PMS 2.0 1383 - TJ Watt & Cam Heyward, Aaron Rodgers, Mike Tomlin, Danny Smith, Gene Steratore, Omar Khan, Pittsburgh Dad, Mark Kaboly

15:54Yeah.

15:59Pat McAfee:As Cam Hayward and TJYx at the stage, I will say TJ just threw a hat out into the crowd. And I believe we almost had our first full scrum. We almost had our first full scrum. Yeah, good catch by that kid. Saw the whole thing. He's got a good throw, too. Because if that hits the ground, ladies and gentlemen, four-time NFL MVP. Love you. Super Bowl champion. The starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Aaron Rodgers.

16:41Wow. Is he going over? Yeah. Hey. Hey. Helmet! Helmet! Helmet! Helmet! Helmet! Helmet! Helmet! Helmet! Helmet! Helmet!

16:54Pat McAfee:Helmet! yelling yelling don't roll your ankle. For Daddy Rogers. Mr. Rogers here. We told you and you know this because of how many Pittsburgh people you've been around and your respect and appreciation for the sport and the league as a whole. You knew Pittsburgh was a football town. Always have. Now you get a chance to be the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback. Has that been a cool thing for you like legitimately. Has that been a cool moment. I've seen the pictures. They're posting you in a Pittsburgh Steelers uniform and as a kid that grew up here. that's like a really cool thing for us to see.

17:25Pat McAfee:I'm wondering on your side of it, being a Pittsburgh Steeler, how it feels. I mean, Pittsburgh is one of the cornerstone franchises in the NFL. Everybody knows who they are. There's only a few of them. But it's just different here. There's a level of expectation based on the excellence that's happened here where you kind of come in and you expect to fall in the line to embody what it means to be a Steeler. I really appreciate that because I've been in Green Bay for 18 years, and it's the same thing there. Yeah, because Green Bay, that's literally what Ty said. Ty said if I look from the NFC over to the AFC, I would say the Green Bay Packers or the AFC is the Pittsburgh Steelers.

18:02Pat McAfee:Just storied franchise. To get season tickets here, it's like a 30-year waiting period, just like it is at Green Bay. Away games, you'll see terrible towels in every stadium. And now they're attacking your previous employer, which I certainly love. These people, I told you this whenever you signed here. I said, hey, you win a Super Bowl for the city of Pittsburgh. They will murder people and bury the bodies for you. Yes. You tell me where, brother. Don't do that anyways. Now, they're already chanting your name. You've been here for two weeks. How has it been with the fans and the Yenzers in experiencing life here at training camp at St.

18:35Pat McAfee:Vincent? I love the Yenzers. I've been around them my entire career. You guys know Big Mike was on the show. There's just something special about the people from this area. You know, there's something in the water maybe. but rust but uh steel yeah they just they're built a little differently yeah and they love their Steelers they love you already man and they will love you forever if you go do what you're going to do for them here in a couple weeks go ahead Tom yeah you've been here for a few weeks

19:03Darius Butler:I mean you had you had a little bit of time back into OTAs or minicamp or whatever and then now you've been here for two weeks I feel like you kind of knew what DK was working out with him some of the boys went out to California has anyone uh surprised you so far in camp that you've been No, I mean, I think that the coolest thing is just what is going on right now.

19:22Pat McAfee:My hand out like this, literally like this, and a guy threw a marker, landed right in my hand. He's got a touch like Aaron Rodgers. This guy right here got a touch like Aaron Rodgers. It's a great throw. Hopefully Foxy got that. I mean, this place is crazy. It's crazy. It's hot as hell out here. These folks show up every single day. Yesterday they were rolling down this hill because it was raining like crazy. But there's just something special about this place. You can feel it. You know, I love being here in Latrobe. We did 14 years at St. Norbert's in Green Bay and then kind of went away from that.

19:57But there's something special about the camaraderie that actually gets to happen. I think every coach talks about, you know, training camp is when you come together and, you know, you build that team chemistry. But honestly, when at places that don't go away, when 7 o 'clock hits or 630, whatever the time is, guys go home. Now here, guys go in the head's room. Cam, he's got a huge head. It's looking at his head. They go in his room and hang out. You know, last night we were in Highsmith's room hanging out. Guys come in my room and talk ball. So there's actually real camaraderie that happens at a place like the Trove.

20:31So I give a lot of credit to Mr. Rooney because there's a lot of buildings with his name on it around here.

20:38Pat McAfee:He's on the board here, actually. For putting the money into it. But the opportunity that we have here to spend time together and actually come together is pretty cool. And also with Mike's schedule practicing the midday, I know we got some issues with the weather. But I enjoy the opportunities to truly develop that training camp callus. Training camp's been here since 1966. you, they're saying bring us seven, which was one of the answers that you actually gave. Whenever your first press conference happened, you were getting rapid fire questions. And I believe the way it was phrased was, if you were to win another Super Bowl, what do you think it would be for your legacy?

21:17Pat McAfee:And you said, well, it'd be seven for the city of Pittsburgh, I think is what we're trying to do here. Is that the mentality of the entire locker room? When you were talking to Tomlin throughout the entire process of whether or not you were going to play again, or if you're going to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, you're kind of in the process of that. You talk to them on a regular basis. Was it like, hey, this city of Pittsburgh needs another one? We need another one. What is those conversations like? And what is expectations? Yeah, they're like 10 more if you could in the next 10 years. I mean, everybody's 0-0 right now.

21:46There's 32 teams that feel like they can win a championship. But you guys know covering the game, there's only a handful of teams. I always say like 6-8, but it's really like 8-12 because there's some of those teams like the Redskins. Sorry, the Commandos last year. Oh, my God.

22:04I was just talking to Ty about the San Diego Chargers playing. You know, when you're as old as I am, you played in so many different stadiums and against different team names. We, you know, we beat the St. Louis Rams. Yep. That team doesn't exist anymore. But there's a history of excellence that exists in only a few places around the league. And thankfully, I'm here in one of them. Ty, Dane, Jay. They love it already. Hey, Arthur Smith, what did you know about him coming in? Did you have a relationship at all before? You're obviously an offensive coordinator here. And what's it been like the first seven, ten days with him?

22:40I love Arthur. We started talking. You guys love Arthur. He's on the show a lot. He's got a great mustache. Great mustache. Salt of the earth. But I met him a couple years ago, and we had a friendship and would send messages back and forth. But once the opportunity started to become a possibility, we talked more. and he's just a great dude. You know, he's very, he's the opposite of rigid. You know, he wants to do right by the team and whatever the best scheme is for the guys that he's got, he's going to implement that. So whether it's me, a quarterback, or bringing a guy like Johnny who's had in the past and finding ways to get him involved, obviously DK being our number one, making sure he's involved in the progression.

23:17We're moving him around to give him different looks. And then we got a bunch of little guys who we're trying to figure out who's going to kind of step up and be that second receiver, who's going to be the third, He's going to be the fourth. But guys like Calvin Austin, Roman Wilson, Scottie Miller, you know, guys that you can move around. Obviously, I'm talking about receivers right now. Yeah, we've got a lot of tight ends. We've got four great tight ends. We can actually do 0-4 personnel, which you know is four tight ends on the field when you can put Jonu and Darnell and Pat and Connor on the field.

23:45It's pretty special. So he's great at kind of using the skills that each guy has and implementing them in the offense. But he's a great dude. You know, he had a tragedy that happened this offseason with his dad passing away. It meant a lot to him. But he's been great. He's great in front of the room when he's installing plays. And, yeah, give it up for Arthur. That's his name. Yeah, he's a dog. Arthur Smith.

24:07Pat McAfee:Hell, yeah. They weren't doing this with the previous offense coordinator. I will let you know that. No, there were chances. There were chances. Yeah, they'll come back around potentially. I saw you throw a pick to Patrick Queen, and I saw everybody say that you lost it. How much do you love people thinking that you lost it? How much do you love that? How much do you love people thinking that you lost it? Legitimately, how much do you love that? Oh, I don't give a shit about that. Yeah, yeah, I bet. I bet. It's been awesome to watch you spin it again, brother. Legit. Go ahead, D. Speaking of spinning it, how does the, we're about a week into camp.

24:41How does the body feel? How does the mind feel going into this season right now? Body feels great, DB. We just got two days off. Okay. That never happens. We had a day off, and then we had a rain out yesterday, so I feel great right now. Today's going to be a monster. Today's going to be a monster. First day he has. And it's this hot out here. It's going to be a gruden grinder today out there. For sure.

25:04Pat McAfee:What should we be looking for today in practice? We'll be down there. We start every practice with what they call seven shots. It's seven plays, fourth and two from the two. And that period is live as his team run. I haven't been around a lot of tackling in training camp in my career really ever. maybe with Big Mike early on. Pittsburgh tough, you know? Yes. Hell yeah. Maybe a couple times, but those two periods will be real fun to watch. And that's how practice starts? We start with seven shots, yeah. Oh, my God. That's a good way to start a little bit of physicality. Just pounding. A little pounding ground.

25:40Pat McAfee:Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, Aaron, I hope you're still, you know, caught up on all the conspiracies going on right now because there are some channels out there. But you talked a lot about the offense. What about that old line? We talked to Alan Clay. Jesse caught it! Jesse caught it!

25:55Darius Butler:That's Jesse James versus the pass. Oh, yeah. Again, hey, Steelers fans, Aaron wasn't here. He doesn't give a fuck about that. But when you think about it. I do. Of course, of course. 2017, man, what a year. When you think about that old line, very young, kind of similar to the Jets. But AQ said, you know, just yesterday, of course, new color, broadcaster for the Cardinals. He said just yesterday Steelers he expects to take a massive step up. How has that been kind of working with the young old line? You know, sweet West Virginia boy Zach Frazier. Hopefully he has a towel for you today with all that swast that's probably going on.

26:32He's actually a light sweater. So we're good on that. We're good on that. Is he getting the ball up to you yet? At least back there it's light. You know. It starts and ends with that kid though. I mean he's got a chance to be really special in the league. You know, a lot of the great centers I've had were also wrestlers. And he was a great wrestler in high school. But he's super smart. He's a Mountaineer. Yeah, he's a little too smug for my liking, though. He's out there making calls for me right now telling me if I got the wrong check. So I got to get his ass in line a little bit, let him know who's in charge.

27:10But no, seriously, Zach's done a great job. Starts and ends with him. 13 times. 13 times. 13 times. 13 what? 13 times. 13 times what? They don't know what the hell they're talking about. You know. But I like the battles that we got going on right now and the depth that we have. Those guys, you know, will be a work in progress as we go. We haven't even put the pads on yet, but I think it'll be interesting today. We're all taking side bets on who the first fight's going to be. and if I'm a betting man, I'm saying that either Zach Frazier or Mason McCormick will be involved in the first fight. Okay.

27:46Pat McAfee:Mason McCormick and Zach Frazier both heard that and they're also like, okay, now Aaron's expecting us to throw some hands. You're damn right I am. We all feel that way. It is awesome over the last few years us covering training camp. Remember a few years back, I think Aaron Donald took a helmet to somebody. They were calling for lawsuits and cops to show up. and then fights are happening. It's like, hey, fights are exhausting for players during training camp, but also it shows how together your team is, how tough your team is, what they stand on. I think it's a big deal. Now, I don't think Tomlin is promoting fights, but if you have no fights, I think that's a problem.

28:22He's definitely not promoting fights. You know, it's one of the rules, no fighting. But if something starts, whip his ass. Get it on, baby.

28:31Pat McAfee:That's everybody. I think every good coach views it that way. Big Mike did. You said work in progress. You know, Big Mike loved when we fought. He didn't promote it. No, he didn't promote it. He was never in a bad mood after a big fight. No, he was not. I legitimately think if your team doesn't fight, you should be worried. I always knew if we fought in practice that night, that was back when we had two days, Mike would be texting me after practice saying, hey, come on over and have a couple ICs. A couple Iron Cities. Have you had any mangoes? A couple Iron Cities. I'll tell you what, the Iron City mangoes.

29:03Pat McAfee:I see life! There it is. I see life! That's the nectar of the gods. That is. They pull it from the rivers of dead bodies here. Obviously, you got the Allegheny coming on to Hala. They come together for the Ohio. Okay, that is the point downtown. Three rivers. And they will get water out of there, put some booze in it. And that's the nectar that is Icy Light. Every kid drank it as a teenager here in Pittsburgh. It is the nectar of the gods. Nectar of the gods. You should have a couple. You said work in progress. How much do you know the offense? Did you show up knowing the offense? Because there was a report that Arthur Smith was quietly making an entire playbook for you and yada, yada, yada.

29:42Pat McAfee:You're obviously an incredibly intelligent. I haven't seen that playbook yet. Okay, good. You're obviously an incredibly intelligent person, Celebrity Jeopardy champion. If you had to, you'd win against actual Jeopardy people. I'm on your side for that. Had a 500-page report in 2020. People don't remember that. I remember everything else. But how do you feel about how comfortable you are in the offense? Yeah, I'm getting more comfortable as the days go on. There's not a my own playbook. It's Arthur's playbook. I'm finding ways within it to add little stuff here and there. But it's Arthur's playbook, and I like it.

30:15I like it a lot.

30:19Pat McAfee:What is going on over here? I mean, these are Jensers, brother. They're the best. They're the best. This is how it's going to be. They have their own agenda. Here we go. Steelers, here we go. This bird's going to the Super Bowl. Here we go. We got Aaron throwing the ball deep. Here we go. And a guy named Artie. Here we go. Boys while making kicks like he dies. And we're looking for seven in the fucking house. Here we go.

30:53Darius Butler:There it is. Banger. Absolute banger. I'm going to the Super Bowl. Do you know Renegade yet? Did you learn Renegade on guitar yet?

31:02Pat McAfee:I'm in fear for my life from the long. From the long.

31:11Hey man, it's coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long.

31:19Pat McAfee:There's a mic on his face, Aaron. All right, last question. Everybody can hear what you're saying there. There's a mic on AJ's face. Ty has a question for you, Aaron. Aaron, we talked about this a little bit off stage and And through the last several years you've been on the show, you've talked about how much respect you have for Mike T. How has that relationship been so far? Is there anything that's been, you know, like maybe kind of surprised you now that he's your head coach and he's just not a guy you respect from afar? Where's my camera at? Could be any of them. Here's the jib. They were going to do a sweet artsy jib shot on you.

