Speaker 1: Welcome to the official podcast, Eric Allen and my new
Speaker 1: teammate Bart Scott here in studio to start the year.
Speaker 1: We are joined by a former teammate of the Mad Backers,
Speaker 1: that is Joe Flacco. You guys played one season together
Speaker 1: way back in two thousands. Great season though. It was
Speaker 1: a great season though. Vance today f C Championship game, right, absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean it was. It was a fun story. You
Speaker 1: want to tell a story about how you got the
Speaker 1: start and get when you knew you were gonna be
Speaker 1: the starting quarterback on the play. When did I find
Speaker 1: out on a plane? I don't remember exactly when I
Speaker 1: found out that I was gonna be starting for sure,
Speaker 1: you know, I I remember, Um, I think it was
Speaker 1: the week of we were playing St. Louis in the
Speaker 1: preseason and Kyle Bowler like tour something in the shoulder,
Speaker 1: like that week of practice. I wasn't supposed to play
Speaker 1: at all. In the third preseason game. That was like,
Speaker 1: you know, Kyle and True we're kind of going at it.
Speaker 1: So Kyle goes down and then Truy comes up. Troy
Speaker 1: Smith gets um, you know, he he gets really sick,
Speaker 1: and we weren't sure how series was at the time,
Speaker 1: and um, even the night before the game, it was like,
Speaker 1: we don't know what's going on with Troy. He might
Speaker 1: be he might come in and play, you know whatever.
Speaker 1: And I think it was like ten o'clock the morning
Speaker 1: of the game that they told me like, all right, Joe,
Speaker 1: like you're the only quarterback we have. You're playing the
Speaker 1: whole game. And I remember going all time room like
Speaker 1: and just you know, you're a rookie. And I remember thinking,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, here we go, and like just going
Speaker 1: through my stuff, making sure I'm on top of it
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. And you go out there. And
Speaker 1: I played the whole game against the Rams and the
Speaker 1: third preseason game and did a good job, you know,
Speaker 1: for the most part. Um. And then we had the
Speaker 1: Falcons the next week, uh, in the fourth preseason game,
Speaker 1: and they flew Casey Bramlett, who played in Miami with
Speaker 1: Cam Cameron. They flew him in overnight. I think he
Speaker 1: landed sometime like overnight the day of the game. And
Speaker 1: I played three series I believe, in the Atlanta Falcons
Speaker 1: the fourth preseason game and then he played the rest
Speaker 1: of the game on like a couple of hours of
Speaker 1: being in Baltimore and then we went right into Cincinnati
Speaker 1: and that was it. Does it feel like yesterday, though,
Speaker 1: because now as you're approaching a game week one of
Speaker 1: the two thousand twenty two season, you're laughing oftentimes here
Speaker 1: at Once that Strive where the guys are saying, hey, Flackle,
Speaker 1: you you're the old guy at thirty seven. Hey it
Speaker 1: I mean when I when I think back at that
Speaker 1: right there, I mean, I can I can kind of
Speaker 1: put myself right back in that hotel room and in
Speaker 1: those situations. So, yeah, it feels like yesterday. I got
Speaker 1: plenty of stories to tell about Bart that you can't
Speaker 1: necessarily tell on on any kind of media, even podcasts.
Speaker 1: But no, it feels like yesterday. And I don't view
Speaker 1: myself as being you know, this is my fifteenth year.
Speaker 1: I don't view myself as that. You know. I remember
Speaker 1: when I was playing with Bart, and like ray Lewis
Speaker 1: was on the team, and I do remember how I
Speaker 1: looked at him and like and these guys when I
Speaker 1: was younger, you know, you grew up watching them play.
Speaker 1: And but I don't necessarily think of that when I like,
Speaker 1: you know, not to like talk about ray Lewis and myself,
Speaker 1: you know, but like I don't view myself off as
Speaker 1: being in the league fifteen years. I just view myself
Speaker 1: as a player. You know, this is my fifth year,
Speaker 1: I'm seven years old, whatever it. Maybe that's how I
Speaker 1: view myself. And then every now and then you can
Speaker 1: kind of view you can kind of see that these
Speaker 1: young guys are looking at you a little bit different,
Speaker 1: like they're looking at you a little strange, like, man,
Speaker 1: how long have you been around? You know? And that
Speaker 1: kind of puts that kind of wakes me up a
Speaker 1: little bit and reminds me of how long I've been
Speaker 1: doing it. So you got a little salt and pepper
Speaker 1: a little bit on. But now life kind of comes
Speaker 1: full circle. As we can call this the Flacco Bowl,
Speaker 1: or we can call it this to C. J. Moseley Bowl,
Speaker 1: but you know, kind of going full circle all the
Speaker 1: way back to where it all began, going against a
Speaker 1: familiar opponent organization that you know, well, like, how are
Speaker 1: you preparing for that emotionally and physically? Um, you know
Speaker 1: for a week one in a in a tough environment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's I think it's ultimately going to be
Speaker 1: tough to completely prepare for it. Because I've never been
Speaker 1: through it personally. Um, I mean you've you've played I
Speaker 1: think you played us that next year, you know nine
Speaker 1: right up here, open up here, like we almost got
Speaker 1: we almost got a pregame. Um. I've seen some people
Speaker 1: go through it. I've definitely seen uh, some people play
Speaker 1: some old teams that were significant players on the teams
Speaker 1: that they came from. And as much as they tried
Speaker 1: to keep it in check and and do all that,
Speaker 1: you know, that's all good to say and talk about
Speaker 1: until all of a sudden, the lights turn on it's
Speaker 1: game time, and you know, your emotions get the best
Speaker 1: of you, and um, you know, so, like I said, uh,
Speaker 1: it's honestly this that's what's great about football. It's a
Speaker 1: team sport. It's about the team. You just gotta play
Speaker 1: your role. So I'm gonna make sure that I try
Speaker 1: to do that as much as possible. But you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, I've been through it enough times to
Speaker 1: see how emotional it can be. So I think I'd
Speaker 1: be a little bit naive to think that there's going
Speaker 1: to be zero of that. You know, when Zack Wilson
Speaker 1: goes down in Philadelphia, what do you think automatically, and
Speaker 1: then after some time goes by, when does it start
Speaker 1: comedy the realization that it is going to be week
Speaker 1: one it is the Ravens. Yeah, well, I think you
Speaker 1: initially just you know, you you you put yourself in
Speaker 1: that situation, and you feel for the player and you
Speaker 1: hope that he's actually, you know, ultimately okay. Um, so
Speaker 1: obviously like the depending on what you were thinking in
Speaker 1: that moment um, it's probably the best possible outcome for him,
Speaker 1: you know. Um, But immediately your mind after that kind
Speaker 1: of goes to okay, like does this mean I'm gonna
Speaker 1: play right away? Here? You know, I got you know,
Speaker 1: I'm ready, but like let's go here we go? Um
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean I've been in enough situations now
Speaker 1: in this role to kind of be able to know
Speaker 1: that I'm gonna prepare and have been thrown in there
Speaker 1: right away, like in the middle of a game. So
Speaker 1: it's all a little bit different. And you know, there's
Speaker 1: obviously you see, oh man, we're playing Baltimore this year.
