PMS 2.0 1412 - NFL Week 3 Preview/Picks, TNF Recap, Miami Head Coach Mario Cristobal, Josh Allen, Nick Saban, & AJ Hawk

15:36Nick Saban:He is, but Ty, it sounds like we avoided disaster, right? It's not going to be a season-ender or anything? Yeah, I mean, initially, even the Schefter tweet doesn't make you feel great. But yesterday, Rap Sheet tweeted out like he blew his knee out in practice, which is what I believed. I was like, okay, well, this isn't great. And then, yeah, they run some tests. Sounds like he may have just tweaked it. And Schefter said there, another source said, he thinks he'll be fine. So if you're a Packers fan, that doesn't really give you a clean slate of, hey, we're going to be okay because Packers, like the Bills, are another one of those teams that doesn't really have a number one receiver.

16:11Like, this guy is their kind of weapon X on offense. So, yeah, I understand they're playing the Browns this weekend. But, yeah, as things are starting to really get rolling here, the Packers cannot afford to lose a guy like Tucker Kraft for multiple weeks.

16:23Pat McAfee:Packers are going to be worried about this, hey, Jay? I mean, Packers are – okay, good. Yeah, he's a monster.

16:28Nick Saban:I mean, Tucker Kraft, he's like an emotional leader and he makes plays all over the place. So, yeah, I don't know. When you say they – it seems like they got a scare, but he's not out. I don't know, what do you, like MCL piece? I don't know, something to where it's a sprain. I don't know how many weeks. Maybe put a brace on. I don't know.

16:44Pat McAfee:Maybe he scored a touchdown in practice, and he wanted to show the boys. He said, hey, boys, Tony Gonzalez tonight is going to eat the hottest hot sauce or maybe not even close to the hottest hot sauce of all time. He might see the end of Tony Gonzalez. So in honor of him, I'm going to do a dunk on the upright, you know? Maybe he yammed one so hard, ball comes down. lands on ball. Oh, could be. Quick roll of the ankle, you know, like when you're playing hoops back in the day, and everybody, oh, no, we saw that thing. And Tucker Kraft said, my ankles are pliable, bro, and he's back. Maybe that's what happened.

17:21Pat McAfee:We have no idea, right? There's been no exact reporting of what happened in practice? Yeah, correct, other than he went on the injury report, and I did see a lot of people saying, you know, they were taking a picture from back when he was in college and just saying, hey, you just got to give this guy his medicine, and he'll be fine. and his medicine in this case would be a bush light and a cigarette. I mean, he is that kind of throwback player. So we'll see. Hopefully he can still go on Sunday. But, no, I haven't heard anything other than they avoided a major scare. Maybe he tried to run through a wall over there.

17:51Pat McAfee:I could see that. Hopefully. Maybe a shoulder hurt. My shoulder head. Yeah, because he didn't have a stud finder for the wall. Yep. So, b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b. Didn't have that. So, when he was running through a wall for the Green Bay Packers, stud caught him in his shoulder. The reason why they said he avoided catastrophes is because if that's six inches, that's potentially set of mass. Yeah, and that's a whole thing. But they hung the TV. They were able to find the studs and hung the TV. So, it helped the team in the end. Yeah, he helped everybody out.

18:30Pat McAfee:And that's Tucker Craft football. Speaking about helping a team out, Jaden Daniel, mild knee sprain. We did not really think that that happened during the game. Makes sense with how he looked while he was playing against the Green Bay Packers. Obviously, Green Bay Packers' defense might be outstanding this year. It might go down as historic whenever it's all said and done. There's a real possibility of that. But Jaden Daniels looked different than what we had seen him. And then it comes out of the game a little bit injured after a wobbling here. Knee sprain. Adam Schefter alludes to it on Monday.

18:56Pat McAfee:Then he misses some practices. He missed practice again today. Aton, what's the update on Jaden Daniels right now? Yeah, I mean, this is huge. He has not practiced yet this week, and they said, hey, if he's not going to practice, he's not going to play. So that's the latest as far as, like, his current status. Marcus Mariota will go if Jaden Daniels went go. Mariota played two games last year. We had extended action where he went 18 of 23 for 205 and two touchdowns and then 15 of 18 for 161 and two touchdowns. So he had a good showing. Yeah, Mariota had a nice little showing last year with him and Cliff.

19:28but last year the story was Jaden. He was the story of the NFL in large part last year. They took him to the NFC Championship game. I don't think you need to force Jaden Daniels to play week three at home against the Raiders, and that's nothing against the Raiders. I could have said any team there, and I don't think you need to force to play Jaden Daniels, even though you came off this loss against the Green Bay Packers. But the line opened this week at seven. Then the Jaden Daniels news comes out. It's down to three. The Raiders are plus three at the Commanders. So, I mean, but as far as the season is concerned, this is huge.

20:01Like, this is – I don't know if you guys had knee things. Like, is this something, sprained knee, that just goes away with rest or one week of rest through a season?

20:11Nick Saban:I don't know, Pat. I don't know. Sprained knee usually – it's usually not ACL. You don't sprain your ACL. It's usually something around it, MCL, LCL, PCL.

20:19Pat McAfee:Yeah, sprain – also, there's something that's, like, around your knee. It's like a netting, I think, of some sort. and you can twist that. That can get twisted. And the only reason I'm saying that is because it happened to me in a training camp. How? Right before Hall of Fame game. Ball gets snapped overhead. I go back to get it. I go to pivot and turn, and my cleat just kind of gives out. Now I keep my feet, obviously, being an athlete here. But there was like a little twist, like a quick little twist. and then obviously we still go through the period and then immediately afterwards i'm like holy shit like something happened here like this hurts and then the diagnosis i got is like there's a netting outside and then you know that can get kind of convoluted a little bit so i can get like a little bruising and they're like well i was like how long is this going to be and they're like whatever your knee does so i think it's like uh i think it's one of those potentially and i was back i think uh maybe four days three days later or whatever and that was in my kicking leg so very violent parts i'm not saying that jayden doesn't do much more running but i'm just saying it was a very important part and for me it was just like a few days four or five days that i was able to get back uh but for him we have no idea what it is right that's kind of the the entire story is we don't know what it is how severe it is we just know that he's mispracticed jayden we'll miss you but mark smariota this is a revenge game oh yeah right time he had some big time plays for the Raiders.

21:49Pat McAfee:You remember that was at COVID. Yeah, and remember when Derek Carr got shot in the hamstring? Is that the one you're talking about? Yeah, and then he threw the dime to Darren Waller. Definitely Mariota makes sense. How about Pat Brock Purdy? Brock Purdy's basically forcing himself back into the starting lineup. Kyle Shanahan said that he might be able to play on Sunday. Is this strictly because Mac Jones is Kyle Shanahan's promised boy? And maybe Purdy saw Mac Jones and Shanahan make eye contact with a little too much i don't know i don't know if it was us i think it was more so mac jones on sunday looking like freaking brett farve out there putting the ball wherever the hell he wanted to dude here's another follow-up to that same knee story they bring in another punter michael pilardi lefty from tennessee i think uh he was on the carolina panthers at that point he um he comes in to do punch drills when i'm out this guy's murdering balls i mean just murdering balls and i'm like come on this gm already doesn't like me and this guy yeah this guy's hitting balls so there was a sense of i gotta i gotta get back out here as fast as possible and then we put on a firework show you know and then you go ahead and like the boomstick do its thing and then it's all of a sudden like hey let's uh make sure we all remember reality around here uh but then pilardi goes on and has like a seven-year career after that because he was so fucking good i i literally think the camp that he had with us springboarded him to go and that might happen with Mac Jones here that might happen with Mac Jones in this entire thing like he balled out and if there's another offense that has a similar style to this where it's quarterback decision making accuracy needs to be real and obviously you need to be able to lead a group it's like Mac Jones has set himself up perfectly for this Baker Mayfield run here again

23:35Nick Saban:AJ yeah I know I know they've reports that Brock could possibly be what the emergency backup quarterback they say sometimes excuse me i don't know i feel like if brock is either either you're healthy or not either you play or you don't play the emergency backup i guess if you had to put him in but i'm protecting brock purdy if i'm if i'm the niners okay brock we don't need to force you back in this early in a long season he had toe and shoulder yeah he had a throwing or non-throw double whammy i thought non-throw okay yeah that makes it much i was trying to see if there was

24:05Pat McAfee:any like did he have a bigger boot on there on the one foot where his toe was hurt like how much is he Ben Roethlisberger used to wear two sizes bigger because his ankle was so sprained every time.

24:16Nick Saban:Put a metal plate there up to his knee. Yeah, exactly. I don't know. I don't see why he wouldn't go with Mac. Is it like a baby version of turf toe? It's not turf toe, but it's similar. It's turf toe, but it's not. It's clearly not whatever Joe Burrow has. There's levels.

24:33Pat McAfee:We hope Joe Burrow is okay. A lot of people talking about the cleats he was wearing there. A lot of people talking about the cleats. What were they? What were they? They were saying, hey, that version of the Jordan was being worn by Michael Jordan whenever he said in his own documentary that his feet were bleeding and there were terrible design shoes to actually play it. But it is modern day. It is modern era. So we assume that it got better. But a lot of people are saying, hey, can't be wearing this. Can't be wearing these nice shoes. Oh, dude. If you want to be healthy. Those are so cool, though, dog.

24:59Pat McAfee:Those are so sick, though. They are sick. They are sick. I saw a lot of people talking about them. All I know is I'm going to miss the hell out of Joe Burrow being on a football field. We hope you come back better and healthier than ever. Speaking of healthier than ever, the NFL rating's gigantic. College football rating's gigantic. And I think if you look at this from just football fan perspective, where the NFL is is giving an indicator of where college football can go to. Because these are just football fans happening. Now, I know, like, I grew up in an NFL city. Okay, so the Pittsburgh Steelers, whenever they would win, the entire town was happy.

25:31Pat McAfee:Okay, so that is just kind of what I've always grown up being is an NFL fan, NFL fan. Then obviously once you start playing college football, get into college football, go through the NFL, pay attention to everybody else's school, you naturally become a college football fan the more you learn about it. Because of the pageantry, because of the tradition, because of how much everybody loves it. Because it's 100 ,000 plus going crazy and it's the only sport we have in America that can keep up with the hooligans over in Europe. But whenever you see that the Falcons and the Vikings, remember they were pitching that as Michael Penix versus J.J.

25:59Pat McAfee:McCarthy. Two relatively unknown names in the NFL. 21.5 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, and then on NBC and Peacock, 23 million for Green Bay in Minnesota. And then college, do we have the college one? Boom. Texas A &M, 9.4 million. Now, Texas A &M, Notre Dame, I understand Notre Dame, massive name. Texas A &M, I guess not nationally a gigantic name, but you can literally do the comparison here on NBC in primetime football games from Saturday night to Sunday night. It's like 9.4 million is huge. Huge. This is a gigantic game. And obviously college football is on its way up. But if you look at the numbers from Sunday night, it's like college football still has so much room to grow.

26:39Pat McAfee:That's exciting shit for me, AJ. I think that's exciting stuff for college ball.

26:43Nick Saban:Oh, it's super exciting. And they know that. That's why these college TV deals will be a big part of whatever happens in the college football landscape with the NIL and trying to make the 60 top teams and everybody else. All of that will play a factor. But you're right, there is room to grow. If you're in the NFL, are you thinking, can we still, like, where do we go from here when it comes to ratings? I mean, that's why we're going international all the time, obviously.

27:04Pat McAfee:Yeah, and by streaming platforms, obviously. I mean, them going live on YouTube. Them going live on YouTube is such a big play trying to go international. Netflix, obviously, international. Even Amazon, international stuff. So I don't know how you calculate all the numbers for these games, but whenever you talk about linear ratings just still being up into 20-plus million and only growing for a game that we didn't really know, like NFL's rating's king. Always has been, seemingly, AJ. Always has.

27:28Nick Saban:Is there a cap? Is there a point where it's like, all right, we're not going to find anybody else? I mean, you haven't even tapped into the international market. No. All the people around the world that don't even know football, really. If you could find a way to introduce it to them. These stats have come out every year for the last four years. It continually is growing year over year. So they're finding people somewhere. I mean, there's no reason to think. We live in a bubble, don't we? We live in a bubble. We assume everybody watches NFL football. There's lots and lots of people around the world, believe it or not, Con, man.

27:59Nick Saban:that do not watch NFL or college football. Yeah, no doubt about it, but that is why international is sick, and it's why it's awesome for college football. Basically, the NFL has already kind of laid out, hey, this is what you do, and this is where you can go and play. I assume, who was it that signed the London yesterday that they're going over? Arizona State. Yeah, Arizona State and someone else. They're going over to England, which is awesome. Let's go to London and already have Ireland. I assume they could easily do a Hawaii-Stanford in Australia in a few years after the NFL tested out. I assume they could easily send other Florida teams to Spain after the NFL tested out.

28:35It will. It's awesome that the number is that drastic of a separator just because you can't see, oh, there's a lot of places that will see college football for the first time that probably don't even know that it exists even though they know of the NFL. They probably aren't even that much locked into the whole entire, you know, Colts, Ohio State type vibe that, you know, college football brings.

28:58Nick Saban:Yeah, college is such a regional situation where it grows there, but then it becomes a national brand. Another team, I think, that is a national brand. Pat, who do you have with you, buddy? You got someone down there?

29:07Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, two-time national champion as a player, obviously an absolute dog. The current head coach down here at Miami, ladies and gentlemen, Mario Cristobal. Yeah, coach! what's up brother it's hot as hell down here bro so so this humidity is all day every day is this is this is mild now i mean august is about maybe twice what the what you're feeling right now this is this is on its way to being like dream weather okay so you're playing florida this weekend we talk about this in the nfl because michael lombardi brought it up uh one time whenever you're playing like miami and you're a northern team that is a weapon uh for the miami dolphins because they're in the heat they are do you view your team as maybe more cardiovascular or more conditioned because they have to train in this it's almost like training at altitude aj because of how thick it is here you're in a sauna basically all throughout do you feel like your team has an advantage because obviously not against florida but in general as a whole well we work at it you know back to the days of coach jimmy johnson he always used to tell us that football rewards those guys that are in great shape and fatigue will make cowards out of everybody if you let it so we we always ingrain that in our minds when we're training in the off season well i'll tell you what i'll become a coward real quick in this weather you know i started you know pushing the buttons how do you feel about the team this year feels like it's been fun carson beck it was talked about whenever you brought him out uh in from georgia obviously big money play is what everybody is saying big money big money that was the reports on the line you did that with cam ward as well i'm not saying the money was a part of it but i'm just saying like cam ward you bring him in to lead the team he obviously does his magic becomes the number one overall uh draft pick when you're selling Carson Beck on the program or talking to Carson Beck why do you feel like he's good for the program and when you're telling him what it could be like is this exactly what you're telling him basically is it working out exactly how you both thought it was going to be well three games in we feel awesome about the progress I mean when you watch him on film 23 had a phenomenal year and 24 he did have a good year but the pieces weren't quite in place like you had him in 23 right it was a very uh the scheme kind of morphed into something different and we felt that our offensive the line our skilled players our running game and then surrounding him with just you know a certain type of environment that he could really thrive and the guy's a competitor he's an awesome awesome teammate he's a natural leader so so far it's working out pretty well the leadership thing can we talk about how important that is whenever you bring in these veteran quarterbacks because i think the way people are talking about cam warden uh nashville right now about how like his aura it just it radiates through everybody else cam had his own way of leadership carson's style of leadership how is it in the building and uh what what can you do they compare to each other yeah i thought it was really neat because he didn't participate in spring ball so he had a watch but he was involved in every walkthrough involved in the running game pointing out protections he was always engaged and that that holds a lot of water man you know with your teammates and what he was always in there and his knowledge and the time he was investing that just gained a lot of you know attention a lot of trust from his teammates and once he started playing they saw him rip the ball And they say, okay, this guy's a dude.

32:06Pat McAfee:Hey, he looks like a veteran too. Just so comfortable. You know, running the offense. We talk about that in college football. Obviously, you've been in college football a lot longer than us and know it a lot better than us. But just having a quarterback that can operate and just get you through shit, I think is a huge advantage at the beginning of the season. Yeah, it is. You always look at your team like, what's it like right in the belly, like right in the gut, right? Your center, your quarterback, your tailback, right? Your nose tackle, your linebacker, and your safety. Is that made up of a veteran, hard-nosed, experienced crew?

32:33And we feel that when those pieces have a lot of experience and they have a lot of resilience and toughness and they're callous kind of dudes, you always got a chance to be good. Got to build through the middle, A.J.

32:42Pat McAfee:Hawk. Mike Linebacker back there has a question for you, Coach.

32:45Nick Saban:Yeah, Coach, what are you expecting this Florida Gators team coming in Saturday night? Obviously, they're going to be kind of upset coming off a loss. But what kind of challenges do they present to your team? Well, they're one of the most talented teams we've seen in four years. They've got speed. They've got size. They've got great scheme, great coaching. I mean they're as good as again as any team that we have faced so we always expect everybody's best and we're looking forward to an unbelievable opportunity.

33:07Pat McAfee:Florida games, obviously you know you went to the U. Florida games always have a little extra juice you know especially this year felt like everybody was going to go on a run and then obviously Florida has their little bit of a slide but I feel like from what I've been told from Florida boys that does not matter. A lot of people know a lot of each other here and every time you play each other it's a very familiar style of game against the guys. Yeah, I mean rivalry games across the country, right? You're never all the way in the win column. You're never way all the way out of the loss column like it's always a back and forth the energy the intensity all the hype and noise surrounding it It's it's a different level and so our job is to make sure that becomes A non-factor and that we focus on doing our job and not letting anything get in the way of that But the intensity that these guys knowing that they know each other since high school Youth football you name it.

