Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Schreeger is a production of the
Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, everybody, Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Season with Peter Schreger. We are officially in the
Speaker 1: NFL off season as we record this podcast. I am
Speaker 1: outside in a rental house on a porch recording this podcast,
Speaker 1: which is beautiful considering the modern technologies that we have. Aaron,
Speaker 1: you seem to be remote as well. My producer, Aaron
Speaker 1: Wang Kaufman erin, where are you? Are you in Brooklyn?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I actually just got back to Brooklyn late this weekend.
Speaker 3: Where were you pal was in Mexico for a wedding.
Speaker 2: Okay, nice.
Speaker 1: We've got an amazing show up ahead and we are
Speaker 1: excited to get started with it real quick.
Speaker 4: Though.
Speaker 2: When I say that, everyone promoter away like I mean that.
Speaker 1: Sean McVay was texting me from New York City, where
Speaker 1: I'm not right now, and he's like, are you out
Speaker 1: do you want to get dinner? Said no where He's Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm going to Europe for the next couple of days
Speaker 1: with my wife. They're expecting a child.
Speaker 2: It's a baby moon.
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, congratulations, enjoy texted away with a
Speaker 1: couple GMS to see if they'd come on the podcast.
Speaker 2: Multiple gms are in Rome right now, Italy.
Speaker 1: Literally, I think like the OTAs ended and these NFL
Speaker 1: folks just all boarded flights to Europe and that's where
Speaker 1: they are.
Speaker 2: I'm excited that our guests that we're going to have
Speaker 2: on today is in Denver, Colorado.
Speaker 1: He is not in Paris, France, or in uh, you
Speaker 1: name it, in Europe. But it seems like everyone in
Speaker 1: the NFL is take the foot off the pedal this week.
Speaker 1: Even our show Good Morning Football, it's on hiatus. So
Speaker 1: my focus and my attention actually is geared onto the
Speaker 1: NBA Draft lottery.
Speaker 2: And I'll be real quick with it.
Speaker 1: I think this when Ba Yama and I don't know,
Speaker 1: am I pronouncing it right? Wemby is what I've been
Speaker 1: calling him, is a real sensation.
Speaker 2: I got a chance. It's really cool. NFL network has.
Speaker 1: Us talking football, football, football, and there used to be
Speaker 1: an edict like the second you guys start talking about
Speaker 1: any other sport on air, we lose viewers. It almost
Speaker 1: as if if we end up talking about Wimbledon, we're
Speaker 1: gonna lose viewers. To someone saying oh, I forgot Wimbledon's on.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go put on Wimbledon. Or hey, if we
Speaker 1: start talking about the NBA playoffs, people are say, well,
Speaker 1: I'll turn to ESPN for NBA playoffs.
Speaker 2: Sooc, I guess I get that.
Speaker 1: Wemby broke the mold though, when he had the three
Speaker 1: pointer and he missed it and then he followed it
Speaker 1: up and then dunked it in like one straight motion.
Speaker 1: I had to come on the show the next day
Speaker 1: and just say I've been watching the YouTube clip fifty
Speaker 1: times in a row.
Speaker 2: Me saying that.
Speaker 1: Attracted the attention of some folks over at NBA dot
Speaker 1: Com and the NBA channel, which I thought was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: So then the NBA guys got in touch with me
Speaker 1: and said, hey, we do this thing where we simulcast
Speaker 1: all of Wemby's games. Would you want to be a
Speaker 1: guest announcer on one of his games in like the EuroLeague.
Speaker 2: Or in Paris or whatever it was.
Speaker 1: I'm like, hell, yeah, I do. I watched him. He
Speaker 1: was unbelievable, and I'm on the call and I'm like,
Speaker 1: his body type reminds me of Durant, but he also
Speaker 1: has like Stacy Augman to him, and that might be
Speaker 1: before we were Tom Aaron.
Speaker 2: He was like a plastic man, but completely flexible guy.
Speaker 1: And then I listened to Brian Windhorst on Bill Simmons' podcast,
Speaker 1: Who Wendy Has Had at Wendy and Wendy. That sounds
Speaker 1: like a good show they had. He's had a chance
Speaker 1: to get to know the kid a little bit. With
Speaker 1: the Paris France was obviously over there and he covered
Speaker 1: him and he met his youth coach and was spent
Speaker 1: time with him, and he's like he also is really
Speaker 1: self aware, cool, stylish, one hundred percent like in touch
Speaker 1: with who he is and what is at stake, not
Speaker 1: in like the big sense, but more like this is
Speaker 1: just a sport and I'm gonna do my best and
Speaker 1: my life won't be defined by that. I thought that
Speaker 1: was pretty cool stuff and insight and that his game
Speaker 1: is incredib and then his wingspan might be eight feet
Speaker 1: and I don't know. He's going to go first overall
Speaker 1: in the draft this week. If you're listening, this is
Speaker 1: being recorded on Wednesday morning. He's going to go to
Speaker 1: the Spurs and that's a sure thing, and that's great,
Speaker 1: But I also just am excited to watch him play,
Speaker 1: and I feel like the NBA can use some positive headlines.
Speaker 1: They can use another guy that's gonna be, you know,
Speaker 1: in the finals eventually and be the one that we're
Speaker 1: talking about. I feel like I really enjoyed the Miami
Speaker 1: heat story. I loved watching djokch. I don't know, I
Speaker 1: feel like NBA can use another star.
Speaker 2: It's going to be a busy time.
Speaker 1: And just from an NFL standpoint, anytime that I can
Speaker 1: look at another sport and say, Okay, that guy, that
Speaker 1: guy's got star potential, I'm intrigued. And someone put on
Speaker 1: a tweet to me they said, who does who would
Speaker 1: you compare him to in the NFL? And it's so
Speaker 1: bland and so boring. There's so many ways you could
Speaker 1: poke this a holes in this but like just his
Speaker 1: whole this guy could be a freak show like we've
Speaker 1: never seen before. And then he also seems to be
Speaker 1: a great kid, grounded and you know, has good what
Speaker 1: seems to be morals, ethics, and just wants to be
Speaker 1: the best he could possibly be as a person. Also,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, Mahomes, it's so lame and it's so stock.
Speaker 2: But when Mahomes came in.
Speaker 1: The league, it was like, all right, this guy throws
Speaker 1: no look past his he does freakish things. He's breaking
Speaker 1: all these records in his second year. Like there's no
Speaker 1: way that this kid could also be an amazing person
Speaker 1: in the community and all this stuff, and he has been,
Speaker 1: and he only gets better and he's motivated by the
Speaker 1: right things. Aaron, I am not in New York City
Speaker 1: right now. You are this whimby going on the subway.
Speaker 1: They have video of him going to the Yankee game
Speaker 1: yesterday and it's he's jumping subway turnstiles like people are
Speaker 1: chasing good and it's he's having fun. And then he's
Speaker 1: on the subway and I just feel like he held
Speaker 1: a baseball. They showed it his hand like absolutely swallows it.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I know he's going to San Antonio, which may as
Speaker 1: well be the thirty eighth market in the country. I
Speaker 1: don't know where they are like market wise, but I
Speaker 1: just feel like this guy's going to be a star,
Speaker 1: and his story's cool, and I don't know, I'm excited
Speaker 1: to see what he's got to he's gonna bring to
Speaker 1: the table.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean it is kind of and you'd
Speaker 3: think maybe it would be a bit of a down
Speaker 3: or just knowing it's so everyone knows he's going number one.
Speaker 3: There's no mystery there. But it's still we can't get
Speaker 3: enough of him. He's so exciting. You know the Windhorse
Speaker 3: conversation with Bill where he talked about not only does
Speaker 3: he have like he can shoot the three and then
Speaker 3: follow up his own shot, he can defend inside and
Speaker 3: defend outside. I mean like his he probably will have
Speaker 3: more of an impact on defense right away potent, you know,
Speaker 3: like in his rookie year.
Speaker 1: But you know, I was watching that game and I'm
Speaker 1: calling it and it's on NBA dot Com or NBA TV,
Speaker 1: and it was fun.
Speaker 2: I really loved it.
Speaker 1: Like I got into it, and I'm like, you know what,
Speaker 1: Charles Oakley and Anthony Mason would beat the crap out of.
Speaker 2: This guy and they would just take him in the
Speaker 2: low posts.
Speaker 1: You know, Chauncey bullups and and and Ben Wallace and
Speaker 1: the four Pistons would would not allow this guy to
Speaker 1: do what he pleases. But it's a different NBA now,
Speaker 1: And I actually, you know, everyone thought that like Durant
Speaker 1: was gonna get muscled around wasn't able to do what
Speaker 1: he did because of his his weight. Guess what, Durant's
Speaker 1: one of the greatest scorers of all time. All right,
Speaker 1: I got a segue for you. We talked about Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant was in a photograph with Aaron Rodgers and
Speaker 1: they took a photo and Durant posted it. I guess
Speaker 1: on Monday. I don't know if I'm breaking news, but
Speaker 1: as we record this on Wednesday, I believe Rogers is
Speaker 1: set to speak at something called the Psychedelic Science Convention.
