PMS 2.0 1414 - BA Day with Bruce Arians, MNF Recap, Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell, Keenan Allen, Lavonte David, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

19:56I don't think they have anything to worry about there. I still think they win the Super Bowl as well. The Ravens are my Super Bowl pick. Listen, they've had some ups and downs to start the year, but the defense is going to figure it out. They're going to get those guys back, Zach or the D.C. They kind of started slow last year, too, and figured it out. So I'm not worried about the Ravens yet. I think they still definitely win the division, and I still think they win the AFC, too. Hey, Tyron. I've seen you at your desk What the hell Dude Super old pick

20:27Pat McAfee:D.K. Metcalf Jalen Ramsey I can sit here and lie to you if you want John Newsmith He's an AP voter I'm a journalist now Sometimes you're going to separate your fan from your life And your job Nah, sometimes you gotta lie Well, D.Butt is not lying I think he just actually just kind of picks everybody, but you thought the Steelers were going to win the Super Bowl whenever Aaron Rodgers signed with the team. Did he not? He said that in the microphone. I didn't say division, though. Ooh. You just said the Ravens were going to win division and the Super Bowl. Oh, yeah, yeah. But back then, back then, it was Ravens going to win division, Steelers win the Super Bowl.

21:10They do better as a six, seven seeder.

21:12Pat McAfee:Okay, so what is this year for the Steelers? We got Aaron for one year, right? Two years. What is this for the rest of the way? It feels like the last five years-ish. What about they just won? I mean, we're winning games. Yeah, you beat a damn good Patriots team, brother. I'm just telling you what I see after three games, and it's the defense can't get off the field. They can't really stop the run. The offensive line isn't really blocking anybody. So when you can't do those things, it makes winning football games hard. But, you know, that's what the Steelers do is win football games. So they're still going to win, you know, just not win enough to win the big one.

21:43Pat McAfee:Well, I'll tell you what, they look better in Cincinnati. They do look better in Cincinnati. Cincinnati, that was a tough one. That was a tough one. So back to your point. Baltimore Ravens going to win the AFC North? Totally. Good luck, Lamar. They better. Just keep scoring points. Some point they'll get a stop. Lamar being so nasty through the sky just does not get enough praise because the entire conversation is how good of a runner he is. Remember running back. He's a running back playing quarterback. Coming through the combine in the draft process, hey, you ever think about maybe running some rounds of sports?

22:15Pat McAfee:I just want to kind of see you think, no, I'm a quarterback. You know, the only guy that really believed in himself alongside his mom, who was acting as his agent and manager, I think still, the only ones publicly basically saying, no, he's quarterback, he's quarterback, he's quarterback. Everybody else was like, he should be open to baby trying to get on the field too at some places. Like that was a real convo because of how insanely fast, athletic, quick, and elusive he is as a runner with the ball. He's just a different level of athlete. And then now that he's become the best passer, is what the passer rating judgment says, you can obviously put a bunch of arms up there and say, hey, who's the best arm user?

22:52Pat McAfee:Who's the best passer? All that shit. Who has the strongest arm? I don't know if he wins every single one. But passer rating, some of these throws he was making last night were just filthy. And then he makes the next one. And then the next one. And then the next one. I think that's the difference between good and great, right? Totally. Is making the throws on a consistent level. He's always been able to spin it. Even back in Louisville, he could spin it now. You know, and I compared him a lot to Michael Vick coming out. And Mike could spin it too, but Lamar was more accurate when Mike coming out.

23:18Now, they're both running, what, 4-2? And the legs were obviously their go-to. But Lamar can spin it as good as anybody in the league right now.

23:29Pat McAfee:Yeah, right now, he was, I mean, fadeaway shots, big shots, deep shots, cross shots. I mean, every throw is just looking natural. And it's, I think, whenever you have good arm talent, you can probably make that like one. And then the next one's going to be a miss. And then there's going to be a little inconsistency. There's going to be like a behind. It was like every throw was right where it was supposed to be. And it's like I feel like that's what like Peyton, Tom, I assume Aaron, all the like high-level throwers are like every throw needs to be in the perfect spot. Lamar's at that point. The fact that he has held himself to that standard to work to become to that level of thrower when he could just rely, just, he would be a fucking Hall of Fame quarterback just with his legs and what he was able to do with his arm.

