been trying to negotiate a deal if you listen to the source. says from the NFL

because the last time we had to backup refs it was embarrassing for the league it was not good for anybody it was chaos but the last time we had those backup refs whenever they were literally getting everything wrong is it supposed to be in the right hash who knows why are we ref in an NFL game we're not supposed to be here or scabs yep exactly

they would call catches wrong they'll call touchdowns wrong the balls would be wrong the whistles would be wrong the timing of everything was wrong the backup refs really put this refs union in a great spot so whenever the backup's refs cause call full chaos on primetime with the non-touchdown touchdown thing to win the fail merry yep the

fail marry the NFL refs unions at that point knowing they had a lot of leverage go to the NFL and say you want us back or not here's what we need we're not talking to any media afterwards we're not allowed to be full time we're allowed to work other gigs if we want to and after the season you can't even talk to us until may you want us to do training in the off season we don't need it okay if you want to talk to us about a little accountability in the off season we don't need it You don't talk to us until May. And in May, you tell us what you're expecting, what the new rules are, and then we'll move forward. So I like the fact that the NFL has come out through Troy Vincent, but the NFL as a whole has come out and been like,

hey, we're trying to make this ref thing better. The refs union, though, they're not really listening in this type of thing. Because the refs deal is very sweet because they were able to negotiate this deal, whatever the refs, the bad refs were the complete problem for the NFL. Bruce Ariens has sat on this show for multiple weeks and said the most powerful union in sports is the NFL refs union. They have no accountability. There's literally nothing expected of them,

and that's written into the contract that they signed with the NFL. So now that it's up, I think we all see an opportunity to maybe kind of dodge duck, dip-dive, and dodge our way to a better way. Because if you're going to be perfect as officials and not cause jobs to be lost

or teams to lose games, then I think just expecting not to be talked to for five, six months in the off-season and not having to be full-time and not having to be work and not having to answer any questions, I think we would all be okay with it. But if you continue to just get very easy things wrong, ruin games, ruin careers,

get people fired and stuff like that, there should be a little bit of an adjustment on getting better. And also, can we kickstart the player pipeline into becoming officials? Just like they have the broadcast boot camp, the business boot camp. There's all these other boot camps that the NFLPA and the NFL put together. Why can we not put an officiating one in there? I'm sure there's enough refs out there that would like to commit full time to their gig, but also train and get better at their job

while also understanding that you're part of the biggest league in the world so if you mess something up you might have to answer it. So we all want this to happen but from what I've been told is the refs union very strong and I think it's going to be a very difficult thing to get that deal done with the NFL unless the refs want to

and everything we learned from the rest during the fail Mary and the scab refs was they don't care. These people are going to do what they're going to do. So I think we're staring down a pretty big situation but an opportunity for potential good change if there's an agreement to be able to be made.

And there's been some great change in college already. The biggest thing for me that I think of is the ref from the Georgia, Texas game, I want to say, and they ended up reviewing, you know, 9 of 11, the calls that he made being wrong. And so what they did is they just, hey, you're suspended. Like, you're dumb for the year. 11 of the calls you made, nine of them were incorrect. So it really would just be an accountability type thing would be one just simple step. The other thing might be like, hey, we're at a point in technology now.

where we can kind of rely on it very heavily if they can figure out exactly how to do it. Like clearly the Hawkeye technology, that still doesn't work because it's based on where the ball is placed. It has nothing to do. By the humans. By the human. Yeah. Like if they could figure that out maybe over the next few months, that might help as well. But accountability would just be the biggest thing.

Accountability would be great. Full time would be great so we don't have to worry about them potentially. Not that they're not getting paid a lot and all this type of stuff. But just in a modern world that we're in, full-time, would be good, year-round commitment would be good, having a pool of refs that you could maybe substitute bad refs with, a development system. Like, it's all there already in the NFL with the players, with the coaches, with the systems that we have. Just apply it to the refs is kind of how I think we all are at the point of thinking. But from our understanding from our source

says in the NFL, that refs union, they know that they got everybody by, you know, the thin hairs, and they will continue to act as such. So we've got a few months until they got to renegotiate a deal, but let's hope it's for the better, as opposed to the worse of ball, like it was the last time this deal was up. Yeah, without that, I mean, like that, the pipeline is the way to do it, because it seems like, for the most part, we don't see very many new refs coming to the NFL. Like, every once in a while, you'll see a guy who you haven't recognized before,

but these guys stay in there for the longest time. And if they do have that kind of power, like, why, this is a side gig for them. Why would you ever want, you know what I mean? like it's but that's the simplest way to do it is let's get a pipeline of a bunch of people in there so that way if guys aren't any good we have people who are ready and waiting and train them exactly watch film you're required to watch film you're required to train you're required to attend this maybe guess what maybe guys even go do trust falls together yeah that'd be cool retreat some get away i think the NFL should have its own team or the refs should have

their own team and should be treated that way have your own facility do the whole thing because we're at the point where it matters the most hopefully they're able to get that done that's coming out of this winter Zoom call meetings amongst the owners. Also, big deal, as Roger Goodell alluded to us the day after the drafting Green Bay, and I think the year before we talked to him about it in Detroit, the NFL will get rid of two minutes per pick in the first round, from 10 minutes to 8 minutes for the selection process. And we appreciate the hell out of the NFL doing this.

As people that host a draft spectacular, every single year is one of our biggest shows. Us being able to be on site has been absolutely absurd. We're so thankful for it. It becomes a very long night, a very drawn-out night. And some of these picks, they're drawing them out just strictly so they can maybe get a call to get traded for. So you have to wait the entire nine minutes and 59 seconds just to see if you could potentially leave. Now they're shorting that to at least an eight-minute wait for the teams that don't want to make a pick to get traded. That's good news.

And it's not going to cut this thing off completely. They're projecting maybe 30 minutes will be less, which will be great on draft night. Big 30 minutes. Because it seems like you mentioned, like most of it, a lot of times it's just ceremony. like teams know because like how many times last year did we see the pick is in and then it still uses the full 10 minutes of the clock like it's it's mostly ceremony so if we can shave off 30 minutes why don't we heading to Pittsburgh you think they're shortening it just strictly because they're in Pittsburgh what's the deal what's that all about they could be worried about you know that extra 64 minutes potentially of yinzer's having a chance of booze and just get rally route up so yeah cut it off I like the fact that they're cutting it down I think if you don't know who you're taken by the seventh minute you're probably going to be shut out of luck anyways.

And no offense to anybody in the first round to the people that get drafted or to the teams doing it. For a large portion of the first round, it is on who's going to hit, who's not going to hit? Is the extra two minutes going to change anything? I don't think so. It makes it a better viewer experience. And I appreciate that Roger Goodell literally as soon as he sat down with us.

He was like, last night I was thinking, we got to move us a little bit quicker. He's got to be him standing up there behind his scenes. He's sitting in the green room too. We're still doing this. And then he starts looking into war rooms. What's taking you guys so long? Well, we're waiting to see if I'm done with this.

And then him actually driving this initiative. We appreciate for the good of entertainment, for the good of draft, which will be in Pittsburgh. And last conversation that was happening out of the meetings, the NFL has announced that they will be putting $30 to $32 million into a professional flagged football. Six men's teams, six women's teams is kind of how it's kind of being projected right now from our source at the NFL. I followed up and asked, like, are we also investing in college flag football and high school flag football? I got a chance to be a part of a Super Bowl commercial last year that was basically pushing to get high school girls flag football sanctioned in all 50 states.

It's been sanctioned in 38 of them. So flag football is becoming a very real high school sport, which will hopefully lead to more opportunities in college. And then now they want professional opportunities as well. Who knows when this will run? I assume in a summer, right, Conman? We're assuming what this will be? Yeah, that's my assumption.

Probably after the season, you wonder if in March when they're going to do the Saudi Arabia thing, that that might even be kind of like, hey, this is what it might look like with all the NFL guys, Brady and all of them. So that's Fanatics, right? That's not the NFL. I thought NFL was still a part of it because their NFL players doing it, and maybe that isn't

a part of it. Fanatics makes deals with the players that are there already, and they already have deals with them. I think it's a fanatics, Tom Brady thing. From my understanding, don't know if the NFL is doing this. What I'm saying is, I don't know if the NFL is a part of that at all, but to your point about that becoming a thing, flag football becoming very, very real in our world.

I think that's a good thing, not a bad thing to have more ball. The NFL investing in a professional league, good, as long as it's not during actual football season. Yeah. That's how we all feel. And I think they're smart enough to know we don't need to double dip here because if that's the case, like guess what? People are going to watch tackle football as opposed to flag football.

So right now the calendar, it owns it until February through the Super Bowl. And then you have the draft and then you have free agency. So maybe if it started like literally like right after free agency, that that just keeps football going. Yeah. So then we have it all throughout the off season. And if the NFL is putting 32 million into it, we assume they're going to want it to succeed. So they're probably going to put some juice behind it. whenever it comes to press and everything like that.

So hopefully it'll become a part of our zeitgeist because more opportunities to play ball is good. Six professional women's teams, six professional men's teams. More ball is good for all of us. Speaking of more ball, there was a team down in Miami that was wondering if their more ball

was going to be college football playoff ball. You were on the outside looking in for a long time. They're ranked lower than Notre Dame for a long time. How's that work? We just beat Notre Dame. Yeah, but you're 18th, actually. Notre Dame's 10th, so you got no shot at this thing. And then all they kept doing was just stack and dubs,

stacking dubs, stacking dubs, stacking dubs, then there's all of a sudden a cluster in a bubble. And all they're wondering is, do the games matter? Like, why are we even playing them? Well, the committee said, yes, they do. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now. A man will be taking his team down to college station to take on Texas A&M next Saturday

in the first round of the college football playoff. The head coach of the Miami Hurricanes, Mario Cristobal. Hey, coach. What's up, dude? How are we doing? Hey, Ola, Amigo. How are you doing, brother? You're in the tournament.

Hey, you're in the tournament. Hey, so am we going to go into a hotel. See, see, see. Yeah, I don't know what you said there, but I certainly agree with how you said it. I want to let you know that. Look for the captions later. And shout out to A.

Like my screenshot back here? Please, saying, you're going to get me in some shit with some people, you know, because I'm calling this game. It was either that picture or the one of you in the Speedo, like they're born. Yeah, beginning of season. Hey, end of season, I'm a little bit more. You know, if I, if I would have had this body that, yeah, you saw it, and single leg, too.

You know I would, yeah, okay, all right, let's move along. We appreciate your hospitality earlier in the year. We appreciate you being a friend of the program. And we also appreciate the fact that your team just kept battling, even though each Tuesday night, they learned that they were potentially going to get screwed whenever it all came to kind of make the final decision. What was your messaging to the team all year? It was basically like, hey, we still got a shot, we should have a shot. How did you handle that with the locker room whenever it was kind of a question mark?

on whether or not you'd have college football playoff ball. Sure. I mean, it was always about if you take care of your business, where it's going to take care of itself. And obviously, the big one was after the SMU lost, right? It was, that's when things were like we put it in maybe in not entirely in our control, but we could work ourselves back to having it in our control. And we did it, man.

We had a team meeting where they didn't have to speak, just kind of let the reel of film play with us in our first five games and how well we were playing and how the plays we were making. And after sitting there in silence and watched it for 10 minutes, we just woke up and realized who the hell we are and played some unbelievable football down the stretch. Tony is obviously spectacular. You have weapons all over the place.

The defense has got dogs. It feels like college football playoff football, though. Quarterbacks got to be able to play. Carson Beck, in there, done that? Good news. How do you feel with Carson? And, you know, obviously whenever we talked to you before, it was a little different time of the Carson.

Beck, Miami Hurricane Experience versus now. What are your thoughts on him as your leader going into the big dance? Yeah, down the stretch these last four games, I think you've seen his numbers, man. He's playing out a really, really high level, and quite honestly, he's fully healthy now. And he was healthy going into the season, but not at this level. I got that arm is strong now. He's slinging it. He's really comfortable with our offense, and it led to just an awesome November.

So we're fired up about him and certainly confident in everything that he's been doing. And our guys love him, man. He's a real deal dude. Playing a real team, obviously, in the college football playoff in Texas A&M. At one point, they were the only undefeated team left in the SEC. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Coach, I don't know if you want to comment on this or not, but I saw his first team all SEC, so he's great.

One of the tackles for Texas A&M said that it's not going to be a problem blocking Ruben Bain, who is projected to be the number one defender in this upcoming draft. Do you think Ruben has heard that yet? And how do you think he feels about that? I think when I hear stuff like that, I just always say the same. No comment. I thought that might be it. I love everything about it.

How do you feel about the vibes of your team? What was the moment when you guys get into the playoff? When you find out it's Texas A&M, what is your locker room? Do you feel like you have a, obviously, a bunch that ready to go win a national championship? But do you feel like mentally, physically, you do have a squad that can go here? I mean, you've been around our guys. You've been around our building. I mean, the people here, they, it's been a long time since Miami has been in a situation where

December they're in the conversation and are really relevant. And so around here, it's like it's all about the work, man. I mean, everything down here was built with the work done on a green tree practice field. And you know the guys that have been through here and what they've emphasized in that right now. That vibe, the vibe of grinding and getting after it, it's stronger than it's ever been. So it's really that simple, making sure that we focus on us and doing all the things necessary to play winning football. Vince Wolfwork was on yesterday. We took a trip down memory lane with Miami.

You know, he's BCS national champion. I think he can give you a snap, too. I don't know if he has any eligibility left. Maybe we can ask the NCAA before next week. I was a GA when he was on the scout team when he had to sit that year. And I'm sitting there as a GA going, I've got Vince Wolfork. I've got John Vilma, Ed Reed, like, why am I leaving here? Can I just stay here as a GA as part of this?

Yeah, Vince is an awesome dude. You see how he's trimmed down too now. He looks great, man. And he's an exceptional human being and love having him around. When he's around, the guys go crazy, man. they love him. He just got off his third consecutive holiday U.S.O tour where he leaves after Thanksgiving before Christmas and goes over to the Middle East and kind of sees the troop and he talks about how important is. He's like, good dude. I think a perfect indication of who you were trying to have

represent the U. Tye has a question for you about maybe the future of the U while also balancing the current. Yeah, coach, how was it handling the chaos of, you know, lobbying to get into the playoff when you guys felt you'd done enough and that you should be in? And then on top of that, you have early signing day. You knew that what the class that you were going to bring in was going to be very important. And then also just hoping that you're going to get in the playoff. How nice was it being past that and now just going back to, hey, now we just prepared to go play football? All the hayes in the barn with all that BS and now I can do what I'm supposed to be doing.

