The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Super Bowl Recap With Jeff Saturday and Sara Walsh

Episode Date: February 8, 2021

Russillo shares his updated Tom Brady vs. Bill Belichick rankings (1:30) before he is joined by former Super Bowl champion and current ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday to discuss some keys to last night’s Super Bowl, watching Tom Brady grow throughout his career, the Buccaneers' coaching staff, and more (14:00). Then Ryen talks with Sara Walsh of Fox Sports and NFL Network about covering the Buccaneers all year, how the team gained momentum late in the season, Tom Brady’s impact on a locker room, GM Jason Licht’s personnel decisions, and more (34:00). Finally, Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (55:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, what's up? Super Bowl Monday. So let's recap it. We got Jeff Saturday, who was on the field in Tampa on Tom's win, and Sarah Walsh, who covered the Bucs all season long, living in Tampa as well. So we'll get that perspective, a little life advice. And I didn't think I was going to do this anymore, but we'll do it one more time

because the people want it. Bill versus Tom, the ultimate legacy rankings. So when I was putting together the open for the week, I thought I would just put together some nice observations. I'm taking down notes.

I was charting Tampa on third down because I thought that would be really important. Stop doing that. That halftime show, Kyle, real quick, check in. Halftime show, your thoughts go. It wasn't no Janet Jackson, I'll tell you that. No, it wasn't. How excited was Kyle for that kind of nudity at that age of your life?

Oh, my God. I wish I had a TiVo at that point. Yeah. I knew of TiVo, I think, and I was like, can we please have it for next year's Super Bowl, Dad? You never know. Right. Yeah, exactly.

So, um, yeah, that was, that was a weird one. Not a great, not a great audio mix on this one, but what everybody seemed to want was more bill and Tom legacy rankings,

because we know this here on the Ryan Russell podcast. Legacies are not long-term. They are updated every hour. And I think a lot of people thought with Tom getting his seventh Super Bowl that you'd be going, well, okay, this puts this to bed. I honestly probably wanted to stop doing it a few weeks ago myself because I was starting to think it was stupid.

Maybe it was always stupid. But maybe the whole point of the argument was that it was stupid and I was pointing out how stupid it was. So who's really winning? Right? So let's admit this. I think last night raises more questions than answers them. Okay, so let's go. Let's look at it this way. Bill Belichick is giving you throughout his entire career the full aspect of the coaching game. Go all the way back to the beginning. He has coached

wide receivers. He's coached special teams. He's coached linebackers. He's coached defensive backs. He's been a defensive coordinator before he became a head coach. He has done all of these things. Why is that important? Because last night, I saw some people bringing up the Tom Brady MJ debate, some real goat on goat action for the goat rankings, which is an entirely different show. And, you know, goat's been thrown around a lot. This is a brief respite from the MJ LeBron goat debate.

So we were like, let's cross pollinate this goat stuff with a little Tom and MJ. And the reason I bring up Belichick's resume. Is that as the Tom MJ debate ramped up late last night. And early into the morning. Maybe the goat guy is not even taking any time off. Because goats don't rest.

Was that somebody pointed out that Tom MJ is stupid. Because Tom Brady never played defense. And I was like, holy shit. Tom has never played safety or corner. He's too small to be a linebacker. He can't play in the defensive line. And if you really think about this, Brady doesn't play anything more than a third of the game.

He's not even on special teams. So how can Brady, who does these things, Brady doesn't play anything more than a third of the game. He's not even on special teams. So how can Brady, who does these things, or doesn't do these things, how can he be considered better than Belichick, who's coaching basically everywhere? He's played, excuse me, let me put it this way. Brady's played one position.

Belichick has coached like six or seven. And those are just facts. You can get mad about it, but they're facts. I mean, it's a lot of times like Willie Mays is good, but he never pitched. Right? Prep. Let's talk about prep. Tom's the prep guy, right? But is he though? Belichick's already got to jump on next off season. His last game was January 3rd. Tom Brady's last game was yesterday. It was something called the Super Bowl. Some would argue that Brady now is less prepared for next year by winning than Bill is by losing. Some would argue that Bill brought in Cam Newton so he'd teach himself and his staff what it's like to struggle a quarterback

because they hadn't done it in New England for 20 years. So essentially what Bill did was I want Cam Newton all season to learn about the struggles so that I'm better prepared if we don't have greater quarterback play in the future. Brady didn't do any of that stuff. You want more goat action? I got you. Brady now, because Mahomes today, if he had won, remember, Mahomes was like, all right,

he's only four Super Bowls away. He's right behind Brady, has the head-to-head. Now he doesn't. Brady is 3-2 now against Mahomes. Bill Belichick is 2-2. But the third win for Brady, neutral site. Push. Let's talk about the TB12 method versus Pat Stafford's. Even if it's just a cool logo, this seems to be working. There's guys right now hanging out on Boylston outside of the TB12 headquarters going, dude, you're quitting

Duncan's for time? So I don't know what to do here because the pliability, all of that stuff, it seems to be working. I mean, Brady looks better now than he did his first season in the NFL. That seems impossible. Brady's mugshot, let's call it a headshot, his headshot from that first Super Bowl, he looks like a guy that went to Bridgewater for like a semester and then disappeared and nobody knew what happened to him again. All right. But as great as Tom looks now, Belichick hasn't really aged in like 20 something years. He looks like he does today as he did in 1996. As we all know, as you get older, you actually age less. So that one doesn't seem to be much of an advantage either way. So look, basically what I'm telling you is

that this legacy update, if you're coming in off the top rope, Tom one, Bill two, you might be right, but you have to ask yourself questions and take yourself through the process to make sure you're getting the right answer. Okay. Now let's be a little bit more serious about this. What Brady did yesterday would be like Jordan winning a title with the Wizards at 38 in his first season with them. Now the Wizards were terrible the year before they went 19 and 63. I've always argued the Wizards years for Jordan actually strengthened his case as the greatest player of all time because he was so ridiculous in that last 39-year-old season. And he was mad about the 38-year-old season. Now, 38 versus 43, five years younger.

But the Wizards were far worse than the Bucs were that Tom went into. But I mean, this stuff just keeps happening. It doesn't even make any sense. By the way, you know what I love the most about that Wizards year with him coming back was that Jordan, people said, oh, Jordan's going to draft Shane Battier instead of Kwame Brown because he wants to play with Battier because Battier is more ready. That was the first time I think in way before I was in the business where I was like, man, some of these guys that say shit about sports are really stupid. Maybe I could do that. All right. So the other part of this, can you imagine, like, wouldn't you love to be somebody in the trust circle with Belichick today,

talking to him? Like, does Bill call Brady? He kind of has to, at least so that story gets out. But imagine being Bill watching that going, are you kidding me? Alright, you guys, I mean, he's going to run crossers and, you know, go deep shots. Oh, Kronk's got another touchdown. Oh, cool. Antonio Brown. Now, actually, Belichick didn't want to get rid of Antonio Brown. That was ownership more than it was Bill.

