PMS 2.0 1429 - BA Day with Bruce Arians, MNF Doubleheader Recap, Peter Schrager, Dan Orlovsky, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

3h 1m
On today's show, Pat, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk, and the boys are joined by 3X Super Bowl Champion, and former Head Coach of the Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Bucs, Bruce Arians to recap last night’s Monday Night Football doubleheader, give his biggest takeaway’s from the weekend, and give game balls for his best performing players in the NFC and AFC. Joining the show to recap last night’s Bills/Falcons game after being boots on the ground on the Falcons sideline, as well as which coaches might be on the hot seat, and who he thinks will be buying and selling at the deadline, is ESPN NFL analyst/pundit/host, Peter Schrager. Later, 12 year NFL veteran at QB, current ESPN NFL analyst/QB guru, Dan Orlovsky joins the progrum after calling last night’s Bills/Falcons game to chat about his biggest takeaway’s, and mispronouncing Bijan Robinson’s name (although he may have been right). Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you, we’ll see you tomorrow. Cheers.
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Transcript

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble vote, the thunderdome.

On this BA Day, October 14th, 2025, this program begins now.

Football!

That is a 47-year football coach, a man who's been joining us each week in a spectacular vibe, both in the office and obviously on the show.

Ladies and gentlemen, Super Bunch Hompy and BAs.

What up, coach?

You look amazing.

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

A lot of Patriots gear out today.

The Bills lose on Monday night football.

And I'll tell you what, the vibes of the AFC Easter certainly a little bit different.

The Dolphins might be complete shite.

Yeah.

The Jets might be complete shite.

And then the Buffalo Bills are losing to a team that lost by 30 just a couple weeks ago.

And then the New England Patriots and Drake May are just stacking highlight after highlight after good decision.

Mike Vrabel's even getting into fights with referees who allegedly are trying to make them lose and all they can do is continue to win.

All of a sudden, is it the New England Patriots time in the AFC East yet again?

That is how Patriots fans are feeling on this particular Tuesday.

I know it was not only a good morning for you, I saw a lot of Patriots fans celebrating this morning about, oh,

is that right?

The Buffalo Bills can't stop to run.

Wait a minute.

The Buffalo Bills can't win.

Wait a minute.

You know who can?

Mike Vrabel and the New England Patriots.

It feels like last night was the biggest night for Patriots fans as opposed to anybody else.

Falcons fans, obviously excited.

Bears fans, obviously excited.

New England Patriots fans that woke up this morning like just like we fucking said it was.

That is exactly the feeling it feels like out of New England.

Yeah, you know that completely.

That's exactly right.

And it's just nice now.

You know, it's basically all the receipts from the past six years are coming to light.

And Bills fans who are saying congratulations on the week six banner, hilarious since they've never won a banner.

So it's just one of those things where you don't even have to respond to these people because they're so fucking stupid.

And it's amazing to be here.

Yeah, congratulations.

Obviously, we got a full Patriot fit today.

Anytime the Patriots do something great, which was this weekend, and then the Bills do something bad, I think we're going to see that going forward.

Hi, Schmick, great to see you.

Nine-year NFL vet, host of everything DB, Good D, Bad, D, Darius J.

Bothers.

Yes, baby Dodge.

D-Bucks, we talked about some fan bases that are excited.

Let's talk about the two games last night.

We got the Bears taking on the Commanders.

Caleb taking on Jaden.

Obviously, a spectacular matchup.

Jaden Daniels showcases his talent.

And then Caleb Williams and his Ben Johnson Bears team.

Wait a minute.

They've won three straight after starting 0-2 and maybe the world collapsing up there.

First game, what's your big takeaway?

And also, I think we have some highlights for the Bears Commanders game.

Big takeaway is Ben Johnson's impact on Caleb Williams so far.

Like him, him playing that game.

Like it was some moments.

He made some throws.

The kids made a drop late and it could have gone downhill.

They got another opportunity with the Jaden Daniels fumble.

Had to deal with some other elements.

as well.

And then seeing Swift and that offense just run the ball down their throats when they needed to.

It sucks as a defense when you know the team is trying to run the ball down, trying to drain the clock, getting the field goal range, and you get them in that position.

And Jake Moody, the guy who's been battled, been through it, getting it down.

This is the moment right here.

Boom, get down, take a hit.

Another run.

You'll see Swift see it right here.

Boom.

Pitch out to the right.

Get out to the edge.

Set up your kicker for the game winner.

And then Moody, when he gets up there, knocks it right down the middle.

Went four for five on the night.

Big, big moment for this team.

A huge win for Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson.

What was that play call there?

Running to the right side?

Oh, that was a little toss power right there.

But in that other game, we get to the other game.

It's a beautiful runner.

We're going to see.

I can't wait to get it.

D-Bucks was learning offensive runs through 47-year football coach, offensive guru, quarterback, whisperer, Bruce Arians, B.A., whenever you think about what Ben Johnson, Caleb, and this Bears team look like now versus what it was at the beginning of the year, let alone the first two weeks of the season when they lose.

But how about in training camp when everybody's like, Caleb's never going to be able to just buy into Ben's system?

I felt that way.

I gave up on Caleb potentially buying into Ben Johnson.

I gave up on the thought that Ben Johnson and Caleb will be able to coexist and have success together.

I gave up on the thought that Caleb was going to become a guy in the NFL.

Not that I hadn't been supportive of Caleb since the very beginning.

I certainly have.

But Ben Johnson, the more we learn about him, badass dog, accountability driven.

We're kicking people off the field.

We're doing this.

You need to do this.

You need to do this.

Caleb, everything we know about him is he likes to be a little bit of an outlaw, likes to be a little bit different, likes to do things his own way.

Will he ever be able to buy in?

He didn't even play in a preseason game game because the guy couldn't understand what the hell the offense didn't want to put him in a position to be a bet it was like at the beginning of this entire relationship there was obviously excitement ben johnson this is the bell of the ball for good reason apparently here now that we're watching the chicago bears in the coaching cycle but and then it just started being like well it's only a matter of time between before ben johnson uh sean payton's uh caleb williams sean payton gets the denver broncos job russell wilson isn't what i want i need to get him out of here let's move forward thought that was going to happen with ben and caleb instead it feels like we've seen caleb come into own and this Bears team buy in completely to Ben's culture.

What are your thoughts on the Bears and the turnaround that Ben's been able to do with them?

Yeah, I think it's fantastic.

You knew he was a great coach.

You saw it in Detroit and he's carrying over to Chicago.

And it's just a matter of time before Caleb realizes, hey, if I listen to this guy, I'm going to be the top quarterback in the league.

And it doesn't take long for those guys to get it.

And Ben has put him in a great position to be successful.

He's got a chance to be the first Bears 4,000-yard passer ever.

That's hard to believe.

Yeah, unbelievable.

Hard to believe.

Yeah, and I think by week 10 or 11, he's probably going to have some sort of passing record up there in Chicago.

They've obviously been looking for a long time.

Now, there was some officiating questions that arose last night.

I even got calls from Bears fans this morning.

Four Miss

calls this morning, 7 a.m.

Fired up.

They didn't want us to win.

The refs were trying to screw us, and we win.

Chicago Bears fans, obviously, the illegal formation, that was a touchdown to Roman Dunes.

They don't like that.

That got called back.

Feels like that was actually a pretty good call.

There was a holding here on one of your touchdowns where Caleb runs it in.

They don't call it.

And the guy who's in the booth, what's his name?

Russell Yurk.

Okay.

Russell Yurk, the ESPN rules official guy.

We did a little research on this guy.

We appreciate that he's an independent thinker.

Okay.

People are going to tell him to do something.

He's going to say, I'm not going to do it.

Okay.

Like this whole thing.

Actually changed his job.

ends up having to go somewhere else.

We respect that he is,

I'm not doing it.

On that note, we need him to learn the rules.

Can't just be like what his rules are and then what the actual NFL rules are.

This guy stinks as the rules official.

This guy is good.

He's been bad.

This guy has not been good.

And

he's a former replay official guy, I think.

So he was the one.

We're hearing him talk.

He was the one making decisions during reviews and things like that.

And now we're getting a chance to hear, I don't love that for the world we lived in whenever he was making those decisions, which is certainly whenever we were doing this, but he needs to get better.

You You are talking for the game there, brother, on Monday night football.

Let's make sure we're getting these things right.

And whenever he gives an answer, we can't all just think, that guy doesn't know what he's doing.

That can't be how we're representing.

On that note, loved the two-piece last night.

Two very good games.

Okay.

Two very, very good games.

And once again, I thought Dan O'Fowler, Lewis Riddick, I thought they did good on the call.

And then the fact that we had the opportunity to go from, you know, Jaden and Caleb battling to a second half of Bills and Falcons.

Now, I think we all thought this was going to go one particular way.

What was the percentage of money?

Let's go to Hammer.

Don't.

What was the amount of money on the Buffalo Beatles last night against this Falcons?

About 75%.

Minus three and a half down there in Atlanta.

Now, there was a little bit of an update.

Jeezy was going to be performing at halftime, which certainly could have changed some people's thoughts.

It changed D-Butt's thoughts, actually.

And it made me feel very good about picking the Atlanta Falcons.

But that defense, they get slaughtered.

by the Carolina Panthers.

Then Olbrick comes back and puts on like a masterclass against Josh Allen.

And people are talking about Raheem Morse, who had the joggers on.

a lot of the coaches wearing the joggers we looked around had lost this weekend hasn't looked great Raheem Morris has gone in there implemented his culture and it feels like Pennix is a guy it feels like Bichon is the guy yes and defensively they have a chance this Atlanta Falcons team I think we all mocked and ridiculed there for a while thought they were making bad decisions 180 million dollar backup quarterback and then you draft a guy but Atlanta gets a huge win on Monday night D huge win on primetime and it's a week-to-week league you talked about the 30 shit loss to the Carolina Panthers you see what the Panthers have been doing since.

And then now the Buffalo Bills, we thought they would be the class of the ASC with the reigning MVP.

And they've dropped two in a row now.

This one on prime time, you mentioned it.

The defense showed up, got after Josh Allen.

After the first couple plays in the first quarter, you thought, oh, this is going to be a shootout.

You know, Josh Allen throws a dart in his first play.

After that, he was under a lot of duress from the front end, from the back end.

They blitzed him on over 70.

70% of his drop backs in the second half.

That's not usually a number you see with an MVP caliber quarterback.

I don't think the Falcons were scared of those weapons on the outside.

You see it right here, just blitzing.

This was a beautiful overload pressure by Diablo and the boys coming off the edge.

So they drafted pieces.

They brought the right pieces over on both sides of the ball.

And you talked about Bajond Robinson with Dan O came on.

He kind of mentioned it too.

He said it's probably going to be a bad matchup for the Buffalo Bills on offense and defense.

Now, this is the run right here.

I had to show this to BSABA.

What the hell is this called?

So this is our 28-blunt right here.

It's a weak side zone, and he hits this gap.

And that's one of the weaknesses when you have this Buffalo Bills defense who runs that 4-2-5.

So they keep five DBs, you know, on the field at all times.

Only two linebackers.

They can get kind of moved around.

Pennix did a great job as well.

Hitting the Drake London.

Sorry for the guys who had the two touchdown guys and gals who had the two touchdown ticket for Drake London.

That sucked.

Right before the first half ended.

Got all the way to the one-yard line.

Unbelievable play by Drake London.

One of those eight first-round picks on the Atlanta Falcons offense.

He's been great this year as well.

Shout out to Michael Pennix.

Shout out to the Atlanta Falcons and Raheem Moore is getting a big-time primetime win.

Now, I'm going to say it four seconds had a timeout, could have got down for a field goal and say, you try to be a hero, you step out of bounds.

It's half-yard line.

Okay, I just, some football person will say that.

This was an incredible play.

I thought it was a touchdown just like everybody else.

And I immediately thought to myself, oh, that's close to Cillian.

The Bills think they're going down to get down quick.

And then bang, not so fast.

We go for the touchdown.

Obviously, his cleats touch out of bounds there.

Could have had a two-touchdown night.

Let's talk about the Falcons defense versus Josh Allen.

Two interceptions for Josh Allen.

That's his most since 2024 week 10.

Four sacks.

That's his most since 2023 week one.

Okay, that's a long time ago.

16 pressures.

That's his most since 2023 week 18.

And his 18.7 QBR that he put up, that's his lowest since 2019, week 17, whenever he couldn't throw a football to somebody.

That's before COVID, brother.

That's a long time ago, 2019, his QBR.

So bad night for Josh Allen.

Obviously, bad night for the Bills.

Great night for the Atlanta Falcons.

And who's the man that deserves a little bit more credit down there in Atlanta, maybe for all the pieces that they brought in?

Terry Fonteneau.

I think it was right before the combine.

It came out like, hey, the Falcons aren't meeting with any offensive players.

I think Florio reported that as he does a lot of stuff that he doesn't break.

And he mentioned, hey, the Falcons are only going after defensive guys.

And that was kind of the big thing going into this offseason.

Like, hey, how come the Falcons have all these first-round picks?

We've mentioned it with Drake London, and they're not good.

It's because they're defense dunk, and then they drafted all the right guys, and now they're good.

But Terry Fonteneau has been buried publicly a lot.

Yeah, big time.

For the way he looks, the way he acts, the decisions that have been made in the Atlanta building have been to save Terry Fonteneau's job is what everybody has said publicly.

Raheem Morris getting hired.

A lot of people said, well, they hired Raheem over Bill Belichick or anybody else because it keeps Terry Fonteneau's job.

Okay, that's the only reason why it's happening.

Terry Fonto has just sat in the pocket.

Draft penics, pay Kirk Cousins.

This guy's a dipshit.

Boom.

Terry Fonteno sits in the pocket.

Hire Raheem Morris over Bill Belichick.

Well, that's strictly so Terry Fonto can keep his job.

What a terrible decision.

Terry Fonteneau sits in the pocket.

They start out bad.

Terry Fonteno sits in the pocket.

Now they get a huge win over the Bills.

We should at least say, hey, Terry Fonteno, feels like it might be working out.

His division might be working out.

He got the

number one defense in the league and number two offense.

They're doing some things right.

They're doing some things right.

Let's talk about old brick.

How do you go from, or let's just talk about teams in general?

How do you go from that Carolina?

And is that guy related to Matt Conte right there?

I think so.

Did you look at the face?

Pretty similar.

Mike Conte, I think Matt Conte came from Atlanta as well.

His dad worked to the Falcons, I think.

I wonder if Mike is his brother.

Family business.

And the Conte brothers brothers could be putting out stats in PR for two different teams in the NFL.

We might have to start thinking about a family dynasty,

what these Conte's are doing in the PR world.

But you're talking about them having number one, number two defense.

This old brick guy, obviously,

out of the New York Jets, and then everything happened his offseason.

Now he's down in Atlanta.

We know he brings intensity.

We know his team likes him a lot.

But how do you go from that Carolina game where you get your ass beat, then to beating the Buffalo Bills, who are Super Bowl favorites with the MVP favorite and everything like that?

Is that just figuring out who you are?

Is that the boys just shitting to bed one day and you understanding that that's not what your team actually is?

Like, why do you think that happens with your 47 years of football experience?

Yeah, I think for some times you're going to a division team that you don't think is very good.

But the Carolina Panthers haven't lost at home this year.

And they went in and spanked them pretty good.

You know, it's like, oh, this is a wake-up call.

And they've played really well since.

But Jeff Olberg's been one of the best defensive minds in a long time.

When he was with the Niners, they were really strong.

And

he has changed the whole culture because Raheem's never been a Blitz guy.

You know, he was a Monty Kiffing, Tampa II guy, and they're getting after the quarterback.

They got five big guys in there all the time now, and it's a mismatch somewhere.

Do we think this is the Atlanta Falcons for the rest of the season?

Do we think this is who they are?

Or do we think that Carolina Panthers game is who they are?

I think that's.

I think this is who the Falcons are, definitely.

And you know what?

If they avoid injuries, they're going to be really tough all the way down the stretch.

Congrats to the Falcons, man.

Yeah.

Congrats to the Falcons.

They were the bottom, like bottom, bottom barrel of the league when it came to getting after the passer.

So to go and be aggressive, and Fontenelle got a lot of shit this draft when he traded back into the first round to get James Pierce Jr.

at the end of the first round, who talent-wise was kind of like a top 10, top eight pick coming into the year, some other off-the-field things.

But yeah, that

up front makes it easier on the guys on the back.

And they've drafted and signed well back there as well.

Congrats to the Bears.

Congrats to the Falcons.

Now let's turn to the other side of last night with one of our favorite segments, ladies and gentlemen.

It's time for BS or no BS with BA.

Okay, so we'll be making statements that have been said by other people that are statements of fact.

It'll be your job to tell us if that's BS or no BSBA.

Once again, these are not our statements.

These are things that we have seen and other people have said.

We're just asking if he thinks they're real or not.

First one, the Bills are in more trouble than the Eagles.

Is that BS or no BSBA?

That's no BS.

I think the Bills, they've got to get out of this 4-2-5.

I mean, they're giving up the most explosive plays, third most explosive plays in the league, 5.8 per rush.

You can't win that way.

And you got to, I don't know if they're short of linebacker or what it is, but Bobby Babbitt's got to come up with something new because it ain't working right now.

Offensively, I don't know where the points are coming from other than James Cook.

They don't have a wideout right now that scares you for Josh.

And that's why you're seeing all the blitzes because they're locking him down.

Terrell locking them down the receivers last night.

It's not Bills football.

Okay, so do you think the heat is going to come for McDermott?

Let me tell you.

Yes, the heat is coming for McDermott.

It always does.

I feel like McDermott has been on the hot seat every single season that Josh Allen has become MVP-like candidate.

I think it comes with the territory.

It comes with the job.

If you have the best player in football, you should be winning the biggest game in football.

Do you think it's McDermott?

Do you think it's the build of the team?

How do you think they kind of navigate the next few weeks as they try to battle through McDermott getting his job called for by everybody, including Bills fans?

Yeah, I've got a lot of respect for Sean.

He's done a great job for a long time now, but it's again, it's time for change.

Can you adapt and react and change?

And I think it's time for them to change some things on both sides.

You're not saying firing.

You're saying messaging, wording, things like that.

Everything that you're doing.

And like you said, they got the bio week.

Let's go back to the start.

How are we going to build this thing?

How are we going to fix it?

And I have a lot of trust in Sean to get that done.

McDermott's a defensive guy, right?

That's kind of his thing.

So his defense kind of being the weak link here in obvious problem.

It feels like, you know, Dan Rolovsky called it yesterday.

I think the stats obviously say, which people have been loud about.

The Beatles' defense is really question mark.

But then you talk about his offensive weapons.

It's like they let Stephon go a couple of years ago.

Obviously, Stefan having a little bit of a resurgence up there with New England right now.

Kincaid was out last night.

He was supposed to be a big part of their weapon.

And I Shakira guy, like we know some of the names, but it's always like Josh is going to elevate him.

And then defensively, it's the same problem.

4-2-5 is the reason why you guys are saying it's a problem.

Us layman people are like, they can't, they just can't stop the run.

Can't stop the run.

Can't stop the run.

You're going to have to be able to do that in Buffalo, especially in big-time games.

Patriots, fan, obviously you're excited, but the comments are coming loud about this Buffalo Bills team.

Well, and that's the thing about the defense.

Like, the defense works when Matt Milano is healthy.

Like, Matt Milano is their best player on defense.

He's been hurt.

So, like, that's my question to you, B.A.

Like, if, why isn't McDermott making a change?

They haven't been great rushing the ball on defense all year because they don't have their star guy in the middle who makes all those other, you know, the four up front and the linebacker next to him play well.

So, like, if your star player that makes this defense work isn't playing, like, why isn't he changing it?

I think is the real question for a lot of people who were Bills fans and for a lot of people who were laughing at the Bills fans last night.

I think for the Bills right now,

you've got to change that defense.

You've got to get seven in the box against these running teams and

play a little more.

Man, you've got to mix it up a little bit.

If they know where you're standing, they're going to block you.

That 81-yard run, there was nobody, one missed tackle.

Yeah.

One missed tackle is all it was.

They just blocked everybody, one missed tackle, touchdown.

Now, this is maybe the best player in the league right now, Bijan Robinson, but you just can't have that on defense.

Bijan was fun to watch.

And it takes you back a couple of years whenever people were protesting the Atlanta Falcons because they weren't giving Bijan either reps or ball or plays or maybe Artie Smith wasn't the offense that Bijan needed.

We got a chance to chat with him in Radio Row.

He had that Nirvana throw.

He's a cool dude.

I like his vibes.

I like what they got going on.

And obviously, him and Pennex, both young, maybe they're the future of the entire league.

Let's go to the next bs or no bs dbucks got this one for you ba got one for you ba the patriots are all the way back is that bs or no bs that's no bs i mean drake may is playing lights out and he was my number one guy coming out that yeah that year with jaden daniels and um that was a great quarterback class but i think drake may is just going to keep getting better and better vrabel right now to me is the afc coach of the year He's got the defense humming.

And I know Vrabes, he's out there as a blocking dummy.

He's blocking guys.

He's tackling guys.

He's cussing out refs.

I love Rabes.

And he's got the Patriots in a great spot right now.

AFC Coach of the Year is currently in Indianapolis.

Let's fucking relax here for, you know, at least two minutes.

But on that note, we knew Vraves was going to have success up there, right?

Didn't we all kind of naturally know that Vrabes was going to have success up there?

And I think the Patriots fans knew that Drake May was good.

I think all the Patriots fans knew that Drake May was good.

And you said he was your favorite coming out of that draft class.

Once again, good draft class.

It was on display last night all over the place.

So we got nothing but respect for all of them.

Clyde Christensen, who obviously you know, you've coached alongside, he was at North Carolina for Drake's, Drake May's final year.

Friend of all of ours.

And the way he talks is just a hilarious kind of cadence.

But he goes, Drake May, best guy, right?

This guy, Peyton Manning, right?

But faster, maybe even more athletic, taller, more handsome.

That's not hard.

Yeah,

exactly.

But all those things he was saying about Drake, he was a believer.

And at that point, we didn't know if it was just because he's North Carolina alumni or because he's North Carolina coach or if he's just selling and doing what college coaches do, which is like, hey, if my guy gets drafted higher, it's good for all of us.

But I think what we all know about Clyde, he was telling the truth.

He believed in this dude.

He very much believed in him from day one.

Team looked bad last year because of all the other shit going on around it.

But then he finds his coach.

It's like Vrabes and Drake are a perfect match, too, Sympotico.

Do you agree with that whenever it comes to the best?

Totally.

Totally.

They're great for each other.

They're really great for each other.