Well, it's the life of a college football coach nowadays, right? You're on 24-7, cancel Christmas and go to your job, right? So, I mean, for us, it was, and credit to the guy who runs sports information for us, Cam Boreby, because we never felt like we had a lobby. We felt like we just weren't going to let the facts, like, be, I don't know, like almost like just covered up and pushed to the side for other narratives. I mean, at the end of the day, we were a head-to-head winner of a primetime game and we stacked, you know, 10 wins and playing our best football.

And I felt like people were posturing to try to, I don't know, just supersede that. and we're going to let it happen. And when you couple that with the fact that signing day was going on around the same time, and we signed a trench-heavy class with the number one player in the country, an absolute creature, which I think you guys are going to love. I think you had them on your show. I hope you have them on your show, and Jackson Cantwell. Just got named the Gatorade Player of the Year, the National Player of the Year.

We signed our best and deepest class. So the future here and the fact that this facility, they're building in Pat, you'll have your own like little section in the weight room have all your hammer strength machines all that stuff um like everything the trajectory is going like this and we can we have humble hardworking people that you know there's a bunch of nobodies man that work their butts off and are looking for just getting better got a bunch of nobodies who names are about to be in the lights especially if you get a college football playoff run in front of the world to see a guy who's been a believer ever since he was a little baby boy in north left canada gumpy has a question for you coach yeah coach glad you guys could

make it into the playoff. How nice is it to have a guy like Tony where you can just run any play? The guy can sling it. The guy can run it. His routes are absurd. He's so fun to watch, man. Yeah, if you get a chance just on his high school highlight tape, it is absolutely insane. I mean, he's, again, a team that lost its quarterback in high school during, you know, a run at the playoffs. He goes in there at a quarterback and just takes them all the way through it in the state title game. I believe at one point he was like 15 of 15 with a couple of touchdowns. Special dude, special attitude, ridiculous energy on a daily basis. You're not going to outwork the guy.

He's going to be here at 5.30 in the morning catching balls in the jugs machine. And he's going to, I mean, he's a wide receiver that actually takes time to spend quality time with the old line coach in the morning. It tells you a lot about like his level of just care, his level of investment. and he's exactly what you would draw up a football player to be like. He's true freshman, right? Yep. True freshman. And actually, in early and rural, he should be in high school this year.

Well, you know, West Virginia's got their eyes on him, Coach. Uh-oh. West Virginia, one of West Virginia's donors, you know, watch some high school film of him, so I'm throwing a little bit just there. We got some donors in Miami, too, buddy. The buildings are a lot taller than over there. You talked about that cam guy.

What a weapon, man. You guys do have a special alignment. And obviously, K.M. is a part of the sports. President, A.D., you, all the sports. It feels like a special time to be down there in Coral Gables. Congratulations on getting into the tournament. We can't wait to watch your team play. Appreciate you, man.

Thanks for having me on. Go Kings. Hey, we'll be on that sideline. Okay? So there might come a time where you're paying attention like this. And guess who's coming? Oh, single leg take down from the side. Just know it's coming.

You better gain some weight and buckle your ass up. I only got a week and a half, ladies you gentlemen. I don't play in the lightweight division, buddy. Oh, okay, all right. I got a week and a half. Don't you worry. I'm beating everything. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Mario Cristobal.

Hey, it goes. He's the best. He is the best. That game's going to be awesome. That cam guy is special. I mean, every team wishes they had a guy like, obviously Mario is. Energy. I mean, the cam guy, though, loves the U.

The guy who is the S-I-D. and a communications guy like all those jobs for Miami is down for the cause. I mean, he will literally in front of... You need a linen suit? I'll get you a little suit. Boom. Speedo, I can find you one of those.

We definitely have one of those, for sure. We can do that, no problem. And then if something was to happen to that you, he would literally... Yep. In front of it. I got you, coach. Don't worry about it. He is special. They all are down. The president, too.

Used to run a fund, like a multi-billion dollar fund. and now he becomes, you know, the leader of Miami and he's like, what does everybody need right now? I need money. Oh, I know all the rich people. Yeah. And they love being in Miami.

We can give them a little, right? Yeah, no problem. New building here, new stadium here, new locker. They do need the stadium, though. Yes. Big time. There's not enough space, though. No.

Especially down in this Miami Coral Gables area, there's a lot on top of everything. The stadium being so far is really the only downfall. But other than that, special community down there. That was a special place. I felt like it was a resort. you're on a university that was a resort down. Yeah, because it's not like they're lacking for fans.

Like, they have a ton of fans. But, like, you look at some of the games and, like, in the fourth quarters, it's like, hey, it's going to take us an hour or get back to campus. It's pretty empty or whatever. But other than that, that it's an absolute perfect football program.

I picked against Miami a couple times this year, and I get a text from Chris Ball every time. It's just like, what are you doing, dude? Why are you? What do you think is this? He was like, we are a team that you like. Remember? All we care about is work.

This is a team that you like. And it's like, I forget about that because I think about mine. Miami. Glit's in the glamour. Yeah, I forget that literally Cristobal's entire messaging is like, we got to work. The only thing it matters is how hard we work. And Tony, being 5.30 a.m. guy as a true freshman at wide receiver, that's a huge ordeal for the entire culture.

Yeah, especially going forward. But I think that's kind of the biggest thing about these teams that are left in the college football playoff, is they're all teams that are obsessed with work. Like you talk about Miami, Texas A&M, who they're playing. Elko's come on here. All he talks about is work. Dan Lannning in Oregon, I mean, the means of him yesterday were incredible. Oklahoma, O'Miss, Golding, with what he's said.

And that's not even including the teams in the buy. Obviously, Joey McGuire, Sig, Kirby Smart, and Ryan Day. That's all they preach. So I think it is sweet seeing that resurgence. And it's going to definitely bleed into the NFL if it hasn't already in making that game even better. Okay, let's talk about the NFL a little bit. Former national champion, now Cincinnati Bengal quarterback. Joey Burrow had a press conference and has the whole world talking.

Is he all right? No. He's Joey Burrow, all right? You tell us. Change the way that you do the game. Um, no, it certainly doesn't change my desire to win. You know, if I want to keep doing this,

I have to have fun doing it. You know, I've been through a lot, and if it's not fun, then what am I doing it for? Well, he would go on for another minute and a half, obviously, as he would continue give an answer, but that scares me. Joey B, we hope you're having fun. You're really good of football. You're really good at spinning it.

I don't want to say your entire life you've been a great ball player because there's obviously other personalities and other parts of you who definitely exist. You're super handsome. I think you like fashion. Obviously, you're into other things. But whenever you talk about football, Joey Burr, we talk about you, buddy.

You're a stud. We hope you're having fun. We're sorry you're going through it. But on that note, whenever the Cincinnati Bengals decided to build the team the way they built the team, a lot of us wonder, are they going to be able to win the big games, which ultimately brings the real happiness to the true competitors, which we think Joe Burrow is? So are they ever going to be able to get back to where they were a few years ago in the Super Bowl? We're not sure the way it's built, but we do know, Joey B, we hope you have fun, dude.

Come on, you're Joey B. And also, some of it is going to suck. Somebody is going to suck. We just hope you keep battling, brother. I don't like all the injuries. I obviously saw the Andrew Luck story happened in front of my eyes. I mean, it is a wild thing

when one of the greats this early starts saying, is this for me anymore? We hope he says yes. But that's not good. Not at all. Maybe it's just a phase you're going through. You'll get over it.

I can't help you with that. The next appointment is in six months. You're not alone. Finding mental health support shouldn't leave you feeling more lost. At CAMH, we know how frustrating it can be trying to access care. We're working to build a future

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Football is magical tonight. The NFC South will be in prime time on Amazon Prime as the Falcons take on the Buccaneers. Kirk Cousins takes on Tampa Bay. and what does he do last time he took on Tampa Bay? Well, he went absolutely apeship. Will he be able to do that this week as Drake London's out with Mike Evans returning for Baker Mayfield

and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team who's fresh off a loss to who? Oh, the corn shucker, the ball shucker, the touchdown shucker, the wind shucker, dollar shuck and the New Orleans Saints. What is tonight hold? We have no idea. We'll be excited to watch Kirk and Al and Kaylee Hartung and Carissa Thompson and Fitz and Witt and Sherm and Tony Gonzalez all on the call

as Amazon provides a week 15 kickoff that we'll all remember for the rest of time. The toxic table is here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. One half of the Hammer, Cowboys AP tone is here and joining us live from An Attica in Ohio. Ladies and gentlemen, is a college football national champion

and a Super Bowl champion, a Rotter Cup winner, ladies a gentleman, AJ Hawke. First of all, AJ, I have to ask you, Chris Ball said I'm in the lightweight division. I don't like that at all. Did you hear that from him? Kind of a shot. multiple shots from him that you heard that I heard

as well. Yeah, I definitely heard that and yeah, I don't think he knows how much you weigh first off and second. Like you're going to have to try to take him down now during the game. So hopefully they're doing well. Like whenever they're doing well, so they score a touchdown or something, that's when you've got to go get him. Yeah, we need him to be distracted. I might also call for your help. So I hope you're

I don't know if I want to help on that one. I mean, Cristobal, he seems like he doesn't mess around. Is he a jiu-jitsu guy as well? Yeah, yes. Okay, yeah. You're on your own there, pal. Black belt. Yeah, I think he does have a black belt. I do believe rolling is like a part of his entire thing. that's how we got in the conversation down Coral Gables when I thought about getting after him

and he looked at me and he's like do you want to go? Like on air Oh yeah oh yeah And I was like he was not abused That was a joke I was just You see this is my thing I do with like UFC fighters And people that have call flurry or like Obviously they could beat my ass

But I just want to let him know that boom boom You tapped out Diamond Dustin Porte Exactly That's good point He had no idea that was coming That was at the same That was on the same show Roger Goodell Telling us that that

draft clock was way too long in the first round and we're going to be able to shorten that. Let's get to tonight's game, shall we? Foxy put up a tail of the tape. I think we should dive into it, AJ. The NFC South tonight on Amazon Prime. What numbers kind of stick out to you that we need to be looking at and what you're looking at? I mean, look at that rush defense

of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, obviously 8th, they do pretty well. So let's see if they can shut the rundown and make Kirk Cousins one-dimensional, see if he can beat you through the air. Do you think Kirk has some magic left? I think he does, but I'm leaning the bucks right now as we talk. The line is now five and a half for the Buccaneers.

They were favored a full point move. That feels a little interesting from the beginning of show until now. Tone, what does that say? Yeah, especially since, well, actually, because more and more money is pouring in on the Buccaneers, it will tend to go in that directions versus last week when we had the reverse line movement, which is weird when you're getting more money on a team and the line benefits the other team. But this, today, with the money coming in on the Bucks, this was the direction that it would go in. If we're just looking at it like that.

And Jalen McMill and Mike Evans being back. So they're going to have Godwin-A-Booka, Mike Evans, and Jaila McMillan for the first time all year. No Kate Otton. He's doubtful. They're starting tight end, but having those four with Bucky Irving finally back as well, their offense will now finally be full strength for the most part.

I think we all feel the same way about the Bucks tonight. I think it just kind of feels weird. I assume what's the percentage of money? Do we know what the percentage of money? 68, I believe. 68, it's creeping towards that 70% line. And obviously the Buccaneers very much still in the NFC South running. They have the Falcons and then two times at the Panthers.

The Panthers who are also in it have the Saints, which the Bucks just lost a crucial game to. And then they got the Seahawks as their alternate game and then the Dolphins. So these two are obviously going to have to figure out who's going into the NFC playoffs to take on a very top heavy NFC team. But we love that week 15 is happening. And you guys were saying the other day, this is a shite game. This game?

Well, yeah. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Just relativity. I just, I have a tough time. I feel bad for Kirk Cousins as of late. Watching him play, I just feel really bad for him. And I just hope it's a competitive game because, boy.

And you know what? A big part of that is recency bias because Seattle is very, very good. And they just beat the absolute dog shit out of them. So maybe I'm, I'm leaning a little bit too much on that with how bad they looked last week. But no Drake London, you know, Bucks being pretty stat against the run, and Bijon Robinson, kind of being their only weapon. We'll see. I just, I hope it's a good game.

It's Thursday. It's kicking. I mean, the rest of the slate this weekend is great. So it'd be nice if we could get a big boost going into the weekend. If Tampa Bay demolishes Atlanta, how do we feel about Rahim? Bye. That's right. I'm saying there is those potential.

It's week 15, bro. Second year. It's week 15. We're getting to that point now. We are getting to that point of the season. Not that we haven't already. there's obviously already been a firing or two. But like, we're getting that point now where a primetime loss

or an embarrassing loss for an owner can cause an emotional reaction. I'm not saying Arthur Blank will do that, but I'm just saying we are at that point of the season where things can bubble and come to a fester very quickly, especially if in the division you get blown out on primetime, there's a chance that that's going to get very, very loud. We like Rahim. We love Rahim. Yes.

But it feels like the people in Atlanta do not. I mean, everything I hear out of, of Atlanta. Now granted, there's probably a lot of Falcons fans that love for him and understand it's going to be a process, yada, yada, yada. But it has gotten very loud for him and very early in his tenure down there. And the things that matter like how it looks. Like they got blown out at home. Nobody's even there to watch the week before, like even just going past because Seattle's good. The week before they lose to the New York football jets. And like I get Pennix is hurt and Drake London is hurt and those things do also account. But at the same time, like

the competition doesn't look like it's there for the team. Yeah. And I think to your point, actually just sent in a video. Yeah, I sent in a video of the crowd. This is at kickoff and there is no one there. There is something about being a bad team or whatever but like when the owner when it's a bad team, the owner looks at the stadium and sees all these empty seats like

that does not help the case either. Especially when the day before the SEC championship was there and it's packed chocked full and it just you know like also going into the year like the Falcons were a very trendy pick to win this division. Like the expectations were very high this year and I

understand Michael Pennix got hurt, but it was even starting to kind of go that way before he got hurt. So it's just kind of been like a whatever can go wrong has gone wrong, and I think that has a lot to do with it too. Yeah, the empty stadium is always the problem, because that goes right to the pockets, which we understand is exactly what kind of drives decisions. Yeah. You know, and you talked about the SEC championship the day before. Lana Hawks, night before that. There you go. Packed. I mean, it was a celebration of Atlanta, basically, the entire weekend. Everything was filled up. And I think they stink, too. So it's like, if, They stink, and people are still showing up in droves to go to those games.

