Speaker 1: NFL Explained is a production of the NFL in partnership
Speaker 1: with I Heart Radio. Welcome to NFL Explained, a production
Speaker 1: of the NFL in partnership with I Heart Radio. Up
Speaker 1: Work is the world's work marketplace. Empower your business and
Speaker 1: hire the world's most in demand developers, designers, project managers
Speaker 1: and more at www dot up work dot com. America's
Speaker 1: most reliable network is going Ultra with Verizon five G
Speaker 1: Ultra wide ban and more and more places with up
Speaker 1: to ten times faster speeds. You can download a movie
Speaker 1: in mere minutes. What Yes, Verizon is going Ultra so
Speaker 1: you can to five G Ultra wide ban available in
Speaker 1: select areas. Most reliable based on rankings from the Root
Speaker 1: Metrics US ROOTS Score report dated first half, excluding c
Speaker 1: ban and not specific to five G networks. Your results
Speaker 1: may vary. Not an endorsement speed comparison to media Verizon
Speaker 1: four G LTE speeds downloads vary based on network conditions
Speaker 1: and five G content optimization. Holiday season is upon us
Speaker 1: and instead of going on a deep dive on one
Speaker 1: specific question, we thought we would stuff your stockings with
Speaker 1: multiple questions and answer some of the ones you've been
Speaker 1: firing off to us over the last few weeks. Welcome
Speaker 1: to NFL explained, I'm Mike am joined as always of
Speaker 1: the fabulous a dd Kinka Wala in this season of
Speaker 1: gift giving, right, I mean, this is us giving gifts
Speaker 1: back to the listeners who have been gifting us with
Speaker 1: their time. You know there's a listener right now going.
Speaker 1: You know, you guys are so cheap. If this is
Speaker 1: your gift to us, I get it, I get it.
Speaker 1: I mean what always supposed to do, like give all
Speaker 1: of our listeners something. But it's not just about money.
Speaker 1: It's about time. And we did spend time researching some
Speaker 1: of these interesting questions. I mean, I don't know about you, yeah,
Speaker 1: but I got a lot of really interesting questions in
Speaker 1: my AMI mentions. Okay, So I feel like we might
Speaker 1: have gotten more gifts than we are giving in this episode,
Speaker 1: which is kind of cool and not necessarily like my
Speaker 1: life ethos, Like I like to give a little bit
Speaker 1: more than I take. If we all had that, we'd
Speaker 1: all be in a bunch better place. But I say
Speaker 1: that because when you fire off a question like hey, like,
Speaker 1: what do you guys want to hear on NFL? Explain?
Speaker 1: What can we answer people are funny. People are funny.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, some of the acts that I got
Speaker 1: were comical. So I appreciate all the chuckles that I
Speaker 1: was able to get from some of our listeners and
Speaker 1: greatly appreciate it. Well, since we have so many tremendous
Speaker 1: listeners and we did get quite a lot, let's just
Speaker 1: jump right into it, all right. We're gonna start with
Speaker 1: one of mine, because you know, people do at me
Speaker 1: quite a bit, Mike a lot. By the way, if
Speaker 1: we're doing that, you know, yeah, well I do keep
Speaker 1: track of who's winning on Twitter. It ain't me, all right.
Speaker 1: Our very first one came from a gentleman named Tim Proud. Hey, Tim,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. Here's what he sent us. Here's
Speaker 1: one for NFL explained terminology. Where did terms like pooch, kick, shovel, pass, muffpunt, pick,
Speaker 1: et cetera. All come from? What a great question. That
Speaker 1: is a really great on all right, so why don't
Speaker 1: you start us with I don't know where pooch actually
Speaker 1: came from. I love how you did that. You said it,
Speaker 1: you set me up for failure. I mean, what kind
Speaker 1: of friend are you? We actually don't have the answer
Speaker 1: for pooch punt, which is just kind of wild. Our
Speaker 1: research team and by the way, like our resources are
Speaker 1: truly amazing. You ask our research team anything, you get
Speaker 1: an answer relatively quickly, and unless you ask them where
Speaker 1: we don't have that one. So I don't think, all right,
Speaker 1: so that's going to be a part two. We will
Speaker 1: we will find the answer to that, and maybe someone
Speaker 1: listening to us right now knows the answer. So if
Speaker 1: you know the answer of where pooch punk came from,
Speaker 1: please reach out to us. All right, let's move on.
Speaker 1: Shovel pass this actually came from basketball, Mike, because it's
Speaker 1: that shovel like motion with your arm. And then as
Speaker 1: for a muff punt, well, that's because a muff is
Speaker 1: a muff. A muff is in the dictionary is failing
Speaker 1: to hold onto a ball when you're trying to catch it.
Speaker 1: I was one set of game in San Francisco where
Speaker 1: poor young man muffed two punts two in one game. Actually,
Speaker 1: I think that just happened last weekend in a Bengals game,
Speaker 1: didn't it. That's the other thing I'm learning, not even
Speaker 1: like the origin of these terms from a normal vernacular situation.