And I think Mike is just going to continue to bring out the best of him.

Well, why do you think Clyde liked him so much?

What are you seeing now?

He's got all the measurables.

You know, he's 6'5 ⁇ .

He can run.

He can spin it.

He's got everything it takes to be an NFL quarterback.

When you look at the history of the game, he's got all those measurables.

So to me, he was a can't miss.

The boys love him, too.

Yeah.

The boys love him.

Not to get lost in it, too.

It's crazy how much a franchise left tackle will change your entire offense.

Will Campbell's been one of the best in football all year.

But B.A., what about Josh McDaniels?

Like, I think a lot of Patriots fans knew Drake was good, but they needed the right offense.

What have you seen from Josh McDaniels as far as what offense they're running that's different from last year and before?

Yeah, it's a lot of Tom Brady stuff.

It's Josh's offense, and Josh has done a great job up there for a long, long time.

Didn't work out as a head coach, but he's been one of the best offensive coordinators for a long time.

Hell yeah.

Why Drake May, being the youngest of three, athletic family, having a lot of shit talk to him, that's a good thing.

And do we look at that whenever we're scouting players?

Oh, definitely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I always liked captains, guys that were captains.

You know, we drafted like six captains one year because, you know, they love the game.

But this kid, yeah, he got beat up by his brothers off the game.

Oh, yes.

And he gave some back, I think.

Yeah, I would assume there was an age wherever he started winning.

Yes, of course, even though he has big brothers.

I jumped up my board.

Yeah, he golfed with him one time.

He golfed with his family, and he was like, this is the number one.

You came and sat down on our show.

He was like, number one quarterback?

Drake May.

And we're like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Caleb, obviously, number one quarterback.

Jaden Daniels, obviously, Kirk Herbstret came out and said, this is going to be the one.

And then Debuck comes in.

We thought Liv paid him to say that because this was at a Liv live pro-amp where drake may was at with his family was out there at in vegas or whatever but literally it was all the intangibles not the on-field that you saw from drake that made you like him yeah talk the the brothers thing he was out there with his dad his uncle so just seeing and you play you spend three four hours with somebody like you can't you know you're not gonna bullshit that person you're gonna see the the who they are it was me him phil and will levis and uh just seeing them and and now seeing him in a locker room, seeing him mic'd up, seeing all the shit on the field.

It's like, okay, you can see how he can rally the troops we knew going into the draft in my opinion he was going to be the biggest wild card he had all the talent he had the arm he had the athleticism i thought jayton would be the most pro ready and then caleb probably has the biggest upside as far as a like a phenom as far as a prospect but yeah drake got all the pieces and bringing in a coach like josh mcdaniels who gives him answers pre-snap to where you can tell when he's when he catches the ball he he knows he knows what's going on.

He knows where his matchups are.

And then he knows when he takes off to take care of himself at this point now.

So he's doing all the right things.

But you got to have a head coach, you got to have a defense, you got to have a special team to all the good shit around you.

Let me toss you right into the middle of the blender here.

Stuart?

You said biggest upside, Caleb Fenum.

Who has the biggest upside now after watching him play?

This guy's 6'5.

4'4.

I personally, I would still say Caleb.

Okay.

As far as biggest upside, yeah.

Because of what we're seeing him just now with Ben Johnson.

Just

physical traits-wise.

Yeah, Drake led North Carolina in physical traits.

Physical?

I mean, you say, like, arm talent and all that shit.

I still think Caleb is still on the top of that trail.

Yeah, you're right.

Caleb has some of those.

Like he still has.

And Drake has a size,

probably straight line, maybe a little bit faster.

But I still think.

But look,

it all comes down to all the other things that are around you.

They both have good coaching.

I think Dan Quinn's a good coach, too.

So all three of them, I think, have good coaching.

They have good ecosystem around them.

That's what it really comes down to.

We see a bunch of great quarterbacks who got one Super Bowl.

Maybe Dan Marino, best store of all time, in my opinion.

No Super Bowls.

Like, it's going to be a lot of other shit that plays into it.

But if you're just talking about prospect for prospect, I still think they would probably go the same way in the draft.

We're going to be talking talented young quarterbacks here in a couple seconds on this BS or no BS with BA, but let's get to the next one.

Here's a statement that was made of fact by Andrew Berry potentially.

Trading a QB with 13 years of divisional experience to another team in the division in the middle of the season is a good decision.

Now, obviously, this gets brought up because Tomlin, for the first time that I've heard Coach Tomlin speak, says somebody's name of an opponent and says this, actually.

We have the video.

You know, to be honest, it was shocking to me.

Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us

because it doesn't make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening day starter to a division opponent that's hurting in that area.

But that's just my personal feelings.

So that's Coach Tomlin, OG, who's been around a long time, and obviously he knows AFC North football is very difficult.

What he's alluding to is the fact like, hey, we had Cincinnati down and out here.

Why are we lending a hand at all within the division?

Now there's other people from Cleveland that are speaking like, we got a fifth round pick in this exchange for a guy that we're never going to play again.

Everybody else says, hey, we could have killed a team here.

So BA, we say this.

Trading a QB with 13 years of divisional experience to another team within that division in the middle of the season is a good decision.

Is that BS or no BS, BA?

Total bullshit.

Okay, it's not a good decision.

What are you thinking?

Okay.

I mean, first of all, Pittsburgh is your big rival.

Cincinnati is your next biggest rival.

Why would you trade him to Cincinnati?

If I'm going to trade him, I might get a six-round pick for somewhere else.

Now, I ain't trading him in the division.

All of a sudden, Jamar Chase and T.

Giggins have 20 targets.

Jamar Chase has 10 receptions, almost 100 yards.

In one week, you couldn't get the damn ball to him in the other three weeks.

And now Pittsburgh's got to play him Thursday night.

Yeah, Holland really loves Flacco there.

That has been been on the record a couple of times.

Oh, yeah.

He does not want to see Joe and those receivers.

And it's like, shit, we had him right where we wanted him.

And they go and trade this guy to our division rivals.

It's like, yeah, it makes no sense to me.

So on that thought, it's also Joe Flacco who has a lot of knowledge of the AFC North.

It's like he has been in that division for his entire career outside of the year with the Drets, the Jets, which was dreadful for all parties.

And then Broncos as well.

I think he got paid out there.

Then he started acting like a quarterback for the first time.

And Elway said, I don't want to hear it.

Shut up.

And got him out of there.

But he has been an AFC North quarterback for this entirety.

And the fact that Tomlin loves Flacco so much, this is two times now where Coach Tomlin has said something he doesn't normally say.

Earlier in the season, whenever he was talking about previous years wanting a quarterback to stay healthy so the backup doesn't come in, he actually said last year when we played the Colts, I told the boys, Anthony Richardson can't get hurt.

We need Joe Flacco not to come in again.

Tomlin is PTSD of Joe Flacco coming in and doing some things to him.

Tomlin has massive respect for Joe Flacco.

I think most people in the AFC North have more respect for Joe Flacco than maybe the rest of the NFL.

And the fact that he felt obligated to call out Andrew Berry for doing this, you guys did the whole Deshaun Watson thing.

You screwed us all.

You do the Miles Garrett thing.

Okay, you screw us all.

We get it.

Trading a starting quarterback to another team in the division is just treason.

This is treason, what you guys are doing.

And it needs to happen.

I think it's an old school mindset, though.

Yeah.

Like, I think it's a football guy old school mindset.

You win the division, you get into the dance.

that is the mindset of every football coach that is still coaching right now we need to win our division games because if you win the division you get into the dance now it's like stats wise joe flacco only completes 37 percent he actually they got worse bringing him in over jake browning if you look at jake browning's in total body work it's like that's not what tallman's talking about what tallman's talking about is cincinnati was dead and now you just threw him a little bit of a lifeline we should be looking out for that in the division.

How do you feel about the entire situation?

I'll play devil's advocate.

You know, you got a fifth round pickback.

And let's say...

Santa Sexton.

Okay, yeah.

So the Bengals, let's say they do die, and they have a franchise quarterback, Joe Burrow.

So now in the draft, they're picking top five because they go, you know, three and whatever.

Now they win.

What we get all these EPA and all these.

So let's say Joe Flacco projects two more wins.

That may move him from the third pick to the fucking 12th pick.

So that changes things in that form.

And they're not like a threat this year or down this year.

Andrew Berry's like, sorry, we're both.

Yeah,

you try to jump into Tua's brain.

I'll try to jump into Andrew Berry's Harvard brain.

Maybe that's what he was thinking.

I don't know.

Obviously, Mike Thomas has a ton of respect for Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco, and he's been around him for a long time.

So him going into the division, definitely an old school mindset.

You don't throw your division rival a lifeline.

That's what he did.

But I'll play Devil's African.

Maybe that's what Andrew Berry was thinking.

I love the thought of Andrew Berry going, they'll win four more games with Joe.

Okay, you're welcome.

They go from fourth pick to seventh pick to 12th to 14th, 11th to 14th.

You're welcome talking about this year.

What?

You thought you'd be playing checkers, brother?

Okay, I'm a chess player.

Let's go ahead and move on.

I love that that's possible, but I also appreciate Coach Tomlin being like, shit's getting out of control right now.

This needs not to be, because we would have never seen that in the past.

Never, ever seen that in the past, especially with a guy like Flacco, who's literally known in all of those neighborhoods of the AFC North.

Let's go to the last one here.

This is one of my favorite favorite ones.

If you draft a QB number one overall, you're going to get your ass fired.

Is that BS or no BS, BA?

That's no BS.

Six out of the last eight have gotten their asses fired the first year.

And it's hard to believe because if you're the front office and the owner, you know your team stinks.

If you're drafting a quarterback number one, if you got the number one pick, you're probably bad.

All right.

So you better get...

To me, an offensive-minded head coach, a damn good offensive coordinator, and a damn good fundamental quarterback coach.

If I'm going to draft a quarterback number one and then have some continuity with this kid for at least three years, it's going to take three years, especially with these kids coming out of college early.

You know, you used to play 40, 50 games.

Now some are playing eight, nine, 15, and you expect them to come in and be a savior.

It's not going to happen.

The game is too complicated at this level.

And you got to have that continuity your first three years.

I think now, had in 19, what was it, 98 we drafted Peyton?

All right, Tom Moore and I probably got our ass fired the first year for 28 interception.

But instead, Tom Moore's still on the sideline.

Tom Moore's still coaching, and I'm out, and Peyton's in the Hall of Fame.

Yeah, exactly.

You know, we go 3-13, 13-3.

You got to give them a chance to grow and put some pieces around them, especially up front.

Help on the outside if you got something, but it's got to help up front.

Yeah, I think if you have a guy protected, which is why the Pittsburgh Steelers doing the six-man offensive line shit that they're doing right now, might be the new answer for teams that don't have a good offensive line.

Just put more bodies in there.

Now, I don't know if you're going to find Mount Washington, Darnell Washington in a lot of places, a guy who's six foot seven, 315 pounds is a tight end.

But it feels like Artie Smith, Aaron Rodgers, and the boys over there adding another offensive lineman and still keeping a aggressive passing attack throughout it all.

That might be a new style to protect quarterback.

Because what we have learned is if you don't protect quarterback, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter how much talent they have.

If he's got no time to do anything, he's going to suck.

Speaking of no time to do anything, I guess they just have to make that decision early about whether or not they think that this guy that is heading up the number one overall pick is a good developer, good communicator, and also has the future bright around him.

Because it feels like they thought Callahan was not that.

Because Callahan, offensive-minded, his dad offensive line coach, right?

Yep.

You would assume they think he's a good developer of talent.

And now they get Cam Ward, this guy with immense talent, who I think we all appreciate and respect.

And they get rid of this guy early, move it on to another head coach.

There's going to be a new offense coordinator.

And then Cam Ward, we hope doesn't happen.

He might get caught in that blender of what-ifs.

And now, there's a lot of quarterbacks that are in that blender of what-ifs that we think would be ass NFL quarterbacks.

I'm not giving every one of these quarterbacks the excuse that it was a new offense coordinator.

There's some of these guys that never panned out, that would have never panned out, regardless of where they would have been.

But there's a lot of talented guys that we have no idea about who are definitely sitting at family reunions and bars saying, What did Blaine Gabbard have?

I think seven head coaches, seven or eight head coaches, and eight coordinators his first seven years.

And Blaine Gabbert.

Good luck.

Yeah.

Can spin it.

He's got mox.

He's got tags.

He's spinning advanced.

He's like the face of non-continuity at the quarterback position there.

And he was an incredible talent.

But now we'll always wonder what if.

Guy, what, didn't he pull somebody out of a helicopter crash or something like that, Blaine Gabbert?

Yep.

It was a jet ski.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think it was.

He had a downed helicopter.

He was on a jet ski.

I think a helicopter goes down.

Blaine Gabbert goes safe.

So let's assume he has the trait to be a franchise quarterback, and then he can spin it.

And it's like, what if he would have had an opportunity with a sound structure around them?

And that's always going to be the what-ifs.

Hopefully, Cam Ward doesn't fall into that.

The owner was not at the press conference announcing the firing of the head coach of the franchise.

Here's how that entire piece of information got released.

From a question from, you guessed it, Paul Kowarski.

Right now.

What do you mean?

Where's Amy Adam Strunk right now?

Yeah,

she's at her home.

Why isn't she here?

I'm here representing her.

It's a good answer.

It's a good answer.

A lot of people want to see ownership, though.

I mean, nowadays that's kind of how it goes.

Now, we hope everything's good with the owner.

We have no idea what's going on behind the scenes, but it's like one of the big three, all three of the big three, we know here in Indianapolis would definitely be there for this.

Face the music, you know, because your fans want to know, you fired Rabes, didn't you?

Weren't you the one that decided to kind of put us in this?

Now you're doing it again.

Why?

We want to hear a little bit.

And then that guy's like, I got it.

It's like, you know what you don't have?

A billion dollar franchise that you own.

Yeah.

That we would like to hear.

You just got here too, motherfucker, just a couple years.

We've been here a lot longer than you.

We would like to hear from the owner.

It's getting loud down there.

Who's the right?

You think they go a veteran quarterback down there or a veteran coach down there?

Or do you think they go with a new younger coach?

Like Mike McCarthy is available.

For instance, we talk to Mike every single week.

Offensive guy has obviously developed quarterbacks.

I think he loves coaching.

I don't think he's ever said or hinted at all that he's done coaching anywhere.

That would be like a good veteran guy that's on the street for the potential Tennessee Titans to sign.

Then there's like Joe Brady.

There's other guys, obviously down there in Tampa Bay.

There's an offensive coordinator that's crushing it with Baker Mayfield with what, seven guys out of the lineup.

So it's like there's two different decisions there.

What would your mind go towards?

I'm going to the veteran.

I'll go with Mike.

Mike's been there, done it, been with a lot of different style quarterbacks.

And I think his hands on Cam Ward would be excellent.

He also doesn't mind a drink or two.

No, he doesn't know.

Yeah, he'll have a cookball with Durst, Don.

He'll get Pittsburgh quick.

Yes, he certainly will.

And Nashville, I think they appreciate, like, I think they really liked Vrabel the human.

Yeah, like, I think that is something that Nashville, the community, was like, this is the face of our franchise here.

This guy's tough.

He's funny, takes no shit.

He's a great football coach.

We'll take anybody, get out there.

And also, he'll smoke 14 packs of cigarettes in one press conference, drink two beers, two shots of whiskey, and have both long cut across the top, Zinn across the bottom.

It's like this, yeah, this is the guy we would like leading our team.

Then Callahan comes in, and it's like every time he's on the microphone, he's potting.

Yeah, and then they're not doing good.

It's like, I think you better find the right cultural fit as well.

I think that is a real thing that has to happen.

Well, and with like everything that's been going on down there, like they're, they're very close to being one of those, like one of those franchises where it's just like, okay, all of a sudden, like the Titans, like, they're never going to get this right.

They're building a new stadium.

They just, like, you can't, you can't go get one of these young guys who's never been a head coach before and have this thing fail.

And then you're just, you're doing the exact same thing.

And like for the owner, I don't know, but I wonder if they fired Callahan this week to get ahead of, I believe they play the Patriots next week.

Yeah.

If they lose, if they lose that game by 50.

Is that in Nashville?

In Nashville.

If Vrabel comes back into town and beats them by 50, like the...

the shit storm that would have been after that.

Like, I wonder if she's just like, okay, let's do it now.

Yeah, if we do it now.

What if she texted immediately beforehand?

I'm not in town.

So we need this to happen.

Okay, I'm trying to come back.

And once again, business owners, team owners, there's certainly events they got to be at, conferences, representing.

There's a chance that she is literally, I mean, maybe something.

We hope not, but you never know what's going on in their personal lives or professional lives, what they have to do to potentially be in town for this type of thing.

You would hope this type of announcement for your fan base, you would show up to.

We have no idea what she was doing outside of it, but that's not a bad, that's not a bad angle there.

Let's get ahead of this before we get embarrassed in in front of our entire family.

And what were you going to say about culture?

It sounded like you were going to go.

Yeah, it's a question because my first thought in Dan Old, when he was on, first thought with a young quarterback is, you know, new head coach, like an offensive mind.

And you, you passed the torch to Todd Bowls, and we've seen what Baker Mayfield has been able to do, even with the revolving door, with the offensive coordinator.

So how do you balance that, I guess, being in that ownership seat, like a culture guy or a guy who I know, if he's successful, is going to be hand in hand with my young quarterback going forward?

No, it's got to be the culture.

You've got to be able to be a leader of men and have a culture that goes through your entire locker room, but you have to have a special relationship with your quarterback.

And I think that offensive coordinator, that quarterback coach, they're the key guys

for a defensive head coach, obviously.

But if the head coach is also an offensive guy, if he's a play caller, it's really just a quarterback coach now.

Because you're going to put it all in.

But yeah, I think to me, it's culture.

Gotcha.

All right.

We'll give out some game balls later from BA.

That was BS or no BS with BA.

Love that we got right to the bottom of it.

Thank you for all the insight.

Let's get to boots on the ground, ladies and gentlemen.

A man who was part of his Monday night football coverage down there in Atlanta.

Friend of the program, Emmy Award winner.

I think he went to college in Atlanta.

Must have been nice to get back down there.

Maybe he just threw out a few hundred thousand dollars just to act like the good old days of his university.

Ladies and gentlemen, Peter Schrager.

Shrags.

Shrags, how are you, buddy?

I'm doing awesome.

I did not have a

field goal kicking contest at Emory University over the weekend, but I was busy watching you.

You were awesome, man.

That was so fun to watch.

Thank you for the love.

And Emory University, we looked it up, what most expensive university in the United States of America, counting Harvard and everything else.

I believe this is an accurate statement.

Yes.

I don't know if that's true.

We don't have a football team.

I know that's true.

So it's, you know what it is?

It's it's got one of the biggest endowments because it's Coke money and not Coke money.

I'm talking Coca-Cola money.

Woodruff, Woodruff, the family, they were Emory donors.

So

very nice school and very proud alum of Emory.

And yeah, I got a chance to see you back in Atlanta.

You don't want to test any of those dollars.

There's a lot of Coke money out there, I think, just kind of floating around, especially back in those days whenever you were in school.

Shout out to Emory, shout out to Atlanta.

Let's talk.

We were just chit-chatting, obviously, about the Callahan situation with Cam Ward and everything happening about the revolving door.

And then six out of the last eight number one overall picks, how their coach gets fired in in their rookie year, and then that just starts like a carousel of craziness.

Let's talk about the complete opposite of that with what it seems to be happening down there in Atlanta.

Can you tell us about Pennex and Raheem and that special maybe team they have down there after a massive win over the Buffalo Beals?

Like, this feels special.

And they got Kirk Cousins, $180 million sitting on a bench in their salary cap, which is a massive decision that has to be made.

Once again, Raheem makes the decision and they move forward.

Tell us about Atlanta a little bit and how this is going to work out for Pennex in the long run.

So, pulling back the curtain a little bit, you get assigned a team when there's two sideline reporters.

So, Katie George was doing the Buffalo Bills.

I was doing the Atlanta Falcons.

So, for five days, I'm just immersed in Falcons.

I had calls with players.

They would do the production meeting.

And I started with talking with Raheem Morris, who I've known since he was the head coach in Tampa 20 years ago.

And Ra and I are talking, and he's like, Shriggs, you don't get it.

Number seven

is the greatest player I've ever coached.

I'm like, okay, I get it.

Okay.

He's like, no, no, no, no.

I had Cooper Cup when he was a triple crown winner.

I had Robert Griffin III when he was doing what he did as a rookie.

I had Julio Jones in the Super Bowl season.

This kid seven is in that conversation and he's the best player in football.

I'm like, all right, all right.

We're going up against Josh Allen and he's like, our team is different.

It all works through this guy, a running back.

And they use him in so many different ways.

B.A., I know you're watching that and you're just smiling because they utilize him as a wide receiver.

They utilize him as a running back.

They put him in the pistol.

They put him on these offset formations, which I don't see anywhere else.

And then you get to talk to the kid and he's unbelievable, like face of the league good as far as humble, as far as shouting out every single one of his offensive linemen and a smile a mile wide.

I'm like, okay, I knew Bijan Robinson was a star.

I didn't realize he could be the star of the league.

And then last night on Monday Night Football, with the entire world to see, football community and otherwise, he had 238 yards from scrimmage and an 81-yard run through one of the better front sevens in football.

Okay, on that note, BA actually wanted the BS or no BSs to be Bijan Robinson's best player in football.

He's like, and I almost say it's no BS.

That was his exact takeaway as well.

When was the last time an offense in your mind ran directly through the running back?

I guess Saquon last year, right?

That was kind of what they did last year.

Well, Saquon last year, but I think he's more Marshall Falk.

You know, Marshall was a great runner, but he was off.

He could have played wide receiver for anybody, just like Bijan.

He could go play wide receiver for anybody right now.

And to have a back who's a total mismatch, and then you put Algier in the backfield and you split him out.

Oh, who's he got?

A linebacker or safety?

Bad, bad for the defense.

Do you remember when Y2J was going crazy down there in Tennessee for Chris Johnson?

Through the first five games, he had 594 yards from scrimmage.

Okay, he ended up finishing with 2,509, which is the most in a season in NFL history.

That's 2009 Chris Johnson.

Right now, 2025, Bijan Bijan Robinson is at 822 yards from scrimmage.

So 594 is where Chris Johnson was through the first five games.

Bijan Robinson, 822 yards from scrimmage.

That's a hembo stat.

I'd say he's ahead of schedule, and I'd say everything they told you is right.

It feels like other teams are going to start to know that as well.

I think their offensive line is ready for it.

I think the Atlanta Falcons offensive line is ready for it.

