Speaker 1: This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans.
Speaker 1: Plan on paying less for the coverage you need with
Speaker 1: Farm Bureau Health Plans. Get a quote today at FBHP
Speaker 1: dot com. I'm Mike Keith and backed by a popular
Speaker 1: demand in the stickers Hot Seats coach Dave McGinnis from
Speaker 1: Titans Radio, and a man who has just announced that
Speaker 1: he has entered the transfer portal. It is Rhet Bryan. Wow. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's news to me. You're going to the Cardinals network.
Speaker 1: Oh no, no, Dave pash Hi, Dave. I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you about that though, because signing day has just
Speaker 1: finished and apparently recruiting never ends now doesn't seem to.
Speaker 1: Would you be a college coach today? I mean, would
Speaker 1: you if if you, if you had a choice.
Speaker 2: No, absolutely not.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Now, the thing about it is when I first started
Speaker 2: my coaching career. The thing about the allure of the
Speaker 2: National Football League, of course, clearly is the level of
Speaker 2: competition as high as you can get. But back in
Speaker 2: the day, the pay discrepancy between what you were making
Speaker 2: as an assistant in college and what you can make
Speaker 2: in the National Football League was pretty great. And the
Speaker 2: other thing that was really attractive was the National Football
Speaker 2: League had a blanket retirement package. Everybody was on the
Speaker 2: same retire and it was outstanding. And so, you know,
Speaker 2: but you want to you wanted to work at the
Speaker 2: highest level nowadays, I mean you start looking at salaries now,
Speaker 2: especially in Power five schools for assistant coaches, it's way
Speaker 2: up there, sometimes even supersedes what's being paid in the
Speaker 2: National Football League. But the recruiting part of it that
Speaker 2: you are bringing up, that's brutal. It never stopped, never
Speaker 2: stops never, It's brutal. And you're having to recruit your
Speaker 2: own guys constantly. And I mean you've got I mean
Speaker 2: you worked at the University of Tennessee for a long time,
Speaker 2: and you know, recruiting was different. Then you used to
Speaker 2: sign a national letter and you were done and that
Speaker 2: was it, and then you had your guys for three
Speaker 2: or four years or sometimes five years. It has gotten
Speaker 2: and I think all three of us probably have people
Speaker 2: that we know now that are coaching in Power five
Speaker 2: schools that they will tell you that the recruiting part
Speaker 2: of it, the consistency, I mean, the constancy of that
Speaker 2: war's them out.
Speaker 1: And you were part of it, though when you could
Speaker 1: sign national letters with different teams in different conferences.
Speaker 2: Absolutely correct, Absolutely correct.
Speaker 1: Did you ever have a crazy win like that where
Speaker 1: a guy had signed two or three national letters and
Speaker 1: you didn't know exactly where he was going to.
Speaker 2: Show up, Mike, I recruited in the Southwest Conference, so
Speaker 2: you know the answers, yes to that.
Speaker 1: Well, but you could only sign one per conference.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but the Southwest Conference that it's like the Southeastern Conference.
Speaker 2: People wanted those players, so you would sign yours to you,
Speaker 2: But then other schools in the country would You'll be
Speaker 2: coming after them? So absolutely yes, Wow, it'll all be
Speaker 2: in the book.
Speaker 1: What are you going to do the book? For real?
Speaker 2: When I'm done with everything? With everything, when I'm better, I.
Speaker 1: Mean, our idea with Titan's Radio is that you're never
Speaker 1: done that you'll just go and fill right.
Speaker 2: I would. I would that that, Thank you for that,
Speaker 2: But I when when I'm when I finally finished, because
Speaker 2: I'm going to tell complete, unabashed truth, unabashed truth, and
Speaker 2: you can't do that if you still want to be
Speaker 2: within the confines of what you're doing. And I wouldn't
Speaker 2: be that disrespectful to do it while I was still
Speaker 2: very active doing what I'm doing. But uh, I've got
Speaker 2: a lot of notes. I'll let you in red read
Speaker 2: them sometime. I would you hear a lot of the stories.
Speaker 1: As they can't say the receipts have been kept.
Speaker 2: Well you, I've told you guys a lot of the
Speaker 2: stories and and I enjoyed doing that because you're both
Speaker 2: very interested and sometimes you look at me like, coach Mike,
Speaker 2: what in the world? But they're all true.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean from your time as a Southwest Conference
Speaker 1: player to being a college coach to being with those
Speaker 1: crazy Bears, and those guys were way out there complain
Speaker 1: you were with Ditka. Yes, I mean, I'm down for
Speaker 1: any Mike Didka story I can ever hear.
Speaker 2: You love Mike Dicka story.
Speaker 1: I love Mike Didka story, you really do.
Speaker 2: And I love telling them to you.
