New Schedules, New Popes and Fitz & Whit on Getting Ejected, Kelce House Parties and More | EP 139

25:23Well, we don't got a store gift. Santa just needs to know where to go. You're right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we got chimneys. Okay. Yeah, we got chimneys. We got chimneys, yeah. and we got furniture now so do you really yeah did you make those decisions or how did that it was an executive decision by myself for the betterment of everyone yes okay i was like i need some furniture so i i don't know what time that game is at yet yeah i don't we'll be the last game of the day but we do christmas morning together or we're prepping for the game how is that big christmas breakfast yeah christmas breakfast okay last year i think we were obviously in Pittsburgh, but it was a day game.

26:04I don't know how... But that was... Yeah, good point. Good point. We don't talk about that. Good point. Nice. We're very excited. We're excited. A little Christmas Eve. We got the... Who do we play? Broncos at Chiefs. Broncos. God damn, they're getting good too. They are getting good. They're getting good. That would be a banger. We beat them by a block field goal last year. Down to the wire. And then they smoked us when... we didn't play him last week of the season. Well, we don't count. Well, you played him. Yeah, we played him. We don't count those. Maybe. You could have set the NFL record.

26:37Oh, yeah. Well, 17 games is different. Don't count it? All right. Well, where do we want to start, guys? Do we want to start podcasting? How's the podcast going? It's rough. No way, dude. It's not great, guys. What ways? Great social clip. No. You know, we had a good first season. First season wrapped. First season wrapped. You guys are all wrapped. we did 25 episodes. Really, they put out a feeler to say, is this going to work or not? Who are these people? Yeah, but we do have season two coming up. And I think, it worked. Yeah, it worked. Hell yeah. We'll be back, baby. But it'll be, it'll be somewhere around when the NFL season starts up.

27:15So you guys are completely done podcasting from now until the start of the season? That's what they said. Why have we not tried this model? This is a good model. Um, I, I don't know. Yeah. I think you guys have proven yourselves that people want the content. They need the content. It's a little different. Yeah. Well, Summer's Off sounds pretty nice. So, we were talking about how you could have played guard in another life before the show. Who was talking about that? And I just want to kind of get into it. What do you think would have made you a good guard? I think right now, I've always had a big butt.

27:46So, I feel like the squats is part of it. It's a good base. It's a good foundation. How's your ankle flexibility? Pretty good. Pretty good? Yeah, pretty good. I didn't want to insult you by saying oh, I'd play center but I feel like it'd be more of a natural center I was gonna say what is your on the importance of you playing well How important is having a good center on a scale of one to ten? I would say I'm gonna put it at about an eight. Really? Yeah. I thought you were gonna low ball it. No, very important because Was the center doing much work for you? So it depended where where I was right and so I bumped around quite a bit Now, when I got to, say, New York and Nick Mangold was there, I wasn't coming in and being like, all right, Nick, this is my show.

28:33I'm taking his call. I'm the captain now. I am the captain now. So in that sense, the center can take a lot off your plate, right? And that being said, there's also times where, you know, there's some arguments in game of you saw this, I saw that. But the blitz meetings and things throughout the week, if you've got a good center that's on it and he's training the other guys that thing goes really smooth so he takes a lot of work off of my plate for sure i would love to follow up with that one were you ever wrong when those conversations got heated you guys will have to have nick on you know i was only wrong with protections once in my career once and i slid the line one everybody one way and london fletcher came the other way and fractured six of my ribs i would i would argue you were wrong twice but So I was wrong twice.

29:26The first time I was wrong, Witt and I were teammates. There you go. Thank you. I appreciate it. Now he's being honest. Now we can get to it. This had nothing to do with a protection call on the field. It had to do with what happened after a play happened. Okay. You guys remember Big John Henderson? Oh, my gosh. Big Bad John. Yeah, absolutely. 2008, Cincinnati Bengals are 0-8. We're 0-8 at the time. Playing the Jacksonville Jaguars at home, and I was a young guard trying to prove myself. Fresh off of him getting slapped pre-game. Fresh off the slap. He's getting slapped. You know how this goes.

29:58The skill guys, Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmandzada, decide during the TV timeout we're beating Jacksonville. They were pretty good that year to start talking trash to Big Bad John. Yeah, that's the best. He gets riled up, so we start getting in some full-on swinging sessions. Yeah. That leads to an all-out brawl. Me and him going, helmets ripped off. We're fighting across the field. It's a lot of fun. Trap, what am I supposed to do? We both get ejected. Throw your hands. Both get ejected. You got to throw them. It's kind of my claim to fame. After that moment, I became the captain. That's kind of like that.

30:23I became the captain of Cincinnati Bengals from that moment on, basically, because we were 0-8. I kind of called out the team on the Saturday walkthrough about being soft. And we were kind of acting like some bitches. And I've never been anywhere where I accepted losing. And so said this, going the next day, getting this huge fight, get ejected out of the game. We win the game. Come in on Monday. Yeah, huge win for me as a young guy. That was my first win as a starter, too. First win as a starter around Fitzpatrick. So there's a lot of, you know, congratulations going around. Fitz is happy. OC stands up and he goes, the only thing I do want to talk about when we come in on Wednesday, we got our fines in from the fights.

