Speaker 1: Ka boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes
Speaker 1: a week was enough, I think again. He's the last
Speaker 1: remnants of the old Republic, a sole fashion of fairness.
Speaker 1: He treats crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as
Speaker 1: the rich pill poppers in the penthouse the clearing House
Speaker 1: of Hot takes break free for something special. The Fifth
Speaker 1: Hour with Ben Maller starts right now in the air everywhere.
Speaker 1: We are back at it. Another weekend is underway. Happy happy, Happy,
Speaker 1: Happy Friday. I know you're excited at another edition of
Speaker 1: The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallard, and we will not
Speaker 1: shut We're not going to shut up. It's it's more
Speaker 1: audio content all weekend long, along with Danny g Radio.
Speaker 1: But on this particular edition from the Fifth Hour podcast,
Speaker 1: it is us me. I know you're disappointed, but Danny
Speaker 1: will be with us throughout the weekend. So we'll have
Speaker 1: Danny in on Saturday and Sunday. But on the Friday podcast,
Speaker 1: we like to talk to somebody who we know. I mean,
Speaker 1: we do this on the radio on the overnight. We
Speaker 1: do this five nights a week, and this of course
Speaker 1: podcast filling in the other part of the week. So
Speaker 1: it's eight days a week because four hours a night
Speaker 1: are not enough on the overnight. And I'm really jones
Speaker 1: into talk some football today, and so I thought, who
Speaker 1: better to talk to than a a man who is
Speaker 1: a colleague at Fox Sports Radio, is a big star
Speaker 1: on TV at the NFL Network and also on NFL
Speaker 1: dot Com. So Bucky Brooks is going to spend some
Speaker 1: time with us right now. He played in the NFL. Now,
Speaker 1: you know, people say, well, former NFL player Bucky Brooks,
Speaker 1: they don't often talk about, like where did he play?
Speaker 1: And and Bucky got to bounce all over the NFL.
Speaker 1: He must have like the greatest man cave uh in
Speaker 1: the world. He played for the Green Bay Packers, Jacksonville,
Speaker 1: Kansas City, Buffalo, played with the great Marv Levy, kind
Speaker 1: of the tail end of the Buffalo Bills and they're
Speaker 1: they're running. Also played for the Oakland Raiders, So he
Speaker 1: bounced around the NFL. Was a defensive back, kind of
Speaker 1: a kick return guy uh in the NFL. And he's
Speaker 1: been on the NFL Network since oh nine. He's been
Speaker 1: contributing to Fox Sports Radio for many years. So let's
Speaker 1: welcome in now, Bucky Brooks and and Bucky before we
Speaker 1: get into the meat and potatoes of the football. You know,
Speaker 1: you're one of the few people, Bucky, that has seen
Speaker 1: me play golf. A couple of years ago before COVID
Speaker 1: in ten, we had a big company golf of somehow
Speaker 1: I got invited to it, and uh, it was horrific.
Speaker 1: I think people are still washing their eyes out, Bucky,
Speaker 1: it was that bad. Do you recall that round of golf,
Speaker 1: that faithful round of golf? What do you remember about that,
Speaker 1: Lord Ben? I can't. It is one of the favorite
Speaker 1: stories that I tell. The round the golf that you,
Speaker 1: myself and Micael replayed at a Fox event. It was epic. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was fun. It was forever memorable. That is the
Speaker 1: way that I described the experience. Yeah, I think I
Speaker 1: would be like a cross between Tiger Woods and Helen
Speaker 1: Keller on the on the on the golf course. But
Speaker 1: I I actually and you're you know, you listen, you
Speaker 1: you're you're pretty good, you know, and I'm I'm you know,
Speaker 1: I'm I sucked. But I I actually managed to hit
Speaker 1: a plastic was it a chair or a table? I
Speaker 1: forget I hit a inanimate object t at the t
Speaker 1: on one It was insane. How bad I was that day?
Speaker 1: It wasn't crazy, man, it was funny. But you know what,
Speaker 1: that's what so beautiful about this sport of golf. Anybody
Speaker 1: and everybody can participate, and as long as we're not
Speaker 1: too serious about it, we all can have a good time.
Speaker 1: And it was a good time being Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was a beautiful course. It was in where was that, Dina,
Speaker 1: Dina point Newport, So I don't know. I was down
Speaker 1: in Orange County somewhere. But it was awesome, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Speaker 1: But how about you, Bucky, I mean, you're a big
Speaker 1: star over there at the NFL Network and the NFL
Speaker 1: dot Com and you're blowing up here. And how many
Speaker 1: years have you been doing that now? Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I think I started over the NFL Network two thousand nine. Yes,
Speaker 1: I've been around. I've been around a few iterations, a
Speaker 1: few changes. He was trying to make my way through.
