PMS 2.0 1404 - BA Day with Bruce Arians, Dan Orlovsky, Tyrese Haliburton, Triple H, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome.

On this BA Day, September 9th, 2025, this program begins right now.

Football!

He's all the way back, and we're done with our first NFL week.

And I'll tell you what, it was thriller in every single primetime game, and last night was no exception.

The J.J.

McCarthy era, alongside Kevin O'Connell, kicked off in an electrifying fashion, where they kind of looked like ass for the first three quarters.

And then for the fourth quarter, J.J.

McCarthy came alive.

The Minnesota Vikings get a massive dub over the Chicago Bears and the NFC North.

A lot of question marks around what's going to happen in Chicago, but we pick it up 17-6.

J.J.

McCarthy had thrown a pick-six to this point.

It was 17-6, two field goals for Will Rikert, one of them being a 59-yarder.

In the first three quarters, I got this stat from him, Bo.

J.J.

McCarthy averaged six yards per the air per attempt.

In the first three quarters, he was 33% of attempts to the sticks in the first three quarters he only had uh he had 73 percent of his yardage came from uh yards after after catch in the fourth quarter 11.9 air yards per attempt what 63 of them went to the sticks and only 32 of the yardage came from yak he was airing it out 17 6 we just hit justin jefferson over the middle what an incredible catch justin jefferson does play for the minnesota vikings which is basically what a lot of people were asking is jJ McCarthy going to ruin the Justin Jefferson experience?

Is this offense ever going to be able to be capable, be what they were last year with Sam Darnold and everything that Kevin O'Connell is a part of?

Well, fourth quarter came around and J.J.

McCarthy said everything they were saying about me at IMG and everything they were saying about me in Michigan is about to come fully to fruition.

People say he's an absolute dog, a leader of men, a dude that whenever he gets into a room, he commands it.

1712, how you doing?

Keep it moving.

Aaron Jones, B.A., a man of coach for 47 years.

You love this play because the design was impeccable.

Ain't that right, B.A.?

Unbelievable.

Yeah, you go.

Kevin O'Connell, I think, is one of the best coaches in the league.

And they got, you know, NFL is all about matchups.

And they got a great matchup.

Aaron Jones on a linebacker that got the perfect coverage.

J.J.

Live right on the money.

Love that.

J.J.

McCarthy seemed to be in his bag, I believe, is what people would say.

And he seems like he came alive.

Two-point conversion hits Adam Thielen.

Adam Thielen, J.J.

McCarthy working out in the offseason together.

Adam Thielen from Minnesota got to know J.J.

McCarthy after getting drafted there.

Worked out in the summer.

He gets traded from the Carolina Panthers to there.

His family celebrates he's going back home.

And I think JJ says, I'm getting a guy I'm also very familiar with.

He gets two-point conversion.

Let's keep it rolling here.

Now, 20 to 17.

What are you going to do with it?

JJ says, let's run a little option.

I'll keep it.

Put my head down.

And in his hometown, he stands up, celebrates, has the Moxie.

And all the boys are jacked up for a massive fourth quarter.

Kevin O'Connell's team looked like they were a little bit of a dud for three quarters of this game.

Look at the downfield blocking.

Look at JJ McCarthy.

lowering his head Darius J.

Butler, nine-year veteran.

Great play design.

You mentioned TJ Hawkinson with the block.

It was a great play call.

And then JJ, you know, you just got it in the paint, but that's a big time play in the big time moment.

It certainly is.

Everything good for JJ came in the fourth quarter.

Now they're up, obviously, 27-17.

The Chicago Bears can still answer.

We have enough time on the clock.

Ooh!

Caleb Williams to cold commit with a one-handed snag.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

Has a chance to throw a touchdown to DJ Barr, puts it in the front row.

A lot of people talking about this throw being a reason why they lost.

Well, I don't know if that's necessarily 100% true.

Now, if they score this early, obviously you add an extra timeout.

They lost the timeout because of a punch out a little bit earlier with a challenge call.

And now they don't score here, which would have left more time ahead of the two-point convert, the two-minute warning.

Now they go drive down and score.

And Caleb Williams throws a dot here.

All right.

And now he's potentially going to lead a comeback.

Is there enough time?

Maybe.

Could have been.

Is there enough time?

There could be.

So they have one timeout and they have the two-minute warning.

Right now, though, no time can go off the clock.

Kyro Santos, we need a touchback.

We need no time off the clock.

Instead, what happens?

Cairo hits a pretty good ball, about five yards deep, I think.

Six yards, seven yards deep.

Maybe need that to go out the back of the end zone.

Very big kick to pull that off, especially in the fourth quarter.

They decide to return it.

That eats the clock away, gets it under the two-minute warning.

So now there's only one timeout used as opposed to two stoppages of the clock.

And if you look at his eyes, he's looking at the sideline right there.

And that is strictly because Kevin O'Connell, the head coach, is the one deciding, bring it.

We need to burn some time here.

All this needs to eat is three seconds.

Even if we end up in our own 15, the stoppage of the clock can only happen one time.

I love how in sync they are.

I love that this is week one and they're doing this.

And this is a situational football kind of masterclass out of Kevin O'Connell, who I got a stat for about his close game.

Since 2022, under Kevin O'Connell, the Vikings led the NFL with 13 field goal wins, which is three points or fewers, and 27 one possession wins, which is eight points or fewer.

It's decisions like that, though, at the end of the game, I think, that really, I don't want to say it can amplify that, but certainly multiply that type of shit.

They're making the right decisions in live or in real time that you like try to work on and hope you can be good at being.

Yeah, these are the things, you know, as a head coach, you prepare your team before it happens.

And he obviously does a great job of putting his team in practice in situational football.

Hey, if this happens, this is what we're going to do.

Because his guys were ready.

There was no question.

Hey, this is what we're going to do.

And that, to me is a sign of a hell of a coach.

Yeah, I love everything about Kevin O'Connell, the way he leads.

I like that he's a former player, but also he's a little bit of a hard ass.

He's a little bit of a hard ass in there.

We've heard the mic'd-up situation from outside the locker room after the boys didn't perform well.

And he's getting after them.

And like,

he's yelling at them.

He's in there.

But his offense is always going to be successful.

For the first three quarters last night, we wondered.

We're like, wait a minute.

They took a big jump with J.J.

McCarthy here.

Obviously, they drafted him early.

Could have got Aaron Rodgers, though.

We saw what Aaron Rodgers just did with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

We assume in a Kevin Kevin O'Connell offense, especially with how well Aaron knows all the defenses,

that would be a very efficient thing.

They go with the guy that they draft.

They stay with JJ.

First three quarters, I think everybody's wondering, wondering, wondering.

And then the fourth quarter, J.J.

McCarthy showed up.

I think we're entering the J.J.

McCarthy era.

Can he carry that fourth quarter throughout the rest of the season?

Do you think they took the lid off there for him, or what are your thoughts?

I mean, this is a tough decision, first and foremost, going to him, you know, after the year that Sam Darnold had.

But you invested a top 10 pick in the guy.

You know, he's a winner.

You know, he can play ball.

We kind of saw, we got a full J.J.

McCarthy experience.

I know I was definitely on a roller coaster.

Y'all saw me in the group chat.

I'm out on this guy.

I'm back in.

I'm out.

I'm back in.

But it's just so many things.

Like film is one thing.

The talent is one thing.

But the word you always heard about J.J.

McCarthy was the intangibles, the leadership.

And you saw it, even when things weren't going great halftime.

He's still, you know, dapping every player, every personnel, having a conversation with Justin Jefferson.

You could tell you saw the sideline interaction.

Some things maybe that I think Caleb should work on.

I think he's great talent-wise.

He has all the tools, but I think you got to be a teammate.

You got to be a leader, and you got to do it a certain way at that quarterback position.

You saw it with JJ even when things weren't going great.

And then in that fourth quarter, he turned it on.

He got a rhythm.

He made some plays with his legs, made some plays with his arm.

So you saw the whole experience with JJ McCarthy.

Aaron Jones had a clip, a little sound bite on Speak Easy Pod.

After the game, he jumped on with the boys and talked about something that he said in the huddle, which was huge, which will make me be in on this guy for good.

So I like what they did in Portland.

I think with the talent around him, with KLC calling plays, I think the future is bright in Minnesota.

Yeah, J.J.

McCarthy, whenever you talk to the Michigan coaches about, hey, what's so impressive about J.J.

McCarthy?

They're like, well, obviously the arm talent's insane.

We don't really have to use it as much because we got to get a run game.

By the way, we run the ball a lot.

He doesn't bitch at all.

He's a potential top 10 quarterback, a top guy.

We run it 30 straight times.

J.J.

McCarthy does not care as long as we win, get hims.

And also, whenever he was a freshman, he went into a huddle in the middle of the game.

And I guess the way he commanded the huddle, like senior offensive linemen who wanted to hate this little pretty boy, come in, they were like, damn, we like the way this guy operates.

I guess his intangibles of leadership and being a dude have been very evident since high school.

And I think what Aaron Jones said to the Speakeasy podcast is they were losing in the fourth quarter.

And he looked in the huddle and he said, third.

I think it was third.

So stuff wasn't going great.

still.

Yeah, maybe whatever, third or fourth quarter, they were losing though, whatever.

It was not a good time.

And he looked around and he said, is there anywhere else you'd rather be to the huddle?

And then it gives a play call and then he gets right in there.

And Aaron Jones was like, damn.

And Aaron said that he had been speaking about his leadership and how he's a different mental capacity than anybody he's ever been around.

It's like, that's what everybody has said about this guy.

So in the fourth quarter, whenever it shows up the way that it shows up, everybody that had been talking about him, high school, college, Herb Street, literally everybody that know him is like, that's...

That's the most predictable J.J.

McCarthy shit that there is.

That's how they talk about him.

Yeah, and in the draft process, that's the thing you hardly ever get to see unless you really do your homework.

Because what do you threw?

35 passes in the whole fourth quarter of the senior year?

I mean, that's hard to evaluate.

Can this guy really take us back in the fourth quarter?

But when you're talking about the grit, all right, that's what separates them.

The guys that really have it, they got the grit and they can lead.

It's not necessarily arm talent, speed.

They got grit.

Yeah.

Coach talked about it last week, you know, with how the college game is.

A lot of guys, you know, signaling, not really having to go into the we all remember the the famous uh sound bite with i think chris sims and john gruden and him just trying to get a play call out that's a part of it nick savement i think a couple years ago when he was still coaching i think at that point that was the first team that they had played against that had actually huddled and got out to the to the huddle did some shifts did some motion so he's been used to that and that's something that is a learning process so for him to be on the biggest stage because I know you guys heard even through the TV, like, it was loud out there in Chicago.

You throw that pick six, you know, shit can get real ugly.

You can start seeing ghosts, especially against that type of defense.

So for him to bounce back like he did, not only on the field between the white lines, but to keep it all together on the sideline and everything, the whole process, it was great to see.

Think about the boys, okay?

Hearing him coming to the huddle and saying, is there anywhere else you rapped me right now?

And then leading what he did, like, and then coming back and winning.

Like, all the boys in the locker room are like, hey, this is the realest.

It's a real deal.

Everybody's got talent.

Everybody's got arms, talent.

Everybody can run.

But that's the stuff that you, like you said, you don't really, you can't measure that.

So for him to show up and show out on primetime, Monday night football, you're the only show on time.

Not only, like, this is the game where all your peers are watching.

Hometown.

Hometown.

I mean, for him to bounce back and show, that showed me and I'm sure everyone else a lot.

So I'm excited to watch this team go forward.

Now, the Chicago Bears, will they be good at the end of the year?

You know, Zito's not here.

Zito was riding a wave last night.

I saw him on X up and down.

He's in the middle of it too, right right now.

Yeah, right.

I mean, they were there.

He needed that, man.

Yeah, celebration.

The way that ended was not good for Zito.

Not at all.

Zito, he uh

sleep a lick last night.

Yeah, a lot of good things happening in Zito's life, but he's in the middle of it right now.

That is, that is certainly the case.

People are saying, like, is this way

is the NFC North nowhere near as strong as we thought it was going to be because of the Vikings trailing and struggling with the Chicago Bears?

It's like, I feel like that game last night was just us, and I think the Vikings finding out who J.J.

McCarthy is going to be.

And it's like, I think Kevin O'Connell in his post-game locker room speech said, we all knew he was going to figure it out.

We all knew he was going to figure it out.

And here it is right here.

This happens.

This feeling that we have right now does not happen without one other guy.

All right.

Did not go the way any of us wanted.

This guy, all right, I could tell from the jump, he was poised.

He was poised.

But this guy didn't quit me, and you always thought he would figure it out.

Two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown all in a second.

Get him!

Get him on the wall!

That's why you guys put a C on his chest.

That's why he's going to break the gun right now.

Hey, this s ⁇ 's the beginning.

But I think we proved something to ourselves tonight.

We know what we f ⁇ ing got in the tape, and let's let it out every fing week.

On to the next one, boys.

Baby, I'm big, baby.

I'm three watching three.

Damn it!

I like that.

And a little delay on the two to the three, Derek, keep your own rhythm.

I appreciate that, but I like that they all, we knew he would figure it out.

That's why we put the C on his chest.

It's like everybody that's around this guy feels the aura.

And I think this is just the beginning.

I think the Vikings are going to be a problem this year.

I think that is very much just like it was last year for the Minnesota Vikings.

Yeah, absolutely.

And you could argue the Bears still got a lot of hope, too.

But the biggest thing with JJ, and you guys have said it, is the end of the game.

Like, we're talking about the opposite of Caleb, essentially.

Caleb started the game, unbelievable.

It was great.

They walk down the field.

He scrambles for a 9, 12-yard touchdown, whatever the hell it was.

This throw to a dunes and on the sideline.

It's like, holy shit, this is Oklahoma USC Caleb, and that's where you are for, you know, a quarter.

And then everything else continues to happen.

And then JJ is the exact opposite.

The whole game, you're like, oh, no.

JG McCarthy, maybe he doesn't have it.

Sam Darnold just won 14 games.

They moved on for this kid.

They have six points, and we're halfway through the third quarter.

He just threw a pick six, and then he just flips it on its head.

And all of a sudden, today, it's like, okay, the Vikings have their future.

And then the guy who started off great last night's more so like, is Caleb ever going to figure this out?

Because there were times where you're watching it.

It's like, oh, Caleb with Ben Johnson.

This is great.

And then the way it ended, it was more so like, oh, no, this still sucks.

Still not really sure.

Everyone's talking about how they could have won the game down by 10, but he misses that throw.

Who knows?

A lot of things had to happen.

Yeah.

A lot of things would have had to happen.

A lot drive.

A lot of positive things, though.

For Chicago.

For Chicago.

A lot of positive things to build on.

The defense, all right?

Up until the late fourth quarter stuff when they start running the ball, which is typical Kevin O'Connell.

He's going to find a way.

He's going to find the right matchups.

But I thought Ben Johnson did a great job getting his team ready.

And I think the Chicago Bears are going to surprise some people this year as they continue to grow.

That first game for a head coach and a new offense and new defensive coordinator, everything, it's hard.

And, you know, they had the crowd going, they had everything rolling for them.

So there's a lot of good things to build off of.

Ben Johnson, a super intense guy, right?

That's kind of been like the flip of the culture in Chicago.

A lot of accountability.

You heard all the players talk about it.

And for Caleb, it felt like there was some good structure happening within the offense.

There was a couple Caleb things, like that run to the right side where he sidearms it to a Dunze and it's a nasty play.

It's like, I think that was what excited Ben Johnson to work with Caleb.

It's like, hey, I've never had a guy that's been able to be a magical threat outside of the pocket, but they're always going to need him to be in rhythm in that offense, right?

Isn't that kind of the biggest part of it all?

Totally.

And then, you know, Brian Flores, who is one of the masterminds of defense, started throwing blitzes at him that they hadn't seen in a while.

And that's hard on

a young kid in a new offense and a new coach in a new offense trying to answer all the questions during the game that you see from Flo, who's going to, he's going to bring the house.

Oh, yeah.

And they did a great job of it in the fourth quarter.

So the NFC was decided between the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions last week of the season.

So his Minnesota Vikings seemed very good.

Brian Flores is back with that defense.

Brian Flores is a very good defense coordinator.

So to just absolutely demolish the Chicago Bears, Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams at this point will be a little bit early, I think, especially with the success that they had.

But boy, if this does not work out between Caleb and Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears fans are going to be a bit bummed out about it.

This was supposed to be the thing.

I mean, you heard it last night.

Caleb was the calling.

This guy is from the Football Gods coming to chicago heisman there's reports coming out yeah heisman highest paid guy in niel yeah once in a generation type uh prospect everything like that there's reports now coming out from people that are no longer with the chicago bears uh who are certainly finding outlets to get their stories out and their sides out about the chicago bears basically only worrying about caleb not even thinking about any of the other quarterbacks that's how committed they were to caleb that's how much the world was committed to caleb the number one overall pick is like hey this is the guy then you get ben johnson the quarterback or the head coach that has been wanted by every team so you you've got the quarterback that's once in a generation and the head coach, you can say once in a generation, you have them both in the same building.

We,

right?

We should win.

And it feels like we should win.

So whenever last night happens and they just get their hearts broke late by the Minnesota Vikings in an NFC North rivalry game on prime time, it's like I could assume that there's people that did not like that.

That's how this whole thing started.

But I think BA has been very constant here.

Ben Johnson's a damn good coach.

He will figure out how to win over there.

And then it's all like, can Caleb get on board with everything?

And can they all buy in for a full four quarters?

I mean, that is what it's going to be now until they prove that they can.

But I have high hopes.

Coach that is wanted by everybody and player that was allegedly causing a team not even to look at anybody.

This is definitely the guy.

Allegedly, this is being reported.

What was the guy's name?

Chris White?

Yeah.

Chris White, who was in a personality post.

Yeah, he was personal scout, I believe.

He said

that they didn't even really look at tape of anybody else.

Other than Caleb and the whole draft process.

So now, obviously, Bears fans are like, well, what was Drake maybe?

I mean, there's a lot of J.J.

McCarthy.

I mean, people are talking about the Drake thing.

Like, he didn't want to watch Drake May film as a big thing.

Like, who cares about that?

If that's the case, and that was the thought around Jaden Daniels is the real problem.

Yeah, and we'll see with J.J.

here, too.

So

he was, to be fair, going into the draft process, he was, like you mentioned, pegged as that guy.

Like, all right,

we can't pass on this guy.

Like, we can't pass on this guy at one.

You look back 10 years.

Like, Bryce Young.

Chicago.

Not Bryce Young because he had more of the measurables.

Like Bryce Young, I felt like he was going to have to be an outlier.

Just like Kyler Murray, as great as he is, you're going to have to be an outlier because we've never seen somebody do it at that size.

Even Breeze was bigger than that.

But as far as Caleb Williams, he was the camp miss prospect.

He was the next Patrick Mahomes.

So if you pass on him, you go for Jaden Danz or Drake May or J.J.

McCarthy, you would definitely, you don't want to be that GM who passed on the next great one.

So I get that.

And then Ben Johnson, you mentioned it.

He could have won anywhere.

He chose to go to Chicago after however many years of being at that bell of the ball and the hiring cycle.

He went there.

So I'm going to be A, though.

I think it's still a lot there to be kind of unleashed with this offense and this quarterback.

You talk about Caleb being pegged as the guy, and Ben Johnson allegedly going there because Caleb's there.

So the hype around Caleb is very real.

I remember one particular authority of college football actually said.

Yeah, I mean, do you want to be the franchise to pass it on Caleb Williams?

Because I know I don't.

Told me.

The last thing you do.

I said, is Caleb Williams definitely the number one overall pick in this entire thing?

And that was Pete's answer.

And everybody else was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

No questions asked.

I'm like, all right, sweet.

Like, will he be able to do all the stuff that he does in college in the NFL?

Because I'm like...

I just, in my head, everybody's so fast in the NFL.

And he is it.

He has been able to do it.

He looked great last.

By the way, he has been able to.

So what everybody's been saying is there is just, is Ben Johnson and him the right fit?

That's going to be the entire thing.

I mean, I think one of the biggest knocks on Caleb, too, going back to college is like, hey, this guy's kind of a frontrunner.

When he's throwing a bunch of touchdowns and they're beating the shit out of teams, like he's great, you know, with his teammates and everything.

And then we kind of saw it last year, too.

Like, when he struggles a little bit, you know, the body language isn't great.

He kind of starts to pout a little bit.

And that's kind of been the thing.

Like, hey, in Ben Johnson's offense, it's going to take time for them to gel.

Like, so are things going to, like, is he going to be okay with that for six to seven weeks?

Because on the flip side of that, you saw JJ.

last night.

It's like he had probably the worst three quarters of his football career.

And then it was just like, all right, that doesn't matter.

Like, let's go.

Let's go anywhere else you'd rather be.

Exactly.

After his worst three quarters of all time.

Because the Bears, like, now they got the Lions next week.

You know, so like, if this starts to steamroll a little bit, will it be the same deal?

Well, and that's the thing.

Like, we're talking, you just mentioned it.

Ben Johnson's a generational coach.

Three years, people were trying to poach him.

Caleb's a generational QB.

But Ben Johnson's, you know, generational offense, if you will, doesn't need or really have call for like a Caleb.

You know, like the Lions, you know, if that was the case, don't you think the Lions would have gone and gotten a mobile quarterback?

Like, they were so good because the ball placement from Goff, they talked about on the broadcast, like the most important thing in a Ben Johnson offense is ball placement and timing and all those things.

They had a third and one, and Caleb threw a bubble screen, and it was fourth and five because the bubble screen was behind Roman Dunze and low.

So, like, Caleb obviously can have a ton of success and stuff, but like, if your most important thing in your offense is ball placement, is Caleb that guy, or can Caleb develop into that?

Yeah, Yeah, I think too, we're talking about the quarterbacks.

They didn't win the game.

When the Bears were rolling, DeAndre Swift was rolling.

He was rolling.

The running game was rolling.

All of a sudden,

Jordan Mason starts to take it off.

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

All of a sudden, now JJ's a player.

Well, play action's easy, baby.

None of these guys as rookies and young quarterbacks are going to drop back 40 times and beat anybody.

If you can't run the football and set them up with easy throws, all right.

And both coaches did it for a while.

Then Minnesota's defense said, enough of that shit.

The running game gold.

