The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Ravens About to Go on a Run? Tom Brady's Hero Status, Plus Austin Ekeler on his Unlikely Career and the Chargers' Season.

Episode Date: October 28, 2022

Russillo shares his thoughts on the Ravens' Thursday night win over the Buccaneers, Baltimore's second-half dominance, and why they are poised to go on a winning streak. He also talks about Tom Brady's recent stretch of poor performance (0:36). Then Ryen talks with Chargers running back Austin Ekeler about this Chargers season, what it’s like to be a part of a goal-line run play, growing up as a farmhand on his family’s ranch in Colorado, his NFL start as an undrafted free agent, Chargers head coach Brandon Staley, and more (12:20). Next Ryen and Kyle make their favorite bets for NFL Week 8 (41:04), before answering some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (43:59). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Austin Ekeler Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

today's podcast we'll recap a thursday night win and what it means for a baltimore team have you looked at the rest of your schedule uh and also tampa and tom brady another struggle sometimes heroes don't look like heroes austin Eckler, Chargers running back. Really interesting guy. His story's incredible. Undrafted special teams to a big contract and one of the better running backs in the NFL. We'll do life advice. We have our FanDuel contest picks. Enjoy your Friday.

I want to talk about Baltimore first, and then I want to get to Tampa Bay and Tom Brayton. All right, Baltimore wins the Thursday night game. Tough first half. All of us again going, man, these national broadcasts, it's unbelievable how many of the games

have been that great. But I think it was actually, there's two real big things. It's the Brady storyline, but the positive is that do we all have to kind of look out for Baltimore? And I think we do.

They were terrific in the second half. And Lamar, who I thought was as precise as maybe I'd ever seen in the first month of the season, wins AFC Offensive Player of the Month. I felt like the last few weeks had kind of gotten hidden because he got off to such a great start that he had, I don't want to say regressed. I mean, I just think really good players, even great ones,

can put together a couple of weeks where you're like, what's going on? And they'd still won enough games, so it hadn't really mattered. So to say that maybe the first month of the season, it was three games for Lamar was the best that he had ever played. I thought it was really impressive. I mean, even the Baltimore game, which became the two-a game, which became what's wrong with Baltimore's defense game. Lamar was incredible throughout the entire thing until they had a third down conversion they didn't get, whatever. But then I look back at the MVP stat season in 19. It's absurd. He had an 83 QBR. He has the 12th highest QB rating in NFL history from that season. And for the most part, most of the QB ratings, which isn't QBR, but QB rating historically is more of the recent stuff just because of the

proficiency of the past game. He had 36 touchdowns, only six picks, 1,200 yards on the ground, seven yards per carry. So to say, hey, September, he might've been processing things. He might've been better in the offense, perhaps years removed from it, but statistically 2019 is just nuts. All right. So even though we've been over the last few weeks, I started to admit, like I'll admit, like in the first half, I'm like, wait, what, what's going on here? Like, and anytime we talk about Lamar, it becomes, I think it's one of those conversations where if the people that are arguing with each other actually sat down and said, what's your position? And then we're like, okay, what's your position? They'd be like, Hey, we probably agree more often than not. And my point has always been, if you're going to win MVP and you're going to be considered kind of, you know, one of those top guys, you're going to get compared to Mahomes and Allen and all that stuff.

And you're behind those guys. It's not the end of the world. But I do think we have a lot of arguments where we think we're really separated on our positions. And if we actually sat down and be like, what are you actually saying? Like, I'm saying I think he's like the fifth, sixth, seventh best guy in the league. And in the first month, I thought he was incredible. All right. So I'll admit that first half, I'm like,

what is going on with these guys? Mark Andrews is out. Gus Edwards left late. Bateman was out of the game. But then the second half, this was beyond just the stats. 200-plus rushing yards. Every time they had a possession, even when Tampa got a stop,

I'd be like, can they actually stop them on a third down? Can they stop them on three plays in a row where they're going to get a punt and get the ball back? And it just felt helpless. It felt helpless against this offense where there was a series where it was clear they were attacking Devin White. You come back from commercial, Devin White going at it with

Bowles on the sideline, which is a very normal thing. I don't look at it as like, oh, disgruntled employee. White's frustrated, right? Bowles is frustrated with him. And then the next time Tampa's defense is back out on the field, the center from Iowa, Linderbaum, that guy's a beast.

Locks up White and just sends him back 20 yards. So everybody's watching like, hey, Devin White got kind of cooked on that series when Baltimore went in for the touchdown. They ran that little in-out route to the right corner, and he was kind of by himself. It's a tough spot, really, for a linebacker to cover that.

But then now you're looking for him, and you're like, okay, the center just worked him again. And that was the point in this game, and we'll get to the Brady part of it, where it was just, wait, Baltimore is running this offense right now in a way that Tampa, even when they get a stop on first down or, okay, hey, look, it looks like they got some pressure and got somebody right at

or behind the line of scrimmage. It's like, okay, now do it again. It didn't feel like Tampa could do it consistently enough in consecutive plays to get off the field, and they couldn't. The time of possession was 38-plus minutes for Baltimore. So this was, despite the final score being 27-22, you got a late touchdown. It feels like Tampa every week is this late two-point conversion. You're wondering how it's all going to play out. But I felt like Baltimore was really dominant

and makes me think of a couple different things. The defense, and we know the offense is really good. They're sixth in points per game offensively. When you look at who the best teams are, and you've still got the Seattle story that continues to go on, but Baltimore probably feels pretty good overall about where the offense is at, despite I think, yeah, I think there's a few weeks there where Lamar wasn't exactly peak Lamar. But is the defense better? Because after the Miami game, you're like, wait, is Baltimore's defense terrible? And that was an absurdity, too. It was incredible, all those big plays.

But to give up that many points in that short amount of time, and then you start looking at it after week four, Baltimore was 29th in opponent's yards per play allowed. That's bad, right? 29 out of 32. Everybody gets that. Don't need my help with that one. They've bumped it up.

It's 19th, so the overall number isn't great. But what it's telling you is they're figuring some things out defensively. Don't need my help with that one. They've bumped it up. It's 19th, so the overall number isn't great, but what it's telling you is they're figuring some things out defensively. And my next question, there's two other points, though, because there was a game against Cleveland that I was watching where they put up a graphic of teams with 10-point leads this season at that time, and it looked like, wait, is Baltimore going to blow this one to Cleveland? They were 3-3 in games with 10-point leads.

Everybody else had had a 10-point lead to that point in the season. Now we're going back two games. But it was like 6-1, 5-1. Yeah, right. If you're up 10, you expect to win. Everybody else had really good records. Baltimore's sitting there in the middle of the graphic of five or six teams with a 3-3 record, wondering if it's going to go to 3-4

against Cleveland. That's not the case. They're 4-3 now. They beat Cleveland. But they're going to go on a run here. The rest of this schedule at New Orleans, by Carolina at Jacksonville, Denver at Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Pittsburgh again, at Cincinnati, this team might be going on a run.

And I would not be surprised if in a few weeks we are collectively sitting here. Because things, I'm not worried about Lamar. The defense seems to be getting better. I'm worried about their injuries. But just like everybody else, you start, this is the type of season here, the part where you start to look at some of the depth charts

and the inactives, and you're going, oh man, that's right, I're missing this guy and that guy. But based on that schedule alone, you can't assume too much in the NFL. We could be sitting here four or five weeks feeling like they're clearly the third best team in the NFC. On the Brady side of it, he looked bad. He looked bad again.

I know the overall numbers against Carolina, if you didn't see the score, you'd be like, oh, he probably had a pretty good game. Brought that up last week. Not the case. Three points against Carolina on their third-string quarterback. The miss to Kyle Rudolph, that touchdown to the left side, he was pissed at himself. It was a really weird miss. He also tried to run it in the red zone late.

