Speaker 1: This is Trent McDuffie, all Pro Corner with the Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs, and this is the NFL report.
Speaker 2: That's right, this is the NFL Report. I'm Steve Whitewoot.
Speaker 1: My guy James Palmer Ooh, he's looking a bit warmer
Speaker 1: than he was looking yesterday. But JP, we have a
Speaker 1: loaded show after these conference championships. We have got Steve Smith,
Speaker 1: Agent eighty nine, here, Stacy Dales who was in Detroit,
Speaker 1: Mike GARATFOLO with the latest news, Jeff Shdea, and a
Speaker 1: special piece with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. This is a
Speaker 1: great loaded show, JP. I'm in my normal haunts. I'm
Speaker 1: in the VO booth here at the NFL Network studios.
Speaker 1: You're still in Buffalo, bro. I can still see the
Speaker 1: Grace guys behind you. Must have been a great atmosphere
Speaker 1: this morning.
Speaker 3: Huh.
Speaker 4: It's a great atmosphere, Steve.
Speaker 5: The Grace guy's rather fitting for what's happening here in Buffalo.
Speaker 5: I'm at my hotel this morning. I'm at a coffee
Speaker 5: shop that's in the hotel. An older gentleman sitting at
Speaker 5: a table by himself and his bill's hat looks over
Speaker 5: at a family of four next to him, two kids
Speaker 5: about eight years old in their Buffalo Bill's ski hats.
Speaker 5: He looks at the two kids and goes wide right again.
Speaker 6: Boom.
Speaker 4: The little girl.
Speaker 5: Looks back at him at about eight years old and says,
Speaker 5: I hate the cheese.
Speaker 7: One to go play sment down.
Speaker 8: Bassist kick is up and the kick.
Speaker 9: Is Oh god, a little prophecy Taylor pass has struggled.
Speaker 2: And he just misses. The kick just went wide the
Speaker 2: whole way never came back. Oh the horror to have
Speaker 2: to relive that.
Speaker 1: So now there are a WHR Championship Sunday, January twenty eighth.
Speaker 1: By virtue of that myst the Kansas City Chiefs advance
Speaker 1: to travel to Baltimore three pm on CBS, and then
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions the NFC Nord champs. They go to
Speaker 1: Top Seat in San Francisco for a six thirty pm
Speaker 1: Eastern times start on Fox. So JP, you were there,
Speaker 1: we see the final four. You have got to let
Speaker 1: us know just everything about this game, just the aftermath,
Speaker 1: the during math, and the math that did not break
Speaker 1: in the Buffalo Bill's favor.
Speaker 4: It was a really remarkable scene.
Speaker 5: Steve I loved pregame, maybe more than anything. Chris Jones
Speaker 5: over there barking at the Bill's mafia, calling him bums repeatedly,
Speaker 5: over and over again. Patrick Mahomes kind of waving to
Speaker 5: the crowd. Really, I was told by multiple people in
Speaker 5: the Chiefs organization, Patrick Mahomes was embracing this trip here.
Speaker 5: He really embraced kind of being the villain, and he
Speaker 5: was a different player. You saw it pregame and it
Speaker 5: stood out the guys that are around him every single day.
Speaker 5: They just said, he kind of took himself to another level.
Speaker 5: And we saw this offense go to a different level
Speaker 5: than what we've seen this really entire season. I had
Speaker 5: a chance to talk to offensive coordinator Matt Naggy before
Speaker 5: they were getting off the bus Steve, and he said,
Speaker 5: look at what we did offensively. We barely had a
Speaker 5: third down. They had five third downs in this entire game.
Speaker 5: They averaged seven point seven yards per play.
Speaker 4: He said, we knew we were going to start.
Speaker 5: Getting this thing to click, and now they feel like
Speaker 5: they're playing the best offensive football of their season. You
Speaker 5: saw two touchdowns from Travis Kelce. They believe his legs
Speaker 5: are kind of back after getting that rest in week eighteen,
Speaker 5: he was going off seven straight games without a touchdown
Speaker 5: and he was back to his old tricks. But the
Speaker 5: biggest thing about this, Steve I was told, is there's
Speaker 5: fewer players rotating in and out at the wide receiver spot.
Speaker 5: That has been a big part of the synergy and
Speaker 5: the rhythm that this offense has gained, specifically with Woo
Speaker 5: rookie Rashi Rice.
Speaker 4: You saw MVS come on.
Speaker 5: They feel like the group they have right now is
Speaker 5: starting to click better than they have this entire season
Speaker 5: and leave it to the Chiefs to do it when on.
Speaker 10: The road here at Orchard Park and jap You've been
Speaker 10: alluding to this for weeks about the reduced rotation at
Speaker 10: that receiver group and how that will work with the
Speaker 10: rhythm and the functionality, and we've seen since Week seventeen
Speaker 10: this offense has looked more and more like we're used
Speaker 10: to singing and think about this.
Speaker 1: They didn't even run fifty offensive plays, you know, the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 2: Really controlled kind of the flow of the game.
Speaker 1: But like you said, that seven point seven yards were
Speaker 1: played that they were getting offensively with the mix of the.
Speaker 2: Pass and being able to finish with the run.
Speaker 1: Isaiah Pacheco doing some things in the ground game, especially
Speaker 1: in the red zone.
Speaker 2: We have been begging for it for most of the season.
Speaker 1: Run the offense through ten, and they did it yesterday
Speaker 1: against an injury beaten down Bill's defense, something they're not
Speaker 1: going to see against the Ravens and the conference championship
Speaker 1: next week. But they were able to get it going.
Speaker 1: And then when you have fifteen Patrick mahomes poise. He
Speaker 1: never flinched when Buffalo counted over and over. He just
Speaker 1: kept coming back and that is the will of a champion.
Speaker 1: Real quick, JP, We don't have a ton of time
Speaker 1: for this part, but the defense in the second half,
Speaker 1: we saw them really negate the Bills run game except
Speaker 1: for Josh Allen, and just kind of really stemy so
Speaker 1: much of the Bills when they had opportunities over and over.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I talked to a defensive line coach, Joe Cullen, one
Speaker 5: of the best in the game and he's been with
Speaker 5: this group for a long time, Steve, and he kind
Speaker 5: of said, what we figured out was we were trying
Speaker 5: to do too much on the road in this environment.
Speaker 5: We weren't being gap sound, and we knew we just
Speaker 5: kind of had to hold our place or else. Josh
Speaker 5: Allen was going to continue to find holes up front,
Speaker 5: which he was brilliant at and running the football up
Speaker 5: the middle, him and James Cook. But when they were
Speaker 5: able to kind of settle down, and he told me,
Speaker 5: that's the biggest thing when you're in this position year
Speaker 5: after your year, Steve, you find ways to kind of
Speaker 5: be calm in those moments like they were at halftime
Speaker 5: and they were able to start making plays behind that
Speaker 5: defensive line. That was a big aspect of what changed
Speaker 5: in the second half. Settling into what they do best,
Speaker 5: not trying to do too much, but they're gonna have
Speaker 5: their hands full with Lamar Jackson and Chris Jones told
Speaker 5: me that on the field, we got to find a
Speaker 5: way because we got another quarterback coming.
