The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 336 - Patrick Ricard, Taylor Lewan, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: January 20, 2021

On today’s show, Pat and the boys chat about Philip Rivers deciding to retire and whether or not he’s a Hall of Famer. They also discuss Patrick Mahomes’ status for Sunday’s game against the Bills as it looks like he’s on pace to be able to play, and look more at both matchups for Conference Championship weekend. Joining the program is 2x Pro Bowler, FB for the Baltimore Ravens, Patrick Ricard. Pat and Patrick chat about his conversion from a defensive lineman at Maine to FB once he got to Baltimore, him doing an Oklahoma drill on every play, what happened with the Ravens during their midseason struggles, and his mentality as a Fullback in the NFL (47:35-1:12:39). Next, 3x Pro Bowler, friend of the show, co-host of Bussin' With The Boys, Tackle for the Tennessee Titans, Taylor Lewan joins the program to discuss his rehab from a torn ACL, being in the concussion protocol, why Michigan Football extended Jim Harbaugh, his thoughts on the Ravens/Titans feud and why he loves being petty, and much more (1:12:41-1:36:13). Later, Pat and AJ discuss the Hall of Fame and why it's such a ridiculous discussion, and look back at AJ's previous run-in with Motor City Dan Campbell, the new Head Coach of the Detroit Lions (1:38:13-1:57:30). 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

hello wednesday january 20th 2021 rather large day in the real world yeah you could say that a lot going on over there in the real world uh if you choose to listen to this show today i can't thank you enough i appreciate you rocking with us this show did stink but the conversations were great yeah the interviews are great i think you'll enjoy them we appreciate you so much uh if you enjoy the show by the end of it, please be a friend and tell a friend. If not, just act like it never ever happened and say, hey, you know what? We'll come back tomorrow. Get them tomorrow, baby. Subscribe,

rate, review. Please. Alright, let's get to it. There's a new president in town over in D.C. That was happening. I don't know if it's still happening. It was happening moments ago as we came on the air. And in our world, some big news happened this morning as well. Ladies and gentlemen, after a 17-year NFL career out of NC State,

a man who captivated the hearts of football fans in San Diego and then drove from Los Angeles to San Diego for a year as the San Diego Chargers became the Los Angeles Chargers and captivated the hearts of the people in Los Angeles. Not a lot of people because they were Rams fans mostly at the time, but you get it. Then it comes to Indianapolis and at the beginning of his relationship in Indianapolis, the fans are a little bit intrigued by how it was going to go. Because the battles between he and Peyton Manning back in the day were always awesome. And this particular player loved to talk shit at a rate that nobody else did, which sometimes got casted as a negative thing. But I think if you ask any person that's been in the NFL, they'd say they love everything about it. He's created some of the

greatest moments in NFL films' mic'd up sessions, and he retired this morning. Phil Rivers, hell of a run, pal. Hey, Phil, hell of a run. Thank you, Phil. He made it official this morning with an entire statement. It was

reported by a couple people. I believe SpotTrack, S-P-O-T-R-A-C, had it first. I'm not 100% sure. I do like to give credit normally to who got it first because we understand that the news-breaking pond is filled with a bunch of sharks in there. Got to get it right. But he released a statement, an official statement. Every year, January 20th, is a special and emotional day. It is St. Sebastian's Feast Day.

Wow. Did you know that? I did not. Well, Sebastian became a saint. And I'll tell you what, on January 20th, he fucking emptied every plate in front of him. Oh, yeah. Great day. Great day.

January 20th, St. Sebastian's Feast Day. The day I played, Phillip Rivers says, in the AFC Championship without an ACL, by the way. No ACL. And now the day that after 17 seasons, I'm announcing my retirement from the National Football League. Thank you, God, for allowing me to live out my childhood dream of playing quarterback in the NFL. I am grateful to the Chargers for 16 seasons

and the Colts for the 17th season. Thank you to all my coaches that helped me grow as a player and person. Thanks to the support staff, by the way. One sentence. You know who you are. Equipment managers, athletic trainers, everybody, you know exactly who you are. I appreciate you. I appreciate the opposing defenses making it challenging

physically and mentally every week. Dot, dot, dot. I also enjoyed the banter. By the way, Phil, we all enjoyed that banter as well. Some people were pretty loud about not enjoying it. I want to let you know those people are not people that are friends of ours, and I think there's a lot more people like us than those people. We enjoyed whenever you talked shit to everybody.

Oh, yeah. But there were some times there where people were not happy about him shit-talking people. No, no. Where he would go literally at fans and say, never swearing somehow, but at fans he'd say things. In Indianapolis, there's an entire give and take of him and three fans during what I think was the AFC Championship game

in which they beat the Indianapolis Colts the year before I got drafted because Cyphers had a massive game for them. Cyphers is a legend. But there's just been a nonstop competitive edge to Phil Rivers that whenever he talks shit, some people bashed it. We always enjoyed it. Now let's get back to his statement. I appreciate the referees for putting up with all my fussing.

I think I was right most of the time, dadgummit. Good line. Hey. That's a great line. Hey, he knew that was going to get a good pop. Yep. And it did, by the way. Dadgummit.

Thanks to the fans in San Diego around the nation that both cheered and booed. By the way, I appreciate it. Both kind of heel baby face thing. Special thanks to my teammates. Without a doubt, my favorite part of the game, being a teammate. Thank you for being mine. Lastly, thank you to my wife and best friend, Tiffany, and our children.

Here we go. Hallie. What? Caroline. What? Grace. What? Gunner.

What? Sarah. What? Peter. What? Rebecca. What? Claire.

What? Anna. What? Could not have done it without. What? Peter. What? Rebecca. What? Claire. What? Anna. What? Could not have done it without y'all's unwavering support. As my playing career comes to an end, the next chapter begins. Cool up, I. Phillip Rivers. Wow.

I believe Phillip Rivers guaranteed Hall of Famer. There's some people, I guess, that oppose that opinion. It is actually zero's poll today, which we will keep up with throughout the show. If you're a starting, now listen, I'm going to say it. When I heard that we picked Phillip Rivers over Tom Brady to come to Indianapolis, I wasn't exactly thrilled about it. I mean, that wasn't something that I was like openly pumped about. But if you're a starting quarterback in the nfl for 17 years the hardest

position in sports everybody says it except for people that play in other positions that assume their positions may be a little bit harder than a quarterback position but i'm not exactly sure which one maybe being sydney crosby the greatest hockey player to ever exist is maybe a tougher position because the amount of pressure that's been put on him since he was in high school or whatever but the quarterback position is the nfl the The NFL is the largest league in the world, the best league in the world. And if you're the face of a franchise for 17 years at the hardest position in sports, the position that makes the game the biggest game in the world, in the best game in the world,

I think that automatically deserves a little recognition in the Hall of Fame. I mean, my house in college had a Hall of Fame. If a guy hit, you know, six straight cups going up in there. All right? Hall of Fame is like, hey, this is a collection of legendary things that have happened within our league. We have standards. We have a lot of different things.

17 years for the number 17, at the position that it is, he's definitely a Hall of Famer. You're not just a quarterback in the NFL for 17 years, and you're not at the top of the game or somebody that should be remembered whenever there's 100 years from now and Canton's still standing and walking through. I think he should be in there with a bust that even says something hilarious at the bottom of it so people know about Phil Rivers.

Phil Rivers obviously never won a Super Bowl. Dan Marino also, same story. Is it Philip Rivers' fault that the teams he was on didn't win a Super Bowl? Some people say yes because it is such a quarterback league, but then as we kind of get older now, right, we're kind of getting older into the game, realizing more and more, you need a fucking team around you. Yeah.

Like you're going to need a team. Everybody needs people to help them, and that's why football is the greatest team sport there's ever been. Now, granted, normally quarterbacks will attract great players or make players even better than they are, and they did. And he did have success, great success, just without winning the Super Bowl. I don't believe that is a reason to deem him not a Hall of Famer. I think Phillip Rivers is a Hall of Famer.

I enjoyed watching him this year with the Colts, mostly because Phil Rivers, Favre had this. Phil Rivers, old school, okay, old school guy. He would throw an interception, and then by the time he got to the sideline, he didn't even remember that it happened. He sits down. Actually, I don't even think he sat down ever. He stood and cheered for the defense the entire time

as opposed to sitting on the bench. Awesome teammate. I assume everybody that played with him loved him. Darius Leonard called him Uncle Phil, told him congratulations, that whole thing. But he just, I just, he's got to go into the fucking Hall of Fame. He has to. He honestly has to. And I think, I don't know, I'm a Phil Rivers guy, I think, at this point,

after watching him this year. Because the throw the pick, forget about it. Go right back out. Throw another one. I mean, he will not. There is not even a thought. After the weird release, obviously, and he came on the show, and he said it was because whenever he basically grew up around football,

his dad was a high school football coach, and when he was a kid he wanted to throw the ball, which I think we all do that, by the way. Whenever we're trying to throw a football, it's too big. But he was just so damn good at it that he just stuck with it and they they tried to change it or whatever he'll go right back out there and throw that thing right into a defensive meeting and it is not even a question and but there's a lot of quarterbacks that potentially do that have a lot of turnovers uh or potentially turn the ball over and they get cut quickly the reason

why Philip Rivers didn't and he played for 17 years, is because the immediate play after that, he'll put a ball into a keyhole, into a throw that you would never expect him to make, and he had that ability to bounce back. He was tough. He was a great. I think Phil Rivers is a Hall of Famer. Is he a first ballot Hall of Famer?

I mean, who the fuck knows about that? Okay, probably not not i'd assume because i don't know how that whole thing works to be honest i haven't looked into it strictly because there's there's a much better chance of me ending up in other hall of fames than the nfl hall of fame so i haven't really looked at the whole process but i believe the no super bowl thing will probably hold him out of the first ballot hall of fame thing but if you're philip rivers you should feel really good about what you accomplished. Now, will he go coach high school football like his dad?

Or will he take the $10 million a year that's probably going to be offered to him to be in the booth somewhere because they're already calling him the next Tony Romo? Now, will he be? Probably. I assume he'll probably be very good at it. He's come on our show. Great personality. FCC's going to love him.

He's completely okay. And he has an ability to be funny and relatable without swearing, which is not an easy thing to do. So maybe Phil Rivers will do that. Or maybe he'll say, put the ball cap and the whistle on that he's always wanted to do and go coach. Anyways, job well done. Congrats to Phil. We appreciate everything you've done for the game.

Congrats, Phil. There's people saying it. No way, Hall of Famers. A lot of people. 17 fucking years as a starting quarterback in the NFL at Ty Schmidt. You said a lot of people are saying that? Yeah, I feel like most of what I'm seeing is people, because he hasn't won a Super Bowl, and I think they remember this late stage in his career

where he did throw more interceptions and stuff like that. But also, the guys who are voting for the Hall of Fame, all these writers, don't they love Phil? Like, they love his personality and everything that he gave to the game. Because didn't a lot of people talk bad about Phil being the way he is? Yeah, maybe. I mean, I feel like a lot of those guys who actually do have votes, like, they love all the off the field and, like, the competitive edge

and all that kind of stuff. And I just feel like, I mean, it's tough because of the way he's played these last couple years when he clearly just wasn't the same guy but it's easy to forget how good he was like 17 years as a starting quarterback in the nfl yeah oh that is so long i played in the nfl eight years okay punter was only good for about five of them this dude was a starting quarterback for 17 years. That is so long. I don't understand the even thought of he can't go in. That is a long fucking time in there. Zito, your poll is about that today.

I'm getting information in my ear saying it's basically a split poll at this point. It is a very tight race. Heck no, 48.9%. Yeah, dag gummit. 51.1%. So you definitely spelled dadgummit wrong. Oh, I took it from his speech. No. No, you did not, actually.

That's how I know you spelled it wrong, because I just read it about a minute and a half ago. But I do appreciate the fact that you Googled how to spell his name. I did. Yeah. That was very good. Hey. Attaboy, Zito. Thanks, guys.

Thanks, guys. That would normally be a Zito special there. Oh, yeah. Speaking of, we're in the middle of a Zito production at my house right now. The Oculus Arena is being built. But anyways, it is very close here. 51-48.9. That's over 3,000 votes.

I assume that'll only grow. Go vote at Viva Lozito. We'd like to promote the vote around here. Promote the vote. At Tone Diggs, your thoughts, pal? I was just looking it up. There's five quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame without a Super Bowl. Fouts, Jim Kelly, Marino, Warren Moon, and Fran Tarkenton.

Yeah, so he's going in. Phil's getting in. Jeez. Did you hear that? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Feedback. So I think that thing's going through my head.

Oh, out the mouth. I think. That's crazy. It waves. Yeah, because when I turn it up, it happens, by the way. So I have to keep it kind of low because if not, as soon as I turn my head, this thing fucking goes off from my earpiece. But that sounds like a list that Phil Rivers will definitely be a part of.

I mean, Fouts played for the same exact team for the last amount of years, not as good. Yeah, but I think it's going to be tough to – and you've heard some Hall of Famers come out and say, we've got to make it much more difficult to get in here, which is very interesting after you get in the stadium. Yeah. You know what I mean?

And by the way, the people who have been saying that are people that can definitely be the people that say that, by the way. Like, I do believe Deion potentially said something about it. And Deion's like one of the greatest football players of all time. Like, he's a guy who can be like, hey, if they're going to put on the same jacket as me, they need to up their game a little bit. So I can understand if Deion says it. And I think there's been a couple others that have been up there that are the fucking guys in our sport.

