Speaker 1: There's a lot of expectations on this football team. They're dangerous.
Speaker 2: To achieve the results you want.
Speaker 3: It doesn't happen on game day, it happens today with
Speaker 3: every breath you take.
Speaker 2: This guy is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
Speaker 2: Push each other, make it hurt. It's time to rewrite
Speaker 2: our story.
Speaker 4: Hello and welcome to the second season of The Hard
Speaker 4: Knocks Podcast. I am Dan Hanss, longtime Hard knocksscribe for
Speaker 4: NFL dot com and yes, long suffering Jets, been since
Speaker 4: nineteen eighty eight, and I'm joined by my lovely co
Speaker 4: host and a fellow Hard Knocks addict, Colleen Wolf.
Speaker 5: Connie. We doing this again.
Speaker 1: We're running it back.
Speaker 6: I'm so excited for you, specifically because I get to
Speaker 6: watch you kind of live and die by this Hard
Speaker 6: Knock season with the Jets, and that's a whole different layer.
Speaker 7: This is a whole new thing for me. I can't wait.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I couldn't be more excited.
Speaker 4: I've always loved this show, and when the rumors are
Speaker 4: percolating out there about it the Jets being involved with
Speaker 4: this season, especially after the arrival of Aaron Rodgers, it
Speaker 4: seemed too good to be true and now here we are.
Speaker 4: This is our episode previewing the five run episode of
Speaker 4: Hard Knocks starting on Tuesday, August eighth, focusing on the
Speaker 4: Jets for the second time in the program's history. Connie
Speaker 4: obviously a legitimate buzz and anticipation around this season in
Speaker 4: New York, both because of the memories of how fun
Speaker 4: the Rex Ryan season was back in twenty ten, but
Speaker 4: more so because of Rogers obviously, and how he's kind
Speaker 4: of taking this team and transformed it from this downtrodden squad,
Speaker 4: which by the way, owns the longest postseason drought in
Speaker 4: North American professional sports entering this season into as Hard
Speaker 4: Knocks producers are selling it this season in the trailer
Speaker 4: you heard at the top of the show, the most
Speaker 4: compelling team in football. And I have to say, Connie,
Speaker 4: this is.
Speaker 5: All a little bit overwhelming for me, but it's not wrong, right.
Speaker 4: I love it, Like they might not be the Super
Speaker 4: Bowl favorite, but pound for pound, just like storylines, juice,
Speaker 4: there's nobody like the Jets right now, which is just
Speaker 4: considering what the last decade or so has been like,
Speaker 4: it's pretty crazy how quickly change happens in the NFL.
Speaker 7: This sets up so perfectly.
Speaker 6: First of all, they could not buy publicity like this
Speaker 6: for the show that they've received over the last week,
Speaker 6: with all week and a half, I guess now with
Speaker 6: all of the Sean Payton and Nani pocket.
Speaker 7: Fire like that is just such.
Speaker 6: It's like catnip right now for me, and as a
Speaker 6: Jets fan, I can't even imagine. Because with the Eagles,
Speaker 6: when they started to get good the year that they
Speaker 6: won the Super Bowl, that's when I started kind of
Speaker 6: like feeling like everyone started talking about the Eagles more nationally.
Speaker 7: There was buzz that it was right that they were
Speaker 7: getting it. They should have been getting all of that buzz.
Speaker 6: But it's still to me felt so strange for the
Speaker 6: Eagles to be that team. And now I feel like
Speaker 6: with you, it's like the Jets right now, it's all
Speaker 6: anyone wants to talk about, and rightfully so, because of
Speaker 6: everything that's happened. Like Method Man was at training camp
Speaker 6: the other day when I was hosting ITC and I
Speaker 6: was in Pittsburgh and all I want to do was
Speaker 6: be with the Jets at method Man. That was my
Speaker 6: first ever concert I went to was Read and bo
Speaker 6: Yes in Philadelphia. I was so starstruck, and I think
Speaker 6: stee So Senior was starstruck too talking to him.
Speaker 7: At Jets Like.
Speaker 6: It's just it's really it's gonna be such a good
Speaker 6: season for it to be in New York, for it
Speaker 6: to be around this team that has been, as you said,
Speaker 6: so downtrodden for so many years, and then to have
Speaker 6: the quarterback Aaron Rodgers there who love him or hate him,
Speaker 6: He's going to make people talk. And I've also done
Speaker 6: like a total one to eighty on him just from
Speaker 6: one SoundBite. So I can't wait to see how I
Speaker 6: feel from the beginning of this series until the end.
Speaker 5: Wow, one SoundBite. Do you happen to have that one SoundBite?
Speaker 7: You know what? I think we should take a listen
Speaker 7: to it.
Speaker 6: This is Aaron Rodgers breaking down the huddle at camp
Speaker 6: the other day.
Speaker 5: Aaron, what do you got for us? Faces?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 8: I got nothing Now. I'm just happy to be out here,
Speaker 8: excited to be with you guys. All I'm gonna say
Speaker 8: is this camp along camp right, Let's just enjoyed little
Speaker 8: things every single day. Take time to laugh a little bit,
Speaker 8: find a conversation on lifetime with somebody new.
Speaker 2: Don't always say with the same group.
Speaker 8: If you know your teammates a little bit, you know
Speaker 8: that's part of their leadership route that you just enjoyed.
Speaker 8: The little moments goes by fast and you get to
Speaker 8: be really old and gray and savoring every little moment.
Speaker 8: So saving them right now? Yeah, Q's one three, two three.
Speaker 5: QoS Connie.
Speaker 4: He seems Rogers this deep into his career after that
Speaker 4: incredible run with the Packers and then how it ended,
Speaker 4: he does seem revitalized and really excited to be kind
Speaker 4: of at the the focal point of this team. What
Speaker 4: is it about that clip that you kind of you
Speaker 4: were gravitating towards.
