The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 519 - Aaron Rodgers Tuesday Week 6, Monday Night Football Recap, Mike Pereira, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: October 19, 2021

On today's show, Pat, AJ, and the boys chat about last night's Monday Night Football game and the Titans' big win over the Bills, why nobody is concerned about the Bills being a wagon, how you stop Derrick Henry in the 2nd half of a football game, if Mike Vrabel is pissed all the time while coaching, if we should take the Titans more serious, the decision to go for a touchdown instead of a field goal to send it into overtime, and much more as they wrap up week 6 in the NFL. Joining the program fresh off a win and a declaration of ownership in Chicago, is the QB of the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers. Pat, Aaron, and AJ chat about this weekend's game, if he knew the "I own you" quote was going to go as big as it did, how he feels about where the team is at right now, he sets the record straight on a few things that have been taken out of context, why it didn't feel like the last time he would play at Soldier Field, the important of the Packers/Bears rivalry, the newest entry in the Aaron Rodgers bookclub, and much more (15:46-52:37). Later, former NFL Vice President of Officiating, current CFB & NFL on FOX Rules Analyst, Mike Pereira, joins the program to chat about why the officiating has been so bad, what he thinks the problem is, how we fix it and make it better, why the current set up is never going away, and much much more in a candid conversation about the current problems with officiating in the NFL (52:41-1:19:03). 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, it is Aaron Rodgers Tuesday, October 19th, 2021 years after the year zero. Not just Aaron, Mike Pereira, a couple other surprises as well. The boys are on fire. I'm the luckiest dude on earth that I get to be here and be a part of this. If you enjoy this show by the end of it, please be a friend and tell a friend. If not, just act like it never happened. Let's get to it. Obviously, every single Tuesday of the NFLfl season when you wake up it's

just a better day oh yeah you know that that walk to the john you know you're about to take yep just seems like you're a little bit lighter like you're floating there is it's immediately upon waking up and even if you lost your bet because you thought the bills were a complete wagon and you thought they were going to beat the tit in Tennessee and then you had to be forced to remember that Derrick Henry is a human that makes zero sense to anybody on earth. He is faster than the smallest guy. He's more powerful than the biggest guy scoring three tugs last night on his way to another 2 000 yard season potentially being the biggest back we've ever seen the guy's a stud he makes no sense and even after you lost because you bet against that

you still feel great while you're taking that shit. That's right. You know, the air is just smelling fresher. You go and brush your teeth. Oh, I'm hitting every single crack. It seems like everything's really going well. You hop in the shower, the water is perfect. It's perfect temperature. You drive in because on Aaron Rodgers Tuesday, you get a chance to chit-chat with a guy who's a reigning,

defending, undisputed MVP of the NFL. A man who had one of the biggest weekends of all time. Because after jaunting in for a touchdown in Chicago, he told the city one of the most epic lines we have ever heard on a sports field. And we get to chit-chat with him. I love Tuesdays. Is it Tuesday yet? We ask all week.

And now it is officially Aaron Rodgers Tuesday. And this conversation is going to be large. Oh yeah. Can't wait to dive into it. What will the next book be? Huh? I got a fucking bookcase over here where

State Farm thing used to be. Oh yeah. Smart. I put a bookcase in over here. I don't know if you see it. All the books from the book club. You Are the Universe was this past week's book.

Wow. You love it, John. Great book. Science. Me and the other book clubbers we were talking about how hey, those first couple you know know, for me, days of reading there, there's pretty thick shit going on in there.

Very. Albert Einstein makes an appearance in this particular one. Another guy named Tagore, dude, he fucking shows up. He's talking Albert Einstein. This one was the toughest read by far. Oh, yeah, hands down. If you were a new reader or maybe hadn't read in a long time and you had been, you know, traveling the aaron rogers book club voyage those first few

books all right awesome good stories easy to tell this one a little bit more difficult this was a uh this was a 10th grade advanced uh reading level yeah this is 11 12th you know maybe even ap out there but i can't wait to see what the next book club book is. I hope it's maybe a coloring book. Yeah, maybe like Old Yeller or something like that. No, no, no. Not Old Yeller. Why not? What happened? Old Yeller's a great book. Yeah, we don't need that right now.

Where the red fur grows. No, no, no, no. That's a good one. We don't need Marley and me either. I don't know if that's a book. We don't need any of the things that you're about to say. Maybe Helmut Bond! Oh! Hatchet or Brian's Winter

to commemorate the late, great, fallen Gary Paulson, who died last week. Great author. Rest in peace, Gary Paulson. Rest in peace, Gary Paulson. Wow, I didn't know that. I did not know Gary Paulson. Holy shit. Busted up big time over the weekend. He wrote my two favorite books.

All right, that's our Diggs is weekend. He wrote my two favorite books. All right. That's our Diggs is here. He is the, I guess, the reading aficionado there. For Hatchet and Brian's Winner, I am. Yeah, absolutely. Hatchet was a great book. Probably a good movie, too. It was.

Yeah. It got us through the thing we had to do there. It is a great Aaron Rodgers Tuesday. We can't thank you enough for joining us. Cannot wait to see what the book is. Honestly. Yeah. I had no idea any of these books

existed, obviously. The Giver, I guess I got because we had to do it in high school and had to act like I read it then. But Where Men Win Glory, actually bought the book. We'll actually read that at some point. I think the book club's very cool, but the conversation about what he did in Chicago is going to be one that's a little bit mightier. I can't wait to dive into

that, but we have to continue to chat about what happened last evening. So not only did A.J hawk and myself come to terms on an agreement that we're both going to take the buffalo bills minus six in nashville on monday night football yeah okay and that's because what the buffalo bills had been going into last night's game was nothing short of a buzzsaw they had been dominating people ever since they got embarrassed, in their words, against the Pittsburgh Steelers week one at home to kick the season off. When the Pittsburgh Steelers did a bunch of different coverages

and made Josh Allen's life a little bit more difficult, everybody thought at that point, whoa, what is this all about? Because last year they took another step. Josh Allen continued to get good. He got paid. Do they stink? Ever since that game, they have been

dominating NFL football teams, blowing teams out, making them look bad. Maybe a score would be scored, but it wouldn't be really indicative of the story of the entire game with what the Bills have been doing to people. Last night, they did. They continued to be

an incredible offensive juggernaut. Josh Allen is going to be so good. He's so large. He seems to have this mentality that he's uber competitive. He doesn't really get rattled that much. Seems like people like him. I love watching him. And Stephon Diggs always seems to be open.

I don't know how that happens. I don't know if Jack Rabbit, like uh like you guys I just feel like the Buffalo Bills offense is going to continue to go and you even heard people this morning and last night saying we think the Buffalo Bills are going to be a team in the end this is coming off a loss on Monday Night Football to the Tennessee Titans also four and two who I don't think anybody's having a conversation about the Titans potentially going in there but if the Titans team can get Derrick Henry going like they have been, by the way,

second halves of games have looked much different for the Tennessee Titans than in the first half of games these last few weeks. And if you haven't been watching the entire game, because maybe you have the Titans game on, and in the first half they look like this, what is this? Like this is not, and I'm not saying this is every game, but this has happened.

Like, oh, I'm not going to watch this game. This is going to be something else. In the second half, they were normally a very different team because Derrick Henry, the human you saw last night, he just wears on them and wears on them and wears on them. And I know that was an idea in theory that was had like in years past, but Ryan Tannehill was still throwing for like 300 and some yards. They were throwing the ball more than they would,

and it didn't seem like they were doing it. Now it is a real thing. Hey, we are going to feed this guy. He got like $50 million, I think, or $25 million. I forget what it was. A year, right? $4.64 or something? I don't remember.

Only two years are guaranteed. It's really only a two-year deal. I forget exactly what it is, but he just got paid. And normally when running backs get paid, right, the big question mark is will they be able to last to withstand however much. Derrick Henry doesn't seem to be slowing down. Now we're going into week seven already. Wow.

I know. Damn. God. Slow down. Jeez, what is going on? Wow, we got an extra game. Extra game. Extra game.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Extra week. Extra week. Week six. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But anyways, I guess that kind of debunks what I was about to say. It looks like he's not slowing down. It looks like he's not slowing down. It looks like he's only getting better.

Ryan Tannehill obviously can do the job. A.J. Brown, if he's not pooping his pants because he's eating that Chipotle, he had a big night last night after that. Julio got hurt again. I'm not sure. This has been a rocky start, it seems like, to the Julio-Tennessee-Titan era. Hopefully this is not a sign of how things will completely be. But hopefully if they get Julio back in there,

with that catch he made, he still has the ability to be unbelievable. Hopefully Taylor LeJuan comes back from his concussion. That was very scary. How long was he out for? Felt like a while. That was an entire commercial break. Because then at some point,

you've got to think about brain activity, right, if you're out for too long. Because he looked like he was not moving. Scary as hell. Taylor, hey, T's and P's, pal. T's and P's. Godspeed to Taylor LeJuan. That was scary as hell.

But that team, if the defense can pick it up, why is anybody talking about the Tennessee Titans maybe making a run? The run game can travel as long as Derrick Henry is healthy. The defense is going to have to figure it out mightily, but they just got to win over the Bills, and the Bills have been rag-dolling teams. But the big conversation is can the Bills still go? I think yes, but the Titans have gotten overlooked

in this entire conversation this morning, I think. Yeah, the Bills are going to be fine. They're incredibly fun to watch. I feel like we've seen them at least four times on primetime already this year, but all of their games are super entertaining, and I think that is the thing with the Titans. Everyone always talks about how much their defense stinks, but they had a couple big stops last night, got some turnovers,

and if their offense can play like that, then they're going to be competitive with damn near everyone. Variable looks like, and you tweeted this, I think, and it's very real. At all times of the game, he wants to smack somebody right in the fucking mouth yeah yep who pissed like who was talking in his ear they must be the most annoying yeah mean person of all time because he is he is literally furious it seems like all game intense passionate and they say you know the team will hopefully pick on or pick up the identity of the coach on the offensive side it feels like they do you know taylor leaves the game and although

he was not in for that last play when josh allen was trying to get it because that was the buffalo bills team right true yeah bruce christmas art is murdered he was so long weekend yeah it has happened it has happened to me so many times but the internet is relentless where you just get one particular little thing wrong where it's on one team and then you go very hard in the paint about that, whatever the case is. But Taylor LeJuan, they still continue to go. And that's an all-pro left tackle. Now he's had to go through a couple injuries, and obviously last night was very scary.

But if that offense can continue to operate, I guess with the downsizing of defenses right because defenses have kind of gotten smaller faster they move around and you've got a guy that's what whatever the hell derrick henry yeah i'm alien 60 he is an alien he should not be 21.8 miles an hour the fastest i guess or whatever absurd and as he's the fastest he's been. He's pulling away from guys that are the most athletic people walking this earth, and he's just pulling away at the size and speed. He's unbelievable. He's been like this, I guess, since high school, though, too.

Yeah. He's been doing this to everybody since high school. The Titans, though, they're early. He would have flashes. One primetime game, he'd score like four touchdowns, and then somehow nobody would be watching the games, including all of us that are probably listening and he wouldn't he would have like 45 yards or something yep and it was like what's going on what's happening and then allegedly he

and eddie george had a conversation and eddie george convinced him or had a conversation with him that changed his uh maybe his viewpoint and then since then it has been the derrick henry the king henry show and he's just continued to go go, man. It's a fun team to watch. But to your point about the Bills, it seems like they're just a tough group. Yeah. Fly around. I mean, you kick the field goal, you get extra football. Right.

