The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 365 - Motor City Dan Campbell, Arthur Smith, Chris "Bear" Fallica, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: March 3, 2021

On today's show, Pat and the boys discuss the potential "blood bath" coming next week with veteran NFL players getting cut, and who some of the surprise names might be, and make way for three great interviews. First, 11 year NFL veteran and new Head Coach of the Detroit Lions, Motor City Dan Campbell joins the program for one of the more electric conversations in quite some time to talk about everything everyone has been talking about (20:53-47:30). Next, new Atlanta Falcons new Head Coach Arthur Smith joins the show to chat about his father being one of the most successful men in the world and choosing a different path himself, his ascension within the Tennessee Titans and his relationship with Mike Vrabel, and what his plans are for the Falcons (49:02-1:01:53). Later, College GameDay stalwart, and gambling guru, Chris "Bear" Fallica joins Pat and AJ Hawk to chat about his life and how he got where he's at, integrating gambling into College GameDay, if there's anything he doesn't bet on, and who he likes picks wise tonight (1:23:17-1:39:48). 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 march 3rd incredible show let's get right to it huh ty yeah sounds good hey i'll tell you what i mean i don't know what i was expecting going in but this certainly does not disappoint we said this yesterday we thought today was gonna be a big one yeah hey it paid off today's show is fucking awesome all right let's get to it hey by the way if you enjoy this show please be a friend tell a friend let's continue to try to grow this thing okay yep and if you don't like your show exactly never happen all right uh the boys are buzzing in the office as am i because in roughly 22 minutes and five seconds we will be joined by mcdc motor city dan campbell head coach of the detroit lions cannot wait to

chat with him about everything that has taken place in his life over the last month or two. From his press conference to the decisions they've been making. I'm not allowed. Okay? Hey, listen. This particular show operates much different than most shows. All right? Turn down guests if there's, you know, hey, you got to pitch this, this, do this.

You got this time out or whatever. I'm like, all good. I'm a fan. Don't want that to be how our conversation goes though. I had a chance to actually potentially, uh, make content with tiger fucking woods in tiger woods. His entire people said, you can do this. You can do this. You can't do this. You can't do this. And I said, all right, I can't set the precedent that that's what I'm going to do. I appreciate it. Big fan. Will always love the man. But that's not how this thing. They say, cool, they move on. So I try to set a precedent that I won't just, you know, abide by these people's rules.

I promise if you come on the show, you're going to look good, I would assume. OK, there's been a couple that have looked terrible. Shout out Jerry Rice. Worst interview I've ever had in my entire life. There are some other people as well. We just didn't have good chemistry. But if you you come on the show it's probably going to make you look good okay you're probably going to have a good time and whatever you're selling we'll get to like it's not going to be though it's not going to be like the thing but we'll get to whatever

and by the way we hope people become a fan of you so that whatever you do they'll follow so if it's a sponsorship okay they're a fan of the person so no matter what the sponsorship is they're going to go for the foundation you know that's kind of the goal of the show let's not set any uh you know parameters or things we can't talk about i got a message yesterday about my conversation with mcdc he is not allowed by the nfl's rules like strict rules he's not allowed to talk about j Jared Goff being their quarterback next year or Matthew Stafford not being their quarterback because that trade hasn't been official yet. The NFL says he is not allowed to talk about that at all.

So I'll be intrigued to see how I dance around that. Would I have agreed to this conversation with MCDC if I knew that? Yes, because this isn't MCDC making these rules. It's the NFL making these rules. So I want to make sure that that's known going forward. But I don't know how the fuck I'm going to... I didn't know this until last night or this morning, basically. I got this message.

What am I supposed to do? How are we supposed to... That's kind of the whole... That's where the team begins and ends is we got a new quarterback. We got a new gunslinger at Ty Schmidt. How am I supposed to bounce around that? I'm sure he'll be able to talk like, quarterback going forward is a guy who blah, blah, blah.

So I'll probably say, let's say it's your quarterback next year. That particular player, what are you looking for out of that player? That's what we'll have to do. We'll just say quarterback X. QB1. QB1. QB1. There we go1 is what we'll do. QB1 at Papa Campino. By the way, great shirt. Motor City Dan Campbell shirt you got on.

I think he'll respect that, although he is a Metallica fan. MCDC and playoff ACDC, I believe those two fan bases are kind of, I think they kind of go head to head or whatever because those two make incredible. So I'm not 100% sure. I'm not in that community as much as I should be. But I can wait to talk to mcdc about qb1 and detroit and all the decisions they made just a comment the other day about being a true alpha knows when to concede

for the betterment of the group i mean i feel like this is going to be loaded with action and also today in the second hour is is it Head Coach Wednesday? It's Head Coach Wednesday. Arthur Smith, new head coach of the Falcons. One hour from right now. This man's father is maybe the most interesting man to ever exist. Ty was doing some research on his Wikipedia, looked into him a little bit. We shared a conversation this morning.

Arthur Smith, who is now the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, formerly of the atlanta falcons formerly of the tennessee titans um his dad graduated from yale vietnam vet yep uh decorated vietnam vet vietnam vet decorated vietnam vet he uh somehow got four million dollars in inheritance money starts fedex at some point after being a decorated vietnam vet and taking his inheritance to start a federal express uh shipping or whatever they're buying planes company it ends up at a point somehow back in the 70s right this is 70s ends up at a point the story goes he's down to his final $5,000. Okay. So 3.995 gone trying to make the business work. He gets

down to his final $5,000, goes to Vegas, gambles it, makes $28,000, refunds what he has going on for the gas in the vehicles. Now FedEx is a multi-bazillion dollar company. That's Arthur Smith's father. Now, if your dad is this human, I'd assume some of those traits carry over. I would assume the thought of, hey, why don't you go work at FedEx and just make so much money and probably a much different lifestyle. I assume Arthur Smith's been asked about that. He just loves football, just like completely addicted to the game of football, loves the game of football. I'd assume that he's very open about, like, if this didn't work, I would. But I assume he still had to sleep on couches at offices.

I assume he still had to run the printer. He had to hold the cards in practice. The fact that he chose to do that, knowing that what else is available for him, for me, I have a lot of respect for that. I don't have a lot of respect for rich kids, okay? I really don't, I have a lot of respect for that. I don't have a lot of respect for rich kids. Okay. I really don't never have. Um, but if once you meet them and you hear their story and they work their ass off for what they are, it's like, okay, I appreciate it. Which by the way, large majority of rich kids, whenever I say I didn't like rich kids, I mean, that was when I was growing up.

Like I was like, Oh, that kid was born on third base. Doesn't even fucking know it. Fuck that guy. Fuck that guy. Fuck that guy. But then you meet a large majority of them. It's like, Oh, these all, they all want to create their own legacies. And it's almost a burden sometimes mentally for them as opposed to anything else. You understand that. But the fact that this guy chose a path that is dreaded by people that are in the football world. So you hear a lot of football players that have dedicated their life to football. I'd never want to be a fucking football coach.

The time, the energy, everything like that. Shout out to this guy. Cannot wait to talk to him about the Atlanta Falcons. he worked his way up through the Titans organization 2011 was a quality control coach 2012 quality control then he became an offensive line assistant tight ends coach tight ends coach and then finally offense quarter and now head coach so he worked his way up the entire ladder in the quality control is coffee printing stuff watching and dissecting tape into different areas. I mean, that is the nightmare. He had to do that for two years.

Nightmare there. I'd assume he had to coach elsewhere as well before he got to the NFL. What do you got to say? I also noticed that he was with the Titans through, like, four different head coaching regimes, and I just thought that was, like, very interesting. You don't really see a guy typically – like, he obviously must have been a very hard worker,

and they saw something if he is. Or, or I, I mean, this guy's dad. I mean, by the way, that's not Arthur's fault. Okay. His dad being a bad-ass individual is not his fault, but let's assume at some points of his life that definitely helped. Right. Yeah.

And I would assume through four coaches, like the third coach, are you firing fucking FedEx guys? I mean, he's sleeping on a couch. And I would assume through four coaches, like the third coach, are you firing fucking FedEx guys, kid? I mean, he's sleeping on a couch. This guy, his dad has just an absolute mega yacht. What do you have, Jay? FedEx is headquartered in Nashville, I'm pretty sure. Or Memphis, yeah. Jay worked at FedEx, by the way.

Jay got hit by a car while working for FedEx. We'll also ask Arthur Smith about that. Jay almost died out there. Almost gave his life carrying a package crossing a sidewalk. He was not jaywalking. Did FedEx help you out, Jay? Not really. Oh.

That's a bad vibe. Did you report it, Jay? I tried not to because I was fine, but when I got back, the lady called somebody that she knew in FedEx. And it was a whole big thing. But it wasn't that big a deal. Yeah, Jay was getting sued for getting hit. My cheek dented her hood, I think.

That's the world we're in, by the way. This dude gets hit by a car. He gets sued for denting the hood of the car. Anyways, we will not talk to that, about that to Arthur Smith, the new head coach of the Falcons, but maybe something we bring up if the dad is watching. Hey, you almost called my brother Kilt. He was trying to deliver a package for you guys, and then he got sued.

Maybe a credit check or something. A little severance package. You see the guy's back now, too? Yeah, seriously. All mangled. Did you see his back? That's unbelievable. I can't wait to chat with him.

And then in the third hour, not a head coach, but a man who is beloved by everybody in this office, I would assume the world, Bear from College Game Day. Yeah. Chris Valica is his actual name. Everybody knows him as Bear from Game Day. He and I both gambled heavily on the West Virginia Mountaineers, plus four yesterday at home against baylor a baylor team that had been struggling for a while but also a baylor team that

could have won the big 12 championship for the first time in 71 years uh traveled into morgantown to take on bob huggins who was looking for his 900th win with an incredibly hot west virginia mountaineer team uh west virginia should have won that goddamn game, okay? There's a couple situations that we just can't have. But I also saw some promise out of that West Virginia team. This West Virginia team might win the national championship. They made some big free throws down the stretch, not all. They seem to make some big plays in big moments, which is what you need.

You have to have that it factor. But then they also blow it in some big moments, which is what you need. You're going to have to have that it factor. But then they also blow it in some big moments. That West Virginia team is maybe the most talented team that I've ever seen Coach Bob Huggins have just from a skill level since the Elite Eight boys, I think, the team of the Elite Eight team. They could potentially go on it. But that Baylor team, got to give them a lot of credit. That thing went to overtime.

Baylor covers somehow, okay? They win by five somehow in overtime. And we'll talk to Baylor about that a lot because he and I were texting throughout that game. A lot of oh no's. Oh no. I can't believe that Baylor gets a win, but college basketball heating

up. It was great fucking game. Michigan got blown out afterwards by Illinois and I don't need to hear any more Michigan people tweeting me whenever I tweet that West Virginia's going to win a national championship and that game goes into overtime, so you've got to go to ESPN News to watch a Michigan game. Get this trash off the TV. Michigan, neither of these teams can beat Michigan. And then Michigan

loses by 20 the next game, just moments later or whatever. Which, by the way, is going to happen in college basketball, but it's heating up. March Madness could be very awesome. And it's right here in Indianapolis and Bloomington and Lafayette, which is a three and a half hour span from point to point of where people

are actually playing. But it's going to get good, I think. The Horizon League started their tournament yesterday, and they had four games yesterday. Two of them went to overtime. There was a 24-point comeback, and there was a three-overtime game. March Madness, if that was any indication of what this March is going to be like, it's going to be insane. Very excited for it. And I think they'll have 25 fan capacity so hopefully there'll

be a little bit of an environment uh shout out to the penguins just rotting the philadelphia flyers last night with fans in the stands hockey's still happening to be honest not that i mean there's really nothing don't even don't you dare right now there's really nothing you know sydney crosby uh potentially got covid had no no idea goats got COVID. So that happened. They still win. Flyers stink. It's still the way it goes.

