PMS 2.0 1426 - TNF Preview, Shams Charania, Al Michaels, Mike McCarthy, Jack Carr, & AJ Hawk

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

On this NFL week six kickoff Thursday, October 9th, 2025, this program begins now.

Football!

Here's match bowl in week six of the NFL season is kicking off and this weekend is week seven of the college football season.

We're in the middle of it.

Obviously, we're incredibly lucky that it's football season.

We are excited for an NFC East battle tonight on Amazon Prime.

The Eagles, fresh off a loss to the Denver Broncos at home, in which they lost the fourth quarter 18-0 in front of a bunch of Johns in Philadelphia.

Could not wait to get on a football field again.

Well, good news for you.

You only got to wait four days.

And who are you playing?

The New York Football Giants in an NFC East battle.

Giants getting seven and a half points at home tonight.

And there's a bunch of stats that have been Thursday night football, seven and a half points spread, divisional this, Siriani on Thursdays, Dayball on Thursday.

There's a lot of numbers.

What I'm finding myself doing is this team right here just got embarrassed at home.

We don't think Siriani had kibbles and bits for the boys all week trying to find the inner dog to potentially blow out and railroad that New York Giants team.

But then on the other side, it's like, wait a second, Jackson and Dart.

Scatteraboo and the boys over there.

There's a lot of moxie.

Yeah.

And if you look at this tail of the tape, now I don't want to put the numbers up here, but you look at the tail of the tape,

now this is from team rankings, and obviously there's different variables that go into all the rankings, and who knows if every play and every stat and what it accounts for.

But pass offense, reigning Super Bowl champs, 4-1.

Philadelphia Eagles, 31st.

New York Giants, 1-4.

Laughing stock, everybody says.

18th.

Russell offense, well, they had Saquon Barkley break a record last year for most yards gained in the history of running backs running footballs.

They're 25th.

Jackson Dart with Scataboo and the boys.

13th.

Wow.

30th total offense versus 19th total offense.

Well, let's go to the defensive side.

15th versus versus 24th, 22nd versus 26th, 20th versus 26th.

But I'll tell you what, none of these rankings are desirable for either party.

No, they're not.

No.

But I will say, if you were just blindly looking at these rankings, Thursday night football, maybe offense carries the day, you would think to yourself, wait, what?

Hold on now.

He's the team on the right side of this graphic, actually.

Uh-huh.

The Super Bowl champs, the reigning champs, are they the team that's 4-1 instead of the team that is 1-4?

Have Philadelphia Eagles just been able to slip and slide by with some bad ball and having a lot of gripes underneath the allure of winning?

Was that band-aid that was covering up everybody's happiness and success, was that kind of ripped off whenever you lose against the Broncos?

It is A.J.

Brown, Jalen Hurts, and Saquon Barkley's two-hour meeting

where they said it was jovial.

Yeah.

Did that pay off?

Or is Jackson Dart and Scataboo about to have an era-defining win on Amazon Prime with Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreet, Kaylee Hartong, Big Witten Fitz, Carissa Thompson, Tony Gonzalez, and Richard Sherman celebrating the hell out of another week of NFL football kicking off.

Anything can happen tonight.

That's right, that's right.

Seven and a half-point spread.

It's been big for these division games.

The Toxic Table is here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt.

Sweet hat, Conman.

Thank you very much.

Yeah.

That looks cool.

The best.

And it fits like a glove.

Didn't think it would be this well-fitted.

Amazing.

Well, with your hair that you have, you're going to have to have a little bit bigger hats.

You know, there's some hats that don't have, I would say they're like a gas station condom, those shallow bottoms.

Sure.

You know, and then whenever you get the better hats, you know, you got a little depth in that thing.

Whenever you got that big hair like you have right now, you got to have good depth.

And Jack Daniels has the most dip that I think anybody's ever had.

Yeah, especially with the way they operate.

So that hat looks damn good.

Let's go to one half of the hammer.

Cowboys AP tone.

Okay, so

Eagles favored by seven and a half against the New York Giants.

Wait before we went live.

Connor said this about the number, actually.

Touchdown Road favorites are 19 and 4 straight up, 14 and 9 against the spread, and the under is 14 and 9.

Okay, so that's Hembo's stat of the day in Connor's eyes.

Now, Hembo sends us over

a barrage of stats, if you will, in the morning.

And they could be about absolutely anything.

And if he sees we're talking about something, he'll send it over.

And he's been an absolute weapon, but some of these stats kind of fall by the wayside and don't get a chance to breathe.

So Connor actually is going to start picking out his favorites.

What did you see from this particular stat here, Con Man?

Yeah, this one is more so just kind of the idea of the game tonight.

I feel like Big Mike might come on and, you know, mention about this type of matchup once again, and you would lean, you know, hey, New York Giants.

And then you think of the outside stuff, Yankees just lost.

New York needs this.

Like the Giants would be the, oh, have to go with them.

And then when you look at the stats, it's like, oh, never mind.

Seven and a half is actually nothing in a game like this.

And one team is coming off a huge loss.

One team is, you know, just lost to a quarterback who has literally never won.

And then, especially when you look at the tail of the tape, you look at that, it's like, okay.

But then when you look at the last four weeks, Eagles have played Chiefs, Rams, Bucs, Broncos.

They've gone three and one over those weeks.

The Giants have played the Cowboys, Chiefs, Chargers, and Saints.

Beat the Chargers.

You know, that was cool.

That was the one-game boost.

But then you go down to New Orleans, lay an egg against, you know, possibly the worst team in the league.

Both teams, a lot of motivation, you're saying.

A lot of motivation.

Tough roads here for the NFC, it sounds like, with their schedule set up.

Ton, what are the numbers saying about the game tonight?

Okay, so let's go back a little bit.

I believe it was Monday or Tuesday.

I talked about how now on the season, if the public is 60% or more on a certain side, they are 13 and 30 against the spread.

Tonight, 65% of the public is on the Philadelphia Eagles.

Now that would contradict the

stats tend to do.

But no, I mean, if you're looking at strictly just off of percentage and

betting that way, it's that number.

If you look at it off of historic on Thursday night, it's that number.

If you look at a historic New York Giants on Thursday night, they've lost 10 in a row, which is horrendous and then Bet Lab Sports puts out a tweet that says Jalen Hurts is just one eight and one against the spread in his last 10 games is seven point favorite

you can pick and choose anywhere you want

when I looked at the tail tape though it kind of gave me some PTSD

as a Steelers fan a lot of the people in here are like oh you guys are you guys are gonna win the AFC North you guys have this record so did this record We know when we watch and we look at the stats if it's not good or not.

And that's why the Johns have been so pissed off so far at Petulo to start this season because look at those offensive stats they are shite but they are still winning games so they're still the super bowl champions and they're eagles so there's a lot to be determined you're saying football towns have seen football they've seen good football they've seen bad football so yeah we might be winning this team ain't winning is what some people feel at certain parts of the season steelers fans have obviously felt that over the last uh seven eight years as they've continued to be above 500 but not be great philadelphia eagles four and one what a great they're tied for the league lead yeah

and then you look at their rankings like they can get so much better.

They can get so, so, so much better.

We'll continue to dive in to this game tonight.

We have Al Michaels joining us in about 33 minutes or so.

Can't wait to catch up with the icon, the legend.

Coach Mike McCarthy, Super Bowl champion.

He'll be joining us.

He knows a little something about the NFC.

Yeah, I think so.

And then Jack Carr will be joining us.

Wow.

What?

Jack Carr.

Jack Carday.

Yeah, it's Jack Carday, the author.

Yeah, he's got a new book called Cry Havoc.

It's the eighth installment, I do believe.

He is an absolute beast.

He is a former Navy SEAL sniper who has become an author.

And his books are fiction.

Correct.

So they're stories, you know.

But boy, do they have a lot of things that if you think about who the author is, Navy SEAL sniper, like 20 years in it.

And also, I think he was a trainer at Buds and everything like that for the Navy SEAL.

And then he's writing it.

It's like, well, this guy has a reason he's saying these things.

And then he's actually got caught up in some shit with the government having to like clear.

And these are all fake.

These are all, you know, stories.

This one is based in Vietnam, I believe.

Yeah, 1968, Da Nang.

I think a good majority of it takes place during the Vietnam War.

And it'll be good.

Oh, yeah.

And they will turn this somewhere into a TV series or a movie or a documentary, and it'll be phenomenal.

And we can't wait for Jack Carr.

Every time Jack comes here, something happens.

I know.

It's crazy.

It's almost like, you know, eerie stuff follows him.

Thank goodness he's here, though.

Yeah,

every time.

Yeah, every time.

He saved the world now three times for us.

Yeah, exactly.

Thank God.

Three years in a row.

Thank God.

Yeah, I hope everything goes.

It would be the first time he's come here and everything just goes.

He's like a real-life Ethan Hunt.

And maybe that's just everywhere he goes.

We don't even realize.

We just only see him whenever he's here saving the world.

And we broadcast it to everybody.

We say, look, we caught this on camera.

Jack Carr saved the world.

He shot

AI in the head.

Yeah, Arthur Isaac Fischel.

Yeah, Arthur Isaac Fischel in the head right here in the Thunderdome during a meeting of the minds, literally a meeting of the minds.

And they shot down a drone that shot down an energy weapon.

He's coming in.

I hope everything works out well.

All right, let's pivot away from Jack Carr.

Let's pivot away from Cry Havoc.

Let's pivot away from tonight's NFC East battle between the Giants and the Eagles.

Both teams looking to get back on track.

One of them's four and one.

One of them's one and four.

One of them has played nowhere near their best ball and have won a lot of games.

And the other one's trying to figure out what the hell their best ball is.

It's an intriguing matchup, seven and a half point spread.

We'll talk about that in a moment.

Let's talk about some breaking news.

Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is senior NBA insider for ESPN, friend of the program, and a man who I believe had something just cross his phone.

Ladies and gentlemen, Sean Sharon

great to see you you look amazing thank you for joining us great seeing you and as as much as I'd love to say how much I miss you we do have some news USA basketball is expected to name Eric Spolstra as the next men's national team head coach sources tell me and so Spolstra now succeeds Steve Kerr as the head coach.

He'll be on the World Cup sideline in 2027 and then the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

Grant Hill, the NBA legend, he's actually managing director of Team USA basketball.

And he really narrowed on Eric Spolstra this entire year, ever since Spolstra served as a lead assistant on Steve Kerr's staff.

And so what we've seen is an infrastructure, a cycle.

Greg Popovich was the coach of the Tokyo Olympics several years ago.

Steve Kerr was on his staff.

He replaces Greg Popovich.

This next cycle, Spolstra was on Steve Kerr's staff, replaces, and now he's going to to have a cycle here and i wouldn't be surprised if it's going to be multiple cycles here for eric spolstra the job he's done as an nba coach the job that he did on the international level he really impressed a lot of the players a lot of the team usa officials in the last olympics and it's crazy how young he looks he's actually the longest tenured active nba head coach so he will be the next Team USA men's basketball head coach.

Congrats, Spoch.

That's awesome.

Okay, so we got the World Cup.

We obviously have the Olympics.

What else is the head coach of the men's national team in charge of?

What other things?

Are they setting the tone for all of USA men's basketball and scouting, recruiting, all that type of stuff for future generations?

What added jobs here, other than just this World Cup and Olympics that we all see, does Spo pick up now that he's the head of USA basketball?

The greatest country on earth, the greatest basketball history on earth in a time where it feels like the world's getting good.

Yeah, the world's getting really good right now at Hoops.

So Spo is going to have to manage that as we go forward.

But what other jobs does he have other than the big tournaments that we see?

Pat, it's going to be the culture of the team, the environment, the structure that he's going to implement first and foremost.

And then as time goes on, the years go on, as we get closer to the 2027 World Cup and then the 2028 Summer Olympics, is being involved with Grant Hill, the rest of the USA basketball officials on figuring out who's going to be on these rosters.

You think about how talented of a group that 2028 squad is going to be.

It could also be a a younger group.

Steph Curry, LeBron James, they were very vocal

privately, a little bit publicly, that they wanted to have one final USA basketball run.

So this is it for them.

Kevin Durant has kind of left the door open.

We'll see where he's at in 2028, but this is going to be a really new team.

This is going to be a young team that we're going to see.

It's going to be led by different players.

So being a part of that.

And then the next step is also setting his own coaching staff.

And so you think about Steve Kerr's coaching staff.

He had Eric Spolstra, Ty Liu, Mark Phew,

the iconic college coach at Gonzaga.

So

Ty Lou will not be on Eric Spolster's staff from what I'm told.

So Eric Spolster is going to have a new staff as he takes over as the USA basketball coach.

Is there a chance that maybe Missoula gets on there so Tatum can play?

Yeah.

That's a name certainly you have to look at.

But when you think around the league, whether it's the Joe Missoula, Mark Daganawan, Oklahoma City, Jamal Mosley's another coach in Orlando who has had some time in the USA basketball pipeline.

And he's someone, you think about that Orlando team on the come up.

They should have a good chance in the Eastern Conference as well.

So I think those are some of the, you know, I think you have to put Missoula in there as well.

But I think those are the other couple names that I would look at as well.

Well, strictly so that maybe Tatum gets on court.

Yeah, maybe, maybe Tatum.

Because I think for the good of America, even though we won.

So, hey, but going forward, we need to make sure that Tatum is on the court, assuming that his Achilles recovery goes very well, which are we ahead of schedule in that?

Am I reading things that we're, we're in a really good spot?

No, I don't want to put any type of,

I think any recovery or rehab is its own journey.

There's so many things that can happen during it, especially when you're talking about an Achilles heel.

But when we're talking about Tatum, I get from what we've been reading, good signs, right, going forward.

And I think he even came out and said, everybody else said that I'm not playing this season.

I've never said that, which was wild to hear because it's just kind of understood almost at this point in basketball with the Achilles.

So, Pat, you think about the three players, the three superstar players that tore their Achilles tendon in the playoffs.

Damian Lillard, he's now in Portland.

He's already said he's not going to play this upcoming season.

The Blazers have already ruled him out for the entire season.

The other player, Tyrese Halliburton, your guy,

he's already been ruled out by the Pacers for the entire season.

He's said himself he's out for the season.

So those two guys suffered Achilles tears.

They've already been ruled out.

Jason Tatum, on the other hand, the Celtics have not ruled him out.

I think the Celtics

are cautiously optimistic.

Clearly, Jason Tatum has a goal in his mind that he wants to play.

Now, whether he can get there by the time we're in February, March, April, we'll see.

And we'll see how that team is going to be.

There's so many doctor's clearances that come into play here, Pat, as you get closer to the end.

And let's say he's in March and he's feeling 100%, but the team's not really competing for anything.

Do you really throw him out there?

There's going to be a lot of questions.

There's probably going to be 15 to 20 people in that room that are going to make that decision for Jason, you know with jason tatum i would say uh you know while the other two are are out for the season though so that is a saving grace and jason tatum i saw that video as well like the rest of the world a couple weeks ago he is moving differently than anyone that i've seen uh what do we several you know four or five months to remove i saw tyrese walking a red carpet so wasn't that palooza i saw it too that wrestle palooza i he actually came with me we got right in there as close as possible so you didn't have to walk as far that's why he was cutting was he cutting was he was he cutting up yeah dude's always got jokes.

Always let the jokes fly.

Like he lets game winners fly.

We're gonna miss him.

Maybe Coach Carlisle, another name that we need to float into the universe to be coach of Team USA.

Would love to see him experience the Olympics and how he does would be spectacular.

You just broke some news the other day early in the morning on the internet.

Go ahead, Con Man.

Yeah, Shams.

The Knicks were the team Giannis wanted to go to.

Was there any trades that were kind of basically about to be made?

Was it ever that close?

Was there any packages discussed?

Or is this just more bullshit basketball news about stuff that almost happened that didn't?

I think two things that happened here that have never happened with Giannis Ninja Dekumpo.

One, he made clear privately to the people that needed to know that the New York Knicks were the only team that he wanted a potential trade to if the Milwaukee Bucs would oblige.

Now, that's the big if.

The Bucs have made it clear.

They want to give this another shot with Giannis Ninja Dekumpo.

They feel like with Giannis there, this team has a championship opportunity.

And there were a series of meetings over the offseason, but there was one in particular.

There was one in late June.

John Horse, the Bucks general manager, I'm told he flew to Greece.

It was a one-day trip, 6,000 miles.

He went and sat down with Giannis into the Kumpo.