So they can say that. But I think the Hall of Fame, they try to open it up a little bit. Remember, Ray Guy went in a couple years ago. And I'm not saying he shouldn't have or should have. I mean, field position does matter. There's a reason why every noted coach that has ever coached football

loves punt, loves punting, loves the punt team, loves what it stands for, understands what it's about, understands that the game is about acquiring territory and when you punt, basically, you are setting yourself up for success. It's a calculated turnover, but it's a understands that the game is about acquiring territory and when you punt basically you are setting yourself up for success it's a calculated turnover but it's a mass part of strategy will it remain as big of a strategy piece as it has been in the game as the offenses

continue to be incredible that will tbd i will i would that will definitely to be determined because whenever you pin somebody now it's almost like you're just setting them up for more fantasy points or more yards if you're really going to get going. But when Ray Guy got in there, there was a lot of conversation, obviously, with that whole thing. And then there's been a couple other names that have gotten in where I think some people are like, is this really deserving or what? And I think the Hall of Fame should be like a thank you from the NFL almost for your services to the NFL. And granted, this comes from somebody who will never be in the Hall of Fame and probably shouldn't have that conversation. But I think whenever people walk through Canton,

and I was at the Hall of Fame game, it got canceled because the field got cooked. The field got cooked. They painted it, put a tarp over it. You might as well just put a magnifying glass in the paint just all over the thing. But I think whenever you walk through there, it should be like a museum of the greats. You know what I mean? And I do believe Phil Rivers is one of those greats that we should have

remembered alongside the game. Now that is not how the hall of fame is viewed. There's stats and votes and this and that, but I feel like that is my overall view of the hall of fame. You know, like now, do I think there should be separate halls? We're like neon and like, you know what I mean? Like, Hey, Oh, down here. These are the bad motherfuckers. Okay. These are the like, you know what I mean? Like, Hey, Oh, down here,

these are the bad motherfuckers. Yeah. Okay. These are the ones, you know, that's the best. Yeah. Down here.

This is the, like, maybe you expand it a little bit to kind of separate a little bit. And I don't know how pissed off that would be. But that whole conversation about the hall of fame thing gets very, very serious, very quick. And I don't know why people get so fucking angry about it all.

Seriously. The river's dedicated 17 years. Maybe we can stick Phil down the hall to the left in the closet in the hall of very good. Come on, dude. Come on. Speaking of very good, that shirt you're wearing back there, Nick,

very good. I have mixed feelings on this shirt. It looks good from here. The greatest city with the greatest hockey team in the nation. Yeah, Pittsburgh Penguins. But the shirt right now, it's orange. Yeah, it looks like an off-brand shirt to me.

Oh! Holy shit! That's questions for the people who designed it. Hey, that was very next level, you know, because hockey town, hockey town. That whole thing. That was very nice. Hey, Foxy, that was a pretty good look. Thank you.

That doesn't happen often. No, yeah, you're right. That's why. That was the entire. That was the entire. That a boy, Foxy. Representing Detroit. Old school hockey town.

Anyways, yeah, shirt is orange and black, which would be the Flyers, and they are not Hockey Town. They're the town that hasn't seen the Stanley Cup in like 75 years. Stay out of conversations with the men, please, with the adults. Real Hockey Towns. Stay down there, yeah, please. But let's get back to the Hall of Very Good.

Is that what everybody's saying? Is that the people that are against Phillip Rivers? Yeah, I mean, look, the guy's never won an MVP. He doesn't have a championship. What are we talking about? How old is he? 39. How old is Tom Brady?

43. How old is Peyton Manning? 44, 45. Right around. I mean, so he ran into quite a fucking buzzsaw there. Oh, boo-hoo. Oh, boo-hoo. I was wondering if you were looking at circumstance here.

I was wondering if you were looking at circumstance. Let's not forget about Big Bet. He ran into since he was drafted. Breeze, Flacco. There's a lot of other QBs that are above Phillip Rivers. You just said Flacco? Oh, I said Flacco. Yeah, please don't.

Who'd you say? Breeze, Rogers? Yeah. Yeah, Hall of Famer. What are we even talking about? So we're just letting everybody in? Everybody gets a trophy? See, you're the guy.

You're the guy that I was just referring to. I was literally just referring. Why are you so angry? All these people have contributed so much to the sport like fucking they should be in the hall of fame i believe i'm not saying rivers didn't contribute to the sport 17 years as a starting quarterback in the nfl that is a long time half his life this may be off the top of my head almost but in his career the only quarterbacks to go to the Super Bowl from the AFC were Tom, Peyton, Ben, and Flacco once. It's like he didn't have good teams.

What are you talking about? He had Tomlinson. He had Gates. He had all world-level players. They did have some weapons out there. I'm running back to win you Super Bowl. Antonio Gates was a basketball player. Who made him the fucking tight end?

Phil Rivers. Okay, why don't you? Oh, yeah. Now let's go ahead and flip this thing around. Now Tomlinson could do whatever he wanted, and I believe Antonio Gates probably would have learned how to play football with any other quarterback. Let's give a little credit for the guy that was making that all happen.

I don't know. It's just – the thing for me is as soon as you hear that length of consistency, of greatness, you know, very goodness, for that long, just in my eyes immediately go oh one of the greatest athletes of all time right there that's i'm frank or mentally yes frank or goes into the hall if you're walking through canton and if i'm the nfl and i'm trying to say hey here's what we fucking got okay somebody comes over that is not a fan of the nfl all right they're like i don't know anything about the sport or the league they're right. Come into our fucking Hall of Fame. Let's go ahead and teach you some things.

When the NFL says, come on in, there almost should be a statue of Frank Gore right at the fucking beginning. Right at the front of that thing. You know, with his goddamn socks down and his shoes, his shoulder pads that are the size of this watch. Okay. His no pads at all. Dent and helmet.

Taped up everything. Running people over for, what, 16 years at this point? How many years is it? Going on 17, I believe. 16 years? Yes. Franco should be right there. The NFL should be like, wait till you hear about this motherfucker.

What's this guy? He wore no pads. He was like a rugby player playing against guys, basically. And he was just running people. Yes. I would put Franco right in front. He wore a notepad. He was like a rugby player playing against guys, basically. And he was just running people. Yes, I would put Frank Gore right in front. By the way, Phil Rivers, maybe put him in like a little social gathering. Put him in the middle, have him just talk

and trash. Everybody walks along. You kind of stink. Frank Gore's number three on the all-time rushing. Yeah, what's Nick know? Nick knows not that he's wearing a fucking Flyers shirt. I forced him to wear it. I forced him to wear it. I forced him to wear it. Had to. Hey, what are you doing?

I mean, we're trying to move some shirts here. Okay. We're hockey time. It's hockey season. The Pens are back, by the way. Thought the season was over. Thought they stunk. Turns out, still the greatest team.

They're fine. Season back on. They're making it real close, though, a lot of these games. Turns out, still the greatest team. They're fine. Season back on. They're making it real close, though, a lot of these games. You know, the season just started. They've got to get those legs back. For those that don't know hockey, Sidney Crosby, greatest hockey player of all time. Allow me, hockey aficionado, to inform you on hockey. Guy was number 87 for the Pittsburgh team.

Ever since he was in high school, he was deemed the next great one. He's like the LeBron James of hockey. And all he has done is dominate. He's been hurt a couple times because he plays in an era where they don't have goons that can protect him. He plays in an era where he doesn't have three feet of space around him at all times because everybody was so scared to get close to him because there was dudes paid on guys' teams back in the day just to come move the jaws of motherfuckers that came close to their star players. He also plays against goalies that wear pads and are athletic. And he is the greatest player of all time. And he plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

And last night, Sidney Crosby, greatest player of all time, fucking buried one home against the Capitals to send them ho against probably the number two guy, Ovechkin, by the way. I'm a big Ovechkin fan. Ovechkin, by the way, Russian fella, plays for the Washington Capitals. They won the Stanley Cup. He went on a 15-day bender. Guy you want to cheer for.

Guy you want to root for. It's just a shame, just like Phil Rivers, he happens to be in hockey at the same time as Sidney fucking Crosby. Exactly. And that's how you tie it all up. Hockey time. Well said. Get the shirt.

Change the color, though. Store it up at MacforJoe.com. They will be gold when you get them. Yeah. Maybe. Hopefully. Oh, maybe, dude. The merch business is an interesting one.

We are looking to get better. Quarantine has not been kind to the merch business is an interesting one. We are looking to get better. Quarantine has not been kind to the merch business. You know, because a lot of things that are in place there. I'm moving parts. You know, there's a lot of people that can't be around each other. Difficult. A lot of gears. So you put that part of the shirt, and then you just go ahead and mail that down the street.

They'll put that in a shirt. A little bit difficult, but we're looking to get better. And that Hockey Time shirt, good design, terrible execution. But I appreciate the fact that I forced Nick to wear that today because we are from Hockey Time, and the Penguins are going to win the Stanley Cup. Hell yeah. Probably not, right, Nick, though?

They're not going to win. They might. They might. We've got to move on to Patrick Mahomes and to some phone calls. Patrick Mahomes is playing this weekend, by the way. Which is good news for everybody, all parties involved, NFL included. Maybe not

the Buffalo Bills. Not exactly thrilled that Patty Mahomes is playing, but hey, Chad Henney ain't playing no fucking games either. The Phil Rivers conversation, I guess I just checked the Internet. There are a lot of people that don't think he should go into the Hall of Fame. And that is wild to me. And I laid out a variety of reasons.

Most of them revolve around 17 years as a starting quarterback in the NFL. If you want to talk about having a dent in the NFL and being incredibly good at something, at the highest level at the toughest position for 17 almost two decades that's a long ass time I think that deserves Hall of Fame now first round Hall of Fame I'm not getting into that whole debate I just if I'm the NFL I would like Phillip Rivers to be a representative of what our game is for the Hall of Fame oh yeah Connor brought up a point during the break that is i think should be talked about whenever you talk about all his super bowls and

everything like that connor please lay this out this is one of the most intelligent things i've ever heard connor say really yeah when you look at the history of the quarterback position two guys you can probably put there at the top at least i do next to rogers that's peyton manning and tom brady how hard would it be to beat Peyton Manning one week and then the next week having to travel to New England and beating Bill Belichick and Tom Brady? Could any quarterback ever do it? Phil Rivers would have to go, okay, I have to beat Peyton Manning,

and then one week later I have to beat Tom Brady, and then I'm in the Super Bowl. By the way, that's just the AFC, and that's the playoffs every fucking year basically. And then you toss in Ben Roth. Exactly, in the Super Bowl. By the way, that's just the AFC. And that's the playoffs every fucking year, basically. And then you toss in Ben Roth. Exactly. And the wild card. Maybe Ben, Peyton, Tom.

How many guys do you think? That is a murderer's row. Yeah, nobody. What do you want from the guys? That's what it takes to get into the hall. What? That's what it takes to get into the hall. Well, Phil, you know what Phil should have done?

He should have won. He should have packed up and went to the East. Yeah, exactly. Like everybody's doing in basketball, getting out of the West because LeBron's over there. But he didn't. You know what Phil should have done? He should have won. He should have packed up and went to the East. Yeah, exactly. Like everybody's doing in basketball, getting out of the West, because LeBron's over there. But he didn't. You know why? Because he was loyal to San Diego.

He had nine kids. He was loyal to San Diego. You know how hard it is to uproot that family? Yeah, they moved to Indiana. Conor's argument almost proves the point for Brady, Payton, being the guys that go in, because they did just that. Yeah, yeah, for sure. They went out, they beat Tom, they beat Phil, they beat Ben. because they did just that. They went out.

They beat Tom. They beat Phil. They beat Ben. But they're all ready. Those two obviously are ready. They're in the hall of goats. Drew Brees already in. Aaron Rodgers already in.

Look, if you don't have the championships, you should at least be able to say you were the best player at your position in that era, and I don't think he can say that at any year. What the fuck does that even mean? I mean, that is – I just – i don't like the way this conversation goes i don't like it because all those are valid points and i appreciate the fact that you all hold the hall of fame in such high regard okay like i i respect and appreciate that you guys feel as if you know my standards as a fan of the game. Hell yeah. As a young boy, I would watch and analyze games.

In my Hall of Fame, you have to have championships. I respect that. I respect the fact that y'all motherfuckers think you matter that much. I do. I like that a lot. And I like that you like the sanctity of the Hall of Fame. You know what I mean? Like, I appreciate that you appreciate what the Hall of Fame is.

But at this point, I mean, come on. We got, like, what, seven hours of speeches every single year. It is no longer what you guys think the Hall of Fame is, okay? Maybe year one they let in one person. Maybe year two they let in two people. But now we're at the point where I've never heard of this person played nose tackle for a team 55 years ago

and they're like, hey, this guy's contribution to this team and they won championships was big deal. I'm like, okay, cool. The NFL thinks that this person should be representing the NFL. If it was treated as if only a starting 11, basically, on offense and a starting 11 on defense a on offense and starting 11 on defense

and that type of thing i would understand what you guys are referring to but that's not what the hall of fame is the hall of fame now is not this uh like you have to be the greatest of all time at your position i mean that's just not how it goes that's just not what it is and i think philip rivers has quite an argument to, I was the guy for 17 fucking years. I mean, that's a long-ass time. He also never missed a game. Oh, wow. Iron Man, dude.

Not once. Fucking Iron Man. 252 straight starts. Play with a torn ACL in an AFC championship. If he had more playoff games, he'd have more games straight, by the way. Yeah, he would. What are you going to say, Bill? To Connor's point, people that could beat Peyton and Brady back-to-back,

Joe Flacco did just that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly, yeah. What year was that, Bill? What year was that, Bill? 2012. Yeah, was Peyton Manning on the Broncos in 2012? A lot of good defense on the NFL.

I don't think he was. He wasn't. No, he wasn't. That's why Bill's wrong, and he's a stooge. Whoa! That's why he might have been. Actually, 2012, he might have been. No, I don't think they lost to Baltimore.