That's why Bill was so pissy about it after the fact. But, look, anybody that was anti-Brady, although the anti-Brady crowd real quick shout out how are you guys doing today you guys what's up all right so back to bill bill was right about the brady decline all right i'd agree with bill if you were like look tom just wasn't as good the last couple seasons and that's fine and if you're saying all well, we want to avoid the decline with Brady,

okay, but what did you do with the position? So it doesn't hold up. If Belichick's defense was, hey, Tom's getting older, and he's really expensive, we only want to offer him the one-year contract, and Brady's like, hey, after years and years of discounts, I'd actually like to get taken care of here a little bit. The Pats never seem to have the cap space other teams do, or at least that's the argument. I don't know, whatever.

That's a whole nother cap thing that I don't feel like doing. But if you wanted to avoid Tom's decline, fair, I'll give that to you. But if your backup plan was Cam Newton at a million bucks when nobody else wanted him and Jared Stidham, who clearly is not the guy, if you couldn't even give him a chance to this disaster season, a real chance, then what did you do? Even if Brady hadn't won the Super Bowl, even if they had been bounced out in the first or second round, who cares? You didn't do anything to prep yourself for the position. And as we all know, the Pats are the only franchise where Brady's on another team after doing what he did for 20 years.

So I think all of us who's ever had a boss that we didn't like, you should have been rooting for Brady last night. You should be happy for Brady today. Two other things. There's a Schefter bite going around that was on Get Up this morning where it was like look there were two teams that were interested in Brady Tampa and the LA Chargers

and then it was turned into that meant 30 teams liked their quarterback position better than Tom Brady well the New England one is particular because of a contract thing and then that's really I think an easy way to get a good headline that sounds really damning of all these other people and kind of builds up the Brady

underdog story. But there's also a million franchises that knew that they had no chance of getting them in the first place or teams that had just drafted somebody that they'd say, hey, even for a year, if we think Brady is better than the guy we have right now. There's no conversation to even have about this. So I think that comment is headline grabbing, but it's completely inaccurate as to the reality of what other teams are talking about and whether or not they were going to add somebody like Brady. And finally, Kansas City going into this game, Pat Mahomes had never lost a game by more than one possession in all 53 of his starts, the longest streak essentially in NFL history, I guess going all the way back to 1950. But that tells you is that they just stopped paying attention to it prior to that.

Mahomes had never lost a game by more than one possession his entire career of starting games, and then it happens in the Super Bowl. Now, you could sit here and say, well, games and that it happens in the Super Bowl. Now, you could sit here and say, well, Kansas City, they weren't really that good. That would be a mistake. If they had decided to play everybody in the final week, they're 15-1 in the regular season and 17-1 going into the Super Bowl. That's a 17-1 team. And you want to make them 16-2? Fine. Where everybody's like, eh. What? Now, yes, their defense was in the 20s. They had the worst red zone touchdown defense.

I said it like a Canadian there. In the NFL, they had the second worst run D. Brady's comment to the other guys being like, look, they don't like to tackle after the catch, all these different things. So we knew the defense statistically wasn't that good yet they still were almost 17 and one and it's all because of Mahomes and no matter what I'm like I just can't pick against the guy and when you look at there's this one NFL researcher who tweeted out this picture and I'm going to end it here, because Mahomes took 29 pressures, the most ever for a quarterback in the Super Bowl, and I don't care who you are.

If you're doing that every other drop back, it's not going to work. I actually thought Mahomes was fine. Brady had four pressures, and they have a chart which shows every drop. Mahomes' chart after dropping back looks like hellfire missiles in a war. Brady's drop back chart looks like a pendant you would wear on the lapel of your suit. So there's all sorts of things that are going on in this game.

And hopefully we'll cover them all now with Jeff Saturday and Sarah Walsh. Jeff, we knew one of the main matchups was that Mahomes is legendary against the Blitz and that Todd Bowles loves the Blitz, so I was looking for it early. And then, you know what? I don't think it really mattered. So let's start with the tackles. Schwartz is incredible.

He's been out. But then Fisher goes down in the Buffalo game. What did you see from that side of the ball? Yeah, I mean, listen, we knew that was going to be the matchup that kind of decided it. I don't think any of us expected it to be the type of domination that it was. I did think, you know, even from watching the other, you know, the game, I think it was week 12. You know, I know Hill started out on fire, but other than that, you know, Tampa made a game for the

last three quarters. So I don't think it was a surprise to me that they were getting as much pressure as they were on Mahomes. I thought they played it much better on the back end. And I talked about this leading up to the game was, it's not sacks. Everybody always talks

about getting them down. It's not just the sacks. It's messing up the timing, you know, with the rhythm. And if you think for all the years I played with Peyton Manning, when you've seen Tom Brady struggle, it's not just do you sack him? It's can you make him uncomfortable? And I think they made Mahomes uncomfortable early. They pushed him to his left instead of letting him float out of the pocket to the right quite a bit. And they just made him uncomfortable. And so then it throws the timing off to when the receivers think they're going to be open. And I just thought at every turn, Tampa had the answer. Give Todd Bowles a ton of credit. I know that Tom Brady got the MVP,

but that could have easily went to a coach with Todd Bowles with the type of performance that he put together holding them to no touchdowns. They weren't really blitzing, though, a bunch, right? I mean, they'd overload one side or their linebackers are so fast that they kind of get there quicker. So take us through what you saw there. Yeah, so I think they may have blitzed four or five times total in the game. What's interesting, though, because I'm not sure how people track this, so as I'm watching the game, and I'm at the game, I'm sitting, and that's the part I'm going to watch.

I thought they did a good job, whether it be white in the middle, kind of adding on. And so what that means is he would sit at about two or three yards from the line of scrimmage once the ball was snapped. And he would almost spy Mahomes, not necessarily a full-on spy. He would still be in coverage some, but if he saw him begin to run, they would begin to just link up and latch up, whether it be to Kelsey or somebody else who's trying to come across part of it, trying to find those scramble drill throws. And so there was no real reason to blitz because whether it was JPP,

whether it was Barrett who got there early, Sue pushed the pocket pretty decently, Vita Bay, you know, he, he did a good job of, of, of pushing the pocket.

So, so I thought it was, it was those front four guys dominating and they moved those guys around to Ryan. Like they, it wasn't just, they, you know, like JPP only put on the outside, they flip sides a great deal. And they also went inside, which means they put their premier pass rushers on guards instead of necessarily tackles. And then they would run game, right? So they did a lot of different things to get pressure with that front four and I think anytime you talk about that people don't understand what that means

that means they can basically double hill right so they got two on one for him and then they can cover all types of you know Kelsey trying to come out late because their linebackers are you know they can keep their eyes on the quarterback in that zone or two man, and they can keep two safeties and everybody can just watch the quarterback. And it, listen, it makes it, it makes it really difficult to throw the football with all of that going on. So, so what's the answer? The answer is you play ground and pound and run at a too high safety. And it was like the chiefs just never, even when they ran it, they ran it well, but they would come right out of their runs and go to trying to throw it. So again, it was checkers and chess when it came to that perspective yesterday.