That had no chance. And I understand guys are covered, but it was like, at this point in the game, wouldn't you give one of your receivers a chance to win a 50-50 ball? They're 29th now in red zone touchdown percentage. So we've been over all the Brady stats. You don't need to do that every single week. Some other historical moments here. He had gone 305 games without a three-game losing streak. He now has a three-game losing streak. He was 15-0 following back-to-back losses. That is also over. On that 305 game streak that goes all the way back to 2002,

again, some of this stuff is just Paul Bunyan shit. The next guy was Joe Montana, longest streak without a three game losing streak. I think Montana was around 163 games or something. It was almost double.

It was nuts. So the hard part for all of it is trying to figure out, okay, we know the stats are bad. Now he's losing games. He's two games under.500 this late in the season for the first time ever. This just doesn't happen to the guy. And to just go, well, he's older and it's finally happened. It's just he's done something we've never seen before.

There's also a part of it where it's the personal stuff. Is that weighing on him in a way that we can't understand? Perhaps. It very well may be. People are different with this stuff. Some people, when they're dealing with stuff going on in their personal life, it can wreck their day-to-day. Other people can be driven by it, and whatever they do is an escape.

We've seen people in major, major moments, emotional moments, loss, where they've responded. Maybe it's one game. Maybe it's tougher to pull off during a season. I'm open to either one being true, that he is affected by it, or that it is more of just a football thing. He's 45 years old. He's 45 years old.

Let's go down the other quarterbacks in their last season. Marino, 39. Manning, 38. Montana, 38. Favre, 41. Elway, 38. Young, 38. I don't care that it really looks bad. I mean, if we're looking at just the evaluation of the Bucs and Brady and who can they be as one of the teams that we thought was at least in the conversation of coming out of the NFC, which I think was all totally fair going back to the summer, that's a different conversation.

Hey, maybe they're just not good. Maybe this whole thing's over, and they're probably still going to be in the playoffs because of the rest of the division. But are any of us going to take them seriously? Not if they keep playing like this. I don't know if this is going to be in the playoffs because of the rest of the division. But are any of us going to take him seriously? Not if they keep playing like this. I don't know if this is going to get figured out. Now, he's had enough of his receivers now. We're in the early part of the year.

I thought it was enough of an excuse. They can't run the football. We know about the O-line issues. But I thought he was bad last night. But there can also be a time, too, when we have one of these guys that's basically a superhero. We're like, well, why would you even come back? Why would you do these things? I think all that stuff's irrelevant.

I think when you're this kind of an icon, you can only add to the legacy. You can't really subtract from it. And I know some people look at the Jordan Wizards uniform years and think it's some negative. I think it's a positive for Jordan. I look at what he did in the last season and how much he played and the numbers that he put up. And yeah, it wasn't a great team. But I look at that going. To me, that strengthens his argument.

And I also don't think any of us really care. We're not going to look back and think about it. If you're a Jazz fan and you worship Karl Malone, have posters, multiple jerseys, do you care about the Lakers' time? Of course not. Do you care about Favre on the Jets? In the moment, it can seem like it matters. But when it's all over, when we're years removed from the guy's career, none of this really means anything. So him, if he ends up having this disastrous statistical season, it's his final season, I don't know that it really takes anything away when you've only added to it for as long as you have. He's already done the impossible. It just feels impossible to think he's ever going to look like a non-superhero. And that's what we've seen the last few weeks.

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Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. From the LA Chargers, running back Austin Eckler joins us. Thanks for doing this, man. How's it going?

It's going well, man. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate you. I got some downtime in the bye week, so I wanted to make sure I was voicing my opinion, getting out there, voicing myself, getting exposure. So I really appreciate you having me on. No vacation?

No vacation, man. I'll take that for the offseason. Okay, wow. Real no-days-off attitude over here. I just take that for the offseason. Okay, wow. Real no days off attitude over here. I just read that Russell Wilson did high knees for four hours on their trip to London, so that's a lot to keep up with. You don't have to add any comment to

that if you don't want to. All right. Moving on. I'm not a Chargers fan, but I think, I don't know how many years in a row this is. I'll look at the roster. I look at the depth chart. I'm like, man, there are dudes everywhere on this team. Offensive line, safeties, corners, defensive end, running back, receivers who I really like.

And then, of course, Herbert behind center. And then I'm like, wait, what's going on? Granted, you can lose it any week. Injuries pay a big part of it. A couple weeks ago, I think I looked at your inactive list at the end of the game. I was like, okay, well, that's the problem that week. I know you're told that it's not supposed to be an excuse, but I guess I'm expecting the Chargers to always kind of take this next step. Is that unfair as somebody from the outside who maybe doesn't understand how the team is week to week?

No, I think that's 100 percent fair because that's what we're expecting as players as well. We're expecting ourselves to take the next step. Every single year is a new year. You don't really build as much as you do in college from year to year. You still have some type of chemistry that is built up when you have the same coaching staff and some returning players, especially leaders. So there is some component of building year to year, which you would expect to see, I feel like, a better outcome when you have a lot of your starters and studs coming back. And so for us, yeah, injuries have hurt us, but I think what's hurt us most is inconsistency. And that comes down to, I mean, not just football, anything in life, but, you know, football, especially when you're playing at this high

of a level. If you're inconsistent on any one day, then guess what? You're going to get beat. And where does the consistency lie? Well, it usually lies within your starters, your pro bowlers. And we have a lot of them out right now. So we're expecting guys to step up. That's how I got my opportunity. That's how I'm here today. And we're still trying to find a formula where we can find ourselves

in the most consistent places to win games. Goal line run against Denver. What is it like to be fighting for the end zone and now where we're allowed, like the scrum rules have been enacted here the last couple of years, which probably changes the way you play the position a little bit. Can you help us, those of us who will never understand that, understand what that feeling is like,

just men everywhere mauling you in all directions. Yeah. For the most part, it doesn't feel great. As you would expect, there's a lot of huge humans in there smashing into each other. I can't speak for the OND line who are face to face, but I'm behind those guys pushing through, trying to get through there as well. And it's usually a very tight quarters, not a lot of space. Sometimes there's no space, but you guess what? You have to go one direction and they have to push you the other direction. And so you're going to have a lot of collisions. You're going to have

a lot of bodies on the ground, tripping, twisting, um, getting stacked on. Um, and really it's comes down to you, but putting your body in a position where you can try to continue to move your legs and move forward. And if you can find that, you know, a lot of times that's the side of the ball that's going to win. Whoever can stay on their feet and get in a good position down in the goal line where it's gritty, it's ugly, it's nasty. There's no space. So everyone's in a tight box um and so you know usually you're gonna have bigger bodies down in that part of the zone um and yeah that i guess that would be my description of of the goal line is running back i should preface this a different way you know we

realize that teams don't prioritize it um it's almost felt like a handoff is a wasted attempt at a pass. To me, there's some truth in that. Sometimes I used to always laugh. Why would you just try to run it right up the middle on the first play when the defense is so fired up at the start of the game? It's like, oh, we're going to establish

we're going to do this. There's an argument that it helps you because longevity-wise, hey, if I'm at 200 carries and not 350 carries like the dudes used to do back in the day that means i'm gonna stick around maybe i get another contract beyond the one that you just signed but then at the same time you're thinking like hey i want my 15 000 or 1500 yards season like what is it like and kind of how the the running back has been just it's evolved into something that's very different from probably what you grew up watching

on tv yeah well that's for another story i didn't't watch the NFL or any football until I was a junior in college. Yeah, it's a different story. We'll get to it. Yeah, sure. But there's a lot of stuff that people don't realize when they're talking. Yeah, it looks pretty to throw the ball down the field and you get more yards, but also 80% of turnovers are on pass plays. So if you can run the ball the entire game and have success with that, you're probably going to win the game. Like the reason, and the, one of the biggest factors in winning and losing games is the turnover category.