33:55They play each other for a long long time So the intensity is through the roof.

33:57Pat McAfee:How often do you guys jump in that big-ass pool I just walked by? They got a huge pool in the middle of the campus. Must be nice. Yeah, I think there's a high dive. Yeah, there it is. There it is right there. I mean, there's a high dive that's over there. I mean, the campus is alive. That's our freshman dorms, the condos right there that overlook that. And then, you know, good recruiting opportunity here. We got a wall there. Marty just told me we got no shot at getting that. Condo man, no shot. He said, we ain't got it. Can't get to the pool. But beautiful campus feels alive, too, very much alive.

34:26It is. I mean, they have our president, Joe Cheverie, has done an unbelievable job. And then those that have come before, I mean, they have built, it almost looks like a resort in a private school setting. So that's hard to beat. So we're super blessed, man.

34:40Pat McAfee:Yeah, it is a resort diet, boys. I can see how people kind of move. Yeah, it looks nice. Tone has a question for you back in the Thunderdome, Coach. Yeah, Coach, I do. A lot of people already talking about how you might have the best O-line, D-line combo in the entire country. And obviously you've paid quarterback the last two years because that's the most important position in sports. But after that, do you know and is it part of your philosophy like, hey, we need to get O-line, D-line right before we do anything else? I think you have to because those are two positions that take a little bit longer to develop than the other ones.

35:13I mean, you see a lot of plug-and-play receivers, running backs, DBs. and the big guys right they have to get bigger stronger their bodies have to be accustomed to all that pounding and whatnot against bigger bodies so we uh we certainly felt that that was

35:24Pat McAfee:the path for us to start rebuilding miami can you talk about the miami legends michael irvin okay i saw him last night he was all jacked up on the internet talking about hitting a siren they missed a game last week he wouldn't miss this one we see him on the sideline i think he's on all fours sometimes he's alongside of it obviously ray ed reggie wayne i mean the rock obviously is an alumni member here yourself it's like is it starting to feel a certain way back here in Coral Gables you know is there is that conversation taking place about how when the football team is great the entire university maybe has a different type of aura around it well you know I mean I've been coming to this campus since I was knee-high brother I want to be a Miami Hurricane my whole life and I'm a nobody compared to those legends you mentioned but the attraction was seeing these monsters he's like absolute legends come back all the time and be involved in giving back and impacting the players on the team the fact that they're back the fact that we're improving and we got a long ways to go we don't we know we have a lot of improvement to do but to see the momentum that's being generated brother we just want to work we just want to like shut out all the bullshit and just get right at it get to work yeah and just go get better you know we play an awesome team on Saturday tomorrow we just want to get to work man I love everything about that also I love that not only just shut out all the noise and work.

36:44Pat McAfee:I heard your jujitsu guy. Is that accurate? You want to fight me right now? I almost shot out you right there. I want to let you know. I didn't know what our relationship was. You better fuck the love. I didn't know what our relationship was. You better fuck the love, brother. Okay, okay, okay, okay. I didn't know what our relationship was. I don't know. If you were to watch that clip back, you would see me looking at you and literally just like figuring out whether or not I should fake for a single leg right now. I'm happy I didn't. Look at his ass. He's ready to punch me in the face. He's ready to punch me in the face.

37:10Pat McAfee:We'll see. We'll see. We still got some time left on this. The Talks at Table has a question for you, Coach. Yeah, Coach. You were a walking pancake block back in the day, by the way. Don't be so humble in comparison to those other guys you just mentioned. But with everything Pat just mentioned about this team and how you guys do block all the bullshit out, if you could maybe mentally go back to when you were that walking pancake block for the U in the 90s, how much of this team reminds you of those teams that you won the Natty with back then? Is it a very close team? How's the camaraderie? Do you see the same trajectory and path that you went on back in the day as this team does this year?

37:51I think that was a time and a place that will never be duplicated. I just got to be honest with you. It was a day and age before. Social media, cell phones. That was a really edgy bunch. These dudes were real now. They were awesome teammates. Within a week of being on campus, you were part of the brotherhood and life changed forever and so what we're trying to do now and our players our former players are helping us we're trying to kind of get away from going back we're trying to get into moving forward moving miami forward and the principles and values of what those guys implemented here be a huge part of that that's what we're trying to do but do you sometimes have flashbacks from some of those incredible incredibly talented and you know half crazy players that i had a chance to play with absolutely and and god bless man that was that was the best part about being a miami hurricane i mean i mean i'm gonna live and die being a miami hurricane i love it and the fact that uh we're starting to get better we got a long ways to go the momentum is real the fact that you guys are here is an honor and we just want to get focused on the game that's a great pound wow he's

38:56Pat McAfee:trying to set the tone right there yeah the hard pound right there yeah just hear the single leg over here. Way to stay alert. I see that. Show me your set. I know you were taking a couple more. I'm a sprawl, man. Check this out, coach. We've got to work on that, man. We've got a lot of work. Show him the screen. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. Here we go. Boom, we kick. Bang! You see that? And then we're out. You got Aiden Hutchinson, coach. You got Aiden Hutchinson at the Super Bowl. Well, you wouldn't be getting much NIL from us with that technique. Jeez Louise. I thought we were handing out bags of cash around here.

39:39Pat McAfee:The toxic table has another question for you, Coach. Yeah, Coach, speaking of that, you mentioned how these in-state games tend to be a little bit different. Last week, South Florida. This week, Florida. And then obviously, not looking ahead, but you have Florida State. When it comes to recruiting, how important are these in-state games? Will you notice sometimes that your entire recruiting class can maybe shift a little bit if you aren't successful in these games? Because we obviously know the U is at its best when you guys recruit Florida the way that you have. Well, I think performance on the field and trajectory of a program always has an impact on recruiting.

40:16These things go down to the wire, man. You see some big-time victories in September, and then you see some flips and some other drastic changes in recruiting. I mean, it's almost like, yep, there's a football season, but there's also a recruiting season. And a lot of times it's tied to it. But with these three schools, don't be surprised the way that it goes in so many different directions. So I'll focus on just busting your butt, man, and doing everything possible to get the right type of guys here, man.

40:42Pat McAfee:Isn't that what they always say? Like, you don't like recruiting? Isn't that what everybody always says about you? No, no. We get after it. Yeah, they say you recruit 25 hours a day. Isn't that what they say? The goat of recruiting. The reason Bama was Bama, some people would say. It's because of you recruiting 25 hours a day. It's a product of when everybody gets on board. You know what I mean? Recruiting is never a one-man show. It's a buy-in from everybody. And quite honestly, it's, I mean, these players, their families, they can see if a guy's full of you-know-what. If you truly believe in what you're selling and, yeah, and if you want people to come in, right, and be like for real and be part of it, then I think they see right through the reel and the BS, and we've had a great track record, so we want to keep attracting the best of the best.

41:26Pat McAfee:Yeah, well, it's fun that your team is very good, and it is exciting that game day is here. You need to know that. We are very thankful whenever we get a chance to go to places, especially me, that I've never been before for this show. I'm very thankful to learn about how it operates around here. I'm excited to see your fan base. I'm excited to see you tomorrow morning. I'm pumped to kind of feel what a game day is here because obviously this place has a lot of history in the sport of football. Go ahead, A.J. Hawk.

41:50Nick Saban:Yeah, Coach, you mentioned recruiting. When you are recruiting, where do you take them? There's so many options you have, I think, there in the Miami area that college cities do not have what you guys have. I would imagine that's a huge weapon. What do you do typically if you bring a big five-star in for an official visit? Where are you taking them? Like you mentioned, there's so many places. It starts with campus. I mean, this thing has exploded into being one of the nicest places in the country. And again, we're in Coral Gables, so you want to show them Coral Gables and where 95 % of their life is going to take place.

42:23And in the day and age of NIL, we're very well postured to present a model that's both private from an academic setting, private from a take care of your business in a football setting, but also from a business standpoint, being in economically, you know, the fastest growing city in the world. So there's a lot to sell. I'm not going to give up our, you know, where are we going, what not to pass that information on, but you guys are more than welcome. and we'll take you guys to those spots if you want to. I think you'll like it.

42:49Pat McAfee:We'd like to go on a recruiting visit here. I think that would be a fun time. The fastest growing city in America, Miami, is that what you said? Economically. There's a lot of money coming here. Good time to have that. Also, good time to be a great recruiter. Do you hate the one transfer portal window in winter? The way it sounded like every college coach that I've talked to, anonymously of course, has said, happy that it's not two windows but i think everybody would have preferred the spring one in the football world do you agree or not agree with that man there's no perfect answer i mean the one everybody's all for the one you wish there was some type of waiver where if it was in the middle or when i say the middle of the actual football season fall and spring if it was in january february you wish there was some type of waiver that allowed you to visit guys and they could start school a little bit later as opposed to scrunching it in that short window because it's really, it's not fair to anybody.

43:42So we're all trying to find the answers. It's imperfect, but adapt or die, man. It's that simple.

43:47Pat McAfee:Yeah, it was a big decision, I think, that was made this week by the NCAA, having the one transfer portal. It's a wild time, and I appreciate you saying adapt or die. I was like, see, I would have got this. AJ, AJ, did you see that? I got these. I wore my Adidas shoes down here for you guys, too. Yeah. Hey, what's the roll around? I'm about to choke his ass out. Yeah, please do, Coach.

44:07Nick Saban:Can you show us what that might look like? You don't have to do it, but can you show us what the technique looks like, maybe?

44:12Pat McAfee:You're talking about my technique, AJ?

44:13Nick Saban:No, if Coach got you in a rear naked choke, he'd have to squeeze and put you out.

44:17Pat McAfee:We know what a rear naked choke looks like. I don't think he has to show it, AJ. Look at that power stance. Right leg, back right there. He's ready to throw one. Holy shit. Maybe he's an arm bar guy. Jeez Louise, Coach. Calm down. Are you an arm bar guy? What are you? Are you a choke guy? Are you a heel hook guy? What type of jujitsu guy are you? What is your move? No speak English.

44:41Nick Saban:You ever roll with Jake Lazor?

44:44Pat McAfee:Have you ever rolled with anybody that is fighting? Like that currently that we would know that are fighters? Do you go to any of the fighting gyms or anything like that? We get a chance to go to a lot of the events that are in town and whatnot. Long story for another day. How'd you get into it? Jiu-Jitsu is... Yeah, like Joe Mazzula, Pat. Joe Mazzula. He's got to stay focused. He's got to stay focused on a game. Big game against Florida. I can't be talking about how I rip people's heads off. That is not what we're doing right now. We're trying to win a game tomorrow against Florida. We appreciate your hospitality.

45:13Pat McAfee:This is beautiful. Good luck tomorrow, man. Thank you for having me, guys. Thank you so much.

45:17Nick Saban:Coach Mario Cristobal. Coach Mario Cristobal. He just didn't want to rip Pat's head off, right? Is that what it is? I might be getting this wrong. I get the impression that he's a no-nonsense.

45:35Nick Saban:That's amazing. I love how he's stuck with it. Long story, long story. He wasn't kidding either. When Pat shot for that fake single leg, right away, cocked, ready to go. And he's the man. Huge. I mean, he's an impressive situation. I mean, guys love him. That's why he's a great recruiter. He's, like you say, no nonsense. I think he's still coaching his guys hard. Oh, yeah. I don't think we can coach guys like we used to. I think he coaches guys like he wants to, exactly, and he holds them accountable. Yeah, and that Bama thing's real. He was a recruiting coordinator in the teeth of their dynasty.

46:06or whatever, I think, or 2013, whatever, yeah, the whole time. It was insane. It was from – And no line, they had just dominant offensive line. Yeah, it was incredible, and that was all him. And I don't think a lot of people know that. I didn't know that until, you know, before the season started, and I think we talked to him, and that was kind of the, oh, holy shit, this guy basically really did recruit all the biggest guys that have come through Bama that you're thinking of in your head right now, you know, after 2014 or whenever the hell it was. Well, and then people kind of forget he had to transition Oregon from the Chip Kelly era, which was just all speed and all smaller guys, into what they currently are.

46:42He was the bridge between –

46:44Nick Saban:He had to rebuild the whole roster. Yeah, and they won multiple Pac-12 championships when he was there. It was like a can Oregon win the big game type thing while he was there. But he's now done it with Oregon, turning that program – not turning it around, but transitioning it into what it is now, and then Miami definitely turning it around and bringing it back. And people kind of killed him a little bit when he left Oregon to go to Miami, too, even though he went there and obviously was very successful there. But it was like, what the hell are you doing? And then early on, a couple of those things happened.

47:14And I don't want to say people were calling for his job because that's not the right way to put it. But it was loud. And then for them to look at where they're at right now, it's like they're arguably the best team in college football right now.

47:26Nick Saban:Man, which is wild to think of. Did we get an answer? Is Michael Irving going to be on the sideline? It seemed like it. Yes, it sounded like he said he would not miss this one. This does feel like one of the bigger Miami rovers because there are a bunch of them, but is the U, is it this one or Florida State probably? Florida State is the biggest one. Florida State, yeah, sure. Yeah, but I can imagine if you could have Michael Irvin on the sideline, I'm having Michael Irvin on the sideline. Fun little fact about the Miami schedule, they only leave Florida three times the entire season, and they don't leave Florida.

47:56The first time they leave Florida is November 1st to go to SMU in Texas. So they won't feel any type of cold, most likely, until that November 22nd and 29th games against Virginia Tech and Pitt. So a nice little wrinkle to their schedule to start the year. Yeah, nice little flight for Stanford, too, October 25th. Coming down to Miami.

48:16Nick Saban:That's not a bad deal. I take that all day long, I guess, right? Tone, what are people thinking about – what are the gamblers thinking about this game? Yeah, everyone's on Miami. What's the line? It moved from seven to eight and a half at a couple books. So it's trending up just because Miami, they haven't looked great in every single game and area so far versus Florida, who people are coming off back-to-back weeks where they lost to USF and then Lagway threw five interceptions last week at LSU, even though 20-10 against LSU at LSU. With five picks. With five picks. Five picks is wild. One of them being a pick six is not a bad result.

48:53So this is a dangerous game for Miami, especially with Florida State next week. But I assume they're going to be ready and they're going to take this one super seriously and then put pressure on Lagway to hopefully, you know, kind of cause those same turnovers that LSU did last night.

49:06Nick Saban:Absolutely. I think Pat and Coach have wrapped up. Pat, what's going on, buddy? How are you?

49:12Pat McAfee:Dude, it was a great time.

49:13Nick Saban:I don't know if you know, Miami baseball team, national champs.

49:16Pat McAfee:Hell yeah. I'm on the team.

49:17Nick Saban:That's sick.

49:18Pat McAfee:They've seen what I did with the Washington Wild thing. They've seen my on-base percentage. They saw what I did in the outfield and they said, you know what? GM said for Miami baseball, I said, you know what? Get the guy a tarp, bro. All right, let's go Hurricanes. Let's go win another one. That is awesome. You know what we do, Ty? Ty, you know what we do? What's that? We got quick pop times. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We sent it around.

49:37Nick Saban:You learned from Jason Taylor. What position are you playing in the field? You playing catcher?

49:43Pat McAfee:No, right field. He's playing right field.

49:45Nick Saban:Okay.

49:46Pat McAfee:Thank you. Yeah, they saw me. I'm already a professional, so I actually had to go through an entire NCAA thing because I played for the Washington Wild things, as you remember. We're in, what Farm League was that? It wasn't called Bush League. No, it was something similar. No, it was the Frontier League. Frontier, there it is. It was not Bush League. Definitely not Bush League. It was not Bush League. I agree. Washington Wild Things do not run a Bush League operation. They run a great operation. They do. If you get to a game, you should go. Good beers, good food, good times, good vibes. Washington Wild Things baseball.

50:17Pat McAfee:And obviously we lost by 40 the game that I played. All because of me, I think, Ty. No, absolutely not. The pitcher that game got roughed up a little bit. Couldn't get an out, unfortunately. And actually kept Pat quite busy in right field, believe it or not. What was the biggest crowd you've ever seen? You did. The pitcher was a bit nervous. It was the biggest crowd he's ever pitched in front of. And he did not handle the lights well. I couldn't believe it. I saw the lineup card. I was like, Jesus Christ, they got five lefties in the lineup. They're just going to be peppering balls to Pat all night.

50:45But he hung in there.

50:47Pat McAfee:So that's what happened. So that's what happened, actually. Ty told the pitcher that. before the game Ty goes hey saw the lineup a lot of lefties that's going to pad a lot and he goes yeah that's what the pitcher said that was his response yeah that was two hours before the game so I think he was maybe defeated before he even stepped foot on that mat I think potentially and I'll tell you what some guy hit a home run on him that's still going do you remember that oh yeah oh yeah what was that maybe the second out or something go ahead Ty I'm sorry no I was going to say They had that massive batter's eye out in, God, I can't.

51:22It was like right center maybe. Yeah, and this guy hit it. It landed in Morgantown, actually. Maybe 250 feet over that. It's still going. It's still going.

51:31Pat McAfee:It might have been the biggest home run ever hit in a baseball game that was being watched by people. That is the biggest ball I think I've ever seen. And obviously it was nice to play baseball. So shout out to GM from the Miami baseball team. Back to what you were saying about Florida-Miami. Obviously, huge implications here. If Miami wins this one, obviously, they still got Florida State, but they're really on a let's go. There's a conversation tomorrow at the beginning of game day that's like there's a lot of teams right now in college ball that are undefeated. It's like one of them probably going to have a great run, at least one of these teams that are kind of not normally in the conversation.

