The Ringer NFL Show - The Myth of Bulletin-Board Material | GM Street (Ep. 392)

Episode Date: January 30, 2019

Nickell Robey-Coleman’s comment on Tom Brady’s age, Sean McVay’s background, the Rookie of the Year race, and more. Hosts: Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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GM Street part of the Ringer Podcast Network. It is Wednesday, January 30th, and I am very, very, very happy to be joined on the line by the great Michael Lombardi. Lombardi, it is Super Bowl 53 week. How are you? Well, I'm great, Tate Fraser. The question really is, how are you? You escape Minneapolis.

I was talking to the great Paul Allen, the host of KFAN in Minnesota this week. and they were at minus 40. And I'm thinking of my poor man, Tate Fraser out there. But, you know, it's funny. The people that grow up, now, nobody get used to this weather, but they kind of embrace the weather there. They embrace it. Well, they're a certain type of breed because I tried to embrace the Lombardi,

and I came back with a very, very, very sick ailment, the flu. But I did not, you know, I did come back with my dignity. So that's the best I can do. I was shooting a lot of scenes out in the snow in that negative degree weather. so, you know, in a tuxedo. So that's probably not the smartest thing to do. But it's all for the good of the Final Four weekend, which we'll be back in Minneapolis for that in April.

So I'll be happy to be there for that. So I will be there in Minneapolis in April. I've got a couple things for Gridiron Genius to do there at the Final Four because for whatever reason, this book has become popular amongst basketball coaches. So that's a good thing. And then, you know, the other thing I definitely would want to do on my bucket list, State Fraser, is I watch the game. the other night. I was watching Iowa play Minnesota. I got to go to the barn. Like I got to go

watch a game in the barn. Now, I did, I have done when I was in Cleveland, we used to do this box test. I told you about where we would test players on this machine. And it was kind of interesting how we did it. But we always had to use a wood floor. So I've been on some good coop courts, but the barn I've never been on. And I got to go to a game there. It just looks like it's just such a great venue. I watched that game in the Timberwolves Arena while that was happening. I wish I was actually at the barn. Mark Titus and I watched that as we were waiting for the jazz to take on the Timberwolves in negative degree weather. I think it was negative 10 at that point while we were watching that game. So it was a good time to be in Minneapolis. You brought up grid iron genius. So I have to

bring it up. The head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, Sean McVeigh, obviously, you have a few stories in there about the McVeigh family and sort of gave a hat tip to the fact that, you know, he, you It was one of the decisions by his grandfather to trade down and sort of, you know, it's kind of set the tone for trade value with Bill Wash. And McVeigh said that is his book, Dolt Peter King, that that was the book that he drives to work and listen to. So I have to point out, gridiron genius, I really making waves here in the football circle. So congratulations to you, Lombardi.

I am beyond proud. Thank you so much, Dave, Frazier. I appreciate your friendship and support of the book. It's good to know. Yeah, I mean, it's been fun. I mean, look, the Super Bowl coaches, one of its, one of it's. of them, the book's about, the other one's reading it. So it's a good thing. And I think, you know, Sean McBay's grandfather, John McVeigh, for people that don't know, he was a football

coach at the University of Dayton. And while at Dayton, he became friends with John Gruden's dad, Jay Gruden, Jimmy Gruden, I'm sorry, and Jimmy and him had a lifelong friendship. That's how the McVeys and the Grudens have been kind of friends for a long time. And then, you know, when I was in San Francisco, and I tell the story about this in the book, we had no intention of trading down. We were always a team that traded up. And the year before, we traded up from 28, only 28 teams to, I want to say like 19 with the New England Patriots to get in position to draft Jerry Rice.

And then we did, we got them. The next year, we went the other way, which was really not commonplace. And the only reason we went the other way is because Walsh told me to write these three names on the blackboard, yep, the blackboard, Gerald Robinson, defensive end, Auburn, John L. Williams, running back Florida, Ronnie Harmon, running back Iowa, and all three guys went right in a row, and we needed to buy a half hour. So we traded back with the Cowboys to buy a half hour, and then the rest is history. We traded back, and we ended up with probably one of the greatest drafts in football history with Larry Roberts in the second. Then we drafted Tom Rathman.

