The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Brady vs. Belichick Legacy Update, "It's the Schedule, Stupid," Plus Talking Receivers With Steve Smith Sr.

Episode Date: October 4, 2021

Russillo shares his thoughts on the Buccaneers-Patriots matchup, the 4-0 Cardinals, teams masked by an easy schedule, and more (1:02). Then Ryen talks with five-time Pro Bowler and Hall of Fame nominee Steve Smith Sr. about Brady vs. the Pats, why the Steelers’ struggles aren’t Big Ben’s fault, Steve’s favorite young WRs, and more (17:40). Next Ryen shares some thoughts from the weekend in college football (51:00) before answering some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:12:00). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Steve Smith Sr. Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, everybody? I'm J.J. John G. Stramski. And I'm Jason Goff, and if you haven't heard, the ringer has gone local. I'm bringing the fire, I'm bringing the rain from the Big Apple with my show, New York, New York. And I'm repping Chi-Town with my new show, The Full Goal on all things Chicago. We've got episodes three nights a week with all the reaction of the local teams and guests. Plus bonus episodes around all the big games and storylines. So whether you're uptown, downtown, in the burbs, or a transplant. Make sure you follow New York, New York, and the full go on Spotify

or wherever you get your podcasts. A loaded Football Monday podcast. We'll do the NFL a month in and recap Tom versus Bill. We're also going to have Steve Smith Sr. on from the NFL Network. We're talking about some of the games and then his career and an incredible real estate story. College football headlines and Urban Meyer and, of course, life advice. And the dumbest thing ever, the Dodgers having to play in one game. That was an incredible week for

a bunch of different reasons, but that closing window and let's face it, for the most part, unless it's your team, a lot of us are watching teams that we're not all that emotionally aligned with, but just to see how the first window was closing with four or five games, that was just a reminder how great

the product can be because I know there's other times where I'll be like, man, we can have an awful Monday nighter and everybody watches it terrible calls stuff we don't understand and then you're like man that was great um this was this wasn't really that I mean of course there's going to be mistakes throughout all the games and that's not really what I'm going to focus on the positive part of it is that you're sitting there on a Sunday afternoon watching all those games come down to the wire you have no idea what's going on you got bets everywhere and that was that was just one of those moments where you feel like you haven't taken a breath in the last hour. So shout out to the NFL, which doesn't need me to promote it beyond where it's at.

But I want to run through a bunch of different things. And, of course, I'm going to start with a headline. And that is Tom back in New England. Now, this was a big deal. I don't know historically if it'll end up being as big as the lead-up. I mean, almost nothing with that kind of lead-up. You're like, is this an accurate amount of attention? But you know what? Overdo it. It's way better to overdo it than underdo it when you're talking about promoting and building up something like this. I mean, you can't send enough

media people to cover this stuff. And I think there were like over 500 credentials for it. As far as the Boston part of it, which I think I can speak well to, the idea that most Pats fans are rooting for Brady, that's definitely not the case. There was a poll, I think it was the Boston Globe,

there might have been another poll too, where 83% of Pats fans are rooting for a team to win. Actually, that might seem lower than what I would think it would be. And I know NBC was doing some stuff where they were kind of like polling people throughout where they basically felt a little bit like, hey, person from Boston, can you say the dumbest run of sentences possible?

Can you say something that makes you look like you're not even allowed to have a blender at your house? Can you say that about this game? And look, NBC got what they wanted. So the buildup to all of it, I know at times you get to a point you're like all right just play the game just play the game but this is this is exactly what we're looking at um the other part of this that i thought was kind of funny was the predetermined craft video where robert craft was going to definitely hug brady before the game because if there's one thing craft doesn't want

people to think of him he doesn't want anyone to think that he had anything to do with Tom leaving. And when Tom left Tampa, he even made a statement about the whole thing, which is those two guys getting together and basically like, save me here. Make sure everyone in Boston knows that I'm not the main reason that you're not here anymore. And so that video, and it was almost like, hey, Drew Brees, we get it. But can you get out of the way? I made sure that all this stuff was going to happen ahead of time. The game itself, it wasn't pretty. We get it, but can you get out of the way? I made sure that all this stuff was going to happen ahead of time. The game itself, it wasn't pretty.

It's just that it was full of drama because you're like, wait, is New England going to pull this thing off? Brady wasn't great. I don't know if it was the rain. I know they said it had nothing to do with it. It was definitely part of it. And it felt like throughout, as you're watching the broadcast, I think Collinsworth's really good in that kind of stuff. Being like, hey, look at how these defensive players

along the line are floating around. You don't know who's staying in. You don't know who's coming. You don't know who's dropping back. You can't live blitzing Brady the entire time, but you can't never blitz him either. So when you think of Gronk not being there, Godwin didn't seem like he was even somebody

they were even looking at. Mike Evans is only going to get a couple catches here. Then we'll get to Antonio Brown a little bit later. But Brady was a little off, but they were moving the ball better than New England was. New England, on the other side, is they're looking like, okay, we're just waiting for Brady to open this thing up. It's going to be 21-3.

It didn't happen. And Mac Jones, 19 straight completions. And yes, look, they don't throw the ball deep with Mac Jones. I've been with a lot of rookie quarterbacks. Yeah, there's some stuff I like. There's some stuff I'm not sure is as good as people are making it out to be. It's almost like when you're a rookie or you're Mac Jones, you're not the number one pick in your middle of first round pick.

It's just anything where it doesn't look like you're throwing up in your shirt is a win. But I thought Mac Jones last night showed more throughout this season than at any other point. Like some of you are going, hey, his confidence, his composure. There were some throws there a little bit later, and they're all short throws. I mean, they had 83% of their throws go 10 yards or less down the field,

which is the highest of any team in any game so far this season. That's a huge number. 83% of the passes 10 yards or less from Mack, and that's what this offense is right now. And Damian Harris got off to a really good start. You know, nice running back. But the offensive lines had some more issues. And, you know, again, it's not like Mack's what this offense is right now. And Damian Harris got off to a really good start. You know, nice running back. But the offensive line's had some more issues. And, you know, again, it's not like Mack's thrown to anybody

on the outside consistently. But I think overall, some of the things that you hope that are there to build on for somebody who maybe can be your franchise guy the next however many years, I thought there were some really positive signs there for Mack Jones. But then you're thinking, wait, is New England actually going to pull this thing off? Brady gets the football back, and we can kind of get into what Tampa was doing and attacking

because they went to Antonio Brown twice where you thought, well, they probably want to run a little bit more clock. I am in the minority on this one. I think we prioritize clock more than plays. I would rather prioritize which plays you think work over clock and you know it's it's like it's like a guy in basketball having a decent shot at six seconds and going no no i gotta run it down and make sure no one can get off in his offensive rebound so there's no time left on the clock like we'd all like to think we're larry bird in our lives we're not and i actually like what what Tampa did. And, you know, John Jones, a corner came out. They hit a completion against his backup. Jones came back in. Brady

thought he was hobbled. He had an amazing pass in the right end of the end zone for Antonio Brown. Brown just lost it. It was actually a perfect throw. And then on the next one, they went forward again and Brown dropped it. And again, it was going to be a really great catch, but it's Antonio Brown. So I understood what they were doing because they were trying to just get the touchdown because they figured hey, Mack can move the ball between the 20s, but we don't really like them. We're not that afraid of them

once you get down to the red zone, even though he had a great play action on that one-yard touchdown play on that big drive. So I got what Tampa was doing. So then New England comes back and I just knew it. I mean, Nick Folk putting up the graphic that he made all of these, all of these field goals in a row. It's like, well, he's definitely going to miss one now and in the conditions. And the funny thing is too,

is that when he clanks it off the left upright, the graphic was like, it would have been good from 56. We're like, he, he hit it from 56. He hit it from 56, but he hit the upright. And the other part of that too, was that,, was that Brady was going to get the ball back with 52 seconds left and two timeouts after that kick either way. So I guess there's an argument, too, that New England could have gone for it on fourth down if they didn't like their chances with the kick, but they made their decision and they moved on from it. So let's look at some Bill Tom stuff,

because I haven't done the Bill Tom Brady legacy rankings, because I just felt like I needed a little bit more data on the whole thing. And I know the easiest thing at one point I thought is Tom going to lose this one because he knows Bill needs it right now. Bill needs it a little bit more. Is that how selfless Tom Brady is? Perhaps. But that was not the case because he ended up getting the win. Did he keep it close so people respect Bill a little bit more? Again, I'm not ready to go there yet. But if you think about this, the Pats get rid of Antonio Brown. Yes, he wins the Super Bowl with Brady, but then he can't pull in the two touchdown catches. Did Belichick know that was going to happen two years ago? Can't rule it out. Don't know for certain, but can't rule it out. Don't know for certain, but can't rule it out.

