The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 305 - Wednesday Afternoon Football Recap, Jeremy Chinn, Kordell "Slash" Stewart, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: December 3, 2020

On today's show, Pat and the boys recap yesterday's Wednesday Afternoon Football Game and why it more than likely won't happen again, how sloppy the play was, Mike Tomlin's comments after the game, and much more including BYU and Coastal Carolina agreeing to play this weekend, and Russell Westbrook and John Wall getting traded for one another. Also joining the program is the defending NFC Defensive Rookie of the Month, Carolina Panthers S/LB Jeremy Chinn. Pat and Jeremy chat about how he became a monster so quickly, going to Southern Illinois out of high school, what it's like playing for Matt Rhule, and much more (19:49-33:42). Next, 2001 AFC Offensive Player of the Year, Pro Bowler, former Pittsburgh Steeler great and friend of the program, Kordell "Slash" Stewart joins the show to talk about the Steelers/Ravens rivalry, what it was like being a QB in his position at that time in the NFL, Taysom Hill being in a similar situation, and much more (52:31-1:16:57). Later, Pat and AJ Hawk discuss yesterday's game, Tomlin's comments after the game, and they tell a few stories about their time in the locker room (1:19:33-1:46:51). Make sure you subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow and listen every day on Mad Dog Radio, Sirius XM Channel 82. We appreciate you all for listening, come and laugh with us, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, everybody? It is Thursday, December 3rd, and you are listening to the Pat McAfee show. Pat is still down in Orlando, getting ready to do some practice with his teammates as he is getting ready for WALL GAMES, which is on Sunday. Still got a great show for you. Cordell Slash Stewart, former Pittsburgh Steelers legend, joins the show to talk about Taysom Hill and how similar or different they are as quarterbacks. We'll talk about the Wednesday afternoon football game. And also Jeremy Chin, defensive rookie of the month for the Carolina Panthers, will join the show. It's a great conversation.

AJ Hawk stops by. Today's a fun one, so let's get to it. There's a lot going on in the world. I just got done with team practice, by the way. Wall game. Got done with the sweat. The boys and I just went and put in some work. They're getting ready for the Steel Cage match this Sunday.

Wall games, WWE Network. I cannot wait for that night. And by the way, myself, Danny Burch, Ernie Lorcan, and the bruiserweight Pete Dunne. Great chemistry. Very quickly in that ring. I just want to let you know, we are setting some good things up. Some moves. Some teamwork stuff.

I think Donniepita potentially, potentially never wrestles again. Yeah! Can't wait to chat about all things happening in the world. Yesterday, Wednesday afternoon football turns out to be shitty football. Yep. Turned out to be very, very bad football.

I think we could have expected it from the Baltimore Ravens, who haven't had the ability to practice, didn't have a lot of their players, have kind of run through the gamut here with the old COVID the last couple days or whatever, you get our last week and a half or whatever. But the Steelers are also very, very sloppy. I mean, absolutely just a sloppy football game. The Steelers get away with the win, but obviously they don't cover

because Trace McSorley comes in and throws an absolute dart at the end of the game, three minutes left. And somehow Hollywood Brown makes a big play. They score, ruin all the Steelers backers because that's what Vegas does. Seventy-some percent of the money was on the Pittsburgh Steelers, minus 10, minus 10.5. It felt like that was inevitably going to lose, but had to back the Steelers strictly because Mark Schleyer said yesterday they were going to win by 20.

We'll get to Atone Diggs here right now, who's a diehard Pittsburgh Steelers fan. First of all, Mike Tomlin had some electric quotes after the game yesterday. And I've been talking like this, I think, for the last maybe couple of years, but definitely the last few months here as the Steelers have continued their undefeated season. Whether, you you know we can talk about whether or not they're the most impressive team in the NFL or not they've won every goddamn game so I think that has to continue to be talked about but the way Mike Tomlin handles press conferences is gorgeous it is beautiful everybody talks about the way Belichick handles them and how yeah we're on Cincinnati and all that shit but the way Mike Tomlin speaks so candidly

and how he never really says much, but he uses words, big words, and keeps it moving. Yesterday, his postgame presser may be the best one yet that he's ever had. He cut a promo against his own squad a couple times, which is awesome. But if you're a Steelers fan, and at Tone Diggs, I'm going to ask you about this. You have to be worried. First, Gary Gilbert and the Dallas Cowboys give you all you can handle then yesterday rg3 okay who did have the over and rushing by the way shout out one rush by the way got it that was a great bet uh foxy introduced it into my life we both hammered that rather heavily

um he had a fumble early a pick six early uh there was a lot of just ugly ugliness going on in that game and it was still a close game in the end tone just like mike tomlin said it looked like you guys were jv football team still undefeated now this happened with the packers last year winning games they're saying it was ugly but are you worried as hell about the playoff run for the pittsburgh steelers with these couple games with gary gilbert andace McSorley dominating against the Pittsburgh Steelers, dude? No, no, no. That doesn't worry me at all. Like I told you and I told everyone this week, it's the Steelers and Ravens.

That was guaranteed to happen. That type of game was guaranteed to happen, especially when it moves four times. And like I said yesterday, I can't wait to get that fucking game over with. And it looked like and it seemed like the players were in the same exact boat. Now, if they were to – and they always, the Steelers always, always, always, and we've talked about it with Ike, we've talked about it with Ryan Clark, they always play down in their competition. Now, if they were to get the doors blown off in the next few weeks

by like the Bills or the Colts or the Browns or something like that, then I would be worried. If we're being honest, I just want to start the playoffs now because there's literally not one good thing that could happen the rest of the year for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Only bad things can happen for the rest of the year for the pittsburgh sealers like injuries like happened to bud dupree there's nothing good that could happen the rest of the season for pittsburgh sealers yeah bud dupree tours acl um that's he's a massive part of that defensive line obviously that has been impactful and damn

near all their games bud dupree also playing on a franchise tag. So now what does this do for his future whenever it comes, you know, talking money, this whole thing. At Ian Rappaport. No, at Rappsheet. Sorry. Ian Rappaport. Steelers pass rusher Bud Dupree is, in fact, done for the season with a torn ACL, source said, following his MRI.

Mike Garofalo and Didi? Is that it? Yeah, it's Didi. Didi reported initial test showed an ACL tear, and further tests have now confirmed. Pitt's franchise tag player sets his eyes on 2021. Bud Dupree made himself a lot of money this year. Now, will the Pittsburgh Steelers pay him the amount of money

that he will probably demand or command in free agency? Probably not. Okay, that's just not the way the Steelers normally operate, but maybe they will see what had happened leading up to this point and how much of an impact player Bud Dupree was. 200 and what, 75, 280 pounds, runs very fast, and is absolute a game wrecker alongside T.J. Watt, Cam Hayward, all the boys to it, to it, all the boys on defensive line.

That was obviously a sad, sad situation from that Wednesday afternoon game. Connor, yesterday you said 10 years from now, five years from now, whenever we're watching Wednesday afternoon football, we got to remember back to what happened yesterday and say, hey, this is the founding father of afternoon NFL games in the middle of the week. Do you think that's still going to be the case with how shitty that game was? Now, I was watching that game, and as it was kicking off, I thought to myself, I cannot believe that goddamn Rockefeller Christmas tree

talked this game out of prime time last night. But it turns out, by the way, probably deserve it, because that game should not have been at night. That game was a shitty game but do you think this is something connor that you enjoyed enough that you would want to see going forward a mid-afternoon game in the middle of the week of a work week with no holiday or anything like that connor well i absolutely loved it uh i want to definitely lead with that but it was dog shit no i i did not think it was good i think t Tuesday might be the day. Wednesday is just not the day.

You said it yesterday. That's when you put in your game plan. That's a big practice day. The middle of the week game, unfortunately, has to be on a Tuesday. That way we can still start the week on Thursday and have, you know, what, four days a week of NFL football? That's what we're really open for. Rest in peace to the Wednesday afternoon game, I guess. Connor yesterday was projecting it to have a long illustrious life it had one game and it's

probably going to be done with how it was yeah but you're 100 right those tuesday night games would shout to the ravens they got one next week that tuesday night game we saw between the bills and titans earlier in the year i enjoyed it oh yeah i got nothing on tv on tuesday monday night football obviously and in the off season you got uh on TV on Tuesday. Monday night football, obviously. And in the offseason you got wrestling on Monday night. So you always got something live on Monday nights that involves action. Wednesday night, obviously, NXT. How you doing?

Keep it moving. Last night, seven-minute promo. That's a long time. Hey, sweet Hummer, dude. Hey, I thought of you whenever I hopped in. I was like, you know what? Coach Diggs and Tony Diggs are going to love this. We'll throw back to the past.

Nothing like six miles per gallon. You know what I mean? Just go ahead and do what you got to do in that thing. But Tuesday nights, live action. I mean, that is a gorgeous thing. And then you take off Wednesday. Then you got Thursday night football. Then Friday night, you know, hey, going into the weekend,

you got to do what you've got to do. Obviously you've got SmackDown if you're a wrestling fan, but aside from that, college football's on Friday nights. I mean, granted, Maxion's on Tuesday. I get it, but... I get that we bet on it, and we all do the Maxion tweets. I'd rather have the NFL.

But I think they should expand the horizons of the nights where games are played or the days that games are played. But then that's going to cause quite a task for the schedule makers, for the health and safety of players with recovery time and everything like that. But I don't know. Yesterday, if that game was worth a single fuck, I think we have a much different conversation about how everybody enjoyed it.

Have the ratings come out on that thing yet? Well, I mean, unfortunately for Indianapolis, at least, the WAF yesterday was blacked out because the NBC broadcast wasn't working or there was a contract dispute. It was everywhere. The AT&T, DirecTV. You couldn't watch the game if you had DirecTV. Yeah. Just a quick heads up, Connor. Whenever you're going to drop a WAF in there,

most people aren't going to have a clue what you're saying because that's probably something you guys were talking about off the air back there. So you should just say the WAF, Wednesday afternoon football. So everybody that's listening or watching that isn't in the office. Now, granted, I put that together very quickly. That's what I figured. I had no idea what he was talking about. That didn't come up before the show.

It was just a spitball in your waff that just rolls off the tongue. Yeah, it does, but then you should explain it because it is such a good name, obviously, for people that maybe can't pick it up as quick. Because as soon as you say that, I think a lot of people potentially went into the Boston Conner listening habit where they just get entranced with whatever you just said there and then don't listen to everything afterwards. But I do Wednesday afternoon football. I didn't know it was blacked out in indianapolis you guys didn't see that game we streamed it but yeah you if you have direct tv

you couldn't watch it well is this one of those direct tv yeah affiliate dispute yep i i think it's only going to get worse by the way because um i i think i have xfinity in the house but i also have uh direct tv because sunday the nfl the ticket the whole thing there for uh the downstairs xfinity is currently battling nbc cbs and fox okay so there's like a ticker at the top that's like if you love this show be sure to tell blah blah blah because you're in danger of it losing. And that happens every few years or whatever. You see it on one channel or another channel because there's contract disputes. But now that everybody's cutting the goddamn cable, I assume that some people are expecting a certain amount of money and other people are saying we can't give it.