And go ahead, you have something on that as soon.

Yeah, you know, they were there without McGarry, who's Caleb McGarry, who's maybe one of the best right tackles in the sport, got hurt right before training camp.

And then I report it right before halftime, but the Drake London play was so crazy, they lost Jake Matthews to an ankle injury.

So you're without your two starting tackles.

And you're like, all right, what's our offense?

And they still are like, let's just run the ball with these two running backs and let's make it happen.

Now, Drake London had a big statistical game, but when I'm telling you, that entire Bills defense is focused on that guy, number seven.

And this was a really interesting, really in the weeds thing.

The first several games Zach Robinson, and all last year when Cousins was the quarterback, would call the offense from up top in the booth.

They get blown out 30 to nothing in that weird game against Carolina.

They go to the Washington game two weeks ago.

He's on the field as an offensive play caller, which some teams do it, some teams don't.

I feel like Josh McDaniels, when he was with the Patriots, was always there talking with Brady.

And I'm sure there's a million other examples.

He's on the field the last two games, and I'm watching in between drives.

Zach Robinson, this young OC, is talking to Penix and he's talking to Bijan and he's talking to Drake.

He's the offensive coordinator and he's talking with them eye to eye as opposed to, okay, I'm going to talk to my QB coach.

Who's I going to tell the quarterback?

I think that's a major difference.

And that was pretty mature of them to make that decision during the season.

When last year with a veteran quarterback, it was a little bit different because Cousins didn't need all that.

Yeah, on that note, Bia, you called from the sidelines.

Andy Reid calls from the sidelines.

There are people, obviously, that are up in the booth.

Were you ever a booth caller?

Never.

Always the one who was sidelined.

I want to look, like Treg said, I want to look them dead in the eye.

I know when they're bullshitting and when they're not.

They can bullshit you over the phone.

But when you're looking from the sky, there's an advantage, obviously.

Whether it's quiet, it's like sitting in your office calling a game on a computer.

That's what some guys like.

I had to feel it.

I had to see it.

I'd be right there eye to eye with the offensive line.

If I'm going to cuss somebody out, I'm using a cuss somebody out so the quarterback can hear me.

So, yeah.

It's a great move to put Zach down there.

One of my favorite moments, B.A.

was interim head coach for us while Chuck was battling through leukemia, which he ended up doing and then coming back to the sideline in the same season, which is an outrageous feat of mental toughness.

And what BA had to step in and do was incredibly difficult.

I don't know if any other human in the coaching world would have been able to handle it the way BA did, but he's calling plays, and he's the interim head coach.

There was a time where it was like fourth and a half yard or something.

We're on our own 24.

I'm the punter, obviously.

So like I'm standing literally right next to him, like, yo, this clock is ticking.

Like, I'm not going to delay a game, brother.

Okay.

I would like to flip this field.

We're not going to go.

So I'm standing next to him.

I'm listening to him go through whether or not they should go for it.

And it's like in the moment, there's somebody, I think you were looking at luck in the eye.

And it was like luck wanted to go for it.

Then an offensive lineman, I think, gave you like a, let's go for it.

You're like, yeah, we can get a fucking half.

Like, I hear you actually say that and send it in and go.

It's like, if play callers, you know, like that is a, you're disconnected from literally everything in the moment.

We picked up that first down.

Now we don't get that first down.

Holy, that would have been awesome.

Offensive lineman coming over, Andrew Luck coming over.

You must, you thought this was a, you thought this was a guarantee.

It's like, like, I feel like you do got to be in it.

You have to be.

You have to be.

I didn't know if the sky view, though, gave you more, you know, like.

Well, that's what Zach was saying because I asked him about it.

I think, I mean, by the way, you won't find better football talk than what we're doing right now.

This is so interesting to like the fans because you don't hear this stuff and BA is the perfect guy to have.

He won't listen.

It's like,

he says

to what BA was saying, he could just be in his own chill environment.

And when you have Kirk Cousins at quarterback, who's a 10-year veteran, it's you call the play in, Kirk hears it, we do it, it's operating.

But when you got Pennix, who as good of an arm as he has, it's still his eighth start as an NFL player, you need that in between.

And you don't really have that when you're up top.

So the solitude, the silence, you could be a mad genius up top in the booth and you can draw it up and you can be, you know, Mr.

Craftsman with what you want to do, true detective with all the stuff.

You can have that in the booth.

You can't do that on the sidelines.

You have to be with the players.

I think it's such an interesting dynamic.

And now they're ready.

They have not looked like the same team.

They have looked so good.

And that Washington team that they beat two weeks ago, granted, it was Mariota, went to the NFC championship game last year.

The Buffalo team they beat last night went to the AFC championship game last year.

They do it.

It's fantastic.

Ulbricke, who was as unceremonious as the goodbye to Rogers might have been in the Jets organization, they didn't give Ulbrick much love either on the way out.

And now he's got the number one defense in the league and they're clicking and he's got young guys playing out of their mind.

That is a fun, fun situation right now.

And it's it's why I like being on the sidelines, boots on the ground.

I'm coming out of Atlanta.

I'm like, oh, there's a vibe.

There's something there that is special.

And you could feel it in that building.

Well, the Bills went down to Georgia and they were looking for a sober steel.

And it was fine.

They behind.

They were looking big deal.

And then Josh Allen turned that thing over, the worst he's ever done.

And his QBR is the lowest that he's ever had, son.

So let's talk about the other side, a little bit of this.

D-Bud has a question for you.

I know your boots on the ground on Atlanta side, but how surprised were you of this brick defense getting after Josh Allen?

And what was your vibe from the Buffalo Beals now coming back to back, coming off of back-to-back losses?

What's your vibe with that team going forward?

Well, it's interesting because they were stung by injuries coming in.

No Kincaid is a huge deal.

He's basically their number one wide receiver.

They lose Josh Palmer early on.

So it's like, who's going to step up?

Well, we don't have Curtis Steph.

So you start looking at guys and it's like, all right, if this team's going to be a Super Bowl team, and I know Brandon Bean, our guy, is a little sensitive to this when they talk about the number one wide receiver.

But in big moments, it's like Elijah Moore is on the field and this guy Shavers is on the field.

And you're asking a lot from Shakir.

You're asking a lot from Jackson Hawes, a rookie tight end.

You're asking a lot from, so I'm watching it and I'm thinking, do they have the horses to go 18 weeks, get that home field advantage and then do a thing or two on offense?

Because you can't just ask Josh to do it all.

Cook got going in the second half a little bit, but Josh Allen is Superman, and the Falcons were sending everyone at him.

And I just, I don't know with Kincaid and Palmer not on the field and Keon Coleman not exactly lighting it up in the way they were using him yesterday.

I don't know if that weaponry is enough to compete.

You got to get those guys healthy and you got to get them on the field.

So I

was surprised at how much that Atlanta defense dominated that very proud Buffalo offensive line.

They did.

But I do want to give them some grace and say, let's get out of the bible.

Let's get some healthier.

Let's get some more shakers.

Let's get tricks.

Agree.

And let's see what happens.

I agree with you.

They still got Josh Allen.

Let's assume they still have Josh Allen.

They paid Shakira this offseason.

I think they thought he would be the number one.

Kincaid was clearly the number two option.

James Cook out of the backfield, obviously able to do his thing.

Ray Davis, a weapon.

You know, they have a lot out there.

They just.

Good old lives.

They got all the money.

Josh Knox got 50 mil.

Yeah, they got.

That was a tough night for them, but that's going to happen.

It's a long season, 18 weeks.

Not everybody can be 5-1.

Only two teams can.

That's true.

Only one team from the AFC can be 5-1.

That's true.

You know who that is?

Who's that?

Any Nebus Coach?

Yeah, who's the one?

The coach of the year on the AFC side?

I've still given it to Bray Brighton.

Ah, that's Sky.

All right,

let's talk about some coaches, shall we?

We saw Callahan gone.

I think you heard the tail end of our conversation there.

Go ahead, Ty.

Yeah, Shrakes, does that kind of open the top for maybe some of these other teams who are on the fence about firing their coaches?

Does that kind of get the ball rolling here?

What are you hearing about some other coaches around the league that might be on the hot seat?

Yeah, I don't think there's much of a trickle down because they're not going to hire anyone right right now.

What they can do, maybe after Thanksgiving, you could start getting your eyes on some coaches and say, all right, let's start the process early.

The Tennessee situation is very, very unique.

And I appreciate Dan Orlofsky and I appreciate all the people online who are like, here's an offensive coach that works.

Here's an offensive coach that works.

McCarthy, you got to want to go there because right now there is, from the outside looking in, some real dysfunction.

And that is you had John Robinson, who BA knows is as good of an evaluator as anybody.

Okay, so you fire your GM mid-season.

That happens.

Then you fire Mike Vrabel and you're thinking, okay, well, maybe his act or whatever it is, maybe Ron ran out with that team or with that owner.

Okay.

But then they hired Rand Carthon, and you got the stuff here from Albert.

Bang.

Then, of course, this guy Brinker, who was Rand's assistant, gets promoted above Rand.

And then Callahan's hired, he's fired.

Borganzi's hired as GM.

He brings in Ziegler, but you still have this Brinker.

Then the owner's not there.

And it's like, all right, do I want to do this?

Is this an ideal situation?

Who's calling the shots?

What do we have?

Because Cam Ward, for as good as he might be, he's a very raw quarterback.

He was at incarnate word.

Then he goes to Washington State.

Then he goes to Miami.

Then he's thrown in as an NFL starting quarterback.

That's a, if you're not going to have patience with your offensive coach who was not only with Joe Burrow, but was once with, oh, Matthew Stafford, Peyton Manning, Derek Carr, like Brian Callahan's not some schmuck.

Like he could do this.

So if you're not going to have some patience with him, if you are one of these top coaches, is that a desirable job?

I need to know the building.

I need to know who I'm reporting to.

And I want to know that everyone's on the same page.

Something that wasn't really talked about highly, like Brian Callahan's an offensive coach.

He had play calling duties taken away from him, whether he gave them up or it was taken away.

And then the quarterback's coach was calling the play the last couple of days.

Yes.

That's a weird deal.

Like that's a little

bit of owner not at press conference, owner not at press conference too.

I mean, there's some suits that have a lot of power over there, it seems like, is what we're hearing.

We love that.

We love whatever the suits are.

Would you ever give up play calling to the quarterback coach?

What are you talking about?

Never.

There's a lot of suits in the building need to go to the drag laner

and leave them there.

Don't pick them up.

That's amazing.

Plus, everyone's going to assume this is like, all right, well, who do I want?

Who's the ideal list?

You might not get the ideal list.

You might not get the pick of the litter.

The Jets last year, everyone's like, well, who are, well, Vrabel should go to the Jets.

Vrabel want, you think Vrabel wants to go to the Jets?

No, Vrabel's going to go to the Patriots.

Like, I want the stable situation.

I want the place I know.

So I say all that to say, yeah, it might lead to a trickle-down effect.

The names I would look at are people who feel confident walking into that building.

The name that hasn't been mentioned much, Borganzi is a really, really good evaluator of talent.

Great dude.

Also worked with Matt Nagy for many, many years in Kansas City.

Yeah.

So

if Nagy has another big year, like maybe it's another time we give him another shot at the end because they have a relationship.

Sure, it is.

I'm talking out of my fanny on this one.

I don't know that.

Let's do a full search and let's actually interview everybody.

Yeah, listen, sometimes you got to sit down on your fanny and do some thinking about it.

You know, that's what you got to do.

You pull some stuff out of there.

We've been pitching Mike McCarthy, but to your point, does Mike McCarthy want to get out of...

What's that lake he goes up to in North City?

Yeah.

Oh, you're just talking about Dor County?

Dor County.

Yeah.

So I'm going to miss Dork County to go down to what is his Brinkers Brinker's opera?

Who's where?

Who's is the owner here?

No.

Who am I?

We should ask.

We're definitely asking him.

Yeah.

We'll pull this clip out.

We'll say, coach, this is what we said about the Titans situation.

Is this an accurate indication of how it'd be?

But it is interesting because they got a new stadium coming or renovation coming, whatever it is.

Nashville is one of the greatest cities on earth.

Like that is no questions asked.

That place is magical.

When we've seen that they are a football place, obviously with the draft showing up, us with the Colts going down there, we always played them.

It normally meant something, but they had filled up.

The people singing the national anthem always sung.

It's awesome.

Super celebrity.

And

independently, you could make the argument it was time to fire, it was time to move on from Vraibel, or it was time to move on from Callahan.

But when you put it all together in that timeframe, you say, okay, well, what's going on here?

Yeah.

All right.

Last question here.

Speaking of GMs and whoever's in charge, they can still make some plays.

Go ahead, Con Man.

Yeah, Straight, you're plugged in.

We all know with the GMs.

Who do you think is going to be the most active over these next three weeks before the trade deadline?

Ooh, I like that.

I find it interesting because you've got some teams that we didn't expect to be where they are.

And maybe you guys thought the Colts, like, do they go and they make a big swing?

Chris Ballard's never scared to listen and take a phone call, right?

You look at a team.

You look at a team such as, oh, I don't know.

We're looking at the list here.

You look at the L.A.

Rams, like, okay, Seahawks and 49ers.

49ers just got got banged up again.

They lost Freddie Werner.

Seahawks, we beat them week one.

Like, do they take a swing?

Because you got to look at the characteristics of the personalities of these general managers.

Brandon Bean is always a wheeler and dealer.

Les Sneed loves the art of the deal.

I mentioned Chris Ballard.

He's always down for that kind of stuff.

And then Howie Roseman's an obvious one.

So I look at those four GMs.

Ed Policy.

And I say, are they, everyone's expecting the Patriots or some of these other teams?

Patriots, Packers.

I know the Packers made the Micah deal.

I would see before we.

You don't know Ed Policy's new policies for the Packers.

You do.

He's maybe Cormont.

That's right.

Yeah.

You know,

they make moves.

I was going to say, Ed Policy, he might go out and grab the three best available players at the trade deadline.

We don't know.

We'd like to let Ed Policy know we appreciate the way he's moving and grooving.

The Pittsburgh Steelers also big-time movers and groovers when they haven't been over the past.

Maybe that's the new way.

Omar's done a nice job, too.

Aggressive.

They call him the calling ours because he gets deals done.

Now, Tomlin's calling out Andrew Berry for the deals that he's getting done, but maybe in the long term, it'll end up working out just like Debut said.

Shregs, we appreciate you.

Your move to ESPN has worked out for us and for sports fans.

We appreciate the hell out of you.

I'm grateful.

Hey, and also that Rushmore stuff you're doing.

I have opinions on all of these topics, guys.

I know you're posting about it.

I have many opinions on best rock band.

Are you serious?

I love that you got Rick Rubin.

I love Jimmy Iabee, but I got thoughts here.

Okay, then we would like to hear them at Rushmore on X.

That's Peter Schrager.

We'll see you in the next hour.

Goodbye.

This is Marshawn Beast Mode Lynch.

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Hey fans, welcome back to Fansville's cheers

and tears.

Okay, so like everybody deals with losing, right?

To a rival on a last-second field goal, whatever, it's fine.

I'm totally fine.

But I cope with losing with an ice-cold Dr.

Pepper.

Mmm, those 23 flavors are like so delicious.

They totally wash away the pain of your college football team taking a big fat L.

College football.

It's a pepper thing.

Football is bad.

Oh my God.

Yes.

Hard cacho.

That's all me.

I'll fall down.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, that was a

false start, ladies and gentlemen.

47 year football coach Bruce Arians here.

Sorry for stepping on you there, cutting you off.

That's very rude of me to do.

Toxic tables here at Boston Connor at Ty Schmidt.

Nine-year NFL vet Darius J.

Butler is here.

And a man joining us live from an attic in Ohio is a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, rider cup winner.

And a guy that won 0 for 2 last night on streets.

AJ Hawk.

Hawker.

Hawker, tough one for you.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

I gave you those two victories last night, but it's good, though.

I like, well, we're both, you know, we're both doing all right.

Yeah, we're both tied heading into week seven.

This is where we're supposed to be.

You know, this is where we're actually supposed to be.

We're seeing it the exact same way.

Now, on that note, you just said you gave it to me.

I would have picked the two teams that I picked.

Okay.

I didn't just pick.

the opposite side of you for both games because I was down two and needed both of them.

Okay.

I didn't do that.

I made those decisions before you made the decision.

I actually talked you into the decisions that you made because I knew where I wanted to go.

On that note, shout to my Bears and my Falcons.

We are so good.

We did the unders, dude.

We are so, boom.

You wanted overs.

I mean, I actually won.

I mean, if we're going to keep doing this, I hadn't been seeing the board.

And then last night, it became crystal clear, baby.

So let's talk about my Bears and my Falcons.

Let's start with the Falcons.

What they were able to do to the Bills was fantastic.

And I just went to the bathroom, as we all did, and I saw a couple people tweeting us from Falcons fanhoods.

And basically, said like, hey, thanks for not just talking the whole time about the Buffalo Bills being terrible.

Thanks for mentioning that we're actually kind of good.

What do they have, B.A., the number one what in the number one what?

Number one defense, number two offense.

Okay, so right now the Atlanta Falcons are balling.

Now they get their asses beat by the Carolina Panthers, which I think makes everybody go, ha, they stinked.

We knew they were going to stink.

Bad decisions have been made.

They've embarrassed themselves publicly.

That is what everybody wanted, that Carolina Panthers thing, with the Pennix stuff and the cousins stuff and the hiring stuff and all this stuff.

That is what people want to do.

You know, they want to make sure that their original opinion was the right one.

Even though new evidence is shown to them, and it certainly contradicts everything you believe, you still want to be right the first time, which is why I think Shanahan and Mac Jones is always going to be a thing.

But humans naturally want to be right.

I think a lot of people are going to have to wake up to this Falcons team, AJ.

After watching them last night, now, granted, I'm a huge Bills fan.

I love Josh Allen.

But this Falcons team with this Bijan Robinson guy, and then you hear what Traeger just said, where they know it.

They know he's the guy.

Whenever you go through your run game, that travels.

When you go through the run game, you don't have to worry about maybe one person being on or another person having good timing.

whenever you can dominate people and run the ball and then also spruce in everything else that they can do you can win big games and big moments aj i believe in this uh falcons team because of last night oh i absolutely believe i mean their defense is awesome like the the amount of pressure they're able to get on josh allen make him uncomfortable they just the offense never really was able to get going i feel like for buffalo because that atlanta defense was so good but they talked about on the broadcast actually like Bajon is awesome.

Well, first off, the Bijan, Bajon situation, Dan was calling him Bajon.

A couple other guys in the booth were saying Bijan.

And then they just started saying Robinson.

So it felt like no one was exactly comfortable with how to.

I do too.

Like, I know, I guess he wants to go by Bajan, so that's how I will.

Do we know if that's true or not?

Because we just kind of made that up yesterday as a reason for us to say Bajan.

Remember, that was in real time.

Did we see the clip?

He spoke.

I'll send it.

I'll find it again.

He spoke on a basis, says he doesn't care if it's Bijan.

Okay, good.

He has mispronounced it as well.

So, like.

What did he say, though?

I think he said Bijan.

What's McConaughey called?

That's a good question.

That's always a great question.

Probably something sweet.

Probably something.

He's the Minister of Culture for Texas.

Ratten B.R.

But

you're talking about B.R.

You're talking about BR5.

This guy, he is vastly different.

Yeah, he probably does call him a cool nickname.

So if he doesn't care, I'm calling him Bijan because that sounds a lot better.

Is this the video?

Do we know if this is the video?

Run it.

We got a video.

Bijan Robinson, University of Texas.

It's Bijan.

Who even said Bijan yesterday?

Why did that happen yesterday?

Bijan Robinson, Texas.

Sorry, one more time.

Bijan Robinson, Texas.

All right, no more discussion.

I'm done with it.

Who was it that said that?

Dano said it 200 times.

FaceTime him, please, right now.

He might be traveling.

We need to let him know that what he did was bullshit.

It is clearly Bijan.

Always has been.

He should not be.

I mean,

when you call yourself that, I think that's your name.

Yes.

As a guy that has been caught up in one of the most phonetic failure-pronounced names of all time because of a complete change of pronunciation from a draft night to midway through season in Okariki, who then changes the

pronunciation of his name, which I'm completely cool with, to go back to honor his family and everything like that, to Okarike.

But then a video runs of somebody on draft night going, Okoriki,

screaming it, and then all of a sudden he changes his name completely.

You feel terrible.

Okay, you do feel terrible.

That's a big night, and I am overemphasizing the mispronunciation of your name in the long run.

So that's certainly something.

But that was, that was given, and that's how the name was pronounced at the time.

This guy just coming on our show, acting as a journalist, I'm down here.

I've been talking to the team that whole thing, and then pronouncing the name wrong, putting us in a bad spot.

Not happening.

And he said on his board, phonetically, it is B-E-E-Z-H-A-N.

So he saw that, saw Bijan, and then talked to the guy.

Yeah, exactly.

And just said, you know what?

I'm going to call him Bijan.

That's the man that did that, Dan Orlovsky.

Dan?

what are you doing?

Why did you do that to us?

I mean,

we're back to it.

We called you in the middle of luncheon time.

I do apologize for that.

That's 100% honest.

107, very standard snack time for every human in the world.

We get it.

Why did you do that to us with Bijan?

And after watching him, do you go, wow, Bichon, be gone when he gets de-balled?

Is there a lot of those conversations happening now?

I honestly don't to this day know how to pronounce his name.

I'm not trying to be discarded.

Bijan, It's on your card.

He said it.

We said it.

We get those cards all the time and they're wrong all the time.

We'll have the PR staffs come in an hour before the game and go, you guys need anything?

And we'll go, can you guys confirm this pronunciation?

And they'll be like, actually, it's this.

All right, Dan, hold on, though.

I don't like what's happening now.

To Dan's point, we got more video footage coming out.

This is from Fox 5, Atlanta.

Bijan Robinson, Texas.

Bijan Robinson.

The whole what you say.

That was the wrong video.

Two videos running.

He's got two videos going on and whatever.

And I'll tell you what, can't have that.

No, no, no.

Cannot have that.

I'm not sure.

I got a million Bijan.

Oh, my God.

Happy it wasn't anything else in the history.

Can we go to that video from Fox 5 Atlanta there and only run that one?

Because I think there is a potential Dan Orlovsky case that ends up getting made.

A lot of people ask me.

I want to get it right.

Okay, okay.

I guess my name, how you pronounce my name is Bijan.