Speaker 6: It's just sort of like I'm so used to hearing
Speaker 6: Aaron Rodgers with the media be just kind of stand
Speaker 6: office stand offish and kind of brush things off and
Speaker 6: maybe be a little arrogant about things. And that was
Speaker 6: just genuine and sincere to me, and the message of
Speaker 6: just enjoy the little moments. It goes by fast, savor
Speaker 6: every moment. I think for me, I just take anything
Speaker 6: that I use football as an analogy for everything in
Speaker 6: my life because we're around football so much. And so
Speaker 6: when I heard that he's talking about training camp, but
Speaker 6: I hear it as life and so that to me
Speaker 6: just felt like a really sweet.
Speaker 7: Little window into what we don't normally see.
Speaker 6: And I also loved that Nathaniel Hackett he threw to him,
Speaker 6: was like, Aaron, what do you got for.
Speaker 7: Us, babe?
Speaker 6: And that just it really, really really made me so
Speaker 6: happy to hear Hackett call Aaron Rodgers babe, Like.
Speaker 4: That's it, yeah, yeah, the hacket of it all, And
Speaker 4: it really is a gift from the football gods, a
Speaker 4: gift from the NFL films gods that Sean Payton, Broncos
Speaker 4: head coach trashes Hackett and the previous regime in Denver. Hackett,
Speaker 4: of course, flamed out spectacularly in his didn't even make
Speaker 4: it through the last season with Russell Wilson at quarterback,
Speaker 4: and here's Hackett now trying to resuscitate his career. Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 4: in a lot of ways threw him this lifeline, even
Speaker 4: if he didn't do it directly, because everyone knows Hackett
Speaker 4: is so close to Rogers that he could call him babe.
Speaker 5: So the Jets don't get it twisted here.
Speaker 4: The Jets very pointedly, after the disappointment of Zach Wilson
Speaker 4: in the past two years targeted Hackett, Yes, because he
Speaker 4: has a pedigree and has had success in his career
Speaker 4: before Denver, but also and especially because he's very close
Speaker 4: to Aaron Rodgers and what was part of a long,
Speaker 4: long period of courtship that led to the Jets landing Rogers.
Speaker 4: So for this show to start with the cameras, the
Speaker 4: crews at Jets camp right when Peyton gets a little
Speaker 4: loose and at a pocket with USA today, it was wonderful.
Speaker 4: And you saw Rogers spoke with Peter Schrager of NFL
Speaker 4: Network candidly about I believe Sean Payton, keep my coach's
Speaker 4: names out of your mouth, as if he's gonna beat
Speaker 4: the hell out of him in week five. But what
Speaker 4: I really liked, Connie, was Robert Sala stepping up to
Speaker 4: the podium. And there's been talk about whether, you know,
Speaker 4: the Jets and other teams wanted to be on the show,
Speaker 4: but you see Sala kind of embracing the moment and
Speaker 4: issuing a clapback to Peyton to the media, and we
Speaker 4: just play the clip, Connie, But I thought, since this
Speaker 4: is the Hard Knocks podcast, the premiere of season two,
Speaker 4: why don't we put a little that iconic David Roboto
Speaker 4: score underneath as a little preview, as a little taste
Speaker 4: of how that wonderful soundtrack for Hard Knocks for two
Speaker 4: decades in counting really dresses up everything and makes it
Speaker 4: even better. Here is Sala with a little Robodo accompaniment.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm not going to acknowledge Sean on that is
Speaker 3: he you know, he's been the league while he can
Speaker 3: say whatever the hell he wants. But as far as
Speaker 3: you know what we have going on here, it's.
Speaker 2: You know, the.
Speaker 3: I kind of lived by a say, if you ain't
Speaker 3: got no haters, Rayam Popper, so hate away.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It's obviously we're doing something right if you've got to
Speaker 3: talk about us when we don't play until we've for
Speaker 3: and I'm good with it, you know. But uh, you know,
Speaker 3: the guys in our locker room, they've earned everything that's
Speaker 3: coming to him and.
Speaker 2: Really excited about what's going on.
Speaker 3: I think Hecket's doing a phenomenal job here him, the
Speaker 3: coaching staff is doing a.
Speaker 2: Phenomenal job, and and we're focused on us. I get it.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of external noise. There's a lot of
Speaker 3: people who are hating on us. There's a lot of
Speaker 3: people looking for us to field. There's a lot of crows.
Speaker 2: Peckinget or neck. But all you can do is spread
Speaker 2: your wings, keep flying high until le's prost fall off
Speaker 2: and suffocating from the inability to breathe. It's all I
Speaker 2: apologizing him later.
Speaker 7: Wait on a seconds, Wow, Robert Sala, he's going to
Speaker 7: be a star. I already know it. The if you
Speaker 7: ain't got no haters, then you ain't popping so hate away.
Speaker 6: That needs to be someone needs to take like a
Speaker 6: wrap like bed and and and remix that for me,
Speaker 6: because that could be that could be huge.
Speaker 7: But the way that he goes off at the end
Speaker 7: and all of.
Speaker 6: A sudden, like they're flying and and crows are suffocating
Speaker 6: like that gave me a little bit of Dan Campbell
Speaker 6: vibes that I was not expecting, a little twist.
Speaker 7: I love Robert Salah. This is gonna be such a
Speaker 7: good season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Sala was built for this. Dan Campbell, of course,
Speaker 4: the head coach of the Lions. We we chronicled that
Speaker 4: show last summer and it was a great season of
Speaker 4: hard knocks, which I think is also building into the
Speaker 4: anticipation for this year. Because I thought the Lion season
Speaker 4: kind of revitalized interest in this long running franchise in
Speaker 4: a lot of ways.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's it's it's great. I can't I can't wait.