Speaker 4: This next Sunday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a different solid quarterback, but again rushing with intandem
Speaker 1: as a fence. That was a big thing. Let's real quick,
Speaker 1: get to the bills, JP, because you know that's kind
Speaker 1: of the big story. Josh Allen was fantastic, but they
Speaker 1: fall short once again. What is just kind of the
Speaker 1: feeling of that team. You were in the locker room
Speaker 1: on Monday, What's is kind of feeling about this team
Speaker 1: moving forward.
Speaker 5: Groundhog Day, Steve, it really felt like groundhog Day that
Speaker 5: hern was actually used by players getting a chance to
Speaker 5: talk to center Mitch Morris, who really said the biggest
Speaker 5: thing about this is we have so many free agents
Speaker 5: coming up.
Speaker 4: We know that Josh Allen's cap.
Speaker 5: Number goes from a little over eighteen million to forty
Speaker 5: seven million next year. That's going to change the makeup
Speaker 5: of how this team is built. But the positive coming
Speaker 5: out of that room today Khalil Shakir, Dalton Kincaid, James Cook,
Speaker 5: three unbelievably talented skill players that are extremely young on
Speaker 5: rookie deals surrounding Josh Allen, and they don't even believe
Speaker 5: they've scratched the surface on what they can do with
Speaker 5: Kincaid lining them up different spots on the field. Had
Speaker 5: coaches telling me pregame, Steve, it's the best rookie titand
Speaker 5: they've ever been around. Dawson Knox said, him and Kincaid together,
Speaker 5: they're not even close to what they can do with
Speaker 5: them As an offense. If Joe Brady stays, which everybody
Speaker 5: today was pulling for running this offense, there's still a lot.
Speaker 4: To smile about.
Speaker 5: But as of right now, it's the same old thing
Speaker 5: that's happened here in Buffalo, and they did it here
Speaker 5: in front of Bill's mafia. To this Bills team just
Speaker 5: absolutely got wrenching.
Speaker 2: All right, Javy. We talked a lot about the Bills
Speaker 2: and the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: But coming up next we're going to be joined by
Speaker 1: Agent eighty nine, Steve Smith, former wide receiver, to talk
Speaker 1: about the top seed.
Speaker 2: Oh who stood on business and beating the Texans. That's
Speaker 2: up next on the NFL Reboard.
Speaker 1: Glamar told itself runs in the last Has it a parn?
Speaker 1: Come on in touch out events, dug it out a
Speaker 1: championship gaming board because I.
Speaker 3: Hate a barn.
Speaker 5: Welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmers, you watch
Speaker 5: with you and Steve. This is a mount Rushmore guest
Speaker 5: right here. This is in season one. Our top moments
Speaker 5: of the NFL Report have happened when we've had Steve
Speaker 5: Smith Senior on the show. Steve, thanks for joining once again.
Speaker 8: Oh thanks for having me man, And it's a pleasure
Speaker 8: to be here. Steve Smith senior, not junior, so I'm
Speaker 8: really proud of that.
Speaker 1: For those who aren't here, the first time the graphics
Speaker 1: identify I remember as junior or we got to write.
Speaker 2: Hey this time.
Speaker 11: But listen, I told you it was just there to
Speaker 11: humble me in twenty twenty three. Man. So now when
Speaker 11: they get it right, I'm actually thanksful and have thankfulness
Speaker 11: that they got it so man. And then my Baltimore
Speaker 11: Ravens and then AFC Championship. You know, I got two teams,
Speaker 11: Carolina Panthers in the NFC South and then Baltimore Ravens
Speaker 11: AFC North.
Speaker 5: Want to stick with those Ravens, Steve, what I'm fascinated about,
Speaker 5: and I want to know from your active from knowing
Speaker 5: that organization and being you know, the receiver that you
Speaker 5: were as a receiver as an offensive player. Can you
Speaker 5: describe what it's like to play with Lamar Jackson because
Speaker 5: it's almost like he plays the position differently than we
Speaker 5: really see anybody else do it. What is it he
Speaker 5: does and what is it like to play with him?
Speaker 11: You think, Well, first of all, I don't know what
Speaker 11: it's like to be on the same football field with
Speaker 11: Lamar Jackson, obviously in the Baltimore Ravens uniform, but I
Speaker 11: would say it can be It's a gift in a curse.
Speaker 11: The gift is you have the athleticism of a quarterback
Speaker 11: who can scamper, who can move. He's a mobile quarterback
Speaker 11: and so when things break down, he can get the
Speaker 11: team and the offense out of a jam, and he
Speaker 11: can he can move the offense with his legs to
Speaker 11: have designed runs for him. It also can be frustrating
Speaker 11: for a wide receiver at times, and an example would
Speaker 11: be if you have play action where that's where you
Speaker 11: open up to the right and then you go ahead
Speaker 11: and circle around and go left. Because of his athleticism,
Speaker 11: he can sometimes.
Speaker 8: Lamar in company.
Speaker 11: All mobile quarterbacks they can do things that stationary stands
Speaker 11: cannot guys who are known to go through their progressions
Speaker 11: and less about their athleticism.
Speaker 8: Right, and so I believe right.
Speaker 11: Being a wide receiver where your quarterback is mobile, it's
Speaker 11: real freshet and it's helpful. And at times when you
Speaker 11: wide open, or when the defense may pressure the quarterback,
Speaker 11: or all of a sudden they break away, and then
Speaker 11: your great route is overshadowed because a guy gets in
Speaker 11: the face of your mobile quarterback and he takes off
Speaker 11: run and soways say, you're happy he did a eighty
Speaker 11: yard or a fifty yard run, but you are already
Speaker 11: fifty yards ahead of him, wide open because of the pressure.
Speaker 11: So it's it's a gift and the curse.
Speaker 2: But Steve, we've seen him this year.
Speaker 1: He moves more so he scrambles to throw it under
Speaker 1: the timeline consistence. He's different than he was before, and
Speaker 1: that to open up the field. We're seeing Isaiah likely
Speaker 1: getting to the end zone like every game at tight
Speaker 1: end coming in from Mark Andrews speaking Mark Andrews who
Speaker 1: could be back coming back from the injuries to add
Speaker 1: to this. So and looking at this game upcoming against
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs then and seeing how good the
Speaker 1: chief defense is, I mean, where does Lamar you know,
Speaker 1: that athleticism, but yet he's looking more downfield for his receivers.
Speaker 1: Where does that come in to help Baltimore potentially evan
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl?
Speaker 11: I mean, obviously it comes in because we just saw
Speaker 11: some type of version of a mobile quarterback with Josh Allen, right,
Speaker 11: and Josh Allen was cooking and keeping drives alive for
Speaker 11: the Buffalo Bills and the Kent City Chiefs at times
Speaker 11: looked exhausted. They looked fatigued, they were cold, they were tired,
Speaker 11: and that really gave the Buffalo Bills and their fan
Speaker 11: base and the Kansas City Chiefs. It gives Buffalo Bills
Speaker 11: fans and fan Buffalo Bills hope that this might be
Speaker 11: the game that they finally overtake. Patrick Mahomes and Kansas
Speaker 11: City had a little doubt of like, man, if we
Speaker 11: don't buckle up, And that's where those speeches came in.