And at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, very expensive, but also very nice. Very nice. The stuff in there, Arthur Blank, has made a point for it to be affordable, so it's not even as if you're going there and beers are more expensive. No, that's not how it is. And you have to think, hey, we are looking at the Carolina Panthers, and we are now the Carolina Panthers. And we like the Carolina Panthers now.

And we think that the Carolina Panthers, AJ, all made a change whenever the Grinch's heart grew, three sizes. Who's the Grinch in this particular case? The owner, David Tepper, this guy who the only stories that we were talking about with him was not only what he did back in the day in the financial world whenever he bought somebody else's house that was potentially above him

and then just tore it down to build a bigger one just to prove a point, basically. Or the new facility and saying, nah, or the throwing eye, or the knocking off the hat, or the, I mean, this guy was in everything. Charlotte FC, the soccer team, had like 45 coaches in two years

because Tepper didn't like anything that was happening. The Carolina Panthers asked. They had like 250 people in the stands at the end. And Tepper was the owner was basically the reason of this entire thing. Then he offers up the stadium. He donates a bunch of money for the hurricane relief down there. He hires the right people seemingly becomes a little bit hands off. And all of a sudden, the Carolina Panthers start becoming,

Charlotte FC starts becoming a little bit. And now we got Tepper in a Christmas sweater talking to cameras. It's not that shabby. Listen, it's pretty good. It's all building process. And look, we'll see where we go, you know, we'll see what happens. But we do think, you know, as I said, Canales, Morgan, Dillis, and everybody here in the whole organization,

and I think we're building something special in Carolina. And we've been building an outside of the community. We're building it on the field. So it's a total picture, and hopefully we can go on and we have that for many years here. Yeah, great microphone set up. Yep, without a doubt. But I like the fact that Tepper's out there in the community, honestly, has there been a bigger change in how somebody is viewed than him?

I think that's very real, AJ. Yeah, for multiple years in Roe, it feels like we just talked like, oh, what's the next thing that where he, you know, shut down the practice facility or he has issues with somebody. There's signs about him. But yeah, so what do you think it is? When he opened up that stadium for the benefit concert, that's what turned everything? I genuinely think that was. And I think Morgan, too, coming in there, right? That's a GM.

Huge hire, yes. I think him coming in there and being like, hey, we. got the football with his eyes taped open. Well, you got to football. We are not, you cannot just be in everything that we're doing. And 10%, I never wanted to be. I never, I never wanted to be. And then everybody's like, well, you were though.

That was kind of part of the problem. So him acknowledging that, realizing that, backing away and then them having success. So he can maybe realize or feel fulfillment of backing away and having success. Because his big thing, just like all these owners, unless they're just born into money, which certainly happens, so I'm not going to say that hasn't taken place. But a lot of these owners have created a massive amount of wealth and had a lot of success and have been the actual smartest people in the room in basically every single room that they've gone into for a majority of their life. And also, they've been

the people who have had to make decisions when everybody else doesn't want to make decisions. Like the people that become the billionaires that end up, you know, owning NFL teams are the people who have to sit in the pocket and say, you're fired, you're fired, you're fired, and probably screw people over. I mean, that is just the reality of running a business and the money that high end. So whenever they get into something that they've invested, six, seven, eight, ten billion dollars into, they've always been the ones that have had to make the decision, always been the ones that have had success. This place hasn't had success. That's why I was able to buy it. So it's hard, I think, for these humans, these types of humans, to get in there and be

like, okay, now you guys do everything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm going to stay out. Like, I think that was a very difficult move for Tepper. So we very much need to celebrate that, I think, even though, you know, billionaires don't need to be patted on the back for things. it's like Tepper stepping away when I know that was very much against his shit that is a big deal I think AJ Yeah he probably became a billionaire Because he was you know

He had his hands into everything He's micromanaging people making sure Like the whatever standard he felt You know was being met But I'm sure every owner goes through that right Especially if you all of some be coming to you come into ownership Phil Rivers returns clock now That's just popped up out of nowhere

What it's cut off I can't even see all the numbers 56 hours, 11 minutes, 22 seconds from now. Philip Rivers will be taking the field against the Seattle Seahawks at 425 Eastern. Back to your point, though, please don't let this distract you. I'm not even sure what I was saying about the owner, but I feel like, yeah, can you imagine any owner, though, coming in? Yeah, you've been the guy that everyone's looking to your whole life. You have the answers, but then, like, football is a different thing, man. Yeah, we understand the business part of it, but I would imagine as an owner trying to figure,

figure out where you fit in, when you should pop in, when you shouldn't, when you should leave them alone. Like, that's a tough thing. Joining us now, ladies of gentlemen, is a man who's been a head coach for a team that has a very involved owner and a team that actually doesn't have an owner, a Super Bowl champion, a living legend, a yinzer icon, ladies and gentlemen, our coach, Coach Mike McCarthy. Hey, Coach, how you doing, Coach, good-looking dog back here? Is that that, is that Blue Ribbon 11-time title dog back here? That's Gus. Yes, he is. That's the best picture of the week up here.

It's a winter, winter wonderland. So, yeah, that's the best thing I got for you this week. I love that. Gus is a good looking dog. He's a stud. Gus is a stud. Yeah, Gus looks like he has a good time. He wants to be out there, find an adult.

He's never had a bad day, that's for sure. Neither of you. Neither of you. It feels like every time. Oh, I'm having a great, I'm having a great time. I mean, I got the, got the Christmas colors on. I mean, I'm ready. Hell, yeah.

A holiday season is about it. I wish you would have told me that you're going to have temper on in a Christmas sweater. I'm sure I got a bunch of ugly Christmas sweaters I could have threw on today from the good old days. Yeah. Well, we appreciate you. It's that time of year. We appreciate you celebrating, Coach,

because it is that time of year. It is meaningful football time, and it's been a long time since you haven't had to have a job fully focused every day of your life on winning games in this particular time of year. So I'm happy you're enjoying it.

Let's wrap up the Tepper conversation. I let in there that Jerry Jones obviously very involved owner. Green Bay doesn't have an owner. They have like a group or whatever that makes decisions. For the Tepper story and for the Carolina Panthers story.

They might actually win the NFC South. The Carolina Panthers might be hosting a playoff game this year. Just a couple years back, 250 people in the stands. Everybody hated them. I would say brand image, likeness, everything. Lowest maybe in all of professional sports, Carolina Panthers. They hire new GM. They get Canales in there.

Bryce Young gets benched. Then he comes back. He starts doing his thing. And I genuinely believe, as somebody that has followed this story from very much the beginning, Tepper becoming a better owner is a massive piece. of why they've become good. Is that an accurate assessment from somebody that's in an actual position

and understands what a good owner can do and what a no-owner ship can do? What are your thoughts on that entire vibe between owner and how team has actually run? I definitely agree with it. I think it's a big part of it. I think that every leader has to go through it, whether you're the owner, a president,

a general manager, or a head coach. I mean, for a successful he's been in his business life, this was a new opportunity, a new arena to compete in and definitely there was some growing pains but no, I agree with you 100%. Just to have the opportunity to interview with Carolina

in 2019 and I go look back at that conversation and compare to where they are today. You know, I think there are leaps and bounds ahead of where they were back then. You know, they were talking about building a facility down the road there in South Carolina, that whole process and, you know, we're talking about

facilities. So, I mean, now you see what what he's done. And I think the most important thing is he's a fellow Yenzer. So, I mean, you knew he was going to figure it out. Teper's a Yenzer? Oh, yeah. You didn't know that? Oh, no.

I feel like a terrible person. I was burying him for a long time. But I made him better. Made him stronger is what I was saying. Yes, he did. You pushed the right buttons. Hey, I hope so. I hope I was a part of the solution as opposed to the problem because we love the city of Charlotte

and good luck to the Panthers as they go. I don't know if you saw this clock. We were 56 hours away, seven minutes and 33 seconds, 32, 31, now 30 seconds away from Philip Rivers returning to a football game for the first time in five years. How do you feel about this? Obviously, he's going to be able to spin it. We've seen video coming out of practice from both Romeo Boyd and Anthony Calhoun. He can still spin it.

The ball is still getting to where we want it to go. Nobody's expecting him to be able to move, including himself. What is your expectation of a grandfather taking the field for the first time in five years? Strictly because, and I would like to answer this because I have a lot of respect for Cam Newton, and have a lot of respect for all the other quarterbacks that are potentially out there. He was signed because he knows the offense. We're in week 15 right now. We don't have time for somebody to learn this shit.

We need to kind of get and go. Just what are your thoughts on it all and the expectations of the outcome? I mean, I think it's awesome, and I think it's a great story. You know, personally having an opportunity to work or, you know, really learn from, frankly, we learned from older quarterbacks, you know, back in the 90s with Joe Montana and Dave Craig. You know, Brett Farver was an older quarterback. So, I mean, these guys have seen so much football and their time clocks are, they're ingrained. I think the fact that he's able to come back.

And I think the most important thing in this transaction is the fact that he has history in Indianapolis. You know, they have a renowned training staff there. There's a relationship. So they're going to know what kind of shape he's in. Because, you know, you worry about, you know, fatigue injuries and things like that for guys that have been out, the stresses that, you know, the actual movement in the game. you know, opposed to, you know, the movements that they go through in their training segments. So I think the fact that he's back at Indianapolis, he's with Shane, he'll run

the run game, that that'll be a breeze, the communication, the language and all that. I think the protection adjustments will be something that he just needs to, you know, get back into that. But it's going to be the timing throws. I think just as much as he can throw to those perimeter guys between now and Sunday is going to be the key, just to, you know, just to kind of give him those automatic throws that he's had in his whole career. You know, when you get out there on the numbers out there on the auto bond, the timing throws to the individual cuts, the inside throws. And then red zone of third dime will be the toughest things for him

because, you know, there's, you know, the heighten of pressure and, you know, man to man and things like that. And it'll be curious to see how the defense reacts to him being out there. What kind of coverage that give him in passing situations? So if there's anybody that can do it, definitely Philip can pull this off. Hey, no speed limits out there. Go ahead, AJ. Coach, what would your game plan be, I guess,

if you're, you know, Phil is thrust in the lineup after five years away. Obviously, say, oh, yeah, I want to get the bottom of our hands quick, you know, all this. We ideally like to run the ball. It's not always easy. But what would you do, I guess, if you're coaching Phil for his first game back? Well, I think you hit the most important thing. You got Jonathan back here. Let's not forget about that.

So let's make sure he gets his touches. But I think clearly for Philip, and it's really what I'd like to do every time you start a game. is, you know, try to make first and second down as easy as possible as possible for him because, you know, the challenge is the situational football that he's going to encounter and the speed of that and just being back in the flow of that, that's going to be, I think, the biggest challenge for the quarterback position. So, and I mean by that is try to find him some rhythm throws, try to find him some free access situation, create some type formations and motion that, you know, gets them off the ball type

easy completions early so he can get into a rhythm and just get back into what Sunday afternoon really feels like. I hope Phil Rivers utilizes Tyler Warren just like he did in Tonya Gates. Michael Pittman would be willing to die on a football field to go get a ball. Phil Rivers knows that. And from my understanding, the competitive juices and the chirping has not slowed down at all. The guy's excited, the guy's eager, and the guy's about to kick his Hall of Fame status back another five years. And that's going to be a first ballot Hall of Fame talk after he wins his Super Bowl. with the Indianapolis Colts this year, just like Coach McCarthy said, just like this guy just said here in front of his dog Gus,

looking to win that trophy right there, the one that's kind of peeking out right there. That's what Phil Rivers is looking to do with the Indianapolis Colts. Now, you won one of those with the Packers. Ty is a question about that. Yeah, Coach, after the Packers got a massive win at home against the Bears to go back into first in the NFC North, how confident are you in them going into the playoffs? Jordan Love, obviously playing his best football right now.

I think the team is as a whole in a league where there's maybe three to four teams who could go to the NFC championship. Just how confident are you in the Packers moving forward? Oh, I love what the Packers are doing. I think, A, number one, the most important part of your football team is the defense. And that defense is playing lights out. I just, I can't say enough about the consistency of how they played week in and week out. I think it's the most consistent component of their football team. And, you know, secondly, you know, the run game is definitely there.

And they're, you know, and they had the two big post throws for touchdowns by Jordan. So I think they're playing very well, the ability to play at home. But that was a, I thought there was a hell of a game Sunday, you know, versus the Bears. You know, you look at the first half, first and the second half. And you cannot win enough close games throughout the season, especially this time of year. I've always felt that, you know, winning close games was critical to have. during your path because, you know, I look back in AJ, I can attest to this. When we were 15 and 1, we actually, you know, we had too many blowout wins.

And not that you can ever have too many of them, but, you know, you need those tough games. You need those physical games, those reality games. And I think when you get into these late division games, it gives you that. And I think it's great preparation for, you know, for the playoffs. But the best thing we got going in Green Bay right now is that defense. and, you know, the perimeter's getting healthy. You can see them getting better each week. You know, so that's exciting.

Ball distribution, I think Jordan's done a really nice job with that. But, you know, you have to like what the Packers are doing. How about on the other side to Bears? You think they're about a year out? I think, you know, AQ Shipley comes in here once a week. And I said, do you think they're about a year out with Ben Johnson and the Bears? I think they're a really good team. I'm talking a year out from being, like, you know, Super Bowl conversation team.

and AQ goes, if the quarterback can learn some football, basically was his response. It's like, quarterback definitely much better this year than he was last year. He's like, yeah, but he's got to continue to go. He obviously has a new situation, new system this year than he did last year. They're having success. Ben Johnson is super genius offensively. It's how we all view him, right? Don't we all?

