Will Cain Country - Saban, Belichick Are Out, So Why Is Octogenarian Biden Still Running?

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

Story #1: The new expanded Will Cain Show! Get ready for more: More debate, more dangerous conversations, more fun, and, most importantly, more you. Story #2: Octogenarians run for President of the United States while Septuagenarians retire in football. Plus, who is the G.O.A.T.? Nick Saban or Bill Belichick? Story #3: What exactly is holding? Why do the referees make some calls and ignore others? Will brings on former NFL Offensive Lineman and FOX Sports Betting Analyst Geoff Schwartz. Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail] Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Book club on Monday. Gym on Tuesday. Date night on Wednesday. Out on the town on Thursday. Quiet night in on Friday. It's good to have a routine. And it's good for your eyes too. Because with regular comprehensive eye exams at Specsavers,

you'll know just how healthy they are. Visit Spexsavers.cavers.cai to book your next eye exam. Eye exams provided by independent optometrists. One, the new, expanded Will Kane show. Two, octogenarians run for president of the United States while septuagenarian goats retire. Plus, who's the greatest of all time? Nick Saban or Bill Belichick? Three, what exactly is holding?

Getting ready for the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys and the rest of the NFL playoffs with Fox Sports, Jeff Schwartz. It's the Will Kane podcast on Fox News Podcast. What's up and welcome to the weekend? Welcome to Friday. As always, I hope you will download, rate, and review this podcast wherever you get your audio entertainment at Apple, Spotify, or at Fox News podcast.

And you can watch the Will Kane podcast on Rumble or, on YouTube. And as we announced in a special episode of the Wilcane podcast, starting Monday, you can watch the Wilcane podcast live Monday through Thursday on YouTube or at foxnews.com. In just a moment, I'm going to give you some updates here on the Will Cain show and what exactly will change? What will stay the same? For podcast listeners, people that listen to this show three times a week, the change will be as follows. You will have five episodes a week. You will have the opportunity to join us live Monday through Thursday.

You will have the opportunity to not just listen, but to watch the Will Kane podcast. And you will continue to have the opportunity to listen to this show just like you're doing now. We'll start uploading the podcast on Monday in the afternoon at 3 p.m. Instead of it being in your feed, when you wake up on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning, you will have it in your feed five times a week uploaded in the afternoon. I hope this is exciting for you. It's incredibly exciting for me. And so let me tell you a little more about the future of the Wilcane show.

We'll be right back with more of the Will Cain podcast. This is Jimmy Phala, inviting you to join me for Fox Across America, where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding. It's only a three-hour show. Listen live at noon Eastern or get the podcast at Fox Across America.com. From the Fox News Podcasts Network. Hey there, it's me. Kennedy, make sure to check out my podcast. Kennedy saves the world.

It is five days a week, every week. Download and listen at Fox Newspodcast.com or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Story number one, the new Wilcane show. Starting this coming Monday, this product, this show, our relationship, will be going five days a week. We will start publishing the Will Cain show Monday through Friday, and Monday through Thursday, we will stream it live at 12 Eastern at Fox News.com, the Fox News. YouTube channel. It will be on Fox News Facebook, and it will be on various social media platforms. This has been a long time in the making, a long time in the building. From the beginning of the Wilcane podcast here at the Fox News Audio Network, I have wanted to evolve

this product into, quite honestly, less me, more you. It's still going to be driven by my point of view, but I've never wanted to live in a her medically sealed chamber. I've never wanted to have my points of view go unchecked. And I've missed the interaction that I've had with you on various platforms at various networks over different topics throughout the years. We will continue to be the same successful Will Kane show that has risen to be the number one weekly podcast on the Fox News Network. But because we have been so successful, we now have the opportunity to transform this into a show that still lives on demand on podcast. We'll live on demand as a video product on YouTube. But we'll also be live every day with all the unpredictability,

all of the energy and all of the interaction that's offered by streaming a show live across the Fox News Network. I intend to grow what we've done, taking three stories every day, and including panels of guests, people across the Fox News Network that you've come to know and love, but also new voices, independent voices, that you might not see in other places. We'll have debates, not unlike the debate that we had a few weeks ago over very important issues from people coming from different points of view. We had a debate between Ben Dominic and Dave Smith over the appropriate posture for the United States of America when it comes to the war in Israel. We will continue to have deep dive guests, interesting conversations with people who deserve more than you get in a five-minute television hit where we can speak out. at length with someone for 30, 40 minutes. And we will have people that come in and tell me where they hear my point of view and where they think I've missed the mark.

