Speaker 1: You are listening to The Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio. Hour two on this Wednesday. It's a pizza Wednesday,
Speaker 1: so morale is high. Dylan, who's responsible for the menu,
Speaker 1: what are the pies today on the Rec Tech Grills?
Speaker 2: We have a hot Italian sausage pizza. New Haven-style tomato pie. And,
Speaker 2: of course, Todd's world-famous classic cheese pizza.
Speaker 3: Who has it better than we do? Nobody. Stat of
Speaker 3: the Day brought to you by Panini America, the official
Speaker 3: trading cards of the program. Labor Day weekend on NBC
Speaker 3: and Peacock. Back-to-back days of baseball action. Braves, Phillies, Twins,
Speaker 3: White Sox. Then Monday, Cardinals, Giants. Labor Day weekend on
Speaker 3: NBC and Peacock, which is where you can see this
Speaker 3: program Monday through Friday. Ryan Leaf, former NFL quarterback, now
Speaker 3: the lead analyst for the Pac-12. He will join us
Speaker 3: coming up a little bit. The Heisman Trophy winner, Robert
Speaker 3: Griffin Jr. III, will stop by as well. Phone calls, 877-3DP-SHOW.
Speaker 3: Tyler's sitting by. He'll take your calls. I've been in
Speaker 3: on Kyler Murray with the Vikings.
Speaker 4: I have.
Speaker 3: For some reason, I think Kevin O'Connell will get him going.
Speaker 3: He's got some good wide receivers. He might have the
Speaker 3: best receiver in football. Maybe you could get him out
Speaker 3: in space, as they like to say. Hot take draft? Well,
Speaker 3: here's the problem. I just saw the over-under for passing
Speaker 3: touchdowns for Kyler Murray. Now I'm a little concerned about
Speaker 3: the Vikings. Over-under is 18.5 touchdown passes. That's lower than
Speaker 3: Bryce Young and Cam Ward, who are both at 20.5.
Speaker 3: Here's my problem with the Vikings. The Vikings, since 2022,
Speaker 3: are averaging just under 23 points per game. So they're
Speaker 3: 14th in the NFL over that period. Well, you've got
Speaker 3: a great defense. Since 2023, the Vikings are allowing around
Speaker 3: 20 points per game. That ranks 3rd. in the NFL
Speaker 3: over that time span. What's amazing is they won nine
Speaker 3: games last year. And they had an offense that was
Speaker 3: at the bottom of the NFL and a defense that
Speaker 3: was top ten. Brian Flores, he can dial something up.
Speaker 5: Go ahead, go ahead. Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 3: If I said to Kirk Herbstreet, you're not allowed to
Speaker 3: use the expression dial up because Brent Venables, man, could
Speaker 3: he dial some stuff up at Clemson? Todd Munkin, man,
Speaker 3: could he dial something up for the Ravens? Brian Flores,
Speaker 3: you know, he can dial some. Spags, Steve Spagnola, he's
Speaker 3: going to dial something up.
Speaker 4: Yes, Marv.
Speaker 5: He was a big fan of Mike Stoops at Oklahoma also.
Speaker 3: Oh, Mike Stoops could dial something up. Yeah, Paul.
Speaker 6: A couple years ago in the NFL, it was the Bengals.
Speaker 6: Lou Anarumo, the defensive coordinator, was dialing up stuff.
Speaker 3: Oh. Big popular. You got to have somebody who can
Speaker 3: dial some stuff up there. Yes, Dylan.
Speaker 2: Can you only dial stuff up on defense? You can't
Speaker 2: dial anything up on offense?
Speaker 3: It feels like it is defense heavy with dialing things up.
Speaker 4: It does.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because you're going to be like, what spag's going
Speaker 3: to dial up here?
Speaker 5: Yes, Marvin. Marvin Lewis, when he was with the Ravens?
Speaker 3: Did he have to dial anything up?
Speaker 5: But he definitely got a lot of play.
Speaker 3: You know, speaking of great defense, defensive duos, Aaron Donald,
Speaker 3: when he makes his debut– certainly with Miles Garrett. And
Speaker 3: I started to wonder, and you guys, the audience, you
Speaker 3: can fill in the blanks here as well with your
Speaker 3: favorite duos, like LT and Harry Carson, both Hall of Famers.
Speaker 3: Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor, Hall of Famers. Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware,
Speaker 3: Hall of Famers. Mike Haynes, Lester Hayes, Haynes, Hall of Famer.
Speaker 3: Ed Reed, Ray Lewis. I might go right there and
Speaker 3: say that is the greatest duo, defensive duo, And they
Speaker 3: were there together a long time. Now, Derek Brooks, Warren Sapp,
Speaker 3: Alan Page, Carl Eller, Mel Blunt, Mean Joe Green would
Speaker 3: be up there as well. Bobby Bell, Willie Lanier, back
Speaker 3: with the Kansas City Chiefs, Merlin Olson, Deacon Jones, Ronnie Lott,
Speaker 3: Charles Haley. Those are just some names that we wrote
Speaker 3: down earlier this morning. Ed Reed, Ray Lewis might be
Speaker 3: the best duo. If you think about... I mean, all pros. Um,
Speaker 3: and I do think Ed Reed's underrated. You know, because
Speaker 3: that defense was so good, but when Ed got an interception,
Speaker 3: Ed was going to make you pay. He wanted to score.
Speaker 3: He was like Dion. He wanted to, he wanted to
Speaker 3: score on you. Mel Blunt and Mean Joe Green, Steel Curtain.
Speaker 4: Damn.
Speaker 3: You could throw Jack Lambert in there if you wanted.