I wonder if that's – are we potentially right on the precipice of just streaming everything and all these apps taking over because there's no way xfinity direct tv and all them are going to be able to pay what they've been paying for a long long time with how many people that are cutting the court this could be the dawn of a new day so you guys obviously missed the game and had to stream it but that's potentially the the future going forward here and at least indianapolis i think i think in these markets where they're battling oh yeah well that's a change of the whole world by the way oh yeah with peacock tv too like what's stopping nbc from saying yeah we're showing all sunday night football games on here now i mean it's just and it's very obvious connor if you look at any of the marketing plans for anybody everybody wants people on their streaming services now and i'm in the wwe performance center

so i'd be remiss if i didn't talk about vince mcmahon did this fucking like 10 years ago or whatever and he was like oh we're gonna have our own network people are gonna subscribe to it and everybody's like you're gonna kill your business you're gonna kill your business you're a fucking idiot now he has like 2 million 2.5 million network subscribers his own network he can do whatever and i assume he's good he already i think sold some of it to peacock to have on their app it's like everybody's going to be trying to get people onto their paid subscription service. And it feels like the people that are going to be left out, probably Comcast, Xfinity. But a lot of motherfuckers still got that on their TV.

So it's like, yeah, I get everybody's cutting the cord. But there's still a large amount of people that are still utilizing TV for certain things. And this is just like what we talk about with a lot of things. The first generation has to experience something is going to be the most drastic. Like we talked about the Portland drug laws, right? They got like meth available over there. Mushrooms. Heroin, I think, is only whatever class one.

It's like the first generation is going to ruin that entire thing. Once it becomes just like the normalized thing on the backside, it's like much different. That's going to be the same thing with the cutting of the cord and everybody like i'm thinking of tim mcafee having to fucking download all these goddamn apps so he can stream things that's going to be that's going to be amazing but that's going to have to happen one major drawback too is uh we found out pretty quickly you can't go on the internet or like twitter at all if you are watching it on the delay like i mean everything was getting spoiled in the game, so that did kind of stink.

We were also streaming it down here on this TV right here, and I was getting tweets about they congratulated us on the RG3 rush hitting, and I'm like, Foxy, I think we hit. And then like 15, 20 seconds later it comes on, he busts that 39-yard rush. I'm like, good for us. And then as I put out the tweet about him hitting it they're like oh Pat you're a jinx I'm like

I'm a jinx what do you get sacked for 40 yard loss and they popped his hammy that next play or whatever it was like oh my god so it was very interesting like being told the spoiler that was coming and then trying to guess for 30 seconds about what it was and then seeing it like that wasn't what we thought it was going to be at all okay

and then by the way tease and peace to his hammy on that particular run i don't know how he took a sniper and then came back into the game by normally normally sniper on the roof you're done for there he goes back in but whenever we saw that happen foxy and i we go like obviously not good for rg3 there but like good for us we got the over on the rushing he can't get sacked to take that back and now probably steal his cover by 10 and a half at least without him so we're like the person that tweeted us like bad news i'm a jinx i'm like complete opposite it's like it fucking worked out for us here actually and then turns out trace mcsorley goes out there and slings a goddamn thing at the end of the end of the game and kind of ruins it all um ty schmidt i know you're a guy that loves whenever people adapt and overcome.

Oh, yeah. That's the thing. Big time. I love Coastal Carolina. Okay. This is not an NFL conversation. Obviously, we're pivoting vastly here to college football and college game day this weekend. It's going down to Myrtle Beach for the Coastal Carolina.

game day this weekend's going down to myrtle beach for the coastal carolina shant to clears the shunts uh you know the real deal turf field uh surf and turf is what they call it the mullet mullet team the undefeated coastal carolina squad they were supposed to take on liberty this weekend and liberty another team in their conference that's having a great year and it's going to be a big deal and then obviously conversations started to arise from the liberty folks about hey wow we might have we might have the vid you know i mean we might have a problem here so i know this is potentially biggest game that we've ever had in this conference okay and i know we're gonna have game day here and this is a big goddamn deal but this it's potentially not gonna happen because of what we got running wild through our locker room and i don't know if it was coastal carolina or if it was the conference or who it was and they were like

well that's not coastal carolina's fault coastal carolina gets to host game day they got all the eyes on them if you guys can't you guys have until thursday by the way to let us know whether or not you're gonna be able to figure it out we're not doing any more bullshit and all the way through the weekend if you guys can't do it we're calling the mormons over there they're looking for games they will fly their asses in here and play with a two-day notice. So, Liberty, you need to figure it out. Okay, you were either part of this weekend or you were not. It turns out they are not.

So now the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers will be hosting Zach Wilson and the BYU squad. I mean, this is amazing. I love that they did this. This is incredible. And all the bullshit about BYU turning down Washington a week ago, and you heard one side where Washington was like, well, BYU doesn't want it. And then you heard from the other side, BYU people were like,

Washington just asked for 50 things for us to do this goddamn game. Like, we're not going to be able to do that. BYU taking this game short notice, flying into Myrtle Beach. Now, BYU's players won't be distracted by Myrtle Beach, okay, because it's part of their religion not to be distracted by whatever Myrtle Beach could potentially offer. But this is awesome for all parties. This is great for college football.

This is good for Coastal Carolina. This is good for the BYU squad. I'm pumped that they're doing this, Ty. And as an Iowa Hawkeye guy and a Big Ten guy, you have to look at what Big Ten's doing and be like, these stooges. Look at what Coastal Carolina and BYU are able to figure out down here in the big 10 is just like yep no contest can't reschedule don't even think about playing anybody from any other conference yeah it makes no sense and then you look at like ohio state i mean their backs are going to be right up against it like

more than likely they're they might not be able to play enough games and they're going to have to rely on just people assuming that they should be in the top four but they they they really didn't have any choice right because both these teams are on the outside looking in like i don't know if this game really like tilts them into being in the top four consideration but at least they're byu and coastal yeah but at least oh it doesn't for sure right but but it'll this will be a very memorable game and i mean yeah it's just like it'll be it'd be tough to leave one of these guys out if you know ohio state can only play five games or six games or whatever and they can't get in on their own merits alone we all agree that there's no chance byu or

coastal carolina get into the college correct right right yeah i mean there's no chance so and by the way i'm not saying they don't deserve it okay like that is not for me to decide i am strictly telling you if we look at how the college football playoff committee has acted in the past and are acting currently, there's no chance that they can make it in there. They're too far down. They're both in the teens. There's no way they'll be able to climb that up.

And even, even if teams lose, they'll be like, yeah, but this one lost team that I like, that's how it always works out. I'm not saying it right, but I'm just saying that that's right. But I'm just saying that's how it always works out i'm not saying it right but i'm just saying that that's right but i'm just saying that's how it normally goes so for me them being able to adjust on the fly make something happen in a world where nothing is normal for me i just think that is absolutely glorious like i when i saw that i was like that's common sense like here's two teams that need games that are healthy enough to have games that can make something happen making something happen this is just like whenever a team earlier in the season couldn't play

and like Alabama wasn't able to play because somebody else was playing. It was like, why don't we just have these two motherfuckers play each other? And they're like, well, they can't because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I like that these two teams in their conferences kind of put everything aside and were like, no, let's just, let's go ahead and make this happen. It's not going to help them get in the college football playoff. I'm not saying that because Cincinnati is above them and they're probably going to be the power six team that if anybody has, they're not,

they don't have a chance by the way, but if they, and I'm not saying that's right, but if any power 16 was to get in there, I believe it was Cincinnati this year as it probably should be. But I like these two teams making a play for it. I absolutely love it. I had Ty Schmidt. It sucks that the big 10 sucks but um hey by the way end of the show last night into the camera it's great to be great it must suck to suck i loved that i absolutely i was a big fan of that

like i i don't know where it came from did not have it planned just went and looked at the goddamn camera you know what i mean and said it and normally anytime i say anything there's some stooge on the internet that's like oh you're stealing blah blah blah's thing or blah blah's thing and i'm like well i didn't even know blah blah existed so i'm not stealing it maybe just maybe blah blah had a great brain just like mine is or whatever. Last night I said that. Nobody said a single thing. I'm like, well, must suck to suck. Keep it moving. Joining us now is a man that's from the Indianapolis area. Went to Southern Illinois.

Has taken the NFL by storm. Second round pick. He's currently the reigning defending. No, this was for October. I don't know if they've named another one. But, ladies and gentlemen, he was a defensive rookie of the month for October. So, I don't know if they've named a November one yet. I'm not 100% sure.

But, he had two touchdowns in like 10 seconds last week. Ladies and gentlemen, Jeremy Chin. Yeah! What's going on, man? What's up, Pat up pat man i'm excited to be on here today hey i'm pumped that you're on here too i didn't know you were in indianapolis kid yeah man i'm from india so you know i grew up watching you oh well i'll tell you what i'm happy to know that i probably taught you everything you learned that's good to know, man. Hey, the NFL, you have been absolutely dominant. I think this year, more so than years past, the rookies have been doing good. Like, for instance, normally rookies come in and there's like a learning curve

and how you do it, keep it moving. Quarterbacks, wide receivers, yourself. It feels like the rookies are kind of stepping up a lot more than they have in the past, yourself included. Is it because, like, you guys are more prepared, do you think? Do you think it's potentially because of the COVID offseason with the Zoom, you're able to learn and digest everything mentally before you had to do anything physically and it wasn't as confusing, you got to learn your house? Like, what do you think it has been, like, for you personally to make the transition?

Obviously, it's not easy. Nothing is easy when you come to the NFL, but it has made it almost feel as if you personally to make the transition obviously it's not easy nothing is easy when you come to the nfl but has made it almost feel as if you've been able to step right in and play really high quality football for the panthers down there right well one i definitely think there has been a learning curve i mean i feel like i've been learning this whole season ever since you know week one since camp really but uh i think the virtual you know otas and stuff like that learning the playbook that's definitely helped a lot so when i actually got here to in charlotte uh for camp i was pretty aware of the playbook and i feel like i had you know just a uh a foot in the door already you

know in a sense just because i was able to take all that time take all that time just to learn second round draft pick. So, obviously, it's not like you have the, oh, he's a seventh-rounder, an undrafted free agent chip on your shoulder. But Southern Illinois is not like an NFL factory. I mean, how do you end up at Southern Illinois? And then what happened at Southern Illinois that propelled you into a second-round pick and into the player that you are today?

Was it a body thing? Was it a physical thing? What was it that you ended up at Southern Illinois and that got you to where you are now? Yeah, really, it was a physical thing. I was, let me see, my sophomore year of high school, I think I was maybe 5'7", 125 pounds. I hit a growth spurt late in high school. That's how I ended up at Southern. And then from there, I ended up starting four years at Southern. And that really prepped me to come to the NFL.

I had a lot of great coaches at Southern. You just woke up one morning, you're like, oh, I'm no longer a little child. Yeah. Basically, that's pretty much how it went. Because you hear about that with basketball players a lot. You hear that with basketball players. A guy will be 5'8", 5'9", high school point guard. He's got handles.

He's got shake. He understands the body a little bit. And then all of a sudden like over one summer they're six foot five now and they have to kind of they're like jacob solly in the avatar body trying to figure out what they got going on did you have that entire transition what was the process of you growing and becoming a much larger adult as opposed to five foot seven 130 pounds yeah most of it came my junior year of high school. So I actually ended up missing almost half my season as a junior in high school just because I was growing so fast.

So it's kind of, you know, a blessing in disguise just because, you know, I was upset I had to miss those games, and it really hurt my recruiting. But, you know, I was growing at the same time, and I think it paid off in the long run. I'm reading some of your stats here from high school. Okay, it says Chin. It's Chin, right, or is it Chin? It's Chin.

Chin. The second N is silent. Silent, or you could just hold the N a little bit longer. Okay, Chin, Fisher's High School product, finished among the top three for safeties in a 40-yard dash, vertical and broad jump at the combine, 41-inch vert, 138-inch broad jump in a 4-4 40-yard dash. Chin also did 20 reps at 225.