Speaker 1: Here I didn't even know what muff meant, so like, formally,
Speaker 1: outside of football terms, I never used I mean you're
Speaker 1: giving me this look like. That's because you went to Fordham,
Speaker 1: you know, if you had an ivy leage vocabulary used
Speaker 1: the word moving right along. An interception is often called
Speaker 1: a pick. Why is it called a pick because a
Speaker 1: pick is another word for rob, like a pickpocket. And
Speaker 1: what do you do when you get an interception? Will
Speaker 1: you robbed the receiver? And you robbed the quarterback of
Speaker 1: their ball. Here's another one for you, Mike. Flee flicker.
Speaker 1: Fleeflickers actually a very very very long tenured part of
Speaker 1: our vernacular. It was created by the legendary University of
Speaker 1: Illinois coach Bob Zepka. Described it as a dog's flicking
Speaker 1: action to get rid of fleas, So the way that
Speaker 1: a dog flicks to get rid of his fleas is
Speaker 1: similar to a flee flicker. According to Bob Zepka, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure I really get this one, this one, this one,
Speaker 1: I really like. Sack. Can you guess what era the
Speaker 1: term sack was developed, because we haven't been keeping track
Speaker 1: of sacks for a very long No, you're right, that
Speaker 1: has been an issue. Although there's a part of me
Speaker 1: that says, when we were doing like our nicknames, like
Speaker 1: you know, we sort of dug into the research on
Speaker 1: some of these defensive teams and dudes just were monsters
Speaker 1: against offenses. So while it might not go like back
Speaker 1: to the early nineteen hundreds, I would imagine it's still
Speaker 1: I don't know, there's fifties, seventies, something along those lines,
Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, that's right. So Marv Levy, the former NFL coach,
Speaker 1: Marv Levy, he says, the coach that he worked for
Speaker 1: one of his former bosses, George Allen, who of course
Speaker 1: is in the Hall of Fame, who coined the phrase
Speaker 1: the first time. And this is what Marv Levy said.
Speaker 1: He said that George Allen was talking the night before
Speaker 1: a team meeting about playing the Dallas Cowboys and the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys quarterback who at the time was Craig Morton,
Speaker 1: and at the time it would always be tackled the
Speaker 1: quarterback for a loss. But what Marv Levy says is
Speaker 1: the night before this game when the Rams played the
Speaker 1: Cowboys and Craig Morton, George Allen said, before we play
Speaker 1: those Dallas Cowboys, We're going to take that more insult
Speaker 1: and pour him into a sack. And so that was
Speaker 1: the inspiration for the term sack. Like the history behind it,
Speaker 1: never would have guessed that that's where, Yeah, that that's
Speaker 1: not where I would have found a little bit of
Speaker 1: a stretch. Um. This one a little bit personal because
Speaker 1: I do happen to know Bill Freylick, and that's pancake.
Speaker 1: Bill Freylick was an offensive lineman at the University of
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh and he's blocks were so famously known for putting
Speaker 1: a pound it's flat on their back. This is in
Speaker 1: the early nineteen eighties that it was actually the Pits
Speaker 1: sports information department that came up with the term pancake.
Speaker 1: And that was during a Heisman campaign for an offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: How about that. Bill Frelick actually finished eighth in the
Speaker 1: Heisman voting in and six people gave him first place
Speaker 1: votes for that one. That is wild. I mean, we
Speaker 1: always think about the Heisman as a quarterback award. Maybe
Speaker 1: you're talking about running backs, but I mean, hell, it's rare.
Speaker 1: It's a defensive player. I'm top ten in voting for
Speaker 1: an offensive lineman. That's got to be as rare as
Speaker 1: they come. And by the way, kudos to a lot
Speaker 1: of the s I d s around the country who
Speaker 1: work I mean just behind the scenes and just crushing it.
Speaker 1: But to come up with something like that, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's really creative, like I think about, although the resources
Speaker 1: a little bit different. But you know, when Joey Harrington was,
Speaker 1: you know, was an Oregon quarterback, uh, you know in
Speaker 1: New York City, you know the huge billboard, you see
Speaker 1: stuff like that Gardner Minshew, you know with the mustache.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a Heisman deal, but like you know, send
Speaker 1: a mustaches everywhere. Like that's kind of like the collegiate
Speaker 1: aspect of the game of that using the pancake deal.
Speaker 1: Like that's that's actually kind of fun. It is fun.
Speaker 1: Now here's one that there's no way that you'd ever
Speaker 1: guessed this one. And it's funny because I actually wondered
Speaker 1: about this one too. We talked about the shotgun formation, right,
Speaker 1: So where does that name come from? That phrase was
Speaker 1: coined in nineteen sixty And here's what happened. The forty
Speaker 1: Niners upset the Colts, and afterwards, reporters were asking forty
Speaker 1: Niners coach Howard Red Hicky, you know, what was this
Speaker 1: offensive formation that he used that nobody had ever seen before,
Speaker 1: And so Red Hickey says, well, you know it's spread
Speaker 1: right and spread left, and you know, like that's kind
Speaker 1: of what it was. And the reporters are like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's not really that creative. So Hicky put on the spot,
Speaker 1: said well, I'm an old country boy and I used
Speaker 1: to go hunting with a shotgun, So how about we
Speaker 1: just call it the shotgun? If we're going to stay
Speaker 1: on weaponizing terms, I guess let's go with It's So
Speaker 1: blitz is of course short for the German military strategy,
Speaker 1: which was the Blitzkrieg, and that means a sudden overwhelming attack, right.