Okay.

that's how you say my name but i say i say bijan okay um

i don't know why i say that's this guy game

said that and my mom's like why do you say your name like that like

i i mean that's just how everybody says it but i don't i don't it doesn't really like affect me on on how it's said so if you guys want to say bijan like go ahead um

but if you guys want to say bijan i mean i'm i'm cool with that too but are we gonna hear from your mom if we say bijan

you might she

no she might she might say something i she even told me, um, she was like, she called me the other day, and she was like, like, these people are talking about you, but they always talk about you and they say Bijan.

And I'm like, what's wrong with that?

Like, that's what I say.

And she's like, no.

So it's, it's whatever you guys want.

Okay, so Dan and I would like to let everybody know we don't pay respect to mom.

It is Bijan.

Dan, I take back every terrible thing I said about you.

Okay, I said a lot of bad things for you there because I thought you put us into a jackpot.

In this situation or in total?

Forever.

I'm talking about this situation.

You

Don't get ahead of your keys here.

Yeah, you need to watch where you're going.

But I like you have dad's season right there, and we're looking out for mom.

So it's Bijan.

But he just gave up telling people, I assume.

Well, he's kind of the one who's kind of saying, like, listen, mom, I don't give a shit if you name me Bijan.

I like saying Bijan.

That's basically what he said.

So, I mean, if he's not even going to do it, I don't know.

Bijan Bi Gone is better.

Yeah, Bijan Bigon is certainly true.

But hold on.

Have we got to the bottom of it with A-chan?

No.

I mean, we kind of just, we had to move past that one.

Because he's a dolphin.

Yeah, and well, that's a big part of it.

And also, nobody knows, and I don't think we're ever going to find out.

Okay, and because I think there's too many accents involved in that.

Exactly.

You know, because there's different accents.

Also, Pat, I found out last night

you don't pronounce the second T in Atlanta.

It's Atlanta.

Duh.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's Dan Orlovsky.

You had a good game last night, Dano.

It's sick.

Thanks, Dano.

Yeah, Dan.

Well, there's a lot of things.

Yes, Today, you know.

Why did that happen?

What are you saying?

Get kicked off.

It was just good, Mo.

Yeah, I could get back onto it.

You were right with the Bijan, but Bijan, technically, potentially, possibly the right answer.

We're kind of in a kerfunkle there.

And people are going to say we're disrespectful, regardless of what we say.

Just know, we think he's a great player.

How was it calling the game last night?

We think you did a great job, brother.

How was it getting back in the booth?

And what did you think of the atmosphere and the teams more specifically?

Yeah, thank you.

The call was great.

It was a great game.

It went a little bit, at least from Atlanta's perspective, how I thought that stadium is awesome.

That they had the roof open.

That was the first time Fowler's been there a bunch.

The first time that he had experienced the roof open, some of those shots up above

of the aerial view of that stadium.

I mean, that place is absolutely off the charts, man.

I, you know, like some of the new stadiums, SoFi and Las Vegas are sensational, but man, look, like that shot's pretty sick right there.

Um, so it was a good environment, dude.

AI.

A lot of Bills fans.

Jeezy performed at halftime.

Do you know him?

But game, I do.

Game-wise, it went a lot how I thought for Atlanta.

I really thought Atlanta would have success running the football.

Bijan or Bajan is absolutely off the charts.

I mean, he's off the charts.

And his ability to, I don't know if there's a back in the league that has his,

you know, kind of like jump cut, stop start.

Like so many backs that are zoned backs.

They're like those slashers that they put that foot in the ground.

It's like a one cut, foot in the ground, and then they slash.

He's like a jump cut almost.

And just the strength to break tackles down the sideline.

I don't know how many backs are scoring on that run.

So he's a special player, man.

He really is.

Drake London is absolutely outstanding.

I thought their defense, like if you go to Josh's touchdown pass on their opening drive, they rush four and they play zone.

Josh has got all day.

He pumped fakes and it's a touchdown.

And you're sitting there going, okay, Atlanta, are you going to do that?

Because if you do that, you'll get ripped up.

You know, look at the pocket.

He's got all day.

I mean, no one's near him.

This was, it felt like the last time he had a clean pocket.

And really after that, and really after the Palmer injury, they just absolutely came after Buffalo.

And there is a reality for me.

My two takeaways from Buffalo's offense is

you got to be in context with their injuries.

I mean, Palmer being out and

Kincaid being out and Samuel being out, big deal.

But Keon Coleman's got to step up, man.

Keon Coleman, it's your two, dude.

You were drafted the guy.

They make the trade, the Chiefs that save you worthy.

Everything's going to be okay.

Keon Coleman's going to be the guy.

He's got to kind of grow up in the reality of his ability to play.

You know, the fact that they're begging for someone to go make a play on the perimeter last night and they're like not even trying to feature Keon Coleman, I think is a bad sign, man.

Like they weren't trying to get him away from A.J.

Terrell.

Their offensive line definitely got it handed to them by Atlanta last night.

But man, Keon Coleman's got to step up for this unit.

And, you know, if that doesn't happen, it gives me a little bit of concern.

But I think full strength, full health, Buffalo's offense is going to be what Buffalo's offense has been.

All right.

We'll take that from Dan Orlofsky, the man who pronounces his names right or wrong, depending upon the situation, and a guy who will certainly take a swing at a take if you need one.

We appreciate you, dude.

Have an incredible day.

Thanks, bush.

Great work last night.

You should be proud.

Cross it.

Thank you, sir.

You're a good man.

You're a good man, Ladies and gentlemen, Daniel Lawson.

And then let's go to the other game last night.

Bears commanders.

Bears get a huge win.

Jake Moody hits a 38-yard field goal that he hits right down a pipe.

Good for him and his career.

The nice little bounce back since leaving the San Francisco 49ers.

That just got weird out there.

I don't know why.

He just stopped hitting good balls, it felt like, even though we all have an immense amount of faith, he obviously went to Michigan from Michigan.

The Midwestern boy gets back in a Midwest team and does great.

He slept in a twin bed the night before.

He said he also didn't have a shower with hot or cold water.

It was kind of both of them.

So he took a cold shower before the game, which might become a new routine.

And maybe he buys a twin bed, which is what he was sleeping in before the game as well.

He certainly took some time to chit-chat about how life was much better now than it was whenever he was with the Niners.

And life's great for the Bears, AJ.

I mean, they start 0-2.

The world's falling.

And then now they've won three straight.

Your thoughts?

I mean, it's amazing to think of what we were saying about the Bears three, four weeks ago compared to what you think now.

Like, early on, remember, we said, hey,

he wouldn't have taken this gig.

He wouldn't have taken this head coaching gig if he didn't believe in Caleb.

Obviously, he had many options he could have taken.

So he knew what he was capable of doing with Caleb.

And I think Caleb's kind of settling in and feels good about where he's at.

He looks very confident in the pocket right here throwing.

Also, you got DeAndre Swift.

That guy's a monster.

That really helps.

I think Caleb, I love the blocking out here by DeAndre Swift here, blocking for his QB.

But the Bears are, I mean, are the Bears something that people in the NFC North are going to worry about now?

You You tell me.

AJ, you tell me.

Now, here's a stat to emphasize your point about Caleb and Ben Johnson.

His average time to throw was 2.65 seconds last night.

That's the first game under three.

And if you remember Jared Goff, Ben Johnson, it was just like, we're making decisions.

We know exactly what's going on.

Pre-snap and post-snap.

We know what's going on.

That's an indicator, I think, of him understanding what the hell he's supposed to be doing, right, AJ?

I think so, yeah, for sure.

Yeah, and every, I mean, there's some wide-ass open guys.

Ben Johnson's offense is going to do that.

But if he can operate that offense, they're going to have success in the NFC North.

Oh, yeah.

We've already seen that, obviously, with the Detroit operation.

And like Ben said, whenever he took the gig, you know, Caleb can do stuff that Jared Goff's never dreamt of doing.

If this play has to go off script, Caleb can make the magic happen.

Are we going to see all of that, Bruce?

Is everything that was the upside of potentially Ben and Caleb coming together?

Is that all possible for this season?

Do we think it's going to take a couple of years?

Like, what are you, are are we close to seeing Caleb Williams be a top 10, top five quarterback in the NFL with Ben Johnson's leadership?

I don't think there's any doubt as long as they keep giving that ball to DeAndre Swift because it all starts with that running game.

If he doesn't have the running game, has to throw it 50 times, we're going to see the old Caleb because he's going to be running around for his life.

They keep that running game going, which they did in Detroit.

Ben always had a great running game.

And they looked powerful last night running the football, especially at the end.

When you have to run it, then Caleb's going to be a hell of a quarterback.

They know you're running it.

We know you're running it.

Being able to run it is a tone setter.

Ben Johnson's attitude almost settling into Chicago as well, Debuff.

I love you all.

We always see the tricky stuff with the Detroit offense and the Ben Johnson stuff, but it comes down to being able to run the ball.

And then the second part of that stat that was just popped up there was 48%

play action rate, I think I saw.

I mean, if he's living in that world, play action, turning his back to the defense, getting his eyes back down and hitting guys wide open, like that is what Jared Goff did.

And then when it is, when it does break down, when something happens, he can scramble scramble for 15 20 so he has all the tools ben has all the tools it's going to be about can they continue to put a good team around him I uh

I was out on the bears again

most people were I was not publicly I didn't I don't think I did it in on the show into the microphone I think I certainly did not have as much super optimistic praise about the Bears after seeing some things.

I just thought humans-wise, this is not a good fit.

Like, I just think what we learned about Ben Johnson and what we thought we knew, I guess, about both these guys, but Caleb, it's like, this ain't.

I mean, Jared Goff was great for Ben Johnson because Jared Goff just like, whatever you tell me, I'll do, you know?

And I think the most outside of the lines thing I've ever seen Jared Goff do is when he dressed up like a Juco quarterback for, I think it was Red Bull.

Oh, yeah.

And he put on like Chad Powers, basically.

He did Chad Powers, went and did a workout and everybody's like, whoa, who's this guy?

And he's like, It's me, Jared Goff.

Like, that's the most outside of football thing I've ever seen from Jared Goff.

And then you got Caleb.

Caleb's obviously got everything.

He's got a fund.

He's got a, he's got this.

Obviously, he's got the nails.

I think he has a paint brand.

Like, he has businesses.

He has everything.

USC, Los Angeles, Hollywood.

Like, Caleb has all the bright lights, everything that could potentially be considered a distraction, which is why it was so impressive with what Caleb was able to do because he was like the first one in this NIL brand who was getting paid more than everybody.

He was getting more opportunities than everybody, and he was still playing great and doing his thing.

So I guess you could say he was more mature, but there was a lot of shit outside of the world with the modern athlete than opposed to maybe the Jared Goff generation have athlete, which is like 10 years ago, let alone 20 years ago.

So I immediately thought Ben Johnson and Caleb were never going to work.

That's 100% on me.

I was clearly wrong.

What I didn't you know, remember at the time is that Caleb What has like Tom Brady stats like on his phone?

Yeah.

Like Caleb Watts, if he's told what would make him great, which I assume Ben Johnson was able to do, like, hey, here's how you can be great.

This is what I need from you exactly.

Yeah.

It's like Caleb, from all understanding about his competitive spirit and what he wants to do, that's all he cares of.

Everything else is kind of outside of it.

I guess I should have put more respect on that, him buying into Ben Johnson's culture because he thought there would be success on the other end.

And there clearly has been here five, six weeks in.

Totally.

And I think when you have an offense starting,

defense sees it too.

Defense is going to start playing better and better and freer and looser because their offense is scoring points and not turning it over every damn time.

So it's hand in hand.

That's how that team gets built.

And Ben's doing a great job with it.

And playing the Chicago, NFC North, too, like, you're going to have to win ugly games like that one last night.

You're going to have to be able to run the ball.

You're going to have to be able to take care of the ball in shitty weather games.

And that's not something you necessarily thought of when you saw Caleb Williams.

And we all talked about it building from the outside and having those great weapons on the outside, but not having the O-line.

When you have that O-line and you can run the ball.

Like, we haven't really even seen Luther Burden be a big factor in this offense week in and week out.

We see what Rome is becoming.

We know who DJ Moore is.

Loveland, who got drafted before Tyler Williams.

Had a couple plays on the ball.

He's made some big plays, but I don't think we've seen him yet.

So it's a lot of growth there left for this team just on the offensive side.

And then defensively, you got a former head coach, Dennis Allen.

He's going to have those boys playing well as well.

Yeah, I mean, I guess, you know, I'll play devil's ad.

It's just Green Bay Packers owner attachment.

Exactly.

Because I'm a Packers fan, so you can take it with a grain grain of salt.

There's no two ways about it.

Like, they are getting better week over week.

We talk about competing in the north.

Like, they got their asses kicked by the Lions, and they've gotten beat by the Vikings.

So, their only two losses have been to the NFC North.

Now, granted, that's earlier in the season.

I think one thing you could say about the Bears to give them a lot of credit is in years past, they start out 0-2.

Like, they start sprinkling a little bit, it rained shit on them.

And then the season is just over, like, before Thanksgiving.

For them to start 0-2 and be like, hey, the sky is not falling.

We're going to be okay and to look as good as they have the last couple weeks.

Like that is obviously very promising if you're a Bears fan.

Moody, good kicker in my eyes as well.

NFC North, though, AJ, if you think about it, obviously got Caleb and Ben.

You got Jordan in the floor.

Jared Goff in MCDC is just what we're going to have to say.

Now, at this point, he's a little bit older.

And then there's a really young duo over there in MinnesotaCon, man.

Yeah, that's just like the biggest question mark.

And to Ty's point, just to kind of pile on the Bears for a second there, they did completely screw up Loveland just because warren's already the best tight end in the league but when you look at the vikings like that's the next question just the law of averages okay we got five quarterbacks from last year's rookie class and they're all playing incredible football and all of their teams base i think all of them have winning records are 500 and then there's jj mccarthy so if you're thinking about it you know just zoomed out you would assume that might not work and they've only showed one good quarter of football and it was against the bears when they weren't really hadn't figured it out yet so like my question for you guys like especially you bruce yeah like do you think jj and koc will work because at the current moment in time they really screwed the pooch letting sam dardlell go oh yeah i'd say sam dardle will be balling for koc what could they do salary cap wise and jj mccarthy getting hurt and not playing more is not good how do you feel they end up making and they let dan jones out of the building sorry forgot about that yeah and they had an offer allegedly that was a little bit more than the colts but it wasn't a because we're he's paying what 13 million for us yeah something like that yeah which daniel jones we can't hey

yeah we love you dimes we absolutely love you legitimately need him here for 10 for a decade we are so thankful you were here and let me tell you i don't have any say in it but if i was a public owner like they are of the packers i would say give this man his money let's go ahead and let danny dimes find a nice house here that might be for sale soon in indianapolis you know and maybe you know call himself home here in indiana but yes minnesota vikings had him in the building last year and because of how much they liked him I think that is why a lot of other people liked him as well like hey KOC and the Vikings are saying good things now they get it Aaron Rodgers was potentially gonna go to Minnesota they said no Sam Darnall was there Danny Dimes was there and Aaron Rodgers said he wanted to be a viking allegedly said he would be open to conversations with the Minnesota Vikings even though I don't think that was ever completely confirmed by either party and we're not confirming that right now.

But whatever you think about them choosing JJ, they're going to give him a lot of time to figure it out, you think, because of that decision being made?

Or what do you think on them building back their relationship?

I don't think there's any doubt.

They put that C on his chest for a reason.

When a rookie quarterback gets a C on his chest, he's got something special.

He's got Carson Wentz playing really good right now.

So it's like, I'm not counting out the Vikings for sure, and especially Kevin O'Connell.

That's going to be a division kind of like the SEC on a nine-game schedule.

They're going to knock the shit out of each other every week.

The NFC North is going to be a dogfight.

In the SEC,

we're staring.

If you start looking ahead, forecasting schedules for ranked teams in in every single conference, the Big Ten, a lot of their good teams.

They're playing a lot of teams that don't have numbers next to them going ahead, okay?

In the ACC, you're seeing a lot of teams playing teams that don't have numbers next to them.

The SEC,

all the teams at the top with numbers next to them, they're all playing each other over the next five weeks or so, four or five weeks.

And boy, the SEC folks are going to get loud.

Oh, so let me get to the Big Ten doesn't got to fucking play anybody.

We play everybody.

We get a couple losses and we're not allowed in the college football play.

Yeah, right.

Big 12 is playing ranked.

I mean, this weekend, BYU, Utah, Arizona State has a couple big ones going down.

So it's like even Big 12 has ranked games.

With Penn State not being ranked,

which I think, you know, a lot of people are assuming would be another big game on the schedule.

It's going to get loud at the end whenever we're talking about playoff seats.

Just would like to let everybody, it's going to get loud.

Really loud.

AJ, it is going to be louder than it was last year.

And I'm here for it, certainly, because what happened to Tennessee when they came up to the north

in the college football playoff?

What was that?

Everybody's talking about Texas having a bad year.

Well, maybe that's because they came up to the north to start their season.

There's going to be that angle

as well.

Who's won the last two last two national championships?

Oh, that's an.

Oh, shit.

That's right.

A big 10.

Oh, my God.

It's set up so good for so much, so much fodder.

All right, let's talk about some NFL news.

Let's talk about some MFL news.

Brian Branch has been suspended for one game for his

smack in the mouth of Juju Smith Schuster during the potential dap-up era of a football game.

Now,

what a picture.

I do appreciate that they say, yeah, Juju got tossed around by his helmet and he ended up bleeding from the nose.

And he obviously thought that they were going for a dap up, even though a lot of people are showing a block from like three minutes and 20 seconds left in a game where Juju cracks down and really gets Brian Branch pretty good.

I mean,

this is quite a crack, quite a shot.

And Juju would say, that's tough football.

And Branch right there would say, like, yeah, you got me in my back, though.

And Juju said, I ain't call it.

So that is probably the entire interaction right there.

I think Juju potentially thought it was over at that moment.

We're moving on.

He's screaming the sideline, goes to dap up.

Branch smacks and says, no, actually, I'm not doing this.

Hands-on waist.

I hate you.

Boom.

Shot to the mouth.

Everybody wondered what was going to happen because the melee that ensued.

Obviously, the NFL is going to have to figure things out.

He did do a little weed toss.

He didn't get thrown.

Obviously, it's a very dangerous situation.

He had to camera people in there.

Nobody blowing out their knee or the ankle is obviously a good thing.

We assumed the NFL would do a punishment.

Jalen Carter, before they even stepped foot on their first play, because of the spitting incident, he got suspended.

That game basically is what they considered.

A lot of people assumed this was going to be a similar situation.

He's suspended for one game.

I love that they say suspended without pay.

It's like they're reminding people that suspensions, you don't get paid.

Like,

this is them saying he is getting fined because he's not getting paid.

Okay.

So he's getting suspended and getting fined.

Anytime somebody's suspended, they are getting fined because they're not getting paid for.

So it feels like during the rollout of this, it was a reminder to people: like, we are taking money out of his pocket for this, and also he's going to be suspended.

Because I was suspended for a game for a public intoxication situation, and boy, no game check.

You start adding up the fines i got a 150 fine from marion county i got a 29 000 fine from the nfl for a book

you start doing the math it's like oh my god game checks are real never want to hear game checks on the line for anything unless you're very sure of it

unless you're very sure of it but he misses a game and one 18th of his yearly salary which i think we all assumed was going to be the case aj Yeah, this is why you want, if you're signing a new deal, you want to have league minimum in your salary and you want your money in bonuses.

So if you do get set down for a game, it may be, you know, I don't know, $80,000 instead of $3 million if you have a huge base salary.

That's one benefit of having your money come in bonuses, I feel like, and having a low salary when it comes to how it's structured.

But, I mean, are you,

we're not shocked, are we, that he got to spend the game?

You know, he's don't punch that obvious.

Yeah, it's going to happen.

Nothing happened to Juju, though, right?

He's cool.

I assume he's going to get a money.

I don't know, actually.

He's just defending himself.

Andrew Weederock.

He did flop.

flop but yeah ba what do you think uh whenever you see this type of situation obviously physical altercations it's a physical sport there have been fights in the history of football i think the way this all went down had mcdc afterwards saying that ain't who we are this ain't what we're known for and then foxy detroit lions fan comes out and says a lot of people want to smack juju smith's a lot and brian branch did that no matter how

Disgusting Foxy tried to turn this incident into.

What are your thoughts on it all?

And did you expect a one-game suspension?

Yeah, it's gonna be at least one i i would i would have hoped to see more because there's no place for this no place for this post-game so many people could have got hurt and and that could have turned into a huge melee had other guys got involved thank god the cooler heads prevailed guys were trying to get them off the pile stop it instead of joining in and start throwing helmets and all the that can happen i i would have i've i've been fine with three games okay so that's ba man who was in the nfl for 27 years and we thought that there was going to be a big precedent set by the nfl camera media people people are in there.

Yeah.

Anytime it's like, hey, this ain't, these aren't our people.

Yeah, how did they not tear their ACL?

Like when people were getting thrown around, those camera guys, it's unbelievable.

No one else got hurt in this.

Like any of the civilians on the field weren't just.

There was a high-stepper, I think, from a camera that got him out from underneath some stuff.

And I think that is why BA is saying what he's saying, though.

It's like the NFL could very easily say, hey, these aren't our people that you guys are currently potentially affecting.

And also, there's a lot of shit talkers in this sport.

Okay.

So when the game's over, we can't have people just fighting because of what was being said or happening happening in the game.

We thought a big president was going to...

Now, one game, I think, is...

It's huge.

That's a big...

That is a big deal.

Now, you're saying three games, obviously, a little bit more of a message to everybody, which I completely concur.

Speaking from a player's perspective, you only have 17 opportunities a year to kind of do your thing, let alone earn the check of it all.

So a one-game suspension is a big deal.

Nobody did get hurt.

Right.

So like that is Brian Branch's.

That's Brian Branch's angle.

Like, hey, you saw a camera, people.

I clearly was telling them to,

you know, while I was tossing Juju around in the head.

But it was a wild scene that I don't think any of us expected in prime time.

Well, and that's my question for you, B.A.

Like, I get it, sure.

I mean, the fact that you said three games is absurd to me, but like, Mike Evans and Marshawn Lattimore, you were his coach.

They got into it on the field.

He got kicked out.

I don't know what his suspension was, but this wasn't the only thing.

Like, a lot of people were saying Brian Branch was kind of a piece of crap for shoving off Mahomes, you know, before he did that.

But if you went back and watched the game, Mahomes, you know, points at Brian Branch after scoring a touchdown, flips the ball in front of Brian Branch after scoring a touchdown, and then flexes while staring at Brian Branch after scoring a touchdown.

So, like, three games.