They just, they felt like they were always playing behind. It's a really good point though, because at 21-6, I mean, that end of the first half touchdown is such a crusher because even then you're like, okay, Tampa's figured things out, but you stopped them on the goal line. The extra points they got maybe was three out of that with field position in the first half. So it could have been 14-6, but even at 21-6, and I thought Kansas City came out, Jeff, and it was almost like they were doing a reverse tone setting game where it was like, okay, brand new half, brand new game. Let's come out and run the football on these guys. And it actually was working and it's still only 21-6 with Mahomes. I feel like anybody, I mean, if anybody has a chance, it's Mahomes, but they just couldn't, I think it's just hard for them to say, hey, this is who we're going to become in the second half, even though it seemed like they wanted to try to change their identity at halftime. You're, you're're 100% right.

And listen, I think you take a page even from early in the season when the Bills played the Chiefs in Buffalo. And if you remember, I think it was Edward Jalere, he had 150 or more. I can't remember what his yardage was. But if you remember Leslie Frazier, the defensive coordinator for the Bills, he played his linebackers, Ryan, like at seven yards, which means seven to eight yards from the line of scrimmage. You think, man, 10 yards is the first down. So if their heels are at seven yards, they are literally daring you to run the football. And Kansas City, I thought, played that game

perfectly, right? It wasn't an offensive, you know, gunslinger show, but they did a good job. And to your point, Tampa kind of challenged them the same way. And I know Tampa's linebackers are much faster and played it incredibly well last night. But you saw them answer it, know the answer to the test, but then when Tampa answers back with that touchdown at the beginning of the second half then they just it was a we we got we got to sling this thing around so

I feel like had they come to that earlier and to your point preventing that touchdown late kind of like the Green Bay game where where you know Tampa gets that that touchdown in the last you know minute that you know last few seconds really in the Green Bay game of the first half, it totally flipped the script on that football team, and they just couldn't find their own way. What did you think of Mahomes? Oh, played average at best, man. I thought he played average at best. Look, he's running for his life, and I think for me, right, and this is an offensive lineman saying this,

I think we give way too much credit to quarterbacks when they win and we give way too much credit when they lose. He could not have won that game. I mean, you know, everybody's like, well, you know, he ran. I think they gave this stat. He ran for almost 500 yards behind the line of scrimmage last night. That means he's running for his life. And I don't care how good everybody thinks you are and how good you played.

When you get harassed like that, the windows become so tight. You know, we've, look, we've all played golf, right? Where when you put, and it feels like you could hit the ball right in the hole and it's going to jump it or it's going to lip out. It's going to, that was like played golf, right, where when you putt and it feels like you could hit the ball right in the hole and it's going to jump it or it's going to lip out. That was like last night, right? It didn't matter what they did. It felt like Tampa was always a compressed window for the throw. It was always a difficult.

There was nothing coming easy. There was no rhythm. And that's because of the pressure. And listen, what everybody says, man, offense and defensive lines, whether you like it or not, they win a lot of football games in the NFL. And last night, that just spoke volumes for that case. The other side of it, do you like Brady, Jeff? I do. I do.

Yeah, which is so painful to say. I can hear I do. Yeah. I'm, I'm, uh, which is, which is so painful to say, but I actually find myself pulling for him now that like when I played, I hated him. Right. Like, you know, but, but, but now I find myself pulling for him. I have three of my coaches who are on the, who goes with me in Indianapolis, who are on the buck staff. staff. One is the quarterback coach, Clyde Christensen, Tom Moore is the consultant. And then obviously Bruce Arians, their head coach. And so all three of those guys were with me in Indy. So I love those guys and, and they love him and they speak so highly of him as a leader and as a player and, and more, most importantly, as a teammate. And so when you hear that, man, like it's hard for me not to pull for guys like that,

you know, and he's an old man like me. So I pull for me more just to show the young guys that old guys can still do it. I imagine there's, there's part of you that, I mean, we've run out of stuff to say with this guy, you know, like I like when I'll see shows today going, does end the debate we're like where were you after the atlanta game and like before the atlanta game it was still pretty much his um and knowing how close you are with peyton it is a weird spot for you to be in because they're in your way i still think that comeback where you guys got your super bowl in a way like i can't imagine how much you would hate that organization if you never had that comeback because i can't believe you still came back in that game. Whoever won that game was

beating the bears in the super bowl. It didn't matter. Um, and I, you know, it's, it's funny. Yeah, you're right. Like it's all these combinations of things where I imagine you always want to stand up for your guy and Peyton. And yet there's just this, this admiration for something that would have seemed impossible. If somebody told you 10 years ago, this is what we'd be doing after another Super Bowl, you would have thought like, no way, like drug test yourself. Impossible. No, you listen, you are speaking truth all the way. I mean, when you think about the accomplishments that, that,

that he has, you know, just checked off the box at every turn, he continues to get denied. And listen, that even goes back to being a six-round pick, right? I mean, take it all the way back. I mean, his first start was against us. And so I've watched this guy literally his entire career. And to watch what he is still accomplishing and the way that he goes about it.

And I'll just say this, man, he, the humility he shows and, and, you know, like, like, I don't know the guy, you know, extremely well, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know, you know, we ain't doing dinner, you know what I mean? But, but the humility that I have seen him show throughout all the success he has had and that the teammates speak the way about him that they do, it's just amazing, man. And you continue to see his drive and the push for success and the way that he elevates people around him.

And that to me is just, it's been a, it is a, uh, it's been a pretty amazing run and, you know, again, I, I like pulling for it and, and, you know, hoping he continues to move, move forward. Do you ever talk to Peyton about him? Yeah, but not like you would think, you know, he doesn't like Peyton, doesn't feel a competition from Brady, which I know sounds strange, but it's kind of like, and they both have talked like this, and I know they're friends and they have their own unique relationship,

but they don't play each other. So if you think about the defenses that I've had with the Patriots, I was never worried about Tom Brady. You know what I mean? I'm worried about Vince Wilford. We're worried about you know, Teddy Bruschi and Richard Seymour, right? Like I, like I had my own, you know, hall of famers. I had to worry about, I wasn't worried about the guy throwing it on the other side. I was, I was much more worried about buckling my own shin strap for the guys who were trying to shorten my neck. So I think that's kind of the

way you always process it. And I think from, you know, I never thought about, I think Peyton redefined the game, right? When you, when you look at what he was able to do as a quarterback and the time we were in, you know, calling his own plays and just kind of all the things that he did from a mental aspect, you know, it's incredible. And so from my perspective and the guy that I played with, I would want it no different. You know what I mean? I know that team wins, Super Bowls, all those things. Like Tom Brady got the MVP last night, right? He threw for 200 yards, man. I mean, you know what I mean? Like the defense held the most prolific offense to nine points, but you know,