They were rolling. Kasperi Kapanen, two goals. He had the cheeks clapping. And Carter Haack couldn't stop anything. It looked unbelievable. What I'm saying, though, in hockey, there's no storylines right now. There's nothing big coming up. It is not a time where you, if you're not an NHL fan, to be investing in the NHL.

Let's save it for a couple months. Things will get kind of hot. coming up it is not a time where you if you're not an NHL fan to be investing in the NHL let's save it for a couple months things will get kind of hot right now college basketball is kind of going into the forefront I am a hockey fan an NHL fan but speaking to the large majority of people that aren't now is not the time to dabble in there college basketball though now is the time to kind of peek your head in because there's upsets happening great games are happening there's bubble spots on the line there's a March march madness spot that a lot of people need to get in it is now a time to peek your head into college basketball we don't do a lot of that uh unless it matters because people are here for one thing one thing alone they want to know about the biggest league

in the united states of america they want to know about the best sport in the world they want to know about the nfl and we got some good news for you all hell know about the best sport in the world. They want to know about the NFL. And we got some good news for you. All hell is about to fucking break loose. Okay, the NFL has kind of been in a spot of purgatory when it comes to news. A lot of potential news coming, but no actual news coming. We are just kind of floating in the middle on a day-to-day show trying to figure out what the fuck to talk about. Then all of a sudden, J.J. Watt sources himself.

He goes to Arizona. Then yesterday, Kyle Van Noy gets cut from the Dolphins out of nowhere. One year into a $30 million guaranteed deal. Then the afternoon comes. Kyle Rudolph out of Minnesota. And it's like, okay, this one much more understandable than

the Kyle Van Noy situation because it was public that they were asking Kyle Rudolph for a money cut or something like that and the offense change and he was still there so everybody kind of thought this was possible now I love Kyle Rudolph he has said that he'd be intrigued and going to New England I'd assume he's going to keep all options open he has a lot of great football left he has made some incredible highlights for Minnesota but that's two very notable humans getting cut yesterday and this is all because of salary cap. Nobody knows what it's going to be.

They all assume it's not going to go up as much as once expected whenever all these contracts were signed. So now they're saying big names next week. Diana Rossini said it's going to be a massacre. Diana Rossini said that she was texting with an NFL coach or an NFL GM, and they said next week is going to be a massacre all around the league a mass your favorite player he didn't have his best year last year fucking gone gone guy you own a jersey of he didn't put up his best stats he's

ever had get him the fuck out of town. There's going to be deals made. There's going to be the Arizona Cardinals owner said there's going to be a seismic shift in the NFL coming up next week because there's going to be massive names that are going to get cut in this NBA idea that has trickled into the NFL with super teams happening. And the Arizona Cardinals, they added J.J. Watt the other day for $31 million over the next two years. Excited to see how that works out for them. Stephon Gilmore might be on the trading block or is allegedly a foregone conclusion. He's going to get traded out of New England. If the Arizona Cardinals pick him up, are we talking about that defense really becoming something over there?

And are we talking differently about everything that's going to happen? But next week, big names are going to be on the move, and that means we get a lot of conversation about, imagine, insert big name here, at a team that's probably going to make a Super Bowl run next year. Here, I cannot wait for it. I'm excited for it. Maybe Green Bay will get in on the action, Todd.

See, I was excited for it, and then I started thinking about it more and seeing how far they are over the cap. I'm worried that they might be one of these teams that absolutely blindsides me next week. I mean, I was thinking they might be buyers, but I just don't know if that's the case. I just got a bad feeling. This could be two off-seasons in a row where the Green Bay Packers make the NFC Championship game, lose, and decide not to go and make the big move to get them over the hump. But they might be cutting people.

They might be getting rid of people. Now, it was talked about with the Green Bay Packers, their running back Aaron Jones, who his final game in a Green Bay Packer uniform this past season was not his best. He had a couple fumbles or whatever. But all season, Aaron Jones' growth was the reason why that Packers offense continued to grow.

Got to have a great run game. Now, they got the sauce back there, A.J. Dillon, who was going to run over Boston Conner here in a matter of months or whatever, but Aaron Jones was a guy, became a guy. He was going to be a free agent. Gunther Kuntz, who is our favorite general manager in the NFL, Gunther Kuntz says, it's not an organizational philosophy to eschew the franchise tag. Okay, we had to Google it as well. All right, we had to Google it as well.

Basically, that sentence says, it is our organization's philosophy that we don't use the franchise tag, is what he said. Although he says there are usually better ways to avoid it. He says he'll use the franchise tag on Aaron Jones if that is what's best

for the Packers. It's very much case by case. Well, that's what the fuck we just asked you, Goons. Okay, you would be the one deciding what's best for the Packers. Are you going to franchise tag Aaron Jones? Well, it is our philosophy to skew the franchise tag. It's like, okay, so not use it. So he really said nothing in this entire

thing. Aaron Jones is probably going to be a free agent. Some other guys are potentially going to get cut. Maybe open some salary cap. Maybe become some players, though, in this entire thing. I just, I don't know. I mean, I feel like if they probably going to be a free agent some other guys potentially going to get cut maybe open some salary cap may become some players though in this entire i just i don't know i mean i feel like if they were going to be players they were going to be very aggressive but like you said i mean i i really have no idea what to expect of who's going to be available next week if it really is a bloodbath so i'll keep my fingers crossed they could maybe you know get that one or two pieces they really need just fall into their lap next week. Do we have that graphic that was made by Mitt? I mean, it was an interesting graphic that was made for sure,

but at least had some of the names up there. There are some names being talked in. The first time I ever worked at NFL Network, all right, out in California. Okay, hold on, we'll get there in a second. The first time I ever worked at NFL Network, I sat in a pre-production show meeting or whatever it was this big ass table in an office and the conversation was who's going to be a

surprise big name cut this season or something like that right and it's my first time ever in a meeting and they all just go immediately to the salary cap and they just all read off the highest paid big name player which is normally hand in hand there who didn't have a good year last year and they're like oh these people are all going to get cut probably so that is a normal in the nfl if you're a high paid player that doesn't have much guaranteed left in that thing and you do not play your absolute best football the year before you're probably going to get moved or cut if your team is in a in an interesting state this year with the salary cap not really going anymore it that's going to get amplified even more so it is insane to think about

so that's why whenever you see a player take a contract that has the most amount of money available for him instead of going somewhere else that's maybe a good story this is why because the nfl views it exactly as a cut that motherfucker i don't care about that i don't care about that his best days are behind him oh we still got to be able to put a team together our fans will understand let's get rid of him let's move forward where when the player does it's like oh selfish asshole selfish prick it's like well i still got to be able to put my team together i mean my house how do we do this whole thing so i think with these names on this list though this is just like the beginning of this thing jimmy g nobody has a clue what's going to happen with him lynch says he really

believes yeah that he's going to be i believes that he's going to be the starter. It's like, okay, you can tell us. Teddy Bridgewater, he's allegedly been on a move. That would save them $2.9 million in the cap. That doesn't sound like that much, but when the cap doesn't move, that's potentially two more players on your team. Then Riley Reif, you know who that is, offensive tackle for the Vikings. That's potentially a $12 million.

Carlos Dunlap just moved from Cincy to Seattle, made some plays for Seattle. If they get rid of him, $14 million savings. Emmanuel Sanders, $4 million savings. Von Miller, $18 million. Now they're allegedly going to work a deal, is what Ian Rappaport said. Julian Edmund, $3.4 million. Steven Nelson, $8.3 million. Trey Turner, $11.5 million. Preston Smith, $8 million. Zach Edmund, 3.4. Steven Nelson, 8.3. Trey Turner, 11.5.

Preston Smith, 8 million. Zach Ertz, 5 million. Geno Atkins, 9.5 million. That's just the top. Now if they're going to double or triple that, there's just – some fans of some teams are going to know nobody on their team. It's going to be a brand new league. It is going to be very interesting.

We have to get to a break. As we get to the break, I want to, everybody please send positive thoughts to this incredibly angelic voice coming through your speaker right now. Jacob Trego, one half a year of the Buffalo,

a band that we respect and appreciate their musical abilities in them as human. I was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer this morning. He will beat this, obviously, but he would definitely be a person that we should send our positive thoughts and vibes. Trago, we love you, brother. This ain't nothing. All right. Beat the shit out of this.

Can't wait to hear your incredible voice And your musical and artistic abilities On the other side of this thing We appreciate you Mewtwo Joining us now Is a man who Took the world by storm With one press conference

Man who was introduced As the head coach of the Detroit Lions Sent the world into a tizzy. What is this man talking about? Gnawing kneecaps, getting back up, doing it again. A man that has since that day put together an incredible coaching staff, made some moves, revitalized an energy in a city for a team that was potentially dying off. Joining us right now, head coach of the Lions, MCDC, Dan Campbell.

What's going on, guys? Pleasure to be here. Coach, you're electrifying. You know it. I know it. The world now knows it. Thank you so much for joining us shane leckler good friend of mine sent me a text immediately following your opening press conference

and said uh hey dan was my roommate in college he is electric he's a big fan as is the world um before we get started we normally have a guy that is our producer and i think we're the only show that is listened to in all 50 states that has a detroit lions diehard fan as a member of our show he's on vacation this week when he heard you were coming on the show he was so heartbroken he made a video i'd like to lead off with his question dan if that's okay? Yeah, let's do it. Just Foxy? Yeah, Foxy. Oh my God, he is going to... He just lost it right there. Please run that up. Don't sleep on the Lions in this comedy. Pat, it's been a weird year.

Why not the Lions this year? One day will be our year. Someday. That's why we're still here. They're still going to go 10 and 6 and win a playoff game. This draft, this is the turning point. 10 and 6 and win a playoff game. This is the year I get to see a playoff win, Pat.

We're going to go 10 and 6 and win a playoff game. Now until the first game, I have hoped that we're going to win a playoff game. I'm going to be a little bit more confident. I'm going to be a little bit more confident. I'm going to be a little bit more confident. I'm going to be a little bit more confident. I'm going to be a little bit more confident. I'm going to be a little bit more confident. I'm going to be a little bit more confident. I'm going to be a little bit more confident. I and win a playoff game. This is the year I get to see a playoff win,

Pat. We're going to go ten and six and win a playoff game. Now, until the first game, I have hope. Ten and six, playoff win, book it. Oh, he dropped it! Oh! Oh! Oh! Coach, it's an absolute honor

to be speaking with you. I think a lot of Lions fans want to know just how this one's going to be different. It seems like every three, four years the Lions get a new head coach. It seems like the rebuilding process has been happening my entire life. I'm 26 years old and I've never seen a playoff win for the Detroit Lions. So I want to know how you and your coaching staff plans to make this one different so that someday I get to see my Lions go 10-6 and win a playoff game. Coach, obviously I assume you hear that a lot,

and I feel like in your press conference you were speaking to those people. But what is – how do you turn that place into a winning, you know, organization, Coach? Yeah, look, first of all, I think I love Foxy, man. I'll tell you what i love the optimism that he brings um look i would say this to me the short answer is is sheila ford ham if you want hope she's the one who's bringing the hope because this all started with her you know she took over ownership in in the summer and she she knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted, she wanted a collaborative effort starting at the top and, and ultimately man in the, in the simplest terms,

you would say she wanted us to work as a team up top, like a legitimate team up top between her and Rod Wood, the president, myself, Brad Holmes, and man, let's, let's do this thing together where everybody knows we're all in the same boat. We're all rolling the same way. And knowing that those players downstairs, they'll, they will feed off of that and they'll understand that and they'll fall, fall right in line. Like one of the things that, that always bothered me as an ex-player was at times where you're being preached to about being a team and it's all about being unselfish and working as one and no egos.