Speaker 1: It's in Denver. It's the leaders in thought when it
Speaker 1: comes to psychedelic sciences. I don't want to speak out
Speaker 1: of turn. I'm not criticizing by any means. I just
Speaker 1: don't know that field well enough. But over three hundred exhibitors,
Speaker 1: a thousand guests. My dear friend Melissa Etheridge, who has
Speaker 1: become a pal through Good Morning Football and her love
Speaker 1: of the Chiefs, She's gonna be speaking at this event.
Speaker 1: I also saw that Rick Perry the old was he
Speaker 1: governor of Texas?
Speaker 2: Is that what he was?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think so.
Speaker 1: He's going to be speaking at the event. But Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers is going to be speaking. I believe, I'm I
Speaker 1: believe it's with Aubrey Marcus, who he's done a long
Speaker 1: form podcast with. But Rogers is in attendance, and look,
Speaker 1: he's continuing to expand his horizons. And he's always said,
Speaker 1: judge me all you want. Just be curious, like I'm curious.
Speaker 1: That's it, Like you can judge what you want. I'm
Speaker 1: curious about this stuff, and that's what I'm into. So
Speaker 1: I'm not passing judgment. But the Rogers is a great
Speaker 1: segue because we're going to talk Rogers with our next guest.
Speaker 1: We haven't recorded it yet. We're gonna get him live
Speaker 1: in about two minutes. But Nathaniel Hackett has been through
Speaker 1: the ups and downs of the NFL W and it
Speaker 1: comes to being a coach. He also is one of
Speaker 1: these Aaron Rodgers whisperers where he's one of the guys
Speaker 1: that Rogers just loves being coached by and loves being
Speaker 1: in the room with. He is now the offensive courter
Speaker 1: of the New York Jets. There are high expectations, but
Speaker 1: he also went through a tumultuous twenty twenty two season,
Speaker 1: and we'll see how much he wants to talk about
Speaker 1: that and where he is as far as this post
Speaker 1: Broncos experience, which I can't imagine was easy for anyone,
Speaker 1: whether or not you think.
Speaker 2: He deserved to be fired or not.
Speaker 1: The fifteen game season and then to be let go
Speaker 1: before the season's over is something that has to be
Speaker 1: something that sits with you. And now he's a chance
Speaker 1: to redeem himself. So Nathaniel Hackett, Jets offensive coordinator, will
Speaker 1: be joining us after this.
Speaker 2: So excited for our guests today.
Speaker 1: I've been pals with him for a while and I
Speaker 1: think he's one of the greatest offensive mines in this
Speaker 1: league right now. He was with the Denver Broncos as
Speaker 1: the head coach last year. He is with the New
Speaker 1: York Jets as the offensive coordinator this year. He has
Speaker 1: finally taking a little break. It has been I would say,
Speaker 1: a pedal of a medal since he took the job
Speaker 1: with the Jets as the OC and now they are
Speaker 1: on break. Let's welcome in Nathaniel Hackett to the season
Speaker 1: with Peter Schreger. Nathaniel Hackett, good morning, my friend, Good morning.
Speaker 4: Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I think our first interaction goes back to when you
Speaker 1: were with the Bills or the Jaguars, and you and
Speaker 1: I were talking about like Will Ferrell movies at like
Speaker 1: a production meeting, and I'm like, I think I like
Speaker 1: this guy. I don't know this guy, but I think
Speaker 1: we have something in common. And then here we are
Speaker 1: about ten years later, and you and I are talking
Speaker 1: to you're the offensive coordinator of the New York Jets,
Speaker 1: which is basically my team in my backyard. I guess
Speaker 1: I would ask, how has it been with the Jets
Speaker 1: since you had signed back on to be the offensive coordinator?
Speaker 2: And it's nuts to be with Aaron And here we
Speaker 2: go again.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's crazy, you know, it's as you are
Speaker 4: in this profession this long. It's amazing how things end
Speaker 4: up working out. And to be with the New York Jets,
Speaker 4: to be back with Aaron, I mean, he's unbelievable. I mean,
Speaker 4: a guy that I love so much, an organization that
Speaker 4: means so much to me and my family. I mean
Speaker 4: my dad who coached a long time. He was the
Speaker 4: offensive coordinator the New York Jet. So I think that's
Speaker 4: something that means a lot to me. To be able
Speaker 4: to go to a place that he's been so I
Speaker 4: love it. I mean, let's go New Jersey, New York,
Speaker 4: all of it.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna come back to the Jets. Second, I
Speaker 1: want to do a parallel here. Tell me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: All right, So your father was a legendary coach. Paul
Speaker 1: Hackett still is a legendary mind. Went from college ranks,
Speaker 1: then was in the NFL and he was the OC
Speaker 1: the for the Ken City Chiefs when Joe Montana was there.
Speaker 1: But before that he was with Montana with the Niners
Speaker 1: when they won the Super Bowl in eighty four. And
Speaker 1: then he's reunited with Montana when Montana's traded to the
Speaker 1: Chiefs and he was the OC there in Montana. Which
Speaker 1: is rave about your pops, And was this great relationship
Speaker 1: between Hackett and Montana Hackett in Montana. You and Rogers
Speaker 1: kind of have this similar path right now where you
Speaker 1: guys had this great success when you were his offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator in Green Bay. You break up for a year
Speaker 1: and then now you're reunited again and it's like Hackett
Speaker 1: and Rogers Hackett Rodgers.
Speaker 2: Have you and your dad ever spoken about that?
Speaker 1: And how there's something about the communicating with the great
Speaker 1: ones that maybe not everyone has a secret that you
Speaker 1: guys might.
Speaker 4: I mean, we definitely talk about it a lot. I mean,
Speaker 4: my dad and Joe, we're obviously very close. I think
Speaker 4: that was one of the reasons why Joe went to
Speaker 4: Kansas City during that time. I think that anytime you
Speaker 4: get I mean any quarterback, any quarterback that is comfortable
Speaker 4: with the guy that's in his ear on game day,
Speaker 4: that is going through the game plan process, that knows
Speaker 4: that you got his back and you're trying to do
Speaker 4: everything you can to put him in the best position possible.
Speaker 4: That that's always appealing to any guy. And it is unique,
Speaker 4: like kind of the whole thing. I remember I had
Speaker 4: gotten a text when when the Aaron trade had gone
Speaker 4: through that a lot of people were drawing those parallels,
Speaker 4: and you know, I was just kind of laughing, and
Speaker 4: I mean, it is crazy. Again, it's crazy how this
Speaker 4: game works. I mean, it's why we all love the
Speaker 4: NFL so much, why we love this game so much,
Speaker 4: is when you get things like this happening. I mean,
Speaker 4: who would have thought that I would have been at
Speaker 4: the New York Jets, let alone Aaron. I mean, in
Speaker 4: this just a short period of time. I mean, anything
Speaker 4: can happen. That's why it's a great game.
Speaker 1: You talk about your influence that your father has on you. Obviously,
Speaker 1: what was it like growing up as a coach's son.
Speaker 1: Obviously you're traveling, you're going to new places, you're making
Speaker 1: new friends. But for you to decide to go into
Speaker 1: this profession as well, you must have truly not idolized.
Speaker 1: But maybe you looked at it as hey, that's a
Speaker 1: step and that's a path, and I want to embody
Speaker 1: what my father did as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, growing up as a kid in this
Speaker 4: game is crazy, and I'm glad that I'm there for
Speaker 4: my kids as you go through this process because there's
Speaker 4: a lot of ups and a lot of downs. And
Speaker 4: again that's why this game is so great because of
Speaker 4: those ups and downs. But grown up in this one
Speaker 4: of the coolest things about myself was being able to
Speaker 4: grow up in a locker room my dad right out
Speaker 4: the gate. I mean, I remember when we were at
Speaker 4: University of hit and Curtis Martin, Alex van Pelt, all
Speaker 4: these guys were Cardo McDonald, I mean, so many great players.
Speaker 4: My dad threw me in the locker room and made
Speaker 4: me work in the equipment room.
Speaker 2: Is that right?
Speaker 4: Washing? Oh yeah, maybe wash clothes, pick up clothes, fulld towels.
Speaker 4: I mean he wanted me so just being around the
Speaker 4: guys and then going to Kansas City, I mean I
Speaker 4: was there the whole time, and I mean I've got
Speaker 4: some front Darren Kerns who took me under his wing.
Speaker 4: Alan Wright, who's the head equipment guy now City Chiefs. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean he's there, Mike Davidson who still works there.
Speaker 1: You're naming equipment guys from the Chiefs. Those are the
Speaker 1: guys that had an impact on you.
Speaker 2: I love this though.
Speaker 4: I mean, and that's the thing, like, I mean, when
Speaker 4: you're in the locker room with those guys, I mean
Speaker 4: I remember when Marcus Allen because it was Joe Montana,
Speaker 4: Marcus Allen, Kim Wand or Derrek Thomas, those guys. I
Speaker 4: mean I'm picking up their laundry and Washington clothes and
Speaker 4: getting to know him, see him interaction and just just
Speaker 4: being able to be part of that was so amazing.