I'm sure that will come from people from the left. At times, I think that will come from people from the right. And I hope this show, I think as it always has been, will be one that rejects this idea that everything exists on a linear plane between two poles. right and left. That is not a touchy-feely abstract concept that the best ideas in the world always lie somewhere in the center. No, it's rather the idea that that bipolar spectrum doesn't describe our world today. It doesn't give us an answer as to whether or not the United States should be involved in a war. It doesn't give us an answer as to whether or not speech should be

restricted. It doesn't give us an answer over mandates for your health decisions. Increasingly, I think we have to look at the world as not linear, but unfortunately increasingly chaotic and therefore more unpredictable. And probably if we're trying to describe the way much of the world has evolved into a circle where on one end we have freedom and the other tyranny, completely independent of left and right. I think this show will be independent. I think it will be unique, both in its form and its format.

And having debates, I think we will find a place in the media landscape where we will find that all too lacking. I think when it comes to our content, I think you will hear points of view that you will not hear in other places in the media. We will search for the truth. We'll be dedicated, as we always have been, to finding the truth.

Not what's popular, but what is truthful. Not what's acceptable, but what is truthful. Not what will keep us from getting cancelled. Not what is described as dangerous, but rather, what is truthful. In addition to having debates and inviting in guests and inviting rebuttal to my point of view, I'll also be inviting in you. we're going to have an opportunity finally to reconnect as an audience. We'll be able to take calls.

We'll be able to bring in multiple listeners and viewers to listen and provide feedback. One of my favorite things that I've ever had is the opportunity to establish a relationship with the viewer, with the listener. And for them to understand, I don't live in a glass house chunking rocks. that I'm ready to receive incoming, as well as offer up my strong, strongly held, strongly reasoned, strongly considered point of view. That doesn't mean I'll always get it right. Don't pretend to think that I'm perfect. And that's where you come in.

That's where we can talk to each other about what I may be missing. In short, what it ends up being is not just a true conversation. but what I hope is a real community. I'm really excited about this growth in the Will Cain show. I think that whatever we launch with on Monday will be different than what the show looks like in six months. I think we will experiment. I think we will evolve.

I think some things will work and some things will not work. And I'm always open to your feedback, as I always have been, Wilcane Podcast at Fox.com. I want to know from you what you hope to see, what you hope that I avoid, what you like about what this show has been up into this point. You hope that we retain or what we've been missing that you hope we will soon include. I've never wanted a show where I'm in a heretically sealed environment, where I sit at the top of a mountain and I preach. I've wanted the arena. I've wanted the interaction. And I've wanted that to include you.

And that, besides the increase in frequency, and besides the live environment, that is what I'm most excited about, to continue to get to build a community. And in the end, while I think the news is all too often driven by negativity and controversy and drama, all which drives clicks and ratings and cells, what's missing is an opportunity for us to build a community that can. drive with purpose towards positivity. I'm not trying to sound like a self-help author. But I don't think that's how any of us go through our lives. I hope we don't just go through our lives, focused on the negative, complaining about what's wrong. But that rather when we turn off the news and we go to work

or sit down with our families over dinner, we inevitably gravitate towards a solution because a solution gives us control. old. A solution gives us hope. And I really like the words of Elon Musk where we don't just need to be focused on solving problems. We also need to be focused on frontiers. We need to be focused on inspiration, not just how we can fix something that is wrong, but how we can also make something that is better. I hope that's something that we can do together in this community, in this growing new show that launches on Monday.

I couldn't be more excited. You can, as always, find this Wilkame podcast in your podcast feed on Spotify, on Apple, or at Fox News podcast. It will still be there on demand. At times, it may feel different. But in totality, what I think it's going to offer when it comes to your audio experience is simply more. More frequency, more episodes, more opportunity, more Will Kane show every week. But if you're sitting around on YouTube or if you're on foxnews.com at noon, Monday through Thursday,

you can join the show live, watch it as it's happening or call in and join it. And if we'll live on demand even more in video clips on YouTube, on Facebook, on my social media, on X, at Wilcane, on Instagram, at C. Wilcane, on my Facebook, Wilcane News. You'll be able to find this show more often in more places with more energy, more live, more interaction, more community. I couldn't be more excited. I cannot wait to see you on Monday for the Will Cain show. We're going to step aside here for a moment. Stay tuned. Following Fox's initial donation to the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund, our generous viewers have answered the call to action across all Fox platforms and have helped raise $7 million.

Visit go.fox forward slash TX flood relief to support relief and rebuilding efforts. Story number two, octogenarians run for president of the United States while septuagenarian goats call it quits. In a whirlwind of news, over a 36-hour period, Football lost three of its all-time grades. Pete Carroll retired as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks and got barely six hours of coverage before Nick Sabin retired as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

And suddenly, only 12 hours later, the New England Patriots agreed to mutually part ways with Bill Belichet. each one of these men are in their 70s. Bill Belichick is the fourth oldest coach of all time in the NFL. He leaves the New England Patriots at the age of 71. The oldest coach in the NFL to have ever coached in the NFL is Romeo Crennell, who coached at 73 years old. Pete Carroll was even older at 72 years old.