Speaker 1: Because I think the thing about Mike Didka that and
Speaker 1: RHTT can speak to this too. Mike Didka is a
Speaker 1: separate category of human beings, like he was in the
Speaker 1: movie Kicking and Scream with Will Ferrell. And there's some
Speaker 1: stuff that happens in the movie and you're like, you
Speaker 1: shouldn't say that, you shouldn't do But because it's Ditka,
Speaker 1: it's okay. Well it's it's not that it's okay as
Speaker 1: much as it is it's Ditka. So because it's Didka,
Speaker 1: it's like that's a separate category. It's well, it's Ditka.
Speaker 1: You know, does that? I mean, I'm fascinated by Mike Ditka.
Speaker 2: Well he was a fascinating and he is a fascinating person.
Speaker 2: And he the thing that's that that was so unique
Speaker 2: about uh coach Ditka, the persona out there I mean,
Speaker 2: and I mean he looked like a bear, oh gosh.
Speaker 2: And the persona of him, and and just and just
Speaker 2: and just just the swag that he carried with himself,
Speaker 2: with just being Mike Ditka was so much fun, was
Speaker 2: so much fun to be around. But he if you
Speaker 2: were one of his people, he was so good to you.
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't even begin to describe the things
Speaker 2: that he would do just off the cuff that you
Speaker 2: you know, you would go, wow, this is really cool.
Speaker 2: And it's so And there was a real dichotomy between
Speaker 2: his public persona sometimes and then what he really was.
Speaker 2: Because as as big a personality as he was, Mike,
Speaker 2: I promise you, his heart was was huge. He took
Speaker 2: care of so many people and so many things way
Speaker 2: on the down low that nobody would ever know, and
Speaker 2: it was it was pretty amazing to be around.
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated by Mike Ditka. I am too.
Speaker 3: Every time he talks about Mike Ditka. I think about
Speaker 3: the one time that we had an interaction with Mike
Speaker 3: Ditka in the preseason at Chicago. And you remember, do
Speaker 3: you remember this when this happened?
Speaker 1: I don't, Okay.
Speaker 3: So Larry Stone, the godfather of Titans Radio, would sometimes
Speaker 3: do this thing to me when we were on the road. Hey,
Speaker 3: give me the biggest name in the building I wanted
Speaker 3: for pregame, no pressure, Oh, sure, whatever you know. And
Speaker 3: sometimes I would bring him Commissioner to tag lea booh,
Speaker 3: and we would get Commissioner Goodell. Well, this was I think.
Speaker 3: I guess this was after he had been released from
Speaker 3: his duties in New Orleans. This is early two thousands,
Speaker 3: and we were playing them in the preseason and so
Speaker 3: I see him.
Speaker 1: I ask him.
Speaker 3: He said, sure, kid, great, we'll do that, no problem.
Speaker 3: And I said, we can record any time that way.
Speaker 3: We're not bothering you with whatever you're doing today. And
Speaker 3: Larry is in there preparing broadcast equipment set up, and
Speaker 3: I said, Larry Stone, I'd like you to meet Mike Ditka,
Speaker 3: and we had him on pregame. I mean, where was
Speaker 3: I Maybe you were out I don't know. Maybe you
Speaker 3: were swimming in the lake out there. I don't know,
Speaker 3: But I mean, this happened.
Speaker 1: I know it happened, but I don't But.
Speaker 3: To see Larry, I mean, like the color left his face.
Speaker 3: He was like, oh my, but you're talking about he
Speaker 3: looked like a bear. That's the first time I'd ever
Speaker 3: met the man in.
Speaker 1: I was like, my lord.
Speaker 3: He was a prototypical tight end in the sixties.
Speaker 1: Well, but he would be a great tight end today
Speaker 1: coming out of absolutely. I mean what he could do.
Speaker 1: It's like you talk about Reggie White. Would Reggie White
Speaker 1: be a great player today? Yes, would Jim Brown be
Speaker 1: a great running back today? Yes, Mike Didko would be
Speaker 1: the best tight end to the league today. Yes.
Speaker 3: It's what Coach Max says about Denico Autry. Denigo Autry,
Speaker 3: he says, can play, could have played any time, any
Speaker 3: era in the NFL.
Speaker 2: Yeah, some of those guys are, but coach Dicka was
Speaker 2: is special.
Speaker 1: I'll say one more thing about this I'm most fascinated
Speaker 1: by him with his relationship with Tom Landry when he
Speaker 1: went to the Cowboys as a player and a coach,
Speaker 1: because from the outside that doesn't make any sense. Mike
Speaker 1: Ditka doesn't seem to be somebody who would have fit
Speaker 1: with Tom Landry in that era. And yet you say
Speaker 1: he held Tom Landry in the absolute highest regard among
Speaker 1: people that you ever heard him mention the.