Right. And so if you are taking care of the ball, not turning the ball over, guess what? You're probably going to win the game. So guess where that's going to be well if we can run the ball because like i said 80 of turnovers are throws um so that's something that i think gets overlooked uh and the importance of being able to run the ball it's just less risky right it might not be as sexy as you know big chunk plays um and that's why you know mostly it's mostly passing in the league, right? Because guess what teams get behind, they got to throw the ball down the field and we have good enough quarterbacks where we can still do that. Sure. It's a little bit more risky, but you're still going to have, have to put it out there. Cause you got guys that can go get it done. But as far as

long-term big picture teams that can establish some type of run are probably going to end up winning more games because of the turnover battle. They're not giving up the ball. So that's what I would have to say about that. But the running back position, it really depends on your runner. I think, right. Your runner really is going to decide what kind of running game you're going to be able to establish. What is your runner good at? What kind of body type is your runner? For us, like you see me catching a bunch of balls. Well, that's also because I'm versatile, right? And we've been

struggling running the ball. So for me, guess what? I can still be utilizing the passing game. And so we can still end up throwing the ball, which basically turns into a run, right? When it's like these little checkdowns that are uncontested, just throwing it to me under the flats. And so, yeah, that's what I have to say on that. It's really the risk factor. And then just the type of runner, if you have someone that you trust to actually be able to carry the rock, you know, for you 20 times a game. So what is your scouting report?

What's your self-scouting report on you? My self-scouting report. Hmm. It changes year to year. For this year, you know, we've been struggling running the ball. And I think it's, you know, I've been a combination,

including myself and including, you know, I've been a combination, including myself and including, you know, our scheme and cleaning our old line. Like we haven't found a rhythm that we did one week. And I think we'll maybe start coming back to that where, you know, we ran for like 240 yards against the Browns. And then we kind of got away from that type of scheme,

which like I said, we'll probably start coming back to more of that type of stuff. Cause we had success there. But my evaluation of me as a back is I would say I'm efficient, efficient in any part of the game. If you want me running the ball, yeah, I can run the ball. You can see I have great vision. I'm not the biggest body, so I'm not breaking the most tackles and having these huge runs. But guess what? I'm going to be in the right spot. I'm going to be in the right hole and I'm going to get you 5, 6, 7, 8 yards. Every once in a while, break that

12, 13 into the secondary. And then in the passing game, you can use me in the screens. You can use me out wide. That's why I feel like I had so much sticky substance for the Chargers. It's because you can use me anywhere. If you want me to be your starter, that's what I've been doing for the past three years.

I scored 20 touchdowns last year. I got eight this year, right? I'm going to get down to the red zone. I'm going to score you touchdowns because I'm efficient. Because I'm in space. I understand where the defense is trying to get. I'm going to attack the opposite part, whether it's in the run game, whether it's in the pass game.

And so there's this understanding that goes into actually you being able to play at a fast level. And when you match those together, that's where you get this efficient, efficient play. That's where you see these players being able to play at a fast level. And when you match those together, that's where you get this efficient play. That's where you see these players being able to shine. And then obviously whatever's after is the upside of that player as far as run after the catch or run after just the run. So that's where I put

my category. It's a very efficient player. Now, teams like to pass especially when they have a thoroughbred back there like Herbert. You started with Rivers. What was that first moment for you

with Justin Riro like, holy shit? Yeah, I mean, it wasn't a moment because in the NFL you can have a couple good games, but can you do it consistently? Can you do it for a whole year? Because there's going to be games where you like you can have a couple of good games, but can you do it consistently? Can you do it for a whole year? Cause you know, there's going to be games where you don't play as well.

It's like, that's not going to define you either. Or you have one bad game, you know, now you're not, you're not trash because of that. So really it was a, it was an accumulation of,

Hey, this guy has some talent. Right. And it started with the Casey game, the first game he ever played in, which we were up by like 11 points in that game. And he played the entire game he ever played in, which we were up by like 11 points in that game. And he played the entire game unexpectedly, right?

And didn't have any preseason because it was COVID. So that was his first live rep of the entire year. So as far as a wow factor, I would say that was it. Like, wow, this kid may have a lot of upside, may have some potential. And then he continued. Not to interrupt, but there wasn't like anything in camp or something?

There wasn't like a rookie moment. Because I imagine all of you guys are like, okay, we picked this kid. He's tall. He's a little quiet. Yeah, you can do anything in camp when no one's trying to tackle you. You know, like that's all fun and games. We're playing at recess. You know, no one's tackling you.

The D-line's not coming to hit you. So like you have all this free reign. You're a little bit more comfortable. But what can you do in the games? Right? That's what matters. Imagine what you do on Sunday. Sure, You can show us potential through the week, right. And that's where you have to, uh, but really it matters what you can do in the game.

Cause that's the only stats that those are the stats that count. So, okay. All right. Uh, yeah, his, his personality was in a question coming out. It was very, it was very funny. It was like, yeah, I don't know. It might be too reserved, all that kind of stuff. What is he really like in the huddle? What is he really like during the course of a game? Yeah, in the games, bro, like he's locked in. He's making sure everyone is on their shit. He's making, like, he's getting guys lined up. And I think that's the first time I've seen him this year is doing that.

He's really understood the offense and understands, hey, you're in the wrong spot. Like his rookie year and even a little last year, I think he was still learning because it was two new offenses he had to learn. And he was young, still is young. But now I feel like he's starting to take command of the offense. And that's just been growth through experience and being around the guys and getting trust in himself and his coaches. And so there's been growth there as far as his leadership on the field, for sure. himself and his coaches. And so there's been growth there as far as his leadership on the field for sure. Okay. As we said at the top, like there's so many guys on this roster that I'm so impressed with all the time. Who do you think, what's the best way to ask this? Is it

just the most impressive physical specimen? Is it the best athlete? Is it the best football players? The toughest guy? Is there one dude amongst a group of dudes uh that jumps out to you like when you're talking to your buddies be like man this guy's just different yeah definitely it's definitely derwin derwin james like this dude he's like six two six three extremely fast but also is like our leading tackler tackling everybody you saw what he did to travis kelsey on that you know thursday night game picked him up body slammed him like the. The dude is an absolute anomaly of a body where he's just everywhere. Extremely fast, physical, powerful, smart, great leader. The reason he

wears the C on his chest and has been to the Pro Bowl, his only two seasons that he's played, it makes sense. That guy is one of the best. And he's the highest paid safety. His pay uh the type of person and player that he is so definitely derwin okay so let's now go backwards let's talk about you and your your story because it's awesome i did a big eckler deep dive this week so i'm i'm ready to go here although i didn't know that about not watching any games on tv so it says you grew up as a farmhand. Yeah. Can you explain what that really means?

Because I think some guys like to, I know this isn't you, but like some guys be like, oh, I've got to play some Montana. It's like, well, it's like, what do you get a hat and a pistol? Like, you know, this was, this was real. Like, this is kind of how you grew up, right? Yeah, man. So I grew up on a ranch. We call, I call it a ranch.

It was 80 acres. We had horses, chickens, some cows at one point. And basically, it was me to take care of them because it was my mom's ex-husband now. That was his lifestyle. And so that's why we lived that lifestyle. So he wanted a place. He wanted all these things. But he also built fence for a living. That was his company. He had a fence built. So he wanted a place. He wanted all these things. But he also built fence for a living.

That was his company. He had a fence built. So he was never home. And so guess who's taking care of it? It was me, my mom, and my little brother. That's who was home. And so it was me taking care of all these animals that I had nothing to do with. I didn't want anything to do with these things.

And so that's what it was for me when I got home. It was watering. It was feeding them. It was taking care of all these animals, like I said, that I didn't care about. For me, I hated it. I hated it so much. But it taught me a lot about responsibility and hard work. And there's no excuses.

There's no excuse not to get it done because that's the only responsibility that I had. But it was a big responsibility. It was face consequences if you do have any excuses too. So that's what really shaped my mindset. And even the fencing company, during the summers, I'd be football camps and be building fence. That's what we were doing. We're just grinding, just grinding.

And so that's kind of like you said, the no days off. That's how my life has been forever, man. I've just been grinding forever. And so now that's how my story has played itself out because I've just been grinding forever. And so now that's how my story has played itself out because I've just been grinding through opportunities, taking that mindset that I had, just working through sports, working through school, working through work. And really that's been what I've known and that's what I've done. Okay. So the no TV thing, did you, did you not have a TV set or did you just, we had TV, but I just wasn't really interested in anything like that.

