The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 844 - Ian Rapoport, Gene Steratore, Aaron Rodgers, In The Trenches With AQ Shipley LIVE From The ThunderDome, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: January 31, 2023

On today’s show, Pat, AQ Shipley, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about the Super Bowl matchup, the issues with the refs as we inch closer and closer to the Super Bowl, movement on the Head Coaching front, and everything else happening around the league as we near the end of the NFL season. Joining the progrum to chat about the different rumors floating around the Head Coaching circuits, Tom Brady’s potential next move, and what’s going on at the Senior Bowl is NFL Network Senior Insider, Ian Rapoport (19:09-45:30). Next, the greatest referee of all-time in both NCAA basketball and the NFL, current Rules Analyst for the NFL on CBS, Gene Steratore joins the show to chat about the issues with the refs on Championship weekend, the changes he would’ve made, how we fix it, he breaks down some of the seminal plays from the Chiefs/Bengals game, and more (55:01-1:29:15). Later, joining the progrum live from the Pebble Beach Pro Am is 4x NFL MVP, Super Bowl Champion/MVP, Quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers joins the show to chat more about his decision making process and where he’s at in it, the comments made by Romeo Doubs and him not hanging out with his teammates, what makes a good Head Coach, and more (1:29:17-1:53:34). Later, 12 year NFL veteran on the Offensive line, Super Bowl Champion, AQ Shipley highlights the best o-line plays of the week as we go In The Trenches (1:53:36-2:10:47). Make sure you subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow to watch the show. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. See you tomorrow, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, beautiful people. Welcome to our humble abode, the FanDuel Thunderdome on this January 31st, 2023. Oh, ready? The show starts now. Football! February is tomorrow. Yep. Holy shit. The Super Bowl is a little over a week away, obviously a lot over a week away. And we know that the Pro Bowl is happening this weekend.

We know that the Super Bowl is taking place next weekend. We know that it might be the Philadelphia Eagles. It might be the Kansas City Chiefs. And we know that a large portion of the Internet thinks that everything has been rigged through the NFL. We will talk about that and all the other stories happening around the NFL today on this glorious Aaron Rodgers Tuesday. Now, this Aaron Rodgers Tuesday does have to be truncated, okay, because Aaron Rodgers is at Pebble Beach getting ready for the tourney. We will be chatting with him at 2.05. Who knows how long we'll be chatting with him.

Now, what does truncated mean, you know, in comparison to? Because normally he's on for an hour or whatever. So is it going to be 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes? We will say as soon as that starts, we're diving in. We're diving in. We'll speed ahead. So that's

2.05 Eastern Standard Time. Be a friend, tell a friend. The Talks at Table is here at Boston Connor, at Ty Schmidt. Boys, we've got a lot of coaching news to talk about today. Yeah, we do. Absolutely. D'Amico Ryans is back to the Houston Texans. So that means if he's going to the Houston Texans,

he's no longer at San Francisco. Well, Vic Fangio, the former head coach of the Denver Broncos, who's a defensive mastermind, he was going to the Miami Dolphins last week. Then it came out that he said, no, he ain't. And he's got very close kin over in San Francisco. And he coached up in San Francisco. Is Kyle Shanahan about to bring Vic Fangio in to the San Francisco 49ers? That doesn't answer the quarterback question.

But there's been a lot of moves. We'll have Ian Rapoport joining us from the Senior Bowl in about 15 minutes or so. He's in Mobile, Alabama. Can't wait to hear what he thinks is potentially happening. And then as soon as he gets off, the direct opposite happens. That's exactly right. One half of the hammer. God!

Cowboys turn digs is here. Tony, you look fantastic, pal. Can't wait to run through your tweets from last night that just kind of point out some flaws in the NFL is rigged conversation. Potential. I mean, the marks will try to find holes in my argument. Good luck. There's not any. So, this is...

I got a couple people that tweeted me and maybe sent a message or two that was like, why are you even talking about this whole thing? It's obviously so absurd. I'm like, you're out of touch. You don't know. It's loud. We are an Internet show. It is very loud on the Internet right now.

Literally, there's a lot of tweets that go off, and the first response is, rigged, rigged, rigged, rigged. People are really thinking that. Now, is it because we've all lost so many bets? Probably. People are losing their actual money. Or is it because the refs are so bad? Definitely. But nonetheless, the NFL has an actual narrative issue going on with the games being cooked now the new one is that well obviously

patrick mahomes is a state farm baby state farm is one of the biggest sponsors of the nfl they want to have their state farm representative in the super bowl it's like what about when baker mayfield was the face of every single company and he got fucking ran out of cleveland did did that not add up we're telling you what is going on in real conversations on the internet. We think it's absurd, but I can't wait to hear from somebody that truly believes it

and them give us a reason. And maybe we go, oh, got a point there. Okay, so hundreds of people would have to keep a massive secret that would bury an entire league, the biggest league on earth, that would ruin probably billions

and billions of dollars of business, but it's really happening and we will continue to chat about it. Not only Ian Rapport today, Gene Steratore, obviously a legendary Western Pennsylvania Paisan referee, not only in the NFL where he was superb, but also college basketball

and any type of officiating you need. Friend of the program, Paisano, knows his shit. We all get to watch him work on CBS alongside. Oh, Gene, what do you think here, Gene? I don't know. Tony Romo and Jim Nance, obviously. He gets a lot of say, a lot of talking, as he should. He was the GOAT on the field.

I think every player that's ever played would say that. And obviously he has the index card uh situation in his resume can't wait to chat with him about how fucked up the reffing is and why it's his fault yeah we'll talk more about that in about an hour or so and then we obviously have aaron rogers and the guy who's joined us all season taking us into the trenches and last weekend between the niners and the eagles was like his Super Bowl and all hell broke loose at the quarterback position, so it wasn't really that great of a showing for the 49ers.

But this man lives and breathes the big dudes. Donnie. Oh yeah, he loves it. Give me the big bodies. Let's talk about these feet like a shorebird. Let's talk about these big guys moving other big guys. Ladies and gentlemen, the host of In the Trenches and the Bobble Exchange,

12-year NFL vet, Super Bowl champion, A.Q. Shepard. A.Q.! What's up, guys? Hey, Philadelphia Eagles just beat the fuck up. We haven't gotten a chance to chat with you. Obviously, you just got here. We had overreaction Monday, yesterday. None of us could have expected that because the way the Niners run the ball

and the way their defense flies around. A couple injuries at very key positions, most specifically the quarterback position for the Niners. They didn't get really creative until late in the game, and it has come out breaking news as of yesterday. Brock Purdy has torn his UCL in his elbow. He will need the Tommy on surgery. He will be out for six months or so, which will feed into Tone Diggs's, Oh, is it really rigged, huh? Brock Purdy bought into the script so hard that he said, you know what? Fuck it. For the next six months, I'll go through rehab and maybe never be able to throw a football again. Now, with modern technology and modern science, Ben Roethlisberger was able to come back and play. Obviously,

every baseball player that gets Tommy on is able to come back and play. But there was an initial report that it was just nerve damage that happened. So we thought he could come back maybe third quarter, maybe fourth quarter, maybe next month, maybe two months. I thought that was a little reckless to call that thing a nerve thing because the way I'm watching it, it's like, oh, you can't do any more damage. Fucking get him out there. Torney UCL is a big deal.

The fact that he was even out there is crazy. What did you learn about the Niners on Sunday? And what did you learn about the Philadelphia Eagles big in the trenches AQ Shipley? Yeah, so it was the game that I was most excited for. And then obviously, what five plays in Purdy's done. I mean, it's it's a wrap. And on that play, I sent it to you guys yesterday, wide open that game could have drastically been different. It's a seven seven ball game with Josh Johnson and a quarterback guys played on 50 teams in the NFL, right? I was still looking for it. I was like, all right, cool, here we go. And then we get the fumble at the end of the first half, and the game just fucking went south from there. But here's the deal. Philly's offensive line is incredible. They are absolutely incredible.

They ran the ball against the best defense, and it all starts with the quarterback. I showed you that. I'll show you later. Fred Warner having to play the quarterback run, having to do all these different things. He's stuck in concrete on the backside, never gets to his gap. Frontside out the gate. Kelsey in space. Are the Chiefs able to stop that? Are the Chiefs able to stop that? How's the Chiefs defense? I mean, they're good. Spaggs lives and dies by cover zero.

He ran cover zero a ton against the Bengals. The key is going to be Chris Jones. He's the key every week. If he makes plays, he can be a game wrecker and shut this whole thing down. If they can block him, watch out. But the Philadelphia Eagles have been able to block? Everybody. Anybody and everybody.

And the key is they're going to do such a good job of scheming him on the backside. Sounds like you like the Eagles a lot. I love the Eagles. Okay. I love the Eagles. That's very early. We still got like 10 days until the Super Bowl. I love the Eagles.

I love them. Nothing's going to get you off? How about it'll get you off? Oh, maybe sucking up linebackers. There it is. Yeah, drag them in. Suck them up. Play action.

Yeah, all the big bodies. Get it happening. Is there anything that could potentially change it? Like, for instance, there's a report coming out now that Patrick Mahomes' ankle was not hurt anymore. It might have tweaked it a little bit, but he feels like he's in good shape. Two weeks of rest with Patrick Mahomes. Does that change anything you think in this Eagles-Chiefs matchup? The only thing that would get me off this

again, get me off is the fact that Patrick Mahomes has to have a superhuman day. That's the only thing. Which he can't. What do you think the Johns are thinking over there in Philadelphia? They're back. They beat the fuck out of the Giants. They beat the shit out of the goddamn

Niners. And then now they've got the Chiefs, a team in which clashing styles here. I think the Philadelphia Eagles have been bully ball since day one of this season. It's all about the O-line, D-line, baby. That's what Nick Siriano said, or Siriani said, just like his old man down there at IUP. And that's where the game is won and lost that's why the end of trenches

has been so fantastic this year but that fucking eagles team seemingly can do whatever they want to whoever they want oh yeah and the johns are definitely thinking kind of similar to what the chiefs fans are thinking because yeah mahomes ankle is getting better but now jalen hurts has a little time to get his shoulder better so they probably think that he's going to be better than he has been was that a thing was his shoulder i, so they probably think that he's going to be better than he has been in the past couple weeks. Was that a thing? Was his shoulder – I know they kept telling us it was a thing, but like –

He said it was a thing. Yeah, that's what they talked about during the game and before the game is that his shoulder was still – He's throwing darts. He's still running too and like, you know, eating contact. So, I don't know. I mean, yeah, you assume that he'll feel better than he has the last two weeks, but it didn't look like – I mean, he definitely wasn't playing

with any limitations. There's some breaking news around the NFL that we have to cover. Tone Diggs went in on the NFL is rigged folks last night on his Twitter. And Tone, I appreciate you doing this. And I'm going to be honest, I don't know what my algorithm's all about. I had to actually

seek it out to see it. You're not even showing up in my fucking... You don't show up in mine either. What's that all about? Why is that? And the for you and the following thing? That has ruined everything. Why are they doing that? Hey, Elon, come on, bro. Come on. I know it's not Elon. Obviously it's people around him and Twitter is not dead.

Twitter is thriving and it'll keep going. The for you and the following thing, they're guessing on both still. The following is a guess of the people you're following that you want to see and the for you is just a guess of people that you may want to see. And for some reason, it's feeding me a lot of the similar shit, and I'm like, yo, I haven't seen Tone in my fucking timeline. Literally the only reason why I went over there last night

is because I haven't seen you in my timeline. I'm like, has Tone, has Diggs even been tweeting? Because I was going to be like, hey, Tone, let's fucking, you know, you host a show, we's fucking host a show. We're part of a show. It's playoffs. Maybe let's let the brain eat a little bit on Twitter. Let's let people see what we're thinking.

And then it was just perfect timing. You had just been in the middle of your fucking here I am, here we go. And I'm like, oh, Tone's still going. And then as I'm scrolling through these eight tweets that he's been burying people the last couple nights, I'm like, Elon, what the fuck? I don't see any of your stuff. Yeah, but you're like NFL tweets. Obviously, we work together.

We're around each other every single day. My phone hears your voice every single day. What's going on over there? Figure it out, boys. I don't know. Yeah, the for you thing, and, like, it'd be nice if it just stayed on the following tab, but every time you open it up, it's for you, and it's back to the same old days where you're just getting a bunch of shit from people you don't follow, but people you do follow like tweets maybe,

so you're seeing a lot of that BS. Isn't that what the talk is? The talk is for you and following, right? Isn't that what TikTok is? I think they're opening your home page as like for you and following. The only reason why I know that is because, and that was what it was a year ago. I don't know what it is now. I got it. I'm like, alright,

I'm going to do the talk. I only followed one person. It was Mitt. Right. And I would open it up and it was like for you and it was nothing that would be for me. And I go over to following and it was just Mitt. Still the same. Still the same, right? Yep. Why is everybody doing that? Like, we follow them because that's what we want our timeline to be.

Also. What is the thought here? I've noticed Twitter on my desktop. I see all your guys' tweets way more than I do on my phone. Never in a million years. Exactly. Am I on my desktop? Exactly.

Never in a million years. Honestly, I have a laptop. It sits right here. There's a Microsoft Surface here, which is fascinating because the iPad doesn't work. The Microsoft Surface works with the phone stuff. So it's like I'm in the NFL all of a sudden being kind of forced to use this. But it's very nice. I'm going to be honest.

For the first couple of days here, very nice. Nobody uses Twitter on desktop, right? It's mostly a mobile app. It used to be only a mobile app. And then now they'll figure it out. Hey, Elon figured it out. Keep it going, Elon. Anyways, Tone Diggs kind of decided to jump into the deep end of the pool

with the rigged conversation last night and fired off some thought-provoking tweets. I wonder how much Burrow had to get paid per interception to rig the outcome of that game or how much the offense line had to get paid to let Chris Jones through. That's crazy. It is crazy. It is crazy.

It is crazy. What's the next one here? Crazy. This is crazy to think Jerry Jones has been okay with the NFL rigging games against the Cowboys for the last 30 years. He doesn't seem like a competitive guy, so I guess that's understandable. Maybe he just took the couple Super Bowls that they got back-to-back, and in that deal he made, he was like, we'll take these now,

and then you don't have to give us them ever, ever again. Let me just build America's team. Maybe that's what's taking place. It does seem like he's genuinely upset when they lose games, though. If he knew, he's a good actor. Part of the work. Jerry. What's going on over there?

At the thespian school? Is that what he's doing? They're all acting? Probably. I assume that's what it was. All right, let's go to the next one here. Crazy. Crazy.

To think the NFL wanted the Seahawks in the playoffs over Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. They must have thought the Seahawks are a bigger money draw. Interesting decision by the NFL. That is an interesting. Isn't it? Yeah. Because Packers' fan base is huge, but Seattle's cool. Yeah.

Seattle has big North West. Seattle's beautiful. Gino's a bigger draw. Gino, he played every single snap this year. He's one of five guys that played every single snap this particular season. Gino Smith, Quentin Nelson, Joel Batanio, Laramie Tunzel, and

Bingo. Knew this night, draft night, knew that Laramie Tunzel was going to be able to breathe better than anybody when he takes a gas mask to the head and doesn't cough one time. And let's go to the last one that Tony Diggs sent out. Oh, Cy, got the name wrong, has to be up for an Oscar, right, because it's all scripted.

