Speaker 1: Welcome to the Dave Pash Podcast. I'm your host Arizona
Speaker 1: Cardinals an ESPN broadcaster Dave pass. This week, we discuss
Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals twenty twenty two season with Justin Pew
Speaker 1: Cardinals offensive lineman. Justin was a first round draft pick
Speaker 1: out of Syracuse, the highest drafted player since Dwight Freeney,
Speaker 1: had a good run with the Giants and now entering
Speaker 1: year five with the Cardinals. But Justin might be in
Speaker 1: a new position in twenty twenty two. He's played primarily
Speaker 1: left guard. Will he be a center this fall? The
Speaker 1: fact that Justin's even here is maybe a little bit
Speaker 1: of an upset. He thought about retiring last year. I
Speaker 1: lied to everyone last year. Instead, I was gonna be
Speaker 1: my last one and now I'm going to take it
Speaker 1: one year at a time and go from there. So
Speaker 1: I'm happy. I'm glad to be back, I'm healthy, I
Speaker 1: feel good. We'll get into that and much more, including
Speaker 1: his thoughts on Kyler Murray, Kyler's growth, and what Kyler
Speaker 1: can become in twenty twenty two. We are presented by
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Speaker 1: step and now our conversation with Cardinal's offensive lineman Justin Pugh.
Speaker 1: So Justin, let's not bury the lead. You and I
Speaker 1: both went to Syracuse. I mean, that's the big story here.
Speaker 1: That's what people really want to hear is about your
Speaker 1: experience attending what we know fondly is the Harvard of
Speaker 1: Central New York. Yeah. I mean it's a lot of
Speaker 1: pressure on me, especially doing a podcast, knowing that we
Speaker 1: come from the media, the best media school and in
Speaker 1: the US, so the pressure is on me as a
Speaker 1: football player to live up to that standard that you
Speaker 1: and others have trailblaze. So well, well, I heard your
Speaker 1: press conference the other day and you handled yourself pretty well. Man.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if it because you were talking
Speaker 1: about potentially retiring, So I don't know if broadcasting is
Speaker 1: something you've considered it all? Did you consider it when
Speaker 1: you're in school at all? I considered it for a
Speaker 1: short time there. I've done a little bit of interning
Speaker 1: in the real estate world, and I liked that a lot.
Speaker 1: I've thought about maybe trying to do both, so we'll see.
Speaker 1: I haven't done the broadcast boot camp or anything like
Speaker 1: that yet, but doing things like this and getting out
Speaker 1: there and being in front of people, it's tougher as
Speaker 1: an offensive lineman. If I was a quarterback, they just
Speaker 1: hand me a six figure job and put me on
Speaker 1: Sunday Night Football. You don't really have to do too
Speaker 1: much as an offensive lineman. You really got to be
Speaker 1: good at your job when you're doing it, and it's
Speaker 1: a lot tougher because you don't have that name recognition.
Speaker 1: You're right. I've worked with coaches, quarterbacks, currently working with
Speaker 1: a former defensive lineman, Dusty Dvorchik, who was All American
Speaker 1: at Oklahoma, played for the Bears. Worked for a while
Speaker 1: with Chris Spielman, who obviously played linebacker. So I don't
Speaker 1: think you have to be somebody that's a quarterback or
Speaker 1: a coach. Those have traditionally been the best analyst, and
Speaker 1: obviously the name and the face recognition, so that draws
Speaker 1: the big buck. But you can still do pretty well
Speaker 1: in this business as an offensive life. I think I
Speaker 1: might be better off behind the scenes, doing real estate,
Speaker 1: just having some good conversations at a golf course after
Speaker 1: around and giving my true opinion, because because a lot
Speaker 1: of times now you gotta watch what you say. I mean,
Speaker 1: you say one thing and you're canceled in a heartbeat.
Speaker 1: So I might just keep myself out of the out
Speaker 1: of the limelight for a while once I'm done. When
Speaker 1: you were at Syracuse, Dick McPherson was still alive, the
Speaker 1: long time head coach there and coach the Patriots for
Speaker 1: a while. Did you get a chance ever to talk
Speaker 1: with coach mac a little bit? He came and talked
Speaker 1: to the team I played with both well, his one grandson,
Speaker 1: Macki McPherson, who was the starting center while I was there,
Speaker 1: So that was really my big interaction with the family.
Speaker 1: And then Doug Morone, is my head coach, had played
Speaker 1: under McPherson, so he carried on a lot of those traditions,
Speaker 1: a lot of those style of coaching points, the hard
Speaker 1: nose running laps doing updowns before games. Everyone's looking at
Speaker 1: as funny while we're doing updowns. But meanwhile we go
Speaker 1: from the worst team in college football my freshman year
Speaker 1: to the co Biggies champs my last year. So Doug
Speaker 1: Marone had something figured out. I thought he was gonna
Speaker 1: try to make his way back up there, but it
Speaker 1: wasn't meant to be. So I went to Syracuse and
Speaker 1: then went back to be their play by play guy.