Oh, so you're a freak, huh? Yeah, yeah, that's got to be a lot of fun. You ever play pickup basketball in Indiana, especially go to la fitness or ymca and just yam on all the little white kids that are trying to play like gordon is in high school you do that all the time huh we did that all the time i bet you did indiana big basketball state big basketball state for a long long time i assume with your young age, Peyton had already come and kind of changed the narrative of football. Did you play basketball in high school?

No, I never played basketball in high school. No, I was more of a track athlete, football on track. What'd you do, 100, 200? 100, 200, 4x1, 4x2 indoor. Did you do it in college too or just in high school? Just in high school. Ah, so you weren't that fast. Kind of slow.

Yikes. Diggs, what do you got for him? Jeremy, we talked about your height and your speed and your weight, and, like, with you coming in out of the draft, it was kind of like an Isaiah Simmons situation. Like, where are we going to play him at because he could do so many things? Like, when you got to the Panthers facility, did they already have a role for you? Did they know what they were going to play him at because he could do so many things um like when you got to the panthers facility did they already have a role for you did they know what they were going to do with you yeah i mean i don't know if they did they just kind of threw me in there

uh they threw me in at sam linebacker so i really learned that position first and then you know as the season kind of went on it moved me around around. And also, I mean, throughout camp as well, it moved me around and tried some different things. So, you know, I've really just been kind of everywhere. Matt Rule, whenever he was at Baylor, now granted he is signed for like $700 million now, so I don't know if he's, you know, any different now. But when he was at Baylor, I got a chance to call a couple of the games. So I went down there the night before, talked to the players,

talked to the coaches, talked to the coaches. And Matt Rule told me straight up, he was like, yeah, like I'm not like a super fun coach. He's like, it doesn't mean like I'm a super hard ass. He's like, I'm just not like, like, hey, we do football here. What has he been like as an NFL coach? Now, granted, you haven't got a chance to experience any other NFL coaches. But what has the style been? Because it seems like it's resonant.

By all accounts, everybody looking outside of Carolina is like, okay, they're building something awesome down there. Matt Rule is the guy for the NFL because not all college coaches can make the transition or whatever. But what has his style been like and what has Phil Snow been like playing for? What Coach Rule explained to you, that's exactly how he is. That's it. He hit the nail on the head

right there he's not he's not obviously the super fun coach but i mean he's a great he's a great guy he's a great coach um and then coach coach snow he's just a a football mind i love playing for coach snow he's he's creative he personally puts me in positions to be around the football um you know as a guy who's coming in who wasn't necessarily a safety or a linebacker in a lot of people's eyes, he's found a way just to put me around the football. You go on offense at all? Do you have any offensive snaps?

Nah, I got a fake punt. That's about it. Oh, you PP? Yeah, yeah. Oh, man, I would have loved to have a guy. That PP. Now, granted, Colt anderson was awesome all right he was the montanimal i love colt i love pat anger as my but i couldn't even imagine having a guy that is just a physical specimen of pp matt rule is going to fake some punts now too i mean that guy he is not scared to roll the dice the first time i think i saw you guys run a fake

he was actually and it might have been your first time i think i saw you guys run a fake he was actually and it might have been your first fake of the season he was screaming down the sideline basically that you guys were faking a putt okay and it was on tv and i literally was seeing it in fourth down he's screaming and i was sitting at home because i like matt a lot and i'm like matt you can't fucking do that in the nfl matt you can't be screaming that you're gonna do a fake and then literally you guys got stuffed on that one or whatever. And I was like, all right, is he going to be scared now to run fake? He's not at all. Like you guys are wide open on special teams.

It's awesome to watch down there. Yeah, he's a coach. He's fun to play for because he's going to do whatever it takes to win. I mean, he sees if you lose by 20 or you lose by one, a loss is a loss. So we're going to go for the win. Whenever you are doing your cadence for the PP, what do we do? Do we go deep down? Because you're the one calling the play, obviously.

Do you have a deep growling cadence? Is it a casual cadence? And how many times did it take for you to figure out which way to send the long snapper before you got it right? Because I assume there are some times where you fucked that up, where you sent them to a bunch and there was a swoop and you got blown up, I'd assume. How long did it take for you to learn that position? And how is the cadence?

Do you feel good about your cadence out there? I think, no, I feel real confident about my cadence. I think my cadence is, I've worked on it. I think it's pretty good. And as far as sending the long snapper, I haven't messed up too much. You know, our long snapper, JJ, he's been in the league for, I think, I think it's 13th season. So if I'm wrong, he'll make me right.

It's good having a guy like that out there, too. That's not an easy position, by the way, because you've got a lot of guys in there that have never played special teams. I assume you didn't play teams much at Southern, did you? No, I was PPS Southern too, though. Oh, that's big then. By the way, very smart of your Southern coaches saying like, hey, if you're going to play at the next level, which you have the ability to,

you're probably going to have to do a little bit of special teams. That's very, very smart of them to do that. But that's not easy to do because you've got to command. You've got to command people at that position. And you've also got to be confident. There's a lot of things into it, you know? Yeah, for sure. What's your cadence sound like?

You bark it? You put a mouthpiece in? You put the mouthpiece out? What do you do? My mouthguard stays in. I got one of the molded ones. It's the custom one. So I just.

Hey, that's what happens when you're defensive rookie of the month. You get the whole thing set up. I got to be on the talk out there. Hey, Connor, what do you got? Yeah, Jeremy, Luke Keekly retired from the Panthers earlier in the year, but I believe he stayed on as a scout of some sort.

How has he impacted you this year? Does he help at all during practice with tips or anything? Yeah, he helps a whole lot um even when i when i first got there like he's probably one of the people i talk to the most just to get some type of knowledge give anything you know anything you get from luke keekley and just take it from his mind and put it in mind then you know that's just an advantage in itself but uh as far as like taking care of my body and some of the resources that he's given me, it's so important right now, especially earlier on in my career. And, yeah, I mean, he's been everything.

Yeah, you got to develop your habits now, you know. Like, that's kind of the – because college football, high school football, it's all fun and games, you're good. But now it's like, hey, you're with the men. So now this is – we were always told, and I assume you're being told the same thing. It's like with the the men so now this is a we were always told and i assume you're being told the same thing it's like look at somebody who's been around a long time and then just get in their back pocket and figure out what they do how they got there the fact that you guys have luke keekly down there to chat with that is quite a weapon i'd assume

now he hey he was a maniac dude like whenever he was off the field glasses you know super quiet hi how's it going nice to meet you then he gets on the field fucking nightmare out there that guy he was a do you are you the same type of person are you a maniac on the field what is your demeanor on the field um it's like night and day like i'm you're a psychopath out there. Oh, okay, good. You're trying, like when you hit, you're trying to go through the ground. Like, hey, we're trying to, like when you get on the field, you're a whole different animal. Oh, yeah. Has it always been that way or did you have to like develop that?

No, it's always been that way since peewee football. Hey, so you're 5'7", 120 pounds, and you're like you know what i'm gonna bury you yes that's it hey you're well on your way man congrats on the rookie of the month in october um the defensive rookie of the year honor is one that you would remember forever and is obviously held in high regards. You're in the conversation, obviously, so you should feel damn proud about that. Finish off this season, man. Enjoy the hell out of the process, dude. Hey, thanks, Pat. I appreciate the words, man.

Thank you for having me on. Hey, no problem. Don't get your punter killed, all right? No, I won't, man. I won't. I'll die before he dies. Who's punting down there right now? Who's punting down there?

Joe Charlton Oh, yeah, he's a rookie too, right? Is he young? Yeah, he's a rookie Massive leg? Oh, yeah, he got a boot Yeah, well, you have to in the NFL But that's a great question

We can't thank you enough Good luck on the Defensive Rookie of the Year run And the rest of your rookie year. Tell Coach Rule we all said hello and can't wait to watch you continue to develop into the absolute monster that you're going to become, man. It's really cool to watch you play. Hey, thanks, Pat.

Thank you. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, Jeremy Chur. Yeah! Woo! 5'7", 130 pounds or something like that as a a sophomore and then imagine just waking up one morning be like oh my god i'm gonna make money playing sports he said he said he missed most of his junior year because he because he was growing that's like i don't even know what that means

yeah well that's what happened you the jacob solly in the avatar thing is real like i think if you hear any of those stories about those guys who grow six seven eight inches or whatever out of nowhere and there's a lot of guys i guess nowadays with science they can predict that it's coming your feet are so big like at some point you're gonna grow into them feet some people don't i met a motherfucker that did not grow into those feet and he was just uncomfortable to look at it for the rest of his life. He had grand visions of being in the NBA, too.

He had great handles, but his body never caught up to those goddamn feet that he had. So, I mean, that's problematic. But that growth spurt has come on. Anthony Costanzo, left tackle for the Colts, he had to go to a military JUCO or something like that because he was like 100 and some pounds. He was only like six foot something, but he played offensive line, and then all of a sudden out of nowhere he grew to six foot seven, 200 and something.

God damn. So you just woke up saying, oh, okay, yep, we finally made it. I'm going to make $100 million. This is going to be awesome. Those basketball players, the same thing. But I bet you it's a bit uncomfortable whenever you hit that growth spurt because now you're trying to it's like a whole new body basically you're trying to you know what i mean it's probably a little bit weird i wouldn't know i haven't grown since eighth grade so yeah but think about how dominant you are oh yeah oh

yeah my friend oh yeah we had a couple of those guys in our school digs you weren't the only one who eighth grade they were taller than everybody oh they were so cool dude i remember how cool they were and then it was like a year or two later and it's like yeah oh isn't this interesting it is interesting what it all you see what had happened was you uh did this thing a little bit earlier and seems like i'm just gonna keep going so why don't you just shut the fuck up i had a gross spurt late i think i don't know if it was that late it wasn't as big but like 10th grade i think is really where i came in i think i started weighing like 200 pounds in like 10th grade or whatever i was gonna say you're never short though like you were always taller i was thin though i was super i was i was super skinny for a while and then the legs and

everything just kind of caught up to all the work that i had done for the previous 10 years or something like that. I don't know what happened. It was pretty cool. But I got a little bit stalky, and then that was when it was really a good time to be a soccer player with your little boys. See you later. How you doing? Keep it moving.

Hey, that Defensive Rookie of the Year is going to be tough. Him, Julian Blackman of the Colts. Yeah. The guy that caused the fumble in overtime. I assume they're – oh, Winfield down there in Tampa. Yeah, the top five right now is Jeremy, it's Justin Blackman, it's Chase Young, it's Patrick Queen, and Antoine Winfield. Patrick Queen, huh?

It was – so last night – Ty, how do you feel about Patrick Queen as a player? Pretty good? Well, you know, every time – I mean, yeah, they should have taken him, okay? But I feel like any time people talk about him, like PFF has him ranked as like one of the worst linebackers, and I don't watch like the Ravens that closely enough to really be able to tell. But, yeah, the Packers could use him.

I feel like I always see them making plays, though. Yeah, that's – I always see them making plays, and then when they do that introduction of them, they have that PFF rank underneath. It's always like bad. I'm like, but I always see them making plays, though. I always see them making plays, and then when they do that introduction of them, they have that PFF rank underneath. It's always bad. But I always see them making plays. So is this one of those situations? PFF, by the way.