What are we doing? You get extra football. But also, do you think you could stop Derrick Henry if you lose that coin toss? Yeah, the way he'd been playing. With how he had been rolling. Right. Like at that point of the game going into overtime. I don't know

if any coach was confident that they could get a stop. I'm not 100% sure if anybody could. So, Sean McDermott rolling the dice there. And everybody knows we have had a conversation about analytics on this show. Because we think analytics can definitely paint a picture. Okay? And we're not saying they're all

bad, but analytics can also paint a picture okay and we're not saying they're all bad but analytics can also paint a picture that maybe isn't exactly the right one or the the real life one that could be potentially happening in the moment we always wonder how some stats are used and other stats aren't because for every stat this way there is probably a stat that can go the other way as well and I guess the stats all the different stat teams were coming out this morning talking about Sean McDermott's decision to go for it on fourth in like a half yard or whatever, as opposed to kicking the gimme field goal for Big Ball Bass

and tying that thing up and getting it over time. All the stats are saying that's the right move. Our analytical predictor says that 54% of the time they would win if they were to do that every time, and 46% of the time if they were to kick the field goal and send it to overtime. It's like, okay, Stacks, is Derrick Henry on the other fucking sideline in all of those stats?

Has that guy scored? Has somebody on the other team scored three touchdowns and has only seemed to get faster and stronger as the game? Is that in there and i think that is where you know the conversation kind of has to take place with all the stats not saying that i because in this particular case i agree with the stats but the people that disagree that are getting these stats thrown in their face they're also thinking like tell me when derrick henry was on the other side of that how many numbers that is can we break that can we break

that particular stat down into a tighter stat that there's an alien playing running back on the other side? How many times has that happened? Can we get the percentage on that whole thing? It's a fascinating discussion that is only going to continue to evolve. Well, and you look at, like, there's no way Josh Allen, too, like you expect him to get that every time. Bingo, he's huge.

If I'm Sean McDermott, I go for it every single time. Yeah, for sure. And, you know, Josh Allen's not saying, like, oh, let's kick the field goal. He's out. If I'm Sean McDermott, I go for it every single time. Yeah, for sure. You know, Josh Allen's not saying, like, oh, let's kick the field goal. He's out there saying, like, fuck it, let's go for it. I might score on this play. And, you know, just one of those things where he slips or whatever, takes a step back. That's football. Yeah, that's football, baby. Hey, that's gonna happen

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Ladies and gentlemen, Green Bay Packer quarterback, founder of the Aaron Rodgers Book Club, current MVP, number 12 for the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers. What's up? What's up, dude? Hey, what's up, guys? Hey, AJ. You're still wearing that same shirt, eh? Yeah. It's his 95th birthday.

You know it was his 95th birthday yesterday, but have some respect for some of the legends. Happy birthday, Chuck Berry. Obviously, Chuck Berry, incredible at music. And AJ doesn't know anything about any of that. He only knows about his home video collection. Aaron, it is fantastic seeing you here today. How's the body feel? How is life? How are you with week seven on the horizon here? Yeah, body feels great. Tuesdays is a special day for me. I get to squat in the morning, is a special day for me.

I get to squat in the morning and not even on my, you know, my home gym. I get to squat at the facility and then I got a massage and then I get to talk to you guys. So it's a nice little Tuesday, I'd say. Well, people forget about your legs. I think that is potentially why

you had to remind some folks there that we are still squatting around here. Oh, yeah. This past week, you looked quick. I tweeted early in the game that you look faster than Tyreek here. This past week, you looked quick. I tweeted early in the game that you looked faster than Tyreek Hill. You started out to the right there. Then you had a quarterback sneak where it looked like you enjoyed

being in the middle of the pile and kind of mixing it up. And then obviously that touchdown where you scamper in, get pushed late as you're going in there. Incredibly athletic. Roll to the knee to the biggest belt we have ever seen. Welcome back, by the way.

And I don't know if that was in response to Quinn doing the belt or not. But then you stand up and you state something to a crowd of people in Chicago that will be talked about forever. You have said that you saw one lady flipping you off. You blacked out and went banana lands and said one of the greatest, most epic quotes of all time. Pictures have shown that it wasn't just a lady, by the way. It seemed like all of Chicago was flipping you off. Was that

something that just happened spur of the moment? Do you believe that you own Chicago, Aaron Rodgers? Is that the case? It was definitely spur of the moment. And I am proud of my runs. There's been some local media folks in Green Bay who've talked ad nauseum about my decreasing ability to get out of the pocket and make things happen.

So to have an explosive run on the first possession, to have a sneak, which, you know, that was really for my teammates, because especially David Bakhtiari, the biggest troll in the facility now that Corey Lindsley's not there anymore, he loves to tell me what an awful quarterback sneak guy I am. I mean, it's one of his favorite things to do. So to be able to pull that one out and to be able to get the old pump fake working in the end zone was pretty special. Now, when I got in the end zone and I watched it back and I don't think Eddie really hit me. I mean, it was

very close to the goal line. So I don't think there was a malicious hit from Eddie Jackson there, but I've done that a few times, kind of maybe eased up a little bit too early on the sidelines. Julius Peppers, my old teammate, rocked me in 2008 against Carolina on the sidelines. That's when I thought I'd learned my lesson. Obviously not. But Eddie didn't hit me as hard as he could have. But when I got down to my knee and I looked up, all I could see and hear was obscenities. And I don't know.

I just spur of the moment hit my mind. I talked about the blacking out idea. The blacking out is just things happen that are not planned. I didn't plan on telling the crowd that I own them. I think based on the statistical reference of my career, win percentage is down there and against them. Definitely our teams have done some good things. I know I used I

a few times, but I do feel like it's a we thing. Really, since Favre took over, we've flipped that entire series on its head. I think when Favre took over, we were double digits in the hole in the all-time series. The series has been going on for 100 years

plus, and now we're seven up. It feels good to be on this side of it. And that was a special moment looking back. I didn't realize how crazy it would go. And, you know, teammates chiming in from MVS to my buddy Kurt. Ben Kurt is in our room, you know, our third-string quarterback. Just about everybody.

I love the response of my teammates backing me up. The belt was not a response to Robert Quinn. I actually didn't even see him do it. And like I said, you know, after the game, I like Robert a lot. He's a good human. And I've played against him a number of times on a couple different teams. And so he's not somebody that I would have a problem with doing the belt. But that was definitely spur of the moment. It was fun. I don't regret it at all. How quickly did you learn after you offended Zito and the rest of all of the people in Chicago? Did you learn, hey, this is a thing?

Did you get to the sidelines and a couple minutes later, Big Tom and some PR people were like, hey, you're going to have to answer some questions about this one. Tom Fadding told me about it after the game a lot of time i mean that's it's not uh you know a rare thing to happen there's always trash talk between fans and players i mean i've heard some of the most ridiculous things and craziest uh combination of uh words and slurs and insults over the years on the road and there's's back and forth from time to time. It's rare that it gets picked up the way it did on Sunday. So it's not like that was something that never happened.

There's always conversation between players and fans, and most opposing fans are like the Chicago fans. There's not the happiest and friendliest of back and forths. But I found out about it after the game, and I realized that it was probably going to be a thing, not maybe as big a thing as it went to, you know, with some of the things that I saw. But that is the state of our media.

And let me just... And really our culture, not just media, but that's the state of our culture, I think, this woke pc culture um and if i may just you know elaborate just slightly on please on this if you don't mind yeah go ahead this is awesome i think that in general my feelings are this um there's a pc woke culture that exists and there's a cancel culture at the same time.

And it's based on people's own feelings of maybe personal miserability or dis, distaste for their own situations or life, or just the enjoyment of holding other people down underneath their thumb. But when you engage in this culture, you're immersed in it and you're it and you're in it so much. And for me, you know, when I took time in the off season to work on myself and to work on my mental status and to get myself in the right frame of mind, I was being selfish,

right? That's what, you know, or non-responsive and selfish and entitled. you know, or non-responsive and selfish and entitled. When I, you know, came back and said what I said, what I felt like was at the right time and spoke the truth, the same sentiments were shared, maybe not by as many people. A lot of people respected what I said, but the same sentiments were shared. When these ridiculous sentiments and storylines and narratives get drawn out about me, these ridiculous sentiments and storylines and narratives get drawn out about me.

Pick a topic, you know, from my family to my leadership style to, you know, and they just go on and on and people start thinking, well, he hasn't responded to it, so it must be true, right? And then they run with these stories, right? And then when I respond to it and set the record straight, when I finally said, okay, enough is enough. This thing has gotten so far and it's so ridiculous at this point that I'm being sensitive. When week one, I have been there, unfortunately, before in a few dud games. And people think I don't have enough passion. I don't care about what's going on,

then I'm passionless. I'm not all in. When I make a statement after a touchdown run and put us up two scores, now I'm not a sportsman. Now I'm making this shit about me. This is the thing that goes on. Ultimately, there's a game within the game. In this game, there's a player and there's a game within the game, right? And in this game, there's a player and there's a game. And if the player abides by the rules of the game, he's a part of the game. Now, the rules of the game are that you must acquiesce with the woke mob at all times.

You must. However, when you live above the game, the game does not exist. And, Pat, that's where I'm at. These things, I realize them, I see them, but I'm not a part of this game that's being played. This game is being played out by these individuals. And I see it, I hear it, but to me it's comedy. Okay, Aaron, can I ask you, and that was, by the way, I'm incredibly happy and proud that we are the platform that you get a chance to speak for yourself on, by the way.

So, hey, thank you, Aaron. Thank you, Aaron. Love you. This makes me think, though, and by the way, you are everything that happens in your life is chatted about by everybody, which I think is obviously an incredible gift because you've had this opportunity to have this career that you've had and being the MVP of the NFL, people are naturally going to speak about you.

And then obviously it's a curse when everything that you do is put under a spotlight. And I think you've understood that that is your life for some time. And I appreciate the fact that we're getting to know a little bit more about you. Did you think that it was more a negative response to the I still own you thing? Because I'm going to be honest, maybe I just have too many blinders on. Everybody I saw loved it. I mean, Chicago isn't going to love it. But everybody, like, I don't know if you heard,

Darius Butler came on yesterday and he was like, to see a quarterback act like that is awesome because normally quarterbacks are always the right answer and I think this is what you're referring to. Always in cliches, always working hard, always this. And as soon as you step out of line a little bit, I could see there being a little bit of negativity, but at this point,

wasn't everybody on your side, or was there people actually attacking you in this particular world? Well, I don't know about attacking. I mean, Tom sends me choice articles from time to time about what is being said about certain things. I mean, my teammates and the organization, I think, really loved it.

I think most Packer fans enjoyed it as well. Hey, we loved it. Cito? Cito? Cito? Nope. Hated it. Okay, see, he's from Chicago. He was supposed to hate it. He was supposed to hate it. I saw Olin Crute said he wanted to punch me in the face. Look, I think that is to say, and I don't know all women, I've respected and played

in the league for a long time, but are we getting that soft as a society that we can't have a ticket for now? I mean, somebody can pay for a ticket and say whatever the hell they want, which I think they should be able to, that's fine, but the one time you say something back to them, that gets caught on hot mic, which like I said, there's a lot of stuff that gets said from time to time. Now it's that, you know, I've disrespected, you know, an entire city and organization and my own organization. Well, and Justin Fields, you said Justin Fields stinks whenever you told Chicago that you owned him or whatever. You're an asshole.

I guess I did see this. I'm sorry. I'm just now realizing that you were a terrible person for it. Although in my house and in where we are, like that was the coolest thing we've seen in some time. I said it was going to go down

as something to talk about. People talk about forever as well. Like Randy Moss. Okay. The, the T.O. with the autograph, the ball

and you telling a city that you own them when you're 22 and5 against them, fucking some of the greatest competitive trash talk in the history of trash talk. Well, back when I first got into the league and when I grew up watching it, I felt like trash talk was a little more

normalized. You didn't have to apologize if you said something that offended a few people in a city. Like I said, I have a lot of respect for the city and for the sports fans. It's been a great rivalry over the years, but we have

gotten the better of them for a while now. I don't think I was saying anything that wasn't necessarily close to the truth. If you don't like it, that's fine. That's your prerogative. Let me just clear up one thing as well that you were talking about. I'm so fortunate for this platform, especially this one, to be on here talking with you guys. It means a lot to me because I think people get to see me in a little bit of a different light.

