NFL Season Preview, Ashton Kutcher on the Bears, Coaching High School Football, and Dennis Green's Legendary Rant

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Restrictions apply. If the Jets make the Super Bowl, you have to wear a Philadelphia 76ers jersey to a New York Knicks game.

Are you trying to get me killed?

Are you trying to get me assassinated?

You have to wear Jets.

You have courtside tickets, all right?

We know that.

You have to wear Jets jersey to a New York Knicks game.

Matt, you are not taking this podcast where I thought you would.

You're playing like blood oaths broken.

What are you trying to do to me? Welcome everybody. It's throwbacks with Matt Liner and Jerry Farrar.
It's week one in the NFL, but it's also week one for us. It is our first ever.
Congratulations. Let's go.
I hope we go 1-0 after this episode. I hope it's a win.
I think it might be. I think we're heavily favored.
But Matt, week one in the NFL coming up. How are you feeling overall? Are you ready to get this going? Because this show is packed today.
You know what? This time of year, it's like one December 1st hits for Christmas with kids. And it's like the house is already decorated.
It's just like you can't wait for the season to get, you can't wait for Christmas morning. I feel like that's every man in America when August 1st hits and it's preseason, we cannot wait for week one.
College football's here already. Week one of the NFL.
It is like, it's like Christmas now every weekend, man. So I'm fired up and it's the best time of year.
Fall is the best time of the year. It is.
It is the best time of year and look, we do have a great guest lined up for you week one. I'm gonna, you know, you know him from a lot of different things but that's not really why we're having him on the show but you know him from that 70 show.
You know him from Two and a Half Men. You know him from a ton of movies.
He's an amazing investor, but he's a big-time NFL football fan and a big Chicago Bears fan. Joining us in a little while is going to be Ashton Kutcher, everybody.
Which is awesome, by the way. And I don't know who's a bigger fan.
You or the Giants and him with the Bears. Like two diehard, weirdly, just creepily fans, dude.
I just still't understand that i'm excited to talk to him and see yeah it was one of those i've heard him speak nfl before and he walks the walk it's not like uh it's not fake fandom yeah he knows his stuff so he's gonna be coming up in a little while but yeah i do agree with you i feel like this time of year it is the best now my football watching habits have changed over the years since having kids i don't know how much yours. I was agree with you.
I feel like this time of year, it is the best. Now, my football watching habits have changed over the years since having kids.
I don't know how much yours have worked. I was going to say, how are you gearing up, man? Just game day? It's a little different, right? Wife, kids? Well, there has been a trade early in the NFL season.
Here's what I had to trade off. Okay, now, obviously, we love watching sports.
Part of the reason why I do this podcast is it's a great excuse to talk sports with you. But here's what I offered my wife, and she took the trade right away.
I said, look, I need to watch this late. The 8 o'clock game is what it is.
I'll watch it when I can. I'll watch it the next morning.
But for the 1 and 4 o'clock, I need some quiet. I need to watch.
You take the kids out of the house for a little while. In return, I do meal prep while watching football for the entire week.
Meaning I'm going to set up with the TV. I have a good view from the kitchen to the living room.
I also love the laptop. I'm going to be chopping up veggies.
I'm going to be prepping some chicken. I will do all the meal prep while watching football and making notes for six hours.
And she immediately took that trade. And the wife and kids wife and kids are out of the house for most of it.
For most, I can't say six hours, seven hours, they'll be gone, but they're, you're absolutely winning. I'm just chopping up carrots.
I'm chopping up celery. I'm, I'm, I'm marinating some chicken, watching football, and then they will return at some point.
So it's a big trade. I think that's a great trade, by the way, you won that trade.
I think if I proposed that to my wife, she would look at me the way she looks at me sometimes when she gets mad. And I would just go right back to playing in the game room with the boys.
I don't know. I won't get six hours.
And I travel a lot on the weekends with college football and stuff. So like Sunday is the day and I get that.
But I'm also not, you know, I'm not like, I don't have a team. I, I just enjoy watching throughout the day.
But now that we have this, that actually, that's a good idea. Maybe I'll propose a trade.
I'm going to think about that. Propose a trade.
And we do have some fun ways. We're going to kind of go into this NFL weekend.
We're not just going to do some picks. We have some fun little topics to go.
And also I will say you're on the West coast. I think about this every year going into week one.
West Coast football watching, meaning like the time zone, there's nothing like it. It's the best.
Look, East Coast watching is great when you're a teenager. It's great to wake up, go play a little tackle football with your friends in the morning or two-hand touch or whatever, and then get home for the one o'clock games.
As a parent, the 10 a.m., oh, that that's so nice it's perfect monday i i have a little bit of a sunday morning semi-ritual game day i 10 a.m it starts which is amazing so right the morning we're already up for three hours with the boys breakfast sunday is kind of like we we do chill like it's a relaxing day daddy's home from the weekend kind of whatever we want to do we do park whatever but 10 a.m is my that's my that's 10 to 11 is kind of like my fantasy football peloton i ride the peloton kind of 45 minutes right here look at my little man cave that i got so then like i'm working out because i like she knows health for me like when i feel good i have to work out i have to sweat on a sund. I ride the Peloton for about 45 minutes, which is long, but I keep it that way on purpose.
I get the first hour of the day scrolling through 19 of my fantasy football teams, and it is glorious. It is a glorious hour.
After that, it's all downhill. But the point to your thing, Monday night football, it's amazing.
It's like 520, right? Usually like a 515 or 815. It's the best.
It's a brunch. We're eating dinner, watching the game.
So it's like, I always tell my wife, like, this is a family outing. Like, we're watching Monday night football, eating dinner.
The boys are excited. Like, it's great.
I got to get the kids to bed, hopefully before 9 o'clock. And then I'm playing a little catch up.
And by the time it hits halftime, I really have to, I almost make a pot of coffee. Uh, it is rough.
All right. Let's dive in.
Okay. And I know my, some of my giants may come up here.
It does worry me a little bit. Uh, but we have a couple of good preview topics.
Oh, I will say last thing on the time zone thing. I did do a movie in Hawaii once 7am football.
Not as great. Not like we could discount.
That's not what we're looking for. So West coast, you're the early winner of the best time zone to watch football.
All right. I got a few quick hitters or you could go deep if you want to, but, um, I want to get right into it.
Let's go for you looking at last year, going into this year, what's the team or who is the team that is most likely to bounce back from a down year last year? We're just getting off the right foot. Cause I know you hate this team, but I'm going to New York jets.
Oh, I know seven and 10 a year ago, Aaron Rogers goes down. We know the story.
Everybody's back on the hype train healthy. If he's they're a playoff team plain and simple so uh and i i wanted to propose this because i know we're moving i know these are quick hitters if the jets make the super bowl you have to wear a philadelphia 76ers jersey to a new york kn game.
Are you trying to get me killed?

Are you trying to get me assassinated?

You have to wear Jets.

You have courtside tickets, all right?

We know that.

You have to wear Jets jersey to a New York Knicks game.

Matt, you are not taking this podcast

where I thought you would.

You're playing like,

this is like blood oaths broken.

What are you trying to do to me?

Listen, I want to give the guys what they want.