Nick Saban as well in his 70s. It's a hard job. Managing men, leading men, organizing a franchise, takes a lot of energy. It's a hard job. And I know that I have listeners ranging in age from teenagers to in their 70s. I think we can all admit one thing. Your energy wanes. We have to work hard to maintain our energy over life.

And so I understand a guy like Pete Carroll wanting to spend more time with his grandchildren. And I certainly understand a man who, in my estimation, is the greatest football coach of all time saying, I don't want to text 16-year-olds all year long. I don't want to spend three years recruiting a high school football player to have him into the transfer portal after six months. in my program. I don't want to keep doing this. I don't have the energy. I don't have the ability to keep up with the changing times. I'm going to retire. Now, the outlier here is Bill Belichick. It does not look like Belichick is retiring, simply that he's parting ways with the New England Patriots. There was a time a few years ago where I made the argument that Belichick is the greatest coach of all time, college or pro.

It's hard to win six Super Bowls in a sport that is designed to keep you from winning six Super Bowls. Everything in the NFL is designed to accomplish parity. The NFL draft, free agency, salary cap. It's designed to destroy dynasties. And in that environment, in that modern day environment, much harder than it would have been in the 60s, the 70s, or even in the 90s with the Dallas Cowboys. Bill Belichick built not just a dynasty, but turned what had been a sad-sac franchise in the New England Patriots into one of the top five franchises in the NFL. Throughout most of my life, the Patriots were bottom of the NFL. I mean, they had the 1985 Super Bowl where they got destroyed by the Chicago Bears.

But for most of their franchise, they were bottom tenth. of the NFL. And in comes Bill Belichick and puts them on a level as a franchise with the San Francisco 49ers, with the Pittsburgh Steelers, with the Dallas Cowboys, with the Green Bay Packers. That's the legacy of Bill Belichick. But I don't know that I would anymore say that he is the greatest football coach of all time. It's impossible to separate Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Belichick's success overlaps the success of Tom Brady. And Brady went on without Belichick to win a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Without Brady, Belichick and the Patriots fall back into mediocrity

and then fall to bottom of the league this season in the NFL. And when I compare that to the other septuagenarian who retired, Nick Saban, I think Saban's job was tougher. And I think what Saban did in winning six college football national championships makes him the greatest coach of all time. Saban had to constantly turn a roster. He didn't have the benefit of a Tom Brady. He had to find a new quarterback every year, every two years, at most every three years. He won with Bryce Young, Tua Zunga Vailoa,

Jalen Hertz, although they shared that national championship. Mack Jones. He won with Greg McElroy. Nick Saban didn't just turn quarterback. He had to recruit high schoolers at every position on an annual basis. And yes, it's easier to build a dynasty in college football. The competitive gap is much bigger.

There's no salary cap. There wasn't free agency until recently. That's what the transfer portal is. It's basically now in college free agency. And in a way, college football is moving to more like the NFL. And that makes a tougher environment. And that makes it easy to understand why you'd see a guy hang it up like Nick Sabin. I think, for my money, at this point, we have to say comparing those two environments, comparing the degree of difficulty,

that the greatest football coach of all time is Nick Saban. But it did note that those three men, all in their early 70s, have ended in their current jobs, jobs that are very demanding, very hard. But they certainly don't compare in difficulty to the job of President of the United States. It does make us take a minute to look, step back, and look at who has proposed to lead the free world, to lead the U.S., Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the leading candidates from both political parties, approaching or over the age of 80. Now, I don't think that numbers really matter, to be honest. I don't think it matters how old you are. I think it matters

how you are at your age, what your mental acuity, what's your energy level. And on that front, Donald Trump and Joe Biden are not the same. And I don't think that anyone could deny. I don't think that's partisan. I think that's obvious. Joe Biden has trouble completing a paragraph without a wandering thought. He has trouble climbing a staircase without a wandering foot. He has trouble finding his way off of a podium after a speech. And I saw a presidential daily briefing schedule. The PDB, the presidential daily briefing, is a daily update that the president gets from the intelligence agencies over the threats that face the United States of America. Joe Biden's schedule earlier this week showed nothing until his presidential daily

briefing at 1130 a.m. And then showed nothing on the schedule after the PDB. Meanwhile, Donald Trump seems to be a well, a font of endless energy, despite seemingly a diet of endless Burger King. I eat McDonald's, and I'm tired for the rest of the day. Donald Trump eats McDonald's and gives three rallies in one night. Fits in a few interviews, and if you're up for it, maybe not in a Republican primary, but if you're up for it, a debate. I think Donald Trump's energy is inexplicable. I truly do. I mean, I'm somewhat zapped after a three-hour radio show, after a four-hour television show.