24:14The fact that he put in the work clearly throwing the ball to become this passer,

24:19Pat McAfee:it's like so much respect for everything going on over there. Well, and that's what's weird when you bring up the fourth quarter stats for the Ravens with them blowing leads and everything. Lamar almost seems like if you could create someone to kind of salt a game away in the fourth quarter, it'd be a guy like Lamar. He can make every single throw. If there's ever a third and long, it's like, hey, there's a good chance if he needs to. He can get us 17 yards. He can pick up a long first down. And then not to mention Derrick Henry, too. You would think that that two-headed attack right there, that's what salts away games.

24:52And for whatever reason, it's just not. It hasn't been working.

24:55Pat McAfee:What the hell is going on with Derrick Henry? We know how strong he is. I'm one of Derrick Henry's actual biggest fans. just because just like cam newton when you see somebody that is just not supposed to like clearly their body type is not supposed to be able to do the job that it's doing you can't help but just marvel like holy shit this is he is so big so strong so fast so durable yeah like just so all the so many's that you want to have that's good this is not who he is no they say once a fumbler always a fumbler that's what football people say now i got i had a run that was rule a fumble, I'd like to say I was dying.

25:32Pat McAfee:You know, because the wrist bone and the hip, that's dying. And Hockley didn't let in, so I have a documented fumbler, and I think I do have good ball strength. But that ref, one of the greats, certainly fucked that one up, but he is one of the greats. We would like him to potentially be in New York, running a lot of things, which we can potentially talk about later. But why is this starting? Does it just happen? What do you think it is? And now guys know, though, right? This becomes something you guys put a bullseye on, on defense. Yeah, so all the good things, the one I mean, how big he is, it does give a bigger surface, and it is easier to kind of hit that ball.

26:05And this was just a great play, too, by Aiden coming from behind because Derek never sees him, so he's not tucking it. You know, we saw Tiki Barber switch it up, kind of have whatever point through his career going super high and tight. Some runners, I think I heard either Shannon Sharp or – I think it was Shannon Sharp talking about Emmitt. He was a left-handed ball carrier type of guy, so no matter where he was going, he was always going to have the ball in his left hand. So maybe it's some of those things. Some people are talking about maybe it's the sleeves, but I sent in something I think Yahoo or somebody put in.

26:33His fumbles by quarter because, like, fumbles matter. We've seen running backs get benched not to see the field anymore. Obviously, that's not what happened with Derrick, but when you're in the fourth quarter of a game, we all saw the prime time against the Bills. They had the game in hand, fumbled it, and then last night again. Like, I don't know. It's definitely in his head. You saw him on the sideline, you know, absolutely beside himself. You rarely see him show that type of emotion. So it's in his head now, and it's definitely a red dot for defense now. You're going to be targeting, we know how prevalent the punch out is league wise.

27:02So everybody's going to be targeting the ball right now. But that number right there is staggering. First quarter, four fumbles, second quarter, three, third quarter, two. And then fourth quarter to Ty's point, when you are trying to run the clock out, they always have these two score leads. Ten fumbles in the fourth quarter, you can't have that.

27:19Pat McAfee:Coach B.A., what are you saying to him? Because obviously your offense depends on him having success as well. So it's not like you can just say, hey, you fumbled again, I'm going to take you out completely. Or is that something you have to say? I don't think you can say that to Derrick Henry, though, especially on that. No, not at all. I think it's something that, hey, let's look at how it happened. It was a backside punch out, but he had it high and tight. All right? He actually had it up here when it got punched out. I don't want him running with two hands on it. That's for damn sure. You know, just keep doing what you're doing and let's protect it.

27:50Better keep working at it. And I'm not harping on it because I don't want it to happen again. I don't want you thinking about it.

27:57Pat McAfee:Let's not focus on this thing. Yeah, a lot of good runs, too. Yeah, we need to certainly – the ball's a program now. We need to certainly take care of that. But it does – maybe there's some misfortune, too, to it. Three for three? Yeah. That's tough. Three for three is tough. But there's got to be – I mean, there's some misfortune to it. Of course. Yeah, like even that – Because if that punch hits his arm, which Aiden Hutch has been training. He has been training. He's been dancing, too. He's been doing a lot of things. Oh, yeah. I've seen him dancing. He was dancing. All over the place. Hutch?

28:26Pat McAfee:Hutch was dancing. Basically naked. I didn't see that. I bet you are. He was. Okay. And that's why he can punch the ball out. No, yeah, yeah. Shave the arms, the whole thing. I get what you're saying. But, no, like, I think he has been working, possibly. And that's a good thing to get good at. Darius Leonard was here when he was playing great football. That guy was all over the place. I think he talked about taking actual boxing classes and, like, working on his punch. And that became a real weapon for him. He was punching one out every game, basically. The peanut punch. Yeah, the peanut punch.

