Throwbacks with Matt Leinart & Jerry Ferrara - Michael Vick on The Coach Vick Experience, Mobile QBs, Lamar Jackson and His Greatest Runs

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

Norfolk State Spartans head coach Michael Vick joins the show. Mike talks his BET reality series The Coach Vick Experience along with his rookie year as the coach of the team. Plus, he discusses the greatest run of his career, the players that inspired him growing up, what similarities he sees between himself and Lamar Jackson and much more.   Plus, Matt and Jerry name their greatest left-handed quarterbacks and Jerry shares a touching story about James Van Der Beek.  New episodes of Throwbacks drop every Thursday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also, make sure you’re locked in on social @ThrowbacksShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys & the Throwbacks community. (http://throwbacksshow.com/)      A big thank you to our sponsors:    Ka’Chava Go to https://kachava.com and use code THROWBACKS for 15% off your first order.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I grew up idolizing Donna McNabb. Donovan was one of the players that I wanted to be like. He was part of the reason that I visited Syracuse. And when I seen his style of play, I'm like, man, this dude can really play. We are back. Another episode of Throwbacks coming at you. Don't forget, follow us on all our socials at Throwback Show. On the YouTube, it's free.

Go subscribe. Don't be afraid. It's just the button. Hit the button. Hit the button. You know what? For this episode, when you hit the subscribe button, hit it with your left hand.

And here's why. Because today, we all know we have a great lefty quarterback on this show each and every week. Oh, thank you. Matt Leyen, Matt Yice. We have the Heisman right behind him to validate it. But today, we have maybe the most electrifying, dynamic. And some might say change the actual game of football, at least for his position. And it's another lefty quarterback.

only one person I'm talking about. Michael Vick joining us on throwback. I was on a clap for what I just said right there. That was great. Dude, that was off the dome right there. Michael Vick, man. Michael Vick,

he changed the way the position was played, I think, when he came in. Because if you look before him, right, you had some of the great, you had guys like Randall Cunningham, right, could run and throw when he was 6'5.

Steve Young was probably the OG. But, you know, like, back then, it just, like, you threw the ball more, and it was just a different game. It was a different style. And I always go to kind of like Vince Young in college. Vince Young kind of changed the game. He was kind of like a Randall Cunningham S because he was so big. But when you watch Mike Vick play at Virginia Tech in college, you were like,

he's a human highlight film. He's like, we've never seen this before. And then he gets into the NFL. It plays for Atlanta, obviously. plays 13, 14 years, whatever it was, he changed the way the game was played. And if you look at the way the NFL is played now, and you know, you had, you had your Tom Brady's and you had the era where you had a lot of quarterbacks who couldn't run and they won from the pocket. But the game now, all of these guys, you have to be able to move. But no one move like

Michael Vick. The closest is Lamar Jackson now, right? Lamar Jackson is probably like Michael Vic reincarnated. But Michael Vick was special. man, he was special to watch. I'll tell a story. My rookie year, 2006, we go to Atlanta. And I'm backing up. This was actually, actually, this was Kurt Warner's last game he started. I took over for him the next week. So this was like game four or five, we're in Atlanta. And, you know, I'm a young pup. I'm like, all right, this is cool, whatever. I was like, man, Mike Vicks on the side. I remember watching him warm up, like from my warm ups. And I'll tell you what, the prettiest ball. you'd ever see in person, you know, the flick of the wrist, it was effortless. And he was one of the few guys

that year and in my career where I got up off my sideline and I just watched him play. Brett Favre was the other one that year. And I started against Brett Favreve and I was still watching because that was one of my favorite players growing up. But Michael Vick was that guy. He was must-see TV. He was must-see in person. He was a special, special talent man. And on throwbacks, man. God, it's awesome, dude. Well, that's why he's a perfect throwback, because you want to know how I know, I think it's perfect throwback synergy

when I'm texting some of, like, my old head friends who are my age. I'm like, oh, we got Mike Vic coming on the show, and the response is, oh, that's crazy. And then when I text, like, my 17-year-old nephew, he even goes, oh, that's crazy. Like, a great throwback to me is someone that even the youngsters are acknowledging.