Speaker 1: That's going to be interesting. Even if I was going
Speaker 1: to be on the sideline, Um, I didn't necessarily I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, we're playing them in New York. That'll
Speaker 1: be cool. You know. I think now that I'm playing
Speaker 1: there would be something extra cool about playing in Baltimore.
Speaker 1: But either way, like I said, like all the things
Speaker 1: that we just talked about, Um, you know, listen, it's
Speaker 1: a completely new team for the most part. There's you know,
Speaker 1: there's a handful of players obviously. I mean, the last
Speaker 1: year I was there was eighteen. It wasn't that long ago,
Speaker 1: so there are some players that were still there. But
Speaker 1: if you're talking about the bulk of my career and
Speaker 1: the guys that I actually played with, in terms of that,
Speaker 1: it's a completely new football team. It's just the same organization.
Speaker 1: So you know, sometimes we make too big of a
Speaker 1: deal out of these things and stuff like that. You know,
Speaker 1: guys switched teams all the time. You know, I think
Speaker 1: I'm a quarterback, So obviously there's a little bit it's
Speaker 1: a little bit different for whatever reason. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: and and coach Hardball still there, but a lot of
Speaker 1: the coaching staffs, you know, probably pretty similar to how
Speaker 1: I was an a team, but even that's a lot different,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So you know, the great
Speaker 1: thing about playing opponent is they think they know you.
Speaker 1: You know there they are meetings. Now okay, he doesn't
Speaker 1: like to do this. He doesn't get off the spot.
Speaker 1: So you know that stuff. And like you know, when
Speaker 1: you became the starter and we got got named the starter,
Speaker 1: you think about all the young guys that you have there.
Speaker 1: Initially immediately you have to start getting that non verbal
Speaker 1: communication with the young players. And now they're looking at
Speaker 1: you because you're the savior, right you you have all
Speaker 1: the answers. You know you're the o G. Now you
Speaker 1: have all the answers. So how is that week, the
Speaker 1: weeks of preparation and even the preseason, but with trying
Speaker 1: to get that non verbal communications and you learning how
Speaker 1: your receivers, where they like the ball at, what their
Speaker 1: strengths are, the weaknesses, how it looks when they're coming
Speaker 1: out of a break. I think it's an exciting opportunity.
Speaker 1: Like when you have guys like that that are you know,
Speaker 1: really good football players with a bunch of ability, but
Speaker 1: they're young and they're gonna make mistakes. You know you
Speaker 1: don't you don't necessarily like you're not okay with the mistakes, um,
Speaker 1: but you better not be getting too out of control
Speaker 1: emotionally when when the children prepared you for that, prepared
Speaker 1: to sure and like. And I've found out that at
Speaker 1: least with my kids, I'm not as patient as I
Speaker 1: thought I was. UM. But in this, in this situation,
Speaker 1: I actually I do really look forward to it. I
Speaker 1: I feel like I like this situation of being that guy.
Speaker 1: I hope that people look at me and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: at least you know, Joe's in the huddle like we're good,
Speaker 1: you know, like you know, and they can and and
Speaker 1: that allows them to move on to the next play
Speaker 1: and wipe the last one out because you know, ultimately
Speaker 1: in in in a football game, there's gonna be things
Speaker 1: like that that happened and you have to have something
Speaker 1: to ground you and move you on. So I hope
Speaker 1: that I can be that. UM. Obviously, there's times where
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to push those guys and and and
Speaker 1: get the and in order to get the best out
Speaker 1: of them, because they're going to go be going through
Speaker 1: things mentally that may slow them down because they're thinking
Speaker 1: too much and you're gonna have to be able to
Speaker 1: push them through those things. But I definitely look forward
Speaker 1: to it. How is it all tied together when you're
Speaker 1: playing against a team that throws some exotic pressure packages
Speaker 1: at you. Everybody focuses on the offensive line, but you're
Speaker 1: talking about young receivers, you're working with two. How much
Speaker 1: do you have to emphasize precision against a team like Baltimore?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's always a team effort. Obviously the offensive
Speaker 1: line when in terms of sacks and things like that,
Speaker 1: but it is a team effort. And um, you know, listen,
Speaker 1: we run an offense where you know, hopefully the receivers
Speaker 1: don't have to do too much thinking about those things.
Speaker 1: They can just go play and and and and run
Speaker 1: their routes, play their game and not have to worry
Speaker 1: about that. So as long as they're in the right
Speaker 1: places in the right timing, then it's up to me
Speaker 1: to be able to identify those things and understand when
Speaker 1: I have to get the ball out of my hands
Speaker 1: and when I have a little bit of time to
Speaker 1: maybe you know, go through my progression. Now, you know,
Speaker 1: you you're you're with the floor like he's new to
Speaker 1: to the to the game as well as far as
Speaker 1: being an offensive coordinator, but you know, you're a veteran
Speaker 1: and how much input have you had and kind of
Speaker 1: maybe anticipating some of the dexotic blizz because we don't
Speaker 1: really know because Wink Martin Neal is not there anymore,
Speaker 1: so we don't know really what to expect. But how
Speaker 1: much of the ownership have you been given to kind
Speaker 1: of make adjustments and freedoms to kind of use your
Speaker 1: you know, your football acumen to make adjustments on the flood.