Those look like real tears of emotion, and he even sold almost blowing his knee out. That was a good sell after a late hit. Crazy NFL got him to do that because he did roll his ankle and hyperextend his knee on that same play where he definitely hit Patrick Mahomes late. Yeah, it was tough. Definitely hit him late. No doubt about it. Two steps out of bounds. Yeah, it was tough. Definitely hit him late.

No doubt about it. Two steps out of bounds. Allen? Penalty. Can't make that call. Can't make it. Can't make it. So you do not like that call on Patrick Mahomes by all I see.

If we're going to be the rule book, guys, and this leads me into the next topic. Everyone thinks holding on Orlando Brown. Not holding. Everybody. You can call holding on every single play. Offensive linemen are taught to hold. But if it's within the framework, it's not a hold.

We're good. Right guard, Trey Smith, definite fucking holding. Okay? Definite holding. Wow. Clothesline. So you're saying everybody, there was a hold on it. There was a hold.

But wrong guy. Wrong guy. Go to the other side. We got the little clothesline by Trey Smith, right guard. Okay. If we want to call this. He's clearly out of bounds. We want to call that. We by Trey Smith, right guard. Okay. If we want to call this, he's clearly out of bounds. We want to call that, we've got to call this. Clearly out of bounds.

Clearly out of bounds. Eight seconds left in the game. Can't make it. Can't make it. Can't do it. Yeah, you're saying can't do it? Can't hit a quarterback laid out of bounds? We just let that ride. If it's that right there, Patrick Mahomes is the quarterback. If Mike Hilton comes up and

boom, de-cleats him. Yeah, call it. That. What's the difference? So you're still saying bad officiating, though, not that it's rigged? That's exactly what I'm saying. Every player that's ever played in the NFL aside from one, Chidi Anamaru, Anurama, too?

That sounds right. Anurama, too. Chidi. Chidi.amatu. Chidi? Chidi. Chidi. Guy played for the Bucs in like the 90s. Yep. Or the early 2000s has come out and said that the NFL is rigged.

And people have been searching for a player to come out and say it, and they found it with our guy Chidi. I'm looking. Ana. Chidi. Anarumo? No, no, no. That's looking. Anna. Chidi. Anna Rumo? No, no, no.

That's Lou's cousin. Lou's son? No, Lou's family ain't coming out. Listen, if we know anything, the people that are going to come out and say it's rigged ain't Italian. That's right. If it is rigged. It ain't going to be Italians that are doing it. I forget the guy's name.

It was a player for the Bucs back in the day. He came out and said it was rigged. But I think every other player that has ever played in the NFL, every other coach that has ever coached in the NFL, said you're giving the NFL refs a lot of credit. You're saying that they're super intelligent and cerebral and able to strategize on what you should do, when really every person that's ever been in the NFL thinks the complete opposite. Like, these motherfuckers are the worst.

These dudes would ruin a wet dream if they could. That's what a lot of people think about the refs, and I think that is the difference between people that have been in the NFL thinks the complete opposite. Like, these motherfuckers are the worst. These dudes would ruin a wet dream if they could. That's what a lot of people think about the refs, and I think that is the difference between people that have been in the buildings and people who haven't. Because you look from outside, you think to yourself, these refs can't be that bad. They can, and they have been for a long, long time. And I think that is something that we've just had to kind of echo

through this whole NFL is rigged situation, which, once again, we have to remind people, is a very real situation that's happening right now with NFL fan bases around the NFL. I agree. I think especially in these types of games, these championship games, we've got to swallow the whistle. We swallow the whistle.

Let the boys play. I'm a big fan. There was a – I think it was the pass interference right after the fucking botched third down, fourth down call. There was like Mike Hilton maybe on the sideline, just like a little tug, and they called pass interference on it or whatever. It might be a different one. I have some good news for you.

Okay. You're talking about let the boys play and swallow your whistle. Carl Sheffer's Super Bowl ref, most flags out of anybody in the NFL. Oh, yeah. That's good news. Thank you, NFL. Way to really have self-awareness there. You know what I mean? Way to really have self-awareness there. You know what I mean?

Way to really have self-awareness, NFL. Adam Schefter told us yesterday that the NFL knows that they have an officiating issue. Then he put the most flag-happy ref as the head of the Super Bowl. It's like 59 million people are watching that Bengals-Chiefs game at its peak. Average of like 52 million. How you doing? Keep moving. Pretty fucking good.

And everybody saw what was taking place there, and the conversation lit up quick. Hadn't been that way all year, but it lit up quick. That third and nine situation, got to figure out how to handle that much differently, especially if an entire play has been run and there was no effect on the outcome of the play by anything that happened beforehand.

Can you not fix the clock after the play, especially when it's a third down going into a fourth down in the fourth quarter? Like that was, that was a panic situation by that ref. I feel like the ref panicked, didn't know what to do. And instead of just handling it in a fashion, said, Oh, we got to redo and go back. It's like those big moments, these refs have to be able to handle. And sometimes they can't, and we're not saying all refs suck. Seems like a lot of them do, but not all refs suck. There's some great of them do, but not all refs suck. There are some great refs out there. Hopefully, we'll be able to get more, but you're right.

The swallow the whistle and let the boys play is a real thing, but then when it matters the most, it can't change. You know, like in the fourth quarter or late in the fourth quarter, it feels like there just needs to be some consistency, and if you're a flag-happy reffing crew, which a Super Bowl reffing crew is, it's like we're not going to have any consistency because they're going to be calling fucking everything probably. It's a damn shame that this

is taking place, honestly, because the game is better than this. The number one reply to me and our argument yesterday was us saying that a bunch of people have to be involved for rigging these games. Apparently, it's just Goodell and a handful of refs. They determined the whole thing. So Goodell's sitting on that leather recliner, eating his peanut M&Ms

in his basement watching NFL football. What? And he has a direct line to a couple of these refs that's cooking it. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who would know, wouldn't he? Oh, yeah. Senior insider for the NFL, the league itself,

the network it is, and the streaming service, NFL Plus. Host of the Insiders, which is on all the fast networks, which is free ad subscription fast networks, which is free, ad subscription, technology. Audio scripted. It's basically where all podcasts are. Oh, okay.

All podcasts called the Insiders. Ladies and gentlemen, host of the weekly wrap-up of Rap Sheet and Friends, us being the friends, he being Rap Sheet, Ian Rapoport. Hey! What's up, guys? We got the Senior Bowl down here. Yeah, how's it looking? Pretty good?

Not too bad. Now, that is, what, the second most important senior operation this year as opposed to the Shrine Bowl with Bill Belichick and the boys? What? I don't think you want to get in the middle of that battle, Pat. I don't know if you want any of that. It was quite an internet war, I would say. It's not like a real war.

Have you talked to anybody down there about their feelings on the NFL, deciding to invest a little bit more in the Shrine Bowl and alternating which one means more each year? Has that been a conversation at all, or are you just trying to get everybody boozed up so you can learn stuff? I would say the second thing more so, and last night was a successful night. Had a bigger wrap. Went to Dreamland Barbecue,

bopped around a couple different places in Mobile, ran into some friends, and then people who became better friends as the night went on. So I thought it was a really successful night. Okay, congratulations. I've been out and about in Mobile. I've had a great night there. So much so I missed the flight the next morning.

That flight was one of the only flights out of the Mobile, Alabama airport. I ended up being late to the ESPN All-Star Showcase Skills Challenge thing. Didn't get any of the swag or gifts or the rules. Showed up beforehand, won one of the events and left, all because Mobile got me. It's a great city. Have you seen any leprechauns? It's not a bad city. I didn't say yeah, but Mobile, the original creator of Mardi Gras.

Wow. Yeah. Nobody knows that. Mobile created Mardi Gras. They'll never tell you, yeah. That's what they will tell you, Ian Rapport says. What's going on down there? You're just trying to make networking?

Is that all this thing is for you? Or are you really learning stuff about maybe the next generation of the NFL? I would say a little of both. I'm at the point now where I'm really just trying to learn, just like personally, just learn who a lot of these guys are. And obviously a lot of the agents are down here too, so they want to tell you about their players. And that's kind of where we are in the process.

I'm not really worried about, let's say, where everybody would go. It's more like, who are these guys? Who do I need to know? Who are the good stories? And then a lot of networking because there's a lot of coaches. As you know, not a lot of people have hired a lot of people. So everyone wants to know, like, where are all the coordinators going? Where are all the head coaches?

So, like, that's a lot of the conversation. That's for me. And then Pelissero is down here. He's doing sideline for the game. So he's trying to learn, like, all these players and kind of tell their stories over the course of the week. Well, we appreciate Pellicero's professionalism, but he'll do great no matter what, because he'll, they'll plug them in.

Speaking of plugged in, you're plugged in. Let's talk about some of these coordinators that are going to be on the move here. Let's start with Vic Fangio. He was to the Dolphins. Then his camp said he's not to the Dolphins. D'Amico Ryan's in the building of the Houston Texans today we have heard. So he's out at San Fran. Vic Fangio going back to the San Francisco 49ers where he has some close kin. Is that kind of how we see this whole thing panning out?

So it really did sound like, or it does sound like that Fangio went way, way down the road with the Miami Dolphins. And I know, I mean, Pelissero reported it. I definitely trust him. I also saw the comments from Vic Fangio, who I also trust, considering it's literally him. It's a weird situation. It did sound like there was an agreement with the Miami Dolphins. And I believe that is still going to be the case.

But it is interesting because San Francisco is going to lose D'Amico Rimes, likely to be the Texans coach, could come today. And obviously he has a lot of good history there. They'd have to change the scheme up a little bit. They kind of moved away from what he ran when he was there. But he is the master. He is great. And I wouldn't be surprised if San Francisco was like, you know what?

Nothing signed. Maybe we could make a run at this. So I think in the end he goes to the Dolphins, but it's like free agency when someone has an agreement and you're like, all right, that's definitely going to be true probably, and then you kind of wait until he signs. Okay, interesting. So we think Vic is still going to the Dolphins,

but there's a lot of people that know Vic Fangio personally who say, hey, he's got a lot of connections to that San Francisco area, including, I believe, his significant other. Yes. Oh, wow. That's right. I believe. Which we all know, any of us who are married know, and I don't think he's married,

but all of us who have ever been in a relationship know that that is a driver. I mean, that is certainly a driver. Happy wife, happy life. D'Amico Ryan's in the building today with Houston Texans, right? Is that negotiating a deal? Because it's basically been understood he's going back now. It's just figuring out the details.

Are they doing that in the building today? I'm actually not sure it's in the building. I know he's in Houston. He arrived last night. Is it actually in the building? Yes. Like, there's different places it could be. Like, maybe it's a Cal McNair's house.

I do not believe he's been in the building today, but he is in Houston. They're working that out. I don't know that it's so much finalizing the deal. I don't know that the deal is going to be a problem because in order to get all sides on the same page with where this is at, there had to be a pretty good understanding of like, all right, if we hire him, this is what it'll be, this will be how many years. I think it's more making sure the football decisions are, everyone's on the same page. Coordinators,

who are we going to hire? I would say this, if D'Amico Ryans is not the Texans head coach, I would be extremely surprised by now. I would expect that to happen. You broke that last week pretty much, so we appreciate you doing that. Congratulations on another notch under the old rapist belt. You deserve it.

Now with the Denver Broncos, obviously D'Amico has told the Denver Broncos he's out of that conversation because of what's going on with Houston. Woody Page reported that, and he spelled D'Amico's name wrong, which is fantastic. Everybody keeps talking about them taking a big swing. Dude, did he do the lowercase m? No, capital M. Got it. With an A. D-E-M big swing. Dude, did he do the lowercase m? No, capital M. Got it. With an A.

D-E-M-A. Oh, no. The Macco Ryans. Yeah, Woody Pedro, legend. Absolute legend. Absolute legend. So he can do whatever he wants. But he's been spelling stuff a long time.

Yes, yes. That's kind of his thing. So nonetheless, he said that the Broncos now are through their three top number one picks at head coach, and they have more money, obviously, than everybody else in a salary capless coaching structure, payment structure. They're going to swing big is what everybody's saying. They go and meet with Harbaugh again last week. We heard from Michigan man yesterday.

They didn't get a deal done. It was the first time they met in person. He'd probably take him off the board. What does this swing big conversation about? What does this mean? What is going on with Denver, Ian? Okay, good question. First of all, the money, I don't love that sort of,

not you did nothing wrong, but I know there's a lot of discussion like Denver can outspend. They're all rich. They are all rich. And we're talking to this. There's levels to this shit, Ian. I know, but if it's like 18 or 16 million, these are people who worth billions. These are rounding errors. 25. Yeah, I don't know if it's like $18 or $16 million, these are people who worth billions.

25? 25. Yeah, I don't know if it's going to. We'll see. Look, if Sean Payton gets $25 million, that is awesome and he should get it. Because my guess is he'll be worth it. He's a very good coach. Very, very good coach.

So look at their situation. There are two things that could be happening right now. And they're opposite. One is Denver is collecting itself and getting ready to put in new slips to restart their search. Or they are going to someone who has not yet been eliminated. Many of the candidates haven't eliminated. When Harbaugh officially signs his deal, I will eliminate him, but I don't think that's been eliminated a thousand percent. And Sean Payton has not been eliminated. So until Sean says, I'm definitely going back to Denver,

I'm definitely going back to TV or until Harbaugh says we're good. And I'm definitely going back to Michigan. Like those are still options. Okay. So that's what swing big means. I mean, Sean Payton and Harbaugh still alive. Yes. I don't, if you're asking, is it someone we don't know? I was told very strongly. It is not someone we don't know. Okay. And by don't know, does that mean like pop culture wise,

not know, or a conversation for them having a head coach? Don't know. No pop culture. Don't know. It's like when I go to these Superbowl parties in a week and there's some like singer and everyone's going crazy. And I'm like,

I have no earthly idea. So that's more like, well, Posner obviously crushed it. Hardy at the WWE. Oh, no. Poor Hardy. Hardy, hey. Hardy's great. He's introduced as a country musician, but he's like a rock. It's like a rock. The WWE fan base did not know who he was. I did not like him. And it was... You know who I saw in concert who I think has WWE ties?

Do you know who Poppy is? Hell yeah. She's been a large part of WWE. A lot of NXT shows, I think. I saw her in concert and it was amazing. I never heard of her. Do you go to all those parties, Han? That's like your thing.

Super Bowl week, all those parties. That's like your thing? I'll go to probably one. I'll do something every night. I just don't, you know. No, I mean, well, some of that, yeah, yeah. The parties are so corporate that I'll probably go to one, but it's not like I'll spend my whole time doing that.

They're just, they're like really concerts anyway. Those are my worst nightmares, those things. I hate them. I hate them. The last poser is mine worst nightmares. Those things. I hate them. I hate them. The last poser is mine. Debatable. That whole thing. If Bruce Brown is performing in the crowd, then I love

it, but those Super Bowl parties are the furthest thing from a party, it feels like. It's all what you love. I'm with you. Believe me. Well, there's some of that stuff, but yeah. All right. So let's talk about it.

So Sean Payton or Jim Harbaugh going to the Denver Broncos, it sounds like. Arizona Cardinals, we thought Sean Payton was going to go to because, remember, he spent eight hours there and got into Bidwell's electric car. Yep. How'd they get the batteries for those electric cars? We should certainly look into that. Are you saving the world or not? I bought a couple electric vehicles, thought I was saving the world or not? I bought a couple of electric vehicles, thought I was saving the world.

