Speaker 1: It's another addition to the Dave Pash Podcast. I'm your
Speaker 1: host Dave Pash, ESPN announcer and Arizona Cardinals play by
Speaker 1: play voice. Today, our guest is Colt McCoy, Cardinals quarterback
Speaker 1: who started the last three games, providing wins over the
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers and Seahawks. Great dialogue with Cold talking
Speaker 1: a number of subjects, including what it was like to
Speaker 1: be back out on the field, how that continues to
Speaker 1: drive him and rejuvenate his love of the game, getting
Speaker 1: to play three games all of a sudden, you just
Speaker 1: feel like, man, I really enjoyed that. You know, it's
Speaker 1: been a while. His relationship with Kyler Murray and his
Speaker 1: role as mentor to Kyler and to others in the
Speaker 1: locker room, what it's like being the elder statesman, and
Speaker 1: what a veteran of our military told him that gave
Speaker 1: him and all of us listening at the time chills.
Speaker 1: Colt talks about his family, being a father of four.
Speaker 1: Mac Brown is head coach at the University of Texas,
Speaker 1: and whether coaching is something that Colt would like to
Speaker 1: do down the road. We are presented by BETMGM, the
Speaker 1: official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals and by
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Speaker 1: Gambling problem call one eight hundred. Next step Now our
Speaker 1: conversation with Cardinals quarterback Colt McCoy. Colt, First of all,
Speaker 1: the Cardinals wouldn't be nine and two without you, And
Speaker 1: I know that you're not gonna sit here and take
Speaker 1: credit on that. I'm not asking you too. I text
Speaker 1: a Cliff after the game and said, hey man, I'm
Speaker 1: happy for you, and he said, I'm happy for Colt.
Speaker 1: What's the last three weeks Ben like for you? Two wins,
Speaker 1: one loss, you get injured in the loss, But to
Speaker 1: come out of this two and one with roadwins at
Speaker 1: San Francisco and at Seattle and Division games, I assume
Speaker 1: over all year. Please, but what what's this been like
Speaker 1: the last three exist journey for you? Yeah, it's been
Speaker 1: It's been fun. It's been several years since I was
Speaker 1: able to play three games in a row in the league. UM.
Speaker 1: So you know, you always say like while I'm I'm prepared,
Speaker 1: I'm I stay on my routine. I do the same
Speaker 1: thing every week, you know, And for the most part,
Speaker 1: that's right. You know, you just now you're getting reps
Speaker 1: in practice, now you're getting ready to playing games. Um.
Speaker 1: It was a little uncertain at times because you didn't
Speaker 1: know if Kylie was going to come back if he wasn't.
Speaker 1: So I just tried to stay focused on my job
Speaker 1: and executing what we've been able to do all season.
Speaker 1: And I looked at it as, look, this is this
Speaker 1: is why Arizona brought me here. This is my role,
Speaker 1: this is my responsibility to be able to come in
Speaker 1: here and play when called upon, and right now that
Speaker 1: now's the time. So I did my best to approach
Speaker 1: it that way and play with confidence. We got a
Speaker 1: big win on the road in San Francisco, U we
Speaker 1: sort of laid an egg against Carolina. I certainly didn't
Speaker 1: play my best a lot of reasons, you know, I
Speaker 1: just as a whole, we didn't play well, you know.
Speaker 1: So going into the Seattle game, I did think Kyler
Speaker 1: was going to play. I didn't know for sure, but
Speaker 1: now that that's over, I'm grateful that, you know, Kyler
Speaker 1: gets two more weeks to get healthy, that we pulled
Speaker 1: off a win in Seattle, that I was able to
Speaker 1: go play and perform and help our team, you know,
Speaker 1: rebound from the loss against Carolina and put ourselves in
Speaker 1: position to be where we want to be as we
Speaker 1: move forward to the second half of the season, and
Speaker 1: letting us enjoy Thanksgiving in the bye week and a
Speaker 1: lot of positive things there. But good teams, you know,
Speaker 1: don't let one turn into two, and they just they
Speaker 1: rebound from those and they respond. And this is a
Speaker 1: good football team and I'm grateful to be a part
Speaker 1: of it. So we had Kurt Warner on this podcast,
Speaker 1: and I've worked four years with Brian Greacy, in four
Speaker 1: years with Greg McElroy in college football, and those three
Speaker 1: guys have all been in a similar situation to you,
Speaker 1: where they've been a backup at some point and had
Speaker 1: to be ready to step in and be a starter.