Speaker 4: And I think that's something that my dad did great
Speaker 4: for me, is let me be part of the team,
Speaker 4: because I mean, in the end, that's why we love
Speaker 4: this game so much, and that's why people get so
Speaker 4: addicted to it in this profession because being a part
Speaker 4: of team, I mean, there's nothing like it. And you know,
Speaker 4: it was a very small part for me because I
Speaker 4: wasn't even there full time. It was primarily the summers,
Speaker 4: but just that little interaction, you know, you could see
Speaker 4: how beautiful this whole thing is and just see how
Speaker 4: the guys all are together all the time. And so
Speaker 4: that was kind of the best thing growing up as
Speaker 4: a kid. Now, I never thought I was going to
Speaker 4: be a coach, I really do know.
Speaker 2: I mean, because I was gonna say.
Speaker 1: You start, you start thinking, okay, do anything, and you
Speaker 1: might resent the fact that you lived in California, Kansas City,
Speaker 1: New Jersey, like you were bouncing around.
Speaker 4: There was a lot of moving. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 4: we always say, you either get a better job or
Speaker 4: you lose your job in a small, small amount of
Speaker 4: time on this profession, and I mean it's it was
Speaker 4: one of those things that just kind of kind of happened.
Speaker 4: I mean, I didn't go to college in the mindset
Speaker 4: of doing that. I think that it kind of came
Speaker 4: down to a couple of things. As I got out
Speaker 4: of college and ended up getting very lucky and working hard,
Speaker 4: and a couple of people took a shot on me
Speaker 4: and here I am. Now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think with the universal thing on you
Speaker 1: is that you're a great communicator and that you speak
Speaker 1: to these young men as equals, but you also teach
Speaker 1: it in part and you have a different vision on
Speaker 1: things that came from your days in Buffalo coaching EJ.
Speaker 1: Manuel and Kyle Orton and Jeff Toole, but then primarily
Speaker 1: to me, those Jacksonville years with Blake Bortles.
Speaker 2: Just a couple of years. But you guys got to.
Speaker 1: The AFC Championship game and we're a couple of plays
Speaker 1: short of beating the Patriots and playing in the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl with a really young team. And the universal thing
Speaker 1: was Maroon's the coach. It's great Hackett really connecting with
Speaker 1: these players on offense, a really young offense. You want
Speaker 1: to take us through just that ride that I mean,
Speaker 1: the winning Pitchsburgh is still one of the greatest upsets
Speaker 1: and yet you guys went to to toe with them,
Speaker 1: put up forty plus points in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was That was one of the coolest games
Speaker 4: I had ever been a part of, especially when you
Speaker 4: look at the game before we played the Buffalo Bills,
Speaker 4: and really it wasn't a great offensive output by either team.
Speaker 4: I think we won like ten to seven or something
Speaker 4: like that. And then to be able to go to,
Speaker 4: you know, a place like Pittsburgh that I have so
Speaker 4: much respect for growing up there as a kid, and
Speaker 4: just the Steelers in general are such an amazing franchise.
Speaker 4: And you know, I think we ended up winning that
Speaker 4: game forty five to forty two. So I think just
Speaker 4: seeing the two different game plans and the two different
Speaker 4: executions was was was awesome. And yeah, you know, that
Speaker 4: team was very young, and it was very stacked on
Speaker 4: defense and the offense. Were a lot of young guys,
Speaker 4: a lot of guys that hadn't I mean, Keelan cole
Speaker 4: was was a rookie free agent, and D D. Westbrook
Speaker 4: was a was a rookie, and Alan Alan Hearns was
Speaker 4: our was our all wily vet because we had lost
Speaker 4: Allan Robinson on I think it was the third play
Speaker 4: of the season, week one, and those guys Leonard Fournette
Speaker 4: was a rookie and Chris Ivory was there. I mean,
Speaker 4: it was a great Mercedes Lewis, who is one of
Speaker 4: my all time, all time, one of the greatest tight
Speaker 4: ends that ever played this game. But I think the
Speaker 4: cool thing about it was those guys bonded together and
Speaker 4: everybody understood their role, and you know, you look at
Speaker 4: Blake and what he did. He transformed himself that year
Speaker 4: and we were just in a really efficient offense and
Speaker 4: it was great because as the year started it wasn't great.
Speaker 4: We were running the ball really well and the defense
Speaker 4: played great, and then Blake really started picking up steam.
Speaker 4: Halfway through the season. I think he had like three
Speaker 4: hundred plus yards throwing like five games in a row
Speaker 4: or something like that, and we ended up finishing in
Speaker 4: the top ten and of the offense. A lot of
Speaker 4: people forget that, and I just love being part of
Speaker 4: that because there weren't a ton of superstars at the time,
Speaker 4: but the guys played together. And when you talk about
Speaker 4: the communication, I think, you know, we're teachers. As a coach,
Speaker 4: you know, we're teachers. We're just like a kid going
Speaker 4: to high school and you have to find ways to inspire.
Speaker 4: You have to find ways to get them to be
Speaker 4: excited to learn all the different plays, whether it's a
Speaker 4: football play or biochemistry, whatever it is. That you're doing.
Speaker 4: And I really give so much credit to that whole
Speaker 4: group that year in twenty seventeen. I mean, all those guys,
Speaker 4: they really body in on the things that we wanted
Speaker 4: to do and the philosophy that we had and run
Speaker 4: in the football and play play pass down the field
Speaker 4: and it was a thing. It was really a thing
Speaker 4: of beauty and we had a chance there. I mean,
Speaker 4: Blake had a great playoff run those three games and
Speaker 4: especially that Pittsburgh game. But it was a fun run there.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mentioned guys and I almost say it in
Speaker 1: people at home, like what EJ. Manuel and Kyle or like,
Speaker 1: but you had to kind of work with what you
Speaker 1: had in both Buffalo and nothing against Blake Portals in Jacksonville,
Speaker 1: and then things implode in Jacksonville. Eventually get the job
Speaker 1: in Green Bay and then you walk into work with
Speaker 1: maybe the most truly physically gifted thrower of the football
Speaker 1: and the history of the sport. What is your reaction
Speaker 1: the delta between what you've seen as a football coach
Speaker 1: to then getting to know Aaron Rodgers and seeing the
Speaker 1: things he does day to day.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean you mentioned all those qbs and you know,
Speaker 4: I've been lucky to work with a lot of different guys,
Speaker 4: and every quarterback in this league is so uniquely different.
Speaker 4: I mean, every guy kind of ticks a little bit different.
Speaker 4: They all have different ways that they learned, different ways
Speaker 4: that they comprehend things. And having an opportunity to go
Speaker 4: to Green Bay another amazing franchise. To be able to
Speaker 4: go in there and work with a guy like Aaron,
Speaker 4: I think the thing that appealed to me was his
Speaker 4: foundation of kind of what I had learned in my
Speaker 4: early early days with my father was something that we
Speaker 4: were able to communicate really well, the true West Coast
Speaker 4: Old School offense, because you know, Aaron was originally trained
Speaker 4: by Mike McCarthy, who, Mike McCarthy had been with my father, heck,
Speaker 4: for I mean nine years. I mean yeah, I mean
Speaker 4: I had known Mike since I was nine years old.
Speaker 4: He worked through the ranks at the Pitt Panthers and
Speaker 4: then went to the KNCG. He was there with Joe
Speaker 4: Montana and all those guys. So I think that to
Speaker 4: have an opportunity to work with Aaron, and even more
Speaker 4: with Matt LeFlore, I meant Matt and I had known
Speaker 4: each other a long time. You know, obviously it's an
Speaker 4: incredible offense that they have created over time. And to
Speaker 4: be able to learn that offense, to be able to
Speaker 4: work with a guy like Aaron who was trained from
Speaker 4: day one, you know, like the Joe Montanas had in
Speaker 4: the early days. It was just a really cool experience
Speaker 4: to be there and kind of correlate those two offenses
Speaker 4: and be with the guy. Again. When we talk about Aaron,
Speaker 4: I mean Aaron's uniqueness is how he sees the game.
Speaker 4: I mean, yes, he can throw the forward pass very
Speaker 4: very efficiently. I mean he can put that ball anywhere
Speaker 4: he wants. I mean, heck, he practically invented his own
Speaker 4: gun footwork as we like to call it. And I
Speaker 4: mean watching him throw the ball is incredible. I mean
Speaker 4: in practice, you're wowed all the time. But I think
Speaker 4: the thing for me was how he sees the game.