You were saying only the Broncos, Peyton Manning? Yeah. Because that was the Chicago Jones. Well, I guess, were we in that year? Did we lose to Baltimore? We did, didn't we? No, we lost to Baltimore. That's a great question.

Did he beat? Because now Billy just dropped in on a sports show, which he is not. Billy is not. I mean, he's gaming. He's watching Naruto back there. He's literally watching gaming right now. Also, Flacco is a Hall of Famer. Oh, Footstuff's, right?

Oh, yeah. He's got a Super Bowl. There's a lot of hate towards Phil Rivers going into the Hall of Fame. A lot of hate. I don't understand it. I appreciate that people, you know, like taking ownership over the Hall of Fame. Like, no, he doesn't deserve to be in my Hall of Fame. It's like, who the fuck are you?

That's a great question. He definitely wasn't because 2013 was his first year when he broke all those records and the Broncos lost to the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Ravens beat the Colts 24-9 in the wildcard round the year they won the Super Bowl. Then they went to Denver. Oh, we got killed. Was that when Luck was quarterback? No.

Who was quarterback? Good question. No idea. But either way, it wasn't back-to-back because if it was Colts wild card, then Broncos, then Brady. Bingo. So, sorry, Bill. Well, unless it was luck at quarterback. Yeah.

Which I think it potentially was because that was the game that Bruce Aarons got sick the morning of the game. It looks like it was luck. He did say that. Yeah. So he did. He went to Denver, played. No, because he sat out of the year.

No, his first year was 2013 when he had 58 passing touchdowns, and then they lost to the Seahawks by 40 points in the Super Bowl. By the way, Bill just came in and dropped a bomb. Yeah, Connors is completely wrong. I don't think so. Yeah, I think you are. Because if Locke was playing for us, that means Peyton was playing for us. The Broncos had a first-round buy that year.

They lost 38-35 in double OT to the Ravens. And Peyton was quarterback. Yeah, yeah, if Locke was our quarterback, Payton was their quarterback. We lost 24-9 that day. Good for Flacco. Fucking Vinatieri. Only one scoring out there. It's a murder throw.

It was tough. It was cold. It was very cold. I was also on – I was there for Ray's last game in Baltimore. I don't know what year it was. I don't remember when it was. I was there for that. They had in Baltimore. I don't know what year it was. I don't remember when it was. I was there for that. They had him go out for the kneel down.

They beat us. Really? They had him go out for the kneel down. Which, by the way, more teams should do. More teams put like a running back or a wide receiver back there. You should have your safety back there for sure. And I don't know why more people don't do that. I'm not saying the middle linebacker is the move,

but you should have your safety back there. Because the only reason why you're there is for if there's a fumble and you have to tackle somebody. But Ray was there, and he was at the running back position or deep position. Whoever the hell it was. Got snapped, took a knee, and then Ray hit the hole.

Oh, yeah. Celebration. The place went crazy. His last entrance onto the field with the flames and everything. You could feel the heat from the flames like 100 yards away. I was punting on the other side of the field and my face was just getting hot. It's like, it's a little hot in here. And then he got that grass. It was

pretty electric. And they won, by the way. Felt like that was probably going to happen. Ray's last game. Patrick Mahomes is going to play this weekend. He is, if my calculation is right, after learning what the steps are for the concussion protocol, he's in step three currently.

And there's five steps in this entire thing. I believe you have to start with some light stretching. Then there's some aerobic shit. And then there is basically supervised practice by athletic trainers for 30 minutes or something like that. They said that he'll be listed as limited or did not participate, but he is participating. He's just going to be under the watch of the athletic trainer,

which I believe is step three or step four. I think it's step three of the concussion protocol. Once he feels good there, then something else has to happen, then an independent person, and then he's cleared to get out of the protocol. A very interesting situation here with Patrick Mahomes. Obviously going into championship weekend, it's a big deal. He's one of the faces of the protocol. Very interesting situation here with Patrick Mahomes. Obviously going into championship weekend, it's a big deal. He's one of the faces of the NFL. Unbelievable football player.

He gets taken out. The Browns almost make it in there. I didn't think there was any chance that he was not going to play. I didn't see how that was going to happen. But with the independent neurological consultant making the decision he has not been there yet i'll be in what if you know what if like the team doctor says hey he's good and then the independent guy goes i would need another 24 hours or so and then that report of he's been cleared by the team but not by the independent doctor the conversations that will happen out of that will be awesome.

I mean, that'll be awesome. Where's the doctor from? Is the doctor from Buffalo? What are some ties to the doctor? I mean, there's going to be a whole thing, but it's nice to know that Patrick Mahomes is probably playing. Depends on the age, most likely, of the doctor. If it's a young doctor, you know,

a little more concerned about the concussions. Oh, you're saying that you think a younger player, a younger doctor is going to be more likely to be like oh ct pretty real thing like there's big problems here can't send you back out that you are the face of the league don't need you not knowing your name next year or do you think older doctor uh are you saying in the same thing older doctor goes i remember when he talks about three concussion guy going out there yeah so you're disrespecting the the doctorship of whatever doctor it is completely most likely i assume so

yeah okay that's very nice of you i am intrigued how that process works i've never had to be there like who who do they fly a doctor in is the doctor from the town there's no way he could be from kansas city right that's not really impartial yeah because normally they don't allow refs i don't think or even potentially from the area, although Saints-Rams with the pass interference, that guy did have a house in L.A. Yes, he did. Poor decision looking back on that.

So is the independent doctor from Kansas City, or is he from Kansas City, Kansas? You know what I mean? Ooh. Oh, he's not from Kansas City, Missouri. He's from Kansas City, Kansas. Different city. Favre's telling him not to play, too.

Favre said, hey, Mahomes, by the time you get there, if you're not feeling right, doctors might just have to say you can't play. Hey, Favre's a hero. Which is interesting because Favre probably played concussed in like 60 to 70 games. Whoa. Well, that's what he said. Well, yeah, but don't throw stones at glass houses. You did it.

Let Pat do it. Oh, so now you're saying, hey, listen, you went ahead and just buried your brain. Alright, let Pat do the same damn thing. He's trying to go to the Super Bowl. Yeah, just pay attention to your text messages, Brett. Hey, come on. Correct me if I'm wrong. There's an independent

doctor on every sideline, right? Every game, yeah. On both sidelines? No, i think just one for the game and that person's supposed to watch and say oh that person's a bit woobly we need to check and get them off the field but if that person doesn't know anything about football i mean that was that was a very interesting roll out of that because i was uh privy to a conversation between a player and one of those doctors in the oh it's a stinger it was a stinger you know i, it's a stinger. It was a stinger.

You know what I mean? It was a stinger. So there for a second, when that thing got pinched, I couldn't feel my arm or whatever, but it's good now. And the doctor goes, okay, give it a little test. All right, yeah, all right, you're good, yeah. I'm like, well, that guy was dead. That guy was knocked unconscious. That was like the first year.

They've had to add a lot of different things into this because any time you have an independent person making a decision that is worth potentially hundreds of millions of dollars, I mean, that person cannot be compromised. Not one bit in that entire thing. Happy Patrick Mahomes is going to be playing. He's a stud.

Let's go to Eli in New Jersey. What's going on, Eli? Hey, Pat. How you doing? Happy St. Sebastian's Feast Day. Shout out to you, dude. Shout out to you. What. Shout out to you. What do you want to talk about?

Well, I'm a diehard Colts fan for a whole life. Phillip Rivers retiring in 18. Diehard Colts fan. He had St. Sebastian's Feast Day, too. He was probably going to have something pretty good. Yeah, that was a good start. Probably leading to who the Colts are going to have at quarterback next year. Or Phillip Rivers.

I don't know. I think he said Phillip Rivers there at one point. Probably going to tie in and then potentially go to... I saw Mitt tweeting this morning that he wants the Colts to select Mack Jones. Oh! Who? Mack Jones. Who? Very different than Mike Jones. Very, very

different. Very, very, very different. Mack Jones might be the direct opposite of Mike Jones. Might possibly be. Is it a foregone conclusion Jacoby Preset is not going to be the starting? Yeah, what's that all about? I know he's a free agent, but he's in that locker room. Yeah, because Frank said, you know,

he didn't see a team without Phil next year or whatever. He got emotional or whatever. I wonder if Jacoby's watching that. I'm right here. Oh, okay. So you put me out there for the fucking fourth and ones. That's it? My ass kicked and then just send me on my way here?

What's going on? No, I would assume Frank and Phil had a very close relationship. Chris Ballard said, well, we're going to think about it. He's going to think about it. We'll see what's going on. I wonder if Chris had a feeling this was potentially going to happen from previous conversations. But the Colts' quarterback position is one I believe will be desirable.

Good team. Should they have went further this year? I believe they should have. They should have put themselves in better positions. I'm not saying they should have beat the Bills. I'm just saying they probably should have won the division. That team is very, very good, which might come into the conversation about Phillip Rivers at some point. See what happens with the next

quarterback. Yikes. But if we get Matty Stafford down here, okay, trade that 21st. Do whatever you got to do. Get rid of the pick. And just like Chris Bauer did last year with the 27 overall pick, he said he's just watching the Forrest Buckner film. It worked, Chris. And you did say yes to Phil, no to Tom, for whatever reason, allegedly.

Allegedly. We're not 100% sure if that happened. Go ahead and save Matty Stafford. Motor City Dan Campbell said, we're not rebuilding, we're retooling. Well, I think one of the tools that you should go and get out of the work belt is

Matt Stafford and let that sumbitch get shined up somewhere else. See, but if anyone's going to convince Matthew to stay, it's going to be Motor City Dan Campbell. You think Matt Stafford's going to look and go,. It's going to be Motor City, Dan Campbell. You think Matt Stafford is going to look and go, yeah, I want to do this every day at this stage of my career

with how bad this team has been. I want to do up-downs maybe in team meetings. Yeah. Not going to be 10. The next six years, by the way. Six-year contract. J.D.O. for Motor City, Dan. I love it. Motor City, Dan's going to turn that team around.

All we're asking is fans of the game, of the sport, who hold the Hall of Fame in high regards, let one of the game's best players get a chance to win some games so he doesn't have to sit here and listen to the slander like Phillip Rivers is taking right now. Yeah. Amen. Let's say, Dan.

From you in the back. You know, I can't believe the rest of stooge is in that room just sit there oh you know i thought ty had some gumption i thought diggs had had some spine thank you bingo diggs does not have a spine we know that come on it's just you know it's kind of tough i think for a lot of people to take you serious and the people are saying it and potentially like everybody that's ever played in the NFL. You know, like that's a pretty – I think it's a pretty difficult thing to take serious. I do like the spin that you put on it of as representative of the game.

Yeah. Because he's such a good guy and a good character. Well, and he played for 17 years. I just think he's a – I think the Hall of Fame is like a celebration of your league. You know what I mean? Like here's our greatest – 17 years of quarterback in a fucking long time. Now, I'm going to get picked apart by people on the internet with stats and things like that.

It's going to get shoved down my fucking Twitter feed's throat. If you want to talk stats, we could throw Stafford in this Hall of Fame combo. He broke it. He's going to break it. That's what I'm talking about, though. Matthew Stafford is going to be in the same exact position as Phillip Rivers if he just sits around in Detroit and lets Motor City Dan. Now, listen, maybe Motor City Dan gets him to the Super Bowl, okay?

Go ahead and clip this. Let's go. Maybe Motor City Dan gets Detroit to the Super Bowl. But Matt's going to need it, by the way. I think it's more likely Motor City Dan has Matt running QB power and his career ends about four or five years shorter than he wanted it to. Motor City Dan? Yeah.

You don't think he cares about Matthew Stafford? Well, he wants to bring that tough mentality. What better way than having Stafford run with a head full of steam behind a guard and put his head down and get a couple extra tough yards here and there. Motor City Dan with that big old chaw and telling Matty Stafford to get the yard. That would be awesome.

I think they literally looked at Patricia and go, how can we hire someone that is the complete opposite? Patricia was a guru, a defensive guru, and we got Campbell now, who's just a motivator. Motor City, Dan, has never written anything down, so he does not have a

ticonderoga no you know what i mean dan campbell seems like a doer not a talker or a writer i wouldn't be surprised if he's suited up in the first practice playing linebacker for the line for sure i wonder mercy dan probably cool guy great you know i mean like that's a guy you definitely want to be friends with but man just the pictures of him and then the stories of him making the boys do the Oklahoma drill down there and the Dolphins on day one of the job. They were going to war every day at practice. He said it after he got the game ball after they won his first game. He's just like, you know, he should bring in Rich Rodriguez to run that offense.

So let's go. Let's get this thing. We are going to be a tough team, whether you like it or not. I love it. I would like to be friends with that guy. But now I'm talking about me as if I'm, you know, on that team, and I played for, I don't know, six, seven years, and I kind of, you know, I understand the business of this whole thing.

I know, you know, that I don't have a lot of years left. Is this how I want to spend them, or do I potentially want to go, you know, that I don't have a lot of years left. Is this how I want to spend them? Or do I potentially want to go, you know, somewhere else where I don't have to potentially ram my face into another adult's face at 630 in the morning every day? I just think that is something you should think about. And maybe we got Motor City Dan all wrong, by the way. He goes down to the Saints. He's assistant head coach and tight ends coach for the Saints.

Maybe we got it all wrong. But it feels like he is going to – that team is going to be a tough team up there, which is good for Detroit. Legitimately, though, the Lions are always going to be the Lions, so I'm just glad they hired the most entertaining possible candidate they could, because this is going to be an awesome six years.

Six years is a long time. His press conferences are going to be awesome. Today we got better. He's just big old charlin'. Bill Cowher reincarnated. But as far as Stafford's concerned, Nick, you could rest easy at night. Stafford's made one Pro Bowl. Has he ever been to the playoffs?