everything always goes to QBs. That's just the way that we feed the monster that is the NFL, which is great. But I realized it took, you know, it took, it took 11 dudes on the other side to get that win. And so I can appreciate all of it. I don't have to just singly focus on one, you know what I mean? Yeah. And I also get to like, it's kind of a weird question. Luckily, I think we've known each other long enough that if this were just a phone or with some guy you didn't know you'd be like hey what did Peyton say about Brady's win like it's a stupid question like I get it's kind of dumb but I also think that there's a level of I you know respect amongst like I never got the

sense that Peyton didn't like him and as you said they're friends like I imagine there are other quarterbacks that Peyton just I know you're not going to tell me names, but there are guys that Peyton disliked far more than he ever disliked Tom Brady. Yeah, absolutely. Right. I mean, you know, because it's relationship, it's, you know, how a guy responds and, you know, and I think the other part that, that really, I mean, I think the things that you would say about Peyton and about Brady, things that you would say about Peyton and about Brady, the love of the game and the respect for the game and not just the game now, but the history of the game, I think speaks volumes about both of those guys. You know, like listen to Tom Brady talk about, you know, his, his Super Bowl performances and think about all the names that he names, right? I mean, guys that, that I would have a hard time recalling, you know what I mean? And he remembers them like, he's like, man, this guy made this great play. And when you're at a Pro Bowl or you're at some event and those guys are around and guys are telling stories and you hear the admiration they have for other guys and the respect for the game. That's what you love, right? Like you can't, I can't stand when guys just disrespect the game and make it about them.

And neither Brady nor Manning ever had that in them. And I think that's why they were friends, right? Because it was, you know, of course they can, they're competitive. Of course, one wants to, you know, beat the other one every time. But at the end of the day, they both day, they both do it the right way. Guys respect that more than they do just the ability to play the game. What did you see from their game plan? It was kind of interesting that they were running some crossers. They got Bray on that screen. That was a big play.

They ran Gronk on the crosser. That was kind of a motion deal at the goal line for his first touchdown and it really felt like left which was like okay these are these things i'm going to do i'm actually not going to take any deep shots there's really only one deep shot that i counted in the time of the game being in the balance and then it was like oh actually we can do whatever we want we can run on these guys we can throw it like it doesn't matter it almost it took them longer to realize how helpless Kansas City was against them. Yeah, listen, give left-witch a ton of credit, not just for this game,

but I mean, just even the Green Bay game, you know, the reverse late to seal the game. I mean, he has done a phenomenal job, really, since the bye week of putting this team in a position to win and I think they finally found and we have been kind of beating this drum all season at least I had been beating this drum all season about if you keep Brady clean their offense will thrive and what I mean by that is just limit the amount of touches that the other color jersey can get on Brady. And that sounds so simplistic and almost ridiculous. But there are ways to do that with keeping a back in or chipping a back or the way that you align your tight end.

Or when you do cross motion, where is the receiver when the ball is snapped? Is he going up through the c-gap or is he going just outside the tackle which prevents the end from pushing you know pinning his ears back like all the different things that they employed as the season progressed i thought showed the maturation not only of of uh bruce arians but more importantly byron left which of saying hey here's the here's the way i can put my team in the best position to win. And I don't really care about the no risk it, no biscuit, right? We're going to win by doing what we can do effectively if it's underneath.

But, but to your point, the, the, the, the play to Gronk early and a little play action and him sneaking out on a little, a little hide route. I mean, golly, like, like no one's thinking that's going to be to Gronk, right? You're thinking that's going to be to Godwin, or you're thinking that's going to be something. Toss right. Whatever, right?

Yeah. It's just like that ain't going to the beat-up tight end. And to your point, Lefkowitz just called a masterful game, and he trusts what he does. And listen, give them credit, because even when they got stuffed on the goal line, I liked the call. I mean, I really did. I was actually on that end zone line watching that play.

And give Kansas City credit, right? Sometimes those guys play it well, but it's a freaking great call. Blocked pretty well. You just got to get it in there. But I liked Lefwich, man. I think, to your point, he did a really good job in the whole rhythm of the game. Did you send Aaron Rodgers a congratulatory text on his MVP? Yeah, absolutely.

First one I sent. He did have a great season. I mean, listen, give him credit. Guy playing, man. I mean, you know, what are you going to say? He's balling, and he has played as well as he has in his career. So I sent him a gift, and to your point, sent him the text. First thing I did.

That's what I figured. That's what I figured. Hey, great work, as always, at ESPN. You know you were one of the go-tos over the years, so really appreciate it, man. We'll catch up soon, all right? Love it, bro. Appreciate you always, and have a great one.

Sarah Walsh, the NFL on Fox, and a Tampa Bay, I don't know, that's home. It's fans. It's family. So this is a little different. You covered the team all year. We had you on before. Obviously, we were very close.

But, you know, look, a lot of people picking Kansas City. Give me kind of the professional and the non-professional reaction to the Bucs winning the Super Bowl. I'm going to kind of blend the two, which is I guess, non-professional, but let's, let's, let's just go there right out of the, out of the park. Um, so covering this team, it's like you you're seeing kind of what they were doing. At least I did. And I, I thought the saints would be an issue. I thought I just get this vibe, right? When they play the saints in that divisional round, there was part of me that thought there's no way they're going to lose

them three times in a year. But then I also on the flip side was like, no way will the Saints do, um, they did what they did to them. And then they're going to, you know, tap out when it really mattered. So that one, I wasn't sure about, but as soon as they beat the Saints, I just knew, I was like, they're going to be green Bay. Nobody was picking them to beat the chiefs. I'm like, they're going to beat the chiefs. And that's as someone who has seen what this team has done sort of weekend and week out and sort of saw this, that the things start to steamroll in terms of momentum and the way that they were clicking. And really that Kansas City game, that first game in week 12, I always kind of said to people, if you saw the first quarter of that game, if you saw the first half of that game, that game should have been like 34-0. I mean, it shouldn't have even been close. Tyreek Hill went ballistic in the first quarter. It was over. It was over. And I remember sitting with our producer in the press box at that game. And with like a couple of minutes to go, we're like, how did the Bucs even have a chance to win this? They had a chance to win that game. They lost that game by three. And that was a game

in which they were honestly, statistically, and from watching it, obliterated. And yet they were still in it. So then having the weeks after that, I'm thinking if they play half as good as they against the chiefs that day, not only they have a chance, but they're going to win this thing. Um, and, and I really just think that this was even that even when they were not great, they were always in it. Aside from one saints game, that was a total, total blowout by the saints. They have been in even those games that they lost. It was really close. And you could see that this was a team clearly obviously loaded with talent, but that it just took them sort of getting on the same page. And it took them really till that bye week in week 13 to do it. So I wasn't surprised. And as a Tampa person, obviously it's