It takes kind of energy to just be on, to think, to talk, to connect thoughts, to be public. Have you ever given a speech in front of a group of people? It like, your system floods with adrenaline in a way that drains you immediately after. I'm not saying it's like holding a jackhammer over a New York City street for eight hours. That's physically exhausting. But there's something about performing that your system just goes 100% on. And then when you're done, your system needs to power down. maybe not 100% off, but I would suggest maybe under 50%, but not for Trump.

But even setting aside Biden and Trump's energy differential, it is interesting for the United States of America to consider that the best men for the job, according to polling, are octogenarians, our men approaching their 80s. And again, setting aside energy, you're just talking about people who are people. have, I don't know, a generational point of view, yes, definitely bringing to bear life experience with different places in their life. Maybe a different sense of investment. I'm not saying that's better or worse, but I mean, as a comparison, Vivekram Swami has two young children whose future is directly tied to our educational system, to our Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, system, to cohesion, to cultural harmony over a longer horizon. Again, I'm not making an argument that we should dismiss someone because of their age,

but I don't think we should also dismiss their age. It's just a note. It's just a curiosity, and I don't think it's more than a curiosity. I think it is something for us to consider that the greatest of all time and a demanding job have decided to retire while older men in a more demanding job run to run the free world. Story number three, Jeff Schwartz is a Fox Sports analyst and one of the co-hosts of the Bear Betts podcast on the Fox Sports Podcast Network.

I want to get Jeff on because he played offensive line at the University of Oregon. He played years in the NFL. and I wanted him to solve a mystery. What exactly is holding? The Dallas Cowboys, Mike Parsons, one of the best pass rushers in the league, hasn't been called, hasn't drawn a holding call in over two months since week six of the NFL. How is that possible?

I don't understand anymore. What is holding? Plus, we discussed Cowboys versus Packers and the biggest upsets to watch for. in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs. Here is Jeff Schwartz. Jeff Schwartz of Fox Sports and the Bear Betts podcast. What's up, man? Great to have you back here on the Will Kane show.

I'm glad to be here. Lots, lots happening in the sports world, man. It's awesome. Always come to talk to you. Yeah. A lot has happened this week, a bunch of coach firings, which we should touch on. And why don't we start there?

The surprising news, although it's not a firing, mutually agreed to part ways is Pete Carroll from the Seattle Seahawks. Yeah, you know, timing's interesting, right? It does feel like with Gino Smith's contract they're sort of at the maybe the end of this little era of the Seahawks or they're going to have to get a new quarterback at some point and maybe this is now the time.

Like, look, Pete, obviously, all-time great coach of college, all-time great coach in the NFL. They did a lot of winning in Seattle. I know won Super Bowl, but they did a lot of winning while he was there. And maybe this is the signal, okay, we're going younger quarterback now, and it's just sort of time for Pete Carroll to move on. We don't really want him part of the, not a rebuild, but maybe like a rebranding of the team, a reboot on the fly.

He's older, maybe he doesn't want to do that as well. And just, you know, just time to move on. There's a reason why coaches don't stay at places like Bill Belichick for 20 years, right? It just eventually your message wears out. The players don't respond. You get a little stubborn in your ways. You don't pick players as well anymore. And I think that's all sort of happened in Seattle.

Again, they win a lot of football games. It's not a terrible football coach. But I can sort of see the reasoning being now as a reason to do that. They also, it appears they want Dan Quinn, which is, to me, a lateral higher best. And maybe they figure, like, if we don't buy a Pete Carroll now, essentially, get repeat Carol now, Dan Quinn will get eaten up by someone else. So let's get rid of Pete Carroll to get Dan Quinn. But I'm curious about, you know, other coaches that might want this,

job. It's ownership that obviously seems to care, and they've won a lot of games. They have good football players there. It's a passionate fan base. Maybe you attract other coaches that you didn't think you could get. You know, as a Cowboys fan, I hate the prospect of losing Dan Quinn, but it is somewhat inevitable. I remember, Jeff, when I was at ESPN. I remember having a conversation in the hallway, and I don't think that this is the betrayal of any confidence, but I remember having a conversation with Tim Hasselbeck. I don't remember who we were talking about in this regard, but we were talking about somebody in the coaching prospect pipeline. And I remember Tim talking to me about what is attractive to potential coaching prospects. Now, whether or not that