We drafted Tim McKeire, John Taylor. We drafted Steve Wallace, Kevin Fagan, a guy by the name of Charles Haley in the fourth. and then we picked Don Griffin in the 6th. So we had a great draft. We used to have this TV actor, Bradford Dilman would come in and he would come to every draft. He was a draft Nick before draftics were. And he would be on these TV sitcoms, you know, Murder She Wrote. Actually, the typewriter that I own is a typewriter, the same style of typewriter. You've seen it in my office when I was in L.A. It's the same style of typewriter that was on Murder, she wrote, because Bradford Dillman kind of was always telling me about it. And he wrote on one of these typewriters.

So anyway, so he would come in the draft room and he would sit in the corner and we had 12 rounds. And he would talk about, you know, he always loved the draft. He would research it through sporting news and through Joel Bushbaum's book and all that. And finally, after this 86 draft, we had so many players that we picked, we ran out of picks. And so Coach Walsh in like the ninth round says to Bradford, he says, Bradford, you get the next, you get our last pick. And so Bradford was just like a static. and he gets into his briefcase and he whips out a document that was typed on one of these typewriters. And he has the pick of who he wants to pick.

And the guy's name is Harold Hallman, defensive end from Auburn. And his opening line was Harold Holman will get more penetration than Warren Beatty at a sorority party. And I'd never forget that line for the rest of our life. We drafted Harold Hallman. We'd never signed him. He went to Canada. He was an undersized defensive lineman. and he made like all Canadian team for 15 years in a row.

Like 10 years in a row. It was like a superstar in Canada. That is something that Jessica Fletcher would love to write about, the mystery of that and how that works out in all the world of football. I can tell you that, Lombardi. I'm appreciating all this stuff to open this podcast. It is very good and happy and very well to be back with you talking all things. Football.

I should point out and do a little bit of upkeep here before we move on into this podcast. Friday we will do the actual preview here on GM Street where you make your pick, what we break down, you know, why in Dama Kinsu is talking about how he needs to get middle pressure with Tom Brady. But before we get to all that, I want to talk about sort of the allure of the Super Bowl week and sort of the behind the scene stuff. And one of the things I want to start with is bulletin board material. And producer Jim brought this up.

But one of the things that came out, Nicole Roby Coleman said that, you know, Tom Brady over time with his age, has sort of worn down. And, you know, a lot of people pointed to the fact that maybe the Patriots take that, put it up on the bulletin board and kind of roll with it. But, you know, I want to throw that to you and sort of, you know, this is their ninth Super Bowl. They understand the hoopla of, you know, the Super Bowl week and what happens leading up to it. Is that something that actually happens? Is there such thing as bulletin board material for a team like the Patriots at this point? You know, I don't think so. I mean, I think Bill's going to play this game pretty well down the middle. I mean, I think he has great respect for the patrons. I think he has great respect for what they do. I mean, you have to. When you look at this Ram team and I wrote about it on the athletic, You know, Sean McVeigh doesn't get enough credit for being able to take what he's, what he saw when he got there. You know, Sean McVay, as I mentioned earlier, was part of the, started his career in Tampa Bay with Gruden, you know, from his grandfather, got a job working there. And then he went up to Washington with the, with the Shanahan's started working there. And then Jay Gruden came in and he was able to stay there.