It's so crazy, because they don't even acknowledge Michael Jordan some of the time. Like, LeBron, like everyone, though, at every age, if you watch football

and you're interested in the history, it's Michael Vick. There's a handful of guys in every sport, and you'll know this, that you go on YouTube and you just can watch their highlight, their highlight tape,

and it just stands a tested time, right? Like Reggie Bush, college, all this, Reggie Bush's high school highlight tape, and even college is second. And you got, you got these basketball guys where their highlight tape is like,

holy Michael Vic that's why Michael Vic whether you're 16 or you're 40 you turn on that even that college and you're like whole this is Mike Vic like Mike Vic changed the game man like he's he's one of one he he was like Michael Jordan esk in football at that position in that era you know and and I got a chance to watch him front row and center and we're boys like he's he's a great dude super humble just man he's he's awesome man well he also man well he also has, you know, part of the reason why he's coming on. And I just started watching the catch up when he comes on. But he has a really cool, I don't even call the reality show to me. These are like docu-series about, you know, he's head coaching at Norfolk State right now. And shows produced by like Michael Strahan and Dionne Sanders. So like they clearly knew. And I think it's so interesting, Matt, because like I was thinking about this the other day. And I'm going to talk to, I want to ask Vic about it. It's like, if you look around at the college ranks and the NFL ranks, it's like to so many good coaches. But how. How many good coaches are guys who were, like, great at their position? Obviously, if you played in college, D1, or NFL, you were great.

You're just, even if you weren't a great NFL player, like, even to get to that level. But I'm saying at those levels to be great, you know, because I think I just, you don't really see it. It's hard. A lot of guys have been lifers, too, coaching because it's hard to kind of just pick that up. You look at the NFL, I mean, like Jim Harbaugh. Jim Harbaugh is a good example. Frable was really good at his position. Rable, Campbell, obviously was like guys that played at a high level and then it transferred

over. It's really challenging. You've seen a lot of guys try it and it just doesn't work. So I, you know, give him credit going into, I believe, his second year as a head coach. It's not easy, especially at a smaller school like that. And again, like NIL recruiting all of these things. Prime did it before he went to Colorado and then obviously he got that gig. So it'll be interesting to see what Mike can do the next couple years as a head coach. And, you know, I know he's got advice from a lot of great players. And you just have one or two good years, man. And then you elevate yourself.

So I give him a lot of credit for getting into the coaching and giving back, you know, giving back to a lot of young kids who, you know, like what they're going through. So it's pretty awesome, man. And I'm excited to see him coach this fall. Now, before we get to Michael Vick, I have a few lefty things I want to throw at you. Okay. Number one, and you had mentioned this before, I don't know if you ever mentioned it on air.

You've often been asked by people, like, is it weird for receivers catching a ball from a lot? Everyone has the lefty, like it throws people off balance even just watching. But at this level, right, did you ever feel or have to make adjustments for a receiver or anything? Like, what goes into being a lefty quarterback when, we're going to talk about lefty quarterbacks in general, but there's just hardly any,

especially when you get to D1 and NFL. It's so funny, man, because, like, I remember when I was playing, and, like, just, you get to the NFL in Arizona, right? And they had, you know, righties. And again, there's just few lefty quarterbacks that have ever played. It just doesn't, it's not very many.

You know, there's like two or three at a time all the time in the NFL, that's it. I just remember saying, oh, like, guys would be like, oh, yeah, okay, that comes out a little different. That's been, because it's just coming from a different side, right? So it's just a little different visually. But I used to get always asked, like, do you think it's harder for a receiver to catch a lefty than a right? I'm like, guys, like, these receivers are paid to catch the football.

I don't care if I'm kicking it to them, right? They got to catch it. So I always thought that was interesting. But the biggest thing that people don't understand is when you have a lefty quarterback, a lot of these offensive coordinators, our head coaches, have to completely change the way they run their offense and the way they call plays, right? In today's world, you had two at Miami. You have Michael Pennix at Atlanta. You know, Callan Moore played for a long time.