Speaker 1: When you were there, Matt Park was the play by
Speaker 1: play guy. There was a guy in between us, Mark Johnson,
Speaker 1: who did play by play. The year that the basketball
Speaker 1: team won the national championship was a year after I
Speaker 1: got this job, was the Melo Syracuse National Championship. But
Speaker 1: when I was the play by play guy in football,
Speaker 1: coach Mac was the analyst, and he would swear on
Speaker 1: the air every game, dropping f bombs. But he could
Speaker 1: get away with it because he's a legends Central New York.
Speaker 1: I mean they eat that up. You go. You go
Speaker 1: anywhere in Central New York, you're gonna either have a
Speaker 1: Dick McPherson parking spot reserved for him when I was there,
Speaker 1: or be him. It was with those two guys. Any
Speaker 1: good restaurant you went to, they had this spot right
Speaker 1: out front. Those guys were legends. They could almost say anything.
Speaker 1: It's almost like Charles Barkley now you can get away
Speaker 1: with He can say whatever he wants and the people
Speaker 1: are gonna love him. Paul Pasqualoney, who was a longtime
Speaker 1: coach there, who I think is at Florida now, but
Speaker 1: he coach in the NFL for a while too. Coach
Speaker 1: Mac used to go to all the meetings. He just
Speaker 1: sit in the back and he didn't know how to
Speaker 1: answer his cell phone at the time. I think Mac
Speaker 1: was probably in his late seventies, and his phone went off.
Speaker 1: He didn't know the ringer was on in the middle
Speaker 1: of a meeting and Coach P. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you've heard stories about Coach P. Quentin Harris, who is
Speaker 1: part of the front office here, played for him and
Speaker 1: has great stories about just getting yelled and screamed at
Speaker 1: by Coach P. So he starts yelling and screaming throughout
Speaker 1: the auditorium. Who's that? Whose phone is that? And it
Speaker 1: was Mac and Matt and he was all okay, like
Speaker 1: it was as soon as he saw that it was
Speaker 1: Coach mac he started apologizing, Yeah, I was sorry, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: Speaking of Paul Pasqualoney, George de Leone was a coach
Speaker 1: for Syracuse for a long time. Offensive line coach coach
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Passed away a couple months ago. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you ever heard about coach Deleone, but
Speaker 1: he did a really good job with offensive lineman for
Speaker 1: a long time at both the college and professional level.
Speaker 1: I never had a chance to interact with them because
Speaker 1: when I had first gotten there Greg Robinson, who also
Speaker 1: passed away, I'm pretty sure as as of late. I
Speaker 1: committed to him my junior year and that staff had
Speaker 1: came in and kind of replaced Paul Pascaloney coast Leone.
Speaker 1: It was kind of a new regime. And then when
Speaker 1: I committed to him, they all got fired. Doug Marone
Speaker 1: came in, so there was that gap in Syracuse where
Speaker 1: it was a little bit different. Daryl Gross came in.
Speaker 1: We kind of had that USC influence. We were trying
Speaker 1: to be maybe a little bit too flashy for the
Speaker 1: central New York and we got back to our roots
Speaker 1: with morons. I didn't have a chance to really interact
Speaker 1: with a lot of those legendary coaches. Will Hicks, who
Speaker 1: was the strength coach while I was there, was the
Speaker 1: one person that was the consistent throughout those eras and
Speaker 1: he helped bridge that gap. And he's still there now.
Speaker 1: He worked with a lot of the alumni and he
Speaker 1: bridges a lot of those older players with the newer
Speaker 1: generation and he's done a great job of doing that.
Speaker 1: Will Hicks actually my first day with the Cardinals in
Speaker 1: two thousand and two, I met Steve Kime and Steve's
Speaker 1: like we had a mutual front. It was Will Hicks
Speaker 1: because I think Will was Steve's strength coach at NC State,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of how I ended up with the Cardinals.
Speaker 1: So when I was going through free agency, Hicks he
Speaker 1: called me up and he says, Hey, Steve Kim called
Speaker 1: me and he's wondering, look type of guy you are.
Speaker 1: He's like, I put my standard approval on you. I
Speaker 1: know your work ethic, I know who you are as
Speaker 1: a man. So him and my guy Jay Glazer were
Speaker 1: kind of two people that knew Kime and got me
Speaker 1: connected and made this place feel like home. Because once
Speaker 1: I met Kim, it was like talking to myself. We
Speaker 1: get along real well. Speaking of that. So you had
Speaker 1: talked recently at a press conference about disappointment with your
Speaker 1: contract a couple of years ago, things working out now
Speaker 1: to come back this year. How did that go down?
Speaker 1: How close were you to retiring when we were you
Speaker 1: thinking in the middle of last season, Hey, this is
Speaker 1: going to be it? Or was it something that happened
Speaker 1: after the season? Then? How did you start those conversations
Speaker 1: up with Steve again? Yeah, so I think before last
Speaker 1: year you know we're going Actually two years ago comes
Speaker 1: to me, I'm going into my fourth season with the Cardinals.