30:55You know, back then they did the halo rule. If you were within the halo of the fight, you got fined. Ten guys on offense got fined, guys. There's only one guy on the offense that didn't get fined. Now we're on tape. Call yourself a guard. Run into the sideline. Run into the sideline. Everybody's throwing hands in the middle of the, just run into the sideline. I told you before this started, I ran a 4.88. That day it was like a 4.6. John Henderson is bigger than he is. Yeah, he's a big man. What am I going to do? Seriously, what am I going to do? Yeah. My man got up out of there. Yeah, it wasn't good.

31:32So he's been wrong with protection twice. He'll never let me live that down. Oh, my gosh. Damn, that's a great story. Yeah, now there's no halo rule, though. You would have been in there. Yeah, for sure. Thank you. for sure. Well, and I have, towards the end of my career, I had more money, right? So, I kind of was like, all right. So, I mean, it's a lot of money, but like my rookie year, I made 230. So, I didn't know if it was going to last, how many years I would be there. So, more willing to write that check. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Makes sense. Let's talk small hands. Let's talk small hands. Oh, small hands.

32:06Yeah. There was a tweet that came out, Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco doing the exact same pose at the top of their drop with the ball right here and they're gonna do kenny picket like that joe flat goes in i mean joe's enormous yes joe has monster hands don't go after kenny have you guys ever heard the term dick beaters oh yeah yeah joe's got some dick beaters yeah he can touch his palm around that yeah i apologize it is insane i've heard the term though yeah what are you working with um good so i well i had to do this i had to do this hand do you mind yeah okay yeah so oh yeah so here's the thing but i so my thumb stretches down beaters i'm not saying you have a weird thumb what is going on with that so yeah let's say this so the way they measure the hand yeah from that pinky all the way to the end of that and so i dislocated this pinky so it's not as good as it once was but i had the third biggest hand at the combine in 2005 wow no in 2005 oh just not just quarterbacks like of everybody but the reason being is my thumb goes down so like good dick beaters yeah thank you he's got it bless anyways i also i also wanted to get a get because he's wearing a glove kenny's wearing a glove he's like notorious he's been wearing it since college yeah the entire career peyton manning actually i believe set the nfl record wearing a glove in 2015 yeah have you like do you like wearing i'll say this so kurt warner went to it too towards the end of his career when i got to buffalo i dabbled yeah just to see i could have sworn but i so i had i had to wear one on my left hand because i tore some ligaments in my thumb but i couldn't do it on my right hand i hated it i absolutely rain rain every i hated it so much i tried a glove on my right hand for two years and i had just the feel well did you ever snap fingers or now like i try to go full glove yeah really by the way can we talk can we talk about your snaps real fast.

34:06How do you know about my snaps? I mean, I used to watch film and be like, holy shit. That is a rocket shot. You can tell by watching tape. When Jalen Hurts had to switch his stance to this. Yeah, I know. I felt like that.

34:23I mean, you would fire that pigskin back there. I need that hand back. I need to start blocking these big boys. Guys, speaking of guards, I'm pretty sure I just ripped my jeans. Did you really? Yeah, pretty sure I did. All right, well, let's just Just remain seated for the remainder of this. Oh, who's talking? I can see her. So, anyways, what is the – so, are there measurements that – like, what do you take away from the hand measurement test? Do you think there's validity to that? Yeah, anything you care about in a quarterback. Well, I'll say this. Somebody like Josh Allen, like he's built to play football in bad weather, right?

34:59Just body type, hand size, where he's from, like just kind of his overall attitude. So, yes, there's some validity in the hand size thing for sure. But more of it is that the inability to stretch the thumb out. Yeah. But, yes, for sure. And then it really comes to fruition when you're in those bad weather games, when you play in a Pittsburgh or even a Philly or Buffalo and you're playing in the elements all the time. Now, last year, Jared Goff, I have no idea what his hands are like, but they played in the Dome so many times. So you're in those perfect conditions and it doesn't matter. But it seems like, and you guys can tell me because I've never been, but playoff football, the elements seem to relate.

35:43You don't have no experience here? I don't. Are there any measurements, though, when you look at it where you're like, this is an immediate red flag with a quarterback? Like if I look at a tackle and his arms are, if it says 32. Wait, is that? I'm like very skeptical on whether they can play. Your LSU guy, what were his arms? Will, yeah, I think he was 32-ish. Was it 32 and a half or 32? Somewhere in there, yeah. A half makes a big difference, as every woman knows. Half to three quarters is a big deal. I want to say he was somewhere in the 32 to 33 range. This is just too much. Yeah, we're going off the rails.

36:16Shorts, we're talking about dick beaters. All right. I will say that something that didn't matter as much, which was like 40 time and agility, that matters a whole lot more now. Especially with the systems that are out there? The systems, the way guys play, the way defenses are playing, I think that matters quite a bit now, more than it used to. Yeah. What do you think about the arm length measurement for tackles? So much goes into what is their style of play, like how do they play and what their other attributes are. So if I think they have awesome feet, like a great anchor, those kind of things, I don't think it means as much to me Because that just means they need to develop a toolbox that says, all right, I'm going to get long arms.

36:57I'm going to have to get hands off of me. I'm going to have to figure out how to get those hands off and use my feet to make some of these blocks. More aggressive short setting. Yeah, like you look at some of these guys that love to jump, love to get on a guy. That length doesn't matter in that setting. Now, do you have a really strong hand? So I always say this, like, regardless of what it is, if you know what you're good at, and are you able to develop those things to be your strength, right? And so if you have shorter arms, then you've got to develop the trait to get on guys faster. You've got to develop great hand strength so that when you do get your hands in there, they're never coming off.