52:06Pat McAfee:And last year, especially with the new 12-team CFP, if you're in an ACC or Big 12, you still have ways in, even multiple people. So there's a lot of teams right now that I don't think we would normally be chatting about a potential championship run. And maybe we're still not at that point yet. But it's like there's some schools that are going to go on some magical runs this year that we're going to talk about all season. And I'm excited about it. I think the NIL and transfer portal has brought that to fruition. There's also some teams in the NFL now. One team, I guess, the Miami Dolphins, 0-3.

52:35Pat McAfee:0-3. There's some completely defeated teams who have yet to play their week three NFL game. But we're staring down potential 0-3s for a lot of these teams. In the stats, the way they talk about 0-3 teams having success, it's like there's none of them. There is no success for 0-3 teams. And I think that's scary whenever you look at that list of teams that are completely defeated and could be staring us down, especially teams that we had a lot of high hopes for, A.J. Hawk. Whatever you put the – yeah, there we go. So look at the teams that we have on here. Yeah, Chiefs as well, too. Could you imagine if the Chiefs – yeah.

53:12Pat McAfee:How's that happen? No idea. Good question. The whole reason of the graphic was for the Chiefs, wasn't it? Yeah, Chiefs and Texans. Yeah, that was the whole reason. Like, actually, I think that – AJ, you were actually there for the entire conversation, I think, weren't you?

53:28Nick Saban:Yeah, I was because we're trying to figure out, hey, who has a chance that is completely defeated right now? The Chiefs are one of those things you kind of have to.

53:34Pat McAfee:The whole thing was like, are the Chiefs going to miss the playoffs? Are the Chiefs going to miss the playoffs? Like, if they end up going 0-3, are they going to miss the playoffs? No way, A.J. Hawk. We're not putting the Chiefs in that department yet, are we? But stats will say there's a chance if they don't pick up a dub here.

53:50Nick Saban:Yeah, you just have no room for error, I feel like. If you fall behind 0-3, imagine, like, up against every single game. You're thinking, okay, every third down we don't convert. Oh, there it goes. Our season, we're screwed now. We have no chance. Well, and the other thing, too, is, like, we just watched last night with Josh Allen, and it feels like it used to be Mahomes that was that guy, and it's not right now. Like Josh Allen, we said, he doesn't really have a number one, and he's just kind of slinging the ball around, just distributing whoever's open. Whereas the Chiefs, they have Kelsey, sure, but they don't have a true number one, and they don't have the same type of kind of flair that the Bills have had.

54:26They don't have James Cook either. James Cook is legit, man.

54:30Nick Saban:I love watching that guy run. If you look at those teams up there right now, and the Chiefs were favored to win their division, then Texans were favored to win their division. So those are like the two surprises right now. Both those teams are on the road this week. Texans are going to the Jags. They're actually one-point dogs. And then Chiefs going on the road to the Giants on Sunday night, minus five and a half point favor. They've got to beat the Giants, right? Could you imagine if they lose to the New York football Giants on Sunday night football, what the reaction will be Monday?

55:00Pat McAfee:day oh my god it'll be historic from people that aren't chiefs fans now chiefs fans will still be bummed out but boy the rest wow hey that's good hey that's great work hey that's why you gotta point things out that are wrong so there's an opportunity to correct and make it even better good work boys we got better today grody we did get better as a team now we had two bags of chips and a donut. Less than 30 seconds after Bull Rush leaves, that's underdosed. But we're able to obviously adapt and make some magic here, which we respect and appreciate. But the entire world, if the Kansas City Chiefs were to go completely defeated 0-3 and be a part of that statistic, as only one team since 2000, if ever, has made the playoffs after starting 0-3, man, people would be dancing on their graves so loud.

55:50Pat McAfee:And Connor, you know that because it was what everybody did to the Patriots whenever they were on their run, anytime they would lose a couple games. Yeah, exactly. You're kind of setting yourself up for one of those you're on to Cincinnati situations, especially when you do look back. Historically throughout the dynasty, the Patriots' September record was never good, and it feels like that might be the little overreaction is that Mahomes is a god in September. Everyone says he never loses. It's always a hot start, and that's not happening this year. So the overreaction is even more so, not to mention the Taylor Swift-Travis stuff over the summer.

56:22Like, everything is so bad for the Chiefs right now on the outside that it makes me think, like, probably the right time to bet them to win the Super Bowl is right now.

56:32Pat McAfee:That's good. Yeah. Actually. For sure. I mean, actually.

56:35Nick Saban:They usually win these games. AJ. They usually win them in these tough games, I feel like.

56:39Pat McAfee:AJ, I don't know if the clock's on or not, so you're going to have to take this thing home. What I will say is you're doing a great job. You're doing a great job.

56:46Nick Saban:Hey, you're doing a great job. I don't know why Coach wouldn't get you in a headlock or talk really about his jiu-jitsu history right there. I thought for sure he was going to take you down. You guys might get on the ground and roll around a bit, right? Maybe next time, huh? Yeah, he – We're going to get out of here. We'll see you in the next hour. Josh, Nick Saban, see 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.

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57:55Nick Saban:Football! It was played last night. Obviously, the Buffalo Bills took on the Miami Dolphins, 131-21. Pat is down there for a huge matchup, Miami Hurricanes, Florida Gators. What's going on, Pat?

58:06Pat McAfee:I just talked to the president of the university right over here. What? I think I'm going to throw this thing up right there. He is. Great story on him, by the way. So he was sitting in the game day meeting. When I walked in there, he was in the room already, big room. These schools give us a room to set up. Some places only have like a smaller room for us all to kind of pack into. We're cool with whatever. We know it's difficult whenever we come in, try not to take up too much space. Big space here. This big, big, huge area. We go in through a back door, up through a kitchen. I mean, it was, this has been the greatest setup by far.

58:38Pat McAfee:Just no questions asked. Just one day. So I walk into the production room. We go into the production room. This guy, great suit right at the door. Literally turn, suit, shake his hand. You know, and he goes, why is this guy calling me? he's talking to pete tamill why is this guy calling me a suit and i just like pointed at him basically like what he was wearing and i was like good to see you and i shook pete's hand and i go in and i sit down uh four minutes later meeting starts pete tamill introduced president of the university right great this is good news so he gives a speech obviously welcoming us thanking us for coming uh and then i uh i apologize obviously so sorry that i just called you a suit then i learned about his history this guy is set up to be a i think he used to run a pretty uh wide money oh yeah like international and then he was retired in the area and then they were looking for a president and it's like this could be a guy that maybe just you know lives in the area and he's because i mean since then you've just seen like new building new building new building football team going up know like this guy's the real it's like the perfect guy to be i think almost other schools should look at like hey in this modern era it's business now right not that you know not that it ever hasn't been but more so now than it's ever been i think this president of miami is very good from just quickly being here just a couple hours and hearing people without being like told to complimenting this dude like hey the president this guy is all weapon basically like the way they talk about him so whenever you talk about everybody being aligned it feels like at miami right now Everybody is aligned in the same direction about 2025 and forward being the greatest it could be.

1:00:18Pat McAfee:So it's awesome to be down here. And I'm thankful the football season is happening. And this game day show, you know, drops us in the middle of places that I've never been before. And I think tomorrow morning should be electrifying, A.J. Hawk. I think it should be electrifying down here. Hot as shit, but I think it should be electrifying.

1:00:32Nick Saban:Yeah, so where are you guys going to be? I think we have pictures or graphics. You're not obviously at the stadium. You're on campus. Like, are you set up right in the middle of their quad or whatever it's called?

1:00:40Pat McAfee:Yeah, so the stadium is like 45 minutes to an hour away. Okay, obviously space. And I don't know where the hell party is going right now. His cameraman sucks, man. He's overcompensating. I have no idea where you're headed right now. The stadium, though, hey, don't you even think party has been crushing it here. Party has been crushing it. He's tried too hard. He spoke Spanish to Coach Cristobal. If my ears weren't mistaken, I mean, there was a full moment there. with party and football. But the stadium is like 45 minutes to an hour away. So I wondered as well, like what the hell is going to happen on campus.

1:01:18Pat McAfee:Obviously, it's a night game as well. So on campus, everybody will be here. Freshman dorms are there. There's places a lot. This campus is alive. The most alive campus that we've been on. And it's because it's like a resort, you know. It's a massive week. Like people want to get out and about. Like there's hangout. It's really nice. I feel like I hear party. Do I hear party music right now? Is that what you hear? Mr. Brightside. There's a pool. yeah there's a pool right here in the middle of campus i mean it's like so my campus everything you i did not have a campus whole duquesne well bingo that's what i'm saying like everything you think neither at west virginia we had a couple apartments had these pools and i'll tell you what we played some pool volleyball some places and i had some moments right that was just a game bro and take that thing down but everything you think of like the university of miami like what do you palm trees like you know every like this glitz the glamour the show the nice the pool the resort like it's every it's a it is like that is what they they have done so good for them private institution too that's been said norm numerous times so i think they're very proud of that i think that is something that they are also take a lot of pride in so it's great to be here but yeah you're hearing a little party in the background because that's what party in the city where the heat is on all night and i mean to the break of dawn welcome to miami still doing it he's actually the guest picker this week will smith people was busy actually people was busy and then i think ricky rouse potentially said no and then will smith because of that one hit miami i'm not sure he was asked morgan wallen also has a hit called miami i'm not sure he was asked but tomorrow having two times stanley cup champion matthew kachuk come by i am jacked up about this i I didn't think he would be – when his name was said, that came out of nowhere for me.

1:02:58Pat McAfee:I did not expect Kachuk, especially because of all the football. But what he has obviously brought to South Florida, and he calls his place home, and I assume the energy that he is going to bring is going to be spectacular. And I can't wait to see him. And I'm happy the NHL is representing here on game day because I think it's the first time ever, AJ, if I'm not mistaken.

1:03:16Nick Saban:Is it really? First time in NHL, like a current – I don't doubt that. Past NHL guy? It is, yeah. Makes sense. then kachuk is the perfect dude for that we know he's gonna fit in i agree are we drinking out of that thing what's going on is uh is he bringing it does he have lordo he's gonna have to it's

1:03:33Pat McAfee:oh mikey you are definitely out of it yeah well they better be it's gone lordo is matthew kachuk's tag team park yeah go where one goes the other goes that's kind of how hockey's going right now we don't know if stanley cup's gonna be here we don't know but if it's if it's not i'm gonna be bummed out, but I'll be pumped to see Chuck. But if it is here, what a glorious Saturday morning as we kick off another incredible football weekend. Big game tonight. Gumpy, big game tonight. You're jacked up about Iowa Rutgers. Yeah, you're muted. Gonna be a banger. Are you muted? Did you hear him? No, we got him.

1:04:06Pat McAfee:Okay, so I can't hear any of the microphones up here. Not sure if it was from your mic, though, or from his mic. Could you hear Coach Cristobal? Yeah. Yes. You couldn't? No, I almost took the ears out to hear him up there. But then I was like, oh, no, can he not hear himself either? Does he think he's potentially – like, does he think this is not – because I thought maybe he was going to beat me up for like a – He was looking. He was looking. He certainly was. Okay, what's the games we need to be excited about this weekend, though, boys? You can go to the Talks to the Table at Boston Conner, at Ty Schmidt.

1:04:39Pat McAfee:Obviously, there's one half of the hammer. Don, Cowboys, AP Tone. Ty, what are the games we need to be looking forward to this weekend? It could be college. It could be NFL. What are you getting zeeked up about? Is it West Virginia at Kansas? 13.5 points spread there as West Virginia has no shot, just trying to get a first down there. Obviously, Michigan-Nebraska, that's a big one in the Big Ten. What game are you looking at, Ty? Illinois, oh my God, and Bloomington. I'd say Michigan-Nebraska typically because I think that will be a good game, but for me, it's got to be Illinois-Indiana. I don't think in my lifetime this game has ever mattered.

1:05:17I really don't think it has. I don't think anyone's... I think 1950 was the last time it was a top 25. Yeah, there you go. Exactly. 1950 was the last time this was a top 25 matchup. Usually these two teams, for the better part of my life, have been also rands in the Big Ten. It's just like, hey, chalk that up as a win. Illinois sucks. Indiana sucks. We're going to beat the shit out of them. And like Stanford Steve said on another college football convo, this is basically a playoff eliminator. So anytime you can get one of those this early in the season, I'll be very excited to watch that game.

1:05:52Pat McAfee:You know, the college football season has lived up to the hype. You know what else does as I'm noticing and watching, and I don't want to be like an ADD guy with a squirrel here, Mr. Brightside hits everywhere. Did you see it last night? Yeah. That was spectacular. I mean, there was one guy who was drunk in front Dolphins fan where there's two people singing behind him and they're singing Brightside behind. I think everybody on earth, Every age knows the lyrics to that, AJ, I think. I think that is a natural sing-along song.

1:06:19Nick Saban:Yeah, what is it? How many years ago? Is that 20 years old at least? At least, probably. Yeah. That's wild. I mean, yeah, many stadiums, I think. It's a thing. Is that at the pool party behind you that's playing that? It's pretty loud.

1:06:29Pat McAfee:I think so, yeah. I believe it is. They got good speakers here, obviously. You got high dives down there, Miami? There is a high dive here. I've been staring this thing down. I'm like, wait a minute. That doesn't look as high as what I thought it was. Yeah, do they got some of them gators down there? So there's like natural free water back here, and I do wonder if there's a gator roaming around. Because if there is a gator roaming around, you've got to grab a bot's tail. That's with Steve Irwin. Shout out to Steve Irwin's family. Foxy, update on the Irwin family. Robert Irwin absolutely dominated on episode one of Dancing with the Stars on Tuesday.

1:07:05Pat McAfee:He was outstanding. He stole the show. Shout out Robert Irwin. Okay. He told me he was crocodile mostly because of where he's from, Rob's dad, Steve, there, obviously. But you've got to grab the tail of that thing. You've got to grab the tail, and then you moth the back towards the upper shoulders, and then you grab the moth with your two hands like this, and then you need to gator roll the gator and get it upside down because then it will fall asleep. If you get it upside down, that thing will fall asleep. and I did that type of preparation as I was heading down here to Florida. I just want to let you guys know I did my research.

1:07:41Pat McAfee:So if you guys see a gator here during the show, please tell me and know that I have a plan. Prepare for everything, surprise by nothing.

1:07:52Nick Saban:Well said. Gumpy's got to get the tape out and tape his mouth shut, though. Yeah, put a towel over his eyes because he's much more docile when there's a towel over his eyes. Yeah, if you paint it, too, it dies because it breathes through its body. So if you paint an alligator, it can't breathe. It's whole body? That would be real easy to do. No, no. If you just have a can of paint and you dump it on the alligator, it will slowly, slowly die. It's true.

1:08:14Pat McAfee:Well, then how do you know if it's a boy or a girl? Don't you got to kind of get up in there, I think? Dumpy might do that, I guess. There you go. Or you could always go the Jeff Landry route and just shoot that gator square in between the eyes. No, don't. Real quick now. Just let that gator. Just let that gator go back to bed now, gator. We are awaiting Josh Allen to join us fresh off a massive AFC East win. Why is this conversation going the way it's going? Well, we are awaiting the MVP. We hope he does make an appearance soon so it can stop. We got two minutes. Okay. All right. That's two. All right.

1:08:51One. Hey, another one of those good games is Auburn, Oklahoma. I like when Auburn's great at football. I didn't realize they were back in the top 25. This would be kind of sweet if War Eagle all of a sudden doesn't stink and the SEC just adds another Titan back to their repertoire. That would be pretty cool.

1:09:10Pat McAfee:I mean, you talk about adding a Titan. I mean, if Oklahoma was to be added as a Titan to the SEC, that would be a big deal, you know? And this might be the first time, long time, that we've seen Brett Venables have an offense that's able to match how great his defense is. Now, I know I was told this morning in a meeting, obviously can't forget about the Dylan Gabriel year whenever he was with Venables at Oklahoma, and I agree. Obviously, Dylan Gabriel was able to do his thing. But what the Oklahoma offense is with that guy right there, Mateer, who obviously has had to transfer, and he came alongside his offense, a coordinator, and what he's been able to add to this Oklahoma Sooner football team is an explosive offense and an awesome offense, a reliable offense, and one that isn't going to turn it over, just a quick three and outs, so that the Venables defense can hunt, which they will do.

1:09:52Pat McAfee:I like this Oklahoma team a lot, AJ. That's after going there and experiencing it, too, and seeing them and feeling what it's like out there. They think they're all the way back, too, out there in boomer sooner world.

1:10:04Nick Saban:I tell you what, with Matier, how athletic Matier is and how reckless he is sometimes with his body, and he does not care about his physical well-being, which I respect as a quarterback. I am an absolute fan. And the Jordan armband, wristband on the right arm looks legit, too, with the beautiful spat and the pants up above him. He looks good, man. He's an athlete.

1:10:23Pat McAfee:You know what he is? He's a white quarterback that runs and looks athletic. He reminds me a lot of the guy that's joining us right now, the reigning MVP, a man who has been the leader of the Buffalo Bills for a long enough time for us to know that the Buffalo Bills are going to win a Super Bowl soon. Is it this year? We shall see. Ladies and gentlemen, the unstoppable, huge hand-having, friend of Phyllis and Dee, ladies and gentlemen, Josh Allen.

1:10:50Nick Saban:Yeah, Josh! What's up, dude? How we doing, guys?

1:10:58Pat McAfee:Heard you ran into CD last night. Is that accurate? not falling for it not falling could you imagine though if we get you on espn as soon as you pop your face on with that broken nose i get you a cds nuts immediately that would have been spectacular i like that you are a weapon around the locker room i think you look good i want to talk about last night with the visor was there any change did you feel different i know you weren't in college and how long is this going to last you think with this massive nose and snozz that you have going on right now hopefully hopefully not too long but i think kind of going back to last year i put the glove on after week one when i had a little hand injury and uh you know a little nose injury put the visor on so we might have to keep rocking it we'll we'll see how it goes i think it looked cool let's put a little tin on there you know why not let's go ahead and get the sleeve on you know let's let's start swagging out here a little bit yeah maybe the mirror yeah maybe the yeah i know he has the red one i think he has the red visor too oh something but okay let's not do it training camp.