He sold Giannis on why this team is a championship caliber team.

Giannis had his concerns about whether he thought this team could actually win a championship.

So you have a team that feels like this is a title contending roster, a player that shared and aired out his uneasiness about it.

And so that led to some conversations with the Knicks.

The Knicks did make offers, I'm told, multiple offers.

And so no deal happened.

The Knicks felt like the Bucs were never serious.

Some people in Milwaukee believe that the Knicks never made offers serious enough to even continue trade conversations.

This was a multi-week process.

One person described it to me as an exclusive negotiating window.

We've never gotten to that point with Giannis.

But he's there.

It was a bunch of nothing.

Yeah, Yeah, there's a bunch of bullshit.

He's there now.

We'll see what happens this season.

The quartermark of the year is going to be very important.

2025 games in.

And Giannis and his GoPo said it himself that right now he's committed.

He's locked in.

He said six, seven months from now, I don't know where I'll be.

We'll see.

Okay, so Shams, I appreciate that you're planting these seeds right now.

Okay, that's what Shams is doing right now.

Oh, yeah.

Hey, I got big breaking news.

We saw it across the internet.

Johannis, you know, Baba, he's planting seeds right now.

Just in case something happens in the future, he can just say, hey, just like we were telling you about, there is something brewing here, okay?

And that bamboo tree, you know, you water it for like five years, okay?

You water that thing, and then inevitably that thing, whoo, okay?

But you.

I'm just the messenger.

I'm just the messenger.

If this stuff wasn't happening, I wouldn't have anything to talk about.

No, but that's what I'm saying to you.

I'm saying you're watering this plant right now.

And then whenever it happens, people better say,

Sean said it would.

Yeah.

Okay.

And that's part of the insider process is following stories.

You know, and then every once in a while one pops up out of the middle of the night right after a Royal Rumble in Indianapolis, and Luca is now all of a sudden LA Laker.

Wow, and that it becomes historic, and everybody thought your phone was hacked.

So, Seams, we appreciate the way you operate, the way you move, and the way you cover the NBA.

You're the greatest.

When do we start?

When's when's basketball is happening?

Preseason is well underway.

The Pacers actually played the other night against the Timberwolves.

It is well underway.

How'd we do?

Regular season starts October 21st.

Houston at Oklahoma City, then Warriors, Lakers, double header.

NBC has that, and then ESPN has multiple double headers after that.

So that is opening week.

But Pat, I'm telling you, preseason is underway.

And this Giannis and the Decoupo situation, this is what's going to grip the league to start the year.

Take my word for it.

Water that bamboo tramps right.

Is Guangzhou coming up to Indy to play after the Spurs game?

Who's that?

The Guangzhou Sharks.

I forget actually what their mascot is, but they were torn.

The Spurs beat them the other day.

Yeah.

One One of the CBA teams.

So that's what

Victor Ola Depot's on that team.

Ola Depot's playing for that team.

He's trying to make a comeback after two years away from basketball.

Really?

Shout out to Victor Ola Depot.

Yeah, shout out to Indiana University.

Great, Victor Ola Depot.

He's playing for the Guangho, the Guangzhou.

The Lions, I think.

Yeah.

I'm sure a lot.

That's a vastly different team than we are.

Anyways, we appreciate you so much.

How'd the Pacers do the other day?

Did we do good?

The Pacers lost to Minnesota.

I don't know what what happened exactly in the second game.

They did just sign campaign, though.

Shout out Campaign.

He just signed a training camp deal with the Pacers.

I just saw some breaking news from the preseason.

Let's keep him out of preseason.

We don't need him.

What?

TJ McConnell did have a,

he did look like he strained a muscle there.

Holy shit.

So hopefully

1000% because he was on a basketball.

Everybody needs to stop.

TJ McConnell doesn't need to play preseason.

No, he ain't playing.

Judge Carlisle said, hey, listen, this is your team.

Now we do not need any injuries to TJ McConnell.

That guy's going going to be playing 45 minutes a night this year.

Maybe.

Maybe he's the whole thing.

Yes, exactly.

We're not 100%.

He might be Max Crosby.

He could be.

How's Tyrese doing?

Do we have an update?

How's he feeling?

How's he doing?

I think his life right now is rehab, recovery, finding things in Indiana to do.

Yes.

That is so he doesn't lose his mind.

So he is always on it, I think.

And mindset very positive.

And obviously the city of Indianapolis loves seeing him.

He was at every fever game, obviously the Colts game.

If there's a charity event that he can get to, he'll go.

I mean, he is trying to stay active without losing his mind because he's been confined to his house basically since this whole thing happened.

So he's positive.

I'd say he is naturally an optimistic, positive dog human.

And it feels like he's carrying that into this, but that's a long road, brother, because it's such a slow road because he's able to walk.

You know, he gets out of the boot and you can walk.

And it's like, hey, you're nowhere near done.

And it's like, it's a mental task.

That's why the Tatum stuff is awesome to hear, you know?

Yeah, I mean, these are long recoveries, but once you start walking and you start being able to move even a little bit on the basketball court just as a basketball player i'm sure their mind is going crazy like you want to be doing stuff at a hundred percent but you just can't you gotta it's it's a long monotonous recovery and then hey you got another seven months actually you're just gonna be staring at it can't move the whole time and like half the time the it takes a year like i like everyone talking about tatum coming back and awesome that would be cool but it feels like it even takes a year just for guys to get their legs back under them and then they're back to it at least here even the second year afterwards it comes in for our sport at least.

And then Tyrees, it takes a year.

When was his?

Oh, the last possible game.

Game seven of the final.

The latest possible game.

And he was going to score 60.

I know.

No time for what-ifs.

No time for what-ifs.

Huge news around the basketball world.

Obviously, this was tweeted by Scheffer this morning.

Inside the NBA is making its official broadcast debut over on the ESPN network.

Says TNT Sports will still create that from Atlanta, and it will be licensed through ESPN, who got a majority of the NBA coverage rights.

Remember, TNT could have kept it.

Yes.

Okay.

Everybody's attacking everybody, but there's still a way that that could have happened.

Instead, ESPN gets to broadcast one of the greatest shows in the history of sport.

Seans, have you met these guys?

Yeah, I mean, I've spent time with Turner.

I've done stuff with Shaq, done stuff with Kenny, know Kenny pretty well.

Talk to Ernie every time we see each other.

I mean, these are just great human beings.

Chuck is hilarious.

I actually was a part of the 75 Greatest Players draft that Turner held.

I want to say it was 2022 or 2023, but

the All-Star game was in Cleveland, I believe, that year.

Doubt it.

But it was a treat just being a part of that stage.

Jerry West was there, so it was just an honor to be there.

And those four guys I got to talk to at length, and

it's going to be amazing to continue to see that show now on ESPN RA Race.

Yeah, it's great, honestly, that it's going to continue.

You know, this many years into it, their resume is like greatest show of all time.

How many more Emmys can you win?

How much more can you impact a sport in a league and help build it and everything like that?

And then for it to continue, I think we're all very lucky and thankful.

I don't know how current players feel, you know, not at all, but need that.

They're like the,

how many NBA teams?

30.

30.

Okay, so they're like the 31st NBA team.

Yeah.

And they run primetime every single night.

And there's good reason.

So I appreciate the fact that we're still getting them into our lives.

And I can't wait to watch.

And I do appreciate everybody saying, ESPN's going to ruin.

TNT is still producing it.

Yeah.

Which I respect and appreciate that.

Those guys aren't changing.

We're going to see the personality, all those guys.

I think they're going to bring the heat.

I think they're going to be as feisty as ever.

And shout out to Ernie Johnson.

People like you, Ernie, just amazing interviewers.

No, that's interviewers.

Don't even fucking put me up.

Ernie's one of the best.

No, that's disgusting.

People are going to be very mad that I was even in that sentence.

And also, the Pacers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, so you need to wake up, shut up, get shops.

Okay, Shams, okay?

And that was what DJ Paul is sore hampson.

You asked me when the season starts.

The season starts October 21st.

Oh, God.

Ladies and gentlemen, Shams Rohan, the man.

That was awesome.

Those pregame shows, like, I'm thinking,

Jordan's on the opening night, right?

Yeah.

Peak, like, and then the, and then Prime has like Dirk Nowitzki.

And all of a sudden, I'm thinking of all those LO shows.

Yeah, he's once.

Vince Carter's on one of them.

I think Legends everywhere.

Yeah, all three of them have unbelievable studio shows.

Yeah.

I mean, we'll see, obviously, you know, how good they are because they haven't done it together yet.

But like the people they have is crazy.

Maybe Shams needs to go start shaking some hands down there at the end inside the NBA

offices.

Sounds like he needs to.

Yeah.

Why didn't he become their insider?

Tell him to think about it.

It'd make more sense.

Yeah, I mean, it's going to be on ESPN.

He's the ESPN senior insider.

I think they would love, I mean, to do what we do to Schumps.

Yeah, I think so.

It was really low.

Is he going to be on the show?

I don't know.

We'll see.

He was waiting in the bullpen.

Well, there's no other insiders, right?

Yeah, but I think,

yeah, we want your info.

We want your opinion.

Oh, yeah, I agree.

Both.

I think it's what people were saying.

I think there was a little bit of that maybe at the beginning.

That's what they say about Schumps, too.

No,

who says that?

Toxic Table.

I've never said that.

Excuse me.

Not once have I said that.

Well, I think that is like a natural feeling by some TV executive that went to school at Syracuse or Northwestern or something, has never actually been on camera and never done anything or created anything in their absolute life.

They naturally have that opinion.

Insiders have this job.

We don't need you to do this.

You're not Woj either.

Yeah.

Don't even think about being Woge.

He's never going to be Woge, kid.

He's probably had that said to him a hundred times.

No, but they didn't say it actually.

They were saying it in here.

You're right.

And then they were saying, we don't need you on the show tonight, kid.

That's what they were.

That's what they were saying.

Only your information is what they were actually saying in there.

So Shams has just sat in a pocket,

broke the biggest story in the history, basically, of internet

news breaking.

Yeah.

And just kept it rolling.

Shams is the best, dude.

We are very lucky that we were friends with Sean.

Yeah, super great guy, too.

Officer.

Yeah, when he comes to Indy during the Pacers run, too.

And it's hilarious thinking about Shams' job just because then he does break news like Giannis and we're like, no, that's nothing.

That's nothing.

The Giannis one, we say no to, but whenever Luca gets traded, everybody goes, that's fake.

There's no way Sean's here.

Seams, you got hacked.

You're just saying dumb shit right there.

And then it's like, no, actually, me, that's real new.

I was surprised as well.

I had to get my hands.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

How long am I going to be the only person that has this?

Six minutes, maybe.

Oh, my God.

I got to get it right.

What are they?

Are we sure?

Yeah.

This one's going to do some numbers here, I think.

Yeah.

Might be the biggest ever.

Does he have a dog?

Yeah.

Anybody?

Screenshot, send to somebody.

this is what I'm saying is this actually what's happening send it

big huge that's life of an insider

this is the tweet now 109.9 million views at this point Jesus Christ that's

that is massive let alone how many times that's just ripped and then posted right according to Sean's boom this happens bang the boom the boom we all know how internet platforms work and how things get taken and run with and that's that's unbelievable that this particular post has 110 million views.

That's unbelievable.

Also, is it sustainable?

Good luck, Sean.

Good luck.

Let's keep it up, Sean.

I top that.

That bamboo tree he's been working with.

Yeah.

It's that bamboo tree.

Huge, there's been a lot of trades, a lot of action kind of happened around the NFL.

Albert Breer broke down the most recent one in beautiful fashion, talking about people finding good fits.

Jags and the Browns make a trade overnight.

Jags get Greg Newsome, a corner who in Albert Breer's breakdown has great eyes on QB, reading, reacting, and sued for their zone-heavy scheme down there in Duval.

Also, he's in a contract year, so Newsom gives him a little financial flexibility not only this year, but for the future.

And maybe they renegotiate a deal here in a couple of weeks if he ends up doing great.

And then Tyson Campbell, he goes up to the Bronzies.

Bare scheme fit what Timmy's going to do.

You know, he's man-match corner with speed, length, and competitiveness.

He signed through 2027, so a little bit of stability of the position.

They're obviously going to hope that he hits.

I like the teams are making kind of moves right now.

We're getting into the part of the year where people are starting to kind of move and shake.

Obviously, Joe Flacco going to the Bangladesh.

There's news coming out of Cincinnati.

Yeah, Joey Flack is back to take on the pack, Joe.

Now, he just got traded on, what, a Tuesday?

And we're getting word on Wednesday that Joey Flack is expecting.

Yep.

Hey,

Flack's starting.

Okay, you've seen what we've been.

We ain't doing that again.

You think we brought that guy down from Cleveland to have him sit here and watch what we've been doing?

Yeah, right.

This season's slipping away.

So we got Joe Flacco walking across city streets onto a practice field to be the leader we need over here in Cincinnati.

We got weapons all over the place.

And if our defense can maybe do something, our offensive line can maybe protect for a second and a half.

Well, maybe Joey Flacc's able to cook the Packers for a second time this season.

Ty, this is a nightmare scenario for you.

And did you hear what Chase Brown had to say about Joe Flacco?

Chase Brown, running back for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Last year he had like 1,300 yards and 11 touchdowns.

He can certainly catch the ball out of the backfield.

This is what he had to say about Joey Flacco's brain immediately upon arrival in Cincinnati.

Yeah, yeah.

So Zach would like read him a play and then he'll like pause for a second and then he would recite the whole play like perfectly.

So

good memory.

Joey Flacc saying it back.

No problem.

Day one.

He knows the offense.

You know what that means?

Not only does he know the lingo, he knows the terms, he also knows the checks.

He knows where we're supposed to go.

He knows the right play they're supposed to be.

And that's why whenever he went to Cleveland middle of the season out of the couch, off the couch, he knew Stefanski's offense inside and out, was able to take them on a playoff run out of not playing football at all.

Everybody remembers the Jets.

Okay, it didn't go good.

Everybody thinks about the Colts last year.

Okay, it didn't go good.

But if Joe Flacco's in a situation that he likes, which very clearly from day one, sounds like he's in love with it,

look out for the Bengals to be a problem in the AFC North or a problem this weekend with the Joey Flacco boost that's potentially come to town.

Yeah, no shit.

Joe Flacco knows the playbook, knows how to spit the playback out.

He's been quarterback in the NFL for about 25 years.

He's won a Super Bowl MVP.

He's actually, he's a pretty good quarterback.

He's a little older now, but yeah, I mean, if you're a Packers fan, you knew this was going to happen.

You know, I had that reaction on Tuesday and everyone's like, what are you, moron?

He's not going to play on Sunday.

It's like, yeah, he is.

He's Joe Flacco.

He needs 15 minutes off the couch to get ready to play a football game.

We've seen it before.

Now, I did see Jake Browning was pretty red-assed figuring out that.

He's basically saying, like, you know, I don't think I was the entire part of the problem, but, you know, I understand Joe Flacco getting in there and playing.

But, yeah, I mean, you know, we'll see because I think if the Bengals are going to win, Joe Flacco is going to have to throw for 350 yards, which he might do.

But if the Bengals beat the Packers on Sunday, there is a good chance I'm going to take a bath.

What?

I'm going to head upstairs.

Bring a toaster, plug it in, and drop it in the bath.

No.

If Joe Flacco beats the Packers, again, I just, I don't know if I got the defense.

He's familiar with the defense.

He can't be doing that.

He is familiar with the defense.

You can't be doing that.

Now, he threw 404 yards.

He did.

In that first game, and obviously he made a lot of good decisions

for the Browns.

He was very efficient.

And that goes to the Cleveland Browns.

Let's talk about the Cleveland Browns.

Stefanski has not come out publicly and said definitively who the backup quarterback is.

Uh-oh.

Is it Zip on the ball?

Zappy Bailey, who's been around New England, and then he was with the Raiders now, obviously with Cleveland.

He was the practice squad quarterback, I do believe, for them, or the fourth eligible, whatever the hell the ruling is.

And then Shador Sanders, obviously fifth round pick.

He has been the third string quarterback throughout the year when Joey Flacco was the first string.

And then Dylan Gabriel got his first start in England this past weekend, was the second string.

And now Stefanski's not just coming out and saying that Shador is definitively the backup quarterback.

What's that all about?

What is that all about?

Well, I have a theory.

And listen, it might be because he's anti-Shadur.