Speaker 1: And we always hear the cliche, well, you have to
Speaker 1: prepare as if you're going to start. What's that like
Speaker 1: when you're going through the week and you're not the
Speaker 1: last three weeks, but on a normal week where you're
Speaker 1: not expected to play, how do you mentally stay sharp?
Speaker 1: And what does that look like? Take us kind of
Speaker 1: inside the mind and kind of the daily activity of
Speaker 1: the guy that's the number two. Yeah, well it's it's
Speaker 1: very mental. I think throughout my years, I've put a
Speaker 1: routine together of you know, how much tape I watch,
Speaker 1: how much I break down the opponent, how much I
Speaker 1: study our game plan and how we want to operate
Speaker 1: this week. Because our Cliff does a great job with
Speaker 1: scheming and our plan and going against our opponent. There's
Speaker 1: new stuff every week. And then the physical part of
Speaker 1: staying in shape right, like working out, getting your wind right,
Speaker 1: knowing that you're not going to get any reps. And
Speaker 1: then a lot of what I do is and I
Speaker 1: listened to Kyler, I listened to Cliff, I listen to Cam,
Speaker 1: our quarterback coach. I listened to you know, we go
Speaker 1: to practice and then we come in the meeting room
Speaker 1: and we talk about plays and like, well, if if
Speaker 1: this happens here, we want to throw the ball here.
Speaker 1: And I'm just writing it down and I'm watching how
Speaker 1: Kyler runs these plays and how he operates and talking
Speaker 1: to him about it, and sometimes he's asking me what
Speaker 1: I see, how I see it, what timings of motions,
Speaker 1: landmarks of routes like little things like that, And I'm
Speaker 1: communicating with the receivers and the tight ends and the
Speaker 1: old line. And it's a lot, right, It's it's a
Speaker 1: lot to force yourself to do every week knowing that, sure,
Speaker 1: you know, there's a chance I'm probably not gonna play
Speaker 1: this right, right, but this may be for nothing, but
Speaker 1: I have to do it and I have to set
Speaker 1: the example for Kyler too, right exactly. But the reason
Speaker 1: that I do it is because one, I love the
Speaker 1: game and I love the process. But two is because
Speaker 1: when that does happen, you want your teammates and guys.
Speaker 1: You've never been out there with them, so they don't
Speaker 1: really know, but they've seen you every day. They see
Speaker 1: your process, they see how you are at practice, they're
Speaker 1: how engaged you are, like you know when they come
Speaker 1: and ask you a question. You are an extension of collegs.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell exactly what Kyler wants tryer. This is
Speaker 1: this is how he sees it, right, and so I
Speaker 1: just that's what I try to do right, and by
Speaker 1: no means am I perfect at that. I'm constantly learning
Speaker 1: and evolving. But that's sort of my approach every week,
Speaker 1: so that when you know, if it's the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: and something happens and you got to go in and
Speaker 1: play like nobody, nobody blinks. They may be uncertain if
Speaker 1: you're going to be able to get it done or not.
Speaker 1: But I'm going to come in and just do it
Speaker 1: on coach to do, and I'll be prepared. I've heard
Speaker 1: stories going back to camp, actually going back to when
Speaker 1: you were signed, about your relationship with Kyler in terms
Speaker 1: of him looking up to you growing up. I mean
Speaker 1: if you were growing up in Texas when you were
Speaker 1: in high school, and then when you were in Austin,
Speaker 1: every young kid would know who Colt McCoy was. And
Speaker 1: I remember Michael Bidwell even saying of all the moves
Speaker 1: we made, that's the best move bringing in McCoy, not
Speaker 1: just because that in a pinch you could go in
Speaker 1: and win games, but because you can mentor Kyler. How
Speaker 1: has that relationship grown you and Kyler and how have
Speaker 1: you seen him change since you got here? Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: been really good. I didn't really know I had met
Speaker 1: Kyler before, I hadn't spent a lot of time with
Speaker 1: him before I got here. He is also as a
Speaker 1: Texas high school football player. Everybody knows Kyler. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think he lost a game in high school
Speaker 1: in Texas, right, So everybody you know, two sport athlete,
Speaker 1: Heisman Trophy, I mean, everybody knows Kyler Murray. I'm fortunate
Speaker 1: throughout my career to have been a starter in the
Speaker 1: league for several years, to have been a backup, to
Speaker 1: have guys who backed me up that really impressed me
Speaker 1: and helped me, and some who didn't. And so I know,
Speaker 1: like how important a quarterback room is. I've been in
Speaker 1: some good ones and some you know, someone's that needed
Speaker 1: some help. But the first things. First, like, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have signed and kept playing if I didn't think I
Speaker 1: could play. I still want to play. I still think
Speaker 1: I can play. I love the role in the situation
Speaker 1: that I'm in. But secondly, it's important to have a good,
Speaker 1: trusting quarterback room. Cam does a great job with us.