Speaker 1: I have no guarantees left on my deal. Our deals
Speaker 1: aren't like baseball, where it's fully guaranteed. You sometimes have
Speaker 1: two years of guarantees and three years of guarantees. So
Speaker 1: going into the fourth year, I didn't have any guarantees left.
Speaker 1: COVID had just happened, the cap was going down, and
Speaker 1: I knew there was gonna be a squeeze. Thirty year
Speaker 1: old guys who haven't made a Pro Bowl aren't all pros.
Speaker 1: I mean, I knew I'm gonna be collateral damage at
Speaker 1: that point. Still, really quality starter can go out there
Speaker 1: and play good football. There's not many left guards out
Speaker 1: there that I think are better than me. And com
Speaker 1: comes to me and he's like, look, you're to take
Speaker 1: a pay cutter or have to release you. And it's
Speaker 1: not like they don't want me here. We would love
Speaker 1: to have you. It's just that with the cap going down,
Speaker 1: we have to make some tough decisions and then here's
Speaker 1: the number we can be at. If you can meet
Speaker 1: us there, we'll keep you on the roster. So I
Speaker 1: said to my age and I was like, there's two
Speaker 1: options here. I mean, either I take the deal or
Speaker 1: I retire. I'm not playing for another team. And he's like, well,
Speaker 1: let me just go out and see what else is
Speaker 1: out there. Everyone else is going through the same things.
Speaker 1: It's not like I'm gonna go to another team and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden the Cardinals having no money because
Speaker 1: of COVID, but X team is gonna be flushed with cash.
Speaker 1: So I thought about before last year retiring and I
Speaker 1: never had thought or question playing football. Like I said
Speaker 1: in my press content, I was, you know, you get
Speaker 1: a scholarship, I'm going to school for free. You get
Speaker 1: yourrafted in the first round. Of course you're gonna play.
Speaker 1: Cardinals give you a big contract. There's no reason at
Speaker 1: any point to question playing football. You really have to
Speaker 1: question your love when you're when you get a pay
Speaker 1: cut or they say, hey, you're not one of the
Speaker 1: top guys to quote unquote top guys anymore, and you're
Speaker 1: gonna kind of fill a role for this team. We
Speaker 1: need you to play left car You're you're gonna take
Speaker 1: a thirty three percent pay cut. There's gonna be a
Speaker 1: bunch of incentives to even get to that point. And
Speaker 1: I really had a question, and then I, you know,
Speaker 1: am angry. At first. I want to say, screw the Cardinals.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go somewhere else. And then you stick back
Speaker 1: and you're like, these guys changed my life four years ago.
Speaker 1: I love being here. I love being part of this team.
Speaker 1: My family didn't get to come to any of those
Speaker 1: games with COVID the year before, so I didn't get
Speaker 1: to say goodbye with them. I didn't think it was
Speaker 1: gonna be my last game, so I decided to come
Speaker 1: back and play one more so during the season last year,
Speaker 1: I thought, you know what, I got to say goodbye
Speaker 1: of the game. The last game of the season. I
Speaker 1: had about thirty friends and family out to it and
Speaker 1: everyone was under the impression the hey, this probably would
Speaker 1: be it because going into the offseason, I think, again,
Speaker 1: they're gonna come to me with a deal that I
Speaker 1: don't want to take. And it got to a point
Speaker 1: where I just texted come and I said, Hey, if
Speaker 1: you want me to play next year, this is the number,
Speaker 1: this is how it's going to be, and me and him,
Speaker 1: he's like, all right, i'll call you back tomorrow and
Speaker 1: he has talked a bit well, and then we got
Speaker 1: the deal done. So I lied to everyone last year
Speaker 1: and said it was gonna be my last one, and
Speaker 1: now I'm gonna take it one year at a time
Speaker 1: and go from there. So I'm happy. I'm glad to
Speaker 1: be back. I'm healthy, I feel good, and that's the
Speaker 1: main part. If I didn't feel good or couldn't go
Speaker 1: out there and play my best, because last year I
Speaker 1: played my best football, and I think going forward, I'm
Speaker 1: going to continue to get better and better. I've kind
Speaker 1: of got that veteran savvy going right now, so we'll see.
Speaker 1: I think it one year at a time. What weight
Speaker 1: did you play at last year? Like two eighty five
Speaker 1: to eighty And now we played the Rams the first
Speaker 1: time we played the Rams. I was two hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy eight pounds in that Rams game. So everyone's telling
Speaker 1: me I'm too skinny right now, and I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: four pounds off of the whitest I played at last year,
Speaker 1: and put my film on. If you think it's a problem,
Speaker 1: put my film on. And the Cardinals obviously watched the
Speaker 1: film and they're still paying me. So something. I gotta
Speaker 1: get the way back up. But there's there's in our offense.