Speaker 1: I think most of it comes down to, like, hey,
Speaker 1: do we think we could do this or do we
Speaker 1: think we should just not worry about doing this and
Speaker 1: just stick with this? And you know, it's those back
Speaker 1: and forth what what we think we can get away
Speaker 1: with and maybe what we don't think we can get
Speaker 1: away with. I know, Mike's a young guy, and you
Speaker 1: know he's he's only called offensive for you know, he's
Speaker 1: only called plays for a year. Um. You know, these
Speaker 1: guys come from a good background and at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, UM, it's about trust either way. UM.
Speaker 1: So he is the coordinator on the quarterback, you know,
Speaker 1: and I do want to have a little bit of input,
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of you know, certain little things
Speaker 1: here and there. But at the same time, you know,
Speaker 1: I want to be able to rely on him to
Speaker 1: do his thing and put us in good situations because
Speaker 1: that's what he's there to do, and you know, we
Speaker 1: as players are there to execute it. And I'm no
Speaker 1: different in that. How far has this roster come? You've
Speaker 1: played here in two thousand, twenty and twenty one, and
Speaker 1: now we talk about the transformation that we've seen over
Speaker 1: the last eight team months. Just watching on the practice field,
Speaker 1: you see the speed, you see explosive ability. You think about, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: we don't have to rely on twelve play drives to
Speaker 1: get down the field. We got some home run hitters.
Speaker 1: And then also the depth on this roster. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it's exciting. Uh, you know, we I've talked about it
Speaker 1: a lot. It's It's obviously a topic of conversation with people.
Speaker 1: I feel like we're at the point where we can
Speaker 1: where we sense that, you know, we sense like, hey,
Speaker 1: like we're pretty good, I think, right, you know, like
Speaker 1: you know, and the young guys, like a lot of
Speaker 1: them don't know any better. They're good. They feel like
Speaker 1: they're good, you know. They so they haven't necessarily experienced
Speaker 1: the last couple of years of not winning a lot
Speaker 1: of games, so they feel good. Um, but I think
Speaker 1: we definitely have a lot of momentum behind us right now,
Speaker 1: but we still haven't done it on a Sunday consistently.
Speaker 1: So while while we're getting there, while that confidence is
Speaker 1: kind of starting to take off a little bit, uh,
Speaker 1: we still turn the corner um, which is going out
Speaker 1: there improving it on Sunday. So I think we're right
Speaker 1: in that area there now that you know, I'm hoping
Speaker 1: that we're dangerous because of it, you know, and I
Speaker 1: hope that we realize sooner rather than later how good
Speaker 1: we can be and then then you never know. I'm
Speaker 1: and when once you get that little bit of boost
Speaker 1: of confidence and guys are playing, you know, without thinking
Speaker 1: about a lot, and they're just going out there and
Speaker 1: playing football and they're being physical, you know, that's when
Speaker 1: it really comes together, you know, because you can go
Speaker 1: out there and you can be assignment, you sound, and
Speaker 1: you can take care of the football. But if you're
Speaker 1: just doing the right things and you're kind of like
Speaker 1: just you know, you're, yeah, yeah, I did that right,
Speaker 1: and I'm happy with that, then you you'll be okay.
Speaker 1: You know, you won't make mistakes, will be okay. But
Speaker 1: you know, I think we're getting right on the edge
Speaker 1: of getting to the point where we know what we're doing.
Speaker 1: We're confident about what we're doing. So now we can
Speaker 1: actually play football. We can go get people, be physical,
Speaker 1: play fast, you know, not settle for the fifteen yard completion.
Speaker 1: We can catch the ball with our feet in the
Speaker 1: ground and turn up field and break one. You know.
Speaker 1: So I think we're getting close to that spot. But
Speaker 1: leaves a powerful thing right when you came in as
Speaker 1: a rookie, you know, expectations weren't that high for us
Speaker 1: as a team, and we kind of snuck into the
Speaker 1: playoffs and we caught fire. We came together as a team.
Speaker 1: A lot of that was the off the field relationship
Speaker 1: said we had as far as building bonds and things
Speaker 1: like that. When you talk about, you know, this this
Speaker 1: team and this roster and when you look back, does
Speaker 1: Joe Flacco still have something that he wants to prove
Speaker 1: to people? Are you just playing with house money? I
Speaker 1: mean you're a Super Bowl m v P. I mean
Speaker 1: people forget about you know, when you came in this league,
Speaker 1: how many playoff games you won every year? You guys
Speaker 1: were a legitimate threat. Your record on the road in
Speaker 1: the playoffs going up to New England taking care of business? Right, Um,
Speaker 1: all the successes you've had, do you still have something
Speaker 1: to prove and what gets you going and what continues
Speaker 1: to motivate you? Because you could have called it a career.
Speaker 1: It had been a beautiful career. Ten of five in
Speaker 1: the postseason former Super Bowl m v P H and
Speaker 1: who has the corvette? By the way, it's in the
Speaker 1: garage and house. My brother's staying right. Did you sign it? Like?
Speaker 1: Are you preserving it? Are you just like man? You know,
Speaker 1: to the Bowl? But it is it's kind of like
Speaker 1: a trophy. It has like you know, it has it
Speaker 1: has Super Bowl m VP right next to the VN number.
