Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Schreeger as a production of the
Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with I Heart Radio. What's Up, Everybody?
Speaker 1: This is Peter Schreeger and this is the podcast The
Speaker 1: Season with Peter Scheger. We're not entering the Divisional Round
Speaker 1: of the playoffs, and this is my favorite weekend of
Speaker 1: the football calendar. You know, football is now a fifty
Speaker 1: two weeks season, and I always say wild Card Round
Speaker 1: is a nice appetizer, kind of a play in game feel.
Speaker 1: Divisional Round you of your best eight teams and you
Speaker 1: have four games and it's clean and it's simple too.
Speaker 1: On Saturday too, on Sunday, and then we're into Championship
Speaker 1: week and away we go. And gosh, I look at
Speaker 1: this NFC slate and can I just say, from like
Speaker 1: a fan slash TV slash media perspective, when those logo
Speaker 1: show up, there's a certain feel about out different teams.
Speaker 1: Two years ago, the Buccaneers, here's Tom Brady and this
Speaker 1: great deal and Brady and the Bucks and god, she's
Speaker 1: he's getting Gronk out of retirement too, and it was
Speaker 1: a cool story. But when you show me four logos
Speaker 1: and it's the New York Giants, which goes back to
Speaker 1: the thirties, and it's the Philadelphia Eagles and all their
Speaker 1: history and the birth of the NFL and when the
Speaker 1: league offices used to be in Philadelphia and what Philadelphia
Speaker 1: means the NFL. Then you give me that Cowboys star
Speaker 1: and what the Cowboys mean to the NFL. And then
Speaker 1: you're throw in the forty Niners and their history. You're
Speaker 1: telling me those are the last four teams. Look, the Steelers,
Speaker 1: rich franchise, the Packers, of course, but I'd say in
Speaker 1: the top ten are those four teams as far as
Speaker 1: national fan bases. That logo mattering Aaron, my producer, I
Speaker 1: love you, buddy. I I gotta think. I don't know
Speaker 1: about your generation, but when you see those war logos Giants, Eagles, Cowboys,
Speaker 1: forty Niners, does that that could just get you out
Speaker 1: of your chair or are you more of Well? I
Speaker 1: like the stories and the players and it would be
Speaker 1: cool Like to me, I don't know, I get those
Speaker 1: four national brands getting up, let's go. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: all four of them, like you're saying, have like historical significance.
Speaker 1: That's really great. But also even with they all have
Speaker 1: as a franchise, great storylines in the past five ten years,
Speaker 1: so like you know, Shanahan and the forty Niners, like
Speaker 1: watching that go up and down, and like now potentially
Speaker 1: having this big resurgence. Like even if I am a
Speaker 1: fan of certain players or you know, like a bunch
Speaker 1: of people who are like fantasy focused are gonna follow
Speaker 1: certain individuals, they're great storylines for each one of these franchises.
Speaker 1: So you got those four, which I agree. Then on
Speaker 1: the a f C, it's like quarterback Heaven and you're
Speaker 1: talking about Mahomes, Alan Borrow, and then maybe the next
Speaker 1: dude is Trevor Lawrence. Look, I work for the NFL,
Speaker 1: I work for Fox Sports. I work for I heart.
Speaker 1: Of course it's in my best interest for high ratings
Speaker 1: and for great fit. But if you're telling me pick
Speaker 1: eight teams, pick two matchups in the a f C
Speaker 1: this weekend, Pick two matchups in the NFC this weekend,
Speaker 1: seed the teams, if you asked me to do that,
Speaker 1: I might draw it up this way. I might draw
Speaker 1: it up as an old school NFC East battle between
Speaker 1: the Giants and the Eagles, And then Sunday you get
Speaker 1: that classic rivalry going back to you know, even before
Speaker 1: the catch. There's a famous stallback game against the Niners.
Speaker 1: But then you got the catch, and you got the
Speaker 1: two NFC Championship game, the NFC Championship game, the ninety
Speaker 1: five NFC Championship game. I heard up till last year
Speaker 1: they had a great divisional round or wild card round
Speaker 1: game where Dak you know, the clock went out. Gosh,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. And then in the a f C, you're
Speaker 1: getting four quarterbacks that are the future of the sport.
Speaker 1: And you could have interchanged Herbert with Lawrence whatever. I
Speaker 1: out of taking either one of them. But this is
Speaker 1: how it's should be. These are the eight teams. No
Speaker 1: complaints here. Uh, the networks have to be thrilled. The
Speaker 1: NFL has got to be thrilled. Great great games, great
Speaker 1: great logos, and some amazing stories. And if you're in
Speaker 1: for the Brock party story, it's there for you. If
Speaker 1: you're in for the Mahomes story, it's there for you.
Speaker 1: If you're in for the Buffalo Bills incredible roller coaster
Speaker 1: season story, it's there. And then how about this the
Speaker 1: Rams their home watching the Bengals, everyone said, well, it's
Speaker 1: hard to to to get back to this rule. Bengals
Speaker 1: have won eight straight games and look good and there
Speaker 1: and there on the on the precipice. So I'm here
Speaker 1: for it. I think the divisional round is gonna be awesome.
Speaker 1: But before we get to, you know, any more matchups
Speaker 1: on that, I wanted to talk about some of the
Speaker 1: coaching stuff and some of the news that I made,
Speaker 1: and gosh, I was not I was not expecting. Um
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsburry and I are are friends. And after he
Speaker 1: got let oh, we talked for a while, and then
Speaker 1: we talk some more. And then I had multiple teams
Speaker 1: reach out to me and say, oh, I know your
Speaker 1: friends with Cliff, Like, what, what's his deal? We might
Speaker 1: have a job available for him, and ever, here's his number,
Speaker 1: So I would pass cliff number a long, you know whatever.
Speaker 1: Um Cliff had already booked ticket to Thailand, where he
Speaker 1: was going on vacation. Uh. He talked to I'm sure
Speaker 1: some people whether he was interested or not. I'm sure
Speaker 1: we'll get to that in a couple of weeks or
Speaker 1: a month when he returns whenever it is, and maybe
Speaker 1: he will be working next year. We'll see. But Cliff's
Speaker 1: mindset was I'm going to Thailand. It's been a brutal
Speaker 1: last twelve months. I need to clear my head. And
Speaker 1: you know, a guy with no kids, guy who's been
Speaker 1: coaching every day since he was finished as a player's
Speaker 1: been fired already at Texas Tech, took the the O
Speaker 1: C job at the USC, then got offered the head
Speaker 1: coaching job at at the CAR. It's been a whirlwind,
Speaker 1: and he's just taken some time for the first time
Speaker 1: in maybe twenty years, he's taken some time for himself.
Speaker 1: I put that story out there, which I did on
Speaker 1: the podcast last week. Also, I said he's going away
Speaker 1: and he's gonna collect. I did it on the podcast,
Speaker 1: but I put it out there on Sunday on Fox
Speaker 1: Aaron It was a number one trending story on Saturday.
Speaker 1: On Sunday Yesterday, the New York Post, Ryan Glasspiegel does
Speaker 1: a whole piece about it with pictures of his girlfriend Veronica,
Speaker 1: and they're in Thailand and it's a profile on her
Speaker 1: and it's Tuesday, and recording this, I had no idea
Speaker 1: this story would take off the way it did. And
Speaker 1: the initial response was how awesome? Like how awesome? In
Speaker 1: a cutthroat world of of you know, go go Go
Speaker 1: go doo doo doo do. I think they're the response,
Speaker 1: And it came from all angles. It came from people
Speaker 1: in the coaching community who are like good for him,
Speaker 1: people who are fans saying gosh, I wish I could
Speaker 1: do that to my employer and just say, you know,
Speaker 1: screw it, I need to take some time for myself
Speaker 1: or former employer. And then also like I think even
Speaker 1: in like you know, circles of like mental health, like
Speaker 1: I got I got texts and tweets from people in
Speaker 1: the mental health field being like what a beacon, what
Speaker 1: a what an amazing precedent to set that, Like, hey,
Speaker 1: it's okay to do you, especially after you know, coaching
Speaker 1: through a pandemic, coaching through uh, the Kyler Murray situation
Speaker 1: this year, coaching through a GM who who took some
Speaker 1: time away for his own health reasons. Like I don't know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of negative. Actually should said there wasn't
Speaker 1: a lot of negative. There was some skeptics, there are
Speaker 1: some people and like I got, oh, yeah, a little
Speaker 1: upset when people were like, yeah, but you know, he's
Speaker 1: a middle finger to the NFL and you don't do that.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's what it was I think Clip
Speaker 1: has been through a lot and he just needs some
Speaker 1: time away, and he's taken that time away. And I
Speaker 1: don't think anything of it. But Aaron, when I say
Speaker 1: the tweet that was put out from Fox and the
Speaker 1: tweet that I put out, I'm not like, Look, I'd
Speaker 1: be a lot wealthier and in a lot better position
Speaker 1: if I was an Instagram superstar or a YouTube influencer
Speaker 1: or a Twitter machine. I'm not. I've report news and
Speaker 1: I give my it's this one. I mean I think
Speaker 1: I had Like I mean, I'm not kidding. The video
Speaker 1: from Fox had like eighteen million views of me just
Speaker 1: saying that the head coach is about a one way
Speaker 1: ticket to Thailand. Were you surprised it took off that
Speaker 1: much or you saw this when you heard me say
Speaker 1: it to you, were you like, oh that's juicy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when you said it, I was, I was like, oh
Speaker 1: that's a like I'm that's a good nugget. And then Saturday,
Speaker 1: I remember like opening NFL Reddit and being like oh
Speaker 1: my god, like here it is and like so busy. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I can't blame him. Uh. I think you know,
Speaker 1: you go to Thailand, you get some of the best
Speaker 1: street food in the world. Like he's gonna have a
Speaker 1: great time. He's gonna have some amazing food and like
Speaker 1: beautiful scenery, good break. I like it. Yeah, he's a
Speaker 1: great dude, and he's a world traveler and he's one
Speaker 1: of these guys that that does this and we'll take
Speaker 1: advantage of the moment. But he's also not a disrespectful guy,
Speaker 1: So I don't want it to come off as him like,
Speaker 1: you know, saying, you know what, screw the NFL. That's
Speaker 1: not it. I wouldn't be shocked if he was coaching again. Um,
Speaker 1: maybe not this year, maybe this year. I don't know,
Speaker 1: like not knowing, Like there are a lot of people
Speaker 1: who love Cliff in this league that they say, hey,
Speaker 1: I actually think he's a really good play designer. Like
Speaker 1: you can come work for us, and you don't have to,
Speaker 1: you know, be here in February working on draft boards.