And yet it's not happening at the top. And, man, that's the biggest killer of any team is when it's not working at the top. And you've got ownership telling you what you've got to do. You can't do this. And you've got a president telling you you can't do this. You can't spend this money. And that and then having a GM and a head coach who are not on the same page well that this thing has started exactly where it should start to have success that started with

she wants us to be teamwork she wants us all working together she set the tone she made the hires and here we are man so. And that's the starting point. You're 100% right, by the way. You can always – you're probably getting a call from the GM right now. You guys are probably making a play. Probably making a play. Get off of McAfee. I was sent a message, by the way, last night about things I'm –

literally you're not allowed to talk about. And I was basically in a message that was like, please do not put him in a position to kind of break an nfl rule in this entire thing but whenever you think about a gm and a head coach being on on different pages you can kind of tell by the way an organization operates from the outside you might not be able to hear it from behind the scenes you might not know what's going on behind the scenes but watching an organization you can tell whether or not everybody's on the same page. You were asked about that literally just two days ago, and you dropped another gem. It was another.

True Alpha knows when to concede for the betterment of the group. Your mindset in coaching, have you always been this way? That True Alpha, have you grown through that, like through Miami and New Orleans? And how have you become this human with this mindset that you have right now? New Orleans and how have you become this human with this mindset that you have right now well no look I think that um I think being a good leader involves being a good listener you got to be able to listen to other other people's opinions and you got to take it for what it is and you know what you may not agree with it and it may not be the right answer but you take it in anyway and you listen to it and at the end of the day you make your decision off of that and you

don't always agree with them and you you'll do things that are going to upset people because you're making a decision they don't agree with. But it's my job. And I always felt like if I was able to get in this seat, man, that was one of the most important things is, man, have trust in me, have faith in me that if you hire me, I'm going to listen. I'm going to listen to everybody, man. I'm listening to Brad when you're talking about personnel. I'm listening to Ray Ag me, I'm going to listen. I'm going to listen to everybody, man. I'm listening to Brad when you're talking about personnel. I'm listening to Ray Agnew. I'm listening to John Dorsey, man. These guys, that's what they do.

Those are the things that they really excel at. That's their superpowers, man. And so, for me, why would I not listen to them? Even if it's my coaches maybe feel a little bit the other way, well, you know what? I need to flesh that out. I need to know why. You know, what are the reasons why am i not seeing this correctly and look the alpha comment was really i wasn't directing that just at myself i was saying that that's brad too brad's an alpha that's our coaching

staff i mean let me say this about our coaching staff one of the reasons i made the hires that i did with these guys i know you'll probably end up asking this was because just coming out of this covet i wanted to make sure we had more flexibility with the roster, and if these coaches need to play, maybe a couple of games. So, you know, not everybody's thinking that way, but I am.

You are the best, okay? I'll tell you what, Antoine Randall, he can get out there and sling the ball a little bit. I mean, he can do whatever you need him to do. In your opening press conference, by the way, hey, hey. Listen, best of all time. There is no close second. Okay, there is no close second. It was the best press conference of all time.

Now, you pissed off a lot of people that I assume have not liked you for your entire life. So you just kind of expected that. Happens to me as well. But in your opening press conference, you said a lot of things that I was like kind of listening to and trying to latch on to learn as much as I could about you. You said, you know what, the Dolphins, you had a chance to learn those mistakes you make as a rookie head coach or whatever. What were some of those? And do they involve running Oklahoma drills on Wednesdays and Thursdays with professional athletes?

I'll say this. That was definitely not one-on-ones. But in clarification, it was never the Oklahoma drill. It was one-on-ones with all the teammates watching. That's all it was. It was one-on-ones. Hey, that got mismarketed then. Absolutely.

All of us ex-players were like, fuck that guy. Absolutely. It was not Oklahoma. It was simply one-on-one pass rush versus an offensive tackle pass protecting. It was a receiver one-on-one running around the red zone versus the turn back. That happens every day. We never did Oklahoma through.

Okay, good news. What did you learn? If we could, we would. What did you learn? What were some of the mistakes you think? And what do people not expect whenever they become a head coach? You hear like Chuck Pagano, for instance. He was one of the best player coaches probably that he had ever seen.

Baltimore, he was at the U. He'd been around. And then he said, you become a head coach. And it's just like you barely, it's like not even a part of it anymore. What were some of those rookie mistakes you got a chance to get out of the way in Miami that now you know and can adjust for going into Detroit? Yeah, well, look, I think the first thing is just managing your time.

That was hard for me because when you, it's just what Chuck said. I got a lot of respect for Chuck, by the way. He's a hell of a coach. But just the fact that, man, you sit down and you're like, here we go, man. I'm going to dive into this opponent, offensively, defensively, special teams, you know, dig my teeth into this. And all of a sudden you're like, hey, man, you got your media session right now. Oh, all right, all right.

You know, you go run down there. And the next thing you know, hey, listen, we need to work on this chart for the plane. We need to make sure we got the guys sitting where you want them. You know, who's in first class, who's next thing you know, hey, listen, we need to work on this chart for the plane. We need to make sure we got the guys where you want them. First class. Who's right. All right. I got it. I got it. Hey, listen, can you make this call? You know, just there's a couple of these sponsors that would be good if we reached out. All right. And so by the end of the day, you're sitting down. It's 10 o'clock at night. You're just about to start on the opponent, you know, and that was one. It's just man being able to make sure that you make the most of your time two was this got hard for me is man not to

micromanage you feel like you're trying to do everything or you want to do everything and you just can't do it and that's why now it was different because i've gotten hired as the interim and so you're taking this over, whereas like this time around, I'm able to hire my coaches. And so that's why I made the hires I did because these people, I can trust these guys. You know, these are my hires. And I know exactly who I'm hiring.

I know what they're capable of. I know that, you know, like I have all the confidence in the world that Anthony Lynn's going to, he's going to put a good game plan together. He's going to have the offensive role. And AG's going to have the defensive role and AG is going to have the defense role and Dave Phipps special teams. And then I'll be able to just kind of go in and implement what I want and kind of any, any little tweaks I want to do to it,

but I don't have to be involved in trying to, Hey, how do we, how do I really build this game plan and those things? But I'll tell you that this is the one that haunts me this day that I'll never forget is we were playing at Buffalo and, and it was right before halftime we're getting beat. And it's one of those where, man, if we can score particularly a touchdown,

you're going to feel much better going in at halftime, give you a little momentum. And it was one of those, man, we dump it down to Lamar Miller and he's running, you know, you'd love for him to go down and, and, you know, but, but he didn't, he's trying to make a play and he goes and he runs, he runs,

he gets tackled and the clock's still running. We have a timeout in our pocket. We actually have two timeouts in our pocket and we were playing Rex Ryan, Buffalo. And so I knew, boy, he'd love zero blitz and down to the red zone. And I just didn't even want to give him that chance. The problem was I had never told my freaking coaching staff that, hey, we may just go hurry up to the line back in the red zone

and see if we can catch him off guard. So they're all waiting for a timeout, and I'm yelling, hurry up. And so we're trying to get to a play. Tannehill's trying to get to the best option. Where's the mic? What are we doing? You know, and it was a freaking cluster, man. And long story short, we end up going for it on fourth and one got stuffed we go in with no points at halftime

get our ass kicked and i put that on me that was my fault man 100 you learn a lesson man so whenever you're talking about those situations like situational football right we've all everybody that's ever been in the nfl that the media always goes hey Patriot way okay the Patriot way good situational football knowing what to do in right times working hard and everything like that situational football I do believe is a massive part of the head coaching like requirements now we got I think and I'm gonna say something I assume you're gonna agree with me I'm not sure though I think a lot of people they have the stats sure, though. I think a lot of people, they have the stats as an excuse, right? I think a lot of head coaches, and you don't have to say this, I'll say this,

but the stats or the data told us that we should go for it. So if it doesn't work, it's not the person, it's the data, really. But with the data, you can make much more informed decisions. How will you manage that? Because it feels like the NFL is becoming a fully analytics world. I'm not sure you're that type of guy just by looking outside in but you seem like a guy who's definitely going to take that information how will you make those decisions and you see yourself being more of an

aggressive person or kind of a uh a neutral guy no I just I don't strike you as a numbers guy yeah I just whenever I heard you I was just like you know what I'm not 100 sure this guy is just going to be listening strictly to the analytics guy. Just kind of a feel I had. Listen, I got through addition and subtraction. No, it's funny that you bring that up. First of all, if you want to know how I'm going to handle one of those, if I go for it on fourth and we get stuffed and they say, man, you know,

do you regret that decision I'm gonna be like well f yeah I mean we didn't get it what do you want me to say so yeah it's easy hindsight to go back and say my god man I wish I wish I wouldn't have gone for that because we got stuffed um but I think analytics has got to be a tool and and I do think it's an important tool to use. But you know as well as I do, in the comment you just made, that's fine. That's all fine that the numbers say when to go for it, when to not go for it, when to go for two.

But tell me at what part of the game we're in. How's our defense playing? Who's the quarterback who's on the other sideline? And then let's decide what we want to do. So, you know, if everything is lined up properly and everything looks good and it's even teams and you feel good about where you're at, then yeah, you go by the numbers. You know, I think there's validity in that. But man, to just say you're blindly going to lean on analytics, it makes no sense. Not in this sport.

It just doesn't, man's there's a physical there's a mental element to this game that's different than any other and uh so it to me it's just a tool it's a tool to have in your toolbox if you need it let's talk about the mental part of the game um the leader of a team is the quarterback okay and i got the email all right so um i got the message qb1 though for a team that you're coaching, all right, what are you looking for out of QB1 quarterback that's going to be a part of your team? Like, are you – because we all know we're in the game. The quarterback is immediately the leader of the team, whether he likes it or not. Like, that is just how it is.

The payment structure is that way. He touches the ball every single game. We go as you – or every single play, we go as you go. What is your mindset with the quarterback qb1 and what do you expect out of that person to lead your team and uh this is going to be uh a reload is what we called it whenever chuck became as opposed to rebuild it was a reload so you guys are going to probably take some lumps here i would assume at some point through this thing but what are you looking for out of qb1 going forward yeah i would say you're

looking for a guy who's a winner you're looking for a guy who's competitive i think that uh you're looking for a guy who knows how to calm the storm you know when things aren't going uh great or not going your way and uh it's just you and the other 10 in the huddle he's somebody that man can keep everybody just on an even keel keep them lined lined up, keep them focused, keep them, you know, build them up with confidence, man. And to let them know when they look at him in the eyes, they know this guy's ready to go. He's going to do his job as long as I do my job. I think those are the big things, man.