Speaker 1: You know, there's something kind of cool about that. I mean,
Speaker 1: your kids, this is really important. They look like idiots
Speaker 1: driving that thing around. I don't think so. Maybe maybe
Speaker 1: my daughter, I don't know. Um No, listen, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be doing this if I didn't still feel like I
Speaker 1: can play the game. Um. I still feel like I
Speaker 1: can play and play at a high level. And that's
Speaker 1: ultimately what motivates me. Um. There's some different things in there,
Speaker 1: you know, Um, but it's it's ultimately about me believing
Speaker 1: that I can still playing and owing it to myself
Speaker 1: to go play and now, you know, obviously there's a
Speaker 1: level of proving it to other people and feeling like,
Speaker 1: you know, why haven't I gotten a chance to go
Speaker 1: do it? And you know, but like and and then
Speaker 1: I had an injury where I you know, got surgery
Speaker 1: on my neck a few years ago, and like that
Speaker 1: kind of gave a little bit of glimpse of man,
Speaker 1: am I gonna play again? I'm not gonna be able
Speaker 1: to play again if somebody gonna sign me. And it
Speaker 1: like that wasn't a good feeling, you know, So that
Speaker 1: gives you that extra like oh yeah, Like it kind
Speaker 1: of gives that little extra reminder like oh man, like yeah,
Speaker 1: I still love this game, Like you know, let's go
Speaker 1: out there and get going. Um yeah, and listen, like
Speaker 1: it's it's it's not the most fun in the world
Speaker 1: when you know you're you're you're sitting there and you're
Speaker 1: the backup and you feel like you can contribute, but
Speaker 1: it's not. It's not your role, you know. So like
Speaker 1: I've come to the realization of that to a certain extent,
Speaker 1: and I'm willing to do that. And that's why I'm
Speaker 1: excited to That's why I'm excited, you know, to possibly
Speaker 1: have the opportunity here to just put my team in
Speaker 1: you know, put our team in a good position. You know,
Speaker 1: early in the season, you're not playing against Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you guys will have different uniforms on
Speaker 1: and only have the former uniform mine that used to wear.
Speaker 1: But with that being said, what did you see from
Speaker 1: him early on? It could you have predicted what was
Speaker 1: to come for him? I don't know if anybody can
Speaker 1: predict you know, the extent of it. Obviously you can see,
Speaker 1: you know a lot of what he's good at. You
Speaker 1: can see pretty early on, you know what I mean, Like, uh,
Speaker 1: he jumps off the field. You know, he jumps off
Speaker 1: the film and in person in terms of how good
Speaker 1: of an athlete he is and and all those things. So, um,
Speaker 1: you don't always know where that's gonna go and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. I mean, you've seen plenty of players that
Speaker 1: you feel like ken play and they don't end up
Speaker 1: being a you know, they don't end up working out
Speaker 1: for whatever reason. But like I said, a lot of
Speaker 1: the things that he does well and that you see
Speaker 1: him do, it's it's not like you can hide a
Speaker 1: lot of that stuff, So how do you simulate that
Speaker 1: in practice? Again, you don't have to worry about it,
Speaker 1: but you can't know. Yeah, I mean, you just gotta
Speaker 1: make sure you're playing defense the way you know, sound
Speaker 1: good defense and playing as a team. And you know,
Speaker 1: obviously guys are gonna make their place here and there
Speaker 1: and and and do what they have to do. But
Speaker 1: you know, you just have to make sure everybody understands
Speaker 1: what the goal is and that they're out there to
Speaker 1: play good team defense and and and do the right
Speaker 1: thing each play. Because I got because I gotta, I gotta,
Speaker 1: I gotta go there, right because all my radio show,
Speaker 1: all week radio show, no shameless plug. But you know,
Speaker 1: like you were the last raven to bet on itself
Speaker 1: and Lamar Jackson finds itself and that's in that similar position, right,
Speaker 1: like you bet on yourself. And I've negotiated with Ozzy,
Speaker 1: like and you've negotiated with OZI or Eric Decas, so
Speaker 1: we know what that's about. But it seems like he's
Speaker 1: betting on himself and maybe he's trying to harness his
Speaker 1: inner Joe Flacco to be able to bet on itself
Speaker 1: on a contract year and win the Super Bowl and
Speaker 1: possibly m v P. Now do you think you guys
Speaker 1: are gonna have a little moment when you pull him
Speaker 1: to the side, like I feel you good luck on
Speaker 1: that or or you guys are gonna bring it up?
Speaker 1: He might yeah, who knows? Who knows? How Listen, man,
Speaker 1: we're talking like two and a half times that these days.
Speaker 1: That's why you should play as long as you can.
Speaker 1: I said that, you know obviously that it's crazy. I'm
Speaker 1: sure that will not come up, to be honest with you,
Speaker 1: I mean, Lamar was Lamar is a good kid, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'll be worried about just playing the football game.
Speaker 1: But who knows, some some guy decide might bring it
Speaker 1: up randomly. You never know. Part might be out there
Speaker 1: in the fifth yard you know is gonna mag that.
Speaker 1: But how how crazy is it? Right? So? I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, the quarterback position has become embolded. We all
Speaker 1: bost call it the n B the lebronalization of football,
Speaker 1: where like, you guys understand your value, you're worth. You
Speaker 1: guys are basically the CEO of the organization. You guys
Speaker 1: are the brand to face and you know you talk
Speaker 1: about the guaranteed money. Now, it's crazy you talk about
Speaker 1: you know, hundred eighty and nine million dollars to to
Speaker 1: um um Kyler Murray. He hasn't even won a playoff
Speaker 1: game yet, Like, did you ever think that I knew,
Speaker 1: you knew that it was going to go on a
Speaker 1: on on a great trajectory, But did you expect it
Speaker 1: to ever be at this point? Are all your kids
Speaker 1: gonna play quarterback? Hey, listen, I don't know if my
Speaker 1: kids you know, who knows how many positions my kids
Speaker 1: can play the sides, quarterback? Um, so they may be.
Speaker 1: There's lucky in that sense. Um, it's crazy. I mean,
Speaker 1: by the time my kids, my oldest kids ten than eight,
Speaker 1: almost nine, I mean I talk I was telling how
Speaker 1: we're joking about this in the locker the other day.
