Speaker 1: Joined this Monday as we always are by Shawn Merriman
Speaker 1: lights Out himself. You can check out the lights Out
Speaker 1: podcast on the I Heart Podcast network. Sean, your boys
Speaker 1: gotta win. I mean they had to meet the Falcons,
Speaker 1: which you know makes a lot of sense. Sorry for
Speaker 1: the Atlanta sports fans out there, but that was a
Speaker 1: pretty incredible final win there for especially considering the way
Speaker 1: the first happened and pretty crazy ending. Yeah, and you
Speaker 1: know what, this game shows that they can finish, you know,
Speaker 1: when they have to. And you know, you're talking about
Speaker 1: four or five games this year that if they would
Speaker 1: have had that type of finish, this is a completely
Speaker 1: different season for the Charges. And you know, being a
Speaker 1: player on the team, you're gonna look after the season.
Speaker 1: You want to look and see all the games you
Speaker 1: dropped and you lost by seven points of lessons, and
Speaker 1: you look at the fockers games they got. We could
Speaker 1: get this done. Well, we're just we're not executing. So
Speaker 1: that that comes from the top. We're talking to Shawn Merriman,
Speaker 1: I want to get into a bunch of NFL stuff.
Speaker 1: I wanted to start with the Chargers there, so I
Speaker 1: didn't forget it, but I saw a video you put
Speaker 1: out and obviously there are so many different impacts in
Speaker 1: the world of sports and uh and and certainly uh
Speaker 1: with with all the shutdowns and the walkdowns and everything else.
Speaker 1: But you put out something that I thought was an
Speaker 1: important message. And you were talking about all the small
Speaker 1: business owners out there who own gems, maybe our trainers
Speaker 1: that are being shut down, and how they need help
Speaker 1: because they're not being able to run their business. Uh
Speaker 1: and And I thought it was well said, and I
Speaker 1: want to give you an opportunity to kind of get
Speaker 1: that message out there to a lot of our listeners
Speaker 1: this morning as they start off their Mondays. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: you know, the video that basically put out was a
Speaker 1: lot of the gems that are not getting funded right
Speaker 1: now because of the pandemic. And I want to make
Speaker 1: this clear. I know it's serious, and you know it.
Speaker 1: It's something that you can't take lightly and people are
Speaker 1: dying and get sick and things like that. So that's
Speaker 1: that's the number one. But number two, Uh, gems are
Speaker 1: five times more likely to go on to him the
Speaker 1: next few months than restaurants. I mean, it's that bad.
Speaker 1: So uh trying to get people to go out and
Speaker 1: find the Gym Coalition. Uh So, Congress and get them
Speaker 1: the money because that's they needed more importantly, And it's
Speaker 1: gonna be over, you know, to three thousand gyms. Uh
Speaker 1: local gym's closing here and the next you know, next
Speaker 1: sixty days. And it's wild because there are so many
Speaker 1: people out there that aren't being able to run their
Speaker 1: business and they may have worked for years to have
Speaker 1: that gym open. And I know this is something for
Speaker 1: you as a as an athlete. I mean, you guys
Speaker 1: are working out you know, typically not in your big
Speaker 1: large gems, which are obviously struggling too, but you have
Speaker 1: a lot of different guys that you work out with
Speaker 1: that rely on that ability to bring in individual clients
Speaker 1: to be able to work with them. And people are
Speaker 1: struggling all over the country in that line of work.
Speaker 1: And another thing that I always try to tell people
Speaker 1: is the reason why a lot of people go to
Speaker 1: the gym, especially myself, is it's a you know, it's
Speaker 1: a mechanism to cope what everything's going on. I mean
Speaker 1: a bunch of mental health issues is that's going on
Speaker 1: in a lot of depression, anxiety and all these things
Speaker 1: that the gym helps and it's it's it's the scientistics back,
Speaker 1: it's proven, and you know they're closing this thing down.