Speaker 1: You can come in July or August or whatever. Uh
Speaker 1: so to to tie the lupe so I so, of
Speaker 1: course me if you if you have listened to the
Speaker 1: podcast and you you know me and Aaron sometimes when
Speaker 1: we have a good interview with a coach, I'm like,
Speaker 1: maybe we shouldn't put that out. It might not put
Speaker 1: them in the best light. Like I had a pit
Speaker 1: in my stomach, like a real pit in my stomach,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, do I reach out to Cliff, like
Speaker 1: I didn't know this would go this way. He's here
Speaker 1: on a vacation, like if this looks like I was
Speaker 1: being selfish like putting this out as like my news
Speaker 1: went in truth, it's about him and he needs to
Speaker 1: get some time away and the last thing he wants
Speaker 1: to do is turn on his phone and be trending
Speaker 1: on Twitter. This dude is such a good guy. He
Speaker 1: reaches out to me and says, hey, I saw saw
Speaker 1: the stuff. Don't sweat it. You're a good man, You're
Speaker 1: a good soul, Like just you know, I hope you're
Speaker 1: doing great and keep on crushing the NFL season and
Speaker 1: do the best job you can. And I'm like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I could wrap my arms around him. I'm like,
Speaker 1: that's such grace because a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: guys in my position, and I like all those guys
Speaker 1: like I don't know how they sleep with it. Sometimes
Speaker 1: when it's like here's the gossip, this coach is getting fired,
Speaker 1: and it's like God, there's a human element to it,
Speaker 1: and it's like the wind of reporting that versus the
Speaker 1: like the stress of like the guy's family finding out
Speaker 1: on Twitter or your bottom line ticker and gosh, like
Speaker 1: they're so good at what they do. I think schefter
Speaker 1: and rap report those two right now are like the
Speaker 1: day to day like you know, breaking the news and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, and it's it takes a lot of
Speaker 1: you know, it takes a lot of negotiating in your
Speaker 1: head what to report one not to report this one
Speaker 1: to me, I thought was like a fun, silly piece.
Speaker 1: I wasn't firing Cliff Kingsbury. And yet when it went
Speaker 1: as viral as it did, and like the amount of
Speaker 1: people that reached out, I'm talking like celebrities like that
Speaker 1: I don't know tweeting me. And then you know coaches
Speaker 1: that I don't have relationships with with like unknown numbers
Speaker 1: being like hey it's blank saw the Kingsbury thing. F Yeah,
Speaker 1: like finally someone and it's like I was blown away
Speaker 1: by it. Um, But Cliff, as we record this is
Speaker 1: still in Thailand. If you're if you're over in Thailand
Speaker 1: and you see him snap a pick just to give proof. Um,
Speaker 1: we'll see how that all plays out. The other story
Speaker 1: that I had that that kind of went pig was
Speaker 1: that mcveigh's coming back, and I broke that one in
Speaker 1: a so many ways on Friday, but then on Saturday
Speaker 1: on The Fox Show, explained that there's going to be
Speaker 1: staff changes made. I talked to Sean for a while yesterday.
Speaker 1: This is Tuesday. He talked to him yesterday. He's invigorated,
Speaker 1: like he's back. He's he I thought he's gonna take
Speaker 1: three months. He took three days. He's just wired in
Speaker 1: a way that's like I can't I can't give up
Speaker 1: on these guys, and I just don't want to be
Speaker 1: that guy who quit when the going got tough. And
Speaker 1: I explained it on this podcast that he's been through
Speaker 1: so much on a personal level and not talking real
Speaker 1: stuff like I went up to get into all the details,
Speaker 1: but real stuff death of family members and and his
Speaker 1: in law's family in in the Ukraine, like real stuff.
Speaker 1: He's he's dealing with that too, um. But his whole
Speaker 1: thing was he wanted to find the joy and football again,
Speaker 1: and he not that he had lost it, but like
Speaker 1: he had this like feverish pursuit in Seen and eighteen
Speaker 1: and then they won it last year, and like he
Speaker 1: still has that desire to have that same joy, and
Speaker 1: it was kind of like, so one of the things
Speaker 1: that he's gonna be working on is building up a
Speaker 1: different staff. And there's nothing against the guys who helped
Speaker 1: him win the Super Bowl title, and some guys who
Speaker 1: were in the building last year that weren't with Super
Speaker 1: Bowl title that are gonna be elsewhere moving forward. But
Speaker 1: I think he just is like, I need to surround
Speaker 1: it with myself as different guys. I need to mix
Speaker 1: it up. I'm gonna take some time, um, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take a lot of time on me, which sounds
Speaker 1: selfish or it sounds like, you know, everything opposite of
Speaker 1: team sports. But um, in the last few years, Mcveisman
Speaker 1: spread very thin. He's burned it on both ends, and
Speaker 1: the result was just a burnt out cat who you know,
Speaker 1: was trying to muster up every piece of energy. He
Speaker 1: can't to coach a team that was obviously injured and undermanned,
Speaker 1: and he's like, I didn't like the person I was,
Speaker 1: I didn't like the coach I was, and I just
Speaker 1: need to be cognizant of it. So I think we've
Speaker 1: talked in mental health with Cliff Kingsbury. I think there's
Speaker 1: a mental health aspect to how Sean McVeigh approaches um
Speaker 1: the future of his coaching career. And I'd be very
Speaker 1: surprised if if he wasn't open and honest and vulnerable
Speaker 1: and how he's approaching that and how he can have
Speaker 1: more of a work life balance and uh, be a
Speaker 1: better coach, be a better man, be a better friend,
Speaker 1: be a better fan member, all that stuff, and not
Speaker 1: be so obsessive. And because the only way he's known
Speaker 1: it is it goes back to like the gruten way.
Speaker 1: It goes back to his grandfather's way of like you're
Speaker 1: in at two thirty in the morning and you're grinding
Speaker 1: tape and you're just going, going, going, going, And he
Speaker 1: realized he wasn't happy doing that. So I don't think
Speaker 1: i'm speaking out of turn. I asked him to come
Speaker 1: on the podcast this week. He said, Uh, that time
Speaker 1: will come. He's still taking some time to just kind
Speaker 1: of lay low um, which I appreciate. The last piece
Speaker 1: and then we'll get to to our guest, who's gonna
Speaker 1: be awesome. By the way, the last piece is the
Speaker 1: Sean Payton sweepstakes as I will update this as if
Speaker 1: I'm like following Panda Watch or something. Um, it is
Speaker 1: officially January seventeenth, which on your calendar might be the
Speaker 1: day after Martin Luther King Day. It might be the
Speaker 1: second or third Tuesday in January, or it's Sean Payton
Speaker 1: can interview Day. He can officially do interviews today. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's reported or not. Denver I believe
Speaker 1: is on the docket and they will be coming to him,
Speaker 1: which I think is uh kind of a boss move.
Speaker 1: You got these new owners up in Denver and they'll
Speaker 1: be flying to l A to meet with him on
Speaker 1: his grounds always like there's always like little stuff like this.
Speaker 1: It's almost like a chessboard and I'm like, oh, that's interesting. Um.
Speaker 1: He will meet with the Houston owners Cal McNair and
Speaker 1: I believe Nick Serio, who is the current GM and
Speaker 1: from what I gather from everything we're here in to Houston,
Speaker 1: Nick's job is not in jeopardy. After they fired love
Speaker 1: It it it was like Nicks might be gone, but it
Speaker 1: sounds like Nick is gonna be okay and safe and
Speaker 1: at the end of the week he will be flying
Speaker 1: to New York to interview with David Tepper, the owner
Speaker 1: of the Carolina Panthers, which is interesting because the Saints
Speaker 1: are in the same division as the Carolina Panthers. The
Speaker 1: Saints have to trade Sean Payton to whoever he goes
Speaker 1: to and have to get draft picks back. The question
Speaker 1: I have is, are the Saints offering are asking for
Speaker 1: the same stuff from the Panthers that they would from
Speaker 1: the Texans or from the Broncos. The Broncos and the
Speaker 1: Texans they are non threats to the New Orleans Saints.
Speaker 1: The Carolina Panthers they will face twice a year and
Speaker 1: their fans have to watch Sean Payton and Panthers at
Speaker 1: I'd be intrigued to see how those negotiations go down,
Speaker 1: if they even get to that point. Um two other
Speaker 1: teams were they were thinking it was gonna be Arizona.
Speaker 1: They just hired their GM and there's been no official
Speaker 1: word as to when he is interviewing with Arizona. I
Speaker 1: believe they asked for permission, but I haven't heard anything
Speaker 1: about that. In the Indianapolis, Colt seemed that there was
Speaker 1: nothing there. So right now it looks like three teams,
Speaker 1: and as we record this on Tuesday, Brandon Staley seems
Speaker 1: to be the head coach of the Chargers that kind
Speaker 1: of blew up big on Saturday night after that all
Speaker 1: time collapse, and then Sunday everyone was waiting for the
Speaker 1: other shooter drop. Then Monday everyone was waiting for the
Speaker 1: other shooter drop. Staley is still the coach right now,
Speaker 1: and as much as Sean Payton in l A is
Speaker 1: a perfect fit because of the young quarterback, but also
Speaker 1: he's already living there now and he loves it. Trust me,
Speaker 1: he loves it. Um. He talks about his life in
Speaker 1: Manhattan Beach to me often and he and his wife
Speaker 1: sky Lean are like as as happy as could be
Speaker 1: living in l A right now. Um, I don't think
Speaker 1: that job is going to be open as of now.
Speaker 1: As we record this on Tuesday, they did they just uh,
Speaker 1: news just broke that they fired Lombardi. So I assume
Speaker 1: that means stay. I think so. I think so good nugget. Ironically,
Speaker 1: Lombardi was one of Peyton's old offensive coordinators in New Orlean. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was the expectation they'd make some staff changes. But
Speaker 1: I think Brandon's okay and the players came out like
Speaker 1: really positive on Brandon Staley. Afterwards, we chose, you know,
Speaker 1: pleasant surprise after that kind of loss, and then the
Speaker 1: other ones to Cowboys, how do you fire Mike McCarthy,
Speaker 1: like everyone thought if they you know, absolutely blew it,
Speaker 1: that that might be a conversation. Mike McCarthy has had
Speaker 1: a perfect performance. We'll see how what happens in Sancisco.
Speaker 1: I'm never gonna count anything out, but I don't know
Speaker 1: if Jerry's looking to fire Mike McCarthy after two thirt
Speaker 1: win seasons and two straight years to the playoffs, a
Speaker 1: playoff win, Like, I don't know. It seems like the
Speaker 1: Cowboys have a pretty good coach and to have to
Speaker 1: trade for Sean Payton, pay out McCarthy, pay mcpayton what
Speaker 1: he wants. That doesn't seem as likely now as it
Speaker 1: might have might have seemed a couple of weeks ago
Speaker 1: after they lost like the Washington Commanders in a Week
Speaker 1: eight team game. So that's the lay of the land there. Um,
Speaker 1: we're gonna hit Lamar Jackson later in this podcast. We're
Speaker 1: gonna hit some Tom Brady, We're gonna hit Mike McDaniel.
Speaker 1: Was he vaping or not. Um, we're gonna hit all that.