Speaker 8: That's where man and man conversations.
Speaker 11: But at the end of the day, when you look
Speaker 11: at this game, the Kentas City Chiefs at Baltimore, it
Speaker 11: really becomes a game where you start to say, how
Speaker 11: do you want people to know you? Or when your
Speaker 11: name comes up, what do you want people to say
Speaker 11: about you as an NFL football player? And in January,
Speaker 11: in late January, early February, this is where the myth,
Speaker 11: the legend of quarterbacks of players begins to be in
Speaker 11: a team where you know them for you know January, Joe, all.
Speaker 8: These other guys, Tyreek.
Speaker 11: Just all Tyreek Hill, all these different guys who have
Speaker 11: impacted the playoffs, Cooper Cup, Jerry Rice, Ricky Waters, right,
Speaker 11: these are all the players.
Speaker 8: Tom Brady Julia Edelman, all of these players.
Speaker 11: You're known for what you did in late January and February,
Speaker 11: not what you're gonna do in October, some little day
Speaker 11: of the week in November. No, nobody's really remembering that
Speaker 11: because everybody's tuning in. What thirty one thirty one point
Speaker 11: eight million people watched that football game. They watched it
Speaker 11: last night, not back in November, not back in September.
Speaker 8: They're talking about it today, Steve.
Speaker 5: They were able to try to spy Josh Allen times.
Speaker 5: It was supposed to be really gay, and he goes
Speaker 5: out with the neck injury. He was kind of one
Speaker 5: of the few guys on the field they thought could
Speaker 5: stay with Josh Allen, but they wanted to keep him
Speaker 5: in the pocket.
Speaker 4: They did do a better job of that, not letting
Speaker 4: get An Allan get out wide.
Speaker 5: But I want to kind of touch on what Steve
Speaker 5: mentioned where Mark Andrews potentially coming back for this Ravens offense.
Speaker 5: This might sound insane, he's Ben Lamar's favorite target, but
Speaker 5: is there something about a guy coming back in this
Speaker 5: time where your offense is clicking? Does it throw anything off?
Speaker 5: Like Steve mentioned, Isaiah likely what he's doing. Does it
Speaker 5: throw anything off even if you're as good as as
Speaker 5: Mark Andrews, or it doesn't.
Speaker 11: I don't think it throws anything off in this game,
Speaker 11: because whether Mark Andrews plays or not, he's not gonna
Speaker 11: play the game. If they have seventy sneven snaps, he
Speaker 11: isn't gonna play all seventy seven snaps. He's gonna be
Speaker 11: on a pitch count. You want to get him back
Speaker 11: in there. I don't care how much therapy you do,
Speaker 11: how much cardio you are doing running in the pool.
Speaker 11: I know that organization. So they have pool stuff. They
Speaker 11: got anti gravity treadmill, they got all that stuff. But
Speaker 11: here's what you're gonna do. You're looking at this play
Speaker 11: right now. You're running against your opponent. You're just audi
Speaker 11: your adrenaline going fighting against a guy. That's the stuff
Speaker 11: you can't simulate. You ain't fighting against somebody in the
Speaker 11: in the anti gravity treadmill, guy in the tub where
Speaker 11: you're just running trying to get that weight bearing and
Speaker 11: taking off some of the heavyweight because of the injury.
Speaker 11: So I don't expect Mark Andrews to play, you know,
Speaker 11: ninety percent of the offense. I expect him to play
Speaker 11: where he's needed, but also to a point where you
Speaker 11: cannot make him predictable of what you possibly are running
Speaker 11: because he's in a football game, because he hasn't played
Speaker 11: in over a month.
Speaker 2: That's a great point.
Speaker 1: That is next to the point because just him being
Speaker 1: out there, you know defensive personnel is going to try
Speaker 1: to match up a certain way. We got to flip
Speaker 1: it to the other side of the ball real quick, Steve,
Speaker 1: because it's this defense. I mean, they did not allow
Speaker 1: a touchdown against the Houston Texans. They have been smoking
Speaker 1: teams by an average of eighteen point two points since
Speaker 1: the beginning of December, and that includes a lot of
Speaker 1: playoff caliber teams. They're wiping squads out. When you look
Speaker 1: at Patrick Queen, when you look at ro kwand Smith,
Speaker 1: when you look at Kyle Hamilton and Justin Madebike, all
Speaker 1: these guys, that to me is the swing boat for
Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens because no one has been able to
Speaker 1: move the ball on them, and if they have, they
Speaker 1: ended up taking it away at some point on that drive.
Speaker 11: Well, they're front there, front four, they're front seven. That
Speaker 11: three four defense that they're running back with the zone.
Speaker 11: What's really remarkable in that is you know they're going
Speaker 11: to get pressure, but they also even in getting pressure,
Speaker 11: they're disruptive, and the disruptiveness is throwing off the timing,
Speaker 11: so it's speeding up the process in which the quarterback
Speaker 11: has to deliver the football.
Speaker 8: He's never delivering the football, not under the rest. You
Speaker 8: can see that.
Speaker 11: And so they got Malet, who's who was drafted originally
Speaker 11: by the pit Birch Steelers, but then he's playing in
Speaker 11: coverage but also blitzing. So it's just problematic that they
Speaker 11: can get pressure with their front four and then that
Speaker 11: means they're dropping back with the rest of the other
Speaker 11: guys in coverage and then they're stout.
Speaker 8: In the run game.
Speaker 11: And I was when I was in London, I had
Speaker 11: the opportunity to to look at Jadeveon Clowney and talk
Speaker 11: to him. And the one thing that I noticed with
Speaker 11: Jadeveon clown and I remember saying, I went into the
Speaker 11: locker room, I said, bro, you got thin man, you
Speaker 11: look smaller, and he looked at me said I had
Speaker 11: to because of my knee. The adaptation of Jadavion Clowney
Speaker 11: understanding for him to impact this game and to stay
Speaker 11: consistent in being the disruptive defender that he is and
Speaker 11: has been.
Speaker 8: He's had to adapt and get a.
Speaker 11: Little bit smaller in wait so he can go the
Speaker 11: long distance. You got to remember, this is a guy
Speaker 11: who played with a number of teams and one of
Speaker 11: the biggest issues was health. He's healthy and playing and
Speaker 11: so now you have a veteran who's adapted and all
Speaker 11: of a sudden he can give some expertise to other
Speaker 11: players and hey, this is what I did, and it's
Speaker 11: just all of a sudden, it makes them a dangerous team.
Speaker 11: We know the Baltimore Ravens for years have been known
Speaker 11: for defensive minded organization. We call it the Black and
Speaker 11: Blue Division, we call it bullyball. But one of the
Speaker 11: things that the Baltimore Ravens have not had in a
Speaker 11: consistent way is a prolific offense, passing and running attack,
Speaker 11: probably since the last time they won a Super Bowl.
Speaker 11: And now we have the opportunity the last time they
Speaker 11: won a Super Bowl has the potential to go against
Speaker 11: the exact same team and they played the last time
Speaker 11: they wanted this is a possibility, Sampsus go for nine,
Speaker 11: and so I just it's gonna be unique.