Speaker 1: But now it's been a lot of fun. It's been
Speaker 1: a lot of fun, kind of growing in doing more
Speaker 1: stuff as opportunity to kind of come our way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And it's also one of those things, right, you've been
Speaker 1: there so long you kind of know the ebb and
Speaker 1: flow of you know, like we're getting into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Now it's coaching season, and then after that it's going
Speaker 1: to be the draft, which is massively big. So like
Speaker 1: there's certain events, right, you kind of have it all planned.
Speaker 1: You've been doing it so long you kind of know
Speaker 1: what you you know what what month it is, what
Speaker 1: you've got to be doing, right. Yeah, So my arrival
Speaker 1: at the NFL also coincided with the league kind of
Speaker 1: making a shift where they wanted to make um where
Speaker 1: they wanted to make football three sixty five. And so
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a coincidence that every month of
Speaker 1: account of year there's something related to football. And what
Speaker 1: has done It has increased the interest, put more eyeballs
Speaker 1: on the sport. And I've been one of the biggest
Speaker 1: beneficiaries because we're more eyeballs that needs we have to
Speaker 1: do more reporting and talking and all that other stuff.
Speaker 1: So it's been great for business. Yeah, well, you know,
Speaker 1: you are the expert, Bucky, So I did want to
Speaker 1: get into it. I'm fascinated, you know, doing talk radio
Speaker 1: all these years. The coaching carousel in the NFL. It
Speaker 1: seems like every year, we get like anywhere from I
Speaker 1: don't know, five to ten coaches. I think ten might
Speaker 1: be too much. But we're eight right now as we're
Speaker 1: talking now of NFL teams have decided to change coaches
Speaker 1: and we're not I mean, we are we even done? Bucky?
Speaker 1: Do you think we'll see some more? David Culley was
Speaker 1: the latest coach apparently out with the Texans, so he's
Speaker 1: number eight. Do you think anyone else is in danger?
Speaker 1: As far as the teams that are in the playoffs
Speaker 1: per se, I think any of these other coaches might
Speaker 1: lose their job depending on what happens this weekend. Now
Speaker 1: you know what's crazy. I think all the teams the
Speaker 1: season should be safe. You want to keep an eye
Speaker 1: on it. Obviously, the Los Vegas Raiders has done a
Speaker 1: great job at the ENIM coach. Still doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: he's assured of carrying on a dead head coach, so
Speaker 1: we have to see how that plays out. And then
Speaker 1: the last one to keep an eye on is the
Speaker 1: conversations that were taking place in Seattle with Pe Carol
Speaker 1: and John Snyder. I would expect him to stay on board,
Speaker 1: but man, now you never know. And I think what
Speaker 1: we're seeing is in this league and ultra competitive league
Speaker 1: because the league has gone out of its way to
Speaker 1: create Perry. You're seeing about of the league turn over
Speaker 1: annually and so new coaches come in and if you're
Speaker 1: not able to win with whatever rosster you inherit, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be an issue. And so you just have to
Speaker 1: be able to win games with what you have and
Speaker 1: to you can do to rebuilding that you have to
Speaker 1: do um In the meantime, it's it's crazy time in
Speaker 1: the league for sure. Yeah. Well, it's almost like that
Speaker 1: that the r word rebuild that's been eliminated bucky from
Speaker 1: the end of it. And you can't like David Culley
Speaker 1: of all people, right, that's a great examp. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know. David Colleess been around the
Speaker 1: NFL a long time and just a veteran assistant coach.
Speaker 1: He gets the job in Houston. They knew they were
Speaker 1: gonna stink, right, Everyone knew they were gonna be bad
Speaker 1: because of what's going on with the quarterback and all that.
Speaker 1: And they won like four games, which I think is
Speaker 1: three more games than I thought they would win uh
Speaker 1: this year. But but he's gone after after one year,
Speaker 1: So you can't. I don't think you can really rebuild bucket.
Speaker 1: I think that's over. I think you, as you said,
Speaker 1: you gotta win and if you're not competitive, you're done, right,
Speaker 1: I mean that's those are the steaks you know going in.
Speaker 1: But but the good news Buckeyes they pay a lot
Speaker 1: of money, right, and these jobs pay a lot of money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think we're just beginning to kind of
Speaker 1: get around the number that coaches are being paid. Uh,
Speaker 1: you think about what John Gruden was able to find,
Speaker 1: Tim million dollars, what people reporting Pete call and bi
Speaker 1: ab Belichick getting anywhere from like if your team million annually. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a big job. It's a big deal. And so
Speaker 1: what she's trying to do is you're just trying to
Speaker 1: see how can you win games with what you inherit
Speaker 1: and too, you're able to put the pieces in play
Speaker 1: to play the style of play that you want to
Speaker 1: play long term. Well and also, Bucky like this is
Speaker 1: always my argument. You know people sometimes I get upset
Speaker 1: because then I'm I'm on late at night and I'll
Speaker 1: rant and rave. And I've never had an issue ranting
Speaker 1: about a head coach losing their job, because to me,
Speaker 1: it's not like the real world. You know, in the
Speaker 1: real world, when someone losing their job, they gotta go
Speaker 1: get unemployment and all that stuff to big pain in
Speaker 1: the ass. But like Joe Judge is a great example.
