PMS 2.0 1414 - BA Day with Bruce Arians, MNF Recap, Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell, Keenan Allen, Lavonte David, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our Hubble above the Thunder Gnome on this BA Day September 23rd 2025 this program begins right now

Football

Ladies and gentlemen that's man who coached football for 47 years Bruce Arians is here

coach BA good to see you can't wait for another edition of BS or no BS with BA about the NFL's headlines another headline was added last night as we saw a team be the brand new version of itself yet again.

We thought this Lions team after losing Ben Johnson, who was the bell of the ball, the super genius on the offense, and Aaron Glenn, the absolute dog that was running the Detroit Lions defense, as they had this resurgence back to relevancy and being a good football team for the first time, maybe in forever.

They looked like ass at the beginning of this entire thing.

Jared Goff looked like the guy at Rams whenever he was getting benched, maybe even third stringer at the end.

of it lost all his confidence.

Is this guy going to suck again?

And then what we've seen here the last few games out of this Lions Lions team is, oh, no, no, no.

They are still the brand new

Lions.

Huge win last night.

And in the biggest moments, they do what the brand new Lions do, which is go for it on fourth down.

We're getting some stats about them going for it on the fourth down.

32% of the time, they go for it.

Okay, that's obviously the highest in the NFL.

91 conversions.

That's the most in the NFL.

Lions were three for three and scored 21 points last night.

after converting on fourth downs.

Now, those stats are from Hembo, but if you saw the game, there was late in the game, there was a fourth down that they went for it that you think to yourself, okay, now this is first quarter, fourth and three.

You know, Monroe St.

Brown does the, how you doing?

Let me go ahead and check each quad dance.

And he

obviously understands you're going to go for it then.

I think MCDC was trying to set a point.

And also, it was going to be a high-scoring game.

Everybody thought we can go for it.

That's normal.

Less than two minutes left, though.

Okay.

Whenever you 156, you're up one score at the 50 damn near.

Okay.

Fourth and two, 156.

This is one of those ones that Dan Campbell calls that nobody else really does.

People that love going for it on fourth down, even in this situation, would be like, Lamar Jackson, 49 going in.

We're up touchdown right now.

No, thanks.

This feels like we should maybe just go ahead and try to get a stop.

But on that same note, Lamar Jackson, are we going to be able to get a stop?

Minute 46 left anyways.

And MCDC says, let's go for it.

Not only do they run it with Sonic and Knuckles.

Guys are incredible.

Okay, they got a great run game.

They throw this thing.

and it's not an easy throw.

This is Jared Goff dropping it in a bucket with under two minutes to Amon Ross St.

Brown, their star wide receiver, who, if you listen to Troy talk about him last night, he does everything right.

Everything.

He's not a diva at all.

He works hard.

He blocks.

He does everything you ask him.

And it's like the Detroit Lions win because this is how the Detroit Lions play football.

It is quite a no-risket, no-biscuit operation up there.

And it feels like Lions fans woke up this morning a lot more confident than they had for the rest of the NFL season.

Is that accurate, Foxy?

Spot on, Pat.

I'll tell you what, in the MCDC era, that was the best regular season win we have had by far and away.

We were able to run the ball, all right?

Monty and Gibbs both two touchdowns each, over 200 yards rushing.

And then on defense, we were somehow able to stop Lamar.

Seven sacks.

Before this game, when I said we had a game between Jared Goff and Lamar Jackson, and one of them is going to get sacked seven times and the other is going to get sacked zero times.

I would have bet $10 billion that it was Jared Goff getting sacked seven times.

Instead, this defense stepped up.

Kelvin Shepard stepped up.

It was amazing.

And last but not least, we stopped Derrick Henry.

Hunch, punch, out of there.

Huge game changer right there.

I love everything about it.

It was amazing.

And the Lions are all the way back.

I love to hear that passion and excitement, Foxy.

Good for you.

Good for Lions fans because obviously this has been.

a good time with MCDC and him coming to town and Michigan man, the Michigan face, Aiden Hutchinson having a huge punch out to, you know, win that thing.

And Derrick Henry now was starting to talk about that.

What's going on?

Hey, once a fumbler, always a fumbler, but he was never a fumbler.

Now he's a fumbler.

Are we worried?

Three for three here now.

Derrick Henry, very inopportune timing of it all.

And obviously, Derrick Henry is a stud.

I mean, Derrick Henry is a massive piece of their offense, but you lose the ball late like this and continue to do it.

You set your defense up for absolute failure and you lose games.

The Baltimore Ravens are now one and two.

Yeah.

Okay, and they're staring down a potential one and three.

Or is it going to be the Chiefs?

Toxic Tables here at at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt.

Ty Schmidt, the NFC North, Green Bay Packers were the Kings for a long time.

I see you've got the coach's hat on your head right now with the G there representing the Packers.

This Lions team doesn't seem like it's going anywhere.

You know, I think the Packers had to represent or had to recognize the Lions as an actual opponent in the division.

Okay, that was the first stage.

Yeah, without a doubt.

From being the same old Lions to the brand new Lions.

Gonna beat these guys by four touchdowns every single time.

That's not the case.

Oh, Thanksgiving's cute, guys.

You get to watch the Detroit Lions.

You know what happens every other time?

They're not a part of the conversation here in the NFC North.

So the first stage was recognizing that they are a part of the NFC North.

I think we've witnessed that happen with you over its entire time.

Then whenever they got really good, there was still a lot of denial out of you.

There was, nope, this is still the Lions and they forever will be.

You view the Bears the same exact way.

It feels like that is how Packers fans feel, especially Packers ownership like you.

Then last year, whenever they're number one seed in the NFC, there was a recognition, I think, by Packers fans, like, okay, this team is a team.

Then Ben Johnson leaves.

Aaron Glenn leaves.

A lot of holes.

First week, they look like ass.

I think there's been some confliction on whether or not everybody legitimizes the Lions.

There's no questions asked now after, right?

They are the brand new Lions and will be going forward for as long as MCDC is there.

Yeah, without a doubt.

I mean, I don't think there's, they punched the Ravens in the mouth last night.

Like, that's the Lions who we've come to know.

Like, and as a Packers fan, like, you expect to see that every single time, you know, the Lions play the Packers.

Like, hey, they're going to out-physical them.

they're gonna go for it a bunch and that's kind of that was mcdc's whole point when everyone was making a big deal when both of the coordinators left he's like hey theoretically the way we've built things here

if if i take a step back like this thing should be able to kind of hum on its own like they have unbelievable players on both sides of the ball they're super physical and then we probably overreacted way too much a on both sides of the spectrum like hey the packers looked really good week one against the lions and wow the lions are a completely different team without Ben Johnson.

And the defense doesn't look the same.

Like, it obviously is going to take a little bit of time.

And now we see last night.

Like, I don't think that's crazy for Foxy to say that.

I mean, we've been watching the Lions a lot.

Like, this probably was the most convincing and, you know, like impressive win that they've had in the Dan Campbell era because this silences everything.

Like, these guys are legitimate contenders to go to the Super Bowl.

I love the fact that Marlon Humphrey was running a 4-2 at this stage of his career.

Love everything about it.

Absolutely catching up there.

As Sonic and Knuckles were just that last night, weren't they?

That's right.

A lot of people week one were calling them ass and cheeks.

I didn't like it one bit.

So now we're Sonic and Knuckles.

I didn't like that one bit either.

I thought that was a little pretty mature.

D-Butt, what is your takeaway from last night?

First of all, defense coordinator Kelvin Shepard.

Man.

Hell yeah, dude.

Hell yeah.

What a showing.

Former teammate of ours.

What is your takeaway from last night's Monday Night Football game?

It was over.

The over definitely did hit.

For sure, but exactly what Todd said, it's one thing to go on the road.

And I was with B.A.

and just that environment coming out.

B.A.

asked me as soon as the intro started national anthem.

He's like, have you ever played a big-time night game or big time game in this stadium?

The energy is different at that stadium.

So to go on a road early in the season against a team that beat your ass last year, great quarterback, great whatever, and just punch them in the mouth, like to get out physical like that, two 95-yard plus TD drives.

Like you rarely ever see that.

You rarely see one of them.

Was it 16 plays?

I think

one of them was 18 or 19.

Yeah.

And that's when you really feel like the Sonic and Knuckles.

It's one thing to be on the side of a team throwing for 500 yards,

but when a team can just run the ball down your throat on your home fields of defense, that just takes all the pride out of you as a defense.

So for the Detroit Lions, huge, huge win.

And Dan Campbell, look, he is the fourth down, go-forward type of guy.

And the team knows what you're getting, that the offense knows what you're getting to be a first-year coordinator with this team.

be put in that moment on that stage and then to get it and execute it.

He had the flag that would have got it anyway with the penalty, but to make that throw on a dot, like under pressure, they were calling him Gooflowski, too.

I know, ass in cheeks, Gooflowski.

People were a lot about this life.

That moment's valid.

Yeah,

this is a big-time moment for this team, for this quarterback, this coach, these coordinators.

Shout out Shep Dog, his defense, seven sacks against Lamar Jackson.

It was some, obviously, you know, he put himself in those bad situations, but that's why he is who he is because he can make those special plays and then keep Derrick Henry, you know, 50 yards and a huge fourth.

That wasn't just a fumble.

That was a great punch out by Aiden, man.

So just a big time, big time win.

Early in the season for him, obviously a lot of ball left, but they really went and punched what we see as a physical team.

I don't know.

The numbers are saying something else about this Baltimore Ravens team, especially the defense.

But

that's the aesthetic we always think with the Baltimore Ravens.

But it just got punched in the mouth by more physical team with the Detroit Lions.

Last two seasons, I think through the first three quarters, they're like number three or four in the league in giving up points per game.

And then in the fourth quarter, they're at like 9.3 points per game.

They're giving up and it's 31st in the league or something like that.

Not good.

Not good, especially for a team that we think of being tough with what you're saying.

Now, on the flip side of that, Coach, whenever you took over down in Tampa, I think they had a 5-11 season going into that season.

You obviously become Super Bowl champion down there.

And there's a lot of moving pieces to that.

But with what MCDC has been able to do with this Detroit Lions thing, what is the most impressive part as like another coach?

Like, what do you guys see him doing?

doing at Detroit that maybe nobody ever thought could happen there.

And what have you seen the way, how have you seen him operate that most coaches like kind of look and, I don't want to say give a shout out to, but like respect at the way he's doing?

Yeah, I think it started with his first press conference when they go bite their kneecaps off.

And he set the tone that this is how the Detroit Lions are going to play.

And that's how he lives.

And the team embraced it.

And

I never thought I'd see anybody going to Baltimore on a big night and beat them up.

And they beat him up.

And that's Dan Campbell.

I mean, his personality personifies everything about this whole organization now, the team.

The guys rally around him.

Jared Goff's playing fantastic.

Yeah, that was a very impressive win.

You talk about Baltimore.

Obviously, you're in the AFC North for a long time.

You were in the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens rivalry for a long time.

A lot of respect on both sides of the ball there for how they play football and what they can do and their environments, especially home game at night, which is what you referenced to him as the game was starting.

We were there for Ray's last game.

We were there for Ray's last game.

How'd that go?

Well, he actually was in the backfield uh for the kneel down that they had after they were winning

and uh yeah he was the last line and he just stood in the middle of the field basically as the kneel-down was happening and it was another full-on embrace of him but that place the seven nation army yep gets real loud they come from a similar city as uh you know the likes of pittsburgh and philadelphia and boston and other places that love to talk shit Okay, like Baltimore loves to talk shit.

So you get that combined with our team plays a physical style, which is representative of the city.

You would think, you know, that would have an effect on the Detroit Lions, maybe, if they were a little bit soft.

But this Baltimore Ravens team, the numbers are not.

Not good.

Why?

What is what the hell is going on?

What is going on with the Baltimore Ravens?

Do we need to ask that?

Let's go to go ahead, Connect.

Well, I was just going to say, I mean, they're missing two of their best defensive linemen.

I mean, Matt Abuque is the highest paid player on the defense, I think, before Kyle Hamilton signed his extension.

Like, without him in the middle, they ran all over him, and that's why.

And then you think about Van Noy, like where were they gashing him up the middle and on the outside?

And that's where Mattabike and Kyle Van Noy are supposed to be.

And then when you think, talk about the tough teams, like what do the tough teams do?

They pound the football.

And, you know, Derrick Henry can do that.

But you know what helps?

Patrick Ricard.

Like,

the Ravens might never be healthy completely as an offense or a defense this whole year.

It sucks, but it happens every year for them, doesn't it?

It happens every year.

And that's the thing about the Lions.

Like, right now, we're seeing the Lions healthy.

Hopefully they stay healthy.

They're unbelievable.

And then think about the offense for the Ravens.

They scored 40 and 42 in their first two weeks.

Like,

30 points against the Ravens is going to be a massive win for defenses this year.

They've given out the most points this year.

How about Lamar Jackson, though?

There was a role left.

He's ridiculous.

He's so good.

Mark Andrews being back.

Like, once likely gets back, how much better, you know, they're going to be on us.

But will they get back at the right time where they have enough time to continue to go?

Yeah, there's crazy stats about how many points they've scored and how they are the only team in the history one and two or whatever and you watch lamar the highest passer rating and that whole conversation just doesn't really still happen with lamar and some of the throws he makes are just absurd and then when he starts running like this one right here i'm not going to take a big hit and i'm going to pull away there's multiple times he is dynamic yeah always will be but you got to finish Fourth quarter, you got to finish whether whether that's him making plays in a pass game.

And sometimes the best play is to throw it away and it's hard to do.

We play with Andrew Luck, which he never wanted to give up on a play.

Big Ben was that type of quarterback, but sometimes it is best.

You can't be in second, 18, or third, and 21.

You just can't put yourself in no situation.

And defense, giving up 97 points through three games, but defensively facing this Lions team and all the betters, know anybody watch this thing, like...

When you have Montgomery getting four or five hard-nosed carries, and then you see him jogging off to the sideline, unsnapping, and you see fuck zero jogging on the field, snapping his shit.

That's tough.

That's tough.

Dude, that first first drive when they showed the O-line on the bench, you know, just gutted, sweating, getting their Gatorade, get their lights in.

Like, as a defense, that is just, I mean, that takes it out of you.

Having those fresh backs who are always going to, and they, because every carry means it matters a little bit more to them because they know that next guy is going to be in there getting it.

But that is, man, 295.

Like, I can't say that enough, man.

That's how they won the game, just imposing their will on another team.

And they were talking a lot about how they get along, you know, and they enjoy each other's success and everything like that.

They definitely know how much everybody has, though.

Sonic and Knuckles definitely know who's doing what up.

Oh, yeah.

You know, they don't want to let each other down, first of all, but also they don't want to give an inch.

And that is a good thing to have, especially if they get along.

Like if the guys get along, if you got two dogs that get along, they're also trying to do the same thing.

And then offensive line-wise, I think there was a couple where Gibbs maybe got stopped for like a couple losses in a row and he like got upset.

And I'm like, there's so much to what he could be mad about there.

Is it like he didn't see something, he didn't like it, there wasn't a hole, maybe the offensive line or, or oh, Montgomery's been rolling all over the place right now.

And I'm like, there's just an added dynamic whenever you have two ones at any position, I think.

And the fact that they're kind of going in the same direction, great for Dan Campbell and the Lions.

Jameer Gibbs got lit up.

I mean, I thought he was going to get hurt because he got like right in the middle catch right onto the goal line.

And I honestly thought he was hurt.

But then they, you know, he comes off and here comes Montgomery in.

And that was Montgomery's first touchdown.

Like, you talk about having an ego or anything like that.

Like, the guy that gets you all the way down there, literally to the one-yard line, wow, taking a vicious hit.

I mean, I truly was worried about him when it happened.

I'm very glad he was okay.

Tough.

Tough son of a bitch.

And then, you know, Montgomery comes in and scores.

I was thinking about this last night.

What draft pick do you think Jameer Gibbs is, if you were to go back?

Because remember when Jameer Gibbs got drafted 12?

It was like, what are the Lions doing drafting a running back this high?

And then they traded back up to get Jack Campbell.

It was like, what the hell is going on?

They got a bear ass for the chill.

Jameer's killed.

That's the worst first round of all time.

Yes, and so, like, now you look back on it, it's like Jameer Gibbs is probably the freaking first pick of that draft.

If you were to read, I mean, quarterbacks and all that shit.

But seriously, the way that has panned out for Brad Holmes and MCDC, too, like talking about just knowing exactly what you're doing when you are 9-8 and teams don't respect you as much, but you still know, like, you give us a couple years, we're going to be that team.

It's, it's sweet.

The Ravens obviously have been perennial, good, and great at times.

Their fans are starting to get antsy, it sounds like who's going to to win the AFC North, do you think, Coach?

Baltimore.

All right.

Hands down.

Hands down.

Why is that?

I think they're the best team in the NFC North.

I mean, AFC North,

they've got a good coaching staff.

They've got Lamar.

They're scoring points out the butt.

And that defense is going to come back.

Sooner or they're going to get those guys back.

They're not going anywhere.

And I think a game like this sometimes can galvanize a team like, hey, they embarrassed the shit out of us at our place, playing our style ball.

This ain't happening again yeah it could be a lot to pull from i think if you're a coach right i would assume there's a lot of questions about john harbaugh i mean anytime they lose a game obviously there's a lot of conversation about everything around there and john harbaugh's name gets mentioned a lot in it you know because of the amount of double digit leads and then losses and yada yada but they're in it every single year is this the year that they can figure out how to rally from this point and maybe a one and three start.

You know, like there's a chance that that is that is around the corner here.

I mean, this game on Sunday, like, you know, it's obviously still very early, but this could be the kind of game where it's like the trajectory of both teams changes completely based on who wins and who loses that game.

Chiefs, Ravens.

Yeah.

Both one and two.

Right.

What are you going to do?

I don't know what the stats are exactly.

We're trying to pull them.

One in three teams.

I have no idea what the stories are.

I assume it's pretty similar to the other shitty.

That is such a first quarter.

You talk about the season in four quarters.

Now it's 17 games.

So it's four quarters, obviously, and a bonus in there.

But it's starting out that big of a deficit depending on what division you're in because there's a couple divisions that are shite but there's a couple other that are very good that's a long way back like cincinnati bengals last year they put themselves in such a hole then they got hot late remember and it was just like a never-ending supply so even if you have a very good team which all these teams on rosters in theory should be good teams that we talk about in the championship thing but it's still sometimes too much sometimes early you you kind of find yourself in a hole too much in the afc north though i don't know what those holes are going to to look like.

I don't know what the rest of that's going to look like.

Cleveland, okay, what happens there?

They're definitely a defense football team.

Phenomenal.

Unbelievable.

They're a great football team.

They are a great football team.

Who did they beat this best friend?

They beat the Packers, which, you know,

a lot of people were saying was the best team in the NFL.

And I'll tell you what, what I saw for 60 minutes on Sunday, that, I mean, that's a great football team.

Obviously, yeah, great football team.

Pittsburgh Steelers going all in.

Aaron's going incognito mode.

Yeah.

You see that?

Yeah, totally.

Hoodie up.

Mike Tomlin's going to get the defense defense good.

We're going to be good.

He better.

Whoa.

They forced five turnovers, B.A.

It's one of the best defenses in the freaking league.

Right.

Right.

Turnovers are the big.

They are huge.

And Mike preaches the turnovers.

And when they win the turnover battle, they normally win the game.

But it hasn't happened a lot.

Let's go to Hammer.

Don, Pat.

AP Tone.

Tone, you took an alternate spread last night for the Baltimore Ravens.

I think minus nine and a half.

I think that only comes from your respect for the Ravens because of AFC North football.

What are your thoughts on AFC North as a whole, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the situation they're in?

And the Baltimore Ravens losing a huge one here early.

Yeah, I was shocked.

I did take minus nine and a half on the Ravens.

And for all the reasons you guys said,

going into Baltimore, the Lions doing that was an incredible win.

I do still think the...

The Ravens win the AFC North.

I don't think they have anything to worry about there.

