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Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome back to another special edition of

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Speaker 1: a podcast brought to you by the Falcons Podcast Network.

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Speaker 1: I'm Tory mclhaney. I'm joined by defensive coordinator Dean Peas,

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Speaker 1: and I want to start the podcast off by saying

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Speaker 1: that I think that we maybe have found a name,

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Speaker 1: or perhaps figured out a name for this special edition podcast,

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Speaker 1: and I wanted to run it by you before we

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Speaker 1: made anything official. We were thanking Peas in a pod.

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Speaker 1: I think that's fantastic. I love a good pun, I

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Speaker 1: love a good word play. And our digital team was like,

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Speaker 1: we think this works. Do you like that? Whatever you guys? Okay,

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Speaker 1: I'm fine, Okay, fantastic Because we were like peas in

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Speaker 1: a pod, it just makes sense and like with the podcast,

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Speaker 1: we're good. So if you didn't join us for the

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Speaker 1: very first episode, go back and listen to it, because

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Speaker 1: we talked a lot about Coach's history getting into the

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Speaker 1: game at the high school level and then on to college.

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Speaker 1: But today we're actually gonna move into you and your

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Speaker 1: career making the jump to the professional league. You did

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Speaker 1: so around the two thousands, which is a time of

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Speaker 1: horrible fashion but otherwise great football. Now I wanted to

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Speaker 1: start off. You know, you were the head coach at

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Speaker 1: Kent State and then you go to the New England

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Speaker 1: Patriots at the turn of the two thousands. For you,

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Speaker 1: why did you want to make the jump from college

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Speaker 1: to professional Well, you know, in all honesty, Tory, I

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Speaker 1: don't know that I did want to. It's kind of

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Speaker 1: like when I left high school and went to college.

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Speaker 1: I didn't really go to college going Okay, this is

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Speaker 1: what I want to do. I want to get out

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Speaker 1: of high school coaching and go to college. The situation

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Speaker 1: presented itself that I could go to a college and

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Speaker 1: try it, and if I didn't like it, I thought

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Speaker 1: I'll go back to high school football. And kind of

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Speaker 1: the same thing happened with the NFL. I'd been the

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Speaker 1: head coach at Kent for six years. Things were starting

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Speaker 1: to move in the right direction over there, and then

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden I had an opportunity from Coach

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Speaker 1: Belichick called and said, you know, I got this opening

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Speaker 1: on my staff. Are you interested, And all honesty, I

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Speaker 1: kind of before I wasn't as interested because I had

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Speaker 1: with six kids, we had kids in college all the time,

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Speaker 1: and it was kind of nice because most of them

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Speaker 1: went to the college that I was coaching for, and

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Speaker 1: so it was kind of nice that I was around,

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Speaker 1: right and so, but then all of a sudden, we're

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Speaker 1: empty nesters and able to kind of pick up and go.

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Speaker 1: And I thought, Okay, well, now is the time to

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Speaker 1: do it. If I don't like it, I'll go back

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Speaker 1: to college. I'd never tried it, so, you know, I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's a little later in my career for most coaches.

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Speaker 1: I mean I'd already been coaching thirty years, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: when I go to the NFL, so I said, hey,

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Speaker 1: well let's see what it's like. Yeah, I don't know

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Speaker 1: what it's like. I hear rumors of what it's like,

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Speaker 1: and uh so let's give it a shot. And obviously

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Speaker 1: being with New England at that point in time wasn't

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Speaker 1: a bad choice. No, so I thought, I got an

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Speaker 1: opportunity here. Um talked to her Worth, my wife, let's

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Speaker 1: do it. And that's what started the NFL career. What

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Speaker 1: was kind of the initial I don't know what the

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Speaker 1: work like culture shock of making the jump from college

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Speaker 1: to professional coaching, because I feel like there's a jump

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Speaker 1: from like there's a there's differences from the high school

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Speaker 1: level to the college level. And I'm sure there's differences

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Speaker 1: between the college level to the professional level for you

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Speaker 1: kind of what was initially that aha moment I'm in

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Speaker 1: the NFL. Well, there's sometimes I still pinch myself after

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Speaker 1: fifty years and how do we ever get here? I'm

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Speaker 1: from Elmwood High School in Ohile. But you know, I

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Speaker 1: think that's that's the I think that's the approach you

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Speaker 1: don't want to take as a coach, is that I

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Speaker 1: don't think I coached in college any different than I

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Speaker 1: coached in high school. At least I hope I didn't.

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Speaker 1: I hope that if somebody walked in it was on

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Speaker 1: my high school team or one of my college teams,

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Speaker 1: and watched me coach today, they would say, yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: the same guy that coached me, because I coached him

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Speaker 1: the same way. And like we talked about the other

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Speaker 1: day about teaching and learning, and everybody learns at a

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Speaker 1: different rate, which just because a guy has now become

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Speaker 1: a pro, well just two months earlier, he wasn't a pro.

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Speaker 1: Our rookies were in college, you know, six months ago,

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Speaker 1: and so they didn't all of a sudden transform into

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Speaker 1: a professional athlete. In six months. They're still the same

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Speaker 1: guys that were in college six months ago. So don't

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Speaker 1: I need to really approach them the same way and

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Speaker 1: same way with college kids they were just in high school,

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Speaker 1: you know. And I think if you approach it that way,

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Speaker 1: you just you teach. Don't assume that because the guys

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Speaker 1: are pro. Okay, well boy, he knows all this stuff.

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Speaker 1: He doesn't. He's an elite athlete because he's reached the

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Speaker 1: next level. He's one of those two percent guys that

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Speaker 1: makes it. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't learn

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Speaker 1: the same way that all the other guys learned. It

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean that you still shouldn't coach him the same

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Speaker 1: way and tell him here's how you'd like to have

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Speaker 1: it done, and also get back his feedback. Now, as

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Speaker 1: guys become season pros and they've been in the league

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Speaker 1: for six eight years, they've seen the game from a

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Speaker 1: different view than you've seen it as a coach. They've

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Speaker 1: played it, you've coached it. You know, how you see

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Speaker 1: it on film may not be how they see it

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Speaker 1: on it. So you get you start at getting more

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Speaker 1: input from them. I've told I've told all of our players,

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Speaker 1: and I told the coaches. I've learned more football from

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Speaker 1: players sometimes than I have from other coaches, because they

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Speaker 1: see it, they played it, they did it, you know,

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Speaker 1: and it makes sense to them then, and so you

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Speaker 1: got to see it from their eyes. So I don't

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Speaker 1: think that there was a moment I really went in

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Speaker 1: to New England, even though they were, you know, at

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Speaker 1: the top of their game, and I'm walking in there

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Speaker 1: and I'm coaching four linebackers. I'm coaching Teddy Bruski, William McGinnis,

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Speaker 1: Mike Vrabel, guy named Ted Johnson, and these guys, I

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Speaker 1: mean junior say out, I mean the names that I got.

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Speaker 1: I really felt like, Okay, I need to be the

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Speaker 1: same guy up in the front of the linebacker room

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Speaker 1: because I wasn't the coordinator at first two years linebacker

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Speaker 1: coach before I became a coordinator. I need to be

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Speaker 1: the same guy in front of that room that I

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Speaker 1: was as a college coach. And I was, and so

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Speaker 1: I approached it no different. I didn't assume they knew anything.

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Speaker 1: I just did it. And they didn't look at me like,

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Speaker 1: come on, don't you know who you're talking to? Not

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Speaker 1: at all, you'd be shocked. It's like guys always talk

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Speaker 1: about what was like to coach ray Lewis. You know

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Speaker 1: ray Lewis wanted to be coached. Now, did he know

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Speaker 1: a lot about the game? Absolutely, guy played forever and

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Speaker 1: was great at what he did. But he also didn't

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Speaker 1: want you to be a guy says hey, go do

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Speaker 1: what you need to do. He wanted you to tell

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Speaker 1: him this is what we need to do, this is

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Speaker 1: how we need to do it. He may have it.

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Speaker 1: He may come back at me and say to me, well,

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Speaker 1: you know I've done it this way. What do you

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Speaker 1: think about that? And that's great, right, Grady Jared does that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, all the good ones do that. They want

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Speaker 1: to still be coached. It's just from a coach's perspective.

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Speaker 1: Maybe in high school, I didn't listen to somebody want

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Speaker 1: to do it their way because I knew they didn't

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Speaker 1: know this guy. I do listen to him because they've

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Speaker 1: done it. But like the rookies, they're still college guys.

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Speaker 1: To me, I really like how you're talking about getting

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Speaker 1: input from these guys, guys like ray Lewis, Guys like

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Speaker 1: Grady chair right now, and I know that the signal

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Speaker 1: callers meeting that you do on Wednesdays, Yes, Wednesdays. When

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Speaker 1: did you start doing that? And was that kind of

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Speaker 1: an extension of wanting to get these players input on

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Speaker 1: the game that they're playing? Well? Really it really I

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Speaker 1: didn't start it until I got to Baltimore. Okay, I

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Speaker 1: did not do it at New England, but the idea

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Speaker 1: came from New England because it was it was I

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Speaker 1: remember going back one time and talking to him like

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Speaker 1: I coached with in college, and he asked me, what's

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Speaker 1: it like coaching at New England and coaching in the NFL?

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Speaker 1: And I said, you know what, coaching the guys at

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Speaker 1: New England were like coaching coaches that know how to

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Speaker 1: play that can still play because they're very knowledgeable and

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Speaker 1: they see things and they can make adjustments and they

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Speaker 1: can tell you. Then I'll go, why why did you

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Speaker 1: do that? Well, that's why you learned that as a coach.

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Speaker 1: Well that sounds pretty good. So I started thinking, you know,

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Speaker 1: you need with all that expertise out there on the field,

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Speaker 1: then you need to bring that into a meeting. And

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Speaker 1: so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give you

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Speaker 1: guys my game plan first and see what you guys

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Speaker 1: think and you can tell my body language. You know,

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Speaker 1: if somebody's sitting there kind of like this, then you know, well, okay,

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Speaker 1: that's he's not buying it. So I thought, why not

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Speaker 1: do that? And then the other thing is those guys

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Speaker 1: are kind of your team leaders. And so if you

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Speaker 1: take one from each group and some guys, like last year,

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Speaker 1: I brought in a couple of guys that were young

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Speaker 1: because I wanted to be with the older guys because

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Speaker 1: I want them to assume that role in the future.