He's obviously a coach now. And I remember when I went to Houston and Gary Kubiak was my head coach. And he, you know, he coached Elway. He was Elway's position. Gobyak been around a long time. And he's like, man, he's like, I don't know if he said I hadn't coached a lefty in a long time or never, but I remember saying, man, you're going to make this tough on me. He had to start thinking and building.

an offense the other way, bootlegs, an other way, just in case, in case I was going to play. And then I remember when Shab went down and I started that year, I ended up starting one game because I got hurt. It was a whole like lefty thing, lefty thing. How do I have to think like a left-hand-of-the-courtback. It's like driving on the wrong side of the road in London. Because obviously, like me throwing to my left is, I used to love throwing to my right, but like rolling out to my left is a lot easier. Just like a righty rolling out to his right is a lot easier. But then also when you have a left-handed franchise quarterback, it's the left tackle anymore. It's the right tackle. Right tackle. Because the left tackle is blocking

your right hand. It's blind side. So it is, it's a little bit, I would say like a little bit of a mind fuck. I think when you get a left hand of quarterback because it is changing the way. You see now, we're professional athletes. We got to be able to throw it all ways, of course. But you do definitely think a little bit differently. And I'd be curious of Mike's thoughts on that too, because, you know, like I'm telling you, we were playing in an era where it was me, Mike Vick, because we cross and like, and Mark Brunel. Mark Brunel was that kind of the tail end. Probably the tail end of his career when he was in Jacksonville.

I think we, I think him and I crossed like years. And that's really it, dude. I can't even think of anyone else. That, you know, that made it and played for a long period of time. So shout out to the lefties, man. We're a little bit different. We're a little bit weird, but we're a small club and we stick together. Here's the take.

I don't think there's that many tough lefties. What I mean by that is you guys just go play. baseball, bro. Don't get hit in the head. And go get millions of dollars to I think most lefties late. By the way, we're going to quote that. There's not that many tough lefties in the NFL. What I mean by that is like, hey, do you want to go get hit in the head by a 315 pound NFL? Oh, shit, man. Or do you want to go, you will potentially give up a gap double while being

a lefty at the same if not more money and you play in the summer? That my path was pitching in the bigs until I tore my shoulder. I don't want no part of playing football. There's a lot of tough left. I just think. that you guys, if you're throwing lefty, everybody immediately is like, you should be a pitcher. You need to pitch. So, no, you're right. You're absolutely right. Let's get into the top three lefty quarterbacks of all time.

Yes. And I want to give you. This is tough. I want to give you my list. Now, again, you're not picking from a massive pool, but you can go college, NFL, whatever you want. So I'll give you my top three. My third is Mike Vic. And I'll explain why.

Mike Vic, like I said, Mike Vic was must. see TV. He was a human highlight film. He was a, he was a video game. I got a chance to see him up close and personal my rookie year. And it was like, I don't say this lightly. He's like seeing like a Michael Jordan play. He was like he was one of one. You had to see him play in person. And I got to know him over the years. Great dude. Number two is probably going to shock people, but I'm going Kenny the snake stabler. Yeah. And the reason why is because our equipment guys, shout out to our women guys at USC. They nicknamed me the snake. And I had Snake written on my cleats for every game. Because my guys have been around a long time. They're like, Matt and Matt, you remind me of Kenny the Stabler, man.

Like whatever leadership, the way you played, and I was a lefty. He played, obviously for the Raiders in the 70s, Houston, New Orleans, first left-handed quarterback to be named MVP and win a Super Bowl. So shout out to the snake. He's one of the greatest to ever do it. And then number one is Steve Young. And Steve was one of my childhood favorite players. It's weird because I grew, I love Montana. I love Farr, but Young was a lefty. So I was like, that's me. That's my guy.

Literally, probably the greatest left-handed quarterback of all time, obviously, Hall of Fame, a tremendous career. So Steve Young won, Stabler, two, Mike Vick, three. Those are my top three left-head quarterbacks of all time. Jerry? Yeah, no, I don't think you could, I don't think you could argue that. That's definitely the top three. I mean, you know me, I always find it hard to like Stabler.

Of course, you give that. And I never saw Stabler play, but because of my personal connection with guys. I would put Vic too just because selfishly that's who I watched. And then I'm old enough to remember, you know, Mark Brunel going on, like talk about throwback. Like he led the Jags after not even being in existence that long to the AFC championship game. So he did a lot for lefties. Mark Brunnell is your number one? No, no, no. I'm saying he would be like my honorable mention.

