PMS 2.0 1406 - Thursday Night Football Preview, Adam Schefter, Nebraska Head Coach Matt Rhule, Mike McCarthy, Kirk Herbstreit, & AJ Hawk

22:48And there is a matchup on the road. We talked about those road games. There is a matchup on the road in a couple of weeks with a team from Dallas named the Cowboys. I'm sure by then Micah might be full speed up and running by then. My guess is he'll be ready for a full workload at that point in time. But Micah brought a lot of juice to that defense on Sunday and will bring more juice to that defense again tonight.

23:10Pat McAfee:I assume as Micah continues to get comfortable over there with his relationships with people and how everything's going, I assume he's going to be the one deciding how many snaps he has. I assume as they roll on. Or is there an actual snap count in mind? Because I think it was, what, 45 % or something like that last year. You said 29 snaps. I think it was 45 % of the snaps. I don't know if they would do a percentage per snap or an actual snap count number. Is that him kind of deciding as they go, or is there a play anything? I think it's give and take from both sides. I would think he tells them how he's feeling, and I think they're going to be very mindful of not overusing him and exposing him more than they want to.

23:46Again, the one thing that was told to me was it's a long season, and he didn't play any football this summer. And so they have to make sure that everything is up to speed with him and that it works out the way that they want over the long term. And they don't want to abuse that in the short term.

24:04Pat McAfee:Yeah, if he picks up a sack in the first quarter, you know, we already got one. Okay, let's go ahead and limit him back. He gets a sack at the end of that. Okay, let's take him out now. Let's go ahead and have the – let's make sure it's a happy start here. Let's make sure it's a free-flowing start here. But also, let's not be stupid. We hope he's completely healthy. We hope he's back in full action soon because we love watching him. And obviously, that Packers defense looked very different. If you have to break some news, feel free to do as such, Shefty. We appreciate that. Now, I think... Getting a call there.

24:32You know, when certain people call, you're like, okay, something's going on here. Answer it, answer it, answer it, answer it, answer it. No, I just texted the person. All good.

24:42Pat McAfee:Okay, who is the person? Do they have glasses? No. Yep, yep. Okay. Do they have hair? Yeah. Not Sam. Mustache? We'll see. Facial hair. Facial hair. Any facial hair? No. Wow. Spray to be.

25:09Pat McAfee:Oh, that's a pretty good game. Wow. Good for us. Okay, so. Okay. All right, shout out to that entire situation there. We'll continue to ask about tonight's game. Any other news? Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Shefty, do you have any injury updates on either Zach Tom or Aaron Banks? I know both of them didn't practice yesterday or questionable for tonight. And then on the flip side, does Washington have anyone kind of on the bubble to play tonight? It was interesting with Washington last week was Chris Rodriguez, the running back, was a healthy scratch. And they decided to dress four tight ends and less running backs.

25:49So if they do that again tonight, Rodriguez could be down. Jacory Krosky-Meritt or Bill Krosky-Meritt stepped up and played pretty well in his first role. He looked pretty good there, right? Oh, yeah. It worked out. Yep. And so we'll see whether Bill Krosky-Meritt comes in tonight and has the same type of impact on this game. The Packers, I haven't heard whether Banks or Toms, Zach Tom, is going to be able to go tonight. I would imagine Tom played last game. I would think that I could send that a text here and hopefully by the end of this show, we get an answer to that.

26:23Pat McAfee:I saw, were you reading a text across the top of your screen there while you're talking? Like, yeah, yeah. Just in the middle of that, you're getting information, it feels like. That's what we're trying to figure out right now. Okay, I appreciate that. Hell yeah. I really appreciate the way you're operating right now. Multitasking to a T, having to juggle 45 different conversations all at the same time. A true talent, a true trait, and also an incredible work ethic to be in your business. We appreciate you joining us. We're going to run a clip right now if you would like to potentially go ahead and handle your business.

26:53Pat McAfee:Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Shefty, I need you to be honest here. You're going to watch this clip of MCDC giving an answer at a press conference, and it doesn't sound like old jovial Applebee's Dan. It sounds like MCDC's a little pissed off. Fox, why don't you run that? Just how good the offense was last year under Ben Johnson. People are just wondering, myself just included, Would it have been feasible just to, you know, I know John's a different coordinator, but would it have been feasible to just, you know, Jared talked about changes in communication. There wasn't a lot of pre-snap motion. Would it have been feasible just to run the really exact same offense as last year?

27:27Kirk Herbstreit:What are you asking? What did Jared say? I'm saying your offense last year. No, you said something Jared said, so let me hear it. Changes in communication. Yeah, but you said something about emotions and keep. I'm saying that would it have been feasible to, and people are wondering, the offense looks drastically different than it does last year. Would it have been feasible to just exactly run the exact same offense? So after one game, tell me what it looks like that's drastically different. Explosive plays weren't there. It wasn't as creative. You didn't see any pre-snap motions in that game? As much as we've seen before.

28:03Kirk Herbstreit:I want you to go back and look at all of our motions, pre-snap motions, fast motion shifts on the road. Yeah, look at them, bitch. No, seriously, the Lions, I mean, the vibes are not good right now, and MCDC taking shit for responding that way is ridiculous just because, of course, those questions are going to come. But what do you think, Shefty? Should we be genuinely worried about these Detroit Lions, especially with how good the Packers and Vikings look for a quarter? I think there are fair and legitimate questions to ask about how the offense is going to operate in the absence of Ben Johnson.

28:40Not just Ben Johnson. There's a coaching staff that lost eight assistant coaches. Tanner Engstrand, who is an offensive coordinator now at the New York Jets. The Jets' offense looked great on Sunday. He left Detroit, too. There were a lot of people that were big Tanner Engstrand fans. And so this is an offense I think that the talent is there. They have a boatload of talent. They lose some coaches. They lose Frank Ragnow. Offensive line has some changes. And I just think that these are going to be questions that are going to come up throughout the season. I think it is going to be a little bit of a question mark until they answer them at the very least.

29:19And that offense on Sunday lacked explosiveness. Maybe it was one game. Maybe it was just the opener. It lacked creativity. Maybe it was just the opener. Maybe it was being in Green Bay. But I think there were signals that you're taking out of the first game and say, that didn't look like the Lions that we've seen the last couple of years. Now, again, they may come out on Sunday against Ben Johnson and the Bears, and they may go back to being themselves. But I can tell you there are people around the league who question that and wonder if this offense will be the same. Now, it's up to them to go out and prove those naysayers and doubters and skeptics wrong, and there's certainly enough talent to do that.

30:02But through one game, that was a flat performance. Jameer Gibbs right there caught 10 passes for 31 yards. It was the lowest number of receiving yards that a player had ever had for 10 catches in an NFL game in NFL history. And so they didn't play great. They didn't look great. By the way, the Texans come back. Packers holding out hope that both those offensive linemen can go tonight, but they don't sound overly optimistic, and it sounds like we're going to get Canard at right tackle and Morgan at left guard, and both guys could be down tonight.

30:34Pat McAfee:Okay. Pull on the ticker. Short week, obviously going to be difficult. People are always optimistic, you know, hopeful, but then whenever push comes to shove, are we really going to put them out? Beginning of the year, short week like this, have a chance to maybe steal a couple recovery days. Why not? Got a real chance to win the whole thing. Yeah, you got a long season ahead. Now, on that note, about the Packers and about the Lions, maybe the Packers' defense is just the best defense in the league, and maybe that's why the Detroit Lions' offense wasn't that good. Maybe it's a combination of new people talking, new everything, but also this Packers' defense could be the real deal.

31:07Pat McAfee:They put up two first-rounders for this defense to be what it is. So maybe they're just going to be – that's how I feel about the Dolphins. Maybe the Dolphins aren't ass. Yeah. Maybe the Colts are just the greatest team in the history of football. There's a chair, baby. Maybe they go undefeated, Schefter. There's so many questions still to be left out there. Look, we go back to week one. The ultimate teaching example of week one was when the New England Patriots went to Buffalo. I think they lost 31-0 or 31-7 the week in which they cut lawyer Malloy, and it was a disastrous opening for New England.

31:36I think they went out to win the Super Bowl that year, right?

31:38Pat McAfee:That was in the doc. I like that. Yeah. Well, also, think about what the Chiefs did to the Patriots opening night. Yeah, yeah. And then Jimmy Garoppolo finished the game, and they asked Belichick after if Tom Brady's still the quarterback, and he laughed at him. Yeah, so then I think you guys win. That was Ron to Cincinnati. Yeah, and I think you guys win the Super Bowl that year, right? Yeah, yeah, that was the – yeah, that year they won. I think that was the flight gate year. Yeah, so you can be very ass early and win, but the stats are not heavily in your favor. No, no. Especially after an 0-2 start, I think it was – there was some graphics that were in there.

32:10It was like four teams have made the Super Bowl. Yeah, boom, have made the Super Bowl after an 0-2 start. So it is possible. It is possible.

32:16Pat McAfee:It is possible, Shefty. But, you know, it is a long shot. But the whole season is a long shot anyway. You know, maybe the Lions are all the way back. And I like that MCDC's got a little heavy breathing up there. Same. A little ruffling of the papers. That was hilarious. This guy's super genius. That's what he is. Did you watch what we did on the road? You know, maybe we're slowing it down a little bit here to start this entire thing. I like that. I like where we're at with the Lions. Everybody's rolling them out. Just got to fix the offensive line. If you fix the offensive line, you get a run game going, play action works, boom, we're back in this thing.

32:45Pat McAfee:But Jordan Love and Micah Parsons are in Green Bay, and it's a J.J. McCarthy era in Minnesota. He had a great fourth quarter. That's a sign of things to come, brother. Player of the week. Lions now. I think the Lions are. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We are in must-win territory. I'll say that. We play the Bears on Sunday. We're in must-win territory. J.J. McCarthy. By the way. Go ahead. Before we get to J.J., I am anxious to get to J.J., but the Lions after this game, I mean, look, they play the Bears. It'll be an interesting game. And then after this game, the Lions play at Baltimore. Oh, no. At Baltimore.

33:20Oh, gee. Monday night. They lost by 40 at Baltimore with Ben Johnson, Ram.

33:26Pat McAfee:Oh, and three. In the Bears game, obviously Ben Johnson revenge game. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And they're talking shit. I'm on St. Brown's like, yeah. When Ben Johnson comes on, I don't even care. We're all saying, fuck this bitch. No, he didn't say that. He said something like that. No, he didn't say that. He didn't say that. But there was a lot of negativity towards Ben going to Chicago over all the other places he could have went, so he's going to have revenge there. There's no cupcakes coming up here for the Detroit Lions. The schedule is absolutely brutal, and the fans are going to boo the hell out of Ben Johnson this weekend.

33:59I'm here for that.

34:00Pat McAfee:Let's talk about J.J. McCarthy because you, obviously, Michigan man, you knew the inside stuff about him and the inside stories about him long before I got a chance to learn them through college game day and getting a chance to talk to their coaching staff. And then obviously through Desmond Howard talking about him. And just basically everybody that's ever met him saying the same exact thing about him. And I don't want to do the promo once again, but basically everybody that's known him since high school said, in between the ears, he's one of the ones. He is one of the ones. That is what he is.

34:27Pat McAfee:And I think Darius Butler said, it sounds like the right comparison for J.J. is actually Tom Brady because the in between the ears thing is what made Tom Brady Tom Brady. Like we assume J.J. McCarthy's work ethic is insane because of everything we've heard about the way that he operates. So he's only going to get better and better. And with Kevin O 'Connell, we assume they're only going to get better and better. He's the one. Is that why everybody in Michigan thought that was the case? And that's why Jim Harbaugh was saying, this guy had the greatest quarterback workout in the history of quarterback workouts.

34:53Pat McAfee:He's by far the best quarterback in this. What are your thoughts on the Michigan man and his debut? And obviously a fourth quarter that we'll all remember in his hometown of Chicago. I don't know that there are a lot of quarterbacks that could struggle the way that JJ did through three quarters. throw a pick six, a pick six that I think a lot of people thought the game was on ice at that point in time. And then he responds with three fourth quarter touchdowns, including the bootleg around the corner where he dives into the end zone. And honestly, it was very J.J. McCarthy-esque. It just was. That's what that guy does.

35:29And Ty and I talked about it this week, but that guy is the epitome, the epitome of poise, positivity, and productivity. That's who he is. He's always upbeat. He always believes he's going to get it done because throughout his entire quarterback life, he has gotten it done. He is somebody that uplifts others, where some people like to bring down people. JJ is just the opposite. He raises people. You can see the reaction he got when he ran into the end zone and how many people went running around him it's just kind of who he is it's in his dna it's the intangibles there are some people that play the game they just don't win often there have been enough quarterbacks through history we don't have to name any names they just don't they don't get it done when it matters this guy high school college and in his first nfl game on the road after a pick six down in the fourth quarter he does get it done watch how many people come over and celebrate with him once he goes into the end zone there.

36:3475 sprints.

36:36Pat McAfee:Yeah, and I think I called him a sicko or a psycho, too. I forget what it was, but it's like very bro. Like, very much like they're in this thing together. It was awesome. You're right. 75 is who Conor's pointing out in the background. He's not the only one. Well, we've cut it short there. There are a lot of people. Now, I think it's great. Sunday Night Football, of course. Sunday Night, you know what we get Sunday Night? J.J. McCarthy versus Michael Penix. A rematch of the National Championship game. First time they've met since then. It's kind of cool, right? Another pod time hit, too. This is a banger of storylines.

37:07Pat McAfee:Things are going to go well, we assume, for both guys. Yep. Okay. NFL's swinging a hot bat. They are. Monday Night Football doubleheader, not to mention. Game kicking off at 10 o 'clock. Definitely going to watch it. Who? Who? Who? Who? Yeah. We are so fucked for that. That's really cool. So stupid. They got it right last year. Why'd they change it, Chef? We don't know. They might get right this year. Well, they're trying to do 7 p.m. for the West Coast. Yeah, because remember, though, they had the 7 p.m. and then they started the next game at, like, I don't know, it was 8.30, and it was right when the 7 p.m.

37:41game was at halftime. Like, they got this done already. I don't know why they're going back.

37:45Pat McAfee:Well, you can't watch the fourth quarter or second quarter at the same time. I think it was Orlovsky. I think Orlovsky was bitching, saying, nobody listened to my game last year. We need to have them separate. Is that what happened, Schefter? I don't know what happened there. I went back to the 10 o 'clock game. As an older guy here, a 50-year-old guy, I don't like those late start times. It's hard for me to make it up for the whole thing. Like, it just is. Like, I'm going to try, but my chances of succeeding are not very good. As my wife can attest, I'm sure I'll be, you know, drooling by the second quarter.

38:16Pat McAfee:Yeah, I like that. You're a mouth-open drooler sleeper. I like that a lot. I'll get into that every once in a while with some deep sleep. 10 p.m., good for the West Coast, people. Happy for the West Coast. Go for the West Coast. We're happy for you. All right, speaking of the West Coast, last question here for you, Schefter. We appreciate the hell out of you. Speaking of the West Coast, is there just a constant injury bug in Santa Clara? Because it feels like the Niners have been bitten by it the last three years. Right now, George Kittle, he goes on the IR, so that's four weeks. And then I saw earlier today, Purdy, maybe two to five is a potential.

38:48Is he an IR candidate as well? What's going on with the Niners and their injury situation right now? Well, Kyle Shanahan said multiple weeks. And when the head coach is saying on Wednesday that the quarterback is a long shot to play and that it's a multiple week injury, that tells you we need to know. Like Kyle Shanahan is being as transparent as he could be about that. And so right now it'll depend on how Purdy feels as he's coming along, whether he misses two games, three games, four. They don't know yet. They'll wait to see how he responds to these injuries. The toe is the bigger issue than the shoulder right now.