Yes. We all view Ben Johnson's super genius on the offensive side. Is it just Caleb's development that's basically going to decide whether or not the Bears win a Super Bowl or not? Like, how do you kind of view the bears over the next two years if you had to Well, it's definitely a arrow pointing up, and I think sometimes, you know, when you win a lot in your first year, you know, particularly close games and things, you know, go your way, I mean, look at Washington last year and then look what they were able to, you just bring the board that into it, with an excellent run all the way to the NFC championship game. So, you know, I do believe in year to year. But frankly, I wouldn't be too hard on Clebe, because he's different. Who? He makes me. Clee Williams.

It's Caleb. I mean, Jesus Christ. You were nowhere. You were nowhere near something. Okay, you've never made a mistake. I knew what you're talking about. We knew what you're talking about. I was just giving you an opportunity.

I love it when you, when you, you got off talking about some other bullshit. Hey. Hey, Clebe is a dog, though. No, but Caleb. Callie. Yeah, I'm sorry. Sorry, Caleb, I cut you off. I didn't, I didn't know if you're.

talking about, like, a quarterback coach, I honestly did not know. Yeah, right. Well, I'm not as down on him as your comment there. I see a guy that makes a lot of plays. He is in a structured, you know, an offense that asks a lot of the quarterback, which is a great thing for him, but it's his first year in that offense. So, yeah, so are there growing pains? I would think clearly.

I'm not in there, don't have access to any of that type of information. But there's definitely some growing pains, but the guy can make plays with his feet and his arm. And, you know, when I look back in the history of some great quarterbacks that were a little bit bouncing off the walls the first couple years, and if they could just stay healthy and keep playing, I think they're going to have a hell of a player there. But the best thing they got going for him is been because he has them in a structured,

you know, he has a system. He has to learn to run that system. and then everything he does with his feet and his playmaking ability is a bonus. And that's a good place to be in quarterback development, in my opinion. Yeah, they got good people around him. Coach Ben Johnson, Coach Clebe.

They also got D out there. You know, they got D out there, Coach? What's that? No, no, not doing it, not doing it. Coach, you did not deserve that. That was rude. But let's talk about staying healthy, shall we? Let's talk about staying healthy,

especially at the quarterback position. I was on the Colts, obviously, when Andrew Luck was just getting, I mean, he thought it was disrespectful to football to give up on a play. He got hit a lot, a lot of injuries took place, serious injuries took place. Another one happened, and then that led to an early retirement. Now, all eyes are looking towards Cincinnati and have been for a while. Good, Conman.

Yeah, coach, with the Bengals and Jeff, I can't even get it. I was going to say Jeff Burrow, but with the Bengals and Joe Burrow, he gave a press conference yesterday and basically said, like, hey, the fun of the game seems to be, you know, not leaving him, but he's not finding joy right now and everything. And that's kind of understandable with the injuries he's had. I believe he's 29. He's only played three full seasons. I believe that's accurate.

And he just came back. They were still in it. Unfortunately, with the loss to Buffalo, it's very, very hard for them now to kind of find a way to the playoffs. You were coaching Dak Prescott when he went through, you know, his kind of worst time as a pro with, you know, his injuries and some of the terrible things he had to go through to get to, you know, the point where he's at now.

What do you say to a player like this when they're in a situation where there doesn't seem to be much hope at the end of the tunnel? Do you think, Burrow, this is kind of one of those things where you just kind of have to go back to the drawing board? What do you think of this whole situation? And how do you think the Bengals as a front office and an organization can kind of fix Jeff Burrow? Joe. His name's fucking Joe.

Joey B. Excuse me. But, no, I think number one, just, you know, overall, injuries is clearly the worst part of the game. When you watch players go through injury and the amount of time they put into each and every, you know, season, the prehab and the sports science and advancement and to think that how much Joe has been through as far as getting back from the, you know, injuries of the past, yes, I could definitely see, you know, why he may be feeling the way he is.

I think you have to, number one, for, you know, for people that have to. to go up there and do press conferences on a regular basis, you know, everybody wants you to, you know, be honest, you know, and give a real answer. And the fact that he gave one, I think you have to respect that because that's, you know, that's, you know, that's, you know, that's very personal to him. And, uh, and I think he, you know, he gives you, you know, inside of where he, what he's thinking about right now. But yeah, the coming back from injuries is, it's a long process. I mean, DAC in particular, I mean, there's clearly, you know, nothing that you, you, you, you can't feel for these guys because playing quarterback and really playing professional football.

It's a, it's a 12-month, seven-day-a-week deal. I mean, these guys, you know, whether, you know, postseason and, you know, what they get through as far as their time off and going into it. But I think what you do and what do you say, I think, frankly, you rely on the relationships and the support, you know, that you have around him. I mean, you know, just from my understanding, you know, he's a very well-respected young man, not only in, you know, in Cincinnati, but in the national football league. So I think the people closest to him and relying on that and just to make sure he's

talking to people and going through this. But I think he gave you a very honest answer to a question in a press conference that he could easy through away. And it's, and also just, I think it shows how much he, how much he cares, you know, how much he puts into it. And, yeah, injuries is the worst part of it. there's been a lot of great players, you know, whose careers have been cut short,

quarterbacks who maybe have never got off to the start or maybe have the finish in their career because of the, because of injury. They're saying some crazy stuff about Joe Burrow leaving the Bengals and maybe getting traded and going somewhere else. Oh, yeah, they're definitely going to trade him. They do that. Yeah, that's what the Bengals do.

Carson Palmer. Well, he could say, I'm either going to retire, you're going to let me out here. I'm not eating the sauce. Yeah. Out of the genitals. I'm not paying for the chili, the skyline that you guys are serving with. That's what happened.

That's just what happened back of the day, allegedly. I think reportedly. Carson Palmer, allegedly, reportedly, I think on the record said, I'm a retired. Which one? I think it was all of them. It was alleged at the beginning that it was reported. And then I think Carson himself came out and said,

that is kind of how the conversation. once. So what I was trying to give you was a full dive of journalism. It was alleged at the beginning. Then it got reported. And then I think Carson came out and said, yeah, I told him I'm not doing it anymore. And then he goes to the Raiders. And then he goes to the Cardinals. Then he has a full career afterwards. But he had to like say he was going to just, I'm not playing football anymore. I'm not doing it. If you're not going to let me out of here, Cincinnati Bengals aren't like a big move type place, you know. But on that note, they did spend massive amounts of money seemingly to keep Joe Burrow happy. And then now,

if you don't win is anybody ever happy we just want joey b to know we love you buddy we love you you're good for ball joe you're good for ball in that same press conference he seemed pretty happy when they talked about Pokemon cards so maybe the bangles could just start paying them in Pokemon cards hey coach you remember when everybody was doing Pokemon go at training camp was that happening with your team uh probably was but i don't participate you got that's probably a better question for AJ AJ were you guys Pokemon going no we were not don't lie don't lie I'll tell you and Venetaria walking through training camp and there's like an open area.

That's what people are like walking off a building and stuff. Is that you're talking about? Out of windows and everything like that? End of all can you. They had their phone like this. It was Pokemon Go. Coach, you know anything about this? I do not.

I mean, I'm superficially. Yeah, you're a 30,000 foot view. 30,000 foot view. You've heard the stories, obviously. But yeah, it was the thing that kind of captivated everybody. Everybody was playing his Pokemon Go. Had to be on your phone. And people were just on their phones.

They were walking right off buildings, right into trains. just into things. It really captivated the world. Not NFL guys. Well, maybe, I don't know. But we were walking from the cafeteria area to team meeting after practice at night. And me and Vinny are just walking through. And we got offense alignment, blindbackers doing his Pokemon.

We got a meeting in 10 minutes. We got the Pokemon. Let me catch it. Let me catch it. I've never heard Vin and Terry Quicker say, we're fucked this year. And I just said, yes, we are. Any other position maybe, you know, any other position. maybe you know any other position we had it wasn't our starters obviously but it was in the

offensive line room kind of doing their thing and it's like well season hasn't started but it's already over basically we might as well go ahead and see how this goes but it was a good game hey it was it got I didn't play any I didn't catch them any of them I would try to catch them all sure but it had everybody including our team and it was not good indicators it was like I don't think it was great for anybody okay AJ has a question for you coach sorry about speaking of that teams that especially don't any chance. It seems like this year there's more teams that have a chance to win it. And usually going in, there's like a handful of teams. I feel like, okay, they actually have a chance.

But now we talk about parity throughout the league. Why do you think that is right now? Why are there so many teams, I guess? Seems like more teams that truly could go on a run and win a Super Bowl. Yeah, I think it's amazing. I think the definition of parity is adjusted every year. And definitely it's what the league wants. And I think what the commissioner wants. And in person, I think it's awesome. I go back to 1993. It was my first year, and that's right when Plan B free agency ended. And I always remember the speech that Marty Schontenheimer he gave particularly at the beginning of the season.

And he said, hey, there's three categories of teams in this league. He says, you got the Super Bowl contenders. He goes, and at that time, he was flat out. He just said it, he said, San Francisco and Dallas, they're better than all of us right now. And Buffalo is probably right up there. He says, so that's the group that on. paper could win the Super Bowl today.

And he said, then you got about 12 or 15 teams that are, you know, the second group. And, you know, those teams, our team, we need to work, you know, throughout the season to continue to get better and continue. And he, you know, he had his plan and was stating his vision and how it's so important to November, December, playing your best football into the playoffs. And then he said the third categories of teams that, you know, they just have so many challenges that they won't be able to overcome and, you know, and then certain teams are so, you know, up, they're never going to win. So in his colorful words, but, and I always thought that was a really

good, you know, 360 view point of the league. And I've always looked at it that way. And I think if you, as, you know, everybody gears up in the offseason, we go into training camp and, and I'm sure you guys talked about this on the show. I mean, I don't know how many teams you probably thought were Super Bowl contenders this year. I think numbers bigger, probably 10 to 12. And then there's a, then there is probably that second group is probably 12 to 14. And then, You have another, you know, six to eight down there at the bottom that they just have so many challenges they can't overcome. And I think that's really how the league has gone of particularly late. And I think these division games at the end have been very helpful.

You know, I think the drafting and all the other, you know, the people utilizing the free agency, they're increasing the cap. And, you know, I just, I think the parity of the league is great. And I think it really illustrates the importance of, you know, the organizational, you know, impact as far as facilities, sports science, you know, your support, your support people, their importance should be, you know, higher valued. The value of coaching should be, should be higher. I'm not to be self-serving, but, you know, because it is so competitive, you know, in the arena of player acquisition, you know, because, you know, with the draft and, you know,

and there's so much information that's out there today compared to, you know, where we were 30 years ago on these guys. And, you know, just think about, you know, a player coming out of high school, going through college, and by the time he gets to the NFL draft, just, you know, the amount of information on that particular individual, you know, so parity is awesome for the league. And I think you see it more and more, you know, each year.

But, you know, teams who you thought were in September, we're going to win a Super Bowl, you know, where are they at today? And then you look at the teams like Indianapolis or was probably in that second, group if they can get going and you know danel comes along like the way we thought and you know can now get into that you know that cut new engling was probably a team that you thought hey they were young they did some things at the end of the year that you really like drake may was shown what he can be so i just think did i get the name right yeah you did but i thought you were going to do more about the

colts and then as soon as we got the count that clock for the river's returns and you moved off the courts he went to the patriots and then connor was losing as well so he did a great job for the all party's there. But I was hoping we were going to talk about how Phil Rivers maybe takes them from, we're in that middle group, and then we're moving in the top group, and then all of a sudden, quickly, we went down in a bottom group, oh, these guys got a chance, and then 44-year-old

grandpa comes in, all of a sudden, we go right back up that thing, and 55 hours we find out. 55 hours, we find out. Well, we're in the top group and the Colts right now, so I mean, you know, definitely you can go from group one to two to three. I mean, I'm excited to watch Phil play. I think it's I think it's awesome, and I think to fit

with Shane and everything he got going. So, I'm like I said, maybe I've got to say it again. If anybody can do it, Philip Rivers can do it. It's 55 hours and 46 minutes and 48 seconds. Wow, that's pretty good out of you right there. You say, you know, that's multiple size. Pay attention. Yeah, you saw it.

You saw it. Phil, you can see you later, Phil. See you later. Thank you. It's a nice little reminder to bopped it up like, holy hell old man. That's cool. Your graphics are unbelievable. Your production team's incredible.

Yeah, the boys are really good. No, they're special. I mean, that Galeo thing, I'm still laughing. Where the hell you guys pulled out of it? Well, you know, mathematics is the universe's love language. You know, that's what... I don't think of L'A.o's singing it. I mean...

I see a little silhouette of the man. Goli Huss, Galehush, can I do that bandango. Very, very frightening. Galeo. Galileo! Galileo! Let me go! Let me go!

I'm just a poor boy from a poor family. He's just a poor boy from a poor family. He'll be in his life from his . You must have missed the rehearsal there. No, AJ won't put his... He's a beast, gross! He's a bitch, God! You won't buy it!

You will buy it! It's got... It bothers him a bit, Coach, and doesn't buy it! him a bit, Coach. It does bother him a bit. Bad teammate. Yeah, I don't know if he didn't do it. I don't know if he didn't buy in with you guys at the Packers, but I'll tell you what, Wiz Khalifa was on our team for one day,

and he said, boys, put your hands up. Immediately everybody's hands went up like this. AJ, two feet away from Wiz Kalifa. I don't think so, Bob. I'm not your pocket. He actually gave him the finger. Yeah, it was unbelievable. Just like he did to you. Just like he did to you on the field, yeah. So thank you,

coach. If you could send him a side note about buying in, we'd appreciate that. Thank you for bringing that. coach I'll coach him up thank you coach all right I see Gus in the snow back air yeah that means magic's happening that means meaningful football's happening AJ we let you off the hook there too easy I don't think we owe enough but we will get back to that after coach McCarthy is no longer here I feel like we are disrespecting coach McCarthy airing out kind of our inner team dynamics right now but AJ you need to buy in when we're singing god damn Galileo okay that is just for the I got a little bit of a delay.

You know, the delay can, you know, there's other programs that you guys are connected virtually. Oh, his excuses. Yeah, that's asshole. Always. They're like socks. Everybody's got them. And bones got them a bunch of crusty ones.

All right. What? That's, uh... That's Gus and the snow. Okay, it's a cold time. It's very cold here. We got snow. We just had a snowstorm.

We did. And it's coming again. It's supposed to come tonight. It came earlier. But that means one thing. Holidays. Okay. Thanksgiving already happened.