If I was going to do anything like that, I'd go play video games in my room by myself. That was what I was doing. I usually did this isolated in my room, which I mean, our closest neighbor was a mile away. We were 20 miles away from our school. So there was no one coming over. I'm not going over to anyone's house after practice. I got to get home because it takes us 25 minutes to get home. So it was really a solitary life of grinding. Now, because it's almost, I want a hundred touchdowns over your career at Western. It's this unbelievable career. And then, I mean, were you surprised when you went undrafted? No, not at all. I wasn't even trying to go to the NFL. I was trying to use, I was trying to

use football to pay for my education where I thought my education was going to be my opportunity for my next steps in my life. And so I'm at a division two, you don't get full rides at division two. So how do you increase your scholarship? Well, you become more valuable to the team. How do you become more valuable to the team? Well, you, you perform better. So I'm just solely focusing on playing the best that I can so that I can put, so I can increase my scholarship. Right. And I was doing that so well that all of a sudden my coach hits me up and was like, Hey man, like you have some NFL teams that are, are hitting me up and interested. Um, and he used to coach Danny Woodhead, uh, when he was at Shadron. Um, he's like, you remind me a lot of Danny.

You might actually have an opportunity. And I was like, okay, that's fine. Let me get through my senior year though. And sure enough, during my senior year, I have college or NFL scouts coming, watching me practice. They're coming up at the practice and I've never seen this. This is the first time I've seen an NFL scout. No one from my school is getting recruited. There's only one other person way back in the day that made it. And I don't think they played for very long. Maybe it's just like an invite or something like that. So this is foreign to me. I'm like, wow, these people actually exist. I didn't even know that, you know, I haven't watched the NFL. And I was like, I should probably start, you know, paying attention to this stuff. Because my mindset

was increase my scholarship. So I was, I had an internship, I was going, I had a job offer from an oil and gas company, Noble Energy, I was going to go into the energy sector and start working there because I had this plan to go into real estate and start house hacking and start growing my empire. I've always wanted to grow an empire where I control the narrative of my life. It's still the same to this day. So that plan shifted and I had a bigger opportunity, which was the NFL. And I had one agent, one agent that reached out to me who was still my agent to this day, who was a business, more of a business attorney at the time. So it worked out for me because I was going into business, reached out to me and we had our conversation. He's like, man, look,

you're probably not going to get drafted. And here's why. He's like, if someone has the same evaluation on you as they do from a guy from a bigger school, they're probably gonna use a draft a seventh round on a bigger school guy. And they can they know they can pick you up, you know, free agency because you're from a tiny school in the middle of nowhere, right in the middle of the mountains in Colorado. That's known for you know, not football. So that was my expectation. So it kind of opened up the door for Hey, but you're gonna have options. So there was some blessing in that and I was able to choose where I was going to to go because there was a few teams that were interested in me. And Chargers were number two on our list.

Packers were number one. Packers ended up drafting three running backs, not going to the Packers. Chargers are next. They call us halfway through the draft. Hey, if he's available, we'll take him at the end of the draft. Boom, sign us up.

We're in if he's available. Sure enough, was available. Boom, became a Charger right after the draft. Now, you're coming from this unbelievable, was available, boom, became a charger right after the draft. Now, you're coming from this unbelievable background of like, okay, whatever. And I'd read that you thought like maybe special teams and then I'll go back to the energy sector or something like that. What was there a moment? I think you were what, fifth or sixth on the depth chart when you showed up to camp of the chargers. Yeah, when you showed up to camp with the Chargers.

Was there a moment where you go, oh, wait, like, this is weird, but I'm actually like as good, if not better than a lot of these guys. So, yeah, here's the best part about it is I went into my NFL opportunity with zero expectations, zero knowledge of how it might come out. And I think that was the best thing for me looking back because I didn't know what was going to happen. But one thing that I did know is that I was putting every ounce of my energy into the opportunity with not knowing what was going to happen. I have no expectations. I'm just going to go as hard as I can.

And then by the end of camp, at the end of the four preseason games, we'll see how it plays out. And here's why that was so beneficial for me because I'm not worried about like, hey, oh, I'm comparing myself to this person, right? I'm just worried about I'm trying as hard as I can. And look, it was frustrating because I felt like I was playing well, I was playing consistent. I was dedicated. I knew what I was doing on the field, special teams, balling out. That's actually where I got my first recognition was on scout team,

punt team. I was the personal protector and we had a rep and I went full, I was flying, I was untouchable on special teams. I put it in my mind. I was like, you have to run like your life depends on it. Like that's how important this opportunity could be. Cause it's not just an opportunity. It goes back to what I was saying in college. Like this is a whole lifestyle change.

It's not just so I can keep playing football. No way. This is way bigger than that. Beyond my fathom, right? Like I can't even understand how big this opportunity is, but I know it's massive. So that's how I have to run. Like everything depends on this.

And that was my mindset going into my rookie training camp. And I'm flying down the field on this punt team and giving the starters a look. And Coach Lynn comes in in our meeting room when we're in the special teams, like, dang, who's number three? And our special teams coach goes, yeah, that's that's Eckler, man. He's been giving us a hell of a look. And I'm wearing number three at the time where running backs came and wear number three.

So, you know, that was, you know, just like, hey, here's a jersey number. You'll get out there and, you know, good luck. And so single digit. That's cool now, man. Yeah. Now it's the thing. Right. Back then it wasn't. You couldn't even wear that. So I was I was making small impacts here and there uh but here's the thing it was never really like i never felt that because i never moved up on the depth chart on special teams or on the running back spot so i had so much uncertainty but like i said what i did know is that there was everything out there like everything that austin eckler could put out there on the field that's what i gave and so at the end i actually got asked a question after the fourth preseason game like how do you how do you feel do you feel like you did? I was like, I have no idea what the result's going to

be, but all I know is all my chips are in. That was everything. If I can't make it, then it wasn't meant to be. I'll go do something else. So you said a bunch of things that are, you know, not only inspiring, but it's just, there's a lot going on, you know, and I was looking at your page and you were talking about kind of like, you know talking about different days you'd have a different thought. And I'm always interested in trying to figure out predicting success. And whether it's quarterbacks, because I remember there was this one stretch in the NFL where it looked like a bunch of quarterbacks like transfers. You go, oh, the faced adversity, that puts them in a better mindset. So when they're dealing with adversity on a Sunday

that they're more prepared for it. And it's like, no, actually, then there was a run. It was like all guys from Power 5 programs and they were all like first round picks. You're like, it was just a cycle. It was something that was happening that didn't necessarily mean anything. When I think about your background,

first of all, the being stronger than everybody else, like I imagine the ranch work just makes you strong in a way that most bodies are not strong, correct? Physically and mentally, yes. Right. Do you think that you've, whether it's your own success, but then thinking about the success of others around you, friends, teammates, whatever,

maybe you guys are not friends, opposition, do you think you've been able to kind of figure out any indicators that are better predictors of success based on somebody's journey to where they're at? Long-term, yes. Not short-term. Short-term, you can't determine that because there's too many factors that don't apply because it's short-term, like longevity of your mind.

Really, especially in football, because we get our hands held all the way up into the NFL, right? Through high school, you're getting your hand held. Through college, you're getting your hand held. Through the NFL is where you kind of... Now it's on you, right? And that's why you see these careers vary so much because you're not getting your hand held. You're not getting spoon fed all this stuff. It's on you to be a pro. It's on you to be a professional.

So I would say long-term success, yes. You can definitely see that within people's mindset, how people actually evaluate value. What is value to people? If it's money, yeah, long-term, probably not the best outlook. If the value is in their relationships, their connections, their knowledge, all of those things, yeah, long-term, probably not the best outlook. If the value is in their relationships, their connections, their knowledge,

all of those things, yeah, long-term success coming to that type of person. And what's their energy and what's their passion? How much are they putting into it? Short-term, there's guys that have been basically pulled along up into college. Basically, everything's been laid out for them. They get into the pros and guess what?

