PMS 2.0 1416 - TNF Preview, Jeff Passan, Mike McCarthy, Nebraska Coach Matt Rhule, & AJ Hawk

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our Humble Bow, the Thunderdome.

On this NFL Week 4 kickoff Thursday, September 25th, 2025, this program begins now.

Football is amazing, and we've made it to another week of incredible football.

The Saturday college football slate is impeccable.

Tonight, we have an NFC West Division battle between the Seattle Seahawks traveling out to Arizona to take on the Cardinals.

Seahawks, favored by a point and a half on the road, the Seattle Seahawks team is a damn good squad.

Obviously, in its second year building around McDonald and Sam Darnold gets paid this offseason.

They have a defense that's stingy and an offense that's explosive.

Jackson Smith and Jigba is actually doing things that hasn't happened since Marvin Harrison was on the Colts in 1999.

And on the flip side, Marvin Harrison Jr.

is on the Arizona Cardinals.

How's that going?

Not great thus far.

Well, Kyler and he turn it up as Arizona hosts Thursday Night Football on Amazon prime with kirk herb street al michaels kaylee hartong on the call and we celebrate another weekend of incredible football kicking off and it's not just a normal weekend of football this one's bigger 9 30 a.m on sunday yeah

you wake up after a great college football Saturday.

That whiteout will be happening at night.

Then there'll be some West Coast football happening after that.

You'll pass out.

You'll wake up.

Maybe if you have a kid or a daughter, you'll wake up, have a good time there, do a little, hey, good morning, maybe go dance a little bit, maybe take a walk outside.

There's still going to be some dew out there.

There's going to be a little bit of the morning buzz still.

And boom, over in Dublin, Ireland, they're going to be kicking off a football game.

And it's not just like a shite football game.

We got the Minnesota Vikings with Carson Wentz, possibly in the middle of a resurgence, in the middle of his career, like we've seen a lot of other quarterbacks do, taking on Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers who are all in.

Okay.

I know that place is going to be incredible.

We've gotten a chance to experience Dublin Dublin as a host town for a football game.

It was electrifying.

We are expecting Dublin to show up in a big way and Dublin to become a normal for the NFL going forward in international games.

Pittsburgh Steelers are staying in a castle.

Yeah, it's awesome.

So cool.

Pittsburgh Steelers are staying in a place that has two golf courses, Alcaster.

The NFL told them they're not allowed to go out early.

I think there's a chance like Tomlin and Khan.

That's horseshit.

Maybe Aaron and T.

Everybody was like, where are they putting us at?

Oh, they're going to put you guys up in a castle that has the finest amenities, basically.

You'll get to go to Ireland and live the actual royal king life over there if they were to have that.

And Steeler's like, okay, so we'll go over there on Monday.

We'll get used to the whole thing, and then we'll have a game, and it'll just be, you know, we'll do an international week.

NFL's like, I don't think so.

Okay, that used to be a decision you were allowed to make.

You used to be able to travel over whenever you wanted to.

It was actually a strategy piece.

Whenever we played in England, we had a strength coach.

He was a good guy.

I think he was a good guy.

Great ballhead.

He was a good guy.

He was with the Miami Dolphins whenever they went over and played.

And I guess they went over earlier in the week week and they lost.

So his big sell was, we've been there, done that, need to go over later in the week and just kind of operate as if it's East Coast time is what we're going to try to do, not really try to make the change.

We lose to Blake Bortles and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Okay, so that ends up happening.

And the Dolphins lost whenever they went over earlier.

So I don't know if there is a right answer for an entire team because each person is going to operate individually.

But I know if a team wants to go over on Monday and treat it like a bowl game, you're already sending them to a different country.

They should be allowed to be able to go ahead and do that.

I don't love that the Steelers were not allowed to head over there early, especially with what they were going to experience.

If they think that's what's best for their team, they should be allowed to do that.

Well, it's not fair.

It's like, well, the other team.

have them.

What if they're staying in some shite place?

They might be.

What if the Minnesota Vikings are in some

scars and they're not putting them up in some

recent discovery?

Long time.

Yeah, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a lot of connections over there in Ireland.

That's one half of the hammer.

Got it.

Cowboys, massive Pittsburgh Steelers fan, Tone Diggs.

The talks and Tables here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt.

The 9.30 a.m.

kickoff Sunday is very exciting.

And if you're over there, you need to know that friends of ours have things going on, festivities.

Obviously, the Minnesota Vikings have an official Vikings pub at our friend J.R.

Mahin's place.

We were over there for the college football.

The owners of this particular pub, good lads.

Yeah, great lads.

Hardworking lads, willing to make everything happen.

They got meet and greets happening with Kyle Rudolph.

Trad music is traditional music.

Hup, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop.

A lot of this, a lot of this, a lot of this, good times.

You know, they'll have live music, pub quizzes, hangouts, after parties, everything.

Go ahead and check them out if you're a Minnesota Vikings fan or if you're just a football fan to happen to be in Dublin.

This will be where like-minded people are at.

And then there's an unofficial Pittsburgh Steelers place, Kennedy's on Westland Row.

That's the address right there.

Got a meet and greet with Brett Kiesel on Friday at 2 p.m.

And all the rallies are happening basically around this bar.

So if you're in Ireland and or in Dublin for the game, whether you're a Steelers or Vikings fan or whatever, I believe these two places, and I know there'll be plenty of others, will be having a good time celebrating ball.

Let's celebrate ball tonight.

Seattle Seahawks favored on the road against the Arizona Cardinals.

Tone, I think you told me earlier, 75% of the money is on the Seattle Seahawks.

Nobody has any hope in Arizona at home, or is it just that the Seattle Seahawks are a very good football team, as the Pittsburgh Steelers found out?

Yeah, I think it's because people think Seattle is a good football team.

Obviously, they went on the road and won in Pittsburgh, and then they just absolutely blew the doors off the Saints last week.

And even week one, they were driving down to score and Bosa wrecked the game.

They were in the red zone, had Sam Darnold fumble.

But I think like the Seahawks, JSN is the second leading wide receiver in all of the NFL, only 10 yards behind Puka Nakua, who what we all know is unbelievable.

So JSN is having a great year.

Sam Darnold is off to a very good start.

Gray Zabel, the first round left guard who they took, has been unbelievable.

Like the thing the last few years is that the Seahawks line has been shite.

It has not been shite.

It's been really good.

They've been running the ball with Ken Walker.

Sam Darnold's had a bunch of time.

But on the defensive side of the ball,

Byron Murphy, he is first as far as interior D lineman.

He was drafted out of Texas last year in the first round.

He is first in sacks, first in pressures, first in run stops.

And then Leonard Williams, Jaron Reed, and Demarcus Lawrence, they've been unbelievable.

They are getting pressure with just four.

They're in the top five in the pressure rate in the NFL, and they blitz the second least only to the Bengals.

And there's some stats here that Hembo sent over.

Kyler last year versus McDonald in two games, three picks, seven sacks, and had a 34.5 QBR when only rushed four defenders.

So, you know, it's kind of like a thing where people think Seattle's good.

They haven't really seen Arizona play well yet.

They've had some, you know, whatever games.

And then, you know, the stats this year have been great.

Okay, so Hembo said Cincinnati is the only defense in the NFL that blisses less frequently than Seattle at 16%.

Kyler threw three picks and took seven sacks in his two games versus Mike McDonald last season, had a 34.5 QBR against their four-man rush.

Now, the question is: the Arizona Cardinals, will they be able to be better than that?

Is obviously the expectation.

But also, are the Arizona Cardinals the same Arizona Cardinals as they're always going to be?

Like, is this a game the Arizona Cardinals lose?

And I think that is what the sports book and what people are thinking.

Why not the Arizona Cardinals?

What is the thought in the conversation around this team, other than the fact that AQ Shipley is the color commentator for their team broadcast?

And James Conner out,

which we certainly miss.

He's a massive piece of that offense.

Yeah, James Conner being out is a huge deal.

You mentioned JSN doing stuff for the first time ever since Marvin Harrison.

Actually, Marvin Harrison Jr.

is also doing stuff for the first time since Marvin Harrison.

That's dropping footballs, unfortunately.

Marvin Harrison had a tough go.

No, this is why I think everyone's on Seattle.

The Cardinals' stock is as low as it's ever been.

James Conner's ankle falls off his body.

He has to get surgically put back on teams.

He said it wouldn't even show a replay.

Yeah, yeah, genuinely tease and peas.

That sucks.

He's been through a lot still doing it, you know, cancer way back in the day with the Steelers, legend.

This is where the fantasy football helps you, though, when it comes to games like this, because his backup, Trey Benson, is a guy that not a household name probably, but from a fantasy football perspective, you're drafting Trey Benson late because if James Conner goes down, this dude's unbelievable.

Their backup running back is really good.

So that's probably not out there as far as like public knowledge when it comes to betting.

Like, hey, they're down James Conner.

That's the storyline.

Not as much Trey Benson being great.

Marvin Harrison Jr.,

that one's tough, but again, I think everybody has faith in the fact that Marvin Harrison Jr.

is going to figure it out.

Like, everyone's high on the Seahawks, but I think just like, you know, a lot of teams right now, you really don't know.

You know, the Seahawks beat the Steelers and they beat the Saints.

So they're 2-1, and 2-1 next to their name looks awesome.

But this could be a toss-up.

I don't think everyone should be as down on the Cardinals as they are.

Okay, here's the injury report.

A lot of names for the Cardinals.

And obviously, that doesn't have James Conner on there who's already out for the season.

He's one of their mainstays.

Will Johnson, I think there is a lot of question, obviously doubtful.

He's potentially out.

He's a great football player.

Obviously, we like him.

So at this stage, we're already having a lot of injuries to teams.

And anytime you're playing Thursday night, those questionables are always like, do we rush here or do we give a full two-week break?

Basically.

So we'll see what teams are out there tonight.

We'll see who's playing.

And we're excited that the NFC West is kicking off a great weekend of football.

And hopefully this game is an absolute shape.

We got some news staying in the NFC West.

Brock Purdy's taking first-team reps again with San Francisco 49ers.

They said it was a walkthrough, but him taking first-team reps as opposed to Mac Jones taking those first team reps, I think we'd say, welcome back, Brock Purdy.

Hell yeah, Brock.

I think that is kind of the expectation we have after reading that particular news.

I think Good Morning Football had that up across their lower third.

Out there in San Francisco, we thought there was going to be a little bit of a situation potentially brewing.

And let's stay in the NFC.

Minnesota Vikings, team that's playing in Dublin.

I guess there was a question already about, hey, if JJ's healthy and Carson continues to play, Carson played one game, played very well.

Very well.

Did throw the ball over probably in the first time since he was eight years old.

All the upside of Carson Wentz

was there.

None of the,

Carson Wentz was there.

And you listen to KOC talking to him before the game.

KOC is like, hey, it's you and me out there.

Okay.

You're doing this for me, with me, by me.

This is the entire time, play by play.

We're going to do this entire thing.

In a way, Carson like responded to that.

It was truly as if Kevin o'connor was setting it up as hey we're a tag team right now okay let's go ahead and do this and like don't let me down like yeah i need you not just do the and then i'll be thankful whenever you do the we were then we're we're in this thing together is kind of how koc was a cool thing because of how much success he's had with all these quarterbacks because he's been in their position before so he understands where they're at and he's an incredible play caller this guy so the way he kind of motivates and finds each person's best is the reason why he's coach of the year reason why they're already talking about him potentially being top two coach in the nfl and he's out there in minnesota and they're making magic happen happen.

But Carson Wentz plays good, continues to play good.

What are they going to do with J.J.

McCarthy?

Obviously, J.J.

McCarthy came in this year as the starter.

Aaron Rodgers, you guys want him in Minnesota?

Nope.

We feel good with J.J.

McCarthy.

They did offer Danny Dimes more money than the Indianapolis Colts did for him to be a backup for J.J.

McCarthy, but this was supposed to be his year.

He gets hurt, has one good quarter.

Really good quarter.

One really good fourth quarter.

Gets hurt.

Carson Wentz comes in and balls.

Their team's built to win right now.

The decision for KOC will be, do we ride the hot hand with Carson if this continues and let JJ kind of watch and experience this even more?

And is Carson going to get hurt inevitably?

Not guaranteed, but chance.

And then you slide JJ in.

I don't think Kevin O'Connor should be in any rush if this Carson Wentz experience goes very, very well.

And I assume that's how he feels as well.

Yeah, I mean, I think as of right now, the thought is, hey, they'll let Carson Wentz have the European trip.

And, you know, when he gets back, maybe JJ will take over from there.

But I think if Carson Wentz, I mean, it all comes down to how he plays on Sunday and the following Sunday, I guess.

But if he goes 2-0 in Europe, coming back,

I really don't think they'd be in any rush to say, okay, let's move JJ back in here.

So, I mean, we'll see.

This is what O'Connell said.

First and foremost, he's got to get healthy.

Okay, so he's not healthy right now.

So this is not a conversation that is actively taking place.

And then I don't think it's one of those things where it's, hey, he's healthy the night before a game.

We're going to throw him out there and say, hey, go figure it out type of thing.

So Kevin O'Connell doesn't have to answer the question right now.

That's what that was right.

The situation he put up.

Well, if he was healthy the night before a game, we're not going to throw him in there.

We don't know what the situation is because he's got to get healthy first, is how Kevin O'Connell was viewing this entire thing.

But with that being said, if Carson goes out and crushes it again, I don't know why you would feel an urgency to get JJ back out there other than the fact that you need JJ to develop, right?

Which is kind of the conversation with JJ, which goes back to the entire NFL conference.

Yeah, and it's that, and it's a confidence thing.

And if you look at their schedule, obviously they have the Steelers this weekend, but then you follow up with the Browns, with the Eagles, with the Chargers, with the Lions, and the Ravens.

Those are all really good football teams with some pretty good defenses.

So it's like,

do you want to put JJ back in there and take his lumps, or do you, how do you want to deal with that?

It's, I mean, it's, it's a, it's.

Pittsburgh's defense, okay, normally really good.

Right.

Five turnovers.

Five turnovers last week.

Last week, five turnovers last.

Pittsburgh, Cleveland's defense, historic rate.

Yeah, maybe best ever.

Maybe greatest defense of all time.

Maybe greatest defense of all time.

Philadelphia's defenses.

Literally just won Super Bowl.

Yeah.

Okay.

defense unbelievable.

Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis.

Okay, they're in there right there.

You could see, you could smell them.

You could definitely hear them, you know, because they're going to be doing that.

Then the Los Angeles Chargers.

They've been pretty good.

Unbelievable.

Yeah.

All on a string.

And then the Detroit football lines, and then the Baltimore Ravens, if they have it figured out by then.

Okay.

Yeah.

Now that's week 10.

There was a stat that was floating around the internet for the Baltimore Ravens defense about how last year until like week 10, they were considered a bad defense.

And then they turned it on towards the end of the year.

Right now, they are the worst defense in the NFL, which is what we don't expect at all from this Baltimore Ravens team.

But you look at that stretch right there.

It's like, all right, JJ, you're healthy.

Go get them.

Yeah.

And if Carson, who's been there, done that, is one tough

son of a bitch.

We know that about Carson Wentz.

He will go out there with an entire broken body, the entire skeleton broken.

He will go out there and play football, which we appreciate and we love.

But he's also seen it before.

And this is the resurgence of these quarterbacks, Seeing the defense before, understanding what's possible.

Where am I going to die?

What is the opt-out here?

Like, if Carson Wentz is making all the mature decisions that Danny Dimes is making here, that maybe Baker's making down, what Sam Darnold's making now, it's like that.

That era of quarterback getting their second shot right now, really striving.

It looks like Carson may be the next guy to do that.

Yeah, Carson playing overseas makes a ton of sense.

The only thing is, like, when you look at the JJ stuff, their whole team, their whole offense look back as Christian Daraso wasn't out there.

Like he didn't have his start in left tackle.

Like as someone who watched Drake May, you know, for his rookie year without a left tackle, it looked terrible.

Now that he has a

left tackle with Will Campbell, it looks completely different.

So like

as bad as it was for JJ, they lost to the Falcons and the Falcons defense looked great.

And then the Falcons lost 30 to nothing to the Panthers.

And it's like,

is the Falcons defense good?

Or did the Vikings' second best player as Christian Derisol play in left tackle?

And they didn't have him.

Like Carson playing overseas makes sense.

So like there's no reason to put him out there against Pittsburgh, which is going to be a Pittsburgh home game.

That's going to be a Pittsburgh crowd.

The Steelers own Ireland.

That is a fact.

And then Cleveland, you know, Cleveland's defense on the road, we'll see.

They've already given up 41s, but it still is one of those things where the Cleveland defense might come out hot.

So I'm not,

I feel like Penix is more of a worry than like J.J.

McCarthy just because like without that guy, you just said it, like they're worried about where they're coming from.

Without Darasaw, it was coming from the left side of the line every single snap.

I get what you're saying there.

Making the decision if Carson continues the ball to go back to JJ with Christian Darasaw or not is going to be a tough one for KOC.

I mean, that is going to be a tough decision for KOC.

It's going to be, I mean, especially if they go on the run that they're about, if they beat all these teams.

Could you imagine they get wins over Pittsburgh and Cleveland, or they get a win over L.A.

right there?

Like, that would be...

They'll be favored in both.

I get that.

They've done that, though.

But to your point, too, about like, hey, if we want to develop JJ, like those games that you said in that stretch after they get back, like that's not a, hey, we just can't have you lose the game for us.

Like, that's a, hey, we're going to need the quarterback to make plays in these games.

I don't think you can rely on their defense to score two touchdowns a week.

And Carson, like we've said, when he's playing his best, like

he can be a guy who can go out and win you a game.

And then Carson, does he become the next Danny Dimes that the Minnesota Vikings can't keep around?

Or Kirk Cousins that they can't keep around?

Or Sam Darnold that they can't keep around?

Then you think to yourself, but do we waste games trying to develop a guy when our entire team is built it's like such a

we are we are giving carl a lot of credit though without a doubt this is his sixth team they're not going to do this we're giving koc credit if they wanted to win the super bowl this year they would have hung on to sam darn like this whole year is because of jj i know we're talking about like hey they can go win the super bowl they're the whole year is dedicated to jj mccarley's development like carson went guess what he's not going to win the super bowl i i i really do i enjoy the cars and went thing how do you know that because they won 14 they went 14 and three last year.

He knows they have a good team.

If they wanted to go and win the Super Bowl, it would probably make sense to pay Sam Darnold $40 million and then let JJ sit and watch him.

But instead, it's like, hey, we need to get JJ out there to play, to develop him.

So this year might be a good thing.

What if they thought JJ was going to do very well?

Absolutely.

With or without Christian Darasaw.

Like, that is kind of what was being kind of discussed.

So we see.

Without Darasaw?

We see seven quarters, though.

We see seven quarters of not good football.

And then he murders the Cincinnati Bangles.

Bangles.

I mean, and now the Bengals, what is the Bengals defense?

That's a whole other

conversation.

There's a lot of those.

But I'm just saying, KOC's decision-making process in the reality of the situation.

If they were winning and Carson's playing good,

how do you, that would be very difficult, I think, for KOC to do.

And if he does, I think that's his confidence in JJ.

But what if JJ over the next couple of weeks see Carson ball out?

Maybe it makes him better.

And then he comes back and he's the best version of himself like he was in that fourth quarter.

All these things are possible.

That's why football is the greatest.

Another sport that's doing A-ok right now, and this is crazy that this is happening at 1218.

Yeah.

Okay.

On a Thursday with Thursday night football week four of the NFL season kicking off tonight.

Okay, I don't love that this is happening.

But this is a necessity for the good of sports.

Baseball is in the middle of something right now.

MLB is having huge things take place.

all over the league with playoff implications happening all across the board.

There's history being made.

There's MVP chases happening.

There's dong shots taking place.

There's teams maybe running out of the play.

Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now at 1219 on a Thursday in the middle of football season, the voice of a sport for an entire generation.

Ladies and gentlemen, jet passing.

Jet,

gentlemen, you know I don't.

Dude, dude, dude, no, no, no.

We don't need to belabor this at all.

We're going to make it worth it.

We absolutely are.

So let's get right into it because there's a lot happening right now, Patrick.

And I'm psyched.

Like, I am fired up that I'm here right now.

Thank you for bringing me on this early.

Let's get after it.

Jet, I just want to let you know, I'll tell you, this enthusiasm that you had on the call this morning, because I was sitting with the boys, and I think it was Ty goes, lots happening in baseball right now.

Lots happening in baseball right now.

So fire up the Jet, FaceTime Jet Passing.

And I literally say to you, I hate that I'm even doing this.

Okay, it is football season.

This is a very abnormal thing.

But I watched that Mets guy from center field throw buddy out at home last night in real time, send a text to my Cubs friend.

Wow, I want to play for you guys.

Then it gets overturned.

Yikes.