Phil's been to the playoffs eight times and made the playoffs eight times. I feel like it's harder to not make the Pro Bowl as a quarterback in the NFL. I honestly believe that. You watch the Pro Bowl. There's like, what, 14 chosen, basically. Seven from each side, whenever it's all said and done, after the guys who've been there have been like, oh, this is all bullshit, and they say, I'm not going again.

All right, we're on our 17th alternate here at quarterback. Oh, shout out to this guy. He's never going to be a warranted name or whatever. That's what the Pro Bowl is for the quarterback position. So the fact that Stafford's only made one Pro Bowl, that is mind-blowing to me. And maybe he was an alternative and he's turned it down a bunch of times, which I'm going to let you know.

I really respect that that is what he has done. But that is very interesting that he's not made more Pro Bowls. And it's because – what do you because... What do you got, Nick? You were going to say something? Yeah, to Diggs' point, it's just like in this era of QBs, Rogers, Manning, Brady, Ben, Breeze, probably Russell Wilson.

Russell Wilson's probably going to end up in that conversation. He has not gotten one MVP. Every starting QB from this generation in the Hall of Fame just because they relaxed the passing rules? That is very interesting because the numbers are about to be absurd. Everybody's going to put up big numbers. There's going to have to be a lot of clauses. You know, a lot of clauses.

Because even the points scored, like Vinatieri has the all-time leader in points scored or whatever, but with the way offenses are going, with the amount of points that are going. Well, they're adding games, too. Yeah, and games are getting added. I mean, hey, listen. The Hall of Fame that you guys held near and dear we appreciate all right with your tight rules and make it impossible to get in there but we're changing rules so often the game's changing completely there's going to be 14 different segments of the nfl hall of fame and that's just going to have to be something that uh i think we're

all going to have to come to the understanding of and i don't know if everybody's going to like it but i assume the hall of fame is only going to buy more plots of land i think we're all going to have to come to the understanding of. And I don't know if everybody's going to like it, but I assume the Hall of Fame is only going to buy more plots of land. I think it's only going to get bigger. I think only more people are going to get in there. Well, and that's the thing. Maybe they hand out cards, you know, black card, gold card, silver card, and that gets you to certain spots in the Hall of Fame. Hey, shout out to Current Black Card, by the way.

Shout out to Current. Good card. They did not pay for this, but it was sitting on my desk. And I'll tell you what, it's a cool-looking card. It's a good card. They did not pay for this, but it was sitting on my desk. Yeah. And I'll tell you what, it's a cool looking card. It is a cool card. And if you're one of the GOATs, you can get into the GOAT side of the Hall of Fame with one of those. What if your jacket came with actual horns? Oh.

Huh? And maybe your, what's that called? The bust. There it is. Nailed it. Hey, that's a big Hall of Fame thing. the bust. There it is. Nailed it. Hey, that's a big Hall of Fame thing. The bust. The bust also has like a goat helmet on it.

It's like a goat helmet. They could put stars on the shoulders too, like generals. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like one star, maybe that's where Phil ends up. And then five star, that's where the Mannings and the Breezes. He's four stars off of them. Wow. I don't know if he's four stars off.

You're just a phone-a-dodge. I'm just saying perhaps if he were to only be on the lower tier, he'd fall into the one- to two-star category. What if Phillip Rivers did what Eli Manning did, said I want to go to a team that has a chance to potentially win a Super Bowl, and does that whole move? It's a completely different conversation, right? Because Eli's in, right?

Two Super Bowls. Eli Manning's definitely an all-famer. But if you look at their stats, I'm assuming pretty similar. I mean, I've not looked at them. I would guess Phil's stats are much better. Okay, so if Phil wasn't, you know, a guy that was just like, shoot, like, yeah, this is where I'm going to go play. All right, I'll move my family.

We'll create it. We won't ever leave. I won't ever be upset about anything. Let's just go ahead and do it. If he wasn't that guy, are we even having the conversation? If he goes somewhere that's potentially a Super Bowl candidate, that is something that has to be talked about. We've spent 54 minutes talking about Phil Rivers.

We love Phil Rivers. Welcome to the offseason. Only Phil Rivers. Welcome to Wednesday. With only four teams left. Get used to it. What a show. Told you yesterday, show was going to stink.

I literally said it. Tomorrow's show is going to stink. Little did we know. Imagine if Phil didn't retire with this show. This show would be the worst. Most guys have tried a lot of different ways to, you know, try to last a little bit longer when making love. Think about your baseball team.

That's a boring sport. That'll turn me off, right? Yeah, absolutely. Maybe you start listing off cities and states. Maybe you start doing the alphabet backwards. Whatever you end up doing, you need to not do it anymore. Knock it off. None of it's going to work.

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Shout out to GetRoman.com forward slash Pat McAfee. This man is listed at 6'3", 311 pounds, plays fullback for the Baltimore Ravens, is a pro bowler. Out of Maine, ladies and gentlemen, Patrick Ruckhardt. How you doing, man? Good, Sean. I'm excited to be here. So you're 6'3", 311 pounds? So that weight is a little distorted nowadays. That's when I was playing defensive line as well. That was from actually last year's ota weight when i was playing defensive

wine um this year i knew i wasn't going to be playing defensive wine so i've been around like 295 290 i know it doesn't sound as good as 311 but you know i'm still you know a big guy moving around playing fullback so um yeah i don't need all the extra weight because you know taking double teams and stuff that's not happening fullback Well, there's some other collisions happening, and I assume my friends who have been big guys because of their profession, which D-line have to be, offensive line you have to be, whenever they get under like 300, there's like little milestones. Whenever I get under 300 pounds, my knees feel 50% better or something.

Whenever I get under 295 or 285, the whole milestone thing, was that how your body reacted too? Like you feel incredibly light at 295? I mean, yeah, a little bit. I'm a pretty lean guy as it is. So me losing that weight. You're a monster. For sure.

I almost feel just as strong, just as, as strong, play just as physical. But yeah, definitely my knees. I served my knees in college, so that definitely takes off a little bit of weight. But overall, I still feel just about the same, honestly. Man, have you always just been a monster? I mean, that is incredibly large and athletic and lean, too. That's not a normal thing at all. Have you always been this way? Did you hit a massive growth spurt, or have you always been a big-bodied man?

Yeah, as a kid, I was a pretty average kid. I wasn't one of the big kids. I wasn't a small kid. You know, I always tell people when I went to high school, I was like 5'8", 155. And all of a sudden, my sophomore year, I just hit a growth spurt. And I just started every year, gained about an inch or two, gained about like 15, 20 pounds. When I got to Maine, I was like 6'1", 6'2", like 255.

And then every year from that, I just continued to gain weight and weight and weight. I was 285 my senior year of college and then gained 15 pounds from my pro day. I was 300. And then I just been fluctuating from 310 to 300 to 290 for the last four years. So, you know, definitely just kind of became a big person all of a sudden. I go from 270 to 230 all the time

for much different reasons. It is quite a comfort run there. Are you from Maine? How did you end up at Maine? How did that whole process go about? No, I'm from Massachusetts, small town, Spencer. It's right next to Worcester, which is central mass, about an hour from Boston.

Did you play in the IPO? No, the ISL. ISL? I don't know. I don't know what that is. I thought it was fake. What is it called? The Independent School League, the ISL. ISL? I don't know. I don't know what that is. I thought it was fake. What is it called? The Independent School League.

The Independent School League? I fucking knew what he was saying. He's an MIA guy. Anyways. I went to Maine because that was my only Division I offer at high school. So I had to take that. I wasn't going to have my parents pay for school. Smart.

That's how it went to me. My only offer. So I took that. I did not know. I should have done more research before this because my research is on Sundays, I like to watch all the games, okay? And every once in a while,

there will come a time in one particular game, the Ravens game, where it'll become a just, it seems like a replay of you just fucking barreling people. I mean, just absolutely, there's been a couple of shots, I'm sure you've seen them, where the camera was close, you're going to the left, and it was like the perfect highlight reel for a fullback,

and then it happened again, and then it happened again. How has the transition been to fullback? Obviously rather easy. Is it a position you had played before you got here, or is it one of those things where they're like, you're athletic, you seem to be big. Let's go ahead and see if you can get in the backfield. And it was just a natural fit. It's kind of the mix of the two. I played fullback in high school, but it was a double wing offense. So that's not a normal offense whatsoever. It's all six inch splits, two tight ends in line, two wings,

and a fullback with a quarterback under center. And I would get in my stance, touch the quarterback, and it's all right there. So it's all gaps game, power. We ran the ball every play. We probably passed the ball probably like ten times throughout the whole year. So I did that in high school and played linebacker. Went to Maine, played defensive line there how to learn how to play defensive line never even gotten to a stance until i got there and obviously i have a

scholarship there so i was there play defensive line play defensive end move me the next year gain some weight to three technique and play nose and three technique my whole career at maine and then there's when i was on draft at defensive lineman, I signed with the Ravens and about a week into OTAs, I'm there and Greg Roman, who's our officer coordinator, was the tight ends run game coordinator at the time and just needed a fullback because Kyle Jusacek signed that big deal with San Fran that offseason. So they didn't have a fullback. And it was just kind of, you know, me being being there for a week i was moving pretty well for my size playing defensive tackle and um you know they weren't maybe entirely sure if i was gonna make the team at that point um from what they've saw for me on defensive line

so they're like hey let's get this guy to try a fullback um had one breath it was 90 lead in practice i did a good job and you know i was pretty smart too i was undrafted so i'm trying to make the team any way I can, trying to make a name for myself. I stood right next to Coach Harbaugh, sat right next to him after that rep, and we were just talking. And I said, you know, I used to play fullback in high school. And right then and there, I saw something in his head.

So I turned to him like, hmm, okay, like he's done this before. Like maybe let's give him some more reps. And that's kind of what happened. I kind of started getting more reps in OTAs, bad training camps, and then I made a team in fullback. And I was still playing defensive line. I played defensive line in fullback and in special teams for the last three years until this year.

So this year is when you made the official jump. I'm just going to go ahead and dominate this one particular position. You said you played the wing thing in high school. It feels like this is the perfect offense obviously an offense in 2021 that has a fullback uh as one of their main contributors on when it comes to plays it's going to be a run heavy offense right you guys just jk dobbins gus lamar uh then obviously mark just got released or, but the run game is just been something that's magnificent. Do you think like through the year, cause there was a lot of conversation about the rate was,

was it the COVID that slowed you guys down? You think in the middle of the year there, whenever all that shit was popping off with the Titans on the shield and everything like that, like was that cause there was a time where you guys disappeared from the conversation and then all of a sudden it was like well Lamar isn't going to work anymore and then all of a sudden bang end of the season here we are okay thought you're going to get thought you guys are going to go to run what do you think it was this year as one of the leaders of the team I'd assume and everything like that

in the middle of the season looking back hindsight yeah um i mean we i'm pretty sure we're six and two at one point of the year and then we just had a three game losing streak and then we're it was to the patriots the titans and then the steelers and the steelers is when we had that covet outbreak it was crazy man we had about 10 days straight of positive tests in the organization half players like 20 something-something players, 20-something staff, and ultimately lost that game. And I think after that point, we had a bunch of guys come back from COVID, and I was one of them who had it. Myles sometimes, I was okay.

It was, you know, it felt like a little flu. Hey, congrats, by the way, on beating COVID. Congrats on beating COVID, Patrick. But, I mean, I think at that point we were 6-5, and we knew that if we lost another game, we weren't going to make the playoffs. And I think at that point we just kind of really took it day by day. And I think a lot of people having COVID and being out of the building

for about two weeks, it was about 10 days, you kind of took everything for granted, I guess, and just really wanted to win games and just make sure that we were going to get in the playoffs. But I mean, in the middle of the year, I don't think any of us saw it coming. Just those couple of games we lost, you know, there were tough games, there were tough, you know, opponents. But yeah, getting COVID and everyone just coming back together, we just knew we had to just win these games, game after game after game. And it just, we kind of were in that playoff mode the whole time versus last year.

We were 14-2, and then it was playoffs. We were like, all right, time just kind of lets, we can't lose this game. This year it was a little different in that sense. Yeah, a little bit. You had to win earlier. Every game was a must-win type game. It was electrifying to watch you guys get back into what was happening

last year and at the beginning of the year. It was amazing. You guys win a playoff game take a step right everybody's talking about we need to take a step we take a step what do you guys need to do you think to take the next step what do you think you need to do to go on uh the run all the way to to mr lombardi's mountain there what do you think yeah um you know it's gonna be interesting to see what happens this offseason with a bunch of guys, especially in our defense, a lot of free agents this year.

So it's going to be interesting to see who we have back, who we're going to draft. But I mean, I think the nucleus for this team, it's here, man. I mean, back-to-back

divisional rounds, you know, the coaching staff, I believe most of everyone's going to be back. There's some defensive guys right now who are taking, you know,

defensive coordinator jobs, so I'm getting with that. You like the locker room, though, huh? The locker room's good. You guys love what you guys have. Everyone saw last year with the whole big trust thing, and that's just kind of who we are. We're really close, and every guy that's been here from different teams have said, man, like, this place is really special,

and it's a great organization. I mean, they treat us like family, and they kind of let us, you know, be who we want to be when we're there. I mean, this is my only team I've been on, so I don't really have too much of, like, insight of other organizations and locker rooms. But we really do have a good team. I think that's, you know, a big thing for us moving forward

is just getting guys who think like us. You know, we call it play like a raven. You know, those are the guys we want in our locker room to help us push the next step to get to the AFC championship and ultimately, like you said, get a Lombardi and back to Baltimore. Hey, let's...