Speaker 1: We go so fast, and the way I play it
Speaker 1: lends itself. I'm a very aggressive player now. I was
Speaker 1: opposed to sitting back and kind of just being like
Speaker 1: a garbage can. You talked about Aaron Donald. Somebody has
Speaker 1: to block Aaron Donald. And in that game, you guys,
Speaker 1: did you blocked him? He didn't make it. I don't
Speaker 1: remember if he had any pressures in that game, the
Speaker 1: first game in LA and then obviously things changed the
Speaker 1: game here and in the playoffs. What do you think
Speaker 1: was different? And I'm sure you've been asked this a
Speaker 1: ton for not just the offensive line, but the offense
Speaker 1: in general as the season went along, not just obviously
Speaker 1: losing DeAndre Hopkins a big deal. But what else happened. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously Kyler went down, I got hurt. I
Speaker 1: didn't play in that Monday night game against the Rams.
Speaker 1: I was still I came back the following week. We
Speaker 1: have to be better in the biggest situations. We have
Speaker 1: to do all the little things right, because that is
Speaker 1: what loses you those big games, the Green Bay game
Speaker 1: where you know we're eight and no we're driving down
Speaker 1: to beat him, and we and we have little mishaps
Speaker 1: and didn't come down to that last play game. It
Speaker 1: came down to earlier in the game where we're putson
Speaker 1: around out there and we fall into a little hole
Speaker 1: and have to make this miraculous comeback. When you play
Speaker 1: in those biggest on those biggest stages, in the most
Speaker 1: important games, where everything's on the line, you have to
Speaker 1: execute at the highest level. We were able to get
Speaker 1: by a lot of times last year just being more
Speaker 1: talented than everyone we were on the field with. When
Speaker 1: you get late in the season, guys are dinged up,
Speaker 1: you're not as healthy as you want to be. It's
Speaker 1: the little plays. It's doing the little things right where
Speaker 1: no one even knows you're supposed to make that block
Speaker 1: or you're supposed to, you know, make that check, things
Speaker 1: like that. That's what wins those games. And that's where
Speaker 1: we have to get better. And if we don't take
Speaker 1: those steps, it's gonna be the same result. What do
Speaker 1: you think your role is going to be this year?
Speaker 1: Because with Rodney Hudson not here, there's been talk that
Speaker 1: maybe you know, Rodney's retired, he's not coming back. We
Speaker 1: don't know for sure. Is your role going to be
Speaker 1: center or are you gonna have to play both guard
Speaker 1: and center. I don't know. I've never played center before
Speaker 1: in my career, but I've seen guys play center late
Speaker 1: into their careers. Guard is a much more I want
Speaker 1: to say much more. I mean playing on of line
Speaker 1: is physical throughout, but guard, with the amount of pulling
Speaker 1: and trapping and you're one on one more often, Center,
Speaker 1: mentally is just is so much tougher. And in our offense,
Speaker 1: the center makes a lot of the calls. That's why
Speaker 1: we've prioritize that position every offseason. You see we had
Speaker 1: a Q Shipley and Mason Cole that went out and
Speaker 1: got Rodney Hudson. We clearly value that position. So for me,
Speaker 1: it's like if I'm gonna keep taking pay cuts a guard.
Speaker 1: Maybe I should move to center and see if I
Speaker 1: can do that, because if I can play center at
Speaker 1: a high level, obviously we prioritize that. So for me
Speaker 1: as a business decision, it might make the most sense
Speaker 1: for me to play center. But I'll do whatever's best
Speaker 1: for the team. I've played guard. Playing guards like riding
Speaker 1: a bike for me, and you can put me out
Speaker 1: there and I know what I gotta do, so to
Speaker 1: get some reps at center and see how that shakes out.
Speaker 1: It's interesting, it's fun, it makes you break a mental sweat,
Speaker 1: and I learn a little bit more. Oh maybe better
Speaker 1: if I want to be a broadcaster, because you gotta
Speaker 1: learn coverages and do all those things. So at the
Speaker 1: very least it's going to help my broadcasting career. So
Speaker 1: help the listener that doesn't really understand what a center
Speaker 1: goes through mentally, and that you're learning through minicamp, and
Speaker 1: I assume will learn even more here between now and
Speaker 1: training camp. What are some of the differences from a
Speaker 1: tackle which you've played in the NFL, to guard, which
Speaker 1: you've played mostly and then being a center mentally mentally,
Speaker 1: the tackle doesn't is worried about blocking the best pass
Speaker 1: rusher on the defense. Like that's why, I mean, everyone's
Speaker 1: seen the movie The Blindside. Hey, we're gonna put you
Speaker 1: out there and you're gonna block Vall Miller. You're gonna
Speaker 1: block Khalil Mack. The guard is a little bit more
Speaker 1: physical because the tackle on third down earns his money
Speaker 1: and we're a passing league, so let's not joke about it.
Speaker 1: The tackle is the hardest physical position to play on
Speaker 1: the field, Like any position, they're going backwards by the
Speaker 1: best athlete on the field is rushing out on full speed.
Speaker 1: At guard. These guys inside are getting better and better.