They don't come out to be the person that they were thought to be because there's no one saying, Hey, you got to do this. You got to do this. You got to do this because you have to do it yourself. And if you don't have that within you, you're going to get weeded out by the guys that do or guys that are, you know, sticking with it and making stuff happen. Um, and so short-term it's extremely hard to predict success. Um, so that would be my answer on that. There's no real factor in the short term that I can say like, yeah, this is it. Let's pivot back two more things on football before we let you go.

You gave us a scouting report on yourself earlier. Give us your head coach's scouting report, Brandon Staley. Head coach scouting report. Man, it's always tough to have. I feel like head coach, man, is such a a such a tough job dudes we talk about them all the time right because we're still like wait because i remember hearing about him with the rams guys were like hey get this guy on your radar right and then he comes in and then everybody's like hey this guy's great he's he's smart he's figuring these different things out and then

when shit doesn't work out and sometimes because seven pro bowlers are missing um you know that's what i'm gonna say yeah give me get into like we're obsessed with trying to figure out like where this guy's head's at head coach man like the thing is there's so many factors that you cannot control as a head coach um that also you get judged for right so like the team's success the injury like people don't care if the team's injured right what people care about is that they win or lose and regardless what happens, that's going to reflect back on your head coach. Even though it might not have been

anything he could have done to get us in a better spot, better scheme, things like that. We might just not have been on it that day as players and come out slow like we did against, you know, the Seahawks.

Seahawks, yeah. 17-0, right? So the head coach, man, I can never do that. That's too much stuff I can't control. But Brandon, man, like he's one of these grinders. Like you said, he's smart. He knows football, but he also understands that he needs to find, you know,

a formula that works for us as a team, not just schematically, but actually as a formula for us during the week, which is really important for head coaches because during the week is the grind. We practice way more than we play real games. So what are we doing most days? We're practicing, we're in meeting rooms. And so he's found a formula and he's trying to find a formula and you continue to, every single coach does, where you're trying, hey, what do my guys like? What's too much? What's too little? Where's that sweet spot where I feel like guys are still excited to come into the building, but guys are still locked in and guys are still, you know, on their, you know,

on their P's and Q's, uh, whatever that saying is, um, just making sure like we're getting our stuff done. Right. Um, and he's, he's really a big, uh, component of making sure you're in your role and you do your role. Nothing more. Like focus solely on your role. And so my evaluation on him is he's been doing, as far as head coaches go, he's been doing what he's supposed to do. You know, whether he's finding that or not is a different story. It's a story that evolves with every head coach and especially ours. Just because we're dealing with some ups and downs as far as injuries,

wins, losses. Um, but it's week to week things change. So you have to change how you're approaching every single week. Um, so it's hard to really, I think,

evaluate a coach, um, week to week. Um, and through it, take us, takes a stretch. And I think he's changed as a coach.

I, we're not going for it as on many fourth downs as we were last year. That's, that's apparent. So there's been some changes. But also that might have been contributors from our injuries too, not having Keenan, that guy who's going to be really reliable for us. So man, I honestly don't know how to evaluate a head coach. I'll say that because there's just too many factors. Where do you evaluate? Is it just wins and losses? I don't know how to evaluate a head coach. I'll say that because there's just too many factors. Where do you evaluate? Is it just wins and losses?

I don't know. You tell me. Yeah, ultimately, it's just wins and losses. I mean, nobody cares about the rest of the stuff because I've always had... I think there's some great coaches that will end up with bad records, and I think there's some pretty average coaches

that will end up with great records. I think it's ridiculous to think it's anything else. I don't have an answer. So from an outside point of view, I think it's ridiculous to think it's anything else. I don't know. I don't have an answer. So from an outside point of view, yeah, it's all about wins and losses. But from a player's point of view, I think it's different. There's got to be substance from the in-between as well that we actually respect. Like, I feel like you're getting us in a position where, you know, what you're holding the standard

to is helping us get to a position where we're ready to win games. And so I would say yes. And so I would give, it's like a thumbs up, I guess I would give him. Okay. All right. Last one then. Let's see how you're scouting other quarterbacks because he was your teammate, Gino Smith in 2018.

Yeah. What do you think of what he's doing this year with the Seahawks? Yeah, man. He's getting an opportunity. Like if... Did you think you could be this good as a starter? Um, no, no, I did not. He is, I think, fulfill the role that, you know, is is very respected in the NFL, which

I did not. I did not see that coming. But as I said, he got an opportunity. It seems like he's in a scheme where guess what? They have a good running game with that Walker guy over there who takes a lot of pressure off of your offense. And, you know, like I said, you know, makes it a little bit easier to take care of the ball. I'm sensing a theme.

You're very pro running back. Yes, yes, you have to. You have to. At least some point, like, at least you have to have some aspect of it. But, yeah, shout out to Gino. I mean, I haven't really watched much more than our game of him play because I don't really watch defense. But yeah, it seems like he's getting it done over there.

You can check out Austin's page. It's just at Austin Eckler on Instagram. There's some really cool stuff there. There's contests. Your production team, this is top-shelf stuff, whether it's the Twitch videos. I started going through the production on these. I hope people being taken. This is top shelf stuff, whether it's the Twitch videos. I started going through the production on these. I hope people

this is high-end stuff. I was very, very impressed, man. And I was really impressed with this interview as well. So thanks for spending the time and hopefully we get to check in again at some point in the career, man. Awesome. Appreciate you, man. Thanks for having me on. Time for our picks. And I got to tell you,

I love this system and I haven't loved it lately. I've been awful since a good start. Man, been tough sledding. Fade in the public, not working out lately. But you got to stay married to your system. You can't date your system. Kyle knows that. So I'm going to get back on the horse here because I started going, well, you know what's going to happen because now you're in that funk, you're in that slump, and you're going to go, well, maybe I should switch things up a little bit.

And then the thing that you've been doing will win when you don't pick it. So that's clearly already in the head. So 77% of the public bets on the Arizona Cardinals at Minnesota. Give me Minnesota minus three and a half against. They should just call them the DeAndre Hopkins Cardinals because they're a completely different team with him. So yeah, I'm taking Kirk Cousins as a favorite. You like that?

Yeah. So I'm staying with my formula. Like I said, you got to be married to it. So it's going to be one of my guys from my long-tenured Pats fandom. And it's actually not going to be a quarterback this time. It's going to be Chandler Jones. Big fan of Chandler Jones.

Thought that was kind of weird how that all played out. What, that they didn't want to pay a defensive end? Well, it wasn't too long after showing up at that Massachusetts Police Station shirtless, I think, that he was out of town. What's wrong with that? Forgivable for me. Yeah, the guy needed help.

So I'm going to take the Vegas Saints game. So I'm going to do a three-leg same-game parlay here, which just, I don't know, something about it just spoke to me. So I'm going to take the Raiders minus 1.5 to win. I feel like that's really small anyway. It's like people win by two points a lot nowadays. And then the Vegas Moneyline, and then I'm going to take the Raiders over 24.5 points.

That just sounds like a gettable amount of points. So all that is plus 145. And that's for my guy Chandler Jones. Miss you, buddy. Okay. The Raiders have probably the most underappreciated offensive stats of any team in the NFL. Look, every time I'll go, you know, you'd look

through it every week, what's going on, sort it out, and you just go, wait, the Raiders again? And I feel like they never get talked about because of how bad the start of the season was for them. Okay, there you go. Cerruti is off. We will figure out a way to have him catch up.

He may have to just do like 10 bets in one day. Just to be fair. He's 500 right now. I guess every time he's not here, we could just give him a nothing. So, I mean, or we could make him do 10 bets in a row in the same week. Pick every game. Because we could make him do 10 bets in a row. You must pick. The same week.

Pick every game. You must pick. Because we still haven't figured out what the bet is. I imagine whoever just comes in third has to do something for the other two guys, which I got to turn things around here. Although that would be the worst thing. All right. So, there you go.