That is, that is tough to kind of handle it all.

And then on the flip side with the Mets, so I was in the middle of it.

And then you said, bud.

Everything's happening right now.

Is this the greatest time baseball has had?

It feels like there's shit across the board yet.

And you laid it all out for us.

It's so good.

And just like last night, seeing Aaron Judge go and hit two home runs, the first is 50, the second is 51st in the middle of the MVP race.

And then to have that followed by Cal Raleigh hitting numbers 59 in an absolute bomb to the upper deck and number 60 becoming the seventh player ever joining Babe Ruth.

and Mark Maguire and Sammy Sosa and Aaron Judge and Barry Bonds and Roger Maris.

This MVP race in the American League is absolutely incredible.

Paul Skeens goes out and throws six shoutout innings to end his season.

The Detroit Tigers, a historic collapse.

And the Cleveland Guardians getting not just back into the race, but taking over first place in the American League Central.

And on top of all of that, you've got the Mets.

They stink.

You've got the Reds and the Diamondbacks with an opportunity.

They lose in extra innings.

It was just an incredible night of baseball, man.

And considering the way that this season has gone and its whole trajectory, I was not anticipating it was going to be an exciting September.

So this is like a, for somebody who loves baseball like I do, this is just such a little beautiful surprise.

And I'm just enjoying every single day on this calendar.

Absolutely.

The highlights on the internet that are hitting and then the storylines that are developing are must-watch.

Baseball has been good to us during the offseason and now it's showing up in the middle of football season.

Paul Skeens throwing his last pitches last night, obviously watching his lady go through the anxiety of him becoming the first player in the modern era to have his first two seasons be a 1.96 ERA or something like that.

Every pitch mattered, literally.

Yeah, legit.

History was on the line with every single pitch.

And Livy experiencing that the entire time.

I loved watching.

But also, Paul Skeens is an absolute animal.

Happy to hear that he is still a monster on the mound.

We need to build that team up around him.

We've come to another offseason, Bub.

Now's the time to kind of maybe build that team up.

And let's talk about the things that are, go ahead, Jared.

It's like

Paul Skeens is going to win the National League Cy Young Award unanimously this year and deservedly so in his first full season as a major league baseball player.

And for all of the hype, that's what I love about Paul Skeens.

He came up with so much hype.

And he has not just lived up to it.

He's exceeded it.

He has been better, I think, than people thought that he was going to be.

And you surround him with the arms that the Pittsburgh Pirates have right now, whether it's Bubba Chandler or Braxton Ashcraft or Jared Jones coming back, Mitch Keller, Hunter Barko making his big league debut.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are three bats away from being a playoff team right now.

And the only way that they are going to go out and get those bats is if their owner goes out and spends some freaking money.

And if not now, then when, Pat?

At what point do you see all of this talent that you have and say to yourself, we need to take this opportunity and give the fans of Pittsburgh what they deserve?

The losing, we've had enough of it.

And you've seen opportunities that have been taken by the Kansas City Royals and by other smaller market, low-revenue teams to go and change their lineup in an offseason.

The Pirates can do this.

The question for Bob Nutting is, will you?

He already sold Seven Springs.

Okay.

That's the greatest tubing hill in western pennsylvania sure okay sold the entire place right that was years

that was years ago

at least yeah we're talking about the greatest game

in western so many years ago okay so we thought maybe he was selling that to maybe get some players turned out that went right into his stingy pockets that's what we learned about

they bought seven springs okay they got a lot of money yeah they keep doing that

nutting keeps taking money and just putting it in his pockets instead of putting it in the team and i think what we need to say to this guy, and to be clear, he looks like he's a pretty oblivious guy.

Yeah.

Just out to lunch.

Just perpetually.

Just pretty big, a little memboe.

Out to the lunch.

If you will.

He'll be one of those, hey, bud, you win, okay?

You make more money.

Okay.

So if you win, it's crazy to think.

I was at a baseball game where the Cy Young winner was pitching and there was 6,000 people in the stands

in the stands.

That's generous.

If you win, nutting, guess what?

It goes up, the ticket sales.

And then guess what else goes up?

Especially in Pittsburgh, the booze sales.

And the IC lights are flowing.

And guess what?

I need a hot dog.

I need some nachos.

God damn, is there pizza and wings here?

Give me some of that.

Player's awesome.

I want a jersey.

Oh, I might buy some merch.

This is cool.

Holy grade hat.

Bob, you spend a little bit of money.

We need three bats.

That's what I just heard.

I didn't do my own research, but I assume Jet knows for real.

You get three bats, Bob.

You're going to make more money, more than seven springs money, Bob.

There's a chance that you make really good money, especially with the logo, the brand, the stadium.

Everything is there.

Pat, I think, I'm sorry to interrupt you here, but we have a test case with this, and it's the San Diego Padres.

And I know it's a baseball cliche.

If you build it, they will come.

But what the Padres have done in going out and for years and years, I mean,

there was a fan group called Change the Padres, where they wanted new ownership in place and people who were actually going to spend money.

Peter Seidler comes in and he tries to build it.

He tries to build something by signing Manny Machado and by giving Fernando Tatis Jr.

a long-term contract and by locking up Jackson Merrill.

Like there are things that they have done that have shown their fans, okay,

we believe that you deserve something more.

We believe that we, it's on us, it's incumbent on us to give you a reason to go to the ballpark.

So let's give you some reasons.

And that's all Pirates fans want.

They want a reason to go to the ballpark.

They want to feel like ownership cares as much as they do.

And right now, that's just not the case.

But in this offseason, you sure can make the case that it is.

It's right there for the taking for the Pirates.

And the eternal question with that organization is, will they?

I understand.

It's unfair, the landscape in Major League Baseball right now when you have one team that's spending $500 million in the Dodgers and another team that's not spending even a quarter of that.

And there are a few of those teams.

And you have teams like the Cleveland Guardians, Pat, who don't spend a lot of money and win every year, the Milwaukee Brews, who don't spend a lot of money and win every year.

So you can have your cake and eat it too, but there has to be a baseline level of effort amid this landscape that you can't change.

Like until the new

collective bargaining agreement, there is no changing what your reality is.

So how about you operate within that reality, going out and trying to win as many games as you can rather than lament the existence that you're in?

I love that.

Great way to describe that, lament the existence that you're in.

And you said that fans want to see that he cares about winning as much as they do.

Even if you don't, Bob, just care about money.

If you invest into something, more money will come.

Like, it's clear that that's what you're in it for.

Just know that you can get more by having success.

That is is kind of goes hand in hand in the whole thing.

Tone is a diehard Pirates fan, and we have buried him for it for a long time.

Well, no, but it is exciting, though, because I think the Pirates organization does know that they need those three bats.

The only issue is they think those three bats are probably Tommy Pham and IKF and Kutch, and they're just going to roll them out there against him.

Well, so that's not what we're talking about.

Love Kutch.

Would like Tutch to be around.

Easy on Tommy Pham.

All right.

He'll find you and he'll get you.

He's got a good swing.

He's a mean cut.

He'll throw a bomb.

He'll beat the shit out of you if you're bumping gums.

Which I like.

Tommy Bam likes to fight.

And he hits from both sides of the plate, right?

That Tommy.

Yeah, he punches from both sides of the plate, too.

Thunder and lightning.

Yeah, on both sides.

Okay, let's talk about actual baseball stuff now.

Ty has a bunch for you.

Yeah, Jet, I want to go back to the ALMVP because I think I saw a clip that maybe you said, like, you would give your vote to judge, but, you know, it'd be tough.

And I don't like doing this because we've been doing this in the office where basically, because of my bias being a Yankees fan, I've I don't want to say I've had to shit on Cal Raleigh, but you know, Pat's really getting me going, basically say, basically, trying to say that Cal Raleigh is a hundred times better than Judge.

And I have to kind of just tell him, like, hey, listen, pal, you are very misguided in this.

But also, just as with this, like, is there just a level of judge fatigue?

And we've gotten to the point where, like, people just don't admire how great he is or don't realize how great he is because we

see it year over year.

Like, is Cal Rowley going to win the MVP or

how should we look at this situation?

I think it's going to be really close.

And here's the reality, Ty.

There's not a bad vote.

Like, you can make a very compelling case for Aaron Judge, and you can make a very compelling case for Cal Rowley.

And both of those are being made right now.

I think a lot of it just comes down to how do you view the baseball world?

Like, if your baseball perspective is through the lens of what is the best story, then Cal Rowley's the MVP.

He has the round number home run that everyone's looking for, like 60 home runs

and doing that from the position of catcher.

10 more?

60 more?

Yeah, just let him keep going.

We'll get to the stats that matter too.

Okay.

See, this is what happens.

He gets all fired up.

No, because I didn't realize Tyler's singles so much.

I didn't know what that's not actually in the right time.

I didn't know

You can't say that because Judge has hit over 50 home runs, but it's basically excuse me.

I've never seen this is Kyle Raleigh's setup right here.

Two bats, brother.

Okay, we're on one side, we're on the other side.

Sure.

He's doing a hundred squats a game, this guy.

His mitt.

Go play outfield.

I don't want to hear that.

He decided to play catcher, so don't give me the squats bullshit.

Go play first base.

Go DH.

But, Judge,

Jet, is this just turning into like, hey, whoever hits the most homers is going to be MPG?

He's mad.

He's not happy, happy, Judge.

I love Aaron Judge.

Aaron Judge was great for our show.

We love Aaron.

I'm just saying, Ty started getting a little bit of, what are we even doing here?

Whenever the national narrative started becoming Cal versus Aaron, and I think that's because Ty thinks Mr.

Judge is like best player on planet.

Mike Oakdown is the best right-handed hitter of all time.

So that's Ty's argument.

What I'm saying is two bats, you know, touching the ball every one.

I get it.

He's in there, dude.

But this is what I mean, too.

I didn't want to get in this because I love Cal Rowley.

He's awesome.

You've been fighting against Cal pretty heavily.

I have to.

I have to go to.

I have to

deft.

Pat, he is threatened right now because he knows how good Cal Rowley's case is.

That's the problem.

Like, playing catcher,

you can,

you cannot deny that playing catcher every day is an incredibly difficult thing to do.

A whole lot more difficult than what, yeah, keep doing your squats, Pat, because that's what the big dumber is doing.

That's why his ass is as big as it is.

Yeah, he's got that fat one, honey.

Yeah, he's got that big dumper.

Yeah, he's doing that.

What we have right now is

a case where I think, Ty, you said Aaron Judge fatigue.

I don't know if among voters that's real, but I think among fans it is.

I think we take for granted just how great Aaron Judge is.

And all of a sudden, you have this guy who's named the Big Dumper, who literally is like known for having a large butt.

And he goes out and hits 60 home runs, carries his team to the division title for the first time since 2001, dethrones the Houston Astros, who haven't in a full season lost a division in the American League West since 2016, and does it with an awesome September where they've won 15 of 16 games and look like the best team in baseball and have the highest odds to win the World Series of any team on Fangraft's projections right now.

It's a pretty damn good story, right?

And so what you're doing is, is you, Ty, are on the side of the nerds.

I hate to say it, but you're sitting there and saying.

In this case, yeah.

Yeah, you're sitting there and saying, but he's got 177 OPS points more than Cal Rowley does right now.

How can you possibly look at a guy with all the other things that Cal Rowley has in his favor?

Are you telling me that that makes up the gap?

He's almost 100 points higher in on base percentage, which is the one statistic if I had any to judge a baseball player on, I would judge him on.

He's slugging 686 this year.

It's Bonsian-like performance.

And you're telling me that a guy because he's got a fat ass and his team is winning because it sucked for a quarter century deserves to be MVP?

Okay, hold on.

That's the case.

Very well said.

That is exactly what's

what you just said.

That's exactly what I say.

Yes, right over there.

He actually said that.

That is why

I love that you know both sides of the argument so much, but the voters are nerds, right?

Isn't that kind of what it is?

The voters are nerds?

Let's put it this way.

I did talk with a friend who was a voter yesterday, and he said something very interesting to me.

Like, most of us who do vote, and I stopped voting a while ago, but most of us who vote, like, we take it really seriously.

We take it seriously because that's what the award wants.

Not everybody, not everybody, but we appreciate that you did.

Tone does as well.

We've seen some other voters for things come out and basically say they're not.

Yeah, listen, yeah, there are some, but the person I was talking with was taking it very seriously to the point where he asks a lot of people who play the game and who know the game, frankly, better than we're going to because they're out there every day, because they experience it, because they face Aaron Judge, because they face Cal Raleigh.

And my friend said, every player he asks says Aaron Judge.

All right.

Every player.

Well, is every player a former Yankee or a fan of the Yankees?

No.

That is how I and Bruce are talking right there.

No,

this is also somebody who does not cover a team

in the American League East.

This is somebody who is not based in the East.

So there is no coastal bias going on there.

Two massive stories happening.

And they're both on roller coaster going

this one.

Who is it, Ty?

Yeah, Jet, I mean, I know we're talking about the Tigers as being like maybe one of the biggest collapses in like sports history, but do you think the Mets are kind of getting off the hook as well?

I mean, I know both those teams are still holding on to a playoff spot right now, but for people who don't know, can you kind of contextualize how bad both of these collapses have been?

Ty, the Mets were 45 and 24.

They owned the best record in Major League Baseball through 69 games.

Everything was going nice for them.

It has not been nice since.

And it has been the slowest, like, most painful three months for Mets fans just watching this team.

I use the word disintegrate.

That's kind of what's happened.

Like, they looked like they were going to be a World Series contender, and now they're flirting with 500.

And the only reason that they still have a playoff spot is because the teams that are surrounding them, frankly, are not all that good either.

And at the same time, the Tigers had a 15 and a half game advantage in July over the Cleveland Guardians, a 12.5 game advantage a month ago.

A double-digit advantage in September.

And to watch the Tigers lose not just the eight games in a row that they have right now, including the ones, the Guardians that you're seeing right there with George Valera's home run with Jose Ramirez coming up with yet another clutch hit.

But for them to be in the position that they are right now, it would be the biggest division collapse in Major League Baseball history.

And Major League Baseball is in its 150th season, gentlemen.

So just to give you the context of that, we have like, this is like the dueling pianos of Suptitude right now.

They are both terrible at this point.

And we're going to, I think at least one of them is going to make the playoffs, honestly, because the Astros, who should be taking advantage of what's going on with Detroit, have lost five in a row as well.

It's not not just that they've blown their lead, that they've had over the Mariners all season, but the Astros are now behind the Tigers in the wildcard standings.

It's going to make for an awesome last four days of the season.

I'm just really excited to see how it shakes out and to know that on the 162nd game of the season, it could be one that determines the fate of multiple teams in the postseason.

And beyond that, guys, we've got the Yankees and the Blue Jays high to top the American League East.

They're going to be fighting for position.

We We don't know who's going to be hosting games in the Alex.

Is it going to be the Yankees?

Is it going to be the Jays?

Looks like it's going to be the Mariners at this point.

But there's just a lot going on right now.

It's why, Pat, on any other Thursday,

I would have known better than to say to you, I need to come on early.

We need to talk about this early.

Baseball's worth it, guys.

Baseball right now is as good as it gets in sports.

That's big dumper baseball.

And that's what we're talking about.

And we're very thankful.

Got to meet this whole fam.

They're so good to us, you know, and obviously put on a hell of a show, as did you.

Thank you for representing for baseball.

And we can't wait to talk to you soon, man.

When's this start?

When's the playoffs start?

Playoffs start on Tuesday.

And

ESPN, in fact, is carrying every single wild card game.

I will be up in Bristol in studio with our friends there.

And we got a great month ahead.

All right.

We can't wait to watch.

We appreciate the hell out of you.

Good luck to Dumper and Aaron Judge.

Good luck.

On the races to immortality.

You're the best.

Ladies and gentlemen, jet passes.

Yeah, the Hemi V8 is back for Ram Trucks.

Fired up and Ram,

ready to go.

Get in on it.

Motor Trent has chosen Ram 1500, the best truck down the line.

Oh, duh.

As its truck of the year.

Wow.

Wow.

Not a day.

Let's go.

Not a week.

No.

Not a month.

No.

Fortnite.

None of it.

The whole damn ram year.

Love Love it.

Congrats to them, man.

Ram trucks are also back on the track and returning to NASCAR

Craftsman Truck Series for the 2026 season.

What's the next race they caught over there?

That was, they're probably in Delaware this weekend.

They're probably around Pocono or something.

Let me check.

Oh, Upper Mountains, yeah, because they're on that thing.

Because it's

going in circles.

So it's only a lot.

But that is the difference with the Ram truck race car and every other race car.

All the other race cars sound stupid.

You know?

Yeah.

The Ram on.

Their office week.

Next race is down in Martinsville.

Who won the HC Track?

Oh, Martin Truck Tough Track.

Wow.

Tough people.

Tough track.

Short track.

Who won the Hay C 250?

That was not what's good.

It wasn't.

That's not what I can't.

I'm not going to answer.

That's not what it's called.

Really?

The Hay City After

the Hay C 250.

You sure?

No, it's 500, I think.

Oh, yeah.

Sorry.

The little seeds run the 250.

I'm not.

Who won the Hay C 20?

I'm so confused right now.

So, what, so who

won the Hay City?

That was the last race, right?

There's no winners.

Nobody won the race.

Everybody stopped.

Let me look it up.

Let me look up.

They better have finished on Green Flag, too.

I'm about sick.

I know.

I'm about sick of the caution.

I know.

I can't take it.

I can tell you that.

Second best race out there.

Obviously, Corey Heim is leading the series.

What's he driving?

What's he riding?

You don't want to know.

Yeah, I do.

He's driving Toyota.

Yeah, well, just wait till next year, bud.

Yeah, exactly.

Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram's coming back to Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram, run your ass off the track.

Okay.

And who knows?

Maybe Corey Heim, now that he realizes Ram's getting back into the race, maybe he says, I want out his Toyota.

Yep.

Like anybody would.

I want to get in a Ram truck.

Especially if it's got that heavy V8 in it.

Oh, yeah.

You got it.

I can't believe they even let those that type of truck in these races.

They don't have the AC5, tell you that.

You should put that race on, maybe.

They should only.

What are you talking about?

It's already going on.

No, it sounds like it's not.

He was pretty offended.

I thought that was maybe a name as well.

I guess it is not a name.

No, I know.

I mix it up.

I mixed up my races.

I think they run the Fat Hick 250.

That is not how that works.

You don't have the racing community at all.

No, I forgot.

So it's just the AC5 and that one is the

load of hicks.

This is what we know.

The Craftsman Truck Series in the 2026 season is going to be dominated by one truck and one truck alone.

Exactly.

It's a ram truck.

So get it in now, Toyota.

That's right.

Get it in now, Ford.

Because they're ram, ram, ram, ram, ram, ram, ram.

The Watt family has disclosed what they fed their kids.

Yeah.

You say to yourself, like the Gronkowski family.

How the hell is there so many athletes coming out of one family?

Holy shit.

They're huge.

You start looking around.

How does this happen?

The Watts, you start thinking to yourself, like, was Mr.

Watt asked maybe to racehorse this thing?

Yes, yes.

You know, because of what he was able to create.

A stud fee.

Yes.

I didn't want to have to.

Oh, my bad.

I thought we were looking for the name of it.

No, I think we all.

Hey, I was looking for it.

Okay,

when I said racehorse this thing, you were diving.

You did not know that we were talking about one of them.

I forgot what the terminology was.

That's what we're talking about, though, because of the studs that have been created, obviously, within his family.

There's obviously many others where that has taken place, where brothers or a family is incredibly athletic.

And I mean the McCaffrey family, I believe, if you go through their entire thing, it's like, whoa, what's going on?

Well, TJ Walt let us in on the entirety of it.

What an absurd eating schedule.

I mean, all they do is eat.

Here's the video of TJ talking about it.

What's the deal with the two dinners daily?

Yeah,

five o'clock and then eight o'clock.

We'd wake up to a five-egg omelette every morning.

I mean, you'd always have a full breakfast, either omelette or pancakes or muffins or something fresh.

And then they would send us to school with

two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

One you'd eat before lunch and one you'd eat after lunch.

And then you would have two lunches.

You'd pay for two

double lunch at school, yeah.

Which I didn't even know that was a thing.

Yeah, yeah, double lunch, so you have chicken patty, you just get two of them, obviously.

And then

after school you come home at like from next level or track practice and you'd eat dinner at five and that'd be like a spaghetti with garlic bread or something.

And then

at like, what, 7.30 or 8 o'clock, my dad would make like

salami sandwiches or whether it was that or he started.

But I always wanted to create things.

So if like I went to Noodles a company and I loved the Japanese pan noodles, he'd be like, oh, I can make the Japanese pan noodles.

So then like that'd be like something that they were going to make each other.

Never the same, but I give him a lot of credit.

We were into the chicken bacon ranch at Subway.

He thought he could make it exactly the same.

It never quite hit the same.