We got Christmas. New Year's. at all the holidays. Round nicer. That are happening right now. More importantly, though, we got playoff pushes, playoff runs, meaningful football, which means one thing.

Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Coach, obviously you coached in Green Bay, Wisconsin, outside, very, very cold, a lot of snow, and then down in Dallas, inside, it's warmer down there. Everyone talks about the advantages of cold weather teams and playing in the cold weather all the time. There's seven games this weekend under 32.

Four of those games are going to be under 20 with wind chills about zero. is it actually an advantage to those teams that are used to playing outside in the cold or is that something that we make too much of? I think it's definitely an advantage. I mean, I've always felt that. And I wouldn't say from a psychological or mental,

I think it's more about the opportunity to handle the football on the cold. And in AJ, when we were in Green Bay, we would always practice outside. The only thing it ever took me inside was the wind, you know, high winds. I always felt it was important to be outside on the grass and we were fortunate to have the facilities up there, you know,

with the heated, heated field, just, you know, the fields, the practice fields were identical to the field, you know, at Lambeau fields. So I think it's critical and the most important part is, is the ball, is handling the football. We would do extra ball drills religiously in the outdoor work because that's where I felt the biggest advantage was. And, you know, thank God for Aaron Rogers and Thank God for Brett Farr, but, you know, the big hands, the long arms, the ability to torque the football. And I always loved it when the weather was cold. And, you know, you didn't have the high wind in there because, you know,

you always felt great confidence in your passing game because of, you know, the ability to throw the ball. And, you know, I thought it really helped our perimeter group create separation in that weather because defense is, you know, half a step slower, you know, in that weather on the outdoor surface, in my opinion. in those elements. So I think there's clearly our advantages playing in that weather and practicing outside and being more from the, you know, the elements standpoint as far as how you play in it, not the psychological, oh, it's cold. And because, hell, I mean, you know, the players are probably

in the best spot in the whole stadium as far as keeping warm. You know, they're out there running around. They come off. They got the jackets put on them to heating. I mean, the only time I think I ever went to the bench was in cool weather to talk to the quarterbacks, and I really wasn't over to talk to him. I was over to get, you know, warm my ass up as I was freezing. But I think the elements do favor the teams that do play, and I always felt. And I thought it was more, you know, catching of football. And some of the games that, you know, we had lost over the years. And it really came down to, you know, who handled the football better. And I think that'll be a big key in all these, and all these games played this weekend.

Shout it to them for providing all that. And we talked to Jordan Love the other day as he was promoting Toyotathon in which he has dominated during. But during Toyotathon is a lot of bad weather at Lambo. And he's always played well during it. And he talked about how I don't love it. AJ said, AJ's from Ohio. I'm from Pittsburgh. You know, we're from cold places.

Everybody's like, you know, they're from the north. They like the cold. Uh-uh. Nobody likes the cold. It's just whether or not you've already mentally had to go through the entirety of how bad it sucks, which is what happens on the daily basis. I think that's a huge deal as well, which is why you pointed out,

we practice outside every day unless the wind would affect it. I think that is the big advantage, Coach. You agree. Yeah, definitely. And, you know, and quarterbacks that play in the dome, you know, that are not used to it

and maybe don't have big hands. You know, that's something they've got to deal with. That ball comes off their hand a little differently, too. So, yeah, I agree with everything you've said. I mean, no one likes playing in that weather. But I do think it is an advantage to be able to practice in that weather. What, Tua got any of these games, cold games coming up or had anything? Because remember, he was literally the example that everybody gave.

Like, this Miami Dolphins team's very good. Then he traveled up to Kansas City. It was like negative five or whatever. And it was just the complete opposite, like clearly getting beat by the cold weather. Go ahead. Monday night, it's supposed to be 18, I believe, in Pittsburgh. We're going to find out, Gumpie. We're going to found the rock now.

We've got an offensive line now. different ball club than years passed. I'm excited for this. Who are the mentally tough teams that can handle the weather and who needs to have home field advantage through the playoffs? That's a big deal through it all. And is Phil River's going to be a guy who in 74 hours, 39 minutes? There it is. I can't see the first number. So that's been off by 20 hours? Nope. No, game got flex. It was initially supposed to be a 4 a.m. local kickoff time. They moved it to 425. Easier, yeah. So we just got that information.

Who discovered that it got flipped from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. Connor dropped in my ear there and he goes, if at 425, would we not be 72 hours away from the game? And I looked up the clock and I quick about it's like, yeah, it's Thursday. And then, you know, go to the back room. Hey, we're way off on that thing. How do we even? So while you were giving a great answer about the weather there, there was quite an explosion of joy around here with how stupid we are. know that 74 hours from now, 38 minutes

and 40 seconds. Phil Rivers returns to a football field. Let's go, baby. Hey, Seattle, good luck. Yeah, right, good luck. He's been waiting five years for this. Do we have a West Coast clock, too, just so they know? Oh, that's...

Just 71, 38, 25. Nope, I don't think it changes, actually. You're right now. You know, Jesus. Let's not... Same time. Speaking of time, and everybody having one, Connor has a question about when the time is right.

Yeah, coach, hate to go there with you. with Green Bay, but towards the end of your tenure there, you know, you were a legend, you won a Super Bowl, and, you know, the time just seemed right for you to be leaving, you know, whether you felt that or not. But right now with Kansas City and Baltimore and Pittsburgh, it does feel as though three places, three legendary coaches, and not that their seats are hot, but the conversation at least is there where, hey, there needs to be some sort of change. Kansas City is much different, of course, just because of the very recent success, but with Baltimore and Pittsburgh, it just feels as though they've fallen short very consistently

here in recent memory. Do you think that those coaches, whether it be Harbaugh, Tomlin, or Andy Reed, have a sense of the end as close as far as those particular locations, or do you think they don't even hear that, they don't feel that, they're just staying the course? Like, what was your experience with that in Green Bay? And what do you think they're going through right now? I'll say this. I think, number one, all three of those men, in my opinion, deserved to step away when they feel it's time. And hopefully that'll be a mutual understanding between them and their organizations. Because when their time is up at the three organizations they work for, they will be missed. You know, it may take a year or two or at some

But trust me, those are three Hall of Fame caliber, you know, football coaches you're talking about. Not only that, as far as who they are as coaches, they've built a championship program. Winning a Super Bowl is very difficult. And I've said this before on the show, and I believe it wholeheartedly. But sustained success in the NFL, in my opinion, is much harder. To be able to win week in and week out, year and year out, put your team in the playoffs, is extremely difficult because we've seen it time and time again

where a team gets hot and probably plays their best football the last five weeks of the season, but was so up and down and maybe just got into the playoffs. You look at our particular team in 2010. Now, we felt we were a Super Bowl contender when the season started.

We felt we arrived in 2009, but we had a tremendous amount of challenges with the injuries and kind of slugged it around. You know, Aaron missed two games, you know, with two concussions. I mean, we had injuries all over the place, and we were kind of just scrapping to stay in there and really fought to get in at the end. You know, it wasn't, we weren't playing really great football. Even the last game against the Bears, it was not our best outing, but, you know, we still

won the game to get into playoffs, and then, you know, we got going. And so we went on a four-game tear, and, you know, I think all the adversity that we went through give us confidence. So, you know, I think you got to be careful about that. But I understand the fans. I'm getting to watch it from this chair. I talked about this last week. I can't believe the volatility, the up and down, because, you know, you look at Pittsburgh seven days ago, you know, the way we were talking about them now there in first place. So, you know, I just think, and I think number eight will throw the ball very well come Sunday in the weather. But, you know, I just think you've got to be careful.

Watch what you wish for is, I guess, is my message here. But everybody wants more, coach. Everybody wants more. Hey, watch what you wish for. I mean, the Philly media is calling for, you know, is Jalen Hurts going to be the starter? To Coach Siriani. Getting asked that question actually right now.

He, in the press for yesterday. Hey, you get thinking about quarterback team? One more bad game. They just paid him, what, $700 billion? And he just won a Super Bowl last year. And, you know, things obviously aren't going great. and people were addressing Patulow immediately throughout the entire season. But now, Jalen, year after winning the Super Bowl as quarterback, like, hey, you thinking about?

Tanner Key looks good. You talk about the volatility. It's like, that's a good thing for the league to have that amount of passion. But it is in those buildings. And I appreciate you saying you didn't even realize it was like this. You have to be able to keep everybody going the same way. Because nowadays, more so than ever, all that shit can get in. It's in everybody's hand.

All that shit's in everybody's hand that is walking around there. Players, coaches, you name it. trainers, managers, they all see all of it. So once that starts getting in, I assume that is when it ends, right? That's the goal of a head coach and the modern, welcome to the modern world. That is like the modern world head coach there, right? The noise is very loud and maybe louder than it's ever been and more accessible for players, coaches, you name it in the building.

I think it's a great leading to why a head coach is messaging is so important. And I think, you know, working in Dallas was it was a tremendous experience on so many different fronts. But, you know, it really, you know, gave me a great view to the, frankly, working at the content capital of the world. I mean, content is generated, you know, at every turn because there's value in that. And I think when you look at some of these situations that we're talking about, you know, you got, you got content that's being created through dramatic questioning in a press conference. and it's, you know, sometimes, you know, the reality and the common sense is not even in the building. So I think you've got to have the ability to filter and have an understanding, you know, what content is really being generated for why it's the agenda, why it's being generated.

But the reality of it is, you know, now for something that you feels wrong with that championship program that's not getting you to the spot that, you know, that was getting you before, then you're having a different conversation. But I don't think that's the case in Kansas City, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh. So I think you've got to really, really, you know, take a close look at that. And I think, frankly, that's, you know, you look at the ownership in all three of those places. You're talking about great, great ownership. And, you know, I think those are internal conversations that, you know, common sense will prevail.

And then they'll make, you know, they'll make educated decisions. And I think all three of those coaches will be, you know, involved in that decision making. Coach, Penthouse to Outhouse, so quick. Yeah. Everything is what have you done for me lately. And for those coaches, you talk about Andy Reid, Tomlin, and Harbaugh, and you mentioned at the beginning. I think those coaches have earned their ability to be able to say when they want to leave.

Then we just saw what happened with Pete Carroll in Seattle a couple years ago, and then we see what happens immediately afterwards. We saw what happened in New England, whenever they make a change from Bill, then it makes a change that doesn't work out. They make another change, and they immediately have success. It's like you see those two, but we don't talk about, how about Tennessee kicking Vray ball, getting a new coach and they're going even like there's a lot of the other side too that happens

whenever you decide to move on the grass isn't necessarily always greener but all these fans want to say is it'd be nice to just see it though like see if it's greener you know see if it is maybe a little bit more potent if we could do it maybe a little bit more exciting maybe less we have a winning season and we won a super bowl again is what yinzers are saying Baltimore ravens are saying the same thing we shall see it all works out let's look at tonight's game okay tempe buccaneers can still very much go win a super bowl Bowl. They can win the NFC South. They can have a home playoff game. They're taking on.

Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons, fresh off an ass beating from the Seattle Seahawks. Bucks just lost to the Saints. It is now five and a half points the spread the bucks are favored at home on Thursday night on Prime. Coach McCarthy, you would be very, very good if you were to actually be picking

game for Thursday night. Nine and four. Nine and four is the record. We went through all your text messages. We want through everything. Nine and four is what you would be right now. How do you see tonight going, Coach? well i you know i'll say this you know uh i thought i made my pick this morning when it was four and a half but that's fine i'll participate no i think number one when you know when i look at this game um you know here we go again he's going to say yeah it's a division game i think you got to

always bring that into light especially division games uh at the end of the year and i think you know anytime you feel like the field's tilted one way or the other too high i think you've got to really look at counterintuition, and that's it, and I go back to the division games, how well these teams know each other. So I do think it's going to be a very good game. The first thing that I see, when I look at the matchup, I think it's going to be critical. The team that gets the ball to their running backs, I think will be probably the most successful on offense, regardless if they hand it to or throw it to them. I think you got two dynamic running back groups in this game. I think you got good matchups up front. You know, it looks like,

you know, it looks like Tampa's healthy. I really like the way the edge players are playing in Atlanta here down the stretch the last four or five weeks. You know, Leonard Floyd's back. You know, I think they got a really good rotation there. So I think you got some really good matchups. I think Atlanta's going to have to shorten the game some, you know, try to, you know, I don't think you want to get into a, you know, a big, a lot of series exchange with Tampa Bay. Because Tampa Bay, to me, is still the best team in the NFC South. I think their ability to, they're both running.

it and throw it is, you know, they've got a lot of balance throughout that team. You know, they got Bucky Irvin back. It's great to see him healthy, you know, dynamic young player. So, you know, I think the balance of Tampa Bay would prevail, you know, the defenses, you know, they both bring a lot to the table. I think schematically, Tampa has always been a challenge, you know, schematically, you know, especially if you don't play them very often, but it is a division game. So, you know, I looked at the weather. It's going to be a beautiful night down there, I think 58 degrees, four mile an hour. And, you know, I think with that, you know, ball distribution should be very high.

The vitals are always there, you know, who takes care of the football versus who takes it away, no question. But I think Atlanta can shorten the game, but it's serving well. But I do like Tampa Bay in this game with the points. Mike Evans is back, too. You know, so we'll see a show there. Baker Mayfield's going to go crazy on primetime per usual. And we can't thank you enough, coach, for joining us.

Tell Gus we said hello and the entire fam. you bet happy holidays i know we're just getting started so you guys have a great weekend happy always coach ladies gentlemen he's been pulling for calib for the whole time ben johnson brought him in there as a quarterback coach and then just kind of kept going he was amazing he likes the bucks down there in tampa bay beautiful weather tonight yeah i like that especially as we got snow all around we got to watch game down there in tampa uh mike evans is going to go ham. Mike, that's just what is going to have.

Primetime game. Mike Evans, what do you think? You think? No, no, I think he might. But also, this is the first time that Ibuka is not the number one wide receiver in a long time. Remember how he's going to go home?

He went when he was, yeah. Okay, so we're all seeing it the same way. We'll continue digitally on YouTube, ESPN Plus, Disney Plus. We got kicked off of TikTok, I guess. Again. The hell? I feel like we get attacked on there by people.