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Speaker 1: And so it wasn't so much I was looking for

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Speaker 1: input for them. I wanted them to see how other

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Speaker 1: guys gave me input so they would end up being

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Speaker 1: that in the future. And the thing that is is

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Speaker 1: that if you're standing up in front of a group

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Speaker 1: and you got four guys out there who are you're

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Speaker 1: probably your top players or your top leaders, and they're

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Speaker 1: sitting there and not on their head. Yes, what do

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Speaker 1: you think the guy next to him is gonna do?

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Speaker 1: He's gonna not. Yeah, I agree, that must be good. Now,

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Speaker 1: if they're sitting there going, boy, I don't know about that.

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Speaker 1: That's not going to breed confidence. And the guys that

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Speaker 1: are sitting next to him we need all eleven believing

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Speaker 1: in what we're doing. So, you know, it's like anything else.

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Speaker 1: If you take the top guys and you make them believe,

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Speaker 1: the other guys are going to follow him. Yeah, when

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Speaker 1: it comes to I guess your time with the Patriots.

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Speaker 1: I know we talked a little bit about it yesterday

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Speaker 1: and how it was almost like just go in and

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Speaker 1: don't mess it up, Like just don't mess anything up.

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Speaker 1: How did you kind of evolves as a when you

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Speaker 1: did become the defensive coordinator? How did you evolves as

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Speaker 1: a coordinator during that time. Well, I think I had

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Speaker 1: been a coordinator for majority of my life in high

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Speaker 1: school in college, so I knew what was like having

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Speaker 1: the responsibility being the coordinator. But you know, I listened

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Speaker 1: to Romeo Cornell, who was the coordinator when I was

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Speaker 1: there at New England, and I just kind of watched

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Speaker 1: him and stuff, and you know, you always have your

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Speaker 1: own way of doing things and your own stuff. And

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Speaker 1: I will I will say this about Coach Belichick. He

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Speaker 1: was very good at letting you do your thing. Now

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Speaker 1: it was still within the parameters of what he wanted

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Speaker 1: to do. He's still the head coach, but I'm saying

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Speaker 1: it wasn't so rigid about you got to do it

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Speaker 1: this way and you got to act this way. He

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Speaker 1: let you be you, which is how successful coaches should be.

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Speaker 1: Nobody should. I've seen guys back in the day try

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Speaker 1: to be Boschem Beckler. There's only one. There was only

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Speaker 1: one Woody Hayes, there's only one Bill Belichick, there's only

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Speaker 1: one Nick Saban. They are who they are. Don't be them.

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Speaker 1: Be yourself. Yeah, you can take things from them, but don't.

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Speaker 1: But but be yourself. And that's why I just feel

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Speaker 1: tory that I just have always thought that, and um,

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Speaker 1: you know, just it's kind of funny how things evolved.

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Speaker 1: Like I'll give you an example to like for example,

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Speaker 1: but my wife in college. You know, I told you

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Speaker 1: that we had all the players come over to our

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Speaker 1: house and have dinner. Well, also she used to make

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Speaker 1: brownies and cookies and stuff for the college players all

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Speaker 1: the time. She'd even had there had been some time

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Speaker 1: she brought popsicles out to practice. I'm really they loved them.

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Speaker 1: Oh I'm sure, I'm going on, come on, come on, really,

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Speaker 1: And she did it and they loved it. So we

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Speaker 1: go to New England and all of a sudden, she's

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Speaker 1: making brownies for me to take in on Saturdays when

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Speaker 1: we had our kind of last day a walk through

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Speaker 1: before the game, and I'm going, really, I mean, he

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Speaker 1: cats are grown men, families and stuff. Really, come on.

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Speaker 1: They fought over him. And she did the same thing

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Speaker 1: in Baltimore, does the same thing here in Atlanta. And

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Speaker 1: it's amazing. How like if she's gone and I don't

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Speaker 1: bring them in, it's like, what's up, where's the brownie? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: And we had guys at Baltimore used to tell on

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Speaker 1: each other and they go to her and say, you know,

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Speaker 1: this guy took too brownies instead of well, I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's like, I go there. It just shows you, though,

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Speaker 1: that they're still young men. Yeah, they're not. They haven't

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Speaker 1: been seasoned, and they aren't forty and fifty year old

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Speaker 1: guys that have been seasoned. There's still young men and

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Speaker 1: they still want to be treated like that and special.

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Speaker 1: And I you know, I've always admired her for doing

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Speaker 1: all that stuff and she's so involved in it, but

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Speaker 1: that that was kind of a it kind of plays

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Speaker 1: into what you're talking about, is just don't treat them

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Speaker 1: any different, right, Yeah, I think it becomes and I

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Speaker 1: think it's something that we've talked about before, but it

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Speaker 1: becomes disingenuous, and you want genuine people around you. It's

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Speaker 1: something that I always said in my job, it's like

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Speaker 1: I want to present who these people are as people.

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Speaker 1: It's I think it's so easy for people to watch

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Speaker 1: these professional athletes and see them, you know, with their

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Speaker 1: helmets on, and see them doing these amazing athletic feats,

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Speaker 1: but to actually know that there's a person underneath the

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Speaker 1: helmet and there's a person there who is a genuine person,

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Speaker 1: who want who has goals and ambitions and dreams and

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Speaker 1: families and friends. That's always been something that I've carried

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Speaker 1: into my job, and I feel like that's very much

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Speaker 1: something that as a coach. It's like, you know these

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Speaker 1: players as good as anybody, and it's always kind of like,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, making sure that you're the last point

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Speaker 1: of defense, like no one's getting to these players, these

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Speaker 1: are my guys. Is that always? I know you've talked

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Speaker 1: so much in press conferences and everything about loving your

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Speaker 1: players and that's why you do this, But for you,

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Speaker 1: is that kind of how you see your role even

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Speaker 1: as a coordinator of now almost fifty years. Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: I think it's just the more you know people care

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Speaker 1: about you, the more you're going to do for them.

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Speaker 1: You want to satisfy them. It's like parents. You know,

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Speaker 1: parents love you, and so you want it your you.

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Speaker 1: You want to make them proud of you. Okay, Well

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Speaker 1: players are kind of the same way to me two coaches.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to make my coaches proud of me. And

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Speaker 1: but you know, it's something as simple as even in society,

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Speaker 1: of working with somebody and knowing their name, and it

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Speaker 1: doesn't matter what their job is, and it could be

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Speaker 1: a custodian or something. But it's just like, how would

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Speaker 1: you feel like it is? How much different is in

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Speaker 1: the press conference when I say yes Tory rather than

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Speaker 1: go hey, yeah, like you don't sure I know your name?

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Speaker 1: How much difference does it make to you when I

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Speaker 1: call you by name and say your name. It's respect

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Speaker 1: and so it's like you're doing your job. I respect

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Speaker 1: you doing your job. I know your name. I've taken

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Speaker 1: some kind of interest in the fact that I've learned

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Speaker 1: your name. Well, it's that way with players. It's just

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Speaker 1: more dynamic. Yeah, I also want to go back to

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Speaker 1: your talking about your wife, and I know the life

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Speaker 1: of a coach's wife is a very interesting one to lead.

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Speaker 1: How has she been your partner in these fifty years? Well,

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Speaker 1: I think the thing with mel is the fact that

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Speaker 1: she has taken an interest in my job and not

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Speaker 1: just made it my job off over here and I

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Speaker 1: got my own thing. Yes, she has her own thing,

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Speaker 1: but she's made that part of her interests to getting

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Speaker 1: to know the players, getting to know about the job

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Speaker 1: and that kind of stuff. She even gives me advice

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Speaker 1: on calls sometimes. But you know, how much do you

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Speaker 1: actually take it to account? You really? I'm not saying

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Speaker 1: because she might listen to this. So the truth of

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Speaker 1: it is, though she's taken it, it's I'm so lucky

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Speaker 1: to have her because she is taking such an interest

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Speaker 1: in my job. And like I say, whether it's doing

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Speaker 1: the brownies, the pop sit whatever that is. But it's

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Speaker 1: the other thing, it's it's all of our kids, our grandkids.

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Speaker 1: You know, in all three Super Bowls, we've taken our

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Speaker 1: entire family to the Super Bowl. We took twenty six

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Speaker 1: people to the last Super Bowl. She even took a

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Speaker 1: couple of babysitters. But it's it's all the kids too.

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Speaker 1: All of our kids have done their part. I mean

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Speaker 1: they've all taken off one jersey and put on a

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Speaker 1: new one, and that's who they root for. And I

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Speaker 1: can remember the year I retired and one of the

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Speaker 1: grandkids said, one of my daughter says, who do we

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Speaker 1: root for now? It didn't really hit me until he

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Speaker 1: said that, Like they're the grandkids are part of everybody's

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Speaker 1: a part of this job. And if you don't make

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Speaker 1: it that way, then I think it becomes a job.

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Speaker 1: It becomes more cumbersome. While we got to move, we

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Speaker 1: got to do this, we got to do that. You know,

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Speaker 1: Dad's gone, you know whatever. I think they've all taken

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Speaker 1: such an interest in it because there's there's good sides

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Speaker 1: and bad size to every profession of right, I mean,

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Speaker 1: military people move all over the country. There's there's But

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Speaker 1: the good side is is that they've been around some incredible,

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Speaker 1: incredible athletes and players and people and seen them as people,

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Speaker 1: not just as this professional guy that's on TV. They

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Speaker 1: understand that that guy is just like the rest of

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Speaker 1: us and wants to be treated like the rest of us.

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Speaker 1: So I think for the family, and especially for my

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Speaker 1: wife She's taken such an interest and a part in it.

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Speaker 1: That's been a blessing for me. Yeah. You talk about

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Speaker 1: kind of getting to know people, and someone who I

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Speaker 1: have not had the pleasure of getting to know is

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Speaker 1: Bill Belichick. And I feel like the perception of Bill

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Speaker 1: Belichick is very different perhaps than the person of Bill Belichick.

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Speaker 1: So I was just curious for you. You've worked with him,

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Speaker 1: you worked with him for years, kind of who who

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Speaker 1: is this guy? And what's kind of some stories of

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Speaker 1: of who he was as a head coach to coach

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Speaker 1: under Well. I think the thing about Bill is that

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Speaker 1: all the guys that I've been around, so many successful

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Speaker 1: guys with him, Loui Holds, Nicky saving all those guys,

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Speaker 1: they all have one thing in common. They're all very

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Speaker 1: attention to detail. Their their work ethic is just unquestionable.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's remarkable. Bills just is you know, people

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Speaker 1: want to I don't know what people really leave with him.