Speaker 3: Jack Hamm in there if you wanted. Um, Elsie Greenwood
Speaker 3: in there. If you want it, that's a cheat code
Speaker 3: right there. How about Jerome Brown and Reggie white, but
Speaker 3: Jerome Brown passed away, you know, too soon in his career, obviously,
Speaker 3: but that was a duo up front. This is, you know,
Speaker 3: the Rams have a duo there, you know, that's up
Speaker 3: front here. I just thought taking two defensive players from
Speaker 3: the same team at the same time, um, You know,
Speaker 3: Harry Carson got into the Hall of Fame, had LT there.
Speaker 3: Derek Brooks, Warren Sapp. John Lynch, throw in there as well. Yeah, Paulie.
Speaker 6: You mentioned Jerome Brown and Reggie White. In 90 and 91,
Speaker 6: they were both first-team All-Pros lining up next to each other.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: That's as rare as it gets.
Speaker 3: And I don't know other ones. There's other ones that
Speaker 3: I've forgotten. But these ones are just off the top
Speaker 3: of my brain. Yes, Marvin.
Speaker 5: What about James Harrison and Troy Palamalu?
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 3: Yes, Dylan?
Speaker 2: Did you say Patrick Willis and Navarro Bowman?
Speaker 3: I did not.
Speaker 2: It's a good one. Patrick Willis, he obviously didn't have
Speaker 2: the longest career, but he was reminiscent of Ray Lewis,
Speaker 2: to be honest.
Speaker 4: Yes, Paul?
Speaker 6: I got a deeper cut I just got emailed in.
Speaker 6: Neil Smith and Derek Thomas together with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 6: They went to five straight Pro Bowls together and a
Speaker 6: couple first-team All-Pros.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I'm fine with that. There's no wrong answer here.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, in my opinion, if it's not Ed
Speaker 3: Reed and Ray Lewis, it might be Mel Blunt and
Speaker 3: Mean Joe Green. Yes, Marvin.
Speaker 5: Ronnie Lott and Charles Haley.
Speaker 3: I like that one, too. I mentioned that one. Yeah, Dylan.
Speaker 2: We'll give the defending champs some love. What about Earl
Speaker 2: Thomas and Bobby Wagner?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Hall of Famers. Throwing Richard Sherman in there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and Richard Sherman.
Speaker 2: Trifecta.
Speaker 3: Cam Chancellor is one of my favorites. I can still
Speaker 3: hear Cam Chancellor. Hit Julian Edelman.
Speaker 4: Oh, man.
Speaker 3: That sounded like a ball coming off the bat of Otani.
Speaker 3: And Edelman still held on to the ball. And stumbled
Speaker 3: and got a first down. Edelman's had two of the
Speaker 3: greatest plays in Super Bowl history.
Speaker 5: Ooh, new topic.
Speaker 3: Two of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history. The
Speaker 3: catch against Atlanta defied all probability. And then that hit
Speaker 3: against Cam Chancellor.
Speaker 1: Oh, man.
Speaker 3: And then he still, I still, whenever I see Edelman,
Speaker 3: I've said, dude, you had to be knocked out on
Speaker 3: your feet. And I've been around Cam Chancellor. He's a man.
Speaker 3: He's big. And you're around Edelman, and you go, how
Speaker 3: did you survive that? Like, I'm thinking death. He got
Speaker 3: hit so hard. I'm thinking, he's not getting up anytime soon. Yeah, Paul.
Speaker 6: I'm watching the replay of the Edelman hit by Cam Chancellor.
Speaker 6: Not only does he get up, his teammates are, like,
Speaker 6: tending to him. He doesn't go to the sidelines. There's
Speaker 6: someone waving him over. He's shaking them off. He goes
Speaker 6: right back to the huddle.
Speaker 5: I'm double-checking.
Speaker 6: I think he caught the next play.
Speaker 3: Oh, my goodness. They're just guys who are built different
Speaker 3: and taking that punishment. But, you know, these defensive players,
Speaker 3: like Ronnie Lott would just– now, it was different when
Speaker 3: Ronnie was playing and Mel Blount and some of these
Speaker 3: other guys. But, boy, if they got a free run
Speaker 3: at you, they were taking you out. It wasn't one
Speaker 3: of those, hey, I'm going to ease up on you.
Speaker 3: This is going to hurt. And the fact the NFL
Speaker 3: used to celebrate these hits, you know, you'd get those
Speaker 3: greatest hits of the NFL. Yes, Dylan. I thought about
Speaker 3: this one too.
Speaker 2: I know this is one of your favorites, but the,
Speaker 2: the New York sack exchange for defensive tandem, maybe a short, like,
Speaker 2: I mean a great couple of seasons.
Speaker 3: Well, Gastineau and Klecko were great. Klecko was the great player,
Speaker 3: you know, Gastineau got credit in a sack dance and,
Speaker 3: you know, dating Brigitte Nielsen and drove a Rolls Royce.
Speaker 3: I remember when I would go out to Hofstra where
Speaker 3: the Jets practice and you'd go into the parking lot
Speaker 3: and you'd see Gastineau's Rolls Royce there. He was always
Speaker 3: friendly to me and I was working at CNN. So
Speaker 3: not exactly, you know, we we weren't a sports network,
Speaker 3: but I think he liked the fact that CNN went worldwide.
Speaker 3: and when you interviewed him, the other guys didn't like
Speaker 3: him because he was getting all the attention. He was flashy,
Speaker 3: sack dance. Klecko, to me, was workmanlike. That dude was
Speaker 3: strongest guy on the team, and he... He was the
Speaker 3: one who did the dirty work. He was sort of
Speaker 3: the Aaron Donald of the New York SAC exchange. Yeah, Pauline.
Speaker 6: I felt that way a little bit as a kid
Speaker 6: watching the Steelers. Jack Lambert was a star. Joe Green
Speaker 6: got commercials. Mel Blunt, to me, was scary when I
Speaker 6: was a kid. I was like, that guy's too big
Speaker 6: to play cornerback.