Speaker 1: I mean, Aaron Donald may go down is the best
Speaker 1: defensive player of all time, and we gotta blockhin. Then
Speaker 1: we got a pool and block eyes. You have to
Speaker 1: be able to be versatile movement space, and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of collisions At guard center. You're getting up and
Speaker 1: you're getting everybody aligned. So the guard just relays whatever
Speaker 1: the center tells him to the tackle, and that's kind
Speaker 1: of the end of the communication. At center, you're looking
Speaker 1: at safety rotation, trying to see where they're bringing the
Speaker 1: pressure from, and working with the quarterback to get everyone
Speaker 1: on the same page. Once you id the defense and
Speaker 1: get everyone blocking the right guy, then you have to
Speaker 1: get the cadence from the quarterback and make sure all
Speaker 1: that's going well. The best centers and quarterbacks are constantly
Speaker 1: changing up their cadence. I mean, you look at Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers and Green Bay. He's he's running a masterclass on it.
Speaker 1: And that's that's the nuance of playing that position that
Speaker 1: I'm not there yet, I'm, you know, trying to learn now.
Speaker 1: But Rodney Hudson and mastered that as well. There's a
Speaker 1: clip in Tennessee where playing the Titans Week one, Rodney
Speaker 1: Hudson realizes that they're bringing a zero pressure, changes the
Speaker 1: mic point and we start working to a different player.
Speaker 1: We score a touchdown. The little things like that is
Speaker 1: what you know, goes beyond what you can see on film.
Speaker 1: You have to be out there and know, like, hey,
Speaker 1: what scheme are we running? What are you supposed to do?
Speaker 1: Oh wait, you saw this coverage switch. It's all about
Speaker 1: safety rotation and changing a mic point, scoring us a touchdown.
Speaker 1: So doing things like that, it's what makes the center
Speaker 1: position so unique and so important. What are the conversations
Speaker 1: like with Kyler when you're playing center, So he'll come
Speaker 1: up and he'll give you the play, and then you're
Speaker 1: iding and getting us on the right page. So Kyler
Speaker 1: will come up and Hill just give you, Hey, here's
Speaker 1: a run play to the left. Now you have to see, hey,
Speaker 1: is the safety capping the linebacker? When I said capping
Speaker 1: the linebacker? Is the safety hovering behind the linebacker, which
Speaker 1: then gives the linebacker an ability to trigger and blitz. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: he's potentially able to blitz. We have to work to him.
Speaker 1: As an offensive line. We have to put the offensive
Speaker 1: blockers on the potential blitzers or rushers from the defense.
Speaker 1: And so once Kyler gives you the play, uid get
Speaker 1: it's all on the right page. If they ever out
Speaker 1: number hey Kyler, let's check this. Or Kyler will be like, hey,
Speaker 1: we got too many numbers over here to the left.
Speaker 1: Let's switch it and run a play to the right.
Speaker 1: And that's one of those things where you're working together
Speaker 1: to get the offense and the best play, and the
Speaker 1: center has to do a good job of helping Kyler, like, hey,
Speaker 1: let's check that out of this. This is not a
Speaker 1: good look we're running. We have four blockers and they
Speaker 1: have five blitzers where we don't have enough. It's just
Speaker 1: simple football math. It's even though the Syracuse graduation, we
Speaker 1: can figure that one out. I'm still figuring out. I
Speaker 1: didn't go to a Look, I didn't go to class
Speaker 1: very often at Syracuse. So give me a sense of
Speaker 1: Kyler's growth in terms of understanding all those things from
Speaker 1: year one to what you saw last year to maybe
Speaker 1: some of the things you've noticed through mini camp. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was night and day. I mean, as you come
Speaker 1: in as a rookie, you're just going off of your
Speaker 1: skill and your talent and being the number one overall pick.
Speaker 1: He had a lot of skill and a lot of
Speaker 1: talent that has gotten him by since he started playing
Speaker 1: football when he was young. He's always been more talented
Speaker 1: than every other guy in the football field. And he
Speaker 1: was able to kind of play a little backyard We
Speaker 1: had some backyard football moments where things break down, he
Speaker 1: rolls out and makes a miraculous throw, and we still
Speaker 1: do that from time to time. It's taking those easy
Speaker 1: play that the defense is given to you. Okay, we
Speaker 1: have the safety's rolled over here. I know we're getting
Speaker 1: nickel pressure. Let's just dump it out to Rondel Moore
Speaker 1: and let him go get five or six yards as
Speaker 1: opposed to scrambling around, running for forty yards, running for
Speaker 1: your dear life and making this miraculous throw. Those are
Speaker 1: the types of things he's gotten better and better at,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna take taking that next step, integrating cadence,
Speaker 1: integrating audibles and getting us in to the best plays.
Speaker 1: Those are the things that'll get us to that next level,
Speaker 1: and I'll get us over the hump and I'll win
Speaker 1: us those big games. I saw a tweet from you
Speaker 1: recently where you were at I think I don't know
Speaker 1: if it was top golf, it was somewhere where you
Speaker 1: were using the clubs that Kyler gave you. Guys ready
Speaker 1: gave every offensive line in a set of golf clubs,
Speaker 1: which it's in ten years. It is the best gift
Speaker 1: I've ever gotten from a quarterback. And Eli Manning gave
Speaker 1: some great stuff, but that was the best offensive line
Speaker 1: gus I've seen. Okay, because there are a lot of
Speaker 1: people that say, well, Kyler, we're not seeing the leadership.