No, no, Steve Young. Steve Young is number one. I put Vic, I've swapped Vic and Stabler, but that's my thing. I need to have seen you. And I'm sure there's people older than me who are saying, you didn't, you don't know about the snake. You're right. I don't. I mean, I've seen little bits and pieces.

So, no, that's it. You weird lefties with your witchcraft and some of you do this lefty and throw this righty and brush it. Like, you guys are weird, but also, man, is it beautiful to watch a lefty, throw a football, shoot a basketball, swing a golf club, it's all just looks better. There's only three active left-handed quarterbacks in the NFL right now. Tua.

There's a backup somewhere who... Well, I just said the name earlier. He's a starter. Right now? That's not Tua? Tua might not be starting no more. This guy's a starter. Who am I forgetting about?

Oh, Pennix? Pennix? He might not be the starter either. She's got a better. He's got a shot. And there's another one. There's a third? Yeah.

I mean, yeah, he started this, he started, he started some games this year. Oh, oh, Dylan Gabriel. Dylan Gabriel. Yeah. Three guys. That's it. Not really lighting the world. Out of, you got to think every NFL team in the 32, they have three max.

You know, there's close to 100 quarterbacks in the league. Three are lefty. I want to see Mike Vic in an RPL. At any point in the NFL, there's no more than three or four maybe. I'm telling you, it is wild. I'm telling you, that's because you guys are getting $180 million to go pitch once every four games. Sign me up. All right.

Well, without further ado, let's get to Coach Vic. We'll call him Coach Vic today. Coach Vic. As many of you might know, we've added baby number three to the Ferrara household. So that means long nights. busy days and it almost knocked me off my wellness goals after starting out so well this year. But that's where Kachava comes in and helps keep me on track with my routine. And of course it helps that Kachava supports all day energy with I need.

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Try Kachava risk-free with their love-it guarantee. Stick with your wellness goals. Go to kachava.com and use code throwbacks for 15% off. That's Kachava, K-K-A-C-H-A-V-E-E-E-E-V-E. VA.com code throwbacks. All right, guys, before we bring on the electric Michael Vick, a quick technical note, we did have some difficulties recording this interview. We have a lot of it. Some of it goes in and out.

Our amazing team has pieced it together as best as possible. And we only had a limited amount of time with Coach Vick, and we didn't want to waste any of it. So forgive us for some of the moments here, but it works out in the end. All right, joining me now. I mean, it's kind of cool to say Coach Vic, and I feel like you're starting to enjoy that

because I watched every episode of the Coach Vic experience. Thank you for coming on throwbacks today. And I don't know, I got to say, like you look like you're having fun coaching, but also obviously it's a super stressful environment. What surprised you the most, the first season for you of coaching?

What surprised me the most? The process. Look, anything you want to be successful in life, man, you got to learn it, you got to observe it. And then you got to, you know, find a way to conquer it. And so I feel like my first year was just kind of like me just floating and getting a feel for everything, how it all operates, how it works. And, you know, at some points, I was still in awe about certain things that was happening, but still believing in my team and my players and my coaches. and yeah, man, we was coming really close to winning some games, but, you know, you got to be pinpoint on everything if you want to win.

And so the process of what it takes to be successful on and off the field was probably the biggest surprise. And you don't get that, you know, when you're doing football camps, you don't get that when you're a player. But as a coach, there's a different side of it, for sure. Well, you really felt it as a viewer that, you know, yes, you're trying to win games, but you're also trying to change a whole organization.

You know, it wasn't just let's win some games. We want this to be a repeatable thing year in, year out, and then ultimately get to the highest level. I felt that as a viewer. Did you have any reservations? I mean, I'm a big hard knocks guy, right? And I know some coaches, you know, you're bringing cameras into the locker room.

I'm sure that must have been different. You've been on camera for a very long time, but I call them kids, young men, some of the players. Was there any hesitation about the cameras of it all? It added a little dynamic for them. Well, you know, the kids these days, they love the cameras. That's true. That's true.