Speaker 3: Well, and I think the Steelers' defense, it felt like
Speaker 3: everything was funneled to Lambert there. You see this with
Speaker 3: a lot of linebackers. Mike Singletary, it's funneled to you. Golly,
Speaker 3: when you think about it, I didn't even put the
Speaker 3: Bears in there, Pauly. You got Singletary and Richard Dent?
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: Beyond Hampton?
Speaker 6: More of an ensemble. But yeah, I mean, Richard Dent,
Speaker 6: probably a little underrated historically.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Hall of Famer. Yes, Marvin.
Speaker 5: Kind of in that same vein. I know they were
Speaker 5: an ensemble, but Ty Law and Rodney Harrison.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Ties in the Hall of Fame. Rodney should be in.
Speaker 4: The Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3: I think Rodney will eventually get into the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Paul.
Speaker 5: J.J.
Speaker 6: Watt, anyone?
Speaker 3: Oh! Forgot J.J., sorry. Justin.
Speaker 4: J.J. Watt.
Speaker 3: Paulie went through a bad stretch where he couldn't help
Speaker 3: himself mentioning J.J.
Speaker 7: Watt.
Speaker 3: It's not over. Even when the season was over, he'd
Speaker 3: be like, I got a text from J.J.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I reached out, you know, he and
Speaker 3: his wife had a baby boy.
Speaker 6: Not invited to the wedding.
Speaker 3: So Paulie went from J.J. Watt to Sam Darnold. Oh, yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and then Paulie just can't help himself. Whenever you talk
Speaker 3: about Seahawks, yeah, Sam Darnold. We're aware of that. Sam
Speaker 3: and I did it.
Speaker 5: We did it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Sam.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Sam. Yes, Todd?
Speaker 5: Is Carl Mecklenburg and Steve Atwater a stretch? I know
Speaker 5: it's a Bronco thing. They played five years together. Those
Speaker 5: are two pretty big guys.
Speaker 3: We were talking about Paul.
Speaker 5: I was just adding a name to the list of
Speaker 5: the duos.
Speaker 3: Well, Paul, you got your own show with Perloff, so
Speaker 3: maybe you can mention that. Not so fast. Not so fast.
Speaker 3: Let's see. What do we have here? Jared in Tampa. Hi, Jared.
Speaker 3: What do you have for me today?
Speaker 8: Hey, Dan. Six foot, 170. Hey, I just I wanted
Speaker 8: to call. I was listening to the podcast late last
Speaker 8: evening with my kids in the car.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 8: And you were going through those NFL surveys of fan bases.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 8: And I've got a bunch of young Buccaneers fans in
Speaker 8: the car. You gave us a really good moment yesterday
Speaker 8: when you started counting down.
Speaker 3: What was it?
Speaker 8: The the most positive.
Speaker 3: Teams, fan bases.
Speaker 7: You got to the.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and you got to the Bucs, and my kids
Speaker 8: let loose in the back. It was cool. Just wanted
Speaker 8: to call and say thank you. I got a good
Speaker 8: dad moment yesterday.
Speaker 3: You're welcome, Jared. You're welcome. And to your kids, good
Speaker 3: luck with the Buccaneers. But, yes, they ranked number one
Speaker 3: in positivity for their fan base. Jacob in Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Hi, Jake.
Speaker 3: What do you have for me today?
Speaker 1: Hey, Dan.
Speaker 4: Second time, long time.
Speaker 3: 5'8, hefty 195s. Um, thank you.
Speaker 7: Hey, man, I just wanted to say thank you. You always,
Speaker 7: you know, shine a light on addiction and bring it,
Speaker 7: you know, a lot of mental health issues and bring
Speaker 7: it to the surface. I think that's really important. And,
Speaker 7: you know, really helped me in my life. The Ryan
Speaker 7: Leaf interview in 2016 was actually right around a big
Speaker 7: turning point for me. I struggled a lot with opiate
Speaker 7: addiction back then and had been for years and trying to,
Speaker 7: you know, figure it out. And then That interview came on,
Speaker 7: and for some reason, it really affected me. I listen
Speaker 7: to you every day and have for a very long time.
Speaker 7: Over that year, I listened to it probably five times
Speaker 7: or more. It really just helped get the ball rolling
Speaker 7: for me a lot, and I really appreciated it. I
Speaker 7: actually got to meet Ryan at the Regents Pro-Damn. And
Speaker 7: I just really wanted to call to say thank you
Speaker 7: to you and to him because I wasn't able to
Speaker 7: tell him what that interview meant to me at the
Speaker 7: time because I was standing in front of my boss
Speaker 7: while I was working. So I said, hey, thanks, man.
Speaker 7: But just wanted to say thank you to both you guys.
Speaker 7: Sorry I ran on for a minute.
Speaker 3: That's okay. Ryan Leaf will join us coming up in
Speaker 3: about 10 minutes. But thank you for the phone call there.
Speaker 3: Bill in Chicago. And we'll take a break.
Speaker 4: Hi, Bill.
Speaker 3: Hey, morning, Dan.
Speaker 4: 6'2 and a Gilgis 190. Gilgis. I constantly am thinking
Speaker 4: about your death trip bike ride you took with your
Speaker 4: wife from Atlanta to New Orleans. And having done those
Speaker 4: kinds of trips, I know how hard that is. And
Speaker 4: I wondered how your wife's trial hike went. On the
Speaker 4: Appalachian Trail went, and I was hoping you could cash
Speaker 4: in your credits from that bike ride and maybe do
Speaker 4: a supported hike.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no. There's no supportive hike there. My
Speaker 3: wife went and picked up the trail in New Hampshire,
Speaker 3: and she loved it. She wants to do the Appalachian Trail.
Speaker 3: And I have retired from hiking.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 3: Yeah. That was my first retirement.
Speaker 6: You're hanging up your boots?