I'm not a repeating robot, cliche-ridden leader of a franchise. I actually have a personality and thoughts and opinions that I think align with most people. But I'm not a victim either. I'm not a victim either. I'm not a victim. I don't look at myself as a victim or I don't want people to feel bad for me because of the spotlight that I'm in and the platform that I have and the scrutiny that comes with it. I accept all of it. I really do. I don't have a problem with it.

I just think that it is, for me, helps me to keep sane when I can recognize and point out that there is this culture that exists that gets off, I think, on shrinking people, keeping them small, keeping them in a box, quieting them through cancellation or demeaning comments, and that I also exist outside of that in a different realm where I do feel confident in things I say and I do stand by what I do and I like to speak the truth and I'm not a part of this you know woke cancel culture that gets off on trying to silence people all the time. You said you are like you're above the game or you see it, you understand it's out there, but it doesn't really affect your day to day or anything going on in your life.

Have you always been like that? Or did you feel like earlier in your career was there ever times where you like, oh, man, I'm paying too much attention, good or bad, to what's going on around me? Well, I mean, you've known me for a long time and I've always been more of a private person. I just felt like that was the best way to handle business issues in my own family, relational things, issues with the organization. I just, you know, it's kind of been my way of doing things. And when you do that, sometimes you allow this narrative to kind of run wild. I mean, it wasn't the same 15 years ago, you know,

but in today's day and age, it's better to write an article that has a catchy, you know, tagline than to, you know, get some sort of response from both sides. So that's why I enjoy this show because it allows me to actually set the record straight on some of these things. And I don't think when I was younger I just enjoyed my privacy and just I wouldn't respond to certain things that I didn't want to because I believed in keeping my relationships private and and having like sacred spaces of, you know, of energy for those, you know, those type of relationships. and separation but i'm not afraid to to rewrite these false narratives that are out there that gives me the opportunity or the power to take back some of those narratives that were false

when they were written and continue to be false if they're propagated at this point well and i think that was kind of the i don't want to say the basis for why aaron rogers tuesday started but in the bahamas we had what like a like a 14-hour rain delay, and we're just sitting there. Ty drank all the Jack, I think, that the entire golf course had. I might have had all the beer, but we were sitting down just chit-chatting, and I didn't know much about you at that point. All I had known as basically what I heard and what I'd seen from you on the internet and what you played football and what teammates had said about you that maybe came to the Colts and chit-chatted.

But as we chatted there for, I don't know, it felt like a couple hours at the end of it, I was like, man, nobody knows any of this shit about you. And the reason why I know that is because I don't know any of this shit about you. And I feel like this could potentially be a cool thing. And that was when you said, I've just always decided to kill him with indifference or whatever.

So we, I'm very thankful that, that, you know, as you've kind of got to a point in your life where you can say like, no, there's some bullshit that has been said about me. That's a big deal, Eric. Hey, that's a big step. Look at us, we're taking big time fucking steps around here. You are the universe, dude. I saw what you posted earlier. I saw what you posted earlier. I'm assuming you didn't read it and neither did any of the guys,

but I'm thankful for the quotes that get passed along to you, and I hope at some point you or your lovely wife can spend some time reading that and learn. But there's a reason that it's number six in the list. It's because I think the other ones, you should maybe start with those. And actually, book number seven is an easy read as well. And I look forward to you reading it at some point. Okay. Well, I can't wait for book number seven here for the Aaron Rodgers Book Club. But I'll tell you.

Berenstain Bears. What do you? Hey, Berenstain Bears would be dope. How about a Kellering book too, huh? Oh, yeah. Just like a bi-week. You know what I mean? It's like a bi-week.

Like maybe. I want someone to think about it. You do. It's your it's your book club okay it's not ours i'm just throwing out ideas here what do you think now we won't get to the book club yet i got a question on how you think einstein would align with ramdas i mean now that you've you've kind of put both of these things into the world with this book club but let's continue to talk about you playing the football at a very high level. We'll kind of put a bow on this entire Chicago conversation. The fact that it's still a real rivalry is cool to me. I think that is very cool to me. I don't know how often that happens in the NFL. I know there's divisional rivals and everything like that,

but as players come and go, they're not as tied to the rivalry as maybe in college you would be because you're there for four or five years and you kind of know and it's bought in the fact that the Packers and the Bears are a rivalry still I think is amazing and I don't know if you're a big part of upholding that because he told us that Big Mike would show videos of all these highlight hits between the Bears and the Packers over the years but you, when you said and got to the point of ownership over Chicago, that is something like I think you took real, like you really, you take that to heart, like that the Packers are better than the Bears

over your tenure and over Favre's. And then you were asked afterwards if this was potentially going to be the last time you get to do this to Chicago as a Packer in this rivalry and I think you said something about you're not so sure that this is the last one have you thought about long term in this world and I know you're very much a be present be in there but whenever you said you weren't sure if this was going to be the last one or you you don't think that's going to be the case you alluded to basically like being in Chicago and potentially landlording them again but have you had a thought chance to think about your future and what the

world is because outside the conversation is very loud from every single city that thinks they potentially will get aaron rogers uh you know to be to be frank uh before the game i was i was thinking about how many times we've been in a locker room. That was my 18th time in a locker room. My 15th time, 14th time starting against them at Soldier Field. Anybody who's been in a locker room knows it's one of the smaller locker rooms in the NFL. I'm always tucked kind of back in the left in the same spot next to Mace. And a lot of times the hot water doesn't work.

It's just like one of those. And you don't even mind. It's just one of those things. The hot water, by the way, was working after the game. So it's a good thing. Way to go, Chicago. A couple times it hasn't been over the years. Maybe that's because the pipes are just so goddamn frozen because of the cold weather we play in.

But I was thinking, I was wondering what it would feel like to walk off the field and in that moment if it would feel like it was going to be my last time or not. And so I was generally looking forward to what that felt like. And the way I felt walking off the field was why I answered the question the way I answered it. It didn't feel like the last time for whatever reason. I'm not sure why necessarily, but energetically it didn't feel like it was the last time walking off that field. It was a special feeling, again, to win at that place, to win by double digits. It's an important game for us.

But also to talk about how special the rivalry is, I did mention that to Justin after the game. I got a chance to meet him and talk about how much I've admired watching him play so far in his young, young career. But I also told him how special the rivalry is and just to embrace it and that I hope he gets, you know, many, many, many years of enjoying this rivalry because it is one of those special things. And I think for whatever reason, some of that rivalry may have, you know, luster, might wane from year to year, but it doesn't wane for the fans.

Not at all. It doesn't wane for those of us who love the history of the NFL and the history of rivalries like this. It's always going to be special. I've obviously played in more of them than anybody on our squad, and there's been some amazing, amazing amazing victories some tough losses as well thankfully more of those victories uh but there's been some iconic there's been some iconic players who've played in this rivalry for the last i don't know 100 years uh you know most of the names

you think about are in the you know got a yellow jacket they're in the hall of fame and you look around on our stadium at the names in the bowl are in the – got a yellow jacket. They're in the Hall of Fame. And you look around at our stadium, at the names in the bowl, and look on their stadium. Some of the people who made the league what the league is played in that Bears-Packers rivalry, and it's fun to be a part of it. Yeah, it was awesome to watch it unfold, the I own you thing. I think that's why it was so big because their fans are so passionate about it. You're still passionate about it in a world where it seems like being passionate about something like that might not be something

that most people are doing anymore. So I think it's incredibly cool. Let's talk about the team that you have winning by 20 or something. Hey, your squad's getting hot. You guys look like the Packers last year at the end of the season. Now, obviously not the end of the season, but you know what I'm talking about. It feels like the team's really hitting the groove and we're about to get some players healthy as well you guys have to be feeling great about everything then we're feeling good about things we we need to get healthy though we have a lot of guys a lot of guys banged up a lot of guys that we counted on being a season to play you know uh big time snaps for us haven't played you know, so we've had to rely on a lot of backups and third stringers, but those backups and third stringers,

when they play on the field, they're starters, and there's an expectation when you're on the field of your performance, and I'm really proud of those guys, the way they played. Proud of guys like Lucas Patrick, you know, came in early in that game, you know, started a early in that game. You know, started a game earlier in the season, been an interior backup for us, and played fantastic. Proud of John Runyon.

Proud of Yash Nishman. Proud of Royce Newman, our rookie. Proud of maybe the unsung hero of the offensive line, Billy Turner. Billy Turner needs to get consideration for the Pro Bowl. I know we're only six games in, but he has played outstanding. He really has. He is a master of his craft. Nobody works harder at his craft than Billy does. I'm really proud of him. I'm proud of Elton for coming back from his injury and playing left tackle for us. Not sure what Dave's status is going to be, but we're all excited.

He's expecting some sort of parade or shenanigans for him returning to practice this week. We'll see what we have in store for him. But we've got to get healthy, that's for sure. But to be 5-1 with the injuries that we had during the season and the schedule that we had is great. You look at our schedule moving forward, we have a tough stretch. We play a Washington team who's going to be in need of a victory a short week against Arizona and a longer week at Kansas City. That's what's in front of us in the next three.

We're going to have to get healthy and play some of our best football. Two-part question for me. First, what's it like with LeFleur? I joked earlier about how you guys, you come off the field and like to beat each other up. When you get excited, it seems like your relationship is growing and growing. Is he throwing little jabs in your helmet at you, like in the speaker at times, like when you guys go back and forth? I know you have a weird sense of humor. And also, when you're on IR, do you usually run solo two-minute drills?

Bro, he broke a huddle, Aaron. He broke a huddle, dude. Half and a half, half and a half. It was awesome. You know what? I'm going to touch that one. I think it's already been commented on enough. Why don't you visualize a little bit, Aaron?

It might be better. You ever think about it? You're above the game. I will say that one of my favorite comments was from TJ Lang. You saw what TJ posted. Something about this is what passion looks like and tagged

me on it. I can only imagine how many people thought he was being serious. I think I could speak for TJ and say, he wasn't. No! But serious i think i could speak for tj and say he wasn't no no wow but to to answer your question matt and i are are great it's it's a fun relationship because uh he's definitely wound a little tighter than i am so there's multiple times where i like to mess with him

on the field act like i can't hear what he's saying, you know, and tap my helmet, like, and then watch him start to, you know, a little bit kind of freak out. Is he pressing the button down right? Is it off? Is he yelling? You know, does he yell at the, you know, the sound guy, you know, the audio guy? And then I'll look over and laugh and kind of wave or something.

But what often happens and happened in the game on Sunday was there'll be a time and he'll tell me to play and then i might have been in a conversation with somebody in the huddle and not gotten and then i'll kind of you know get more of these hey you know one more time please and they'll tell me to play again and then they'll tell me a you know maybe a coaching point that he wants to make sure i remember uh and then he'll tell me to play again and it'll kind of drawn like this. It was during a TV timeout or the two-minute warning or something. It was before that. It was during a TV timeout.

I looked over and I was like, hey, I got it, man. And you could see him go, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right, you're right, you're right. Too much, too much. But that's what I love about Matt because he cares about it so much. And that's why you have to have that balance of you know him and Hackett you know Hackett being uh you know definitely more laid back and him being wow more tight and how they work together and then play caller to quarterback

you know him being wowed really tight and be you know being uh less less wound tight and us you know we have a good back and forth about it I tease him and I think he might have heard this comment uh some of my told him about this show, but Matt is a close hugger. He loves the close hug and then you're kind of like side face to side face sometimes. Like Jerry and his kid. Yeah.

So I think I mentioned it on this show. So this week, I don't know if it was planned or not, but right after the anthem, I kind of dap up Vavante and then Randall, who always stands next to me, and then Matty's always waiting there with his hand up, waiting for a big high five. It was more bro hug.

It wasn't like the close hug, look at you kind of thing. So, hey, look, man, he's growing, he's progressing, and I love it. Yeah, your relationship has been awesome to watch. I love that two-parter from AJ Journalism. I have uh it was great by the way it was great i can't believe we didn't get anything out of him on the rust on the rust i can't believe it um one note that i took here uh too quick this is a two-parter um you held a play action awesome you ought to play action like i feel like that used to be a part of the game more. You hid that thing behind your hip, though, on the completion to Big Dog. Why does that not happen every single time?