Speaker 4: To see how the the Jets as a whole kind
Speaker 4: of react to the cameras and how you see who
Speaker 4: who steps up and who becomes larger than life figures
Speaker 4: like a Jamal Williams or Deuce Staley last year, because
Speaker 4: you never know and and you know, along the lines
Speaker 4: of again, as a fan of the team, beyond just
Speaker 4: covering the sport, I think about what are the real line,
Speaker 4: the real life storylines to track that you could actually
Speaker 4: what is the news value potentially in having the Hard
Speaker 4: Knocks production team there? First and foremost for me is
Speaker 4: Aaron Rodgers and and the progress of this offense. Uh,
Speaker 4: I think, I think, And I'm gonna we're gonna share
Speaker 4: some our MVP predictions a little bit later. We're gonna
Speaker 4: share maybe a fearless prediction for the season a little
Speaker 4: bit later. But I want to see how the offensive
Speaker 4: line is coming together with Rogers and not a new offense,
Speaker 4: but in new surroundings, in a new environment. Also, Connie,
Speaker 4: how about a little Garrett Wilson for a Sauce Gardner
Speaker 4: practicing every day, the offensive player of the year against
Speaker 4: the defensive player of the year. That's got to be
Speaker 4: catnip for hard knocks.
Speaker 7: Oh, that's going to be so so good.
Speaker 6: I mean, the offensive line is going to get so
Speaker 6: much attention. That is that's like for me also number one.
Speaker 6: But I'm excited to see this group of wide receivers
Speaker 6: behind Garrett Wilson, like Mikol Hartman coming in and what
Speaker 6: like what does Randall Cobb and Alan Lazard? How where
Speaker 6: did they fit into the puzzle.
Speaker 7: And it's just like it's.
Speaker 6: So there's so many different ways you can go, and
Speaker 6: there's so many storylines. And I know that the Jets
Speaker 6: didn't want this and they publicly said it, but to me,
Speaker 6: that makes it even better.
Speaker 4: Sure you lean into it at this point in other storylines,
Speaker 4: Dalvin Cook, as of this recording, is not a member.
Speaker 5: Of the New York Jets, but he's been to camp.
Speaker 4: He's taking selfies with fans, he's taken a physical with
Speaker 4: the team. That is a storyline set against the backdrop
Speaker 4: of Breece Hall, who I thought, you know, I know,
Speaker 4: Garrett Wilson won Rookie of the Year. I think if
Speaker 4: Bruce Hall doesn't blow out his knee last year in October,
Speaker 4: i think he wins Offensive Player of the Year Rookie
Speaker 4: of the Year in a walk. That's how incredible his
Speaker 4: rookie year was shaping up to be before that unfortunate injury.
Speaker 4: How is his recovery documented on the show? Sometimes on
Speaker 4: Hard Knocks, you expect when you're it's covering a team
Speaker 4: that has a high profile player coming back from injury,
Speaker 4: you expect that to be a storyline. But what happens
Speaker 4: is these guys are rehabbing, kind of off to the side,
Speaker 4: in their own, their own world. You end up not
Speaker 4: seeing them at all. I'd like to see where Breeze
Speaker 4: Hall is at. And then the one more, one more
Speaker 4: Collie and I have is the Zach Wilson of it all.
Speaker 4: I mean, oh yeah, this Aaron Rodgers, this saga, and
Speaker 4: this whole new world that the Jets are in, it's
Speaker 4: because of number eight Aaron Rodgers. And the only reason
Speaker 4: Rogers is here is because the Jets used a number
Speaker 4: two overall pick on a kid out of BYU Zach
Speaker 4: Wilson two years ago who flamed out in an epic
Speaker 4: manner and who, by the way, his hero growing up
Speaker 4: was wait for it, Aaron Rodgers, the most compelling team
Speaker 4: in football, and now they're working together in the quarterback room.
Speaker 5: He is the number two quarterback of the Jets. And
Speaker 5: to go from the face.
Speaker 4: Of the franchise to the background with Aaron Rodgers and
Speaker 4: being the understudy, I'm just interested. I'd be interested to
Speaker 4: learn about Wilson and his journey because it's been it's
Speaker 4: very unusual, his path for as a numb number two
Speaker 4: overall pick and where he is now in just year three.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and we're taping this on Thursday night of Hall
Speaker 6: of Fame weekend, so the Hall of Fame game is tonight.
Speaker 6: I'm in Canton, so I as soon as we're done
Speaker 6: recording this, I'm going to head over to the stadium.
Speaker 6: Zach Wilson is starting in the game, and I just
Speaker 6: want to get a feel for our Hard Knocks team,
Speaker 6: like I want to see them live.
Speaker 7: I want to know what I'm just like excited for there.
Speaker 6: To be a game, even though it doesn't really like
Speaker 6: count as a game, but it's going to feel like
Speaker 6: a game and that the Jets are there, like that's
Speaker 6: the only reason I'm going yeah.
Speaker 5: And we'll get it. We got Rich Semini a ESPN.
Speaker 4: I'm about to throw in an interview that I did
Speaker 4: with Rich a day ago, and we're going to touch
Speaker 4: on the Jets being again the center of everything right
Speaker 4: now in Canton, with the Hall of Fame inductions and
Speaker 4: then the game a lot to get to. In fact,
Speaker 4: why don't we do that, Why don't we throw it
Speaker 4: to my conversation with Rich Semini, longtime scribe covering the Jets,
Speaker 4: and then we'll we'll come back and we'll share some
Speaker 4: predictions and we'll say goodbye.
Speaker 5: Stay right there, all.
Speaker 4: Right, Welcome back to the Hard Knocks podcast preview of
Speaker 4: the New York Jets, second time on this illustrious program,
Speaker 4: And I could not have a better guest to talk
Speaker 4: about the Jets and the history of the team and
Speaker 4: the history of the team on Hard Knocks than the
Speaker 4: great Rich Sameni, who has covered this team since nineteen
Speaker 4: eighty nine.
Speaker 5: That's longer than any beat writer in the history of
Speaker 5: the organization.
Speaker 4: So when you want Jets history, if you want an
Speaker 4: idea of the pain of the franchise and perhaps a
Speaker 4: path to glory, Samini is the guy. Welcome Rich to
Speaker 4: the Hard Knocks Podcast.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, Dan Well. I had two words, Joe Walton,
Speaker 1: that was the first coach I covered. That gives you
Speaker 1: some semblance of perspective of where I'm coming from.