Speaker 4: I mean, how he's out there and operating, and I
Speaker 4: mean truly he's out there having fun with the guys
Speaker 4: playing ball and listening to so many different things and
Speaker 4: messing with the opposing defense and the opposing defensive coordinators,
Speaker 4: and how he sees coverages, how we see I mean
Speaker 4: it's it's crazy, like I don't think he I mean,
Speaker 4: I know everybody knows that he's really smart, and you know,
Speaker 4: he's a really good thrower of the football, but I
Speaker 4: mean just his knowledge and understanding of defenses and the
Speaker 4: game is unbelievable. I think that's what always sets those
Speaker 4: guys so far apart. And when you look at some
Speaker 4: of the greats, I mean just talking with some of
Speaker 4: them throughout my time, I mean their true understanding of
Speaker 4: the game of football and how it fits. And I
Speaker 4: mean it's like another coach out there. I mean, that's
Speaker 4: all we study, and I think those guys do that.
Speaker 1: Also, La Floor told a great story to me when
Speaker 1: I did my podcast with Sean McVay.
Speaker 2: We did Flying Coach.
Speaker 1: Ll Floor tell the story of his first year with him,
Speaker 1: and there's about four seconds on the play clock and
Speaker 1: Lafleur's look at the play clock, leaning the play clock,
Speaker 1: and it's his first year and he calls the time
Speaker 1: out and Rogers comes and just tears into it, says,
Speaker 1: don't you ever I had a da da da da
Speaker 1: da da da And before it's like I didn't know it.
Speaker 2: He goes, don't you ever ever do that? Because I'm
Speaker 2: doing it on purpose.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bring it down with the shot clock with
Speaker 1: one second because I know there's a man coming in
Speaker 1: motion and I know we have it, but I don't
Speaker 1: want to give it away. And I'm like, it's the
Speaker 1: stuff like that, Like when was the first time you,
Speaker 1: as the OC working with him, saw something in Rogers
Speaker 1: where he did something and you were just holy, I've
Speaker 1: never seen anything like that before.
Speaker 4: There was a time in practice we had run a
Speaker 4: play that had my dad always taught me these plays.
Speaker 4: He would say, Okay, all these plays have the number one,
Speaker 4: the number two, the number three, and we put little
Speaker 4: numbers on all these these past drawings, and then they've
Speaker 4: got these other ones that have just like an alert
Speaker 4: on it. And my dad would always tell me, hey,
Speaker 4: that's a Joe montanay. Once you're that experience, once you
Speaker 4: know defense as well enough, okay, you can think about
Speaker 4: that one. And I remember, we're in practice and we
Speaker 4: have a play that has you know, very basic one, two, three,
Speaker 4: and Aaron drops back, looks right, and this is just
Speaker 4: in practice, looks right, comes back over and throws the
Speaker 4: alert on the backside for an amazing touchdown. I forget
Speaker 4: who he threw it to, but it was actually Luke
Speaker 4: Getsy and we're in the room and we're like looking
Speaker 4: at each other and we're like, how what was he doing?
Speaker 4: And Aaron just kind of gives you one of those
Speaker 4: like little smirks like yeah, yeah, and so gets you
Speaker 4: and I go back and we look and like I
Speaker 4: want to say, it was like a week earlier when
Speaker 4: we had run that play versus our defense. He noticed
Speaker 4: that they had pushed everybody over and so there was
Speaker 4: a one on one matchup on the backside to a
Speaker 4: corner route, and he had remembered that just from practice,
Speaker 4: like how he was watching practice And I'm like, oh
Speaker 4: my goodness, I can't believe he remembered from that practice
Speaker 4: clip so far earlier that he could go all the
Speaker 4: way back there and that would end he got the
Speaker 4: exact same coverage, hurt all the same things, and then
Speaker 4: attacked that kind So it's like everybody's live. I mean,
Speaker 4: I was just I was like, Wow, I've never gone
Speaker 4: to that guy and that play and well, hey, I
Speaker 4: guess you've seen it, but just for him to be
Speaker 4: able to remember that had happened was pretty impressive. And
Speaker 4: I was like Okay, this is this is pretty cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know you mentioned your your father several times already.
Speaker 1: You said something in one of your Jets interviews, whether
Speaker 1: it would be on the press conference or it was
Speaker 1: during a podcast with their gentleman Eric Allen, who does
Speaker 1: it over there for them? Your father never called a
Speaker 1: play out of the shotgun in twenty years of coaching.
Speaker 2: Never. And now we look at these.
Speaker 1: Offenses and they're so interchangeable and there's so much different stuff.
Speaker 1: How would you define your off are you west coast?
Speaker 2: Are you wide zone? Like?
Speaker 1: What would you describe the Nathaniel Hacket offense? Now as
Speaker 1: we entered twenty twenty three with Rogers at at your
Speaker 1: mercy with whatever you want to do with them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, my dad and I we fight a lot about that.
Speaker 4: It's why don't you under center more? Why don't you
Speaker 4: under centered? How do you see the defense? Kind to
Speaker 4: have your eyes up all the time. But I think
Speaker 4: that to in today's game, you know, everybody has to
Speaker 4: make adjustments. And I think a big part of what
Speaker 4: the reason why we all go to the gun is
Speaker 4: because of all the intricate defenses we see. I mean,
Speaker 4: there are guys in the old days they all didn't
Speaker 4: stand in all the gaps across the board and then
Speaker 4: drop out and run and you know, be able to
Speaker 4: athletically still cover people from standing, almost like a defensive lineman.
Speaker 4: And so I would say, you know, the West Coast
Speaker 4: offense is something people throw around quite a bit, and
Speaker 4: for me, we are very much West Coast, and the
Speaker 4: West Coast is defined for me how you train the quarterback,
Speaker 4: how you teach the quarterback and train the quarterback. But
Speaker 4: I think there's still a huge component of what I
Speaker 4: was able to learn from Matt Lafleur. He is somebody
Speaker 4: that I just respect so much, and I mean, he's
Speaker 4: a dear friend of mine and I love the things
Speaker 4: he does. So the wide zone is kind of the
Speaker 4: starting point in the run game with the play pass
Speaker 4: and the keepers based off of that. But when you
Speaker 4: look at the quick game to drop back that world
Speaker 4: that's more of a West Coast world, kind of like
Speaker 4: what Aaron grew up. So it's a mesh between those
Speaker 4: two with the wide zone the play passes off of it,
Speaker 4: and the pure quick game and drop back West Coast world.
Speaker 1: Now, Matt was a head coach in an offensive mind.
Speaker 1: You were the offensive coordinator. Now you enter this deal
Speaker 1: with Salo where I'm assuming he's like, here are the keys,
Speaker 1: Like I'm not, you go do your offensive like whatever
Speaker 1: you want to do. Does Aaron have the green light
Speaker 1: to audible out of whatever he wants? Can Aaron kind
Speaker 1: of is Aaron out there basically with you co calling
Speaker 1: these plays? Like what's the dynamic now that there's no
Speaker 1: head coach who's going to say, actually, no, let's run this.
Speaker 4: You know that there's aspects of every play. And I
Speaker 4: think that for us, you always want to be in
Speaker 4: a good play. I mean, there's so many unique defenses
Speaker 4: that you face. And that's another argument that I have
Speaker 4: with my father all the time. He's like, I you
Speaker 4: should just call this play and run well, Dad, people
Speaker 4: play their coverage is a lot different than the old days.
Speaker 4: And so I think for me, I think as long
Speaker 4: as we understand the intention of the play and what
Speaker 4: we're trying to accomplish within it. And I think that's
Speaker 4: what's so great about having Aaron is, Hey, you're calling
Speaker 4: this play for this reason. This is what you're trying
Speaker 4: to You want to throw this ball way down the field.
Speaker 4: But if you don't get that advantageous look from the defense. Well,
Speaker 4: we don't want to waste that play. So I think
Speaker 4: whether it's built into the play call, whether it's built
Speaker 4: into an audible package, however we want we always want
Speaker 4: to be sure that we're being efficient and always have
Speaker 4: the ability to stretch the ball down the field. So
Speaker 4: I think there's going to be from freedom with Aaron
Speaker 4: and Aaron as we moved forward in the Green Bay system,
Speaker 4: there was definitely more freedom as we went. We're going
Speaker 4: to just continue that because I think you got to
Speaker 4: take advantage of a guy like Aaron that is so
Speaker 4: smart and understands it. So trying to build this thing
Speaker 4: for him and build it so that when he sees
Speaker 4: certain things, he can do all kinds of stuff and
Speaker 4: put us in the best position possible.
Speaker 1: Why you and him get along so not that he
Speaker 1: doesn't get along with everyone, but he's a he's a
Speaker 1: different kind of cat. And yet you and him like, gosh,
Speaker 1: it's like you guys love each other. I mean I
Speaker 1: could see it in the press conference from him from you,
Speaker 1: but also yah haang. And you go back to all
Speaker 1: the stuff the Gold Zone, all the stuff in Green Bay.
Speaker 1: You connected with him in a way that. I don't
Speaker 1: think we've seen him connect with many coaches before. I'm
Speaker 1: not asking for the secret sauce, but what was it
Speaker 1: that you guys kind of clicked on? And how come
Speaker 1: the two of you or so tight both off the field.
Speaker 4: I mean, it was just something that happened naturally. I
Speaker 4: think that we have a lot of things in common.
