Speaker 1: Yes, Welcome everybody to the Season with Peter Schreger. It's
Speaker 1: a new podcast. I'll be hosting this every week, and
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you I'm fired up. I'm so fired
Speaker 1: up because I've been a guest on a million podcasts.
Speaker 1: I've hosted a podcast called Flying Coach with Sean McVeigh
Speaker 1: that was awesome to do, and I've been waiting for
Speaker 1: the right moment and also waiting for the right vehicle
Speaker 1: to do my own podcast. And now that we're a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks into this season, I'm like, let's just
Speaker 1: chronicle the season, get through each week with insights, empty
Speaker 1: the bag, have great guests and have some fun and
Speaker 1: make you smarter as a listener, but also have open
Speaker 1: dialogue about the season in real time, so that when
Speaker 1: you're listening, you're like, you could follow this thing like
Speaker 1: it's a storybook, and each chapter would be signified or
Speaker 1: separated by the week at it is. If you don't know,
Speaker 1: I'm Peter Schrager. I host Good Morning Football on NFL
Speaker 1: Network on Sundays. You can see me on Fox Sports.
Speaker 1: I used to be a sideline reporter. Now I'm a
Speaker 1: studio guy doing the reporter insider role. Been around the
Speaker 1: game for about twenty years as a sports writer, worked
Speaker 1: on inside the NFL. I've written a couple of books,
Speaker 1: and I truly love this game. I truly love this league,
Speaker 1: and I am a complete sponge for content and information.
Speaker 1: My strength is my context. I talked to everyone around
Speaker 1: the league. I've got great relationships. I like to keep
Speaker 1: those relationships. But that's with players, it's with coaches, it's
Speaker 1: with gms, it's with the owners, it's with agents, it's
Speaker 1: with other media folks. And most of all, I come
Speaker 1: at it like a fan who has got the lottery
Speaker 1: ticket that I can do this for a living, and
Speaker 1: I never lose sight of that on a daily basis,
Speaker 1: that this is my job and how lucky I am
Speaker 1: to do it, and unfortunate that we're partnering with the NFL,
Speaker 1: but also with iHeart Radio, who just the first couple
Speaker 1: of weeks working with these guys have been amazing partners
Speaker 1: and I've met some new friends. One of them is
Speaker 1: Aaron Wong Kaufman. Aaron is going to be our producer,
Speaker 1: our co host, is going to take us through this
Speaker 1: season with us. Aaron, Welcome to the podcast. Thanks Peter, man,
Speaker 1: I'm stoked to be here with you. Aaron your story.
Speaker 1: You work at iHeart. You're a sound and audio guy,
Speaker 1: but you're also an NFL diehard fan. Yeah. Grew up
Speaker 1: in a family of Bills fans, my dad's side of
Speaker 1: the family. They are all from Buffalo. My uncle still
Speaker 1: has season tickets, okay, And you know, didn't grow up
Speaker 1: with necessarily the greatest era of Bills seasons during my childhood.
Speaker 1: But they got such an exciting team right now. It
Speaker 1: was so great watching them develop over the last few
Speaker 1: years and stoked to see where they go now. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I've been with iHeart for like three years now. Got
Speaker 1: to work with the NFL last year on the show
Speaker 1: Split Ends with Colleen Wolf and Erica Tampozy, and I
Speaker 1: am so excited were working with you this season, and
Speaker 1: I can't wait. And you're cool, Like I could tell
Speaker 1: you live in Brooklyn. You're a bed style guy, and
Speaker 1: you've got a style, You've got a flavor to you,
Speaker 1: and I love your energy and I think we're like,
Speaker 1: how should we start this podcast? I kind of like
Speaker 1: going week to week and keeping it up today and
Speaker 1: I feel like we're recording this on a Tuesday let's
Speaker 1: do something we call four downs. You're gonna serve me
Speaker 1: up with a down, and I'm just gonna empty the
Speaker 1: bag on my thoughts and we'll set the stage for
Speaker 1: not only what we just consumed in week five, but
Speaker 1: what we expect in week six. What do we got there? All? Right?
Speaker 1: Big game last night for Monday Night Football, the Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs in Las Vegas Raiders. The Chiefs are losing
Speaker 1: at halftime, We've got the call. Kelsey comes back, scores
Speaker 1: four touchdowns. What are your major reactions and takeaways from
Speaker 1: last night's game? My major reactions is that arrowhead crowd
Speaker 1: is no joke. And I know that sounds like I'm
Speaker 1: playing to the Chiefs fan base. I'm not. Like they're
Speaker 1: down in that game. And you get that crazy roughing
Speaker 1: the passer penalty on Chris Jones and in a typical
Speaker 1: situation like oh that sucks for the Chiefs, Like that
Speaker 1: sucks now they're back against it the wall and all
Speaker 1: the instead, the crowd reacts with such a vitriol booing,
Speaker 1: not just at the call but for the next ten
Speaker 1: minutes that like there was a fervor in that building
Speaker 1: where you felt almost the momentum change based on a
Speaker 1: bad call. So what happens, Well, they find a way
Speaker 1: to get the ball back, they get their touchdown, and
Speaker 1: then right before the first half ends, they're down twenty
Speaker 1: to seven, and matthew Wright, a rookie kicker who missed
Speaker 1: a forty one yard or earlier, nails a fifty nine
Speaker 1: yarder and like the ESPN cameras shoot to the sidelines
Speaker 1: and Andy Reid's fist pumping, and Patrick Mahomes has this
Speaker 1: look of like, don't sweat it, I got you. Don't
Speaker 1: sweat it, I got you, Like don't worry is where
Speaker 1: we live. And the stat I got earlier this week,
Speaker 1: like they're eleven and five under Mahomes in games that
Speaker 1: they've trailed by ten points or more. That's insane. Eleven
Speaker 1: and five, And that crowd led to this like incredible
Speaker 1: atmosphere where you knew that the ball was going to
Speaker 1: start rolling come the second half, and they eventually got
Speaker 1: the lead. And then you see what happens. The officiating
Speaker 1: tides turn a little bit and you get some calls
Speaker 1: like a defensive holding on a missfield boat from right
Speaker 1: that I haven't seen that call since twenty fifteen. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying the refs were influenced by it, but
Speaker 1: that whole atmosphere changed. And my takeaway from this game.
Speaker 1: We could talk my homes, we could talk MVS, we
Speaker 1: could talk about what they did to adjust at halftime,
Speaker 1: but my takeaway is here come the Bills Week six.
Speaker 1: What I think it's the marquee game of the season,
Speaker 1: and that crowd is already in a lather from Monday night.
Speaker 1: This was not a trap game, this was not a
Speaker 1: gotcha game. It was the Raiders. So don't think that
Speaker 1: the Chiefs were lulled into this thing. But I can't
Speaker 1: wait for the atmosphere Sunday. Week six Bills versus Chiefs,
Speaker 1: both teams four and one, both quarterbacks at the peak
Speaker 1: of their powers, both teams having over come a seventeen
Speaker 1: point deficit to win a game in the past few weeks.
Speaker 1: To Bills did it against the Ravens. And I think
Speaker 1: we're lucky, we're fortunate that we're getting this so soon
Speaker 1: in the season and everyone's pretty much healthy for it.
Speaker 1: Week six Bills Chiefs arrowhead, sign me up. That's my
Speaker 1: first down at my reaction that holy the Chiefs and
Speaker 1: that fan base they are tough to beat, even when
Speaker 1: they're down by double digits. Okay, second down, What is
Speaker 1: happening with the Rams offense. I've gotten a lot of
Speaker 1: texts about it. Everyone knows my relationship with Sean McVeigh.
Speaker 1: I've known Sean for a decade. Where good friends. And
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna tell you he's saying everything's fine, But
Speaker 1: I could also tell you it needs to be fixed now,
Speaker 1: and like this is the moment in time because Stafford
Speaker 1: does not look like Staffords. It's actually incredible how inept
Speaker 1: this offense has been. They've scored just one touchdown in
Speaker 1: the last nine quarters. Stafford has been sacked twenty one
Speaker 1: times this season through five games. Last season, he sacked
Speaker 1: thirty times the entire seventeen game regular season. But I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take a positive spin on it. You know, one
Speaker 1: of those games was against the forty nine ers and
Speaker 1: Nick Bosa's breathing down their back. One of those games
Speaker 1: against Michael Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence, and you go week
Speaker 1: one that Bill's team was shot out of a cannon.