Hey, that'd be awesome to watch. What are we doing? What are we doing in the offseason? What are the workouts we're doing? If I want to get Patrick recovered... You grew up in Massachusetts. What did you do uh any hobbies as a kid what you guys just cold as shit up there right and then maine gets even colder what goes on up there i don't know i mean i'm from a small town so people just i don't know i mean shoot it must be like anywhere else right i mean we i'm from like kind of a country kind of blue collar town

so um you know i have a lot of brothers and siblings and a bunch of family members who are all really close together. So we're always just hanging out. You know, I know when I get back up in Massachusetts next week, I'm going to start going to the gym for sure. And I'll probably slap together a little home gym and just do things in my house. What are we doing?

Explosive? Power? What are the workouts? I actually follow my strength coach's program here It's a lot of power lifting things and I do things on my own just like little stability stuff

and core things like that Yeah, definitely a little bit of power cleaning It's more just different Stop that, Patrick Connor? power cleaning, but it's more just different. Fucking stop that, Patrick. Connor?

Yeah, Patrick, because you just eviscerate people on the football field, do you talk a lot of shit, or are you just kind of like a silent brick out there? I'm more of a silent kind of player. I've never been one to trash talk. Unless someone talks trash to me or starts saying something crazy, then I let them know. But I let my play talk instead of running my mouth because I know running your mouth it doesn't help you, you look like an idiot

half the time Do you just wake up wanting to run people over? I mean, very interesting position you have I mean, your position is literally okay, I'm attempting to run people over that is your job, basically on every single play that has to be a mentality I assume, right? That has to be a mentality Okay, I'm attempting to run people over. That is your job basically on every single play. That has to be a mentality, I assume, right?

That has to be a mentality. And what do you think is the difference between the mentality of a fullback versus maybe another position? So for me, if I come out of a game and I do not put a defensive player on their back, I feel like I didn't have a good game. Okay, so that's like a touchdown. That's a touchdown. Yes.

Like in my eyes, like getting guys on their back in games, that's just like, that's the ultimate move as a fullback for dominating somebody. And that's how I pride myself. And if I'm not doing that at least once a game, you know, I think, okay, I did pretty good here and there. But yeah, it's definitely a mentality thing. I mean, as a fullback, you were able to run full speed into someone else

who has to run full speed into you. And it's pretty much like, all right, what's going to happen as soon as that happens? Am I going to go backwards? Is this guy going to go backwards? And, you know, playing, you know, offensive line, defensive line, you're right there already. You know, you're just hitting each other, and then it's drive. Fullback in the linebacker or DB or defensive end when I'm motioning across the field,

I'm running full speed, and, you know, that's my job is to get them moved out of there or on their back or whatever it is. You know, I love doing it. It's an Oklahoma drill. You do an Oklahoma drill every play. Just about, yeah. So now that we've got to that, we have a guy in our office who played in the independent school league, the ISL up there in Massachusetts, and he played against A.J. Dillon in high school in the independent school league.

And he was a fifth-year senior. Is that normal in Massachusetts, by the way? In Massachusetts, is it a normal thing just to do your junior year again at another high school, and then you're like a 19-year-old senior? I've never heard of that. It's common. Say no more. Say no more.

I appreciate that. Anyways, somebody that I just referred to that did that was a 50-year senior. A.J. Dillon was a freshman. And there is a highlight that is nothing like how he described the play, but there is a highlight of A.J how he described the play but there is a highlight of A.J. Dillon breaking like six tackles and then he comes cleans him up on it and puts him on his back by the way oh yeah puts him on his back A.J. Dillon on his back touchdown and he talked about it so now he and A.J. Dillon are doing an Oklahoma drill this offseason full pads

if you were him is there any tips for your real-life job, which is an Oklahoma drill every single play? What would you do to a man who hasn't done much athletically in a little bit? About eight years probably. Taking on A.J. Dillon in an Oklahoma drill. Any thoughts? I mean, the biggest thing, you definitely have to get lower than him. That's an absolute must.

If you're a little bit higher than him, you're going to be right then. It's over. So you have to get lower than him like that's an absolute must if you're a little bit higher than him you're gonna be right that it's over so you have to get low and as soon as you hit him you're gonna have to make sure your feet are moving if your feet stop and he's a little bit maybe he's maybe you're a little bit lower than him it doesn't matter because if you see you know this man's feet are gonna be moving so you're gonna have to make sure you're lower than him your feet are moving and i think the biggest thing too is just get your hands inside of the man because if you're out here or doing anything crazy you have complete control when your hands are in nice and tight it's funny you say that patrick because we were talking about strategy just this morning and yesterday and what connor was thinking was actually to jump a little bit attack with a head attack with a head you know what i mean

literally couldn't be more opposite of what you just suggested do you have any thoughts on his particular idea of the jump and wrap or I thought maybe jump

spin get on his back backpack get out of the way as much as possible do you have any other any other thoughts I mean

I don't know maybe tackling him like that might work but jumping on his back is not going to help because he's just going to take you for a ride at that point. True. That'd be fun, though.

Is it to the hospital? No. Call the ambulance. Not for me! I'm on the back button. Patrick, sorry. This show is incredibly stupid. You should probably get a much better interview than you're currently getting.

And that's 100% on us. Whenever... What's that when did you know lamar jackson was the guy was there a time like you know because you were playing i guess d line at the time and then you were part-time fullback which is normal by the way goal line normally you have somebody come in whether it's offensive lineman d line then youeman, then you go full-time. Was there a moment where you guys knew Lamar was the dude, or was it as soon as he got there, they're like, oh, this guy is different? I mean, he was a first-round pick for us in 2018. This is my second year here. I mean, in OTAs, when he first got here, just seeing this man move around

and run around and the things he could do just physically and just the raw talent he had, you knew he was special at that point i think all it took was a little bit more development development in his game to learn this system and learn these plays and what he has to do and then get the reps on top of it because flacco was still our guy he was still getting all the reps with the ones and getting more of the reps in practice and whatever it was. And at that point, I think you just knew, like, once Lamar got, you know, his shot to be the number one quarterback, he was going to take it.

And he got that. I think it was – he probably played five or six games his rookie year. And we were in a losing streak. And then they put Lamar in because Flacco had an injury. And that's when we started winning a bunch of games and they went into the playoffs um I think I think for me personally it was when OTAs when you first got here you knew there was something special about them after that rookie year by the way Harbaugh as you know went all in on the Lamar Jackson package basically helped that whole thing out tight ends let's get a big ass fullback in here let's make this dive a

threat every single time or at least move some people. What do you got, dude? Patrick, you talked about running full speed and meeting human beings in the hole. Besides Robert Spillane, who was a dude this year who you met in the hole and was like, I didn't expect that from them?

Yeah, Bob Spokane, dude. Have you ever seen Bob Spokane's neck, by the way? Yeah, it's pretty big. Do you judge that whenever you're going into a week? Have you ever seen, hey, have you seen Bob Spokane's neck, by the way? Yeah, it's pretty big. Do you judge that whenever you're going into a week? Is that something you think about? Like, hey, that son of a bitch. What's that guy's neck size?

That guy is going to bring a dump truck with that neck. Sometimes. I mean, yeah, of course. If they have a big-ass neck, you know they're not stare-at-the-head dudes. True. But, you know, I got sidetracked. Other than Bob, who's somebody that hit you that you were like, okay, that was a great collision?

Or who's somebody that you jousted very well with? Like every collision was a big-time shot. Has there been anybody? It doesn't happen often. I don't want to sound like I'm all cocky and all this stuff. Dude, you're a two-time pro bowler for a fucking reason. My backers are, right? I got 50 pounds on them. I'm trying to think.

I know, you know, like, for me, I think it's more defensive ends, honestly, because they're big guys. Who's tough? Who's tough to dominate? I don't know. Yeah. Miles Garrett is a big dude. That's for damn sure.

Hitting guys his size, that's an example I would use. Like a Miles Garrett. Those guys, you hit them and you're not going to move them very much, but you know you've got to move them just a little bit or occupy them. Yeah, what is... They're all the same size. What is the goal? Because you'll see

some blocks and they're like, it looks like you barely even touch or like an offensive lineman will be out in space, and a corner will try to duck them, and they'll get on their shoulder, but it's like, no, that's considered a great block because the fact that they were there, they made the play. Is your goal to square somebody up every single time? Is it like, I just need to move them a little bit for this particular play? Is there different ways on how you have to dominate a human?

Yeah. So depending on the play and where the ball is trying to hit, you have to take the blocks on differently. So like a power play at Gaff's game, if I'm kicking out the end, I have to make sure I kick them out enough to where there's space to where our pulling guards can pull around, our back can hit the hole. So it's always different like when i'm doing like a quarterback driven run for those runs it's more just fitting fitting the

guy up because half the time it's gonna be jk or lamar running around and with those guys all you got to do is just get on a guy's kind of stay square and let the back have either the edge or you know be able to cut it inside whatever you want. I think those blocks, it's just more of just fitting guys up. More like gaps game and things where you have to move guys, those are more important than actually moving them. For the most part, you're just fitting guys up and

getting the block done. For me, I'm trying to move guys every time. Do you have any holding calls? I have one this year and one last year. Other than that, not really. Is that the worst? Is that just the worst?

It sucks because, you know, your coach is going to be pissed. You know that sometimes it's a bullshit call. And sometimes you've got to deal with it. But, yeah, I don't have too many. So I pride myself on that too. And also the 10-yard is just – it is so much is so much i mean it is it's a drive killer i i've that should move to a five yard penalty i think i honestly believe that that should be a five yard penalty because if they call it it's such a subjective call it could be called technically

i guess on every single play and you can't review it it just feels like that shouldn't be something that stalls the drive if we're trying to get the best possible product ty what do you have patrick obviously love the fullback mentality but have you at any point went to coach roman or harbaugh and been like hey i need at least you know 15 20 touches a game let me run downhill with this thing and score some touchdowns i know my role here okay so um but i mean when the ball i know when plays are called And I could possibly get the ball I mean, I get excited I mean, who wouldn't get excited?

Bingo And I know when the opportunity comes I'm like, alright This ball's run to you Make sure you catch it first of all And make sure you don't fumble this bitch Because Yeah

Yeah But yeah, I mean I had nine catches this year And for some reason The Titans game I had three or targets. Ooh, there we go. Athlete. 295 pounds. Just stalking the field.

I didn't play offense in college at all. So coming here, being a defensive lineman, and now possibly getting the ball in the NFL, I mean, that was something I never thought would ever happen. I'm not asking for possibly getting the ball in the NFL. I mean, that was something I never thought would ever happen. Like, I'm not asking for touches or anything like that. I mean, maybe this year, just because of how – while I was doing towards the end of the year with, you know, receiving yards and things like that, more than normal than I was

throughout the year, maybe my role will expand a little bit more and be running more routes and getting the ball a little bit more. Maybe spots. You know, work my move a little bit. Just have the time. I get the ball in space. I'm like, do I make a move on this guy? Do I, you know, do something crazy for half the time

and just lower my damn shoulder because that's all I really know. Yeah. And by the way, another great move, obviously, is the jump over. Anytime a fullback jumps over somebody, big pop from the internet. Big, big pop from the internet. Patrick, we appreciate you so much, man. Have a great offseason. Hope to talk to you again.

Congrats on the Pro Bowls and all that shit. You're the man. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. Hey, no problem, man. Maybe we'll do it again. Yeah, maybe one day. You never know.

Maybe. Patrick Ricard. Yeah! Thank you, man. 295 pounds just trying to dominate, dudes. That's one of those guys like you accidentally run into in a bar. Yeah. What have I got myself into?

I am so sorry about that. What a guy. Good guy. Good conversation. Let's get some phones, Paul, shall we? Let's go to Dana in Texas. Dana, what's going on? What part of Texas are you in?

Dana and I is Gator. Gator don't play no shit. I agree, Gator, and I apologize. First off, how are you doing, sir? Hey, Gator, not too shabby. I would like to apologize to you. What's that for? On that Thursday night, you kicked that onside kick.

I was at that game. What'd you say to me, Gator? Now they've been hammer drunk. Yeah. You know what you said? Did you say something? I probably said, fuck you. Oh, Gator. Gator. You know, you said? Did you say something? I probably said, fuck you. Oh, Gator.

Gator. You know, y'all are amazing, man. You know, you and the boys, you know, peas and teas, all the first responders

out there fighting COVID. That's right. Prayers and thoughts. Well, first off, I just want to talk about that shit show going on in Houston. It's finally now

getting national. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's been going on for years. Really? Behind closed doors? Oh yeah. You're saying locally you guys have been known about this shit for a long time. It's been going on since the Kubiak era, brother.

Thank you, Gator. You couldn't have got better than that. No. Joining us now is a guy for the Tennessee Titans. A man who hosts Bussin' with the Boys podcast, which is great alongside Will Compton. It's great entertainment, to be honest with you.

A hilarious individual who happens to play tackle in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans, ladies and gentlemen, alongside his right-hand man, Taylor Lewal. Yeah! Thank you for having me. AJ, next time I'm'm introduced if you don't clap we'll grab some but it's all right what's going on fellas how we doing hey taylor how are you doing now i tried to guess what stage of rehab you were in i forgot how long ago you were on the show

i completely i tried to do the math you're walking now how are you feeling are you getting a metal scrape up and down your scar tissue yet? What's going on? What stage are you at? That has happened several times. I am 12 weeks out yesterday. And so I'm walking. We're getting the quads firing.