Speaker 3: From hiking and biking. And by the way, we did
Speaker 3: open up the envelope last night for the cost of
Speaker 3: the wedding. We had sealed it. My wife said she
Speaker 3: told the hotel clerk, just seal it up. And then
Speaker 3: she put it in her bag when we traveled home
Speaker 3: from California. And I said, you know, we don't have
Speaker 3: to open it up. I mean, we can put it
Speaker 3: in a time capsule and send it to Mars if
Speaker 3: you want. Like, I don't care. I mean, I still
Speaker 3: have to pay it. So let's pay it. And you
Speaker 3: don't have to tell me what it costs. I don't care.
Speaker 3: You know, it was a great moment, you know. And
Speaker 3: so it was, you know, when you open it up
Speaker 3: and it's real slow. And then I was curious how
Speaker 3: many pages we're going to be. And then I'm like,
Speaker 3: And I mean, I've gotten Sandler scripts that weren't as
Speaker 3: long as this. And all of a sudden and I
Speaker 3: always start at the bottom. You know, when I get
Speaker 3: fan mail, I always start at the bottom because if
Speaker 3: they say, like, I hate your guts, then there's no
Speaker 3: need to read the other stuff. But if it says
Speaker 3: have a blessed day or sincerely, then I go, OK.
Speaker 3: So I went down to the bottom and I said
Speaker 3: to my wife, how many numbers? And she goes, I said,
Speaker 3: more than five. What's the first number? So she told me,
Speaker 3: and then she showed me the price of it. And
Speaker 3: I go, great. And she goes, great. I said, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm good. I probably wouldn't have been ready as we're
Speaker 3: checking out after the wedding To look at that number. But,
Speaker 3: you know, we're removed a couple of weeks. I'm like,
Speaker 3: you know, it's okay.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 3: We did it. She had a great time. Got to
Speaker 3: have family and friends. That's what it's about. So I
Speaker 3: was fine with that. I did tell my other two daughters,
Speaker 3: don't be afraid to do something a little more frugal.
Speaker 3: Does anybody want to get married at the house? You know,
Speaker 3: my wife keeps saying it'd be nice if somebody wanted
Speaker 3: to get married at the house. Get married at Paul's house. Like,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 6: We're in a side yard.
Speaker 3: Save me a little bit of money. Yeah, True Green
Speaker 3: came in and made your lawn look great.
Speaker 5: Yeah, come on over. Okay.
Speaker 3: More phone calls coming up. Ryan Leaf will join us
Speaker 3: next here, Dan Patrick Show.
Speaker 1: Be sure to catch the live edition of the Dan
Speaker 1: Patrick Show weekdays at 9 a.m. Eastern, 6 a.m. Pacific
Speaker 1: on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3: Hey, it's Covino and Riff from Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 9: Now, in addition to hearing us live weekdays from 5
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Speaker 9: Sports Radio, we're excited to announce a brand new YouTube
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Speaker 3: Robert griffin jr the third as mclovin would say he'll
Speaker 3: join us coming up next hour the heisman winner the
Speaker 3: fact that mclovin called him robert griffith jr the third
Speaker 3: i went well you screwed up the griffith and the
Speaker 3: jr But he said it in a convincing manner. Yes, Paul.
Speaker 6: Do you remember we played it so many times in
Speaker 6: the weeks after that that Sal Palantonio accidentally said it
Speaker 6: on Countdown?
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 3: And let's go out to Sal Palantonio. Robert Griffith Jr.
Speaker 3: III will be available. And I'm like, oh, my gosh.
Speaker 3: I apologize to Sal Pal for that. Ryan Leaf, USA
Speaker 3: lead Pac-12 analyst, former NFL quarterback, and the number two
Speaker 3: overall pick by the Chargers back in 1998. How many
Speaker 3: teams are in the Pac-12? Eight football, nine basketball. Okay.
Speaker 3: The opportunity to expand. Where are you getting those? Everybody
Speaker 3: wants expansion. So where are we getting other teams, other schools?
Speaker 5: I think what.
Speaker 10: Teresa Gould, who's the Pac-12 commissioner, I think her vision
Speaker 10: has really kind of become a reality. You know, there
Speaker 10: was a time where there were the two teams where
Speaker 10: everybody else vacated. And I don't think there was a
Speaker 10: moment after she went and spoke to the presidents of
Speaker 10: the university where she had a plan in place that
Speaker 10: either one of those teams waver. If an ACC team
Speaker 10: had come in or an ACC conference would have come
Speaker 10: in or a Big 12 conference would have came, I
Speaker 10: don't think Washington State or Oregon State would have left.
Speaker 10: They were going to build this new Pac-12, rebrand it,
Speaker 10: and release it to the public here in July. And
Speaker 10: I think it's going to be highly competitive, a lot
Speaker 10: of fun. But I do think they want to keep
Speaker 10: looking outside to build the brand and build something bigger
Speaker 10: down the stretch. But right now, they're really happy with
Speaker 10: the eight participants.
Speaker 3: So now we only have power four. They're four power
Speaker 3: four conferences, right?
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Which would make sense if it's a power four then.
Speaker 10: It's... I don't really buy into it outside the college
Speaker 10: football playoff saying this year that the four power four
Speaker 10: conference champions are going to get an automatic bid into
Speaker 10: the college football playoff. That allows for, let's say the
Speaker 10: PAC 12, if they're the fifth best ranked conference, which
Speaker 10: I think it is going into the season. This gives
Speaker 10: my alma mater and a lot of these teams in
Speaker 10: this conference, maybe their best chance to go to the
Speaker 10: college football playoff ever. Washington state hasn't won a championship
Speaker 10: since 2003. So, This is going to give them a
Speaker 10: much better chance to get to the playoff and be
Speaker 10: a part of the conversation than they ever would have
Speaker 10: had in the old Pac-12.
Speaker 3: How did we get to the point where you can
Speaker 3: go to the NFL and put on an NFL uniform
Speaker 3: and go through training camp, get cut, and then be
Speaker 3: allowed to go back and play college football?