We love PFF. Love them. Love PFF. We need PFF to survive for as long as possible. But is this one of those situations where they potentially don't know what his job is on some plays? And they think that he's potentially fucking up or somebody else? Maybe. I'm not saying PFF does that on a regular basis pff is awesome they watch every single play

they judge it former scouts it's really whenever you talk about the kicking punting uh position they're really only people that watch the film and judge it off accurately but other positions as well so that is interesting though that he's kind of graded low but it feels like he's always making plays yeah that's i was i was very very confused when that popped on the screen last night. I was like, that doesn't – I mean, they are unbelievable with judging punters and kickers, but I just don't know about the linebacker. Yeah, they're the only ones that watch the film, by the way. You know what I mean?

Oh, yeah. Like the AP, whenever they vote for All-Pro or whatever, those guys. They ain't watch the film. How do they fucking know? From somebody that told whatever? They ain't watching film. How do they fucking know? From somebody that told them? They don't watch the film. They don't watch the goddamn film. It's very obvious, too, by the way.

It's very obvious. Very obvious. Well, and Bobby Spillane should be ranked number one. I mean, I saw him at like 10. He was 33. Yeah, he was way up there, and we know that's wrong. But by the way, 33 is pretty good. Yeah, it was like out of 90, I think I saw was the number.

Yeah, when I saw Bob Spokane at 33, I was actually kind of pumped up for Bob. I was like, all right, Bob. Playing pretty good. But it's like a Madden rating right there underneath you as soon as you introduce him. This guy's 100 out of 120. This guy stinks right here. And they almost like to just draw a circle. They're going to be making up for this guy's.

And then, oh, but look right here next to him, number one. These two should probably have a conversation. Maybe he should send over some information to this guy. It looks like. Just like looking at the number right down here at the bottom. It's very. That has become an interesting thing because it's on every single introduction thing. Hey, Pat.

This person is ranked worst in the world at what he does. What's going on, Diggs? So, like last night when bud dupree goes out and now and devin bush is out too and obviously tomlin could say next man up next man up but like what does the team actually think depends on who's in there right like when devin bush goes down i would assume the boys knew that bob spokane had a little bit of energy but they didn't know what he was going to do on a field you know so i would assume the boys know and are probably friends with whoever's going to come up so whenever they say next man up obviously you have to have that mindset because they're

i mean i guess they kind of did for the ravens because of covid but they're not going to delay the games like you know like a game is coming so the rest of the team is like hey like hey next man's up real thing but this is also not depending on what the person's motives is and and i tried to you know learn about some people before i tried to give them little pep talks. If I knew the person was money-driven, it's like, hey, man, you got an opportunity now to go make. Hey, now's the time to go make not only a name for yourself, but a lot of fucking money, right? Like you're going to get an opportunity here to go make some plays. Let's go for it.

And you never know, though, if a guy's going to be good or not. Like Bob Spokane, he could have been number 90 out of 90 there as opposed to 33 out of – you know what I mean? You never know what's going to happen on the field. And that's why when people say, well, we'll see what happens when the lights come on. We'll see what happens when the lights come on. Because some people just drift away into irrelevance who are dominant in practice.

That's just something that actually happens. So I would assume the boys know who the next man up is. And Tomlin has to say that because that's the reality of the business is hey the games aren't going to get moved we still have to play so we need somebody to step up next man up and by the way that happens for coaches too we saw it this year where coaches are out it's like next man up our guy Blaine Stewart was going to be running special teams if old Danny couldn't get back without the game you know what I mean it's like hey next man up you got to do your thing so I think when you're in the locker and the players, unless they know that the guy's shit, right,

that's potentially like an X-man up. But the next man is – It's probably going to be Alex Highsmith, who was the third-round pick this year. He had 15 sacks as a senior last year for Charlotte. He's made some plays this year. So, like, it gives us some positive thinking going forward. Yeah, but, like, when he made his plays earlier, right, he was probably coming in relief of somebody.

Offensive lineman probably pretty tired. He was super juiced. You know what I mean? So it's like in the 15 sacks in college, I respect it at Charlotte. Okay, I believe they're the 49ers. Yes. So he gets 15 sacks there. He's playing against Evan Fox at tackle potentially.

You know what I mean? Every once in a while. So I honestly believe that unless we've seen it, the people who probably know whether or not he's gonna be worth a shit are the pittsburgh steelers offensive linemen you know what i mean like they know whether or not this guy's got it or not if he's even if in practice he isn't making a bunch of sacks but uh a tackle maybe villain wave will go like uh hey he's got this burst or he's got this and i would assume the steelers do a great job scouting and the defense is good.

So I think probably everybody's like, all right, this guy, he's got his chance. But when you lose a guy, your franchise tag guy who has been changing games, it's obviously going to be tough. You're going to have to adjust. But they're going to have to. Hey, we do not care. With a short week, how much does that change the game plan? Because you always talk about Wednesdays being a big day because you know today's Thursday and they play on Monday

what's like the uh schedule like when it switches like that yeah so you addressed everything right so whenever you play Monday night football Monday Sunday so Sunday Saturday so Saturday's Friday you know what I mean so in the football world there'll be times during the season where you don't even know what day it is. Because, oh, it's Wednesday right now. No, it's not Wednesday. It's actually Thursday. Oh, we have two.

So that is just how. For instance, this short week, since they're playing on Monday now, right? That's what it's called? So I would assume today, what, you start doing the math backwards. This is Thursday for them. This is actual Thursday of the game week for them at this point, even though they just played yesterday, so it should be Monday. So it'll be a short week, probably no pads, probably a lot of install,

and then bang, they'll try to be as fresh as possible for Monday night and keep it moving. But if you think about the way Tomlin spoke about that team, I would assume they were going to go no pads and be quick and a lot of install, but Tomlin did not seem that impressed with the team or that that grateful for what the squad's doing and if a coach is in a bad mood you never know what the schedule is going to be so they're probably gonna shorten everything up try to get the boys some downtime and all that but i mean the steelers have gotten fucked in this entire thing but the

thing about it is still undefeated winning games they they should cover i mean what the fuck happened dude was minkah fitzpatrick did he just hop into cement boots there in the fourth quarter like what happened out there did you see him trying to chase down you look like he was running in ice skates like what happened out there well in his defense marquise brown is probably one of the fastest wide receivers in the league i mean it just i think the boys didn't care see that's that's that might be a bigger problem than because when you're playing on waft ain't that right connor yeah you nailed it you gotta care whenever you're playing waft oh yeah and to the ravens credit don't let trace mcsorley get hot because he'll burn your ass.

Gumpy, what's going on back there? I see you holding a mic with incredible glasses on your face right now. Home favorites, 48-62 against the spread this year. Wow. Dogs are now 101-77 against the spread all year. So are we just... Yep. Yeah.

Fade the public. Whatever the top five public bets are, take the opposite side. Even if it makes zero sense. Raiders-Jets. That's one of the top five today, or this weekend. I'm taking the Jets.

Yeah, but you don't know if it's top five yet. It's only fucking Thursday. As of this morning, Colts, Chiefs, Seahawks, Raiders, Packers are the five teams with the most bet tickets on them. Yeah, but what I'm saying is a lot of action comes Friday, Saturday. You can't do what the public's doing right now for Sunday because, I mean, Diggs probably knows this much more than I because he literally studies where the money goes.

That's not something I get into. I'm going to start, but the money could change from Thursday to Saturday very quickly. All you need is like a couple people to start betting the other side. Right, Diggs? Yeah, normally in past years, early in the week would kind of signify how the betting is going to go. But this year it seems like smarter bettors are waiting until later in the week because they have no fucking idea who's going to be out with COVID

and stuff like that. So they're not putting their money in early. harder bettors are waiting till later in the week because they have no fucking idea who's going to be out with COVID and stuff like that. So they're not putting their money in early. You know, and I do think that is kind of running against me with the super boost thing. They're asking me to put in my super boost Wednesday night. Can't have that. Can't do it.

Can't win with it. Now I will say we won a bunch. So like I wasn't making that excuse when we were winning. So me only making that excuse when I'm losing is kind of, you know, makes sense though. That's how it goes. It's fair.

Yeah, but it's not fair for me not to acknowledge it whenever I'm winning and saying, like, yeah, but I kind of got lucky because the team that I bet on didn't get COVID or something like that going into the weekend. And I'm only mentioning it because I've been losing. But I would like to maybe have a little transparency in how that whole thing works. Like, yo, I'm making this pick on Wednesday. And sometimes the lines are going to benefit my bets bets but they don't change because we already put it in on wednesday or thursday so i mean there's a lot to go through whenever you're gambling

one of them would be you know like this does an entire team get the the big c yeah well pat you you make no excuses you seek no comfort i i will like to say i do believe i am one of the least excuse giving humans of all time i think i think that is something that is true now you know i would be an undefeated pro wrestler still if it wasn't for that one match against adam cole and if i didn't make a couple rookie mistakes in there you know like kick the stairs he obviously set me up for that to break the foot. And then why am I going to top rope? Don't need to do that.

You know what I mean? Like there's a lot of things that I potentially have made mistakes for. But I don't mind just eating things, you know, and just changing and becoming a better person. We have some breaking news here from the Woj. Anthony Davis has formally, okay, formally agreed. They have agreed the terms last night, I assume, but they have formally agreed to a five-year, $190 million deal with the Lakers. CEO of Clutch Sports, Rich Paul, tells Woj that.

Congrats to Anthony Davis for the super max deal with the Lakers. This obviously comes one day or two days after LeBron James signed a two-year $85 million deal. He'll be getting paid $42.5 million as a 39-year-old man playing in the NBA, and it seems as if he's nowhere near slowing down. Bron and AD became a hell of a tag team. Nobody knew how it was going to work because anytime you have LeBron on a squad with another superstar, it's going to be LeBron's team.

How will they be able to gel? It seems like down in the bubble, they came together in a beautiful fashion that I would assume a lot of people thought they weren't going to do. After winning the championship, Anthony Davis said he wanted to come back to the Lakers, blah, blah, blah. Then he takes the player option to go to free agency instead of going back to the Lakers. Everybody was wondering like, oh my God, is he going to go back to Shaitan, turn the bulls around, make them relevant for the first time in like 60 years. Whenever Michael Jordan was making up stories in restaurants to keep him motivated. And now we know he did that so he could sign a damn near $200 million deal.

Congrats to Anthony Davis. Congrats to the Lakers who not only added a sixth man of the year last year, the runner-up for the sixth man of the year. They brought in Trez from the Clippers. They have Anthony Davis. LeBron James still locked in. Seems like the Lakers, with Vogel still on the bench, are at the top of the mountain and will be for some time.

And LeBron James is just house and wine talking about it. Also, the NBA, I think they had a 9% positive COVID rate as they returned back to training camp. 9% of the players tested had positives. I think they were expecting that. This is kind of what happened whenever teams went back for their first initial of everything. Guys will get quarantined, and then hopefully they'll be able to drop that number

significantly but i will fall back on my research that i have done and i am not a doctor i'm not a scientist and i have not run the numbers exclusively but i do believe athletes have survived about a hundred percent of the time that they have been deemed positive for COVID. Doesn't mean that that number could change. I'm just saying numbers are saying that the 9% of NBA players that tested positive come back to the NBA probably going to survive, which is good news for everybody. Also, the Rockets and the Washington Wizards

have a massive trade that happened yesterday. John Wall and Russell Westbrook are exchanged alongside a one overall in the 2023 draft to change. This is interesting to me. This is very interesting. Last night I was listening to Woj talk to Scott Van Pelt, and he was basically selling that Russell wanted to go play with Bees. Brad Beal. Brad Beal.