The hug afterwards, it was brief. It was a bit like, yeah, I know I have to say hi to you, but I'm actually talking to somebody else right now, which is true with Bill's case. I know Brady has the Super Bowl, but think about this.

There was a secret meeting afterwards where Belichick met up with Brady and they spent 23 minutes together, 23 to go, and talked it out. They wanted to do it away from the cameras. Was Bill doing that knowing he could pick Brady's brain if they meet in the Super Bowl? Again, I'm just thinking out loud, but it just felt like Bill one step ahead,

no matter what. So legacy rankings right now, we have Belichick 1, Tom Brady 2. Let's talk about my favorite football team. That's the Arizona Cardinals, 4-0.

They were 0-4 against Sean McVay, and they put it on the Rams yesterday. This Arizona team is now top five in offense, top five in defense. They beat the Titans. They beat Minnesota.

We're going to do a little bit of the, is it the schedule stupid, which is one of my favorite segments that I do. And with their case, like, look, yeah, you can, you can get on Minnesota. We don't really know what to do with them. That was a weird game against Cleveland, by the way. Minnesota goes right down the field. They look crisp. It's perfect. And then the rest of the game, I don't know what their average third down in distance was, but every time I looked up, it was like double-digit yardage. So that's not all on Kirk. The offensive line

could not beat Cleveland. They even had a play where it was like one of those last kind of desperation pass plays, and Cleveland got pressure with three, which almost never happens. I always kind of hate that when you drop eight and send three, and you're like, all right, normally the three are never going to do anything. The guy back there is going to have a ton of time. In this case, Cousins didn't. So I'm not actually piling on Cousins in that game because it was just such a weird

game. And there's another thing going on with Baker, too. We saw it in that Chiefs game where it's like, hey, we need a long possession from you to run some clock and maybe get up a second score or just a field goal. And Cleveland wasn't able to do any of that stuff. And on a third and five, Baker missed Odell on what would have been a touchdown. So that's something to pay attention to there.

It's not like bashing Baker, but it's just, hey, if you're going to be one of these franchise guys and the money that he's about to make, they're going to need you to be a little bit better in some of those later possessions. And I need to dig into some of the fourth quarter stuff and some of those closer games. We saw it against Kansas City. We saw it in Minnesota. However, back to my favorite team, like I said, with Arizona. When you look at the schedule and who they

beat, we don't really know what to make of the Titans as they lose to the Jets. The Titans have just not been the same team. Tannehill hasn't been the same. Minnesota could have a really good record prior to that Cleveland game with all the bad luck that they've had. Then they beat the Jags. But beating up on a Rams team that is clearly

in the conversation as NSC Super Bowl contenders, this is just another level. And Kyler's the MVP of the league at this point. He's first in completion percentage and it's not like everybody else. He's 76% of his passes right now. He's got a couple more picks than you would want. He's third in QBR.

But I think what he means to his team, and when I look at so many of these other younger guys, whenever we're seeing all this fourth down conversion stuff, which times you know it's not about what the conversion rate is it's about who you are how the game's playing out what are your matchups are you going to get the ball back with good field position on this fourth down attempt and we're seeing fourth down attempts everywhere so i think it's obviously better because you just ask the defense like would you rather than punt or go for it and forth ashore and every defensive player is normally like we're always thrilled when you punt it so why are you punting it but we also have to admit with the evolution of the

quarterback position where we're finally putting the best athletes here on sundays is you just have more options on fourth down like think of the guys if you're my age that you grew up with there were no zone reads okay you wouldn't do it because your guy was going to get killed he wasn't going to turn the corner anyway on a keeper uh even if the defensive end crashed down a little bit. These guys just weren't quick enough. So the fact that we have quarterbacks now that are this athletic, guys like Kyler, guys like Lamar, not going for it on fourth down is actually limiting your offense. So I think that's a big part of why we're seeing this. It's not just the math. It's also the players. But when I look at some other guys that kind of scramble out with no purpose,

what I love about Kyler is that when he moves out of the pocket whether it's pressure or by design he is moving with purpose and then sets himself again I mean he can make every single throw on the run doesn't have to have any you know I always point this out whenever we're looking at guys form and what their mechanics are it's like hey that's cool it looks good but you don't get the chance to just drop back and throw freely throughout an entire Sunday afternoon. It just doesn't really happen. It's not realistic. So it's really, how are you with those challenge throws? How are you

in chaos? And Murray deals with chaos in a way where then he resets himself where it looks like he's not dealing with chaos. It's so impressive. Like I said, I think he's the MVP of the league. All right, let's go to, it's the schedule stupid because we're a month in some teams have better records some teams have

worse records than what we expected going back to August and there are times where you can get a little caught up one of my favorite baseball games ever is like when a team wins their first two series and they're supposed to stink and they're 4-2 and 5-1 and we're like hey what's different about this team and then we check back in in September and they have 58 wins

it's not as dramatic with this, but it does happen in college. It happens in the NFL. You look at Carolina coming up against Dallas. They're 3-0. They're the number one defense in the NFL in a lot of categories. Two that I look at is opponents yards per play. They were number one

and they were number one in defensive DVOA. It was by a wide margin. So now you're looking at Dallas going, okay, no one's scared of Carolina, but look how great this defense is. But it really was about the schedule. They played the Jets.

They played the Saints, who nobody likes anymore, and the Texans, who are just falling apart after looking somewhat competitive at the beginning of the season. So I think the Carolina story right now is a nice story, but the defensive numbers massively skewed and Dallas who

whether it's them winning the division or some of these defensive rookies that have changed the way we think about their defense. I like Dallas. I like them a lot. We know how I feel about Dak. So them putting it on Carolina, you could say, wow, they did that to the number one defense.

Not really. They did it to the number one defense statistically that was bumped up by their opponents. The same thing I think had happened with Denver, even though I really like Denver's defense. I definitely like Denver's defense better than Carolina, but that Dallas left no questions about it and their defensive youngsters keep making plays is a great sign.

Shout out to the rookie QBs. 1-11 in starts going into week four. Wilson gets a win. Zach Wilson, who early pick, you're like, what's going on here? And the Jets pull it out against the Titans. And then you got Justin Fields with the Bears, who that is such a strange dynamic. I know I've kind of had some fun. And I'll admit, like, push back on what if Nagy was right that Fields isn't ready?

Because as bad as two weeks ago, and it was all time. It was like second worst offensive production we've seen from an NFL team in 40 years. In that previous Bears game with Fields' first start, averaged what, 1.1 yards per play. They ran the football against a not great Detroit team. But the energy they had, and the Montgomery injury sucks, but the energy they had, they ran the football more. They didn't ask Fields to do a ton. Bill laser called plays.

And then afterwards, Nagy's like, yeah, whatever. Everything still runs through me. And you're like, what, what, what are you like? Why can't just usually guys like to give other people credit, even when they don't believe it. Like, that's one of my pet peeves with coaches where we're like, oh, you know, we lost 2120. Yeah. We were out coached early.

They prep better and all this stuff. And you're like, do you really believe that? Nagy actually believes that everything good is still because of him. When, I don't know, this isn't like a guy that's won at other places. I mean, hell, at least John Fox was successful somewhere else. So, Wilson gets a win.

Fields gets a win. Mack Jones almost gets a win. Two final things here. I might be right, might be wrong. I feel bad for Steelers fans who are going to have to watch this all year long. And I know what Roethlisberger means to your franchise, and it's not like I want to sit here, but this is now, right? This is 2021.

This is what we're doing. We're evaluating every Sunday. In the beginning of the year, even that first game against Buffalo, I'm like, how is Pittsburgh going to survive with this kind of offensive attack? Roethlisberger now has thrown 52 passes on third and fourth down this season. 24 of them, so that's 46% of those passes have been short of the sticks. They threw a

fourth and five short of the sticks yesterday. This game is now short of the sticks. Everybody's doing it. And so Ben is not alone. There's some other people around him. Shout out to Hembo from ESPN, the researcher who tweeted that one out. Najee Harris had 14 catches in week three. I love Najee Harris. That's probably a bad sign when your running back has 14 catches in week three. I love Najee Harris.

That's probably a bad sign when your running back has 14 catches in a game. That was week three against Vegas. Could be wrong. Are you ready for this? Daniel Jones? Giants quarterback? After week one, I go, okay, you know, they're going to be replacing this guy again.

And at one point, I thought Josh Allen was going to be replaced at some point, and that is not the case. So I was wrong about that early on, and I'm not ready to say I'm totally wrong about Daniel Jones, but he is better now. He is better. The numbers this year compared to the other two years, you look at him and you go, okay, this is better. The Washington game, that game, I was like, man, he's doing a couple things here. We know he has the big arm. We know how athletic he is. We also know how much he turned the football over, whether it were picks, the 30 fumbles in his first 28 career games.