So he's been around, let's say, three different variations of the West Coast. offense because Shanahan's offense is rooted in the West Coast. It just adds a dimension of the inside and outside zone to it. So anyway, but when he gets the job at the Rams, he doesn't really run West Coast. He runs a variation of West Coast more really towards Joe Gibbs. I mean, there's very few teams in the NFL that keep seven men into pass protect than the Rams do. It's remarkable. They're not interested in getting five into the route. They know golf needs to be protected. They know golf needs time. This is not a knock on golf. This is just who golf is. And so they know how to handle it. And so they're able to develop an offense around what he does

best. And then he built it. He didn't come in and say, look, we're going to run my shit and that's all I care about like most coaches will do. And I think you got to give him a lot of credit for that. And I think Belichick respects that because I'm sure when Bill's watching this tape, he sees Joe Gibbs in some of this shit the Rams are doing, which tells me that McVeigh, when he was a young coach was in a search for knowledge. And he spent a lot of times, I'm sure, in the archives of the Redskins watching some of that Gibbs stuff early on and seeing what he did and how he did it because it's somewhat similar. And we should say, I mean, we are always more alike than we think. And one of the things that is very akin and very similar to these two coaches, despite the age

gap and despite the experience and despite the first time Shaw McPae will be in this type of environment, And is, like you said, they've both been very flexible with things. And one of the quotes I saw this week, which I thought was very interesting is Bill Belichick said one of the best things that he had in his career was being a special teams coach because he learned how to talk to different players because, you know, obviously a defensive player, offensive player, whoever may be can be on special teams. And that was the vantage point that he liked to have. So therefore, he can maneuver and make decisions and what, you know, understood both sides

of the football and was able to kind of see how things play out from a different perspective. and McVeigh is sort of in the same vein. So that mutual respect between these two coaches, despite all the differences that will be brought up, it is very funny. They're both very, they're football minds, right, at the end of the day,

and they both understand that it's not about the play, it's not about the players like you wrote. It's about making decisions and putting people in the right positions to win at the end of the day. Yeah, and I think any young coach who listens to this podcast, and hopefully there's a lot of them,

you know, the key is intelligence. It's not about how old you are. It's about how much you know. So you have to be like George from Seinfeld. You know, remember when George from Seinfeld all of a sudden became brilliant? Like that's kind of what McVey did. He just focused his mind on this stuff and he became like a sieve of information. And that to me is why at 33 he can engage most of the team because he doesn't, he has intellect

to capture him. Now, he doesn't do it for the special teams or for the defense. That's going to take a little bit more time. But for the most part, I mean, you know, Belichick can do. that because he's been involved. But McVeigh is getting there with what he does offensively. But it's all about your intelligence. And it's nothing to do with your age. You can be 90. If you can educate the players and teach them things, they'll be better off for it. And you said also, you said you've been a part of four Super Bowl teams. I have to

point that out. And you said that the quote that you use is that you have to have all-in types. So people will make changes. And I saw this week leading up to the Super Bowl Bill Cowr, obviously, you know, Super Bowl winning coach with the Steelers back in the day, Jerome Betis, the big run. We remember all this sort of stuff that happened. But Bill Cowher was talking about before the Super Bowl, and this is the night before the Super Bowl, he was watching tape and that there was a seam route that he was very concerned about. And he went to Troy Palomalu and he said, you know, I've already put too much on your plate. You're already covering too much on the field. I want to run a different defense. So he took the defense down to the ballroom of the hotel that

they were staying at. And they ran through a simulation of what this defense that they were going to run. He said they ran that defense that they went through the night before 20 times that night, and they won on it 19 times. And you talk about being all in and you talk about being flexible. This is a great story, I think, from Cowher to say that. And, I mean, how much confidence does it take to be a Shaw McVeigh or a Bill Belichick? I mean, is this the stuff that they should be doing this week? I mean, obviously, we know what happens at meetings and practice fields. But to make these little variable adjustments late in the season, late, you know, not even late in the season,

late at this time of year when, you know, everything is sort of worked out, And obviously you've gotten to this point, but you were willing to make an adjustment at this point because why not? And you're trying to throw people off, make them play left-handed, or like you like to say. I mean, do you expect to see something like that from McVeigh and Belichick heading into this game? I do. I think it's all about as they go through the practice week. And I think, look, the Patriots, they tell the story this just past time in Kansas City where they were in the main ballroom and they talked about how they put a couple of plays in and change what they were doing. And so, yeah, I think you're always trying to make some minor adjustments, kind of how you see the game.