They always in their phones. They always shooting content. It's their world. And so I didn't do it before that. I did it because I wanted to document a winning season. And I really mean that. I thought it was going to be a winning season first year just to see what it was like more of a hard-knock style type of situation because I knew it was going to be tough

and what we wanted to put them through. But a lot of storylines was being created within our team, a lot of amazing young men who are going off to do great things. And so we felt like we should highlight that as well. It didn't have to be all about football. It couldn't have been all about me because that would have been super-boring. And so it was just the whole process of everything and dealing with everybody and everyone involved. I think made it for good content, but you rarely noticed the cameras was around.

It's very true. I mean, you know, whether it's a camera guy from the local news or it's a camera guy from ESPN, you won't even know. You just kind of go out there, but they love the exposure. It's good for them, man, and they get the national recognition, too. Well, yeah, the other thing I loved about it, too, like, so to me as a viewer, obviously, there's a football story to it. It's an awesome career journey for you and for your players.

But the thing that, I'll tell you the thing that got me the most, Coach Vic, you know, the family element. You know, I just had my third son a few weeks ago and seeing how you were with your son being that there was some distance. I felt that because, you know, I'm an actor. I travel a lot. Like, when I got to look them in the face and be like, Dad will be back, it just rips a piece of my heart out. And I felt that the most. I love that it's a family story too for you. Yeah, I thought that was kind of cool, man, for, you know, all the producers and everybody and my wife and everybody that

involved to say, look, you know, it's another element to this and that other element is family. And, you know, you're not going through this alone. You know, it's a lot of people that's being affected by what's going on and my absence at times. And so that right there was, it was gut-wrenching. It was tough to hear my son in his authentic ways tell me how he felt. And at the same time, I'm feeling that way. And he was just confirming some things.

And so it was emotional for me. But anything I love, whether it's football related or family related, you know, I don't hold back the emotions. And I think everybody sees that. And it's because I want to be great at everything. You can't. But like I say, it's a process. And you will get there one day.

And it's going to be really sweet when it actually happens. And my son one day, he'll know why daddy sacrificed all the time and work so hard to be where he's at. Now, I was always curious about this with a great player who then becomes a coach, which you don't see a whole lot. I mean, there's a lot of coaches who were great players. You obviously are, you know, the highest level of that to me. But for you, night before a game coaching versus night before a game playing, how different are those emotions or do they feel exactly the same thing? I plan to feel so much different because as a quarterback, you know the next day you're going to get your head bashed in.

Like, it's like, let me go ahead and get a good night's rest because I know that tomorrow is going to be rough. It's going to be everything that I wanted in life. But at the same time, I got to survive 60 minutes. Well, I'm looking forward to next season, both for the football season and for the show. I'm now a fan of both. I want to throw it back for a second because that's what we do with this show, throwbacks. Because this is what I always want. Obviously, I've been a fan of yours, your whole career.

Yeah. So I find it really interesting. when was the first time when you were really young that you knew you were not just fast. Like you were. Like there's kids that are fast and then there's other types. I even see when my kids playing sports, there's other kids who just moved different.

When did you first realize as a youngster? I'm not just fast. Yeah, I think it was at high school. We was playing against a pretty good team. And, you know, my scrambling ability just kind of like continue to ascend as I got older as a quarter. and got more comfortable.

And we was playing the team and I scrambled to my right. And I just like, I had the whole team, the whole defense in pursuit of me. And I just like cut back all the way across the field against everybody. And it's like, guys hit angles on me and was just missing. And we, for years, me and my friends, we used to pop that VCR tape in and just count how many guys I made miss on one play and just laugh at it. And so right then and there, I knew I had another gear and didn't think it would take off the way it did when I went to Virginia Tech.

in terms of just being able to be so coordinated and being able to execute as a quarterback on a continuous basis and put in a great body of work, put up a great body of work, man. It meant a lot to me as far as the hard work that was put in. I want to fast forward now a little bit because I'm a big sneaker head.

And I think for me, the two best Nike commercials that were not intended to be Nike commercials. One was Tiger Woods, right, when he hits that put where it like hung on the lip of the cup. You saw the Nike sign on the ball and it rolled in. And obviously you in some Jordan 17s against the Vikings. Now, I'm sure you've been asked about this a million times.