Everybody wants to see Jerry Ferrara in a Jets jersey. By the way, the chances of making the Super Bowl or win.
You said make? I just said make. How about they win the Super Bowl? I'll do that.
No, they got to make the Super Bowl. Making the Super Bowl is tough.
They got to go through Mahomes. All right.
All right, we can move on. We can get back to that later another time.
You got plenty of time. You just rocked my whole world.
I don't even know if I could complete the show to be honest so for me I looked at it really where who are the who are the really bad teams last year that are hopeful I'm not saying they're going to necessarily make the playoffs but will bounce back and be in good shape it's the Arizona Cardinals for me you know they were four and 13 last year Kyler Murray missed most of the season it was really rough I had like I have Kyler bouncing back I linked him with Trey McBride in fantasy I'm kind of all in on the Kyler Murray missed most of the season. It was really rough.
I have Kyler bouncing back. I linked him with Trey McBride in fantasy.
I'm kind of all in on the Kyler comeback. I do like Gannon as a coach, but that's not even- Marvin Harrison Jr.
I do worry a little bit about their schedule, but I just think there's massive upgrades everywhere. They were frisky even in losses last year.
So for me, it's the Arizona Cardinals. I did have an honorable mention.
I looked at the commander's schedule. They got some, I mean, they got the Bucs.
They got the Titans, the Panthers. They get the Giants twice.
So also don't sleep on the commanders. But for me, Arizona should bounce back.
This next one, I feel like I'm putting myself in the crosshairs here. The quarterback most likely to lose his starting job during the season.
Matt, you know the quarterback position well. What says you on the quarterback most likely to lose their job? I was torn on this one.
This was kind of the obvious one in a sense of it was a quarterback battle as Russell Wilson and Justin Fields in Pittsburgh. although i am a believer russell wilson's still pretty good man like he had a really good year a year ago just didn't mesh well with with sean payton i just feel like the amount of pressure if they if they're like 500 or they kind of get off to a slow start and the dynamic ability and fields look pretty good in the preseason it's just going to be too tough to keep him off the field for what they can do.
He's, he's in a, in a better system. They obviously got some players around him.
So that would be mine. I think just to kind of keep an eye, maybe like week five, week six, if they're, if they're below 500, how about you? Well, well, just going off real quick too.
I mean, I don't know what it's like for a quarterback playing, knowing that there's also a guy here that's brought into, like, he's not just the backup. He's also a little bit insurance.
He's also a little bit, maybe the future. So I am looking at that one for me.
I have to call out my guy and I just have to, but if you're doing betting odds, he's like the lowest rated starting quarterback in Madden, which might not mean a lot to you, but you're talking about keeping your starting job. I, we know it's make or break for Daniel Jones and also drew lock.
I'm not saying drew lock was brought in to replace Daniel Jones, but I don't think people view drew lock and Daniel Jones as a major talent discrepancy. Uh, listen listen i'm all in on danny dimes i know he had a rough preseason we danny dimes island uh you know only place it's a lonely place it's a lonely place but it could get crowded quickly just you know listen preseason's preseason sometimes these guys can jump this is the year this is the year i think if we don't see improvement, Drew Locke, again, I don't know how much better Drew Locke is than Daniel Jones, but you paid Daniel Jones a whole hell of a lot of money.
You draft Malik Neighbors in the top 10 to give him a big time threat, even though he's a rookie, but then you lose Saquon. So like, I don't know.
It's going to be interesting. We'll see.
He needs Neighbors to show up, that's for sure. The question is, can he get him the ball? We'll find out.

All right. This one's an interesting one.

Who's the team that's most likely to disappoint you

from their kind of off-season hype?

For me, it's the Green Bay Packers.

That's a good one.

Listen, I like Jordan Love.

They just paid him a a uh what 50

something 50 million a year um they get josh jacobs you know so like they lose aaron jones

get josh jacobs ever really actually really good receiving core young receiving core i don't know

i just feel like sometimes where there's so much hype and jets can kind of be the same way there's

so much hype around a team they kind of had a good run last year oh my gosh they are i've been on

teams like that they are going to be super bowl or bust and then i've seen people having the packers

Thank you. kind of be the same way.
There's so much hype around a team. They kind of had a good run last year.
Oh my gosh. They are going, I've been on teams like that.
They are going to be Super Bowl or bust. And then I seen people having the Packers win the Super Bowl.
I just, I don't know. It's, it's, it's a tough division this year.
Obviously I think it's tougher with the bears getting better. That would be my team just to kind of like pump the brakes on.
I don't disagree. I, I've been kind of saying this on, on Twitter a little bit.
And if you haven't followed us yet on Twitter, it's a throwback show. Please give us a follow on all that, uh, throwing that in before I go, but yeah, I've been on Twitter saying, I don't know why we're crowning the Packers all of a sudden as the second best team in the North and definitely going to make the playoffs.
I like them, but my issue with the Packers is all right, Jordan love. I get it.
Sure, Jacobs, the receiving core, although they were very, very banged up. The defense still has to be there, and I do think that division is way, way tougher.
But for me, all right, this is not some hot take. There's logic behind what I'm going to say.
It's the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, when I say disappoint, they're still making the playoffs.
They're still probably going to be in the Super Bowl. Maybe even the AFC Championship game is like their worst case scenario before the regular season.
I don't know how you get up week in, week out for the regular season. You're back-to-back champs.
You're basically going, it's Super Bowl, really, or a disappointment. So for me in the regular season, I looked at their they get the ravens this year they get the bangles niners bills browns texans steelers and i know their division should be favorable there's some wins to be had so if i told you like the chiefs kind of struggle and get to their 10 wins and are the three seed or whatever four seed that's kind of a disappointment for what their expectations are i don't know if I'm penciling in the Chiefs for 13 wins like a lot of people I mean if they stay healthy that's probably like that's like the number right 12 or 13 wins I mean that I just uh Bill Belichick did this in New England and you know like my Dodgers kind of do it in baseball it's like you know obviously they't won all the championships.
But like those teams, man, that can sustain that type of success, especially in the NFL, because battle of attrition, injuries, the parity, all of these things. Like, to me, if I'm watching, I'm like, all right, they win 11 games and lose in a divisional playoff round.
I understand what you're saying. I get it because the expectation is high.
I'm still like, dude, that's like this team is still the dynasty like you they could lose a season or two and then get back you know so like and that's just a credit to andy reed the ownership in the in in the you know and what they've been able to build there was the same thing with belichick and new england they had a couple years there where they you know would lose early but i mean tell you man that that is a absolute machine. I just, I, I tried to find the 13 wins or so, and I couldn't necessarily find it, but you know, you'll learn a lot tonight against the Ravens.
That's going to be for sure. We're going to find out a lot early on.
Great way to kick off. Great way to kick off that Thursday game.
NFL's always done a really, really good job, but you know, we've seen it before. Chiefs lost last year on the Thursday game to the Lions.
Detroit, yeah. Remember those Patriot teams a few years ago coming off their Super Bowl? Those young Chiefs at the time kind of blew them out on a Thursday night.
So we'll find out a lot tonight as we get ready to watch. Okay, next one.
Who's the off-season acquisition that is most likely to pay off? Look, there's quite a few. Who do you all right i'm not gonna try to i'm not gonna say the ones i thought about because i don't want to step on yours here's where i'm going again not some scathing take why are we all so down on stefan diggs like i understand his exit in buffalo wasn't amazing i get it and the team I'll tell you why.
Why? Because you have Nico Collins. You have Tank Dell.

Right. You have Schultz.
Sure. Now they got Joe Mixon.
So I don't know. From a production standpoint, I think, you know.
I guess I'm not looking at production. I'm looking at a team that made it to the second round, blew out the Browns in week one.

All things are trending upward.

And now you added Stephon Diggs.

Even if he is your third receiver,

I'll tell you what I like on third and nine.

I like having Stephon Diggs running a route for me.

Even if it's just opening up Tank and Nico.

Jerry, what route would you like him to run for you on third and nine? Give me a Stephon Diggs slant over the middle. He's not afraid to go over the middle.
Give me that slant. I'm confident Stroud could find him.
Give me the slant. Send Nico down the sideline and have maybe a post corner from Tank.
I'd love to draw. So a slant, a go, and a post corner all on the same side?

No, not on the same...

No, no, not on the same side.

We're spreading them out a little bit.

All right, buddy.

I like that.

You're the X's and O's guy, man.

Well, I would literally just drew that play up on my paper.

I was like, that might not work.

I like that.

We're not putting all three on the same side.

We'll probably go Nico and Tank on one side,

and then we're going to have Diggs solo.

Yeah, you single up Diggs on the back side.

Yeah.