Speaker 1: And our guest is one of my favorite people in
Speaker 1: the NFL. It's a guy that I used to love
Speaker 1: covering as an analyst. It's amazing my path to him.
Speaker 1: His dad took me under his wing a little bit
Speaker 1: at Fox Sports when I was uh brought over from
Speaker 1: the sidelines of the studios, like really good dude, his father,
Speaker 1: and then I got to meet his son, and I
Speaker 1: think we're like kindred spirits from a different time. Uh.
Speaker 1: That guy's Chris Long. We're gonna have Chris Long on
Speaker 1: the podcast after this. As I mentioned earlier, it's one
Speaker 1: of my favorite people I've met in the NFL. I
Speaker 1: initially got to know his father really well, and then
Speaker 1: now we've got a really cool friendship. I think he's
Speaker 1: got as good insights as anybody, and it's often on Twitter,
Speaker 1: it's also on his podcast. Uh, and just says a
Speaker 1: fresh look at the game from an ex player's perspective,
Speaker 1: which is crazy to say because he is an ex
Speaker 1: player now a couple of years removed. Uh, let's welcome
Speaker 1: in the man, Chris Long. Chris how you doing man?
Speaker 1: How are you? I'm doing great? You know there's so
Speaker 1: many fun storylines to the games, but I always find
Speaker 1: myself fixated on, like some of the offseason stuff that
Speaker 1: is already percolating. Uh. I said in my intro here
Speaker 1: my monologue, I broke the Kingsbury story, and I didn't
Speaker 1: in a million years, Chris, I didn't think that thing
Speaker 1: was going to go as big as it did. And
Speaker 1: I almost had this pit in my stomach that like
Speaker 1: I was violating some trust with Clift, even though I
Speaker 1: know he has no problem with it. We've texted since.
Speaker 1: Why did that story take off so much that a
Speaker 1: head coach was going to Thailand and going on a
Speaker 1: one way ticket? Why do you think that blew up
Speaker 1: the way it did? Because I'm still coming to grips
Speaker 1: with why that was such a fascination everywhere. Okay, there's
Speaker 1: a few factors. Number one, he's young, he's good looking.
Speaker 1: That's what they say. Um, it seems like a fun
Speaker 1: place to go. Uh. It's also a very un NFL
Speaker 1: head coach like thing to do. Like, we have certain
Speaker 1: things that governed the schedule in our year, and woman
Speaker 1: was like, you get fired, you want to work the phones,
Speaker 1: you you want to be close to home. The whole thing.
Speaker 1: I can remember being in in East Africa, climbing kilimanjar
Speaker 1: Oh as a free agent using a SAT phone, trying
Speaker 1: to trying to get ahold of people. And I knew
Speaker 1: that when I went on the trip, uh, there was
Speaker 1: a good chance that maybe I get passed up for
Speaker 1: somebody because I was asleep, or I couldn't get to
Speaker 1: the sat phone or they can't reach me. And you know,
Speaker 1: like sometimes you just make decisions where you're like, I
Speaker 1: need to put myself in my peace of mind first.
Speaker 1: And it sounds like Cliff, who is probably justifiably burnt
Speaker 1: out and uh and and and needed some space just said,
Speaker 1: which I think is such a different thing to do
Speaker 1: for an NFL head coach or a guy who just
Speaker 1: got can So I thought it was cool. I think
Speaker 1: everybody fantasizes about just getting out of dodge, right and
Speaker 1: like the dude actually did it, and uh, I don't.
Speaker 1: I'm sure he's still in contact with teams over there
Speaker 1: and that sort of thing, but it's it's not traditional
Speaker 1: um And and Thailand also, I think is has become
Speaker 1: a place of intrigues and the hangover. I think there's
Speaker 1: a whole lot of factors that lead to that being
Speaker 1: a pretty provocative story. Um, but it's not what you
Speaker 1: imagine we were texting. I was imagining he was over
Speaker 1: there just partying and you know, just letting loose and um,
Speaker 1: you know, he just is getting some space and and
Speaker 1: needed a trip. So and I love it too, and
Speaker 1: I said. The amount of responses I got them were
Speaker 1: positive from funny people on Twitter with memes and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. But the coaching community, so many coaches reached
Speaker 1: out to me, guys whose numbers I don't have where
Speaker 1: it says like unknown number and it's like high Peter.
Speaker 1: I'm blank blank, and I am the special Teams coordinator
Speaker 1: with Team X. I just want to tell you, if
Speaker 1: you speak to Cliff, tell him hell, yeah, that is awesome.
Speaker 1: Like everyone like using me as a conduit to like
Speaker 1: thank him for it. The other aspect was like a
Speaker 1: strong like mental health community like outreach of like yes
Speaker 1: and today's day and age, Yes, it's okay to just
Speaker 1: And that's what every everybody's got, that anim where they
Speaker 1: fantasize about just getting out of dodge. I know I
Speaker 1: do all the time, but we have things to constrain
Speaker 1: us and keep us home. And keep us busy. And
Speaker 1: so I think a little part of everybody did a
Speaker 1: fist pump when they heard that Cliff was on a
Speaker 1: flight to Thailand. And then also meme culture. You know,
Speaker 1: it's just fun to imagine Cliff Kingsbury. You can people
Speaker 1: were putting up graphics Cliff Kingsbury to Thailand. You know,
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsberry on a flight to Thailand, one way ticket,
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. So it was like fun and
Speaker 1: it was like good for the guy. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: so easy I feel like now to just be so
Speaker 1: hard on coaches, like he didn't do a good job,
Speaker 1: he got canned, there were there were factors there that
Speaker 1: that were probably out of his control. It didn't seem
Speaker 1: like a joy to coach Kyler Murray at times. UM.
Speaker 1: But the bottom line is these are people, and I
Speaker 1: think sometimes we can go so hard on these people,
Speaker 1: um that that it can be kind of ugly. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I feel like for Cliff uh to just get
Speaker 1: away from it and not hear the noise and be
Speaker 1: somewhere else is it's also not a bad a bad strategy.
Speaker 1: I also like, you know, another head coach called me
Speaker 1: and was like, you know, anyone who's like, because there
Speaker 1: was a small contingent and some you know, sports media
Speaker 1: people and some NFL writers being like, it's a it's
Speaker 1: a real f you to the league, and it's not
Speaker 1: fair to all the different guys who don't have that,
Speaker 1: and like, why would you do that? Why would why would?
Speaker 1: Why would you boast about it? And he didn't boast
Speaker 1: about it. I reported, and I don't. I sort of
Speaker 1: regret doing it even I don't really I'm having a
Speaker 1: weird time with it, to be honest, because times sometimes
Speaker 1: saying something that's true, uh, and and feeling like I
Speaker 1: shouldn't have been the one to say it, you know,
Speaker 1: and I feel like I've betrayed um. So he's got
Speaker 1: such such an amazing heart and grace, like I'd sit
Speaker 1: in the bottom proactively. He he texted me, it was like, dude,
Speaker 1: this thing went wild. It's all good. I love you, brother, Like,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see what. So he's he's cool.
Speaker 1: But I didn't. I didn't feel great, like how was
Speaker 1: in the middle finger to the league. So there's thoughts
Speaker 1: that like you should be rushing back to be the
Speaker 1: quarterback coach of the New Orleans Saints or something. And
Speaker 1: that was my point. It's like he just got fired.
Speaker 1: There's no rule that you have to be the offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator of the Patriots if you're fired as a head coach,
Speaker 1: especially not a week afterwards. So you have to have
Speaker 1: two head coaches fired to be the offensive coordinator of
Speaker 1: the Patriots. That's right. You have multiple guys just kind
Speaker 1: of working both levers um, he's awesome. He'll come back
Speaker 1: from Thailand, he's not living there, and he'll be back
Speaker 1: and maybe he'll work next time. He might, he might.
Speaker 1: I think he's coming back, but maybe he'll work next year.
Speaker 1: And like he's got enough friends in the league where
Speaker 1: if he needed to, you know, it's scratch that itch. Fine,
Speaker 1: but Cliff does not want to be in like draft
Speaker 1: meetings right now. He does not want to be talking
Speaker 1: about free agent meetings. So do you do your thing?
Speaker 1: I just it blew me with Chris. It was the
Speaker 1: number one trending story for like three days and any time,
Speaker 1: but any time that happens, and you're a reporter and
Speaker 1: this is a close friend and also a source, and
Speaker 1: all that stuff that you might say, and I the
Speaker 1: amount of things that I don't share online, like the
Speaker 1: mass if I don't share on Fox because I want
Speaker 1: to maintain the relationship to think that I might have
Speaker 1: hurt him in some way or burned him in some way,
Speaker 1: or change the way that people look at him. But
Speaker 1: for the most part, it seems pretty positive. No, But
Speaker 1: I definitely get the same way. And you deal a
Speaker 1: lot more in information than I do. And so, like
Speaker 1: just I put myself in y'all shoes. Sometimes it's a
Speaker 1: really crazy business, like you know, and and sometimes information
Speaker 1: can be hurtful to people, and sometimes seemingly benign information
Speaker 1: can be hurtful to people. And that's what I always
Speaker 1: worry about. And so I definitely took my cap to
Speaker 1: you for having to navigate those waters, because it'd be
Speaker 1: hard for me. I kind of like just sitting here
Speaker 1: in the game. Our podcast is all you know, we
Speaker 1: deal in some information, but mostly what we deal in
Speaker 1: is like some guys with maybe a little more knowledge
Speaker 1: in the average person on the couch watching games, you know,
Speaker 1: and just be awesome with your buddies. But like when
Speaker 1: I get in your situation where we have to make news,
Speaker 1: I getting anxiety and it's and it's putting food on
Speaker 1: the table for me. So you know, McVeigh was an
Speaker 1: interesting one because we talked daily and I knew every
Speaker 1: step of the way, and he's asking me, so let's
Speaker 1: just not make this a thing. Let's be l LOO
Speaker 1: And then, like, you know, to her credit, Diana Russini
Speaker 1: breaks it on Friday, and I'm like, good for Diana,
Speaker 1: you know, like good for her, Like that's cool. I
Speaker 1: didn't feel comfortable coming out and being like McVeigh is
Speaker 1: coming back because I also know he's firing coaches and
Speaker 1: like the tone is all weird. So it's weird. It's
Speaker 1: definitely weird, and I understand like and you know, more
Speaker 1: than me obviously talking to him, being tight with him.
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of Sean mcveigh's um. I've met
Speaker 1: him before. I thought everybody that I worked with in St.
Speaker 1: Louis that then went to l A has been a
Speaker 1: big fan of his. UM. I just thought he was
Speaker 1: I in a TV job that maybe didn't work out.
Speaker 1: That was my That was my like you know, outside
Speaker 1: looking end view of it. But I do think the
Speaker 1: l A job as we were, because one day we
Speaker 1: ranked the attractiveness of jobs is not as far down
Speaker 1: as you think. If and this is what I would do.