All right.

And here comes the blitz.

Chicago didn't.

And then JJ got loose.

Okay.

So on that note, it's time for maybe our new favorite seg of the week.

Ladies and gentlemen, BS or no BS with BA.

We will read three statements that have been stated here over the last couple of days about the NFL.

And BA, it will be you, a man who coached football for 47 years, a man who was in the NFL for

27.

27 of those 47 years.

A coach with Bear Bryant.

That's right.

And coached Tom Brady to the Super Bowl.

It's pretty big.

That's insane.

It's a pretty big jump of information.

So is it BS or no BS?

Let's start with this first one here.

Kevin O'Connell is a top three coach in the NFL already.

We just rattled through his situational football and his winning of close games and his speeches that he gives to the team and how he's been able to win with a quarterback who maybe he doesn't even know or a quarterback that none of us know because his offense is so damn good.

Obviously, Brian Flores is an incredible defensive coordinator.

But in your eyes, as a man who's seen and known every single coach, basically, and coaching style, is Kevin O'Connell a top three NFL coach?

Is that bullshit or no bullshit?

That's no bullshit.

I mean, he was coach of the year last year.

And, you know, and you're as good as your staff.

And he put together a hell of a staff.

The thing that impresses me a lot about Kevin, when all that shit was going wrong wrong in the first three quarters, you never saw him get upset.

He had trust in his guys that we're going to pull this shit out.

We're going to figure it out.

And he did.

He found the running game.

He found the weakness in that defense.

They started pounding that C gap.

And all of a sudden, boom, they get that matchup with Aaron Jones going down the sideline, which was one of the best design plays of the night.

And yes.

Being a former quarterback, I think he's got a feel for the game in the locker room.

He's got enough fire, but he's also got enough calm.

Do you like this celebration?

Because I know you try to start fights with people on the the sidelines, especially whenever you're a consultant.

Do you like this type of fireflow?

Oh, I love it, man.

I love it.

That's what the players thrive on.

Yeah, I think the players see you invested.

They appreciate it.

Oh, yeah.

Josh McCown there.

I forgot he was there.

He's also former quarterback, obviously, and coach in the room for JJ.

Feels like not only the staff, but who they're surrounding JJ with is probably for them to succeed, I just feel.

Totally.

You know, we got a guy that's been there, what?

How long has Josh played?

12, 14 years?

Long time.

And seen it all.

A bunch of different offenses, you know, and

you can see his hands-on approach with with every time jj came off he's patting him on the back hey after the interception it's good we're got we got it covered here's what we're here's what we're gonna do next yeah like danny dimes danny dimes uh yesterday he mentioned by name josh mcowan how specifically he helped him you know grow as a quarterback while he was in minnesota and speaking of no no and and kevin o'connell uh danny dimes mentioned yesterday saying uh how he had everybody prepare and the things he looked into all week made him a better quarterback.

Like, hey, what did you pick up from KOC in Minnesota?

He said the weekly preparation, what

we were looking at, what I'm allowed to ask, I think he brought up what I should be looking into.

He was like, Kevin O'Connell's preparation helped him immensely coming here to Indianapolis.

That obviously includes McCown, who he mentioned by name.

But it's like Kevin O'Connell has a system.

The boys believe in it, and they have won.

And they have ownership over there ready to go.

They have ownership over there ready to go.

They got a brand new stadium.

Rookie QV contract.

Yeah, they are.

That's big.

That's big.

Yes, it is.

They are in a very good spot over there.

Now, let's stay in the NFC North.

Yeah, B.A., let's keep in mind of where you're currently sitting, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Never mind because we're going to do a different one.

It's all good.

The Lions are going to be A-O-K.

Is that BS or no BS, BA?

I think that's a little BS right now.

Whoa.

Oh, no.

Whoa.

I love Dan Campbell.

Don't get me wrong.

But if you watch them in the preseason, I didn't see any fire at anybody in the preseason.

All right.

They look really bad in the preseason.

And I didn't see any fire on anybody in Green Bay.

I mean, that's

not Dan Campbell.

That's not Dan Campbell.

And do I think he's going to straighten it out?

But he got all new coordinators.

It's a whole new ballgame up there.

And I think they got a ways to go.

Okay, so he said that if he's running it right, you should be able to eliminate him from the team and everything will just continue to roll on without him.

That's the culture he's looking for.

So when everybody's asking him about the new coordinators, the new coordinators, he's like, we're all replaceable if this is being run properly.

Do you agree with that mindset?

And how long does it take to get that type of culture?

A little bit.

But no, it's hard when you got all new guys.

They're all hearing new voices.

You know, they're used to certain voices.

And once you get in those situational things, like what happened in the game last night, new situations happen.

Well, Ben used to do this.

I know, new guy does this.

Okay, that's different.

It takes a little time.

But

they're a good football team.

They're a good football team.

I think they're going to straighten it out.

But in that division, they better straighten it out quick.

It might take a little bit.

Are they like levels below Green Bay?

Because Green Bay looked like exponentially better than them.

I don't think talent-wise.

I think that one game.

Now, this doesn't measure everybody.

And I'm a little pissed at the NFL for scheduling all these big-ass division games in week one.

Well, because we need good games, bro.

Yeah, we need big games.

We don't need them all.

The fans are ready at it anyway.

No, no, no.

We had a dull start last year.

We had a dull start.

Like, it was like the first seven, eight weeks of NFL football.

It was not great.

The NFL clearly was like, oh, yeah, we're starting it.

We need rivalry games early.

With this going on, more people are going to play in the preseason next year.

Okay, which is good for all parties, right?

All parties.

Okay, so maybe that is the case.

Maybe some slow starters.

Obviously, George Kittle announced that he's going, it was announced that George Kittle's going to the IR with a hamstring.

You know, these first couple weeks, you got to look for soft tissue-type injuries.

And

will that lead to more preseason stuff?

Not that George Kittle was in the best shape that I've ever seen him in.

So sometimes sometimes that shit just happened.

He didn't miss a day.

Yeah, but it's like, you know, I wonder how everything changes.

It's part of the game.

There's one thing to be in shape, and there's another thing to be in game shape.

All right, if you watch Sunday, there are a lot of fourth-quarter defenses collapsing because they hadn't played but a quarter.

Maybe you can run all the damn sprints you want.

That ain't like blocking and tackling and chasing that damn quarterback around.

It's a different thing to get in game shape.

That's why you run sprints afterwards, after the game.

Well, you either that or you practice them next next morning at 5 o'clock.

Yeah, okay.

So have you ever run the sprints in the stadium before?

And what's the 5 a.m.

thing?

No, we actually lost to Delaware and Richie Cannon got us.

And so we didn't play on Saturday, so we scrimmaged at 5 o'clock the next morning.

Oh, you guys don't want to play against Rich Cannon, huh?

Oh, you guys play against each other at 5 a.m.

tomorrow morning.

You say Fran Brown could have maybe done that as opposed to the public sprints that were taking place after the game?

Yeah, you know, with the NIA, I don't know how this shit's going to work anymore.

That's That's a hilarious thought.

Rich kid.

5 a.m., huh?

5 a.m.?

Yeah, I don't think so.

They're paying me more money than paying you, Coach.

Right.

If you had Todd Bowles, he was on that team.

It was called Black Sunday.

I could imagine a lot of people in bad spots.

You said you were, where was that at?

Temple?

At Temple, yeah.

And so we're in Philadelphia, 5 a.m.

on a Sunday.

What week is this?

Early in the season?

It's about week seven.

Okay, we're in it.

We're in the season.

5 a.m.

too, that's late.

Week seven, that's fall.

Yeah, it's fine.

It's fun.

It's cold.

It's cold.

It's cold.

It's dark.

It's dark.

It's foggy.

and i hear the guys coming up the street he ain't even here that's some bitch got us up for nothing i just waited for the last one to get through that gate blew the whistle we ain't stretching put the ball down with full speed tax

how long was the scrimmage how long was the scrimmage three hours three

you they put you in jail with a coach like that now now how did how did it end up how did it end up did it work we won the rest of our games

tried to do the same thing

speaking of winning a bunch of games and connor got excited to talk about this because how could you not here's another statement that you call BS or no BS.

Danny Dimes is going to win the MVP.

Is that BS or no BS?

B.A.

I think it's BS, baby, because I think Josh Allen already got it.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

He just had it last year.

Josh Allen just had it last year.

That fourth quarter he put on the other night, I think he already won it.

I know.

Remember last year whenever the snowball was.

That man, I was so happy for Danny.

Okay.

No, because he...

He won his first game against us in Tampa, and he was a talent.

He's a talent, and I'm really happy to see him get a shot.

I think he fits this offense really, really well because he's athletic.

He can spin it.

And really happy for Dan.

Let's talk about this.

You say you're very happy for Danny Dimes.

Down in Tampa right now, which you are still a part of the organization and obviously always will be Super Bowl champion down there.

Baker Mayfield is utilized as an example for like a quarterback who maybe didn't have as good of a start, bounced around a little bit.

Danny Dimes, I think, was rushing to punt.

Baker Mayfield was rushing to punt down the Carolina Panthers for the look team, scout team, special teams, drills, reading the card and everything like that.

Darn look the same.

It's a little different.

I mean, Baker was rookie of the year and beat the Steelers in a playoff.

Pittsburgh in a playoff game.

That's a whole lot different now.

And played his ass off, hurt, and you cut him.

Didn't just play his ass off.

They made him throw it

against Pittsburgh.

Yeah.

The last week he was there.

Yes.

Taking Trump off the table.

Take the child.

It's different when an organization embraces you.

And gives you, and you give it back.

And Baker's won it.

He owns the city of Tampa right now.

It's his team.

Owners came out.

He is the face of the franchise, will be for a long time, and rightfully so.

Danny Dimes could be that.

Yeah, he could.

He's only in his seventh year.

He could play another 10 years, especially with how incredibly physically fit he is and everything like that.

What was always the knock on why he didn't have success?

Was it just, I don't want to say it, the Giants fans.

Was it just because he was in New York with the Giants?

And it's not just New York.

It's not just Giants at this point.

It's Giants and Jets.

Yeah, maybe it's just Genoese.

It's not impossible to win there.

Yeah, Geno started in the Jets, like Darnold's with the Jets.

Like, it is kind of just that.

It's just Jersey Jersey and New York for some reason.

I think the Giants had a rash of injuries for two years in the offensive line.

And I mean he was running for his life.

I mean he couldn't even, he barely hit his fifth step and be running around chasing everybody.

And yeah, I think as time

goes on and you get to that right spot.

And I think he's very, very comfortable.

And Shane's done a real nice job with him.

He could be the mayor here.

Yeah, it's kind of different.

He's out having beers too with the boys, by the way.

That's a big part of it.

I do.

I agree.

I agree, actually.

Nobody will talk about it.

I think it's a big deal.

Baker's best friend, offensive line, they all meet at the same place all the time.

That's what I'm talking about.

See, that's a big deal.

We saw the Florida Panthers through their entire team out there drinking.

I think

I'm not saying everybody has to booze, okay?

Especially in 2025, there's other alternatives, or you can just go ahead and drink yourself a sprite or whatever.

But everybody gathering and having a good time is a massive piece of leadership, I think.

Totally, especially when you bring your wife and kids and y'all sitting there having just a great time together.

That's what team building is all about.

And

you don't have to like each other, but you've got to be accountable to each other.

And that accountability is how you win games.

I go back to the Pittsburgh Steelers of Super Bowl 40.

That's the closest team I've ever been a part of.

There were no clicks, offense, defense.

Everybody,

the whole team stayed back, let Jerome run out on the field at the Super Bowl in his hometown.

Our team that won the Super Bowl, my wife always said, it looks just like the Steelers on the sideline.

And it was different because Tom had just come in.

Hell, nobody knew him.

Great leader.

Great leader, and the guys absolutely loved each other.

And he'd have a beer with the boys, from what I've been told.

I mean, that's a big deal.

Danny Dimons has done that here immediately upon getting here.

I think he understood the assignment and it all.

And if he would have been back up to AR, I think he would have been cool with it.

But he also is getting an opportunity to be who I think he always thought he could be.

And boy, it's a great place to have that happen.

I think this city is ready to embrace Danny Dimes, especially after that week one.

Without a doubt.

And just his personality and everything, like it fits Indianapolis.

Like, you know, everyone always talks about how he was with the media and everything and just kind of dry and when you're not Eli and when you're not winning Super Bowls that rubs people the wrong way it's like well this guy's not giving us anything and we're getting our asses beat on Sundays but I think he fully understands too like hey another opportunity like this if I don't seize it it might not come around like this might be my last shot to really be a guy and what a hell of a way to start it on Sunday yeah he's he's tough too Very he took helmet to helmet massive shot to the head.

That was right in front of us.

And then the picture of just his head being snapped back.

Here it is right here.

Foxy, I think, picked it up.

Boom.

I mean, that is, that's right in front of us.

That head.

And then the still shot, if we still have the photo, his head just turned completely sideways.

And then he just pops right back up, tosses the ball to the ref, and just kind of goes away.

It's like the whole team sees that shit.

Oh, yeah.

The only thing better have been an Andrew Luck.

Nice hit, buddy.

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who was a quarterback in the NFL for

12 years.

12 years.

Ladies and gentlemen, friend of the program.

A guy who just understands everything about ball, inside and out.

The man who will step into the batter's box and swing that bat at everything.

If there's a pitch being thrown, he wants to swing at it.

If there's a take to be had, he's going to give one.

Ladies and gentlemen, Emmy Award-winning.

Wow.

ESPN.

NFL pundit.

The Interlocks.

Yay!

No days off.

Hell no.

No days off.

Ever.

What's up, man?

How are are you, buddy?

How's it going?

I'm great.

I'm fantastic.

What's going on?

How are you?

Pretty fascinating stuff.

I do like that you're showcasing the Colts now that we've got a good team.

Okay, I like it.

It's your first time I saw it.

Yeah, ever.

Yeah, ever.

Thank you.

Which leads right into what we were just talking about.

I don't think I've ever seen anything.

Just like you sack of bones.

Did you see Peyton the other day in that commercial for NBC?

Colts.

That was cool.

That was awesome.

It was weird, honestly.

No, it wasn't.

It felt weird because I'm used to it in Denver.

It's got a statue.

Is that the one with his son?

Yeah, Marshall.

Yeah, Marshall.

Marshall also, he's going to be a guy.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm already past Archer.

I'm on the Marshall.

Let's see what this

is.

They were raving about it.

They were raving about it.

I mean, he is spinning it at all the stamps he goes to.

And he's got a chance to see a lot.

Now, I see him wearing jerseys at every different stadium that he goes to, and it's like Marshall's about to be the one.

This is about to be the one.

Nonetheless, shout to you representing the Colts there.

Danny Dimes, we were just literally talking about him finding the right spot.

The statement was he's going to be an MVP.

BA says, I don't know about that.

Josh Allen just went absolutely crazy in the fourth quarter on Sunday night.

He's the reigning MVP.

But Danny Dimes and Shane Steichen, why did it work so well, you think?

And is this what the whole season is going to be like?

Because it was awesome on Sunday, Dano.

Yeah, I would tell you, number one, I thought Shane was really good.

And I think we got to see Steichen a little bit like

kind of what his

strengths are as a play caller.

I thought they did a really nice job of protecting Daniel.

Like, I think certain like chips with the tight ends or chips with the backs to make sure, because Daniel's thing for me has always been like when he's pressured, he just has at times panicked with the football and that's minimized his play.

But they protected him pretty good with different ways.

I thought the way that they got Warren involved is really good.

They moved Warren around, I think, six different spots.

And so, obviously, a super talented dude.

So, I think that helped.

The 12-personnel stuff, putting two tight ends on the field was just a big deal.

It just helped.

Now, like, he threw it well.

There's no doubt about it.

The Dolphins had so many, what are we doings?

We're not talking about

the Colts did that.

Good ball club.

Dolphins really good.

Oh, dude.

That's what happened.

The guy that should be covering the flat.

So

there was, like I said, really good protection.

He threw it well.

They got Warren the ball well.

I do think Miami helped a little bit in that regard.

B.A., you agree with that?

You think Miami is

shite out there?

Because a lot of people are saying, okay, yeah, yeah, I'm with Dan on that one now.

They did not look great, but that's because the coach made them look bad, Coach.

That's why, you know, but they did.

Yeah, you're right.

You got to make somebody look bad.

If you're bad, somebody's got to make you look bad.

Exactly.

Agreed.

It's a conventional fallback.

They could be bad and you could look just as you know.

Yeah, agreed.

You know what I think would be a good thing?

Coach would know a lot more than me, but I do think one of the things that they did was like specifically to Tyler Warren, it seemed like he was in Daniel's like vision of his read all the time.

I think that that's the first play of the game.

But even some of the check downs over the ball or the shallow crosses, it just felt like Daniel, we want you to start here.

And then the second or third guy is always going to be Warren and he's going to be coming into his into your picture.

So it almost was like treating him as a...

Like sometimes McCaffrey does that with San Francisco where they automatically put him in the vision of the concept, you know, as like the second or third option.

B.A., would you agree with that?

Oh, totally.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think that's exactly right.

And, you know, I go back to Ben Rothesberger.

He'd look around.

Where's Heath Miller?

Where's my man?

All right.

It's the same thing.

You got a guy like Warren who's going to be absolute stub, just like Brock Bowers, you know?

And

put him in the check down area, put him in the middle of the field.

I look outside that.

There he is.

All right.

And this kid knows how to get open.

Yeah.

And Danny was very comfortable giving him the ball.

Yeah.

And I feel like his catch rate is probably

massive.

He is gigantic.

He's a guy like Gronk.

He's always open.

If a DB is on him,

he's going to basically rebound you.

Tony Gonzalez, he's going to rebound you.

A linebacker's on him.

He's not going to be able to run with them.

So this is a guy who is always open.

So even if he's not in the vision or he is covered late, just throw it up to him.

Make something good happen 84.

And that move right there, like for a guy to be that big, you saw him run, whether it was Wildcat, whatever it was at Penn State, that move, that's usually made by like a good wide receiver, like an A-B type guy who just kind of has that feeling, no, okay, he's going here and put that foot in the ground, get up, feel.

Like, that was a big time move.

I think he's going to be a big, big-time player for us.

Oh, and I think also, because Danny Diamonds' first year in the system, like he has no allegiances to any wide receiver.

Yeah.

So like Tyler Warren being a rookie and being brand new to the offense is like, so am I, brother.

We're both, we're all, hey, we're all brand new to this offense, brother.

Let's go ahead and do that.

And what we spent on Tyler Warren was very much like, hey, he's going to be a guy and all reports out of camp is that he is a guy we needed that so missing we needed it bad third was 39 or 36 total catches i think 39 total catch from the tight end position last year so you invest obviously in the first round pick in him so another great move i think by chris ballard this offseason but dano uh uh cam ward i just saw you tweet i saw a couple other guys tweet as well i didn't watch as much of that game you look at the stats you look at the box scores doesn't look great i saw a clip i believe of his father up in the stands, getting pissed off, too.

What is the number one pick, Cam Ward?

What does his tape look like?

I know he was facing a very

sub tweet.

So, huh?

Yeah, he didn't even include a bruh, bro.

Yeah.

What did it look like?

His strategy.

It's called strategy.

Okay.

Yeah, or being a con.

I don't think you're a smart.

Shut up, Connor.

Easy.

Yeah, I was like blown away by his tape.

I thought his tape looked awesome, dude.

Like, he throws the, Tennessee's got a guy.

Like Tennessee's got a guy.

Like his, this guy's talent of throwing a football is off the charts.

They win the game if they don't have like eight drops.

I counted for like, that play's awesome.

That, that's like,

that reminds me of like Joe Burrow-ish type stuff.

I just, though, the ability for him to thread the needle on some of the throws and just to cut the ball loose with what he's looking at, I was wildly impressed with.

I mean, that defense is awesome.

Awesome.

Awesome.

And he made some throws that were, I mean, dude, I got drops on one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight drops.

His dad has those.

His dad was catching.

He saw all of those.

He was sick of him getting up, just going every

day.

They win the ball.

Andrew Strepo.

The guy right there is 6-1-40.

He caught the ball.

Strepo, catching.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I've got it.

So

he cuts it loose, man.

He is crazy talented throwing the ball.

Now, I'll give you two things.

Like, yes, there are times when he's got to be like, Pam, you can't take that sack.

Like, he takes back-to-back sacks that takes them out of field range.

He did that in college.

He's got to learn from that.

He will, would be my expectation.

And there are also some times that he

fires the friggin ball in there.

And I'm like, could you have taken a little bit off to help him?

He's got the touch.

He does.

This isn't a, you know, there's some guys who throw everything as a fastball.

That's not like, that's not the case here.

I just, I just, that throw is sick.

I'm telling you.

I mean, he's got,

I wish I had B-roll for you guys.

He's got eight drops that you're like, yo, that throw is off the charts.

So I think Tennessee's like got a guy.

He was wildly impressive against a ridiculously good defense.

Very good defense.

Very boring game because of that.

But I'm happy to hear that Cam Ward is starting off in a great way in your eyes for the Titans.

B.A., do you agree with that?

You think Cam Ward's going to be a guy for that?

Yeah, totally.

I mean, do what he did against that defense.

Number one.

Why is that defense so good?

Because the dudes, or because what they do?

Both.

They got players and they got good coaches.

And so it's like for him to sit in there and have the poise that he had, like I said,

young quarterbacks, you start dropping the ball on me, dropping the ball on me, like, the hell am I supposed to do?

But he didn't, he didn't panic.

He just kept shooting it to him.

His dad, his dad also, keeping it cool for a long time.

I'm trying.

This is professional football.

This is the highest level.

I know people are watching me.

And then after like the sixth or seventh,

I thought this was professional football.

What are we doing here?

Dude, he's got four drops in the fourth quarter, like four drops in the fourth quarter of tight coverage, too.

These, I mean, two of them are 30-yard games, maybe, and that they're just drops.

And if they catch them, like they're a storyline of the season, because, or at least week one, excuse me, because

obviously going there and winning would be a big deal.

So I was as impressed with him as I was, not on the level like Lamar and Josh, but when it comes to expectation and exceeding, absolutely.

All right.

So we're not panicking about the Tennessee Titans, even though Coach Baby doesn't know elbow good.

Yep.

You know,

which is obviously a part of the entire growing process of being the head guy in charge.