Speaker 4: I mean, there's a lot of things we'd love to
Speaker 4: do across the board, off the field. I mean, we're big,
Speaker 4: we love movies, a lot of the same kind of movies.
Speaker 4: We're both close in age, so I think that a
Speaker 4: lot of the things that we talk about where there
Speaker 4: is a lot of correlation. I mean, heck, got coached
Speaker 4: at Stanford against him when he was playing a cat.
Speaker 1: Right, that's good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we were both young guys, and so I think that,
Speaker 4: you know, I mean there's just a lot of things
Speaker 4: that we have in common.
Speaker 1: And random movie that you and Rogers would mesh on
Speaker 1: that like it's not an obvious one. It's not Step Brothers,
Speaker 1: it's not you know, it's like give me a random
Speaker 1: deep cup, n.
Speaker 2: B.
Speaker 4: That was that was a good one. That that was
Speaker 4: a very unique movie back then. I mean, gosh, we've
Speaker 4: got so I mean, we got so many just from
Speaker 4: how we quote him and how we talk about them.
Speaker 4: And that's part of all the things. Starsky and Hutch
Speaker 4: You gotta love Starsky.
Speaker 2: But Ben Stiller ones, Oh yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Mean there's a lot of I mean Will Ferrell, I
Speaker 4: mean anything that Will Ferrell's in, I mean, we love
Speaker 4: I mean, he's absolutely fantastic. But we actually had a
Speaker 4: big movie the other day. Todd Downing is on our staff,
Speaker 4: a dear friend of mine, somebody I was with when
Speaker 4: I was at Buffalo, and we had a little barbecue
Speaker 4: and we had this long conversation with my good friend
Speaker 4: that works with us also at the New York just
Speaker 4: John Vieira, and we were going through this whole process
Speaker 4: of movies. And here we are. It's it's John Todd,
Speaker 4: me and Aaron talking about these MOVI movies. And we've
Speaker 4: got Zach Wilson, Tim Boyle Straveler. We're all sitting completely
Speaker 4: over their head, right, I mean, they're like, what movies
Speaker 4: are those? Well?
Speaker 2: I love that? Do you understand?
Speaker 1: We could talk about the West Coast Mesh and all that.
Speaker 1: All this is the stuff a little bit, So what
Speaker 1: movies were?
Speaker 2: What what wormhole were we going on?
Speaker 4: Oh you should have seen the list that we built
Speaker 4: for their summer You know how there used to be
Speaker 4: a summer reading.
Speaker 2: Programs, summer movie.
Speaker 4: We created a summer movie list.
Speaker 2: That's it was.
Speaker 4: I mean it was. I mean, so it started off
Speaker 4: as like a one pager and then there were a
Speaker 4: couple of movies that were put put on there that
Speaker 4: I was a little bit upset about it. The list no,
Speaker 4: and so we ended up setting up by genres I
Speaker 4: mean mafia movies too. I mean there were so many
Speaker 4: things that they hadn't seen that we were like, okay
Speaker 4: to get on the same page.
Speaker 2: You're playing in New Jersey. That is a that is
Speaker 2: a sector of movie you need to have. You need
Speaker 2: to know go downas you need to know Donnie Brosco.
Speaker 4: You need to know, Oh, just the Godfathers. Let's go
Speaker 4: Godfathers and Scarface and and you look at some of
Speaker 4: these movies that like blew my mind. I mean it
Speaker 4: was funny because my son was there too, and my
Speaker 4: son saw it. So how mean my son's fifteen, I
Speaker 4: mean he had never seen Terminator. I mean they looked
Speaker 4: at me, they looked at me, and they're like, you know,
Speaker 4: Arnold Swarzenegger, what has he been in you know, because
Speaker 4: they look at him and he's the governor at California.
Speaker 4: You forget, these guys are so young. They're like, oh
Speaker 4: my gosh, we need a major education. I mean, Shasha
Speaker 4: and Redemption, you know. I mean, there were so many
Speaker 4: different things that we were like, Okay, we got to
Speaker 4: make sure we get all these things down. And the
Speaker 4: guys had seen a couple of them, but I mean
Speaker 4: there had to have been I mean, we kind of
Speaker 4: went a little overboard, but we figured it can last
Speaker 4: longer than the summer. You know, it's a long season traveling.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this could be a lifelong like this is a Bible,
Speaker 1: this is great, this is oh yeah.
Speaker 4: Oh we went through We went through them all from
Speaker 4: Bruce Willis Diehards to yeah, and then I mean, I
Speaker 4: mean it was a great list. I'm mnna have to
Speaker 4: send it to you.
Speaker 2: The list was like to share that and we'll share
Speaker 2: with our listeners. And I'm laughing.
Speaker 1: So I'm picturing you got these coaches and you've got
Speaker 1: like Zach Wilson, who's twenty, who Chris Streveler, who's been all.
Speaker 2: Over the world playing football.
Speaker 1: You know, you've got this great room, and then there's
Speaker 1: Rogers kind of calm in the corner, like just probably
Speaker 1: throwing out titles.
Speaker 2: What about this one? What about this one?
Speaker 4: I'll tell you if you could see our quarterback meetings,
Speaker 4: I mean when Aaron and I started talking and because again,
Speaker 4: the fun thing about our room right now is you've
Speaker 4: got a lot of You've got guys that want to
Speaker 4: learn that, that are striving to become better. And the
Speaker 4: cool thing about having Aaron in there is he was
Speaker 4: there for a lot of the origination, the first protections,
Speaker 4: the first uh, why these concepts were named what they
Speaker 4: were named, so the conversation and I know kind of
Speaker 4: the history of all that stuff. So when we start
Speaker 4: talking about where these things come, it's great because you
Speaker 4: get an in depth knowledge of the system and what
Speaker 4: you're trying to accomplish. But there's always that history, whether
Speaker 4: it's movies and then you jump to football and then
Speaker 4: great football player, you know, just all those things. You know,
Speaker 4: it's great to have that background history because I think
Speaker 4: that's what makes people closer to an offense. You know,
Speaker 4: if they think that a play is called you know apples,
Speaker 4: it's well, why is it apples? Where did that stem?
Speaker 2: Let me tell you the story.
Speaker 4: It actually its you know, And so I think those
Speaker 4: are the fun conversations to have because it starts meaning something,
Speaker 4: meaning more to you. So when you do go out
Speaker 4: on the field, you can see where it just comes
Speaker 4: alive and you believe in it more because of where
Speaker 4: that thing came from.
Speaker 1: Donovan Knight, Bam Knight, was on our Good Morning Football
Speaker 1: morning show and he told a story about he was
Speaker 1: in a running backs room and it was him and
Speaker 1: it was Carter and it was Breee and the lights
Speaker 1: were down and there's going through some concept and I
Speaker 1: don't know who the running backs coaches these days, I apologize,
Speaker 1: probably a best friend of you or something like that.
Speaker 2: And he's going, Taylor, there you go. So he's going
Speaker 2: through it and he's the.
Speaker 1: Other thing and it's dark, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: a voice from the back of the room, Mike just says, like,
Speaker 1: actually consider this, And it was Rogers, like sitting in
Speaker 1: the back of the running backs room, just like watching
Speaker 1: and listening and like, maybe I'm wrong on the story,
Speaker 1: but that's what I the gist of it.
Speaker 2: How much of an advantage is to have another voice
Speaker 2: who speaks your language and can almost be a coach
Speaker 2: that is now engaged and fully in on it. I
Speaker 2: feel like you guys have this.
Speaker 1: You know, we can talk about the offensive line play,
Speaker 1: whether they're going to keep them up, all all we want,
Speaker 1: but the fact that he's with these young guys teaching
Speaker 1: them the offense is if he's a coach and they
Speaker 1: listen to him like they do, that's got to be
Speaker 1: a huge advantage.
Speaker 4: Oh that's awesome. I mean coaches either. Joe Dumar said
Speaker 4: something that that I thought was really cool from the
Speaker 4: old Detroit Pistons. He said, coaching led teams are very
Speaker 4: good teams, but the great teams are player led teams.
Speaker 4: And so I think that's such a powerful thing when
Speaker 4: you have a player being able to communicate those things
Speaker 4: and have those conversations. And I think that's something that
Speaker 4: Aaron has been really enjoying. You know, just hit all
Speaker 4: the communication he's had, whether he's sitting in the room
Speaker 4: and we're an whole offense together and we're talking about
Speaker 4: certain plays or certain things, and he when he chimes in,
Speaker 4: I mean, that goes so far, not just because it's
Speaker 4: Aaron Rodgers, but because it's another player, it's a guy
Speaker 4: that's you know, in there running it instead of just
Speaker 4: always hearing it from a coach and a coach talking
Speaker 4: to you. It's about the players interacting and learning because
Speaker 4: in the end, they're the ones that are on on
Speaker 4: the field. They're the ones that have to be able
Speaker 4: to operate. You can call any play you want, and
Speaker 4: if it's executed, you know perfectly, every single time, there's
Speaker 4: going to be some form of efficiency. The players are
Speaker 4: going to know how to react. And I think that
Speaker 4: when Aaron gives you all those answers and we're all
Speaker 4: speaking the same language, I think it's a very powerful thing.