39:24He heard it when he got tackled out of bounds by Julian Love on Sunday. They knew it was hurt during the game. They knew it was an issue. And now it looks like it's going to sideline him Sunday and beyond. And so, I mean, it sets up a great storyline here. You'd prefer to have Brock Purdy out there. But Mac Jones finally playing for the 49ers. Everybody expected to see Mac Jones running a Kyle Shanahan offense. We just didn't think it was going to be in week two of the 2025 season. But that's what we got here on Sunday in New Orleans against the Saints. And again, I'm just telling you that when the Niners made that trade to go up to number three, it was with the intent to draft Mac Jones.

40:04And then during the process and the evaluations, they changed their course of thinking and decided to go Trey Lance. And they went away from Mac Jones. And Mac Jones obviously signed with San Francisco this summer, trying to follow the Sam Darnold plan. Sam Darnold went to San Francisco for a year before he went to Minnesota for a year before he got the big deal in Seattle. And so Mac Jones now gets a chance to show what he can do in the 49ers offense here.

40:30Pat McAfee:I love Brock Purdy. Hey, yes, I appreciate Brock Purdy. I respect Brock Purdy. I feel like I have banged the drum for Brock Purdy louder than most people because how much respect I have for his story to be drafted where he was drafted, become the starter against all odds and just ball out and then immediately have success. and then everybody's still thinking, oh, there's a reason they didn't draft him. He could walk on water and they would say, it's because he couldn't swim. And I didn't create that line, but that was really what Brock Purdy was being judged against and I didn't like that. I thought he was a baller.

41:03Pat McAfee:Now, him finishing the game with this toe that's going to keep him out a couple of weeks is certainly something that we should respect. His toughness as well. Because if it is something that's going to keep him out for multiple weeks, that had to be a real deal. He finished the game there. So I think a lot of people just assumed he was going to play because he finished the game. If he can finish the game, what are we talking about? Well, adrenaline's through the roof. You're doing this entire thing. But I say all that to say this. Shanahan liked Mac Jones, right, from the draft process. If Mac Jones balls out, okay, possible.

41:33Pat McAfee:Mac Jones balling out is possible. And he does, again, next week. And again, the week after that. Kyle Shanahan is a guy who will say, we just gave you how much money? We don't care. We are going with Mac Jones. He is a hot hand, is my quarterback type of guy. And that's insane to even think about at this point, especially because of how much I respect Brock Purdy. But if Mac Jones is the perfect quarterback for a Kyle Shanahan offense, which is possible, especially with the years of experience he's had now with failing. Failing is a good thing because you learn a lot. You get humbled maybe. I don't know how many gritties we're going to see tonight.

42:08Pat McAfee:Maybe we see a few. But it's like maybe he's at a perfect spot for a Kyle Shanahan offense and his brain is thrown. Maybe that's why. There's a possibility here there's a huge storyline. Yeah, and his number one target in New England while he was there was Kendrick Bourne, and the 49ers brought in Kendrick Bourne to be another receiver because Jawan Jennings hurt his shoulder and they weren't sure about him. So Mac Jones is basically his best target throughout his career thus far, you could say, because that's the only place he started and played with him, would be Kendrick Bourne. So him, McCaffrey's healthy, and Shanahan wanted him.

42:38Pat McAfee:Tongs, what's the guy's name? Yeah, Jake Tongis. Are we on the right track here? Am I speaking out of pocket saying that, Shefty? Listen, they're committed to Brock Purdy. The money's committed to Brock Purdy. They'd love to have Mac Jones develop. I think that that's, I mean, there are always a bunch of scenarios that could unfold with any scenario. I don't see that happening right now. I think there's a lot of steps that you'd have to get through to get to that point in time. If Brock Purdy were unsigned and hadn't signed the deal this past summer, then I'd say that's interesting, Pat. we might be onto something.

43:15But they committed big money to the guy. So he's going to be there for a while.

43:19Pat McAfee:The three overall pick. Probably trade him. Traded a bunch for it. They put Mr. Irrelevant up in there. It's a wild move. But if you're going to win, you're going to win. I miss Brock Purdy, but I'm excited to see if this is Mac Jones and his full potential. Good luck to him. Good luck to all parties. And tonight, we'll follow along as you keep us updated on everything that's happening. We appreciate the hell out of you. Thank you guys. I appreciate having me. Nice to be with you. See you Monday. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Schafter. First 15. First 15 on Monday. Prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare.

43:50Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man that said this at halftime of his last game as he was beating a team 33-0 in the first two quarters of the game. Maybe I just have a different standard. I don't like them freaking moving the ball. They're dropping back at the end of the half. Like, we're on the side. As me and John said, they'll take a knee here. They'll run the ball. They don't fear you. They don't respect you enough yet. And if that sounds like coach speed, then you have the wrong brain. They're dropping back against our starting defense. They're cutting our own line at the end of the half.

44:25All you young guys, just go back there and chill. So I want my opportunity. Some of you guys will get an opportunity right now. I told you I don't care what the score is. I told you I care what the take looks like. Did I trip when the ball was fumbled? No, I don't care what happens in the game. I want to see what the next play is. You have one half. defense you have one half if they try to drop back and throw it and that quarterback's on the ground i want new guys in there rushing i want them hit i want them never to say our name again you believe the fact that 43 seconds left another minute 30 of that ladies and gentlemen

45:01Pat McAfee:the coach coach matt rule what is up hey i want to let you know when that video was leaked okay snuck out of somebody's phone shout out will compton the boys great job on tv this morning boys uh when we see that i think to myself here's a guy trying to set a precedent right now here's a guy trying to let the boys know like hey in the past maybe we're okay winning by a touchdown or winning by four letting people come back on us or you said a couple different times through there to the defense you have an opportunity to shut out you don't get a lot of opportunities at a shutout i I love that mentality.

45:36Pat McAfee:Is this new speak from you to the team or is this a new angle or is this kind of how you've always been at all your stops? Yeah, this is, this is kind of, you know, who I am and who we are. I think the great thing is, is I just have a team now that's ready for it. That's they're all there for it. Like, you know, we, you know, that video in the end, there's a couple of senior safeties that are shaking their head. And, and you know, it was really cool at the end of the game. Like the one safety Marquis Buford, he was like, man, I've never beat someone 68, nothing. And he's like, this feels great.

46:06And, uh, you know, it's not supposed to be easy. So you're, you're, you're, you have to have moments like that where you're just reminding everyone what the standard is. And that was directed at the coaches too. Like, I don't want to see us chilling. Like we're supposed to, you know, we're supposed to be people that if you're at Nebraska, you're supposed to win like that. And so, um, but yeah, I have a team that likes that kind of stuff. Like they weren't, I wasn't yelling at them. I was yelling with them and they were all about it.

46:27Pat McAfee:I love the competitive spirit. You're going to have to have that, you know, having the killer mentality is a real thing and you have to have it. And I think it is something that is practiced. I think it is something that is trained, and it sounds like you were thinking of the second half against Akron there. 33-0 at halftime, 68-0 after four. So that's a bigger, you do some quick math, that's a bigger second half than first half there. And no relief syndrome for this Nebraska team. Obviously, you have Houston Christian Huskies on Saturday. Now, I assume there's going to be a lot of similar chatter to the boys going into this one.

46:59Pat McAfee:Nobody has really heard of this team. Now, I certainly did because I love college ball, and we talked about this Huskies team down there for the Houston Christian folks. One of our favorites. Dogs are barking down there. Yeah. And in the name of the – Yeah. And the name of the – That's what they – That's what they do pregame. Yeah, that's the entire thing. They're dogs. Because they're Husky dogs. They don't pray for winning because God willing they shall. That's right. And where else would they rather be than right here underneath this Lord? So I understand that they are a problem. You're going to have to keep your boys locked in for real because that's the type of game that blows an entire season, especially if you think you're going to do something special.

47:34Pat McAfee:Is that the messaging? And how do you not look ahead to the rest of the schedule that is very, very good? You've got a pretty solid lineup coming right around the bend here. Yeah, no doubt. I think the way we've talked about it all along is, you know, the guys want to go to the NFL. So I've said, hey, we have three preseason games, just like you have in the National Football League. And that's not to diminish them, but it's, hey, we're in the Big Ten and we have to go coast to coast. We have to play all these good teams. So we have three games to establish kind of our identity. Guys, the players on our team, they have three games to establish their role.

48:08Like, I want to be a starter. I want to be the starting kicker. I want to be the starting. Okay, well, go play well. Like, I'm not going to make you the starter if you don't play well against Cincinnati and then against Akron and against Houston Christian. And so that doesn't mean that the games don't matter or aren't important. It just means, like, we are trying to build our team up into the Big Ten. And so there's a lot of guys this weekend who have a lot riding on this game. Like your role, your, how people see you, like when the big 10 teams turn on this tape, what are they going to say about you?

48:37Like, are, is there going to be a fish next to your name? Like, oh, that's the guy to go after. Or are they going to, are they going to circle you and say, Hey, watch out for this guy. And Dominic and Sue, great, great Husker. He said that on Bustle with the Boys. And I'm going to show that to the guys tomorrow. Like, who are the guys on our team that you have to circle? Like, Hey, we got to be ready for this guy. And that's my challenge to our guys. I like that that video is out there because our guys answered the call to your point. We haven't shut someone out here since 2009. And so to finally shut someone out.

49:05Okay, great. But now the standard set. Now you have to go out and play that way each and every week.

49:09Pat McAfee:I like the reminder though. Like, hey, you have a chance here to shut somebody like that is a new goal. All of a sudden we're moving the goalposts. Like, hey, we have a new goal right now that we didn't know we could potentially be staring down. And we all know Mac teams tough. Oh, yeah. Tough. No doubt. If you let them hang around, if you let them hang around, love ball. They're going to be scrappy in there. And that Ohio University team, I would not schedule them if I was you guys. I have a couple rules. I have a couple rules. Not rules, but when I meet with my AD, when I get a new AD, I'm like, just please never mention the word Dakota to me.

49:45And then we have Ohio U next year. I'm watching them, you know, almost beat Rutgers. I'm watching them last week. And then my AD, Troy Dan, who's a great friend, he's like, you do know we have them next year. I about fell out of my chair. like well it was scheduled before i got here like who scheduled who schedules a hot frank solich

49:59Pat McAfee:i mean those teams know how to win at ohio west virginia was we scheduled ohio at ohio who did that your question same thing i asked i'm like how are we playing in and they got navarro back he's in like his hundredth year it seems like over there yeah they're scrappy teams so if you don't put them away though your team could have been on the other side of an embarrassment there You know, like I appreciate the way you address that with your team. I would say 45 seconds to a minute too long. You agree after watching it back? Yeah, I'm always too long. I'm emotional. Like, that's not like I'm not walking in like, hey, Pat, what should I say here?

50:34I was legitimately mad that they drove the ball down and almost made a field goal. He hit the goalpost. I was like, at some point, that's my point. At some point at Nebraska, we got to be Nebraska. Like, you just got to end the game. Like, the quarterback drops back. You've got to go sack him. And I respect Joe Moorhead. I respect Akron. They played hard to the end. It was a good game in terms of there was no fights. There was no – but, like, we're supposed to be Nebraska. And so I'm just trying to get our guys to realize, like, when you say the word Nebraska, you've got to think the way the guys at the preeminent programs in the country think.

51:06So I was legitimately mad. But, bro, I'm always too long. That's why my wife cuts me off. She's like, Matt, stop talking. No, yeah.

51:12Pat McAfee:I want to let you know, me and D-Bunch, we're watching it. We're watching it. And we're like, this is really good. and then we found ourselves looking at the clock. We've got another 90 seconds here. Okay, I'm excited to hear what he does. But I love, though, that your team responded, brother. That's the only thing. It doesn't matter how I view it. It doesn't matter how Will Compton view it. He was ready to go. Will Compton was ready to go play. It doesn't matter how anybody else views it. It's how your team views it. And you're obviously getting through to them. Now, when it comes to coaching, teaching, elevating this particular roster, you said three weeks to kind of build for the Big Ten schedule.

51:43Pat McAfee:Go ahead, Tom. Yeah, Coach. First off, shout out Coach Moorhead. he's a great Pittsburgh guy. But talking about that, Saban was on the show last week and Connor asked him about playing FCS schools. And Saban said he would use those games to kind of work on things that he thought weren't good. Like if their passing game wasn't good, they would throw the ball 50 times. But you talked about preparing for Big Ten games. In these games, are you using it to prepare for Big Ten or using it for your team to get better in areas that you know they're not good? How do you approach these games against FCS schools?

52:15I think it's one and the same. You know, and I think it's great that we're playing. I coached at FCS. I coached at Western Carolina. Like, you know, those schools need games like this to survive and pay the bills. So I think it's awesome. I think you're preparing for the Big Ten by fixing the things that you're not doing well. Like, you know, we're one of the top pass defenses in the country right now, but we're not sacking the quarterback. So, like, this week, like, you know, that's been a major, major, major factor. You know, we haven't had a chance to go no huddle two-minute yet very much. So, you know, we're working on that during the week and then we'll probably show some of that and probably work on some of that in the game.

52:47So, yeah, when you guys bring Coach Saban on, he says those things, I write them down. I'm like, oh, wow, that's a great way to think about it. But I'm also trying to make sure the guys on our roster, like the twos and the threes, like, you know, they got to play a lot versus Akron. And that was important because now in college football, we want to play 16 weeks. We want to go to the college football playoff. And so guys who might be a three right now, they could be a starter come December and January. So I'm trying to make these games like college. The feeling should feel like a playoff game.

53:15Because for some guys, it really is for them. This is their chance to show what they can do. How's Ryola? How do we feel about it? We like it? I love it. I think he played. The big thing is, you know, I said to our media, and I think nationally, like it's just so easy to be like, oh, you know, like the Mahomes thing. Like I want him to come out with amazing numbers and not a lot of highlight plays. I don't want you to see him, you know, running around and throwing the ball behind his back. And, you know, he can do all that stuff. I want him just to play quarterback. And I think he's so underappreciated nationally.

53:43But, you know, we'll have to do it in the Big Ten. But I think as time goes on, he's throwing the ball from under center. He's throwing the ball from the gun. I mean, he's doing everything you're going to do on Sundays. I think he's one of the best players in the country. What, he's a true sophomore right now, right? That was game 15 for him. 12 games, a bowl game. And then this will be game 16. He's not even, I mean, he's so young. I mean, he's going to be so good, dude.

54:07Pat McAfee:Great player. had a lot of flash, I think, right? That's what you were talking about, all the flash. This year, you're saying he feels like a more mature quarterback. He said under center. No flash plays. We're just doing football, basically, you're saying. Exactly right. Yeah, I mean, you know, last year early on, he had some plays. He ran around. He made some crazy throws. Some throws that you're like, no, no, no. Oh, yes. All right, cool. And so that was kind of the storyline. Like, hey, look at these exotic plays. But now it's like, I mean, he's playing quarterback the way you need to play it.

54:34He's getting the ball to the right, guys. We completed balls to 14 different people this game. So it's not like, hey, we're just throwing it to one guy. He's doing quarterback play at the highest level through two games, and now we'll have a chance on Saturday to try to, going back to the other point, do some things maybe we haven't done as well, push the ball down the field maybe, some no huddle. We'll see how the game plays out.

54:53Pat McAfee:Oh, dump that, dump that. Houston Christian's going to know the game plan. They're going to know the game plan. They're definitely going to hear this. Last question, a lot of Packers fans out there in Nebraska? you know there's a lot of Packers fans here you know we got a lot of Chiefs fans and there's a lot of Packers fans here yeah I can imagine right out there in that part of the world yeah part of the country how do you feel about Michael Parsons joining the Packers I think it's such a great move I mean you know you you give away you give away you know you give away a good player Frank Clark you give away two ones but I mean you get the you get the best defensive player in football and you're a running team you know you get good quarterback play from Jordan Love but now you've added a dynamic element and how do you win games in the national football league they're all going to come down to the final five minutes having somebody who can affect the other quarterback is vital and so you give away two ones but they're going to be in the playoffs those are those are going to be picks in the 20s or whatever i mean i think it's such a great move and him coming out there he he's out there in number one you know an old harrisburg guy my kind of guy like i think he's just a great player and i think it's a great move by matt leflore and the people there oh i forgot there was a Penn State connection there.