Okay, but like when Mike Evans and Marshawn Lattimore got into it, like, what's your messaging to the team and what was, you know, his suspension when that happened?

It was one game.

It was a game, two.

And

I probably started that one.

So

That's fair.

And I got kicked off the sideline for the rest of my career, too.

Yeah, but I think you want to be able to.

But no, for me, three games, not necessarily without pay, one for sure.

All right.

But all that shit you're talking about happens between the lines.

That shit goes on every week between the lines.

This is outside the lines.

All right.

Post-game.

Most guys are praying.

All right.

Now.

You're bringing civilians in.

I'm not sure there's not some cameraman that might got a kick that's going to have a civil lawsuit in there.

You're saying might have slipped and failed.

I actually have some PTSD as well from what I've seen.

You saw Juju fly through the sky.

His nose was bleeding right in front of me.

Oh my God.

I'm not gonna be able to get back out there.

Yeah, it was scary.

It was a scary scene.

But they, yeah, all of it's sad.

They'll move on.

BA's talking, though, as a person that has been in these altercations, saying we can't be carrying what we're saying in the second quarter into the post-game.

Like that can't be, that can't be what the post-game to the bus.

There's some things that have been like, CJGJ, let's assume that he has potentially said some things first first quarter second quarter third quarter or maybe fourth quarter hey how about overtime if we get an opportunity we're gonna say that when this game ends though can't be fighting on field because of something that happened is basically what BA is implying yeah can't carry over the game into a time whenever it's not live action yeah now if you want to meet each other in the back hallway which has happened

swing away that's just

happened you guys want to go ahead and really get out by the buses yeah we want to go on the bus we can block this thing you guys need to handle some stuff you got to do what you got to do now wasn't that the NBA yeah

kevin garden yeah and uh i think mellow no phoenix was it phoenix it was kevin it was phoenix it was phoenix and the clippers and chris paul allegedly they were gonna meet in the back or whatever and charles barkley and shaq oh yeah yeah that was a different one yeah yeah there was a cops call i think cops were called at one point because that was the whole conversation is like police are getting called because you guys want to fight each other in the back like let's take it easy boys we want to throw hands Let's do this.

By all means.

Let's do this like civilized gentleman here.

Let's rally around.

Let's get our hockey sticks.

Let's stick tap for this thing.

It's crazy what is acceptable in one sport and not in another.

And it's like you can't fight in football.

And after the game, we can't have you fighting and potentially tearing out the cameraman.

We learned that lesson.

A.R.

Anthony Richardson's story is

an interesting one.

His professional career thus far.

If it was to be a book, would certainly be a must-read just because of all the twists and turns that you think can't happen to somebody who has the incredible upside that his body body currently has.

So incredibly athletic, so incredibly gifted, so incredibly dynamic, like makes you think this guy could be greatest of all time.

I believe there was a lot of people in the Indianapolis Colts organization at the highest levels that thought that, hey, this is the most gifted person to ever come into the NFL.

Well, he's only played like 13 games or something in total.

Yeah, but we can get him there.

We can get him there.

We can do that.

So literally drafted on potential and opportunity became a storyline in of itself whenever opportunities were starting to disappear because of injuries or other situations brewing off the field.

Now we have the most recent one.

This guy was warming up, trying to do the right thing.

He came into the season, I think a much better professional quarterback, I think people would say.

Came in early, seemed to be prepared.

Now there's still football stuff that he had not experienced or learned in his life that was certainly on display in the first preseason game against Baltimore when they ran a very standard pressure and he gets demolished without even seeing it, ends up breaking his pinky, which once again, a whole nother storyline to his added short NFL career thus far.

So they go a different direction with Danny Dimes.

He is nothing but positive on the sideline.

He is nothing but a helper to Danny Dimes.

He's dapping people up on the sideline.

It's like this guy.

is buying into everything that he has to be in here.

Trying to do the right thing, warm it up in a locker room, bands,

post it on something on a wall.

Something falls off wall.

I don't know what it was.

It was wrapped around something that was on wall.

Off-wall hits him in the face.

Okay.

Immediate

blood, I guess, from what I've been told.

Blood.

Immediate to hospital and surgery.

And I think they're going to plastic.

I think it's like

the most unlucky situation.

Blinded him.

Could have blinded him.

Yeah.

I mean, yeah.

Yeah, I don't know the entire insight, but it's something off-wall hits, and then it's immediate-like, obviously.

Orbit, was it orbital yeah but broke his orbital bone and it's like that's really close like to your point of his eye but it's like how unlucky can a dude get you know like needed reps got hurt couldn't play okay need to learn something can't because can't play to learn thing then has opportunity to learn grow watch a pro be a part of a good team be a part of a good culture and all of a sudden yeah you gotta go actually because the wall falls and hits you in the face it's like this dude's unlucky he's incredibly gifted i assume he's gonna maintain a positive mindset like he has.

But geez, Louise, this guy can't buy a break right now, B.A.

Now, a lot of people say he hasn't set himself up to in the past, but this year it felt like he was doing everything right and still has the football godsapp.

Yeah, you hate to see it happen, especially in something crazy like that.

You know, he was making all the right moves, trying to learn.

I think he's learning a lot watching Danny's prepare and seeing another pro prepare.

And it's just a shame for the guy.

Yeah, I hope he, I hope it all, AAR, Paul Free Brother.

For real.

Godspeed.

Absolutely crazy.

Let's talk about some game balls.

BA, last week, we,

I think you mentioned it in

some take that you have.

If I had game balls, I'd be giving this guy a game ball.

Oh, yeah.

You made Ezra Cleveland.

You made Liam Cohen give Ezra Cleveland a game ball.

Oh.

You said, hey,

if I were you, I'd be giving a ball directly to Ezra.

Are you going to give him a game ball?

You should give him a game ball.

So he was,

I'm sure he was going to, but definitely publicly forced by you to give him a game game ball.

Because Ezra and his family saw that entire interaction and said, yeah, that's a good question, actually.

Why does Liam give us a game ball?

This guy hates us.

So we immediately thought, oh, BA, you should give out game balls.

Something that a coach does every single week.

So we got BA's game balls.

You want to start in the NFC or the AFC?

One per is how we decided to do this.

No, start in the AFC.

Okay.

And it's no surprise.

They're back.

Patrick Mahomes.

Congrats, Pat.

Pete Baby, Peter.

And in the NFC, probably the most

electric player in the league right now, Bijan Robinson.

Bijan,

baby!

170 rush yards, one rushing touchdown, 68 receiving yards, and obviously the show of the Atlanta Falcons down there.

Had Jeezy on at halftime.

We thought that was a good omen.

What we didn't know fully is what Dan Orlovsky told us.

This guy is the entire offense.

They're building around him, AJ.

It's special time down in Atlanta.

And now, congrats to Bijan.

He gets the first ever BA NFC game ball.

I'm incredibly proud of him, AJ.

Yeah, he is.

If you see this, I know Dano talked about it on the broadcast.

Bijan's in that pistol form, like that pistol set.

So he's behind the quarterback when the quarterback is in a gun.

Dano is actually saying he's not a huge fan of it for the quarterback.

He feels like it can make the quarterback not sure of where to drop or whatever if he's throwing the ball.

But I think it does so much for this offense.

Defensively, it gives you a little bit weird, like a different look.

He's almost hidden behind the quarterback.

And with Bijan's patience, like the guy's patience and vision is just off the charts.

And it seems like every play too, like, oh, he's lined up at it.

He's at a one.

He's a receiver, motion him back in.

And whether he's getting the ball or not, he's getting a ton of attention.

And Algier's, his, what, 21-yard touchdown, the first score of the game, like, I think Bijan motions out, multiple guys are paying attention, going with him.

And Algier is awesome as well.

And he just takes it to the house.

So this offense, I think, is only going to get better as the season goes.

And the Buffalo Beatles defense against the run and running backs was obviously soft.

So that's why many people, including Dano, thought it was going to be a bad match after this Buffalo Bills team.

And now the world's falling in Buffalo yet again, and Atlanta is thriving.

They have a BA game ball down coming to that locker room.

And then for the AFC, you said Patrick Mahomes.

So let me tell you about Patrick Mahomes right now.

Who's the odds-on favorite to win the MVP?

Let's go to Hammer, Don, Don, AP Tone.

That would be Patrick Mahomes.

Hey, who's the odds-on favorite to go to win the AFC?

I think that's the Kansas City Chiefs.

Okay, so we have a couple good games of offense, and all of a sudden everybody everybody goes, yep, they woke up.

Rashi Rice is about to show up.

It's a real fear that we all have of the Kansas City Chiefs.

And whenever we start to see them play well, we all go, oh,

the Boogey Monster's back.

I mean, this is bad news for everybody.

For the NFL, though, it's awesome.

I love that Patrick Mahomes is backballing.

I like that Travis Kelsey looks a little bit faster, quicker, leaner, meaner.

I like that Andy Reid is back in his bag.

I like that Spagnola's able to win these big games again.

I like that the Kansas City Chiefs are good again.

And you gave Patrick Mahomes a game ball.

Why is that?

Why was he the decision?

Oh, a lot of good players.

Four touchdowns.

I mean, and everybody's writing them off.

And the last three games are averaging 30 points a game.

That's Kansas City Chiefs football again.

Now the defense is going to start playing again.

I think Chris Jones got his lesson learned, and he'll be playing balls out for the rest of the year.

Patrick Mahomes, back to the MVP favorite, because we all assume that they're just going to be around and win the big games at the end of the season.

Trick him, dick him, back in the Chiefs offense.

And Patrick Mahomes has been running a lot.

That's a little bit different from this year versus years past.

He's been running a lot.

I think he feels a sense of urgency to get this offense back on track, AJ.

Yeah, I mean, when Patrick Mahomes is doing Patrick Mahomes things like this, when he uses his legs, I don't know, you guys watch the quarterback thing, the workouts that this dude was doing in season is unbelievable.

What he's, the running, all the different movements, like the pliability stuff, it's pretty amazing what he can do.

He's definitely a deceptive athlete where where I think people underestimate his wiggle and they underestimate his speed and strength.

So

it's a fun thing to watch.

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

There's a clip and it says, how can you only hear Patrick Mahomes' voice over all this?

And they're fighting.

You know, when Juju and them are fighting, you can hear, hey, hey, you can hear Mahomes' voice, like trying to get everybody to stop over everyone.

There's 800 people there and we can hear Patrick Mahomes trying to calm everybody down.

I didn't think about him quickly becoming OG or unknown in league.

Patrick Mahomes growing right in front of us already has a GOAT resume and it feels like he's having like a second chapter with this Chiefs' offense, D-Ball.

He's special.

What him and Andy Reed have been able to do for this long?

How many AFC championships, games, how many Super Bowl appearances, Super Bowl wins at this point in the league?

We had Montano and he didn't pick him because he felt like he was too old.

Is this dude even 30 yet?

Like,

he's unbelievable, leading the team right now and rushing what you don't want.

But he's dangerous, man.

Carrying all the weight that he's carried.

Now, Worthy's back healthy.

Hollywood Brown, he's had a couple touchdowns.

That's going to to open things up for Travis Kelsey.

And then Rasheed Rice, who before he got suspended and injured, he was becoming that number one receiver, that number one target.

We'll see where he picks up now.

If this run game can get going outside of Patrick Mahomes, they'll be even more difficult to stop.

And then Spaggs, you know, he'll figure it out down the stretch when it comes to the big games.

They have to win.

I think if you go back to the combine, maybe the two best scramblers in the league right now, the two MVB candidates, Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield.

I think they both ran 4-8.

Let me say, these cats are just pocket pastors, and they're running all over the place.

Okay, so let's talk about Baker a little bit because we are talking to MVP candidates.

We talked about, you know, it felt like there were six of them that got wins that could potentially be MVP candidates.

Sam Darnold's in there.

Obviously, Baker Mayfield is at the top of the class whenever you start thinking about that conversation for what he's been able to do down in Tampa.

You're saying it's not just Baker, obviously.

Baker's got an offensive coordinator as new to town.

Obviously, you just lose Liam.

You lose David Canalis whenever you're down there.

They got a new offensive coordinator.

They got Baker.

They have so many injuries.

How have they had the success down there as somebody that's in the building, literally, weekly?

Yeah, I think Josh Grizzard is doing an amazing job.

That's new offensive coordinator.

That's the new offensive coordinator.

When you don't have your right side of your offensive line and your top four receivers and you score 30 points against the Niners, you're doing a hell of a job.

Now, I got to give Todd Bowles a ton of credit.

For me, he is the coach of the year just because of what he's doing with all the injuries, not just on offense, but on defense.

I mean, he went to the game, I think, nine starters out

and beat the Niners.

But yeah, I think what Bake's just throwing him on his back, he's got the Johnson and Johnson brothers.

They're like sixth and seventh receivers, catching touchdown passes.

And one can do a hell of a flip.

Oh, Tez.

Tez can fly.

Tez can absolutely fly.

And Tez's thing coming out, you talked about Baker running a 4-8.

Tez was 142 pounds and ran like a 4-5-4 or something like that.

And people were like, there's no way this guy can be this small and this slow.

He's behind a defense right there, D-Buck.

What does that mean?

I mean, his play speed was never 4-5.

I was shocked when he ran that time because we saw him play and he was a fast guy.

Kind of opposite of like Jackson Smith and Jigba.

I don't know what his 40 time is, but when him and Lucky Book get on the field, their field speed is different.

And that's his field.

This was a third and long.

And Baker found him.

And not only his speed, like this catch, like, was unbelievable.

You watch this catch a slow motion for him to catch that.

And then obviously we see the athleticism with his celebration.

But yeah, Baker, you can do it with whoever's lined up out there.

Everybody in the NFL is talented, but we don't know these guys.

These guys didn't come into the season thinking they'll be the number one, two, or three guy on the outside or the inside.

Even the guys has been blocking for him.

Bucky Irving's been out.

He's one of the best backs in the league in a run and pass game.

So what Baker has been doing is just unbelievable.

Good for Tampa.

Yeah, that play, the play, the kid, did not have a post-route either.

Yep.

He threw his hand up.

That's a hell of a job for a rookie now to know.

Safety squatted.

I'm supposed to break in.

I just throw my hand up and Bake finds him.

Great job.

The other one?

Yeah, the Tez.

Yeah, the Tez Johnson touchdown.

He sees the safety come and then you see him go like this right here.

And then you see him start to pull away from safety.

And it's like, hey, maybe this guy isn't slow as hell.

Maybe you should watch the film instead of just the analytics coming out of the combine.

Yeah, that's like fourth read, third read for Baker there.

Oh, at least.

Yeah, because that's not the route that's designed.

Yeah, but he goes right, thinks he's going right, looks back left, and I think he sees

pointing pre-snap, too.

You see him pointing pre-snap too.

Who's that, AJ Tez?

Yeah, before that, if you go back to the old angle, he's pointing pre-snap.

Like, I think these dudes are sitting on me.

Watch.

Look, he's starting to point right away.

Oh, here we go.

I'm right here.

Hey, wait a minute, Mike, Mike, Mike.

And then, bam, hand goes up then.

Okay, Tez.

Catching like the back third of the ball, dude.

That's unbelievable.

That's such a difficult catch.

That's how you get more reps.

Well, I can tell you, hey, that's how you get MVP chances.

That's right.

Exactly.

They actually released the mic'd up from that, Tez, on the sideline, thinking the MVP was for him, Because we obviously heard the press conference where he said, Man, I thought they told me it wasn't.

We have the whole moment.

He was not lying.

He thought that was for him.

And wait until you see the culture the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have on the sideline.

It is very evident here.

I'm gonna tell y'all a funny story.

This is crazy.

When I score and I hit MVP chant,

I'm thinking they're talking about me.

So I asked Shep, I'm like, Shep, they was channeling MVP.

Yeah.

And he was like, yeah, I was like, I ain't do nothing this year.

And then he was like, they talking about Baker Ted.

They could make it up through you the ball.

I was like, well, that explains it.

But he is the MVP.

I was just happy with you.

I mean, but look, you know what?

But you know what?

Now I am mad at you.

But look though.

I ain't broke up.

He said,

what they was saying, I said, MVP.

What the fuck have I done?

I said,

what did I do?

Man, you know I'm slow sometimes.

I'm like, bro, I didn't do nothing.

And they talk about MVP.

Now I was just messing with you.

Now you go back to the old.

See, now you're going back to the old test.

Hey, now you're about to start going crazy.

All you needed was a little bit of confidence.

Now you finna go this.

You hear me?

I promise you.

Hey, that's a cool locker room right there.

That is a fun locker room.

That is a good vibe.

Godwin losing his mind.

He's not on the field.

Remember when he's in Mike?

I mean, that team is powerful whenever they're everybody's healthy.

Imeka is on.

They lost him in the second quarter.

And Jalen McMillan hadn't played yet.

So their top four receivers are not there.

I like that Buccaneers team.

I also like local sports talk.

Who doesn't?

Hey, I grew up in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh is a place that has a lot of local sports talk.

You know, I think it's like a super sports tiny thing to have the local sports talk.

There's still places that it exists.

Obviously, everybody thinks those days are old, and the talking heads that literally just yell in the microphones for hours at a time for radio are days of the past.

It's like, no, they're still a very loyal listener to sports radio, but also there is local sports talk that still is giving the pulse of the fans.

They're still giving the opinions of the fans.

They're still asking the questions that need to be asked.

And we have a Hall of Fame moment, fresh out of Cleveland, by Tony Ariza, who's about sick and tired of Miles Garrett taking $40 million a year and then complaining about the state of the Browns.

I don't feel sorry for Miles Garrett.

I don't stop with this crap.

He's not a leader.

He's a hired gun here for money.

And he wanted to leave your city and your team.

End of story.

Am I wrong?

No, Riz, you're exactly

what goes through your mind.

I don't know.

Every Friday when the direct deposit goes into my checking account, that's what goes through my mind.

If he's going to talk like this, Riz, the ass kissing of this guy is insane.

Boy, are you getting the Tony Rizzo show today?

Yes.

You want Tony Rizzo today?

You're getting Tony Rizzo as if you were at my house.

Riz, if Miles Garrett wanted out so bad, he should have stood.

He should have stood by his demand and forced his way out.

What goes through your mind?

What goes through your mind?

Not here for Miles Garrett.

I want to win.

I'll tell you what, we all won because we got a chance to hear that.

Love the laugh track and a standing ovation to himself.

I don't know who's controlling that.

The bald-headed guy asking the questions to Tony Rizzo.

We'd like to say massive respect to what you guys do, and we appreciate your fanhood and your passion.

But that is a real sentiment, I assume, amongst Ohio people and Cleveland Browns fans about their leadership.

Very similar to what was going on with Miami with Tua.

Anytime you're losing, and the people that are making the most amount of money are talking about stuff at the top, it's like you are the top, is what fans feel like, AJ.

Yeah, I mean, you're never like, if you want to get a sense of, you know, how the fans, how people feel about their team, go to the local people, whether it's college, pros, whatever.

They're in there day in, day out, talking about their specific team, interviewing players.

I'm sure there's, I'm sure Rizzo is not the only one in Ohio that feels this way.

Now, we know you lose.

Everybody, it's everybody can get it, you know, when you lose, and it's going to come for the guys that make the most money at first.

And Miles Garrett understands that.

I doubt this.

I'm sure Miles Garrett's heard things like this in the past, and he's used to it being in Cleveland.

But you win games, you're getting acquired a lot of this stuff down.

Tony Rizzo might see himself in that graveyard for Halloween up there in Miles High.

Oh,

which I heard he's getting actual marble this year with the new upgrade of the contract.

That makes sense.

Actual marble grave sites in his front yard of all the quarterbacks and Tony Arizzo, potentially, that he does every Halloween.

You hear Tony Rizzo go like that.

You've obviously been a coach for a long time.

You've been in a lot of markets that sports talk matters.

How much does that affect coaches?

Because I think at this stage, players, Tony Rizzo just pops up as a TikTok, and then they probably just scroll right by it.

This guy's crazy.

Scroll right by it.

But there was a time where sports talk, local sports talk, really mattered to teams, ownership, and everything they had going on.

Oh, yeah, I had fired BruceAreans.com in a couple cities.

You knew of it too, younger?

Yeah, a whole family do.

I say my wife and kids do.

I ain't paying attention, but you can't listen to that stuff.

But I think, but it's great.

Cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, they have a fervor fervor of a fan base.

And those guys, they love it.

They're there every day.

It means so much to them.

They're doing bigger numbers than a lot of these podcasts out here.

They think they're national podcasts

in these cities.

And I grew up in Pittsburgh, which is a sports talk place and a lot of shit talk place and everything like that.

And so I didn't really know the New York sports talking head market, which I guess they all feel like they created and birthed and everything like that with Mike and the Mad Dog.

That whole thing is, I didn't know of them when I was growing up until back after this, started posting all the clips of this guy.

And I'm like, wow, I wish I knew this guy existed my entire life.

This would have been incredible.

Good sports talk is hard to,

it's hard to beat.

It is legitimately hard to beat.

Like Tony Rizzo right there, feed me that times 10.

But also,

I would like some other stuff in my life.

Rizzo's living it and potentially dying it.

And we need him to take care of himself.

Well, and that's the big thing.

Like a guy like him, like he has carte blanche to say whatever he wants.

That guy is following the Browns day in, day out, and probably has been for what, like, the last 30 years.

Like,

I mean, he's killing himself.

You subject yourself, like, and he has to care.

He's talking about that

six months out of his year every single year for the last 30 years.

And the Browns!

That's going to happen every once in a while.

You're going to wake up and just be like, you know what?

Fuck it.

I hate all these guys.

I hate this team.

I hate this.

I almost hate this city because of it.

So I'm going to let everybody have it.

I think it's their love of the city.

It's Tony Rizzo's love of the city that drives them every single day.

We appreciate that from Paison.

I assume Tony Rizzo and many like him around the city, not in a lot of cities, but many people around different cities, they hate us.

We're the national people that say something, Tony Rizzo.

And you got this Ty shit guy.

What's his name?

The local people talking about the national people.

The best in the world.

Shout out to the local folks.

We appreciate you.

Shout out to sports being so damn magical.

And shout out to the NFL delivering in a big way.

Ratings up for everything.

College football right now.

Cole.

Hey.

Coming.

Look out for college ball.

We got about two minutes, Ton.

It's Tuesday.

What are the college football stories that we need to look ahead to this weekend live from Hammer Don Ton?

Yeah, we got another huge weekend of football games.

We had that huge one last weekend where there was 10 games of either ranked unranked or ranked versus an unranked team that, you know, is a really good football team, like a Georgia-Auburn type matchup from last week.

So, this week, obviously, you guys are going to be between the hedges down in Georgia.