Speaker 1: Kylie needs to grow, he needs to mature. What are
Speaker 1: some of the things that we don't see that. You
Speaker 1: guys see with Kyler and where he's grown in that regard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, first you have to look at it. We
Speaker 1: have probably the most veteran offensive line in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I mean across the board. DJ Humphries in year eight,
Speaker 1: I'm in year ten, Ronnie Hudson's year twelve, Kelvin Beasham's
Speaker 1: year eleven. We had maxcar Cstar last year, who was
Speaker 1: year eight or nine. Kyler is in his third year
Speaker 1: in the NFL. I mean he's going against a stack deck.
Speaker 1: Like the offensive line, we're the salty veterans. We're gonna
Speaker 1: be the ones kind of taking that role. And when
Speaker 1: I was in New York, Eli Manning was not a
Speaker 1: vocal leader. He was the first one in, he was
Speaker 1: the last one out, and he did everything right. Kyler
Speaker 1: comes in, he does everything, He does everything we asked
Speaker 1: him to do. Like everyone's getting all bet out of shape.
Speaker 1: He's missing voluntary workouts. Through voluntary workouts, we weren't here
Speaker 1: like last year with COVID, we didn't have the voluntary
Speaker 1: the year before we didn't have voluntary workouts. There's a
Speaker 1: finite time for a player with his skill set to
Speaker 1: get paid. There's a business to football. Everyone wants to
Speaker 1: forget about the business of football and everyone. You look
Speaker 1: at what golf has going on right now, and everyone
Speaker 1: everyone forgets about the business of football, and fans don't
Speaker 1: want to hear about it. And I get it, you
Speaker 1: want to see us play on Sundays. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, if Kyler were to go out there and
Speaker 1: not get paid, and then go out there and have
Speaker 1: an injury and then never get paid, he sacrificed that
Speaker 1: a finite period of time to maximize his capital. And
Speaker 1: I'll never blame a guy for doing it. I mean,
Speaker 1: gods are gonna get pissed. He's gonna have to deal
Speaker 1: with the backlash. I was here four years ago and
Speaker 1: we didn't have Kyler Murray. Remember that team. I've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of quarterbacks come through the store. Justin in
Speaker 1: twenty one years, we had the worst offense and I
Speaker 1: think NFL history. So when Kyler got here, light went
Speaker 1: back on, irrelevance came back on. We started playing primetime
Speaker 1: games again. We've been in the playoffs, We've been relevant.
Speaker 1: Our fan base has something to look forward to every year.
Speaker 1: There's something to be said about that Now obviously there's
Speaker 1: you know, people don't like the way you look. Look
Speaker 1: at Eli Manning, the Eli Manning face that's plastered everywhere.
Speaker 1: No matter what happens, you're gonna have issues. If someone
Speaker 1: came and followed you around with a microscope, and I
Speaker 1: saw Odell Beckham deal with this in New York City.
Speaker 1: Everywhere you go you have a camera on you, You're
Speaker 1: gonna do something that somebody's gonna have something negative to say,
Speaker 1: especially in the world we live in now. No matter
Speaker 1: what you do, they're gonna be a negative connotation associated
Speaker 1: with So. Yes, does Kyler have a MOPy attitude on
Speaker 1: the sidelines from time to time? Yeah, so do I,
Speaker 1: but they don't have a camera on me when I'm
Speaker 1: sitting there angry after we have a turnover we lose
Speaker 1: a game. So that's the one thing I'll never fall
Speaker 1: a guy for trying to cash in on all their
Speaker 1: hard work. It's interesting you what you've said is what
Speaker 1: Zechert said on this podcast, what JJ Watt said. Adrian
Speaker 1: Wilson we had on in the middle of the last season,
Speaker 1: the same thing, and Adrian said, Look, I wasn't always pleasant.
Speaker 1: I was grumpy a lot I want to win. When
Speaker 1: we walked down the hallway, Adrian doesn't even say hi
Speaker 1: to some people. Adrian's still got that mean look on
Speaker 1: his face, like you don't even want to talk to him.
Speaker 1: I'm scared. He's bigger than I am. He is, he
Speaker 1: still is. So the guy's like forty yeah, I know
Speaker 1: he's a monster. He's yoked. One more thing on Kyler
Speaker 1: and you mentioned not being there for voluntary He was
Speaker 1: here for mini camp and he doesn't have his contract. Like,
Speaker 1: to me, that says a lot about Kyler as a leader,
Speaker 1: like he understands he's gonna be here, they're gonna get
Speaker 1: something done, Like that's the goal. Everybody's made that clear.