Speaker 1: I would trade Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald and I would.
Speaker 1: I would, I would start over, I would get you know,
Speaker 1: like I would. I would take the year with a bridge,
Speaker 1: see how close to Caleb Williams I could get, and
Speaker 1: then that job in a year looks a lot better
Speaker 1: than it did. Um, you know a week or two ago.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not sure how much capital you could
Speaker 1: you could recoup for two pieces like that, but it's
Speaker 1: got to get you close to back on track. And
Speaker 1: out of respect for Aaron Donald, who I think is
Speaker 1: gonna play next year, you have very good reason to
Speaker 1: believe that. Um. I know there was the Twitter bio thing,
Speaker 1: but as a former teammate who was his mentor and
Speaker 1: saying and mentor, but I definitely, I definitely was there
Speaker 1: when he was a kid. Uh and and uh, I
Speaker 1: just think the fire in him to to finish strong
Speaker 1: and and to to to reach these heights man that
Speaker 1: so few have reached. I mean he he is within
Speaker 1: striking distance of a lot of legendary players. I think personally,
Speaker 1: before it's all said and done, he's the best inside
Speaker 1: guy of all time. And I think it's like me
Speaker 1: and Joe Green and you can go through all the
Speaker 1: guys but John Randall, but he was ahead of John Randall.
Speaker 1: His pace was ahead of John Randall. And you know,
Speaker 1: if you talk about me and Joe Green, like you know,
Speaker 1: it's hard to adjust for arras, but me and Joe
Speaker 1: Green was to seventy five. I was just talking to
Speaker 1: my dad about this, Like Aaron Donald, who actually ironically
Speaker 1: probably is two eight five, so can wet now at
Speaker 1: this point in his career. And it's just a different game.
Speaker 1: And so like when you when you evaluate him against it,
Speaker 1: I say all that to say, he's got an opportunity
Speaker 1: to just go to heights that people haven't been. And
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think a rebuild because at least
Speaker 1: in the the immediacy, it is a reset. I don't
Speaker 1: know about a rebuild, but it's a reset. However you
Speaker 1: want to just you know, uh, separate those two words. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think he deserves that at this
Speaker 1: stage in his career. I would love to see him
Speaker 1: on the move, like I would love to see him
Speaker 1: go back to Pittsburgh. You know that's that there have
Speaker 1: to be some like hey, I'm going to win, or
Speaker 1: there's some nostalgic, you know reason, you know, like, um,
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh will be fun. I don't know what Fletcher Cox's
Speaker 1: deal is going to be in Philly. You can never
Speaker 1: count Howie Roseman out of making a move for somebody. Um,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be these It's such a cool offseason because
Speaker 1: of stuff like this. And I'm not saying Jalen's gonna
Speaker 1: get moved or Aaron's gonnat moved, but all this stuff
Speaker 1: is on the table. Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: like this might be the wildest offseason. Um, and the
Speaker 1: league hasn't figured out with the calendar. The calendar it's
Speaker 1: it's it's just so it's so phased in correctly, so
Speaker 1: you're always watching. And this offseason even expanding the season
Speaker 1: one season, pushing Super Back one one week, but keeping
Speaker 1: the combine the same week instead of a three week lag.
Speaker 1: It's super Bowl weekend off combo. It's like you don't
Speaker 1: even it's it's it's NonStop. It think you get a breath.
Speaker 1: Back to Aaron Donald, I honestly think this and Sean
Speaker 1: and I even talked about the players and the roster
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. The TV thing is interesting. I
Speaker 1: think he's definitely entertained that last year. I don't think
Speaker 1: I think he knew going into it that those seats
Speaker 1: were filled, And it's not like he was fixated on that.
Speaker 1: This year. I think it was more just the burnout
Speaker 1: factory all that stuff that we were talking about with Cliff.
Speaker 1: But um, Aaron Donald last year I think was a
Speaker 1: lot closer to retiring than people realize. And I also think,
Speaker 1: and you tell me you know him, but this is
Speaker 1: from what I hear from people in l A, like
Speaker 1: he does have an eye on some day being like
Speaker 1: the Rock, or some day being in action movies like
Speaker 1: your Father and being in Firestorm or some of that stuff.
Speaker 1: Like it's not like some funny gag. I think Hollywood
Speaker 1: has suited him. Well. The question is that was last
Speaker 1: year after they won the title. He's shirtless on the state,
Speaker 1: you know. Does he come out and be the Rock
Speaker 1: this year or does it have to be give me
Speaker 1: one more season somewhere else or whatever it is, or
Speaker 1: with the Ram said, let they build that back up.
Speaker 1: And I think the world, Aaron, I think he's he's
Speaker 1: just such a I mean for somebody who's so powerful,
Speaker 1: you know, like physically, his his persona, the whole thing.
Speaker 1: His humility is incredible. Um, his work ethic is incredible.
Speaker 1: I can remember him in St. Louis. I tell this
Speaker 1: story a lot where you know I was usually I'd
Speaker 1: stay after in camp and watch film, and you know,
Speaker 1: the parking lot would be kind of empty, and you know,
Speaker 1: obviously he didn't have a car yet, so I'd look
Speaker 1: out in the parking lot. It would be no, no
Speaker 1: cars there. I would go down to the line room
Speaker 1: try to watch Film's one place we watch film be
Speaker 1: eight at night. And I repeatedly, over the course of
Speaker 1: the first week camp had to go in and decide
Speaker 1: whether I was gonna unseat this rookie who's trying to
Speaker 1: get better. He was in there in the dark room,
Speaker 1: he's the only guy in the building, or was I
Speaker 1: going to get my time. And I'm not an iPad guy,
Speaker 1: But what I do is I just say I'll go
Speaker 1: watch my iPad because I was so impressed by this
Speaker 1: kid and his work ethic. He was immediately a pro,
Speaker 1: and everybody in the d line room knew that he
Speaker 1: was gonna be Hall of Famer the first week. So
Speaker 1: you know, you give guys this much talent, this much power, um,
Speaker 1: this much you know, gravitas. I mean, he's one of
Speaker 1: the most iconic players in the last decade in our league,
Speaker 1: and most of them kind of abuse it. I just
Speaker 1: feel like it's such an easy thing to get drunk
Speaker 1: on your success, and he's he's never been that. He's
Speaker 1: still hungry, you know. I do think the retirement thing
Speaker 1: almost happened, But I think this year was so tough,
Speaker 1: and obviously the end of the season with an injury
Speaker 1: for him, which is kind of unheard of. I think
Speaker 1: he wants to finish strong, and I think he I
Speaker 1: think sometimes like winning a Super Bowl can make you
Speaker 1: feel like, yeah, and I want to walk away. I'm
Speaker 1: so tired. You know, he's never been on a run
Speaker 1: like this. When he was in St. Louis, we finished
Speaker 1: in January and you go to l A. They're bad
Speaker 1: in the beginning. You don't get to feel like what
Speaker 1: this calendar feels like to go deep into the postseason.
Speaker 1: You know, he he's got a little fan Emily. You know,
Speaker 1: his wife Eric is awesome. They're just great people that
Speaker 1: can It's like J. J. Watt had a baby boy
Speaker 1: and then he's like, I'm out yeah. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: and that happened for me late in my career where
Speaker 1: it was like by design we waited to have kids
Speaker 1: because my dad played thirteen years. I know, hear him
Speaker 1: talk about what it was like to come home and
Speaker 1: be kind of checked out for me, you know, and
Speaker 1: so like part of that is the burnout of the
Speaker 1: moment you're transitioning in your life into having a family
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. Like I believe this year, being
Speaker 1: hurt sitting there watching it had to make him want
Speaker 1: to play more. And if I'm Aaron Donald, I probably
Speaker 1: don't want to go through a rebuild at the same time,
Speaker 1: you know, because when you get older, you're like I
Speaker 1: can kind of pick I can call my shots a
Speaker 1: little more. Look, you, you stuck it out with some
Speaker 1: you know, struggling St. Louis teams, but you end your
Speaker 1: career with the Patriots and with the Eagles and hoisting Lombardies.
Speaker 1: But no one was like, who's this mercenary. No, Like,
Speaker 1: you were a free agent, you signed with these teams
Speaker 1: and you played big roles. The thought of Donald going
Speaker 1: somewhere else is fascinating, um, but all look at all
Speaker 1: those veterans on the Rams, like, you're right, like it's
Speaker 1: gonna okay, So they bring everybody back and their ten
Speaker 1: and seven in there a while they're still I don't
Speaker 1: think they're gonna because I I don't believe Stafford's got
Speaker 1: got got it in him physically anymore. And that's not personal.
Speaker 1: I'm not like taking I love Matt Stafford, but the
Speaker 1: guy's been through hell on Earth. Like before he got
Speaker 1: to l A, he was he was like Buddy Lee
Speaker 1: in Detroit for a decade, dude, like you know, And
Speaker 1: it felt like the way their offense went, they were
Speaker 1: back to being the Detroit Lions. The offensive line was decimated.
Speaker 1: He had one trans you know, target, but outside of that,
Speaker 1: they were just throwing to guys that like, and I
Speaker 1: felt like he had to do too much. And I
Speaker 1: just don't. I don't see them next year being in
Speaker 1: the position to make the playoffs is so early. I
Speaker 1: just think about the cap, the draft capital, all that stuff.
Speaker 1: You look at Jalen Ramsey, he played so well in
Speaker 1: the last game to the season, was really good against Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, like he's got that guy deserves to be
Speaker 1: playing football, meaningful football somewhere. How about send him to
Speaker 1: Jacksonville you know, let him finish, send him back, you know,
Speaker 1: like I'm just working my my you know, my fantasy.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean like it could be such a
Speaker 1: fun offseason and for l A, the job could could
Speaker 1: flip pretty quickly into being Hey, it ain't so bad.
Speaker 1: You know. It looked like we were in capell look
Speaker 1: like we we didn't have any capital. But maybe we
Speaker 1: can move some pieces and take a break for a year. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The Caleb Williams thing is interesting because he's the first
Speaker 1: real transcendent quarterback in the last couple of years. The
Speaker 1: other guy is the North Carolina kid whose name is May.