55:57Pat McAfee:Of course. Of course. We know it. We appreciate the hell out of you, man. How's House Rules? How's House Rules? I almost called it Rules House again. I just want to let you know. Listen, listen. You went with the Who's House Rules House, a little run DMC last time, and I loved it. We've debated on the last podcast. Should we just change the name to Rules House? If you say it, I'm good with it, but we came out with another episode today. My boy, Danny Woodhead, Nick Alec, All-American Volleyball player here, so we're having fun with it. We're getting some people in, and it's fun for me to be on the other side.

56:30Hey, I want to go to the volleyball game with you out there. They're amazing, dude. It's an unbelievable atmosphere. Come on, let's do it.

56:39Pat McAfee:Yeah, absolutely. Love the sport. Boom, love the sport. Ladies and gentlemen, head coach of the undefeated Nebraska Cornhusker football team, Matt Ruhle. Haas rules. Rules Haas. It rules. It's his Haas. Just tell him. Thank you. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions.

57:15And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com, or just stop by. You know when you're locked in, focused, and fearless. Welcome to the WNBA. Your vision narrows. You can't look away. Every assist, every stop, every logo three. From beyond the logo. Every did you see that moment. You win. What records are going to be broken this season? All of it, right here.

57:49Kirk Herbstreit:Lock in. It's the WNBA on ESPN. All season long.

58:19Pat McAfee:I think we're really going to enjoy that throughout the rest of the season. Obviously, the toxic table is here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt's sweet shirt. Thank you very much. Just wanted to support Ty, you know, the best way I knew how. Kind of rep one of his favorites. I didn't want to wear Packers gear so much, but I know that a Dale Intimidator shirt will help. And is that true, Ty? Does it feel as if he is riding alongside the Green Bay Packers tonight because the three D.A. is next to you? Yeah, without a doubt. Almost brings a tear to mind. And actually, what I'm going to do, I'm going to go ahead and hand you one of these for the show.

58:52You put that in front of you, son, and you just let the Lord do the rest. Holy fuck. Yeah, exactly.

58:57Pat McAfee:Right there on top of the popcorn. Get your popcorn ready, actually. Well said. Yeah, that's not a bad little tie-in there. How do you feel about the Packers tonight? Because I've heard some voices around the Thunderdome saying, really like the Commanders all of a sudden, plus three and a half. Are people forgetting about Cliff Kingsbury and Jaden Daniels and what they were able to do in week one? Is everybody blinded by the Michael Parsons magic saying, oh, we all hypnotized by the number one flying around there in the fourth quarter? Do we not remember who the Washington Commanders are now that they're in this new era, new ownership, new time?

59:31Pat McAfee:They're a good team. Getting three and a half feels like a lot of points for a Washington Commanders team, especially of this stature. Are you hearing the same things that I'm hearing around the Thunderdome, Ty, and how does that make you feel? Yeah, a little bit, but I think kind of the prevailing notion has been, hey, three and a half might be too much. think the Packers win, but maybe the commanders cover, which I could see that being the case. I'll tell you what I did. I told Connor this morning, had the Packers looked like hammered dog shit last week or just squeaked by the Lions, I would have been very nervous going into tonight because I do think there was a lot of talk of Jaden Daniels.

1:00:05Like, well, you know, hey, we'll see. Maybe he has a step down. So far slump, which is kind of weird because typically we hear about like, no, actually, if you're good, Like that's when you really take that jump is like that second and third year when you're a guy like him. So, yeah, obviously, you know, Jared Goff's not back there again this week. Their play styles are certainly a little bit different. So that does concern me a little bit. But, again, it's at home. And this is just it's a great opportunity for the Packers. You have all this talk. You have all this pomp and circumstance surrounding them this season.

1:00:39It's like, okay, go prove it. You know, you had a great win week one. Flush that. That doesn't mean shit. go out and beat a team who you could potentially see in the NFC championship.

1:00:49Pat McAfee:Earlier, we chuched out that 59 % of the people were on Washington Commanders plus 3.5, which also echoed the sentiments of the Thunderdome earlier before we went live. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Dad! Cowboys, AP Tone, where are we at now with the public? We're trying to beat the sportsbooks for the first weekend of the football season. We have had some significant movement. It's down to 58 % of the money on the Washington Commanders, so a little bit more Packers money. Oh, that's from 59 % to 58%. Wow, plus 3.5. Still got an opportunity. What states over there, Maryland has sports betting?

1:01:22Oh, yeah. Virginia? Yeah.

1:01:24Pat McAfee:I think majority of. Maths. You think all? What states don't? Utah? California. Does Florida? Texas? Florida, I don't think. California? No, you can't because, yeah, hard rock. Yeah, you can only do through hard rock. Why? Texas? 38 U.S. states have it. Okay, so there's quick math. Plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Okay, so D.C. also in there. Shout out to PR, man. Yeah, Puerto Rico. By the way, great place. Love that place. Great place down there. Puerto Rico is a great island. I know Tony. Sure. Had a joke, a little misdirection about the place. I don't, you know, Bat Bonnie, obviously.

1:02:03Pat McAfee:Right. From Puerto Rico. Oh, tease and peace, Bat Bonnie. Yeah, he blew out his knee. His knee.

1:02:08Kirk Herbstreit:Stop hopping like a Bonnie, Bat Bonnie.

1:02:10Pat McAfee:He was doing a 30-day or 30-show, what's that called? Residency. Residency. In Puerto Rico, just the island of Puerto Rico. And I happened to be down there in the middle of the show residency time. And his show was like an hour maybe away from where I was. But they're talking about tourism just on the whole island being up because Bad Bunny is doing this entire thing. So when you talk about representing for your homeland, I mean, he is actually doing that, like bringing so much money to the island. Yeah, he's a showman, too. He's entertaining. Oh, yeah, PLE. He's doing a lot of stuff, you know.

1:02:43Pat McAfee:And then he's hopping around. His knee blows. He toughed it out to the back. He did, yeah. Which I appreciate there. So what we're saying is maybe more people betting on the commanders at this standpoint because Green Bay Packers fans, have you had to wake up and start gambling? Or do we think plus 3.5 is the right play? Feels like that's what everybody is alluding to that's chit-chatting about. It's not the side I'm going to be on, but if the majority of them. Hey, Tony. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who is live from an attic in Ohio. He is also a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, and a Ryder Cup winner.

1:03:13Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hawker. Hawker. Hawker. Hawker. Hawker. Hawker. Hawker. Hey, that song you're looking for is called Roll Out the Barrel, what they play in Lambeau. You're usually heading into the fourth quarter towards the end of the game to get everybody really juiced up. Let me hear it, because we lost in the preseason there by a lot. More of an instrumental thing. I mean, there's some words to it, more of an instrumental, just kind of vibe. Just do it. What's it sound like, though? What's the instrumental sound like? Roll out the barrel. There it is. Roll, roll, roll out the barrel.

1:03:46And then there's some words like Tad, Tad, Taba, Tabato. There's like some weird words in it, too. It's like old Polko situation.

1:03:52Pat McAfee:Okay, so maybe that is what you were referring to. Roll out the barrel is the name. Bruce, can we maybe try to search that, roll out the barrel? We assume it's coffee right? Well, Wayne did it. Hey, Lil Wayne introed it, I think, I don't know, four or five years ago at Lambeau. He was like the guy that started it. He hit the roll out the barrel with the Wayne train? You're telling me Lil Wayne got on the roll out the barrel? That's sick. Barrel song, that is nasty. He was on the 50. I think he was on the 50. He kind of introed it and bam, the place went crazy. So he introed the song or he put a verse on the song?

1:04:23I don't think he put a verse on the song, at least not in the moment, not in the video I saw.

1:04:27Pat McAfee:Need a mixtape remix with Lil Wayne on top of Roll Out the Barrel. Yeah. If he wants to, sure. Can you find the song, though? Can you find a video, Bruce, so we can hear the thing as opposed to just read about it, you know? Because AJ refuses to do it. What do you say? Roll out the barrel. Roll, roll, roll. Oh, wow. Oh, no. There you go. It's right on me? How does it work? I think it was an auto-focus situation there, and they got those books in the back. You got some new books this year, I see. Yeah, a couple new ones to add to the collection, but, you know, the usuals are here. The usual is always going to be around.

1:05:06Pat McAfee:Always going to want those words of literature, obviously, really close to your brain, so that you can maybe osmosis it. I appreciate you doing that. Did you ever think about maybe changing the books for this year? Was there ever even a thought of that? No. I, no. Can't fake that I did. Yeah, I don't think I've even put thought into that background. But I have had people recently come up and say, so are those his favorite book spots? Why is he always in front of the... Why do you turn them backwards? Why do you turn those books backwards, they tell me. That's because you're mysterious. I'm an artist.

1:05:38Pat McAfee:Because it's art. Yeah, it is art. You're right. You never want to judge a book by its cover. That's right. So you actually completely cover the cover so that there is no cover. So you go in blind going in, which is, hey, not a bad thing to do. And that's why we appreciate you. Tonight, though, obviously great bias. You're the all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers. The Washington Commanders are coming to town. We've heard 65 degrees tonight. Should be a perfect night in Green Bay, Wisconsin. AJ, your thoughts on what will win the game for the Packers or what you're worried about maybe for the Packers, either or?

1:06:10So what's the final injury situation from Chef, did he say? Do we know about the O-line? Both out.

1:06:15Pat McAfee:That's what it sounded like. Likely. That's not a great thing, but you know what? I still think they'll be all right. Obviously, we need Jordan Love to play well. I think we need to find a way to run the ball, too, if we're Green Bay. Jaden Daniels is awesome. I think the commanders are awesome. I love what they do. But I think another home game in Lambeau, night game, they're going to play rollout to barrelhead in the fourth quarter. That place is going to be alive tonight. It's going to be awesome. I think the Packers figure it out. We found it. Is it like Renegade? I mean. Yes. It's kind of a hokey version.

1:06:48Who's found it? Atta boy, Bruce.

1:06:56Roll out the barrel. We'll have a barrel of fun. Roll out the barrel. We've got the blues on the run. Sing the blues forever. It's so Wisconsin. It is so Green Bay. Bring out a song and a cheer. Brilliant. Now it's time to roll the barrel for the game's all here. That's sick, dude. That sucks. What? What? Pretty sweet. Yeah. I'm sorry. That sucks. And honestly, I'm damn near speaking for Ty here because I know he won't say it. It's tradition. Sorry we don't have Sammy Adams, you know, coming out for the Patriots. No, no. Lazy boy. I'm not comparing anything like that. I'm strictly comparing it to the only one I know, and that's Renegade, and I'm sorry.

1:07:49Yeah, but that's 1A, 1B situation, I think.

1:07:53Pat McAfee:You're thinking about Frankie Yankovic and his yanks here singing roll - He's a Yankovic. Yeah, that's what we're talking about. Listen, if it gets the crowd fired up, that's all it meant. What'd you say? It was a Hokie version. That took me back to that preseason game. We were getting around and we were getting around. Reminds me of the Pittsburgh folk club, which I love. Wows, dude. Hey, the best ones we played, you know, in Green Bay, we were used to all the Lambeau field that played roll-out-the-barrel. We went to San Francisco, I don't know how many years ago, and Titty Boy's performing on the top of the dugout for the old kid at Big Park.

1:08:21This is not Lambeau Field, guys. This is a much different atmosphere.

1:08:25Pat McAfee:That's a great performance, though, R2 Chainz. I mean, I've never seen him not have a great performance, by the way. I've seen him a couple different times at different times of the night. I've seen him in one place at 10 p.m. I've seen him in another place, 2 a.m., both times, nothing but home runs out of Titty Boy. I mean, he's ready for the moment, always will be, always has been. But yeah, it is interesting how different stadiums operate, how different fan bases are. You know, like here in Indianapolis, I think we have a very hospitable bunch. Is it Nebraska that's like the greatest fans? The nicest of all time.

1:08:55Pat McAfee:The football fans are just like fill up and they do the entire thing. And then you got like the old school Raiders fans. I'm not saying Las Vegas is like this, but they take pride in like, yeah, it sucks playing here because of us. It's a fascinating dynamic, these stadiums. I think whenever you empower the city, though, to be awesome, I think that's a good thing. You should just know your identity in there. You know what I mean? aj you should know you're right how do you get that does your team has to have a good run of being really really good to create that kind of identity doesn't it you can't be like mediocre and have great traditions can you i don't know maybe you can't i think the people are the culture in any city okay that's what i think so like in pittsburgh for instance there's a chance there's going to be some booze bags fighting each other sure like that is going to happen probably in this at a game that is probably going to take place philadelphia probably go ahead and Check that box as well.

1:09:42Pat McAfee:Boom. Now, Zach Taylor, I'd like to talk to you about this. Now that we're at Cincinnati, bang. Now let's get into an actual story. Love this. This is head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. Zach Taylor, who we will add, is a man who has taken a game ball to a local bar, dive bar, and given a game ball to them and the people of Cincinnati. I think he has had a beer or a ten with the Cincinnati people. Here's him chit-chatting about opening night. Yeah, here's exactly what I'm looking for. I know how loud we're going to be, and so let's do it early. Let's show them right out the gate. I think when Sam Hubbard is up there as the ruler of the jungle, every seat is packed.

1:10:18And I'd love to look up, I'm just asking for one game, a 10-minute sacrifice from the parking lot.

1:10:23Pat McAfee:And so that might just mean getting up 10 minutes earlier and getting to the stadium 10 minutes earlier than you normally would. And so do whatever you want in those extra 10. And then that extra 10 getting in the stadium. And so when Sam's the ruler, I'm kind of looking up at that escalator that's to my right and it's blank, you know. And maybe people just appease me and stand at the bottom so I can't see as he's up there. But I would love to hear that. Just week one, the rest of them you can tell get a little extra longer. But I think for this first one it'd be awesome just to send the message to the team.

1:10:55We got to do our best to start 2-0. And for all the great things that we want to do this year, it starts with playing great at home. and that's a collective effort from our players, our coaches, our fan base. And so I'm excited to set off 2025 the right way at home. And we're oranged out, you know, and the jerseys look great

1:11:15Pat McAfee:and our guys will be fired up. That's a 1 o 'clock game. He's saying maybe we get there a little bit earlier. Let's go ahead and fill that place at the beginning of this. This isn't a Miami Heat game or a Los Angeles Lakers game, especially when Sam's up there as the ruler of the jungle. They got the Jacksonville Jaguars coming into town. The Jacksonville Jaguars, vastly different than the Jacksonville Jaguars have been in years past. If you listen to AQ Shipley with the offensive line and the way they're designing plays and everything they got going on down there. That's a situation where Zach Taylor tells Ohio people, need you in here, okay?

1:11:44Pat McAfee:Enough with the boozing. Need you to come inside. If Jacksonville starts hot, right? I don't know Ohio people perfectly, but I do know them pretty well. This guy, why don't you show up 10 minutes early? There is a chance that that happens. But how do you think the response will be from this? And what do you think Bengals fans are thinking heading into a big orange out in the jungle? I think fans, the response will be positive. I think they do need to have a hot start to this game. That would definitely help. But, yeah, I think the fans are probably pretty upset that they've started so poorly in the past.

1:12:16They're like, all right, hey, we need to do our part to make sure that we have a hot start. Because we know we have a good team, but we've kind of got behind the eight ball the last few years. Welcome to Jungle Beyond Honey Games.

1:12:29Pat McAfee:They play that a lot over there? I assume. A little bit. Yeah, a little bit. They better. What do you mean a little bit? What the hell? I don't even call a bunch. I do remember after – I remember Andy Dalton tell me one time they came out to, I think, Katy Perry Roar or something. It didn't work. Andy said, I don't know who came up with it, but it did not work. Probably shouldn't have happened. Hey, some of those stadiums are ass whenever it comes to music, playing. Game day atmosphere. The vibes, the in-between quarters, what we're doing, the timeouts. You know, they try new games. We had a new game at Lucas Oil Stadium.