Hey, his dad, fireman, too, I think, right?

So probably cooking for for the boys down at the fire station.

The amount of eating that, so maybe that's the trick.

I got a two-year-old, Mackenzie.

Congrats to her.

She's got a 5 a.m.

omelette or muffins or pancakes.

Something fresh, she said.

Omelette or muffins or pancakes.

Something fresh.

I'm like,

muffins and pancakes and omelette, a little bit different of freshness scale.

But I like that we're having spaghetti at 5 p.m.

every day.

Oh, yeah.

And then we've got a peanut butter sandwich before the double lunch and then a peanut butter sandwich after the double double lunch.

Listen, the amount of protein we're going to be getting in here, and then also we're going to slip in carbs in the middle of the day, and then also at night, yeah, we got a sandwich coming next.

Salami sandwich.

You kind of get in there.

And he said, come back from track or something.

Think about the lifting schedule that they also had in there.

I mean, that might be the trick.

Who did we learn from, Ted?

Ted Karris.

Ted Karris, the offensive lineman for the Cincinnati Bengals, formerly of the New England Patriots.

The New England Patriots from Indy.

He's from Indianapolis.

His dad was in the NFL.

I think his uncle was in the NFL.

And when he was in high school here at Cathedral, he didn't think he was big enough.

His family didn't think he was big enough.

His dad said, you're too small for how slow you are

and you need to be much bigger.

So he drank a gallon of milk every day

through two, three years.

That's for shoot, too.

Make sure the tamer is home.

One full gallon of whole milk every day.

Throwing up all the time.

My dad took my side in eighth grade and told me I need to put on weight.

I gained 100 pounds one year drinking a gallon of milk before school every four months.

School.

100 pounds.

100.

That's crazy.

One year, 100 pound growth.

Yeah.

On purpose.

How could your body react, I guess, pretty well.

If you came in that guy going playing the NFL wins Super Bowl,

these things don't happen by mistake.

Yeah, legitimately, though, the Watt family, because you see the dad and you see the mom, and then you see the Watts, it's like, okay,

I don't think this was expected.

You know, like, I don't think this was like, hey, we're going to have a six foot seven monster of a man who's going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer.

And, oh, yeah, we're going to have another one of those that's 6'2 or 6'3 or whatever it is.

He's five.

He's all 6'5 ⁇ .

Okay, 6'5 ⁇ , but next to JJ doesn't look as tall or whatever.

And then, oh, yeah, we got a tough son of a fullback in the middle of that thing who's, I think, a genius, they say.

Oh, yeah.

It's like, he was the high school one, too.

Derek was the biggest deal early on.

I think JJ told us a story about how there was a homecoming game, and everybody as like a, for the fans, dressed up like Derek Watt instead of not TJ or JJ.

Yeah, I appreciate the fact, though, that it might just be force-feeding the kids.

Yeah, yeah, just how much food can we get into these things?

Let's do that.

What happens if you end up as that 700-pounder on Dr.

Phil, though, you know, or on or on Maury?

I think they have fat kids.

That's why they're doing four workouts a day, too.

That's the part that they all miss.

Yeah.

That's the part that a lot of kids are going to miss.

And hearing this from TJ right, they're going to say, yeah, 17 meals.

This guy ate punch.

I'm going to be TJ Watt.

Do the whole thing.

But I got to work out as well.

I think, you know,

there's some stuff out there that is making people not want to eat.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Nowadays.

Sure.

And then there's also people that are hearing that and not working out at all.

So their body is becoming a bag of leaves.

Yep.

And it's like, hey,

you're allowed to work out while also doing that.

There's going to be people that hear what TJ do and just eat all the food without doing a workout alongside of it.

And those are the 500-pound lives.

Those are the 700-pound lifes.

Little do they know they're four workouts a day away

from leading the NFL in sex forever.

40 mil a year.

Yeah.

They were so close.

Instead, they're putting the crane in the roof.

Yeah, exactly.

Getting them out of there.

Some of that is so sad.

I get so sad.

Think about the entire existence thing.

How did we get there?

How do we get there?

TJ was like, well, I'll tell you how you don't get there.

You have track practice.

You have three workouts.

You got to swim lesson at night.

You got to go fight fires with your father at 2, 3 a.m.

Whenever things happen.

The Watts are built different, man.

The Watts are double lunch at school just immediately off the junk.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you've got chicken patties, obviously we're having two chicken patties.

All the other kids eating one with a bunch of losers.

I'll bully you.

That's what we do as Watts.

I appreciate this.

Pittsburgh Steelers in Ireland, Minnesota Vikings.

This is a make-break game for you guys.

For fans.

For fans,

I think the fans are already partially.

This would break the back, I think.

But

a tough it's a tough matchup because of Van Ginki and Grenard and Hargrave their defense we're looking to play a team with with not a great defensive line and defense the Vikings are not that team they have a great defense but on the other side you know Wentz can give you a few so it could be similar to the Patriots game in that matter but I don't know I don't know I like 40 and a half I feel like

I feel like under potentially but last time Aaron was international right didn't he have a good game I think it was against the Vikings he had a good game right through

a pick six after

Van Gala they got killed by the Vikings the Jets did

and I remember when he was with Green Bay in England the it was a year the Giants were really bad and they beat them at Wembley so I don't I don't think Rodgers has fared very well internationally yeah but this year it's different it is different

it's Arlington it is it's our

hop hop hop hop hop gonna see a lot of videos of NFL fans doing that yeah a lot of NFL personalities are over there they get any of that trad music traditional music there's gonna be a lot of hopping over there Vibes, awesome.

Good time.

Yeah, good for football.

Perfect.

Good for American football.

They painted the pitch onto a

Gaelic football field, I do believe.

GAA, is that what that is?

I believe.

Yes, Gaelic football field, which is an interesting sport.

I mean, there's a paddle, a thing, a running, a jumping, a catching, a throwing.

It is very physical as well.

Interesting sport.

Huge fields, all these sports that these people play on.

Australia was down there for that Aussie Rules football.

That field is, it's a cricket state.

It's a massive circle.

It's huge, just absolutely gigantic.

They're running all over the place.

You know, that's the difference, I think, between European sports and American sports.

I think the reason why some of them have a difficult time of like getting into American football is because there's a break taken like every eight seconds, 10 seconds.

Over there, like their sports are like, hey, you got to be cardiovette, you got to be constant motion reflows.

You're a conditioned athlete.

Now, golf, obviously, different, and we're about to beat their ass this weekend.

Hell yeah.

Let's get to that.

Ryder Cup starts.

Yes, it does.

Come on now.

Now, I hate that it's happening during an incredible football weekend.

An incredible football weekend.

It's almost like the college football schedule maker said, oh, Ryder Cup thinks they're going to have a Saturday?

Yeah, right.

Let's go ahead and put five ranked games back to back to back to back.

And then the NFL said, Ryder Cup thinks they're going to have Sunday morning?

Yeah, right.

Let's have a game kickoff at 9:30 in Ireland.

Who's that team going to be?

Oh, the Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the most popular teams in the history of the game.

And the Minnesota Vikings, one of the best teams in football right now.

So it's tough to watch all this, but we do do know if America's playing against somebody else, we're pulling for America.

Yes.

How do we feel about our team?

Have we looked at the rosters?

How do we?

Yeah, just by looking at the team face value, and I'm not talking about how well these guys play golf, but I'm just, you know, there's a couple guys you can hang your hat on, a couple guys I'm pretty unsure of, but I'm willing to see what they do, you know, in the world.

For America.

Yeah, for America, exactly.

But yeah, several of these guys, if they were on tour, yeah, they'd be some of the last guys I'd want to see win a tournament.

So that kind of, you know, hurts me a little bit when it comes into this.

I agree.

But can we go to the European team, please?

Yeah.

Okay, so we can match.

A lot of mocks going on.

These guys are way cooler.

They all had full suit and ties on last night.

They look good.

We were a little loose.

Loose.

Yeah, we're acting like we won last time and we didn't.

Who's cooler on this team?

Bart Jackson.

Literally everyone.

Our team sucks, dude.

Tommy Fleetwood, super cool.

Victor Hofflin's super cool.

Shane Lowry, cool.

Tyre,

unbelievable.

Rombo Bombo, obviously doing his thing.

Love what he's got going on.

Roy McElroy's chirping.

Bryson DeChambeau.

DeChambau wasn't up for the fun of games last night.

No.

He wasn't YouTuber last night.

He stood up, getting fist bumped, sat back down.

He's representing the United States of America.

Remember, he's a member of the cabinet.

Yeah, and he is.

He's on the super duper fitness thing.

With the president of the United States, he knew what's put on good before.

Can we go back to the United States team, please?

We shouldn't be putting them up here how long.

You know, we kind of got stuck on a European team.

Let's remember, we got legends over here.

Remember Bryson D.Chambeau?

Yes.

Yeah.

You remember.

And he's not one of the guys we're worried about.

I'm going to call him Morkala.

I'm going to need to see a lot from him this week.

He's got iron.

He is a good player.

He's got good iron, so at Beth's page, I should be good, right?

Is what they're saying?

You would think.

I've seen some people struggling with the rough over there a little bit.

There's some videos coming out of guys not being able to get it onto the green back.

Matthew Fitzpatrick.

Left hand underneath, too.

He thought he had it figured out.

And the American chirpers in New York are going to be good.

Like, I think it's going to be a good atmosphere for the United States of America to win.

What's going on, Tony?

Okay, just had to look back there, see if Foxy was wearing a red coat or not, son of a bitch.

Because you kept the European team out there so long?

That, and he's rooting for him, which is weird.

Their team is just cooler than our team.

That's all I'm saying, okay?

Yeah, now's not the time to act like that, Foxy.

Okay, I'm just

going on.

I am just keeping it real.

We have the better golfers.

Our team is a better golf team, but they have the face value.

They have the cool guys on their team.

Do they have Scotty Scheffler?

They don't know they don't.

They don't have the cool guys on their team.

But let's be honest, we're at, like Ty said, PJ event, Sam Burns, I'm sorry.

Cantley, I'm sorry.

English, I'm sorry.

Ben Griffin, I'm sorry.

Henley, I'm sorry.

Cam Young, 50-50, and then Spawn, I love you because you're U.S.

Open Champion.

Okay, on that note, that's the first time I've seen Ben Griffin's face.

Exactly.

This is my entire person.

This guy was like a pharmaceutical salesman like a year and a half ago.

So we like this story.

It's an American dream.

It's an underdog story.

It's an American dream story.

And then on this side, you got just people that, I mean, even Sep Strawka.

Exactly.

We know all these guys.

I don't know who Robert McTyre MacTyre is, but I know he's going to be a part of it.

You know Bobby Mack.

He had quite the come up the last couple weeks of the PGA season.

He was hot.

He was sitting in the room watching

when Spawn made his putt.

Oh, yeah.

Unbelievable.

That was Tyrell Hatton who said, oh, he hold it.

Unbelievable.

I have some songs that

I've wrote, written, I guess.

That I'm going to like, I would want to make very soon.

I'm going to try to make these songs just because they've been sitting in my notes section for so long.

Got to add that unbelievable before one of these songs.

Certainly.

One of the greatest sound bites of his.

And to that point, that guy's entertaining on the course.

Yes.

He'll break a club.

Yes.

He'll throw that thing in there.

He'll chirp a little bit at himself.

He'll say terrible things to himself.

So that United States crowd could potentially get him down in the dumps, but on the flip side, he could become an absolute monster

in that place.

Who's our Mr.

Roderick Cup?

Isn't it Patrick?

No, it's Reed.

Justin Thomas, but yeah, yeah.

Patty Reed.

On this team, it's JT, but Patty Reed, yeah,

has been nails in the Ryder Cup.

I remember when there was a thought of us going to this.

Remember that?

Yeah.

That was never going to happen.

Probably not, but while we were talking about it, it was sweet to be like, we're going to the Ryder Cup.

It was cool in the moment to, you know, I mean, we all do.

We all do.

Record-wise, Cantlay and JT are the best records as far as guys we have on the team.

Come on, JT.

This is your thing.

Here we go, boys.

Roll tide.

Roll tide.

Roll tide.

USA, a lot of those chances we do.

All right, next hour, we'll have Coach McCarthy join us.

And then two o'clock hour, we're going to have Matt Rule and conversation with Stanford Steve.

Hell yeah.

Big college ball hour at the two o'clock hour.

We did baseball this hour, did golf this hour,

did football this hour.

That's right.

Anything happening in basketball at WNBA is taking place?

Yeah, we don't have to talk about sports.

It don't matter.

We can stay to football.

No, Fever matters.

Fever about to win this thing.

Kelsey Mitchell's about to win the MVP.

And tonight, week four of the NFL season kicks off.

Hell yeah.

We're doing it.

Yes, we are.

It's a good game tonight.

I think on paper and all of people are going to be excited about this one.

You know, just natural.

Very fair.

But I think the game's going to live up to the billing.

I think Al Michaels and Kirk are going to call a great game.

I think the kickoff crew there and the nightcap crew there are going to deliver a spectacular show.

I'm excited for week four to kick off because that only means Ryder Cup, Saturday, Sunday, Monday night.

Holy hell, we're in the middle of the great times.

Let's never forget it.

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Eight years ago, I blew my football career.

He dropped it at the one-yard line.

On September 30th, Chad Powers arrives on Hulu.

If I get plays, Russ, I'll play as someone else.

My name's Chad.

And last name?

From executive producers Eli and Peyton Manning.

Remember, you're wearing a prosthetic mask.

This is acting.

And starring Glenn Powell.

He thinks you're a rubber cheap, Tolly.

Not rubber.

I'm a man made of flesh.

The Hulu original series, Chad Powers, premieres September 30th.

Streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers.

Terms apply.

Football is magical.

Tonight, the NFC West will battle in Arizona.

Now, that's a glorious city, Phoenix.

But a lot of people do not think that they stand a chance against the Seattle Seahawks that are coming into town.

Sam Donnell will be leading an offense.

MacDonald, the head coach, will be leading a defense.

And if you think about that Baltimore Ravens defense, you know, the last couple years, beginning of the season, they've started out as trash.

They lost a defense coordinator who became the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks team.

They painted over the walls there after kicking Pete Carroll out.

Kind of a rough start, but now it feels like his culture's in there.

Sam Donald's very comfortable.

He's spinning it all over the place, and they're taking on the Arizona Cardinals team that what are they?

Are they the same thing they've been for the last couple years?

Everybody feels that that's the case, but maybe tonight's the night that they say to the world, no, we're different this year.

Gannon gets the boys buzzing.

Kyler starts making all the right reads.

Marvin Harrison Jr.

lives up to everything that we assume that he's going to be at some point in his NFL career.

There's a chance that that happens tonight at 8.15 p.m.

Eastern eastern time on prime the toxic tables here at boston corner at ty schmidt one half of the hammer done cowboys ap tony's here what's percentage of money on who 74 is now on the seahawks so it's dropped one percent since we have started the show let's go to the other half of the hammer done cowboys bubble gumpino gumpy what are you nodding your head yes for i just love it i love everything about it everyone's on the seahawks the lions flip reminds me a lot of monday night everybody was on the ravens guess what lions win no reason at all cardinals gonna get it done tonight yeah i mean two different teams, Lions, Ravens, Seattle Seahawks, and Cardinals.

But I like that you're on the Cardinals.

I appreciate the fact that that is the case.

Let's ask a Hall of Fame nominee.

Ladies and gentlemen, a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner.

And in high school, this guy was the punter.

I think he had a 60 or 70-yard punt in the game.

And then he was the running back.

I think he had 100 yards rushing, four touchdowns.

And then he was a starting linebacker.

He had 35 tackles.

Ladies and gentlemen, Centerville Elk, A.J.

Hawk.

Hocker, we're going to do that as long as as you're a nominee.

We're going to go through the history of things that need to be said.

That's all right.

That's all right.

I think it's a bit over-exaggerated, maybe.

I did play those positions, but I think you're pumping my stats up a little bit.

No, remember, you had 30 tackles in one game, twice.

Yeah.

It was in one game.

You had 30 tackles in two games.

Is that accurate?

Yes, thanks to Larry Knopfsinger, my linebacker coach, that was kept, you know, every J-O-P, every time I was around the ball, I think he gave me credit for his tackle.

Who cares?

You go to the ball, good things happen.

You know, so 30-something tackles, you're the the running back, too.

I think you rushed for over 100 yards regular basis, right?

I don't know if it's a regular basis.

Yeah, sure.

What are we doing?

What's going on here?

What are we doing?

Hall of Famer, bro.

What we're talking about is this guy's a whole, he might be standing.

Hall of Famer.

That's what we're doing.

That's what.

Whole year of this.

When do they make the announcement of who made it?

Until you get that knock.

Yeah, not for NFL honors, maybe after the season.

Yeah, that's right.

So buckle up, bud.

New fun football stat for A.J.

Hawk every day.

A.J., big game of the night.

Seahawks Cardinals.

Tone told us 74% of the money is on the Seahawks minus one and a half on the road against a division opponent on a Thursday night.

What are your thoughts as we look at this game?

Or what are you thinking about as you try to make your pick?

Man,

my early leanings were definitely Seattle.

I like Seattle.

I like what Sam Darnold is doing.

I know on the road, you know, we'll see what happens short week, all of that stuff.

I've heard people think that makes a difference.

I'm not sure.

They're not traveling too far, but I don't know.

I'm honestly still waffling on this one.

I'll give you a picket by the end of the program, but right now,

I was lean and heavy Seattle, and now I'm not exactly sure.

Both teams, obviously two and one against the spread, have made some people some money thus far this season, even though the sports books have been winning, right?

Yes, they have.

Like heavily, heavily?

Yes, like four out of five.

It's been a slaughter.

Like if you look at the top five games that have been bet on each week, the sports book has won four out of five basically every week.

It's that whole bad age.

Why?

Is that AI doing it for them?

Is that why?

Yeah, which we talked about yesterday.

We got to beat them.

And Debut said live is the way we get them.

Live is how we get them.

Because they don't have a sense of feel or awareness or what's going on or momentum or anything like that.

Now, granted, that's going to take a lot of attention being paid to your phone while games are happening and obviously being in the moment and maybe predicting not as easy, but in the live, we can beat these AI pieces.

Not mine.

You guys are good.

Thank you guys.

Mine are you.

Mine are great.

AJ said terrible things about you ai over there a lot aj said they know they're watching and listening to everything they know i don't say terrible things about them yeah that's what you're just saying you were just saying stinky ai stinks

aj said this stinky ai in my pocket always gets the wrong answers what's that and then just just yes be nice to ais people were trying to turn me into grok yesterday i didn't love that um think about this like all you need is one like last week was the browns okay that ruined everyone's money line parlays or teasers everyone either teased the packers down to one or picked them in their money line parlay you get one of those games a week,

everything is ruined.

Yeah,

Panthers winning by 30.

I bet you there's a lot of Falcons money line parlays as well.

There are some blowouts, and then there's some thrillers.

The blowouts do kind of ruin a lot of things, but unless you have touchdown parlays for the team, that is doing the.

How have you been on the touchdown parlays?

I know you and Gumpy have been cooking up some magic early in the season.

Did that continue into week three?

And how do we feel looking into week four?

Not terrible.

Week three was tough just because of some of those games.

Like there, you figured that there's going to be high scoring when it came to like Bengals Vikings.

So you you expected, you know, a Justin Jefferson, a Jamar Chase.

None of the stars have scored as much as you would have thought.

I don't think Puka has scored as much.

Leading the NFL and receiving.

Yeah, leading and receiving, but not in touchdowns.

Like there's a lot of situations like that.

Jackson Smith and Jigba leading in receiving yards.

I think he has one touchdown, maybe two.

You know, there's a lot of those.

So touchdown parlays have been few and far between, but a lot of the big guys do.

score multiple on a regular basis.

Well, here's the thing, especially if we got the dimes dive and the tush push and all this stuff, you get within six yards, five yards, that's going to one person on a team normally.

And that person's just going to hit Jerome Bettis.

I forget the stat line he had in the game.

Maybe like four touchdowns, two yards rushing, something along those lines.

I forget what it was because

Willie, right?

It was fast.

Willie Parker.

Is that his name?

Willie Parker would get him all the way down.

All the way down.

Just on his back, basically.

Balling, taking big shots, getting up, making massive plays, bang, we're getting all the way way down.

Everything, standing in there for best, you name it.

And then they would get down to the three-yard line.

It's like, oh,

bring in the bus.

Wheels on the bus.

Go right there, right.

You see Willie just walking over like, all right.

All right.

Or Lanto,

that's his fourth touchdown of the day.

Happy he's getting them all.

What was it?

In 2004, it was five attempts, three touchdowns, one yard.