29:00Pat McAfee:Chuck Pagano. Well, then Chuck Pagano made a video on, when you deliver this punch, we want guys to come from here. You know you can't be doing this. And all of a sudden, Peanut got a little bit offended. Is this guy saying he fucking created this? Yeah. I got to check on Chuck. Chuck Pagano is in a basketball right now. A couple of tough, tough, tough, tough work. Figure it out, Chuck. Yeah, but you saw his guy. We talked about it last night. I sent it in the group text. one of his safeties sacrificed his body, saw on an outside shoulder, so that his brother could make a tackle. That is Chuck Pagano losing his mind rate.

29:34Pat McAfee:Love everything about a sacrifice you hear, proper shoulder, proper everything you're doing. That's a full sellout right there. Brian Branch had one, too, which was a great play. Threw a penalty on it. Bullshit, but great, great play. That's an unbelievable play right there. Marlon Humphrey, who chased down David Montgomery, doing both things. What a run by him. I also like, I don't know if D-Bot would like to talk about it. Oh, there's Baltimore Ravens. There's a blackout. Why do they got white gloves on? Yeah, I don't know. What's that all about? What is that about? Yeah, I don't know. Why do they got the white gloves?

30:02Pat McAfee:It does look kind of good. It's kind of swaggy. Now, when you lose. You know, we always talk about wear the gloves the color of the other team. Yes. They can't see. Especially offense lineman. You can't see your hold. So, normally, you wear the gloves of the color of the other team. Yeah, that's what I was implying. Looks like there's some cheating going on from Chuck Bogano. Yeah. They're getting real handsy. Getting real handsy. Right there on the jerseys. As soon as they jump, grab them. Raven fans are not too happy with Marlon right now. We got Kevin Oka. Throw away the podcasting equipment.

30:37Thanks, man.

30:40Pat McAfee:There is a time and a place for all things, we believe. Yeah. True. And as somebody that was lucky enough to kind of work on second career while first career was happening, there was quite a balance of like, hey, now he's much different than me. Obviously, vastly. All these guys that have actual podcasts in play now are vastly different than who I was a fucking punter. Okay, so I'm three shanks away from getting cut regardless, let alone having a personality. So I very much knew like, hey, we can't be, like Lamar on every throw. The reason why I noticed, because I would hit three good punts, fourth one would be bad.

31:17Pat McAfee:Okay, three good punts, maybe four good punts, fifth one would be better there was like always a shank coming or a miss coming once you start getting a little bit louder you know a little bit of a platform and drawing some let's say attention to yourself yeah we can't be having the three out of four that gotta eliminate that we gotta every you cannot be the liability ever this can never come so for me that changed how i actually had to operate completely and if i had a terrible game or if we lost or something you got to read that balance too we talked about micah with this yeah whenever he's with the cowboys It's like I respect and appreciate that Micah wants to build something.

31:50Pat McAfee:But also, there's a time and a place, you know, to do it. You've got to kind of feel that out. But in the modern world, a lot of these guys potentially leaving a lot of money on the table if they don't kind of activate their own NIL while all these college kids are doing it as well. It's just you've got to find a balance, you know, because people don't want to hear shit. Yeah. Okay? We don't want to hear shit from you, okay, unless we're winning games. You've got to remember why they're there, too. People are listening to you right now because you are a member of the team that you are a part of.

32:15Pat McAfee:So if a team's not doing good, they don't care. And that's just a fact of the matter. Without a doubt. Now, some guys, I think, have built their own brand outside of their team pretty good. Travis Kelsey, obviously. And by building brand, I mean just notable. And he had so many shows. Mahomes, I think there's a couple guys. Lamar, I think, obviously. Like actual influencers. Josh. Josh Allen. A lot of the quarterbacks. Yeah, but not all of the quarterbacks. Not all of them, no. Yeah, but a lot of the quarterbacks are bigger or can sustain their brand without a team. But everybody else, basically, and I am definitely the most part of this, the people are listening to you because of the team that you're on.

32:55Pat McAfee:So you just got to remember that whenever you're kind of balancing talking to them and your team stinks. Yeah, without a doubt. And then the flip side of that is if he picks off Patrick Mahomes two times, people are going to be like, we did an episode right now, tonight, let us know what you saw. Bingo, just ride it. Yeah, exactly. If I was a player nowadays with how many deals you guys are offered and shit like that, I would say don't agree to a guaranteed release date for each show. Need X amount every week or whatever. Yeah, don't do that. Just give them a 10 of them. We'll do 10 of them, and then you hope you get 10 wins, or maybe you drop two in one week after a week.