Speaker 1: Those are their three losses. They get the Carolina Panthers,
Speaker 1: who come limping in this week and I think my
Speaker 1: whole take is like, where the hell is Allen Robinson?
Speaker 1: And I know that's a fantasy football conversation and I
Speaker 1: usually say, like, here's what you're not getting anywhere else,
Speaker 1: but it's a real conversation because with Van Jefferson injured,
Speaker 1: with Odell Beckham not on this roster, and by the way,
Speaker 1: if I'm Odell, I don't know if I'm signing with
Speaker 1: the Rams anytime soon. If you're looking at this offense
Speaker 1: either with von Miller not coming back anymore, which was
Speaker 1: such an emotional lift last year, like they need Allen Robinson,
Speaker 1: Like you need Allen Robinson. This guy has to step up.
Speaker 1: You can't be relying on Ben Skolnik to be the
Speaker 1: fullback and also the wide receiver too. You can't rely
Speaker 1: on two two at Well, who I think is five
Speaker 1: foot eight and you know, is a fast player, but
Speaker 1: is not an every down guy. Alan Robinson was signed
Speaker 1: for big money. He's getting zero separation. He's a great dude.
Speaker 1: So like you're talking about a guy who wants it.
Speaker 1: He's not a guy who loafs it. He's not a
Speaker 1: guy who doesn't. Is this one of the great misfirings
Speaker 1: of free agent history right now, because five weeks in,
Speaker 1: Alan Robinson has done nothing. And you know you blame
Speaker 1: the run game, the offensive line if you don't have
Speaker 1: that number two guy to Cooper Cup. The fear is
Speaker 1: that you ride Cooper Cups so much that the wheels
Speaker 1: come off. And come week seven, week eight, not only
Speaker 1: is Cup injured, knock on Wood, Cup is spend like
Speaker 1: you can't do this at this pace and you're seeing
Speaker 1: defense is already key in on Cooper Cup. So to
Speaker 1: meet Alan Robinson is everything. There's an NFL player who
Speaker 1: gets the benefit of the doubt because he was playing
Speaker 1: with Blake Boardles and with Mitch Drubisky. And it's always
Speaker 1: been like, yo, a rob if he's got a quarterback,
Speaker 1: just watch out. He is that guy. The Rams are
Speaker 1: paying him as that guy. And in August, all I
Speaker 1: heard from the Rams folks was Robinson is not only
Speaker 1: stepping up, but like he's the perfect number two for
Speaker 1: Cup for what he can do. And I'm watching these
Speaker 1: games and he's not getting separation. So Aaron to you,
Speaker 1: my producer and my friend, like I will tell you this,
Speaker 1: you could pick pick apart cam Akers, you could pick
Speaker 1: apart the offensive line you could say Stafford doesn't look right.
Speaker 1: You could say McVeigh has lost his touch. I look
Speaker 1: at the number two wide receiver and the big free
Speaker 1: agent signing that I know they had so much expectations
Speaker 1: for going into this thing. I think Alan Robinson and
Speaker 1: if that requires Liam Cohen the offensive coordinator and Sean
Speaker 1: mcvade to scrap their principles to try to just get
Speaker 1: him going, whether that means wide receiver screens or getting
Speaker 1: involved in the handoffs, like you have to make this work.
Speaker 1: Alan Robinson needs to be that guy and it needs
Speaker 1: to happen soon for this offense to click. Okay, third down,
Speaker 1: we're going with a positive spin. Now, did anyone see
Speaker 1: this Giant's thing coming? I mean, like, is this as
Speaker 1: much of a surprise to you as it is to me.
Speaker 1: It's a shock. It's a shock. I thought the Joe
Speaker 1: Shane Higher was great as GM and then you know
Speaker 1: Joe with the Mara fam that starts interviewing the candidates,
Speaker 1: and it's like, all right, Brian Flores might be the guy.
Speaker 1: Who else are we meeting with? Okay, let's let's think
Speaker 1: about you know, is Brian Dabele the guys he's got
Speaker 1: a relationship with Shane and then he gets here and
Speaker 1: it's like, all right, Daniel Jones has to be a
Speaker 1: lame duck. Quarterbacks Quon Barkley hasn't been healthy since twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: He's probably a lame duck contract. And then you go
Speaker 1: around this wide receiver room, it's like, all right, Sterling
Speaker 1: Shepherd and Kenny Galladay are all making money like that.
Speaker 1: And then you see the team play and it's like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, they're so well coached. And I think
Speaker 1: that's the X factor here. Daniel Jones is not going
Speaker 1: to light it up through the sky. So instead of
Speaker 1: Brian Dable treating him like he's Josh Allen, he's like,
Speaker 1: let's draw up an offense to maximize his strength. That
Speaker 1: defense does not have many star players on it. Wink
Speaker 1: Martindale comes in as a defensive coordinator and he's like,
Speaker 1: all right, let's maximize what we've got. Let's use my
Speaker 1: philosophies of sending the dogs, but let's be true to
Speaker 1: what we are and be disciplined. And then Mike Kafka,
Speaker 1: the offensive coordinator, has been fantastic as well. I think
Speaker 1: the most important higher of this entire offseason. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about free agencies. I'm talking about trades. Was Brian Dable
Speaker 1: as the head coach of the New York Giants. The
Speaker 1: culture has changed and he has immediately put players in
Speaker 1: position to succeed, and more importantly, Aaron. They believe like
Speaker 1: they could succeed. You're watching them. This team's believing. They're
Speaker 1: rallying around it like they were down fourteen points to
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers and they come
Speaker 1: out of a halftime and they don't quit. That is
Speaker 1: such such a breath of fresh air for the New
Speaker 1: York Giants. And you know, the Giants have this history
Speaker 1: of coaching and it's like Parcels, like you knew what
Speaker 1: you were getting. Parcels. Teams were tough, they were strong,
Speaker 1: they were defensive minded, and they were not going to
Speaker 1: beat themselves. Coughlin disciplined on time, type of team that
Speaker 1: was going to be led by that defensive front. And
Speaker 1: then Eli was gonna do what Eli does best, and
Speaker 1: that's winning the clutch. This team, I didn't know what
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones did well and that's why I was so surprised.
Speaker 1: You know, before the season, good Morning Football, we make
Speaker 1: our playoff picks, and I was dismissive, and one Giant
Speaker 1: and Span tweets at me all the time and it's like, bro,
Speaker 1: you know, retract this comment. And it was me saying, well,
Speaker 1: the Giants aren't a playoff team, like it's gonna be
Speaker 1: Eagles or Cowboys. I don't see the Giants as a
Speaker 1: playoff team. And it was very dismissive, and it was almost,
Speaker 1: you know, to the point where like if you were
Speaker 1: a player, you'd be insulted by that. But gosh, are
Speaker 1: they well coached? And do those players step up top
Speaker 1: to bottom? That fifty three You're talking about guys like
Speaker 1: David Sills is doing toe tap stuff on the sidelines
Speaker 1: at wide receiver looking awesome. You're talking about defensive players
Speaker 1: that have been on this team that are stepping up
Speaker 1: to the next level. Seeing Dexter Lawrence look like a
Speaker 1: first round pick last week was really cool. And then
Speaker 1: just just all the young guns coming up and playing
Speaker 1: tough and playing big put its start to the top.
Speaker 1: Dabo gets a lot of credit and Dabole gets a
Speaker 1: lot of love for the dancing in the locker room
Speaker 1: and all that stuff, But gosh, are they a disciplined
Speaker 1: team that likes playing for their head coach, and you
Speaker 1: feel the cultures. So I did not see it coming.