1:11:57Pat McAfee:The red one, right? Yeah. Let's do that. Let's do that again. We need the MVP wearing a red visor out there, especially for the last year in that particular stadium. And obviously, Bill's Mafia shows up every single night, and last night was no difference. Let's talk about your offense. Kirk Herbstreit said last night during the game, and I've mentioned it a couple times because this is what the expectation is of your offense now. He said, if the Miami Dolphins defense can get a stop, I think they should view that as a success and I think you would have said that about a lot of defenses right now.

1:12:26Pat McAfee:What is it about your offense that has you guys clicking so much and what are you excited about with this year's particular offense? Yeah I think we just got a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things. Obviously we're running the ball really well. James Cook looks like he's shot out of cannon every time he touches the football. Our O-line is doing such a good job of communicating and working together. In the passing game we got guys that are in the right spots. You know teams are typically playing some soft zones against us which there's just some underneath stuff that we're just going to keep taking until they take it away.

1:12:55So, you know, part of the reason that I think we're so, you know, we're having such success is, again, guys know what they're doing. They're in the right spots. And then when there's plays to be made, they're being made.

1:13:09Pat McAfee:Yeah, and you're an alien. Go ahead, AJ. That's probably why as well. Go ahead, AJ.

1:13:12Nick Saban:Yeah, I'm thinking as a D coordinator, if they're thinking of facing you guys, like the weak leading up to it, you can't really point one guy. You distribute the ball so well. You guys can run the ball so well, throw the ball out, anything. Is that a huge advantage for you thinking like, hey, there's no telling where I'm going to go with this ball. I'm going to take what you guys give me, what is open, as opposed to some teams sometimes when they want to jam and make sure a guy gets 10, 15 targets. Yeah, we don't have to worry about that. I think, again, the types of men that we have in our locker room, especially in the receiver and tight end position, nobody's begging for the ball.

1:13:45They understand that they're going to have opportunities throughout the game, and it's not going to be, you know, like you said, 10 to 15. but they're going to get five or six opportunities to go make something happen and to be able to start into the field, to the boundary, to the slot, like our concepts, they're just so they're varied. A lot of things look alike in our offense. Joe Brady and our offensive staff do a great job of presenting different concepts from the same look. And it makes it it makes it tough on defenses, but it makes it fun playing the quarterback position.

1:14:14Pat McAfee:It's fun watching your offense operate because it's like a well-oiled machine. And also, I said you're an alien. It's like you're one of one, brother. You're what everybody is hoping to get whenever they draft a quarterback. Whenever we go back to your draft, obviously your first year was what it was, second year was what it was, third year was what it was. From that point to becoming an MVP to where you're at now, like obviously you had to have the vision of it. Is that the main motivator is you knew what you could be or what was kind of the offseason development process for you year after year?

1:14:45Pat McAfee:Because you've gotten better this year too. Every offseason, you get better, seemingly. Is that because you have a vision of what you can be, or how do you kind of get to that point? 100%. I think it goes back to, you know, being a high school kid that wasn't getting any offers, knowing that I could play at the Division I level, and then getting to the Division I level, thinking that I could play in the NFL. You know, just having that internal belief and working hard. And make no mistake, it's taking an army to get me here. You know, there's a lot of people in my life that I can thank and played their part in what's going on.

1:15:16But ultimately, I'm just trying to go out there. I work really hard with the guys on the football field throughout the weeks and throughout the off seasons. And I'm just going out there. I just want to have fun. I just want to play some football. You see the little flip there to the Jack-Jack, his first touchdown. But guys work hard. We have a lot of fun in Buffalo. It's a pretty tight unit. And, yeah, we just love playing ball.

1:15:38Pat McAfee:Jack-Jack needed that. He almost slipped and fell on this play. And he also got called for a penalty that wasn't on him. I mean, he had a rough go there for a little bit. and then you give him a sick touchdown. That's a good moment for all the Buffalo Bills fans. Ty has a question for you about Bills Mafia. Yeah, Josh, when you look at everything, and they've mentioned this, not just on the game last night, but in the media the last several weeks about how kind of taking everything in with this being the last season at you guys' current stadium before you move on. When you kind of put all of that together, does it kind of have the makings and does it feel like something special is about to happen?

1:16:13because people are already starting to form that storyline of, can you imagine how crazy Buffalo would go if they would win a Super Bowl in the last season in this stadium before they kind of set off on this new era? Can you feel that? 100%. I have vivid dreams of it. I think it's obviously a storybook ending for the stadium. But at the end of the day, it's my belief that it's already written. I'm just trying to see what God's got played out and laid out for us on this team. and I'm just going out there and just trying to, like I said, play football and have fun and do what I think I was put on this earth to do.

1:16:50Pat McAfee:Were you put on this earth to make sure that those bison at that new stadium are, you know what I mean? 60 feet tall. Make them bigger. Got to make them bigger. Boom. There it is. I like where your head's at, bro. I want to let you know. I like where you can definitely make that. I think you could probably make anything happen. New stadium looks awesome. They gave like the inside view of it last night on Amazon Prime. How much of that are you guys being talked about or asked about? Any at all or nothing? Not much. Not much. But. Not even like, hey, do you want coconut husk instead of tire shreds on the turf?

1:17:24Pat McAfee:Are they asking those questions to Josh Allen or no? We're grass, brother. Wow. Oh. Boom. Heated, beautiful. Wow. In Buffalo. Hey, that's big. So were you not asked about that? You were asked about that or no? We were told about it. But it was, yeah, we like grass. I've got some turf burns on my legs that make me really like grass. And I know Pat likes grass, too. Yeah, we all do. We all love it. Watch it, Josh. We're talking about vitamins, I think. That is what you're talking about. We do love the grass. Down here in Florida, I only got the medicinal grass. It does feel like it. But we'll find a card somewhere, Josh.

1:18:06Pat McAfee:We'll find a card somewhere. Connor has a question for you, Josh. Yeah, Josh, Jack, Jack, incredible, incredible reference. It feels like the vibes on offense are at an all-time high. Keon Coleman, it feels like, has also taken a massive step. Last year, I don't know if it was a lot coming in as a rookie and maybe it took him a little to learn, but it feels like he's off to an unbelievable start this year. You and him clearly have a really, really good connection. How does that work with him this offseason? Was that something you two were together for a lot? Was it more so training camp? and then you mentioned it being a really good offseason for you.

1:18:38Was that because you worked out with Drake Mann? He explained to you how to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Was that kind of how to be a back-to-back MVP? Was that the whole thing? And as a New England Patriots fan, let me just say, thank you so much for helping him play quarterback, brother. I can already see it helping. I can already see it. Listen, I haven't done anything for Drake. We got to spend a little bit of time together. He is a fantastic kid, though. I'll tell you that. But he plays the game the right way. He's got a really good head on his shoulders. I'm a huge fan of his.

1:19:11You know, we have – I think we share the same agency. So we've been around each other a couple times. But, again, just down-to-earth kid. But going back to the Keon question, yeah, just the work that we've put in in training camp, it obviously paid dividends in week one. Week two and three, a little bit different game plan style, but still being there and opportunities to make some plays for us. And he's been doing a good job with that.

1:19:34Pat McAfee:you talked about training camp. Do you hate or love hard knocks? I thought you came across very well. Obviously I've never been around you for a season or any of your training camp stuff. So I assume it's just status quo for you, but man, I love the way you lead. Did you enjoy hard knocks in there or did you guys hate it? Like some people do, you know what? They did such a good job of communicating with us, understanding, you know, how we felt about it. I would be the first one to say that I wasn't very excited for it. but the crew NFL films did such a good job. We knew exactly where they were at all times.

1:20:08We know who was mic'd up when we were mic'd up. You know, we had the opportunity to really feel like we were ourselves and trust that they were going to put the best versions of ourselves out there. So it was much better than I anticipated. And glad that, you know, people finally got to see what a winning organization looks like. Typically, it's been, you know, teams that are coming off a bad season or a new coach or a new quarterback. It was fun.

1:20:35Pat McAfee:Spotlight of your fans, too. All of it was cool. I really enjoyed your guys' hard knocks. Now, I'm not saying I don't enjoy other hard knocks, but I think hard knocks have potentially lost its luster a little bit, okay, because social media teams and digital teams. But then getting a chance to learn about you and how the Buffalo Bills operate, especially with how much respect we have for the building, it was cool. I'm very happy you guys did that. But AJ actually has picked you guys every single game because he watched 10 minutes of the first episode. Ain't that right, AJ?

1:21:03Nick Saban:Yeah, I don't know exactly which episode it was. Conor McGovern's wife, he was talking to his wife, and she said, oh, yeah, we broke camp. He finally broke camp after all this time. And, you know, 10 minutes after he was home, he called all of his buddies or texted all of his O-lineman buddies and asked him if he wanted to go bowling or wanted to hang out. And she's like, we just got you home. You've been gone for a month or whatever. And I felt like watching that, I'm like, these dudes are a team. These guys love each other. These guys hang out. and then I see you being a jackass all over the practice field in between, and that's what makes me really solidify.

1:21:30Nick Saban:Love that. This dude is the leader, and they love him, and you have all your different names for everybody. That's something that – has that grown as you've been there with the Buffalo Bills? Did you know it was a special place when you first got there, and how have you grown into that role? No, it's been a special place since I've got there, and I take a lot of pride when players go to other teams and they come back, and they're like, you know what, it's just not like this everywhere else. And I can't speak to how other places are. I'm sure there's places that are similar to us, but I'm sure there's places that aren't even close to what we got going on in our building.

1:22:02The type of vibes and friendships and the relationships that we're able to build here in Buffalo. Because, you know, like you alluded to with Connor, we can send out a text and be like, hey, come hang out. And guys are at your house in five to ten minutes. You know, everyone seems like we live very close to each other. It's like college. Um, it's, it's very much like a college atmosphere and it's something that I, I completely cherish. And, um, you know, there's, there's a proponent of it is like, there's not many distractions, you know, we can focus on football, but at the end of the day, it's the relationships and, and, uh, you know, the friendships that you form, because I do genuinely believe that if you trust somebody off the field, you're going to trust them more on the field.

1:22:41Yes.

1:22:42Pat McAfee:Absolutely. Playing for each other as opposed to just alongside each other. I think that's a big deal. I've heard you've hosted a lot of different events, right? I wonder, free agency stuff you had at your house, and then we heard about, and then gatherings. That big Halloween party. The circus. Yeah, Halloween. I like when the quarterback's doing that. And, like, legit, that's an obligation, I assume, you feel as the leader of the team? I don't know. I mean, obligation, no, but it's something that I love doing. You know, I love football because, again, I get to go out there and do what I love doing.

1:23:11But there's just nothing better than the job that I have, you know, to go and hang out with the boys. I know it's hard work when we're in the building and there's meetings upon meetings, walkthroughs and practice. But, I mean, some of the relationships and the conversations that you're able to have inside of an NFL locker room and a quarterback room, it's relationships and friendships that I'll cherish forever. And it's just the best job in the world. And I just love getting to do it.

1:23:35Pat McAfee:Do you guys still have Jamal up there?

1:23:40Pat McAfee:Okay, Tone has the last question for you. Tone has the last question for you, Josh. Josh, I am a Steelers fan, so I think it's easy for me. But your career arc kind of reminds me so much of Big Ben, like a huge athletic guy coming out of a small school who started as someone who was just a lot of backyard ball and then turned into an elite thrower of the football. Was there anyone that, like, when you were coming up that you watched to model your game after? Or when you do make a backyard play versus one where you hit, like, your fifth step or seventh step and it's just a perfect throw, which one do you like better?

1:24:15that's a good question um i like that playing on time

1:24:23you know playing on playing on timing is great um when you're able to take that seventh step and trust your guy and put the ball out before he breaks there's something special about that but there's also something special about extending a play putting your your finger up yeah there is having him do what you're doing it feels like you're playing a video game you know so So one of the guys that I grew up obviously watching and loving and trying to emulate was Aaron. You know, I know he's a big pal of the show. But I've gotten to know Aaron over the last few years. And, again, someone that I completely looked up to on the football field.

1:24:55And I'm still, like, just trying to find – he still throws the heck out of the ball. And I'm just trying to find more ways to tighten up my mechanics. And he's such a good person to watch for me.

1:25:07Pat McAfee:Yeah, for so long. He's 41, still moving out there, still spinning it. Arm, you guys feel, and AJ says this about Aaron, obviously, he hangs out with him, he's closer than we all are. We've only got to meet him over the last few years. AJ's known him for a long time. AJ, we saw him out at Tahoe. He was at the American Century. We were staying at Aaron's place. He rented an awesome place. I'm sure you've seen it, out there on the lake. And we're out in the water, and he's up on the top deck. And somebody calls for a beer down in there. And Aaron just, I think he just woke up, like literally just woke up.

1:25:36Pat McAfee:goes into the fridge oh grabs a beer 12 ounce white steps out onto this deck and he just hawks this thing into like no warm-up nothing he's like 38 maybe at the time 39 years old just no warm-up just bang and this thing maybe 60 yards this beer can just through hits tube that guy sitting like in uh you know so i'm a little boozed up at this time maybe a little high as well going back to grass out there especially california grass you guys got good stuff out there So I'm like, what is this? Like, whole question. And AJ goes, he'll be able to throw anything for the rest of his life. Like, I feel like you are a similar person.

1:26:12Pat McAfee:People talk about your arm talent. Has it always been that you just had an incredible arm like baseball growing up? Has it always kind of been that way? And do you elite throwers of shit think that you'll be able to do that forever for whatever reason? I think so. I personally believe the way I learned to throw back in the, you know, at the ranch, going in the backyard, and we had a shop, and it was just all gravel. We had a big, like, trash dump, and I just pick up rocks, and I just chuck them and try to throw them in there. So that's how I, I think, learned how to, like, throw it mechanically, just figuring it out by myself.

1:26:48So that's, yeah, I think we'll be able to do it forever.

1:26:51Pat McAfee:We got one of these. Can you skip them? Can you skip them on a pond? I bet you're a pretty good skipper. I can skip a good rock now. Okay. Have you seen the World Skipping Championships has a little controversy? Big time. Have you seen this? What'd they do? I have not. The rock skipping contest, the national one, this is a real thing. Some of these guys are getting like 60, 70. Unbelievable, okay? They're doing deep submarine tosses. Obviously, any of us that have ever skipped a rock understand that's the right way to do it. They're manipulating these rocks, Josh. These guys are cheating. These guys are cheating.

1:27:21Pat McAfee:They're greasing rocks. They're greasing these rocks. They're shining them down. Can't do that, Josh. Not a good look. Not a good look for the rock-skipping community. It's a big one. Flag football, you going to do it? Olympics? If I get asked, I absolutely want to compete for my country. Yes. If you don't get asked, we got to probably. Flag football, you'd be awesome in flag football, I think. I would hope so. But, again, these guys are playing it year-round. Don't stop it. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. We're not doing that. You're Josh Allen. Okay, before we let you go, and we appreciate you joining us on this glorious Feel Good Friday, especially for you guys, 3-0, congratulations.

1:28:03Pat McAfee:My wife texted me in the middle of this. She very rarely does this. I know you don't care, she says. Okay? I do care. I would like to let you know before I read the rest of this message, I do care. Okay? Josh Allen's lady is in the show, Emily Dickinson. I love that show. You should ask him if he runs lines with her. Do you do any of that? Do you assist? I wouldn't say we run lines. I mean, she reads all of her scripts by herself, and she'll give me some updates on them. But, you know, we will at some points kind of just go off and do some improv stuff. So it's pretty fun. My wife, she's an absolute stud.

1:28:41She's the best. What can I say?

1:28:43Pat McAfee:Mega talent, both of you. When two greats are together, it's good for society. We appreciate the hell out of you, man. And tell Dee we said hello, okay? All right, tell Wilma I said hello. All right, that's Josh Allen. Josh Allen, Josh Allen, Josh Allen. All right, sweet. Unbelievable. Him on bussing with Will and Taylor the entire time. AJ, I love that he is that guy. When we were in the locker room, I don't know what it is modern day, I don't know how much that cares. Normally one or two of those guys who really love that, and are very good at that. I've seen people who are maybe in the Hall of Fame set up phone calls to the trainer's room, emergency, emergency phone calls.

1:29:27Pat McAfee:Set off almost like alarms. So people, just for a D's nuts joke. Just for a D's nuts joke. That's it. Like call, alarm go off. Who is it? Somebody needs to talk to D. Okay, where's D? And then immediately,

1:29:42Nick Saban:boom. Like 14 people.

1:29:45Pat McAfee:It is a magical moment in the locker room. That just goes to his style of leadership though, AJ, as we lead into a conversation with one of the greatest leaders of all time. I'll give you guys like a minute and a half or so until we see you back here in Miami.

1:29:58Nick Saban:Yeah, absolutely. As Coach Saban will be joining us from down there. But, yeah, I don't know if any of you guys saw the hard knock situation. I know I've been a broken record talking about the Buffalo Eagles. You have. I have. I tell you what, they bamboozled me with, like, overwhelming positivity on how they interact. It just reminded me of, like, the best teams I have been on, how they want to hang out, how they are. Like, it's something where they'll look back on when you get older. or your Maya Gem 41, you're like, man, that's a special thing. I hope they're enjoying it. Well, they always say that, but you would know because you played in Green Bay, how much of that, like, hey, there's nothing else to do.

1:30:30It's huge. How often were you hanging out with guys on the defense or the offense because you didn't have anything else to do? All the time.