I like him winning. Got it.
Who's your off-season acquisition most likely to pay off uh i'm going kurt cousins i yeah i just like that i i love kurt i think he's just one of those quarterbacks he wins games i know the playoff record isn't great but um for what atlanta is and what they have the defense uh you got drake london you Kyle Pitt. So I think we're all like, gosh, this guy's got so much talent.
Like he needs a quarterback. He needs a play caller.
He needs a system. Obviously, B.
John Robinson. So I think because of the weapons and just Kirk has been just Mr.
Literally Mr. Reliable throughout the regular season can get that team over the hump and in the playoff.
So I think that will pay off. He's made a fortune and listen, like more power to him.
Yeah. You know, we mentioned digs digs has a lot to thank Kirk cousins for.
And then he goes to Buffalo and then he's replaced by Justin Jefferson. That's probably, you can't say it's a fair trade because Jefferson's so much younger and the upside now is higher.
But at the time, you go back to two years ago, that really looked like one of those trades that was – everyone kind of won here. Diggs goes to Buffalo.
They're playing for – they're not in the Super Bowl, but they're a Super Bowl favorite. And then the Vikings get this young, amazing wide receiver.
I love Kurt. I do – I think Kurt is going to put up numbers, to say the least.
Also, honorable mention, he doesn't count for this year, but Aaron Rogers is like, gets a, almost like an asterisk. Cause he, if you really just do who the jets really bring in here, they're bringing Aaron Rogers in.
We saw him for four plays. So that people, people like forget, like Aaron Rogers is like literally on my Mount Rushmore of all time quarterbacks.
He's, he's a, he's a freak like, and he's so good. Like, so if he stays healthy, he'll be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Can I wear a Rodgers jersey to the Knicks game in this bet? If I have to wear a Jets jersey, can it at least be a Rodgers jersey? Because if they make the Super Bowl, he's going to be a big reason why. Yes, you can wear a Rodgers jersey.
All right, that's fair. For those of you who don't know, I'll give you that.
I'm a Giants fan. Like the Jets, it's sacrilegious.
Okay, next one. Who's the player that's not on your radar right now, but most certainly will be by the end of the year? So we just talked about Stephon Diggs, and I kind of drank the Kool-Aid on this because I watched every fantasy football show in America.
Stephon Diggs is out of Buffalo. Gabe Davis is out of Buffalo.
Khalil Shakir. I think I'm saying his name right.
He sort of becomes, I think the last three games last year, like 16 catches or something. We saw him a little bit in the preseason.
He becomes just a target machine to me. I know they have, they have a good tight end.
They don't have like the key on Coleman. They drafted as a rookie.
Is he going to be a true number one yet? Shakir is the guy this year that is going to have a hundred catches.

I hope he has a hundred catches.

I haven't been like three fantasy leagues,

but that's the guy that I think kind of week three or four,

maybe like the Puka Nakua from last year.

Like, wow, who is this?

Like that's Shakir for me.

Yeah.

I, for me, this is a player that I always,

especially when you talk about fantasy, I always think about drafting. I've've never drafted him I know he's a little banged up now I know I spoke about the Chiefs maybe in the regular season being a little disappointing Hollywood Brown that's just a name that I don't ever quite pay attention to and I kind of look at by week nine it's like wow he's got he's got 800 yards he's got four touchdowns he's actually having a pretty good season season so i go hollywood brown uh but for me also being here in cleveland i you know and we're all hoping that nick chubb can get back close to what he is he's going to be out for at least four or five weeks we're not going to be thinking about nick chubb for the whole first half of the season but come week nine or ten if the browns are still hanging around in that division and's healthy, we know what Nick Chubb could do.
So I think Nick Chubb could easily, easily be that guy. All right.
Last one before we bring in our buddy, your buddy, Ashton Kutcher, which by the way, leave it to Matt Leinart, folks. Ashton's your buddy.
Your first guest you brought in is actually connected to Hollywood. Isn't that what I'm supposed to do? I'm supposed to get the Hollywood guy on the show.
Listen, I know you're going to do your job. I know you're going to be committed to that.
Do your job. We had to start off with a bang, man.
This is throwbacks, you know, and Ashton and I throw back all the way to, gosh, 2004, 2005 when I first met him. And we have a lot of mutual friends, and there was a connection there.
So I said, you know what? I'm going to reach out to Ashton. He's a big Bears fan.
He loves sports. And he was like, dude, I'm in.
I was like, let's go. Let's go.
What a way to kick off throwbacks, man. I really feel like you put me on blast.
So you know what? I have a feeling that your Rolodex is probably deeper than mine, especially it might even be in the sports world because you've been connected to athletes. So we will rely on you heavily this year, buddy.
That's what I got to do for week two. I have to come up with either an NFL player or former player, someone connected to the NFL, and that's going to be on me because I have to even this one up.
All right. Last one, and arguably my most favorite one.
I know. Because this will happen at some point in the season.
It always does. The coach most likely to have a press conference meltdown at some point this year is.
And I'm going to lead this off because I feel very, very strongly about this. And I don't think our amazing producer andrew gunling philadelphia's own andrew gunling is gonna like this one oh it's nick sirianni right isn't it he he's he's a beauty up there i gotta be honest i like all the traits he's got all the traits he's had some bizarre press conference quotes he he could look a little unhinged even when the team's playing well it could look super weird the eagles do have some heat on them now they got saquon who could have also said was the biggest acquisition of the year a lot of expectations in philly if they're four and three which for the eagles would not be a good start oh yeah he could he it could happen get yourself ready sorry andrew we love you but he's my number one if they yeah because what they well they won the super bowl or that i mean they lost the super bowl the last year the expectations they struggled um i'm gonna go i have a great story about a coach around i'm gonna get to in a second i'm gonna go day ball and your team and the only reason why and he's not like he's not like super right? In his press conferences, but like he just has that look.
And I can just only imagine if Daniel Jones struggles early and the amount of pressure from that New York media and just at some point he just snaps. Like he is just going to snap.
And that leads me into, by the way, I don't know if you're familiar with this, that I was a part of one of the greatest coaching rants of all time. Which, well, let's see.
Denny Green. Denny Green, Monday Night Football.
Oh, that's right. Which, by the way, I do want to talk to Ashton about that because I think he might have been at that game.
But we lost to the Bears on Monday Night Football 2006. It was my second start.
We were 1-4. The week before, we lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
But, you know, Kurt Warner started. Everyone was excited.
I finally got the chance. We were beating the Chiefs.
We lost on a field goal. So we were 1-4 going to that game.
But we knew we're like, and the Bears were five and oh, and they ended up going to the Super Bowl that year. They lost to Peyton Manning, the Colts in Miami and like the torrential downpour.
We had played them in the preseason game week three. Back then, that was the game where all the starters played.
We beat them in Chicago. So we knew going into that game, like, hey, we could beat this team.
Like they were the number on defense, all that. played we beat them in chicago so we knew going into that game like hey we could beat this team like they were the number one defense all that but so we're playing we ended up losing right devin hester who just got in the hall of fame the punt return we kind of choke in the second half and i'm at i'm in the post game right and i'm standing outside the media locker room and all i hear and i'm just i'm pissed dude like i'm just I'm just pissed off and I'm there with Mark Dalton who's our PR guy at the time and Denny is just going off the Bears are what we thought they were what we thought they were we played them in preseason who the hell takes a third game in a preseason like it's bull bull we played them in the third game everybody played three quarters the Bears are who we thought they were that's why we took the damn field now if you want to crown them then crown their ass but they are who we thought they were and we let them off the hook and at the time I didn't really like I wasn't listening word for word but I'm like I'm hearing this and it's, you could hear a pin drop in there and he's just going off.
And then Mark Dalton goes, next up, Matt Leiner, just like that. And I'm like, and I look in and I'm, I'm already pissed.
And all these people I'm like, and then Denny just walked right by me. He didn't even look at me.
And I'm like, holy crap, dude, what did I just get myself into? And the reason why is because, you know, we are who they are. They thought they were.
And we let them off the hook. We knew.
We knew that we should beat them. Like, we knew going into that game, like, that would have been maybe a pivotal game for us.
One and four. We're two and five.
We get a little momentum. And, man, I'll tell you what, though.
It was, looking back, rest in peace to Denny Green. He drafted me.
I love that guy. I only played for him for one year, man, but he was terrific.
But that rant was like, that was all time, dude. I sometimes go for the comedy a little too much.
I feel like if I were you and I just heard that rant and then I go up and they're like, all right, everybody coming to the podium now, Matt liner. And they're getting ready to ask me a question.
We're like, yeah, I guess we did let off. But you're, I get it.
You're pissed at that point because you lost the game, but oh my God, how'd you keep it together after hearing that? Well, dude, I don't, honestly, I don't remember. It was, it was, I was just pissed.
You know, I was a rookie. I was pissed.
I was just like, you know, we, we probably threw the game. I mean, we were up like 20 to nothing.
You threw two touchdowns that game. I threw two touchdowns on the first two drives.
And then basically what happened was in the second half, we just kind of, hey, let's just run the ball. We weren't a great running team.
We just kind of, we basically took our foot off the gas pedal. And they, and Erlacher had a pick.
I had a sack. A sack was a touchdown.
Or we had a fumble. Edgerin fumbled.
fumbled they scored scooped and score i had a sack fumble scoop and score so their defense i think had like two defensive touchdowns yeah that's how they won that's how they won games yeah and then devin hester had a like i don't even think they scored an offensive touchdown quintessential bear super bowl run team was that exact blueprint defensive touchdown or in a special teams at any point though, before we go to break at any point later in the season, did anyone ever go up to Danny green and be like, coach, dude, that was, they're still playing that. That was great.
Like, did he have any fun with that? It was just, we don't talk about that. That was a dark moment.
No, that was a dark moment. Cause we only won five games that year.
And I think he knew he was going to get fired. So that was not like, that was a, that was a tough, that was, that was a dark moment because we only won five games that year and i think he knew he was going to get fired so that was not like that was a that was a tough that was that was a tough day for for denny in the in the cardinal cardinal nation that's for sure yeah well i mean i can't believe you're a part of that totally slipped my mind i can't believe i haven't asked you about that sooner but i'm glad it made it to the first show all right we're gonna take a quick break right now and right now and we're going to bring on Matt's buddy, Matt's good friend.
He got this guest, Ashton Kutcher, coming to join us to talk some football. Okay, it's March Madness and Wendy's is hyped.
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Selection varies by location while supplies last. All right, joining us now, I mean, he's our first ever guest.
This is Hall of Fame stuff. The first ever guest on the Throwbacks podcast.
You all know him from film and TV, but that's not what we're here to really talk about. We're here to talk about NFL.
We're here to talk about where his heart lies in the NFL. Ashton Kutcher joining us.
What's up, buddy? Thank you so much for coming on. How's it going? You guys well? Dude, I mean, I didn't, I mean, can we talk about the stash, bro? What are we doing with that thing? I like it.
It's awesome. This is a big year for the Chicago Bears.
And if you don't go Dicca, go home. Is that a Dicca stash? Is that in honor of the Bears? It is 100% about Mike Dicka and 100% about the fact that we're going to be better than 500 this year.
And that makes me happy. Way to set the bar high for you too.
Okay, dude. No, the last time we were good.
The last time we were good. I think you remember the last time we were good because there was a very, very monumental moment in the last time that we were good that you were very, very involved with.
Dude, I was just... So Jerry and I were just talking about Denny Green and the famous rant, Monday Night Football, 2006.
The Bears are who we thought we were. The Bears are who we thought we were.
And we let them off the hook.owned him. But we let him off the hook.
It's the greatest speech.

