PMS 2.0 1399 - BA Day with Bruce Arians, Joe Montana, Peter Schrager, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

20:52Pat McAfee:You know, Johnson comes in at the end of the game after snapping his leg in half last year. What a great story. He throws a touchdown to his little brother. That was cool for the North Carolina Tar Heels. But I think we all were reminded, DCU's going to go football. Yes, they do. Now, I even said during my pick, DCU's got a lot to pull from here. Only reason why we're here is because Bill Belichick is here. Like, let's just, they knew that. They heard that. They had 16 returning starters, a lot of vets, quarterback can spin it. And Sonny Dykes, I think, really loved this as opening night for his team.

21:23Pat McAfee:And they put on quite a show. and they beat the hell out of North Carolina last night. Boy, did they ever. And I don't know what the Tar Heels look like. They got Charlotte on Saturday. Charlotte is in North Carolina. Good opportunity. Okay, that is a short week. They got Charlotte. A lot of people around there saying, if we would have won last night, Bill was going to be miserable because we got Charlotte coming up. If we were to lose tonight and Charlotte coming up, boy, it's going to be bad. It is. It's a big one on Saturday for this North Carolina team. D. Butch, you were down there. Yeah.

21:53Pat McAfee:It was on the ground. You've seen it for yourself. Yeah. Desmond said on the kickoff show, he's picking TCU, but I'm pulling for these North Carolina guys. It felt like there was two different levels on the field last night for most of everything but the first drive. How long does it take for Bill Belichick's coaching and development to kick in for that North Carolina team to become a squad? What are your thoughts? I mean, look, the coaching, look, I trust Bill. Bill knows football. The guys are going to be prepared. You mentioned Matty P. Matty P's dealing with different ingredients, you know, different ingredients going into that recipe.

22:32So when you're, especially in the college level, it's a little more fair, a little more even picking on the NFL level. And at college level, he was kind of late to the party recruiting as well. One big thing that stood out yesterday, especially when we had paid on, and I talked to some guys who are tapped into the college game on the sideline before the game. nobody had a clue what that UNC team, what that roster was going to look like. Nobody knew. They couldn't tell me five players on that roster. So that was alarming. You mentioned Sonny Dykes and his team. We know it's a talented ball club.

23:02I don't know if it turns around. I don't know if it gets better. It was ugly last night. It started great. Look, they can never take that first drive away from them. Hey, that's what it's supposed to be. They came out and executed it. It was great environment. MJ in the building. LT's back. They didn't get to play. None of them ran out of that tunnel in the smoke. Randy, Big E there with them.

23:24Pat McAfee:He's a jack standout. I will always say this. Coaches don't get to play. Nope. You've got to have players. And they have eight players. Yeah, but if you're a player. They have eight players. Look, there are other Tide in white and purple. They have players. Yes. All right. And Sonny Dax is one hell of a coach. I actually coached with his dad, Spike, who was a great man, a hell of a coach. Built Texas Tech back up. But coaches, they don't win games. Players win games. Coaches lose games. They had the greatest coach in the world. You ain't got no players, you ain't got no chance. D, but you got to think, like, all those things you just mentioned, like if you're a high school kid and you see Lawrence Taylor and Michael Jordan and all these legends at a game, you might think, okay, that's cool.

24:10But I believe they already got, like, the number one QB of one of the draft classes coming up. They hope so. Yeah, I was going to say, there's plenty of time to switch that around.

24:19Pat McAfee:They hope so. When these kids decommit now, they're all about to cash, brother. Yeah, exactly. They got a bunch. And if they're leaning on that, like, you think Michael Jordan's coming next week? After last night, you think Michael Jordan's flying his jet back down there? I will say this. I know Michael Jordan gets a – I assume UNC Duke, every time it's played there, fills up that stadium. 51 ,000 is max capacity. I assume he goes to the basketball games and gets a lot of love. I mean, that was 51 ,000 people strong, given MJ. I mean, Coach Williams is sitting right next to him. Not even a thing said about him.

24:52Pat McAfee:And it's just like, here's Michael Jordan right here. Don't worry about who's next to him, a couple of national champions. Just look at Michael Jordan at the beginning. Whenever he got 51 ,000 going strong for him, it was awesome. Place went crazy for him. Fireman was amazing. What we felt that first drive, they're going to be hunting that. That is everything we need. That is what we're searching for. And for the TCU team, all of us on the set talking before the game and everybody that was on the field very much understood that you had all the motivation in the world. Nobody was talking about you guys at all.

25:25Pat McAfee:But to be clear, your game is probably on Saturday at noon if not. So you're on Monday night because of Bill Belichick. And it was great for your team to go and kill it. and they did dominate. And that Hoover boy. He can spin it. He can spin it. Yes, he can. He can spin it. Interesting. Coach, what's the message to the team after that? You know, you come out there, you give up. You have all these expectations. You have all these eyes. You're trying to – seriously, you're building a new culture. You're dealing with much younger kids now. But, like, what's the message to that team in the locker room if you are Bill Belichick going forward?

26:01Honesty. Honesty. You've got to be honest with the guys. Look, this is what we did good. This is what we did bad. We did a lot of bad. All right? We can't get our ass kicked up front like they kicked our ass. We got to get better in the trenches on both sides quick. And for Bill, it's all about fundamentals. You know, Bill. I mean, he's just going to go back to the fundamentals and do his thing. They'll be well coached. We all know that. But the old saying, you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit. Ain't that the truth? All right, and that's the first time Carolina football ever looked like that.

26:34Pat McAfee:I've watched Carolina football for a long, long time. And they've never had that atmosphere. Oh, you're talking about the vibes. The vibe at their basketball school. Yes. Matt did a couple. He had a couple of great teams. But Carolina is never known for football. I mean, they're the tailgate city. And it's like, that was a great vibe to see. Now, if they can build off that, that'd be awesome. Yeah, it would be awesome. If they had 30 top recruits there, leave them leave at the first quarter. Get them out of there. first drive. I'll tell you, that first drive. A lot of people at the FBO. I don't know what he's telling his team, but I am pretty sure Bill knew that they were going to get the doors blowing off him going into that game.

27:16If we're talking about a guy who would go in on Saturdays or Fridays and tell the entire team how an NFL game is going to go, and then for that to happen in an NFL game, I'm assuming he knew Sonny Dykes is going to beat the piss out of my boys tonight, but this is a three-year thing. I don't know, dude.

27:33Pat McAfee:I was talking to the... I'm telling you. He don't think like that. They never enter his mind. He also never said, hey, have fun out there. I think this is a different bill, and he's telling guys to have fun. I'm assuming he knew, hey, I got a bunch of guys who are coming from Holy Cross. I'm assuming my center's probably going to give a half-hour pump-up speech before the game, and then we're going to go out there and get killed, but that's okay because I signed a 10-year deal. I'm going to be here for all 10 of them. And probably halfway through this, we might turn it around a little bit. Congrats to TCU.

28:07Pat McAfee:Huge win. Amen. Their Twitter X account. Hey, social media folks. Good work. They're ready. They're ready for a while. Their general manager, Ryan Dorchester, Dor, used to be equipment manager at WVU whenever I was there. Great dude. Now he's the GM of TCU. I did not know that. I should have known that. I saw him right before I go out to do the show. and I go, dude, good to see you or whatever. He's like, yeah, I'm GM here or whatever. I'm like, that's sick because he worked his way up into the coaching ranks and everything like that and through football ops. And he was with Dana for a little bit and then I think he was somewhere else and then now he's the GM there.

28:44Pat McAfee:And boy, it really felt like they were excited for the opportunity. Like, I think they were very pumped. I think they didn't know exactly what Bill's team was going to look like because I think we all, there was a chance. Nobody did. There was a chance that Bill was going to be able to get these guys we never heard of. to all have perfect. They didn't have spring ball. These guys were only here for training camp. Seven new guys. Three weeks. We thought there was a chance that he was going to be able to get schemes in there. Of course. And maybe keep the under, too. Keep this a low score. Right.

29:13Pat McAfee:He needed that. Instead, TCU said, we'll get it. We got it. No problem. We'll go get it ourselves. He should have got Matty P to send Cato Downs and some of them other players over there. Definitely needed that. We should have given – we need to give more love to TCU. Yeah. Definitely. And Saturday is a big one for UNC. I mean, this is a must win for UNC. Laying 14 and a half now. This is a big one for the Tar Heels. I think he needs to go with Johnson's boy. Yeah, I think you're right. Big bad Brad Johnson. He was slinging it. I think he needs to kind of be the guy. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, joining us now.

29:51Pat McAfee:He is here for Gold Bar Whiskey, the official whiskey of the San Francisco 49ers. they have a first ever collab drink with somebody now I was not able to enjoy it this morning it's called it's called the Joe Montana Gold Bar Double Gold Double Gold we knew that was the name didn't we BA we talked about the name all morning all day well maybe all day we'll see Ty you tried one of these things it's a mule right it's whiskey Yeah, pretty much a whiskey mule. It was delicious. And I'm not usually a canned cocktail guy. It is something that seems delightful early. It's with that man. Ladies and gentlemen, four-time Super Bowl champion, three-time Super Bowl MVP, five-time All-Pro, and eight-time Pro Bowl, ladies and gentlemen, Paisano greatness, Joe Montana.

30:45Yay! Thank you, guys. Oh, my. How's everybody?

30:51Pat McAfee:Well, we've already had a couple double golds over here. How are you? Hey, you know what? I'm doing great. Just happy to be a part. I've had a great connection with these guys. And it's also part of the 49ers are involved in the drink. And you said it best. I'm usually not a canned cocktail person either. But this has been something that was developed and it's pretty refreshing. and I have a friend of mine who tried it who doesn't like whiskey at all. He says now that he has it, he drinks one every night. Okay, boom. Yeah, and it's available in retailers now around California and on their website, goldbarwhiskey.com, along with the retro bourbon that they're doing for, it's an 85 proof for in coordination with the Super Bowl coming back to here that was here in 85 in San Francisco.

31:51And it's another thing that we're involved with, that I'm involved with, that I think people are going to love.

31:56Pat McAfee:85-proof whiskey, 8 % alcohol can. I mean, we got some good stuff coming out of Gold Bar Distillery. You're right. Happy you're involved with it all. Happy that San Francisco 49ers and you are still so damn synonymous. What do you think about this season? It feels like Christian McCaffrey back healthy is a much better place to be than where we were literally one year ago when we just learned. I don't know how much you knew before everybody else. When we find out that Christian McCaffrey has the word Achilles involved in anything, we obviously immediately worried it was tendinitis. He basically missed all year.

32:27Pat McAfee:We found out like three days before the season started. That kind of dampened everything, and I think the season went blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. This year feels like it could be a bounce-back year for the Niners in a big way. How do you feel? Yeah, I think so. I mean, they definitely have the team to be able to go in and compete with anybody. You know, obviously with Christian coming back is a huge plus to that offense. Takes a lot of pressure off the quarterback. And I think he got a little feeling the pressure where he felt like he had to do and contribute more instead of just going and doing what he'd done for his whole life and just be yourself.

33:02And we always have that tendency that we want to make the change and make it quick. And now we've got to make something happen. And so I think he just got caught up in that. and I think you'll see a different player coming up this year.

33:14Pat McAfee:Do you like Brock Purdy a lot, Joe? Have you got the chance to talk to him? It feels like you guys have similar mindsets. I'm not 100 % sure if you feel that way, but he seems to be ultra competitive and very cool, which obviously you have similar traits. Yeah, I mean, I really like him. He usually doesn't make a lot of mistakes, and he's careful with the football. He's got great placement of it, as you can see here. And I just think he's got the right demeanor. And, you know, everybody has those kind of years. I had him. You can go and look around at anybody, Brady, everybody. You know, when injuries start taking place, you know, your whole team changes.

33:57And then the quarterback seems sometimes that it's all rides on their back that they sometimes believe. And so they start doing things they wouldn't normally do. But I think he'll be fine.

34:07Pat McAfee:Shanahan's offense has a lot of running. log par. You know, obviously we've seen Trenton in motion and everything like that. The Philadelphia Eagles just blew out the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. It feels like we're getting back to some par football. You like that, Joe? I feel like football people all enjoy the way it's headed as opposed to where we all thought it was going to go. It feels like it's cyclical right now. Yeah, I always said, you know, when you go back and you look at the teams who win consistently, they always got a pretty good running game, and they stay consistent with it. And obviously Philly has had that.

34:39but I also saw some guy named McAfee on a couple highlights a little while ago you're running with the ball come on Joe

34:50Pat McAfee:Joe I'm from Pittsburgh bro you get it you understand that this happens I just want to let you know it didn't go unnoticed you did a little bit of everything put on to Twitter that's going to be on my descriptor now Joe Montana saw me make some plays complimented it that's huge for me Joe Paisan, I want to let you know that he's gigantic for me. Yeah, I think physical football is a good thing for our sport. And I think it's also anytime we've got the trenches kind of deciding games, which I think we're at the point again once it be in that, I think that's how the game was supposed to be played.

35:20Pat McAfee:Ty has a question for you about that Super Bowl. Yeah, Joe, when you look at the Chiefs, because they got beat so bad by the Eagles, I think everyone's kind of just writing them off this year. And maybe it's Chiefs fatigue. Everyone thinks, hey, they had their run. They're kind of done. But with the documentary coming out, The Kingdom on ESPN, that kind of goes over the dynasty that they've created and everything, do you think Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey, Andy Reid, and the Chiefs are poised to have a big year this year? Because it feels like nobody's really giving them a realistic shot to win the Super Bowl.

35:51Well, you know, we always obviously have an offensive player, but everybody points to the offense. But really, when it comes down to it, you can the teams that win consistently up there have a pretty good defense. And you can go back over the years where we were. We had I always argue with Ronnie a lot about what was our better teams because we had a little bit more offense later in the years when you got Jerry Rice and that. But I think they'll be I think they're fine. They just but you got to be able to stop people also. And I think that's the thing about it is you can go back and look, and they just didn't.

36:28They couldn't stop Philadelphia. And when you can't do that, you can score a lot of points, but you keep getting outscored, although this was not that way. And like I said, we all, guys who've had great years, go back. You can go back when Danny came here. Unfortunately, Danny and I are great friends, but had a great year. But our defense was number one, and everybody forgot about that. And then you go back without when we played the Broncos in the Super Bowl and just bad days. It started off bad for me, too. Even Dave Craig said, are you were MVP in this game? I mean, there gets a little better.

37:07But we all have those kind of days. And I think that's, you know, the Chiefs. Then they're done that kind of maybe a little complacent, thought they they. everybody was overlooking them, but the Philly, with push on Philly. But Philly had a good team, good team.

37:27Pat McAfee:Great team. They were able to get home with just four guys, too. I think that was the offensive line seemingly. They had a guard playing tackle. They really didn't have to figure it out. Anytime Patrick Williams is running for his life in a Super Bowl, it feels like they're not going to win. Ain't that right, B.A.? Ain't that right, B.A.? I think Vic took a nice lesson from our – Todd did a great job of taking our front four and getting after Patrick. I think he ran five miles that night. but one of the greatest throws I've ever seen right in front of me, he's laying prone, about to hit the ground, throws it, and hits a guy right in the face mask, and he drops it.

37:58And Mike Evans and Chris Guyvon go, he's unbelievable.

38:02Pat McAfee:Yes, yes, he is. Yes, he is, always will be. I'm excited to hear your answer to his question actually here in a couple moments, Joe. The two goats chit-chatting about a position we obviously have massive respect for. Another person we assume you have respect for. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, Joe, speaking of KC, you were there when Schottenheimer was there, and now his son is heading into his first year as a head coach of the Cowboys. How do you think he's going to do, and what do you think he needs to do to establish his culture, whether that is an old-school Schottenheimer culture all the way back to Casey or his kind of new take on the Dallas Cowboys culture?

38:37Well, I'll take a page out of Bill Walsh's book and say when things were always going bad or falling apart, and I alluded to it a little bit earlier, where everybody wants to try to make something happen. Instead of going back to the fundamentals, we went back to the fundamentals. He would go backwards, not forward. Not looking for something new. I'm going to go back to what I know we do. And that's what he needs to do when he gets with the Cowboys. Go in there and, like Pat said, you know, got to get that running game going, take some pressure off the quarterback. Because there's a lot on him, for sure.

39:09Playing where he's playing and, you know, the contract and controversial, all those things. they need to get the ball out of his hand as much as they can and that you do that with the running game. And so hopefully they can get that established and get back to the old school cowboy football.

39:28Pat McAfee:Jerry Jones wants to get back to that old school. That's right. Yes, he does. We watched that documentary. I'll tell you what. I did not know you'd get$100 million just from one oil rig, though. That was back in the day. Oh, yeah. Imagine that. Believe me, I was watching that. It's like a scratch off. He's kind of saying it's like a scratch-off. Speaking of, Powerball is$1.3 billion. Yeah, it's up there. Look alive. That's tomorrow night. Can't win if you don't play. Exactly. It sounds like I could buy a lot of gold bar double golds. Amen. Can I? And maybe even that 85-proof bourbon whiskey we got up there.

40:04You can't enjoy it if you don't try it.

40:06Pat McAfee:Exactly. And you can't win if you don't play. Hey, I like what we're doing here, Joe. All right, last question. before B.A. and you put together a segment on this show that's going to be talked about for a long, long time. Go ahead, D. Buck. Yeah, Joe, you kind of alluded to it earlier in that Broncos Super High started ugly, but you had a great comeback. You were named the comeback kid, Joe Kuhn, all those things. What is the difference with those great quarterbacks? I played against Peyton or Brady or Big Ben, and those second-half adjustments were just huge. What's going through your mind, the play caller's mind, when it comes to making those adjustments and being in the middle of these big comebacks?

40:43Yeah, I think the big issue is just trying to get back within what you were doing. Usually when you start making mistakes, you're outside of your comfort zone. And, I mean, in that Super Bowl, I was skipping balls to the ground, so was John. And Dave Craig, he's laughing at both of us. But, you know, you just get settled back into the game. And what I really like to do was get hit early, hit me early. And that wasn't happening. I didn't get hit early. And you just don't – you can't get into the flow of the game until you get, you know, a 300-pounder land on top of you. Yeah, of course. It wakes you back up, and you get right back.

41:28And then now you know, hey, I don't know what else is going on, but I need to get back to what I know I do best. And that's what we did. And we got back to our typical game plan. And, you know, we knew they did certain things where we could get a lot of chances down the field deep with Jerry and John. And so we ended up trying to just work that and go to your sweet spot. And that's what we did with them.

41:54Pat McAfee:Well, it worked out. Yeah. Yeah, everything about you is great. And now we're moving some whiskey mules, Russian mule. And if you scan a QR code that's on one of these cans. Yeah. Just scan. Dude. Old throwback jersey. No, it's clean. This is a really clean shirt. As soon as Ty saw that this was potentially available, he scanned the QR code of means. Had to. Now, I do believe it's going to be a little difficult to go pick up the shirt if you do not live near the Gold Bar Distillery. Correct. Yeah, you got to pick it up in San Francisco. If you're taking a trip out there, get yourself in Treasure Island.

42:29Well, you'll be out here for the Super Bowl. Scan away. There we go. I'm going to scan 10 of these things.

42:34Pat McAfee:I'm only 10 shirts. I can't wait for it. They're great shirts. Joe, you're the man. Bruce has a question for you here, and I'm excited and eager to hear this, actually. Yeah, Joe, I just wish you all the best, too, and especially in this endeavor. If you were a general manager head coach today, pick the top three quarterbacks you'd want to start your franchise with. And why? I like this. I like this. And not Brock Burd. You can't take Brock. Boom. Okay, Brock is your number one pick. We know that. Yep. So you love Brock Burd. You love Brock Burd. Yeah. Yeah, I'm taking the guy in Buffalo. Okay, Josh Allen.