means Pete Carroll, Dan Quinn, Jim Harbaugh, or possibly should he move on in New England, Bill Belichick, the argument that Tim was making is the fan looks at a team and says who is their quarterback, in which case I would, if I were in that coaching prospect pipeline, be interested in Los Angeles Chargers. I'd be interested in coaching Justin Herbert and set you up for years of success. But he said what you don't appreciate is that for many of these coaches, it's actually not looking down the roster, but rather looking up at ownership in deciding what is the best job. you want to make sure that whoever you're working for has a similar vision is of a stable mindset is committed to winning. And I appreciate that. I think that we all, as we step back

for a moment, we just know less about these owners. But we can all appreciate what it is to work for a boss. You want to work for a boss that is committed to you and to a vision. So I'm asking you this understanding that I think both are important because regardless of who the boss is, they want to win. and I think one of the biggest predictors of success is who's the quarterback. When you look at it right now, Jeff, which if you were, let's just presume for a moment that it's Jim Harbaugh, who's the most attractive candidate to teams out there, which team, which organization is the most attractive? Where would you want to go?

It's a good point you brought up. And I think that just it comes down to whether your owner in medals or not, right? Whether your owner comes, you know, David Tepper, I live in Charlotte, just comes downstairs and says, You need to fix Bryce Younger. Here's how we're doing it. It's like owners. You have your job. I have my job, right?

And so I think that's about just control. And if you have ownership that just lets you do what you do and they stay out of your hair, then it's more attractive to be there. No, Harbaugh is interesting, right? Because, you know, you have the chargers with Herbert, but you have a ton of cap issues. Your older roster with cap issues. I can make the case that Washington might be a place he wants to go.

You have an owner that is. willing to spend money. You have a big cap. I think that's over $70 million. You have a pick in the draft to get yourself a new quarterback. And that might be a place where they give you a little bit of personnel control if you're horrible. And that it's not, people have not talked about Washington very much with him, but that feels like a place where he can get everything he wants, close to family. Obviously, his brother is in Baltimore. It does feel like that's a situation that could work for what he's looking for. But Chargers, again, cap situation bad.

Ownership, not always committed to paying the most. You're building. You're in, you're the third, not the third tenant, but the second tenant, and you're the 12th favorite team in Los Angeles. And I just think that that's not as attractive a job outside of Justin Herbert being there. All right, Jeff, this is the conversation that I wanted to have today. and I wanted to have specifically with you, having spent years playing offensive line in both college football and the NFL, I am at a total loss and I am going to defer to you over.

And I see you smiling and I'm smiling to some degree, but this is a constant source of frustration, Jeff. What is holding? Okay. So it's a restriction of a defender, right? Right. So that can come in many different ways. Most often, right, if you're blocking a guy, I know we have visual aspect, you're blocking a guy, right? They say your hands inside, right? Well, if your hands are inside, you're less likely to restrict a defender when they move.

Because a lot of times what happens is when a guy tries to get off your block, your arm goes out like this. So that's sort of like the sign, like I'm holding a guy, right? My arm is outstretched. It's off my body and a defender is trying to get away from him. I'm restricting that movement, right? and pulling him away from where he wants to go by being out of position. You know, holding is not if you're inside and your feet are moving and you're running the guy and you're inside like this and he tries to move off and you just sort of hold him like, that's not a hold. If your feet are running, you're not restricting him, right?

You're moving with him. That is allowed. The problem will is that, you know, so the guy with the white hat is typically responsible for the quarterback to the left hat. He stands on that side of the line scrimmage, right? So he sees those two players, and then the umpire is in charge of the four other offensive linemen. A lot of happens, right?

It's hard to see all these holdings. It's much easier to see them in super slow motion on a replay, on a screenshot. We're angry fans. What is, you know, that's a holding. It's a much easier to see that when it happens on replay than it is in real time. Look, the referees certainly have issues. I think that, you know, that we know that the Brad Allen issue from a couple weeks ago.

That's a procedural problem. You can't have those. Judgment calls, man. They're judgment calls. You see them sometimes. You don't see them sometimes. I prefer to not have any penalties. If I had a game with no penalties will, that'd be my favorite game of all time. So that's what holding is. The restriction of the defender. Okay. By the way, I'm with you. I err on the side of fewer penalties is a better game. I want a fair game, not a perfect game. And this is controversial because people think I'm a homer when I point this out. But my water polo,

coach, which is, which Water Polo, and I played in CAA, Division 1, I don't ever pretend like I was great, but my program won the national championship, and my coach is one of the greatest to ever play the game. It is officiated very subjectively, quite honestly, like all sports are. I remember him saying to the ref, hey, you've called 10 on us and three on them, and he would kind of keep that count. And, you know, I understand the idea that some teams are more or less disciplined. But the point that he was making to the refs is you can basically call something on every play. And if it's heavily weighted in one direction, that's kind of suspect. And I'm driving somewhere with this, Jeff, and I'm going to, a specific application when