And is that something you take a lot of pride in? Because you held that. And I assume there's a chance you get blasted there on the other side. It turns into a big play with, do you always do that? And Big Dog seemed to have a big-time weekend. And the commentators talked about how the entire sideline loses their shit when Mercedes makes a big play but that that's for sure happens the the screen that he caught against Cincy and made a guy miss kind of uh ran into a guy that guy fell down and kept on going hit a guy on the sidelines the whole sideline was just going nuts. And that's just because everybody loves Big Dog so much.

And he contributes so much, and it doesn't often show up in the stat sheet. So when it does, it's a big deal. But as far as that fake, I've got to give credit to the man that taught me that fake, and that's none other than Alex Van Pelt. Played in the NFL a long time. Quarterback coach for me me now he's coaching at Cleveland great human and really good teacher of the fundamentals of the quarterback position but that's what uh he used to call the guitar fake and we even used to watch film of him at Pitt

when he was in college doing some of his fakes and to be be honest, I really loved it. I loved adding kind of that element to my game. So you just kind of let the hand go, and you put the hand down on the notch and hide it down there. It takes a lot of trust because, yeah, you can get totally rocked there if a guy just screamed upfield and drilled you. But the fake is usually pretty damn good and as far as the action because you're really sticking the ball in letting the hand go taking the eyes back to it and skipping out of it um it's not one we do a lot we might do it once every two

or three games but it was helped by the fact that we ran power or par as they say in pittsburgh power pretty effectively three or four times and then we ran the fake off of the And power, or par, as they say in Pittsburgh. Ah, power, Donner. You're on power, Donner. Par pretty effectively three or four times, and then we ran the fake off of the par. But big shout-out to another Pittsburgh guy, Alex Van Pelt. Yeah, shout-out. And I can already see the news. Aaron Rodgers watched film with the University of Pittsburgh Panthers

to work on his game, and he said power game was a big deal. I mean, that is going to be blistered all over Pittsburgh, but that's everything you do in your life. Go ahead, Ty Schmidt. Aaron, Sunday was awesome. Always a pleasure getting to watch you work in person. Listen, I don't want you to shit on the refs, but they were terrible on Sunday,

and I think it was after you threw the touchdown to EQ. You were pleading your case out there. One guy called it OPI. One called it incomplete. One called it incomplete. One called it a touchdown. Is that the kind of thing where like after the game, ultimately it didn't matter, you know, you guys won, but will you go talk to the refs and be like, this is, this kind of stuff can't happen. Or does it kind of die when you're done talking to them? Well, first of all, Ty, great to have you in the house.

Yeah, it was awesome. Really glad you got to be there. Appreciate you, uh, you being there. And I'm sure you all, Ty, great to have you in the house. Yeah, it was awesome. Really glad you got to be there. Appreciate you being there, and I'm sure you had as much fun or more than we did playing that game. But I will say this. The referees, again, they have a really tough job. They have a really, really tough job. They have to make split-second decisions, objective calls and subjective calls. have to make split-second decisions, objective calls and subjective calls. And those lines are blurred even more by certain plays in general, especially the interior line stuff is so difficult.

So they have a really tough job to do. And the scrutiny on them, because we have so many cameras on our field and slow motion capabilities, is at an all-time high so uh they again they have a really tough job to do uh in that situation from my vantage point it looked like illegal contact and if you look if you watch it back eq's running and out and up from the slot and for sure there's illegal contact on the goal line um then i throw maybe my best throw of the day and he comes down with an incredible catch a guy who was released from the team, signed back to the practice squad, thankfully, and has been such a great part of what we're doing and an unselfish guy.

My question was, first, how in the hell is that OPI? Because it didn't look like it. And definitely, you watch the replay back, there's no way it was. My second was, I've known the backjab for a long time, and I have a lot of respect for him. And I just want to know what he saw because he said he didn't make the penalty, and he actually said he didn't get his feet down. So that was what I wasn't over there yelling about an OPI.

I wanted to ask him what he saw. He didn't think he got his feet down, and so that was enough for me to move forward. Like they're going to make mistakes from time to time. And I think they have a really tough job to do. We all want them to be perfect. That's not realistic. We have measures in place to help them from time to time,

but it is a really tough job to do. It is very tough. but it is a really tough job to do. It is very tough and they are exercising that freedom and excuse a bit much, I think, at the moment. But hopefully they'll get it all figured out. I don't know who called you there. Hopefully it wasn't Roger Goodell

telling you to stop talking about the refs. I think you painted a great picture there because now it is time. It is something I look forward to every single week, Aaron. This is something that I never thought as a 34-year-old, that this is something that I would be looking forward to, especially with the life that I lived.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time now for the seventh installment of the biggest, baddest book club on the planet. Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for another reveal of the Aaron Rodgers Book Club. Drumroll, please. At first, it was The Alchemist by Paulo Caldo, the Brazilian author with over 16 million followers on Twitter. Put on a cheese head and say, Aaron, I appreciate you. Then it was Where Men Win Glory with Pat Tillman's story.

It was amazing. Then The Giver, Be Here Now, The Four Agreements, You Are the Universe was a bit dense, win glory with Pat Tillman's story. It was amazing. Then to give her be here now. The four agreements you are the universe was a bit dense, but the people cannot wait for week seven of the Aaron Rodgers book club, which will be none other than The Art of War.

Oh! Sun Tzu! Sun Tzu, yeah. It's, I don't know, you almost, if I didn't know your history Oh! Shizu! Sanzu! Sanzu, yeah. I don't know. If I didn't know your history, I would guess you've actually read it by your excitement. But it's a book that I think most great leaders have read at some point. It's been around, obviously, for millennia. But, yeah, it's a great one. I think it's an easy

read. A lot of great wisdom in here and one-liners that you can use in your life and in press conferences down the road as well. And in speeches to your team when you're trying to fire up the boys or AJ when you're trying to fire up Hendrix's flag football team.

Definitely some good stuff in there. So The Art of War, I've been sitting on this one because it's such a special book, and it's been read by millions and millions of people around the world, maybe billions. But it's definitely one that every great leader or person striving to lead men and women should read at some point. I appreciate and respect the book choice.

I learned of it when Rick Ross used it as a bar, and I looked into it. Hey, you've got to be where they don't think you're going to be, okay? Appear strong when weak, appear weak when strong. Go ahead and do your thing if you're going to be in The Art of War. I cannot wait to dive back into that book. Thank you for having others do it. I think we're all becoming better people through the book club. We're becoming better readers through the book club.

And I think we're becoming better thinkers. And that's what it's all about here, Aaron, isn't it? Isn't that what Aaron Rodgers Tuesday is all about? Yeah, ultimately. But you just got to be here now. And I'm thankful we get to be here now every Tuesday. Hey, no matter when we get to wherever we're going, and no matter when we were where we were at one time,

we're always one thing. What's that? Right here. Let's enjoy this. I enjoy every Tuesday. Is it Tuesday yet? I'm not 100% sure, but I do know that the man who's the reigning MVP...

Are we doing this? Are we doing this? Are we doing this? Is this how we're doing it? You might sign. All right, Pat. See you, buddy. No! I thought we were playing a song!

That son of a bitch! Speaking of hindsight, we get a chance to do this whenever we talk about, you know, officiating. Sure. The whole a chance to do this whenever we talk about, you know, officiating. Sure. The whole world gets to do this.

So every once in a while, we get a chance to chat with a guy who is an absolutely OG in the officiating game. Okay? OG of the OG. Hell yeah. A man who is on Fox speaking incredibly handsomely and cleverly. And a guy who comes on this show and I believe explains to us why what we are saying about officials isn't always as accurate or as, you know, properly contexted as it should be. Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Pereira. What's going on, dude?

Well, you're speaking of bad calls and Sean McDermott, his call. I'll tell you a bad, stupid fucking call. Just before talking to you, I paid an electrician $100 cash five minutes ago to push the reset button on my utility box. Because I'm not smart enough to push the damn reset button to turn on all the outdoor lights again. $100 five minutes ago, a waste of money, and now I've got you. They couldn't just tell you that on the phone? No. And then he pushed the reset button, and he said, normally, my fee is $160, but I'll give you a break and only charge you $100.

What? He pushed the reset button. Oh, yeah. Well, hey. How are you? Hey, did it get fixed? Did it get fixed? Yeah, fixed. Lights are on. Great. It's during the day now, yeah. Well, hey. How are you? Hey, did it get fixed? Did it get fixed? Yeah, it fixed. Lights are on. Great.

It's during the day now, but the lights are on. Hey, money well spent, though. And next time, you'll know that there's just one little button there that you probably just need to take the game out, blow on it, and put it right back in. I'll probably forget again. So that's all right. Well, don't let them get you for $100. Next time, they'll get you for $160.

Mike, can't thank you enough for joining us. And it feels like every time you come on, it's like a doctor, right? You never go to a doctor and say, hey, I'm feeling good. All right, see you. Right? You always go and bitch. That's what happens. Like, hey, this is hurting.

This is hurting. It's always like. When officials get talked about, it's always bad. These refs have been bad this year, though. Have they been worse than ever, Mike? What's going on? Well, I'll tell you, I think they're been worse than ever, Mike? What's going on? Well, I'll tell you, I think they're more confused than ever.

And that's not a good thing. And listen, in some ways, I think they've made progress. But they have put these expedited reviews, video assistant. They put all these things in places to correct things that happen in real time so you don't have to go to replay and i think that's a good thing but on the other hand i think it's really hard officiating there's so much indecisiveness that you see the officials on pushing the button on their belt which allows them to talk to the video assistant upstairs to get his input on things and i think think, I mean, I had a conversation this morning with somebody that's very involved in officiating with the league, and it's like

nobody wants to officiate anymore. They want to rely on somebody else to give them the input to make the calls. And I think that indecision has hurt the flow of the game just about as badly as replay has hurt the flow of the game. So I am, I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated with what I'm seeing because I look back when I was on the field, you had to make the damn call. You had to adjust your flag and put it where it was supposed to be if it was a spot foul. Now you don't have to do that anymore. And I just think that, you know, I'm struggling with that and I'm struggling with the pass interference that I feel like there's more and more misses and pass interference that's being made. But I would say to you, the feeling to me over the first full six weeks of the season is it's just, it hasn't been what it should be and what you're saying i think would

make a lot of sense to a lot of parents that had to potentially teach their kids how to ride a bike when you take the training wheels off that's really when you get to learn and how to do your you have to do your own thing that's kind of what you're thinking right they have since they have something that they can rely upon they don't really have to commit themselves as much to officiating so they're just kind just half-ass let's remember too that you know these guys their success or failure is based on evaluation is based on grades so if they can get some input to help them to make the right call then it's certainly beneficial to them but i just think pat i just think i don't get a good feel for it i mean there have been expedited reviews

that i love you know a miss on the sideline on a catch that's obviously a miss, and they can jump in and they correct it, and it doesn't have to go to a challenge or a review. I like that, but overall I just don't like what I'm seeing. Hey, how do we fix that? Do we fix that by having only it be a one-way

street of conversation from the replayer to the ref, as opposed to the ref asking them the question, then the reviewer is almost like hey i'll just come in and correct when it is due so then it lowers the expectation of when the conversation should happen pat to me it's like instant replay you know it's gotten to the point where to me it's too involved but it's like you're never going to go back it's like player safety things are player safety um points of emphasis get in and when they get in they're not going to take them back. And in this, it's the same way.

