Engagement Advice, Eagles Banner Night, Chiefs in Brazil & NFL Season Preview with Alex Smith | EP 152

26:00You just hate to see that for such a great player, man. Absolutely. I mean, even from his rookie year, he's been one of the better tackles in the league. He's a blast to watch. And hopefully the big guy can come back even stronger. They aren't the only ones missing a star player, though. Rasheed Rice will officially start his suspension this week. He will be out for the first six games. And, you know, I think everybody in KC is looking forward to seeing him back out on the field. Opens up a lot. But, you know, listen, this is what you're going to have to deal with. Right, Trav? Yeah. And I think the biggest thing is that, you know, I don't want to say we saw it coming, but we've had to prepare for this, you know, knowing that there's going to be some amount of games that he's going to end up missing.

26:44And Rasheed knows that. And, you know, he's going to attack these weeks and make sure that he's ready for when he's allowed back in the building. And and you know what? I think I think it's going to create, you know, that much more love and that much more fight out of him. I think he's got a lot to prove still in this league. And I think I saw a certain type of work ethic and attention to detail that, you know, he's taking it up a notch when he when he's out there in practice. So I can't wait to get that guy back in the building, but we're going to have to hold it down without him down in Brazil, man.

27:16Yeah. Trav, you guys brought up any keys of the game? What do you think? Of course we have. There's a bunch of them. Let me guess. Let me guess. Let me guess. Let me guess. I'm not telling you guys any of our keys. Don't turn the ball over. That's a huge one. I love the keys. I always love going in the keys of the game. All right, take care of the football. I mean, stats are stats, dude. over the last like four years, the amount of fumbles in the first week of this. Especially the first week. It's insane. Yeah. The amount of fumbles and the amount of missed tackles. It's through the fucking roof.

27:52It's crazy. It's always the same. Hey, take care of the football. It doesn't matter where you are. Take care of the football. Create turnovers on defense. Take care of the football on offense. Stop the run. Eliminate penalties and mistakes. Eliminate penalties. Eliminate penalties. We got to be going forwards, guys. We can't be going backwards. Eliminate those. Stop killing ourselves. We need to be playing the other team, not ourselves. That's right. That's right. If we beat the Kansas City Chiefs, we'll beat them. No, we can't beat ourselves. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. If we don't beat ourselves. Yeah.

28:25There we go. All right. Let's keep this thing moving. We'll see you guys down in Brazil, baby. Sao Paulo, baby. Get ready to get this thing rocking. Do you know any words in Portuguese? No. No. No, but I'll make sure I learn something down there. Bring some back with you. I'll bring some good ones back. The only two I remember are Obligado and Cerveja. Nice. Let's talk a little Eagles-Cowboys, baby. Come on now. First game of the season for both these teams, and man, what a matchup to get this thing going. A lot going on in the Cowboys world and the defending champs. I mean, could you think of a better way for the Philadelphia Eagles to start the NFL season coming off of a Super Bowl and playing the Dallas Cowboys to start the NFL season and dropping a banner.

29:11Like, I mean, the NFL is so good at these scheduling things. The environment this Thursday, I cannot wait. I cannot wait to experience this. It is going to be so fucking electric. It's going to be insane. It is going to be absolutely bedlam. It's going to be nuts. I am kind of pissed that I never got to go to you playing against the Cowboys. Fuck me. I only got to experience those on Monday night, Sunday night. We got plenty of Cowboys-Eagles games to go to, Travis. We got plenty to go to. I don't need to be playing. I wanted to be in the stands as an Eagles fan with Cowboys fans around and feel that.

29:53You know what I mean? It's a great time when you're in Philly. It's not as much fun when you're in Dallas, but it's a great time when you're in Philly. You don't know that. No, I do. We lost a lot of games in Dallas, unfortunately. Oh, okay. My bad. No, this is going to be – I'm looking forward to so many things. There's a lot of guys that I think – dude, they've been putting in so much work, and they've been doing it now for all the training camp, and they're trying to stay focused at the task at hand to repeat and have another great season. And I think the mentality has just been so good across the board, from the coaches to the players.

30:26They're returning so many pieces offensively. I mean really the only new pieces are their right guard Tyler Steen who's been there he's just now he's going to be starting and that's it I mean the offensive coordinator is the other new one on offense and the other one I'm really looking forward to is defense I think Moro Jomo keep that name in the back of your head this is a guy that and I know Brandon intern Brandon shout out to intern Brandon he knows who I'm talking about because he went to UT and Brandon knows everybody from fucking Texas. But, dude, this guy, you know when you can't tell when there's a guy balling out on scout team, if it's just like he's giving great effort, so is he catching guys when they're tired, a little bit fatigued on like a Wednesday and Thursday?

31:13So you're like, all right, he's got some juice, but I'm going to wait to see how this goes. Then he just keeps getting better. And he has this great disposition to him that he, from the moment he's got there, he's been inquisitive and asked questions and is always trying to get better. And it brings me back to we had Kobe Bryant talk to the team in 2017. And one of the guys asked him, do you have any advice to young players trying to make it in the NFL? And this is my favorite thing Kobe said all speech. Other guys referenced some of the other stuff, but I really love this. He said, be curious, right?

31:49Ask questions. Try and learn as much as you can. And Stout always says it in a different way. Knowledge is our greatest resource. He's always been asking questions to some extent, like annoyingly, like guys, like God damn moral just keeps on talking to me and asking me questions. He has had a relentless effort when he's on the field. He's had a relentless effort off the field. He wants to be great at football. I think he's going to have a really good year for Philadelphia. I'm putting it out there. He's playing alongside Jalen Carter, who's going to get a lot of attention because he's one of the best defensive tackles, if not the best in the NFL.

32:23and I think it's going to be – I'm looking forward to seeing him play and I'm looking forward to seeing – yeah, I'm just looking forward to being back at the link and watching the Eagles line it up again. A lot of guys going into their second year, especially on defense or second or third year, and we're seeing are they going to be able to keep up? Are they going to be able to do it again? Vic Fangio, yeah, I don't know, man. I'm just really excited to watch this first game. I mean, it's going to be fucking absolutely insane of an atmosphere. Hopefully the game resembles that, knowing everything that the Cowboys have going on with the first-year coach and getting their star defensive player traded a week before the season starts.

33:08They got a lot of noise. But the banner, I want to talk a little bit about the banner games, man. I've been a part of them where somebody else was raising a banner, and I've been a part of them when I've been raising a banner. You've been a part of them definitely when you've raised the banner. Have you ever been the team going into the stadium? I don't think so. No. Well, I was in a banner game not for winning a Super Bowl, but we played in New England when they retired Tom Brady's jersey. Ooh. Which was arguably bigger than a banner game. Big time. It was a big-time environment. They almost won the game, too.

33:44That's what I'm saying, man. It can go both ways. but at the same time, Coach Sirianni said that the Eagles will not be on the field for the banner drop. You beat me to it, too. They've been – I think they're handling it the right way. 100%. You can't be out there. You've got a game. That's last year. Yeah. It's last year. They've all turned the page, and you have to focus on this year. But the banner isn't for them. It's for the motherfucking fans, and they're going to be going absolutely crazy. And that's why I'm excited about it because I'm not playing anymore. I could be excited about a fucking banner and watching the Cowboys.

34:18Like I don't, I don't have to worry about being in the moment in this season, but they're handling it the right way. I think Cam Jergen said something similarly this week about, you know, not giving a damn about a banner. They're all focused on this season and moving on from last year. Give a damn about the next banner. You know what I'm saying? That's right. Dude, I went, this reminds me of talking about banner games. I went to one of the most legendary days in Cleveland sports history. I got to literally be the biggest kid in the entire world. What's that? I went to the Cleveland Cavaliers banner game after they won the NBA championship.