Well, dude, that's because we whooped your ass in the preseason,

game three in Chicago.

And that's why he was pissed.

And by the way, I was just telling Jared, I was like, dude,

I was literally Mark Dalton, our PR guy, right after he,

I was standing right outside the tunnel.

You might have been right outside the tunnel too.

I was standing right outside the tunnel.

And he's like, next up, Matt Liner.

And I'm like, holy crap, dude. Like, I don't know how i'm gonna fall he was so pissed but i wanted to ask

you i know you were there i know you were there what do you besides danny green what was like what do you remember from that game the favorite memory um okay so i was in bidwell's box at the cardinals

owner's box

and like

biting my lip the whole time because i didn't want to be like that guy who got invited like to the part and then was like obnoxious about what was happening and it was like the i've never shown more restraint in my life because like with The Bears, like, I remember the interception Urlacher had. Yeah, thanks.

And I was like, that was the moment where i was like oh wait this is happening and i was and and i just like grab my fist like this and i'm like just containing every single ounce of energy i have to not just lose it because i'm trying to have like a sense of decorum while i'm in the owner's box the owner's box then there's the return kick and then and i'm just like my it's just it's this build build build build build and i felt horrible for you but i felt real good for me when devin hester returned that like were you just like you were like oh my god i gotta get up and stand i i there was a moment where i where i where the lid came off the lid the lid definitely came off and i got all sorts of fired up and that it was that might have been like the other than my son's flag football uh coaching my son's flag football it it might have been the greatest football game I experienced in my entire life.

So I want to get in.

We're going to get into flag football a little bit later.

But I gave you – so I don't know if I've told you this.

So I got a game-worn jersey that game from Brian Urlacher.

Monday Night Football.

Yeah, I think I did give him mine.

I don't know what he did with mine.

It's probably in the trash. But he gave me his game-worn jersey.
And what did I do? I did give him mine. I don't know what he did with mine.
It's probably in the trash.

But he gave me his game-worn jersey.

And what did I do?

I gave it to you.

You gave it to me.

And then I took it and got it autographed by him.

Yeah, and then he wanted to kill me.

And it's in my mom's house right now.

And it's her, like, prize is that jersey from that game it was i gotta say if your mom has it that's probably the best keeping i was gonna ask you where it was that's pretty much one of the safest places a jersey like that could be i mean i have like a chicago bears like hall in my house that is just like it's like mike singletary, Gail Sayers, Dick Budkiss, like my guy Walter Payton. I have William Perry's.
I have the prototype ring for the 1985 Chicago Bears that they fit on William Perry. And I have it like I have the ring in and my collection is is pretty stout.
I have kevin butler's football from the 85 at my it's i'm i'm a collector of bears paraphernalia so then what is it like for you on on sunday and we'll get we'll get down into it more with the kids in a second of like how you watch but are you just bears only do you pop on red zone for a few minutes are you just locked into the bears and everything else is just noise? So in my football watching has changed since I had kids. Same.
So before I had kids, there's like BK and AK. And BK, I watched every game.

Like, and any game I couldn't watch, I would record so I could watch the game. Like TiVo era.
Yeah. No, no.
Yeah, my whole week was just dedicated. The only thing I ever watched was football.
And I didn't watch a television show. I don't know, nothing.
Just football. Like, that's it.
And so my guy TJ and I, we lived together for like five years. And he would wake up on like opening day and he'd be like, are you ready for some football? Come screaming into my room and like slide on his knees.
And he always had like a cowboy's apron on. And we would just watch football all day long.
now that I have kids, I watch the Monday night game