Enjoy Life Advice. You want details? Bye. 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 life advice rr at gmail.com hello to Saruti hello to Kyle couple relationship ones here do I do this Lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. Hello to Saruti. Hello to Kyle.

Couple relationship ones here. Do I do this? Why not? 33-year-old. 6'2", 220 pounds. Pretty average. This is an odd life advice email, but I'm friends with a girl who I know is Rosillo's soulmate.

And me and my buddies needed to let them know. She's basically the female Rosillo. I'll tell you right now, that's the biggest turn off ever. Two Rosillos? Yeah, we're good. 32 years old. Successful. Good looking. Former high school hooper, but most importantly, her day-to-day life reminds us so much of Ryan.

All she does is watch the NBA. Disclaimer, as you can see, she's Asian. They did send a picture. Okay. But she's not the stereotypical Asian who likes basketball, meaning spends a ton of money on gear

but is ass at hooping. Her description, not mine. Important. Important note. is that a thing is that no idea is that there's nobody like that in my circle but i don't know i did not know that was a thing so yeah i don't know can we say that if it's her saying it through the email i think this is a risky run when you yeah an email so yeah i think seems pretty confident i don't know okay uh she can name every single player on the lakers roster from the early 2000s with a soft spot for slava medvedenko loves the pels and zion watches every single game every dot single dot game full stop

she'll often turn down invitations that go out because she's too busy watching the games which is classic Rosillo anyway great use of anyway without the S we wouldn't be doing our job as friends if we didn't try to set you up she's been in a handful of relationships

who just kidding she's been in a handful of relationships. Who? Just kidding. She's been single by choice, though, for a while. Just want to let you know that Rosilla's soulmate does exist. And if he's interested, just let us know. There was a follow-up email that said, by the way, a Pels and Zion fan

before they were good. Okay. So when they had Anthony Davis? Okay. So really just dumping on her right out of the gates. Now, this is, listen, this is not

this is a clone of Rosillo, a female clone, but this is not, you should not date this person. You're too similar. I'm a big, big proponent of opposites attract. You don't want, I mean, maybe I'm wrong. I've known you for a while. I don a big, big proponent of opposites attract. You don't want... I mean, maybe I'm wrong. I've known you for a while. I don't think you want someone in the basement with you who's just as pumped about watching late

night Portland games or certainly the Pelicans as you are. I think you like that as an escape more than like a duo activity. Suri just jumped right in with what he thought. Suri, do you think you currently know me better than any other human being on the planet no because there's some things i still don't know about you uh you're but i but i don't know that anybody knows it about you like you're

you're still a little bit mysterious to me like i want to talk to you you know about stuff with maddie you should be like hey but i think that's some of that's dude behavior should be like you know hey ryan's going here like oh where's he going like i don't know i didn't ask he's like how did you guys not talk about that like i don't do you just don't talk about stuff like that sometimes so i don't know i don't know that's like how did you guys not talk about that like i don't do you just don't talk about stuff like that sometimes so i don't know i don't know that i know you i always say this you and i dislike the same things that's that's why we like each other i don't know that i know every detail of your life but i i think i know you well enough to know that you're not looking for uh a girl to watch hoops with

i would i was thinking about the other day i think I'm closest with Saruti right now than anybody in my life, which is a lot. I put a lot on you right there. Saruti's going, wait, what? Well, I'm married, so it's the easiest thing for me to be like, no, no, well, yeah, you're behind Maddie, you know, whatever.

But yeah. No, I mean, look, there was a time where I spent more time over the course of like three years with Stanford Steve than anybody else. And then he was like, for me, it's my wife. And I was like, yeah fair that's good that's a good ranking that she's ahead of me yeah i mean poor srudi gets kind of it's part of the creative process as we know like he gets my rants about stuff and he has to just listen to me get it out and i don't

stop and then it's out and then i'm like does this work does it not work or whatever but you know he'll get he'll get another lane and some stuff, which sometimes I feel bad that he has to hear it, but he's like, whatever. Yeah, so look, I don't know that you're going to have that number one ranking forever. Don't worry about it. I know you've got a kid coming. I'll take it for now. Yeah, the calls will be less frequent once the kid comes through. So yeah, I would tell you obviously it's very cute um and that's awesome but i don't actually like you know when i was in boston and somebody was like

you should just meet somebody who really likes the red socks and i just went uh no yeah no i actually don't i should be like dude hippolyta pachado is a fucking bomb and i'd be like ah i can't i can't only think about the Red Sox every day and then also talk about the Red Sox with you. Fucking Allen Embry can't get anybody out right now. Well, the other thing, just because she watches all the games doesn't mean that you're going to agree with what she says. Yeah, what if she's got her own like pelicans brand of

takes or whatever and they're all pelican centric you're like ah no no actually why did you think that was okay to say so first time we're hanging out watching we get a couple sobs going and we're watching the sixers and she posts she points out harden's awesome post defense i'll be like hey you get a fucking call you know what yeah i knew i knew something was rough something was off about this we wouldn't want to do this to your friend is actually the nice way of that's also a good Like, hey, you get a fucking call. You know what? Yeah, I knew something was off about this. We wouldn't want to do this to your friend is actually the nice way of... That's also a good point. Yeah, that is also.

That's probably the better point. Yeah, we're helping you out, dude. Don't worry about it. Okay, another email. Can't stand my dad. Want to set him up with Ursula. What? No.

That does not say that. Okay. Six foot, 209, college swimmer, 43, wife, two kids, live across the street from my parents. Because we live across the street from them, we see them constantly, but never on our terms. They always want to talk the most inconvenient times. I know that their time on this planet is limited,

and I should soak up all that I have left with them, but my dad doesn't have good social awareness skills. He keeps talking to me about the most boring and mundane shit, even when I'm trying to walk away from him. I love my parents, but they're like that neighbor who tries to talk to you when you're getting in the car to leave or just sitting down for dinner. And he ideas on how to give them quality time, but also maintaining my sanity. It's a tough one. It's a tough one. I'll give you a little personal experience here. Tough one. It's a tough one. I'll give you a little personal experience here. I'm very close to my dad. Talk to him all the time. Comes out to visit. I go through like a 24-hour incubation period where when he is staying with me, because I am by myself so much, which is really more about me than it is him, that it all throws me off you know you can be a little messy and so i have this moment where

all of these things in the beginning where it's throwing me and then i'm like but you know what i'll tell you what my worst feeling is is my guilt about being annoyed about my dad it's one of the it's it's this awful awful fucking feeling of like this guy. First of all, like when you think about how the relationship between child and parent is like, you know, we, we don't give them enough credit for that whole creating a shit. You know, imagine like if you had an argument with your buddy and your buddy's like, yeah, you're late for rent and like like didn't take your laundry out. And he was like, I fucking created you.

Like that would kind of end a lot of arguments if it was your buddy. Now, that'd be weird dynamic and whatever. But the parents do not get nearly enough credit. That should be kind of a default thing. And so it's a very weird thing as I get older and he gets older, I'll have a little guilt if I feel like I'm giving him shit, but I almost can't help myself on that first day. I can't. I tell myself don't, and then I do it because I'm thrown up. My whole world is thrown up. This is happening to you every day. So you actually should be a little bit more numb to it.

You could be proactive and decide I'm going to go and visit them because if the day has gone by or two days have gone by and they feel like, oh, we haven't like all your parents want to do is see you. It's an unbelievable dynamic that you have for the most of us, if you're lucky enough, but you have at least one parent that like just wants to know what you're doing. Yeah, right. Like could talk to you all the fucking time. Like always wants to see how you're doing always has your back yeah right like could talk to you all the fucking time like always wants to see how you're doing right like that's pretty crazy i'm not saying you know unfortunately it's for everybody but you might have to try to figure out how to be proactive about it if it's that you don't see them from a couple days and then they're just thinking hey they're going to come over social people who are not socially aware they don't just pick that up later on you try to tell them and they're going to come over. Social people who are not socially aware, they don't just pick that up later on.

You try to tell them and they're going to be like, oh, yeah, okay, all right, whatever, because they're already socially unaware. Socially unaware people don't react well to being told that because that's what got them in the fucking position in the first place of not understanding any of this stuff. Yes, you could move. Yes, you could move.