31:51Pat McAfee:Zoom in on Aaron slowly. Just do a two-shot, me and H. Okay, okay. Never mind. Mike T is the man. any hate disrespect and the ilk is complete and utter bullshit Mike T is the man from day one that we talked on the phone in the offseason I was never talking to a head coach I was talking to a friend I respected the hell out of that I have crazy respect for him the way that he leads the room the way that he talks in the team the way he is at practice The surprise has been just what a great dude he is, what a great leader he is, on top of what I already expected, which was already high based on what I thought from afar.

32:37But being able to see it in person is incredible. He's the type of guy that every great coach makes you want to play for. And what I mean to expand on that is you care so deeply about the person, you don't want to let them down. and that's the aura and that's the respect that Mike has from his players. You want to play for this guy because you know how much he cares and you don't want to let him down.

33:01Pat McAfee:You've been on a championship team before. You've had a lot of great, great, great, great, great teams that you've been on. Yeah, we beat the Steelers. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Wow. Should have already had seven, you could say. Oh, man. That was a different day. Different day. It's a new day. It's a new day. It's a new day. Pittsburgh.

33:20Darius Butler:Yes, because AJ was using steroids. Nick Moloto. AJ was drinking his piss. Yes, we know. Okay, you confirmed that. Still knew he was. I said that DSP's people says, look at this guy. You think he hasn't drank his pee in the last five years, all the stuff he's been into? Chewing bark, drinking piss. Chewing bark. Chewing bark. Hey, great answer the other day, by the way. I'm not having him. That was.

33:40Pat McAfee:And that guy would drink your piss, he said. That's what I'm talking about, though. See, hell yeah. That's what Pittsburgh would do for you, Aaron. You need to know that. We appreciate you so much for stopping by. Can't wait to watch. Yeah. Come on. Give him a stand-up. Yeah, give him a stand-up. Did you have a drug test this morning? How's the piss? Get him up here. Aaron, I can't wait to watch you work out there. Can't wait to watch this season for you. I can't wait to watch you experience a year with the Yenzers. And will you be joining us on Tuesdays or no? Did they tell you you can't? We'll see.

34:08Yeah, we'll see. You can talk to Bert over there. Oh, no. Uh-oh. Bert's sitting there. I appreciate you guys. Good to see you all as usual. Good to see you in person. Have fun in Canton. San Diego Chargers.

34:21Darius Butler:That's right. But it's going to be a fun year. It's going to be a really fun year. I'm just really, if I can sum up my feelings, being in Pittsburgh is just gratitude. To be in such a special organization with Mike T, the leadership of the football team, and to play for a fan base that cares as much as these guys do.

34:41Pat McAfee:Hell yeah. We're lucky to have you here in Pittsburgh. I speak for the city at this moment, but not always. You're the man. I love your claim in Pittsburgh now. You claim Indy when you're back in Indy. I'm like The Rock, baby. I got two homes. You used to see me down in Morgantown, too. I fucking love that place. All that money you got. Yeah. Got homes all over the place, Aaron. All right. Thanks, guys. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, four-time NFL MVP, the starting quarterback in the Steelers, Aaron Rock. Thank you.

35:19What did you put on there?

35:24Definitely know his name. Did you sign it, AJ Hawk? Did you sign it? Did you do the spaceship? No, he didn't do the spaceship.

35:33Pat McAfee:He just wrote in there what his status is still. To this point. You know, just wrote in what his status is. It's a long word. I'm not talking Facebook. I got you. Oh, nice. He subbed an X in there. Just dropped an X. Yeah, none of that. It's a one-on-one. Throwback. He mentioned a lot of times about being synonymous with winning and greatness and a team that's all aligned and going in. And we got a chance to talk to Mr. Rooney earlier today, and I said, hey, you're writing a lot of checks. I like that. I like you're writing a lot of checks or whatever. He was like excited for the season. This has not been how the Steelers have ever been toned.

36:10Pat McAfee:This is such a drastic difference in what the Pittsburgh Steelers were of yesterday. Now, them firing Matt Canada midway through the year. Sorry, Matt. Had to do it. Knew it would be a pop. They fired him midseason. He was the first coach that was a head coach or a coordinator that got fired in the history of the Steelers, one of the oldest franchises in the history of professional sports. So they make that move. It's like, wait, is this a new day? Then Omar Khan gets in following Kevin Colbert, who has a fire pit up here that I guess all the boys hang out at at night. They bring the team together.

36:42Pat McAfee:It's a beautiful setup. But Omar Khan is really, he's drawing this up in his own way. And the stars are out here in Pittsburgh, Tom.

36:49Darius Butler:Yeah, I mean, Colbert was here for 20-plus years, multiple Super Bowls. Kevin Colbert is an all-time Hall of Fame GM. But, like, you knew once, like, free agency came around, like, you didn't even have to pay attention at all. Like, day one, day two, even day seven, you weren't going to get anyone in free agency if you were a Steeler because they built through the drafts and they built their own guys. But then, you know, Omar came in and was kind of like, hey, that's not really working right now. And obviously this fan base hasn't been happy with, you know, 9-8, 10-7, stuff like that, first-round playoff losses.

37:17Darius Butler:So Omar got very, very aggressive this year, went out. You know, the first one was DK. He was even in conversations for IU last year that came out. That was reported. Like, they are not resting on their laurels right now, Pat, or their Yannis. And we're going in for a Super Bowl right now.

37:31Pat McAfee:That was a good internet run there, just like the black dress, blue dress. Those really had a good time. We need those days back. Somebody needs to find a new one there for the internet. I think the city has responded in a positive way. You know, sometimes whenever you do something in an old-fashioned way, an old-school way, there's going to be old heads that hate it. Any change. The Steelers spending all this money. We don't need – you think they need to do this to win in the past? This is a desperate move. Yada, yada. That hasn't happened at all. No, they've been very happy. Everybody in Pittsburgh is like, yeah, we're spending money finally.

38:03Pat McAfee:Yeah, we're bringing in stores. Yeah, we're taking advantage of stuff. And, like, I think the players too, AJ. Cam Hayward, year 15. He's been pretty vocal about like don't know how long we have left. TJ, I know he's still got hopefully six years left, ten years left, whatever it is. He's in year nine. A lot of these guys have been around here a long time. They're making a push to win. It's good for all parties. It's great for the NFL, I think, and obviously for Pittsburgh. But you've got to evolve. Like, yeah, you can still hold that old school, that core, the tradition, everything that is the Steelers, and then evolve into like the new age of the NFL and spend money.

38:32I mean, look at one of the greatest, actually the greatest college football coach of all time, Nick Saban. He was constantly evolving what he did on offense and defense because he's like, I want to win. I don't want to be stupid and just be stuck in my ways. That's what losers do. Yeah, and we're not like that far removed from this being the way to win a Super Bowl. Like, sure, the Chiefs and the Eagles have won more recently, but you look at Stafford, you look at Brady, you look at Payton. Like, we kind of pointed to that for a couple years as maybe this is the way to do it. You get Aaron for cheap, you bring in DK, you bring in Jalen, you bring in John.

39:04Like, it really is one of those things where it feels like a 2021 L.A. Rams, maybe even a 2020 Tampa Bay Bucs where this old veteran, something to prove, not run out of the building, but had to fly across the country and got kicked out of the building 10 minutes after getting there. It is one of those, like, damn near spite years that we're approaching here for Pittsburgh.

39:24Pat McAfee:As we wait here for Coach Tomlin to join us in a matter of moments, a lot of people singing his praises. I can't wait to experience that because the last couple years, He's been getting shit talk to him relentlessly. And then we get a chance to watch his hard knocks. And it's like, I love that guy. I hope they get a chance this year to go on another run. Let's we're going camping here in Latrobe or I'm sorry, Latrobe as the locals say. Let's go camping around the NFL, shall we? Let's go camping. Let's start with the Green Bay Packers. Highlights from training camp are getting us going. Ty Schmidt, you lost your mind on draft night when they drafted Golden.

40:02Pat McAfee:Are you excited to watch him catch a deep ball here from Jordan Love at training camp? Yeah, without a doubt, it looks like things are rolling like they should be. I mentioned this to you guys earlier. This is the first piece of content in general that I've seen from Packers camp. So I'm pretty jacked up that it's a 60-yard touchdown. They need this guy to be an absolute force this year. Jordan Love stays healthy all year. It looks like he's finally got his number one guy. I'd love to see it. I love that they're talking shit to their fans who are asking for them to post videos of the first round draft pick that hasn't happened in like 40 years or whatever.

40:35Pat McAfee:That's a wide receiver thing. Social media admins have all the brains. They got it going on. They're the Green Bay Packers, actually. Yeah, they are. That's how these social media people operate. I'm not saying the Green Bay Packers are doing that. No, I think Ed Policy runs the Twitter account. Oh, yeah? Yeah, I'm pretty sure he does. Okay, so he was the one that did the every other capital letter? Exactly. What do you mean you want to see our first-round draft pick run faster than everybody, you dipshits? This is social media. You're not supposed to see anything. Not on my watch. Not on my watch.

41:01We're trying to keep this the best-kept secret of training camp.

41:04Pat McAfee:Hey, thanks for posting social media degree, Haver. We appreciate you doing it. Appreciate it. Love it. Helped us out and helped out Green Bay Packer owner. Now let's go to a Green Bay Packer record holder. AJ Hawk, have you seen Marvin Harrison Jr. in Arizona just one day after another? Freak show catches. Rookie year wasn't fantastic by anybody's account, but now it feels like Kyler's going to throw him the rock regardless. Catch radius insane. Contested catches is his thing. I think him and Kyler had to get on the same page with that notion going in through the offseason. Yeah, and Marvin's like the old school quiet professional.

41:38He's not real flashy. He doesn't say a whole lot, but if you saw, you notice what he put on 15, 20 pounds of muscle like a couple other guys throughout the league. Yeah, the guy's an absolute stud. The Carters are one of those teams that could possibly, I think, jump up and surprise a few teams if they can keep Kyler healthy. and obviously Marv has a big year.

41:52Pat McAfee:Kyler with great ball there. You know, it's not going to get talked about, but that is an incredible ball there. Obviously, Kyler remarkably gifted athletically both on the ground and through the sky. Will this be the year where it all comes together? Will this be the year that it clocks? Shout out to Justin Bieber. We're talking about him having the population of the United States of America basically follows him on Instagram. What a life he's been living. But is it clocking for that Arizona Cardinals team to make a run? AQ Shipley will be on the call. Moon Township, great. Hopefully they're not shite for his sake.

42:20Pat McAfee:Now, let's go to Indianapolis, Indiana. Anthony Richardson, a man who's drafted number four overall for the Indianapolis Colts, has had an underwhelming start to his career, but this training camp throwing dots all over the place. He's looked much more accurate. He's looked much more confident. He's been putting in a lot of work. This is what he had to say after practice about how his mindset has changed this year versus years past. After last season, I felt like I needed to do more, not only for the team but for myself. You know, if I want to so-called be great and I want to be in the Hall of Fame one day, you know, I have to do more.

42:55I know I have to go do things that other people want to do. So I've just been doing that, you know, just taking it day by day. Not necessarily trying to, you know, change anything mentally or anything like that, but just taking a deeper dive and studying my playbook a little longer, you know, asking more questions, you know, going through my footwork, you know, walking through the plays by myself, you know, just stuff like that, just trying to do more.

43:14Pat McAfee:Okay, I love to hear everything that he's saying right there. There was a group here from Monroeville, I believe, went to Gateway High School behind us here. They started chanting that he's too tired, okay, because I am from this area, okay? If you were to ask any of these people standing here, hey, the starting quarterback for your team, on a third down into red zone against a division opponent in the middle of the regular season, he's going to tap out of the game because he was too tired, all these people would say, get him the fuck out of our city. What are you talking about? You're too tired.

43:47Pat McAfee:You're a football player. And I had a similar reaction. I had a similar reaction. And it's like, hey, why? You can't be saying it. And even if you're at the mental point where you think you're comfortable enough and confident enough to say that publicly, it's like you're way too content. I was very vocal. Now, this year, what we have seen, he's slimmer, he's fitter. He's acknowledging how he needs to be different. He's taking the pre-practice mental reps by himself. It feels like he has matured immensely after a very tough start to his career. Growth, maturity, he's doing and saying all the right things.

44:18And when guys show up to training camp or the offseason workouts, they don't have to say much. You can look at them and kind of tell what they've been doing in the offseason. You look at him, he looks great physically. And we know what he can do on the ground, you know, with his physical traits. But to win in this league and to win the big one in this league, you've got to be able to play from the pocket. And if you run that highlight back again, that's like a simple throw, but that's a whole shot, cover two. Pittman gets up there, get up the sideline. You've got to put that ball on him on the line, and he did.

44:43So I love what I'm seeing from five right now. in this QB battle. Yeah, that throw is incredible. He's had a few, it feels like, that have come out during training camp where it's like the week one against the Texans kind of joker. I agree with you guys, but doesn't it kind of take away from the fact that the big thing going into the offseason was, hey, he's going to work out with Josh Allen's guy, and then while training camp's starting, you think that he did, and then he says... He didn't do that? He actually didn't work out with that guy. I don't care. He's completing passes. Yeah, no, I'm genuinely asking.

45:11Pat McAfee:He was going to do that laser treatment to get more accurate. If he has gotten more accurate without the laser treatment, I don't think we care. Okay, this is a results-oriented business. Now, if his shit gets outrageous again, everybody's like, hey, your mechanics and your footwork and everything is off, that's why you have the lowest completion percentage in the history of the NFL, and you chose not to do something, I think then it becomes a conversation. But right now, he's putting it on, guys. And he looks like an actual passer. Is he going to play in the preseason? That's a big thing. He has to.

45:38I'm saying he should get a good chunk of playing time in all four games. Speaking of social media,

45:42Darius Butler:Yeah, Colt social media got their agenda, and they're sticking to it.

45:45Pat McAfee:Yeah, I haven't seen Danny Dimes. Is he on a team still? I think Danny Dimes is cool with it, too. We're all cool with it. It's a competition. The only thing we worry about now with Anthony Richardson, and, I mean, this is what I guess sports media does, is he's in such good shape that he's going to be able to withstand the hits now. He's still a big boy. He still is 240 pounds, I assume. He's a monster. We'll see how that goes. Now, let's go camping to the AFC North Kings. The team that is favored to win the AFC North. A team that is known for crab cakes and football. Let's go to the Baltimore Ravens.