Speaker 2: Highest regard, and he he He's often said about, you
Speaker 2: know how much Tom Landry really kind of kind of
Speaker 2: saved him, you know, kind of kind of saved him.
Speaker 2: And at times, uh, you understand that Mike Ditka is,
Speaker 2: as I say, at the at the at the base
Speaker 2: is just is just a really really good human being.
Speaker 2: But you know there's certain times in all of our
Speaker 2: lives where we need a little bit stronger of a
Speaker 2: guiding force in somebody, and that's that That was Tom
Speaker 2: Landry at the time. Think about this, Mike, Mike dick
Speaker 2: Is set down and hand wrote a letter when he
Speaker 2: was working for Tom Landry to George Hallis because you
Speaker 2: know they didn't end up on great when he traded
Speaker 2: him to Philadelphia. Because you know, Mike Didkin remember in
Speaker 2: his in his contract negotiations, it said that Hallis, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, threw around nickels like they were manhole covers, right,
Speaker 2: you know, And so it was. It was an acrimonious split.
Speaker 2: But he wrote, hand wrote a letter to George Hallis
Speaker 2: saying a lot of things as far as about you know,
Speaker 2: at his at his core, he would always be a
Speaker 2: Bear and if he ever had a chance, he would
Speaker 2: love to come by as the head coach of the
Speaker 2: Chicago Bears. Now think about that, you know, it wasn't
Speaker 2: one of these and of course in the age that
Speaker 2: we live in now, but a handwritten letter just expressing
Speaker 2: his true feelings. And then George Hallis hired him. And
Speaker 2: and Mike was never a coordinator. He was a special
Speaker 2: teams coordinator as a tight end coach. Think about think,
Speaker 2: just think about George Hallis, the intuition that he had
Speaker 2: too into the person and what he needed well and
Speaker 2: what to resurrect the Bears, and.
Speaker 1: What a hardhead he was and what a hardhead Ditka
Speaker 1: was or is, And for them to come together after
Speaker 1: how they had broken up, Yes, because Hallis, this whole
Speaker 1: thing was the Bears have to get back to being
Speaker 1: the Bears. That was it.
Speaker 2: That was it. The Bears had to get back to
Speaker 2: being the Bears, and Mike Dicka brought the Bears back
Speaker 2: on an international scale during that period of time, and
Speaker 2: people always ask me what was like being there? It
Speaker 2: was like football Camelot. But those I mean, those two
Speaker 2: are really giants in our profession and for them to
Speaker 2: come together like that, and for George Hollis to have
Speaker 2: to have the intuition and to know that regardless, I
Speaker 2: can put hard feelings aside. Here's what's best for the
Speaker 2: franchise right now.
Speaker 1: So when you were with the Bears in the eighties,
Speaker 1: how many times did you see offensive players called for offsides?
Speaker 1: Was it more than last weekend?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 1: You know, hello, no, welcome back to the future, coach.
Speaker 2: Well, it was first of all, I think people back
Speaker 2: then knew how to line up on.
Speaker 1: Side, all right.
Speaker 2: But so, but you were right though last week. I
Speaker 2: know what you said last week on broadcast was one
Speaker 2: hundred percent truth because as soon as something like that
Speaker 2: we also saw miraculous, wasn't it We also saw it. No,
Speaker 2: you were one hundred percent correct, and we also saw it,
Speaker 2: uh with with the Eagles, with the toush push with
Speaker 2: the you know, Kelsey moving the ball forward because he
Speaker 2: had been warned about that, which is again, you know,
Speaker 2: on off sides and off sides. So what you said
Speaker 2: on the on the broadcast was one hundred percent okay.
Speaker 1: So last week on the OTP we had a little
Speaker 1: bit of a discussion. It was great and it may
Speaker 1: have gotten a little I don't think.
Speaker 2: It was really heated, but yeah it was.
Speaker 1: And you know what it was animated, Well it was animal.
Speaker 2: We never get mad, but he just get We both
Speaker 2: want to be right.
Speaker 1: But Kadarius Tony being called off sides for Kansas City
Speaker 1: in the game against Buffalo with a minute and twelve
Speaker 1: to go negated a touchdown for Kansas City that would
Speaker 1: have won the game. It was not on the last
Speaker 1: play the game. Nobody knew it was going to be
Speaker 1: a touchdown. I totally get that. Coach made the point
Speaker 1: and totally contradicted himself from dinner, which Rhet would back
Speaker 1: up because he was at dinner, Rhett, Redd, did he
Speaker 1: contradicted himself from dinner? Rhet?
Speaker 2: Rhett, at the time you did, it was not paying
Speaker 2: attention to what we were talking.