Speaker 4: My goodness, you know, and thanks Rich for giving us
Speaker 4: some of your time here during the very busy summer.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: Next stop for you, I know is Canton for the
Speaker 4: Hall of Fame game. That's a Jets game, and there's
Speaker 4: the Hall of Fame inductions of Darrell Reeves and Kleco,
Speaker 4: who you always pounded the table for Cleco as a
Speaker 4: man who deserved it, and he did and now he's
Speaker 4: going in the Jets.
Speaker 5: And you know Rich better than anyway. And things changed
Speaker 5: quickly in pro football.
Speaker 4: But the Jets are the hottest ticket in the sport
Speaker 4: right now, and now you got Hard Knocks coming up.
Speaker 4: This is kind of all wild, obviously with Rogers at
Speaker 4: the center of everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say that it's probably the biggest buzz
Speaker 1: the buzziest time in Jet history that I've covered, at least,
Speaker 1: I mean in eight with Brett Favre. You know, it
Speaker 1: was pretty it was pretty wild. It was pretty hyped
Speaker 1: up there but that was that happened so fast. You know,
Speaker 1: he didn't get here until early August, and so that
Speaker 1: was like the accelerated buzz program. This has been kind
Speaker 1: of a gradual build really since March when Rogers came
Speaker 1: out publicly I want to play for the Jets. So
Speaker 1: this has been more of a slow build, and it
Speaker 1: is it's insane around Jet Camp. I mean, every day
Speaker 1: there's celebrities walking the sideline. Leev Schreiber, the other day,
Speaker 1: Method Man, you know, was out there. I was standing
Speaker 1: next to him on the sideline a couple of days ago.
Speaker 1: So you just never know who's going to show up.
Speaker 1: And everyone wants to be around the Jets these days, I.
Speaker 4: Guess, which is bizarre because you know, we've been doing
Speaker 4: our around the NFL podcast. This is going into our
Speaker 4: eleventh season and that coincides with the longest dry stretcher
Speaker 4: of any team in North American sports in terms of
Speaker 4: the postseason. So for this team that this amount of buzz,
Speaker 4: there is an element of is Lucy going to take
Speaker 4: the football away? Everything's been going so perfectly so far
Speaker 4: for the most part, besides like McKai Beckton or whatever,
Speaker 4: but in general, you feel so good about it, and
Speaker 4: I just like in the on the hard knock side
Speaker 4: of thing things Rich, I just want to start a
Speaker 4: little bit with like the hand ringing from the Jets
Speaker 4: and all the other teams initially about we don't want
Speaker 4: to be on Hard Knocks, keep us out of that show.
Speaker 4: And then I got a call bs Rich because then
Speaker 4: you see the drama around Sean Payton Nathaniel Hackett and
Speaker 4: the comments that were made by Peyton obviously out of pocket,
Speaker 4: and then Sala steps up to the podium and he
Speaker 4: has a very prepared response.
Speaker 5: He's quoting rap lyrics.
Speaker 2: What was it if you if you ain't got no hatters,
Speaker 2: you ain't popping right?
Speaker 4: Thank you, Robert, And all I could think is he's
Speaker 4: embracing this and he's not gonna say it because he's
Speaker 4: a big, you know, tough football guy and cameras are bad.
Speaker 4: But what better vehicle for a head coach in this
Speaker 4: league and head coaches have egos, it's not just the
Speaker 4: players than hard knocks, like this is a huge star
Speaker 4: making vehicle for Robert solid and I was happy to
Speaker 4: see that because it's clear and he had iHeart HK
Speaker 4: shirt at the start of camp. He's leaning into this
Speaker 4: now and that's gonna be good for everybody, including the
Speaker 4: viewers of the show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, the just will be entertained. I think
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers is the most interesting guy in the NFL
Speaker 1: right now, So that'll be a huge storyline obviously in
Speaker 1: the first and many episodes. And yeah, the Jets pushed back.
Speaker 1: I mean they came out publicly and said we do
Speaker 1: not want to do Hard Knocks, and the NFL has
Speaker 1: the right to make anybody do it, and they I'm
Speaker 1: glad the NFL pushed back, you know, because no one
Speaker 1: wanted to see New Orleans or Chicago on Hard Knocks.
Speaker 1: Everybody wanted to see the Jets. I think from a
Speaker 1: fan perspective, from an entertainment value, you wanted to see
Speaker 1: the Jets. You got the Jets. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: so crazy. Just a quick little snapshot on Sunday, Dalvin
Speaker 1: Cook was visiting the Jets and part of me thinks
Speaker 1: that that was a whole thing. Stays for Hard Knocks.
Speaker 1: Everywhere he walks on the practice field, there was a
Speaker 1: boom mic over his head, there was a camera thaves drive.
Speaker 1: But he was talking to Woody Johnson on the sideline
Speaker 1: there you see the boom mic over their heads. I
Speaker 1: guarantee you that's going to be in the first episode,
Speaker 1: you know, free agent talking to the owner, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean there's definitely the preceence around camp for sure.
Speaker 4: I would say Rich that you know my fandom is
Speaker 4: leaning and you know I'm a Jets fan and the
Speaker 4: twenty ten Hard Knocks and I wrote I basically covered
Speaker 4: the Hard Knocks beat for NFL dot com for ten years.
Speaker 4: This is the second year we're doing a podcast of it.
Speaker 4: I still don't think there was a better season than
Speaker 4: the Rex Ryan twenty ten season, which coincided with the
Speaker 4: Jets last playoff appearance. Gett into the AFC title game,
Speaker 4: the peak of the Rex era. You were there for that,
Speaker 4: And is there a difference in terms of how it
Speaker 4: looks and feels it seemed busier around the camp or
Speaker 4: is it more or less got a similar vibe to
Speaker 4: twenty ten.