Speaker 1: Obviously Kyler is going to be a Cardinal for a
Speaker 1: long time. But the fact that he's been here what
Speaker 1: he didn't have to be and he doesn't have his contract,
Speaker 1: especially after some things that happened in the offseason, which
Speaker 1: I'm guessing in some ways he probably regrets with how
Speaker 1: things were handled from his camp. You don't have to
Speaker 1: answer that because it's really none of your business, but
Speaker 1: I just feel like that says something to me that
Speaker 1: he was here. Most people didn't think he was going
Speaker 1: to be here, at least outside this building. We always
Speaker 1: run into the ambression that he was going to be here.
Speaker 1: Obviously he may not be as happy as he would
Speaker 1: be if he had the contract, but he's been here,
Speaker 1: which just lets you know the two sides are getting closer.
Speaker 1: If it was if it was farther apart and they
Speaker 1: weren't seeing eye to eye and then things weren't close,
Speaker 1: I don't think he would be here. He's here. He
Speaker 1: wants to win games. At the end of the day.
Speaker 1: If we win games, things take care of themselves. And
Speaker 1: showing that we're working towards that I think. I think
Speaker 1: it's only a matter of time for this thing gets done.
Speaker 1: Hopefully it's done before camp, so we just have, you know,
Speaker 1: everything in the rear view and we're going to winning
Speaker 1: games at that point. What are some of the differences
Speaker 1: that you've seen with Cliff and how he's grown in
Speaker 1: his role and how the offense has changed or I mean,
Speaker 1: the run game clearly is a lot different now than
Speaker 1: it was year one. What are some of the areas
Speaker 1: you've seen Cliff grow Because to me, Cliff has always
Speaker 1: come off as, first of all, if you don't like
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsbury, it's your problem. Like Cliff gets along with
Speaker 1: everybody's like the nicest guys are is and he's very
Speaker 1: smart and he's very humble. And the offense looks a
Speaker 1: lot different than what he had at Texas Tech, and
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people didn't And I did
Speaker 1: games for him when he was at Texas Tech, and
Speaker 1: I mean the offense is in some ways the same,
Speaker 1: but a lot of it's different, and a lot of
Speaker 1: people didn't see him adapting, but he has and he's
Speaker 1: winning games and he's in the playoffs. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: what Cliff does well is he doesn't micro manage every
Speaker 1: little situation. He puts people in positions to do their jobs.
Speaker 1: Cliff loves getting people open, he loves coming up with
Speaker 1: the past game concepts. And then he has Coach Kugler,
Speaker 1: our offensive line coach, do a lot of the run
Speaker 1: game stuff. So it's like, hey, coach Kugler, you've been
Speaker 1: part of very successful rushing attacks. Bring some of that knowledge.
Speaker 1: Now sometimes they get into whatever stuff and Cliff obviously
Speaker 1: is the head coach. But I think that's the one
Speaker 1: thing that I love about Cliff. If he puts you
Speaker 1: in a position to do a job. He expects you
Speaker 1: to do your job, and that's something that has shined through.
Speaker 1: I think in our first year we were still kind
Speaker 1: of fine tune in some things. What do we do
Speaker 1: well every year? An offensive line or an offense the
Speaker 1: running backs, you figure out what's the best scheme for you,
Speaker 1: and that's something that changes every year. With Cliff's ability
Speaker 1: to adjust, that's his biggest strength. He's never gonna pigeonhole
Speaker 1: you into one thing and just kept saying, hey, we're
Speaker 1: gonna keep running this play untill it works. All Right,
Speaker 1: that doesn't work, Let's do this and and find creative
Speaker 1: ways to get our ball carriers the ball in space.
Speaker 1: And that's something that he does better than than anybody.
Speaker 1: All Right. The running back room. With losing Chase Edmonds,
Speaker 1: he got you know, James Connor obviously coming back, had
Speaker 1: a Pro Bowl season. You got Darryl Williams. How do
Speaker 1: you see that position shaking out in terms of its
Speaker 1: effectiveness and any changes that you see there with that group.
Speaker 1: I think James kind of keeps that that same role
Speaker 1: and he will go out there be short yardage, he'll
Speaker 1: he mean, I mean, he was getting out in the
Speaker 1: passing game, doing screens, doing all those things. He was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: I think a guy to look for is you know, Benjamin.
Speaker 1: He looked great in mini camps so far. He's probably
Speaker 1: been our best outside zone running back that we've had
Speaker 1: on the roster, even last year, and he had to
Speaker 1: learn how to pass protect and that was really the
Speaker 1: only thing. You can't trust the guy to be in
Speaker 1: the game if you can't trust him to pick up
Speaker 1: in pass protection. And he's gone night and day from
Speaker 1: last year to this year. So I think he's gonna
Speaker 1: have a big jump. The new guy from Kansas City,
Speaker 1: I don't know him too well, so we'll learn more.
Speaker 1: He's a big guy. I think he'll be able to
Speaker 1: go downhill and help us out there. And then Jonathan
Speaker 1: Ward's another guy. It's always run hard for us, So
Speaker 1: I'm excited for the running back room. Unique guys that
Speaker 1: are gonna run hard, hit the hole and keep it going.