37:26And so your ability to be able to kind of fine tune what it is you are will dictate that success level. So I say this with O-Lyman, like we can get into measurements a lot of the times. But like number one thing I want to know is are they one of those people who are like, I'm a chase it guy. Like, fuck it. I'm going to chase whatever it is that makes me good. I'm going to chase that shit every day. So like to me, Will Campbell, he's driven that way. Like he is a, I'm going to figure out a way to be freaking good. We're from the same hometown. I've known him since he's a kid. I've known him since he's a kid.

37:52He grew up playing high school football and the elements of what New England's going to be like playing in Fox Square. He's going to be one of those people, I'm going to think of like Taylor LeJuan when he's in Tennessee. He's going to be an attitude. I'm New England. I'm a patriot. Vrabel's going to be the guy pushing his buttons. I think it's just the perfect scenario for a guy like Will to go there. Did you hear about Braves running like one-on-one drills with him? Yeah. During his workouts? I saw the pictures. I actually posted the other day, and I was like, I love this. Because it's like, that's what I dreamed of.

38:19When he went there, I'm like, all right, Vrabel's got his Taylor LeJuan. This kid's going to come, and he's going to be like, hey, dude, don't worry about it. Not that you're against the vets, but you come in, I want you to be nasty. I want you to finish people. I'm going to be in your ear all the time. You're going to come in and be the tone setter for our group. Because you may not come in as a young offensive lineman and take over the room from a leadership standpoint, but you can come in and be like, I'm going to bring some attitude to this group. And I tell the funny story about 08 and Cincinnati and all that, but that was what I was.

38:46I was a young kid trying to find my way, and I was like, you know what I do like to do? I love to fight and get into it and tussle, and I'm scared of nobody. So this will be my role. My first couple years, when I get on the field, like, I'm going to bring it. We're going to finish plays. I'm going to get guys pissed off. Like, two weeks after that Henderson game, I played Albert Hainsworth. That was the year he got his contract with the Tennessee Titans. God damn. He got pulled out of the game in the first quarter because we were fighting every play, and Washburn was losing his mind because he wasn't rushing.

39:10He was just swinging with me. Yeah. Because I would just start every game like, hey, let's just get in a fight. It's getting his head. Right? And so he pulled him out of the game. So that was my thing as a young player. And I think Will will be that kind of guy. He's going to come in with an attitude and try to finish guys. Can I ask questions to Witt? Please. This is great. This is so funny. So later – no, I'm just asking. Later in your career, were you like – like when you were at the Rams, were you like that? Or were you more of a finesse guy? You know what's funny? I don't know if I just looked old and miserable, but guys didn't really mess with me.

39:37So it was just – You had the reputation. I didn't – I had the reputation. You know, there's not a lot of Walter Payton men of years have been ejected twice. So – Ha ha! You know, he kind of goes with the award. I got it. Symbolizes the sportsmanship of the game. It's like, hey, listen, this guy's really nice, but maybe he's so nice because he's that fucking crazy that I don't want to mess with him. There you go. So that was kind of it. I always say my favorite story, we were playing in Washington against the Commanders, and it was Chase Young was a rookie, and I'm in a TV timeout, and I see him talking to Montez Sweat, and he's like, then he starts laughing, and he's like, finally, he goes, hey, hey, big fella.

40:11I'm looking at him. He goes, you really 39? I'm like, yes. He's like, holy shit. He was like, man, I can't believe I'm going against this dude who's just 39. And you've got to remember, I always faced out. So I stared at whoever I played the whole time. I never turned into a huddle. So I would just be staring at him the entire game. So he's like, this 39-year-old dude looks old as shit, is just staring at me all game. I'm going to find a way to talk to him. He's like, are you actually 39, man? Hilarious. Yes. You just never looked in the huddle? Nope. But timeout, is this a rule or this was just an Andrew Whitworth thing?

40:42What I've always did. The only other guy I had like that, you remember Big Willie Colon? Oh, yeah. Yeah, but Willie, towards the end of his career, he just didn't want to have to – that extra step he had to take to turn around again. That was it. He was always so gassed. That simple. He was just trying to limit his footsteps up to the ball. I got a quick question. So, obviously, you spend most of your career in Cincinnati. St. Louis – or not St. Louis, Los Angeles Rams. your training camps i don't know where they were when you were there it just came out that the rams are going to maui oh yeah oh minicamp yeah yeah we were always there they they've been talking because these new partnerships you see the teams having where they're going you know trying to get out of the u.s and develop all these partnerships across the world part of theirs is australia and then obviously hawaii and so uh on the way and so i think this year was like a big emphasis they want to move minicamp there so i'd be pretty cool like i mean you always hate it having to go to mandatory minicamp but mandatory minicamp in maui sounds kind of sweet so uh i'm actually i'm gonna go with them so i'll get a chance to uh go on i'm gonna take you to the team you know just a great teammate you guys you guys need anybody to help out with bags i don't know if matthew can figure out how to get on the golf course i can help him get out there i thought andrew came on this trip He hasn't been to practice one time.

42:04Stafford and I would just go play golf. It's just like when we used to do the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. Right, guys? That's right. Yeah, you remember that. Never. I never did it. I visited when Andrew and Travis were in it. Yeah, that was epic. I got to hang out in the pool. It was the best of old Turle Bay. Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Yeah. Oh, wow. What was it like going from Cincinnati's offense to the new Sean McVay style? like run, play, action heavy. It was beautiful. I mean, living in a world with Hugh Jackson and Jay Gruden where it's like, you know, a lot of empty and a lot of stuff where you're just in drop back protection all the time to all of a sudden like, hey, we're going to run, run, play action, only throw, you know, really in situations that team forces to drop back pass was absolutely beautiful.