and I watch the bears game and then i watch my hawkeyes play on saturday and so i get nine hours of football a week and that's my exchange for um uh for having kids i and and i get to coach my son's flag football league so that i get a little bit more football that way. I would only watch football.
If I could just mainline football, if there was a drug that was football, I would take it every day. I asked Jerry this because he's, I experienced watching a playoff Knicks game in New York with Jerry.
And I got to be honest, dude, like I always like, I'm a fan of the sport of all sports, but I'm not a not a passionate fan, especially in LA. We didn't really grow up having a football team.
But I have never had more anxiety watching a diehard fan watch their team. Then we were in a bar, we had a couple drinks, and he's just sitting there.
And it's like,'t even speak to you. Is that how you are when the Bears are on? Monday night football, like the kids are like, hey, daddy's watching the Bears get the hell out of my room.
How is it like watching with you? I mean, I lock it in. I usually for the first half, I do not sit down.
I have like a rule that in the first half, I can't down and for whatever reason i feel like i'm influencing the outcome of the game you guys are crazy dude by my where you sit by where you sit by how i sit where i sit what hat i'm wearing i pick an outfit like i had i pick a specific out if we win game one i'll be wearing that outfit the whole season like there's no i won't change any it is very i'm very religious about my football but i also i also um i'd like to like i i i can like i try like i the older i get the more i relate with the coaches than i do with the players it's a weird thing like there was a switch that flipped that I was like well I can't do those things anymore it physically and so so now I'm watching the game like as a co-op I'm like oh he's setting up you know and I'm watching like what defense is being played and whether or not it's like a setup for a blitz. And then seeing if I can predict what the play is going to be before the play is going to happen.
That's become my new way I watch football. I'm kind of like Spider-Man memeing with you right now because everything you just said is exactly the way I watch, especially Giants and Knicks.
Even if I'm in one seat, that's not where I've even asked my wife to leave the house before. I'm like, it's your energy.
Your energy is not right right now. You need to go for a walk.
But where are you standing right now? I was going to ask you. I felt like it's kind of not like an unfair question, but like Bears quarterbacks, right? Because obviously Caleb Williams right now is everyone's anticipating what he's going to do is Caleb already in the Bears sort of Mount Rushmore without throwing a pass because the quarter the franchise history of quarterbacks for the Bears is a little rough do you have an order of Bears QBs and what are you hoping for just to see out of Caleb in like a rookie year I mean I in 85 I was I was seven years old, okay? And I picked the Bears as my team.
Like I was like Super Bowl shuffle. Like it was so cool.
I'm like, that's my team. And everybody around me was like Packers fans.
And I'm like, nah, the Bears. And it's been the brutality since 1985.

I mean, we always have some version of a stout defense, some version. But it's just been brutal.
I mean, everything from Bubby Brister to the Cade McNown era to this one. I mean, just walking through quarterbacks.
And I think, you know, look, part of it is the coach carousel that is also taking place. Like you can be a good quarterback, but if you have a different playbook that you've got to like put in, it's like anything in life, you've got, you've got to get it to the point where it's like second nature.
Like when we're driving a car, we don't sit there and go, all right, I'm going to put this hand over this hand and then turn the wheel. We just turn the wheel because we're so used to turning the wheel.
And there, there are some quarterbacks that have had the blessing of having the same coach year in, year out, year in, year out, the same playbook, the same system, the same when, you know, the locker room's the same and this thing, all of the, all the other things are exactly the same. Then you get to play the game.
But until you get to that point, you're just trying to do the right thing. And if you're so busy trying to do the right thing, you're not playing.
And I feel like there's been a combination of like coach after coach after coach after coach, quarterback after quarterback after quarterback after quarterback. And maybe the guy with like, you know, the longest, like Jake Cutler is a great quarterback.
Like he's great at playing football, but he also had a little bit of a carousel of coaches and this thing going, and that's hard. And so the hope is that we've got Iberfluss and we're liking what we're seeing out of Iberfluss.
We've got Caleb and we're liking what we're seeing out of Caleb and that those two can stay connected. And maybe Shane Waldron, who we just brought in from Seattle, maybe we can get a unit that stays together and gives the guy a fighting chance.
But so that's my hope. Now, now, now I was, I was a little bit, I will say I like Justin Fields a lot.
Like I think he's an extraordinary football player. And, you know, but as I watch and compare his accuracy to Caleb's accuracy, I go, I can't deny that Caleb's accuracy is, I mean, some of these like rollout passes that he's like lobbing 40-yard passes and dropping it right on Roma Dunze, like right over his shoulder in the preseason.
I'm impressed by his passing ability.

He's got this cool demeanor that's confident, but also humble.

And there was one part in Hard Knocks this year where the coach asked about it.

I was going to ask you about that.

Yeah.

And he goes, and he's like, or he said something to the effect of like,

I'm confident that I did the work. And I go, that's real confidence.
Like when you're confident that you're doing the work, that's true confidence. But it's a combination of that and humility.
And if he maintains that, that's what leadership looks like. And so that's a nice thing.
And so I have high hopes, but I have realistic expectations. I always get asked about Caleb obviously being at USC and everyone's like, what do you think? And he's a little quirky.
He's a little different. Obviously, the talent is undeniable.
And Ashton, you just said it. The one thing that I always tell't, the throwing off platform and all this stuff that wows us, that's great.
And that's there and that's a gift. And he has that.
But like his work ethic, cause he told me that, see, he's like, I want to be the greatest quarterback to ever live and didn't stutter, right? Brady Mahomes, like he did not stutter. And it's not even like, it's not even an arrogance where you don't like him.
It's just like, dude, this kid really believes like he's going to do that.

And that's why, because of the work, that's why I think he's going to be great.

It's not because he can throw the ball 80 yards and he's going to run around and make plays.

Like he is, he's a, he's a gifted player, man, but he works.

So is it, is it playoff?

I mean, are we thinking playoffs?

I mean, winning the division?

Well, before I get into my predictions, because they are generous,

how many offensive systems, new offensive systems and OCs did you play under as an NFL quarterback?

So I played Denny Green my rookie year, which was the old digit system,

which is what he made famous kind of in Minnesota when he had Culpepper and Rainy Moss, which I really liked. And then he got fired, and then Wisenhunt came in, and that was kind of the old Steelers, Roethlisberger ran that.
It really didn't fit my style. And then Todd Haley was there for three years, and then I went to Houston I wasn't one of those quarterbacks like I played in Arizona for years but then I went to Houston I played for Kubiak which was which is what we're seeing in Kyle Shanahan which to me is the greatest offense for a quarterback and that's why a lot of these quarterbacks you can almost plug and play so I learned I probably had three or four offenses in and then I went to Oakland and had a new offense.
So probably three or four offenses in seven years.

And I wasn't talented enough looking back to overcome that part.

Like I needed structure.

I needed to be in a rhythm.

I needed to have kind of that same thing year in and year out

so I could build because the stronger part of my game

was the mental part.

I could understand and read and process. The part was what i lacked obviously um i'm not caleb williams but and i wasn't right around but but my but that's it that's just it's hard but that's the round trip to i think the bigger point in all this which is if he has consistency around him in the system that he's in,

I think he's going to be extraordinarily successful.

And,

and so,

so that,

that's my,

that's my sense.

Okay.

The prediction.

Here we go.

It's what we're here for.

I believe the Chicago bears right now,

the spread is eight and a half games.

I believe they win 11 games this year. Wow.
Yes. I love it.
I believe they win 11 games this year. And that's before the playoffs start.
You know what? It's a lot more than Jerry's Giants, that's for sure. That's for sure.
But what I do like, we're all talking about Caleb and the Bears offense and those three receivers.

Matt and I on like a test show said that's probably the coolest

and deepest three receiver core maybe in the NFL.

I mean, three weapons that could do very different things, very effective.

But what people don't talk about enough is I think the Bears defense

is going to be ridiculous.

I think the offense is going to be fun,

but I think that Bears defense is ready to go. So I think that is in play, Ashton.
All of our division games are late in the season. They did an interesting thing with the schedule this year.
I don't know if you noticed, like everybody's division games are later in the season. And so the teams are going to be priming up, but division games in the North late in the season are cold.
And so it's like, so the question goes, who can play in the cold? One. And two, who can run the football? Because it's going to be a smash mouth.
Chicago and Green Bay are inhospitable in the winter. Inhospitable.
And so who can play in those conditions? That's what it's going to come down to. You're making me a believer.
Yeah, I think those, I think you hit the nail on the head with, I think those Bears-Packers games very well. If you pencil in Detroit, say Detroit, just on chalk, is, all right, they're the best team in the division.
Say they get to 12. No, they're not.
I'm just saying. Hear me out with this, though.
Hear me out. They're not the best team in the division.
Chicago Bears are the best team in the division. I do think I'll tell you, they are.
Mark my words. Chicago Bears are the best team in the division.
So you think the Bears are going to have more wins than the Lions this year? You just said Bears are going to win 11 games. I think the Bears win 11 games.
And the Lions win less or more? I'll throw one more at you. I think we sweep Detroit.
You are out of your mind. I've lived my life out of my mind.
I know you do.