great in our hometown. It's been a ridiculous run for tampa sports and um and so you're happy for the city for all of that so it's i i wasn't surprised at all but that's not because i'm completely biased which i will admit so when you're covering this team i think that you can think you know what you're getting with the tom brady and then there's been there's not really anything similar to tom brady but I'm sure there's other teams that brought in the older quarterback with a great resume. And then they get him and they go, oh, this guy was a bit over it. No one's ever accused of Brady ever being over any of this stuff. But are there any insights or things that people notice or shared with you that they were like, now, once we had him in here,

we get it. The lead up, you know, I was, I was talking about something at the top with Fournette where Fournette said he was texting all of us every night saying, we're going to win this game and they don't like to tackle and they're not physical. I'm just wondering if there are any observations or reactions from people that kind of maybe had an idea of what the Brady deal was like and then how much that changed, which they were in the building with him every single week. I mean, Bruce Arians would say it. I said, I mean, it's this winning culture thing and they're in and he'll be asked like, when does that change? He said, as soon as you bring Brady in. And I think what's lost in the Brady headlines is this team on defense was just as good last year. And again, Brady's flashy,

Brady's the name. He's all of those things. I covered this team a ton for Fox last year, where I did games of theirs that were not good games. I did their regular season finale last year and was standing in the end zone when Jameis threw a pick six to end it in overtime against Atlanta. And this was this team that like walks off the field completely dejected. You kind of thought that that was the last thing

Jameis would do here in Tampa, or you had a feeling that you didn't know Tom Brady was going to come here, but they were in, that defense did exactly what they did this year, last year. It's just that you had a quarterback that was throwing picks. So I think for all these people that all of a sudden were like, Oh wow, this Tampa team, Tom Brady changes the mindset inside a locker room. And I don't

think there's a question. And Arians will tell you that. And guys will tell you that. I mean, they'll say, when did you think Byron left? Which, when did you think you had a chance to go to the Superbowl? He said, well, when you sign Tom Brady is automatically an option because he's there almost all the time, which is statistically true. But that defense, and I thought that that defense, and Tom played mistake-free football yesterday and did a great job, but anybody that was asking predictions, I was like, they're going to win because this defense will eventually wear people down

and as elusive as Patrick Mahomes can be, and he's one of the best, obviously, on the run and able to do things like that. But, but you don't know quarterback wants to be running for their life, you know, for an entire game. Like you just don't operate your best that way. And I thought the Bucks defense would do what they did that frontline. I mean, they just harass people and they've done it throughout the playoffs. And then they have a young secondary that really just kind of got things going and started just picking people off and being very opportunistic with mistakes. So again, I think that Brady and Gronk and those are all the great headlines, but what people don't

realize that maybe are outside this team is, is really the entire core was there. They just got a quarterback that made them all believe not only could they go to the playoffs, which they hadn't been, but yeah, why can't we win it? And that was, you know, I'm not minimizing how much that means, right? Because that means everything from a mental aspect. But they are not a surprise in what they did to the Chiefs yesterday. Anyone that's watched them shouldn't have been surprised by what they did because they've been doing it for a little while now. Yeah, it's a great point because their defense was at such a massive disadvantage

with Winston last year, the starting field position. Like some of these numbers were just off the charts. They're on the field all the time. On the field and then where they'd start defensively. And you're just like, this is a, this is a joke when you actually like the personnel. So,

um, you're right. That, that part of it shouldn't be surprising, even though there are moments, even this regular season where I think like, wait, why are,

why are they, you know, where are they week to week? Because it still didn't, like there were seven and five and you're going, wait, you know, like,

shouldn't they be better than this? And then they win the last few games. I still wasn't even sure, Sarah, because it was Atlanta twice, Minnesota in there. Because I remember at 7-5 going, they're probably going to end up 11-5, and I'm still not sure. And obviously, you liked them a little bit better than I did because of that. Because it wasn't just the Saints game. Because that was so ugly that I didn't even think it was that big of a deal. I just thought it completely got away from him.

But any time I'd start to kind of buy in again, then they'd have a week where I'd go. I'm just not sure anymore. They came off that by, though, and it was a different offense. And I know I think last time I was on here, you asked me about it. And it does sound like cliche and like, well, they need to consistency. Well, they didn't have an off season, but those things are all true. And then I think the other thing that people didn't see as much as for the first part of that season, Chris Godwin. Okay. So before AB is there, Chris Godwin,

Mike Evans, they were really banged up to start the season and probably up until that bi-week where they got healthy. So Tom didn't throw with them the off season. And these are his two stud receivers. He didn't throw a lot with them ever during the week because they were not practicing or resting up. He just, he didn't have that. And it took some time. And then the AB thing, it's funny, they signed AB. And that was sort of controversial in itself. And people I think thought he was going to step out on the field and be Antonio Brown and light things up game one. And like that didn't happen.

And it didn't happen right away. And I think we also still need to temper that when it did start happening, he hadn't been playing for that long when things started clicking for him because before he got hurt against the Saints, that last little run you're talking about, and even though it was against Atlanta and it was against Detroit, he was on fire at the end of the year. So they just loaded this team with weapons.

And I think the other thing that maybe doesn't get talked about again because it's all Tom Brady all the time is what the general manager Jason Light did in terms of building them because those pieces were there. Um, and I said it all the time. And maybe that was the fan of me when people were like, why Tom Brady pick Tampa. And I'm like, look at the roster. You had a defense that's going to win you stuff, right? The defense is really good. He's got stud receivers that he's never had before, but then you, not only do you get Tom Brady, but then Jason Lake goes and adds Rob Gronkowski. And you didn't totally know what you were going to get with him,

but the guy plays the entire duration of the season, which he hadn't done since 2011. And got better, too. And got better. I mean, look at what he did in the Super Bowl. Like, this is a guy that Tom trusts, and at the end of the day, let's just feed Gronk. But then went and gets, they got Leonard Fournette,

which, as you see now into the postseason, like what a pickup Leonard Fournette was. They went and got Antonio. I mean, look at the names that they added after the season started. Antonio Brown, Leonard Fournette. Well, Gronk was before the season started, but they just kept adding these pieces

that were sort of this championship thing. And I don't think chemistry always works when you do things that way, but I think Bruce Arians is a big reason. I mean, these guys are all, it sounds, it sounds maybe like two unicorns and rainbows,

but these guys are happy here. People like playing under him. Like it's a good vibe, even in a weird year. Um, I think they were just really happy, genuinely all happy to be here playing together. And that started to show up.