43:10Pat McAfee:Yeah, Josh. The guy that surprised me that I thought would – obviously, Joe Burrows, another guy I like a lot. Okay, Joe Burrows. And believe it or not, I like the guy with the Chargers. Yeah, Herbert. Yeah, Herbert. I think they just kind of – they've kind of gone by the wayside there. But I don't know. I just like the way those three guys are. B.A., how do you feel about his top three? I do also like the guy in Philly, though. Jalen Hurts, okay. He just won a Super Bowl. We do like him. Brock Purdy, obviously, number one. He was left out. Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and Jalen Hurts.

43:52Pat McAfee:He's his Mount Rushmore outside of Brock Purdy. B.A., did you expect that from Joe Montana? I thought he might have thrown Patrick Mahomes in there. But, you know, I think it states how good. I think I would have if he was younger. Oh, GM. Although I've got to go back. They're not getting hit as much today, so we'll probably play forever. So I should have probably added Patrick in there. I think, Joe, for us, it states how well we are in the National Football League right now with quarterbacks. I think everybody's worried about where these quarterbacks come from. We've got some really great young quarterbacks in the league right now, and I think the league's in a great shape.

44:29Pat McAfee:Next generation, right? He's in a good spot. He's in really good shape. I went for youth. Yeah, smart. You're a GM. Yeah, you're running a 10-year business plan here. Just like... You want them to stay on their rookie contracts, I know. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we're getting some free agents out here somewhere. We need to pay... You could go contract for contract. Yeah, double gold with some people. You know, we'll have a good time. Well, we appreciate you, Joe. Good luck with the double gold. Congrats on another, we assume, very successful business venture, and good luck to your Niners this year.

44:55I appreciate it. Thank you, and I hope to see you in the nine.

44:58Pat McAfee:Yeah, you will. Yeah. You will. I love that place. Ladies and gentlemen, Montana. Yay! Go! I'd assume that's where he is right now. Is that Ellison's? Yeah. Yeah. You know, I just bought it. Just bought the place. I've already bought the... It's not good. It's a terrible place. Yeah, I was going to say. You better. It's horrendous. Don't go there. Don't go there. Do not. Do not, please. It is really far away, but it is beautiful. I mean, basically, it sounds like everything sweet and cool and places to go to are really far away in Australia and Hawaii. If it's Joe's place, you know it's cool because he invented cool.

45:37Pat McAfee:Yeah, legit. Always just like this. How about him waking up? Yeah. Oh, boys. I mean, does B.A. know the story? Which one? Him stopping a kidnapping with a football? Yeah, so it has not been, the details have not been exactly confirmed. They've never been denied. or denied we shall say somebody tried to kidnap his grandbaby and he stopped it uh that's actual story now how did he stop it we've exercised our minds a little bit to see how it could have went he's upstairs somebody comes in through downstairs can see the stairs maybe a spiral staircase it's down there at the bottom kidnapper comes in give me you baby joe montana excuse me here's that upstairs.

46:24Pat McAfee:He steps out. He sees it. He actually kicks the plaque that has the football from the catch in it, I think. Boom. Grabs that ball. Throws that thing down the stairs. Kidnapper holding Baby. Right here. Bang! Right in the forehead. Boom. He slides down ramp. Catches Kidnapper. Before head hits ground and Baby hits ground. Snags Baby. Foot on top of Kidnapper. Something like that. I'm on one. That's what Joe Montana did, and that's what Joe Montana does. That's Joe. What else would he do? Exactly. That's why we say that had to be out of the way. Had to be out of the way. But that's a real situation that did happen.

47:07Pat McAfee:Somebody tried to kidnap his grandbaby, and he actually stopped it. Wild times to be alive. Shout out to Joe Montana. Shout out to UBA. We have a new segment that we're probably going to be doing each and every week with our guy here. It's because he knows so much. And also, he has a way of explaining things that are no BS. Or are they? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to BS or no BS with B.A. Okay, what we're going to do is put some statements up here. And B.A.'s going to tell us if the statement is BS or no BS. Pretty easy. Pretty easy segment here. Let's start with the first one here.

47:45Micah Parsons is worth two first-round picks.

47:49Pat McAfee:Is that BS or no BS, B-A? That's no bullshit, brother. He's the best game wrecker in the game right now. Okay, so you agree with that. I'm giving two plus maybe a fifth. We all thought it was going to be a lot more than just two first rounds. I was shocked this was all it was. How come that's always the case, it feels like, whenever a player gets traded? It's always for something much smaller than we expect. I think Randy Moss was traded for a fourth rounder at one point, and I remember reacting in a way like, Randy Moss is only worth a fourth rounder. Why does it always feel like they go for a little bit less, especially if it's not right before draft time?

48:19Pat McAfee:and Micah Parsons. Do you think there was a little personal stuff that got in the way and why it was only two first rounders? Yeah, I think this was a deal that was going to be done because of what was happening with the negotiations. You think Jerry just wanted a deal done? Let's get it out of here. They got Kenny Clark. They got to stop the Eagles. They got to beat the Eagles. I agree with Jerry saying we got to stop the run. Micah probably could do that a little bit. You know, I know if they go to third down, he's going to win. You know, so get him in third down. But I think in Green Bay now, he would be a true game wrecker versus the Vikings.

48:52The teams are throwing the ball in the NFC North. I think it's great for the Packers. I think it's good for the Cowboys.

48:58Pat McAfee:I think it's good for both parties. I think it's great for us. Dallas Cowboys traded Michael Parsons in the middle of the Dallas documentary marketing. Jerry. Always cooking. Let's go to the next statement, shall we? Shoddy will be a good head coach because his dad was a good head coach. Is that definite? Is that BS or no BS, B-A? I think that's total BS. Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no. What are you talking about? Because I think Scotty would be a good head coach because he's shoddy. He's an offensive guy, first of all. His dad was ultimate defensive coach. I worked for his dad and coached the running backs and my son and Shoddy were ball boys together.

49:37But I think he'll be a hell of a head coach. But he's been around really good ones. He saw it since he was this tall. He knows how to do it. He's got his own philosophy. and being an offensive guy is totally different than being a defense guy as a head coach. And Tom Brady was the first one to tell me that. I was the first head coach that was ever an offensive guy for Tom. And I think Brian will do a hell of a job.

50:00Pat McAfee:What's the difference? What did Tom say? Just the focus being more offensive as opposed to defense wanting to win in practices and such? A minute, 10 left at the half. We're winning by seven. We're just going to run it out, right? Hell no, bro. We're going to go score. Got it. Let's go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Offense coordinator. If we get the ball back, start the second, let's go score and let's score again. There's a lot of biscuits out there to get. That might be a part of this entire thing. All right, let's go with the next one, shall we? Yeah, speaking of Tom Brady, Bruce, Tom Brady says Aaron Rodgers is the best ball thrower of all time.

50:32Is that BS or no BS, B.A.? That's a little BS because Aaron can spin it. But nobody can spin it better than Dan Marino. I'm a little more biased toward Johnny Unitas. I'm a little older. I thought he was the greatest passer of all time.

50:45Pat McAfee:Okay, so Johnny Unitas, because of how old you were whenever you saw it, like, for instance, there's a nostalgia thing with Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan changed basketball so much. But when we were watching The Last Dance, people that didn't watch the NBA back then were like, okay, obviously basketball was at a much different spot before Michael Jordan and then after Michael Jordan. Was Johnny Unitas a trailblazer with how he threw the ball like Ray Guy was with punting, for instance? Oh, yeah. Ray Guy started turning those things over, and it was like, what is this guy? Now everybody does that.

51:14Pat McAfee:But is that the same thing you're thinking for Johnny Unitas, or was it just like elite ball-throwing ability? He was just a great passer of the football. And there's one thing. It's throwing the football and passing the football. It's different. Passers don't necessarily have great velocity. They have great accuracy. Joe Montana didn't have great velocity. He was just super accurate on time. Knew where he was going all the time. But for me, I have to say Danny Marino. Pittsburgh guy. I'm okay with you saying that. Yeah, it's a very Italian guy getting after it. His quick release was obviously what everybody chats about, but what else was it?

51:49He had velocity. He had accuracy. You know, when I first started coaching, I backed up Don Strzok in college, and he's down there with the Dolphins, and I go down to practice. And I was like, holy shit, this guy's better than I thought he was. Because Don led the nation in passing in college, and we played seven games in the rain at Virginia Tech. And so it's like.

52:09Pat McAfee:This guy's battling Mother Nature. Yeah, dude. Yeah, and it was like, I thought Don was great. And I see Danny, and I say, ooh, it's a different level. Okay, so Aaron Rodgers is in the conversation. Oh, he's in the conversation because I think Aaron can throw it any different way he wants to throw it. And he's got that little flick that's just so special. Jordan Love kind of copied it, and Jordan's getting pretty daggone good too. What do you think about Aaron with the Pittsburgh Steelers? Obviously, you know the Pittsburgh Steelers very well. Yeah, it's an upgrade. It's an upgrade for me. I just, you know, they better protect him.

52:41They better protect him. They didn't protect Russell. They better protect him.

52:45Pat McAfee:You worried about that offensive line, it sounds like. He's young. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Dad! Cowboys over in hammer. Dad! Dad! Ladies and gentlemen, AP Tone. AP Tone, how you doing, buddy? Good to see you. How you guys doing? Doing good. Hey, he said Aaron Rodgers needs to be protected, or it doesn't matter who's playing court. That's basically what you just said right there, B.A.? Exactly. Yeah, it's an upgrade, certainly, but if we can't protect him, who cares? Coach is not wrong.

53:09Darius Butler:That is the number one concern going into the season with the whole team. But last year's number one pick for the Steelers, Troy Fautano, who was hurt most of last year but looked great. He's back at right tackle. Broderick Jones is back at left tackle where he belongs. Frazier's at center. And then they've got two guards. McCormick was a rookie last year. So they're very young. They're all one year older. They're talented. But the thing with Aaron is, too, at least how I feel, he's going to get them in the right looks. He is going to check into the right play always and forever. So I feel like just Aaron being back there, no disrespect to Russ, and it's not like Russ wasn't a veteran quarterback, but I just trust Aaron to always make the right decision.

53:52Darius Butler:And Aaron knows that. So I feel like Aaron and Artie Smith are going to have a plan for that.

53:57Pat McAfee:Do you agree with what he just said there? Do you think getting in the right position helps? And will Artie Smith understand that maybe the offensive line isn't having a great – can you play call out of a bad offensive line? We've had a bunch of injuries in the past. We knew who we had to protect. Go back to Andrew's rookie year. Who got hurt? McGlynn and AQ got to go and block Sue. Just give him a little help. But I'll tell you what, Q blocked his ass the whole game. Yes, he certainly did. And then he got a job for the next 10 years because of it. And that's certainly a reason why AQ, absolute dog.

54:33Pat McAfee:Had the opportunity. Had to get those short little arms, 29 inches. Had to get those things out there before just getting eaten alive. I appreciate the fact, though, that right now Steelers fans feel as if they can win a Super Bowl. And I think that's a good thing to have before the season. Right, Tone?

54:48Darius Butler:Yes, absolutely. 100%.

54:49Pat McAfee:Okay, now I don't know if everybody else feels that way, especially with how stacked the AFC is. But making that move and all the other moves that they made, they pay DK Metcalf$30 million a year. He's never been a Steeler before. They bring in Jalen. They pay him. John O. Smith, they bring him in. Darius Slay, they bring him in. It feels like the Steelers are going all in. Very abnormal for how the Steelers have always been run. But Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan making these massive plays, they obviously want to go win a damn thing. They want to bring seven into that building. I think Omar's doing a great job.

55:18And, yeah, they're all in. There's no doubt about it. They put a lot of cash out there, some older players, some veteran players. And proof is always in the pudding. They've got a tough-ass division. I mean, they got to face Burrow twice. You know, that ain't easy. Lamar. Lamar twice.

55:32Pat McAfee:Lamar has not been brought up by Joe Montana. No, yeah. I thought Lamar was going to be, for sure. For sure. Like, as Joe, I was like, definitely going to be picking Lamar here. Josh Allen, okay. Joey Burrows, probably because they get a lot of similarities, I'm assuming. A lot of similarities. A lot of conversation about those two. Cool Joes. Being similar. Yeah. And then Justin Herbert coming out of nowhere, I was like, hey. That was the one that surprised me. That was the one that surprised me. And he can, he should be there. Big. Oh, he's got it all. He's got it all. what happens? Just solid pieces around you, brother.

56:03I mean, quarterbacks get the blame and they get all the credit. Brady played all those years. He had a great defense and Bill put players around him. Payton, same thing. We started out really bad and we started putting up players on defense and build that whole thing.

56:17Pat McAfee:You're saying it's a team sport? That's the beauty of the game. We got about 10 seconds for this last one. Yeah, a lot of people saying that any QB can play and play well in Kevin O 'Connell's offense for the Vikings. Is that BS or no BS, B.A.? I would say it's BS because I probably couldn't. All right, that's BS or no BS, B.A. The last one, the actual last one, and this is a quick – nope, go to the next one, please. Can you not risk it and still get the biscuit? Hell no. Okay, yeah, you got to risk it. You got to risk it to get the biscuit. That's total bullshit. Yeah.

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57:26Welcome to the WNBA. Your vision narrows. You can't look away.

57:31Darius Butler:Every assist, every stop, every logo three. From beyond the logo. Every did you see that moment. You bet. What records are going to be broken this season? All of it, right here. Lock in. It's the WNBA on ESPN. All season long.

58:16Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, Kangol Hat where, Bruce? Hey! That ring is outrageous. It's awesome. It is. Beautiful. Yeah, it's beautiful. I got to thank Darcy Kasiewicz Glazer. She designed it, and she's the best. One of the best owners I've ever worked for. Okay, so the Glazer family owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They also own Manchester United, if I'm remembering correctly. You guys went all in there, right? It felt like you guys went all in. Bring in Gronk in. Bring AB in. Fournette. Lorna Fournette comes in. You guys really were going for it. But obviously Mike Evans has been paid every single year that he comes up.

58:49Pat McAfee:And I assume that's just going to happen forever. He's going to get to Larry Fitzgerald type situation down there in Tampa, which he has certainly earned. But that Glazer family and Jason Light, the GM, seem like you guys are all in lockstep throughout the entire process. Is that an accurate depiction? Totally accurate. I mean, Jason doesn't get the credit he deserves. Man, one of the greatest general managers, I think, in the game. We worked together out in Arizona. And that's really why I took the job. You know, I was out of it. My son said, hey, you've got to look into this. And I really, Jameis Winston, I had in my football camp when he was 10th grade.

59:19And I thought we could fix it, you know. And so I took the job, and it was awesome to work for the Glazier family and Jason Light.

59:28Pat McAfee:How about how that all went, going down there to work with Jameis, which obviously still playing? Threw a lot. Still doing his thing? 5 ,000 yards, 36 touchdowns. It was the last two games, he threw a couple picks, that we had to look behind door number two. Now, did I ever think behind door number two would be Tom Brady? No. But Phillip Rivers, Tom Brady, somebody else that year was coming out. Drew Brees. Stafford is available around, I guess that was asking. I think it was Drew Brees. Yeah, it might have been Drew. If I recall, Drew was going to be up. I knew Drew wasn't coming out, but Brady come out.

1:00:03I mean, I thought Phillip might be our guy. And next thing you know, Tommy's all in.

1:00:10Pat McAfee:Yeah, I heard there was a nice meeting down there in Tampa. I heard there were some real powerful players all involved there. Maybe we're going to build up the city a little bit. We might make Tom Brady time down here, TB, Tampa Bay. I mean, there was a lot of synergy seemingly with Tampa and Tom, but nobody thought that's where he was going to end up at. Darlington came out of nowhere because it was Tennessee with Vrabel, and then it was another place. Then the first time was on ESPN. Darlington came out of nowhere, and they were still using the smart boards, and he wrote down on the thing, Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a team that you should look out for for Brady.

1:00:45That's how he recruited us as hard as we recruited him because we had everything he was looking for. He had a home in Florida. He was on the East Coast. He wanted to see Jack. He could get up and back to New York easily. No taxes. And some pretty damn good receivers. Yeah, exactly.

1:01:00Pat McAfee:And defense was fast and everybody was ready to go. And it ends up working out. What a beautiful city, too. Tampa Bay is a beautiful city. Great place. Hot. Well, like you said, too, the cranes and everything, that was no bullshit. We were going down there every week, and as soon as they got Tom, boom, cranes everywhere. It's like, okay, this is on right now. And the Bolts won a couple Stanley Cups. You guys obviously hosted the Super Bowl and won the Super Bowl. First ever team to do that, right? Yep. So everything in Tampa was up, and then you guys had the boat parade, which was legendary. It will be forever.

1:01:30Unbelievable. Pittsburgh has some great Super Bowl parades. That boat parade actually got scary. When I saw the aerial view, there's like 5 ,000 boats out there. People on paddle boards. With no harness. There's sharks in there, man.

1:01:49Pat McAfee:Toxic Tables here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. Nine-year NFL vet Darius J. Butler is here. One half of the hammer. Cowboys is in hammer. AP Tone. Tone, last night, Jesus. What happened in North Carolina? It was all there. Was everybody hammering North Carolina? No, everybody felt TCU was going to win. Okay. Everyone hammered the under, though. Everybody thought it was going to go under, and TCU said, we'll go get that. How did the betters do after last night? And what is your takeaway from the evening, and what should we look at for Charlotte maybe for North Carolina this weekend?

1:02:22Darius Butler:Yeah, to be honest, I could be wrong, but when the lines opened up in June or July or whatever it was, I believe UNC was a slight favorite, and then it closed as TCU minus 3.5 or whatever. So there was a ton of action on TCU. A lot of the offseason stuff going on in North Carolina didn't help that line. Tell you what, it was electric last night. The whole place was buzzed in that. We, and you said in the first hour, we will never, ever, ever forget that first drive. We were on the sideline. We were telling Stanford, Steve, you know what? This might be the best team in the ACC. The ACC might be the best conference in the country is what we were saying.

1:02:59Darius Butler:Can you imagine hosting a playoff game here? and then they played football for another four quarters and it was a disaster. But you know what? Josh Hoover looked really, really good. TCU is a good football team. I do think UNC is probably going to take it out on Charlotte this week and I believe they got their asses beat by App State in week one. App State's good. App State, UNC, I don't know. I think Bill bounces. Yes, App State has gotten UNC's number in the past, but I think Bill bounces back in week two.

1:03:30Pat McAfee:Yeah, all right. I love that. He has to. He doesn't have a choice. Again, Charlotte. Yeah. I mean, this is.

1:03:34Darius Butler:And by the way, Brad's boy came in at the end and was slinging it. Max Johnson's, I mean, I think he's 25. He's been around a long, long time. This is his third school, I do believe.

1:03:43Pat McAfee:He's Big Bad Brad's dad, or his kid, and he takes shots like that and delivers a dime on third and long. So, coming back from a snap leg where he has one of the most gnarly scars down his right side of his leg. TCU really had their way, though, last night. They really did. But that first drive, Tony, go back to your point. Is the ACC the strongest conference in football? Florida State, Miami, Clemson, now North Carolina is going to be good. We were asking, is Clemson the fifth best team in this conference now?

1:04:14Darius Butler:This is a real conversation. That was the first drive. With money? Gabriel at quarterback? Kind of looked like Dylan Gabriel during that first drive. He did kind of look like Dylan Gabriel. You're right. Except I saw Gio put all of his weight into a sturdy 40-yard dirt. No. With the conversation around the Big Ten, though, as you're saying this, when it comes to the Big Ten having all the money, you would think the ACC falls more into that category than the SEC, right? Do you think there's a lot of money in the ACC?

1:04:42Pat McAfee:I think there's a lot of money in North Carolina. There's a lot of money in Duke. Not for football. Yeah, not for football. They're hoopers, right? Isn't that kind of their thing? Yeah, so only UNC is the team now that's allotting 20-plus. Yeah, so to that point, I guess the athletic directors are going to have to make those decisions going forward. I met the athletic director last night. Bubba? I guess I said some mean stuff about Bubba Cunningham. Did you? Yeah. He deserved it, though. At the time, I certainly think he deserved it. So I didn't remember this in the time. He walks into the production room where we're at.