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Speaker 1: All I can do is I can see those guys

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Speaker 1: from the perspective that I see him, and they're they're

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Speaker 1: good bosses when they need to be a boss, and

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Speaker 1: they're good friends when they need to be a friend.

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Speaker 1: It's the best way I can tell you, it's they're

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Speaker 1: all personalities are different. Some are more vivacious than the

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Speaker 1: other ones, some are very much more you know, ab dude,

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Speaker 1: But all of them, including Bill. He when we're at work,

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Speaker 1: he's the boss and it's his program and he's going

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Speaker 1: to run it his way and it's obviously worked very

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Speaker 1: very well than anybody else has ever done. Yeah, But

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Speaker 1: when he's away from that, he's a good friend. And

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Speaker 1: it's not like all of a sudden he's going to

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Speaker 1: change his personality from the media. He's he's he's guarded

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Speaker 1: in some ways with the media because he's he doesn't

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Speaker 1: let information out and that's why he does. But he's

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Speaker 1: not going to be one of these guys gonna stand

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Speaker 1: up and tell a bunch of jokes and be you know,

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Speaker 1: a boy. Really what a personality this guy is. That's

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Speaker 1: not what he wants to be. But he's also not

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Speaker 1: that way as a person. But he is a good

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Speaker 1: friend and a really good person. I can tell you

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Speaker 1: that he treated me, my family and all of us

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Speaker 1: with the utmost respect, and that's why he's very loyal

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Speaker 1: to him. And I am to Nick, and I was

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Speaker 1: the coach Holtz, and they all have treated my family great.

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Speaker 1: I love that. Now I want to get into your

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Speaker 1: years at Baltimore and making the move from the Patriots

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Speaker 1: to the Ravens for you, what entreats you about heading

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Speaker 1: to Baltimore in to begin of it? Almost every job

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Speaker 1: I've ever taken has been about people. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: I've always told you I didn't. I've never really interviewed

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Speaker 1: for a job because only one right, one interview. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and so because people said something to some other person

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Speaker 1: that got that that person called me and offered me

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Speaker 1: a job. Sometimes I hadn't even met the guys. I'd

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Speaker 1: never met Nick Saven, I'd never met Elliott User. Like

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Speaker 1: a Navy I'd never met those guys, and so I

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Speaker 1: get these calls. I'd never met Lou Holtz. So people,

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Speaker 1: it's still a people business. That's why I try to

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Speaker 1: get away from I get off on a tangent on

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Speaker 1: analytics and stuff because it's not a computer game, it's

397
00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,879
Speaker 1: not mad in football. It still is dealing with people.

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Speaker 1: Just like we talked about the players, treat them like people,

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Speaker 1: not like an object out there playing football. Well, it's

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Speaker 1: the same thing, you know, going back, is this that

401
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Speaker 1: you know, going to New England was it's or going

402
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Speaker 1: from New England to Baltimore. Excuse me with about John Harball.

403
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Speaker 1: John Harball played for me in college. So what a

404
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Speaker 1: unique situation to go coach for a guy that you

405
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Speaker 1: once coached. Yeah, I think the world to John Harball.

406
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Speaker 1: I thought the world of him as a player. I

407
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Speaker 1: knew his dad, I knew his family, and so you know,

408
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Speaker 1: he was having success at Baltimore, but he was a

409
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Speaker 1: young coach. I think it was only like this maybe

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Speaker 1: third year I think when I went there and he

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Speaker 1: offered me a job, and I thought, you know what, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna go work for this guy. Plus,

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Speaker 1: there a couple of the guys in the staff that

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Speaker 1: I knew really well. One of them was just a

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Speaker 1: great friend who was actually the coordinator at the time,

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Speaker 1: and he wanted me to come and be his linebacker coach.

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Speaker 1: And I thought, you know, what a good transition. I

418
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Speaker 1: need a little change up here. I've been in New

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Speaker 1: England for six years. So I went to Baltimore. Two

420
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Speaker 1: years later I became a coordinator. But it was a

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Speaker 1: unique situation coaching for John, having him once been my player.

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Speaker 1: How do you how did you balance that in your

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Speaker 1: head to kind of be like, this is now my

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Speaker 1: head coach. I was once his coach, he's now my coach.

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Speaker 1: He's my boss. Yeah, you know, And I mean he was,

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Speaker 1: he was my boss, and so I'm gonna do what

427
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:50,239
Speaker 1: he wants to do. But I knew that he had

428
00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:52,520
Speaker 1: enough faith in me. He evidently must have liked me

429
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:54,679
Speaker 1: enough as a coach to have me want to go

430
00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:59,000
Speaker 1: coach for him. So um, it was a matter of well,

431
00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:01,679
Speaker 1: you know, it just it was an open dial. It

432
00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,119
Speaker 1: was easy. It really really was easy to talk to John,

433
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:08,439
Speaker 1: but always remembering this guy is now he's my boss,

434
00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:11,360
Speaker 1: and what he says we're gonna do, and we're all

435
00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:14,040
Speaker 1: going to do it together and we're gonna I can disagree,

436
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:16,800
Speaker 1: but when at the end of the day, whatever he

437
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,600
Speaker 1: wants is what we're doing, and I'm gonna be totally

438
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:22,360
Speaker 1: on board. It's just like when I went to Tennessee

439
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,000
Speaker 1: and coach for Mike Rabel. Yes, he was a former

440
00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,359
Speaker 1: player of mine in New England and he used to

441
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:32,320
Speaker 1: yell at me all the time because I'd say what coach,

442
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,800
Speaker 1: and he go, I'm Mike, don't call me coach, I said,

443
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,359
Speaker 1: but you are coach. He goes, but I'm Mike. You

444
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,119
Speaker 1: were my coach, I said, but you're now my coach.

445
00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:44,840
Speaker 1: So and so it was hard for me to ever

446
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:47,760
Speaker 1: call him Mike. Yeah. I'm just so used to call

447
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:51,920
Speaker 1: him the head coach. Coach. Yeah, and I you know John,

448
00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 1: I'd call him John once in a while, but a

449
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,160
Speaker 1: lot of times I just called him coach, hardball man.

450
00:24:56,520 --> 00:25:02,240
Speaker 1: So great so at Baltimore, I think that Super Bowl

451
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,679
Speaker 1: winning year was a very I mean, if you go

452
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:07,920
Speaker 1: back and you look at that year for y'all, it

453
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:09,720
Speaker 1: was such an interesting year. And I know you've talked

454
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:14,240
Speaker 1: about it before about how many players that y'all really

455
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:18,159
Speaker 1: didn't have access to in terms of like injuries or

456
00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,359
Speaker 1: other things coming up. I feel like, and this is

457
00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:24,800
Speaker 1: just me thinking from the outside looking in, but it

458
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:29,320
Speaker 1: almost felt like that year for someone who's a coordinator

459
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:33,960
Speaker 1: had to have been a very stressful but also maybe

460
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,639
Speaker 1: rewarding year because you probably had to be more flexible

461
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,640
Speaker 1: because of the situation. When you look back on that

462
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,760
Speaker 1: year and kind of how it unfolded, even before you

463
00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 1: get to the Super Bowl, are you proud of kind

464
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:49,040
Speaker 1: of what you were able to do in terms of

465
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:52,000
Speaker 1: being able to even put a game plan together a

466
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:53,760
Speaker 1: week in and week out with all the turnover that

467
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,159
Speaker 1: was happening. Well, I think it's it's a couple of

468
00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:58,920
Speaker 1: things came out of that year. Is Yeah, you're proud

469
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:00,840
Speaker 1: of it. You're proud of the coaching staff and the

470
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 1: job that everybody did, and really really proud of the

471
00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:05,640
Speaker 1: players because we had to adapt every week. I mean,

472
00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,400
Speaker 1: people don't realize we didn't have ray Lewis for ten

473
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,560
Speaker 1: weeks that year. We didn't have Sugs for either six

474
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:13,159
Speaker 1: or eight weeks. I can't remember what it was, but

475
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:15,719
Speaker 1: it was quite a while. Well, those are two big

476
00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:19,119
Speaker 1: parts of the puzzle to keep on winning, so you

477
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:21,040
Speaker 1: had to change your game plan. And then we went

478
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,040
Speaker 1: through a bunch of corners that year, and so we

479
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:25,720
Speaker 1: had to change coverage almost every week. In some ways,

480
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 1: I think though, Tori, that it was like it kept

481
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:31,879
Speaker 1: you so busy trying to think about what do we

482
00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:33,760
Speaker 1: need to do to beat this team? How are we

483
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,360
Speaker 1: going to beat them? That you almost said, I don't

484
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:37,960
Speaker 1: know if it was a lot of stress because you

485
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 1: were really just kind of more focused on how are

486
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,160
Speaker 1: we going to do this? And who do we put here,

487
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 1: and how do we do this? And how do we

488
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:46,919
Speaker 1: do that? And I give the players so much credit

489
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 1: because you know, we changed stuff every week to try

490
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:53,919
Speaker 1: to figure out how to win, and they did it,

491
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:56,600
Speaker 1: and so I give them the credit and the coaching

492
00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 1: staff the credit for doing that. And then what happened

493
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 1: is what was nice then when we made it to

494
00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 1: the playoffs, all of a sudden, we have sugs and

495
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:07,960
Speaker 1: a fresh ray Lewis back and we get on that

496
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,720
Speaker 1: four game run and win the Super Bowl. So it

497
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,440
Speaker 1: was kind of fun though as a coach, because it

498
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:16,879
Speaker 1: wasn't like, Okay, well, we're just so much better than

499
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:18,880
Speaker 1: everybody else, we can just go out there and line

500
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,040
Speaker 1: up and just beat them. You had to actually adapt.