Speaker 1: You remember, like the Blitzkrieg was sort of the lightning war,
Speaker 1: So what is a sudden overwhelming attack when somebody blitzes
Speaker 1: you unexpected? That one's very appropriate. Yeah, that one seems
Speaker 1: to make sense. How about Bootleg no idea where somebody alright,
Speaker 1: Bootleg actually comes from Pop Warner. He invented both the
Speaker 1: play and he came up with the name. And since
Speaker 1: we talked about history earlier, this one's got its basis
Speaker 1: in history. To Mike, so back during the Prohibition, days,
Speaker 1: bootleggers would hide their alcohol in their pants, And the
Speaker 1: way that they would hide their alcohol is very, very
Speaker 1: similar to the way a quarterback hides the ball from
Speaker 1: the defense. So that's where that one came from. They
Speaker 1: used to hide their alcohol in their pants. You can't
Speaker 1: do that in today's day and age, with skinny jeans
Speaker 1: just not going to happen. So I can't imagine if
Speaker 1: skinny jeans were all the rage during Prohibition, what we'd
Speaker 1: be calling the bootleg now in the NFL. Just it
Speaker 1: might be called something else. That's a whole other episode.
Speaker 1: Maybe we should come up with new terms. Yeah, really
Speaker 1: cool to see some of those terms get unleashed and
Speaker 1: actually a dit before we get to the next question.
Speaker 1: I know there was this idea of throwing at the
Speaker 1: definition of hail Mary. We're not going to do that
Speaker 1: here on this mail Bag edition because we have a
Speaker 1: whole episode coming up on that very subject. America's most
Speaker 1: reliable network is going ultra with Rise in five G,
Speaker 1: Ultra wide band and more and more places so you
Speaker 1: can do more without the ten times faster speeds. You
Speaker 1: can download a movie in mirror minutes. What, Yes, that's
Speaker 1: faster than your morning coffee, run lights, camera coffee, and
Speaker 1: while you're at it, go on and download a whole
Speaker 1: series in minutes or a new song in seconds A
Speaker 1: one two one to Oh, it's done. Stock up on
Speaker 1: all that entertainment, and sure you can down work files
Speaker 1: faster too if you have to, so you can quickly
Speaker 1: get back to all these great movies, shows and songs
Speaker 1: you've just gotten your hands on. Verizon five G Ultra
Speaker 1: wide band is now in more and more places. Verizon
Speaker 1: is going Ultra so you can to five G Ultra
Speaker 1: wide band available in select areas. Most reliable based on
Speaker 1: rankings from the Root Metrics US ROOTS Score report dated
Speaker 1: first half excluding c BAN and not specific to five
Speaker 1: G networks. Your results may vary. Not an endorsement speed
Speaker 1: comparison to media and Verizon four G LTE speeds downloads
Speaker 1: very based on network conditions and five G content optimization.
Speaker 1: Build the team that will build your business. With upwork,
Speaker 1: you can find top developers, designers, project managers and more
Speaker 1: who can start today so your business can succeed tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Higher at home or in a hundred and eighty countries
Speaker 1: around the world. To find the right talent for whatever
Speaker 1: your business needs up work, the world's work marketplace. Learn
Speaker 1: more at www. Dot up work dot com. Got another
Speaker 1: a d D and it comes from James, who says,
Speaker 1: who are the chain crew at games? Not to be
Speaker 1: confused with two chains who I saw in Atlanta one time?
Speaker 1: Are they supplied by the home team? Are they employed
Speaker 1: by the NFL? Are they referee qualified? So many questions, Well,
Speaker 1: we have so many answers for you, James. You gotta
Speaker 1: go back to nineteen o six, and if you missed
Speaker 1: our episode about the history of football, specifically the names,
Speaker 1: go and check that one out, because I feel like
Speaker 1: we name dropped nineteen o six multiple times. Nineteen o
Speaker 1: six first downs were made to be picked up by
Speaker 1: ten yards instead of five by the American Intercollegiate Football
Speaker 1: Rules Committee. Initially two members had two light polls or
Speaker 1: rods that were connected at their lower end by a
Speaker 1: stout cord or chain ten yards in length. So it's
Speaker 1: kind of obvious when we start talking about those chain crews.
Speaker 1: But most chain crews they earned seventy five to a
Speaker 1: hundred dollars per game, which you're like, you know, that's
Speaker 1: not a lot of coin. Yeah, but think about the
Speaker 1: view that they get on the sideline. Those numbers. By
Speaker 1: the way, according to an SI article, the Jets, Yo, man,
Speaker 1: they're handling business. They on the upper end of the
Speaker 1: pay scalow hundred and fifty. It's not helping them pick
Speaker 1: up some first downs. But the point is the perks
Speaker 1: they include parking, pregame meals, are you kidding me? Bring
Speaker 1: on the extra food, NFL branded gear. So look, I
Speaker 1: think there's a lot of fans that would just do
Speaker 1: it for the merch. I don't think that's kind of
Speaker 1: crazy because it is really cool to be able to
Speaker 1: do that. But all thirty two NFL teams they have
Speaker 1: their own chain crews. The NFL they actually don't even
Speaker 1: oversee the chain crewise. One thing that I saw that
Speaker 1: was really really fascinating to me, a lot of the
Speaker 1: chain crew roles actually get passed down through families. That
Speaker 1: actually shocked me when I saw that chain crew members.