There's a lot of rules out there.

Last night, the punch of the ball.

Learned that.

Learned that, no, ball is man because man is touching ball.

So as soon as ball is touched by defender, also man being touched at the same time because it looked like a pretty clean punch.

It was like, well, Wallace was already moving though by the time his thumb hit his chest.

And then they challenge that.

They lose the timeout.

Obviously, timeout very vital at the end of the game.

They don't have it because of this.

And we all learned.

Nope, not all of us.

I guess some people did know that.

BA knew that.

Rules expert on TV knew that.

Of course.

I certainly was in the camp of that's clean.

That's a fumble.

Oh, he's already loose.

I thought, well, I'm not allowed to do that.

I didn't know that we weren't doing that.

So we all kind of learned these things as we, that was a great punch there.

Hey, that's Sewell's brother, right?

That's young ooz right there out of Oregon.

Had a big game.

B.A.

would say,

can't have him one-on-one with Aaron Jones.

You can't do that, right?

Isn't that kind of your takeaway?

That was it, because he had a great game.

He had a great game.

He had a great game.

Okay, let's talk about teams that maybe we aren't as high on, even though we all love them.

A team that you have a lot of history with and your name's being referenced again.

Ty has a question for you, Dan.

Yeah, Dan, it's certainly not fair, but after the Packers Lions game on Sunday, a lot of people were saying Jared Goff, more like Jared Guflovsky.

And obviously.

We don't like that.

Yeah, they were saying he's about as good as you are without Ben Johnson.

We don't like that either.

We don't like that.

And they cherry picked and grabbed this picture of you, which isn't great.

Your hair doesn't look great there.

That's not fair.

And also, you're passionate.

You're bummed out.

But overall, Dan, after watching that game and the Lions offense and everything.

No, no, this is real.

I want to know how concerned are you that Jared Goff maybe is a little bit of Jared Guflovsky without Ben Johnson?

What is that?

Yeah, well,

I don't know.

Yeah,

I'm not going to let you talk about Jared like that.

Thank you.

I'm going to answer it honestly.

I mean,

he's gone to two championship games, okay?

And it's Super Bowl two different teams.

So stop it.

Let me tell you that.

Whoa, Super Bowl with one team.

Yeah, two championship games.

Yeah, one Super Bowl.

NFC championship games.

Okay, just making sure.

Yep.

Yep.

The Lions are the most concerning team for me out of week one.

Most of the Saints.

Dude, I would tell you.

Nah.

Most women.

Because

the Saints and expectations and what you kind of want them to be.

Dude, the Lions offensively were as fun to watch.

You would look forward to cutting on their tape and watching it.

And you would just marvel at the ways that they would create advantages for their players, that the way that they would create leverage advantage or numbers advantage and chunk plays.

I didn't, I saw one, and I think it was a busted coverage by Green Bay more than a advantage created by Detroit.

It was, I'm trying to be respectful here.

It was a boring watch.

It was a depressing watch.

A lot of credit to Green Bay's defense, but man,

what it was the past three years with Ben and then what it was this past weekend looked nothing like themselves.

You think they're dead?

I'm not saying dead because there's still a lot of talent.

The interior of their outline has to play better, but

I am very

concerned with kind of them replicating their past couple season success.

Absolutely.

It's not going to be the same offense.

Dude, Jameer Gibbs said 10 catches for 31 yards.

What are we talking about?

Yeah, BA said it's going to take a little bit.

Swarming right there.

Yeah, the Packers are fighting.

And Packers' defense is very good.

So it could be a Miami Dolphins Colts situation, you know, where the other team's just unbelievable.

Yeah, yeah.

What do you mean?

You hope not.

Well, I mean, I believe the Packers are very good.

No, I understand that.

But you guys beat a dog shite team.

We're beating a team that won 15 games last year.

So I'm hoping that it's more.

So I don't want to see the Lions go 3-14.

And then you look back and it's like, well, maybe that wasn't that impressive.

Yeah, you're right.

The Dolphins probably going to win the AFCs.

There's a chance.

So we'll look back on this Colts win in a very different way.

Yeah.

You know, and that's like, or maybe they don't win a game.

We'll get one.

We'll get one on the board.

That's guaranteed.

You definitely don't want to be

guaranteed one.

Guaranteed one.

I don't know about more than that, but I guarantee we'll get one.

Nah, Mike will get him fixed.

They'll get it together.

Dan.

Dan.

It'll get banned.

No, okay.

Not hitting the bandit button on Miami.

I like that.

You like Miami?

Well, I just, no, I mean, I was the one.

The tape was a mess.

You don't even know.

You don't even know.

The whole time, it was a mess, the tape, all across the board.

But I don't know.

I've had the experience of spending some time with them and Mike, and I'm very impressed with Mike.

I believe in him.

So I think he's a good coach.

It's a big lift this week, you know, with what the football looked like and then, you know, some of the news that has come out for sure.

So

I say give them a chance to kind of rectify it and play better.

BA, you said earlier it was bad for the Miami Dolphins.

Do you think McDaniel has a chance to rectify it or at this stage of a coaching stance?

Now, I don't know if it's happened to you anywhere, but I don't think it has as a head coach.

But at this stage of being the head coach of like, hey, make or break type feel, whenever you have a performance like that on week one, does the heat start coming into the coach's offices?

Oh, definitely.

He starts feeling it.

They all start feeling it.

It's totally different today than it was last Monday.

And so it's like, All right, there's got to be some internal problems there somewhere because they do have talent.

And Mike is a damn good coach.

He's very, very smart, very innovative, especially offensively.

Defensively, they look poor.

They look really poor.

And Tua

did not impress me at all.

Now, to be clear, they traded their only pro bowler and Johnny Smith.

They got rid of their other all-pro Jalen Ramsey on the defensive side.

Legislative Campbell's gone.

Yeah, left hack over tires.

Left hackle.

I mean, going into the year, there's a lot of like pretty big X factors just not going to be there for a team that wasn't really there last year either so you you wondered what was possible but this is dumpy you tell me a lot of people viewing this as like a make-or-break year right for that entire operation down there the concern is last 15 games with tua and mcdaniel six and nine four team picks eight fumbles for tua so i thought you guys scored 70 yes yeah that was a long time ago that was a good good days great days still haven't won a playoff game in 25 years it is uh it's dark days right now saving how kind of put it out there to the team too hey boys just muddy it up in the middle Make him throw out shots.

Take away that first read, and Tua is going to struggle.

And that's got two picks, one overthrow across the middle to Cam Bynum.

And then the one with lot two dropped in and kind of sunk back and got in his window and picked one off.

So that is kind of the recipe out there.

But I was very, you know, coaches talked about it too.

It's going to take some time to build that continuity with new play callers, new offense.

Very concerned when a quarterback.

head coach play call that has been together as long as they have come out week one and lay the leg like that

Yo, D.

Butt, did you see that

Tyreek stat?

That it's been a year since he had a catch go over 30?

Yeah, we talked about that yesterday.

That was wild.

It was mind-blowing.

I thought it was fake when I first saw it.

That's unbelievable.

And that's what he was saying right here.

It's about to be a year

since I've had a 30-yard.

That's what he was saying right here.

I'm not the best lip reader.

That's crazy.

That could be what he was saying.

And also, there's people saying that this is a bad reaction from Tyreek.

I would like to commend Tyreek for this only being what he did in this situation.

I would like that to be said because this could be much worse.

It could be a McDaniel's here.

Hey, I'm trying to get traded right the fuck now.

You know, that has happened.

We've seen, we've seen

pads off.

We've seen players retire in the middle of a game.

There were so many blown assignments on that tape, man, by everybody.

And it's not a new coach.

You know, it's...

Yeah.

Yeah, lose, lose for whoever's paying the Dolphins this week.

Hey, and now Connor has the last question.

Legit.

Yeah, it's New England.

With that.

So.

Connor has a question for you.

Last one here, Dan.

Oak.

Yeah, I thought about actually just asking B.A.

a question, but I guess I'll ask you one, Dan.

Screw it.

What do you think about the Chiefs?

Chiefs.

Friday night was not good.

That looked abysmal.

Obviously, Worthy gets hurt on the third play in the broadcast was talking about how much the offense was supposed to run through him this year.

Should we be worried about Kansas City, especially because the Chargers in their division look like one of the best teams in football?

Yeah, I'm concerned about Kansas City.

I still like my notes from watching the game are like, I'm still, it's still a very catch and throw offense.

It feels like everything is still a very short throw offense.

That's what Patrick Mahomes.

And so, and I know that they have some speed.

Obviously, Hollywood's there, Xavier going down, Thornton had some stuff.

I mean, that's one of the throws of the game.

Outside of Patrick making like three or four absolutely preposterous plays and/or throws, you're sitting there going, everything's just this dink and dunk patch and throw offense still.

And like, as I still think, and

Coach Aaron's would know a lot better than me, but like, I still think that the teams that are throwing the ball down the field and creating chunks,

you're doing it off some form of a play action something, you know, like Baltimore, Green Bay, Buffalo.

And that's just not where the Chiefs are again.

And I just, I do not believe that that is going to be good enough to win that division or make another run.

I think you'll skate by a little bit here and there, but

it's the offense to me just is still so short.

So on that note, there was a stat that went out.

Yeah, from Seth Buska here.

Since 2019, Patrick Monroe's elite deep ball has clearly declined.

Deep ball accuracy fell from 51% to 21%.

But then there's also a stat about the number of completions over 20 yards or 30 yards.

He's 32nd or 34th out of NFL quarterbacks over the last two years versus the first couple years.

He was number one.

Now, that's the Tyreek Hill effect, I think, in that entire thing, which is why Tyreek just sitting on the sideline, just doing this, as opposed to going and saying, get me out of here to go back to Kansas City that they need me.

I think we should commend that.

Who knows what the rest of the season looks like for Tyreek and the Miami Dolphins.

But they literally no risk it.

And it seems like they still get the biscuit, though.

They've won the AFC Championship.

They have.

I think they've hosted the AFC Championship the last seven years or something like that.

They obviously won it last year, and they weren't throwing the deep ball at all.

To Dan's point, is that sustainable for success in the NFL right now if you don't have any deep threat?

Or I guess what his biggest concern was maybe not a good enough run game to maybe set that whole thing up is kind of what Daniel.

I think that's the key.

Andy's always run the ball well.

And wherever Andy Reid's been, he's always run the ball well, and they had good play action.

They've always had a great short passing game.

I think they're missing the run after catch guy.

All right.

So if you're going to throw all those dink and dunks, somebody's got to break one and get 15 or 20.

You got to get some play out of a short pass.

I don't see it happening.

So Rice out, Xavier Worthy out.

Both those guys, probably yak guys, if I had to guess.

And the way they were talking about how much Worthy was going to be part of the offense, it feels like maybe they were going to get back on their Tyreek bullshit with Xavier Worthy, who can also run a 4-2 or whatever it is.

So him being knocked out early, I guess we all missed out on some electricity from that particular offense.

And I can't wait to see how it goes going forward.

We appreciate you, Dano.

What do you got today?

I got to do NFL live in Sports Center this afternoon.

We appreciate your commitment to sports.

How was yesterday?

Yesterday was cool.

Good, busy day.

Travel, Chicago there and back.

Sat on the tarmac for 25 minutes like airlines like to do, but other than that, it was good.

It was all good.

How's your golf game?

Good question.

It's pretty good, Coach.

I played more this year than I have since my.

I've got triplet 13-year-old boys.

So

since they've been born, played the most that I have this year, but that's because I started to play with them.

So,

I can go shoot an 82 like anybody.

Okay, what's your best note?

I still think my best is like a 74 or something like that.

Maybe 72.

Not bad.

Par, maybe, maybe 200.

He's a liar.

Don't forget.

Oh, yeah.

We forgot about that.

He shot against, he did the score thing against us.

He erased the score.

He raised the score with the fence.

With Irish body.

That's Dan Bottom.

How would you be on the other side?

Be a friend.

Tell a friend something nice.

Cheers.

This is Joe Button.

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Football!

It's magical.

Joining us is a man who coached...

that particular sport for 47 years, 27 in the NFL, 20 in college, ladies and gentlemen.

Bruce Aarons.

BA, you're awesome.

We can't thank you enough for joining us.

The Toxic Table is here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt wearing the bear on your chest.

Is that because we don't know how the bear season is going to go this year, or why did you pick that particular season?

I'm not really sure.

I think I picked it just because this is what I want to see out of Ben Johnson when he's talking to Caleb Williams on the sideline.

I'm kind of watching the Chicago Bears strictly to see it implode, respectfully.

I want them to, you know, be successful and do well.

But if they start 0-3, I would love to see a nice little blow-up on the sideline.

Maybe we haven't really gotten a good coach player.

Hey, I hate you.

We're only one week into this thing.

Everybody thought they were going to win the Super Bowl five days from the day.

No, I know, but I'm even thinking about last year.

It feels like now a lot of the times it's a situation like Tyreek, where they're yelling at themselves versus like, hey, let's get some real hate battle between these QBs and coaches when they're trying to figure it out.

You want Tom Brady.

Bill O'Brien.

That's what you're looking for.

That's exactly what you're looking for.

You're looking for Peyton Manning, Jeff Saturday.

I want Drake May to squash Josh McDaniels on Sunday, respectfully.

Like wreck-it Ralph.

I want him to bonk him right on the head.

Garrett to Mason Rudolph without the helmet.

Boom.

Coach throw a deep ball.

Let me spin this thing, please.

All right, I like that.

B.A., you obviously know as a quarterback whisperer, as quarterback coach, offensive coordinator, and head coach.

How do you feel about quarterbacks and coaches getting into it on the sideline?

And is there a lack of those these days?

Have you noticed?

I don't think so.

You know, he never wanted to be the backup quarterback for me.

Because I just ripped his ass the whole time.

As if it was...

Can you get this some bitch right?

Can you tell him to do this?

Ben loves telling the story.

I still have my hand on the button one time.

Charlie, what the fuck is he doing?

What the fuck is he looking at?

All right, buddy, here's what we're going to do.

And Andrew tells the same story.

Burying Ben talking to backup.

Hey, listen, I'm about sick of this episode.

You're doing great.

Andrew says, go ahead.

Is that Moron son of a bitch ever going to get this right?

Andrew's looking over.

All right, buddy, here we go.

We're going to run this.

Oh, that's awesome.

Yeah, there's competitive spirits.

Yeah, respectfully, that's the coach point of view.

Like, I'm just talking about a fan.

Like, as a fan, when you're looking at it, you just want to see that fire between your players and your coaches.

The Caleb Williams situation is awesome because Ben Johnson chose the Chicago Bears.

If you listen to all the intel about how many different jobs he could have had, Caleb being one of the main reasons why he he did it.

Now, granted, if it doesn't work between him and Caleb, not saying it won't.

It looked great last night at times.

Okay.

I'm not saying it's not going to work.

Let's just live in hypotheticals.

Okay.

It's week one of the NFL season.

Brand new head coach who is the bell of the ball during the coaching cycle.

Everybody wanted him.

And now you got Caleb.

Same way.

If they end up not working out, does he have the Sean Payton pool that he had in Denver when Sean Payton definitely had to tell ownership, the Walmart family, the Walton and Penner, I believe, Greg Penner and Susan Walton Walton Penner.

I just read it because they're announced a new stadium today.

Yeah,

their stadium is going to be absolutely awesome.

Of course.

But Sean, yeah, richest owners in sports.

It's a good thing to have them.

Sean Payton had to have gone in there and said, hey, if it doesn't work with me and Russell Wilson, I have to be allowed to move on from Russell Wilson, even though it's going to be the biggest salary cap hit that the NFL has ever seen and still is a record to this day.

I wonder if Ben Johnson has that with Caleb, or do you think he goes in there saying, I can make Caleb work?

Like, is that what you think the mindset is of the entire Chicago Bears?

Well, I think the deal that Ben got, he's got the hammer.

I mean, when you get first-time coaches getting that type of contract, I mean, young guy's getting six years, $13 million.

Come on, man.

I mean, that's ridiculous.

Yeah, he's got the hammer.

Okay, he'll be able to do whatever he needs to do.

Like, for instance, they pay Tyson Badgett $10 million.

Pretty big deal for a backup quarterback.

You think that he has enough sway in the Chicago Bears organization as the head coach there that if this doesn't work with Caleb, once again, we're living in hypotheticals.

Not hypotheticals that we want.

We would like Caleb and Ben to work.

That would be very cool because Caleb would be an electrifying NFL superstar.

Green Bay Packers fans are completely okay with that not working.

Yeah, I'm okay with that.

But let's just say it doesn't work.

Do you think Ben does move on?

Do you think that is something that he would be able to do?

Because they spent a lot on this guy.

I could probably get a lot for him, too.

Yeah, I think it's happening to a couple of teams right now.

That it's not working out.

All right.

But I hope it works out because i really want this kid to be successful because he is so talented how hard is it for an organization to want to move on though from like for instance anthony richardson here coach didn't want to do it at all i don't think danny dimes comes in if danny dimes is able to lead our team we're going to do it they're obviously giving a lot of opportunity but they move on from the number four overall pick move on he's still going to have to play he's still on the team he hasn't been traded he might still be the guy in the future who knows how the world ends up working out how hard is it to move on from that though because it's a big investment from an organization to spend the amount spend number one overall pick on the Niners.

Number four overall pick.

They bring Mac Jones back to the Niners after they move on from

Lance.

Trey Lance, they traded up to get Lance.

And now they got Mac potentially playing for them.

And they paid.

Which once again.

And they paid the last pick.

You talk about that situation, trading, you know, two first-round picks to go get Trey Lance and then going with Mr.

Irrelvin over him.

Yeah, Brock Purdy being the guy.

So whatever.

Bro, Young, Bench,

he came back, but that's a big decision.

First-year head coach, too.

Yeah, yeah.

First-year coach.

You go back to Gus Ferrutton and Heath Schuler.

Of course.

I mean, I always said if you pick one first, do not pick one seventh.

Yeah.

All right, because he's going to win.

He's going to win the damn job, and you're screwed.

Okay, so on that note, do you think you'll be able to move on from Caleb if it doesn't work out?

I think so.

I think he's got the hammer in Chicago, and they've given him the keys to run this whole thing.

But I think Ben will fix it.

I really do think Ben will fix him.

Well, I hope they end up working it out.

And I know Packers fans know that.

Nine-year NFL vet, Darius J.

Butler's here.

D-Butch, you look incredibly cool over there.

Last night, your big takeaway from the game.

J.J.

McCarthy's dog.

The Vikings are still for real.

Caleb still has a chance.

What's the big takeaway for you?

All of those things.

And I am right with BA.

I think I want him to be fixed, and I think he will be fixed.

And if you look at his rookie year and his numbers, they weren't terrible.

Obviously, he got sacked.

That's the number that stands out the most, being sacked 68 times, but didn't turn the ball over a ton.

He has the skill set and the fact that Ben Johnson is the head coach and he's also the play caller.

If you look around the league, most KOC been one of them, but most of these guys that became head coaches and that were play callers beforehand, they still hold on to that play calling.

If you have a quarterback,

it's more likely that you're going to be successful and you stay around.

You don't have to deal with what Jalen Hurts has to deal with.

Every year, he's got a new coordinator because that guy calls good plays, win a bunch of games, go gets another job.

Justin Herbert, he's on like his fourth play caller.

So Caleb Williams having that same voice in his head, BA talked about the continuity that you have to build, which is real.

Because as a player, even as a defensive player, if we're going into a two-minute drill before, you know, at the end of half and we know the situation, I kind of already know the menu of plays that my defensive coordinator is going to call and the player is going to call.

So when you have that, when you're that comfortable as a quarterback and the guys around you, I think that's going to help you be successful.

It's going to kind of expedite that process.

We all know he has...

has the talent.

We all believe Ben Johnson is a talented play caller.

We know that.

But being the head coach, that's a little different.

That's a much different job.

But I think both of these guys will be successful.

Going from play caller to head coach and play caller, and then just head coach without being play caller.

What goes into all those decisions that are kind of being made?

Because head coach, obviously, you got a lot of shit.

Got a lot of shit coming across your desk that you didn't have as a coordinator.

But there's some buildings that are set up differently, right?

Like some GMs handle some of the stuff that some other head coaches would handle.

So you can just focus on this.

Some head coaches have it all, and the GM kind of works for the head coach.

Depends on the setup.

But what is it like becoming the head coach and play caller at the same damn time?

I think the hardest thing is when you hire a guy, he hadn't done either one.

He's never called plays and now he's the head coach and he's going to call plays, which has happened a number of times lately in a few years, which blows my mind.

You're asking this guy to do three jobs he's never done.

All right.

But I think the play calling thing and the head coach thing is easy.

I mean, look at Andy Reid.

I did it for years and years, came back and didn't want to do it because I had Byron Lefwich, who I trusted totally, trained him, was quarterback for me in Pittsburgh, one of the smartest guys I've ever seen, and let him run the whole show.

And it was much easier for me.

I got a little involved in defense once I did it.

Oversee, oversee, which I never did.

I learned all the cover zero calls

because we're blitzing, baby.

You got a little no-risk it, no biscuit on defensive side when you're not fully focused on the offensive side.

You know, Kevin O'Connell has been able to execute it very, very well and not get kind of lost in the situation because his situational management is still good.

Sometimes play callers, I forget who told me.

See?

Yeah, Sean McVay, unbelievable calling plays and not getting lost in there.

Michael Payton.

Michael Sean Payton always has.

Michael Andy Reid, obviously.

Michael Lombardi said, though, some of these play callers just get lost in the sheet and they kind of forget that they're the head coach of the entire team.

That's obviously on a leadership level, but the fact that you can pull up Kevin O'Connell seemingly mastering it.

Very quickly.

Big time.

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, the all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers, a college football national national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner AJ Hawk.

AJ, you worried about the NFC North?

Uh-oh, JJ McCarthy's just getting started.

I know he's not a rookie, but that was obviously his first start.

And things look damn good in that fourth quarter.

They figured it out is what I'm thinking and what a lot of people are saying.

And then the Chicago Bears feels like they had a great couple cores.

Defense playing good, stingy.

Obviously, JJ not able to get rolling until the fourth quarter for a while.

Caleb made some big-time plays.

NFC North all of a sudden is about to be a dogfight for the next 20 years.

AJ, how do you feel about last night's NFC North showcase?