35:02Yeah. And that same day go to a Cleveland World Series game. Holy cow. it's a hell of a day and i took dad and it was fucking electric yeah yeah and i as a as a little kid standing in gundarina knowing that i'm about to go and take my dad to the world series after this dude it was insane um i don't have that's all i have for you i just wanted to make sure you you knew that i did that uh well i'm happy that you did it and didn't invite me you fucking asshole that sounds well yeah that was another thing it was during the season so you were probably playing football and i was on my bye week interesting all right so what are your keys to the game take care of the football don't uh eliminate mistakes no penalties we can't beat you can't beat ourselves yeah yeah but seriously hold on to the football all right here we go boys that wraps up bold topics brought to you by youtube hey let's do it jason do the honors please ladies and gentlemen please welcome three-time pro bowler from helix high school he was the first pick in the 2005 nfl draft the 2020 nfl comeback player of the year the quarterback who threw travis his first ever nfl touchdown please welcome mr alex smith baby Let's go!

36:34Smitty! Thank you, Jason. Thank you. Let's go, man. A little wide shallow cross down in Miami? You kidding me? Was that the first one? I've actually never been intro'd with that accolade before as the first person to throw you a touchdown. And it actually is not a bad accolade, man. I'll take it. I'll take it. I've been called worse. For sure. All right. Well, let's get into it. in 2014 when you were a rookie with Travis when he first arrived at the Chiefs. Let's start there. Did you expect that we'd end up where we are right now? What were your expectations for a young Travis Kelsey? Did I expect him to be what?

37:15Like a Hall of Fame career? Yeah, that's the question. Fuck no. That's a crazy question. Hell no. Hell no. What threw you off? Well, I mean, obviously, like, there's not many guys you come in and you have that expectation. You think that right away. Well, especially, I mean, third round pick, right? Yeah. And so, no, I mean, there's no third round picks that come in. You're like, this guy's going to be the greatest pass, you know, the greatest tight end ever. No, it is. And there were some question marks about Trav and his professionalism, you know, coming in that were understood in the building.

37:55Yeah. Dude, but no, I mean, like, this is the crazy thing. when you think about i'm sure everybody looks at trab's career it's like oh look it was just like so great and destined i mean he didn't even play his rookie year you know like i dude i remember you out there trying to run through like routes that summer it was the worst hobbling around bro i remember you like hobbling around on that knee just like trying to get through it and i felt so bad i'm like this is a young guy and he's like dealing with knee issues already no they were huge question marks, Jason. I think there was a ton of positivity in the building.

38:30From the moment we drafted him, though, Andy, Doris at the time, John Dorsey, the GM, they were like, we got a guy. That was the belief. Listen, we got a guy in the third round. We're super... We feel like he can be a player, but he didn't play for a whole year. That's crazy to think back about. right i mean and then you know 100 procedure yeah huge need huge knee surgery and micro fracture at that point in my career i was lucky i was young enough to where it paid off and yeah there was still and in terms of the professionalism it it kind of worked out in my favor because i got to see everything from like i just got to sit back and watch guys like you guys like fasano um then then guys like Jeremy Macklin come in and be pros and show me how it's done at the professional level.

39:26I ended up catching on not the second year or the third year, but eventually it clicked for me. I kind of say it in jest, right? Like half joking, obviously, about the professionalism. But I also think the cool thing is that I think in the same time that when you got drafted, I'll never forget, it was like, again, they think you're a hell of a player. This is going to be great. They also immediately understood like, like who is this guy's got some, you know, he's got to learn a little bit. It's going to be a process. He's going to grow. He's going to mature. Yeah. And I mean, like, but that, that doesn't happen everywhere.

40:02You know, I think that was the cool thing about, especially about Andy, right? Like Andy doesn't, you know, there's no judgment, right? Like he, he, he remembers what it's like to be a 21 year old kid, you know? And like, Hey, like if you're late to some meetings, it wasn't the end of the world, you know? and Trav happened you know Trav got called to the principal's office a time or two those first few years just a tap on the shoulder hey Andy wants to see you oh I wonder why I tell people this all I feel like Andy just has this aura about him that there's like this presence that is downright like you're afraid of him in certain instances like he has like that kind of like feeling but at the same time you always feel like he like loves you and just wants the best for you like He tows that line of being a disciplinarian and a player's coach better than anybody I've been around.

40:49He's not going to accept anything from you that isn't your best, but at the same time, he's forgiving to a fault. I don't even know how he's mastered both of those avenues, but it's hard to explain, but that's kind of the vibe I always got from him. No, I think you hit it on the head. That's what coaching is, right? Tough love. You've got to be both. You've got to have high standards. And hold people to him. But at the same time, I think the best thing about Andy is, again, like the no judgment, right? Like if you mess up, if you err, whether it be on the field or like in your personal life or something professionally, like it's not the end of the world, right?

41:26Right. You know? And so he will welcome you back in. And I think you appreciate that as a player for sure. Hell yeah. Do we have a favorite story from Travis Ricciardo? I mean, I know we just said a couple, but like. Favorite story? Even if it's not rookie year, let's say second year. What's a favorite story from a young Travis Kelsey? Let's try to think. You know, for me, I can't get out of my head. I know maybe some tight ends had broken out into dance occasionally. But the first touchdown pass, no. I remember all of a sudden, he breaks into choreographed dance in the fucking end zone. It was planned.

42:03It was pre-planned. There's no way you just do that. No. I remember distinctly being caught off guard. right like i just didn't see it coming i knew he was talented but not like that like no and then every week it was like a new one right i mean oh yeah just from there on out i had him in the back pocket ready to go yeah i don't know if trab if you ever remember this play i actually broke this down on on sunday countdown at espn but we were playing it had to be your second or third year and we were playing the denver broncos and we called like early in the uh early in the game you started out wide and we motioned you down and we ran strike which jason's just like a fake a little fake in and then come back out right like on the third and three and nice and we converted it right he killed the guy the db it was man the guy came running down with a little pivot thing where you come down so he kind of takes down he comes out yeah well we like save it and we come back to it in the second half like in the fourth quarter in like the biggest moment of the game and i think we thought like we were going to get him again and the db was like pretty veteran in and we get the same look it's man and this guy just sits hard on the outside right like he's not taking the cheese well Trav just kind of like feels it so he just keeps fucking running the just runs all the way across the field right like this is the NFL you're supposed to go in and come back out and he just kind of like saw the guy outside he's like oh and just kept running across the field and i threw him the ball for some reason and it turned into like a 30 yard game and i think and i think everybody on the field like including big red it was like what just happened right and it was kind of the early dawn of trab doing some of these things right like full disclosure did you know it was strike or were you running the wrong route what was going on i I knew exactly what it was, but the thing is, is I'm, I get the first down and I like get pumped up.

44:01I do a first down and then I start to slowly look at coach Reed on the sideline. Like, is he going to fucking come here? This is the beginning of the moment. Don't ever do that again. This is the beginning of the moment where he started to get some leeway into doing these things. Is that what I'm hearing? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. The early dawn of the, the Trav improvisation, which by the way, There's like in every little route, there's little things you can do. I mean, this is a full, like you're supposed to break right and you broke. You're supposed to be in the flat over here and you're all the way on the other side of the field.

44:34Yeah. Yeah. Big difference. I knew Alex wanted me to do that. Because you think about the game. Is it like a quarterback? Did you like that? He was like, oh, heavy outside leverage. Don't love strike against heavy outside. That's right. Just keep going. Who am I hurting going across field? Nobody. And it works. nobody over there. That's what you got to do. You can't be selfish enough to ruin somebody else from getting a catch, which I've done that and I've had to reel it back. Alex, we've talked about, I think we talked about it when I was with you guys before the Super Bowl, but what do you think of Travis's ability to audible?