Yeah, so we've, this is starting to happen though for some teams.

like Jalen's gonna get the touchdown Jalen's gonna get it if they're within the three-yard line there Danny Dimes is gonna get it for the Colts if it's within the five-yard line because we are even if they stop it We'll do it again Henry normally on the one you know Derek Henry, yes, because they're not gonna let Lamar have take that hit right there So it's like we need to start looking at that as well whenever we're viewing touchdowns It's like hey, this person is gonna get the close one and then these other people They might be stars whenever it's like a layup touchdown, they're not even in the line like they're not even in the layup line.

Yeah, something to think about for tonight with that thought is the Kenneth Walker situation with Zach Charbonnet.

Walker has been getting those carries.

He played so well against the Steelers.

He's like established more so as the one.

And then for Arizona, because James Conner is out, you would think the thought is instead of handing it, you know, to a Trey Benson rookie, younger guy, or second-year guy, whatever, multiple times in the goal line, maybe.

Kyler Murray gets a carry or two towards the goal line.

So a Kyler touchdown and maybe around the edge.

He also hasn't scored yet.

You know what, you all, you might see, because this is a copycat league.

You might see double pitch.

Yeah.

You might see double pitch tonight.

Kyler seems like they potentially could be a possibility for that.

And I will say this.

Every team, as soon as Dan Campbell ran that, showed that to their team.

Hey, what are we doing if they do this?

Because that looked too easy, didn't it, AJ?

That play looked way too easy.

And everybody's going to try to mimic that thing.

Yeah, they will, but that's the thing.

You got to execute that.

You got to practice that many, many times.

that's there's a lot of ball handling for guys that aren't used to ball handling all the time on the football field so yeah to trust a guy to make that step pitch right there which amonra is the right guy for that but you better trust that receiver whoever's doing it i think i saw how about goff handing it off up and down for him to be able to grab that easier that's like

that's a tiny detail that once again they practice and work through like hey if i give this to you can you just turn instead of me having to turn that thing can you just yeah absolutely that's like tiny little details there that obviously Jared Goff hits in the biggest moment.

And then Amon Raw has guy in his face immediately, doesn't panic.

I can make that pitch, coach.

He does make that pitch.

How many people can do it?

How many people try it?

There's a anytime an innovation comes around, you see some people get excited if they have the personnel.

This play, I guess, Dan Campbell was a part of it.

I don't know if you guys saw the clip.

He was playing for the Cowboys.

He was tight end on right side.

They ran this play to left side, basically.

So he was just kind of in the muck.

I don't think he even remembered them running that play from what the conversation was.

But I do like how offenses aren't scared to roll the dice a little bit.

Let's talk about the Detroit Lions.

There it is.

That's the play.

He's down there on the right.

He's down in the line on the bush.

Go block.

Yeah, he got his arms inside and straight armed them there.

He had full control, obviously.

That guy wasn't doing nothing.

That guy wasn't doing nothing.

Did you see the play this weekend from Purdue?

So sick.

They're kind of spin on it.

Quarterback.

Yeah, definitely find it.

Quarterback handoff.

This is probably the 15 going in.

They're They're close.

They're in the red zone.

Quarterback handoff.

Running back takes the ball.

Quarterback peels out.

Running back gets to the line of scrimmage, turns, throws to quarterback who peeled out.

Catch, walk in, touchdown.

Look for that one.

Yeah.

Because it was automatic and it was unbelievable play.

I love anytime people get creative, H.

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who wasn't scared to go deep on Playboy.

That's right.

This man's Super Bowl champion.

He's coach everybody.

Most recently, he's coached the Dallas Cowboys.

In his past, he's coached plenty of Hall of Famers.

Oh, yeah.

Might have another one on that list.

Ladies and gentlemen,

our coach McCarthy.

Yay, coach.

How do you up, coach?

Doing great.

Doing great.

Congratulations, AJ.

That's incredible.

You got to be excited.

That's awesome.

Oh, yeah.

I appreciate it.

What's your background today, Coach?

What is that?

Which is the side of it?

Roberto Clemente.

I just wanted to, you know, let everybody know what's when you come across the Roberto Clemente Bridge,

what's right there in front of you, the great one.

Coach,

Coach, Cy Young,

Cy Young winner, Paul Skeens, wrestling team, ass.

Game's over.

Why don't you tell the owner?

He'll probably listen to you.

Let's get some bats.

Let's get some bats in the PNC Park barn.

Let's get some bats in there.

Coach, hasn't it been too long?

They've sucked.

You're old enough, Yenser, that you experienced good days with the Pirates.

My dad, an older generation, experienced good days with the Pirates.

I'm 38.

I have not experienced really a single there was a playoff run there for a little bit with coaching

i haven't really experienced a good pirates time they got the guy now a pitcher why don't they spend a little money coach why don't they spend a little money and make this thing happen no i i definitely i agree you know as far as it's time because you had a great run in the 70s you had a good run there in the 90s and then you know in the mid-teens you're around 14.

so I'm with you.

It's time to get, let's get another run going.

So just an unbelievable ballpark, though,

to watch a baseball game.

Just looking at the highlights here.

So

how about Seven Springs?

You ever go up there?

You ever go tubing up there?

You know, that's notting owned that thing.

He sold it.

Obviously, we thought he was going to spend that money on the Pirates, but he didn't all he put it in his pockets.

Seven Springs under better leadership now.

We know that.

We understand that.

Well, yeah, for my neighborhood, they made us go to Hidden Valley.

We couldn't afford to.

Good tube in there.

Beautiful place.

Yeah, yeah.

Appreciate it with us.

Coach,

let's talk a little bit about tonight.

We have another division game here on Thursday night.

Thursday night games used to be just division rivalries, and they would all get dressed up and everything like that.

We're early in the year, another massive division game here.

How excited should we be about these two teams playing?

And just like last week, is the knowledge of the other team, does that weigh heavy in the outcome of every one of these fights?

Absolutely.

I think, you know, number one, the Thursday night game,

all these division games has been awesome.

And as we've talked last week, the division games are the best games of the year.

I've always felt that.

And I think just really what's going on in the league so far from a division perspective, I think with the Chargers being 3-0, and then when you look at the NFC West, how competitive their division is, clearly by win percentage, the most competitive division in football record.

You got one team at 3-0 and three teams at 2-1.

And if you look at both Arizona and the Johnson.

I know.

Oh, I know.

It's going to be a hell of a battle down there in Arizona Arizona because I know when, you know, the first thing I always look at from the numbers perspective is, you know, how are the teams trying to play, especially when you're going through September football.

And when you look at the numbers of both these teams, I think they both have done a really good job of staying on time.

You know, you look at the turnover ratio, you look at the ball distribution, which is, you know, rushing attempts and completions, and you look at time of possession.

So I think these guys have done a really good job of trying to play to a specific time clock, and it's been productive for them because they both have, you know, their one losses both came against San Francisco in tough division, hard-nosed, low-scoring type football.

Both of these teams two and one against the spread.

Sam Darnold having great success with the Seattle Seahawks immediately upon getting there.

We thought we'd never see him again.

Like, hey, he had a good run with the Vikings.

He took the bag from Seattle.

They're in the middle of a rebuild.

They lose DK.

They lose everybody.

That team's going to stink for a while.

See you later, Sam Darnold.

That's not the case at all.

They are a great football team.

McDonald's defense is a real deal.

Sam's had time, and he's spinning it all over the place.

Jackson Smith and Jigba is the leading receiver in the entire NFL.

He's on pace to do stuff that nobody since Marvin Harrison has done with the amount of deep shots and explosive plays that he's converted already over the first few weeks.

They're special, huh?

Not a lot of conversation about them.

Obviously, they beat the Steelers, so Steelers fans all have their attention.

This morning, whenever we bring up the Seattle Seahawks versus Cardinals, every Steelers fan in the building goes, that's good football team.

That's good football team up there because of what they did to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But I I don't think a lot of people really talk about the Seattle Seahawks like that coach other than

go ahead I'm sorry no no go ahead well I was gonna say always loud stadium always like they got a loud stadium but they're in a train they kicked Pete Carroll out like that's how we talk about them that's how I think a lot of people talk about them they're a damn good football team coach I don't think anybody really expected that out of them this year yeah definitely and I think you know obviously with Sam there but I I see a different you know a different mindset in the way they're playing up front I really like the way they're playing both offense and defensive line and I think, you know, obviously this battle tonight,

that's where it will start because they are definitely getting a big play production from their perimeter.

So very good football team.

You know, beating Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh, obviously an excellent win, excellent road win.

And this is going to be a tough, tough road environment for them down in Arizona tonight.

That was a 10 a.m.

start for them local time against Pittsburgh.

I mean, that's the hardest of hard.

And that's a home opener for Aaron, right?

Yeah.

Home opener for Aaron.

Home opener for the Steelers.

10 a.m.

local.

All the juice is on the other side of the field.

And the Seattle Seahawks did what they did to them.

Congrats to them.

I'm excited to see if they can continue to go tonight.

Go ahead, AJ.

Yeah, Coach, switching a Sunday night, the Packers traveling to Jerry World, taking on the Cowboys.

Obviously, Micah coming back after, you know, seeing he wasn't, it wasn't that long ago, Micah was in that facility.

Now he's coming back.

What kind of game do you think Micah has?

And what's that atmosphere really going to be like in that stadium?

Oh, I think it'll be a great atmosphere.

I mean, it always is, and especially when you have a team that travels like Green Bay.

So it'll be electric.

It'll be a Sunday night football.

But I think once that ball gets kicked off,

it's going to be about going back to the trenches.

So obviously, they know Micah very well.

He'll get plenty of attention.

I say it all the time.

He's the most disruptive defensive player that I've worked with, especially in a training camp environment and so forth.

So

they'll be double teaming him when he gets off the bus.

But I think it'll be a hell of a football game.

And

just like I've said, I think week one, I'm a fan this year.

I get to root for the Steelers openly and root for the Packers and the Cowboys.

So I just think it's going to be a hell of a football game Sunday night.

NBC has sent all of their shows basically down there.

They're making this a big spectacle, as they should.

Packers, Cowboys, two legendary teams.

And you talked about the trenches and the big boys and Dublin Micah and everything like that.

That Dallas defense is going to have to do a lot.

They were on Darius Butler's Everything DB, Good D, Bad D.

And

there was a quad box for the first time for Bad D, and it was four different plays.

Different?

Where four different plays.

Guys were just wide-ass open.

Oh, geez.

wide ass open not not for like anything too extravagant either it was Chicago Bears now obviously Caleb Williams with a revenge game against Ibra Fluce's defense and he does his thing but that Cowboys defense did not look good at all and with this Packers offense they can get you so obviously gonna have to tighten those things up but as a whole whenever you talk about playing go ahead Ty yeah and that's coming off a week where they allow 450 passing yards to Russell Wilson we saw what he looked like on Sunday night football against the Giants but coach as a whole what when it's it's the defense, I mean, offensively, you got potentially CD out.

You're going to be missing one of your linemen.

I think they're missing another lineman already, so they're going to be very banged up.

But just as a whole, like, is there anything they can correct in a week from looking as bad as they did last week to maybe get into a point where this will be a more competitive game than a lot of people anticipate?

Definitely.

And I think really, I think the...

the quick turnaround helps because you know i i think like a lot of things i think september football has components that are that you see each and every year.

And I know having, you know, being grateful to being coached before the CBAs and post-CBAs, you have seen a change on how you're able to train your team and some of the things you experience in September that you didn't in the old days.

So I think you definitely have some of that.

And when I look at Dallas's defense and obviously, you know, having personal knowledge and relationship-wise to the men in that locker room, I just think you got to look at it.

They're on their third defense in three years.

So, you know, you go Dan Quinn, Mike Zimmer, and now, you know, a new coordinator.

So there is a difference, particularly in the coverage component, as far as their base velocity,

how they're playing.

So they definitely need to correct what they need to correct, especially the last two weeks.

But, you know, it's week four.

Clearly, I understand the magnitude of the Cowboys versus the Packers on both sides of it.

But they just need to

stick to what they're doing.

It's an excellent coaching staff.

Really, really exceptional locker room.

I would say that from firsthand, and it's week four.

And

I do believe that there's a lot of football left to be played.

Some of these stats are saying there ain't that much football left to be played.

And I know the coach, your entire mission, especially if the team, and I don't know how many of those seasons you've ever been a part of, to be honest, because it feels like you win all the fucking time.

Yeah, legit.

Have you been a part of any like 03 starts?

Oh, yeah.

I mean, I go back to AJ, our first year together.

I mean,

that was a hard year.

So we were one and four, and then we were four and eight, and then we won the last four in a row in 06, and really felt like it gave us a lot of momentum going into the off-season program.

And then, you know,

came back and was the youngest team in football both in 06 and 07 and played an NFC championship game and lost an overtime to go to the Super Bowl.

So, yeah,

I think we've all been there.

And that's why I go back to it's week four.

It's a new coaching staff on the defensive side of it.

I think you can see the carryover that Dallas has on offense.

And, you know, and I think they'll

continue to carry the water as the defense goes through this transition.

It happens.

It happens every year.

But you just got to stay, you know, them players.

They'll stick to it.

And I think they'll come out of this.

Shoddy, first-time head coach.

I assume he's younger than Eberflues, not 100%

sure.

Is there a conversation that is had by a head coach there?

Like, does Shodi have to have an uncomfortable conversation with Eberflues about, like, hey, giving up 50 points a game.

Is that happen?

Or how does that kind of work as the head coach?

Like this is a first time shoddy maybe, because what the offense is doing versus what's going on with the defense, it's like, how does the head coach have to handle that?

And how do you think Shoddy might be handling that or any new coaches in those maybe uncomfortable conversations that have to take place as a head coach that doesn't have to take place at any other position?

Or am I kind of blowing that out of proportion?

No, I mean, I can only tell you how it goes from personal experience.

And obviously, having a lot of history with Brian, I think it's a constant conversation.

I mean, I don't think you just wait to talk to somebody when it's not very good.

So, I think evaluation is a seven-day, 24-hour thought process, and I'm sure that he's going about it that way.

So, you know, I know and learned it from his father.

You know, you get in there early Monday mornings, and the most important video is the video that you just got done playing because it's very, a very natural,

you know, path where you want to just Monday, hey, let's get on to the next, get on to the next opponent.

I know players and coaches, you feel that way, but I've always adhered to the most important video of that week is the game we just played.

So I'm sure they're going through it, and the corrections are being made, and they'll continue to grow from it.

If they saw the four clips that we saw on everything DB, good D, bad D, I think Shawty's going to be, did we practice?

Are we trying to?

What is the, and obviously that's going to happen.

It's week four.

That's right.

It's week four.

September football.

It's law of football.

Yeah.

yeah law of football figure it out there to go that sounds like another t-shirt

uh there's some teams though that we're talking hey they might win the whole damn thing in september go ahead tone yeah coach and more specifically

specifically that's a tough one though

that is a tough one not normally um but today maybe really i don't know specifically specifically that's a tough one a lot of sps

specifically and then a and a and that's a lot

I'm glad we got.

There's no way.

Could you nail us specifically right now?

No, from Pittsburgh.

Exactly.

It's tough for our accent.

Yeah, I think it's good.

But no, specifically talking about the division.

Well done.

Chargers are 3-0, and then you have the Bills, Niners, and Bucs who are all 2-0 in their divisions.

When you have a great start to the season, it's one thing.

But talk about when you have a great start in the division as well, being

undefeated in the division to start the year.

Well, I think it's huge because I think, like anything, just got done saying there's a lot of football left to be played.

And

your season's not determined in September.

But boy, when you can get those division victories in the bag, especially on the road, those are huge.

And I've always felt that because

victories bring confidence.

Road victories bring a little more confidence.

And road victories and division.

victories bring even more confidence.

And that's just something I've always believed in.

I think as your team grows each and every year,

you got to stack success.

And that's all part of the momentum that you're building.

And, you know, it's a long year.

So, you know, getting that momentum rolling and keep building off it week by week is awesome.

So, to have that in September, I mean, it definitely gives them a nice springboard going into October football.

Roberto Clemente had

a good run.

No signal back here.

See that?

We lost the photo.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Oh, we didn't.

You did.

Bye-bye, Roberto.

Oh, well.

Pittsburgh Pirates ain't going to be a good one.

My first IT issue.

All right.

Oh,

there you go.

Hey, open the tab.

Open the

website.

Go to Safari and then go to history.

Clear the cookies, coach.

Clear the cookies.

The starting 3-0 in the division, though.

That is such a great head start just to start your season.

I mean, legitimately, what a relief I would assume that is as you get those out of the way.

But whenever you see the schedule have that many division games that early, you know coming out of the blocks, we have to play our best football.

Feels like the Chargers are doing that for all these teams.

How hard, like the Colts, for instance, and the Chargers, all these teams that are playing great.

How easy is that to sustain?

How hard is that to sustain?

Like, what are your thoughts on dealing with a team being great early?

Like, the Indianapolis Colts right now are playing the best football that they've maybe ever played.

Okay.

The Colts as a whole.

How do they sustain that for how long the season is?

Obviously, we're crossing our fingers about injuries.

That's going to happen in the NFL.

But other than that, do they continue to get better and little things like what is your thoughts on sustaining success especially a hot start like this yeah that's where i go back to the evaluation process we spoke on earlier you cannot change your monday process you know regardless of the outcome of the game so long as you keep you know evaluating the same win or lose you know keeping things realistic because we've all been there we've played we've all been part of games where you play very well and you haven't won and there's games where you didn't play very well and have won so i just think staying in tune with the reality of where you are each and every week and continue to build off of that and grow because there are things, there are more little things in September.

I think it's only natural because you only have so many pad at practice.

You know, the double team blocks aren't as tight, the pad levels a little high.

You know, the spacing, you know, we'll go into special teams.

I don't know if we're going to talk about that today.

Absolutely.

Next.

Yeah, I mean, you got to look at the big plays on special teams.

So, are the alignments right?

It's the time clock of the snap and the hold intact, or are the pads too high on,

field goal protection because those are the things that, you know, how much time are you?

are you putting to that?

And I know as a head coach, I always looked at it as the challenge of scheduling and training your football team versus the other 31 coaches is so important

and always put a lot of time into that.

How much time are we going to spend on each situation?

If red zone offense and defense wasn't very good in 22, then

I'll tell you, 23, we were going to work on it more.

But you only have so much time in this, in this CBA era.

So all those little things add up because the little things always add up.

And that's why I just think it's so important on how you got to find ways to win in September.

It's critical.

That's why I just have so much respect.

And I think it's, I mean, I don't know, the Chargers 3-0 in the division after three weeks.

I don't even know if it has that been done before.

That seems very unique to come out and play three division games and not to be sitting there at 3-0.

So, I mean, that's definitely, you know, there's a lot of positive juice in the building right now, for sure.

I appreciate that Roger Goodell went down to Schedule Maker or somebody and said,

last couple of years, beginning of the season, you're shit.

So

division games, make it better.

We need the best games early, actually.

The teams have all told us they don't want that, though.

Well, that's good.

You know how much Jeff Bezos, how much money he has?

We would like to add him.

That is clearly a mission this year, I felt like.

With the amount of division games early, and especially the primetime games, it's like they want their best games leading off the season because there has been a lull at the beginning of these seasons.

And I think that's potentially because of the CBA era that you are referring to where there isn't much training, isn't much working.

And then preseason, what does that become?

But if they start putting these very important games at the beginning of the season, all of a sudden preseason becomes very important for these teams.

So it might have been a good answer, even though coaches are going to have to dodge and kind of duck, dive, and

dodge through this entire thing.

Yeah, through the early rigors of a schedule.

Now, on that note, you mentioned something that people have been taking advantage of this year more so than last year.

Go ahead, Connor.

Yeah, Yeah, Coach, a lot of game-winning kicks so far this year.

I think we had four this past weekend.

We also had a potential two-score kick for the Bucs to go up.

Instead, the Jets take it back for a touchdown.

Rams, Josh Cardi's got a chance at a game-winning kick that gets blocked for a touchdown.

Special teams seems to be a massive deal so far early on in the season.

What do you think so far about field goal operations, things of that nature?

And then how do you feel about some of these kickoffs?

The Rams, Josh Cardi, and the Panthers, Ryan Fitzgerald.

I believe both those teams lead the league in opponents' starting field position.

I think the Panthers right here, this is Ryan Fitzgerald, they lead the league.

Their opponents start.

In the drive start, their opponents start their drives on the 21.

Vrabel said he watched two hours of this special team stuff this week to prepare for the Panthers.

What do you think of all this,

Big Mike, and how do you think it's going to affect the game?

Well, I mean, going back to the first part i i know historically uh for me personally the teams that i've coached you know being in charge of a draft and develop program um always had a little more anxiety uh towards special teams particularly early in the year because being a young team uh obviously your special teams are even younger so uh so that that was always a bit of a challenge and something that was a really focal point uh for me and a special teams coach as far as how you know we were trying to play coming out of training camp going into the season so i do think you see some of that that can affect the opportunity for potentially more big plays.

And I think clearly on the kickoff, I think the league is getting exactly what they want.