501
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:24,960
Speaker 1: But what it also taught me that as a coach, well,

502
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:31,200
Speaker 1: if this is so good to do this, why shouldn't

503
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:34,240
Speaker 1: I continue to do it even when I do have

504
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:38,200
Speaker 1: good players. You know. That's why you know, everybody talks

505
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,520
Speaker 1: about our system being so complex and we have so

506
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,520
Speaker 1: much Yeah it is. But the good thing is is

507
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:45,360
Speaker 1: that if somebody gets hurt in the course of a game,

508
00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 1: we have something else to go to. What if you

509
00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:49,280
Speaker 1: don't have something else to go to. What if they

510
00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:51,600
Speaker 1: keep running the same play and you can't stop it,

511
00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,479
Speaker 1: what are you gonna say, hey, play it better. Well,

512
00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:56,600
Speaker 1: at some point in time, they're probably playing it as

513
00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:58,679
Speaker 1: best they can. You can't stop it. I need to

514
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,000
Speaker 1: have something to go to to stop. But I don't

515
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,440
Speaker 1: think you can be that vanilla. And it's also fun. Yeah,

516
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:06,560
Speaker 1: it's also fun for the players, and it's fun for

517
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:09,840
Speaker 1: the coaches. Your mind's working all the time. It's not like, oh, Okay,

518
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:11,760
Speaker 1: we're gonna go on and do the same thing. We're

519
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:13,359
Speaker 1: just so much better than everybody else going to do

520
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:16,600
Speaker 1: the same thing every week. It's fun to think up

521
00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:20,240
Speaker 1: things and new things and trum and think them out

522
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,120
Speaker 1: and try to get them to work. And yeah, it

523
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,800
Speaker 1: was a very very rewarding year. Yeah, I'm glad that

524
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:29,040
Speaker 1: you brought up the playbook, your playbook, because there was

525
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:32,600
Speaker 1: something that you said at the beginning of last season,

526
00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:35,920
Speaker 1: and I can't remember the exact quote, so if I'm

527
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:39,080
Speaker 1: misquoting you, definitely tell me. But you said something along

528
00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:41,720
Speaker 1: the lines of like only a certain percentage of the

529
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:45,239
Speaker 1: playbook had been installed at this point because it was like,

530
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,040
Speaker 1: I'm not going to give guys things that they can't handle.

531
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:50,719
Speaker 1: And then later in the season, I think you were

532
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:54,680
Speaker 1: asked like, well, what percentage is do you have installed now?

533
00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:58,280
Speaker 1: And I think people probably thought on the outside looking in, like, oh,

534
00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,000
Speaker 1: ninety percent of the playbook. You said something along the

535
00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:05,920
Speaker 1: lines of like seventy percent maybe, And I found that

536
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,040
Speaker 1: so very interesting because I think a lot of times

537
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:10,840
Speaker 1: people think like, you have a playbook, you give them

538
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:14,240
Speaker 1: to the players, and they have to know it completely

539
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:17,400
Speaker 1: by the time training camp starts or winever. But I

540
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:19,680
Speaker 1: feel like that's not necessarily the case. And I would

541
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 1: love to get your perspective on this, because I think

542
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,280
Speaker 1: people when they heard like, oh, he only has so

543
00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 1: much of the playbook installed, what does that say about

544
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:30,600
Speaker 1: the players or what does that say about the team?

545
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:34,760
Speaker 1: I actually was like, I think that's purposeful and it's

546
00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:38,760
Speaker 1: something that this team needed at this time. For you,

547
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 1: when you're installing a playbook, in terms of percentages and

548
00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:46,400
Speaker 1: how much you're installing, how does it change from team

549
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 1: to team or even year to year. Well, it'll change

550
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:52,880
Speaker 1: a lot from year to year depending on how many

551
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:54,479
Speaker 1: new players you got and how many guys you got

552
00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 1: coming back, and if you've got a bunch of guys

553
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,959
Speaker 1: coming back. You know, now you can expand even more

554
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:03,360
Speaker 1: because they already know the first part of it. The playbook.

555
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:11,280
Speaker 1: The way things are done is when we talk about

556
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:14,200
Speaker 1: a percentages or arbitrary, I don't know if it was

557
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,720
Speaker 1: sixty percent or seventy, I don't know what it was.

558
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:19,040
Speaker 1: It's just is. I don't know if you ever have

559
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,000
Speaker 1: all of it in, but you kind of you keep

560
00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:24,400
Speaker 1: building on it. The more you have a veteran team,

561
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,080
Speaker 1: the more you can build on it. The more you

562
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,840
Speaker 1: have a young team that doesn't. For example, let's say

563
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,920
Speaker 1: you put in a coverage and those guys need to

564
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:37,479
Speaker 1: perfect that coverage before you can tweak it. It's not

565
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:40,320
Speaker 1: so much you're changing a whole different calls, just maybe

566
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,680
Speaker 1: the way you'll play a certain coverage. It's still the

567
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:47,160
Speaker 1: same coverage, all right, Cover two, it's cover two. You

568
00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,280
Speaker 1: got two deep guys, you got five guys underneath. All right,

569
00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:53,640
Speaker 1: that's cover two zone. Well, there's a hundred different ways

570
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 1: to play covered two zone. But until you learn to

571
00:30:56,680 --> 00:31:01,960
Speaker 1: play the first cover two zone correctly, then you can't

572
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,600
Speaker 1: really go to the next cover to zone. It's going

573
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:07,160
Speaker 1: to be the same, I know it may or may

574
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,600
Speaker 1: not be making sense, but it's it's like it's not

575
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:13,320
Speaker 1: like you're changing all new calls. It's like you're changing

576
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,360
Speaker 1: other calls and you're tweaking them a little bit to

577
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:18,480
Speaker 1: give a quarterback a different look or something like that.

578
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:23,160
Speaker 1: But you're not helping your players. If they don't yet

579
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:27,239
Speaker 1: understand the first one, it's hard to go to the

580
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:30,240
Speaker 1: second one. It's hard to learn how to subtract if

581
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:33,160
Speaker 1: you haven't learned how to add, or learn how to multiply.

582
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:35,960
Speaker 1: If you haven't learned how to add and subtract. Everything's

583
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 1: in an order, and so it's kind of the same way.

584
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:43,280
Speaker 1: You can keep adding that. If they get that, oh man,

585
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,560
Speaker 1: they got that, Okay, we can go onto this. Then

586
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:47,720
Speaker 1: we can add this a little bit. But until they

587
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:51,520
Speaker 1: get that. Well, when you're a new team coming in,

588
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:53,400
Speaker 1: a new coaching staff coming in, like we were here

589
00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:57,400
Speaker 1: in Atlanta and our scheme was a lot different than

590
00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:00,560
Speaker 1: the old defensive scheme doesn't make a good or bad.

591
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,080
Speaker 1: It doesn't make it better or worse. People believe in

592
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,000
Speaker 1: what they believe in it. There's all these different offenses,

593
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:09,520
Speaker 1: all these different defenses, and they all work if you

594
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:11,720
Speaker 1: have the personnel to do them. But I'm not going

595
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,400
Speaker 1: to sit there and try to throw everything at these

596
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:17,120
Speaker 1: guys when it's so different than what they just got

597
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 1: done playing. So until they perfected that, then we could

598
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,960
Speaker 1: move on. So like, yeah, early on, we didn't have

599
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 1: a lot in As the season went on, we added more.

600
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:30,120
Speaker 1: Did we ever get to one hundred percent? No, But

601
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 1: I don't know if I've ever gotten to everything in

602
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:37,040
Speaker 1: the playbook right at any place. So when you're I mean,

603
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,680
Speaker 1: when you're dealing with sixty seventy percent of your playbook,

604
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,200
Speaker 1: you're dealing with a lot of stuff. Yeah, yeah, especially yours.

605
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 1: And yeah it is because if you accumulated all these

606
00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 1: years of stuff, Yeah, and so and I throw nothing out.

607
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:53,920
Speaker 1: That's the problem. It's just it all it is. I'm

608
00:32:53,920 --> 00:33:00,000
Speaker 1: a hoarder, so so it's it's that percentage is really irrelevant.

609
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:04,480
Speaker 1: The percentage is only good. What percentage of stuff can

610
00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:07,600
Speaker 1: they learn? Yeah, and that's what's important. Okay, I got him.

611
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:09,400
Speaker 1: I'm glad that we got off on that tangent because

612
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:11,000
Speaker 1: I feel like that was a lot of like I

613
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:12,760
Speaker 1: got I got a lot of questions. It was like,

614
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:15,920
Speaker 1: what do you mean they only had this percentage in

615
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,680
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I think you're overthinking this. You are,

616
00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:20,440
Speaker 1: and it's and it really doesn't have it to do

617
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,920
Speaker 1: with all the players can't handle. It's no, it's it's

618
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,440
Speaker 1: not that. It's you know, we got a lot of

619
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:31,640
Speaker 1: stuff in. Even thirty forty percent of somebody's playbook is

620
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:34,360
Speaker 1: a lot of right. Yeah, I don't think people understand

621
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:38,920
Speaker 1: how much. It's just like, you've all the stuff I

622
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:40,600
Speaker 1: had in the playbook. I have all the stuff from

623
00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:42,200
Speaker 1: New I have all the stuff in college. I have

624
00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:43,560
Speaker 1: all this stuff from New England. I have all this

625
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:46,480
Speaker 1: stuff from Baltimore, all the stuff that we changed at Tennessee. Well,

626
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:49,120
Speaker 1: the thing just keeps getting bigger, you know. So when

627
00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:51,480
Speaker 1: it was like this at New England, that was pretty easy.

628
00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:54,200
Speaker 1: Well then Baltimore gets like, you know, it just keeps

629
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,080
Speaker 1: getting bigger. You can't expect the guys from Atlanta to

630
00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:00,280
Speaker 1: know everything that we've done coaching wise and all last

631
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,480
Speaker 1: forty years. There's no way, right, But that's the playbook. Yeah,

632
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 1: so there's sixty percent. It's still the same thing that

633
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:08,960
Speaker 1: the New England guys had, the same thing the Baltimore

634
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,560
Speaker 1: guys had, same thing. The Tennessee guys. Had it's just

635
00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:15,480
Speaker 1: it's it's all kinds of the same. Yeah, this may

636
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:19,360
Speaker 1: be a I don't know and in off the wall question.