45:08You just talked about the first time he ever did it. From a quarterback's perspective, how do you feel about somebody doing something that is not pre-planned? Yeah. It's funny because I was young, as a young QB, you're like, no, I need to know you're going to run the line on the paper, right? Like I need to trust that you're going to be in the right place at the right time. And it's so funny. Like as you, as you move on and you play longer, I want a guy that can separate the number one attribute I want. And somebody that's running routes is separation. Be able to separate and Trav. And the crazy thing about a tight end is you got to know.

45:45And I actually think it's the second hardest position to play as a young guy on offense behind QB just because like you're involved that you're in all the shifts in motions right you got to know all these formations you're involved in the run game blocking you're involved obviously in pass protection sometimes and then you got to run routes but I mean you're running routes against linebackers you're running routes against safeties you're running routes against corners and like to his point you do have to realize what your advantage is versus all these different guys thank you dude but I you know there are all these like listen half the time you're running like a stick route right like for everybody out there like the stick routes like the most basic tight end route it's this little five yard out if you run the line on the paper in the nfl you will never be open right like you just won't and it got pretty quick and i think the cool thing i don't know about you travel like we were in the same division obviously with antonio gates who also kind of played with some of this 100 yeah you could tell like you would watch be on the same page yeah yeah but you know the routes you would watch it on film you're like that's definitely not what that looks like in the playbook right like he put a little sauce on it He put a little wiggle on it.

46:45He ran it at like one yard, not five yards. And so I think pretty quick you got to the point with Trav that was like, it's working, right? And I will never forget. I don't know if I told you this. This was later. This is probably like your fourth year. We were struggling on offense. Maybe it was when we started one and five, to be honest. Do you remember when we started one and five? And we were not playing good on offense. And I'll never forget Nagy called me in Monday after the game. We had just lost, I think, the fifth game. uh everything's looking bleak and we watched every pass play on offense and i'll never forget like kind of like looking for some tendencies like what can we do better what are we missing and the number one takeaway from the meeting was travis doesn't always run like the route like it's supposed to be but he's always open right and like the number one takeaway from this offensive meeting was like hey when in doubt we should probably just find this guy right because he'd be like running a corner route and you're like it's not supposed to be open versus this look but he would like right he would run like a seven yard out route instead and it was like well he was open right like everything kind of had a twist he could just like he wasn't just gonna run and get covered you know it was it was right it was nice no and so to that point like once you trusted that and you developed that relationship it was like no Travis gonna get open for me Travis gonna work right like and again like there's a maturity and there's a lot of guts in some of that like as a route runner to do you know do some of that but well we we were talking we're kind of throwing a little bit of like uh not shade but kind of make poking fun at travis a little bit for being a little bit immature and kind of being a happy-go-lucky free spirit but i think that that directly plays into like you got to be a free spirit to just all of a sudden whip this out in the middle of a game like anybody that's analytical reading the playbook and showing up on time to meetings is not doing this they're not taking a strike round going all the way across the field you know what it is though is that the strike route actually comes off of another route it's like the complimentary route to flanker drive so it's like in my mind it's like that's the yeah those two go hand in hand with each other it has evolved since then to understand what else is around you and like to understand like I don't know what the quarterback's seeing versus certain coverages where the coverages are weak and and where the holes are in the defense and things like that but it 100 % was the luckiest instinctual decision I made that really paid off because it like Alex said it started to like kind of unravel into oh in practice I'll just try it in practice And if it doesn't work in practice, then I won't put that on the quarterback in the game.

49:24You know, I'll try my hardest not to like, I don't know, catch him off guard. And it's just it just turned into like, well, we'll just be definitive. Professor Trav here dropping knowledge. Dude, the other thing, I don't know if you remember this to that same point. Like if you were running a shallow cross, right? Like for everybody out there again, you're just running across the field as fast as you can. Right. But like if there was a corner running on you, you constantly would like you would do what you did in that tape. you would like dead leg him and try to like oh yeah no i'm fucking with him until again none of that was on like the route like none of that was installed and again it was like your way of like listen i gotta win some way right like i gotta separate and get open yeah 100 man well seven step timing getting to understand the quarterback's progression and footwork it's like just like it's like a it's like a timer going off in your head you know what i mean and don't let it get to that third second.

50:17If I can feel that the quarterback is at the top of his drop and gets two hitches, I'm botching the route anyways because what we called isn't working and he needs to get that fucking ball out. So I'm doing something else anyways. Oh, shit. Let's rewind. We're all in Alex Smith, Kansas City era, Travis Kelsey. Let's talk about Alex Smith, San Francisco era. Was there anybody else that operated like this in San Fran? What was your time in San Fran like it took me a long time Jason like I I battled you know being the number one pick and signing like this was before the rookie weight scale so I signed a massive contract right like yeah yeah you know and being a first-time professional and the number one pick and going to the San Francisco 49ers right I mean it was like I mean I felt like I had to be like Joe Montana Steve Young I'm also the number one pick so I got to be Peyton Manning and John Elway and I got to be all those things right now right like right now and it just it was like I carried around so much weight as a young professional like I felt like I had to be perfect and also I this is real like it was real imposter syndrome right like it was like interesting how how long how long Jason until they find out that they made a mistake you know like uh especially playing right away and this was the crazy thing travel like I didn't I mean I played week three my rookie year and like i never there weren't a ton of it wasn't until like a few years later like i actually got to be around some veteran quarterbacks and actually see what it was like to be a nfl qb you know like preparing monday through saturday what it takes you know um just had no idea so it was it was rough it was rough sure dude a lot of late nights by myself just watching film and having no idea what i was doing trying to figure it out yeah no clue that's tough so you go to andy reed yeah why was it so much more successful like the chiefs before you got there we were just talking about this i mean they had a great defense but they had not been successful really at all so what is it about andy reed and going there that all of a sudden you enjoyed probably i think safe to say the best years of your career.

52:32Yeah. And then also as a team at Flourish, like what is it about the system, the coach, all of it? Yeah. I mean, I think a couple of things. One, the fact that it's not a system, like again, like think about all the QBs that Andy reads had over the years, you know, from Donovan before that, obviously Michael, you know, me, Pat, like this. And there's a bunch of guys in between too, that he had for little stints and guys that all have different strengths, you know, very different strengths. And I think that's the beauty. Like Andy doesn't run some like cookie cutter playbook, right? Like we're not running the stuff that you guys were running in Philly, right?

53:05Like we're not running the stuff that they were running in Green Bay before that. Patrick's not running the stuff that I was running, right? Like that just, he's going to tailor it to your strengths. He's going to put you in a position to succeed. And then I think there's like a, again, like I just talked to obviously about, you know, for me, my mentality at that point, again, it was like, it was, it was heavy when I was young. And then you get to Kansas city and there's like a lightness to Andy, right? Like, I mean, he, again, like I didn't, I didn't feel like if I messed up, it was the end of the world.

53:34Right. Like, and he constantly was like, let your personality show be you. Right. Like he constantly in the QB room, his favorite saying would be like, Hey, when in doubt, go deep. Right. Like, I mean, he, you know, and, and I'm sure some of that he felt in me. But again, that's kind of the beauty of his coaching, right? Like it's not the same for everybody, right? Like he morphs it and changes and adapts to who he's got in front of them and what they need. Let's talk about a little Jim Harbaugh. Oh, yeah. Harbaugh, man. I'm going down to Sao Paulo. Yes. I'm going down to Sao Paulo to see him for the second time as a Charger.