Speaker 1: They wonder why the mental health rate and suicide up
Speaker 1: with the last nine months, where you can't close down
Speaker 1: gyms and tell people that they can't go and be healthy,
Speaker 1: that that just doesn't make any sense. It's well said
Speaker 1: and uh. And mental health is often very much connected
Speaker 1: to physical health. And like you said, if you can't
Speaker 1: get out there and be able to work out, it
Speaker 1: becomes a substantial issue. So I want to give you
Speaker 1: an opportunity to make that. If people want to know
Speaker 1: more about that, they can go follow you on Twitter, right.
Speaker 1: I saw your videos up there. They can track down
Speaker 1: any of that information. Uh. Much less significant in the
Speaker 1: grand scheme of things, but something that we all love
Speaker 1: the NFL, which is what you come on uh primarily
Speaker 1: to talk about. Let's dive into a lot of what
Speaker 1: we saw the chiefs. If I told you right now,
Speaker 1: and I've asked this question several weeks in a row
Speaker 1: of a lot of different guests, but if I told
Speaker 1: you right now the chiefs or the rest of the
Speaker 1: teams in the NFL combined, who would you take the
Speaker 1: chiefs or the rest of the NFL, because I just
Speaker 1: see them as such a better team right now than
Speaker 1: anybody else. It seems like they can play to whatever
Speaker 1: level they need to in order to win. How good
Speaker 1: are they and what do you anticipate? Well, for one,
Speaker 1: they're the most explosive team in football. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: they didn't start the game off you know, red hot
Speaker 1: against Miami, but they can score it in a given point.
Speaker 1: You got you know, Sammy Watkins who hasn't made a
Speaker 1: whole lot of noise lately but comes out and plays
Speaker 1: extremely well, Tyreek Gill, Travis Kelsey. I mean, just go
Speaker 1: around the board. They're the most explosive team in football.
Speaker 1: It is not one person in their offense who wouldn't
Speaker 1: be considered one, at one or two top best in
Speaker 1: their position in the National Football League. So you know, yes,
Speaker 1: Pitsburg is one of the most balanced teams, and you know, uh,
Speaker 1: you have other teams out here. Seattle's balance and looks good,
Speaker 1: but as far as explosiveness, and you know, the scariest
Speaker 1: team to the face and play right now is the
Speaker 1: Kansas Chiefs. How do you stop them? What if you
Speaker 1: if you were a defensive coordinator, let's take you back
Speaker 1: to when you were playing, but now you're a defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator and you have to scheme for them in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: How do you beat Patrick Mahomes and this offense? What
Speaker 1: do you do to them? How do you challenge them
Speaker 1: the best in your mind? Well, you know I've said this,
Speaker 1: and you know, anytime you have a great quarterback like
Speaker 1: Pastor Mahomes, do you keep the pressure on them? And
Speaker 1: one of the players that happened what this earlier today
Speaker 1: was the fifteen twenty yards sack. I think he had.
Speaker 1: The One thing about Pack Mahomes is he's a great quarterback.
Speaker 1: He always has to be great. So there's some things
Speaker 1: you can do to take away from him, you know,
Speaker 1: start making him make those bad decisions. You don't ever
Speaker 1: see him doing that. But if you can get two
Speaker 1: or three dose a game and make him throw, you know,
Speaker 1: a few more interceptions and turn over and get the
Speaker 1: ball back out of their hands, because you know they're
Speaker 1: gonna score at some point, and every time they touched
Speaker 1: the ball, you have an opportunity to score. So if
Speaker 1: you know that's the case and keep the ball out
Speaker 1: of their hands, and that would that would be my
Speaker 1: strategy going in to play those guys. When you look
Speaker 1: at at the NFC, you had this the Saints go
Speaker 1: on the road and lose against the Eagles. How much
Speaker 1: of that do you think was the Saints maybe looking
Speaker 1: ahead and how significant do you think that loss could
Speaker 1: end up being? Well, it could be very Signistican, But
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think they were looking ahead. I
Speaker 1: think that they wasn't completely ready for Jalen Hurts. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, he hasn't played a ton early on, and
Speaker 1: whenever you don't have a lot of film on guys
Speaker 1: and you don't know what their strengths are or what
Speaker 1: their weaknesses at certain points, you know, then you don't
Speaker 1: really know to go and inspect from him. Now today
Speaker 1: he was throwing a lot of quick stuff and out
Speaker 1: routes and check downs and things like that. But that
Speaker 1: can win football games for the Eagles. So I don't
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily think that they started looking looking past
Speaker 1: the Eagles, but I definitely think that Jalen Hurts was
Speaker 1: a matchup nightmare because they haven't got a lot of
Speaker 1: film just yet. We're talking to Sean Merriman Lights Out Podcast.