Turns out I might be actually legitimately killing people. Nonetheless, Bidwell has an electric vehicle. Is that true? I've never heard that. Information coming out, so I'll go to it. I have a couple of electric cars because I feel like a hero. I'm saving the world. Yeah, of course.

Oh, Pat, you look like a big, dumb dipshit. Oh, I'm saving the world. What are you doing? I'm saving the world. Yeah, sorry. What are you doing? I'm so sorry. You know, that was a way for me to grandstand with these people that, you know, come at me. Turns out maybe I might be doing more damage to the world than anybody. He didn't know.

But nonetheless, Sean Payton's in that building eight hours. He gets into the car with them. It's all fine and dandy. He puts a tweet out. I'm still in on the Broncos as well. It's all fine and dandy. He puts a tweet out. I'm still in on the Broncos as well.

This was after a report from the Washington Post or the New York Post that Sean Payton was not going to have a seat at the table in the head coaching search. Washington Post or New York Post, very legit. As soon as you hear that, you think it's real. Is Sean Payton going to Arizona? And then there was three defensive coordinators, basically, that are being interviewed down there, including Lou Anarumo. Are they going to go defense with Kyler? Because that seems like a fascinating situation down there in Arizona right now.

So the description I was given this morning on Sean Payton in Arizona, it's not dead, he has not been eliminated, but it's more back burner. What they're going to do now, so today they got Mike Kafka, offensive coordinator for the Giants. Great job. Kafka? No, you see what I did. You see, I pronounced it properly after you guys shamed me the other day.

No, we didn't shame you. You shamed Kafka family whenever you pronounce a name wrong. Come on. That's debatable. So he's interviewing today. And then Lou Anarumo, who you had on your show, who is awesome and definitely couldn't figure out where to look with the video thing. That was hilarious.

He's interviewing this week. And then Brian Callahan, another really good young coach, is interviewing this week as well. So it feels like they're going to pick one of those guys. And if they don't, let's say the Cardinals get through the week and don't have a coach. Well, the only reason you would do that is if you want to talk to someone who's playing. The enemy.

Jonathan Gannon. Jonathan Gannon would probably be the one. Gannon. Gannon. If they're waiting, maybe that's who they want to talk to. Okay, so Gannon and maybe Shane Spikeman? Shane Spikeman, yeah. Now, he's going to interview the Colts at some point this week, second time.

No, he's not. Oh, is he is he colts have what uh seven or eight finalists that's right but maybe not maybe more who knows okay so sean payton's on the back burner why is that is that because it's two first rounders for sean payton you got to pay him and he wants major upgrades to the building or why do you think sean payton became back burner for the arizona cardinals when seemingly he's the perfect answer with kyler and what they need? Yeah, the improvements to the building stuff is real.

I believe that is true. I don't think it's going to be two first-rounders. I think it would have been for the Panthers, but I don't think the Saints are going to try to do that. I think it will be realistic. It will be a one and more, maybe a one and a mid-rounder. It has to be the perfect fit, and I think there was definitely some things to like in Arizona, but the improvements, you've got the quarterback situation,

you don't know when Kyler's going to be healthy. Probably around mid-year, based on my information, a lot of money. Start in practice. That's the thing. I don't have to do anything so I can stay staying here. Okay, good. So I don't know that it's a great fit. It's, good. So I don't know that it's a great fit. It's not dead, but I don't know that it's a great fit.

Okay, we thought it would be a great fit. Oh, yeah. Because that's what Kyler would do. I thought so, too. Yeah, Kyler, offense, accountability. He's been successful with an undersized quarterback. No offense to Kyler. Him and Drew Brees, both considered undersized with incredible arm talent.

He's built a program before. They need it. That whole in-building. You know, there's a lot of Sean Payton options for short quarterbacks. He's got Russell Wilson potentially in Denver. Kyler, if he had gone to Houston, could have been, you know, maybe Bryce Young, also not the top. So he had a lot of short quarterback options.

So maybe he's waiting another. Is there a chance that Sean Payton doesn't like any of these options, or is it if they make him an offer, he's going to take it? I think there's a chance he doesn't take any of them, yeah. I think it has to be right. It has to be perfect. Now, it could happen this year. I'm just saying it's not like he's thirsty, thirsty.

You know what I mean? Yeah, he's still got that Fox gig, which seems like they have a great time. Yeah, they're so much fun. Connor has a question for you, Rapp. Yeah, Rapp, all the tags were released except for the exclusive franchise tag prices are there any players that you know right now that will be tagged no matter what whether it's some guys from the bills lamar jackson are there's any names there that you know now yeah i mean lamar jack Jackson is going to be tagged. Exclusive or non-exclusive? So I don't firmly know the answer.

My sense is it would be the exclusive. Okay. Because here's why. If they give him the non-exclusive tag, then someone can sign Lamar Jackson to an offer shoot and get him with the price of two first-rounders. If it's the exclusive tag, it costs Baltimore more. However, if at some point, and I don't think they will, but at some point they ever want to trade them, they set the price.

So it would be more than two first-rounders. So if you get the exclusive tag, it basically raises the price in the event of a trade, which I don't think is going to happen, but it's still noteworthy. All right, let's run through this. Normally people get non-exclusive franchise tags. I was non-exclusive franchise tagged. I learned that with a conversational report a couple weeks ago, not when I got franchise tagged, in 2012 or whenever the hell it happened.

Who was your agent? Me, but at that time, I forget who it was. Still had to pay him a fee. Got franchise tagged. You didn't do your job. Yeah, it's funny how that works. So that was the last time I had an agent, the way so everybody yeah that was it yeah that was it right there yeah well and then we had tv agent kunin there for a little bit kunin was put a tough

spot trying to explain who i am to these fucking corpo people and i was like all right kunin not your fault pal impossible task see you later so i'm not supposed to have an agent, but yes, I don't think I was fully explained or anybody was fully explained the non-exclusive or the exclusive franchise tag because it only happens with certain people. And normally those people on your roster, you want to get a long-term deal done so you don't have to take the cap hit. Non-exclusive is an average of the top five salaries of the last five years at the position that you're in. salaries of the last five years at the position that you're in. Exclusive franchise tag is worth top five salaries of the current year that you are in at your position and can't be traded for. Non-exclusive franchise tag can be traded for from another team. It costs two ones and then obviously the payment. And if Lamar Jackson was to get non-exclusively franchise tag, it would cost $32 million there set for next year.

But any team could come in, give two first-round picks, and get him. Baltimore Ravens aren't going to do that. Why don't they sign him to a fucking long-term deal, dude? Trying. They are trying. Are they? I just don't know. It doesn't sound like it.

They are. I mean, right now, I don't know if there has been an offer right now, but I know that as an organization generally, that is something that would like to get done very badly. That's why the exclusive franchise tag rarely comes into play because it's a much higher price tag and it's only a one-year thing. And with the guy that it normally takes place with, which is a quarterback, because that's the only person you would put the exclusive tag on

because people are rarely going to do – no, two first-round picks weren't getting traded for old punter Pat McAfee. Maybe. Two first round picks weren't getting traded for basically anybody. We traded one first round pick, thank you, middle of the season. Jim Irsay was tweeting before that that it was earth shattering news

that was coming and obviously it didn't end up working out, but I like when teams are hungry and are going to make moves. But it's very fascinating how that whole thing will work with Lamar. get a deal done Ty has a question for you Ian yeah Repsheet given Brock Purdy's torn UCL is there a chance now that it kind of sets the stage for Brady to go sign with the Niners for one year I know the kind of common idea is that him to Vegas is kind of a done deal but do you think the Niners make more sense? Are they a dark horse here, or would you say that they're actually potentially the favorite to sign a guy like Brady?

I would say the 49ers make similar sense. I wouldn't say right now, oh, he's definitely going to Vegas. First of all, we don't even know if he's playing. My sense is he probably is, but until he says it, or until we are told for sure, it'll still be a little bit of a question. I thought the same thing as soon as i knew that brock pretty's injury was like somewhat serious and it's pretty serious um that was my first thought now the hope is that he is ready for training camp the initial

thought going into surgery and which surgery should be fairly soon we don't have a date yet the initial thought is it's six months so okay, okay, we fast forward that. That's right around the start of training camp. Could start slow and then ramp up and be absolutely fine. However, as with any surgery, there's always a chance that it doesn't go 1,000% perfect or they're set like the 49ers will have to be ready. Now, they have trail ends. That helps. But is Brady an option now?

I would say he's more of an option now than he was before this injury. Absolutely, for sure. But is Brady an option now? I would say he's more of an option now than he was before this injury. Absolutely. For sure. And it makes a lot of sense because you guys know the affection he has for that organization, where it stands in his life, in his family. That's all real. Yeah, when he was a child, we saw a photo of him in a black and white picture that was taken with an old school Polaroid. Yep.

Way back in the day. He loved those Niners. Parents live out there. Shanahan probably has an affinity for him especially after 28-3 watching what he did is that an offense he could pick up quickly you think ian is that something and obviously you're not the right person to ask this question to so i will actually don't answer that i will ask uh aq that question later we don't need you thinking that that is what we need you on the program for time digs has a question for you, Rap. Ian, how does the NFL feel about Derek Carr,

who didn't finish the season with his team, and Tyler Huntley being the Pro Bowl quarterbacks for the AFC? Yeah, what happened with the Pro Bowl? I thought we had a fix. Yeah, it's going to be awesome. Who doesn't love dodgeball? I do love that. It's not about that. It's not about that.

Are they just choosing not to give an actual, like, is it because there's no money given out for prize pool? I feel like I, what is the deal? I mean, it's the same. The actual game will be better. For instance, I will watch this year. True. I'll be commentating it on Sunday, obviously, on ABC.

I will be commentating alongside Kirk Herbst. Oh, let's go. Snoop Dogg will be mic'd up. Eli Manning will be mic'd up, on ABC. I will be commentating alongside Kirk Herbstreit. Oh, let's go. Snoop Dogg will be mic'd up. Eli Manning will be mic'd up. Peyton Manning will be mic'd up. Pete Davidson will be there. Wait, Snoop Dogg and Snoop Hundley?

Seriously? Yes, Snoop. And I think he's coaching. Snoop's probably coaching the NFC team, huh? Is he the NFC team or the AFC team? Steelers guy? Steelers, yeah. If it's Snoop and Snoop, though. Isn't he an actual coach?

He, like, actually knows what he's doing, right? Yes. Loves football. Has an entire youth league, though. Isn't he an actual coach? He actually knows what he's doing, right? Yes. Loves football. Has an entire youth league, I think, that he takes care of. Only person up there not mic'd up, Pete Davidson, is what I learned. Isn't that because there's interference because his dong acts like a radio tower? No, I thought they were going to wrap it around it. Oh, sure.

So he's the only guy not mic'd up on that thing. Should be a blast. But whenever we start hearing some of these names going into the Pro Bowl, we start thinking, like, oh, this is the same old Pro Bowl that we've seen in the last 10 years, right? Yeah, except you're not wrong because it's the same thing where, like, you finish the season, season's forever. Like, Josh Allen pulled out, and I think he was the – yeah,

I think he was the Snoop Huntley. He pulled out, and Snoop Huntley goes in. But, like, his elbow's was the Snoop Hundley. He pulled out and Snoop Hundley goes in. But like his elbow's been banged up all year. He's been on the injury report. He's been getting treatment. I think at some point it's like it's been a long season and I just, I need to rest. So I don't necessarily mind that because like it is just a fun game. It's really just a fun game.

And so if he doesn't want to play or needs to rehab, like that's okay. It'll be, I'll watch probably whoever. Everybody will. It's not bad for Stupan Lee. Right. Because we always do. Because that's, I mean, that's why it exists.

We keep watching. But I do think the game will be better because it won't be like a bunch of linemen pretending to pillow fight. It'll be like actually a really fun sport, which is flag football.

Yeah, I think seven on seven will be fun. Me and Herbie are going to do our best to make that thing as good as possible. And there's going to be. I understand how Pete Davidson's not mic'd up. What's happening? You should have seen me whenever I got the email. He was in the jerseys or what? Do you know how pumped I was? I was fucking...

Man, I get to say hello to Pete Davidson. I'm excited about that and then I get an email. Only one not mic'd up is going to be Pete Davidson. I'm like, Pete, why are you here for? Pete, you're fucking... That's what... You running routes? Is he playing? Is Pete Davidson playing? Maybe. Is that something that's happening? I have no idea. is pete davidson playing maybe is that something that's happening and i have no idea we need to keep an eye on it i i cannot confirm that

you work for the nfl you're at one of the nfl's old big events now it's kind of just like maybe a big event for the nfl um they have a real problem with their officiating and you know that we've been steadfast on this for a long time because we understand the power of refs. And also we don't have a network or anybody else telling us that we can't talk bad about the refs. So we've questioned refs and calls for a long time. We've also put over good officiating, I think, through the whole thing. It is literally another team that's out there that has a lot of say in how the game goes. A lot of people thinking that the games are rigged right now, Ian.

Do you get a sense that anybody in the NFL knows that? Because they picked Carl Sheffers, the most flag-happy ref, who led the most flag-happy crew to be the Super Bowl ref. Aren't they setting themselves up for this conversation to continue, or is this something that you guys aren't even acknowledging as existing? I hope not. I hope that is not what they're setting up uh and as you know the officials it's it's all there's and i don't know the point system but it's all basically a point system and you know the reward is you get to be in the super bowl um and it's not the crew it's basically all-star crew so to answer all of your questions i would say say, are they aware? Yes. And I would expect some significant discussion this off season on

how to get this thing better. I mean, is it full-time reps? Is it, you know, starting from the bottom up and saying, who are we hiring as these reps? And like, is this the right, are these going to be people that are going to dedicate their lives, their jobs to being a rep and all the things that it entails from going out to training camps and getting live reps and, you know, doing, I don't know, virtual reality. Whatever people do to prepare, is everyone 100% committed to that? Like, it does seem like there is an acknowledgement that things should be better. I expect that to be a significant part of this option.

Okay. Hopefully that will be something that happens because, by the way, could have those refs practicing where? Senior Bowl. Shrine Bowl. Getting reps in. You know, maybe a ref becomes a ref, huh? Maybe a ref for the ref.

I don't think I have that in me. Yeah, me neither. I've got to run up and down the field. We do not think it's easy to be a ref. It is a terrible job. Nobody's going to a game to cheer for you. You have to have a certain degree of asshole and arrogance to want to be a ref and have that power. With that being said, not all of them are good and it affects a lot of things,

especially when people have their actual money on the games legally now and there's a call or two ruining their lives as opposed to just ruining coaches and players lives which is what it has been for the last 50 years so i'm excited that this is going to take place hopefully a change will take place that'll make the game better make the league better just like you've done we can't thank you enough ian for joining us from mobile alabama thank you guys thank you for having me i'm gonna go watch practice hey just so you guys, hold on. This is actually really important. Practice is airing on NFL Plus. NFL Plus! Hey, will you show that field real quick?

Will you show the field real quick? Yeah, so, like, there's no room on the side of the field at all, you see? Oh, yeah. Like, next to no room with everybody. I was a kicker at that senior bowl. Literally got to kick, like, next to no balls with anybody on the field watching. Only time I was able to kick was before practice started when there was like four people in the stands. I think they were all working there.