Speaker 1: Ninety minutes before kickoff, you dress, you get the chain
Speaker 1: for the field, not around your neck, and you ensure
Speaker 1: that the backup sticks are sufficient, and then you go
Speaker 1: and meet the down judge. So just something to consider
Speaker 1: here when you're watching some of these games. Now, they
Speaker 1: cruise themselves eight plus members, including at least one alternate
Speaker 1: prior to the pandemic led to cuts on the sideline personnel.
Speaker 1: Obviously that became a little bit of an issue there,
Speaker 1: But the positions of each crew. You got the box man,
Speaker 1: I feel like we're what's the movie where you're like
Speaker 1: about to plan like a either a skate from a
Speaker 1: prison or you're gonna rob a bank. I feel like
Speaker 1: the position crews for the um they just have like
Speaker 1: names that associate with that in my mind. You've got
Speaker 1: the box man, the auxiliary box man. Those are the
Speaker 1: dudes in the red smocks opposite sidelines to display the down.
Speaker 1: Two chain men who carry the sticks on the official side,
Speaker 1: one line to gain pole showing the first down spot
Speaker 1: on the auxiliary side. You've got the clipman, who oversees
Speaker 1: a marker that attaches to the chain at the nearest
Speaker 1: yard line. That's a multiple of five. Their purpose is
Speaker 1: to line back up properly if the crew moves to
Speaker 1: measure on the field or leave their spot to avoid
Speaker 1: getting hit. You got the data person tracks down down
Speaker 1: the distance in the ball spot, and then a penalty
Speaker 1: card person records the specifics of every single flag Oceans
Speaker 1: eight is now what I'm calling this crew. I should
Speaker 1: have said that earlier. That was a long winded way
Speaker 1: to me to get to the movie reference. But that's
Speaker 1: where I'm going with it, So James, hopefully that gives
Speaker 1: you a little bit of clarity. And the family thing
Speaker 1: is still what resonates the most with me and d
Speaker 1: d Well. I mean, it's a cool thing. And if
Speaker 1: you get to see one of your parents or your
Speaker 1: siblings doing that, wouldn't you want to do the same
Speaker 1: thing at some point too? Yeah? No, sign me up
Speaker 1: for it. Um. This one created a little bit of
Speaker 1: debate a d D on a separate email chain, Daniel
Speaker 1: fired this off to us, Hey gang, first time, long time.
Speaker 1: Loved the old school radio reference. I always wondered who
Speaker 1: was the first person to get gatorade dumped on their
Speaker 1: head after a big win? Hashtag yammertime dude, Daniel love
Speaker 1: you man? Um okay. According to NFL Films founder Steve Sabell,
Speaker 1: the first film evidence of a gatorade shower was when
Speaker 1: the Giants defensive lineman Jim burt daused Bill Parcels after
Speaker 1: a mid season victory in nineteen eighty four. Let's go
Speaker 1: real deep here. Jim Burt Jr. The son of Jim
Speaker 1: Burt Senior. Clearly I went to high school with the
Speaker 1: d D. Shout out Burken Catholic High School, New Jersey
Speaker 1: state champs that year. Jim, if I'm not mistaken, was
Speaker 1: a two sport athlete at Miami. I think he's now
Speaker 1: a baseball coach. I don't know for sure. We don't
Speaker 1: keep in touch on Facebook like all adults do at
Speaker 1: this point. Um, just something to consider. And by the way,
Speaker 1: shout out to Fordham just because add was making fun
Speaker 1: Affordham a little bit earlier. Harry Carson continued the tradition.
Speaker 1: It became popularized when Parcels was dasted following their Super
Speaker 1: Bowl title in January nineteen eight seven. By the way,
Speaker 1: when Giants defensive lineman Jim Burt dast Bill Parcels after
Speaker 1: a mid season victory in nineteen eighty four, the research
Speaker 1: film shows yellow the color of that Parcels gatorade bath.
Speaker 1: I'm an orange guy all the way. The biggest question
Speaker 1: I asked you, now, the d D your favorite color.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely in an orange person also, But let me
Speaker 1: tell you this, since you know we are. Let's admit
Speaker 1: that both of us grew up in Jersey, both of
Speaker 1: us grew up Giants fans. Obviously there are all these connections.
Speaker 1: There are indeed claims that it was actually Mike Dicka
Speaker 1: who was doused first, that it was the Bears Dan
Speaker 1: Hampton who gave his head coach Mike Ditka a Gatorade shower.
Speaker 1: So again, we're not one sure it was maybe coach Parcels,
Speaker 1: it was maybe coach Ditka, but either way, he's a
Speaker 1: really fun fact. Bill Schmidt, who was Gatoray's head of
Speaker 1: sports marketing, when you heard John Madden describe a gatorade
Speaker 1: shower during a Giants forty nine playoff game, he said,
Speaker 1: I think I've died and gone to Heaven. Talk about marketing. Yeah, yeah, seriously,
Speaker 1: and all these Madden commercials. I can't actually wait to
Speaker 1: see that documentary. I think all of us been watching
Speaker 1: them as we're watching these Sunday NFL games. It's going
Speaker 1: to be really cool and just sort of his impact
Speaker 1: on the game. Uh dd, we got another one. Um,
Speaker 1: do you want to get to this one? For sure?