1:13:02Pat McAfee:Tic-tac-toe with the garbage can toss used to be just the garbage can toss. The thing about the garbage can toss or the little, like, you had to hit it like a circle here. Very rarely did they hit. If they hit, it was a celebration. Right. So now they had to hit at least three times to get the tic-tac-toe board. There was a lot of misses in there. Yeah, I bet. So we're waiting for the next one. People are getting a little bit eager in there. but the teams that do that right i do think it's an advantage i think the home field advantage is real and i think the stadium and the dj and how they can help you know they can kind of guide how we do this thing don't you think aj with where we've been and what we've seen these days yeah and like you talk to the the people that run like that are in pretty good franchises they they it's their full-time gig they have a whole team that that's what they do like game day environment atmosphere when they play the music when you stop it when you start it i mean think of like uh think remember was it buffalo in between when they're during a timeout and all the players are playing air guitar and all that stuff like it's a real thing i think if mr you're in the nfl and you don't know it you don't have a great atmosphere go talk to some of these college places because we've been to some of these college stadiums where they have it dialed in they know what to do juice you know because there's a lot of distractions in the modern world okay so we need to keep everybody dialed and we need to keep everybody's energy up because as soon as they sit down and get tired you're going right to their phone and probably right to whatever drink they have right to this ain't a benefit you're in this building you're not helping anything right now you're certainly there so it's like the juice and the way you have it all flowing is a big deal zach taylor said can we get there for the beginning and again please please just this one cincinnati has a great tailgating scene though i will say i got a chance to see it one time they got great setups everywhere i'm sure there are people that like to celebrate football zach saying just for the first one is there any way you can be in there this jacksonville jaguars team ain't the same old jaguars okay actual good team this year from what everybody is saying Shout out to Liam Cohen and Stoner.

1:14:54Pat McAfee:Joining us now, Super Bowl champion, head coach of the Green Bay Packers, formerly with the Dallas Cowboys. Now, a man that we get a chance to chat with every single week. Yinzer legend, ladies and gentlemen, Coach Mike McCarthy. Yeah, Coach. Oh, Coach, Coach, you look amazing. I like the Kangol, but it's not a Kangol, it's a hat. With a sticker on it. Oh, wow. Who's that behind you, Coach?

1:15:18Kirk Herbstreit:A.J. Hawk. I mean, he made the request last week, so we accommodated him. I even – when I got me an A.J. Hawk microphone, too, I'm just trying to – Wow. All A.J.'s lead here, so I'm trying to fit in around it.

1:15:31Pat McAfee:A.J., what does that mean? You called for a photo of yourself behind Coach Mike McCarthy? I sent a text – actually, I sent a text while he was still on the show from our keyboard. I said, hey, Coach, you've got to put a picture of me next time, please, in your background. Hey, good photo, A.J. there, Coach. Don't you think he should grow his hair back? Is that what he's doing right now, you think?

1:15:48Kirk Herbstreit:Yeah. It looks good. You have to ask Laura that. I'll stay out of that one.

1:15:54Pat McAfee:That's a smart man. That's good coaching right there. Coach, obviously you have a lot of history in Green Bay. You're currently in Green Bay. Obviously the ties, the mic are very deep as well with not only your connection at the Dallas Cowboys, but now he's potentially living in the neighborhood that you stay in currently. What are your thoughts on where the Green Bay Packers are right now? What are your thoughts on their debut against the Detroit Lions? and is there a buzz up there? I know you haven't been able to be around the city since you left, but is there a buzz in Green Bay like, hey, maybe this is a year the Packers can go on a run?

1:16:26Kirk Herbstreit:Oh, definitely. No, there's definitely a big buzz. I mean, everywhere I know I go, that's probably the first or second question is, you know, how's Micah doing and, you know, how's he going to be here in Green Bay? So being at the game, definitely felt the buzz. I mean, just to hear him, you know, when they announced And really, I kind of got a kick out of watching him, you know, on the sidelines because he was, you know, chomping at the bit. He was like a cage lion, you know, getting ready to go in there. I think they played him around 30 plays. But just, you know, from the first time he got in, that first third down, you know, the pressure.

1:16:59Kirk Herbstreit:Because, I mean, Micah has an effect. I mean, the defensive backs are definitely going to benefit from it in the defensive pass, you know, in pass defense. And I think, you know, definitely the other guys up front. But I was very impressed with the Packers. I thought they played at a really high level from the start of the game all the way through, and I was very impressed with their defensive front.

1:17:19Pat McAfee:Are the Lions dead, Coach? Are the Lions absolutely dead out there? That's Foxy, who's a Detroit Lions fan, in the back going, ah, in there. But whenever all this starts happening with all the turnover and change, and obviously you hope that you're able to just pick up right where you left off, is there growing pains? What are your thoughts on the Detroit Lions after watching their game with the Packers?

1:17:39Kirk Herbstreit:Well, I'll say this, and we talked a little bit about this last week before the Cowboys and Eagles game. I mean, division games, to me, division games are the most important. They're the best games of the regular season. I've always loved the format of playing the division games at the end of the year. I thought when the league went to that 10 or 12 years ago, that was a great move. But division games in week one are a bitch. And I think it was, what, nine of the 16 games in week one were division games. So that's a tough deal. And I think for especially opposing teams, you know, going into that stadium week one.

1:18:13Kirk Herbstreit:So, you know, by no means are the Lions their own one. I think that's just the reality of the situation. And, you know, coming out of training camp, you got September football and things like that. But, you know, the speed of the game is, you know, is something you're always very conscious of as a coach. You know, play style, getting your play style established. you know the time clocks and both the run protection in the past game are all things that you know the details of that but no by no means are Detroit will be fine okay I think Foxy likes

1:18:44Pat McAfee:yeah absolutely love that coach and how hard is it to have a rookie lineman a second year guy that hasn't played that much on the line in the week one and they didn't get any time in the preseason how hard is that for a week one offense and should they play in the preseason I think Foxy would like Yes, definitely want to know.

1:19:00Kirk Herbstreit:Well, I think the biggest thing is I'd say offensive linemen as a whole have the biggest challenge, you know, coming out of training camp just from the pure training regiments. You know, if you look at the way, you know, the offseason programs are established now and definitely the amount of padded work you can have in training camp. But that's a big challenge. You know, we had two rookie offensive linemen start last year, and the best thing that can happen to them is they practice every day, keep playing, get connected with the other guys. And that's no different than in Detroit or any of the other teams that are playing offensive linemen for the first time in year one.

1:19:37Kirk Herbstreit:They just got to stay healthy. That's the most important thing. You have to go through it. It is week one. He'll be better off forward as time goes on. But that's just part of the challenge in today's NFL.

1:19:48Pat McAfee:I think that's happening tonight to Green Bay, right? There's going to be a couple of rookies out there. Yeah, it looks like it. Second year guy, one of them, but he didn't play much last year. So, yeah, I mean, all intents and purposes, pretty much. Two young offensive linemen on a short week, okay, against Detroit Lions defense and team that has been kind of counted out all week. You know, I wonder how it'll go for the Green Bay Packers offense. Did we know that you were going to be getting introduced back there? That was awesome. When we saw the video, it was fucking sweet. So cool. How was this?

1:20:17Pat McAfee:What was this? and we should have known about this. We should have been sending congratulations that you're getting honored. Turn that up.

1:20:24Kirk Herbstreit:Well, I feel, I'm sorry. I feel to bring it up in the production. Listen to that voice. Absolutely.

1:20:37Kirk Herbstreit:Hey, that had to be sweet. That'll get old, that's for sure. Yeah, tell us about it. What was that? You were just getting back? Yeah, no, it was a celebration. This is the alumni weekend for the Packers, and I was invited to go as part of the Super Bowl XLV celebration. And obviously a lot of guys weren't able to attend for the timing of it, but it was great. We had Saturday night. We had a dinner, a lot of laughs. I haven't laughed that hard and that long into the evening in quite some time, so that was a great time. And then just to hang out with the players from all the different generations and get to see guys we haven't we obviously haven't seen each other and played sometimes so it was real i had a ton of fun and then to be honest i didn't know what to really expect uh with the halftime i you know i i actually thought we're just going to walk out there and as a group and say hello but that that was obviously very very special okay so man that had to feel so good getting out there well that was a loud pop that's a loud pop the

1:21:40Pat McAfee:The tip of the cap is the right play, too, by the way. I think that's good because it's more demonstrative. Everybody can see it. I think that's a good play by you. Natural in the pocket right there. I think you did well.

1:21:50Kirk Herbstreit:Well, when a hair stands up on the back of your neck, you've got to definitely acknowledge the crowd. I was blown away by it. It was definitely special.

1:21:57Pat McAfee:Well-earned, well-deserved for a Yinser out there in Green Bay. Go ahead, AJ. Coach, after week one, I feel like a lot of these teams, a lot of fan bases freak out one way or the other. If a team lost, like, oh, we suck, we're done. And there's some teams that get a big home victory, and some of their loudest fans are saying, hey, this is the best team that's ever existed in Indianapolis right now. And they're going to make a run and go undefeated and win the Super Bowl. How do you kind of temper it either way, I guess, whether you win or lose week one? How do you not overreact? We don't know.

1:22:27Kirk Herbstreit:No, I think that's the part of our job as coaches and players, just keep it above football. And that's where I think I know every team I've been a part of. That's why you grind the way you do, and that's why you schedule the way you schedule during the week and so forth. But, yeah, that's obviously very normal. We understand it. You love the fans and their energy and so forth. But you've got to keep things in perspective, especially now. I think it's a 17-game season. There's so much football that needs to be played. And the fact that the Packers have two linemen out tonight is a great example why you're not going to overreact to a big game, a big NFC football game.

1:23:05Kirk Herbstreit:And I know we'll talk about that here in a minute. but it's a long, long year, and you have to keep that in play here, and it's all about stacking success, and success sometimes early in the season doesn't always come with the final score.

1:23:19Pat McAfee:Yeah, but the way Indianapolis played, you could see how those people would be excited. You could see Danny Dimes. Dimes. He's putting the dimes at Danny Dimes. Quentin Nelson leading, screaming, talking, motivating. Did you see that, AJ? Quentin Nelson's the vocal leader of this Indianapolis Colts team. Danny Dimes throwing a ball over the yard. We got a Sasquatch in the first round out of Ohio State. This guy's unbelievable. He's a rookie and he's a savant already. And the defense, don't even get me started. You know about Gabagool, Luan Aruma. He's got a full charcuterie board. Pies on in front of Danny Dimes now.

1:23:58Pat McAfee:Yeah, Bornellini is snapping the ball out here. I mean, it's unbelievable. We got the squad. But now Shane Sykin's job is to let all of them know that we haven't won shit yet. That is kind of what the coach's job in the messaging is. Or do you hope your culture is already established and everybody understands that after week one?

1:24:15Kirk Herbstreit:Well, culture never stays the same. So that's all part of the ride. It's all part of the development and the maintenance of it. So it's obviously great to have that energy. I recall you and I talking about Daniel Jones doing the draft. I'm excited for him. I did a lot of work on him back in 2019. and I'm just happy to see him have that success because I think he definitely could be a hell of a quarterback in our league.

1:24:39Pat McAfee:He can run, brother. He can run. Nobody's talking about it. And he can take a shot. Helmet to helmet, first quarter, who cares? Gets right up. Wow, that was a pretty big little shot there. Am I going to flex? No flex. Don't need one. Don't need one. Ty, there's a question for you, Coach. Coach, you mentioned Micah Parsons was kind of chomping at the bit on Sunday to get out there. If you're the head coach of the Packers, if you're Matt LaFleur, how do you handle how many snaps he's going to get tonight? You mentioned 45%. I think he played 29 of the 65 defensive plays. How difficult is that when you have a game like this on primetime and everything?

1:25:15And also, you know he's going to affect the game, but you also understand, hey, we have a lot more we want to accomplish here, and maybe I don't need to be putting him out there on every single third down to get after Jaden Daniels.

1:25:27Kirk Herbstreit:Yeah, I think the biggest thing for Matt is to just stick to his plan. I mean, he's going to obviously have a play count plan going into the game. And I think obviously make sure you have plenty of time for the fourth quarter, you know, to adjust that. Make sure that plan accommodates that because, you know, trust your people, too. I mean, sports science will obviously tell you you've got to listen to it. It's week two coming off of a short week. Obviously, he didn't have much time in training camp. So you just got to be smart. And, hey, if you tell Micah 20, he's going to want 30. If you tell him 30, he's going to want 40.

1:26:03Kirk Herbstreit:So I just think the most important thing is stick to the plan, and I think Micah knows that.

1:26:08Pat McAfee:I'm excited to see Micah get out there and get after it. Third down's got to be out there. I mean, third down's he has to be out there, especially with Jaden now.

1:26:15Kirk Herbstreit:Yes. Oh, yeah, definitely. Definitely. I think you go to the first third down in the game. I mean, when he came onto the field, the crowd erupted, and he had a defensive pressure. uh you know affected the time clock so um yeah definitely i mean i situationally i think you'll

1:26:31Pat McAfee:definitely see him there defensively what do you do against jayden what are you trying to get the middle of the pocket trying to keep him in pocket we're trying to keep him in there he's got us well

1:26:38Kirk Herbstreit:you got to keep him in you got to keep him in there number one you got to set the edges you know uh speed to pyre with the anchor but he is really good at a b gaps uh his a a and b gap escape is you know for young guys good as i've seen i mean aaron to me was the best of that i've seen and You know, he did it forever from 2008 all the way through. But that A and B gap release, you saw last week on the Thursday night with Jalen Hurts. I mean, these guys that can step up and slide through the A and B gaps and make big plays, that's going to be a huge challenge for a green-based defensive line, who I was, I mean, I thought those guys played exceptional.

1:27:14Kirk Herbstreit:You know, I thought that the defensive line for the Packers, you know, all the way across played well. But they got to keep him in the pocket, especially the rushing yards that he can produce. And I think he's being very smart and selective when he does run, too. And, you know, all the way around, you know, this is an offense that's going to move the ball. You know, ball distribution, I think, is excellent. But his ability to run is second level, you know, on top of this guy could make all the throws, too. So he is a young, special quarterback.

1:27:45Pat McAfee:Let's talk about Cliff Kingsbury. Obviously, he had some hype around becoming a head coach. He's the offense coordinator for the Washington Commanders last year. Obviously, sensational year with the rookie quarterback and Jaden Daniels. Maybe the best of all time whenever it comes to rookie quarterback, especially if they were able to go on the run that we all thought they were going to be able to go on. This year, only getting better, it seems. What is he like as a play caller? Do you do a diagnosis of all other play callers, or how do you kind of judge other guys that are making play calls?

1:28:11Kirk Herbstreit:Well, first of all, like I said, you've got four really good play callers up this week. So I thought, you know, both, you know, Matt and Halfley called a very good game in week one for the Packers. And same with Joe Witten and Cliff here for Washington. So I think all the way, I know that's what I'm going to be watching. But, yeah, I think Cliff does an exceptional job getting the ball distributed. I mean, their perimeter, they got playmakers throughout the perimeter. And the thing I've always looked at is the number of rushes versus completions. And, you know, Washington, I think, was probably 82 % of their plays last week were either rushed or completed.

1:28:50Kirk Herbstreit:And I think the Packers were even higher, probably 87%. But, you know, they both didn't have big numbers of total plays. But they do a really good job getting the ball distributed, both Jordan Love and Jaden.

1:29:03Pat McAfee:82 % rush and completion percentage for the Washington Commanders, probably more for the Packers. What is, like, a winning number there? Is that a stat that you rely upon?

1:29:10Kirk Herbstreit:About 75%, yeah. Yeah, something, I mean, as a goal, I mean, a goal as an offense, we always would talk about, you know, 72 plays. Our goal is if we get 72 cracks at the defense, we're going to have a huge day. So obviously, you know, time of possession benefits your whole football team, field position, keeping your defense off the field, obviously taking care of the ball is a priority. But on a 72-play game, 75 % of that would be 55. You know, 55 was always the golden number. if you had rushes plus completions, it was 55 or more, you're going to have a big day on offense. So the fact that they didn't have a lot of total plays last week, which happens in the kind of games that they were in, but the fact that their efficiency on offense, both for Washington and Green Bay, was really high.