Speaker 4: And that's what has really been fun during this offseason,
Speaker 4: and I'm excited after we get a nice break, I'm
Speaker 4: excited for it to continue throughout training camp.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like he's not reinvigorated, but invigorated to
Speaker 1: be with new guys and so much youth on this team.
Speaker 4: I mean, he's been great. I mean when I was
Speaker 4: Green Bay those three years, I mean I remember the
Speaker 4: first year we had a great time, then we hit
Speaker 4: COVID and that third year once he got it. I mean,
Speaker 4: the great thing about Aaron is when he's in the room,
Speaker 4: when he's in the facility, I mean he's all in.
Speaker 4: I mean he is, he's grinding, he's talking, he's communicating.
Speaker 4: I think that being here at the New York Jets,
Speaker 4: it is completely different for him, something he's never experienced before,
Speaker 4: and I think that that kind of excites him. Just
Speaker 4: a totally new area, totally new experience. I think that,
Speaker 4: you know, and it's a challenge for any quarterback to
Speaker 4: come into a brand new place because there is so
Speaker 4: much stimuli around you. And I think he's done a
Speaker 4: great job being able to kind of hyper focus and
Speaker 4: just set on those players when he has those opportunities
Speaker 4: and talk with a guy like Garrett Wilson, be around
Speaker 4: a guy like Alan Lizard who's already been around, and
Speaker 4: watching those two guys interact and interact with the group,
Speaker 4: with Randall Cobb, you know, all these guys. I mean,
Speaker 4: it's just fun to see the interaction. I think he
Speaker 4: enjoys that. He enjoys the team, and that's why Aaron's
Speaker 4: still playing. He plays because of the locker room, because
Speaker 4: the guys that are in there. I mean, that's why
Speaker 4: he loves the game. That's why any guy can want
Speaker 4: to play as long as he can for the team.
Speaker 1: Yourself, I mean, these last twelve months have been such
Speaker 1: a whirlwind. I can only imagine what you've been through,
Speaker 1: not just just your family and we're going, but also
Speaker 1: mental health wise, and your own ambition and your own,
Speaker 1: like you know, self worth and all this stuff when
Speaker 1: it's tied to the coaching profession. What have you learned
Speaker 1: over the last twelve months after the Denver experience then
Speaker 1: now landing back on your feet with the Jets.
Speaker 2: But just what would you say?
Speaker 1: Almost in the rear view, I know it's probably you're
Speaker 1: still going through it every day of just what the
Speaker 1: hell just happened?
Speaker 2: But I would ask you, like, what is your big takeaway?
Speaker 1: Because you talk about the highs and lows of coaching,
Speaker 1: I would assume that's viewed as a low, But in
Speaker 1: the long term, it's going to be a high for
Speaker 1: what you got out of it.
Speaker 4: In the end, you got to win. I mean, that's
Speaker 4: what it's all about, whether you're a coach, whether you're
Speaker 4: a player. You got to win. And we didn't win enough,
Speaker 4: and so I have to look back and I think
Speaker 4: there's so many things that I learned over my time.
Speaker 4: I think it was a great, great experience on all
Speaker 4: the different things. I mean, you never know what it's
Speaker 4: gonna be like until you're in that chair, and it
Speaker 4: was an honor to be in that chair, even though
Speaker 4: it was a limited time, and you could just continually
Speaker 4: take all the things that that you went through and
Speaker 4: the things that you can potentially do better, the things
Speaker 4: that you might not have done well enough. And as
Speaker 4: a coach, we question everything every second. We always want
Speaker 4: to try to make ourselves better. And I think there's
Speaker 4: a lot of things I learned that are going to
Speaker 4: make me better. And I think everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 4: You know, I look at it and say, wow, to
Speaker 4: be able to have an opportunity to be at the
Speaker 4: New York Jets, to be back with Aaron, I think
Speaker 4: that's that's unbelievable. And so I think just everything happens
Speaker 4: for a reason, and this happened for this reason. And
Speaker 4: here we are, and I mean, I'm so excited for
Speaker 4: this season, and my family is excited to get to
Speaker 4: New Jersey and you know, get going there.
Speaker 1: I said the word invigorated for Aaron, but you sound invigorated.
Speaker 1: You sound like you've got this like pep in your step?
Speaker 1: Is there a chip on your shoulder? Does that not
Speaker 1: exist when you're a coach, because then you start coaching
Speaker 1: beyond what you want to do, you know, and then
Speaker 1: you start trying to do extra like but do you
Speaker 1: feel like you want to maybe show some folks a
Speaker 1: thing or two might have said, Hey, this, this is
Speaker 1: what I can do.
Speaker 4: Also, I mean, in the end, I mean a coach,
Speaker 4: you know, we're teachers. You know, there's so many things
Speaker 4: that we can't control. You know, everybody looks at a
Speaker 4: coach and says, oh, this or that or this, and
Speaker 4: that's part of the profession, that's what we all signed
Speaker 4: up for. But in the end, my job is to
Speaker 4: put the guys in the best position possible and they
Speaker 4: have to go out there and execute. I mean, it's
Speaker 4: it's that simple. I mean, I can't catch it, I
Speaker 4: can't throw it, I can't tackle or block or anything
Speaker 4: like that. I wish I could, but it wouldn't be pretty.
Speaker 4: So I think for me, you know, you have to
Speaker 4: continually learn and hold back those things that you know,
Speaker 4: in the end you just can't control. And I think
Speaker 4: that when you kind of let that go and understand
Speaker 4: that there are going to be some things that are
Speaker 4: going to happen that you never expected. There're gonna be
Speaker 4: some things that you know, you can call perfect play
Speaker 4: in a perfect situation, but you know, as coaches, we're
Speaker 4: not the ones executing it. And so I think it's
Speaker 4: not about me. It isn't. The only thing I would
Speaker 4: say that it is about me is I just want
Speaker 4: to be the best version of myself. I remember Matt
Speaker 4: used to always say that that's that's the whole mindset
Speaker 4: is walking in that building, trying to do whatever you
Speaker 4: can to be the best version of yourself. Because if
Speaker 4: I can then portray that to those players, then they're
Speaker 4: gonna be able to get out on that field and
Speaker 4: they're going to be able to execute at a high level.
Speaker 4: And that's all that I want. I just want to
Speaker 4: see Aaron play some of the best football he's ever
Speaker 4: played in his career. I think that that was something
Speaker 4: that was so fun to be a part of when
Speaker 4: we were at Green Bay. And I want to see him,
Speaker 4: you know, get to the you know, where he wants
Speaker 4: to be. I want him to accomplish what he wants
Speaker 4: to accomplish. I want to watch Garrett Wilson be great,
Speaker 4: Alaen Lazar, Ronald Cobb. I mean, Bam, like you mentioned
Speaker 4: Michael bresee all those guys, our tight end group, all
Speaker 4: those guys, I want them to I just want them
Speaker 4: to have fun out there and play football together, and
Speaker 4: I want to watch them interact and all that. That's
Speaker 4: that's the environment that I like to create because I
Speaker 4: can control that. I can make sure that they're going
Speaker 4: out there and they're working together, kind of like you
Speaker 4: look back at that Jacksonville days, I mean that twenty seventeen.
Speaker 4: I think that was some of the thing that I
Speaker 4: was most proud of, is watching those guys go out
Speaker 4: there and just play ball together. I mean, and I
Speaker 4: know they're not a lot of household names, but the
Speaker 4: one thing I know is that those guys played together.
Speaker 4: And if you get that, you're going to have an
Speaker 4: opportunity to be successful. And that's all I want to
Speaker 4: see happens, because it's not about me. There's only so
Speaker 4: many things a coach can control, regardless to what anybody
Speaker 4: wants to admit.
Speaker 1: You know, you're in New Jersey now, and we went
Speaker 1: to the Nick game and it was like here's New
Speaker 1: York City all and it's grander and it's gloria what
Speaker 1: it could be, right, Like celebrities everywhere, the fans so hardcore,
Speaker 1: the garden rocking, and you just get a taste of it,
Speaker 1: like if the Jets win, how damn cool this can be?
Speaker 1: Have you had any really cool interactions with fans or
Speaker 1: anything even being in Jersey and I know you're probably
Speaker 1: living at the facility, but like taste of it, of
Speaker 1: just what this can be if the Jets have success.
Speaker 4: I mean, I would say going to that Nick game
Speaker 4: was pretty awesome. I mean New York City is I mean, it's,
Speaker 4: I agree, the greatest city in the world. I mean
Speaker 4: we're talking. I mean it's a place that my wife
Speaker 4: and I have gone to visit for years. You know,
Speaker 4: we love it. I mean lucky to be. I mean
Speaker 4: I had all my kids in New York, Syracuse and Buffalo,
Speaker 4: and so I mean we love New York. And I'll
Speaker 4: tell you New Jersey is unbelievably beautiful. I had no
Speaker 4: clue New Jersey was no.