Speaker 1: No, he was eating crab but he's he's having which
Speaker 1: and Frank Craik out the window. Was Frank doing out
Speaker 1: the window.
Speaker 3: We have this game where I play.
Speaker 1: This is devolving.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we have this game that I started last year
Speaker 3: at the Senior Bowl where I will look at very
Speaker 3: poorly adapted editions of a doppel ganger. We I said,
Speaker 3: there's a guy that looks like Mel Blunt racing to
Speaker 3: practice here at the Senior Bowl, and he looks up,
Speaker 3: he sees this guy. He goes, but he just starts laughing.
Speaker 3: And so at dinner in Miami, I said, well, it's
Speaker 3: nice to see Frank Craik out. You're having a nice
Speaker 3: seafood dinner with his family out through the pane glass window,
Speaker 3: and it kind of looked like Frank.
Speaker 2: It's uncanny how rihtt can see somebody and just conjure
Speaker 2: up somebody in his mind.
Speaker 1: Because he's not right. It looks just that's why he's
Speaker 1: in the transfer portal.
Speaker 3: I was with Mac one day and he was picking
Speaker 3: up his dragling. I said, good to see Jimmy Ray
Speaker 3: came to pick up his drive. He had a red
Speaker 3: hat on, kind of look like a forty nine ers.
Speaker 1: All right, so we're gonna stop that right now. It's fun.
Speaker 1: We're to stop that right now. So we're watching the
Speaker 1: Kansas City Buffalo game. Kadarius Tony lines up off sides.
Speaker 1: My thing is, how do you call that in that instance?
Speaker 1: And it turns out that it was the first time
Speaker 1: in nearly thirty years a Kansas City offensive player had
Speaker 1: been called for off sides. The commissioner jumped and he
Speaker 1: was off sides. He was he and he didn't look
Speaker 1: to the official properly. And it's because Kadarius Tony is
Speaker 1: Darius Tony. You believe what you read? He you know,
Speaker 1: he didn't he did, he was, he was off sides.
Speaker 1: My thing was, I was stunned that they called that,
Speaker 1: because that is a call that literally had not happened
Speaker 1: to the Kansas City chiefs in nearly thirty years. After
Speaker 1: agreeing with me at dinner, which he pointed out that
Speaker 1: I paid for, then comes back when there's no dinner
Speaker 1: involved and says, oh no, he was off sides. It
Speaker 1: was the correct call. So he totally backtracks. I still
Speaker 1: contended that I was stunned that you would start calling
Speaker 1: that with a minute twelve left in a game on
Speaker 1: national television and then last weekend, Rett Brian, what happened?
Speaker 1: Games all over the National Football League offensive players are
Speaker 1: called for offsides.
Speaker 3: I wish I had taken it how many because it
Speaker 3: was several? It was was one in our game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a Christmas miracle.
Speaker 1: We're so now we're going to call everything? Is that
Speaker 1: what's going to happen? Now we're gonna start.
Speaker 2: Calling Here's one thing, the hand checks in the back court.
Speaker 2: Here's one thing that you know about me and officiating,
Speaker 2: especially this year. I can't tell you what they're going
Speaker 2: to call. Cannot tell you what they're gonna call now.
Speaker 2: It is so uneven across the board. But it was
Speaker 2: a Christmas miracle that all of a sudden it's revealed.
Speaker 3: But Mac, in all seriousness to follow Mike up, is
Speaker 3: it gonna be one of those things where it's like
Speaker 3: the points of emphasis that the officiating crews do in
Speaker 3: the preseason and then it kind of evens out.
Speaker 1: Rare before he answers, if you call it in the preseason, great,
Speaker 1: I think it's great. But you're calling it in December.
Speaker 3: I understand. But these things, Ebb and flows sometimes do
Speaker 3: they not?
Speaker 1: Well? Yeah, I mean I think you're right, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're not just like he was off sides.
Speaker 3: Somebody tweeted like, if they do this in a Super Bowl,
Speaker 3: somebody's gonna lose their mind.
Speaker 1: I mean that's my point. I mean, so somebody may
Speaker 1: lose the game. Well so, and the commissioner comes out
Speaker 1: is I just can't believe that they would get angry
Speaker 1: about a correct call. It's like, you're going to call
Speaker 1: this now, we're going to start.
Speaker 3: You know, I can't believe you wouldn't get angry about
Speaker 3: lots of incorrect calls.
Speaker 2: But do you think, and again this is for the
Speaker 2: OT people, that there was a directive saying, hey, start
Speaker 2: looking for this after that?
Speaker 1: Do I think there was a directive or do I
Speaker 1: think somebody said, you know, we might want to do
Speaker 1: we might want to prove that we know to call that.
Speaker 1: I don't think there was a directive because either or
Speaker 1: because somebody would.