1:29:58Pat McAfee:Well, if you can get 55 out of 72, that's obviously dependent upon the speed power anchoring of the defensive line. You know what I mean? So there's a lot. Oh, there you go. Oh, yeah. A guy you made a lot of magic with, obviously, on the offensive side of the ball. Aaron Rodgers now started his brand new era in your hometown of Pittsburgh. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Coach, I don't know if you've seen him. No big deal. Aaron is leading the league in touchdowns. That's four touchdowns, zero interceptions. How did you think the first game for Aaron went, and how do you think him and Artie Smith kind of went through the game together?

1:30:32Kirk Herbstreit:I think it went just like his whole career has gone, you know, touchdowns versus interceptions. I mean, it's just amazing. his discipline in decision-making. But no, I thought he looked very comfortable. I thought he just played to the tempo of the offense. I mean, the only negative was the sacks. But I mean, he just has to get a feel for those guys because as I touched on earlier, the A and B gap release in the pass game, I mean, that's a huge strength of his. But yeah, I thought those guys, I thought they definitely looked on the same page and he looked really comfortable on the offense.

1:31:04Pat McAfee:Yeah, and he was happy to get a win against the Jets. I'll tell you that. Yeah,

1:31:12Pat McAfee:he was pretty pumped up about it, brother. Connor has a question for you, Mike. Yeah, coach, a young quarterback. I won't say rookie. We've been saying rookie, but it was his first career start, and he missed his entire rookie year. J.J. McCarthy in prime time. He had about two and a half, three quarters of absolute shites, but then he turned it on, turned the whole game around, and ended up winning for the Vikings. What did you think about his first performance? I mean, did you expect kind of a slow start and then for him to settle in? And when you were coaching, you were dealing with quarterbacks, you know, whether it was their first year or first start or, you know, first start with a new team, was there any advice you would give some of the younger quarterbacks, you know, some tricks of the trade maybe while you were coaching some of those younger guys?

1:31:58Kirk Herbstreit:Yeah, I'll just work backwards first. I think you definitely coach it. You're definitely one of your guys to, you know, make that first impression when you do have the rookie quarterback. You know, I just remember the one story. We had Alex Smith in San Francisco, and Mike Nolan wanted to make sure he made a huge impression on the offensive guys in the first minicamp. So we had spent a bunch of time with him, you know, prior to that minicamp. And then when he first stepped in the huddle, you can almost look at the other quarterbacks because he, you know, technically wasn't on campus at that time.

1:32:31Kirk Herbstreit:So when he stepped in the huddle and was able to communicate very well, that he definitely made that first impression. So it's something that you're very, very cognizant of. And as you go through it, it gives the young man an opportunity to really express himself. And that's really what I would go to is be yourself within your personality. But the command is critical for the offense, and especially for young quarterbacks. And going back to the first part of the question, I didn't see the early part of the game. Frankly, I actually, when I got home, I actually saw all the good stuff for Minnesota.

1:33:09Kirk Herbstreit:I just think back of my conversation up there. I went to the Michigan Pro Day two years ago when JJ and that whole group was coming out. And it just made me think of all the things that have been said about him, all the great things that have been said about him this week. I had a conversation with Jack Harbaugh, Mr. Jack Harbaugh. And, you know, I think anytime, you know, Mr. Jack or Mrs. Jackie Harbaugh speak, I always listen. And Mr. Harbaugh was just talking about how the kid is loved by everybody in the university. He would, you know, play baseball with his grandson up at the indoor facility in the winter.

1:33:49Kirk Herbstreit:But, I mean, he's just that guy. You know, he was that guy at Michigan. And, you know, and that always, to me, always plays well in the leadership role in the locker room with your teammates and so forth. So it was nice to see him get off. No, I'll not get off to that start, but have that kind of, have that kind of, those kind of moments in a game. Because, you know, that's now, you know, that's a standard that I know he will hold himself to. And obviously that's a big day for the Minnesota Vikings.

1:34:15Pat McAfee:Jack Harbaugh, who's got it better than us? Nobody. And then you think about Jim Harbaugh being JJ's coach, the amount of things that he has said in leadership and framing and mentality. And then the story comes out about JJ in the huddle. saying, is there anywhere else you'd rather be, boys? Yeah, that's what I thought. A little Jack Harbaugh in him. You know, maybe a little Jim Harbaugh in him throughout its entirety. It was fun to watch him. Okay, tonight, three-and-a-half points spread, Coach Mike McCarthy. Now, you didn't make an official pick last week. You won't make an official pick this week.

1:34:48Pat McAfee:But you leaned heavily into an undefeated start in picking games. Just want to let you know that. Three-and-a-half points is what Washington is getting in Lambeau. So if you were a friend of yours, like let's say, I don't know if you consider us friends, but let's say me. Yeah. And you were to be advising me on how you think this game goes, what would your prediction of the game be if that was the case?

1:35:14Kirk Herbstreit:Well, I definitely got to put everything out here. You know, I'm technically a fan this year. So I got three teams I'm really rooting for as a fan. You know, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, and Dallas. So those are the three teams I'm really watching closely. But as a pure teammate of your show, I think, number one, this is going to be a hell of an NFC game. And not too many times, you know, especially when you think about it as a player or coach, they go, man, you know, week two could have playoff implications. You know, I think this game, when you look at Washington, you know, you think about, you know, NFC championship game, You've got a playoff team, an older team, an established team.

1:35:55Kirk Herbstreit:I really liked the way they played in week one. I thought they established their play style. I thought they were fast. I thought they were physical. I mean, you know what you're going to get. But also being there live, watching Green Bay last week, I think I was really, really impressed with their team's speed and the way they were flying around. I love Jordan Love, especially early in the game. I thought Matt did an excellent job sticking with the run after they struggled a little bit in the first half. So, I mean, this is going to be about stopping the run. I think both teams are definitely going to have to stop the run.

1:36:27Kirk Herbstreit:Green Bay is going to have to keep Jaden, keep his rushing yards down to have success. But it's at Lambeau Field, and I think it's going to be a great night for the Green and Gold.

1:36:37Pat McAfee:Okay. All right. We appreciate that. We will read into that exactly how I think Tone was reading into that to make himself feel a little bit better. We appreciate the hell out of you, Coach. Thanks for the AJ Hawk photo in the back. Thanks for the great lighting. You look cool again. I mean, you're really crushing it for us.

1:36:54Kirk Herbstreit:Just trying to fit in. I've got to get some black shirts, it looks like. But just trying to fit in. Just trying to hang out with the guys.

1:37:01Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, that's a good call. Great call, coach. That's observance.

1:37:06Kirk Herbstreit:It definitely helped me a little bit. Let's be honest.

1:37:09Pat McAfee:I'm not saying that. That was you.

1:37:10Kirk Herbstreit:That was all me. Yeah, I'm getting mom on the internet here. All right.

1:37:15Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, Super Bowl winning coach, Mike McCarthy. It's going to be a good night for a green goal here. You think he's going to the game again? He's the man. Good question. I don't know. It's such a good game. AJ, why weren't you at that? I didn't want to bring it up in front of your coach. I texted with him beforehand. We got a lot of kids games and stuff happened on weekends. I couldn't get there. Would love to make all the alumni. Maybe November, December. It's a little easier to get there on Sunday. That happens a lot. a lot of so many things like hey we're doing a blah blah blah blah blah blah and i feel like the biggest asshole of all time and then whenever they're there and i'm wherever i'm at which i certainly could not make it uh get a couple texts making me feel bad about it and then it's always like man you don't think i wish i was much rather there now there's a couple times sometimes get a chance to hang out with the daughter a little bit you miss it all you want to do that but it's like that seemed like a magical weekend there how about mike mccarthy getting a chance for the first time probably whole career.

1:38:14So just kind of reap an applause that he had definitely showed

1:38:19Pat McAfee:for years and years there in Green Bay. And now he's calling the place home. That had to feel so good for him. I'm happy that happened for him. Yeah, that was awesome. Especially the way he – and it wasn't even really his fault. It's just things kind of ran their course. There was always the stories about him and Aaron stopped getting along or whatever the case may be. and he did kind of have like an unceremonious exit from green bay which wasn't necessarily fair a lot of fans kind of shit on him on the way out because that was one of the years that uh you know the packers i think were like five and nine maybe or something like that and they fired him during the season and joe philbin was the interim coach for the rest of the way so the fact that he got to come back and celebrate like that and also the fact that the packers were kicking the lion's ass So, like, the environment in the stadium on top of this, like, it was just – it was a perfect day.

1:39:14Like, I'm super happy for him. It was awesome.

1:39:16Pat McAfee:Yeah, good for the Packers getting a chance to celebrate the boys, AJ. I assume a lot of your friends were there getting a chance to get recognized. Oh, yeah. I was getting texts from them. But, yeah, I like that Coach can – like, he accepted it. Like, we're telling him, hey, this is awesome. And he's not trying to deflect or whatever. He's a very humble dude. But he's like, yeah, this was amazing. He said, don't get old, obviously. I think it's really cool that he understands. He's like, yeah, this place is amazing. That's why I moved back here. He lives there now. It's pretty sweet. The hair standing up on his neck, he said.

1:39:46Pat McAfee:It's like, well, I had to do something. My body was like, yo, yo. Look at this. The hair's standing up. Okay, I'll do it. Would have been cool if Aaron could have been there, but he's too busy throwing four touchdown passes. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who could probably sling four touchdown passes right now if he had to. If not him, at least Darren. Yeah. Four? Yeah, okay. Double it. Ten. Yeah, with 250 on the ground. Derrick Henry high school numbers. Bingo. 55 touchdowns in one season. That's what this guy could do. This guy happens to know this guy. This guy also talks to that guy.

1:40:24Pat McAfee:This guy is kind of the other guy. This guy is the other guy whenever it comes to this particular setting. He's also the voice of Thursday Night Football on Prime alongside Al Michaels, kicking off every NFL weekend for us in a wonderful fashion. Ladies and gentlemen, commentating a huge game tonight, and then we'll have an electrifying weekend, both at game day and Tennessee, Georgia. Ladies and gentlemen, Kirk Herbstreit. Hey, Herbie! How we doing, boys? I like it. Okay, so you're at a hotel in Green Bay right now? We got some great...

1:40:57AJ Hawk:I'll give you the view here. Well, yeah, don't worry, Zach. We know where that is.

1:41:03Pat McAfee:AJ tracked your tail number. No, I know what hotel it does, though. Okay, okay. Peter! I love that.

1:41:12AJ Hawk:All right, how about this? There you go. That's the hotel we were in for the draft, isn't it?

1:41:18Pat McAfee:Wow. History right there, brother.

1:41:21AJ Hawk:And by the way, look at the weather. I mean, AJ, Ty, can it get any better? No. Wow.

1:41:29Pat McAfee:Hey, where's those? Oh, zoom in. Oh, I am. Lambeau, what you're looking at here is a place that was basically one of the frontrunners of leading the way for the NFL's growth and development. Their passion, their fan, their history. The historic Lambeau field with Steve Sable and the NFL films became the standard of television and production for a sport and a league. St. Curly Lambeau, way back in the day, had a vision of all these things. And now they're hosting Thursday Night Football on a streaming service. Wow. Time to change. this is the future this is everything how do you feel about tonight's game we just got done talking to mike mccarthy he feels good about the green and gold he will be going to the game i hope you get a chance to say oh great he's a yinzer legend obviously good guy loves ball loves the green bay area and loves the packers you love jayden daniels coming out of college you actually told us hey the one nobody's talking about right now is jayden daniels he's going to be the guy it was army navy game we're in the parking lot in foxborough and you said it and ended up being very true last year and it seems like it's only going to continue and grow how do you think tonight goes and who do you think should be getting a little bit more of the conversation uh this this game i you know i

1:42:39AJ Hawk:think micah parsons coming in adds to the intrigue but but i think even before that this game is about as good as you could hope for for us you know for our opening game to start our season uh you mentioned jayden daniels every you know this is the team that went all the way to the nfc championship game a year ago and Dan Quinn's first year just changed this, really, the trajectory of the franchise. And I think having Jaden Daniels has obviously helped. But you bring over Devo Samuel now for Cliff Kingsbury, another weapon, another opportunity to kind of move him around. Good news is Terry McLaurin is locked in.

1:43:17AJ Hawk:And I was just talking to Jaden this week about just trying to get the timing down. and they've spent a lot of time after practice to try to get some makeup reps, to try to get things right. And they're going up against, I don't know about you guys, that opening weekend, that was the best defensive effort, not only of the weekend, but probably the best the Green Bay Packers have looked as a unit in a long, long time. 10 years, 15 years? I mean, I think a lot of people are going to point to Micah Parsons, but I think it's Jeff Halfley and the combination of just second year in the system the entire every time i stopped the film there's 11 green jerseys flying to the football and i think parsons um helped you really get this stadium engaged and and mike being back probably helped with that but it was as an electric of atmosphere in fact matt lafleur told me this week that it's been a long time since he's heard the stadium that loud if ever since he's been the head coach so there's a lot of juice right now in green bay there's a lot of belief jordan love has really grown up you know he sat there behind a hall of famer for three years and very proud by the way from what he told me this week to be able to sit there for three years and learn from Aaron and then you know he was kind of a young guy and and not only was he young there are a lot of young pieces around him and now these guys have all had an opportunity to work together for these last couple years and now in his third year as a starter they've grown and I think they are now a a team not only that's going to be fun to watch tonight but as Ty will tell you I think all year I think they're a legit uh NFC championship contender I think if they can stay healthy I think the defense is real um and I think with this offense now in the third year of Matt along with with Jordan Love and the pieces that they have don't be shocked I mean Matthew Golden is a guy that um you know I think when you go back to the draft a lot of people were talking about a lot of different guys golden to me i don't know if it'll happen tonight but at some point that i think he's going to be a guy that could potentially be in the rookie of the year conversation i think he's the guy that could be electrifying uh ridiculous ball skills and you put him into this system with the pieces that they have uh i'm excited to see what he can do but then again he's going up against the defense that's got a lot of new faces up front i don't know if you saw ken law last week Holy cow.

1:45:43AJ Hawk:Just a game wrecker. Finally healthy. There's a lot. This is as excited as I've been for a Thursday night game in a long time. Let's go.

1:45:54Pat McAfee:We like that. You talked about LaFleur talking about the environment being the loudest it's ever been. He has tried to get that stadium since he got there. He is a big one of these guys. He's a big one of these in his pants with the eyebrows looking unbelievable. boy. He will be super intense. He will do this one here. He understands the value of a good home field advantage. And I've been told that when Michael went out there, the pop was outrageous. It was like a huge welcoming to it all. And then whenever he went out for the first third down, Mike McCarthy said, as soon as he went out there for first third down, place one.

1:46:28Pat McAfee:And when he got his sack, this one absolutely crazy. And then the boys went crazy too. It's like the vibes feel like very, very good for them. And if you're the Washington Commanders, the Giants, how many points last week? Six. Six points? Young. They got to feel damn good about where they're at. And talking about feeling good, Amazon should feel great about this. Yeah. And this is – I'm pumped for you guys. We are all very pumped for you guys that this game is happening. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Kirk, I don't know if the coaches give you any insight when you have your production meetings, but the Packers offensive line is a bit banged up.

1:47:00Going to have some new guys in there, maybe not a ton of experience together. What do you think they do to try to help those guys out to maybe slow down this Washington rush? Is Josh Jacobs going to be able to find a way to pick up some valuable yardage on the ground?

1:47:16AJ Hawk:Not surprised you're all over it. It's a huge story. Zach Tom, especially the right tackle. It's really sad that he ends up getting injured on a play that didn't even count. The potential pick six that Aiden Hutchinson pushed Jordan Love into him. He goes down. I think it's going to be a game-time decision. They're very, very hopeful, obviously, that he can go. But if he's down, he cannot go. significant loss. Jordan Morgan also may have to go in and play some guard. Darren Kennard, who I think he's had one start in his career. That was last year where he gave Lane Johnson a little bit of a break at week 18 in Philly.