Speaker 1: By the time he's in college, he might make million
Speaker 1: dollars in college, and then he might sign a billion
Speaker 1: dollar contract if he can make it through his first
Speaker 1: four or five years in the NFL and p halfway
Speaker 1: decent he signed a billion dollar contract. Because it's like,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's crazy. It's crazy. Um, you know, and
Speaker 1: obviously you know it's all good, you know, and the
Speaker 1: league's doing so well that it is what it is.
Speaker 1: I remember back in a day like when, um, I
Speaker 1: think I was going into my fourth year and we
Speaker 1: were talking about how you know, it was the first
Speaker 1: it was the first c B A like negotiation I've
Speaker 1: been through. And back then the topic was you know,
Speaker 1: why are rookies getting paid so much and shooing all
Speaker 1: the other veterans to be getting paid. And I remember
Speaker 1: trying to tell guys like, now, listen, we've done so
Speaker 1: well that everybody is getting paid these days because the
Speaker 1: league has done so well. But I mean, listen, if
Speaker 1: you're one or two, three pick and you're going to
Speaker 1: the worst team in the league, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: there's a big argument for the fact that you deserve
Speaker 1: that eighty million. You know you're gonna go get punished
Speaker 1: in your career might be over because you went to
Speaker 1: the worst team. Um. And also I think a lot
Speaker 1: of the veterans thought like, oh, man, like if they
Speaker 1: don't get the eighty million, we're just gonna get it.
Speaker 1: And I tried to guy's the quarterback is gonna get it.
Speaker 1: The quarterback and maybe the corner left tackle, like those
Speaker 1: are the guys are gonna get the money, You're gonna
Speaker 1: get the same thing, you know, And that's kind of
Speaker 1: the way it's gone. But we have done so well
Speaker 1: as a league that really everybody, everybody has multiplied so much,
Speaker 1: so it's all good, all good. Who is the first
Speaker 1: person to give you the Joe cool Moniker? I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't really know if I actually
Speaker 1: was like called at all before. Maybe somebody kind of
Speaker 1: called set it on air at something. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: not not in person, and you know I had a
Speaker 1: different nick name for him. We can't know, we can't
Speaker 1: say it. He threw an outright and I stopped calling it,
Speaker 1: all right, won't go with it. That generational gap. You
Speaker 1: often laugh about that a little bit, but you got
Speaker 1: five kids and all this is ten, so they keep
Speaker 1: you youngly, got hard too, Yeah, Hey, I I joke
Speaker 1: like Sauce is a lot closer to my oldest son
Speaker 1: that it's fenty is me. You know, every generation I
Speaker 1: think looked at the generation ten fifteen years younger than
Speaker 1: m says man, what are these kids dealing? You know,
Speaker 1: Like I was looked at it some way at some
Speaker 1: point like that. So I have to remind myself that
Speaker 1: you know, it's the same thing, it is different, Like
Speaker 1: guys are different these days. When they were in year old,
Speaker 1: it's different. You saw the evolution of a locker room.
Speaker 1: Like how is the player different from when I was
Speaker 1: in Baltimore. I don't know if I didn't notice it
Speaker 1: as much because there was enough guys that I was
Speaker 1: there with a long time, and like the situation was
Speaker 1: just so consistent in so many ways that I didn't
Speaker 1: notice it that much. But it wasn't until I left
Speaker 1: there that I realized, oh, man, like it's changing, Like
Speaker 1: things are different a lot of the guy. Like when
Speaker 1: I came into the NFL, like all the hit of
Speaker 1: the helmet and all the different rules started coming in,
Speaker 1: um training camp rules, how much you can be on
Speaker 1: the field, all those different things. They've kind of been
Speaker 1: in the league the whole time I've been in the
Speaker 1: league fifteen years. They've always been making an effort to
Speaker 1: do those things. But you know, I grew up playing
Speaker 1: high school and college and stuff like that, and even
Speaker 1: a little bit of the NFL with just starting on
Speaker 1: those things. Um, so I've been through it a little bit.
Speaker 1: These guys today have never even seen football or heard
Speaker 1: of football, like where the quarterback can't get hit in
Speaker 1: the head, you can have two days or any they've
Speaker 1: never been through it, never like we had going to
Speaker 1: say when we were in Baltimore in my first year,
Speaker 1: like I didn't know any better either, like I was
Speaker 1: a rookie, Like I just did it. You just do it.
Speaker 1: Like we were having two and a half three hour
Speaker 1: practices twice a day, you know, and and guys that
Speaker 1: are thirty years older than mayor laughing at me, but
Speaker 1: like they were legit practices. And then and then when
Speaker 1: we went into the c b A that in like
Speaker 1: two thousand and eleven, after that first cb A that
Speaker 1: I was a part of, you could do four hours
Speaker 1: on the field. Three hours was the max that you
Speaker 1: could do at one time. So a horn blew and
Speaker 1: we went on the field, and then a horn blew
Speaker 1: three hours later and we came off the field. Guys
Speaker 1: were dying. Those were almost harder than like the first
Speaker 1: couple of training cancer because they they worked us for
Speaker 1: straight three straight hours. And in Baltimore, like John wasn't
Speaker 1: given us any stretch time or anything like it was
Speaker 1: a full three hour practice, like special teams was the
Speaker 1: very big like yes, you were stretching the locker room.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's just it's just different and like
Speaker 1: and believe and like I tell guys like we we
Speaker 1: we bitched and complained about it back then, Like it
Speaker 1: wasn't like we just did it and we're tough about it.
Speaker 1: Like no, we complained about it. But like now nowadays,
Speaker 1: we're doing forty five play practices and guys are like, man,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like we had a ten plays scripted,
Speaker 1: not forty five. You know. So it's just and like
Speaker 1: I said, I gotta remind myself, like we've all every generation.
Speaker 1: These guys, if they last fifteen years, they're gonna be
Speaker 1: saying the same thing in fifteen years about the guys
Speaker 1: that come into the league. So it just is what
Speaker 1: it is. Well, we enjoyed our visit. We know you
Speaker 1: gotta roll. Um Ba did say the other day that
Speaker 1: you'll always be a raven. But with that being said,
Speaker 1: that's yeah, but you'll be leading the Jets Sunday. Good
Speaker 1: luck to you. I appreciate great stuff. They're from Joe Flacco.