When you open up this communication, the thing is now this is happening not only in the NFL, but it's happening in college football, and it's happening in high school football. Everybody has these 0-2-0 communication systems, and that's where the original intent, I liked it. So you wired everybody so they could talk to each other so if a coach on the sidelines said what do you call on the other side of the field you could immediately call your guy get on the your your system to the guy on the

other side of the field get what he called give it back immediately the coach great you could call pass interference downfield go to the referee and say, I got defensive pass interference, 32 defense, and you wouldn't have to have a conference. The intent was great, but now with New York on the line and everybody on the line, there's conference after conference after conference, and they're pushing that button and talking to more and more people. And while I think the officials themselves are better

than officials themselves used to be before. I think the officiating is worse because you added this new element that is not I want to say destroyed it, but to me has hurt it. OK, so with everything you just said, by the way, incredible information there. And thank you for it. I think a lot of people understand what you're saying. You know, maybe make it make a lot more sense for people, even though people aren't going to stop getting pissed off. How do you fix it, you think? For instance,

Walt and I, I know Walt has been reffing for 70 years in the NFL and he was great for a long time. He's a pioneer. He's done a lot for the game. He hated me when I played for whatever reason, so I hated him, obviously. Now he's in a position that is something that I do have to talk about. But he's probably just as confused as you are about the whole thing.

And how do we fix it? Is there a way to fix it, you think? Or is this just the new normal we're going to have to deal with? No, I don't think there's a way to fix it. I think maybe there's a way to get better at it. Maybe over time you get better. And he himself has admitted you've got to walk through the process. This is new, this video assistant slash replay official, these expedited reviews.

It's new, but to me it's added this element of confusion. I'm not so sure I want to be a coach because now I don't even know when to challenge. I mean, do I challenge or do I wait? Do I wait to see if they're going to correct it and not throw the challenge flag? And then I wait, and then there's a pause. It will get better. I think it will get better. And Walt, you know, and Perry Fuel are in the replay center they're new so they're kind of

working through this too you know it takes a it takes some time to get used to making fairly quick decisions in replay like Walt is having to do now in the Art McNally Command Center in New York so there's there's a lot of newness that's going on and but you're not going to take away the system it's not going to happen it's just more and newness that's going on, but you're not going to take away the system. It's not going to happen. It's just more and more now that you're trying to get everything right, even though maybe it destroys the tempo of the game, which I don't like. And by the way, you said Walt Anderson didn't like you on the field?

No. Is that true? He had a great football. Tell me somebody that did. Oh! You're right. I can't think of one. They like you now, but they weren't that high on you then.

Well, just a little accountability. I just want a little accountability, but I feel like I would compliment as well. But I could understand if they thought it was that. Me and John Perry had an incredible interaction down in Jacksonville one time where he spotted a punt out of bounds you know because I hit it out of bounds perfect punt in my eyes and he I don't know he took about five yards off of my punt you know because he did the uh the old point thing and the next time as he went out for a field goal I let him know that he probably took food off the plate of my family because of the way he uh did his entire day with different words potentially in there John fired right back though I mean it was it was

amazing so I appreciate the officials I do I understand that there's a tough job to be had and in the moment you have to deal with it all but whenever you're talking to the person that is replaying are they on the call with Walt directly or is there a person for each game and how is that person decided upon and where are they? Are they in the Art McNally thing as well? No, you have your replay official that's at the stadium. So you're in communication with him. And then you are also tied in to the command center, basically to a person that is watching the game. And so then if there is a stoppage or if there is a score, they will bring Walt Anderson over or Wayne Mackey over,

and they will look at it to confirm it or to say if it needs to be stopped. And, of course, there's input that comes from the replay official. But then the referee talks to New York. Everybody's talking. I'd love to hear it. I mean, it'd be great. It would be great television if we could actually hear what was going on. Mike, how come they just won't do what the XFL did? Well, I don't, listen, I remember when we tried to put conversations with

officials on, you know, we thought, let's try it. And this is back in my day. This is back when I was running the program, maybe about 2002 or something like that. And so let's experiment with it. So we miked all the officials. This is before this 020. And we said, we're going to listen to everything you say. So a guy called pass interference on Ed Hockley's crew. And he came up to Kate, threw the flag, came to Hley, and Hockley said, what do you got? And the official responded, I really don't know. I don't know. I got something, but I don't know exactly what it is.

And at that point, I said, experiment over. I do not want this to go out on air to a national audience when your referee asks him, what do you got? And you go i i'm really not sure i think i think it might be passing well that's not good somebody's yeah somebody's watching there's a lot of conversation that goes on that um we probably wouldn't want to hear period i would assume but the xfl had that xbox controller and he it was right over the shoulder and i think i only saw it really used one time, and it might have been the game that I was even a part of

because it was pretty cool. And they were talking to the head ref on the field, and it was, yeah, it looks like, and it's like slow-mo. It was a young person. It was obviously a gamer. Yeah, the ball was out at the 28 or something like that. And then, boom, they just moved the ball, and it just worked. I'm like, that seems like that would be a very quick, efficient way.

Not that every conversation has to be caught, but at least the person reviewing could just say, hey, this is what it was. We could see why you saw what you saw. But I feel like there has to be a way that we could update all of these things. Yeah, and they have taken the step of at least they allow you to show what they're looking at on the replay monitor. So when they're actually the video, when the replay official or New York is talking to the referee, you can actually put that monitor, what they're showing on air.

But, you know, you wonder if we won't get to some point. You know, the spring leagues are coming back. The USFL is coming back in the spring of 2022. And I think you may see some transparency there that is even more than you saw in the XFL, which will be kind of 2022. And I think you may see some transparency there that is even more than you saw in the XFL, which will be kind of fun. And, you know, the NFL in a way, if they love to let someone else experiment and if they experiment and they like it, then they may pick it up. So we'll see. But I love transparency. And in a way, I love educating fans. And in a way, it's a way really to educate the fan.

Mike, and my last question for you before the boys have some questions. We can't thank you enough for your time. You're always very gracious with us and also make us understand shit that we don't normally do. How come the refs, after a review, you know, they're all very robotic. And I guess because they are a representative of the game, right? When they speak, they are a representative of the game, of the league. They're on a solo shot, international television, like 25 million people, I think, watch Patriots, Cowboys on Sunday at four o'clock. How come there's never just like a moment of when we watched it live, we thought that this happened. After watching the review, it is evident that this happened instead.

Like, I think Sterator did that a couple times. I think Hockey League. Is that because maybe not the most comfortable orators? Are people told not to be a human out there, be a robot? Well, I don't think that it's not that they're told not to be human. I mean, I don't like robots. And, I mean, I think since, you know, when you look at, think back of the day. I don't like robots either. Rex Hashman and Jerry Markbright and those type of guys, even Ben Drife.

They certainly weren't robots. They showed a lot of individualism when they made their calls. And then under Jerry Seaman, quite frankly, everything got more robotic. Jerry himself, great official and great leader of officiating, but he was very robotic and didn't want really anything said. And then, you know, when I came in, I said, okay, let's make it a little bit more, say a little bit more. But the problem is when you give them that liberty to do that then you get ed hockley who gives closing statements like he's in court over a false start and so then then everybody gets mad especially the broadcast networks get mad because you don't need a 35

second um description of a flinch by a right tackle. So there is a line, and there is in replay, you have to say the ruling on the field stands. If you're not going to change it, if you're going to change it, then you can say why you're changing it. But, you know, it's interesting, Pat, because, you know, you open up the floodgates, and then you get some guys like Hockeley and

Steratore that like to talk and then if you think back the Ron Winters of the world who was a really good referee but he might have been the most boring referee we ever had when he turned on the microphone

but was a really good referee was a college professor and um but so i i think it's i like individualism i don't like robotic signals i like them relaxed but you know when you get to this level i mean let's face it i mean if if you're a referee in the NFL, of the 17, I would say at least 15, it's their identity. It is their ego. They love it. They're like people on television, like me. They like airtime. I like them to be laughed at, but we don't see it quite enough.

Oh, man. Okay, so I think there's maybe a little bit deeper can of worms there in the officiating community. Hey, look what you did, Ed. You ruined it for the rest of us. Come on. Come on, Ed. Well, I always thought when you're talking about egos,

when you get into the league, the union would give you a suitcase, a travel suitcase, because you cannot check your bag. You're not allowed to check your bag on an airplane because for fear of the bag getting lost, then you have no uniform. So you have to take your bag on board. Then you get like, why would you put a bag and why would you put on the bag embroidered NFL ref number 85? Do you want to get on a plane that's departing New York after the Giants had just lost the game on a controversial call and you walk onto an airplane with your bag saying NFL ref 85? Oh, my Lord. But, boy, the number is the identity.

The number is the identity. Your number is locked in gold. Oh, holy shit. I mean, mine. My number was 77. Well, guess what? My golf balls are Titleist 77s. Oh, I better not tell you my password.

Seven, seven, seven, seven, seven, seven, seven. 77, 77, 77, 77, 77, 77. Yeah, yeah, that's it. Hey, that electric company that came and hit the reset button, you know, they got to hear that 77777 passcode to get in. $100 cash. Oh, so he's not reporting it either. Yeah, he just got you. Yeah.

Hey, you just got got. But, hey, shit's working again. That's great news. Go ahead, Ty. Mike, the biggest thing people were bitching about going into the season was the taunting penalties being a point of emphasis. But it doesn't seem like we've really had, like, much issue with that. But these roughing the passer penalties, like, is there anything that they can do to kind of change this up? There's been several, like, really ticky-t tack calls that are kind of affecting the outcomes of games.

And it seems like it's only going to get worse. Well, let me address the first issue with the Tom team thing. Let's remember in week one, they called three. In week two, they called 11. And I think teams got the message that they weren't going to let up on those. I still don't like it personally. that they weren't going to let up on those. I still don't like it personally. I think that it was needed, but it was needed for those prolonged get in an opponent's face. And it's, you know, it morphed into immediately just an instantaneous getting into a guy's face. They were told, the officials were told, call it. And the clubs were told, don't put the officials in the position to have to make a decision so make a play turn around celebrate do whatever you want but don't do it directed at your opponent okay i get it but the

ones that are so quick i don't like but it's turned out to be generally not an issue the refs the refs become the refs become a fun police there you know know what I mean? The NFL puts them in a spot where they're like the fun police. They do. But I think there's a distinction between the fun and the taunt. I mean, listen, I duly accepted the role as the president of the No Fun League when I ran the program because I didn't like all the celebration stuff. Well, once they got me out of there, then they opened up the celebrations again. Well, once they got me out of there, then they opened up the celebrations again.

And so they're just saying now don't celebrate at the expense of your opponent. Turn around, lay on the ground, do push-ups, do sit-ups, do whatever you want. Just don't twerk or whatever they call that thing, which I was never able to do in the first place. Never would have guessed. But it's not turned out to be that big of an issue. And I think it has helped. I think generally the games have been less chippy. Now, to the roughing the passer, yeah, that's a concern to me because it does seem to me that it has gone,

the needle has gone too far in the direction of protecting. And, I mean, and even, even you know you look at one particular referee and he's made a couple of calls that that to me were not good calls and uh so i i think they have to look at that there's there's nothing they're not going to get replay involved in something like that um even with the use of the so-called video assistant or sky judge that's a judgment call but i do think though the needle has isn't everything a judgment call though isn't everything a judgment call at this point holding is a judgment call right isn't it because it happens on every play just when you decide to call it yeah yeah you'd like to think that there are non-judgmental calls like delay

of game but then they figured out how they could screw that one up. Oh, what happened? So, well, it's kind of one of those, okay, there's one official that's supposed to look at the clock, and we know there's an inherent delay because he has to look at the play clock and then look at the ball. But that's a flash. And this one was like two seconds. And I don't know. I mean, I'd like to talk to the official and say he probably, his initial key went in motion. And so then that changes responsibilities.

And he probably got, you know, probably got caught up in that and didn't look at his primary responsibility, which was the clock. But that was. Hey, players have MAs all the time. That happens all the time. They're humans. Zero is zero. I don't understand that one bit.

It was there for a long time, too. It seemed like... That was there for way too long. But let me just say this, and I think people know this about me. What they do is an impossible job. I mean, it is so hard.

You know, we are the absolute best. You need to listen to this, Colin. I mean, you can see when the clock's zero. At slow motion officiating, we're the best. And those guys are right. If you looked at the amount of decisions that they have to make in the course of a game, they're right, I'm telling you, with all the decisions that have to be made. They're right 99% of the time, which is pretty damn good in real time.