Speaker 10: Okay, so this is something I've been a little bit
Speaker 10: annoyed with, the way the talking heads have been. You
Speaker 10: heard Dan Orlovsky go on Get Up and say– this
Speaker 10: is going to open up the floodgates.
Speaker 3: It's not going to open up the floodgates.
Speaker 10: He said they're going to play three years in college
Speaker 10: and get drafted in the second round and play two
Speaker 10: years and want to come back.
Speaker 3: No, that can't happen.
Speaker 10: It's now a rule. It's five for five. You get
Speaker 10: five years to play five. This rule, which was injuncted
Speaker 10: in the courts, is being applied retroactively. So this only
Speaker 10: affects the class of 2022 of these players. None of
Speaker 10: them were drafted. They did not make a roster. They
Speaker 10: have a chance to come back and do everything else
Speaker 10: that everybody is through this five-for-five thing. So it's not
Speaker 10: something that's going to be ongoing. I don't know where
Speaker 10: the story got so out of hand this week. It
Speaker 10: just became this bomb. Well, it's Lane Kiffin. Well, because
Speaker 10: he's using it to his advantage. And all these other
Speaker 10: teams should too. These are players that are due their
Speaker 10: final year of eligibility. It's not something that's going to
Speaker 10: affect it next year or the year after that. But
Speaker 10: then you even have head coaches like Steve Sarkeesian go
Speaker 10: on there and start talking about morality and things like that.
Speaker 4: And I'm like.
Speaker 10: Are you kidding me? I mean, I don't know if
Speaker 10: they're informed at the actual court ruling.
Speaker 3: No, it's the concept of it, Ryan, that we think, oh,
Speaker 3: my God, this is going to be an avalanche. The
Speaker 3: floodgates are open, and now we're going to have 50
Speaker 3: guys go to the NFL, get cut, and then come
Speaker 3: back and play wherever they want to. No, never happened.
Speaker 3: Won't happen. This is a.
Speaker 10: an injunction in the courts that is being retroactively instituted
Speaker 10: for these players that are due their final year of eligibility.
Speaker 5: That's it.
Speaker 10: And if they fall between these parameters, and we're talking
Speaker 10: about maybe, what, six, seven, eight players? Like, that's it.
Speaker 10: It's like the bigger conversation around all the things that
Speaker 10: make it so subjective, and it's not. It's going to
Speaker 10: piss off some other coaches, because guess what? It seemingly
Speaker 10: feels like a lot of these players want to come
Speaker 10: back and play for Lane Kiffin.
Speaker 3: I don't have any problem if Lane Kiffin wants to
Speaker 3: take advantage of this. I don't have the morality, please,
Speaker 3: going to LSU. He didn't invent this. If he takes
Speaker 3: advantage of this, then fine. I'm okay with it. I
Speaker 3: think if it was with another program and another coach,
Speaker 3: I don't think we would have this. It was like, oh,
Speaker 3: here's Lane. He'll do anything to win. If I'm in
Speaker 3: his position, and as long as my AD is fine
Speaker 3: with this, And I know these kids, I would open
Speaker 3: the door if they're allowed to do this legally, then
Speaker 3: I get it. I don't like it, but I get it.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I'm not even against liking it. These guys did
Speaker 10: not make an NFL roster. You know, this is an
Speaker 10: opportunity for them to maybe play football for the last
Speaker 10: time and make name, image, and likeness money to help them.
Speaker 10: It may be their best opportunity to do so. I
Speaker 10: think a lot of these coaches are talking about, I'm
Speaker 10: not going to give a kid who's busted his butt
Speaker 10: for seven months, give away his spot. Well, they're not
Speaker 10: giving away a spot. There's 105 roster spots. None of
Speaker 10: those have been completely met. They're going to play within
Speaker 10: this roster. And I know Lane really well. Lane's had
Speaker 10: me come speak to three of his programs since he
Speaker 10: was at Florida Atlantic and Ole Miss. And I suspect
Speaker 10: I'll be down to Baton Rouge pretty soon. Um, I,
Speaker 10: I simply love the guy. I think that he has
Speaker 10: really reinvented himself. I thought we saw the best possible
Speaker 10: version of him at Ole Miss. I even told him
Speaker 10: that I said, this is the best possible version of you.
Speaker 10: You have that at Ole Miss. Um, but he felt
Speaker 10: like this was something he needed to do. And so
Speaker 10: I supported him on it. I didn't necessarily think it
Speaker 10: was the right move, but, uh, we'll see how it
Speaker 10: plays out.
Speaker 3: Um, what does he have you tell his team?
Speaker 10: Well, I go in and speak to, uh, you know, consequences.
Speaker 10: You know, a big part of it. Also, you know,
Speaker 10: a huge part of it is I'm exactly where they
Speaker 10: were 25 years ago.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 10: I'm sitting in the exact same chair and I was
Speaker 10: in a much better position than all of those people
Speaker 10: in that room. I was about to be the second
Speaker 10: or first pick in the NFL draft. You know, and
Speaker 10: I give them that image. I go, how many of
Speaker 10: you would give right now? Five-year career in the NFL,
Speaker 10: the second pick in the NFL draft, $ 31 million, a
Speaker 10: Heisman Trophy finalist. How many of you would give for
Speaker 10: that right now? And every single one of them raises
Speaker 10: their hand because you forget because of how poor my
Speaker 10: professional career was, how much sacrifice and how much greatness
Speaker 10: went into the first 22 years of my life.
Speaker 3: It's always thrown to the.
Speaker 10: Side because of what the professional thing happens. People always
Speaker 10: ask me the question, do you wish you would have
Speaker 10: never played professional football? Because then you would have this
Speaker 10: great legacy. And I'm like, why would I have wanted that?
Speaker 10: I wanted to be the best. I wanted to get
Speaker 10: to the NFL. It's just how it happens.