I still think they win the Super Bowl as well.

The Ravens are my Super Bowl pick.

Listen, they've had some ups and downs to start the year.

But the defense is going to figure it out.

They're going to get those guys back, Zach or the DC.

They kind of started slow last year, too, and figured it out.

So I'm not worried about the Ravens yet.

I think they still definitely win the division, and I still think they win the AFC, too.

Hey, Tyn.

What's

that?

What the hell?

Dude, Super Bowl picked.

We got quarterback, DK Metcalf, Jalen Ramsey.

I can sit here and lie to you if you want.

John U Smith.

He's an AP voter.

He's an AP voter.

He's out of line.

I'm a journalist now.

I'm part of the Associated Press.

Sometimes you're going to separate your fan from your life and your job.

No, sometimes you got to lie.

Well, D-Buck is not lying.

I think he just actually just kind of picks everybody.

But you thought the...

Steelers are going to win the Super Bowl whenever Aaron Rodgers signed with team.

Did he not?

He said that Michael Franklin.

I didn't say division, though.

Ooh.

You just said the Ravens are going to win division and the Super Bowl.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

But back then, back then,

it was Ravens going to win division, Steelers win the Super Bowl.

They do better as a six, seven seeders.

Okay, so what is this year for the Steelers?

We got Aaron for one year, right?

Two years.

What is this for the rest of the week?

It feels like the last five years-ish.

What about they just won?

I mean, we're winning games.

Yeah, you beat a damn good Patriots team, brother.

I'm just telling you what I see after three games, and it's the defense can't get off the field, they can't really stop the run, the offensive line isn't really blocking anybody.

So, when you can't do those things, it makes winning football games hard.

But, you know, that's what the Steelers do: win football games.

So, they're still going to win, you know, just not win enough to win the big one.

Well, I'll tell you what, they look better in Cincinnati.

They do look better in Cincinnati.

Cincinnati, that was a tough one.

That was a tough one.

So, back to your point: Baltimore Ravens gonna win the AFC North?

Totally.

Good luck, Lamar.

They better.

Just keep scoring points.

Some point they'll get a stop.

Lamar being

so nasty through the sky just does not get enough praise because the entire conversation is how good of a runner he is.

Remember, running back.

He's a running back, playing quarterback.

Coming through the combine in the draft process.

Hey, you ever think about me running some round force?

Just want to kind of see you think, no, I'm a quarterback.

You know, the only guy that really believed in himself, alongside his mom, who was acting as his agent and manager, I think, still the only ones publicly basically saying, no, he's quarterback, he's quarterback, he's quarterback.

Everybody else was like, he should be open to maybe maybe trying to get on the field too at some places.

Like that was a real convo because of how insanely fast, athletic, quick, and elusive he is as a runner with the ball.

He's just a different level of athlete.

And then now that he's become the best passer is what the passer rating judgment says.

You can obviously put a bunch of arms up there and say, hey, who's the best arm?

user?

Who's the best passer?

Oh, that shit.

Who has the strongest arm?

I don't know if he wins every single one, but passer rating.

Some of these throws he was making last night were just filthy.

And then he makes the next one.

And then the next one.

And then the next one.

I think that's the difference between good and great, right?

Making the throws on a consistent level.

He's always been able to spin it.

Even back in Louisville, he could spin it now.

And I compared him a lot to Michael Vick coming out.

And Mike could spin it too, but Lamar was more accurate when Mike coming out.

Now they're both running about 4-2,

and the legs were obviously their...

go-to.

But

Lamar can spin it as good as anybody in the league right now.

Yeah, right now he was, I mean, fadeaway shots, big shots, deep shots, cross shot.

I mean, every throw is just looking natural.

And it's, I think, whenever you have good arm talent, you probably make that like one.

And then the next one's going to be a miss.

And then there's going to be a little inconsistency.

There's going to be like a behind.

It was like every throw was right where it was supposed to be.

And it's like, I feel like that's what like Peyton, Tom,

I assume Aaron, all the like high-level throwers are like every throw needs to be in the perfect spot.

Lamar's at that point.

The fact that he has held himself to that standard to work to become to that level of thrower when he could just rely, just, he would be a fucking Hall of Fame quarterback just with his legs and what he was able to do with his arm.

The fact that he put in the work, clearly, throwing the ball to become this passer, it's like so much respect for everything going on over there.

Well, and that's what's weird when you bring up like the fourth quarter, you know, stats for the Ravens with them blowing leads and everything.

Like, Lamar almost seems like, like, if you could create someone to kind of salt a game away in the fourth quarter it'd be a guy like lamar he can make every single throw like if there's ever a third and long it's like hey there's a good chance if if he needs to like he can get us 17 yards he can pick up a long first down and then not to mention derrick henry too like like you would think that that two-headed attack right there like that's what salts away games and for whatever reason it's it's just not it hasn't been working what the hell is going on with derrick henry we know how strong he is yeah yeah i'm one of derrick Henry's actual biggest fans just because just like Cam Newton, when you see somebody that is just not supposed to, like clearly their body type is not supposed to be able to do the job that it's doing, you can't help but just marvel like, holy shit, this is, he is so big, so strong, so fast, so durable.

Like just so all the so many that you want to have that is good.

This is not who he is though.

They say once a fumbler, always a fumbler.

That's what football people say.

Now, I got, I had a a run that was rule of fumble.

I'd like to say I was dying.

Sure, you know, because the wristbone and the hip,

that's dying.

Today's in a camera.

Yeah, and Hocky Lee didn't want it.

So I have a documented fumbler, and I think I do have good ball stream.

But that ref, one of the greats, certainly fucked that one up.

But he is one of the greats.

We would like him to potentially be in New York running a lot of things, which we could potentially talk about later.

But why is it started?

Does it just have, what do you think it is?

And now guys know, though, right?

This becomes something you guys put a bullseye on on defense.

Yeah, so all the good things, the one, I mean, bad, how big he is, it does give a bigger surface and it is easier to kind of hit that ball.

And this was just a great play too by Aiden coming from behind because Derek never sees him, so he's not tucking it.

You know, we saw TK Barber switch it up, kind of have whatever point through his career going super high and tight.

Some runners, I think I heard either Shannon Sharp or I think it was Shannon Sharp talking about Emmett.

He was a left-handed ball carry type of guy.

So no matter where he was going, he was always going to have the ball in his left hand.

So maybe it's some of those things some people are talking about.

Maybe it's the sleeves but i sent in something i think yahoo or somebody put in his fumbles by quarter because like fumbles matter we've seen running backs get benched not to see the field anymore obviously that's not going to happen with derek but when you're in the fourth quarter of the game we all saw the prime time against the bills they had the game in hand fumbled it and then last night again like i don't know it's definitely in his head you saw him on the sideline you know absolutely beside himself you can barely see him show that type of emotion so it's in his head now and it's definitely a red dot for for defense now you're going to be targeting we know how prevalent the punch out is league-wide.

So everybody's going to be targeting the ball right now.

But that number right there is staggering.

First quarter, four fumbles, second quarter, three, third quarter, two, and then fourth quarter to Todd's point.

When you are trying to run the clock out, they always have these, you know, two, two scored leads, 10 fumbles in the fourth quarter.

You can't have that.

Coach B.A., what are you saying to him?

Because obviously your offense depends on him having success as well.

So it's not like you can just say, hey, you fumbled again, I'm going to take you out completely.

Or is that something you have to say?

I don't think think you can say that to Derrick Henry, though, especially on that.

No, not at all.

I think it's something that, hey, let's look at how it happened.

It's a backside punched out, but he had it high and tight.

All right.

He actually had it up here when it got punched out.

I don't want him running with two hands on it, that's for damn sure.

You know, just keep doing what you're doing and let's protect it better.

Keep working at it.

And

I'm not harping on it because I don't want it to happen again.

I don't want you thinking about it.

Let's not focus on this thing.

Yeah, a lot of good runs, too.

Okay, yeah, we need to certainly.

The ball's broken now.

We need to certainly take care of that, but it does, maybe there's some misfortune too to it.

Three for three?

Yeah.

That's tough.

Three for three is tough.

But there's got to be a little, I mean, there's some misfortune to it.

Of course, no matter, yeah, like even that.

Because if that punch hits his arm, which Aiden Hutch have been training, hey, he hasn't been training.

He's been dancing, too.

He's been doing a lot of dancing.

Oh, yeah.

I've seen him dancing.

He was dancing all over the place.

Hutch?

Hutch was dancing.

Basically naked.

I didn't see that.

You were.

He was.

Okay.

And that's why he can punch the ball out.

No, yeah, yeah.

Shave the arms the whole thing.

I get what you're saying.

But no, like, I think he has been working possibly.

And that's a good thing to get good at.

Darius Leonard was here

when I was playing great football.

That guy was all over the place.

I think he talked about taking actual boxing classes and like working on his punch.

And that became a real weapon for him.

He was punching one out every game, basically.

The peanut punch.

Yeah, the peanut punch.

Pagano.

Well, then Chuck Pagano made a video on

when you deliver this punch.

We want guys to come from here.

You know, you can't be doing this.

And all of a sudden, Peanut got a little bit offended.

Is this guy saying he fucking created?

Yeah.

I got to check on Chuck.

Chuck Pagano is in a bass ball right now.

A couple tough, tough, tough, tough ones.

Figure it out, Chuck.

Yeah, but you saw his guy.

We talked about it last night.

I sent it in the group text.

One of his safety sacrificed his body saw in an outside shoulder so that

his brother could make a tackle.

That is Chuck Pregono losing his mind raider.

Love everything about it.

Sacrifice you hear him.

Proper shoulder, proper everything you're doing.

That is an SS full sellout right there.

Brian Branch had one too, which was a great play.

Threw a penalty on it.

Bullshit, but great, great play.

That's an unbelievable play right there.

Marlon Humphrey, who chased down David Montgomery,

doing both things.

What a run by him.

I also like, I don't know

if D-Butt would like to talk about it.

Oh, there's Baltimore Raiders.

There's a blackout.

Why they got white gloves on?

Yeah, I don't know.

What's that all about?

What is that?

Yeah, I don't know.

Why do they got the white gloves?

It does look kind of good, though.

It is kind of swaggy.

No, when you knew how.

No, we always talk about wear the gloves the color of the other team.

Yeah,

especially offense line, but nothing you can't see your hold.

So normally you wear the gloves of the color of the other team.

Yeah, that's what I was implying.

Looks like there's some cheating going on from Chocolate.

Yeah, they're getting real handsy, huh?

Getting real handsy.

Yeah, right there on

the jersey.

As soon as they jump, yeah, you just grab them.

Raven fans are not too happy with El Marlowe right now.

We got Kevin Oka.

Throw away the podcasting equipment.

There is a time and a place for all things, we believe.

Yeah.

True.

You know, and as somebody that was lucky enough to kind of work on second career while first career was happening, there was quite a balance of like, Hey, now he's much different than me.

Obviously, vastly.

All these guys that have actual podcasts in play now are vastly different than who I.

I was a fucking punter.

Okay, so I'm three shanks away from getting cut regardless, let alone having a personality.

So I very much knew like, hey, we can't be like Lamar on every throw.

The reason why I noticed, because I would hit three good punts, fourth one would be bad.

Okay.

Three good punts, maybe four good punts, fifth one would be bad.

There was like always a shank coming or a miss coming.

Once you start getting a little bit louder, you know, a little bit of a platform and drawing some, let's say, attention to yourself.

Yeah, we we can't be having the three out of four that gotta eliminate that

we gotta every you cannot be the liability ever that this can never come so for me that changed how i actually had to operate completely and if i had a terrible game or if we lost or something you got to read that balance too we talked about micah with this yeah whenever he's with the cowboys it's like i respect and appreciate that micah wants to build something uh but also there's a time and a place you know to do it you got to kind of feel that out but in the modern world a lot of these guys potentially leaving a lot of money on the table if they don't kind of activate their own nil NIL while all these college kids are doing it as well.

It's just, you got to find a balance, you know, because people don't want to hear shit.

Yeah.

Okay.

We don't want to hear shit from you.

Okay.

Unless we're winning games.

You got to remember why they're there too.

People are listening to you right now because you are a member of the team that you are a part of.

So if member, if team's not doing good,

they don't care.

And that's just a fact of the matter.

Without doubt.

Now, some guys I think have built their own brand outside of their team pretty good.

Travis Kelsey, obviously.

And by building brand, I mean just notable.

And he had so many shows.

Mahomes, I think there's a couple guys.

Lamar, I think, obviously.

Like actual influencers.

Josh.

Josh Allen.

A lot of the quarterbacks.

Yeah, but not all of the quarterbacks.

Not all of them, no.

Yeah, but a lot of the quarterbacks are bigger or can sustain their brand without a team.

Correct.

But everybody else, basically, and I am definitely the most part of this, the people are listening to you because of the team that you're on.

So you just got to remember that whenever you're kind of balancing, talking to them, and your team stinks.

Yeah, without a doubt.

And then the flip side of that is if he picks off Patrick Mahomes two times, people are going to be like, we need an episode right now, tonight.

Let us know what you saw.

You know what I mean?

Just ride it.

Yeah, exactly.

If I was a player nowadays with how many deals you guys are offered and shit like that, I would say

don't agree to like a guaranteed release date.

for each show.

Need X amount every week or whatever.

Yeah, don't do that.

Just give them a 10 of them.

We'll do 10 of them.

And then you hope you get 10 10 wins or maybe you drop two in one week after a week like then you can just do it in a positive way as opposed to these agents who are super geniuses i got you some real comfortable options here you're gonna need to make one every monday and wednesday they're gonna pick the best of that that's every game and they're gonna want you to be authentic whenever you lose you know that's part of the podcast it's raw it's genuine you know people don't get to see that so we want two of those each one every single week it's like in theory sounds good because it's a guarantee and it's comfortable but in the reality is whenever you lose and you got to do that it's going to fucking suck and everybody is going to tell you that you suck because of what you're doing.

So, hey, we're in a transition era.

Exactly.

We're in a transition era.

We're figuring it all out right now.

We're figuring it all out.

As a coach,

I couldn't even imagine trying to balance it all.

Honestly, the things that Chuck told me and Chuck was dealing with me, I mean, I couldn't even imagine.

You think you'd be a little bit better at punting balls?

You didn't tweet so much?

One of the first things he said to me, I was like, man, I tweet while I'm hanging out in my house.

I don't play video games.

I don't watch movies really.

I mean, I used to go out.

I guess I could start doing that again, but I just kind of, I'm just sitting in my house whenever I do that.

And if I suck, I will stop for sure.

Okay, deal.

That's the thing, too, because

it doesn't really impact your performance.

Like, whatever you do in your off time, you're doing it your off time.

But even, like, as a teammate, like, if we just went out there and gave up, you know, 200 yards rushing or a big fourth day, we just lost a big game.

Any game is a big, every game is a big game.

We just lost a game, and I got to see my teammate, you know, pod the next day or right after the game or some shit like that.

I'm going to feel some type of way.

And I know it's not impacting your performance, too.

I see you work every day.

I see you practice every day.

I see you in meetings.

Hopefully, it's just a bad look.

We all used to have, you know, one time.

If there's a radio show every week or something, when you lose, it's like, man, I don't know.

It's Tuesday.

I don't want to show up at Hardees and sign on.

You know, that's just what it is.

So, but it's like you said, it is a part of it.

There's a lot of money on the table.

I get that part of it.

Everybody understands that as a professional, but it is just a bad look overall.

From our generation.

I don't know what the younger generation thinks.

That's just coming from us.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

True, true.

For you, for dealing with it.

Like, how is it?

What is the conversation?

Because that had to evolve since you were coaching with Bear Bryant to now.

You know, because that Tuesday show, that Tuesday radio show thing became a very just synonymous with football.

Like, on Tuesday, the coach does a local show, a player may do a local show, a radio show, a radio hit.

That just became like normal operating business, I think, for teams.

Was that a big transition when that happens?

And then nowadays, how do you, because you've been alive through all of it, coached through all of this stuff, the transition of it all.

Yeah, it used to be just the coach's show.

Players were never on it, you know, and you watched it just see if he's going to rip your ass on TV.

Or is he going to, they always say, his mom and dad?

And, you know, Coach Bryant, his show was the best.

But then it just kept evolving and players got more involved.

And now the players are on, the coaches aren't.

You know, it's like, oh, that's a little different.

And for me, it was just respectful of your teammates.

Whatever you say.

Tell the truth.

Just be respectful of your teammates.

I don't want you coming in here somebody kicking your ass.

True.

There's no need for any drama to be in this room.

We don't need drama in the locker room.

And also,

you can be respectful of your teammates on the field, too.

Like if it's a field goal and you're the holder, for instance, okay?

And there's a D lineman that is very large and he says something to like maybe the greatest of all time kicker.

And then don't feel obligated as the punter to say something back to that guy that is very, very high-level shit talk.

Do not feel obligated to do that because you're not the person that has to actually do that.

An offensive lineman now has to block said person.

And offensive lineman says, I just got done with an 85-yard drive.

Why are you starting any shit for me to have to deal with right now?

And that's disrespectful of me.

So in the moment, I apologize.

It's learning.

To both parties.

Okay, let's move on.

And can't do it on the show.

Can't do it on the field.

You got to respect your teammates.

Build a winning culture.

And it's still possible, I think, even with the way the world is.

I think for sure.

I mean,

that's the world today.

So as a coach, you've got to adapt to it.

And hopefully the right guys have the shows.

Yeah, I'll tell you what.

I don't know if I was the right guy for it, but I think you go back and check.

One photo.

That photo.

He was in the back there.

It was a good photo.

He was in the back there.

Yeah, that was

a good shit.

That was problematic.

Other than that, pretty clean.

Everything's up.

Everything's still up.

Not deleted.

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is the embodiment of the next generation of coaching, I think.

He's already a guy that's been put onto Coach Bruce Arian's top three coaches in the entire NFL.

He's one of the coaches of the year.

He's turned around an operation and a program to make us all believe that anybody could play quarterback for his team and they'd win.

Ladies and gentlemen, the living legend, I'd say, former quarterback.

Got cut before he could sit down

in a Jets building.

Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Kevin O'Connor.

Yay!

How you doing, dude?

I'm doing well.

You're about six feet away from a living legend there, right to your right.

Coach B.A., absolutely.

You're 100% right.

And on that note,

he thinks you're on your way, brother.

He's a very big fan of yours.

I don't know if you've got a chance to hear that.

Do you know Coach B.A.

at all, KO?

I got a chance to shake his hand, you know, when I was a younger coach, and he was rolling there in Tampa.

Always been a huge fan, obviously going back a long time watching his offenses play.

But

the side of it that he's talking about, I got a chance to hear some of what you guys were just talking about.

He's a standard setter for winning culture, whether it's now 2025 or going back a long way.

Got nothing but respect for coach.

Well, that's the same here, brother.

I love what you're doing.

I think you could coach anybody to play quarterback except me.

I went two games without completing a pass.

Okay.

Yeah, I think that would not happen with KO.

He'll fix me.

Yeah, exactly.

Or if you're calling your own plays, you might have been a little bit better.

But KO, let's talk about that.

That whole narrative about you being able to coach or, you know, drop a play literally in the dirt for any quarterback.

I think you have tried to humble that, humble that, humble that.

We heard stories last year of you literally telling the quarterback in his headphones until 15 seconds on the play clock, like what everybody's route was and what everything was, and you were having success.

So that obviously leads to Carson Wentz here being the most recent quarter.

quarterback for you to have success with.

That was by far the best football that I've seen him play.

That was the most in structure I've ever seen him play.

What did you see from Carson Wentz that got you excited for him to come to the Vikings?

And then now that you've had a chance to play a game with him or coach a game with him, what are your thoughts about him and the Vikings offense as a whole if he has to continue to play?

Yeah, well, I've always been, you know, a fan of Carson's going back a long way.

I mean, I was in the division coaching in Washington as a quarterback coach and coordinator when

he was playing at an unbelievable level for the Eagles.