But we don't like to talk about them being good. We like to talk about the misses and the strangeness, the end of the Steelers-Seattle game that mess where I can focus on all the negative stuff Hey Coach Tomlin and by the way you guys like kickers and punters it's a damn shame gotta be calloused up going out there

Coach Tomlin said I'm getting a fine tonight I am telling the truth I'm writing a check to the league office tonight is what he said. That is something that I think the NFL tries to protect its refs from is kind of within talking about the refs, you know, because if we say, all right, we're outside the NFL,

we cover the NFL. If other people say it, cool. If fans say it, cool. But once the league itself starts, you know, saying, hey, these refs stink and representatives of the league say, saying hey these refs stink and representatives of the league say hey these refs stink then it's obviously a much larger ordeal so i think that is you know why the tommen thing happened because he knows like if i start talking about it this is a especially guy who's been around as long as he has been around and he's on the competition committee

i think so like as soon as he said it it almost opens up the floodgates where everybody just starts saying which i think is why he knew that there would potentially be some fallout. But, Mike, everybody hates the refs right now. It is. I don't know if it's 99%. To Tomlin, the point is, too, that he's on the competition committee. I, you know, I don't like the way I understand why it was handled the way it was handled. Because you could make a case when you just look at the live shot.

You can't tell whether the left foot might be out of bounds or not. That being said, I still would not have stopped it if it was me. But on the other hand, Seattle is going to get a play either way. I mean, because the spike did happen. There was still one second left on the clock. So they're going to they're going to get a play either way. I mean, because the spike did happen. There was still one second left on the clock. So they're going to get a play. They're lucky. The NFL is kind of lucky in that because if that spike would have hit the ground at zero

and then they would have said they stopped it and didn't change the ruling and put three seconds back, then I could really understand the outburst that could come from Tomlin. But they were going to get a play. Yes, it would have been a little bit more frantic because you would have had the 40-second clock to get your field goal kicker out. But, you know, that doesn't take more than what, 17 seconds to get or even less than that?

13 if they really need to get it there. 13, 14 seconds. You mean if the kicker has speed like you? Woo! Thank you for that compliment. You were great on the field as well, pal. You got it. Thank you.

Thank you very much. You're always gracious to us, and we appreciate you so much. We will attempt to be nicer to the officials because you make us understand that there's a lot more going on. But I want to let you know it's getting hot in the kitchen, I think, for the officials everywhere. I think everywhere. know but but i would say this and i remember greg aiello who was a former pr guy with the league we go through this every year and we'd say it seems like it would be oh man it's really bad this year and he would go let's go back to week

six like last year it's bad every year i mean you're in the oven all the time. You are never in the refrigerator. Never are you in the, unless you're put in the deep freeze. But it's just a really tough job. And we beat up on them too much, but I still go back. I know they're going to make mistakes. I get it. It's so hard. I did it. It's impossible. But I'm concerned about the flow of the game. I want it to be a beautiful game. And I think with replay and all these other things now that they've put in, I'm concerned about the flow of the game. That can be improved.

I think the judgment calls probably cannot. I think we all miss old 77 running around. That's right think we all miss old 77 running around. That's right. We all miss old 77 running around. The league would be better if you were still in it, but we appreciate you still covering it and joining us. Ladies and gentlemen, from Fox, former NFL head and NFL official, ladies, head official, and active official, ladies and gentlemen, Mike Perrera.

Thank you, Mike. Mike Perrera. Today's show is presented by Arby's. This is the last week to try the real country-style rib sandwich. The sandwich that has been smoked low and slow for at least eight hours.

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Thank you for joining us. During the break at youtube.com forward slash the Pat McAfee show. We ran a interview that we got to have with Gio, the Philly sports podcaster. We appreciate the hell out of him. Absolute legend.

He stopped by yesterday. I absolutely love him. I actually told him this on the way out whenever he was with his crew. Normally, I'm a pretty big anti-kid guy. All right. I don't want to hear it unless it's lex lumpkin okay sure right and i got tweeted geo's um podcasts and content like a thousand times or whatever like hey you need to meet this kid

you need to be scared i'm like i don't do kids all right whenever he gets older i followed him he's one of my best followers like i and i single day, I appreciate the hell out of him. I think he's very good, and he loves sports. He loves football, and I appreciate him for coming by. I fucking love that kid, dude. Hopefully the Eagles win for him or the Colts win for him. Well, and maybe the Eagles stop trading away all his favorite players. What the hell is that about?

Sirianni. Jeez, Luis, it is Sirianni, isn't it? Yeah. Howie Roseman's a fucking dipshit. Don't look at me, Joe. Let's go to the

5RNG phone line 18334 McAfee. Let's go to Toby down there in Texas. You in East Texas, you ever been to one of them smoke houses that Arby's using

for these real country-style rib sandwiches? Let me tell you, Pat, I've been to plenty in East Texas smokehouse. I'm not sure if any of them

are going to be comparable to the Arby's, but I'll just have to put that on that one. I'm suspicious going in. That's all I'll say. Well, I want to let you know that the Arby's, you know, notch above what you were talking about, that five-star bun. Oh. Then he got some onion things.

Crispy onion. Oh, my. With some BBQ sauce on it. Oh, yeah. Hey, they got that BBQ sauce lathered on there. Mayo on the bottom. Oh. What?

What? Oh, it's so good, dude. One of the greatest prognosticators in the history of prognostication. A guy who was alongside me in picking the Buffalo Bills last night because the Bills are a wagon, were a wagon going into last night, and we were definitely wrong about a friend of his. Mike Vrabel and the Tennessee Titans being

dominant, but we have to chat about it, ladies and gentlemen. College football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup champion, terrible driver, A.J. Hawk. What's happening, guys? Happy Tuesday. Happy Tuesday to you as well it's aaron rogers tuesday obviously uh excited about the chat about ownership of chicago and how he's feeling body wise football

wise and everything like that about one hour away for those keeping track at home aj let's talk about the game last night what a game that was an incredible primetime game. And by the way, this just fits the narrative. Primetime games this season have been unbelievable. Cowboys, Bucs, 31-29, game-winning field goal. Ravens, Raiders, 33-27. Giants, 30-29, 36-35, 30-28, 24-21. 19-17, 31-25 overtime, 23-20 overtime. 34-31 last night. I'm talking the NFL has hit home runs on primetime games, which is

night games. Last night was nothing different. Derek Henry is an alien. What are your thoughts, AJ? 100%. Derek Henry, I know Vrabes talked about it afterwards, that they just jump on his back and they rode him all night. They never could consistently stop the dude. In Tennessee, they just continued to fight.

That was a great win for Tennessee. I didn't think they were going to win. Even going into the game, yeah, I took the Bills. But then even not until very late did I say, okay, the Titans are going to take this. Okay, yeah, because the Bills seemed like they could do whatever, whenever. However, and Dawson knocks through a two-point conversion with a broken hand, I think, which is incredible grit. Hey, did you notice when they played the replay of that? Sorry to cut you off.

When they played the replay, when he undid both of his chin straps. He threw it, and as Josh Allen's catching, he gets both chin straps with his left hand. And I was like, why does he always do that? And then they checked him on the sidelines. Then they actually showed another player that wasn't Dawson Knox, and then no one said anything. Yeah, then he was gone, I think.

And now it's coming up that he had a broken hand, or something happened to his hand. I guess we'll have to find out the exacts of it. Whenever Derrick Henry starts rolling, I always find it very interesting because I was not tough enough to play on the defensive side of the ball. I did not have to run my face in everybody or somebody. Yeah, you were. Yeah, you were.

You just didn't get there. You were a punter, kicker. Yeah, I mean, punter was specifically defensive side of the ball, I guess, but I didn't have to run my face into somebody every single play, my shoulders, my whole body. It feels like from watching Derrick Henry, and I've felt this way the last couple years, once he gets rolling, is that more so that the defense has given up and they're just tired of getting run over?

Because there was a play made that I think you shared by, I forget who tweeted it, but it was a safety came down. Will Blackman. Will Blackman tweeted it about, I don't know if it was Poyer. I don't know if it was Mike Hyde. I think it was Mike Hyde. He tackled it. It was like an eight-yard gain, seven-yard gain. But that hit, Micah has to hurt from that.

Has to hurt from that. That was just one play. And that was a great tackle, though. Micah was all over. They post all over the man. Can you look at this? And I was like, that's an unbelievable tackle. Are you kidding me?

Derrick Henry has a 50-way go. Micah's 20 yards removed, standing still, chopping his feet. Derek Henry has a full head of steam, and he runs him over. Yeah, that's what you're supposed to do. You think Micah's going to be able to somehow knock him back in that situation? Well, what I'm saying is that was a successful. That was deemed by you and everybody like, hey, this is a success story. And he ran seven yards or whatever for that play.

It feels like once he gets going, is it a mental thing on the defensive side? Like, do you think you need somebody to come up and make a massive hit? Like, how do you get momentum back on your side, especially when Big Mo is literally Derrick Henry? And that is what it becomes. Second half of games, he did it against the Seahawks. He's done it, I guess, I think two weeks ago.

I'm not sure if it was last week, but this past. He has just, in the second half, it has become an unstoppable force on defensive side what do you need to stop that or is that just just going to start the inevitability of it all i mean i know they popped up the stats during the game of his like yardage through each quarter and fourth quarter is much higher than the first yeah it wears on you but i think you have to play him almost like a scat back like you know guys that are are scat backs they say hey don't let him go like you got to make him go east and west make him dance at the line of scrimmage so we can all rally and get this dude down so he's not moving around like derrick henry yeah he's not lightning quick like that but you watch him run with that forward lean

at all times you got to just make him stop his feet and try to not get through the line of scrimmage and just build a wall and then have about nine to ten guys come try to tackle so that means you just got to what crowd the box right but then that's why you bring in a julio jones to add alongside a.j brown and you hope tana hill can take it up either all your d linemen need to like be firm in their gaps and not you know they peak one way oh okay here we go derrick henry's gonna find it he has such great instincts and when he does even a bad play for him he's gonna fall for four yards and then once he gets, 21.8 miles an hour. Think of the safeties. Think if you're a safety

or you're somebody on the second level there, and you consistently have to think about making that tackle that Micah Hyde just had to make. That'll wear on you mentally throughout a game, not obviously physically. You know it does. Micah Hyde was kind of like a punter here. Last line of defense, wide open, somebody

much bigger, probably stronger than you, running at you, and you're just standing there. Now, he made a much better play than a lot of punters ever will, but I had – that was my biggest fear. And against Derrick Henry, that's potentially happening every play. Like, that is – that is just – I couldn't even – I hope you're not the first guy there.

Like, with Derrick Henry, everyone's hoping they're not the first guy. Hey, I'm going to be, like, the second or third guy. Yeah, I was in on that tackle, tackle jumping flying in from the side you know hey you stand them up i'll come get the ball or i'll help you out it's like oh very nice of you that i don't know because the conversation is bills are still the bills you know like what i saw last night out of the bills i don't think any of us are changing our perspective that they are they're a wagon and we we all 100% agree that. Everybody has agreed with that.

No conversation about the Titans, though, today, really. Like, maybe they're 4-2. Maybe they're a squad. Like, they got to playoffs, lose to Baltimore last year. The year before that, they won in the playoffs. They got Derrick Henry back. Tannehill is back. We all hope Taylor LeJuan is okay, all-pro left tackle or whatever.

That was a scary situation for sure. But nobody's talking about it. Is it strictly because the defense is so bad and they don't think they'll ever be able to stop the top dogs but they just beat the bills so yeah i think that's a huge win for the titans and i don't i don't like to put too much one way or the other into like regular season wins or losses but i think it was a huge win for the titans not only for them like their confidence but also just like in the standings where they are to stay in good position and make sure you have a little room for error as the season goes. Ty, your thoughts on Jackrabbit Jenkins? Well, I mean, he's a tough player.

He's a tough player. And I'm glad you mentioned Jackrabbit Jenkins because I didn't understand that that was his name until like the fourth quarter last night. And I realized that the broadcast team had said it 575 million times throughout the game. So, you know, that's pretty sweet that his name is Jack Rabbit. But in case anyone didn't know, his name is Jack Rabbit Jenkins. It's not Janoris Jenkins anymore. It is Jack Rabbit Jenkins.