And how about the NFL having back-to-back-to-back thrillers in primetime?

Yeah, I thought this was awesome.

Obviously, J.J.

McCarthy, he steps up and plays well when it truly matters.

Like when you need him the most, he steps up.

And this played Aaron Jones.

I mean, poor Sewell, they put Sewell on an island.

This is tough.

It looked like they were playing man under too deep.

I would have been peeking over my left shoulder telling my safety, hey, buddy, you stay outside.

I'm going to be inside all day.

This guy runs a seven.

I need you to, I need to be, you need to be over the top because Aaron Jones has a 15-way go on you.

You see the safety jumps in on the receiver and leaves you.

Like, that's just great, great play calling there by Kevin O'Connell.

Good route, too, by Aaron Jones, but man, that's almost unstoppable.

And JJ throws a nice ball.

What a perfect time for that.

But also, I get a little credit to Javon Hargrave.

I don't know if we've talked about that dude enough.

That big old dude in the middle, I believe he had two sacks as well, but he was getting pushed over and over and over, pushing the pocket, making Caleb uncomfortable.

Like that guy is a, he is a weapon for this defense.

Okay, both defenses had great moments at times.

Brian Flores, if you listen to B.A., he said, hey, he decided in the second half, like, all right, Caleb, we're about to send a lot and see if you can handle it.

Obviously, the second half, fourth quarter becomes a little bit of a crumble for Caleb as JJ continues to go.

What did you see from the Vikings defense, other than Hargrave?

What did you see from Brian Flores?

And do you have belief that Caleb and Ben Johnson will be able to get it done in Chicago?

Well, on the Caleb and Ben Johnson situation, I think you guys have kind of talked about it.

Like, are they the right fit fit for each other?

I don't know because you say so much rhythm.

You need some rhythm passing.

You need to get into like a consistent rhythm offensively.

We know like Caleb works best when he's doing this, when he's making things happen that other people can't really do.

Play breaks down.

He's all over the place.

And he somehow finds a way to complete these balls and obviously gets in here in the end zone there.

I mean, I'm sure they can work it out.

I just don't like how much time do you give it?

How much time does it take?

I would love to be in the meeting rooms there and see like hear the conversations, like what they're asking Caleb to do compared to what he is most comfortable to do like it's going to be interesting but Brian Flores like you never know I feel like you never really know what you're going to get they have the ability to change it up like on a dime to where okay we may be dropping eight for a good amount of time nope here we go now we're going to be start coming after you and we're going to keep you on your toes and it just it would be it would be a nightmare to be an offensive coordinator the flores defense because i think it's just it's unpredictable and these guys goes back to the old school like they play with great leverage like fundamentals everything they do they seem to just be on point Yeah, Brian Flora has been around a long time, he's seen a lot of ball, so he's able to figure out what the hell you're doing that's beating him.

I think is something that he also did last night.

I assume there are some adjustments made, I assume there's a from a veteran defense that's very good.

So, I don't want to give up on Caleb and Ben Johnson yet, but

boy,

if Ben Johnson was able to do what he was able to do with Jared Goff, Jared Goff, incredible arm talent, incredible arm talent.

Number one pitch, yeah, can put that thing right here, whatever he has to, understands where he's supposed to go with the the ball.

So I'm just saying

the intangibles that Caleb has, which is what we are sold and what we are selling.

Ben Johnson is going to be able to do what he did with Jared Goff.

And then we're able to add on this magic.

So whenever maybe there was a little bit of a reroute and the timing was off on the play, Jared Goff was never going to be the guy that was going to be able to extend the play and make some magic afterwards.

He was going to go through the play.

If the play needs a little bit more time, we're going to throw it away.

Okay, that's what we're going to do.

Or we're not going to take a hit or we're going to check it down somewhere.

Caleb was going to be able to go through a play and then all of a sudden hit the reset button on a play.

We got a whole new play.

Now we're Caleb Williamsing.

Now we're doing our Caleb shit.

And it was supposed to be this offensive juggernaut that we've never really seen before.

What if Caleb just can't do that offense though?

Is that even, is that, can any quarterback do that type of offense?

Like,

Caleb, very smart.

We're not saying he's not very smart.

Caleb, very talented.

But if your entire life, you're just like a baller, and then it's like, hey, we need you to fit into this robotic type thing.

And then you can be a baller.

Like his first instinct, which is probably why in the second half and in the fourth quarter, it became that way.

His first instinct is, let me go ahead and dance a little bit here and extend.

Will Ben be able to, can you get anybody to play assist himself?

I think so.

He did it in the first half.

He took his check downs.

He was 10 for 10.

You know, he wasn't forcing anything.

He wasn't running.

He did a great job moving around in the pocket, protecting the football where he didn't last year.

He had two hands on the ball.

Boom.

He takes off, running, makes a big play.

So you see it.

Now, as the game got tighter and tighter, then your natural instincts come back.

I'm going to make something happen.

I'm going to make something happen.

No, let the offense make something happen.

Let the guys around you make something happen.

And I think

he will grow into that with Ben.

I hope so.

Chicago being a good football town would be great for everybody.

Well, and that's the big thing that I wonder about.

Because this isn't like a typical situation with a rookie head coach and a guy who went number one.

You know, typically like those guys, you get a couple years.

It's like, hey, let's build this thing.

Like, we talked about the Bears.

They expect them to make the playoffs this year.

Like, Bears fans have already outlined the parade route in Chicago.

Like, the expectation is, hey, we got the hottest coach in the coaching cycle.

We have a number one pick who could be elite.

Like, we need to go right now.

So, we talk about, hey, this kind of stuff takes time, but you're just wondering because I think the front office, everyone, the pieces they brought in, what they did to fortify the offensive line, like, it almost seems like their expectation is, hey, let's go win this division this year.

We believe we can.

Well, Chicago Bears hope to start winning on the field and maybe Caleb and Ben take over the entire NFL.

Certainly the NFC wars.

Before they swap Goomflovsky for Caleb.

Oh, maybe a quick trade.

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

A quick trade up to the line.

What?

I want Jared Goff as my quarterback.

We don't have him anymore.

He's Gooflovski now.

No.

How about Dan O'Going?

That's very rude.

You put the two championship games.

It's a Super Bowl.

Bears made some news.

CEO Kevin Warren made an announcement that that the team is setting its sights on Arlington Heights for their new stadium.

We'll have a retractable roof.

I think there were already negotiations there.

Something fell through.

I mean, this has been a lot of drama.

Yeah.

This has been a lot of drama in Chicago because there's a lot of politics involved.

I believe there's a lot of different counties involved.

There's a lot of money involved.

There's a lot of everything involved.

So allegedly, they are now going to head back to Arlington Heights and they're going to have a retractable roof and obviously a venue that they think Bears fans are going to love and want to travel to.

Congratulations to Chicago getting this done, seemingly.

And Arlington Heights.

I know it's not easy to have that type of stuff.

And on that note, the Denver Broncos, we just alluded to it, just kind of announced that

they will be unveiling a new stadium here in a couple years.

And it'll be in the Burnham Yard, which is the railroad station, I do believe, or the old railroad station there in Denver.

The history, I guess, that has run through that railroad state or that rail station, I guess, is very deep.

It's a part of the story.

in which they told and why they picked it.

It's near downtown.

Arlington Heights, I think, is away from Chicago a good bit.

I think it's pretty far out there.

When you have the richest owners in sports, they can buy the real estate near the city.

He said it won't be surrounded by just massive parking lots either.

It'll feel alive and feel like a part of the city.

They want to host a lot of venues or host a lot of events in there all year round.

And this just, like, when you have owners, now I assume they're getting city money.

I assume there is tax money.

Probably fund it.

Unbelievable.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Of that.

Isn't that unbelievable?

It is unbelievable.

But richest owners, 2031, I mean, can we expedite this?

What are we six years?

Yeah, what the hell?

I still got supply chain issues.

Well, that's what the Bears said that they plan to host the Super Bowl as early as 2031.

So I wonder if they're thinking for the Arlington Heights one, like, hey, we got to be working around the clock here and build this thing in the next two years.

The Waltons, dude.

I think both cities are looking for the Super Bowl.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

And rightfully so.

And that's why the retractable roof is on there.

That's like the fans in Cleveland all pissed off about the thought of a retractable roof.

Buffalo pissed off about a retractable roof.

I think if you were to present Green Bay with a retractable retractable roof, they'd be like, absolutely.

Can't do it.

That's why everybody's saying that.

But it also means you get a Super Bowl.

Yeah.

Yeah, Super Bowl.

Do you want a Super Bowl or do you not want a Super Bowl?

But that's the other side now, is the draft.

Like that is, as a Patriots fan, the only thing I hope that the Patriots get when it comes to events like that is the draft now.

And like, especially because, you know, the teams that you're listening, like the Packers, they're never going to do it.

The Steelers, the Patriots, like those fan bases will be great for, you know, the draft, especially, you know, having that be kind of the draw for it.

I appreciate that the NFL has created an event

for

the cities that will never get the Super Bowl.

Certain franchises, just Packers.

No, you can't.

Could never do it.

I mean, no.

Oh, yeah.

Talking about frozen tundra.

Curly lamb fan.

Let's put a little heat on it.

Maybe 70 degrees and sunny in Green Bay.

Browns, do whatever the hell you want to do.

Yeah, I agree.

I agree.

Who gives a shot?

Who cares?

Right?

Hey, if a tree falls in the woods, right?

That's AFC North football.

Amen.

Amen.

On the lake.

And Cleveland is a bitch.

I saw some pretty sweet things happening.

Bruce was at Cleveland.

We went over Bottlegate today.

Yeah, Bottlegate is an insane.

Have you heard about this, AJ?

No.

What happened?

I don't know.

The way BA told you is it had to be at least 50 bottles on there.

50,000.

50,000.

50,000 bottles.

What happened?

What was the game?

We were playing Jacksonville and two-minute drill.

We're going down.

We complete a pass, first down, spike it, and referee

who's now famous, decided to go back and review the play before,

after we spiked it, and said it was incomplete.

And all of a sudden, there's 50,000 beer bottles coming out.

But Mr.

Lerner had the best of it.

They're plastic.

That's crazy.

Insane.

Obviously, the Philadelphia Eagles fans are known for what they did to Santa.

Cleveland is known for a lot of things.

I didn't remember 50,000 bottle gate.

I did not know that.

How'd that game continue?

What happened there?

I think it was like maybe 20 seconds left, and we all left the field.

It was not safe, you know, and because they were reaching the sideline with the things.

Oh, yeah.

Good arms and clean.

Oh, yeah, buddy.

And so we went in, and all of a sudden, we got word from the NFL.

You got to go out and finish it.

So we had 11 guys go out in their shorts and finish the game.

That's a credit.

Tim Couch.

That just dropped.

Can you get plastic bottles anymore?

Can you get plastic bottles?

Is it all draft beer now in a cup?

I think nothing is allowed to have a top.

I know that.

Yeah.

No tops on anything.

They were glass bottles.

The owner said they were plastic.

I think I saw a video of a guy drinking 13 of them in one game.

He was maybe a Chicago guy last night.

He had a cup snake.

Yep.

He had a beer snake or whatever, the cups to himself.

I think it was like 13 beers.

And he had a photo.

He looks really pretty.

Probably got in a fight in the parking lot afterwards.

Living a high life there for this first.

Without a doubt.

We're back.

We're all the way back.

Exactly.

Yeah, I'll take three, four more.

Yeah, we're having good.

Caleb's a guy.

Boom, boom.

It's like the old dog pound in Cleveland.

They had a little dog thing up there.

It looked like they all peed in there.

It's Cleveland.

A lot of booze.

A lot of booze out there.

Okay, there's a story coming out of Tampa Bay that Ameka Abuka, who is a rookie wide receiver out of Ohio State, who has been a number two wide receiver for the last few years at Ohio State, even though he's the all-time leading receiver for the Ohio State Buckeyes, basically calls his own shot for a second touchdown that ends up winning the game for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

And it's this type of like comfort, I think, that he is showing that makes us all believe that maybe Ohio State is a little bit of an NFL factory over there.

Because this guy was number two for them for a long time.

You're obviously close to the Tampa Bay organization.

Mike Evans is going to be a Hall of Famer, obviously first ballot gold jacket guy.

Feels like they got a guy down there in Omecca that they love.

Is that accurate?

Oh, they love him.

And Baker said, I think OTA number five.

He said, this guy's special.

Not only is he good, he's one of the smartest guys I've ever been around.

And they were on the sideline.

We run what they call pin,

post in an in.

They're going to jump, Mike.

I'll be wide open on the post.

Boom, touchdown.

Now, is that because he felt something in the game, or is that because he's been in number two throughout the past few years?

And it's like, hey, Marvin Harrison Jr.

runs the in.

I'm wide open on the other side of that.

Jeremiah Smith runs the, I'm all wide open on the other side of that.

He's like almost built to be in the role with Mike Evans being the perfect number one for him.

Totally.

Yeah, I think this kid is really, really special.

I mean, he, and he's tough as nails.

He'll block like a tight end.

I mean, anything you ask him, I mean, the organization is excited about this guy.

AJ.

He was perfect, right, for Ohio State in that situation.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, Brian Hartline, he's been here just churning out NFL receivers year after year after year.

It's a whole true, like iron sharpens iron.

Think of that receiver room for the last 10 years, just in absolute studs, Like the standard that those guys have every single day.

It's a beautiful thing to see.

It's cool to see it translate so quickly.

Like Coach said, OTA number five, and Baker's saying this guy's special.

Like that's a that's a big deal for a guy like Baker to say that about a young kid early on in the spring.

So yeah, it's good to see what a debut for this young guy, but I feel like he's got everything.

NIO era.

Uh-huh.

He's very good.

Yeah.

Could have transferred anytime because he wasn't the superstar.

Didn't care.

You talk about blocking his ass off and everything.

We watched him play back to the point.

He was everywhere.

Boost on the ground, always open, always had, you can tell an understanding of the coverage, the windows, going across the middle was never scared.

You can see how he's built that he's not going to be afraid to go across the middle, take a hit.

But if you put that play up again on the all-22 right here, if you pause it, right on, let's say the 12-yard line, Jesse Bates, one of the more aggressive safeties in the league, a ball hawk.

He will make plays on the ball.

This is one minute left in the game, too.

So if you run it here, Mike Evans, when he runs that pin route, there's actually coverage.

It's a linebacker underneath in a pretty good position.

So if you're that safety, just kind of do your job job and play this top down.

But you let it run, he jumps down on Mike Evans.

And now, that cornerback, Mike Hughes, I believe, is in a bad situation, outside leverage, and just an unbelievable ball.

This is why Baker was drafted number one.

Pre-snap?

I'm already cut you off.

You see, I watch him pre-snap the corner.

What do you think?

He's saying, hey, man, you get me high.

Like, I'm going to be outside.

I need you here.

Yeah, you got, because this is high red, you know, high, or kind of fringe.

So, right before you get in that red area, and pin routes are big here: scissor routes, double posts.

Hughes has been in the league long enough to know

Buka kind of has that tight split on the top of the numbers and he just stems them.

He's patient with his route waiting until it clears and then you got to throw that ball high into the back of the end zone.

Only your guy can get it.

Just a great ball from Baker.

Great understanding of the coverages from Baker and Ibuka here, but this is a big-time play and a big time moment for a rookie wide receiver.

Hey, Tampa's a real deal, huh?

I think we got a great shot, especially when we get Tristan back, Chris back.

Jalen McMillan back in both corners back.

Yeah.

We had five starters out this game.

When's that?

When are they back?

Three weeks, maybe.

Such a long season.

You forget about that.

Yeah.

How come the Bucs are able to use Abuka the way they are, even though he's a rookie?

Like the Patriots, there's a few other teams I know.

Even Jags fans wanted to see a little more of Travis Hunter.

I saw even Chargers fans want Hampton to get the ball more.

Patriots fans wanted Henderson to be involved more.

Why is it Abuka can play every single snap as a rookie and be used and get the ball thrown to him when a lot of these other skilled guys who come in aren't used fully right away?

Yeah, I think he's a very special cat as far as his football knowledge and the way he's played the game the whole time.

And for me, it was always, okay, if you're a rookie, I need you by Thanksgiving.

If I can get you ready to help us by Thanksgiving, that's a damn good rookie year because we're going to need you.

Somebody's going to go down and you're going to have to take their place.

Very seldom do you see these guys come in and be a star in OTAs, not even the season.

This guy came in, he knows ball.

He really knows ball.

He's been super well coached by Brian Hartline up at Ohio State.

And so, yeah, it's easy for him.

Chip Kelly, too.

Playing for a guy who's been in the pros, who hasn't, and they ran, we watched it.

A pretty pro-style offense.

You know, Will Howard obviously had a great run there in the playoffs.

So coming in, being prepared, because the biggest thing for making that transition, I don't care where you play college ball, how fast shit moves.

And therefore, these wide receivers, your concept changes a lot, VA, if it's middle-close and middle and split open.

So defensive coordinators do a good job of changing that picture.

We saw it with Maddie P first game against Arch.

Like that's something that not only the quarterbacks got to deal with, but the wide receivers do too.

So if they got it between the ears and the opportunity comes, which it is there with Chris Gottlan been down, you got to take advantage and not look back.

Arch, not in pain.

Go ahead, I'm sorry.

I'm going to throw some love out to Jason Light because he took a lot of shit for taking Amika in the first round.

Because he had just paid Chris, just paid Mike.

And both those guys have missed a lot of time the last couple years.

And

we lost.

So we got another big stud deep receiver now Chris is down when when we get all four of them back watch out yeah and Baker's dealing yeah and

tight ends great oh yeah very good

Irving's unreal yeah they got a team down there

and that city is awesome yes it is

gets a little hot but it is

beautiful down there Arch Banning not in pain

that was not

because it looked bad yeah he was wincing pretty good what do you what do you what do you clear that up

somebody was about to act like you're gonna ask I'm I'm coach sarkeesian you act like you're going to ask about Arch Bands.

Well, we all saw your quarterback.

Next question.

That's not real.

Thank you.

Okay.

Oh, so nodding pain.

That's how we know.

Boom.

I think he's just pissed because he threw a bad ball.

He thinks there's disgust.

I don't know.

That looked like pain.

Yeah, it looked like pain.

It looked like it was something.

He threw for four.

It looked like pain.

But the pain might have been the bad ball.

Could have been.

That might be how much he loves throwing a good ball.

You're right.

He already knows.

That he feels actual pain.

He's got high expectations when he lets that ball go.

I think.

His whole body feels pain.

He gets a headache and everything.

I mean, that wasn't just, people are saying it was a shoulder and an elbow.

He threw a bad ball.

His left ankle hurt.

I mean, it was his, ah, his whole body was okay because it was a bad ball.

It's just, he's a manning.

That's in his blood.

Hey, you throw a bad ball, it all hurts.

And he knows that he punishes himself for a bad ball.

You know, and that's going to be low in the way.

It wasn't picked, though.

So

everything's okay.

It would hurt.

So he, yeah.

He said even like his left eardrum burst.

Yep.

because of how bad he was.

He's blown.

I hope he's all right.

Yeah, so you're talking whole body in pain when you throw a bad ball if you're a manning.

And that's just the way it is.

Sad.

Appreciate Sartre.

Well, he didn't say that.

He didn't.

He just said,

shut up.

Shut up.

He's fine.

Here it is.

Right, Zach.

Arch Manning seemed to be having some throwing pains by the foot.

According to who?

Arch?

Arch said that to you?

No.

Oh, according to who?

It just looked like he was.

He doesn't have any.

Is there an explanation to why he was and looked like that?

I don't know.

I've never filmed any of you guys when you're using the bathroom, so I don't know what faces you make when you're doing that.

Oh, maybe Far did too.

He might have pooped it.

He had shit in his girdle, actually, when he threw that.

Which might be part of his thing.

We do not know, and we will not judge.

That'll be swine.

But if Sark would have gave an entire answer about he's a manning, he threw a bad ball, his entire body hurt.

Okay, that is what he, that would have been incredible.

That would have been better than that.

What do you mean?

Ten times better than that.

According to who?

According to anybody who has gotten fucking eyes.

Same thing with Callahan.

Like, Callahan, the other, I personally am not a huge Brian Callahan guy.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Because Paul Kowarski asked him a question.

He basically just like, well, did you know the play, Paul?

It's like, well, no, he didn't know the play, Mr.

Callahan, you prick.

That's why he's asking you about it.

Especially.

We just finished week one.

We cannot have this much.

Look, I didn't expect to stand on a soapbox for Paul Kuharski today, but now that we're here, we're here.

And look, Coach Callahan, it has been great for you.

You don't have to start to your point.

It is week one.

The first question you get from the most senior reporter you got, your response is, well, you got the playbook prick.

How you supposed to go?

It's like, no, dude, he doesn't.

That's why he's asking the question.

Jeez, Lee.

He has said it turned out you're right.

Coach Callahan says, I'm all with it this year.

Just want to let you all know.

This ain't how it's going to be.

That's awesome.

Coach, you think Sark was prepared for that question?

I think I took it a little bit by surprise, but I loved his answer.

Oh, okay.

So you, oh, you liked it.

You thought he was prepared for that.

According to who, he was about to get very pissed because people were going to believe internet tweets saying that Arch was in pain.

And that was him going to be.

Who was it?

Was it a meme?

What did you see?

That is, I think, to your point, I think he was ready for that.

For sure.

I think he was excited for it.

Arch told you that?

No, he didn't.

So who told you that?

Bonner Garage 69.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

Yeah, Garage knows.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to pivot away from the NFL and talk about a historic partnership between the greatest sports entertainment company of all time

and the biggest sports platform in the history of sports.

Ladies and gentlemen, the chit chat about the debut of WWE and ESBN's partnership next weekend here in Indianapolis at WrestlePalla.

Ladies and gentlemen, chief content officer for the WWE, WWE Hall of Famer, Living Legend Triple H, and

what the Halley, Tyrese Halliburton.

Tyrese.

Watch the killings!

Watch the killings!

How are you?

I'm not ashamed.

It's crazy.

It's crazy.

We'll talk about that later.

It is crazy.

It's crazy.

Yeah.

It makes me look like a young lad now.

I know.

It's crazy.

I think he's muted right now.

We'll turn him.

Ladies and gentlemen, the King of Kings, Triple H.

What's going on, guys?

Good to see you.

Great to see you.