Speaker 1: I believe I hear so much about him. There's always
Speaker 1: already this thing, and I remember it when it was
Speaker 1: with Griffin and Luck. It's like everyone thinks that it's
Speaker 1: this guy, but the real guys to do it at
Speaker 1: U N see and that that'll be fun for the
Speaker 1: next year. Question quickly, before we wrap your take on
Speaker 1: the Lamar situation, let's take it from Lamar standpoint, how
Speaker 1: the season ended and where that where that situation lies
Speaker 1: right now. Well before the season, I went on ESPN
Speaker 1: and I got murdered because I said that to a
Speaker 1: can't throw the deep ball. I don't. I still don't
Speaker 1: feel that way. Um. And and I said that I
Speaker 1: think you could see Lamar in Miami before it's all
Speaker 1: said and done, which I think would be a lot
Speaker 1: of fun. Okay, So like I'm saying that to say,
Speaker 1: it's interesting when you look at certain teams that might
Speaker 1: be suitors for Lamar, because I do think it's he's
Speaker 1: played his last game in Baltimore. I mean, do you
Speaker 1: really do you don't think that every bridge is and
Speaker 1: burn as a player, like once you go do this
Speaker 1: stuff publicly, it's I think it's I think the bridge
Speaker 1: was quietly burning for a long time, you know, but
Speaker 1: then this was like, you know, just I do think
Speaker 1: he was hurt. Obviously it was hurt. I think we've
Speaker 1: been dealing in a lot of hypotheticals. Hey, we don't
Speaker 1: know how hurt he is. Some of the quotes after
Speaker 1: the game were like Lamar is walking around fifty He's
Speaker 1: limping around the facility. Um. I also think after their
Speaker 1: their season finale game against the Angles that reading the
Speaker 1: quotes from the players, it was pretty telling. Isaiah likely
Speaker 1: had a quote that was like Lamar will always be family,
Speaker 1: Like what does that mean, that's a rookie in the
Speaker 1: fourth round, Like who just got to know him? Like
Speaker 1: already got his back? Yeah, it already got his back.
Speaker 1: He's got his back. But always he's always gonna be family.
Speaker 1: Sounds like like we kind of know, you know, how
Speaker 1: players know stuff. And in the public out here we
Speaker 1: think one thing, But in that building it's so tight
Speaker 1: knit it's not getting out that maybe the you know,
Speaker 1: the kind of the status quo is that, Hey, next year,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to we're gonna have to figure it
Speaker 1: out because this bridge is burned, as you put it. Um,
Speaker 1: I do think, you know, one of the things that
Speaker 1: people talked about was why wouldn't at the game this
Speaker 1: that in third he went to the Pittsburgh game the
Speaker 1: week after he got hurt. There's something you could glean
Speaker 1: from that. It's also like if you wanted to get
Speaker 1: him back next week and he's this fluid in his
Speaker 1: knee and all that stuff, like it's legitimately not the
Speaker 1: best thing for him to be standing up. Sean Bayton
Speaker 1: said to me, like any lower leg injury, you wouldn't
Speaker 1: have that guy on the field. I don't care who
Speaker 1: it is. If it's a captain, or if it's Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: you would never put him on the field just about
Speaker 1: the off chance that the he gets run into. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you get thrown into, You get thrown into. Just the
Speaker 1: standing around can really blow your knee up. Being on
Speaker 1: the plane, even if it's only for an hour or two,
Speaker 1: can really blow your knee up. You know. I'm sure
Speaker 1: if they wanted him back the next week that he's
Speaker 1: probably receiving treatment in Baltimore, where they have the best
Speaker 1: modalities to do that in the best set up. So
Speaker 1: I've tried not to jump out of the gym on
Speaker 1: some of these anecdotal kind of sidebar conversations. But I
Speaker 1: think from a football standpoint Baltimore, the Greg Roman thing
Speaker 1: is run its course right. The red zone calls were bad. JK.
Speaker 1: Dominds needed the ball, and I think it's legitimate to
Speaker 1: gripe about the weapons that Lamar has had from the beginning.
Speaker 1: And I'd hate to waste the generational talent because let's
Speaker 1: face it, he's played the game a different way than
Speaker 1: your average quarterback. I'm not saying he's not a pocket passers.
Speaker 1: A pocket passer guy can sling it, but having him
Speaker 1: in your design run game over course of five years,
Speaker 1: carrying the ball, extending plays, like there's an attrition factor
Speaker 1: to that that other quarterbacks aren't aren't enduring. So like
Speaker 1: his window maybe not as big as we think it is.
Speaker 1: And I think that, you know, the the impetus to
Speaker 1: get him somewhere as a fan where he has the
Speaker 1: weapons that we can enjoy him fully flourished. Like I'd
Speaker 1: love to see it in the next in this next deal.
Speaker 1: I don't want to see Lamar finally get um a
Speaker 1: good set up at thirty one, you know, because like
Speaker 1: I don't know what he's gonna look like. And so
Speaker 1: someone texted me and said, and it was in the
Speaker 1: guy in the league. He was like, from the Baltimore standpoint,
Speaker 1: you've seen Lamar for five years. Do you put all
Speaker 1: your chips or all your eggs in that basket if
Speaker 1: you're not sure he's gonna be even better in the
Speaker 1: next five years. And I go, you can't look at
Speaker 1: it that way. I'm with you. I think baltim Or
Speaker 1: it should have paid him whatever he wanted. And I
Speaker 1: know that sounds crazy, and like, especially with the guarantees
Speaker 1: and all that stuff, but I think it's gone really sour.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna flip it to the sports media critique of
Speaker 1: it because on my show, the one before Your Father's
Speaker 1: Fox NFL kickoff on Saturday, Michael Vick and Charles Woodson
Speaker 1: came out and they were pretty adamant, like, yeah, he
Speaker 1: might be hurt, but if he could even go, it
Speaker 1: would have been cool to see him go. And and
Speaker 1: you know, people were bouncing back at Charles Woodson on
Speaker 1: Twitter saying, yeah, but r G three's career and like,
Speaker 1: you know, c wood does not give guys are playing
Speaker 1: hurt every week now. Again, I want to couch this
Speaker 1: with what we said earlier is like we're dealing with
Speaker 1: hyper We don't have patheticals, so like, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know what Charles and Mike knew. But let's say
Speaker 1: let's say he was a game time decision, truly like,
Speaker 1: which which means you probably might be able to go,
Speaker 1: but you gotta get out there and run around and
Speaker 1: figure it out. Well, one, he'd probably be in since
Speaker 1: he you know, warming up and out on the fee.
Speaker 1: He hadn't even practiced. He hasn't practiced in five weeks,
Speaker 1: you know. But hypothetically, let's say I think We've just
Speaker 1: entered an era where fans and even media are so
Speaker 1: removed from like how football players feel sometimes we think
Speaker 1: for football players, and like the resounding kind of sentiment
Speaker 1: is like, in this era of player empowerment, hey, if
Speaker 1: you don't have your contract and don't play well, you're
Speaker 1: also saying the other fifty two guys in that hypothetical scenario,
Speaker 1: and the fans and the coaches and and hey, we're
Speaker 1: in this era where that could be good business. But
Speaker 1: you can't be surprised when football players feel like, hey,
Speaker 1: if you can go in a playoff game, you probably should,
Speaker 1: because that's the way. Like I remember Martellis Bennett calling
Speaker 1: Jimmy G a because Jimmy G didn't play early in
Speaker 1: the year that I was there, when Brady got Um injured,
Speaker 1: Set came in. We had played the Dolphins, Jimmy G
Speaker 1: got piled driven into the ground, his shoulder was about
Speaker 1: to fall off. And the next week we play the
Speaker 1: Bills and we get throttled a little bit and Jacoby play,
Speaker 1: and a couple of years later, Marty's like, yeah, he
Speaker 1: was for that, like this that in the third and
Speaker 1: I think even some of you know, our former teammates
Speaker 1: were kind of like, yeah, I would have liked to
Speaker 1: have seen him play. Um. You know, I feel like
Speaker 1: it kind of depends on the player, right the way
Speaker 1: fans and the media react. Everybody's like, yeah, do you
Speaker 1: hear what Marty B said about Jimmy G. That's not
Speaker 1: a good sign for Jimmy G. That his teammates felt
Speaker 1: that way about him. Well, not every teammate felt that way.
Speaker 1: Not every I didn't feel that way. You know what
Speaker 1: It's like, Yeah, I think there's a mixture in an
Speaker 1: NFL locker room of like how guys feel that there's
Speaker 1: the old school NFL guys and that generational like mccordy
Speaker 1: on my show. Not anything ubrasive. It's just like he
Speaker 1: doesn't have a contract. I don't for a second, and
Speaker 1: because I played her. But I wouldn't spide him for
Speaker 1: not I wouldn't him right, I wouldn't spite him in again,
Speaker 1: like for anybody who's zoned out the last five minutes,
Speaker 1: like I'm talking about a hypothetical, which I don't believe
Speaker 1: was the case. I believe judging by everything that I
Speaker 1: was reading, that you that you hear you put in
Speaker 1: two and two together that he's not ready to play
Speaker 1: when they played Cincinnati. It just wasn't worth it. Um.
Speaker 1: But say, you know, it's one of those situations, bro.
Speaker 1: I've had a high ankle my contract year, my contract
Speaker 1: year in St. Louis, I had a high ankle sprain
Speaker 1: that keeps guys out a month, you know, six weeks,
Speaker 1: two weeks, whatever it is. I shot that up every
Speaker 1: week because it was my contract year, and we I
Speaker 1: couldn't walk during the week, I'd numb it up and
Speaker 1: I'd go out and dragged that thing around. And that
Speaker 1: was the best year in my career. Had thirteen sacks,
Speaker 1: and I made the money that I'm still living off
Speaker 1: of all my next deal, my next big deal with
Speaker 1: the Rams. So sometimes risk works out and sometimes it doesn't.
Speaker 1: Now the downside of that is my ankle was never
Speaker 1: the same, and I truly don't believe that. Do you
Speaker 1: still feel it? Well, yeah, but it's a little thing.
Speaker 1: It's it's just you lose your ankle flexion you as
Speaker 1: a rusher. That's huge. I mean, like on my inside
Speaker 1: foot now I can't bend as well. So my game
Speaker 1: changed a little bit. But I also had the money
Speaker 1: at that point and you know, I still was a
Speaker 1: good player, but but it just there were certain things
Speaker 1: I could do in two thousand eleven that I couldn't
Speaker 1: do anymore. And so like that's the inside looking too. Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm sitting here, I'm on a big rookie deal. I
Speaker 1: have the security of my big rookie deal. I want
Speaker 1: to play because I want to make another big deal um,
Speaker 1: and I'm having a great year. It's like halfway through
Speaker 1: the season, I'm gonna keep sticking this thing out. Like
Speaker 1: maybe I could have been I could have shut myself down.
Speaker 1: But I was also an idiot too that in two
Speaker 1: thousand and fourteen when I had ankle surgery, I rushed
Speaker 1: back and I was terrible, and I do think it
Speaker 1: affected my free agency stock in fourteen and fifteen, trying
Speaker 1: to play with an ankle surgery and a broken leg um,
Speaker 1: trying to be a hero. And the bottom line is
Speaker 1: people don't care. Nobody's gonna help you if you look
Speaker 1: like on film and your teammates who you you feel
Speaker 1: so indebted to, and you feel awkward walking around the building,
Speaker 1: you go out there and suit up. At the end
Speaker 1: of the day, they're not gonna rescue you. Nobody's gonna
Speaker 1: talk you up and convince other teams to sign you.