Speaker 1: Joe Judge failed with the Giants. It did not go well.
Speaker 1: They were not competitive and they were you know, they
Speaker 1: just were just a blah team. And I don't feel
Speaker 1: bad for Joe Judge because he signed a five year
Speaker 1: contract and good for him. He's got three years and
Speaker 1: I think fifteen million dollars or something like that coming
Speaker 1: his way, which is great. So to me, that's not
Speaker 1: like there's no comparison to the real world. So you know,
Speaker 1: these guys, if they want to coach again, I guess
Speaker 1: they can, or they can just kind of hang out
Speaker 1: and collect the paycheck. So it's it's not it's not
Speaker 1: something to be angry about. I mean, that's just part
Speaker 1: as as we've talked about as part of the gig, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's part of the game for the upper guys, right,
Speaker 1: So for the hit the head coaches, their money is guaranteed,
Speaker 1: so I think it report Tims reported that maybe Joe
Speaker 1: Judge had a bunch of pieza and beer sit over
Speaker 1: to his house after you got this myth because he
Speaker 1: does have your team knows that he's collecting over the
Speaker 1: next three years. But for all of his assistance and
Speaker 1: the people that have worked up under them, they don't
Speaker 1: get those same guarantees in terms of the amount of
Speaker 1: money and that stuff. So for the hand coteam, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's great because they end up getting financial security. But
Speaker 1: for the other guys, it might mean another move, it
Speaker 1: may mean uprooting your family and doing some other stuff.
Speaker 1: But that is also the business that teach of those
Speaker 1: guys that choke. All right, So Bucky, we've got as
Speaker 1: as we speak right now as we're recording this podcast,
Speaker 1: there are eight coaching jobs open the NFL. If you, Bucky,
Speaker 1: were a candidate for these eight jobs, which one would
Speaker 1: you want? Bucky? Which one would you say? That's the
Speaker 1: one I want. That's the one that is set up
Speaker 1: to win and and get in the playoffs next year,
Speaker 1: That's the one I want to have. I will take
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings job as the one where you can
Speaker 1: win right away. Um. And the reason why is because
Speaker 1: when you look at that the vision the Bears are down,
Speaker 1: the Lions are down, the Green Bay Packers. At the
Speaker 1: top of Aaron Rodgers thirty years thol, so how much
Speaker 1: longer will he continue to play? You? Inherit the roster
Speaker 1: that has a really good receivering Justin Jefferson, you have
Speaker 1: Adam feeling, you have a quarterback. And I'm not necessarily
Speaker 1: fired up about Kirk Cousin, but I think you probably
Speaker 1: can win enough your first year when you have to
Speaker 1: take him on to kind of jump side the program,
Speaker 1: and then defensively you have some weapons. And so for me,
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings job is the first choice. The second
Speaker 1: choice will be the Denver Broncos. But the biggest caveat
Speaker 1: with the Broncos, who is going to be your quarterback
Speaker 1: in the the vision that is motivate quarterback like Patch Mahomes,
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert and even Derek carr Well. And then on
Speaker 1: the on the flip side, Bucky Uh. If you know
Speaker 1: Team X called you up, you would say, no, I'm
Speaker 1: staying at the NFL network. I have no interest in
Speaker 1: in coaching your team. Would that be Houston? Would that
Speaker 1: be I don't know. Miami. Seems like people are really
Speaker 1: down on the Dolphins. Because of what they did with
Speaker 1: Brian Flores. With that, what's what's the worst gig that's available? Well,
Speaker 1: I think that the Houston gig is probably the toughest
Speaker 1: one to take on, just because of the instability within
Speaker 1: the organization. You have David Color Ben Fried up for
Speaker 1: one year, So then you wonder if I signed this,
Speaker 1: you know how long am I going to be given
Speaker 1: to rebuild the program too? I don't know what's going
Speaker 1: on with the quarterback. He has the civil uh mitigations
Speaker 1: that he has to work out. He says he doesn't
Speaker 1: want to come back, So who's going to be my quarterback?
Speaker 1: I got Rookie did just finishing Davis's mills, but we're
Speaker 1: dead going to be good enough? And then I look
Speaker 1: at the cat salary cap situation, the lack of draft pick.