Speaker 1: I came in and started learning. The first thing I
Speaker 1: did was just watch our games, watch Kyler how he played,
Speaker 1: like he does some things that's like, dude, I can't
Speaker 1: do that. Like nobody I told somebody like Cliff called
Speaker 1: a quarterback draw. You know, they hadn't played a bunch
Speaker 1: of man, but in the second half they were switching
Speaker 1: things up. In that last drive to go score, they
Speaker 1: showed me different looks almost every play, right, and so
Speaker 1: he called in a quarterback draw and I was like, huh.
Speaker 1: And so it worked, right, James made a nice block,
Speaker 1: I got through the line of scrimmage, and I was like,
Speaker 1: the only difference between me running I got the first down.
Speaker 1: Kyler probably would have scored right there. So I mean,
Speaker 1: there's things that Kyler can do that I just can't.
Speaker 1: But I know how Cliff sees this offense and how
Speaker 1: he wants it to work, and I rust in that,
Speaker 1: and I think the guys trusting that too, and we
Speaker 1: were able to do that. But going back to Kyler,
Speaker 1: like our relationship has been great. Kyler is so unique
Speaker 1: in how he sees the game like it's it's very impressive.
Speaker 1: He's very smart and he plays with feel. Throughout my
Speaker 1: years and watching other quarterbacks and talking to guys in
Speaker 1: the offseason, and some of the guys I've played with
Speaker 1: are just very routine in structure, and they know the
Speaker 1: game so well. They're great at situational football. They study it.
Speaker 1: They and Kyler is at the top of the list
Speaker 1: on a lot of those things, Like he sees it right,
Speaker 1: he plays the feel, he knows the coverages and structures,
Speaker 1: and he knows how Cliffs wants to the offense to
Speaker 1: be running. So a lot of the things that have
Speaker 1: happened this year is me like me, I'm learning too.
Speaker 1: Like there's some things he does it's like impressive to me,
Speaker 1: and I want to I want to incorporate some of
Speaker 1: that if I can. And I think there's some things
Speaker 1: that I brought to the table, some of the things
Speaker 1: that I have seen or or I like or if
Speaker 1: he plays here and there that Kyler's implemented right. And
Speaker 1: so it's been real health I know how bad Kyler
Speaker 1: wants to be out there. For him to miss three weeks,
Speaker 1: he hasn't really missed a game in his career, Like,
Speaker 1: I know how bad it's been hurting him. And I
Speaker 1: want him to be back. Everybody wants him to be back.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful that we were able to win a couple
Speaker 1: of road games in our division. You know, we have
Speaker 1: the best record in the league right now. We have
Speaker 1: sort of our goals in front of us, and hopefully
Speaker 1: Kyler comes back healthy and we can just continue to
Speaker 1: play good football. And I think we're in a position
Speaker 1: to do that. This is a question that maybe Kyler
Speaker 1: can answer better. But I am curious from your standpoint
Speaker 1: as a father of four and Kyler a young guy
Speaker 1: coming into the NFL. You know, how have you mentored
Speaker 1: him in that role as somebody who's you know, significantly older.
Speaker 1: I won't say how much older, but it's significantly older.
Speaker 1: And you're in a different place in your life personally
Speaker 1: than he is. Yeah, yeah, totally different. My next step
Speaker 1: is to have him come over and babysit, so my
Speaker 1: wife and I go out to dinner or something that's coming. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we are in two totally different places, but it's very
Speaker 1: health The funny conversations go on, and he never changed
Speaker 1: the diaper in his life. He doesn't know what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about. You know, he still goes home and plays
Speaker 1: video games and is still young, right, but his maturity
Speaker 1: and his wisdom in the game is very high, and
Speaker 1: we have lots of great conversations. You know, He's captain
Speaker 1: on the football team. I think there's ways that we've
Speaker 1: been able to talk through things. How do you see this?