Been getting attacked a lot lately. I wonder why. What's that all about? Be a friend to up, friends. something nice when I change your life. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye. Hi there. Surprise. 30 for 30 presents Boo-ya.

Can I get a witness from the congregation? You can't stop authenticity. Boo-ya. Stewart was exactly like you saw him on camera, off-camera. He dialed it up 10%. Can you imagine the impact of young black boys and girls looking at that going, I feel seen. He changed the culture. He changed sports. stream booyah presented by madello right now on the ESPN app

the NBA is happening Christmas day five games one unforgettable lineup that's what Christmas is all about buckets for breakfast breakaways for dessert it's the holiday tradition Christmas all day with star power from across the globe the stars they are going to be out the best gift you don't even have to unwrap it

We want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! NBA Christmas Day begins at noon Eastern on ABC and ESPN. Yeah, what is that old Bob? I meant I wonder. I had poor timing on my, I wonder why. I know why the TikTok, that's why I said that. Oh, yeah. We're being too patriotic.

Okay, I don't know if that's... I don't know if that's what it is. I think this time they said we were stealing content. somebody's from who you know who maybe the singing that'd be crazy I'm singing that would be crazy I mean that would be great

that's exactly riding or the MMA fighting yeah fighting could have been 100% of our fault yeah it could be the guy it's the singing Queen was pissed

no said yeah right that sounds too much like what it's supposed to sound like Fred Mercury back I see a little silhouette of a mind We're going to get band. We're going to band.

You're right. He's getting banned. AJ, that's why AJ didn't sing. Yeah, he's a beautiful voice. You're right. That's what he said. He's trying to look out for the business, for this business,

for the program. Speaking of this business, we will have John Sina, live in studio tomorrow. What? John Sanna? No, John Sina. Oh, excuse me, sorry.

John Sina will be in the Thunderdome tomorrow, and Saturday night he will have his last ever WWE match on Saturday night main event on Peacock and NBC against Goonta they got a stacked card it's going to be a spectacular night

and his last conversation I do believe before a big fight we'll go into we'll be with us as he sits right here I don't know if that chair is going to be big enough for how Jack John Cid is I need to wear my glasses yeah any surprises you think I think any of any like run-ins or anything anything crazy I would assume now

could just be a match, you know, could just want to go out. Old school, let's just do a match, let's not do this. But they've been, the last time is now, has kind of been the entire year here. And this would be the last time ever for a guy that a lot of people in the business call the goat for good reason, 20 plus years on top, carried business to a completely different level and into a whole thing. And was there every single night, like love the business. So I would assume that they're going to try to make this a spectacle, but John Sina is very much like, I don't want, I would rather it just be

wrestling show because he's super wrestling guy like he is. This is how wrestling's supposed to go. This is how it's supposed to be. This is what is supposed to be. And I think he does have some say in that whole thing. So I assume that there will be quite a who's who on Saturday night for John Cena's last match

ever, especially with how many years and how many different generations he worked with and all that stuff. So yeah, I think it's probably going to be a Royal Rumble. Yeah, turn it into Royal Rumble. Someone, oh, the new music hits, John knocks that dude out. Someone else comes up, knock you out, throw you into the crowd. A, A.A. Undertaker comes out.

A.A. Yeah, I mean. The Rock comes out. A.A. Just everybody, even, I mean. Batista. Batista comes out. Boom. Kurt Angle comes out. Boom. I mean, it would be sweet if he gave 47 attitude adjustments.

And then one, two, three. I'm getting out of here. The Batista entrance would be worth it. Jesse, the body on the call as well. Well, it doesn't get any bigger. Do we know if that's real or not? Because didn't we just see a report that he was no longer? I would like to say as somebody that got to work alongside Jesse the Body at Saturday night main event a few different times.

What an honor it was to be talking to the body, the governor, and learning about him off air. And some of the stories were, I mean, you get caught in one of those combos. You have no idea where it's going. I mean, I don't think I knew exactly what I was signing up for. Holy hell, Mr. Body, Mr. Governor. Very nice to meet you. I'm Pat.

Oh, I know who you are. And then all of a sudden it's like, holy shit. know who you are too you ever think about and then we're right into it and uh it's hard to get out of it because it is something that you've never heard before so it was an honor to get to meet him and work alongside of him i have no idea what the future looks about if he is on the call great for saturday night main event that's throwback to the past if he's not on the call which is possible uh i know that michael cole will be yeah this is michael col's you know there was this dude right to his goat yeah there were road dogs together for a while there

you know. So like, and Michael Cole also road dog. I mean, that guy's been on the road for 27 years, basically the entirety of John Cena. John Cena rose to the top of the Buznish as a whole, as Michael Cole was raising to the top of his particular world within the profession. So I expect a goat performance by Michael Cole on Saturday night, and I expect John Sina in the sendoff to be special. And Gunter, he's the right guy for it. I know a lot of people were saying there's a lot of different names for it. I mean, there's a lot of different people for it. Gunther, I don't think I've ever seen him not do his shit, right? He's

always been, you know, exactly what you're getting from Goethe. Ring Hanar-O. Exactly. He's a great athlete, too. Like, can do everything. Move. He goes off the top. He's gigantic. Obviously, he's punishing, but he can move. You know, he can move for a big guy. And I don't think there's ever been like, oh, that was a bad match from Goethehr. Oh,

that was, he did bad today. It's like, Gunther always does his shit. Now, I was hoping I was going to catch him on an off night, you know, because maybe he didn't have respect from here. Sure. But that wasn't the case. I guess he took me pretty seriously. He knew. He's seen the tape.

I'll have a countdown too. Well, that's still all. That might have been what our countdown. Sure. It makes sense. It probably would be actually. Yeah. The Rivers returns in being the wrong time is perfect. That is perfect. You know, I spent so much time

trying to get it to look right and function. I just forgot to actually check the time. You see, the countdown of the countdown was the last thing, because it did look cool. Yes. The placement was spectacular. I mean, this is a perfect spot.

Just a boom, look at my little ball right here. You see this clock right here, this clock is counting down to a changing of an era, a changing of a dynasty, a passing of a torch from the Kansas Chiefs to the Indianapolis Colts. I was right, I was under center. He's not going to be under center. No, no.

He's going to be right back here. He's going to have to get on the center. If you know, yeah, if it gets under center, aren't they, aren't they half? No, he's not. When's he taking it under center? When's he have to do it? I mean, it's the goal line? Phil Rivers.

Tush push. Tush, push on the goal line. Tyler Warren's down there. What if he said now? I'm sorry, does Phil, Philers respect football? He's going to get under center. So, Aaron Rogers? Under center.

Wayne? All the time. No, Phil Rivers. A little different story than Aaron Rogers. They're doing a tush push with J.T. and Tyler Warren, but instead of pushing him, they're just bending them down and then actually walking him back for his drop back. What do you mean? Like for every drop back? Yeah, well, only when he goes under center, just

just to help him bend and help him move. Oh, so they're all going to, like that thing where all the bodies are connected. Big go. You're saying it's going to be like that? Yeah. They're going to pick up his leg. Yeah, here you go. Tie him together. So when I pick up this right leg, the left leg picks him. Yes. Tyler Warren and J.T. are going to help him. I want to let you know yesterday. Maybe I was a little bit turning towards

a negative about it because a lot of people are pointing out a lot of things. Here we sit, 74 hours, 19 minutes and 54 seconds away from the debut, I'm all in. After seeing him throw the ball, after hearing him talk, after listening to Josh Downs on Don's to Business podcast, say, hey, he could spin it, the guy can still spin it, and he knows everything, I'm all the way back in. And not that I was ever all the way out,

but there was certainly some points that were being made that were hard to counter by others people that were saying it wasn't going to go good. I'm all the way back. I didn't like people putting a miles per hour on a couple of the three. Okay, I don't think those are accurate. That's fake, yep. And I don't know, well, there was one particular account that is,

they are some menaces. See, that's underdog. An underdog will do this to you. Underdog will dance on social media. What's normal then? Is 18 miles an hour normal? Because obviously I've seen people throw things 100 miles an hour. So it's a little tough to just see 18 miles an hour

when I've seen balls go 105 miles an hour out of the hand. Not that that's what we need on that particular pass. And Phil Rivers doesn't care about speedies, cares about where it is and who's. getting the ball and then what's the placement of that thing and all this shit right here okay that's what Phil Rivers doing oh Tyler Warren Bill Rivers says

would you like a fucking gift here's one bang Josh Downs I can't wait till Phil's first like angry time out when the play clock is running down or delay a game that they get Chin show we're gonna

I'm excited for him at the end when he has to do the kneel down from shotgun like it's college yep yep and he's gonna be trying to talk shit to people on the other side of line. They're going to be like, we can't hear you. You're 18 feet away, dude. If I could get under center,

I'd say this to your face, but I can't. They hands it off to somebody, they kneel it. I hope so. He looked like he can move, though. He did look at you. It is a crazy story, though.

Like, when calling Kaepernick was like, I want to get back in football, I want to get back in the football. We're like, cool, cool, cool, good luck, good luck, good luck, good luck, good luck, but then it was like six years,

and he was like, I want to get back in football. my first take was like, brother, I'm a punter and I've been out of the game for like two years. I don't even know what my body would do. If I had to get back into peak, that's not just UXFSS at all. Yeah, exactly. This is the NFL, you know, like especially at the quarterback position, it's like five years away from the elite level of something.

You would assume that there's going to be some creeks and cracks and some rust that's going to happen. But you hear Phil Rivers talk, shoot, I've been calling this offense all year. I actually know this thing better than Shane. Do you know? We made it to the state finals. Is this team going to a Super Bowl without me coming here? That's what I thought. So maybe I'm actually better at this offense than he is. He seems very confident, very, very comfortable, obviously the same exact person mentally.

And they talked about his family and his press conference. His younger kids, obviously, haven't really seen them. They've only seen the videos in highlight packages and say, what's the deal? So I think he's driven to have success because he's got an entire five kids, four kids, that really never seen him ever do it. And let alone the grandbaby that they're going to get a pick. picture on it's like I think he's driven to be good I think he feels very good and I don't think they're doing this for any other reason then hey why not we are in this we need to go do

this and it's like this guy knows our offense completely did you hear cam got upset I didn't expect that cam said he thought it was a I didn't hear the quote I only saw the headline and I massive respect for Cam Newton and go back and check on the record I am a cam Newton love his moxie love his size love what he did in the NFL he's a lot to talk about football however the fuck he wants to talk about football it's his league it's his sport he's one of them so like that is what he can do but he said he was upset that the Colts didn't call him and it's like

week 15 I think they were just I didn't even think of Cam now granted I thought of Cam before because he knows the playbook just because his relationship was stiking that's why they didn't call Cam like if Cam was in that system then they probably would yeah because we don't have time for you to learn here week 15 this is we don't have any time

it's whoever knows our shit because if we go back to elementary level offense against Seattle we got no shot i mean you know like so if you change the entire offense to fit one guy you got no shot because nobody else knows what the hell they're doing yeah so i think the decision was strictly a who knows our shit and then who can execute it conversation first that's why sam ellinger got to work out a couple of the other people got to work out we don't have a lot of time we're still trying to make a run at this thing very much we've invested a lot of money and a lot of

pieces in this roster we are still going to try to go and then they just it all goes down and then there's a 44 year old down in Alabama's catching high school think he can still do it and then they look online and there's some TikTok of Phil Rivers thrown to his kid yep fucking saw him and that's what we got we got a potential fairy tale Disney movie happening and starting this weekend in 74 hours 15 minutes and 13 seconds can't wait so bum gave it what's that called what was that movie the baseball movie where the

oh the rookie is that Randy Quaid that's Dennis Quaid but you know Dennis Quake. Didn't he come back as like a 60-year-old pitcher and making the majors or something? Yeah, but remember the goddamn spedometer on the street. Yeah, it said 64.

And he threw it past it and he walked past it and blinks. 94. That's 96. So whatever it was. He missed that, so he was potentially going to miss out on his dream. That's Phil Rivers in the backyard.

Hopefully. 14 points is way too many. It's biggest spread of the weekend. I don't love that. Jeez. Old Colter to win. I think the office is going to be better. Do you?

Yes. I'm dead serious. Yeah, we put a Colts JMU moneyline parlay and feel so good about it. Yep. I will buy a Phillip Rivers jersey if the Colts win. Yes. You're invested. Why?

Because, boy, if the Packers want to get that number one seat, I'm just kind of looking ahead here. If the Colts could somehow beat the Seahawks and the Seahawks could beat the Rams, that put the Packers in a pretty good position to go hunting for that number one seat. So I don't just want the Colts to win this weekend. Nay, I need the Colts. to win this weekend. So you're on Old Man Rivers. Big time. Hell yeah. And Ton,

what were you saying? I didn't like the way you said it earlier, but I do appreciate that you're almost kind of positive about the situation. I was just, I am very positive about the situation. I was just saying that who's a semi-finalist for the Hall of Fame this year? Philip Rivers. Philip Rivers. So like, one of the best quarterbacks of all time, correct?

Absolutely. We've seen it. He could still sling it. He knows the offense. Danny Dimes, we love him. He was great this season. But he was never Philip Rivers. So there's a chance the offense is better. Danny Dimes, we appreciate you. We appreciate you. But when we signed Danny Dimes, to your point,

he was never going to be a semifinalist for a whole fame. Now, he's currently in the middle of his prime, and has been playing football. And, you know, we've seen him in the last five years. We've also seen what Phil's done off the field. We know his body still works. Who says Phil doesn't get a three-year deal? There's a chance.

honestly, maybe catches up with Blanda. Now, if we do lose this weekend, and I don't know if Cadell is taking this into consideration, I didn't know they had their Zoom winter meetings. I proposed a clause to him yesterday. I wrote a formal letter. You see it, dear at the top, and then I even sign off

with a comma, okay, with a space. This is a formal letter, I think, if you were to look at it. I'd like to propose a week 15 clause for any team that has a grandfather playing quarterback that hasn't played football in five years. That states a loss will not be held against the team's overall record when determining the

playoff picture or division titlehood. I think that's fair. Yeah, I don't think it will win to count either for the Seahawks. Well, so on that note, due to how special of a moment it is in the history of humanity, the game's outcome should count as a win for that particular team regardless of the final

scores. So I think that would kind of and this is, once again, thank you for consideration. This is from an NFL fan who just wants the best for the game no matter who would benefit from it immediately. I don't see anyone who would have any problem with that. Yeah, people were saying A lot of people are saying, like, I'm saying that because that's the situation we have, and it will never happen again.