1:30:38Nick Saban:That's the best thing. He said, you know, five minutes. You send a text out five, ten minutes. Guys will be at your house. You're hanging out. Like, yeah, five, ten minutes away when you could, whatever it may be, if you wanted to golf in the offseason with guys. We might have five or six foursomes in a row playing on a Tuesday afternoon after workouts in May or something. Yeah, and that's what's cool about those cities, though. The cities and towns themselves are built around football. Like Lambeau, Buffalo, those entire areas, the only thing that matters is the football. And that is kind of why playing in a small place like that would be so cool.

1:31:11It's great.

1:31:11Nick Saban:It's like a college setting. Speaking of college, I think, Pat, what's going on, buddy? Who are you down there with now? The greatest college football coach of all time, ladies and gentlemen, Nick Sankt. Yeah, Coach! Glad to be here.

1:31:24Pat McAfee:How you doing, man? It's great to see you. You look fantastic. Is this linen here for the humidity? I know you're retired and you will frequent Florida, but when you come down here, is the body ready? Is the suit ready? Are you excited for tomorrow? Yeah, this is Miami colors, man. It is. This is it, baby. That's what you wear in this kind of climate. Are you going to try some of the local medicine here that I've... No, I'm not allowed. No, yes you are. Yes, you are. Dr. Mee says, always good. Let's talk about coming down here to Miami. Obviously, we all, from outside looking in, remember when Miami was the powerhouse, the powerhouse.

1:31:58Pat McAfee:We just talked to Coach Cristobal, who obviously you know incredibly well. He said, we're trying to look forward. We're trying to make this also a time because he was a part of the history. What do you see from this Miami team? And are they legit? Last year, a lot of football gods blessing them with a lot of great things. We thought maybe they were a team of destiny. Fall off at the end. Cam Ward, number one overall pick. This year they get Carson Beck, who obviously you know well. Do you think they are potentially implementing a culture that will be talked about for a long time around here? Well, I think they are because I think they're a good team top to bottom.

1:32:30You know, last year they had a great offensive team. They couldn't stop anybody on defense. So, you know, they had to try to outscore everybody. It didn't always work out that way. You know, one thing that I think if you really want to make it to the playoffs and you really want to make a run, you've got to be able to play defense. You've got to be able to play defense. They've got a great offense, and Carson Beck's doing a great job. I like their receivers. I think their offensive line is outstanding. Their two tackles are very physical, good players. And it plays right into what Carson Beck does best, which is pocket pass.

1:33:02And when you can't affect him in the pocket, he's really affected. But the fact that they can play so much better on defense this year, I think is the thing that gives them the best chance because defense travels. I mean, even when you play on the road and you play in tough environments, shouldn't affect the defensive players nearly as much as it does the offensive players. So if you have a good defensive team, I think you have a better chance in the long run to be successful.

1:33:27Pat McAfee:It was an awesome production meeting this morning. We're talking about a lot of different teams. And one particular person was just saying, how's their defense? How's their defense? How's their defense? That person was this person. And I think you might hear a little bit of that tomorrow when he's breaking it down. But AJ, whenever push comes to shove, we talk about it when the NFL like it doesn't show up till it shows up. And when it shows up normally is in the biggest moment. And it's like if you can't stop somebody in the biggest games right now feels good but inevitably you're probably pretty fearful for the future.

1:33:57Pat McAfee:What are your thoughts AJ and what's your question for code?

1:33:59Nick Saban:Yeah, it's a demoralizing situation when you can't get off the field on third down especially where a team's running the ball just down your throat and you're like, wait, we don't I don't have any answers. And everyone starts jumping out of their gap and trying to do things that are outside of your responsibilities. I think that's a tough thing defensively. And speaking of that, Coach, like as a defense, with your scheme and everything you've done over the years, how do you know, I guess, how to craft your scheme to your players to where, hey, it's not too complex, but we have enough answers to what offenses are giving us.

1:34:26Nick Saban:But I want these guys – you're a great athlete. You're a great recruiter. I want these guys to run fast and not have to think too much. Like how do you craft your game plan? Well, you know, one thing that I thought was really important, because you say, you know, sometimes you can't stop the run, sometimes you can't get off the field on third down. You know, I was never one of these guys that tried to make it simple. You know, I was a whole part whole guy. You know, to use, you know, Pat's terminology, I would take a bucket of shit, throw it on the wall, see what stuck, pick up the shit, throw it up there until it all stuck.

1:35:00It might take longer for some guys than others, but that's the way I approach it because I wanted to be able, we wanted to be able to make adjustments in the game. And I want players to play fast, and I want them to be confident in the game, and I was always going to pare it down for the game so they could do that. But if we had to make adjustments in the game and play better situation football, there were things that we could do. I mean, you've been in a situation where a team's getting in a bunch pass, and whatever you plan to play in the game plan, you can't stop that pattern in the way you're geared up to stop it in practice.

1:35:36So you have to be able to change. And if the players can't adapt, you really can't change without going out there and making mistakes. So I was never a real simple guy. I wanted the players to play fast. But I think players develop a capacity to learn. And the more you challenge them, the more they'll learn, and the better they can adapt when they get in tough situations. That's my opinion.

1:35:58Pat McAfee:You're a natural teacher, too, so I think you enjoy that. Not that all coaches aren't, but it feels like it is your actual calling and passion, and football happens to be the way you go about teaching and influencing. Whenever you expect a lot of people, I think they start to expect a lot of themselves, too. Isn't that kind of something? And they're talking about quarterbacks maybe not being able to understand what defenses are right now in the NFL coming out of college. Do you think some people have opted for a simpler way so that they can have, like, maybe quick success as opposed to maybe trying to get the best football that they possibly can in this modern era?

1:36:26Yeah, I think the one thing that RPOs did was to take away from quarterbacks needing to be developed as drop back passers, which in the NFL you eventually have to do. At some point. At some point. You can throw play action passes and all that stuff. Because RPOs make a simple read. You're reading one thing. and then they got into these widespread formations, whatever you call that, air raid offense or whatever. Now the quarterback only reads one side of the field. So the quarterback never really develops in terms of what you have to know to play in the NFL. How do you have to redirect protection so you protect yourself?

1:37:05How do you read coverages so you're in the right place? A lot of times the offensive coordinator is going to give you a middle of the field read on this side and a half field coverage read on this side, And you got to be able to figure it out based on reading the safeties. They never learned how to do that in college anymore, which I think really doesn't help us develop quarterbacks for the NFL like we used to.

1:37:26Pat McAfee:But you're able to win some games. You got the best athlete on the field with the ball every single play. You can make some plays. You can win some games. But in the NFL, is it going to work out immediately? Probably not. We got a lot of second chance quarterbacks. Some of Mac Jones right now, obviously, you know, he is. He's getting an opportunity. I think obviously gets humbled a little bit in New England, had a defense coordinator as an offense coordinator there for a bit. Connor, how do we feel about that now that we're looking back on it? Do you think it was a good move, bad move? I think it would be the equivalent to NASA hiring me to run their space program.

1:37:55Pat McAfee:Okay, but I think you would do a good job. I think you would work hard to try to figure it out. But, yes, I think that was certainly a setback, and obviously it was talked about at the time, maybe not enough. Then he bounces around a little bit down to Jacksonville, has a couple moments but not great, ends up at San Francisco. It's like he's been there, done that with everything, so he can probably pull from some instances. And do you think that's why he had immediate success down there in New Orleans? Yeah, I think so. I think Mac's the kind of guy, though, that is very smart, wants to get it right.

1:38:23So when you have a guy like that, they want to be around a coach that can help them understand what's expected of them on every play, you know, in the game, in every situation in the game. So he definitely has that now, you know, and I think he's playing well. I always thought he could play well. He played well for us because he had that with us that last year. And I think the guy can have a good career. I think it's unfair to put a guy in the side. Look, I couldn't be an offensive coordinator. Everybody thinks I was a pretty good coach. I was a defensive guy and a special teams guy. And if I had to go be an offensive coordinator, it would have been hell to pay for the poor players trying to play on offense.

1:39:04What?

1:39:05Pat McAfee:I'm a pretty good coach. Yeah, I think they do think you're a pretty good coach. And I'm going to let you know, I think you could have been an offense coordinator. I think you could have figured it out. In that brain, that's inside of that great hair, by the way. You need to be proud of that hair. Oh, yeah. Do you see this hair? Yeah. Perfect tan, too. Every week on game day, there's some shit that's going on to his head, and it's like his hair is beautiful. I mean, it is. The suits, he's coming off his best offseason at both. Look at those shoes. These shoes. These shoes. Got Cole Hans on. The guy can go run a sprint right now if he has to.

1:39:39Pat McAfee:I mean, it's unbelievable. Ouch. Back down here. But I have to sit by you, so there's a stand. Oh, yeah. I have to live up to the stand. Okay. Hey, Pete, he can't even keep a straight face. Go ahead, Tone, with your question for Coach. Yeah, Coach, listening to you last year and this year, I feel like you talk a lot about explosive play rate. And Texas right now, I believe, is 131st or 132nd in explosive play rate. They're last in the SEC in third down conversions, last in the SEC in red zone, and 14th in scoring in the SEC. and a lot of it, you know, a lot of people were talking about Arch and his struggles.

1:40:12If you're Sark, how do you handle that? Like, can you, like, maybe bench him for a series or two and, like, hope that kick starts something? Or how do you deal with a quarterback who's struggling and then trying to not ruin their confidence? Yeah, I think a couple things. You know, I don't think Texas has been able to run the ball very consistently, you know, which is going to put you in a lot of bad down-and-distance situations, so that's going to put more pressure on the quarterback because it's an advantage for the defense. But I think when we had a player that was struggling or when we lost, I always wanted to be the most technical that I could be so the players could actually see if I just did this correctly, we could have success.

1:40:57Rather than putting a lot of pressure on them to get it right, I really wanted to be technical in terms of corrections, whether it's footwork, whether it's arm mechanics, whether it's making the right reads. I just wanted to be really, really technical and show players. I wanted players to be able to see if they did it right, we could have success. And everybody needs to do it right for us all to have success. So that's what I would be really trying to emphasize. I don't think necessarily you only bench a guy when you feel like he's not committed to doing things the way you want him to do it. Or what he's doing is really having a tremendous adverse on the team from an attitude standpoint or something like that.

1:41:43If he's really trying to do it, and when you bench somebody, you better make sure the guy you put in for him is going to be better than he was, or you just create more problems for yourself.

1:41:52Pat McAfee:Certainly, but both parties and also the locker room potentially. There is a story, and I don't know if Arch is at this point yet, but benching is potentially a perspective shape or two. And I'm not saying Arch should be benched. Okay, I'm not saying. I'm not going to be the person that's doing that. But it has not started out the way. And let's talk about DJ Lagwe. I mean, there's been a lot of quarterbacks, I think, coming into this year that we thought were going to be like this. I think Desmond mentioned it this morning. Desmond was like, this was supposed to be one of the best draft classes of quarterbacks that there's ever been.

1:42:23Pat McAfee:I don't think that conversation is still happening. And we're, what, four weeks into the season at this point? Yeah. There's a lot of guys that are struggling. There's no doubt about that. I agree with that 100%. And I think sometimes creating these expectations, and nobody has created greater expectations for anybody than what we've all created for Arch Manning. A lot because of his name, not necessarily what he's been able to accomplish to this point in his career. and I think that creates a lot of anxiety with players and I think that anxiety really hurts their development but we forget they're 19 yeah 19 years old and they need to focus on development you know it's like we all need object constancy you know we need consistent way to try to develop and improve I mean your kids it doesn't matter who it is and I think you know we're not giving these guys that opportunity now before the expectations get greater than what they've developed to.

1:43:20Pat McAfee:Object constancy? And you need a little of that, too. Hold on. I got a lot of object constancy. So that means like a goal, something to work for, strive for? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, you got something here you got to get committed to, and you got to do the things you need to do process-wise to see it through and stay committed to it and all that. We get so outcome-oriented with some of these things, and then people are disappointed in the outcome, and then the next thing they want to transfer, or they're doing something else. so they never learn how to stay committed to something, overcome adversity, have perseverance and resiliency.

1:43:52You know, it's just something that the system is not really geared as much toward now as it used to be.

1:43:58Pat McAfee:Object constancy. Let's go to the toxic table. We've been talking about object constancy since I couldn't even remember. Ty, go ahead, pal. Yeah, I actually think that was maybe the first thing you brought up to me when I started working here, Pat, so it's crazy that it's come full circle like that. We see that. Object constancy, boys. We're trying to go ahead and do this thing the right way. That's what we're trying to do, Kai. Coach, speaking of that whole conversation, I think it was yesterday, Brett Bielema said that he thinks the NCAA is going to start granting players five years' worth of eligibility.

1:44:28Do you think, like in the grand scheme of things, for coaches and for players, does that ultimately matter? Do you think that will help maybe mitigate the volume of people we have in the transfer portal? So, you know, when it comes to development and stuff like that, if these guys do have an extra year of eligibility, if they're just sitting behind someone, maybe they won't just decide, hey, I need to go somewhere else and play. And then they'll consider maybe staying where they are because they're not burning a year of eligibility anymore. Yeah, well, you know, I don't know that shorten a guy's career.

1:44:59I think the reason people are trying to extend their careers in college is if you were a college player and you didn't think you were going to make it in the NFL and you had the opportunity to make money in college, you'd want to play for as long as you could. No different than an NFL player would want to play for as long as he can. But I really don't think that the five-year thing is going to keep people from transferring. I think maybe we should come up with some parameters where a player has a responsibility and obligation to whether it's a contract or something. If you're going to pay players, we all get paid.

1:45:35We all have a responsibility to do certain things to get paid. But right now in college football, that's not really the case. You can pick up your bags and walk whenever you want, and you don't have any obligation, so there's no cause and effect for ever leaving the job that you have. And I think that's a lesson we all need to learn, you know, from a responsibility and accountability standpoint. I made a commitment here. I've got to stay here for two years. I can only transfer once as an undergraduate. I can only transfer once as a graduate. Whatever the rules might be. But there's some kind of responsibility that goes and accountability that goes with you're getting paid.

1:46:12You have an obligation to do certain things to get paid.

1:46:15Pat McAfee:Yeah, we're about to get to CBA, I assume, a collective bargaining agreement between players and the college. It's all in front of us. We just have no idea when it's going to happen. A lot of things get figured out. One thing that did get figured out is no longer two transfer portal windows. There's only one. It's in the middle of the playoffs still, which is going to be a huge conversation whenever we get there. Obviously, that's right around the corner. But there's only, what, 20 teams that have to worry about that, seemingly, year in, year out, for whenever you're talking about the playoffs.

1:46:40Pat McAfee:Everybody else voting on it. What are your thoughts on the one transfer portal and when it is now? I think one transfer portal is probably a good thing. I think when you have your team in the spring, you go through spring practice, you go through the off-season program, then all of a sudden guys leave. It's not probably great for them in terms of the next place they go, and it's not great for you trying to manage a roster. So that's probably a good thing. But I think that we're forcing people in college to move more to the NFL model in terms of organization. Like you have a personnel department.

1:47:13GM. Yeah, like we had a GM, we had a personnel department, and I separated it from the portal to college recruiting. I had different guys over here evaluating guys in the portal. We had different guys over here evaluating guys that were in high school. And then we had, now you can send different people out to recruit them. It doesn't really have to just be the assistants. So you're actually expanding staff and operations to be able to manage this kind of circumstance. So, for example, if you're in the playoffs, you want to have other people that are not focused on the playoffs. They're focused on recruiting.

1:47:51They're focused on guys in the portal so that you're recruiting those guys at the same time you're continuing to play.

1:47:57Pat McAfee:It's going to be a lot of drama. Always. Always. There's going to be, what, five years of eligibility? That means there's going to be somebody that's going to somehow play for ten teams. Oh, yeah. If I'm doing the math, right? Yeah. That's going to end up happening. That's crazy. Well, what are you talking about? Ten teams, ten opportunities. You know, I hate to bring this up because this is all about football, but, you know, every time you transfer, you've got 20 % less chance to graduate. So nobody ever talks about education anymore. And I do think that's important. I mean, what if you're a guy and you're making$700 ,000 a year playing college football?

1:48:32And you don't graduate. And you don't play in the NFL. What kind of job are you getting when you get out of school? Barker. Yeah, world-dead.

1:48:43Pat McAfee:You're paying somebody to get the degree. You got 700 grand. What are we talking about? But that's not life-changing money. That doesn't last forever. No, yeah, but I'm hiring a fleet of people to make me a doctor. You know, they're doing online classes. University of Phoenix,$700 ,000. Should be able to acquire a team of people that can be Pat McAfee at the University of Phoenix and make me a doctor. I don't know if everybody's going to do that in college football, but I'm just pitching one idea. That is a hell of an idea. That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about. That's what they should do.

1:49:13Pat McAfee:But those guys are going to get another year of$700 ,000. And to your point about the five years of eligibility, that's definitely happening because coaches certainly would like a very experienced player to get another year. And players that aren't going to make the NFL would certainly like another year of eligibility of earning six figures to play football. Before they go join the CFL or the UF, AJ has a question for you back in the Thunderdome, Coach Saban.

1:49:36Nick Saban:Yeah, Coach, how do you think the game? What are you looking for, I guess, tomorrow night in this game with Miami and Florida? What are you looking for early on? What do you want to see? Well, I think Florida has the best roster they've had for a long time. Now, I think the quarterback has struggled, and I think he's struggled because he's not been able to practice, so he's not been able to get enough reps. Some guys can play without practicing. Some guys need to get reps to be able to get it right. And I don't know this guy, but he hadn't played well because he hadn't been able to practice much.