54:05Obviously, we saw him a little bit when he was in San Fran still before he went to Michigan. But I remember meeting Jim in San Fran when I was getting drafted. and the guy is just wired different man he is he eat breathes and sleeps football all day every day and you know that's what you want out of your your head coach but how are how are some of his uh like coaching methods different than uh coach reads yeah i mean i again uh dude both both these guys i mean jim definitely changed had a huge impact on my career huge impact like before he arrived here in San Fran honestly like I'm probably walking around with a bus label you know at this point and he has me back uh signs me back you know he's coming from Stanford but I mean this is a guy that played 15 years at quarterback in the NFL I mean he definitely understands crazy part is he played for the Chargers and I grew up in San Diego so I remember watching him play uh as a kid but you're dead on Jim's different like different like he's like a real life Ted Lasso a little bit right Like he's like off the wall saying, right?

55:12Like he'll quote you Shakespeare. You know, like he just has so much gratitude for football, to your point. Like this guy loves football. And like I'm not just saying that. Like I remember at times he told me his life aspirations were to play football as long as he could, then coach football as long as he could, and then die. Right? Like life's gold. He's got to figure it out, baby. That's a very simple man right there. Let's not overcomplicate this. Like, I'll never forget my first game again. I love it. You know, like, here I am getting ready to play. I think you're being a bit dramatic, coach.

55:54Have you seen what he does before the game to the quarterbacks? He's got the gloves and he's playing catch. Right before kickoff, dude, he comes over. And I'll never forget the first game we're playing. And he comes over and he's got this, like, look in his eyes. And again, he's like, he's so like happy for you that you're going to get a chance to play football. And he starts smacking you around in the helmet and he like starts jacking you up in the chest. And like, I remember I could like just feel, I could feel how much, it was funny for me at this time. Cause I, I think I, in some ways had taken it for granted, but like, it wasn't going to last forever.

56:29And I remember like seeing that in his eyes, like how much he would give to play one more time. Right. Oh yeah. And it wasn't like a glory days type of thing. But again, it was real. It was like, oh, man, it was infectious. When the head guy just loves ball that much. And then for me, he just like, again, he took so much pressure off of playing quarterback. Prior to that, I'd always felt like I had to stretch or do something special or make a play. And with Jim, it was like, no, man, just run the offense. If it says to throw the flat, like if the read is to throw the flat, just throw the flat.

57:02Right. Like I never felt like it was the first time in my career that I felt like I could just kind of be me. Right. Like I didn't again, I didn't have to like do anything remarkable. Well, who are you taking? Chiefs, Chargers, Brazil, week one. Chargers have made immediate impact with Jim. I mean, immediate. This is going to be a big one. Dude, I'll tell you what, like he'll always have a tough football team. Right. They're always going to be well coached. It's the culture of how he coaches. You already know. physical um and it's funny these two coaches two of my favorite like things about them are actually like pieces of attire that they wear so i don't know if you guys have seen this one of my again it was one of my favorite things when jim came to to sam fran because he gifted every guy on the team these blue collar shirts and so you would get your own blue collar shirt and it had your name on it and he told this whole story of like what is a blue collar shirt and right somebody in our life and someone in our family paved the way for us and worked one of these jobs, right?

57:58And kind of, again, going back to this, like, gratitude of playing. Yeah. And then the night before every game, Big Red's wearing an Aloha shirt, right? And it kind of just, like, sets the tone. It's kind of, you know, night before the game, he's got the Aloha shirt on. It kind of just, like, calms everything down a little bit. So we got the blue-collar shirts versus the Aloha shirts. You know, going at it in Sao Paulo. I love that blue-collar shirt. I don't, dude, I would get so fired up for a blue collar shirt with my name on it. And that whole, I can envision him giving this speech. I'm getting goosebumps thinking about this right now.

58:32We should be wearing blue collar shirts and not suits. Suits to away games. We're working men. I'm not a businessman. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Dude, I hated wearing suits to games. I felt so like, you know, again, it was like almost it like personified the weight of like the professionalism. Right. Again, like, again, like I, when I was struggling with it and I, dude, I could just put on my blue collar shirt and a hat go to work man that's all i need is go bring the lunch pail well you actually want a prediction for this game no you're good yeah i don't even know why i said that's fine we're not gonna put you on the spot i'm just excited to watch it well we talk about coaches and uh your time in uh kc let's talk about the introduction of pat mahomes he credits you very often uh with welcoming him to the nfl and kind of being that mentor uh what was that relationship like uh for you right away uh yeah i mean i'll never forget when i first talked to him

59:28it's the frequency dude it just go um it's different i mean like we were a good football team right i mean we'd won a bunch of divisions i was gone to pro bowls like we'd gone you know obviously won a playoff game i think the year before so your part of you was wondering i mean yeah who are we taking in the first round right like to go help us um and you're never expecting obviously to trade up right like we oh here we're trading next year's first round too to go up and get a quarterback i mean you're dead like it's not it's not what anybody wants to hear right like i mean that's not for sure but i think the crazy part is again going back to my experience of having been like the number one pick in an early pick like you just have such you have no control right like you're thrust into this process and you're like a completely you're a cog in the machine right like yeah you go where they tell you to go pick number whatever you know even now you sign the contract that's slotted for that you know deal i mean obviously there was some empathy you know still for me as being an early pick like obviously pat didn't pick this i didn't pick this right like the powers that be again i i'd spent so many years alone my first few years in the league right like again watching film on my own and just like had no idea what i was doing and remembered how much that sucked right i guess sucked uh and and so to fast forward to when we drafted him also within that too right like i i had spent early part of my year kind of distracted myself right like i mentioned like the imposter syndrome and like the self-doubt and like was i good enough and dude i would i would be ready i'd be going out there to play and my mind would be like, what are they going to, what if I throw a pick?

1:01:07What are they going to write about me in the paper tomorrow? Like, God, what if they start booing me? Right. Like I had distracted myself with like my own internal dialogue and like that. And like, I was determined when I got to Kansas city, like I will never be, I'm not going to be distracted anymore. Right. And so even once we drafted Pat too, there was almost like this great challenge. Like, am I, again, everybody pitting us against each other. Am I going to look over my shoulder and be distracted? right like andy still had told me like listen i got the keys to the car that year i don't know so there were all these conflicting things right going on emotionally and i think the other thing that just comes down with pat and i try to tell people this like you give respect you get respect right and like from day one pat came in and like there was never there was never like a prima donna ego there was never like a you know he's the man he came in humble ready to work uh just like a like a good kid and it was pretty quick it was like no big deal honestly yeah no big deal that's what i do that's what i give i give pat so much credit for that that year of just being a great teammate like totally he didn't get he didn't yeah he He came in with, like you said, that ability to just like, you know what, I'm just going to make sure everybody's like having a good time today.

1:02:26Yeah, totally. We're going to find a way to get better at football. But he was – I think seeing you as the leader of that football team, as the leader of that offense, how the offense had started to like really change into this air raid, this down-the-field offense with Tyreek and all the weapons that we had with D-Rob, with Chris Conley, Like it was starting to play more downfield. And it was just – it was fun to kind of see you take that offense to the next level and then kind of just hand it off to Pat after that year was over with me. Let's be very clear. Like first off, I get way too much credit in like the Pat.

1:03:07No chance. Like way too much credit. We need more credit. We need more credit here. You know, could Pat have played that year? Like clearly. You know, but again to the point – But to the point, like, I don't know, the beauty of like what Andy set up and like the QB structure, and this is kind of the beauty of the QB room. And it's not like this everywhere, right? Like you do everything together, everything together. You eat together, you lift together, you rehab together, you watch film together, you obviously practice together. And like come season, I mean, you know, I'm spending more time with the QBs than I am with my family, right?