We'll get more on on Friday. But I think as the Patriots dig deeper in the practice and the thought press, you know, when you go and this game's on your mind constantly, there's ideas that come in. And if you can implement those ideas, there's no sense in sitting on them. And this game, look, let's face it, Tafras. This game's going to be all about adjustments. This game's all going to be about what happens in the first quarter and how it gets adjusted out. So I'm kind of anxious to see that, and I think it'll be fun. All right, Lombardi, let's get into one of our favorite old segments,

word on the street. First up, we got rookie of the year. We got co-ruchies of the year, sort of like 1995, Grant Hill, Jason, kid, in the NBA, and now we got that with Sequan Berkeley, Baker Mayfield in the NFL. You know, look, both those guys play well. Both those guys did good for their team. I mean, Lamar Jackson took his team to the playoffs. You know, I know he didn't have the kind of throw-in year, but, you know,

if Lamar Jackson doesn't play for the Ravens, the Ravens are, you know, John Harbaugh doesn't get a contract extension and all that stuff doesn't happen. But both guys, I mean, look, we know the Giants are going to draft a quarterback this year. I think that's a fade of complete, or maybe they'll go and sign Nick Foles or Teddy Bridgewater, but we know there's another quarterback which only enhanced the ability of Barclay as they go forward. By the way, Tate Frazier, my man, the Clapper coaches in the Pro Bowl. I mean, how does he hold, I mean, and they're going to make him the offensive coordinator and he scores seven points in the game?

Are you kidding me? And they lost. I mean, they got blown out by the AFC. What did you think about the Clapper's favorite player? Jason Witten broke the trophy. Do you see that? I saw that. My poor man, Jason, he breaks the trophy. I mean, it's just not been good. It's just not good. That's horrible. It was not good to see. But at least everyone had a good time and both teams played hard.

And that is all the Clapper cares about. We do know that. Speaking of a coach who was still trying to get his wits about him after suffering such a severe loss. Sean Payton came out of his quote unquote cave is what he likes to call. It said he'd been eating ice cream and watching Netflix for about three straight days. And he had his mandatory media session said, you know, what is it now? A week and a half. Feels like it's been longer than that. Says that they're trying to get past it. They'll never get over it, but they will get past it.

Roger Goodell comes out and said that they never thought about, you know, overturning the call in the game, but said it was a missed call. And then obviously people are up in arms about this. but just looking at the same situation. If you're Sean Payton and you're the leadership group of that team with Drew Brees, Michael Thomas, those sort of guys, is there any sort of message that you sort of send? You know, obviously we're still in January. We got a long time until next season, but is there anything you do to kind of get things rolling

in the right pass so you don't let this linger heading into next season? I think you stop talking about it. I think that's what you have to do. I mean, look, they're experiencing it. They had a miracle in Minnesota last year. I think their experience that they just got to move on and stop talking about. There's no sense in talking about it because it doesn't do you any good. You got to just move forward and turn the page, if you will, because every team's a new year.

Every team's a new season. And, you know, Godell saying it on the no call, it's a bad play that should have been called. You know, what was he going to say? Seriously. Yep. I mean, he wasn't going to say anything. And, you know, I mean, Sean, I hope he watched, I hope, you know, to me, I think what Sean should do for all our benefit is post what he watched on Netflix.

I mean, I just watched the Ted Bundy thing. I've seen Narcos Mexico. I tried to watch you. I wasn't crazy about that. Trey Frazier. you know, because, you know, that was a weird one. But, I mean, I've been trying to be immersed. I watched the Fry Festival.

I watched this thing with Tate Fraser on Amazon. I watched this thing about finding Bill Murray, like where he just shows up at places, which is incredible. And, you know, some of the stories people tell. So, anyway, I like to get Sean Payton's playlist as well. Let me just tell you this, Lombardi. This is what you should watch. I think he'll really enjoy this.