637
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:22,719
Speaker 1: But how do you store your playbook? Like? Is it

638
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:28,160
Speaker 1: in file cabinets? Do you write to steal? Literally, I'm

639
00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:31,120
Speaker 1: not going to try and steal it. I'm I promise

640
00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:33,920
Speaker 1: you I won't steal it, but I may come by

641
00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:35,799
Speaker 1: and just have a peak one time, just run by

642
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:39,440
Speaker 1: the office. Hey, it's it's actually it's in every book

643
00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:41,000
Speaker 1: that I have. I have a New England book, I

644
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,080
Speaker 1: have a Baltimore book, a Tennessee book, I have an

645
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,480
Speaker 1: Atlanta book. Okay, So I don't keep any all of

646
00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:47,759
Speaker 1: it in one book. It's just whatever we're going to

647
00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:49,960
Speaker 1: use for Atlanta. I take out of these other ones

648
00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:52,480
Speaker 1: and I transferred over. Okay, same thing when I left

649
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,400
Speaker 1: New England. Some of the stuff went to Baltimore. Some

650
00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,279
Speaker 1: of the stuff. You know, Baltimore was really playing good

651
00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:00,399
Speaker 1: teefens long before I got there, right, And the same

652
00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:02,960
Speaker 1: thing with New England. So New England's book is kind

653
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:05,600
Speaker 1: of most of the stuff is the stuff that I

654
00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:09,080
Speaker 1: inherited and then I added to it Baltimore. Same thing

655
00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:12,239
Speaker 1: they were already doing well at Baltimore. So it's Baltimore

656
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:14,840
Speaker 1: what they were doing at Baltimore, plus the stuff that

657
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:16,920
Speaker 1: I brought from New England, plus the other stuff that

658
00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:19,680
Speaker 1: we've kind of change. Yeah, it just keeps adding on

659
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:21,680
Speaker 1: like that. So I just leave it in that book.

660
00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:24,640
Speaker 1: It's not one big book. So then the stuff that

661
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:27,959
Speaker 1: I wanted to play here in Atlanta, that came from

662
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:30,840
Speaker 1: New England, that came from Baltimore, that came from Tennessee,

663
00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:35,160
Speaker 1: all went into the Atlanta book. Okay, that makes sense.

664
00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:37,920
Speaker 1: See that's the part of the think that I don't know,

665
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,279
Speaker 1: the interesting quirks of the job. I like hearing how

666
00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:43,400
Speaker 1: people store everything and write out their notes and all

667
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. Well, there's a lot of stuff then,

668
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:47,680
Speaker 1: for example, that's in the Atlanta book over here, and

669
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:50,400
Speaker 1: then here's the New England book over here that never

670
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 1: has gotten to the Atlanta book. These guys don't even know.

671
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:54,879
Speaker 1: I've never even tried to put it in. Yeah, same

672
00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 1: thing with the Baltimore book. So it's just there's stuff

673
00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:01,560
Speaker 1: in these books that once in a while I'll be

674
00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:05,040
Speaker 1: watching a film on another team and going, Okay, this

675
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:07,319
Speaker 1: pressure will work. This is a pressure. I ran clear

676
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:09,439
Speaker 1: back there. So I'll take it out of that book

677
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:12,360
Speaker 1: and bring it over to the Atlanta book and stuff

678
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,680
Speaker 1: like that. Love it. Okay, I do want to ask

679
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:18,600
Speaker 1: this question because it's something that I've always been curious about.

680
00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:24,759
Speaker 1: The Super Bowl with the Ravens. Was that the blackout Bowl?

681
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:30,479
Speaker 1: It was? Please walk me through what you're thinking. Has

682
00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:35,000
Speaker 1: the coordinator when I guess, like the lights go out?

683
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:36,960
Speaker 1: Like where were you? What were you doing? It was

684
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:39,319
Speaker 1: like a thirty four minute time period in which y'all

685
00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:42,120
Speaker 1: had to just stop everything. Well, I was in the

686
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,600
Speaker 1: press box. Yeah, I'll calling the defense, and then all

687
00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:46,239
Speaker 1: of a sudden the lights went on. We just kind

688
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:49,400
Speaker 1: of figured it was short or somebody had there was

689
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:51,719
Speaker 1: an accident somewhere or something, somebody hit a pull and

690
00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,399
Speaker 1: blew up something that it would come right back on,

691
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:58,480
Speaker 1: and we didn't know how long it was going to happen.

692
00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:03,080
Speaker 1: And then I can remember sitting in the press box

693
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,680
Speaker 1: and we could still communicate down to the field with

694
00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:09,239
Speaker 1: the headsets. So the lights were off, but we still

695
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:13,720
Speaker 1: had communication through the headsets, and I remember Coach Harball

696
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:18,320
Speaker 1: going off on the officials because they were talking about

697
00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:26,320
Speaker 1: the lights coming no, I take that back. The headsets

698
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:30,399
Speaker 1: did go down, and he was talking about we had

699
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,080
Speaker 1: a walkie talkie that we could only use, and that

700
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:35,400
Speaker 1: if the lights came back on, they were going to

701
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:37,600
Speaker 1: restart the game, whether the headsets weren't on or not.

702
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:40,360
Speaker 1: And he goes, well, wait, my coordinator is in the

703
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:42,719
Speaker 1: press box. That's not fair. So then we're trying to

704
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:45,440
Speaker 1: figure out can we come down. Well, we couldn't come

705
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:48,719
Speaker 1: down because the electric is off. There's no elevators, so

706
00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:50,480
Speaker 1: it was like, we don't know what the heck is

707
00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:53,160
Speaker 1: going to happen here. And so then finally they had

708
00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:56,160
Speaker 1: said no, that if they do that, that they would

709
00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:59,000
Speaker 1: give us time to come down and do all that stuff,

710
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:03,440
Speaker 1: and it wouldn't be that because John was livid, and

711
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:05,359
Speaker 1: then we just kind of just sat there. I just

712
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:10,400
Speaker 1: waited till the lights came back on and started up again.

713
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:14,360
Speaker 1: I think that's so that that part of that Super

714
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:18,120
Speaker 1: Bowl is honestly what makes that Super Bowl almost as

715
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:20,040
Speaker 1: memorable as what it was, because that was something that

716
00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:24,240
Speaker 1: had never happened before. It was crazy. So I'm glad

717
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:26,560
Speaker 1: that I finally was able to ask you that question,

718
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:29,200
Speaker 1: because that wasn't something that's been on my mind for years. Yeah,

719
00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:32,920
Speaker 1: that's crazy. Um So okay, let's fast forward now to

720
00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:37,520
Speaker 1: going to Tennessee. And yeah, I know you talked about,

721
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:42,799
Speaker 1: you know, with Mike Rabel, getting to coach with a

722
00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:46,480
Speaker 1: player that who's now a coach you coached, like all

723
00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:49,960
Speaker 1: those all the words um for. But that was also

724
00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:52,000
Speaker 1: was that the first time that you met Arthur Smith

725
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:55,600
Speaker 1: was at Tennessee? Yes, what were your first impressions of him?

726
00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:57,759
Speaker 1: Very good? He was a tight end coach at that

727
00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:01,600
Speaker 1: time in the offensive coordinators tight ends coach, and I

728
00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:05,680
Speaker 1: remember doing you know what happens is you're you're really

729
00:39:05,719 --> 00:39:07,880
Speaker 1: not around the offensive guys a lot. You know him

730
00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:09,640
Speaker 1: because you're in a staff meeting with them and stuff,

731
00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:11,759
Speaker 1: but you're not corresponding with them every day and all

732
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:14,520
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. And so, you know, I met

733
00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:17,560
Speaker 1: Arthur and knew him and stuff like that. And but

734
00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:20,520
Speaker 1: the first time then we had a we did a

735
00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:24,759
Speaker 1: we had to do a press conference together, he and

736
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:26,680
Speaker 1: I and it happened to be I don't know, just

737
00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:28,840
Speaker 1: I think probably everybody had to do a press conference

738
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:32,040
Speaker 1: and hey, this day, Dean's gonna be you and Arthur Smith.

739
00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:35,080
Speaker 1: And I remember being there at the press conference and

740
00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:39,080
Speaker 1: watching him talk as a tight end coach, and I

741
00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:42,040
Speaker 1: got this guy is sharp. This guy is really sharp.

742
00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:45,239
Speaker 1: This guy is a good young coach. And that's that

743
00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:48,040
Speaker 1: was my first real impression of him, because we've maybe

744
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:50,319
Speaker 1: been there for three four weeks or something like that.

745
00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:56,759
Speaker 1: And it also told me something about Arthur in that

746
00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:02,680
Speaker 1: when you go through coach changes, most head coaches come

747
00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 1: in and want to bring their guys in, the guys

748
00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:08,799
Speaker 1: that there's a comfort level with, and I know what

749
00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:13,239
Speaker 1: he does and there's they're they're guys. Yeah, this guy

750
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:18,040
Speaker 1: keeps staying on with all these different head coaches tells

751
00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:21,160
Speaker 1: you something about the guy and the respect that the

752
00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:24,879
Speaker 1: new guy has coming in for him to keep him,

753
00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:28,719
Speaker 1: because it's just it's pretty easy. Most coaches think, if

754
00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:31,399
Speaker 1: my head coach gets fired, we're all gone. So I'm

755
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,920
Speaker 1: sure Arthur thought I'm gone, but he never was. He

756
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:37,640
Speaker 1: kept staying on with all these different head coaches, including Mike,

757
00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:41,239
Speaker 1: and I'm going that tells you a lot about what

758
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:43,719
Speaker 1: people think to him, What people in the building have

759
00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:47,640
Speaker 1: said about him, what loyalty and what respect people must

760
00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:51,239
Speaker 1: have for him, told me a lot about him. Your

761
00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:56,000
Speaker 1: time at Tennessee. What kind of was different about it

762
00:40:56,040 --> 00:41:00,320
Speaker 1: in comparison to your time with the Patriots and the Rays.

763
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:03,640
Speaker 1: I don't know if there was any difference. There was

764
00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:10,319
Speaker 1: one thing about the Patriots and then the Ravens. There's

765
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:14,399
Speaker 1: a there's an aura of success. There is. I mean,

766
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:19,360
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to smoke or anything else or belittle

767
00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:22,880
Speaker 1: anybody else, but there was an expectation in New England

768
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:26,879
Speaker 1: to win. I mean the year that we went undefeated

769
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,120
Speaker 1: in oh seven. Yeah, the offense was number one a league,

770
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:31,960
Speaker 1: but I think we were third or fourth on defense,

771
00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:34,839
Speaker 1: So it was like both sides of the ball were good.

772
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:38,400
Speaker 1: There was just an expectation when you walked in the

773
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:43,960
Speaker 1: building of winning, and that Baltimore it was the same

774
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 1: way with John there was just a spacially on defense.

775
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:49,719
Speaker 1: There was just because they have been good since two

776
00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:52,719
Speaker 1: thousand in defense, I mean, there's just not many down

777
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:56,919
Speaker 1: years in there all the way up through, and it's

778
00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:02,000
Speaker 1: just the expectation was there. Didn't quite feel the expectation

779
00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:04,080
Speaker 1: at Tennessee, even though they'd been nine and seven in

780
00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:06,240
Speaker 1: the year before and won a game in the playoffs.