Speaker 1: What do you think I should do here? How should
Speaker 1: I handle this? All those things that again, I just
Speaker 1: think it's been very healthy and productive, and after playing
Speaker 1: in the league for so long, I'm happy about that
Speaker 1: because I said this earlier, but I understand the importance
Speaker 1: of having a good QB room right and the starter
Speaker 1: knowing that like, hey, this guy's gonna see it, he's
Speaker 1: gonna help me, he's gonna be supportive, he's gonna be
Speaker 1: an extension of kind of like what I see and
Speaker 1: how I talk to communicate to the coaches, to the receivers,
Speaker 1: and that it's just been It's been productive and thankful
Speaker 1: to be in the position that we're in, and we
Speaker 1: just gotta day the course. In the Cleveland game, no
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsbury and Cam Turner, So I'm guessing you were
Speaker 1: more vocal than you normally are. Did you almost serve
Speaker 1: as quarterback coach in that game? And is coaching something
Speaker 1: that eventually you want to do, because I could definitely
Speaker 1: see you doing it. I was probably more nervous than
Speaker 1: that game than anybody to be honest, because Spencer did
Speaker 1: a great job, you know, calling the plays. And the
Speaker 1: good thing about that week is Cliff had the plan in.
Speaker 1: He was here all the way through Friday, so all
Speaker 1: the all the teaching, the walkthroughs, how he wanted to operate,
Speaker 1: all that was all in right now. It's just we
Speaker 1: just got to call the plays. And Spencer did a
Speaker 1: great job. But we would come out and I would
Speaker 1: have the call sheet Spencer and how we would walk through,
Speaker 1: like what do you like here? What are you seeing?
Speaker 1: We burned through our red zone plays like in the
Speaker 1: first quarter because we got turnovers down there, like all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, we're like down to like our last screen.
Speaker 1: But it was it was fun, and yeah, I was
Speaker 1: definitely what if you want to call it coaching Kyler.
Speaker 1: I was suggesting some things to Kyler. You know, there
Speaker 1: was a couple of times in that game where you
Speaker 1: know who you're playing against, right, you're playing against Clowning,
Speaker 1: You're playing against Miles Garrett, guys who collapse the edge.
Speaker 1: They don't want you to move laterally side to side.
Speaker 1: And early in that game, Kyler had a couple of
Speaker 1: players where he escaped kind of out and it's hard
Speaker 1: to get around those guys. I mean, they're elite. And
Speaker 1: when when lanes were up and you know, we got
Speaker 1: into the second half here or no, we scored on
Speaker 1: a third and nineteen and he moved up in the
Speaker 1: pocket threw a strike to Christian for a touchdown. It's like, dang,
Speaker 1: that worked. It's weird for me to come in and say, Kyle,
Speaker 1: you gotta step up. We can't. We're not going laterally right,
Speaker 1: like there's nothing out there. Move and if it's not,
Speaker 1: there's run, you know. And third and nineteen from a
Speaker 1: throw a touchdown like that was that was great? Right
Speaker 1: and he you know, so that's not something I wouldn't
Speaker 1: normally say because our communication is like that. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's kind of magnified a little bit more when your
Speaker 1: quarterback coach is not there, head coach is not there,
Speaker 1: the assistant receivers coaches calling the plays, and you're kind
Speaker 1: of suggesting some things here and there. It's like and
Speaker 1: when you suggest to play, you're just like, I hope
Speaker 1: this is where I'm essentially calling this play. I hope
Speaker 1: it works, you know, and kind of holding your breath.
Speaker 1: But it was great, Like at once that game was over.
Speaker 1: I was more tired than ever because you just mentally
Speaker 1: and like you also had to be ready to play
Speaker 1: right in those moments. So it was fun. You've been
Speaker 1: around good coaches. I love Mac Brown. Got to know
Speaker 1: Mac a little bit when he was at ESPN, and
Speaker 1: now we were there for the Clemson game two years ago.
Speaker 1: I think it was when they almost beat Clemson and
Speaker 1: Mac is like the best, and I you know, how
Speaker 1: much of an impact is he had on you? And
Speaker 1: again let me because he didn't answer. Is coaching something
Speaker 1: that you think you want to do when you're done? Maybe?