1:03:42You know, given weeks. and so it was a cool way like pat like i was in year 13 at that point right like i had i had become i had three kids like i i had the week down to the minute of what i needed to get done on a given day to prepare to play well on sunday and so the cool thing is like pat for a year got an up-close look right like how i did it and again when he finally got his opportunity obviously to roll make it take what he liked right he could build off it he could you know it obviously not all for him but um and that when he did start playing right and this is the beauty of like taking a quarterback early they did everything in their power that like when Pat stepped foot on the field for the first time like he was going to be successful right like there was no like rolling the dice let's hope this goes well right cross our fingers kind of thing and uh I mean obviously it's rare in the NFL there's only a couple organizations that that have done it like this And, you know, it drives me crazy.

1:04:41And I watch it, watch it high draft value. And then I see like a defensive head coach being selected. Like, are we not trying to put this guy like in the best position to be successful? Like I get a veteran quarterback that's been around like, yeah, let's get a defensive guy. Let's get this guy a defense. But like a young player, like we just put so much stock and value into this position. Why are we not allocating everything we can to make this guy successful? It blows my mind when I see that across. No doubt. Yep. Just fucking rolling the dice. I do want to touch on this because you brought up for the second time now, imposter syndrome, self-doubt.

1:05:13And one of the things, one of the most important things I think a person could give to another person is belief, right? And mainly like a belief in yourself. And like you ever, all of us remember those individuals that were around. You mentioned Jim Harbaugh and how he made you feel gratitude towards the game. And like, I think I remember the coaches, Jeff Stoutland, Howard Mudd, like Paul Longo, all these guys where when I had self doubt in my career, these guys were there to reaffirm me and like make sure that I was knew how good I could be and how good I had the potential to become. So I had to mention that because I always get fired up hearing about like every player goes through that.

1:05:51Any player that says they don't go through it is full of crap. And it's because you're surrounded with great people, great teammates, great coaches that you end up coming out of that. So I'm going to transition to this. there's a lot of rookie quarterbacks from last year that are coming up on their second year this season who does Alex Smith have belief is going to take that next step forward who's going to be the the best of the bunch to kind of have breakout seasons yeah I dude I think this rookie the the the rookie class from last year to be clear that's the second year group the second year group going in this year I think it's going to go down as one of the greatest QB classes of all time oh wow Maybe the best of all time.

1:06:29I think it has a chance. I mean, we just saw literally Jaden Daniels. It is the greatest rookie season, I think, in all of American sports. It was electric. It was very electric. I mean, unbelievable. Bo Nix. I mean, you saw it a lot. Bo Nix is a baller, man. A baller, right? He's the sixth guy taken. I mean, think about that. It's crazy. There's a few guys on that note that I'm really excited about. I'm excited for Caleb. Again, another number one pick. Like getting Ben Johnson, I love the Ben Johnson hire. Come on now. Fire me up. Yep. A CSI to Caleb this year. I think he's going to flourish in it.

1:07:05I think they need it, you know, again, the next several years, he'll get to play in this system that is so good. And I think he's really going to take off. They got a bunch of weapons. That division's a monster. That division is a monster, though. It is. That's the problem. By the way, so is yours, Trav. Yeah. No, I'm very aware. Very aware. You get a bunch of legendary coaches and throw them in a division. You're going to get some competition in there, man. I don't know if I told you this. Do you know it's the winningest division in NFL history when it comes to head coaches' records? Dude, the AFC West.

1:07:37I have not heard that. That's a crazy stat. History. That is crazy. Anyway. Here we go, boys. Buckle up. Dude, but I think Caleb's going to have a great year. Dude, I mean, the guy we haven't seen is J.J. McCarthy, right? I mean, playing for Kevin O 'Connell, who I was lucky enough to – another San Diego guy I go way back to high school with. I played for him. He's one of the best QB minds, I think, in the game. And then think about who he's throwing to, right? You got Jetta. You got Jordan Addison, TJ Hawkinson. I mean, they got a lot of weapons there. I think he's going to have a big year. And then Drake May.

1:08:09I like Drake May a lot. I'm basically naming all of them, so I get that. But I think New England, I love Vrabel getting hired. Josh McDaniel is coming back as the OC. I think he's also unbelievable offensive mind. Like I really do. I love all these guys. I haven't even mentioned Penix who might have the best supporting cast from weapons, you know, standpoint. I just think it's everywhere. I love it. I think they're all, I think all these guys are going to take steps this year. Awesome. All right. Well, what about, is that just the worst answer ever? I just named all of them. I mean, I'm, first of all, it just got me fired up for football.

1:08:43I'm going to the Chicago bears game for Monday night. I can't wait to watch Kayla Williams and freaking JJ McCarthy. they go at each other. I mean, that's going to be a blast. So, all right. What do we got? What about the rookies this year? I mean, it's, it's like, it's funny. It's slim pickings and this always happens, right? Like after a big year, the next year, of course, I mean, you got, all eyes are going to be on cam, right? Number one pick. Sure. I think he, you know, by all accounts was the consensus guy there. Right. Like that was the most ready. The thing I like about him so much is like the, he's a gamer, man.

1:09:14Like the craftiness, like he's so, he's like the opposite of what I look like as a rookie. Like I was so stiff and you know, like this guy's played a lot of football, right? He's played at three colleges. He's played in multiple systems. He knows what he does. Well, you know, he's got a great skill set, does a little bit of everything. I think he's going to play good. And then, you know, we'll see if any of these other young guys even play. Jackson Dart may not play. So I like, again, Cam, Cam's the guy we're all going to be watching, in my opinion. All right. Fair enough. We had some crazy news break last week in the NFL.

1:09:47Micah Parsons finally got traded. Yeah. There was a lot of debate on whether they were going to get a contract done, and then it just became war between him and the owner. Jerry Jones, baby. Yeah, Jerry Jones. And Micah Parsons is officially a Packer. What was the first reaction when you saw the news? Couldn't believe it. I just could not believe they actually traded him. You know, I felt like it was like deja vu, right? Like he had a contract dispute with Dak and it got done the last minute. He had the contract dispute with CD. It got done last minute. And it kind of just seemed like, well, here we go.

1:10:20They're definitely not letting Micah Parsons out of the building, right? And I could not believe it when it happened. I still can't believe it, man. And now that I've had like a little time to digest this thing, I don't think it's insane if you wanted to like move him, right? Listen, this is a generational pass rusher. He's 26 years old. The next five years for him are going to be ridiculous. The best five years of his career coming up. And if you wanted to move him and you were going to get a Herschel Walker type trade, if you were going to get just somebody offering so much that you couldn't turn it down because you wanted to press reset, I could understand it.