Speaker 1: I do? Alright. My Flip Taco wrote us and said,
Speaker 1: I'm getting into learning more about football. Since my boyfriend
Speaker 1: is really into both football and fantasy football. I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear information about the rules and the pylon, even
Speaker 1: uniforms as they've changed over the years. And Flip Taco,
Speaker 1: I love this last line. Thank you so much, he says,
Speaker 1: I just love this podcast so I can learn more.
Speaker 1: Everybody listened to Flip Taco and Flip Taco's boyfriend, You've
Speaker 1: got yourself a keeper right there. Well, the pylon, let
Speaker 1: me tell you this, because yeah, you know this, I
Speaker 1: am very fascinated by the pylon camera. So we are
Speaker 1: definitely going to have a whole episode on the pylon
Speaker 1: and the pylon camera at some point, but just a
Speaker 1: few really fun facts on the pylon right now. It
Speaker 1: was created by Irwin Bud shop Bell. He was a
Speaker 1: Big ten and high school official from Ohio and back
Speaker 1: in March of nineteen is when he pat did a
Speaker 1: corner marker for football fields. Pylons were first used in
Speaker 1: the NFL in Super Bowl seven in January of nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy three, and they became standardized in the NFL at
Speaker 1: the owners meetings two years later. They replaced flags to
Speaker 1: mark the corners of the end zones and look, the
Speaker 1: flag staffs used to be steel, which is a lot
Speaker 1: more dangerous than the rubber pliable material that pylons are
Speaker 1: made from. The weighted pylons replaced spring coiled pylons in
Speaker 1: the early nineteen nineties. And our friend Neil Gilman over
Speaker 1: at Gilman Gear remember him from the field Goal episode.
Speaker 1: He's the one that introduced the pylon cam back in
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve. But again, like I teased, we will
Speaker 1: do a whole episode on that one, Mike, looking forward
Speaker 1: to that one. We got Alan who also fired off
Speaker 1: a question to the two of us and joined the
Speaker 1: podcast almost as much as Addy's weekly calls on the
Speaker 1: Ken Carmen Show regard and questions. What about discussing all
Speaker 1: the nicknames for positions half back, tailback, etcetera. By the way,
Speaker 1: can Carmen radio host which area I'm not familiar with?
Speaker 1: He's my body Cleveland, Cleveland Ken Carmen Morning Show in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: and I joined him once a week and we have
Speaker 1: some good conversation. Well, daily spot, there a little fan
Speaker 1: in Cleveland. Appreciate the uh the question here? All right,
Speaker 1: So I'll start you want to tag team this sucker here?
Speaker 1: Because I think there's a lot to unpack, because we
Speaker 1: already did an episode. By the way, Alan and once
Speaker 1: again appreciate this question on player nicknames, so if anyone
Speaker 1: has missed that episode, highly encouraged people to go back
Speaker 1: and check that one out. That was actually a lot
Speaker 1: of fun for us. But we'll give us a little
Speaker 1: bit of a shot here. I'll start with the wide receivers.
Speaker 1: I'll let you do the backs here. But before modern football,
Speaker 1: wide receivers were known as split ends and flankers. Split ends,
Speaker 1: now known as the X receiver were named after the
Speaker 1: split from the end of the offensive line, so more
Speaker 1: of just kind of like the geography of where they
Speaker 1: actually were on the field. Ends that were tight to
Speaker 1: the formation became known as tight ends. Flankers now known
Speaker 1: as Z receivers, were on the opposite of the split
Speaker 1: ends and often lined up off of the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: So once again, there's a lot of like field geography
Speaker 1: here when describing some of these positions of dB, which
Speaker 1: is a good way to remember these things as well, right,
Speaker 1: because they're not as random as one would thing. Okay,
Speaker 1: now we know that I love running the football, so
Speaker 1: I feel like it's only fair that I get to
Speaker 1: talk about the backs, is that? Okay? Roll it all right? Well,
Speaker 1: players that lined up behind the offensive line, we're all
Speaker 1: known as backs because they were in the back of
Speaker 1: the offensive line, and they were often lined up in
Speaker 1: an eye or a split formation, so to differentiate they
Speaker 1: were given names based on their alignments. The full backs
Speaker 1: were the guys that were lined up furthest behind the line.
Speaker 1: Backs that were halfway between the line and the full
Speaker 1: back were called half backs, and in the backs that
Speaker 1: were just a quarter of the way from the line
Speaker 1: to the full back where the quarterbacks. How about that?
Speaker 1: Although now we line up a little differently because of
Speaker 1: course a fullback will be in front of a running back,
Speaker 1: but still, back in the day, this made a lot
Speaker 1: of sense. Yeah, no, I'm with you there. Okay. So
Speaker 1: then the other thing, obviously, Mike, that I love besides
Speaker 1: running the ball is playing really really good defense. So
Speaker 1: let's do some of the defensive one edge defenders. I
Speaker 1: actually love this because I remember in college doing my
Speaker 1: spotting boards, and you know, you kind of just think
Speaker 1: about d NS, and over the last couple of years
Speaker 1: or so, you started thinking about edge defenders, which was
Speaker 1: popularized by a Pro Football Focus in the last ten
Speaker 1: years is the three four and or a four three
Speaker 1: defense because they've evolved over time. In fact, one of
Speaker 1: our last episodes about defense winning Championships, we actually talked
Speaker 1: about how the game has changed more pass heavy offenses.