Did we ever get more detail on what arians is wearing what's going on with the accessories what do you mean what do you mean accessories the um yeah the the the mic pack that's like what do you even call those things like you know when guys have the man purses what is that like a there's like a shoulder strap thing going around yeah like i'm not your husband bushman could probably pull it off where these guys are working out he wouldn't do it he wouldn't do it these weird i may send one because i'm afraid i look at him and then go you can't you shouldn't so don't order it don't ever order it but i think matt matt might be able to no matt can't pull it off matt wouldn't matt wouldn't even try to pull that off but i don't but arians is so arians like he can do it

don't you think like he just is he can get away with it just he can kind of do whatever he wants he's just such a straight shooter and i love him everyone in the media like loves him for it like the guy says what he thinks he doesn't really care about saying the right thing all the time and um and so if he wants to wear uh i don't even know how to describe it if he wants to wear his mic pack on the front like it's like the shoulder strap i don't even know how to describe it. If he wants to wear his mic pack on the front, it's like the shoulder strap. I don't even know how to describe it. And the way he wears his mask, he can do whatever he wants.

Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. All right. So this week, we had been looking forward to this week, the crew, for a while. So I don't want to end it on a disappointing note just because there was a lot of excitement about this week. No one made it, obviously. No one made it, obviously. No one made the trip.

You guys were all welcome to come stay down at the house here at the beach. Super Bowl's here. Nobody came. I ended up getting swamped with work, believe it or not. Yep, me too. Yeah, I know. I think it was just that we knew what the version of it was supposed to be. So, again, I don't want to complain or anything like that, but you still were on the host circuit,

which is pretty remarkable to pull off kind of a little, uh, little appearance deal. So what did you do? Did you go anywhere? Was it all online? What happened? Oh, the shack. Are you talking about the shackle that I hosted yesterday? Yeah. Because my man who kid used to DJ at all the time. So I don't know if he did again this year. Uh, no. So they did. So shack usually, well, you know, there's all these Superbowl parties that are like insane and over the top and he used to do Shaq fun house thing. And so he's one of the few, like his group is one of the few people that were like, how can we pivot and still do something? So they did this Shaq bowl where it was like a competitions between celebrities,

you know, like one of those celebrity kind of like a beach bash thing, not at the beach though. And so we all had to be tested. And so it was safe in that manner but yeah like migos performed nelly was there tebow who couldn't have looked more jacked um there was like a sit-up competition and he like obviously like everyone oh yeah tim was in that one yep set up competition there's a tug of war there was like competitions between who else was there uh diplo are you in the dj world you know diplo yeah my toes my toes have been in there um yeah so a bunch of people performed shack dj'd uh olivia coppo you in that world you know yeah i met her i was out with them one night yeah yeah she was there could not have been lovelier she's so nice nice. So nice. She did the, um, here's where I have to give her props. So there's all

these different competitions that they did. They had, uh, like a surfing competition, but it was like, you know, like a mechanical bowl, but it was like a mechanical surfboard. She did the hot wing eating contest with like these wrestlers and these dudes. And she's like a model and beautiful and like, you know, perfect makeup and all this stuff. Cause I, I like would have been like, I'm not doing that one. Right. Like how unattractive is that going to look? She did it. Like she was such a champ. She's like, yeah, I'll do it. I don't care. She'll. And by the way, she's, I'm like, I'm like watching her, like, try to like down these hot wings and she still looked like ridiculous. Winnie Harlow, also a model. She did

the like hot wing eating contest. I was like, I have to give these ladies props. They killed it, but yeah, couldn't have been nicer. You know who else was there? Do you want to know who my fan favorite was? You don't. I'll answer the question though. Gronk's girlfriend, Camille Kostak, who's a Sports Illustrated model. She was there. Couldn't have, you know, when you want people to be like who you think they are or who you want them to be. And we've all met people and it's like disappointing. Like couldn't have been like more down to earth the cool girl you see on instagram like she is like the coolest girl and has kind of this gronk vibe about her like just happy about life there's not enough of those people right like so anyway score for him yeah i don't i've never met her um olivia that none of

that surprises me because i expected when i'd met her at this thing that we were at that i was like all right she's so like how can you be normal being that good looking and so i mean i know i know i struggle with it but it's it's one of those deals where then to her just smash hot wings because i don't know that anybody's ever been hotter after eating hot wings but if anybody can pull it off yeah she pulled it off oh and I co-hosted well obviously Shaq but it was me on a desk and my co-hosts were a Tio and Ocho Cinco and I gotta tell you maybe the best co-host I've ever had like these guys off the rails in two seconds it was great yeah I've heard some of the Chad stuff and he's he is really really funny but

i've never really dug him after he came to espn and asked a girl out i was dating and she was like well i'm dating somebody and you're going on a show and he was like fuck your man so i was like yeah definitely let's book him more on my stuff so um and he didn't know it was me i don't think he cares right you shouldn't date people at work, though, you know? Maybe that's the takeaway, Ryan, you know? Well, you know, I've obviously pivoted from that since then. I miss those celebrity beach bowl things, because we did one in Tampa,

and then the all-timer was New York, because I caught the game-winning touchdown over Deion and Desmond Howard. Jesse Palmer was my quarterback. I complained to Joe Montana about not getting enough touches at halftime, and he essentially told me to fuck off and then still put me out there, which ended up being me sticking up for myself and the coach believing in his players and then it paying off for the coach for believing in you guys. you guys guy fieri jamming me at the line of scrimmage and sticking his fingers into my eyeballs and neck and i shoved him and said get the fuck off of me and i was like super mad for two seconds at guy fieri and he started laughing so hard because he knew he was like i don't know what i'm doing and i i started kind of being like all right i'm not gonna be mad at guy fieri and then it was it was hannah davis it was um nina drobev or does i have that right do i have that last name right dobrev dobrev yeah all right we didn't hit it off and then that's the infamous markle yeah have you told the story before i didn't know if we could go there i'd love to go there can we

tell this story yeah let's do it can i tell it okay yeah so here's here's my version of the story you just got the ryan version ryan obviously for the record, probably took this game way too seriously. Like he thinks it's like the national championship at the celebrity beach bash, like keeping stats on the side. So he comes back from this. I was not there. He comes back to our, our condos that are, we were neighbors in West Hartford and he's like, I met this girl. Um, she's, she's kind of cute. Um, and he's like telling me about her. I'm like, oh, okay. What's her name? Because I know the other girls that he just mentioned. And he's like, what's her name? And he's like, Meghan Markle. And I'm like, I've never heard

of her. Because again, if you hadn't watched, if you don't watch, again, people are going to listen to this now and that name, everyone knows that name. But if, you know, go back to where, when that happened, if you didn't watch Suits, if you didn't know what that show is, there's no reason you would know that name. I didn't watch Suits. So I had no idea. And I remember saying to Ryan, I go, Oh, I go, what does she do? And you're like, she's on a show. I had never heard of the show. I go, Oh, she's going to dig you. You've got your own radio show. Like she's going to be like, you know, you can up that profile. Yeah. He's like, and then there were some DMs. i correct yeah i also would like to

point out to me you're denying no no there were but okay i was giving you a room to wiggle out of that story if you needed to yeah so there's dms and then i am in like i subscribe to a lot of really important magazines that i like to read on the Stairmaster and my like Us Weekly comes in and it's like, Harry's got a new girlfriend and it's her. And I'm like, oh my God, because this is like, well, I don't think it's like that far removed from us having this conversation. It's the only reason I know the name. And I go, Brian, I got some news that I'm going to have to break to you. And I don't know how to tell you this, but your girl is dating someone and it's prince harry and you were like tough one but i gotta be honest with you my first instinct was okay i'm still in

this and for the record the dms couldn't have been any like they were hey thank nice meeting you follow follow hey how's it going hey do you ever want to come on the show on your radio show yeah right right and she was like i don't really care about sports at all i was like well you you met the game-winning touchdown guy who was out the entire night before with carissa so that was hilarious because then carissa was a sideline reporter for it and she was like how are you doing i was like well you know it's not the most prep i've ever put into a game but uh i'm ready now and so once this thing's up in the air, I'll be good to go. So don't worry about me. Yeah, so that was it.