Speaker 1: It just makes it a very very hard rebuild. And
Speaker 1: so you just kind of wonder, can I go in
Speaker 1: there and be successful, and can I be successful early
Speaker 1: in to get myself an opportunity to see the end
Speaker 1: of my see it through the end of my contract. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I I agree, Man, that's a hot mess. That's
Speaker 1: a hot stew that's not good. Uh. And he was now,
Speaker 1: what what is your take, Bucky on on Brian Flores. Like,
Speaker 1: I I kind of get what the Dolphins were doing
Speaker 1: because the owners old he's got a lot of money
Speaker 1: and he's upset that. The to me, that the problem
Speaker 1: that Dolphins had as they've been passed by Buffalo the
Speaker 1: last couple of years and now the Patriots are kind
Speaker 1: of back. You know, they had that one down year.
Speaker 1: I know the Dolphins beat the Patriots a couple of times,
Speaker 1: uh in slash two here in January. But uh, Like,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins are in a weird spot because they're not bad,
Speaker 1: they're just kind of in the middle and they're ahead
Speaker 1: of the Jets, but the Bills have passed them by,
Speaker 1: and the Patriots have passed them by. But the Dolphins
Speaker 1: have been getting killed here for the Brian Flores move.
Speaker 1: But where are you at on that one? Well, I
Speaker 1: think the reason why they've been killed is because the
Speaker 1: dolphs the Dolphins at back and back when he season
Speaker 1: and so you saw a team win eight out of
Speaker 1: their last nine games, and so that the period that
Speaker 1: the momentum we're going in the right direction. The issue
Speaker 1: that you have when it comes to Brian Flores is
Speaker 1: constant turnover, offensive line of coaches, offensive coordinators. You just wondered, Man,
Speaker 1: if a guy that is easy to work with, can
Speaker 1: you have kind of like that collaborative union that most
Speaker 1: kids want to have. And so they decided to move on.
Speaker 1: But I think he's a really good coach. I think
Speaker 1: the results speaks for themselves, particularly on defense. I think
Speaker 1: the one thing that he has to do on the
Speaker 1: next go round is he has to make that the
Speaker 1: people that you lined up with um all the line
Speaker 1: when it comes to people holding people to high levels
Speaker 1: of accountability commitment in those things, because if you don't
Speaker 1: have people that are kind of get the same, it
Speaker 1: just makes it very very difficult for you to do
Speaker 1: your job in an effect the minute. So let me
Speaker 1: let me run a conspiracy theory by Bucky because I
Speaker 1: believe now I've seen these stories of the last week
Speaker 1: or so since Brian you know, it's been a little
Speaker 1: less than weeks as we're talking, since Brian Flores was
Speaker 1: let go, and it reminds me I see this in
Speaker 1: all sports. I see this basketball, football, Uh, baseball, the
Speaker 1: sport where Brian Flores was like, oh, it is an
Speaker 1: unpopular move, and the Dolphins are losing the PR battle
Speaker 1: right there, getting killed by a lot of the media.
Speaker 1: What are you doing? Is it true, Bucky, that somebody
Speaker 1: around the Dolphins has been planting uh, negative stories about
Speaker 1: Brian Flores. I've seen I've seen a few things pop
Speaker 1: up here and and and you mentioned I think you
Speaker 1: reference some of them, the the turnover and the coaching staff.
Speaker 1: The I read his story the other day that you
Speaker 1: know he shouted it to a tongue of Iloa, which
Speaker 1: I think in the old days, Bucky, when you were playing,
Speaker 1: they just called that coaching. Uh. And then you know
Speaker 1: there's some other other negative stories that have been been planned.
Speaker 1: You think, do you think those are kind of PR
Speaker 1: stories trying to get back and when the when the narrative,
Speaker 1: if you will. I mean, look, I think it's a
Speaker 1: little bit of both. I think so there's some truth
Speaker 1: and some of those nuggets that have been reported. Obviously,
Speaker 1: what the Dolphins are trying to do is just trying
Speaker 1: to kind of relived and justify why they made the
Speaker 1: move and why Steven Ross said it was important to
Speaker 1: move off from Brian Floyd's despite the ontil success that
Speaker 1: something had seen. Um, Look, man, I believe that the
Speaker 1: truth probably last somewhere in the middle. I believe he
Speaker 1: probably felt what he was doing was coaching by holding
Speaker 1: guys to a high standard. I feel like you probably
Speaker 1: had some overly sensing of people within the building who
Speaker 1: didn't like being held accountable for performance and standards. And
Speaker 1: so what you have to do is just kind of
Speaker 1: evaluate as you go forward what you want to do
Speaker 1: with the team and what's the best way to kind
Speaker 1: of build a winner down in mind? Is that the
Speaker 1: guy most likely to get another job? If you if
Speaker 1: you know all the guys that have lost jobs over
Speaker 1: the last week, there's eight again, eight coaching jobs. Is
Speaker 1: seems like that everyone seems in agreement that Brian Flores
Speaker 1: is going to get another job. Is that a is
Speaker 1: that a fatal complete here, Bucky, or is there a
Speaker 1: chance Brian Flores ends up I don't know, sitting on
Speaker 1: the sidelines, uh, you know, doing TV with you or
Speaker 1: something at Man. I think it's always the possibility that
Speaker 1: he ends up not landing in one of the music
Speaker 1: but chairs. I think a lot of it has to
Speaker 1: do with who's doing the hiring, that we have a
Speaker 1: connection with those guys. Honestly, his name has been linked
Speaker 1: to the Houston Texas because Nick cass and Jake used
Speaker 1: to be Jack needs to be come from the Patriots
Speaker 1: in the Patriots way, and so there's it previous relationships.