Speaker 1: So the Associated Press officially added edge rusher to its
Speaker 1: All Pro team format in twenty six team the a P.
Speaker 1: Actually you define edge rusher as a four three d
Speaker 1: end or a three four outside linebacker, which to me,
Speaker 1: it's not a huge different differentiator between edge defenders from
Speaker 1: linebackers or defensive ends. It's just once again sort of
Speaker 1: the placement that they have on the field. But the
Speaker 1: edge defender primary, right, because the point right. But the point, Mike,
Speaker 1: when we need to make clear, is that whether you
Speaker 1: are a four three end or a three or four linebacker,
Speaker 1: your job is to rush the past. So that's why
Speaker 1: the edge rusher, whatever edge you're coming off of, you're
Speaker 1: still essentially fulfilling the same purpose, no doubt, get after
Speaker 1: the quarterback and blow up offensive place. By the way,
Speaker 1: Sam Mike er will, who do you like best, Well,
Speaker 1: I'd be a miclimbacker because the mic linebacker is usually
Speaker 1: the one that actually calls out the defense. It's considered
Speaker 1: the quarterback of the defense. And as you know, I'm
Speaker 1: the smartest person in this podcast, and as you know,
Speaker 1: I'm the one that's kind of the quarterback, so makes
Speaker 1: a lot of sense. I love it. By the way,
Speaker 1: when the smartest person on the podcast has to say it, um, well,
Speaker 1: listen to us of the two of us. But in
Speaker 1: any case, so the Sam, the Mike, and the Will
Speaker 1: linebackers new monic terms to explain exactly where those linebackers
Speaker 1: are lined up. The Sam is the strong side, the
Speaker 1: Mic is the middle linebacker, and the Will is the
Speaker 1: weak side linebacker. I just like Mike because it's my name,
Speaker 1: So we'll just roll with that, all right. Add plenty
Speaker 1: more questions to get to, including my favorite one, who
Speaker 1: is the first quarterback to actually where plays on a
Speaker 1: wrist band? To me? Fascinating And we have the answer
Speaker 1: coming up next on NFL Explained. This podcast is sponsored
Speaker 1: by Kindrel. Kindrel Designs, builds, manages, and modernizes the mission
Speaker 1: critical technology systems that the world depends on every day.
Speaker 1: Working side by side with their customers, they imagine things
Speaker 1: differently by forging new strategic partnerships. They unlock new possibilities,
Speaker 1: creating a world powered by healthy digital systems. Align with opportunity,
Speaker 1: oxygen to innovation and energy to change the world. Kindrel
Speaker 1: the heart of progress. Draft Kings sports Book, America's top
Speaker 1: rated sports book app, is putting you in the center
Speaker 1: of the action with endless ways to make it rain
Speaker 1: This week, sports betting has never been this convenient. With
Speaker 1: DraftKings Sports Book, you can bet from anywhere. This app
Speaker 1: is available. If you haven't tried Draft Kings Sports Book yet,
Speaker 1: head of the app store now because you don't want
Speaker 1: to miss this. Download the top rated Draft Kings sports
Speaker 1: Book app now and use promo code d K one
Speaker 1: when you sign up and get up to one thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: That's code d K one to get a deposit bonus
Speaker 1: of one thousand dollars for a limited time only a
Speaker 1: Draft Kings Sports Book twenty one and older. Minimum age
Speaker 1: and location requirements vary by jurisdiction. See DraftKings dot com
Speaker 1: slash sports Book for full list of requirements and state
Speaker 1: specific Responsible gambling resources void where prohibited. Minimum five dollar
Speaker 1: deposit gambling problem call one a hundred gambler in Tennessee
Speaker 1: call or text the Tennessee Redline on eight eight nine
Speaker 1: nine seven eight nine. In Connecticut called eight eight seven
Speaker 1: eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot
Speaker 1: org slash jat. In New York called eight seven seven
Speaker 1: eight Hope and why or text hopen why for six
Speaker 1: seven three nine. Welcome back to NFL, explained Mike Amnaddi
Speaker 1: kin kawaala with you. We're having a blast going through
Speaker 1: your questions on our mail bag episode. Got some good
Speaker 1: ones still left to fire off, some answers and a
Speaker 1: d D. There was one from Cathy who said she
Speaker 1: really enjoys listening to the podcast, which we absolutely love.
Speaker 1: By the way, make sure you continue to follow us,
Speaker 1: rate us and of course a little little review. We
Speaker 1: love to get some feedback from you. She said. I
Speaker 1: learned a lot of fun and cool facts. I even
Speaker 1: shared the info about the Eagles logo with my son.
Speaker 1: He's a huge Eagles fan. I look forward to hearing
Speaker 1: some cool things about my Broncos. Thanks for listening as always,
Speaker 1: and by the way, Kathy's making reference to the Eagles
Speaker 1: logo and a d D. If I'm not mistaken. This
Speaker 1: was one of the factoys that you dropped in that episode.
Speaker 1: It's the only one that faces. The Eagles logo is
Speaker 1: the only one that faces left, so that the feathers
Speaker 1: can make an e. They're also some on Broncos stats
Speaker 1: because she's a Broncos fan. A D D. Do you
Speaker 1: want to kind of tag team a couple of these
Speaker 1: cool nugs. Sure? Three championships, eight Super Bowl appearances, ten
Speaker 1: a f C Championship appearances, fifteen a f C West titles,
Speaker 1: twenty two playoff berth twenty nine winning seasons, and the
Speaker 1: fifth best record in the NFL since the nineteen seventy merger.