And And then, you know, people forget how good of a year he had in Indianapolis,

you know, there and whenever that was 2021, I think it was.

So I've always just known about the player going back to evaluating him coming out of North Dakota State, big, strong, smart.

You know, I think the game makes sense to him in a lot of ways, both pre- and post-snap.

So I thought it would be a big thing for our team to add that kind of experience, you know, former second pick in the draft, a guy that's been on this quarterback journey and at different stops and different capacities, and

has a unique perspective, I think, now that not only can help our young quarterback, but can really help our whole team.

So that was really the hope of bringing Carson to Minnesota.

And then, on top of that,

once he arrived here, you start seeing a guy that

this guy can do a lot of things at a really high level at the quarterback position still.

He's only 32 years old, which is

turning into

a young quarterback nowadays with

the way Tom kind of reset the number at the position age-wise and what Aaron's doing now

at his age, obviously.

But here's what I know.

I think Carson Wentz, when I think about him playing at his best, I mentioned it to Carson this past week, and I mentioned it

to our team and in the post-game press conference.

I really see him as a point guard, a guy that can see the whole field.

He can put the ball and play.

I thought he played with great fundamentals from the pocket, a base that allowed him to be grounded and kind of make quick decisions that played right alongside his fast eyes to be able to diagnose where to find the voids and vacancies to attack the defense.

And really, that's what our offense is all about.

And we're trying to build plays that allow him to throw the ball in open areas to some really good players, as we see right here with Justin Jefferson, unbelievable pitch and catch, you know, run after catch right there to start a two-minute drive and allow us to score on three plays.

I mean, there was just a lot of Carson just kind of letting the game come to him, being really disciplined with his feet and his eyes and trusting in the system that

we have here.

But at the same time, we wanted to put together a plan that he was really comfortable with, which is always the starting point to allow a quarterback to go into Sunday with a bunch of confidence.

And I was really happy with the way he played.

Yeah, I'd say that that touchdown we just showed was to go up 48 to 3

in the third quarter.

Week three.

That's a nice little start to a game.

You know, that's an anxiety reliever.

We're going up 48-3, okay?

Now, I know what the Vikings did to the Colts.

Okay, I understand that.

There was a whole conversation about 33-zip

earlier today with Cam Bynum.

But, like, whenever your team's rolling like that and you see how special it is, do you get excited about the, like, do you know your team is the same team or better than the team that was last year?

Like, when do you think you'll get a feel of that?

Because last year, you're fighting obviously for the number one seed in the NFC with the Detroit Lions last week of the season.

This year, JJ McCarthy gets hurt.

Carson Wentz steps in.

He has success.

Feels like you're going to be able to have success offensively this season, which might have been the only question mark at quarterback.

Feels like you're going to figure that out.

Do you feel like the same feelings as you had last year?

What did you learn from last year, maybe that kind of continues this trend that you're on?

I think it's a really good question, but for us, it was more about from one Sunday to the next at U.S.

Bank Stadium.

And

I challenged our team after our Atlanta game of really, we don't even know what.

We don't.

Yeah, no, we don't know.

And now we never will.

Yeah.

Whiff anger.

Oh, you got frozen there.

Hold on.

I think you're muted now.

And you're back.

You got me?

Yeah,

you said I told the team after the Atlanta game that we don't even know, and then it stopped.

So we thought we'd never find out, to be clear.

But your team did find out.

You don't even know.

Yeah, no.

Yeah, you know, Pat, we didn't know really what we are.

We did so many things in that game

that, you know, didn't give us a chance to win the game by some of the things we were doing to ourselves.

And what I asked for was to

allow

our philosophy on winning games to come to life.

And that was

forcing some turnovers on defense, protecting the ball on offense, you know, having some physicality at the line of scrimmage to be able to run the football and then generate a completion mindset in the past game to allow our playmakers to make plays.

I thought our kicking game, both our punter and our kicker, were phenomenal.

The coverage units with a bunch of young players on it were phenomenal.

And I thought the way Flo called the defense from an attacking mentality from the jump just kind of allowed the energy and the momentum of the game to just play off of all three phases for 60 minutes.

And I told our team afterwards, we now have the answer of what it can look like.

But we've got to understand that it was about the preparation for the week, the mindset coming off of the fact that we had to deal with a little adversity head on.

And in this day and age,

if you allow things to outside your building from

the noise and hey, this is what they are, this is what they aren't.

And I understand all that.

And that's what makes our game so great and popular: people want to talk about our game 24-7.

They want to watch our game 24-7.

But it still is old school principles of figuring out what it's going to take to win a game.

What does your identity of your team look like?

And that may be different from last year, to answer your original question.

And it's about the identity of this team and then putting that together and making it come to life against NFL teams and game plans where things are going to be hard at times.

And that's when the best parts of this team, our leadership and our coaching staff, need to band together to find a way to win a game a week.

And I know that's a cliche, but you get too far away from that, you can find yourself searching for answers that don't need to be too far away.

They're right in front of you sometimes.

You just got to go to work and fix some of the things that will give you a great chance to win a game.

Hey, the process, the process, the process, the process, the process, the process.

Try to win right now, right now, right now.

This meeting, right now.

Let's win this meal right now.

Let's win this conversation right now.

And then the game, guess what?

Win itself.

Everything else has to happen.

The more you can get the team focused on that, the better.

But boy, after beating the shit out of a team, it is tough to do that.

That's why I would not be a good head coach because I'd be with the boys.

Hey,

Carson, this backup quarterback, boy, we smoked the Bangladesh.

They were talking about the Bangladesh, baby, winning the Super Bowl, these motherfuckers.

It'd be hard not to do that.

Yeah.

So we know we're a part of the problem.

So just know that we are a part of the problem.

But good on you, being the one that has to handle all that.

It's not just you, though.

There's another legend on that coaching staff that you just referenced.

Go ahead, D-Bud.

Yeah, coach.

I know you go way back with Brian Flores.

And Bruce, you can run a video while I'm asking this question.

Like, what is it like preparing against this guy, sharpening, I guess, iron versus iron, preparing going into the game?

Because his defense, you talked about the attacking style, but even before the snap is even had, if you're looking at the screen, all these different things that the quarterback has to deal with.

So I want to know what it's like going into a game or even to a season with him.

And then the performance of Isaiah Rogers.

I want you to talk about that a little bit as well.

Yeah, well, I can tell you, D.

Butt, that

I'm always probably the happiest guy when training camp's over

because we no longer have to, you know, really prepare on a daily basis for just about anything.

Because the way Flo and his staff operate, they're trying to give those players, and it helps a lot having a guy like Harrison Smith back on the field, Andrew Van Ginkle back on the field to truly unleash kind of that think tank of Flo and his staff of disguise and applying mental pressure to go along with the physical pressure that they can bring every single snap.

And then what are the counter punches off of that?

How are they protecting some of those looks, making a lot of things start out looking the same, but they're different.

Just really good principles of football.

And the best thing about Flow is his ability to teach it, his ability to give the players

ownership of each and every plan each week.

to allow them to just go out there and play fast and make it all come to life.

He allows me to go in there and talk to the defense on Saturdays, you know, the day before the game, the plan's in.

I kind of have a good feel for that plan.

And it's one of the most fun times I have all week because these guys are absolutely ready to get to the stadium the next day and go play and go do their thing.

But it's all the work that goes in that leads into that moment and then ultimately into these games that I think Flo and his staff do a tremendous job.

And I'm so fortunate to have him here commanding that defense and what it it brings to the mentality of our whole team um week in and week out is has has been a winning edge for us there's no question about that i love that you go in and talk to the defense i also appreciate every time we have a mic'd up video of you talking to the team yeah you're a great communicator bro you're you're uh you're a great i i don't know ba phenomenal communicator had his own way of doing things the way ba talked obviously chuck mcguno i heard him he was uh more of a storyteller okay he was telling stories out there and he would act that shit out every once in a while as well rich rodriguez Rodriguez, this guy, hilariously intense human being.

Okay.

Like that is, had a great message.

Was it all of them come in different ways?

Your delivery and your messaging and your communication with the team, obviously, because you're an ex-player, you probably maybe saw a coach that acted similar to how you act now, maybe got some influence from, or how do you find who you are?

And then how much are you thinking about the messages that you're sending?

Are you reading books, watching movies, looking things up?

Chat GPT, Grok, maybe?

How are you figuring out, don't be, hey, AI's got a a big fucking brain,

careful.

Whoa,

Grock, Grok has gotten a few things wrong with us.

Chat GPT, all right.

Grock.

What was he saying?

What was Grock saying out there?

We can talk about coach.

I don't want this coach.

Grock's been wrong a little bit.

Grock's been on a little bit of a terror.

But on that note, how do you come up with the messages and why do you think you communicate the way you do?

Is it

kind of following somebody else that you've seen or played for?

Yeah, I think the one thing I learned after all these years and whether it was being a rookie around, you know, Coach Belichick, you know, getting to win a Super Bowl with Sean McVay, there was a lot of great coaches in between along that journey of being a player and a coach.

I could not do this job unless I was me.

Just authentically me every single day.

I think it'd be awfully hard to try to be somebody else and then try to handle the moments of adversity while you're playing the part of somebody else.

That just seems like,

that just seems like an impossible task.

So what I've tried to do is just figure out the principles of who I want our organization to be.

And then I want to consistently be the version of that for our guys so that they never have to wonder who they're going to get in front of them.

They never have to question the authenticity of the message.

They know it comes from a place that is in the best interest of them, both as players and as people, and ultimately about growth and development of everybody, me included.

That's probably the best way to answer it.

I would say that the messaging post-game is authentic and as real as it gets, because I really do not think about any of those things before I go in there.

And it's more about making sure I acknowledge the people that had performances that day

that led us to winning football games.

Many times it goes back to conversations one-on-one with the player, like a Christian Dare saw throughout the week of, hey, I envision handing you a football after this game and saying how proud I am of you and what you mean to me and what you mean to this organization, the journey you've been on post-injury.

That's where we're going.

Let's figure out how we're going to get there throughout the week is what I believe the formula to doing that is.

You can't be one without the other.

That wouldn't be coaching.

That would just be motivational speaking at that point.

You got to be able to fulfill your obligation as a coach to then back it up with the messaging that you have.

And I do it all through the lens of as a former player who don't, I never really thought I reached my truest potential.

And it wasn't a coach's fault, but it was more of a mindset of me,

you know,

allowing my mind to worry and focus on things that were outside of my control.

So I'm constantly trying to be that voice for our guys to allow them to focus on the present, focus on what actually matters to help them win football games.

And through that process, you build unbelievable relationships.

I'm sure Coach can attest to this is what he probably looks back on the fondest is just the relationships on an individual level with players.

Even in this day and age with the dynamic of the college level that these players come from, guys, like you can still form relationships that matter.

You can still form things that will

glue together your team in a way that allows you to handle the ups and downs of an NFL season.

And it's my favorite part of the job, if I'm being honest with you.

That's awesome to hear.

You just gave like a full synopsis on coaching and relationships and wisdom and passing things on to other people.

That was wonderful.

Listen, thank you for that.

And Coach BA, you coached with Bear Bryant, okay, all the way through, you know, coaching Tom Brady here and the boys down in Tampa Bay.

How did you find who you were?

And is it all just about finding the best version of the players?

That's all you're trying to do?

Yeah, I think players they see through bullshit.

First thing, you cannot bullshit players, man.

You've got to be honest with them.

And the truth hurts sometimes.

I say, my door is always open.

You might not get the answer you want to hear, but you're going to get the truth.

All right.

And why are you not playing?

You suck.

Right now.

All right.

Now, you can get better, but you ain't trying to get better.

All right.

They'll look at you like, I thought you were going to hand me the job.

No, you got to earn this shit.

And but you got to be real with them all the time.

And I think they really, really respect that.

Yeah, I think so.

And KOC, not every ex-player is a good coach either, man.

So that's a trait that I think, you know, only very few have.

Congrats on having that.

And the game is lucky that you're deciding to give back.

Now, on that note, game, giving back.

You got a couple international games here.

Germany?

No.

Ireland.

Yeah, the McQuade Bowl.

Yeah, I forgot.

You got Pittsburgh in Ireland.

There's a chance, Carson,

McCarthy or Carson.

I don't know if their decision has been made.

Whatever the case, I'm not putting you in shit right now.

Carson Wentz running around there in Ireland, though.

You could pick up an entire country of fans.

First one off the bus, no matter what.

Yeah, definitely.

And potentially make sure everybody sees that red shit.

And maybe have him play with a leather helmet.

Yeah, and wear shit.

Yeah.

Do the whole thing.

Do the whole thing.

Okay.

Have them do that.

You might pick up the entire country.

Pittsburgh Steelers have a deep history with Ireland.

You know, ambassador over there and everything like that.

Going to be electrifying.

Their fans are awesome from what our experience was with college ball.

What is your thoughts quickly?

We only have like 30 seconds or so on the back-to-back international games and what you're saying to the boys about making history here in Ireland.

Yeah, I think it's, you know, from the jump, it's always been about a great opportunity for us.

I mean, to get to play in Ireland first and foremost is going to be an unbelievable experience.

We've had success doing the kind of the one game trip before.

That's how we'll handle this first game.

And then we'll make our way over to London and we'll have a full week of preparation there before going into the buy.

But I can tell you this much to get to play these games at these unbelievable venues that we're technically the road team at both these games, but I know what it's like to have to go to Pittsburgh or have to go to Cleveland in those atmospheres and environments.

You know, I know it's going to be electric, but it beats being the road team, the true road team on the, you know, going to some of these places to play these hostile environments.

And we've got to go there and try to, you know, it's a great opportunity to build new Vikings fans, you know, make people learn about our team, how we roll, how we operate, and go compete and try to win a couple games against two really good teams.

Yeah, we got Kevin O'Connell, J.J.

McCarthy, and Justin McJefferson coming off the bus.

All right, good luck out there, man.

Safe travels you the man.

All right, we're back on the other side.

This is Joe Button.

You and I make decisions every day, but on PrizePicks, being right can get you paid.

So, I'm here to make sure you don't miss any of the action this football season with Prize Picks, where it's good to be right.

With millions of members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, PrizePicks is the best place to put your daily fantasy takes to the test.

The app is really simple to use and available in 40-plus states, including California, Texas, and Georgia.

Just pick two or more players across any sport, pick more or less on on their projections, and if you're right, you could cash in.

With simple stats and fan-friendly policies, PrizePicks is the best place to make your picks.

Most importantly, they don't play about your paper.

All transactions on the app are fast, safe, and secure.

Click here to download the PrizePicks app today and use code TPMS to get $50 in site credits after you play your first $5.

That's code TPMS to get $50 in site credits after you play your first $5.

PrizePicks, it's good to be right.

Must be present in certain states.

Visit prizepicks.com for restrictions and details.

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 play as Russ, I'll play as someone else.

My name's Chad.

And last name?

Le Jeff.

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 Toy.

Not rubber.

I'm a man.

Made a fish.

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

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

Terms apply.

Football is mad.

I jumped off side.

Yeah.

That's a hard count.

That's a 47-year football coach, BA there.

Obviously, an incredible amount of wisdom and also stories and

enlightenment on ball that have certainly changed the vibes in the Thunderdome every time he's in here.

We appreciate the hell out of you.

The talks of tables here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt, nine-year NFL vet, host of everything DB, Good D, Bad D, the man-to-man podcast, and NFL matchup show.

Ladies and gentlemen, Darius J.

Butler.

Thank you very much.

Is that back?

It's not back yet, Mr.

Kim.

We're working.

He's

on the board as well.

Yeah,

he's busy right now, man.

I mean, we've been working on the pod season two for months, brother.

It's going to take some time.

When's that coming back?

Let's go to Detroit Lions Superfan Evan Foxy.

The pod not coming back is heartbreaking news on this glorious Tuesday for you.

Listen, I'm so jacked up.

There's not many things that can make me more happy after that Detroit Lions win, but if the pod came back, I'd be the happiest person on earth.

Truly.

Oh, yeah, well, guess what?

Not everybody has a cool team that does fun shit on offense and is in a kaboo all the time, okay?

So don't you shut up and get it.

Well, then why don't you give me a cool podcast that I can listen to, okay?

Oh, boy.

I was just going to say, you are in luck because it is in production right now.

We've actually just been given the heads up.

We're looking at a 2028 season 3.

I didn't know we were allowed to say that.

Well, yeah, I didn't want to.

I was selling it.

I know, I didn't want to just spit it out, but I figured, you know what?

They're asking for it.

Let's just.

All right, 2028.

Yeah.

Let's get a cat down.

Teaser 8.

Teaser drops next week.

Don't forget.

Let's get a cat out.

This is like Avatar the movies.

Yeah.

Exactly.

It's that big of a production.

It's going to be a good thing.

Just don't do anything to the whales.

Okay.

Yeah.

So, whatever you got to do, just don't do anything to the whales.

We will say the villains will be similar.

Okay.

All right.

Live from Hammer.

Don.

Don.

It's one half of the Hammer.

Don.

Cowboys AP tone.

Tone.

In the first hour, we didn't chat much about college ball.

Huge weekend this weekend for college.

Obviously, we're heading up to Happy Valley for college game day for Oregon versus Penn State, which is a real, okay, here we go.

Now we're playing football for both those teams, which we have for the rest of the year.

What are some other games that we should be looking at?

College ball is about to throw, I think, 105 maybe on the tape.

Right on the tape, right on the black.

Yeah, I didn't remember if it was paint or tape.

You can say both work.

Okay, well, that's MLB talk.

It depends on what league you're playing in.

And also, I wanted to pump a couple deans.

Jay, Jay, shout out Kershaw.

Yeah,

shout out to Kershaw.

What a run.

Hell yeah, hell yeah.

Appreciate what he did.

But anyways, 105 right there on a paint says college football basically week in, week out.

Certainly this upcoming weekend.

Yeah, week one was incredible with those three top 10 matchups.

This is the best weekend since then.

Obviously, you talked about Oregon at Penn State.

It'll most likely be a whiteout.

Oregon going in there.

It is a white out.

There you go.

Neither of these teams have played anybody yet, so it's going to be really exciting to see that one.

But there are a ton, Pat.

Alabama is at Georgia.

So, I mean, that one could decide the SEC.

Alabama has played much better since losing to Florida State.

Obviously, Georgia had that big win against Tennessee.

USC goes into Illinois.

Now, USC has been the talk of the Big Ten as far as teams that aren't getting talked about enough.

You know, Stanford Steven, all those saying USC should be ranked higher.

They go into Illinois, who came off a huge loss to Indiana, but it's a chance for both of those teams to make a statement there.

Ohio State goes to Washington.

It's kind of really their first test since Texas this season, so that's an interesting one.

LSU and Ole Miss.

LSU ranked number four, but their wins now are against Florida and Clemson.

So do we have a good view on LSU or not?

So and then going to LSU.

They got a six-foot-five safety.

They got a six-foot-three corner, I think.

I believe in them.

Do I believe in Brian Kelly?

He might not make it through the rest of the season.

Two big hits already.

Two MRIs on Brian Kelly due to sideline shots.

One from a ref, one from two gigantic SEC linemen just taking him out while he's trying to call a timeout.

Will Brian Kelly make it through the season?

And is LSU for real this season?

Obviously, huge test this weekend.

We shall see Tony.

Yep.

And then Auburn and

Tony, Tony, whoa.

Are we going to skip over the one-storyline of old Miss LSU that hit the wire yesterday?

I didn't want to bring that up.

I mean, if I feel like

I should.

Well, maybe, maybe not.

Okay.

Fine, then we won't.

What do you think?

I mean, I think.

There's a relationship that hit the internet.

I don't even think

we don't have to talk about the relationship, but the head coach didn't tweet something.

What did the head coach say?

The head coach said, take the over.

So I'm just saying that.

And if the head coach says something like that, honestly, really, if any.

Something to think about.

If anybody says something to me like, take the over, I'm going to do it.

If the head coach says it, I mean, there's a chance I owe somebody my skin by Monday.

If they don't get it, all this is a great over team.

Great, especially motivated, and I appreciate Lane Kiffin the way he operates, too, just everything that he does.