That would be number nine.

Georgia hosting Ole Miss, who is number five.

That is a huge one down in the SEC.

That one can be up for a playoff spot, you arguably, at the end of the season.

So, that one's a huge one.

Another

ranked-on-ranked SEC matchup this weekend.

Tennessee goes down to Bama, which is a great rivalry.

That one will be a huge one.

USC, Notre Dame, another robbery.

Hey, that one, USC wins.

They could potentially be the fourth Big Ten team in the playoff.

Notre Dame loses.

They are out, I would assume, with the three losses to Miami, Texas, A ⁇ M, and the USC.

I would assume Notre Dame is out, but who knows?

And then the Holy War.

Utah and BYU, another ranked-on-ranked matchup there for the Big 12, which will be a huge one towards the end of the season.

And what's the late night game?

Is there a night cap happening this weekend?

Texas Tech plays Arizona State.

I do do not know if um oh i'm blanking on his name uh quarterback for arizona state sam levitt thank you sam levitt is going to be back or not so that'll be huge implications on that one but if he is that one texas tech arizona state's a big one all right we appreciate you telling good work about it

all right we'll continue digitally as we hand you off i believe to sports center uh we think you're gonna enjoy the hell out of their show they're gonna crush it yes Absolutely crush it.

And we're going to continue with our shenanigans.

Be a friend.

Tell a friend something nice might change your life.

All right, I think I got it.

Oh, yeah.

Had about a minute 30 left there.

I had to get to the out.

Tossed that on tone late.

I missed LSU and Vanity, too.

That's a good one.

Iowa Penn State as well.

Well, that's what I was about to say.

Oh, wow.

Wow.

Iowa Penn State matters so much less now.

Yeah.

Under 20?

Under 20 there, maybe?

UConn Boss College.

That's a good one.

That's a good one.

Speaking of UConn, you asked Dano if he knew Jeezy?

Yeah.

Our era.

It was in every locker room in our era.

I assume Jeezy was in every locker room.

Now, granted,

did Dan Orlovsky know that it was Jeezy?

Like, when did he find out that the songs he was listening to was Jeezy's?

Dan was a bit of a dog back in the day.

Was he?

Wow, because there's a whole new Dan now.

You know, as we all grew up.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, we've grown 40s now.

Yeah, we're all old.

Yeah, it was a long time ago, 25 years ago.

He was, hey, he was like almost, what was he?

He was on the magazine or something.

Cover Sports Illustrated.

I mean, he was the Heisman candidate.

Yeah.

Like 95 overall in game.

Dan Orlovsky needs a little bit more respect.

A bit of a doubt.

Because we all see one play from a Hall of Famer running wild and him running a little bit faster, just a little bit deeper than everybody else.

Everybody forgets Dan Orlovsky could spin it.

Dan Orlovsky was a football player.

B.A., did you ever coach Dan Orlovsky?

Never had the pleasure.

I liked you.

You said pleasure there at the end.

That's one of those guys you look around and you say, I wish I could have coached that guy, right?

Not so fast.

Dan, you didn't deserve that.

This is supposed to be a complimentary.

I love you, Danny.

I would have told you where the back of that end zone was.

Dan.

All right, let's get to a break on the other side.

We'll wrap up all the storylines that we haven't hit.

And B.A., I don't know if we need you to putt ever again after you.

I don't know.

I'm not in.

So impressive.

I literally just remember that as I looked over here and I saw the four balls.

And I was like, that was last week.

It was unbelievable.

Have you golfed since then?

Have you missed a putt?

I did not get out this week.

No.

So you still have not missed a putt?

I have not missed a putt since then.

I'm still thinking about bringing that putter out of the garage.

He wouldn't take the putter.

I tried to give him the putter.

I'm like, hey, you've never missed with this putter.

Just go ahead and take it.

Nah, no.

Puts it back.

I'm like, how many putters have you been through?

What was the number?

I had 36 in the lake, but that's all close.

He said since he has retired, he's went through like 90 some putters.

He's been trying to find it, AJ.

He's been trying to find a putter.

It's like, you found it, buddy.

Yeah.

I have that.

You ever regret it, B.A.?

You ever regret you ever watched one and regret regret throwing it?

Oh, yeah.

I paid a kid $500 to go in the lake to get one.

I really like that putter.

If they missed like a $500 three-foot putt, oh, shit, I like that butter.

Hey, that's another five.

That's $1,000 now, all of a sudden, because of this dream.

You said you have this putter already.

I have that putter at home, yeah.

But it's been benched.

Okay, not drowned.

No, no, it did not drown.

Every now and then, you take your putter and you just dip it in the lake.

Just give him a taste of it.

Let them know.

Warn him.

This could happen today.

Then you bench it.

Well, you play with that one.

It usually makes a lot of putter that day.

Oh, because

it gets benched.

It's like a football player, Pat.

We talk about it.

You've got to be scared of your job.

You've got to come in every day thinking, hey, I could be cut if I don't do this.

Nope, I don't play well.

So why'd you bench it?

What?

It just didn't have a couple good showing days.

Not enough to drown.

It got a taste.

It didn't react well.

It's a bad horse.

It's just a bad dog.

I don't chip a lot.

I putt a lot off the greens.

that putter is hard to chip um long putts with it's much better that distance so i found one i can do both with did you i did shot mage twice with it

there you have it hey when that thing gets ready go to the bench

all reliables i had it up i had it up in the air a couple weeks ago my buddy goes no no no you like that

oh yeah i do put it back down

everybody playing with you hey just if you guys could help me around 1314 i really like this wave

so if this thing doesn't act right and you look like if it looks like it's about to be gone forever, know that I would like to keep this thing.

Yeah, one of the sister pros came by the other day and that wedge broke his neck.

Gave it to him.

You can give it to the kids, fix it, give it to the kids.

That one ain't playing no more.

That wedge broke its neck around your thigh?

Around my knee.

Jeez.

You ever throw your whole bag in the pond?

No,

my buddy did.

He had to jump in and get some mission.

I ain't going that far.

They're too expensive.

Every club in here can certainly get drowned, but not at the same time.

Especially if I have a backup in the garage.

I usually have two of the same set, just in case.

That's my jig.

That's my jig bag.

Hashtag life hack, hashtag golf hack from BA.

Always get two sets of clubs because the first set of clubs might not act right and they might have to get drowned.

You got to teach them a lesson.

The bench is what Saban says.

The bench used to be my best friend because the bench is a relevancy, the bench is no legacy, the bench is everything.

And then I think Saban says, now they don't care about the benches, care about how much money they're getting paid.

And if I put them on a bench, they're going to try to get out of here to go get another thing.

What did you use?

For you, I like that it works for your golf clubs.

Inanimate objects have feelings too.

They understand a little bit of pressure whenever they feel it.

All the rest of them act better when you break one of them.

You waterboard one of them.

The rest of them will step in line.

Oh, yeah.

Hopefully.

He's 100% serious.

He's 100% serious right now.

I get it.

I need to start being like you a little bit more on a golf course.

I let these putters fucking live way too long.

Oh, yeah.

I always think the next time it's going to act right.

It's not.

I played the member guess with my sandwich putting the last two holes because I threw that stuff that's in the lake.

Sandwich.

And I made the putt with a sandwich.

Of course you did.

Hell you need putter for.

That's what I'm starting to think.

Well, I watch you with a butter do some magical things here, and then I watch you say, I don't want it.

Even though you've been trying to figure out your butter for a long time, massive respect to you.

Let's get to a break on the other side.

We'll do some more golf talk and wrap up all the stories.

You're the greatest people on earth for allowing us to do this for a living.

Here's a teaser, a trailer, if you will, for the newest episode of Rushmore on X.

Ari Emmanuel Ben Persky are the host.

They gather the legends of their industries to put together an official Mount Rushmore of different genres.

This week is bands.

Just any band.

It doesn't have to be a rock band like Peter Schrager earlier.

Just bands in general.

Solo acts that you thought were solo acts, acts, actually potentially a band and do get mentioned in this entire thing.

It's a nice winding road throughout the history of rhythmic sound, if you will.

And there's a band in the 70s that you'll learn about that is not getting any royalties for everything everybody's doing today.

And their family should be looking into it somehow.

There has to be something that Rick Rubin presents at a table.

Jimmy Iveen, together these dudes have been a part of 450 albums.

And they sit down and chit-chat about the history of music and the greatest bands.

It's well worth the watch, I think.

It's 20-some minutes, too.

Very digestible.

And some magic was made.

We'll see you on the other side.

Be a friend, tell a friend something nice.

It might change their life.

You ever show up late to the game and your friend's already saved your seat, your drink, even a plate?

That's looking out.

That's having your back.

And that's exactly what ATT does with the ATT guarantee.

They know staying connected matters.

That's why ATT has connectivity you depend on.

Guaranteed.

Or they'll proactively make it right.

Just like that friend who takes care of things before you even ask.

AT ⁇ T.

Connecting changes everything.

Terms and conditions apply.

Visit ATT.com slash guarantee for details.

Eight years ago, I blew my football career.

He dropped it at the one-yard line.

Chad Powers has arrived on Hulu.

If I can't play as Russ, I'll play as someone else.

My name's Chad.

And last name?

From executive producers Eli and Peyton Manning.

Remember, you're wearing a prosthetic mask.

This is acting.

And starring Glenn Powell.

He thinks you're a rubber choo-to-way.

Not rubber.

I'm a man.

Made of flesh.

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Hello, beautiful people, and welcome back to our Humble the Moon, The Thunderdoom.

On this BA day, October 14th, 2025, hour three of the program begins now.

football.

Hit.

That was good.

See?

That was a good one.

That's on me.

I'll go false start in the second hour.

I don't know if you saw it, AJ.

I had to hit five push-ups because I dropped the interception.

I jumped off sides.

The rest of the boys were patient and understood what was going on.

I forgot.

And that's what can't happen if you want to win games.

You can't have pre-snap penalties.

You got to be locked in.

You got to be focused, especially whenever you have a legend.

giving out his cadence, which sounds like what?

Hit.

That's a good one.

See that, AJ?

That's from the gut.

It'll get you a little bit excited.

He's going to go on two one of these weeks.

And maybe on three, there's going to be an opportunity.

We're all going to have to hold our goddamn water if we want to be worth anything in this business.

That's A.J.

Hawk.

The Toxic Tables here at Boston Connor and Natai Schmidt.

Nine-year NFL vet.

Darius J.

Butler is here.

And live from Hammer Tad Ton is the Hammer Tun.

Cowboy A.P.

Tone.

Not a baby tone.

I'm a Tony.

That's Baby Tone.

Hey, Pittsburgh Steelers.

Really good football team, Tone.

Great football team.

I love the outlook for the rest of the year.

Do you believe in the Pittsburgh Steelers after watching them?

What Aaron Rodgers is doing?

We talked about it at the very beginning.

Six offensive linemen, basically, especially with you, the addition of Mount Washington and Darnell in there.

Feels like they have prioritized protecting Aaron, and then let's figure out what we can do off of that.

Smart play by them, and what are your thoughts on their actual run capabilities to a Super Bowl?

Yeah, they're growing on me.

I didn't like them that much early in the year, but I really like Arthur Smith and what he's doing offensively.

I think he's doing a hell of a job.

And they went out and got all those guys on defense.

So, I mean, they should run away with this division right now.

Let's watch out for Joe Flacco.

Okay.

Now, there's obviously a lot of watching out for Joe Flacco with the Cincinnati Bengals.

And, you know, the Ravens are in the middle of their own problems.

Lamar Jackson is going to get back after the bye week.

Cleveland Browns have Tony Russo certainly up in arms up there.

So that's certainly a story in and of itself.

Feels like the AFC North, even last week, as the Ravens were still the odds-on-favorite to win the AFC North, has been the Steelers for a few weeks.

It's like, okay, the Steelers probably going to win this AFC North.

Feels like they have a good road to making that happen.

Offensively, though, Artie Smith and Aaron, have you seen any successful or explosive offenses that have had an extra mana protection in there?

Because every human is vital.

Okay.

Whenever you're talking about spread out offenses, they have as many offenses weapons as possible split out.

Only five offensive alignments.

So everybody else is basically being utilized as an offensive threat.

Whenever you bring somebody in and their focus is completely on protection, you're not taking away from one of your weapons.

There's only 11 people on the field.

How many people on the line?

Off the line.

How many people on the the line of scrimmage, off the line, whatever the case.

The opportunity to be a good offense in 2025 is much less whenever you have to worry about adding another body into protection.

It's like having a heavy box on the defensive side and still being able to protect the long ball.

Are they going to be able to navigate that and make explosives?

Because it feels like they're doing it right now, and it feels like they're only starting to start designing things out of this extra body protection package.

Yeah, I think you see it.

Same with Chicago.

It starts with the running game.

You know, they got a big offensive line, big tight end, run the football.

football, Aaron's doing his bootlegs, and that's how you push the ball down the field.

A lot of times we would use an offensive tackle.

You know, because our tight end couldn't block a good pass rusher.

I think the worst thing in the world is when your tackle slides down, your tight end is trying to block the best pass rusher.

That's bad ball.

That's bad ball.

So they got a tackle playing tight end.

Who can catch the ball?

And they still have fire move.

So they're doing a lot of 12.

And I think Artie Smith, to me, has always been one of the best running coordinators in the league in that play-action game.

Now, drop back and throw, not so fast.

Artie hasn't been protected.

No, I don't think they can protect.

Okay, I don't, they have stayed away from it completely.

They got him moving.

They got this.

They got a little bit of action.

It feels like they got a lot of dressing.

You're saying not sustainable to be able to do that for every play?

It's a first and second-down offense.

And they're doing a good job of staying ahead of the chains, keeping the third down and short-yarded stuff, and get the ball out of Aaron's hand quick.

Now, if they get into one of these games where they got to throw it 30 or 40 times, dropping straight back, I don't like.

Okay, on that note, DK Metcalf has been there for them.

They paid him $30 million in the offseason.

He has some explosive plays for that offense as well.

Adds a dynamic that the Steelers haven't had since the Killer Bees were out there.

And you can add in...

Mapletron.

Yeah, yeah.

Well,

no.

No.

Not Mapletron.

He did have 10 touchdowns, though.

Mapletron was unbelievable.

But Martavis Bryant, is that his?

When Martavis Bryant was out there.

The actual, yeah, he was, his nickname was Alien.

When it was him, Antonio Brown, and then Le'Veon Bell, and then Ben Rothesberger, and they they were doing their thing.

I mean, that was a juggernaut of who the hell are you going to try to stop on this day?

But with what they've been doing with DK coming in, he's hit the ground running for them, being clearly number one for them.

Yeah, and he's doing it differently.

B.A.

talked about the run game.

You got to have the run game.

And they run it like just good enough to where you have to respect it.

But DK, I think last year, he may have led the league in.

big plays where the ball traveled more than 20 yards in the air.

And this year, I don't think he has one, but he's getting the ball quick and then making those short catches turn into long games because he is still that explosive player.

Now, as the season evolves and you get towards the playoffs and stuff, coordinators will kind of clamp down on that.

So you're going to have to do something differently.

But Aaron is spinning it.

We know he'll be able to spin it forever, and he looks fully healthy to where he's a threat outside of that pocket.

And that's always tough on the defense.

D-butt just said something good there.

Hey, whenever we get later in the season, there, defense coordinators will be able to clamp down on some of these things.

Do you think there's enough weapons on that offense for them to have success in the playoffs?

AJ?

And what are your thoughts on how Aaron is playing right now?

Feels like it's a nice resurgence for this guy.

He's moving.

He looks quick.

He looks swift.

And he's spinning it all over the place.

There was one underthrow that he had in the first half of this game against Cleveland, 2DK.

Didn't make it to him.

It was a bad scene.

A lot of people praying on that moment.

The guy lost it.

The guy lost it.

The guy lost it.

Then later in the game, need one to DK.

Let me go ahead and put this thing in a bucket.

Arm talent, always going to be there.

Rarely misses.

Do you think that he's playing his best ball?

and how do you think he feels about it all i think yeah i mean i think he's playing great but i think he can he can play even better like i think as the season goes he gets even more and more healthy his legs are even under him as achilles gets better and better i think he he honestly is going to play better but as the season goes we know like once it starts getting cold you got that terrible field out there like you're gonna have to run the ball you know that play action is gonna be huge and i just think seeing aaron outside the pocket like this it's a great sign for all of us and especially pittsburgh fans because you know his he's got to be feeling good and i love how they get the ball like watch when DK gets the ball and he starts running full speed like who is going to tackle this guy he looks like an absolute like a terminator running down the field and it's just so fun to watch so yeah I think I think they have a great thing going they'll be able to evolve and change make little tweaks as the season goes as well yeah the high knee runners you know just as somebody that didn't have to tackle on every play just on kickoffs the returners that had violent knees when they were running were certainly ones that I did not enjoy you know because you're potentially catching a couple of those whenever they're running

cold you're out cold it gets right in the temple or the forehead you're out cold and he's scoring a touchdown yeah and there's a lot of power coming through that thing you know and DK is maybe the most powerful yeah that style of running Des ran angry Antonio Brown ran very angry

Brandon Marshall had big high knee whenever he was running Aquan Bolton oh yeah yeah yeah his whole body I mean Aquan Bolden was his whole body Peyton Hills those knees get going like this though AJ that's your life, I guess, just in an Adrian Peterson.

Here, watch Adrian Peterson in the open field.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Good luck.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, my God.

Frank Gore hitting the hole, Frank Trink.

Oh, gosh.

Sean Alexander.

It's A.J.

Hawkins.

Frank Gore's head.

Frank Gore's head is so hard.

That guy has so much respect for him.

How about Frank Gore just being like,

yeah, man, I enjoy just working my absolute ass off.

So after my Hall of Fame running back career throughout the hardest phase of running backs at the time, I'm getting directly into full-time boxing.

I'm in a gym three hours every day just getting my ass beat and doing this entire thing.

And then he gets into a fight, knocks a guy out.

It's, I think,

I don't know what fight it was for him.

Knocks this dude out, doesn't even care, just walks right back to his former.

Just go ahead and stand there.

And then he's like, all right, I'm going to keep it moving.

Frank Gore walked in, going, he's one of the greatest.

Still training like that right now.

Right now.

Right now, I saw Jonathan Taylor on the Downs, Josh Downs and Caleb Downs.

They have a podcast.

He was on there.

And they asked him about something about his footwork.

He was saying he still trains at the place.

And he's like, Frank Gore is still getting after.

I trained at the same spot.

Like, Frank Gore taught me how to be a pro.

Just watch it.

Like, watching Frank Gore, watching Fred Taylor, watching MJD.

Like, it was a whole Thomas Jones, like that whole group, like how they used to push each other, how they used to just talk shit.

You know, Frank.

Frank's going to talk shit to everybody.

Yeah, I remember you.

Yeah, I'll run your ass over and just keep on moving.

So like he, he, like, the, the work that he puts in the offseason, what these players do, everybody has their own shit.

But Frank Gore is kind of like the standard.

Yeah, I enjoyed whenever he was a cult.

So he picked us over.

I forget somebody else.

And we were just, I was pumped to have him because OG heard the legendary stories about him.

And then you sit down and talk with him.

Hilarious.

One of the greatest teammates.

Boy, his pads, the way he went about doing football was the best.

And then he showed up at

off-season workouts.

And I forget which strength coach it was.

We went through a a bevy of strength coaches there for a little bit and he wanted to do some game, some running game, something.

And the guy was basically implying like Frank should go first because he's a leader.

And Frank gave him a, nah, I'm okay.

And

didn't do it.

Okay.

And then I think there were some people that didn't know Frank.

They were like, is he not in shape or whatever?

It's like, no, no.

Frank is in better shape than everybody in here.

He's just not doing this bullshit right here at this exact moment.

He wasn't the only one.

He was beloved by our locker.

Oh, yeah.

And by the equipment staff, and by the trainers.

What an OG, man.

One of the perfect NFL players, just as a whole, it feels like everywhere he went, everybody was like, this guy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Here's him boxing.

This is exactly the video I saw.

We don't know who this is.

Yep.

Let me go ahead and get you.

And then

just walks away.

All right.

Sweet.

That's over.

Thanks.

See you guys.

Thanks.

All right, dude.

Can you imagine being that guy and just like getting into a fight and thinking, like, oh, I'll probably just have, you know, like some guy from the local gym.

like actually

you're gonna be fighting frank core uh unfortunately he was trying to wear no pads while playing in the nfl during the cte era he was trying to wear zero pads while he was out there because he just didn't like it the shoes him changing his shoes he was uh he never got hurt right like he so i got hurt in college i think he got hurt in college

and that's why he dropped yeah and i think there were some things said and then it was like oh is that right and then that was whenever there was a line of miami running backs yeah it was like him portis mcgay he edge

in there like all of them and and i if i recall the story going right i forget who told it somebody told the story it might have been frank ah it might have been somebody telling frank story it was like whenever it was his time to go he was like there wasn't like a pressure about being a miami running back it was like a mindset like oh yeah I'm going to be the next one that's going to go kill everybody.

Because all the Miami running backs were just killing everybody as soon as they got in there.

So there was like an excitement out of that running back room to get to the NFL because like, oh, we're going to, this is cake.

We're literally watching everybody do it.

But they had a method, a blueprint, which was work your fucking ass off, outwork everybody, and then you're obviously going to have to be tough.

They were special.

Those U days were special.

Not that they're not now, but I'm just saying it was special talent.

Yeah, I go all the way back to Alonzo Highsmith and Melvin Bratton.

I mean, I was recruiting Melvin

way back when.

I mean, they've had running backs forever and quarterbacks.

How about them being back?

How do you feel about the U being back?

Oh, they're back.

Obviously not good for Virginia Tech down here.

yeah they mario's got it really going and and he's a great recruiter i think they're going to kill it in florida again like they always have especially south florida let's go that's where this most of the best players are do you think virginia tech's going to try to hire mario cristoball out of miami no yes no shot announcement no shot okay there is a coach that's potentially available at this moment for you at virginia tech you and your crew that are going to be hiring the next head coach down there 229 million dollars being added into the athletics down there at virginia tech over the next five years i do believe so they are committed to sports and committed to ball.

I'd be excited to see you.

James Franklin is

now available for hire.

And allegedly, due to a contract of some sort, he is to pursue a job in media or coaching because any contract that he gets anywhere will offset what Penn State owes him, which is allegedly $49 million.

Now, the details of every contract, I don't think, is ever fully public, but the general consensus of it seems to be out there and accurate.

So they're looking for him to try to offset what they have to pay him.

He obviously can say, go into these interviews and say, I live in my mom's basement now.

I actually poop my pants every day.