Speaker 1: You know. My grandfather was a women's basketball coach and
Speaker 1: track coach for forty one years in college. My mom
Speaker 1: actually was his point guard at one time for like
Speaker 1: four years UM at Ablyn Christian. My dad played football
Speaker 1: at Ablen Christian and he was also a coach. He
Speaker 1: was my high school coach. I know coaching is sort
Speaker 1: of in my family, um, and so I definitely am
Speaker 1: not shutting the door to that. I think that could
Speaker 1: be part of my future for sure. I do love
Speaker 1: the game. I love studying it. You know, there's so
Speaker 1: many good coaches here to Cliff Jeff Rogers so so smart,
Speaker 1: situationally situational football. You know, I learned a lot from him,
Speaker 1: ask questions, Cam Turners, seen a lot like the there's
Speaker 1: some there's some coaches here that just really good to
Speaker 1: bounce ideas off of. Talk to like I see it,
Speaker 1: I see it the way they see it. And then
Speaker 1: playing from Coach Brown in college. I was there for
Speaker 1: five years. We won a lot of games and fortunate
Speaker 1: to be on good teams there. Coach Brown sort of
Speaker 1: coached me just like my dad. You know, when my
Speaker 1: dad dropped me off, he was like, he's all yours,
Speaker 1: he's ready, you know, so talk to him like I
Speaker 1: would talk to him. So he never held back on me,
Speaker 1: for sure. But it was great. I learned a lot
Speaker 1: and and grew up a lot and thankful to have
Speaker 1: played with him and the staff that was there was
Speaker 1: pretty consistent the whole time I was there. Coach Greg Davis,
Speaker 1: so I love all those guys, um, and I know
Speaker 1: that coaching. You know, you you have a chance to
Speaker 1: call plays and win games and all that, but you
Speaker 1: also have a chance to be around football and be
Speaker 1: around guys and um just the week to week. In
Speaker 1: the process, I mentioned how much I love that. So
Speaker 1: you could do this for a long time. You could
Speaker 1: keep I mean being in a situation you're in with
Speaker 1: the Cardinals, you could do this for five more guys
Speaker 1: playing into their forties. Now. Yeah, I think that's why
Speaker 1: I'm not like thinking about coaching that much because I so,
Speaker 1: you know, getting to play three games all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you just feel like, man, I like, I really enjoyed that.
Speaker 1: You know, it's been a while and you played well
Speaker 1: and you won. Yeah, and we won. There's nothing better
Speaker 1: than like losing sucks at any level, but in the NFL,
Speaker 1: it's just it's just magnified, right, and winning is why
Speaker 1: we do it. It's fun. It's you know, there's a
Speaker 1: like plane rides home from division road games after a
Speaker 1: win or just there's nothing. You can't explain it. There's
Speaker 1: just nothing like it. And so all those things are
Speaker 1: great and uh, but we'll see. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: shut the door to it. I think you know, you
Speaker 1: mentioned I have four kids, Like football does require a
Speaker 1: lot of time, and you know, part of my routine
Speaker 1: is I try to do everything I can hear. I
Speaker 1: get here early so I can go home and read
Speaker 1: books to my kids and bathtime and bedtime. You know,
Speaker 1: that's important to me. So just balancing all that is.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm having the time of my life right now,
Speaker 1: and that's sort of I'm kind of type A. I
Speaker 1: just kind of focus on that and keep my son's
Speaker 1: shades on and not look about what's gonna happen in
Speaker 1: a couple of years. But it could happen. Why'd you
Speaker 1: pick the Cardinals? How did that come about? I heard
Speaker 1: a story that Sean mcvagh recommended you to Cliff. Somebody
Speaker 1: I guess had told you that story, and you didn't
Speaker 1: even know that that if Sean really wanted me, he
Speaker 1: could have got me. Sean is Sean is awesome. Sean's
Speaker 1: one of my best friends. I was with him in
Speaker 1: Washington for four years. Kevin O'Connell same way. I really
Speaker 1: really love those guys are super bright football, you know.
Speaker 1: I think that that means a lot to me, that,
Speaker 1: you know, Sean would make a call for me or whatever.
Speaker 1: I didn't really know. You know, two years ago, I
Speaker 1: was contemplating retiring. I missed a whole season because I
Speaker 1: had a broken leg and had like three surgeries and
Speaker 1: I just didn't feel right, you know, and then I
Speaker 1: sort of got healthy through COVID and worked really really
Speaker 1: hard to just try to feel right and give myself
Speaker 1: a chance to say if I want to play or
Speaker 1: not play anymore. And ended up going to New York
Speaker 1: for a year and and uh played a couple of
Speaker 1: games there, felt pretty good on my leg, like sort
Speaker 1: of kind of got revived a little bit. And and
Speaker 1: you know, in the offseason, had an opportunity to come here.