He's been there, done that with everything.

Did you cross with Coach Kiffin, Coach Lane Kiffen at all?

I coached with his dad, Monty, who's one of the best ever, and know Lane and really respect him.

He runs a hell of an offense.

So, what is it about his offense?

Do you you like how aggressive it is, how wide open it is?

Yeah, I think he's kind of like Kevin O'Connell.

Whoever's playing quarterback for him plays great.

And Lane does a great job of putting him in great positions.

Throws the ball down the field, is going to score a lot of points.

And it's going to always, when Omiss is playing, it's going to be entertaining.

Yeah, certainly.

And he is a lightning rod as well.

I mean, he'll throw the clickbait.

I mean, he was throwing oops last week.

Yeah, that was crazy on his side.

Absolutely crazy.

Empty stadium.

Did you see that?

Yes.

In the background while he's throwing an oop.

Was that a thousand to nothing?

Yeah, that is.

It was at Memphis.

Oh, okay.

They left out of there.

Yeah.

Memphis.

Or sorry, Tulane.

Okay, sorry.

They left out of there.

I confused.

Arkansas was at Memphis.

Arkansas lost to Memphis last week.

Arkansas thought they were all the way back to it.

I heard last week.

Texas Tech fans pissed that none of us picked them.

They were certainly got some of that.

Tech Stech for real.

Yeah, don't worry.

They're going to get picked.

Hey, going to be picking Texas Tech

going forward.

Yeah, a message delivered.

All right.

Shout out to College Ball for always delivering.

How's Ohio State?

Not really talked about.

They haven't played anybody since Texas, and you know, Texas hasn't looked great on offense.

So

Washington's okay.

It's a tough travel for them.

So we'll get some answers there this weekend.

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is an Ohio State Hall of Famer, a man who has a tree on campus named after him, and also a bird, a hawk

in the said tree that lives there.

Has a hawk keeper that comes and makes sure it lives in that tree and not any of the other trees that all the alumni that are prestigious get on campus.

And that hawk has created a family, much like his family, where there's 10 children out there.

That particular hawk can say it's a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, and a Ryder Cup winner.

Ladies and gentlemen, A.J.

Hawk.

Yeah, yeah, Hawker Hawk.

How is that hawk that lives on the tree on Ohio State's campus that they do for you?

Yeah, I think he's doing great.

I think they have, they put a little collar on him.

They chain him to the tree and give him like a 100-foot line, so he can't really go too far.

Come.

100 foots, just what, three or four of these for hawks?

Nothing.

It's not that far, yeah.

Yeah.

You think you could do that?

Could you you chain a hawk to a tree?

No, the hawks chaining you to a tree, brother.

You ever seen those things?

Yeah, I mean, you gotta gotta have your respects.

How about last night?

Feels like the brand new Lions are for real.

Feels like that win is huge.

And then for the Ravens, there's a lot of questions being asked about, you know, maybe the cut of the jib over there for what's been happening late in games to the Ravens.

What are your thoughts, AJ, on an electrifying over-thriller last night between two of the games' best?

Yeah, this is an awesome game to watch.

I mean, Detroit, they had an 11-play drive, 18-play drive.

Those things, like, that's a special thing to do.

That offense has to gain so much confidence, I feel, like, moving forward from that.

But I didn't take it like, oh, the Ravens are garbage.

The Ravens can't figure it out.

I think the Ravens are going to be fine.

I took it more as, hey, these Detroit Lions, they are, we slept on them.

I picked against them, so that's on me.

I, the Lions let me know, hey, we are still here, and we're not taking a step back.

And I think this was a huge deal for them getting a win like Coach B.A.

said the Ravens still, yeah, great hit.

Coach BA said the Ravens still going to win the AFC North, so they'll be in the playoffs.

And to your point there, AJ, look good.

Okay, looked good.

And I think Ravens fans probably, you know, not exactly thrilled about what's been happening maybe late here, early in the season.

But this lions team is going to be around in the end, we all assume, right?

And this is how the game went.

I think both sides take a lot from this and move forward better from this particular game.

And then if you think about this Baltimore Ravens team, they got the Chiefs this weekend.

One of these teams is going to end up one and three.

We got some stats from Himbo, actually, texted over.

What's the stat?

Yeah, it's about the NFL playoffs average one team basically over the last like eight nine years that uh goes one and three starts one and three and ends up going to the playoffs last year it was the ramps the rams ended up one and three and they lost in the division and i think there was a couple year gap and then there was one year i think it was 2021 where three teams actually made it after starting uh one and three so it should actually not be kind of a complete detriment if you start one and three and your season's not over new england patriots actually started one and three and then won a super bowl so that has happened in the past and then since 1990, 34 of 235 teams that started one and three made the postseason.

Okay, so it's not like

it's not an it's over sentence there, Coach B.A.

How do you feel about all the stats on how you perform early on what teams have done in the past?

Obviously, you got to keep it out, but there's stats for a reason.

And whenever your team's struggling early, what is the messaging?

Is it always long-term, still everything in front of us, you think everybody's saying?

Yeah, I think it's the same thing that Kevin said earlier.

It's week to week.

You know, it's week to week.

And

a lot of injuries from training camp.

I think some teams not playing guys in the preseason start off slow, but then they start picking it up.

And the real football starts at Thanksgiving.

All right.

When Thanksgiving's rolling, you want to be in the hunt from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and then you finish it to New Year's and roll on.

So you can't get yourself too far out before Thanksgiving.

Right.

The 0-3s, you're out.

The 1-4s, you're out.

But the 1-3s, sometimes you're missing a key ingredient.

It might be your quarterback.

And all of a sudden, you get him back, might be your left tackle.

You get guys back, and you get it going.

Then you get that stuff in, that ingredient for Thanksgiving.

You know, you need that stuff.

That's when your rookie should kick in.

All your draft picks should be ready to play by Thanksgiving if they're not the highest pick playing already.

On that note, ladies and gentlemen, there has been a breaking of news for the New York Football Giants.

Jackson Dart will be starting for the New York Football Giants going forward.

Dayball was non-committal at first to who was going to be a starter.

Now Jackson Dart, the future of the New York Giants, will be wearing the starter helmet.

Congratulations to Jackson Dart.

Congratulations to the Giants fans, who I think were wanting this.

Not just because of a fourth down in the fourth quarter, whenever you need it in the red zone, throwing the ball off the bottom of the upright and throwing it away, but also because if we're 0-3, why the hell would we not want to see what the future looks like?

Well, the immediate comment is the schedule is not great.

to have him start.

They don't have a buy until like week 14 or something like that.

Then you look at the schedule and it's like, well, their division's tough, so they're going to have to play tough teams regardless.

But boy, some of these are tough.

You obviously have to take on an incredible Chargers team.

Who's the DC?

Jesse Minter.

Then you get a chance to go down to the Saints in your second start, which is good.

Don is super dumb, but this might be positive with the DC.

It's Brandon Staley.

Okay, so we got one game before we head down to the Saints.

And then immediately afterwards, Eagles, Denver, Eagles, San Francisco, Chicago.

There it is.

Who knows what they are?

Green Bay, Detroit, New England, bye.

Okay, so that run is not going to be easy for any quarterback.

But now for a rookie quarterback getting his first start with this particular New York Giants team, Coach B.A., what are your thoughts on dropping him in there?

Is there ever a right time to put a rookie quarterback in?

Is that a real thing?

And how do you think this kind of affairs?

And how do you think they got to this decision?

Yeah, I definitely think it was time to drop the clipboard.

All right, start getting her reps in practice, start playing.

I think his legs can add so much to that offense.

Now, be smart and slide.

You don't have to show how tough you are.

Get your ass hurt.

But his legs will help get some first downs, I think, that they haven't had.

And the energy that he brings, and he can throw the damn football really, really well.

Making this decision, how hard?

Very hard, non-normal.

For me, I'd have made it three weeks ago.

You told us actually more than three weeks ago.

It would have been a few months ago.

There would have never been a decision made at the beginning in April to a decision to have to make.

But getting reps, regardless of what they look like, even if you're going against a terrible defense, is good for a quarterback's development in your eyes.

Yeah, you've got to get reps, man.

You've got to see things.

And, you know, your scout team does a great job of

posing the other team's defense and reading it.

You can't learn anything just watching.

You know, you've got to physically do it.

Your brain has to work so fast.

And the only way to get that going is to get out there and play.

Diva, your thoughts on the move to Jackson Dart?

I mean, I agree with him.

Even with everything else they did this offseason, bringing in Russ, bringing in Jameis, but once you draft a guy in the first round, if he should, what we saw in the preseason, which are glorified practices, but they're full speed.

You got to do protections.

You got to come out of the huddle.

You got to take hits.

We saw him perform at a high level.

So

most people didn't have high expectations for Russ in there or Jameis.

So you drafted this kid to play high.

He played in the SEC where there are big time, there's big time ball being played.

And you talk about, hey, when is the perfect time to draft?

Like, it's the National Football League.

Every week, you know, Packers went and lost to the Browns.

Like, nobody had that on their menu.

But every week, you got to go out and win either at home or in a tough environment.

So you got to throw in that fire.

You got to throw them in that fire.

Let them learn.

BA said it.

Can't learn holding the clipboard.

I think Prime said the same thing with the Kelsey Bros on the podcast.

So yeah, get him in that fire.

Let him make some plays and bring some juice.

We hurt the crowd every time he came in the game, and then we hurt the crowd every time he left.

So starting on three, starting this hole.

Let's see what you got with the rookie early.

Is he going to wear the chains?

He has to.

Oh, yeah.

Got to wear the chains.

Yeah, I got to keep the mocks.

AJ, what do you think defenses are thinking taking on Jackson Dart versus maybe a Russell Wilson?

Well, you know, that's the old, the old cliche coaches, hey, we're going to heat him up.

We want, we want this rookie to not feel comfortable.

We want to get him off the spot, blitz him, all that.

Sometimes you might be giving him some quick options if a quarterback is pretty good and he can identify the blitzes and get the protection set.

But yeah, you got to find a way to make him uncomfortable.

And

I think you got to hit him early.

Like if he tries to run, if he wants to run a little zone read or whatever, we might take a 15-yarder bud and land it on top of you

four or five yards down the field.

Not in any dirty way, but the way that we would tackle a running back, I think.

And you just got to let them know early on.

And Jackson Dart, he'll probably pop up and it'll get him even more juiced sometimes you wake a guy up like that.

Yeah, sometimes guys are looking for that.

Remember Joe Burrow, that was one of his things.

I'll take a massive shot so I can just feel alive out there.

Danny Dimes.

Yeah, Danny Dimes saying got to hit to the jaw.

Yeah, sometimes that'll wake you up.

Yeah, I'll go through the...

Tennessee got jacked up too on the goal line.

Yes, exactly.

Trying to go.

Yeah, he is one of those guys.

We don't like that he likes it, but maybe Dart is one of those guys.

Does that still exist, Coach?

You heard AJ right there.

That's an old school mindset.

You also old school coach.

D-Butt, also, we're old at this stage of the game.

Him saying, yeah, first, we're definitely going to get an extra.

Sorry about that, buddy.

That's still happening in the NFL.

Always going to happen in a physical contact game.

I'll be shocked if it ever stops.

Okay.

Football.

That divisional game we won against Broncos in Denver to go to the FC championship.

First drive, third and like five, six, maybe.

Peyton, he was kind of banged up that year.

Late, cold, boom, throws it.

Misses Art Jones.

Late, a little low, maybe around the knees.

Rest of the game, Peyton wasn't the same.

Rest of the game, so took the penalty.

At that point, we're pissed off.

He just got to stop.

Come on, Art.

Come on, Art.

Come on, Art.

I see what you're doing.

I had a water Super Bowl at that point coming over from Baltimore.

You know, that's just football.

Obviously, player safety.

We're not trying to hurt anybody out there, but

thought.

Yeah, extra little thought.

Just chip in on the chamber chip.

Yeah, he is a rookie, you know.

So, like in the MLB, in MLB, you know, we've heard stories about umpires with rookie pitchers, you know, and what that strike zone looks like.

Like, no, we're throwing hittable balls up here, but

fuck this guy.

Throw it right down the middle.

Yeah, like the way they're doing it, it's like rookies in the NFL also have those moments as well, especially quarterbacks.

Now, Jackson's got a lot of moxie.

That's what I was going to say.

He might be one of those guys where if you do hit him late, like that flips a switch and he just goes starts jawing.

Yeah, exactly.

And throws five touchdowns or

might be Dayball's guy.

Do you know Dayball well?

And as you do know him,

so what is Jackson Dart, you think, like just from outside looking in?

I don't know if you got a chance to meet him during the whole combine draft process down there in Tampa Bay.

Him and Dayball good for each other, you think?

And does Dayball feel the heat?

Obviously, he knows that there's a little bit of heat over there?

I think Brian, we all know what's going on, you know, but I think starting Jackson Dart,

getting him started, if he starts playing well, Brian saves his job.

I don't think they have to win a lot of games, but if Jackson Dart starts playing well and he's coached well, which he will be, because Brian's that damn good coach, and he'll save his job that way.

Interesting.

Didn't even think about that because in my eyes, if this is last year, he's not going to think about the future.

But instead, maybe it's not last year, show some development, huh?

Get these Giants fans to believe this is what the future looks like.

Let's go to the Giants fan.

Bruce, you're excited about this.

Looks like that's the first smile you've had since the game.

Yeah, I'm fired up.

Hope Springs Eternal.

I feel bad for all you guys.

You guys only got one week one.

I got two now.

Week four is now week one again.

I love it.

Jackson Dart has the opportunity to be the first rookie quarterback to beat a 3-0 team since Jerry Garcia, or Jeff Garcia, sorry.

Jerry Garcia is

won a bunch of music.

Yeah, Jeff Garcia, though, remember his days.

What a weapon.

Yeah.

Jeff Garcia was awesome.

He was.

Absolute weapon.

Such an athlete.

I remember him just bouncing around somehow.

Bald head.

Yep.

Using the quarterback challenges, those old ones.

And winning at the project.

I had to get if he was doing that.

First time since Jeff Garcia is on the line here at Darius J.

Wow.

Now, I mean, it's week four.

So at this point in the season, you know, teams, BA talked about not playing the preseason, but at this point, we always talk about the quarter marks you just mentioned earlier.

This point in the season, these defenses,

they know who we are.

We know who we are, right?

We're the Chargers.

We know who we are.

We know what we're good at.

We know what we're not good at.

We know what players are playing well in position.

So putting Jackson Dart in is the right time, but you're hitting it while these teams are

hitting their form.

And now he's, you know, the guys, the offense, the up play callers, everybody's going to have to get used to Jackson Dart while he's getting used to real NFL live action, too.

So maybe rough at first, but he's a rookie and you got the talent.

So I'm excited for it.

I know Giants fans are excited.

Love the

mocks.

Last night I had that delivered quite a punch.

You know, maybe it carries over to Jackson Dart.

Other breaking news that happened, AJ, while we've been live, Mike Dundee fired from Oklahoma State football.

We'll say, Mike, hell of a run.

Yeah, Mike.

I don't know if that's how you're supposed to immediately respond to somebody being announced to be firing, saying, hey, it was a hell of a run.

This one seemed like it was on the horizon for a little bit.

Let's go to Hammer.

Don, Don.

Felt like this was being talked about a little bit.

I didn't know if it was actually going to happen.

Anytime a coach is at a place for so long and becomes the institution, obviously making this type of move requires a lot of people saying yes to.

And then also how you handle it, how the rollout is is obviously a big part of the deal.

Tom, did we expect this out of Oklahoma State?

I don't know.

I don't know.

Because like what you said, he's been there for 21 years.

And before last season, he only had one losing season in those 20 years.

And that was his first season.

And then his second losing season was obviously last year when they were disappointing.

They brought back 20 starters.

They brought back Ollie ollie gordon like they were supposed to potentially win the big 12 last season things have not gone well the last two years obviously the disappointment of last year and then this year losing by 70 or whatever to oregon then losing to tulsa last week it just it it It was going to happen at some point.

I didn't know if they'd let him maybe walk away, keep a position at the university because of how long he's been there or whatever, but it just got to a point where it seemed like it had to happen.

But being there for 21 years and

two losing seasons, 21 years, incredible run at Oklahoma State, and it's tough to see him go out like that.

What have you done for me, Pete?

He's what the world is, but it is a hell of a run.

I'll be excited to see what they do next.

He becomes the third college football coach that he's been fired.

UCLA fires Coach Foster.

That was bad from the beginning.

I don't know if UCLA, we love Coach Foster, but that one didn't go well literally from Big Ten Media Day all the way through the entirety.

Got Nico Iamaliava.

Ah, then it goes worse somehow.

I don't know how football related UCLA wants to be, but maybe they'll be able to get in.

I don't know.

I hope they do, though.

I hope UCLA, the Bruins, are a great football brand.

I hope everybody's a great football brand.

And then Virginia Tech also fired Coach Pride.

Now, joining us live in the Thunderdome is a man that was just reported as of yesterday being a part of the consulting group basically for Virginia Tech.

He is Virginia Tech Hokey alumni, Virginia Tech Hokey belover.

I mean, this guy loves Virginia Tech.

And also, I think he's, you have a, I don't know how many records you have in Virginia Tech at the quarterback position, but I know there's a lot of them that are very impactful to society as a whole.

Virginia Tech looking for a coach.

So now Oklahoma State's in the game, UCLA's in the game, and now you guys at Virginia Tech are in the game.

How's that process go?

And what are you looking for at this point?

It has to be business, almost like business angle of it as well, or how do you kind of view the entire process?

Yeah, the whole thing's changed.

It's all business now.

And you got to find a businessman.

I think first thing for Virginia Tech, we're going to hire a general manager and

get him in charge of football.

Then we'll get into the coaching search.

And we're just in the ground stages now, but the university is making a huge financial commitment so that we can compete in the ACC like we should be.

And,

you know,

I want to see Virginia Tech back when Sandman's blasting and we're winning games.

The whole place.

Yeah.

going absolutely insane.

Had a chance to spend a night over there, and those hills are a good time.

It was awesome.

Went to a saloon, I think we were in.

A saloon at some time.

I mean, it was good times.

And then the pregame festivities, the tailgating, outrageous.

I mean, it was.

Great time.

And then the walk to the stadium is even its own little adventure.

It's like that place was built to be a college football place, it feels like.

The vibes are that.

Will the team ever get there?

You said Virginia Tech is offering up a huge financial boost for the football team.

That's seemingly happening in a lot of different places.

I saw West Virginia make an announcement that we will be a part of the top funded tier, whatever.

What does that mean?

What does that mean?

It's probably about $50 million into the athletic department

and for all sports, but that's what you're going to have to have in the NAL business now.

And, you know, you recruited a guy this year, you got to recruit him back next year.

And, you know, all they want to know is how much money am I going to make.

But

it's changed.

And you've got to get people now that are in tune with the new business.

Pete Thamel reported what you were talking about here with Virginia Tech.

Board of Visitors officially proposes athletics budget increase.

It's set to begin pending the current fiscal year from the current $144 million.

It's set to jump to $190 million, $204 million in the fiscal year in 2027, and $207.

in 2028, which is when the pod will be coming out, and $212 million in the fiscal year of 2029.

So an increased budget for athletics as a whole at Virginia Tech, hopefully it'll pay off.

But remember, as you and Coach Sabin have said in the past, you pay the wrong guy, you're shit out of luck.

Making this decision is a big deal, especially because I think universities feel obligated to have patience with people.

Like, hey, we hired this person to run this job because this was their plan.

Whenever they suck early, sticking with them, or if they suck early, believing in the vision is obviously a big piece of it.

But what if the vision never, you know, then what if you're just like this?

That can happen.

That's why I'm happy you're over there helping Virginia Tech, legitimately.

I really look forward to it.

I'm very very honored to be part of it.

What are you looking for?

You're looking for somebody that loves ball.

Exactly.

I'm going to see a guy that not only can coach and make adjustments, but also get out there and get the folks excited and raise money too, because that's a big part of it now.