That was it. Because I felt like Markle wasn't getting enough attention because of how the other girls were set up. The TV genies there. It was, right. So there was a lineup there that was intimidating. It was a lot of competition. And Megal just, Megan, she's not called Megal. Meg. Meg, whatever. I It was a lot of competition and Megal just, Megan, uh,

she's not called Megal, um, Meg, whatever. I mean, a lot of guys, Serena, Serena was in it because you know how they're really good friends. Like, I don't know if they had met there, but I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is the Ryan Rosillo, Megan Markle beach bash. And I, at the time go, I swear to God, this is not just for podcast purposes. I go, Oh, this girl's going to be into you. She's going to look you up. You got a ton of followers. You got a legitimate radio show. I'm like, this is good for you. I'd never heard of her.

I thought she's probably very normal. And I was like, good call. This is great. Yeah, and it's weird that you would say because I had followers or a show that's also on TV simulcast, not a big deal, but that you'd be like, Oh, cause I, it sounds like you're, you're calling her superficial, which I don't think there's anything on her resume that would tell us that that's the case. So saying she's going to look you up and you weren't just some random that like, and you told me there was like a good conversation. And again, I'm thinking like, why would she not be into you? Like, this is great. And I thought you legitimately had a shot as did you up until wedding day.

I mean, you know, so. Yeah. I don't know. It's not over yet. You know, I know that was tough for you on that day. It was tough. And it's another, you know, it's a winter in West Hartford. You're coming out the other side.

It's February, you know, trying to figure it out. And the girl you like is dating a prince. No big deal. Not a big deal. Not a big deal. Not a big deal. You know what it is. So does she want to come on the show or no? It just motivated me to get stronger, bigger, faster, and more successful.

So revenge is the best way. The best way to make someone else regret. You're showing her. Yeah. Yeah. Who's winning now? This podcast is number three. Okay, Sarah. I think that's it

because I miss you. Your coverage was incredible. Fox and the NFL Network stuff, both lucky to have you as far as I'm concerned, but like you with the Bucs, I'm biased about you as well. So we'll talk again soon.

All right. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Hang in there with Megan. 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 could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. LifeAdviceRR at gmail.com. Okay, this one's a quick one, but I think it's an important one. Titled, I hate how much I care about sports.

Hi, I'm 26. I'm living with my fiance and have what feels like a basic question for you that I struggle with. We just hosted a Super Bowl party where three of our friends came over to watch the game in our apartment. I wanted the Chiefs to win and place a small wager on them. It wasn't anything crazy by any means. My problem is that I'm so competitive that I can't watch most sporting events and not be heavily impacted by the outcome. I'm thankful that my future wife knows me and accepts me for who I am, so it's not an issue with her. I just hate myself for how emotionally invested I am of these outcomes. While I know that I'll never be one of the super normie,

I'm just hoping for a good game, guys. How can I learn to watch sports and not always react this way? If this was something that you dealt with at a younger age and improved upon, how did you do so? Okay. Not super rare. I was the exact same way. So I'm just going to tell you a couple of things here. As you get older, it does go away because you're just going to have other things in your life. Most people like almost everybody, family, kids, you know, you're just sitting there losing your mind about a fucking bills game. You know, although I do think sometimes, especially with football and why it's so popular is that it's this complete escape from everything else. You know, that's why I used to love watching baseball. Cause I'd get it every night where I go

and nothing else matters. Three, three and a half hours. I'm watching the socks and that's why I used to love watching baseball. Cause I'd get it every night where I go and nothing else matters. Three, three and a half hours. I'm watching the socks and that's, that's all I cared about, but I cared about it way too much. All right. And then you start to do this thing where you want everyone to know how much you care because you want to be like, Oh, you know, who likes the red socks? That guy really likes the red socks. And it's kind of like a loser filling a void in your life deal. And I think when you're younger, we all kind of go through this where you are super into a band, but then you want to be the most into the band guy out of that group because then everybody knows like, oh, that guy really likes the band. And I was that way with the Red Sox where if I were bartending and somebody asked, you know, the Red Sox would be on

and somebody would ask a question, the other bartenders wouldn't even want to talk in front of me. And they just like point to me and be like, just ask him, but like, watch out, you know, and it's stupid. And I don't know why, but I think when you're younger, you're kind of searching for some, some identifying thing. It's not even an identity. It's just, oh, I want to, I want to have a thing, whether you're, you know, the way you dress or, you know, I don't know. Obviously now it's a little bit easier to put yourself out there in a way and you can sell some image of you. But I think that's probably what you're doing right now is that you've been sports guy so much, um, that you kind of want everybody to know, but I'll tell you this, and this is the part where women, um, deserve all the credit in the world for putting up with us.

But can you imagine if your fiance had something that she got super fucking annoying about where she would like hate rage in the middle of the apartment and think it was totally normal. And you were supposed to just deal with it. And your friends are supposed to watch her get so mad like just do a little role play housewives yeah fucking darcy god damn it for the guys listening can you imagine if your wife or girlfriend around your group of male friends just went crazy about the things you went crazy about. And can you imagine how bad that would look? But as guys, we just do it,

and we think everybody's supposed to get out of our way. And that part, I'm team female on that one because as you get older, and I used to do it to a couple of girls that I was dating when I'd be younger, and I'd get so mad. I remember St. John's lost a game when I was like 23, and I left my own apartment

and went to a bar to grab a chicken wrap and a Coors Light. Like that's, that's psychotic behavior. And then everybody dealt with it. It was like, oh, you know, Ryan really likes St. John's. Like that's nuts. So part of it's getting older, having more elements of your life and things that you care about that distract you from this. Cause when you're, when you're in that college, maybe it's high school, but that college and then those first few years after that, you're not really quite sure what you're doing. So you have this thing that you're latching onto and it's great, but it can be, I don't know if it's unhealthy in the way that we talk about long-term that's really unhealthy

because I think for most of us, it kind of goes away. Now, look, there's some SEC schools that I've been to where I guess it never goes away, but at least it's only like 12 weekends, depending on the bowl alignment. You know what I'm saying here? But I think it's just always a little bit of a reminder there to if you were watching you do what you're doing at a Super Bowl party and getting really, really mad and all that kind of stuff, maybe you shouldn't bet on the game, first of all. But just think how

weird you would think somebody else was doing the exact same thing you're doing. And sometimes you can think you're okay because everybody's just accepted it because nobody wants to call you out for what an asshole you are about it. And that's the thing. Nobody called me out on it. And then I can look back on it and go, you know what? You left your own apartment. I think St. John's lost to Gonzaga in the tournament when St. John's had a high seed. And I was like, I can't deal with this right now. And then my buddy was there with his girlfriend. And she was like, I think you care about sports too much.