He's had one pick this season. It was in the first game. He's been clean the last three. Only one lost fumble. So, I could be wrong about Daniel Jones, which I didn't think I'd be saying a month into the season. Steve Smith Sr., one of the best receivers of his era

NFL Network the Cut To It podcast joins us now Steve we talked last night about the whole build up to everything and we see it play out it wasn't crisp what was your biggest take away

from Brady going back to New England? I mean it was a good game and the reason I say it was a good game. And the reason I say it's a good game, you got to understand with all the emotions going on and then you have the rain. Right. Rain and bad weather and football can change the landscape of everything. It is something like you got to think about it. For instance, if you were setting up for this podcast and it started raining, do you have plans for rain? Think about it.

Brian Lefkowitz was not going, well, when it. Like Brian left was, was not going well, when it's pouring down rain, we're not going to try this, you know, this play where he has to fake handoff and then he's reading one, two, three, you know? So when increment weather really throws a monkey wrench in things, especially in a passing game. And you know, wrench in things, especially in a passing game. And you know that that offense is predicated and it moves by the passing game. Yeah, I thought, you know, like between them trying to take different shots, like Godwin

felt like he was the primary focus defensively. And then, you know, AB is going to get loose at some point. Evans is going to get his. They tried to balance it all out. Yeah, but it just felt like whether he was off like what did you think on those last two throws antonio brown do you think they just went because they were like hey john jones is dinged up let's take shots at him like what did you see with that attack towards the end yeah i think it's i think it's yes let's take let's take that and then also too you know they had they were throwing to AB at times where he was

coming up big. Right. So it was one of those, you know, he's feeling it. So let's just go to him. You know, sometimes there's a lot of little nuances. You don't know what was said in the huddle. You don't know what was said or done three or four plays before that. I mean, there's times where I watched Mike Evans and the way he sometimes, I thought he was hurt, right, against the Rams. He looked like he had a bad foot, right? And so you never know what's going on. And, I mean, obviously with Carolina, you know, playing the Cowboys,

and you see Amari Cooper hobbling and his hamstring, and he go out there and just bust out, open a, you know, 30, 45 yard touchdown. Damn hamstring look good to me. Right. So, you know, so it just all varies, man. And it's really hard to put your finger on things when you're not actually in the huddle, When you're not actually in the huddle, when you don't know what's going on in the game, because there are little nuances that sometimes as I watch games, I'll see something that even my wife sometimes when I'm watching the game, right? Or like watching, like I'm a tennis, I love tennis. And I'll start critiquing. I'm like, man, why does this person keep running around their backhand? You're not winning. Just play through the backhand. Right. And so my wife is

just like, can you just watch? See, all right, this is, this is good because you know, you've been removed for a couple of years now. And one of the things I always talk about, like in doing this is I can watch, I can read everything. i can even talk to people and i try to have like a good idea of what i'm saying here but i'm still never gonna know you know baseball was always the first one that i always like when i finally worked for a team i go oh my god the amount of stuff that i never knew about where you're planning out not just tonight but you're planning out everything else especially baseball it's every single day has that been tough for you do you hate that part because you're you're now you know doing so much media stuff are there parts of you you're like hey i can i still pick up everything i played

the damn game but i'm no i'm not in it so sometimes i just i i sometimes stay out of it just so i can have a fresh perspective, right? Before COVID, I was around football so much. I was going to combines, talking to GMs. And, man, I would actually, like, sometimes, you know, come off as a hater. I'm like, man, that dude's not very good. He's in a great system, right? And so now I'm just kind of going, you know what?

Why do I dislike this play versus I dislike the player? Right. And not that I dislike the player, but I'm just like, oh, this guy isn't very good. You know, somebody saying he's great. I'm like, no, he's not. And so instead of focusing on that, I'm like, hey, I think this is a fantastic player. And here's why. Right. And and COVID really helped because then I just had to rely on what I see in COVID and gyms and scouts weren't really texting me as much because we were all texting and nobody wants to get screenshotted and all that stuff. So we just want to, you know, so a lot of the dialogue kind of died off. And now that we're back, I'm having conversations, but I'm asking less questions. And sometimes now I'm just like, hey, just checking in.

Did I see this right? You know, yeah, you did pretty good. Okay, appreciate it. So I just kind of do that. But I try not to so much more of go, hey, I heard this about this person. And so I try to stay out of that now. So did you have a moment early on when you're on the media side where somebody came at you that you were like, whoa, like it was that it was ever one moment you'll think back like, oh, that was weird. Came at me in what like a player, like a current player, an active player. I get some players that, you know, when I first started, I had a few players that said something to me and I and I and I foolishly went back at him.

But then then I was like, you know what? You know, because I had some I'm not going to mention a name. He was like, you don't even watch film. I'm like, bro, I got so much film on you and statistics to show why exactly why I have a low opinion of you, right? I can go on my pro football focus. I can go on my analytic from the NFL network. I can get down to the point of when they throw, when you're targeted, what is the percentage that the receiver will catch it? Right? And then he was like 64%. I'm like, bro, 64% of the time, if you're telling me right now, if I go play the Powerball, there's a 64% chance that I'll win? Let me get 1,000 tickets, please. Right?

And so now I just kind of like when I hear that, but then I really taper my approach now is like, you know, this is a good player. I disagree, you know, and then I still get the same people who, you know, I foolishly said, you know, because we're talking about Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I was talking about how they, you know, they played the Lions. I think they were going to get routed and still Buccaneers fans are like, oh, what about you? You Lions. I think they were going to get routed. And still Buccaneers fans are like, oh, what about you? You clowned. You said they were going to get routed. And I've ate humble pie.

I've said, hey, you never go against Brady, all this stuff. And people like, you know, even Warren Sapp came at me about things. And I just, you know, I just took a step back and said, okay, you know, how do I want this? Do I want it, you know, do I want it just like, you know, do I want to put this steak on there a little bit or do I want to fillet them bad? And I just really sat back and I was going, no, just respect

and understand where he's coming from. Tip of the hat. Appreciate you. God bless you, brother. I've been watching this year and we knew with the the offenses getting the ball out quicker trying to neutralize some of the defensive stuff maybe making up for an offensive line um the completion percentage rates through the roof everywhere because of so many short passes and we have we have some offenses here like they look like they don't even want to take shots down the field or even try to.

I mean, Ben Roethlisberger is kind of the leader in the pack of that right now. When you have that kind of offense, what's that like coming back out, going back to the sideline when you know we're not really throwing deep at all? Well, I disagree. When I look at – so looking at the Pittsburgh Steelers and really looking at it, right, everybody wants to blame Big Ben. Everybody says it's time for him to sit down. Well, you got five offensive linemen.

Three of them are rookies. You got, I think, Taylor Moten, who's a guy who was here in Carolina, played really well, got paid, then went to San Diego. He did so good in San Diego, they moved him on, and now he's with the Steelers. And he's leaving. And he left off here with the Steelers where he left off with, I'm sorry, with the Los Angeles Chargers.

You know, so you got four out of the five linemen that are, their main job is to protect that very valuable asset back there. And my man is under duress. He's not, he's, Big Ben is, first of all, his name is Big Ben. He's never been known for, you know, fast twitch. You know, his ninja-like reflexes have never been his attribute right his ability not to be tackled not to go down then you have juju smith schuster who i believe is probably one of the best number twos out there but you got to have a number one right claypool is a guy that they thought he was a number one heading into a sophomore year people have gotten him figured out a little bit.

He's a jump ball guy, right? And I think when they played the Bengals, Deontay Johnson was not there. And you saw the inability to push the ball down the field. So much that Ray-Ray McLeod was in there just trying to get some speed. You have a new offense coordinator. Everything's changing. And then the brunt of it is being in his age, he gets kind of seen as the person who's at fault.

We've never seen a Pittsburgh Steelers team this way until when they drafted Big Ben. There's a transition period happening, and unfortunately, it's happening for the next 13 weeks. We're going to see that this is Big Ben's last year.

This offense coordinator needs another year under his belt. They need another bona fide wide receiver. They need some bona fide wide receiver. And they need some better offensive linemen. You know, and that's really the bottom line. That's the crux of it. Who do you think is the best receiver right now in the game?