Speaker 8: It's gonna be fun.
Speaker 11: I think both defensive coordinators are gonna throw the kitchen
Speaker 11: sink at these offenses, and these offense must adapt, but
Speaker 11: also be calm and collective and be patient.
Speaker 5: Steve, real quick before we let you go Britique. John
Speaker 5: Harbaugh's dance moves post game that lockery.
Speaker 4: On coach.
Speaker 11: Knowing coach Hardball h now his second time dancing. The
Speaker 11: first time was was really him, right, it was all him.
Speaker 11: The second time was like, all right, if I'm gonna came,
Speaker 11: I gotta.
Speaker 8: He tried to maybe learn a few moves, but that
Speaker 8: gene Pool.
Speaker 4: Kicked right back.
Speaker 12: He was in on.
Speaker 2: He was hit on the morning.
Speaker 5: Three.
Speaker 11: Yeah, let me get that, and then that and then that,
Speaker 11: Oh yeah, I'm let me. But here's the unique thing
Speaker 11: about Ball, don't know. I met coach Hoeball my rookie
Speaker 11: year at the Pro Bowl. Because of our relationship that
Speaker 11: we cultivated at the Pro Bowl. Was one of the
Speaker 11: reasons why when I had the opportunity to go to
Speaker 11: a team was his constant communication and openness every time
Speaker 11: we saw each other at different events throughout the league,
Speaker 11: and then when opportunity came to get with each other,
Speaker 11: it was one of those things, of course.
Speaker 8: But here's the thing, why what do I bring all
Speaker 8: this for?
Speaker 11: Jason Baker was in Philadelphia for a cup of coffee,
Speaker 11: who was a punter for the Carolina Panthers, who lives
Speaker 11: here up in Davison, North Carolina, up up at the
Speaker 11: Lake Lake Norman and John Harball still Texas here and
Speaker 11: there talks to Jason Baker just the same way he
Speaker 11: texts and talks to me. So this showed authenticity that
Speaker 11: coach whole Coach Harball has especially with special teams player,
Speaker 11: but just kind of shows you, right, he can be,
Speaker 11: he could be a little tough, he could be annoying,
Speaker 11: he can really push your buttons.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 11: But the thing that I respect in love about Coach
Speaker 11: Harball that I can't say it is throughout the league
Speaker 11: is you always know where you stand with Coach Harball,
Speaker 11: and that is very rare, great stuff.
Speaker 7: I love it, Stave, I love it. I love it.
Speaker 5: I love that Steve couldn't even dance offbeat if he tried.
Speaker 5: You tried to be off rhythm, Steve, and you couldn't
Speaker 5: even accomplish that.
Speaker 6: You were just too good at it.
Speaker 11: Well, I'll say that Steve I'm not really a good
Speaker 11: dancer because you know, gangsters don't dance.
Speaker 2: Will they do, Steve?
Speaker 4: They do?
Speaker 3: Steve?
Speaker 12: Yes, sir, we got to go. J Pagon is out
Speaker 12: of here.
Speaker 8: Uh coming up.
Speaker 5: Stacy Dalls was in Detroit, which was an absolute scene.
Speaker 4: The Lions are in the NFC Championship game. She's gonna
Speaker 4: take us inside Ford Field next. On the NFL Report.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the NFL Report podcast, but you can
Speaker 1: watch me, Steve Which and my co host James Palmer
Speaker 1: on the NFL Report at seven to fifteen Eastern time
Speaker 1: on Mondays and Thursdays on the NFL app and free
Speaker 1: streaming platforms on the NFL Channel on Roku, two b, Peacock,
Speaker 1: Pluto TV and other free streaming apps.
Speaker 2: You're built for this, you're.
Speaker 13: And look what you went out there, and then what
Speaker 13: it's another hot team that we knocked off. It's the
Speaker 13: next hot team.
Speaker 12: That you knock off.
Speaker 13: Feel how hard it is to win this league in
Speaker 13: the playoffs? Do you understand what you're doing right now?
Speaker 13: What we're capable of? That's two? All right, that's two.
Speaker 13: We got two to go with.
Speaker 2: A buy in the middle.
Speaker 1: Lions coach Dan Campbell after Detroit knocked off Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: to go to the conference championship, just said they've got
Speaker 1: two to go with a buy in the middle.
Speaker 2: That means super Bowl or bust James Palmer.
Speaker 1: We're now bringing in Stacey DALs, who was at that
Speaker 1: divisional playoff face. First off, I mean, we know it
Speaker 1: is now magical for the city of Detroit, for these Lions,
Speaker 1: all of their dubious records and things like that, But
Speaker 1: can you give us an atmosphere and maybe a player
Speaker 1: or a moment who just kind of encompassed what this
Speaker 1: team is doing right now?
Speaker 14: Yeah, there's so many. There's such a collection. My ears
Speaker 14: are still ringing from that game. I mean it was.
Speaker 14: It was one of the loudest experiences in fifteen years
Speaker 14: covering the NFL that I've experienced myself. When I left
Speaker 14: the facility, I would describe it as my ears were
Speaker 14: ringing like I left the concert. I mean, that's how
Speaker 14: big it was. But there's just so many And I
Speaker 14: think when you look at this roster, what Brad Holmes
Speaker 14: and Dan Campbell have sort of comprised with this team.
Speaker 14: We saw it manifest against the box, right, I mean,
Speaker 14: Josh Reynolds, Craig Reynolds both had really important moments in
Speaker 14: that game. These are auxiliaries sort of excuse me, supplementary players, right,
Speaker 14: and then the Derek Barnes intercept at the end. This
Speaker 14: is a fourth rounder that they took in twenty twenty
Speaker 14: one out of Purdue. I fell in love with him
Speaker 14: during the draft process. And I know why, Like when
Speaker 14: you sit and you listen to the character of a
Speaker 14: guy like Derek Barnes, and now he has his moment
Speaker 14: three seasons later and is a starter for the Detroit
Speaker 14: Lions and a defense that has vastly improved. It was
Speaker 14: just so unique. And then you ask him. I was
Speaker 14: as locker room last night, you guys, and I said,
Speaker 14: take me through the interception, take me through the play.
Speaker 14: And interestingly, Aiden Hutchinson, prior to that, when I asked
Speaker 14: him about the play, he said he had actually called
Speaker 14: a game games at the defensive line where they're trying
Speaker 14: to get different mismatches and such and create screens and
Speaker 14: all that chaos and movement. But Derek didn't even recall that.
Speaker 14: All he recalled was the film that he studied on
Speaker 14: Baker Mayfield and that Baker likes to go to those
Speaker 14: seams and he likes to throw to the scene and
Speaker 14: that's exactly where you saw Derek Barns. So there's just
Speaker 14: a collection of great character guys on this team, and
Speaker 14: you could be happier for him.
Speaker 5: And when you have this group of people that are together, Stacey,
Speaker 5: we know the leader that Dan Campbell is, but you
Speaker 5: also need a player that steps up into that spot.
Speaker 5: And I look at the quarterback and we often do
Speaker 5: in this league. And Jared Goff has played in a
Speaker 5: conference team, and I know he's talked about a lot
Speaker 5: of these rookies don't play like rookies in his eyes,
Speaker 5: but there's still rookies and lead on lean on a
Speaker 5: lot of young guys on this team. What type of
Speaker 5: role do you think he plays this week in Detroit?