But I would say that you have to find a way to not feel because it sounds a little like i hate that guilt that i feel and everything's great the rest of the trip's fucking great you spent like two weeks together it was awesome give him a big hug on the way out and yeah you can't help but think as your parents get a little bit older you start playing that game in your head of like you know so i I know what you're saying. I'm just telling you, you know, you've got to figure out a way to, because if you tell them, like, to fuck off at some point, you're going to feel awful about it.

You know what I mean? You're going to feel awful. And that's a way worse feeling than being annoyed or inconvenienced. Yeah. I mean, I guess this sounds like an, everybody loves Raymond situation. Um,

one of my, one of my favorites. And, um, I guess you have to ask, like, are these the kind of people that are going to move down South in a couple of years?

I don't know where you are, but like, in case you're in that, like, is this, is this one of those things where, you know, start dropping pamphlets off to phase six?

No, I just mean think about how long is this actually going to take? How long is it going to be before they're going to be like, you know what, I think we maybe need a one-floor house with carpet. I wonder if that's on the horizon. Because at the same time, it wasn't an accident that you guys moved in across the street, right? You kind of knew what was going on and yeah maybe it's like a bit annoying but i think i think you're probably right being proactive and making it seem like like they don't have to like go see what's going on because they're you know just have less going on as you get older i think and and um you know what a child or grandchild could do by just showing up and spending an hour,

90 minutes is, uh, it's pretty impressive. So, uh, yeah, I don't know. I don't want to say, I'm not going to say I'm not on your side, but, um, I don't know. I feel like, uh, I feel like this is the diet, like you could keep this going until either they move or you you become less uh less annoyed by this i don't know yeah uh i think you have to drop why don't you drive the conference because you're right like all the parents want to do is hang out with you sometimes i don't even know that it matters like what you're talking about they just want to like spend time with you what can you drive the conversation then if you if this if your dad kind of like bores you and he talks about stuff that doesn't matter then come with more interesting stuff that

you want to talk about, you know, or, or the other thing too is like, if you're constantly around them, be a little bit more

blunt, be a little bit more honest. Like, I think you could have that leeway as long as you still, you're still loving them

and you're still seeing them often. Like, I think you should be up front with them about like, Hey, like dad,

this is boring as hell. Like what did you see the game last night? Or just change the subject. Yeah, that doesn't work either hey dad this is boring as hell no but you are you're still there you're still spending the

quality time with him that's what they really want they just want to be around they want to be in the mix and maybe he's just like a nervous talker and he's just like trying to because like sometimes like my dad like my dad's like plumbing heating and air conditioning right like and he doesn't watch sports the only reason he ever watched sports was because i would play sports growing up we don't really have a ton in common um so like you know it's not like we're i'm checking in with him after a magic game every other night right it just isn't that way so sometimes the conversation can be a little bit different you just have to like find things to talk about that are both interesting to you uh so i think that's what you have to do

with your dad like maybe he's just like kind of fishing for things because you're not giving him anything but if that's the case you need to drive the conversation. But at the end of the day, as long as you're around them, spending time with them, I think you could be honest with him about like what you're actually talking about. And then he's going to he's probably going to love you for it because he gets to see his son every other day. I think you're a lucky bastard. You think I'm lucky? Not you. I mean, the guy who's got his parents like right across.

Oh, yeah. I think that's pretty cool. I would want my parents across the street i love my parents but across the street is that that you're right kyle that is on them i mean okay but see what kyle's saying is you wish your parents were across the street right no i do no no i know what you said sir rudy i know what i'm saying but like kyle's the other part of the cop like there's plenty of people that would love this dynamic you get help with the kids you. You get all this other stuff. You're right. If it's gone to this point,

I just don't know how you tell your parent, hey, you annoy the shit out of me. No, you don't say it that way. I'm not saying... Don't be that honest. But essentially. Constantly change the conversation to what you want to talk about or something else that you find more interesting. Hopefully, he'll get the hint.

That's a dicey one. Yeah, because then you get to talk about or something else that you find more interesting. Hopefully he'll get the hint. That's a dicey one. Yeah, because then you get to the point where it's like you've said nothing for three years and then one day you're having like a bad day. Some problems with bills. Who knows? Maybe you found out you need to put a new water heater in. You're like, fuck. And then your dad walks through the door and you're like, God damn

it, dad, not today. And he doesn't know what's going on because you've just been bubbling for three years so i don't know look i remember there was a house that they bought to invest in and i was going to fix it up that summer it was 02 it was the 2000 rossillo thing we've talked about a million times and like i'm 26 and you know i'm pretty miserable i actually didn't have enough money to go out that much but when i did i was like i'm going for it and we have some buddies over and you know my father was like showing up at seven o'clock to fix fix trim on the window and i'd be like bro what the fuck and of course he's looking at me like, you're a loser. And I paid for this. I'd be like, yeah, but like, you know, boundaries.

No, zero. They will not exist this summer. I remember one time a girl came to visit me. And I was like, hey, can you not do cookout Sunday night? He's like, it's my house. Like, yeah, but I'm living in it. The girl's coming down to visit this could be a big weekend what'd you like to eat turn things around he's like yeah i'm not

cheese or no cheese yeah he was just so anti me at that point you know again i wasn't all that pro me either but he just was so anti me that was like you know this kind of jams me up man like i got a girl staying with me and you're just gonna fucking show up with a million kids he's like yeah i am yeah exactly so much yeah you want ketchup i sent her home i mean he's right he kind of is right now he was kind of wrong on that one uh he was kind of wrong on that one i was like look your 26 year old just moved into this house like what did you think was going to happen here down on his luck trying to

resuscitate his career alright let's get another one this one is terrific Kyle it's efficient gets right to the point people are going to be all over the place with this one pizza and five guys for office lunch 3164205 225 max bench.

Let's get those numbers up. Hi, guys. Long time fan of the show. First life advice submission. I work in a corporate office setting in a major city. One big part of office culture is getting lunch together every day. Popular choices are your standard fast, casual options. Sweet green.

Love sweet green. Me too. Love sweet green. Dig in. Cava. Like cava. Dig in. You got anything on that for me, Kyle?

What's that? I usually get the steak one with cheese. No, I think it's another option. Oh, got it. But noted. But recently, a new hire has gone outside the box to get less healthy options, such as Five Guys and Domino's.

Guys rolling in with some original and thin crusts. Tuesday midday. Do you think it's acceptable to get food from these places in an office work environment? Does it make a difference based on what day it is, Monday versus Friday? Clearly Friday, anything goes, right? He also wanted to add,

we've recently started calling a friend who's a listener of the show that is having a tough year. We're calling him O2 Rosillo or simply O2. O2's best, yeah. Is that over the top mean? No, his fucking year's that bad. Hey, look, I hope O2's the worst year of my life. I can handle anything, you know?

So, all right. It depends on what your eating habits are, okay? I'll crush cheeseburgers like the next. I can't eat them that often, all right it depends on what your eating habits are okay i'll crush cheeseburgers like the next i can't eat them that often all right and i like pizza i eat far less of it now that i live in los angeles uh i usually would have one pizza a week and just house it when i was in connecticut sort of a routine and um you know i'm not like keto and count the carbs and all that kind of stuff, but I can tell you this, and maybe it was a little different because I had to be on air every day, one to four Eastern.

But if I were to smash some cheeseburger and fries before I went in the air, my show would suck. Like I, I couldn't do it. Now, granted, most people can hide in the cubicle and it's not the same thing. It depends on what the eating habits are. If you're eating cheeseburgers all the time, then you don feel you don't know what non-cheeseburger feeling is you know you don't know if you're if you're cool with dominoes this guy doesn't know what you're talking about sweet greens is probably making him sick he's like sweet potatoes and lentil like what the fuck is this

noise dude i don't have time to be in the bathroom all day dude what are you talking about yeah this guy's going to roy rogers roy rogers still open man they used to i think i passed one on the highway like a couple years ago i would go to one right now they made some good good fast food uh it's been i didn't even it might be 20 years since i've been to one but they had like a fixings bar for you. Any place that had fixings bar. Although during COVID, fixings bars out. Okay. I'm anti this, but I kind of love that it's happening. How old is this guy? Who's doing it?