I don't recall specifically what the numbers, but I think they were down to 20% returns and 80% kickoffs.

And I know the goal was to get it up to, I think it was between 70 and 80% returns and 20, 30%,

excuse me, touchbacks.

And I'm not sure where those numbers are now.

Way up.

Way up.

Yeah, I know they're way up.

No, but they're celebrating that, though.

The NFL is celebrating that because that's a big change.

The whole kickoff

was a huge change.

And they're saving it, they said, Coach, everyone, and save the kickoff, is what they were saying.

Definitely.

And I love to play also because, I mean, I think it gives you a chance also when you get into roster development to make sure you're giving, you know, the turpins of the world opportunities to affect the game and things like that, because there's definitely a place for those type of players.

So I think it's great that the kickoff is back in the game.

2006 Bears started 3-0 in the division.

You should remember that.

They made the Super Bowl.

Yeah.

My first game as a head coach.

Yeah.

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

I didn't mean to.

Time opener.

Yeah.

Bad memory, right?

Sorry.

It was a hard day, AJ.

Tough one.

Tough one.

Sorry.

Let's talk about that.

Oh, we made up for it later, though.

We came out of it.

Put a trophy in the building.

Okay.

That's, I heard the Steelers, I think it was Joey Porter.

Yeah, I think Joey Porter spoke at training training camp, and he said that his group basically, we added a trophy to the building.

We feel like we did our job.

That's like a good way to kind of view it all.

Back to the kickoff thing.

They're hitting a squib.

Okay, these two guys are hitting squibs, good squibs.

They're going a dirty ball, a knuckleball.

This is a squib.

This is what a squib used to be.

And I don't know if I love the kicker hitting the squib.

I think the punters should be working on hitting squibs.

Just the thought of a kicker having to hit a ball fat, I don't like.

I just personally.

That's what they're field goal kick.

I don't like like it.

Yeah.

Just them seeing the ball come out shitty like that when they're taking their field goal steps, I don't personally love.

But these dudes that hit good squibs, I think it's a real weaponry.

It is a real weapon, coach.

And I assume there's going to be more people that are going to try to do it.

But remember, if you hit this thing and it lands too short, if it lands in front of the 20 there, that ball's all the way out to the 40, which is like basically 70% or 60% scoring percentage or something like that.

Whenever it's inside to 20, it's like 15% or 12% or something like that.

So it's a huge deal if you're able to hit one of these good balls.

And the fact that Vrabel is paying attention to it, I obviously massively respect.

But I think special teams' importance is very real this season, more so than ever.

And the kickoff's a big reason because of it.

Yeah, definitely.

I've been very blessed to have two exceptional kickers in my career, both starting in Green Bay with Mason Crosby and then down there in Dallas with Brandon Aubrey.

And it's a great place to be, you know, as a head coach because it definitely makes you approach certain situations differently.

I mean, Mason used to have an unbelievable spike on sidekick that, you know, I would try to, you know, space it out almost every four or five weeks or six weeks.

We were always looking for the opportunity to utilize that.

And then he also had a couple different sky kicks at, you know, different spots on the field.

So I always looked at him as a tremendous weapon, especially playing outdoors in Green Bay, especially in the winter.

So

it is a nice part that has been added back to the game.

So I'm definitely excited to see the kickoff back.

And then, you know, Brandon Aubrey, I mean, what can you say about him?

I mean, he used to go into games and talk about the game-winning field goal spot would be 33, 35, 36-yard line.

Now you just got to get it closer to 50.

So that's a nice weapon to have.

So

very, very blessed with those two guys.

That's a really comfortable spot to be.

He said he hit a 60-yarder in warm-ups, and it was close.

He had to hit a 66-yarder, and he just told his body, Hey, we need a 66-yarder here.

That's a good thing to be able to do if you're a kicker in the NFL.

Yeah, I have no idea how far I can hit it, but I know I need it to go 66 so just kind of all right just figure it out and he does he did

and you stand behind him man that ball is like a rocket coming off his foot and it's you know just over the years you're you know that's that's where i would always stand doing the special teams behind the punter or behind the kicker and well when we brought him into training camp that year after he was done playing at USFL, it was obvious on the first five kicks that this young man was different.

You know, the ball just exploded off his foot.

Smooth swing, too.

Never really trying hard.

Just like a super smooth swing, perfect form every time.

And he said that none of his balls are the same, and he's never back at the same spot because he doesn't want to become a robot, he said.

He just wants to kind of keep it all kind of fluid, which is the complete opposite of what every other kicker basically says, which is why I love him.

I love him even more.

It's like this dude is an anomaly.

The kickoffs, though.

Aubrey's a talented ball striker, a talented enough ball striker to figure out all these guys are.

But I don't like kickers taking their field goal steps and then the ball.

In my head, I'm just too mentally weak.

I wouldn't want that.

You know, I just, Cardi potentially on that last one, too, I know it gets blocked.

Yeah.

That thing's poorly because to hit that squid, you got to hit that fat, coach.

You understand?

You know what I'm talking about.

You got to hit that ball fat.

You got to hit the middle of that thing.

You do not want to do that on a field goal.

I mean, that is like, and they were talking about the difference is like this much.

So like that much of a difference between Matt Prater the other night and then hitting that thing perfect in the straight.

It's like, I don't want to dance with it.

But good luck to all the ball strikers.

And And I appreciate the fact these kickers are getting better.

The surprise on-site kick out of the game, coach, I feel like we're all to blame for that.

You know, and you talked about Crosby, he was so good at that.

Just casually running up and spiking that thing off of the ground.

He was a weapon.

Janikowski, maybe the best of all time, especially whenever he was out at Oakland on that baseball field, he'd spike that fucker off that dirt.

And that thing would hit the top, would hit the weed clouds that are hovering above that Coliseum out there.

It was, it was outrageous.

Yeah, good time.

Special teams back.

Hey!

Oh, yeah.

Special teams are back.

They were talking about that leaving the game, Coach.

I'm happy that's not the case.

Hall of Fame nominee A.J.

Hawk has a question for you.

Coach,

I don't know if you saw last week, we see Andy Reid kind of give Travis Kelsey, I think, a nice little shoulder on the sidelines.

I thought it was a positive interaction.

I think it shows both these guys care about their job and they want to get the job done.

They want to win.

Over all the time you've had in the NFL, have you, not you personally, I haven't seen any footage of you getting in a fight with anyone, but have you witnessed any great interactions on the sideline like this or like something much better maybe back in the early 90s when coaches and players sometimes legit would fight?

Oh my God.

I mean, 90s was a whole different era.

I mean, without a doubt.

But yeah, I'm just watching Andy's interaction here for the first time.

It's awesome.

But I think it's your first time seeing that.

That's your first time seeing that.

Yeah, it's awesome.

But

I think that stuff's really

helpful.

But also, what I like about it, I think it says a lot about the relationship.

You know, because

being from Pittsburgh, as you know,

punching on guys is a sign of love.

I mean, that's, you know, I think

that's an expressing from our generation, and I think that's really cool.

I think it tells about the relationship.

Obviously, whatever needs to be said, or whatever was happening at that time, obviously, that they were addressing something.

But, you know, what happens on the sidelines definitely needs to stay on the sidelines.

And especially being a part of NFL pre, where they had the mics in your face and so forth, I think people are more conscientious of it now.

Because, I mean, it's hard not to notice a boom mic coming flying down over your head and things like that where obviously the you know the 90s was a lot different and i know when i first uh became a head coach you know my mother used to tell me all the time that my language is terrible and i says well

she goes you can't talk like that when you have the camera on you i said i i have no idea when the camera on me she goes well you need to clean up your language so but it's uh it's a different era now but i think the 90s was a lot more fun that's for sure okay so i didn't get to experience the 90s my mom as well whenever I become a kicker and whole world change for my family, you know, all of a sudden our first game was on national television against Syracuse.

Okay, it was on ABC, my first football game, freshman for West Virginia.

And I just got out of the soccer world.

I would show up on Fridays in high school.

This is like me just getting dropped into that.

And I missed like from 47 or something like that.

And I drop a nice, clean motherfucker just immediately.

You know, that's, that's the immediate reaction.

Then I walk into the locker room.

I apologize to the boys for that.

Then we kind of get off.

And my mom was like, hey, you just need to know that they are zoomed in on your face as soon as you miss.

So what you said there was very loud.

So I would, for a couple of weeks, you know, I feel like I didn't do it all the time, head down.

And everybody's like, oh, he's pouting or whatever.

No, I'm, I'm, yeah.

There are some terrible things being said about myself going straight down.

But in the moment, it's hard not to get caught in it.

I think that's what Andy Reid did with Travis.

And I think it goes back to what you're talking about, about the relationship.

Andy Reid and Travis Kelsey got to get along very well, both for what Travis did to Andy and then now what Andy is doing to Travis.

And then Andy Reid came out, and I don't think I like this, Mike McCarthy, and I'm Pat McAfee.

He said, you know, Travis is Irish, too, so we gotta, he gets a little fiery sometimes.

Did you hear that, Coach?

I mean,

truth can hurt sometimes, Pat.

I agree with Andy.

You can't dispute that.

I mean,

I think it's part of the Irish genetics.

Hell yeah.

Bill Poleon texts me after I got arrested for a public intoxication.

Alleged story.

Definitely publicly intoxicated.

He sends me a text.

Hey, when you get in, come to my office.

We'll have a conversation.

And he put in there, I know you're Irish.

I'm Irish as well.

Let's just have a conversation about everything that took place.

And that was the first time that I'd ever had that said to me by somebody.

And I was like, oh, this guy's like, hey, we're not screaming at each other in here.

Just want to let you know that this is not going to escalate at all.

I don't think the Irish people should be judged like that.

I don't think we should be judged like that.

Yeah, but I mean, but it is reality a situation.

I would want to be associated with that as well.

I'd rather be that way than any other way.

Let's talk about this weekend.

They're playing in Ireland.

Minnesota,

Pittsburgh, 9.30 kickoff for us.

Central time, what is 8.30, I guess.

Kickoff.

All day, getting a chance to enjoy it.

Pittsburgh Steelers, obviously very popular, we think, in Ireland.

Dublin being a Steelers home game is how everybody is feeling is.

Carson Wentz, though, I think the Irish could potentially fall in love with this thing if they see him walking around the streets.

How do you feel about these international games?

How do you feel about them playing in ireland i love it i didn't really get to experience it much of it later in my nfl career but i always enjoyed you know with you know the tokyo bull and things like that but you know i was at the university of pittsburgh 1989 we had a chance to play rucks and rutgers in the emerald aisle owl see i can't say it emerald aisle classic there you go game over there in ireland and that was just such I mean, that was the coolest experience.

And then just to see all the Pittsburgh people come over there for the game.

So I think it's just going to be an incredible atmosphere for the NFL, obviously, with the Rooney family,

Rooney family's connection to Ireland.

So I think that's going to be a really cool game.

Hey, so Packers didn't do international games until what, Brazil?

No, until when they went to England to play the Giants a couple of years ago.

Brazil was the second time.

Runway's too short.

Yeah, runway's too short.

Yeah, exactly.

It's kind of unfair.

We can't get over there.

Runway's too short.

Sorry.

Can't build anymore, too.

The land's bought.

So we can't fly anywhere.

And then Dallas, does Dallas?

I don't think I remember at 9.30 a.m.

Dallas.

I doubt it.

Jerry, I could see never letting that happen.

So you guys didn't do that, huh?

No, Mexico.

Jerry would go to Mexico, but

I don't think going over there was an option.

But yeah, AJ, we missed the European.

Ted Thompson

never wanted to go across.

I think it's cool when you get to do that.

I've never heard anybody dislike it.

I coached in the game down there in Mexico when I was with the 49ers in 05.

We played the Cardinals.

That was a neat experience.

That was the first regular season game outside of the United States.

So I think it's been very positive, not only for the NFL, but it's been great for the fans.

I like hearing that from you.

If you get back into coaching somewhere, we know that Australia is looking to have a game.

Sounds like he would love that.

Yeah.

Coach.

Maybe not Australia.

Coach Oliver.

Make sure we got a bye week here, Pat.

Can you get that done?

We got to make sure we're a bye week on the way by.

Bye week before and after.

I mean,

16 hours over the Pacific, you're going, let alone to get to LA or whatever, but 16 hours over the Pacific to get there.

You just did that trip, right?

Yeah.

There's no Wi-Fi either.

You're Amish there for that entire,

you are doing it.

And it's a long way.

You got to really do it.

But once you get there, the place is beautiful.

I mean, it is, that place would love American football if it was.

fully around and ever-present.

It's just the timing is crazy.

That's why them thinking about taking a game over there is absurd.

Life clock is going to be set back for weeks for guys, I think.

I think that'd be maybe too much for the players, no doubt.

You definitely have to build in some extra time there.

Coach McCarthy will take his team over there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You're a good bloke.

I'll do anything right now.

Yeah.

You get me to do anything right now.

All right, let's do this.

How do you think tonight goes?

Because we know you're not

against a spread picker.

No, you're not a goblin.

Okay.

You would never want to do that.

But if you were to, with the way you've been describing these games, we'd just like to let you know you would be two and one right now.

Last week is the one, okay, in two and one.

And you waffled on that.

Coach.

You even said in your statement, this is how I believe.

And on that note, I don't believe that tonight.

You went directly against yourself last week.

So you're two and one.

I think you're seeing it well.

And I think you need to go with your gut.

Isn't that kind of ambition?

Yeah, especially because, I mean, Coach, I don't know if you want to say, but I believe Big Mike unfortunately caught some gruff last time he was up Green Bay from a bartender letting him know, like, hey, I bet on the bills because you told me to, but now you're sitting at my bar and you just said, that's too many points for a division game.

What the hell is going on?

Well, that's because he wanted his own, right?

Do you want to get your own intuition?

No, I just, I do.

I mean, just my personal experience, division games are so damn tough.

I mean, to take that many points, but you know, I was kind of riding, you know, just watching Josh Allen play that week and so forth, you know, thinking, oh, they can handle it, but I almost need to apologize to Miami.

That's just a tremendous amount of points in a division game.

So yeah, I just do, I know, I feel like I say this every week, the division games are the best games.

I mean, it's going to be tight as hell.

You look at the games that both teams have played so far.

They both have lost tough games to San Francisco, tough defensive battles.

You know, both these defenses are playing well.

I think that you look at all the numbers, because the first thing I always look at is, obviously, you look at the score of the game, but you look at the turnover ratio, ball distribution, time of possession, then you go look where the big plays.

But the one one thing that really factors into these Thursday night games more than we probably give credence to is the injury report.

And based off what I saw this morning, I think Seattle

is a healthier team coming in this than Arizona.

So I'm going to go with the Seahawks.

Okay, this doesn't even have James Conner, obviously one of their staples over there in Arizona.

He's out.

Backup running back is good, though.

Connor has done film for fantasy football teams into him.

And then the Seattle Seahawks, they seemingly are playing great ball right now, too.

Like, it's not even a question.

I know they lose, and obviously, what are the Niners going to look like going forward?

Brock Purdy's getting one reps, Bosa out, though.

So, what is the San Francisco 49ers?

Do they make a big trade for a bass rusher?

That's what they were talking about, kind of alluding to in the past with the San Fran 49ers.

Like, McCaffrey was one of their acquisitions mid-season when they were really and then they started giving him the ball.

Yeah, and it worked for them big time.

They did.

Did they get Bryce Huff in a trade or free agency?

And then they

draft?

Michael Williams out of Georgia.

So they do have guys at those positions.

They're not Bosa, obviously, but they have guys at that position.

So it'll be interesting to see.

What about Hendrickson?

Yeah, Trey.

What about Trey Hendrickson?

Especially with how it looks like Cincinnati season could go from here on out.

And he's a free agent at the end of the year.

So that's one of those things that could potentially take place.

We're just, we are.

This is no intel.

No, hypothetical.

This is hypothetical.

This is no inside information.

We are just making this up on the spot, which is kind of what the show is, which is why we appreciate you joining us and being a part of the bullshit, Coach.

You're the best.

Well, I mean, bullshit and wit, man.

I'm glad to be part of it.

I mean, it's just, it is impressive, though.

I mean, you threw out some great, great ideas there.

But as you know, all teams operate this way.

They're looking at everything every week and so forth.

And I'm sure the 49ers will obviously involve the conversation just like every team is.

So that is happening every single week at every team, you think?

There's like, who could we add, potentially add, will we?

Probably not, but this is available.

That has to happen at each team now at this stage of where the NFL is?

Oh, I think so.

I think if a personnel department's not involved in conversations 365 days a year, they're not doing their job.

Hell yeah.

That's been my personal experience.

So

that's the way the organizations that I've been a part of operate.

That's your personal personnel

kind of experience.

I like that.

I appreciate that.

Hey, Coach, anything to say to the team on the way out here?

Great job, guys.

I mean,

it's an adventure, and I'm enjoying it.

I'm loving it.

Team on three.

Is that how we do it?

Team on three.

Let's get get the Hall of Famer to break us down.

Yeah, you're right.

Yeah,

you're right.

AJ, Hawker, let's go.

What do you got, Bub?

Coach, you ever go on Jerry's yacht?

I meant to ask you that a while ago.

Yes, it's unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

We'll hear about that maybe next time.

It's a good tease for next time.

Team on three, one, two, three.

That's good.

That was good.

Yeah, we maybe do hear about that.

It's Coach Cars.

He's second, Barcelona.

Good question, H.

We saw Jerry drafting from that thing.

Oh, my God.

And they took that drone outside and shot it, and that drone just kept going.

Just kept going.

Thought it was cruise shit.

Lost connection.

Base Jerry Jones.

Yeah.

It's too far.

It's too big.

Had to recheck into Bluetooth on the other side.

Got two different Wi-Fi, two different passwords.

The AirPods are reported as missing.

If they're left on the other side, to your phone on the other side of the yacht.

What a special place

Jerry has built down there.

NBC, it's been reported they're sending everything.

And Jerry's like, of course, of course they're sending everything.

Goddamn right.

Bring them down.

What do you think this is?

They got the Ryder Cup obviously happening.

That's great.

That's special.

Guess what's a nightcap?

The show.

And guess what?

Somebody we made into a star.

Do you know him?

Micah Starsons is what I like to call him because he had a star on his helmet.

So that's why people, if you don't recall, we made him a star.

You're welcome.

He's coming back in to the place that made him.

I birthed this man.

And now he's coming back to my world.

We will not be showing the video.

Okay.

There will be anecdotes for that out there.

Outside, you'll see maybe little koozies and things like that.

There's enough welcome for him around is what he said there's enough welcome for him around there it's like from

it is uh this is you think were you surprised though did you think they were gonna have a video for him no no no no i don't think so like four different four years yeah four years not a long time now

He was pretty great.

Or great.

Yeah.

He's amazing.

Unbelievable.

The wound is still fresh.

And every year after his, you know, the Cowboy season, it is always like, geez, another disappointing season for the Cowboys it was it has never been since since Michael was there at least like hey great season

that's part of it good season for the Cowboys but seriously I mean if if you win something I feel like you get a tribute isn't that kind of well Emmett's a little bit different now fucking Emmett I almost gave him a percentage of the team

okay he

2-2 He didn't vote for the star.

That's different.

Jerry Jones' life a lot different before Emmett Smith and after Emmett Smith.

We will certainly pay homage to Emmett.

Emmett.

And if Troy wanted to come back and play somewhere,

I guess we'll put fucking eight up here.

Micah Irving?

The playmaker?

Micah?

We'll have him hit that siren actually if he's playing for another team.

Micah Parsons now, I'm not 100%.

I don't think that's appropriate.

That's not appropriate.

I don't think that's appropriate.

I don't think the Colts did it for Edge.

I was there for that.

That's different.

Edge played for the Arizona Cardinals.

Oh, thank you.

When he came back, there was a nice tribute.

And also, we know how close Jim and Edge were.

They're like very good good friends so I assume that was a very difficult decision Joseph Adai though was unbelievable running back for us same with Dominique Rhodes so I think that decision was certainly one that Arizona made for everybody whenever they offered to pay the amount that they offered to pay for Edger and James but when he came back they showed it Edge did a fool you know Peyton Manning obviously during the 1812 battle on Sunday night football that was cool I think NBC sent everything out for that particular night too as Andrew Luck took on Peyton Manning and the building that Peyton Manning and the boys helped usher into the city of Indianapolis Indiana It's like that was special, you know, but he got a fool before the game.

There was, I think NBC even offered up the time.

Hey, we'll give you guys what time do you want to do your thing?

Before the game, there was the full, I don't know if you remember this.

Yeah.

During like throwing time for him before coin toss, stopped his throwing, helmet off, full embrace of the crowd.

Yeah.

That was a big deal.

Yeah.

I'm warming up.

on the field there.

That's punting time as well.

And I'd never seen Peyton take the helmet off in that moment because that's like locked in time.

And it felt like he did get emotional during that.