But the question I want to ask you is, once you made that decision to do that, which I thought was a brilliant move, when you're lacing those up in the locker room, what on earth are your teammates and coaches saying to you? When you lacing them up, man, you just lacing them up for fashion, really. You're not lacing them up for any advantage, any boost. Like, it's really a situation where I'm trying to look good.

I got jays on. They look fly. We're on turf. And this is just a part of my uniform for the day. But you never know when you're going to make history. And I made history in a man. And so I think that prompt a lot of other things. things that ended up happening, you know, with me having my own signature shoe at Nike.

And really being the face of Nike football, I thought that was really cool. So, yeah, man, it was more so just about a fashion statement than more than anything. All right. So obviously, you know, I do this show with Matt Leiner every week. He had to hop a flight, which he was extremely bummed about. Because I know the two of you have a great connection and our friends from over the years. But he was so mad he couldn't be here. He pre-recorded two questions for you.

We're going to run it right now, and then we'll come right back to this. But let's run Maddie Isis, the real Maddie Ice's first question. All right, Mike, I remember my rookie year when we played you guys in Atlanta. There were only a couple guys that really made me get off the sideline. And I got to watch this guy play. You were one of them. I got a chance to watch you front and center. And it was awesome because you're a one-of-one player.

I'm curious for you. Who was that player for you early in your career that you just had to get up off the bench and watch from the sideline. Wow, that's a great question, Matt, man. A player that I had to get up and watch. I mean, I would have to say Donovan McNabb because I grew up idolizing Donovan McNabb. Donovan was one of the players that I wanted to be like.

He was part of the reason that I visited Syracuse and was thinking about going to Syracuse. And when I've seen his style of play, which was similar to the likes of Tommy Fraser, you know, Charlie Ward, Steve McNair. I'm like, man, this dude is actually better than them and can really play. And so, you know, I just wanted to be like Donovan when I started, when I, you know, played against him in the pros. He was a guy I had to stand up and watch for sure. So I'm a Giants fan, Donovan McNabb, terrorized B for years.

and then you had to come and make me feel, I mean, yeah, like, you know, I think I saw, I think you might have said on Mello's pod, I think when you, like, would watch film, I think when you were in Falcoso when you would see, like, Andy Reid and stuff he was calling, you were like, oh, man, that's, is there a team you look at now? Because, like, obviously, I put you on, like, the Steph Curry level. Like, Steph Curry changed the way basketball was played and even, like, how young kids are practicing and skill sets. And you, to me, changed the way football was played at the course.

quarterback position. So, and obviously if you play today, they'd be designing offenses around you. But if you look around at the current NFL, is that what team or system do you look at that you're like, oh, that would be fun if, you know, throw it back maybe 15 years, put the pads on? Yeah, yeah. Man, it's some really good teams out there doing some good stuff. You know, obviously, I feel like Andy has enhanced this game plans. Yeah.

since I departed from him and, you know, three Super Bowls later, it definitely makes sense what he was trying to accomplish. Man, it's just so many good offenses. I love what the Ravens was doing with Lamar and Todd Monkin. Like, that was a really sweet situation, yeah. And ultimately, I think Lamar won an MVP with Todd Monk, and they was doing some great things. And, you know, I could just stop right there, man. That's it. You know, watching him was like watching me.

Yeah. All right. Let's get to Matt. Matt's last question and then we'll let you go, Coach Vic. All right, Mike. Every week we do are throwbacks three and in honor of you being on the show. I want to hear your top three runs from your career. High school, college, or NFL, your top three runs.

Let's start with college. My sophomore year, racer's sophomore year, I think I had like, a 62-yard run against Boston College. It was amazing. Wasn't having the best day passing, but in terms of rushing, I rushed for 262 yards that day, close to 303 touchdowns. Moving forward to the NFL, Green Bay. I had a run against Green Bay in the playoffs, the 2002 playoffs, and I had a guy who had me on the sideline. They had the rights, shook them off, actually threw them off, and, you know, came back, cut back through the middle of the field.

Almost had a touchdown. Had to make one guy miss. He hit me on the leg and got away. That was a really dynamic running me. And then obviously to run against Minnesota when, you know, the two guys ran into each other. You know, that was just epic, man. So that's my top three. And I ended with the last one against Minnesota because it was by far the best.