Speaker 2: Have gotten off somebody said something.
Speaker 1: Somebody said something, Yes they did, I would agree with that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll be looking for this a little more frequently.
Speaker 2: Somebody said something, and to your point, it was probably
Speaker 2: so that this isn't a glaring red light on top
Speaker 2: of the head of this one call let's start looking
Speaker 2: for it a little bit. Yeah, that's what happened.
Speaker 1: So what what they did is last weekend they normalized
Speaker 1: the call from the game the week before. But it's
Speaker 1: still like, really, that's that's exactly what I loved what
Speaker 1: Mike Vrabel did with the Tree Avery pass interference calls. Hey,
Speaker 1: I thought his his uh how what he said about
Speaker 1: it in the Wednesday press conference was pretty brilliant. The
Speaker 1: first one he clearly interfered, and he said interference. He
Speaker 1: broke on the ball to ear and and he did.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was in great position and he brought
Speaker 1: but he did interfere with the guy. No question about
Speaker 1: the second one, he said, what did he say he
Speaker 1: played the technique perfectly? Or I mean he just because
Speaker 1: I I mean I went back and watched that again.
Speaker 1: I can't figure out what that official.
Speaker 2: What did What did I say on the broadcast about
Speaker 2: that call? I said, his professional mile practice, I still
Speaker 2: and the other official went to him, Yes, he did
Speaker 2: and appeared to be doing the old are you sure
Speaker 2: what you use?
Speaker 1: You know, I can't figure out what he saw that.
Speaker 1: That's the part of it to me. In certain cases,
Speaker 1: and Vrabel talks about this a lot, and I think
Speaker 1: it's a great point that he makes to his players.
Speaker 1: He says, the officials are gonna look for certain tell
Speaker 1: tells that lead them to make certain calls. So you
Speaker 1: don't wanna you don't want to push this way or
Speaker 1: grab this way or whatever, or turn a guy because
Speaker 1: that's always going to get you a call against you.
Speaker 1: But in that case, I couldn't, even from behind, I
Speaker 1: couldn't figure out what he thought he saw.
Speaker 2: Well, you know why you couldn't, because he didn't do
Speaker 2: anything wrong. It wasn't anyway looked like good coverage. It
Speaker 2: was good coverage, and that's why I put it in
Speaker 2: the category of professional malpractice. That's as nice as I
Speaker 2: can say it.
Speaker 3: How about you rit the second one? I couldn't understand it,
Speaker 3: and we kept watching the replay in the booth. I'm like, hey,
Speaker 3: by the way, what about you on the Elijah Molden returned,
Speaker 3: waving in the background. Yeah, bye bye, bye bye. He's gone,
Speaker 3: so we see that. I'm like, whose hand is that?
Speaker 3: It's like you were doing a puppet show up there.
Speaker 3: You're just going bye bye.
Speaker 1: Bye, Felicia. That was I knew, as Susianda, I'm like
Speaker 1: he's gone, He's gone, it's over. That was great. It's
Speaker 1: also great to have game on with Duncan. That's right,
Speaker 1: Titans fans grab a coffee and kick off the action.
Speaker 1: Whether that's drinking a cup of coffee on the way
Speaker 1: to the game or grabbing one to go before watching
Speaker 1: the game at home, Duncan is always there to help
Speaker 1: you get your game on. Just like the pros, we
Speaker 1: need to be at our best come game time, which
Speaker 1: is why Duncan is the most important part of your
Speaker 1: game day ritual because it's always the best call for
Speaker 1: football America runs on Duncan.
Speaker 2: You know what I love about the Duncan is when
Speaker 2: we start traveling as a group. You know, once we
Speaker 2: start going to these things we're going to go to
Speaker 2: once the season is over with. You've Senior Bowl. You
Speaker 2: are the best with the Duncan app I've ever seen
Speaker 2: in my life. Thank you, and we always have you
Speaker 2: take our orders and then when we get in the car,
Speaker 2: it's it's like a feast.
Speaker 1: Well that's the idea is that your stuff is ready.
Speaker 2: It's wonderful.
Speaker 1: It's it is wonderful, and you rack up points and
Speaker 1: you get free beverages. And for free sandwiches. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's all kinds of free.
Speaker 2: Well, it's all free. It's all free for me because
Speaker 2: you buy it. That's fair.
Speaker 1: It is fair, that's fair. It's totally fair. Injuries have
Speaker 1: hit the Titans very hard, they have, and there are
Speaker 1: guys going on injured reserve. They're guys being signed from
Speaker 1: other teams, they're guys being called up from the practice squad.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a difficult time obviously because for the
Speaker 1: first time since twenty fifteen, the Titans are out of
Speaker 1: the playoff race. Yes, with multiple weeks left in the season.