Speaker 3: It's life. But when you tell them what happened to
Speaker 3: you after football, and I don't know if they look
Speaker 3: at you like, well, that's not going to impact me.
Speaker 3: You know how kids are. They look at you like that.
Speaker 3: They look like, that's not going to happen to me. Yes.
Speaker 3: Which part I say.
Speaker 10: The part where you're going to be the second pick
Speaker 10: in the NFL draft or the part where you're going
Speaker 10: to end up in a prison cell. It can happen
Speaker 10: to anybody at any point. We just had the young
Speaker 10: man who called in to you. I mean, I'm sitting
Speaker 10: in your green room. That was 10 years ago that
Speaker 10: I came on this show. And that guy heard that
Speaker 10: that day. You talked about it just a little bit
Speaker 10: ago in your confessional about that platform. And maybe you
Speaker 10: weren't ready to talk about it. But you had me
Speaker 10: on your show.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 10: And I was talking about it. And that allowed it
Speaker 10: to grow and become something. And you then took hold
Speaker 10: of that. And now you can speak to that. And
Speaker 10: so I think the impact that I am having would
Speaker 10: have never been the case if I had been a
Speaker 10: Super Bowl winning quarterback that didn't get that education.
Speaker 3: But would winning have kept you away from prescription drugs?
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 10: I mean, the failure and the judgment led to that.
Speaker 10: I didn't use it while I was playing. It was
Speaker 10: a coping mechanism, like you talked about with the Tony
Speaker 10: Romo and Tiger Woods conversation. You're trying to hide something.
Speaker 10: And so I never had that problem while I was
Speaker 10: playing in college. You were never interested in payment. I
Speaker 10: never took a drug. The only drug I've ever taken
Speaker 10: in my life is Vicodin. I didn't have my first
Speaker 10: drink until my 18th birthday. I probably can count on
Speaker 10: two hands how many times I've been drunk in my life.
Speaker 10: Like it's not, you know, competition was my drug of choice.
Speaker 10: I competed at everything. And now I've found that later
Speaker 10: in life. And, you know, I was talking to Andrew
Speaker 10: Perloff back there and I've been sober longer now than
Speaker 10: I ever was using, which is, that kind.
Speaker 3: Of snuck up on me. How many years?
Speaker 4: 14 years.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And previous, in my using years, it was, I think,
Speaker 3: I don't know, 12, 8 to 12.
Speaker 10: I think it was. So- you know, we're even past
Speaker 10: that point. It's not something I think about on a
Speaker 10: daily basis.
Speaker 3: It's a, there's no reminder or something that you know,
Speaker 3: that feeling, you know, or that you get that feeling
Speaker 3: and then you have to like coping mechanism behavior.
Speaker 10: I think behavior is a real telling sign of that.
Speaker 10: If you see old Ryan behavior, you know, entitlement, um,
Speaker 10: you know, um, But that's not a smell or a
Speaker 10: situation or anything? Movies was a thing for me. I
Speaker 10: would always go to movies and I would take them.
Speaker 10: You'd take Vicodin and go? And I would disappear. I
Speaker 10: would just numb myself out. And so I always thought
Speaker 10: it was going to be hard to go see movies again.
Speaker 10: And I love to go see movies. And so when
Speaker 10: I got into treatment, one of the things that the
Speaker 10: therapist had me do was we all went to a
Speaker 10: movie as a group and I got to see it
Speaker 10: in a sober environment. and it was still the greatest, right?
Speaker 10: And I remembered that. And so, you know, I take
Speaker 10: my kid to the movies, my wife and I go
Speaker 10: all the time. That was the one thing I thought
Speaker 10: was going to trigger. And you find a way to
Speaker 10: get past all that stuff. And then you use the
Speaker 10: tools that you learn through the process to not be
Speaker 10: influenced by those things. And, you know, I've had a
Speaker 10: couple surgeries since I got sober, and there's been a
Speaker 10: plan in place. It's always about transparency, talking to your doctors,
Speaker 10: talking to people. My wife says I've built my house
Speaker 10: out of glass over the last 12 years. And she's
Speaker 10: got a point. Everybody knows my stuff. I'm not afraid
Speaker 10: or worried that somebody may know it. And this has
Speaker 10: zero to do with any sort of redemption for me.
Speaker 10: Like there are so many people who have been infected
Speaker 10: by the justice system, mental health or substance use that
Speaker 10: have gone through this, conquered it and are thriving, but
Speaker 10: no one has them on the Dan Patrick show. No
Speaker 10: one has them on a podcast, and certainly not on
Speaker 10: the platforms.
Speaker 3: It's life. And it just was public for me, and
Speaker 3: that's it. What was that feeling like when you took
Speaker 3: a pain med for your surgery? It was great, right?
Speaker 10: I mean, it's... Dangerously great? Dangerously great, yeah. I remember, oh, God, yeah.
Speaker 10: I remember how this feels. I love this. I love
Speaker 10: not feeling, you know, negative feelings, painful feelings. the things
Speaker 10: that you're supposed to feel as a human being. But,
Speaker 10: you know, we just had a plan in place, you know,
Speaker 10: my wife handled them. We took them for a couple
Speaker 10: of days and then we didn't think about it again.
Speaker 3: I had knee replacement surgery and I said to my wife,
Speaker 3: you know, they gave me a boatload of Percocet and
Speaker 3: I said, I don't want to take it. You know,
Speaker 3: I have an addictive person. I just, I said, no,
Speaker 3: I don't want to. She said, you haven't had problems
Speaker 3: with this before. I said, I know that, but this
Speaker 3: is knee replacement, and I was in terrible pain.
Speaker 5: That's smart.
Speaker 3: And I caved in. I said, Hundlon, let me have half. Listen,
Speaker 3: they're invented for a reason, right?