And we got to have a charismatic guy that actually can coach ball.

I think you're talking about it.

Here we go.

Way too old for that, brother.

I thought that fiscal year bump was for you, brother.

They're building a golf course out there as well.

Let's go to one of our favorite segments that has been added to this program.

And AJ, it is great to see you alive, but I think you even would say it was, wasn't it?

Yeah.

I didn't like that photo.

Me neither.

That was sad.

It was sad.

It's upsetting.

Why?

I'm still here.

I'm doing well.

But still, you look at it for a second and you're like, wait, wait.

Yeah.

Did he die?

And does he look like that on camera?

So I just died on camera, I guess?

Is that what you would look like?

I think so, too, because

I think your head gets your traps.

Tilted a little bit.

I think it would hold it up.

Try it.

Play that.

I think that is what it would look like.

I don't like it either.

That is not real.

No.

Just for people that are watching.

Pretty real.

That is not real.

People that don't know.

What an absolute honor.

But even you would say, AJ, we're dead.

You would say that BS or no BS with BA has become must-watch and must-do for us.

Yeah, without a doubt.

Absolutely.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's another round of BS or no BS with BA where we will state headlines or statements of fact and BA will tell us if it is bullshit or not bullshit.

And this has become good because these are some headlines that could potentially run a little bit.

Ty has the first one for you, coach.

Yeah, B.A., in the first hour, we talked about John Harbaugh.

And, you know, Pat laid out the stats, how many blown fourth-quarter leads they have.

For whatever reason, you know, they just can't seem to close it out.

We always expect them to be one of those teams to win a Super Bowl.

But now a lot of people are saying John Harbaugh has become a liability for the Baltimore Ravens.

Yeah, I know.

John Harbaugh.

So I'm asking you, B.A., is that BS or no BS?

No, that's total BS.

John Harbaugh's a hell of a coach.

And

there's a lot of things that go into it.

That fourth quarter defense got to get fixed, that's for sure.

And I'm sure Chuck and the guys over there on defense are going to get it fixed, get those guys back healthy.

And they're going to be there in November, December.

Baltimore Ravens, they got Lamar.

They got everything it takes.

They're scoring points.

And that defense is going to catch back up for sure.

John Harbaugh is one hell of a coach.

Do you think, just like Coach Tomlin, whenever you're around a place for a long time, and I guess Mike Dundee, we could say, when you're around a place for a long time, you set your own standard and expectation.

And if you're not consistently exceeding that, the fans naturally are going to say, are we getting better?

Are we just like, do you think that just comes with consistency at a position?

Hardbaugh's been there forever.

He is the Baltimore Ravens.

Yeah, totally.

And like you say, you raise that level of expectation every year.

And then there might be a year or two, things happen.

Guys get hurt, whatever.

You don't get there.

Oh, it's the coach.

Nobody wants to make excuses, all right?

But it's not the coach.

He's the same damn good coach he's always been.

And no, I think Baltimore Ravens are fine.

They'll be there in December, January.

Let's go to the next one, D.Bux.

Yeah, we've had a lot of dynasties, whether Steelers, Cowboys, Patriots, Packers, Chiefs, been the most recent ones.

Are we witnessing the end of a dynasty in Kansas City where the Chiefs make the playoffs this year?

BS or no BS?

I think it's BS too.

I think the Chiefs make the playoffs.

They're probably in a wild car race right now until they catch the Chargers because 3-0 and they might be 1-3.

So

it's going to be a chase, but they're going to get there.

And I'm never betting against Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs.

Okay, so the Chiefs will not make the playoffs this year.

You're saying that's B.S.

That's B.S.

Yeah, they're going to make the playoffs.

Okay, last one here.

This one, we've seen people say it.

Kevin Petulo,

more like Kevin Paul, you blow at Colin Place.

That's the Eagles offensive coordinator.

Is that BS or no BS that he blows at Colin Place?

I think that's BS too.

Oh,

Kevin Pontolo, more like Kevin Pa.

You blow at Colin Place.

You can't blow when you got Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, AJ.

You call any damn play you want.

It should work.

Well, that's what people were saying.

Kevin Pontolo.

People are saying, you saw it on Twitter?

A lot.

It was everywhere.

But that's, I mean, people get, Drew Brees said it today.

They're boring offense.

Yeah, running it down somebody's throat is boring.

All right, but Jalen is throwing the ball better than he's ever thrown it.

Did Drew Brees say this?

Yes.

Really?

Really?

Really?

Okay.

But, I mean, I think they have a hell of an offense.

How come it looks like shit for half a game, and then the other half, it is, you know, what we expect from the Eagles, just pure dominance.

Yeah,

I mean, the Rams defense damn good defense now.

They went to the playoffs last year, and those young kids can really play.

So it takes time to figure it out as the game is going to so what adjustments did they make for you this week and do you adjust and he adjusts very well he said in the post-game jalen hurts that uh they were playing not to lose or calling the game not to lose on offense versus the second half where they were just calling it to win what does he mean by that like calling a game not to lose it yeah in the first half i think sometimes a lot of guys are very conservative you know we're not going to put ourselves in harm's way now let's get into halftime what do we got to do to win let's do that all right So I'm not going to put us in a position to lose the damn game early, throwing it all over the place and making mistakes.

And he's keeping it very close to the vest.

And then when crunch time comes, they roll, they score points, and they win games.

Are we going to see more of what we saw in late third and fourth quarter from Jalen Hurts in this offense?

You think if you're an offense coordinator, does something like this empower you to call it a little bit more than maybe you would have before this performance?

Probably not with that offensive line of Saquon.

I mean, they're going to start there every time until you shut it down.

If you don't shut it it down, you'll run it down your throat.

All right, once they shut it down, the thing I think they have to do better is handle the blitz.

The one thing that's been their booger boo for a little last couple years is the blitz.

And being able to handle the blitz.

All right.

So maybe people will start bringing pressure, but he's saying it's not Kevin Pu Blow at Colin Plus.

It's Kevin Patuo still.

Okay.

And they're winning games.

Let's remember that.

Just like last year when everybody was coming for Coach Siriani, they were winning still at that point.

They'd go on to win the Super Bowl.

AJ, what are your thoughts on a 3BS?

No BS is, pal?

I love it.

I'm just thinking of like Kevin Patuo sitting down, having a nice little lunch, and looking up at the screen and seeing that graphic.

Oh, man.

Hey, guys, look on TV.

Wait, what?

No, but it's BS, though.

I hope the volume's up.

I hope the volume's up.

He knows BA is on his side.

It's BS.

It is not.

That's why he said we need the circle.

We need the circle.

I see the circle.

Circle circle.

Circle B.

I see.

Okay, there it is.

That's BS.

That's BS.

All right, joining us now.

No BS.

He's a guy who's a damn good football player.

Right now, he's back with the Los Angeles Chargers, and boy, it's been great to watch.

Used to wear a hoodie, I think.

One of the coolest dudes to ever play football.

Wide receiver for Justin Herbert in the Los Angeles Chargers, ladies and gentlemen, Keenan Allen.

How you doing, man?

That was BS.

That wasn't an actual, that was, that quote was BS.

I hope you saw that.

We're a positive place over here, Keenan.

Nah, it's all good.

What's going on?

What's going on?

How are you?

How's it feel to be back over there?

How's it feel to be a part of the hardball culture fully?

How is life for you right now being back home?

Is that kind of how you feel?

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely, man.

Great.

Happy to be back in the building.

The hardball

effect is live and in effect.

And, you know, I'm just happy to be a part of it.

Okay.

Tell me about the hardball effect a little bit.

Obviously, we've heard stories.

Everybody has shared stories in it.

But is it every single day, every single meeting, every single encounter?

Is that why every player that plays for him respects him?

Inevitably, I don't think I've ever heard anybody that doesn't play for him, that has played for him, doesn't respect him.

Is that why?

Because it's all the time?

Yeah, yeah, 100%.

There's no light switch.

You know, there's on and off.

There is none of that.

It's always on.

He's always on go mode.

And, you know, he's always, you know, trying to find ways to, you know, win the game.

And that's what it's about.

What do you see out of Herbert this year maybe that hasn't been seen in the past?

He looks special, special right now.

Obviously, everybody has had these high hopes for him.

I think Darius Butler actually became a Chargers fan because of Justin Herbert and the possibilities.

What have you seen out of since coming back to the Chargers that makes you feel like, oh, we got a special guy here?

Yeah, I think he's always been special.

I think just being able to, you know, bring it to life and win the games.

You know,

early on,

when I was here, you know, it was kind of hard for us to win those tough games at the end of the game.

But now you see us, you know, making the plays, making the game winning drives, and, you know, giving ourselves a shot to win the game.

And that's all hats off to Herbo, you know, doing what he does, being great.

You know, he's unbelievable back there.

It's fun to watch, man.

Go ahead, AJ.

What's Herbert like, I guess, when cameras are, we see how he handles the media.

Like, he's, I think it's very funny.

I love how he handles himself.

What's he like, I guess, in the huddle, day in, day out of practice?

We've seen a little bit of mic'd up with him, but not too much.

Is he, he seems like a guy that I kind of the gel that holds everybody together, it feels like.

Yeah, 100%.

He's easy.

He's a people's guy.

You know, he's one of the guys in the locker room.

You know, we can talk to him.

You know, he's always there with us, there for us,

joking around, stuff like that.

In the huddle, you know, he's Herbo.

You know, he's running the show.

You know, everybody kind of, he has that aura where you shut up and listen when he walks in there.

So, you know, that's always good from a quarterback.

Yeah, I like that.

We like that a lot.

Debut has a question for you.

Love that.

You have been cooking with him.

Seems like you guys are always on the same page with those second reaction plays, breaking the pockets, scramble drills.

I want to talk about that a little bit.

And then starting off 3-0 in a division.

I know looking at the skill, you've been around the league for a long, long time.

You know how important these divisional games are.

Thoughts coming into the season, starting off with three divisional games, and just how you and Herbert are always on the same page when he's breaking that pocket.

Yeah, being able to get those three wins in the division, huge.

You know, I can't even stress how big that is.

That's going to show up for us, you know, late in the season.

You know, when things get to crunch time, and, you know, we already have those three wins under our belt, so that's going to be huge.

And then, you know, the off-schedule plays, just trying to get open, just trying to

find the green grass, knowing which way to keep going.

And, you know, he can make any throw on the field.

So if I can get to the spots, then, you know, it's a good chance he's going to put it there.

Not bad days, Sarah.

Feel pretty good in there.

I feel like you're reviving.

I feel like you really hit all the marks.

Do we have a plan whenever we're getting in there?

Do we have the same?

Yeah, yeah.

I just came from the Chris Brown concert, you know, two days before that.

So I'm like, I'm going to hit me a little Chris Brown.

Did you pay for that VIP picture beforehand?

Nah, nah, nah.

Oh, yeah, I didn't know.

I didn't.

I didn't know how big a fan we were.

Coach has a question for you, Keenan.

Yeah, Keenan, just watching those young wide receivers playing right now, they're playing at such a high level.

It's got to be your leadership coming back.

Talk to me how you're handling your room a little bit.

Yeah, man, I think we do a good job of just open discussion, especially with Lad.

You know, Lad, Lad's one of the guys who put it on tape last year, and, you know, he knows the offense more than I did when I got here.

So

just learning from him, knowing what he sees then um i i kind of give him my my uh you know two cents of how i would do it or how i you know see it and um you know the coach you know says what he says so and just having that open discussion and everybody be on the same page and then once we get in there and somebody else is doing the job they know exactly what to do and what we're expecting everybody all in in that building we were in there this offseason from the pizza maker got a great pizza oven

sweet oven how is that are we eating that is everybody housing that pizza it's delicious are you guys all so healthy nowadays you don't even eat the pizza

I am.

I can't eat the pizza.

If I eat a slice of pizza, I'm going to be a tight end.

Because if it's one slice.

It's going to be two.

You're going to eat the crush.

So it's bad.

Can't do it.

All right.

Let's talk about one of the wide receivers in your room who has certainly come on this year in a massive way.

Go ahead, Con Man.

Yeah, Keenan.

Quentin Johnson this year has been unbelievable so far.

And it felt like when he came in, when he was drafted in the first round, the expectations might have been a little ridiculous for first round receivers at the time.

Kind of your fault as well because of how good you were early on.

But what have you seen out of him since, you know, coming back to L.A., since you were gone last year?

What has his process been like that's different?

And do you see this kind of turning into basically you and Prime Mike Williams?

Because that's essentially what it's become.

And Lad McConkey is like the missing piece in the slot now.

Yeah, absolutely, man.

I think his confidence, you know, he's walking around with that swagger.

You know, the coaches coaches have trust in him, you know, so he's able to play his game.

He's not worried about, you know, messing up and things like that.

So once you can get a guy out there, he knows what he's doing and he has the athletic ability that Q has, then, you know, he's going to make plays, you know.

Yeah, so as soon as, you know, he starts getting into a groove and getting into the zone, things are going to start happening.

Go ahead, AJ.

Yeah, obviously you spent last season with the Bears.

I'm just wondering, like...

Perspective-wise, does it give you some kind of perspective of what, I don't know, just a different look at the NFL?

You spent, what, 10, 11 years with the Chargers, and then you're there for a year, and now you're back.

I guess I think sometimes it's good to see how other teams run their program and what they do.

Like, did that give you any kind of perspective or make you even more thankful to be back?

Yeah, yeah, it did.

But, like, like you said, wanting to see, you know, how other teams and organizations do stuff.

I thought they had a, you know, well-ran organization over there in Chicago.

You know, I loved it.

The building was fun.

The people, you know, amazing.

And, you know, the teammates, the guys were great too.

So, you know, just being around, being around

that process and seeing how it was.

It was different.

Obviously, the weather is cold um you know a lot more trees than uh la but uh

but you know the people made it made it work worthwhile so um but definitely happy to be back um

out here in california for sure so whenever you make the decision to go back what is the convo like is there any awkwardness not at all everything's just copacetic as soon as you decide to go back

uh not not really awkward i mean maybe a little bit for joe ortiz and those guys upstairs but you know the locker room was I'll always love.

And I've always talked to those guys anyway, even last year, watching the games, talking to Derwer and Herbo, you know, keeping in touch with the guy.

Tell me about the Hortiz conversation, though.

I would like to hear that.

That would be interesting because obviously we know him.

Good dude.

He was on the show with Coach Harbaugh, and that was before Khalil Mack was signed.

And Harbaugh was literally hitting him.

Go ahead and pay him.

Go ahead and pay him.

And Hortiz, we're going to try to take care of everybody.

Obviously, it's an interesting run over there.

We love everything that they're about, seemingly all ball.

When you come back, big hug from Coach Hardbaugh and then your conversation with Ortiz, you guys have a shake hand, move on quickly?

I mean, yeah, it was no beef.

It was, it was no beef.

Definitely a shake hand.

You know, get on.

Let's just get to the locker room with my guys and, you know, get this party started.

But

yeah, you know, you know, those upstairs guys, they, they like to do it their way.

Exactly.

Yeah, that's true.

They like to do it their way.

That's why I was so excited to see you back because very rarely do you see that, especially with the bullshit that comes with everything.

So you going back and obviously it working as quickly as it did.

It's beautiful.

Like we're

big fans of that situation.

Go ahead, Ty.

Yeah, Keenan, one of the knocks I think people that aren't in LA have had on both the Chargers and the Rams is like, you know, there's really no home field advantage.

There's so much stuff to do in LA.

People don't really give a shit about going to those games, regardless of how good the teams are.

But then watching that game on Sunday, like it, it was, it came through on the TV copy how loud and how deafening it was.

Does it feel like you guys actually have a home field advantage uh this year in sofi and that kind of everyone understands the moment at hand and it's like hey if you're a chargers fan like now's the time to go we actually do have something special this year yeah absolutely like you said it was uh it was loud it was rocking in there um that was one of the one of the things we talked about you know before the game the defense um just just you know getting the crowd on our side you know coming through clutch when we need them and um you know that that right there alone will make you know the fans stand up and scream and uh do what they're supposed to do on third or fourth down stuff like that all right keenan we appreciate the hell out of you have an incredible season tell dicker the kicker we are big fans of his operation what is he he is he's an absolute animal dude maybe the greatest kicker of all time when it's all said and done can you talk about him a little bit hey hey that's what he does man he shows up to practice he doesn't miss and you know he's uh he's doing his thing he's getting his fifa in you know in a short time and uh you know just keeping the keeping the leg clean we're gonna keep him clean and uh you know it's time for him to win the the game.

That's what he's going to do.

Oh, that's awesome.

The kicker's the greatest gamer on the team?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ping pong, FIFA, yeah, he's running the show right now.

That's what the fuck I'm talking about.

That is what I'm talking about.

Love everything about that.

Who's all playing ping pong?

How many ping pong players we got in the locker room?

We got a lot of Tule, K-Mac,

a lot of the guys, man.

Troy, Cam.

It's a good little amount.

And Cam's running it like that.

Do we got Cornhole over there too, or no?

Not no cornhole.

Okay, Cameron will win that one.

Cornhole's outside of the hotel.

When we go to the hotel on Saturdays,

cornhole.

Dicker's going to win that one too.

From what I am gathering, I think Dicker's going to win that one too.

I love everything I'm hearing right here.

Yeah, Dicker also was the one that completed all the most difficult workouts at the Chargers facility when we went, where they had that whiteboard and it was like all those very weird

balance.

Yeah.

Yeah, Spingo.

He's one of the only ones to complete every single one.

Tell us about Coach Irvin at that weight room.

I know we know the Silver Bells Club, hilarious and awesome over there.

But then there's this balancing shit that we are on a foam pad trying to pick up something small.

Feels like the weight room is a massive piece of the culture over there.

Not that it's...

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

You know, Herb is a beast, man.

He don't play no mess.

You know, everything's intact in order.

He's got it lined up.

And when you come in there, it's all work.

I like that.

We're staying away from pizza.

Yeah, yeah.

What about the ice cream?

I was about to say that.

Coffee ice cream.

New flavor every day.

Yeah, it's right over there.

It's very accessible did you do any ice cream

they do got the soft serve up there but i haven't touched it yet though but very tempting very tempting canon they're trying you everywhere you walk yeah you gotta touch on everything

discipline yeah i like i like that keep hey stay focused stay focused nija could be a special year out there

guy gotta be focused

man me too i'll tell you what though punter walking into that room Pizza's right over here.

Yeah, you see.

Soft serves right over here.

Fucking, we hit the lot over here, boys.

It went inside the tent on Sunday.

Oh, my God.

Look at me.

From soft serves.

Yeah.

Two pizzas.

Unbelievable.

It's too nice.

The facility is too nice.

You're the man, ladies and gentlemen.

Keenan Allen.

Technically.

Chargers facility is incredible.

Yeah.

Golf sim.

Immaculate.

They're probably in the locker room.

Yeah, right around the corner there.

Hey, is he still on Keenan?

Keenan.

Yeah.

Hey, Dicker's running the golf sim too or no?

No, I'm the golf sim champ.

Oh, wow.

Does Dicker play in there?

He does play a little bit.

Oh, and

you are beating Cameron Dicker at golf?

We actually haven't had the duel yet.

We haven't had the one on the ball.

Okay, we need to know.

But he's in there, though.

He's in there.

How's your game?

Good?

It's decent.

Not good, but it's decent.

What is your...

Do you play?

On the simulator, I'm going to shoot a good little 76, though.

On the simulator, that's pretty good.

What's about gimme's?

We on putt.

We got time, time.

You land land on the green, it's auto, uh, so it might be two putt, three putt.

It depends on your distance, how far you hit it from.

I'm usually a one-putt part.

You know, I ain't, I'm dialed in.

Of course.

That sounds like great rules.

Yeah, we love those rules.

Great rules.

You know, we're on a time crunch.

So once you land on the green, we ain't got time to go get the putter and all that.

We ain't got time.

The sim needs to figure out the putting aspect of it anyways.

This is the right idea.

This is the right.

All right.

Ladies and gentlemen, Keenan Alice.