I'm not worried about a guy that, you know, hey, we need this guy to go out there and throw it 50 times and win the game for us. To me, that's not fair to a quarterback, and there's very few that can do it in this league. And so, I mean, I think the guy needs to be tough, and he doesn't have to be a rah-rah tough run around, you know, but there needs to be a quiet toughness about this guy, you know. Your team resembles the coach.

Like, that's just how it goes. I am so excited to see this. You know what I mean? You are a spark plug of energy into the coaching ranks that I don't think we've ever seen anything like you before. I mean, we have, I guess. There's been coaches that have been like this. But it feels like with the coaching staff you're building

and the moves you're making at the franchise you're at, this feels like this could be something that's absolutely legendary. Coach, what do you have, Ty? Coach, you obviously had a long and successful career playing. Do you find that it's easier because you're still around the game every day? Or are there days where you're still just like, oh, shit, I'd love to put the pads on and get out there today with the boys, crack some skulls?

Well, you always have that urge. But reality sets in. And I'll be honest with you. I would say probably about five years after I retired is when I was done. The first five years after retirement, man, it was real difficult, very difficult. Because you're just like, you know, particularly when you get some of these young players you're coaching you're like man i know i could step in right now like get out of the way let me i'm gonna show exactly what you gotta do and uh so it was but since then reality sets in and uh you realize all right man your your time has definitely passed you know um but

there's always just in the back of your head here's what you never lose is that competitive spirit right that man what drives you um and makes you who you are you know and and pretty soon what you start doing is living through your players right you you uh man you get excited for them you want to give them all the tools to put in their toolbox and to have success and and so that that competitive spirit never leaves the body leaves but not the competitive spirit i think a plane just landed on our building there coach i apologize for looking up yeah we might be dead here in a few moments it's been great having a good last conversation plane comes down here who told you you're you should coach did you always know you're going to get in the coach with someone because your coaching path is an interesting one i mean this is a very interesting one uh who told you to get into it

did you always feel like you're going to and when did you know like okay this is going to be good for me because now you're only one of 32 in the world at what you do so congrats to that yeah i well let me say this first of all i swore up and down uh pat you can probably attest to this but man coming into the you're're coming into the locker room. I know when I was with the Giants, been drafted, I'm coming in and it's 630 in the morning and coaches got bedhead coming out of their office. I'm like, I'd never be a coach. I would never be a coach.

It's ridiculous, you know, but I'll never forget. I'll tell you when I kind of caught the bug when I really caught the bug was I want to say it was 2000. And it was a it was a small football camp, youth football camp. It was I can tell you where it was. I just know it was in Pennsylvania. And and so a buddy of mine invited me. You know, there was a number of us from the Giants who went out there. And so they said, hey, just, you know, fit in where wherever you want here wherever you think you can help just kind of you know work with the kids and these were all teenagers um but man they're doing a one-on-one they're doing a one-on-one session they have tight ends and then they have kind of these outside linebackers and

this tight end he was uh, he was your classic no talent. No talent. He had no business being out there, you know, but he's going to give everything he's got. And the kid across from him is about a foot taller. He's got about, you know, a foot of length on him with his arms. He runs like the wind. He's strong.

He's aggressive. He's explosive. And so their coach over there just told him, hey, he's 101. Just get over there and him the guy. Don't even let him off the wind. He's strong. He's aggressive. He's explosive. Their coach over there just told him, hey, these one-on-ones, just get over there and hymn the guy up. Don't even let him off the line. Basically, you're doing one-on-one route running. He never even had to cover it because he just sticked the skid

at the line. I'll watch a couple of these and I'm like, man, this isn't even fair. The kid, he doesn't even know what he's doing. He's raw. So I just pulled the kid aside. I said, listen, next time this happens, he's going to line up over you. And I said, he's going to stick you with his outside hand.

He's going to stick you right in the chest and grab a hold of you. He said, he's already – he knows what he's going to do. He knows exactly what you're going to do. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to step as hard as you can with your outside foot. And I want you to throw your head and shoulders to the outside with that foot so violently that you almost knock your freaking head off your shoulders. All right? It's whiplash.

I want you to do that so hard because what will happen is he's going to move that way, and he's going to miss when he tries to punch you. He's not going to be ready for it. And then I want you to dip back inside, rip right under him, get to your route. You get to the top of route, 10 yards. All right. And I want you to break down.

I want you to snap your head to the inside. Just like I told you on the outside, so hard that it almost gives you whiplash. He's going to be trying to run to catch up. He's going to bite on that move and he'll start running to the basic while you're breaking out. And I'll be damned. That kid did exactly,

exactly to a T what I said. Now we've worked on a couple of things there too. I just kind of showed him what I was talking about. His next rep, he went up there and did exactly what I told him to do. And he crushed the kid. I mean, he crushed him and the look on the kid's face. I'll never forget it,

man. To this day, the look on the kid's face, he was just i mean you can't replace it it was one of the greatest feelings ever and i felt so good for him and he was like you know i can do this you know i i can do it i got something now i can work with and that kid turned out to be kyle rudolph who is a free agent currently coach uh being from from Pittsburgh, you just remind me of Bill Cowher,

so I automatically love you. I just wanted to let you know that. But you talked about what you learned being the interim coach in Miami, but what did you learn your five years being under Sean Payton, who's one of the best coaches in the NFL? What is the one thing that you learned from Sean that you're going to take into the Lions? that you're going to take into the lines?

Yeah, I would say the ability to put players in the best position to have success. I would say being able to use the roster. Everybody that goes to the game, all 53 or 55 as of last year, if you're going to the game, we're going to use you for what you do well. I use this term superpowers. I love the Avengers, right? But superpowers, man you for what you do well. Like I use this term superpowers, man. I love the Avengers, right? But the superpowers, man, what do you do well? And I don't care if you're a receiver and all you,

you're a blocking receiver and maybe you're not going to be the greatest prop runner ever, but yet you're tough, you're physical. We'll do play action pass off of that and just throw you a bone every once in a while and you'll be wide open. But in the meantime, I want you to kick the crap out of some of these safeties and corners, man. That's your job. That's what you do, and you do it well.

You do it better than our number one or number two receiver. Well, guess what? We've got a role for you. You can play 15 plays plus special teams. You know, we're going to put our halfback, man. We're going to put you in a position to have success. You're going to run choice routes on little linebackers, man. We're going to put you out in a slot and let you go to work if we think they're

going to walk that linebacker out. You know, tight end is no different. But let's put guys in the best position to have success. Sean did it better than anybody else. And anybody that played the Saints would tell you, man, it was a nightmare to play us because of so many personnel groups we roll in and out. Man, it was nonstop rolling of personnel groups. But yet those guys we put out on the field, we asked them to do things they did very well. And very on the field we asked them to do things they did very well and and very few times did we ask them to do things that they weren't as good at and i i thought that was one of the best things that sean did um just from his timing look he knows how to relate

with players man he gets it 100 and then let me go back to what you said pat yeah because you kind of you kind of asked this and i and i didn't answer. I'll tell you, here's the other thing I learned is important, man. I I would say until I got to shine as a coach, I would tell you I was more conservative, more of a conservative type thinker as it goes to this game. But much more traditional. You know, you run the ball. You know, you kind of I don't want to say milk the clock, but yet all control. And, and man, it's third down,

you know, you're trying to get the first, it's fourth and two, we're punting and all those things. And you're trying to be smart and you're allowing the opponent to, to beat themselves. And look, that's still a part of who I am,

but I'll tell you this, man, you, your eyes get open. Sean now was on the other spectrum. He was very aggressive, but I, man, if there's anything I did learn too this, man, your eyes get opened. Sean now is on the other spectrum. He was very aggressive. But, man, if there's anything I did learn, too, from him, just from that side of it is, look, you want to throw some defenses off,

there's a time to be aggressive, man, and use your special teams and use offense and try to get these defenses on their heels. So I would tell you I became – I'm a little bit more of an aggressive thinker just overall being with Sean. Coach, I can't thank you enough for your time. I got one more question for you here. Did you know that on this day in 1986, I'm sure you did actually, Metallica's Master of Puppets was released?

I've heard you're a diehard Metallica guy. Is the MCDC name tag then? Because it's a long time. ACDC. Do you hate it? Do you love it? I feel like we potentially offended you after finding out you're a diehard Metallica guy and we call you MCDC.

No, no, no, no. Listen, I love classic rock as well. I have zero problem with that. Yes, I am a big Metallica fan. Just so everybody knows, I love Metallica, I love classic rock, and I love classic country. Those are my genres, man.

I've got zero problem with the MCBC. Let me say this before you go off, Pat, because I put a serious thought into this since I was hiring my staff. I was thinking about hiring you to see if you would like to be you know our special teams coach and and then I thought you know what just I know you doing this radio it softened you up a little bit I chose not to all right I hate to say that I needed to just let that be known well I want to let you know true alphas know when to hang them up. Ladies and gentlemen, Tim Carroll.

Hey, thank you, coach. Good luck up there, man. 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 turn me off, right? Yeah, it should.

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. Uh-uh. Okay? Before the time you get to the shortstop, it's already happened.

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Speaking of a city that has deep football history, deep college football hall of fame is there. This team was in the Superbowl years. Now listen, that story is not a super positive ending, but that team still got to the Superbowl. Now they have a brand new head coach who is joining us right now. Head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, formerly offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans, ladies and gentlemen, Arthur Smith.

Hey, let's go, coach. How are you? Great. How are you doing? Hey, what's life like down there? You're a head coach. There's only 32 of you in the world. Congratulations, coach.

That's a big deal. That's not easy. Well, I appreciate it. You know, it's funny because everybody always thought Andrew Luck was the Titan killer, but it was really you. You were our nemesis. Thank you. Thank you.

I appreciate the acknowledgement there. And we'll talk about your time there. You were quality control assistant, quality control assistant. You, like, worked your way up there. And we talked whenever we were, you know, leading off this show saying you were going to be here. Your dad is obviously an incredibly successful person okay and that obviously leads to a thought of why wouldn't this dude just go do that and make an incredible amount of money I believe the story goes is you just love football sleeping on couches in the office staying drawing cards drinking coffee

just fell in love with football how did did that happen? And has it always been this way? Have you just been a football addict basically your entire life? Yeah. I mean, I started playing when I was nine years old in Memphis and my brothers did. My dad was an old Marine, kind of wanted us to play football. So we didn't end up, you know, kind of spoiled soft kids. I just fell in love with it. And, you know, it's what took me to college. It's what I've done my whole life. And, you know, I have other interests, but there was at some point I knew I wanted to play as long as I could and then obviously get into coaching.

What you did with the Tennessee Titans. Now, I appreciate that compliment there. A couple onside kicks, a couple fakes, you know. Oh, yeah. I love the bravado after the after well coach I had to let you know you know I don't get that type of opportunity often you know you guys just so happen to see a lot of the only opportunities I had to do things I had to celebrate a little bit but what you were able to do down there with Tannehill right and Derek Henry and that offense

becoming something that may be most efficient in the NFL depending upon stats. How did that offense get created in your mind? What was it about Tannehill that maybe you were able to find something in him that maybe nobody else could see from back up in there? How did that offense that you had massive success with in Tennessee come to be, you think? And how does your offense, how is that going to translate to what you're taking to Atlanta? Yeah, I mean, there were

a lot of variables that came together in Tennessee. I mean, Ryan really fit what we were doing, but there was other pieces. I mean, with our offensive line, with Taylor and Roger and Ben Jones and then Nate Davis and then we had Jack Conklin and Dennis Kelly was a big part of it as well.