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 10: They're for acute physical pain. There's a reason why there's–
Speaker 10: that's a me problem. That's not a pill problem. I
Speaker 10: used to think football was the problem. No, it's a
Speaker 10: me problem. Football was never the problem. Football gave me everything.
Speaker 10: I had to figure it out. That's why with the
Speaker 10: Tony Romo statement that we just saw, I thought it
Speaker 10: was a very good statement. Didn't need the part about
Speaker 10: having debilitating back pain and stuff like that. Take that
Speaker 10: whole paragraph out.
Speaker 3: You don't need any of that.
Speaker 10: You chose to do this, and it's cost you this,
Speaker 10: and you're going to admit to it, and you're going
Speaker 10: to find a way to get better. That's It's almost
Speaker 10: like the saying when you say something, but.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 10: Everything after the but is meaningless to me. And I
Speaker 10: was reading it with my wife yesterday and I was
Speaker 10: just like, oh no, you don't have to say that part.
Speaker 3: Everybody's had surgeries.
Speaker 10: Everybody who's going through debilitating pain, you know, don't, you know,
Speaker 10: I play on a golf tour with him. He was
Speaker 10: always out there on a golf tour playing. So I'm like,
Speaker 10: if you're in such pain, why the hell are you
Speaker 10: out there playing golf all the time then? That's not
Speaker 10: helping things.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know, and to your.
Speaker 10: Point, you know, you could see, you could see the
Speaker 10: thing starting to unravel. You know, being around people outside
Speaker 10: the celebrity in the game of football.
Speaker 3: But don't mask what the problem is by telling me
Speaker 3: that you've gone through surgeries.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Same thing with Tiger Woods.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 3: You're masking these things.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know. Let me bring you back. I'm going to
Speaker 3: talk some actual football here. Yeah, let's do that. We'll
Speaker 3: continue with Ryan Leaf right after this.
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
Speaker 1: the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsportsradio.com. And
Speaker 1: within the iHeartRadio app, search FSR to listen live.
Speaker 3: Continuing our conversation with Ryan Leaf, he's the lead Pac-12
Speaker 3: analyst for USA Sports. And he'll be in the booth
Speaker 3: on Saturday, Colorado State hosting Wyoming, the border war rivalry,
Speaker 3: 6.30 Eastern on USA Network. And then you got Memphis
Speaker 3: at Boise State the following week. You look at the
Speaker 3: number of teams that can win the national title. How
Speaker 3: many would you say, let's say, get to a national
Speaker 3: title game?
Speaker 10: As of right now, I would argue there's many more
Speaker 10: than what we think because I don't think anybody has
Speaker 10: any idea what's about to trot onto the field this Saturday.
Speaker 10: With the way that rosters change so much in the offseason,
Speaker 10: the preseason rankings are absolutely bunk in my mind. Should
Speaker 10: be ripped up completely after week one. You know, when
Speaker 10: my Cougars go beat Washington in week one and Washington's
Speaker 10: a 15, you know, whatever, they're 15 ranked, it.
Speaker 5: Gets ripped up.
Speaker 10: And Washington State probably should be in the top 25
Speaker 10: then if you look at it that way. Yeah, but
Speaker 10: this is for TV. I understand why we do it.
Speaker 3: I get it.
Speaker 10: But the point about this is that I don't think
Speaker 10: you could have any rational conclusion on how many teams
Speaker 10: are viable options for a national championship right now.
Speaker 3: But give me a ballpark. 30. 30 have a chance
Speaker 3: to go to the national title? Yes, I believe so.
Speaker 3: 30 for the playoffs, not national title game. I would
Speaker 3: say you probably have.
Speaker 10: I think when you get into that playoff, you have
Speaker 10: a chance.
Speaker 3: Wait, well, are you suggesting that we could have another
Speaker 3: Indiana this year? Um, definitely. But who would be Indiana
Speaker 3: this year besides Indiana? Ole Miss.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 10: Oh, Ole Miss. I, I think Trinidad Chambliss is maybe
Speaker 10: arguably the best in the business. Um, my Heisman front
Speaker 10: runner is, is John Mateer at Oklahoma. Maybe Oklahoma could
Speaker 10: be that team that comes out of nowhere. Um, because
Speaker 10: I think they have the best quarterback and, you know, realistically,
Speaker 10: if you have the best quarterback in, At any level,
Speaker 10: you have a really good shot of making that. So
Speaker 10: I think there is definitely a team out there that
Speaker 10: could win the national championship that you are not talking.
Speaker 3: About right now. I think Miami has a really good
Speaker 3: chance of going back to the national title.
Speaker 10: I think Mario Cristobal, I've known him for a long time.
Speaker 10: He's been an incredible coach, a recruiter. He's back home.
Speaker 10: He got to taste a little bit of it last year.
Speaker 10: He continues to build a program that is rooted in winning.
Speaker 10: So I wouldn't be surprised at all if they're back
Speaker 10: in that That realm, once again, the ACC is such
Speaker 10: a foreign conference than what the other three are when
Speaker 10: you're talking about the power four. So, yeah, I suspect
Speaker 10: that they could be right in the mix again.
Speaker 3: And Mensah, they get a really good quarterback who would
Speaker 3: be a Heisman Trophy candidate. The number of analysts who
Speaker 3: think C.J. Carr is the best quarterback in college football. Yeah,
Speaker 3: water's wet. You know, they're not going out on a
Speaker 3: very far limb there to make that. Well, but Arch
Speaker 3: Manning was the anointed and even Dante Moore. But I
Speaker 3: think that you say Notre Dame, CJ Carr, I think
Speaker 3: Arch Manning, Dante Moore. I think all those guys can
Speaker 3: could be in that that that realm. I like I said,
Speaker 3: I think John Mateer is the. You think he's the
Speaker 3: best quarterback in college football?