Speaker 1: That is the way we start the regular season. A
Speaker 1: former teammate Man House, Absolutely, I mean you couldn't you
Speaker 1: talk about the storylines that couldn't be better, right, Joe Flacco,
Speaker 1: you know, going to the team that decided to move
Speaker 1: on the team that he had so much success, And
Speaker 1: I've sat in the same seat that he said sat in,
Speaker 1: and he wants to do well. You know. You know
Speaker 1: he didn't get Joe cool for a reason. You know,
Speaker 1: he's always been cool under pressure. He understands to grab
Speaker 1: me at the moment. But I think he's going to
Speaker 1: face something that he's never faced before. Because he may
Speaker 1: not think that it's going to be emotional, but it
Speaker 1: is going to be emotional. He doesn't have to have
Speaker 1: Ray Lewis on the sideliner and read. Once he sees
Speaker 1: hard hardball, he's gonna get all those feelings and he's
Speaker 1: gonna see Lamar and those competitive juices that are going
Speaker 1: to get going. And you know, I just can't wait
Speaker 1: to see how he reacts. You never know, um, but
Speaker 1: this is a unique matchup. You know, you got a
Speaker 1: team that comes in with the exotic defense. We really
Speaker 1: don't know what this Raven team is going to be
Speaker 1: all about because they don't have Wink Martindale there anymore.
Speaker 1: They're going to be a more conservative defense or are
Speaker 1: they going to be you know, as they've been in
Speaker 1: the past and aggressive attacking you know, uh defense that's
Speaker 1: going to create opportunities down the field. Remember, they're trying
Speaker 1: to implement a rookie into a defense that you know
Speaker 1: can be Hampton. That can be very difficult to to
Speaker 1: kind of pick up and early on communication. That's why
Speaker 1: I would look, you know, I would like to see
Speaker 1: La Fleur come with a lot of ships and motions
Speaker 1: to force that young kid to have to be able
Speaker 1: to communicate and when you have the opportunity to make
Speaker 1: make some big plays on the field, I think there's
Speaker 1: going to be a tight game. Um, the Ravens are
Speaker 1: gonna try and post their will with the running game,
Speaker 1: and that's a tough that's a tough task for any
Speaker 1: defense coming in have to learn those principles. With Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: the threat of keeping the football, he has ability to
Speaker 1: really change your angles. So it's gonna be dynamic to
Speaker 1: see who has a better game play. Because remember, no
Speaker 1: matter what we saw in this preseason, everything has led
Speaker 1: up to this first game getting up to a good start.
Speaker 1: So all these plays that you put on film that
Speaker 1: you really put onto your opponent and see him. Everything
Speaker 1: is to this point has been to to really um
Speaker 1: prepare for the raven game offensively. Where can the Jets
Speaker 1: take advantage of the Ravens speaks? When you look at
Speaker 1: the Ravens, at least on paper, they say they've got
Speaker 1: really good cornerbacks. Right, you're managing the rookie safety. I'm
Speaker 1: looking into the Jets running backs and tight ends. Maybe
Speaker 1: they can do damage in this game. Well absolutely, you
Speaker 1: talk about up the scenes. So Hamilton's um is a
Speaker 1: range e tall guy, but not a speedster. If you
Speaker 1: can take advantage of him, I have been bad eyes
Speaker 1: and you have to do that. To do that, and
Speaker 1: I know we say this every year, you have to
Speaker 1: establish the run. You establish a run, you get this
Speaker 1: guy creeping and peeking and maybe he sees something that
Speaker 1: he's not supposed to see. And also on the outside,
Speaker 1: I don't even know if Marcus Peters is healthy for
Speaker 1: this game. You're coming off the A C. L surgery.
Speaker 1: But you have Marcus Peters who has always been, you know,
Speaker 1: a feast of famine type of cornerback. You know, he's
Speaker 1: a guy that's gonna believe in his eyes and sometimes
Speaker 1: that gets him in trouble. So if if I ever
Speaker 1: see those two to the same side, that's I'm going
Speaker 1: there because that's that's that's a recipe that's trying, you know,
Speaker 1: get bad communication with a young rookie, you know, and
Speaker 1: and bunch routes. Right when you have a rookie and
Speaker 1: you have to talk about you, if you identify man coverage,
Speaker 1: you can get him in where he has to communicate.
Speaker 1: And all the time they don't use their words, you know,
Speaker 1: And it should be a loud environment, a hostile environment,
Speaker 1: you know, chearing excitement and sometimes you just don't hear
Speaker 1: the correction when you have a shift of motion and
Speaker 1: bunch packages and that's where you take advantage of. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be explosive places, but I think it's gonna be
Speaker 1: tough sledding on both sides. The Ravens don't have tremendous
Speaker 1: pass rushing. They got more um you know, Houston, just
Speaker 1: in Houston. And on the other side, Old Way who
Speaker 1: had a great season for rookie, but it wasn't one
Speaker 1: of the best seasons. It wasn't a ten sex season.
Speaker 1: He gets a lot of pressure, but he's still green
Speaker 1: as far as being able to go against a veteran
Speaker 1: you know, you know, like like Brown, you know, you
Speaker 1: get him to that side, maybe you can take advantage
Speaker 1: of them. Because that's what I want to ask you
Speaker 1: real quick about the Jets offensive line, any concerns there,
Speaker 1: because I thought that really fortunate to get a guy
Speaker 1: like Dwayne Brown after McKay back then goes down, and
Speaker 1: I think he's a very good player. With that being said,
Speaker 1: this offensive line hasn't played together that much. We saw
Speaker 1: him a couple of snaps against the New York Giants.
Speaker 1: But across the board, if you go left and right,
Speaker 1: you say, the players are definitely there. What's the challenge
Speaker 1: communication wise? Now they're gonna be ramping up and playing
Speaker 1: sixty sixty plays this game or seventy. Well, you also
Speaker 1: look at Breece Hall, right, because if he's in it,
Speaker 1: is he's going to be built into that or Michael
Speaker 1: Carter going to be built into that that that past
Speaker 1: protection and you know, are they on the same level.