And it's gotten new places.

Yeah, you could be a complete genius.

We could be playing this back three months from now saying,

wow, we all should have followed Ashton Kutcher's picks

because the Bears are 7-1 going into Detroit.

All right, I'm going to offer you a natural transition here.

Okay.

Ready?

There's one special weapon that the Chicago Bears have this year

that nobody is accounting for.

Thank you. there's one special weapon that the Chicago Bears have this year that nobody is accounting for.
Can you guess what it is? Anything in the coaching staff, Matt? No. I mean, not special weapon-wise.
Special teams. Your mustache.
Special teams. Torrey Taylor.

You know what, dude?

You are so right.

Hunter.

It's a good call.

It's a really good call. Guys, I was on the sideline of the Iowa Hawkeye-Iowa State game two years ago.

And the scout for the Chicago Bears was there.

And he comes over.

And I was like, well, you're here looking at Lindobom, right?

The center.

The center.

Yeah, he's good.

We had a six-setter. And I was like, I know you're here looking at Lindemann, right? The center.
Yeah, he's good. We had a six center.
And I was like, I know you're looking at Lindemann. Pay attention to the punter.
This guy is a coffin-kicking genius. And the field position game is the world, right? I mean, if you had a player that could guarantee you over the course of a game 40 yards guarantee you 40 yards you you'd be like no he's on the field we're putting him on the field torrey taylor guarantees you 40 yards because he puts the ball so beautifully so deep he's going to create plays for that great defense and he's going to give the offense field position to put points on the board and the difference of football games in the nfl is a field goal and if you've got 10 yards the difference between 50 yards and 40 yards one you're not kicking it and one you are and if it's three point games chicago bears win 11 games we sweep detroit we're going to the playoffs i'll see you there let me tell you this is the exactly what I wanted out of our first guest.
By the way, if they went, if they go to playoffs, you are going to be just awful to be around. I feel bad for the wife.
Okay. I want to transition really quick.
Okay. Because we all have kids.
You mentioned, I think you coached your son's flag football team, which is awesome. I coached my kid, my oldest for years.
So one of the reasons that kind of this show brought me and Jerry together is just being a dad. And we're a boy dad.
I got three boys. He's got two.
But I don't know if you know this, my wife is expecting. And we're having, we're throwing another one, just another one.
So we're not going to, we're not going to, we're not going to, yeah, Joe, Jerry's next. Trust me.

We're not going to find out, but I am a boy dad through and through.

I know you have a boy and a girl.

So I want to ask you, what is the difference and what's the best thing?

I kind of secretly healthy and happy baby is always is number one.

I would love to know what it feels like to be a girl dad. gotta be honest what is what is the difference for you the first point i don't know if it's uh equates to it being a girl dad or it equates to her being my first but when i had my daughter because we had her first what my wife had my daughter this would be clear she did all

you did you did not have you did not have i had fun she did work yeah um i i had never been so in love in my entire life like it was a sense of like it was a depth of being in love and mila and I've talked about it a lot.

It's like,

I've never loved anyone this much.

Ever. depth of being in love and mila and i've talked about it a lot it's like i like i've never loved anyone this much ever and and that was like the first sense of like like and there's a there's a weird i'll tell you i parent them differently my my son i'm always like yeah let go, go for, you know, yeah, go like yesterday.
We're popping wheelies on a bicycle in the driveway. Right.
Or it's like, you know, see if you can jump down four stairs. Now you jump three, let's see if you can jump four.
My daughter, I'm like, I just want to protect her. It's a sense of like, just wanting to like protect her from, um, and when my son cries, I'm like, all all right you know good we're gonna let you know what do we learn let's go let's move on and when my daughter cries it's like your my heart is out of my body and i can't put it back in um and it's and i don't know if that's um there's probably like a ton a ton of um just in some senses maybe like toxic masculinity that i've had in my life that like treats my son different than my daughter in that way but i also notice the same thing with my with my wife like she's very strict on our daughter and like a gush ball with our son, right?

Like lets him get.

And I think we balance each other in that way where like my daughter and I, we like talk about the, you know, like my son, it's like, no, go do the thing. You know, it's just like a slight tone difference.
but I think the challenging thing with daughters versus sons is, um, there, there's some, like, they're just the relationship dynamics with daughters are difficult. Like the friendship stuff is a whole other level of importance for them.
Um, well, especially for, I guess for my daughter. And so like, if she's like out with her friends in some way like it isn't in sync with her friends it's a real thing and my son's kind of like meh okay let's you know let's go throw the football right but but the relationship stuff is challenging yeah i just uh i want to feel it but my best friends have girls.
I'm just like, I got the boys. I got my four and a half year old is like every day, just like, daddy, punch me in the face today.
I want to see what it feels like. Like, no, no, he's dead serious.
I'm like, dude, we can't do that. Like I always say he's going to be a middle linebacker.
He just doesn't feel pain, but it is, you're right. It's just a different, I think a different way of parenting, I'm assuming.
So, um, I, I, I, I would bet that you'll be softer with your daughter than you are with your sons. For sure.
But you don't know what you're having. So, you know, well, we'll see.
It's going to, we'll see what pops out here in February. I got, I got, I just, you know, betting odds, I got you at a girl.

But again, healthy baby's all we want, but I got you at a girl.

I think it's your time.

So, Ashton, I'm married to a Cuban lawyer, okay?

So already, yeah, so already I'm screwed, but she's the best.

But she says, I desperately want you to, for the reasons you just kind of said,

I want you to have a girl because I want you to feel that type of love for a daughter. She's like, I don't want you to have a girl because I know that I will be awful.
I was like, what do you mean? She's like, I will be like protective. And just like, she's already, my wife is an extremist in a lot of great ways.
She's, she's, she, it comes from her culture and her family and all that stuff but she's like i feel bad for you if we have a daughter and i was like oh dude please no i will say there's another thing that happens is like you have a different level of it is a different level of like introspective feminism that you build where you will you will instantly see the inequities between men and women in a more visceral way and you'll also do stock on every relationship you've ever had with a woman in your life and whether or not you treated them the way that you would want your daughter to be treated. And whether it's like the way you broke up with someone or whether it's like, you know, what, like, like across, you're like, man, I would just want my daughter to be treated better.
Um, and you'll, you'll do stock of it. And I, and I think women make the world a better place because of that, because of daughters.
And I know you mentioned too, that you, uh, you coach like your son's flag football team. I'm not quite there yet.
I'm trying to get my kids off the monster trucks. I mean, they're very much into the monster trucks, slowly trying to introduce sports.
But I remember reading about you years ago and I thought it was the coolest thing. And I remember saying like, I want to do that.
I know you coached high school football. Is that correct? It was a high school, but is this before you had kids or was this while you like, where did that fall in line? Cause I wonder, were you like prepping to coach your kids one day? Or is this something that like, Hey, I got the summer off.
I got time. I want to go coach.
Draw some plays. At the time I had three stepdaughters.
Um, and I had a little break from working where I was just like, I just need to like chill out and take a break. And I was feeling this sense, this like slump of like, I don't know, I just wasn't happy for whatever reason.
And I had a buddy who was like, hey, I'm coaching the frosh team for harvard westlake uh i'm the offensive coordinator and he would like come over and watch football with me he's like would you ever want to like coach would you ever want to be a defensive coordinator and i was like oh my god i would die like i would love and he's like well why don't you come out and be the defensive coordinator for the frosh team i was like, count me in. Like, I'm there.

He's like, are you serious?