And then the receivers. I mean, getting A.J. Brown was a big part, Corey Davis. And then the tight ends. Well, you know, being a tight end guy, I would love using multiple tight end sets. We had a lot of tight ends that helped, and Johnnie Smith. Obviously, we had Delaney for a long time. And then we had Derrick.

And so we felt like we were a pretty big physical offense, and we had a lot of guys that could create yards after contact. And so Ryan was a perfect fit. I mean, he's athletic. There was a lot of plays that, you know, you call those keepers, and if it's not there, he takes off, and he gets you 8 to 10 yards running. So now you get into Atlanta, and as we're currently set up, you know, Matt's at a different point in his career.

Matt's been very efficient as a passer. He's got a lot of strength on the outside. we're built a little bit different feel good about the line here uh so you know we'll still try to play that style but you know we may move the ball around a little bit different okay so that was the interesting thing last season there was you know new coach new beginnings down there in atlanta matt ryan julio j Jones potentially going to be traded. And then Mr. Blank came out and said that they are on the trading block if the new GM or new coach wants to. But now you talk about having Matt Ryan, who has played MVP football before. And Julio Jones, by all accounts, every wide receiver basically says,

like, that's the guy that we learn from. Whenever you have those two, is that where you're basing your entire offense on? Will you adjust each year depending upon who you have, or is your system kind of your system, and you've got to do what you've got to do? Well, the way we want to play up front, year to year, in a style of our run game, and it just depends who you have back there.

I've said it many times. We're not going to have Derrick Henry. Sometimes it's pretty easy to call Ron and watch him stiff arm 55 people. It's not like, hey, that was a great play call. It's always a joke

about stuff like that. If you're a ton of receivers and that's where the strength are, you've got to get the ball to those guys. Stylistically, how we want to play up front really won't change year to year. But I'm always looking to adapt. And, you know, we want to tweak something or try something different. Great.

And that's why I always say you got to play to the strengths of your roster and who you have. I don't want to, obviously, I know you're building your own legacy and becoming a head coach in the NFL is incredibly difficult. But now that you are a head coach in the NFL NFL you kind of have a different role on the team now now obviously you're still a coach and everything like that but become an administrator you become a day-to-day decision maker a a airplane planner maybe you become there's a lot of different things with your dad having this incredible leader is there anything that you potentially lean on? Is there still any give and take, even though the worlds are two completely different worlds in the shipping world and the football world?

Is there anything that you can take from him or his experiences and kind of apply it to what you've got going on? Absolutely. We talk all the time about the world and how things translate really from his business to what we do here with the Falcons and even when I was with the Titans. You know, there's a lot of lessons we learned about management and leadership. And, you know, he's in the logistics business and there's a lot of things like you're talking about. You make decisions about flights and, you know, where people sit on the airplane and there's a million decisions you've got to make. But, yeah, I lean on him a lot. And, you know, there's a lot of people I try to talk to

that are in other industries and stuff I read. But absolutely. What was Vrabel like? Is he just – is he exactly as advertised? And is there – you know, the success he's had, the overall – you know, it just feels like he brought a different mindset to the coaching much like hey we just talked to Motor City Dan Campbell I think he's going to be pretty similar hands-on type but what was it like whenever you saw Vrabel get in there and is there anything

you learn from Vrabel that you'll be able to carry on with you because I've heard and we we asked Dan Campbell the similar question is when you go through your coaching ranks you just kind of like okay I want to take this particular trait from this person this particular trait and then you have your own spin on it with Vrabel being it seems like a very unique coach in the NFL what did it what did he kind of bring to the table and what will you take from Mike Vrabel down to Atlanta yeah there's a lot I'll take from Vrabes uh you know Vrabes is authentic you know he you know he obviously played in New England and then coached at Ohio State and coached in Houston. I mean, he's the only guy, and I say that like the highest compliment

because a lot of times somebody will get hired from somewhere and they try to act like the person they were just with. I certainly won't do that. He's extremely – Get the gloves on, Arthur. Get the gloves on out there. He's by far – Rave was the funniest guy I've ever worked with. I didn't mean to be. I mean, he's so's by far Rabel's the funniest guy I've ever worked with like I didn't mean to be

I mean he's such a he's so sarcastic I mean it's like a machine gun on the practice field that's that's his best talent he can rip somebody

and then he realizes somebody else and just goes right down the line sometimes you try not to laugh because it's it's so damn funny but Rabel's was great you know he helped me

out a lot and I'm very thankful for working with him. Diggs. Speaking of Vrabel, and we just had Dan Campbell on, and we had this conversation. We had a tail of the tape when Harbaugh and Vrabel got into it at midfield. Yeah. And that was a no contest. But Vrabel versus Dan Campbell, that's a closer match.

Who are you taking in that situation? Oh, I got to go with my guy, Vrabel. I'm loyal. Did you see Dan Campbell? He said he's going to gnaw kneecaps, dude. I don't know, Dan. I mean, I don't know. But I got to go.

I'm loyal. I'm going to go with Braves. When you had your opening press conference, was there like a – the good news is, I guess, in your eyes probably, is it didn't make national news okay your your opening press conference didn't make national news which in your eyes probably good news uh dan campbell did was there prep for that now that you're leading into like your first team meetings i assume via zoom like what is the mindset the prep behind it because

everything you say here early is setting the precedent for what your head coaching is going to look like you know like has that all been something you have to plan and think out and everything like that? Or you just get to that down the road? No, you think it out. I mean, you know, obviously, when you get on some of this stuff, you don't want to become the meme or, you know, but you certainly want to prep things out and put your thoughts together. But then you also don't want to be the robot where you're looking like it's death by PowerPoint where you're just like reading off a teleprompter either.

You know, so it's collect your thoughts and then go with it. So that's at least what I do. Hey, that Atlanta stadium down there is beautiful. Okay, that fan base is a passionate one. The Falcons have a very passionate fan base. They're looking to get back into the relevant conversation again. what's the first message whenever you have to deal with this covid protocol to your team and how do we get that the atlanta falcons back into the big conversation the big picture here well you know obviously as you know you ultimately you got to

win and you got to sustain success i mean it's not like some magical speech of holding guys accountable. When you guys come in here, guys being good teammates and trying to build this thing because it's going to change year to year. The roster always changes. I mean, that's life in the NFL. They're always dealing with injuries. And so you've got to work the entire roster constantly.

You've got to coach the entire roster. But I can't wait until we actually get in here and start working as we build towards the season. Coach, was there a moment after you got hired where you're like where like you're extremely excited you just got hired as an NFL head coach and then you look at the division you gotta realize that you have to deal with the Bucs who just won the Super Bowl and the Saints who have been dominant for years well I you know you look at it and you always look at things on paper it's like when the schedule comes out and you're like oh it's never never works out the way it looks on paper. You know, in April, whenever they have that release show

or whatever they do now, they hype it up. Because there's so many things that change. You know, one injury to a quarterback can change the whole dynamic of a team. I mean, Pat, you obviously were part of that in 11. You go from having Peyton Manning, and then you line up, and no offense to Curtis Painter or Dan Orlowski, but that's who you played with. It wasn't like you're playing Peyton.

Seems like you took quite a shot there. Seems like you took quite a shot at Curtis Painter and Dan Orlowski. What about Kerry Collins? Did you guys get a chance to play us when we had Kerry? No. We played – obviously, you went from Manning. I wasn't there. My first year, it was Curtis Painter, and then it was Dan.

You guys got us in Indy. Yeah, we almost lost luck. We almost lost luck because Dan Orlovsky was so good at football. I know. You guys won two in a row. I think you beat us and then played Thursday night. You guys got hot. You were on a heater.

You beat us, and then you beat Thursday night, beat the Texans. People were saying if we had like another five, six weeks, we'd potentially make playoffs with Dan Lovsky running that team. Could have. No, so that's what happens. I mean, you do a couple of key injuries and it changes. But yeah, this division is tough. Obviously, New Orleans, they've had a lot of sustained success.

And Sean Payton's been there. Tampa, like you guys just said, they came up the Super Bowl. We played them two years ago. They got a lot of good players on defense. And then Carolina, I mean, Matt Rule's done a good job wherever he's been. They're building that thing the right way. They're all tough. Every week's tough.

You know that. It's impossible to win the NFL. That's why if you do, you should celebrate the hell out of it. Good luck this year, Coach. We appreciate you. Thank you for taking time with us. No, thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

Hey, tell your dad, coach, we appreciate you. Thank you for taking time with us. No, thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Hey, tell your dad. And also, thank you for what he's done with, you know, Christmas and every single day, basically, throughout the history of our country. Well, thanks. He'll appreciate that. I'll let him know. What's his name again? Fred Smith.

He did pretty fucking good. Fred Smith did pretty, pretty good. Not too shabby. So will you, Arthur. Appreciate you so much. Head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur Smith. Thank you. Yeah!

Joining us is a Super Bowl champion and college football national champion, ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hall. Yeah! A.J.! A.J., let's get right to it, pal. I wish Motor City Danebell was a coach of mine in my football career i assume you came out of that conversation with him thinking the same yes i was able to watch the full interview it was amazing the only

i guess criticism i would have of any of the show from the beginning till now is the fact that if i'm arthur smith i would be upset at to him. And how are you having me on after Dan Campbell? It's like trying to follow Richard Pryor back in his prime. Okay, Ben, go make these people laugh. Yeah. There's different humans.

So as we end the motor city, Dan Campbell interview and send off for the heart out there, 56 or whatever. I look down and I see Arthur Smith is right on the other side. And immediately at the moment, while I'm talking about Arthur Smith, I'm going tough I see Arthur Smith is right on the other side. And immediately at the moment, while I'm talking about Arthur Smith, I'm going, tough spot for Arthur. Especially after what we just had right there.

Especially after a job offer potential, you know, that just came from Motor City Dan. Motor City Dan, though, and now Arthur Smith, by the way. He's good. Smart-ass, sarcastic. I bet you he is an awesome coach. I bet you he is hilarious. Like, what he was talking about with Vrabel,

I assume the reason why he had so much respect for it is because he is a similar style. To be clear, but that is somebody you booked before Dan. If we had to go back, I think we do try to switch those two schedules. But Motor City, Dan Campbell, what if he turns around the Detroit Lions huh what if that what if he turns around that franchise up there AJ I mean if he can turn around the Detroit Lions and especially and be the Dan Campbell that we see every single day which I think that's the only way he could ever know to be the guy's simply amazing he's gonna he's gonna own the whole state he's gonna own everything. He could do whatever he wants for the rest of his life

if he can turn the lines around and take on this bravado. Take the attitude with him, and the whole team carries that. I completely forgot. He drinks, what, two gallons of coffee a day? Oh, yeah. We missed that. I'm going to write that down if we have him on again. Hey, I like the Foxy hype video, too, to start it.

Well, I mean, the text message saying he can't talk about Jared Goff or Matthew Stafford, I'm immediately like, well, what the fuck are we even doing? And then I had to dig a little deeper. I'm like, is he allowed to talk about the quarterback position?