1:05:12Pat McAfee:He walks in, and he's talking to somebody over here. And I'm sitting right here. And he goes, oh, public enemy number one's me. He points at me. I'm sitting down. He's over here. He walks over, and I stand up. And I go, hello? and he goes I'm Bubba Cunningham the athletic director here I go what's up Bubba sweet name I'm Pat nice to meet you and I sit back down and then he walks away and he like we have a quick interaction and he walks away he stands there and I'm like public enemy number one why do you say that that had to be for a reason that was an awkward interaction too that was not like a positive interaction what was that all about and I go oh yeah you fucked us yeah yeah I point at him and I say that and he goes oh yeah I said West Virginia basketball you screwed us I do remember That was you.

1:05:55Pat McAfee:I said, why'd you do that to us? And he said, it was not. Okay, we're not getting into this. He said, if you learn the details of how that all went down, I'm not your enemy. But I understand that I'm the head guy or whatever. I was like, oh, yeah, I said some bad stuff about you. Okay, you did screw us, though, don't you think? If I remember, there was all these things that we accomplished that in the history of the entire thing, if other teams had it, they all made the tournament, and then West Virginia didn't make the tournament. First team ever. He was like, no, but there was a voting process.

1:06:24Pat McAfee:This year was different or whatever. It was like, okay, I apologize for what I said about you. But I do remember going pretty hard at Old Bubba. Well, it was that. And then North Carolina got in when a lot of people said they shouldn't have. And obviously, he's the AD at North Carolina. So, you know, kind of maybe you were right to do that at the time. Definitely. Yeah, it was loud. Boy, that's one of those things like a radio row when we go to the Super Bowl. Sure. And we don't know or we forget that we offended somebody. and then that person walks up. It's like, hey, good to see you. Had a great year or whatever.

1:06:54Pat McAfee:It's like, they don't think that at all. I can sense that. I can sense from the end. Completely forgot. Yeah. Recognize the name and then I'm like, oh, yeah, Pat, you kind of roasted his ass pretty good. Yeah, well, West Virginia got screwed. Yeah, exactly. His school went in. His name is Bubba Cunningham. He's going to be all right. He's been around a long time, too. He gave me a nice little resume check, too, about how long he's been in college sport. I mean, there was a lot. There was a lot that happened there. I want to let Bubba know I appreciate your moxie, Bubba. I do. And I hope you have that first drive.

1:07:23Pat McAfee:He'll remember it forever. I hope they get that first drive again. A lot of work to get back to that. Yeah. But that's what it was. I hope Lombardi was sitting in there going, This is it. This is what we're talking about. We imagine. Andy Dalton's on his sideline. Randy Moss is there. Aaron Boone. Mia Hamm. Aaron Boone. Aaron Boone was there? It was baseball. Yeah, he was. The Yankees? Yeah, I don't know what the fuck Aaron Boone was doing there. Okay. Listen, the Yankees have the most important 12-game stretch of the season starting today. And he's there with a sweatshirt tied around his waist looking like an asshole.

1:07:57So now I know where his priorities are at.

1:07:58Pat McAfee:His son is on the staff at UNC. I don't care. We're trying to win a pennant. Okay? I get it. That's awesome. He's not a lot of support. His son, you hear what I'm talking about? Hey, man, family's everything. Family's first. Family's first. Family's first. Did you hear that? Your team's your family. I was going to say, yeah. You think Judgey's not – you don't think he doesn't love Judgey like he loves his own boy? I'm sure he does. I don't think so. He drove down in Oregon? Clearly. He invited Judgey with him. Judgey didn't want to go. He must stay with the bank. Really? I didn't know that. I didn't know that.

1:08:26Good.

1:08:27Pat McAfee:I'm glad Judgey didn't want to go. Judgey is a Jordan athlete. I assume he did get the invite. Yeah, you're right. He probably could be in the middle of the field if he would like to. Your reaction to him being there last night was epic. And it was – I think it was sent in 100 % to rile you up. Without a doubt. Multiple people sent it to me, and it did. it chapped my ass right when I saw it. But I get it. He might be motivated by that first drive. He might be. You're right. Maybe he left after the first drive. There was a lot of people thinking about doing that from what I've been told. People that I was around.

1:08:56Pat McAfee:Let's bottle this up. Save this forever. Lombardi better have been out there going. We made it in three months. We created everything we needed. And then it's just gone. Maybe he left after the first drive, though. They need to get the music during that timeout. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is the A man who is a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner, and a man who's currently in his attic in Ohio. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hawk. Yeah, Hawk. Hawker, how you doing, buddy? They had it for a drive, buddy. They had it.

1:09:27Darius Butler:They had me fooled. I thought they might be able to continue like what they did the first drive. But going back to this Aaron Boone situation, it sounds like the big reason Ty's pissed is because he had a sweatshirt tied around his waist. Is that why you were the most mad? That's part of it. I love that. I can understand that. Yeah. That's the top looking public.

1:09:43Pat McAfee:He's representing the Yankees there.

1:09:44Darius Butler:What if he would have put it over his shoulders, tied it over his shoulders like the frat boy? I'm good with that. I'm good with that.

1:09:49Pat McAfee:Remember, you weren't allowed to have a beard for so long because you're representing the Yankees. Yeah. Go around there with him. Randy Moss was there. It was great to see Randy. He's with a guy named Big E right there, who's the Jack Stanford Steve named Eric. I guess him and Randy together a lot. Big E, big fan of the program. Nice. Big E promoting program to Randy Moss. Nice. Yeah. Jack Stanford Steve, okay? Not Randy. The otter guy. The otter guy here in the photo. He is an ally of ours for Randy. And it was cool to get to meet Randy Moss last night and chat with Randy. That was my first time.

1:10:24Man, great seeing him back after camp. Dude.

1:10:26Pat McAfee:That was the first time? Was that the first time he was on TV since at all? Super Bowl. He did the Super Bowl? Yeah. And he did a sit down with one of the major. But that's not until Thursday. The good morning America one? Yeah. So that premieres on Thursday. So he's just, that was the first time I've seen him since everything. Since, like, yeah. While I was sitting up there, I'm like, is this, this is huge here, that the world is seeing him. Yeah. Be loved. And I let him know that, too. I was like, hey, listen, I don't know how often I'm going to get this opportunity. I want to let you know we are all fucking very happy that you are good.

1:10:58Pat McAfee:You are great for society. And him and Dion were my two favorite players growing up, you know. Like, I just love the moxie. There's these tales about him during the recruiting process in full jeans, just beating everybody at college practice and then getting his scholarship rejected from him because they didn't want to bring him. Like, everything about Randy that I've learned is legendary. And then what he was able to do in the NFL, if you have something named after you that is just happening on a regular basis now, you're getting Moss. Like, you've obviously contributed to the game. But I don't think anybody can tell the story of football without saying Randy Moss' name.

1:11:29Pat McAfee:And he's just a kid from West Virginia, you know, who won over and took over everything. Loves fishing. Loves ball. And it was nice to be able to say that to him. You know, I don't think we do that enough. Getting a chance to do that to Lee Corso was cool this other day. Wanted Randy to know that as well. And I wonder where his perspective is. We didn't get a chance to dive into all that. But, God, it was good to see him. And, once again, North Carolina. Got Randy Moss on the sideline. You know, like it was all there, AJ. It felt like a magical time.

1:11:56Darius Butler:They'll be there next week, right? They're going to be there next week.

1:11:59Pat McAfee:I don't know if everybody's booked a second week. Charlotte Saturday. It's a quick turnaround. NFL. NFL is here, too. So, it's tough. Yeah, because D-Butt was requested to be there maybe throughout the season. Maybe lend an ear in hand. He thought they were going to win. Me?

1:12:15Darius Butler:D-Butt's going to consult for them? D-Butt, you bet on them?

1:12:17Pat McAfee:Yeah, D-Butt's actually doing some free consultation. I don't bet, but I have my question. You were in a spot where you had to pick him. Teddy probably had to pick him, too, with his relationship with Bill. Yeah, Nick had to pick him. Yeah, Nick had to pick him. So I thought, hey, Daz, you're the only one to keep it real, huh? You knew what it was going to be. But a long season, a lot of ball left. But back to Randy, though. Got a chance to be his teammate my first two years in the league. Obviously, everybody knows it's Randy Moss. But unbelievable teammate, even to like a rookie on the defensive side of the ball.

1:12:51You know, at that time, you know, a bunch of guys was playing video games and stuff. So just being in there, I'm calling my brothers, hey, man, I'm playing Call of Duty. Randy Moss, man. You know, check it out. So just a great teammate. Tom Brady, I saw him do an interview. I'm not sure who he was with, but him talking about celebrating with the offensive line and how he views quarterbacks. That's something he watches. Does the quarterback celebrate with his teammates? Ben catching up with Teddy Bruschi. Those OGs, being great, great teammates. Randy was obviously one of the pillars in that locker room.

1:13:19So it was great to see him back. Great to see him in good spirits. It would be great to see him obviously back on TV throughout this football season, but just an amazing icon that we all looked up to.

1:13:28Pat McAfee:Yeah, he's back on Sunday NFL Countdown, which is great news. Teddy Bruschi being there, though, I mean, now that from an ex-Patriot like you were, it's like looking back, it was an ISO reunion last night. You know, a lot of the coaches and everything. And Lombardi, I mean, once again, they had it all.

1:13:43Darius Butler:Yeah. They got a lot of good TV time, Lombardi and Bill, on the talking pregame when they were leading up and all the show you guys were doing. They got a bunch of good airtime, too.

1:13:51Pat McAfee:Yeah, Lombardi had a couple really cool shots, stoic shots, looking out over the practice.

1:13:55Darius Butler:Staring into the distance, yeah, it was good. It looked like it was a perfect night.

1:13:58Pat McAfee:Did you ever think about getting back into college coaching? No. No. I can't stand rookies, get alone freshmen. And you got to pay them? No. And you got to recruit them? And recruit them again. 13? Every year. Exactly. I mean, I do a lot of work with Virginia Tech, and it just drives me crazy. I mean, I recruited you once. Now you want to raise? That's why college football will not be right until the contracts and the salary cap. Everybody that is an OG in the football world has said the same exact thing. It sounds like there's a chance, if you listen to Coach Saban and Coach Rod, who have both been around college coaching a long time, there's a chance it sounds like there's going to be a 60-team power league.

1:14:45Pat McAfee:Doesn't it feel like that, AJ? I didn't think that was going to be possible. Chip Kelly, I think, pitched it a couple years ago whenever he was with UCLA on this show. He's like, you just get all the power fours. You make them into one league. You do just like the NFL. you do regional divisions, you do the entire thing, and then everybody's playing against each other. Then you have an actual playoff system. You have free agency. You have TV rights deals. Chip Kelly laid this entire thing out, and I was like, okay, yeah, we all want, you know, fairytale land. That's not possible. Then you hear Coach Saban bring it up.

1:15:15Pat McAfee:Then you hear Coach Rod bring it up. It's like, wait a minute. Are they really – is everybody trying to get on the same page here? All the TV contracts would have to end at the same time. Yeah. Or if there was a delay for one or two conferences of years, they would have to sit with no contract or just pick up a one-year deal, which would be much smaller. That would be very hard to get done, but it feels like that is where they are trying to potentially get to, which I'd like to say would be sick. You'd see what we saw this past weekend, every weekend. I'm sure there'd be a lot of people pissed off, though, about it.

1:15:47Pat McAfee:If you're changing conferences and divisions and yada, yada, yada, it's like there's certainly going to be people pissed. But I think to his point, then you could have actual guardrails. That would be an actual league with actual rules, with actual free agency, with actual everything. But how long does that take to get to? I don't even know how you would do that, AJ. Honestly, especially like a school like Ohio State with how much money you're making off of everything that's happening.

1:16:08Darius Butler:Yeah, it all depends on when the TV deal is like, when do those run out and how do you work? That logistically seems crazy. But what happens to the other teams? If you're not one of the 60, where are you? What do you do? Sorry, dude, not everyone makes the NFL. Are they considered like Division II? How does that work? What do you do?

1:16:23Pat McAfee:That would just be like whenever the NCAA sold its rights crowned champion in D1 football to the BCS, and then the NCAA actually ran D1AA or whatever. You go to the NCAA office or headquarters here where we're forced to go my rookie year and listen to them talk. That went terrible. They had no idea that somebody was going to ask a question back. Certainly. I watched you rob Pat White and Steve Slayton, you motherfuckers. I watched it. I watched Pat White and Steve Slayton build this entire university up and you guys basically combating him and you made up the word amateurism and now you use that as an excuse what if i just made up a word and just started using that as my excuse for everything they were not ready for that they were not ready for that moment so it was not i would say it was a pretty bitter interaction between me and the ncaa but we did the tour it was nice it was cool they had a nice museum here everything like that you know i had a toothpick in my mouth after eating this one time guy comes positive body language i'm sure too the

1:17:19Darius Butler:Oh, yeah.

1:17:20Pat McAfee:Third, fourth guy comes in. I mean, the first three were all the same interaction between me and them. I don't understand why you come after somebody for a cheeseburger. I can't get a cheeseburger. Guy wants to buy me a beer after a game-winning kick. I can't. It's$1.50. You guys are going to come after him for what's the purpose of that? So, obviously, they all have their answers about how we're paying for everything and everybody needs to be treated fairly. And if you're getting a beer, is everybody else getting a beer? Is gymnastics getting a beer? I'm like, they should. I mean, if they were there, I would certainly be advocating for them to get a beer.

1:17:51Pat McAfee:You know, just full interactions. Then we have lunch on the other side with Toothpick, you know, because I got some shit. One of the highest senior guys comes in. I guess he'd been told that I was probably not the easiest guy to speak to. So he comes in and tries to do like a whole sit up straight type thing. This is a job interview. I'm like, I'm never working here. This is not a job interview. I was forced to come here for rookie things. So do your thing. And he was like, take Toothpick out of your mouth. You won't be taking it serious. I don't. I'm good. I'm here to kick balls, brother. This is a whole rookie thing.

1:18:21Pat McAfee:But the tour of the museum was nice. Really nice. Their national champion wasn't the D1 national champion. It was the D1AA national champion. That was who the NCAA champion would be. So I think what the NCAA would do would probably take the whatever. The South Dakota State Montana. The 60, the South 70.

1:18:38Darius Butler:Get their own TV deals for all those teams as well.

1:18:41Pat McAfee:The big ones would operate. And then they would have to get some sort of entry, you would think, into the CFP just like March Madness basketball has, you would think. In theory, that feels like that maybe works. But how do you get everybody to agree to that? You've got ADs, presidents, coaches, conferences, how many lawyers, how many different people from everything that would have to agree to that? That'd be crazy. That'd be quite a big task. Luckily, they do have a bunch of runway if that's the way it's going to be because, like you said, these TV deals extend into 2035, the 2030s. They just signed a bunch of 10-year TV deals for billions and billions of dollars.

1:19:17This isn't coming within the next two to three years unless they would tear up those contracts.

1:19:23Pat McAfee:TV networks wouldn't want to do. You'd have to renegotiate all those TV deals. Fox has a great deal. ESPN has a great deal. CBS got... These have all been very tough negotiations to get all these different things. They would have to redo all of those. Good luck to them. Happy we're not doing it. Why don't you do that, Bruce? It's not a bad idea. Hey, VA, why don't you pick up and sign up for that job, fixing college football? No, thanks, brother. No, thanks. I'd rather golf. Yeah, I'd rather golf. That's right. Have a cocktail. Yeah. Of course, maybe a white monster. Do it again. What's the flavor?

1:19:57Pat McAfee:I don't know. It's the fucking white one. It's white. I like the white one. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is Amanda might have all the answers for everything, and we appreciate that. He's an insider. He's an analyst. He's a host. He's a vibe. Ladies and gentlemen, Emmy Award winning, Peter Schrager.

1:20:16Pat McAfee:Shrakes, we were breaking down college ball there a little bit about what potentially could happen in the future. Who knows what's real? Who knows what anything looks like? We do know college football is back in a big way, and the NFL is back in just two days. What should we be thinking about that maybe we're not thinking about? And where are you right now? You look awesome. I feel awesome. Got a great tan just getting back into it. So I'm going to be recording a podcast. I'm doing my own podcast with ESPN in Omaha. It's going to be called The Shraker Hour, and we got a studio and everything and we're set up.

1:20:44So I'm speaking with Sean Payton a little bit later today and we're going to get some coaches. Hopefully BA will join me. I don't want to take any guests, but I love Bruce Arians. I love seeing him in the studio. He looked great, BA.

1:20:53Pat McAfee:He'd be great going to Schrager Hour. Happy Hour, Schrager Hour, Golden Hour, all the hours. BA's great. But yeah, we're two days out here. You got a great tan. You look good. The Schrager Hour's around the corner. Football season here is kicking off for the NFL. What are you looking at as we're two days out? What are some thoughts that you think we should be thinking about as well? You know, every year there's a team that comes from nowhere. And two years ago, it was the Houston Texans who had the second overall pick, and they skyrocketed to a playoff berth and a playoff victory and ended up in the divisional round.

1:21:23Last year, it was the Washington Commanders who came from the second overall pick to do it. I'm seeing everyone's predictions right now, and I say predictions because it's not bold to pick the same six teams that do it in each conference, the same seven teams every year. I'm looking for someone who's going to take a big old swing and someone who is going to say, you know what? The Browns are going to the playoffs this year or the Giants are going to the playoffs this year. And who is that team? Because you look at these odds right now, everyone plays it safe and they think they're going out on a limb, taking the same 14 teams.

1:21:55But Pat, I want to know what's the team that's coming from nowhere this year. I have a read on a squad that no one is believing in. There is one man there in your truck or the back room who is a fan of that I'm seeing plus 900 odds in the AFC East. And as everyone has fled the Miami Dolphins, fled acting as if this team has the plague, I might be doubling down on the Miami Dolphins on the fact that Mike McDaniel finally has his guys. They're going to be playing at 120 miles per hour those first few months of the season. And there is absolutely nobody, nobody on the Dolphins bandwagon right now.

1:22:33They got the Colts week one.

1:22:34Darius Butler:You tripled down, Shregs. Tripled down on that one. There he is. Boys are ready.

1:22:38Pat McAfee:I'll tell you what, Shregs. You see Gumpy talking positive about the Dolphins right there. That's only in the microphone. That is only in the microphone. We talked last week. I know. That is only in the microphones. I think everybody's kind of skeptical and worried with all the moves that take place. But I guess we have to remember the offense, whenever they can protect, unstoppable. You know? They are unstoppable whenever they are moving and operating efficiently. The defense aside, Vic Fangio leaves and goes and wins the Super Bowl. You know, everybody said he couldn't coach the defense anymore.

1:23:09Pat McAfee:He leaves and literally wins the Super Bowl at his next stop, at his next destination. So that's kind of tough to think about. Jalen Ramsey, gone. He's out of the building. Let alone Calais Campbell, who was the OG, he's gone. Jonu. Jonu Smith, he was a pro bowler. He's gone. So Tyreek Hill, first year not being named captain. Sure, it's going great. Sounds like behind closed doors. Motivated. Of course, motivated chip on his shoulder, wants to earn that C back. So I guess you could take everything as either adversity or just an opportunity. I'm looking for the team, Pat. You know it. There's always a team.

1:23:41So who's the team no one's on? You look at it like there's going to be one. Every year there's one. Is it Jacksonville? Is it Carolina? Everyone could have their – I think Miami might be the team this year that no one's on that does a little something. They have the players and they have a coach that knows it's now or never and he's going to run his offense. Let's see how it goes.

1:24:01Pat McAfee:Andy Dalton on the sideline last night, year 15 for the Carolina Panthers, was there. Obviously, Bryce Young benched last year for Andy Dalton. Then Bryce Young put back into the starting lineup. Andy Dalton has to take a back seat yet again. He understands what the role is. Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers get hot at the end of the year. They get hot at the end of the year. Do they have a wide receiver that can get open? We'll see. Will they be able to continue to go? We'll see. but maybe it is the Carolina Panthers who aren't complete. Shite! This year. Dolphins, though. It's going to be tough.