Brad Beal. Brad Beal, yeah. Brad Beal, Bees. In my head, I saw two Bees. He wanted to play again with Brad Beal. I was like, well, didn't he just want to play again with James Harden? Like, what is... This is an interesting thing here, you know?

And James Harden doesn't want to be there. So John Wall is going... I mean, the drama around the NBA is a lot better. Like, the contract signing for $190 million and for $85 million and the trades and the drama around the NBA, much like the MLB, is a lot better, I think, in a lot of people's eyes than the actual games, even though I'll watch the shit out of NBA highlights because I like watching freak athletes do freak athletic things.

But that one's very interesting. Whenever it finally gets out about what happened behind closed doors, both in Oklahoma with Russell Westbrook and in Houston with Russell Westbrook, and now inevitably happens in Washington with Russell Westbrook and James Harden in Houston and John Wall now being involved, that's the stuff I can't wait to hear about. Yeah, it's being reported that James Harden preferred to play this season with John Wall instead of Russell Westbrook.

Yeah, see, there's even more drama. Because didn't they offer James Harden like $200 million or something like that? Oh, yeah. Like a $50 million a year extension. Yeah, and he was like, nah, I want traded, actually. And now they're like, well, how about we just get rid of Russell Westbrook and bring in John Wall? And he's like, well, how about that $50 million a year thing?

Russell Westbrook and bringing John Wall and he's like well how about that 50 million dollars a year thing by now you know we're Arby's guys through and through here we've told you about the roast beef and that it is slow roasted for three hours and we told you all about the deep fried turkey club that made our Thanksgiving season that much better but Arby's is so much more than just roast beef I mean, the roast beef is amazing, but there's a whole menu to explore here. They've got 10 different kinds of meats, 25 different sandwiches, including gyros and wraps, nine different kinds of bread, unique sides like mozzie sticks, jalapeno poppers, and of course the amazing curly fries. So it's time to knock it off with the greasy pizza and burgers. only does arby's have something on their menu for everyone but it's better food at a better

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tight end, I assume. I think he played center, nose guard, you name it. Ladies and gentlemen, he once had one of the prettiest Hail Marys of all time at Colorado, Cordell Stewart. Yay! What's up, guys? How's it going, Slash?

Thanks for joining us, man. Hey, anytime, man. You know, a hair and mirror past that was once beautiful, I mean, it still is. You see it every year, you know. It's like I tell the people all the time, every time I watch it, when they show it around that time of year in September, right, every year when the season starts, it almost seems as if the play actually took place maybe 24 hours prior to watching it.

So it's pretty remarkable to watch it every time. And the older I get, the younger it keeps me. So we just need to keep that thing alive. Hey, we will. Hey, we will for sure because it was a magical play. I'd like to talk about it because you were a quarterback, obviously, in college. Then you go to the NFL. And who was playing quarterback when you got to the nfl and who was playing quarterback when

you got to the steelers it was neil o'donnell oh neil o'donnell okay now i got questions about hey neil o'donnell now in that super boy i don't need to talk about it but the um you had to they had to figure out ways to get you on the field because of how athletic you were and it was it captivated a lot of people right it captivated pittsburgh it captivated the nfl and then when you got your shot to play quarterback though again you were legit like legit quarterback solid quarterback now this same type of thing is happening with tasem hill right i mean it's legitimately happening in front of our eyes right now it is happening yet once again quarterback in college then it comes to the nfl drew breeze is there but sean payton's like hey we're going to use you because you're such a good

athlete in all these fashions now he's playing quarterback and everybody's saying a couple weeks into this thing tasem hill is now going to have to play actual quarterback we'll see how it goes hasn't had a lot of success throwing a rock but running the ball at being weapon everything like that do you watch him and think to yourself i didn't get enough credit back in the day? Or do you watch him and go, I'm happy that a guy that was similar to me is playing in the same type of blueprint that I had? Well, allow me to, when it comes to feeling like I didn't get enough credit, I'll leave that up to the writers and everyone that's a part of writing stories about the things that I did when I was in Pittsburgh.

But here's the thing in those days and in that time is when you step on the football field after being a quarterback for so long, but yet you go on the field and you play wide receiver and you're just as good or even better at asking some then or with the guys that you're playing with. It's hard in that era, in that time for those watching the game. Buy into that talent, being able to just be a quarterback, because in that time in AFC, think about the quarterbacks you had. Everything was extremely traditional. It was a pocket passer that's able to read a defense, have a running game that was led by a great offensive line and having fullbacks in front of the tailback to where that style of play from the quarterback

position wasn't really, if you will, respected in that era. You know, it was always said when a ball was a, if you will, a wobbly ball, you know, nice throw, the ball can be placed a little bit better. Right. Or, or, or as opposed to saying great pass, great read. It was, that was a nice athletic play. Right. So to go from playing wide receiver, the way I did catch the league by surprise to then being asked or given a chance to compete for the starting job as a QB and do a pretty good job at it. Right. Got us to an AFC championship game. My fault. My first season, my first season, full time playing a position.

my first season full-time playing a position to then two years later, after a couple of changes at coordinators, you know, from Chan Galey to then moving to a Ray Sherman, to then a Kevin Gilbride and then a Mike Malarkey, you know, that that's a lot of change with a guy that's doing so much. So now when you don't play well or you make a mistake, the conversation goes, why don't we put a natural quarterback in? Someone that's a real quarterback, take him and put him at the wide receiver position, let him be an athlete like he is.

Well, the game has gotten to the point now when we cover the athletic and mobile quarterback, it's being talked about what can he do to keep the chains moving? Look at, like when you watch Taysom Hill playing that game, I think, against the Atlanta Falcons. Oh, great read, great throw, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, gosh dang it if I was only playing now. Gosh dang it if I was only playing now.

But let's be transparent. The body of work that I put in will not be erased. It will be categorized. However, the analyst that's analyzing it, you know, it's going to be categorized in that way. But if that game and that style of play was in place right now, without a shadow of a doubt, it would be great conversations. There would be no doubt that the plays can be made at the quarterback position

with great throws, making reads. Because nothing was questioned about my ability to be in a read defense. It's just he probably would be better suited playing wide receiver. And maybe it was because of the traditional system, like what they had in Pittsburgh, which was strictly great defense, offensive line, get prepared with the smash mount running game quarterback don't screw it up so it was almost as if it was so i was so talented at that position in pittsburgh to where it almost worked against me to an extent right uh i think cordell i think

the thing about it is i think the thing about it is it's an interesting thing whenever i hear you talk there because whenever you make a couple mistakes there's no patience from is it's an interesting thing whenever i hear you talk there because whenever you make a couple mistakes there's no patience from anybody it's like well obviously since he's not 100 here put his ass out of wide receiver way he was unbelievable wide receiver what do we even he's not what are we gonna have to go through growing pains over there we just had him over here you hear people start to say that and also yeah anytime we have a uh a caucasian wide receiver on or a caucasian defensive end you know all the hard-working high engine coach's son first one in last one out all that all the bullshit right it just continues lunch pail guy all that stuff

whenever you talk about how they said like uh oh that was a nice athletic throw or whatever instead of pass i could tell that whenever you heard that it still is something that you think to yourself you're like uh that sounds like some bullshit right like that is just an interesting way to say what they don't want to actually say you know a 10 pound bag of it a 10 pound bag all right um but but allow me to say this. You know, when I watched the game today, you know, because we want to look at the glass half full. I was a minority in a sense, not literally,

but figuratively based on my style of play. You had a Steve Young who had to sit behind a Joe Montana and a Bill a bill watch system coming from Tampa and going through his run, I think, through the USFL to then learning the game, the West Coast style offense. hearing the plays, seeing the plays actually be executed, to then having opportunities to then, in 96, with Mike Tomczak and I going back and forth, having a chance to get plays even then, to then becoming full-time with Chan Geely, knowing that he had Joe Montana back when he was in Denver,

when they had their tremendous amount of runs to championships. He came with that level of confidence and comfort because he was my receivers coach too as well when I started in 95. He's like, you know what? Just be you. Whatever decision you make, you see it, you trust it, and you react to it. And lo and behold, that's how it happened. And he ended up leaving, going to Dallas right after that. And I had to figure it out from there. It was one of those situations where it was a great run in Pittsburgh. It's something that will forever

be remembered, and I'm very appreciative of it, but with the game being the way it is today. It's not like I'm an old guy at all. I'm still young. You should have went and played for the Broncos. They had a wide receiver that played. Guys, guys, guys, guys, I'm 48.

All right? You don't look at them. You don't look at them. Yeah, but, you know, a hamstring here and there, out there in that beautiful country, you know, my memories in Colorado were great. I don't want it to end on a hamstring pull or a lower back blowout.

So, you know, I let those young kids have it in that cold weather, but again, I had a great run, guys. It was fun, honestly. To see Taysom Hill do what he's doing, the way he's doing it, I think it's tremendous, to be honest. I could sit here and talk about everything of what they said when I was playing, but that was my time. This is this kid's time to go out and play.

The game has allowed him to be himself and be an athlete at the position to be able to go out and play and know that being patient is not a bad thing. Right. And you know one thing for sure, Sean Payton's not going anywhere when it comes to being a play caller. So he's going to be fortunate and blessed to have that on his side there in New Orleans if he gets that opportunity to be the quarterback long term but after this season once Drew Brees gets healthy and come back.

Cordell by the way I think Taysom's probably going to appreciate you saying that I would assume that a lot of guys who played quarterback but were also like Lamar I would assume Kyler Murray as well I assume they all know of your greatness which is all that matters in this entire thing. But whenever you look, let's pivot back to the Steelers now. When you watch that Wednesday afternoon football game yesterday, I assume you watched it. Did you get a chance to check it out?

Yeah, I did. I did. I watched it. It was a close one. RG3 came in. Why is it so bad? Why was it such bad football? This late into the season, right?

Now, granted, I know the game has been moved and everything like that, but we're in week 12 now going into week 13. Why was that such bad football yesterday? Was it the timing? Was it the situation? Was it just AFC North football? What do you think it was? I think it was all three of those that you just mentioned.

I think it was timing. I just think it's the matchup, you know, as well. It's never a clean game between those two teams when you think about how Baltimore and the Steelers play, whether it's playing in Baltimore or playing in Pittsburgh. It's always that match, even going back to when I played the game. I mean, I was what? I think I was 81 or 91 against them, but it never was easy.

You know, I have to throw that in there. It never was easy playing against the Baltimore Ravens, you know, regardless. Because it was the egos of, you know, Marvin Lewis bringing a 3-4 defense into Baltimore to figuring out who had the better 3-4 defense, right? Between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens, to now it's just became a traditional going from what? It was at one time an AFC Central Division to then now the AFC North Division, and who's going to be the bully within that division that's going to be able to come out of it victorious? Now, no one's talking about the Cleveland Browns right now.

That team is really playing good football to where they're going to make their mark in probably being the second best team in that division because RG3, not RG3, excuse me, but Lamar Jackson going through his COVID and also the other players in the backfield to the offensive linemen and defensive players. So, you know, if you will, we as a Steelers team caught, it's not no one's fault, but you know, what we all dealing with in this country, which is COVID-19 and we don't want anything to happen to the players, but we didn't get, in my opinion, I think the Baltimore Ravens best shot because their better players weren't on the field because of what took place with COVID-19.

But it still was a battle. It still was a struggle. And if you hear Ben Roethlisberger and Mike Tomlin, they're not happy with the way they played that game, knowing that they didn't have their best players on the field. So you have to create some form of transparency, let alone some perspective to say, hey, we didn't get the Baltimore Ravens' best shot, and we still struggled.