Speaker 1: You probably just think of the opening to Sopranos off
Speaker 1: the Highway. Then you're like, wait a second, there's actually
Speaker 1: green and there's some lovely value it's awesome.
Speaker 4: Hey, there's a reason why they call it the Garden State.
Speaker 4: And I mean, I just think, I mean, it's it's
Speaker 4: been such a great experience there. I haven't had a
Speaker 4: lot of interaction with people. I've been, like you said,
Speaker 4: keeping my head down, just going to and from the
Speaker 4: house and then just trying to grind and work. But
Speaker 4: I mean, being in that Nick game, just being able
Speaker 4: to hop on the train and be able to go
Speaker 4: into the city is so so great. I'm going to
Speaker 4: Broadway and I'm going to amazing restaurants. Is something that
Speaker 4: I'm just lucky to be part of. And but it's
Speaker 4: it's gonna be fun. I mean every place you go,
Speaker 4: I mean you always hear people say that, you know,
Speaker 4: if you win, you know, oh my god, it's going
Speaker 4: to be amazing and this and that. There's a lot
Speaker 4: of highs on a lot of lows. You're going to
Speaker 4: go through adversity no matter what. And so I think
Speaker 4: as a coach, you just got to kind of focus
Speaker 4: in on what your role is and get those guys
Speaker 4: in good positions. And you know, I'm excited to get
Speaker 4: the Jets going.
Speaker 2: All right, We're gonna do a.
Speaker 1: Really quick rapid fire, because I know you got to
Speaker 1: get out of here, and you're doing us a favor
Speaker 1: on your off week doing this fire really rapid fire.
Speaker 1: These are fun questions and a little introspective and then
Speaker 1: we'll get out of here.
Speaker 2: First.
Speaker 1: One, I assume your father is your coaching mentor and
Speaker 1: a guy you look towards, but outside of your father,
Speaker 1: who is another person that you call for advice or
Speaker 1: someone that if you're in a buying coaching wise you
Speaker 1: like to bounce some thoughts off of.
Speaker 4: I would say there's two. Alex van Pelt, who's the
Speaker 4: officer cordinerat at the Cleveland Browns, doing him my whole life.
Speaker 4: He was one of the guys that was at University
Speaker 4: of pitt and then uh and Mount Lafloor, Like Mount
Speaker 4: Lafloor is another guy that I that I talked to
Speaker 4: a bunch, and then Todd Downing would have been one,
Speaker 4: but he's on the staff, so so that doesn't really count.
Speaker 4: But uh, but no, definitely Alex. Alex is somebody that
Speaker 4: that means the world to me.
Speaker 1: Kyle Orton, you guys brought him out of retirement off
Speaker 1: the chair in his house and he went and won
Speaker 1: a bunch of games.
Speaker 2: For the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: For you guys, take us through that time and were
Speaker 1: you one of the guys trying to convince Orton to
Speaker 1: come out of retirement. I love that time in Buffalo
Speaker 1: Bill's football pre Josh Allen.
Speaker 4: That was a great experience. I mean, Kyle is an
Speaker 4: awesome guy, and he definitely came right off the couch,
Speaker 4: and I mean just having him out there and uh
Speaker 4: and watching him spend the rock. I mean, he's got
Speaker 4: a he's got a canon and uh, it was pretty
Speaker 4: fun during that whole time. I remember we scored a
Speaker 4: touchdown to Lee Smith. Actually I think it was verse
Speaker 4: the Jets. I think it was. It was during that
Speaker 4: one that was like the first goal line posse he
Speaker 4: had ever scored a touchdown on. And just being part
Speaker 4: of that, he had his longest run he scrambled for
Speaker 4: like ten yards and he was all fired up for that.
Speaker 4: I remember. I remember when when he ended up starting
Speaker 4: to play, he was like, hey, listen, man, we got
Speaker 4: to get over five hundred because he wanted this record
Speaker 4: to be over five hundred. I was like, I'm gonna
Speaker 4: do everything to help you, man. I mean, but that
Speaker 4: was such a great experience because you know, being with
Speaker 4: a with again with an older guy, because you know,
Speaker 4: I'd just been working with EJ and Jeff and they
Speaker 4: were rookies and Dad Lewis and those guys worked so
Speaker 4: hard and were great. But playing at a young age
Speaker 4: in this game is very, very difficult. I don't think
Speaker 4: people understand the thing that how rigorous it is for
Speaker 4: these quarterbacks and to be able to get Kyle in there,
Speaker 4: who knew so much. I mean, I remember the first game.
Speaker 4: We're playing the Detroit Lions at the Lions. Because that
Speaker 4: year was a weird year. We ended up playing at
Speaker 4: Detroit twice. We had a blizzard and the game got canceled,
Speaker 4: moved to Monday, and we actually played the Jets again
Speaker 4: in Detroit. But that first game versus the Lions, I
Speaker 4: remember Kyle because I had never caught plays for me
Speaker 4: and only been there for about four weeks. And he
Speaker 4: throws a pick six and I want to say it
Speaker 4: was like the second or third series, and he I remember,
Speaker 4: he comes up on the sideline. He's like, oh, that
Speaker 4: guy went out of the way, okay, And I'm like,
Speaker 4: all right, great. You know, because as a code you
Speaker 4: don't know how, you know, should I get mad? And uh?
Speaker 4: And he ended up winning in a two minute drive
Speaker 4: through a big play to Sammy Watkins on the left side,
Speaker 4: and we ended up kicking a field goal to win
Speaker 4: the game. I mean, it was it was really cool.
Speaker 4: It was a great experience working with Kyle. He he
Speaker 4: was awesome. I can't say enough good things about him.
Speaker 2: I love that your favorite Aaron Rodgers in game pass.
Speaker 1: You probably could chart every pass he threw as a packer,
Speaker 1: but you go back and the one that still gives
Speaker 1: you goose bumps.
Speaker 4: Oh gosh, There's been a lot of really really cool throws.
Speaker 2: Give me one.
Speaker 4: You know. It's I would say, the very first game
Speaker 4: we have played. So you always hear those stories about
Speaker 4: Aaron seeing people sub or jump the ball, and I
Speaker 4: remember it's our first game. We're playing Thursday night. It
Speaker 4: was the opening game versus the Chicago Bears, and he
Speaker 4: were getting down in the red zone and you know,
Speaker 4: here we are as coaches. We got all our plans
Speaker 4: and the things that we want to we want to
Speaker 4: get done, and I'll be damned, we're about to try
Speaker 4: to call play and he jumps the ball and snaps
Speaker 4: it and We're like, what the what's going on? And
Speaker 4: he runs around and I see the flag throw and
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh, this is great. And then he launches
Speaker 4: it up and Jimmy Graham goes up and catches it,
Speaker 4: catches the first touchdown that twenty nineteen season, and it
Speaker 4: was it was an incredible it was. It was a
Speaker 4: great throw. But I think for me that that was
Speaker 4: the first time I saw him being able to attack
Speaker 4: the defense from that standpoint and be able to jump
Speaker 4: the ball in score touch and that was the only
Speaker 4: touchdown we scored that whole game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember smash Amos had a couple of picks
Speaker 1: in that game, right, yeah.
Speaker 4: He did, and that that's what ended up stealing it
Speaker 4: for us. And I just remember looking like, gosh, why
Speaker 4: don't we just do that every time, just you know,
Speaker 4: jump the ball, run around at score touch And I
Speaker 4: was like, this, that's great. But that that was that
Speaker 4: was a really.
Speaker 2: Because it was the cerebral part of it where it's like,
Speaker 2: wait's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I mean here we are trying to get
Speaker 4: our best play in the red zone aka gold zone
Speaker 4: for us, and we uh and he ends up jumping
Speaker 4: the ball in scorn of a touchdown anyways, and we're like, okay, yeah,
Speaker 4: this is this is pretty cool. I didn't know we
Speaker 4: were going to get this, and so I think that
Speaker 4: was a really cool one. But probably the craziest throw
Speaker 4: I ever saw him making. I still haven't decided whether
Speaker 4: or not he was thrown it out of bounds or
Speaker 4: whether he was just throwing it up. Was that same
Speaker 4: year Kansas City Chiefs. It was funny because night in
Speaker 4: the back end zone of Jamal Williams, I mean, and
Speaker 4: it's funny because there was history to that one. Is
Speaker 4: that Matt and I were arguing when we were game
Speaker 4: planning on what personnel grouping to use, and Matt wanted
Speaker 4: to use a crazy one, and so we put all
Speaker 4: these guys out there and he's like, Ah, this is
Speaker 4: gonna work. And I mean literally, he snaps the ball
Speaker 4: and everybody's coming after him and he's running around game
Speaker 4: and then launches it up and I mean it's a
Speaker 4: perfectly thrown ball to Jamal in the back of the
Speaker 4: back pylon to the right in uh in their ahead
Speaker 4: and Matt's like I told you. Oh, He's like, I
Speaker 4: told you it would work, and I'm like I'm like,
Speaker 4: are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: He led you out?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I was like, come on, man. So
Speaker 4: those are the kind of the conversations that we always
Speaker 4: have during the games and stuff. But that was a
Speaker 4: pretty unbelievable throw. And he had another one that same
Speaker 4: game when he threw to Jake Kumero across the field.