Speaker 1: Encourage you to go listening to it part of the
Speaker 1: I Heart Podcast network. Uh, when you look at right
Speaker 1: now the Washington football team and Chase Young in particular,
Speaker 1: how good can he be? And who does he remind
Speaker 1: you of? Or is he like a unicorn where there's
Speaker 1: not even Like I watched him picking the ball up
Speaker 1: and rolled down the left sideline Sean, and I thought
Speaker 1: to myself, I'm not sure I've ever seen a defensive end.
Speaker 1: Who is that athletic? Mean, he was holding the ball
Speaker 1: like it was a loaf of bread, but he looked
Speaker 1: like a tight end, you know, like running down the field.
Speaker 1: Who would you compare him to? And how good can
Speaker 1: this dude be? Yeah, he's on the he's on the
Speaker 1: island by himself right now. When it comes to just
Speaker 1: freakish ability, um, and we've seen a bunch of freaks
Speaker 1: in the league. And funny story, my high school football
Speaker 1: coach was his teacher in high school, and uh, so
Speaker 1: you've done about this guy for a while, es since
Speaker 1: he was since he was in high school. And he
Speaker 1: would always tell me my my high school coaches, who
Speaker 1: basically taught me most of what I know early on
Speaker 1: growing up playing football, it would tell me if this
Speaker 1: guy Chase young, like, you know, look out for him,
Speaker 1: and I kept hearing about him year after year after
Speaker 1: year after, and sure enough, you know, in higher state
Speaker 1: of his freshman after, this guy's not gonna be around
Speaker 1: longer than three years period. He's he's gonna be he's
Speaker 1: gonna be gone. He's he's one of these guys that
Speaker 1: you see every you know, ten or fifteen years um.
Speaker 1: You know, you look at like Lebron James in the world,
Speaker 1: or like just any any type of freakings athletes, they
Speaker 1: come around and they just don't they just don't exist.
Speaker 1: Like I always like to say, like, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: like there aren't very many people who are built like
Speaker 1: Lebron James or Shaquille O'Neal right, like I used to
Speaker 1: love to talk about Shack, Like how many people in
Speaker 1: the history of the world have ever been as big
Speaker 1: and as athletic as Shock. It's possible, never right, right,
Speaker 1: Like I mean, if you go back and you think
Speaker 1: about the nutrition and the ability to be in perfect
Speaker 1: shape like we are now compared to you know, uh,
Speaker 1: fifty years ago, even like there's no comparison to how
Speaker 1: much more athletic you can be thanks to all the
Speaker 1: training abilities and the knowledge that we have. But even
Speaker 1: just his physical body doesn't exist, right, There just aren't
Speaker 1: very many of him ever. No, No, he's you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, when I came in and people looked
Speaker 1: at me and they thought that was a big linebacker
Speaker 1: and fast and all this stuff, and you know, to me,
Speaker 1: you know, fast for attemptive. Ten years later you got changed,
Speaker 1: young and now I'm looking, you know, like averacise linebacker,
Speaker 1: averacise player. But you know, he's one of the He's
Speaker 1: one of these guys. He came in the league early.