I was like, I'll see you. That's awesome.
I'll be there. And I just started doing it, and I got this, like, edge back of, like, joy, being in the game, teaching something I really felt like I knew, and more so like having these guys look at you when you're a coach and, and, um, I still talk to a bunch of the players today.
I have a picture of my team over here. Um, like it's just having a sense of like this relation, it's a different thing.
Like a locker room is a different thing. And I, and it was a wonderful experience.
I did it for a couple of years and then I realized that I couldn't give them what they ultimately needed. Cause I needed to go back to work and my schedule didn't work out and I didn't want to be like an absentee coach.
And so I stopped and then my son was like, dad, I really want to play flag football. And I was like, okay.
And I was like, and a crazy work schedule and a bunch of things going on. And I was like, I don't know if I'm going to coach Emilia, Emilia looked at me.
She's like, you're going to regret for the rest of your life. Don't you're coaching, you're coaching.
And so I was like, okay, I'll be the assistant coach. And so I signed up as the assistant coach.
And then halfway through the season, the head coach had a son in san diego and he needed trouble back forth and i had to take over as the head coach and it was it's juice i mean it's so great when it's your kid and you're like okay get out in peewee the coach can be on the field and so i'm lining up behind my son at middle linebacker and reading it up. I had game film.

I took game film on the other team. And so I'm lining up behind my son at middle linebacker and reading.

I had game film.

I took game film on the other teams. And then I saw,

and I drew up all the plays and I was able to like,

it is so bonkers.

The extent that I went and had more fun coaching flag football than I could

have possibly imagined.

And I'm very excited.

Our season starts. We got our combine next Wednesday.
I'm ready to go the kids have to try and then and then we draft our teams i'm i'm ready i i did it honestly coaching flag football my oldest son is 17 now so he's he's uh he's playing tackle but um i coached from probably seven to 14 and and i as they got they got older, we had a Superbowl and our league, the league down here where I live, they actually film every game. So you can go on YouTube or something and you can watch, watch the game, which is great.
Some leagues don't do that. Um, dude, when we, and we were like a dynasty, we won almost every year, but I would, I would lose sleep, dude.
I don't know if you were like that, like you're so involved. And my wife is like, what are you doing? I said, babe, like I am like, we're in the super bowl and I'm watching, I'm sitting literally on my iPad watching YouTube.
I do. I swear to God, she would, you're like watching for like seven year old tendencies.
Dude, I'm literally getting, no, I'm getting, I, by the way, I had my coach who was like Connor as Connor Sc scouting for michigan he was deciphering signals and stuff and we had a whole sheet like we would call it up a color and it would we would knew the place it was so and i'm like dude if i'm coaching i'm coaching i'm all in i was looking at personnel packages i literally drew up on the other team this is for my son's seven i drew up the opposing team's personnel packages in order to understand where the play was going and send a blitz directly into the play it's nuts like up all night same thing like up at midnight i would wake up in the middle of the night like oh my god i got it i got it like i know exactly what the package like i know exactly and there's weird in flag football. You can't run in between the hashes.
And so you're trying to design things. It's so much fun.
If you had to do a press conference after a game, could you see yourself having that Danny Green moment? We knew who they were and we let them off. Like, what kind of a coach were you? Like, if you lost the Super Bowl? Oh, yeah.
Who who's your coach comp it could be from history or present do you have like a coach comp more personality or it could be style i mean if i we lost a couple games last season and it was i just had a bad day like i had a real i had a real bad day like it was i i't get out of the funk. Like I, it was cause I couldn't stop rerunning.
Like, well, if you've done that, like what do I need to do next week in order to teach the kids contain? Like, what do I need to do? Like, it was like, no, and I would just like run loops on it. In a press conference right afterwards, I think I, I'd Belichick it.
We're on to Cincinnati. We're on to Cincinnati.
Just not a lot of energy. I have enough media training that I can hide emotion real well if I need to.
And I would just repeat. I would have the attitude of like, well, you watched the play? You saw what happened.
We all saw what happened. The question is, are we going to fix it next week? That's the only question.
I would use the press conference to talk to the players. Guys got to do their jobs.
They got to do their jobs. I feel your pain so much, dude.
It is the worst. I get asked this a lot, and I'm assuming I know the answer before we let you go, dude.

Would you let your son play tackle? Mila and I debate about this all the time. The answer is yes, if he loved playing football.
If he gets to the point where it's time to consider tackle football, and he loves playing football, yes, the answer would be yes.

For me.

For Milo, the answer might be no.

And we debated it.

And it's funny.

Like, there was an article that came out this weekend.

I think it was, like, the New York Times or something about, like 11 kids have died already this year uh in middle school and high school playing football two from traumatic brain injuries and and then the others are like related and so i was like that's a lot of kids and so i start digging into the numbers and i'm like okay okay, well, wait a second. How many of these were from football? And then how many kids die in, it was horrible and it's awful for any parent that had to go through that.
Like, I can't even imagine, but that, but, but I was just looking at it as like a data problem. And I was like, I feel like they're projecting that these are football related deaths when, when really they might be something.
And so I started looking in and there's like this youth cardiac arrest thing that's like on the rise. And you have kids like in basketball and other soccer and all these other sports that are having these cardiac arrests.
And so you can't really attribute it necessarily to football. You just attribute it to athletics.
And I think that oftentimes there are a lot of like, they skew the numbers in football because it is a violent sport. I'm not, I don't deny that in any way, shape or form, but they attribute a lot of these deaths and injuries to football when really they might be just athletic related injuries.
And so I started going through the numbers and, and it appears to me that every year there are, and consistently every year over multiple decades, there have been on average four deaths a year from some type of traumatic head injury that you could directly correlate to a football related death and the heat stroke and other things. I mean, you get to get heat stroke when you're

playing soccer, you get heat stroke when you're playing any outdoor sport when it's 115 degrees

in the Valley right now. Like that's just irresponsible humans.
That's irresponsible

coaching. And I think a lot of the head related

injuries are irresponsible coaching as well, where you don't teach the kids how to do things the right way. So the answer is, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
My hope, frankly, is that flag football and the Olympics goes off

and like sets things off in a way that like i i love coaching flag football i can't i'm shocked at how much i love coaching flag football it's the best maybe he'll just want to play flag football um but if he wants to play tackle best believe dude you'll be up drawing up plays listen real quick if you if you You need play tackle, best believe. Dude.

You'll be up to your own up plays.

Listen, real quick.

If you need an OC, dude, I still got my playbook.

A lot of championships down here in the South Bay.

If you need an OC in the offseason, though.

Just saying.

I would love to watch.

Reunited, buddy.

Reunited.

Let's go. Reunited and it feels so good.

We'd be the most handsome coaching duo in all of coaching.

And our wives would hate us just the same because we would watch so much film.

So much film.

So much film.

So good.

I love it.

Oh, man. You're the best, dude.

Can't thank you enough for doing this first ever guest.

I feel like if I run into you in the street six months, I'm just going to call you coach. I don't even'm gonna call i i'm like oh there's coach right there what's up you really have coach vibes when uh is fly football starts yeah does he start up soon the real season next wednesday is uh tryouts and then we draft our teams and then we've got um and then we'll do two a days or two weeks uh for a couple weeks and then we start kicking off games.
And then easy work do two-a-days or two-a-weeks for a couple weeks,

and then we start kicking off games.

And then easy work Bears-Titans, right?

Easy work for them.

No, no, no.

There are no easy work games.

Love it.

That's what a coach says.

That's what a coach says.

Nothing is a given, right?

Absolutely nothing is a given.