46:25Lamar Jackson running wild all over Baltimore Ravens trying to get it. Lamar Jackson, obviously an MVP, looking to win a Super Bowl, looking faster than ever. They still got Nuke on their team as well. I think everybody has forgotten that front flips in training camp Lamar Jackson's in midseason form

46:46Pat McAfee:They are the second They have the second best odds in the entire NFL to win their division What are you talking about? College teammate and their bodies that he's happy for. So this does lead to a conversation So at these training camp highlights, when Lamar Jackson's running wild, the Baltimore Ravens fans are going crazy. When Aaron Rodgers completes a deep ball to DK Metcalf here today for 65, 70 yards, the place is going to go crazy. That's the defense getting dunked on right there. As a defender, D, but you know that going into training camp that your own fans are going to be pissed if you guys have a great day.

47:24Roll game every day. It's a roll game every day. Bring your own energy. You obviously coming out there, you want to whoop their ass. But the crowd's behind them. And, look, they're always going to cheer on the touchdown scores. And, look, Jaya right there running down celebrating. You know, if that guy was on my team, I'd probably accidentally do that too. But I love this. I love this. Obviously, from Lamar, he had an unbelievable season last year. MVP caliber season, his best season so far. He's motivated to go get that big one. Obviously, this team here has had a ton of success against him in the big games.

47:53But I'm excited to see what Aiden that Ravens offense. And that Ravens team, I've completely forgot about D-Hop. Likely he got injured, but it's not as bad as you thought. Zay Flowers, I can't wait to see what they do this year.

48:04Pat McAfee:All right, let's stay in the AFC North. Let's move away from Baltimore. Let's not talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Why would we talk about Cleveland? Hey, don't look now. Jerry Judy's in better shape than he's ever been. Cincinnati Bengals, Trey Hendrickson has reported to camp. He missed seven days of camp. He was fined$50 ,000 per day,$350 ,000 in total fines. He is now back with the Cincinnati Bengals. AJ, what does this say to you? This says to me that he is, like you said, is he tucking his tail and walking back in and saying, hey, I'll come back. No, I hope that's not the case. But I figure maybe Mike Brown promised him this time and said, hey, I gave you my word.

48:45If you come back, it shows goodwill. We'll give you what you want. Has Mike Brown said that before? None of the ownership has said anything positive.

48:52Pat McAfee:I think this is potentially a new move, maybe an extension of an olive branch because Trey Hendrickson loves football. Ty, there's a lot of people saying, though. Yeah, when I saw this, I said, man, did Trey Hendrickson really show those guys? He really showed the Bengals. Hey, guess what? I'll squeak Sklarian, you know? You guys mess with me 16 to 17 more times, I'm going to tuck tail. I'm going to get out of here. You're not going to see me. And then when I realize nothing's going to change, I'm going to come right back and shake everybody's hand and say, Look who's back. We don't know if there's anything happening behind the scenes.

49:24Pat McAfee:Seemingly not, but maybe this will change the entire future for them. Let's pivot away from the Cincinnati Bengals back to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ladies and gentlemen, a Super Bowl champion, a future Hall of Famer, the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Douglas. What's up, Coach? How you doing? I'm sweating my ass off. I appreciate you.

49:58Pat McAfee:Coach, you can use this one if you want to. Coach, first of all, thank you so much for stopping by. Here we go, Steelers. Here we go. Let's run to the Super Bowl. Man, how do you not love that? I know. It's real. It's very real. When you were hired as a head coach 45 years ago, you looked the exact same. Shout out. I guess cliches are real in certain things. Yeah, yeah. I guess that is a real thing. I've aged, you know, like a grape over the last few years. You knew what Pittsburgh was. I think you knew what it was. But the way you have embraced this city. We see you at Penguins games. I think you're even stopping by Pirates games.

50:41Pat McAfee:I feel like you call yourself a yinzer and consider yourself a yinzer. What is it like to be a part of this every single year? and is it like a perspective putter about how great these fans are every training camp? I'll tell you this. First, it never gets old. You know, I have the same level of excitement that I had in 07, probably even more so, to be quite honest with you. I love being a Pittsburgher, man. We love you.

51:11My kids grew up in Pittsburgh. They called Pittsburgh home. I'm proud to call it home. I drink the Kool-Aid.

51:18Pat McAfee:Yeah, absolutely. And with that Kool-Aid, you understand the city. You understand the expectations. I'm not going to say anything you probably don't know. It got loud there for a little bit. And obviously, you were asked by Kyle Brand about winning, having a winning record every single year. And you had a great line, something along the lines. Like, these guys were in baby seats, I think, whenever they were in car seats whenever you were growing up. It did get a little bit loud. Do you hear that stuff? Do you block it out? How much does that affect your day-to-day life or how you go about your business?

51:45You know, I hear it, but I don't because, you know, I'm here to win, you know. I share the same sentiment, the same level of pissed-offness, you know. That's just who I am. And so, like, I don't take it personally. It's motivation for me. I'm here to deliver for them.

52:05Pat McAfee:Omar Khan, vastly different than Colbert. Seemingly, from the outside looking in. What are your thoughts on it? Because Tone and I have chit-chatted about how this is so abnormal. First of all, you're not going to like that this is going to happen because it was probably a very difficult decision because you know the person personally. We just mentioned it. You firing a coordinator midseason never happened in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers. That was a big conversation for us. In the offseason, free agency, never really a thing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. This year, making moves, bringing in, obviously, Aaron Rodgers, who you recruited, sorry, texted for a couple months.

52:36Pat McAfee:How does it feel this way of doing things versus maybe what it had always been with the Pittsburgh Steelers? You know, I'm not resistant to change. I don't think you can do what I've done as long as I can do it being resistant to change. And so I try to be open to doing things differently, to taking a different approach. It's refreshing for me. I'm excited by it. Certainly made moves that we deem necessary in the effort to position ourselves to be what they need and want us to be. Yeah, hell yeah. AJ has a question for you, Coach. Coach, Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, obviously here you're back in.

53:10Let's say for Jalen, I've heard you guys call him like a Swiss Army knife. He can do anything. What is he going to bring to the defense? For me, as a fan of watching, I love physical corners, and they obviously can play every position back there. But I love dudes that can get picks and are physical and not scared of tackling. They seem to thrive in that role, and I feel like he's going to be very physical here. There's no question, man. He brings a demeanor, man, that's contagious. His versatility, obviously, you guys will see today. But his attitude, his approach to business, man, his professionalism.

53:40Like, this guy's as impressive in the classroom as he is on the grass, man. I've been blown away by his approach to the business. That's awesome. D-Bot has a question for you, Coach. Yeah, Coach, you've been here obviously a very, very long time. We've all been in locker rooms, and now we're in the media now, and sometimes you say, oh, maybe that coach, and I've heard it now, maybe the words are getting stale with the team. How do you keep it fresh? How do you evolve when you are the leader in the face of a franchise and standing in front of those guys for such a long time? Cam was here 15 years, TJ9.

54:08Like, how do you do that? That's a tough thing to do. You know, for me, I try not to focus on me, to be honest with you. My job is to be what they need me to be. And their needs are ever-changing because of the makeup of the group changes, the places they are in their careers as individuals. And so, for me, I probably avoid being stale, at least from my perception, just by simply focusing on being what they need me to be and working to meet their needs. Got you. Ty has a question for you, Coach. Coach, Pat mentioned it a little bit earlier. what was that kind of recruiting process like with Rodgers?

54:42We've had him on the show several times, or, you know, for the last several years, and he always talked about how much respect he had for you, and kind of we've seen the clips of you giving him that wry smile. Yeah, you guys are winking at each other. Calling the time out when he was trying to maybe get you, but what was that recruiting process like? It was kind of a bromance, you know what I mean? You know, for me, man, I was just excited to get to know the guy on a personal level, and so that's how I viewed it. Man, we had some cool and interesting conversations about football, about life, about where he is in his career and what he was potentially looking for.

55:17You know, I slow roasted it, if you will. Man, I didn't try to microwave it because I didn't feel like that would be effective anyway. And so I just enjoyed getting to know him over the course of those conversations. And I just felt like if we did it and did it consistently and lay a nice foundation for our relationship when we started working together.

55:37Pat McAfee:What are your expectations for him as a human? Did you lay all that out as a player, as a guy in the locker room? Do you have all those conversations? And why was Aaron the guy that you wanted for this particular team? You know, just through our conversations, man, he expressed his desires and they're in alignment with mine. And so those come-to-Jesus conversations weren't even necessary, man. He's here and here in a mindset that's aligned with us. He's here and here to win a world championship for this group. And he wants to impart wisdom and share his experiences with young players, man, and give back to the game.

56:13And so that's just a beautiful place to be, and those guys are good guys to work with.

56:18Pat McAfee:We were on a plane earlier today flying in high and high. just thinking about it all, you know? Aaron, when he went to the Jets, we talked about this. Any legend that starts at a new place, a lot of brand new eyes watching you for the first time. Your practice habits, how you do in practice, how you go about operating, how you communicate. You got to, like, reprove yourself. Aaron doing that for a first ballot Hall of Famer, I assume is something that has driven him in these practices. For you two, though, with Aaron, is there a similar thought? Like, hey, this is Aaron's first time experiencing my shit as a head coach, too?

56:50Pat McAfee:Because there's rarefied air that you two are breathing. that not a lot of people in the history of football breathe? I like the responsibility of having to deliver for him. You know what I mean? Just the energy and the charge I get for preparing messaging and things of that nature. But not only him, but guys like Jalen Ramsey and other veteran guys, man. I'm sensitive to the delivering of the message, man, and making sure they understand how we go about our business, the things we value, and how they can be a part of it. Is there any shit he's done yet that make you go, Oh, okay, yeah, that's the Aaron Rodgers.

57:23Pat McAfee:That's the guy. Is there any of that? Hey, I like the no-look passes, man. We've seen a couple of those just about every day. But, man, the way he interacts with the defensive leadership, man, the way he competes with them and challenges them, it's a breath of fresh air, man. We just feel like we're going to be positioned to be really good because of that iron-on-iron, that competitive spirit, the things that are happening day-to-day, man, and he's a central part of that. On that note, Tone has a question for you.

57:49Darius Butler:Yeah, Coach, with all due respect to everyone one who's played quarterback since seven. They're a stealer so we love them forever. But does it feel different when you look across and you see eight like it. I mean Caboli said this is the most crowded it's been in the last 15 years here if I'd like to him. But like so it feels different to the fans. Does it feel different to you when you look over and you're like OK since Ben that's Aaron Rogers. You're damn right. It feels pretty good. Yeah. But you know just the possibilities. man. To have a guy like that, man, in your huddle, in your locker room, a part of your group, it certainly gives us all great confidence.

58:28Pat McAfee:I'm trying to remember one of your hard... Every... Hard Knocks was awesome. I want to let you know that. I think we talked about it while it was happening about all the good shit that you were giving away for free, basically. We were hearing motivational speeches just being dropped, gems being dropped. People were writing books with all the one-liners that you were doing. Are we coming up with those still every single day? Is there new shit coming out? Is there more Tomlin-isms? Or is it all basically like a pool that you kind of pull from if that makes sense. You know I don't chase it. It just kind of happens.

58:55Pat McAfee:Of course. There's one right there by the way.

59:00Pat McAfee:Bar after bar after bar. I wish I got a chance to play for you. You told me in warmups I'm going to get you when you're old and cheap. Damn right I did. Did you have those conversations with Aaron throughout his career? I wish I had. Maybe I got him sooner. All right. Have a great practice. We appreciate you. Congrats on all the success. These people love you, man. Thank you, guys. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Mike Tomlin. I appreciate you so much. Thank you, Coach. Great being together. You too, Coach. Good luck. Good luck. Thank you, Coach. Thank you. Appreciate you, Coach. Thank you. Coach, Coach, Coach, Coach, Coach.

59:39Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, that's Coach Mike Tomlin. And there's a man standing off camera that I don't know if he's ever done an interview before. I don't know if he gets any requests. Special teams coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The ends are days.

1:00:00Oh, my God. Tattoo on the outside of the shin. Gosh, how you doing? Good hope. I love you, buddy. I love you, buddy. Hey, hey, how about this stuff? Let's sit. Hell yeah. How about this here? Hey, we got a local guy. Mm-hmm. Big time. Hold on. He comes back to Pittsburgh to do a live show for us. Mm-hmm. That was not a real. He comes home for us to do this show. Hell, yeah. That's your mic. That's your mic. That's you. You don't need a damn mic.

1:00:39Pat McAfee:I appreciate you doing that for me. That was not needed. How about this? local guy comes back to coach special teams for the Pittsburgh Steelers for all of us. And he chews through 200 pieces of gum every single game. Danny Smet is here, ladies and gentlemen. Hi, Danny. We have like two, three minutes. I know you love doing media, and this is something you really enjoyed. You had the, I don't know if it was the best unit in the NFL last year, but we looked up stats. You got a lot of number ones and a lot of top ten, a lot of top fives. Special teams is something that is respected here in Pittsburgh because it's a football town.

1:01:18Pat McAfee:How many years have you been here now? This will be 13th. 13th year for you here as a Pittsburgh Steeler. How do you feel about this particular team? How's the energy? You know, I mean, it's an honor to prove it. I don't know if his mic's on. Did you turn it off? Give him that other one. Give him that other mic there, AJ, right next to you, right next to you. Try that one. Jesus. Try that. There we go. Come on, AJ. I don't think you're on. Two mics.

1:01:43Really, it's an honor and a privilege, man, to come back to your own time to coach this. Okay. And to clean up, we were number one. And that ain't me, man. That's the players that I coach. Okay. They come out with rankings and that. I got good players, man. This organization will supply you with people. You got to know what you're doing. You got to give them a direction. And these players will work their butt off if you know what you're doing. And really, it's a credit to our players. I got good players, man. I got good players that work their butts off. Those of you who watch practice, you see it.

1:02:11And it's an honor and a privilege to be a part of it.

1:02:14Pat McAfee:This year, is there a different buzz with how much Omar Khan and the front office have gone all in with this particular team? Have you thought about that? You know, I get puzzled in the media when I watch some of this stuff. They say, like, what coach is on a hot seat? What about, man, I'm on a hot seat every day. Okay? I don't look like that. I'm on a hot seat every day. This stuff changes so quickly. So I don't feel no heat, no pressure. I put the pressure on myself. I expect us to win, and I expect us to win it all every damn year. And I don't change. AJ has a question for you, Coach. Coach, what are you trying to – in training camp right now, today, first day of pads, what are you looking at to see some guys maybe that you haven't seen tested yet?