He is allowed to talk about the quarterback position. He's a coach, so that's how we get around it. But then as soon as, you know, I asked like hey foxy obviously you need a question whatever foxy puts that together by the way foxy puts that whole thing together as soon as i see it i'm like all right this is what we're going to start with and then we'll be able to lead because turning that lions team around is going to be a very difficult task i mean they have stunk forever they have stunk for a long, long time. Him saying that the leadership change is interesting because when an organization gets on the same page, it becomes a very powerful one.

I would assume that that might mean that in the past there was a chance. Now, he wasn't there, but any time there's failure, you assume that there's a little bit of organizational chaos happening behind the scenes. Good for them. Hopefully it'll work. Yeah, hopefully it will, and that's something we don't get to see. Even Bill O'Brien, maybe he's getting a bad rap maybe it was a tough situation for him you

know he's yeah he didn't do everything right but he was dealing with some stuff up top that i don't i think we're we're starting to see a little bit right now come to light i wonder if bill o'brien missed what prayer meeting or something in the morning oh yeah morning prayer one time and then all of a sudden easter started giving them the... You dancing with the devil? I'm a Jack Easterby guy. Shout out to him. Hey, Diana Rossini reported that by the way, JJ

Watt, Diana Rossini was the only one that was accurate, right? In her reporting, she was the only one that was accurate. She said a team has offered $15 to $16 million or whatever, right? So everybody thought that was complete bullshit. Turns out that she was the only one that was accurate she said a team about what she said a team has offered 15 to 16 million or whatever right so everybody thought that was complete bullshit turns out that she was the only one that had any right information so she's been crushing it this offseason she said she was just texting with an nfl head coach about the upcoming cuts and what he expects it's going to be a massacre next week all around the league so the nfl i assume talking

to each other trying to get trades done maybe last second before cuts happen, there's going to be a lot of massive names cut. As we saw yesterday, Kyle Van Noor, Kyle Rudolph gone. Next week, this could be something that we might see an entire turn of a page of a new chapter for a lot of teams who have to get rid of some notables or on contracts that are big and were meant for a salary cap that escalated. Oh, absolutely. and it's it's unfortunate guys there's been a lot of big team big name guys i guess that are going to have to get cut if they don't agree to restructuring their deal some teams may try to restructure if they can but a massacre there's gonna be some huge like there's there's obviously names out there that

we talk about but i want to know like one or two just complete stunners like can you think of any well yesterday it already started like who would have thought who would have thought like it was never even never even crossed my mind no i think there was a chance we're gonna ask him to maybe come on a little bit closer to the draft to talk about the dolphins and like you know that like i think that was in my head it was like all right so we got a guy down in miami That team's building. Great interview every single time he comes on. I think that was everybody in our world's mindset. It was like, all right, excited to hear the thoughts.

And then he's gone quickly, by the way. It was like a boom, boom, pow, pow. And then Kyle Rudolph yesterday, the Minnesota Vikings, I guess the writing was on the wall for this. A lot of people said that they were asking him to take a pay cut. That wasn't going to happen. He knew offense. He wasn't getting as much reps.

There's a massive name that's currently on the market in the tight end world. He's going to end up somewhere. Said, I'll go to the Patriots. He don't care. Hey, you can play football. I'll go up there. That was another big name that came on after we got off the air yesterday, AJ. He's a big name guy that could bring a bunch of value to a team, too.

I think he still has plenty of production left. What about Green Bay? Has he thought about that? Go play the Vikings twice. And Big Bob Tunyon there on the other side. So you got Big Bob and Rudolph going after it. Why not? Have we talked to Aaron about Kyle at all? No.

I don't think so. I think he likes him. We like Kyle. Yeah, he's a good guy. We like Kyle. We like Aaronaron you would assume ipso facto only problem is goon coons oh yeah goon coon said he gave an answer earlier today about aaron jones or maybe last night where he said absolutely nothing he mentions the franchise tag and aaron jones but basically ends it with a situations or situational type speech here. Gunter Gunz in this off season, just like last off season, appears to not be doing anything to

potentially get over the hump of the NFC championship game where you guys lost, right? I mean, last year, it seemed like there was an ability to get better. This year, the team did get vastly better, look like a much different team than from a year ago but it looks like this offseason is going to come and go yet again and the green bay packers aren't going to be making the splash signing and not giving in to what other teams are doing it continuing to do it the green bay packer way in the green bay packer way seems to be have a top quarterback of all time. A generational talent. Yeah, because you can even go back to Favre, right? Favre was an incredible.

Three MVPs in a row. Yeah, what I'm saying is you just get a guy, and then you go, all right, now everything else, we can kind of fuck up. You know what I mean? We can kind of figure out everything else. That seems to be an interesting way of doing things, but you could see how if you're a fan of that team,

you'd be like, can we not just one time? Like, can we go? I mean, Charles Woodson, I guess, got brought in. And then Paige Smith brought in or something like that. But let's make some splashes. Let's make some plays if you're a fan of the Packers. Let's do this thing, AJ. I mean, yeah, let's make some plays.

But also at the same time, how many big-name free agency signings over the years don't work out? I feel like there's so many. Like, I think the better ones are almost like the middle-of-the-road ones. Like, you filled a spot that that needed and somebody kind of got a you know when we say they got to change a pace or they just needed a new place to try it out and they became much better at their next team warren sharp put out a graphic that was impossible to read and i actually i actually had to tweet him and say like

we'll file this one under impossible to read is what I said he put out this graph basically that said it was like the amount of money you put out versus the amount of wins they have and on the internet people are looking on their phone he's got there's six deep five wide there's 30 graphs on this one

thing there's just I mean there's just no way that any human's going to be able to understand that right I mean that's just he tweeted that out as if sports stooge yeah for instance he tweeted out as as if sports stooge me would be able to figure that out or anybody else a lot of people have by the way because there's a lot of big brain individuals that follow warren sharp but then he sent a follow-up graph basically and it said you know the old adage you can't win can't win in march right can't win the super bowl in march or whatever he sent a follow-up graphic that basically said like

do teams that overspend in free agency win games and then this was the follow-up graph knows the blue okay and then yes is the yellow so basically he said here for the stooges this is how it works out normally when you spend spend, you don't win. Although it has happened in the past, it doesn't really work out. Now, this is interesting because if you look at teams that are active in the free agency market but don't spend, those are the teams that people are ring-chasing to. If you're spending a lot of money, you're trying to create your team to become a place where you don't have to spend as much money for other veterans to come and play there. So I don't think the adage of saying teams that are active in free agency lose. I think the adage should be the teams that are active in free

agency that have to pay a lot of money because their team isn't a ring chasing team yet. They lose. And that team probably was going to lose beforehand. So I don't like the narrative that being, you know, relaxed and calm and free agency is necessarily the beforehand so i don't like the narrative that being you know relaxed and calm and free agency is necessarily the best because i don't think that's the case i think you should try to make your fucking team better don't you aj i absolutely think so but i think it's easy to overreach too and try to go out and grab a guy oh all of a sudden the receiver that you thought was most people thought was like an average to above average player gets a gigantic gigantic contract with the team and all of a sudden a year and a half in like an average to above average player gets a gigantic gigantic contract with

the team and all of a sudden a year and a half in like they have to cut them or they're trying to restructure now i will say if you do that you're probably bad at a lot of things then right if you're making that decision if you're overpaying where somebody else is you're probably what terrible scouting you're probably there's probably you have to do at bad teams they have to overpay them to get people yeah because they fucked up so they're trying to make up for something but that's why that graph though like that's what i'm talking about i i hate that the narrative is you know the teams that spend money during free agency they lose which by the way the stats probably say that but can we dive a little bit deeper into the situation that is those stats

is it not is it because of the free agents now at the indianapolis colts there at the beginning of the new regime they brought in some free agents that did the Indianapolis Colts there at the beginning of the new regime, they brought in some free agents that did not work out. They spent a lot of money. And we had a good team, though. Like who was it? Who did bring in during that time? I can't remember.

So we paid Leron Landry a lot of money. He had just come off of. Jack, I love that dude. One of my favorite humans I've ever encountered. Literally. And I would assume people would never guess that. People wouldn't be like, oh, LeRonn, incredibly hysterical, like a hilarious motherfucking dude. Hilarious dude.

Like, worked his ass off, legitimately worked his ass off. Wasn't scared to be on the scout team, special teams, look teams. Okay? Because he's so big, he's going to kill every single person on the field the guy's like a professional bodybuilder yeah but he was like willing you know like he got paid a lot of money and he was willing to be on look teams for the special teams he played special teams for us for whatever reason it just didn't work out so we were spending a massive amount of money on a player that wasn't playing where he was supposed to be

playing now if we could have got lauren landry as just a special teamer or whatever and paid him the top dollar for special teamers i mean we would have had a fucking pro bowler every single year the guy was unbelievable we're paying him top safety money we were setting the market on safety money and it didn't for whatever it was it the defense was him who knows incredible but then also we got arthur jones we brought him over from baltimore he got hurt, so it didn't pan out. That wasn't Arthur Jones' fault. He got hurt, but that didn't pan out. We had a lot of money that was just sitting that wasn't playing or whatever.

But our team was good. We had Andrew Luck, so we were able to win. So that probably counts as a success story. But in stats, it was not. In real life, it was not a success story. That's why I can't believe all that stuff that you see out there. I just sent a graph into the group it makes it a lot easier to read than what um what's his name was was doing with the graphs and stuff what's his name warren sharp dude not good with

names also this year isn't there a thought because a lot of players are getting cut that you might not have to overpay as much for free agents well yeah because the market's going to be rather competitive it's a buyer's market that's right it's going to be a buyer's market coming up with a massacre next week actually shout out to the dolphins and vikings letting kyle's get ahead of it you know what i mean hey you guys get out early we don't know what's going to happen next week all hell's about to break loose we'll give you a little bit of a head start we're going in a different direction what are you going to say nick so just based off what we know if we assume the cap number is at 185 for an argument's sake, looking at Spochak, if you believe their numbers, there are 16 teams that are already over that number.

Yeah, and that's the massacre that they're talking about. Oh, my God. Kickers and punters are going to get. You think? Oh, no, dude. Don't you think they're going to ask a lot of them to take a pay cut if you're getting paid good money? Yeah.

Fuck. Hacker. They should all come together. Hey, all the kickers and punters should stand together, Pat. They should come together and make a pact. Okay, none of us are taking a pay cut. No, yeah, it's not going to happen. There's a lot of guys on the internet that are kicking balls right now

trying to get a chance, and they're going to get their opportunity coming up. You know, the guy you just said, Hackercker orsta didn't have his best year yet don't you fucking say that about either of these guys but i assume there's going to be a lot of kickers and punters potentially being asked to take pay cuts because that million dollars to 1.5 million dollars you can get from there that is going to go a long way especially if there's 16 teams that are over they're just trying to cut as much as they can oh no kickers and punters are going to get it next week what about long snappers you think any snappers are under fire no because once they raise the veteran minimum you know to 800 grand or whatever it was like the highest a longstop was making was like a million bucks a year,

1.2 million bucks. Is that a big enough difference if they ask them to go to $300,000? Maybe, I guess. I don't know. I think, yeah, teams look at it like that. You know what? Hey, look for next year to be the year where people get their eyes opened to, you know, the difference between a good kicker and punter

and a great kicker and punter. Now, it's already kind of slowly happening with the 33 yard extra point you're watching it kind of take place and i do feel like i've been a part of some people maybe paying attention a little bit more to field position and punters there's a separation a clear separation between the great kickers and punters and the good kickers and punters and i i'm not saying that the good kickers and punters can't become great kickers and punters. And I'm not saying that the good kickers and punters can't become great kickers and punters, but there's a, and everybody that says like, oh, punters and kickers don't matter,

it means that on your particular team, you probably have a shitty one. Once you experience like a great one, like, okay, going to go through, the field's going to get flipped, like this is, you're like, okay, like we have a good fucking, this is good for us. This is good for our team.