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. I heard it last night, obviously. Yeah, a couple times. I didn't hear that. I didn't know that. Levy was trending, okay? Levy's trending, I think, every single game.

That is – it's going to be, Manningcast is back next week. Yeah, thank God. Whoa. I guess Pia didn't want to hear that. Call us, pay to spend. Hey, I mute the broadcast so I don't have to. You play music. Well, no, I actually, you know, Red Sox, big game.

I'm not going to talk about it because nobody will turn the show on anymore. But mute it and then you don't have to listen to Jack Rabin. And also, I did see a clip of uh what's his name riddick saying that he wanted to chain levy up uh at one point during do we know if that was riddick or greasy i thought it was riddick because i watched the clip it was when derrick henry was working out yeah i heard it live and i was like oh geez all right but i laughed but you know in those moments you know broadcasting is, you know, in those moments, you know, broadcasting is naughty. You know, Mike Pereira just came on. That's right. Mike Pereira is good. The officiating is terrible. Right. So I like Mike Pereira. He's good on the show. Officiating is terrible.

So it's always nice to talk to him because I feel like he you know, he just always has to defend it. And he talks about how hard officiating is. And we agree it is very difficult. We understand that is very difficult, but we see other people do it, and it seems like they're pretty good, so why can't everybody do that? I think that is the same thing in broadcast. A lot of people think that. We understand it's probably not the easiest thing to do or whatever. I guess it's very difficult.

I'm not 100% sure. Who knows if anybody liked me in there. I found it to be very easy. But I just, I did no research. I knew nobody's name. So I didn't even say names. I just described position players that were happening. It's very difficult.

But Monday Night Football is like the Super Bowl. Everybody's going to be watching that thing every week, especially when you've got a thriller like that. So there's always going to be a little backlash. Yeah, and like you said, it's very difficult. I'm not saying it's easy, but when your own network is putting Peyton and Eli Manning on another channel, they're kind of setting you up for you guys are basically screwed for this entire season

because everyone's going to watch this one and not yours hey monday not manning's back next week that should be a lot of fun but uh did you change any of your thoughts on anything last night on either team are you more of a fan of the titans than maybe you were before the game started aj i mean i've always been a fan of the titans i still think the bills are probably the better team i don't know though late in the season that This has the great formula to win if you're the Titans, but still, I don't know. I don't know if they can stop people enough to win in the playoffs. Derek, it feels like those games where he starts rolling, it is, A, so much fun to watch because it's like, oh, this is old school football.

And this is another thing I mentioned in the first hour. I'd like to get your thoughts on this. As defenses continue to get faster and smaller because the way rules are changing and having to keep up with these freak athletes, that has to benefit Derrick Henry, right? I mean, people are getting smaller. He's bigger than obviously most all linebackers he's going against. He's bigger than some DNs and outside backers he's facing too. So, yeah, I think it does.

That may help him out a little bit, especially wear on people because they don't – teams – like defenses are not like overall as big as they used to be. Do you remember when a mobile quarterback – you'd be playing against a mobile quarterback or whatever, they'd bring in a new quarterback to the practice squad and like, hey, here's the new rules. This is what we're going to train for.

For one week it was almost like, hey, our team would be like changing the way the defense operates because you've got to keep quarterback in the pocket contained. There's a bunch of rules. I wonder if they're doing that now. Hey, we've got a big guy this week, all right? So we're going to have to work and change. This is how we're going to tackle this guy this week. He probably changes entire weeks for defenses

whenever they have to face against him. Yeah, you're probably right. And some teams, what they like to do, they try to make your corners tackle. So they'll try to get the numbers right to where, oh, we're not going to block this corner, but we're going to block everybody else, and we're going to force them. Hey, you prove to us that you can tackle, and we're going to try to get that edge all night. Vrabel has to love that team, that that's his team. Why is he so mad all the time?

Doesn't it feel like just such a Vrabel team? Yeah, why is he so mad all the time? I don't think he is. I just think that's his demeanor on game day. His look is smacking a moth at any given moment. Anybody can get it, even if something good just happened. I'll fucking smack you in the mouth. He looks so intense at all times.

I mean, I think he is pretty intense. You see him. He's still out there in warm-ups, isn't he? Smacking dudes around and running D-line drills. Did Bill Belichick do that this weekend? Why do you have that big gash on his nose? Yeah, he was taking pass sets this week leading up to the Cowboys. Oh, yeah, I saw that photo.

Yes, but I don't know why he was bleeding from the mouth during the game. I didn't see that. He had a towel. He probably bit his tongue or something. I think he might have headbutted somebody. Oh, he might. Nice play. Bill, those photos of him being tackle?

I still got it. Hey, he's like 70 years old. His leg, like you see, because he's still squatting. That was unbelievable. That was almost more impressive than anything I've ever seen him do. We see him under the squat rack with like, I don't know,

95 pounds or 85 pounds or whatever on there. And it's like, okay, Bill's still trying to do a little pliability. Maybe he understands that he's still got to be able to move. But him lining up against,

I think it was Van Noy. Oh, yeah. I think he's lined up against Van Noy with no helmet. He had a visor on. Van Noy had his helmet on, and he was doing it. I'm like, what the fuck is Bill Belichick doing? I loved it. I loved every single second of it.

Loved every single second of it. 70 years old. I mean, yeah, think of any, grab a 70-year-old off the street, throw him in there. Hey, let's do some hand fighting here, Van Noy. Come on, work with me. Grab a 30-year-old off the street. throw him in there. Let's do some hand fighting here, man. Come on, work with me. Grab a 30-year-old off the street. I was about to say.

Really, anybody. He's on a go-route in Atlanta, hitting a rock, broke his foot. You know what I mean? He stepped on a rock. He stepped on a rock, broke his foot, ran a go-route, stepped on a dish. I was trying to parkour in Atlanta. He was trying to freestyle walk a little bit. After hitting a go-route, he hit a little rock.

Boom, broke his foot. A couple of metatarsals down there. Gone. He was out for four weeks. This dude's a D1 athlete. Not too long ago. Turned 30. Broke his foot on a rock trying to take a step. I mean, that happens. Bill's 70 years old doing pass sets. And on the point of the Patriots here,

Trayvon Diggs, he came out and said that Mac Jones is going to be a problem for people for a long time. I wonder what exactly that means. Now, he got a pick, obviously, off a play that he made late, and then a double move bomb happened afterwards. When he says that, do you think that means he notices Mac Jones maybe deciphering the coverage that they're in, figuring out where they should go, what they should do? What do you think he means means by that i think he probably saw it on film leading up to the game like it's like okay this dude doesn't play like a rookie and he also has

like he has some moxie as we like to say his own version of this moxie it's not like everybody else so i think during the game he probably felt that he probably saw mac how he was talking to people like you want to hear mac yelling at people to go in motion when they're not going in motion yet like he has control of that and i'm sure the whole defense sees that, and they obviously respect it. Oh, shit. Hey. I mean, we beat you, but, like, yeah, you're going to be good.

Pretty good. Yeah, I wonder if some, like, middle linebacker, how Aaron always talks about Erlacher, his interactions with Erlacher on the field. I would love to hear, like, a veteran linebacker listen to a quarterback and go, shit, all right, did not expect that out of you. i won't let you know that because like ray lewis and eli allegedly had those give and takes i wonder that you're mike did you have massive conversations with quarterbacks ever or no no no i don't know when you have time to have all those conversations especially if you have the the speaker in your helmet the play ends and the coach is instantly yelling in your ear and

you can't hear anything you ever wink at a quarterback or anything? Any quarterback ever look at you and say, like, this dude's the mic right here, Hawk is, and we're actually going to take advantage of him on this play. Did any of that ever happen? Any quarterbacks ever do that to you? Not that I heard of. It may have, though. Is it because everybody was scared of you?

Was that kind of the way it was? Not even close, no. And I'm just saying, there's not a – yeah, stuff goes back and forth and you talk to people in between plays, but at the line of scrimmage, I mean, guys like Aaron, some of the vets, they will point things out and smile and wink at dudes and do stuff like that, but not a whole lot of quarterbacks do that. Hey, people are saying that this Aaron hatred of Chicago goes back a long way.

I'm seeing some clips of him saying in a podcast interview with somebody, you must be a Chicago Bears fan, where every year ends with, ah, next time. You know what I mean? He said it was like a good, perfectly delivered line. I did not know Packers-Bears, massive rivalry. Oh, yeah, huge. Yes.

I think it's like the longest standing, like they've played head-to-head like over 200 times. So I love it even more than the I own you thing, because that's like caring more than just about this game. It's about like the overall legacy of the history of it. I asked him on the show last week. McCarthy used to always on Bears week, like Wednesday morning, he shows like a four or five minute almost highlight clip of Packers Bears games going back from the beginning and highlights on both sides too with what jim mcmahon gets slammed down hard like all of these like iconic plays that have happened you realize that when you get like oh this is a giant thing like this is a huge rivalry hey that's awesome to think that that is still happening especially in the modern era where it seems like individualism has become

the main not the main thing because people have just realized that it's incredibly successful to do so but it's also how society has become almost. Everybody's kind of their own entrepreneurs. You're running your own business. Everybody's running their own race. Let's go ahead and try to get this thing. Even though we're on a team, we're going to try to do our best. Well.

Swallow your gum. Swallow your gum. All right. I'm not even going to get into this. It's real. Swallow your gum. He said it. Yeah.

Great advice. Why did you even say it, AJ? You knew this shit was going to get into this Swallow your gum Great advice Why'd you even say it AJ You knew this shit was going to happen You said entrepreneur He's the first one that pops in my head Well that's good marketing by him And that's why he does the things he does And that's why he says the things he does like

I've never in my life Thrown out a piece of gum I've swallowed every piece of gum that I've ever chewed It's a waste of fucking time to not swallow your gum. I don't have those two seconds. I'm swallowing my fucking gum every fucking time. All right. And in doing so, he has become the single person that A.J. Hawk thinks of

when the word entrepreneur is used, even if it's setting a description of team sports in the way it is. So congrats to Gary V. Thank you, Gary. More people should start doing that. Foxy swallows his fortunes from his fortune cookies. That's the way they come true. Foxy also said he has been thinking about

one of his family members getting shot in the face every morning in the shower so they can add perspective to his death. Okay, that is also another quote. I don't know if this is all happening but let's get back to the point. The fact that the tradition is still remaining with all the money and everything, who knows how Aaron ultimately feels about the front office or the Packers or whatever at this exact moment. And he said to somebody, he doesn't know if this will be the last time or he's not so sure this will be the last time this happens.

So that led to people thinking, oh, he's getting back into good graces with the green bay packers and whatever he has never not said he doesn't love the packers though like he right he says he loves the packers and the fact that the tradition and the legacy means something that in that moment he even got so caught up that he was like who are you even talking to right now i love it i can't wait to chat with him about it aj i literally cannot wait to chat with him about it, AJ. I literally cannot wait to chat with him about it. Well, I think it's cool that there's still like, there's not a whole lot of rivalries in the NFL. I know a lot of teams talk about the rivalries, but it's just how you like, you're like, is this a thing? Is that a real rivalry? Bears, Packers, like Packers fans would lose their mind if they heard that. Like, what do you mean? Everybody knows this is a giant thing.

Yeah. But as soon as guys get signed on like Wednesday or Thursday to play in a game on a Sunday and then they're released Monday or Tuesday, they have no idea the team that they're playing for currently, the defense that they're supposed to be playing in a couple of days, or any of the potential rivalries or hatreds that they have. They're just trying to make it through the weekend to get a game check and then get to Monday. And I think that is the difference. And that's why I'm so thankful, even with LeFleur being like a 12-year-old head coach, the fact that it sounds like it is still being nagy, and if you look at the way the Bears' defense interacted with Aaron as opposed to every other week, it was not sweet.

I don't think shit was sweet out there. Like, I enjoyed that. I love that type of stuff. That's throwback. There's a lot. I mean, I don't know what the clip was that McCarthy would put together, but there was a lot of violent, huge shots that we were watching. Oh, can't do that anymore.