He's got to be young. That's even a guy in Austin. Is he the guy in Austin who hates his job? Only thing he can do is order a terrible food for lunch. Spice up his day. What do you guys think? I have a pretty strict like, so I used to do this when I was younger. Yeah, I remember when I was living in D.C., there was a Five Guys right next to the place that I worked at.

And I would get there multiple times a week. And it was obviously terrible for me. And then the older I got, I'm like, wow, this makes me feel like shit. My productivity is bad. And I'm having to have more caffeine because I'm just slugging through the entire day so what i did what i do and i still do this now is i i try to start off early in the week i'm like all right we'll mix in the salads we'll do that we'll try to eat healthy and then like the later the week goes like the more i kind of give in to the temptations more take out and shit like that so like and it gives you something to look

forward to at the end of the week uh and i work from home so like if you're doing this in public at like a public workspace you should i think that's the hundred percent the way to go. Try to eat healthy, give yourself a goal towards the end of the week to look forward to. If you want to get five guys or something, whatever at the end of the week, pizza, do that. But you can't be doing that every day. The older you will thank you for doing, for at least trying to like have, you know, curb your, your crazy dietary things. So the question is, is the office going to rise up and talk to this guy and be like, hey, you can't be doing this every Wednesday.

Is that basically, is that how it works? I've never been in a part of an office who was like, I'll get the lunch today and then you'll get it tomorrow for us. Like I'd never been a part of that. So I don't know. Is that what's going on? I don't think he's paying for everybody.

He may be in charge of doing it. Maybe he is all right get the whole order yeah let's let's eliminate that as part of anything that has anything to do with this um although you could argue maybe it's a little bit cheaper but i don't know that it is like five guys i wouldn't across guys it's not cheaper no no five guys versus kava or something like that it's we're talking the same we're in the same ballpark here price-wise so let's not use that as a reason here i just love that it could be a young guy that's like yeah who doesn't love fucking double cheese like how many we going and it sounds like the office has been down so i'd imagine there are some people that maybe once a week are going like oh this is cool like we're gonna have cheeseburger friday you know we talked about pizza guy friday

which was huge. Yep. Fake email, but whatever. You know, we get a good 15 minutes out of it. So. I. I.

It sounds like the emailer obviously wants to say something to this guy. You know what you need to do? Treat it like the mafia. Find out from the other. The other heads. Right.

Yeah. Go to them and be like, where are you at with this cheeseburger pizza kid? find out from the other fans. Right, yeah. Go to them and be like, where are you at with this cheeseburger pizza kid? I'm assuming he's a kid. I don't know what's funnier, if it's a young kid or if it's like a guy 45. I think they're both funny in their own way. I think you go to the other families

and you say, where are you at with this? And then if you have support for it, because what you don't want to do in a small office is what if you go to the other families and you just say where are you at with this and then if you have support for it because what you don't want to do in a small office is what if you go to the kid on your own because you don't like the burgers and pizza which I totally understand and say hey kid can't be fucking doing this anymore or if it's an older guy hey Henry

what are you doing and then you get that kind of change you're right and then all of a sudden he brings in tender greens and all of a sudden, everybody's like, yeah, I really like cheeseburger Thursday. So you better find out

before you make a move. Yeah, I agree. I don't know. I ate poorly in my office time. So I don't know. My problem was I used to share an office with Jim Cunningham. And he just, anything, everything I brought back smelled. No, everything I brought back smelled, he said.

Like I couldn't eat in my office. I don't know. I mean, he would like eat other shit that smelled too. I just wouldn't, I didn't say anything. But he was like, there was this place called Noodle World right across the street. And I would, you know, I like the garlic parm noodles. I can see I can see how maybe. But I guess he said he had this like this thing with Parmesan cheese.

Like, I think it smells like throw up or something. And it was just like, so that was one of my favorites that I had to eat outside. But like anything I'd bring was like, oh, did you get that from the garbage store? Do you have them put extra garbage on it? Because that's what it smells like. So I don't know. He was like, I'm like. So he was in your head, dude.

Yeah, dude. Years later, the garbage store have a two for one coupon. That's harsh. Yeah, it was terrible. It was terrible. So I don't know what you're supposed to eat. I knew there were people that were going to Sweet Greeds every day. And towards the end of my tenure in the, in the Hollywood office,

I would, I would try to do it, but that sucks though. You shouldn't be. I mean, I know, I don't know Jim, but I know that you like Jim.

So I'm not going to, this isn't like an anti Jim thing, but like, you shouldn't talk shit about other people's eating habits. I just think that's a dick. I think it was like his favorite thing to do midday. It was like, I can't wait to see what he brings in.

So I could cook up this nice little thing. It was like a new one every time too. He was, I never knew what he was going to say. I don't know. I bring in a bagel from Starbucks. He's like, oh, is that the cream cheese with, I don't know. What's

wrong with the cream cheese now? I don't know. I'm jaded. Sounds like a real routine you guys had. Yeah, it was a great back and forth. I don't know. I just don't like it for my guy Kyle because I remember at ESPN there like a whole cafeteria you can basically get whatever you want you eat as healthy or as shitty as you want yeah that's amazing you can eat as shitty as you wanted yeah and there'd be a guy who'd be like oh we're doing like the cheeseburger

and fries again today i wouldn't say that to him i would just i would make a mental note of it be like shit man he's eating cheeseburger and fries again for like the fourth day this week like damn but i wouldn't be like hey nice cheeseburger dude like i don't know i think that's kind of addictive yeah i'm with saruti on that maybe mix it a salad bro like i wouldn't say that i don't know yeah it was kind of funny though how you could like see eating habits for everybody because it would be so confined and then we'd all get yelled at for eating in the studio but it was like really hard to not eat in the studio and then you were supposed to stand in the hallway because you had nowhere to eat if you were someone spilled a diet coke all over the radio board that day

i mean just that's the rule that's the reason for the rule though you know right but then they were trying to say you couldn't have anything to drink and i was like i'm bringing a water into the studio every day i'm talking for three hours and it was like no i'm like okay whatever like i'll put it on the floor put it on my tab bro yeah right okay cool noted not doing it need a water in here there was a designated like liquid area in the studio nobody nobody followed that no it was in the hallway it was designated liquid it was like it was like a shower cut out for your soaps and whatnot, what other accessories you have in the shower, and that was set up.

But at one point, I remember eating, my go-to was the two chicken breast avocado and rice cut up, and I would stand and eat it, and just eat it as fast as I could before I'd get started because I wanted to have it later, which was stupid. I should have let myself digest it before I did the radio show. And I remember there was, you know, again, probably another manager that I didn't see eye to eye with.

And like, hey, how's it going, partner? I'd be like, I'm just standing eating my lunch. Although, you know, I had an office, so I should shut the fuck up. I'm going to go ahead and shut the fuck up on that one. But you're right. Yeah. I remember one time cowherd,

like I decided to get a chicken parm sub and some chips. It was a special. And I go, you know what? I'm going to splur and shut the fuck up on that one. But you're right. Yeah. I remember one time cowherd, like I decided to get a chicken parm sub and some chips. It was a special. And I go, you know what? I'm going to splurge a little bit today. Today's an off day. I'm going to eat this. And cowherd came up to me.

He's like, Oh, white bread and chips. Oh, come on. Yeah. Rookie mistake. Yeah.

See, that's lame as hell. That is a rookie. Yeah. Yeah. Come on, dude. Don't be that guy.

Yeah. Steal somebody's fries. Motherfucker. All right. Thanks to Saruti. Yeah, yeah. Come on, dude. Don't be that guy. Yeah, steal somebody's fries, motherfucker. Alright, thanks to Saruti. Thanks to Kyle. As always, Ryan Russell of the podcast. Please subscribe and ring our sponsor. Thank you.