1:24:33Here's what it is. Even the Cowboys out there. Guys, 32 teams, every fan base right now. I walk down the street in New York City. You can find fans. They all think this is the year. This is why the NFL is the best sport. It's parody. Everyone thinks this is the year because they've seen it. If Houston with CJ Stroud.

1:24:50Pat McAfee:Except the Dolphins. I'm believing. I'm looking for that team. I'm searching for that team. I'm searching for them. The truth is, I think the biggest story is the fallout of this Parsons deal. And I haven't been on with you since it happened. I got crushed online last week. Crushed. In all my years, I have never, never been considered a Cowboys guy. I've never been considered a Jerry Jones, oh, I don't know, sycophant. I don't talk to Jerry. I don't know Brian Schottenheimer well. I came out, though, and I explained the Cowboys' thinking on this. And their thinking on this is, we don't want to pay three players the top of their position salaries.

1:25:32This guy has not been what we consider valuable at$47 million. And it got down the road to such a point where Jerry wasn't going to pay him. He was lying on the table there on the sidelines. He demanded a trade. These are all things that made him different than Ezekiel Elliott and CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott. And it got to a point where they made the deal. And you could have two things be true. They screwed this up by not paying him last year where it could have been$35 or$36 million, but they rolled the dice. And you could also have it be true that, you know what, Jerry made the trade because Jerry wanted to make the trade.

1:26:09And whereas 30 other teams, besides the Packers, who I could get to as well, have general managers that cannot make this trade. You could take the best general manager in football, Brett Veach. He's not making that trade unless he looks behind him and says, Mr. Hunt, are we cool with this? Jerry doesn't do that. Jerry doesn't have to do that. You could find whatever GM. Howie Roseman isn't making a trade where he's trading the top player on his team and looking back without saying to Mr. Lurie, are we sure we're good with this? Jerry Jones is the king of the kingdom. He can make the trade, and he doesn't have to look back at anybody.

1:26:40He made the trade because he wanted to make the trade. He's 82 years old. He wanted to make the trade. He's not answering to anybody. so I got crushed because they're like you just want to be Jerry's pal Jerry's 82 years old and has been with every media guy in the world as far as in a relationship Edwarder and Jerry go back 40 I'm not getting in at 82 to be Jerry's guy I promise you that

1:26:58Pat McAfee:I think we don't have a shot with him either we've put a lot of requests in Jerry has ghosted us on all of them now it is nice that we're at the part of his life where he's lost his fastball you know and we have microphones you know so it is nice to be able to remind people though that Jerry is a dog. And watch that documentary. And we can't be judging every move that he makes today off of who he is as a complete businessman and owner of a team. You're talking about an absolute beast of an owner. There's a reason he has the stubborn mentality that he has. If you've been successful in everything and somebody else is going to tell you that you're wrong, there's going to be a natural.

1:27:34Pat McAfee:Is that right? Oh, I am. Okay. Not so fast. At 82, especially 82 years of that. 82 years old. And he's self-made. I got the most valuable franchise in all the sports. Motherfuckers have been running sports a long time. They've never done it like old Jerry Jones. So you're telling me I'm wrong? What the hell have you done? You sell some papers as a kid? What did you do? Like that is his, you can see how he thinks that way. Like you can see how he, he had a handshake. He had a handshake with someone. That's how he looks at it. Yeah, I guess. I mean. Whether right or wrong. I know, I know, I know.

1:28:06Pat McAfee:I understand. I understand completely. But Mike is saying. 24 year old kid. 25, yeah. Micah's saying he was nodding his head along because of the – that's what Mulligetta said this morning is, was Micah nodding his head to the owner of the Dallas Cowboys and his boss while he's talking to him about things? Yes. Did he necessarily think that that was a, hey, we are negotiating a deal right now? No. Well, Jerry should have at least had somebody in room to say, I was there. This was very clear. Because Jerry said, I was already off my mark. On multiple occasions. I said, hey, I want to pay you$30 million.

1:28:40Pat McAfee:Is that good for you? And Micah didn't really say anything. I said, okay,$40 million. Is that good? And Micah said, no. It didn't say anything. And I said,$40 and a half million? And Micah was like, nodding his head. And I was like, all right, so it's$40 and a half. Do you want this to be a three-year deal? Micah's like, yeah, it could be a good five-year deal. It could be a five-year deal. Okay, that's exactly what it'll be. So I was at$30. I moved$40 and a half. Micah was a good negotiator. I offered up a three. Sounded like Micah did a nice job. Came back with a five. No, he didn't. He's 40 and a half.

1:29:07Pat McAfee:That was what the deal was. He's a good nigga, but he ain't David. Mola gets his. He got, what, 47? Yeah, 47. And here's the cool thing about the Packers story, and, A.J., you can appreciate this. You know, Mark Murphy for 20 years was the man in Green Bay as the president. And, you know, they don't have an owner there, so he was the highest guy on the org chart. He had to resign based on their bylaws of the franchise. You get 20 years. in comes Ed Policy, who is in his first year as president. And if you want to make a splash and say, hey, things aren't going to just be the way that they've been, I'm here to kind of set business and we're going to do it in my mold.

1:29:42Now, Goody and LaFleur, as was reported on your show last week, they're still waiting on new deals. But Ed Policy is coming out and saying, you know what? My first major move as new president of the Green Bay Packers, how about I get maybe the best young defensive player in all of football? And we do so by giving up two first-round picks. and a player who many in the league feel might be on the back nine of his career.

1:30:04Pat McAfee:Well, Kenny Clark is a leader for that Green Bay Packers defense. I know a lot of people in Green Bay were not necessarily thrilled about losing him, but whenever you think about what they gave up to get Mike in return, I think everybody's jacked. Good luck to all parties. And you're talking about Carmen Policy's boy up there, Ed Policy. He's not scared to make a big-time move. That's in his family genes. Go ahead, AJ.

1:30:23Darius Butler:Yeah, Shregs, a team I think people, I mean, they do have the best odds to win the NFC West, but the San Francisco 49ers, I don't know if you saw it. Brock Purdy has an awesome commercial out. He's line dancing, doing all kinds of great stuff. It's really good. But Juwan Jennings reported back to practice, I heard, from reports on the internet. How is that going to go? And how do you think these Niners teams are going to fare this year? Third and – I have not seen the commercial. I think he's selling Ariet's. He's selling boots? I think he's selling Ariet's boots. Is there his O-lineman with him too, I think?

1:30:51Okay. Okay.

1:30:53Darius Butler:Shanks, you've got a couple pairs of Ariet's. I'm waiting for the B-roll. I'm waiting for the B-roll. Here we go. All right. Spinning a ball. Okay. All right. A little personality. Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Look at that. All right.

1:31:06Pat McAfee:Oh, nice. I need Kurt Warner in that thing. Remember Kurt Warner, American Underdog Story? He met his wife line dancing actually out there in Iowa. That's right. He better play well Sunday. Oh, a little slide there. Oh, wait, wait. Okay. What's this for? Watch this. Smile. How do you do? He said. Ariat? What's Ariat?

1:31:26Darius Butler:Ariat boots. I want to play a Western Cowboy boot and Western Wear company.

1:31:31Pat McAfee:Oh, I can get that denim vest right there? You get it all. I can get everything Purdy's wearing right there?

1:31:37Darius Butler:Yeah, boot bar and Perry's a lot of area.

1:31:38Pat McAfee:Can I get that rhythm that Brock Purdy's got? Did you see him one, two in there, Bruce? He was a hell of a line dancer, I'll tell you. He was one of you. Good little post. I bet a bunch of girls were jumping in behind that. Yeah, I think that followed suit. Normally, it's the guy in all black. For every square dancing, line dancing place that I've been to, There is a fella that's going to be an all-black. He's going to have a black cowboy hat. He will be in the front of the group. He knows every dance. And he's going to sweat. And he's going to lead the way for the next three, four hours. He's not drunk.

1:32:07Pat McAfee:You are. And you need to keep up with the man in black, from my understanding. That's from saloons in Blacksburg, up there in the hills of Virginia Tech, all the way to Los Angeles rodeo places. You need the guy in the black will kind of show the way. He's hitting that electric slide ten different ways, though. I mean, they are dupty-doin' in there. It's a good time. Copperhead Road comes on. Copperhead Road comes on. Get the hell out of the way. There are people from the hills running to that dance floor for Copperhead Road. And Brock Purdy knows that. He knows. Ariat knows that. Are they going to win because of that?

1:32:43Pat McAfee:He better play World Week 1. Here's what the deal is with San Francisco. I'm saving that video for Sunday just in case. Here it is. If at 4.30. When he runs one in, you're saying he learned that touchdown dance from our friends at Ariat? Yeah, well, maybe. I mean, everyone in the NFC West is going to run one in this weekend, it sounds like. But if they do play pretty poorly, I'm assuming not just me. Not just too much. Why, though? This is a team that reloaded. Because it's funny, Peter, okay? That's the only reason. Brock doesn't deserve it. He doesn't. Brock's getting a little cowboy money. Brock doesn't care.

1:33:22Pat McAfee:Exactly. He's got John Deere. He's got that big quarterback. They reloaded. They reloaded in a way that was really interesting to me in that they doubled down on a lot of veterans this offseason. Hughes check, they cut originally. Then they were like, you know what? Let's bring him back. Kittle had a big contract situation. They paid him good money. They then, of course, paid Purdy. Then it's one guy after another. They're like, we're not. Fred Warner. We're not looking at last year as the trend. We're looking at last year as a complete outlier, and we still believe that we can compete in the NFC West.

1:33:55My question, of course, is, yes, Jawan Jennings, third and Jawan, who was so good two years ago. Is it he and Ricky Pearsall? Are they enough to really compete with a Rams offense, an Eagles offense, a Lions offense? You're looking at a running backs room that, yes, Christian McCaffrey's there, but is it Isaac Garendo and Brian Robinson? Are they going to be enough to maybe give McCaffrey the spells that he needs, considering McCaffrey's loss to injury as many times as he has been in the last few years? So, again, no one's going to draw up an offense like Kyle Shanahan. You get back Salah. You, of course, have three of the first four draft picks be defensive linemen.

1:34:34On paper, it's all there. Now these guys just have to do it. But I think they've been hearing a lot that they can't, and I think that's a veteran squad that thinks, wait, guys, we were in the Super Bowl 24 months ago. What are you talking about?

1:34:44Pat McAfee:I've forgotten great team, the San Francisco 49ers, And it all started four days before the season whenever we learned about Christian McCaffrey's fate and how Achilles tendonitis was on one side, then it jumped to the other side. It was like, oh, no. And the whole season went that way. Now they get an opportunity to get it back without anybody really talking about him other than us because it's hard not to think about Fred running all over that defense. Oh, yeah. And Bosa just stretching five. Federico. I mean, they got a team. We got to never forget that. The NFC West, though, pretty packed out there.

1:35:15Pat McAfee:And you mentioned one of those teams, the Rams. Go ahead, D-Bug. Yeah, staying in the NFC West, sounds like you love the Rams just based on how you were talking about that stacked San Francisco roster. But how do you feel about Stafford? And I know he was named week one starter, so it sounds like he's good. How are things going out there in Rams camp? Definitely outperformed expectations by a lot last season. What's your thoughts and expectations on this year? Yeah, they're fired up. Look, they hope that he's in there, obviously. The real one. Here's the truth. me week one week one stafford will be out there and we'll go from there uh the truth is all summer and i know you guys are rolling your eyes at home and you're rolling your eyes there in indy jimmy g was slicing and dicing up the cowboys defense in the joint practices laid well how about stetson yeah that's him look good but jimmy g they were very very happy about the way jimmy g looked against the cowboys in those joint practices in that he and davante as As much as you thought they might have issues because of the documentary and what Devontae said, they were good.

1:36:17And Stafford is going to be great. And if he gets injured, they don't feel like the season is done if his back acts up. So the thing you need to take away, and I know there's a million teams that are going to be coming for them, they believe that Puka Nakua and Devontae Adams is a huge upgrade from Puka Nakua and Cooper Cup. So you had a good offense last year. Devontae comes in and already They are speaking as if Devontae Adams looks like the Devontae Adams that A.J. Hawk saw in Green Bay And that the Devontae Adams that we saw tearing up the league for a good decade Over the course of the mid-2000 teens all the way up into the last few years where he kind of Was jumping around team to team a bit, but now you've got a guy in Stafford who has Tutu He has Nukua and he has this one and they have a running game and a guy that they just paid in karen williams So defense is going to be key, but they got two rookies last year that they thought played at Pro Bowl level, and those guys are going to be leaders this season.

1:37:14So I am extremely high on the Rams, and I think a lot of people should be higher than what they are.

1:37:19Pat McAfee:Sean McVay, immediately upon Devontae Adams' arrival, showing the entire team a bunch of Devontae highlights. It's a sick way to say, hey, welcome to the team. We're happy to have you. Obviously, he'll gas everybody up. OBJ's first game with the Rams, if you do recall, after getting kind of an ugly exit from Cleveland, OBJ was targeted like five times in the first five plays. Sean McVay wants his guys to play well. He's a great ball coach over there. He really is. So young. Could have taken, what, 30 mil to go call some games? Yep. Instead sticks around, tries to do the rebuild with Matthew Stafford.

1:37:50Pat McAfee:And hopefully they're all healthy. And I'm excited to see what they do. Now let's stick with the NFC West. Coach B.A. has a question for you, Shreg. Yeah. Shregs, you think anybody NFC West wins over nine? Yeah, I do. I do. I think the Rams can go 11-12. I do. I feel like, you know, I remember, I mean, guys, you have to understand, I was sideline reporter for Fox for many years, and I did a many Jeff Fisher, Bruce Arians games. And let me tell you, that Rams-Cardinals rivalry was no joke. B.A., are you giggling back there? Because those meetings were heated, and those were good. But, like, now we have the Cardinals back a bit, and now we have the Rams sitting on the top, and the Niners are biting, and the Seahawks are there.

1:38:31So I understand if we're looking at, we think everyone's going to go seven wins, eight wins, nine wins, and then the best team wins. I think the Rams are superior to those teams. I think the Rams are going to go 11 or 12 wins.

1:38:40Pat McAfee:Okay, well, that would be over for the Rams, obviously. Do you see under on the Niners at 10.5? No, I think they're going to be a 10-11 win team as well. I don't know if I'm there yet on Seahawks and Cardinals. How many teams out of the NFC West make in the playoffs? Two? I would think two, yeah. Okay, is that the strongest? Is there going to be a three-team division? I think the NFC North has an argument, and you could pick your permutation of those four teams. I saw a lot of people high on the Bears. I would be interested in that because of Ben Johnson, but I don't think they're in that same conversation just yet with those other three teams.

1:39:15And I think the Packers got a lot better with Micah Parsons. I know it's a big, shiny object. A lot of people say, okay, but let's see how it actually works. I think Micah Parsons is an unblockable object off the edge, and I think they've got a pretty good defense otherwise. So I think the Packers, Vikings, and the Lions

1:39:31Pat McAfee:could all be playoff teams this year. Three teams from the NFC North in the playoffs, maybe. Last year, two NFC North teams were battling in the last week for the number one overall seed in the NFC. Winner gets number one, loser gets number five. They need to redo the playoff seeding, is what everybody said for the offseason. When it said teams are just too damn good. Speaking of a good team, let's go to the AFC. Mile high. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Schraggs, last week, every guest we had on and we asked this kind of question, it was basically like, hey, watch out for the Broncos. They might win the Super Bowl this year.

1:40:00and it almost got to the point where it felt like picking the Broncos might have been jumping the shark a little bit. As we stand right now with the season kicking off this weekend, do you still think that the Broncos are one of those teams who are going to potentially be a Super Bowl team at the end of the year? I'm torn because I do believe that, but you are right. The amount of heat that they're getting, that never ends well. There's always that team that just scratches the surface in year one and then everyone jumps on their bandwagon and it doesn't go as smoothly in year two. And I say year one because of Bo Nix, but like, gosh, from every, you know, guest we spoke to last week on McAfee to Diana Russini sitting with Sean Payton to Kay Adams sitting with Sean Payton.

1:40:42It feels like everyone came out of Denver just being like, yep, that's the team. That's the team. Because their defense was number one in the league and they got better on offense. And now you're expecting Bo Nix to take an even bigger leap in year two. So where's the hole? Where's the fall? I don't know. and yet I'm cautious of just riding the bandwagon that everyone else is. Like, honestly, I look at this and I'm like, okay, if every single person is picking the Broncos over the Chiefs, well, then the Chiefs have to win the division. That's just how it's going to go. I think it's probably an even split if you ask around the league and you ask the media right now whether it's Broncos or Chiefs.

1:41:14And I think that's crazy, crazy considering what Kansas City has done and also considering what Kansas City did last year and that they lost one regular season game. And I know it was on a blocked field goal that they almost lost to the Broncos. earlier in the season, but guess what? They blocked the field goal, and Leo Chanel got up there and blocked it. I can't take the Broncos over the Chiefs just yet.

1:41:34Pat McAfee:I do like Bo Nix and Sean Payton. Yeah, it's great. Sean Payton draft night talking about Bo Nix. This is the one. This is the guy. And them going through some growing pains early in the season with how great they looked at the end, and that defense can stop anybody. Defense is stacked, but second year, now a lot of defense The Bills lit them up in the playoffs. We forget this. Yeah. The center player of the year. Thank you, Peter. The MVP. AFC is packed. We got Zach Allen. They got it up. The AFC is packed. Yeah, they had 80 million dead capped or 50 million, whatever it was last year. 50 last year, 30 this year.

1:42:07Pat McAfee:Yeah, whatever it is. They had the biggest dead cap in the history. So they're playing with literally a more fun on their back there. I am interested, though. Second year. Second year for Bo Nix. You know, he is obviously older. You know, he's, what, 25, 26? Yeah, something like that. Probably going into his second year. But obviously, you know, Sean Payton is a great – What makes Sean Payton a great play call to be? You guys spent a bunch of time in the league at the same time. Yeah, don't Sean a long, long time. He's just got a great mind. He's got a great feel for the game. And, you know, trick plays are one thing.

1:42:36He's got the perfect timing for when he's going to get you, you know. And his quarterbacks always play smart. They never play scared, all right. And they don't beat themselves. That's the way he's always been. And he's just a hell of a football coach. and, you know, really happy for Vance to be back there doing such a great job at that defense. I like the Broncos, too. I think the Broncos are the ones that challenge the Chiefs because Chargers already got injuries galore. And people don't talk about injuries. Injuries just wipe you out. And, hey, we're great. No, we just lost our left tackle. We lost our right tackle.

1:43:11We got –

1:43:11Pat McAfee:Oh, no, excuses. I don't want to hear it. There are no such things as excuses, but – V.A., let me ask you. Can I jump in? Yeah, go ahead, Shrakes. This, this, Peyton's not well liked by teams during the season. He does some antics. Like, did he ever do anything that got under your skin as far as a coach goes? Did he ever do anything that in the media or even on the field, something that kind of set you off track? A little bit, yeah, the playoff game. You know, the playoff game, Sean never came out before the game. And he was out shaking hands with everybody running around. And I said, oh, he's awful confident about this one.

1:43:45Now, they did kick their ass earlier in New Orleans. But I was like, that's not Sean. And I said, I think we're going to get their ass this time.

1:43:54Pat McAfee:What are you talking about, Shranks? What are you talking about, though, antics? Always. And that's why Sean has an edge. And the guy that, I don't know if you knew Orny, but Mike Ornstein, who used to be one of the NFL and just passed away last year. But Orny would be kind of Sean's consigliere. And they would come out there, and they would have a towel that you'd be rocking or something. Or he'd say something in the media. or he'd be the one who would be throwing money around in the locker room and he would be dancing in your stadium. And I think a lot of coaches, and it goes back to that Nathaniel Hackett deal that he did when he got to Denver.

1:44:25It was basically like they weren't coached well. And Russ is going to have a shot because he's with me. Sean knows what he's doing. He's playing all the angles and he gets that from Bill Parcells. And it was always, hey, let's just have a little bit of edge here. And I got my guys back. And I know some of the other coaches around the league, they respect the hell of them, but it's like, gosh, I would love to beat Sean Payton as well.