Congratulations on the WWE and ESPN deal.

Obviously,

the WWE network was ahead of its time, started with subscribers.

Then we sell the WWE network, I believe, to Peacock first.

And then

the evolution of your guys' digital service and subscription service and pay-per-view model has been trailblazing, I think, for the entire entertainment world.

And now teaming up with ESPN, it feels like it makes sense.

Whenever this was presented to you as an option or an idea, what were your immediate thoughts?

The first time it was said to me, like, hey, ESPN is in the mix here, and I was like, oh my God, that could be a game changer for us.

Just the fact of like, who does promotion of big events better than ESPN, right?

Like college game,

everything that surrounds big events for them,

they do better than anybody.

And then if you want to look at big events, who puts on better big events than us?

So that mix together of that level of mainstream PR, that level of coverage for us.

You know, I know probably for you watching, when I was watching as a kid, it used to frustrate me if you missed something, there was no place to really catch up on it afterwards, like nothing mainstream covered it.

It was never in the news or sports or anything like that, you know?

Yeah.

This is this puts it in that and normalizes it for everybody.

There's still the carney mindset about how we'll always be outcast in the wrestling world, how like people will view it as not legit, obviously, because of that entirety.

But whenever you look at it from an athletic standpoint, the performers are so incredibly athletic, insanely athletic, Olympic level athleticism happening.

And then when you talk about the performance, I think people who like sports like to see people do their thing at a high level, which is what the WWE does.

And also, I think a lot of sports fans that maybe aren't into WWE, I think whenever they're exposed to it and they realize, wait a minute, this is a men's soap opera kind of this is like a this is like a soap opera for dudes a little bit we can kind of buy into this I think there's a lot of appeal to sports fans that maybe haven't been in that ESPN will bring I think as well I think so too and and I think the look the conversations are just different it's like sometimes people say the soap opera stuff, but there's the behind the scenes, there's the things that are going on that you don't read about or or see necessarily on the show.

No different than I just sat here and listened to you guys talk about the NFL, the drama of it, the drama of the drafts, the drama of who's doing what and are they good enough?

Are they getting paid too much for what they contribute?

All that stuff's just drama.

It's the same, it's the same thing and you can pick and choose.

Do you want to just pay attention to the storylines?

Do you want to see the backstage stuff?

Do you want to, when you start digging into it from that, all that level of drama of any sport is there.

And then you get your eyes on Penta one time and you're like, wait a minute, what is this?

What the hell is going on here?

This is pretty electrifying.

You start walking around your house.

He's surf walking a little bit.

Rest in peace, Scott Hall.

Obviously, living legend in it all.

Last question from me for you.

And then obviously got to turn our attention to the Indianapolis hero.

Yeah.

What the halle?

Do you see his ass walk up here?

Oh, yeah.

We're good.

Fresh new, brand new Achilles, bro.

Shoes on.

Coming out their entirety.

WrestlePalooza, why is this the event to launch the WWE ESPN partnership?

Thank you for having it in Indianapolis.

And Brock and John is gigantic.

That's OVW Class of

I don't remember the year.

Is it not 02?

It's not 2.

Something like that.

Yeah.

They made like a talk on it, I think.

Yeah, it's Rip Rogers documentary.

Come on, Mark.

Come on, Mark.

We're working on a career retrospect between the two that it's just fascinating to see see their rise and who comes up how and sort of

they're doing this, but at different wavelengths.

You know, like

Brock comes in and just sort of takes over as this rookie sensation.

He's champed within like five months.

Cena just can't get his feet under him.

Then it slowly shifts.

Then Brock leaves and Cena goes.

And, you know, it's wild to see.

Yeah, and they're great with each other.

Yeah.

And they're phenomenal.

Yeah, I remember John Cena just potentially breaking every bone in his body against Brock Lesnar a couple of different times.

I mean, they put on having faced Brock Lesnar, yeah, it's common.

Absolute beast back in there.

And for you, Hallie, obviously, WWE in Indianapolis.

This is great news.

WrestlePalooza is a big deal.

I assume you're going to be in there with that new Achilles.

Are you going to be in there?

In the ring?

Yeah, yeah, in the ring.

Yeah.

Single-leg dropkick.

Yeah.

Frank?

I don't know about it.

In the ring?

No, no, not in the prank.

We won't have you in the ring.

We'll have you doing your video game shit with WWE.

DJing.

Yeah, maybe new DJ.

But you and the WWE have become very tight, which is great.

Same with our city, which I think we all love.

Yeah.

Great host for these events.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

I'm excited.

I think Indy does a great job of hosting events just in general.

The Super Bowl was here a few years ago, and that was good.

And every time we do something here in Indy, you know, I enjoy it.

John Cena's

back to being a guy that you love?

Yeah, back to being a guy.

Because I remember you were out a little bit.

Oh, yeah, big guy.

I remember you were out a little bit.

I remember Cena for a while.

Me?

Yeah, definitely.

I've never hated Cena.

L.A.

New Jersey, he stole my crutch, which is kind of

kind of messed up, and I never got the crutch back, which is unfortunate.

Well, that sounds like a lawsuit.

Let's see if we can't get an autographed one for you.

What was that all about last night?

I think I saw Jay potentially doing a little.

Sometimes if you want to be the tribal chief at some point, you got to do things like the tribal chief way, maybe.

Somebody texted me one time and said, every once in a while, the king has to roll a head down the hill to remind people that the king still can swing a sword or something like that.

Somebody texted me that.

This is kind of what Jay Uso.

That's right, exactly.

He's starting to experience his trouble cheese.

Now and then you got to lop off a head.

Yeah, every once in a while.

Exactly.

Every once in a while, you got to do that.

L.A.

Night, I don't like what he did to him.

But what else do we have, WrestlePaloo?

Is Eo Sky, is that happening?

Is that my channel?

Eo Sky, Stephanie Vacare, for the women's title.

The contract, did you get signed last night or got signed?

To be honest, I was not there last night.

I haven't had a chance to watch the show yet because I was at...

Oh, I did Phil Tony last night, so I was in.

Oh, what?

What?

Yeah, yeah.

How was the.

Oh, shit.

I'm not supposed to say that.

No, no, no.

I've seen you do a Phil Tony step before to wrap one up, and it was great.

You were like built for it.

I forgot it's a secret that I'm on there until Monday.

Okay.

Well, dump it.

Dump it, dump it.

Dump it, dump it.

Nobody will hear that.

You're going to be great on that.

Yeah, it was fun.

Oh, yes, because I was part of one of those.

You know, I was in.

I was in cloud seven.

Yep.

If you do recall.

My wife looked at me.

Pat was talking to us backstage.

We had just got there and you were talking to us.

And you walked away and she goes, he's not in this show like that, is he?

And I was like, no, no, I don't think he is.

I think he's just here having a good time.

And like your music started playing.

You walked out.

She was like, oh, no.

I said, he'll be fine when he gets out there, I think.

Yeah.

And you were.

You were right.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Yeah, I forgot that that was happening.

That was right after night two of WrestleMania.

We had done it.

We had a long, great weekend.

Might have overbooked you.

Yeah.

Yeah, might have.

I had a long, great weekend.

And I'm in my bus.

I think I was in my bus with everybody.

And Kittle was in there.

And all of a sudden, I get a text from Tony.

He was like, hey, can't wait for tonight, buddy.

And I go, oh, no, I completely forgot about that.

I was in a different part of town, too.

I was one of the last people to arrive.

You showed up right after me.

And I didn't really,

I didn't really know what was going on.

I'm like, are we doing a kill Tony up there?

Like, no, it's going to be a celebration in WrestleMania.

Then I get there, and everybody had their jokes written out like before.

And I go up to like Nia Jackson.

I'm like, what are you saying?

And she starts saying what she's saying.

I'm like, oh.

Yeah, people put effort into it, right?

Yeah, like real rude.

Like they were saying some very rude.

Then I go to the next person.

I'm like, what are you saying?

And they start saying, I'm like, oh my God, I am not prepared for this.

I don't think I'm supposed to be doing this.

So I go over to Tony.

I'm like, I don't think I'm as ready as everybody else.

He goes, it'll be fine.

Just be silly.

You know, it'll be no problem.

So I go up there and I immediately realize this is not going to be fine.

And then I sit down.

Thank God there were some other targets.

But boy, what a wild night.

You came out at the end, though.

And immediately as you started talking, I'm like, oh, Triple H is perfect for this.

This is literally like something you're perfect for.

So I wasn't even planning to go out there.

Like I had, I had nothing.

I wasn't planning to go out there.

it just got to the end and nick looked at me and he said uh you think he's trying to wrap this up he just doesn't know how to get out because now he started to go into the hey here are the jokes that didn't make it to the cut list and i'm like that's not like if you're doing the jokes that are bad now like feels like we've passed the point show

go home yeah and uh so nick looked at me and i was like i'm not going out there and then i meant another minute or two that started to get uncomfortable went by i was like All right, hit my music.

Let me just go to

see if I can get us out of this thing.

But it was fun, man.

It's fun.

You know,

I love those shows.

It's entertaining.

And just being off the cuff like that, which you're great at, too.

It's, you know, I know you didn't have anything written, but you were awesome.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We did okay.

You were great.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You don't remember it, but you were great.

No, I remember.

Yeah.

I remember it.

Oh, and also I saw a couple clips of it hit the internet afterwards.

I was like, ooh, everybody was told that this was not going to happen.

That was like a number one thing that everybody, I didn't remember much from the pre-show stuff.

I remember reading a couple people's jokes and then going, oh, oh, no, that's really mean.

I didn't know we're doing that.

And then I remember everybody understanding like, nobody's going to, this is just

go out and nobody's going to see this.

That was everybody's mindset going out there.

So then I'm in my mind, no matter how high I potentially was at the time, which was very high.

Vegas has great weed.

Shout out to DJ Bonnicks.

Dardine.

Yeah, Wazey's a guy.

It was an incredible time.

We were celebrating it all.

And then I remember thinking, how are they going to be able to do that?

Had the whole thing, had the whole system.

Then whenever I see it on the internet, I'm like, oh, shit.

I know everybody in there, no matter how they agreed, thought that wasn't going to happen.

It ends up disappearing.

I'm happy that thing still exists.

And I'm very happy that you get a chance to go do it because I think your brain is good at that shit.

And I'm pumped to see that.

That's on Monday.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Breaking.

Yeah.

Sorry, Tony.

How are you doing in your Achilles rehab?

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm on two shoes now, so we're out of the boot, which is nice.

I feel like I do a million calf raises a day, but we're getting there, bro.

We were worried about your legs, right?

Weren't we?

Yeah,

you've always had those baby little calves and those little quads.

Babies,

like babies.

Coming back with cows.

Yeah,

a couple of little cows up there.

Well, you keep saying new Achilles.

It's the same Achilles.

It's just.

It's just new.

Glued it together.

Yeah, but Pevlar in there, shit, dude.

You ain't tearing that up.

Yeah, okay.

It's a stronger, better Achilles.

I saw you walk up these steps.

You look better than the last time you came off these steps.

And those calves.

Aren't we seeing those calves?

More definition?

Popping.

I think everybody at Iowa State's probably doing a lot more calves.

That's why they just stomp Iowa.

You think that's what's happening, Terry?

I don't know.

It's something, though.

Well, you know, listen, I didn't want to have to do this.

What are you going to say now?

Well, I'm going to say what I said yesterday, and this rings true, and it doesn't really apply to you because you're an NBA superstar.

Okay, you went to an NBA Finals.

Before the injury, you were going to score four.

You'd probably win finals MVP and win a title.

Iowa State beats Iowa.

And it's the best day of your life.

It's all people that go to Iowa State are going to talk about for the next year.

Had Iowa win that game, guess what?

You flushed that fucker.

We don't care.

And we're not talking about it until we play you guys again next year.

But Iowa State people, you know, hey, it's the Super Bowl every day.

Do you actually believe that?

You believe it's our Super Bowl?

You actually believe that.

Yeah, and you believe that too, and you know that too.

No, not a chance.

We're going to win the Big 12 this year.

Maybe this year.

What are you guys going to do?

What sport?

Football.

Okay.

West Virginia's in the Big 12.

Is Ohio?

Because they're probably.

Ohio University is really good.

Ohio's not in the Big 12.

And West Virginia's...

Good ball club.

Don't even know if you're on our schedule this year.

You guys, how many yards have y'all thrown for this year?

Well, see, here's the thing, though, Tyrese, is Iowa's going to have a terrible year, and they're going to go 9-3.

You know, when you guys have a terrible year, you go 1-8, and you fire coaches.

See, Ty says he doesn't care.

It's been a while since we've had a terrible year with Coach Campbell at the helm.

Yeah, he's pretty good.

I mean, and I don't want to be that guy, but you know what the all-time record in the series is.

Okay, so you guys win a couple.

You feel great about yourselves.

That's awesome.

I mean, hey, listen.

The sun shines on the dog's ass every once in a while, you know, which is something I've come to realize.

It's okay.

It's okay.

Iowa State is the school of Iowa is what I'm hearing.

It's not.

Tyrese knows it's not.

Why not?

In football, basketball?

I mean, what other sports?

Volleyball, too.

Volleyball would be.

We did you guys in volleyball, too.

Football, it's not.

Relax a second.

Currently, it is.

Currently, the trophy resides in Ames, so that would mean...

Last two years, actually.

Yeah.

Triple H.

Do you know what this is about here?

I just know there's a lot of bitterness on this subject.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Seems very bitter over here.

Not so bitter over here.

Pretty comfortable.

Pretty comfortable.

Pretty comfortable.

Bitter.

Yeah.

Well, that's Iowa.

Iowa State played this past weekend in the SciHawk Bowl.

Iowa State has a guy who's a 45-year-old senior Rocco Beck quarterback.

Very good.

Iowa paid a good amount of money for the FCS Heisman, which is the D1AA.

Granowski, a quarterback, both had high hopes.

Iowa State knocks off Iowa yet again.

Ty understands that this is probably not the year that Iowa maybe goes and wins the national championship because they can't even beat lowly.

Iowa State is how they view it.

That is how they kind of view the entirety.

Is that right, Ty?

Is that a good descriptor?

Yeah, this year I wouldn't say lowly, though.

I mean, Iowa State was ranked 16th.

Yeah, that's a good ball team.

But, you know, I mean, Iowa played, what, one of their worst games in the last five years?

And Iowa State had to scrap and claw to beat them by a field goal.

So, I mean, it's just, it's one of those things where it's okay.

You know what?

I saw, though, post-game Sunday, Tyrese said, hey, you know what?

Packers are one of my teams for this year.

So I said, you know,

hey, here we go.

Wow.

Yeah, there we go.

There we go.

I mean, I'm from Wisconsin, so it's kind of like...

They love you there, too, right?

I'm not really welcome.

So I probably won't be showing up at Lambeau, but uh, go pack that.

That's because the Milwaukee rivalry, obviously, with the Pacers.

Let's think, uh, talk about the Pacers next year.

Uh, have you been paying attention?

You're in the building, right?

A lot, paying attention, yeah, I'm there every day.

Yeah, it does feel like you're in there all the time.

How do we feel?

How are vibes going in the next year?

Yeah, we're excited.

We just had position workouts, so guys were in Charleston and on the beach and stuff and working out together, going to Orlando for team workouts next week.

So we're excited.

We're a couple weeks out from season starting.

Are they riding the avatar ride?

The avatar ride's.

Yeah, they should.

They should go ride that.

I hope the digital toss here one time, got on the guardians of the galaxy ride pretty sick great ride awesome ride great ride that's that one that i uh

cut oh yeah hey guys oh yeah yeah i looked like a massive asshole but what a ride yeah unbelievable ride did you guys think about wrestle fest

how did you land on the line there was a lot of thought but it was in a brief period of time so we sort of were under the gun of you know you mentioned uh

we come here you know coming here for indie as soon as we heard that indy was on the table like they got the date open we were in This place is phenomenal.

So that was a no-brainer for us.

But we moved quick on this whole thing.

The whole thing came together very, very quickly.

ESPN asked for the date.

They wanted a mega event.

We said yes.

We just had to pick a name and go.

So, you know.

WrestlePalooza, shout out to ECW, I believe, has.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Shout out to ECW.

You know.

Lollapalooza was a big thing, but now we're going to take that title up.

Oh, WrestlePalooza is about to be a thing?

I think it will be.

Probably, depending on how this one goes.

We'll see.

Oh, I like a Russell Palooza shirt.

And I like saying it, but Russell Fest also sounds

pretty sweet.

WrestlePalooza, though, if it becomes a thing, is an awesome brand as a whole.

How difficult was that whole situation, though?

Because obviously in the business, you guys do the long-form storytelling.

Like, you have stuff planned out, and you have a new partner like this.

You obviously want, you know, I mean, we remember the Netflix premiere.

It was like a WrestleMania-esque card.

How difficult is it to put something together that quickly when you know, like, hey, we might have storylines in place, but we kind of need to shift things to make sure that this goes off.

Yeah,

it takes some work, right?

You know, you have the way the schedule is laid out, you have all your long-term stuff laid out in a certain manner, and then all of a sudden you've got something in the middle there.

Instead of six weeks to the next thing, it's three weeks.

So you got to draw everything out and

shift some stuff around.

But

that's,

you know, it's funny when stuff like that happens.

People say, oh man, it's just another shift or something.

We do it every week.

somebody gets injured you know it

and it could be as simple as someone's sick they've got the flu they we don't mess around with stuff now you know we don't want the whole locker room getting sick right so somebody's really sick they stay home we push stuff out a week so and we don't really report you know the injuries fully when when they're legit we don't make it a point to get out in front of them and tell everybody somebody's injured so sometimes you see things go away or there's moments where stuff people aren't sure why I expected that to happen here but it didn't.

It got pushed to there.

There's usually reasons why.

So that sort of turning on a dime is just kind of what we do.

You can't do this and not be that way because the injury card, everything else, it's too hard to stay a constant course, you know?

Me being a lifelong wrestling fan, WWE fan, to Tyrese's point, I am a WWE fan.

For sure.

So you've been a professional wrestling fan for a long time.

I'm going to stop you right there.

I am a WWE fan.

I was a WCW fan, though.

Sure.

Whenever the Attitude Era was like, you're too young, you have no idea.

Terror Rising was a real deal, brother.

I mean, that's no problem.

It was pre-though big run of WCW.

That was, I left there to come here already.

Yeah.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Nitro started after I left.

But you were terrorizing in WCW?

I was terrorizing WCW, but Nitro started after I left.

I was already up here as Hunter Hurst Helms.

I like that up here, which ends up being the story of that entire thing.

And then forever it stays that way.

So I think for me, like I saw some New Japan stuff, like it would come across my scroll because I have professional wrestling in my algorithm.

But getting an opportunity to see how you guys do what you do and getting to witness the magic of what I've been a lifelong fan of and the moments that happen, that Netflix documentary, I know there was a lot of people, myself included, that were like, what are we doing here?

Like this feels like a bad idea.

I think it ended up being great.

Do you agree?

And did you appreciate it after it was all said and done?

Because I know you probably felt a lot of heat from a lot of people about doing it.

Yeah, though also, it's a funny thing in my career.

So, you know, if you go back to me getting in trouble for the curtain call, right, back then, that was Madison Square Garden.

Yeah, that was us sort of getting in trouble with the old generation because we sort of broke Kayfabe rules and went out there.

But it was the biggest.

reaction of the night when we did it at the Garden Space.

For those that don't know, there was something called the Click.

Sean Michaels, Triple H, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall.

Kevin Nash, Scott Hall are about to leave to WCW.

They just got done with a steel cage match, I do believe, in Madison Square Garden.

At the very end of it, they all came together, hugged each other, gave a toast to the thing.

It was like a send-off that we're all together, even though we're not.

Vince and everybody backstage, very pissed.

You actually got punished for that, I think, for a long time in the entirety.

So you've been used to getting hit on the shins, is what you're saying, it sounds like.

Yeah, to a degree.

But my point being that sometimes, you know,

it's funny that like the internet is all complaining that we're lifting the curtain and showing you stuff.

Meanwhile, they're doing a podcast that all it does is talk about the behind-the-scenes shit that's going on.

Like, I don't understand that logic, right?

Like the world knows an eight-year-old kid picks up his iPhone, Googles stuff, and it tells them all the behind-the-scenes stuff right there.

So being able to see it, we're still not showing you how the trick is done.

We're still not showing you how the guy levitates.

We're still not showing you any of that stuff, but we're showing you how the all this

To me, what that show does is it shows you the heart, soul, and passion that everybody puts into that product to make it great for fans.

It's not not taken as the most serious thing on the planet.

It's supposed to be fun.

It's supposed to be entertainment.

It's supposed to be a good time.

But everybody puts their heart and soul into it.

And I think if you're not a fan, if you're a fan, you already know.

If you're not a fan, watching that makes you think like, man, they put a lot into this.

Respect, maybe.

Yeah, respect to it.

And I'm interested in watching that now.

I learned something about these people as human beings, not just as characters.

And that interests me in watching it.

I've heard a lot of people say that.

Tyrese, Tyrese, how's it been getting into the WWE a little bit more?

We know you're a massive mark, but getting a chance to meet everybody, like literally, when I meet him the first time, it's like, holy fuck.

Yeah.

It's Triple H right here, dude.

Be cool, be cool, be cool.

You know, because you gotta get it.

And then your disappointment grew as the day.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

The way you lead is awesome.

No,

it is a fascinating thing, though, as lifelong fans getting involved in that Netflix thing, I think, gave people a good look from if you're not able to be in the building whenever it's all happening.

You agree with me?

Yeah, for sure.

For sure.

I think it was

the relationship I have with WWE has been amazing.

And after I got hurt, H has probably checked on me more than maybe anybody else texting me, checking on me, which is really cool.

And when I tell my friends, like, I have to announce it, like, people don't like.

Triple H texted me.

You know, I'm like, oh, that's pretty cool.

Because like growing up, we watched it, you know, so it's always fun when I get to, you know, bring my friends around.

And I was backstage at, what were we at, the Royal Rumble, not the pre-show, but the day the day before you smacked

it in Gainbridge and where I took my little brother who had you know he has never and people were coming up to me backstage the Miz grabbed me aside and my little brother was like shocked that like everybody knew who I was and at one point I'm sitting back there and I'm turning talking to H and CM Punk comes up behind me and just smacks me on the chest he's like you're lucky you're not on the Rumble I'd throw you over the rope too and my little brother like he had like he was like this is the coolest shit I've ever seen you know so it's uh the relationship I have is really cool.