And then after the whole thing. So I enjoyed my time down there getting to meet everybody. But I don't know how much of it is really helping anybody. I think some real guys will change their narrative about them down though, down there at Senior Bowl, and Ian Rapport will be on top. We can't thank you enough, ladies and gentlemen. Rapshoot. Our cocaine bear, every single day, live from an attic in Ohio, a Super Bowl

champion, a college football national champion, a Ryder Cup champion. Ladies and gentlemen, father of ten, COVID survivor, A.J. Hawk. A.J., rest in peace to my friend that was known as the cocaine bear, but this cocaine bear movie is about to be a good one, I think. Yeah, I know. I heard that bear had like a five- or six-hour run,

which was terrorizing the place, didn't it? Yeah, I'm surprised it was only five or six hours. That thing should have been 25 to 26 hours, but I guess the body can only do what the body can do. Let's start talking about some bodies that are moving. D'Amico Ryan is head coach of the Houston Texans. Our sources have told us he's in the building. Rapport says he's not in the building, but he's certainly in Houston.

How do you feel about a defensive guy, former player, getting a head coach job down there in Houston, AJ? This is a big deal. I think it's a huge deal. Obviously, D'Amico has so much respect from everybody around the league, but the fact that he was there, we see the picture of him and J.J. Watt going around the internet when they were both playing together. Yeah, it makes sense. I know

for D'Amico, if he can go and turn them into a contender again and get them rolling, that place, we know. We say it's one of the loudest places when they're really rolling. Tough task, but yeah, I think D'Amico, I love the dude. I'm all for it. It's a good barn down there. AQ, is it as easy as being able to turn around

a culture as we just hope it is, like Doug Peterson made it look? You need players, and they don't have enough of them down there. So they're going to have to make some moves, free agency, draft well, and then hopefully, obviously, put his scheme together with the coaching staff he brings in. AQ, we've been talking about it. I don't know if we got your take yet,

but this is a defensive coach getting hired as a head coach. Congrats. We're happy for him. Former player. Pump for him. Pump for any former player that gets this type of role, this type of job. I'm excited to see who he puts together as his staff. Obviously, he's been around.

But if you hire a defensive coach, if the offense does well, you're going to have to hire a new offense coordinator in like a year or two because that guy's going to get plucked to go be a head coach somewhere else. What are your thoughts on that whole developing story that's happening around the NFL? Well, I think I saw the other day that the last two championship games have all been offensive coaches. And division around this year, I think there was only one D, McDermott was the only defensive guy that was left.

Yeah, so I think it's tough. It's an offensive league right now, and that's where we're at. And you'll see later. We won't be forever. Yeah, exactly. And you'll see later on in the trenches why I put the defensive predicaments. Yeah, you need to have a big offensive mastermind to be able to put things together, and what the Eagles were able to do to the Niners, who are also an offensive strategy team,

was fantastic, but I'm happy for D'Amico, and how about, did you hear what Rapport said about the Arizona Cardinals? Sean Payton's still in play, but maybe some of the upgrades to the building did come into play with how much Sean Payton wanted done, what Sean Payton thought an NFL facility should look like, what the Arizona Cardinals facility does actually look like, and why they might end up going somewhere else. That was fascinating to me, AJ. I mean, if that's really the hang-up that keeps you from getting Sean Payton, that's a problem, I believe.

I think it's been a hang-up for a long time. It'll cost millions to redo it, but I'm sure there has to be a plan already in place of when we're going to renovate this place. And that's why Sean Payton said, like, hey, the relationship with the quarterback is important, but the relationship with the owner is the most important because I want it to look like how I see it.

AQ, you got a twitch? Yeah. AQ's going like this while you're saying. When you said there has to be some sort of plans to renovate, AQ was moving his head as fast as possible going like this. I think it's been like that for a long time. It's been like that for a long time. And they've gotten coaches.

I mean, they've been through four coaches since, what, since Green left, right? When was Green there, 2006? They are who we thought they are. Yeah. If you want to crown them, fucking crown them. We let them off the hook. Yeah.

And that facility has not changed since then. It hasn't. How come nobody talks about it just because Phoenix is such a beautiful city? I think that's it. And they've been fairly successful for the most part. I mean, the whole Bruce Arians regime was very successful. Kurt Warner. How's Bruce like that happened?

I thought Bruce was a big-time players coach. He's got these guys hopping in the cold tubs that are the size of one leg. What the hell is going on over there? I don't know. But, I mean, I know one thing. When he left that building, the golf courses are great. The weather's great. The restaurants are great.

Oh, so that's what the selling point is. That's the selling point. Life is still sweet. You know what we're saying, AJ? We attacked the Bengals organization for not having an indoor facility. Now the Ohio fucks that are Bengals fans thought we were attacking them. We're trying to help you, Bengals fans. Got the indoor facility.

Obviously, we heard from numerous players and coaches about how that ended up paying off dividends. And it's 2023 2022 you should be able to have a bubble that duquesne university and pittsburgh has had for 20 fucking years you're in the goddamn nfl it's the highest level how come this bush league stuff still happens i didn't know this until hard knocks but if this is a real reason why sean payton is not their head coach that's that's ineptitude isn't it is that not ineptitude? It used to be normal when I first got in the league, 2006. So we all know General Bobby Carpenter goes to Dallas. Dallas' facilities were not great.

Their practice facilities absolutely were not until they've gotten all this new stuff they've built up. Bobby was telling me, I think they were giving them like, they had boxed lunches and they would take $14 out of their checks when he first got there. That's how it used to be. And that's how a lot of the league used to be too, actually. And now it's kind of changing, I think, obviously, with the amount of money, but there are still some buildings, obviously, that are from the 1920s. And if you – Sean Payton is seemingly the perfect fit for the Cardinals.

Yeah. Right? Isn't he? I mean, from the outside looking in, maybe, but we don't know really what's going on inside there. I know AQ knows more than us. I don't want to say Rappaport said that the upgrades were the reason why, but at least a first round and a mid-round pick is what Rappaport's reporting for what you would need to trade with the Saints to get Sean Payton.

Then $16 million to $18 million a year is what Sean Payton's asking for. And Ian Rappaport has said every owner has that. Every owner has $16 million to $18 million. Now, if it's $25 million, every owner has that, but it's a little bit different. There's only a few that would probably spend that and break the salary cap list coaching contract thing wide open. Some people are reporting that maybe the Broncos, I think Florio's reporting that the Broncos' new ownership

doesn't want to ruffle any feathers with the whole salary cap on the coach thing and pay Sean Payton $30 million to be the head coach. They don't have to know, though, right? Can't they keep it private how much they pay the coach? Yeah, right. Sean Payton has no agent? Is he doing this himself? Yeah, you're right.

I guess, yeah. I mean, I don't know. Make that part of the deal. Hey, we'll give you 22 mil. You better shut up. If anyone finds out about it, it goes down to 12. Yeah, but Sean Payton's agent is probably negotiating for another coach yeah and he's like hey this was this was Sean yeah it's all it all gets out which is a weird thing every

player's contract gets out so everybody on earth knows exactly how much money a player is supposed to have they don't account for taxes and living your life and everything like that kind of puts a target on some people potentially in their own neighborhoods or family but it is what it is it is professional sports nobody's really buried the cardinals for their facilities being trashed though for a long time we buried the bangles for not having an indoor facility for the first few years of this show this is something we should turn our hey we should turn our attention to i think tractor beam straight on yeah well i remember coming out people would say always, like, hey, if you came from a big college program,

you're going to be let down by the facilities at the next level. It's going to be much smaller than you're used to because the team is so much smaller. I mean, you have half the guys pretty much than you do in college, and you're not recruiting. You're drafting guys. Hey, here you go, buddy. Here's our facilities. You want to go somewhere else, your contract's up in four years.

This is your locker, whether you like it or or not we're not doing recruiting tours or visits we're not selling you on anything this is your locker that you're in and this shower is your you have to wait in line because we only got three heads in here and obviously 53 guys and there's no doors on the shitter you know like that's all right sorry about it we had a couple break we figured the best thing to do would just be get rid of them. But I think that's bad business. I think it's a bad idea. I think you invest in your business, you get more in return,

even though old school people don't think that, I guess, AJ. It's changing, though. I think that's changing. I know whatever with my YouTube algorithm, I see all the time these nice new facilities popping up, whether it's like Arizona State's golf facility or these basketball places. Like they're all like it's very public knowledge, like oh, how these guys are taking care of their bodies and how they can do all these things to extend their lives.

Yeah, good bodies. When I came to the Colts, now the West Virginia locker room we were in from my freshman year to my senior year changed completely. Senior year completely different than what it was the first three years because we won a bunch of games. You know, we won a bunch of games, big games. A bunch of money comes into the university. The school gets built up.

New classrooms, new buildings are built up. The stadium gets built up. Our locker room gets built up. We only got to experience it for like a year, me, the class that I was a part of, Pat, Steve, everybody. Then you get to the NFL, we get to the Colts facility, and it was bad. It was a bad facility. And Jim Irsay builds this Pete Dye golf course outside,

and it's like a multimillion-dollar golf course outside the facility. And there was a full discussion. Not by me. I was a rookie. I'm not talking about anything, the business, nothing. There was a full discussion there like're like oh ain't that nice got a pete dye golf course outside and we still have the single cold tub that we have to basically sign up for when every other college that every guy's been to has an entire pool and you would

think you would want your players to be doing this getting rehab prehab getting better so they can play better oh we're flying on smaller planes. You got smaller this. The food's shitty. Like, it's like, what are you? That seems like such bad business to me. That seems like such bad business to me. But it doesn't matter because the NFL is like this.

The numbers have come out. 59 million people watched that CBS broadcast of the Chiefs and the Bengals this past weekend. That means 59 million people at its peak. and the Bengals this past weekend. That means 59 million people at its peak. Listen to this legend chit-chat about the rules of the greatest game on earth. 59 million people got to listen to this Western Pennsylvania pie zone break down why what was happening was happening, what he would have done. He's not scared to say, hey, I think that's a bad call

because he's a great fucking human ladies and gentlemen probably the greatest ref that the nfl has ever had now cbs rules analyst gene steritor how we doing gino patty how are you my friend and listen congratulations on the expecting uh you're expecting your first child here in a few months. So we're really happy for you. Everybody's happy for you, Patty. Man, Gene, thank you so much for that. It is great to see your face again. We can't thank you enough for joining us.

We know you're very busy. And I will relay the message to my wife who's watching, who is also a massive fan of yours. Hey, you need to know everybody in the McAfee family, my mom, my dad my dad my wife my brother everybody loves gene steritor western pennsylvania pies on done great hey you done great gino you done great hey it's good to see you aj you too gene yeah you know you're the the most famous uh referee slash tv guy out there so yeah i appreciate you coming on okay let's talk about this gene

let's talk about this and there's a reason for that you're the most famous because you're the best at it this is kind of how it goes one hand in hand you are going to deflect that and talk about everybody else and how great of a ref your dad was and your brother is and fuck all that you are the man okay you are one of one and when the league lost you it was a big hit but now that you're on tv it feels like you get to talk more and more i I think this is good for the fans to hear you speak. Is that something that's planned or is that just your relationship with Jim and Tony? You know, I think it's a combination of both. Being in the press box with Jim and Tony in real time, right? It's so much different than when I'm in studio. You don't have to go through those

different channels to get on air. And truly, their confidence in me, the atmosphere and the vibe in there in these last three games especially because I don't get to be with them week in and week out. Really, it's an amazing feeling and real comfortable. They've been great with me. And, you know, we don't want to be on air that much, right? I mean, if I'm talking too much, it means that, you know, there's too many things that are relating to officiating occurring.

So, you know, I'll sacrifice a maritime for a well-officiated game. I think we all would. But whenever it's going south, I appreciate the fact that you'll say, probably shouldn't have called this one here. I wouldn't have seen it. But obviously you're getting the slow motion replay to judge from. In real life, you're able to make those calls too. Go ahead, AJ.

Gene, what do officials believe out there on the field? I know back when I would ask officials during a replay, I'd say, hey, what do you think here? And they would tell me, I just want to get it right. We just want to get it right no matter what it is. Do refs, are they offended if it goes to replay? Do they want to be right? How does it work, Is that like, do refs, are they offended if they go to replay?

Do they want to be right? Like, how does it work, do you think, in the hierarchy of their priorities? Like, hey, I want to be right on the first. I don't want replay to mess this up. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I evolved through it, right? So when I started in the league, replay wasn't nearly as big as it is now. Also, the officials, the majority of officials now in the NFL,

the ones that have been hired in the last eight or nine years, they dealt with replay at the college level where I didn't. There was no replay when I worked college football. You had to make the call, right? So you were a little more aggressive. You didn't officiate kind of safe on certain plays thinking that, hey, replay can bail me out. Look, it's a pass fumble. You've got to make the call. There's no challenge here.

There's no replay. look, it's a pass fumble. You got to make the call. There's no challenge here. There's no replay. So as I, you know, kind of as it evolved, reluctantly, I will say the old timers were against that, right? You just, you want to work the game. You want to have the pressure to know that what I decided to do in this split second is real. And that's why I'm here, right? I mean, that's a level of your confidence you have to have to survive in that atmosphere. Now, as replays evolved and we know there are certain plays, regardless of how good you are, you get screened. There's an angle. This thing isn't split second time. Then when replay started to kind of evolve to get those kind of plays right. Yeah, that's what you want. You want what's right for the game, ain't you?

Right. I mean, that's who we're accountable to. And you want the game to be played correctly based on the actions that happen. Now, at some point, though, does replay start becoming, you know, getting a mind of its own, and I think we're kind of working into that area right now. So, I don't want to, like, just point out one thing that isn't the NFL, but

if you look back on that Michigan-TCU game on that touchdown, that long ball, replay was able to just pause when it seemed like the football was in his hands. He was past the goal line. And then all of a sudden, if you actually run the replay the rest of the way, he bobbles it again. He never had possession.

But at that one still frame, ball in hand, touchdown. I guess there is certainly those types of situations. But even you can agree maybe. I don't know. I guess I'll ask you, hey hey 59 million people watching at its peak chiefs bangles in the entire internet and obviously the internet is what it is but the internet should be taken seriously because it is at least a focus group of what people are actually thinking the refs have not been a topic of discussion all year it is not there's been a

couple weeks where we let off shows going these ref refs seemingly. In years past, it's every single week. This year, it seems like they've kind of been staying out of it. Then Chiefs-Bengals, I mean, it is the discussion. The game's rigged. These refs are making plays, are making calls so they can benefit the league and what the storyline is. That can't happen. Right, Gene?

That can't be happening. How do we get it better, Gene? How do we get it better? Listen, I've got to be a little bit blunt here on that one like that's not even a topic i can even discuss i can't even think into that world let it live in the social sphere it lives in uh that conspiracy controversy stuff how do we fix it though gene gene how do we you know what we you you got to get better patty right it's like anything else um you you just have to get better uh what you said about the Michigan

play right I don't like the fact that we're reviewing plays frame by frame catches look like somebody's had the ball for a light year when they haven't had the ball for a second there's 200 plus frames per second so you know review plays at 25 30 slower than real time and if it doesn't jump off the screen at you from that point on move on it's it's not a big enough play to to to overturn i think we're in that a little bit overly technical right so some of that gets in your head too you're trying to get a play right in real time now you get reviewed in this frame by frame world where you know what you saw was ball movement he doesn't possess the ball i've got a feel for that out there. Now we go upstairs. They're click by click, click, click, click.