Speaker 1: It's a little different. I mean back then Rex Ryan
Speaker 1: was completely unfiltered, you know. So with Rex he would say,
Speaker 1: he would say anything. And I don't think you're going
Speaker 1: to see as many F bombs in this year's Hard Knocks.
Speaker 1: Robert salad not curse. At least he doesn't around us.
Speaker 1: It's just not his thing. And I remember writing a
Speaker 1: story on Rex after the first episode. There were so
Speaker 1: many f bombs that he actually made a crack at
Speaker 1: a press conference that said, I got a call from
Speaker 1: my mother. She was very upset about all the cursing.
Speaker 1: And you remember Tony Dungee came out at the time
Speaker 1: and said, you know, it wasn't cool with that much.
Speaker 5: Cursing pipe downee all the time.
Speaker 1: He said the league should look into it. Goodell, should
Speaker 1: you know, look into this? And I remember reaching out
Speaker 1: to the NFL for a comment and I got an
Speaker 1: email back from greg Iello, the PR guy at the time.
Speaker 1: I said, are you guys going to do anything? And
Speaker 1: he goes. He wrote back and he said, I think
Speaker 1: Rex's mother has already handled this, and so it became
Speaker 1: kind of a story about Rex's cursing. I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: we're not going to have a cursing issue in this
Speaker 1: Hard Knocks.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's good In terms of the key to a
Speaker 4: Hard Knock season is kind of the breakout stars, the
Speaker 4: charismatic guy. Sometimes they'll surprise you. It could be an
Speaker 4: undrafted free agent linebacker. It could be the second string
Speaker 4: running back, it could be a star in the team.
Speaker 4: Do you have any anybody that comes to mind as
Speaker 4: a player or maybe somebody from the coaching staff that
Speaker 4: jumps out as a potential hard knocks MVP.
Speaker 5: We have a whole.
Speaker 4: Voting system Colleen and I that we tabulate as the
Speaker 4: season goes along, like who should we be keeping an
Speaker 4: eye out on?
Speaker 1: Odds wise, I think they're gonna try to make something
Speaker 1: out of Michael Clemens, their defensive end from Texas, A
Speaker 1: and M a second year player. He is a man
Speaker 1: of few words, but you saw him coming into training
Speaker 1: camp and the carrying that bat from you know, the
Speaker 1: barbed wire bat in So I think I think Clemens,
Speaker 1: even though he doesn't say a lot, you can make
Speaker 1: something out of it. He's a very intimidating guy. He's
Speaker 1: his body is just sculpted. So they could try to
Speaker 1: make something out of Michael Clemens. I think Nathaniel Hackett
Speaker 1: is a really energetic, outspoken guy. I think his meetings
Speaker 1: are really different. I mean they play jeopardy in the
Speaker 1: quarterback meetings, which is called course perfect for Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: because you know he's hosted in the past, so I
Speaker 1: could see something with Hackett. He's got that kind of personality,
Speaker 1: and of course Rogers will be everything he says on
Speaker 1: the field, just little words of wisdom that he's sharing
Speaker 1: with teammates that'll all be, you know, gobbled up. I'm
Speaker 1: sure that'll make some good copy.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I feel like there's a lot of meat on the
Speaker 4: bone with Hackett from a narrative standpoint, and then Peyton
Speaker 4: served up this like gorgeous meal on a platter for
Speaker 4: episode one, because you keep hearing and he hear it
Speaker 4: all the time for people on the outside, fans the
Speaker 4: coaches say, oh, Hackett makes it fun, but I never
Speaker 4: really you never really hear how he makes it fun.
Speaker 5: So the opportunity here, I mean, this is a huge
Speaker 5: spot for Hackett too.
Speaker 4: Who's who got a lifeline from the Jets, and let's
Speaker 4: face it, Rogers coming off what was Peyton was not
Speaker 4: wrong about that a disaster of the season, and I
Speaker 4: could definitely see him coming off very well on this show.
Speaker 4: We do have to get to the Rogers of it all, Rich,
Speaker 4: because let's frame it this way, eight years ago, Rich,
Speaker 4: I call you up, and you've always been very.
Speaker 5: Nice and.
Speaker 4: Sharing of your time, and I always appreciate it. But
Speaker 4: back in twenty fifteen, you were nice enough to grant
Speaker 4: me an interview for this write up series I was
Speaker 4: doing on NFL dot Com called The Pain Rankings. We
Speaker 4: talked about a supposed curse a Broadway Joe, and you
Speaker 4: said this to me, I don't really think it's a curse.
Speaker 4: They don't have a quarterback. If they have a quarterback,
Speaker 4: they wouldn't have this problem. The ownership has changed, the
Speaker 4: coaches have changed, they've changed stadiums, everything has changed. I
Speaker 4: just think if they could ever find a quarterback, it
Speaker 4: could get them over the hump. They have a quarterback now, Rich.
Speaker 4: Have you had the opportunity to have any one on
Speaker 4: one interaction with Rogers? And I know we mentioned Farv
Speaker 4: which felt totally different, including Farv never really wanted to
Speaker 4: be with the Jets. He's just trying to get to
Speaker 4: the Vikings to stick it to the Packers. That's not
Speaker 4: how Rogers is. You can talk about his contract restructuring,
Speaker 4: just how he's carrying himself when how has been the
Speaker 4: Rogers of it?
Speaker 1: All of the Jets, see, we got the ultimate battle
Speaker 1: set up here. It's Rogers versus the Curse. It's like
Speaker 1: two powerful forces going against each other. Who will prevail.
Speaker 1: Rogers has been great to deal with, you know, and
Speaker 1: obviously he's been trying really hard to be accommodating both
Speaker 1: public relations wise with the fans, you know, going to
Speaker 1: all those events around in you know, New York City,
Speaker 1: that Tony's, the Broadway shows, MSG and then even with
Speaker 1: the media, he's been fantastic. Just I mean, we have
Speaker 1: not had one on one interviews with him. We did
Speaker 1: get an opportunity to spend a little bit of time
Speaker 1: with him some of the writers away from the microphones
Speaker 1: back in this back in I guess it was may
Speaker 1: or June, and so that was cool, you know, to
Speaker 1: get to know him a little bit. But he's been great.