Speaker 1: Mike Vrabel said that his message to the team is
Speaker 1: we're taking it one day at a time. We're going
Speaker 1: to prepare hard every single day. But from a coaching standpoint,
Speaker 1: when you're trying to motivate a ball club and you
Speaker 1: also are in a position where you don't exactly know
Speaker 1: who you're going to have, what's the biggest challenge.
Speaker 2: Well, that's a double edged sword, it really is, because
Speaker 2: you know, first of all, you're it doesn't really matter
Speaker 2: where you are during your season, You're always going to
Speaker 2: try to improve your roster from the you know, from
Speaker 2: the bottom up. You know, we've talked about that a lot,
Speaker 2: and of course you're always you're always chumming or churning
Speaker 2: the bottom of roster. That's going to happen. But when
Speaker 2: you're getting ready to play a ball game, and regardless
Speaker 2: of what the outcome of the game, you want to
Speaker 2: win the game, sure, and so you want to do
Speaker 2: everything that you can to prepare it. The thing, and
Speaker 2: I've been in this situation before as a head coach,
Speaker 2: if you have the right people and you talk to them,
Speaker 2: they understand that regardless of what of of what the
Speaker 2: the repercussions of this ballgame on, you're still playing for
Speaker 2: your your your profession. You're still playing for your job,
Speaker 2: either where you are or where you may be. Because
Speaker 2: of the way we just talked through talking about the
Speaker 2: transfer portal and collegiate football, well, the free agency in
Speaker 2: the National Football League, I mean, you're you're auditioning for
Speaker 2: everybody every snap you ever take in the National Football League,
Speaker 2: and so it is, I mean, and you just you hope,
Speaker 2: you hope, not hope, you want your team to have
Speaker 2: built enough inside strength that to be able to not
Speaker 2: overcome the disappointment of not having the playoffs out there
Speaker 2: as that carrot. You know that you're playing for You're
Speaker 2: still playing for your job, and you're you're you're playing
Speaker 2: for the continuation of your career, whether it's where you
Speaker 2: are or whether it's it's somewhere else, and the professional
Speaker 2: pride of it has to kick in because we all
Speaker 2: know it's it's extremely it's it's a for what we
Speaker 2: all do. To be employed in the National Football League
Speaker 2: is really is really not a right of anybody. It's
Speaker 2: a it's a privilege to be able to do this.
Speaker 2: And so when you've got the chance, you've got to
Speaker 2: put everything out there, regardless regardless of what the external
Speaker 2: rewards all of a sudden look like it. You've got
Speaker 2: to internalize this a lot as a player and even
Speaker 2: as a coach during these times.
Speaker 1: You're the greatest example of that. Though. Your last game
Speaker 1: as a head coach was a famous win where you
Speaker 1: you came from behind to beat Minnesota, and I mean,
Speaker 1: everybody knows that game very well and remembers that down
Speaker 1: the stretch. Didn't you get invited to Green Bay the
Speaker 1: next week for the playoff game?
Speaker 2: And yeah it was. It was Josh McCown to to
Speaker 2: Nathan Poole in the enza we had no we had
Speaker 2: that the Cardinals. I mean, we were really a beat upo.
Speaker 2: We were down to kind of. But my message during
Speaker 2: the week, I'm glad you brought that was it was
Speaker 2: the same thing. Hey, nobody probably even is looking at
Speaker 2: whether you're going to win this game or not. And
Speaker 2: I'm not going to say nobody cares, because we all
Speaker 2: have people that care about us. But you care, I care,
Speaker 2: we care. So let's just let's go do this just
Speaker 2: like we've always done this. And we had to get
Speaker 2: an on side. Look, we had Nathan Poole from Marshall
Speaker 2: as our receiver. They had Randy Moss. I don't know
Speaker 2: if you know Marshall too. Yeah, there's any kind of
Speaker 2: a difference, but anyway, probably they were they were they
Speaker 2: were a really good football team and we weren't. But
Speaker 2: the way they played in that in that ball game,
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I got carried off the field
Speaker 2: by a team that they knew their head coach was
Speaker 2: not going to be there probably and some of them
Speaker 2: probably weren't going.
Speaker 1: To be there.
Speaker 2: But just that feeling that that that you had come
Speaker 2: together and had worked through all of that. But it
Speaker 2: comes from first of all, you know, being honest with
Speaker 2: yourself and then being able to look at look in
Speaker 2: the eyes of your teammates and your coaches and be
Speaker 2: honest with each other. I'm gonna I'm gonna lay everything
Speaker 2: else that I have out there and then we'll we'll
Speaker 2: take what comes. But uh if if the force out rule,
Speaker 2: the force out rules in effect, and you know it's
Speaker 2: not in effect anymore. But Nathan Poole caught it in
Speaker 2: the corner of the end zone fourth and fourth and
Speaker 2: about seventeen Josh McCown ran around, you know, made about
Speaker 2: six people miss and just flung it up to Nathan
Speaker 2: Poole and he was forced out. And then they came
Speaker 2: back and there was a force out rule at the time,
Speaker 2: and so they said, you know, touchdown Cardinals. But those guys,
Speaker 2: those guys still in my you know, and I am
Speaker 2: in touch with are they in touch with me a lot?