1:02:53You know, and you did it, you know, for a living. We got a movement, you know, who moves, who can cover in space, who has some agility. There's no real game planning at this time. So you don't really get to mentally check on them. But you get the physicality of it and the physical part of it with the change of direction, the hand placement, the foot work, you know, the pad level and things like that. So I'm consistently, constantly watching other drills too, along with my own, to evaluate them.

1:03:22Pat McAfee:Yeah, can you talk about how guys need to get a heads up that the way they're going to make it in the league is through special teams and your messaging to them for that? It's changed a lot, you know, over my years. But our head coach heads up, you know, Mike T does a great job. Mike T is great with me. supply me time, supply me players, okay, then it's up to me to get it done. And that's as simple as I can put it. But a lot of guys, that's the only way they make it. I tell them all the time. I say, okay, I want you to be the starting linebacker. I want you to be the starting running back. Damn, I want to be the head coach.

1:03:51But that ain't happening, okay? I ain't the head coach, and you ain't the starting running back, so we got a pretty good job. Let's take care of it.

1:03:57Pat McAfee:And that's what I tell them. That's a great message. That's a great delivery. Hopefully they get the point. Go ahead, D-Bone. Hey, I was blessed to play with some great special teams coordinators Scottie O 'Brien in New England, McMahon in Indy. How have you – you've been doing it a long time, and Pat just mentioned, you've got to relate to the entire roster. But how do you get that juice? How do you bring that same juice every day? You know, and you know, there are some great names right there, man. They're predecessors that helped pave the way for me. I mean, they really are. And I respect them so much.

1:04:25And it's just – it's a mindset, you know, it's a mindset. You've got to come out all the time. And, you know, if I've supplied the energy, man, they'll follow. If you let players middle the round, you played one of them. If you let players middle the round, they will. Okay? How am I going to ask them to give energy if I don't? That's the way I coach. I really believe in that when I tell them all the time. I want you to know what you're doing and why you're doing it. Then you're a better player.

1:04:49Pat McAfee:Coach, why'd you have Antonio Brown in the fourth quarter return punts whenever you're up 21 points with six minutes left? Let me tell you. Let me tell you a quick story. Please do. Pat always brings this up on the times that we got him. He don't ever bring up the time he got me. Yeah, yeah, Thanksgiving, baby. Okay, Thanksgiving. Yeah, a lot of people watch it. Yeah, you ruined my damn dinner. I couldn't even eat. I go home from India. My damn stomach, I'm puking on the damn bus on the way home. I can't eat Thanksgiving dinner. Yeah, good. Okay, because he runs a fake because he got big balls and will do things like that.

1:05:23Yeah, yeah, exactly. And he faking, faking, faking, throws a pass for a first time, and it's on me. So there's two sides to those stories.

1:05:31Darius Butler:Okay, tell me there's a question for you. Yeah, Coach, before you show fakes to the team, do you have to run them by Coach Tomlin, and what's that meeting like?

1:05:39Pat McAfee:I can't even hear you. Hey, when you're running fakes, hey, when you try to run a fake or do something, running them by Coach Tomlin, what is that like? I've always said this. Like, when I was young in the NFL, I have a good arm. You saw that. You experienced that. I'm also punt, pass, and kick champion here for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Troy Polamalu is showing up over there. Feels like you guys had film at our practice. Fuck you. Now, with that being said, But always had a good arm. Always had a good arm. When I was young in the NFL, I wanted to run more fakes. I'm like, hey, I'm watching these punters throw these balls, and everybody's talking about how athletic they are.

1:06:11Pat McAfee:I could just let me spin one here. Let me do it. And Ray Richleski, who was the head coach, and Jim Caldwell was the head coach, special teams was Ray. He said, so let me get this straight. We're going to take Peyton Manning off the field. Okay, we're going to take Peyton Manning off the field. We're going to take Reggie Wayne off of the field. We're going to take Dallas Clark off of the field. We're going to take Joseph Adai off of the field. And then we're going to have you do the offense for us. That makes sense. And if it doesn't work, they're going to go the other way. Usually good teams don't do a lot of trickery shit.

1:06:43Pat McAfee:Now you do your own shit. Returns, fakes drawn up. What are those conversations like with Tomlin? And how aggressive do you think you guys are compared to the rest of the NFL? It's a great point. And Pat, the way I do it is this, man. There are fakes and there are trick plays. And the way that I define that is this. A fake is something that we see that we want to take advantage of. Okay? We saw something on tape. They're weak over here. They don't cover this. Like we were going to do against you for Troy Paul Muller. Ruined it all when I was going to score a touchdown. But I knew. I knew. So we covered that stuff and we didn't let it get away with it.

1:07:17Now trick play is I come out with some crazy formation or something. And I'm trying to trick you. And sometimes it tricks on me. Yeah. For real. And that's what it is. If I don't know where you're going to align and things like that, it's a trick play. And I believe in fakes. I don't believe in trick plays. Got it. Okay. So, with that in mind, we cover that stuff. Okay. And we'll challenge each other on that. I'm talking about players, coaches, everything. If the players are comfortable and confident in running, it takes a situation to get it. We'll go in the game with all the fakes, okay. That don't mean we're running one every week.

1:07:48This ain't a trick-em-dick-em-lick. You don't win like that. Okay. You got to beat them. You got to beat your opponent. Okay. We got to do field position. We got to block kick. We got to return balls. We got to do those things to win. Okay. But every now and then, like Peyton Manning and the names that he's mentioning, we try to steal the possessions. You know, it's like a turnover. You can't give Peyton Manning the ball all the damn time. You can't give Joe Burrows all his reps. You can't give those guys all their reps. You try to steal the possession. It's a turnover. So we'll run something like that.

1:08:19Pat McAfee:Immediately upon hearing Joe Burrows' name, they send him their best wishes. Lock Joe Burrows. Yeah, exactly. Good luck for him going through a lot out there. Last thing I would like you to hit upon, and I assume if you didn't, they would talk shit about you. Can you tell me about Boz, Johnson, and Koontz, your kicker, punter, long snapper? You guys got dogs across the board. That is a comforting feeling, I assume, for the Swishkins. We're good there. I mean, we really are. And Boz is special. Nothing is too big for him. He wants the big kick. He gets pissed off when we don't do the 56, 57 in that range.

1:08:56So I'll piss him off in practice. I'll put the ball at the 35, which will be a 53-yard field goal, and I'll call for the punt team. And he calls me every name in the book. And I always say, hey, just heads up here. Watch balls. Watch his balls. And he ain't paying attention. He's walking. And I say, all right, balls are on the 35. It's fourth and three. Let's go. Let's go. Punt, punt, punt. What do you mean punt? I'm a pick and dip. And he goes crazy. So that's good to see. So he's a good player and he'll be good. We got a punt battle. We got a punt battle. We got a punt battle. Cam is a great punter, okay?

1:09:25Cam has got credentials. Cordis came in last year and did a great job. We got a battling camp, man. We really do. They are great players. They are great guys. They are great teammates. They are great workers. They're two good players, man. They're two NFL punters, and I'm blessed to have them both. Hell yeah. And at a long snap, you know, Christian is as tough as it gets, okay? Well, he's a Duquesne graduate. We got other people in there. We're going to have competition in there and things like that. But Christian don't miss snaps. Christian don't miss games. And you know how that is. You know, when you've got the continuity, you should be better.

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1:11:06Pat McAfee:It's happening in a big way here in Laetrobe, Pennsylvania. About an hour east of AccraSure Stadium. the artist formerly known as Heinz Field. I will say earlier before the show, I went on to my maps to see exactly how far we were from the stadium downtown. I put Heinz Field in there. It did not show up. Oh, no. End of an era. Now, that's Timmy Jobs, Timmy Apple. So I went over to Google, you know, and maybe it's just my app. Accra sure is the only thing showing up. Hate to say it. Down at the shore. Hate to say it. Hour and eight minutes from where we are right now. And in this batch of hills here.

1:11:58Pat McAfee:And this is the most western Pennsylvania thing of all time. Stages built on the side of a hill. All the guardrails are like this. You got people kind of crunched down here. There is a drop off of a cliff on the other side of that over there. People lined up on a hill here. And at the bottom of this hill are two fields, field one and field two, where the Pittsburgh Steelers have worked their asses off since 1966. Father Paul, the CEO priest of this place, came in and chit-chatted about this entire college and everything that's happened here. They're thankful to be the home of the Steelers. They're the right home of the Steelers.

1:12:37Pat McAfee:And this is one of the things that is just synonymous with the NFL training camp at St. Vincent College. Let's go to the toxic table. At Ty Schmidt, at Boston, Connor. Connor, they've been chanting things from 2017 at you, which I appreciate. But football people respect football people, am I right? Yeah, I appreciate it as well. I mean, the rules are rules. Some Steelers fans, you know, get it. Some don't. It seems it's kind of a mixed bag out there today, which has been nice. But it's a pleasure being down here at the Trobe, as they call it. It's hot as hell. I don't know if it's translated through the television.

1:13:11probably one of the hotter programs we've ever had but it is awesome there's nothing like this you know like taking the program on the road I forget what the hashtag was I wish I remember what it was from the Home Run Derby but it's doing these live shows with you guys is so much fun and it's just great seeing football on the field

1:13:26Pat McAfee:you called it the Trobe I believe for Latrobe down there at the Trobe okay I got that we should say day Trobe I think because the way they say is but remember the show down in Morgantown Remember, it got so hot that it went off air. Yeah, the generators blew up. We were a little worried today as the heat was rising and what Kabo-Li has said about this particular heat that we're going to have a similar issue. But this is exactly what Tomlin wants. This is exactly what Khan wants. And if we know the cut of the jib of this particular team, this is exactly what they want. Let's get it hardened out here.

1:13:59You guys are kind of sounding like Euros, like Europeans. No, no, no. Complaining about the heat. Oh, you watched the first half in the locker room? It gets too hot? Yeah, it's too hot. What is this? That's nine-year NFL. A guy can't be cold. A guy can't be hot. What the fuck, man? Just be a guy. Just be a guy. Don't be hot.

1:14:18Pat McAfee:AJ's got black pants on, black shirt. He's hot as shit. That's AJ Hawk, nine-year NFL vet, who's also a Broad County Hall of Famer, which is South Florida, which it is always 120 degrees, Darius Butler. And one half of the hammer. That does feel pretty cool. Cowboys AP tone. I think it's a beautiful day out here in the Latrobe tone.

1:14:37Darius Butler:It is awesome. I mean, you guys are talking about hot, cold. It's football weather. It's football weather. Boom. Whether it's 15 or 95, we all know these fans are going to show up. We all know Steelers are going to go for the seventh and the party. Like, looking out into the, like, we grew up, most of us grew up around, you know, these parts or whatever. You can just kind of smell it in the air. Like, this time of year, you kind of smell the football in the air. I can only imagine what the locker room smells like and brings back all those memories. But being here, coming here as a kid and into high school, like, this is the best.

1:15:05Darius Butler:This is awesome. I agree.

1:15:06Pat McAfee:It's been a nice trip down nostalgia lane for us. We can't wait to watch practice immediately after this show ends. There will be practice out on this field. We will head down there and watch the boys do their thing. And we'll try to hold back A.J. for A.J. Hawkins. Physicality for A.J. Hawkins. Let's talk about some NFL news. Big news broken on our show by Adam Schefter is that Christian Wilkins playfully kissed a teammate on the forehead. Sure. Then I said they want the H &R, and they get released. Now$35.2 million in guarantees with the handling of a surgery or non-surgery is in limbo. And this story is obviously blown up because it's such an abnormal-type headline.

1:15:47Pat McAfee:What we were told was a kiss on the forehead. Now you got every other media person that's been stooping around with it going, that ain't what all happened. There was more that took place. Weird scene over there in Vegas. but this is maybe the most ridiculous training camp story that I've heard in some time, A.J. Hall. Yeah, we've had some ridiculous ones over the years, if you think back, but it can't just be one thing, right? Like, usually there's things leading up to situations like this. If it's one thing, then this one thing has to be more than a kiss on the forehead or a kiss on the top of the head to get someone.

1:16:21I'm saying there had to be something leading. Well, that's what everybody else is saying. We like to say allegedly. Yeah, allegedly. Allegedly, but I'm not saying anything about Christian, but it's tough for one thing as the final death blow on someone. Okay, you're gone. See you. We already paid$35 million or whatever. Could be the cherry on top. Yeah, could be the cherry on top is what I'm saying. Literally. Big-time player like that, and we always talk about the sanctity of the locker room, and that's our locker room. Coaches aren't even really allowed in there. So with something like that, whenever you bring it up, HR, I don't think I can remember any instance in my career.

1:16:52I brought up HR, though.

1:16:53Pat McAfee:So a lot of people started running away. That was in the report, though, right? No, yeah. Was it? I don't think it was HR. I think it was coach or GM probably. Okay, okay. Which is basically NFL HR. I thought I saw. I did Schefter's podcast with him yesterday, and I believe he said that whoever came forward did go to HR. Never even knew that was. Oh, so when I said HR, I didn't, yeah. I was kind of like. Yeah, tongue in cheek, but I believe that is actually what happened. I was doing kiss on cheek there. Playfully. You go to H &R for these types of things. In the NFL, I didn't even know that was possible.

1:17:24Pat McAfee:Exactly. So there's so many things a part of the story that are wild. We'll continue to monitor it because we are journalists. Let's chit-chat a little bit about other stories happening around the NFL. We briefly mentioned it before Danny Smith and Coach Tomlin came on. Trey Hendrickson is back with the Cincinnati Bengals! He really stuck it to him! That's a joke. That's embarrassing. Okay. And I get it. It's great for the Bengals. He's there, all that stuff. He folded like a flip-flop all right, and I just have to say to he came on the program during the Super Bowl The Grom if you will Hey, I really really don't want to do this I really don't want to do this supposed to be Trey and then it sounds just like if you did you know Hopefully he gets a response.