It was something I don't think anyone seen before. Like you never really saw a walk off rushing touchdown from a QB at that point. And it was cool. I think John Madden was on the call. Yeah, Madden was on the call. Yeah, man. The Madden and Pat Summer Raw. It was perfect.

It was perfect. Well, I can't thank you enough for being here. I really am looking forward to the Coach Vic experience season two. And more importantly, what you're going to do with the team season two. I'm excited to watch what you're building there. Go. Let's go, man. I'm excited. All right. Thank you, man. Appreciate you. Thank you.

All right. Coming off, Michael Vick, I really do want to play some Madden in 2004 right now just to get with those vibes we're like. Because there really is no quarterback like that even in today's Madden. And like Lamar's there, but you couldn't really do contain like you can now back in Madden O-4. It was a free for all for our guy, Michael Vick. Eddie Gonzalez, our amazing producer, we last chatted. with Shams on here, you jumped on, and Shams was at it again because he announced, as this show is airing right now,

that Jason Tatum has been medically cleared, and expectations are he will make his debut Friday night, who knows what actually happens versus Dallas. So, did you have an idea? Did you think that was coming? I thought he was going to play a game. I didn't know when, but I was pretty set on, like, how good the Celtics have been and everything you've been hearing,

and like, oh, he's playing. Like, unless there's a medical thing that the 200 doctors say that are probably looking at his Achilles, he's playing. Yeah, I mean, I might have heard around the way. You know some people. Yeah.

Had some expectations. Yeah. But I know when he started doing scrimmages, we were talking, and it was like, it really felt good. He really felt good. And then the rumors from the other side were like, yeah, he looked like JT out there.

Like, we didn't notice much different. So, yeah, I'm excited to see him back out there, guessing he's on a minute's restriction. But all from everything I've heard, he looks good, he feels good, he's felt healthy for a long time now. And, you know, it's kind of funny, you throw him out there. That's the two-seat already. Now it's like, man, what can they do now? Like, can they win a title now?

Can they get to the finals? It went from this happy-go-lucky, like can't believe they're a two-seat to, you know, they might have to win the ring now. Like, he's back. So I'm at war with several people on Twitter, some of which have like ESPN radio shows about, you know, Knicks aren't in this team's class and all these dumb things. I think the NBA right now, as the Pacers prove to us, are all about ceilings and floors, right? Like how high is your ceiling when you are clicking and functioning and healthy versus how low does your floor go? Like, Knicks as an example, last year, I felt like they were a high floor.

Like, they never really get blown out, but also, like, not that their ceiling was low, but they were just going to be in grind-out heavyweight slug-fest fights, right? Now you look at this Celtics team, like, before Tatum, I feel like we know what their ceiling is. It's pretty much the way they've been playing. We've seen Jalen Brown have an all-time great season for him. But now that ceiling is way higher. that floor is way higher. And I'll tell you this as a Knicks fan.

Well, first, I want to throw it back because we're throwbacks, right? We always talk about was it better then versus better now? Here's what's better now. Achilles rehabilitation. That's a winner. Because Dominique Wilkins tore his Achilles and the human highlight reel was gone for the most part. He still made it back, but not the same. Dan Marino tore as Achilles devastation.

So when we talk about throwback was a better. than better now. Achilles surgery, doctors. Way better now. Thank you for that. And my point as a Knicks fan, I really don't like it when fans, I'm not even saying root for injuries, but deep down, they're like, oh, this is going to be easy. Tatum's not, like, I want to beat the team at full strength. I want to lose to the team at full strength. I've never met Tatum. I've interacted with one socially.

It seems like he's a dynamite guy. So as a human story, you've got to be happy. He seems like he loves basketball, you know, after his kid. And, like, after that, basketball. So I'm just happy for the guy. I'm happy for the Celtics fans. And I would love nothing more if it's Nick Celtics in the playoffs at some point. I would much rather that than no Tatum. And I think there's a lot of fans deep down that would rather not see Tatum.