Speaker 1: I will give a maya kulpa there, but I don't
Speaker 1: think they're going away. And I think they might be
Speaker 1: one of those sneaky wildcard teams or maybe even a
Speaker 1: division winner. And that's because the coach has them believe
Speaker 1: in her. Okay, fourth down, give me your shout out
Speaker 1: of the week. Who impressed you the most? Yeah, shout
Speaker 1: out is to the forty nine ers. This is a
Speaker 1: team that continues to just get stung by the injury
Speaker 1: bug but continues to kick butt. A lot of excuses
Speaker 1: could be made, but the Niners lost. You know, their
Speaker 1: star pass rusher and Nick Bosa in this game, Emmanuel
Speaker 1: Moseley in this game. They're already out without Eric Armstead
Speaker 1: and Trent Williams. Jimmy Ward breaks his hand in this game,
Speaker 1: and they just go on and roll and win thirty
Speaker 1: seven to fifteen. You know, I got a crazy fact
Speaker 1: from a source at the Niners. They went from Carolina
Speaker 1: to stay in this week at the Greenbrier in West Virginia,
Speaker 1: which is a lovely resort where they they've spent the
Speaker 1: last three years on these East Coast trips before they
Speaker 1: go and play Atlanta. This is the third street year
Speaker 1: they've lost a player to a massive ACL injury going
Speaker 1: to the Greenbrier. Last year it was Jason Verrette. They
Speaker 1: had another one before that with Bosa. Like this isn't
Speaker 1: how it's supposed to go. Like you're not supposed to
Speaker 1: have massive ACL injuries year after year, and you're not
Speaker 1: supposed to lose your starting quarterback Trey Lance, you know,
Speaker 1: so early in the season, and yet you lose Elijah Mitchell,
Speaker 1: you lose Trent Williams. These are these are starters. They
Speaker 1: are down nine starters, and what do they do. They
Speaker 1: just like flip the page and they say, let's keep rolling.
Speaker 1: I think the Niners still deserve a lot of love
Speaker 1: here because a lot of teams get key injuries and
Speaker 1: they go into a corner and into a hole and
Speaker 1: they don't continue to bring it. But whatever reason, this
Speaker 1: Niners team has been stung with the injury bug year
Speaker 1: after year after year, and they don't fade. Other guys
Speaker 1: step up, like it was there any doubt that Jeff
Speaker 1: Wilson when Elijah Mitchell came up came out, was going
Speaker 1: to step up. Noways stepped up, Like is there any
Speaker 1: doubt that these offensive tackles who we don't know their names.
Speaker 1: When Trent Williams goes down, step up. They step up.
Speaker 1: Even Jimmy G steps up. Like the Niners. To me,
Speaker 1: they just ever shout out. As we head to week six.
Speaker 1: They'rer at the Greenbrier right now, coming off yet another
Speaker 1: ACL injury, and this one Emmanuel Mosley, and it doesn't
Speaker 1: phase them. They just keep rolling. To me, that's that's coaching,
Speaker 1: and that's culture, and that's what the Niners have. Now.
Speaker 1: I ask you, Aaron, who do you want to shout out?
Speaker 1: All right, let's go from Jimmy G to his old team.
Speaker 1: I want to shout out the Pats defense. I thought
Speaker 1: they looked incredible. They shut out the Lions. Rookie Jack
Speaker 1: Jones had the interception in the end zone, Matt Judon
Speaker 1: had two sacks in the second half. The Lions went
Speaker 1: for it on fourth down on their first four drives,
Speaker 1: never connected. The Pats just they looked so good again
Speaker 1: on defense? You remember, yeah, I remember us, like right,
Speaker 1: like that's what it used to be under Belichick, doesn't
Speaker 1: it seem like Belichick's having more fun this year, as
Speaker 1: much as this team might not have the talent, and
Speaker 1: very like he seems like he likes these guys. Do
Speaker 1: you get that feeling? Yeah, and especially after like all
Speaker 1: the hubbub this preseason and offseason about all the who's
Speaker 1: calling plays, who's not calling plays? Even the offense now
Speaker 1: is doing well. Damien Harris got hurt, Romonder Stevens and
Speaker 1: step up right in just ran through the Lions defense.
Speaker 1: I mean they looked incredible. Yeah, okay, those are two shoutouts.
Speaker 1: There's are four downs. Is what we do, and then
Speaker 1: we do a guest every week. The plan is we're
Speaker 1: gonna bring in coaches, GM, celebrity fans that you might
Speaker 1: know from other work, that just our diehard sports fans.
Speaker 1: And for the first guest, I wanted to bring in
Speaker 1: a friend of mine and a guy who's having a
Speaker 1: little moment right now. It's the head coach of the
Speaker 1: New York Jets. It's Robert Sala. Sala I've known since
Speaker 1: his Jacksonville days. We went from Jaguars to Seahawks, to
Speaker 1: Niners defensive coordinator to finally the Jets. You know, starts
Speaker 1: off his career at four and fourteen. But now they've
Speaker 1: they've got a little thing going here. There're three and
Speaker 1: two for the first time since twenty seventeen. And Sala's
Speaker 1: a good dude. I want to everyone to get to
Speaker 1: know him beyond the history on its on the sideline,
Speaker 1: beyond the coaching stuff. There's a good person. Robert Salo's
Speaker 1: our first guest, now joined by the three and two
Speaker 1: New York Jets head coach and a local hero right
Speaker 1: now in New York. And he's the man, Robert Salo.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the season with Peter Schreger. What's that man?
Speaker 1: How you doing? Man? I appreciate you're having me out,
Speaker 1: of course, take us through the last two days. You guys,
Speaker 1: get this amazing win over the Dolphins. The Jets are
Speaker 1: over it to five hundred for the first time since
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, and this city is alive. I'm in New
Speaker 1: York City, you're in Jersey. Are you feeling that? Are
Speaker 1: you feeling the juice from the fans and also from
Speaker 1: just the media market in general? Now you know what,
Speaker 1: we got a young team. I think positive affirmations are
Speaker 1: always critical, especially when you're a young roster and you're
Speaker 1: trying to build confidence and you're trying to get that
Speaker 1: the ball rolling if you will, you know. But so
Speaker 1: I would imagine for those young men to get positive affirmations,
Speaker 1: to see on tape that they're capable and what they're
Speaker 1: capable of and what we as a team are capable of.
Speaker 1: I think all of it's good. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: you've got to be able to compartmentalize all that noise
Speaker 1: and keep the main thing, the main thing, which is preparation.
Speaker 1: And that's why we've had the success we've had is
Speaker 1: because of preparation, and if we lacked preparation, that success
Speaker 1: will continue. Bruce Hall puts up one hundred and ninety
Speaker 1: seven yards from scrimmage, and you and I were talking
Speaker 1: this summer, like I compared him to Matt Forte. I
Speaker 1: was like, he catches the ball, he runs the ball.
Speaker 1: It's it's on display right now. When when you draft
Speaker 1: a running back in the second round, there's such high expectations.
Speaker 1: When you see him out there, what's your impression just
Speaker 1: five weeks into his NFL career, Um, so you've been
Speaker 1: getting better every week. Him and Michael Carter make a
Speaker 1: really really cool duo. It's a really good one too,
Speaker 1: punch and there's gonna be a week where Michael goes off,
Speaker 1: you know. So there's it's it's a really good compliment
Speaker 1: for Breeze, you know, just a week to week improvement
Speaker 1: with regards to running style and understanding the difference between
Speaker 1: the NFL and college where there's things that he could
Speaker 1: get away with in college because he's just so much
Speaker 1: better than everybody. But now in the NFL, where you've
Speaker 1: got to you've just got to change your running style
Speaker 1: a little bit. And I I feel like he's done that
Speaker 1: as much in the last two weeks. And uh, and
Speaker 1: it's paying off of them. Yeah. I go back after
Speaker 1: Week one, you guys lose to the Ravens, and you
Speaker 1: had the line that that got picked up everywhere and
Speaker 1: you said, hey, you know, I'm taking receipts. All of
Speaker 1: you who mocked us taking receipts. Now it's too early
Speaker 1: to cash in those receipts. It's it's week five. But
Speaker 1: when you said that, I almost watched him afar and
Speaker 1: I'm like, did he mean to say that? Did he
Speaker 1: did he know where he was going with that? Because
Speaker 1: the media ate it up, but it seems like the
Speaker 1: players have responded, like, now that we're a month removed
Speaker 1: from the I'm taking receipts, what is your reaction when
Speaker 1: you look at how things have changed and now here
Speaker 1: we are three and two. But also players are believing
Speaker 1: in each other, you know. I UM, for me, it's
Speaker 1: the the constant improvement from the team, right, It's that's
Speaker 1: always the main focus. And UM didn't think the receipts
Speaker 1: comment would do what it did. I was really hoping
Speaker 1: that it would go away by now. But because it's
Speaker 1: it's just it's so far away. You know, we've got
Speaker 1: to accomplish so much. Just three wins, We've got to
Speaker 1: there's so many things that we want to accomplish as
Speaker 1: an organization. UM. So it's probably, in hindsight, very silly
Speaker 1: to me. But at the same time, I don't think
Speaker 1: our players are externally motivated by m by words and
Speaker 1: and and board the billboards or whatever you cut the
Speaker 1: little I think when Joe and I got together two
Speaker 1: years ago that the charge was to bring in guys
Speaker 1: who love this game, and we'll do everything they can
Speaker 1: to protect it. And I feel like we've done a
Speaker 1: really good job bringing in men who love this game,
Speaker 1: and I think what people are seeing is just unwavering
Speaker 1: desire to get better every day. And this group, I
Speaker 1: think we got a locker room that loves the game
Speaker 1: so much that they're going to find ways to make
Speaker 1: sure they protect it so they can continue to get better,
Speaker 1: you know. Um. And so it is going to be
Speaker 1: a challenge because we're still young and we're going to
Speaker 1: be humbled. But at the same time, I just got
Speaker 1: a lot of faith in the locker room. That's kind
Speaker 1: of where the genesis of everything is that I've got
Speaker 1: faith in what I know it's going to be possible,
Speaker 1: and it's just a matter of continuing to stack up
Speaker 1: great days and show people stack up great days. And
Speaker 1: Sunday was one. And there's a moment in that game
Speaker 1: game where Quinn Williams takes that ball stiff arms Tyreek
Speaker 1: Hill after a week of us hearing about state income
Speaker 1: taxes and how he never really was that interested in
Speaker 1: being in the jet and all this stuff. It felt
Speaker 1: like there was this great Catharsis from the sideline of
Speaker 1: seeing quinnin tossed Tyreek Hill aside and be like, no, dude,
Speaker 1: like we're here. Um. That moment felt like a moment.