Speaker 1: Those teams are going off that ape. So everything is
Speaker 1: a calculus based on the individual in the context around
Speaker 1: the situation. And I also think the arrow were in
Speaker 1: factors into how we receive it. Dude, that was beautiful. Great.
Speaker 1: Mccordy was big on the tape stuff too, saying hell, no,
Speaker 1: you don't want to put out any bad tape. It
Speaker 1: doesn't doesn't know especially if a Yeah, last question for
Speaker 1: you was Mike McDaniel vaping, Right, So we were talking
Speaker 1: about this. I I'm big on like giving people the
Speaker 1: benefit of the doubt in situations. If if if you
Speaker 1: brought that to court and you had twelve jurors, do
Speaker 1: you really think that there's enough evidence to charge him
Speaker 1: guilty of the jewel on the sideline too? You know?
Speaker 1: And also my whole thing was like people were like, well,
Speaker 1: he's he he's vaping for sure. I go, Okay, Well
Speaker 1: you've never seen him in a cloud of jewel smoke.
Speaker 1: No one's ever caught him. Because if it can happen
Speaker 1: in the playoff game, it can happen any week. You
Speaker 1: really think that, like somebody on Fox didn't zoom in
Speaker 1: on him if he if he's a jewel guy all
Speaker 1: season long? No gloves in Miami, right, no gloves like
Speaker 1: to you know, because he had the black gloves on
Speaker 1: you you're gonna tell me we just missed it all year? Okay.
Speaker 1: Then somebody was like, oh, well, he was just really
Speaker 1: nervous for the playoffs. If you're so nervous for the
Speaker 1: playoffs that you gotta hit him any cigarette, then maybe
Speaker 1: you shouldn't meet coaching, you know. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: think he was. I think it was a highlighter. And
Speaker 1: then they turned away just after we would have seen
Speaker 1: an exhale, so like, we don't know for sure. I
Speaker 1: texted him, I know Mike, well, I love Mike. He
Speaker 1: hasn't responded, and granted they might have some coaching stuff,
Speaker 1: but I think it's a pretty important You thought that Kingsbury,
Speaker 1: Thailand was big. If I could break the news that
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel was in fact vaping on the sideline, that
Speaker 1: would be a good school. Would do me a favor
Speaker 1: and tell Mike McDaniel that I I I am sticking
Speaker 1: to my guns. Everybody thinks he's jeweling, but there's one
Speaker 1: guy in the media. That's Long. Yeah, I got his back.
Speaker 1: He was not jeweling. There's not enough evidence to indict
Speaker 1: him on on smoking like a teenager on the sideline.
Speaker 1: It just getting it in, getting it in, dude, thank you.
Speaker 1: Where can we find your podcast? Who are your partners
Speaker 1: on that podcast? And where can we just follow the
Speaker 1: Chris Long experience? Okay, so green Light pod you can
Speaker 1: find it anywhere you can find your podcast right now.
Speaker 1: I got my brother Kyle working with me. We do
Speaker 1: our Monday show with one of my high school buddies,
Speaker 1: Making Gunner, who's a real estate agent but he really
Speaker 1: knows ball. Um. Then you know, I've got another former teammate,
Speaker 1: Nate Collins working with the green Light team. And Bo
Speaker 1: Allen who just left town. So little groups growing. We've
Speaker 1: had Nicole our Back joining us through the season talk
Speaker 1: college football. Uh. We just we love to bus and
Speaker 1: just kind of keep it simple. So um, yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't do the hard stuff like you. Peter. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: think it's interesting because you could have a chair on
Speaker 1: any of these shows. Your father obviously is the all
Speaker 1: time legend, if not one of the all time legends.
Speaker 1: Your brothers doing CBS. Um, You've chosen to kind of
Speaker 1: do things on your own terms. I find it really inspiring. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a little bit of a self sabotage thing. I'm
Speaker 1: pretty good at that. Uh you know, like sure I
Speaker 1: maybe could work towards having one of those good jobs,
Speaker 1: but I also I understand that there's a big process
Speaker 1: with that, and like you never want to say, like
Speaker 1: I could just you know, because there's guys going to
Speaker 1: broadcast boot camp and move into places. And I think
Speaker 1: I've been in a crossroads at times, like in as
Speaker 1: a media guy where I'm like, should I just do that?
Speaker 1: And if I got to ask myself, then I don't
Speaker 1: really want it, you know, like if if if I
Speaker 1: gotta if I if I'm like, damn, I gotta take
Speaker 1: a flight up there every week to do that study,
Speaker 1: I gotta get suits I gotta do, then I don't
Speaker 1: really want to do that. And honestly, the couple of
Speaker 1: times I've been on TV, I don't like the attention. Really,
Speaker 1: So you said you got like blown up on ESPN
Speaker 1: because he said that, And like I fly from New
Speaker 1: York to l A every week and put on a
Speaker 1: suit and you see me on Good Morning Football Show,
Speaker 1: put me in that with that tie, and I'll get
Speaker 1: up there and I'll and I'm Mr NFL Insider, and
Speaker 1: even there sometimes I'm like, God, this doesn't feel normal.
Speaker 1: But like that's what Fox does. That's a CBS does,
Speaker 1: that's an NBC does. You're sitting right now in a car,
Speaker 1: hard hat, chilling with a bunch of bobble heads behind you.
Speaker 1: I can't like it looks pretty good on the podcasting
Speaker 1: has gotten better, like where the money is very good, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe i'd be making a little less money
Speaker 1: starting out doing studio stuff. You know. For me, it's
Speaker 1: just like I do not like I am over, whether
Speaker 1: it's Twitter or whether it's like a guy on the street.
Speaker 1: I'm over arguing with people and NFL fans. You can't
Speaker 1: give a take without a million people. I thought I
Speaker 1: felt bad for Mike Vick on Saturday, and I'll talk
Speaker 1: to him. He's been great on our show, but like
Speaker 1: he comes out with that take and he's just coming honestly,
Speaker 1: he's like I played on a on a spring to
Speaker 1: mcl it sucked, but like if he can go, I
Speaker 1: would love to see him go because I never want
Speaker 1: a super Bowl and it's the ultimate whatever and Mike.
Speaker 1: You know, Mike got my got crushed crushed for it,
Speaker 1: you got skewered, And I'm like, well, look, it's very
Speaker 1: low hanging fruit to just come out there and be like,
Speaker 1: Lamar should do what's best for him or Lamar, we
Speaker 1: don't know if he's like my kind of take. And
Speaker 1: if you have a take on TV, you're gonna get cobbered. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I and you know, it's it's just being on TV,
Speaker 1: having your face there. I get really uncomfortable performing and
Speaker 1: I don't like performing, and I don't like being told
Speaker 1: what to say, and so like here that never happens,
Speaker 1: you know. So I mean, for the most part, I
Speaker 1: think find your groove in this in this side of
Speaker 1: things is just having conversations. And that's why I know
Speaker 1: you like doing the podcast. You know, it's like a
Speaker 1: night and a nice change of pace. So I love it.
Speaker 1: I love Good Morning Football because I feel like we're
Speaker 1: the closest thing to a podcast where it's just for people. Yes,
Speaker 1: and you guys do a really good job. And by
Speaker 1: the way, mccordy is great or at all is great.
Speaker 1: Like we've talked about this before, Like you guys have
Speaker 1: not missed a beat. I mean, it was just really
Speaker 1: well respected. And I'm especially excited to see McCarty because
Speaker 1: I know I know Jason a little bit and he's
Speaker 1: just's he's fun to see on there. Yeah. Um, I
Speaker 1: appreciate you so much, man, I think you're a unicorn
Speaker 1: in the sports media landscape, but also just a great dude.
Speaker 1: And hopefully you'll be at Super Bowl this year, party
Speaker 1: on a party on a rooftop like last time. Let's
Speaker 1: do it, man, you'll be a little warmer, I think
Speaker 1: I know. All right, Chris Long, great stuff, man, Thank you,
Speaker 1: Thanks Peter. Chris Long was great, and I have a
Speaker 1: feeling our next guest is going to be great as well.
Speaker 1: All right, So if you listen to the podcast every week,
Speaker 1: we've got an NFL guest of some sort of coach
Speaker 1: at GM, of a current player, a former player. And
Speaker 1: then we also will have on a friend of mine
Speaker 1: who doesn't work in the NFL. It could either be
Speaker 1: a friend from college, from high school, friend from elementary school.
Speaker 1: In this case, it's a buddy of mine from Baltimore.
Speaker 1: And oh yes, we're talking Ravens. We're gonna do a
Speaker 1: Ravens deep dive with my buddy, Jeremy, Jeremy, how are
Speaker 1: you doing? I'm doing great. Peter, how are you this morning?
Speaker 1: Are you great? You don't sound great when you're texting
Speaker 1: me all night on Sunday about play calls? Like, what
Speaker 1: is the what is the feel of Ravens fans right
Speaker 1: now as it's Tuesday morning after that loss? Well, I
Speaker 1: can't lie. I do have some relief after all the
Speaker 1: drama that we experienced towards the end of the season. Um,
Speaker 1: this has been after being a Ravens fan for twenty
Speaker 1: plus years. This was the most joyless playoff experience that
Speaker 1: we've had the last part of the year. You know,
Speaker 1: the lack of excitement. It just felt like one of
Speaker 1: those TV shows that used to be really good, but
Speaker 1: you just you know it's bad and you're still finishing
Speaker 1: out the episodes because you're such a fan of the
Speaker 1: of the series at one point. Yeah, Like I felt
Speaker 1: like Homeland had a really good first three seasons and
Speaker 1: then we kind of teetered out at the end, But
Speaker 1: you just watched it at a commitment because of the
Speaker 1: joy you used to have. Let's get into it, Um,
Speaker 1: where do you want to start off first? Because you're
Speaker 1: critical of everybody, and I love that about you. Do
Speaker 1: you want to start with Lamar Hardball the play call?
Speaker 1: Where do you want to go? I think we should
Speaker 1: start with the longest standing person, that's John Harball. So
Speaker 1: you know, I think you have to take a back
Speaker 1: and look at the lack of playoffs success over the
Speaker 1: past ten years and the lack of the ability to
Speaker 1: adapt to modern NFL passing offense. So you know, Hardball
Speaker 1: pretty much had a rookie quarterback. There was an m
Speaker 1: v P on a rookie deal. Um and his brother
Speaker 1: said at Michigan that's like starting on third base, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, how many gms start their job, right, how
Speaker 1: many gms start their job with an NFL m v P.
Speaker 1: That's a quarterback on a rookie deal. And this what
Speaker 1: you saw, you know against Since on Sunday Night. That
Speaker 1: was the result of building a team with those advantages,
Speaker 1: you know, So I mean for me, that's you know,
Speaker 1: that's where I would start. When you see Hardball being
Speaker 1: a little short with Melissa Stark on on Sunday Night,
Speaker 1: and you see some of the play calls offensively from
Speaker 1: Greg Roman, it starts opening wounds for a lot of
Speaker 1: Ravens fans, and I heard from them all the time
Speaker 1: when I'm on the show, saying, fire Roman, Fire Roman.