And maybe Shadur needs to go and find another home at another NFL team.

I don't know how that would happen because they have his contract and his rights, but maybe another place would be good for him.

But also, maybe Stefanski's thinking, we're playing the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Pittsburgh Steelers got TJ Watt, Cam Hayward, Herbig.

They got a lot of dogs across the front.

We got a rookie quarterback who...

By all accounts, looks like he is very comfortable in an NFL system and on an NFL field.

And there's a chance that he goes on to become the greatest quarterback of of all time or one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.

I'm not saying that.

But also, 5'11, TJ Watt eating, Cam Hayward eating.

There's a chance backup quarterback has to play this weekend against Pittsburgh Steelers.

I'm not saying that is something I'm wishing for or hoping for.

I'm just saying fact of the matter, reality.

AFC North football, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, the way the Steelers are built, there's a chance backup quarterback has to play.

There's a lot of big book on Bailey Zappi.

People have seen Bailey Zappi play a lot of football.

Mike Tomlin knows what he's potentially getting with Bailey Zappi or digging into

to understand what Bailey Zappi's got.

So I think there's a chance that he's being kind of

aloof with it.

Coy

with it.

Maybe out of strategy purposes.

No, coaches don't do that.

Coaches always are upfront and give the utmost information to their opponent the week before the game.

They've always done that in the history of football.

So there's no reason why Stefanski wouldn't say who the second-string quarterback is.

So now Tom is...

Unless he hates Shadir.

Well,

which they drafted him.

And, you know, who knows if they hate him, and that's why they hate drafted him, maybe.

I'm not 100% sure.

But there is a a chance that they do want the Pittsburgh Steelers to prepare for three quarterbacks.

Like, hey, you're going to have to prepare for three quarterbacks.

That's an added amount of stuff that you have to look into.

That's an added amount of things you got to think about.

It's just, even if it's four or five plays that you got to add to the itinerary for practice or the script for practice, that's shit that you're not thinking about something else.

Miles Garrett, for instance.

You're not thinking about any of the other Dylan Gabriel stuff.

You're thinking about other things.

So maybe there is a chance that this is strategy here by Stefanski to not just give up who his backup quarterback is.

But then also we're in a world of everybody knows everything about everything.

So is this a waste of time if this is a little bit of a coy competitive move by Stefansky?

Well, and even based on last week, you know, Judkins seems to be the bell cow of that offense, kind of everything.

I think he got, you know, 25, 28 touches, and, you know, he was great.

You wonder if they're viewing this like a Kirk Cousins RG3 situation.

Like, maybe they like them.

them both and they think they both could play but if she'd door's the backup and gabriel goes down and Shador goes in and does really well, can you ever go back to Gabriel?

Like if it's Zappy and Gabriel gets heard and then...

Well, then that would be exactly why everybody would be pissed

about being coy about Shador not being named backup.

You don't want him to succeed is what people potentially are thinking.

And I would like to say, I'm a Shador Sanders fan.

You can call me a Shador Fanders.

I am a big fan.

And I just saw him working out with sunglasses on with a bunch of Cleveland stuff on.

I don't know if that was from the summer or from this week.

He looks good.

I appreciated the way he handled the Joe Joe Flacco trade whenever he was at the car dealership with 8K cameras around him.

The miming thing, I thought it was incredibly creative and hilarious, but I could also see it as something that, hey, don't want to act like that as a starting quarterback going forward just strictly because it's not about how I feel or my fans feel about things.

It's about decision makers in the NFL.

If I want to actually do this, I'm going to have to appease to these people at some point.

I'm going to have to do that at some point, but I also got to remain myself because Shador has done great things for Shador.

And what we've seen Shador do at places where there hasn't been as much support and there hasn't been as much talent, we've seen him do special things.

He has an aura about him that is magnetic for people and for cameras.

Okay, so that's obviously a potential big-time distraction, but all you need is one team to say we like them.

You know, that's all you really need.

That one team, allegedly, was just the Cleveland Browns.

Then the story came out like, well, during the draft, the Ravens wanted to do it.

No, no, no.

They're turning their back.

No place.

Probably again this week.

Yeah.

And obviously you can't forecast that, but a lot of other people around the NFL could say, so he's turning down opportunities to get into the NFL whenever he was in the first.

That's how people that are negative would spin that.

And then positive people could potentially say, he wanted to go to a place where he'd get on field, which we appreciate and respect.

And it's like, well, now that this is happening, will he get on field?

Yeah.

And if you're a true Steelers fan, everyone's got it in the back of their head right now.

You might have to save a reservation for two for that bath.

Nick, what is the

worst possibility for Sunday in that Browns and Steelers game?

You see Dylan Gabriel get hurt, which would be unfortunate.

We never wish injuries on anybody.

We actually hope to end all injuries in sports.

Amen.

And then Shador comes in and carves him up.

Yep.

For 250, three touchdowns?

Yep.

247.

I don't know if he was kidding.

For 247, three touchdown.

Jerry Judy just all over the place.

Yeah.

Right after the game, I'll knock on Ty's door.

Hey, coming in.

Let's do this together.

You guys go hold hands.

You had bye week last week together.

Yeah, exactly.

This week, you guys kind of hold hands and jump in there, okay?

Well, we would miss you, certainly, but uh, Shador, I think, has handled things in the best possible fashion.

The mime thing, people hold against him, but it's like he's still very young, and that quarterback room he has not turned his back punkily on any of them, and they haven't done that to him at all.

Right, it's like that's a tough situation, they're managing it.

Good luck, but let's hold out hope that Stefansky, former coach of the year, is potentially using a little strategy here.

Yeah, well, I mean, why would he if he doesn't have to make a decision on this now?

why would he, like, why not wait until you actually have to decide?

I mean, it's gamesmanship.

This is a division game.

Yeah, it's a big deal, especially if you can add just a little bit of a question mark on the other side and have them have to focus on that just for a matter of moments, even hours, maybe.

That's a big win for a team.

Speaking of a big win for a team.

Did you see last night?

Oh, no.

The Yankees lose.

Oh,

my.

You talk about a post-game show being electrifying.

I didn't even think about Big Poppy on a microphone after Big Vladi, the Yankee Dottie, gets a chance to do a live interview from the locker room with beer flowing everywhere and Vladi coming off maybe the greatest series anybody has had against the New York Yankees.

This is immediately after

the Toronto Boys knock off the New York Boys.

Let's go, baby.

Let's go.

Hey, hey, let's do it again.

Dad

Yankee Louis Dai Yankees Luz.

Let's go, baby.

But you don't take it personal, I do.

One more, one more, one more.

Die, Yankees Luz.

Oh, my God.

I don't think there's anything else else left to be said.

Live, you were awesome.

We'll see you in the next round.

Go enjoy it, all right.

Gracias.

Guylo, gracias, gracias.

Graciasa.

So we understood that.

Obviously, what a moment for those two to have.

Ty, how did we get to that point?

And when you're watching, old Jeets have to sit in a pocket for that on national television.

How does that make you feel?

Yeah, it hurts.

I mean, I'll be honest with you.

I've gotten over it because it's funny being a Yankees fan is very similar to, ironically, being a Packers fan or being a Steelers fan.

You kind of notice the

six or seven Achilles heels that are really going to bite you in the ass come postseason.

You know, that stuff needs to change.

None of it's ever going to change.

So they got to limit.

I mean, the stuff that kind of killed them all year.

And

to lose to a team like the Blue Jays, who are just the antithesis of the Yankees, like, how are they scoring runs?

Boom.

Just a good piece of hitting.

Single the other way, score two runs, get guys on base, move them over, don't need to do do it with the long ball.

And then look at this.

I mean, a guy hits this eight miles an hour in the right field.

But that's all you need to do.

Puts it in play.

You got the biggest fatso in the MLB.

Carved up to Yobbies as well.

Wobblebody, Alejandro, Kirk scores.

And the Blue Jays end up winning 5-2.

It just, the defense killed him when they needed to.

It's almost like Aaron Boone went into that game last night and was...

Thinking like, well, yeah, Cam Schlittler's just going to throw eight innings and have 12 strikeouts and completely handcuffs these guys again.

I mean, he's only pitched in like 15 games this year.

He was unbelievable, but that's what the Blue Jays do.

They put balls in play.

They make your defense work.

Timely hitting.

I mean, that's just, that's the way it goes.

And we talked about this a little bit.

Like, the thing that sucks the most is Judge has that moment last night.

And, like, now it doesn't mean shit.

It doesn't mean anything.

You know, like, for him, it was good, sure.

But, like, you talk about.

moments in Yankee history, like, that's not even like the top 100 anymore, unfortunately, because they got eliminated the next night he batted 500 in the playoffs in this series

in this series he was nine of 16.

the rest of the yankees batted 207 he was literally the only guy who showed up so like that's the thing that hurts the most is the yankees have their best player probably since babe ruth like this guy will go down as maybe one of the five best baseball players of all time and because they're front office and they just choose to do the same thing year in and year out and they just just think because we're the Yankees, we can spend more money, we can hit more home runs, and we'll just beat anyone.

Well, in the playoffs, you get a team who doesn't do that.

They just play clean, solid, sound baseball, and they fucking embarrassed them.

Just embarrassed them.

So I'll be looking forward to next year.

It'll be a whole lot of the same.

Judgy will have another phenomenal season, might win another AL MVP.

And at the end of the day, this is probably what's going to happen.

You know, whether it's the Tigers or the Blue Jays or, you know, the Mariners, one of these teams who doesn't have the star power, doesn't have the same names, doesn't have the stats.

They will beat the Yankees.

And this will just go on for eternity, unfortunately.

Forever and ever, that's the Yankees' life is what Ty says.

I refuse to believe that.

Every once in a while, your bats go cold, especially if you're a big bat-bopping ball club.

And if the bats get cold, all of a sudden you're not as good.

Who was the other guy, Gold?

He was a balloon.

Paul Goldschmidt, yeah, who the Yankees gave $20 million in the offseason too for one season, play first base, former NL MVP.

He's been great all year, but, you know, once again, we've gotten into this analytics portion of the world where it's like he's right-handed, so he can't get a base hit off a right-handed pitcher.

He can only play when lefties are in there.

So he basically got like six at-bats in the series.

Jeez.

Got several hits in those at-bats.

But yeah, too little, too late.

You know, you get in a position where, you know, there's so many guys that I don't want to do this to, and I won't do it.

Don't do it.

Don't do it.

Don't do it.

You're emotional.

You're emotional.

But that's the thing is, I'm not.

I feel like I'm very clear-minded right now.

I'm not emotional.

Last night, after they lost, I kind of just sat on my couch in disbelief in two hours and just sat at a TV that was turned off.

Just sat there and just kind of let it all wash.

The Yankees lose.

That was awesome.

That was actually really funny.

Vladimir.

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who's been calling primetime NFL football for 40 years.

He's also a baseball historian.

We saw that on an episode of Rushmore on X that debuted this Tuesday, Tuesday, this past Tuesday, where he and Bob Costas chit-chatted about the four biggest sports jokes.

And what ended up happening on this episode was just a sports history lesson for all of us to listen along from hockey in football all the way to wrestling and baseball.

Got a big storytelling in it all.

And joining us now, a man who kicks off the NFL week for us on Prime every Thursday night, living legend and icon Al Michael.

Al, how you doing, Bob?

Patrick.

all right, two things.

Number one, I tried to find a tank top in New York to dress appropriately for the show.

Secondly, do you have another $300,000 that I could be a part of in terms of, you know, maybe

have Herb Street throw another thing through the uprights?

Al, maybe, maybe, maybe I should start tapping into your bank account now that I think 40 years of primetime NFL football.

I need to start drawing from that bank.

Well, you know,

what do I have to do?

It's a good question.

I'm looking for,

you know, I'm trying to, what am I trying to do right now?

I'm trying to do nothing.

Why don't you give me money for these?

Okay, so you will be funding.

Al Michaels will be the sponsor for the field goal kicks going forward.

That is awesome news.

Hey, I'll run you out of that plane that you're in every week if you let me.

Nick's this week, $2 million kick from Al Michaels' money, Herbie Drandat for Gabby down there in Alabama.

It was a magical moment.

You and Herbie, obviously, now year four together on Amazon.

How has it been this year?

It feels like we've had some great games.

Fantastic.

I mean, the last two games have gone down to the wire.

Can't ask for anything more.

We had Green Bay, Washington in the opening.

Good game.

We had Miami.

They didn't figure to hang in there with Buffalo, and they did.

So that was a good game.

Arizona, Seattle went to the end, and last week went to overtime and the end.

So we're on a roll right now.

Hopefully it keeps up tonight.

I don't know.

We'll see, but the Eagles are something like a one-touchdown favorite tonight.

I mean, Pat, the sky is falling in Philadelphia.

They have won 20 of 22 games.

What?

I mean, I don't get it.

This is crazy.

I know everybody hates everybody, but isn't it a little, it's a little ridiculous at this point.

They are 20 and 2 over the last calendar year.

I know that.

How I know that as well.

They're 4-1 right now.

But if you look at this tail of the tape here that we found from team rankings, it's like the Philadelphia Eagles have not been playing like what we know the Philadelphia Eagles can play like.

So that has brought the Johns out to be very negative about a 4-1 team.

On that note, they just got embarrassed at home against the Broncos.

Fourth quarter, they lose 18-0 in the fourth quarter at home.

This could have been a Sunday game, and they would have had to wait seven days.

Could have been a Monday night game, and they would have had to wait eight days.

Instead, four days, and they're back on the field.

What has it been like talking to the Philadelphia people?

Are they eager to get back out there?

And on the flip side, Jackson Dart and the boys lose to the Saints.

They give Spencer Radler his first win in 11 starts.

So both teams, I assume, wanted to get back on the field.

What are you hearing from both of them?

I think any team that loses on Sunday wants to play on Thursday, you know, so they can wash it away real quickly.

So you get the sense that that's the case.

You know, with the Eagles, I mean, go back a year.

They were 2-2.

They wanted to fire everybody a year ago.

And then they got on, of course, a roll.

But before that, too, remember in 23, they melted down.

What were they, like 10-1 and 6 of the last seven or whatever?

And the wild card game in Tampa Bay.

And then they're two and two last year.

And everybody's saying, oh, get rid of the coach, get rid of this guy, get rid of that guy.

Who lifted the Lombardi trophy?

So

it's amazing.

Those numbers were terrible.

They're at the bottom of the league in almost everything.

Defensively, when they were great last year, I mean, defensively, they're so-so this year.

So nothing seems to line up statistically.

But I don't, you know, this team has too much talent not to get on a good roll down the stretch.

I think they will.

What are your thoughts on the Giants after talking to Dayball, Jackson-Dart, Scataboo, and the boys?

Feels like they're trying to start their new era here, a brand new era of Giants football.

Oh, yeah, everybody was so excited, of course, after the Charger game.

The Chargers come in undefeated.

Now it's the Jackson-Dart era.

This kid has...

Do you know him at all?

He's got a lot of moxie, and I'm telling you, he's a confident guy, makes his decisions very quickly.

We love talking.

We've had him in the preseason.

Now we've had him again between him and Scataboo.

I think the future is extremely bright for both of those guys.

You know, for the rest of the team, we'll see.

I mean, this is a team.

You know what's so crazy, Pat?

Over the last eight years, the Giants in preseason, we had the number that they had the worst record over the last eight years coming into the season.

Now they have the second worst.

Which team has the worst over the last eight years?

I say yours.

Chats, gotta be

got it.

You got it, man.

Bang.

So didn't they call of Cleveland the factory of sadness?

What is Met Life?

Well, especially after this Yankees lost with what they're going through, Al.

I know you're a big baseball guy.

There you go.

Did you hear Ty losing his mind right there as a Yankees fan about what happened?

Look, he's still

going out.

Not only that, the Penguins shut the Rangers out 3-0 the other night.

True.

Yep.

We're back, by the way.

The Pens are back, brother.

They amused this new guy, bald head, not a lot of voice.

He's ready to take over.

But yeah, it's a state of sadness over there.

And then also we hear Giannis wanted to go to the Knicks, but they couldn't make it.

I mean, everything

New York-wise.

Not great, not great over there.

Okay, so tonight, obviously, we have an NFC East battle.

Feels like there's a lot of divisional games happening on Thursday again.

This used to be the story.

You were on Sunday nights, I think.

So I don't know if you paid attention to what Thursday night used to be.

Keller Rush and all that shit.