Speaker 1: He changed the game, you know, not just numbers wise,
Speaker 1: but how his his teammates perceive him in a respect
Speaker 1: that he had. I mean, you can see when he
Speaker 1: walked in the sideline he looked like a five a
Speaker 1: team event. He has that type of respect. So it's
Speaker 1: gonna be fun to watch him. Then over the next
Speaker 1: several years, how much better can he get? Right, because
Speaker 1: he's already freakish and dominant and obviously I think we
Speaker 1: talked about this with you a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: You never know how driven a guy is gonna be. Right,
Speaker 1: He's gonna be one of the best defensive players ever.
Speaker 1: But to what extent, is he obsessed with trying to
Speaker 1: become the greatest version of himself as opposed to just
Speaker 1: being great, Because, as you know, sometimes the guys who
Speaker 1: are the most physic called freakiest, aren't the hardest workers
Speaker 1: because they don't have to worry about all of the details.
Speaker 1: In the same way, a guy who's trying to hang
Speaker 1: onto the league by his fingertips can right. Uh so,
Speaker 1: we don't know. But if he really goes full bore
Speaker 1: and and and and goes after it, I mean, the
Speaker 1: Washington football team has got a dude who's gonna be
Speaker 1: for the next six or seven years, maybe the best
Speaker 1: defensive weapon in the whole league. Yeah. Absolutely, And you know,
Speaker 1: I'll go as far as saying this, the only thing
Speaker 1: that's going to prevent him from being great, all time
Speaker 1: great is injury. And you know, if he if he
Speaker 1: stays healthy, you know, because his mindset is there. The
Speaker 1: physical ability is already there, but his mindset is there.
Speaker 1: You can tell he you know, watch him trace the football.
Speaker 1: He chases his football through sideline, the sideline, he gets
Speaker 1: down the field, he's picking the ball off, he's you know,
Speaker 1: picking up fumbles these things. So the mindset to be great,
Speaker 1: is there? So the only thing can stop a guy
Speaker 1: like that is is injury. Sean, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you saw the floor to play or who threw the shoe. Uh,
Speaker 1: And I know we're talking about in the NFL, but
Speaker 1: I'm curious. You don't have to tell me the guy's name.
Speaker 1: But what is the dumbest thing that one of your
Speaker 1: teammates ever did to cost you and your teammates a game?
Speaker 1: And what was the reception like in the locker room
Speaker 1: after that happened. Well, you know, I never want to
Speaker 1: throw guys under the bus, but you know, it's one
Speaker 1: of these things. It was out in the open, and
Speaker 1: it's you know, it was a two thousand six playoff game.
Speaker 1: At the end we picked up the Patriots off and uh,
Speaker 1: you know our safety he doesn't go down. But that
Speaker 1: was that was you know, like I said, he got
Speaker 1: caught in a moment, but you know you're taking knee,
Speaker 1: you go down and you know the game's over, you know,
Speaker 1: then s championship game in the next round or whatever.
Speaker 1: So um, yeah, that was the only thing I've never seen.
Speaker 1: We we unfortunately, we never had guys to do that.
Speaker 1: Maybe you know, if the guy's how dropped out of
Speaker 1: his pants or or something like, they'll pick it up
Speaker 1: and throw it. But a shoe, you just know that's
Speaker 1: an automatic flag. How difficult would that do you think
Speaker 1: to be? I know it's college, so it's a little
Speaker 1: bit different than the pros, But how difficult of a
Speaker 1: locker room environment is that you think walking back in
Speaker 1: for the Florida Gators after the way that game ended, well,
Speaker 1: you know, you you always get stuck in the middle
Speaker 1: of those situations because you understand he's your teammate and
Speaker 1: you want to lift them up and not kick them
Speaker 1: way down. But at the same time you're thinking, like
Speaker 1: what in the hell were you were you're doing? Like
Speaker 1: what why would you why? You know, why would you
Speaker 1: do that? And cost us the appelling me that way? So, um,
Speaker 1: I can promise you list some words said back in
Speaker 1: that locker room guaranteed. I mean, you know, and guys
Speaker 1: are probably you know, knuckled up back there. The fighting
Speaker 1: hadn't been broken up with short. Uh. Last question for you,
Speaker 1: as we come down the stretch run of the NFL,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask you this, because we only got three
Speaker 1: weeks left. Who do you expect to see in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. So before the season started, I said Saints
Speaker 1: and I said Chiefs, and I'm gonna stick with that prediction.