42:51Not to mention like small thing being that I was 35 years old. So going from playing on turf every week as a home game to now I played in a division. When you think about that at that time, it's like San Francisco, Arizona, and then L.A., all grass. And then Seattle's your only turf field, but it's a pretty nice turf. So really, I go to a situation where I'm playing tons of grass games. I was like, dude, I feel totally different. It's warmer, obviously. That was a pretty epic move. I mean, playing West Coast was pretty insane. You don't like turf? I fucking hate it, man. You feel terrible. It's night and day.

43:25As soon as we moved to SoFi, like obviously SoFi is amazing, but just the feel you have walking in on Monday compared to walking in off that grass on a Sunday. It's night and day. I can't practice the week after I play turf. You like turf? I loved it when I was young. I didn't ever notice a difference. Never noticed it? I don't know what to tell you. Yeah. I didn't really do that much running. You did lead a team in rushing, though. I did. Yeah. That's so insane. How many yards do you have again? Like 236 or something. Big rushing attack. That's got to be an NFL record. What was y 'all's record, by chance?

43:59You know, you said earlier since we started 0-8. That year we started at least 0-7. Yeah, I would figure. But that year, the last game of the year, we went to Foxboro. Oh, this is the Tom Brady game. And we beat New England, which gave somebody home field advantage. And the Super Bowl. Oh, you're welcome. Is this Tom Neunglin or is this? I think that was a quarterback. Yeah, I think that's who it was. Was he mad? Did he shake your hand and tell you? I'm trying to think if he was still there when that. Yeah, that was his last regular season game in Foxborough, guys. Yeah. Yep. That was the handshake.

44:40I remember it. It's great. Kevin Harlan. Yeah, Kevin Harlan. Dual call there. He was calling our game and the Neunglin game at the same time. It was crazy. You played in how many different systems? So I know you played with nine different teams, basically, right? He didn't know that before this, by the way. Don't let him fucking lie to you. He did not know it was 19 before this. Yeah, we thought it was – honestly, we thought it was more. Oh, okay. We were taking the over on it. No, it was nine. I'm just like right now we've listed you should have been a guard. You played for like 20 teams. How do you feel about yourself today?

45:11Are you good, bud? I feel great. You know what? You're not an NFL team in rushing. You have a guard, buddy. Yeah. Long ago, I learned not to really care about what people say about me so you know i the thing is though i played on nine teams but it wasn't like collecting three teams in a year it was all like i started on nine teams so like it was like i i played uh first couple years it was two years two years four years and then legitimately at the end of my career it was like either one year two year moving every year every other year which i mean as you know you have the all the young kids and stuff it's like you think about my wife we have seven kids in seven different cities and so it's like the amount of moving that we did and they came everywhere i went and then we had to pick up and go okay school sports you know regular life were they homeschool were you homeschooling them or no we were making new friends just making new friends everywhere they went so yeah now my oldest is getting ready to go to college guys yeah think about this he told us this i think he talked about this on one of our first podcast episodes his kids but 17 15 13 11 9 7 and 5 oh no you gotta they all turn to the next year yeah so now we're even 18 16 14 12 10 8 and 6 yeah there you go gosh yeah is that crazy like that's nuts so he read it off and i go wait so that again one more time you have what what 18 17 15 13 i'm like holy it's a lot it's a lot of kids our first year in thursday football he brought them all to chicago and i'm like dude let's get some dinners like like let's go and he's like yeah sure call all the places that take 10 tops.

46:44And I was like, oh my God, that's right. So we're getting pizza. Yeah. Yeah. We eat fast food. I was like, oh, okay. We got it. What was your favorite system to play in of all your stops? So Chan Gailey, strangely enough, like he, so he was a head coach in Buffalo for three years when I was there. And then when I got to New York, he was there. And then my second year in Miami, he was there. So I played with him for three different teams. Nice. Kevin Petulo, who's now the coordinator in Philly. I had him two different places, and he is a Chan disciple. And he's obviously done a lot of different things now.

47:21He's got some Texas A &M stuff and then obviously being with Sirianni for a while. But he'll have some wrinkles as you sit there and watch. I'll be like, okay, I recognize that play. I know that play. But Chan was always a spread him out, a left tackle's dream, empty, spread him out, spread the ball around. But I really liked him. And part of the thing for me was just like he infused a lot of belief into me. And so that was why I liked him the best. For sure. I think it's one of the coolest things on Thursday nights before the game. You get those couple hours before the game. Like him playing nine different teams, all these coaches that he's been around.

47:58I mean, it's just constant. Guys coming up like, oh, he was, you know, quality control when I was in this place. He was this. And it's just like you're listing off head coaches, OCs, DCs. He's been around them all. Luke Steckle, baby. I mean, it's crazy. You're sitting there like, man, when were you with him? And he starts listening it off, just the touch from playing nine different teams that he has across the league as well. But you guys have seen it. It's funny when you have real young guys that are coaching, whether in Kansas City or Philly, and then they become head guys. And even like Jonathan Gannon, when I was in Tennessee, he was like the lowest of the low defensive assistant.