33:32Pat McAfee:Then you can just do it in a positive way, as opposed to these agents who are super geniuses. I got you some real comfortable options here. You're going to need to make one every Monday and Wednesday. They're going to pick the best of that. That's every game. And they're going to want you to be authentic whenever you lose. You know, that's part of the podcast. It's raw. It's genuine. You know, people don't get to see that. So we want two of those, each one every single week. It's like, in theory, sounds good because it's a guarantee and it's comfortable. But in the reality is whenever you lose and you've got to do that, it's going to fucking suck.

33:58Pat McAfee:And everybody is going to tell you that you suck because of what you're doing. So, hey, we're in transition era. Exactly. We're in transition era right now. We're figuring it all out right now. We're figuring it all out. as a coach, I couldn't even imagine trying to balance it all. Honestly, the things that Chuck told me and Chuck was dealing with me, I mean, I couldn't even imagine. You think you'd be a little bit better at putting balls? You didn't tweet so much. One of the first things he said to me, I was like, man, I tweet while I'm hanging out at my house. I don't play video games. I don't watch movies really.

34:28Pat McAfee:I mean, I used to go out. I guess I could start doing that again, but I just kind of, I'm just sitting at my house whenever I do that. And if I suck, I will stop for sure. Okay, deal. That's the thing, too, because it doesn't really impact your performance. Like, whatever you do in your off time, you're doing it in your off time. But even, like, as a teammate, like, we just went out there and gave up, you know, 200 yards rushing or a big fourth. We just lost a big game. Any game is a big – every game is a big game. We just lost a game, and I got to see my teammate, you know, pod the next day or right after the game or some shit like that.

35:00I'm going to feel some type of way. I know it's not impacting your performance, too. I see you work every day. I see you practice every day. I see you in meetings. Hopefully. It's just a bad look. We just have a radio show every week or something. When you lose, it's like, man, it's Tuesday. I don't want to show up at Hardee's and sign out. That's just what it is. But like you said, it is part of it. There's a lot of money on the table. I get that part of it. Everybody understands that as a professional, but it is just a bad look overall.

35:25Pat McAfee:From our generation. I don't know what the younger generation thinks. That's just coming from us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. True, true, true. For you, for dealing with it, how is it? What is the conversation? Because that had to evolve since you were coaching with Bear Bryant to now. You know, because that Tuesday show, that Tuesday radio show thing became a very just synonymous with football. Like on Tuesday, the coach does a local show, a player may do a local show, a radio show, radio hit. That just became like normal operating business, I think, for teams. Was that a big transition when that happens?

35:51Pat McAfee:And then nowadays, how do you, because you've been alive through all of it, coached through all of this stuff, the transition of it all. Yeah, it used to be just the coaches show. Players were never on it, you know, and you watched it just so you, he's going to rip your ass on TV. Or is he going, they always say, his mom and dad and Coach Bryant, his show was the best. But then it just kept evolving and players got more involved and now the players are on, the coaches aren't. It's like, oh, that's a little different. And for me it was just respectful of your teammates. Whatever you say, tell the truth, wait, just be respectful of your teammates.

36:25I don't want you coming in here as somebody kicking your ass. True.

36:28Pat McAfee:There's no need for any drama to be in this locker room. We don't need drama in the locker room. And also So you can be respectful of your teammates on the field too. Like if it's a field goal and you're the holder, for instance. And there's a D lineman that is very large. And he says something to maybe the greatest of all time kicker. And then don't feel obligated as the punter to say something back to that guy that is very, very high-level shit talk. Do not feel obligated to do that because you're not the person that has to actually do that. an offensive lineman now has to block said person and uh offensive lineman says i just got done with an 85 yard drive why are you starting any shit for me to have to deal with right now and that's disrespectful of me so in the moment i apologize it's learning to both parties okay let's move on and uh can't do it on the show can't do it on the field you gotta respect your teammates build a winning culture and still possible i think even with the way the world is i think for sure i mean that's the world today so as a coach you gotta adapt to it and hopefully the right guys have the shows I don't know if I was the right guy for it but I think you go back and check one photo that photo he was in the back it was a good photo pretty good shot that was problematic pretty clean everything's up not deleted joining us now ladies and gentlemen is the embodiment of the next generation of coaching, I think.