Speaker 1: But now there's you know, basically three games left for everybody.
Speaker 1: I think you probably are going to say the Chiefs
Speaker 1: in the a f C. Who do you like coming
Speaker 1: out of the NFC or do you like the Chiefs
Speaker 1: or do you think somebody's gonna catch them? Yeah? I
Speaker 1: like the Chiefs for sure. I think they're you know,
Speaker 1: your nothing to guarantee, but they're as much of a
Speaker 1: luck as there is an NFL on in the NFC side.
Speaker 1: I like the Saints. I mean the Saints or the
Speaker 1: seat Hawks. I'm sorry, uh, the Sea Hawks. You know,
Speaker 1: I think that they have option I don't know what
Speaker 1: they are right now, one or two that division now
Speaker 1: or yeah, well they tell they too well, they're they're yeah,
Speaker 1: they're second in the division right now. So as we
Speaker 1: come down the stretch, run here they're the five. But
Speaker 1: they get the they get the Rams. I think the
Speaker 1: next to last week of the season in Seattle with
Speaker 1: the potential to try and make a statement there and
Speaker 1: obviously they lost a tough one that they should have
Speaker 1: won against the Giants, but bounced back and just absolutely
Speaker 1: destroyed the Jets yesterday. So you just like what you're
Speaker 1: seeing from Russell Wilson, DK metcalf that group of playmakers.
Speaker 1: I do. I do, And you know DK mattcalf is
Speaker 1: one of my you know, we just want to talking
Speaker 1: about this young and freak athletes. You know, DK metcalf
Speaker 1: Is is another favorite player of mine. So I just
Speaker 1: like what they are, what they're doing up there, and
Speaker 1: you know, you can always count on Russell, you know
Speaker 1: when it comes to time to make big plays and
Speaker 1: down the road and stretch, and he has so much
Speaker 1: experience under pressure. Like I just see them somehow, some way,
Speaker 1: you know, beating a couple of teams to get damn
Speaker 1: being n. That's the championship game and they're going to
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. I think I said last question more than once.
Speaker 1: But this is the real last question. Tonight actually a
Speaker 1: really good Monday night football game. Ravens going on the
Speaker 1: road against the Browns. Browns are sitting at nine and three,
Speaker 1: feeling good about themselves. Ravens with the Cowboys, pretty good
Speaker 1: Division game in in in Cleveland, as big of a
Speaker 1: game as they have had in Cleveland in a very
Speaker 1: long time. How do you see it coming out? I
Speaker 1: like Cleveland, Um, you know, I think that right now
Speaker 1: the Ravens defense isn't enough to stop that backfield they
Speaker 1: have going on. Um, that one too punch they have
Speaker 1: back there is something that we've you know whenever, whenever
Speaker 1: they executing the running game like that, and they also
Speaker 1: playing great defense. They're scary. And how they stumped over
Speaker 1: her uh Tennessee, who was also eight and three at
Speaker 1: the time. You're like, oh, these are two total different
Speaker 1: eight and three teens. These not even the same teams
Speaker 1: we're talking about here, because they're not that much better.
Speaker 1: So I'm taking Cleveland that one for sure. Outstanding stuff,
Speaker 1: my man. We will talk to you next week. Listen
Speaker 1: to the Lights Out podcast. Appreciate what you said about
Speaker 1: the Gems and all the people out there who need help.
Speaker 1: Hope you can go check out Sean and find out
Speaker 1: how to help there as well. Appreciate my man, I
Speaker 1: thank you all. I appreciate it.