Speaker 1: Do you blame Roman for what's going on and how
Speaker 1: this last few years have gone? Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: blame Greg Roman. Obviously Roman should have been replaced years ago.
Speaker 1: I mean you're looking at the playoffs right now. Do
Speaker 1: you think the Bills are the Niners regret replacing Greg
Speaker 1: Roman at this point? Look at them, both of them
Speaker 1: fired Bret Roman in the past ten years, and look
Speaker 1: at them. They're not suffering. Um, even the Eagles. You know,
Speaker 1: people say hardball is not replaceable. The Eagles fired Andy Reid,
Speaker 1: won a Super Bowl, fired that coach, and now we're
Speaker 1: back in the top seats. So I think Baltimore is
Speaker 1: afraid of change at some level. Um. I think Hardball
Speaker 1: answering those questions and getting very short with Melissa Stark,
Speaker 1: who by the way, is also of Baltimore uh product herself,
Speaker 1: I believe, uh so she knows Hardball very well over
Speaker 1: the years. Um. And you know, I think that Hardball
Speaker 1: is uncomfortable answering questions when he gets out of the
Speaker 1: castle and doesn't have full control over betting of questions.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what it is. I mean a lot
Speaker 1: the issues with Harball over the past few weeks with
Speaker 1: lamar Um, he could have just answered honestly, like he
Speaker 1: put it out there at the Rich eyesend that you know,
Speaker 1: he could play with the Brace against the Browns instead
Speaker 1: of just being honest saying, you know, maybe he's more
Speaker 1: hurt than we anticipated. I don't know, but he made
Speaker 1: it much worse. And this is not the first time
Speaker 1: Harball has had this issue with you know, going over injuries.
Speaker 1: It goes back to Brashad Perriman who had a week
Speaker 1: to week injury than would lost a year. Um. Even
Speaker 1: Dobbins this year, and we can get to him in
Speaker 1: a second with the usage of Roman and Dobbins this weekend,
Speaker 1: which was a huge problem. But you know, Dobbin's got
Speaker 1: a surgery this year to clean up his knee, and
Speaker 1: even people in the organization weren't really supportive of that.
Speaker 1: He said, um, and he's been pretty candid lately. So
Speaker 1: you know, Harball has come out there and it's kind
Speaker 1: of he hasn't said it directly, but he's blamed a
Speaker 1: lot of these players for not getting back out there faster,
Speaker 1: even Ronnie Stanley, you know, over the past few years,
Speaker 1: and you know, he leaves a lot of trust issues
Speaker 1: within the players and the fans. And that's where those
Speaker 1: type of interviews are interesting for us to see because
Speaker 1: he gets some real, you know, fastballs instead of the
Speaker 1: softballs you get to the castle. All right. The Lamar
Speaker 1: situation has been dissected by everybody and their mother. And
Speaker 1: it's interesting because this week on My Fox show on Saturday,
Speaker 1: Michael Vick and Charles Woodson actually came out and said,
Speaker 1: put a brace on it, you know, like these are
Speaker 1: guys who played hurt and they said, I'd like to
Speaker 1: see him try and they got killed online and everyone said,
Speaker 1: you can't talk about another man's health. And I think
Speaker 1: there's a generational thing with the ex players where you know,
Speaker 1: Vick and Woodson are from a generation before some of
Speaker 1: the current players and maybe Jason mccordy on my show
Speaker 1: on Good Morning Football. And I hate to generalize because
Speaker 1: I know every player is different, but mccordy was, you know, help,
Speaker 1: no way you play if your if your knee is
Speaker 1: and you don't have a contract. You don't know what
Speaker 1: to them, like, hell no, you don't play, And he said,
Speaker 1: I played hurt, but I wasn't Lamar Jackson, and in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, I didn't have two million dollars
Speaker 1: laying in the balance. What has come out over the
Speaker 1: last few days is that like Lamar put that tweet
Speaker 1: out himself with the injuries, and then the Ravens obviously
Speaker 1: weren't thrilled that he did that and didn't go through
Speaker 1: their communication channels. Then he doesn't travel with the team,
Speaker 1: and we don't know still even today on Tuesday, whether
Speaker 1: it's team policy that you traveled the team or not.
Speaker 1: He did travel to Pittsburgh a few weeks back and
Speaker 1: had his arm around Tyler Huntley. Uh, you know the
Speaker 1: entire game. So gosh, I'll ask this. He's a free
Speaker 1: agent right now as the season ends. Would you be
Speaker 1: devastated if Lamar Jackson never puts on a Ravens jersey again? Uh? Yeah. First,
Speaker 1: the first thing I wanted to say is I thought
Speaker 1: the VIC piece was interesting because he could argue no
Speaker 1: player lost more earnings in his career than Michael Vick
Speaker 1: over the course of his career right with with his
Speaker 1: decision making. So that was interesting for Vic to speak
Speaker 1: out so strongly. Um, I think most Ravens fans would
Speaker 1: be devastated with, you know, losing Lamar, especially the guys
Speaker 1: twenty six years old and you've never seen him in
Speaker 1: any other offense but you know, basic running offense the
Speaker 1: Roman has put out there. So you know, I think
Speaker 1: that to lose a player without even seeing an absolute
Speaker 1: superstar in another system would be a real like devastating
Speaker 1: blow for a lot of Ravens fans. But I also
Speaker 1: think that there are sub Ravens fans now that feel
Speaker 1: like too many bridges have been burned and you have
Speaker 1: to move on at this point, which, you know, which
Speaker 1: is a you know, a pretty valid take, except for
Speaker 1: the fact that you don't replace superstars. You don't replace
Speaker 1: guys like this, like you were talking about last week
Speaker 1: with Kawai Leonard in the NBA having trust issues and
Speaker 1: he moved on from the Spurs. But you know, the
Speaker 1: Spurs are in last place and Kwai Leonards won a title,
Speaker 1: so you know, you can't really move on from these
Speaker 1: guys and not have any uh, you know, repercussions and
Speaker 1: even sticking with the n b A, I mean, part
Speaker 1: of the main issue with a lot of fans, are
Speaker 1: you know, even Michael Jordan and Steph Curry needed coaching
Speaker 1: changes and regime changes to get to where they wanted
Speaker 1: to go, and so sometimes you need to do that
Speaker 1: and you just haven't seen it with the Ravens. So
Speaker 1: I think you would have some regret from a lot
Speaker 1: of fans that they didn't try doing this before year
Speaker 1: five or six with Lamar. Yeah, it's a great point, dude,
Speaker 1: And I know, like I bring you on as like
Speaker 1: the Ravens fan, and you think it's gonna be some
Speaker 1: hysterics or some sports talk radio stuff, like you make
Speaker 1: really good salient points, and the one I would make
Speaker 1: when you say about the bridges being burned. I thought
Speaker 1: it was interesting that a lot of the players came
Speaker 1: out and supported Lamar after the game and they weren't
Speaker 1: like hell, I played on like you know, an injury,
Speaker 1: like no. Marlon Humphrey was out there saying like Lamar
Speaker 1: is hobbling around the facility like what. So I thought
Speaker 1: that because to me, it's when you lose the locker
Speaker 1: room and they're like we just let let it all
Speaker 1: on the line and you just decided not to play,
Speaker 1: like that could be cancerous or worrisome. But from what
Speaker 1: it sounds like not a single Ravens player has thrown
Speaker 1: Lamar under the bus. No. I mean, you just had
Speaker 1: that brief take with Sammy Watkins last week and which
Speaker 1: I think was weird, Like I don't think Sammy was
Speaker 1: coming at Lamar. It was a strange quote and Sammy,
Speaker 1: I don't think I had any intention of like questioning
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson's like, you know what I mean, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was interesting to get it from Sammy Watkins, who
Speaker 1: hasn't even been around the team the whole year and
Speaker 1: kind of just had a brief stint for one year
Speaker 1: the year before. But you know, all the players love him.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the thing. And uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: think that whatever you end up doing, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: very tough to replace him, uh, you know, especially when
Speaker 1: he's covered up for so many deficiencies for hardball and
Speaker 1: to costa over the years, you know. And and I
Speaker 1: think that, you know, if they rebuild, if they decided
Speaker 1: to rebuild, do you think that they can even do it? Really,
Speaker 1: you look at everything they've done since they've had Lamar.
Speaker 1: They didn't sign him when he was you know, eligible,
Speaker 1: and then they keep loading into the defense, and then
Speaker 1: you know some people would ask this year if he
Speaker 1: was holding out, why would he hold out in the
Speaker 1: middle of the year, right, And you know, I don't
Speaker 1: think he was. I think he was really hurt. But
Speaker 1: you know, when Shot Bateman goes down, what do they do?
Speaker 1: They go trade for a linebacker, you know, that's what
Speaker 1: they do. That's their answers, They trade for a linebackers
Speaker 1: on that O'Dell talk this year, and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: can give you thirty one teams that O'Dell will sign
Speaker 1: with before he'll sign with the Ravens. This he's end
Speaker 1: den inside with any But like, that's not that's not
Speaker 1: that wasn't a place for Odell Beckham because it's just
Speaker 1: receiver is not a priority for the Baltimore Ravens. No,
Speaker 1: it's not, I mean it's not. I mean, you know
Speaker 1: they have great Roman there, who they if he wasn't
Speaker 1: being effective and they couldn't score, they also had t
Speaker 1: Martin sitting in the wings. And why not give him
Speaker 1: a chance? You know, he interviewed with the Bills last year.
Speaker 1: I don't see Roman getting interviews anywhere, you know, so
Speaker 1: why not give him a chance while he's there? What's
Speaker 1: the downside, you're you know, they didn't score twenty points
Speaker 1: since Thanksgiving. The last time they scored over twenty points
Speaker 1: was when Lamar played at the Jaguars. Do you expect
Speaker 1: to win playoff games and the modern NFL scoring fifteen
Speaker 1: to seventeen points? Do you think that? I mean, that's
Speaker 1: not going to happen. This is so the is why
Speaker 1: it's so depressing as a Ravens fan, Like you know,
Speaker 1: this has been You're a joyous guy. You're one of
Speaker 1: the happiest people. I know. Your joyce and it sounds
Speaker 1: like this is therapy right now. Yeah, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's it's been a long few years, especially dealing with this,
Speaker 1: you know, and now they're stuck with this situation. So
Speaker 1: here we are, all right, So let's let's wrap it
Speaker 1: with this. Then I'm gonna give you three scenarios. Tell
Speaker 1: me which you would be. You would choose a Lamar walks.
Speaker 1: You don't get anything from him, You cut the bridge,
Speaker 1: whatever be your franchise, tag him, and you shop him,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, all offseason there's trade rumors.