All of a sudden it's changed. It gets in your psyche a little bit. Now you're a competitor. So now how do I get to that level to get that right? Or do I become less aggressive, right? Because I'm apprehensive on that. So is there that climate or culture feeling? I think that's a possibility.

So it's this fluid navigation right now of where we go with technology. Expedited review. What's an expedited review as opposed to a challengeable play? You know, when is it clear and obvious after the second replay that now we can come in and just change it? Should we change the challenge format as a result of that you know the philly play is the play that's the play that that's the review i lived the last 10 years right long pass some smoke right out of the out of the gate but don't see the ball right that's how i live now i watched the play i was in the tv truck getting ready to go upstairs when that play hit so you see him land never see the ball you he's in that crumble mode So that's smoke because I just didn't see the ball.

Okay, so guess what the offense is going to do? They're going no huddle. They're running 40 yards, right, keeping the same defensive package in, also knowing if they go no huddle, no defensive substitute, no match, no six seconds of matching time to get the third replay up. So the chess match begins right in that five seconds. They get up there. It's early in the game. Does Coach Shanahan want to throw like now? get the third replay up so the chess match begins right in that five seconds they get up there it's

early in the game does coach shanahan want to throw like now because if i don't get this one right no matter what happens i only have one more right or wrong after that so now this whole element comes into play and uh you know this play that's smoke right there's smoke there all right so so now i'm looking if i'm replay, replay, replay. But I also only have like five or six seconds, so TV can't bring in two or three more angles than that before the snap occurs. We thought when Devontae got up and started doing the hand signal that maybe that would cue Shanahan to throw the challenge flag because the only person that seemingly knew, including camera operators

and everybody in the stadium, would have been Devontae on whether or not he caught it. So I don't think that's the big one. The big one from the weekend, Gene, is the third and nine. The third and nine replay, especially fourth quarter, third down is the money down. They get a stop. They're off the field.

Then that ref, we did see from the wide shot, that ref did come out beforehand, wanted to fix the clock. Can you go through the field then that ref we did see from the wide shot that ref did come out beforehand wanted to fix the clock can you go through the protocol of that because if that if that play goes off without a hitch none of the players know that there's a fuck up with the clock none of the coaches know that why didn't the ref just fix that afterwards is that something he could have done or no yeah front end let me just hit that real quick now and i mean this seriously um you don't lose seconds in the nfo when you mean this seriously. You don't lose seconds in the NFL when you're roughing, okay? We don't lose seconds. If the clock is running and it's not supposed to run, you shut this thing down.

We don't lose seconds. We're not going to have a 20-second little blurb there where, hey, you know, it's not a big, you know, the game, we still have a lot of time. No, no, no. Seconds mean everything. You stop the game. Now, in the real progression of time. No, no, no. Seconds mean everything. You stop the game. Now, in the real progression of that whole thing, you've got to rewind back. When the incomplete pass occurs, the ball was set ready

for play, right? So the team's in the huddle. They break the huddle. All of a sudden, an official comes in to move the ball. So then they reset the ball right there after that. This is before what you're showing right now. So they move the football. They readjust it. Ron Torbert pumps the play clock back up to 25 because they had to adjust the ball. Now he chops the ball ready for play and either he winds, I believe he was quoted that he didn't wind, but at some point then mental breakdown clock operator starts the game clock. That's after an incomplete pass. Now, when that occurs, officials need to see that, right? So even though they highlight this downfield official, who is an amazing official, I grew up working with him. That is not his responsibility as a primary job in between downs. That responsibility occurs to one of the line judge on the field. But this official, even though he went through all of the things that he does in between downs, right? Is there a substitution? 11 on defense, total breaks. I got the widest receiver. Is he being press covered? That's what he's going

through in his progression. But he's good enough to also look and see, is the play clock all right? Is the game clock running or not? He's extra help. So that's why he starts coming in late because that's not his thing. Someone else had a mental breakdown. There were multiple levels of concentration breakdown in a 20 second window there, right? So my thing though is, look, it was loud in there. I've been into some loud stadiums, Seattle, NFC championship games where you couldn't touch your ears for two days. It hurts so bad, the noise. So whether he's blowing or whether he's not blowing there,

I can't tell you that, but you have to keep coming because what happens now when the play finishes, finishes now, right? You know how we see late fall starts being called and the play's halfway down and someone's running in the backfield killing it because we can't let this finish because we could have an unnecessary roughness penalty occur on a play that didn't occur we got to enforce it so once he commits now everybody's got to echo it's like having an inadvertent whistle you don't want to have it we got to shut this down that is it and then reset

don't let the play finish so optically administrative, look, there's just no excuse. The officials will be the first to tell you, you cannot have concentration breakdowns at any level, at any game. That's part of what we do. When that occurs now, then it seemed like things started to spin fast. This plays occurred. They re-huddled again. I don't know if they're communicating with someone or not on that. How do we put this back

or what's the best decision right to do here do we do what you said you know look at it in my backyard that's what i'm doing yes exactly i mean hey guys no go back and rewind with all your technology that was a 17 second play right go back to 10 26 or whatever when it was the duck 17 and then we're going again. I mean, that's what common sense is telling you to do, right? Yeah, that's in my backyard. That's not at Kansas City in that moment, and you're looking now for help in a situation that truly I don't believe I can remember a do-over. I just don't remember it. I don't remember

that. So now you make another decision of how we're going to try to fix this. And then that decision's made. Is that on Ron or is that somebody in his ear telling him that this is what we should do? I can't say one way or the other, Pat, right? I mean, I know that there is more communication now than there's ever been. I was not privy to that level of communication. Hey, move the ball or good spot or this or that. Maybe that's occurring to assist some of that administration now. Back in my day, you just got together at seven and looked at each other like, yo, we got a serious issue right now. How do we work through this and what's the best way to work through it?

Because I know one thing. I got the white hat on. No matter what we do, I'm in trouble for the rest of the week. I'm going to be on the phone until Thursday. So one of you other six joshes, tell me what I need to do right now so we can at least, you know, so we can get through this thing, right, and at least make it. This is what's hard, right? Again, like what AJ was saying, you want to get it right. We can't get it right now, right't we can't get it right now right we can't get it right now so what is the what is the best thing in a reactionary time to get it as close to right again and now they make that decision guess

what next play defensive hold good call solid call solid. Don't pass on the call because we think, oh, we gave so-and-so an unfair advantage. No. Foul. We're back to where we just left. Whether what we did for the last three minutes you liked or not, that's defensive holding. Okay? It's also no points, but you guys live the world. It's another series. It's another two minutes of game time.

Field position changed momentum wavered and in those games you know it fellas like every snap it just elevates in that place every snap of that game is like the biggest play of the game until the next snap so that was affected um so again um in an official's world like i would come home knowing this was just a tainted game and i had something to do with it not finishing or going in the way it needed i think there's never going to be a perfect game from the officials obviously you guys are striving for that but there's so many you know judgment calls and everything like that and fans are never going to think that the refs do great.

But whenever that stuff happens with 59 million people watching in a season on the line, especially in the AFC Championship game, it's like, damn, how do these people get picked for these roles? Like Carl Sheffers is the ref for the Super Bowl. His crew was the most flag-happy crew of the year. This is what's being reported now. It's all-star crews, right? These are the best refs.

Who's scoring that? it's all-star crews right these are the best refs who's scoring that who's judging that and does the nfl know that hey like on the super bowl 150 million we cannot have what just took place in the afc championship is that something that's being talked about or is it just assumed no that's what's being talked about i mean because that's reality right i mean this is reality and as you said, this isn't Carl Scheffers' crew. This is a selection that goes through a very detailed grading process, I'm sure, very similar. And I mean this humbly, maybe even more meticulously than you guys were graded in your game film

when you sit down and watch every play from four angles. Nice. And they had meticulous. I didn't know that, Gene. That happens every week? Every single week, every single play from at angles. Nice. And they had meticulous. I didn't know that, Gene. That happens every week? Every single week, every single play from at least three camera angles and possibly a close-up angle if you're going to hit on a quarterback. So we watch coaches tape sideline, coaches tape end zone, TV cut,

and then possibly isos on that play if it needs even more scrutiny. So, look, I was downgraded by the Sky Cam a couple times. How do you get downgraded by the Sky cam a couple times how do you get downgraded by the sky cam you how do you respond to that grade you say look it put me on a wire and fly me fly me over the stadium i can get that play but i can't get that play from 12 yards i can't see there's 700 pounds of humanity in between but that's the reality of it that's the reality of it. That's the level of scrutiny that we went through. Grading in the NFL and that work through process was a six to eight hour process every week, every week,'s between eight and ten retired officials or people in those positions, right, that are looking. Every position has a trainer that more than likely was a longtime official or someone of that magnitude in that position. So there's multiple levels of evaluation.

so uh there's multiple levels uh of evaluation and within that and within that that is where you split the difference and into who works what categories super bowl refs always come out of the division round okay so when you guys watch round two after the wild card that crew will come out of those games that are played in the divisional round. It's the only group of playoff officials that work twice during the postseason, right? Wild cards, you work your wild card game, you're gone. Championships, you might be an alternate in the wild card round. You're down there on the field or on the sideline, you work the championship. You work on the field in the divisional, seven of you are going to go work the Super Bowl in two weeks. We just don't know who at that point, right? So that's how that breakdown occurs as far as postseason

assignments. Got it. Got it, AJ. Gene, what are your thoughts on creating these all-star teams of refs instead of just keeping them with the crew that they've worked with all year long and they feel comfortable with? It's a great question, AJ. You know, I was always an advocate of, It's a great question, AJ. You know, I was always an advocate of I want to go into battle with my best people at that time. Because you have to understand, too, through the course of a season, right, there are 17 crews in the NFL. Those 17 crews are made up of one or two officials on that crew that may have six years or less experience. You want to bookend that official on the sideline with somebody downfield or upfield from him or her that might have 15 plus years so that you're mentoring while the game goes. So you have to spread experience and match that as the season goes so that you can put out a consistent product on all 17 games with, you know, with those different levels involved there. And within that evolution during the season, hopefully that's how the youth and less experienced official is gaining a lot of game management experience because they're in proximity of someone that's doing that. Now, when we get to listen, we're playing now to go get this trophy. OK, I want my top six people.

Truthfully, you know, I'm old school. I thought I love the final fours back when I was a kid. The same two or three guys would work three of the next five final fours. Yeah, that's your window. Go get that. You know what I mean? And when one or two retire, then one or two two you get a chance to get in that mix because that's who that's who lives at that altitude within the staff so with that experience what

is it fairness is that the fairness thing like the divisional round and wild card round and then championship round it's like who's our best refs let's have them out there for every game possible that's my basketball mentality pat That's kind of where I live, right? But look, we also have to understand that there's only 17 individuals in each position in the NFL working that level of football in the world. 10 of you need to be those people. That's why you're on this stage to begin with. So are they interchangeable parts? No. But do we need to have that level of officiating prowess to have that pool to choose from? Yeah. But if we're all talking about, hey, we want to see the same three guys every time or gobbles, then that just means our team's not,

we're not deep. We can't, you know what I mean? Look, you don't want to go into any game with, I got nobody behind me here. Don't get hurt, Pat. Well, the Colts, we only had one. We did not have a lot of depth. That's why we were bad on special teams. But that is the way the team was built there. Those were probably not real successful years. Yes.

Well. They aren't. All right. Relax. I said probably. Yeah, a guy out of Moontownship has a question for you, AQ Shipley. My man. Gene, how we doing? What's up, AQ? How are you, my friend? I'm probably. Yeah, a guy out of Moontownship has a question for you, AQ Shipley. My man. Gene, how we doing?

What's up, AQ? How are you, my friend? I'm great. Hey, offensive holding has become a big, big, big microscope on the Internet right now. I think it's the hardest thing to call, right? Because you could call it every play if you wanted to. You really could. You could call it every single play.

Can you talk a little bit about what they're looking at and if they're scanning or if they're watching individual people or kind of how the whole offensive holding is broken down that's a great question i'll do it real quick in two parts it uh referee and umpire both an offensive backfield split the interior line on the side of the field that they're on so referees on the right hand always in the offensive backfield. He works right guard, right tackle. Umpire works center, left guard, left tackle. Sweep away from me if they sweep left or run wide left with me. I'm working those backside people, looking to the second level to see the blocking on linebackers,

going to that second level. If it's play side, I work from the inside out. Start with the guard, get to the tackle. Because my outside official is working from the tight end back in, so we're bookending that play and covering it. Now, relating to the level of how you apply the art of when is it really a hold or when it isn't, that's the art of officiating, right? So, yeah, is there restriction on every play?

Yes, there is. Is he holding him within the framework of his body, right? The defense is not outside the frame. He's basically happy to be there while he's just getting jammed, stock blocked and jammed. And now when he tries to get out of that tight restriction, which is fine, right? I'm inside of you. My feet aren't beat.

I'm owning you. And now you try to swim, move me, get to my edge. And now you restrict me outside of your frame. Now we're in that place where it rose to a level of now, is it a foul or not? Right? Gene, this is the play that's being talked about. Obviously there's two parts to this. Everybody's talking about the holds that are happening. Two of them before he even starts to run left tackle, right guard, either of these holds, if we're to break down in slow motion,'t called live into play yeah yeah the left tackle play i think the initial thing if we watch the initial charts from the from the left tackle play the defense comes in

hard then he dips a little bit it's almost like he's going to attempt to rip but he doesn't and the tackle gets on top of him for a second. I wouldn't call that because defense initially put himself there. But then we get engaged. Then we're locked. Now when Patrick starts to roll to the right, now he continues to restrict on that shoulder, which doesn't allow that defender to kind of get away from that restriction to start pursuing.

So to me, in that level, that's when it rose to, okay, now we have a hold, right? But it's at the end. This first dip by 91, that's a dip. Now I got a half rip. Now I'm holding. Now I'm trying to get away and I have the restriction. Is he going to get there? More than likely not, but he's close enough in proximity of Mahomes at this point right here when he starts to break back to his right,

that now that hand outside on the shoulder pad he's out of the frame he's trying to now pursue to the defender's left and that restriction now has elevated to where now again slow motion breaking down he's materially affecting that defender's ability to continue to make the play he should have a right guard have a right guard there give? Give me that one. Let me run it back. I'll break it down for you. Without my bifocals right now.

Atta baby, Gino. It looks like half rip, and then he's starting to ride. See, if the defender put himself in that rip and just starts to ride while he's got pressure on the inside of that tackle, unless he can really beat his feet, you'll watch if you roll back to the beginning of what appears to be a rip right now go ahead forward when you see the dip now okay defender you put that right arm of that offensive player around you he didn't go hook you around the around the neck right okay but you better beat him now and get ahead of him get north to the quarterback

for me to then say the guy going to drop right about there is when it does occur so it's kind of in that blended mode right there right so in that world we live and really then these are the mental snapshots when you're in the game and watch that play maybe happen 10 times this game you and that umpire need to know what you have called what you have allowed and for players and coaches and for the game you have to be on the same page to know we're letting that go today and now we're calling that today hey fourth quarter 14 seconds left too that's a big time and a lot of people get pissed off about a ref making any call there like hey let the players decide whether or not this is swallow the whistle is what you hear a lot of players say like let the players do the thing but then at the

end of the play here gene end of the play obviously becomes the late hit heard round literally the world he was clearly out of bounds have to call this have to call this gotta call it yeah i gotta call about it i mean this is two feet in the white look osas is hustling right you guys know how quick this occurs but i mean at this point this isn in the white. Look, Osas is hustling, right? You guys know how quick this occurs. But, I mean, at this point, this isn't one of those tiptoes, you know, a tiptoe. And right before his foot hits the white, he gets blown up. One, two, boom, I'm finishing you. It has to be called.