48:33But there are those guys that you peg and you go, okay, he's going to be something eventually. For sure. Actually, a guy we were with in college. How old was Jesse when he was at Cincinnati? Jesse Minner was the G.A. at the University of Cincinnati. I don't feel like Jesse's even getting older. He still fucking looks like a younger guy. When I was at LSU, similar thing. Adam Gase and Freddie Kitchens were our GAs when I got to LSU. Freddie Kitch. Yeah, no. Minner was my – he was holding up the cards when I was a scout team QB. Wow. And tight end. I was running dual thing. Just an athlete in it.

49:14Pissing off everybody on the defense. I didn't run the route on the card back then. Shocker back then. Were you ever run the route on the card? Well, that's how I knew that. How would you feel about the play? That's when I figured out. I'm like, oh, they know this play. How am I going to get open if they know I'm going to run that route? I'm not going to run that fucking route if I want to get open. But I don't know. I've got to show these coaches I got what it takes. I don't think people give Patrick enough credit because it's not easy. It's not easy as a quarterback. And you guys obviously have amazing chemistry, like some of the best chemistry in NFL history.

49:52For him to know where you're going to be and anticipate, and it speaks a lot to probably the way you guys have worked in practice and over the years obviously playing so much. But that is not an easy thing to do as a quarterback. Yeah, I'll try it out in practice. And if I get either the ball doesn't come my way or. Yeah. And then I know not to do it again. Yeah, exactly. Or I'm yeah, I'm getting the ball right in right on time. That's kind of how I and paddle let me know or he'll let everybody on. This isn't just a me thing anymore. Everybody, if you're given a specific route versus a certain coverage, you kind of get a little bit of freedom.

50:27And it's just it's evolved over that. Have you ever just somebody just ran the wrong round? You're like, God damn it. He's open and you threw it all the time. Have you ever seen me play, Travis? His eyes were closed. No, I did have, so there was a guy, Stevie Johnson, if you remember that name. Stevie was so sick. Buffalo, baby. Yeah. And we just used to have the, I just used to give him the Y signal, which was you do you. Oh, that's awesome. So then it was like, all right, he's out there by himself. I got to get that. Yeah. You do you. You do you. You do you. That's a new one right there. Go route, hitch, slant, like whatever he wanted to do.

51:00Oh, but he's singled up, though. He was single. So it's easier to do when you're in a three-by-one and you're the guy on the single side. You're not a 50-inch. Anything else. Yeah, that being said, you know, he always got open, so it works. That's what Stevie. Hey, Trev, you're not the only tight end to score a touchdown here, just in case you didn't know that. Wait, what? Oh, yeah, buddy. A little jumbo tight end? One for one, baby. All you can be is 100%. All right, listen. Have you ever scored on your birthday? No. God damn it. All my birthday. Happy birthday. That's a huge indicator for defenses.

51:31You got to know tackles. Yeah. We have a little tackle. If it's the jumble tag. If it's the jumble tag. If it's his birthday. High alert. Even better for a Cincinnati Bengals in Pittsburgh. Opening drive of the game. In the bird. Did you guys win that game? You had to have. But the only thing that is a cool step run, we still haven't ever looked it up, but I was the only offensive touchdown in the game. I don't know how many times the left tackle has been the only offensive touchdown in the game. But it was the opening drive of the game. I think Carson Palmer threw. He threw me a touchdown, but he also unfortunately threw two to the Steelers.

52:04He was thrown into a lot of the wrong positions. Listen, a lot of guys that weren't supposed to catch it were catching it in the game. You'll have to ask your buddy Ryan Clark about that one. Are you sure he was supposed to be covering me? He was supposed to be – no, he ran up on the road. Let's just turn it in. We'll take his height. Yeah, I'm lost, Ryan. Sorry, Ryan. I've got to tell the truth. Yeah, never had one. No. But wasn't there something late in your career they schemed you? During my career, they tried to give me a gimme touchdown by having a tush-push design where Juergens would come in and I'd take center, like quarterback snap.

52:38Yeah, got to report. Got to remember that. So you had it schemed, but you never ran it? We were so bad my last year, the second half of the season. Because those plays are plays that's like, hey, we're up 17 or whatever. At the end of the game, let's get Kelsey touchdown. It's like, yeah, no, I never got that. You didn't, yeah. We were getting our asses kicked, unfortunately. Whit, you played 15-plus years. Is that correct? 16, yeah. So that's 15 plus. I don't know why you went with 15 plus. He's working something in. I understand. How did you know it was time to hang it up? What finally clicked where you're like, you know what, now that I'm 40?

53:13Honestly, probably the amount of meetings I would like wake up in, in the sense of not sleeping, but like just be on my phone and realize that everyone's like walking out of the room. And I'd be like, oh, fuck. I listen to anything. Like, what's practice today? Where are we going? But anyways, literally just you get to that point where I was sitting in there and I'm like, you know what? I am not actually enjoying being in the building. Like I love the guys, but I'm like the whole thing. If that's the case, I should have retired like 10 years ago. Then I became a skill player. That's really what happened.

53:44I became a skill player. You're used to the skill guys falling asleep in meetings and being on their phones and everything else. But I would just sit in the O-line room and like Kroemer or whoever the O-line coach would be like, Whit, Whit. And I realized like, oh, she's been saying my name. And like, yeah, what's up? Like, I have no idea what's been happening here. And I realized, you know what, man, this is not a good look. Like, I'm kind of like, I'm checked out a little bit. I'm tired. Like, it felt like a grind every day to go into work. I loved the games. Like, I still even, when I retired, was like, I remember going to Sean's office, you know, a month after we'd won it and being like, I think I might keep playing.