That's golf we need to start playing.

That's genius.

No putting?

Yeah, just eliminate putting.

The hardest part.

No, it isn't.

It's none of the game.

It's what I just learned.

I'm not fucking doing it anymore.

Nope.

As soon as I get on the green, I'm done, brother.

Now, that shit sucks, though.

Sometimes you're like 15 feet away, 17.

They give you the three putt.

It's like, oh, wow, I would have two putted.

That one.

Oh, you're saying the sims?

Yes, auto, depending on like your settings, because if you put them like super tough, you know, pro settings, tour pro, whatever, you could be 17 feet away, three putt.

Like, oh, fuck.

But would you rather be 15 feet away and hit it actually 15 feet and probably make it and instead you hit it 45 yards off the green and then you're gonna reading a golf sim?

Is that flag?

I don't know what's going to be perfect.

Do you golf sim much, BA?

Very, very, very little.

You're always out on the actual course.

I stay in warm weather where we're outside.

Do you do driving range much or do you on a course?

I used to hit a bunch of balls, but now my back's so bad it's like hit 15 or 20.

Let's go play.

What was your last round?

What's your score?

I shot 76

yesterday morning.

That's pretty good.

Did you fall?

So did you never three putt?

You must never three-putt, right?

Yeah, I probably did twice

yesterday morning.

Hold on, real quick, though.

That was a good question from Connor.

Did you hurt yourself?

Because I know that is a question that we.

Every time I play, my buddy says, not getting hurt today.

It's just golfing.

Yeah.

And we're not talking about from the action of golf.

We're talking about the action of liquor.

That's the problem.

Yeah,

liquor is the problem, bro.

But it is also, it is a solution.

Snowflakes out there on that golf course.

Big solution to that butter.

It's a rider cup week.

It's rider cup week.

Yes.

Yes, it is.

Hey, look what BA got.

Look what BA got on right now.

Yeah.

Here we go.

Hey, it's got a USA.

Hey, we're going to win this, right?

We're going to win this or not?

Hell yeah.

The crowd's going to be great.

Are you going?

No, I can't walk that much.

Yeah, but we can set you up for sure.

We've got to be able to set you up somehow, Coach BA, get you out there, need you.

What is this?

Every two years?

Three years.

Two.

Two.

Every two years.

And it alternates from Europe back to America.

Now it's in New York.

It's at Beth Page Black, which is fantastic.

And we are assuming that it is going to be a romp-ish environment for these Europeans.

I would think so.

Keegan Bradley was talking once again about, you know, not picking himself.

I saw, I saw Scotty Scheffler was answering some questions.

Anything else that we missed?

Let's go to Hammer.

Don, Don.

What do we need to know about the Rodder Cup?

Who's favorites?

What should we be betting on?

Like, what should we be thinking as we view the Roderick Cup other than America good, everybody else bad, whenever it comes this week?

Yeah, also, just for the people who, you know, definitely know and who love golf, like, how does it work?

Yeah, and also,

who's on the team

for other people?

For other people, I know.

USA is minus 150 to lift the cup.

That's what I'm talking about.

Now, is that home field advantage?

Does it always get the hardest?

Yes, Europe is plus 124.

It is typically very, very hard to win on the other team's turf.

It is at Beth Page Black, which is one of the hardest golf courses in the U.S.

It's a U.S.

Open course.

The rough is always a bitch.

How it works, Connor, Friday and Saturday, there's a morning session and an afternoon session.

The morning and afternoon is split between best ball, which is four guys go out, two guys from each team.

They each play their own ball.

Say someone on U.S.

shoots a four, someone else shoots a five on the U.S., and then you get two fives on Europe.

The four from the U.S.

will get a point for that hole.

And then there's alternating shot is the other competition.

So you and your partner alternating shot versus the other team two-on-two there as well.

So that's Friday and Saturday.

And then Sunday, it's one-on-one.

14 groups, I believe.

Every player goes.

Everyone plays against each other with someone from the other squad.

And there's a point up for each one of those matches as well.

I believe, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, I think you need 14 and a half points, I think, to retain the cup.

I could be wrong there, but somewhere along those lines is kind of how it works.

Okay, and D-Bud has a follow-up question on.

Yeah, just some outside of the lines, a little bump in the gums in the media coming up, leading to, which probably always is, but Rory talks some shit about Bryson, like, oh, you know, the only way this guy gets attention is mentioning someone else's name.

Mentioning me, name.

Hey, up, and then I believe Scotty kind of came to Bryce's defense, like, hey, Bryce is a great teammate, great friend, brings a lot of juice, a lot of energy into our locker room.

So, just something to keep an eye on.

I'll be chirping in his ear this time.

Oh, that's Bryson.

Sorry.

I'll be chirping in his ear this time.

Now, if we go up against each other, I mean, you can be sure of it, says Bryson.

D.

Show.

Roy says, I think the only way, Ty, what does Rory say there?

What does Rory say there?

You know, but I think the only way he gets attention is by, you know, mentioning other people.

This is, you know, basically what I think of that.

I mean, to get attention, you know, but he will mention me or Scotty or others.

Are you happy about this, Rory?

You know, but,

you know, I say, but,

you know, basically for every thought I have.

You know, but we'll see.

You know, Bryson's kind of a sack of bones, and I can see myself, you know,

fancy Apollo Guinness after I take him down, if we're matched up.

Well, you know, the big thing this weekend is we got 9.30 a.m.

football

on Sunday.

I know.

In Ireland, you know, we got Minnesota and Pittsburgh, and we're going to have Ryder Cup happening at the same time.

I'm a little bit worried about how we're going to watch all this shit.

Saturday college football slate, incredible.

Yeah, I hadn't even thought of it.

This is going to be a good thing.

Yeah, we got football all day.

It's the multi-view day.

Yeah, quad box.

Yeah, this is one of the best.

What is it going to replace?

I would like to know.

It's a TV day.

Yeah, it's not multi-view.

It's at a TV day.

Yeah, that D-button nailed it.

If you don't have three TVs in this day and age, I mean, you might as well just be recruiting with the NIL of God, like Dabo Sweeney, because you need cash.

You need more TVs these days in order to watch all these sports, especially if it's Rocker Cup.

I understand what you're saying.

Rocker Cup weekend certainly needs to add another TV, but can we not do this before the...

It needs to be right after the tour championship.

Right mid-August is when Ryder Cup should be.

It's when everyone cares about golf anyway.

I have no idea why it's during football season.

I do like that it's a little bit colder, though, even though it's

warm right now.

No, just I think it brings out a little bit of the feistiness because they're playing so early.

AJ, you're a Ryder Cup winner.

What are your thoughts on how the team looks this year?

I like the time of year.

I think it's a great change.

And all of a sudden, we forgot golf was a thing, and then bam, it's right.

It is hard to watch it at times, but uh, I love it.

I think it's great.

I hope the crowd is crazy.

I was just listening or watching the video of Keegan rallying the troops and talking to the boys and seeing the video of them walking through the tunnel out to the first tee.

Like, it's gonna be

awesome.

I think it's bullshit.

I think both teams are pumped.

I think it's bullshit.

The NFL scheduled a game this Sunday this early.

Okay,

who's calling it?

This goes in, America wins.

Okay, oh, oh, shit, it's a big put.

Hey, you got this.

One of four?

No, yeah, turn around, just knock it right in that one.

No, no, turn around.

Sorry, boys.

Oh, no.

It's all right.

Good aggressive.

Good aggressive one.

We all know that's not my butter.

I was going to say.

Get the real one.

Yeah, that one's super quick.

You know, that.

For Adam Skull.

That's not the butter.

All right, grab your actual putter.

Come on, quit jacking around.

Yeah, I'm sake of these.

Oh, get this other putter.

There it is.

There's the actual one.

This is the actual putter for America.

See you at the podium, bitch.

Boom.

Boom.

There it is.

There it is.

We fucking won.

We did it.

USA.

USA.

USA.

Now, this, from what I've heard, is like a Bruce Arians golf round here.

Clubs just kind of.

Sure, everywhere.

There's not enough water.

It might be in the bottom of the lake.

All right, what are some things we haven't chatted about?

CeeDee Lamb could miss three to four weeks with a high left ankle sprain.

Yeah, that's the injuries right now, crazy.

Tyler Booker for them as well that are starting guard.

Four to six weeks, they're saying for him.

I mean, injuries in abundance very early here in the NFL season.

Coach B.A.

actually sent me a text and was like, hey, can you ask stat guys if there's more people on IR now than normal in regular season stuff?

I don't think there's a change in number or anything too wonky is the way I was told told from himbo, but it does feel like big names.

There's a lot more big names hurt earlier than thought.

That's what you were kind of leading to.

Yeah, when MCD was down, Mike Evans went down with a hamstring.

Hopefully not too serious, but too many, really stars.

We're missing too many stars.

And

I hate to see it because these guys are the game.

Yeah, I agree.

Bosa.

Yeah, Bosa.

Yeah.

Bosa's up for the year.

James Connor.

Huge one.

Connor's done for the year.

That was nasty over there.

I'm happy they didn't re-air that on TV.

They re-ran it in the stadium, they said, and you heard a boom.

That's a tough call.

Yeah, normalize doing that.

I really appreciate when they don't replay the gross engineer.

They ran it on red zone.

They didn't run the replay.

Yeah, so they didn't have it.

And then later,

what's his name?

Scott Hanson.

Thank you.

Scott Hanson came back and said, oh, we do have the replay.

If you don't want to watch it, here it is.

I don't know what Scott, man.

Well, Scott's trying to keep up with the internet's got it.

Yeah, pretty important.

Yeah, he's probably saying, show me Scott.

We just hope everybody stays healthy.

If this goes in, last putt.

This goes in, no more injuries.

Holy shit.

Oh, yeah, nausea here is too.

Big putt.

Oh, yeah, nause.

Come on, man.

For the good of the boys.

For the good of the boys.

Fuck.

Ah, shit.

Hit the other ball.

Hit the other ball.

Hit the other ball.

It's going to be no more injuries.

That's it.

Football gods.

I don't know.

No.

I don't know.

You burnt the eggs on that one.

Yeah, they.

I don't want to see it.

Yeah, I know.

There was some, I should have made that putt.

It wasn't really me, though.

It was a football gods putt in there.

Throw a football for the football.

That's why.

Golf for a football?

No.

Duh.

Don't ask New York for a replay.

You did set your feet there.

Yeah, Bruce was talking.

That's how you get it.

Yeah, he got it.

You got it.

That's it.

Oh.

We'll see you tomorrow.

Fuck, man.

That's how the show ended.

Bring it in.

Yeah.

That's a tough show.

That was very dramatic.

It was.

It was.

dramatic.

Yeah.

People are wondering what I'm saying.

I know.

Hold on.

That's good teaser.

Bummed out.

That's really good.

I was bummed out.

That was a tough shot.

All right, let's get through a break.

We got to wrap everything up at the end.

And when we come back on the other side, it's going to be the greatest conversation about the greatest things we've ever had.

Isn't that right?

Yeah, absolutely.

Especially because our

La Vante David will be joining us.

Okay, awesome.

Awesome.

Hell yeah.

He's number eight ranked

linebacker tackler in the history of the NFL.

Eighth overall.

Unbelievable.

Ray Lewis, I think, has the most at 2,059 tackles.

And is it London Fletcher has like 2,039 tackles?

Yeah, and I forget how the stats work with the playoffs and excluding playoffs because it's so annoying how they do that official tackle.

Whatever the case, he's top eight.

He's got 1,600 some or 1,700 some.

He's still flying.

That's a lot of tackles.

Still flying around.

So one of the greatest football players of all time will join us here in a matter of moments.

And also, obviously, a man the BA knows very well.

we cannot wait to chat with avante and also put a bigger spot on his stampede buccaneers team they got a lot of grit yeah they do and jom a lot of jobs on paper feels like they're a team that we want to root for and if we can get our boat parade out there oh hell yeah come on boys we're throwing lombardies from boat to boat is there any any sharks out there with you guys uh there are a few bullsharks in that water y'all okay

i'm happy they got to celebrate a lombardi as well amen now the bullsharks understand what super bowl is all about which is who's going to get it we shall see

As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy.

But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Granger has your back.

From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery.

They're there to help you keep things running smoothly.

Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions.

And because Granger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities.

Call 1-800-GRANGER, clickgranger.com, or just stop by.

At blinds.com, it's not just about window treatments.

It's about you, your style, your space, your way.

Whether you DIY or want the pros to handle it all, you'll have the confidence of knowing it's done right.

From free expert design help to our 100% satisfaction guarantee, everything we do is made to fit your life and your windows.

Because at blinds.com, the only thing we treat better than windows is you.

Visit blinds.com now for up to 50% off with minimum purchase plus a professional measure at no cost.

Rules and restrictions apply.

Football.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's AJ Hawk to my left.

That's 47-year football coach Bruce Arians right there.

Nine-year NFL vet Darius J.

Butler is there.

The Toxic Table at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt.

Live from Hammer.

Dan Dan is one half of the Hammer Dan.

Cowboys AP Tonin joining us live from beautiful, sunny, Tampa Bay, Florida.

His man is a 14-year NFL vet.

He's currently the eighth leading linebacker tackler in the history of the NFL.

Currently on the season, has 22 tackles, one and a half sacks.

He's all over the place.

Ladies and gentlemen, an absolute stallion.

Linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Levante David.

Davant David.

How you doing, man?

I'm good, man.

How y'all doing?

Appreciate you having me.

Hey, no problem.

Thank you for joining us.

We're not undefeated, you know.

We get some losses.

You guys undefeated down there.

How does it feel down in Tampa Bay?

B.A.

tells us it's a magical feeling down there.

It feels like all of the pieces are back in the right place.

Are you feeling that as well with this Tampa Bay Buccaneers team?

Yeah, man, it is definitely feeling good.

My guy, B.A., I'm sure he's giving y'all all the details about Tampa.

But definitely feeling good, man.

We're all to a good hot start.

You know what I'm saying?

A lot of resiliency been showing these past couple of weeks.

But hopefully, you know, we can make

these next couple of wins be more easier yeah a lot of cardiac situations four straight fourth quarter comebacks for the tampa buccaneers obviously baker mayfield getting heralded on the defensive side of the ball making stops in critical moments as well it's your sixth year i do believe if we did our math right in a bulls defense what is it like at this stage of being in the same defense or understanding the same language for you and uh how do you think the defense as a whole is doing

I think we're doing better, man.

I think we came a long way from when we first, you know, came about, especially starting from training camp to now.

now um like you said man just being my i believe it's seven honestly i think it's my seven year in this defense and uh i'm kind of like that that guy you know when uh question need to be asked and guys scared to ask coaches they come to me you know so uh yeah it's definitely uh i'm getting i'm comfortable in it you know i know what what coach bows expects from everybody that's out there and uh when i'm out there man i just try to figure out what he's thinking about so you know i kind of like try to beat him to the punch when you want to make a call and stuff like that yeah you're triple og out there bro you're the eighth leading linebacker tackler in NFL history.

14 years.

You've been around a long time.

Love that you're taking on that leadership role and have for a long time.

Go ahead, AJ.

Yeah, I want to talk about your quarterback a little bit, Baker Mayfield.

Obviously, everyone loves the guy and loves how he competes.

What was it like competing against him in training camp?

And what's it like being around him every single day and seeing how he leads this team kind of offensively?

It's always fun to go against Baker, man.

You know, he's somebody who, when you trip at him, he's going to trip back.

And it's amazing.

You know what I'm saying?

You don't want to go out there and be talking trash to somebody and you feel like you're just talking to yourself.

No, he going to give it back to you and then he's going to try to compete with you and stuff like that.

So it's definitely fun, you know, seeing him taking that same edge that we have in practice onto the field.

And you've seen it for the past couple of weeks, man.

You know, Baker got that fiery edge.

One thing about him, man, once you talk trash to him, that gets him going.

And for the most part, that's like when people talk trash to thieves and players, we can get us going.

You know, we want to have that killer instinct.

And the same thing with him.

When you're talking trash to him, he clicked to a different mode.

And that's what I love about him.

You don't want to wake him up, you know, and I like that about people.

On that note, CJ GJ has been released from the Houston, Texans.

That is actual news.

That's breaking news.

CJ GJ has been released from the Texans.

The reason why that comes up here is because obviously Baker Mayfield, down, we think maybe bruised Patella, maybe.

And then CJ GJ says something and he kips up.

like you Shawn Michaels, what was that?

And then obviously does what he do.

It

feels like it's a special place down there for Baker.

And it's obviously a special place for you down there as well.

Connor has a question for you, yeah.

Levante, the last three years you've been doing uh one-year contracts, and you know, you're 35, I'm sure that was more so just you know, based on how the body feels and everything.

But, yeah, what is it like now towards the end of your career, kind of with the process of everything?

Are there things you've picked up over these last few years that you kind of didn't maybe realize early on in your career now that you are later in your career?

And are there some days you go in there and just appreciate the entire process a little more since it is you know you're 15 14 yeah i think that's the main thing man just appreciating the whole thing more you know me coming in as a young guy you know all i just worried about with just you know football football football sticking into that and then you know now as i get older i just kind of understand the dynamics of the whole game and uh the important of relationships and you know getting to know people around you and um i think um Jason and the guys

been doing a great job of just, you know, being transparent with guys, being transparent with me in particular about, you know, what they expect from me and how they view me when I come into the building and stuff like that.

And then,

you know, it's just been real good, you know, dialogue going back and forth on how we're going to treat these years or whatever, whatever those years is, you know, year in and year out and how we're going to move forward from that.

But, you know, I think it just.

What keeps me coming back, man, is just, you know, just the transparency from those guys.

And then, obviously, man, the relationship that you build in the building, you know, me being there for 14 years, you know, I'm the longest tenured guy there.

So it's definitely been, you know, kind of life fun just getting to know everybody even more.

A lot of different eras of Tampa Bay Buccaneers football that you've been through.

Let me read this list of the top eight total tacklers because I got sent this stat about you this morning, and I'm like, damn, I don't think anybody knows that.

More people should.

Ray Lewis, London Fletcher, Bobby Wagner, Junior Sayo, Jesse Tuggle, Zach Thomas, Derek Brooks, Levante David.

Okay, that's the

list.

Hey, man.

It all worked out, bro.

It all worked out.

Now, I know you're still in the middle of it, so we can't just do as much reflecting, and we got to worry about the day-to-day.

But on that note, D-Bud has a question for you.

Yeah, you talked about 14 years.

A lot of that, I mean, we always talk about your best

ability being availability.

14 years, what have you been doing to take care of your body, not only during the season, during the offseason?

And are there any other goals out there?

You've obviously won a Super Bowl.

Any other closed career goals that you have that you maybe want to meet before you hang it up?

Yeah, man.

The first part of the question is, man, what I try to do is give my body a little rest as far as like physical activity.

You know what I'm saying?

So the most thing I do is probably do a little cardio and things like that.

You got to keep your wind up when you're playing this game, kind of keep my endurance going.

And then

as the offseason progress, I kind of like...

figure out what I need to work on more, like what's hurting me more and things like that.

And I kind of work on that throughout the process.

And then by the time, you know,

spring or summer come around I can get into the you know the hard weights and the the explosive lifting and then the full sprints and stuff like that and then you know just throughout the season man I just been trying to I do it just be transparent with the training staff and the people who I work with about just you know my you know lowering my workload and stuff like that but I'm a guy who you know BA could tell you this man I'm a guy who like I need practice you know I'm said I don't feel right if I don't have practice you know I'm saying like some they had to sometimes they have to tell me like nah man you can't practice today things like that but that just that just me you know what i'm saying so uh i just i just that's just how much i love the game and like i like i just try to be overly prepared as much as i can as much as possible and then um

you know just it just just

goals and stuff like that man like really no goals in particular man like i always say man once i stop loving the game of football i'll be done playing the game of football and right now i'm still in love with it i'm still having fun with it you know as you can see we all took a three and no start so that's extremely fun for I've never been in this situation before, so I'm taking advantage of it for sure.