1:47:52AJ Hawk:If Zach Tom can't go, he'll probably be the guy that ends up starting. Anthony Belton, who's a rookie as well. Kid out of NC State, probably get some reps. But that is a big time concern. This is an offense that wants to be balanced. Last week, you saw what they can do throwing the football. But if you really watch these guys, Josh Jacobs, I don't know if you can handpick a better back because of his physicality, because of the weather as the seasons change. He is a perfect fit for what LaFleur likes to do. But that line of scrimmage, I think, is a massive conversation tonight, especially if they're dinged up, going against Payne and Ken Law and Armstrong and Wise.

1:48:32AJ Hawk:guys. Dan Quinn said, hey, we got all the way to the NFC Championship game, but we had to make some changes. They brought in four guys to that defensive line. They upgraded a corner. So this is going to be a real test. This is kind of a litmus test to really find out how much Washington has improved as a unit, and especially on the defensive side of the ball against this Green Bay offense.

1:48:54Pat McAfee:Dan Quinn always has good deeds, you would assume. Hold Giants to six. I assume they're going to want to hunt tonight, especially if there's a couple guys out on the offensive line. Offensive line, not good. Nothing good. That is just the story of every single game. Last question about tonight before we move on to different subjects. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Herbie, a lot of people are talking about various different things, Packers offense, Micah, Jaden Daniels, et cetera, et cetera. But no one's really talking about Bill Krosky-Meritt. And, you know, no one really knew who this guy was when he got drafted.

1:49:23They trade Brian Robinson. He gets the lion's share of the carries on Sunday. And he looked unbelievable. How big of an impact do you think he's going to have not only tonight but the whole year on this team's offense?

1:49:37AJ Hawk:I think it's huge. And I don't know if he just is Bill, straight up Bill. I was talking to their coaches about, you know, he's Ja 'Cory Krosky-Meritt, who is Arizona, and only played one game last year because of some eligibility issues. And by the way, when he only got to play one game, they're trying to figure out the eligibility issues in Tucson. Dude's down at the scout team running against the first-team defense Instead of just saying, this is BS, why am I doing this? He kind of gives you a little bit about his attitude. Typical seventh-round draft pick, playing with a chip on his shoulder, runs hungry.

1:50:09AJ Hawk:And with Eckler more of a third-down guy, and with Bryan Robinson, who's obviously no longer here, they moved him. It's a huge story. And this guy kind of came out of nowhere, won the job essentially in camp. And it's one of these feel-good stories because of his story and where he came from. But guy didn't play Harley at all. Nobody, including the Mel Kuypers of the world, probably as much as they build their list of the draft, not a whole lot of people knew much about this guy who goes by just the name Bill. No last name, just call me Bill. But tonight, if they're going to do their thing offensively, as much as we're going to focus in on Jane Daniels, our boy Bill, 22, is going to have to be featured and have to have a big night.

1:50:55Pat McAfee:All right, last question. before we head to the digital world of YouTube. Uh-oh. What's the clock say? You've got three minutes. You've got three minutes. Okay. All right. But it's worthy of a good three minutes. We'll obviously wrap this thing up in about two minutes and 30 seconds talking about tonight's game. Sure. And we will expect you to give some sort of lean, even though I'm calling a game, I can't pick it. Okay. All right. Yeah, I hate that. But let's talk about the big weekend for college, especially for us. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, however, you guys are going to Knoxville, Tennessee, where Georgia has had their number the last eight.

1:51:27I believe in Hypo hasn't been good against Kirby since he's been there. But do you think there's a chance that this year with this new Tennessee offense with Aguilar has a chance against the dogs?

1:51:39AJ Hawk:Tone, I love your college football knowledge. I love it, man. I know you know the NFL inside now, but I love how you get knee deep in the college world. Waste. I'm really falling in love with Aguilar. I don't know if it's just because of the circumstances. I turned on the film this week, you know, getting ready for this game, getting ready for that game. And I was excited to kind of look at Georgia and Tennessee because they've just been a little bit, both these teams, a bit off the radar these first couple weeks. Let me tell you that this offense of Tennessee's is, they've reloaded out at wide receiver.

1:52:14AJ Hawk:They got some new backs, obviously a new quarterback, but they're still running that Josh Heupel scheme. But this is Georgia, right? And this is where you really find out where you are as an offense. But what he's doing, and for the guy that went from App State to UCLA, then Nico comes to UCLA, he goes to Knoxville. The guy, again, two weeks in, seems to be in complete command. Just a guy in this NIL transfer portal era. Looks to be a guy that you kind of know what you're going to get. But Josh Heupel's done great work with him up to this point. but this will be a big test because man when I turned on the film to look at Georgia because there's a lot of new faces on that Georgia defense they are still recruiting and developing wow they can fly they're physical athletic they've just completely reloaded and they can get after it so great game being in Knoxville obviously gives them an advantage but historically since Heupel has been in Knoxville, he has struggled against Kirby Smart defense.

1:53:17AJ Hawk:So they've got to come up with some answers this week, even though this game's at home. But Georgia, man, I feel like people are forgetting a little bit about Georgia, forgetting a little bit about Oregon, as far as like who are teams that can make a run and be there at the end. And I think Georgia this week will be fun to kind of really see where they are because this will be a good test for them, obviously going on the road in Knoxville.

1:53:38Pat McAfee:I think for both of them, it's a hello to the entire world. You know, like, hey, remember us? And tonight, it's a low from the Commanders and the Packers with Kirk Herbstreit on the call alongside Al and Kaylee Hartong. We'll see you then. Yeah, yeah, we got there. Good answer by you. Good answer by you as well.

1:53:56AJ Hawk:Good answer by you. By the way, really, really appreciated your tweet under the last 24 hours. What's 9-11 today? What happened yesterday? I thought your words of what you said about yesterday, I've looked at a lot of things. That was about as well stated as I think anything. And it's really hard to put your thoughts together. You know, like how do you even express how you're feeling? But of all the things I've seen, that was about as well said as any of them. So I appreciate you putting that out there.

1:54:35Pat McAfee:Well, thanks, man. It's obviously not easy. i felt an obligation you know because like yeah i i legitimately did because what he i didn't know him okay i didn't yeah he followed us which i learned wow he fought he fought a lot of people though a hundred some thousand he didn't have information on everything from watching he needed to know everything about everything and he had some sports takes that i'd seen in the past but just like being the guy that's kind of known as i want to go talk to people i don't agree with yeah That is something that we need, I think. So I was always pretty inspired by that.

1:55:08Pat McAfee:It doesn't mean that every word that comes out of his mouth is something that I'm going to, yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:55:14AJ Hawk:My kids know him better than I do. I obviously have seen some of his stuff over the last few years. But I'm with you. I think it comes to, from what I understand, he'd go on these college campuses. It was basically an open mic. And people go up there and give them an opportunity to to to get into conversation. A lot of times a debate. And it's crazy. You know, the world that we we're currently living in, so divisive and just so it's hard to to really understand it a lot of times. So I just thought that your your words were well put together.

1:55:51Pat McAfee:And thanks, man.

1:55:52AJ Hawk:Like I said, I I don't I never really followed politics my whole life. You know, AJ and I from Centerville, all we did was play football and, you know, we loved each other and, you know, we cared about each other. And I didn't really get caught up in a lot of that stuff. And it seems like since 2020, it's been very radical, you know, one way or the other. And, man, it's wild when you don't really partake in that. And then to see how crazy it can be. It's either what seems to be one extreme or the other. It seems like when I was growing up, everything was more in the middle, kind of agreed a little bit here, kind of agreed a little bit here.

1:56:32AJ Hawk:Everybody lived in the middle. And now it just seems like it's really out there on both sides. I agree.

1:56:40Pat McAfee:And everybody feels as if they have to one up the other person that they feel the most that way. I feel like that has become like a complex on the Internet. I think like people want to prove that they're the most this, you know, from both sides. And I've been dropped into a fire, political fire, multiple times. i know and i bet both sides you know kind of come in there and i always joke that the only thing i really know about politics is that they yell at each other all the time that they just yell at each other all the time and it's like at some point we got to get to the realization and with all the information we have nowadays we have to get to the point that we understand that we're going to disagree with people and then we can still okay though right yeah we can still move and not just necessarily be disgusted and hate the person like hey maybe let's try to engage here so we uh maybe have a better understanding of how we all so that we can just have a more you know kumbaya existence but jesus yeah yesterday's an eye-opener and then you think back i mean the fact that today is september 11th like september 12th 2001 you're obviously older than i am but in and age and aj as well it's like i remember what that was like like i think that was every neighborhood in the entire country felt the exact same way and it's like we need to figure out how without having something like that happen we have to figure out like hey let's go you know so i appreciate you saying something but i felt like this can't be in my eyes as somebody that has certainly gotten my fair share of people not wanting me to be alive it's like hey come on We're allowed to disagree with people and then we got a like this can't be what we become and obviously Charlie Kirk him just You talked about what he does him just sitting there and welcoming Thousands of people that he had disagrees with is like such a thing that I would not be able to do You know, that's a scary situation just I think from everything that happens on the internet where we read and it's like watching All unfold.

1:58:38Pat McAfee:It's like golly man. This can't be who we are. This can't be who we are and obviously dad, husband, everything like that. He was 31 years old, you know, like all that stuff. It's like, for me as a 38-year-old, it's like with a daughter and a wife and it's like everything happening. It's like, I felt obligated, but also like, we can't do this. You know, so rest in peace to Charlie Kirk, but also our country. We cannot be like that. And tonight we celebrate the greats that our country has to offer. The best league on planet earth is the NFL. Kicking off week two tonight on Prime with the Commanders and the Packers.

1:59:12Pat McAfee:Kirk, I think we're in for a great game tonight. I'm excited to hear you guys on the call.

1:59:17AJ Hawk:Yeah, we're fired up. This should be a great one. Great way to set the tone for the whole weekend. I think it's going to live up to the hype. These two quarterbacks, as you guys know, are a lot of fun to watch every single week, let alone going head-to-head against each other. I think both these teams are playoff teams at the end of the season, and it's great to get them against each other early in the year to just kind of find out who these teams are. And Micah Parsons coming in. I was just talking to Jeff Halfley, the defense coordinator from Green Bay, before I hopped on with you guys. And he was just talking about, I mean, he's like, we probably had 25 real snaps with this guy as far as practice reps.

1:59:54AJ Hawk:And so this is not a guy that's, you know, that has had a lot of opportunities to learn our scheme. He said, but I'll tell you what, his football IQ is off the charts because he's not just lining up playing backyard football. He's playing within the structure of the defense and doing a lot of different things, moving around. And, you know, this is going to be fun to watch how he impacts this game tonight against not not Jerry Goff, but a very athletic Jaden Daniels, who's a handful and creating and QB run. So should be should be a fun one tonight, man.

2:00:26Pat McAfee:How about how happy Halfley has to be that Jerry Jones comes out and goes, Maka can't stop the run. So Micah now is like, is that right? Yeah. Is that right? So, you know, like he literally – go ahead.

2:00:39AJ Hawk:You're all over it. You're all – I mean, it's exactly – I said to Jeff, I said, it was fun to watch. We all know what he can do off the edge. I said, but, man, against Sewell, one of the best tackles in the game, he's out there just throwing him, you know, just in there battling against the run. And he said exactly what you just mentioned. He said he's incredibly motivated right now to show people, not only is he a great pass rusher, but this dude's a total package. You know, so he's he's he also gave us a great quote last night about when when people you love kind of let you down. It's an incredible motivator.

2:01:14AJ Hawk:And so this guy, like it happens often. This guy's in the middle of just knocking on the prime of his career and feels that he was let go and denied. And I think because of that, he's just playing with a lot of intensity, embracing his new teammates. What a mistake. It's been a perfect fit. What a mistake. What was Jerry thinking? He got his feelings hurt, and he traded away a fucking Hall of Famer. That's not how you do business, man.

2:01:39Pat McAfee:In the middle of the documentary, too, about how we do business. It's tough. I love it. Thank you, Jerry. Thank you, Jerry. And for the motivation. And for the motivation. Scott can't play, gets run, a little bit fat. Yeah. Okay. Anything else you can't catch either, put him on offense. Yeah, exactly. Jerry sent him out there. All right, Kirk, we appreciate you, buddy. We'll see you down in Tennessee. You can't wait. You guys have a great one. Ladies and gentlemen, Kirk Herbshy. Tonight's game is going to be epic. So good. All right, let's take a break. On the other side, we'll make our picks and wrap up all the storylines that we haven't hit yet on this glorious September 11, 2025, where hopefully our world comes together more than it's ever been, AJ.

2:02:17Yep, hopefully. I don't know.

2:02:20Pat McAfee:That sounds like a lot of pessimism. Yeah, good attitude. No, no, no. I'm all for rational humans and common sense. Hell yeah. That would be nice. Amen. Amen. But in reality, you got to have to deal with stuff that isn't like that, you know? And I hope as we continue to move forward, we understand that, hey, just because we don't have to, literally, you think like this on one thing. Okay, well, I hate you. I learned that. Hey, Canada, don't boo our national anthem. Okay, that's what I said. Because I grew up playing an Olympic sport. and if you ever hear me talk about anything i'm very proud to be from the united states of america and it's like yeah anytime the olympics come around we're fucking beating them we are america like that is how sports people i think feel naturally now i learned through that entire thing that there's a lot of people that don't feel that way and also if i feel that way that must mean that i also feel boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom and it's like i just didn't want these motherfuckers to boo my national what are we what are we even they're booing my dad I don't like the thought of them booing my dad, my mom, my family, my friends.

2:03:30I don't like that.

2:03:32Pat McAfee:Well, since that's the case, you also... It's like, come on, man. We don't have to be like that. Because that's not reality. We all understand that that's not reality. So let's just... Let's put our source down. Crazy day yesterday. Yeah. All right, we'll be back on the other side. Let's make our picks. Hell yeah. Big one tonight. Hey, we're seeing the board too, AJ. remember that yeah oh yeah what three and a half is that the line right now yep or three or three three for the packers oh okay all right i'll take that into account yeah i'm sure

2:04:12In a sunny Californian suburb, one family's home is unusually quiet.

2:04:16Kirk Herbstreit: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? Or is the truth far more sinister? From ABC Audio in 2020, this is What Happened to the Mixed Days.

2:04:58Coming 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.

2:05:15Pat McAfee:Football! It's magical. That's college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, A.J. Hawk. The toxic table's here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. Big one for the Packers tonight. Massive one. This is, I mean, you know, you could almost say this is a do or die game. I love that. Week two, we're already there. Thursday night, week two, we're already there. First Thursday night game, four prime of the season, do or die for both teams. One half of the hammer. Done. Cowboys AP Tone is here. Tone, what is the update on the public percentage of money on what tonight? 58 % of the money is on the Commanders, currently at plus three and a half.

2:05:49And then the over-under number. That is still at 96 % on the under.

2:05:53Pat McAfee:Okay, so people really like the under. What the hell? And we think we're getting some faulty information here. This seems very weird to have 96 % of public human beings wishing for bad football or very defensive heavy football. It was a trend of the week one of the NFL season, 12-4 to the under is what happened there. So, AJ, maybe this is just going to be the trend and the sportsbooks are overshooting, or what are your thoughts on whether or not this is a cagey affair or maybe a blockbuster? I don't know. Didn't Coach McCarthy say that he thought there's going to be a high-flying, high-scoring game?

2:06:26I looked it up earlier, just a little tidbit. Matt LaFleur against Dan Quinn. Dan Quinn, obviously the head coach and the defensive mastermind of the commanders. Packers scored 48 against him in the playoff game against Dallas. 31, the meeting before that, the Packers scored against Dallas the year before that. And then 30 in LaFleur's first year in Green Bay when Dan Quinn was in Atlanta. They scored 30. So, 48, 31, and 30 LaFleur has scored against Dan Quinn.