Speaker 1: And I think we've got a bunch of guys that
Speaker 1: can do that. Before we get you out of here.
Speaker 1: What's it like being a husband. You're recently married April correct,
Speaker 1: So a couple of months ago, Yeah, a few months ago.
Speaker 1: It's it's not much has changed, to be honest with you.
Speaker 1: We were living together for a few years out here
Speaker 1: in Arizona. Before that, she was getting ready to kill
Speaker 1: me if I didn't propose. But we had a beautiful
Speaker 1: wedding down in Cancoo, Mexico. All of our friends, family,
Speaker 1: had some of the teammates down, so it was it
Speaker 1: was a great time. And now she's she's really happy.
Speaker 1: So hopefully we got some kids on the way soon.
Speaker 1: We got two dogs we're dealing with right now, so
Speaker 1: that's enough work for us at the moment. But hopefully
Speaker 1: after the season, once things settled back down, we'll be
Speaker 1: expecting father, so well hopeful. And you are in Arizona
Speaker 1: year round, correct? I'm in Arizona year round? Yeah, I do.
Speaker 1: I work out in the off seasons and I go
Speaker 1: do a little internship out of real estate firm here
Speaker 1: in town. So it's a nice little one two punch.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if we're gonna be going anywhere
Speaker 1: anywhere anytime soon, but eventually we'll be down in Florida.
Speaker 1: That's where most of my family is. So going from
Speaker 1: the football field to real estate, it seems like it
Speaker 1: would be night and day in terms of the preparation
Speaker 1: and the mindset. Am I wrong or is it similar?
Speaker 1: It's very similar. It's it's got the same camaraderie. I
Speaker 1: mean you have like you have the architect, then you
Speaker 1: have the GC, the general contractor. Then you have the
Speaker 1: person that's meeting and getting all the entitlements in the zoning,
Speaker 1: and all these people have to work together. It's just
Speaker 1: like a football team. If one guy goes out and
Speaker 1: does his job. The architect designed this amazing building, but
Speaker 1: you can't build it for the right price, and you
Speaker 1: can't get the zoning done, or you can't get the
Speaker 1: financing right. It all falls apart. So you got the
Speaker 1: one quarterback to kind of the rainmaker. The guy from
Speaker 1: our company's name is Jeff. He's the best, and he
Speaker 1: kind of puts us in position to make He caused
Speaker 1: the play, and then we all go out there and
Speaker 1: do our little jobs. I'm trying to figure out where
Speaker 1: I fit in there. I don't know if it's a
Speaker 1: left guard or center, but we'll see. We'll see how
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a wide receiver exactly exactly. Well, I hope
Speaker 1: you play football for the Cardinals for a long time.
Speaker 1: If you don't. If this is it and you decide
Speaker 1: to go into real estate, I think you're missing out. Man.
Speaker 1: You do pretty well with this And I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's just your comfort level, because I've heard you
Speaker 1: over the years handle yourself very well with the media.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've just always been comfortable. But
Speaker 1: you got good energy. Man. I think you could do
Speaker 1: this for a living if you wanted to. We'll see,
Speaker 1: we'll see. Maybe we'll co host a podcast and we'll
Speaker 1: see how that goes. All right, man, we can pitch that,
Speaker 1: we'll find we'll find us somebody to spend some money
Speaker 1: on the right a check. Appreciate the time, Justin, Thanks man,
Speaker 1: awesome take care man. Justin was good. You could tell
Speaker 1: he's so comfortable with the microphone. Had a lot of
Speaker 1: great things to say about his career, about Kyler Murray
Speaker 1: and just the way he was able to break down
Speaker 1: the differences between being a guard in a center and
Speaker 1: then communicate to you guys. Hopefully you were able to
Speaker 1: follow him as I was. I thought he did a
Speaker 1: really good job of breaking everything down. Great stuff on
Speaker 1: his Syracuse career as well, and also congrats again to
Speaker 1: Justin on being a husband and potentially a father in
Speaker 1: the future. You can follow us on Twitter at Pash Pod.
Speaker 1: We are presented by bet MGM, the official sports betting
Speaker 1: partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Hotels
Speaker 1: and Casinos. We've had a lot of great guests since
Speaker 1: we debuted the Dave Pash Podcast last summer, going back
Speaker 1: to Kurt Warner, Cliff Kingsbury, Steve Kime, Vance, Joseph Buddha Baker,
Speaker 1: JJ Watt, zach Ertz, and now Justin Pugh. We're gonna
Speaker 1: take a little bit of a break, but when training
Speaker 1: camp starts in the end of July, well we will
Speaker 1: have more guests on the Dave Pash Podcast, and not
Speaker 1: just Cardinals guests. We had JJ Reddick and Jeff Van
Speaker 1: Gundy and Mike Terrico and James Rode and Frank Caliendo
Speaker 1: on this podcast, and we promised to bring you some
Speaker 1: guests outside of the Cardinals building and also outside of
Speaker 1: football as well. Thanks again to Justin Pugh, Thanks to
Speaker 1: you for listening to another edition of the Day Pash Podcast.