Speaker 1: There's that see you sign Lamar Jackson for what I
Speaker 1: believe he wants two million dollars with a lot of
Speaker 1: that guaranteed, that Deshaun Watson deal. You have to pick
Speaker 1: one of those three. And knowing between what is the
Speaker 1: Ravens fan perspective on that, you know, I can't speak
Speaker 1: for a lot of the casual fans out there, but
Speaker 1: for fans of most of them, wouldn't let go of
Speaker 1: the kind of talent Lamar is. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: casual fans who say trade them, but I would resign Lamar.
Speaker 1: I would change their offensive ecosystem to something in like
Speaker 1: the modern NFL you know has, and I would go
Speaker 1: from there. I think that's your best chance of competing
Speaker 1: with mahomes Alan and Burrow moving forward period. I am
Speaker 1: with you, bro, and I think you do pay him
Speaker 1: what Deshaun Watson makes and you deal with it like
Speaker 1: that's the market to have Lamar Jackson, who's the face
Speaker 1: of the Baltimore franchise, that's the market. Look, Kyler took
Speaker 1: a little less, but Lamar is way more accomplished than Kyler.
Speaker 1: In the NFL, they gave all that money to Shawn Watson.
Speaker 1: You can't blame Lamar Jackson for Cleveland doing that and
Speaker 1: hold it against him. That's what the market is. So
Speaker 1: it's really tough pill to swallow. I know, I know
Speaker 1: they offered him something or they were talking about offerings,
Speaker 1: and he like kind of didn't want it that I
Speaker 1: don't know all the details, but he wasn't as as
Speaker 1: previous like I think you've give him what he wants,
Speaker 1: especially because right now it's ugly and it's like if
Speaker 1: he leaves and God forbid he leaves and goes to
Speaker 1: another team and goes and has great success. That might
Speaker 1: be one of the great blunders in NFL history, letting
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson at twenty six years old walk out the door.
Speaker 1: I agree. I mean the markets. The market. You know,
Speaker 1: you may not want to pay something for a house
Speaker 1: in a certain neighborhood, but guess what if that's the market,
Speaker 1: that's what it is. So you can either live there
Speaker 1: or you don't. Okay, Now that the Raven season is over,
Speaker 1: I know you're a die hard terms fan, You're a
Speaker 1: die hard Wisconsin Badgers fan. Where do you turn all
Speaker 1: that energy to sports wise after the season is over?
Speaker 1: You know, I'm I'm already looking at the NFL draft.
Speaker 1: The terms are in to rebuild. I you know, I
Speaker 1: started looking at quarterbacks. Uh, you know for the following
Speaker 1: few years, especially looking at the teams I think Lamar
Speaker 1: could go to. And you know, it's it's rough. It's depressing, man,
Speaker 1: it's really depressing when you think about trying to look
Speaker 1: for another quarterback when you have a twenty six year
Speaker 1: old m v P very quarterback prospect or prospect at
Speaker 1: all in the college game that you have your eye
Speaker 1: on that we could all just say. On January sevent
Speaker 1: Jeremy said, hey, circle, this guy, he's going to be
Speaker 1: a draft steal. Well, I mean, you know, not this year,
Speaker 1: but I like the kid from USC who's actually a
Speaker 1: local product for next year. That's the problem. So you know,
Speaker 1: this quarterback class is not as strong as I think
Speaker 1: some think it will be, but you know it's still Listen,
Speaker 1: I think that the kid from Alabama it is a
Speaker 1: you know, an exception to the role with his size.
Speaker 1: But I like Stroud the best. If if I had
Speaker 1: to pick a quarterback, I picked Stroud. He's, you know,
Speaker 1: I got the prototypical size and and he's played with
Speaker 1: a lot of good receivers over the years and has
Speaker 1: put the ball where he needed to be. C. J. Stroud.
Speaker 1: All right, Jeremy, thank you. Um, I wanted to get
Speaker 1: the pulse of the Ravens fan and if I could
Speaker 1: just do some quick takeaways, let me to sum it
Speaker 1: all up. Romans gotta go, Hardball has to get checked
Speaker 1: in some way, and Lamar needs to stay. If we
Speaker 1: can do all that, I think you're gonna be really
Speaker 1: happy in a couple of weeks. Right, yeah, I'd be
Speaker 1: very happy. I'd be very happy to see Romans contract
Speaker 1: not renewed and then move forward with a modern NFL team. Buddy,
Speaker 1: thank you, you gotta pass. I just can't. It does work.
Speaker 1: We didn't even get to J. K. Dobbins. We didn't
Speaker 1: even get to Dobbins. I know we didn't get there,
Speaker 1: but I mean his comments spoke for themselves, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: the guy hasn't had seventeen more than seventeen carries in
Speaker 1: his career, ridiculous. Yeah, he wanted the ball there, But
Speaker 1: you know what, if we can dive over, if only
Speaker 1: can dive over from four yards out an entire chwo people,
Speaker 1: and it would have it would have worked. It would
Speaker 1: have been fine. Yeah, but you know, Hardball had no
Speaker 1: problem throwing him under the bus, right, away right saying
Speaker 1: he should have burrowed under the line. You know, that's
Speaker 1: he had no problem doing that. And then you know
Speaker 1: when Huntley said something about the Ravens and the in
Speaker 1: this postgame press conference, the Ravens you know left that
Speaker 1: out of their media piece. No, not many people saw
Speaker 1: they the transcripts. What did he say? I love this?
Speaker 1: That's what is this story? So yeah, Hanley said something,
Speaker 1: you know, it would have been nice for Lamar to
Speaker 1: have been here, if he could be here, meaning I
Speaker 1: don't know if they didn't let Lamar go for a distraction,
Speaker 1: who knows, but they scrubbed that from the post game
Speaker 1: media transcript. I thought that was very interesting, you know,
Speaker 1: sure is yeah interesting. All right, buddy, thank you, appreciate you,
Speaker 1: thank you. All right, now, let's get into the playoff
Speaker 1: preview presented by our friends at Draft Kings Sports Book.
Speaker 1: I mentioned it last week. We got a sponsor, and
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Speaker 1: hours after the Dallas Cowboys beat the Buccaneers, and I'm
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Speaker 1: the odds as of this morning per Draft Kings sports
Speaker 1: Book are Niners are favored by three and a half
Speaker 1: points minus one ten on that one money line Niners
Speaker 1: minus one Dallas plus one sixty and then the over
Speaker 1: under total right now is forty six with minus one
Speaker 1: ten on that. Um. I look at those lines, and
Speaker 1: I look at this matchup, and I cannot wait for
Speaker 1: this freaking game. I'll tell you something. If you asked
Speaker 1: me on Monday morning how feeling about a potential Cowboys
Speaker 1: Niners game, I'd say, well, it's gonna be Niners in
Speaker 1: a in a in a like Niners in a in
Speaker 1: a walk. Niners look so good on on Saturday and
Speaker 1: they're rolling and the defense got going and perty got
Speaker 1: those early jitters out and looked as good as anybody.
Speaker 1: Do you know who looks better than the Niners? The
Speaker 1: Cowboys on Monday night. I've never seen Dak play like that,
Speaker 1: and I know Dak has had huge wins in his
Speaker 1: regular see is in career and Dak put up forty
Speaker 1: in Minnesota this year. Dak Prescott was unbelievable on Monday Night.
Speaker 1: And and it wasn't just it was with Kellen Moore
Speaker 1: calling all the right plays. And how about Mike McCarthy.
Speaker 1: Can I give Mike McCarthy some love right now? Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy who is often parodied online and has treated like
Speaker 1: some punching bag, and all the fourth quarter decisions and
Speaker 1: all the weird game management stuff and the time out mismanagement,
Speaker 1: and are they going forward? Are they not going for it?
Speaker 1: Why is he going for it? Why is he not
Speaker 1: going for it? We get a third and goal up
Speaker 1: six nothing after the kicker missed the extra point in
Speaker 1: the last touchdown, and they get stuffed. Everybody and their mother,
Speaker 1: including Troy Aikman on the calls like I would take
Speaker 1: the points here, just go up nine nothing, the defensive
Speaker 1: rolland just go They go for it on fourth down
Speaker 1: and have one of the slikest play calls of the
Speaker 1: entire week, a little play action rollout scrambled by Dac
Speaker 1: and he runs the touchdown in and like they showed McCarthy,
Speaker 1: and it was like, hell yeah, dude, drop the mic.
Speaker 1: I'm going with my gut. I'm going authentically with what
Speaker 1: I believe in, and I'm going with what I want
Speaker 1: to do, not what the social media people tell me
Speaker 1: to do, and not worrying about what the critique will
Speaker 1: be if this fails. McCarthy seems like he's he's he's
Speaker 1: coached the best playoff game he's coached in and maybe
Speaker 1: a decade going back to like some of those Packers
Speaker 1: wins that they had in big moments in the in
Speaker 1: the mid two thousand's with Rogers. Uh, what a moment
Speaker 1: this is for these two head coaches. I know everyone
Speaker 1: talks about the players, but you know, I love the
Speaker 1: coaches and I look at them. Kyle Shanahan, you think
Speaker 1: about the three loss when he was the offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: of the Falcons. You think about the Super Bowl loss
Speaker 1: when they're up ten in the fourth quarter of the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: You think about last year's NFC Championship game when they're
Speaker 1: up ten and Jakoski tart drops that interception and then
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup scores and then away we go for the
Speaker 1: for the Rams. All those heartbreaking losses by Kyle Shanahan
Speaker 1: coach teams. Then you look at McCarthy fired a joke,
Speaker 1: treated like like some buffoon on Twitter, where two coaches
Speaker 1: we validated with a Lombardi Trophy this season more than
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy and Kyle Shanahan. Gosh, I can't wait for it.
Speaker 1: Cowboys versus forty Niners, Bring it on. I hope. I
Speaker 1: wish it was a Thursday night game. I'm ready for
Speaker 1: it now, but it is Sunday. It's the last one
Speaker 1: and it's the main event that, my friends was the
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Speaker 1: slash football terms, and guys, that's the podcast for the week.
Speaker 1: It's my favorite football weekend of the year. This beats
Speaker 1: the Draft, it beats Wildcard Round, it beats Opening weekend.
Speaker 1: It's divisional Round. You've got eight teams, you've got four games.
Speaker 1: It's wall to wall. It's great logos, it's great quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: it's great stories, and it's great for the NFL fan.
Speaker 1: I want to thank Aaron Wong Kaufman. I want to
Speaker 1: thank Jason English. I want to thank Jason Kleinman. I
Speaker 1: want to thank Matt Schneider. I want to thank all
Speaker 1: the folks who work at I Heeart and NFL Network
Speaker 1: and helping putting this thing on. And I also want
Speaker 1: to thank our maestro Jack Rudd, who does the music
Speaker 1: for this thing. Guys, we'll see you next week. We're
Speaker 1: gonna be down to four until then, enjoy the games.
Speaker 1: M H the season with Peter Schrager is a production
Speaker 1: of the NFL and partnership with I heart Radio. For
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Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.