It was always a divisional game because they felt like it was fair for all parties to have a meaningful game on a Thursday night.

And then also, I think they were trying to build up Thursday night as an NFL night, so they wanted good games.

The divisional game certainly gave them that.

We're seeing that again this year, it feels like.

Is this going to be a new norm again, almost for Amazon?

I think so.

Not only for Amazon, but I mean, you look at the Netflixes of the world coming in and the YouTubes.

The league wants streaming to work.

There's no question about that.

So we started out that first year.

The schedule was so-so, had a couple of decent games.

I thought a seminal thing was last year when the league gave us Cowboys Giants streaming on a Thursday night.

That was big because, I mean, that's always been kind of a primetime matchup for either NBC or for Monday night football.

So I thought that was big.

This year, again, we've got a lot of great, you know, Detroit and Dallas down the line.

But the way we started out, Washington and Green Bay and the rest.

So the league is definitely invested in making this is the future.

There's no question about it.

We're not going to stop this runaway train, as you know.

Linear TV will be here for a while.

It'll still be here for a few more years.

And then all of a sudden, you know, when I'm at Forest Lawn, we'll be streaming everything.

Now, that'll ever happen because the way you've dieted throughout your entire life, we think there's a chance you live forever.

Okay, there's a chance you live forever.

If you don't need a vegetable, there's a chance I'm on the Oprah show in like 2096 and say, this is the key to life.

Don't eat anything out of the ground, just just out of the stockyard.

Let them meet something.

Al, you're the greatest.

Your brain's still quick, by the way, but I think you talked about the last couple of seasons.

All the conversation was, Al's not getting excited about any of these games.

That is all it is.

And you've come on this show and you're like, these people want me to scream.

We're week six.

It's the second quarter.

What do you want from me?

I've never done that.

I think this year, because it's been such good games, I don't think that chatter's happened at all.

I think you're throwing your fastball.

You feel the same way?

Pat, everybody hates everybody, right?

If you go onto anti-social media, Mother Teresa would have been a bank robber.

I mean, I don't know if anti-social media would do that to Mother Teresa, but I understand what you're saying.

The point remains.

The point remains.

All right, we got some questions for you from the boys here about this season.

Go ahead, Tone.

Yeah, Al, you had the Niners last week and they had that huge win against the Rams.

and pat was by far the first on this talking about how you know mac jones and kyle shanahan they they had their history when kyle kind of wanted him in the draft and now he's there and he's playing incredible did you get a sense or a vibe around there that it's anyone but brock purdy's team when he's healthy even when even with mac jones playing incredible

Not before that game, but I think you're going to wind up having a little bit of a quarterback controversy, maybe more than a little bit in San Francisco because we'll see how healthy Purdy is.

I mean, what a performance by Jones the other night.

Not only that, we thought he was out for the game after the season at one point because he's on the turf for almost three minutes.

Gutty performance, great performance by him.

I guess, I mean, what you might know more than I do at this point.

I haven't seen the

ins and outs for this weekend, but I guess it'll be Jones starting

in Tampa Bay this weekend.

It's interesting.

I mean, look, San Francisco is used to, you talk about quarterback controversies?

Oh, yeah.

No greater quarterback controversy than going back 30 some odd years, Montana and Young.

That may have been the all-time controversy.

So not that this is going to get to that level, but I think it's going to be extremely interesting, especially if Mac Jones goes down there and beats Tampa Bay this weekend.

Mac Jones has been slinging it.

And remember, Shanahan won them at first.

They traded away the entire business to get Mac Jones there.

And then they changed their mind.

And now through, you know, football universe gods coming together, he got a chance to get back there, and he is spinning.

And now, speaking about going back somewhere, anytime the Eagles and the Giants play going forward, there's gonna be one player that's certainly gonna be talked about.

Mara's losing his sleep still about it.

Go ahead, Ty.

Yeah, Al Saquon had quite the day against the Giants last year, a couple times, and then tonight, you know, he's got the dock releasing before the game.

A lot of people are saying there's maybe some tidbits from his conversation with Mara when he asked for a trade, and Mara said no.

But he only had six carries last week.

He obviously hasn't looked like he had last year when he just went gangbusters from week one.

Do you get the sense that this is maybe a get-right game for Saquon in that Eagles rushing attack tonight?

I do.

I do because, I mean, obviously he's not off to the greatest start.

Last year he put up, you know, off the charts numbers.

I thought, you know, this team had been more run-oriented to the first four games.

And then last week, I thought what was really interesting, considering all the stuff with Brown and, you know carrying on a little bit

with Holmes and the rest of the stuff

I thought I thought it was very interesting that the first play of the game last week went to Brown and then they threw to Brown a couple of times on that first drive so I think I felt watching it on television that this was to assuage the wide receivers a little bit too you know get just smith involved as well so last week I mean it was amazing that that Barkley would only handle the ball nine times three catches six runs I think you'll see a heavy dose of him tonight that's my guess.

Can't wait to watch you.

Can't wait to listen to you and Kirk call the game.

And hey, these kickers are bombing balls.

Let's make sure, you know, we're spotlighting that out.

We got a golden era right now of kickers with these new balls.

Pat, I got to ask you a question.

I mean, to me, it's getting to the point where, you know, two first downs, you kick a field goal to win the game.

Do you think?

Do you think they should deflate the kicking?

Don't, Al.

Hey, fuck, Al.

Get out of here.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's a legend album but al

you al don't even put that in the universe ladies and gentlemen it's al michaels get him out al don't say that on the game don't say that on the game al geez trying to get rid of our trying to ruin us he's gonna say it on the game

you pay me 300 000 i won't say

get him out of here

how it's you on the other side be a friend tell a friend something nice like al you're the greatest of all time okay we appreciate what you do don't do that al we don't need that right now.

The kickers are flying high.

We're living a good life.

Let's not change it.

This is Joe Button.

You and I make decisions every day.

But on Prize Picks, being right can get you paid.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Prize picks.

It's good to be right.

Must be present in certain states.

Visit PrizePicks.com for restrictions and details.

Talk about stepping up!

It's time to level up your game, introducing the all-new ESPN app.

All of ESPN, all in one place.

Your home for the most live sports and the best championship moments.

The electricity is palpable.

Step up your game with no annual contract required.

It's the ultimate fan experience.

Level up for more on the ESPN app or at stream.espn.com.

Sign up now.

Football!

Today's magical tonight, week six of the NFL season kicks off with an NFC East battle between the Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles.

It'll be happening in MetLife Stadium and all eyes will be on Amazon Prime as Kirk and Al are on the call.

Al Michaels just joined us and I don't love all of his ideas, but he certainly is a a legend and icon and we're thankful that he stops by and chit-chats with us what was on his hat I'm not 100% sure it looked like it was maybe a bridge I thought maybe the Brooklyn bridge because I believe that's where he's from but I could be wrong yeah it looked like it was a bridge yeah I didn't I didn't have enough confidence in the combo

to let that one fly and it's hard to identify just by looking on the hat which which bridge it is could see that it was something right what was

the something that that was we're in the middle of it Normally, we like to at least have a little bit of a convo because there's a reason he was wearing that hat.

We don't just put that hat on for no reason.

We should have asked about it.

That's on us.

But he put out a terrible suggestion on what should happen to the cables.

So that's how it goes sometimes.

At Boston Connors here at Ty Schmidt, one half of the hammer.

Down.

Cowboys AP Tony.

Share.

What is the percentage of money for tonight's game looking like?

And as we know, anytime the public is over 60% is not good.

Are we still sitting in a situation where the public money is more than 60% on one side?

Yeah, as you said, it is not good.

13 and 30 on the season when the public money is over 60% on a certain side.

And it is currently hovering at the same 65% it was in the first hour.

So nothing we have said in the first hour has changed anyone in the public's opinion.

Didn't we say, I said to me, I said, Pat,

this is what you're doing.

If there's more than 60%,

automatically go in the other way.

Because it's 13 and 30.

It's hard to do.

Because I wake up on Mondays thinking I did good.

And then I look at my score on how I did against the spread.

And I look at my account, and I realize I didn't do good.

But all of us thought we were going to do good.

Anytime the public is losing like this, how long is that going to last for?

Couldn't it be this weekend?

Exactly.

That we break this.

Joining us now is a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner, a father of 10.

Ladies and gentlemen, A.J.

Hawker.

Yeah, Hawker.

AJ, this could be the weekend, though, that changes it in the public's favor.

That could be the case.

And tonight could be a perfect depiction of that aj so what we would have to go with the giants then if we're going to do that right we're going to buck the trend yes if we would like to be on the 30 side of 13 and 30 for the more than 60 bet people we'd currently be sitting giants plus seven and a half which more a touchdown obviously in a division game on a short week yeah okay which these teams know each other do they i don't know jackson dart was at ole miss last year scataboo was at arizona state last year like those guys are absolute dogs dayball will certainly understand a serianic team i guess more than maybe anybody else because they have to play each other two times a year.

Saquon Barkley certainly understands both these buildings very well.

So I guess there is a familiarity and obviously the fan bases and there is a rivalry.

I think Eagles and Giants notably hate each other.

I think that is like supposed to be a thing.

So we could expect a KG affair.

You look at the numbers, not great for the world champs, AJ.

I mean,

there's so many different stats that we can look at and basically None of them tell us an accurate story.

Okay, so it's all on us this week, AJ.

It's all on us.

You guys got it.

You guys can do it.

You're as hot as you've ever been, both of you.

Yeah, you're right.

AJ was what, 11-4?

11-3.

Strength of schedule does come into account when you look at these numbers.

I know Conman went over that earlier in the show.

Like, the Eagles have been, yeah, we understand what the standard is with the Eagles coming off a Super Bowl win, but they've been playing some tough teams, man.

So I get why these numbers might be down a little bit.

Well, so have the Giants.

The team of the Giants have played are not, I mean, the Saints, they just played.

So the Saints

win.

Saints get their first win at home.

First win with Spencer Rattler as quarterback.

Kelly Moe, Kelly Moe, way to go.

Kelly Moe got Kelly Moe.

Kelly Moe down there.

Obviously, Philadelphia Eagles

success down there.

So good luck to them.

But I don't know.

Naturally, just seven and a half doesn't feel like enough for an Eagles team.

They got embarrassed at home.

And the stats, say, 13 and 30 or whatever, and it's like, that just feels like a Siriani-led team.

This is the week that it doesn't matter who's on that other side.

This feels like an Eagles win

by a lot.

So now it being the Giants and being a known division rival, does that change things?

I guess so.

Yeah, I mean, it's just one of those things where you got to talk yourself into the Giants.

You know, like, it feels like even on Sunday night football, Bill's pats, like that was a different situation, division game, and eight and a half was too much.

Whereas on Thursday, Bill, sorry, Eagles, Giants tonight, it's more so just, hey, this one's obvious.

And we could overthink it with the division and all the bullshit and stuff like that.

But we could also just think of, hey, one team is extremely motivated.

Didn't the Eagles just get rid of Victory Monday and then they lose after getting rid of Victory Monday?

Like, is it another thing where they kind of get their kind of, hey, we can enjoy the wins because these losses do suck that much?

I don't know.

Maybe.

I also am not really a big believer.

Like, Connor mentioned it earlier, like, hey, you know, New York needs this with the Yankees last night, but I think

Yankees, Knicks, Knicks, Rangers.

Yeah, you put all that.

Like, I think there is a world in which, like, if the Eagles jump out to like a 10-0, 14-0 lead early, MetLife might turn into a morgue and it could end up just being like a, here we go again.

Like, our lives suck.

Everything sucks, and we're about to get steamrolled by the Eagles.

Isn't there a casino over there?

Is there a casino near there?

Is that a sports book?

A sports book.

And harness racing.

Okay, maybe he'll put some money on a horse or something.

Yeah,

I would be shocked if the Giants did turn over five straight possessions this game like they did last week.

Bro, you're a Giants fan.

What did you see?

What have you seen from this Giants team that makes you think, yeah, tonight, Giants definitely, I mean,

that's going to have to be.

He's a rookie.

He's a rookie.

Yeah, no, Tony is getting at the positive spin zone.

Five consecutive turnovers.

We're running the ball well.

Our defense save a Rashid Shahid bomb is generally playing a good bit better.

But yeah, obviously, you know, the Eagles in a get right spot off an embarrassing loss.

It could be tough.

The latest in sort of the calamity of errors that befall the Giants organization,

obviously we have Malik Neighbors, Torn ACL.

He's done for the year.

We had the opportunity prior to the Saints game to elevate some practice squad wide receivers.

Elected not to.

Said, hey, screw it.

We don't need wide receivers.

We'll go four tight ends.

We won't bring anybody up.

During that game against the Saints, Darius Slayton gets a Hammy.

Now, all of a sudden, you got Gunnar Olszewski and the funky bunch out there.

We got no wide receiver one.

We're rolling with Jalen Hyatt and then the man featured on Goody kind of giving up on a route.

That was Bo Collins, rookie wide receiver, number 81.

So we just play a game of whack-a-mole.

We got no kicker.

Russ Stinks.

Now we got no wide receivers.

It's just, you know, that stuff's brilliant.

It's a calamity of errors that befall the New York Giants.

Yeah, yeah.

Who's your pick, Bruce?

I actually do love the Giants,

to be completely honest with you.

Scataboo's going to run wild.

We'll see if Saquon gets right and gets loose, but I still think it'll be less than week seven last year when when he had the 175 on us.

A calamity of errors that beef all the New York Giants on that note.

Give me a peaceful

tonight.

You know who I love, A.J.

Hawk?

Who's that?

The Indianapolis Colts.

Listen to this mic'd-up of Shane Stiking on the sideline that the Indianapolis Colts social media department released.

All right, we're going to score on this freaking play.

We're going to score.

Watch this thing.

Watch this thing.

We're good.

This thing's going to be gone.

It's a touchdown, yeah.

He's going to throw it to do one for a touchdown.

Watch this.

He's going to catch catch a touchdown here there it is oh yeah hit it touchdown hit it inside right there

go score

whoa

oh yeah yeah

hell yeah let's go

let's go let's go

Every play's a touchdown, AJ.

That's the type of offense coordinator, head coach that I like to see, but this team team has a fantastic kind of vibe around it.

And Shane Steichen, I think, is really coming into his own as being the full head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

He has the opportunity to have a quarterback that knows how to execute his offense.

He has leaders both on the defense and the offense now.

It feels like he's in a very comfortable state, and he gets to be exactly who he is.

And it sounds like he's a guy who thinks every play is going to be a touchdown, AJ.

And I love that as a fan.

Yeah, he does.

And watching him, watching these mic'd up with him, like you want to know your coach is invested, that he cares, and that he's on your team.

Like, he's rooting for you.

So I think the players are going to love, I'm sure a lot of them already have seen that clips of him mic'd up like that.

But yeah, I've mentioned on here multiple times.

I played against Adrian Peterson twice a year for eight, nine years in a row.

And that dude was so pissed off every time he got tackled because I truly feel like he felt like if I get the ball, I should score every single time.

And it seems like the Colts have some of those feelings as well, even with the coaches.

Yeah, Adrian Peterson certainly thought that.

And it looked like that whenever he got the rock.

And the Colts for a while, I mean, we only scored touchdowns.

We did nothing else.

We're not going to punt.

We're not going to turn it over.

We're only going to score touchdowns.

We'll kick a field goal from Spencer Schrader whenever we need it.

He gets hurt, obviously, last game, tears a couple ligaments.

He'll be back hopefully next season stronger.

We signed Michael Badgley.

But yeah, I enjoy the hell out of what Shane Steichen's doing in the team.

And you talk about him being in it as much as everybody else.

Absolutely.

And that Dooland, Dooland got an opportunity because A.D.

Mitchell dropped the ball, held it.

A.D.

Mitchell's time kind of got pulled back.

A little bit of accountability from the Colts, which is abnormal to what we have seen in years past.

Dooland gets his opportunity.

He does.

So it's, we're in a good spot.

It feels like the culture's in a good spot with the Colts.

Yeah, and maybe.

Which is crazy to talk about after what it was last year.

Insane.

It's even crazy with a few, like even the Jacks.

It's crazy to think about some of these teams that have just completely flipped and some teams that have completely flipped the other way.

But maybe it's just because they're winning now.

Steichen's got a top three game day fit.

I mean, he looks cool.

Unbelievable swagger on the sideline.

The hoodie with like the white shirt underneath.

Very cool.

I believe they're all, they're a white Nikes Air Force team, right?