That's just a foul. That's a foul the first play of the game. It's a foul the last play of the game. That's where that play has to live. Yeah, his right foot's out, left foot out. Well he's hovering he's not necessarily there it's like and he's a quarterback yeah you know he's there look the one that used to bother me a little bit not bother me that was hard for me and it's with the younger quarterbacks the lamar jackson's my day michael vicks those ones cam they would start up the sideline right and then try to get that extra one more yard as they go north and south.

We don't know if he's in or out. And now all of a sudden that foot just hits in the white and he gets blown up. I wouldn't call that. You know what I mean? Because you're trying to just get out of bounds. This is an insignificant yard. Don't be tight roping here and then your foot just hits the white and you get blown up. And you want me to what now?

Protect that. No, go out of bounds bounds leave the yard for the next down don't put me in that box i'm not protecting you there that would deter hopefully right the quarterback the next time you got to that place to go i got no love about three minutes ago it hurt i'm just gonna go out made my life a little easier then gene you're also very vocal with everybody and communicating with everybody, which I think is a massive part of the whole managing the game, which some guys can't do. AJ has a question for you, Gino.

Speaking of being vocal, Gene, we have seen happen a few times lately. We know they don't like kickers getting that free kick in if they're getting iced, if they're calling this timeout. We've seen multiple refs go in there, sprint in, knock the ball down, and then kind of peacock around the backfield like, yeah, you're not practicing today, buddy.

Is that like a directive from the front office? Like why are they jumping in there? Someone's going to get hurt. You know what? If it is, it wasn't when I was around, AJ. I'm not jumping in there. You know what I mean? I don't know if anybody,

Patty, I know, I watched you putt a lot of years. Come on. If you showed a slow motion replay of what happens to a football when a leg like yours initially hits it, I don't want to be three feet from where that football left your foot because that thing's coming.

Like, that's not a snowball down here back in South Park throwing a little fluffer out. You know what I mean? That thing's coming out like a bullet to you. And I'm not taking that. I bruise now. I'm old.

I bruise easy. I'm not going in there, AJ. I'm letting you kick it. Hey, what was the, it does feel like that is something that happens because we would definitely talk about getting a mulligan and getting an extra kick. Like if they're going to call a timeout late, now that's their coach's prerogative right the coach is strategically waiting for you to get close so he can battle with you mentally so then the next time you don't know if you're going that's part of their strategy well if you call it late and we get a snap off we're getting a mulligan too and then it became something is that special teams coordinators bitching about that which also leads

to the foreign object being brought on the field about the spot like is that all special teams coordinators bitching or how do we get here how do we get here gino well uh the uh the follow-through see i was on both sides of the fence with when i would see it i would think like but i don't have a good night either like what if you hit that practice one and you just like really shank it yeah like would that be worse you know what i mean like you did follow like, really shanked it? Yeah. Like, would that be worse? You know what I mean? Like, you did follow through, but you, like, duffed it.

Like, it was bad. I don't know if that helps you for the next one. So I get the mulligan. So I always played both sides and just figured just let it happen and we'll get to the next play. It was like goaltending, right, where you call the shooting foul and he still lets the jumper go, and the guy goes up and rejects it. Like, you're not going to watch it go through the hoop.

I don't care it's a foul. They do the same thing in hoops, so I always let that go too. Now that little piece of paper or that little, hey, you know, I saw that happen a few times out there, and it's not permitted, and it shouldn't be permitted. You know, just put your finger down and kick the football now you know if you got to come out with a piece of scotch tape stuck to your calf and rip a couple you know leg hairs off to stick a white piece of paper down so i can

get my kick off then you got to go back and work on your psychology and get through that uh gene you're the absolute best we can't thank you enough for joining us man you the league go back and work on your psychology and get through that. Gene, you're the absolute best. We can't thank you enough for joining us, man. The league lost out whenever you stopped officiating. You were incredible. You're a great pioneer for officiating. I think you're a great face of the NFL, and we're very happy you're getting a lot of face time on CBS.

You're the absolute man, Paisan. We're all incredibly proud of you and thankful for you. Thanks, Paddy. Thanks, guys. It's great to see you. Big Diggs, I hope I see you at the next softball outing down in southwestern PA at some point, my friend. Listen, if you're up at first base in your full ref costume with a yellow flag, I will be there, my friend.

Is that happening? When you challenge it, Diggs, he thinks he wanted to challenge. I think Cam Hayward hit one. 480 feet. Diggs, he said it was outside of the pole. He was looking for the red flag. He said, dump the flag. I want to challenge that. Do you ever put the old uniform on at night, look in the mirror,

and say, I still got it? If they were to pay more than these TV people would, I'd get back on the field. I can't do it, but I got to tell you, you got to push back a little on that money grab thing now. Don't forget, I was working 75 or 80 Division I basketball games while I was doing a little NFL too. So, you know, although I've been compensated very well,

I truly did leave this game to try to help this fraternity. That's the truth. And for family reasons and lack of, you know, the travel. It's 30 years on the road, man, you know, 180 days a year. It's time to kick back, enjoy it on the back end a little bit, but try to recruit in all seriousness. And you said it. Hey, former players, we need a pipeline, I think, don't we, James?

We need to have people officiate. High school kids need to play games, right? We need to have friday night lights there are states in this country right now that are playing football three or four days a week because there are not enough officials to cover high school football okay so and this is what's this is what's tough right this is what we're talking about today do i want to do that do i want to put myself into that uh so i i spend an awful lot of time in that space now. And that was also a decision that or a part of why I made the decision that I made as well. This platform and CBS has been

wonderful. And they're providing me with this recognition to hopefully pay that forward for the game. We can't play without reps, right? Third team on the field or court has to be there. Not only that, they have to be good. So it's important. And we need to continue to get that message out in a positive way as much as possible. And yeah, it's the athlete's life, Pat. That's what I'd love to talk to all these college and high school young athletes is

look at when you're 22, what percentage of you will play for money? Let's just be honest about it, right? But when you live an athlete's life, you are juggling your personal life, your studies, your workout, your diet, your sleep. You're doing all these multitasking things. That's one of the beauties of being a great athlete is managing that many different things. That's exactly what I did as a ref. You're managing the same types of things.

And so you live the athlete's life as Father Tom kicks your ass. Well, it is a real challenging thing athletically, brother. You know what I mean? Father Tom, don't lose that treadmill back there. It's not just for show. Well, you kicked ass. You did incredible incredible and we're so thankful you joined us hopefully we'll get to talk to you soon we love you man we appreciate you ladies and gentlemen gene sterlethorpe in preparation for his big time golf tournament a truncated edition of this particular program one that we all look forward to every single week, our favorite day of the week.

Ladies and gentlemen, four-time NFL MVP, the COVID MVP, the former or current quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, ladies and gentlemen, Aaron Rodgers. Hey! Wow. What's up, guys? You look like you're on a movie set right now, dude.

You look wonderful. Where are you, pal? I am in the tailor-made trailer here getting a new driver fitted for me. Oh! How do we feel? How do we feel? Are we bombing it right now or are we finding the stroke? Great. I've played one time since August, so my game is dialed.

Yeah, but isn't that what you did whenever you did the match and you showed up and you drained that 15-foot left-to-right putt to win the whole thing? That was like your first time playing in a year. You're better that way, aren't you? Well, it wasn't my first time playing in a year. Pretty much. You came straight out of fucking Hungary or whatever.

I mean, you were straight out, right onto the course, right on national television. I had to get tatted up. I had to get tatted up. Sick mean, you were straight out, right onto the course, right on national television. Had to get tatted up. Had to get tatted up. Sick tat, too. That was a sick tat. All right, we won't waste much of your time. We thank you for joining us.

Obviously, you're in preparation of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. One that you were able to play in for the first time in a long time. We think you're going to do great. We'll get him. We think you're going to do great. Let's dive right in here. Have you thought about football much, or has everything been geared towards the pebble beach pro-am and still trying to figure out your life where are you right now as we sit uh at this exact moment i haven't been thinking about much of

anything to be honest and it's been great i've been enjoying my time off i had a little trip out to nashville to see uh randall Cobb and my godson for his birthday, and I got to run into that Bakhtiari clan. So I got to see Dave. He looks heavy, I will admit. He's definitely put on some LBs in his recreation time. He assures me that they'll come off pretty quickly, but he looks a little bloated right now. He says it's some of the baby weight that's just coming off now, They'll come off pretty quickly, but he looks a little bloated right now.

He says it's some of the baby weight that's just coming off now. Great to see him and his brothers and his sister and his brother-in-law. It's just every time you go to a Bakhtiari event, you know it's going to be a good time. That's fantastic. I'm happy to hear you're enjoying yourself. Good, AJ. Did you swing by the facility and talk to Coach Braves at all while you're down there about possibly joining the Titans next year? That seems to be floating around out there. I didn't. I was out of cigarettes, so I

didn't even have a conversation starter to hit up Braves. I was all out of black and mild so i didn't uh i didn't think i had an entry point in order to start a convo with him could you imagine if raves is smoking black and mild or or anything like instead of just more burrows which i thought it was him out at tahoe coming back from the round with four fucking patches in, throwing the cigarette thing away, and hitting a vape at the same time. I'm like, this guy is a fucking legend. Do you still have raw land down there in Nashville, or do you have a house down there now?

That's the rumor, but, you know, just picking up on something you just mentioned, he might not be the only coach that likes to vape. There was that video of another coach possibly doing a little vape vape on the sideline as well. I think that was a marker. I think it was a marker, but McDaniel did seem like. I like the vape story better. Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.

That's what AJ always says. Agreed, and when he came into our studio in Indianapolis when he was in town for the combine, I would have thought maybe he did have a couple vapes. Not the nicotine variety. The other variety because of how fantastic. DMT vapes? Maybe. DMT vapes for AirRiding Network floats in your circles?

They have those, right? I didn't hear what he said. DMT. DMT vape pens. Yeah, they got them. Do they really? They have DMT vapes? I don't have one. They do yeah i don't have one but that's upset of the century you don't have one that they exist i think don't you think

i agree yes i feel like you need a remedy that is there any remedy that well i think at the pro-am there's probably going to be numerous people that go like hey heard on tuesday didn, didn't have one of these, go one of these, go one of these. I'm excited to hear it. So you haven't thought about football much, huh? Just been trying to enjoy life, kick back and relax and see what everything's cooking? No, of course I thought about football. I watched the games this weekend. The, you know, the second one was enjoyable. Obviously the first one, Purdy going down, didn't have anywhere near the same type of excitement. So yeah, you watch that game and you let your mind drift off to what it would be like to still be playing and all those thoughts come back to you.

Then you come up to Pebble Beach and you're like, this part of life is pretty amazing, doing things like this more often. It's going to be a little bit more time for my decision. And, you know, I feel confident that in a couple weeks I'll feel definitely more strongly about one of the two decisions. Okay, so you have to make your decision. And every time we talk about anything that could potentially take place with you because obviously you've earned this chatter from around the NFL

with how great you are as a football player, you have to still decide whether or not you want to play football. That's a real thing still happening, right? That is a real thing, yes. Like weighing heavy on your mind still, like a real battle, like we're doing pros and cons on a dry erase board, or is it just a gut instinct thing that's still happening? I mean, I wouldn't say weighing heavy. I don't think that's the right uh description of it i would say you know when when you've played as long as i have and you you you know like to recap and

each week you know the things that happened and you enjoy journaling and different things i think it's important to to look at the tone of those things and where your mind is when you get away from it. Because you have to get away from the emotion of it. And that's why I always think I can't make a decision until after the Super Bowl at the earliest because there's still football going on, number one. Number two, it ain't about me.

It's about the Chiefs and the Eagles still playing and the great season that they've had. Respect. But I think you've got to be cognizant of what was going through your mind during the season. Did you enjoy the grind as much? Did you enjoy practice? Did you enjoy the meeting time?

Did you enjoy the routine? And not forget about those feelings and make an emotional response either way. I think that's important. So, listen, I'll answer the questions that you give me, but it's not something that's on my mind 24-7. It's not on my mind that much at all, to be honest with you. It's just settling into this part of the end of January and February

and contemplating my life for the next few months and then trying to see if football fits into that. All right, enjoy the hell out of yourself. You've earned it. You deserve it. So how do you see this going? You have to figure out what you want to do, and then your first call is to the Packers,

and then you let them know what you're thinking, and then they said that we'll let you know what we're thinking, and then that's kind of how the whole process will unfold you think i think so i mean it sounds like there's already conversations going on that aren't involving me which are interesting um you know honestly i've been insulated to a lot of that like i said i was in in nashville and and then i'll be up here uh you know this week playing in the tournament so uh I'm not a part of those conversations right now when I make up my mind one way or another then uh you guys and Packers not in that order but and everybody else will uh we'll know at some point okay cool excited for you to go through your whole process Ty has a question for you yeah Aaron just

curious if you heard about it I mean I'm I'm sure you have, but maybe you haven't if you've just been enjoying yourself. But I think it was Romeo Dobbs went on Maggie and Pertloff and said that you guys didn't hang out once outside of the facility. I don't think he meant anything by it necessarily. Maybe he did, but then obviously it was the same kind of rinse and repeat. This guy's a shitty teammate. No one likes him.

He doesn't hang out with anyone outside of the facility. Are you at this point surprised by any of that shit? Do you pay any attention to it or any credence to it? Or is it kind of just like, oh, here we go again? Any little reason for people to kind of be negative about you and shit on you? Like they'll take it and run with it. Well, it's the same tired voices, I think, for the most part. It's people that either aren't playing or, you know, weren't anywhere near my level,

still trying to have a name on TV, or people that enjoy trying to run with a narrative that makes me look bad. Listen, I'm 100% attendance on every team party. I don't know that every person can say that on the squad, so that's a chance to hang out with me in those venues. I'm damn near 100% every single line dinner. We do some dinners on the road. So I feel like I spend a lot of time with my teammates, and I love that time. Now there's obviously ones you're closer with than others. Dave and Randall are two of my closest friends on the team.

I spend a lot of time with them. Bobby and Alan spend a good amount of time with them as well, two of my closest buddies on the team. Mason Crosby, go over to his house. But what those guys have in common, especially Mason and Dave and Randall, is they're in their 30s. Old as fuck. I'm 39 years old.

The things that I'm thinking about and doing and spending my time doing are a little probably different than a 21 and 22 year old. After the day is done, I'm not going home playing video games all night on Twitch and all these different things young kids do, which is awesome.

I have no problem with that. You spend your time wherever you want to spend it. I'm just not maybe having the same interest. So, I love rooms. I mean, I enjoy playing with rooms. I enjoy our conversation in the room. I enjoy seeing his personality come out. But there's two types of leaders, you know.

And there's leaders that want to be liked, first and foremost, and respected, second. And there's leaders that want to be respected, and foremost and respected second. And there's leaders that want to be respected first and foremost and liked second. And I think one type of leadership makes you make decisions that are based solely in never wanting to be the bad guy. And I've just never really resonated with that type of leadership. Obviously, we all, on a human level, want to be appreciated and liked. But from a leadership standpoint in the locker room, I want to be respected.