We're seeing actual success. Next year, I think you're going to see a lot less of those great guys. Oh, no. You're going to see a lot more I think, hey, I think you become much more aware of how important that position is when you have a bad one. Like, I know when we were trying to figure out the punting situation early in

my time in Green Bay, we went through multiple guys, and you're like, wow, we're not used to this. Like, we, you're just not like you you can't flip the field all of a sudden there's errant punts going out of bounds which i was happy they're out of bounds because i was on the punt team but bro it's like a turnover happens when a bad punt happens on the sideline like in lambo i remember a couple times in lambo they don't really ever boo there but like a couple really bad punts early in my time like that place that's

what you hear you're oh You're like the sound, right? So like whenever you're a punter, that's what you're like. Look, whenever you hit one, you hear like, Oh,

it's like literally like a firework. So like, Oh, you hear like an, Oh, like a, like a good one. And then whenever it's a bad one,

you're like the most disgusting thing ever. I hit a shank. Everybody does obviously, but I hit a shank and I jogged off to sideline, and Chuck Pagano screaming to the defense, put the fire out. Put the fire out. Put the fire out. The fire means all momentum just got flipped.

It was an interception, a turnover, or something like that, and you're being tasked on a short field. Hey, put the fire. He was saying it, and I was like, God damn, put the fire out. That's how bad of a punt that was. That was like a real, that was real. But next year, I think you're going to see a lot of shitty punt that was like that that was like a real that was real but next year i think you're gonna see a lot of shitty i think you're gonna see a lot of shitty guys just because it's gonna be price godging uh in other special teams ish news this is time of

the year where teams are proposing rules the fourth and 15 rule uh instead of an onside kick is coming back up for a vote it was 16 16-16 last year. It takes 24 votes to pass. Eight people are going to have to swing, but let's assume if you swing one of them, you'll swing four of them. Let's assume they potentially vote and PAX these billionaires. Let's assume that the Eagles are again proposing an onside kick alternative that would give teams a chance to maintain possession with a 14-15, 4th-15 play, sorry play sorry per mark mask that proposal has had growing

support in recent years and it was 16 16 takes 24 votes via at my sports update it's interesting that the eagles are the one proposing this because they just want to be associated with this rule going forward because that in no way benefits their team okay like jake elliott actually pretty good kicker like a really good kicker. I'd assume he's a pretty good on-site kicker, although there's not a lot of success in on-site kicks anymore

with the way the rules are in the lack of effort by kickers, I think, which probably because of the lack of amount of success, probable outcomes, they don't put in as much work. So it's a little bit upsetting as a former on-site kick specialist,

basically, to see what it has become. But the fourth and 15 would be awesome. I mean, I'd be... Where do they start? Isn't it too easy to keep the ball, though, to see what it has become. But the fourth and 15 would be awesome. I mean, I'd be – Where do they start? Isn't that too easy to keep the ball, though? I think it was the 25. People would assume I'd be against it, but I'm not 100% against it.

Yeah, I think it was your own 25, and then it was a turnover. Yeah. Yeah, they get a chance, or you get to go ahead. And then we thought about if a team is just – like, for instance, the Chiefs. Imagine the Chiefs just scoring, getting the ball, scoring, 4th and 15, scoring, 4th and 15, scoring, 21-0 before the first quarter's over, and it's just like, all right, check ball, ball game.

You know what I mean? Like, let's get out of here. I think you have to make it a little bit more difficult, though, don't you, to, like, fall in line with how difficult it is to recover. Back them up like on their own two or something. Yeah, hey, that playbook's getting real small back there inside their own tent. Either that or make it like fourth and 25. I feel like teams convert third and

longs and fourth and longs a decent amount. I don't feel like fourth and 15 is as difficult as it is to recover an onside kick. We could do the two-yard thing. The two-yard line thing. As long as a safety or a fumble and score doesn't count against score because we're getting a lot of fucking back to our covers

and stuff like that. Yeah, the fucking charge calls. We're going to ruin gambling. Motherfucker. Let's get to a break. West Virginia last night. What? Did they not cover? That's okay.

I didn't see the game. I'm a big Bob Huggins fan. You know that. He did not get his 900th win last night. Baylor actually won their first Big 12 championship in 71 years. Wait, it was already the Big 12 championship? No, season. Regular. Regular season.

Now they have a tournament, right? It'll start this weekend, Thursday, Friday. Yeah, it's coming up. We interrupt this conversation to tell you that no matter what stage of life you're in, thinking about your financial future can evoke some pretty strong feelings. But did you know that people who work with a financial advisor feel more at ease about their finances and end up with 15% more money to spend in retirement on average? Now, thanks to SmartAssset, the service that over

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go to smartasset.com slash McAfee. Your report will provide personalized insights on your retirement readiness, so visit smartasset.com today. Back to the show. I believe this is his first time on the show. Yep. I've known this man now for some time. I've been a fan of his at home, watching on TV every Saturday morning. Getting a chance to chat with him a little bit during our college game day times

has been absolutely magnetic. This dude, although I call an idiot and stupid, is probably the smartest person we've had on this show in some time. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Falica, also known as Bear from College Gaming. Yeah! How you doing, pal? Give myself a little clap there, too. I'm doing well.

The thing I'm curious about, did you have the nunchucks last night during the West Virginia game? See, if it were me, I would not want to have had the nunchucks. They probably would have gone flying. Okay, Bear, let's get right to it. So, the reason why this is happening, and by the way, this is too much time has passed before you coming on the show. We appreciate you making time here, and it's great to have

you. The boys are all, I mean, legit, the boys are buzzing. Not every guest gets a buzz. Now, Motor City, Dan Campbell got quite a buzz. You're coming on his day. He had quite a performance. But whenever I said Bear was coming on, boys got very pumped. So we appreciate you.

Last night, you and I were texting because we both hammered WVU plus four at home against Baylor. WVU, hot basketball team. Baylor seemed to be sputtering. Bob Huggins is up for his 900th game. And as soon as that game started to unfold, you texted me basically and said, we're fucked. And then as the game continued to go, I was texting

you, oh no. That's all I was saying. Oh no. And then you were like, oh yeah, it's happening. And then it did right in front of us. You've been in the gambling game so long. So, so long. It feels like you knew exactly what was going to happen. Overtime is where underdogs go to die. And I've had a running joke with Chad Nelman, who used to be at ESPN,

and now he's at the Action Network, that we would get into an argument, myself and Chad and Stanford C, that I always say right side, wrong result. And that was the vintage right side, wrong result game. Well, what, did Baylor have that game covered for like 30 seconds after halftime last night? And as soon as it went to overtime, West Virginia was really never not the right side in the game. It should have won the game outright. Overtime and the underdog is a bad, bad combination.

And again, it unfortunately played out that way. But on a brighter note, like if you're looking for some mountaineers, like futures and stuff, maybe you get a little bit of a better future price now with Ticker 2 better because I still think this is a dangerous team come tournament. You've got a go-to guy in Culver. You've got a guy who's reached the Final Four before. In Huggs, you've got

a really good underrated supporting cast. I'm making one or so. I think that's a great play. We've got a white that can shoot. Hey, we've got a white that can shoot, too. He looks like he's one of the beeline boys, that Mc a great play. We got a white that can shoot. Hey, we got a white that can shoot, too. He looks like he's one of Beeline boys, that McNeil dude. We got a guy. AJ, I'm sorry, bub.

Are you good? Bear, are there any sports you won't bet on? And do you seem to watch every game and everything that's on TV? It seems like you know everything. Well, being that right now I have a Burnley-Leicester City match on the TV and I got Gulfstream Park on the laptop behind you guys right now, the answer is probably no. You know what the funny thing is?

The one thing that I really don't really have a knowledge of is the NBA. I remember a couple of years ago when my buddies were talking about the team's tanking and I followed it then because they were going nuts, but I'm not big into the NBA prognosticating, that's for sure. Didn't you start, now you went to the U, right, University of Miami? And you got your start, and this might be a private conversation, you don't want me to say publicly, but I think it's so fascinating, I think people should hear it.

You started at the highlight down there, which if you do recall, that was where jackass went where johnny knoxville and steve-o were just getting oranges thrown at him basically down there that's where you kind of got your start in this entire thing is it am i wrong in saying that well even early i gotta start earlier than that like growing up on long island like a horse racing was like the thing i'd go to the track with my dad and his godfather used to write for a daily racing publication but you know once we got to miami it was like literally all bets are action like my go go into the front on was like part of like the thursday tradition

you'd go for like 50 cent hot dogs and 50 cent beers and then you'd you'd bet like you're a canela boxes and and watch like rigged games which was unbelievable it was great college budget but dude that that highlight stuff is really really fun to watch how did you shit too how did you how did the the bear on game day thing start because i remember for a long time they would pick games and then as sports gambling started getting more prominent, it felt like you kind of came in there. But even whenever just a few years ago, I was, you know, I was commentating Thursday night games alongside Molly McGrath, Adam Amin, and Matt Hasselbeck. And at the summit before then, they were like, hey, when you're talking about gambling, like, be balanced with it. You can't actually hit it. And then your segment is basically like, hey, this is the best bets of the weekend.

And you have a winning record, by the way, which is congrats on that whole thing. But how did that whole thing happen, transition? Were you just telling Herbie locks behind the scenes and then they're like, let's put this on camera so everybody can make money? Or how did you get involved? Without a doubt. I mean, Kirk's the biggest. I mean, he's dropping nickels and dimes on games. I'm completely kidding.

It's funny because I mean, I had always grown up in the Northeast and then being at Miami and I speak the language and have kind of been around in my, my life. But we, we basically reached a point where we're like, we're not going to be naive about it really. And Chris Fowler used to do the mighty dog and, and we would always have conversations about that kind of like concealing closer than the experts think or or things like that high scoring game and then when a lot of the legalization came up came about uh lee fitting and uh and kirk and chris and myself like basically

it was like okay we're not gonna like beat around it anymore. We're going to put it together in an entertaining, informative type way where it's not going to be like this is a 10,000 star lock, but present a stat or a number or a nugget or a trend that might be interesting to someone, even if

they're not betting on a game. Something like, under Mark D'Antonio, Michigan State has won 10 or 11 times. They've been an underdog outright, where even if you're not betting on a game like like just something like a under under mark d'antoni michigan state has won 10 or 11 times they've been an underdog outright where even if you're not betting as someone watching that game you're like maybe they do have a chance against ohio state or whomever today that they're an underdog sorry i didn't mean to like use that as it was like the first example off the top of my head no no it's okay michigan state stinks but uh no that was really how it came about. And it was essentially a way to fill some time.