But definitely loving what we're doing.

And I think we can be a championship team this year.

Yeah, it's extremely rare to be 3-0, and that's strictly good times down there in Tampa, I would assume, at this point.

You know, I don't know about goals and scats.

I don't know if that's how you say stats or not with that type of lingo, but there was one that might have been left on the board.

Coach B.A.

actually has a question.

Bro, how long you been on the jugs machine the last two weeks?

You stole Vita's interception and you dropped it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's been

talking about it, you know.

Yeah.

Since that day, I haven't heard about it.

I haven't heard from

him just trash talking to me.

And then he recovered the phone with this past week, and we get on the sideline talking about something.

I could have had two turnovers so far.

Hey, that's what I'm talking about.

The one thing I want people to know, the thing I love about you most is I did have to make you take a day off.

Right?

Because he would never take a day off.

And that's what the great ones do.

And one of the greatest to ever play the game.

B.A., when you get to that building, obviously we see the success that you guys end up having.

Having him in the building, though, is a massive piece of that entire building up of the foundation of the entire franchise again.

Oh, totally.

He'll know.

He'll tell you that I rely a lot on my veterans.

And this guy was in my office because I brought him up there.

What do we got to do?

You know, I want to hear it from the vets.

And no one ever

bullshitted me or anything.

Levante was the best one.

Oh, that's awesome.

Hey, I don't know if you ever got to hear that, Levante.

A lot of Levante David celebration happening here.

Take these flowers, brother.

You deserve it.

You've obviously worked your ass off for them all.

He was very pumped you were coming on the show, as were we.

Yeah.

And what is it like, BA, Bowles?

Who else?

Who else were some coaches that you've had?

What has it been like through all the eras of the Tampa Bay?

You had Chiana early on, didn't you?

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, obviously, you know, me coming out my first couple of years, I had Greg Siano.

So I was that whole situation, I felt like I was in college still so you know I didn't really feel like understand what it was like to be in the league you would say and then yes we would say everybody was saying yeah yeah yeah we uh taking a knee or no we're not

and then yeah and then uh going to uh lovely smith you know a lot of ups and downs those two years and then uh going on to dirt cutter you know it was pretty smooth but uh we didn't have a you know identity as a football team we didn't have no real culture and then um you know when uh coach ba got hired you know he could probably tell you, he could tell you this too.

You know, I thought about leaving.

I reached out to Jason, man, saying, like, you know, I know you guys are bringing in a new head coach.

It may be time for me to leave and try something different.

And,

I mean, like, a couple hours later, a few moments later, I got on the phone with BA and changed my mind, ASAP.

And when he got there, I definitely, you know, I figured out what it was like to be an NFL football player, you know, with him coming in, changing the culture, and just reestablishing

a foundation as a football team.

And me falling in love with the game all over again.

I can definitely tell

to say that Coach BA helped me with that.

And then me, all my first seven, eight years, I played in a 4-3 defense.

And then when Coach Bowles came, I was a little, you know, wasn't too sure about that.

And then got a chance to sit down with Coach Bowles and kind of like pick his brain about certain things.

And then I got a chance to get into it.

And I've been having fun ever since.

So I definitely, you know, thank B.A.

and Bowles, man.

Those guys definitely, you know, helped me fall in love with the game again.

That's a cool football life right there.

Yeah, that is a very cool football.

B.A., that's going to feel good to hear from one of your players.

I mean, we're having good moments right now.

That's awesome.

You know, and I had the great honor of being there this weekend and the guys from 76.

And I sat in the room with Hardy Nickerson and Derek Brooks.

And now you.

I mean, that's the chain of command.

Hardy Nickerson handed it to Derek Brooks, Derek Brooks, handed it to Levante.

I'm worried who you're going to hand it to.

You got to stay for a couple more years, man.

We got to find somebody for you to hand it to.

Yeah, but let's keep running up those one-year deals.

Yeah, fully guaranteed.

That's the tackle.

That's the business.

We like that.

Let's talk about the team you guys have right now.

There's a young guy from Ohio State that's seemingly very captivating.

Go ahead, Con man.

Yeah, Levante, one of the stories of the season so far has been a mecha Buka, and, you know, he's made already highlight catches.

Should have had another one that they didn't call a catch, which is ridiculous.

That one was filthy.

The other one on the sideline was ridiculous.

Coming from you, I mean, everything that's happened during this conversation has been amazing, let alone you talking about falling back in love with the game.

But as one of those guys, triple OG Hall of Famer, top 10 in tackles in NFL history, have you ever seen a rookie pick up the game like a mecha Buka?

It feels like what he's done in college has translated to the NFL seamlessly, and he is unbelievable.

Once Godwin gets back, I assume he is going to be even better.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I got asked a question before, and I always say, man, when I first saw Chris, he was in a similar aspect, but Chris didn't get the opportunity right away because we had uh deshaun jackson and things like that so um and then like just seeing a mecca come in and just drill guys with questions and just the way he go about his business the way he handles everything you know um i used to watch the femme you know of those i watched the i watched the rookie minicamp uh and then i watched you know otas and all that stuff when i wasn't around so i just got a chance to see like okay you know this kid like he's getting it like they everybody's gravitating to him baker's feet in the ball so he must be doing something right then i got a chance to see him in the training camp.

He's a kid.

We don't even call him a rookie, man.

He's definitely, you know.

Oh, no.

Too much compliments.

Too many compliments to the broken.

Yeah.

We lost you there for a second.

You were complimenting him mightily, and then it cut off because you're too nice to a rookie, even though you don't consider him a rookie, is what you were saying.

It got cut off.

But you're saying all good things about him literally since the day he got to Tampa.

Yeah, since the day he got to Tampa, man, he carried himself like a vet.

And like I said, man, we won't even look at him as a rookie no more.

He's helping us big time.

And the way he do things, the way he carries himself on and off the field, he's a man of God.

He's always

working on himself.

Just trying to be better and better and trying to help us win.

And it shows, man.

Baker is finding him.

That means, you know, he's doing something right when your veteran quarterback have a lot of confidence in you.

And what did Baker say about the one-handed catch that he disrespected his ball?

Yeah, disrespected my ball, man.

Yeah, disrespected my ball, man.

Catch it with next time.

Catch with two-handed next time, rookie.

And then he went around and said, I i told the rookie he needs to catch that with two hands you know because people are gonna think that was a bad ball because he won one-handed that that was a good ball it's like as long as he's catching it who cares and if he's that confident say hey let me go ahead and snag that thing special man he was number two at ohio state number two at ohio state every year that he was there had to block had to do the shitty routes like had to do the tough jobs and now he's uh spectacular for tampa bay aj has a question for you Yeah, Vante, being in the league 14 years, you've kind of seen different eras of offenses and how they try to to attack defenses.

You know, there's spread them out.

We've seen that sometimes.

I think now it's starting to get a little bit more downhill, trying to be able to pound the ball with what the Eagles were able to do last year.

Like, do you take pride in being able to last that long and be so durable and play and start every single game?

Like, you're able to obviously play in the box, go downhill with the best of them, but also spread you out and you can play it in space.

Is that something that you've actually thought about as you've gotten older?

Because you continue to play at such a high level in all different aspects.

Yeah, I mean, honestly, man, that's something that I always think about.

You know what I'm saying?

I wanted to prove that you know you guys keep signing me to these contracts i want y'all to i want to prove to y'all i can still play the game at a high level you know uh no matter how younger the talent gets just know that i'm still gonna come out there and do my best and do my part and um like you said man nowadays the offenses try to do things to kind of like get you you know try to outleverage you and stuff like that defensively and so you know for me you know i it's all a mind game for me so i i love those mind games i love facing challenging offenses so to help me you know kind of like help my game as much as i can and uh when they try to get you in space and things like that, you know, I just wanted to show that I still can make those tackles just like the younger guys and stuff like that.

So even when they get to a physical football game, I still want to let y'all know that I can still bring it.

You know, I still remember last year was playing the Chargers.

You know, Chargers was down here running the football team.

And I made a couple plays and

Coach Larry Foote, he had to put this aside and say, hey, man, you ain't young no more.

You got to chill out with all that.

So, you know, that right there kind of like, you know, kind of like, you know, boosted me a little bit.

Like, okay, I still got it.

You know what I'm saying?

So, uh, just because the game kind of did go away from that a little bit, and now you're getting back to the physical football.

So, that's what I love to see.

Yeah, you got former teammates coaching and people you played against now.

And I assume there's going to come a time soon where you're going to be playing with somebody's kid that you played alongside.

And every play, just I'm not old.

I'm not old.

I'm not old.

I'm not old.

Eat it.

Eat it.

Eat it.

I love everything.

Whatever motivates you to be great, obviously, it's working.

Coach has a question for you.

Yeah, I know you were surprised, but I thought Tyrod Taylor played his tail off in that game, man.

And

I know you guys were, you did not sleep on him, and

you chased him around all day and gone day, and he played really good for him.

But

I just wanted to give him some props, but for you,

chasing him all day, it's still amazing to watch you play, man.

Oh, look at this.

You're not old.

You're not old.

Yeah, I don't know.

I might be, man.

I missed him three times.

I'll probably.

I didn't say that.

You said that.

All right, let's talk about it.

Go ahead.

He slipped slipped right on my hands three times.

So, yeah, he's still doing it.

He still got it.

Hey, there's a lot of guys that still got it in the league right now.

Motherfuckers will jump over you backwards.

Go ahead, Todd.

Yeah, Levante.

This week, you guys got the Eagles on Sunday.

Now, I mean, obviously, you've played for as long as you have.

I don't think you're really losing sleep over any, you know, any team that you're going to play.

But with the challenges they present with Saquon and Jalen Hurts in that offensive line, what does that prep look like?

And I don't know if anyone's told you this, but when it comes to the tush-push, like you can start moving early too because they're going to do it several times, and they're probably not going to call it.

So, you know, you can kind of shoot your gun whenever you want to on that.

Yeah,

I'm up to date on what's going on with the tush push, man.

Uh, we was one of the teams that stopped it, so I ain't tripping about it.

See the beta, baby!

Yeah, but uh, you know, uh, those guys present a different challenge, man, all over the field.

Um, you know, like you said, man, they got Sacron, they got AJ Brown, they got Devontae Smith, they got Goddard, you know, they got a lot of playmakers, man.

Obviously, starting with Jalen Hurst.

It's gonna be be a fun football game.

You know, we've been seeing these guys a lot, and they've been seeing us a lot.

So I expect nothing less than a four-quarter battle.

Like I said, man, like these type of games, you know, bring the best at you.

And I'm definitely looking forward to it.

So you went through the CTE era.

Yep.

Then to the spread them out era.

Now we're in the Guardian cap era.

AJ started this entire thing.

AJ, anything to say about the ability to evolve throughout the different eras?

Because we know you were the first one to put that guardian cap on your helmet, AJ, so we appreciate you doing that.

No, I wasn't, but Levante could play in any era.

I think that's the greatest thing.

You could throw him back in the 50s, and he would still be bashing dude skulls in.

Are you wearing a Guardian cap on game day or just at practice, Levante?

Only at practice.

And if the Guardian cap true because of you, AJ, come on, man.

It is true.

It is true, Levante.

Pat tries to tell people I drink my piss and all this stuff.

Go!

The Guardian cap is not.

So, no, you know, whatever.

To each his own, whatever you want to do.

But how does it feel for real?

What's it feel like hitting somebody with that on?

Yeah, I mean, we have to wear it in a training camp.

And then, you know, in training camp, you know, you got the 907 drills and you want to hear, when you get a nine on seven, you want to hear the pads clapping, pow, bow, wow.

But you can't hear it with a guardian cap.

And it sounds so soft.

So you can't really gauge and tell or nothing like that.

But

it definitely protects you, though.

I would say that.

I mean, nobody really have an issue with it.

We have a player who wears it, but

they doing a better job with the helmets and things like that.

Hammers that get improved by the league so some people who have the more up-to-date helmets don't have to wear in their practice and things like that but um for the most part it's doing what it's supposed to do i would say we need you to put a couple guardian caps on remember

two two helmet condoms better than one exactly that's what they say their lineman might have two on he's got the biggest at tampa yeah biggest biggest head of all time massive yeah guardian cap had to put three guardian caps together for that guy yeah unbelievable

all right man well good luck on your next 14 years of your NFL career, I guess.

Seems like it's just going forever, and we appreciate your time.

Yeah, I appreciate y'all, man.

We'll see how what next year brings, but we're going to worry about this year right now, man.

Appreciate y'all.

Hey, man, that's Super Bowl champion and future Hall of Famer, Levante Davis.

Yeah, Levante Davis.

Hey, that had to be pretty cool.

That was sick.

That was awesome.

Anytime one of your players says, like, hey, everything you were doing worked, that has to be pretty fulfilling.

Legit said he found his love for football.

Wanted to leave?

Yeah.

Get me out of here.

Maybe the game.

We played 10 years of college.

I feel bad for the guy.

I don't know what they're talking about, about being in the league.

I mean, this is the same as college shit.

We're not allowed to smile walking off the field.

And we're diving to people's knees while they're kneeling it down in the NFL.

Start practice with.

We got $200 million right there, and we're just diving at the knees of it.

We had some maniacs back in the big East days because Chiato, Ruffers, Big East, Brian Kelly, Cincinnati, Levitt, South Florida, Rich Rod, West Virginia.

Jeez.

Wandstash.

Wandstash.

Obviously a weapon.

If we could have got

Maryland in the bigies, kept them in the big ease with big French.

Ralph Fries.

Yeah, and Big Fritch.

Him and Rich almost got into it one time.

I'm thinking there's a chance that

I'm not bringing up tomorrow.

Did him and Mangino ever get into it?

What do you mean?

That would have looked like Andy Reid, but instead of Travis Kelsey, it would have been Andy Reed against Andy Reid.

Yeah.

Doing the seismic activity.

How'd you feel about that?

Andy Reid and Travis Kelsey having a little bit of a bump on the sideline.

Hey, it's ball, man.

Shit happens on the sideline.

Neither one of them have any animosity towards the other one.

They love each other.

And you know that that only happens out of love.

Yes, can only have a good relationship and have that happen.

Yes, because if it's a bad relationship, they're throwing blows.

What do you think he's saying?

You think he's telling him, wake up?

If you had to just guess, now, obviously, he won't tell us.

We will never know.

I'm sure NFL Films has it, and Andy Reid maybe has said, don't let it out, or maybe at some point we'll see it in a documentary in the future, whatever it is.

What do you think he's saying to him there?

Is there a moment to say, like, hey, wake the fuck up, or something like that on the sideline?

Oh, yeah, definitely.

I mean, you got to go, you got your stars.

You got to get on your stars' ass, so you can get on everybody else's ass.

You know, if I'm jumping his ass, all them other cats go, oh, shit, he's getting Travis, he's going to get me too.

And, but, yeah,

it was a good moment, I thought.

Chiefs,

dynasty is not dead.

No, no, and that's BS.

No, that's no BS.

No, he said that's no BS.

No, BA.

He's just disagreeing.

Oh, you're saying.

You're disagreeing with BA on BS or no BS?

I don't think the Dynasty's dead.

I agree with him.

But I think this year, they're fucked.

I think they're shit out of luck.

We had an incredible opportunity to catch up with new Indianapolis Colt because I think the Colts are definitely a story I'd like to hear you chit-chat about, especially what's going on.

Nice little renaissance, Connie.

A little rebirth of the Indianapolis Colts.

And we got a chance to catch up with Cam Bynam Early.

We're going to run the entire thing or release the entire thing tomorrow.

It was a great combo.

This is what he basically had to say about the leadership in the building.

And then obviously, I can't wait to hear everybody's response.

There's so many vets on the team, so everybody's comfortable talking, but nobody talks too much to where it's like, okay, you're doing too much.

You're trying too hard to be a leader.

Everybody has their natural leadership role.

For me, it's the lead by example, lead with energy.

For Isaiah Franklin, it's the, I'm turnt up, I'm going to run through your face type of leadership.

Kenny, you know what you're going to get.

He has his finesse and his swag, and he's still going to be like a leader.

So like just those three pieces on defense with Mooney just being locked in, knowing he's going to lock things up on the outside.

Everybody has their certain type of leadership.

Then on offense, obviously, quarterback, Danny Dimes, he's a little more quiet, but he's still making sure everything is operating well.

But Q, he's...

He's a vocal leader.

He's running everything.

He's tough.

That's awesome.

Like, just everything.

So you get a little bit of everything from everybody to the point where everybody is like locked in on their certain role where nobody's overstepping their boundaries of, okay, this guy needs to calm down.

He's trying too hard.

So it's a natural leadership in this locker room.

Anybody missing team meetings or treatments or anything like that?

No.

There you go.

Never.

That's huge.

That's an expectation just around the league.

Like, you don't do that.

I agree.

You're not late.

Yeah.

You don't miss meetings.

Yeah, I do.

You will get fine one.

The money is one thing, but the embarrassment if you miss it and coach puts you on the spot, it's like nobody wants to be that guy that's late and has to talk in front of the team and give your excuse.

Hey, man, do you hear what our culture is being described as in Indianapolis?

It was not like that just a year ago, coach.

I'll ask you: with all these pieces, is it just adding the right couple guys to a locker room that can kind of change everything?

Maybe you're not as far away as you think sometimes because this Colts team, I think, from a culture standpoint, a lot of question marks last year.

The stories we were hearing, like that is not what winning football is at all.

Then we bring a couple pieces in, different quarterback Cam Bynum comes in.

We get Mooney comes in.

I mean, we get some guys that come in there.

Ryan Kelly leaves.

Quentin Nelson feels like he can maybe be empowered to be a leadership.

Is it that easy to like kind of fix some things, bring in some new pieces?

Or what are your thoughts on the culture changing as drastically as it seemingly has with India?

Yeah, I think it really is.

I mean, it's bringing the right people.

And it's not always the best player.

It's the right person.

And obviously with Cam and the guys that love football, love practicing, love preparing, those are the guys you want in your building.

And they're natural leaders.

And it permeates through everybody.

And then Danny Dimes, being as smart as he is, being accountability is the key word.

And as long as guys are accountable, they want to like each other.

You just got to be accountable to each other.

And I think these guys are holding each other to a standard.

It's wonderful.

And obviously, when you win, it like very much justifies all of it.

It's like, hey, everything we're doing is for the right reasons.

We're winning games.

We look very good.

And obviously, we are going to talk about the Colts here in Indianapolis, and we're at the games and everything like that.

But this year, I said it early, we're going to win the Super Bowl.

And then I watch them again, I'm like, we're going to win the Super Bowl because all the things you need, you need an offensive line.

You need to be able to stop the run.

You need to be able to make some throws and make some decisions on the offensive side.

You need to have somebody that can get open.

We got two, three guys that can get open.

And on the defensive side, you need to create turnovers.

The boys are creating turnovers.

They're not giving up much.

It's like everything you need in the big games.

We have shown early.

We have.

Roster's always had talent.

Feels like they have a real team this year, Conman.

Well, and just like the decision-making, you mentioned like them, you know, this hasn't happened and they haven't started like this and things of that nature.

And I forget if Michael Pittman Jr.

said this is a really smart team.

Everyone kind of gets it.

But just even stiking, like we talked about this when they beat the Broncos 28-23.

It's fourth and two, fourth and three, and they decide to kick a field goal to go down by two instead of go for it.

It feels like in the past, maybe steking was kind of, hey, fourth and two, you know, no risk and no biscuit.

We need to score a touchdown either way to get the lead.

Like, let's do that.

Instead, hey, we can kick a field goal, rely on our defense, get the ball back, and then go kick another field goal to win the game.

Like,

it doesn't feel like the team of the Indiana past, perhaps, didn't have that type of respect or faith in either side of the ball.

And now there's faith in the defense.

There's faith in the offense to have a drive and come through.

And like, I'm sure Steichen also for himself, maybe, like, okay, thank God.

I can coach a shot.

I'm not a dipshit.

I almost got Carter Minchin in a Pro Bowl.

Yeah, and we almost won the AFC South.