Isn't that a cool?

Well, they got new white Nikes on for each week, I think.

I think they do change it up, actually.

But yeah, their white shoes had white Air Forces last year.

They will switch it up.

I like the all-black with the blue that we have with the white.

Yeah, he's got mocks.

He's a NorCal.

Oh, I didn't realize he was a cow.

Yeah, Austin Cauley and he brah went to high school together.

Wow.

Great swag.

A lot of brah.

Good hat.

Got the J.I.

Jim Merce hat on there.

He looks, yeah, it's a great spot to be.

Also, a great spot to be a Tampa Bay Buccaneer.

Baker Mayfield was in the middle of a press conference the other day, and he was asked by Jenna Lane of ESPN if he enjoyed having that moment with the Seattle Seahawks fan, and then obviously getting the win afterwards.

He said yes, obviously.

And then that led to this question during his presser.

Is there something where you kind of realize maybe your younger years,

I don't know if you were as accepted for doing some of that stuff.

And now it does seem, it seemed like it's a little bit more embraced.

You know,

people gravitate to it a little bit more.

The narrative changes around that.

Do you notice that?

Yeah, I mean, that's...

I told you guys to try and not get too high, not get too low, which is something that I was not doing early on in my career.

But early on in my career,

yeah, it's looked as cocky, immature.

Now it's Moxie.

He's a dog.

So it's

same different day.

As long as you play well, they change the narrative.

but you just got to be yourself.

And I've always been like that.

Don't want to put myself in everything, but is he taking a shot at us?

What?

What?

Is that a shot at Moxie?

I use a lot of that.

He's a dog.

I think we use every other shit.

He was giving compliments the whole time, though.

We were never killing Bake.

We always loved his Moxie and his confidence and his charisma.

We know that.

Okay, I hope so.

Because he is a very thought-out person whenever he's giving press conference answers.

There's a reason why he says things.

We've seen him absolutely bury people in his own brilliant way.

And it's like whenever he describes, you know, they used to say this, now they say this.

We've been a Baker supporter, I think, think, since the beginning.

But on that note, whenever you win,

obviously it's viewed differently.

Now, granted, did he win in Cleveland?

Yes.

He still did.

He won a playoff game.

Wow, he said, obviously, learning and evolving and everything like that.

But he has always had the Baker Mayfield edge, I think, since we've seen him.

And I think that's his point.

It's like, I've always been me.

I have never not been me.

Now, was he a little bit too high, a little bit too low at the beginning, as like most 22, 23-year-olds potentially are as they become men?

Yeah, he acknowledged that, but he's always going to be Baker, and I love that.

I love that Tampa Bay has said this guy's our franchise.

They've paid him like he's the franchise.

And against Seattle, anybody can get it if they want to run their mouth.

He is still Baker Mayfield.

I love that.

And I'm thankful he's getting a chance to kind of talk his shit, too.

Yeah, agreed.

And now, even though, you know, we tend to use Moxie and Dog when talking about him these days.

Talking about everybody.

And everybody, yes.

I know other people use these terms, but boy, Moxie.

Yeah, they didn't use them six years ago, but yeah.

But he was on this show two years ago to the date at the Dallas State Fair.

He was.

He was.

And that was not his younger career.

That was later in his career.

So if he was thinking, he was talking about you or any of us in his early career.

Remember, he started playing bad after playing on our, going on our show, though.

It did not go great after it came on our show.

Now, he's got a long-term contract with that team.

Yeah, exactly.

And everything ends up working out well in the long term.

But I appreciate that Baker Mayfield has probably taken it on the shins for a large portion of his career.

you know?

And in Cleveland, I think there should have been more people saying, hey, this guy wins.

Why wouldn't we have him there?

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, Super Bowl champion, head coach of the NFL, our coach, a Jinzer through and through.

Absolute legend.

Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Mike McCarthy.

Coach, good to see you.

Good to see you, Coach.

You look amazing.

Hey, can you talk a little bit about a quarterback with that edge like Baker has there?

What are your thoughts on him, the player, and where he's at in his career right now with Tampa basically saying, this is our guy for the foreseeable future.

I love everything Baker's doing.

I had a chance to watch Baker play in high school, Lake Travis down there in Austin, Texas as a Cavalier, and his whole flight out there to Texas, Tech to Oklahoma.

And I love what he said in the press conference because he's exactly right.

He hasn't changed.

I mean, he's always been feisty, maybe a little more up and down in his younger years, but he's always played the position of quarterback, super competitive, but he also does a really good job of distributing the football.

So love what he's doing.

He's having a great year, year, and I'm just really happy for him to have that success.

And I think Tampa did a great job committing to him.

Is it accuracy that is Baker's best thing?

Obviously, his competitive edge is awesome, but he can put the ball as if he was the hand-delivered.

Is that the biggest thing for quarterbacks to have success in the NFL?

I would say the accuracy, but his anticipation, I think, is a great anticipator.

And obviously, he has a receiver group that he's in tune with.

Those guys have played a lot of football together.

But

when you watch him play,

he's not sitting on his back foot.

He's going through

the progression.

There's always rhythm to his feet.

Ball comes out on time.

So very composed in the pocket.

But I think he's an excellent anticipator.

AJ, he's not the only

Hawk quarterback in the NFL right now.

We've been chit-chatting about two guys that I think Coach McCarthy loves as well.

Absolutely, Coach.

We've heard you talk about Dak Prescott and how much you appreciate him as a player.

Also, Trevor Lawrence, two young guys, seem to kind of be taking that next step, maybe playing very well early.

What's your your thoughts on those two guys?

Well, so much, you know, as we said about the quarterback position as far as productivity and

really, you know, getting the ball distributed to their playmakers.

But I love it when you see players go to another level emotionally.

The confidence just oozes out of their ears.

And I thought Trevor with that big win, you know, the other night, I mean, that's a nice

stepping stone.

You always talk about stacking success as a football team.

You definitely need to do it as a quarterback.

You know, and no different with Dak.

I thought Dak has done a great job playing the way he needs to.

I thought the time clock, you know, passing game he had against Green Bay was exactly the way he needed to do, and he did it for

four quarters and an overtime.

So, and I thought he did a great job against the Jets just getting that ball distributed.

But, you know, with that, you know, the production winning obviously brings a lot of confidence.

But when your quarterback is that dude, that dog, and you see

the body language and how they're winning, I think it lifts everybody up.

Yeah,

I appreciate the fact that Dak and Trevor, not young at this point.

They're kind of middle of their careers.

Both of them have been paid.

And if their best football is still very much in front of them, which it feels like you think that is the case, right, for Dak and Trevor and Baker?

Oh, definitely.

Definitely.

I think today,

these quarterbacks are playing to their 40.

I mean, I just think the way the NFL players are, just with the support and

the science and everything,

they

take great care of themselves.

It's not uncommon to see guys having great years in their late 30s.

So, yes, definitely, I think they have great years in front of them.

Is there a chance that just like we're seeing whenever guys have to go to a new spot, like Trevor could potentially, let's say, with the way this career has gone, if he wasn't number one overall pick, gets cut from Jacksonville because of the chaos that happens down there, goes and finds a new team, finds a new team, and then has this mid career run.

We'd say, oh, this is like Baker, Sam Darnold, Kirk Cutt.

We're saying this right now.

Trevor and Dak have been at the same places.

Now, there's been some change and some turnover.

Them still playing their best ball and being the pillars of the team is vital to the success, right?

I mean, that is something new coach needs, new organization needs, Coach McCarthy?

It's critical.

I mean, it's critical.

I mean, when you have the quarterback there in place, you know, everything else is built around it.

You know, and then really the first component I've always felt is the defense, you know, because a quarterback needs he needs a great defense to support him because you don't want to stress your quarterback out every single game.

It's fun to throw the ball 45 times.

But, you know, having a run game and playing complimentary football is very important to winning, you know, to get your win totals up during the regular season.

And obviously, that's what wins in playoff football.

So I think the fact that the organizations have recognized the importance of both these young men is a great job on their part.

And then just continue to build around them because, you know,

if you haven't had a quarterback and when you're starting over, there's always growing pains.

You don't ever get to skip those steps yeah it's uh life sucks when you don't have a quarter when you stink life sucks yes i'm just gonna say that outright and obviously quarterback good indicator on whether or not you're gonna be good feels like new england's good again go ahead con man yeah coach gotta talk about it uh sunday night was kind of the birth or rebirth of tom brady some people are saying in drake may in new england i know a lot of bills fans were you know asking themselves,

is it 2025 or is it 2015?

We suck again and we're losing to to the pass.

What the hell?

They were saying that?

Yeah, I saw that on the internet.

And, I mean, it's hard to argue because Drake May answered basically every call on Sunday night.

What did you think about this performance from him?

Obviously, young 22, 23-year-old quarterback feels like this was kind of his coming out party for the world.

Anybody who watched him last year and even beginning this year thought, okay, so Drake's good, but this team, maybe not so much.

The team is caught up, and the Patriots seem to be a legitimate problem now for the NFL.

What did you think about Drake?

And is this one of the more impressive kind of young coming out performances?

I mean, that play right there is ridiculous, and that is with two minutes left on first down, beginning of the drive, trying to go down and tie or win the football game, which he did.

Love your analysis.

No, clearly.

I mean, I think the thing I've really enjoyed

watching him play, even if you can even see it in the highlights, is when he's in the pocket, he's stepping in every throw.

So obviously, they're doing a good job of giving him pretty much a clean pocket there.

But he played on time, he was accurate with the ball, and then made the biggest plays of the game outside the pocket.

So, I thought he played a hell of a game, and

they go head-to-head with Josh Allen.

You know, that's definitely a win.

That's a nice niche in your belt.

But I thought he was so composed throughout the game, you know,

and that is so big for particularly where he is in his career, being so young.

Yeah, he's super accurate.

Yeah, he's got really great throwing mechanics, yeah, no doubt.

Yeah, very accurate.

Just the way he throws super accurate.

Don't you think, Coach?

You want me to say accurate?

Is that Greenfield behind you right there?

That's Greenfield, right?

That's McCaslan and Parade Street.

My parents live right pretty much.

That's the view from their front porch.

So I thought I'd give you a little Pittsburgh today.

Yeah, I love it.

It feels good.

It feels good.

And also, it feels like fall.

You see the weather.

Yeah.

Yeah,

that feels like my childhood there with football.

He's what I'm looking right over your shoulder there.

So I appreciate you doing that for us on this glorious week six kickoff.

From Drake May being young quarterback to the middle of careers, guys having resurgences, to how about end of career, brand new home, traded in the division, now expected to start in about four days.

Go ahead, Tone.

Yeah, coach, I wanted to ask you about Joe Flacco getting traded on a Tuesday and then going to start on a Sunday for a team that he is not familiar with.

I don't know what his

pass is with Zach Taylor.

I don't think it's much, if any.

So

how do you do that as Joe and also Zach Taylor going into Sunday?

Well, I mean, it's amazing in today's NFL, but I think it's so unique, especially in the division, too.

But Joe's played a tremendous amount of football.

So really, the biggest thing for him will be the language and the, you know, the terminology and the cadence.

So, and like I said, he's played a tremendous amount of football.

But, you know,

what I tend to think when I saw that happen, I don't know, AJ and Ty, you remember this, is

when you play the same team twice in one year,

that was actually a very bad experience for our team in 2011.

We played a quarterback by the name of Kyle Orton that put up some really good numbers.

And we played him in the Denver Broncos earlier in the year, and then Kyle was traded to the Chiefs.

And we went down to Kansas City, and that was the 15-in-one year.

And Kyle beat us.

So I'm not saying that's going to happen to the Packers.

I think they've definitely learned their lesson.

But I just think it's really unique to play the same team in one season.

I think that's going to be something to watch.

Well, especially with Joey Flack's brain.

Joey Flack's back and it's bad for the pack, I think is what a lot of people were saying down there in Cincinnati.

Chase Brown said Joey Flacco has got like this brain that is just otherworldly.

He said he memorized the play call right in front of Zach Taylor the first day he got there, puts the uniform on.

All of a sudden, he's starting.

He's understanding the offense maybe better than Joe Burrow does this.

Wow.

Joe Flacco actually saying to Zach Taylor, hold on, brother.

I did this 20 years ago.

You need to run this, actually, instead of this.

Let's go ahead and feast on T.

Higgins and Jamar Chase.

These are all things that possibly happened, Coach.

These are all things that possibly happen.

Well, no, definitely.

I mean, he obviously understands the pieces that he has, but he also knows we're, you know, once again, already playing the team.

He has a game day experience.

He's probably going to have a really good idea where he wants to go with the ball and pre-snap.

And yeah, I think that, you know, that's definitely a game I'm going to be watching.

Is that in the junk?

No, it's in that's at Lamblo.

Okay.

It's a great gas, Green.

Yeah, and those O-line stats.

He said that's a game I'm definitely going to be watching.

He's going to be here.

He's going to be here.

I'll have eyes on Joey Flack this weekend, actually.

Maybe have a couple cold pops, you know, like his old Greenfield days.

And then we'll go watch Joey Flack turn back the hands of time against Green Bay at Lambeau with Steve Sable lingering over top, telling the story of Joe Flacco, this journeyman who has been to the mountaintop previously and has been worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Going back to that.

Unbelievable.

What the hell do I say to that?

Yeah, well said, Pat.

Thank you.

Thank you, Coach.

I definitely appreciate it.

I love the shirt.

Hey, I love your shirt.

Before we get done, Harry, I want to make sure I comment on this.

That's strong.

Well, thanks for trying to get out of here.

I appreciate that.

Oh, no, no, no.

Yeah, it sounds like you're trying to get out of here, Coach.

Yeah, I understand what you're trying to do.

Where am I going?

Yeah, shit.

No, I appreciate that.

Yeah, it feels good.

You know, the daughter growing, getting older.

She's two, like two in three, four months, whatever it is.

I haven't done the exact math.

A lot of chatting, a lot of chirping, a lot of noises, a lot more words coming out though.

We're starting to do that.

And she's at the don't go dad stage whenever I got to go to things.

It is tough.

This is not good.

Okay, I thought this was coming later in life.

I thought I had a few years before they cared if I left.

You know, now I'm getting the hug and the grab.

You know, the little nails in my back of my neck.

Oh,

all right, that's enough ball.

Let's get back to ball.

Let's get back to ball.

AJ has a question about something vastly different than me being a dad to McKenzie.

Go ahead, AJ.

Yeah, Coach, I'm not sure if you saw out in Arizona Coach Gannon got $100,000 fine, I guess, for making physical contact maybe with a player.

I guess, what are your thoughts on that?

And also, like, can you tell us honestly here, like, how has this ever happened with you?

And if not, how close were you?

How have you ever been to

maybe punching, pushing, or maybe getting in a fight with a player in the sidelines?

I would say, you know,

today is definitely different.

I think that's just definitely an experience that leaves a dent on both sides of it.

Because I always go back to

when I came in the league in the 90s,

we all remember as young coaches when you got your ass ripped by Marty Schoenheimer.

I mean, you really weren't

initiated into the league

until Marty Christianed you that way.

But

it's something that

probably it's where it happened, how's it happened?

And

I just think

it's a different day.

It's a different day.

And I know, obviously, Jonathan regrets it.

But it's vice versa.

I just think when you have situations that cause

disrespect on both sides of it, it's definitely a learning experience because you don't want it.

I mean, I just always felt as a head coach,

I didn't like a lot of roles.

And as you recall, AJ, my only rule was no disrespect because it covers everything.

We can get to where we need to get to, we have disagreements, we can raise our voice with one another.

But the disrespectful behavior, I just don't think there's any place for it.

Well, hopefully they're all able to move on.

Coach Ganon said that the team room was dope or lit.

I forget which word he used.

It was one or the other, talking about the vibes in the building moving forward.

So hopefully they're all able to do that.

And obviously, that Arizona Cardinals team, are they ever going to go?

You know, are they ever going to go?

We shall see.

Before you go, like you're trying to get out of here, geez, let's talk about tonight's game.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Put me on another segment.

All right.

We'll lock it in.

All right.

Let's talk about it.

Let's lock it in.

You have the

five?

Oh, yes.

Let's actually do a segment.

Let's do a segment with you.

Hey, Coach, earlier today, we called you.

Yeah.

Oh, I remember.

Yeah, that's what

I'm helping you out of here.

I want to send you on your way.

I thought you were leading, but you are a producer.