So I can't even, I don't even know what football is.

I actually don't love the sport anymore.

You don't want to give me the job?

Damn it.

All right.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Media interview.

Every once in a while, my voice just stopped working.

So I don't think I'm good for media.

I'm so sorry.

All right.

You guys don't want to hire me?

Got it.

He can't do that.

I guess.

Yes, he should.

That's probably not in good faith.

He's not in good faith, but he could certainly somehow angle away and saying, I just told them my truth at the time.

I thought I was a good interview.

So he is going to be in the field again, we assume.

He loves coaching too.

I think he loves building relationships.

He's going to be out there.

Whenever you guys are looking for a coach or whenever a team is looking for a coach, somebody that's fired in a way that James Franklin is, is that good for his next job?

Or do you think bad for his next job, wherever he hits, especially in 2025?

Yeah, I don't think it's good to ever to be fired in mid-season like that.

But when you look at his track record, he's done a hell of a job at Vanderbilt, Penn State, everywhere he's ever been.

So he'll get a job, that's for sure.

He's 12 years in.

They've had success.

Now, a lot of people are burying him for not winning a national championship or I think even a Big Tech.

So

I think that is certainly a part of the conversation.

But they're in Ohio State's world.

They're in Michigan's world.

And how many Big Ten championship appearances do they have?

Well, they weren't in the Easy Conference.

They were in the other one.

They weren't in

the Iowa Hawk guys.

Hey, leaders and legends are both very tough sides of the Big Ten here.

Yeah, one of them has Ohio State and Michigan in them, and the other side does not.

So, you know, that was certainly something.

So, whenever you look at like the history and accolades and titles and awards, it's obviously going to be up against the two that have been running the entire conference, literally in regular season and everything like that.

But he turned that place around.

70-person operation.

I mean, it is a huge operation up there that that he has obviously been at the forefront of since the beginning.

So he knows how to run the modern college football.

Now, on that note,

you're pretty dialed in, I guess, because you're a part of this advisory council that would be hiring a new head coach.

How much of hiring a head coach for you guys, you had to come out and say $229 million.

Penn State is a job, seemingly, that has access to everything.

No matter what amount of money you need, we got it.

No matter what facility you need or ask you want for your building, you got it.

They have all the access to everything because they're alumni and they're donors.

They're all in on wanting to become Michigan or Ohio State.

They want that bad, especially for football.

So whenever you think about that type of job being available, is everybody on the table?

Because Heather Dennett yesterday, okay, who we are fans of.

And I guess I didn't hear it as clearly whenever she said it in real time.

And I might have just overlooked it 100% on me.

AJ, you heard it.

She was like, is Ryan Day happy at Ohio State at the end of the season?

And AJ, you gave a great look.

I watched a video back.

I I didn't even hear.

I think I was just.

I stepped on her a little bit while she was like rattling off coach.

Yeah, so there, I might have been somewhere else.

I didn't hear it in the moment.

I listened to it back afterwards, obviously, because it was a big conversation.

I'm like, holy shit, that would have been a huge piece of news for me to react to.

Because is that the reality in this world that we're in right now?

Where if you have everything, you can pitch anybody.

Players at any moment, you can pitch.

Coaches, you can pitch at any time.

Ryan Day leaving Penn State, not a reality.

I'm going to say that.

No.

AJ is going to say that.

I think Heather Dinitch, if she was told, hey, your life ends if you get this wrong.

Is Ryan Day ever going to leave Ohio State to go to Penn State?

She would say no, because what is?

She was just trying to make the metaphor though, like everything's on the table for Penn State.

Do you think that's an accurate work for the world that we're living in right now?

And how do you feel about that?

Is this totally?

Totally.

I think James Franklin raised the level of expectation at Penn State and what he did.

He took him to that precipice, couldn't quite get there, and it cost him his job, but he did a hell of a job to get him there.

And everything they got going on at Penn State, yeah, it's one of the top five jobs in the country.

Okay, top five jobs in the country.

How many people are going to be available?

Tone, how many coaches have been fired already?

Five?

Yeah, I was going to say five, six, seven, because

there was three this weekend.

Oh.

Yeah, Trent Bray from Oregon State, Trent Dilfer from UAB, and then James Franklin from Penn State.

So there's three this weekend.

Somewhere between like five and eight-ish, I believe, at this point.

Trent Dilpher was good to our show.

show.

He also created the anti-COVID spread.

Hell yeah.

Which worked.

Still doesn't get talked about.

Lipscomb Academy.

They had the lowest COVID

cases in the country.

Won state championship because of it.

He was talking to us because he's been very kind to us.

Whenever he's at Lipscomb Academy, the Mustangs down there in Nashville, he's a coach.

And he goes to UAB.

He's very kind to us.

Trent Doper's been very kind to us.

We've seen everything that's been on camera as him as a coach and also his record as a coach and everything that he said as a coach.

You know, UAB actually came at Brestcomb and said, this ain't like Alabama.

So, you know, what are we even talking about here to his own fans and his own media?

That's not going to end up working out.

He tells the truth too much.

Speaking of the truth, he told me he was on the show one time.

He grabbed a bottle.

He said, look,

this spray right here kills COVID.

I spray it on every locker.

Spray it on every seat.

There's no COVID.

Right here?

COVID spray.

Shortly after that, there was car wash machines that people were putting on doors.

You remember that?

Yeah, Broncos.

Yeah.

When people would walk through.

Broncos walked through on the way to practice.

I remember that.

That's his shit.

I think that was this shit.

I think it was.

Wow.

He's going to focus fully.

Well, I guess now we don't have much use for it now.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Let's hope not.

Okay, let's not be.

Let's keep it on ice.

Yeah, let's keep it on the back pocket.

I spoke too soon, yeah.

And we don't need anybody, especially if this COVID spray works, which I don't think everybody bought into it this last time.

But if this spray does work, let's make sure we don't call it like horse base going forward.

You know, let's make sure we don't just make it.

Yeah, let's not make it look so bad if it actually does work the next time that we have that going on.

But let's certainly keep it in the back pocket.

Let's certainly keep that in the back pocket.

There was a stat about Josh Allen since before COVID, his lowest QBR since before COVID.

Think about how long ago that feels, COVID.

And then think about how long Josh Allen's been in the league.

Think about how great he has become.

And then think about what happened to them last night.

Is McDermott going to be okay?

They lose two in a row for like the third season straight or something like that.

I forget.

I saw the stat.

Maybe third straight season where they lose back-to-back games.

It's always loud with McDermott, AJ.

He's got to win a Super Bowl.

Is that kind of what it is now at this point?

He's got to make a run.

He's got to make a deep run, and they got to look good doing it, I think.

I don't, I mean, geez, it's crazy to think with how good the Bills are.

And like I said, I said earlier in the season, I think the Bills are going to the Super Bowl.

I really do.

I don't know if I'm as confident now as I was before.

I think they need to get healthy for sure, but I definitely trust Josh Allen.

I really do.

Got to be able to stop the run.

In this firing of coaches season that we're in all of a sudden, okay, it's been getting pretty loud.

The advisor consultant role.

Like, let's say a coach gets fired from a Big Ten school, then an NFL team wants him to come over and maybe consult.

Robert Sala gets fired from the Jets.

He's at the Green Bay Packers two days later being a consultant for Matt LaFleur's team.

Are you guys like, how does that work out?

Do they reach out to you guys?

Do you reach out to them whenever you see they're fired?

Offer up a role?

Do you want to be in ball?

Hey, we got an opportunity.

How do those things kind of come together?

Yeah, I think agents have a lot to do with it.

And especially, have you been together before?

It's an easy phone call.

Hey, you want to come help us?

You want to go sit at home?

And it's like, yeah, I'll come help you.

You know, just to stay in the game.

And but

what are they actually doing?

Like, what did Salah do, you think, whenever he was out there with the Packers?

I assume it was something.

Yes.

Like, his title was like, he was like an offensive analyst, pretty much.

Frayboy out in Cleveland last year?

No.

Defensive.

Yeah.

Yeah, what are they doing?

Are they just assisting him?

I think they're coming in, looking at what you're doing, breaking down the next opponent, helping you game plan a week ahead of time, and cuts down the hours on some of the guys, you know, and especially if you trust them.

Well, you're going to get into the consulting road here, right?

I already am, but nobody listens.

Amen.

They don't need to either.

Amen.

They're doing too good.

But when you're in the consulting, what is it?

Like, hey, this is what you should be thinking for this particular game in my eyes.

I think if you're an offensive, defensive analyst, yes.

In my role, it's just

talking to the gym, talking to the head coach about the next one.

And

how the hell are we going to get these guys healthy?

How is that?

Do you enjoy this role or no?

Oh, yeah, it's easy.

It's really easy.

And two of my best friends.

Get a chance to still feel like you're a part of it, too, right?

What a magical year it is.

It really is so far.

I mean,

get those receivers back and get the right tackle, right guard back.

Well, the right guard not coming back, but get the right tackle back.

That's a lot of firepower that Tampa Buccaneers team has.

Oh, yeah.

I don't think anybody was thinking the Tampa Buccaneers Super Bowl, you know, because everybody was on the Philadelphia Eagles in the air.

Everybody's like, Philadelphia Eagles are going to return and be their thing.

They obviously still have very much a winning record, but everybody's turned against them.

Then you watch this Buccaneers team.

They're 5-1 at the moment.

Then they put out what a predictive

super wild card weekend seeding would look like.

And you got two teams at the top of this thing that nobody could have predicted.

You got the Colts, number one seed in the AFC, of course.

Just like we've been saying, AJ.

For a long time.

Just like we've been saying.

Okay.

Then you got the Buccaneers as the number one seed seed in the NFC.

It's like going into the season.

No way would anybody be predicting this after week six.

So you got something special brewing down there, just like we have.

And then you look at the teams that are still in, and then the teams that are missing.

Congrats to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Oh, yeah.

Love what they're doing.

Then you look at some of those teams that have a lot of injuries.

It's like, they're here now.

Will they be around here in about two weeks, three weeks?

We shall see.

Yeah, it's crazy just looking at the wildcard team for the NFC.

Like all three of those guys were, what, the top three teams when it came to odds to win the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season?

And now they're not even the top of their own division.

Or I guess the Packers probably weren't just because people were still high on the Lions, but still, like, it's just insane how much you know, toss-up there is.

And then, look, look at the one team that's missing and the one team that's on there: the Vikings without Darnold and Darnold with the Seahawks.

Now, it's just insane.

Yeah, the NFC West has a lot of

representation in playoffs.

Is what we're seeing.

Yeah, three out of the four teams is great.

Cardinals,

man, Kobe was spinning.

He was.

He was.

Buddha Baker, getting to watch him play football.

Oh, baby.

You guys had a great interaction.

That's so much fun.

Watching Buddha Baker play football is a lot of fun.

I assume that's what Cardinals people think.

You obviously coached him out there.

What just a phenomenal football player?

Whenever we talk about people that we would like, Max Crosby, we love Max Crosby.

It'd be cool to see him.

Buda Baker, it'd be cool to see him again, you know.

at a contender.

They had a pick.

They come down and celebrate in front of the suite.

Then they jog down, talk their shit, okay, amongst everybody.

Budabeka turns around, looks, points directly at me,

jogs away.

It's like, yes, I love everything about that.

We got to turn over two plays later.

That's why FYI.

FYI, our defense said, excuse me, okay, that's cute.

Let's go ahead and do that and let's run it back.

But watching him play football was fun.

And Arizona, such a beautiful place.

Obviously, you've had success there and coached there.

They're the only team in the NSC West that's like no chance of making it, feels like.

Yeah, I think they lost three games in the last play.

Yes.

And they just can't quite get over that hump.

But Marvin Harrison Jr.

is going to be special, man.

He's come out of it now.

He's coming out of that little funky head.

But Jacoby Prissette has played great wherever he's been.

I agree.

Started here with the Indianapolis Colts.

He was the one calling the team meetings whenever he was the backup quarterback.

Remember, Andrew Luck was a starting quarterback.

Jacoby was backup.

Jacoby was the one calling like certain meetings and leading, I guess, in some of it.

Always been respected, always been appreciated behind the scenes.

He's one of those journeyman backups.

And I think the Colts probably, if they didn't say it, I think there was a little bit of problem, like, hey, we'd rather not.

You know, like with Kyler, we understand what we got.

I think Shane Steichen and Gannon obviously know each other very well, but that changes for things.

Jacoby going in there in his first game, nice breath of fresh air, used to play here, let it loose, really nothing to lose.

That's when these backups are most dangerous.

That first game.

When it's like, wheeling, dealing, get a chance, opportunity.

I've been on the sideline for so long.

It's my time.

Let's go ahead and do this.

They know enough to get their shit by.

They're good enough, obviously, to still be in the league that they're at.

That's a dangerous scenario.

And I thought Jacoby was going to do it.

I thought we were going to lose that game.

Little I know this is the brand new Colts.

This is the number one overall seed, Indianapolis Colts.

And thank God, AJ, for that.

Yeah, thank God for that.

I mean, yeah, the Colts definitely stepped up, but you're right.

Every time, like Jacoby, when I see him playing, like, he gives me confidence that his team can win almost every time.

Like, he just looks, whatever it is, when he's sitting in the pocket and he lets it rip, he just looks confident, looks like he knows what he wants to do, and he's not out there guessing.

Like he just seems, I don't know.

He could definitely start for some teams in the league, I think.

Yeah, we say that about a bunch of backups.

And then we see some teams, and they have the worst backups of all time.

Yeah.

You know, and then you hear Tom Moore's quote about backup quarterbacks.

It's like, we're preparing with Peyton Manning.

If we lose Peyton Manning, we're fucked and we don't practice fucked.

That's it.

But now

you need backups.

Yeah.

You need a backup quarterback.

You need it.

Not that Arizona does.

You know, Jacoby, obviously, very good.

It doesn't matter.

They're not going to...

Come on, Arizona, dude.

That place is awesome.

I would like, who knows if where I end up, wife, family, and I end up retiring.

Arizona is certainly on the list of places we're headed.

It'd be great if they were incredible at football.

It would be really cool if they got even better at football.

They can, right, you think?

They were rocking.

Our last three years, they were rocking.

That stadium was fun to be in.

Where'd you live out there?

I lived in Chandler down in the South Valley.

Oh,

cool.

How was the golf out there?

That's the best golf lake.

Some of the best.

If you like desert golf, Wishbarock is one of the most special places in the world.

What's desert golf?

Just flat?

Desert and green.

Got it.

Normally bigger fairways or smaller fairways?

Each course is so different, and they're all unique.

They have so many.

They have more golf courses than McDonald's.

It's one of the Chamber of Commerce things.

Wow.

In Arizona?

In Scottsdale, and

that whole area, Maricopa County.

Okay, so Lake Golf, desert golf, beach golf.

What else?

Lake for me, and then desert.

And then what other styles are there?

There's beach, there's obviously farm golf.

Northern tree-lined.

Firestone to me is one of the iconic places.

Hilly.

Hilly.

Elevation for sure.

Okay, that's a style of golf course.

And then Augusta is the hilliest of all.

And the prettiest of all.

How'd you play there?

Pretty good?

Not too bad.

Not too bad.

How were you?

Did you have dinner there?

I had lunch, but it was fun.

It was a great experience.

You have a couple cocktails out there?

Oh,

of course.

Did you drown any putters out there?

No, not at Augusta.

That would be awesome.

You should think about it if you ever get to play there.

Just to say you did.

Down there at Amen Cornermade, put one in the woods.

Go get it, pal.

Craziest thing I saw this year was a guy taking the leak in the creek.

At August.

Brother!

Brother, act right.

Baseball happened in a big way last night.

Obviously, football is happening, so we can't watch.

Actually, had the quad box on.

Sure.

Had both Monday Night Football games on.

Had a baseball game on up there, which I believe was the Dodgers-Brewers.

Had that thing top corner.

And then there was a reality show of some sort that was playing down here.

Okay, that was the quad box as a whole.

I think it was on Fox, some sort of reality show.

I don't know what it was.

It was an option in there.

Didn't find myself looking at the baseball corner one time.

And I didn't like it.

I want to let you know, I did not like it.

And I guess there was multiple games on, so I should have maybe got rid of the reality competition show that was any other one.

Where is Blue Jays during the day?

Okay, so that was not on last night.

So I enjoyed the multiple sports happening at the same time, but what I realized is it's going to be hard for me to pay attention to anything that isn't at the NFL if they're going against the NFL.

So if you could please let me know what the hell happened.

I think not only myself, a lot of people would be...

Right, Bruce?

I don't want to talk for you.

Oh, yeah.

A lot of football people, I think, would be thankful if you kept us updated on what the hell happened in baseball.

I also had it in the multi-box.

I didn't have it in the quad box.

It's impossible to do with the baseball game because you can really just the ball.

You can't see the ball.

Yeah, exactly.

So it's very difficult uh but yeah brewers and um dodgers last night uh

first or early in the game here there's a deep fly ball to center field from max muncie the bases are loaded and i mean just absolute chaos is the first time this has ever happened sal freelick goes up he thinks you know he maybe caught it it bounces off the wall he throws it into the relay and that's a force out uh at home plate from a guy who is on third base because there is just mass pandemonium and then wilson contreras realizes they don't know what the hell's going on.

I'm going to run down to third base and step on this.

That's an inning-ending double play.

In the scorebook, it went down as a

8-6-2 ground into a double play.

He almost hit a grand slam, but it technically gets ruled as a, he grounded into a double play because you can see there.

Ball comes loose.

Once it hits the wall, it is a live ball.

And Tayascar Hernandez at third base kind of just didn't know what the hell was going on, lost it.

Throwed a home plate, beats him home.

That's a force out.

And then the catcher has the wherewithal to run down to third base and step on the uh the base and boom don't play enzyme in it that's brewer's baseball though right yeah beats bar everybody outfielder had no idea what the hell was going on though it looked like in his face he's very intense i got a dan lanning about him a little bit sal freelich yeah

this was very intense i mean he once he loses the hat here he really doubles it if it hits the yellow it's not a home run so it bounced off you know like he didn't actually catch it it came out of his glove and then hit the wall so it's but if that hits the yellow not a home run it's got to be oh it's got to be over it like it the yellow part, you know, and that's one of those things where, like, if you're a Dodgers fan, you're bitching because you're saying, hey, that touched the yellow line.

That's a grand slam.

But technically, it has to hit like a certain part of it to actually be a homer.

So he keeps it in the field play, you know, bobbles it.

Guy at third base has no idea.

He just assumes he caught it.

So he's going to tag up and then run back.

So that was just like a big cluster fuck.

But didn't matter.

Dodgers, a little bit later.

That was the first time ever?

Yeah, first ever 8-6-2 double play in the playoffs.

I mean, that shit never happens it may never happen

man we witnessed we didn't witness we learned about history happening while we were alive last night eight six two double play aj eight center fielder yeah okay because the way it goes around obviously you got one who's catcher

one is the pitcher yep then two's the catcher yep and then three is actually four then four is five And then you got six out there.

Seven's Roman in the left field.

Eight center field.

And then nine's right field.

Boom.

Nailed it.

Wow.

What is third base?

Three?

Third base is...

No, three is first base.

And four is second.

And then you go over to six is third base.

Because five's shortstop?

Yeah.

Or no, other way around.

Six is up here, and then five is down in the corner.

Third base is five.

Okay, so one is pitcher.

Yes.

Two is catcher.

Three first base.

Right.

Four, second base.

Correct.

Five, third base.

Correct.

Six shortstop.

Yes.

Seven left field.

Eight center field.

Yep.

Nine.

I'm a classic nine.

yeah exactly because i played for the washington wallet things in the frontier league you did yeah i got the ball a couple times you know if you're playing a lefty dominant team they'll pull that thing to you you know you gotta make some plays make some grabs but then

well that's the thing there was a couple guys that were lefties but they took that thing dead center just

still going against our pitcher he had a rough night but he's a good guy so we won't judge him but the 8-6-2 double play certainly something i'd never seen before i demuted it for god baseball's around a long time long time a A lot of stats in the history of baseball.

A lot of number combinations.

Crazy that that happened.

So that means the Milwaukee Brewers were blessed by the baseball gods and got a big-time win because they accomplished something that never happened before?

Not so much.

Blessed by the baseball gods for sure.

But Freddie Freeman, who is just a monster in the playoffs, basically said, I don't give a shit.

And he hit a solo bomb.

This is a very low-scoring game.

I kind of, you know,

the Brewers needed to score immediately after that happened when you have that much good Juju on your side.

They didn't.

Freddie Freeman hits a homer and then later later they walk Mookie Betts with the bases loaded.

So, you know, just not good.

Not good.

You're going to be down 2-1.

And then the Brewers still had an opportunity.

Bottom of the ninth bases loaded.

Bryce Terang, unfortunately, strikes out on a high-fastball.

This was

right before there was an inside pitch that almost hit him.

He avoided it, and everyone's kind of saying the day after, hey, you got to wear that one.

Got to wear that one.

Oh, that would do.

Because that would have scored a run.

That would have tied it.

Oh, no.

And then he goes down swinging on a ball.

Next pitch.

Yep.

Oh, no.

Grand Slamy potential.

Could have just needed a base hit.

Base hit would have won it.

Oh,

no.

Tough goal for that guy.

What's his name?

Bryce Terang.

Terang, we need you back, bud.

Cool name.

It'd be okay.

Be okay.

He had a big homer against the Cubs, so he's still got a little good juju.

Terang's a dog.

He is.

You need to remember that.

Yeah, Brewers must win tonight.

They play tonight.

God, they play all the the time.

Yeah.

Don't they just play all the time?

Seven-game series.

Got to get it in.

I love that.

Pat Murphy's team's ready to do it.

Any other games happening?

Yeah, and then the Mariners and the Blue Jays played yesterday afternoon, first inning.

Julio Rodriguez,

three-run homer for the Mariners.

I tell you what, the Mariners have kind of just come into Toronto and said, we don't give a shite.

We got Big Dumper and a lot of other guys that can hit the baseball out of the ballpark.

And that's what they did.

Treya Savage, the the guy who killed the Yankees, was pitching.

And then Louis Varlin, who also killed the Yankees a little bit, gives up a homer to Jorge Polanco.

This is his eighth RBI in seven games in the playoffs.

And then Josh Naylor, for good measure, goes yards.

Are they all built the exact same?

They look like five Cal Rawleys right there.

Did that not look like there was like six Cal Rawleys on the team?

I didn't know they had a right-handed Cal Rawley, too.

Naylor, for sure, is an absolute tank playing first base.

He's a big son of a bitch.

He talks a lot of shit, too.

So him getting going is huge.

But Mariners steal two in Toronto, and now they're going back to Seattle.