1:18:11He does it because the Bengals front office there Mr.. Brown promised him something He promised him we're gonna take care of you treating him like a bag of shit actually no Mr.. Brown said But, yeah, I mean, at some point you got to be, you know, at least a little grateful. I think he called him Trey Henderson as well. Like, watching what Mike Brown said, watching what has happened since his first initial interview in February gives him no reason to show up today. Absolutely not. If anything, it should kind of harden his stance. But, again, Trey Henderson. We don't know how this is going to work out.

1:18:43No, we don't. I like Trey Henderson. I like Trey Henderson would be on the Patriots. I think everybody up here wants him on the team. The Colts, we went on the Colts. He's unbelievable. And that's why it's one of those things where, okay, so Trey Hendrickson is kind of acting like a wuss, and it sucks to say, kind of being a little bit of a. Don't do it. Trey's trying to do business.

1:19:07Pat McAfee:He's trying to do business. He said, all right, I'm going to do what others have done in the past. I'm going to leave. Okay, I'm going to get fined$350 ,000. I assume that will get taken care of on the next contract. I think the way he is doing it or viewing it, we would hope, is like, hey, let's get back to this. Let's try to sort this out because he's probably missing ball, if I had to guess. That's definitely part of it. But I understand that holding out, a part of it is you're going to have to miss ball. Of course you're going to miss ball. Yeah. That's what you do. That's kind of the way it goes.

1:19:31I think there is also a chance, and I said this from the start, he may be just resetting the Squeak's glory scale. All right. Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen. That's embarrassing. 16 to 17 more opportunities for them to rip on him, and then, hey, Robert's going to meet the road. He's a coward. He's a man of the cloth. That's a floatable. He's a brother. He's a brother of Christ. Yes, exactly. That's why I'm saying this. But I also have to acknowledge the facts, but fair. He's acting like a coward.

1:20:03Pat McAfee:No, he might get a deal done. We shall see. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a Western Pennsylvania legend. I'll say it. The greatest official in the history of officiating. Basketball. Football, you name it. Paizano, Gene Steratore.

1:20:26Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. I want to be a ref. I'm lying. I'm dead. I want to be a ref. You hear that? They're talking about you, brother. I want to be a ref. Yeah. I want to be a ref. Yeah.

1:20:41Pat McAfee:That's for you, Gino. Hey, you got a mic right over there. Congratulations on CBS just announced all the crews. You're right down there, lower left corner. Rules analyst, Gene Steratore, back for CBS. I love it, Patty. I love it. I love it. We're psyched for another year. But listen, before we start, if I may, you know in Pittsburgh, we bear gifts. Yes, you do. Yes, we do. This is for everybody here. This is special. So if we can pay attention, it's like having that announcement. You know, it's really important. Okay. So we got everyone's attention. We're great gift givers here in Pittsburgh. We're also legendary lovers of the game.

1:21:20That's right. And we know you are as well as a Western Pennsylvania person. This comes from the athletic director at St. Vincent College, D.P. Harris, that was gifted to him that he would like to pass along as a gift to you and the guys. Holy shit. That is a Pittsburgh Steeler signed football by the one, the only, Mean Joe Green. Wow. That's so sick. Wow. DP Harris. Right there, Patty. Right there, DP. Thank you, DP. That's a classic DP football. Thank you, DP. That is sick.

1:21:55Pat McAfee:Yeah, this will make the desk. There you go. I appreciate that, DP. There you go. Great delivery through Paisano, who we love. Okay, Gino, thank you for that. You're the man. I've always been a massive fan of yours. Before I got to the league, while I was in the league, now that I'm retired, you're the greatest ever. You, I think there's a couple. You, Ed, that's about it. There's a few others that are your friends, I assume, but none of them really popped up in my mind. And I think it's because you're such a skilled communicator, but I think also because of how much you love the game. How much do you think being a Western Pennsylvania guy, and also Paizano, I mean, you just said we love football, we love giving gifts.

1:22:31Pat McAfee:You guys all look really good. Thank you. You too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We are. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you know. Yeah. How much do you think being from this area has helped with you becoming the football guy for all of us. You are the authority. Something happens in a game. What happened here? Let's go to fucking Gene Starr. Gene, what is going on? You are the voice of football for a lot of people. How much do you think growing up in this area is a part of that? You know what? I think it's a tremendous part of it. I mean, I was a sophomore in high school in 1978, 79, right? Oh, look at that.

1:23:06Italians might have the same. Yes, they do. It's just really what. You know what it is? first and foremost it's this amazing facility and we're in the hills of Pennsylvania it's the community it's blue-collar people that look you in the eye it's blue-collar football it's checking in with your fan to put in the dorm window so it's kind of everything and yeah I think that's the foundation for it and then officiating was in my blood my late father was a ref for 30 plus years of both major college football and basketball. So all of that combined, and I think you said it right, Pat, it's the love of this whole game and what it means to players, coaches, and just people, right?

1:23:50It is everything.

1:23:52Pat McAfee:Football's the greatest. Obviously, you're an incredible basketball official as well. This has been spectacular as people are filling in for practice to watch. Are you working these practices? What are you doing? Because I know back in the day, refs used to get their reps in at training camp, then there would be a meeting afterwards. You led one that I watch. All right, guys, this year we got this shit going. What is the messaging from officials to players this year? Actually, my role today is to come down here to see you and the fellas and to just say what's happening. Welcome home to those that are on the road and really kind of get the feeling that the NFL is definitely here.

1:24:28It's back again another year. A lot of new stuff in the officiating window. There's a few new nuances that I know you guys have gone over a little bit already. No, no, we would like you to talk about it. Yeah, I mean, the one that affects that I know you could talk to a bunch is the touchback being at the 35. You know, a lot of people think 30 to 35 is not a big difference. That five yards is huge. It means a ton if you get two first downs or even one, and then you're even punting. Field position, you know, so I think that's a big one. They also condense those formations a little tighter, so space and speed are even more limited a little bit with the kickoff play.

1:25:04and I think what you're going to see now is the talented kickers like you were, Pat. Thank you. They're going to put that thing between the five and the ones, so we want to increase the returns. We want that activity to happen, so I think it's a big step for that reason, and I think it ran pretty well last year.

1:25:20Pat McAfee:1 ,600 more plays is what they were pitching last year whenever they made this, but that was when it was a 35-yard touchback. Whenever they softened it and moved it to 30, I thought that was a bad idea. I was literally loud, and you talk about that five yards being a vast difference. If you look at the percentages of scoring when you're at the 35 versus when you're at the 30 versus when you're at the 25, vast difference. That's why I think the 35 was the right play all along. Happy there. That does look explosive. How about the Hawkeye technology? It's breaking my heart a little bit. Okay. I mean, we can't pull the penalty card out now.

1:25:50No. I did want to pitch that could we just get an animated, you know, come out maybe on a close one, right, and then put it down. But listen, it's going to make the game more efficient. measurements take almost two minutes of downtime. So we want to move through that rather quick, get back to the snaps. So I'm digging it. It's, you know, we're embracing technology. Let's get this done. I do like the chain crew, though, man. It was a special bond that we had as refs with that crew. They were getting taken out last year. So we got to keep them there. You never know when maybe technology doesn't work.

1:26:23So we want to keep the chain crews there in the event that we have a breakdown. And Western Pennsylvania here.

1:26:30Pat McAfee:We don't want to be taking jobs from anybody. We don't need to be taking any chain crew guys. Especially AI. Yeah, we don't need these robots taking any jobs out here in western Pennsylvania. Here is obviously the index card moment. What a moment in the history of this sport. I guess you could say this will never happen again. Just like I did a couple of surprise onside kicks, it doesn't ever happen again either. So we'll just go down as the greatest of all time. Now, on that note, AJ has a question for you. So as the White Hat, when you have the mic and you're announcing to the world in the stadium and all the millions watching on TV, you're probably the best to ever do it.

1:27:04Was that something you actually had to work on and practice? Do they teach you when you're coming up, when you're training? Do they teach you, hey, if you're the guy, you need to enunciate, you need to put on a good message and be crisp and clear on what we're doing. Is that part of referee school or whatever they do? Yeah, I mean, it really is. And I leaned on the legends that were before me, AJ. I was very fortunate that Jerry Mark Bright, who was really like the first true, I think Tunney, Mark Bright, Cashin, they were the first referees that had to speak on the mic, right? So that really is a daunting task for some people to think of.

1:27:36Like, hey, here we go, one shot on me. I got to explain this right. And let's face it, man, that's live television that's right on your waist. You get one take. Oh, yeah. So there's a lot of little nuance to it.

1:27:47Pat McAfee:Only 50 million people watching you deliver a monologue. Right. That's bigger than any late night show host. That's bigger than anybody else that has a one shot on national television. And you're speaking for the game. Like you are representing the game. You stutter, whole league looks like an asshole. You get it wrong, the game looks broken. Like for new fans, like that's a lot of pressure. And some of them do melt in the moment, it feels like. I feel like that should be something that is taken into it. We need a little moxie from the way. I think the other thing too, quite honestly, and we all talk, right?

1:28:16I mean, officials all talk when we retire, we want to give back. We want to continue to pass the message. There's a bridging in the NFL that's different with other sports with the referee announcement. You are that bridge a little bit between the production of the game, the talent. So there's enough information. And quite frankly, I talk a little bit too much every once in a while. No, no, no. I think it's good. Maybe it was a little too much. We need more. So I think there was that good balance where officials do become part of the production of that show for that moment. So own that space. Control it.

1:28:47but try to keep your individual personality involved as well. And it's not an easy subset. You guys know what it's like, right? Well, what you do is not easy as you're... Because you've got to get it right. And we know, we've seen other people try and not do very well. What's kind of hard is after you kind of missed a 50-50 play and you guys were a lot closer than you feel like you are now to me, and then you had to kind of click and become one with the living room. You know, that wasn't always easy to do right in that space.

1:29:13Pat McAfee:Yeah, the interactions between players who are pissed at you And then, excuse me, I've got to talk to 50 million people, actually. This guy right here. You saw it. We all saw it. I mean, it's a moment. You need to have confidence. And if you don't have confidence, I think the game isn't taken as serious. Like, I legitimately think that Whitecaps speaking to the audience is one of the most important parts of the game. It can ruin the entire league. How do you feel about now? Connor has a question. Yeah, my darling, it feels like right now the refs, there's a new ref accountability initiative kind of and I think it was last year maybe there were two refs left let go I think Roger Goodell kind of talked about it a little bit at the NFL draft when he came on the Grum but how do you feel about it when it comes to people wanting referees to do a press conference or do something I know they released a sheet of paper and explain the stuff but sometimes that kind of gets missed yeah what do you think about kind of that future you know I mean, the first point of it, I would tell you from the accountability portion of it, it may not be like public consumption, that type of knowledge.

1:30:19The accountability level to the officials in the NFL is of such a high level, and the scrutiny is so detailed for the right reasons that they're held accountable to a place that you really could not imagine unless you lived a week of an NFL ref and watched how that process took place. So it's really there. And like most things refs do, it's not for public consumption. I know the world wants to see officials stand up and take questions from a podium. Full time. Right. And get through that place. To me, listen, there's a window of what we, what officials do in every sport. That, look, if we called this game by the letter of the law or about what you said, look in the book, it says this.

1:31:00It's a foul. You could have ten questions in the last three minutes of every game and by the book say those are fouls, right? I know but the art of what we did was it was that three to five percent of that gray that understood the second part of it. Yeah he did get held a little. They also ran the football nine yards away from them on the other side. Did this have an impact. I would have got there. No you want to be. You always have to take the individual into it as well. Milk. Milk. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check.

1:31:35Pat McAfee:That's knowing the game, though. That's just the way that I kind of look at it. Gene, what you're talking about is knowing the game, though. Well, that's part of this whole process, Patty, and really the nice part about football, as opposed to my hoop life. In hoops, you see a play, you just have a fraction. You're either going to blow the whistle or pass. Football, you could digest for two seconds, right? Like, watch the thing evolve because flags happen and plays finish. In hoops, you blew the whistle and it was over. You needed to, like, step up, right? A lot of those. But, yeah, I think it is part of understanding the game.

1:32:05And, quite frankly, that's the majority of the training that's done with new officials moving to this level. It's a little different.

1:32:12Pat McAfee:Don't we just need a pipeline of X players just to do a full-time, go to a university, go to an academy, work around the college, get a pool, make them full-time? Not saying we need to eliminate all full-time refs. But don't we think X players would be great refs? I've always thought that. Do you agree? I think they would understand the game. I mean, yes. So, there's that portion of that. And I think most people that are into officiating in some capacity were part of organized sports to some level. But then there's this whole other piece, Pat, and that's managing these individuals in this environment, understanding when that game needs to kind of pick up a little bit, right?

1:32:49Like, let's keep the – look, you'll go to training camp. You'll be here today. That horn goes off, and we're playing things within seconds all day. You guys are programmed that way when you were practicing. Officials, a big part of what they do is when that play ends, get that football back in there, get it down and get out of the way and let them get into that rhythm of efficiency. That's how they've been programmed. If we are lax as an officiating group and being not efficient there, things get choppy, right? We have another call stop. You know what I mean? We get down on ourselves a little bit.

1:33:20Pat McAfee:And also, if there's a flag, a holding, we don't need four straight penalties. Unless it's a full giveaway. The feel that you're talking about, it seems like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It feels like the officiating need feel. I think the only way you get that is from reps, which I think a couple years ago a lot of those young refs were ass. Last year it wasn't a lot of, hey, these refs sucks conversations by us on Monday. I think that's good, right? Don't you think? Patience, patience, patience. I don't got it. I lost the bet because you guys can't call a goddamn battle. I remember. They had two of them in prime time.

1:33:48Remember? Game winner. Chiefs Mahomes and Donald got his face ripped off.

1:33:52Pat McAfee:Yeah, you guys can't make a call. I lose a bet. I hate the refs. but there's about 100 different moments where the refs make the right call and we don't give them any credit. So I think last year was a good officiating year. Yes. I agree. Knock on wood. Knock on wood. D-Bot has a question for you. You never want to be the conversation. But talking about understanding the game, I know as players and even playing for Belichick, we would kind of go over the referees and what calls they call, what do they stay away from. And he would always say, do business as business is being done. Coming into the game when it's certain, maybe like a Ravens-Steelers game, Do you come in and say, hey, we're going to kind of let the players kind of dictate the outcome of this game and kind of stay out of it, fourth quarter, overtimes, fourth downs?