This is good leadership out of you.

Earlier today, AJ, we called Coach McCarthy.

And on the spot, because of the conversation we were having in the Thunderdome, we're like, hey, who are the top five quarterbacks from the 2025 season?

We said to him.

And he he goes, oh, he starts thinking he has to look.

I think he was dropping off his kid at school, right?

Is that not what you're doing?

Correct.

And I, you know, pulled over legally and returned your text.

Yes, you did.

Yes, you did.

We appreciate that.

Yeah, I thank you doing that.

But he said, well, off the top of my head here,

because he didn't get the dot.

So we would like to preface this, that we asked Coach McCarthy for his top five of the first five of the 2025 NFL season.

And he was not allowed.

He was not given any thought or checking of anything.

This is literally fastball.

This is immediately upon being asked.

Number five, who did you have, Coach McCarthy?

Daniel Jones.

Yes, he did.

I like that.

How come?

What do you think?

Well,

when Connor asked the question,

where my mind goes in quarterback play is completion percentage.

You know, that's where who's dealing the football, who's getting the ball to the playmakers, you know, completions and rushes, staying on time.

And, you know, and obviously who's winning, who's affecting winning.

And so, and I mean, Daniel is definitely up to a great start.

His numbers speak for themselves.

I'm not sure exactly what they are, but I know he has great numbers, situational numbers.

You know, you see that in his red zone production, you know, throwing touchdowns and so forth.

But I think he's doing a hell of a job getting the ball distributed because, you know, the old 70%

completion percentage is something that I've always, that's what I grew up on.

You know, you go back to the early, can I pontificate here?

Do we got to get through these?

No, take your time, bro.

Pontificate.

Yeah, but I mean, you know, when I got in the the league in the 90s, you know, Paul, Paul Hackett was my mentor, and he always quoted, you know, Coach Walsh about 70% completion.

You know, that was the essence and really a key component of the West Coast offense.

So we used to have a sign, we used to have a sign in our quarterback room that said 70% completion percentage.

And there was only four at that time in the history.

And they were Joe Montana, Steve Young, Ken Anderson, and Sammy Baugh.

And three of the four were coached by Coach Bill Walsh.

So

that's my base on

being productive, getting that ball completed.

And then now you look at this generation of quarterbacks, there's got to be eight, nine, 10, 11.

I mean,

there's so many guys that have that play.

I think Drew Brees has done it so many times.

I've lost count.

Aaron, Tom, I think Mahomes has done it.

So, you know, Goff has done it the last couple of years.

So

I just think you're seeing the quality of quarterback play.

But that's always been a starting point for me.

They're not throwing interceptions.

Who's getting the ball completed?

Slinging Sammy Ball, also a punter.

People forget about that every once in a while.

Incredible ball kicker.

And the quarterbacks have only gotten better.

Danny Dimes has certainly

seemingly reached his maximum potential here in Shane Steichen's offense.

Let's go to a guy that would fit in any era.

At number four, you said Matthew Stafford.

How come, coach?

I've got to see him play a lot of football.

And I just, you know, what I have seen in him this year, he's on time.

Obviously, him and Puka are shattering records right now.

So, you know, ball distribution, he can make any throw still on the field.

Great anticipator, phenomenal confidence on the inside throws.

I've always loved that about Matthew, but I think he's playing at the, you know, the Pro Bowl Hall of Fame level that he's played on his whole career.

Devontae over there, obviously, McVay doing his thing.

Puka is on pace to break some records.

I mean,

that's a special team out there, especially with their young defense clicking in all cylinders so quickly.

They obviously put the Philadelphia Eagles

deep into the 12th round in that last year's playoff game.

They were the only ones that came close once the Eagles started kind of pummeling teams.

Seems like McVay's only going to have good squads.

All right, let's go to the top three QBs of the first five weeks of the 2025 season.

Derek Presco!

Oh, coach.

Homer.

Go ahead, coach.

Homer, absolutely.

He's playing his ass off.

I mean, I don't know what his completion percentage is, but I know it's going to be well over 70%.

I just love the way he's distributing the football.

71.3%.

71.3.

Thank you.

He's,

you know,

and I like really the maturity of the perimeter group, and you got an offensive line that's

got a lot of depth there.

So exciting on offense, and I just think he's managing that thing exactly the way it needs to be managed.

There is 10 guys above 70% completion percentage right now.

Hembo just sent a text in letting us know that Dak is certainly one of them, 71.3%.

Yeah, so it's 10 to 1, including Tyrod Taylor.

He's played two games.

Tyrod, Josh Allen, Tua, C.J.

Stroud, Dak, Dan Jones, Lamar, Sam Darnold, Drake May, Jared Goff are the 10 to 1.

So Dak Prescott, 71.3%, operating incredibly in Schottenheimer's first year as the head coach over there.

Dallas Cowboys could go on a run.

Dak playing special ball down there.

That's number three.

Who are the top two, top five, first five QBs?

Baker May, there he is.

hey he's got the dog great moxie moxie yeah what do you think about him coach mccarthy

well he's got a completion percentage too i'm sure oh he's uh he's he's definitely playing that what i love about baker and that's what's really why he's where he is is what it was that four of the five games have come down to the end so he you know he's playing great football at the most important time you know when you look at the you know over the course of a regular season, half of your games will come down to a two-minute drill.

And he's already got, what, four under his belt already.

So I just think he's playing top Knox football right now.

We love Baker, especially four games, four comeback wins in their first five games.

And then they have two last play wins.

So that means you're talking about a team, a belief, a culture that he is leading.

And going to Seattle, that's a long flight and get a big-time win after shit talking with that fan before entering the field.

That's what we love about him, AJ.

That is the little things that we love about Baker Mayfield.

He's the man.

Coach,

I understand you like Baker and everything.

Did you ever see this success, like him making this step, especially the weird route that he has traveled to get to Tampa and where he is?

I actually

think when you get to the end of these journeys, you know, those experiences are probably a big part of why he's having the success he's having because it's really been going on his whole life.

You know, he went to Texas Tech as a

walk-on, I think.

And then

had to leave tech to go to Oklahoma.

So, I mean, this guy has, you talk about resilience.

I mean, he could write the book on it.

So I think it's just part of his journey.

And

I think there's no surprise why he continues to get better.

Currently has 10 touchdowns, one interception.

He's fourth in yards in the NFL.

And obviously, we're watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in incredible jerseys play electrifying football games.

And the number one.

Quarterback in the NFL this season through the first five, the reigning MVP, the odds on favorite to be the MVP, Josh Allen.

What have you seen in the first five weeks of Josh that puts you at number one here, Coach?

I just love the way he attacks the position.

You know, he can make, he makes all the throws in the pocket, out of the pocket.

I mean,

his patience and confidence in play extension is

as good as you can be.

I mean, how many times you see him just

get to the sideline, you know, gain another two seconds, three seconds.

There's never a play that can't be made, you know, when Josh has the ball.

I just think he's, you know, I think he's playing at an unbelievable rate right now.

I mean, he was just smacking that guy's head right there, too.

He's not scared to mix it up.

He'll get in there in the gruff a little bit.

And he's undefeated.

I mean, it's one of those things.

They're not.

Yeah, they lost to the Patriots.

But yeah, that was Connor, obviously, coach.

Oh, that's right.

He did that to you.

He did this to you right there.

He literally just fished.

But Josh is special.

He is, coach.

He's special.

He's special.

No, he is.

He really is.

I mean, and really the size of strength and speed, just the way he plays the position.

And he just attacks it.

I love watching him play.

How about his development from year one to year two, year three?

Like every offseason, there's like significant growth.

in his game.

Like literally from year one to year two, it was like, wait a minute, this guy doesn't suck.

We thought he potentially was just a runner.

This guy might become a tight end.

Maybe we put big hands.

He can catch the ball pretty good.

Let's put him at tight end.

He's jumping over guys.

He can't throw a ball.

Then year one to year two, he gets better.

Then year two to year three, he becomes elite.

Then year three to year four, it's like, is this guy the best player in the NFL?

And then he's kind of carried that along.

So his work ethic is stupendous.

And I think his love of the game is very evident if you watch that hard knocks.

He's a good face of the NFL right now, even though obviously we have a few.

Josh Allen is a very good face of the NFL, I think, coach.

Yeah, definitely.

And I remember just when Josh came out of Wyoming, there was their head-to-head statistics, you know, with the college breakdown about about his accuracy.

And I could just remember, you know, talk talking through the evaluation process.

I says, yeah, but it's, it's hard to be accurate when you throw the ball to the damn moon.

I mean, this guy just needs,

you know, so I mean, and I just, you know, he's one of the best players or maybe the best player in our game right now.

MVP, can he win a Super Bowl?

That's all anybody wants to know.

And that's all Josh is hunting now for the rest of his life.

Can any of these guys other than Stafford make that happen?

We shall see.

Congrats to these top five of the first five in Coach McCarthy's non-real deep thought

list of quarterbacks around the NFL.

All right, coach, before we let you go, and we appreciate you taking time, we need you to talk about tonight's game because I know you don't want to make official picks, obviously.

But if you were to this season, you'd be four and one.

Geez.

Okay, you'd be seeing the board

what we like to call very well, okay?

This would be 80% hit rate if my math holds up out of five total opportunities.

And once again, we don't want you to make a pick, but how do you see tonight's game going?

Division game, seven and a half point spread.

Eagles coming off an embarrassing loss at home to a very good Broncos team, but the way they lost and the way they collapsed in the fourth quarter is certainly something Sirianni could pull from.

And then on this Giants team, they're hosting obviously a main live.

That place is going to be zoo.

Those Giants fans are going to be going crazy on a Thursday night because the Yankees lose terribly.

The Knicks lose out on Giannis.

Bruce just asks why we're laughing.

The Rangers, the Rangers lose to the Pens 3-0.

The Jets are the losingest team over the last 80s.

Nothing sports-wise is going good, but tonight they have the Giants hosting the Eagles, a team that they hate.

NFC East matchup, NFC East rivalry game.

Coach McCarthy, how do you see the game going?

And what are your thoughts on 7.5 being the spread that sports books, who have been hitting at a high rate, say this is?

It's a lot of points.

I think the first off, as we always talk about, is a division game.

And, you know, when you look at the numbers, I mean, Philadelphia knows how to win, and that's what they're getting done.

But obviously,

when you look at the numbers, it's who they are on offense right now, as far as getting the ball distributed.

I think the key for them is really, they got to get the ball to their key guys tonight.

But I think there's going to be some big matchups that I'm going to be watching.

I'm going to watch that D line of New York versus the offensive line of Philadelphia, because I think New York, just the way,

the pressure

that they're getting after, we saw Denver do some of that against Philadelphia there in the second half.

So I think there's going to be some really interesting matchups, really some scheme challenges that see how they affect.

But it's a division game.

It's going to come down to who really takes care of the football.

I want to see how they use Jackson Dart.

I hope to see him more from the pocket, more quarterback and

10 runs and things like that.

So

get them all moved, you know, spread around a little bit more.

But yeah,

I just struggle with seven and a half points.

That's a lot of points in a division game.

All right, so Coach McCarthy's on the Giants plus seven and a half.

If he was to give a pick, even though he's saying it's a lot of points,

Eagles get the win, he says.

Eagles win games, they win Curves games.

Seven and a half, though, is close.

Everything you were saying is this is a twofer here.

You're welcome.

You get seven and a half with Jackson, Dart, and Scataboo.

Okay, the boys are going to run wild on Thursday night.

And then the Eagles are going to get a win and go to five and one, and people are still going to bitch about what they are.

Precisely.

All right, Coach, we appreciate the hell out of you.

Is that exactly what you were saying?

Hey, hey,

you can't, yes.

Couldn't say it any better.

Hey, when are we going back to Greenfield?

Are we ever going back to Greenfield?

When do we get an opportunity to walk down those roads?

And I think it needs to be November, December, so we can get a little bit of the same type of vibe that it is right now.

It needs to be.

Yeah, hey, let's do it.

Yeah, I'm going to be getting over there in the next couple of weeks.

So let's make it happen.

It looks like a place you just need to walk down, breathe the air.

Yeah, you're going Sunday Night Football, Packers, Steelers, Coach?

I don't know yet.

Yeah, I don't know yet.

Okay, let's make a decision on that.

That might be a celebration for all of us.

We'll see if we can make it back.

That's a huge game.

But at that point,

had the Packers already lost to Joe Flacco twice by the time that game comes around.

We'll see this weekend, ladies and gentlemen.

The man, Coach Mike McCarthy.

Yeah, coach.

I'll be dead if they lose to Joe Flacco.

So you guys have fun at that game.

I won't be around.

Come on.

Joe Flacco.

I heard the toaster.

I heard a toaster comment.

It's not good.

I don't like that.

That's what he's thinking.

Joe Flacco is a good quarterback.

He is.

He is.

You just

don't get beat by Joe Flacco two times in 17 days or whatever.

Two different teams.

Two different teams.

AJ, how about you and me make our picks here to start our Thursday night football?

Because what we're about to do is have an incredible conversation with an absolute weapon.

Yes.

An icon, an American hero, actually, and a man who has an incredible brain will be joining us live.

And every time he stops by, there's always something, isn't it?

There's always something.

Tonight, the Eagles will take on the New York Football Giants.

Seven and a half point spread.

Mike McCarthy likes the Giants plus seven and a half.

He's saying that's a divisional game.

That's a divisional game.

That's a lot of points for a Thursday night.

Both coming off losses.

Where is the public's money at right now, Tone, as we sit at 143 Eastern Time?

We had a jump up to 76%

of the Philadelphia Eagles.

I was talking about the above 60% earlier being 13 and 30.

When you go to above 70%, it's 3-13

against the spreads.

And it's currently sitting at what?

76.

All right.

AJ, does that change the way you view this game tonight?

Coach Mike McCarthy's on 24%

party, the New York Giants plus 7.5.

Bruce Brown's on the plus 7.5 with the New York Giants as well, even though he laid out a calamity of airs.

We just got no wide receivers, but who needs them?

We're going to run that ball right down their mouth.

We're going to run Scataboo against the Eagles.

Yep, until the wheels fall off, man.

Tyrone Tracy.

Tyrone Carter playing?

4-4-6.

Questionable.

But Tyrone Tracy is back.

So we got Scataboo, and we got our thousand-yard rusher from last season back.

AJ, who do you like?

How do do you like it?

All right.

I don't like to be swayed by the public, but Bruce does sway me a bit when he talks about his Giants in such glowing fashion.

But give me the Giants plus seven and a half here tonight.

I'll take the Eagles my seven and a half.

I'm thirsty.

You can get a seven.

I got my seven.

Okay, and now I'm three and what?

The 70%.

Three and 13.

Okay.

This is always when it turns around when it comes to the like you always get the weekend.

You talked about it.

Could be this one.

Where all those public bets do hit.

Yeah, yeah and there's a chance also that we just continue no no no no no no no no for aj i guess it would be good if that was to happen congrats to you taking the giants tonight legit yes congrats to me i've gone back and forth over the course of the last hour for sure i've wanted to take the giants plus seven and a half numerous times i've done it in the past actually and uh i think i'm gonna stop doing that i think i'm gonna stop doing it i'm gonna wake up tomorrow and say i took the world champs yeah that's what i did seven and a half ten and a half twenty and a half who cares i'm taking the world champs they got a lot to prove after embarrassing themselves two-hour conversation jalen saquon and aj yeah that's maybe team chemistry building.

Yeah, you know, maybe they're back to who we thought they were.

Where they absolutely hate each other.

No, no, two hours joyful, huh?

Wait, was it like scheduled or did it happen organically?

Like, they all kind of, you know, like if they had to make it to a 4 p.m.

in this room, sit down 4 to 6 p.m.

Like, I hope it wasn't that way.

Just as somebody that maybe has a little bit of a busy schedule, I'm okay with scheduling time to chat with people.

I actually reached out to see what they did for those two hours.

Yeah, good news.

They watched Remember the Titans and they said, hey, same wars that they were fighting on those fields.

Back then, we're still fighting right now.

Wow.

Amongst ourselves.

So I think they got back together.

All right.

I'm hoping tonight they have a big one.

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.

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.

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 AT ⁇ T does with the AT ⁇ T guarantee.

They know staying connected matters.

That's why AT ⁇ T 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.

Ladies and gentlemen, speaking of a big one,

this might be the biggest book this man's ever wrote.

Yeah.

We have no idea what this is going to lead to.