I'd be like, what are you talking about? You know, whatever. I mean, I'm embarrassed about some of this stuff, but I'm sharing it with you. So you guys know that, you know, don't do that. There you go. Okay. We've got a road rage email here. I have a, I have a slight, I didn't road rage, but something happened. I think I'll share it with you guys. Cause I think it's pretty funny. Kyle Ryan, Nate from Texas here, 24, have a roommate. We'll call it John. Who's also 24. We each have our own cars cars but we try to carpool as much as possible wherever we go to places like the gym or the grocery store when we ride together

we usually take turns driving to keep things fair my dilemma is that when John drives he can road rage pretty badly he gets pissed off at the other drivers doing the smallest things like speeding up in the lane next to ours to get in front of ours or to get in front of us right same thing there have been countless times where John will honk his horn excessively, flip people off, roll his window down, yell at the person with me in the passenger seat. So far, John has never had a fight break out with anyone. The problem is I feel like it's just a matter of time

before a fight does break out. It doesn't sound like time is not on your side here. With me there, right there with him, I'm not a confrontational person by nature, so this is a little concerning for me. I definitely feel like Casey Affleck in Good Will Hunting when Chucky tells him he better be out there fighting alongside his guys. Don't get me wrong. I'd totally be there for John. However, I worry for our safety when getting into fights with randos on the streets. I've heard guys like Jocko, shout out, talk about how street fights are the dumbest things ever. How should I handle the situation? John is a really good dude outside of the car. No anger management problems. Otherwise, years back, Ryan, you told a great story about the rings almost coming off in a fight. You almost had yourself thoughts. Yes, that was the watch coming off. That was years ago on the radio show. I was driving to the gym in West Hartford,

and there was this horrible, horrible stretch where off the highway, they just make two lanes into one, and everybody knows it's coming. And people on the right, like you would have somebody behind you on the left and the person on the right would floor it to pass you. And then the right lane closes. And all of a sudden you're like right up on their rear end and you just go, cool. You floored it, got one car in front of me. And now you're, you're stuck trying to merge into me. And so I pulled up next to the kid and was like, hey, because he knew I was pissed. I didn't give him the finger or anything like that,

but the way I was driving where I was like, okay, and I put my hands up, like, cool. And then that's where the weird thing is. When you screw up in a car, even if you probably remove from the situation, no, it's your fault. Your first instinct is that you're right.

Totally. It's really weird. I actually think it's kind of what we do and everything in a way. And the example I've used a couple of times before is how many times when it's a four way stop and somebody did something else, like, are you, are you always the one at the four-way stop that's right

is there ever a chance maybe you're wrong and you're doing it wrong and chances are is that you probably had a few four-way stops that you jumped it you were early you were wrong and the person that got mad at you was right but you didn't handle it that way because you're in the car and something happens to us where you looked at them and you're like, oh, fuck you too then. You're like, no, you went first.

He pointed it out and we are, you want to talk about college football polls, we are unmovable when it comes to any kind of traffic argument. So yeah, I pulled up, we went back to a stoplight. So there were two lanes again, I think it was like three lanes before you get into the

town. And I think I rolled down the window and he rolled his down and he was like a skinny red headed kid. I mean, he might've been, I think he was in college. He couldn't be in high school. I don't think. But as you get older, you think everybody looks younger and the other way around. So I'm going to say he was like college, earlys or something and he's like what what and i was

like look man that was that was really fucking stupid really like you had to do that it's two lanes and then it got pretty heated and then i was like jesus is this gonna go and again i can't do anything you know it's like espn would have been thrilled to be like 15 minutes off when he signed off his show. He beat up a high school kid in West Hartford because of a road rage incident. But we all have these little moments. We all have these little moments where you go, all right, you know, how am I going to keep myself in check here?

How am I going to be the guy that doesn't cross the line into the street fight deal here? Because if your buddy keeps flipping everybody off every time when you're in the car all of the time and he's being this confrontational about it, it is probably going to happen at some point. And that does suck for you. So he's too young.

If you're both 24, you probably can't say to him, hey, I really don't, you know, we just don't respond to this stuff at that age, guys. Hey, John, I'd really like you to take a more, he just, he gets in the car and he acts like an asshole. So I would say separate cars like that would sting. And, but it would be a better way of trying to have like a sit down, you know, intervention with your buddy about the way he drives and gets mad at everybody all the time. I would just say, Hey man,

you, you want to start fights literally to everybody. I love you. We're cool. Um, we're roommates, but when we go to the gym from now on i'm taking my own car until you get your shit together and it might be weird because no guys that age ever talk to each other that way maybe it would freak them out a little and maybe but i don't know that that weird quick twitch that that super angry thing that you can have, it does start to go away a little bit. But in the car, I don't know what happens. I don't know what the science is behind that. But people get so much more mad than you would even if you were just walking around the street.

You could bump into somebody in the street and you wouldn't be as mad as you would be if perceived slight out on the road. I had one. LA is different. I don't drive a ton anymore. Um, because I just, I don't, there's, there's nowhere to go. Um, I had a dude, this is pretty funny, but, um, I was coming down Sepulveda, which is a major, major, you know, through way through all the, all the South Bay towns of LA.

And there's a lot of cars and I'm coming up through a green light and it's like sort of cresting over and then down again. And a guy just went right on red in front of me to the point where I had to slam on the brakes. I mean, it was a total dick move. The guy either didn't see me or didn't care. And that's the other thing, guys that drive that way. I hate you guys that do that because if everybody did like, you're so selfish to do it that way. And that's the other thing. Guys that drive that way, I hate you guys that do that because if everybody did, you're so selfish to do it that way. And well, if everybody did it your way, no one would ever get anywhere

because we'd all be in twisted hunks of fire here. And so I did the kind of two hands up where it was a, come on, man, are you serious with that? And then he rolled down his rooftop and threw his hand out the window and did all sorts of signs, let's just say. And here's what I would do. I don't know if

they're real or not. I don't know. They look pretty good. They look pretty good. They looked real choreographed and there was a bunch of signs going at the same time. And I would put it this way. That's one way to win any sort of road argument before it ever escalates. Because 99% of the people looking at some guy sticking a bunch of signs out the window of a car at you, a lot of times the other guy is going to back down. I'm not endorsing it. I'm just observing it. That's life advice

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