I never had big legs to begin with, so not a lot of atrophy there. But it's going well. It's going good. I think at week 16, week 17, around that four-month mark, I will be cleared for all football activities uh beating the dominican sioux when he tore his acl in nebraska not keeping score but that's that that's the pace that i've heard i have to be jeez so what's been the hardest part i guess so you're three months out does this part suck worse in the beginning like what's the what's the toughest thing the hardest thing for me was like i it was when i got hurt like it was almost a calming feeling for whatever reason like i sat there

and i was like there was always a huge fear of mine like i'm an athletic tackle i can run i don't bathe regularly i you know it's there was always a thing like you know i can move around and once i was always so afraid to get my my knee getting hurt that once it happened, it was like calming. Like, oh, this is the worst thing that can happen to me. I'm going to be totally fine. So the only time it was difficult was during the season on Sundays, watching the boys go out there and play. Like that was always hard. You know, I was definitely in a little bit of a slump during all that.

But it was – it's been – like since the season's ended, you know, obviously we got Bust with the Boys podcast. I get to come and talk to you gentlemen like there are things that keep my schedule going to where i can still have a creative outlet uh other than football so it's been a it's been a cool experience and i think it's going to be a positive one and and overall in my life and so i'm really excited about the opportunity for next year you know guys whenever they get hurt or have season-ending injuries they're still in the training room in most years in In the morning or whatever, they're checking in. They kind of get a chance to at least be in the building with some of the people. I assume this year you were not in the building at all, huh, because of the COVID clearance and everything like that?

Yeah, I left immediately. I was not going to wake up at 6 a.m. and get COVID tested every day. But Dak Prescott can have it, baby. I'm so proud of him, him staying on the news. He's going to go in there, go to the meetings. What a guy. What a team guy. And I love that. I didn't so proud of him. Him staying on the news. He's going to go in there, go to the meetings. What a guy. What a team guy. And I love that. I didn't do any of that. I actually bailed immediately

and went to Florida. Dr. Andrews did my surgery. I spent a week down there. And then I came here. I have an incredible team of people. Luke Richeson is a guy who helped start Exos, which was Athletes Performance in the beginning. He's now at Lipscomb Academy, which I know you guys... Oh, Trent Dilfer, let's go

Mustangs! Let's go Mustangs! He's the strength coach for them. This woman named Anna Hartman, who is also... She's an incredible PT lady. Comes from San Diego. She flies in just to work with me. I got the best team you could ask for. I literally have... I got

the Pilates Reformer right there. I hit that at least an hour day a day and then i go do my workout i go do my rehab so at this point it's really like quad strengthening and and workouts so i i um you know i might have the best acl repair anyone's ever seen yeah well it might go down in history that's what i was going to ask about because you had indomitian Sioux's recovery time from his college days at Nebraska in your mind. Was there a goal that was laid out by somebody, I assume, in your life? Or was this your goal? Like, hey, okay, what did Indomitian Sioux do whenever he was at Nebraska? I don't even know how you remembered that that had happened was.

And how did you get to that goal? And I assume those little things are kind of what keep you going, obviously, through this whole thing. Well, everything in my life always stems back to Will compton and so will compton played at nebraska when will got to nebraska there was a guy named james dobson he was head straight coach there unbelievable guy good raspy voice chiseled cat really a guy you look at say yeah i want him to work me out work me out and i've been to vanderbilt a few times done a couple workouts with him absolutely dominated him in a few things. But he and I have developed quite the rapport. And so he calls me four or five days before I answer the phone.

He doesn't say sorry. He doesn't say, oh, I hope you're feeling okay. He goes, well, you know, when I first got to Nebraska, an Adopt-a-Kid Sioux had a partially torn ACL, and we played wall ball. And he tore it fully, and I thought I was going to get fired on the second day of my job. But he came back in four months and played the season. So he's like,

so that's what you have to be. And that was the end of the conversation. He hung up the phone, didn't even say goodbye. And that was it. And so from this day, it's been my, my,

my head has been okay. Four months. I got to get cleared for all football activities. Now I'm going to get cleared at four months because I've recovered that well. But I think the worst thing guys can do is like, okay, now I can go do everything. I'm still going to go through every process.

I got seven more, eight more years, good ones, before I start doing the downward slope. Yeah, for sure. So we got a big thing coming up. I like that you're standing. What do we got next? What's going on? You all right?

You see that? Come on, pal. That's a beast. That's that punt team kick step, dude. That's a punt teamer. Got to get some depth, you know what I mean? We're in a deep shotgun. We are in a deep shotgun, you know what I mean?

Yeah. No, I love it. It's standard. Shoulders are square. Legs going back. You look phenomenal. You look great. You should see.

I hold the shit out of them, too, but I never get called, so it doesn't matter. Yeah. Well, I think I've held more than anybody, And I mostly get called, so it does matter. I do remember that. It was happening. But then you beat it, by the way. You beat it. Way to go.

Hey, Taylor, what do you think about the four teams remaining in the playoffs? Do you watch now? I know the Titans are out. It was tough to watch your boys. What do you think? Who do you think is going to take it? Okay, so I wanted the Bills to donkey the Ravens. Because of?

Because of, you know. And then once that happened, now I'm thinking, you know, I think the Chiefs, I can't see the Chiefs not beating the Bills because they're so good right now. I think it really depends on Patrick Mahomes' plays, right, and how is he from a mental clarity standpoint because watching the game against the Browns, it looked like his head didn't hit very much but he looked like when you can you know how like the punk kids in high school would grab the goose by the beacon

they do that and they kill him like that's what looked like that's what looked like it happened to his neck what excuse me so I'm thinking no no no like there's a lot of things we have to talk about okay there is a lot of I have no idea about any of these punk kids grabbing gooses by the beak and breaking their necks. That's unbelievable. This was something that happened? You've never heard of this before? No, no, no, bud. There's some guy probably watching this show that's probably committed arson

before that knows exactly what I'm talking about. If you grab a goose and I've never done this, PETA, I know you're watching, I've never done this. I would also like to say the opinions in whatever Taylor LeJuan says right now do not reflect that of the opinions of the other two men that are currently on the screen. Right. Well, I'd love it if you put me in that, but insurance policies have been laid. If you grab a goose by the neck, I'm sorry, by the head. And you give it a whip, it

dies. It snaps its neck. How do we... Okay, so let's move on. It did look very scary. Patrick Mahomes looked like the goose that I was trying to explain. So I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what happens with spines. I'm not a doctor, right? I was a general studies major in Michigan.

I think if Pat plays, I assume the Chief plays, I assume, I assume the chiefs win. Now, Tom Brady is a Michigan legend. All right. There's Tom Brady, me,

and then there's everybody else. But like Tom Brady's number one. Of course. So Tom is the Bucks. And then, I mean, Aaron Rogers had the best season out of everybody besides Derek Henry. So you think Aaron Rogers would win this game,

but I'm, I'm hoping Tom Brady and the Buccaneers win this game. Okay. Just from a Michigan guy to Michigan guy. So I finally got there. I apologize. No, I like that you gave a very detailed breakdown of all of it, by the way. Not a lot of people do that.

It seems like you have it well thought out. And by the way, that's why Busting with the Boys is such a good podcast, because you know you're a deep-thinking man, especially in your time. Can we talk about the concussion protocol? Have you ever been in it? Several times. I don't think i've ever had a concussion but they've said it's been i had a thing in miami andre branch i'm still gonna get you back someday blindsided me and i don't think he's in the league anymore but i'll get him like a charity event or something aj tackles dudes out of golf courses you could probably do something yeah no i don't think if i ever saw him at like a

you know some sort of charity event i've definitely you know, in the chin, and then he'd be asleep, and I'd tweet worth it as I was the cosser taking me away. Jesus. That's a little bit harsh. Don't you think that's a little bit harsh? Should we not move on, you don't think? I don't know. I'm petty, dude.

I get petty so easily. You knocked the guy out at a charity event. Yeah, but I feel like whatever my bail was, I'd match that for the charity event, then everything would be okay. You'd be square. We'd work out something in that way. You'd match, match.

What's your bail? $10,000? Okay, we'll do $10,000 for charity also, and everything's okay. What a hero. But I think I got knocked out against Miami. He did that. That's why I was saying I was joking.

I was joking about that. Thank you. You go through the protocol. Basically, you know how it is. You have your baseline test, and then once you get knocked out or anything happens from a concussion standpoint, you have to meet those baseline guidelines. And a neutral site doctor, a doctor that's not affiliated with the team at all,

has to clear you. Is he from Nashville, though? Was he in Nashville, that doctor? Who was it? And did you sense any, like, fanhood in that person? The guy knew that he was like, yeah, you know, as I'm walking out the door, the guy goes, hey, I love the way you play. So obviously he knew I wasn't going to do it as he cleared me for the game.

But I'm saying, like, I got hurt. And Mike Vrabel, he's an amazing dude. He's for the boys 100%. Text me on Tuesday. He goes, don't even plan on playing this game even if you get cleared. Like, you're taking care. He took care of the boys,

which you don't get a lot, especially with head coaches. I just don't think you get that. And Mike helped me out quite a bit doing that. You know, you got to reach the baseline. Once you reach the baseline, you have to have, like, no symptoms. Everything's got to be zeros,

the one to ten. How's your head feel today? Do you feel stuffy? Did you have trouble sleeping? What about the light? How's the light feel in no symptoms. Everything's got to be zeros. The one to ten. How's your head feel today? Do you feel stuffy? Did you have trouble sleeping? What about the light? How's the light feel in your eyes? It all has to be zeros. Hawk, you know what I'm talking about. Pat, I don't know if you've ever been hit, but you know exactly what I'm talking about. I have been, and I've also knocked some motherfuckers out.

25 tackles, by the way, in my career. I learned the other day. That's incredible. That's seven more than Will Compton had this year, so that's unbelievable. He's a linebacker. Yeah, but Will forced fumble. Yeah, he did. Damn right.

Highlights. Yeah, you're damn right he was. He's a hero. But yeah, I don't know. I think Pat will play. I think you'd have to, like, the guy's going to do whatever he can to play, right? Going back-to-back AFC championships, I think it's the first time since Philly did it when Andy Reid was head coach at them as well. So it's pretty unbelievable stuff that they're headed towards,

and I can't see a way that Pat doesn't play. I hope for his safety he does whatever's best for him. I think if Pat plays, game's over. No offense to Bill's Mafia, I've tangled with them one too many times. They're the most unbelievable fan base. And I would absolutely hate to catch any heat from that. But Pat's on top of his game right now, and it's hard to bet against him. And I'm taking Tom Brady on the bucks,

even though I don't know if that's a winning bet. Hey, so going back to this Andre Branch situation, you see you got blindsided. You were blindsided. Were you out cold on the field but not concussed? I mean, that's an impressive move. Buddy, I took a nap dude i was out there i got up i got up and i'm like i'm looking around and all my teammates are like

fighting like they're all kind of getting it which you know you look back on you're like hey appreciate the boys and i'm like who we fighting what's going on and you know even will's right there and was like hey you got knocked out everything's fine like i said everything goes back to will go was like hey you got knocked out. Everything's going to be fine. And I'm like, and I just start just bawling, crying. And like Ben Jones, our center, comes and takes a towel and puts it over my head and kind of just directs me to the locker room. And that was the end of that. But Andre, you know.

Why'd you cry? Why'd you cry? Yeah, Pat, I don't know what the brain, how it works. If you hit a certain way, the part that has your feelings, you wake up and. I don't know what the brain, how it works. If you hit a certain way, the part that has your feelings, you wake up and come out. I went home and I started crying to my wife.

I'm like, she's like, how do you feel? I was like, well, I feel good. And I just think that, and I just started crying. So,

but I'm, you know, concussion or not, I am, I do like to cheer up, put a good movie on, you know, warrior,

Titanic, any of those types of things. I'm out. The tears start flowing. But Andre Branch starts walking back to his bench, and they have him yelling, body bag and all this different stuff, which I love it. I think it's unbelievable because I'm into petty.

I can't not double down on petty. So good for him. He got me. Let's talk about a little petty and awesome from an outsider's perspective, obviously, or an insider's perspective, but I thought, first of all, you guys going on Raven's Shield, Harbaugh, Vrabel having that situation, becoming an entire thing, I love that type of stuff. I absolutely love it.

I assume there's a lot of people that are like, that's not in football. I love it. And then Marcus Peters, by the way, remembering immediately upon, and not forgetting. Like, I think that is something that I was so impressed with. On the outside, it's like, oh, here's a little payback. And I heard you and Will talk about it in a clip from Bustin' with the Boys about Will saying,

I'll just put all the Jordan cry faces on there as soon as they lose or whatever. And by the way, he did immediately upon it happening. And it did very well or whatever. But what were your thoughts while watching that whole thing? I enjoy it. I don't know how you guys were handling it internally or via group text messages or anything like that. Yeah, so basically what happens for the last, I'd say, four or five years,

the Tennessee Titans, when we go in an away game or even go in a home game, we go to the middle of the field, we break it down. It's the us-against-them type of mentality. The whole rah-rah thing, right? Insert Denzel Washington. Remember the Titans' bullshit speech? That whole thing. That's our shit. So we've done it. We did it against the Patriots. We played them a divisional game.

We did it in the wildcard game and the Ravens game. Last year, we did it. So sure enough, we do it this year. I wasn't there. I was at home eating popcorn, watching the boys donkey. And I loved it. I'm like you, Pat. I'm all about the petty. I think it's

unbelievable. And I said it on a podcast by myself because COVID rules and Will couldn't be with me. It was during the season. There was going to be a time because Harbaugh got so butthurt about the situation, right? Like, why don't you have some respect? And Vrabel just big dicking him the whole time,

not even looking at him saying, go coach, go coach. You know what I'm saying? Whips him away. Like, treats him like a little, like a dirty school girl. And we win the game and they're super upset about it. And I said a week later on Bustin' with the Boys, I said, there's going to be a time when the Ravens get us again and it's gonna be all right it's just gonna happen and we're gonna live our lives the way we do and then eventually we'll be able to

be petty again someday so i turn on the ravens bills game and once you know what the heart starts it starts just beating because i know that napalm's about to go off on twitter and i know that ww3 is about to take over pat okay yeah so i sit there and i just halfway through the game but cannot wait for will's uh tweet at the end of this game and i just lay it down knowing that there's a massacre going on my timeline just an absolute massacre and then will post can't wait to uh out of respect for the ravens i'll wait till the clock hits zeros. So you know it's just this fuming at the mouth for all

Baltimore Ravens fans. Sure enough, Will puts the crying emojis, crying Jordan emojis on these guys. And Napalm, absolute Napalm went off all over Ravens fans and the Bills Mafia got involved. And you know how they roll deep. I've already said it once. I'll double down. They roll deep.