Like, that felt like a real, like, because this city is very grateful to Peyton Manning.

And I think in that moment, he got a chance to, like, kind of experience it.

And I do think that kind of, I think that was a little bit of a

gamesmanship.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think there was a little bit, you know, this sort of thing.

Like running the, like running the military family out between the third and fourth quarter.

And the dad surprised him.

And I'm sitting on the sidelines bawling in my helmet, watching the daughter run and hug the guy.

Like, yeah,

that does something to you.

Crying our faces off dude oh

because normally those are happening during times where the field's open so i'm on the field punting okay so then if something's happening in the middle of the field and a ball accidentally goes near there i'm the worst person on earth okay so i'm paying attention to all these things and the military surprise comeback home every time water works on the field punt i'm like blurry like literally punting the ball, looking over.

Oh my God, this is so awesome.

He wasn't supposed to come home for three months.

And then like the little kids, obviously, the fool surprised.

You know, mom might have a little sense something's up.

Sure.

Mom might have, or dad, if mom's coming home, might have a little sense that something's up.

The kids, though, have no idea.

The kids have no clue.

So whenever, old dad or mom pokes their head out of whatever it is, he can't help but just like start to pull you.

You think that was a strategy, though?

I didn't even view that as a strategy for teams potentially.

Maybe it's both.

Well, no, I don't think the military thing is, but I think definitely honoring the guy.

It's a little bit of both.

Like, hey, we're going to put a great package together, make him feel great, maybe even cry a little bit, maybe get him off his game because we know how dialed in this dude is.

We got to, we got, you know, he knows he would respect us as competitors doing this.

It would be cool if maybe they showed the boys on the home team the video: hey, this is what's going to happen.

Yeah, okay, get the waterworks out now.

This is going to happen right before fourth quarter.

The other sideline is going to be balling their fucking faces off.

Let's hit them.

So, here's Sunday night football.

This is the War of 1812 as Peyton Manning returned back to Lucas Oil Stadium.

Now remember, Peyton Manning

was cut by the Indianapolis Colts, and it was during a time where they didn't know if he was going to be able to grip a football again because what he had going on with his neck and his spine and everything that was taking place.

And it was also during the lockout.

I mean, there was, here it is right here.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And you got to remember the say that Peyton had in this city.

He would literally forever do this number and everybody in the city would shut up, whether they were at the game or not.

If he did this, baby stopped crying downtown at Riley Children's Hospital, like Peyton Manning's children's hospital, his own children's hospital.

Baby stopped crying when he did this.

And then, if it was this time, they went crazy.

That dude, obviously, statue well-earned.

And the Colts fans that night delivered.

They were so loud against him.

They knew exactly what he didn't want.

And they clapped for him, jogging at him.

Very beginning.

It was like a perfect thing.

How does that happen in New England?

It was just like Brady.

It was the same exact thing when Brady came.

I mean, you experienced it with Vinny, kind of.

Yeah, on the field.

Yeah.

Love you.

Love you.

Once the clock starts, this guy is,

yeah, exactly.

This guy basically pissed on my mom's face.

That's how much I hate this guy.

Treason, yeah.

That is what people are saying to Adam Vinitari because it's a little tight there.

So as we're jogging on the field, Adam Vinitieri, this guy's done a lot for the New England Patriots.

He's jogging on the field.

Place going, hey, welcome back.

He's a top five Patriot all time without question, Adam Vinetary.

But long.

He started it.

He started the dynasty.

Exactly.

And even before the dynasty, like the Herschel Walker thing, kind of before my time, but like my dad, when I bring up Adam Vinateri, my dad's like go-to is, yeah, Adam Vinateri tackled Herschel Walker.

Obviously, he's a dog.

So whenever he goes on the field, hey, welcome back, Vinny, good to see you.

And then as soon as that shit started, there were some terrible things being said to Adam Vinatier.

And the Nets, like right there, very close at that stadium.

So, and then as soon as the game was over, all right, Vinny, thank you for everything.

They've tried jogs out.

It's like, damn,

this place is awesome.

Pittsburgh would do the same exact thing.

It was nice to see Indy do that.

Dallas, probably the same exact thing with Micah, if I had to guess.

Although, this thing has gotten really sour, really quick.

Yeah, it might be on Micah's side, though.

I was going to say, it's going to be interesting because he was traded and he kind of wanted to stay, as everything we've heard.

And I also appreciate Jerry instead of making him cry.

Let's mispronounce his name.

Call him Michael about a hundred times before he comes.

We'll continue digital.

We'll see you tomorrow.

Goodbye.

That came quick.

That was a little premature there.

A little bit.

That clock.

It's been an hour of 57.

I had no idea.

Yeah, that's crazy.

That first hour, we flew.

We did baseball in the first hour.

AJ, did you see that?

You did a good chunk on baseball.

Yeah, Jet brought the juice.

I called Jet this morning, FaceTime.

I go, I fucking hate that I'm doing this.

Okay.

It's Thursday, week four of the NFL season's kicking off.

We need to have a baseball conversation.

We need to pay respect to what's going on in MLB.

Okay.

We need to pay attention to what's going on.

I think we should showcase it.

And Jet goes, I'm only available in the noon hour.

And I go, Jesus, Jet, the first hour, brother?

I said, I don't know, dude.

I said, we're trying to build during that hour, you know?

Like,

there's a chance.

Oh, no.

I bet if we look, it's more than a chance now.

Okay.

Well,

I told that to Jet.

But then out of respect for sports as a whole and

the argument that Jet laid out immediately upon me saying that, he's like, this is what all happened last night.

Bang it a banger, bang it, it banged a boomer, bang with a power.

Here's what's potentially coming up.

The playoffs start on Tuesday.

We got game 162 about to determine like four or five different teams' fate.

Like baseball is really having a night.

And last night, I happened upon that strike from center field from the New York Mats on the Chicago Cubs.

It was an electrifying environment.

And I think I saw somebody with long sleeves on.

I'm like, oh yeah, we're in the time now where baseball really matters.

And Jet won us over.

So we did the baseball.

And also, anytime you can get in there, Paul Skeens won a Cy Young.

Like, you got to.

Hey, the best pitcher in baseball is our guy.

You know, that's good.

And do people know, other than if people aren't die-hard Paul Skeens or baseball fans, do they even know he had such an unbelievable season?

So that's also another part of the we should do the baseball here on Thursday, week four kickoff.

So we did that.

We also talked about golf.

Yeah.

How do you feel about our Ryder Cup team, AJ?

We haven't heard from the Hall of Fame Nam here.

Hoff Nom,

what are your thoughts on the USA team and on the European team?

Well, I don't, there's been some slander towards this American team from this program.

I mean, I know, what are you guys saying?

They're not cool or they don't have Moxie or

Moxie on the team.

What's your problem?

We don't need Moxie.

If they were in Europe, they would need Moxie.

Our boys would need Moxie.

But we're in America.

Our fans will have enough Moxie for our players.

Players just need to lock in, dial in, and maybe not start verbal sparring with Rory beforehand.

And Bryson D.

Chambeau, to his credit, last night, no games.

No games.

This ain't about chipping over my house.

No.

This ain't about putting a ping pong ball into a cup so that somebody can win a Ferrari in my living room.

This ain't about having a good time in the back of your Thunderdome getting very close to a whole one multiple times very quickly.

This is about beating the shit out of Europe for the United States of America.

And I like that he's locked in.

Yeah.

I like that he's dialed in, AJ.

But with that being said, you look at the European team, it looks much cooler than our team.

Don't show it.

Don't show it.

It's up there.

Don't show it, Father.

I get it, but I I don't know.

I have a good feeling about this American squad.

I do.

I think Keegan, you know how much, like, I don't know, like, I cannot imagine.

Keegan feels like he's on the brink of a heart attack at all times because he's so excited about this opportunity and what he's doing as the captain of this squad.

So I think JT, he's becoming Mr.

Ryder Cup, right?

And he's going to get everybody juiced.

Bryson's going to go for it on the first hole, they claim.

Hey, be alert for Sam Burns, top left.

I think Sam Burns, he's a stud.

Great.

I'm looking for big things from him.

Yeah, but we didn't know who that guy is right below Sam Burns, did we?

He wears the shades, right?

He wears the big aviator shades.

You mean the number 11th ranked golfer in the world who Foxy said sucks.

This isn't about how good we are or rankings or any of that shit.

I'm saying face value.

I'm not rooting for a lot of these guys on Sunday.

You go to the Europe team.

I'm rooting for a lot of these guys on the Sunday.

That's part of the problem.

You're pulling for anti-American propagandas on Sunday.

No, this has nothing to do.

This is the Ryder Cup.

I'm rooting for America through and through, but I'm just saying

they have a lot of cooler dudes on the Europe team than America does.

And it's just unfortunate that that has to be pointed out.

The thing we do have going for us is Rory said in his interview, like, hey, America is the greatest country in the world.

So, like, for Rory to be saying that as we're going in, I think we have it.

I mean, this basically tells you all you need to know.

Everyone wanted to make it in America.

It's the land of opportunity.

And I still believe it's the...

greatest country in the world.

And if you come here and you work hard and you dedicate yourself,

you can be or or do whatever you want.

I am

unbelievably grateful and lucky that I got to come to America early on.

And

I think success is celebrated here.

I think there's a wonderful sense of work ethic.

And yeah,

I live here.

My wife is American.

My daughter is American.

I have a lot of...

affinity towards this country and

I think everyone that lives here should have that same affinity because

it is a wonderful place.

Don't be showing that right now.

I don't need to see that going in a week.

This shows like Foxy really wanted that to be run because he's on Team Europe, it sounds like.

Exactly.

I'm not on Team Europe.

That makes me

up a little bit right there.

We all know America's the greatest country on Earth.

Why would I not run that video right there, especially going into this weekend?

Rory's not thinking about Europe.

He's not thinking about his homeland.

He's not thinking about all of his fans in Europe.

He's thinking about America because it's the greatest country on Earth.

No,

he's trying to warm up these fans.

He's trying to warm you up, Mark.

We have the better team, and that's all that matters.

I'm just saying, they have some cool dudes on that side.

I believe it was 2000.

I love it.

Do we have the better team?

I think we do.

I think it was 2012.

The last time that an away team won.

When was it?

2012, I believe.

That's every two years?

Yeah.

I don't like that.

It starts tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow at 7.10, I believe.

Just real quick.

The COVID something happened there, I think.

Okay, so it pushed it back to an odd year.

Yeah.

We got rocked last time, right?

Was that Paris?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, they were doing that cool chant on the bus on the way home with the unbelievable guy.

What was the chant?

Oh, I thought he was just saying, yo, unbelievable.

Oh,

it might have been that.

I don't remember.

Oh, he

hold it.

Oh, wow, he hold it.

Wow.

Unbelievable.

It's hard not to root for that guy.

And then Rory's saying America's the greatest.

Exactly.

And then on the flip side, you got Patrick Cantley, who I want to see miss the cut and get last place every single week.

So it's going to be very hard for me to come back around and wish him success on Friday.

I will.

I'll do it.

But guess what?

If he goes too down on the first two holes, oh, mama.

I'm going to be ruthless.

I hate that guy.

Oh, mama.

Hate him.

What did Patrick Cantley do?

Oh, mama.

What did he do to you?

He sucks.

He

He takes forever to get the fucking headlights.

Yeah.

He just, nothing about his game is compelling.

Nothing.

He's an American.

That's it.

Sure.

I get that.

There are a lot of fucking Americans out there, too, that I don't particularly like, but they're not playing God for the country this weekend.

That's what I'm saying.

So I can let bygones be bygones.

But having said that, this fucking guy better win every point.

He better win every fucking point for the U.S.

while he's.

We're pulling up for all of them.

Yeah.

Keegan's going to put that in a video tonight to show the old boys.

Hey, no one believes in even your own guy.

No, no, no.

I didn't say no one believes in the team.

You guys are going to be in the game.

I don't believe in him.

I don't like him.

Gotcha.

I believe in the boys.

We got fucking Scotty Scheffler.

You're right.

Can't Leigh.

You better fucking pick up some points for the country here, pal.

What if he does?

Will he win you over?

No, absolutely not.

What?

What if the guy's winning?

I hate the guy's guts.

He does everything good for our country, country though you you maybe turn over a new leaf you got yankees right there across your forehead obviously for the new york yankees but there has to be some sort of american press what if this guy goes out there and dominates pitches a perfect game uh then i would say yeah you're on the ryder cup it's about time pal because you've been on this team how many times before and we're always losing and i'm always seeing that goofy fucking look on your face after we lose so you know what it would take he needs to hold like a 75-foot putt on 18 on sunday to win the ryder cup for the U.S.

And then maybe I'd get back on his side a little bit.

There's a chance.

There's a chance.

That's golf, baby.

That's golf.

I think America wins.

I'm pumped for it.

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, has become a weekly conversation, and we're incredibly thankful for it.

He has a wealth of football knowledge, and his team had a tough loss to mission.

Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, the head coach of the Nebraska Corn Huskers football team, Matt Ruhl.

Sorry, man.

Hey, Matt, thank you for joining us, Coach.

You're on the road right now recruiting, right?

What state are you in right now?

Oh, well, I've been listening to conversation.

I could tell you this.

I'm in Pierre, South Dakota, in Mustang Aviation.

And every single person here is counting on the U.S.

to win the Ryder Cup.

There is no debate who we're rooting for here in South Dakota.

Thank God.

I'm happy to hear that out of you, Coach.

That's why we like...

There's no debate on who we're pulling for, boys.

I actually don't like the culture of this thumb for them all.

I couldn't agree more.

There is no debate on who we're rooting for.

Rooting for America.

None.

It's not the name on the back of the jersey.

It's the name on the front this week.

It's USA.

That's it.

Tell that to Patrick Cantlet, coach.

Hold on.

You're pulling for him this week.

I am.

I am.

I am.

Because he's on Team USA.

Yes.

That's what we're saying.

He's saying it sounded like you guys are a little bit conflicted on who's maybe pulling who you're pulling for.

And I don't like that that being a representation of what we have going on here.

We're pulling for America to be Europe, right?

Foxy, you too.

This team's so cool looking.

Didn't he put it up there like four or five different times?

Yeah, and it's true.

Remember back in the day, we used to have Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson.

Where's Brooks Kepka at?

Where's Dustin Johnson at?

We love those guys.

They need to get better at golf because they're cool dudes, okay?

Dustin Johnson would be cool up there.

Thank you.

He hasn't shot under par in two years.

I know, but I'm saying if he was to somehow be good at golf again, maybe he goes talks to Wayne, kind of does some osmosis stuff, it would be cool to see Dustin up there.

It'd be cool to see Brooks up there just because the big fat fucking lip room.

Yeah, I didn't realize this was a cool contest.

I thought this was a golf contest.

Yeah, I don't know.

I think it's part of it.

I think it's part of it, especially with this amount of crowd and chirping and everything like that.

I think our boys are going to be locked in, though, Foxy.

So why don't you come back to America, okay?

Why don't you come back to America?

Like I said, we're the better team.

We're going to win.

I'll be rooting for the boys.

But if we lose...

I know what I'm going to blame it on.

Yeah, it's Cant Lay's ass.

We don't know.

The Mustang Aviation FBO up there in South Dakota is a beautiful one.

Obviously, you're hitting the road to get good players.

We respect that.

Let's talk about what happened against Michigan.

We have to.

This was a big one for your team.

I think this was a massive one for the story of the Big Ten.

I i think this was going to be considered a measuring stick for you i think but also for what your team could be this year do you agree with that or do you think we're still early in the process of figuring out who the hell we are at nebraska well no i think i think both can be true i mean it was a chance to play a play a game versus a perennial top 25 team at home um they have a rookie quarterback freshman quarterback so you know you you got to go win that game and um And we didn't.

So, I mean, we have to be disappointed, but, you know, we're also not going to put on black shirt, black tie, and just, you know, call it a season.

I mean, you know,

we look at that game, Pat, and I say, you know, we gave up seven sacks.

We gave up 286 yards rushing.

So they got after us in that ways, and we lost by three.

You know, I told our guys, like, I mean, we got, we got playmakers making plays all over the field.

We just, we got to get a little bit better in a couple areas.

And

that was a good measuring stick for us.

And, you know what?

We're going to be able to play a lot more good teams.

We got Michigan State in two weeks.

We'll be ready.

Okay, so everything's still in front of you guys, obviously, yes?

Heck yeah.

I mean,

you know, we're going to have a a chance to play face a lot of good teams.

And I think that that took our pulse, right?

It let us see, like, hey, you know what?

We knew the line of scrimmage battle would be one that, you know, we'd have to wait and see.

But, you know, we held them to 100 yards passing.

We covered them all over the field.

We played good.

We played.

We threw the ball.

Dylan threw the ball for 307 yards.

So the things that we've tried to get better at, we've gotten better at it.

Now, you can't win in the Big Ten if you don't control the line of scrimmage.

So we have to improve that.

But

yeah, we're not seeding anything, man.

We're going to battle back.

Tell me about Michigan a little bit.

Tell me about their team.

Obviously, Bryce Underwood, phenomenal recruit is what everybody was talking about, five-star build, everything.

Tell me about their team.

What did you see from them?

I think two things really stood out to me.

Number one,

the week before they moved Jay Sean Barnum, they moved him from middle linebacker.

We played at Maryland.

They moved there and played.

They moved him out to their outside linebacker.

Man, I walked up to him after the game.

I said, well,

you're a top 10 pick.

I mean, that move disrupted everything.

He didn't play that against Oklahoma.

He played off the ball, and he's a great off-the-ball linebacker,

but

he is a difference maker coming off the edge.

And then Justice Haynes, the tailback from Alabama,

we gave up 286 yards rush.

We gave up

three carries for 168 yards.

It's just

you give him a crack and he's gone.

And so, you know, to win in the Big Ten, they're going to have to throw the ball more.

You can't throw the ball for 105 yards on screens.

You're going to have to throw the ball down the field.

But they got two guys there that I thought were top 10 tight players that are going to be difference makers in the Big Ten.

I can't wait to see what your team is by the end of the season and what this Michigan team is by the end of the season.

Everybody basically drowning at the same time.

Go ahead, AJ.

Yeah, speaking to that coach,

in your past as a coach, I'm sure you're always paying attention to it.

How good can your team get from the beginning, from game one until, say, game 12?

What kind of progress can you make?

What kind of momentum can you build?

Is that something you feel like this team, obviously, each and every game, win or lose, like you guys are getting better?

I just wonder when you look back at the end of the season, you look at, hey, week one or two, and you think, I know I've sometimes been like, we were a different football team back then.

Like, we don't make those mistakes anymore.

We're so much better.

Do you see that for this team and for, you know, teams you've had in the past?

Yeah, no doubt.

I mean, you know, the interesting thing in that game, AJ, is we went down the field in two minutes before the half ended up throwing a Hail Mary for a touchdown.

We go down the field at the end of the game and go down and score a touchdown.

So in critical moments, you know, our inability to block their pass rush, but in critical moments, you know, those two minute drives, we move the ball.

And so it's not a, oh my gosh, we can't.

It's that, hey, we didn't.

And so I think, you know, sometimes positions like O-line and corner, positions where like, if you mess up, everyone sees it.

Like you almost have to go through a game sometimes where like, you know what, you had a bad game, you regroup,

you wake up the next day, you're not dead.

And now you go out and say, okay, I played against Barnum.

He's, he's an elite player.

What am I going to do moving forward?

How am I going to get better?

And, you know, I showed the guys the other day, like the Ravens, you know, Lamar Jackson got sacked seven times.

There's going to be days like that.

I mean, this is a team in Michigan that, you know, beat Ohio State to end the year, beat who I think maybe Alabama in the Bullgame.

I can't remember who it was.

Like they're a good, good football team.

And it's a team we lost 55-7 to two years ago.

Now, there's no moral victories.

But

we lost by three.

We had every chance to compete.

We scored a touchdown.

You know, we stepped out of bounds.

We didn't get to four points.

So

you're a play or two away,

but you have to make those plays up.

And I think that's the mindset our guys have to have.

On that note, Connor has a question for you.

Yeah, Coach, what do you look for in your team when you're facing adversity?

Is it just you know the week of practice, especially when you don't have a game the next week and you can't really get back out there and prove it?

Are you just looking for effort, looking for energy all this week?

What are some of those things?

And then, is it part of it too, you also kind of, you know, letting up a little just because they are probably beating themselves up so much for the loss itself, you know, at home that you almost don't need to get on your guys

versus you know, when sometimes you do if you're playing, you know, a team under your guys' skill level?

Yeah, I think

that's a great question.

Number one, I think having a bye week the week after a game like that is torture.

Like I'm in, I'm tortured right now.

Like this is, this is absolutely miserable because you want to get back out and play.

I think the other thing, though, is if I took the approach with them of like, hey, it's okay.

We lost.

It's Michigan, you know,

then

they wouldn't respect me.