Speaker 1: Am I making too much of it that that that
Speaker 1: play right there with Quinn and Williams, of all people
Speaker 1: who has been a top five pick, who has been
Speaker 1: just chopping wood, having that on the home field in
Speaker 1: front of the home fans might making too much of it?
Speaker 1: Or was that like a cool turning point for this
Speaker 1: Jets team. I don't know about turning point and shrikes,
Speaker 1: but I do think it was an awesome play. Um
Speaker 1: deserves all the attention it gets. Not not because of
Speaker 1: rules against and all that. I'm just anytime you get
Speaker 1: a fact guy with the ball running people, so not
Speaker 1: that Quinn's pat, but a big man, big man, big man,
Speaker 1: the little coffee being. It was like, you know, but anytime.
Speaker 1: But I mean, I'm defensive guy. The greatest, the greatest
Speaker 1: playing football is SA sack, fumble, scoop and score. If
Speaker 1: you can't, I that's that's like the triple crown. But
Speaker 1: uh and um, you know, to get a big man
Speaker 1: running and running people over in the stadium, erupting and
Speaker 1: you're basically a few yards five yards away from putting
Speaker 1: a team away. In that situation, it was just a
Speaker 1: really cool pivotal moment in the game. Um, that just
Speaker 1: erupted the entire stadium, not let alone the sideline. You know,
Speaker 1: my boy Kyle Brand gave him the Angry Runs scepter
Speaker 1: for the angriest run of the week. That's very rare.
Speaker 1: Defensive player gets it that people. Of course, he deserves it,
Speaker 1: you know, but uh, he's uh, he's quinnin is Um.
Speaker 1: He's having a heck of a year and he's only
Speaker 1: going to get better. But I love where he's at
Speaker 1: mentally and his mindset and the way he approaches season.
Speaker 1: You know, last year he didn't really get a chance
Speaker 1: to have ots and training camp, dealing with that foot
Speaker 1: injury that he suffered during the off season. And he's
Speaker 1: fully healthy, the best shape of his life, like we
Speaker 1: talked about, you know, really expecting him to continue sending.
Speaker 1: It's a fun team. It's a fun moment in time.
Speaker 1: And now we turn the page because now we go
Speaker 1: to Lambeau and I don't know if I'm breaking news here.
Speaker 1: I've heard from good, good info that like Fox might
Speaker 1: send the number one crew there, This might be Burkhardt Olsen,
Speaker 1: Aaron Andrews. Like this is being treated like a premier game,
Speaker 1: America's Game of the week Jets at Packers, and it
Speaker 1: also has this extra wrinkle that the listeners might not know.
Speaker 1: But not only is Matt Lafloor your offensive coordinator, Michael
Speaker 1: Floor's older brother, He's one of your best friends in
Speaker 1: the world. Can you take us through the relationship between
Speaker 1: you and Matt Lafloor and where it started and where
Speaker 1: it's at. Yeah, So we actually played against it. I
Speaker 1: was a tight end, he was a quarterback. But our
Speaker 1: schools played against each other in college. Didn't know each
Speaker 1: other then. But I get to Central Michigan and if
Speaker 1: you can see it, like this little little square right here,
Speaker 1: I saw it was like a broom closet. He and
Speaker 1: I shared the same offense, and it was about the
Speaker 1: size of a broom closet. I mean, that's coaches. That's
Speaker 1: coaches at Central Michigan. And who's the head coach of
Speaker 1: that team? Is that Brian Kenny Rank Kelly, Yeah, Bran
Speaker 1: Uh and he and I just I mean it was
Speaker 1: like just instantaneous, um, just just the the vibe, and
Speaker 1: we became we got roommates, were roommates, got uh got
Speaker 1: an apartment in the projects of Mount Pleasant Uh and
Speaker 1: we've been we've been tight ever since, you know, sharing ideas, philosophy,
Speaker 1: always talking and uh, you know, he's he's such a
Speaker 1: good man and he's he's won a lot of games
Speaker 1: and he's had a lot of success in this league
Speaker 1: and even when he was a coordinated and an assistant, uh,
Speaker 1: an assistant coach, like, he's done nothing but win. And
Speaker 1: so you just know that he's going to have his
Speaker 1: team ready to roll. They're gonna be pissed off and
Speaker 1: uh and they're gonna be home and so you just
Speaker 1: know you're gonna get everything that they are and it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a tremendous challenge. I gotta take me back
Speaker 1: to Central Michigan, Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Who who's the cleaner
Speaker 1: of the two roommates, Who's the one who's cooking at night? Like?
Speaker 1: What what's the situation? I can't imagine you and Matt Lafloor,
Speaker 1: two NFL head coaches, now sitting there as twenty two
Speaker 1: year old kids in a box for an apartment in Mountain.
Speaker 1: We had no we had no furniture except for a
Speaker 1: couple of mattresses and bedroom sets. Um. There was it was,
Speaker 1: it was, there was. We had a table So the
Speaker 1: story is we found this awesome table and chairs at
Speaker 1: the Salvation Army good Will. We buy the table and
Speaker 1: we're like, shoot, we can't fit it all in the car.
Speaker 1: So we take the table and like, okay, let's go
Speaker 1: back and get the chairs. And we go back to
Speaker 1: get the chairs. They're gone, gone, They're gone. And they
Speaker 1: were like, why don't we buy these before we And
Speaker 1: so we had a we had a we had a table,
Speaker 1: no chairs in the kitchen, and so we just sit
Speaker 1: there and eat the stand were standing just um eat
Speaker 1: on the fly, uh, late nights together, Wingman and all
Speaker 1: that stuff, all that good stuff. And so it was
Speaker 1: there's a lot of a lot of dark, deep secrets
Speaker 1: that we know about each other. So we have and
Speaker 1: his little brother is you're one of your first hires
Speaker 1: when you come to the Jets. Your relationship with Mike,
Speaker 1: I imagine Sims through Matt. Yeah. So, well, you know,
Speaker 1: Matt's from up Pleasant. So we were always at his parents'
Speaker 1: house raiding the fridge and there was a little Mike
Speaker 1: and his you know, high school sweetheart who's now his wife.
Speaker 1: But you know, Mike, Mike, Mike's not here because of
Speaker 1: that relationship Mike's here because of how much I respect
Speaker 1: him as a football coach and fan. It's very important.