Speaker 14: Such an important role. You guys know that everything shifts.
Speaker 14: You both understand everything shifts this week when we have
Speaker 14: Championship Wednesday coming up, which is a very long day.
Speaker 14: It's almost like a precursor to what comes at a
Speaker 14: Super Bowl, right in terms of the availability, it's all
Speaker 14: scheduled out for each team. I'm and Ross Saint Brown actually,
Speaker 14: in my postgame interview kind of answered it for me.
Speaker 14: To your point, James, just in terms of what type
Speaker 14: of leader he's been, he constantly delivers. I have quotes
Speaker 14: in front of me. He's just so calm, he's so collected.
Speaker 14: But am and Ros said, we're going to have to
Speaker 14: count on him basically as I'm paraphrasing, to guide us
Speaker 14: through this week because he was in that twenty eighteen,
Speaker 14: you know, NFC Championship game when he was with the Rams.
Speaker 14: What's really great for this team, I think, guys is
Speaker 14: he's two and two all time at San Francisco and
Speaker 14: he has boasted some pretty good numbers there. He's not
Speaker 14: far where he originated from in California, grew up not
Speaker 14: far from there, so he's probably going to have a
Speaker 14: big family group coming. But it's probably be a little
Speaker 14: emotional for him too, going back to the Bay. But yeah,
Speaker 14: I think his leadership James, to your point, one hundred percent,
Speaker 14: they're going to count on this week because he's been there.
Speaker 1: Speaking of leadership, Stacey, you know you mentined to been
Speaker 1: here fifteen years. You and I got hired at the
Speaker 1: same time, and you always give us something special with
Speaker 1: your reports. Well Sunday on game Day preview, you gave
Speaker 1: us this special intro to your report from ford Field.
Speaker 14: Sorry, is it's so bustling in this place at fort Field, Andrew,
Speaker 14: I just lost service officially on my phone. I can't
Speaker 14: do a damn thing on this thing at this point.
Speaker 14: Did you never get it to work?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 14: I did eventually, so I had to toggle with it.
Speaker 14: But you guys know, when you're at these games, at
Speaker 14: this magnete, your phone just cranks out on you and
Speaker 14: you're just like you feel helpless, right, James. You can't
Speaker 14: tweet anything out, You can't get any information out. If
Speaker 14: you did have any breaking news, you can't write. I
Speaker 14: did get it restored, though it's usually for me though,
Speaker 14: you know, I've been in the playoffs in Green Bay
Speaker 14: so much in my history that it's usually because of
Speaker 14: the cold weather your phone dies or a severely hot
Speaker 14: day early in the season. But yeah, that place was
Speaker 14: bustling and that happened. Actually, it's a real z Stayce.
Speaker 1: We appreciate you so much, absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2: Can't wait to talk to you next Monday when things
Speaker 2: are cranking up getting ready for this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and now for the lie opponent, San Francisco forty
Speaker 1: nine ers.
Speaker 2: How did they get here?
Speaker 15: TV?
Speaker 9: On a shoutdown je truck, Trusha gets chased out to
Speaker 9: a slight.
Speaker 12: Gonna throw on the running back.
Speaker 1: Mental man is in a shifted Joe Jack Dray Greenlaw
Speaker 1: big dwayn Dray goes down two interceptions for pig plague
Speaker 1: Dray Greenlaw. All right, dam that was a caller, Drake
Speaker 1: Greenlaws Field sealed the victory over the Packers right there.
Speaker 2: Now we're bringing in Jeff Shediah. Now, Jeff, you know
Speaker 2: how JP and I love brock perty right, he is
Speaker 2: our guy.
Speaker 16: Well, seriously, he was. He was on shaking round. He
Speaker 16: was shaking around in this game. Hey, look going into
Speaker 16: this game to get the Lions. After that performance, I mean,
Speaker 16: what what does that tell you more about?
Speaker 2: Is that? Is it more concerning for the forty nine
Speaker 2: ers the.
Speaker 1: Fact that he was able to lead them on the
Speaker 1: game winning drive. You're like, Okay, he's good, he's good
Speaker 1: in the big moment.
Speaker 17: Well, look, it was bad weather. For one, it was raining,
Speaker 17: and I'll give him credit for that playing through that.
Speaker 17: But also he lose Deebo Samuel for a good portion
Speaker 17: of that game, which is a huge loss as well.
Speaker 14: And look it's.
Speaker 17: We know that he's had trouble playing with some of
Speaker 17: these circumstances before. But what I loved about what brock
Speaker 17: Perry did in that game, he didn't let not let that,
Speaker 17: let that bother him when it mattered most. He had
Speaker 17: six for seven in that game when he drive let
Speaker 17: him down there Christian McAffrey scores the game when he
Speaker 17: touched down.
Speaker 8: But he was sharp in that moment. He was taking
Speaker 8: what was given to him.
Speaker 17: He wasn't pressing like he was in that three game
Speaker 17: losing streak when he lost Debo and McCaffrey and Trent
Speaker 17: Williams earlier this year. So I think it showed a
Speaker 17: lot about his character and his toughness and his readiness
Speaker 17: to play in these kind of games at this time
Speaker 17: of year.
Speaker 5: We saw him operating right there out of the gun
Speaker 5: a whole bunch in the second half of that game,
Speaker 5: Jef something you don't see a whole lot out of
Speaker 5: this offense. And that's why I bring up where he's
Speaker 5: lined up in offense.
Speaker 4: What do you think the.
Speaker 5: Role of Kyle Shanahan's offense plays in in some of
Speaker 5: this stuff we're having this conversation about with rock Perty
Speaker 5: or times in the fourth quarter where the streak was
Speaker 5: finally broken. Right, they're now one in thirty when trailing
Speaker 5: by five or more in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4: Is there any sort of fear in your mind?
Speaker 5: With the way Kyle Shanahan's offense is built, it's brilliant.
Speaker 5: But if they get behind early in the conference championship.
Speaker 17: Well that is a concern just because of the way
Speaker 17: the Detroit Lions played football. They want to they want
Speaker 17: to beat you up, they want to bully you. And
Speaker 17: we saw what happened when they played a team that
Speaker 17: was similar to that in the Baltimore Ravens earlier this year,
Speaker 17: where the Ravens were very physical with them, able to
Speaker 17: get a lead, and they ran away with the game. Now,
Speaker 17: Detroit isn't, as I would say, as explosive as the
Speaker 17: Ravens in some area, especially quarterback runs, but they have that,
Speaker 17: they have that capability to do those kind of things.
Speaker 17: So yeah, I think it's sure important as the Niners
Speaker 17: play their style of football, play from ahead, get pretty comfortable. Look,
Speaker 17: he didn't play last year in an NFC championship game
Speaker 17: for longer than what fifteen twenty minutes before he was
Speaker 17: out of that game and so we still don't know
Speaker 17: how he can play in that level of the game.
Speaker 2: That's a huge question about him.
Speaker 17: So they got to get him comfortable in the same
Speaker 17: way that the Buffalo Bills had to get Josh Allen
Speaker 17: comfortable that Division a round game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you this.