Speaker 1: But just don't know because I think what people have
Speaker 1: to what he has to answer for an interview, what
Speaker 1: went wrong in Miami where they felt like they had
Speaker 1: to move on and then they'll do some back digging
Speaker 1: and kind of see what actually took place. But I
Speaker 1: do believe he's in a good spot can get another job.
Speaker 1: It just depends on who's doing the hiring. Got you
Speaker 1: all right and explain to me this, But you've been
Speaker 1: around the end if you played a long time, you know,
Speaker 1: did on TV for a long time. So it seems
Speaker 1: like the same every year, the same names pop up.
Speaker 1: There's like there's a finite amount of names. I've seen
Speaker 1: maybe seven or eight names that are mentioned for every
Speaker 1: one of these jobs, and maybe there's a few more
Speaker 1: than that. But how does this work? Does do the
Speaker 1: NFL teams all used the same head hunting service? Uh?
Speaker 1: It seems like there's only a finite, as I said,
Speaker 1: amount of coaches every year that are the flavor of
Speaker 1: that offseason. So how does that work? How did they
Speaker 1: come up with the proverbial list of candidates? Uh? The
Speaker 1: popularity contest, To be honest, what you've been Uh, it's
Speaker 1: one of those situations where no one really knows what
Speaker 1: makes up a good head coach. And so you have
Speaker 1: agents who are tired with media members who give names out.
Speaker 1: You have people who are speculating because they see an
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator has success or defensive coordinator success that oh,
Speaker 1: they're ready to be a head coaching. In all honesty,
Speaker 1: being a great coordinator has nothing to do with being
Speaker 1: a su customer coach. The two completely different jobs and scripts.
Speaker 1: And so we get a lot of names that we
Speaker 1: see on TV because we see them with the playsheet
Speaker 1: in the card and it looked like their leaders. But
Speaker 1: we really have no idea. And I think a lot
Speaker 1: of the reasons and um, a lot of those teams
Speaker 1: struggle when it comes to hiring and that they really
Speaker 1: don't know what they want and what they need in
Speaker 1: a head coach. Yeah, it's it's crazy like this, you know.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the agent thing, and I do think
Speaker 1: that's also a big part of it, Like, because these
Speaker 1: guys are tied in with the insider crowd, and then
Speaker 1: that becomes becomes a dude. Now, I'm not gonna spend
Speaker 1: all my time with you, Bucky, ranting about coaches, but
Speaker 1: I did. I didn't want to run this by you.
Speaker 1: Now this is probably related to the popularity contest, but
Speaker 1: how many more Bill Belichick assistant coaches have to go
Speaker 1: out of the Patriots and do a pratt fall before
Speaker 1: teams kind of shy away. It seems like, you know,
Speaker 1: even this year, I've I've seen Josh McDaniel's name mentioned,
Speaker 1: Mayo the defensive guy, uh and the Bill Belichick coaching tree.
Speaker 1: The guys that have left the Patriots have other than
Speaker 1: I think Bill O'Brien is the only one that has
Speaker 1: a as an overall winning record. I know Brian Flores
Speaker 1: was was doing better, but it's a it's a bad situation,
Speaker 1: you know, And yet teams continue to go back to
Speaker 1: the well. You know why why is that? Why do
Speaker 1: they keep going back? These guys have not done well
Speaker 1: that have left the Patriots. One of the reasons why
Speaker 1: they keep going back, and because over the last twenty years,
Speaker 1: the Patriots have been the most successful franchise and so
Speaker 1: everyone wants a little taste of the organization that won
Speaker 1: six Super Bowl championships. The problem is you don't get
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick when you bring on one of those guys.
Speaker 1: You might get the program in terms of the way
Speaker 1: that it looks, but you don't get the full understanding
Speaker 1: behind behind why he runs the program like that. And
Speaker 1: I think the big part that's missing is that these
Speaker 1: guys are great with xes and oh they know how
Speaker 1: to do all the winning things. I think the people's skills,
Speaker 1: the interpersonal communication skills, is lacking for a Patriots assistant,
Speaker 1: and until they figure out that part of it, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be hard for them to win in a business
Speaker 1: that is really a people's business more so than an
Speaker 1: excello business. So explain to me. But you now, you
Speaker 1: played for a bunch of teams, played with Packers, Jacksonville,
Speaker 1: Kansas City, Buffalo, you know, the Raiders. You were all
Speaker 1: over the place. But like when you were around all
Speaker 1: those different coaches, like, how much actual coaching because the
Speaker 1: head coach do. What I mean by that is if
Speaker 1: you're not calling the players on offense, and you're not
Speaker 1: calling the players on defense, like you know, how how
Speaker 1: hands on is the head coach? Is? It? Is? It
Speaker 1: more of dealing with the media and kind of overall situation.