Like about the year that the show went to three hours, I had always been hesitant about doing it. And then Lee and Kirk were like, no, you're doing it. We have time now. We're absolutely going to put you in the show. And ever since then, it's kind of worked out. Yes, I am proud that I do have a positive record since the show began uh uh ever since then it's kind of uh worked out yeah so i am proud that i do have a uh a positive record since the show began last year was a little tough and i think

last year was a little tough for a lot of people but uh overall it's been good and hopefully uh we'll continue to do well bear how are you able to i guess kind of tread the line of hey this is kind of what i do i'm great at, and it's not taking over my whole life because you kind of seem like the target audience for those ads we hear that say, hey, if you have a gambling problem, we'll call in right now. It's funny. I've never really had an issue with that, which is great. I guess I just have a good bit of control in just knowing what you don't know.

It was funny how I was having a conversation with someone the other day about this. And like the biggest, the biggest thing that I think a lot of people have to overcome is like volume. Like if you lose, if you lose a bet, it's like, okay, I don't want to fire on the next three games that are, that are coming up just because he happened to lose one and you got a bad beat or whatever.

It's about really being selecting. And then you get the guys on Friday or Saturday when I'm sitting there and who do you like, who do you like, and I'll give them two games or three games or maybe four if there's one that I like that I didn't put on the board. And then they start asking me about 11 other games, and I'm like, do you want the games I like? It's an opinion because you're watching TV.

I said the example last night on Daily Wager. I was like, the Purdue-Wisconsin game is like a game that I'm going to watch. It's going to be a really good game, but I want no part of betting on it. So it's just basically like, don't just bet on a game because it's on TV or so. But there are people that like to have a little bit of action. So I guess you can't complain. Yeah, it's hard, by the way, when you're on the right side, wrong result, not to fire one off immediately afterwards to get back on like the Lakers

or something like that. And that is a tough go for a Tuesday, March 2, 2021. Bear. Bear. Yes, sir. You and I, this year on game day, had some of my favorite moments I've ever had on television. I want to let you know that.

You and me bantering back and forth. I am happy that I didn't have to tell you that I didn't actually think you were stupid or an idiot while I was telling millions of people on Saturday on ESPN that you were stupid or you were an idiot. Have you always been in, like, the competitive world? Did you play any sports? Because that's kind of like a mentality of an athlete. You can kind of bicker, talk shit, or anything like that. How did you get into the sports?

Were you always just a diehard fan? What was it? Both. I mean, I didn't play anything collegiately. But I did play high school football and baseball, and it kind of stopped after that. But I've always been around sports, and I've been like the idiot keeping stats for games

since I was a young kid, like watching Yankees games during the summer growing up. But yeah, I've always been kind of like a little bit of a competitive streak to me. But yeah, high schools were my athletic ability. Stopped, I decided to go to Miami because I knew I was never going to make it playing college sports college football but i knew if i was around a uh a big time athletic

program and a big time market that i was going to get some ins and kind of prepare myself for the future i've always known that i wanted to work in and around sports um i'm getting zito has a question for you about the you immediately following this but did a tree fall in your house yesterday yes oh two nights ago we had a massive windstorm in the state of connecticut and uh about 4 4 15 in the morning although we just hear this loud bang and my wife and i are like startled wake up and i'm like what the is that and uh and sure enough yeah we're currently right now there is a there is a tree resting on the uh the roof of our place. And the ironic thing.

Did it come through? No, fortunately, it didn't come through. That's a nightmare, by the way. Yes. And the scariest thing and ironic thing is we're moving in like 10 days. And our house is sold. And we have a closing date. So now we've got to deal with the condo association to get it off our roof.

And get the repairs inside the house before closing. So that's been the headache. But we've been here 15, 16 years, had no issues. Ten days before we're moving out, boom, tree. Well, get the chainsaw, Bear. What do you have, Diggs? Get up on that roof, Bear. Get up on that roof.

That's a nightmare for me. I look outside, I see a massive tree, and I'm like, if that thing gets going, I mean, I'm a dead man. Actually, in the street I grew up in, Jay and I'm like, if that thing gets going, I mean, I'm a dead man. Actually, in the street I grew up in, Jay and I, there was always, we were at the bottom of the hill, you know, Diggs lived top of the hill, but bottom of the hill flooded.

There was massive trees. We had a lot of woods or whatever and it would get windy and you would see this one tree start to come a little bit and it was like, that'd be a nightmare if it happened. Just two years ago, fucking a house two doors down

got split right in half by one of the trees. It was like, oh my God, that'd be a nightmare if it happened just two years ago fucking uh house two doors down got split right in half by one of the trees it was like oh my god that'd be so scary uh digs what do you have uh bear my most fascinating thing about sports betting to me is that there's a billion different ways that you can bet a game or go about picking games to bet are you a trends guy do you look at matchups are you stats are you a an eye guy? How do you go about picking games? A little bit of everything. What I would like, what I prefer to do is look at some of the matchups and some of the numbers and look at maybe a situation. And then if there is a trend or something with a head coach or a spot with a ranking and it backs up what I'm seeing with my eyes

and what the numbers are telling me, that's really good. And then, you know, it's kind of funny, and you hate to admit it, but there are guys out there who it's like, oh, I love blah, blah, blah tonight. You kind of file that away and be like, yeah, they like that. I mean, I might want to be on the other side of that. Oh, my gosh. Some guys who are just cursed and snake-bitten. Evan Fox.

It's always a Bronx tale. The motion just, the motion's got him just ripping up and going. It's a loser. So, I mean, there are, and heck, I was there for about a month and a half during the football season, too. So, we all have our bad runs. But, yeah, I try and, the first thing I always look at are, like, the numbers in a particular matchup

where maybe a team with a strength is going up with a team that doesn't necessarily perform very well in that category as well. Speaking of mushes, there's currently a Fade Foxy boost on Fando right now. We have a kid who works here, Evan Fox. You've met him. Handsome kid that travels around with me. He is the biggest mush on earth right now. The fade Foxy is

15 and 7, I believe, over the last 22 nights. Now, Fando has boosted the fade tonight. It is a boosted odds situation, so everybody can probably cash in. I've been riding with this kid during this thing. It has gotten expensive. Who is he on

tonight? Yeah, so he told me he texted me. I had to ask him for the boost to be made or whatever. He is on Warriors minus two. 100%, he says, by the way. I'm on Portland. We're good. So whoever the Warriors are playing,

Portland, yeah. Portland plus two. Take a look at Portland. Portland, okay, good. Portland plus two. Take a look at that. Now, listen, Bear. I'm on game time tonight. Bear, not a big NBA guy, but he did say if he sees somebody who's ice cold, let's go ahead and fade that guy. I'm in.

That's all I need to know. Zito, what do you have, pal? Yeah, so we crunched some numbers back here. We noticed that you might have went to school with The Rock We've been watching Young Rock It's probably one of the greatest shows Do you have any stories of good old Rock? No, I never really encountered much time with him

I know, I mean, it's funny Because he was on the defensive line With Warren Sapp, who is awesome And the ironic thing is The highly touted guy on that defensive line was a guy by the name of Patrick Riley. And he hurt his knee and he never really reached his potential. But yeah, that was...

He crossed over one year with me. So I graduated in 93, or 94 rather. So he was there like 93, 94. Are you going to be on this show? Are you going to be on Young Rock? I can't disclose that right now. No! Imagine if they had bear water. on Young Rock? No, I can't disclose that right now. No! No disclosure agreements on it.

Imagine if they had bear water. To be on Young Rock. Chris, we appreciate you. What's a bet we should think about locking in? Who do you feel good about here? What do we feel good about tonight? Let me take a quick look. Hey, do you follow Gumpy for soccer picks, by the

way? Might be a good idea. I don't like to tell other gamblers what to do. No, no, no, I don't. My soccer guy is a guy by the name of Nigel Seeley over in England. You know Nigel? Yeah, yeah. Oh, hey, my soccer sharp talks to your soccer sharp.

It's a budding friendship rivalry situation. Oh! Because you're going to pay for Nigel's pick. Maybe Northwestern might be worth a little talks to your soccer sharp. It's a budding friendship rivalry situation. Oh, dude. Maybe Northwestern might be worth a little look at. Maryland coming off of a solid performance. I can see the Terps getting a little bit of support, and Northwestern hasn't been

playing exactly great lately, but as a home dog against a Maryland team that can be up and down, especially off a good performance, the Purple Cats might be getting some money tonight. Alright, I appreciate you, Chris. You're the best. Ladies and gentlemen, they can follow you. Daily Wager?

Where else? Yep. Daily Wager, Twitter, Instagram, all of you. I'm easily found. And Steve and I will have an NCAA tournament pod coming up soon, too. Let's go. Can't wait to hear it. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Valli. Thank you.

Can't thank you enough for choosing to listen. I hope you enjoyed it. I had a blast today. I'm so thankful for the conversations. MCDC, deep thinking. Yeah, I think so. I think he's a deep thinker. I think the meathead title is not worthy of the man that he is,

although he is electrifying, though. Absolutely. Hey, Foxy always says it, but I might be on board with Lions 10-7 playoff win. Big thanks to him. Arthur Smith, he's a dry sense of humor, sarcastic guy. I think Atlanta's got a good one down there. Big thanks to Bear, AJ, the boys, and all of you.

Can't thank you enough for listening to this show. I honestly feel as if at the end of these shows, the fact that you guys stick around, it's like a win. Thank you so much for winning. It's like I'm accepting an award, the fact that you allowed us to penetrate your ear holes for this long. Whenever there is so much other content you could potentially listen to, the fact that you rock with us, I'm eternally grateful. Ty, please play some independent music and propel these people into a beautiful Wednesday. Tomorrow's show, good show.

Great show tomorrow. Well, maybe. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see We'll see I'm going to play his independent music But shout out Dave Trago Jake Trago

Think about your brother Did we put any parts of those in? Yeah it should be in the show too Just to cover the bases and make sure Okay good Jacob Trago we love you We appreciate you You're going to beat this, dog.

Hell yeah. And on the other side, the music is going to be just as delightful. I appreciate you. Ty, please play some Year of the Buffalo. Cheers. Cheers. Moon hang low Up in the sky Streets run red with blood

And you know why Cause they are coming They're coming for me, they are coming It was fast living and the money too And I had love and sweet as honeydew But now they're coming They're coming for me They are coming

Now if I go, honey, let me go Down the river on the Ohio Bury me deep in the water, why? I'll see you on the other side If I go, honey, let me go Down the river on the Ohio Bury me deep in the water wide I'll see you on the other side

I'll see you on the other side Tell your children and your lover goodbye Bow your head to pray you run for your life Cause they are coming They're coming for me They are coming, they're coming for me, they are coming I said now if I go, honey let me go, down the river on the Ohio Bury me deep in the water, I'll see you on the Ohio, bury me deep in the water, why? I'll see you on the other side. Now if I go, honey let me go, down the river on the Ohio, bury me deep in the water, why?

I'll see you on the other side. I'll see you on the other side I see you on the other side Terima kasih telah menonton! So now if I go, honey let me go Down the river of the Ohio Bury me deep in the water wide I'll see you on the other side So now if I go, honey let me go Down the river of the Ohio Marry me deep in the water wide

I'll see you on the other side I'll see you on the other side I'll see you on the other side The moon hang low Up in the sky The streets run red with blood You know why Cause they are coming They're coming for me