Speaker 1: He gives you such thoughtful answers. He says, he welcomes
Speaker 1: hard questions. He goes he prefers hard questions. I can't
Speaker 1: remember ever an athlete coming out saying give me hard questions,
Speaker 1: you know. So we'll see how he reacts. If he
Speaker 1: throws three picks against Buffalo on September eleventh, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, Eric, what happened on this pick? Is
Speaker 1: he going to be as accommodating then we'll find out.
Speaker 1: But he's he's hit all the right notes do in
Speaker 1: I mean, he couldn't have scripted a better first few
Speaker 1: months with a new team in a new city.
Speaker 4: I mean, between you and I and the people listening,
Speaker 4: is that man when you listen to him and you converse,
Speaker 4: is he for real?
Speaker 2: Is he?
Speaker 5: You know, full of it?
Speaker 1: I don't know. If you as the Green Bay writers,
Speaker 1: they might say he's full of it, but you know
Speaker 1: they were around the guy for eighteen years, so I
Speaker 1: can understand the fatigue factor. I've never covered a player
Speaker 1: for eighteen years. God knows, no one on the Jets
Speaker 1: ever last that long. It's more of a revolving door situation.
Speaker 1: So I wouldn't know what that's like. But uh, he
Speaker 1: seems genuine to me. I don't know, Ask me again
Speaker 1: in a few months. You know when there's gonna there's
Speaker 1: gonna be hard times. This is not gonna be an
Speaker 1: easy thing. I mean, he's he's learning a new I mean,
Speaker 1: he's not learning a new offense, but he's trying to
Speaker 1: teach a new offense to all these players. It's not
Speaker 1: gonna click automatically. There's gonna be some rough patches. They'll
Speaker 1: probably happen early, and so we'll find out a little
Speaker 1: bit more then. But all I can go by is
Speaker 1: what I see and what I hear it is, and
Speaker 1: he's been fantastic so far.
Speaker 4: It is going to be a gold mine of storylines
Speaker 4: and a season that everyone should be excited about, Jets
Speaker 4: fans and otherwise. Rich Any Hard Knocks predictions before we
Speaker 4: say goodbye.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't think you're gonna get the usual Hard
Speaker 1: Knocks conclusion where they're cutting players, you know, and the
Speaker 1: last episode or you know, leading up to that. I
Speaker 1: think the Jets are philosophically opposed to that, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure you know the reason, right Dan. I mean Joe
Speaker 1: Douglas when in the first Hard Knocks with the Baltimore
Speaker 1: Ravens way back in two thousand or two thousand and one,
Speaker 1: Joe Douglas was the poor SAP who got to walk
Speaker 1: around and tell players to bring their play.
Speaker 5: He was the turk whoa I did not know that
Speaker 5: that was his first.
Speaker 1: Job in the NFL. He was a low level personnel
Speaker 1: assistant basically right out of college, you know, and he
Speaker 1: was the guy so he got FaceTime on Hard Knocks,
Speaker 1: knocking on doors saying coach wants to see you bring me.
Speaker 4: And it was ruthless in the early years of that
Speaker 4: show too, like they leaned into that that side of
Speaker 4: it for the dramatic effect obviously.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I remember talking to Joe in recent years
Speaker 1: and that I think that left some scars. He just
Speaker 1: hated doing that. So I would be surprised if we
Speaker 1: see that happening on Hard Knocks. I don't think the
Speaker 1: Jets are going to do that, and I can see
Speaker 1: why Joe Douglas would have some thoughts, some deep seated
Speaker 1: emotions from having done it himself. So I think you
Speaker 1: won't see that. That'll be my prediction. And here's a
Speaker 1: wild prediction. I mean, could they take a page out
Speaker 1: of the REEVS handbook playbook from twenty ten? Could there
Speaker 1: be a Dalvin Cook returning on the last episode of
Speaker 1: Hard Knocks signing with the Jets. Could that be a possibility.
Speaker 1: I'm just throwing that out there.
Speaker 5: Do they still go to Courtland? They don't go to
Speaker 5: Courtland anymore?
Speaker 1: Right, No, there's no Courtland.
Speaker 5: Fact, there's no Roscoe's Diner.
Speaker 1: Then either there's no Roscoe which every time I stop
Speaker 1: at the Roscoe Diner on the way to Syracuse. SiO
Speaker 1: was I think tweet a photo, you know, because it
Speaker 1: brings back memories of that. But I'm just throwing that
Speaker 1: out there, Dan, Could there be a Dalvin Cook sighting
Speaker 1: in the last episode.
Speaker 5: We'll find it and God knows Rich that there's no
Speaker 5: shortage of di in Jersey. To go have a pork
Speaker 5: roll and sign the Dodline.
Speaker 1: Florm Park Diner right down the road.
Speaker 4: Beautiful, Rich, thank you so much for your time. Busy
Speaker 4: time of year, exciting time of year for the Jets
Speaker 4: and their beat writers. I texted you privately that I
Speaker 4: just want to before we're all in the ground, I
Speaker 4: want to be at a Jets Super Bowl with my
Speaker 4: dad and my brother and Rich Semini covering it from
Speaker 4: the press box, and I will go up to you
Speaker 4: and I will shake your hand, sir, win, loser, draw, Well,
Speaker 4: there will be a winner or loser in that game,
Speaker 4: but I will be there with you.
Speaker 1: Let's hope I get to cover something like that.
Speaker 2: Beautiful.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Rich, All right, see Dan?
Speaker 5: There he goes Rich Samini that guy again.
Speaker 4: Nineteen eighty nine, he started covering the team so he
Speaker 4: knows this squad well.
Speaker 7: Yeah, he knows them well.
Speaker 6: And for him to say that this is the buzziest
Speaker 6: time since he's been with the team since nineteen eighty
Speaker 6: nine really speaks to us.