Speaker 1: Does the relationship help, Yeah, because there's a level of
Speaker 1: trust and a level of communication that I can have
Speaker 1: to be able to establish the identity and what we're
Speaker 1: trying to get done offensively. But Mike is extremely talented
Speaker 1: and uh and he's got the hardest job of anyone
Speaker 1: of anyone I would argue in the league just thinking
Speaker 1: about what he has as a coordinator with all these
Speaker 1: babies on offense that he's trying to develop and mold,
Speaker 1: and so yeah, the relationship kind of is obviously through Matt,
Speaker 1: but but just watching him grow as a football coach
Speaker 1: and who's who his influences are, it's been it's been
Speaker 1: impressive to watch him and evolve. This podcast, we're geting
Speaker 1: to know coaches, GMS, celebrity fans a little bit better.
Speaker 1: But we're also spending it forward to next week. So
Speaker 1: when you were at San Francisco, you guys had a
Speaker 1: lot of success against Aaron Rodgers. I'm not putting that
Speaker 1: expectation on you, but when you watch the tape and
Speaker 1: you see Rogers, does this motivate you as a defensive
Speaker 1: coach to be like, all right, national TV, everyone's watching,
Speaker 1: We're the hot team. They're coming off a loss, Like,
Speaker 1: let's go do something here. Um, you know what it's Uh,
Speaker 1: the last time I was I went against Aarons Thursday
Speaker 1: night football at the COVID game and they beat the
Speaker 1: They beat the Yeah, it didn't go well. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: now Aaron he's a Hall of Fame quarterback. Um. Lambo
Speaker 1: Field is iconic. The Packer organization and the amount of
Speaker 1: success they've had, especially since Matt's been there, has been
Speaker 1: unprecedented to a degree, and so it's there's a lot
Speaker 1: of excitement. But at the same time, it's every game
Speaker 1: is a championship game, period. Doesn't matter who you're playing,
Speaker 1: William and Mary, Great Bay Packers, you approach it all
Speaker 1: the same and uh, you know, so just keeping again,
Speaker 1: just keeping the main thing, the main thing, and doing
Speaker 1: your best, uh every when the moment comes, and you know,
Speaker 1: all those little cliche things that we talked about day
Speaker 1: in and day out. But I mean, it's it's gonna
Speaker 1: be fun, you know, because of how how cool the
Speaker 1: atmosphere is over there and just being Lambo. But uh,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, you can't. You can't separate
Speaker 1: the two you. You You attack it the way you
Speaker 1: would any other game, and you trust that your best
Speaker 1: is good enough. So you and I have spoken about
Speaker 1: your entry into the NFL quite a bit, and I
Speaker 1: think the listeners would appreciate this. So you get out
Speaker 1: of college, you're working at a finance job. About what
Speaker 1: three months in you start in that wall of what
Speaker 1: am I doing with my life? Can you take us
Speaker 1: through your decision to give up what might have been
Speaker 1: a very lucrative career in finance to chasing the dream
Speaker 1: of being an NFL coach. Yeah, I'm until I got
Speaker 1: this job, I was I was gonna make a heck
Speaker 1: of a lot more money and banking than I do
Speaker 1: in football. But just one of those deals, you know,
Speaker 1: like try to explain the best I can. When you
Speaker 1: do what you love, I love you back. That's that's
Speaker 1: kind of the old saying, right or us saying so,
Speaker 1: just questioning at a very young age and having the
Speaker 1: support I had from my family and the resources that
Speaker 1: I had to be able to attack coaching because not
Speaker 1: a lot of people can get into coaching because of
Speaker 1: I mean, shoot, I was making six hundred bucks a
Speaker 1: month for the first three years of my coaching career.
Speaker 1: And so you're making pennies, You're it's tremendous sacrifice. But
Speaker 1: there's so many people who helped me along the way.
Speaker 1: But um, you know, you're sitting there in the banking
Speaker 1: world and it's like, Okay, I can chase money or
Speaker 1: I can chase what I love. And it's such a
Speaker 1: such a I'm just fortunate because it doesn't always work
Speaker 1: out this way, but when you do what you love,
Speaker 1: it'll love you back. Everything kind of took care of yourself.
Speaker 1: The money followed, the family, the kids, all of it.
Speaker 1: Like it's I'm very blessed and and and so you
Speaker 1: just it's just fortunate. Obviously, I'm fortunate, got lucky along
Speaker 1: the way. I had a lot of great players to coach.
Speaker 1: But I was just making that I was at the
Speaker 1: crossroads of life and hey, do I want money or
Speaker 1: I want to do what I love? Every day where
Speaker 1: I don't feel like i'm you know, it's the commute downtown,
Speaker 1: jumping on the train and walking inside, going to Peter
Speaker 1: Pitt for lunch and piece deserable, miserable. So but anyway,
Speaker 1: that was it. And then Gary Kubiak. How does that happen?
Speaker 1: How do you connect with him and get that gig
Speaker 1: in the NFL? So I was I was an intern
Speaker 1: for the for No Capers in Vic Fantio. So, so
Speaker 1: what happened was at Central Michigan there was another assistant
Speaker 1: who was now on our staff here. His name is Tonio.
Speaker 1: He's our corners coach here. Um he when we were
Speaker 1: when he was at Central, he and I got very close,
Speaker 1: very quickly. But and he was there for only Spring
Speaker 1: Bowl and then he takes it off. He becomes the
Speaker 1: assistant dB coach for the Houston Texas. He and I
Speaker 1: stay connected, and I go to Georgia and I'm there
Speaker 1: for about two weeks and he calls and says, hey,
Speaker 1: there's an internship available. Would you be interested. I can't
Speaker 1: promise you anything, but you know it's it's five bucks
Speaker 1: an hour. I say, I'm there. Five bucks an hour,
Speaker 1: I'm there, I don't care. And it was like it
Speaker 1: was a really long weekend and coach Capers calls me
Speaker 1: and says, Rob, sounds like you're the guy we need.
Speaker 1: And this was before quality controls was like a full
Speaker 1: time position. It wasn't even a job. Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: I was like, so don Papers was the head coach,
Speaker 1: he was the head coach, so big Fanji was assistant.
Speaker 1: God blessed him. I don't think he talked to me
Speaker 1: until like week six and seas I got hy week
Speaker 1: before a week before the season, and by week by
Speaker 1: week three that season, if everyone remembers, our offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: was let go, and like it was like, Okay, Houston's
Speaker 1: Houston's done. Everyone stores are closed. I'm just sitting here.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what the heck am I supposed to do?
Speaker 1: Just an intern, which was in hindsight, was lucky because
Speaker 1: they couldn't fire me. I was an intern. I was
Speaker 1: technically on the coaching style. Long story short, Kubiak comes
Speaker 1: in and you know, Mike talked to Michael McDaniel talked
Speaker 1: about it last last week. I was just I was
Speaker 1: a squatter, just kind of hanging out, waiting for a
Speaker 1: cub and hovering around his desk, grabbing his trash whatever,
Speaker 1: talking to him about the building. And when the whole
Speaker 1: weekend of just me and him visiting and uh, finlence
Speaker 1: a coach, I have options, which I didn't, which That's
Speaker 1: what I told my wife. I'd love I'd love to
Speaker 1: be here, um and I'd love to work for you
Speaker 1: and prove myself to however I can. And uh and
Speaker 1: he gave me a job and the rest is history.
Speaker 1: So the rest is history. And the young crew that
Speaker 1: you had there, I mean, he said, Mike, what's a
Speaker 1: twenty two twenty three year old? Mike McDaniel had a
Speaker 1: yale like, what does that hang? Buddy? Rolling my man? No,
Speaker 1: he's like he's a lot like he is now just
Speaker 1: a little bit more paying or you know, he's very
Speaker 1: but the same but the same style, just the just
Speaker 1: um so smart, so authentic, um so so so good
Speaker 1: with his word, so good with his body language, his
Speaker 1: ability to communicate with people, and and the way people
Speaker 1: gravitate to him and just love being around him because
Speaker 1: he's got this personality that's I mean, you've been around him.
Speaker 1: You know, he's got this uh he's got this way
Speaker 1: about him, you know. And uh, um, so he's he's
Speaker 1: been great. But that room, it was, it was there.
Speaker 1: It was me and Mike mcdanel the start, and then
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur shows up and he gets thrown on one
Speaker 1: another corner and then in the final corner, was Richard
Speaker 1: hyper years and uh so it was a pretty cool room.