Like to me, it's like, no, no, no, no, no.

Like, we know they're good.

So you guys are good, too.

And you know what?

Like,

Ohio State lost to Oregon last year in game four by one point.

You know what they did?

They came back and they won a bunch of games.

They got, they got angry.

They got pissed off and they came back.

So we're not going to sit there and say, hey, it's okay.

Like, hey, fix this, fix this, fix this.

You know what we did?

We went out.

Coaches had their practice schedule.

And, bro, I put the ball down on Tuesday and I said, all right, well, ones on ones.

Let's go play.

Twos on twos.

And we went for about an hour and 15 minutes.

And the guys had so much fun.

It wasn't punishment.

Sometimes you have to, like, you put so much pressure.

You've got to go back to just playing the game.

Just go play.

Have fun.

Enjoy it.

Fly around.

We did that Tuesday.

We did that Wednesday.

This morning we practiced this morning and then I headed up here.

So just wanted them to get back to like, hey, you're a good football team.

It's a play here, a play there.

Now go make those plays.

And

I think we will.

How'd the boys play?

115.

Who won that?

Defense or offense?

Everybody get their licks?

You know what?

It was probably the best practice we've had all year.

I think the defense, you know, when you give up 286 yards rushing, it's like your soul has been crushed.

And you can say it's a play here.

It's soul crushing.

So I thought the defense, they came back and answered it.

You know what I mean?

It's like, hey, as you guys know, like on defense, you can't wait for someone else to make the play.

Like you got to do your job, but then you got to run the ball.

You got to knock the ball out.

You got to strike somebody.

You got to get off a block and make a play.

And so I thought I saw some of our younger guys starting to be like, you know what?

I can play better than this.

And so I think our defense made a jump this week.

That's awesome.

I can't wait to see who they are next week, whenever you get back on the field against michigan state hey michigan state's going to go green go white coach putting points up the defense i don't know but those boys are putting points up on offense yeah defense is going to get tested again they got a great wide receiver how's old buddy doing nick marsh is doing great he's a little banged up but he's having a good year so far okay michigan state's good i think it's a good team to have after because not terrible oh yeah good good test

Just lost to Michigan.

Okay.

I'm not going to say anything about the brothers, which one, you know, in the state of Michigan.

I would.

I'm going to stay out of that.

One of them has 14 billionaires giving money.

I don't know how many.

Michigan State, I think you got that one guy that was sitting next to me at that basketball game.

Yeah, we got guys that need to start ponying up because we do have billionaires.

I know that.

Okay, so we're saying, hey, Foxy needs to maybe start spending a little bit of it.

We can have Phil do that.

We got Phil send some of your check right over to Michigan State to get players for that football.

You're talking about me, no, I'm good.

Oh, okay.

Not that 40.

Okay, I don't know.

There's another huge game happening this weekend that obviously you have some familiarity with at least the home.

Go ahead, Tone.

Yeah, coach, there's a few big ones in the Big Ten this weekend, but obviously the nightcap, the whiteout at Penn State, Oregon traveling to Penn State is the headline maker of that one.

What's your early read on that one?

I know you play Penn State later in the season.

You don't play Oregon, but what do you think about Dan Lanning going to visit Happy Valley?

I think it's going to be a great game.

I think one of the unique, interesting things is going to be, I mean, Penn State at night at the whiteout, it might be the loudest place I've ever been.

And while Oregon, I've heard how loud it is there, I'm really interested to see Oregon, their communication with a young, a dynamic young quarterback at Dante, you know, but just to see how they handle the crowd noise, how they handle the crowd.

That's really, to me, a key factor in the game.

And then on the flip side, Penn State, you know, obviously you lose Ty Warren.

You got the great backs.

Like, how explosive can they be in the passing game?

Drew Aller's a great quarterback, but are they going to be able to get open versus the secondary that Oregon has?

And so it should be a back and forth, back and forth game.

But I really believe the crowd noise and playing in one of those, one of those elite Big Ten environments at night, that's something that, you know, it's going to be interesting to see how Oregon with a young quarterback, how they handle it.

I heard something crazy, like 112,000 plus going to be so many.

And they're in the middle of renovating that stadium.

So I don't even know what it's going to be whenever it's fully renovated.

They got a great supply of people that are supporting that program.

Whenever you look at teams around the Big Ten, obviously you've talked about you have great support in Nebraska as one of the reasons why that was a job.

It feels like the Big Ten is

more teams are stepping up than maybe in the other conferences.

Do you agree with that?

And do you think the Big Ten right now at this point, by far, I think I heard Urban Meyer talk about how when he was down in Florida and then he comes up to Ohio State, you know, and he's won national championship everywhere, by the way.

I mean, Urban has won everywhere.

He said it was definitely back in the day, maybe not so far history, SEC was by far best conference, no question asked.

Geography where there was an advantage, everything there was advantage, more primetime games also, and the environments and the cultures are crazy.

I mean, it was SEC.

Urban said, now it feels like the Big Ten is certainly deeper than it has ever been.

And maybe at the time is we are the best conference in America.

Obviously, national champions here from the last couple of years.

How do you feel about the Big Ten?

And how do you all kind of discuss it as coaches, understanding that the strength of the conference is a good thing, especially with the way the college football playoff is set up?

Yeah, no doubt.

I think the Big Ten has really emerged.

And obviously winning the last two national championships helps, but

the advent of NIL, you know,

it used to be like, you know, Ohio State had all Ohio players, Alabama had all Alabama players.

It was, you know, we kind of all recruited regionally, but now with the portal, with recruiting, we're all recruiting all over the country.

I mean, I'm leaving here.

I'm born in Texas, right?

Like it's just a completely different animal now.

And so that benefits the Big Ten a great deal.

It was really weird last week to have Brad Nestler, Gary Danielson do our game, you know, the 2.30, 3.30 Eastern CBS game.

I mean, that's been the SEC forever.

And what the Big Ten has done is they've bought a lot of those primetime spots.

We were the national game against Michigan.

And so I think the Big Ten has made some really big moves.

And obviously bringing in USC, bringing in Oregon, bringing in Washington, who that's a sneaky good, I mean, they're scoring points.

That's a sneaky, sneaky good team right now.

They're getting eight and a half at home.

And people are are talking about that being the loudest place maybe to play.

That place is difficult to play out there.

It's a far trip, too, Coach.

That's right.

That's why I think when you factor in the travel, when you factor in the weather, when you factor in the last two national championships, and then the teams, adding the teams from the West Coast, I mean, I think the Big Ten is at a point that it has never been before, and it's only getting better.

And, you know, like even last week, we're disappointed we lost, but like, you don't need that to be 55-7.

You want the good games in your conference to be 30-27.

You want there to be barn burners coming down.

Who would have ever thought Oregon Penn State would be like a conference

game on national TV?

But it is now.

And that, to me, that's what's making the Big Ten so proficient and such a good league.

I don't want to talk any shit on anything, but I think the noon game being the biggest Big Ten game every single week, and obviously that's a good deal.

I appreciate it.

I respect what they've done for college football.

A lot of investment and everything like that.

We see it whenever we travel to a couple of game day spots.

I think national recognition of Big Ten like cultures kind of go down because the primetime game isn't what it is.

They're about to fucking see it with Penn State.

That place is about to be alive.

You know,

that is a spectacular cult up there.

I mean,

they are all in and they will be.

The, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, we, oh,

it's about to be legendary.

But boy, if Oregon gets hot early, Like Ohio State did to Oregon at the Rose Bowl, you can take a home field advantage and kind of make it your own in that.

It's all about how you start, I think, in those games.

Do you agree with that, coach?

Absolutely.

I think

you have to take the crowd out of it early on.

You know, one thing about Oregon is they've played in big games, right?

And they've played in loud stadiums.

And they have a coach,

Dan Lanning, to me, is one of the best coaches in football.

He's got elite swagger.

And so he's not going to...

He's not going to tiptoe around the moment.

He's going to be ready for the moment.

Now, you go back and look at their year, you know, the Oklahoma State win isn't quite as, you know, I saw 693, I was like, oh my goodness.

But then, you know, they score whatever 10, 12 points against Tulsa.

So I don't know what that is, but I know this.

They've got great players.

They've got a coach who isn't afraid of anything.

And you go out and you play well early, and all of a sudden, the stifling crowd noise that makes you be on silent cadence, it kind of dissipates it.

Now you just get back to playing football, settling down, and

that would be very much in Oregon's favor.

Go ahead, AJ.

Coach, you mentioned fast start.

We always talk about that.

Every coach obviously wants their team to have a fast start, but what can you do as a coach to like to facilitate that, to make sure it actually happens?

Yeah, and I think a unique thing is when you have that big of a trip and that much travel, making sure your guys, like their legs are fresh and they're energized and they're juiced up.

You know, I don't know if Oregon went two days ahead or not, but even in the NFL, you don't make this many cross-country trips.

So there's a travel component to the fast start.

I think one of the biggest things early on is

throwing your best stuff at them.

And that's not just defensively it's you know if i'm at oregon right now i'm saying hey we need to we need to hit the quarterback we need to get to aller early whether we blitz whatever we do like we need to make sure he knows that we're here and then offensively you know you you have a young quarterback this is his first moment in this level situation like i i want him to start off eight for eight you know eight for eight even if it's for 88 yards like be eight for eight get get in rhythm feel really good early on come over to the sidelines you have a bunch of different guys who caught balls and then all of a sudden everyone starts saying like okay i'm ready for this you know you don't want guys having their first catch to be in the middle of the third quarter on third and seven.

Like, let's get the ball pressed around.

Let's get the quarterback in rhythm.

And let's make sure their quarterback isn't in rhythm because this game will come down to, in my mind, which quarterback plays the best.

Dante Moore's been spinning it.

Drew Aller's stats have not been spectacular with their start.

They haven't really played anybody.

Have they been hiding everything?

That is kind of the narrative around the Penn State team right now, which is never good if you haven't been hiding anything.

No, we've been playing our best football, actually, and everybody just thinks we're holding back.

Dan Lanning spoke about the whiteout, and he said, play the game, not the occasion, basically, is his messaging to the boys.

We've seen a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff of how Dan talks to his team.

I like the way you described him.

He's got a lot of swagger.

His team carries that, as does your team.

Good luck in recruiting out there in South Dakota.

That's a beautiful state, brother.

They got a lot of dogs out there.

They do.

They do.

So we're happy to be up here.

Evil Knievel.

Adam Vinatieri.

Cold Anderson.

Yep.

Mick Huya.

Mikhuya, of course.

Dallas Goddard.

Dallas Goddard's from out there.

I think Brock Lesnar, born in South Dakota.

Tucker Kraft.

Tucker Kraft.

Baldo.

Who?

Baldo.

Didn't he do it gameplay?

He lives out there.

He's in Montana.

You're right.

You're right.

It's not South Dakota.

I think he left that silver ball in Dakota.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, on a recruiting visit, which we appreciate him making time.

Good luck the rest of the way.

Friend of the program, host of

Haas Rules.

That's right.

Hey, Will Compton, not a bad-looking bald guy.

Obviously, would rather still have hair, but not a bad-looking bald guy.

He looks pretty good.

You know, it was hard to shoot house rules after losing this week, but we put it out with a Joey McGuire from Texas Tech.

You know what?

Part of being a man is doing everything every week.

So, like I said, we'll be back, though.

We'll be celebrating on the show here soon.

Yeah, you got to answer the bell.

If you did here today, we appreciate you.

Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Matt Rule.

Yeah, coach.

All right, let's get to a break.

On the other side, we'll make our picks.

We'll cover everything that we haven't talked about.

And then we got Stanford-Steve conversation about college ball.

It's a great time to be a football fan.

It's a great time to be a sports fan.

Baseball is crushing.

Hey, I

actually

was captivated by baseball this night.

I mean, you've watched it in the past.

Like, the baseball playoffs are awesome.

I get, like, it's a slog getting to that point because there are so many

games.

But look at it.

62.

162.

Like, the season is going to come down to the last game of the season.

Like, it's fucking crazy.

And there are multiple teams who still have a chance or who could choke.

But once the playoffs actually start, like, that, those games are, they're awesome.

Yeah, but if it was 100 games, Detroit Tigers, good, New York Mets, good,

right?

All these other teams.

Good point.

You know, like, but now it's 1062 games.

Tigers just ain't got it anymore.

Hey, it's because you know what?

You got to play the whole season because sometimes the cream rises to the top, and sometimes the teams who are pretenders all along, they fall off.

Oh, yeah.

Exactly.

Rest in peace.

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This is service now.

2.33.

We will start this third hour now.

That is Hof Nom, AJ Hawk Raker.

Hoff Nom.

Hoff Nom.

Hoff Nom.

Hoff Nom.

You get it?

Yeah, I think I get it now.

I get it.

Hoff.

Hoff Nom?

Hoff Nom.

Okay.

It's abbreviation.

Not Nom like Viet.

No.

It's Nom like Nominee.

So then it would be Hoff, Nom,

Hof, Nom, Hof, Nom, Hof, Nom, Hof, Nom, Hof, Nom, A.

J.

Hoff.

Right there, right there.

Hoff, Nom, Hof, Nom, Hof, Nom,

Hof.

That's where, that's the

abbreviation.

Some people go to school to get PhDs.

Some people are doctors.

Sure.

Some people we call

masters of love.

No, what is it called?

oh uh whenever you get a uh

master of love ceremony love love guru ordained

yeah but it's called something master um

ministry those exist uh

administrative oh oh

yeah

love doctor no it's called something you can officiate you can officiate weddings yeah it's like 35 bucks the overnight issue yeah i can change it to doctor of love universal life minute isn't that yeah that is what it's called but it's called something you become you become something or somebody you are You're ordained.

Something of love, though.

I don't know about that.

Anyways, yours is Hoff Nom.

So

that's a pretty cool sur title or whatever the hell it is.

Toxic Tables here at Boston Connor at Ty Schmidt.

That's a sweet shirt.

Yeah, thanks.

Kitt and Kong.

I haven't worn it in a while.

I saw it at the top of a pile, so I'll grab it.

A couple planes in there.

You got the Wright brothers flying around.

Oh, yeah.

It's supposed to be King Kong, but just with a cat.

Oh, I get it.

Because the kitty cat.

Kitty Kong, yeah, yeah.

Right there.

not too shabby, not too shabby.

I'll tell you what, that cat would raise a lot of hell out of her.

No doubt about it.

Yeah, especially with the way those planes look.

That'd be a big toy for that cat.

I mean, that's true right now.

That would be batting the shit out of it.

Cats are very athletic.

Very nine lives.

Yeah, well, always laying on their feet.

No shoulder blades.

Well,

babe, is it the shoulder blades?

Cats do not have shoulder blades, so that their arms, when they're straight, when they go back instead of stopping,

they don't stop because they don't have shoulder blades.

That's amazing.

So they go all the way down.

I think they also,

flying squirrel, they make themselves themselves into like their body naturally like becomes a

parachute, like a parachute for them as they're falling.

There's four cats at my house.

One of them is a three-legged cat.

AI says, Google says, yes, cats have shoulder blades.

They are called scapulae in scientific terms.

Cats' shoulder blades are different from those of humans in several ways.

They have different shoulder blades.

Excuse me.

Yeah, Bruce.

I forgot Bruce Braun.

Fucking vet.

This is Bruce Braun.

This is Bruce Braun.

This is unbelievable, Bruce.

There's no reason for that.

It was just so tense not even called shoulder blade just seeing the yes that they obviously have some kind of shoulder blade i just thought it was fun but you should have looked up the parachute of the cats what they do as uh as they fall i watched a instagram video of cats showcasing how athletic they are so quick so dynamic my three-legged cat lands

same exact thing they're a good animal i couldn't even imagine one being a size of king kong right there with those particular there's people jumping out of planes that's probably the right play one half of the hammer god cowboys ap tone is here 74 was last time we got the update on this game is it still at 74 72 oh money's moving

72 now on a seahawks minus a point and a half traveling to beautiful phoenix well glendale i guess arizona uh wonderful stadium great fan base will the seattle seahawks beat them by more than a point and a half aj hawk we'll start with you last week was not good for either of us but this week could be our best week of all time and that's how we need to view it uh seahawks minus a point and a half against the Cardinals.

AJ, how do you see it going?

So I was leaning Seahawks early on in the show.

I talked about it earlier.

I heard Conman talk about the Cardinals and what they have going.

I understand that.

I think the Cardinals are a little bit banged up on the O-line.

We'll see.

I know there's some questionable guys on the injury report.

But

I'm going to take the Seahawks on the road behind this fearless Sam Darnold.

I think the Seahawks find a way to, I think they get it done.

I think they win by six, seven, ten.

Who knows?

Okay, on that note, Rapaport just reported that Zach Charbonnet, who is listed as questionable for the Seahawks, is expected to play tonight against the Arizona Cardinals.

He had been dealing with foot injury, but was full participant in practice just yesterday.

Okay, so we should see one of their best players on the field.

Jackson Smith and Jigba for the Seattle Seahawks leading the NFL and receiving.

And then on the other side, Kyler Murray and the boys.

It's hard for me to be even.

I used to bet on the Cardinals a lot.

Remember that?

It was like two years ago.

I was like, Kyler.

Because of shots and explosives.

I was going to make some Kyler plays, but, you know, some highlight real plays for sure.

It was mostly because I believed in collar.

Like, I think I've always believed in collar.

I've lost a lot of bets believing in collar.

Beginning of the year, though, normally they start out pretty good.

Yeah.

Two and one thus far.

Would the Cardinals go three and one?

That's an interesting thing.

If they're three and one, you've got to have a conversation about the Cardinals also.

Especially if they get a win over the Seahawks, only lost being to the Niners.

Now, granted, they're going to have to get that back later in the year, you would think.

But are the Cardinals for real?

Are the Arizona Cardinals going to...

Gumpy really liked them.

Gumpy really liked them because the percentage of people that are betting on the Seahawks.

Is that the only reason why?

Is there any other reasons, Gumpy?

No, not at all.

Absolutely.

I've just been riding that and it's been working.

You know, that's just primetime games.

If you fade the public, you usually got a pretty good shot.

Okay, 70 plus percent, too, is a no-brainer for you.

Is there any number, if it was like 55, 45, would that be a sway for you?

Or is it because?

Once you get over 60, I start to worry a little bit.

Like, it was very loud that the Ravens were just going to smack the Lions.

I know the Lions are very different than the the Cardinals, obviously.

Also, rivalry jerseys tonight.

Oh, my God.

Arizona sent us.

Yeah, the sand.

Sandstorm.

Sandbox, yeah.

Is that Sandstorm?

Oh, yeah.

This is the new color rush.

Oh, it's a root.

Sandstorm.

That's their thing.

They actually sent us their uniform.

Can we get the helmet?

Gumpy has it on.

Yeah, Gumpy has the helmet on.

I don't think we can see it.

Can you come Come out here, Gump.

Yeah, Gump, can you come out to the light?

It was once in the shade and it was in a box that was filled with sand, actually.

Spilled.

The Arizona Cardinals sent a package to the Thunderdome with sand inside of it.

Fuck spilled.

It's spilled everywhere.

A lot of sand.

Are you serious?

Yeah, I was not here whenever it was opened, but from what I heard, not a lot of happy parties in the Thunderdome that they put actual fucking sand in the box.

With that being said, what they pulled out of the sand, greatness.

This thing looks sick.

Great color.

Obviously, Gumpy looks more athletic than he's ever looked because of this helmet.

Turn to the side there a little bit, Gumps.

Oh.

Okay.

And the uniform, I assume, is going to match.

Did the uniform come in the boxes?

Yes, there's our Marvin Harrison joint.

Bang his head on the wall a little bit.

See if it works.

Yeah, is it a tough

above the chips, Bill?

I think you can hit one of these pillars, Gumps.

See if it's a good helmet or not.

Take a couple headbutts.

Oh, my goodness.

Okay, and now, Gumps, because you look like Kyler kind of out there, let's go ahead and do a universe shot here.

Okay.

Yeah, put the jersey.

Let him throw, drop back a little bit, scramble around like a Kyler.

Take the helmet up.

Take the helmet off.

Yeah, you gotta take the helmet off, and then we'll get you.

Hey, this is you.

Oh, oh, no.

Oh, no.

You got an earbud?

Yeah.

This is universe.

You're gonna do this.

That's a sick jersey.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's a game jersey.

That's how tight they are.

That's a legit jersey.

Looks good on the good teamwork.

Oh, those are sweet.

Now we're talking.

Now we're talking.

Is that a professional athlete?

All right, cops.

You look like Kyler, okay?

All you need to do now.

Here you go.

This is for Arizona.

This is universe right here.

Yeah.

I kind of like this target, to be fair.

It is.

This is something you would wear in public on a regular day.

So I do appreciate the fact that, you know what?

That can be yours, bud.

Wow.

That's yours.

Now.

Arizona Cardinals win tonight if you put that football into

this hoop right over here.