Speaker 7: Then I'm still on method.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 7: I'm just like, still so heartbroken that I wasn't there
Speaker 7: that day, but I'm sorry about it.
Speaker 5: It's really cool, But I will say, eminem, I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't know if Marshall Bathers is watching a lot
Speaker 4: of Lions games. Meta man's legit like he's from Staten Island,
Speaker 4: which is the home of many Jet fans, and he
Speaker 4: believes the season ticket holder. I like, if I'm going
Speaker 4: to see celebrity cameos on the sidelines for a buzzy
Speaker 4: team on Hard Knocks, make it the real ones. I
Speaker 4: don't want to see you guys pretending. Did you see
Speaker 4: Leev Schreiber, our boy, the longtime narrator of Hard Knocks.
Speaker 4: They fly him in or wherever they bust him in
Speaker 4: to meet Aaron Rodgers the first time it's going to
Speaker 4: be I assume.
Speaker 5: I don't know actually, if they're going to share it.
Speaker 4: In the premiere episode, Rogers meeting Schreiber who's Rogers is
Speaker 4: a big fan of Shreiber. Like, are we going to
Speaker 4: see that the first time you actually see Leave Schreiber
Speaker 4: on this program.
Speaker 5: Pinch me.
Speaker 6: Oh, I know, I know, And like, listen, Dan, you
Speaker 6: know that there's nothing I love more than the Summer
Speaker 6: of Connie.
Speaker 7: It is my time to like truly unplug and let loose.
Speaker 6: But having Hard Knocks and having this season of Hard
Speaker 6: Knocks to kind of have a smooth transition into the
Speaker 6: work season, into the grind that is the regular season,
Speaker 6: in playoffs and everything. This is the perfect kind of
Speaker 6: way to end Summer of Connie and begin whatever is next.
Speaker 5: I love it beautiful. All right, let's get into last year.
Speaker 4: We had a very we have a new producer, Eric Roberts,
Speaker 4: who's going to have to learn about our very detailed
Speaker 4: tabulation Connie of how we do voting on the Hard
Speaker 4: Knocks MVP.
Speaker 5: I believe I believe Campbell won it last year, Is
Speaker 5: that correct?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 5: Yeah, very memory.
Speaker 7: Deuice was Deuce Staley was right up there.
Speaker 6: Who by the way, Dan, I sawd Staley at Panthers
Speaker 6: camp and I know he was like such a huge
Speaker 6: character on our show last year. And I know him
Speaker 6: from Philadelphia from covering the team and seeing him out about.
Speaker 6: But I didn't know that, like we were like all
Speaker 6: on that like friend level at this point. And he
Speaker 6: ran over to me and was like, oh my god,
Speaker 6: the Philadelphia queen and then gave me the best like
Speaker 6: coach pep talk I didn't even know that I needed
Speaker 6: in my life, like talking about my preparation, my approach,
Speaker 6: my finish to things. And I was like, huh, I
Speaker 6: guess I have that huh like and so he's like,
Speaker 6: you can really tell that you always come prepared and
Speaker 6: blah blah blah, and I just like walked away being
Speaker 6: completely I was reinvigorated and I was just ready to
Speaker 6: run through a wall for Duce Daley.
Speaker 4: Ryan's led a good one get away there. You got
Speaker 4: to keep de Deuce in the building. Now, I feel
Speaker 4: like we maybe should have had him on the show
Speaker 4: last year. I didn't realize you guys were on such tight.
Speaker 5: Terms me either. It's great friends, but that I mean,
Speaker 5: Deuce is a perfect example.
Speaker 4: I believe he was the was he He was an
Speaker 4: assistant coach in the running backs coach and he was
Speaker 4: a standout last year. And that's a nice transition listening,
Speaker 4: This is a pretty good way to transition. If you
Speaker 4: like how I do.
Speaker 5: Anyway, hard knocks, MVP predictions. How about this?
Speaker 4: Yes, another assistant coach. We mentioned him, Nathaniel Hackett.
Speaker 5: All you hear.
Speaker 4: And talked about a little bit with Rich just now.
Speaker 4: All you hear about is how fun he makes things.
Speaker 5: I want to see it. I want to see what
Speaker 5: he does.
Speaker 4: And I think this is a perfect platform for Hackett
Speaker 4: to show to kind of a little more career rehab
Speaker 4: for the guy and in addition to see what makes
Speaker 4: him different as a coach, because man, there's not too
Speaker 4: many coaches calling Aaron Rodgers babe.
Speaker 5: There's a different vibe there.
Speaker 4: Do you have a I'm gonna say he's my dark
Speaker 4: horse MVP pick Hackett offensive coordinator.
Speaker 5: How about you?
Speaker 6: Oh, I'm I'm completely with you on that, especially after
Speaker 6: listening to Nathaniel Hackett's response to Sean Payton, and he
Speaker 6: came off so likable.
Speaker 7: He took the high road.
Speaker 6: He's like, we all are in glasshouses and this guy
Speaker 6: is just trying to pick up the pieces his professional
Speaker 6: life and move on. And I just think that this
Speaker 6: is an opportunity, whether or not it's intentional. I think
Speaker 6: it's gonna be unintentional actually for Nathaniel Hackett to completely
Speaker 6: rebrand himself after this season.
Speaker 4: But it's got it the favorite here, right, And I
Speaker 4: thought about Sauce because he's got he's larger than life
Speaker 4: ready after just his rookie season and how fantastic that was.
Speaker 4: But I think Sala is made for this, just like
Speaker 4: Campbell was made for this. I think he's really going
Speaker 4: to be a guy that's larger than life. I don't
Speaker 4: know how much we're going to see Aaron Rodgers on
Speaker 4: the show. If he's on it a lot, it's probably
Speaker 4: gonna you're gonna probably say he's the overall favorite for MVP.
Speaker 4: Who is your pick? If you had to say who's
Speaker 4: gonna win this thing? Our Hard Knocks MVP for season
Speaker 4: two of this podcast.