38:00Pat McAfee:He's already a guy that's been put on to Coach Bruce Arians' top three coaches in the entire NFL. He's one of the coach of the year. He's turned around an operation and a program to make us all believe that anybody could play quarterback for his team and they'd win. Ladies and gentlemen, the living legend, I'd say. Former quarterback. Got cut before he could sit down in a Jets building. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Kevin O 'Connell. Hey, Coach. How you doing, dude? I'm doing well. You're about six feet away from a living legend there, right to your right. Coach B.A., absolutely. You're 100 % right.

38:38And on that note, he thinks you're on your way, brother.

38:41Pat McAfee:He's a very big fan of yours. I don't know if you've got a chance to hear that. Do you know Coach B.A. at all, KO? I got a chance to shake his hand when I was a younger coach, and he was rolling there in Tampa. Always been a huge fan, obviously, going back a long time, watching his offenses play. But the side of it that he's talking about, I got a chance to hear some of what you guys were just talking about. He's a standard setter for winning culture, whether it's now, 2025, or going back a long way. Got nothing but respect for coach. Well, that's the same here, brother. I love what you're doing.

39:18and I think you could coach anybody to play quarterback except me. I went two games without completing a pass.

39:25Pat McAfee:Okay. I think that would not happen with KO. He might have fixed me. Yeah, exactly. Or if you're calling your own plays, you might have been a little bit better. But KO, let's talk about that. That whole narrative about you being able to coach or drop a play literally in the dirt for any quarterback, I think you have tried to humble that, humble that, humble that. We heard stories last year of you literally telling the quarterback in his headphones until 15 seconds on the play clock, like what everybody's route was and what everything was and you were having success. So that obviously leads to Carson Wentz here being the most recent quarterback for you to have success with.

39:56Pat McAfee:That was by far the best football that I've seen him play. That was the most in structure I've ever seen him play. What did you see from Carson Wentz that got you excited for him to come to the Vikings? And then now that you've had a chance to play a game with him or coach a game with him, what are your thoughts about him and the Vikings offense as a whole if he has to continue to play? yeah well I've always been you know a fan of Carson's going back a long way I mean I was in the division coaching in Washington as a quarterback coach and coordinator when when he was playing at an unbelievable level for the Eagles and and and then you know people forget how good of a year he had in Indianapolis you know there and when whenever that was 2021 I think it was.

40:39So I've always just known about the player going back to evaluating him coming out of North Dakota State. Big, strong, smart. You know, I think the game makes sense to him in a lot of ways, both pre and post snap. So I thought it would be a big thing for our team to add that kind of experience. You know, former second pick in the draft, a guy that's been on this quarterback journey and at different stops and different capacities. And it has a unique perspective, I think now that not only can help our young quarterback, but can really help our whole team. So that was really the hope of bringing Carson to Minnesota.

41:17And then on top of that, once he's, once he arrived here, you start seeing a guy that this guy can do a lot of things to at a really high level at the quarterback position still. He's only 32 years old, which is turning into a young quarterback nowadays with the way Tom kind of reset the number at the position age-wise and what Aaron's doing now at his age, obviously. But here's what I know. I think Carson Wentz, when I think about him playing at his best, I mentioned it to Carson this past week and I mentioned it, you know, to our team and in the postgame press conference, I really see him as a point guard, a guy that can see the whole field.

42:02He can put the ball in play. I thought he played with great fundamentals from the pocket, a base that allowed him to be grounded and kind of make quick decisions that played right alongside his fast eyes to be able to diagnose where to find the voids and vacancies to attack the defense. And really, that's what our offense is all about. And we're trying to build plays that allow him to throw the ball in open areas to some really good players, as we see right here with Justin Jefferson. Unbelievable pitch and catch, you know, run after catch right there to start a two minute drive and allow us to score on three plays.

42:36I mean, there was just a lot of Carson just kind of letting the game come to him, being really disciplined with his feet and his eyes and trusting in the system that we we have here. But at the same time, we wanted to put together a plan that he was really comfortable with, which is always the starting point to allow a quarterback to go into Sunday with a bunch of confidence. And I was really happy with the way he played.

42:59Pat McAfee:Yeah, I'd say that touchdown we just showed was to go up 48-3 in the third quarter, week three. That's a nice little start to a game. You know, that's an anxiety reliever. We're going to 48-3, okay. Now, I know what the Vikings did to the Colts. Okay, I understand that. There was a whole conversation about 33-zip earlier today with Cam Bynum. But, like, whenever your team's rolling like that and you see how special it is, do you get excited about it? Like, do you know your team is the same team or better than the team that was last year? Like, when do you think you'll get a feel of that? Because last year you're fighting, obviously, for the number one seed in the NFC with the Detroit Lions last week of the season.