Speaker 1: You know, JP was talking about Kyle Shanahan's offense. I
Speaker 1: was getting ready to throw a brick at the ball, saying,
Speaker 1: give the ball to Christian McCaffrey and that may calm
Speaker 1: everything down. But Jeff, real quick, let's flip it to
Speaker 1: the other side of the ball. I want to talk
Speaker 1: about both number one teams because they both invested in
Speaker 1: their inside linebackers. You know, we led this We led
Speaker 1: this off with a high light of Dre Greenlaw, who
Speaker 1: sits next to Fred Warner, and then he got Rokwan
Speaker 1: Smith and Patrick Queen for the Ravens. The way these
Speaker 1: teams are built and the way so many other teams
Speaker 1: dismiss inside linebackers, what about the importance of those players
Speaker 1: and how the this whole defense functions for two of
Speaker 1: the best teams.
Speaker 2: In the NFL.
Speaker 3: Well, both of those duos are crucial to their teams obviously,
Speaker 3: and I'm a big believer in what you're talking about
Speaker 3: here that finding those kinds of players in the middle
Speaker 3: of your defense does make a difference.
Speaker 17: The hard part is finding those kind of players now
Speaker 17: because it's so the NFL is so diversified, and it's
Speaker 17: hard to get guys who have the side and the
Speaker 17: athletic ability to play there and be effective. But when
Speaker 17: you have two guys like that, it makes it a
Speaker 17: huge difference. There's no question that what Drake Greenlaw and
Speaker 17: Fred Warner bring to that defense is attitude. It's tone setting,
Speaker 17: it's playmaking, it's all the things that you look at
Speaker 17: Dallas for example, when they have to defend the run
Speaker 17: and they can't get it done. You look at some
Speaker 17: of the other teams around the league that can't find
Speaker 17: those big plays when they need them. They always rely
Speaker 17: on these kind of players to deliver for them, and
Speaker 17: that's what's made them so successful. I know it's about
Speaker 17: pass rush and cover corners and all this stuff, but
Speaker 17: those guys in the middle, like I said, they set
Speaker 17: the tone and they establish the identity that you have
Speaker 17: to have to win ball games on defense.
Speaker 4: And Jeff was interesting too. You mentioned that position.
Speaker 5: I'm fascinated by the game that I watched yesterday and
Speaker 5: the Chiefs run essentially to mike linebackers at times on
Speaker 5: the field at the same time and Drew Tranquill and
Speaker 5: Nick Bolton. It's a facet of their defense to stay
Speaker 5: physical in the middle of the field. And I bring
Speaker 5: that up because let's talk about Deebo Samuel real quick.
Speaker 5: We saw this offense with the forty nine ers get
Speaker 5: disjointed when Deebo was off the field.
Speaker 6: He was part of the.
Speaker 5: Game plan and running the football. They wanted him to
Speaker 5: be physical running the football as part of their game
Speaker 5: plan in that game, and weren't able to do it.
Speaker 4: You saw other guys step up in his place.
Speaker 5: Were you either, I guess, encouraged by the number of
Speaker 5: guys that filled his role in a variety of spots,
Speaker 5: or discouraged about them playing without him potentially in the
Speaker 5: after Well, I.
Speaker 17: Was discourage just knowing that, look, you can get through
Speaker 17: a game or a part of a game without him
Speaker 17: being there. To go into a game without him being
Speaker 17: part of your game plan, that's a big, big absence
Speaker 17: for them, because you know, I talked to a personnel
Speaker 17: guy earlier this year, and he described Diebo as their bully.
Speaker 2: You know you as the route runner.
Speaker 17: Kittle is the is the top tight end from the
Speaker 17: top tight ends in the league. McCaffrey is the do
Speaker 17: everything running back. But Depo is like Fred Warner and
Speaker 17: Drake green Law, the guy who sets a tone on
Speaker 17: offense for them. And so because he can light up
Speaker 17: in so many places, because he can do so many
Speaker 17: things with the football in his hands, that it's you
Speaker 17: lose that, and it's it's enormous. It's like two we're
Speaker 17: talking about Loa losing Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 8: You just don't.
Speaker 17: You don't find guys who replace that easily. They manage
Speaker 17: to do it for a few quarters, but to do
Speaker 17: it for entire game against a team like Detroit, it's
Speaker 17: gonna be tough.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And Jeff, as you know, with Debo out there, defensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: someone like Aaron Glenn's be like, okay, we've got to
Speaker 1: focus on that. Without him out there, they can change
Speaker 1: their defense and run it much differently.
Speaker 2: Hey, Jeff, we appreciate you checking us out.
Speaker 1: Hanging out of the NFL report again is your typical Monday,
Speaker 1: appearing to have fun this weekend at the conference championships and.
Speaker 2: We come back, we're gonna be talking about Bill Belichick.
Speaker 2: He is to ever do it right? But is he
Speaker 2: really wanted to coach another team? Mike Carrofolo tell us
Speaker 2: on the NFL.
Speaker 5: Report, Welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer, Steve
Speaker 5: whtch with you?
Speaker 17: Now?
Speaker 4: Look who it is, Steve.
Speaker 5: It is the batman to Steve Smith's Robin. It is
Speaker 5: Mike Carrafolo, the star of every Thursday Night on NFL
Speaker 5: Network this season. In the NFL Reports, insider Michael, I
Speaker 5: have to start off with the name. Everybody is trying
Speaker 5: to get their hands on and figure out and wrap
Speaker 5: around the greatest coach of all time in Bill Belichick.
Speaker 4: What is happening with Bill right now?
Speaker 5: Particularly Atlanta is the one we keep hearing, but they're
Speaker 5: interviewing about a lot of other people. If things don't
Speaker 5: work out in Atlanta right now, could we see a
Speaker 5: year where we don't have Bill Belichick in the NFL?
Speaker 17: Yeah?
Speaker 7: I believe so.
Speaker 9: Perhaps a guest on the NFL Report next year, or
Speaker 9: maybe the Insiders anything he'd be willing to come off
Speaker 9: here in NFL.
Speaker 2: Combo Ask a combo asks for Bill, Mike Lit going on.
Speaker 9: Here, James Power not going on for the Atlanta FL
Speaker 9: because you're right. I mean, they've definitely conducted a thorough search.
Speaker 9: And at first it was like, oh, they're conducting this
Speaker 9: thorough search is sort of an Oakie dope, But it
Speaker 9: really feels like they are. And the fact that they're
Speaker 9: talking to Jim Harball again for the second time. So yeah,
Speaker 9: I still feel like Bill Belichick in this situation is
Speaker 9: going to look for something that's right for him and
Speaker 9: if it's not right, not really rush into another job here.
Speaker 9: I mean, I know he's at a latter part of
Speaker 9: his NFL career and not a whole lot of time
Speaker 9: despair and not that he's dying here, But the point is,
Speaker 9: you know, you would think that if he's gonna try
Speaker 9: to chase that record that he wants to get so badly,
Speaker 9: he would jump into another job. No, it's gonna have
Speaker 9: to be right, and it's gonna have to be the
Speaker 9: right set up for a guy who had the right
Speaker 9: setup for him for twenty years.