Speaker 1: Here's another one. They actually the Broncos actually have the
Speaker 1: second best home record since the nineteen seventy merger as well.
Speaker 1: I like that, although recently some of these losses. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Broncos fans, I know, we're trying to stay positive here.
Speaker 1: By the way, since Kathy mentioned the Eagles logo, let's
Speaker 1: talk about the Broncos logo. It's actually gone through five
Speaker 1: iterations since nineteen sixty. All involve the horse, and the
Speaker 1: first two logos feature man actually riding a horse. So,
Speaker 1: you know, as we start thinking about, you know, the
Speaker 1: different logos, and someone had mentioned uniforms. By the way,
Speaker 1: like I start thinking about the evolution of some of
Speaker 1: that stuff, and I think we are going to do
Speaker 1: an episode on that. But the real life Bronco Thunder
Speaker 1: in its twenty ninth year as the Broncos live mascot.
Speaker 1: You know, I think about Denver and the state of
Speaker 1: Colorado not too far from Denver, is bolder and clearly
Speaker 1: I know all about see you. But they got Ralphie
Speaker 1: and Ralphie you know, the buffalo kind of runs out
Speaker 1: into the field. They're really big on like this whole animal,
Speaker 1: you know, themed football situation there. Well, I met Sunder
Speaker 1: the Third. There have been three Thunders and I met
Speaker 1: Thunder three or Thunder the Third a few years ago
Speaker 1: in Denver. Actually gorgeous, gorgeous pure bred Arabian horse, and
Speaker 1: you know he runs from end zoned his end zone
Speaker 1: after every Bonco's touchdown. It's pretty cool. Yeah, very cool.
Speaker 1: Got another one here, great podcast for information. I find fascinating,
Speaker 1: love it. Hosts are great together. Oh and I look
Speaker 1: forward to future episodes. So do we do a segment
Speaker 1: on sports media, which, by the way, I love, I mean,
Speaker 1: I kind of geek out on it's maybe sometimes inside Baseball,
Speaker 1: but um, any fun sports media stuff that we can
Speaker 1: unleash here, Well, let's remind everybody that we did, indeed
Speaker 1: do an episode on Monday Night Football which has to
Speaker 1: do with media, and we had to trim premendous sports
Speaker 1: media members join us then Ron Jowarski and the fabulous
Speaker 1: Melissa Stark. So definitely checked that one out if you
Speaker 1: haven't already. How about this one. The first professional football
Speaker 1: player who was ever on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which,
Speaker 1: of course, when I was growing up, was the mecca
Speaker 1: sports journalism in my mind, that was Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: quarterback why A Tittle back in nineteen fifty four. November
Speaker 1: twenty second, nineteen fifty four. He was part of the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers million dollar backfield, and why A. Tittle
Speaker 1: was a seven time Pro bowler, three time first team
Speaker 1: All Pro, and he was the NFL m v P
Speaker 1: back in nineteen sixty three. I love it. And you know,
Speaker 1: we made reference to Madden a little bit earlier, and
Speaker 1: I automatically think about the cover of Madden and how
Speaker 1: much of a cool accomplishment actually that is for players.
Speaker 1: The first NFL player on a Madden cover shocked by
Speaker 1: this in some ways just begins you think about some
Speaker 1: of the players that have been on it, and this is,
Speaker 1: I guess, clearly a shot, and I don't mean to
Speaker 1: make it a shot. I was just surprised by it.
Speaker 1: San Francisco running back Garrison hearst On Madden, two time
Speaker 1: pro bowler, almost eight thousand career rushing yards. First NFL
Speaker 1: player on a Madden cover. Not bad. You know what's
Speaker 1: one that we may have to do, the Madden curse
Speaker 1: or all. That's just an urban legend and we should
Speaker 1: get some of our the Madden cover men to come
Speaker 1: and join us. Does feel weird to you, by the way,
Speaker 1: on Madden, Like I graduated high school in I can't
Speaker 1: be that long ago, and I'm like, oh, man, as
Speaker 1: we're doing this over you know, video, and I haven't
Speaker 1: shaved in a few days, and I see some white
Speaker 1: and some salt on the side, like I guess, yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess, Madden, I'm getting old. D D Speak for yourself,
Speaker 1: my friend, speak for yourself. Super Bowl one, the very
Speaker 1: first Super Bowl one thousand media credentials were issued, and
Speaker 1: in fact, NFL Commissioner Pete Rosel was so worried about
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl getting enough attention that he gave his
Speaker 1: PR staff two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to spend
Speaker 1: on the media, just to make sure that there'd be
Speaker 1: some hubbub and excitement and talking about Super Bowl one. Now,
Speaker 1: fast forward to the last Super Bowl in Miami, and
Speaker 1: this number is actually a little bit depressed because of
Speaker 1: the pandemic. But six thousand media credentials were issued for
Speaker 1: that Super Bowl. I will say that again, there have
Speaker 1: been more. That's not an all time high. We're just
Speaker 1: going from first to the latest. It's still a lot
Speaker 1: of media members watching the games. Okay, this is my
Speaker 1: favorite one right here, our producer Vince Havens. We love Evince.