54:19And he's like, no. He's like, dude, as your friend, like, you've done everything you could have possibly accomplished. Right. And, you know. And he also won the Super Bowl. Two months ago. That's what I mean. He's like, two months ago, you knew you were done. I'd already told him, this is it. He's like, you stick with your decision. You're good. And I was like, all right. And then six months after that, when they were three and nine, he was like, why the fuck didn't you keep playing? We need you. Please come back. Because they had a horrific year with the offensive line injuries and stuff. So it really wasn't about me as much as that.

54:51But it was interesting. I knew it. And then when we went into those playoffs, It actually made it even sweeter because I knew it was it, but I didn't tell anybody because I wanted to just soak it all in and then things just started happening. And I'll never forget, you know, watching Cincinnati make the kick to win and they're going to the Super Bowl and I'm running out on the field to play the Niners in the NFC Championship. I'm like, oh, my God. This is crazy. Like, there's no way in hell. If Cincinnati's going to the Super Bowl, I'm going to the freaking Super Bowl. Yeah. So to end your career playing against the only other franchise you played for in a place that's, you know, you obviously were a huge part of.

55:27I couldn't have ever dreamed that would be the case. So once that happened, I was like, this is it. This is the story beginning. Yeah, this is it. And that's why I had kind of the epic moment with my kids there after the game to sit down on the field. And it was like it wasn't even a celebration almost. It was like just a piece of, man, this was the ride and it's over. It was like sit down with them and like, man, this is about to be sick. Well, there's nothing like telling you how much you're missing. You leave and the team struggles the next year. Yeah. Is that how you felt? Yeah, for sure. Week four, I was feeling great.

56:01Week four was a great year. What about you, Fethy? So I ended up, my last year I was in Washington, and I had a, so 17 years, relatively healthy for 17 years. I broke my tibia, but other than that, didn't have a ton of injuries. I hurt my hip like 15 plays in. to that game and like for me at that point i could have i could still be playing right now i could have played forever as a backup and just kind of bend and get thrown into a game and but uh hurt my hip wasn't a great injury to have and then it's like my kids are old enough now to where it's fun to be home and be more a part of that as well and the thursday night gig like having the weekends with the kids and not having to miss all the stuff that i missed over all those years because you know my span we're talking about earlier is 6 to 18 so it's like the weird part about my kids is my 18 year old went to 10 different schools and my six-year-old maybe will be in the same school district his whole life you know which is a crazy thing but yeah that's crazy but it was time it was time like I feel like my kids deserved it for me to step away it feels like you were very much celebrated in every stop you had.

57:20What was your favorite stop of the bunch? I feel like New York fans, Tampa, it definitely feels like Buffalo's still in this area. It's still Buffalo, but. Yeah, I would say there weren't a whole lot of stops, especially towards the tail end of my career that I didn't love because we fully just dove in. We embraced the community like everybody embraced us. I would say certainly Bill's Mafia and Buffalo is probably where I align most, where I feel the most love. But I had, I love playing for Miami. I love playing for Tampa. I love one of the two years in New York. But there, yeah, some great fan bases and great people that we met.

58:01Loved Houston. Like, I'm going to forget some, you know. Like, we had some great times. You know what's funny is Tennessee on paper, Nashville, should have been the coolest spot. Man, it just, meh. It was the number. It was the jersey. I wore number four there. It wasn't real swaggy. You were pretty square. You were pretty square body. That was the old number, too. It was got a working number. Yeah, it wasn't good. It wasn't good. You wouldn't have approved of the fashion state. It wasn't good. As long as you got that beard rocking, man. You got the chest hair coming out. You're good. All right, here we go.

58:31Well, let's go to We Gotta Ask. Oh, fun. Don't have to ask. This is how we wrap it up. You don't have to answer. We have to ask. Okay. That's why it's called We Gotta Ask. You can tell us the fuck off, is what he's saying. Oh, cool, yeah. I mean, you could have always done that. Or you can just answer the question. Whit, is it true that you used to eat five Taco Bell, soft tacos, and five bean burritos before going on dates in college? That is an accurate statement. I didn't just embarrass myself in front of my date of how much I liked to eat because I was a big boy. Yeah, a big man. So I would run by Taco Bell.

59:00I would go to the drive-thru, crush in the parking lot, like go in, get some smell good on, you know, like go pick her up. Don't smell like beans. Don't want to smell like beans. So then I pick her up and like eat a salad, like at dinner, you know, like a salad. Wow, this guy really takes care of himself. Wow, he's really on top of it. That was the goal. I didn't want to eat that. That's amazing. This is great. Jason, what'd you used to do? Huh? I didn't go on dates. All right, next question. Vince, did I steal your bit taking my shirt off in Buffalo? Is it your bit? Or is this just a Buffalo bit?

59:36No, I feel like it's been a bit from the beginning of time when it gets cold. that men take their shirts off. We remember in Cleveland it happened all the time. There'd be guys in the dog pound. Oh, yeah. Painting it up and down. You know, I still feel bad. That game, we were supposed to get together that game for the tailgate. We were. And I got stuck in traffic. We flew in that day and I got stuck in traffic. Bill's Mafia was in a good place. Yeah, and I was going to show you around and didn't get a chance to. But I know you had a good time in the park. I still want to go back. I'd love to go back with you.