it comes to holding, and we're going to get there. And you can probably guess what I want to talk about, but let's not get there before I get there. I had lunch with a friend of mine who played offensive line at the University of Texas and in the NFL this week. And he and I were talking about this. And he said, it's different. 25 years ago, first of all, what you described, and for those not watching on video. If I grab you basically inside of the body frame, basically inside of the shoulders, I can grab your jersey, I can hold your shoulder pads, I can hold anything that I want. But if my, this is 25 years ago, if my hands got outside the body frame pretty much, I'm now in the shoulder area or my arms are stretched, you're on the edge, you could be, you're at risk

of being called for a hold. But what's happening now, Jeff, is, I mean, I think we're, at best, to wear in chaos, but at worst, like, I see dudes with arms outstretched, Jeff. I see dudes all the way behind the oncoming pass rusher with just an arm reached around. And I'm not seeing a hold called. And I don't understand, in my mind, it's gotten way more lax what is a hold and way sloppier and way harder to define. Is this a Michael Parsons discussion here? Let's not jump the gun, Jeff. We're just having an abstract conversation. conversation about holding.

By the way, my college roommate, his wife, now wife, played water polo at Oregon, was clubbed at the time. It might still be clubbed. And I thought I could tread water. And she challenged me one time to try to tread water. And Will did not go very well. Put it like that. I have a lot of respect.

I don't mean that as a personal indictment. It's taken for granted and you don't, you don't have a water polo body, to be honest. I certainly don't. It was an eye-oping experience for me. So a couple of things. The reason why they teach you hands inside is you're less likely to get a situation where your hands are outside the framework and you get a holding. If you grab outside the framework, you can do that.

That is legal. But what happens is if the defense alignment moves it all, that's where those arms get outstretched, where your feet don't match up with it. So that's why we say hands inside. Now, you have more power inside when your elbows are inside and you're able to use your back and your chest and your core and your hips. But you can do this. You can do that as long as you don't do this, right?

You move your arm. You know, you got out of the decision. That's why they teach that. So what you're saying, just for somebody who's listening, is you're putting your hands basically on the shoulder pads of a guy, and that's fine on the outsides of his shoulders. But if he moves laterally, now you've got arms extending beyond your frame. You know, you're outstretched.

And that's a lot of the issue about why we don't have hands aside. We're kind of side. I think also it's worth pointing out that I think we're at a point in the National Football League, where not defense alignment are too good, but the depth of pass rushers now has been never before. We've always had eras where we've had three or four, five, six great pass rushers, right? One a team, maybe two a team if you're lucky. We have, what, four to six on most good teams right now? It's just, it's a lot.

Like, offense alignment, I don't think at the moment can keep up with how good these pass rushers are. and then it gets into bad situations where to the point that you're talking about where you see guys get beat and hold from behind just sort of trying to not get your quarterback killed and they're not going to call it every single time right they're going to call it when it's super blatant

and sometimes to your point it can't be super blatant there's a lot of backup offense alignment in the NFL right now that are playing because of injuries that aren't as good quite frankly as backup offense linemen were 20, 25, 30 years ago even 15 years ago when I came in the NFL in 2008 most teams had a legitimate legitimate swing tackle and legitimate swing interior guy.

Like if you put that guy in, yeah, were they as good as left tackle? No, but you could run a functional offense. Nowadays, most teams don't even have one backup to really put in and feel great about. That's part of it as well. There's a little bit of a talent during the offensive line, and so it ends up happening where these guys like Michael Parsons are just too good. They're too good for the caliber of tackle right now that we have all over the league. So that's why I think we're in the situation.

The last part about this, too. so you know what a rip move is right when when i know you know but you know for the listeners like it's when a player has an arm and they sort of come come from down up and they rip up sort of through the offense alignment right the goal that is to get sort of underneath the arms of the guy and then be able to turn the corner afterwards all right and a lot of times the officer i mean leans forward on a written move the written move is not a holding it's actually in the rulebook if you go to the office alignment and you rip under their arms and they hold you down afterwards, that's not holding. What is a holding, though, is if the defense

alignment then sort of tries to get out of the written move and turn the corner, and then you hold them again. So, like, that's a lot of times when you see those still images of a defense alignment sort of like with their arm up in the air and the offense alignment sort of holding their arm down, that's because of that move. That itself's not holding. If you continue to hold is that defense alignment works around your body to the quarterback, that's what a flag comes out. A lot of times that's still a picture that everyone gets angry about is that moment when they first do the writ move. After that, then it can be a holding. So there's nuances to the move as well, you mean, to call to the holding calls.