And there's a chance they might sweep him.

I don't know.

Blue Jays are very good, but boy, this is the worst case scenario for them.

So they were in Toronto yesterday, so they're playing now?

Did they start that game in Seattle today?

No, no, no, no.

Travel day.

Travel day.

Oh, really?

I didn't know they allowed.

Well, international, you know, obviously.

Yeah, cost them, especially nowadays with the

traffic controls.

Yes, exactly.

Everything's going to be government shutdown one.

Crazy.

Crazy what's going on in the sky?

Shout out to baseball.

They need not go on Monday nights.

Like, what are you doing?

Just fucking move it.

Seven-game series?

Yeah.

I mean,

it's a long game.

They're playing for the World Series.

And I don't know if the World Series is lined up to be on like a Monday night or a Sunday night.

I'm sure it is.

But, you know, I mean, that's baseball.

They're not going to do that.

Yeah, but we need them to do that.

It would be cool to watch that.

The big dumpers over there in Seattle.

I agree.

I agree.

Everybody wants to see the dumper and Otani.

Notani.

Oh, that's going to be a good one.

Probably what it's going to be.

An O Dumps

World Series?

Yeah, exactly.

How would that do numbers-wise?

Because LA's in it, it would be big.

Probably.

Yeah.

And then they'll also pull in the, I mean, we saw like the Japanese and like the international market numbers because of the diapers.

Yeah, so.

Does America care about the Japanese numbers?

No, but the MLB does for sure.

I wonder if the local businesses, that is interesting.

Do they show them, they don't show American commercials probably?

Is MLB running two different advertising companies?

I would assume so, but I have no idea.

Yeah, because I guess they probably just license it through some TV network.

Right.

NHK or whatever.

Yeah, that is it, right?

I forget if it's H or not.

I just know the N and the K.

I forget if it's an R or not.

Yeah, because we thought it was not Japan.

No.

We saw the N and the K.

So that was 100% on us.

We didn't know the TV network over there.

We do know baseball's throwing hot.

Hell yeah.

All right, on the way out of a giveaway.

Now, BA, because of what you did last week, we will not ask you to try to do that again.

What we will do is ask a man named Debun, okay?

Now, there's a new game being played here in the Thunderdome, and it's a take on an old game.

So at the old office, we used to have you basketball, because only you can make this game go, and you can be a good person, and only you can uphold the rules that there are none really written.

It's a lot of unwritten rules.

It's a lot of,

you you know, there's a little bit of a, it's like hockey, you would say, maybe, or baseball, where there's, you know, you can kind of stretch and kind of teeter with the rules a little bit.

What is real, what is not.

That's you basketball, and only you can make it great.

Well, there's a new version of you basketball here at the Thunderdome, and there's only been three games played.

I'm sorry, two games played.

There was supposed to be three games, but the champs decided not to because they had such a hot start, a hot start.

There's only one championship team,

and that's the D's, Bone and Butt.

Bones and butt.

It's a workshop of the name.

Bones and butt.

And

bones and butt.

Bones and butt.

The D's.

Bone and butt.

D-bone and D-butt.

And I'll tell you what, they're unbelievable.

This might be D-Bone's game.

And D-Butt, obviously, we know there's an eight-foot hoop involved.

So D-Butt's going to be floating above that rim at all times.

That hoop on on the far side there aj is down at eight feet the game is played with smaller balls like uh pop shot balls uh like uh these these size balls what a game if this makes sense right here so it's very much a state fair game now what we had to do was find some game that somebody in the office could beat me and foxy at okay and it appears as if you add in a state fair type style game others can certainly have success foxy is that what it feels like amen and d-butt and d-bone the d's bone and butt they put it on us.

And we weren't the only ones.

They beat the hell out of Bruce is what?

Bruce had a tough go.

Bruce had a tough go.

Got hot late.

Yep.

Tone had a tough.

It was 8-0 games to 11.

Tone was carrying me.

I was on the struggle bus out there.

Late, though.

You guys didn't start making shots till late.

It was 8-0.

Tone was making shots.

He just, he had an enemy in his own camp.

Airballs are worth negative points, and you can certainly make one shot, and then the airball follows you, and all of a sudden, it's only worth one point instead of two.

With that being said, D-Bone

would throw a breaking curve ball the length of this hoop or the length of this court.

That thing would start on the right side of the backboard and curve in

right in between the box, splash multiple times.

Felt like a Hail Mary, a prayer, if you will.

And then it continued to fall.

And then on the defensive side, the D's, bone and butt, they're trying to break the fucking rim down here.

D-Bone's hanging on the rim.

It's attached to a pillar in our fucking building, okay, that we had to build build up.

This thing's brick, brick wall.

I honestly have no idea how sturdy it is.

It's obviously sturdy enough to hold that backboard, and it's sturdy enough for fucking D-bone to wreck the rim.

Not many more times, though.

10 seconds, this guy's

hanging on his, trying to brighten the wall.

The wall's coming down, I think.

Just like we just saw, I think there's a chance that he was a throwback shaq yesterday.

Now, the game involves tips, which he still doesn't fully comprehend.

Towards the end, though, he started figuring it out.

Oh, yeah.

At the beginning, he would catch a pass, pass, take two steps,

dunk it, and go, huh?

It's like, you got to tip it.

I jumped.

I jumped at the end.

Then he mastered it.

This might be D-Bone's game.

And I'm going to say, that would not be good for this entire office if D-Bone gets great at this game.

I think it was a fluke.

I was going to get one of a basketball hoop in three days.

Or a wall.

Yeah.

We'll see if it's a fluke.

We'll see if it's a fluke.

D-Bone, you want to throw a U-ball from the foul line into the hoop?

If you make it...

Wait, wait, wait.

Can we give him the other ball, please?

That's not...

Is this the ball you want?

Okay, you can use both, I assume.

No, only need one.

Oh, he doesn't like the dimples.

No, he likes the...

He complained about the ball for sure.

But he has also a big winding, bending ball, so the

painted side of it is certainly, it helps him.

D-Bone, for 25 people, you can win $500.

All you have to do is bury that ball.

Into that eight-foot hoop right over there and continue your U-ball dominance.

Your teammate, D-Butt, has some motivational words.

You're a national champion, so just do what you do and back-to-back champion.

So make me proud, partner.

Some would say it is a world championship.

I would say it's a fluke championship, just like Foxy, but they did beat both teams that they played yesterday, Foxy.

We'll see.

Good luck, Bone.

B.A., anything to say to Bone as he attempts to throw this basketball into a hoop about the length of a court?

Do your thing, baby.

Do your thing, baby.

Why don't you go ahead and do your thing?

25 people, $500.

D-Bone, the current reigning world champion of U-ball.

Oh.

Airball.

That would be minus one right there.

Build up.

That actually carries into the next game.

We did that one time yesterday.

Okay, D-Bone, national champion, obviously in football, D3 football, world champion at U-Ball.

And Foxy, how do you feel after watching that knowing that he is your champion?

This guy stinks.

We knew it was coming.

Yesterday was a fluke.

Bone, you have absolutely no chance.

He said you did a great job.

Now, if you were able to make this, 25 people, $500,

all you got to do is make it now he does have a band-aid around his middle finger

yeah because we have chain link uh netting and obviously big shack here diesel had to grab on that thing and he got a little bit of a whiplash of a chain around it so he had to put a bandaid on that in the middle of the game i will say didn't miss a snap okay didn't miss a snap kobe but there is a chance that that's going to affect the that's going to rest in peace that is going to affect the throw here coming off that middle finger last opportunity here debone don't listen to what foxy said that was that was obviously some very real things.

I agree with him, actually.

25 people, 500.

Oh,

that was closer.

Go work around.

Hey, you're still the champ.

What's up, Bone?

Bone also potentially falls in the camp of being sick of the giveaways.

He could.

Which some people in the Thunderdome certainly are.

A lot of people are saying, let's not be giving them money.

Let's make sure we keep that in this way.

Bone's thinking about Christmas bonuses.

If I make this, Sean,

$12,500 out of the kitty.

Yeah.

He missed on purpose, then.

That's our champion.

Thank you, Debo.

Good point, Bob.

Yeah, but how long do you think you guys are champs?

I know you didn't want to play that third game yesterday.

We're fighting champs, so we gave the Thunderdome an opportunity and tone.

I mean, look, they made a go at it at the end there, so we'll win two more today.

Only two.

What if BA wants to get in there and start dancing?

This might be his game, actually.

It might be.

Ain't nothing with my head and all my shoulder working, bro.

Camera.

All three rotator cup gone.

I can't wait to see high school Hall of Famer AQ Shipley do.

This is his game.

Just how loud he's going to throw that.

Just the way he's going to throw that thing down there is already enjoyable.

And then him trying to.

Yes.

Oh, my God.

Who's his teammate going to be?

I don't know.

I've got an opening.

There you go.

Tone.

Wow.

Oh,

Tone huge.

Oh, no, Bruce.

Tone.

Bruce got fired?

Tone made three straight, I think, at one point.

I think Tone made three straight at one point.

As for his release, I mean, you guys are going to have to figure out your team's dynamics.

All I know is me and Foxy win in this first game that's about to happen here, and then we're going to be the champs going forward.

Whoever Tone decides to team up with, we'll be excited to see you.

That's what we'll say.

And then if anybody else, if you want to drive in from Ohio, AJ, just know that the U-ball court is waiting for you.

You need to know that.

So you're getting dunked.

How How many, do you get, can you tip it back and forth, what, three times?

Yes.

It's a dunk tip or how?

Okay.

There are dunks, yes.

And the issue was

D-Bone D's bone and butt.

Bone,

he

got you off the ground.

Yes.

Catching ball, turning, pivoting, maybe even doing one of these.

Drop drops,

then dunking it.

Yeah.

And then saying,

you know, that whole thing.

But towards the end, D-Butt was throwing it up in the air, off the backboard to himself, ooping to D-but.

I mean, they weren't.

just throwing up to D-Butt all day long.

That's all Bone's job should be.

Hey, you get it and just get it up in the air for me.

Yeah, but you got to remember, butt in Bone and Butt, he can jump up and

he can literally throw it down in the hoop.

They were unbelievable on the defensive end, which was once a massive weakness for D-Bone, okay, because D-bone has no touch, has now become a very big upside for D-Butt.

That's why I'm saying he might have found his shit here.

He might have found his shit here.

And

we're going to have to understand that's going to add a different D-bone into the Thunderdale game.

Oh, yes, certainly.

He's going to be peacocking around here, I think.

As he should.

I'm going to be watching his feet a little bit closer.

Oh, here we go.

I think he should.

Yeah, you're the champ.

Here we are.

And unlike the NFL, we're going to call shit against you guys.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Kansas City Chiefs got no penalties.

Yeah, right.

D-bone, all of them.

Fucking.

You guys called him.

You didn't let him slide.

It wasn't us, too.

The two points off the board.

Independent.

That was Tone Diggs.

Toe Diggs was not playing off.

Yeah, we had the Young.

The Uncle Donald.

Well, we all know.

Bone will be the bell of the ball playing this game until he fucking hangs on the rim and shatters the backboard and everyone's pissed at him because we got to get a new basketball hoop in here.

That is a possible opportunity.

Just hope the backboard doesn't split him in half.

Well, just don't get Russell York to do the officiation.

Okay.

Back to that.

He needs to be better.

And I can't believe he was in control.

That's what I think I'm learning.

I've said this before.

You know when you're watching a commercial for a company and then you learn about what your company's been doing to you?

Like a banking company has a commercial.

And they go, we don't insert name of terrible fucking things that your bank is definitely doing to you.

It's like, I didn't know what bank was doing that.

This rules guy, us finding out that he was in charge during a time of our existence, hear posts every time he opens his mouth.

It's like, I'll Berto River on at one point.

He would go and speak.

And it's like, you need to do less of that because I'm losing.

confidence in the entire process, the way you do that.

If I would have known this Russell York guy was there, we would have maybe stopped watching the the entire league.

This guy's got no idea.

That's unbelievable.

Then who else?

Who's the guy you're mad at?

Aiden Hill.

Oh, is that his name?

There's some refs that are just notoriously bad.

Like, there are some guys that are just not good and they still get gigs.

And I'm not saying he's notoriously bad.

It feels like he definitely this weekend had some bad ones, but it's like there's some bad refs.

I think Dean Blandino does a great job on Fox.

I think Gene Sterator does an incredible job on CBS.

Like those people are very important.

Like that is very important to the broadcast.

That is very important to the game.

It's just like the white cap having confidence.

You are speaking for the sport.

You are speaking for our entire league.

You are the game.

You are the entire thing.

So the experts got to be good too.

Like the white cap certainly needs to have Moxie.

The white cap needs to understand the game in and out.

The white cap has to be able to be on an ISO worldwide.

49 million people.

Who's it on?

This guy with one open mic.

Who's he speaking for?

Everybody associated with this league and this broadcast.

They have to have Moxie and have it right.

And then we don't need the expert chirping in wrong.

Like we don't need, you don't need to be that, you just need to be not a part of it if you're going to be wrong.

Like that is, you're making things worse, not better in this entire time.

Well, and that's the leeway I have with Adrian Hill.

Thank you, Bruce.

That's his name.

Like this isn't his job.

He's just, this is his side job.

So I don't feel bad going after him because he's not losing his job.

He's just losing what he does on Sundays.

Say, that's the full-time ref thing that obviously there's BA.

Look at Bingo.

He'll get me stuck.

Bingo.

Exactly.

No, I'm going to.

I'm not backing down from Adrian Hill because we won.

So I have, I feel as though, the most conviction to say something because if I don't, and then the Colts or the Bucks or the Packers or any of D-Buff's teams lose in prime time and it is him, then we have no grounds to bitch on me.

That's why we just look like we're sore losers.

Exactly.

For excuses, because anytime you blame the refs, the other side automatically just says, loser mentality.

That's a loser mentality.

Don't know the rules.

Now, on that note, there's a lot lot of fans bitching about calls and the fans are wrong and it's like you're kind of the boy who cried wolf here you're kind of whenever bad calls actually happen everybody just kind of says these people don't even know what they're talking about because how often there's complaints about like actual right calls you know what i mean aj we're always going to complain about calls but whenever we get like up in arms about calls that are actually right it kind of defeats the the entire, hey, these guys suck type thing.

Cause then the NFL can go, uh-uh.

Yep.

There's always going to be complaints about our riffs.

We're always striving to get better.

But on that note, with a lot of backlash, the actual rules of the game are bubbled up.

We should have definitely looked at bubbling, but this is definitely what the rules are.

And then they go back and basically say, no argue, peasants.

We are not changing anything.

So whenever there's actual problems, like if somebody's 30 yards away from a play and doesn't do pass interference, worst call obviously.

And then you call offensive pass interference after a touchdown

is kind of scored, clearly taking back a touchdown for something, it's It's like, that should be talked about.

Like, that should be talking.

And this isn't the only thing during this entire game.

I think there were numerous things through the game.

It's like, are we going to get any accountability from these people?

We would like to know what happened.

And that's exactly why, like, after the game, it's fine.

Like, okay, I'll read the pool report.

And then you read the pool report.

And it's like, oh, okay, so I actually will put my Adrian Hill needs to be fired from the NFL forever hat on.

And I won't take it off until he does.

Yeah, and let's see if he bounces back.

But the accountability of refs has always been the question.

And B.A.

is a guy who he gets on a refs that are there to practice you know like big 10 refs are coming to practice with the indianapolis colts and they can get it if they throw the wrong flag you certainly have a standard for refs but they change lives legacies it's games fire people side job side business

only it's the only billion dollar industry where part-time people make the decisions

how long have you been pitching the the well we had it we had the union broke when we had the scabs and we had that crazy call up in Seattle

on the Hail Mary and everybody went crazy and we gave in.

It's the strongest union in the country.

The refs?

Yeah.

Really?

Look at their deal.

So they don't have to give any explanation to anyone.

They're totally, they're untouchable.

In the NFL, they just bend the knee.

Well, they have to because they're saying the agreement that they made.

So whenever the fail mary happens, I think is what BA just said.

And this is a piece of information that I guess I'm learning in real time.

I don't know if it actually is.

But in this moment, I assume the ref unions who are trying to get a new deal with the nfl say excuse me you want this to happen to get high school officials because they they weren't even college officials because the college officials wanted to become nfl officials so they didn't want to be scabs to go against the nfl union because they hoped to one day become nfl officials so this was literally the refs that knew they would never become nfl refs which means these are all the assest refs of all time that were out there, let alone this, the fail marry.

You're talking about putting the ball in the wrong hash every time, putting it on the wrong yard line every like even just the logistics of going through a game.

They fucked it all up and what he's saying is the ref union called the NFL and said is this is this what you guys want keep making a mockery of the game and then the NFL bet to D and said yeah we need you back here because this is on prime time and they had what we like to call leverage in the negotiation how long is that deal for do we know and do we understand what that is I think it comes up every four or five years but it's still it's still ways out and it is a strong union and a strong deal for them You don't have to talk.

Well, I got plenty of time.

You're not the only one, brother.

No doubt.

And we bring it up to Goodell, right?

And he goes, we look around at other leagues and there's full-time officials and we don't think that their accuracy rate is any.

He like always has it.

And then like last night for the illegal formation, I saw a lot of Bears fans complain about it.

You look back at that, calls it before the ball is thrown, before the touchdown happens.

And certainly an argument could be made that the tackle is too far back.

So like Bears fans going crazy about that.

And the NFL could just go.

We've called this across the entire league.

We've done this all the time.

We did this right.

It's like they grandstand on those moments when they're right and then whenever the actual things happen like that offensive pass interference is that's why you make it makes you wonder actually well and now you can't help but wonder like what what

what's going on here like how is this because even the zoom in thing he's running doesn't even think about throwing a flag nope okay the ref over there so it's like and it doesn't even make sense football play wise like what because the pool report after was saying he was caught because he was blocking during like a he was not blocking yeah but like he wasn't blocking number one and why would he be blocking like 30 yards away from the pass?

Probably not even knowing at that point the ball was thrown to pop.

Like it was, and then not seeing a flag.

I watched all 22.

I'm looking at every riff that would have thrown a flag.

This was this.

It's weird.

If this was a Chiefs, like...

You would have been hearing it would have been a much louder, much louder thing.

And truthfully, this doesn't even matter in the game because the Patriots end up getting a touchdown on this drive.

The real problem is on, I think it was third and 15, he throws a deep ball to digs down the sideline.

And Diggs, I guess, has a little push-off, definitely a flop, which if the Bears, or yeah, if the Bears guy flopped, sorry, the Commander's guy flopped on Swift, that would have got called holding, but that there's that.

And

the next play, yeah, it shouldn't be called, but it is so fine.

The next play, Matt Collins, same exact thing, third and 27.

The ball's coming in, and the Saints guy grabs his arms, and it's an incompletion.

And it's not called.

So, like, that is the, it's those three together.

Like the Diggs thing on its own, whatever.

We end up scoring a touchdown.

The second Diggs one, sure.

I can let it go.

I guess.

You can't, though.

That's not a call.

Not a call.

Offensive pass interference is a tough call.

You don't hear it a lot.

No, you don't.

You don't hear offensive pass interference.

So for that to be called on the one where he's 30 yards away is an absurd call.

You think to yourself, well, it must be obvious.

And then you watch it.

No.

And then this one.

It must be obvious, right?

Nope, not really.

But DBs are the reason you can't challenge this anymore.

Remember that.

Remember that.

I mean, that was a two rule.

The real reason is Alberta Riveron, which, again, we're back at square one.

Who's making the decisions on the reviews?

Because if they're incompetent, do the reviews even matter?

They gave it one year with Riveron.

One year with Riveron.

They weren't like, hey, instead of changing who's in charge with this pastor, maybe a younger person that can kind of see it and understands it.

And like, you know, the Xbox controller that the XFL was doing live in real time, you get a younger person that's pretty savvy on all that shit and teach them the rules.

Like Blandino, I don't want to keep going back to Blandino.

But yeah.

Blandino is very good.

It seems like he understands everything that's going on, on, savvy.

The only issue is the networks are like, hey, this guy's really good.

We'll give you triple whatever the NFL is paying now.

All right, we'll see you.

Gene Sterator, need him in the gate.

Francesa.

Or whatever.

Pereira, sorry.

Speaking of sports po.

Yeah, Pereira.

I don't.

Pereira's way.

Did Pereira ref?

Oh, yeah.

He was

maybe the most entertaining person I've seen.

He is.

He is a hilarious individual.

Him as a ref would have been a home.

man.

I can't swear to that.

It's the last frontier of the NFL.

It feels like they figured out the kickoff.

We have legitimately like 35 good quarterbacks.

The last thing they need to do is the referees.

And all of a sudden, it truly is the perfect league.

Biggest scouting report we did each week was who's refereing the game.

And that's wrong.

No, that's not.

Because they're all so different.

Sorry.

They're all so different.

DBs.

Keep your hands off.

These guys don't touch the quarterback.

This guy's going to flag you if you just nick him.

Oh, you can whack this son bitch in the face.

This week, this guy ain't never call him.

That's what I mean.

The consistency.

It's inconsistency of each cruise, week to week.

Totally different.

The National Football League and the NFL Refs Association have reached a seven-year collective bargaining agreement.

The sides announced on Saturday.

The new deal runs through May 31st, 2026.

Okay.

Hey, let's go.

Let's get this right.

Let's get this right.

This agreement solidifies the working partnership between the league and officials toward the common goal of developing and training the best officials in the world.

We hope that continues.

We hope that grows even more.

And good luck to all parties getting that done.

Let's get the hell out of here.

What a great Tuesday.

Thank you so much, BA, for traveling up here.

You're the man.

Appreciate you, brother.

Better show next week.

Yeah, well, not yet.

Hold on, coach.

Jesus.

You're going to have to come up with something new.

You're going to have to come with something new at the end of the show.

Same message, baby.

Okay.

Hey, need to hear it.

Need to hear it.

Do people get tired of it, though?

Not here.

I want to let you know that with you.

We appreciate your vibes, not only on the show, but off the show.

We thank you for traveling up here every single week.

AJ, you're the man.

Ton, why don't you come out of hammer?

Don, done.

And boys in the back, great work.

Really good.

Draft design, boys, everybody out there.

Really good work today.

Phenomenal job.

I love

on the Rushmore episode.

Great work.

Great work on all parties involved in that.

And we can't thank you all enough for allowing us to be a part of your life.

Be a friend, tell a friend something nice.

It might change their life.

We're in this thing together.

Team on me.

Anything to say, B?

Great show.

Better win next week.

Amen.

It hit sex.

It did.

It did.

Team on three.

One, two, three.

Goodbye.

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