That wouldn't happen. That guy's out of the league. Every big hit that's happened in the history of this game, obviously back in the day, these dudes wouldn't be able to play in the NFL anymore. That's how violent it was, and it's fun to watch. I love the fact, though, that the modern generation, we will carry the tradition, but also we're going to be a bit skeptical of the and it's fun to watch. I love the fact, though, that the modern generation,

we will carry the tradition, but also we're going to be a bit skeptical of the shit that's happening in there. That's a fine. We can't do that. This is what you want us to do. We would lose our jobs if we did that. Those hits that were promoted and leading into commercial and out of commercial on replay, on double replay,

on the segment that everybody misses, you got jacked up. Those are all gone. All those things would be multi-six-figure fines. All those things nowadays. It's a whole new game, but you can still have a little bit of that hate that'll drive you to beat a team, which I appreciate. Let's go ahead and bounce around the NFL a little bit.

Dak Prescott is getting an MRI on his right calf, which they are believing it is just a strain. They're on a bye week. He told reporters that he has, he would have went back in if he had to. He has no real, it doesn't seem like he's scared at all of this. He seems to be very casual about it all. Told the reporters, I'll give you guys something to talk about for the bye week. Still something though, right? I mean, he had his, his arm thing that happened in training camp. They arrested him.

They said it was no big deal. It ultimately was no big deal. He obviously had that incredibly gruesome cramp injury that he had, that he had surgery and had to come back from quicker than ever. So this is something, but Dak Prescott has proven that he is very tough. He'll play through damn near anything, and he has not sounded the alarm bell, so I don't think this is that big of a deal. That just good timing good time that you have a bye week now and he can if it's not too bad uh he can be okay but seeing him in the boot doesn't make me feel very good

about it that's what literally his words and how they were talking with the boot so he's just choosing the boot is miserable people don't love the boot like it is not necessarily it was like precautionary they're like all right hey let's make sure we don't we the boot. It is not necessarily... It's like precautionary. They're like, hey, let's make sure we have time. We have time to get you healthy. Let's just not be stupid here. Let's get him on two of them, maybe. That'd be smart. You gotta lean with it, rock with it with those boots.

You're like on those old school Skechers, you know what I mean? Those wheelies. Yeah, the Shade Bumps. If you put two boots on, it's like you're wearing Hocus, basically, the way you have to balance. Well, why don't we get him a scooter? All right. There's no reason to take a shot of my hokas yesterday.

I was standing a little bit taller. Okay, and I want to let you know I came out of the weekend 10-4. You were 8-6. Great weekend by both of us. I'm getting a little bit hotter than none of us. Did you not give yourself the loss last night? Yeah. What are you talking about?

You're 10-5 then. That would be 15 games. There was not 15 games. There was 14 games. Ass hat. There was 14 games. So then what am I then? What am I?

8 and 6. 8 plus 6 is 14. You clown. Okay, so those are updated numbers? Yes. Yeah. Did I just say these numbers or no? Yeah, you did.

Did I say the wrong ones? No, you did not. This guy's an asshole. No, no, he's not. No, he's not. No, he's not. No, he's not. But I did think that I did not get the numbers wrong there.

Neither of us. You guys are so stupid. Okay, we're not the dumb ones in this particular situation. Oh, is that right? Count to 10, prick. What's count to 10 going to do for me? Well, 14 would be better, but we don't need to. Listen, the only thing I need to say is 10-4 on the weekend,

8-6 on the weekend. Hammer Don was in the plus side. Every sport is being gambled on tonight at youtube.com forward slash hammer Don. I mean, we are a hot office right now, but we could be a much hotter office in the gambling sphere and also if my wife would stop being so selfish. She had another seven-leg parlay last night. Just from this one game?

$5 holla, same game parlay, seven legs hit last night. It's one game five dollar holla same game parlay seven legs hit last night it's unbelievable touchdowns over on yards team everything she is and i asked her okay before hey what what what do we bet on you know what what do we got tonight you know can't tell you i'll lose and i have to back off because it has we're talking like multiple seven leg parlays five leg parlays i think she had an 11 leg parlay at some point last night is seven. Like, I mean, it is absurd. And it's, it's a shame that she will not tell anybody any of her picks because she

refuses to let it out of her account until it gets in. She's whoo. She'll celebrate out of nowhere. I'm like, Oh, look at it. There's a lot of seven of them last night. I'm like, God damn. She is making real hay out there. And I'm incredibly proud of her.

I just think it's a little selfish with the information. You know what I mean? Good for her. Keep it to herself. She knows if she puts it out there, you start to pilfer it. Whatever your attitude is, you will mess up her good mojo she has going. Gambling gods. It's true.

This is him calling me a bad husband again, by the way. I would support my wife's picks. I would promote my wife's picks. I would promote my wife's picks because she has obviously proven to be much better than all of us at gambling. I wouldn't pilfer some side, whatever you're saying. I'm saying that, like Dick said,

the gambling gods would not like that, I don't think. Okay. Well, yeah, she's, by the way, a long-time gambler. She's just getting into the, she was a scratch-off queen for a very long time. We still have a shoebox of winners that we've got to take down in there.

She is an incredible gambler. It would be nice, though, if maybe the whole house could celebrate off it. Yeah, the benefit of it. Celebrate off it. But she just needs to keep crushing it. It's good for the house, good for everybody. The NFL, we're in week seven already, AJ. I know.

It needs to slow down. It's insane. I mean, I'm enjoying every single minute of it. There's no games on tonight, obviously. We've got to wait until Thursday. It's forever. I guess there's some baseball and basketballs back, I guess. But the NFL has lived up to the hype this season, I think, AJ.

Don't you? Oh, absolutely. I know ratings are up a bunch, too, I saw. And when people thought they would be last year, but they weren't, and now they are, what is it, just good games? I think it's good games. It's the environment. I think there was also a lot of conversation that wasn't sports-related

happening in the last season. There was a lot of people that were caring about a lot of other stuff rather than just meathead football. I think there was a lot of things potentially happening that weren't necessarily like a celebration, so there was more serious things happening. Now it feels like, although, I mean, who knows? Uh-oh.

What happened? I mean, it just feels like we're on the other side of this thing. Until. But then we're not on the other side of this thing. And then we are on the other side of this thing. And then we're not on the other side of this thing. And then, you know, it's like, I just. Is this thing COVID?

Is this thing the Cuomo brothers? Is this thing the emails? know it's like i just but is this thing covid is this thing the cuomo brothers is this thing the emails what are we talking about okay so in this particular case what i am referring to is the covid uh world stoppage and protocols and rules and regs and people losing jobs and and people not show and protesting against thing losing losing $381,000 a game. That's what Kyrie's not getting paid. $381,000 a game is what he will not be getting paid because his protest basically being a voice for the voice with those who do not want to get vaccinated, and he feels like he's being forced to be vaccinated.

And then the coach at Washington State, he just got fired because he would not get vaccinated, and it became a state. He's a state official because he's the coach of washington state and the state made the rules and mandates this whole thing and it's like we're at the point where holy shit i thought we're out of this whole thing and they're still just more and more piling up on top of each other it's an insane when will this end i'm not sure but i do feel like we are uh at the the 17th hole maybe 18th hole it feels like are we of round one perhaps you think okay i know you don't fly commercial you think in nine months you're gonna be on a commercial

flight without a mask on the rest of us i have no idea because then you listen to some doctors they say the mask literally is doing nothing then you hear other doctors are like need to wear two of them i think it seems pretty black and white Everyone seems to be in agreeance on all of that. Well, I just think we're getting closer to where people enjoy sports a little bit more. They're not worried necessarily about their life and their family and where we're going to school. I just feel like we're finally potentially getting to a point where people can escape and relax. And I think NFL and football in general is a good place for people to do that,

especially if you're just coming out of an entire world conflict that everybody has to be boots on the ground for, it feels like. It is an insane time to be alive, AJ. Insane, buddy. Yeah, it is. And I know we don't talk baseball, but I know I think having fans in the stands make people want to watch it more on TV. It feels like, okay, this feels more normal.

But I know that Grand Slam that Schwarber hit, that place looked like it almost cr TV. It feels like, okay, this feels more normal. But I know that grand slam that Schwarber hit, that place looked like it almost crumbled. They were so juiced. Man, when Schwarber swung that bat. Oh, dude. Oh, and that ball cracked off the wood, dude. You texted me. You were like, I can't believe Fenway right now.

I remember seeing him do that for the Cubs. And now he's doing it at Fenway. Man, this is awesome. That's what I said. Uh-huh, I remember. But that was happening. Remember, what was it, man, this is awesome. That's what I said. Uh-huh, I remember. But that was happening, remember, what was it? Mississippi State baseball?

Yeah. They were like one of the first ones. Baseball has some electric environments, because it is like a light switch basically, that is being flipped with one swing of a bat, especially in a big moment. I think it was college baseball was the first crowd back that I say, it might have been Mississippi

State. Dinger, and then maybe it was Ole Miss. I forget who it was. But the place went bananas. And I remember thinking, we're back. Holy shit. We are back. Environments are back. People are going crazy.

They're spilling drinks on each other that they had. I mean, it was crazy. And then, lo and behold, we were not back just yet. No, not at all. No, no, no. I don't know what happened to all those kids going crazy in the stands, but we were not back yet. And now it feels like every college game is filled.

Every NFL game is filled. People are still losing jobs, I guess. But it feels like we're. And no Christmas. Don't forget no Christmas. Uh-huh. Well. Oh, is it canceled?

Pending Halloween and Thanksgiving. You've got to wait. You wait until the update. We'll see. I think what they were saying is Santa might have COVID. don't forget no christmas uh-huh well oh is it canceled pending halloween and thanks you gotta wait you wait you'll see i think what they're saying is you know santa might have covid this feels like this is just a rudy rudy type story you know at the end he's gonna be oh yeah and i came through feels good feel good australia has it figured out right now don't they well see that's funny i i the last i had heard of australia is they were still completely locked down or whatever because they had opened and they had closed and they opened then they closed and then who knows where they're at now all i know is the west coast eagles dude with bailey are about to run the afl for the next right no no no you got it the west coast eagles keep saying yeah and uh will and

behold we checked this morning it turns out the grand finale was a couple weeks ago. See? No. Did we win Western Bulldogs? Got routed in the championship. No. Oh, we're in a championship now? Fucking almost flew a flag, pal.

Fucking Melbourne. Melbourne, what the sales? They won? The whole thing? That was my team, I think. No, Melbourne wasn't your team. No, you had four teams, and Melbourne wasn't one of them. Yeah, Richmond was your team pal

i think i switched off with them too at some point okay oh this is in your boots here what's that foot what's that foot don't break it again there's a lot of glasses over here oh that's That's a great fucking punch there, dude. Yeah. Can you throw? Can you underhand spin it? Or do you have to? No.

I think you have to. You have to bop it. Din, din, din, din, din. Bop it. I think you have to. Pull it. And then you punt it everywhere. All they do is punt it.

Do you do that in the offseason? Stop it. They play that? All right. Hey. Get to the point. What's your deal? It's like training.

It's like cross training. The Seahawks. They do the rugby. Spank it. Wink, wink, wink, wink. Pop, pop. Can't thank everybody enough for all the time invested in this dumbass show. The fact you allow us to be a part of your day-to-day,

we are eternally grateful for. Aaron Rodgers giving us 40 minutes every single Tuesday in the middle of the season to chit chat about any and everything that has happened to him in his life currently or in the past. I mean, it's a dream come true. Thank you all so, so much. We're back tomorrow with a Coach Us Up Chuck segment and hopefully more great chitter chatter about the world of sports. Hashtag end of pod squad. Continue to let us know where you're at on the Twitter. Continue to give away some merch. Ty's in charge of that, so hit him up as well. And be a friend, tell a friend.

Ty, please play some independent music and propel these beautiful people into a nice Aaron Rodgers Tuesday evening. We'll see you tomorrow. Cheers. Thank you. សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី Thank you. Thank you.