1:00:06Yeah. I'd love to go back just in general because Bill's Mafia was spectacular. Big Tree Inn. Yeah. That place was awesome. Yeah. You hit it up. Yeah. No, it was good. Well, but even where they're putting the stadium, stuff has kind of been condensed right now because of the stadium and what they're doing there. So next year. It's going to be a better. Once that seat, that stadium is done, it's going to be insane. Nice. I think Filing Cabinet Pizza Guy is my favorite. That pizza was. I didn't have the pizza. You went into the Hammerlot, which is. We were late to get to that, though. We got there pretty much when we were going to the game.

1:00:44So, I got to see Penzo Rahn, got to get the bowling ball shot. I would love to go there, though, earlier and get the whole experience. Yeah. The Filing Cabinet Pizza is pretty special. It's a special place. It really, like, just engulfs you. It's a special place, and you feel the vibe right away. And it's called the City of Good Neighbors, like, for a reason, right? It felt very – even flying, and I'm talking to Travis about this, seeing the lake, it reminded me of being from Cleveland. Even though you're not in Cleveland, there's something where this weird, ominous vibe is in the air from the lake.

1:01:18The old Rust Belt, man. The snow, it was. We had two years in a row. First year was Cleveland clinching the playoff spot. It was so cool. The fan appreciation, everything. But then last year, it was Cleveland horrible, but the snow game with Jameis, who was doing the snow angels. That was insane. The fans in Cleveland are unbelievable. There's definitely a tie there between those two cities and how diehard they are. Yeah. Some in the lake. All right. Big Witt, you played for Nick Saban at LSU. Can you give us – you got any good Nick Saban stories you can share? I've got some really good Nick Saban stories, plenty of them.

1:01:55A lot of them involve him screaming. But I would say probably my favorite, my freshman year, Benny Brazil, one of my best friends in life and I were going. So Nick would do when the season ended, you would go in and have these one-on-ones with him and everybody had to plan your one-on-one meeting with Coach Saban. And Nick was a sports psychology guy. So he had the big, huge chair, the little tiny chairs outside his massive desk, and the electronic door that opens with the button, the whole deal. So you'd go in there and you'd just feel, and he'd temple you the whole time he's talking to you, the whole deal.

1:02:27He's all into that type stuff. So Benny and I are waiting in the secretary's office, I was just like waiting for him to put in. And we hear him like Nick episode going crazy, losing his mind, screaming. Like, man, what freshman's in there right now? Because we're trying to think of who did something recently, like got in trouble. Man, I can't wait to see who comes out of this office. Door opens up. He's hit the button. It's Skip Bertman, who is the longtime baseball coach who had won like eight national championships or something at LSU. He was the interim or maybe just for a little while there, the athletic director.

1:02:59Oh, wow. And he had, like, booked a game or scheduled a game or something had happened that Nick wasn't cool with. And this guy, I mean, this old man, we're like, Benny and I look at each other like, who's going next? This dude's, like, watered up. He's giving it to him. Oh, dude, we're like, oh, no. Like, Nick's in one of these modes today. Anybody can get it. And that's how he was. But the coolest part about Nick is everything was for a reason. Like, he was doing it. Even press conference people saw him in Alabama or whatever. Like, that was a lot of the time he knew he was going to erupt on that reporter.

1:03:29He knew what he had planned to say or the speech he had planned to give. It's all thought out. And there's a reason behind it. And that's who he always was. And so once you kind of got to understand what he was really trying to get you to hear or what the example he was really trying to give you, you realize he's not that mean. He's not that hard on people. He's actually just always trying to teach a lesson every single day. And his sense of urgency is just rare. Like when you're around him, you're like, dude, we're going to win because this dude's urgency to being great and chasing greatness is like nobody else's.

1:03:58you've ever been around. So you started to like be less scared of him and more like, all right, what's he really trying to say? I'm just going to ignore all the like fire and like, you know, he seems like he's trying to bite at you, but he's really not. He's really just trying to get you to listen to something he has to say. Yeah, that's awesome. Do you guys have any welcome to the NFL moments? What is your welcome to the NFL moment? My first two years probably, but mine was very - It might have been John Henderson. Yeah. Mine was very wild coming out of Harvard. Yes. I was the NFL a little bit different fourth stringer didn't get any reps back then you weren't allowed to do OTAs and things until your school graduated right so like I didn't get to do any OTAs I got to do a rookie mini camp and that was it that's bullshit yeah so I played I played a little bit in the preseason yeah son you're gonna have to graduate from Harvard before you can join the NFL it was until your class graduated yeah I was still there yes I was still there Yes, yes, but you don't go there not to graduate.

1:05:02But anyway, I was a four-stringer. I was going up against the guy, Jeff Smoker, for the third-string spot. Yeah, on Michigan State, right? Michigan State, smoke show. I ended up getting the third-string spot, but look, I didn't get any reps ever. Well, we are like 10, 11 weeks into the season. Mark Bolger goes down, so I'm the backup for the game. I get thrown in down 21 to nothing or 24 to three. Epic. The first huddle I'm in, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Tori Holt, Marshall Falk. Holy shit. My voice is cracking. Let's fucking go. I would love to hear that huddle. Eye right, slot zoom, fake pics left, ex-quick screen right.

1:05:45Oh my gosh. Well, we ended up coming back and winning the game. Let's go. How about that? It's magic style, baby. And then I think we like to say I officially ended The Greatest Show on turf because I started the next few weeks. and it didn't go great the next few weeks. But that was my first huddle. It was like, am I going to be able to make it for a year or two? And then I'm in the huddle, and those guys are listening to me, looking at me, and I'm like, oh, my God. Yeah. I didn't know what to do. Yeah, it was crazy. It was awesome. You know, I had to go in, obviously, early in my career, 06, when I got there and got drafted.