So there's no reason. But in my eyes, like, who knows there's going to be in this position going forward? With the way the game is and what the way science is and technology and, you know, the ability to have kids, I guess, for kids to have kids, people have been doing that forever. So I'm just saying we should maybe put this in ahead of time because we don't want these grandfathers, these fairy tale stories to always come back as a negative one. For the good of the game, for the good of the league, AJ, we'd like that to be a win regardless of the score, right, AJ?

Of course, I'm sure commissioner will change the rules instantly, but then are you going to propose another clause next week, I would assume? No, this is just for week 15. Yeah, just this week. Just this week, okay. I mean, that's what they win. It doesn't count either. If they win, it's just nothing.

No, no, definitely a win. I'm just saying the loss should be counted as. We're always winning. That is basically what I'm saying. We're playing a grandfather who has not played in five years. That's good for the league for people to think, I could play in the NFL. That's it.

Oh, my God. It's a dream all of a sudden. I want to be like Phil Rivers. Like the league needs that. We need more good stores. We need more of that type of stuff happening. So if he comes back and just and we lose, like, that's not good for all. Doesn't count.

So I just think the commission, think about this being like an exhibition almost and give us the win. Now on that note, fully confident. Fully confident. Of course. That we're going to be out just for other teams. I just wanted to pitch that for other teams, AJ, not for us this week. Let me go look at what Lou Ann Arumo's done to Sam Donald. I have not. Is that something we need to look into?

I don't know. Maybe. Let's go look. Let's do a little homework for son. Speaking of homework, women's college basketball has become something that is on our radar. Oh, boy. Because Audie is unstoppable. She goes for another 30-point game in the SciHawk game, which is obviously Iowa versus Iowa State. Iowa State has been beating Iowa in most things as of late.

In Audi, I don't think she's losing to anybody. let alone Iowa, where she herself said after the game that while she was shooting a free throw in this run, she got emotional because her dad, who passed away from Iowa, would have loved the fact that she was playing in this game. Ty, I know you're in Iowa Hawkeye. Audie is special. Absolutely unguardable, unstoppable, and seems like she's a joy. She seems to be very, very pleasant for her team. Yeah, she's an absolute dog. And while, yes, I did go to Iowa and I'm an Iowa fan, she's still homegrown. She's from the state. So I love any time an Iowa and puts on whether that is for Iowa, Iowa State. And that, I mean, that's no

bullshit. You know, not only is she unbelievable. Hilton Magic is the real deal. You play at Hilton for basketball, Iowa State. The men play tonight, Iowa, Iowa State. And the men, so not only are the women unbelievable and have a legit chance to maybe win a national championship this year, Iowa State men's team is also one of the best teams in the nation, and that arena is a special, special place and very difficult to play. She has a shack vibe. She does. Just like dominant, you know, just absolutely dominating of a game.

And obviously, people take shots at her. She's a superstar that looks different than everybody else that plays in it. I would like to let her know, I fucking love the way she sits in the paint and just goes for it and continues the ball and has a positive attitude through it all and dominates. I think she's special. I appreciate her contributions to sports and sports media world for us to talk about. anytime we can dive into another sport or another league, it's a good thing.

She has captivated us and certainly captivated me and she knows we exist, which is good. She sent us an autograph jersey. We love Audi. You like women's hoops more than people would ever really realize, I think. Yeah, absolutely. And that was the other thing from watching the game.

Audie does get a lot of the headlines because she has all these historic numbers with another girl on the team Adi. It's kind of Audi and Adi. They're the front court, if you will. She's unbelievable and just like the sport as a whole is growing so much. much. Getting to go

to season tickets for the fever with Caitlin Clark was really cool but then just learning about everybody else who's in the game like Juju Watkins for USC she's out for the entire year but USC has another girl that's going bananas this season like it is cool just the more sport

and the bigger everything gets the better it is for you know everybody downtown indie is legitimately changing before our eyes because of the fever like they are changing the landscape of the city to add on for the fever practice facility, for a lot of other things that just benefits everybody in the city. And it does feel as though that effect will carry over to some of the

other places that these women's teams are. Yeah, Audie might be doing the same damn thing wherever she has to. She has 276 points and 245 minutes this season. She's on pace to be the second D1 men's or women's NBA or WMBA player this century to average at least one point per minute in a single campaign joining the 76ers joel m bade now that's a problem for everybody else not for us congrats aughty keep going keep going aughty and addy yeah over there in iowa state no no i mean hawks lost by five at hilton so let's not you know sound the alarms and act like you know the sky's falling what happened in football is their first loss of the season uh well you know i've actually been waiting to kind of

to say this. But, you know, if you've been on my Twitter, basically anything that comes out about Matt Campbell, I've kind of just been, and I do actually believe it, but this guy's a class act. This guy's all class. Is that a lot of Matt Campbell. Yeah, there have been. And, you know, I just, it's just hilarious, absolutely hilarious that this whole Penn State thing's happening. And we're wondering, what is going to go? And then out of nowhere, Iowa State's program just gets gutted because of it. I mean, it just, you know, it couldn't have worked out better. I do love Matt Campbell. He's a terrible person.

I'm not. Yeah. I'm not. The other day, I was like, I think it was yesterday or two days ago to Ty. I'm like, Matt Campbell, what a great hire for Penn's. Like, actually, what a great hire for Penn State. And Ty goes, yeah. And who would have thought in this whole Penn State thing? Iowa State's program would be the only one that would really end up suffering totally from it.

Yeah. That was Ty's like first reaction whenever I talked about it. And then you think about it, it's like, during the Matt Campbell, Iowa State run, like, real program. They were legit. This is not just me being an Iowa grad. They were one of the worst Division I college football teams for a long time, like really fucking bad. And then he got there and completely changed everything.

Went to two Big 12 championship games. They went to a BCS bowl. He is an unbelievable coach. So I think that is also why even Iowa State fans understood that like this guy got an opportunity. He said in his opening press conference, I think, like, his grandparents were massive Penn State fans. I think he has family that went to Penn State. Like, he has a lineage connected to that.

And, like, he really didn't owe Iowa State anything. He gave them the best 11 years in their program's history. And he kind of, like, he deserved the opportunity to go somewhere bigger who has a bigger budget and all that kind of stuff. And I'm excited to see what he does at Penn State. Perfect hire. Yes. Like, actually a perfect. I think, even if they would have hired him, which nobody thought was Boston.

nobody thought he was ever going to leave because to tie's point in his first tweet there guys god in ames but if they would have hired them week five after they or week six whenever they was after they fired james franklin i think everybody had been like that's a good hire that's a really good hire so for them to go through the entire song and dance and then end up with matt campbell it's like they ended up somehow going through it all and ended up in like the perfect spot and for matt campbell he's got an athletic director that took a big swing got buried publicly by a lot of people who now would like to see you have

the most amount of success so they are going to line that whole thing up to go on a run and we all believe Matt Campbell can win the big one right? Yeah, I mean he has done more with less and I don't think there's any arguing that like and yeah I mean there's a chance we'll see which yeah I believe

Rocco Beck does have another year of eligibility I'm pretty sure he's a redshirt junior so that is obviously the but like look at Iowa State's recruiting class this year they're unbelievable. I think they had the 50th ranked recruit. That is what they do.

They go get two-star guys from Nebraska and like the surrounding parts of Iowa and he develops them and turns them into NFL guys. Like that's what he does. He's a junior. Yeah, he has Rocco Beck to another year. There you go. So if Matt Campbell is a, he's 22 years old,

so not really, wow, we've been seeing him a long time. We've been seeing Rocco. He started as a freshman. His dad, Anthony backed West Virginia legend. He's in a West Virginia. Hall of Fame. He was played for the Jets. He was a coach in the XFL. Anthony Beckett is a stud. Paison, absolute legend. Rocco has been great for Iowa State.

And the fact that he has another year. Now, I'm not saying he's going to leave the cyclones, okay, even though. But probable. He's not going to, he's leaving the cyclone. Don't sleep on Jimmy Rogers. He might keep him where. But forget all that. Matt Campbell thinking to himself, like, what I could do at Penn State, think about Rocco Beck to Penn State. Like, he's going to have four stars, right? Playing wide receiver, we would assume.

Five stars. Be a little better. receiver running backs they'll be able to get to it's like Rocco Beck is the one who's ready for the moment now it's only one year you know this would be only a one year run but it's like rocko would be a great quarterback in the big 10 like that so when you talk about Penn state going through shit and ended up in sugar it's like not only do seemingly potentially because they have the funds and the connection with the guy to be able to get a top five quarterback in the country but now you got a coach that is a dog and it's like is Penn State back especially with

what's going on in Michigan right now AJ so you know it's, uh, Penn State, they're, it's looking like they, they have all the pieces in place, yes, to be back and to, to, to make it happen. But yeah, it's up to, it's up to the new coach. Like, can he come in and instill what he did at Iowa State? You would think so.

Two weeks ago, Penn State sucks. Laughing stock. This place, what a joke. Embarrassing. Yeah, embarrassing. Everything like that. You are now mid-tier, Big Ten, maybe even bottom of Big Ten, because you're losing all your recruits. Your players are posting. You didn't know what you had to

gone with the last head coach, that player potentially a part of the whole thing, but nonetheless, the thought of where Penn State was three weeks ago versus where it is now, it's like, college football is insane on that note. Ohio State, Buckeye legend, you. You saw what was happening yesterday on the internet, crazy night on the internet. I mean, it was, that was one of the wildest evenings. Keeps going, just keeps going, Yeah, it was, well, I assume in your Algo, because you're in Ohio, I assume X says this guy's in Ohio, we need to feed them everything that's happening up there in Michigan. But last night was insanity. The 4U tab on X. Every scroll was either some new AI photo, maybe a police report,

maybe a new reporter, maybe a journalist who might know something. I actually am a journalist, but I don't report on football. I actually report on this thing, but I have this source that says this, that has 700,000 views right now. Is that real? Is that not real? It was chaotic last night because it's a crazy story where, you know, he gets fired, Shroom Moore gets fired for cause from the University of Michigan as their football coach because of an affair with a staffer. Okay, so he's in a position of power. He abused that and obviously you can't do that. That's part of the contract. Four cause. You're gone. Then we hear he's been arrested. It's like, no way he's been he's been arrested for this? It has to be much more than just having an affair with a staffer

for him to be arrested. Then like craziness starts coming out. Accusations of why he got arrested starts coming out. And then Pete Thammel told us this morning off the police report. It was an alleged assault. He was being held, but he wasn't officially charged with anything. They were waiting to potentially file any charges to investigate to see what it was. Now we know that tomorrow there will be an arraignment where we will know more information. So, Sharon Moore will remain in custody until then. So that's kind of where we're at right now, AJ. As an Ohio State Buckeye fan, obviously this was your feed all night because Ohio State, Michigan is what it is.

But this is a wild thing to happen at this stage of the college football season. We talked about Penn State hiring late. Now Michigan's in the game late. Signing Day already happened. They all can bounce. Bryce Underwood has eliminated everything Michigan-wise from his social media. it's like, this could be a disaster. It is, obviously, and not great.

But you're talking about for the future of the program, we're talking about devastation potentially here, AJ Locke. Yeah, that's why I think Michigan's going to have to, they're going to have to act quickly and find a way to bring a big name in or make a big splash higher to try to shore up some of those recruits and figure out what you're going to do because, yeah, like, just think a couple of days ago for Sharon Moore compared to now. Like, you look around like, geez, what has happened in such a short span,

especially if this guy's in jail and all the alleged situations that happened. Like, I wonder how heavy it weighed on his mind knowing, like, what's the end game to this? Like, if you knew all this stuff's going on, did he think he could find a way? You've got to win a lot of games if you want to figure stuff like this out.

Yeah, and you're right. I mean, you talk about conscious all the time. You know, there's, I always wonder that with some folks. I'm like, how are you able to perform with all that going on? Because it's such a hard thing to be able to balance everything. Pete Damel told us earlier that there was an investigation from an anonymous tip into this particular relationship that Sharon Moore was a part of the Michigan,

the University of Michigan did an investigation. It came back saying that everything was above board and good, and then within the last couple of days, they learned more information and everything kind of led, bum, bum, bum, bum, boom, boom quickly. So I wonder if after said first investigation, you're like, all right, we're good. Everybody said everything's good,

and then you move forward, and then all of a sudden, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, everything kind of... That's crazy. Sorry to everybody that is a victim in this situation, which there are a lot, because this is a lot, is not fun, but in the sports world, this is a very relevant conversation. Like a very, very, this is one of the most

prominent schools in college football. One of the biggest businesses on earth all of a sudden has a major dynamic shift because of off-field issues that are obviously very serious. And like the victims, of course, very sorry, but there are a lot of people who aren't technically

victims in this situation that are effective or that are affected rather. Like the number one running back in a country, and again, this is two separate things, like a serious situation in a sport, a game, but futures in a game matter a lot. Savion hitter is the number one

running back in the entire country and he committed to Michigan a week ago. We had Chris Henry Jr. on the program last week and he committed to Ohio State. That is a massive moment in these kids' lives and that is now effective. Now obviously, you know, with that rule of Thammel mentioned when a new coach is hired

to get five days after where you can transfer, but does that even does that account for incoming freshmen that aren't technically I think so okay okay good but like that that's just kind of the weight of everything like massive massive decisions in these high school kids lives

incoming freshman can hit the transfer portal well and also that like Pete said how like the staff was just blindsided like none of these guys knew so like you have a bunch of like coaches yeah why was everybody acting like everybody knew that was kind of like the overall last night everybody was like everybody

knows this everybody knew this was happening it was like I was just there I nobody told me, and I feel like I pepper Pete a lot on like, hey, Pete, what, even, not just on our show, but like, you, I've never been around a human like Pete Dammel before, okay, me. That's a flaw, I guess. This is one of the biggest robot nerds, but who also loves ball, humans that I've ever been around. I've, I've never had the opportunity to be around this human on a regular basis. It has been fun for me to learn about said types of humans, you know, and how they respond, pressure, adversity, response, work ethic, all that shit. It's been

fun to learn about the authority Pete Thamel, but I feel like I'd pepper him a lot with information that I already know from the source that he's trying to get so I can hear what he knows so that I'm going to know what I'm allowed to say, or shit that I think is pretty prevalent to a conversation. It didn't, we were just up there. I mean, we're literally just up there. There was, so. So you got all those guys who, a bunch of those guys are going to lose their jobs, a bunch of support staff people are going to lose their jobs because you're bringing in, you know, if they get someone like Kalin DeBore or whoever, like he's bringing in all his guys, all his assistants, all his people that he worked with.