Speaker 1: And then Kyle Shanahan in the hall right behind us,
Speaker 1: just coming in there just magically forgetting how to use
Speaker 1: a copy machine and yelling at the coach only twenty
Speaker 1: five years old, man press the button. But I know
Speaker 1: it was a pretty cool staff. It's funny because we
Speaker 1: always talk about that Washington staff and it was like
Speaker 1: they had lafleur, they had Shanahan, they had McDaniel, they
Speaker 1: had McVeigh. What year was that for that Texans staff?
Speaker 1: We never get that X. That's the five six or
Speaker 1: six staff or six? Ye what did you guys do?
Speaker 1: You had Shaub and Andre like was a team good?
Speaker 1: H So Kyle I think we went um, I want
Speaker 1: to say were nine, seven or eight? We had eight
Speaker 1: and a with them um and Kyle took off to
Speaker 1: Washington to do with his pops and uh but that
Speaker 1: group that eight and eighteen Kyle's last year. He's the
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator, and it was me McDaniel. H McDaniel had left,
Speaker 1: but me lafleur were in there. So it was just
Speaker 1: it was a cycle. I don't know if we were
Speaker 1: all in there. We're all in there together for one year,
Speaker 1: and then McDaniel took off to take a take advantage
Speaker 1: of an opportunity, and then uh, they all reunited back
Speaker 1: in Washington. We're gonna wrap with two quick questions. One.
Speaker 1: I like to ask this to all the coaches. And
Speaker 1: I know we say we don't play favorites, but it
Speaker 1: could be a sentimental favorite. It could be an all
Speaker 1: around best player, the defensive player that you enjoyed coaching
Speaker 1: the most. Was who in my career? Yeah, man, I
Speaker 1: got a lot of them. Frederico Warner, Who we got?
Speaker 1: Richard Sherman? Who are we talking you got? I can
Speaker 1: go through the list. I mean, who comes out person
Speaker 1: in your head? I've been blessed, Shrays, I've been blessed.
Speaker 1: You talked from Houston, Demika Ryans was our linebacker. Him
Speaker 1: and coach like those two unbelievable to right. Then you
Speaker 1: go to Seattle, you got the legion of Boom Bobby Wagner.
Speaker 1: Chris Clements was awesome to talk crap with on a
Speaker 1: daily basis. Um. Then you go to uh Jacksonville with
Speaker 1: with Paul Puzzlesni like you talked about I thought he
Speaker 1: was in the military and I was like, are you
Speaker 1: your family? And he's like, what are you talking about coaching?
Speaker 1: Just just football guy. You look at football guy and
Speaker 1: it's his nee, just hands. Just buy the book Love
Speaker 1: puzz I mean the guys guys working as a defense contractor,
Speaker 1: and uh, I'm like, buddy, you know you don't need
Speaker 1: to work. He's like, I get bored him, like like
Speaker 1: he's in rocket science. Basically, I'm like, he's the best.
Speaker 1: And then you go to San Francisco and just the
Speaker 1: from the forest Buckner to Warner Um, Jimmy Ward part
Speaker 1: Richard Sherman again. I mean, it's been I've been so fortunate,
Speaker 1: and then you get into this group and there's so
Speaker 1: many young personalities here. I have been very, very fortunate
Speaker 1: in my career and like I said, we were You know,
Speaker 1: when you get to one of these seats, it's, uh,
Speaker 1: you've been blessed to be around great players, and every
Speaker 1: head coach, every coach can say that that you're you're
Speaker 1: blessed and we've been fortunate. So and my last question
Speaker 1: is always going to be a little life advice and
Speaker 1: life advice for those at home, and in this case,
Speaker 1: I go back to your year, last year, your house,
Speaker 1: isn't ready yet. You've got seven children, you've got a wife,
Speaker 1: you're in a new market, and correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: You guys are living in a two bedroom apartment, three
Speaker 1: bedroom apartment while you're waiting through your house. How did
Speaker 1: you get through that? And how did your marriage still stable?
Speaker 1: And take us through just all all the dads and
Speaker 1: husbands out there, seven kids in a two bedroom apartment
Speaker 1: with a new job in a new market. Good luck
Speaker 1: and pull up. We did have Okay, so there's Murphy
Speaker 1: bed Yeah, but now I'll be honest, that credit goes
Speaker 1: to my wife. I got to go to work and
Speaker 1: hide from it. And you know, like I look back
Speaker 1: at it, my kids they grew up like it was
Speaker 1: almost like the way we grew up. You know. I
Speaker 1: was like, hey, i'll meet you, and I meet you
Speaker 1: across the street, or I'll meet you in the in
Speaker 1: the lobby or whatever. Like they were going. I don't
Speaker 1: know where the heck they were Half the time, they
Speaker 1: were in you know, Ricky Manning's kids apartment, messing with
Speaker 1: their kids. They're they're messing with all the players. I'm like,
Speaker 1: what the heck is going on? World? No, it wasn't
Speaker 1: it's like it's temporary living or it's like just an
Speaker 1: apartment complex for all the Yeah, it's uh, it's extended
Speaker 1: basically extended living apartment complexes, and so like the players
Speaker 1: will stay there, and if you're going to be somewhere,
Speaker 1: we need a place to stay for a few months,
Speaker 1: a beautiful place, a nice place. But so my kids
Speaker 1: they're running around, they don't know anybody. They're sleeping on
Speaker 1: top of each other, they don't know anything. And uh,
Speaker 1: the hard part was for my wife and I because
Speaker 1: you know, you want some private time, you want to
Speaker 1: hang out with the web. I want to watch you.
Speaker 1: I don't think I watched TV at all last year
Speaker 1: because there's there's always there's one TV. You know, it's
Speaker 1: The Making Mouse Club, you know, it's like but but no,
Speaker 1: it's we're fortunately it's funny now that we're in the
Speaker 1: house and knock out what we got this beautiful home
Speaker 1: and all these bedrooms. Job, they're all in the same bedroom,
Speaker 1: sleeping on top of each Yeah. So I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: you have your own bedroom, Like god, I want to
Speaker 1: see what Adam he steal all the swan and so
Speaker 1: you got all of them just feet in mouth and
Speaker 1: you're like, what's wrong with you guys? You got all
Speaker 1: the space. But um, I feel like it brought the
Speaker 1: kids to very very close together. And you know, my
Speaker 1: wife and I we got a room in the opposite
Speaker 1: side of the room, don't hear in our house, and
Speaker 1: so everything's great. But um, you know, you appreciate you
Speaker 1: always want to look at the silver lining of stuff,
Speaker 1: and so you can you can either dwell, you know,
Speaker 1: an adversity, or you can uh shine, I guess. And
Speaker 1: I looked at the silver lining and that the kids
Speaker 1: were doing awesome. Yeah, it was a little hard for
Speaker 1: my wife and I, but um, but the kids, which
Speaker 1: is the main thing. My wife is the main thing.
Speaker 1: But the kids, who are also big part of it,
Speaker 1: they were they were thriving, and so it was I
Speaker 1: thought it was cool. You like Jersey huh Yeah, my
Speaker 1: wife loves it. I don't get to see much of it,
Speaker 1: but I do. I. Um, I love the fact. That's
Speaker 1: the thing. Man, I grew up in Jersey. It is
Speaker 1: like a thing like once you get here, you really did.
Speaker 1: Everyone Everyone who comes here, they're like, man, New York.
Speaker 1: I was expecting. I was like, no, we're thirty minutes
Speaker 1: away from everything. I mean, everybody knows everybody. You walk
Speaker 1: into the barbershop and it's like every all the locals
Speaker 1: are there, all the kids know, every parent knows every parent,
Speaker 1: every kid knows every kid. And you go to as
Speaker 1: it's it's like where I grew up. You know, you
Speaker 1: go to a graduation party and there's ten parents at
Speaker 1: this graduation party. They're just hanging out, like chaperoning and
Speaker 1: hanging out one another while all their kids are doing whatever.
Speaker 1: And it's like everyone is so tight knit, and it's
Speaker 1: just you feel safe in that regard because you know
Speaker 1: your kids can just ride a bike and go somewhere,
Speaker 1: and you know that if something's wrong, somebody knows somebody
Speaker 1: to make sure that your kid gets home safely. Uh
Speaker 1: So I love it here. It's beautiful. It's not New York.