1:50:07But they have a good roster, and I think if the quarterback plays better, they can be a team that could just about beat anybody. Their defense is pretty good. They've got a big offensive line. They've got a decent back. I think they can be pretty good. I think Miami is one of the most complete teams that I've seen from being physical, being balanced on offense, being able to run the ball, being able to pass the ball with a good quarterback and good skill guys and make explosive plays, as well as the fact that they're playing very well on defense. And they've got a very good front. You know, I love Jason Taylor.

1:50:41He was one of the best players I ever had the opportunity to be around coach. I'm talking about from an attitude standpoint, from a leadership standpoint. I mean, he's a great player too. And he's coaching that defensive line, and those guys have gotten better every year. And now they've got a pretty dominant front. And the back end's a lot better. They did a great job in the transfer portal getting some guys that could play in the back. So they have one of the most complete teams I've seen so far this year.

1:51:08Pat McAfee:Before we have the heart out here and we send you on your day with Miss Terry. Miss Terry's here, by the way, boys. Hi, Miss Terry. Hey, bless us. They all say hello, Miss Terry. That's why I'm behaving up here. Yeah, I see you didn't go to your normal dance routine. Yeah, Miss Terry, it's great to see you. Thank you for having him here, looking the way he looks, acting the way he acts. Mario Cristobal was up here earlier. I almost shot for a single leg and then choked him out. didn't do that because he's got a big game tomorrow. He's a badass. He seems awesome. He seems like the perfect guy for this job.

1:51:38Pat McAfee:He said when he was a kid he was a Hurricanes fan. Obviously he plays here, and then now he's back here. It feels like he is the perfect guy for this job. Do you agree? He's the perfect guy for this job. You know, not only is he a good coach, and he's really, really enthusiastic. He's got great energy. He impacts other people in a positive way. But, you know, we used to recruit down here when he was on our staff. We'd go in all these schools, man. Everybody speaks Spanish. he's right in there speaking with them. I mean, I'm like recruiting in a foreign country or something. I mean, but everybody loved the guy because he has a great personality.

1:52:14And, you know, he's great around people. And I think the big challenge for him is can his players and his team keep the edge throughout the season having success?

1:52:24Pat McAfee:Yeah, because once you win a couple, especially down here in Miami, there's some distractions. You know, I think we all understand that. And Gumby's been down here for about eight days in total in the offseason, and we almost lost him in this job. Yeah, I couldn't even imagine professional athletics. So, I mean, he is a Miami fan, though, through and through. Any question for Coach Saban now that we're down there in your turf here, Gumsh? Yeah, did you watch the game at all last night? You see how two of the Dolphins looked against the Bills, Coach? No, I did not watch the game last night. Oh, jeez.

1:52:51But I was, you know, very interested in listening to Josh Allen's comments because I think that guy's a great player, a great competitor. You know, I wanted to ask him, like I'm a coach, so I want to know, how did you guys practice? You know, you practice in the morning, you practice in the afternoon. I mean, how did you practice? Because when I was here in the Dolphins, we practiced in the morning because it was so hot all the time. And, you know, I mean, watched the film after practice rather than watching it before practice. And I'd just like to ask some of those coach type points.

1:53:24Pat McAfee:Why didn't you ask him? You're right here, coach. Coach, if you would like to co-host any time, please do that. AJ, obviously, back in the Thunderdome. The boys are back there. They can't wait to see you in person. We will continue digitally throughout the next hour or so while we pick games and have a good time. Have the greatest weekend of your life. Football is going to deliver. Tomorrow morning, we will be live here from Miami. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice that might change their life. Goodbye. I think we nailed it. Got it. You were down there. That was situational awareness right there, Coach.

1:53:51Pat McAfee:You see that? Yeah. Good clock, man. We had no timeouts. We had no timeouts. We had a rookie at running back, too. So right before the snap, we had to tell him, hey, fucking get out of bounds. You know, that's what we had. We had to do that entire thing right there. Okay, Coach Saban, ladies and gentlemen, we appreciate it.

1:54:08Nick Saban:Thank you. Thank you. Was it object constancy? Yeah, you nailed it. You're asking the wrong guys, I think. I'm not sure exactly what he said. You know what Coach said earlier? Yeah, object constancy is what he said. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah. Or was it objective consistency? Maybe it's a form of that. It was object constancy. Okay. What does that mean exactly, Ty? How do you take that? You got to have something you're striving for. You're working towards. One common goal. It's a real fancy word for that. Yeah. You can't just be kind of lollygagging along. No, you cannot. No end goal. No end game in sight.

1:54:44You kind of always need to be striving to be moving towards that. Oh, what's this?

1:54:48Nick Saban:Object permanence is the cognitive understanding that objects and people continue to exist even when they're out of sight. That's not it. That's a good different thing, though. But he also didn't say object permanence. So I don't know why the fuck Bruce is bringing that up. When you Google object constancy, object permanence is what he says.

1:55:06Pat McAfee:What do you think that's telling me AI? You're telling me Google's AI doesn't know what Nick Saban knows about leadership? That is what I'm saying. This is the human difference. We got it. Exactly. They don't. We got to remember that about AI. They never have Nick Saban's brain. We got it. Okay? So that's a win for the humans. On the other side, we'll see how many wins we're able to rack up, A.J. Hawk. We're going to pick the entire slate of NFL games. A.J. is currently seeing the field pretty well, even though we both lost last night. Okay? We're both completely defeated. This was going to be the weekend we were going to go completely undefeated.

1:55:38Pat McAfee:Do you remember that, A.J.?

1:55:39Nick Saban:I do, but from here on out. That was the plan now, from here on out. Yeah, still possible. Just the weekend slate. Weekend slate. Yeah.

1:55:45Pat McAfee:Oh, that's crazy. We're both 0-0. Boom. Going into a weekend.

1:55:48Nick Saban:There you go.

1:55:52This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome.

1:55:55Pat McAfee:You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies 18+. 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.

1:56:33Every did you see that moment. You bet. What records are going to be broken this season? All of it right here. Lock in. It's the WNBA on ESPN. All season long.

1:56:52Nick Saban:Football! It's what we're doing, Pat. How's it going, man? You look pretty, it looks like the temperature's rising a little bit over there. It looks like you're, what did you say, you bake or you broil from the inside out when you're down there?

1:57:03Pat McAfee:Well, it's actually good cooking terms. I know my way around a kitchen. I'll broil when I come down to one of these hot places. You can also just go ahead and compare my body currently to being inside of a crock pot. And when I am crock potted like I am down here in the humidity, honestly, it brings the best out of me. You know, because I started sweating as soon as I landed down here. I won't stop sweating until I leave down here. And it's a constant battle of staying hydrated and making sure you don't cramp up. Because when you cramp up, you look like an asshole. And if you look like an asshole, you ruin everybody's good time.

1:57:33Pat McAfee:And that's what I'm trying not to do is just ruin everybody's good time because that's what we're about to have down here. I think the crowd tomorrow is about to be pretty electrified On campus, here in Miami Haven't happened since I think 2017 or something like that Anytime we go to a place that game day has not been for a long time Normally there's a big time sense of A lot of buzz And I can't wait for it To be honest, it is beautiful I wish I don't wish anything I wish this was like six weeks from now, seven weeks from now. I agree. But there's a chance we come back here. There's a chance we come back here.

1:58:12Pat McAfee:You know, like if – because Indianapolis last night was, what, 85? Yeah. I think it was 85, 90 degrees. But now nowhere near the amount of humidity. But it still felt like a summer day, a summer night yesterday in Indiana. Six, seven weeks from now, we're going to be about two, three weeks into the no-sun time in the Midwest. And this is perfect for that. You know, people actually are described as certain things whenever they come down here and seek that. But it's an honor to be here. It's awesome to be here. And, A.J., thank you for traveling out to the Thunderdome, my brother.

1:58:39Nick Saban:Of course, man. You want to pick these games? Like I said, we are 0-0, both of us right now. We may have lost last night, but, you know, we're moving on, aren't we?

1:58:48Pat McAfee:No, we don't count it. Nobody knows. Okay. Boom, dump that. Nobody knows. Wipe it off the board.

1:58:53Nick Saban:You're right.

1:58:54Pat McAfee:Yeah, nobody even knows. I love you too, man. I have no idea where that person came from. Where was that? Jets at Tampa Bay. Buckethead, I have no idea. It could be anywhere. It could be at the pool. They could be coming out of class over here. There's a walkway back here. There's a pond over here. Sure, there's a couple of guys in there. You got to do what you got to do. The campus is alive. The campus is alive. Jets at Tampa Bay. 1 p.m. on Fox. 43.5 overrunners. Six and a half point favorites are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Jets, because Justin Fields has a concussion, are potentially using quarterback two.

1:59:29Pat McAfee:Definitely using quarterback two. Justin Fields has officially been ruled out against Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Obviously, Tampa Bay coming after a huge last-minute win. And then also, Baker Mayfield describing what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers need to be heard, or how he describes them needs to be heard, before we make a selection on this particular pick. Run that, Foxy. In the game, you took a pretty hard hit. And, I mean, it looked like you could have been seriously hurt. And you sprang right back up and just started jawing with C.J. Cartner-Johnson. But just what's the mentality like in those moments for you?

2:00:01We don't take any shit.

2:00:03Pat McAfee:Okay, I'll take the Buccaneers. I'll take the Buccaneers minus six and a half.

2:00:08Nick Saban:AJ, your thoughts? I think you know where I stand here. Give me the Buccaneers minus six and a half. When your quarterback is making comments like that and, you know, responding like that in the field, yeah, how can you not root for this guy?

2:00:18Pat McAfee:Well, and also, how about as soon as he gets up in CJ, GJ's face, which is awesome, his teammate goes from, like, stopping him to actually just turning and helping him. Like, yeah, actually, we are fighting right now. I like what the Buccaneers' mindset is. Also, B.A. coming to town every single week. I think we're a little bit more up on Tampa Bay than most places because we're hearing from a guy who's very close to the building down there and the vibes are immaculate. It's like, go on, Buccaneers. And then on the flip side, Justin Fields and the Jets could be a tough start for the Aaron Glenn regime in era in New York.

2:00:48Pat McAfee:But, hey, they're going to get to the right spot eventually. Go on, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Next game, A.J. that we're going to be picking is a big one because it involves the Thunderdome. Pittsburgh Steelers, Tone and Nick taking on the New England Patriots of Boston Corner. Con man, underdogs at home hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers. Your thoughts on how the Patriots are going to show up? I'm in a really bad spot now as a Patriots fan because I believe that they are a very good football team, and that's a problem just because I don't like to think that because it only sets you up for failure. Christian Gonzalez practiced for the first time this week.

2:01:25He's officially questionable. Yep. But it is believed that he will make his debut. Keon White had an illness. He didn't practice this week. Westover should be back. Not as big of a deal. I think he changes the game for New England, Christian Gonzalez. I think he's the corner that completely sets off one side of the field, and then it's kind of a 10-man game. So that's only the question mark so far for New England. But I feel really good about it, especially being dogs. and most importantly the Patriots will be wearing their red throwback jerseys and Julian Edelman is going into the Hall of Fame this Sunday

2:02:01Pat McAfee:congrats to Julian Edelman well deserved I think he's an actual Hall of Famer as well not just Patriots Hall of Fame I have massive respect for the Kent State Golden Flash stud Julian Edelman congrats to him getting honored this weekend by an organization that he obviously loves and committed a lot to let's talk about committing a lot to an organization and Bill Parcells Tuna and Julian Adams. That's a huge weekend. Congratulations to both of them. Well earned. Let's go to another organization that is beloved by a man. Tone, Steelers favored by a point and a half in Foxborough. Do you like that or hate that right now?

2:02:32I hate that. I don't know why. I'm not sure why. But, no, I think the offense will be fine. Watch out for Milton Williams and Barmore on the New England Patriots D-line. They have struggled with, you know, big defensive linemen so far this season. So something to look at there. I am just looking like Gump was – I'm just looking for a little fight on the defense. Just a little – What? You're favored. You're looking for a fight. From the defense. From the defense. Just looking for a little fight from the defense. If they look bad again on defense, it doesn't matter what the offense looks like. So I just want a little fight from that run defense.

2:03:08I do think they're going to score some points, but I really just don't want to watch them get gashed for six yards a carry.

2:03:15Pat McAfee:Let's go to back back row. Nick Moraldo, Steelers fan, taking on the Patriots. Hoping for a dub so Connor doesn't literally dance in your face, Nick, or what are the thoughts going into this one? That's all we can hope for, Pat. And, you know, everyone knows Connor and his eccentricness, and I say that as a compliment. And he lives and dies with those Pats. And if they come in after a win, he is on the moon. And if they lose, he is down in the dumps. So, you know, I love Connor, but boy, would I like to see him down in the dumps. But I'm not expecting it because for all those reasons Tone mentioned, the defense just – he said it before earlier this week too.

2:03:51When you are a team that gets run on and gashed like this, you can't stop the run. It is so demoralizing. So there is not a lot of hope to be able to fix all these problems that go back to last season in a week's time. So we'll see. You know, maybe they can pull off a miracle. They traditionally don't play well against New England, but Tomlin is 3-0 against Vrabel as a head coach. And Artie Smith knows his number.

2:04:13Pat McAfee:You're talking about Mike T? Well... Go Mike T, go Mike T, go. Go Mike T, go Mike T, go. Go Mike T, go Mike T. Go Mike T, go Mike T, go. Go Mike T, go Mike T, go. Go Mike T, go Mike T. Go Mike T, go Mike T. Go Mike T. Go Mike T, go Mike Tomlin there. Not to be confused with Mike Tannenbaum. Getting up did one of the most... Many people are saying go, go Mike T to do. What GetUp did this morning with that was one of the most disrespectful things I've ever seen on television. Yeah, you're right. I'm being serious. I am too. We sent a cease and desist to the people that we know. We sent a C &D. We're like, hey, don't you do that.

2:04:51Pat McAfee:Okay, don't. There's no reason to do. Run this, please. Run this. Let's go. This is what happened. People need to see this.

2:04:59Nick Saban:Mike T is the man. Are you high? Mike T is the man. Yes. Mike T. Mike T. That's my microphone. He's the man. He's the man. All you need is love. Mike T is the man. The man. Greeny, that's right. From day one, Mike T is the man. Yeah! Oh, man, I love that shit.

2:05:17Pat McAfee:Hold on, though. You got to go afterwards because they don't really correct it. That's Mike Tannenbaum. That's for our benefit to put together a new feature called Mike T is the man. Show the dab. Yeah, there's a full wall. Hey, listen. Put together a new feature called Mike T is the man. He takes it, too, accepts it. Okay. All right. I like that. Just go ahead and take it. Yeah, he is. What are you talking about? I didn't see that live. I don't like to call people jobs, but someone. No, no. I think Aaron would love. I think Aaron likes Mike. I'm sure. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. But also, not a lot of people show Mike T, Mike Tallman a lot of love publicly either.

2:05:54Pat McAfee:You know, this guy has had a winning percentage for the last 20 years for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And normally, whenever he's being talked about, it's in a negative fashion because he either didn't win by enough or doesn't have a team that can win a Super Bowl. This year, Tone, can you guys win a Super Bowl or no? So if, yes, if the defense plays like the number one overall paid defense in the NFL and they turn into a top five defense magically, like if we get some fairy dust and sprinkle it all over their heads and somehow they grow into monsters, sure. Yeah, definitely. Okay, so that sounds like he thinks it's likely.

2:06:27Pat McAfee:AJ, who do you have?

2:06:28Nick Saban:Jeez, we know where Tone stands. I mean, he's trying to publicly put on a good face, but we know he's down in the dumps, no question. But you know what? I think you shouldn't be, Tone. I think this is the week the defense figures it out. I'm taking the Steelers minus one and a half on the road. I think TJ gets going, gets a couple sacks probably. And I feel like the Steelers' problem is stopping the run. Not all the time, but some of the times are very, very fixable things. Pre-snap, alignment's just out of place, whatever it is. I don't think you're going to line up and just pound the ball on the Steelers' defense.

2:06:55Nick Saban:Give me the Steelers. Their defense coordinator actually did say it's a lot of alignment issues. Yeah.

2:06:59Pat McAfee:Okay, a lot of alignment issues. That's not great. We already started the season. We had preseason and training camp to figure that whole thing out. Also, a lot of returners and a lot of money spent on that side of the ball. So let's get the alignment figured out. That is good news because I think you can get it fixed. And, you know, since Aaron Rodgers and everybody got to the Pittsburgh Steelers, there has been object constancy. It has been we are going to win the Super Bowl. That is what the mission is. We are on a one-way trip or we are going completely off the rails. We are trying to win a Super Bowl.

2:07:28Pat McAfee:Everybody's in. Everybody's on the same page. and for the Patriots it does feel like the Patriots are in a hey let's see what we got this year let's make improvements let's be good but nobody's expecting I don't think I don't want to speak for Connor but going into the year there was no thought like hey we're going to win a Super Bowl this year it was more so like let's let's see what we got maybe we make a run at this thing let's find out if Drake May is the guy also let's have Vrabel set his culture am I accurate in that Connor yeah bingo no expectation whatsoever is more so like a hey ask me about the expectations of the team for this season week eight because no one really knows till then.

2:07:59Pat McAfee:So I'll take the Steelers for that object constancy just because it's way too early to give up on that run. But we shall see. I think that is not a good matchup for the Steelers at all. And I don't like that they're favored in Foxborough. It's going to be a tough place to play regardless. Go ahead, Con. And the spread's very interesting just because, like, I feel as though a lot of the Pittsburgh people have been talking a lot about the O-line and the Patriots defense leads the league in pressures and sacks, and Gonzalez is only going to help that. I'll take the Patriots plus one and a half. I'll take the Patriots plus one and a half.