Speaker 6: I think that because I feel like Robert Sala is
Speaker 6: going to be the stronger, the strongest MVP candidate, but
Speaker 6: Hackett probably is going to appear the most, and because
Speaker 6: of our voting system, I think he's gonna end up
Speaker 6: like outscoring him Sala. But I think for me a
Speaker 6: dark horse, I'm gonna say I'm gonna go with sala.
Speaker 7: I think, sala.
Speaker 6: I'm on the spot, and you know what, No, Yeah,
Speaker 6: number one pick for MVP this year, it's going to
Speaker 6: be Nathaniel Hackett.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna go with the hacket.
Speaker 7: I'm gonna go with Hackett.
Speaker 6: And then my dark horse, who we have not talked
Speaker 6: about yet is Mkole Hardman because he's there now and
Speaker 6: he has such a big personality I talked with I
Speaker 6: spent some time with him last year before training camp
Speaker 6: at a shoot with a couple soccer players for the
Speaker 6: international program, and he is so outgoing and bubbly and gregarious,
Speaker 6: like he can command attention for a room.
Speaker 7: Also, his nickname is Jet I don't know if you
Speaker 7: know that, And so he's just when he was.
Speaker 6: Yeah, So he has this like iced out Shane that
Speaker 6: says on It just feels like he's kind of made
Speaker 6: for the cameras and New York.
Speaker 5: Yeah, all right, that's a good one. And I don't
Speaker 5: want to spook you about your hacket pick.
Speaker 4: But remember last year when we did the Hard Knocks
Speaker 4: podcast of the Lions, we spent half the every episode
Speaker 4: being like, where's Ben Johnson?
Speaker 5: He's mia the offensive coordinator.
Speaker 4: And then the Lions had one of the best offenses
Speaker 4: in the league, and now all anybody could talk about
Speaker 4: is Ben Johnson. So will Hackett be if he gets
Speaker 4: the Ben Johnson treatment, We're going to be surprised against.
Speaker 4: But he's such a he's such a juicy narrative topic
Speaker 4: that I think it's going to be impossible to imagine
Speaker 4: him not having a big role. I have a fearless prediction.
Speaker 4: I don't know if you have one, kind of I
Speaker 4: don't want to put.
Speaker 7: You on the spot, but let me let me hear yours.
Speaker 4: Okay, my fearless prediction is you know the sad hard
Speaker 4: Knocks music, You know what I mean, that's sad Mkai
Speaker 4: becked in the former first round pick who they They've
Speaker 4: been so patient waiting for him. He's missed the past
Speaker 4: two years with injuries. He's had conditioned conditioning issues. There's
Speaker 4: been a lot of talk about whether he is invested
Speaker 4: in the way you need to be to be a star.
Speaker 4: The Jets kind of would love for him to be
Speaker 4: a starting tackle this year. He struggled out at the
Speaker 4: outset of camp here with both his play in practice
Speaker 4: and also his knee is giving him issues. Still, my
Speaker 4: fearless prediction is that you're gonna hear the sad Hard
Speaker 4: Knocks music after Becton has been traded for a conditional
Speaker 4: fourth round pick late in training camp, and you're gonna
Speaker 4: see his and we don't know how the Jet how
Speaker 4: much access we're gonna get in terms of like a
Speaker 4: conversation like that if Becton's in the room, but we're
Speaker 4: gonna see the locker being cleaned out, we're gonna see
Speaker 4: him leaving the facility in a car. That is a
Speaker 4: fearless prediction on Hard Knocks, and that would be for
Speaker 4: the amount of investment that Jets have had in Bectin.
Speaker 5: That is my call.
Speaker 6: Say it ain't so I don't want to see it, Dan,
Speaker 6: I'm not gonna. I'm not supporting this because I don't
Speaker 6: want it to be spoken into existing.
Speaker 5: He's so talented.
Speaker 4: I would love for him to have a great camp
Speaker 4: and that be a positive storyline. But I'll ask you
Speaker 4: a little net negative on that one. Rich Simini threw
Speaker 4: out there also Dalvin Cook famously, if you're a Jets
Speaker 4: and you remember the ending. A perfect ending to the
Speaker 4: Hard Knock season in twenty ten was Revus after his
Speaker 4: long holdout and as contentious as it was in this
Speaker 4: meeting at Roscoe Diner in upstate New York. The show
Speaker 4: ends with Revs coming onto the field and joining his
Speaker 4: teammates after signing the contract. Could it be Dalvin Cook?
Speaker 4: As Samini said, I like that as well. That's a
Speaker 4: little more positive.
Speaker 5: How about that.
Speaker 7: That's great. I love these parallels too.
Speaker 6: I mean the I totally forgot about that scene with
Speaker 6: Darrell Reevs walking on It was so dramatic, like this is.
Speaker 6: It's one of the best franchise is Hard Knocks in
Speaker 6: in sports, and because we're so starved for football, it
Speaker 6: hits at the exact right time during training camp, at
Speaker 6: least this first one.
Speaker 7: It's going to be so good.
Speaker 5: Dan, absolutely, I cannot wait.
Speaker 4: It is the greatest sports docu series ever and they're
Speaker 4: not paying me to say that. I've always thought that
Speaker 4: that Hard Knocks is just different. It's wonderfully done. And
Speaker 4: then they have a great subject in the Jets this season.
Speaker 4: So we are amped to be back with today's episode
Speaker 4: and then five more to come starting Tuesday. And yes,
Speaker 4: we will have episodes up every Tuesday night on the
Speaker 4: night of airing. We'll have that to you, So please
Speaker 4: have that ready and follow along on the journey with us.
Speaker 4: Hit the music, Eric behind the Glass and Colleen. You
Speaker 4: are on the road doing your thing for NFL Network,
Speaker 4: but get back to the studio. I'll be without you
Speaker 4: for a part of the premiere, but for the rest
Speaker 4: of the ride, it's me and you Jets.
Speaker 5: How about that.
Speaker 4: Let's go the most compelling team in football till Tuesday.
Speaker 5: Heed the call.