Speaker 1: Are they seeing the same thing, Because at the end
Speaker 1: of day, the running back has to make somebody right.
Speaker 1: And what gives you, what gives you peace, is the
Speaker 1: fact that you understand that they have two veteran guards,
Speaker 1: and you know, you don't want instant interior pressure. And
Speaker 1: you know, you understand that guys like Dwayne, even though
Speaker 1: you know he's on the outside, he understands that I
Speaker 1: got the whitest guy. I'm responsible for the whitest guy
Speaker 1: unless we're full sliding and we're gonna try and let
Speaker 1: the running back it. So you you have to keep
Speaker 1: your packages really tight. We don't know what type of
Speaker 1: Ravens defense we're gonna see. I just don't know. Like
Speaker 1: Wink Martindale, you know, as a coordinator, Blitz more than
Speaker 1: any of the Ravens, Blitz percentage were hired than anybody.
Speaker 1: But this is a different outfit and they don't have
Speaker 1: the same personnel that they have before. You know, can
Speaker 1: you take advantage of Patrick Queen? Can you take advantage
Speaker 1: of whoever's not Patrick Queen on the second level as
Speaker 1: far as getting them into the communication routes things of
Speaker 1: that source, you know, But it's going to be imperative
Speaker 1: that they're able to consistently flip the field No. Three
Speaker 1: and outs, move the ball and try and win the
Speaker 1: field position battle, because the first team that has a
Speaker 1: mistake is gonna put their team in a in a
Speaker 1: bad position, and that could be the difference in the game.
Speaker 1: Lamar is gonna get his yards, we know that, But
Speaker 1: what's the key in terms of containing him making sure
Speaker 1: he doesn't go off and have one of those all
Speaker 1: star like performances that we've seen oftentimes from him. He's
Speaker 1: such a tough guy to prepare for, you know, and
Speaker 1: then he you can't compare him to anybody in fight.
Speaker 1: Maybe Kyler Murray is the only camp that you can say, okay,
Speaker 1: a guy that can kind of give you fits. He's
Speaker 1: faster than you know, fast and quick, but he's still
Speaker 1: not Lamar Jackson. But that's a close thing. You have
Speaker 1: to you have to try and make him beat you
Speaker 1: with his arm. You know, you can't allow him to
Speaker 1: beat you with his legs. You know, he's able. He's
Speaker 1: one of these rare athletes or quarterbacks that can have
Speaker 1: explosives with his legs and his arm. You know he
Speaker 1: can just as as as easily you'll turn a run
Speaker 1: to a yard run in a blink of an eye,
Speaker 1: especially if you dare to play man and man coverage.
Speaker 1: Because now you play man and man coverage, everybody backs
Speaker 1: her turn, he breaks contained. That's why you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to be disciplined. You want to try and flush him
Speaker 1: to his left to force him that if he does
Speaker 1: flush to his left, if the pressure, if you're going
Speaker 1: to give up an edge, you give it to your
Speaker 1: left because he's gonna run because anything else would be
Speaker 1: thrown across his body. And that and that's you know,
Speaker 1: quarterbacks aren't accurate. But last year everyone, for the first time,
Speaker 1: he really, you know, struggled. He had some games where
Speaker 1: he had three or four interceptions. So you want to
Speaker 1: try and understand that, Hey, his target is Mark Andrews.
Speaker 1: You take that away and you and if the other
Speaker 1: guys beat you, do you spyre him? And also you
Speaker 1: mentioned Andrews. He was targeted something like a hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty times last year, something ridiculous. What do you do
Speaker 1: from a coverage perspective, Well, you have to bracken him.
Speaker 1: You have you have to bracken him, and you have
Speaker 1: to lean on on your safeties as far as and
Speaker 1: and maybe sometimes you know you're getting getting the piece ofthing.
Speaker 1: But they'll do a good job. They'll move them around,
Speaker 1: they won't have them predictable positions, and you have to
Speaker 1: do a good job to understand that eventually that ball
Speaker 1: is going to him. So if you gotta you know,
Speaker 1: death by thousand paper cuts, you you say, Okay, I
Speaker 1: want to see if you can triculate the ball down
Speaker 1: the field. See if you can you know, dink and
Speaker 1: dunk and stay patient without getting the whole im penalty
Speaker 1: with all these exotic runs that you do, without getting
Speaker 1: an illegal procedure, a false start. Let's see if you
Speaker 1: can go down the field no explosives, because you know,
Speaker 1: if he if Mark Andrews is making a catch, it's
Speaker 1: usually on the hashes or the numbers, and you know
Speaker 1: that's that's Lamar Jackson's safety valve. What's the jet ceiling
Speaker 1: this year? Yeah, we just talked to Flacco about it
Speaker 1: before since that, Hey, we do have a lot of talent,
Speaker 1: but there is a lot of unknown as we approach
Speaker 1: the season. And that's the beauty of when you don't
Speaker 1: know that you shouldn't have a fear of anybody. You know,
Speaker 1: if you play at your game and and you know,
Speaker 1: you have a lot of young guys that are you know,
Speaker 1: coming from college, that have a lot of provido, a
Speaker 1: lot of swag, right, you know, you look at Gary Wilson.