1:11:06but to just to get what is going to be two late first round picks. And I love nothing against Kenny Clark, but like, Kenny's a good player to put this in perspective. The Niners traded three first round picks for Trey Lance three for a guy that had never played a snap in the NFL. And you're telling me that I, again, they're talking about him like Reggie white. Like he's had 12 sacks. He's the only guy since Reggie white to have 12 sacks to start a career this many years right like again he's a monster even when he doesn't even doesn't even when he and you guys know this right like even if he doesn't get the sacks the pain he is to game plan for like when you come in on you know Wednesday morning the giant circle that's around Micah Parson is like we cannot let this guy cost us the game we are gonna do the run game's gonna revolve around where he is the pass game's gonna revolve around where he is we're gonna chip him and double time double team hey Trav you're always going to be lining up where he is to try to give an extra gap for the tackle like you just do you bend over backwards for this guy just to like try to take him away you know yep it's crazy I think it is a horrible trade right to be very clear very clear how I feel about there is a there is a chance that it can work out if one if one of these first or both of these first round picks go and are successful but like statistically the chances of that happening are like so low that you're going to find somebody that affects the game like this like that's what i think recently there's been things coming out like he's not great against the run and i'm not normally a guy that like cares that much about like sacks i think that number sometimes gets blown overblown somewhat this guy affects the game on a level that maybe only two or three other guys in the nfl do across the league on defense like he is that big of a difference maker your entire game plan we played the cowboys without him it is so different so different and i love kenny clark kenny clark is a great player and i kind of feel bad that he's a part of this and being compared to michael parsons because as a d tackle he's really good but it's just he's not affecting the game the way that michael parsons is and the the way they're trying to sell this i think is is funny because they have to at this point but the real reason this isn't happening is flat out egos and it sucks that that is the reason why this whole thing is happening you're spot on the only way this ever you know 10 years from now this looks good is if they draft two hall of famers with these two picks uh the odds of that happening when you're going to be picking probably like pick 24 or higher it's it's not you know again not looking good for them i couldn't agree with you more this is all about this is all about hurt feelings and egos and on this note this whole idea of jerry negotiating directly with this guy he's 25 years old he's never negotiated a contract in his life he has professional representation that everybody knows he has to have hired to do this for him and you're the how old are you jerry you own the most valuable sports franchise in the world you're the gm and you're gonna go like the power dynamic of this that you're going to go negotiate directly with this guy it makes me like i feel dirty like you know it makes me feel it makes me feel icky that like come on man that's like that's so wrong yeah i'm not i i can't disagree with anything you're saying right now i mean it's we it happened i feel like it's never happened in philadelphia apparently this has been known to happen in other places what do you mean i'm talking about like a gm and negotiate i mean you'll Oh, I was going to say, I thought you were going to say somebody traded away like your star player.

1:14:52Because it definitely happened. Oh, no, that's happened everywhere, buddy. That's not. This one feels different, though. It's not like a monetary thing. Kansas City traded away their star player in 2018, just to be clear. Yeah, they did. Yeah, they did. Yeah, it just feels. He's showing everybody he can throw it downfield. Touchdown. God, man, fire me up. All right, we'll move on. Sorry, Jason, sorry. No, no, no, you're good. You're good because it segues in nice with what Travis was saying. Has there ever been a trade like this before? We have some name. We've definitely got some in front of us which are cheating.

1:15:26Sure, in history. I mean, what? I mean, the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth, right? I mean, there's been trades, big trades. I mean, Dallas obviously knows it well here recently. Luka on the move. Luka. I'm trying to think of football. I mean, obviously, Khalil Mack's probably the closest thing. to a difference-making edge rusher getting traded for a bunch of picks. I still – I don't know. Mike is different, man. Yeah. He's so talented. There's a name on here, but it's not a trade, which I would assimilate this to. And this is like how bad it can look if this doesn't work out for Dallas, which is the Saquon going to Philadelphia last year.

1:16:10And that was a free agent. Like they let him go and he got signed. And so not at all applicable, but like if Micah goes out and balls out this year in Green Bay, which it probably will happen, and Green Bay gets substantially better, I just – the optics of it are just going to be so, so, so bad. That's if they don't go out and they don't perform. You know, if – Talking about Dallas? Yeah. If Dallas goes out and plays football. I think Dallas – yeah. They got some good receivers and Dak is a good quarterback. And I just think defensively there, and I like Matt Ibrafaluz. He's a great D coordinator.

1:16:43That's a, that was the, the guy on the defense that was creating all of the issues. To be clear, if you're going to do this again, like I don't mind the idea of like, we're a full reset, but you do this in the off season and you don't do this in the quiet, right? Like this is like, you, you, you, you announced this to the world that this guy's available. You create a bidding war, right? Like there's 30 teams that would have, I think, given up a similar bounty. There's this. I think there's plenty more that would have gone overboard. Right. Like, I just think this did. It was so rushed. It seems so quiet and last minute.

1:17:16Like, I don't know. It didn't maximize what they could have got for this. I mean, in my opinion. It honestly feels a little bit like Jerry was like, what's the coldest, most miserable place I can send Mike a part since? Green Bay's willing to give us this. He's like, perfect. But you send them to now, like some people think they're like, I mean, huge expectations in Green Bay now, right? And some people already, like they may be Super Bowl favorites in the NFC, right? Like some people already, you know, are they now one of the two, three best teams in the NFC with this? To that point, like trade them to New Orleans.

1:17:51Maybe you get a top five pick. Maybe you get a top five pick. You trade them to Green Bay, you might be getting picked 32. You might be watching them all playoffs long. yeah sorry new orleans fans i didn't mean yeah didn't mean to throw shade all right here we go so uh you were just talking about uh the cowboys maybe just pressing the reset button new coach a lot of first year coaches there's always that turnover in the nfl um but dallas is one of them with schottenheimer we got ben johnson in the with the bears that we already talked about vrabes as well back over there obviously not first time head coach but first time first year uh over there in New England, Aaron Glenn over with the Jets, Liam Cohen, Kellen Moore with the Saints.

1:18:35Who are you taking for the most successful year one coach? There's seven of these guys, right? Seven, I think. Yeah. Dude, this is tough. I think, again, like I want to be clear, I love the Ben Johnson hire, but I don't – I mean, that division, again, is stacked. So I think it's great. I don't know how many wins it's going to directly, you know, go to this next year. The Mike Vrabel, you know, so much of this is your division and what your division looks like. The Mike Vrabel hire in New England. I know, you know, obviously Buffalo is awesome. But the rest of that division is kind of wide open, in my opinion.

1:19:12And I think that, you know, again, Drake May is a guy. Like, they're going to, by the end of the year, I think they're going to be promising. The sneaky one, I kind of think, is I wonder about his first-time head coach is Liam Cohen. Yeah. I think Jacksonville from a roster standpoint is closer to winning a lot of games. And again, this AFC South, you got Houston. It's a little wide open after that. I could see – I like Trevor Lawrence. I think he's super talented. They got two great edge rushers down there, young edge rushers. They got Brian Thomas Jr. is a baller outside. I could see them getting good fast.

1:19:48And they're doing something right now that I think between what Canales then did over in Carolina, like Baker goes down there. He has a rejuvenation of a career combined with other great talented players, and he's a great talent. Then all of a sudden, Bryce Young is playing well in Carolina. I like some of the schematic things they're doing. They like flood different zones or utilizing like fly motions into the flat, the stress flat defenders. They're doing some really cool things. I'm excited to watch William Cohen in Jacksonville as well. And I'll say this too, with Ben Johnson, with the Bears, the other one is, I think Dennis Allen's a really good defensive coordinator.

1:20:23He always like gave me fits down in New Orleans. He can scheme things so well, especially he can stop the run in a shell by moving the D lineman and having the linebackers play a certain way that it was always kind of like an issue and I respected the heck out of it. Totally agree. I know Dennis Allen hasn't had a ton of success as a head coach, but as a D coordinator, to your point, and it's unorthodox. How he gets to things is unorthodox. And for me as a quarterback, I hated going against that. I love textbook defenses, right? It was always a pain in the ass to go against these weird ones. Yep.

1:20:57And then obviously I got to give my man Chip Kelly some love. Back in the NFL, offensive coordinator for the Raiders. I cannot wait to see Chip Kelly back in the NFL. Yeah, we forgot to mention Pete Carroll with the Raiders. Yeah. Yeah, he's one of those seven. How about that? How old is he? I mean, it's crazy. He's in his 70s. Well, you want to talk about a positive mindset. Have you ever been around Pete? I mean, he's one of the guys, like, one of his core, like, fundamentals is, like, joy. Just, like, bring joy. I mean, it's amazing. Just still chewing on gum. Still chewing on gum. Do you have a sleeper pick?