2:06:55Pat McAfee:Okay, so Mitt said it's going over. He did. earlier today whenever he heard about the under in there it sounds like aj feels the exact same way 48 and a half is that still the over under yeah 96 of the money is on one side and they haven't moved it yeah it's the tale of two numbers here like the 12 and 4 to the under so that's the trend for the nfl but then the public sucks right now and now the public's on the under so it feels like one of the two is wrong and unfortunately it feels like our very old mcmahon isn't genius baby because it's going over yeah he was very excited about that from the other side of the room that bad boy's going over yeah man that's crazy uh a couple NFL stories that we haven't chatted about and then we'll get to our picks before we get out of here on this glorious week two of the NFL season kickoff Thursday uh Lamar Jackson was cramping to hear about this obviously big conversation towards the end of that Baltimore Buffalo game fourth and three fourth and three Harbaugh doesn't go for it decides to punch Josh Allen do what he do and they go ahead and win that game.

2:07:56Pat McAfee:Josh Allen cements the MVP maybe. And for Lamar Jackson, he has to answer questions about, is he drinking pickle juice over there? Here he is. I was actually cramping the job before that. You know, the turnover happened. But I went to the sideline. If anybody paid attention, I was drinking pickle juice on the sideline already. I'm like, Sarah, I need to get hydrated. Like, I'm cramping. I'm starting to feel cramps. And then we went back out there. And obviously, you know, it happened. Fourth and three happened. But if I weren't cramping, we definitely would have went for it. We definitely would have went for it.

2:08:28I believe. Where were you cramping? Where was the cramp? My calves. Both of my calves. Like, you know how they said, like, the Browns game, I had a poop game or something? That's how I was. But I was, like, I was better off because it wasn't, like, happening right then and there. Like, I just felt it, like, coming on. But, yeah, I was cramping again.

2:08:46AJ Hawk:I'm afraid you used the boat. I don't know where that come from because if I had used the bathroom, I would have said it. Like, I don't got no problem with saying that. I'm a grown man. I'm a grown man. Everybody poops, okay?

2:08:56Pat McAfee:I would tell you if I was taking a dump in the middle of the game. But now that we think about it, calf cramp and big dumps, kind of a similar waddle. Now we know that. We learned that through Lamar Jackson. Yeah, and two boots, you know, two springs. That'll do it. Out there, you kind of get a little poop. Two calves cramping sucks. That is a nightmare. And I know a lot of people are saying, well, stay hydrated. It's like sometimes you're just going to get cramped. Especially a lot of low-body fat guys. there are some guys like that that are just all muscle, no body fat. They tend to cramp sometimes.

2:09:25Yeah, I don't know. You've got to try to get ahead of it. Pickle juice. Everyone has their own little thing that they think helps them. So, yeah, I don't know. Drinking urine. Piss. Yeah. I don't think that's part of it. It is. It's how much you said. Did you ever get any cramps? I was not a cramper. No. There you go. You can't cramp if you don't lose anything. I cramp after games. I would cramp after games. You know, like when you're like sitting down all of a sudden, you catch a hamstring cramp, you jump up, and yeah, that kind of thing.

2:09:50Pat McAfee:The night cramps, awesome. The ones that just wake you up in the middle of the night. That happened to me in high school all the time. That used to happen to me in high school after high school Friday games playing both ways when you're just – you can't even move. Yeah, if anyone has – I mean, I would assume everyone's cramped up like in their hamstrings or calves or quads, right? It's a different kind of situation. You think it's over. Yeah. You think it's – the first time that you talk about high school, that was when I used to get into soccer or football, you know, you name it. And it's like middle of the night, just every muscle in your leg locks up and you feel like it's never going to end.

2:10:21Pat McAfee:And it's like, oh, my God, this is terrible. I'm happy I wasn't – I mean, kick or punter, you're probably not going to be a cramper, although I was a heavy sweater. There's some guys who are losing like 13, 14, 15 pounds of sweat during like training camp practices, maybe 20 pounds of sweat. It's like IV, Pedialyte need to reload in its entirety. But is that even right? Because remember, bananas were supposed to stop cramping back in the day. Yeah, but that picture, the picture proved that that was correct. The cramp, the banana cramp video. I don't know if you guys recall. This was last baseball season, I believe.

2:10:55And it was just an interview before a game that went viral. Bruce, you could probably find it. It's this pitcher talking about, and he can't really speak. It's very broken English. Oh, you're talking about the Japanese guy? Yeah. Yeah, for the Blue Jays. Yeah, bingo. Yeah. He talks about how banana stopped crap. But it's broken English, so it sounds like crap. It's 11 years old, Bruce says.

2:11:16Pat McAfee:this is quite a deep cut is what bruce said but he does have it it is a bit of a classic on the internet we do have the video though here there's an ad right now oh jesus 11 years old what happened to you huh what happened just crap just a cramp oh just crap so you told me what what can you eat to help you make you feel better bananas that's how we're bringing monkeys never crops you know Monkey never crap. Because monkey everyday bananas. Two. So how many did you have today? Three. Our three. No more cramp for you. I need three bananas. Because monkey never claps. Okay. I like that. Cheetah never stretch.

2:12:03Pat McAfee:You know Coach Prime talks about how he didn't stretch before running. Cheetah never stretches. I've never heard. You ever see a monkey get a cramp? Actually, we don't know. I don't think I've ever seen one in any of the gnat. National Geographic thing. Potassium was the answer, and then it was obviously salt. I think salt became a part of the entire process. They're always trying to figure that out. Cramps, I'm just happy I'm not a cramper throughout my life. Cramping sucks. You know how they say people, like, once a fumbler, always a fumbler? I feel like crampers are crampers. AJ, don't you think that is accurate?

2:12:35Yeah, you're right. You're never really out of the woods. Even they can do whatever they can to try to prepare. I don't know what. We had guys that would cramp in college, and they're always trying different things like different Pedialyte or different pickle juice before the game to try to figure it out.

2:12:46Pat McAfee:I agree. I'm happy that that is something I don't got to deal with. Sucks that Lamar has to deal with that. Yeah, big time. Often kind of, a little bit here. Well, that's what I'm saying. It's like one of those. It's like people that get migra - I think it's like a natural thing. It's just always there. It all goes away once you get in October, November. There's not a lot of cramping. I don't know. You can cramp in the cold. I've seen guys cramp in freezing cold. They don't drink any water. I think it's a muscle thing. I think it's like how their shit is. Like a genetic thing almost. I think more likely to cramp.

2:13:15Pat McAfee:I think there are people that are that way. And that sucks. And I'm thankful that I'm not one of those people. Cramps are the worst. I'm getting them now at my age again. Starting to happen. Where? I'm getting in better shape. I'm not eating as much. Nowhere near as hydrated. Start getting the hammy. We'll start pulling a little bit. I'm like, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. You got to beat that. You got to beat that. You got to straighten the leg out there. Can't let that thing kind of hit in there. Quad starting to tighten up a little bit. No, no, no. We're not doing that. We're not doing that one in there.

2:13:39Pat McAfee:Both Cavs would suck. For Lamar? Nightmare. That would suck. Can't walk. Why didn't they go for it? Fourth and three. He said they're definitely going for it there if he's in there. He thought so. They're in field goal range on the other side. Last time, it was the Chiefs Ravens where Harbaugh asked him when he was jogging off the field. He was like, do you want to go for it or not? And he was like, yeah, obviously. Absolutely. And they won't. Let's talk about another story. Obviously, Jacksonville coming into Cincinnati. Zach Taylor would like their fans to be there for the beginning of the game and for Sam Hubbard, who will be the ruler of the jungle.

2:14:14Pat McAfee:Sam Hubbard, local legend, Cincinnati legend, guy who will score a 99-yard touchdown in Cincinnati. He went to Ohio State as well? Yep. Mayor of Cincinnati. High school as well. High school in Cincinnati. Guy could be a mayor. He'll be a ruler of the jungle on Sunday. No doubt about it. Okay? And Zach Taylor doesn't want to see anybody on those fucking escalators. No. I'm sick of you. You're already in there. Sam Hubbard. If not, Sam, then who will you be here for? Zach Taylor saying. And on the other side, brand new Jacksonville squad. Hey, this Jacksonville Jaguars team is a little bit different.

2:14:47Pat McAfee:Their offensive line is getting credit from AQ Shipley. He's talking about the play design being like one of those play callers that goes ahead and sets things up for the offensive line to be successful. Like, hey, do we have the best offensive line? No, but we will set it up with play design. And maybe we do have the best offensive line in football because of it. ETN want bananas. They felt so good. They traded away their backup running back. Trevor Lawrence was making some throws, and Travis Hunter was a part of the offense. This week, he's allegedly going to be a little bit more part of the defense.

2:15:15Pat McAfee:Now, if you were to listen to Darius J. Butler speak about this, I think this could have been a little bit predictable. Now, D. Butch, like two weeks ago, started hypothesizing about the plan for Travis Hunter. And if he said, well, if he's going to major in wide receiver and he's going to have a minor in DB, it'll probably be when necessity based on defensive side. So you start looking at who has a plethora of weapons, who has a lot of passing options for their offenses. That's probably when you're going to see Travis Hunter on the defensive side trying to get rid of one of the superstars. Cincinnati Bengals, it's obviously very well talked about.

2:15:49Pat McAfee:They got a lot of weapons out there. So Travis Hunter probably going to be seen on the defensive side. Do you think this is an accurate hypothesis here from Darius J. Butler? Do you think the more weapons the other team has, obviously situationally, we'll see more of Travis Hunter on the defensive side of the ball? Yeah, I think D-Buck could be spot on here. I think you probably sit there in the week, you know, six days out from a game and you look at the matchups that you have. You know, NFL, at all levels of football, it's about matchups. How do we exploit the matchups and get them in our favor?

2:16:18So, yeah, the more weapons another team has, yeah, maybe the more time Travis Hunter gets at corner. But is it going to cut into any of his time at receiver, do you think?

2:16:25Pat McAfee:I think he's going to major in wide receiver. I think he's always going to be a wide receiver. Liam Cohen, head coach and play caller. I think that is a real thing. Like, hey, I got a dynamic guy here that we took number two overall. And I have a great offense. That's why I became the head coach. I think he's going to eat on the offensive side. And then I think what D-Bots was saying is, like, there will be packages on the defensive side, which might be a lot of the game. Like, if they've got a lot of weapons, if they're 3-4 deep at weapons, like, they're going to need Travis Hunter to play a lot more that particular week.

2:16:53Pat McAfee:So picking and choosing, ultimately, is kind of how he thought maybe they would do. He wasn't guaranteeing this. He was like, maybe this is what they're doing. It's holding true, seemingly, here going into week two. Yeah, and this is the perfect world for them where they can pick, but even just the depth of it. You know, we're talking about already with the Packers and the Commanders guys being out and being hurt. Like, if they go down one of their corners or if Brian Thomas Jr. goes down, like, well, at least you have that in your back pocket. Like, okay, well, instead of having him split time if one of those guys is injured or if, you know, they don't have good depth, it's like, hey, you're not doing anything but being a corner this weekend, being, you know, wide receiver this week because we have dudes out like having that in the back pocket too is huge.

2:17:33Yeah, it's going to work, isn't it? Jags are going to be good. Jags are going to be a good football player. They wouldn't trade Tank Bigsby if they weren't pretty confident who they got right now. Are they good for right now? Well, it looks good right now, but hopefully this lasts forever. What was that? Well, this is what they envisioned in January. Okay. It's happening in September. is going to go on

2:17:59Pat McAfee:forever! Sean Conn gave a motivational speech after the big time dub in week one.

2:18:05Kirk Herbstreit:This is what we envisioned in January, okay? It's happening here in September. Gonna go on forever!

2:18:16Pat McAfee:Fucking love it. I love everything about it. I love everything about it. Legit, too. We might run that every day. If an owner is going down there saying, thank fucking gone. Which is what he is saying. He's been trying for a long time to get that team to be sustainably good. Long time. What do I gotta fucking do? It has to be what he is thinking. And then in that moment, let's bottle this. This is it. We need this forever. Young coaches, young GM, young players. Trevor Lawrence still young in his career. It's like, I don't love it. But, yeah, because the AFC South doesn't need to be this difficult.

2:18:58Sure.

2:18:59Pat McAfee:But, boy, it feels like they really are turning the corner after week one. For reference, week one he played 42 snaps on offense and six on defense. But when you're talking about matchups, Bengals are a little different than the Panthers. The Panthers are probably one of the weaker teams as far as wide receivers are concerned, and the Bengals obviously being the strongest potentially. So, yeah, 42 and six in week one will be interesting to see what the actual split is for week two. Over under 20 on the defensive side this week. Over. I think so, too. Yeah. Over under 35 on the offensive side this week.

2:19:29Under. I think it stays the same on offense.

2:19:31Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think his offense is shit. They might run less plays, though. Yeah, because Cincinnati might keep the ball for a long time. But on the defensive side, Travis might get a couple turnovers. Sure. He's a magnet. That guy's a magnet to the ball. And the Bengals, like, they got Trey Hendrickson up front. So, if you want to slow him down with ETN, he got, what, like 18 carries. He had 140 yards. He might get 25 carries this time around. Are we in a time where the Jags? I'm not doing it yet. Still got to see it. I'm not doing it yet. Still got to see it. They ain't better than the Colts, baby.

2:20:03Pat McAfee:Yeah, ain't nobody. Okay. Ain't nobody. How many points did a Dolphin score, Gumpy? Nice. Eight right at the very end. HN fought to get over the line on a fourth and goal from the 15 screen. It was a great call. That is it. That is it. Scored. Yeah, it's a good goal. Sounds like it worked. I don't know if you know this, but Danny Dimes, Mr. Indiana Jones, Daniel Jones, captain of the Indianapolis Colts, hottest quarterback in the NFL, Danny Dimes, won the Nickelodeon super-duper thing. He got the MVP. Oh, and Jonathan Taylor gave it to him. That makes sense. He's a Nickelodeon guy, right? Well, he won this multiple times, yeah.

2:20:44Pat McAfee:Yeah, he did. Oh, Blue God instead. Blue goo. Jonathan Taylor told Danny Dimes, he said, listen, getting actually slimed sucks. Okay? So we need to turn this into something. And they're like, you know who will take it? Blue. Number one mascot of the 2025 NFL season got an award opening day before the game started. You were there. Who voted on that? The Colts? The Colts voted on that? That's cool. It was the International Super Duper Mascot Federation. Oh, okay. Well, yeah. And he won the award. It was before the game started. They made an announcement. Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to congratulate.

2:21:19Pat McAfee:the number one mascot of the 2025 NFL season. It's the season that just started. We were just kicking it off. Blue. Blue came out. He's not even top five. What? Yes, he is. You're talking about a salute to service award nomination. A player didn't get it? No, Blue did because he's such a dog. Way better than that Braves mascot. I know that Braves mascot's not getting any awards. Blooper? Yeah, Blooper. Blooper is getting a lot. He is a fucking blooper. They need to get a new one in there now. A lot of headlines out of Blooper. I think he's doing just fine. Blue hit his throw. Yeah. Blue hit his throw.

2:21:59Pat McAfee:It got close, though. Oh, yeah. Down to the wire. They were on like five seconds, I think, when he made it. He gets 30 seconds to hit this throw. It's an absurd throw. It's from the upper deck down to a barrel down on the field. We're dude perfecting. Okay? We're doing this entire thing. A couple games last year, he hit it like too quick. Yeah, right away. People forgot, didn't even know the thing was happening. All right, all eyes towards the window as Blue attempts the long-range shot for charity. All right, Blue, go. And then his first throw hits it. He did it. Nobody even has a chance to look over there.

2:22:35Pat McAfee:So if I was him, I would say, hey, you need to start lethal shootering this. You need to start missing a few so people understand it's missable. And maybe that's what he did the first week. But it got real close. It got real close. This one got – yeah, it came down to the final like two seconds, 30 seconds, and then he thought he might have jinxed himself putting a shirt on underneath. Yeah, sure. And putting a snap off on. We got a chance to see that. Is it possible, Pat? I was just going to say, is he naked? Is that a tattoo or is that the shirt on? It's a T-shirt. He put a T-shirt on. Shirt cocking it.