Speaker 1: He came from a winning program, and you know he's
Speaker 1: gonna think that he can, you know, do the same
Speaker 1: thing and not missing stuff because it has been guys
Speaker 1: who have come in rather Jamar Chase, rather justin Jefferson,
Speaker 1: that have come into this league and that kind of
Speaker 1: hit it, hit it, you know, full strike, you know,
Speaker 1: and so he should have the same um goals that
Speaker 1: he can be one of those guys and not be
Speaker 1: one of these receivers that struggle because receivers come in
Speaker 1: the league now and they're able to have productivity. Look
Speaker 1: at look at the Loja more. You can have productivity
Speaker 1: because the game in college now emulates the game in
Speaker 1: the pros, not vice versa. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It's not used to be that college used to influence
Speaker 1: the pros. Now is that that the pros and the
Speaker 1: guys that come from college because they throw so much
Speaker 1: in college, the passing game is ahead of even a
Speaker 1: running game. And understanding you know, zone concepts and reading
Speaker 1: the three technique, the five technique and when to bounced
Speaker 1: the ball, when to cut it back. I think they
Speaker 1: have to really lean on on that. And also the
Speaker 1: fact that you know, Breece Hall should have a lot
Speaker 1: of confidence. He's a first round draft pick. He's my
Speaker 1: dark horse for Rookie of the Year. Joe Douglas said,
Speaker 1: we gotta be playing meaningful football in December. We expect
Speaker 1: to be playing meaningful football in December. Now connect that
Speaker 1: with Robert Sala Sala saying we gotta really could a
Speaker 1: cool group, but it's gonna be teams is interesting to
Speaker 1: see who's gonna grab the bull by the horns in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. Who are our dudes gonna be because
Speaker 1: on paper and what we've seen on the practice field
Speaker 1: that Jets have a lot of explosive talent, But who
Speaker 1: are the guys gonna stop up and crunch time? I mean,
Speaker 1: you have to lead on your leader leaders first, right,
Speaker 1: and then you hope that the young guys get the
Speaker 1: experience on the beginning year and you watch you know,
Speaker 1: the pros, pros walking around about how to prepare and
Speaker 1: how to take advantage, right, because teams in the in
Speaker 1: the league are gonna say things for certain game plans,
Speaker 1: game team specific, but also situation specific, you know, So
Speaker 1: how do you try and educate these young guys that
Speaker 1: have a lot of talent, but teach them the nuance
Speaker 1: of the game, right, you know, how do you build
Speaker 1: up their football acumen? Like, how do you tell them, okay,
Speaker 1: expect this in third down you have to get to
Speaker 1: the sticks. You can't come short. You have to get
Speaker 1: past the sticks and come back. It's all the small
Speaker 1: things that that add up to winning and losing, because
Speaker 1: most games in the league are lost, not one, right,
Speaker 1: So let's not beat ourselves else, Let's not have untimely
Speaker 1: penalties because we're undisciplined, and let's take advantage of the
Speaker 1: opportunities we get when the other team, you know, makes
Speaker 1: their mistakes and jump off sides taking shots. Being on
Speaker 1: the same page, one thing we know about Joe Flacco
Speaker 1: his arm is always live and he can push the
Speaker 1: ball down the field, so you know, make plays for
Speaker 1: your quarterback. But also defensively, you should take it personal
Speaker 1: to the fact that you would consider one of the
Speaker 1: worst defenses in the league. Now, everybody's healthy, you know,
Speaker 1: you have you have you know, Karl Lawson, you have,
Speaker 1: you know, a healthy quinnin Williams, Franklin Myers moving back
Speaker 1: to his more natural position. But now we need guys
Speaker 1: like Johnson to step up, right, But we have to
Speaker 1: educate him because it's gonna be certain things he's gonna
Speaker 1: struggle with. You know, let him know, Hey, we don't
Speaker 1: let anything, especially this week you get in. We do
Speaker 1: not lose contain on Lamar Jackson. That is the job.
Speaker 1: Everybody does your job so we all can succeed. How
Speaker 1: charged up is that environment going to be? One of
Speaker 1: my favorite moments working here was the nine eleven game
Speaker 1: against the Dallas almost ten years after September eleventh, of course,
Speaker 1: and now Sunday Jets Ravens twenty one years after nine eleven. Um,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be emotional. It's gonna be emotionally. Everybody can
Speaker 1: kind of remember where they were when nine eleven happened.
Speaker 1: We understood that it was sports that brought this time
Speaker 1: back together, right, that that that gave them piece a
Speaker 1: sense of normalcy, you know what I mean. So like
Speaker 1: now you talk about celebrating it once again coming around,
Speaker 1: I think the fans will be emotional, passionate, and I
Speaker 1: think just the fact that it's the start of the
Speaker 1: football season, it's going to app it up to a
Speaker 1: to a level that's going to be ridiculous, you know.
Speaker 1: But you know, when you look at it as far
Speaker 1: as being a player, you have to keep your emotions
Speaker 1: and attack understanding and they can be emotional. You have
Speaker 1: to be you have to be professional. You have to
Speaker 1: understand that you can tire yourself out and warm ups.
Speaker 1: You know, for the first time first game, what happens
Speaker 1: is you you aren't prepared to go a full game
Speaker 1: yet because you haven't taken yourself there. You haven't played
Speaker 1: eighty snaps as fast as you and go with special teams,
Speaker 1: you know, and a lot of these guys are finding
Speaker 1: out this week once the cuts happen. Now you are
Speaker 1: the look team. Now is nobody that looks say okay,
Speaker 1: can you go? I'm a little tired. You have to
Speaker 1: build that cardio up. So that's why you want to
Speaker 1: make sure that you're able to be disciplined because those
Speaker 1: little things happen. You worry about special team mishaps, and
Speaker 1: you worry about, like you know, receivers and defenders. Receivers
Speaker 1: not running the right routes leads to interceptions, and also
Speaker 1: the communication on the back end. If you can get
Speaker 1: guys mixed up with crossing routes and things of that sort,
Speaker 1: we're off to a great start. Um, we go back
Speaker 1: to two thousand nine at Soony Courtland when Yeah man,
Speaker 1: I tracked you down. I begged you let's do some
Speaker 1: Jets radio and he said, I don't know if I
Speaker 1: want to do any of that. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I want to do with any of that. Now look
Speaker 1: at you, it's like it's like SpongeBob. Thirteen years later,
Speaker 1: the band is back together and hopefully y'all like to
Speaker 1: like this great review. Subscribe will also be on YouTube
Speaker 1: throughout the sea. Subscribe. I won't get no cheese on
Speaker 1: my taco. No, yeah, make sure you get your cheese
Speaker 1: this year. There's not about that. And we'll see you
Speaker 1: all next week