That's the way you have to look at it when you're in the position that the Steelers are in, where they came off going into that game 10-0, right? Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom?

Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom?

Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom? Have you ever met Tom? Let's be transparent. On the road in Dallas. On the road, you know, having some – I think on the road in Baltimore, I think right after that, correct me if I'm wrong, and both those games weren't easy games.

And to come to this one, not having their best players on the field, still struggle, if you will, considering how they wanted to play, it didn't happen. So looking at Pittsburgh and how they're not settling, and it's always been this way in that city when it comes to that team, is you can't rest and get comfortable. So I just think it's one of those things where they just have to get better and walk away feeling good about how they won the game,

which I think is great perspective moving forward, knowing what you're trying to play for. Do you and Mike Tomlin know each other well? I'd assume that he's reached out to old legends of the steelers and from what i've heard about the pittsburgh steelers team is it's like uh you know it's almost like more like a college where people are still around almost do you and tomlin know each other well i've met him once actually i met him once i think when we a few years ago, played against the New England Patriots in Pittsburgh, they invited the guys back all the time. I only went back once over the past few years.

But, you know, Coach Tomlin, he's a player's coach. He played the game of floor, play receiver. He gets it. He was in Tampa and had a run playing in the second, you know, coaching in the secondary. So he understands the game. He is a pittsburgh's head coach uh he's tough he keeps you he keeps you grounded uh you don't get hilarious you don't get too low with the lows so he's straight up he is hilarious his yeah yesterday

his press conference he's cut a promo basically against the steelers all right we look like a jv team uh what was the problem us sucking sucking, basically, is what he said. We suck. Straight up. That's what they say at Pittsburgh. You suck. I'm the first one. I can be the one to tell you.

I know what it sounds like when they tell you you're sucking. Trust me when I tell you. They let you have it, bro, when you're not doing a good job. And, you know, I think Coach Tomlin is getting ahead of the ball, you know, going down the hill, picking up all the trash, right. You know, he's letting you know, straight up before you give it to me, I'm gonna give it to you about who we are. We suck right now. That wasn't a good game. Even though we got the dub,

we'll let you pat us on the back. We're not going to pat ourselves on the back. We don't let you know we suck right now in order for us to be really good. It would be great to accomplish what we need to accomplish, because remember, you do still have Kansas City that's sitting out there right now that we know at any time they can be down 24-0 in the first half and in one quarter put up anywhere from 21 to 28 points on you within the first 10 minutes of that third quarter and have you scratching your head asking questions like

what the heck just happened so i think the perspective of who they are knowing that they're not running the football that well right now they're just they're just not getting it done and and when you're relying just on a passing game and ben has turned them all over a few times i think he's keeping the proper perspective and knowing that ben is playing good football but if he doesn't have any balance and you're forcing him to throw the football all the time that's going to be the the narrative and the story moving forward that if we can stop them from running the football make ben throw it and turn the football over you know if we don't get that corrected right now moving forward which we're not perceiving that this is going to be a continual thing,

Ben is who he is. He is the Pittsburgh Steelers. But if we make it hard for them, harder, let's just say that harder for them, by forcing them to throw it, knowing that he's turned the football over, the teams are going to be pretty happy if they're dependent on Ben in the passing game and they start doing that because that's not uh what we're accustomed to seeing from him because he's kicking the ball out of his hands fast you know it's much better that's the topic of the conversation

with how he's played since he's been back off of his injury he's not at lipping at living trying to make plays with his feet and you know taking some time which he still does but he gets the ball out of his hand really fast. But I think the running game needs to be corrected. Defense is playing great. Had a couple injuries on the defensive side of football. If they can get that corrected, man, they're going to get – I mean, Kansas City is the bar.

Let's just be transparent. Regardless if the Steelers are undefeated, they're the bar. And if they don't correct what they're doing right now, they're not going to have a chance to really get in position to go to the big game, which we all know it's all about Super Bowls in Pittsburgh. It's not about playoffs. It's not about winning one or two games.

It's about getting into the Super Bowl and letting the chips fall where they may. The interesting thing about that Chiefs team, though, if you look at the way the Steelers are built with that D-line, you know what I mean? That is a team, the Steelers are a team that could potentially. Now, Bud Dupree getting an ACL yesterday was not great for that defense. I mean, he has been a massive piece of it. Him and T.J. Watt have been racing to quarterbacks all weekend.

But I think the thing about it is, if you can keep Patrick Mahomes contained in the pocket, that's, I think, the only chance you have to slow him down. But even if you do that, by the way, you've still got to cover Travis, Tyreek, Nicole Hardman, Le'Veon Bell, who's there now. It's going to be problematic in the AFC for a long, long time. Connor, what do you got for Cordell? Slash, Robert Griffin III after the game talked about, you know,

how he's a leader in the locker room and also Jacoby Percet for the Colts is another guy who comes to mind. Is the backup role for the quarterback kind of developed into more of a leadership, into more of a power role role or was it kind of is it the same as it was when you were in the league as well let's just say it's sometimes the voice of reason right um the backup quarterback is the starter's best friend he's your ally so to speak to the point where if something needs to be conveyed to a receiver that point where if something needs to be conveyed to a receiver that's frustrating, or something needs to be conveyed to the offensive line, or something

needs to be conveyed to whomever it may be on the offensive side of the football, sometimes the best person to do that is the backup quarterback, because he can see through the starter's eyes sometimes what he's looking at. May not actually react or come away the way you wish, but you know what he's trying or attempting to do sometimes, especially when there's interceptions, fumbles, if you will, by the quarterback, sacks, just a continuous one, two, three, and out. He sometimes will be that person, like Mike Tomczak was for me early on in my career, that would go and tell the guys, hey, you know,

this is what's going on. Be patient. I remember just as an example, I remember being slash, you know, playing the slash role my rookie year. And we were down, I think, like 31-3 or 31-13 against Cincinnati in 1995 on the road. And I remember being in the slot, and I kept being wide open running down the seam. And what I mean by the seam is just running straight down the hash, right?

Play single high safety. They got flat defenders, whether it's the Sam, strong safety, or the Sam, or the Will back on the weak side. You inside release, you go straight down the seams. No one's covering me. I go up to Mike Tomlinson. I said, Mike. And I'm waving my hand pretty loud and clear to Neil that I'm open.

I'm like, Neil, bro, I'm open. Every receiver says that, right? So I go to Mike because we're all in quarterback meetings together. I say, Mike, tell Neil the next time we run this play again, after he makes the throw on the outside, look down the seam and see where i am and see that i'm not covered so he does it he doesn't throw the ball again i say me i said mike the next time we run this play again just tell him look down the seam i'm open bro i promise you he said i got you stew i got you so he tells neil neil comes back he takes a look at it

71 yard touchdown we go on a run we end up so so that voice of reason by the backup is very instrumental i think a lot of ways especially when it's come to conveying stuff to the coordinator the quarterback coach the offensive line coach or even just to me to help me see things just a little bit different for the starter that is a little bit different to where, you know, you may be caught up into what you're caught up into, to where you may be missing a few little things. So, you know, when you look at the Kansas City Chiefs or even the backups, you know, on either team, they're instrumental to the eyes of the coordinators and the quarterbacks especially uh when it comes to playing on that so much duress and the expectation is so high it's so

interesting to think that they're like the buffer almost like hey they're like a lobbyist for some people like hey listen uh yeah old buddy's got a lot of shit going on i know that he's probably not gonna listen to me i'm a rookie rookie wide receiver at this point but will you please tell neil that i am wide open as in tom's x like yeah hey look look pat it was more than that i said a little lot i was like bro dude you need to bleep bleep bleep tell that i'm freaking hoping bro you know you you you you hear it all the time that the quote-unquote prima donna receivers. I wasn't that guy.

I was just happy to get on the football field. But I didn't want to come – I wanted to come across that way, so I tried to slide it in the best I could so even my times, I don't think because we're in the same room that I'm going to get all the goodies. Right. He's an asshole. I don't want Andre Hastings, Charles Johnson, Ernie Mills, and Yancy Thigpen thinking that I'm trying to one-up them, right?

So, which I was. But, dude, I'm wide open. And lo and behold, when I said it and we caught it, man, we were on the run. And we ended up getting – and I think we were on like a four or five-game winning streak because I think we were down like – four or five game winning streak. Cause I think we were down, like we were two and four or something crazy, one in four at that time. And that was one of those games that ignited our run to allowing us that

season and finish 11 and five and making a run to a Superbowl. But yeah, the backup quarterback, you know, he's, he's the, he's the greatest player on the football field, right.

Especially when the starter's doing bad. So you make him earn his keeps while you're doing good, or if you're struggling just a little bit by talking to everybody, and you're pretty much helping him, so to speak, to where when you're not doing good, you're making him become best friends with everybody while you're out there playing. So when he does get a chance to come in, they're like, yeah, let's go.

We're about to go do it. And, you know, they end up doing it, you know, just like Teddy Bridgewater when Drew Brees went down. And you saw that run last year. He made a great run. And, you know, however they got it done, they did a great job to help to where when Drew Brees came back, they finished 13-3 in the regular season, won a division,

end up losing a little bit too soon. But that's another moment in time that we had a chance to see the backup quarterback somewhat be a hero, so to speak. Hey, Cordell, it's always, as a kid that grew up in Pittsburgh during your era, it's really cool to talk to you. And I can't thank you enough for your time, man. Hey, you know what, guys? You know, talking a bunch of crap and, you know, bringing back old memories.

Call me whenever you want to. Call me whenever you want to. I love doing that. Cordell Stewart. Yeah! The holidays are just around the corner. Are you looking for a way to stay connected with loved ones

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Yeah! How you doing, dude? I'm good. How you doing? You didn't get beat up last night, right? You just spoke to the camera? Yeah, seven minutes of me speaking. Thought there was a chance I was potentially going to get my ass kicked, but I went out there and just spoke the truth.

Hey, boys and I are ready for Sunday war games, and we cannot wait. And the three badasses I have alongside of me, they ain't going to let a single thing happen to me, buddy. They ain't going to let a single thing happen to me. We're going to end the undisputed era. Yeah! Hell yeah! So what do we got going on, AJ?

Not much. Just watched a riveting football game yesterday at 340 kickoff. Have you? That looked like a preseason football game. That was an ugly, ugly, ugly football game. And yesterday, Connor, we let off the show with this. Yesterday, Connor did an entire speech about how years from now, when we're watching midday games in the middle of the week, we should remember the founding father of that. And that was what we had a chance to experience yesterday. But instead,

I believe the NFL is going to be like, well, can't have games at 340 on Wednesday because the players don't know how to play football anymore. And that seemed like what the case was. Steelers get a win. Mike Tomlin's not happy, but that was an ugly football game. And last night after I got home after NXT, I turned on NBC, you know, what was on instead of the football game. It was all recycled garbage bullshit.

That show sucked, too. I mean, it was so it was just I thought NBC was going to have an incredible lineup there from 340 all the way through. Game was stuck, and that Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting thing was even worse. It was a bad night there whenever we, but hey, things like that are going to happen. We're all alive, at least. That's good news.