2:23:04Pat McAfee:Yeah, he is. He is shirt cocking it. Always blue. Very rarely he even puts pants on. That might be Tyler. Tyler might jump into Blue's costume for this event, I would imagine. It does look like it could be Tyler. It could be Tyler. How often he hits. And he'll roll around on a little standing scooter thing. He'll do all this stuff. Blue does all this stuff. You know what's better than a fake horse? Real horses, okay? Thunder, Kansas City Chiefs horse, or War Paint, the Denver Broncos horse. Okay? Those are just too much better. Live horses, not fake horses. I would say Blue has so much more moxie than both those ponies.

2:23:35Pat McAfee:Thunder and War Paint? Yeah. Both of them combined. You can even add that Colorado Bison into this thing. Well, yeah. That's a tough story. What happened? I shot him. You look at him. Look at Blue. Boom. Green pie. He's an asshole. Doesn't anyone punch Blue after this? We should. No. No. These people don't know that this is coming. What am I doing? Either way, even if I knew it was coming, you don't have to blast me that hard. He's not a cream pie. He's the best cream pie in town. Any town that he's in. You don't want to run into Blue in Atlanta. Yeah, he'll cream pie you pretty good, Don. He will.

2:24:13Pat McAfee:certainly this weekend, Denver Broncos, cream pies all around town. True. Everywhere. Blue, just cream pie, cream pie, cream pie. Sean Payton's going to lose his fucking mind. And he's going to get cream pied right in the face. Exactly. But anyway, that's the number one mascot of the Super Duper Federation. The Colorado Buffalo, the old one, Ralphie, Ralphie, whatever it is, eight or nine, refused to run anymore. So they said nah? Yeah, so now they're disinterested. So they said, alright, fuck this. So now they're trading a new one. It's not ready for live game actually. Oh, they weren't ready for the passing of the torch.

2:24:43Pat McAfee:No. And the baton was not yet to be passed, maybe another year or so. And instead, Ralphie said, actually, I'm calling the shots. Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Rittenberg, this guy's always on it. Colorado announces Ralphie 6, its live Buffalo mascot named Ember is retiring. An indifference to running contributed to the decision. The school is training Ralphie 7 for her debut, but the team will take the field without its live mascot in the interim. I'll tell you what. They always said that about Ralphie Six. This motherfucker operates on its own time. Yeah. Bold boom. It does. Just indifference to running.

2:25:18Love it.

2:25:19Pat McAfee:I agree. They do a little preseason run with Ralphie. All right, we're going to go through this, all right? Ralphie takes four steps with each hoof. So 16 total steps. Yeah. Boom. I fucking don't like this anymore. I've decided. And they go, no, we got to go around the field. You do. I don't. and then just walked it off, walked up the tunnel, retired, shrugged the thing off. Shrugged the thing off. I would have to see it. I would have to see when they finally had to make that decision. All right, we're going to put this one out to pasture. Whoa, they're not killing Ralphie Six. They're not killing Ember.

2:25:52Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah. What? Are you kidding me? We know. They definitely want to pay to take care of him. In America, you just can't kill Buffalo, okay? You can't just snipe Ember. Yeah, okay. That's not how this is going to go. They're not going to snipe Ember. I think we can all picture what the hell is going to happen to Ember, okay? I mean, there's a spot in our own damn building for Ember's head. And, unfortunately, the pasta jerseys. That was a gift. Hey, Ralphie Six, take a long look, brother, because that's what you're going to look like for the next hundred years. Sister, whatever. Ember's going to be running wild out there in Colorado, motivating.

2:26:30Pat McAfee:Sorry, not running. Ember is going to be standing out there in the wild, motivating, maybe a jaunt. Yeah, most animals, once they don't walk or run anymore, they stay alive for a long, long time. Ralphie's dead. Yeah, they're taking – Rest in peace, Ralphie Six. I love you. They're taking the cattle prodder. They are shooting Ralphie Six right in the forehead. No, they're not. Taking her to the butcher, and guess what? You can get a bison burger at, you know, Flow Stadium for$6.50 on Saturday. I'll tell you what, it's not a good time to be a bison. Feel like people are really getting after the bison burgers.

2:27:02Pat McAfee:They are. Those things kind of came in to real – they had to have had a meeting out there amongst themselves hey feels like they're killing us at a much more rapid rate they found out we taste good and we're healthy as shit that's because they run a lot their muscles because they run so much that's why it's such good meat healthy meat and then Ember's just not even good to eat got a lazy bison they need to do a better job scouting these fucking things don't you think this was definitely the scouting report Ember will give you one two good years but inevitably Ember's going to want to get back out in the field going to be out there doing it.

2:27:35Pat McAfee:Lazy. Arrogant. Bad work ethic. Entitled. It is a little entitled. Not a lunch pail guy. Name image like this. Maybe getting to Ember a little bit. On a couple schedules. A lot of people showing up in the crowd. What if Ember wanted a renegotiation? What if she didn't fully comprehend it? Coach Prime may be the reason why this is all happening here. And Ember says, that's weird. Last time I ran out here a little smaller. We started winning games. I started running out here. Everything's bigger. What the fuck will I get? I just looked it up. they just retired to her to her sanctuary which can be not disclosed because they want her to be living yeah okay the dog went to the farm okay don't go looking for her we obviously can't tell you where she's at because we don't want her I'm going to take a selfie with Ember I would like Ember to know get one right now it's right there that's not Ember it could be they had to retire because it got too big and too fast see Now that's a buffalo that's still alive.

2:28:33Bison that's still alive. The bison that, hey, I'm too tired. Guess what happens to those bison? Guillotine, brother. They cut those bison. That is not what happens. Yes, they do.

2:28:43Pat McAfee:I do believe, though, that because of Ralphie Five's tenacity and want to get better and faster and stronger, too fast for the humans that are trying to control Ralphie Five, they got blinded by the fact that they could find a lazy fucking bison and they got one of them. they didn't even think that was possible because how much Ralphie Five had them distracted. So they need those two bison to bison each other. And then maybe the offspring is the perfect one. Yeah, but that's a long time from now. How long are these things not going to be running on the thing? I mean, I'm not condoning it, you know, but if you got a lazy bison, you know, you ever seen old school what Sean William Scott does to the, you know, the pony at the petting zoo?

2:29:20You want to get that thing going a little bit? A little dart in the neck or you want to get it? Come here, fucker. You know, you take that thing and, you know, you yank his. We're not doing that. That's what I'm saying. I don't condone it. We're not doing it. If you've got a bison that's not running, hey, before you get out there, you maybe take his leash and fucking jerk that thing all around and get him all riled up before he goes out there. Give him some meth. Give him meth. Meth would help. Shot of adrenaline. We're not doing that. Okay? Ember's going to live a good life. Shot of adrenaline straight to the heart.

2:29:46Watch that thing run a thousand miles. Let's move along. Let's make a picture. We could wait, actually. What we could do is have those two bison fuck, and we can have them wait while the baby's getting ready. Be perfect. And we have the other guy serve as the bison sprinting out onto the field, leading the Colorado Buffaloes every single week.

2:30:04Pat McAfee:The face had like a good idea. Yeah, I thought that was the other guy first. I did not. The other guy is a good idea. And what we hope is Ember lives a full life post-running on the anywhere, I guess. Post-running. I hope post-running life is good. And I don't know if Stanford Steve is going to be running them on the field every single week. but we do hope that whatever bison's next is one that showcases a good passion for what they're doing. It felt like Ember was just showing up for the paycheck, just showing up for the collapse. She's not. She's at a sanctuary. She's at a beautiful undisclosed sanctuary.

2:30:41Okay. Can't just put her in a zoo? Does the Tooth Fairy visit there? She's a sanctuary. Maybe. She's buried under the sanctuary. Yeah, there you go. She's actually the first speed bump at the sanctuary when you get there. Ember? They wouldn't do that to Ember. ember won a lot of games out there they would do that to ember because she's a quitter and she's

2:30:59Pat McAfee:lazy let's go to tonight they might respect that to be honest i mean have you ever met a wild animal that just says nope not fucking doing it i guess there's been a couple throughout koalas bulls i think in bull riding there's probably been a couple that said i'm not playing the games i'm not with the fuckery over there in spain with the running of the bulls i think there's been a couple bulls that said we're not with it everyone will see something like that but a bison just known to be pretty happy-go-lucky, I think, right? The bison? Yeah, and the plains. Well, no, the bison are dogs. I mean, they run towards storms.

2:31:28I've dug in a little more. Ember is now living with Ralphie Five in a companion Buffalo role.

2:31:33Pat McAfee:So they are. But I think they're both women, right? I think they're both females. I don't know if Ralphie Five was. Ralphie Five sounds like an ox. Yeah, might have been. Might have snuck in a little ox in that thing. Alright, tonight, Packers, Commanders, three and a half points spread. Could get it at three. We got an update on the bison. Ralphie Five's name was Blackout. That was actually Talk's nickname in college. I am dead serious. Okay, that makes sense. I assume for similar reasons there. Ralphie Five just had no brain out there. Just get out there and just... Too pumped. We don't really know what's going to happen, but if we can steer it, we know it's going to be electrifying.

2:32:11I'm done doing research.

2:32:12Pat McAfee:I like you doing that. Tonight, Commanders Packers in Green Bay. Packers could get three at a sportsbook somewhere, or you could get the Commanders plus three and a half at ESPN Bet. Jaden Dano's Jordan Love. Ty Schmidt, how's this game go? This morning, I woke up and I was thinking, you know what, this has got 27-24 Packers written all over it, but the more we've talked today, I mean, Coach Mike McCarthy said it's going to be a good night for a green goal, so I'm going to take the Packers, and I think we're winning by at least the touchdown tonight. And he did say that. It's crazy. It sounded like he just said it again in the entirety.

2:32:51Pat McAfee:You can go to this game. I assume it's sold out, but maybe we can get a ticket from our friends at CQ. Code PATMCAFE. Yep. Just P-A-T-M-C-A-F-E-E. P-A-T-M-C-A-F-E-E. You can get$30 off your tickets at CQ. That's code PATMCAFE. That's really good. Touching all the bases. That's a really good promo code. Easy. Easy to remember. Easy to spell. What everybody says about my name is that one sounds exactly like it never gets misspelled never gets misspelled it's just nice they change it every week the people that use it it should know how to spell well it got into a thing now too many people are using it well isn't that the fucking goal no not that type of stuff okay let's change it again somebody will send a tweet just know that we see him whenever you send it in and i don't know the answer sometimes hey what's the current code ah fuck so then i normally text bruce bruce what's the current code at this place is it pms Is it Pat?

2:33:44Pat McAfee:Is it Pat M? Is it Pat 30? Is it Pat McAfee? Who made it that? It's Pat McAfee. P-A-T-M-C-A-F-E-E. And whenever this one gets used, next one will be A.J. Hawk, Boston Corner, Ty Schmidt. In that order. No spaces. We love SeatGeek. They do have the greatest ticket-buying platform on planet Earth. And the moon! Whenever they start hosting events up there, SeatGeek will have the best tickets for that. They have an entire ranking process, 1 through 10. If it's a good ticket, which means it's a good price, around the Internet, there's a good ticket for a good price. There'll be a green dot next to it.

2:34:21Pat McAfee:If, hey, you can get this ticket better somewhere else or a different ticket that's better, it'll be a little red dot next to it. They never catfish you. What you buy is what you get. Shout out to SeatGeek. We appreciate them. AJ, how do you see tonight going in Green Bay, pal? Man, I think, you know, Micah Parsons gets more time out there. He just absolutely wreaks havoc. The rest of that defense has been flying around. Give me the Packers at minus three. you give me the Packers and the over as well. I think they win 30-21. Okay. So that'd be very close with the over, 51 points. That'd be very close.

2:34:50Pat McAfee:And with 30-21 is a high-scoring affair. Oh, yeah. It is. That's a lot of points. 25-24 is an over there. That's a lot of points. That's a lot of success. Will the Green Bay Packers be able to be successful with two brand-new guys on the offensive line, like Shefter was alluding to? Is Jordan Love going to be running for his life? Is Josh Jacobs going to get stunted before he even gets going? Is there going to be a little bit of, oh, no. All of a sudden I see a little disagreement happening, right, with Micah and the rest of the. Uh-oh. We're way too early for that. Lucas Van Ness and Micah. Wait a minute.

2:35:23Pat McAfee:Is that what I'm saying right there? The offense fails if the offense is not good for whatever reason. Maybe because there's two offensive linemen that we don't know. Terry McLaren's back. Oh, my God. Debo Samuel. Last week was his preseason. He can run the ball. He can go all over the place. Bill, I'm just a Bill. Is that what's happening tonight? What? Is it? Nah, I think Packers do it. Minus three. Yeah. Okay. Really? Oh, I don't like it. I'm just sitting numbers game-wise. If you like the Packers minus three and they win by three, it's a push. But if you take the three and a half, it's a win.

2:36:03Do you think it's going to be a big night for a green goal? That's what it comes down to. Good question. I do. Or is it the Marooning Gold? Sing that song again, AJ?

2:36:15Pat McAfee:Yeah, we play that from Frank Yankovic in the Yanks. Frankie, why? Roll the barrel.

2:36:36Roll out the barrel. We'll have a barrel of fun Roll out the barrel

2:36:45Pat McAfee:We've got the blues on the run Sing the boom terrera Ring out a song of the cheer Now's time to roll the barrel For the gang's all here

2:37:16Pat McAfee:I'll take the Commanders plus three and a half. Yeah, I just listened to that too many times and I didn't think it had the juice. I think the Commanders plus three and a half. I think the Packers win. How about that? Another one. It's a close one. Another one of those. I think the NFL continues its prime time. Yes, that's a mean parlay. I hit it last week. I'm not promoting it. I'm not promoting it. Okay. But I think it. But I think it. If you think the Packers win, the Commanders cover. It's plus 515. And if you think that, too, you might as well throw Joshy Jacobs in there. Really?

2:37:53Kirk Herbstreit:Ten straight games with a tut. Josh Jacobs, he's on a hell of a deal. Hold on.

2:37:57Pat McAfee:Now, the boys here are pretty hot with their parlays. And now you haven't been giving them out publicly, which has certainly been a topic of conversation with you guys fucking over other members of the office without... Whoa!

2:38:10Kirk Herbstreit:We gave it out on Monday. We gave them all out on Monday. Nobody took it. Nobody listened. Sunday, fine. But Monday, we told everybody. And they wouldn't listen. And now, they're coming crawling back, asking for who's gonna score.

2:38:29Pat McAfee:Who do you guys got? Who's gonna score? I don't know yet. Josh Jacobs, 10 straight. Sounds like you like him. I mean, definitely if you want to put a touchdown from the winning team, if you want to do one of those. No, no, let's do a touchdown parlay like you guys do. He's minus 215, so yeah. Okay, tell me what a super genius you are. Josh Jacobs, minus 215. That's what I was saying. If you're going to do it with a spread just to make it a little better, you just throw in the favorite of the touchdown. But I mean. What did you guys hit? Did you guys hit a plus 800, a plus a couple big ones? Yeah, I'm running it back with the quarterback touchdown parlay.

2:39:02It was Monday. It was Caleb and JJ. I'm running it back. Jordan Love and Jaden Daniels.

2:39:08Pat McAfee:Okay. What's that? I think that's 50 for 1 ,000, I believe. Plus 2 ,000. Plus, yeah, 2 ,200. That feels like a good one. Are they letting Jordan Love run? I didn't see week one. Not much. They got unlocked. I let that thing go. I think his over-under is like six yards or something. Yeah. All right. So I'm on the Commanders plus three and a half. You're on the Packers minus three. I don't know. I think we've got a great game. Yeah. Hell yeah. We have just no shit, which is exactly where we want to be. on this glorious day. Let's remember to be a friend, tell a friend something nice that might change your life.

2:39:34Pat McAfee:We're interesting together. Team on me. We'll see you tomorrow. Overreacting all over the place. Hell yeah. Kicking off the greatest weekend of all time. Why? Because it's the next one.

2:39:45Pat McAfee:Mitt loves the over. Just a reminder. Yes, he does. I used to. Because of Mitt? Yep. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice that might change your life. Jesus Christ. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.

2:40:03Thank you.