Ladies and gentlemen, a man who's authored nine books, eight in the terminal this series, this one that he's releasing is called Cry Havoc.

oh the author an absolute stallion of an american hero former navy seal sniper whiskey drinker ladies and gentlemen jack car yay

that's for you

yeah yeah

yes you're the best

book tour right here no no

our favorite part of anybody releasing a book is whenever you come here in Indianapolis to join us.

You got to join yesterday.

Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I saw their saw a couple of little things in the room back there.

Well, yeah, there's a little bit of magic happening.

And then I saw you're on Rogan.

Awesome.

That was incredible.

It's a good time, always.

We appreciate every time you stop by here.

Congratulations on all the success, man.

Honestly.

Unreal.

Honestly.

And we talk about this every single time.

AJ and I obviously retire from the NFL.

It's like, what's next?

What's next?

Military experience the same thing because it kind of takes over your entire life and everything you're a part of you're in the military a long time family in the military a long time whenever you retire to be able to transition into something that is very difficult and have success is obviously something that's worthy of celebration but you always representing for the military and putting the military over while doing it is honorable and awesome so congratulations

let's talk about cry havoc a little bit here okay so this is vietnam vietnam 1968 it's like a time machine back there i didn't want to just throw on some credence clear water revival and say it's 1968 and then just drop this contemporary thriller into the the 60s.

I wanted to transport people back.

So if you had walked into my office about a month or two ago, as I was doing, writing this book, finishing it up, it would have looked like I was invading North Vietnam.

I had maps all over the walls from the 60s.

I had Car 15 in the corner, Browning High Power, Randall Knife.

I had stacks and stacks of books and manuals everywhere.

And it did look like I was going to invade.

And I probably could have.

You're a method writer.

And obviously, we would bet on you if you were to invade anybody right now to win.

We also on that conversation feels like invade is something that is happening on a regular basis at this point in time, which I don't think any of us could have expected.

Let's talk about Vietnam.

Viet Cong, obviously, the big problem over here, but also kind of public perception of everything happening over there.

Is that a part of this book as well?

Is that a part of that book?

It's the first time that I think that the media really realized that they weren't just a check on government power and on government overreach, but they could actually influence policy, influence events, influence people's perception.

So it's a big shift from World War II to Vietnam.

And I talk about that in there.

You had a lot of these guys that were out there.

They'd step outside Saigon for a minute and take a video.

So it looked like they were out in the field.

And then they'd go back to the Continental Hotel and start drinking all the rest of the night until the next day when they do their next report.

But they had a vested interest in an outcome to this war.

And I think they got, what do they say?

You say, you find out someone's true character, you give them some power.

And I think the media during that timeframe, during the 60s, really felt that power.

And we're seeing their character.

Well, me, media manipulation.

has always been a part of warfare since media has been a thing, right?

Vietnam,

massive way.

I think Middle East has been something like that.

Right now, there's people that talk about that.

It's always been a source of weaponry for, I think, in these wars.

How deep into the war do you go in this?

And how long did this book take for you to write?

It took a lot longer than I thought at the outset because I wanted to just make it, for someone who lived through the 60s, particularly for those guys who went to Vietnam and went downrange, I wanted to make sure I honored them by getting those details right.

So I really wanted to transport everyone back to 1968.

It goes from January to sort of January of 69, so one full year.

Starts with the USS Pueblo taken off the coast of North Korea in 1968, and almost a full year these U.S.

sailors were held captive by North Korea.

But that was the idea that I had about taking the most sophisticated technology, encryption technology of the day.

North Koreans get it.

They give it to the Soviets.

What do the Soviets do with it?

Well, they start encrypting U.S.

communications.

And that's the basis for this book.

It's really an espionage thriller dropped into the heart of Southeast Asia in 1968, which was the bloodiest year of the war for U.S.

forces.

Congratulations to you, man.

So many books, so many different projects, such a big brain.

How long were you a See Or in...

20 years and 20 and a wake-up, I like to say.

20 was good.

So literally 20-year anniversary?

Yeah, yeah.

And then you woke up the next day?

Bam, out.

Well, thank you for your deserving.

Hey, 20 years and a wake-up.

Sometimes that's all you need.

Obviously, you served our country, and we're very thankful.

And you also gave back in a big way.

And that's what it feels like you're always trying to do in all of your books and all your work.

Congrats on the prequel.

Yeah, yeah.

You guys watched Dark Dark Bull.

It was awesome.

Congrats, dude.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So many different avenues now.

So many different avenues now.

Yeah, got to build it.

Got to build.

And then we just finished in Morocco, finished True Believer, which is the second book over there.

Finished that up with Chris Pratt about two weeks ago and then came right directly to Book Tour.

So, and that is looking good.

It's like you have all the ingredients.

When you make something like that, it's like each scene is an ingredient for the meal.

And now you have to make that meal, put them all together, and that is going to be the show.

So we have the ingredients.

Now it's time in post-production to make a fantastic show.

So much respect.

Dude, Ty has a question for you.

So when it comes to that, and you have to kind of put that cap to the side and go back to write a book, like, are you at the point now where it's just like training a muscle?

And it's like you sit down and you get, or have you noticed that the more of these you've written, does it become more difficult?

Like, do you hold yourself to a higher standard almost at this point?

Or how is that process go?

Yeah, the goal is always to improve.

So I wanted Dark Wolf to be better than Terminalist.

I want True Believer to be better than Dark Wolf.

And same with this book.

This book is better than the last one.

I feel like I've gotten better every time.

I always want to improve.

Same thing in the SEAL teams.

I wanted to be a better leader and operator today than I was yesterday.

And now I want to be a better author today than I was yesterday.

And then, just as a human being, I want to be a better father, a better husband, and a better citizen today than I was yesterday.

So it's all about constant improvement.

Let's go.

Are you still shooting?

You still a better shooter today?

We got on the range the other day, and it worked out pretty well.

Yeah, part of book tour.

My book tour is a little different.

So,

yeah, I hit a range out in Austin, Staccato.

So, went out there, shot one of their new pistolas out there, and it was awesome.

Tell me this, though.

You're a Navy SEAL sniper, right?

Yeah.

Okay, so Marines obviously have a lot of

moxie and confidence about their shooting.

Obviously, Rifleman's Creed is a part of the Marines and everything like that.

And Full Metal Jacket actually talks about all the snipers that have been in there.

Navy SEAL snipers, obviously, very high level.

How many groups of snipers are there that are, do you guys talk to each other too?

Like, hey,

we see through a scope better than any other unit that's picked up.

Like, who are like the groups of snipers that really amongst you guys?

No, every different unit has its own sniper school.

So the Marines have theirs, Navy has theirs, Army has multiple.

And then we send guys to those other schools as well.

So we can cross-train and we can disseminate that information and make everybody better, not just us.

Don't want to keep it just pigeonholed or

in our own little silo.

So we want to make sure that everybody is benefiting from our lessons.

And that really came out of the, we were doing a little bit before the Global War on Terror, but after that, it became readily apparent about how important that was because now guys are going downrange and it can be the difference between life and death.

Okay, so I don't want to bring up negative stuff, okay?

But snipers, you actually are seeing, because I had a friend who was a spotter, I think, in the Marines for a sniper, and we got pretty boozed up numerous occasions.

And then this like the story, the PTSD story of him binoculars, watching people.

Snipers, same thing, right?

You're kind of watching it all happen.

That's a different level, I think, of warfare that you guys are in.

And obviously, the patience and the camp move and the targets are taken out or the people that you're protecting.

But you're, I mean, you're seeing, I mean, you guys are literally seeing it all.

That's a whole different animal.

Yeah, you're seeing it, and then you're having to make that decision.

So policy decisions that are made up of the executive level with the president, and it goes all its way down through the admirals, through the generals, through every level of command.

And the last decision-maker in that chain of command is that person.

It could be 18-year-old kid with a rifle at a checkpoint.

It could be a sniper in an Overwatch position, but that is the last decision-maker in a chain that starts with the president.

So, as a sniper, you're making those decisions just like anybody holding a rifle out there down right now.

That chain of command can't be fat anymore.

No way.

That's right.

Yeah, they're

need to get back in the push-ups, need to get back in the city.

They look a little nervous out there in that little meeting that they all had back in Quantico with some of those guys.

But it's interesting.

I call in this book, actually, I have a conversation between two guys, and they talk about the Department of War versus the Department of Defense.

And so, this was written months and months ago.

But I talked about that also after the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

I talked about the difference that precision in language reflects precision in thought.

Defense means something's different than war.

And I talked about that in multiple shows and appearances after the withdrawal.

And I'm not saying that the administration got this idea.

You're a good writer, but

I am saying that I never heard anybody else talk about it until I did in 2021.

Well, thanks for bringing it back into the Lexicon because it is a hilarious title.

I mean, Department of War.

They say so much.

How are you doing?

Urah out there.

AJ has a question for you from Ohio.

Sir.

Yeah, Jack, I know you tried to take yourself back to 1968 for this recent book.

How did you do that?

You talked to guys like Carlos Hathcock, his family, maybe demo Dick Marcinko.

Did you reach out to their families and really get in on what was going on back then?

Yeah, I read all the autobiographies I could read from guys that had been in Mac V Sog specifically.

So guys going into Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam, into denied areas where Americans were not supposed to be, read their autobiographies and then had them on my podcast and then got to know them.

So I would text them, I would call them, I would email them to check on certain things.

I would send them chapters because I wanted to really honor that service with the details and getting those details right and making people, the reader transporting them back there so they could feel the sights, the sounds, the smells and what it was like to be there across a border in a denied area in the dark, in the jungle with the bugs, with the snakes, and with an enemy slowly approaching your position.

We appreciate you doing that, taking the time.

How many bottles of this for

we have hard out, Connor has a question for you.

Yeah, Jack, last time you were here, you were releasing Beirut, the nonfiction, and then Red Sky Morning, and Red Sky Morning was predominantly about AI.

The last year of AI has been pretty insane.

Like, have you kind of seen comparisons between what you wrote and what is going on right now?

Yeah, I started with AI and quantum computing a few books ago before anyone had heard of chat GPT.

True, yes.

And then everyone, then ChatGPT becomes a part of the lexicon.

And it'll be this next book that I write will be another contemporary thriller, James Rees.

And with the way that AI is into our lives and the intelligence services and the military apparatus, it's going to be, it's going deep into that.

But also just generally publishing, Hollywood, what's AI doing there?

And a buddy told me a story.

I'm going to make it real quick because I was kind of concerned about the AI side of this.

What does it mean for authors if someone can say, hey, write my book in a Jack Carr style or whatever else and just have it printed out there?

And it's Wayland Jennings sitting down with a Wayland Jennings cover band guy back in the 80s.

And the Wayland Jennings cover band guy is telling Wayland Jennings how amazing he is and how much he appreciates it.

And Wayland Jennings says, yeah, man, there's just one problem with what you're doing.

And the guy's like, well, what is that?

And he says, you're always one album behind.

So I'm like, I'm going to think of it like that.

Yeah.

Yeah, because it's chasing you, brother.

If they're trying to be you, they're chasing.

you and obviously imitation is the greatest form of flattery everybody's going to want to be jack carr whenever they grow older you're a badass, an American hero.

And your new book, Cry Havoc, is available now everywhere.

Books are sold.

We'll be back tomorrow reacting to tonight's Thursday night football game.

Yeah, that's a fucking, I hit that.

Jack, you see that?

Jack, I'm fucking on the zero with the book.

Yeah, boom.

With the fucking book.

You make me better.

You talk about being a better leader.

We're still live.

We're still live.

You know that.

We're still alive.

You talk about being a better leader and everything like that.

You walk in this building and I can boom, bang, how, boom.

Even

though, Yeah, that was you make us better, Jack.

Oh, man, you guys fire everybody up, not just me.

You guys don't know what influence you're having.

It is, it is awesome.

Well, no, we fire people up in positive and

we like, we like to bring the fire, yeah, bring the juice.

Uh, Tone has a question for you, Jack, yeah, Jack.

In Dark Wolf, there is a scene where Reese, Chris Pratt, and they're sitting around a fire and he gives his father's, I believe, a compass or a Baltham Compass from the family.

He either gives it to Rafe or

Ben.

Okay, so he he gives it to Rafe.

So now

when I was looking at the book or whatever, that ties back to That's Reese's Dad.

So when you were filming that, did you know that was in the book or when you were writing the book, did you know that was going to be in the TV series?

And how much does that all tie together?

Yeah, there's a lot of overlap these days.

So the book, that part of the book was written well before that scene.

And so it's any little touch point we can put in there, a little Easter eggs we can put in there, anything we can, little foreshadowing, little things we can hope to explore more in the future.

That's all woven in there.

If you got to the last episode, Beirut's woven in there, 1983, that's in there.

So it hits the nonfiction as well.

So, man, making that show was amazing.

And all those guys just brought it.

How tall is the actor for Wraith?

What's his size?

Tom Harry?

He's 6'5.

He is so tall.

And yeah, my wife was really excited about that show because she loves Texas Forever, you know, Taylor Kish, Friday Night Lights.

And so she's watching that show, really excited.

We got to know Taylor.

Taylor's amazing.

He's become a great friend.

And then Tom Hopper gets out of that pool in episode two.

And I don't know why my wife's favorite episode is now episode two.

Yeah, and once we're on a set, yeah.

We don't need more pool scenes.

I understand.

Hey,

that's the movie world as a whole.

There's a lot of glitz, a lot of glamour, a lot of moments where you can kind of get lost in the sauce.

Now that you're so famous,

you are.

Now that you're so famous, so successful, everybody wants to be a part of your shit.

Do you feel like a pressure to still represent for the mill?

Like, how do you kind of, I know you're probably just going to say, well, I just got to be me or whatever.

There's a lot of distractions, I assume, for you now.

There's a lot of people that want a bite of the Jack Car apple good fucking reason, by the way.

But

how do you ground yourself in all of it?

You have like a morning routine or anything that you know it's get shot out of a cannon, three kids, dog, wife, chaos.

That's the morning routine.

Everybody expects to say that you wake up at 3 a.m.

and you're all disciplined and all this stuff.

It's just crazy.

It's just chaos.

But no, it's more, I'm just focused on the story, just being the best author that I can possibly be.

And there are more distractions these days.

There are definitely more asks coming in, as you guys, I am sure, know.

Which is good.

Which is great.

We want those to continue.

What's your hope?

Problem.

We want those to continue.

That is true.

That is true.

So

it's go, go, go, but it's about improving as an author, improving in this profession, and always honoring the story.

And if I honor the story and not worry about any of this other outside stuff, meaning, oh, am I going to upset somebody if I say this?

Or is someone not going to buy the book now?

Or do people like shorter chapters or whatever else?

Or I need to grab a headline.

I think of none of that.

It is all about the story.

And if I do that, if I focus on the story, then I'm honoring that reader and that listener who's spending time with me, then they're never going to get back.

So So it's solely focused on making the best story that I possibly can.

That's the process, right?

That's trusting the process.

That's obviously a big football thing.

It's big sports thing, massive military mindset as well, right?

You do the work here and then it will show up whenever we go later, especially special forces.

No, absolutely.

I mean, you put in that time, put in that mat time, put in that time on the mat.

It's the same thing.

So all the books up to this point, that's mat time.

Next one, same thing.

I'm improving.

I'm getting better.

But it's about being as prepared as you possibly can be.

or when that call comes and you go to war.

So the job of the military isn't to go to war.

It's to be prepared to go to war.

And I always kept that at the forefront of my mind.

I focused on the guys too, focusing on that team.

Rather than the mission, people just repeat, focus on the mission, mission first, mission first, mission first, maybe, but I think you just repeat that over and over again.

It just becomes something that you say.

But if you focus on the guys and take care of those guys, then that mission is going to get accomplished by default.

So I always focused on those guys.

And it's something I haven't really heard from anybody else.

And when I was in, I didn't really talk about it because everyone's like, oh, mission first.

But you focus on those guys.

You take care of them.

They're going to crush it for you downrange.

The boys are the culture.

You take care of the little things.

The big things will take care of themselves.

That's very much process driven that is uh god do you think about running for president yeah that's an easy uh question to answer absolutely not

that'd be like the worst job ever i mean maybe back in the like the 60s 70s 80s something like that but today oh my gosh wow what an awful position to be in and remind me were you a big uh good swimmer in high school before you joined i was okay i was okay i was definitely a better runner than i was a swimmer and you do a weird stroke in buds for those who've ever seen it this combat side so that's what i was about to say we now know what buds is because of all the documentaries and everything you guys have been through obviously we didn't experience it and none of us could that haven't and we'd ring the bell quickly over there if we were to do it.