1:44:42Pat McAfee:Well, Sean Payton loves it. And he has the second wealthiest owner in all the sports, right? Yep. Walton family. Yep. Are they second? No, it's got to be one. No, I think Ballmer. Ballmer, I think, is. Oh, yeah, Ballmer. He's living, by the way. Yeah. The more stuff I watch about him. Weeping. God, he's been around. Yes, he has. He's got all the money. He's been sweating and bringing it for quite a long time. Yeah, yeah. Long time. Same with the Waltons, though. Yeah, amen. How about the coaching salaries over there? Can you pay whatever they want? Oh, man, it's crazy what they're getting now.

1:45:11Pat McAfee:Yeah. I almost thought about going back just for that. Yeah, something to think about, especially if the Waltons are going to be – once Elon gets a team, those coaches are going to make it. Yeah. Bezos. Or Zuck. Zuck gets a team. Yep. I mean, how much is he paying AI guys just signing bonuses? $250 million. $200 million, right? That's been called into question as of late. Oh, has it actually? Not true. Oh. Elon gets in there. Zuck gets in there. Bezos gets in there, which we assume is going to happen with NFL teams. With the way the valuation is headed, there's only going to be certain people that can buy it.

1:45:43Pat McAfee:Yeah. You know, those people are all – the coaches just having no salary cap there. We thought that was a weapon for the Waltons. I think it still is. They're going to be able to probably keep those coordinators. Now, Kansas City has three Hall of Famers, that coordinator, that have been around. You know, Spags, obviously, Andy Reid, and then – Dave Taub. Taubin. Taubin. Taub, sorry, Dave Taub. He, as a special teams guy, Hall of Famer as well. Them being able to keep those guys is a huge deal. And Veach might end up being a Hall of Fame GM when it's all said and done. Yeah, because whenever you start getting coaches plucked, that's tough.

1:46:16Pat McAfee:I assume that is very difficult. So if you're able to offer just a little bit more money at the coordinator position, especially if you're building something great, you'll be able to go. I think. I'm not speaking for you guys. I don't want to speak out of thought. NFL is one thing. I'm shocked with the college coaches. They've got coordinators making$3 million in college now. Bruce is like, I can drive this. I was one of the first$140 ,000 guys in the SEC way back. Hey, thank you for doing what you did for these coaches today. Thank you for doing what you did. All right, last question here. We know you've got to go before two.

1:46:45Go ahead, Con, man. Shrags, you had a tweet about the Trey Hendrickson deal from the Bengals. They get all three of their guys done, Trey, Jamar, and Tee Higgins this offseason. Did you see this coming with Trey Hendrickson, and do you see him going back after this year? It wasn't pretty, right? You don't want it to go that way, and it's never going to be as easy as it is for the fans in their heads when you start. But if you look at it just as a 30 ,000 foot view, they got Jamar Chase resigned, and Tee Higgins resigned, something that most Bengals fans thought was not going to happen. And then they got Trey Henderson for another year.

1:47:20At the very least, you could say, okay, let's kick the can here and see if we can get a long-term deal done. I thought it was a great offseason for Cincinnati. It got ugly. The Shamar Stewart thing is ugly. This is ugly. but they're starting the season fully loaded. They played their guys in the preseason. So there's no excuse to start the year when they play Cleveland, that they're going to be rusty. And Joe Burrow for the first time is a hundred percent healthy going into the 2025 season. So I, I look at Cincinnati's all like they made for a lot of great segments on ESPN made for a lot of great talk radio, but at the end of the day, they're as fully loaded as they've been.

1:47:53And it seems like those guys are at least satisfied for now to go in and attack the season. So I feel pretty good about the Bengals right now.

1:48:00Pat McAfee:We get a chance to talk about it again next year. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited for that, the Trey Hendrickson situation. We need content in June, dude. We're good. Yes, we certainly do. Yeah, Pacers. The Schrager Hour, obviously you know that. The Schrager Hour. Good morning football. Yeah, the Pacers, obviously a big deal. But, yes, need to continue to have conversations. But if Trey Hendrickson and them win a Super Bowl, it'll all be worth it. Yeah. And the Bengals could. Why not with Joe Burrow? Top three quarterback in the league in Joe Montana's eyes. Somebody said he was the best quarterback in the league.

1:48:28Pat McAfee:Who was that? Joe Burrow. Oh, on the show, someone just came out. Someone said that. A lot of people. Yeah, that was very recent. It was Will. Orlovsky, maybe? Will Compton. Will Compton said, when healthy, Joe Burrow is the best quarterback in the league. Joe Montana said he's top three quarterback in the league. It's like, all right, we just didn't see him in the playoffs. So that's probably why he's left out of a lot of the chatter. I'm excited to see if the Bengals can do it. We appreciate you, Shrags. Good luck with your hour. Appreciate it. I'm doing this prediction special Thursday on ESPN after you guys at 3 p.m.

1:48:58Eastern. and it's going to be all the predictions for the season right before kickoff. So I'm excited. And I got to say, Pat, thank you for everything. You're the man. And Bruce Arians, what a legend. Thanks, guys.

1:49:08Pat McAfee:No, you're the legend, dude. You're the man, bro. You are. Thanks, Jim and Peter Schrager. Thursday, prediction special, Peter's predictions. Love that. Pumped. Oh, Petey predictions. That's going to be a good hour. What's Petey predict? Petey predictions for everything. What do you think he's guessing? Sounds like he likes the race.

1:49:27Darius Butler:No, I mean his record. He gets a Super Bowl right every year, so he's getting a special for it. Yeah, and he also had the Commanders last year as the team that would make the playoffs kind of start from nothing. He does have some jokes. Shregs quietly just knows all the shit.

1:49:40Pat McAfee:Like draft, day of draft, he knows all the shit. Week before draft, he doesn't know. Day of draft, Shregs knows everything. I do wonder if that's how he ended up on our draft show because they might have had some production meetings beforehand to see if Shregs was going to be good. What do you know? And he's like, nothing. Nobody really knows anything. guys sorry and then on draft day it's like Tregs knows everything on draft day he was awesome with us I'm happy he's getting more and more opportunities to kind of host I think he's a host yeah dude that'd be that is hilarious that is what happened that's definitely what happened as we know how it works that's definitely what happened alright so what are some of your thoughts on what's going to happen at this I don't think anybody really knows I'll know on the draft maybe I think but not right now No one knows.

1:50:27Pat McAfee:So what are we supposed to slot you in there for? Just like maybe no guy? I don't know. We're sorry. But if you go back and look at his resume, it's like, hey, Shrags knows. You just got to give him time. You got to give Shrags time to operate those phones and for him to dive in there day of. He's the insider game. How do you feel about that? It's a huge part of your guys' business, the insider game. Yeah, I think guys that really know, they got connections. I love the draft when it's like, oh, I think they're going to take this guy right here. Yeah, we had to do a lot of that. We had to do a lot of that.

1:50:59Pat McAfee:Did you worry about stuff getting out of your building? I never did. Jason and the rest of the guys did. You know, it was like, no, I mean, how we feel about players. I would tell the truth, and they thought I was lying all the time. It was like, if you tell the truth, that can't be real. You know, he's got to be bullshitting you. And, like, no, that's how I got him ranked. I really do. That's it. Yeah, well, I appreciate that you've always done that. That's why I think we like you, and we think you're going to be great for us. There's a lot of stories that have come out from you just telling the truth.

1:51:29Pat McAfee:Obviously, Tom Brady stuff at the end there, there's a big conversation about, big conspiracy about, big fodder about. You come out and address that, Tom addresses that. Then obviously the A-B stuff, which we are certainly going to have to ask about at some point. One of the greatest football players of all time. Yes. Antonio Brown. Hardest working practice player I've ever coached. Really? Hardest working practice player ever. I heard, yeah. All seasons. Reps, everything. There's a reason why he was so good. He takes it to the house every time. I said, you take it to the house. I'll wait for you to come back.

1:52:00Pat McAfee:Yeah, we're not stopping practice. We're going to let you go ahead and finish, and then you take it back. We want everybody to do what you're doing. That's an interesting thing for what Antonio Brown is remembered for on the football field versus everything kind of outside of the football field, especially his retirement. I mean, everybody still literally in their head right now sees him skipping off of MetLife Stadium, going and waiting for Cheech. Yeah. Take it back and get to ride. That was like such a – you're right in the middle of all of that. We'll definitely chat about that. Cannot wait to get your thoughts on all the quarterbacks as we go through the season, what the team decisions are, situational shit.

1:52:34Pat McAfee:Like, you're the perfect guest for us this season. You need to know that. We're very, very thankful for you. I love it, man. I'm looking forward to it, bro. Is it going to be new Kangals every week? Every week, yeah. Oh, hell. How many of those do you think you got? My wife keeps telling me, is that whole closet hats? That's pretty much. Can you throw some away? I said, people keep giving them to me, so no. What's your favorite one, the next one? The next one, yeah. We'll make sure we get some good. I had probably my maroon for Virginia Tech. You love Virginia Tech. Tough loss the other night.

1:53:05Pat McAfee:I thought you guys were in that thing. Yeah. I thought you guys had a team. Shane did a great job making us re-punt. Yeah, re-cadding. And then watching those three offensive linemen go down and try to tackle that guy, I was like, ooh, that's not good. Yeah, having the offensive linemen at PP is certainly a move that colleges have started doing. three shield to offensive linemen to protect. They think they beat the game. What happens, though, whenever? When the gunners don't get there. When that thing's coming back. I don't know. Shane Beamer with a little Beamer ball. Beamer ball, baby. Shout to Virginia Tech.

1:53:31Pat McAfee:Big loss over South Carolina. South Carolina might be for real. Sellers is good. Lenore Sellers looks like a guy. Oh, he's legit. He is legit. Okay. These are the things. He is legit. All right, we'll continue digitally. We can't thank you enough. We'll see you tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Goodbye. Rated zero there. Boom. You see that, B.A.? That was a super professional expert send-off there for ESPN. Two? We on ESPN, two. US Open still happening. For a while now. They're not even in the quarters yet.

1:54:04Darius Butler:Football's starting. What's going on? I think I've been watching that. I've seen it pop up for the last month, the US Open.

1:54:10Pat McAfee:Yeah, football's happening. What's going on? Isn't that a...

1:54:13Darius Butler:It's got to wrap up in the next couple days, right? It's the same with the Ryder Cup coming up. They overlap just one weekend where the greatest sport plays and then all the other sports are doing their thing. This is kind of that time, I feel like.

1:54:26Pat McAfee:I know, but don't we think we should just give a runway there for a little bit? Maybe utilize the anticipation of these days right now to get these things accomplished? Ryder Cup, we can't move that up? I completely agree. I just think they... Not with the golf season, I think. They're not even thinking of it yet. Why not? It's over. Ryder Cup Ryder Cup I'm okay with because it's not every single year. But, like, the U.S. Open, like, they know. Like, hey, football season's right around the corner. Imagine if Wednesday night they had their super-duper final. I don't even know what the super-duper final will be because there's tag teams, there's super – Singles.

1:55:00Pat McAfee:There's singles. Do I want tennis? Yeah. What is tag teams? Yeah, there it is. They do a lot of talking in between every serve. They do. Every serve, they're chit-chatting.

1:55:11Darius Butler:Are you saying if it was at a different time, you would watch the U.S. Open front to back if it was not during football?

1:55:16Pat McAfee:Yes. Not front to back. I've been paying attention. I'm going to move it. If we move Wednesday night, you know, Wednesday night, because we got Thursday is when it starts. Friday, we got Chiefs Chargers in Brazil. Early. We got Patrick Mahomes on Friday. We got the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday. We got another packed slate of college ball on Saturday. Then we got a full NFL Sunday slate. And then we got Monday night football. I'm sorry, tennis. Move your super-duper final to Wednesday night. Just lead us into Thursday. It would be great. It would be great for all of us.

1:55:51Pat McAfee:But instead now, it sounds like I'm going to have to make decisions on what I watch. Wait, where is the super-duper final? I think it's next Sunday. It might be if they're not in the quarter. But boy, you're going to turn off to watch. Several days off in between. Can't even turn off the super-duper late-night games because they're electrifying because the quarterbacks are so good. That's unbelievable. Saga Politele? Yeah. I saw JKS was being used very frequently, so that might be the go-to. JKS. I think you keep saying it, though. Yeah, you got the name down. Yeah, you got it down. I like respecting the Usa's names.

1:56:30Pat McAfee:Because everybody always says it's a hard name. It's like, well, my name could be pronounced McAfee. You know? It's like, hey, it's McAfee. So I would like the Songapolitele family to let me know if I'm saying it right or not. Okay. First of all, I would like a correction if possible. But also, people should know this guy's name. Because this dude is a – have you seen him, B.A.? No, I haven't. Oh. Superstar. Freshman, 18 years old, out of Hawaii. Lefty, look how big he is. Look how comfortable he is. And watch these balls, dude. This is his first game. He went six for six to start the game. Bucket, Bruce.

1:56:59Pat McAfee:This guy, spin it, moves too. 18 years old, man. Shit talking. Yeah, teammates love him. I mean, everything. Hey. I mean, yeah. So where's he playing next year? Recruited away already. Bingo. I love it. Well, you said he's being recruited away. He said, where's he playing next year? That can't be how this goes. Oh, yeah. That's it. It's college football. I mean, he's going to. What's the cash? Belichick might have actually fucked up his game plan because he stayed up too late on Saturday to watch him play. So him and Devin Dampier for Utah, they were electrifying. They were playing at the same time.

1:57:31Pat McAfee:Games didn't end until 2 a.m. I'm like, come on, man. Once again, can we? Yeah. I know you're on the West Coast, and I know your fan base is over there and they're three hours behind. It's like these dudes are going to keep us up all night, I think, on Saturdays. I legitimately think these two dudes have a chance of wrecking an entire sleep schedule. And I thank them for that. I certainly do thank them for that. But, boy, they are electrifying. This 18-year-old kid from Utah – no, I'm sorry, from Cal? From Cal, yeah. So much fun. He's got the moxie, too. He's got the shit. I don't know if the team is going to be good enough for him to really go on a run or whatever.

1:58:06Pat McAfee:Hopefully, maybe they are. But he's got the shit. It's fun to watch that type of stuff. Well, and those two dudes is what I love about college football. Because I don't have a team. You're just kind of watching to root for players. And you just find two random dudes who I've never heard of, had no idea what team they play for, whatever. And you just happen to have them on at 11, 1130 at night on a Saturday. and two guys who you're probably going to watch for the next few years now in college football you stumble upon. But that is kind of what stinks for Cal fans. The immediate thought is that where is he going to play next year?

1:58:43Is he going to play for Bama or what?

1:58:44Pat McAfee:Can this guy transfer midseason is what people are thinking. Can he leave and start for a different school next weekend? That's the thought immediately. Cal fans, who are awesome. I will never say a bad thing about Cal fans and the Calgarhythm after going out there and experiencing that place during finals week. And they were out there doing football instead of actual. Yeah. So I got mad respect for the Cal fans. But it is an immediate thought. Like, well. Yeah, what's crazy is they're in the ACC. Yeah. I mean, so I'll be up watching them too. You know, so, yeah. For Cal and Stanford to be in the ACC, That's how fucked up college football is.

1:59:26Pat McAfee:Yeah. But Jeff Halfley. They got the all-coast conference. The all-coast. It's crazy. I mean, there should be four major conferences in the sections of the country where they belong and play each other and then have championships. That's the top six that you're talking about. Yeah. And just break it into four quadrants. Still have the Southeastern Conference. Yep. Still have the Big Ten. It'll be Northeast or whatever. I guess the Midwest would kind of be pissed off about that. That becomes Big 12. Well, yeah, because if they do that, then Oregon's gone. USC's gone. Like, all the teams that they just added will be out of there.

1:59:58And then, yeah, they'll start eating from the Big 12.

2:00:00Pat McAfee:So they go Southeast, Northwest, Big 10, probably. I don't think the Big 10 and the SEC are going to give up there. Go Pac-10, yeah. And then what would you do Southwest? What would that be called? I would think Arizona, Arizona State, those guys go back to the Pac-12, Pac-10. Pac-12. Oh, call it the Pac-something. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, because if they do Pac-10, they could just do, what, six divisions of 10 teams instead of four. So now we have the conferences. Now we have the divisions. We got the teams. We got the rules. Just do it. It's not that damn hard. We fixed it already. That was awesome.

2:00:31Two hours.

2:00:31Pat McAfee:That was quick. We figured that out. It was easy. Now there's just a couple billion dollars in contracts that we got to kind of sort through. No, no. Our department already finished. That's a different department. Yeah, we just kind of slide that across the desk and say, hey, get out of them. Good luck. Get out of all these contracts. And Florida State and Clemson are going to say, we're going to get out a couple hundred million dollar loan to try to get out of these turns out it would cost us 700 million bucks to get out of these contracts yep so everybody's gonna need 700 million to get out of these contracts yeah i don't know how we're gonna do that good luck i don't know yeah figure it out we figured out our end figured out we have four divisions we they're all gonna play each other i i don't know how it gets fixed with the amount of questions and the amount of people that you need to go in the same direction and with all that being said the product from the field is so awesome like north carolina that first drive

2:01:18Darius Butler:that's college football it was awesome I agree

2:01:21Pat McAfee:it was awesome I met the commissioner of the ACC is Jim Phillips is that his name sounds correct something Phillips I think he's on the sideline yes sir Jim Phillips okay sweet it was a little loud I meet him he said commissioner of the ACC during that first drive I thought to myself we're going to see a lot of commissioner Jim Phillips this year during that first drive I'll see the ACC Miami, Florida State, North Carolina now obviously Dabo's going to do his thing. This commissioner is about to have the biggest year of his life and I just met him. I was kind of happy for him. I'm like, good for this guy that this whole thing is going to happen.

2:01:57And then it all changed.

2:01:59Pat McAfee:I'm like, maybe Jim Phillips is not going to have as big of a year. I was going to say the ACC was the best conference in football. I was going to say that. I was going to come on this show and say that after the first drive. I was locked in too. I'm like, the ACC goes from the team that was, or the conference that was going to be pissed about how many teams they get into the playoff and how everybody's kind of disrespecting them as a power. Everybody says SEC, Big Ten. Nobody really talks about the Big 12. Nobody talks about the ACC. Big 12, certainly in third place. ACC and football is just kind of a castaway.

2:02:29Pat McAfee:And then all of a sudden, one offseason, bang, Miami's back. Florida State's back. And then fucking Bill Belichick is going to lead North Carolina. I'm like, Jim Phillips, good for you, dude. You're the new Sankey. You're fucking new Sankey. It's you, Sankey, and Petiti now sitting at the table. And then what happens the rest of the game? It's like, nope, all of a sudden, I think there's going to be the same power structure amongst those commissioners. I think that's how it's going to be. But they all have to get on the same page. And then all the presidents of all the schools, then all the athletic directors, and all the coaches all have to get on the same page.

2:03:01Pat McAfee:When has that ever happened? And the TV networks. Well, that's the thing. Is this the first thing? Now, it can't be TV network. and that a streaming service could, in theory, come in and pay$10 billion in buyouts, and then this entire conference lives on Prime or Apple? Or X. No way they let that happen.

2:03:21Darius Butler:No way they let that happen. How? Networks. Yeah, that'd be like the death of network TV if that happened, because that's the thing I think people are sticking around for is this kind of shit.

2:03:30Pat McAfee:This kind of shit. Watch the way you speak about it. Well, I'm just saying live sports in general. You start losing those, then. Live football is what matters. Have you seen Grinowski at Iowa? No. They can sling him. Don't watch the first quarter, Coach. They rushed for 310 yards. It would have been malpractice that I'm out there throwing 50 times. It's like, hey, Albany can't stop the run, but guess what? Grinowski, eight rushes, 46 yards, touchdown. Do you think you're going to have to throw it at some point, though? No, I told D about this. This was really all I needed to see because he was cramping up, too.

2:04:03It was an unseasonably hot day at Kinnick. I think they were in the red zone. It was like third and nine, and he hit it out for like 15 yards to move the sticks. I was like, that hasn't happened once in the last eight years. So that's good enough for me. And he lowers the shot. He does. He's 6 '3", 230, 235. He's physical. Seed. That was a seed right there.