Speaker 1: If you're not calling the place, how much how much
Speaker 1: of these guys actually doing I would say, like, I've
Speaker 1: been fortunate because in my pro career I played for
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer more of Levy Um super Bowl winner
Speaker 1: and Tom Coughlin, John Gruden, Mike Hoglan and then uh,
Speaker 1: you know, let Marty Schadham who want two in the games.
Speaker 1: I would say that the the guys who weren't calling plays,
Speaker 1: Marv Levy, Coughlin and Shodheimer, they basically just set the
Speaker 1: vision for the program to make sure that hey, he's
Speaker 1: really want to achieve this week, he's are we going
Speaker 1: to do it? They trusted to do assistant coaches would
Speaker 1: get it done. But then they always made sure that
Speaker 1: the team was in line with the vision in which
Speaker 1: they wanted the team to play. John Guten and Mike
Speaker 1: o who are running the offense um look, they trusted
Speaker 1: the defensive coordinator to handle death out of the ball,
Speaker 1: and then they were basically offensive coordinator pluck. They were
Speaker 1: hold of the offense. The guys in the front of
Speaker 1: the room, but it was kind of two factions. It
Speaker 1: was the offense and then the head coach of the defense,
Speaker 1: and then they would come together on game there got you,
Speaker 1: got you? So all right? Now, well, you do have
Speaker 1: experience with all these these different coaches back back in
Speaker 1: the day, I didn't want to talk Bucky about some
Speaker 1: of these quarterbacks. Now on the story to me that
Speaker 1: is most interesting since the season the regular season ended
Speaker 1: is in Indianapolis where Carson Wentz is. I feel like
Speaker 1: he's hanging on by a threat. I thought, well, there's
Speaker 1: no way he's not back based on the contract. But
Speaker 1: some of the comments this week Chris Ballard, the GM
Speaker 1: of the Colts, uh, you know, he would not comment
Speaker 1: on Carson Wentz and his future. Frank Reich, the guy
Speaker 1: that was like the big cheerleader for Carson Wentz and
Speaker 1: had him in Philadelphia, he distanced himself from Carson Wentz.
Speaker 1: Is is this something or nothing? Bucky? Are we reading?
Speaker 1: Am I reading too much into this? Or is there
Speaker 1: is there something going on in Indianapolis? I think there's
Speaker 1: something going on because the way they finished in disappointing fashion.
Speaker 1: I think whenever you fail to live up to expect Tason,
Speaker 1: you take a major step back because you gotta remember
Speaker 1: the team not only went to the playoffs, which team
Speaker 1: was one that was expected to be almost a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl contended. Um, they bring back a roster that was
Speaker 1: pretty solid and the quarterback didn't perform well. They also
Speaker 1: had some other issues, but the thing that you saw
Speaker 1: was Carson Wentz in big moments when they weren't able
Speaker 1: to run the ball and lean on Jonathan Taylor. He
Speaker 1: was not able to consistently get the job done. And
Speaker 1: so what I think they wanted to do with give
Speaker 1: themselves a little liberal room where they could reevalue the
Speaker 1: program after all the emotions aside, and when they make
Speaker 1: a solid decision on how to go forward with the quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: But I do believe looking at the other quarterback bringing
Speaker 1: competition in that stuff certainly has to be in play well.
Speaker 1: And I've been I've been hearing for for years. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you've heard the same thing. That Jim Rsey is
Speaker 1: holding out hope that Andrew luck is going to walk
Speaker 1: back through that door. We saw him the other day
Speaker 1: at the College Football Championship. He did not look like
Speaker 1: he's in any shape to come back and play football
Speaker 1: in the NFL. I imagine they'll at least reach out
Speaker 1: to him right Bucky to see, Hey, do you wanna
Speaker 1: do you want to come back and play? Is that
Speaker 1: door completely closed? Do you think? Because Andrew Luck is
Speaker 1: still young enough where you know, I think he's gonna
Speaker 1: be thirty three or he is thirty three, so he's
Speaker 1: still still young enough, and he's still I believe lives
Speaker 1: in Indianapolis at least part of the year, so he's
Speaker 1: in the area. How do you think that's gonna go? Look,
Speaker 1: I think based on the way he looked, it looked
Speaker 1: like Andrew Luck has done we're playing football. It looked
Speaker 1: like he's completely let uh the body go in terms
Speaker 1: of light, the physicality, and the way that he physically
Speaker 1: looked when he was a football player. And if he's
Speaker 1: to be very very happy. So but man, you can
Speaker 1: always kick the tires and see if he has any enter.