1:06:19They had just signed Levi Jones, a left tackle back who had been a pro bowler, and Willie Anderson had signed an extension. and arguably one of the best right tackles to ever play the game. And so I really thought when I got drafted, like, I'm not going to play at all. And sure enough, how the NFL works, our left tackle, Levi, you know, blows out his knee week four of the season. And I had only been playing, like, guard because they didn't obviously just pay their tackles. So they were like, hey, you're going to play left guard this season as a backup. And we had Eric Stonbach who ended up going to Cleveland after that year.

1:06:46So I'm like, I'm not going to play. Levi blows his knee out in the Tampa game. And so I got hurt before the Tampa game. So I go in, they're like, hey, you're going to have to play some left guard in this game possibly. So sure enough, Levi tries to play, can't do it. He's done. So Steinbach goes in, left tackle, and I'm left guard. We have a TV timeout and a CRO line coach like pointing down. And he's like, I'm like, you know, so I'm just trying to ignore him because I'm like, I think he's pointing at me to go left tackle. We're playing in Tampa. This is Beverly Bartlett, Simeon Rice, like, you know, legendary Tampa game team.

1:07:23This is Paul Alexander. Oh, yeah. And Paul's, like, pointing, you know. Sure enough, finally, they go into Carson's headset, and they go, hey, you know, Paul says he knows you see him. Like, move, you're playing.

1:07:37He knows you see him. I, like, move over one spot in the huddle, you know, like, just begrudgingly, like when you tell your kids to sit down. I, like, move over one spot and play left tackle the rest of the game. I didn't give up any sacks. I'm not going to say it was very pretty. But I survived, right? It was Simeon Rice on the road. And then the next week was my first ever start at left tackle. And it was Mike Rucker and Julius Peppers who at that time in their last two or three years together were leading the league in sacks. So, blanked them again. But it was one of those things where, like, all of a sudden you realize this is what the life is.

1:08:07And I think my second start was Terrell Suggs on Thursday Night Football or something like that at home in Cincinnati. So, yeah, you start really realizing like, okay, wait a minute. Every week I got one of these guys. Like, when do I get the easy guys? When's the LSU against the, you know, division team? I have a similar, well, not at all a similar story, but similar moment of my welcome to the NFL moment. Nobody really knew it happened but me and the guy that I was blocking. Yeah. Right? Like, there were no sacks. That's how our life is, right? Nobody knows anything happens in our career. So, I'm going into, I'm a rookie.

1:08:37I'm playing Dallas. They're running a 3-4, so a lot of 5-0 calls. And they got Jay Ratliff at nose guard. Quick little jibbuck. And I never played a nose guard. Head up. Didn't know how to pass edit. Howard Mudd's trying to teach me it midweek, and I'm like trying to figure this out. Because most of those guys are in a 3-4. They're just too gapping. Big dudes, yeah. They're not even going to rush. And I am having a rough one. I don't know how I haven't given up a sack. He's beaten me for like four pressures. Who's the quarterback? The quarterback would be Michael Vick. That's probably how I did it.

1:09:06There you go. There he is. Now we know. So I'm like, the game is three quarters over. I've been having an awful night. And I get called for holding. And I think it's a bullshit call. I'm yelling at the breath, that's bullshit. That's not holding. And I look over at Jay. I'm like, you know that wasn't holding you. And he's like, son, I've been whooping your ass all night. I figured I earned one of those. I'm like, all right, I guess I'm done talking to Jay. As a young alum, I feel like you get some very welcome to NFL moments. For sure. There's no doubt. Hip tosses, just completely bulled, run over.

1:09:44Everybody check out the Fitz and Wit pod coming back during the season and we'll see you guys on Christmas in Kansas City, baby! We'll see you in Tahoe. Oh, nice. The American Century. Yes. The American Century Championship. So sorry, yes. American Century Championship. That happens to take place in Tahoe. Yeah, that's right. American Century, Kansas City brand. Appreciate you guys doing that. All righty, and that wraps up another episode of New Heights. Thanks for tuning in. You can subscribe to New Heights, to At New Heights Show on YouTube or anyplace else. You also get your podcasts. Yeah, make sure you're subscribed on YouTube to the New Heights channel and follow New Heights in the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:10:26You 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, a Wondery show produced by Wave Sports and Entertainment. and New Heights is brought to you by Allstate. You're in good hands with Allstate. Isn't that right, Jason? Follow the show on all social media. Add New Heights show with one S for fun clips throughout the week and thanks to our production and crew for always making us look better than we are. 92 %ers, thank you guys. Fitz and Witts, thank you guys. God damn it. I got it, baby.

1:10:54You did it. New York.

1:11:06I'm looking at Jason's tits right now on PGA Tour. He's trying to get to my... Oh my God. No, no, no. What about the 8 a.m. thing with your beater? When you had the wife beater on. That was bad. Your tits were hanging. Do you shave your ribs? It just rubs. Do I shave? Do you shave your ribs? No. That's a t-shirt rub. No. That's friction from the shirt. Because your tits are covered with hair. But your ribs are nothing. Listen, I don't know what part of evolution made my hair grow like that, but that's just how it happens. You have hair on your inner thighs or no? Probably not because the rub. Mine don't look like that.