2:04:24Pat McAfee:Yeah, it's a good placement on that ball. I mean, this weekend is kind of the whole – is the measuring stick. We'll see. Iowa State's got a good team. They do. Iowa State's got a real good team. They do. Cyclones are coming for that ass. That's fine. First point touchdown last week. They got a kicker who kicked six three-yarders. I was kickers pretty good, too. 55-yarder. Mm-hmm. That's what's crazy, what the kickers are doing now. Insane. I mean, 70 yards? They just make it. Damn little. I mean, come on, man. There better be no time left on the clock if you miss, because they're going to turn around and kick a short one.

2:05:00Pat McAfee:Yeah, exactly. You're giving up three immediately on those 70 yards. Automatically. Yes, I agree. The whole, I don't want to say aggression, but it feels like coaches have gotten a lot more aggressive. Fourth down, going for it more as more stats are being told. Like, hey, at this, you should be able to pick it up at this particular rate. It feels like people are going for it more. More long kicks are happening, I think. Do you agree with that? Totally, and I'll ask our guys to look this up. Okay. Of those teams that are doing it, how many are offensive head coaches versus defensive head coaches?

2:05:30Pat McAfee:Okay, what do you think the stats? Because defensive head coaches say, oh, no. No, we ain't doing that shit. We're punting. We're punting all the way, brother. But look at the commanders. They were the ones who kind of like – they did that a shitload last year. And Dan Quinn's a defensive guy. Maybe Cliff Kingsbury has a little more say in that. But, like, they – I mean, especially in the playoffs, commanders were going forward on fourth and short every single time. Who was this guy from the Chargers that came from his mom and dad? Brandon Staley. Brandon Staley, defensive guy. He was going forward a lot.

2:05:57Pat McAfee:He was super stats guy. Where's he at? Good question. All right. Something went wrong with football. You don't kick field goals anymore. All right? And I love Dan Campbell. Don't get me wrong. I think he's a hell of a coach. I think he's the next Bill Cowher. But they're in the Super Bowl. You kick three damn field goals instead of going for it on fourth down. You got a three-score lead, and you put your team in an oh, shit moment. You know what that is? What's that? Oh, fuck. We're tied now. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. I got to call a different play. Oh, shit. We had a 20-point lead. Oh, shit. Now it's a seven-point lead.

2:06:28You're calling defense. You're calling different offenses because the head coach went for it and didn't make it.

2:06:33Pat McAfee:Now, they would say that if he didn't live like that all season, they wouldn't have been in a position to go for it, right? I think that is – Yeah, 1 ,000%. And also, Josh Reynolds has to catch those balls on fourth down, and then we're in the Super Bowl as well. Well, yeah, that's – Mark Andrews should have caught some bitch, and then we'd be talking about Lamar not being the winner. Yeah, you're right. No point. Yeah, right. Don't risk it. Don't ever get me started on analytics. No, let's start on analytics. They don't believe in momentum. Analytics don't believe in situational awareness. analytics believe on the outcome.

2:07:02Pat McAfee:Don't they claim to, though?

2:07:04Darius Butler:I thought they claimed to take in that stuff.

2:07:05Pat McAfee:No, they don't believe in momentum.

2:07:07Darius Butler:Momentum's not real. Oh, okay. I thought they claimed that they do take it all, even like all of it.

2:07:11Pat McAfee:No, they don't believe in momentum. They don't know that your right guard can't block Ndamukong Su. Yeah, where's the stats on Ndamukong Su lined up over AQ? Why didn't you go for it on fourth down? Because AQ couldn't block his ass. One-on-one. AQ could have, though. AQ would have gnawed and needed that. Torrey's up. But it doesn't make any sense to me. Baseball, total sense. You can't hit a curveball, put a curveball pitcher in. But there's going for it inside the 50 every time it's fourth and five or less. Those points add up, man. Especially in the playoffs. The analytics on the screen tell us to go.

2:07:44Pat McAfee:Go for it. Go for it. I've never seen it say don't go. Why don't you listen to it? Go. I hate it. Can't stand it. No, you don't know what you're talking about, though. These analytics clearly say 67 % of the time you'd make it here. Are they talking about blocking and tackling or numbers? They're talking about numbers over the history of the game. That's bullshit. It sounds like the numbers are a much bigger risk it, biscuit operation. Yeah, I mean, I'm getting my ass kicked. Why didn't I make it on third one? I'm supposed to go for it on fourth one. Well, the analytics said that you should have 82 % of the time should have made it on third one.

2:08:27Should have made it. Yeah. They got a better player. Michael Parsons kicked our ass.

2:08:32Pat McAfee:How do you think Green Bay does, Michael? You think it wins Super Bowl? I'm talking Super Bowl expectations. I think it gives them a better chance. I mean, it's going to excite that defense. Defense is already good. And did Kenny even play that much last year? He was hurt a little bit, and he did, but he had his – statistically, he had his worst year by far in a long time. They're not going to miss him. They added something big and lost a little. So, yeah, I think they already got a great fan base, maybe the best ever. I mean, the best place for me to ever go to win was Lambeau. Yeah, cool feeling.

2:09:05And they had great brats for you after the game.

2:09:08Pat McAfee:Yeah, drive through that neighborhood, show up at the stadium. Yeah, it's really cool. And you feel like you're in Sable's NFL films that you watch growing up as a kid. It's like, holy shit, I'm in the movie right now. I'm in the history of football. AJ's the all-time leading tackler for that program. I couldn't even imagine.

2:09:23Darius Butler:Wasn't that Scotty Miller? B.A., you were there at the Scotty Miller at half. Yeah. Oh, yeah, baby.

2:09:28Pat McAfee:Yeah. Man. I told him to punt. I was pissed off because we missed it on third. I said, punt. I said, there's a timeout. And we've got, I think we had a 10-point lead maybe. Right. He took his game off. Seven. I said, best they're going to get is a field goal. Fuck it. Go for it. And Tommy looked up. I said, go for it. And Byron called a great play. You risked it and you got the best game. And, you know, obviously we got a little bunch formation. They thought we were going to run a quick out, I tried to get a first downfield goal, and the guy squats, and Scotty runs right by him.

2:09:58Darius Butler:Scoot, is he still on the Steelers? Yes, he is. He's on 53. Yep. He's turned into a hell of a little gunner. Aaron loves him. He don't weigh 160 pounds. He's a hell of a little gunner. He was great for you guys. He was great.

2:10:10Pat McAfee:Scoot, Scoot, Scotty Miller came out of nowhere. Yeah. So fast. Yeah. So fast. By the looks of him, you don't think he's as fast as he is. Yeah. Kevin King didn't think so. What's that? Why is that, Pat? Is it because you're shorter or what? Yeah, you just don't think his stride length, just by looking at him, you don't think his stride length could be fast enough, you know? He can turn him over, boy. He can turn him over. He can. He can dance, too. Pick him up and put him down. Picks him up and puts him down.

2:10:37Darius Butler:You mean like Tyreek Hill? Because he's like the same height as Tyreek Hill. No, a little different. What are you saying?

2:10:41Pat McAfee:A little different. We're the same number, too. Yeah. Yeah, that's his comp, I think. That was his comp. But nobody on TV would say that. There's just something about him still. Yeah, a lot of Danny Amendola in him. Yeah. certainly with speed he's julian adamant with speed with high speed yeah yeah who's that guy coming out of um the what that was coming out of a texas school ran like a four three and they're was no it was a texas school i don't remember if it was actually texas it was a uh maybe texas tech or something kid ran like a four three or four two i think this guy's a lot like danny emandola No, he's not.

2:11:18Pat McAfee:You're talking about Strictly's skin color, I do believe. Yes. Well, yeah. He is a white man. That makes sense. Yes, he is. He's a lot different than Danny, though. Not that Danny didn't have speed. You got to have speed. But, yeah, I think Scooty Miller had a hell of a run. Maybe Pittsburgh Steelers is the right place for him. Maybe Aaron Rodgers needs a Scotty Miller. Do you think so, Tone?

2:11:38Darius Butler:Yeah, he's talked about it a bunch. He doesn't have to guess where Scotty's going to be. Scotty's always in the right place. And obviously, as a veteran quarterback like Aaron, we know Aaron appreciates that.

2:11:50Pat McAfee:All right. Let's take a break, and then we'll wrap up with everything we didn't hit, including a little B.A. breakdown of some defenses. Oh, hell yeah. Which I'm excited to see. Also, some headlines. You know, there's a new voted number one player in the NFL. Got to talk about that. Don't want to give it away. Jumped over somebody backwards last year. Oh, okay. Ran for more yards in a season than any human's ever run for yards. Sure. his before contact numbers if they were their own season would have been a top five rusher in the NFL so the entire offensive line is back and he's back and I'm talking about Saquon Barkley he's number one player in the NFL where did everybody else fall in what are BA's thoughts on it and we're just two days away from NFL kickoff this is a beautiful thing

2:12:36Darius Butler:in a sunny Californian suburb one family's home is unusually quiet When detectives walked into that house, they said that it was like time just stood still. It's 2010, and the McStay family is nowhere to be found. Inside the home, no clear answer where the family could have gone. Husband, wife, and two children all gone, like, poof, disappeared. The search for the McStays quickly captures the nation. But for years, the search for answers only brings more questions. Who's ever heard of an entire family going missing? A family of four doesn't just drop off the face of the earth with no contact. Is this a family on the run?

2:13:15Darius Butler:Or is the truth far more sinister? From ABC Audio in 2020, this is What Happened to the Mixed Days. Coming August 11th, wherever you get your podcasts. Or subscribe to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts for ad-free episodes, early access to new episodes, and so much more.

2:13:39Pat McAfee:football set hut hit

2:13:45Pat McAfee:I guess what I was saying is we're all moving on the ball there and the ball whenever that beat drops ball is being snapped and then football is what's coming in there can you really hear this every team so when you interview a quarterback these days call a play in the huddle for me give me your snap count never have what do you mean coach holds his thing up on the side and I just go like that.

2:14:13Pat McAfee:I don't want to get into it. I don't want to get into this right now. Now is not the time to get into that. Yeah. Don't get me started. Why not? Just because here in Indianapolis we're having a situation. Sure. Where maybe a quarterback had next to no experience whenever he was drafted number four overall. And maybe experience is a really good thing to have as quarterback, especially if you're going to play in the NFL with all of the things that are going to come across the desk of the starting quarterback of the NFL not just on the field but off the field how you handle everything if you have next to no experience I think it's going to be tough thing just get baptized at that particular position and then you talk about how the expectations a lot of these college quarterbacks at this level at this time maybe not now because they got ears so maybe they do have to call a play maybe it'll go back to that as opposed to what everybody was doing on the sideline where there were signs being stolen but it feels like there was a quite a run there where quarterbacks weren't expected to do as many things as they're going to be expected to do at the NFL and it was almost setting them up for failure whenever they're getting the NFL so we we here in Indy see a guy with no experience and then also if he even had experience he probably wasn't going to be necessarily providing pivotal pieces of information for him to be a professional quarterback you're saying it was getting difficult there to find a quarterback uh throughout a bit of a run it feels like about 12 years of interviewing quarterbacks who'd never called a play in a huddle, never used a snap count, and we had to teach them how to do that.

2:15:38Pat McAfee:You were a college football coach, right? Yes. Was it always that way, or was this like something that just changed mightily or something? I think tempo started it. Everybody wanted to be up-tempo so that it would just hold up a card and everybody knew the formation and the play. Or three coaches are signaling to the receivers where to line up, tight end where to line up, bring it back, and they held up a card for the play. and you know I brought in a young guy who was a heck of a prospect for one of those spring visits and I said look you get in the mirror I'm gonna give you a script call these plays in the mirror and here's the snap count and you you'd look at yourself and we drafted him and he came back and he was ready to do it and did a hell of a job with it and did okay for us but that was the first time he was probably doing that first time he'd ever done that's crazy to think about just because that moment of you telling the play also I think we heard Ryan Day talk about it with Julian Sane about watching Will Howard command the huddle.

2:16:35Pat McAfee:Whenever you come into the huddle, just like whenever you're on this show, if you come in soft, weak, you are going to be assumed to be a man that lacks confidence on our show. In the huddle, whenever you go in there, first thing out of your mouth how you're handling yourself is how you're going to be judged by everybody in there. I think that's what they talk about with J.J. McCarthy up in Michigan. He was a freshman, and he went into a huddle. It was late in the game. Everybody was tired, miserable offensive linemen were tired. J.J. McCarthy, they said one end of the huddle, and everybody was like, this is a guy.

2:17:03Pat McAfee:Like the way he just kind of maneuvered and talked and acted and probably like the quick little thing he said afterwards and the way he handled it all. It's like that's a huge leadership part of the quarterback position. I think that carries into other things. I think we lost sight of that NFL stuff. I think they were just trying to have immediate success in college, and they were thinking to themselves, we've got to win now. I ain't got to worry about developing this guy to be an NFL guy. But then you saw the NFL change a little bit to it, right? Did the NFL kind of change? It's like Tom Brady's big thing is how easy and basic it's getting for quarterbacks.

2:17:32Pat McAfee:That was like a big pitching point whenever he retired. I think Peyton was saying the same things about how the reads quickly became like college-type reads as opposed to NFL-type reads. Did you see that as well throughout your career? Yeah, guys were never reading post-snap anymore. Everything was pre-snap. and I think I look at the Ohio State-Texas game, and I see Matt Patricia just totally bamboozled, one of the best young quarterbacks to ever come into the game because he had to learn to do it. You've got two seconds to figure out where this ball is going. And if you're seeing this and they're playing that, if you don't see it within those first three steps you're going to drop, you're going to throw it to the wrong guy.

2:18:15Pat McAfee:So you're saying what Arch Manning was seeing was something that was by design to make him look and be as confused as he looked. He looked incredibly confused. And you're saying that was it just Arch or is it the entire offense that has to kind of deal with it? Oh, it's everybody. The coaches, everybody. And, you know, when you don't know what to prepare for, that's college's problem. You know, don't play preseason games. You don't get to see anything. And the first time you see it, you're on national television playing number one versus number three. It's like, holy shit.

2:18:47that ain't easy i mean it's not easy for a veteran quarterback in the nfl when you play

2:18:51Pat McAfee:that system okay let's talk about that system we actually have a couple plays let's run this play here and what we need to look at here is pre-snap what it looks like and then post-snap what it looks like right we'll have some screenshots of it let's run the play so archmanning had to turn his back there a little bit and then he tried to decipher figure it out can't figure it out overthrows because it's kind of a rush of a throw let's go to the pre-snap shot here okay so what What does this look like for what Arch Manning's looking at? I think for any young quarterback, and quarterback in the NFL, they're going to think that's cover zero.

2:19:18It's been about an all-out blitz. You've got man coverage all across the board. There's no deep safety. This guy's playing the tight end. And post-snap, it's totally different.

2:19:27Pat McAfee:Flip, go ahead to the next one. Okay, so now they got— You see the backside safety running to the middle. He's trapping the next receiver coming over from the right. The defensive end's dropping the cover of the back, and it's totally different than we saw pre-snap. Now, Peyton, his second or third year, got this. Tom, probably in his second or third year, got this. Because this is complicated now. For a college quarterback, especially a young guy starting, this is the highest level you get of defensive football. And Ohio State did an unbelievable job for their young guys, I think, of not showing, giving it away.

2:20:04Pat McAfee:Yeah, so I asked Coach Saban this last night. I said, it feels like people are making a big deal out of what Matt Patricia was doing. Now, granted, everybody said he was getting that Arch got Belichick or whatever because Matt Patricia runs a lot of what Belichick was doing. That's not normal in college ball. Why is it not normal in college ball? Because guys give it away? That seemingly was what you guys were talking about. Yeah, I mean, these guys played together, first of all. You got Igben Olsen, who's been there for a while. I think he's a senior. He played a lot of important ball. Caleb Downs, who we talked about not only what he is physically, but mentally, what he can handle and what he can communicate.

2:20:36You know, we just talked about preparing and how these quarterbacks were kind of ill-prepared for the next level. It's the same thing with defensive backs. It would be guys who came in who never backpedaled, never shuffled, never had to have a two-to-one read, just played press man-to-man coverage. So the thing about, you know, Bill and his operation in New England, it wasn't about just players that were talented, but it was about players that could get it between the ears, and that way you can communicate, you can adjust during games, you can adjust on the sideline, and then week to week you can make those type of adjustments.

2:21:03So Matty P just brought that to Ohio State, and then the talent, But you said it all right.

2:21:09Pat McAfee:Caleb Downs is the key. He's the quarterback of that defense. So you can do multiple things. And when you can adjust those coverages and lie, because you can have a disguise. But if I'm a nickelback and I'm showing something here, but it's a safety capping me, like the quarterback knows, okay, put him in the – he's possibly pressured. But, like, if we're all on the same page, if I'm showing something, the safety showing middle post close or something like that, now that's showing a real picture to that quarterback. and then post-snap he has to process that in those two, two and a half seconds to get that off.

2:21:40And that's tough for NFL quarterbacks, let alone a freshman, I mean a junior making his first start against a big-time program like that.

2:21:48Pat McAfee:It's crazy to think, though, that you mentioned rookie quarterbacks are going to be tough to figure this type of shit out. More colleges should do this. I guess it's just hard to find the guys, huh? That's like the thing. To have the athletic ability and the brains, those cats are very few. They go to the NFL. You know, every, what, 2 % go to the NFL. Those guys go to the NFL. Ohio State just happened to about four or five of them. Yeah, and they had 14 of them last year. That's why reloading so many guys and both coordinators was such a big deal for this Ohio State team to see how they were going to be.

2:22:18Pat McAfee:Well, it feels like they got it right. And on the defensive side, it feels like Matt Patricia knows that he walked into a loaded group but also a very intelligent group. And congratulations, number one team in the country, Ohio State Buckeyes. AP Polk just came out. Ohio State Buckeyes number one in the country. Congratulations, AJ. I know this is what you guys wanted. That's right. All offseason. Wow. That's what you guys wanted.

2:22:39Darius Butler:That's what we care about. We care about preseason polls and polls after week one. That really gets us.

2:22:43Pat McAfee:Oh, congratulations. Oh, H.

2:22:46Darius Butler:Yep, I-O. Yeah. Oh, H. Let's see. Let's just do it in December and January, fellas.

2:22:52Pat McAfee:Oh, H.

2:22:54Darius Butler:I-O.

2:22:55Pat McAfee:Number one team in the country. Come on now. Way to go. Great.

2:22:58Darius Butler:Great. Congrats. Good season. You know what's awesome? See if we're there at the end.

2:23:01Pat McAfee:I said this on game day at the very beginning. This team won the national championship, and their fans do not care. Yeah. They do. We don't care. Go ahead and lose today by a couple touchdowns. Go ahead. I dare you. We'll be right back into what it was last year. That is legitimately the expectations at Ohio State. That's why it's like I think if you're Ryan Day, the way he talks about it, and then you hear Will Howard, and you listen to everybody, it's like it is an honor to play here. This is going to be around long after us. We are just kind of the wearers of the uniform at this current moment, and we know what all comes with it.

2:23:34Pat McAfee:And it feels like Caleb Downs out of Alabama, especially if Matt Patricia is going to lead this type of fucking defense where it's like we're doing a lot of movement. Yeah, you've got to get them on first and second down. You don't see that shit on first and second. They do a great job of getting you in third and sixth or more. God bless you if you can read that stuff. What are you going to do, run against these teams? Is that what you've got to do? I think you get your shots early. You've got to run the football, but you've got to get your shots on first and second down against them, where they're normal.

2:23:59And I know second down, if you're in three wides, Matty's playing a 5-1. That's it. Going to stop the run with that. Oh, five down. Five down, cover everybody with one middle linebacker. There's some good things to run against that, but there's only a few coverages you can run with that.