781
00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:09,360
Speaker 1: Mariota took them to the playoffs and they beat Kansas

782
00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:13,640
Speaker 1: City the first round and got beat and so but

783
00:42:13,719 --> 00:42:17,719
Speaker 1: I didn't quite feel the aura, you know. And then

784
00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:19,560
Speaker 1: the other thing a little bit about it is it's

785
00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:24,280
Speaker 1: like in Baltimore, it's such a blue collar town. Football

786
00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:28,680
Speaker 1: is everything. The thing about Nashville is it's Nashville. Yeah,

787
00:42:28,719 --> 00:42:31,600
Speaker 1: there's a lot going on ine and it doesn't have

788
00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:34,280
Speaker 1: to do with football. It's kind of a destination city,

789
00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:37,200
Speaker 1: you know. More when we play other teams that would

790
00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:39,120
Speaker 1: come in, they'd have as many fans as we did.

791
00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:41,120
Speaker 1: Because if you're in Buffalo, you want to go to

792
00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:44,200
Speaker 1: Nashville for the weekend and enjoy your weekend. Or Philadelphia

793
00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:47,920
Speaker 1: or any of those northern places that did getting undated

794
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:50,640
Speaker 1: by people coming in and they want to go to

795
00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:54,200
Speaker 1: Nashville for the weekend. So there's some it's an entertainment

796
00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:57,360
Speaker 1: city more than it was a football city. Baltimore is

797
00:42:57,360 --> 00:42:59,960
Speaker 1: a football city, you know. There's certain cities that are

798
00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:03,359
Speaker 1: New England became that because they started winning so much.

799
00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:06,680
Speaker 1: It became New England, not the Boston Patriots anymore, the

800
00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:09,880
Speaker 1: New England Patriots. So Tennessee was a little different in

801
00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:13,600
Speaker 1: that aspect. But players were the players. I mean it

802
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:15,759
Speaker 1: was the same thing. There wasn't maybe as many big

803
00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:19,759
Speaker 1: name guys as there was, like a Baltimore, but you know,

804
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:23,239
Speaker 1: the Joel Caseis and those guys, I mean, they were

805
00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:25,440
Speaker 1: a great players. I had. I had fun. Yeah, I

806
00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:27,879
Speaker 1: had fun, just as much fun, you know as I've

807
00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,680
Speaker 1: had at those other two places. The same way here

808
00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:34,879
Speaker 1: I'm having fun here. Yeah. Well it's it's funny too

809
00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:38,799
Speaker 1: because you talk about having fun and um, you know,

810
00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:41,040
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people know this about you.

811
00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:44,680
Speaker 1: But you retired in twenty nineteen and then took the

812
00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:48,320
Speaker 1: twenty twenty season off and then came out of retirement

813
00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:52,719
Speaker 1: to come here to Atlanta. Right, what was that year

814
00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:56,440
Speaker 1: like in retirement? How how did you know that you

815
00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:59,319
Speaker 1: wanted to get back in and how quickly did you

816
00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:01,680
Speaker 1: know that you wanted to get back in. Well, there's

817
00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:06,640
Speaker 1: there's two things about that year. One the good thing

818
00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:09,560
Speaker 1: about being office. It was the COVID year. Yes, that's right.

819
00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:11,759
Speaker 1: So every coach that I talked to said they were

820
00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:15,600
Speaker 1: miserable because of all zoom meetings and all this and

821
00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:18,440
Speaker 1: staying in the hotels and it just wasn't like football

822
00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:21,759
Speaker 1: and you're playing in front of empty stadiums. So that

823
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:24,880
Speaker 1: part of it I didn't miss, because everybody told me,

824
00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:27,439
Speaker 1: you picked a good year to retire. Yeah. The part

825
00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:29,360
Speaker 1: that I did miss is that I was doing a

826
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:34,400
Speaker 1: radio show on Fridays in Nashville talking about the opposing

827
00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:38,719
Speaker 1: team's offense. And so the Titans were nice enough to

828
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:42,680
Speaker 1: give me film and a computer that I could watch

829
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:45,719
Speaker 1: the other teams, like if they were playing Indianapolis, I

830
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:49,399
Speaker 1: could watch Indianapolis games and I could break it down

831
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:53,160
Speaker 1: so I could talk on a radio and actually sound

832
00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:54,719
Speaker 1: like I knew what I was talking about. That's why

833
00:44:54,719 --> 00:44:58,560
Speaker 1: he's so good on the podcast. He has this experience. No. So,

834
00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:01,400
Speaker 1: but what happened and was as I started watching this

835
00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:04,360
Speaker 1: film going I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. No,

836
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:06,759
Speaker 1: what are they doing? You know? And it's like all

837
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:09,200
Speaker 1: of a sudden, they started missing it. Yeah, and then

838
00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:12,000
Speaker 1: Melan I went to one home game when they finally

839
00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:14,920
Speaker 1: started opening it up. I couldn't take it. I couldn't.

840
00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:17,600
Speaker 1: I couldn't sit there and watch the game. And it's

841
00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:20,680
Speaker 1: like driving me nuts. I missed it so much being

842
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:23,200
Speaker 1: down there with the players and calling the game and

843
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:25,839
Speaker 1: stuff like that. And I really missed it. But at

844
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:30,440
Speaker 1: the same time, I was retired and my wife had

845
00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:32,680
Speaker 1: bought me a golf membership, so I was playing golf

846
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:35,000
Speaker 1: a couple of times a week, and so I was

847
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:37,560
Speaker 1: enjoying that. You know, we had thought about what we

848
00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:40,719
Speaker 1: were going to travel a lot, but obviously COVID put

849
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:44,440
Speaker 1: an end to that, that whole thing. So you know,

850
00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:47,879
Speaker 1: you're I kind of I'm sitting around and not I'm

851
00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:50,799
Speaker 1: doing puzzles for the first time in my life, and

852
00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:54,239
Speaker 1: I'm doing puzzles and I'm doing this this radio thing

853
00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:57,879
Speaker 1: and I'm really missing it. Yeah. But at the same time,

854
00:45:57,920 --> 00:45:59,759
Speaker 1: I had gotten a call from a couple of other

855
00:46:00,200 --> 00:46:03,680
Speaker 1: guys that were going to be were interviewing for head coaches.

856
00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:06,400
Speaker 1: They hadn't gotten jobs, but they weren't interviewing. Would you

857
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:09,720
Speaker 1: be interested if I did get the job of coming

858
00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:14,799
Speaker 1: out of retirement and I said, I don't think so.

859
00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:17,240
Speaker 1: So then when Arthur and I talked, it was different.

860
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:21,080
Speaker 1: It's all about people, and I told you that's that's

861
00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:24,799
Speaker 1: I went to Tennessee because it was Mike Vrabel. I

862
00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:27,560
Speaker 1: went to Baltimore because it was Johnah Harball. I went

863
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:30,640
Speaker 1: to New England because it was New England and Bill. Yeah,

864
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:32,600
Speaker 1: but I also had known Bill for years and years.

865
00:46:32,600 --> 00:46:35,120
Speaker 1: I coached with his father at the Naval Academy, so

866
00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:38,479
Speaker 1: I knew Bill. Every job I've ever taken, it took

867
00:46:38,560 --> 00:46:41,720
Speaker 1: because I kind of in the NFL has been because

868
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:44,760
Speaker 1: I knew the guy that was the head coach, and

869
00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:47,839
Speaker 1: I just had so much respect for Arthur. I said,

870
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:51,719
Speaker 1: this will be a good situation, and so mel and

871
00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:56,319
Speaker 1: I talked about it and discussed. It wasn't a very

872
00:46:56,360 --> 00:47:00,879
Speaker 1: long discussion, and so it's great. And that's the other

873
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:03,319
Speaker 1: thing about her, She's been great. You know, here I

874
00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:06,440
Speaker 1: am coming on retirement twice, and you know, it's like

875
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:10,279
Speaker 1: some people wouldn't have been real tolerable. And she goes, hey,

876
00:47:10,760 --> 00:47:13,279
Speaker 1: if that's what you want to do, and let's we'll

877
00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:15,040
Speaker 1: do it. Yeah, that was gonna be My question is

878
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:18,000
Speaker 1: how did she What was that conversation like with her,

879
00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:21,759
Speaker 1: because I mean, honestly, I'm sure you're around a lot

880
00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:24,400
Speaker 1: more in that year. That might have been the reason

881
00:47:24,520 --> 00:47:27,560
Speaker 1: why she wanted me to go back. But the first

882
00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:32,319
Speaker 1: one when the two weeks I was returning, consider that no,

883
00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:34,440
Speaker 1: and then because she just that that one though at

884
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:38,319
Speaker 1: first she was a little bit about like I thought

885
00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 1: we were going to travel because COVID wasn't then, right, Yeah.

886
00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:43,880
Speaker 1: The other one was after with COVID around, it was

887
00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:46,120
Speaker 1: kind of like, yeah, we aren't going anywhere, we aren't

888
00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:49,000
Speaker 1: doing anything, and we are together, and it was Roy.

889
00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:51,200
Speaker 1: I think it was Roy. Last year was a little

890
00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:55,359
Speaker 1: bit different for her because it was still kind of

891
00:47:55,360 --> 00:47:58,480
Speaker 1: COVID last year. Yeah, we were in the stands, but

892
00:47:58,560 --> 00:48:01,000
Speaker 1: you couldn't have like get together. There's after the game

893
00:48:01,080 --> 00:48:03,560
Speaker 1: like we used to always have with all the players

894
00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:07,000
Speaker 1: and she'd meet the players wives and the players kids

895
00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:10,359
Speaker 1: and the other coaches wives and coaches kids, and she

896
00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:14,160
Speaker 1: runs a bubble Bible study with coaches wives, which is good.

897
00:48:14,239 --> 00:48:16,879
Speaker 1: But I think she, excuse me, really missed it last

898
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:20,000
Speaker 1: year too, because it's just she couldn't get us involved.

899
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:22,800
Speaker 1: So I'm hoping now this next year, now, yeah, that'll

900
00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:25,040
Speaker 1: that'll change. Yeah, I hope said too. It's funny because

901
00:48:25,080 --> 00:48:28,520
Speaker 1: I have been in this job for about a year,

902
00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:31,280
Speaker 1: because you know, I was with the athletic for the

903
00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:35,120
Speaker 1: COVID year and then now I'm here and I hadn't

904
00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:38,200
Speaker 1: gotten into the building until like two months ago, like

905
00:48:38,400 --> 00:48:40,480
Speaker 1: at all. Like I was in the building for like

906
00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:42,520
Speaker 1: one week and then they shut it down and I've

907
00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:45,560
Speaker 1: actually been working out of the dorms. That's why. That's

908
00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:48,880
Speaker 1: where I've been working for the last like for like

909
00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:52,200
Speaker 1: the six months of the season. It's it's been different.