And I definitely love being able to, you know, see the ins and outs for sure.

He's just like one of the crew now, right?

Like he comes in, he hangs out for rehearsals, just sits at the table with somebody.

Gets his own desk.

Yeah, all the things.

Yeah, I was with Michael Hayes at SummerSlam for a while.

It was a good time.

Freebird, baby.

He's got a big brain.

We'll continue digitally on ESPN Plus, Disney Plus, YouTube, TikTok Live, you name it.

We wrap up here on ESPN.

We'll see you tomorrow.

NFL week one was spectacular.

More chatter tomorrow.

Nailed it, I think.

I think that's a second off.

I feel like I really fucking hit him.

We are still live.

We are still live.

Don't break K-Fabe, bro.

Don't break Kfabe.

WrestlePalooza.

Okay, next Saturday here in Indianapolis.

I should have done more research on tickets.

I assume they're gone.

Going well.

Brock John Cena, main event.

CM Punk, AJ Lee, his wife has returned.

AJ's back.

10 years.

It's going to be.

With Seth and Becky, right?

With Seth and Becky in a mixed tag.

Okay, so mixed tag.

When was the last time?

On a high high level, like there's been a while since, like, man,

you know, there's been other ones and I think they've been in the show and all that stuff, but there's a part of me that wants to say the biggest and the last really big high-profile mixed tag we did was myself and Steph.

Yeah, mania.

Mania, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, which was a blast, you know.

Awesome.

When they're done well,

you know, sometimes people complain about the physicality.

You know, you can't have guys guys hitting the women and stuff which is a shocking that people complain about but

yeah

but definitely yeah not desirable which is why the rules are when the dude's in the dude takes on the dude and when the the woman is in the wood takes on the woman and the entire thing but every once in a while Somebody will go barking up a Ronda Razzie trap.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.

Just get battered.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, yeah.

Get battered.

But I should have kept my, I should have just let her hit Steph.

I shouldn't have.

I shouldn't have got in there.

Um,

but yeah, this will be good when you have four performers that talented, and AJ just coming back.

Like, it's funny, he's been out 10 years and hasn't missed a beat, man.

Just right in there, as charismatic as ever, and fans are loving it, so it's gonna be great.

Yeah, and obviously, Seth and Becky.

I'll give you a spoiler right now, Cody will be back, uh, Indianapolis.

So, we're, you know, oh my god, that's big time.

Yeah,

We don't know what the words are.

We've tried our best.

But we think those are the words.

That's what we hear.

Every time we try to

get the whole down,

we know when it's coming.

Most important part.

That's all that matters.

Yeah.

That's going to be huge.

Yeah.

When he gets up on his roof.

What a moment for him.

He came out at the all-star game, Hummer and Derby.

Yeah, massive pop.

Big pop for him.

At the end, too.

Yeah, everybody was tired.

Everybody was exhausted.

Right before the final round.

Yeah, he came out.

Big pop for Cody.

Okay, so Cody, Cena, Brock, Seth, Becky, CM Punk, AJ Lee, E.O.

Skye, maybe.

Stephanie Viceroy.

We We don't know if the contract was signed.

Sounds like.

I don't know.

You look pretty spry today.

I'm not for sure.

I don't know if it was signed last night.

Okay, that's going to be a gigantic signal.

I think it's already announced.

The Brasil Plus is going to be massive.

Yeah.

Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, it's exciting.

ESPN is going to be a blast.

We got a lot of stuff going on right now, as you know.

Coming up, Canelo Crawford.

Oh, yeah, TKO.

Yeah, yeah.

I was asked yesterday for that.

I think we're going to have Turkey on Friday.

I think he's on the show Friday.

Let's go.

Turkey on our show is good.

A couple different times.

Got to have a hookah in here.

Okay.

Fatal Fury, City of Wolves.

Don't worry.

Okay, we will.

We're going to have that and Fatal Fury City of Wolves going.

Yeah, I love the video games over there.

Saudi Arabia, I guess, video games, actually a big way to roll into, I don't want to say the 21st century, but you get it.

But also, WWE has been a massive piece of kind of transforming a country, I think, as a whole.

Your relationship with them has been cool to watch.

Now, at the beginning of that, that's another thing.

A a lot of shots to the shins.

Oh, you're going to work with, you know, and then obviously everything that's ever happened in Saudi Arabia gets listed off in the article.

Like, this is the same country that, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba.

But I think the WWE's mindset from the people that I talked to that were actually in the room, yourself included, it's like, well, how are they ever going to, if we don't?

And it's like WWE, the first time, I don't think there was a lot of women on the card.

Then the next time that I don't think women were the wrestler or anything like that and the way they had the dress.

Then you had a women's main event with a woman ref, I think, at one point over there.

And it's like the way they've kind of evolved as a country through the relationship with WWE.

I'm not saying WWE directly only involved because I think the crown prince, God bless him, has been a massive piece of that in Turkey as well.

But it has been an evolution.

Well, that's been their goal since the beginning, I think, is to

change their perception, to change how they are, to you know, open up that umbrella for women and with the country.

But it takes time.

You can't just do that stuff all at once, right?

You alienate all the people that are

in front of it that had an old long-standing belief.

So you've got to do it over time.

And I truly believe that

to initiate change, you've got to be a part of it.

You can't just sit back on the sidelines and say, we're not going to participate that, and these people don't do things the right way.

You need to be there and be part of that change.

And we've been part of that change since the beginning, proudly been a part of that change.

Yeah, I think you should take a lot of pride in that, especially with what it's becoming and on that note you're in the presidential fitness president's council of sport fitness and nutrition vice chair of that.

Oh, yeah, just add another job dude.

Take care of America.

Byson DeCamba who was on here a few weeks ago.

I think you owe him 50K or something like that.

No, no, no, no.

He missed.

Yeah.

Did he whip?

But we still donated though.

We still donated to

the council, to the fund, I believe, to make America a healthier place.

I don't want to be a person that chimes in on politics.

Yeah.

Okay.

You signing up to take this job on top of all the other shit that you have and saying, feeling obligated to do as such and like would love to help is a cool thing.

I was just in Australia.

You've been there obviously a lot of time.

Their food is so good.

Yeah.

It felt all fresh.

Everything felt really, really good.

Yeah, it's one of the things that, you know, I truly believe in it.

There's a lot of things that have to change here.

You know, and

there's a lot of

A lot of sickness, a lot of illness that comes out of what we eat and our lifestyle and everything else.

I think all that stuff needs to change.

But just when you go back to to it from a kid's standpoint, I'm a big believer in kids and athletics and

sport, whether that's just training on your own or whether that's being in a sport.

But doing that stuff sets you up for success in your life, not just in that athletic moment, you know?

So I'm a big believer in that.

I hate seeing kids just on their phones all day or on iPads all day or doing whatever and not being outside.

When we were kids, we were all outside all the time, right?

And I think what I'm really passionate about is with this council is getting in front of kids.

To me, that's where you start the change.

Getting in front of them and showing them, look, you might not be able to do one push-up right now, but we're going to show you how to get to where you can do one and then get you where you can do 10 and then get you where you're, you know, on your way.

And that builds pride.

It instills...

work ethic in kids and what they get it in what they put into it is what they get out of it and I'm excited to see that grow and and very serious and and uh

you know I think it's very, very needed in this country.

I think so, too.

I only saw like five to six overweight people.

I was in Australia for 10 days.

Yeah.

It's like everybody was seemingly in shape.

Everybody was eating.

The food was unbelievable.

Everybody kind of jacked.

Now, I think they are all taller and more jacked humans as a whole.

I'm not 100% sure.

It just seemed like that was the case.

But the habits form whenever kids.

Like, I think that is, if you get them, and the presidential fitness test used to be a big deal.

Big deal.

It's going to be again.

Let's get rid of that fucking blue box.

You know what I'm talking about.

The toe touch thing.

Yeah.

That was

a little prejudice, I think.

I think that was a little prejudice because I have tight hamstrings.

Yeah.

So now you and me both.

I can't barely touch my knees.

Me neither.

Yeah.

And that thing used to bully me in front of my classmates.

I'm climbing up the rope.

I'm doing all the bullshit.

I'm about to win the presidential fitness test.

All right, let's do something that isn't athletic at all.

Sit down.

Touch your toes.

It's like, I can't do that.

Yeah.

So I would always win.

What was the next one down?

It's going to hammer.

Don, tan, tone.

What was the next one under presidential?

It was like national.

National.

It was national.

Yeah.

Didn't win anything.

I won a fucking little badge.

Say, you're a national fitness champion.

Got a certificate.

Yeah.

Maybe I think we got a free picket.

We want to get there with this thing where we're inspiring kids to do this.

You know, yeah, making it competitive, but just getting kids to a place where they're.

They're wanting to improve.

They don't have to get to that level, but they want to improve and want to get better.

And then we'll have special stuff for the kids that do and hopefully can make it meaningful.

I'd like to include things like scholarships for kids when they get to a certain place where it's not necessarily about going to college to play a sport or anything, but

if you know you're going to have financial issues going to college, you can work your ass off for a year or two to get yourself in that place on that presidential fitness list and hopefully get some scholarship money.

I like that a lot.

That's awesome.

Yeah, I like incentive-based stuff.

Yeah, me too.

I think that's society as a whole.

I think you need need that.

Yep.

Tone has a question for you.

Go ahead, Tone.

Yeah, I do, Mr.

H, and I apologize if this is not on topic.

Oh, he doesn't have viewers.

Oh, yeah, you're going to have to translate it.

Tony, I actually was going to ask this question.

So this is working out perfectly.

You've talked a lot about consistency and hard work and dedication and all very important things.

But we've also seen that it's very important for your wardrobe, those type of things.

Were you aware that you in a bathing suit being the same bathing suit from way back in the day?

Okay, because people went nuts about that.

Where do you get a bathing suit that lasts 25 years?

Yeah, that's a good question.

So your kids give it to you.

Okay.

And it is an important thing for them.

So I only wear it on special occasions for them, right?

Like it's a bathing suit that they gave me when they were very little.

I don't even think they probably remember giving it to me.

Right.

But it is something that they talk about on a regular basis.

So I have it.

So I brought it

on vacation with us.

Yeah, you don't,

we were like a mile out in the ocean.

That guy shooting that picture at a cannon, dude.

It's also inspired me on the President's Council of Physical Fitness to get my ass in the gym.

You look chad.

I look like an olive with four toothpicks sticking out.

No, no, no.

How old are you?

How old are you?

56.

56.

And how many heart surgeries have you?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, I've got some excuses to make there, but like I'm not gonna.

And

yeah, it's a funny thing that people like focused on the bathing suit things.

Like, I read all these things, like, you know, he's got socks with holes in them, he just won't throw it right and shit, right?

Lucky underwear, yeah, yeah.

But also, like, also, when you're busy, I don't know, like, it's not something that goes through my mind.

I'm not running around in bathing suits that often, so I just like go and whatever's in the drawer, I'll grab.

I saw that one, and I was like, oh, the kids will like it if I wear this.

Yeah, and by the way, great dad, which happened, which is an incredible thing.

Looked like a sick vacation, though.

That off-out looked.

Not enough people talking about the sick yacht that you're not.

Let alone the fact you're a mile out there.

That feels like the new thing.

That had to be a great time out there.

Yeah.

I don't know if you've ever been to Greece.

Highly recommend it.

The islands are phenomenal.

It's just beautiful.

Other than the wind is a little bit windy, but everything else about it is tough.

When you were working at Gold's Gym.

Yeah.

Okay.

Trying to sign up.

Greece wasn't in the option at the time.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Do you think back, do you have this?

Because after the heart surgery where you almost die, right?

Legit, I don't think think that's out of line to say you were

about as close as you can get.

Yeah.

Perspective, whenever you're out there on the boat, like, holy, not only am I leading WWE right now creatively into this massive multi-platform, we got shit on X, we got shit on Netflix, we got NBC deals, we got ESPN deals, we got shit that needs to be made everywhere, but also I'm on a yacht.

in Greece right now living.

Do you look back on any of it?

Yeah, look, I'll say this.

So, you know, Steph and I were talking about it when we were there.

You talk about going to Greece.

It's the the first time i can recall us going for a long period of time like like taking a week and taking the kids and going somewhere and just trying to shut off um

so that's that's a newer thing for me i'm trying to be more in that mindset look

this stuff

you and i have spoke about this and i think this is a factor in your in your moment in time right like

You want to be driven.

You want to work.

You want to grind.

You want to do all those things.

It's who you are.

It's not about, oh, I got to do this or that, right?

You want to do all those things, but at the same point in time, your kids, it goes by fast.

You want to be there present for them.

You want to be in that moment for them.

So trying to look at things differently.

I'm also trying to,

if you're telling people within your company, cool, man, take a week off, recharge, come back fresh, you know, and be at another level.

You can't tell them that, but then never take time yourself because that's just hypocritical.

Yeah, it's hypocritical.

So you sort of want to be that.

And, you know, if my kids have things now, I'm not afraid to miss a show here or there because, you know, my daughter's got a football game or they've got something going on that

is important and it's important for me to be there.

So I'm trying to prioritize things in my life,

you know, more important.

Nobody's going to realize or no one's going to say two years from now, remember that time you missed Monday Night Raw?

You know what I mean?

But they are going to say, oh, remember that time we had an opportunity to go on vacation, we didn't go?

Or

those moments, my kids will remember that vacation forever.

Highly recommend if you get a chance to go to go to Greenwich.

Anywhere with your kids, you should do it.

My daughter has changed my perspective on everything.

It's fucking crazy.

It is a crazy thing.

And they will continue to as they get older and you realize you start to see your traits in them.

that you want some that you want to see them have and then some that you're like no no no who don't don't don't put everything in that or don't, you know, like live your life too.

You got to enjoy things.

Yeah, I agree.

It's a hard balance, you know, the work-life balance.

Always something that is.

It doesn't exist.

I say it all the time.

It's when people ask me, hey, what's your secret to work-life balance?

It's like bullshit.

It doesn't exist.

I'm here right now.

Yeah, be present with whatever you're doing.

If you make a commitment to take a week off, take the week off.

Go do some shit with your family and enjoy that.

If you make the commitment to be work, when you're at work, work.

When you're at home, be home.

That be home thing.

It's tough.

I'm going to try to master it.

Shout out to my wife, kicking a lot of ass.

And my daughter.

I couldn't even imagine for you right now with rehab.

That is just,

you're doing gym, recovery.

Can I get out of this house so I'm not just bored?

And then you feel a little isolated too, I assume, right?

Yeah.

The mental game, you're talking about the mental game right now.

Dude, and it's tough when you're running, when you're running full tilt, right?

You, you were in the middle of the ultimate run of.

championship run.

Like it can't be any more intense.

And then all of a sudden it shuts off.

That's hard.

hard, man.

That's hard to deal with.

Yeah, you've handled it really well, I think, mentally.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I don't know if that's just who you are, I assume.

It takes a village.

Fam's been a big part of it, and friends and family checking in on me.

And just I was impressed, dude, when I when I first hit the first couple of times I hit you on it, and maybe you were just being dismissive in a text, but you were very much like, Yeah, this sucks, but hey, nothing I can do, so here we go.

I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna train my ass off that the return's gonna be epic.

It's the only way you can look at it.

You, you can, you're allowed to be in your own head for like a day.

Yeah.

And then get out of it, and you have the surgery done, that's done.

Now you're on the road to recovery, and now everything you do is about coming back.

And you just got to change your mindset.

You're on the road to WrestlePalooza, bro.

Get wired up right now.

That return YouTube video is going to be epic.

Yeah, it is.

Yes, it is.

I agree.

All right.

I appreciate your boys stopping by.

Tyrese, you're the man.

Good to see you.

Well, we started mentioning it, but who's going to Canelo or Crawford?

I'll take

Crawford.

Who do you have?

Canelo.

Come on.

Crawford's American.

Crawford.

Yeah, I like Crawford, too.

There was just an interview this sit-down, and Crawford said he had seven kids.

And Canelo said, you have seven kids?

I think that's a little different motivation.

Canelo is a dog, obviously, an absolute beast.

I appreciate and respect everything he's been about.

He sent a $500 million deal, I think, with the zone.

Who knows what this deal is worth?

He is certainly must-watch and everything in boxing.

I appreciate that.

But I like Crawford.

I think he, yeah, American as well.

Let's go ahead and do that in Las Vegas.

That's big.

Are you going to be out there for that?

Yeah.

I heard everybody's going to be out there for that.

That's Saturday.

I know some people.

I heard everybody's going out there.

I got game day in Tennessee.

It was supposed to be in West Virginia.

West Virginia loses to Ohio.

Great football team.

Navarro is a good one.

Harker Navarro.

Ohio University, the Bobcats.

You haven't heard of them?

Great football team.

Maxion.

They might be in a college football play.

If they lose Rutgers week one, which is quite a bummer.

But that might be the only blemish on their schedule.

The Rutgers will be there, too.

Yeah, there's a chance.

There's a chance Shiano's there.

But instead, it's at Tennessee now.

And,

I mean, I guess we could see how long that flight is to get over there.

I've heard it's going to be electrifying over there.

It's going to be awesome.

It's your first big one, right, here now with this new boxing, but it's not necessarily the TKO boxing.

Yeah, it's not necessarily us.

We're promoting it.

We're running it, but it's not necessarily our event, Turkeys.

But it's the start of the process.

Yeah, so this isn't the roster of TKO boxers, but this is a TKO boxing event happening, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

Is that accurate?

It'll be epic, you know, 60,000 plus at Allegiance Stadium.

It's going to be on.

Let's go.

We're going to have drones flying around that motherfucker.

You guys are going to have all the shits.

It's going to be good.

Yeah.

I can imagine.

So is WrestlePalooza.

Yeah.

Everything you guys are doing is kicking ass.

Congrats to you.

Tyrese, we can't wait to see you get healthy.

Watch your step on the way out of here.

Careful.

Okay, we're going to take a break.

We'll be back with more BA, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk.

We'll wrap up all the storylines that we have not hit thus far.

Like Glenn Powell's fake legs.

Yeah, unbelievable.

That looks good.

Running, man.

He's been running, man.

Big quads.

Yeah.

He's got calves like Tyrese Halliburton.

And he's on a cover of GQ.

Might look like a bodysuit.

Have you seen this?

I have not.

Can we put it up?

What do you think?

That's some CGI, maybe?

No, no, that's his quads.

That's his actual legs, Mr.

H.

Good look.

If it is, good for him, man.

That's some uh that's some bodybuilder level like you know what i mean don't you think they should have blended in the shin the they should have tried yeah why'd they make it so gimmick yeah i don't know they went too far exactly they could have maybe sold this off as glenn powder maybe the most jacked legs guy of history they could have yeah like that makes i i get it now when you said running back and i i didn't understand it before until right now now it makes sense he's right he's running he's right he's got strong legs because he's running for the movie running man exactly but i don't think runners have that type of leg build but if they're fast and running.

Cyclists have that kind of...

You ever see like a speed cyclist?

Crazy.

You do the Peloton at all?

I have before.

Yeah, yeah.

Crazy leg workout.

Crazy.

Stand up and we're doing the whole thing.

Yeah, it was hard for me.

The seat.

I could never get over the seat.

That bit was uncomfortable.

Super uncomfortable.

You've tried?

Yeah, super uncomfortable.

You seem way too long.

You just got to relax and breathe into it.

Everybody told me, my dad told me, just lean in, dude.

You know, I was like, I don't think so.

Just push.

I'll just stand the whole time and then I'm exhausted.

Yep.

All right, we'll be back on the other side.

Good luck.

Thank you.

Thank you guys.

Wrestle Palooza next Saturday on ESPN's app.

Right?

Yes.

Right?

Yes.

First one to launch this entire thing.

I think they're doing it with the right company.

We're excited about it.

Tyrese, can't wait to see you get in that ring next Saturday and say my Achilles is good.

Maybe do the Kevin Nash.

Oh, there it is.

Yes.

Seth Rollins just, you know, just dropped.

I don't have crutches anymore, though, so I got to figure something out.

We can get back on it.

You got a week and a half.

Yeah.

Maybe I should just get back on for the day.

I can get a motorized wheelchair if you want.

Yeah, we can do that.

There we go.

Yazi.

With chairs on the side of it.

So we'll pull those out of that thing.

Just use a cold side-by-side.

Yeah, and then we got a

kendo stick right over there.

I think you have that on the other side of your thing.

Maybe you roll out on a power cart that just is like Bab Bunny's grocery store.

You guys are like two years away from this place being like Sanford and Sun's, like with the junk collection.

Yeah, there is a lot of shit.

we're trying we do a trash run once every like three weeks it used to be much worse yeah but you gotta throw stuff out well so that's kind of part of the problem so I don't do the trash stuff I have everybody else do it and that's so I don't feel bad because a lot of people send me a lot of things and I if I see them and I read the letter All of a sudden, oh, we gotta hang on to this because what's his face?

And then all of a sudden, we got shit everywhere.

So the boys are very kind.

They open boxes, read through the letters, fuck this guy, throw it away.

So what you got to do is, now all this stuff is like big deal stuff because it's been sent to you by meaningful people in a meaningful way.

If you show it on your show, run an auction with it, let fans bid on it, and then you give it to charity.

Now we're talking, maybe we autograph it too.

That's what I'm saying.

Yeah, maybe we autograph it.

Trade off the set of the Pat McAfee show.

You guys autograph that stuff.

You auction it off.

You send that stuff to charity.

Big brain.

Boom.

That's Big Brain.

We're always working.

That's right.

We need to start thinking like that.

Any other ideas, too?

We got nothing but time to do any other idea.

Throw away the

NXP show in here with a ring in the center is killing it.

Okay, let's do that.

Big Tim, what up, dog?

Suit, good to see you.

Paisano, good to see you.

A lot of WWE folks here.

It's good to see everybody.

A real deep.

Yeah, they're the best.

He's told me when I came in.

Well, you should.

WWE is an important place.

You're an important person.

Yeah.

Squad, good to see you guys.

Tim has the hat there.

Big Bulldogs fan.

We're going down to see Georgia from Tennessee this week.

He's Go Dogs.

He's Go Dogs.

Go Dogs.

Very much Go Dogs.

Love Stetson.