2:24:14Pat McAfee:Have you ever thought about getting in the college ball again at this stage of your life and calling offense? Never. How easy would it be for you? It'd be hard. It'd be hard because of the rules. Cats never. First of all, nobody knows how to block or tackle anymore because you can't practice it. I love that you're just this. I mean, tackling is a lost art. I say everybody's like a dummy with no arms. I mean, we got to coach it, coach. Yeah, but you're not allowed to. In high school, you're only allowed, what, three days you can actually tackle? So in Pennsylvania, you're only allowed one week of training camp before the season started.

2:24:51Pat McAfee:I had no idea that was a rule. That's an actual rule. I don't know if it's all in Pennsylvania or just Whippeal. Tone, is it Whitby or all of Pennsylvania? All of PA. All of PA, yeah. I assume it's in other states, too. Is it like that Ohio, AJ? You got to go down the south. If they don't spring practice, they got summer practice. It never stops. Down here in the south. We're playing high school. So we're not holding. What does that mean?

2:25:10Darius Butler:One week of camp. What does that mean? What do they consider camp? I read into it. The first week now has to be like this conditioning period. Acclimation period. Yeah, exactly. The acclimation period where you can only wear pads for so long, and then you can only be out there for two or three hours a day or whatever. They don't want people dying.

2:25:29Pat McAfee:When did the boys learn how to tackle?

2:25:32Darius Butler:Game day? Week two. Yeah, yeah. That's the toughest thing in the pros. That's why week one, week two, you're going to see some shitty, shitty tackling. Even though defenses are ahead of the game. But guys make it too much. We're not tackling Saquon and A.J. Brown, these guys in practice. So the only live tackling reps you're going to get is when the bright lights are on and these guys get paid a shit ton of money to not get tackled one-on-one. That's why defense is all about running to the ball, tackling with leverage, taking your shots, trusting the guy on the inside or the outside of you because guys are too good at just tackling an open field one-on-one.

2:26:04So, yeah, the only – And nobody's playing in the preseason.

2:26:08Pat McAfee:Yeah, that's the other part. No, no, people back. It felt like this year there was more people playing. Because they're learning their lesson. Last year there was nobody playing. It felt like we had ass football for a bit. It did feel like we had some shitty football early. This year it felt like more people played. Maybe we're just paying attention to it more because we're talking about it, but it did feel like more guys played. I think you have to. I mean, you've got to get at least a half in, you know, just to feel as a team. It's like 10th City. Yeah, come in, come out, you know. Yeah, Patrick Mahomes is out there.

2:26:35Pat McAfee:Travis is out there. You know, they're doing their thing. They feel that way. What did Philadelphia do? Do we know? I don't think.

2:26:40Darius Butler:They didn't play anybody. Tanner McKee had an unbelievable preseason. They got hurt. The Bengals, they burrow and chase her out there. First time.

2:26:48Pat McAfee:First sergeant, big-time Steelers fan over in Australia. He asked a couple times. we don't think Aaron should just maybe take a few snaps in the preseason. Just kind of go through the warm-up. Just experience it. Pittsburgh Steeler, maybe. So the fans can maybe see what it looks like, too. Maybe just, you know, something. I'm like, I don't think he's a big preseason guy. If he was to get hurt in a preseason game, you guys would all kill Tom for having him out there. So it's like that decision is always happening. He was like, yeah, but we could have seen at least a... Take a snap. Yeah, he said we could have just won.

2:27:20Pat McAfee:A couple warm-ups. I was like, I don't think he's, I think he was actually trying to change the entire preseason. I think he was actually thinking about changing the entire thing. But our Super Bowl year, we didn't have a preseason. Yeah, COVID year, right? It was COVID. So for the first time, we actually scrimmaged. I was like, you talk about holding your breath, brother. First of all, Tommy had never been in the stadium. And they had that decibel thing that they came out with, with no fans. They're going to have this decibel thing. I say, okay, we went in, we turned it up. You couldn't hear shit.

2:27:51it's really going to be this loud? And we're tackling. We're tackling. And I'm like, oh, shit. So we had to do this twice. Two scrimmages? Two scrimmages.

2:28:01Pat McAfee:And how far apart were they? A week. One week. But it was offense, defense. Offense, first, first, first, best on best. How many different periods did we do? We did all periods or we did actual free-flowing games? I think we tried 40 plays. 40 plays that I had enough of this shit. Holding your breath every single step. Oh, God, yeah. Both sides there. Yeah. I mean, I was like, Vita's, oh, man. Don't get me – it was scary, bro. Had to do it, though? You felt all the way. We had to. First of all, we had to tackle somebody. And it's like, we got to get in the stadium and see our new guys, get in there, know where to go, and here's your locker room.

2:28:38There's not going to be any fans in stands, but it's okay. Here we go. That's crazy. I know you coached 47 years. Like, was that – I know it was the most unique. Was that the most difficult year to go? By far, D. I mean, that was challenging. But I got to give our players credit, man, and our owners. And we had a huge advantage being in Florida. I never did one Zoom meeting the entire year. I feel like you lose a lot of connectivity whenever you're doing Zoom. I don't even if they're watching.

2:29:06Pat McAfee:Yeah. You know what I mean? Are they really over there? So we built outdoor facilities to locker rooms, eating, meeting rooms. Everything was outside all the way to the Super Bowl. Now, the Northern teams would be freezing their ass off, but we had this huge advantage. That's not your fault. No, I love it. Yeah, it's perfect. I'm actually happy we're outside. We should do this every year, actually. This is something we should continue on here, man. But, man, our guys bought in, and I told them, I said, if we beat the virus, we'll win the whole thing. Because guys are going to be missing time. We had, I think, two or three maybe players miss a game.

2:29:43The individual.

2:29:43Pat McAfee:That was stressful every week, though, right? You never knew who it was going to be. We got tested every day, and the playoffs got tested twice a day. So in the NBA, that's crazy. Were they shoving the thing up the nose, too? How about how far that was going? Remember that? It made me cry every time. They were shoving it, touching it. We touched the brain. That's the only place they will tell us if you got it or not. Yeah, but it worked. It feels pretty uncomfortable. Yeah, it was very accurate. It worked. So at the end of the day. How about us pulling into that parking garage for WWE and people coming out in Ebola suits with those sticks, about to shove up my nose.

2:30:15Pat McAfee:All right, roll your window. Don't look at us, though, please. Why are you in those shoes? Look straight ahead. Gloves on. Shoving that thing all the way up to my brain. All right, we got to get it. I don't know if it's up there yet. It is. I can feel it. No, no, we need a little bit more. All right, can't get that contaminated. He's positive. That's always what it felt like. I mean, remember the, what was it, the Korean net? Oh, yeah. They were catching people over in, like, South Korea. It was a wall of time. It was crazy. So that's why when people attack, like, the Lakers won in the bubble down there, it's like, is that a real championship?

2:30:52Pat McAfee:It's like, man, do you remember? There was a lot of bullshit going on. Oh, yeah. Like, the amount of obstacles that everybody had to go through. I would say, I would argue that if you could put that asterisk in proper perspective, people would be more impressed with that championship than without it. I legitimately think that because of all the obstacles. Nobody really talks about the NFL one because it happened in a stadium. Everybody watched it. the games are played, everything like that. It's not really ever chatted about as being one that's not viewed as equal. The NBA, definitely. This one, I don't think it's ever been chatted about.

2:31:22Pat McAfee:But with that being said, in the future, it's going to be hard to explain how hard it was to even have that fucking season. I mean, just play a game, let alone everything else. I remember early on, I can't remember what week it was, but I think it was like the Titans or someone. And it went through the locker room. And they had like 13 guys that were down for Sunday. And we were like, there's no way they're going to be able to play a full season. It is going to happen every single week to a couple different teams. You're going to be expecting to go, and it's like, well, actually you're going to have six starters on offense and defense that aren't going to be able to play on Sunday.

2:31:51Pat McAfee:And the guys that you're signing that aren't in your building, they have to stay in a hotel locked away from everybody for eight days or something like that. So they can't practice. They're on your team. Must have antibodies. The antibodies was the key. Fuck. I'll tell you what. It was crazy about that year. My wife met Tom Brady for the first time on the stage at the Super Bowl. Oh, because you guys weren't really able to hang. You weren't allowed to see anybody. That's crazy. Which, once again, sucks with building camaraderie and building a team. And it was the most bizarre year coaching. We're opening up in New Orleans, and it's empty.

2:32:27I'm a little loud. I cuss a little bit, you know. And I'm cussing out one of their players. He's like, damn, coach, it's going to be like that? I said, hell yeah, bro. He can hear you.

2:32:37Pat McAfee:It wasn't as loud as what that first decibel thing they told you was going to be? wasn't any noise. It was crazy. I could hear Sean. He could hear me. Yeah, Ben Roethlisberger. The thing about Ben Roethlisberger is allegedly the DBs could just hear him telling the wide receivers what routes to run. Because I guess Roethlisberger's a guy that just will say, hey, run a slant. Like, on the field. And I guess that was the story that was coming out, right? Oh, yeah. You could hear it on the game. DBs were like, just don't let him know we can hear him. We can hear everything he's doing out there. Ben was an old school guy, huh?

2:33:08Pat McAfee:Fucking go deep. One of the best, brother. But in the big games, I'll take him over all of them. He's just a dog, right? Total. He is in everything it feels like. He's a massive shit talker. Take him over all of them, Bruce? All of them, Bruce? In the big game. Bruce, Bruce. You heard what he said. You all heard what he said. He's the only one that I've had that had to go 92 yards to win the Super Bowl. That's fair. And? And he won. And Hines shouldn't have been in the game. His knee was gone. Nate had a separated shoulder. He only had two guys that could catch. Santon Hill and Heath. And, of course, he kept feeding Tone.

2:33:47Pat McAfee:Absolutely. One of the greatest catches in the history of football. But the throw was better. Ben should have been MVP. Oh, you're still bummed out about that. I'm still pissed about it, yeah. I think Ben probably probably bummed out about it. If you look at that throw, and it's like, he bit, he lobs it back there and just sticks his hands up. Great catch. Great toe tap as well. I'm going to throw in saying the fact that you guys won, awesome. And I love that you just said that about Ben Roethlisberger. I don't know if you heard. There was a climax in Hammer. Damn, damn. Tony, you love everything you just said right there.

2:34:17Pat McAfee:How you might put it as your ex-bio?

2:34:20Darius Butler:Yeah, I do because Ben gets a lot of credit or whatever. But playing during Brady and Manning's era and then Breeze was there as well. And I don't know if he gets as many flowers as he should. But, no, hearing that was awesome. he's my hero you know that

2:34:38Pat McAfee:trying to get seven this year though I woke up this morning and I literally thought

2:34:42Darius Butler:to myself I can't wait to go to hell and back with Aaron Rodgers

2:34:47Pat McAfee:let's go it's not too hot down there brother exactly mother I might be taking you on a trip too I'll go to the 8th dimension and back I like that you should do that maybe you have to do that before the season before the program one day, and then we just kind of sit with Tom. Yeah, I think before the season two to pay respects to Mother Eye. Yes. And to Aaron, obviously. I think you should have to do that. No, he doesn't do that anymore.

2:35:14Darius Butler:Make some calls.

2:35:15Pat McAfee:Do you know? Do we know that? Yeah, I talked to him yesterday. What'd you say?

2:35:19Darius Butler:I said, what's up, dude? He said, I'm ready. Can't wait. And then you asked him about Iowa's game? No, I didn't want to talk to him too much. That was kind of like unwritten, unspoken words. Because words have curses.

2:35:32Pat McAfee:No.

2:35:32Darius Butler:Spells.

2:35:33Pat McAfee:Words are spelled. They're casted. They cast spells.

2:35:36Darius Butler:If that's how you guys want to take it, that's how you take it.

2:35:38Pat McAfee:Oh, you received that message differently from your quarterback and a man who's going to bring seven to Pittsburgh?

2:35:43Darius Butler:I can't wait.

2:35:45Pat McAfee:Are you guys winning the Super Bowl this year?

2:35:46Darius Butler:I don't see why not. Do you?

2:35:49Pat McAfee:Fuck it. Why not? Packed AFC. Packed. I think I can think of as Cincinnati and Baltimore. That might be a problem. Cincinnati, Baltimore, Buffalo, Indianapolis, Kansas City, you know. One of those doesn't fit, but I got you.

2:36:04Darius Butler:I'm not worried about the division. Division, you know how it is, B.A. The division, you take care of the division. You were there. Yeah, that's it.

2:36:11Pat McAfee:You're right.

2:36:12Darius Butler:Bills, Chiefs, yeah, those, though. Broncos. He's still got to show me. Don't tie. Chargers. He's got to show me what Ben did. That's winning Baltimore. Yeah. I mean, Halodianata hit him one time, busted his nose. He came over the sideline. Is it okay? His nose was like over here or something. Byron goes, oh. He says, that bad, Doc. You're good. Bruce, was that you? Were you there? Was that with A.B. when he ran the slot go against the Ravens to win? Yes. That was one of his first big catches. Antonio Brown, so good at football. Holodi Nata's nose was off of his face. No, Ben's was crooked. Holodi Nata.

2:36:53Pat McAfee:Hey, fist right to the no roughing the passer. No flag. No flag whatsoever. Ben never got it. Back when ball was ball. Yeah, it's back when Ben was rolling out there with two boots. Yeah. He was two boots before Carson Wentz. Hey, man. What a beast, Ben Roth. Good podcast host as well. Is this it right here? Third and eight. He's got his right foot taped. It's probably broken, if I had to guess. Is that AB a three? Is that Mike Wallace? Oh, that was the punch in the nose from Haloti Nata. Okay, on the way down there, I think you saw him rapping. A man, a kick to the back of the head. Nice knee.

2:37:26Pat McAfee:Suggs, he got his sizzle. T-Sizzle got him in the back of the head. Was that Suggs? Sorry. Yeah, Suggs with the kick. Bleeding. Oh, yeah. Leaking. Yep, can't even tell, Ben. Can't even tell. You look good. Raven Steeler is so awesome. Oh, dude. Haloti was a monster. Boom, left hand linked to the face. Haloti Nata with a left hook to your face. Yeah, you're good. dude. His hand is the size. You can't even tell. Oh my God, that had to hurt so bad. Oh my God. So you like Ben Roethlisberger obviously. Andrew Luck. Peyton Manning. No, I'm just saying. I love him. I can't ever say who's the best. Tom Brady.

2:38:05Well, he kind of did. Yeah, Carson Palmer. Even Timmy Couch. Timmy Couch took Cleveland Browns to the playoffs. Tim Couch. Broke his leg in the last game. And then Kelly Holcomb goes in and throws from 420 yards because of Steelers.

2:38:16Pat McAfee:That's so many quarterbacks that you've worked with, though, just, like, throughout the history of football. You getting to work with Tom Brady at the end of it, I thought was really cool. It was fun. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, because, like, your umbrella of coaches and your people, Tom Brady seemingly was never going to be able to experience. I would, I mean, he's chatted about how you're vastly different than Bill, but I would like to get his entire thoughts on, like, your guys' operation versus how Bill run, because you guys both won Super Bowls, you know? So it's, like, such an interesting dynamic on how a building is run.

2:38:46The funniest is Tom Moore, who's hilarious. Oh, yeah. They're great. He's like, I've got to root for this motherfucker. I've hated him for 20 years. I said, we're going to love him now, Tom. You're damn right we are, brother. Yeah, yeah.

2:38:59Pat McAfee:We have an opportunity to get Tom Brady in this building. We definitely love him, buddy. Yeah, I mean, he was talking about earlier when he was starting out coaching, or maybe not starting out, when he was coaching for Bear Bryant. Yeah, with Alabama. Yeah, for Alabama. It's like, that's, I mean, as a new school dude, if you will, So that's like the first coach you hear about growing up as like the father of college football. That's black and white film. Yeah, that's what that is. And one thing about coach, we played 66 players in every game. He substituted every player. No assistant coach ever.

2:39:33Think about sending anybody on that field. Okay, so he just wanted the whole team to play?

2:39:39Pat McAfee:He didn't want starters? Alan Gray was started quarterback the first series, then he was the PP the rest of the game. and two other quarterbacks would come in and play. This is Bear Bryant football? Mm-hmm. Is that how it always was? Always. He believed in just wearing you out with waves and waves of fresh players. Just soldiers. Waves of soldiers. And you say he personally did all the substitutions? Everyone. That's crazy. You. All the way to the Liberty Bowl, Etienne. Yeah, for people that don't know, head coaches don't do that, at least today. No. They have one of the assistant coaches who are responsible for every group, nickel, dime, offense, I'm sure it's the same thing.

2:40:19Special teams, you have your punt unit. That's insane.

2:40:22Pat McAfee:There's a lot happening there. Commotion coming on and off. Too many men, not enough men. I mean, that is a real thing. So for one, 66 subs. Yeah. Unbelievable, bro. Unbelievable. Other teams in hell. Full speed. Who is this guy? I had nine or 12 running backs get ready every game. With wishbones. That's so cool. I did not know this. How are we just now learning this? This is Bear Bryant football? Oh, yeah. 12 running backs? Yeah. You're going to have hell today. Our 10th running back? He's the most powerful running back. See his legs. We got thunder, lightning, thunder, thunder, thunder, lightning, thunder, lightning, thunder, lightning, thunder, lightning.

2:41:02We're playing Kentucky. We're playing Kentucky. We're supposed to be beating them by 30. We're losing in the fourth quarter.

2:41:07Darius Butler:How? They're going to have starters. Eight strangers didn't have a good game. We got the ball in a two-yard line coming out. And the four-string guys are in there. I'm in the press back going, Mal Moore, who's our offensive coordinator, a great guy, hired Nick. And, Mal, what the fuck are we doing? Get the good guys. He ain't saying shit, right? Man, one dude makes an unbelievable one-handed catch. The other guy makes the best block quarterback runs. We get out to the 20. Here come the thoroughbreds. We score in three plays. I never questioned him ever again. You used the fours to get to the 20s.

2:41:41Darius Butler:He set up the ones. He trusted them. He trusted them. They were all seniors. All right? He trusted them to do the right thing to get us out of there. And then he put the third reds back in. That's crazy.

2:41:52Pat McAfee:That is unbelievable. I had no idea. While there are no famous anecdotes about a specific Bryant substitute player, the legendary coach navigated several different areas of substitution roles during his career. One of his hallmarks was using platoon systems and substitutions to his advantage, like hockey, line two, ensuring players were fresh and assignments were met. Wow. I didn't know that was the case. That's the coolest thing I've ever heard. Yeah, I didn't know. That won, too, right? We won a lot. More than anybody. I think in the 70s, they were 110. 105 and 10. That's because they just. Well, have you seen the special on the wishbone?

2:42:28I have not. This came out. Okay. It's a great tribute to, well, I think one of the brightest minds ever is Emery Ballard. He invented the wishbone. and Darryl Royal let Chuck Fairbanks and Barry Switzer and guys down to Texas and learn the wishbone from Emory. And Coach sent Jimmy Sharp and those guys over to learn the wishbone. And that flipped both programs.

2:42:55Pat McAfee:Okay, so football owes the wishbone. It's a heck of a documentary right now. You're saying football owes the wishbone. Oh, God. The documentary definitely says that. Totally, yeah. It's awesome. It's like the Model T car. Yeah. It's like you need that at the beginning because you think about the wishbone, what Army-Navy was running it. That's how they're beating everybody up to three years ago. Yeah, because everybody got to the air raid, which was much like what you were talking about there, how mummy starts the air raid, and then his people start kind of going across, and the air raid takes over football, not just college football.

2:43:23Pat McAfee:It takes over all the football. Everybody starts getting smaller. Now this wishbone comes in and starts hammering everybody. It's like football is so cyclical. That is such an obvious thing, which leads to number one player in the NFL, running back, Saquon Barkley. Congratulations, Saquon. Well-deserved. Running back just a couple years ago, you guys didn't want to pay him. You didn't want to pay running backs a couple years ago. And now Saquon Barkley got paid two years in advance. And how much is he making per year? 20? I want to say, yeah, 19, 5, 20. He just got an extension. It was like two years, 42, I thought.

2:43:53So total money, I'm not sure, on what he was making.