2:08:31Pat McAfee:Let's go. Falcons, Panthers. You and me, Conman. Let's go, brother. Hey, come on now. Hey, feel very good. Come on, Drake. Hey, one time. You just heard Josh Allen. Josh Allen just said Drake Mays is going to win a Super Bowl and win an MVP one day. Yeah, but he looked up to Aaron Rodgers. So, oh. Yeah, but didn't he say he's a good kid? Yeah, he said he's a good kid. He's got a hell of an And he's got a Howlitzer. And he said Drake May one day is going to win the MVP and break a lot of records. You heard it. Okay, I did hear that. He does look up to Aaron Rodgers and still should. I think he's very good.

2:09:06Pat McAfee:But for some reason, it feels like a variable day. Falcons, Panthers, Falcons favored by five and a half in Carolina. Anything we need to know about that particular game? There is a five out there, just so you guys know that. So if you're taking the Falcons, you can get a five. Other than that, no. I mean, the rookies have been great for the Falcons. It seems like everyone is pretty healthy on both sides of that, to be honest with you. Falcons were on in the trenches, top five O-lines, and also good D for everything DB. I will take the Falcons, minus five in Carolina. AJ, your thoughts?

2:09:39Nick Saban:Yeah, I'm taking it to Falcons all day. I love what this Falcons defense has been doing. I think Penix is going to have a day as well. So, yeah, Falcons, minus five. Yeah, Lee Get also, just for Carolina. He's getting killed on the internet right now because people are claiming that his accent is bull. So a lot of problems in that wide receiver room right now. Maybe some outside noise.

2:09:59Pat McAfee:I mean, they're going to start attacking things whenever things aren't going well. I agree. I think it's ridiculous. It's an incredible accent. Why would we even be fact-checking this? Also in that wide receiver room, Ted Arroa McMillan is leading the league in rookie receiving yards. This guy's good. Okay, Ted Mack is good. The Irish Oost is obviously a stud. We're thankful that it's working out for him down there in Carolina. I don't like that. I don't like what you said there, Conman. Why is he eating squirrel? For no reason. They're thinking. Exactly. Like they go all the way back. What else was it?

2:10:30Pat McAfee:Groundhog he ate or something like that? Yeah. I mean, basically roadkill. Raccoon was one of them. Yeah. People went to his sophomore year at South Carolina and then clipped together all of his interviews throughout time at South Carolina. And they were like, he be. Well, when he was at South Carolina, he was trying to speak, you know, in a way that he thought he was supposed to speak. So he went away from who he was. He was a young boy at the time, and now he's a man. His voice changed. What are we talking about? Dialects changed. Yeah, exactly. He got more comfortable and confident in himself and who he actually is.

2:11:03Pat McAfee:He said, I'll take the raccoon. I'll take the possum, even though the possums are awesome. We got a couple of possums at the house. It's a cool animal. Wow. You know, it's one of those things that's down in Australia. Marsuco? Water King. There it is. It's a marsupial. It's the only one on North America. These things got good brains. These things got good brains. Good eating habits, too. How? What do you mean?

2:11:22Nick Saban:They eat Lucky Charms when they live in the walls of your old house?

2:11:26Pat McAfee:That was raccoons, okay? Please. We don't have trash pandas around, although Xavier Leggett does eat those. This is something very different. These are opossums, okay? And they're very docile creatures. They look interesting. They look weird, but they eat in a similar fashion as a raccoon. They use their little fingies. They grab their food. They eat it. They go, ooh, this is pretty nice. and then they go about their business. So I don't blame potential eating of those animals because of how cool they look, but it's just not for me. Xavier Leggett, obviously, all in. They're saying he's not a good wide receiver right now either.

2:11:56Pat McAfee:That's not great. Colts taking on the Titans. Colts favored by four and a half. I'll tell you, I've never been more comfortable in a bet before hearing. So Zaire said, Zaire, number 44, captain of the Indianapolis Colts, incredible football player. Gets all the tackles. uh he's really good the uh he basically i don't know people are taking it out of proportion i think where he says that cam warden is not throwing what he threw i hope you you know talk a little to cam ward you know and it got blown up it's like why would you even say anything that you don't you know a lot of people say that's zaire franklin football i think i think that is that is what zaire does he uh obviously is a very confident outspoken guy is one of the captains of the team, so I think he's comfortable.

2:12:43Pat McAfee:I don't think we need to piss off Cam Ward or anybody at Tennessee because of how things are going for our team right now. You know, we're vibing. But I'm not on the team. So he feels, however he feels, he can say whatever the hell he wants. With that being said, Colts by 100. Okay. This is a brand-new Colts team going into Nashville. From what I've been told, too, the city of Nashville understands that this Danny Dimes is a different Danny Dimes. They're welcoming, from what I've been told, the Indianapolis Colts down in that beautiful city of Nashville. They're actually picking them up as a second team, I've heard, to people in Nashville.

2:13:12Pat McAfee:Like, you know what? Cam Ward's definitely a guy, but this Indianapolis Colts team is what we like. You know, because Danny Dimes likes live music. We know that. Loves live music. First place he's going, Tin Roof. First ever Tin Roof where, AJ?

2:13:24Nick Saban:Indianapolis, I'm guessing. Pittsburgh? Nashville. Jesus fucking Christ.

2:13:28Pat McAfee:You're for food. Nashville. Come on, man. Live music. It's in Nashville. So the team is going to Nashville to take on the Titans from what we've been told is everything that Nashville is about. these Colts boys love. And how could you not with that great city? With that being said, this is going to become a run of Danny Dimes' dominance over the Tennessee Titans, and it starts with minus four and a half. I like it. Is that the most? Can I get minus four anywhere? Four and a half across the board. You said a million. Wait, hold on. A four just popped up. You can get four. Boom! Boom! Give me it!

2:13:58Pat McAfee:Give me that. Minus four, Indianapolis Colts. Thank you, AJ. Go ahead.

2:14:02Nick Saban:Well, with all of that being said, what is it? The Tin Roof? Tin Roof is the bar you're chatting about? Yeah. I thought it was the bar you guys talk about here. The Indy Bar. What's that one called? That Tin Roof. The tin roof. Tin whistle. It's insane. It is insane what is going on right now. What do you mean? Well, where are you? Where are you? I hear Gumpy chiming in here. Thanks, Gump. The thing is, I'm thinking about ball. Gumpy's a big time tin roofer. I hear about Gumpy. He's an absolute staple, Hawker. I know, in Indianapolis. I know Gump sits there and sticks his little butt out and sends out the vibe to all the ladies here in India.

2:14:33Nick Saban:I didn't think about the Nashville one that he goes to. Is that what you're doing?

2:14:36Pat McAfee:What was that? You stick your cheeks out? What's that all about? That's not what happens. What do you do? You do one of these? You do the, hey, how we doing? Yep. Feels like a hawker move. For sure. That's what you do? Yo, hey, how we doing, huh? You guys see these new shoes, right? You guys see these shoes? Hey, ladies. Kid roof, you can't do that because the place is so packed. The place is so packed. You wouldn't be able to do a full leg. Sardines in there. Even if Gumpy's little feet, okay? Gumpy's little feet. I don't even know if they have the option.

2:15:14Pat McAfee:That's a bit small. Come on. This is uncalled for, Gumpy. We're in your time. Golfers are all three. Let's just enjoy the campus. Okay, yeah. Yeah, we don't have the power on Gumps. Okay, guys?

2:15:30Come on.

2:15:31Pat McAfee:That's not accurate. That can't be accurate. Every once in a while, these things will be walking in front of me or next to me, and I look down and I think like a child running up on me. I think to myself like, did McKenzie come on?

2:15:43Nick Saban:For real though, I can't. No, not that.

2:15:47Pat McAfee:I would say this one.

2:15:50Nick Saban:Oh no, come on. Oh!

2:15:56Nick Saban:Well that water bottle might be a little too big.

2:16:01This is so fucked up, guys. I just want to put that on the record now.

2:16:08Pat McAfee:We've got to remember how quick these feet are. Nobody's talking about how quick these feet are.

2:16:12Nick Saban:I see them at TST, super quick feet. I see them warming the boys up, stalking everybody in warm-ups. With that being said, give me Tennessee on this game, Pat. What? Yeah. I just think it's the first time the Colts are going to be away from the Loud House. You know they have the nice friendly confines. I think Cam Ward, I mean, he's already – don't wake him up even more. This guy can make some plays. Give me Tennessee here. Don't wake him up.

2:16:34Pat McAfee:All right. So you got Tennessee plus four and a half. I got the Colts minus four, of course. Bengals with Jake Browning taking on the Minnesota Vikings with an absolute dog named... What the fuck? What happened? Maybe dropped a... Probably caught a lizard. A little bit of air. A little bit of noise. A little bit of noise here. Two backup quarterbacks battling two and a half point favorites at home. Kevin O 'Connell is going to be able to do his magic. Anything we need to know about this one here, Conman? Yes, Jake Browning, revenge game. I believe he's already played the Vikings, beat the piss out of him with the Bengals.

2:17:14He got cut from Minnesota when he came into the NFL, I believe. And then for the Vikings, Aaron Jones is on the IR. So it's only Jordan Mason out back, basically. So he'll get up. Darisaw didn't practice. Yeah, Darisaw probably not going, I believe. but aside from that, no. That's about it.

2:17:35Pat McAfee:I cannot wait for the Carson Wentz experience. Okay? And I think there's a chance that this changes football forever. KOC and Carson Wentz. Could. It's going to go one way or the other. For a second straight day, the Vikings list a QB. J.J. McCarthy as a did not practice. Carson Wentz is slated to start Sunday versus the Bengals. Thank God the Carson Wentz experience is going to happen. J.J., we hope you get healthy. JJ, we do not want you to obviously miss any games. We would be eager to see your development as an NFL quarterback, especially with everything everybody's ever said about you. But we have seen one quarterback develop through the NFL, okay?

2:18:11Pat McAfee:And his name is Carson Wentz. From MVP conversations for this man to Super Bowl champion as a backup to, oh, no, everybody gets fired to, holy hell, I'm out of town to, oh, no, new home. Oh, this didn't work either. There are more people fired to just bouncing around with an immense amount of talent, but obviously a huge recklessness that nobody else could ever compare to. Carson Wentz football is electrifying. So is Jake Browning football. AJ, who do you like? How do you like it?

2:18:41Nick Saban:Man, Carson Wentz. I am excited to see the Carson Wentz experience here in Minnesota, but I will take Jake Browning and the Cincinnati Bengals at plus two and a half. You could get a three. Plus three. There we go, Diggs. Appreciate it.

2:18:53Pat McAfee:Oh, I don't know what to do.

2:18:55Nick Saban:this one. It's a tough one. Carson might throw six touchdowns. He might.

2:18:58Pat McAfee:Yeah, I agree. Gumpy, what do you like? I love the Vikings. Carson Wentz probably gets in the paint, too, if we know Carl. I'll take the Vikings. Give me the Vikings minus two and a half. I just want to bet on Carson Wentz just to feel alive one more time. I mean, with a backup left tackle, you know everything going through his mind is, hey, gotta make a play, Carl. Gotta make a play. Every single time. Every time I drop back. It's like whenever you drop down in there and you you start roping your hand onto one of them bulls, you know, and you know what's about to come, but you can't wait for it.

2:19:30Pat McAfee:You're scared, but you're excited. Because you never know what that bucking bull is going to bucking do to you. You know, that's basically Carson Wentz football. And I want to ride the lightning just one more time with him. So I'm going to go ahead and take KOC and Carson Wentz minus two and a half at home against Jake Browning. Although I know Jake Browning's got a lot of moxie, a great personality, and great at football. I know he is all those things. Let's go with the Raiders, Washington Commanders. Marcus Mariota, potential revenge game, three-and-a-half-point favorite at home for the Washington team.

2:19:57As Geno Smith, Marcus Mariota officially will start

2:20:01Pat McAfee:for the Washington Commanders to take on his last team, the Las Vegas Raiders. He is a great quarterback who has certainly filled in well as a backup quarterback and has fell into this role in beautiful fashion. He now will take on Geno Smith, Pete Carroll, Chip Kelly, who talks ball with Tom every once in a while. Not two, not three to five times a week. No, and they're not discussing game plan. No. Just ball. I don't know what Schrager was saying. Do we talk ball? Sure. A couple guys love ball. What do you want? We have a little coffee maybe out there. We talk ball, right, Ty? I don't think it's that big of a deal what Chip and Tom are talking about.

2:20:38No, it's not. And you know what? I hate this for Schrager, but I don't know if it's going to be an open-door policy for him at the Raiders facility anytime soon.

2:20:47Pat McAfee:That's Las Vegas. I know. Sorry, Peter. Schrager is going to want to be in Las Vegas. the moving, the shaking, the grooving, the baking. He's going to be out there, and all of a sudden, maybe his second Monday Night Football gig? Is that what that was? Second? I'm not sure. That was the first doubleheader of the year, but I'm not sure if he did any. He was on location at the first one, but I don't think he did any sideline reporting. I think that was his first sideline duty of the season. So in one of his first ever hits on Monday Night Football, back on the sideline, how jacked up he was, it just causes a firestorm throughout the entire NFL.

2:21:21Pat McAfee:Hey, that's Pete Schrager football, baby. If two guys can't talk ball, then I don't want to – this is not where I want to live. Okay? That's just – and by the way, all the three and a halves are gone with the news that Jaden is officially at. It's now two and a half or three. All right. AJ, who do you like?

2:21:38Nick Saban:Two and a half or three? Give me the Raiders on this one. They go on the road, get a big road victory. So what can I get it at, Tom? Plus three. Plus three, yeah. Raiders plus three for me.

2:21:48Pat McAfee:I'll ride with you there. Green Bay Packers, Tucker Kraft avoided catastrophe where he ran through a wall yesterday and missed the stud in the wall by just inches potentially and hit his shoulder. They thought maybe it could have been a catastrophe. He also dunked on the upright and the ball came down. He landed on it like a basketball player rolled his ankle. They thought it could have been a catastrophe. It was not. He actually ran through and tried to spike Matt LaFleur's head off the ground. Matt LaFleur averted killing him. Because Matt LaFleur, much like Coach Cristobal, is a jujitsu black belt.

2:22:19Pat McAfee:So there's a lot of things he avoided. Catastrophe this week in practice. Sounds like he's going to be a go. That's great news. Ty, seven and a half point favorites in the dog pound. How do you feel about that as a 1 p.m. game? Well, Micah Parsons had no injury designation this week. So hopefully his play increases. I don't know how many snaps he's going to play, but if he played the whole game, that would be awesome. Also, Aaron Banks, one of the linemen, the guy they paid a lot of money for in the offseason. He didn't play Thursday night. He is a go this week. Still missing their right tackle.

2:22:50I believe I don't think Zach Tom's going to go, so they'll have a backup there again. And we'll see because although the Browns have got absolutely shite kicked multiple times, I believe statistically they have the best rushing defense in the NFL, and that is the one thing. If you want to nitpick with the Packers, they haven't really got Josh Jacobs going like they've wanted to. But, I mean, I don't know. Earlier in the week, I was thinking, like, I don't think the Packers are going to lose, but I could see this being a game much closer than a lot of people were predicting. But, again, I don't want to – I'm not going to bet on the Browns.

2:23:24You know, I'll be so pissed if I bet on the Browns to cover and the Packers win by 17, which I think they can. So, we'll see. I mean, again, you know, one of the hottest teams in the NFL right now. Browns have the weird thing, too, before – I'm sorry, go ahead, Connor. Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, my bad. Yeah, Browns have that weird, like, very good defense only at home thing. And who knows if that will continue. But week one at least with the Bengals, they kind of held them, especially after the Bengals. Yeah, should have won. How many sacks do Miles have? Three and a half. By the way, these are the top two rushing defenses.

2:23:57Browns are one, Packers are two.

2:24:00Nick Saban:AJ, who do you like? Seven and a half is a lot of points on the road, but I'm going to take the Packers here. I think they keep their hot streak going.

2:24:07Pat McAfee:I'm going with you. Los Angeles Rams taking on the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia. This is a rematch of a huge playoff game last year. The Los Angeles Rams actually played the Philadelphia Eagles better than anybody else throughout the Philadelphia Eagles magical playoff run last year. Matthew Stafford, obviously an absolute beast. Pukunakula can get the rock from anywhere. The defense has dogs all over the place, and they're taking on a Philadelphia Eagles team that has Coach Sirianni feeling himself. I don't know if you saw the video, but it was sent in this morning. Who knows if Foxy has it or not.

2:24:34Pat McAfee:but after the big win in Kansas City Coach Sirianni was walking around before he went in the locker room and you could hear him say this

2:24:50Pat McAfee:Can you hear that? I cannot hear it Yeah, that was awesome Okay, so I could not hear it there I heard it on the plane this morning as soon as I heard it, pumped up I said yes, Sirianni's back This is the first one of these we've seen in a long time Now, I assume there was some messaging about B-Rabbit that he gave to the boys before taking on the Kansas City Chiefs. And maybe he even showed, yeah, this guy fucked my mom and the girl and the whole thing. You know, maybe that was a part of the motivation. So that's why he was 3-1-3-ing. Everybody put their hand. We don't know what Sirianni's doing in those meetings.

2:25:23Pat McAfee:And I know Big Dom was also behind him doing this in the team meeting from what I heard. So shout out to Paisan kind of being his cheddar bob there. So whenever we think about Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, it's hard to just be like – it's hard not to be like the Philadelphia Eagles are a wagon. This team's in the middle of a potential dynasty. They got everybody back. They're able to win. They just beat the Kansas City Chiefs, and everybody's talking about the Kansas City Chiefs being dead. Well, maybe they just played the Philadelphia Eagles. They're favored by three and a half at home.