I want the guys to respect my work, to respect how I hold myself accountable and hold them accountable. And to me, that's how you model leadership that actually sticks and lasts in this league. And I think there's been a couple people over the years that haven't been able to handle that very well. maybe we've had bad experiences in the way out and that's fine that's their experience you know life is about perspective and truth is actually wrapped up in that perspective because our truth is going to be related to how we view the world there's three sides of every story though there's yours there's mine and there's the truth so we got to remember that

whenever we're thinking about basically any type of story that our perspective directly impacts the way that we we view the world and the way that we feel about what is truly going on situations that to be said i love my teammates and love spending time with them i don't give a shit about any of the other comments uh outside of that you know it's uh honestly i don't i don't hear i wouldn't hear it if it wasn't for tom fanning sending me you know some random about what's going on love tom for it but i'm uh i'm enjoying my life right now yeah he has to be the bearer of the interesting news that is circulating around your life that is not a good position shout to tom for being the guy that has to do that romeo had no idea what was going to come from that.

Remember, very young guy, very different than your old ass at 39. Me and Vinatieri, I mean, I think people have seen me and Vinatieri are tight as hell. I think whenever I was a rookie, I got in the league, he was like 36 or 37 years old. We're two very different worlds whenever you're talking about it, and I think that's a very normal thing that kind of takes place. whenever it's aaron rogers obviously you have to bang the drum of this guy sucks i i don't know how you've lived this life as long as you have but i'm happy it's not me god damn it aq has a question for you aaron two weeks in a row whoa slow down hey i'll echo your sentiment when i was 34 in my last year i wasn't actively seeking rookies to hang out with

outside of football that's neither here nor there the question is brock purdy gets injured do you think it's time to maybe have another conversation with reinstating the emergency quarterback yes 100 100 because nobody wants to see it like that you know nobody wants to see one and two go down and then you don't even have a third now a lot of teams i don't know if they have a third you know i wants to see one and two go down and then you don't even have a third now a lot of teams i don't know if they have a third you know i don't know if they had did they have a third to suit up on that game day i'm not sure if they did or not i don't think no because they're already on quarterback four and five there you know what i mean right right right but that's a

great that's a great point i saw some other people mention it i think that's 100 percent uh should be the standard you should be able to suit up three quarterbacks in a game. And, hey, if all three go down, I mean, that's terrible luck, and it is what it is. But when one and two go down and then you put a guy back in the game who supposedly has a UCL injury, like, and obviously there was a problem because they were just literally running the ball. You know, I was thinking, can he even just, like, loft a fade down the field?

The answer is no. He could throw a ball about five yards, probably in significant pain on a screen pass. So nobody wants to see that, especially not in the championship game. But it is what it is, and that's the way the ball bounced for both teams in that game. But I think, hey, you make a great point. There needs to be three quarterbacks dressed on game day, and there shouldn't be a penalty associated with it.

You know, the NFL, it's all about the dollar, right? So if you raise the third guy up, there's the rules about, you know, you can raise the guy up three times, and you've got to put him on the active roster, right? So that's, you know, if they can figure out the money thing, then they can make it work. All right, we'll keep this truncated, obviously, which is an incredible word that I learned of this morning.

And we know you're very busy, and we thank you for your time. Want to bounce away from the Purdy and the third quarterback. Happy you got that. Let's go with some coaching hires that are taking place, people that you know. Nathaniel Hackett obviously goes to the Denver Broncos for a year. It does not work at all. Our sources have told us around league circles the conversation is that that was not Nathaniel Hackett's problem. Nathaniel hackett is being viewed in very high regards by everybody which

is why he got the new york jets offensive coordinator job so quickly hypothetical hey all right nathaniel hackett getting a gig somewhere or somebody that you know getting a gig somewhere does that sway you in any thoughts if the Packers were to say we'd like to move on and you'd like to play football obviously there's a lot of what-ifs but have you put yourself into that mind frame and can you even answer that question at this point no I can't I mean it's there's not a great answer I can give you. We all have certain coaches that have meant a lot to us over the years and have created those really special rooms to play in, special feelings on game day, made the weeks better.

Obviously, Nathaniel's one of those guys. I would say there's been a handful of coaches over the years who've been just on another different level, guys who you just kind of bonded with more than other guys. And it's not a shot at any other coach you've played with. It's just like with teammates. Some guys you really love, and some guys you love and you spend more time with them off the field.

That's why having Tom back this year was so special because Tom has always had a special place in my heart because he was the guy that really raised me up as a young player and spent hours and hours and hours with me on fundamentals and reads and fronts and pressures and coverages and becoming an expert at the offense you know so I always loved Tom and I love spending time with Tom over the years Luke Getzey is always going to be a close a close one for me because he's just such a special guy. He was basically my same age, and I watched him rise the ranks the right way of coaching and put in his time and be in the room with us,

and we had a blast. Alex Van Pelt, one of my all-time favorites as well, just taught me how to be a CEO of the squad, how to lead in that way, and how to play fake with the best of them. Love AVP. Love spending time on the mountain field. Hacks, same way.

Love Hack. I mean, Hack is my guy. I love him and Megan and the kids. They're really special to me. Like, we really bonded when he was in Green Bay. He made it fun. He made the room fun, made the weeks fun. So those guys are always going to be really special.

And that's just a handful of people that have meant to me, but those guys have been in my room consistently, and guys, you just love being around. I mean, listen, I'm not sure what the future holds for me, but those are friendships and ones I mentioned that are going to last longer than football, and I'm really thankful for that part of the sport and what the sport gives you in that regard. Okay.

Go ahead, AJ. What makes someone a good coach? What do they show that you can say, all right, yeah, this dude's a great leader, a great coach? What characteristics have you found? And who should the Colts hire? So you, you know. There you go.

Because, hey, Woody Johnson, I don't want to say it, but I don't know, you know. Yeah. Yeah. That's the owner of the Jets. No offense, Jets fans, but, I mean, you put that name together, add an and, and another one. Coach, Jim Ursa, guy's got a museum. Guitars, he's cool.

Super artsy. Just something that, hey, listen, you've got to make your decision. You've got to make your decision. But what does it make about a coach? You're right. Good question, AJ. Good question, AJ. Good question.

Well, if anyone ever called me as a reference, one name that has been floating around out there who I would give a ringing endorsement to is Rich Passaccio. I'm a tremendous, tremendous fan of his. He is a prototypical leader who wants to be respected more than he's liked. And I think that from a starting point creates an accountability in whatever room you're controlling, whether that's the entire room or a position room or, you know, a phase of the game like offense, defense, and teams. And then you throw in there an incredible ability to control the room with his speech, very thoughtful individual, very sharp,

and then the love that he brings as well, I think is just such a perfect combo. So you have the accountability, you have the respect factor, you have the expectations, you have the ability to control the room. And then you have someone who shows you constantly how much he cares about you and loves you and tells you. Someone who shows you constantly how much he cares about you and loves you and tells you. And it's real because he's already led with the accountability and the respect. He changed that phase of our team for sure. And contrary to common thought, maybe, there's not a lot of Rich Passaccia types out there.

There's not a lot of people like that. And I think in this league that it's harder for older coaches to get jobs i think we can all agree on that's not a you know mind-blowing statement there's not a lot of 60 year old guys getting head coaching jobs right there's fewer and fewer because you know most teams want to go with kind of a young up-and-coming guy and And Rich, for whatever reason, passed over most of his career, but paid his dues, coached it everywhere you could possibly imagine. He's probably coached there. Then he went to Oakland and became the interim head coach, and he talked to those guys.

I'd say they all love Rich, and they appreciate Rich, what he stood for when he was all about. He talked to our guys in the locker room in Green Bay. Everybody loves Rich. You want to be a players coach, though, this is the misnomer. All you guys that played can I guarantee you can resonate with this.

You want to be a players coach, it's not about being liked. It's about being respected. It's not about being liked. It's about being respected first. If they like you as well, that's awesome. You want to be a a true players coach it's about the respect thing first and rich passaccia understands that too pison over there running special teams last question here about the coaching and then we'll obviously let you go get that new driver that's gonna smoke 320 330 right where you want it probably a little baby draw. Shout out to TaylorMade. I mean, I think that other company sent me a bunch of shit.

The carbon wood, though. The carbon wood. Oh, yeah. I love that thing. Yeah, I threw it. It was from. Yeah. We'll get you one for Tahoe for sure.

Yeah, exactly. Especially with the way AJ hits the ball out there. I got to catch up. He's unbelievable driving a golf ball, this guy, over here. I can't believe you let him beat you last year. That was really kind of you. Bro, did you know that he hits all those in the fairway?

The first time I saw him drive, I'm like, oh sweet, I played with this guy a hundred times. The first shot of the tournament went in the water, bro. You know that. Then I skipped my second shot off the water. Okay, aside from that though. That was awesome, though. That was awesome. It was sick.

It was a great way to start. It was a great way to start. But the way he hits a golf ball, we've all played with this guy before. Okay, he's going to hit a fairway. Then this thing's going goodbye. This ball's gone or it's going to fade. He hit that thing. Every second shot was like 55 yards or whatever because he was just putting these drives

all over the place i got a sim though i'm working now i'm working for next year and i'm trying to get better do you have one do you work on a sim or you just show up straight out of a tattoo and hungry and fucking beat everybody yeah i gotta schedule my next tattoo so i gotta see if i can get hungry again next Where are we going? You got the same other arm. Get your Adam's apple. What are you getting done? Do you already have it done, or are you going to figure that out with the tattoo guy?

Yeah, we'll see. I haven't thought about it yet. You need a barbed wire around your bicep. Yeah, but leave it open because you're soul. You know what I mean? You can't have the barbed wire connecting completely. Third eye on your forehead. Yeah, you got to let it out.

All right. Maybe around my belly button. We'll see. Oh, like Batista has that sun. He has like the sun. Don Batista has that. Tupac has the thug life. Your body double, basically, yeah.

Yeah, you can get a butt. On the belly button? Yeah, just right there. Have that you could get a butt. On the belly button? Yeah, just right there. Have that thing dance a little bit. That would be a butthole. You could have Elmer Fudd on your ass. Our guy Lorman used to want to do this. Elmer Fudd with a gun at the butthole.

Come out of there, you filthy varmint or whatever. Have like an air bubble and everything. That's pretty good. Just want to brainstorm. If you want to brainstorm, you do what you got to do. Yeah, keep it up. Let's brainstorm some things here. Later date, for sure.

All right. Go get your driver. Go get your driver in. We appreciate you. Good luck with the whole thought process of what you're doing, and go crush Pebble Beach, dude. I will do my best, and I can't wait to see you guys next week. Oh.

Wow. We're keeping this rolling, man. We're keeping it rolling. Are you coming to Radio Row? No. No. I'm not a Radio Row guy. Come on.

Well, easy in, easy out. No fans. We'll have you come in the back door. You come do it live, and then boom, you're out. Wiz did it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not a come-in-the-back-door type of guy.

All right. Respect. Respect. You do what you gotta do ladies and gentlemen four time MVP Pebble Beach Pro-Am winner Aaron Rodgers ladies and gentlemen it is time for the championship rounds episode of In the Trenches with A.Q.

Shipley. Very disappointing by these guys. Oh, man. Oh, no. We lose the quarterback early. But guess what? We get an awesome design. Now, we get a miss.

Now, check this out. The guy that makes this kind of play, very interesting for Christian. Christian has to make somebody miss, right? We don't want him to be him. We want it to be someone else. But when we get this, we get the wham. Check out the concept. I'm going to miss breaking these guys down because, man, the concept is awesome. Watch what it does to both linebackers when we get him pulling behind and him pulling behind. So we're going to get him up to there, him up to there, and then this is what we call the wham, right?

Kittle has to block here. You can block this a million different ways, but what they do is they get the triple whammy, if you get what I'm saying. Whoa! Wham here, wham there, wham there. And then we get Big Trent up there. We get the center up there. This guy is supposed to be blocked by him,

but it fucks everything up by him coming on there. Now watch. Fletcher Cox thinks we got him. Nope. Kittle's going to ear hole. There it is. Sorry, Fletch. Same thing here.

Goes behind. Look what it did to the linebacker. It sets up the blocks. If we rewind that, once we see this guy pull behind and this guy pull behind, watch. Boom, boom. Look at that. Now it just sets up the blocks for big Trent in the center,

and then Christian makes him miss, him miss, him miss, him miss. See ya. Let's go, McCaffrey. We're going to miss watching these guys yeah you're gonna miss watching them they'll be back right they'll be back they'll be back it's too good for them not to lose or not to win it's so good and like even again we can't talk about it because they got their asses beeped but man even some of the schemes they had designed for Philly it was awesome they had some really good stuff in the game plan early some really cool things some really good wrinkles on some other stuff i wish i could have been able to highlight can't do it but i mean that's fucking so much perfect mcglinchey's the only free agent

right yep on that the whole group really yeah exactly i mean how good is that though what a run believable again it's the same thing we talked about we heard kittle talk about it last week they're just putting people in positions to succeed, and they constantly do it. We get everybody working this way, and now look how easy it makes Trent's block. Look how easy it makes the center's block. Boom. We don't even got to block him.

Don't even got to block him. Banks, he's just got a seal on the backside. Making it easier for Trent. Yeah, they needed seven more of those. Go ahead. Beautiful play design. I mean, Philly had him for no gain, but Christian is just that good

making dudes miss in the hole and breaking every tackle on the field, I feel like. He was so good. I mean, God, what a difference maker he was for them this year. Unbelievable. Wonder where he'll play next year, too. Also a free agent. Is he?

Yeah. He might get paid again, huh? He might be the top running back and wide receiver free agent. They are not making that trade and letting him walk out that building. I promise. Oh! Hey. You know football.

Hey. The next six plays, Philadelphia Eagles, boys. Whoa! Yeah! John's. Who can't? John's. Fly, Eagles, fly, huh?

Take. Fly, Eagles, fly. On a road to victory. Fly, Eagles, fly. One, two, and a three. E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles! Nailed it. All right, so check it out.

AJ, talk about this a little bit because his gap is here, correct? He's got to play this A gap. Now watch what this guy does to affect him this entire game. You're going to see it on this entire segment. Just the ability of the RPO and the quarterback run sends him back here, doesn't get to his gap because he has to play that, and then you get 600 pounds to here, 600 pounds to here. This play started on the 7.

Watch where they fucking end up. At the goal line. Watch where they end up. At the goal line. Goddard hangs on for dear life but does just enough to get it underneath, and then you get the big gaping hole. Look at that. It's unbelievable.

Is that a playoff big gaping hole? Because we've seen some big gaping holes. We have, but that's a at that. It's unbelievable. Is that a playoff big gaping hole? Because we've seen some big gaping holes. We have, but that's a playoff. That's big. I mean, everything shrinks down a little bit in the playoffs. That's a huge hole in the playoffs. Huge hole. In the red zone, too.

In the red zone. There was another play where it looked like Fred Warner's controller died on one of these read-offs. Yeah, we'll see it. Yeah, it's on here. AQ, real quick, if Fred Warner came and he stood up in that a gap right in front of him pre-snap would they would they get out of this or would jay would be like this be a guaranteed pull or what no it's still same thing because really with him out here it's still we're

treating this as six box right same thing it would just speed up this block now they can't hang as long as they would but this guy predicates how quick they get off i mean it'd be the same thing now if he was up there it would be the same thing. Now, if he was up there, it would just be go. We still have a great play. We're still six for six. Keep him the widest. Who gives a shit about him?