Speaker 1: I mean, free agency last year it was tough for
Speaker 1: anybody unless you were in an you know, an elite,
Speaker 1: elite guy. And so I just I had several opportunities,
Speaker 1: and I actually wanted to come here. I mean, you
Speaker 1: don't want to ever just show your cards. But my
Speaker 1: wife had a baby on March thirtieth and came had
Speaker 1: called me like probably a week before, said hey, we
Speaker 1: want you to come in on the thirtieth. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm out of town. We've got all these COVID protocols,
Speaker 1: but we really want to host you. We want we
Speaker 1: want to bring you in. I was like, all right,
Speaker 1: you know, let's play it by ear my wife. You
Speaker 1: know she's pregnant. We you know, the dude dates like
Speaker 1: it was the due date was like April fifth or
Speaker 1: something like that. I was like, so, if you know
Speaker 1: something happens, I would keep you posted. But I think
Speaker 1: that'd be great. And there was a couple other teams
Speaker 1: calling me at the time, wanted me to come before
Speaker 1: that because they knew that I was going to come
Speaker 1: out here on the thirtieth. And so all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the thirtieth rolls around and my wife's like, I think
Speaker 1: I'm having a baby. Like I'm like, okay, well let's go.
Speaker 1: So she has the baby early in the morning, like
Speaker 1: two am of the thirtieth. My fight leaves it like seven,
Speaker 1: so I don't bring it up, and she has the baby.
Speaker 1: We're all excited, everything's here, and she's like, what are
Speaker 1: you doing. You gotta go on a plane. I was
Speaker 1: like no, it's like I can't do that. She was like, no,
Speaker 1: I know you want to go to Arizona. Why don't
Speaker 1: you just why don't just go, like give me some time.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stay here because you couldn't have visitors. This
Speaker 1: is her fourth kid. So she's like, just let me
Speaker 1: have my space. I'll just I can just rest, I'll
Speaker 1: give the baby to the nurses. You can go and
Speaker 1: then come back like I know, this is, this is
Speaker 1: we all have been praying about this, and you know,
Speaker 1: and so I did. I left, I went, I got
Speaker 1: to the airport, I didn't sleep. I slept on the
Speaker 1: plane and got out here. They hosted me. It was great.
Speaker 1: I ended up signing flying back and just flew back
Speaker 1: and took the same uber back to the hospital and
Speaker 1: stayed there for another day and then went home. And
Speaker 1: that's kind of you know, So I felt like it
Speaker 1: was the right thing, the right moves kind of meant
Speaker 1: to be. And I'm very fortunate to be here. And
Speaker 1: I have a lot of this season and this team
Speaker 1: and the things that I've learned as a player, the
Speaker 1: things I've learned as a person being around Cliff and
Speaker 1: Cam and our offense. Like I'm just I'm in a
Speaker 1: good place. My occupation obviously is different than years, but
Speaker 1: like this is my twentieth year with the Cardinals. I
Speaker 1: got this job when I was twenty nine. I was
Speaker 1: in such a different stage of life twenty years ago
Speaker 1: than I am now. I got the ESPN in two
Speaker 1: thousand and three. I've been there eighteen years. And when
Speaker 1: I got hired, like you know, I was kind of
Speaker 1: like the up and comer, and they'd put me with
Speaker 1: some of the older veterans, and then after time I
Speaker 1: started working with a lot of the younger guys. I
Speaker 1: mentioned Greg McElroy. He was twenty eight when they put
Speaker 1: him with me, about six or seven years ago. And
Speaker 1: so my role has changed over Tom. I love it.
Speaker 1: I love all the people I get to work with,
Speaker 1: and I still get to work with people that are
Speaker 1: more established. And I worked NBA with hughby Brown is
Speaker 1: eighty eight. It's incredible what he's create at his age.