2:25:47Pat McAfee:The Sportsbook thinks it's going to be close. Tone, how much money is on who here? Do we know that number yet? Yeah, I can pull it up. On what percentage is on where? I can pull it up right now. Also, I believe the – while I'm looking at that, Chiefs have – or sorry, the Eagles have won 19 straight games. Just something to chew on there. It is 68 % Eagles. Okay, yeah, I saw somebody put a list of Jalen Hurts. He starts, I guess he got hurt in one game and they had to nail. I think Dan Orlovsky tweeted it. Yeah. And it was just W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W. And I wish he would have, in the middle of that, gone and put, like, in parentheses.

2:26:23Pat McAfee:I tried to fire the head coach after this one. After this W. You know, I was part of calling for the head coach's job after this win. The Chiefs, or the Eagles, there it is. Yeah, I wish after like 22-10 there or 2013, he would have dropped in there. It was at this moment we all tried to fire him for the fifth time. Yeah, headlining get up. Yeah, that was way too close. Is this guy the dumbest coach in the history of the NFL after 22-16? Then after 24-19, is Sirianni a liability after 26-18? This guy is the dumbest of all time. 34-6, let's talk about other stories. Then we get back to 28-23. This guy stinks.

2:26:59Pat McAfee:I mean, it's just like that was kind of the onslaught that Sirianni had been taking. Now the offensive coordinator is getting some gruff. It sounds like he's potentially the target of everybody this year. And then the Los Angeles Rams, Sean McVay, always good. Always good. Always. Connor, who do you like in this, Connor? Well, I was going to actually ask you guys. They went from L.A. to Tennessee last week, a little bit of a trip, but, you know, two-hour difference. Get a win. Then go all the way back to L.A. Now they're going L.A. to Philly, 1 o 'clock game. Like, that's got to be a little tough.

2:27:29Like, I personally just assume that they're a little drained. I mean, both two 2-0 teams, something's got to give. I love the Rams. Like, I love Devontae, and I love Puka and Kyron and Jared Verse and Fisk are awesome to watch. But it does just feel like a long couple weeks for L.A., maybe especially after a Texans game week one. That's a tough game. It just kind of feels like maybe Philly does beat the Rams by, you know, field goal touchdown one of those games.

2:28:00Pat McAfee:Okay, three and a half is what it is. Can we get anything else? Yeah, you could get a three if you want the Eagles. I'll take the Eagles minus three. AJ, who do you got? I'm taking the Rams here. Yeah, I like it. I like that.

2:28:12Nick Saban:I like that we did that. We're starting to agree too much, don't you think? Yeah, and I just feel – I don't know what it is. You're right. The Eagles offense, let's see if they get going, they get Saquon going maybe. I think the Rams, Connor, you went through all their – I like what this defense does for the Rams. I love Matt Stafford. Yeah, this is a good game. This is going to be a great game to watch. McVay is coaching Hurt, too. Yeah, he is. Planner fashion, right? It's fucking bullshit that this is at 1 o 'clock. I just want to get that out there, too. To your point.

2:28:39Pat McAfee:Especially with whatever bullshit we got coming up in primetime over the next couple weeks. Yeah, exactly. Boom, Chiefs-Giants. Yeah, like, come on. Give me a fucking break. Yeah, 10 a.m. local time there for L.A. I think has already been mentioned a couple times. I think that's a bigger deal than people think, even though Seahawks went into Pittsburgh and handled business. You know? Yeah. Okay. So I'm on the Eagles. You're on the Rams. Shout out to both sides. Texans, Jags, Liam Cohen, obviously, absolute beast on there. They got a good team. Texans 0-2. They're going to be 0-3? Why are the Jags favored by one and a half?

2:29:14Pat McAfee:I'm very flustered here.

2:29:16Nick Saban:I don't have an answer. Is there a reason? Is there an injury? Is it something? No one believes in the Texans? The books think the Jags are a better football player. Yeah, people think that the Texans are kind of dog shite. Yeah, I'm not sure if there's an update on Brian Thomas Jr. That was a big thing last week. Cohen said that he had a wrist injury. I'm not sure if he's playing or not. And then also not sure the plan with Travis Hunter, or if they're even going to do that anymore, where they say he's going to play more offense and defense this week.

2:29:41Pat McAfee:Yeah, D-Butch was telling me that there's now a conversation about, like and i don't think debutt has given his official opinion on it but he's just saying the conversation is starting seemingly like hey should he focus in on one or the other is it going to be possible to be able to be great at both in the nfl at the level of football that both sides are for travis hunter we'll certainly keep an eye on that one of the most exciting players i think to enter the nfl we'll see how it all pans out down there in duval uh aj who do you like man i don't really

2:30:11Nick Saban:like either of these teams and i think i don't feel great picking either one but i'm gonna go with Jacksonville here. I think they find a way to make it happen, I guess.

2:30:19Pat McAfee:Okay, I'll take Cohen and the boys as well. I don't like the Texans going 0-3, though. I don't like that. It's hard to imagine, but last team to do it, right? Hey, maybe the Texans are just the 0-3 franchise, I guess, to make the playoffs when they go 0-3. I guess. Alright, so maybe down there in Shodcon and Pool Paradise, they're able to pull it off. Denver Broncos taking on the Chargers. Now, this is a good one here. Four o 'clock. We appreciate the fact that that is happening. Denver Broncos, Sean Payton, after a tough game against the Indianapolis Colts. That's going to happen a lot, though, taking on the Chargers team that we all think could potentially win it all this year.

2:30:53Pat McAfee:This is a special year for the Chargers that are brewing, and we thought it was going to be an incredible year for the Denver Broncos. We ran the video of us going out and seeing the Chargers' new practice facility, and in there, I actually say, and I was reminded during the break while we were running it, I said, you know what? Everybody's rowing in the same direction. Look out for the Chargers. I said, strictly off of vibes, and I'm a big vibes guy. I'm going to continue that. Give me the Los Angeles Chargers at home, winning by at least two and a half. Can I get that at two? No, it's two and a half or three.

2:31:21Pat McAfee:AJ, you want three with the Broncos?

2:31:23Nick Saban:Yes, I do. Give me the Broncos plus three. I'll take it.

2:31:27Pat McAfee:Okay. Gumpy loves it. Gumpy, what are you going with? I love the Chargers. I'll be the last guy to admit it when I don't think they're good. They are unbelievable this season. The way their defense plays is incredible. Man, I wonder if Herbert was the right pick there. Okay, let's go to the next one. We'd love to know the stats on how many times Sean Payton's lost three straight games.

2:31:48Nick Saban:Has it ever happened? Boy, oh boy. I'm not sure.

2:31:51Pat McAfee:What are the stats on running into Danny Dimes? You know, what are the stats on having to run into this team? That is a chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-jugger or not, brother. Okay, I think that's tough. Saints, Seahawks. Seahawks minus seven and a half. You? My pick?

2:32:09Nick Saban:Sam Darnold and the Seahawks, yeah.

2:32:12Pat McAfee:Yeah, me too. Dallas Cowboys taking on the Chicago Bears. I'll take the Cowboys. Okay, me too. San Francisco hosting the Arizona Cardinals, favored by two and a half. They have potentially Mack Jones, even though Brock Purdy might be getting his way back in to the lineup. He looked good in practice. He didn't seemingly have extra braces. He was throwing. He looked like he was getting back into it. Shanahan saying he's wanting to get back. There's a chance he plays. Does it matter if there's Mack or Brock for that offense against this particular Arizona Cardinals team, AJ?

2:32:43Nick Saban:I think it does matter, but maybe not as much as I think because I like what Mack is able to do. I think whether it's Mack or Brock, I will take the San Francisco 49ers here.

2:32:55Pat McAfee:Me as well. Then we got the Chiefs and the Giants. Chiefs favored by 6.5 in MetLife. There's a 5.5 out there as well still if you really like the Chiefs. Okay, let's go to Bruce Braun. New York Giants on Sunday Night Football. Thank God. Last week, you said we didn't give enough coverage to how great Russell Wilson and the New York Giants played. We only paid attention to the last second of both the end of the game and the end of overtime as the Dallas Cowboys broke your heart after Russell Wilson's most prolific day passing in his entire career happens to be with the New York Giants. Bruce, are you thinking that maybe the Giants slay the Kansas City Chiefs and send the Chiefs to 0-3?

2:33:37Pat McAfee:Oh, my God. That would be insanity on Monday if that was to happen.

2:33:41Nick Saban:I am thinking that. Battle of the 0-2s here. Somebody's O has got to go. Made a ton of mistakes week one against the commanders. Corrected those mistakes. Made different mistakes against the Cowboys. But I think we got something that the Chiefs don't right now. That's a downfield passing attack. And I think we correct those mistakes. Cover this 6-1⁄2, 5-1⁄2, no problem. And there is a chance that we do send the Chiefs to 0-3. I just want to point out, Pat, that old 37-17 against the spread stat, you've faded all of them so far. So this is your chance here to take a team that is 0-2 as an underdog against the spread.

2:34:19Pat McAfee:I know. It's tough for me just to become a believer when these eyes have seen what it's seen. But with these two teams, it hasn't seen that good. It's tough for me not to just pick the Chiefs immediately here, AJ. But this has been a new me. I think I've proven that this is a new me. I picked against the Chiefs last week. Why do it again? AJ, who are you doing?

2:34:37Nick Saban:Well, you know what? With all that you said from the jump, I was leaning Giants here, and I'm going to stick with it. I'm thinking Giants plus six and a half. Wow. Yeah. Could you imagine? I know. I think the Giants could win this game. I mean, they really didn't look that bad. No. I think they got some explosivity on defense, too. That can wreak some havoc. Yeah. Hey, yell down there and ask those guys. Yeah, see what those guys think. See what the party thinks. I'm sure they know. Are they still doing it? They do.

2:35:06Pat McAfee:And you like the Giants plus six and a half against the Chiefs?

2:35:13No. No. Marks.

2:35:17Pat McAfee:I heard him go, no. I'm taking the Giants plus six and a half. I don't believe that guy. That guy. He's out in the sun. He's cooking out there. Who knows what he knows? I like the Giants plus six and a half. And, Bruce, I'm only doing this so that on Monday, I can say, oh, thanks, Bruce. Thanks so much, Bruce. No, we're doing it this time.

2:35:36Nick Saban:We're doing it this time. Andrew Thomas might go.

2:35:39Pat McAfee:Okay, you support the Colts as much as you do. I'll support the Giants for you, and I still think the Chiefs win. That's a little double for you. Speaking of a double, why don't you double your happiness with our friends at door?

2:35:48Nick Saban:Hell yeah.

2:35:49Pat McAfee:Oh, you got Gumpy Key, come help me out here again. Here, Marco. Can you come? Come. Let people know that they can order this pizza right here if they really wanted to. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. They could get this particular pizza right here if they really wanted to the one that you brought in To share with everybody and you brought into the screen. What is DoorDash all about? Well, it's about bringing happiness. It's about putting people in positions to succeed It's about you hanging out your house having a temptation or something like this pizza that Gumpy brought into the camera Right here and going on DoorDash and getting it delivered right to your house.

2:36:22Pat McAfee:You don't even have to leave your couch Holy hell, I'd like a five-star steak. You got it with our friends at DoorDash. I need a little medicine You got it with your friends at DoorDash. How about shorts from Dix or anywhere else? You got it. And then if you need this piece of pizza, it looks so damn delightful. And I don't know why Gumpy holds it this way every single week. You go to our friends at DoorDash. You can save up to$250 this season when you order on game days. Obviously, you can scan this QR code and get something really special. Ain't that right, Gumpy? Absolutely. But wait, hold on.

2:36:52You're not holding it anymore. You're not holding it.

2:36:55Pat McAfee:Don't let go of the rope. Why do you eat the pizza? Don't let go of the rope. All right. Gump, you got to hold that. That's not. I guess you didn't bring pizza this week. Okay. Son of a bitch. Wrestle Polarusa tomorrow night in Indianapolis. Obviously, everybody's going to be jacked up. Brock Lesnar, John Cena started. What's going to be the main event there? I don't think that's been announced yet. I'm excited for the entire evening. Check that out on the ESPN app. Should be fun. Indianapolis will be alive for that. And tomorrow morning's game day. Let's go do some picks for Cena Lesnar. I'll start with Gumpy.

2:37:25Pat McAfee:Gumpy, you think it's the goat or the beast that'll kick off the ESPN WWE era with a dub? I think the goat gets the beast one last time. Okay, John Cena is what Bubba Gumpino is saying. Let's go to the Talks to the Table. At Boston Corner and Ty Schmidt, who do you like? How do you like it? I mean, this is a no-brainer. This is John Cena's time. So I think, you know, had he been called John Cena, had he been called the correct name leading up into the promo of this, probably nothing. him, but I'm guessing hearing him called John Senna about 10 times, that probably, you know, little, little fire in his gut, in his belly, you know, and I don't think he wants, I don't think he wants to lose to the Beast Incarnate, so I'm going with John Senna.

2:38:05Yeah, see, I kind of see it the opposite, you know, I think, I think Senna's thinking, like, wait, am I John Senna or am I John Senna? Have I been calling myself the wrong name? I've been saying, you can't see me, but can I see me? You know, that's kind of where I think Sen is at. So I think the beast comes home. I think it's going to be an absolute wash. The F5, yeah, you're going to see 15 of them. So if you're in the front row, bring a rag. There's going to be blood. And Sen is probably not going to be able to come back until, shoot, maybe even Mania. I mean, he might not be able to finish out his run.

2:38:43Pat McAfee:Oh, the last time is now. The last, last, last, last time is tomorrow potentially with what Brock does to Cena. You know, these guys have known each other a long time. They know each other's style. They know what everybody's about. I thought maybe if John Cena was still, you know, mad and mean and pissed off at the WWE Universe, maybe Brock Lesnar would be able to see a different form of John Cena, you know. But he has seen this particular John Cena before. I don't know if John Cena has seen this Brock Lesnar. Have you seen Brock right now, AJ? He looks bigger. I mean, I've only seen him on TV and on clips.

2:39:15Pat McAfee:He looks bigger and stronger than he's ever looked. Does he not? Huge. And while John Senna has been going around time to time to time celebrating, you know, the end of this entire thing, while filming three different movies, Brock's been what? Up in secluded areas just lifting and eating and training? That's a big foot-upper. Ripping telephone poles out of the ground. You took all the words right out of my mouth. You ever seen Rocky IV? Okay. Rocky's out in the Siberian winter training while Drago's got all these nice things. That's what Brock's been doing up there. Jon doesn't know who he is.

2:39:50Is he a heel? Is he a face? Tell you what, the entrances may take longer than the match, actually. So, yeah, give me Brock. Oh, yeah.

2:39:57Pat McAfee:You think Brock's going to end this thing quick? You don't think Jon Senna's going to go, well, you think he's just going to roll over and flop around? Yeah, right. I don't think he has a choice. This is Jon Senna. I don't think he has a choice, brother. This is the beast incarnate. Corn it. When this happens. Ah! Sin is old. He'll be big. What? Yeah. Sin is old and he's thinking about acting. He's lost his fastball. Oh, you think he's a little Ricky Stanicki-ing around? Bingo. Brock Lesnar has never thought about Brocky Stanicki ever. Sin is walking around like this. Just like this. Bone's going to kick your ass.

2:40:32Brock's walking around like this. Like, we're both. He's just serious. And Sin is like, mm-hmm.

2:40:37Nick Saban:Mm-hmm. How's Brock wrong in wrestling? Brock lives for one thing, and that's one, two, three. Yeah, true. Oh, and Senna doesn't?

2:40:45Pat McAfee:No. And wrestle? Hey, excuse me. Oh. Senna's taking an L at some point. Brock Lesnar's lost, too, hasn't he? No. No. How would he beat him, right? No.

2:40:57Nick Saban:Never. Maybe DQ or something. Never. Yeah, that's revising this history. And, you know, to your point, you know, Brock does count one, two, three. Senna counts three, two, one, action. You know, it's completely different.

2:41:11Pat McAfee:I see what you did there. How good did you feel about that? I'm honestly just pissed that I didn't just jump in and say it immediately after Tony said that one, but I still got it out. Still getting my shots up. Still getting my thoughts on the board. Still get your shots up. Still get your shots up. Still get your shots up. AJ, who do you like, Brock or John?

2:41:30Nick Saban:I mean, after what Conman just threw out there now, I like Brock here. I think Brock may win in under 30 seconds, too. They're going to kick everything off with a bang. Here we go. Let's get the rest of the card in.

2:41:42Pat McAfee:All right. Well, good luck to the John Cena supporters and the Brock Lesnar supporters. Good luck to all football fans as we're about to have an incredible weekend as this football season is going to continue to dazzle, entertain, and enlighten us about the good things in this life, which is coming together to celebrate one thing, and that's ball. We'll be doing that on Overreaction Monday. Have the greatest weekend of your life. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to be a part of your day and for allowing us to do this for a living. Shout out to the GM of Miami baseball. Giving me a baseball jersey.

2:42:08Pat McAfee:Hell yeah. Let's go Cain. I try to put this thing on. It is going to be a little tight. Okay, a little motivation. Maybe for me not to be the type body type that I'm currently trying to achieve. Maybe try to get a little bit tighter so I can get this. If not, Gumpy might be wearing this thing pretty soon. Go Hurricanes and go Gaitas. We appreciate them being a part of tomorrow as well. All right. AJ, anything for the team?

2:42:32Nick Saban:No, I thought Gumpy may have had some encouraging words as we sign off here.

2:42:38Pat McAfee:I just thought you maybe would have encouraging words. Oh, yeah, for sure, AJ. Thank you. AJ, that's a great sweater. Go Ohio State. Good luck to all the college football teams tomorrow. Everybody's NFL teams on Sunday. Let's have the greatest football weekend of all time. All right, Joe. All right, Joe. Yeah. See your friends, tell them something nice. It might change your life. We're interesting. You got the team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Three. Goodbye.