Speaker 1: Vince wanted to know who is the first quarterback to
Speaker 1: put all the plays on their arm? You know how
Speaker 1: they wear. There's wristbands, Mike and they and they write
Speaker 1: plays on them. Yeah. And I've been meaning to ask
Speaker 1: some of the older quarterbacks if the font gets larger
Speaker 1: the older they catch on those wristbands. But I haven't
Speaker 1: gotten up the courage yet to go up to Ben
Speaker 1: Roethlisberger and say, hey, do you need bigger prints than
Speaker 1: you did when you were twenty three. In any case,
Speaker 1: it was back in nineteen sixty five when Baltimore Colts
Speaker 1: quarterback Johnny Unitis and his backup Gary Kozo both suffered
Speaker 1: season ending injuries, and so it was the third string
Speaker 1: quarterback Tom Matt, who had been a running back he
Speaker 1: was forced to play quarterback. And it was offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: Don McCafferty who thought, hey, why don't we do a wristband?
Speaker 1: And it was actually Tom Matt's wife, whose handwriting was
Speaker 1: small enough and neat enough that she helped him right
Speaker 1: and create this wrist band while he started three games.
Speaker 1: And one of those games is in was a playoff
Speaker 1: game in fact, and that original wristband that Tom Matt's
Speaker 1: wife wrote sits in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: right now. So cool. I never would have thought about that.
Speaker 1: Of course, Vince did think of that question. So well
Speaker 1: done by him, Den who helped think of the solution
Speaker 1: a woman, of course. Come on, now, well, I just
Speaker 1: think back to the episode when we had Kurt Warner
Speaker 1: pop on with us on other player's work week. If
Speaker 1: you missed that one, make sure you go and check
Speaker 1: that one out. But the pillow talk between Kurt and
Speaker 1: Brenda his wife to get him ready for games. And
Speaker 1: this makes sense and a d D. I think there's
Speaker 1: one thing that's abundantly clear. If I was talented enough
Speaker 1: to be an NFL quarterback and I needed a wristband,
Speaker 1: I would not be the one writing any place because
Speaker 1: my penmanship is absolutely awful. If I had to get
Speaker 1: one thing for under the tree, it would be someone
Speaker 1: to help me with my penmanship. But that's not a
Speaker 1: gift that I can actually get, So that's why I'm here.
Speaker 1: I would definitely help you with that. I do have
Speaker 1: neat handwriting, but you know what, moving on, I have
Speaker 1: to tell you. I feel like this was a sup
Speaker 1: for fun episodes. We need to do one of these regularly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we need our listeners to yes exactly. Please keep sending
Speaker 1: us questions because it's fun to rattle through a bunch
Speaker 1: of these, and I learned a lot, that's for sure. No,
Speaker 1: I'm with you as well, Shotgun. I meant that I
Speaker 1: will never see Bootleg differently other than some dude with
Speaker 1: with a bottle of you know, prohibition whiskey and his pants.
Speaker 1: Always appreciate these questions. By the way, A King kabala
Speaker 1: a at Mike underscore yam um. Look, you can use
Speaker 1: the hashtag NFL Explain. I'll continue to track and save
Speaker 1: some of these questions for a future edition of a
Speaker 1: mail bag episode. But a d D last thing, I
Speaker 1: will ask you, what's what are you hoping is under
Speaker 1: the tree? World peace? Come on now now, like you're
Speaker 1: putting me on the spot like that. I I don't
Speaker 1: think i've gotten you know what. I am just hoping
Speaker 1: for more patients and grace for each other, that we
Speaker 1: treat each other with a little bit more kindness, and
Speaker 1: that we can come out of this COVID world and
Speaker 1: get back to our normal lives. Hoping I can get
Speaker 1: back into locker rooms next year. No, I'm with you there.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say mine because I'm gonna sound really selfish,
Speaker 1: because I just want to be unpacked and settled down
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. For christ who are selfish, so so
Speaker 1: on who you are at this point, World peace for everyone.
Speaker 1: Always appreciate everyone checking in, but Mike, Mike. Before we go,
Speaker 1: let's thank all of our listeners that helped us launch
Speaker 1: this podcast, to our team at my Heart, to our
Speaker 1: producers at the NFL Network, in the NFL Media Group, everybody.
Speaker 1: We've had a blast and let's keep it going in two.
Speaker 1: So everybody out there, happy, happy holidays, Happy New Year.
Speaker 1: May twenty two bring all that you wish for. And
Speaker 1: that was mail Bad questions Explain America's most reliable network
Speaker 1: is going ultra with Verizon five G Ultra wide ban
Speaker 1: and more and more places with up to ten times
Speaker 1: faster speeds. You can download a movie in mere minutes.
Speaker 1: What Yes, Verizon is going ultra so you can to
Speaker 1: five G Ultra wide ban available in select areas. Most
Speaker 1: reliable based on rankings from the Root Metrics us ROOTS
Speaker 1: Score report dated first half one, excluding c ban and
Speaker 1: not specific to five G networks. Your results may vary.
Speaker 1: Not an endorsement speed comparison to median Verizon four G
Speaker 1: LTE speeds, downloads vary based on network conditions and five
Speaker 1: G content optimization. Brought to you by upwork, where you
Speaker 1: can build the team that will build your business. Learn
Speaker 1: more at upwork dot com.