So you have a bunch of people who, it probably expected, like, oh, you know, I'll be at Michigan here for the next three to five years, and then we'll see just getting the rug completely pulled out from under them. And now it's scrambling for them, too. Like, what am I going to do next if you have a family? Like, how, at this point in the season, am I going to be able to go find another job for next year? Like, what do I do now? And like, Kalin DeBore's the perfect tire. Like, let's talk about the other aspect of it where nobody wants to go to Michigan right now and what happens if the guy that comes in or if they hire from within and everything just goes to shit like okay let alone did the current place you're at go to shit but now i'm

the coach on a team that's terrible like what are my opportunities going forward after all of this happens like the fallout is just insane taylin deboror answered at the SEC championship about the Penn state interest that was alleged he said i never talked they never talked i love being here i love part of the grind said no and there was a lot of people at alabama like why didn't he address the Penn State? Why didn't he address the Penn State? I think from reading the tweets from the video from a couple weeks back. And then he finally, he was like, thank you for asking me about that.

I would like to say this, this is how I feel. His name being in the Penn State thing was interesting, though. Very much so. It was like Kalen Abor. Not supposed to be in the South? Is that what people were saying? Just like the Brian Kelly thing? Like Brian Kelly wasn't supposed to be in the South?

Are they saying about Kalin? He's got Alabama in the fucking playoff. Yeah. I don't, I don't. But maybe Kalin is like, I'm going to get back. Who did it higher? Yeah, weren't they the, first team ever to beat five ranked teams

in five straight weeks? Yeah, I don't fucking it feels like he has his guys in there now, and he's been accepted into the Alabama community. Yeah, I feel like... Michigan is one of those jobs, though. Yes. True. Alabama is, though, too. It definitely is, but I've always thought with him, too, is like, if you're a competitor, that's

one, but like, he's never going to do what Sabin's done. Like, he's living in Sabin's shadow. Or better. Yeah, exactly. No matter what for the entire time he's there. If he wins five national titles, he still isn't living up to save and now granted he'll be a legend in his own right but like it just at a certain point is it like hey no matter what I do it's never going to be enough and Michigan is a as blue of a

blood of a program as there is in the country and they got 117000 I mean everything that you possibly need but his name was up with the Penn State conversation and he said there was no links and obviously the coaches are not supposed to be linked that's what you have agents for to do it so that means Penn State probably was making a run at him just making an offer just a feeler I assume all those coaches that got feelers from Penn State's at places are going to get feelers from Michigan as well outside of Signetti rule He might get a feel or two.

Rule? But I mean, during the playoffs, Michigan's got to hire somebody somewhat soon, don't you think? Yeah, what if it's Biff? They have to, they, you would hope. Whoa, whoa. What? You said, maybe. No, their first sound was, oh, like an excited.

It almost sounded like you were kind of as an Ohio State guy. But the portal opens on the second. So, like, you would hope they would want someone by the second, which is a couple weeks away. Also, you need to put the fire out right now. Yes. Yeah, and the thing Ty brought up to Thamel, like, okay, let's say they hire someone in a week. And then next week, all their guys, I will fuck that. I'm transferring.

And then they only have 30 guys for the bowl game. Six and a half right now. Six and a half, Texas is favored by. Arch all of them are playing down there in Texas. Except for probably the guys that are going the NFL. Yeah, but they got. change right young team it was four and a half moved to six and a half it was my first question to tone i'm like what's the immediate this morning hey what's the line for this their bowl game or

whatever they're playing texas right yeah that's got to be like 20 uh six and a half like what excuse me what are you never playing right yeah seven no move to seven i think a lot of people are probably seeing what we're saying this one might get taken off the board yeah this one might get taken off the board what happens if i get in your early just sending money back if it gets taken off the word. I believe so, yeah. I mean, each book is different, and you have to read all the fine print if you really want to know. Bruce just shook his head, no. What do you think, Bruce? I think if you get in at six and a half, even if they pull the line temporarily, you're in there.

No, no, he means pull the game completely and never put it back up. No, they will. Void. What, do they just pull the game, though? Haven't they done that before? They've just pulled games? Yeah, but they would, if the game goes on, like if Michigan does play Texas, they will put the line back up. It'll just be at 20 or what you know what you mean?

Okay. So I'd still be able to. keep six and a half i don't know that's i i think so and then your cash out before the game even starts just goes like to the moon six and a half feels crazy seven i guess is what it is now still that just feels crazy to me i i especially with how hard it is to win a football game you know with everything going on this is so much worse on penn state like you mentioned the last 14 days before max gamble transfer thing is two days after that The transfer portal was two days after that.

So the amount of money conversations that are happening right now with all of them, I'm sure they're training for this cheese a bowl. Yeah. Hard. What are you saying to future recruits? Like, what are you saying to them? How do you make them feel? You've got to get to stop the bleeding.

Like, you're telling, I don't know, just because it is NIO and it's all different. But like, it is very hard to imagine that the number one running back in the country who's going into his freshman year next year at Michigan. Hasn't heard from some of. other school that was recruiting him. Matt Campbell, perhaps, a Penn State who is maybe a more desperate team right now, especially

in recruiting, and that's all their thing, I don't know, it's just, it's insane. I mean, you'd imagine that at this point, they're praying to God that Alabama gets kind of embarrassed in the first round by Oklahoma, and then they can just put the full court press on DeBore. And then you can get hopefully DeBore's

recruits. Exactly. From the... Not to mention a couple of guys who maybe will transfer from Alabama to Michigan, you know. Alabama would be in a terrible spot then. Big time. Then Sabin's in the building still? I saw you, were you the one to tweeted that tone last night about Kailen DeBore, maybe getting plucked to Michigan, and then who's in the

building? Who's the interim coach? Oh, look who's winning an eighth national championship potentially. Coach Saban. Yeah, people weren't a lot of people weren't happy about that. Why? They didn't love that AI'd Nick Saban. Oh. That was AI? Yeah, I didn't know that. I thought he took that to all. I thought that was just Santa Claus. Looks pretty sweet.

Doesn't he? He's still I got to watch one of those games of them. Vandy, I think. I got to watch Vandy play against him, Alabama. Maybe tennis, oh, Vandy? Wow, this season really all kind of goes together. I think it was Vandy. He's still every play.

I mean, they scored a touchdown. He stood up, fixed his hands, didn't even know where to look. Did one of these, and then he just turned back around. The whole stadium's looking at him. Then he sat back down. He was like, oh, this guy. Didn't even say anything. I'm standing right behind him.

Gumpy, I think you were right next to me, right? me and Gumpie are standing there's a he's like there's three rows of seats and then there's one of those bars we're standing at bar he's second row miss terry's first seat on the outside that was kind of a rotating seat come sit talk to coach saving the entire thing but it is miss terry's seat then it was coach saving and then somebody and we're kind of standing back here because you know it was pretty good there's a good set they had a great setup for us i will say the sabins always deliver every single time which is why he's a goat she's a goat they are goats you get it but every single play he was living and dying with having a conversation with him

yeah right he's fucking coach what do you think about that huh yeah yeah i don't like it yeah i think so that fucker doesn't have the headset on but he might as well i mean he is still he's in the building every single day and whenever he says he'll slip up everyone so on and say we got to be able to yeah alabama's got to be able to it's like he's still very much and i think that's a cool thing that he has done for debor That's awesome. By the way, he's done a lot of that for DeBoer, like, hey, I will support the hell out of you. I'm not going to try to make your job as hard as it already is.

So if DeBoer was to leave, and it was a Langkiff and Ole Miss situation, it does feel like there is a guy that just said, all right? He's in there. I don't see why you would, though. DeBoer? Yeah, why would you? DeBoar's already put his culture in, and they like him, I think, no, at this point. Now, granted, he loses the Oklahoma by shit. I thought it would get loud all off season, but it's like he had to work his ass off.

to get to this point where he's, like, kind of in there. Like, welcomed, yeah, like in Alabama. Yeah, like, going up to Michigan, you're just, I don't know. Yeah, got to do it again. Yeah, got to do it again in a much shorter, quicker time. They don't have a president, right, in their AD, they don't know what the situation is. Like, they don't know anything going on. That's why maybe you have to just go the NFL route because, like, Pete said, like, you know,

Elijah Drinkfitts, it's like, listen, nothing against that guy. Like, he will get fucking chewed up. and spit out at Michigan, especially with all the stuff that's happening. They're very need-a-Michigan man. If you get a guy, I mean, we saw the rich route. If you get a, they hire a guy who's not a Michigan man and he doesn't do well, fuck this guy, get him out of here.

So maybe it is like, hey, what's John Gruden doing right now? Or what's Brian Dave? So Portnoy, obviously, a very important alumni there in Michigan. I think he's given everything. He's obviously employed Gruden. So he's a great relationship with Gruden. We've been told numerous times by John Gruden, not only to us, but also to

the public, like, I'm preparing a coach, man. That's literally what I do all day, every day. And any time I hear him speak, I think to myself as a high schooler, college kid, or now, and it's like, I'd run with that guy right there. And he's certified. And he's certified. The fucking guy is actually certified.

So that's why I didn't fully understand why a lot of teams weren't, like, press him for Gruden? Like, why isn't Florida pressing for Gruden? Yeah. Why isn't, I was confused by, but hey, they got it right. The guy's got two hats on now. You know, he took Tulane. Yeah, that's right. But John Gruden's still making magic on the internet, which we are grateful for.

But it's like, I don't know why his name wasn't brought up more. Is Michigan the right spot for him? Who knows? They have all the facilities. They have everything you possibly need. It may be. Maybe there is. I hadn't heard about drink until Pete brought it up because he's a southern guy.

He's been in the SEC. It was a majority of his career. So I don't know if that was the thing. But like, Jedfish kind of makes sense because he was in Arizona, turned that program around, took over Washington after DeBore left and got them back to where they had nine-win season this year. There's another name floating around out there. kind of similar to Matt Campbell because he's done a good job at a place where they

haven't always been good and that's our guy that's our guy PJ Fleck. Really in Minnesota? Would he be considered a Michigan man? They get sick of his never in a million years. They would not get sick of his I'm sorry. You don't think, Kai? No, Michigan's not fucking hiring PJ Fleck. Well, he started up there in Michigan.

They're not rolling boats. Western Michigan. What about Chip Kelly? He just interviewed for the offensive coaching role Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech. Clark Lee was a name that Pete brought up. That would be. Mani Diaz is out there. I think Mentor, man.

I do. Yeah, Mentor would make sense. Why would Minter do it? That's the... Yeah, like, if it's a giant... He can be a head coach in the NFL. And his show clause just ended. Like, he's already... And they can't afford... Like, the Chargers are going to the playoffs. We just talked about the whole, like, the timeline.

Like, they can't afford to wait until the charters get eliminated from the playoffs to hire someone. We think he'd be good as the head coach of Michigan. We would like that to be known. just don't know if that would even be something that he would, especially he left with Hartwell. Yeah, how do they feel? How does that staff that, you know, got all those sanctions stuff from that feel about?

Yeah, and how does Michigan feel about that staff, especially like if they want to get away from it? Kevin Bowen just posted a video from Colts practice. Put the clock up, put the clock up, please, please. You could pat and go session? Don't you worry about what session it is. Please, don't you worry about it. It's in a

group text, Bruce. If you could please find it in the group text it is uh boom full screen on i think thank you kevin bow and we appreciate your morning show host here oh i don't think that was him yeah i don't think that was him i don't think he's not him he's not one seven and that's him right there there is yeah yeah that was over to linebacker did you see that a layered throw as they say right yeah right right over a j's stupid hands you're right did you look him getting around the edge too that's that's that freony the sound Was that Frini moving on him? Yeah, I think it might be.

Might have been Mathis? I'm not hurt since and sure. It's going to be awesome. Honestly, I can't wait to watch the Colts game. So pumped him. Hey, he looks good. He is moving. It's great. Look how quickest release is, obviously. That's Phil.

Thank you, Kevin Bowen for that. Pause, please. Pause, please. That's where it's all about right there. Character. Bingo. What's your character? Exactly. We know if Phil Rivers is.

He's a dog. and in 73 hours, 42 minutes, and 35 seconds. He's going to showcase that to the entire world once again. Speaking of characters, if Wazowski was on the field for Phil, Paul. Game over. I think we'd take Sully or Wazowski at this point. Solly's locked up.

So he's locked up. You can't get him. Signed a five-year deal with chargers. We'll see if Howie nuts up. How much is Sully getting paid? Yeah, $3.80 guaranteed. Million. $5.20 overall.

Excuse me, $5.30 overall. Oh. Yeah, but the $5. 30 is not real. It's a three. The guaranteed money always with these contracts is with the one that we're really looking at. Yeah, but the incentive, just after one game, I mean, he's a quarter of the way there on his incentives, two touchdowns, two interceptions, two fumble fours, two fumble are covered. A bunch of sacks. Yeah, so. All right, we'll take Wazowski, I guess, if we can get him. Wazowski's a good player. You'll be happy with him. Let's make some picks for tonight's

game. Let's get the hell out of here. AJ, NFC South on Amazon Prime, Falcons, Bucks, Kirk, Baker, Mike Evans is back. Drake London is out. Rahim Morris is obviously feeling the heat around him in Atlanta. They're four or not taking on a team but still trying to win the NFC South. Fresh off a loss is both of these teams. AJ, who do you like? How do you like it?

Man, as Coach Mike, we heard him say, I guess a lot of points in division. But I like to Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I like Baker Mayfield and what they're doing. Obviously, Mike Evans coming back. Let's go, Bucks. I think they win and they cover this. I agree. I'll ride with you into tomorrow.

I won't be live from anywhere tomorrow. I'll be right here. I'm so thankful, so pumped to be here. John Sino. John Sino will be right here. Right here. He's here now. He's waiting.

We'll see you tomorrow. See you, John. All right. Be your friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on meet. Team on three.

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