Speaker 1: It's New Jersey, but you're thirty minutes from New York
Speaker 1: where you can go get all of New York that
Speaker 1: you want, but you can still kind of escape to
Speaker 1: the quiet birds, which is my style. And uh but
Speaker 1: but it's you know, we're fortunate. We're in a very
Speaker 1: very nice area and my wife loves it and we
Speaker 1: love it. We can be happier. I'm happy for you
Speaker 1: man three and two going into Lambeau. It's a cool
Speaker 1: moment for Robert Salo and the New York Jets. And
Speaker 1: I appreciate you being our first guest on the season
Speaker 1: with Peter Schreker. This is awesome, dude, Thank you. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you, brother, You're the man. Guys, Robert Sala awesome
Speaker 1: as always. Good luck this weekend. Thanks man. Robert Salo
Speaker 1: was awesome. That guy. He's a great coach and a
Speaker 1: great man. And I gotta tell you, the team we
Speaker 1: have an NFL network is pretty awesome too. And one
Speaker 1: of the sneaky easter eggs that we have on Good
Speaker 1: Morning Football is that we've got one of the best
Speaker 1: research groups you will see in sports television. And at
Speaker 1: the Combine and at the Draft. I'm on the panel
Speaker 1: there and it's like my favorite time of the year.
Speaker 1: I'm doing all the draft stuff and I've got this
Speaker 1: little secret weapon in my back pocket. And his name
Speaker 1: is Tony Holzman Escorreno, and Tony is our researcher on
Speaker 1: that set, and it's myself, it's Chris Rose, it's Charles Davis,
Speaker 1: and Tony and I we bust balls, but we also
Speaker 1: love to go through the actual numbers and like dig
Speaker 1: a little deeper and get those nuggets. Tony, welcome to
Speaker 1: the podcast. Man, appreciate you having me, Shregs. It's an
Speaker 1: honor to be here, which you obviously we have a
Speaker 1: great time at the Combine in the draft every year,
Speaker 1: but it's good to be in a different media in
Speaker 1: which you're here. Let me tell you something. I thought
Speaker 1: it'd be cool every week to have a segment for
Speaker 1: the listener. It's called make Me Smarter. And what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do is I'm gonna lean on you and your
Speaker 1: brethren over there in the research group, and you're going
Speaker 1: to make me smarter. And in this case, I watch
Speaker 1: this Dallas Cowboys defense and I see Michael Parsons empty bag,
Speaker 1: get sacks, play defensive end, play linebacker, play quarter on
Speaker 1: some plays, and he's everywhere and historical. I'm like, he's
Speaker 1: kind of like LT, but he's also kind of like
Speaker 1: you know, Aaron Donald in a way. The segment is
Speaker 1: called make Me Smarter, And the question is this, Tony,
Speaker 1: how the heck does Michael Parsons do it? What makes
Speaker 1: him what he is? Make me smarter. I mean, when
Speaker 1: we watch Michael Parsons play, it's easy to see that
Speaker 1: he's a unicorn on the field. I mean, every time
Speaker 1: you see him, he's the best athlete on the field
Speaker 1: by far. The thing that we do know that anybody
Speaker 1: can look up. Michael Parsons is tied for first in
Speaker 1: the sacks this year, and he's tied for fourth in
Speaker 1: the NFL and sacks going back to his rookie season
Speaker 1: at twenty twenty one. But honestly, Parsons has put up
Speaker 1: full time production in a part time role. He has.
Speaker 1: He had a quote that said, me at sixty percent
Speaker 1: is better than most people's hundred percent, so we're gonna
Speaker 1: show it. So Parsons only rushed the pastor on sixty
Speaker 1: percent of his snap since twenty twenty one, despite that
Speaker 1: he's top five in sacks. He's the only player and
Speaker 1: the top fifty and sacks to rush the pastor on
Speaker 1: fewer than seventy five opponent dropbacks, which is insane. And
Speaker 1: as you were saying that he does so many different things,
Speaker 1: he's the only player with two hundred and fifty snaps
Speaker 1: against the run in coverage and rushing the pastor since
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. According to our NFL in House Next
Speaker 1: Year stats. Now, his role has changed a little bit
Speaker 1: this year. So going back to his rookie season, Parsons
Speaker 1: had three games with two or more sacks will rushing
Speaker 1: the passer on only half of his half of opponent
Speaker 1: drop backs. That was only fewer than three other players,
Speaker 1: including TJ. Watt, who won Defensive Player of the Year,
Speaker 1: had had six such games. If we fast forward to
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, his roles changed because he's rushing the
Speaker 1: pastor on eighty percent of his drop backs, and he
Speaker 1: already has three games with two sacks in the first
Speaker 1: five games of the season, which is insane. It puts
Speaker 1: him on pace for ten, which would break the NFL
Speaker 1: record held by Reggie White in his nineteen eighty seven
Speaker 1: defensive play the year ten games, ten games of two
Speaker 1: or more sex games and two or more Sexeggie did
Speaker 1: it that year. Reggie White had eight, So he's on
Speaker 1: pace to break it by two games. It's insane. Now.
Speaker 1: If we want to look get into this week and
Speaker 1: the matchup with the Eagles, Yeah, the Eagles have PFF's
Speaker 1: highest graded pass blocking offensive line this season, and the
Speaker 1: Cowboys have PFF's highest graded pass rush, so that's a
Speaker 1: great matchup to watch. Now, Parsons, as we've talked about,
Speaker 1: splits his time all over the place, and he rushes
Speaker 1: from the left side and the right side when he's
Speaker 1: lined up against right tackle Lane Johnson. That's a strength
Speaker 1: against strength matchup PFF's highest graded offensive line, offensive tackle
Speaker 1: and pass blocking versus p f second highest graded edge rusher.
Speaker 1: And then the thing when it goes weakness on strength
Speaker 1: is Jordan Malata miss last week with the shoulder injury
Speaker 1: and Jack Driscoll started for him. He's gonna have to
Speaker 1: do with Parsons for the other half of the snap.
Speaker 1: So the matchup will be very interesting to watch in
Speaker 1: the sense of you have an all Pro against an
Speaker 1: all Pro, and the you have an all Pro against
Speaker 1: the backup. Possibly Yeah, and that could be the formula
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys pulling upset against the Eagles. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: ask you because you're making us smart with all the
Speaker 1: numbers and stuff. I mean, just the naked eye coming
Speaker 1: out of the draft. You and I do all this
Speaker 1: draft stuff. We do the calm. By what I was saying,
Speaker 1: we knew he'd be good. Did you have any idea
Speaker 1: that he would be like this, not at all, not not.
Speaker 1: I mean, I knew he could rush the pass or
Speaker 1: some but nobody expected him to be that at two
Speaker 1: hundred and four generational talent. He moves offensive line in
Speaker 1: one hundred pounds more than him, which is insane, and
Speaker 1: he can run with wide receivers like he's he hasn't
Speaker 1: allowed a receiving a touchdown and coverage in his career.
Speaker 1: And he rushed like he's such a unicorn. And like
Speaker 1: the crazy thing is I'm in New York Giants had
Speaker 1: that pick and Penn State Giants like it's a he
Speaker 1: fits everything lt the history, all of the stuff. Giants
Speaker 1: trade that pick, they get next year's first, and then
Speaker 1: they get Cadarius Tony, um, and you know, we'll look
Speaker 1: at that for the next The next year's first ended
Speaker 1: up being Evan Neil, but like, we'll look at that
Speaker 1: for a long time. Evan Neil and Kadarius Tony and
Speaker 1: they end up passing on just having Michael Parsons who
Speaker 1: was in there that they better hope Evan Neil is
Speaker 1: what they think he is because he's no dealing with
Speaker 1: Michael Parsons for a long, long time. Absolutely all right, Tony,
Speaker 1: you're the man. Much appreciated. Thanks for making me smarter.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you, Shirks, thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1: It means a lot beautiful, all right. One of the
Speaker 1: things that's cool about having my own podcast is I
Speaker 1: can bully around the bosses and the producers and say
Speaker 1: I want I want my friends on it too. I
Speaker 1: don't just want, you know, fancy NFL superstars, and I
Speaker 1: want guys that I grew up with who I think
Speaker 1: are hilarious and if they were in our line of work,
Speaker 1: would all be superstars too, because they're smart, they're funny,
Speaker 1: and they're my guys and my gals. And one of
Speaker 1: them is my college roommate, Aaron. Aaron, I'm gonna let
Speaker 1: you up right now. We went to Emmery University from
Speaker 1: the years two thousand and two thousand and four. Many
Speaker 1: nights at Club one twelve listening to the Ying Yang Twin,
Speaker 1: and many a great great late night trips to the
Speaker 1: Harris Teeter or the Kroger Market to get some chicken
Speaker 1: wings at two am. Aaron, welcome to the podcast. Thank you, Peter.