Yeah, I didn't see the tree lighting ceremony. I know I'm to shame because over 7 million other people, I guess, watched that. But what I did see was something on the internet where they tried to block everybody off. They didn't want them to be able to go to the – when they actually lit it up. And they actually created like a little COVID tunnel where everyone cramped in trying to get pictures of when the tree got lit. Well, see, the thing about those COVID tunnels is, you know, whenever you get in the middle of one –

Can't get out. You can't get out i believe i believe it is one where i i think the uh who the fuck knows at this point some three-letter place okay that has scientists involved in it they've moved the amount of days you know because originally it was what 21 days and then that then it was 14 days it was 10 days and seven days it was cdc i guess they just shortened it down to 10 days or nine days now so i mean nobody knows anything but i do know if you're in a covet tunnel maybe the covet just battles each other in there oh and the humans just kind of kind of skirt by but yeah anytime i saw as soon as i saw them trying to rope things off and say, like, you can't come. And I saw the mayor.

What's his name? Seems like he's done a really good job. Yeah, that guy. Seems like he. Yeah, here's a New Yorker, by the way, man. Sorry, just screamed from the background. That guy fucking sucks. I mean, I don't live in New York.

I'm not there much. I don't know if anybody will ever really go back. But he said, like, we're telling everybody to watch from home or whatever and then the governor was doing that and then immediately upon saying that as soon as you hear that you know what exactly what that means like oh okay that means that there's gonna be people that aren't gonna watch from home maybe people that were thinking about watching from home heard you say that and they're like oh is that right de blasio huh is that goddamn right because let me tell you what de blasio i will I will fucking come right in there if I have to.

You know what I mean? That is kind of how I see it all working out. I didn't see that part of the COVID tunnel or anything like that, but I did expect that to happen. Yeah, I think the picture I saw, they parked buses to block people off, and then people were trying to find a way in between the buses, like the little three-foot gap to squeeze a picture in there. I was checking the, um,

the internet last night, you know, because wrestling, the internet wrestling community, I just, I enjoy whenever, uh, they get going,

you know, it's nice to kind of, kind of get them going, you know? So I like to see what they have to say. Cause they, they're a bunch of bums. So it's nice to know what they have to say or whatever. And I was seeing a lot of things that were trending and, you know, so I like to see what they have to say because they're a bunch of bums. So it's nice to know what they have to say or whatever.

And I was seeing a lot of things that were trending. And, you know, it stung a little bit to see some of the things that people were saying about me and all that stuff. But the martial law was trending last night on Twitter. And I was like, well, what the fuck is going on here? Is this a form of martial arts? I don't know what we've got going on here. And I clicked on it. going on here is this a form of martial arts i don't know what we got going on here and i clicked on it turns out i guess los angeles have prohibited moving outside your house by foot bike car or air

so that's uh i guess that is and that is what the martial arts is over there but it's real confusing i know the thing that i have seen on it is there was like a list of exceptions though and there's a million weird exceptions to, I guess, the reason why you're able to leave your house. I don't know. Here's a good exception. If you pay the politicians in the area, you are accepted from this particular form of martial arts is what it sounds like. And I don't think I fully understand what martial law is, but it was trending hot last night. I mean, it was a tie.

You're a little bit smarter than we all are, even though you sucked in college, but you still got into Harvard. What is martial arts? Martial law, I believe, is when, like, you know, basically things get taken into, like, everyone else's hands. Like, I mean, there's – It's military control. Yeah, military takes over.

Exactly. Karate chops. Yeah, military's giving out a bunch of karate chops. You know, it sounds like it. The way I was reading it, I saw a lot of people in L. shops. Yeah, military's giving out a bunch of karate shops. You know, it sounds like it. The way I was reading it, I saw a lot of people in L.A. tweeting. I think they were probably the ones that were like, what is this martial law or whatever? And the more I read on Twitter, obviously, the less I fully understood.

But they're not even allowed outside their house to take a piss out there. You know what I mean? I enjoy peeing outside every once in a while at the house because i got some property one of the really benefits of having some property is getting a chance to as soon as you get home and i have an active bladder i drink a lot of fluids is doing it i don't even think they're allowed to stand outside like i don't i don't even think you're allowed to even look at the ocean even though you live so damn close to it it's like i know you guys got good weather out there but i'm not sure you're allowed to feel it everybody's got 70 and sunny inside of your houses over there we're pulling for everybody to help everybody safe is that

going to stop covid i guess doing that is that what that's going to do that's the plan i guess right yeah because i remember one plan was uh this martial arts for everybody in the country for two three weeks and that was what 10 months ago and we're still doing this whole thing didn't work seems like martial arts is not the right way to go. We need to figure out a new discipline. What's that, Zito? MMA. Mix martial arts. Mix martial law.

We need mix. This is a sports show. How do you tie martial law into sports? I think we need mixed martial law to really attack this covid if we want to take it down but t's and p's everybody out in la also santa clara county i assume the same type of thing going on if you guys are locked down we'll try our best to put

some dumb stuff on the internet for you to enjoy alongside us i will say this uh we're in florida currently and it does feel like uh very different than the mixed martial law that's going on over in california oh yeah hanging out out there by the pool i will assume not not the pool that we're at and also it's been like 40 degrees but uh there's a lot of traffic still so that's just kind of how i judge somebody's going these people are going somewhere i don't know where they're going but they're gonna they're not locked down in their house. So I think Florida is potentially the complete opposite of that. And you could probably look for a spike in population in Florida, if I had to guess. Yeah, yeah. Everybody thought I was going to go a different way with that spike.

That's what you guys thought. Well, I know because we know you. So the Florida boom. Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of people moving down here. It feels like I saw moving trucks just fucking driving down here. That in Texas. Yeah, is Texas like Florida? Is it wide open?

I know Rogan went down there. Is it like Florida? I'm pretty sure. I know there are a couple cities that they have been talking. Like El Paso, I think, was one of them that just said, like, hey, basically you've got to stay in your houses. We've got to get this under control. Yeah, I don't know about Houston, Dallas, and a lot of the much bigger cities,

but I know a couple of them have been doing that. Hopefully it'll work, man. It won't. Let's go to Aaron in North Carolina. Aaron, what's going on? What's up, Pat? How are we doing today? A little bit hopeless, you know. It feels like the big cities got no shot

of getting beat. What do you want to talk about, dude? Well, first off, I have to tell you nothing wrong about what you said, but Coastal Carolina is in Conway, North Carolina, which is next to Myrtle Beach. Yeah, and they did that strictly so they wouldn't be directly tied to Myrtle Beach, but I can respect that. Okay, is it the same county?

Is it two different counties? Honestly, I am from North Carolina. I have no idea but just well don't you come in here trying to fucking correct me then you don't even know your own goddamn geography aaron i mean any if any students came in here and yelled at you for that i'm just trying to help i'm a helpful guy pat it's it's a 20 minute drive from the university the goddamn beach thank you i mean no I was going against your point. I have a question also, not just to...

Just a quick question, though. Senior Frogs down there is also a 15-20 minute drive from the beach as well. Hell yeah, you're going from Myrtle to North Myrtle. You might as well go to the university. Ipso facto. It seems like a fun time down there, ball at the beach. I'll tell you what.

Myrtle Beach, I have been numerous times. Believe it or not, the guy that's doing a talk show right now in Jorts in a tank top has... Foxy just sneezed. Jesus Christ. Put your mask on, Fox. Foxy does have his mask on, by the way. That's why I still got this thing around my neck.

Whenever you're on property here, it is a big lockdown. But I am at the end of a um i'm at the end of a very long boardroom desk i guess is what i've been told that was used for a lot of big time decisions but believe it or not the guy doing the show in george and a tank top has been to myrtle beach numerous times i have been in america and i have a great time down there so it's a compliment whenever i say coast carolina is in myrtle beach. But I can understand how the town of Conway is probably a little bit upset about it.

But whatever, you get it. Aaron, what do you want to talk about, too? Okay, so as a long snapper and a specialist, I have a question about how you are so dominant at onside kicks and how you just got the ball spinning like that. Because for a long time, you are just killing people with these onside kicks. I appreciate that.

I think I have the most in a season or tied for the most in a season. Never gets talked about. No big deal. I was a good soccer player. Could do a lot with the ball. We've all learned that I used to just kick a soccer ball against the side of my house for hours on end because I had too much AGD to play video games or watch anything.

I think that helps. And also, I worked on them. I think there's a lot of kickers that don't work on them because it's a lot of strain on your groin and on your toe for me i worked on them because i thought it was quite an advantage and we used it uh there for a couple years it was a lot of fun it was a lot of fun let's go to kevin in pittsburgh what's going on kevin hey pat first off i want to say i can't wait to watch you punt some people to the moon on sunday that's what i'm talking about. Thank you, Kevin. But anyways, I want to talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And I know it was pretty atrocious watching them yesterday. But anyways, knowing that these are the types of games that they lose in years past, it's got to be somewhat reassuring knowing that they were able to sneak away with a win yesterday. Amen. Yeah, agreed. Just like the Gary Gilbert game against the Cowboys. And they always talk about how they play down to their opponent. The good news about the playoffs is you're not playing anybody bad hey jay why do teams do that

like why do you guys and this happens to uh your positions much more than kickers or punters even though boz missed one yesterday too so it felt like it was a ender returner bob would win ray ray mcleod bobbled one earlier the um it feels like though in the game of football there is a chance for a relaxed feeling if you're playing against a team that you don't think is as good as you. Why is that? I don't know. It's something about, like, human nature.

No matter how much you try to fight against it, and we talk about it on the show all the time, like when you're playing a team that you should absolutely beat, your coaches most likely are going to be losing their mind all week because they're so worried that you guys are going to take it lightly and, oh, you can't sleep on these guys. They're going to beat you. When you're watching the film, you're like, I don't know if you've watched so far this year,

but these guys are not going to beat us. They are not as good as us. But, hey, it happens, though. You know, like you can get beat. But I think where the Steelers are, though, right now, it's a good thing to hear Tomlin's postgame comments and be all upset because, like, they built the expectations so high that they're not happy with a win like that's a good thing for everybody i think if you're a steelers fan we should run those clips right now zito they were amazing after the game mike tomlin

is always impressive in his press conferences he's always hilarious he is straight to the point while being entertaining yesterday after the game after they a win, but it was very ugly against the Baltimore Ravens in a WAF matchup at Boston-Connor. This is what Mike Tomlin had to say. Do you attribute that to anything in particular? Sucky. What was the first one, Zito? Not just that one.

I think there's another clip, right? Yep. According to our performance tonight, we did enough to win, but that's all. It was really junior varsity, to be quite honest with you. And it was in all three phases. We couldn't run the ball effectively when we needed to. We dropped too many significant passes, very catchable, makeable passes. We didn't make significant plays in the special teams game.

Our kickoff coverage unit wasn't good enough. We turned the damn ball over. We gave up big plays in critical moments on defense. Can't have it. They converted a long run on a possession down. We'll take a moment on defense. Can't have it. They converted a long run on a possession down before the half.

Unacceptable. They had a 70-yard touchdown late in the game. Unacceptable. It's good to proceed with the victory. I acknowledge that. But not a lot happened tonight to be proud of or to be excited about other than that. Yeah. By the way, shout out to whoever put the photos over him speaking there.

Great edit there. I like that a lot. Was that the Steelers that put the photos over him? No, we had to put the photos over to protect ourselves from ESPN and other media networks. Who told you that? It was live footage of the game. It was from first take. The other one had a mouse on his nose the whole time.

It was really bad. Oh, Zito, I appreciate it. I like watching him speak, though. I enjoy watching him speak. He. I enjoy watching him speak. He wasn't speaking behind those photos. What's that? He was not speaking. You couldn't see him.

They were showing game highlights behind those. Yes, like Steelers highlights. Oh, okay. We're not allowed to show those. That makes sense. By the way, I was in practice this morning, so you guys made the right decision. Good work there.