Debut, what did you hear from Cam Binhan, both in that and the entire conversation?

It was kind of similar to what KOC said about leadership and accountability.

You got to be yourself first and foremost.

Being yourself and then talking to Levante David, hearing what BA says about him.

I asked AQ about him as well, knowing he was going to come on the show.

When those guys are there every day and you hear those voices, whoever comes into the building, you just kind of get on the train, you get in line with those guys.

So the leadership, it stops down.

It starts from the top down.

So big three, big three, new ownership.

Carly, Kalen, Casey.

And they've been around the game their entire lives.

They've been prepared for this moment.

So then you get the front office.

They got to be on the same page, bringing in the right guys, paying the right guys.

You know how that impacts and affects the locker room as well.

And then it trickles down into the locker room with all the pieces coming together.

Danny Dimes being in the organization that is, you know, supporting him.

He's obviously confident, you know, more confident than I've ever seen him on the NFL field week in and week out.

And then you got to show up on game days.

You got to show up and make big plays.

So that's what guys are doing.

It is early in the season.

We're at the first kind of quarter of the season.

It's a long season.

We know that.

But as long as you can keep riding these waves, keep winning.

You mentioned the phases trader too.

We know how important having a good kicker is in today's NFL.

He's been nails from wide to wire so far.

So I'm excited what we got, man.

We got all the pieces.

We're in the driver's seat in our division.

So I'm excited about the Colts' future and the direction that they're heading, not only this year, but it seems like for the future.

AJ, it seems like you even become a believer because normally he would laugh at the remember?

Oh, yeah.

Every time we make our picks, he would laugh at it.

It feels like like you're even a believer how could you not be at this point i i'm definitely a believer and hearing cam binum speak right like that was awesome when he says we don't have guys overstepping and trying too hard we have talked about on this program many times

people that uh oh like they feel like hey a coach wants to see me be a leader i'm going to break it down every day i'm going to try to get voted captain and every player like every nfl guy sees right through that and it's just uh it's not a great setting.

I think, too, when you have these guys that are great leaders making plays, it also, like, sometimes I think bad bad teams they they hope somebody else is going to make the play okay here big third down we got this guy's a stud he's a vet he's going to make a play i think when you have like this and you empower everybody each guy wants they're saying no i'm going to make that play i'm going to go make that big third down stop i'm going to get that pick i'm going to do whatever it takes and it's like uh it's a trickle-down effect like the debut said it's from the top down man they they have it rolling right we talked about that with sonic and knuckles you know with uh montgomery and gibbs with the detroit lions they both want to make big plays and they both are pulling for each other which is a good thing the way he he talked about the defense with Lou Ann Rumo running this entire ship, I mean, it is a different vibe watching them play on Sundays.

Lou didn't come alone to this defense, though.

You mentioned a name that I don't think I've said yet, and I should have.

Yeah, James Betcher.

I think, you know, when Betch was the defensive coordinator at the Giants, Lou was with him.

Now, Lou went to Cincinnati, took Betch.

That's a great tandem.

I mean, you talk about two guys that know each other, work together.

Their personalities are different.

You know, Betch is going to, he's going to bring the heat a lot.

Lou knows his stuff.

I think it's a great combination on defense for the Colts.

We signed him and we were all pumped up.

Then we started looking into the Cincinnati Bengals defensive rankings.

And it's like, not good, not good, not good.

Then we started thinking like, well, they didn't really pay anybody on defensive side or have any players.

He's got weapons on defensive side here in Indianapolis.

We got players, which is why I always had hope.

I always had hope that this team was going to be good because we've paid so many people.

Legitimately, we paid so many people on this team.

We got talent.

Lou seeming to be calling it right.

He seems to be calling it right.

And he's enjoying it too, I think.

Yeah.

Because he just kind of got yeah unceremoniously they shoved his ass off out the door you know and it's just i think the big thing too is like this isn't like the chiefs last year where they go 15 and 2 and it's kind of like every week like jesus like they're beating the hell out of everybody and like it's a very entertaining brand of football so like that's why when you talk about hey like they might be the best team in the nfl right now like they might go to the super bowl like their plate dictates that it's not just like oh hey we're 3-0 we've squeaked by like they've they've dominated all three three teams.

I mean, I guess maybe not the Broncos, but like, the Broncos are a good team.

A lot of people picking them to win the Super Bowl.

And they went, it's just.

Long season.

Yeah.

That's the only worry, AJ.

Long season.

We started really hot, which is good because history tells us the teams start hot are good teams.

And they'll end up being good, too.

But it's like, you never like, we're clicking full cylinders right now.

Good test on Sunday.

They go to LA to play the Rams.

So it's like, you know, if they win that one, that's a massive jump up.

And it's like, okay, yeah, everything we've been saying is true.

Rams, Raiders, Arizona, how you doing, West Coast into the Los Angeles Chargers?

I can't wait to see who this team really is as the season goes on.

They've been fun to watch.

Danny Dime's putting up historic numbers.

Obviously, the punt conversation has happened and the amount of successful drives percentage has been talked about.

Now we're comparing them to the MVP.

Daniel Jones, quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, is now being compared to Josh Allen and a great show on turf in offense, the Buffalo Bills MVP offense.

Josh Allen, congratulations, you're being compared to Daniel Jones.

I mean, certainly would not have expected that before the season, but now we're at a point where it's like maybe Danny Dimes is the new standard.

No, no.

Maybe Danny Dimes is the new bar.

You know, smart, physical, fast, can throw it.

Josh Allen obviously has all the same attributes and has the Buffalo Bills in a great position every single week, and he won the MVP for a reason.

But Danny Dimons being a quarterback of the Colts was not a guarantee whenever he signed here.

It was a competition between him and Anthony Richardson.

Think about the conversations.

Think about the optimism, pessimism meter that came out from the athletic after Danny Dimes was named the starting quarterback over Anthony Richardson.

We had seen Anthony Richardson as quarterback.

We had heard and hoped that maybe he had evolved his professional quarterback-ism, I guess would be the way to describe that and everything.

And we'd seen some things that did that.

But nobody gave the Colts outside of us, I would say, hope with Danny Dimes a quarterback.

Why is that?

Why do you think everybody thought he had no shot, B.A.?

And how hard is that of a decision whenever you, like how early into the process do you think shane knew danny dimes was going to be the starting quarterback do you think that's real probably by a third ota you think he already had it mastered you think he probably knew very early he said

if we can protect him if we give him running game this guy's a weapon now he's he's a hell of an athlete he's accurate he's smart you're not gonna fool him his his stats against the blitz against the broncos were just unbelievable So I think that conversation then goes back, and I wish I would have asked Kevin O'Connell this.

Does KOC think he could have been one of those guys?

Learns

journey, travel, gets to the next place, already experienced.

I mean, at his offense over there, Sam Darnold's experienced it.

Kirk Cousins has experienced it.

I guess you could give Danny Dimes credit because he was there.

Dobbs.

Dobbs,

I don't think he got a second resurgence, though.

Oh, yeah, true.

But like, KOC has seen the second career resurgence kind of happen here.

And Danny Dimes is the most recent one.

He might be the fucking best.

Baker obviously is what you're shooting for and striving for whenever you're doing this.

Well, and I don't know if people would have expected this from Danny Dimes, but Shefty has said this a bunch: that the feeling around Danny Dimes in the NFL was much different than how the media was talking about him.

You know, he said there were a handful of teams before he signed with the Colts where it was like, hey, if given the opportunity, like, you know, and you got all these guys who are available, who'd you take?

And he was saying, you know, Danny Dimes, multiple teams were saying, like, there's something there.

So, I mean, obviously, he's he's probably probably outperformed what everyone's expectations for him were, but that just goes to show you, too, that, like, around the league, people still knew, like, this guy's this guy's a talent.

You can put him in the right situation, and something like this could happen.

So, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Uh, so shout out to Front Office once again, being, I guess, the most aggressive in getting him.

And then, obviously, Danny Dimes looking at the situation and saying, Hey, this is a great situation for me.

And, like, you mentioned the coaches around the league, guys like BA.

Okay, here we go, right here for the next one.

This is from Bay from the Russ Talker ross tucker podcast tom pellicer reported that uh danny dimes took a little bit less money to come to the colts i think because of the situation because he wanted to be starter again and uh that's amazing to hear because there was conversations about how much minnesota offered to like and minnesota made a real offer colts paid him 10 million a year i think i think that's uh the number yeah like up to up to like 14 or something something like that for a starter so he took less money to come to indianapolis because he understood the situation was going to be in a competition he certainly made the most of it i'm sorry go ahead yeah so seeing that as a landing spot and to tie's point like and NBA can see it because these guys are coaches and coaches got egos too.

And it's a reason that they have those jobs in the NFL because they can see a player and say, okay, I can get more talent out of him.

Now, for the rest of us, the reason that pessimism meter or whatever was so high is because we saw Danny Dimes in a New York Giants jersey, getting obliterated every week, turning the ball over, doing those things.

So it's like, oh, man, this is the guy we got, Danny Dimes in AR.

We draft the AR top five.

Let's at least give the kid a chance and see him develop.

But once he was named a starter, and once again,

just like you, made some calls to some people in the building.

No one was surprised.

And that's the thing we said.

If somebody wins a quarterback job, nobody in the building should be surprised.

Offense, defense, coaches, trainers, everybody knows what NFL quarterback can look like.

So that was a very positive sign.

So I love what I'm seeing from Daniel Jones this far on.

Play callers, head coaches have egos.

I didn't hear that.

A little bit.

Gotta have it.

Gotta have it.

The Shane Steichen whole entire game week, I'm sure, is just so much different different this year than it has been in years before.

For sure, yeah.

Especially because third OTA, you mentioned, I think that probably was accurate when Danny Dimas picked up Shane's offense.

I don't know how similar it was to things he had in the past, I don't know how easy it was for him to transition into the lingo, but just like him commanding that offense, we haven't seen that in years here in Indianapolis.

That was week one.

He called out a blitz, shifted the offensive line one way, then he pointed out something else, then goes there.

Shane Steichen has to be like,

Yes, fucking man, yes, thank you so much, right?

That helps out, totally, bro.

Totally.

I i mean when when you got a guy that sees it gets it and does it

now some can see it they get it they can't do it he does it and like you said a couple of those plays change the line we're gonna be hot right here i this guy's coming free the ball's coming up all right Touchdown.

Then him also in the pocket, navigating the pocket, and then being able to run much faster than anybody gives him credit for.

It's like Shane Seykin's sleeping much easier and a much better spot this year than he, not just with AR.

This is, we are recycling quarterbacks.

Hey, come in, welcome.

Here's a whole new offense.

Master it, please, and let's move on.

There were stories of Matt Ryan and the offensive line not having a clue what the fuck each other was saying for like eight weeks or something like that.

So Danny Dimes coming in and understanding.

Shane Steichen,

that's crazy.

There were some crazy times here in Indianapolis over the last few years.

So we apologize for being overly enthusiastic about what is happening right now.

But this looks like a professional team.

And he looks like a professional quarterback.

And it looks like Steichen's offense is the perfect one for him.

Yeah, he's a great fit.

I mean, I think he fits in any offense.

We loved him in Tampa.

We talked about him a bunch because his first win was against us.

And he played lights out in that ball game, throwing and running.

And so, yeah, I think Shane is

real, real happy right now.

Yeah, he was great on the Manning Cast last night.

Obviously, we watched Super Handsome.

Did you catch the Manning Cast last night, AJ?

I just saw a little bit.

You know, I go back and forth usually with main broadcast and manning cast.

Oh, do you?

Yeah, I see.

I like what Peyton and Eli do.

You know me, I love when we just get to watch Peyton and Eli digest the game in real time and see Peyton freak out about blitzes coming that quarterbacks don't pick up and refs missing calls, all that.

Yeah, his football IQ on display is always good.

He made a bunch of new rules.

Do you see that?

No, I didn't.

I missed that.

Hey, made a bunch of new rules.

They were good.

Which one?

Okay.

There's something about a public apology or something for drops or something.

I mean, like, there was.

First one was Hail Mary interceptions don't count on quarterback.

Don't count on quarterback.

And And then he pointed out that the NBA no longer puts it on the shooter.

They put it on the team as an official.

He said Hail Mary should not count against quarterback.

That sounds like a little bit of bullshit, which I respect.

I'm all for that too.

I mean, I've seen quarter guys not throw it just for anyone throwing interceptions.

And then drops, not consider.

Yeah, here we go.

Intercepted Hail Mary shouldn't count.

False start offsides, equity within the 10-yard line.

Okay, I don't know what that means.

Targets should not be official statistic.

He hates that.

He says that basically every single game.

This guy got six targets last week.

Okay.

yeah all right what does that mean batted balls should be illegal should not be able to put your hand above and then cash payments on field for late hits was something he said that was the public apology

which i respect you got to actually pay the money for late hits right there that'll probably slow people down a little bit carried in your football pants and literally did you hear what darius told uh the story about us playing the broncos Yeah, you talk about late hits.

The reason why Peyton's thinking about that.

Art Jones just happens in the first series, just crawl a little bit later on to Peyton.

And in his mind, it's like, Dash, I want $10,000 cash right now.

I don't want it to be removed from your check.

I would like you to see.

Bye, buddy.

I'm surprised he didn't say drops don't count as incompletions.

Like, I'm surprised he didn't add that because anytime a wide receiver drops a ball, Peyton just immediates,

catch the fucking ball.

Get off.

That is your job out there.

So I'm surprised that wasn't.

That was probably right on their fringe if I had to get it.

What has he got against the targets?

Been a stat?

I think he thinks it's a bullshit stat that's just like kind of created to keep people happy, basically.

It seems like a new school dude thing.

Yeah, it's big for betters.

I think it's one of those.

He hit eight targets and

two catches.

Guy can't bitch.

I threw it to you eight times.

I think that's what Peyton has a problem with.

I don't know.

I have not asked him, but the

targets number, he has brought up on numerous manning guests.

He's brought it up like a lot of times.

So I'd always known that there's certainly something he doesn't like.

I think it's because he thinks it's all bullshit just to keep people happy.

Totally.

Well, he gave him four targets last week.

And it's like, well, you didn't give him the fucking ball, though.

Like, so I think he doesn't love that it's just kind of been created out of nowhere.

You're saying for gobblers, though, it's nice to know how many times the ball is going in a direction.

Yeah, and I would assume, I don't play fantasy, but I would assume fantasy, too.

Like, knowing, hey, I got a guy starting that got targeted 12 times last week, and he caught eight of them.

He's probably going to get targeted again a bunch this week.

So it's definitely good for, you know, the people that have other interests going into the game for sure.

Yeah, targets definitely definitely matter for fantasy.

I wonder if Peyton is more so thinking from the angle of like, you know,

if quarterbacks target Jamar Chase or one guy 20 times, they're going to get killed.

Everybody else, yeah.

Back in the day, I was throwing to Marvin Harrison 28 times a game.

We don't need to let everybody else know how many times I'm throwing to them.

Exactly.

You don't need this to be a publicly stated number.

Sure.

I fucking threw to Austin Cauley.

One time.

Okay, I don't need that to be known by Austin.

It was a big catch.

Move forward.

It's a good first half.

That was great.

Yeah, that was a great ball.

But Marvin got 30 targets, and we don't want to talk about that on Monday.

So it's not a real thing.

That would have been a sick lineup if we had had Marv, Reggie, and Austin in NTY.

Holy fuck.

Cheating.

Stokes was men.

And Edge.

So I wasn't there for Stugley.

I was not there for Stokely.

He was unbelievable.

The following with Peyton over to Denver.

He was so good.

Yeah, that was a good position.

Austin Colley, though, was a.

I mean, that guy.

He was not a Wes.

The offense in Denver is damn near as good as it gets when it comes to, you know, Peyton's offenses when it came because Welker went with him.

How many touchdowns?

DT.

50, 58, 55 or something.

He had seven.

He had seven in the first game.

Julius Thomas and Nobody 10.

Comes out of nowhere.

He's a basketball player.

He was unbelievable in his first game.

He had like 18 touchdowns that year.

Yeah, it was fun to watch.

And we got rid of him.

Well, he came back here.

We handled him.

Took care of Business Luke Soy.

Yeah, the War of 1812.

That was pretty pretty last Sunday night football.

Oh, yeah.

That was a pretty good little place.

Made a tackle like that.

A couple good plays that game.

A lot inside 20.

Nobody remembers them.

Shout out.

Before we get out of here, we did have somebody pass away that we care about mightily.

Sportsbook can sig Jenser legend in the gombling world.

We had a chance to meet him multiple times, hang out with him multiple times.

And then obviously we followed along on the internet as everybody else who gombled ever followed along with Sheripan, who's an absolute dog.

Had the greatest hat collection I've ever seen.

I think Gumpy is trying to keep up with him.

We'll always be chasing his greatness.

His vibes and his spirit were always immaculate with us.

And the guy gave out a lot of winners.

Let's go over to Hammer.

Don.

Don.

Tone, obviously, Kinsig is a guy we love over here.

And

we're all going to certainly miss like hell.

Yeah, Kinsig was the best.

He

was just always happy and always

talk wanted to talk and just always be around everyone especially at super bowl radio row um he was he came on hammered down a lot he was just like the nicest dude you could call him and he always like he just always wanted to talk and be friendly with whoever he came in touch with he was awesome to us he was a yinzer legend i know Connor and Gumpy FaceTimed him almost every weekend just to just to talk ball.

He was just one of the best dudes, a great dad, great husband, and just gone too soon.

Yeah, amen.

Rest in peace, brother.

We appreciate the hell out of you.

And

I believe there was a some sort of sickness inside that.

I don't know what it was, but we were following it online.

I don't think any of us knew how serious it was from afar.

And then there was a couple updates like, hey, this is getting pretty serious.

And then all of a sudden, we hear he passed away.

We obviously don't see him on a day-to-day basis, so I don't think it hits as home as much.

Radio Rottle it a 1,000.

Oh, yeah, without a doubt.

He is an ever-present person

when we're at at the Super Bowl.

And he's always, for us, he's always been so complimentary and uplifting and motivating.

Like, always like telling us, not even to get on the show.

Did not care to get on the show.

Asked him to come on the show.

Would definitely do it.

Did not have any personal agendas whenever he was talking to us.

No.

Felt like he genuinely wished for our success.

So we will miss the shit out of him.

Rest in peace, Kinsig.

You've done good, Bub.

You've done good.

Gone way too soon.

Yeah.

Gone way too soon.

All right, we'll get out of here.

We'll be back tomorrow.

Now, I sent off on ESPN in the most glorious fashion.

Fantastic.

I don't know if they'll turn that one in for an award.

They should think about it.

Ton, why don't you head out here, buddy?

But this one's going to be sent off in a beautiful fashion because we've got a Super Bowl champion.

BA, another incredible week.

We appreciate the hell out of you, man.

B.A., B.A.

We appreciate the hell out of you.

And on that note, be a friend, tell a friend something nice that might change their life.

We're in this thing together.

Team on me.

B.A., anything you say?

Better one next week?

Hell yeah.

Next week, I want fucking speakers.

Yep.

And I want a goddamn highlight.

Boom.

That's it.

One of the greatest Saturday night speeches of all time.

And what are you going to say to the boys tonight?

Well, I'm going to tell them we got no fucking highlight reel and we got no music.

And I want that next week.

Anything else?

No, that'll do it.

Get your asses out of here, go to bed.

Next week, I want fucking speakers and a highlight video.

Get your ass out of here, go to fucking bed.

Guess what we had the next week?

Highlight video and speakers.

I don't know if that's true or not, but I assume it was.

Oh, yes, we did.

Okay.

Obviously it worked.

What the hell am I talking about?

AJ, great work.

Boys in the back, way to pull it off.

Team on me, team on three.

We'll see you tomorrow.

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?

Lee Jeb.

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, 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 Manley, whose story didn't turn out quite the way he imagined.

I decided I wanted to have one of the most organized goodbyes in in history.

30 for 30 Podcasts presents Chasing Basketball Heaven.

Available now, wherever you get your podcasts.