Speaker 1: But didn't appear based on the integet view that we
Speaker 1: saw with him in r G three, that he has
Speaker 1: any inkling to return to the game that so many
Speaker 1: of us thought he's gonna be a dominant player ahead
Speaker 1: he does. He looks more like he's ready for the
Speaker 1: Tour de France or something. Right. I mean, he lost
Speaker 1: a lot of weight, he just kind of looks like
Speaker 1: he's ready to get on a bicycle or something. To me,
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on with that, but uh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: he definite doesn't look like a football player anymore for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then I know the usual names will pop up out.
Speaker 1: I'm getting out in front, Bucky's what I'm doing here.
Speaker 1: But the quarterback roulette. Now, last offseason I wasted a
Speaker 1: lot of valuable airtime ranting about Russell, Wilson and Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: and I feel like it's a de ja vous situation
Speaker 1: that once the playoffs end, these guys are going to
Speaker 1: be in play again. And who is most like between
Speaker 1: those two, Bucky, who is most likely to be playing
Speaker 1: for a different NFL team next season? Is it Russell
Speaker 1: leaving Seattle or Aaron Rodgers leaving Green Bay? You know,
Speaker 1: maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't think either
Speaker 1: guy leaves the situation. I think we're Russell. Russell doesn't
Speaker 1: really have the leverage to force his way out, and
Speaker 1: I don't think after last season, the Seahawks who want
Speaker 1: to move on without welcome because the quarterback is the
Speaker 1: hardest position to find. I think with Green Bay when
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers surveys the landscape and let us he just
Speaker 1: wants to leave and get out of Green Bay. There's
Speaker 1: not another team to provise him with a better opportunity
Speaker 1: to win the championship than the Packers. And so that's
Speaker 1: what where we have to figure out what in with
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers real motivation behind all of the soap opera
Speaker 1: drama that we had to endure over the last I
Speaker 1: don't know year and some change. I think it's best
Speaker 1: bead is the end up in Green Bay. But if
Speaker 1: one were gon move, I think Aaron Rods would be
Speaker 1: the one to move, even though I don't expect it
Speaker 1: that all right, well we but you we know the
Speaker 1: rumors are gonna be there, right These guys have I mean,
Speaker 1: we have things that we have to talk about, so
Speaker 1: they'll of course both be prominently mentioned. And I'm I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to see who else pops up now as
Speaker 1: far as the playoffs, but I got a couple of
Speaker 1: minutes left with you, So as far as the playoffs here,
Speaker 1: I know you've made all your predictions on NFL Network
Speaker 1: and NFL dot Com and all that, but if you
Speaker 1: could only pick one team and and and only one
Speaker 1: team to win the Super Bowl out of all you know,
Speaker 1: the teams in the playoffs. Who who would it be?
Speaker 1: Would it be the Packers? Who would Who would be
Speaker 1: your team that you would take in front of everyone
Speaker 1: else in the postseason. I'll do it kan City Chiefs.
Speaker 1: I would go to kan City Chiefs because, um, They're
Speaker 1: going to three straight NFC title games, back to back
Speaker 1: Super Bowls. They have a young quarterback who pay, They're
Speaker 1: getting hot at any time. The defense is still a
Speaker 1: sore spot and a problem. But they played better, Melvin
Speaker 1: Engl moving Chris Jones inside. They just played good enough
Speaker 1: to be able to get it done. And when I
Speaker 1: look at their path in the a f C, I
Speaker 1: think they absolutely gonna beat in. I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: have a chance to go to the SC Championshire Game
Speaker 1: and all they have to do is winn it uh
Speaker 1: to get in. I'll take my chance to g the
Speaker 1: Chiefs in mescenario. I got you, all right. And as
Speaker 1: far as Matthew staff I I happen to have a
Speaker 1: thing for the Rams and Stafford has been He's been good.
Speaker 1: He's been better than Jared Goff was with the Rams.
Speaker 1: He's made a lot of um awkward mistakes, shall we
Speaker 1: as the season's gone on here, but we do I
Speaker 1: don't know which quarterbacks gonna show up from from series
Speaker 1: the series with him, he's he's been really good at times.
Speaker 1: I think he set the Rams record for passing yards.
Speaker 1: Which guy do you think shows up in the playoff
Speaker 1: game on on Monday night on wild card weekend? Which
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford? Do we get well? But there's a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure on Matthew Staffords to perform, and he hasn't
Speaker 1: performed well of late. He's been bidden by the turn
Speaker 1: of the books. I think we end up saying a
Speaker 1: good version of Matthew Stafford because I believe Sean McVeigh
Speaker 1: is going to run the football, and as long as
Speaker 1: they run the football with Cam Makers and Tony Michelle,
Speaker 1: this team would be good. Odebec and Jr. And Cooper
Speaker 1: cup Vanta Jefferson are good enough to win on the outside.