Speaker 4: I mean he scrambles to the right and just dives
Speaker 4: it to him. Jake lays out and gets it. I mean,
Speaker 4: there's so many. I mean, that's the fun thing about Aaron.
Speaker 4: I mean, it might not be a perfect play that,
Speaker 4: but he's going to find a way to make it work.
Speaker 1: The last one, you're going to be in New York
Speaker 1: quite a bit. I guess you're gonna have the opportunity
Speaker 1: to get to New York. The one person or I
Speaker 1: would say celebrity, non football person. It could be and
Speaker 1: it could be anyone. It could be government, can be anything.
Speaker 1: The one person you would love to get dinner with
Speaker 1: in New York City is who I.
Speaker 4: Mean, if it's a jet fan, the one person that
Speaker 4: all my kids and for me, that like we that
Speaker 4: they were going crazy about. And I heard Adam Sandler
Speaker 4: is a is a.
Speaker 2: Jeff fan the Sandman with you, we have to make
Speaker 2: this happen.
Speaker 4: I mean I would have said Paul Rudd because I
Speaker 4: know you and you and Paul are close and you know,
Speaker 4: and man's my favorite guy. He's a Chiefs fan, bro,
Speaker 4: but he's a Chiefs fan. He's a chief fan. We
Speaker 4: went to rival high school. So it's like, but I
Speaker 4: mean Adam Sandler. I mean, come on, man, I mean
Speaker 4: Adam Sandler for me growing up. I mean when when
Speaker 4: he was really starting. I mean just his stand up
Speaker 4: you know, the goat that he was and is the
Speaker 4: album I mean the albums. I mean people don't even
Speaker 4: know about that.
Speaker 2: I don't even know about told booth will oh gosh.
Speaker 4: That that his the car song and you know, I
Speaker 4: mean he's I'm trying not to swear because the car song, yeah,
Speaker 4: that piece of yeah, that piece of car song. And
Speaker 4: when he's talking about the goat and he's so may
Speaker 4: you button? And then I mean just all of his movies,
Speaker 4: I mean are I mean that was during COVID we
Speaker 4: had an Adam Sandler like.
Speaker 1: Just the family that was all you guys did to
Speaker 1: go deep on Sandler and did the kids appreciate the
Speaker 1: early Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore or are they more than
Speaker 1: new Netflix stuff?
Speaker 4: No, they love them all. I mean the one he
Speaker 4: did with Jennifer Aniston. They love them all. You know that,
Speaker 4: they understand that. But it's funny going back to I mean,
Speaker 4: just showing them Happy Gilmore for the first time, Billy
Speaker 4: Madison for the first time, and my kids are like,
Speaker 4: what's up with the penguin?
Speaker 2: I don't get the I don't either, Like I don't
Speaker 2: get it either.
Speaker 4: That's the point, you know, I mean, but I mean
Speaker 4: going through that. I mean Adam Sandler, I think is
Speaker 4: one of the most legendary comedians ever. So I love
Speaker 4: them all. Right.
Speaker 1: That's this is my goal, you know, forget my own
Speaker 1: career accolades, forget what I want to see happen for
Speaker 1: this podcast A Good Morning Football. My goal is to
Speaker 1: get the Sandman with Nathaniel Hackett at for dinner one
Speaker 1: day in New York.
Speaker 2: We'll make this happen, my friend. It's it's a doable thing.
Speaker 2: There's gotta be a way. And he is a jetsman.
Speaker 4: I've heard the Him and method Man are two guys that,
Speaker 4: like I know, are Jets fans that I like I'm like,
Speaker 4: this is pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you want Staten Island and method man and
Speaker 1: I believe I think Sandler's from New Hampshire.
Speaker 2: But his dad was a j that's the story. Yeah,
Speaker 2: dad was a Jets fan.
Speaker 4: Uh. Bro.
Speaker 2: I can't thank you enough. This was on your vacation week.
Speaker 1: I started off the podcast explaining how most people are
Speaker 1: away and you took some time to do this podcast
Speaker 1: with me and I've been wanting to do it for
Speaker 1: a while.
Speaker 2: Nathaniel Hackett, thank you.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 1: You're a great dude and I cannot wait to see
Speaker 1: what you do with this Jets offense and Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: this year.
Speaker 4: Appreciate it. Thanks for having me and man, I love you.
Speaker 4: You know that, and hey, let's get it rolling.
Speaker 1: I'm a huge Hacket fan and I always like Aaron
Speaker 1: as we listen to him talk and all stuff, Like
Speaker 1: he was quick and short with the Denver stuff and
Speaker 1: I get it. It's like he's not going to go
Speaker 1: into the what that was and how that went down
Speaker 1: because there's just no reason for him to rehash it.
Speaker 1: But like I root for redemption. I root for a
Speaker 1: guy to get a chance. And he was like, it's
Speaker 1: it's not a chip on the shoulder type thing.
Speaker 2: But I don't know.
Speaker 1: When you hear him talk how passionately he feels about
Speaker 1: his players and the game and coaching, like it's hard
Speaker 1: not to think that a piece of him wants to
Speaker 1: wants to just kick ass this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean he had a great a great
Speaker 3: attitude too, with like I'm gonna do everything I can
Speaker 3: to get these guys as ready as possible and then
Speaker 3: watch them like make the plays on the field.
Speaker 2: And uh yeah, I thought he was great.
Speaker 1: You know, when we talked to these coaches, sometimes they
Speaker 1: do give us incredible insights, and Hackett did in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways. But then there's also this part of
Speaker 1: them where it's like, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I'm like, talk about an Aaron Rodgers play. He's just
Speaker 1: geeking out on it also like us.
Speaker 2: And I remember that.
Speaker 1: Passed to Jimal Williams that he references in the back
Speaker 1: of the end zone. And it was on a Sunday
Speaker 1: night and it was the Packers versus the Chiefs and
Speaker 1: Mahomes was out, so Matt Moore was in and it
Speaker 1: was a good game and went back and forth. And
Speaker 1: then this past happens, and like.
Speaker 2: Do you hear Hacket talk about it?
Speaker 1: And it was one of those great stories where Lafloor
Speaker 1: is like, see, I told you I called it right mother.
Speaker 2: Ever, no you didn't. He just nailed you out. It's
Speaker 2: just Rogers.
Speaker 1: Gosh, it's got to be cool to coach a player
Speaker 1: with those talents. But also what he's stressed a lot
Speaker 1: in that interview, having it all upstairs too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, it's amazing hearing about the cerebral parts of
Speaker 3: Rogers's game, and that's something that ideally translates as he
Speaker 3: gets older.
Speaker 4: Too.
Speaker 3: It's not like he's gonna lose that. It's not like it's,
Speaker 3: you know, an arm strength thing or like his running ability.
Speaker 3: So yeah, got me, got me nervous about the Jets
Speaker 3: season some more.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you're a Bills fan in Dolphins fans and
Speaker 1: Patriots fans, you hear that and you're like, Eh, that's tough.
Speaker 2: All right, We're gonna wrap right here. Aaron, You're awesome,
Speaker 2: Thanks for doing this. I know everyone's kind.
Speaker 1: Of checked out in football world, but I thought Hackett
Speaker 1: was great. We're gonna have another one next week, hopefully
Speaker 1: the one next the week after that. July fourth, like,
Speaker 1: guys are around now. Hackett was filming this from like
Speaker 1: a farmhouse. They're around, They're not they're not locked into
Speaker 1: the facility. I mean, that was the saddest part. I'm like, so,
Speaker 1: what do you think of New Jersey And he's like, well,
Speaker 1: I haven't really gotten out much. I'm like, dude, I'm
Speaker 1: like it out, like, oh, he's gonna enjoy it. But Aaron,
Speaker 1: thank you, Jason English from iHeart, thank you, Grace Fuse,
Speaker 1: who's wonderful with the editing on this stuff. And then
Speaker 1: the NFL Network folks, who gosh, guys, this went on
Speaker 1: YouTube last week, the Quasy one and it went bananas.
Speaker 2: So it's gonna be on YouTube. We're hoping that we
Speaker 2: can do that as often as possible. There's videos.
Speaker 1: So that's Jason Kleinman, that's Matt Schneider, that's Meredith Batton,
Speaker 1: that's David Juranka. Find folks over there at the NFL Network, guys,
Speaker 1: it's the season with Peter Schreger and some of our
Speaker 1: best stuff's gonna be in the off season because these
Speaker 1: coaches and gms are down to talk and go long
Speaker 1: and they don't have to be out on the field
Speaker 1: and coach in five minutes. So I hope you enjoyed
Speaker 1: this one with Nathaniel Hackett and Jets fans.
Speaker 2: I think you guys got a good one. Till next week,
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: The season with Peter Schrager is for production of the
Speaker 1: NFL and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.