Don't worry about him. Good luck stopping it. No chance. Got no shot being that. Can't do it. All right. Oh, he's dancing with the bird. Oh, yeah.

Okay, here we go. Got to love this. Can we get a little highlight on Mr. Kelsey here this can we get a little highlight on mr kelsey here can we get a little highlight on him yeah you're goddamn right i don't know if we can get i don't know if this is uh calibrated but if can we find out when he snaps his hip how far he goes over where do you guys see this shit again inside zone week same fucking place now watch fred warner just stuck in concreteuck in concrete. Stuck in concrete. Just stays there because he's got to play Jalen. He's got to play the RPO. He's reading that whole thing out.

And instead of him being fast to go, now check this out. Check out the eyes by Lane Johnson. He becomes the new backer. They're originally slipping to him. But when he comes here and he stays back, this becomes the new guy to slip to. Now watch Lane Johnson come back and just stonewall Hufanga here. This is incredible. With a torn groin.

Boom. Stonewalls. Let's go back a little bit here. Watch Kelsey snap the hip. Watch him hit the hip. The hip is key. You hit the hip, people fucking fly. It's unbelievable.

Fly, Eagle, fly. Oh, jeez. Raw power. I mean, how good is that? Kelsey power. Fred's got some nice skates. A toss. Is that a big enough hole? Yeah, I'd say.

Is that a big enough hole? When Kelsey there, go from there to there, you've got 10 yards to run through. Jeez Louise, unstoppable. So even with Ebikou, Ebiki, Ebikou sitting behind there on the end, Fred Warner still has to stay? Absolutely, because he's got double responsibility, and that's where the running quarterback really gets. He's got double responsibility to handle him.

He's also got double responsibility on the RPO. Now, check it out. Same, oh yeah, same play. Hold on, shouldn't we have somebody else spying Jalen than Fred Warner? Yeah, typically the way that they were doing it, and if you watched them the whole first half, it's the same way they played us when I was in Arizona with Kyler, to handle the zone read.

It's really the only way to really do it and affect everything. You saw it early. You saw Bosa crashing to the junction point, the junction point being where they're getting the handoff, right? So that's how they played it the whole first half, and they played it perfectly for a while. You're going to see the play later where Bosa kind of gets a little nosy, sticks his head inside, and then they get outside.

Boston Scott. But, boom, he goes and handles the junction point, and then Fred's ready to scrape over the top, which if you guys remember the play down on the goal line, they ran it, and Bosa and everybody blew it up. That's what they're trying to do. Fred's out of the play, though. AJ, he's the best player on the field.

Yeah, it really puts you in a predicament when playing this Philadelphia offense, man. I don't know. I'm curious to see what the Chiefs' plan will be because obviously they have time and they're going to have to have solid rules on how we're going to play certain plays. Yeah, that's tough.

It puts them in a predicament on every single play. The best football player on the defensive side of the field is him, and he was in a predicament the entire game. Check this out. Here's a little wrinkle. Gotta love this. Same exact play. We've just watched two plays in a row, except the two plays in a row before, we have a three technique to the play side, so Kelsey's allowed to go, and it's full zone. Boom, boom, boom. Now we get the two-eye. How are we going to add a little wrinkle to this we're going to cut the defense right now widen him get here get your best player in space out in space now watch this we get kelsey pulling around we're still getting the

slip block on the back side again fred warner stuck in fucking concrete again can't be fast to go now look at kelsey around boom there's the hole. Walk in. I mean, how fucking good is this? It's unstoppable. So Sirianni, a fucking offensive genius. It's just what he's been able to do with Jalen is unbelievable because the defenses have to account for him. They have to account for the RPO. You're constantly getting this, which is six in the box, six in the box. We'll let them run every time. Really put an X over is six in the box. Six in the box will let them run every time. Really, put an X over him. Five in the box because he can't make his mind up.

You can hand this ball off all day long and you've got numbers frontside. Or now he's fast to go, you get this out the backside or you get the RPO hitting the slant right there. So is there a way to beat it? Do they just blitz? Is that the easiest way? Like what is the – Yeah, I don't know. I mean nobody's been able to beat it? Do they just blitz? Is that the easiest way? Like, what is that? Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, nobody's been able to stop it this year. Or though, AQ, couldn't you say, okay, Bosa, the unblocked guy, hey, hats on you, you have to take Jalen so Fred can roll? Yeah. That's it, man. But then he's slow to go then, right? And then you get him thinking, okay, one time, let's get up the field to stop Hurts,

and here's the huge backside cut right there. It puts everybody in a predicament. Penetration kills everything. That's the only possibility. Yeah, zone read. That's always been the winner is penetration at D-line. And their interior is just too good. How many people have been able to penetrate that offensive line?

Oh, nobody's penetrating. Nobody. They're not getting penetrated. How about this guy? That guy can penetrate him. That's a good shot. Yeah. That's a good shot. Yeah. That's a good shot.

This one's tough to stop here because this is what Fred's worried about. This is exactly. So check this out. Now, this is the perfect call into this because he becomes a blocker in this. We're getting the quarterback draw this time. We've talked about this all year long, which I absolutely love this. We saw the Minnesota Vikings do this. We saw the Philadelphia Eagles do this a lot this year.

And what that is is get him basically making a decision. So Jason's going to get back off the ball, and we're basically going to man everybody else. Man, man, man, man. But with the two-eye here, two-eye meaning inside shoulder of this guard, we're able to get him cracked and already sealed. So Dickerson's going to come down. Boom, we get the crack

right there. Now that sets up the seal. Once we get that, now Kelsey is going to pull around. Now check this out. They get movement here. He slants because we're getting the safety off the edge. So now instead, if Hufango would have come underneath here, it might have changed the whole difference of the play.

But he stays wide. Makes an easy block for him. Now Kelsey is able to read this whole thing out, get around, and just be the lead blocker on this draw. It's awesome. Look at this. Oh, man. I mean, how good is that? Perfect play call.

Perfect play call. Perfect play call at the right time. At the right time, exactly. Yeah, luckier or he knows that they're going to be – That's a little bit of luck. That's a little bit of luck, yeah. All right. Because same thing, like I said, if Ufonga comes underneath there, that play gets blown up.

Lucky thing. That'd be smart and lucky. Yeah. The teams that win the Super Bowl get that good luck. That's it. That's it. And look at this. On the back side, best linebacker in football.

He's in coverage. He doesn't even know. He's in coverage. With his back turned to the play. He's got no idea. Because, look, the offensive line's giving you a pass read other than Kelsey. Exactly. And even him, with him setting back, initially tells them pass.

He did this against the Colts. I'm going right to my coverage. He did this to the Colts. Because these guys, linebackers, linebackers, they're all reading the offensive line. If it's a pass or a run, they all pass it. It's a pass. It's a pass. That's a pass.

Pass! That's what somebody's saying. Pass! The Broncos pass draw. You're thinking pass draw no matter what. And then boom. We're out the gate. See you later.

They did that to beat the Bears too. I mean, look at Kelsey in space. Do you guys understand how freaking hard that is? AJ, talk about how many times you've made an offensive line and missed out in space like this. It's impossible. That's why I've always said guys like Kelsey are so difficult to play. Look how quick and fast this dude is

in like centers like that are kelsey's size always gave me the most problems because they're like they're 20 yards down the field they'll never let you go so it's yeah it's he's so good it's incredible runaway locomotive there's about to be more from old kelsey right now there's more little kelsey highlight tape here. Here's the one. This is the one I'm talking about. Hey, is this the best year a center has ever had? He's having an incredible year.

I mean, this is probably, and it's interesting because they were talking about him retiring last year. This is probably his best year of his entire career. Wow. He's playing better in year 13 or 14, whatever he's in right now, than he did in year one and two. It's incredible. You think it's because of the podcast or what, New Heights?

It might be. Might be. Blowing up. Maybe a new two. It's incredible. You think it's because of the podcast or what? New Heights? It might be. Might be. Blowing up. New diet. But this is the thing, right? Early in the game, we saw him getting up the field. And now he gets a little nosy here. We get on here.

And look at Kelsey. Target's already locked. Look at him being patient. And then he's going to do my favorite move. The one where you put the arms down. You leave your feet. And you missile. There it is.

Look at that. You stop it. Both feet are in there. Look at that. Look at that. There it is. Look at that. You stop at both feet in midair. Look at that. Jungle, Nick. Look at that. Both feet in midair. Jeez, Kelsey.

Good God. Do you think Nick went the Joey route and after they lost was like, it's okay, I'm rich? To Kelsey? Well, Joey flew on commercial immediately afterwards of sleeping in the Philly plane or in the airport, which, you know, you're going to get got when you're sleeping in public after telling people you're rich.

That's going to happen. Planes are expensive, though. Gas is absurd. I understand exactly why he's doing it, being frugal with his money. That's smart. That's why people remain rich. He lives in L.A., too. It's a long way. That's very expensive. It's like $75,000, probably. I mean, how good is Jason Kelsey

feeling right here? Look at this little creep-up move. Defensive player of the It's like $75,000 probably. I mean, how good is Jason Kelsey feeling right here? He's rich. Look at this. Look at this little creep-up move. Boom! Defensive player of the year, nonetheless. Defensive player of the year. Oh, I think the next play involves the defensive player of the year as well.

No. Hey, what do we got here? A little unbalanced. Overload! Overload! A little unbalanced. A little unbalanced. So trying to get the throwback over here. 94 does a phenomenal job kind of reading this out.

Ooh. And then, yeah, ooh. And keep this thing moving, but we're going to watch. Mailata on Bosa. Mailata, by the way, unbelievable year run block. And him and Dickerson have been a huge key to this run game. And singing. And singing.

Oh, wow. Oh, wait. Hands are inside. Not a hold. Not a hold, right? We, wait. Hands are inside. Not a hold. Right? We heard Gene. Hands are inside. You're getting dominant is what Gene said.

There it is, man. He lays on him, too. Jesus. He had a hurt calf. Yeah, because of cleat. Yeah. Not Blake. AQ, how good does it feel if you're an O-lineman and you have that right before he dumps him

when you know, oh, I got him. I can definitely take this guy down. Listen, you feel it. There's so many times where you get a guy running and you feel him right before he dumps him when you know, oh, I got him. I can definitely take this guy down. Listen, you feel it. There's so many times where you get a guy running and you feel him a little off balance, and you know that one little torque is going to send him over. It's the best feeling in the world. He's like a teeter-totter on the top.

Bosa's a dog, though, too. So is Mayotta, it sounds like. Unbelievable. You got Trent Williams' big bump on here? Do you guys understand how strong you have to be to pick up a human and slam him? From the back there? Yeah. Yeah, people were saying, well, he wasn't even looking.

It's like, well, nobody jumped on top of Trent afterwards either. Yeah. There was a lot of, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, easy, easy, easy. Trent, Trent, Trent. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, let's calm down. Let's calm down.

Let's calm down. AJ, what are you doing there? Are you throwing a big right if he does that to one of your teammates? I think you have to, don't you? I mean, I'm probably acting like I didn't see it most likely. I can't wait if he does that to my teammate. I'm going to go talk to the ref or maybe grab some other guy that's not really doing it. Bam!

Look, nobody goes – I mean, they kind of do, and then they're like, oh, wait, that was Trent. No, I'll go. Yeah, all right. Quick back away. By the way, Trent is – he should feel good about everything. I mean, granted, being able to do that to another professional athlete is awesome. I wish I had that power. Brendan Graham kind of got in his face a little bit but didn't want to –

you know, it's 31-7, fourth quarter. Let's not get stupid here. We got a game coming. And also, that is Trent. But I think Trent should look in the mirror sometime and say, everybody on earth that is in the football world knows that I'm the biggest dog in the yard. That has to feel pretty good. Hey, congrats, Trent.

Hello, Trent. You did it. Congrats, Trent. That's pretty good. And he tips plays. Obviously, we learned that earlier in the year. He's a fucking dog. They're all back, huh?

You think the Niners are going to fall off or no? Trent's there for five more years. I think he just signed a six-year deal. Congrats to him getting that bag he deserves. Here we go, Trent. And he got like $10,000 more just to be the highest pay. Real quick, how many yards did the Chiefs and the Bengals rush for? How come they weren't a part of the interception?

Yeah, so it was tough. It was tough sledding trying to find that. I think combined, I think the Chiefs had maybe 37 yards. The Bengals had 20-something yards. Who wins the Super Bowl? Philadelphia Eagles. Hell yeah. Lean on the big boys.

Because of that. Lean on the big boys. of that Lean on the big boys Because offensive lines Can travel they say In the biggest moments You know If you have the ability To move bodies

You'll be able to do it It doesn't matter The situation That's it I mean the only chance They got like I said earlier Is Mahomes gotta have A superhuman day

Chris Jones Obviously a stud But You know I think they'll I think they'll be able To handle it Alright we appreciate you

Ladies and gentlemen Thank you That was a great episode Hell yeah Let's go possible. You know, I think they'll be able to handle it. All right, we appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen. Hey, baby. Hey, Q. That was a great episode. Hell yeah. Let's go. A lot of Philadelphia Eagles. A lot of Johns out there.

Talking a lot of Johns. AJ, we did a giveaway earlier. You think we should do another one because of how good AQ just did in the trenches? Or should we get out of here on a high note? Are you bringing someone from the back room to do anything? Or who's going to do it? No, no. It's only Fridays.

Remember, that's a Friday thing, not a Tuesday thing. I think AQ can hit putts. He can make putts. Especially because Aaron came live from Pebble Beach. True. We did have a little golf flare here. If AQ Shipley can go 2 of 5 here on this putting green after an incredible in the trenches. If he can go 2 of 5

here on the putting green, we'll give 15 more people $500. We'll ret 15 more people. Wow. $500. We'll retweet this tweet, say something nice to somebody, and put the cash tag in there so we can pay you officially on Cash App. AQ Shipley has a putting green in his backyard. Has not been that efficient on said putting green here. Have been recently.

Yeah, because of that little speck. Anything to say, A.J. Hawk? Two or five. He might make five of five, honestly. If he does that, we'll go 20 people. Boom. Got to make the first one to do that, A.Q. Alan Quay Shipley.

A dog. He's going to change his grip. A.Q., you don't change your grip, do you? One of them. Yep. Holy hell. Fuck out. Spotting's become automatic.

Yeah, because the green has been figured out. Tim McAfee got his ruler and his, what's that thing called, the balance thing? I missed it. The construction thing. I forgot. Level. Got his level out. Found the spot.

Beat the game. But AQ's only wanted to. True. There's only 15 winners that are going to be possible, not 20 because AQ missed one. All he's got to do is make one more putt, and there it is. Out of the woods. Thank you, Shipley. Another $1,500 winners who retweet this tweet.

Say something nice to somebody and put their cash check in there so we can pay you efficiently on Cash App. Great putt in AQ. Great in the trenches. What a day. Great work, Toxic Table. Way to go, Al. Great work, Toxic Table.

Take me back. Hammer. What a die. He's in about 15 minutes at youtube.com forward slash hammer. Die. All the boys in the back, incredible work on this Aaron Rodgers Tuesday we're already through January okay let's enjoy this life we got the Pro Bowl

this weekend a lot of people opting out people opting in it'll be a blast I'll be on the call on Sunday big shout out to Rap Report for stopping by Gene Stare Tour and Aaron Rodgers you are the best humans on earth AJ great work today pal you too guys can't wait to see you tomorrow hell yeah we'll see you

all tomorrow say something nice to somebody goodbye