That boy Stetson.

Oh, God.

Who couldn't?

Raising hell.

Loved him down and asked.

He's missing battles.

How's the team this year?

Good.

We beat in Tennessee this weekend?

You beaten Tennessee this weekend?

Yeah, I'm rounding.

Never heard him say no, by the way.

What's that?

That's just lunch.

That's just lunch.

I like that.

That's go dogs.

That's a good one right there.

Never heard that one before, but I like that.

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47 years as a football coach, 27 in the NFL, 20 in college.

BA is here.

We appreciate you, Super Bowl champion.

AJ Hawk, Super Bowl champion, is here at Toxic Table, watchers of Super Bowls at Boston Connor, and at Ty Schmidter here, nine-year NFL vet, Darius J.

Butler, AFC championship participant,

hang the banner.

So, if you guys want to make us feel bad because we're non-players, that's fine.

Well, we've been talking as non-coaches to this guy.

I don't love the position we've been in with this guy

as non-coaches, all of us kind of has the upper hand.

Oh, bitch, yeah, and I don't love it.

Now,

to back Ryan Clark here,

there are things

that D-Butt, AJ, and maybe just D-Butt and AJ will talk about that I don't even know because they have somebody that has been punter on a team.

But there are things that we potentially have seen in locker room or people we know or things that we have heard throughout our time being athletes that is certainly a different perspective than you lame-ass,

non-professional athletes could ever have.

Yeah, but you guys also don't know what it's like.

to wake up on a Sunday and have to order five pizzas and 200 wings and liters of pop.

You guys don't know what it takes.

And for the record, basically everything I've learned about the game has come from you guys.

So essentially anytime I say anything, it's either from you guys or Michael Lombardi or people that are much smarter than me when it comes to football.

And if you think about it, that's kind of everything in life.

But again,

it's just nice to be now to Schraeger's point.

Very much allowed to have his own opinion.

Without a doubt.

In this entire thing.

So, you know, just kind of cross swords swords a little bit there but the position we're currently in ain't none of us ever coached i guess i saw aj with a whistle none

the other day so anytime we're asking any coaching thing he's like ba literally has a shut the up on us at any moment if he wants and he has it And that's why we think it's going to be a great year.

Even got two fucks out of him during.

Yeah, that's right.

That was sweet.

Yeah, we heard that.

Today's been a good day.

Coach, we asked you in the BS or no BS with BA segment, is Kevin O'Connell one of the top coaches in the NFL already?

And you said,

yeah, he is.

You said it was not bullshit to say that he's one of a top three NFL coach.

We didn't follow up on that, but I think we should.

And we asked you whether or not we could do that if you have a top three.

And you said you could probably put together a top three right now if you had to, especially after a week one of an NFL season.

Who are the top three coaches you think in the NFL?

Kevin O'Connell is one of them.

Kevin O'Connell, and I got to stay with my contemporary, Andy Reid.

Okay.

He's been in so many championships and Super Bowls.

I mean,

unbelievable play caller, unbelievable innovator.

And I'm going to put a young guy, Nick Siriani, who I've got a lot of respect for.

Okay, so nobody with a microphone in front of them would have put Nick Siriani on any coaching list last year, okay, other than us, maybe.

He gets murdered.

This guy gets murdered a lot.

He's in Philadelphia, so that's going to come with it, I think.

That's how the Johns operate.

They are going to be a hostile fan base, a passionate fan base.

You're going to hear it.

The way he went about doing things was not like cookie cutter as a coach.

He talked some shit.

He did his thing.

He wins the Super Bowl.

You think everybody's on board with him?

And why do do you like him as a coach?

Because he adjusted.

He saw, I had to make some changes.

And he revamped his staff, and they go win a Super Bowl.

And Jalen Hurts is playing lights out.

All right.

He's got to be a big reason for it.

Okay, so let's talk about Andy Reid.

You said your contemporary, obviously, OG in football.

He was with Philadelphia for a long time.

I think, well, I'm sorry, Green Bay, then obviously Philadelphia for a long time.

Now with the Kansas City Chiefs.

What do you said?

He's an innovator and everything.

Also being able to change with the players that you're coaching.

Is that a masterpiece of it all as well?

It's huge.

I mean, guys are so different than they were 15 years ago, even five years ago.

Everybody learned so different.

And Andy's on top of the game.

You know, he's always been on top.

All the crazy stuff they do, especially in the red zone with the shifts and the motions and the formations.

And he just, he's one of the best of riffs.

Go ahead, AJ.

Coach, when it comes to like offensive play car, and I've said on this show multiple times, I think the person who calls the plays for the offense has like the greatest impact as a coach on the game.

Like when you're calling plays, plays like i don't know when the first like when's the first time you actually started calling plays for a team and and i guess how comfortable can you get over the years in doing that yeah i was not a very good player in college so i we had jv teams back then so i'm on i'm a reds i'm

i'm a scout teamer and we coach asked me hey can you call plays for the jv team i said hell yeah

because we're running the other team's offense that week anyway i love that so i started doing it back then and uh i always wanted to be a coach everybody i looked up to as a kid was named coach and I thought they were rich.

Man, I thought school teachers were rich, and I wanted to be a coach.

Can you be a top coach in the NFL without being a play caller?

Like, totally, yeah, okay, Sirianni,

yeah, yeah, well, sorry, without like ever play calling, like, because, like, as a

Patriots fan, Mike Vrable, not a play caller.

Like, you think of teams like MCDC, the Lions, who are now possibly on the precipice of having like an in-between year.

Like,

is it possible?

Yeah, you know, John Harbaugh, like what makes those guys top coaches, though, when they're not calling plays and like clearly affecting the game with you know dialing up a touchdown?

When you came back with Byron Lefwich, what is the difference?

What is the life as a head coach, CEO, as opposed to play caller involved, right?

Exactly.

I think your overall daily operation with the team is a little bit different than when you're just with the offense.

You know, I go back to my days at Temple and God bless coach John Devlin.

We were walking off the field one day, said, hey, coach, can we ever end practice with the defense winning?

Never thought about it.

I'd be pissed.

Oh, yeah, I guess.

I was like, because I'm pissed if doffens is getting their ass kicked.

We're staying out there for another hour.

And so I think it's to learn to delegate and trust your staff.

Trust your staff.

Give your guys, you know, I learned that when Chuck got sick.

There was no time to do anything but just, hey, you guys just do your job.

I'll give a shitty speech on Saturday night and see if we go for it on the night.

Hey, not shitty speeches ever.

Not shitty speeches ever.

You choosing to go for it was always a good time.

But I cut you off there.

You're about to say something, I believe.

I think that's what it is for the guys who are more managers.

Like culture guys.

Yeah, you're building the culture in your locker room, and you got to have a great feeling for the heartbeat of your locker room.

There's more fun in calling plays because you're in it.

You're in it, and I did it forever.

And

once I retired, I didn't want to do that anymore.

But I had somebody trained and was ready to roll.

And so, yeah, I think

you're a better overall head coach when you're not specifically on one side of the ball.

But if you are, you've got to have a great game manager in your ear.

Guys, hey, it's time, out, time, it's this time, it's that time.

Hey, coach,

we're in this situation.

This is what you want to do.

Okay, because you've already prepared for all that.

Yeah.

You know, and I go back with Andrew as a rookie, and I think We're getting ready to play the Vikings.

And the week before Jaguars and Vikings, they score.

There's 28 seconds left.

And Tuck says, what are we going to do in this situation?

So we practiced it.

We walked through it twice.

And lo and behold, they score with 30 seconds left.

Andrew's running on the field.

I know the play.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I know the play.

You know, 66

in.

Get alert down, timeout.

And boom,

same thing.

Kills it.

Adam comes out, kicks Phil goal, we win the game.

Hell yeah.

Love that.

I was hoping that's how that ended.

I didn't remember the exact.

Yeah.

But I'm happy we did win that one.

I mean, so you put him in those situations over and over, and you've got guys looking up these situations that happened throughout the entire league that week.

What's the craziest shit you saw?

What are we going to do in that situation?

So you prepare them for.

I think you as a head coach was great, by the way.

Oh, yeah.

Head coach.

I don't know if anybody else could have handled it.

Your resume was respected.

But the fact that you also were a shit talker to the defense, you had a relationship with the defense already.

Oh, yeah.

He missed the Black Sox day, I think.

You weren't there yet?

Nope.

That was early in the season, right?

Right after maybe the first week of training camp.

This is the greatest.

And Andrew lights up the defense.

I wore all black.

You know, defense is in, all the DBs are circling.

And Gerard Powers says, Coach, what's up with the black?

I said, I'm going to the funeral.

Who's?

Y'all, Andrew killed you, motherfucker.

And he kept walking in.

Always.

He looked like, I mean, it legitimately looked like he was wearing

like an Italian, I mean, just all black sure as what clearly different you know and just the

yeah this is the motherfucking defense funeral day and i just was so i thought it was so funny i'd never really seen an offensive coordinator like actually like you and a b I think and swan bathet had a good uh give and take i think there was a lot of people and i think the immediate respect came for you from not only the defense but also the offense and then your resume on top of that i don't want to speak out of pocket for the entire no for sure and and you because obviously andrew wasn't a shit talker you know andrew he'll throw a play or i'll make a play after ones are off, we'll be off in the sideline.

He'll be asking me, hey, why did you jump that?

You know, how come you didn't react to Reggie the same way you reacted to TY?

And we'll have that conversation.

So Tom was different.

Tom, you make a play on Tom.

Tom will be talking shit.

All right, come right back at you.

So BA was kind of the shit talker, and that kind of elevates, you know, the players, the coaches.

Usually it's like DB coaches, wide receiver coaches.

They always got some shit going on.

D-line, O-line coaches, they kind of more so brother-in-law getting through practice.

But when you have an OC and a play caller and then head coach barking at you, because it is true, if you have an offensive head coach, I played for mostly defensive head coach.

BA was actually the only offensive head coach I played for.

Like, it is based around how that offense is doing.

Like, oh, we had a shitty practice today.

We look at you like, man, you know, we were excellent.

Yeah,

we're flying around.

And that's really the mindset.

So

I'll be intrigued on how quarterbacks view that and how people, like, I know you said Tom felt differently when you became his head coach, but that's a big deal, I think.

What was the example you said about Tom?

It was like, maybe fourth and short, you're going for it, or at the end of you're doing something.

There was a little bit of defense.

It was like right at the end of the half.

It's like, we have to lead.

We're getting the ball.

Let's run this out, right?

Hell no, bro.

So we got two timeouts and 58 seconds.

We're getting points.

Yeah, well, and that's not just at the only time you think about that.

And the half, obviously, there's the legendary Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears game that we pulled up the footage from earlier.

AJ, I don't know if you remember this or not.

42-23.

He was interviewed for the Chicago Bears job.

Did not get the Chicago Bears job.

Got the Arizona Cardinals job.

They're up 19 with under three minutes left.

We're taking shots.

We're going for it.

The commentator actually

for that first play goes, go ahead, play it.

Oh, they're throwing.

Oh, they're throwing.

I can't believe that.

And then we asked Bruce Arians, actually, one of our first podcasts, you joined us, which we were so thankful for.

Obviously, one of the most entertaining people.

And we Googled if you said what you said.

And the Google AI said, yeah.

Week two of the 2015 season, Arians Cardinals faced the Bears in Chicago.

During an appearance on the Pat McAfee podcast, Arians admitted that his intention was to bury the Bears.

I mean, that is offensive coach, by the way.

That is an offensive coach.

It's like, are we playing four quarters or no?

We're up 19.

And also, I wasn't the right guy for the job.

Okay, that's a fun thing.

I appreciate that.

I do appreciate that type of mindset and how the offense is different than defense.

It ain't over till it's over, baby.

There was a couple of times punter, obviously, or a field goal.

So we are dependent upon what decision he is making.

There's a couple of times I'm watching his brain think out loud, like fourth and a half a yard, but we're backed up on our own 24.

And I'm standing right next to him.

Like, what are we doing?

And then the question is like, we can get a half fucking yard.

And then he, I don't know who he's talking to.

And then, yeah, we can get a fucking half yard.

Yeah, we're staying out there dancing.

Yeah, you can.

Yeah, you can.

And all of a sudden now, we don't pick that up.

There's a lot of people who are upset.

But I think doing that, you build a lot of faith from the boys.

It's like, hey, this guy believes in us.

It always felt like the team thought you were in the game just as much as they were.

And I think that was a huge piece of your leadership.

I don't know if you've heard that before, but I think that is a very, as somebody that just observed a lot, I think the feeling that the team had about you almost being in the game with them was a massive part of it.

So I don't know how often you've heard that, but I think that is a big deal.

Yeah, that shit talking has always been a part of me forever.

But when I was with Pittsburgh, now we had some doozies in training camp.

Me and Larry Foote, who's now defensive coordinator for the Bucs, and

Keith Butler was the

defensive linebacker coach.

Dick LeBeau was obviously the coordinator.

And I'm talking shit, and Butts tried to say something.

Larry goes, Butts, shut up, man.

You can't talk shit with B.A.

Yeah, those practices were live.

Oh, baby.

They were rough now.

They were some good practices.

They were the hell of a football team, too.

Yeah, you guys had a great team over there in Pittsburgh, and then you got your ass ran out of town.

Let's go to Hammer.

God, God.

A.P.

Tone, we'll talk about getting run out of town.

The sports books are running away with this entire thing.

Did last night help the betters cause or did it only pile on for the sports books, brother?

It helped a little bit.

54% were on the Vikings.

So, you know,

plus 4% of the country or whatever got a little bit of boost.

But no, overall on the week, the sports books kind of had their way.

12-4 to the unders is something we talked about yesterday.

That game last night went over late in the fourth quarter.

It looked like an under the whole way.

Kind of like how the season started with the Eagles and Cowboys.

It looked like a over the whole way finished under.

It's kind of the opposite last night with that fourth quarter comeback from J.J.

McCarthy.

But on the week, eight and eight were dogs and favorites against the spread.

So pretty even in that way.

But the unders kind of dominated the week.

AJ, that means defense is ahead.

Is that what we think, AJ Hawk, if we hear that the unders dominated?

Or maybe the sports books were just predicting too much for these offenses?

Yeah, I don't know.

It's early in the year.

We always, that's the old cliche things.

The defense is ahead because defense is true.

Hey, even if I don't know what I'm doing, I go try to tackle the guy with the ball.

Offense has a lot more complex situations they're trying to work out.

So maybe, but you know, I don't know.

It's the NFL, they're all good.

Also, we're back to a much more

style of fight.

I like that.

I like that.

Yeah, I do too.

Coming back.

Philadelphia Eagles win, so not everybody knows you can win a Super Bowl playing like that.

Is that something that radiates through the rest of the league?

Monkey see monkey do out here?

It's a copycat league.

Always has been.

It's always been cyclical that way.

But not everybody has Saquon and Jalen, you know, and that offensive line.

Yeah, they all want.

O-line, D-line, Howie.

Yeah.

But you watched it last night.

We talked about it.

When the Bears are running and hammering that ball, all of a sudden they're running up down the field scoring.

All of a sudden, Minnesota starts running the ball.

JJ's a player now.

It's the biggest friend a young quarterback can have is a running game.

Well, how about the risk-it and the biscuit, though?

Don't we need a little bit of risk?

We got to have that, bro.

Yeah, we got to have the riskets.

Got to have the biscuits.

Got to.

Something you got to have in this world.

Always.

You can't live without chunk plays.

You gotta have chunk plays in the league right now.

If you don't have four or five chunks in the game, it's gonna be a low-scoring game.

Okay, so we actually found the stat that Patrick Mahomes, when he was targeting receivers 20 yards down the field, in his first whatever year, six years in the league, he was number one.

Yeah, let me see what this is here.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's the stat right there.

Passing the receivers 20 plus yards downfield.

Shout out to YouTube having this graphic.

2018 to 2022, he led the NFL.

And then 2023 and 24, last two years, he's 33rd out of 34 quarterbacks, the worst in the league.

Is that all just because he loses Tyreek or what do you think it is?

More than that, all the speed guys have gotten hurt the last couple years, you know, and they have become more of a ball control passing team.

And that's what Andy does so good.

He does whatever his players can do.

He puts them in a position to succeed.

And if I can't protect you, or if I don't have the guys to get down there, why try it?

Don't beat your head into the wall.

With Spaggs' defense, too, being smart, just not turning the ball over, no risky, risky in this entire thing.

I think that was a part of the conversation two years ago for Patrick, wasn't it?

I know for sure last year, two years ago, probably so too, but last year, they didn't create a bunch of explosive plays, but they were very, I think, one of the best in the league on third down.

So critical down.

So, yeah, you're not getting those big chunk plays, but you're getting the third and fours, you're getting the third and threes, and he's making the right decision or making something happens with his legs.

And he's going to run over you, DB.

I hate that.

He's going to run over you.

You lie back.

This shit happens week four and he gets smoked on the sideline.

We don't want to see a flag coming out and 15 is going to be doing that to defenders.

But yeah, he shows up in the critical, which Andy Reid is a big part of that too.

They show up in the critical situations.

Anybody can get it.

That's what Basketball Home is saying.

Anybody can get it.

And they've always been great in the red zone.

They've always been great in the red zone.

Third down in the red area.

Yeah, and the team you're talking about was when Spaggs came on two years ago and he he said, This is the first time I've ever coached a unit where every single guy is one of the highest high Q football players that I've ever coached.

And that's when they were just kind of pounding the rock with Pacheco early on.

And I think Patrick Mahomes had a press conference, too, where he had so much respect for the defense.

He was like, I can't be turning the ball over.

We got to be smart.

Sometimes I need to realize that the punt is the best thing that we could possibly do because of how dominant our defense is, because of the 11 players all being on the same page.

It's like they figured out different ways to win.

But when you talk about those those chunk plays and being able to get a little bit of a head start down the field, maybe even flipping field positions, like the Chiefs have not had a lot of it over the last couple of years.

As some coaches would always talk about the biggest indicator on who's going to win the game, obviously have to score field position, turnover differential, and explosive plays.

Who's giving up last year in the chunk plays?

Yeah, that's shit.

Always.

Yeah, explosive plays.

Yeah, I think last year it became the status.

Explosive plays became the stat of the year.

Yeah, exactly.

And even when they do, now it seems like it's off script and it's like Mahomes is slipping out of a couple sacks and he has to do something miraculous.

It's not just like a play action shot.

Our guy beat the other guy.

We're going to get it.

It feels like every time they do get a chunk play, like Mahomes needs to pull a rabbit out of his hat.

He needs to do something crazy.

Like it just, it's very difficult for them to, you know, if they're not just dinking and dunking, move the ball down the field.

That's crazy.

And they haven't had the offensive line they had a couple years ago.

The injuries and...

Couple guys not making it playing the way they should play.

He hasn't had the time he's had when he had early injuries.

You guys had a pretty good plan.

Yeah, I mean, we had a front four.

Todd Bowles had an unbelievable game plan for him

because they whooped the shit out of us earlier in that season.

You know, we're playing a bunch of man-to-man and I think Tyreek had 200 out of here.

And so, okay, we ain't fixed it.

We'll fix this.

But, you know, we put Vita and Sue out wide, put JPP and Shaq inside, and they just crushed the pocket, and they go chase Patrick all over the damn field.

Feels genius.

Just do that every time.

And we're

talking all this stuff about the Chiefs.

They were just in the Super Bowl.

They were in the Super Bowl.

They won the Super Bowl the year before that.

One a year before that.

You said hosted seven straight AFC championships.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you know, they start off 0-1-1, and we're sitting here like, oh, man.

Not me.

This is you guys.

Yeah, the Chiefs.

I think a majority of us realistically think the Chiefs would be okay.

But over that time, the Broncos, Chargers, and Raiders have gotten exponentially better.

Like the Chargers now with Harbaugh and I still don't think they're better.

Brandon Staley ain't coaching the Chargers anymore.

Exactly.

Well, it's just, hey,

it's just the truth.

What was that, coach?

It's the truth.

They're not,

when Brandon Staley.

He got fired.

When Brandon Staley, we had Tom Tolesco on one time when Brandon Staley was the head coach, and he talked about how, hey, the Charger style of football with Mike Williams and Keenan Allen is, it's high, it's high, you know, scoring, it's fun, it's look at this, this is cool.

And that was actually their, you know, and I'm not saying the cool part was actually their mentality, but the style of explosive plays with those guys was real.

And now with Harbaugh, it's more having a punch in the fucking mouth with Joe Walt and Rashawn Slater and Khalil Mack.

And Herbert's going to hand the ball off 30 times a game instead of him throwing it 55 times a game like Anthony fucking Lynn was having him doing early on before he ended up getting fired, going to Detroit and then getting fired.

But again, the Chargers are better and the Chiefs.

Great running back.

The Chiefs' O-line.

To BA's point about their O-line, their best player, their Hall of Famer, who got them to the Super Bowl, people were saying, was Joe Tooney.

And they traded him away after Joe Tooney went left guard to left tackle.

But to the O-line point, Josh Shimmons also looked fucking awesome.

I still believe the Chiefs is still the Chiefs.

But we have seen that when the Chiefs don't do good is when they don't have a good offensive line.

That is what we see.

Always.

Like, Patrick Mahomes can make his magic, but it doesn't matter in the big games,

playing against good teams.

Like, you're going to be able to win games.

That's why all season...

Super Super Bowl.

Yeah, exactly.

And all season, we're trying to figure out whether or not our team is real or not.

Like the reason why I was so excited about the Colts playing against the Dolphins.

Now,

praying to God Dolphins aren't the worst team in the history of football.

Sure, to me.

Okay.

I'm praying to God that isn't the case.

But I saw some traits.

It's like, hey, that could win against a good team.

Like, that's a play that is going to be needed in a big game.

Like, you can steal some wins during the season, but then all we're trying to judge is, can this team win against another good team?

Which is all that's going to matter at the end of the season.

When you're in the playoffs, you're going to be playing a good team.

It's going to be an incredible environment, and you're going to have to do certain shit.

You're going to have to be able to hit a third and 11 on the sideline.

You're going to have to be able to stop a run.

You're going to have to be able to run the ball.

You're going to have to be able to do all these things that are so like niche, but in the big games that matter, you have to execute them.

So all year we're trying to figure out whether or not our team could do it.

I think the Chiefs last year during their season, everybody would say this team doesn't have the firepower.