It's so many guys that I see because there's like DeAndre Hopkins. He brings a different element than Julio Jones, right? And then you can say whatever you want, but A.J. Green is still a number one, right? The fact that, you know, you put the number two on there, Long Jr., 22, he got the brunt of that. I mean, he's 6'4", 220, and he got a wide span. And, you know, there's a lot of guys guys that as a former wide receiver, I look at the guys and I go,

I like this, I like that, I like this, I like that. And then also too, there are different philosophies. Tyler Lockett, I love what he does. He's not a big guy. DK Metcalf, straight ahead,

line guy. I call him the skateboard, but we all know if you're in the skateboard, if you get a rock in front of you, you can lose your fronts, right? So it all varies. So there's so many gifted wide receivers here in the league. And still, you know, we're still waiting for Odell to get his feet back from under him, you know? So there's just a ton of guys that I don't really like saying who I believe is number one because as soon as I say I believe these are my top five ranks, there's going to be an article about it, and then other guys are like, what about me?

What about this guy? Oh, that's just respect. So I try to stay away from it just because I know how much these guys work on their craft and also know you can be a fantastic wide receiver and be in a system that limits you but that wide receiver can't say that yeah we were going to title this steve smith senior's top receiver in the game and then you know no i'm just kidding we weren't going to do that to you hey what about the young guys then are there is there a young guy that you like and i'm not i'm

not doing this through the headline or whatever but like yeah like when you look at justin jefferson or do you look at cd lamb or do you look at all the alabama guys like is there is there somebody you're like you know who i love is this dude so i love love CeeDee Lamb. Him playing in the slot against a number three or number two, man, that's fast casual, right? You're going to get you a good meal for a good price and it's going to cost you at the expense

of the defense. Obviously, DJ Moore, he's doing a great job. He's balling with Sam. Gallup, coming out of Colorado State, he was a guy that I was kind of questioning, and he's really taking that step.

Jamar Chase as well, his drops in the preseason come out, and I think he has one drop all season long. He's spectacular. I mean, there's so many guys, these young guys that are playing well. A guy that I think is not getting, he's not playing as well as I thought he would.

It's Scary Terry, Terry McLaurin in Washington. I think with all that switch up, he hasn't really put up the numbers. And you've been able to see his explosiveness that he really could have and that he has. And just, you know, just what a year makes, right? And it's such a year to year. And as a wide receiver, as a player in general, I've always went by this. Every year there's a new habit to break, right? And so there are going to be some things.

I mean, A.J. Brown, you know, he's had some hamstring things, but I love how he plays. You know, so it's really – I'm just disappointed I'm so much older because this is a passing league. And the amount of plays and the way that it's really so much for the offense, I really believe the way the NFLPA has negotiated how the owner and management must spend 95% of the cap, how they're passing out money,

how they're not allowing the defensive guys to touch the guys, to cover them. I personally think the way I played, I would be a $200 million receiver just because being physical, throwing guys down and playing the way I play, and you put me in some of these offenses, it'd be interesting. You know, I'd be making a whole lot of money. I made a whole lot of money, but I'd be making a whole lot more money bullying people. And it'd be fun and smiling.

And then it's just the game is different it's evolving in a good way yeah the rules part of it is one thing but the way they'll they'll come out in the formations now and we're gonna kind of line up and do whatever and for younger people listening it wasn't that you were just some deep bog is that you could you could do really you could play at any level you know and you could beat the hell out of somebody off the line of scrimmage. You're going to win now. I mean, they can't even touch you. They can try. I agree. I'm not just saying this cause you're on the podcast, but I agree. Like you would be putting up scary catch numbers. I will be holding out and expecting,

I was expecting the 40 acres, any meal I would. And it wouldn't have a problem with it either. Like would sit back and call me whatever that's cool yeah you're right right so i mean that's just but um but i i'm actually glad and fortunate i'm not because i also played against some guys um and i just really like i remember playing in atl Keith Brooks. Remember Keith Brooks? Yeah. Linebacker. Yeah. Yes. I remember I was running underneath route and like he just body slammed me midway through.

Like now I think about that and the guy does that, he'd be kicked out. Right. But just like those stories like that. I was like, man. And it was funny. It's like on the film. You can just kind of see me, you know, and, you know, playing against, like, I remember, like, seeing a tight end as big and crafty as Algie Keith Byers, right, with the Philadelphia Eagles or having a small, elusive Charlie Joyner, you know, all these little different nuances where they were considered specialists, right? And we frowned upon those. Those are certain teams that had those guys. Now every team has a specialist, right?

And I think it's just funny, but the guys who can make themselves non-expandable, make themselves where the offense must go through them, I think football has really evolved. And it was funny, as I was talking to a player who I was having a conversation with, and he asked me, he said, what position did you play? I said, most of my career I played X. And if anybody knows ball, X is opposite of the tight end. So that means I was stationary staying. I was not used in motion. I wasn't used in motion probably my first five or six years until I started complaining where I was able to move in the slot.

But I always played X. so I was always stationary stand. I never was off the ball. Always had to create my own shot to say. And then when I got to Baltimore, I played Z. And, you know, I was smart enough and witty enough that I learned enough in my earlier years that when I started playing Z, even at 38, I didn't have the 4-4, 4-3 speed anymore. But man, I was like, it's easy, right? And that was the interesting part.

And then still playing a physical game, you know, when you get older and still playing a physical game, it took a toll. And so near the end, that's why I had a lot of injuries, just because, you know, guys were hitting me and I was trying to hit them, too. So, you know, I see my my last year, I think I second to last year, I broke four bones in my spine, fractured my ankle, tore my Achilles. You know, so I had a good time. That was the hit in the Steelers game, right? Yeah, that was the hit in the Steelers game, yeah. How do you feel about that when you go back and watch it? It doesn't bother me, you know.

Here's why it doesn't bother me, because the individual I thought did it actually didn't do it. So that's even funnier. Right? And then the other part is they hit me so hard, they broke part of my back. I got up. I didn't go back in the game. I came back four games later, and I was 36, 37.

And I think I'm doing pretty good for myself. So I'm all right with it. Right, but the famous part about that hit is you thought it was Mike Mitchell who was a teammate, right? And then afterwards, I mean, look, you got just crushed on that one. So I can't imagine how just mad the first guy you saw. You know, that's kind of what it felt like. Well, no, because – so the story behind that is when i went down i heard i know his voice so i got dad ears

right and so i heard his voice and he was like yeah yeah so i assumed it was him but it wasn't and so but him being also being injured me being, there's kind of one of these things when you're a player and you get injured and the other team is sitting there saying, yeah, now that means we have no regard for people personally. And so I'm a guy like, so if you're saying you have no regard for me personally, then I have no regard for you. But I took it to a level at the end of it. I just kind of put it like this. Mike Mitchell is a fantastic player. He was a great player. He was good for me at the end of my career. That gave me a little bit of the carrot.

I'm not going to throw him under the bus because at the end of it, the fact that I mentioned his name and kind of say something that adds three or four likes, three or four follows on him that people really are going. And until Steve mentioned him, we really wasn't thinking about what Mike Mitchell's doing. Right. And some people will say, well, we don't really care what Steve Smith's doing. That's a lie because y'all,

y'all talk about me every Thursday night when I'm on Thursday night football. So it's just kind of one of those things where I got to keep trying to I'm sadly saying I'm a football player. I'm a gamesmanship is there. So I'm trying to

keep the humbleness, be a good example for my kids that I'm not, you know, coming at and just coming guns ablaze and start just kind of being like I was in football, where it's like you disregard people's who they are. Because when I played, I was all about I wanted to make sure that like when you saw me, you went the other way.

Right. And what's interesting is on my podcast, I'll have guys that I've played against. When I sit and talk and even talking to you, you're kind of sitting there going, he's not what I thought he would be. I thought he would be like rawr. And it's like, you know, like, what's up? And so I'm trying to get away from giving people exactly what they assume I am and be more of myself, what they assume I am and be more of myself, which is I'm actually a goofy-ass dude who can be serious too much and trying to show a little bit of my place of side and just really calm down a little bit and enjoy life. We actually have hung out twice, not socially but we you came by espn so it wasn't like you're gonna remember me but we did a couple shows together yeah and you were you were great

and then you know i'd been around long enough and management come down like what do you think i was like i it's a no-brainer you know when he's done playing um i also i don't know i don't know if this was in the book or not but i'd heard a funny story that i thought was just like hilarious because everybody you're right like those of us that have never had any like day-to-day experience with you have an image of this guy who's just a baller like ready to go for it and you can't really walk through life like that every day of your life you can do it on sundays but like well maybe the baller part but like okay so i, so I don't know how this is going to go. Is it true?

Was there a story about a neighborhood that you had lived in was like a real family neighborhood and then somebody was renting a house near you where they were shooting movies over there? Oh, yeah. Right? They were making porn movies in your neighborhood right yes yes and you guys had to have like a neighborhood meeting about or something oh yes we did what was that story man eric at home must have told that huh yeah so um he was with me and um and they were like this.