And I get it. Maybe it's an easier road. But I'm happy he's back. And I would rather face him as a rival because I just think it's, you know, I want to see the best. basketball. I think it's just a great story, too, to have this. You know, this is a guy in his prime. He just turned 28 a few days ago. Yeah. And to, like you mentioned, we're able to have this type of recovery now. You kind of a little more hopeful after an Achilles. Obviously what Katie has done,

but there's some other guys who have come back from that and been just as good and been strong players. Because like you said, growing up, you tore your Achilles and that was it. You lost Isaiah Thomas forever after that. Like, you know, like, and so now. And so now, Now it's like, yo, you can come back the same season? Huh? Yeah. To me, that was always the injury when you saw like your favorite player then five years later in a different uniform. It's like, oh, Patrick Ewing's on the Sonics, you know?

That was the Achilles injury made you see your favorite player in a uniform you'd never thought he would be in because it was almost over. So I think the thing for JT is also like coming back this fast, but coming back exactly where they're at, you know, in his prime and the expectation. levels, you're going to be Jason Tatum. You're going to be, you know, an MVP-type level player on a contender that we want to see win a championship now. And so we've never seen that. We're going to see it now for the first time. But knowing him and knowing how focus he's been on this, expecting him to look like him.

Here's why I'm smiling. I'm just thinking about all the media. I can already see first take. Should Jason Tatum defer to Jalen Brown when he gets back as he slowly they're going to turn this into a J.B. versus JT. Garbage. It's like, I mean, I'm here for it because I do at least make it a little hard on them, you know?

I don't want to go to walk back into 30 a game, but, you know, they're somehow going to turn this all into, you know, a J.B. versus JT. Oh, J.B.'s not getting the same touches. It's like, it's such a dumb conversation, but I'll look forward to it. I see it now. First bad game. Oh, did he come? back too soon.

Should he have just... He interrupted the team. Yeah, he messed up the momentum. Like, I can see it now. But you know what they don't do on the other side of that? First big game, they're not going to be like, good thing he came back. Because now... True.

Where would they be without them? Yeah. Yeah, so you know how that goes. But I'm excited that we are now in a sports world where Achilles, ACL, some guys are coming back from ACL six, seven months. Yeah. Doesn't ruin your career. It used to be the same thing with ACL.

you tore your AC on the 80s. That was it, buddy. You're done. You're booby Miles. It's over. Yeah. Now it's like, yo,

some of these dudes are coming back in season and just like picking right up what they left off. I think that's our first undeniable better than or better now. Not even an argument. But we have some future arguments for that discussion.

All right. Well, thank you, Eddie. And look, I'll be watching J.T. Something I wanted to say on the way out, the door. I don't know if you guys saw the jersey in the back of my shot over here,

but I'll pull it up right here. And for those of those of you know, we talk a lot about movies and pop culture on this show. And this is Johnny Moxon from Varsity Blues. I ordered this three months ago. James Vanderbeek was, you know, releasing some autographed ones and raising some funds and stuff like that. And also I was a fan of the movie. I had to have it. But I've met James a handful of times. And I just want to send a deep, you know, deep heartfelt prayer out to his family. He's got. you know, six children and really has put a lot of things about life and perspective for me.

You know, we're kind of close in age. And, you know, I have three kids now. And he really did. Again, I did not know him well. Kevin Connolly knew him pretty well. I think they actually like their first movies together, something like that. But I did reach out to him because our wives are friends. And I did reach out to him probably about five years ago.

I was going through something really, really tough. Personal, but career-wise, right? And he had a unique skill set where I thought his opinion would kind of help. And again, I didn't know him well. And I got his number. And he's like, yeah, sure. Call me whatever you need. And he spent like two hours on the phone with me.

Again, not knowing me all that well. And really gave me some wise advice and talked me out of a situation that I really didn't know what to do. And I've always respected them from there. So it's pretty heartbreaking. But I guess as we wind down today, just, you know, hug your loved one. and I don't know, throw on varsity blues and get yourself a Johnny Moxen, Jersey.

Because a guy had a great body work, but from all accounts, really seemed to find something as he was battling this, you know, terrible, terrible illness. So we love you, James Vanderbeek, and that's the show today. And interesting one, so to speak,

with guys on planes, we had tech out, but you know what? We had throwbacks. We still keep going, still keep going. Made it work, man. Made it work.

All right, we'll see you next week.