Speaker 2: It's still a memory that they all coach Mike, that
Speaker 2: was one of the greatest feelings in the world. And yes,
Speaker 2: I was invited u you know. Mike Sherman was the
Speaker 2: head coach of the Packers. The Packers they had played,
Speaker 2: they played the end of the game because if the
Speaker 2: if Minnesota had beaten US, well, then Minnesota's going to
Speaker 2: the playoffs. The Packers were out. The Packers game finished
Speaker 2: a little before Art. They won their ball game, and
Speaker 2: you know, of course, nobody thought the Cardinals were going
Speaker 2: to be and all of a sudden they put it
Speaker 2: on the all the big boards, and everybody stayed in
Speaker 2: lambeau Field to watch it, to watch the end of it.
Speaker 2: And when it ended, I mean finally, when I got
Speaker 2: into the after the press conference, got into the coach's
Speaker 2: locker room. Mark Hantley was the GM and Mike Sherman
Speaker 2: was the head coach. They were on the phone, Coach,
Speaker 2: make this is the most this is fabulous. The place
Speaker 2: went wild. Thank you so much. We want to invite
Speaker 2: you to the playoff game. And I said, you know what,
Speaker 2: I probably won't be able to come. I said, how
Speaker 2: about bringing Nathan Poole to the And they went, you
Speaker 2: think he had come? I said, call Paul Jensen, who's
Speaker 2: the PR director. Let's make that work. So they brought
Speaker 2: Nathan Poole to the playoff game. He's like the Pope,
Speaker 2: waving everybody out.
Speaker 1: It was awesome.
Speaker 2: And I got and I got, I got for for
Speaker 2: months afterwards, cheese baskets, you know, from from the green
Speaker 2: Bay fans, Thank you, coach Max, thank you for the
Speaker 2: playoff game. So I had a lot of cheese baskets
Speaker 2: I could hand.
Speaker 1: Down every time we go go back there. He's wildly popped.
Speaker 3: I mean, I call him the mayor of everywhere, but
Speaker 3: it's really true, and Green.
Speaker 2: Bay was the green Bay fans are are legacy fans
Speaker 2: now they know they know ball and so they ain't
Speaker 2: Coach Max. Great win over the Vikings, I mean, that's
Speaker 2: a long time ago.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Uh. Will Levis gonna try to play, I
Speaker 1: mean that's I think that tells you all you need
Speaker 1: to know about Will Levis. I don't know if he's
Speaker 1: gonna be able to play or not, but he's trying
Speaker 1: like heck to play.
Speaker 3: It's clear, if it wasn't before, it's clear. He loves
Speaker 3: to play ball. He loves it.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: And it's funny you bring this up because in his
Speaker 3: availability this week, you know, we're outside there at the
Speaker 3: edge of the practice fields and at the podium, and
Speaker 3: the entire time he's feeling questions and answering questions, his
Speaker 3: eyes are on that practice surface, and you could tell
Speaker 3: he wanted so badly to just leave us right there
Speaker 3: and go out and put a helmet on it and
Speaker 3: go practice with his teammates. I could see it in
Speaker 3: his facial expression and his eyes darting back and forth
Speaker 3: as his teammates are coming out of the locker room
Speaker 3: and getting gready to go through stretching an individual because
Speaker 3: nobody would blame anybody if he didn't play.
Speaker 2: Oh no, absolutely not.
Speaker 1: But he wants to play. And that's that love of
Speaker 1: it is a huge reason why the Titans wanted him.
Speaker 2: But absolutely And the other thing is you can just
Speaker 2: tell the way he approaches this. He understands what a
Speaker 2: great opportunity this is for him. Because let's go back
Speaker 2: to the draft that we all do very deeply, and
Speaker 2: him sitting in that green room throughout the whole first
Speaker 2: round and then everybody you know, you know that wherever
Speaker 2: he went when he got the opportunity, he wasn't gonna
Speaker 2: let it go. You could you could see it in him.
Speaker 2: I've seen enough, I've seen enough young players, and you
Speaker 2: could just you could see it in him. And so
Speaker 2: that that's what we've seen. That's what we've seen now
Speaker 2: so you're one hundred percent he you're gonna have to
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to hold him back to keep him
Speaker 2: out of any game.