1:34:33Is that a conversation with Russ before games, before quarters? I've got to be honest with you. I know how you guys scouted us. I did it. And it was right for that. You knew who was coming in. You knew what percentage of holds we called. You knew where we were because that's who you are. That's why you lived in that space. We did the same thing. Did it every game. First, it was a team-team matchup. Then it was individual matchups. And then it was talking to each official or creating a playlist from previous games to show what this matchup is going to bring to you as an official that's on the line of scrimmage who has a number two receiver in the slot plus a left tackle today.

1:35:06Like, this is how your matchup is. It's his rookie left tackle. And it's T.J. Watt on the edge, right? So make sure that rookie left tackle is up on the line of scrimmage. Don't let him creep off. But make sure T.J. doesn't have his hands creeping in the neutral zone either. We're going to keep it cleaner. That was my matchup. So, yes, you constantly are building matchups that way in preparation for what's going to happen the next day. Because just like you guys, when you focus and practice and you went to those 10 bullet points that we got to do to win, when they started happening on Sunday, the level of calmness and confidence that we prepared properly for this game, that was taking place in real time.

1:35:41And we were telling each other that on the sideline. The same thing was happening with me and my crew, right? We'd go over that two or three plays, and now that play happened on Sunday at 2.15. First thing I was doing was pressing my button, letting that crew know. We just talked about that at 3 o 'clock yesterday in the pregame. Remember? Elevation of that. And then I think I always went to the alpha, what I felt was the alpha on each side of the ball. Many times it was the quarterback because he dictated the tempo for me as a referee. But I wanted to find the alpha on the defensive side to let him know.

1:36:11Play on the edge. That's what made you great. But trust me that if I think you've gone over that edge and it's not good for the game, that if I just can check you back down one click to get back on the edge, then we all live in that space. When that trust occurred between player, referee, then manage the game and let the players do what they do. It's why they played it. And still the Ravens, not because I'm from here, toughest regular season matchups kind of for me. And again, not because I'm here. and I was part of that Monday night game with Hans and Ed Reed and Rashard Mendenhall fractured his shoulder on the second play and we went into overtime and I flipped a coin and it didn't flip over and it hit the ground.

1:36:56And I left my ref hat on the bed the day before at my home. And Coach Tomlin actually knew I left my ref hat on the bed. And he wanted to let me know that as we went into overtime. Like I might not have been always there. So, yeah, there was just in that space and living in that environment is quite frankly what we all love. It's why you still talk about this the way we do and the passion. Because that's kind of what we were all addicted to, right? Living in that high altitude of space and being so aware of everything around you that only that space maybe can put you in is kind of what I know that that's why I did what I did.

1:37:36Pat McAfee:All right, Gino, last question here from fellow Paisan AP Tone. you stay the best for last

1:37:54Darius Butler:to stick in the blood OH Today I know coach Tomlin as a baby. I don't mean to come in rest out here today. Yeah what position group when you're out here in training camp talks to you guys the most fundamental You mean like out on the field, what position? Not during a game. No, no, no. Like a player position today. Like is it DB? DBs talk a lot. The DBs start talking before it even starts. Right? They're talking while they're stretching. So, yeah, the DBs. Coach here? Stay away from Danny Smith. He's my main man. I called a penalty my rookie year real quick in Washington when they were called a different name.

1:38:32I announced on a punt that the hold was on 44 against Washington. Right? I was a rookie referee second game. Danny Smith starts running down the sideline screaming, who's the foul on rookie? Because they know. I said, I told you it's 44. He goes, really? I said, yeah. He goes, you know who 44 is here? I'm like, who held? He said, no, look at the Ring of Honor. It's John Riggins. You just called a penalty on John Riggins. Because I have the number wrong, you know. But Danny, one of the best. Those interactions are what you miss.

1:39:02Pat McAfee:Yeah, well, we all miss you on the field. We're thankful you're on TV for yet another year. Thank you for the gift from the DP here. The DP here. Thank you for always being so kind to us. You're the man. You're a legend. You're actual GOAT. Ladies and gentlemen, Chase Sardos. Thanks, fellas. Hey, Gino. Gino, boy, Gino. Hey, I appreciate you, man. Thank you. Thank you, Gino. All right. Appreciate it. Good luck this year. Bye, Zon. Great to see you. All right, Madon.

1:39:28Darius Butler:I got you. Hey, it's a good-looking house. You guys playing bocce? It's a good-looking house. Hey, a lot of love you, Gino texts coming from people around Pittsburgh.

1:39:38Pat McAfee:Gino's living legend. Now, speaking of living legend, there's a man who is creating his own path for an organization that is riddled with tradition and history. Ladies and gentlemen, the man who is simply known as the con artist, the general manager for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Omar Khan. What's up man? How you doing Omar? How you doing? How you doing? Good to see you. Ito. Appreciate you man. Ito. Hell yeah. You got that handheld right next to you there. Mr. Khan great congrats on a hell of an offseason training camp. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. So thanks for having me on.

1:40:25Pat McAfee:No thank you for joining us. Thank you for the hospitality. Thank you for everything. How about these fans, man? They're the best, man. Oh, yeah. Everywhere. The best there is. It's been amazing. I was here as a child. I think Tone was here as a kid and as a high schooler. It's basically the pilgrimage that every Yenzer feels like they have to make. Since 1966, the place has been here. Since the beginning of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Steelers have operated in one particular way. And I know you've heard a lot of this, I assume, because we've chatted about it a lot, and a lot of Steelers fans have.

1:40:54Pat McAfee:completely different offseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year? Was that the mindset going into the offseason? Was it like, hey, we're going to bring in a top-tier free agent in DK Metcalf and pay him$30 million? We're going to make a trade for Jalen Ramsey and Jonu Smith. We're going to bring in four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers. Darius Slay is going to come in. You're hunting stars and paying guys. Very abnormal for you. Mindset going into the offseason, or how did we kind of get here, you think? Yeah, I think going into the offseason, you know, we reflected on how things ended last year, and that wasn't good enough.

1:41:29And some things had to be different. And, you know, every one of those things was a case-by-case situation.

1:41:38They love you, buddy. They absolutely love you. They were all case-by-case. We just got to be better, you know. And I don't necessarily want to say we tried something new, because every one of those situations was unique. But we just got to be better. You know, the way last year ended up left a bad taste in our mouth. And, you know, that's unacceptable.

1:41:58Pat McAfee:And the Yenzers fans are all behind you. These moves that you've made, I haven't even heard any old miserable Yenzers say that they hate that you're spending money in the way that you're spending and everything like that. Get the T.J. Watt deal done as well. I mean, so much stuff. Was that always going to happen? Because the way the insiders talked about it whenever they would come on our show, they're like, T.J. and the Steelers are going to get a deal done. We all know that. and then he holds out of the mandatory minicamp. In your eyes, always going to get done? It was just a matter of when?

1:42:26It was, you know, we felt confident. It was always a goal of ours. You know, TJ's one of those guys. I mean, how awesome is TJ, man? He's just awesome, man. Awesome on the field, off the field. And he's one of those guys that, you know, he's going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. And you know what the reality is? He should be a one-helmet Hall of Famer. And to have him to get the deal done, and, you know, hopefully that's not the last deal we do with him. We think he's got a lot of football left. But that was important to us, and I'm glad we got it done, especially before Cam.

1:42:54Pat McAfee:Was there anxiety, though? Had to be. You know, these things always take a little longer than you hope. I was always confident we'd get it done. It's just a process, but, you know, we got it done. That's all that matters. You know, he's a stealer. He was happy, too. We saw him earlier. Myself, Cam, D-Butt, and AJ, and the boys all talked about how much money he has now. So just know that we let him know that he got a great deal, but he's earned it, obviously, true at all. Yeah, he's well-deserved. Last question from me before the boys have some. So the rumors now out on the internet are that you guys are maybe one of the favorites for Terry McLaurin.

1:43:27Pat McAfee:Not going to ask you about that because that would be a stupid thing for you to answer on our show. But the fact that your team is being mentioned to be a part of the teams that could get him means that people have looked at your salary cap and think that you could get Terry McLaurin to become a Pittsburgh Steeler. Now, whether or not he is going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or any other team, how have you been able to navigate the salary cap gymnastics to pay everybody and still have room if you were to sign another big time player and you have 12 picks in next year's draft that is being held in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania they call you the con artist and the business that you've been able to do here is absolutely Jesus thank you for the pine cone we'll smoke this later the um the entire thought of how have you been able to navigate it and and what are you focusing on when you're getting these deals done.

1:44:14Pat McAfee:$30 million to DK. $41 million to TJ. Jalen Ramsey's here on money. Patrick Queen just got paid, let alone Cam and everybody else that you have that's worth money. What are you focused on while you're doing this? And do you think you're not getting enough credit for the salary cap gymnastics that you're doing that others have done in the past? Well, with respect to the credit, you know, until we win a Super Bowl, I don't really deserve any credit. But the reality is, you know, our goal is to win a Super Bowl this year. And every move we make is reflective of that. And, you know, we understand we can't sacrifice the future.

1:44:44But, you know, we won the Super Bowl this year. And the moves that we made and how we've structured these contracts, it's with that goal in mind.

1:44:51Pat McAfee:Are you done? I mean, you never say you're done. But, you know, I really like the group that we have here. And, you know, we've done a lot this offseason. And, you know, we'll see. If there's ever an opportunity to improve the team, you know, we'll think about it and talk about it. But, you know, we feel good about the team, Pat. Yeah, but your phone works here, you're saying. Phone does work here, though. Always. It works in La Trobe. AJ has a question for you. What's it like when you first introduce the idea of, say, like, all that you got, you sign these big-time players, say DK Metcalfe. When you first float that idea to Coach Tomlin, how does that initially, you know, come about?

1:45:24And then, like, the process of that? I would imagine he's a pretty fun guy to go through a process like that, trying to go after these big-time stars. You talk about Coach T in the process? Coach T, yeah. He's awesome. Him and I work great together. And, you know, the – I don't remember if we heard about it we inquire how exactly it came about. But we, you know, like every big decision, you know, Coach and I will get together with our owner, Art Rooney, and we'll talk about it, see if it makes sense. And that was one of those where, you know, it worked out. And, you know, we watched DK in action.

1:45:53And, you know, to have the opportunity to have an impact player like that, it just made perfect sense for us.

1:45:59Pat McAfee:Whenever Mike Tomlin is recruiting Aaron Rodgers via text, are you telling him, hey, let's slip in there like, hey, we want to build a team, too, with the deals. Or was money something that was kind of figured out early in the entire process of potentially getting Aaron Rodgers? You know, with respect, I don't really want to get into the contract too much, Pat, but one thing I will say with Aaron is we had great communication. Contrary was reported out there, you know, and I don't know everything, but he communicated great with us, and we communicated great with him, and we were very upfront as to what our goals were, and, you know, he was upfront about his, and, you know, it just worked out.

1:46:35I'm glad he did. He's been awesome. Just getting to know him has been great.

1:46:38Pat McAfee:$11 million in starting quarterback contracts the last two years. No big deal. That's con artist football, baby. Tone Diggs has a question for you.

1:46:46Darius Butler:Can you kind of walk us through the Jalen and then the Jonu and then Minka going to Miami? Because, like, that kind of came out of nowhere. There was Jonu rumors a couple weeks, months before that, and, you know, kind of people just kind of – and then they went away. and then out of nowhere it was hey Jalen and then oh Minka's going there too and Jonu's coming like it was weird how it all came out how did that all come together sure you know I there was a word out there about Jonu being available this is before the draft and we we inquired about it and you know the conversation just sort of continued and it was a few weeks process and a couple months I guess and it just kind of came together and we just felt it made sense for us the opportunity to We get two Pro Bowl players, two impact, one on offense, one on defense.

1:47:34And it just made sense for us.

1:47:37Pat McAfee:So much money spent this offseason. A lot more than you probably could have predicted in one particular position. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Con, you kind of got to the key early with the DK Metcalf deal. It seemed after that some of those other wide receiver deals exploded with the TJ Watt one. It was kind of the opposite. You know, Miles, Max. I think there was a couple other pass rushers. Yeah, there you go. Daniil and now, of course, coming on the other end here is Micah, probably not Trey Hendrickson. What did you think when you see those numbers, when you see those massive deals? $40 million.

1:48:10How much does that change everything for you? Was there any point where you're close to getting a deal done with TJ and then, boom, you know, Miles or Max Crosby signs for$100 million guaranteed and then your deal changes? Like, was that going on when all those other contracts were happening? You know, without going at specifics of the negotiation, I'll just say it's obviously part of it because the players, you know, it's important to the players. But we also have to be careful and understand the structure of our roster and the contracts and what's coming forward and all that. So you take all that into account.

1:48:44But, you know, with TJ, I'm just so glad we got it done. Like, it meant a lot to him. It meant a lot to us. And like I said, he deserves to be a one-helmet Hall of Famer, and he represents us so well. and do you guys have him on? Oh, yeah. He's awesome. He's about as good as they get, is he not? Like, I mean, he just, yeah.

1:49:03Pat McAfee:Let's talk, though, about that question. All right. You see that Haslam has given out another gigantic, gigantic deal at a position that you have to work. That certainly changes everything for you, right? Does it not? Whenever the market changes that big? I mean, it went from, what, 32 to 40? To 40, yeah. Yeah, like there was no, usually things climb, especially at that position. but it goes all the way up to 40 all of a sudden. And now you've got Yenzers and Steelers fans. They all know immediately.

1:49:31Darius Butler:That's TJ's number.

1:49:32Pat McAfee:Okay, is TJ now, how is this going to work? You get a deal done. But that does change it, right, whenever the market changes? I mean, I'd be lying if I told you it didn't come into account as part of the conversation. I mean, it's natural. But, you know, that's how this goes. And like I said, at the end of the day, the goal was to get TJ done, and we got him. You're getting a text from somebody. Go ahead and check it. Go ahead and look. What happened? Haslam. What position? The one. How big? Biggest of all time. All time. Any position. Anyway, you need to do it. So it's a beautiful thing. D-Bott has the last question for you.

1:50:08I know why every GM is kind of different in their principles. Some people are just numbers guys. But how much do you think about when you sign a free agent or when you trade for somebody, how they're going to impact the guys already in that meeting room? Like signing to Jalen Ramsey and bringing out Darius Layover with JPJ and their development. and Muth, you're bringing in John U. Smith. How much do you think about a factor in it? It's a big part of it. You know, we don't just throw a dart and hope to sign a guy. Like, it's all props to make sure they fit in. They're Steelers, right? You grew up here, Tone.