Speaker 10: Yeah, I think if he doesn't get hurt a year ago,
Speaker 10: there's a much different conversation being had. He was the
Speaker 10: best quarterback in all of college football his final year
Speaker 10: at Washington State. He just was stuck in Pullman and
Speaker 10: not playing against the right kind of opponents. So, yeah,
Speaker 10: I think he's the best player. I think he's got
Speaker 10: one of the best play callers in all of football,
Speaker 10: and Ben Arbuckle calling plays that he's very familiar with.
Speaker 10: So they've got to be good on defense, and that's
Speaker 10: Brent Venable's area, so hopefully that makes Oklahoma– They've got
Speaker 10: a difficult schedule, but yeah, that's my guy. The prep
Speaker 10: work leading up to being drafted now, because these kids
Speaker 10: are programmed when they're in grade school, high school, seven-on-seven,
Speaker 10: all of these things. But we're getting back to quarterbacks
Speaker 10: being under center in the NFL, which I kept thinking,
Speaker 10: why would you take that away? that the defense doesn't
Speaker 10: know what I'm doing in those seven steps. If they
Speaker 10: just see me in the shotgun, I've taken away, I
Speaker 10: think a weapon of deception here. And so why are
Speaker 10: we getting back to these quarterback? Like Mendoza has never
Speaker 10: taken a snap under center. I've taken more snaps under
Speaker 10: center than Mendoza.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 3: So why are we getting back to quarterbacks under center?
Speaker 10: Well, I think college coaches didn't care that, they weren't
Speaker 10: preparing them for the NFL. They were trying to win
Speaker 10: a national championship and get themselves paid in the process.
Speaker 10: Now these players are being paid a lot of money.
Speaker 10: So what the coaches have had to shift and pivot
Speaker 10: to is that you come play for us. Not only
Speaker 10: will you get paid this, that, or the other, we'll
Speaker 10: make you and get you ready to be an NFL quarterback.
Speaker 10: And to be a great NFL quarterback, you better be
Speaker 10: knowledgeable and you have the ability to be under center,
Speaker 10: to read a defense while you drop back, and make
Speaker 10: things difficult when you run play action. That's what a
Speaker 10: pro-style quarterback who has success in the NFL is able
Speaker 10: to do. But why wouldn't that help you in college
Speaker 10: if you're a coach? Because I think a lot of
Speaker 10: college coaches, and I think this was stemmed by Chip Kelly,
Speaker 10: it was speed and it was basketball on turf. It
Speaker 10: was not necessarily.
Speaker 3: So like Loyola Marymount basketball back in the 90s.
Speaker 10: Chip believed that if we could outrun you to the perimeter,
Speaker 10: if we could outleverage you with numbers, that was the difference.
Speaker 10: And it still is that way. I mean, when you
Speaker 10: scheme up an offense, that's what you're up against. You're
Speaker 10: running into the A gap or the B gap on
Speaker 10: the defense. And if you can get a double team
Speaker 10: and get to the linebacker and the safety all in one,
Speaker 10: you're going to have leverage.
Speaker 3: You're going to have the victory there. But when you
Speaker 3: put a quarterback.
Speaker 10: Under center and remove him from that and put him
Speaker 10: in the shotgun, especially if you put a back to
Speaker 10: the right of him, or the left of him, you
Speaker 10: pretty much, for a defensive coordinator, you're giving him so
Speaker 10: much leeway. Now, that's why when the pistol came in,
Speaker 10: I really liked that, because at least you put the
Speaker 10: back behind you in that and you made it difficult
Speaker 10: for the defensive coordinator to scheme that up. You in
Speaker 10: the shotgun and put a running back to one side,
Speaker 10: like you are cutting the field in half in terms
Speaker 10: of what a defensive coordinator can do, and he's going
Speaker 10: to thank you in his postgame speech.
Speaker 3: How did J.J. McCarthy fall?
Speaker 10: Well, I think he got injured. I don't think he
Speaker 10: played all that bad last year, to be honest with you.
Speaker 10: I don't think that they were very good offensively, unfortunately.
Speaker 10: Having one of the best wide receivers out there and
Speaker 10: not getting into the football, that's something else. I think
Speaker 10: a lot of it goes into what Sam Darnall was
Speaker 10: able to do a year ago, what Daniel Jones has
Speaker 10: been able to do, two guys that were on that
Speaker 10: roster and a decision by the you know, by the
Speaker 10: Vikings organization to go with JJ McCarthy. And in this
Speaker 10: day and age, like if you don't go out and
Speaker 10: have an immediate success, people are ready to throw you
Speaker 10: out with the bathwater. And that's just something that I don't,
Speaker 10: I don't really appreciate. I wanted a competition. Kyler clearly
Speaker 10: walked in there and won it.
Speaker 3: I will say this.
Speaker 10: I love Kevin O'Connell, but I'm telling you right now,
Speaker 10: if this team doesn't win this year with Brian Flores
Speaker 10: as the defensive coordinator, there's gotta be a real conversation
Speaker 10: that maybe he's better as an offensive coordinator, as a
Speaker 10: quarterback whisperer than he is as a, a guy overseeing
Speaker 10: an entire organization when this is all said and done.
Speaker 3: They have to win this year. Plain and simple. Ryan Leaf,
Speaker 3: USA Sports lead, Pac-12 analyst, and he'll be in the
Speaker 3: booth on Saturday at Colorado State in Wyoming. That'll be
Speaker 3: 6.30 Eastern on USA Network. And then the following week,
Speaker 3: Memphis at Boise State. Great to see you. Thank you
Speaker 3: for sharing, as always. Robert Griffin Jr. III will join
Speaker 3: us coming up in about 25 minutes. Marvin will be
Speaker 3: in the confessional today. So two hours in the books
Speaker 3: on this Wednesday, one more to go. Todd is here,
Speaker 3: bandage and all, incredible. Dylan, Marv, Paula, yours truly in
Speaker 3: the back room, guys. We say goodbye to Ryan Leaf.
Speaker 3: We'll say hello to you coming up next hour.