Speaker 1: How tough is that going to be? For Mike Vrabel
Speaker 1: and Ran Carthon. If they get to Saturday night and
Speaker 1: he's on the fence, he could probably play What do
Speaker 1: you do?
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, they're going to do what's in
Speaker 2: his best interest. Sure, physically, that's what they're going to do.
Speaker 2: And so that that overrides everything. And sometimes and sometimes
Speaker 2: I've done it as a coach, I've done it as
Speaker 2: a head coach. Sometimes you have to protect the players
Speaker 2: from themselves because they all want to play.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: I had a guy like that that I mean I
Speaker 2: thought was literally going to come across a desk one
Speaker 2: time and strangle me, and I knew he could. Was
Speaker 2: Kyle Vannenbis. Yeah, when I told him, look, I'm not
Speaker 2: playing you right now because you're need and he I mean,
Speaker 2: the the death stare that he gave me, and he
Speaker 2: liked me a lot. I thought he does because we
Speaker 2: ask him, Okay, good, I'm glad, I'm glad you quantified that.
Speaker 2: But you know, we'd take it that I'd taken a
Speaker 2: chance and stood on the table for him in the
Speaker 2: draft room, and he knew that and then had worked
Speaker 2: through two ACL surgeries with him and all of that stuff.
Speaker 2: But those kind of guys, it means everything to him
Speaker 2: and not only to themselves. They don't want to let
Speaker 2: their teammates down. They don't want to let their teammates down,
Speaker 2: and that that is that's important. I mean Will Levis
Speaker 2: did the same thing at Kentucky when he had when
Speaker 2: he had the toe, and I think they told him
Speaker 2: don't play. You know you can, but we'd recommends you
Speaker 2: you don't, no matter, and he played right. So you're
Speaker 2: correct in saying that it's it's going to be. But
Speaker 2: they will, they will protect him from himself.
Speaker 1: Seat Geek is now the official ticketing partner of the
Speaker 1: Tennessee Titans. Whether you're buying or selling tickets to Titans games,
Speaker 1: there any live event in Nashville, seat geek is the
Speaker 1: place to do it. Seat Geek the new official ticketing
Speaker 1: partner of the Tennessee Titans, so Titans fans can fan
Speaker 1: well done. Red Redd is also our staff meteorologist. Sunday
Speaker 1: is supposed Christmas Eve is supposed to be lovely at
Speaker 1: Nissan Stadium. Mike.
Speaker 3: It is quite the contrast from Christmas Eve versus the Texans.
Speaker 1: One year ago.
Speaker 3: We had rolling blackouts. Power Yeah, we started game late.
Speaker 3: We started one hour late.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: And it was it was the coldest recorded game at
Speaker 3: Nissan Stadium. I think it was twenty two twenty three
Speaker 3: at kickoff. So the forecast right now says partly cloudy
Speaker 3: and a high of sixty eight degrees sixty three at kickoff.
Speaker 1: That's a great way to start Christmas Eve Day, you
Speaker 1: dog one, right, it is because you go from there,
Speaker 1: you go to church or have a meal, whatever you
Speaker 1: want to do, open a gift or too, go to
Speaker 1: the family celebration, right, put out the cookies and milk.
Speaker 1: Wait for Santa, I mean.
Speaker 3: Or if you're like me, when you get home from
Speaker 3: the game, marinate the steaks and get ready to grill.
Speaker 3: Is that Christmas Day? I'm gonna Christmas Day?
Speaker 2: Sure, An, because you got the weather.
Speaker 1: Got the weather.
Speaker 2: Rat's a grill master anyway, he really is. He is
Speaker 2: a grill master. He has shared some of those things
Speaker 2: that he has prepared on the grill with us Delicious.
Speaker 3: It is New York Strip steaks on Christmas Day. I
Speaker 3: think I'm gonna go purchase some kind of seafood, maybe
Speaker 3: do surf and turf.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what else is really is really good
Speaker 2: that I'm noticing here that's really high is the shoe
Speaker 2: game of my two partners here. If you look look
Speaker 2: over here at Mike Keith, those are somewhat sweet, all
Speaker 2: white Nike kicks and then red over here. I mean
Speaker 2: this is outstanding.
Speaker 1: Plus statues he does.
Speaker 2: And then plus he got a little dog on his socks.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm looking at his socks. He's got a
Speaker 2: little dog on his sock. I'm I'm impressed with my
Speaker 2: partners here.
Speaker 1: Thank you, coach, You're welcome, my man. It's the holiday season.
Speaker 2: I'm a former head coach. I noticed details.
Speaker 1: It's time to go, don't you think whatever you say, sir,
Speaker 1: I think it's time to go. For for Dave Magettis
Speaker 1: and RTT Brian I, Mike Keith, thank you for joining
Speaker 1: us for the O t P