This team doesn't have the ability to go.

And they get all the way to the Super Bowl.

And then the Philadelphia Eagles expose basically everything that was being talked about with the Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs, and Travis Kelsey last year.

And it's like, it doesn't show up until it shows up is kind of the thing.

Are the Chiefs going to be able to be a team that wins again?

I believe.

because Travis Kelsey.

But if that offensive line is going to be the same as it was last year, I think we all saw it being a problem at some point.

And then in the biggest game, it was.

Well, and that's what's crazy is because that's still the watermark.

It's like, you know, if

everyone thinks that the Bills are the cream of the crop in the AFC, like for whatever reason, like the Chiefs are their kryptonite.

They can't beat them in the playoffs.

And whatever you think about Baltimore, they've had problems with Buffalo.

So it's like, let's check back in in week 14 because the Chiefs might, you know, have four or five losses by that point.

But until someone beats them in the playoffs, like, they're going to the Super Bowl.

Yeah, Mahomes a gamer.

Yeah.

But the other thing, too, like, especially because the only comparison to Mahomes is Brady, right?

Like at this point, people forget about that, or I guess they don't forget about it.

It's what they talk about.

There's that 12-year lull after the first three, and Brady got three, and then it took a long time to get four.

And I'm not saying that's going to happen, but the talent in the AFC is as high as it's ever been.

Like, any year, it feels like, could be one of those teams' years.

Chiefs still the Chiefs, B.A.?

If the offensive last day is healthy, and their secondary scares me a little bit.

They lost some really good corners the last couple of years, and

you got to better play defense.

They had a great kicker.

We always forget about that part of the game.

Bucker is a great kicker.

Too many guys missed field goals yesterday.

They're getting paid way too damn much money.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Let's not be attacking kickers

early.

No, yeah, you're right.

You're right.

You're right.

We will attack the kickers.

We need more money in the punting department.

Exactly.

Yeah, amen, amen.

But yeah,

I think the Chiefs will be there.

We all do.

Always.

If it was like the whole gun the head thing.

Yeah.

Who are you picking?

It's like, well, I got a chance to pick Batch Mahomes right now.

Yeah.

Yep.

All right.

I fucking guess I will.

I guess I will.

I ain't totally going to see him too before.

Yeah.

And Josh Allen, too.

I mean, fourth quarter showed he's a fucking Terminator as well.

And Lamar.

And we talked like to Ty's point about how

those three teams with the Ravens, Bills, and Chiefs, like, and then you throw the Bengals and is the only team that can actually beat the Chiefs.

All of them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All of them.

They can't make it to the dance.

Yeah.

And the Eagles obviously exist on the other side waiting for them.

And it's like, oh, San Francisco 49ers, we have some news out of San Francisco.

George Kittle officially on IR, so that's at least four weeks with a hamstring.

That sucks that that's how his season is starting.

We love George Kittle.

We are sending our positive vibes over to his healing process and this entire thing.

And Brock Purdy, quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, is questionable with a shoulder and a toe injury.

He finished the first week, but obviously showing up on the Skyline report or the injury report.

Very fascinating that this is how the Niners season starts yet again.

Christian McCaffrey, obviously, very involved.

We don't think we have to worry about him right now.

But whenever you think about these two guys, these are two pivotal pieces, obviously, to a San Francisco 49ers offense, including the quarterback.

Questionable right now.

We have no idea what that becomes throughout the week.

But this is a tough start for any team.

Health is always going to be a concern, though, for every NFL team.

That's kind of how it goes.

San Francisco has been hit harder, I think, than most teams lately.

Yeah, I think getting through training camp has always been like, we've got to get ready for the season.

We've got to stay healthy.

We got to get ready for the season.

We've got to stay healthy.

Do I play them?

Yeah, we got to play them some, you know, just to get them ready for me, to get them in game shape.

But you always just hold your fingers up and don't get guys hurt.

And

I look at the number of guys, it seemed like this year in training camp, more guys got injured than ever.

Not in the preseason games.

I think all the multiple practices against each other, that's when guys really get after it.

And some more injuries have happened this year than before.

Yeah, it's fascinating whenever you have the joint practices, because they talk about those sessions being more important than the preseason game.

Do you agree?

Totally.

Because you can get them in isolated situations and say, here we go.

Yeah, we're getting in a two-minute drill.

We're going to get in the the red zone.

We're going to have one-on-ones.

We're going to have all

specialized football.

And we have a team period or two.

Nobody cares a shit about.

But that two-minute drill, that two-minute drill,

and it's huge in your nose practices.

And

personally, I'd rather have three weeks of practice against somebody than a preseason game.

A guaranteed fight?

No.

But

you don't mind it.

You don't mind it.

You won't be on my team very long.

Really?

How come?

Because it's a a penalty, bro.

We don't practice penalties.

Oh, I love that.

Is that your messaging?

Oh, yeah.

But if your guys don't fight, you think it's okay?

No.

Yeah.

Oh, B.A., I didn't know.

There's a good answer for you.

There's other ways to do it.

Be a pro.

That punt coverage drill.

That's good.

That's going to be a two-on-one.

That's going to be a fight.

That's where to start.

Yeah.

Okay.

So you do acknowledge that there is.

I better see their flyer's ass on the ground.

Yes, okay, yeah, yeah.

I got it.

Yeah, I understand where you're coming from.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, every time we see the joint practices, it's just at some point, inevitably,

there's going to be something here because how exhausted are they?

And AJ, I'll tell you, the backs on backers, pass protection.

And we're not going to bull rush the bullshit.

Exactly.

No bulls.

No bull rush coming, guys.

Okay, first one.

We're running our head directly through that running back.

And then it's a full fight between linebackers and the running backs in the D-line season, O-line sees it, and here we go.

Who's saying no bullshit?

Is that you guys or the coaches agreeing to that?

Coaches usually would try to say, hey, we're going to do it.

We're going to blitz it.

Yeah, we're going to button the A gap.

Go put some bags up and you can butts either A gap.

Hey, we're not going to bowl that.

We're going to work on our moves.

Okay, yeah, yeah, that sounds good.

And then like, say, the running back stones our first guy in the whole, like, okay, guys, you know what we're doing.

Like, here we go.

And this is how

and then they tell you, though, the running backs get mad.

Hey, I'll just cut you in the game.

Like, cool.

I'll take my knee and directly through your forehead then if you're going to try to,

but don't cut me here.

When I ran the drill, okay, you bullrush and we're cutting.

Yeah.

No, I had to worry about any bull rushing because nobody wanted to get a joke see that's wrong though aj's like oh bull rush that's good news i actually get to use a knee strike yeah

there's knee pads right here you see this no

hey abdul hodge great linebacker from iowa i watched him almost i think the guy might be dead still this kid that he hit i don't know who it was i forget the guy's name in the a gap in a in a one-on-one pass rush with our own team it was not against another team Abdul ran through this guy like he wasn't even there and then jumped and teabagged the big old pop-up bag that standed in the back of the quarterback and rode it to the ground and we all jumped on top of him and this poor kid is laying on the ground dead and i still don't know what happened to him honestly

this is some practice it was it was an unbelievable hit like abdul was a monster it was great so that was when you learned violent knee strikes look at those knee pads he's ready for it geez that look at those knee pads those are covering the knee that thing right there is no abdul went head to head head no one went low they he tried to take abdu up high and that was a mistake you better take him low oh he ran through it wasn't a knee to the head.

Oh, no.

The guy, the guy was trying to front him up and stonewall him right in the AGAP.

And Abdul's like, okay, I'm going to run through you like you don't even exist.

It was wild.

That's awesome.

Some of those one-on-one reps.

The worst ones.

Pittsburgh, James Harrison, give me a rookie.

He'd call out a rookie running back,

and it was scary, man.

What?

What?

So, geez.

That was a baptism.

Is that kind of what?

Get a quit right there.

Give me that one right there.

And it was like, whoa, just right through it.

Give me that one right there.

Can you imagine a rookie fucking Debo coach?

You're standing in line.

Give me out.

You're standing in line.

Man, I can't wait for my chance to go.

And then Debo points at you.

Hey,

you.

My man, LeBron Haynes, would jump in.

No, I got you.

That's good.

And that was like, you guys, like Rams going.

How about wide out?

Do you see any good one-on-ones?

Those were always electrifying.

Yeah.

Wideout in corners.

Yeah, I mean, that was shit.

That to me is always the most fun for an offensive coach.

Go down and watch that, you know.

But

what's best back in the day when we had three on three.

What was that?

Three on three is like three offensive linemen, three defensive linemen and running back.

And

put the wideouts against the DBs and make them block.

Oh, God.

Remember, 5 a.m.

three hours.

Yeah.

Just thinking of this shit.

Just thinking up of this stuff.

Man, every once in a while, you just got to make them get a little bit more physical.

We need these guys to be a little bit more physical in there.

Oklahoma Drills.

Those, how long was that like a staple?

Oh, God, that's how you started a train camp every year.

How long, though?

How many years, do you think?

How many decades?

Since I can remember.

Because it stopped, right?

Did it?

Oh, yeah, they've ended it now.

And three on three was kind of like the bigger Oklahoma drill.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

We had the

West Virginia, we did the running back with the ball, then you had the O-line, then you had tight end linebacker, then you had wide receiver.

Yeah, like the gauntlet.

Yeah, it's like the gauntlet.

We know this.

We see the Saquon clip

from Penn State where he does the entire thing.

Like, that's a form, I feel like, kind of, of like an extended Oklahoma drill.

It feels like that is the basis of basically what drills always were with the Oklahoma drills.

Is that accurate?

Yeah, it's all about

toughness.

There was no

fair ducking.

You're not ducking any smoke in those drills.

What was it?

Bowl in the ring you used to get bullied at, AJ?

Don't bring that up.

You used to get bullied at.

No, I did bull in the ring early on in my high school career, I believe.

But yeah, that's, especially if you don't know where they're coming from.

They call them out, you know, and you're in the middle, you're chopping your feet.

Okay, where?

That guy's coming from over here, and you got to turn and try not to get knocked out.

Yeah, that was that was a character builder, I would say.

Here's the Saquon clip.

I believe we found it here.

Oh, this is amazing.

Yeah, this is three-on-three, I guess, here.

Yeah, that's three-on-three.

Yep.

Nope.

Nope.

See ya.

See ya.

It's crazy.

What a moment.

He was pretty good.

Saquon.

Yeah.

He was pretty good at football up there in Happy Valley.

He, oh, he, he,

he,

place goes crazy.

That's crazy.

Such good team building moments.

All right.

Coach BA, we appreciate the hell out of you, man.

What a great day today.

Awesome day.

I know you had questions for Triple H.

We'll get that for next time.

For sure.

For sure.

We'll get to the bottom of it.

Did you hear that?

Sure.

That was pretty quick.

I can't wait to hear what he had.

He was talking about how excited he was for Wrestle Fest.

Yeah, break.

Wrestle Palooza.

Walpole Pooza, baby.

Palooza.

I got that part down right.

Yeah.

Debut had questions as well.

I did.

Sorry.

I got him in after the show.

I was peppering him with a huge AJ Lee.

I had no idea.

AJ Lee, CM Punk, back.

Let's go.

Yeah.

It's going to be great.

Wrestle Palooza.

Uso.

Palooza, baby.

Hey, Don, what are you betting on tonight?

That's a great question.

All right.

Nothing, to be honest with you.

Are the San Francisco Giants playing tonight?

Yeah.

They are.

I'm betting on the winful.

Yeah, they'll beat the shit out of the D-Backs tonight.

Robbie Ray is on the bump.

Who's that?

They're hot right now?

He's got a Lisa Lafayette.

They're dugouts hot.

Bobby Biggie.

What do you mean?

They're dugouts.

What is it?

Drew, what's his name?

I don't know what his last name is.

I think he's like a platoon guy, but he's an absolute psychopath coming and just barking in guys' faces.

What's happening?

I don't know what you're referring to.

This is

this mad dog on the Giants right now.

Pull it up, Bruce.

Who maybe is a big part of why they've been so hot lately, barking at dogs, barking at guys like crazy in the dugout, having guys like grab his throat and stuff.

He's a madman.

We got a vibes guy?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, here he goes.

This is awesome.

There we go.

We got face.

We got eye black.

Yeah.

So hold on.

Who is this guy?

This guy's awesome.

Does he play?

Yeah, Drew Gilbert.

I think he plays a bit.

I don't know if he's an everyday guy.

What precision would this guy be?

What is the size, the trait, the build?

What do we think?

I need a bigger honest.

Yeah, yeah.

It's everyday, bro.

He's an outfit.

I don't think I can play golf.

He's an outfit.

I've played golf on that shitty phone, right?

Yeah.

Long season.

That guy's a corner outfielder, and it's a long season, and they might not make the playoffs.

They need some juice.

Hey, go fucking bark like a dog and let that guy grab your throat as hard as he can.

Is that the coach right there?

No, just, I mean, no, the guy that he was biting his shoulder right there.

Is that the coach of the team?

It's not their manager.

It's probably when he's biting the guy.

Will you pause?

He's biting his shoulder here right there.

Yeah, pause that one.

So he's biting that guy's shoulder.

Is that the coach?

No, that's not their manager.

That's probably a coach, though.

Bench coach of some sort.

B.A., anybody ever come up and bite this shit out of you?

No, hell no.

And we need those dogs on the team, though.

Yeah, that's unbelievable.

Yeah, Drew Gilbert maybe needs to come over to football a little bit.

He seems to be quite his physicality levels are high.

He might get signed after a World Series just to be a part of a team.

So he's getting choked out of the line.

I don't think they have drug testing in Major League Baseball.

He ain't passing, bro.

That's who he naturally is.

That's Drew Gilbert football.

I love that guy.

Dog in college?

I know who the the Red Sox is.

He did in college?

Yeah, not that much, but I remember him the epic bat flip for the volunteers.

Really?

Oh, yeah.

This guy's a Tennessee volunteer.

Yeah.

We need him on game.

He needs to be barking on game, though.

He's doing more than flipping bats.

Yeah, probably.

What do you do with the bat?

What do you do?

He put it in the crowd?

We probably got the clip.

Bruce?

Hey, Bruce, why don't you pause that up, Bruce?

Bruce, please do a little bit of a search.

This is him with the bat number one.

Oh, my God.

Oh, yeah.

I remember this guy.

Yeah.

Yep.

That That bat's going to hit somebody.

Ejected.

Then they eject him after this?

Probably.

I think they ejected him.

No fun.

Yeah.

Can't do that.

All right.

Drew Gilbert's one of my new favorite baseball players.

Yep.

Athletes, I think.

When's he making?

Yeah, I agree.

Put him in all sport.

I don't know why I'm just kind of locking him into baseball.

One of my new favorite athletes, Drew Gilbert.

What

he needs to come over the ropes at Blues him.

Blues.

Book.

Brew!

Not just coaching ball anymore, brother.

No,

He's a biter, it looks like.

Yeah, you're right.

Drew Gilbert needs to be in Palooza.

Maybe call it Padreza now that I think.

Oh, it's a good idea.

This guy's the Miz on the San Francisco Giants.

Yeah.

Like The Miz was in the real world.

Miz, but a good athlete.

Yeah, don't do that to Drew.

Jesus.

I'll hate this.

Tanner Olovsky got killed today.

I had to assume Drew Gilbert is pretty good at golf.

Miz got a stretch.

Yeah, Drew's probably won a game in the last three years.

All right.

Yeah, and Drew can hit a curveball.

Miz did not deserve any of this.

He ain't hit his, he didn't shoot his age, though.

Who?

Drew.

I don't think so.

Have you?

Yes, Sunday.

And the member member.

What'd you shoot?

72.

Wow.

My man, Nick.

Nick the Fabio though.

Nick the Fabio and I won the member member by 10 strokes.

Lost in the shootout.

Won by 10 strokes?

In our flight, yeah.

And then you lose in a shootout to who?

The young kid got a stroke, got a birdie.

Damn.

Not a stroke, got a birdie.

I like that.

Yeah, young kid younger than us got a stroke.

And another guy makes like a 40-footer, so we were out.

First time shooting your age?

Fourth.

Fourth, okay.

Damn.

Good shit.

What ages did you shoot your age?

71 and 72.

Nice.

This guy won

member guest.

Club championship.

Dance club.

Club championship, too.

No big deal.

Guys own parking lot now.

Guys own parking lot.

Or parking spot.

AJ, right up there in the front.

AJ, how's your golf game?

Are you still hustling everybody in Ohio?

You know, I can play well and shoot 83, and I can shoot 105.

Like, that's kind of my game.

How were you at the American Century?

Pretty good?

I never really put it together like I would have liked to, to be honest with you.

I was very positive.

I felt like I needed, hey, next shot's going to be my best shot.

And I said that for three straight days.

Was this your worst year?

No, no, not my worst year, but just, you know, I had pretty high hopes for myself.

I think I finished like 40-something.

Should have, you know, I should have played better.

Of course, top 50.

I think one of the most nervous I've ever been.

Phoenix Open, I'm on the driving range.

Tiger's on my left, and Gary Williams on my right.

I'm like, what are you doing?

You're golfing?

I'm playing in the pro-am.

And it's like, at 16, there's 100,000 people in that thing, Wednesdays.

And they're booing the shit out of you.

I got booed like three times and cheered three times.

How'd you hit it?

Hit the green three times and then

hit one straight in the cactus the last time.

I ain't going back now.

No, you got to go beat it.

You got to go beat it.

I showed up at that thing, had no idea what I signed up for.

Part three challenge on the the pro-am day oh yeah i'd know we were at radio row yeah down the road

once again utilizing the local vitamins um rather great laws out there in arizona we all agree and i said yeah sure i'll do the thing the bar three thing and i didn't know what i was walking into oh the shot of glory that's something that's spun i was way too high to be there i think and i walked in there we all did and we're like holy shit oh yeah this is the greatest is this the greatest hole of all time and then i was told i'm hitting in there i'm like oh okay I was the only one that didn't play the pro-am.

So everybody had played all day.

I'm straight out of radio row.

Oh, tough spot.

On cloud 50.

I'm 20 minutes from radio row to in the middle of that whole thing.

So from pickleball.

And I'm just, yeah, we played pickleball the entire night.

Arizona is the greatest.

The house we stayed at had a lit up pickleball course in the back.

It was awesome.

Oh, we did.

We did that the entire time.

So I'm just sitting in there.

J.J.

Watts got hockey stick golf clubs.

You remember these?

These golf clubs are way too fucking big.

I didn't have clubs.

Everybody else did.

And,

yeah, I doff it up close.

Ms.

Blades won off the grid.

Duffed it because

the guy rapping with Kelly James music.

Yeah, we're talking about woo swings.

Yeah, talking

about

personal things.

Yeah, but I didn't hit any of the cactus.

But I think you have to go back there and defeat that.

I have to.

Oh, I've got an epic, epic

shout out, Glory Day.

Yeah.

We need to get that video sometime.

I even got, no, I even got my man Kelly.

I got nothing, Coke.

Okay.

It was like, we teed off at eight.

Ron Schertz, who runs a Nexus, owns a Nexus, he always puts on the pro amp.

So I'm playing with Shirtze, and we're done at like 12 of Shadow Gloria's at 4 o'clock.

I'm hammered.

Have no, why I still have golf shoes on, but I still have my golf shoes on, no clubs.

And my daughter-in-law and her friend, take my son and say, do not let him fall.

So they got me in both arms, two really good-looking girls.

I said, baby, you play golf?

She said, yeah.

I said, tee it up about this

because I ain't bending over.

Please, please help.

Reggie Bush, Michael Phillips, Elway.

About five of us threw $100 down.

All right.

I look in this bag, grab a seven-iron, pull it out.

I said, Help, I will back up over there because I'm going to try to cut this bitch.

Oh, it was more shapeless.

Yeah, of course.

12 feet.

What?

Reggie.

Did a shot of Casamego, throw that bitch down, put my hands up, walked out.

Got two people to walk me out there.

Get that bony.

Get that bony.

Waiting to see this video.

Yeah, we didn't find that.

That's amazing.

That's a really good time over there.

They do it well.

That is not Bob Parsons' course.

No, it's not.

But it is certainly an incredible, incredible turnaround.

Are you sure?

The waste management?

No, it's not.

No.

Yeah.

Are you sure, man?

TPC Scottsdale's.

Bob's is a little bit higher up, Scottsdale.

And a little more expensive.

Connor asked him right to his face, so what's it like hosting the waste management?

It's one of your courses.

And he goes, what?

This guy is like, what the hell is this guy talking about?

I mean, in context here, this is 50 minutes into an interview with a guy.

I've never fucking heard of until

20 minutes before.

Legend.

Absolute legend, which I learned of.

Throughout the first 50 minutes of the interview, finally, you know,

Pat's like, Connor, fucking hit it.

I'm like, okay, I don't know.

What's your favorite fucking color, Bob?

I got nothing for the guy.

So I ask him, like, okay, Bob Parsons here.

I put in my head, old golf guy, War vet, we're talking golf.

It's a Super Bowl.

We're in Arizona.

We're going to golf here.

We're going to golf.

This guy's here because it's his fucking course.

So I asked him, and yeah, he looked at Pat, and that's exactly.

What is this guy talking?

No, what is he talking about?

Yeah, what he's saying is golf in Phoenix.

It's awesome.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

You might be able to host this.

It's a beautiful thing.

He's great.

But I love Bob Parsons.

Love Bob.

I mean, shit.

Fucking turn around a jet so we could go get his club for you.

The list of things that we like about Bob Parsons goes.

On and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on.

And on.

And on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on.

He did that in an interview with us one time.

And on.

And then he hit another.

And on and on and on.

He's a really good interview.

He's a good conversation.

Unbelievable story.

Great golf out in Arizona.

That was a great place for you to be at.

Here's some pictures.

I don't know if it's the actual video, but I believe this is potentially.

Is this the one?

This might be it.

Is this video or just picture?

That is picture.

Photo.

Photo.

Okay.

It looks like you're holding court there.

It appears as if this potentially.

I said, girls, get my money, please.

All right, let's get out of here.

Tone, come join us, pal.

Uh, B.A., anything to say to the team?

All right, boys.

Great day.

Next time, better.

Boom.

Be a friend, tell a friend something nice might change your life.

We're in this thing together.

Team on me.

Team on three.

Hey, let's have a great night.

Hell yeah.

One, two, three, team.

Goodbye.

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