Speaker 1: My question is, how do you brace because you were again,
Speaker 1: great legend in Texas in high school, at University of Texas,
Speaker 1: you go to the National Championship Game, and then in
Speaker 1: the NFL high draft pick third round starter. Now your
Speaker 1: role has changed. How do you embrace kind of being
Speaker 1: a leader in the different stage of your career. I
Speaker 1: know you talked about that a little bit. I'm just
Speaker 1: wanting you can go a little bit deeper on that one. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think when you're in college and you're starting, things
Speaker 1: are going great, and you come to the NFL and
Speaker 1: you start for a couple of different teams and you
Speaker 1: kind of it's kind of it's easy to be a leader.
Speaker 1: It's easy to be who you are and you're kind
Speaker 1: of the voice and guys listen to you. I think
Speaker 1: I've had a big transition of understanding the term leadership
Speaker 1: just by being the guy who's not on the field, right,
Speaker 1: the guy who's kind of behind the scenes. And I
Speaker 1: saw a seed as like the glue. Right, you're talking
Speaker 1: to receiver, as you're talking to lineman, coaches Kyler, and
Speaker 1: you're you do it all from the standpoint of you
Speaker 1: understand what it's supposed to look like, how Cliff wants it,
Speaker 1: how Kyler sees it, and so I enjoy that, like
Speaker 1: I enjoy doing all that. It helps me learn the game.
Speaker 1: It helps me understand the game, It helps me relationships
Speaker 1: with guys on the team. But it's it's different than
Speaker 1: when you're on the field and you are calling the
Speaker 1: plays and you're making the plays, and you're leading the
Speaker 1: team against two different roles but in the same leadership category.
Speaker 1: And I went back to UT for a practice probably
Speaker 1: five years after I had graduated, and our practice fields
Speaker 1: that UT are named after this guy, Frank Denias, who's
Speaker 1: recently passed away, mentor of mine, very successful in life,
Speaker 1: but at seventeen, he's storing the beaches of Normandy right
Speaker 1: kind of when it enlisted, he was too young, but
Speaker 1: served our country all. He's just a very very he
Speaker 1: was probably late eighties maybe ninety. We were sitting there
Speaker 1: talking and he asked me, he said, how do you
Speaker 1: how would you define leadership? And I'm sitting there thinking, like,
Speaker 1: I didn't do anything when I was seventeen, right like,
Speaker 1: and so I gave a few cliche answers, you know, encouraging, motivating,
Speaker 1: you know, doing the right thing all the time. And
Speaker 1: he was like, yeah, that's that's good, you know. He said,
Speaker 1: A leader is a man who can manage his own fears.
Speaker 1: And that's always stuck with me. So whether I'm on
Speaker 1: the field playing, whether I'm off the field talking and
Speaker 1: having conversations and working out and getting myself a fady
Speaker 1: to play, like, I understand that having myself available and
Speaker 1: ready for any situation that comes up, like managing myself,
Speaker 1: I think allows me to operate in the role that
Speaker 1: I have, whether I'm on the field or off the field. Well, listen,
Speaker 1: it's it's clear the impact you've had on the organization.
Speaker 1: On the field off the field, mentoring others, leading, and
Speaker 1: I'm glad you're here. I know Cardinal fans are as well. Man.
Speaker 1: It's been great to see what you've done the last
Speaker 1: few weeks on the field and best of luck the
Speaker 1: rest of the way. Hey, thanks glad. This was fun
Speaker 1: and enjoyed it. From the delivery room to the conference
Speaker 1: room at the Dignity Health Arizona Cardinals Training Center, Colt
Speaker 1: McCoy signs a contract and he told us he went
Speaker 1: to bed that night at eight o'clock Arizona time because
Speaker 1: he was exhausted, had quite the twenty four hours being
Speaker 1: there for his wife giving birth to their fourth child,
Speaker 1: and then flying here to sign a contract to play
Speaker 1: for the Arizona Cardinals. Great stuff. You can hear the humility,
Speaker 1: the professionalism, the maturity of Colt McCoy and again why
Speaker 1: he said such a big impact on this franchise as
Speaker 1: a leader but also as a player, winning two games
Speaker 1: and being a big reason the Cardinals were able to
Speaker 1: get through that time without Kyler Murray, without DeAndre Hopkins
Speaker 1: and have the best record in the National Football League
Speaker 1: at nine and two. We are presented by bet MGM,
Speaker 1: the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals and
Speaker 1: by Hila River Hotels and Casinos. You can follow along
Speaker 1: with us on Twitter at pash pod. Thanks again to
Speaker 1: Cardinals quarterback Colt McCoy. I'm Dave Pash. We'll talk to
Speaker 1: you next week on the Dave Pash Podcast