1:21:36Who's your sleeper team to compete for a Super Bowl title? Wait, sleeper for the Super Bowl? Yeah. Well, I guess just sleeper team to overachieve. Let's say that. All right, maybe I'll give you a little bit of both. I think, like, when I think about who's poised to have, like, a big turnaround, I think the New York Giants could definitely have a big turnaround. I mean, they won three games. Dexter Lawrence may be the best player nobody knows about. He's unbelievable. And they've got – how many edge rushers do they have at this point? I mean, they've got – The Abdul Carter kid. They've got – Obviously, they still have Brian Burns.

1:22:12I mean – Brian Burns, yeah, from Carolina. They got a bunch of guys. I think they got a chance for a big turnaround. To me, again, it's some of these where I go to these divisions, and it's like the NFC South, right? I think the Bucs, I think the Tampa Bay Bucs are so good. That's my sleeper team. I think they can make a real run. One of those stacked rosters when you really look at it. Dude, before Mike Evans got hurt and Godwin got hurt, they were competing with anybody. They were right up there with the top of the NFC, and then they kind of took a nosedive a little bit during that little downturn.

1:22:43But then they found that run game, that two-headed running back room that they had. They found that more once the wide receivers went down. That running back, Bucky. Bucky, Irving. Ball player, man. Man. Explosive. You get them with a one-on-one matchup, man. They barely lost to the commanders in the playoffs. They beat the Eagles last year. I mean, in the regular season. Pretty handily, too. It was early. The Eagles got a lot better throughout the season. The other division I think that some teams are going to come out of is the NFC West. right like the rams i love the rams i love stafford like jared verse come on jared verse is a problem dude a problem man child they came up to philadelphia there's a lot of noise about jared verse and really the whole d line and they run games really well and they do all these things and i'm like man they're playing phillies all line this isn't going to be like they're not going to even affect the game they got after us in the snow which everybody knows like snow is usually to the offensive line's advantage.

1:23:41And I'm like, dude, I got a lot of respect for these. These guys are running. They're coming. And Jared Verse was talking on some trash before the game, backed it up during his play. And whenever that happens, I'm like, dude, respect. You start yapping off, coming into Philly, and then come and play your ass off? Like, all right, I'm taking notice. There were a couple of clips where him and Maelotta going at it. And those are two big cats. For sure. He won a few of them. And I was like, I mean, super impressive. But then I think, again, in the same – like the Cardinals got a chance to be good.

1:24:13If the Niners stay healthy, I think they got a chance. So they're not really under the radar. They're not a sleeper. Yeah, but I do think the Niners are a little bit less talked about this year because of the way the season went last year. And you forget that they have one of the best coaches in the NFL, George Kittle. They have all these pieces in place. The defense took a downturn last year, but they've been one of the best defense in the NFL in the past five years. They got Robert Sala back. I think a big get for them. Come on, Matthew. Let's get some Bengay on that back. I want to see the Rams doing something this year.

1:24:42Let's go. I think he will. I think he will. I think he's going to be all right. No, he's definitely a Bengay guy. He's a gamer. He's not an icy hot guy. He's not an icy hot guy. He's not a tiger ball. He's a Bengay guy. Let's get to some no-dumb questions. Smitty, we asked 92 % as our fan base here to send their preseason questions. So let's check out this preseason edition of no-dumb questions because there's no such thing as dumb questions, Alex. Just dumbass people. That's it, man. Two of us. We got a list here. Which rookie will shock everyone? We kind of already did that a little bit. NFL soft.

1:25:20I don't know. Who knows what that means? Yeah, let's do that one. Let's do that one. I like that one. NFL soft. Alex was a part of the years where you could really take someone's head off. Hey, Jason. Recent news. NFL got rid of the smell of the soap. This week's gone soft, man. What happened to the wing team? What happened to these Patrick Willis personalities? Jack Lambert. All the big hard hitters. LT, you can't forget that LT. Now we got all these prima donnas. Don't want to be a team player. And we got freaking rivalries don't mean anything anymore because everyone wanted jersey swapping everything.

1:25:57What happened to Smash Mouth Football? Smash Mouth Football. You know, just run through a motherfucker's face. Now we just spread it out. I just can't stand it. NFL doesn't mean anything. I don't know, man. I just want to get that off my chest. Thank you, Jason. Thank you, Jason. Why was that only... Why was that only... Excuse me. He was addressing me. Let me answer the man. I cannot tell you how much I love that that rant started from the NFL banning smelling salts. We went from smelling salts to just a nonstop rant about how the game has changed over the last two decades. Did he drop Patrick Willis' name in there?

1:26:44He did. Okay, let's go. Just in the midst of these old timers. Just like Lawrence Taylor. Patrick Willis only retired like six years ago. Yeah, no, but he was a part of that. I'll tell you what, I'll tell you. I think he is spot on on one of these things. and it does not sit right with me sometimes, is the post-game public jersey swap. I think if you're going to do the jersey swap, it was so often was like if you saw a guy after the game, you could talk to him, and then you would go to the locker room and you would send it over, right? You would sign it and the equipment guys would take it over.

1:27:20I do think sometimes in big games, it is weird to see these guys taking pictures with their jerseys post-game on the field. Like one of you just got your ass kicked and like, I don't know. There's part of that. Like, I think the optics, the optics of it, it should be more old school. Like the clubhouse, just send it over. No one needs to know. I don't know. You don't have to do it for the gram or anything, you know? Even just for the optics. I was with him on smelling salts. I was with him. As soon as he said that, I was in on it. But I don't get the story behind that, by the way. I mean, it's like universally loved.

1:27:54I don't know anybody that doesn't like smelling. Was there somebody that put in a complaint? Well, I think the only reason they banned him is because there's probably an argument. I mean, the reason they were on the sideline initially was for guys that got their bell rung to do a little smelling and then go back out on the field. Travis in the title of the playoff game. Well, I would do them before every first series of the game and the first series of every half. I would do one just to kind of get the system going again. yeah dude when you play when you play on the west coast and you play the one o 'clock kickoff on the east coast it is early man it is my first eight years of my career you go there bro you're waking up at like 5 a.m your time you're eating pre-game meals so early so like the smelling salts pre-game i mean you you like had to have them right get yourself going yeah and now you got it on the sideline where it's like a fucking drug deal guys are pulling them out of their pockets and shit What are we fucking doing?

1:28:54What are we doing? The team stopped providing them and they acted like there was a shortage on smelling salts. And it's like, I don't think there's a shortage on smelling salts. I'm pretty sure you guys are just trying to... They put a tariff on the smelling salts. I think the NFL has been trying to move away from anything associated with concussions for a long time now. The real veteran move, did you guys ever stuff 80 of them in a water bottle? Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure. You can shake it up. And then you could like the only way to do it. Little squeeze. You could feel it just like burning you up.

1:29:27Yeah. Just turn into Macho Man Randy Savage for a second. No, it was a man. I don't know, man. I think we all agree on a certain extent that the game is changing. And sometimes you're not always happy with how it's changing. And you miss the barbaricness of it. Like I miss the wedge unit locking arms and running down like a human wall. but I also acknowledge that we probably shouldn't do that anymore. Like it was just absolutely terrible for those individuals. And I mean, I missed the hits going over the middle. I'll be honest. Like I think about these, I loved watching somebody get completely obliterated going across the middle as a fan, but I think we can all acknowledge that it's probably best that we've moved on from this as part of the, as somebody who is, as somebody whose leg was broken on national TV, it's still a fairly physical game.

1:30:22Yeah. A guy named J.J. Watt, just a pretty big dude. All right. Let's do another one. Let's do another one. NFL running back plus average fan O-line game one yard. We've done that one a thousand times. Oh, wait. No, that's a different one. Let's do that one. Well, I kind of – yeah, go ahead. Hey, boys, it's Gravy from Wisconsin just calling in. You guys talk a lot about doing an average person getting a one-yard in the NFL. I want to know how many of the NFL running backs could get one-yard with the average people playing their offensive line. From center, guard, tackle. That's actually pretty good.