By the way, Nick, thanks for coming in there. Got it. Speaking English. That was really good work by you. Team way nick thanks for coming in there speaking english that was really good work teamwork guys yeah teamwork absolutely zito great work you've been doing a great job back there thank you he though he knows and by the way i love whenever a coach just dissects an entire game afterwards 71 you're blah blah blah unacceptable blah blah blah unacceptable this blah blah blah but it's junior varsity, by the way. You can tell that he said that about his team, but I assume at points he thought that about the other team as well

in the fact that it was a game. He was like, ah, junior varsity, this is just not good at all. The Steelers have had a couple of those this year. They're still undefeated. This is very much like the Packers last year. They were winning ugly, but they're still winning. So I'm intrigued by it all to see how it all plays out because, hey, you're going to get got.

You just got to get yours more than you get got, though, AJ. Yeah, you're right. If I was Joe Hayden, I would have a little – I'd say, hey, what about when I baited RG3 and got a pick six early in the game to put us on the board? Like, that was a hell of a play. Hey, Coach, pretty varsity fucking move, huh? Pick points early?

I mean, granted, I know we missed the extra point, but I feel like let's go ahead and relax a little bit that they got a short week now too and the boys asked earlier about how they move it and it was like whenever you play on monday monday is considered sunday in in the football world so then sunday is obviously saturday and saturday is friday and everything like that but they just played on wednesday afternoon they play on monday again so if monday sunday sunday saturday saturday's friday uh fridays you get it thursday i mean today's wednesday they didn't have a day off they're right into their work day i would assume it's gonna be a light work week but he seems to be pissed off so if a coach is pissed off normally he's gonna handle things differently but he knows that it's a short week they going to figure it out i'll be intrigued to see how they handle this whole week

this short week against the washington team on monday night well i mean you would think they're not going to be uh they may not be in full pads this week they probably shouldn't but i know tom one's not scared to do that uh yeah it will be i guess it will be interesting to see how they do it but i like that tom also says like hey no excuses doesn't matter like he's never gonna blame anything else even though he 100 understands in his mind knows yeah this obviously is not exactly an ideal situation for our team getting delayed like this over and over again then taking a short week but i like that he doesn't publicly make that like an issue and privately i bet with his family he has that conversation. Yes. I bet his wife is like, can you believe what they're doing to you? No, it's absolute bullshit.

It is beyond ridiculous. It is certifiably ape shit. Like, that is what he's saying. And then he goes to the media. He's like, we do not care, okay? Because he has to set the tone for the team. So what the coach is saying is the messaging of the team that he wants. Right? So even if he has this this it's like a drill sergeant i had a friend who became a drill sergeant in the marines

and whenever he's doing uh basic or whatever boot camp or whatever it is he has to be like the perfect marine right so he's never tired never smiles they never see him eat or anything like that and he is always full on hey i hate you type thing and then immediately afterwards he gets a couple weeks off you know and i got a chance to ask him one time i'm like how do you feel he's like it's terrible he's like whatever i'm i have to act as if i am just this robot of a human i'm allowed to eat for 13 hours i get like two hours of sleep and i gotta tell them like this is what it is. But inside of his head, he's just like, oh, this is a nightmare because he has to send a message to his guys. This is how you're

supposed to act. Just like a coach. This is how we feel about this situation. So when he comes out and says, we do not care, that's him not only telling the media that, but that's him telling the locker room too, by the way, like when you're asked, this is how we view it. Now, granted, Twitter has changed a little bit cause you get some inside scoops on how people actually feel, but that's everything for a coach. That's just like, that's why yesterday, whenever we heard Anthony Lynn was basically like, yeah, we're probably out of it. Like, and I saw a lot of chargers fans are like, what he's telling the truth or

whatever. It's like, okay, I get it as a pundit. You think he's telling the truth or as a fan, you think he's telling the truth. But he's setting the tone for how everybody else is supposed to think and feel about a situation. It's just a whole different world out there. Anytime a head coach is speaking to the media, he's trying to get his message across to the team. He's speaking to

his team through the media. And you're 100% right. This is the stance we're taking. Now, obviously, it's not a dictatorship. You can say what you want. You're an individual. But hey, this is kind is the stance we're taking now obviously it's not a dictatorship you can say what you want you're an individual but hey this is kind of the company line this is how we feel that with the culture going on here if you want to step out of line and you better be a hell of a player i guess if you want to if you want to veer off the message of the team you just got to be really really good and also in team meetings you know in team meetings they'll say you're going to get asked about this this is is how we feel about it. I'll never forget Josh McNary.

He got charged with a pretty serious crime, sexual assault, a man that was in the Army for a long time and then joined our team, and he was a special teams guy. And it happened right before we were about to go into a playoffs and on a run and everything like that. And it blindsided all of us because we loved josh mcnerney he was a good guy and chuck pagano you know he said you're going to get asked about dish the everybody else knows uh more than we do about this situation should be very guarded with your words obviously this is a very serious deal or

whatever and i as somebody that you know josh m Josh McNary did a lot for me. Okay. Like in special teams, I got a chance to know him and I liked him a lot. I like one up to Chuck afterwards. And I was like, Chuck, if I get asked about this, like, I'm not like, I'm not just going to be able to say like, I don't know what's going on there. Like, I feel like this, you know what I mean? And he was like, listen, you, you do whatever you got to do then or whatever. So I obviously got asked about it. And I led off with, first of all, if he did this, I hope that justice is served tenfold, right? Like if he did this, which by the way, I don't think any of us could have seen coming or whatever. But if he does this, I hope justice is served. But if he didn't, I would also hope that this

gets proven or whatever. And I think obviously our court system says that everybody's innocent until proven guilty i want to kind of see that work out right so i want everybody else just kind of did like you know more than we do you know more than we do we're not going to talk about it but for whatever reason on that particular reason that case i was like i have to i feel like i have to like what am i to josh mcnerry if a guy who i have done a lot alongside i know a lot about in the next morning the media local media said pat mcafee thinks josh mcnary should be considered innocent until proven guilty your thoughts okay and i was like oh yeah i fucking created that statement you know i mean like yeah i made that so we should put on a shirt almost pat mcafee said it's until proven guilty

or whatever you know and i caught a little bit of heat inevitably he was innocent on all charges and there was a lot of things cooking on the back end and he missed out on the entire playoff run as a special team earned checks and his career went a completely different direction and it made zero news waves after he got found innocent right actually they were doing entire stories about other victims we hope you're not quiet because of this outcome or whatever. And I was like, listen, I agree. Okay. And this, like, I agree that there are victims and I hope they do speak out and I hope justice is served against all these assholes that do this. But the victim in this particular case was Josh McNary. Like, and that is not getting talked about at all, you know?

And there was, so there was a couple of times where i was told how i'm going to answer things how you should answer things and i i was like i can't i can't do that i just i'm sorry i just can't do that and uh that could have backfired immensely obviously and i'm at this point i'm pretty you know i'm happy it didn't and i'm happy he was innocent by the way because if he did do that i would hope he'd go to jail for the rest of his life. But that was one of those situations where the coach is speaking, setting the tone for everybody else's thoughts. Like, this is how we feel about this. This is what we are going to do. And this is how you all are talking.

And it's like, sometimes it's like, and the Steelers players, by the way, are tweeting like, man, this is bullshit. That is not what Tomlin said. That is not, hey, you guys did not get the message that we all heard. We do not care in that entire thing. It's a wild, wild, because messaging is a big deal, especially with how many chances there are to, you know, kind of tear your team apart if people are on different pages.

Well, sometimes like perception can become reality. And a lot of times perception is reality when people are looking from the outside in. But can you imagine, first of all, you were put in a really difficult situation there, and obviously I think you handled it well. But how about the Patriots with the Hernandez situation? Has any player ever commented on the situation? I don't know.

Did the PR somehow keep that away? I don't. That would be very tough. They did the whole jersey swap so like after that happened they are basically like if you have any aaron hernandez gear you can come in and basically we will swap it for a jersey and then burn them out back yeah i know that for the fans but i'm talking about for the players the players in the locker room i would assume the media was a buzzing that day like uh hey do you ever shoot anybody with Aaron Hernandez?

I played catch with him. Now that I think about it, though, he was kind of aloof. That's what everybody said. I think everybody said they didn't see him outside the building. The Colts, I never did media. Ever. Like, I have a media career now or whatever, obviously. But I was never asked for interviews.

I never did did interviews ever like i was which by the way probably how it should be with a punter like i'm not supposed to be talking for anybody but the colts only had me speak whenever it was potential catastrophic situations for for everybody involved like hey is there any way you could potentially speak about a potential gay player coming into our locker room and i'm like yeah i can go do that no problem or whatever and then i get in there and it's just like a full thing and i'm like all right it's my first time speaking this year let's go ahead and fucking make sure all right here we go yeah uh nice talking to you how long have you been covering the team for i don't know i haven't done media for whatever

it's like okay yeah but there's been some players around the league who have said that if a gay player was coming to their locker room they would not be with it i'm like yeah but that's like what one two players or whatever you haven't heard the other what 1500 players that have said it'd be cool as ignorance is always gonna blah blah blah you know i do that entire thing and then as soon as soon as it's over or whatever none of that gets used right they were just waiting for me to potentially say something that is would be detrimental to how our team would look or whatever and it's like well this is the i'm telling you the truth like if a guy comes in here and he works alongside of us and he practices

and he works his ass off it does not matter who he loves how he feels what he does anything like that it's just like yo we're a team trying to win and anything like that and they're like are you sure you know like that's i'm like yeah i think so like yeah pretty i feel like i got a pretty good pulse on this this situation yeah well because blah blah blah who's the seventh string blah blah blah and blah blah blah said that i'm like well i don't know that guy and i'd assume there's potential ignorant statements coming from a lot of different places but i can tell you the large majority of humans that i've been around uh this is a much different situation they're like and you see the camera people just like put their cameras down they're gonna keep you in there they're gonna keep you in there until uh you give them the answer that they're expecting right yeah i guess

but the answer they're expecting was completely wrong and I have this problem with you know like yeah I'm not doing what you fucking want me to do how about that how about we play this little game called fuck you huh how about we play this little game it's a fun little game let's do it but it was that was the only time I ever spoke really genuinely

I mean that means that the Colts sure as hell trusted you a lot that you were the guy that they would put out when you have like those touchy situations where, you know, a lot of NFL players would not handle it well. I don't know, man. But I remember I remember them coming up to me like, is there any way you could speak to the media today? I'm like, yeah, absolutely. It's about blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, OK, yeah.

All right. Not for like Pro Bowl or anything, because I'm leading the league and everything. And he goes, OK, but yeah, I got it, oh, okay. Yeah. All right. Not for like Pro Bowl or anything because I'm leading the league and everything. And you guys are like, okay. But yeah, all right. Got it. Here we go. Let me go. Let me go get out there on the balancing on the high wire here.

Let's go ahead and just make it happen for you. No problem. Okay. Thanks, Pat. We'll see you whenever the next inevitable catastrophic PR thing potentially pops up. And then we'll just go ahead and send you out there. Mike, you got it. Appreciate you guys.

Love you guys. Thanks for giving everybody a number one jersey too all right that's the show thank you to all of our guests cordell stewart jeremy chin and obviously aj and we appreciate the hell out of all of you for listening, watching, subscribing, tweeting, you name it. The fact that you guys let us penetrate your ears every day is fucking awesome. We'll be back tomorrow with a feel good Friday. More great guests, more great conversation. We'll see you tomorrow. Cheers. Bye. Thank you. Bye. Thank you. Outro Music Bye.