1:50:38You know what it's like to be a Steeler. It would take us two days to go over all the characteristics and how special and unique that is. But every one of those is a case-by-case. And, you know, we evaluate to make sure that it makes sense for us. And those guys all have. You know, we're excited to have. I don't know if you guys had gotten to know a lot of those guys or had them on. I don't know who you guys had on, but we had a great, great locker room of guys right now. And I'm excited. I'm excited about this season. And, you know, excited for the first padded practice today. You remember those days, right?

1:51:10How awesome is that first day of padded practice, right? Coaches are so jacked up, too. It's as exciting for all of us as it is for them. Everyone wants to see people get knocked out cold. Well, also, you guys want to see who you drafted, see if they're the real deal.

1:51:20Pat McAfee:And we've obviously seen it in shorts. It's a big day. Is it your birthday? No, no, no, no. I don't know where that, but I'm happy to take the happy birthday wishes. I was about to have everybody sing to you. I'm happy we checked. No, no, not me. Happy birthday, Omar. We missed a few. You know, we missed a few. Thank you so much for stopping by. Thanks, guys. You're the man. Thank you for the hospitality. Come back and visit next year for sure. Okay. I have a question. Let's hear it. Aaron Rodgers on Tuesdays. How did the Pittsburgh Steelers organization feel about that particular? You know what?

1:51:51We have a PR director, Bert. I'll let you discuss that. We got our answer. Ladies and gentlemen, the general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Omar Khom. Omar Khom. Have a great day, man. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, dude. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Good luck this year, man.

1:52:08Pat McAfee:As we wrap up here on ESPN, we'll continue digitally on YouTube, ESPN +, Disney +, and TikTok Live. What a day it's been here in Le Troop, Pennsylvania. big shout out to the fans that have hung out with us here on either side this side over here has been in a pretty good spot they got his big ass pine tree that's gonna give him some shade. I appreciate you guys for hanging out. He just put a sandwich as possible.

1:52:44Pat McAfee:There's a chance that the Pittsburgh Steelers actually do go to the Super Bowl this year. The AFC is absolutely still stacked and loaded. The reigning AFC champions are the Kansas City Chiefs. Oh, yeah, don't forget Josh Allen in the Buffalo Bills. Oh, yeah, don't forget Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Joey Burrow, Trey Hendrickson in the Cincinnati Bengals. Anthony Richardson in the Indianapolis Colts. It is a murderer's row in the AFC. And the Pittsburgh Steelers and their fans do not give a damn about any of them. All they want to see is seven come back to this city. That's right. The seventh title coming to the Pittsburgh Steelers is what's on everybody's mind here.

1:53:27Pat McAfee:And it's been an honor to experience it. From all of us here in Latro, Pennsylvania, to you watching, wherever the hell you may be. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living. You're the greatest people on earth. Here we go. Steelers. Here we go. Pittsburgh. Nailed it. All right, we're off. All right, sweet. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Shave ice by the beach. A trip to the state fair. And a throwback flick at the local drive-in. They're more than just items to check off the summer bucket list. They're also opportunities to earn 2 % daily cash back when you use your Apple Card with Apple Pay.

1:54:11Apply for Apple Card now and use in minutes with Apple Pay. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch. Terms and more at applecard.com. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook.

1:54:57Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, we are now digital, and I've never thought that I'd get an opportunity to do this, but our dad is here. Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for Pittsburgh dad, please.

1:55:14Welcome to the Extrookins, guys.

1:55:17Pat McAfee:So is it La Trobe or La Trobe, Dad? You know what, Dad? That's a judgment call on your part. What did Mr. Rogers say? I don't remember. I was trying to think about it, honestly, because my dad says La Trobe. Diggs' dad says La Trobe. Artie Palmer says La Trobe. Yeah. So what do you think? You're kind of the... I would say La Trobe. It sounds more like Yinzerific that way. Yeah, La Trobe. Speaking of Yinzerific, how often do you come up to training camp? Is it every day, every step? Every single day. I quit my job in the summer I come up here and I sit with Steeler Nation get the team ready to get number seven How do you feel about this year's team dad?

1:55:52You know I'm going to go out on a limb here Pat I don't want to like I don't want to get too overreactive but I'm going to go ahead and say 17-0 Oh really? We got Aaron Rodgers now AJ Hawk We got Aaron Rodgers

1:56:06Pat McAfee:Okay so expectations very high for Pittsburgh dad is that normal for you or no? No, you know, sometimes it's normal, absolutely normal. Yeah, we're going to win all the time? All the time, every time. But what if there's a little hint of negativity that happens? Who said that? Well, I'm just saying. Was there some kind of Browns fan in the audience there? I don't think there's any Browns fans out here, Dad. There's a Bagels fan. Get them the hell out of here. I don't need that negativity up here. We have to start the whole camp over. No. Actually, not a bad idea. Pittsburgh, Dad, I think that'd be fun.

1:56:36Pat McAfee:I have a Pittsburgh, Dad. Everybody has a Pittsburgh, Dad. You are very similar to them. and we know that if Aaron Rodgers throws a pick to Patrick Queen on one of the first days of practice, there might be a little bit of, just like we fucking said, this guy's old and out of touch. Is that how you are? I heard that he threw interception on the first play. I was the first to go and email Omar Khan and tell him to get him out of here, but then I calmed down and I think he's still going to do a good job. Okay. Because he owes us a Super Bowl. I ain't forgot about Super Bowl XLV. I forgot about how the Packers greased up the ball with Wisconsin cheddar.

1:57:13So Mendenhall fumbled it. I forgot about that. I forgot about that dad.

1:57:16Pat McAfee:I didn't know that happened. Tone has a question for you dad.

1:57:18Darius Butler:Yeah dad obviously there's been some favorites over the years. Chris Fumata Malafalu. That's not his name. Chris Fumata Malafalu. Exactly. Malafalu. Yes. Fumata Malafalu. You put too many syllables in that. Kimu Von Olhoffen. There's been others. Dan Kreider. Dan Kreider. Is there a Pittsburgh favorite on his roster yet that you've discovered is like in that ilk of those type of guys? You know who I really like to watch and he's getting his chances every year in and you're out here the last couple years? I like Nick Herbig. Every time that guy, every time he gets his chance, he makes a splash.

1:57:55That's a good call. And I'm telling you right now, he's going to get more and more chances and he's going to make his year this year.

1:58:00Pat McAfee:I love him. I saw him at the Jelly Roll concert. He's electric. He's an electrifying human being and great actor. Schedule release. Remember, he was a part of that video. AJ Hawk has no idea what's going on here, I don't think. No, I do. Aaron's been a big fan of yours for years. Aaron loves you, Pittsburgh. He's a great dude. He loved you for a long time. But he did tell me, you obviously played ball in high school, most likely college. Did you get a scholarship? Were you a quarterback? You have the physical build of a guy that played in maybe the NFL. It's under wraps, all that kind of stuff.

1:58:26I don't like to discuss the old days because, you know, as soon as you start putting your name out there, that's when someone gets on the dark web and steals all your Giant Eagle fuel perks. You know what I'm talking about? I got my Giant Eagle water right here. That's all you need. You don't need any of that fancy stuff. Get the stuff in Giant Eagle. I got my Turner's tea. You got your Iron City.

1:58:46Pat McAfee:So the guy chugged at Iron City out here earlier. I don't have any. You're allowed to have beer out there. You keep it low. No one can see that. Bring back the sun. Are you a Permani's guy or a Rudy's Subs guy? I'm a Permani's guy all the way. I put the fries and slaw on everything. I put the fries and slaw on my baby when he was baptized. D-Bud has a question for you. Rudy subs got but we got this phenomenal gift from me Joe Green. What's your first memory of coming to Pittsburgh Steelers training camp? First memory coming to Pittsburgh Steelers training camp at season. That's year 1994. That's whenever they whenever Neil O'Donnell was at the helm.

1:59:19That piece of shit. We had a lot of hope for that guy. Oh God cannon. We had a lot of hope for that guy. Neil O'Donnell went to a Super Bowl. He threw the Super Bowl. He went to a Super Bowl. Right to Larry Brown. He went right to Larry Brown and it passes. Two easy interceptions. And that's the first guy I've seen when I come up here. Didn't sign my football card. You know who did? Cordell Stewart. Bingo. Slash. Slash.

1:59:40Pat McAfee:Slash ahead of his time. Slash way ahead of his time. He's the Lamar Jackson. And if there's a foul in the youth, that's the first person I'm giving it to. I think there is actually science has found it. AJ's been on it throughout his entirety, which is why they might have won the Super Bowl. Ty has a question for you, Dad. Yeah, Dad, I've seen a lot of rumors out there. I don't know if this is true. But when all that stuff was going on with TJ and he wasn't here and he hadn't signed yet Didn't you like publicly say like hey TJ? It's time for you to pack your shit up and get Oh, I think you're looking at the wrong account.

2:00:09You're looking at some bangles guy account for Trey Henderson That's not doing Pittsburgh and if that is how we do it That was done in private down in my cell over a couple irons I was never put out there on the internet for anybody to see Why you judging why you make it up? I saw it Why are you lying about this guy? Listen, AI these days. AI these days. You can never trust anybody. Agreed. Watch that AI. I'll tell you what. You have too much New York. We're out of the darkness retreat. We're in the light of Pittsburgh now. Bingo.

2:00:37Pat McAfee:You an ayahuasca guy, Dad? I don't know if Pittsburgh Dad's big ayahuasca guys. I heard about that. Is that some kind of tea? Yeah. That's a stronger tea? Yeah, yeah. It's like a Turner's tea, but also like poop. Does that have a new flavor of Turner's tea? I think they do have the Turner's. I'll throw one of those and watch a game and see how that goes. 11 lemon flavored ayahuasca. I think I think I'll get mad watching the game on that. No, I don't think you'll know much. I know that. Yeah, I don't think you're watching any games. I'll try one. I'm always down for new tea. You're going to Kennywood after this.

2:01:06I already done the Kennywood trip. I'll tell you what we went down there. We rode the steel curtain. Yeah, we sat down and prayed at steel curtain because that's what a log jammer used to be. And now it's not there. Rest in peace. We all missed the log jammer, but we made ready for a Steelers ride. We still haven't gotten a playoff win since that ride's been there, so I don't know if we're going to have to have a petition to get that ride removed. Starting to think about it. We'll see.

2:01:29Pat McAfee:Did you see Cedar Point had that one get stuck up there? I don't see nothing about Cedar Point because that's over in Ohio. And that whole state needs to be abolished. I want to get away from me. I need to get away from me. It's too close. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. That line of demarcation is too close to Pittsburgh. Well, actually, Wheeling, I think, kind of splits. West Virginia. Well, I'll let West Virginia slide. That's okay down there. Oh, yeah. You like West Virginia? West Virginia. Yeah, you don't mind West Virginia. I like it down here. How about the Mountaineers maybe back?

2:01:55I don't mind the Mountaineers either because I think there's a good portion of Pitt fans, a Mountaineers fan, who really love Steelers Nation. All of them, yeah.

2:02:02Pat McAfee:West Virginia, I think there's a lot of Mountaineers. I love it. Last question here from Boston Connor, Dad. Yeah, Dad, of course it's football season. We're all football, but 20 years today, the Pittsburgh Penguins drafted Sidney Crosby. Happy anniversary, Sidney Crosby. It does seem as though the Penguins might never win again. Do you think they should trade Sidney Crosby? Because, you know... You're from Boston. This is a Boston talk over here. Get the hell out of here, trade Sidney Crosby and that. You know what, just because she's lost Tom Brady, he couldn't wait to get the hell out of there.

2:02:30Our stars are ready to leave. They want to stay here. They want to be buried here. They want to enjoy it here. Yeah, buried in 98 graves. No. Hockey's 82 games. Go ahead, Tom. Did I see Gene Steratore come up and down here? Yeah, the ref was here. Oh, my gosh. I saw him handing out gifts. He was giving you a gift.

2:02:47Pat McAfee:Mean Joe Green. Oh, that's amazing. And since he's handing out gifts let's get him back up here as an official the NFL to decree now that Jesse James caught that ball. Okay. This is a Pittsburgh season game. So Bob. All right. Thank you. Pittsburgh. You're the man. I want to live. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. We're going to be the one seed. How's a regular season game have that much real estate for Pittsburgh Steelers.

2:03:20Darius Butler:Because they got screwed, brother. We're going to be the one seed. That was 17. That was going to Super Bowl year.

2:03:23Pat McAfee:Win six titles. They will never forget getting screwed by the refs.

2:03:27Darius Butler:That's Pittsburgh. That was the killer beast. That was the one that was going to do it. Left us last year, yeah. Pittsburgh dad.

2:03:31Pat McAfee:Okay, I think at the beginning of Pittsburgh dad's run, everybody in Pittsburgh, myself included, wanted to hate Pittsburgh dad. Like, this is bullshit. This is terrible. I can see. Not my dad. Then you just keep going. He's like, this guy actually is kind of like my dad. Yeah. And then everybody in Pittsburgh is like, Hey, Pittsburgh dad is like all of our dads. Close my eyes and hurt Tim. Yeah, it's like a perfect, it's like a perfect thing. He is, and he hasn't tried to go national. No. He has not, like, tried to become. He is very content being a Pittsburgh guy. I think he also has a job. We love Pittsburgh dad.

2:04:02Pat McAfee:Hey, dad. Hey, good work, dad. Good work, dad. Congrats. He has a full career. Bruce Tone. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is actually D-Bone's dad. The guy who is the Pittsburgh Steelers correspondent for the Pat McAfee show. E.G. Bonds, baby. Ladies and gentlemen, living legend, Mark Caboli. Yeah. Watch your stairs. Hey, what's in the fuck the pot? He's Caboli. Drop his glasses, drop his glasses, Ty, help him out. He's got a present. Oh, yeah. Oh, Rudy sucks. That's Rudy sucks. That's Rudy sucks. Put it in my pocket, Shane Valera. Thank you, Kibos. Thank you, Kibos. Thank you, Kibos. Thank you very much.

2:04:46Fucking Baloney!