I'm in my neighborhood. And actually, at that time, Steph was like my neighbor, Steph Curry, right, when he first got there. So we were in this neighborhood. We're just chilling. And my wife's like, hey, like, it's some crazy stuff going on. I saw some people like dressed up as like. And so basically somebody was renting out the house and the people that ran out just left in the middle of night. So they were using the house as a basically a porn show. And and so they so we went to the neighborhood and, you know, I know it's shocking, but, you know, I grew up in inner city L.A.

I'm black like you don't you know, and there there is a there is a list. And my wife is from Utah. There is a distinct difference between. Folks who grew up in the hood and folks who have not, we just handle things differently. Right. And this neighborhood watch, the neighborhood meeting was so very calculated and well thought of. And just let's, let's, let's go over there and talk to them. And, you know, and man, I, that engagement is zero of my interest like i'm shoot first ask questions later right let's you know let's let's let's get them out of here you know we get a few

but we get a few buddies let's move them right um and it was just a very interesting neighborhood watch where i don't go to neighborhood meetings anymore. Right. I'm just not engaging. So what happened? You guys met. I sold that house. Oh, I sold that house. I got I got out of house so fast. Right. Like a house. So like, how do you think? What do you say? How do you have a dialogue? We're going to get them out of here like. They're making their money. So you respected it,

but you were listing your house immediately. No, I did not respect it. Well, you said they were making their money. What can you do? Right? I look at it like this. Here's the other part. I don't engage in any of that

because what happens when I put a different color play set up that you don't like it? What does that mean? That means y'all going to have a neighborhood meeting on me. And you come on over here if you want to. As I like to say, you're going to have a bad day if you decide to do that. How did you and Steph get along as neighbors? It was good. It was very – he was young.

I was young. Neighborhood was – it was like my house, his house, and then we had the whole block. So we didn't have anything. Now that I go in that neighborhood, it's like the whole streets. Everybody's notorious. Oh, that's Steve's that staffs. Um, but it's, uh, I, I forgot that for a while. I just loved when I had heard it. So I hope I, I hope I didn't share something that you didn't want to share. Uh, it wasn't my house. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, no, not like, no, I just, you know, and we, and we didn't, we didn't say the neighborhood, so we could, you know, we didn't, we didn't mess up anybody's, uh, uh, you know, their appraisal.

You didn't, you didn't tell the listing agent, I'm sure either, or you didn't tell the seller or the buyer agent. Um, and next door is there's a, it's a movie theater. Uh, Hey, you were just nominated for the hall of fame. What's that mean? Uh, probably about two years ago, I act like it didn't mean anything. Now, well, I'm going to enjoy it. 50-50 shot as a kid from LA, knucklehead from LA. 50-50 is better than nothing. I'm excited and hopefully it happens. If it doesn't happen, I think, you know, it's just a matter of time.

But to be honest, I'm super excited and thankful and just kind of actually ear-to-ear. I usually, when it was announced, I text my family, my four kids. Well, my seven-year-old, he doesn't have a cell phone, but I text my wife and my three older kids and just say, hey, it's been announced that I'm up. Right now, it's 122 people, so I'm one of 121 other folks that are nominated. But hopefully, if we get through, it's going to be a party. So I'm one of 121 other folks that are nominated.

But hopefully if we get through, it's going to be a party. I hope it happens for you, man. And congrats at least on this part of it. Appreciate it. Yeah, it's part of the journey. And for me, it's one of those where I want to say frivolous. I'm not frugal, but I watch my money. I might have to spend some money on this one, though.

And here's the thing, Ryan, a lot of people don't realize with me, I grew up in California where they only showed at that time. The Raiders got blocked out. They were going from L.A. to Oakland, Oakland to L.A., L.A. to Oakland. So watched a lot of 49ers games. But then whoever was on TV that day. So at 10 o'clock in the morning on the West Coast, man, you got a game. And I just remember my grandpa used to always tell me, like, if you want to play this game, these are the people you need to watch. And that's who I used to watch.

Right. And so I played the game in which the way I watched the game. Right. And I, and I watched the game where Eric Turner would hit you. Don Beebe was, um, Ronnie's lot. Dude, like Ronnie, anytime Ronnie Lott would put somebody to sleep in a concussion, it was Don Beebe. Right. Just, and I just, so my grandpa told me, you know, if I wanted to play like that. So I always watched.

And the reason I became a wide receiver, the reason I played DB and wide receiver, the reason why I became a wide receiver is I used to get those baseball cards with that. Chalk, nasty gum that like can fix everything. It was like electrical tape, right? It fixed everybody's problems. And I remember Carl Pickens, Eric Metcalf, Herman Moore. I wanted to be in a thousand yard club. And my grandpa, you want to be in a thousand yard club, you better learn how to play ball. And, you know, and that's what my love for it.

So for me, one, to go into the Hall of Fame, whenever that is, to play football for me, it was one, the way I got out of LA, but it was also something where I daydreamed every day about it. And by daydreaming every day about it, I really took my job extremely serious. And I knew my opponent, but I also knew my opponent's coach. And I thought that was very important. That sounds like the start of maybe a Hall of Fame speech one day, the end of that. So remember those, write those notes down. Hey, man, this was a lot of fun.

And make sure you check out Steveve on the nfl network and of course this podcast cut to it where i'll i'll be a guest coming up here in a few weeks so yes thanks man i'm excited about that are you all you ready are you prepping i know i gotta be ready for you because when we had you in studio at espn you just like takeo spikes is the number one guy as far as like what he started talking shit to us in the studio and then you were kind of like playfully talking shit to us so takeo never smiled you smiled so it it turned out a little bit so i'm ready i know what i'm i know what i'm signing up for do you know why i don't know why most things that are said in jest are really serious.

I can't wait. I can't wait for this. I may have to get a question approval before. So here's the question. You ready? I can tell you already. All right. It's about you.

Okay. So if you fail, it's your fault. If it's about, if you fail, it's your fault. I like that. You should put that on a shirt.

Yeah. What? Thanks, man. All right. Appreciate it. We'll get to college football headlines here in a second. But first of all, Kyle, how are you doing?

Who are you rooting for? What's going on? You're mad about the field goal attempt. What do we got? Yeah, I don't really want to say much on air, but I was definitely going for Mac Jones. And I was proud of my guy. Yeah, I mean, it was like, it was, I don't know.

It was like, it was sort of like a plot twist, like a Shyamalan movie or something. It's like, oh, we're fucking pulling it off. And then it's fourth and three and they were moving and they just said how Mac completed more completions than a rookie has in the last 30 years and it's like all signs are pointing to go for it on fourth and three and then they were like we're gonna kick this field goal in the rain and it's like Nick Falk and you know I don't know it was just like Bill said it last night he was like I thought they were joking I thought Belichick was joking when they went out there and I know, I don't know. It was just like Bill said it last night. He was like, I thought they were joking. I thought Belichick was joking when they went out there. And I was like,

I don't know how they would be joking. I can't really get people offsides on a field goal attempt, but it just didn't seem, it didn't seem real. And, um, I don't know. It was just not something I was used to like feeling like we just did the really dumb thing. So that's all I want to say about it. It just really, it felt, felt good.. And then it all of a sudden was like, whoa, we're not kicking this, are we? And then we kicked it and it made the loudest sound ever. And then I had to watch the next like 59 seconds of that game. I don't know. It sucked. Yeah, the Tampa secondary was a mess, but maybe there was a couple of those later throws where it looked like Mack was throwing these screens like right into everybody.

And they had one that was almost picked by Devin White, which, again, was going to be a really tough catch for Devin White. So I don't know if New England got a little spooked with some of the stuff he was doing there late, where they were like, let's go ahead and kick it. I'll admit, I was kind of surprised. Bill Tomwise, does Belichick want to drop that one for motivation for the Super Bowl?