Speaker 2: To that point though.
Speaker 1: I mean, other than the Falcons, there's no no other
Speaker 1: teams really knocking on his door. I had a conversation
Speaker 1: with somebody, uh with with you know who's involved with
Speaker 1: the Falcons surge, who said that they are very impressed
Speaker 1: with some of these other candidates, like maybe it was
Speaker 1: Belichick's to lose and some of these other candidates, some
Speaker 1: of these young upstarts have been so impressive it might
Speaker 1: no longer be Bill Belichick.
Speaker 2: So to that point, what about some.
Speaker 1: Of these other you know, Mike McDonald, some of these
Speaker 1: other names we're hearing from these young upstarts who could
Speaker 1: be taking the place, like getting an Atlanta job or
Speaker 1: some of these other squads.
Speaker 9: Yeah, Mike McDonald, I'm gonna give you the scouting report
Speaker 9: out of Baltimore from uh Mike McDonald if I can
Speaker 9: find it here. Uh yeah, Tell he is he smells,
Speaker 9: he doesn't brush his teeth. Uh, and he's a bad
Speaker 9: character guy. And that's what they say when they don't.
Speaker 4: Want to lose a guy.
Speaker 9: So that's what you're telling me out of Baltimore, And
Speaker 9: make sure you tell everybody all these things.
Speaker 7: About Mike McDonald.
Speaker 9: So, Mike McDonald is a guy that they think extremely
Speaker 9: highly of.
Speaker 7: He's a defensive guy.
Speaker 9: If he was an offensive guy, he'd be over Ben Johnson.
Speaker 9: As far as the guy that we're talking about, that's
Speaker 9: absolutely pointifly going to get a job. But he's a
Speaker 9: defensive guy, right, You got that working against you in
Speaker 9: this league here. But the job that he has done
Speaker 9: with the Baltimore Ravens over the last couple of years,
Speaker 9: going from one hardball gym at Michigan to the other
Speaker 9: harball john and back into the NFL level, I think
Speaker 9: this guy's setting himself up to be a head coach
Speaker 9: fran long time in this league, perhaps perhaps starting in
Speaker 9: twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4: What if you heard when you're asking around the league.
Speaker 5: But when you look at coaches like Mike McDonald and
Speaker 5: guys that are still playing and they're still gonna be playing,
Speaker 5: right even though they've slowed the process, Are.
Speaker 4: They at an equal spot.
Speaker 5: Or they at a disadvantage right now as teams even
Speaker 5: though it's slower, are going through all of them.
Speaker 9: I think it's helping the folks that are still in it,
Speaker 9: for sure. I think it's helping all guys. Go back
Speaker 9: to what we talked about with Atlanta, I mean that
Speaker 9: is a situation where it reminded me of Andy Reid
Speaker 9: going from Philly to Kansas City.
Speaker 7: I remember it was done like practically.
Speaker 9: The next day or maybe Tuesday, after he had coached
Speaker 9: his last game with the Eagles, and then they had
Speaker 9: to do the sham Rooney rule interview and it was like, no, no,
Speaker 9: we're really gonna Andy Reid was at the North Philadelphia Airport,
Speaker 9: the Northeast Philadelphia Airport.
Speaker 7: Getting the deal done.
Speaker 9: In this case with Atlanta, that probably or may have
Speaker 9: been the case as it was years ago. But because
Speaker 9: the process has been slowed down, that's allowed for why's
Speaker 9: what you're hearing, Hey, we're really impressed with all these
Speaker 9: candidates that we've had a chance to have a conversation with.
Speaker 9: So if I'm still in the playoffs, I'm thankful that
Speaker 9: the NFL has slowed this thing down and given us
Speaker 9: a chance to have a full search regardless of what
Speaker 9: your current situation.
Speaker 7: Is with your current team you're coaching with.
Speaker 1: Might we got forty five seconds? The Philadelphia Eagles have
Speaker 1: scheduled a news conference with Nick Sirianni and Howie Roseman.
Speaker 2: Those aren't Tea Leaves.
Speaker 1: That's telling us something about who their head coach is
Speaker 1: going to be twenty twenty four.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I never really thought it was not going to
Speaker 9: be Nick Sirianni.
Speaker 7: So this doesn't surprise me.
Speaker 9: And we knew that they were gonna be widespread changes
Speaker 9: on the coaching staff. They've interviewed Ron Rivera, They're gonna
Speaker 9: interview Mike Calbler. Actually are interviewing Mike Caldwell, the former
Speaker 9: Eagles linebacker who was with the Jaguars. Defensive coordinator Brian
Speaker 9: Johnson's interviewing for head coaching job.
Speaker 7: So they don't want to fire him necessarily.
Speaker 9: But there's gonna be an evaluation of potential move there
Speaker 9: on the offensive side of the ball. They got to
Speaker 9: get Jalen Hurts right. There's something off about the quarterback.
Speaker 9: I know he was injured this year, but there's just
Speaker 9: something that's not right there, and especially the connection with
Speaker 9: him and his teammates. Some of the stuff we were
Speaker 9: hearing about Carson Wentz, we're now hearing about Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 7: Oh, Like it's completely off base either.
Speaker 9: To be honest with it, Jalen Hurts got to get
Speaker 9: back with his teammates, with his coaches and in the
Speaker 9: right frame of mind heading into twenty four.
Speaker 1: All Mike jam Once, you know, once his coaching circle,
Speaker 1: you know carrousel stopped spinning. Some of those coordinators will
Speaker 1: become more available as they're looking for work.
Speaker 2: Mike, Gee, appreciate you and the fam. That was a splendid,
Speaker 2: splendid segment.
Speaker 6: All right.
Speaker 1: Coming up in the final bodus of the NFL Report,
Speaker 1: we go off the field for a visit with NFL
Speaker 1: Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Speaker 2: By a visit him and I took this summer. Next
Speaker 2: on the NFL Report.
Speaker 5: Hey, it's James Palmer and you're listening to the NFL
Speaker 5: Report podcast along with myself and Steve Weisch.
Speaker 7: But remember if you want to see our beautiful.
Speaker 5: Faces, this is a show at seven point fifteen Monday
Speaker 5: and Thursday at seven fifteen pm Eastern, and we are
Speaker 5: on the NFL app as well as fast streaming platforms.
Speaker 5: That's two B, that's Roku, that's Pluto, that's Peacock, all
Speaker 5: of those platforms as well as the NFL dot Com, Slash,
Speaker 5: NFL channel.
Speaker 4: Find us all of those spots.
Speaker 5: Welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer, Steve Wetch
Speaker 5: with you. And on top of Steve just being a
Speaker 5: great host on this show, Steve spends a lot of
Speaker 5: time doing other things around this league, Steve on and
Speaker 5: off the field, and this, to me is one of
Speaker 5: the most interesting and coolest things I've seen you do
Speaker 5: in recentm Well.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it, James, because in August, NFL Commissioner Roger
Speaker 1: Goodell and I joined former player Justin took Tuck, Miami
Speaker 1: Heat assistant coach Karan Butler, and to people from the
Speaker 1: Vera Institute of Justice and taking a tour of the
Speaker 1: True Unit at the Cheshire Correctional Institution in Connecticut. And
Speaker 1: the Special Unique Unit is a rehabilitative unit aimed at
Speaker 1: eighteen to twenty five year olds will be returning to
Speaker 1: society one day. Right now, I'm joined by NFL Commissioner
Speaker 1: Roger Goodell and Commissioner even though it's you know, we
Speaker 1: went on this visit in August and we're months removed,
Speaker 1: the impact of that day to me still feels like yesterday.