Speaker 1: If they're able to just to play a control game,
Speaker 1: I think Matthew Stafford will have success. I think he
Speaker 1: advanced is and I think you'll see him have a
Speaker 1: chance to play go in the postseason. Now looking around
Speaker 1: some of the other matchups, the one that intrigues me
Speaker 1: the Cowboys in the forty Niners. Now, maybe it's just
Speaker 1: because the forty Niners have punched the Rams a couple
Speaker 1: of times and played very physical, But if they can
Speaker 1: play like that against the Cowboys, to me, Dallas, they
Speaker 1: have to prove they're not a bunch of show ponies.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys like. I just my my my impression of
Speaker 1: the Cowboys is they're they're not the toughest team, and
Speaker 1: in forty Niners strike me the way they played the
Speaker 1: second half of the season as a physical team. Is
Speaker 1: that a dangerous spot for the Cowboys against a team
Speaker 1: their favored to beat in the forty Niners. There at home,
Speaker 1: They've gotten everything seemingly in their favor here. But I
Speaker 1: look at that game, I think the forty Niners are
Speaker 1: are dangerous. Am I wrong in looking at it like that? No,
Speaker 1: they're a dangerous They're dangers because they are a physical
Speaker 1: team and they can't run the ball, and when you
Speaker 1: can run the ball, you can even frold the game.
Speaker 1: I think I would normally say, like, hey, take the sheet,
Speaker 1: pick take the Niners. But because everyone has talked about
Speaker 1: the Niners has pumped them up and build them up
Speaker 1: to be. I think the Cowboys are going to come
Speaker 1: out and play probably one of the best games. I
Speaker 1: think they would Matt and exceed the physicality. And if
Speaker 1: this game becomes a Jimmy Garoppolo game, all of the
Speaker 1: advantages go towards the Dallas Cowboys because Jimmy Garoppolo has
Speaker 1: proven to be a turner with machine when you have
Speaker 1: to put too much on him. I think this is
Speaker 1: a tough game in the first half, but I think
Speaker 1: the Cowboys eventually pull away from got You, got You?
Speaker 1: And just to wrap up here, Bucky is uh and
Speaker 1: I do thank you for spending some some time with
Speaker 1: this year. What what happens in Tennessee? Does Derrick Henry
Speaker 1: walked back through that door as like Superman and the
Speaker 1: Titans are back to where they were when they were
Speaker 1: winning all those games and they were the top team.
Speaker 1: I know they're the number one seed in the a
Speaker 1: f c Uh. How does that play out in Tennessee? Well,
Speaker 1: I think they're even more dangerous now with Derrick Henry
Speaker 1: coming back because the Titans discovered that they could see
Speaker 1: it around the wall without Derrick Henry. The foreman gave
Speaker 1: him a good Booth and when you look at the
Speaker 1: number uh rushing yards while they were averaging about the
Speaker 1: same as they were with Derrick Henry. So now you
Speaker 1: have two big backs Derrick Henry Deanta Foreman, they can
Speaker 1: just line up and hit you with a bunch of
Speaker 1: body blows over the course of the game. I think
Speaker 1: the Titans might be more danger is now than ever
Speaker 1: because they found a backup that is a capable backup
Speaker 1: to really make it a rotation situation in Tennessee as
Speaker 1: the post and just a one man show that Gary
Speaker 1: Kenny doing everything well. And of course is this all
Speaker 1: for not all of this playoff talk? Is it just
Speaker 1: gonna be another Tom Brady run to the playoffs? Is
Speaker 1: is there any he's got the pixie dust this time
Speaker 1: of the year, right, Bucky? I mean, there's no stopping
Speaker 1: this guy. This Tom Brad's out of controls. He's in
Speaker 1: his mid forties. Now, Buckey, you're not supposed to be
Speaker 1: playing like that, your mid forties crazy now, You're not
Speaker 1: supposed to play at the level that he's playing. Get
Speaker 1: I do worry because this team is not quite as
Speaker 1: good as they were moving Chris Good when ab kind
Speaker 1: of falling off the rails hurt their offense and defensively,
Speaker 1: they haven't played at the same level that they played
Speaker 1: their last year when they got hot in the postseason.
Speaker 1: We'll see if it picks up the Lavante, Dave and
Speaker 1: Shack Barry coming back, but it'll be tough for a
Speaker 1: lot tougher for John Brady to pull it off this
Speaker 1: year as opposed to last year. Got you, hey, Bucky,
Speaker 1: thank you. I appreciate you doing this and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll see it somewhere down the line. Fox Sports Radio
Speaker 1: and continued domination at the NFL Network. Thank you, Bucky.
Speaker 1: I appreciate your good