2:04:51Baloney! Back to the people. Rudy sucks to the people for my Kibos. Rudy sucks to the people. The kid is in. That guy's checking to see what he is. Santa Claus, Kibos. Sandwiches, Jackie, for all these people. Rudy, somebody got in there. You need one, you need one, you need one. You get a sub, you get a sub. How many's he got there? And obviously, Kaboli's got his pocket sub. Yeah. Come on, let go. Give that to some young lady. Let go. That was nature's mic. Oh, we have another one. He was straight. Probably got third in there somewhere. He was double strapped. That's his hog. Shout out to CFO Phil.

2:05:34Pat McAfee:Shout out to CFO Phil grabbing those. Shout out to Rudy Subs. Appreciate you guys. Hey, Rudy's Subs and Pizza 286, how can I help you? I'd like a whole Italian hot lettuce, onion, mayo. Sorry, we're out. You're going to have to go down the street. That's what got me fired from Rudy's Subs. But I still eat there. There's a microphone next to you. I don't know what you were planning on doing sitting there without one. The caboli. Your microphone's off. Caboli. Boom. Try that one, buddy. What's up? Yeah. You come bearing sandwiches and obviously great vibes. You look good. I see the haircut. You look like you're fighting shape here.

2:06:12Pat McAfee:How has training camp been thus far? I saw your tweet about this being the hottest by far. As you can tell, it's kind of warm out there. If you guys get to go down there later, you will find out. We are. We're going down. Let me tell you something. All the water just lays there from the rain the past couple of days, and you can see the heat just coming up on your legs. Oh, yeah. I did the old man thing the other day. I went to the tent in front of the fan. Really? Couldn't take it anymore. You just parked it, started eating the fan. Did you have the mister behind the fan? No, I only think I was permitted in there, but I just snuck in.

2:06:44Had to do it.

2:06:45Pat McAfee:Cabala, you own the place. You do what you got to do. Both Achilles are intact this year, which is incredible. Yeah. Let's talk about the team. Seemingly everybody healthy, knock on wood. Training camp football happens. What have you seen from this team? Is it going to live up to the hype from what you've seen thus far? Yeah, I mean, everything seems to be going as planned right now. I mean, Aaron Rodgers has made, I think, a huge difference already, just the overall morale of the team. Confidence level, you mean? Oh, it's unbelievable. Just his smooth attitude and his not getting excited over, you know, silly stuff.

2:07:16I think he brings the calm to the entire offense and the defense. There's not one person I've heard say something negative about the guy. Hell yeah. Not one. You haven't looked over here. You've got to listen to media. Where you been? Coboli? Well, within the organization and the fans. Sure.

2:07:30Pat McAfee:Well, I don't think you've heard that in a lot of places about him legitimately because of how he shows up. He's definitely different. You know what's not different? This Rudy's Subs hits like a motherfucker. What'd you get? What'd you get? What is it? Pot. Nice. There isn't lettuce, onion, mayo on it because I think the travel, you don't want the lettuce to get kind of chopped up. If you come to the Pittsburgh area, obviously grab some permannies. Okay? You got to do permannies. Do the permannies. It is our thing. Obviously putting the fries and slaw on the sandwich. The steel workers didn't have a lot of time to eat their lunch, so we put their shit into one sandwich and then we keep it moving.

2:08:04Pat McAfee:THEN YOU GO TO RUDY SUBS AND YOU GET YOURSELF AN ITALIAN, BEST SANDWICH IN THE WORLD. BEST SUB IN THE WORLD. THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THE WORLD. YOU GOT THE POCKET VERSION SO YOU'RE SPECIAL. NO, MINE WAS IN THE BACK. SOMEBODY OUT THERE GOT THE POCKET ONE. AJ HAS A QUESTION FOR YOU. I LOVE READING EVERYTHING THAT YOU WRITE AND I THINK OF YOU SOMETIMES LIKE YOU PUT THESE TWEETS OUT THAT LOOK LIKE THEY'RE 16 PAGES LONG OR THESE STORIES THAT YOU WRITE AND I THINK OF YOU AS A WRITER, WHAT'S YOUR PROCESS LIKE? WHEN YOU'RE SPEAKING, YOUR You're saying I can't talk very well. No, no, no. Like me. I'm a monotone.

2:08:40So when you're typing, though, how long does it take for, say, one of your tweets? It feels like it could take a couple minutes. You're doing a great job, too. It all depends. You're killing it. If you have a good idea. But are you a home road guy or are you picking and pecking through your keyboard? I struggle with the tweet on the phones because the fat fingers, small keys type of thing. Oh, yeah, I'm with you. And if you try to voice tweet it, it comes out. Who knows when it comes out. Especially with the reaction. But actually writing. I mean, I've been doing this for 23, 24 years now. You pretty much know what you want to write as you go into it.

2:09:10And you get things. Like today, I was talking to the wide receiver coach, Zach Izzani. You pick up different things. You see what's important. A lot of people are interested in wide receiver two. So you talk to Roman Wilson. But it doesn't. What are you looking for today when you watch practice? Oh, it's absolutely paddling. Yeah. I mean, they're going. Somebody reacts. They're going straight from individuals to seven shots to back on backers to probably team run. Boom, boom, boom. Back on backers. I suggest AJ, if you have a chance.

2:09:46Pat McAfee:AJ's never done it before, actually. D-Bud has a question for you. You just talked about wide receiver, too. Are there any other position battles you're looking at closely during this camp? Punter, there's a battle. No. Just so I mess it. Danny Smith told us it's a battle. Danny Smith is actually, I mean, nothing against Presley Harvin. He had a great season last year. That's not what it is. There's a massive ball. That's Corlett Swateman. What did I say? Presley Harvin. You know what? He tweeted something of mine the other day. That's why I messed that up. See? Those are both black punters, too.

2:10:20I can see how you can. Yeah, yeah. Cam Johnson is a difference maker. Cam Johnson can punt the living crap out of the ball. I think he's a difference maker. I think Danny just wants to create competition right here with Corliss. Any other positions? You're looking at a lot of backups. You're looking at who are they going to go running back, right? Is it going to be Jalen Warren? Is it going to be Caleb Johnson? Is it going to be a mix of the two? I'm not quite sure yet of that. But they're pretty much set, Pat. I mean you look at that defense and there's not much in the way of battles. Maybe free safety, but I don't even know how much you're going to use free safety.

2:10:58I mean they got three shut down corners. Massive balls. I think it's Juggs, brother. Juggs, brother. Nobody's punting. Yeah, yeah. Juggs.

2:11:05Pat McAfee:I was about to say. I didn't hear the. They're perfect. I was going to say. I'm seeing a couple end over. I'm seeing just massive. Yeah, I think we got Juggs. I think the punters are off today. You talked about not a lot of battles. It's all kind of sorted at the top. You'll figure it out. I know there's been a lot of battle amongst wrestling fans, you know, about something that has happened. Connor has a question for you, Mark. Yeah, Mark, obviously it's still real to me, damn it. And the WWE Unreal Show on Netflix now is kind of removing that curtain. Kayfabe seems to be dead. So in my mind, I'm going to have to reevaluate myself when I think of myself as a WWE wrestler, Mark.

2:11:42What? I know. I'm bummed out about it. I will always, always acknowledge, but when it comes to Odie Oates and some of the other guys, I mean, look, I'm not here for it. I don't want to hear about Kevin Owens and Cody setting up this fucking match, brother. So what the hell is going on? That's a thing. You ruined my business. Did you watch it yet? Yeah, man, I watched it and I turned it off. I don't think they revealed that much. I was watching two people have sex. What? Yeah, you're not supposed to do that. So you had to cover your eyes like this. No, no, Mr. H, I don't want to know this. I just don't think they revealed as much as they could have revealed.

2:12:21I think it made me. Excuse me? You wanted more? I only got through two episodes so far. And it seemed like me wanting to come back for more. I just wanted to see what it was going on. It's a great show.

2:12:32Pat McAfee:I will say it is a phenomenal show. I think a lot of people that aren't wrestling fans or might just say, like, that's wrestling might learn like hey there's a lot of psychology going on right now and a lot of business and a lot of big brains going on but i just it is tough it is tough like i think about michael cole's the goat at it but i think about commentating like a day after one of those episodes is released and it's like these two guys hate each other i know you saw him yesterday on netflix i think 20 million people saw it it's one of the biggest shows that netflix has ever had But like I just it's an interesting dynamic.

2:13:06Pat McAfee:We're in a very new world now with the WWE with this unreal. I think first I mean even stuff like you saw Triple H even talking to Michael Cole during the scene attorneys like you didn't even know did you go no I didn't know. And I think that's interesting. I don't think they pulled the curtain back as much as they could have. I feel like there are some people in time made this point the other day like it's a mature show so they're saying everything they're not bleeping everything. so those younger kids aren't going to get it, but I don't know. Just personally, this is just how I feel. It's almost like that's, it's cooler to see it in an AEW doc, or not AEW, excuse me, A &E doc down the road where Stone Cold, you mentioned this, Stone Cold and The Rock, like them talking about when, you know, they're in the ring and Stone Cold and The Rock have the moment of like, I love you.

2:13:55And now it doesn't matter. Now we're just going to know. I think kayfabe has been dead for, since the internet, right? Oh, fuck you! To a degree. They're telling you to take it off. No, not the hat. You're saying. You must be joking. No, no, they're being serious. They're talking to you. They're being serious.

2:14:18Pat McAfee:Come balls. I want to let you know, I think you're doing great work on X, buddy. I appreciate it. You keep us all very much updated. How have you enjoyed it? Have you enjoyed being on X? Absolutely great. I mean, I can do what I need to do. I can write what I want to write and not be constricted by the newspaper rules. That's great. I think you're doing a great job. We're appreciative of everything you're doing. You and Bone are a tag team. Yeah, you and D-Bone work great. Oh, D-Bone's great. He's your dad? He's your kid. He's your kid. He knows that as well. All right, we're going to wrap up from here as practice has begun down here for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

2:14:52Pat McAfee:We're going to head down there. Remember to follow Cabal. He deserves a follow. Yes, he does. He tells us too much about his personal life. Yeah. How's it all been? How's it all been? Everything been good? Yeah, you know what? Yeah, it's been pretty good. There it is. Other than the fact that a wipe company reached out to me and offered me free wipes today. It was kind of interesting. You should do that. You want that right? I don't know. That's kind of weird. You want some cash. No, it's good. You want money deal? You want money on top of us. No, they were going to send me like a case of wipes, I guess.

2:15:22That's good. Which is fine. Which is fine. Which is fine. Not wiping your ass is weird, man. No, but somebody reaching you out that you don't know who it is and said. Well, what you just said there. Was it an individual or was it a company? It was a company. I don't know if I'm allowed to say it, so I'm not going to say it. If it's cotton-el, you do it now. No, it wasn't cotton-el. Right now. Is it dude wipes? It was dude wipes. Yeah, you should take the dude wipes for sure. One per flush. Yeah, I just posted a picture of, like, the hillside, and they're like, I think you need dude wipes. I'm like, yeah, I probably do, but.

2:15:50Yeah, one per flush. Yeah. You know, sometimes throw it in the trash. Yeah. Oh, my God. If I'm you, I'm throwing them in the trash just because. Well, I'm not talking about after you do your business. I'm talking about to dry it up a little. Yeah, yeah. You dry it out, let it get all hard and crusty. And then you throw it out. You'll be down there. You'll see what the swamp ass is all about.

2:16:12Pat McAfee:Come on. I already got this swamp ass, but I ain't wiping my ass and throwing it into the trash can. What are you talking about? Didn't you know a guy who used to do that in college? Yeah, West Virginia. Yeah, we had a guy. There was a guy who came from, I think he was in New York somewhere. And he, they're talking to you, Cabo. Can I flip him off? No, no, no. They're injuries. You should not flip them off. These are good people. You should not flip them off. He did that. He wiped his ass, and he threw the toilet paper into the trash because he didn't want to clog the toilet or whatever. Yeah.

2:16:39Pat McAfee:So the entire place smelled like shit. Right. Goddamn animals. I walked in, and I was like, why does it smell so bad in here? And they're like, what are you talking about? And I literally sniff it out. And I go into the bathroom, and I'm like, is that ass toilet paper in the trash? You're like, yeah, we don't want to crack the pipes or whatever. I'm like, you flushed that fucking toilet paper. I didn't know I needed to tell you the same thing. You need to be flushing your toilet paper. Depends on where you're at. One per flush. No, it does not depend where you're at. Well, if I'm in a public place, it's going wherever.

2:17:08If I'm at home, maybe that's different. You are a rare animal. In a toilet. Would you act like you've never done this? No. No. We wipe our ass and we flush it. That is what we do. Not all the time. The only time I don't see it go away. Wait, wait, wait. Come on, AJ. Back me up. This guy is raised by the country bears on the bottom. Ladies and gentlemen, that's been the show. We're going to go watch practice.

2:17:33Pat McAfee:Kaboli, that's unbelievable. You need to know that. That is unbelievable that you do that. Just wear a diaper. You need to be putting your toilet paper and your dude wipes into a fucking toilet after you wipe your ass. Okay? Check them at the bottom of the garbage can. They won't know. From Kaboli to watch all these people. Practice is about to start. We're going to head down there. Thank you to Burt Lawton and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Thank you to the production crew that set all this up here on the side of a hill. We appreciate your incredible work. We appreciate the Ingers and the people that have traveled to hang out with us.

2:18:09Pat McAfee:Tomorrow we'll be live from the Pro Football Hall of Fame right next to a highway. Chit-chatting with the entire class of this year for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and other legends. You all are the greatest people on earth. Thank you for allowing us to do this for a living. Our Swamp Pass. Tim. in our toilet paper that we're flushing down the toilet. I don't even want to look at this guy. That should be death by fire this far. Yeah, you're all lying. This is a fireable offense. Oh, yeah. You can let him on fire, too, yeah. I think we should make him go walk in the highway and get hit by a semi.

2:18:40If you're actually doing that on a regular basis. Don't look in that trash can right over there, though. All right, okay. That was good. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been the Pat McAfee Show. from myself, Ty Schmidt, Boston Connor,

2:18:54Pat McAfee:one half of the hammer. Cowboys AP Tone, nine-year NFL vet, Darius J. Butler, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, A.J. Hawk. A man who needs to take his shirt off, Mark Caboli. To everybody back in the truck, great work, boys. Great work, boys. They got a four-season setup in that truck. Really nice setup in that truck for the boys. They deserve it. Life's good, boys. Yeah, we know. We know. And you guys do great work. FOSO, great work. Bruce, really good job. All right. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. We're live from the Hall of Fame tomorrow.

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