1:31:11Do you think the majority of the NFL running backs could get a yard with average people playing their offensive line? Is this assuming that there's NFL defensive line? Yeah, I think yes. Because if that's the case, there's precisely a 0 % chance this is going to get a yard. It doesn't matter who you give the ball to. I mean, you can run the tush push. You're not getting a yard. There's nothing you're going to run that's going to get a yard with average guys playing a line. Unless you maybe, if you run like some gadget play or like a toss crack with like an actual legitimate players blocking on the perimeter.

1:31:48But outside, I just not a chance in hell that's getting a yard. No, I agree with you. There's not a single running back. You know, I mean King Henry. Nobody's getting a yard. They're going to get hit. They're going to get hit. They're going to get hit five yards deep. Correct. Like they're not even. By the offensive lineman who's going to get dwarf thrown into him. Well, then answer this question then. What is the most exciting position to make an average person play? What would I want to watch? Yes. I'd like to watch an average person play D-line, a defensive tackle. Watch it. Put an average guy at nose guard and let's see how that goes.

1:32:26If each team had to play with one average guy, where would you put him? Yeah. Where are you throwing him? What's the most optimal place? For the most exciting. Like when you turn on that film the next day, you're like, I got to see this. If you put like middle linebacker. If you put average Joe, Mike linebacker. Watching that? I mean. Just completely lost getting you back. Put the GoPro on him and let, you know, it'd be good TV. Oh, my God. That would be fucking beautiful. I'm just picturing a guy just lost. Oh, holy shit. That is so good. Just getting launched. in the middle of the field have your head on a swivel just getting crack blocked boom let's do one more one more all right let's do it let's do this twitter question from aaron clinton who taught you how to watch film and how long did it take to recognize coverage live in game alex you want to take that first oh sure i well i mean i've obviously talked about like i i watched a lot of film by myself a lot early on the crazy things back in the day and you probably saw this too You used to get these textbook coverages.

1:33:35Teams either played cover two, and it looked like this is how every team plays cover two, and they played cover three, and then they played man, and there were all these very identifiable, like they fit in a bucket kind of thing. And then it was probably halfway through my career that that all went out the window, and everything were these kind of hybrid coverages, and you couldn't even really tell. You're like, is that cover three or quarters? Is that rotation? I don't know. You know, all these kind of combination coverages, weird fronts. And it can change on the fly, like a motion to like a three-by-one.

1:34:06Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and so it was way harder to identify, like, what the hell is going on pre-snap from a quarterback's perspective in that regard. I mean, you still can to a certain extent, but not as easy. Who taught you guys how to watch film? I was going to say, yeah. What about you, Jay? I feel like I talked to Jeff Saturday early in my career because Howard Mudd, coached him and he thought it'd be good after my first year to go meet with Jeff in the offseason and I definitely learned a lot of things about how to study defensive linemen technique their feet foot back in particular like a head up guy you know you think he can go either way but a lot of times his stance dictates what his foot is going to step with first and if you really watch and tape how guys get in their stances what techniques they're in what the coverage is behind it a lot of times that can dictate where these guys all end up and everything and i think that talked to him a lot about you know you watch first and second down wednesday which you do as a team anyways right like my thing was i always wanted to maximize my time and i didn't like going back and watching stuff i was just going to watch with stout anyways so like first second down tape i knew i was going into a stout in the meeting room i always knew that we were going to struggle getting to like two minute scenarios what are the games that they like to run and like what are the down in distances that they like to do that stuff um are there any tells that the d linemen give away on third and long as to like what games are running or like if they're doing a three-man game or a two-man game coverages all i cared about with coverage was what the box look was going to be like or if the they were tipping away pressures from like a safety standpoint right so like if the linebackers were stacked there's a good chance it was either going to stay some type of shell quarters too high look or the nickel was going to pressure if the backers were bowed or bossed somebody's coming into that space so i love i don't i love that we're like watching film and it's like all these coverages and you're like trying to break them down from a quarterback's perspective you're like jason how about you and you're like well if his right foot was a little further back i knew he was going left you know like the full like the game is so simple at the line you know like the only line and like well his knuckles were white so i knew he was really you know he was really gonna come off the ball i asked this we have like we would have like an alert call from like the tight the tackle right and the tackle would be like all right and there be nothing telling me that the nickel was pressuring and jp was the best at this he would just be like hey and give me the alert that they're gonna blitz over there and i'm like dude there's no way there was and sure enough it'd be a blitz i'm like jp how the hell did you know he's blitzing oh the end was tighter the end was a snugger alignment and that was all he was operating on I'm like dude keep letting me know that information because I'm not going to see that for me it was uh it was like an eye-opening experience and don't get me wrong I've like kind of like over the course of my career understood off like defenses just from being in the QB room and then hearing a guy like Doug Peterson talk about it here a guy hearing guys like Matt Nagy and then when when you're out there running these plays you hear like the conversations I had with you and with uh with Pat and then you start to identify like why we're calling these things and like how I can run my routes differently and how I can kind of manipulate guys keep guys like froze so I can open up windows and things like that but early on in my career I was like I think this is like my second or third year in the league and I like had just started to like I think I'm a starter and I'm I'm having success and I'm like kind of like feeling like yeah i got the hang of this now you know i mean i'm rolling and everything then i walk into the training room on like a tuesday after a game and my my guy mike devito big mike devito d lineman he's sitting there like just like getting his ankle worked on and one of the uh one of the guys from the defensive side come in with a spreadsheet and he hands him a spreadsheet and it's like every everything the team that we're playing that week does out of every formation out and he had it like categorized and i'm over here like playing at such a basic level compared to like getting a spreadsheet every tuesday then i would looked at that i was like i got a fucking long way to go like i'm not even thinking about their percentages of like the the the coverages that they're running i'm just like trusting coach reed that when he dials up shallow cross it's man you know what i mean like you know like i'm just looking at the pictures on the install of like the concept we're running and it was it a shout out to mike devito man he was always like one of the most prepared and like ready to go guys and his like how he how he attacked every single week i like i just grabbed that one like day in the training room i just grabbed it like man that's what make that that guy like accountable like he understands this to like the point of like yeah it's like a scheme that he understands and and i was just like man i didn't take it to the point of getting an excel sheet but every single time i looked at the install now i look at all the percentages and all the numbers and everything they got for you.

1:39:10Well, good deal. To be clear, Mike DeVito is a defensive tackle. Dude, 100%. What are the chances Mike was – I'm almost positive. Is he from New Jersey? I think he's from New Jersey. I mean, has to be with the name. I don't even – Fairly positive he's from New Jersey. All righty. That wraps up our thrilling discussion with Alex Smith. Round of applause, Alex Smith, everybody. Yeah. Alex, you're the man. Appreciate it, fellas. Thanks for having me on, man. Thank you for coming on. This is awesome. Thank you. Always, always fun to catch up with your brother. I appreciate it. Best of luck down in Brazil, bro.

1:39:47Go get him. I appreciate it. Heck yeah, baby. Let's go. And that wraps up another episode of New Heights. That's right. Next week, we will be bringing back Stamp of the Week. So hit us up on social with your nominees. Make sure to subscribe to the New Heights channel on YouTube and follow New Heights on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes of New Heights early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Once again, New Heights is a Wondery show brought to you by Reese's Oreo Cups. Thank you guys for always tuning in, 92 Percenters, and thank you to our production for making us look way better than what we are.

1:40:23We'll see you guys next week after the first week of the NFL, baby. Woo!

1:40:35Bye.