And look, I understand, man. Look, I have teams I root for. There are times I yell at the TV. That's a holding. I mean, I understand how it can work at times. I feel like, I don't know if you're addressing me personally on being biased in this. conversation. But by the way, I appreciate your bias. I mean, it's Oregon. It's the Kansas City Chiefs. I don't know where else you have biases. It's good. And by the way, I gave you a hard

time about, I gave you a hard time by not having a water polo body for the record. Neither do I, Jeff. I was, as it turned out, I was way too skinny, too white. You know who has a really good, you know what the prototypical water puddle body is? It's a tight end, an NFL tight end. Okay. It's like 6-4-65-2230 is a perfect water puddle body. Hey, okay, let's apply this really quickly to Micah Parsons, Jeff. Micah Parsons has not been called for a hold in over two months, meaning he hasn't drawn a holding penalty.

In two months. And it's week six of the NFL. And there was a good Twitter thread on this, because everybody's up in arms. How is this possible? How is Michael Parsons not drawn a holding penalty? And there's analysis of other great pass rushers. People say, oh, all great pass rushers, you know, don't get called. Don't draw holding penalty as often as it's done to them.

But he seems to be an outlier. You know, Aidan Hutchison, Von Miller's past his prime, but all the other great ones, Miles Garrett. They've had one like in the past couple of weeks. It's weird that there's not, he's never being held as what the NFL is saying. And you talked earlier about attention. I mean, if I'm a ref, that's probably where I look. If I'm looking for holding, it's the incredible linebacker defensive end, who it's

very hard to block. He's probably the guy who's going to get held. So I don't really love the idea of, oh, we just can't pay attention to everything every time. I don't understand what's happening with Michael Parsons. I don't know either, to be honest with you. And maybe enough attention is drawn to it that he gets a call this weekend. I don't have a great answer for why specifically he doesn't get the call.

I mean, maybe, you know, when he gets held, he doesn't flop enough. I mean, that obviously is a big part of it. Maybe when he gets out, he's a smaller defensive end than like a Miles Garrett. Maybe when he gets held doesn't look quite the same as someone trying to hold off a 65, 275 pound pass rusher. I don't have a great reason for why he doesn't get called. He rushes the passer pretty uniquely, you know. When you watch other guys, you know, T.J. Watt, for example, a lot of the times he gets holding calls, they're traditional holdings, right? He's beating someone around the edge and the guy gets, he just holds them as he goes around the corner and easy to see.

The way Parsons rushes, man, inside, outside, all over the place, maybe it's just hard to flag the seed, to see it, not flag, but to see like the holding happen because doesn't happen in traditional spots where it would happen. a lot of times too they try to only call holding if it directly affects the play so like if you're I know it's your past place for the most part but if the quarterback is sort of in the motion of throwing they're going to let it go um if it's uh you know if you get held two gaps away from the run they're not going to call it most often they're not going to call it only when it's like indirectly in the hole where you run the ball so those are all reasons why i don't i don't have a great reason for you why not i mean i think that i think the reason i've said is like he he's not he's such a unique pass rusher and he's so twitchy

that maybe guys just don't see it quite the same as they see a Miles Garrett getting held or a walk getting held or someone else getting held. I don't have a great reason for why he's not getting all the holding calls. It's conspiracy. If there's no reasonable explanation, it is conspiracy against the Cowboys. That's it. Well, conspiracy for the Cowboys. Yeah, that's what it is. Well, I mean, I know they won the Cowboys ratings.

I saw the Cowboys were 16. Two weeks ago in the Lions game. The conspiracy that inspired against the Cowboys there? Are we going to fight about this one? No, there's no fight. They got it wrong. I mean, you won the game. It's part of life.

You get wronged every now and then. Yeah, but they got it wrong, Jeff. However, whether or not they got it wrong, and I don't know, because that was a private conversation or a signal between those three people, the ref and two offensive linemen signaling an eligible receiver. Whatever happened, the refth then announced to the stadium and to the Cowboys that the wrong guy was eligible. So the Cowboys covered the wrong guy. Like, who knows if he had called it right?

I forget Skipper and forget the two guys' names number, 68 and 70 and Skipper and Decker, yeah, and Decker. I came here which is which and who was eligible and who was ineligible. I forget all that. But I do know that the Cowboys covered the guy, that the stadium announced is the eligible receiver. And if it hadn't been called wrong, we can't just presume the Lions ran the perfect play and he would have scored. Or rather that the Cowboys would have covered him because they thought he was eligible. Well, they actually didn't cover 70 because he. ended up being a guard. He was actually

ineligible. It was a penalty on illegal formation for him announcing he's eligible than lining up an ineligible position. It was a big cluster, man. It was, no, you're exactly right. They could have covered Decker. I'm an offensive line enthusiast. I want the offensive alignment to get the two-point conversion

and win the game. I didn't care who won or lost. I just wanted to see that my office alignment get some love there, man. Well, I am a Maca Parsons enthusiast, so I'm frustrated over this holding for. thing. I'm with you, but on the other hand, I'm like you, I don't really want the league to call holding

a whole bunch more. I just want it to be fair. Again, I don't want perfect. I want fair. And I don't think it's right what's happening with Mike Parsons, because he's an amazing pass rusher. Sports fair. Well, that's the point of, well, that's the point of legislation.