910
00:48:52,239 --> 00:48:56,520
Speaker 1: It's crazy. Yeah, um well, I did want to kind

911
00:48:56,520 --> 00:48:59,680
Speaker 1: of wrap all this up talking about the team, of

912
00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:03,120
Speaker 1: which you know we're here for. By the way, by

913
00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:07,160
Speaker 1: the way, we shouldn't maybe talk about the Falcons. I

914
00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:13,080
Speaker 1: think it's really interesting because you talk about the memorable

915
00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:17,880
Speaker 1: teams that you've worked with and how when it's a project,

916
00:49:18,120 --> 00:49:20,920
Speaker 1: it almost makes it more fun, it makes it almost

917
00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:23,960
Speaker 1: more memorable, more meaningful. And I feel like that's what

918
00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:27,759
Speaker 1: this is. I feel like where this organization is right now,

919
00:49:28,239 --> 00:49:31,319
Speaker 1: it's a project and it's a it's a built, it's

920
00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:35,200
Speaker 1: building for you. Was that something that intrigued you? I know,

921
00:49:35,320 --> 00:49:40,080
Speaker 1: obviously coming and working with Author Smith was priority numero uno, right,

922
00:49:40,239 --> 00:49:43,400
Speaker 1: But was that something that intrigued you as well? Absolutely?

923
00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:47,800
Speaker 1: Yeah it did. And I also the other thing I

924
00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:50,080
Speaker 1: knew about Arthur's Arthur's not going to take a job

925
00:49:50,120 --> 00:49:51,799
Speaker 1: that he doesn't feel like he can get turned around

926
00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:54,160
Speaker 1: and be successful. He wasn't going to take a job

927
00:49:54,200 --> 00:49:57,719
Speaker 1: because it's all I need to be a head co down, Well,

928
00:49:57,760 --> 00:50:01,440
Speaker 1: you got to take a job. Interviewed for all of them, right, Yeah,

929
00:50:01,480 --> 00:50:04,480
Speaker 1: So it's not like he was just gonna, you know,

930
00:50:04,719 --> 00:50:06,480
Speaker 1: I gotta be a head coach. It's it's gonna be

931
00:50:06,560 --> 00:50:11,080
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pick the place that I feel like, great ownership,

932
00:50:11,520 --> 00:50:14,680
Speaker 1: great organization, I have a chance to win, turn this

933
00:50:14,760 --> 00:50:18,480
Speaker 1: thing around. Obviously, if you're an interviewing the programs down

934
00:50:18,560 --> 00:50:21,120
Speaker 1: because you know they're not usually changing head coaches. Lets

935
00:50:21,120 --> 00:50:24,400
Speaker 1: the guy go somewhere else. I mean all that's just

936
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:27,440
Speaker 1: part of the business. So yeah, it was because Ars Smith,

937
00:50:27,440 --> 00:50:29,879
Speaker 1: but yeah, yeah, part of that was. And I will

938
00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:33,439
Speaker 1: also say that even going seven and ten last year,

939
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:36,440
Speaker 1: I could not have been more proud of the defense.

940
00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:40,480
Speaker 1: I love these guys. These guys gave it what they had.

941
00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:45,040
Speaker 1: They played their hearts out. Could I really thought like

942
00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:47,520
Speaker 1: we probably had a chance to win a couple more games,

943
00:50:47,560 --> 00:50:49,640
Speaker 1: and maybe we were. We were right there at the

944
00:50:49,719 --> 00:50:51,279
Speaker 1: end up ntil a couple of games to go. We

945
00:50:51,280 --> 00:50:53,640
Speaker 1: were still had a child at making the playoffs. Once

946
00:50:53,680 --> 00:50:57,520
Speaker 1: you get in the playoffs, who knows. But I just

947
00:50:57,560 --> 00:51:00,480
Speaker 1: really I really love coaching this team last year, and

948
00:51:00,520 --> 00:51:03,480
Speaker 1: I love coaching it right now too. I really feel

949
00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:06,319
Speaker 1: like we are about to turn a corner. It's gonna

950
00:51:06,320 --> 00:51:08,640
Speaker 1: make everybody proud. And I think the people and the

951
00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:11,440
Speaker 1: fans are hungry for it, and I like that. Um

952
00:51:11,719 --> 00:51:15,200
Speaker 1: and I just think that our players are very hungry.

953
00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:18,439
Speaker 1: They're very coachable. I enjoy going into that meeting room

954
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:21,960
Speaker 1: every day. Yeah, how much I've talked to a few

955
00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:25,759
Speaker 1: assistants about this over the course of the draft process.

956
00:51:26,239 --> 00:51:30,520
Speaker 1: How much are you in the meetings in terms of, Hey,

957
00:51:30,760 --> 00:51:33,759
Speaker 1: I would like to acquire this guy, this guy's on

958
00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:37,160
Speaker 1: the free agency market, I like him, or Hey, this

959
00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:40,879
Speaker 1: guy I saw him at the combine, I really like him.

960
00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:44,000
Speaker 1: How much are you in those conversations? Well, very much. Yeah,

961
00:51:44,040 --> 00:51:46,480
Speaker 1: we all of us, all the coaches are, I mean

962
00:51:47,520 --> 00:51:52,400
Speaker 1: Terry and and and Art take all of our input

963
00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:56,279
Speaker 1: along with the head scouts, Kyle and all those guys.

964
00:51:56,080 --> 00:51:59,440
Speaker 1: It's it's really a collaboration of everybody. You know, they

965
00:51:59,480 --> 00:52:01,600
Speaker 1: don't they don't want to bring in somebody that we

966
00:52:01,640 --> 00:52:05,480
Speaker 1: really don't want right and then, but also what we

967
00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:07,880
Speaker 1: our jobs as coaches? Look at the guy, does he

968
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:10,600
Speaker 1: fit our system? Will he be the guy we want?

969
00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:13,040
Speaker 1: They got to do all the other groundwork as far

970
00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:15,680
Speaker 1: as things off the field, you know, as he is

971
00:52:15,719 --> 00:52:17,440
Speaker 1: the guy been in trouble? Has he been? All of

972
00:52:17,440 --> 00:52:19,400
Speaker 1: this guy? The other part of it is that we

973
00:52:19,520 --> 00:52:25,239
Speaker 1: play no part in it is financial. We don't. I

974
00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:27,640
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know what the salary cap is.

975
00:52:27,760 --> 00:52:29,920
Speaker 1: I don't even I don't care. What Why should I

976
00:52:29,960 --> 00:52:32,080
Speaker 1: want to know what some guy's making. I don't really care.

977
00:52:32,200 --> 00:52:34,200
Speaker 1: He should be playing because he's the best player, whether

978
00:52:34,239 --> 00:52:37,440
Speaker 1: he's making ten million, one million, or twenty five you know,

979
00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:39,799
Speaker 1: one hundred. I mean, I'm gonna play the best guy

980
00:52:39,880 --> 00:52:44,040
Speaker 1: that playing in that position at the time. So we

981
00:52:44,080 --> 00:52:47,439
Speaker 1: can sit there and say, hey, we really like this

982
00:52:47,480 --> 00:52:51,200
Speaker 1: guy as a free agent. I did last year. He

983
00:52:51,280 --> 00:52:55,480
Speaker 1: even can't afford him. What do you want me to say, Okay,

984
00:52:56,040 --> 00:52:58,719
Speaker 1: can't afford Yeah, I'll go to the next one. So

985
00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:01,080
Speaker 1: but are they gonna ask us, yeah, are we going

986
00:53:01,120 --> 00:53:04,879
Speaker 1: to give us our opinion? Yes, then it's just a matter.

987
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:08,839
Speaker 1: There's other parts to it that we don't have. And

988
00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:10,480
Speaker 1: it's the same thing with Art, like when they go

989
00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:14,839
Speaker 1: into the draft. Okay, he ain't undraft. I want all

990
00:53:14,880 --> 00:53:18,280
Speaker 1: defensive players. They were going once all offensive players. Well,

991
00:53:18,320 --> 00:53:20,520
Speaker 1: that can't be and we need special teams players. So

992
00:53:20,560 --> 00:53:23,399
Speaker 1: there's a lot of decisions that have to be made.

993
00:53:23,440 --> 00:53:25,680
Speaker 1: You got two guys up here that are fairly equal

994
00:53:25,760 --> 00:53:28,440
Speaker 1: that you want to take us first round picks, Well,

995
00:53:28,760 --> 00:53:31,200
Speaker 1: they got to make a decision which one is really

996
00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:34,600
Speaker 1: more valuable to the team. Yeah, I want the defensive guy.

997
00:53:34,719 --> 00:53:36,719
Speaker 1: Offensive guys want the offensive guy. But they got to

998
00:53:36,719 --> 00:53:39,640
Speaker 1: make a decision. This guy's the best fit right now

999
00:53:39,680 --> 00:53:43,560
Speaker 1: for what we need. Yeah, and so there's just there's

1000
00:53:43,600 --> 00:53:47,000
Speaker 1: a lot of things. But yes, we are very heavily involved. Yeah.

1001
00:53:47,120 --> 00:53:51,799
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting because that's something that the salary cap.

1002
00:53:51,840 --> 00:53:56,000
Speaker 1: I feel like it's just this mythical thing that everyone

1003
00:53:56,040 --> 00:54:00,359
Speaker 1: talks about. It's really, I think convoluted and difficult for

1004
00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:02,799
Speaker 1: some people to get their minds around. I know when

1005
00:54:02,840 --> 00:54:05,600
Speaker 1: I first started covering the league, like I spent a

1006
00:54:05,719 --> 00:54:09,880
Speaker 1: week just trying to understand, like, Okay, what's dead money?