Speaker 1: Some of my finest memories of my life of course,
Speaker 1: and thank you so much. It said an honor. It's
Speaker 1: a dream. You know. We had a radio show going
Speaker 1: back in the day at the Emery University and it's
Speaker 1: been twenty years in the making, Peter, I've been waiting
Speaker 1: for you to finally get me on something and maybe
Speaker 1: we can recreate some of the magic that we used
Speaker 1: to have from from back in the day. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much. It's an honor to be here on this podcast.
Speaker 1: So let me let me start it off with some
Speaker 1: more about you. You're an La guy through and through,
Speaker 1: and I was a Jersey guy. We were roommates throughout college,
Speaker 1: fraternity brothers, the whole thing. But one of the things
Speaker 1: that you're interested in that I don't give a crap
Speaker 1: about is like this weird sci fi superhero and like
Speaker 1: to the point where it could be the third offshoot
Speaker 1: of a Star Wars show, and you've already binged the
Speaker 1: entire thing or Marvel Universe. You can reference the eleventh
Speaker 1: character from the Iron Man film and you'll give me
Speaker 1: the full Wikipedia on him. And we were at dinner
Speaker 1: last week with a bunch of our college friends and
Speaker 1: you made a statement that I thought would rock the world.
Speaker 1: The statement was that this new Game of Thrones, this
Speaker 1: House of the Dragons, is superior to the original. R R.
Speaker 1: Martin far superior. Take it away, Peter, far superior. And
Speaker 1: thanks for the shout out to La Go Dodgers. Sorry
Speaker 1: to the family for staying up till two in the
Speaker 1: morning for the next month of October. Yes, Peter, absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's better. You're kidding me. From the opening lines, from
Speaker 1: the opening segment, you know, everybody wants to think that
Speaker 1: the old Game of Thrones. Right at the music hits
Speaker 1: in and you get all the old world coming. We
Speaker 1: got blood lines flowing from date. From the first second,
Speaker 1: this show starts all about the blood lines. And this
Speaker 1: show it's far superior. I think this show is just
Speaker 1: on a different level. And you know the reason why, Peter.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you something. I'm gonna take it back
Speaker 1: to your show here, but your football. I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: you and I know football quite well. We know we
Speaker 1: know what we see a great backup quarterback in action. Okay.
Speaker 1: Now the reason this show so good. You got someone
Speaker 1: called Miguel Sapatchnick. I don't know you know who who
Speaker 1: that is? Okay, character and actor Miguel Miguel is a
Speaker 1: is a writer, he's a director. He's a man who
Speaker 1: was standing behind uh, mister Benioff, mister Weiss, the creators
Speaker 1: of Game of Thrones for many seasons, sit in the
Speaker 1: winds waiting. Okay. This is a guy who directed one
Speaker 1: of the greatest episodes of Game of Thrones, the Battle
Speaker 1: of the Bastard John Snow versus Ramsey Bolton. Okay, one
Speaker 1: of the best episodes. This guy has been waiting. He's
Speaker 1: like a he's like a geno smith. He's been waiting
Speaker 1: for his moment. Okay, and here he is. This is
Speaker 1: his show. This is a Miguel Sapatchnick show. Comes in
Speaker 1: House of Dragons. It is beautiful, I mean beautiful. This
Speaker 1: show got a great story. All about the story, you know,
Speaker 1: in fact, you know you want to compare it to
Speaker 1: another show that's out there right now, The Rings Show
Speaker 1: over on the Amazon. I mean, it's all about the story.
Speaker 1: The story's lacking over with the Rings Show. It's it's
Speaker 1: so good over on House of Dragon. It just and
Speaker 1: and personally, I just think, you know, I don't need
Speaker 1: all the fantasy. You know, of course I love that,
Speaker 1: thank you. You know, I am a big fan of
Speaker 1: all these these these genres. But you know with Game
Speaker 1: of Throws, you had it had the Walkers, and he
Speaker 1: had the war dragons had all these things and whatever
Speaker 1: House of dragged. All I need is a good story
Speaker 1: and dragons. That's it, cut and dry. Not a lot
Speaker 1: going on except for great story and dragons. Okay, I
Speaker 1: didn't watch a single episode of Game of Thrones, And
Speaker 1: a lot of the listeners will be like, well do
Speaker 1: that immediately? Um, where when do you watch this during
Speaker 1: football season? Like? What are you a guy who watches
Speaker 1: its Sunday night and then reads all the recaps and
Speaker 1: gets on the podcast listens to like the watch with
Speaker 1: Andy Greenwald and all those guys? Or do you watch
Speaker 1: at your own leisure? No? We as you know, Peter,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm busy. I got I got a job,
Speaker 1: I do things like a family and everything. So I
Speaker 1: stay until two in the morning, three in the morning,
Speaker 1: you know, pretty much every night. You know, I need
Speaker 1: some me time. And the me time is usually when
Speaker 1: I consume my content, call my stories my content. And yes,
Speaker 1: I watch I watch it right on the Sunday night. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I need I need to see the show right away
Speaker 1: because then I go to the old YouTube and I
Speaker 1: watched some of my favorite YouTubers recap some of the videos. Right,
Speaker 1: explainer videos, right, of course, of course we've got to
Speaker 1: get a little Easter eggs here and there, a little
Speaker 1: timmy back to the stories. You'll give me some reminders.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's right. Okay, you know I'm I love it, Peter, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm consuming content in the in the wee hours of
Speaker 1: the night most nights. This might be a weekly segment.
Speaker 1: You give us a little recommendation or something, but that
Speaker 1: is the take. Listeners, if you're listening, I want a
Speaker 1: Game of Thrones inferior to House of Dragons. You heard
Speaker 1: it from my college roommate, one of my best friends,
Speaker 1: mister Aaron on the call. Listen, real quick story to
Speaker 1: sum up this guy's love for that kind of genre.
Speaker 1: We always joke about it. We were on a trip
Speaker 1: to Nashville last year, first time all of our college
Speaker 1: guys were together since COVID. We go out on Broadway.
Speaker 1: We have a big night. I'll name drop Blake Shelton
Speaker 1: sets us up at his little honky tonk, the Old Red.
Speaker 1: We have this great night night. We get back to
Speaker 1: the hotel, around three in the morning, we're together for
Speaker 1: the first time and there's just a light beaming. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we still all crash in the same hotel room, don't
Speaker 1: question us. But we see this light beaming from one
Speaker 1: of the corners of the room and it's Aaron watching
Speaker 1: his phone. We're like, what the hell are you doing?
Speaker 1: And tell the audience what you had to do at
Speaker 1: three in the morning after a big parting night in Nashville. Loki.
Speaker 1: It was all about Loki, amazing show, and I was
Speaker 1: catching up on whatever episode four of Loki. I mean
Speaker 1: I needed to you know, get and you know, unwind
Speaker 1: a little bit before I got to bed, listen to
Speaker 1: my stories watching the content. Great show, by the way,
Speaker 1: phenomena three three in the morning, Four forty year old
Speaker 1: men in a room, lying around, just trying to figure
Speaker 1: out how we're gonna wake up the next morning. And
Speaker 1: there's a beam of light and it's some show called
Speaker 1: Loki and one of our friends is devouring at all friend,
Speaker 1: is you Aaron? Thank you for joining the podcast. Peter,
Speaker 1: all right, and that's a rap, that's what we believe it.
Speaker 1: We start with Arrowhead Stadium and talking about the intensity
Speaker 1: between the Chiefs and the Bills, and we end it
Speaker 1: with the intensity of Game of Thrones versus House of Dragons,
Speaker 1: and in between we talked Micah, we talked with Robert
Speaker 1: Salah and we had a blast. I want to thank
Speaker 1: our producer, Aaron Wong Kaufman. Aaron, thank you, Bro. I
Speaker 1: want to thank Tony, our research expert, Tony Holtzman Escarano.
Speaker 1: And we want to thank our music man, Jack rud
Speaker 1: who made this music and it was awesome and we're
Speaker 1: going to continue to keep on rolling. Week six is
Speaker 1: on the way. It's Bills, Chiefs week. Let's go baby.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to everyone,