And I don't know how big of an Orson Wells fan you are. And I don't know how big of a fan you are of some of those old films. like Citizen Kane and all that sort of stuff. But if you watch, they'll love me when I'm dead with Orson Wells. You will really see a story of a man who reached the pinnacle at the age of 25 and then was trying to find that every day since he did that. And it is a nice lesson in life that everyone is trying to climb the mountaintop. But what you realize is once you get to the mountain top, what's next?

And it is a beautiful documentary about his life. And it's sort of a documentary within a movie that he was trying to make for his last, you know, great work of art, the other side of the wind. And I think you would really enjoy that. That is my suggestion to you, Lombardi. Hopefully, Sean Payton saw it too. I hope so, and I've got to get me some of this Jenny's ice cream. I mean, what's so good about that?

Have you ever had Jenny's ice cream before? I have not, but we've got to check it out because it does sound like it suffice for his three days locked up. He said sugar was his main vice, so I'm happy that Sean McVeigh was trying to, you know, at least he found something to keep him happy. Speaking of something that will keep you happy, this is keeping me happy, Lombardi. Cam Newton says his shoulder is very good after surgery, better than he thought it would be. a week after undergoing surgery for the second time in the past three off seasons. Is this good news?

Should I be excited? Because there was a lot of rumblings that he may be shut down for next season. No, I think this is good news. I think this is no different than Andrew Luck stuff. I think this is no different than any other player. I think this is important that he gets it going. You know, this is good. I mean, we saw his arm.

I mean, really, it's almost like I'm shocked that the people at Carolina kept their jobs because at the end of the day, this guy, they should have shut this guy. I mean, it was painful to watch him throw the ball all year. I'm glad he got this done. And hopefully it'll help him in the future because, you know, look, let's face it, he's too good of a player to have to go through this. Once he's healthy, then I think the Panthers have a legitimate chance. Absolutely.

And we hope that everyone will stay healthy and be healthy as we head into Super Bowl 53. Again, on GM Street, we will be back on Friday to give Lombardi's final pick for Super Bowl 53 and also gave you a bunch of prop picks and just kind of run through the whole game. of all things. Super Bowl 53. Again, today was more of a get you prepared, get your gas up, get you ready to go. Any final thoughts on Barney? Before we get out of here? I'll be live from Vegas, so it'll be perfect. I'll be right there at the sports book at the, at the, at the tip of the point in the Southgate Hotel for Vesen, for Vegas Stats and Information Network. We'll be there for at the Super Bowl covering it from soup to nuts. It'll be great. So come say hello. If anybody's

in Vegas that listens to the pod, stop over and say hello. We'll have Budweiser at 1 o'clock on Friday at 5 o'clock on Friday with the great Brent Musburger. We will be looking live and watch the game. I've never been to Vegas for the Super Bowl, so I'm really jacked about it. And last time I was there was actually with Jim Nance. And so I'm looking forward to going to Vegas. I mean, for the Super Bowl, I went out there with Nance for Super Bowl weekend. I didn't stay the whole time.

So I'm looking forward to it. So join us. But Friday, I'm jacked. I'll be ready to go, give you the prediction and see how the game's going to go. Can't wait. And you'll have the insider information live from Vegas. she'll have all the news and notes that you need to have. And I will say this.

I mean, you're rolling with big time company, Jim, Dan, Sprint, Musburger. I'm happy to be along for the ride with you, Lombardi. And I appreciate you as always. And I'm excited for Friday. Thanks, Dave Frazier. Thanks again to Kavo. Clean up your remote control clutter in time for the Super Bowl with Control Center by

Kavo with one universal voice remote. Just say what you want to watch. And Control Center will take you straight there so you can finally get off AV duty and bring the joy back to watching TV. Shop now just in time for Super Bowl Sunday. get 40% off control center with promo code NFL. Control center is available at CAAVo.com and at Best Buy, Control Center by Kavo, one remote that does it all.