1007
00:54:09,920 --> 00:54:12,799
Speaker 1: Like what are all these terms and what do they

1008
00:54:12,840 --> 00:54:16,319
Speaker 1: mean and why are they important? And I think it's

1009
00:54:16,360 --> 00:54:20,080
Speaker 1: interesting because you have people in the building who specifically

1010
00:54:20,160 --> 00:54:23,680
Speaker 1: work CAP. You have these CAP crunchers, and then you

1011
00:54:23,760 --> 00:54:26,520
Speaker 1: have the scouts that are constantly thinking about like, Okay

1012
00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:29,960
Speaker 1: is talking about can we afford this person? How much

1013
00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:32,319
Speaker 1: are you cognizantly thinking about that? I mean, I think

1014
00:54:32,360 --> 00:54:35,880
Speaker 1: about the Grady Jared extension that we just saw happen.

1015
00:54:37,080 --> 00:54:40,520
Speaker 1: How much are you sitting there like, Okay, please find

1016
00:54:40,520 --> 00:54:44,000
Speaker 1: the money to bring this guy beat. That's but that's

1017
00:54:44,000 --> 00:54:46,359
Speaker 1: about all it is for us. We're just hoping right

1018
00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:49,840
Speaker 1: that we have the money. We really as coaches, do

1019
00:54:49,840 --> 00:54:51,920
Speaker 1: you sit back and you kind of take that totally

1020
00:54:52,040 --> 00:54:57,480
Speaker 1: on the equation would you like to have this player? Yes? Yeah, period.

1021
00:54:57,560 --> 00:55:00,440
Speaker 1: That's all I need to say. I can't. I don't

1022
00:55:00,440 --> 00:55:02,319
Speaker 1: know about the rest of it. I don't want to

1023
00:55:02,360 --> 00:55:05,120
Speaker 1: know about the rest of it. You know, do I

1024
00:55:05,160 --> 00:55:09,040
Speaker 1: want Grady Jarrett to be get extensions? When they asked me,

1025
00:55:09,120 --> 00:55:13,239
Speaker 1: absolutely you want this guy back? Yes? Yeah, forever. You know,

1026
00:55:13,360 --> 00:55:16,400
Speaker 1: I don't want him to ever leave Atlanta. That's all

1027
00:55:16,480 --> 00:55:18,359
Speaker 1: I can say. The rest of it's up to them,

1028
00:55:18,400 --> 00:55:20,480
Speaker 1: whether they can get them the negotiations and all that

1029
00:55:20,480 --> 00:55:23,839
Speaker 1: stuff done. Our job as coaches is do you want

1030
00:55:23,840 --> 00:55:25,680
Speaker 1: this guy as a player? Do you not want this

1031
00:55:25,760 --> 00:55:28,400
Speaker 1: guy as a player? Yes? Or no? And that's I

1032
00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:30,920
Speaker 1: feel like that's all we give them. Then it's up

1033
00:55:30,960 --> 00:55:33,040
Speaker 1: to them to hopefully negotiate it out if they can.

1034
00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:36,080
Speaker 1: There you go. I think it's really you said something

1035
00:55:36,200 --> 00:55:40,360
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes ago about really feeling like this

1036
00:55:40,800 --> 00:55:44,560
Speaker 1: organization is turning a corner, and something that I keep

1037
00:55:44,640 --> 00:55:48,040
Speaker 1: telling people is and especially when y'all first came in here,

1038
00:55:48,080 --> 00:55:50,960
Speaker 1: when Terry and Arthur first came in here, I wrote

1039
00:55:51,040 --> 00:55:54,000
Speaker 1: so many times, it's like, look, this is a process.

1040
00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:57,000
Speaker 1: This is not a It's not something that's going to

1041
00:55:57,040 --> 00:55:59,440
Speaker 1: happen overnight. And we actually had a J. Terrell on

1042
00:55:59,520 --> 00:56:01,919
Speaker 1: the fouth Can Find a Whistle podcast not too long ago,

1043
00:56:01,920 --> 00:56:05,240
Speaker 1: and I asked him a word to describe twenty twenty

1044
00:56:05,239 --> 00:56:09,360
Speaker 1: two and he said marathon. He was like, this organization,

1045
00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:11,000
Speaker 1: we're in a marathon. We're not in a sprant. We're

1046
00:56:11,040 --> 00:56:14,360
Speaker 1: in a marathon. We want to have long term success.

1047
00:56:15,800 --> 00:56:19,719
Speaker 1: For you, when you're thinking about where this organization is,

1048
00:56:20,680 --> 00:56:25,239
Speaker 1: what does excite you about the future of it. I

1049
00:56:25,400 --> 00:56:28,839
Speaker 1: just think we're getting the right people well, and I'm

1050
00:56:28,840 --> 00:56:31,000
Speaker 1: not saying that the other people that were here were

1051
00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:34,400
Speaker 1: the wrong people. I'm just saying that every head coach

1052
00:56:34,480 --> 00:56:38,319
Speaker 1: has a personality and that team should reflect his personality

1053
00:56:38,400 --> 00:56:41,440
Speaker 1: and you want people around you that reflect your personality

1054
00:56:41,480 --> 00:56:46,359
Speaker 1: and buy into what you're trying to do. If we're

1055
00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:49,560
Speaker 1: coaching for Arthur Smith, we all need to be in

1056
00:56:49,880 --> 00:56:55,000
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith's you know, wheelhouse or what he wants and

1057
00:56:55,120 --> 00:56:57,880
Speaker 1: what does he want. I can't have like, well, I

1058
00:56:57,920 --> 00:56:59,640
Speaker 1: want to do it my way on Deva, I'm going

1059
00:56:59,719 --> 00:57:03,040
Speaker 1: to do he hired me to do the defensive job.

1060
00:57:03,080 --> 00:57:06,480
Speaker 1: But if he wants something a certain way, we need

1061
00:57:06,520 --> 00:57:08,760
Speaker 1: to buy in and do it. And we need players

1062
00:57:08,800 --> 00:57:12,320
Speaker 1: the same way. And I love it's called a culture

1063
00:57:12,480 --> 00:57:16,560
Speaker 1: and everybody has their own and they're all different and

1064
00:57:16,560 --> 00:57:20,200
Speaker 1: so but you've got to be what the guy wants

1065
00:57:20,200 --> 00:57:22,320
Speaker 1: you to be. And I just feel like we are

1066
00:57:22,880 --> 00:57:29,440
Speaker 1: making tremendous strides that way, and we just I can

1067
00:57:29,480 --> 00:57:33,160
Speaker 1: just feel it in the players that they're buying into

1068
00:57:33,200 --> 00:57:35,840
Speaker 1: everything that we want to get done and they're trying

1069
00:57:35,920 --> 00:57:37,720
Speaker 1: their best to do it. That's all you can really have.

1070
00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:40,320
Speaker 1: Somebody to do it. Just give it, give it your best.

1071
00:57:40,400 --> 00:57:42,720
Speaker 1: We want tough guys, we want physical guys, we want

1072
00:57:42,760 --> 00:57:46,000
Speaker 1: smart guys, but we also want good character guys. You

1073
00:57:46,080 --> 00:57:49,160
Speaker 1: want guys that are out in the community and are

1074
00:57:49,240 --> 00:57:52,520
Speaker 1: doing community service and the people fans can relate to

1075
00:57:52,800 --> 00:57:54,919
Speaker 1: and you're not reading about them in the headlines all

1076
00:57:54,920 --> 00:57:59,840
Speaker 1: the time for the bad reasons. And so we're doing

1077
00:58:00,160 --> 00:58:03,920
Speaker 1: Arthur's doing that, and I think it's interesting too. There

1078
00:58:03,960 --> 00:58:06,800
Speaker 1: are just so many young guys that you kind of

1079
00:58:06,880 --> 00:58:12,480
Speaker 1: can mold and into what you kind of hope that

1080
00:58:12,520 --> 00:58:15,920
Speaker 1: they become and having visions for them. And I almost

1081
00:58:15,920 --> 00:58:18,680
Speaker 1: feel like those guys are they come in and they're

1082
00:58:18,680 --> 00:58:21,440
Speaker 1: like sponges and they're just like they're so jazzed just

1083
00:58:21,520 --> 00:58:23,880
Speaker 1: to be in the league at large, and that they're

1084
00:58:23,920 --> 00:58:25,880
Speaker 1: just like, let's just go, just throw me out there

1085
00:58:25,920 --> 00:58:28,000
Speaker 1: and go and with this team, it is a young team.

1086
00:58:28,560 --> 00:58:31,400
Speaker 1: Do you feel that youth when you're around these guys? Yeah,

1087
00:58:31,440 --> 00:58:34,640
Speaker 1: I do, I feel. But also that's why the Grady

1088
00:58:34,720 --> 00:58:38,040
Speaker 1: Jarrets and those guys are so valuable, because if you

1089
00:58:38,080 --> 00:58:41,040
Speaker 1: don't have a guy like that that the d lineman

1090
00:58:41,080 --> 00:58:44,640
Speaker 1: come in and watch him work every single day on

1091
00:58:44,680 --> 00:58:49,880
Speaker 1: how he works and how he prepares that there's their examples.

1092
00:58:50,960 --> 00:58:55,520
Speaker 1: As a coach, I grew up watching other coaches as examples. Yeah,

1093
00:58:55,520 --> 00:58:59,560
Speaker 1: you know, kids watch their parents, you know, they're good examples.

1094
00:58:59,720 --> 00:59:02,240
Speaker 1: That's how you become a good parent, right, it's so

1095
00:59:02,960 --> 00:59:06,400
Speaker 1: it's no different. And that's why those guys, even though

1096
00:59:06,400 --> 00:59:08,800
Speaker 1: there's are a lot of youth, the guys that are

1097
00:59:08,880 --> 00:59:12,240
Speaker 1: the Jake Matthews, the Grady Jarrets, those kind of guys

1098
00:59:12,280 --> 00:59:15,000
Speaker 1: are so important because they are going to be the

1099
00:59:15,040 --> 00:59:17,640
Speaker 1: examples to these guys. This is how you do it

1100
00:59:17,720 --> 00:59:21,920
Speaker 1: absolutely well. That wraps up our final pas in the

1101
00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:26,360
Speaker 1: pod segments. I hope that you do like this name.

1102
00:59:27,040 --> 00:59:29,160
Speaker 1: We're gonna stick with it because I think it's fantastic.

1103
00:59:29,440 --> 00:59:32,600
Speaker 1: But thank you so much for joining us for the

1104
00:59:32,680 --> 00:59:37,120
Speaker 1: last gosh two hours of chats. I've really really appreciated,

1105
00:59:37,240 --> 00:59:39,160
Speaker 1: and I think the fans are really gonna love it too,

1106
00:59:39,160 --> 00:59:41,000
Speaker 1: So thank you. Thanks for having me absolutely