Again, just throwing theories out there. But I love number nine for Tampa. That Joe Tryon kid, Shayinka, who's from Washington, was the first-round pick. He's filthy. I don't know if it's the number nine. On the other side, though, why Nikhil Harry was given number one, somebody should have stepped in and been like

hey dude actually we can't give you number one like are you serious um did you get a Nikhil Harry jersey no no no no it was uh even when they made the pick I was like even when they made the pick I was like this can't work out I don't know why it just can't work out that we picked

a receiver so it was never in danger of getting a Nikhil Harry jersey but i would say nobody has talked about how they gave mac jones josh gordon's number but i i just didn't think anybody would bring that up so i'm just throwing it out there they just kind of did that without a second thought i'm glad you did i'm glad you did i could go all day on college football i'm not going to do that i just wanted to mention something that for all the college football angst about how they organize their playoff structure and what it should or shouldn't be. And there's, these are the things where there's never ever a perfect system, right? It's like splitting up a beach house with family members. Like we can try these things,

but somebody is going to get screwed. The fact that the Dodgers went 106 games and now have to win one game to get in the playoffs this isn't the real playoffs one game wild cards are not the real the play-in that's not real i refuse to believe it's real i hope one franchise hangs a banner for a loss one game but to play 162 baseball games and win 106 of them and by adding the extra wild card in the system it's like oh now you guys you didn't win your division because san francisco won so many games you have to play another team one time and win that to then be in the playoffs that doesn't get enough credit for how dumb that is i mean you want to talk about display again this isn't like a guy who was like yeah you know i used

to watch a ton of baseball in the regular season now i don't because of this that's not even what i'm going at here which is always the anti-college football expansion argument my my argument with the college football 8 to 12 teams is you know you're going to have a team here playing in a one game situation that probably has three losses that didn't even win its side of the division now playing for a chance to play for a national championship? Like, what the hell did we just do? Why do we play these 12 games? To play 162, win 106, and then be like,

hey, here are the Cardinals. Good luck. That, I can't be the only one that's as offended as I've been over the last 12 hours for this. Feel free to add in anything, or maybe no one cares. I don't know. No one cares. Okay. Sounds good. And that's talking baseball.

And that's talking baseball. I mean, you're right. They won 18 more games in the Braves. It's ridiculous. But I mean, I don't know. Baseball is weird. It doesn't need to be that weird. It doesn't. It doesn't need to be that weird. It doesn't. It doesn't. That needs...

It's like, oh, you know, these pennant races are amazing. Okay. And by the way, baseball this last week was awesome. Every part of it was awesome. Saturday was awesome. Sunday, we didn't get the chaos

that everybody wanted, but it was... I don't know. I still love baseball. I just know that I'm not going to talk about it a ton because, unfortunately, I'm a show that if I want to spend all my time talking baseball, I don't know the podcast would do as

well. It's just not what works, but it's like, all right, here you go. All right. Wait, real quick. How amped up would younger rassillo be for this red sox yankees wild card at fenway though yeah i mean it doesn't i'd have anxiety for two days i wouldn't you know soto takes a called third strike and i would spend the next 48 hours i'd probably take a day off from work i would have skipped class there's no way i was

going to school i'd be like this is too important. It depends on what age or where I was living. There's a version of it where I would be in the park for it. Instead, I was watching all the games with my dad. And we were into it. But he's far more into it at this stage than I am. And it was weird, too, because we were watching some on Saturday. I was like, hey, I got to get back on some of these college games. He's like, what? I was like, yeah, like this is what I do, man. And so it was pretty funny. Uh, it was pretty funny, but yeah, no,

this was, I used to think I was going to end up in jail if they won the world series in my late teens, early twenties. Um, so it's probably the irony of all ironies is that right when they started winning was right when I, I'd spent a year with the minor league team in 2002 and then was in Boston in 03 and my first on air job for a talk show. And then 04, I got, I don't know. It's just, it, it, right when they started winning is probably the point in my life where it bothered me one way or excited me one way or the other.

The emotion was not the same, which I don't know. Maybe that was better for everybody involved, to be fair. We'll see. I honestly can't believe this Red Sox team is in the playoffs from where it was in the beginning. But again, we're talking a lot of baseball here, so let's get to the college football part of it because we have some fun stuff that we want to do. All right. There are weeks where a ton of things happen that you don't expect.

And then there are weeks like this past weekend where I felt like there was a lot of clarity on my end. I don't love how when a team beats a team and then that team that beat that team loses to whatever team. And then we act like it's all connected because every week is very different. You can be up for a game, like look at Oregon going to Ohio State, and then look at Oregon against Stony Brook. So Oregon, for whatever reason, doesn't seem to get hyped for the lesser games. And that was the case. And I'll get to the Stanford loss for them a little bit. But a month into it, when I started looking at some of the teams and the matchups and the way they were being talked about, I actually think there were a lot of things that you could connect

that led to a lot of the results that we saw on Saturday. And I'm going to start with Arkansas and Georgia because Arkansas, top 10 ranking, feel good about them, and they're better. I mean, without question, this is a team that couldn't win in the SEC for two straight years. And everybody loves Sam Pittman, and it's their head coach head coach and like well you know what what happens when they go into athens you know is georgia really really good enough on offense like we'll see and then i'm like

you know what like good for arkansas but they beat texas when texas was going with the other quarterback who they've since changed from they beat A&M that we still were kind of kidding ourselves about who they were because of a preseason ranking and missing out on the playoff by basically one spot last year. But I don't want to keep beating up on a freshman quarterback, but Calzada's not the guy. So I was like, is there a chance Arkansas just goes in there and gets housed by Georgia?

And that's exactly what happened. And then the funny part about that happening in the first window was that it's like, man, and I saw it, I saw it from a handful of people. It was like, man, it's Georgia right now. And it's not close. And you're like, are you really going to do that to Alabama? You're really going to do that and say, and not everybody was, but there's enough out there that this isn't some straw man deal. Like I saw it and I'm like, Hey, why don't we let Alabama play Ole Miss? Because as I said throughout, after Bama gave up all those rushing yards to Emory Jones and Florida,

and congrats to the Gators for keeping that one close. They had a two-point conversion at 31. And it still felt a little fluky. And throughout, what did we think we knew about Bama this year? We knew that defensively this is probably one of the best personnel groups they've had in a really long time. And we can talk injury. Bama doesn't get to use injuries as an excuse because there's just literally always another guy. And to watch Bama do what they did against Ole Miss, where it's just not even close. You're like, hey, I think they had the personnel to fix whatever was probably a fluky outcome in Florida. And we can get to Florida a little bit later.

fluky outcome in Florida. And we can get to Florida a little bit later. So maybe Georgia's better than Alabama, but don't be so excited about Georgia that you're going to ignore this team in Tuscaloosa, which I don't think that was a huge surprise. With the way Ole Miss and them were going to match up and then the running quarterback thing was saving. It's like the guy loses like one game every year for a decade. And we're going to be like, oh, dual threat. Matt Corral may be the number one quarterback taken in the draft. He really might. I don't know if there's enough in that tape or maybe everybody forget about it. Notre Dame. What did we say about Notre Dame after Wisconsin? I was like, you can have both these teams. I'm not

surprised Cincinnati went into South Bend and beat them at all. Cincinnati has a real chance at a playoff shot here. And the rule for the non-Power 5 teams is you have to be good the previous year for us to care enough about you. You have to be on the radar enough so you're getting some of that benefit of doubt, just like any of these other power schools that come back

after winning their bowl game. We do it every single year. We can't stop ourselves from doing it. But if you look at a Georgia-Bama playoff thing with both undefeated in the SEC title game, because that's now going to happen with Clemson and the ACC, with the Pac-12 eating itself here a little bit. Let's not rule out the Big 12.

I mean, Oklahoma can be disappointing. They also could be a 12-1 Big 12 champ winning the championship game and be in the playoff. So they can be disappointing because of the standard that we have for the Sooners, but they also still very well can be in the playoff. And we've got a couple teams alive here now with Oklahoma State, Michigan State,

some of these teams creeping up because you've got to rank somebody here. Look, I'm not knocking either of those teams, but now when you look at Notre Dame offensively, they use three quarterbacks, the offensive line issues, and they do have some weapons, but I don't think that that was all that surprising that they lost to Cincinnati because of that Notre Dame-Wisconsin game.

Again, even reinforced when you watch Wisconsin this past weekend against Michigan, where you're like, all right, it's not happening. Mertz wasn't good. He got hurt. He came out. We got Chase Wolfe backing him up there. So the two SEC schools, the Big Ten part of this, because now Iowa and Penn State are ranked third and fourth. They play each other. So one of them will knock themselves out of it, but maybe not eliminate them. Because again, we really, we do a lot of assumptions with undefeated. Like, all right, they won that game. I mean, even Notre Dame,

they had some metric after they lost to Cincinnati that showed what their likelihood would run the table was. And it was actually like really high. What are you guys watching here? So watching all these things the last few weeks, some of the outcomes, I'm like, yeah, none of this is all that surprising. And even though Oregon going into Stanford, you're like, all right, come on.