Hey, they're petty too. Hey, they are petty. As petty as they come. And you love it. Love it. And Titans fans are ganging up with the Bills fans. It's like it's a civil war. It's unbelievable. And so the Ravens, I mean, they're mad.

Here's the deal. We're going to play them again someday. And it's going to get petty again. And I love that they didn't even shake our hands after the game. I wasn't there. But when they beat us, they didn't shake it. They're like, no, no, we're out of here. We're not shaking hands.

I love it. And I think they're all great guys. I love Lamar Jackson. I think Marcus Peters is an unbelievable corner. Yannick Ndokwe played for the Jaguars for a long time. I played against him a lot. Calais Campbell's there. They have so many studs.

Judon, so many studs there, and I love them. And I think they're all awesome guys. I'd love to have them all on the podcast. But I love the pettiness. I hope it continues, not only for the team's sake, like getting juiced up before the games, but for the fans' sake, going to the game thinking that we care actually way more than we actually do care.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, it does showcase that there is loyalty and real passion for the teams, which is what I appreciate, which is a quick way to debate somebody that is old school that doesn't like it, just saying, oh, so you don't want your players to care at all about the team that they're playing for? No, I didn't say that. They just have to do it in a classy way.

It's like, oh, okay, well, it's a little bit, can't really have it both ways in that entire fashion. I like it. I think it's good. You can't have them on the show, though. Bustin' with the Boys, obviously those episodes with the Ravensvens would be massive but i think that kind of kills kayfabe does i mean it kind of it kind of kills the pettiness don't you think yeah but i'm all about clicks pat so i'm gonna get them damn clips i need to get them you know what i'm saying we're all selling out out here dude

i'll be anything you need for a dollar. You know what I'm saying? Anything you want from me. What's that sign? Yeah, exactly. What's that thing from Beer Fest? $1 to look at it, $2 to touch it, $3 to watch me touch it. That's my motto I'm living by at this point. Hey, shout out to you, dude.

What do you got, Connor? Taylor, you mentioned being a Michigan man. Obviously, Brady, you, Charles Woodson may be on that list. Why the fuck did the Michigan Wolverines extend Jim Harbaugh? I'm never going to be allowed back there again. I don't know. I don't know. I just don't know what to say.

Give them another year. Extend the boy. And if they develop, guys, I've said this on Bustin' with the Boys podcast. It's crazy i have to double down but um michigan state gets two and three star guys and they develop these tasks and the guys like jack confluence who walk on become top 10 picks they have they they do a great job developing guys michigan gets four and five star guys and i don't know if it's because they think they're they're great because i there's i came with a bunch of five star guys and i don't know if it's because they think they're they're great because i there's

i came with a bunch of five-star guys and they thought they were the top shit right i don't know if it's a developmental issue they have the best facilities it's unbelievable they have the history they have the richness the tradition 115 fans biggest you know the town lives for the football team i don't know how you don't you're not like a a top 10 school every single year and so you know i i i drank the kool-aid when i was there i was you know i hated ohio state i hated notre dame i hated michigan state now it's like dude you want i don't know i could i could care less i kind of just moved on from that situation i know people hate it people are so mad at me right now for saying that but i kind of just move on from stuff right and then that's why this whole

ravens thing i'm like yeah you know it's gonna end and then i'll be fine and then life will just be the way it is yeah by the way chapters bub hey fun chapter every once in a while take a peek back in the book oh that was fun that was awesome it's good let's keep it moving or whatever the interesting thing though about harbaugh up there getting extended it seems like nobody thought that was coming and then he takes a pay cut and then the whole thing. And I've been to Ann Arbor. I've talked about this before. That place is gorgeous, dude.

It is absolutely beautiful up there. What do you got? Taylor, did you watch the A.J. Brown video last night? Good question. No, I talked to A.J. regularly. I was texting with him and Will. Everything comes back to Will. How he said he was out for the season

or something like that. Yeah, he said he should have been out. Should have been out. He had two surgeries on both his knees week two, went on to make the Pro Bowl or whatever. He didn't keep it moving. Yeah, I love it. Vrabel has a very strong stance on media.

When you're talking to the media, you don't talk about other guys' injuries ever. But I'd say that was a big fat lie what he was saying i don't know man i only played five games i only played five games and i think i played two of them with him so uh you know hey he's a warrior you know the guy chews glass he's he wakes up every day and thinks about what can he do for the team. Most selfless guy I've ever dealt with in my entire life. Of course, dude.

There was a point, I think he had gangrene and they had to amputate it. They said, hey, we're going to have to take the knee. We're going to have to take it from the knee down. We're going to have to take it. And AJ looked at him. He spit on the doctor. I remember this. He spit on the doctor's face and he said, I'm playing for my team. God damn it. And he did it.

He did. Shout out to A.J. Brown. A.J. A.J. You want guys like that on your team. Hey, Taylor, you want guys like that on your team. Need guys like that. A.J., I tore my ACL and A.J. walked up to me when I was on the field.

He goes, is it your knee? I go, yeah. And he spit on me. He goes, pathetic. And walked away. That's how tough A.J. Brown is. Hey, by the way, somebody clipped you getting knocked out or whatever. It is very far away from the play.

How funny is it, dude? I literally, I was. So back to that real quick. Because I think every time you send me on the show, we're on here for 30 minutes. So you're welcome. But. By the way, this is a rather shitty Wednesday. I'm asleep.

I'm definitely taking a nap in that picture. That was the longest game in NFL history. There's a bunch of storms going on. Every 25 minutes, they shut down the game. Oh, I remember that. We were coming out. It was just after half or just before. No, it was just after half.

I got knocked out. We went in for another rain delay or whatever and I kind of walked outside, outside the locker room into the open area and there's a bunch of fans. And they're just giving it to me, dude. And I look up at them and I start kind of saying something back to them and I just start bawling, crying again, just started losing it, crying. Delaney Walker puts his arm around me. It's kind of like he's really embarrassed for me and kind of just takes me away that was that was a bit of a situation well I was a lot

like I said a lot of crying a lot of crying a lot of like it's like I watched the notebook on repeat and also warrior and titanic it's both great movies as well Will Compton was the one that tweeted that picture out by the way he just wanted to make sure everybody knew just you know he was kind of helping the story, just so everybody knew exactly what. Taylor, I appreciate you joining us, man. You're awesome. You stirred some shit today, though.

I appreciate you guys having me on. Hey, you stirred some shit today. I think there's going to be some conversations about what you said on here today. But let's just do this real quick, right? Like, I said some things. Words came out of my mouth. But what does it mean?

Nothing. Like, everything I said, it doesn't mean anything, right? Like, I said some things, words came out of my mouth, but what does it mean? Nothing. Like, everything I said, it doesn't mean anything, right? The Ravens beat us, you know, Harbaugh got extended, and I got knocked out. Like, that's and now it's over. Watch Bustin' with the Boys. And if AJ doesn't clap for me next time, I'm gonna hang

up and I'll never come on the show again. No, no, no. Don't do that. I'll come on for sure i'm waiting i tell you what i need the clicks ladies and gentlemen taylor the one so sorry to interrupt i want to let you know that burrow offers the easiest most convenient way to get a comfortable new sofa delivered right to your door and it's not just sofas ty really yeah all burrow furniture is thoughtfully designed for function and practicality and designed to go perfectly together it's foolproof furniture high quality stylish and built to make your life easier that's perfect yeah it's practical and adaptable assemble a burrow sofa by yourself

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That's B-U-R-R-O-W dot com slash M-C-A-F-E-E for $75 off. That's a hell of a deal. That's a hell of a deal. Back to the show. Joining us now is a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, and a man whose thoughts I can't wait to hear about a couple, you know, pretty massive conversation pieces we've had on today's show. Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawk.

AJ. AJ. Hey, before you begin, I am not going to jump in on a conversation to question whether Phil Rivers. I'm just telling you, no, I can't. It's like arguing the goat thing. Why? What?

Who votes on it? What's the criteria? Do they each have different criteria? I just't. It's like arguing the goat thing. Why? Who votes on it? What's the criteria? Do they each have different criteria? I just need, there's a lot of questions I have. Okay, so your answer is the same exact answer as mine, I believe. Doesn't sound like it. Which is, like, at this point, I think the Hall of Fame is the NFL, whoever votes. I think it's media people who vote on it.

I'm not sure the entire process. As do you, as don't you obviously but i don't think anybody does do any of us know is everybody's vote worth one is there more that are worth i don't know that's a very interesting thing but for me i think it's just kind of like you represent what the nfl like 17 years as a starting quarterback in the nfl i feel like that is something that should be you know just you know celebrated i think in my eyes but i guess there's a lot of people that are like no no no not my hall of fame in my hall of fame you need to win okay you need to win to get into my hall of fame and if not you don't deserve to

even be talked about in the history of the sport actually now that we think about it just go on get the hell out of here there's people that really feel that way about phil rivers in specific so i think it is an interesting conversation. Like, what is the standard? Is it a representative of the league? Is it like you're the great? It's very weird. It's a very weird thing.

Well, there's so many things. Like, do you say, is it Super Bowls? Like, Eli, there's always a question about Eli. We know he got two rings, but when they weren't getting rings, how was he? Now with Phil Rivers, like, do you, do you value long-term consistent success and being a very durable and a leader in all of the intangibles and all of that stuff? Do you value that more?

Does that trump Super Bowl rings for anybody? That's the thing. There's so many questions. I'm like, I don't even care to jump in. Yeah. And by the way, I didn't think we were going to really jump in that deep, and then it was 54 straight minutes in the first half. It was – because once you start thinking about all the different thoughts

because they're changing rules, okay, so yards are about to be different, points are about to be different, they're adding games. I mean, there's – Don't you think, like, records don't matter. I know they're – I think they put up, like, Drew Brees and Tom Brady's numbers and everything, and they're talking about, oh, they have this record and that record. Like, we know with the quarterback position and how offenses have evolved,

like, numbers, like, the records are going to be broken. It's a different game. Like, just how it's played is so different, I feel like. The record thing, when people worry about that, I don't ever see a reason for that. And how are you going to compare people from two different eras? You can't. You're not going to be able to. It's going to be impossible because situations are situational. I mean, that is just.

What does that mean? That means, like, situations are situational. Like, that's what they are, dude. It's pretty self-explanatory now that I think about it. Jeez. Just open your ears. It is what it is. Hey.

Kind of. It is what it is, dude. It is. You're 100% right, yeah. They are who we thought they were. It ain't what it ain't. But it is what it is. What's that, bud? Sorry about that. What did you think they were? I'm not sure what I thought they were.

I'm not sure. Connor kept stepping on me anyway. couldn't hear me so you think he's going in i think he's going into the hall of fame by the way i think he's in i think we'll go in i think so too all right cool so that's the only conversation that matters just want everybody that potentially is very against it. People are livid, AJ. I appreciate a lot more right now than I think I ever have about how much people, you know, the high regard that people hold for that goddamn Hall of Fame. They're like, no, no, no, not my Hall of Fame. And I appreciate that.

I respect that a lot. But I think everybody that's ever played alongside or against Phil is like, as players in the NFL and guys that have been here, we think he should probably – I don't think you're hearing a lot of people that have played in the NFL go, no, no, Phil doesn't deserve it. I think everybody is actually like, yeah, this guy was awesome in the whole thing. Good representative of the league, dadgummit. That's right.

Do you think he is going to go get a TV gig? If he wants it, we know it's there. Do you think he chooses that? He said he's going to put a ball cap on and put a whistle on and go coach down in Alabama. He already signed a contract down there, remember? That already happened. And he said in numerous interviews, he said, I'm going to go down and I'm going to coach or whatever whenever I'm done.

And then it started getting leaking that, oh, network executives view Phillip Rivers as the next Tony Romo. What if they offered $10 million to Phillip Rivers to call games, which could happen, by the way. And all signs point to Phillip Rivers. He should be very good on television, very FCC-friendly, hilarious in the way that he speaks without swearing,

relatable, and he knows the game pretty well. All signs... Hey, if Phillip Rivers says, you know what, go ahead and keep that $10 million, I'm going to go down here and I'm going to coach football, I'm going to give back to the game. Hit it! You know what I mean? Like that. I would be so impressed by that if he was able to do that.

By the way, that would probably tell you everything that everybody's been saying about Phil. You know, it's like Phil just loves football. Like he just loves the game. Yeah, he does. But I could easily see him getting down there and all of a sudden whatever network comes at him, they give him give him hey we'll give you three years 10 mil a year 30 overall for the three years why don't you just come try it out see if you like it get you know make an

extra 30 mil that you can always go back and coach high school football but people want to say oh he's made you know 300 million dollars or whatever okay yeah he would love to have 30 more like do you see just warren Buffett just hanging out? You know, that whistle. Imagine what a $30 million whistle you can get. Just the next three years. Hey, just go ahead and do a victory lap, too, by the way. Everybody's going to like you.

You'll be in the Hall of Fame conversation even more. Then you go coach down there in the high school. Then you give back. Then you go ahead. The last five kids you have, they'll be in high school. Go ahead and coach them. Go ahead and do that whole thing. He could probably do both, couldn't he? I don't think so.