Do I think that we have what we need to

win? The answer is yes. Will we win? We'll see.
But I'm counting that as one of the 11. Yeah, I was going to say.
I'll say this. I was the first guest on one other podcast and it's called armchair expert.
Small little show. Yeah.
Small little show. So while I was the first guest that wasn't Dax's wife.
So may you have the same success as armchair expert and, and keep cranking throwbacks, baby. Thank you, man.
Thank you, man. Really appreciate it.
And I really do look forward to watching your badges. They're going to be one of the fun teams to watch.
So good luck. NFC Norts are going to be amazing.
And thank you, buddy. Appreciate it.
Last note, Iowa offense put up over 40 points last week. Finally! Kate McNamara, baby.
Let's go. They got a QB.
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Rules and restrictions may apply. All right, it's time now for the can't get enough sauce moment of the week brought to you by Wendy's.
Each and every week, Matt and I are going to highlight an athlete who did something positive on or off the field, something that we just can't get enough of. And for me, same way I can't get enough of the Wendy's saucy nugs, I cannot get enough of Deuce McBride.
I know I'm a Knicks homer. I'm going to try to work the Knicks into every show, even though basketball season is two months away.
I don't care. I have to talk Knicks.
Wait till you see how unhinged I become when I talk about the Knicks on the show. So for my guy, Deuce McBride, okay, it's the off season.
He's supposed to be chilling, working out, getting ready for the season. He goes on college game day or whatever it is with Pat McAfee.
He hits essentially in a crowd of thousands, a half court shot live on the air and wins two people, I guess, partial scholarship or yearly tuition, whatever he paid. Awesome moment.
We all see the halftime shows where guys try to hit half court shots. I think the odds are so low.
This dude live in a very weird environment to take a half court shot, knocked it down. The second round pick from West Virginia, Dukes McBride, who earned his way into a nice contract with the Knicks and is now a very important player.
That is the player I cannot get enough of right now. How to get that? How to get it in? I feel like I'm going to have to buy a Knicks jersey at some point.
Oh, we're going to talk you into it. I got my Kobe jersey behind me.
But, okay, I'm going to... This was really cool.
I don't know if you saw this. Danny Stutzman, the Oklahoma linebacker last week, donated a portion of his NIL money to all of the walk-ons on their team.
And two quick reasons why I love that. One, NIL sometimes has been looked at as a negative and this and that, and how it can change these kids making money.
And there's some of that, but I think we fail to see a lot of the good that can happen from it. And that's a perfect example of a dude who's getting paid a decent amount of money.
He's a good football player, but he used it because walk-ons, as I could say this, it's a thankless job. You work really, really hard.
You're not on scholarship. Some walk-ons I played with had a job or outside of this.
And so to take care of them with a pretty decent amount of money, I thought was really cool, man. Like just kudos to him.
He's a hell of a player, but that stuff goes a long way. And those guys, you know, those guys need to be recognized too, because they work just as hard and put in the same amount of time.
Yeah. There's a certain just a maturity and leadership with a decision like that at such a young age.
Again, I could say that now as a 45

year old man, like, Oh, that's a great thing to do. I, but when I was 20, when I was 21, however

old, would I have had the, uh, wherewithal to do something like that? Well, again, thank you to

Wendy's. That is the can't get enough sauce moment of the week brought to you by Wendy's.

And I'll tell you what, the saucy nugs are going to be a part of my Sunday routine. Cause I don't believe in cooking on Sundays.
I don't believe in cooking on Sundays. I'll do some meal prep like I traded.
But as far as what I'm eating on Sunday, it's coming from outside the house. I've had the saucy nugs.
A lot of sauces too. A lot of flavors.
They're fire. Cannot wait.
It's going to be a big part of my NFL watching. And look, we talked a lot of NFL.
We talked a lot of superlatives. We talked a lot with Ashton, but we have to talk.
We got Matt Leiner here, folks. We have to talk a little college football.
We mentioned Deuce McBride in West Virginia. You were in West Virginia last week with Big Noon Kickoff.
And I know you're going somewhere amazing this week. But what was last weekend like for you? Dude, it was electric.
It was it. So there

was so much hype going in the game. The game didn't end up being that great.
But for us as

the show, it's all about the fan. It's it's week one.
So everybody's excited. And and let's be

honest, there's not a lot to do in Morgantown other than West Virginia and whether it's basketball,

that university. And so the fans were great um Machine Gun Kelly performed he performed which which a lot of people are kind of like why um the dude the dude rocked it uh he couldn't have been more of a professional he was great I became a I literally I became a big MGK fan after this weekend I talked to to him a little bit.
He was great with the crowd, the fans.

He performed well.

He has a take of Lonely Road,

which is the famous John Denver song

that's used at West Virginia.

He collabed with Jelly Roll.

It's actually a great song,

but he was great, and he hyped the crowd.

So the crowd was great.

The energy was great,

and then all of a sudden, like it does,

and that type, and you live in it.

Yeah.

You never know when the weather's gonna hit dude chaos oh my god well it was it was and we kind of knew they're like all right hey it could be lightning thunder and obviously when lightning happens there's like a four it has like when lightning strikes there has to be 40 minute delay or 30 minute delay before you can go back on the field like it basically can't hit again. And then every time it strikes, like, every 20 minutes, you keep – Starts the clock over.
Yeah, it just starts the clock over again. So we dealt with that.
Fortunately, like, we leave, like, so we can do halftime, and then that game goes into another game. And so we left.
So we drove the hour and a half to Pittsburgh, got home. got home, but, uh, it was a great way to kick off the season for big noon.
The fans were great. And dude, this week, yeah.
I mean, tell us about this week. This is arguably the, could be the best game of the year for all we know.
Texas, Michigan, Texas at Michigan. It's, uh, yeah, I mean, I mean, look, you got the defending national champs.
You got Texas who was almost almost in the title game a year ago. Kind of different storylines around both teams, but similar expectations.
We got a star-studded lineup. You're going to have to tune in and watch Big Noon.
We got another- Can't give us anything. You can't break news on the show, right? Well, let's just say we have one of the greatest Yankees of all time, and we have an actor who maybe, I don't know if you've ever worked with, but he's a diehard Texas, which we all know that is.
And we have another musical guest, which I'll say, but I'll tell you what, we have a party. The fans are great.
So we'll see everyone there Saturday morning in Ann Arbor. Who needs it more? Real quick.
If you had to guess, Texas, Michigan, who do you think needs this one more

going through the rest of the year?

Texas.

And the reason why I say that is Michigan.

Michigan lost so much last year, like so much.

And I just think the expectation

will lower a little bit this year.

I don't know if you watched the first game.

Like they're a really good football team.

But Texas, they tasted it last year they're going to the sec sark is like like hey are they back we always ask the same question on the show is texas back well like this is a game where i don't care if michigan ends up winning only eight games this is a game where you go on the road against the defending national champion you make a statement and that's why i just think there's more for texas on this and then you have the big 10 sec talk so uh it's big though it's big for both could i uh if i wanted to show up are we close enough yet that i could get some vip treatment if i just say hey i want to go i want to come check out the game maybe come by set are we close enough yet or am i have we not crossed into that land i could ask you for a giant solid like that dude anytime you want to come buddy we the game, maybe come by set. Are we close enough yet? Or am I, have we not crossed into that land? I could ask you for a giant solid like that.
Dude, anytime you want to come, buddy, we'll get you a seat up there. You want to get on the show? I'll get you on the show.
That's a good, I mean, if ever a tie, that game under those circumstances, that's a good one to go. I'm going to have to maybe trade off something else with the wife to get to go to that one.
I was going to say, let's go to Ann Arbor. Then, hey, honey, by the way, I'm going to spend six hours by myself on the next day.
I don't know if she'll let you do that, bud. No, that might be a big problem.
Let's ease into the season, Jerry. We've got a long ways to go, buddy.
I know. That's what happens.
I get excited. I get so far ahead of myself.
I make all these plans, and I'm like, really? I just want to be able to watch and talk about it, and that's what we're doing here on Throwbacks. Week one, in the books for us.
I'm going to say we're 1-0. I'm going to say Kutcher got us to 1-0.
We're 1-0. Go follow us at Throwback Show.
Yes. Our personal handles.
We can't wait, man. It's going to be fun, dude.
It's going to be a fun season. Yes, at Throwback Show on YouTube, X, Instagram, TikTok.
You could also email us if you wanted to tell us what we did right at throwbackshow at gmail.com.

Of course, if you like what you heard,

please like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts,

Spotify, YouTube, wherever you like to get it.

And we will be back week two.

We're one and O.

We have to follow that up.

And there will be a guest.

I'm going to try to make it NFL

and it's going to come from me.

Thank you, Andrew Gundling.

Everybody helped us do this.

Week one, here we go.

Everyone enjoy happy football. Happy football.
Everybody helped us do this. Week one, here we go, everyone.
Enjoy happy football.

Happy football.

See you in a week.