You didn't think that was going to happen? No, but I wasn't shocked that it was a struggle. Stanford, midday, Palo Alto, that is not exactly the Grove. I've been there. Football is not exactly the Grove. I've been there. Football is not a priority there. Those people are trying to change the world through blood testing. Okay. So Oregon, who Anthony Brown transferred over from Boston College,

I still can't believe like he played as well as he did at Ohio State, but he also played really well for almost three quarters, and then Ohio State got back into the game. Some of the decisions that he makes, I don't think Oregon will make a change of quarterback there. He's a big guy. He's clearly their guy. The Ohio State win is on the resume,

but Stanford's just better with the new quarterback. They're always going to be physical. There were some calls there that definitely went against Oregon, but even if Oregon had won that game to go out, that team will go 13 and Oh, I don't know. I don't know, man. And they seem to play down to everybody. And then I have two more things here because on the Florida side of things, they play Kentucky, they lose an Emery Jones who, you know, if you're down in Gainesville, you're happy and sad. Like every other possession with this guy, Florida had nine plays and goal to go situationgo situation against Kentucky at the end of that game.

They gained one yard in the nine plays. They got a penalty that reset the downs. That's the Emory Jones that I'm used to watching. Not necessarily the guy that almost pulled it off at home against Alabama. I'll tell you, though, the clarity ended with a bang in Death Valley as Auburn came into LSU. There's no way I thought Auburn was going to go in there and beat LSU.

I know things happen. I couldn't believe Auburn was ranked. I was like, did anybody watch a Georgia State game? But it was because of a loss at Penn State, who's now the number four team in the country.

So you're like, hey, they're undefeated other than that. And I think LSU's the better team. But this is... LSU comes out, gets the lead. I was like, yeah, they're going to beat Auburn. And then Auburn wins. And the Bo

Knicks experience, man, that is something else. I do not know what the hell's going on with that one. It's unbelievable watching that. It's almost like a Jack Taylor Heineke experience. But there you go. Auburn still

ranked 4-1, and I throw all the SEC teams after Bama and Georgia in a hat. No idea other than A&M's not even close. Mississippi State's a little bit better. LSU's disappointing. Auburn, I don't know. I think they're all okay, but you shouldn't be scared. And they could all beat each other, which is kind of what we started to see at the end of saturday night speaking of college football we're going to keep this in the college football topic even though it could be an nfl topic and that is your boy urban meyer but the reason we're doing college football is because he um he was in a ohio state zip up so that's fair so we saw a video of him where he was sitting at a bar stool,

kind of like, I don't know if they were watching a band or what was going on, and there was a girl in a tank. Kind of reminded me of that Dierks Bentley tank top army he had when he first busted onto the scene. And the girl was basically just kind of giving him a lap dance, and it was not his wife, which can be a problem. That's frowned upon, I've heard, in marriages. And so then his wife started liking tweets that were calling out urban i know so rudy you were you were more on the case on this one

what's what's the best way to sum up some of the content that we saw uh yeah i think the wife not pumped um about the situation but of course you know everybody it's easy to dunk on urban in this scenario and it's not a good look for him at all i don't even know how you bounce back and it's like you just go to the locker room the next day like you talk to your players about it like what do you do if you're urban i had no idea like how you handle that situation because it's everyone's gonna everyone's gonna want to ask you about it's like the elephant in the room here's what it'll do if this season goes poorly and you know it's gonna go poorly because it's not very good um my thing is i'd like to give a guy a couple years on a job, no matter who they are

for the most part, but if it were to end shorter than we expected, then this will be used as some part of the timeline. If they suck this year and then they come back next year and they turn it around, no one will ever care about this except for his wife. I don't know enough about the situation and I wouldn't feel comfortable commenting on that part of it.

Players, though, they're not going to care. The players aren't going to care. I mean, somebody may use it after the fact to beat up on Urban, but the players know the deal, all right? The players, you think every single married guy in a locker room hasn't gotten a lap dance with somebody that isn't his wife? So, if anything, there's probably some portion of the group that has more respect for him now.

But nobody likes Urban. So, you know, I don't love the videotaping of somebody, but I know those are the rules now. Like, if you're him and you're in that group, then it's on. I'm not defending him. But he was, we already had him in that hate rank. And there was, I didn't think anybody was going to come out and, like, defend him. But this is, this is about what happens on Sundays far more than what happens Friday night.

Somebody was saying it was his restaurant. And then did his, did his wife tweet out a picture of her babysitting? And he was like, yeah. So, so somebody tweeted like, you know,

enjoyed seeing coach urban out, you know, for somebody's birthday tag. And there was a picture. And she tweeted meanwhile, I'm babysitting my choice. But I think it wasn't like she didn't retweet the picture of him being grinded on. It was just a picture of, you know, them at the bar and a couple of people smiling. It wasn't that actual picture, but she was apparently liking people who were tweets of people who were kind of,

you know, basically being like, what the hell, Urban? Kyle, how would you handle this if you were an NFL coach? You know, I actually gave it a lot of hard thought in the last three minutes. And I was thinking I would just try to chalk it up to being hammered maybe. And then just like being taken advantage of maybe. Because the only thing I was wondering is there was another picture of somebody saying like, who is this guy? He's flirting with me.

Do you think that was photoshopped and people just ran with that? Or do you think that was also like a real online post from that night? I believe almost nothing. I thought it was the same girl. No, I looked. I know it did not seem like the same girl. Different clothing. So really got to pay attention to that.

Priscilla investigation. Good, good. Yeah, I'm with Kyle. I thought I didn't think anyone was going to come up with the blame. The grinder. investigation. Good, good. Yeah, I'm with Kyle. I thought I didn't think anyone was going to come up with the blame the grinder. No, no, no. I mean, I guess

what you have to say is like what was going on with his hands? It seemed like his hands were at his sides and it seems like maybe he was just not trying to be rude and he was just I mean, there's another picture of him

with some glassy eyes. Maybe he didn't necessarily know what was happening, so he could just possibly be mean, there's another picture of him with some glassy eyes. Maybe he didn't necessarily know what was happening. So he could just possibly be like, I don't know. I just, they kept giving me shots. It was like, you know, my 21st birthday. It was every time I turned around, somebody was handing me something. And I don't know.

I just, I wish it would have went differently. But it didn't seem like he was engaging a whole lot. He kind of just accepted that that's where she was going to be, quote standing at the bar i don't know i think there might be something there other than that maybe just taking lumps so you're you're if you're urban you're like oh so what politeness doesn't matter anymore or just be like i didn't even see her no no that wouldn't work no no no i think he saw he definitely saw i love that you knew knew the hands rule, though, because some places are different. And you were like, I think he was really respectful. It was a high.

It might have been a top-soft only joint. He was talking to somebody around her. He was just kind of moving his head to the side, just sort of trying to block her out mentally. There just wasn't any room at that bar. Yeah, we got to get Trevor some easier throws. We got to get some more wins on third down oh hey i don't know what she's doing i'm just gonna be polite here though hands to the side

yeah i look you know i i saw a bunch of different stuff it's like why even bother you know and it's like well you know we all have things that attract uh you know are attractive to to us and if there's one thing that i will say is a certainty not for every female listener we have here but it seems like over the history of time that women are attracted to men who have power and uh men seem to be attracted to women that could likely destroy their family lives so um i would say the women are probably making slightly better decisions than we generally do on those but um i don't know i guess i i would say there's there's a bunch of athletes on tv and i wonder how many of them would be willing to trash him knowing that, you know, maybe, you know, it's not like I haven't done that.

And he's not the first guy who's a coach to have had a situation. But when it's on video, it's over. You're toast. You're done. We consume stories completely different with the visual aid. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari. 355 Cabriolet what's up i have a ridiculous house in the south fork i have every toy you can possibly imagine and best of all kids i am

liquid so now you know what's possible let me tell you what's required life advice is life advice rr at gmail.com. You always have a follow-up here or there. And I just, I thought this was important because you want to talk about fighting with a bow staff, which is probably the last time we'll address this on the show. Yeah, right, exactly.

A guy checks in big, 6'1", 240, one hanging pull-up, 10 kipping pull-ups, 40-year-old dad, used to work construction. Nobody knows how to use a bow-type weapon in a fight. what i said it rarely will you find a guy there's some videos out there but i'm not even sure what those guys are doing um had a guy come at me once with a concrete rake that's a little scarier than a bow staff i'll admit but yeah i get your point uh he tried to knock me out i jumped him before he could swing twisted it out of his hands if you twist when they're not ready you'll always gain advantage

and they'll lose grip. And did what that winger guy said is a dirty move, but I slew-footed him down. So there you go. I also, the biggest reason I read this is I think everyone should have to work construction for a summer.