But the water shit seems to be the scariest.

I mean, for me, as somebody that not the greatest swimmer, you know, last.

We all have our jokes, potentially end up in jail.

I would have never chosen to swim.

I'm not good in water.

But that feels like the scariest part of Buds for you, whenever you're...

I don't know if it was the scariest part for me.

I was very comfortable in the water, but if you could be the greatest guy, you got that mindset, the mental fortitude fortitude we're looking for, that mental courage, that physical courage, all those things we're looking for, the team ability, make it all the way through Hell Week, get to the second phase, which is dive phase, and that's where we want to really see if you're comfortable in the water, get to pool comp, and then you have to say goodbye to some really good guys because they are just not comfortable.

That eliminates

crazy.

I assume that he's a great eliminator there.

Okay, we're gonna flip you upside down in this pool.

You're not gonna be able to get out, and you're gonna be blindfolded.

You do that, smash them up against the bottom of the pool, hit him in the ribs a couple times, exhale some air, pull the regulator out of the mouth, and it's the old school one that comes around like this.

You can tie it in a tie it in a knot and see how you, then you take a breath, you just calm yourself and go through the procedures to get going again.

And then you get hit again.

It's about 15 minutes worth of that on the bottom of the pool until the instructors are like, Yeah, this guy's comfortable bringing the next one.

That is literally the, let's see if this guy's got the cut of the tube or not.

That's not in hell of a week.

Yeah, that's after that.

Yeah.

Yeah, made it through no week.

We got a lot of respect for you guys.

Now,

bottom of this pool.

We're going to beat the shit out of you down there.

Punch me in the ribs a couple times.

Let's make sure we get that air out of you there.

We want you to feel like you are drowning.

You are drowning, by the way.

We see if you can make it.

I love that part because that's the only time in Buds, it's like you against the instructor.

The rest of the time, you're just getting yelled at, and you're doing push-ups and sit-ups, and you're being told you're the worst recruit ever, like that sort of a thing.

But pool comp, it's like, okay, now it's you and me.

Same thing with a thing called life-saving.

They have the instructors out in the pool, and they're each doing something different.

Like one's being aggressive and fighting you, another one's just dead weight, and they're different body shapes and all that stuff.

You got to swim out and bring them back.

But that's also another time where you get to put your hands on an instructor and it's like, all right, let's go.

Let's go.

So, those are very few and far between those times when you get to do something like that in Buds.

And I love those ones.

I don't know if you know this.

I played a drill instructor in a movie.

Did you hear about it?

I heard about it.

Yeah, it's a mosquito bowl, right?

Yeah.

Oh, Pete Berg is doing that.

I love Pete.

He's awesome.

He came up to the house, played ping pong with my youngest.

He's great.

What a legend Pete Berg is.

Obviously, an incredible storyteller.

He loves the military, obviously, does a lot of war movies.

Getting a chance to be the drill instructor, I went down to Paris Island, got a chance to watch him for a few days.

What a

wild life.

I mean, we're talking about three hours of sleep.

And also, we are the example of what the greatest could look like.

And we are on ass all day, every day.

Incredible talkers as well.

I mean, the way you got to put words together to tell people they are the fucking worst, but also we need them is it was quite an honor, man.

It was,

I know, obviously, Marines is under the Navy and everything like that.

You guys have a relationship, and I've never been out to Buds and what you guys do at San Diego and wherever else that happens at.

But going through Paris Island, just the amount of respect, just the level of just respect obviously is heightened even more so once you see it in person.

Oh, it's amazing.

Pete sent me some pictures from SET, and it looks awesome, that movie.

But there's something in us, I think, between, let's say, age like 10 and 18, somewhere in there, because we used to have to prove ourselves to the community, to the tribe, to your family to show that you could provide value.

And otherwise, your tribe, your community wasn't.

to last much longer.

And that's still in us.

And Marine Boot Camp in particular is something that draws young men to both test themselves and to prove that they can add value to this country and uh and and that's one that uh that that i think high school in particular these days that is the calling marine boot camp like okay paris island i am going and there's such history right there but there's a calling i think inside all of us uh to test ourselves somehow and uh marine corps boot camp is really the hell yeah it really is a it's a crucible oh rah brother the crucible is the end of that thing and uh that's actually the final test that they have to go through.

It's like a four-day, three-day process where obviously they're not sleeping.

You got to get through the entire thing.

And

it was an honor to be down there and see and then obviously the yellow footsteps yeah uh and the history and mike and the it was just it was really cool it was an honor to be a part of your guys's world for a tiny little portion and uh yeah i'll be excited to see your thoughts on me as that i think i did pretty i saw the pictures it looks good it looks good brother shave my face shaved my face now because started new trade yeah i started shave my face things oh yeah they shaved it on set there first time like in my life that uh i mean i guess it's like the third time that i've shaved my face one time to do a good one time was for a Vince McMahon I was gonna be Vince McMahon on WWE on a throwback nice okay they were having this entire thing I get there it was during COVID I get down there and they're like hey we're doing a throwback night everybody's gonna act like somebody we wonder if you would be Vince McMahon Vince McMahon is there okay I'm like absolutely holy hell I'm just gonna yell the entire night at people and just I'm gonna be mr.

McMahon the entire time so I they shave my face the whole thing uh Michael Cole is looking like an asshole dressed like himself from back in the day that we shoot something baby blue talks.

Then obviously, yeah, the baby blue talks, the whole thing.

And they just mail it hour before the show starts.

Nope, we're not doing it.

Everything's scanned.

It's like, oh, I shave my face.

I shave my face with this

10 years.

It's good.

Yeah.

So then I grow my hair back immediately after that because my face is obviously not one that should be like that.

And when I'm Irish, when I get fat, it all comes right here.

So put the beard on there.

Cover it up.

So doing this thing, I shave my face.

I try to do it.

I make my bed in the morning.

Hey, I wake up early.

Nice.

I'm a 5 a.m.er now.

I mean, it is.

Nice.

It has changed my.

No kidding.

Yeah.

It's changed my entire life.

Just witnessing the greatness that you guys have in the military.

It has changed me completely.

Yeah, I'm trying my best.

Some of that stuff didn't take with me, like the making of the bed and the getting up early part.

Like those things didn't take.

I feel that's my act of rebellion, though.

A little bit of act of rebellion is by not letting some of the things take.

And on my note, I wasn't like yelled at to do it.

When I was accer, they would make us run.

as a penalty.

So as an older lad, though,

you won't see me running.

It's like, nope, not doing that.

Every time I was told to run, it was a bad time.

So I think mentally that kind of affected us that played football, soccer, I think plenty of other sports.

So making the bed, you,

18-year-old, 19-year-old, this shit needs to be tight.

I can see how you as an adult go, I'm never doing it.

Exactly.

Never doing that.

AJ has the last question for you from Ohio, Jack.

Yeah, Jack, what is, honestly, I know we always ask you this, but what does the future look like?

Are you going to stay in this realm?

You think about like, you know, branching out possibly, writing like a rom-com possibly, something that maybe,

like my mom used to always read those books with the weird covers when I was was growing up, like a novel where, you know, it's like a romantic situation.

Novella.

Those sell really well.

So

I consider it for half a second, but no, I think I'm going to stay with what I'm doing right now.

I very deliberately, in the early novels, introduced characters that I would find interesting, that I think readers would find interesting, and that would

be able to write books on their own.

And so this is the first one, Cry Havoc, the Dad, but also the grandfather, World War II, post-World War II, the Hastings family in Rhodesia.

So three generations there to explore.

So I have all that.

And then I have some other projects here outside the terminalist universe out there.

A couple in Hollywood, a couple in publishing.

And the next nonfiction, I go right from Book Tour into some research for that.

And that one will get announced here in the next few months.

But always working, always expanding.

I always want to expand that readership because really today, readers have dropped off, and it's not making anybody better when they're sitting on their phone instead of opening a book.

And really, today, an act of rebellion, like we talked about being a rebel, is reading.

And

to rebel against the digital tyranny that's out there that's affecting everybody, but particularly young people in junior, high, high school, those very formative years.

It's going to be a rebel today.

You pull out a book instead of the phone.

Digital tyranny.

I love everything you just said right there, the way you described that.

Before we let you go, Jack, we'd like you to pick tonight's game.

The Giants are hosting the Eagles.

The Eagles, okay, just lost their first game of the season against the Denver Broncos.

They lost the fourth quarter of that game, 18-zip, kind of just gave the game away.

Not normal for them.

They're currently the Super Bowl champs.

So there's a chance that with four-day break they could come back and really just want to beat that ass this would be a good team to potentially beat that ass of they're one and four okay they just lost to the Saints quarterback for the Saints Spencer Rattler he has started 11 games his only win was against the Giants on Sunday so both teams kind of have a little bit of uh want to get a bad taste out of their mouth seven and a half points the eagles are favored by so that means at the beginning of this game it is negative seven and a half to zero the giants are in the lead i don't know how much you know about sports gambling Who do you think wins and who do you think covers?

I'm going to go with the Giants here because

I like the underdog story.

So even if it's by a degree, you know, I'm going to go for them.

Do you know the quarterback at all?

I do not.

You would love the quarterback.

And then the running back, Scatterboo, you would love the running back.

We got a lot of mocks here.

Quarterback and running back, Tough Guys.

Nice.

I like it then.

Running back, kind of undersized.

Head, though, the size of a very big guy.

And he will run through somebody's face.

The running back, he's a rookie.

Hey, he's great.

I love it.

I remember back in the day, just playing football in the mud and marcus allen going over the top when we were little kids you know doing that with another smaller guy yeah always practicing that going over the top okay so maybe scat boot flies by the way

okay so you have the new york giants plus seven and a half let's do it aj hawk has the new york giants plus seven and a half and then i have the eagles at minus seven because there is a little better line somewhere else for me on the other side i think nick siriani is a good leader i think he has a great team i think they got embarrassed i think they're going to improve it and on that note complete opposite could happen too with the air at the giants that's why football is greatest.

And so is

Cry Havoc, the latest from the legend.

That is Jack Carr.

Now, not only is he a New York Times bestseller, but he's also a series creator that is award-winning.

Not just one of them, multiple.

And then movies are going to follow suit.

And whenever this guy dabbles in non-fiction, go ahead and take a seat and learn something you need to know.

This Jack Carr brain is a special one, and it's on display in the Vietnam version.

In Cry Havoc, available now.

Hey, that was good.

Well done.

I feel like you really fucking hit that.

You did.

I feel like you really knocked out out of the park.

That's probably the best line you said today.

Okay.

You said a lot of lines?

That was amazing.

But it feels good, you know, because

we do move some books here.

Oh, yeah.

You guys are awesome.

We had a book club here for multiple years.

It was, if you go just strictly off of people that purchase shirts, the Aaron Rodgers Book Club, I think we're the second largest book club in America.

Obviously, Oprah had hers.

We had multiple, I think we had like four or five thousand people a part of our book club.

So a lot of people assume because we are, I am, I'll speak for myself,

a bit of a dipsh dipsh that we would not have a lot of book readers that watch.

But I think we do.

And I think this one is going to be one that our people are going to love.

See how cool the back looks?

Thank you.

Hey.

Oh, shit.

Oh,

fuck.

Look at that.

Look at the stage.

Oh, God.

Is that Brad Coop?

No.

That's not Bradley Cooper.

You might recognize him from episode four in the tunnel sequence.

I got stitched up the side in this one and go down.

I got a little stump man pave, which was pretty cool.

Oh, you did.

Oh, there we go.

I did not have bad.

And you got, and didn't you get shot in the head in the first one?

Shot in the first one.

Got a little shootout with Chris Pratt, but exactly.

This time I got out of a car.

So first time I don't get out of the car, have that shootout with Chris Pratt.

But I had to tell him ahead of time, I said, if this was going to go down in real life, it would end up a little different.

We're clear about that.

Just so we understand, this is acting.

Exactly.

Real life, I take that thing.

You got two in your forehead before you even get to me.

Yeah, we filmed the one for True Believer 2 for the next one.

That one's probably my best death sequence yet.

Okay.

I don't love seeing you die all the time.

No, no.

But I do appreciate it.

It means you're celebrating another successful story being told.

Thank you.

Congrats to you.

Thank you for stopping by.

Tonight's a big one, AJ.

Hopefully you,

Jack, and the Giants fans have something to celebrate.

And that's just keeping it within seven and a half.

That's right.

We don't even need to win.

Let's just keep this thing close against the Eagles, and maybe we'll have some hope.

Is that accurate, Bruce?

Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty sick of the moral victories, but I would certainly take a cover tonight after what the Yankees did last night.

Well, what about also not just the Yankees?

Come on, let's make sure we fully tell the story here.

The Knicks had Giannis, chose not to.

Rangers could have started the season a little better.

They lose 3-0 to a team that's literally allegedly washed and the coach can't even speak.

And you talk about the Jets, worst of all time.

Islanders, I guess, have a chance to maybe make some things right for the entire area, but they're on Long Island.

They're not even considered out there.

So all sports bad.

Tonight could be good for you, is what you're saying.

Matt's also missed the playoffs after paying Winnota $750 million.

Yeah, no,

the Kings off Broadway.

It's dark days.

It's dark days.

I don't think we have to drag the Knicks into this.

They haven't even lost the game yet.

Could have had you honest.

You lost you.

You lost Greek freak.

That's all.

Liberty got bounced from the playoffs.

Speaking of, the Aces are looking to sweep the Mercury in the WNBA finals.

Asia Wilson goes for 34 points last night.

I forget what it is.

And

puts them up 3-0 against the Mercury.

Ishmia's team over there in Phoenix obviously got a $100 million practice facility built up within the last couple of years.

Obviously, they're in the finals.

It's all working.

But the Aces are just saying this is our league.

And it will be until further notice.

They're up through it.

That could be a clean sweep, AJ.

That could be a clean sweep in the finals.

We'll see.

We'll see if what Phoenix can find a way to make this thing a series, right?

Yeah, we will see.

We will see.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We will.

I did watch that.

That last play was amazing.

When she hit that game winner, yeah, when Asia hit that game, Asia is unbelievable.

I was watching this real time.

Asia is legitimately unbelievable.

Now, on that note, we were certainly saying that Caitlin Clark was going to become the best in the league.

Asia said, I don't think so.

I'm seven inches taller than Caitlin, and I can go to work.

And this Aces team, they're used to being at the top.

Now, they traded away Kelsey Plum.

Didn't know they're going to be able to get back there.

They are.

Congrats to them.

If Phoenix can come back being down 3-0, you're talking about one of the greatest comebacks and maybe chokes of all time.

Yeah, potentially.

Rushmore on X, available now at Rushmore on X.

We're going to get out of here.

A lot of travel.

A lot of travel.

A lot of travel.

A lot of travel.

Safe travels.

We'll be back tomorrow.

You're right.

Safe travels.

We'll be back tomorrow.

We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living.

You're the greatest people on earth.

Be a friend, tell a friend something nice.

It might change their life.

Buy this book.

It's available now.

Cry Havoc by Jack Carr.

Team on me.

Jack, you got anything to say to the team here?

Oh, man.

You guys keep crushing and firing everybody up.

It's bigger than you guys, and you guys are the friggin best.

Boom.

Thank you, Jack.

That's amazing.

Yes.

God damn, I needed that.

Keep your hand up, though.

Strengthen on.

Strengthen on.

Keep your hand up.

Keep your hand on.

All right.

Team on three.

One, two, three.

Goodbye.

A 20-year-old soldier goes missing from a U.S.

Army base.

How can she go missing on a military base?

That's ridiculous.

What would come to light is horrifying and ignites a movement that sparks a reckoning in the U.S.

military.

Listen to Vanished, What Happened to Vanessa, a new series from ABC Audio in 2020.

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

Eight years ago, I blew my football career.

He dropped it at the one-yard line!

Chad Powers has arrived on Hulu.

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

My name's Chad.

And last name?

Jeff.

From executive producers Eli and Peyton Manning.

Remember, you're wearing a prosthetic mask.

This is acting.

And starring Glenn Powell.

He thinks you're a rubber choo-to-eye.

Not rubber.

I'm a man.

Made a fish.

The Hulu original series, Chad Powers, is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers.

Terms apply.

New episodes Tuesdays.