And that's big.

It's a lot of pressure here on the

throwing arm of Gumpy that is not

normally the best.

Grew up playing soccer.

Grew up a soccer player.

Ran some sprints this morning, actually.

Could be a little bit tired.

True.

Could be a little bit winded, but he knows the fate of the game tonight is literally in his hand.

Good, that's a great play action.

Oh, left hand.

So you can do both hands.

Yeah, I like left hand, left leg, too, there.

That's very athletic pitch.

That's good play.

AJ, anything to say to Gump here before he knocks one up here?

Can we get someone to give him a shotgun snap?

They don't have to take it under center, but shotgun, he can move around a little bit.

Absolutely.

He's Kyler?

Absolutely.

Shotgun snap.

There you go.

Call it, Gump.

He said call it.

Yep.

Blue, 42.

Yep.

Blue.

Get in.

All right.

That looks like a squid.

I thought

that was squip.

I thought that was going in for sure.

That looked like a squid.

That looked good to me.

He definitely got the laces.

And on that note, I'm picking the Seahawks.

Okay.

I was thinking about it.

I was thinking about it.

I want to let you know.

If he would have put that in, I was going to pick the Cardinals.

He looked so good in that uniform that they're going to wear tonight.

I almost picked the Cardinals strictly because of that.

Good union.

But I like the Seahawks.

I do.

And it's week four.

You know?

Yes.

Are there pants that color?

Never know.

I think so.

I think it's probably a

rookie with a rookie.

What's that, brother?

Yeah, that's the rookie.

We talked rookie receiver, Torrey Horton.

That guy's legit, too.

He's emerging as a star.

He had the 90-yard kick pot.

Cooper Cup, too, man.

Why do we keep forgetting about Cooper Cup?

True.

True.

I did not remember Cooper Cup right there.

Yeah,

he's a good football team.

He killed the Steelers.

That's a Steelers fan in the back saying they're a good football team.

Let's never forget it.

Catching the ball at your own five, obviously an aggressive decision, unless you're going to crib that thing.

Wow, he's very.

Oh, shit.

Yeah, he caught a touchdown in this game, too.

Punter just got absolutely fucking killed.

Can you go back a little bit, Dad?

Hold on.

What a good boss.

I did not know that that punter got fucking murdered like that.

Would have put the body on a

arm straight up.

Oh, no.

Hey, Paul.

Boom.

Did he see him or did he?

He wasn't trying to take on the block, I feel like.

I don't know if he didn't see him.

We, okay, Foxy.

Jeez, Bruce, whoever's in, whoever's doing this right now, let's take it easy.

The guy already lived it 10 times in his own brain.

His brain is probably bouncing back and forth.

I don't know what could happen.

That's true.

Yeah, I guess he didn't see the guy, or maybe you thought he was going to get around him.

I don't know.

We need to stay out of that area, though, brother.

That's one of those areas we need not be in.

That's where Kevin Huber was.

You remember that?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

You're either back or you're all the way in.

You're either all the way in and they didn't block you, so you're past everything, or you are last line.

You're at the back.

If you're in anywhere in that other area, that's called the mixer.

And you can be the one that's getting mixed.

Basically, that is where you need not be.

I appreciate that he stuck his fan, his face in the fan, though.

Yeah, in the mixer, yeah, I give him credit.

He did go into the mixer,

he didn't come out of the mixer.

That was the last time we saw that, man.

Who was that?

Who is the punter for the Saints?

I'll look at it.

Man, I don't know if we need to do that.

But to Connor's point, it was a great punt.

He fucking murdered that ball.

Is it Kai Kroger?

I think it's Kai Kroger.

Good player.

New On State's current punter is Kai Kroger, who assigned out of South Carolina.

Oh, yeah, I remember him.

He's a good punter.

He's willing to go in there.

I give him credit for honestly putting his head in there.

Agreed.

And that punt, if that's not caught, probably goes out of bounds at like the four.

I mean, that's a great punt.

He hit an absolute bomb in the corner, and then all of a sudden, I'm going to ruin your life, is what he said.

Yeah, that's what the returner said.

That was fun.

You did a good job.

Let's make sure you remember this as a terrible experiment.

All right, football kicks off tonight.

Ryder Cup begins tomorrow.

Life is amazing.

We had a chance to catch up with Stanford Steve about what's about to happen on Saturday.

Great lineup of college football.

It's another

football convo, college football convo with Stanford Steve.

AJ, have you downloaded this show?

Oh, yeah.

I saw it last week.

That was week one, wasn't it?

No, that was week two.

That was week two last week?

I've seen both of them.

It has its own podcast thing.

It does.

You can download it.

RNSS feed, right?

Yeah.

Bingo.

Started one from zero there.

Could have just snuck it in under ours, doing the entire thing.

didn't want to do that wanted to show respect to college football have its own entity i think it has its own uh uh socials already were starting up there so you know good luck to that college football show but it's great catching up with stanford steve every week awesome you wore that bandana thing the uh matiya

the fur oh yeah yeah you you and i thought of it at the same time

Thanks, Steve.

That was two weeks ago.

He played a game in between.

Maybe it was late.

They won the game day

after Steve won it.

You're right.

That's a good point.

Okay.

But maybe he was just like on a wagon and it got there late.

Sooner's that's what they ride him.

Yeah.

He did tweet today, though, that surgery went well, Boomer Sooner.

Said Dr.

Chin's the best or something like that.

Shin.

Jesus.

New was along those lines.

Shin.

Yeah.

Dr.

Shin.

Could have been Dr.

Chin.

He is Doug Goat.

Yeah.

When's he back?

So they got a couple weeks here before Texas, and I don't know what the expected return time is, but it felt like the way everybody was talking is he's going to be back for important football for Red River.

They were hoping

hoping that.

But they said, hopefully, by the end of October.

That's.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's tough.

I was going to say, yeah.

He's coming back early.

I think so.

If we know anything about Ventir.

What if he plays Lefty?

He could.

Run the ball 80 times.

Why not?

He's built like a horse.

Drop back lefty and just play a whole game as a drop back lefty.

Matt Zenitz, M.

Zenitz, who I do not know, but he says,

I appreciate his intel and his family.

Lovely.

The current hope is that Oklahoma star quarterback John Matir will be back before the end of October, says CBS Sports.

Michael Hawkins will take over for Matir, whom ESPN had previously reported was expected to miss about a month.

Number 70U has a bye this week.

Then please Kent State, Texas, South Carolina, and Ole Miss.

Okay, before the end of October.

So who knows if he's back for Red River?

That's the 11th.

That's what I'm betting on.

You think?

Because Mateir?

It's a tough son of a bitch.

It's the 25th, two weeks.

I think hole.

And Dr.

Shin is

the goat.

The goat.

We all know that.

All right.

So is Stanford Steve.

That's what we're learning.

He brings it every week.

He does.

He does.

We get a Tuesday night whole thing.

That's what it's about to be.

And that's very kind of him to do that.

We are very appreciative of him to do that.

And also, this college football slate, AJ, how's Ohio State going to be?

How's Ohio State going?

We got a tough test.

We got a big test at Washington.

It is a legit test.

They're a good squad, and that's a tough place to play.

Matt Rule said it.

I think Tone told me yesterday, 33 game.

33 is Georgia, 22 is Washington.

Okay, 22 straight home wins for Washington, 33 for Georgia down there as Alabama comes in.

Wild.

Yeah, we dive into all of that.

And have enough people said to Ohio State, like, hey, tough place to play.

Like, don't sleep on Washington.

Eight and a half point spread as of the other day.

I don't know where it's at right now.

I think it's down actually to seven-ish.

Can you pop that tweet back up about home win streaks?

Whose home streak is at risk this weekend?

Does anyone think Oregon and Bama is going to lose their home win streak this weekend?

Yeah, I thought that was weird.

And they're just putting the longest active win streaks.

Yeah, the question, you're talking about the words.

It's like whatever team's social media account tells us we're about to see high lights and we get one play.

Yeah, you're right.

But I do appreciate the information that's coming from.

Good information.

Yeah, that is a good graphic.

33 down in Georgia.

That's a tough place to play a lot of dogs.

Yeah, between the head down there.

Yeah, especially with Alpine.

I'm going down.

I got a text from a couple Bulldogs, actually.

What did they say?

I don't know what name dropped I'm going to.

Colt Ford just texted me.

He said, Go, Dogs.

Go dogs.

Go Ford.

Yeah, Colt Ford.

So Go Dogs.

Brantley Gilbert talked to him last week after I picked against the dogs.

Why'd you do that?

That's what he said.

Overtime win over Tennessee, felt even better.

He felt even better.

Georgia might be all the way back.

Colt Ford sings that song.

Which one?

Do it.

That one.

Colt Ford?

Who's got bangers?

Who the fuck is Colt Ford?

Whoa, whoa.

I'm sorry.

I don't know who that.

I'm sorry.

Whoa, whoa.

I'm sure this is bad.

I can't play this.

I can't play that.

I can't just play the song, so I can't just play this.

Is there a photo out there?

You need to just go Spotify Colt Ford.

Okay.

You've heard five.

All right.

The one with like

fucking toes somewhere insane.

No, that's Zach Brown.

He's also a dog.

He's also a dog fan, I believe.

Yes, yeah, Zach Brown, also from Georgia, you know, the highway, it's horny ride over there.

Yeah, just, you just, maybe, Colt Ford would be a good discovery for you.

I think Colt Ford's not my cup of tea.

No, I think he is, actually.

Okay, I'll try.

What are you expecting from the name Colt Ford?

Yeah, Colbert.

Probably, probably exactly what I heard when I was at the AC 500.

Okay.

What do you think it is?

What do you think it is?

Yeah, liquor in my cabinet, fucking beer in my gut, fucking meat on the grill.

So what?

Sounds sweet.

That's what I assume.

I don't think he's.

He would take it by surprise.

Cole Ford has bars.

Okay.

Yeah.

Cole Ford lived a life now.

Cole Ford has lived.

Cole Ford has lived a life.

I'm excited for you to discover him.

If we pull up a photo, I'm sure I know.

I don't.

To be honest, I don't.

I'm not 100% sure if you would if you did see a photo of him.

And also what he looks like now versus what he has looked like very differently.

I think he had a couple life situations kind of take place.

Reform Fatso?

I think so, yeah.

Okay.

Has taken care of himself.

Yep.

Has been forced to, I think,

but bangers in the set list.

You should, you should dive into Cole Ford.

But what I'm saying is, all the Georgia fans are happy with where Georgia is right now.

Should be.

There's one woman that's talked about more than anybody else in all sports.

Yeah, that's true.

Just calling plays.

Carly or say?

No.

Sister Jean?

I know she retired.

She did.

I don't know if she's still getting talked about as much as she should be.

But in an eminent sports.

Yeah, in Mona Padre.

Taylor Swift, I think.

Taylor Swift is part of sports, she gets talked about a lot in sports, yeah,

right?

Yeah, I think probably a lot,

a lot,

Cece,

Kaylin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell now, Asia Wilson, just won the MVP, Serena.

Do you know the answer to this?

I do not.

It was on cover of

Us Weekly or U.S.

Weekly or what?

whatever.

Oh, yeah, okay.

I knew this answer.

I don't, I'm cool with whatever.

I am cool with whatever.

Whatever Bill Belichick wants to do, she runs digital and social.

I think every team has those people that do that, and they are around.

Okay, so if that's always, they are always around.

So if that is who is running that,

I know a lot of people don't love it, especially her being on the sideline and all the drama and attention, especially with how the team's playing.

But like social people are around nowadays more so than ever before.

So if she is the designated social person for team and Bill decided that, or whoever decided that,

she'd be around, I think, regardless.

Saying you're the most talked about woman in sports is a wild, that's a wild thing.

I think that is a wild,

that is an absurd thing to put out there, but also feels like they're working at all times.

Oh, yeah.

They're always working.

Always got something cooked up.

Do you think that

obviously not expected it out of Bill?

Do you think Bill likes it, though, at this point, that they're always working and angry?

I don't know.

All I know is

I got his name tattooed on my arm.

And

if this continues down the same path, I'm just going to have to cut my arm off.

No!

Yeah.

So

we'll see what happens.

Or they win football games, though.

No, maybe they do.

It sucks.

Because I grew up in Belichick.

It's always been Bill Belichick.

Whatever the fuck's going on down there sucks.

I think him going to college was a huge mistake, and I think everyone's realizing it now.

And I love Bill.

He damn near fucked the last 20 years of his life up by.

No, no.

But that's fine.

No,

there are people saying that this is a Jason Witten in the booth type situation where people forgot how good Jason Witten was at football when he went into that booth because he was heard by every football fan in America every single week.

And it wasn't the most comfortable place, I think, for him or the best setup.

So people forgot how good of a football player he was.

He had to go play football again and remind everybody: hey, hey, the reason why that happened is because how good of a football player I am, how good of a teammate I am, how good of all those things.

I think they came back to being positive, but it got really negative there for a while for Jason Witten's brand as a whole.

Right now, Bill Belichick's brand is very low.

I mean, I mean,

Jason Witten got back.

He did.

I don't think Bill's getting back anymore.

Good run.

Maybe they win.

ACC done.

I hope.

Who gives a fuck?

He was winning Super Bowl.

The ACC.

That's Tough League.

Dabo Sweeney's talking about it.

Eight out of the last 10 years, we win the league.

Dabo's getting fired.

I mean, who gives a fuck?

Yeah, so maybe Bill goes down to Clemson.

You know, maybe.

Yeah, there you go.

Maybe Bill needs a different call.

He runs down the hill.

He runs down the hill just like Caffeine.

I'm telling you, I don't love it.

I don't love the way everybody responds to everything that Bill does.

But everything Bill does now, we all go, that ain't what.

Wild.

The whole thing is wild.

But he's having a different era.

Hey, there's different eras of this entire thing.

Most talked about woman in sports.

I guess we're talking

that?

Yeah, we did.

She said that?

Yeah, we kind of leaned in.

We're part of the problem.

I mean, I think most people would say they'd hear that from her, and they'd say, she would say that.

And on that note,

we hope everybody's happy.

Yeah, we do.

And after Bill's retired from coaching after winning an ACC championship

here in a couple of years, we assume, or if he gets back into the NFL, whatever happens, which I don't know if that's going to happen at this case, because I think owners are a pretty big, like, higher-on brand type people, I think.

I don't know if anybody's going to sign up for all of it at this point, especially if they're not having success in North Carolina.

But we got to remember, whenever he's done coaching football, which whenever it is, we will still remember the greatness, right?

Yeah.

Right?

No matter what.

Banners last forever.

Right, AJ?

Yeah, I think some old people will, for sure.

What about, are we old?

You know, younger, you know, yeah, I'm old, so I know.

I remember when the Patriots had their dynasty, but, you know, like young kids have no clue.

And by young kids, I mean 28-year-olds.

Yeah, but 100 years from now, when they tell the story of the NFL, guess whose name is going to be there for 20 years?

Bill Belichick.

So he will never die, but as people who were fans of him throughout this whole thing, people who were fans of him when he was the head coach of the Patriots, I think for a lot of people, after that, it will be hard to separate the two, no doubt.

He is living his life, right?

So we should be happy for him.

This won't survive 100 years.

The six Super Bowls he won will.

Yeah, I think it might.

AJ, don't be.

What are you?

What are you doing?

He was on our

past impressions publicly, you know.

AJ, it didn't even last 25 years for Ray Lewis, brother.

What?

I think you know what.

No, but I'm saying that that's well.

I mean, we can go.

I think a lot of the world

careers get forgotten, I think, which it should because of what they do.

Unless it's the end.

Which is, I think, what he's saying.

He's saying our last impression is going to be.

Unless he gets an NFL gig and wins the Super Bowl.

Well, that's not going to happen.

Whoa!

We don't know that.

It could.

I mean, do we know if Tom Landry dated some 25-year-old when he was done with coaching?

I don't know if we do because we don't remember that stuff.

But he could have.

Old guys.

Yeah.

Bill Belichick.

He's living.

He's living a vastly different life than any of us could have expected.

Yeah.

Yeah, he's losing.

Hey, as long as he's all in and he's happy.

Valid.

I don't think anybody's going to have expected him to lose down here in North Carolina.

Capitol Hill is beautiful, though.

Capital is beautiful.

So nice.

That first drive, too, we were there.

Nice golf course.

Country Club, Richter.

Exactly.

Paisan Lombardo's literally in a cave.

Love you, Mike.

We do love you, Lombo.

We got faith in you guys.

takes time takes time build your roster there's people saying some really mean things oh yeah

people trying to sue I think the whole thing trying to get

really I'm thinking there's a lot of shit going around down there as soon as he got there there's just been a lot it's been a

but if you win games guess what all goes away that's football baby it's always gonna be year two

and then year three

And then another one.

And magazine cover two.

I think cover three.

And then another one.

They didn't pose for that to their credit.

What?

It's a picture from a while ago.

We know that.

A picture from a while ago that they posed for.

They didn't pose for the cover of a magazine.

They didn't bring him into a studio to hear.

We're on the cover of Us Weekly.

Yeah, and they definitely didn't pick that photo either to be used as the cover.

I think she may have had some credit control over which picture was used.

If this relationship unfortunately doesn't work, I can't wait for Bill to be the Golden Bachelor.

Oh, yes.

Oh, boom.

How do you want to think about him?

There it is.

This relationship is going to work.

I said, if if it unfortunately doesn't.

And he's the golden bachelor and she's the bachelorette.

We'd like to put him fastest on unfortunately.

Yeah.

If it unfortunately does not.

But we think it will work out, especially with how committed he seemingly is.

Because we love love.

I mean, he's got to be fully committed to this.

Yeah.

He's on magazines.

He's doing Instagram.

He's doing the entire thing.

So we are happy for him.

But boy, they got to win some fucking games.

They got to win some games.

All right.

Be your friend, tell a friend something nice and like, hey, here's something nice to a friend up down there in North Carolina.

You guys need to start winning games really soon, really soon, really fast.

Okay, it's going to get really low.

You know that, though.

You guys have been born in it.

They'll figure it out.

I don't like the most.

It's like Taylor Swift actually.

She's sports girl.

Yeah.

Most ball.

That's Jordan.

That's Jordan football.

We're in this thing together.

I never forget it.

Let's enjoy tonight.

Are we all in the Seahawks?

No.

You're on the Cardinals?

I like the under.

Cardinals.

Coop's on the Cardinals, right?

Toxic Table is both on the Cardinals.

Yeah.

I like the under.

40 and a half, you like the under.

Yeah.

Gump, you're on the Cardinals.

Yeah.

All of a sudden, are you starting to wonder that everybody else is on the Cardinals with your kind of thing?

It's percentage.

It's not this group.

Bruce, who do you like?

I'm with Tony on the under.

I would take the Seahawks if it was a gun to my head.

How do you pick a side?

Nick?

Go, Hawks, go.

It's a good football team.

Still,

the Steelers need Seahawks.

You're going to see a guy, Wilson, for the Cardinals.

And I only know this because I've watched it live twice.

This guy brings the fucking wood.

It's not just Buddha anymore.

There's another guy back there.

Safety?

I believe he's.

I don't know if he's a safety, if he plays linebacker, if he's like Harold Perkins Jr., but he fucking flies around.

I can't wait to watch him.

Leron Landry wanted to be safety DN.

That's kind of what it reminds me of.

Okay, I like that.

I like that.

That was possible at that time.

All right, AJH.

It feels like we're kind of on an island right now.

We are.

I'm holding strongly.

73% island.

No, no, that's people we don't know.

Oh, talk about them.

Yeah, we don't know them.

Talk about our friends.

And that number, who knows?

Who knows?

On that, rest in peace, Kinsig.

Hell yeah.

Have a great night.

This is

a dream come true, getting to talk ball for a living.

And the fact that you guys let us do this, we're incredibly thankful for another football convo with Stanford Steve.

Fullers this.

Let's have an incredible night.

Team on me.

Team on three.

One, two, three.

Team.

Goodbye.

Eight years ago, I blew my football career.

He dropped it at the one-yard line.

On September 30th, Chad Powers arrives on Hulu.

If I can't play as Russ, I'll play as someone else.

My name's Chad.

And last name?

Please.

From executive producers Eli and Peyton Manning.

Remember, you're wearing a prosthetic mask.

This is acting.

And starring Glenn Powell.

He thinks you're a rubber chief, Toy.

Not rubber.

I'm a man.

Made of flesh.

The Hulu original series, Chad Powers, premieres September 30th.

30th streaming on hulu and hulu on disney plus for bundle subscribers terms apply you've seen the headlines heard the debates the three-point ball has created a monotonous rhythm to the game and others has the three-pointer ruined basketball and how did we get here the rise of the three-point shot can be partially traced to an eccentric kansas genius named martin manly whose story didn't turn out quite the way he imagined i decided i wanted to have one of the most organized goodbyes in history 30 for 30 podcast presents chasing basketball Heaven.

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