Like, that's why we have refs, you know, like to keep it fair, not to keep it clean, to keep it fair. When I say clean, I mean perfect, you know, I don't mean like not dirty. Okay, before we go, Jeff, I want to ask you really a quick question. It's going to be Homer focused as well. But I think it's really easy for Cowboys fans, including myself, to feel a little cocky or confident going into this game against the Green Bay Packers because the Cowboys have clearly been a very superior team than the Packers this season.

But that does not in the NFL guarantee you a win. We know this, you know. And I was listening to this or learning this, Jordan Love has been on fire for like half the season. 21 touchdowns, three interceptions. And all of a sudden I'm a little worried, like, is there like a hero knockout punch here that I'm not anticipating from Jordan Love? He's played really good the last nine weeks of the season.

I think 18 interceptions, 18 touchdowns, one interception, it's pass a rating that's been better than it was the first half of the season. The thing that I, the reason why I don't think the Packers will win this game, and there are seven-and-a-point dogs. That's a comfortable underdog in the playoffs. is they're the fifth youngest teams since 1970 to qualify for the playoffs. A lot of that is on the offense side of the ball.

And, well, it's hard your first playoff game on the road without any experience in that moment. Like, it's a Cowboys team that's really good at home. You know, like, and the Cowboys are a good football team. And so you've got to overcome all of that first energy in the postseason. When I was a young player in the NFL, my offensive line coach told me there were basically different tempos for the season. There was a week one speed where everyone's fresh, excited to play. And you sort of get into like the grind of the season.

Then you get playoff push the last month of the season. And they get to the playoffs. And each round of the playoffs gets a little bit faster, a little bit more intense, a little more focused. And I've only played a couple of playoff games. Dude, it's so different in the regular season. And if you're not ready as a team to be in that moment, the Cowboys have had playoff games with the roster they have now. They have veteran players who put a long time in the NFL.

They have a coach who you might think whatever you want of Mike McCarthy. He's been in these moments many times in his career. Well, Flur has been there with Rogers, and they had success as much as they should, but he hasn't been with this team. I think that's the biggest thing against the Packers this weekend, is the lack of experience in the moment. I think they're playing good football, the Cowboys at home. If they get ahead, too, the Cowboys play great from head because their pass rush is so lethal.

They can do that. Maybe get a holding call this week, too. I think you're okay I think you're okay being the Packers this weekend okay what's your biggest upset pick of the weekend for the first round of the playoffs I don't know if it's an upset but I think the Texans can beat the Browns I think people assume the Browns are just going to like roll through the playoffs and the Texas are a slight underdog at home but they're a different team with Strouds playing I mean they are he didn't play the first Browns game uh Flacco has been a turnover machine great story

don't get me wrong um great story but a turnover machine if he throws just two, three interception in this game, it wouldn't surprise me if Houston were to win. I think no one's going to pick them to win, though, which is, I mean, they won the AFC. Like, they won the AFC South. They've got a home game. I think the Texans could certainly beat the Browns.

It feels like the Rams is too trendy. Everyone's picking the Rams to beat the Lions. The Bills game is fun. T.J. Watts's not playing a change is sort of what the Steelers can be, but the bills are not trustworthy. I don't think in the 10-point favorite home. So I think the Texans are the one that is a small underdog. They're at home.

That to me feels like the upset I'm willing to put my money on right now. All right, we'll leave it here. I really love what you had to say about the speed of the game. Because I think even from a fan perspective, you can see the difference in speed and intensity in playoffs like the NBA. It's a completely different game than the regular season NBA. And it's really, I think, easy to see in hockey where it's way faster and way more intense. I don't think that a fan notices the speed that you're talking about

in football in the NFL. And maybe it's because both teams are playing at such a, it almost cancel each other out a little bit at that speed. But it's interesting to hear that from a player because I'm not sure that's as obvious to a fan as it would be in the NBA

or in the NHL. I mean, the NBA is a different sport in the playoffs in my opinion. You watch a regular season game in the next week you play the playoffs. It's like two different sports. Look, the playoff games, man,

like the mistakes, there's not mental mistakes. Guys are flying over the field. It's just, it's more intense, man. It's a playoffs. I just what you play 17 weeks. for 18 weeks now to get to the spot. And it'd be a great weekend of games.

It'd be a fun time to watch football. All right. We'll check out for your picks on the Bear Bets podcast. Jeff, always great to talk to you. Thank you so much. Take care, bud. Thanks for having me. There you go.

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