Because if you work construction for a summer, you realize work construction for a summer you realize it's just stuff that you can and can't do and stuff it's not like it's just a brawl but there's no hr all right and so you can talk to people the way you need to talk to them to get your point across i would say that that probably has helped me as much as anything but also can make me a tad i don't know abrasive is the right word, but efficient in the way where I'll be like, why are we doing this when we can do this? And that's the way it works in a construction site. You don't sit around and theorize on things

for half a fucking day. Call a meeting. Right. Yeah. Let's call a meeting. And be like, can we bring out an outside consultant for this one? And, you know, Hey, I didn't like the way Jerry, the sheet rocker said that, you know, my corners are being taped and I'd like to discuss it. Cause I just, I don't think I just, it's not that I don't feel safe, but I also am sort of unsafe and be like, Hey, just, Hey, if you can't tape your corners, then you're doing dump runs today, man. I didn't really sign up to do dump runs. Yeah, you did. You did. You didn't think you did, but you did. And it's like, hey, I was wondering if I'm like, okay, well, we can not pay you for the rest of the week too. Like, well, I think I just like to take a little bit of a break.

Like, okay, you don't get paid that day. Oh, really? Is that how? So I do think everyone should have to work construction for a summer because I think it would help all of us interact. And I think we would waste less time. Thoughts? I think just outside work is good. I think just outside hard work is good, too. It doesn't necessarily have to be construction. Would you agree? Yeah, I think we're talking the same genre here. Yeah. My dad does plumbing, heating, HVAC, and there was a few summers there where I'd come home from college and I would work, and he'd wake

up at 6 in the morning. I felt like I was constantly sleeping too because I'd wake up at 6 in the morning, I'd get home at 2, which is just an insane schedule, and I'd just nap the rest of the day, and then I wouldn't sleep at night, and it totally fucked up my sleep schedule, but I could not wait to get back to school every single time that happened. It's tough work, dude.

It's tough. It's character. I would push back a little bit, though, on maybe the outdoor work versus construction because there's some similarities there, but I also think sometimes there's a park job. Didn't you work for the town, Kyle? Because I've seen those guys deal

and those guys are taking long lunches because it's kind of like... Yeah, that's true. It's a taxpayer job and you don't really have to... We would bounce for sure. We would bounce for sure. But it was, you know, it's New York in August. It's New York in July.

That's kind of tough. Yeah, I agree. But I mean, we'd come back on our lunch and everybody fucking stunk and was sweaty and was like covered in grass and is like you know spitting and shit the guys are smoking the cigarettes in the school garage and it's like i don't know this doesn't seem awesome that part of it yeah right right yeah that's not that's not

necessarily inspiring you don't you don't sit around and go i could see myself doing this for 30 years this totally made me realize to stay in school like if you thought about dropping out it was like no no just stay in school because these guys have been at this for 35 years and they're not changing and they just threw a camera in the garage and it's getting ugly yeah no that's that's that's good i guess my point is like when when instead of working for a town where there's ways around it and stuff you can pull off and be like hey this is one of these things that we do because it's just sort of bureaucracy and nobody there's people removed from no one's when you have the homeowner it's like a dictatorship and you just basically like the gc might be the dictator for the country and the country's the

homeowner and in this case it's like okay you don't want to do that or you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing you're not doing it the way I want you to do it. Then you can just not come in here tomorrow. And there's no severance. There's no, there's just, do you want to work or do you not want to work? I think it makes you appreciate the other side of it. Even though if you're coming from the construction world and working on construction sites, most of your life, when you're in the corporate world, you like whoa okay and those guys can be a little abrasive and not always a great fit but i think it can it can help you just see like hey what's the best way to get this done can we just get this done because if it's there's a leak you guys know you're not going to sit around

and think about it all day long okay here's a good one 29 29-64205 lean. Athletic build. Not at all relevant. It never is. I've had a friend for about 20 years. Congrats. One of my closest guys. Love him to death. He was always a real guy's guy.

Bit of an oddball. So our friend group were always a little skeptical that he'd settle down and find someone. Turns out he did. Found an incredible girl. All of us were shocked at how great she was. And she's fit seamlessly into the friend group ever since she came on board so it's all good but recently i made a move to a new apartment she decided to bring me a housewarming gift i had mentioned that i could always use some nice art for my walls a few months ago so she took it upon herself to do a pretty decent size oil painting like four feet wide that's a big painting that's almost as tall as people. It's a special scene of where I'm from.

Oh, all right. Incredibly thoughtful, no doubt, but the painting is terrible. Like a four-year-old painted it. She spent a ton of time doing it. Seemed really proud of her work. Insisted that I hang it in my apartment pretty much as soon as she gave it to me.

I did. I hung it in my room. I hung it in my room with some help from her and my best buddy. So the boyfriend, I think. What do you do when somebody you're very fond of, like your best friend's girlfriend, gives you an enormous, really poor quality painting as a housewarming gift?

I'm serious. This painting is now hanging in my room as a single fella. I promise you every girl I bring over is going to see this thing and immediately question everything about me. My buddy and his girlfriend are going to be hanging at my place pretty often, and she's fully invested in this painting and is psyched. It's hanging in my room. What's the move here? Well, it looks like you have a permanent piece of artwork, my friend. I mean, you can't take it down. You have no idea how insulting that is.

I took a picture of a duck for Sarah Walsh and I brought it, I framed it and I gave it to her. I thought it was a really cool picture. My father got me a camera for Christmas is like 10 years ago. And I was like, Hey, here you go. You know, you, you hang up little things. And then Carissa Thompson came into redecorate her house and that thing got chucked immediately. You don't think I noticed next time I came over and I was like, Oh, the duck picture didn't survive. Cause I knew they were kind of like, Oh, that duck picture sucks. It was an unbelievable picture. One of the best pictures I've ever taken. It was the only one that exists.

Now it's gone forever. Our friendship survived because I knew there was no way Carissa was going to be like, hey, keep the duck picture here. So I've never said anything about it publicly. This is the first time I've ever commented on it. But that's okay. I was like, whatever. When it comes to art,

I'm probably a little more hardened than your friend's girlfriend here because I'm used to being criticized every day of my life. I would say in this case, this will be devastating to her if you take it down. Devastating.

So you're not only going to bump her out, your friend, the relationship will never be the same. I'm serious. You guys think I'm overreacting. I'm not. I think the only solution is to buy a second home and put it there. But that's pretty expensive. That's an expensive solution. So I don't know where you're at financially, what your path is. I don't know if you told your financial advisor, is there a way to save quicker and have more money soon so I can buy a second home just to put this piece of art in there? I mean, you could move it, but if you actually hung it and like it took time to hang it with the boyfriend on top of everything else, you might not even be able to move this thing.

So you get rid of the painting, but you're going to be getting rid of your friend. I think, I think this is easy. I think this is a, in the meantime, you tell girls that your 10 year old cousin painted it. We love him. He's a great guy. He think this is easy. A, in the meantime, you tell girls that your 10-year-old cousin painted it. We love him. He's a great guy. He went to art camp. You know, he might not be going back next year, but he had a great two weeks. A four-foot meal.

Yes. And then two, when you're ready, just redecorate your whole fucking room. And it just doesn't fit. It doesn't fit. When you're ready, just redecorate your whole thing. Be like, you know, I just had to change things around. And then you're going to have to put stuff where that thing was. And you're going to have to make it so that thing was and you're going to have to make it

so that there's no room for a four-foot thing. But I think it's possible. God, you're so brilliant. Telling visitors that this kid in your family did it and you know it isn't any good is great. That part is great.

I love that part, Kyle. Thanks. The problem is it's still there the other times you don't have visitors. And, you know, that's a tough look. I would just say work on what the aesthetic is that doesn't allow for a four-foot portrait to be in there, whatever it is. Maybe buy some of those fake plants and put put those around it too like partially cover it because it sounds like covering him more than it's going to bother anybody else though like

you know like no one's going to come over to this guy's house and be like what a shitty painting dude like i think less of you as a person i think it's just kind of in his head so i don't know i i wouldn't worry about it too much but you do have to put it up for some time and as kyle said lie about it it's fine yeah i mean there's no contract here that it's forever but i'd say for a little while this thing's going to be part of your life i don't even care about the visitor part i don't care what people would think i you know i don't i wouldn't go oh no i have this picture and now someone's gonna like yeah you're right sir you're in your own head it would bother me alone to go i don't want this picture in here um and the thing is is like you kind of mentioned hey i want some new art and

then they did this thing she spent all this time on it like that's a big deal man if you don't know the art world artists you want to think podcasters can be a little fucked up artists forget it so i don't i really don't think you can take it down. If this friend means that much to you, there's no real way to massage it. You could stage a break-in, go bottle rocket here, get Kyle and the gang over there with some crowbars and duct tape

and be like, oh my god, my house is broken into. They took a watch you've never seen me wear and that painting. But that seems excessive. That seems like a sitcom episode. I guess we're done here.

Thank you to all the listeners. Please subscribe to the Ryan Russell Podcast. We're on your Spotify. Thanks to Steve and Kyle. And we'll be back on Wednesday. Thank you.