Speaker 1: I just want to kind of get what you felt
Speaker 1: then and then just kind of the after effect now,
Speaker 1: like what you're still feeling about that visit.
Speaker 6: As you know.
Speaker 15: So I was there really at the request of Justin Tuck,
Speaker 15: who said I did this, would you be willing to
Speaker 15: do it? I promise you it'll be worth your time.
Speaker 15: And I found it such an incredible moment in the
Speaker 15: context of you learned so much that you probably only imagine,
Speaker 15: but you don't have an opportunity to really experience. And
Speaker 15: most of that was the humanity of the people we met,
Speaker 15: the extraordinary individuals that were there that clearly had made
Speaker 15: a mistake, and they all acknowledged they were there for
Speaker 15: the wrong reasons, and that's how they were looking at
Speaker 15: their lives. And I think the time for us to
Speaker 15: be up there. You know, they kept repeating it to us, right,
Speaker 15: thank you for taking the time, thank you for caring
Speaker 15: about us. It was interesting to me how much believing
Speaker 15: in somebody makes an impact.
Speaker 6: But the one thing I really took when the program
Speaker 6: was the language.
Speaker 1: And they said, it's important they're not referred to as
Speaker 1: prisoners or inmates or by a number. They're referred to
Speaker 1: as mentors and mentees and young men. What did you
Speaker 1: find you talked about the humanity, What did you find
Speaker 1: about how much that meant to at least making these
Speaker 1: people have some sort of dignity while they're behind bars.
Speaker 15: I think this program what was so impactful to me
Speaker 15: is that it was all about teaching these young men
Speaker 15: how their life still ahead of them. What are they
Speaker 15: going to do to take advantage of the opportunity when
Speaker 15: they get out. How mentors who are going to be
Speaker 15: in there and have been in there for maybe a lifetime,
Speaker 15: are making a difference in their lives so that they're
Speaker 15: successful when they walk out of there. And to me,
Speaker 15: that's what we're looking for is rehabilitation, not penalty, right.
Speaker 15: We're looking to see these people go on and be successful.
Speaker 15: These young men be contributors to society, and they appreciate
Speaker 15: the fact that we cared about that.
Speaker 1: One of the most jarring moments, memorable moments came. We
Speaker 1: were all in one wing together not too long before
Speaker 1: we wrapped, and they passed the microphone along and one
Speaker 1: of them looked at Justin Tuck and said, Justin, you
Speaker 1: were here before, and hold us the next time you're
Speaker 1: coming back.
Speaker 6: You're coming with the commissioner.
Speaker 1: Here he is, He said to most of us, that's
Speaker 1: the first time someone in life upheld a promise.
Speaker 11: He came back with Roger Goodell, come on, man, give
Speaker 11: you the round.
Speaker 1: Of course, when you saw that, when you heard that,
Speaker 1: I mean, what was that like?
Speaker 15: Yeah, I agree, Steve. It was a jarring moment because
Speaker 15: one my hat's off to Justin because he really felt
Speaker 15: this was an important moment for these young men to return,
Speaker 15: to come back and to do what he said he
Speaker 15: was going to do. That was important to Justin. It
Speaker 15: was important for me to help support him in that context.
Speaker 15: But I feel the same way I think. You know,
Speaker 15: you don't just go there, visit and leave. You have
Speaker 15: to carry what you learned and the thoughts of these
Speaker 15: young men every day with you and hopes that you
Speaker 15: can make a difference for them at some point.
Speaker 1: Commission, of course, you know everybody wanted to speak with you.
Speaker 1: Have you been in contact with anybody from the program
Speaker 1: or the facility since we've been there.
Speaker 15: Yeah, it was really actually surprising to me, Steve. Some
Speaker 15: of them reached out, and you know, I responded to them,
Speaker 15: and I expect I'm going to see them again someday
Speaker 15: where they're out here in society and they're back doing
Speaker 15: something important to their life and productive in life, and
Speaker 15: we can be supportive in some way.
Speaker 6: That's so good to hear.
Speaker 1: And as you know, the NFL is a partner with
Speaker 1: the Vera Institute of Justice, and trying to get some
Speaker 1: things done.
Speaker 6: With the incarcerated peoples.
Speaker 1: But as we wrap up, you grab the mic and
Speaker 1: you told the young men in this program, the mentors
Speaker 1: in this program, the guards, that the NFL is committed
Speaker 1: to that true program, to Verra, to Tashure, what can.
Speaker 2: Be done there and.
Speaker 6: What maybe can the NFL do to continue to expand
Speaker 6: programs like this.
Speaker 15: You know, I think there are their programs are inspired
Speaker 15: change work that we focus so much on. How do
Speaker 15: we improve the criminal justice system? It's one of our pillars,
Speaker 15: and we believe that we can have an impact. This
Speaker 15: program true and the very institute I think is actually
Speaker 15: well on its way, and that's a program that can
Speaker 15: be taken into other institutions and I believe that's ultimately
Speaker 15: going to be a good thing.
Speaker 1: It was an amazing experience, Commissioner. I'm glad you went.
Speaker 1: I'm glad we were invited to go. And as we know,
Speaker 1: with all these programs with the NFL, it's not what
Speaker 1: the NFL and people do, it's the impact that they
Speaker 1: have on others. And you and Vera and Justin Tuck
Speaker 1: have had a lot of impact on people.
Speaker 6: So thank you for that, and thanks for spending time
Speaker 6: with us.
Speaker 15: Well, Steve, thank you, but thank you for coming also
Speaker 15: because I know you made a difference. Also, listen, they
Speaker 15: just need people believing them and the fact that you
Speaker 15: were there was impactful on them also, so thank you.
Speaker 6: Well, I appreciate that. Thanks again.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 1: The one thing these young men in this program understanding
Speaker 1: there are victims outside because of their behavior, but this program,
Speaker 1: should they get out, they're hoping makes them better people
Speaker 1: and they could be big contributors to society.
Speaker 8: JP.
Speaker 5: Amazing work all of you guys, just just absolutely unreal.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 5: Remember we are coming up with the NFL report on Thursday.
Speaker 5: But that handsome face right there, not mine one next
Speaker 5: to it, Steve Wish will not be there.
Speaker 6: With me on Thursday.
Speaker 5: We'll be replaced by the one Rhett Lewis. Steve right, Yes,
Speaker 5: NFL Network Fame. It's gonna be Ret and Eye on Thursday,
Speaker 5: seven fifteen. We're gonna have a fully loaded show. We'll
Speaker 5: miss you tremendously, but it was a great seeing your
Speaker 5: face today here from Orchard Park.
Speaker 2: Steve, miss you as well. See everybody next Monday. It's
Speaker 2: a podcast. Listen to the podcast.