Because travel, right? High school games, I don't know, Friday or Saturday? Oh, true, Friday, yeah. I would assume that, you know, the travel there. But Herbstreet, I guess. Herbstreet was going to all his kids' games on Friday nights and then doing game day. But game day, I guess, and then he was calling games at night.

Yeah. So I would assume they'd be able to potentially figure that out. Maybe he is. Maybe he is doing both. That would be wild to retire and have more work. Yeah. A lot more work. Like you did.

Yeah. But I didn't make $300 million. I did. I think he goes it. Hey, Deshaun Watson. AJ, I'm intrigued for your take on this. By the way, Taylor LeJuan will be joining us alongside his right-hand man in about 16 minutes, which is the tattoo that he has literally on his right hand.

It's a stick figure, man. Which may be one of the most clever answers I've ever heard during an interview that worked out perfectly. Cannot wait to chat with him. Deshaun Watson's been leaving cryptic clues about where he wants to go. Allegedly, he's in this video. I have not got a chance to listen to it. I don't know if anybody else has, but the quotes on the tweet of the video says Deshaun Watson alludes to something like Jet Green or something like that.

And then he was allegedly in a New York taxi. And then now these conversations are all popping off about him playing his last game in Houston. And then you got Schefter or somebody reporting that the Jets are replacing him. Chris Mortensen's like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not count out Miami. It feels like it's really like, hey, which team is going to go get Deshaun Watson right now? How do you feel about that, knowing that this is going to take like three first rounders, four first rounders but is cal mcnair and amen easter bee are they in cassaria are they going to be able to just get him

out of there as a franchise quarterback that that it's a wild situation brewing down there in houston and gator told us on a call earlier that this has been happening for a long time brother since cubiac yeah that's what he told us what we know is like the longer the situation goes it's not getting better like what what could these guys do what could deshaun watson the front office do i guess to show like hey things are all right are they gonna sit down six feet apart at a press conference and say hey we're good to go i'd have my arm around him if i could if this was pre-covid but you know what we're good to go we love each other is that like what how can they come back from this i don't know. Texans fans are very – I mean, Texans fans will probably be –

I mean, would be pumped, I'd assume, if Deshaun Watson stays. But maybe they'll buy into the press conference that has to happen and will have to happen about them doing it. But everybody outside, as soon as one thing goes wrong, they're going to be like, well, hey, remember. You just remember. He was in a taxi cab. He was wearing Jet Green. He went out of there just, what, one year after signing he was in a taxi cab. He was wearing jet green.

He went out of there just, what, one year after signing a $150 million deal or whatever. And he has a jet green hat on, by the way. And he's in a New York taxi. He had a hoodie on from some other team the other day, I think, or something like that. Yeah, this has been interesting to watch. I mean, this is drama. This is controversy. This is, are the Houston Texans fucked forever?

I mean, that is. Who's going to want to go there, AJ? Who's going to want to go down there? I would be curious to see, like, what diehard Texans fans think about it. I would assume that Texans fans are like, we really want Deshaun here, but we completely understand why he wants out. It seems like there's too much going on. They probably like, hey, go do what's best

for you. You can go to another team. We'll be okay with it. It's just like how the Lions fans feel about Stafford. Yeah. Motor City, Dan Campbell, what's that? The internet, Houston fans love Deshaun Watson. They hate Jack Easterby. They love Deshaun Watson. They had a march for him the other day.

For Deshaun? Yes. I would love Deshaun too, by the way, for all the quarterbacks they had before Deshaun. Yeah. I would absolutely love – but do they know that Jack Easterby and the Lord? Close guys. Close friends.

Do they know that? Hey, how do you feel about that? He was a chaplain at one point. He was a chaplain. And then he goes – I know. That's wild. I knew of him as a team chaplain and he goes i know that's why i knew of him as a like a team chaplain slash pastor and then it's when i saw he was moving to the front office i was like man that's a weird

jump up in what you're doing i don't know how that works but going back to you were mentioning something the other day about jack easterby and cal mcnair why did you say you said oh he comes into my office gets out gets on his knees in front of me and starts praying. Have you ever been in a room when a male or a female walks right in front of your room, right in front of you, gets on their knees and prays? No, but I've never been in a room with a chaplain long enough.

I assume that's kind of how chaplains do it. If you want to prove that you should be the man of God for your organization, I think as soon as you get in there, you start proving, look at this shit. Look at this conversation I'm about to have right here. That's all I'm saying.

Maybe that's what happened. But it does feel as if those two have a really good relationship on a spiritual level. That is the story that is being cooked up from a lot of places. But I mean, I guess in the chaplain business, that has to be one of the biggest jumps in a long time. Oh, yeah. Taking the chaplain all the that has to be one of the biggest jumps in a long time. Oh, yeah. Taking the chaplain all the way to the top. Meteoric rise.

I think so, right? Because the chaplain normally takes visits up there, I'd assume, and then kind of goes out there. But just to take the entire role and just hop that thing right up to the top desk, I mean, that's pretty fucking good. Powerful snake oil. That probably is what happened. He went in, genufuflected started praying in front

of cal mcnair and cal mcnair was like my god that's jesus christ right hand man cal mcnair is like you know we need to win games down here in this fucking organization jesus christ is right jesus moves the needle in texas well not in houston that's what we're that's literally how this whole conversation just started jack eastburybury's not like that. Not in Houston. With wealthy human beings. Oh, Jesus. Oh, man. Anyways, I'm happy that that was the, that was like, what, number 15 of the what run, by the way?

That's where you pulled that one from? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I respect. So you were just pumped to see how my brain got to that in the middle of those what runs. That the office has, you know, Stone Cold created it. But I'll tell you what. I respect. So you were just pumped to see how my brain got to that in the middle of those what runs. That the office has, you know, Stone Cold created it. But I'll tell you what, I do feel like this office has potentially gone full CPR on that thing. I mean, it hits every single time in the office.

Spread the word. And at least for Houston, they're getting the prince that was promised right back, Sam Darnold, to save their organization. And three number ones, probably. How about that? They'll be fine. Here you go. Devontae Smith probably coming to save their organization. And three number ones probably. How about that? They'll be fine. Here you go. Devontae Smith probably coming to town too. Do you even need Sam Darnold though if you have what?

The number two pick, right? Right in there with the Jets got? Yeah, yeah. Because they won their way out of number one. Yep. They have the number two now. Smart. So do you want Sam Darnold or do you just want the number two pick and more picks?

That is an interesting thing. or do you just want the number two pick and more picks? That is an interesting thing. If you're Casario, do you like who? Whoever's going to be in them? Justin Fields? Zach Wilson? Mac Jones?

Who? How about Trey Lance? Uh-oh. Look out. What if Trey Lance shoots up the draft boards? What do you think, AJ? If you're making this deal, let's say this happens, which, by the way, this would be wild if this happened. I think although all the media outlets are saying this is definitely going to happen, something is going to happen with him.

This will be crazy. If you're the Texans and Chris Casario, what do you think in there? I mean, that's an interesting scenario that Daniel Jeremiah came up with. I guess if you have multiple first round picks and you can make it happen and you don't think you can make Sam Darnold your guy, yeah, maybe it's worth a shot. Do you think Houston? Do you think Houston, you think they draft young quarterback, then they would have to what?

Cut J.J. Watt. They'd save $17 million there. You get rid of what, $36 million or whatever, Deshaun Watson, and you're just trying to rebuild that entire thing with a completely different look? Like, hey, we need to freshen this place up. We need to take the pictures down. We need to repaint this place.

Is that what they're thinking, you think? Well, so Houston and Philly are the two head coaching jobs still available, right? Yeah. I mean, I don't know if I'd want to be a coach going in there when you know they're going to ship your franchise quarterback away and you're in a full-blown, absolute rebuild. There's no question about it.

It looks like a rebuild. That's a tough spot for a head coach to come into. I want a 12-year contract if I go there. Motor City Dan just got a six-year contract. Have you ever met Motor City Dan Campbell? Do you know him? It seems like you two would be akin. I have never met him. Do you know what year he retired? I may have played against him? It seems like you two would be akin. I have never met him.

I don't know. Do you know what year he retired? I may have played against him. I've known. If you did, you would have known. Yeah, you felt it. I think you would have known. You know somebody who I was like starstruck playing against

and also scared was, Foxy will know him, old Detroit, Schlesinger. Oh, my God, an absolute legend. Is that a fullback? Yeah, no, I'm Fox. He's a fullback? Slash H-back a little bit. Yeah, he was just absolute bruiser, scary human being. That was a monster.

He was so awesome. Hey, we talked to Patrick Ricard in the first hour, fullback. He was talking about how you guys just basically did it. He did an Oklahoma drill every single time he was on the field. Full speed, running into somebody, there's a collision somewhere, and he talked about the linebackers all being one size. He's 6'3", 295 pounds.

If you're a linebacker that has to run into that, what do you have to do? You just have to like, okay, today I just got to hope not to get a concussion. Let's just go ahead and get in there. What is the thought? Because you have to square those up too, right? Because you're fit. You have to take that hit every time. Absolutely. You've got to square them up too, right? Because you're fit. Like, you have to take that hit every time. Absolutely.

You've got to square them up as much as you can and try to force it, whether you're trying to force it outside or force it inside, depending on where your help is. But, yeah, like San Francisco did that every once in a while. They'd put a monster, like 300-pound D lineman in that could move. And every time, like, oh, you've got to be kidding me. Like, a stalemate is a win for a guy that's 230 pounds going against a d lineman that's coming downhill at you but yeah it's not fun i i think more teams should should do that when you have like a guy like that that can move and he's an absolute giant it can it can wear on you i think

so you have to have that you told us whenever oklahoma drills happen whenever you're younger uh you didn't want to do them he said no but if the only way to survive here is by killing everybody i'm gonna have to kill everybody then is that what you said i mean that's like i i was usually mad at the coaches for doing it so that you would take your anger out on the coaches on the other players your teammates but anyways so but you have to that's the drill the drill calls it whenever you see and it's a goal line situation, by the way, which means they probably had a pretty good drive here to get to this situation. And you're standing there probably gassed, listening for the goddamn call. There's probably only a couple goal line or whatever.

And then you see a D lineman trotting out there. You're just like, motherfucker. All right, we've got to kill everybody here. Is that the mindset you have to have? How do you just flip the switch there? Well, yeah, the mindset there would be either. A lot of times if you're on the goal line, they're coming in. You try to get a little bit deeper so you can have a big running head start.

Box, box, box. Yeah. You either do that. But if it's a D lineman, I may not want that much space. I may get right up in the line and try to take him before he gets a full head of steam. A lot of strategy going on in there. I'm happy I didn't have to do any of that. I was just running with my eyes closed running into him. What do you got there? Dan going on in there. I'm happy I didn't have to do any of that. I was just running with my eyes closed.

Running into him. What do you got there? Dan Campbell retired in 2009. After 2009? In 2009 he retired. AJ asked him when he retired to see if he played against him. Yeah, so that was my rookie year. Where did he retire from?

So he was with the Lions and then he retired with the Saints. Did he win a Super Bowl? I believe he was on the 0-16 Lions team. Someone said I thought. What are you trying to bury Motor City Dan for? He might have been on a Super Bowl champion Saints team too. But that means he knows grit. He does know grit.

And he knows he's been at the outhouse and he's been at the penthouse. Dan Campbell. Motor City Dan Campbell. He truly knows what it's like to be a Lion. He does. Yeah, absolutely. Well, not really because he's been to the penthouse. But he's also been to that house.

Yeah, yeah, he has been there. Yeah, you're right. You're right. What's that, Nick? I just had a quick question for AJ. I was wondering, AJ, how many sleepless nights did you have knowing you had to go up against Jim Kleinsaucer? Paul.

He's another one of those guys that you're like starstruck playing against him. He is like a throwback, just Viking of a human. And he played for him, too. But yeah, Klein Saucer, another just an amazing, like a perfect name for that guy for what he does. OK, so you claim with a very straight face and I think genuine like you feel as if you're being complete. You've said you've never had a concussion in your life. Think about the football he was playing up there in the NFC North against the names we know.

Kleinheisen? What was the guy's name? Jimmy Klein Saucer. Klein Saucer? And what was the guy from Detroit? Schlossender. Schlossender. I mean, you must have the greatest cranium of all time. Yeah. We should be studying your cranium whenever you pass, I think.

No, I've tried to... You try to throw a shoulder in there first. You don't want to go head-to-head as little as you can with those guys because their head is much harder than mine. You go against Dan Kreider? I think so, yeah. Super Bowl. He doesn't even know. I mean, he doesn't remember.

Numbers. I know numbers. What's the number? 35. 35. Okay. I just remember. Numbers. I know numbers. What's the number? 35. 35. Okay. Oh, yeah.

I remember that guy. Can't thank you enough for joining us today. Good conversations. Yeah. Very good conversations. They were. Taylor LeJuan is hilarious. Lightning rod.

I mean, I assume there was some shit stirred. Probably. Due to the things that he said, the internet there was some shit stirred. Probably. Due to the things that he said, the internet probably was a little bit abuzz. Charles Woodson, already. Already responding? Yeah. Patrick Ricard, that was a deep convo. Yeah. Deep dive. Never know what to expect

with those guys, but they're always, you know, you always come out of it really pulling for them. I'm trying to dominate another man. Jesus. Yeah, anyways, thank you guys so much. We'll be back tomorrow. Another show.

Going into championship weekend. Let's go. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Dadgummit. Big Phil Rivers.

Yeah. All right, we'll see you tomorrow. Be a friend, tell a friend. Ty, please play some independent music and propel these people into a beautiful Wednesday night. Cheers. Thank you. Bye. Thank you. សូវាប់បានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា� Bye. Thank you. Down deep Down deep Down deep Down deep