2:43:56Pat McAfee:So from a time where, you know, he was let out of the Giants building, all on hard knocks where everybody saw it all unfold, to a time where no running backs were getting paid, He signs a deal with Philadelphia for less money than he probably could have made some places. Does very well. And then they re-up him immediately and say, hey, we appreciate you here. We're going to pay you. And then his peers around the NFL are going to vote him the number one player in the NFL. What an exit from the New York Giants for Saquon Barkley. Everything has gone great since leaving that organization. AJ obviously well-earned for Saquon in it all.

2:44:27Pat McAfee:And he carried the NFL there on his back for a bit. We were watching the Saquon Barkley show and the Philadelphia Eagles offensive line show for a good three, four weeks during that playoff run with the most amount of eyes.

2:44:37Darius Butler:Well, yeah, I think that's the scary thing for their opponents this year. They're returning Saquon and the offensive line. So that's, you know, at the very worst, they're going to be still very, very good on the ground. But the thing is, other teams say, oh, there's the formula. That's what we're going to do. We've got to run the ball. There's only one Saquon, though. We know that. And there's only, like, you've got to put together an offensive line. You've got to find either running back by committee or somebody Saquon-esque to be your guy. But, like, yeah, Saquon is a special, special dude.

2:45:02Pat McAfee:Saquon has the power of 12 running backs like he was back in the day. That's right. What do you see in Saquon? And more specifically, the offensive line and the way they go about running their offense over there in Philadelphia that you love, B.A.? Big, big fan of Nick Sirianni. He's got a great respect for the game, you know, and the history of the game. But that offensive line is not back. Really? Mackay Becton's gone. Dickerson's hurt. Yep. Yeah, but he was drinking beers after practice. We think he wouldn't be drinking beers after practice. He didn't practice on Monday for a Thursday night game.

2:45:33That scares me.

2:45:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, but he was drinking beers on a practice shift. They were expecting him. That's okay. I mean, who doesn't? I guess you're right. I guess you're right. That shouldn't be an indicator that he's feeling good. He's just feeling good. Yeah, it's not the same offensive line. But Saquon, he runs like a 150-pound back, and he runs like a 250-pound back. He's got the feet of that shifty little guy, that scat-back guy, but he's got the power of Earl Campbell. I mean, this guy, he's unique. And he was unique coming out. And, yeah, I would have paid him. Because he also can run routes and be a great receiver.

2:46:14He's a very unique player.

2:46:15Pat McAfee:I guess he's a leader, too, in the locker room. He loves him. He's a great person. He's got the whole package. Loves golf, too, I guess. He's a PA guy. I guess he loves golf. Yeah, Pennsylvania, which is obviously good news. And Sirianni, let's go back to that. You talk about respect for the game. His dad was a coach, right, if I do recall, in Western Pennsylvania. Where did he coach at, IUP? Yes, sir. Coached at IUP, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Obviously, that place has a lot of good time in its history. And I think probably in its presence, if I had to guess. In the future. And probably in the future.

2:46:45Pat McAfee:They're going to have a lot of good times at IUP. But you're talking about just like old school football. And what did he tell Howie that his dad taught him? Coach Sirianni told Howie what? O-line, D-line, Howie. O-line, D-line. That's what his dad believes. That's what he believes. And they do. They're front four on defense, and then their offensive line, even though you point out a couple things that are certainly going to be maybe a little bit of adversity for them to figure out in the first. They build through the offensive line and defensive line. That's the way to do it. I think so, too.

2:47:12That's always been my philosophy, too. If I get a quarterback, I'm not drafting two receivers. I'm drafting two tackles in a center. So we're inside out here. But those two guys got to protect him, and that guy's got to run it up front. Jeff Saturday, who came out of nowhere. North Carolina.

2:47:32Pat McAfee:Where was he last night? Good question. He's North Carolina tall here. He just had open heart surgery. What? Oh, shit. Okay. Jeff, we hope you're okay. We know where you were. He had an aneurysm he had fixed. What? Jeff, he's in peace, by the way. He's doing good. That's scary. I'm happy to hear he's okay. Real scary. Jeff, good human for society, so I'm happy to hear he's okay. One of the best. One of the best, yeah. Okay, North Carolina. Let's get some wins for Jeff. Jeff, he's on the mend. Jeez Louise. But Jeff Saturday sent her for Peyton Manning, huge ordeal. That obviously became a relationship for 11 years, 12 years.

2:48:04Crazy how he got there. I forget who got hurt. We didn't have offensive linemen for camp. And we had drafted a defensive lineman out of North Carolina. I forget who it was. He went in and told Bill Pullen, you ought to bring Jeff Saturday in. You know, he's one of the toughest guys I ever went against. Howard goes, he's too damn little. Jeff comes in, he starts, what, 14, 15 years.

2:48:24Pat McAfee:Howard Mudd, rest in peace. Howard, one of his favorite people. Oh, one of the best. Offensive line coach, dog. Oh, the best. Absolutely. There's some legends on that coaching staff. Oh. Rest in peace. JT, rest in peace. What an absolute beast on the defense side over there, too. Colts had a lot of great ones, man. And we're going to do it again with Danny Dimes, who was another part of that hard knocks. You know, whenever Saquon left, Rumble and player in the NFL, they stuck with Danny Dimes. It didn't work out. Now he's an idiot. He's going to be an all-pro. Here's the top 10 voted on by the players.

2:48:53Pat McAfee:Congratulations, Lamar Jackson, number two. Josh Allen, number three. Jamar Chase, number four. Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Derrick Henry, Miles Garrett, Justin Jefferson, and Patrick Sertan II round out the top ten players voted on by their peers going into the season. D-Butt, how do you feel about the top ten? Got a defensive guy up there. Yeah, I think it's a good list. Got a defensive player of the year at ten with Patrick Sertan. Miles Garrett, you know, I guess his peers view him as the best pass rusher in the league. Lamar Jackson, back-to-back years at number two. I thought his season, last season, has been his best so far in his career.

2:49:27He's already a two-time MVP. Could have easily been number one. But Saquon, deservingly so, I think he was deserving as well. Jamar Chase, triple crown, best receiver in the game right now. Justin Jefferson right there behind him. I think this is a quality top ten. And Saquon, he got all the hype, deservingly so. But Derrick Henry had a phenomenal year last year. I think Jameer Gibbs will be in the conversation, best running back in the league this year. and B. John Robinson, too, can be in that conversation as well. Some special, special backs right now.

2:49:54Pat McAfee:It feels like the players here are talking about the Bunchman Ravens. Not a lot to talk about the Bunchman Ravens from the media. No. Except for Butta. Obviously, Butta's doing a lot of talking about the Ravens, which we appreciate. They got to get it this year. They can, though, right? I mean, they're stacked. The guy that I think should be on there is T.J. Watt. Okay. All right, you're saying in the division. Game record. He was number 11.

2:50:16Darius Butler:No alignment. Don't say that to D. Butts, coach. Okay. He hates him. I love TJ. He's a dog. Oh, I heard what you said. Oh, it feels like the players think Myles Garrett's the best pass. I know. I heard what you did there. I'm just saying what the peers say. I'm not in the locker room anymore. I'm just talking to Mike at home. Did you do this top 100 vote? I did not. Oh, as a player? Yeah. Yeah. I'm just folks, yeah. And Patrick Mahomes, too. I didn't want to disrespect Patrick Mahomes. He's up there at five, which is based on his year last year. I don't think he was a top five player. Wow. But coming into this year with how the Super Bowl ended, I think he's going to come in scorched earth this year.

2:50:52I think he's got something to prove.

2:50:53Pat McAfee:He left that Nebraska Cincy game a little early. He had to get to bed. Obviously, he had kids as well. He actually commented. I don't know if you saw that. They posted Patrick Mahomes living Dylan Raiola's game early. Jeez. Like, he was committed to staying in that whole fucking game. Great Raiola memes because of that. Yeah, how do you guys feel about that? I didn't like it at all. I like Patrick Mahomes underneath going, yeah, I'm a fucking adult, dude. I got kids. Got three kids. Sorry, man. I came to show love. I did try to come show love here. That guy does a lot of stuff like him.

2:51:23Darius Butler:I don't like him. Too much. I know we're having Matt Rule on the program every year. I don't fucking like. Be your own man. This thing sucks. Everything else, fine. They don't do this. They don't do the hurry up thing. This has never been seen except for Mahomes. And people don't really like it when Mahomes does it. So when Mahpartmans, which is definitely the best nickname for him, When he starts doing it, then people... That's a nickname? Mapartments. Apartments, Mahomes. Instead of Mahomes. Yeah, a lot of people on the internet, Mapartments for Royola, which again is great. But this is the only...

2:52:01Because the warm-up stuff, it's like, okay, you're trying to emulate him, be like him. Macondo.

2:52:06Pat McAfee:Yeah. Bingo. My lake house. Movilla. Okay. I love the internet. I would have never thought of that. Yeah. That's funny. Jesus. Yeah, absolutely. I love the internet. It's the greatest place on earth. There's a lot of things. But he, I mean, why not emulate the next go? Exactly. No, and that's why the on the field stuff is cool. But this thing? It's not cool. This is the one. You're right. That's right. The on the field stuff. He's a college man. Him coming out and jumping around like Mahomes. Him wearing exactly what Mahomes does with the glasses and the necklace. Like, I get it. Be your own fucking man, dude.

2:52:40You're the number one, you know, ranked prospect coming out. You're not Patrick Mahomes. And you know what? He doesn't even really look like him that much. Okay? He doesn't. So we can fucking stop that right now. What are you talking about? I just don't know. No, he doesn't. Mahomes cut his hair. No, he doesn't. When you see it 400 times a day, every single day, the more you see it, it's like, you know what? They really don't look that much alike. They have a similar haircut. Sure. I mean, I'm sick of it. Be your own man. Be Dylan Rayova.

2:53:07Pat McAfee:That opinion does exist. Ty has it. Others have it as well. And I didn't have a problem with it. I really didn't. And then I was watching the Cincy game. I was like, you know what? Fuck it. I'm done with this shit. I'm sick and tired of seeing it. It's all we talk about. Every game. Every game. You can see him realize it halfway through him doing this, too. You've seen that clip. He goes like this, like, twice, and then realizes, like, oh, fuck. And then, like, one like this on his helmet and then waits. He goes, okay, never mind. Let's fucking hear this. Oh, yeah, come on. No, no, let's huddle.

2:53:37Let's huddle. Yeah, fuck that. Let's huddle up. Oh, see? Come on. It can't slip. No, no, no. Trying to get the plate into his helmet. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. If this was the only thing, sure, that's a reach. That was a reach. Everything you just did was a reach right there. No, because when you partner it with all the fucking shit, dressing exactly like him, the whole warm-up thing, all that stuff,

2:53:58Pat McAfee:when you partner them together. Oh, so you feel exactly how he feels, too, it sounds like. You were trying not to there for a minute. It feels like you kind of snapped. I am not a college football team guy. The Iowa thing, you could argue, kind of factors. That may play a small role. You could argue that factors in. I like Raiola. I think he's nasty, and I don't think he needs to do all that shit. That's why the extra stuff. Also, he's the son of an old lineman. He's like fucking 6 '8". It's like, dude, you could do some really cool stuff when you're 6 '8". I don't know, but Mahomes doesn't have all the cool.

2:54:32He's not eye-to-eye with Trey Smith like Raiola. You could just be like the biggest, toughest, grittiest son of a bitch. He's going to be. I don't know because he's TikTok-ing.

2:54:43Pat McAfee:He's not TikTok-ing, Coach Rul. He said no more TikTok. I've been seeing clubs. I don't know. All of a sudden, I might be an Iowa fan. The more we talk about this, I'm like. Is it Iowa or Nebraska? Is that how that goes? I can't be either. At this table? I can't be. One or the other. Oh, really? Is that real? It's like Auburn, Alabama. Well, it's interesting you bring that up because in the last 11 years, Iowa's beat Nebraska 10 times. Nebraska's won once. And people from Nebraska like to act like it's some big rivalry. It's not. They were never in the Big Ten. They are recently. You know, so no, Iowa fans don't think like that at all.

2:55:13Pat McAfee:But you hate this guy because he's at Nebraska. So maybe you know that that certainly plays a role. So maybe I also hate him because, like I said, Jesus, you can't hate this guy. You you put those words into my mouth. Because he's a college kid. I don't give a fuck. Do whatever I want. I'm just saying I'm sick and tired. He threw 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions last year. He ain't fucking Patrick Mahomes. So let's stop with... What's Gronoski doing? Do we like where Gronoski's at? I don't know. He won the FCS Heisman last year. So if he wants to act like fucking Josh Allen who won MVP, I think that makes a little bit more sense because he's, you know, proof's in the pudding.

2:55:50I mean, again, like I said, we'll see. We'll see. It's going to be a good season. It's going to be a good season.

2:55:55Pat McAfee:Is he acting like Josh Allen? I didn't know that. No, not really. He's just a put your head down and go to work kind of guy, which is what I appreciate about him. Those are the kind of guys we want in Iowa City. Gronoski. Exactly. B.A., how much you follow college ball? Did you get your start in college ball? Yeah, I started at Virginia Tech. Right after playing? Yep. Was a graduate assistant. Got hired full. Danny Ford left and went to Clemson. Charlie Pell was on our staff also. I was Charlie's graduate assistant. Then Danny left. I got a full-time job making$10 ,000 in a car. Rich, but I thought I would hit the fucking lottery.

2:56:30Yeah, live in, baby. And bought a house, had a baby, got fired.

2:56:33Pat McAfee:No longer got$10 ,000 in a car. Welcome to college football. That's coach. How long did you coach in college before you went to the NFL? Oh, 14, 15 years. Holy shit. So you're very well-versed in the college world. That's head coach for six years in college. Temple. Great time. See the pictures over there. You guys had some legends on your staff. Yes, we do. Right? I mean, there's like big names on your staff there at Temple. If we were to pull that up, can we pull that up? The picture has like a who's who. Temple. Are you guys great? No. Well, we did beat everybody except Penn State in the East.

2:57:08It came close. Paul Palmer, the best football player I've ever coached.

2:57:13Pat McAfee:Who's on your staff there? Paul Davis was my defensive coordinator, who was Shug Jordan's defensive coordinator for 15 years, was the head coach at Mississippi State in 61 and 63. And he ran the split tackle six. And I wanted – everybody started going to trips in motion. And he was actually – he was best friends with Coach Bryant, and he was on our staff at Alabama the last year. and I wanted him to teach me that defense. And then I talked him into coming to be our defensive coordinator to teach it to Nick Rapone. And then he retired. I brought in John Devlin, who signed me to my scholarship at Virginia Tech.

2:57:48Pat McAfee:And then you hired him. Yeah. That's cool, though. Good for you. Yeah. And John stayed with us. Clyde Christensen. Well, half those guys were on my staff at Arizona. Yeah, Clyde. That's what I'm saying. Clyde Christensen, obviously. Nick Rapone, John Latina.

2:58:06Ray Zingler, who's from Pitt. I had Coach Hugh Green and those guys out there. Yeah, remember. What year is this? 83 to 88. Jesus.

2:58:16Pat McAfee:So long. Bill Clay. Yeah. And then your first job in the NFL is with? Kansas City with Marty Schottenheimer, coaching running backs. And I had to cut Paul Palmer. That was the hardest day of my life. Damn. Marty did not like little backs. you know Paul was the number one pick of theirs runner up for the Heisman and led the nation in wrestling two years at Temple and you know who we played and that was a hard day but Christian Nikoya, he liked big backs we were like 240, 260, 250 Hell yeah Kansas City to Pittsburgh when do you end up in Pittsburgh? Oh not for another there. Three or four firings.

2:59:01Pat McAfee:Cleveland, you were there? I was Cleveland and went to the playoffs. Next year, got fired and went to Pittsburgh. 2002, maybe, around there. What a run you had at Pittsburgh. Unreal. Tommy Gunn. That was a good eight years, yeah. Tommy Maddox. Mm-hmm. Fucking Tommy Gunn, XFL sensation. Oh, yeah. It's his birthday today, by the way. Happy birthday, Tommy Maddox. Happy birthday, T. Happy birthday, Tommy Gunn. Yeah, baby. There's no way he thought that was happening today. There's someone else's birthday today, too, I forget. Terry Bradshaw. Terry Bradshaw, another Pittsburgh Steelers legend. Terry Bradshaw.

2:59:36Pat McAfee:You know, he put his finger on pulling a ball when he threw it. Unbelievable. Man can sling it now. Doc, you didn't put him as your... No, we're not going to get back into that. Joe Montana's top three is doing some numbers on the internet. Yes, it is. As I expected. As I expected. And at the end of this, you and BA are going to create a segment that everybody's going to talk about. is what I said two questions into it. You did? And then lo and behold, yeah, pretty big. It's going pretty big out there. It wasn't your top three, right? And also, if you were a GM drafting right now, he's potentially not getting in the conversation.

3:00:09Pat McAfee:That's an important part of it. That's a big part of it. And also, Brock Purdy can't be a part of it. Right. Which people don't think they're seeing that either. Well, because the age thing, I think, is a big, you know, Josh Allen and Mahomes, I think they're pretty close. They are pretty close, yeah. Yeah, but there's a birthday, so a leap year or two. Joe was just getting up. He was just wakey, wakey. He's living his life. We got the double golds. Double golds. I mean, early on, him going, oh, fuck, all right. I think he was in Hawaii, I think. So that's a six-hour difference. Yeah, early morning.

3:00:43Pat McAfee:Jesus. Pretty bright over there. What are you guys doing? You guys are already up, huh? Yeah. Are we doing this? Yeah. You can quiet down a little bit. Maybe you're talking pretty loud right now. Double golds. I had about 10 of those last night. My head is pounding. Puking baby. All right, B.A., we appreciate you, man. You want to make a putt for the people? Oh. A what? A putt. Oh. I ain't got five or six putters in the lake right now. Next week. Yep. All right, B.A., we appreciate you traveling out. We'll see you next week, brother. We'll see you next week, baby. You're the man. Thank you for doing this.

3:01:17Pat McAfee:Hell yeah. You're going to be great. The BS or no BS with B.A. is going to get out of control. I want you to know that is going to become that becomes the place where we can just really put all the absurd shit in there and then you'll have to be the one that kind of guides us and also you're going to shape a lot of our thoughts so just think about that when you're watching these games got it we appreciate it in advance you're going to make us smarter make us better make us more entertaining it's going to be a lot of fun I know that are you going to wear that ring every time? I don't think so come on it looks awesome it actually sounded awesome too because you can open that song bitch at the top and then there's like people that live inside whole world there's like diamonds in there and stuff that are just living in there and then you just gotta put the top back on we could hear that a couple times that there was maybe an actual dome on top of something it's a beautiful ring they did a great job with that can you open the is that a Jason wow our locker room is a diamond and all the scores you have to show the camera a little bit then Historic was the first team to ever win at home then the Rams copied it to the T and they won at home too Yeah, that used to be a thing you couldn't, nobody would get lucky enough to have it be there year the year that they're hosting.

3:02:26Pat McAfee:Never happened. And of course, we only had 30 ,000. I think 32 ,000. No, but remember, there's 27 ,000 cardboard cutouts. Oh, yeah, because I'm looking for my sister, and all of a sudden I see something moving. Mom was 90, gosh, 94 to 95, then she was there. Oh, that's awesome. I'm happy to hear that happened. She's 100 now. Legend. Happy birthdays. We missed them all. She had a hell of a party, I promise. I could have met. 100 years old? Yeah. Holy shit. That's a long time in the genes. Oh, gosh. Yeah, she's amazing. So you're going to live forever. I doubt it. I bow like my dad. He went at 79.

3:03:05Pat McAfee:We hope not. We hope you're around forever and we appreciate you. Alright, we'll be back tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Come on, Tone. Please, Tone. He's coming.

3:03:19Pat McAfee:What was that? A good fist bump? Whipped his headphones out, I think Oh yeah, because they can get a little feisty Stuck a little bit Yeah, fucking ears The Buccaneers Alright, team on me Anything to say to the team? Coach? Let's fucking go Let's go, we'll see you guys tomorrow Team on three One, two, three, team Goodbye