43:36Pat McAfee:This year, J.J. McCarthy gets hurt. Carson Wentz steps in. He has success. Feels like you're going to be able to have success offensively this season, which might have been the only question mark at quarterback. Feels like you're going to figure that out. Do you feel like the same feelings as you had last year? What did you learn from last year maybe that kind of continues this trend that you're on? I think it's a really good question, but for us it was more about from one Sunday to the next at U.S. Bank Stadium. I challenged our team after our Atlanta game of really we don't even know what. We don't.

44:14Yeah, no, we don't. And now we never will.

44:16Pat McAfee:Yeah. Oh, you got frozen there. Hold on, I think you're muted now. And you're back. You got me? Yeah, you said I told the team after the Atlanta game that we don't even know, and then it stopped. So we thought we'd never find out, to be clear. But your team did find out, and you don't even know. Yeah, no. Yeah, you know, Pat, we didn't know really what we are. We did so many things in that game that, you know, didn't give us a chance to win the game by some of the things we were doing to ourselves. And what I asked for was to allow our philosophy on winning games to come to life. And that was forcing some turnovers on defense, protecting the ball on offense, you know, having some physicality at the line of scrimmage to be able to run the football and then generate a completion mindset in the pass game to allow our playmakers to make plays.

45:07I thought our kicking game, both our punter and our kicker were phenomenal. The coverage units with a bunch of young players on it were phenomenal. And I thought the way Flo called the defense from an attacking mentality from the jump just kind of allowed the energy and the momentum of the game to just play off of all three phases for 60 minutes. And I told our team afterwards, we now have the answer of what it can look like. But we've got to understand that it was about the preparation for the week, the mindset coming off of the fact that we had to deal with a little adversity head on. and in this day and age you're you're if you allow things to outside your building from a you know the noise and hey this is what they are this is what they aren't and I understand all that that's what makes our game so great and popular is people want to talk about our game 24-7 they want to watch our game 24-7 but it still is old school principles of figuring out what it's going to take to win a game what is your identity of your team look like and that may be different from last year to answer your original question.

46:10And it's about the identity of this team and then putting that together and making it come to life against NFL teams and game plans where things are going to be hard at times. And that's when the best parts of this team, our leadership and our coaching staff need to band together to find a way to win a game a week. And I know that's a cliche, but you get too far away from that, you can find yourself searching for answers that don't need to be too far away. They're right in front of you sometimes. You just got to go to work and fix some of the things that will give you a great chance to win a game.

46:43Pat McAfee:Hey, the process, the process, the process, the process, the process, the process. We're trying to win right now, right now, right now. This meeting, right now. Let's win this meal right now. Let's win this conversation right now. And then the game, guess what? Win itself. Everything else has to happen. The more you can get the team focused on that, the better. But, boy, after beating the shit out of a team, it is tough to do that. That's why I would not be a good head coach because I'd be with the boys. Hey, yeah. Carson, this backup quarterback, boy, we smoked the Bengals. They were talking about the Bengals maybe winning the Super Bowl, these motherfuckers.

47:17Pat McAfee:It'd be hard not to do that. Yeah, so we know we're part of the problem. So just know that we are part of the problem. But good on you being the one that has to handle all that. It's not just you, though. There's another legend on that coaching staff that you just referenced. Go ahead, D-Bud. Yeah, Coach, I know you go way back with Brian Flores. And, Bruce, you can run the video while I'm asking this question. What is it like preparing against this guy, sharpening, I guess, iron versus iron, preparing going into the game? Because his defense, you talked about the attacking style. But even before the snap he's even had, if you're looking at the screen, all these different things that the quarterback has to deal with.

47:49So I want to know what it's like going into a game or even to a season with him. And then the performance of Isaiah Rogers. I want you to talk about that a little bit as well. yeah well I can tell you D-butt that uh I'm always probably the happiest guy when training camp's over because we no longer have to uh you know really prepare on a daily basis for just about anything because the way Flo and his staff operate uh they're trying to give those players and it helps a lot having a guy like Harrison Smith back on the field Andrew Van Ginkle back on the field to truly unleash kind of that think tank of Flo and his staff of disguise and applying, you know, mental pressure to go along with the physical pressure that they can bring every single snap.

48:34And then what are the counter punches off of that? How are they protecting some of those looks, making, you know, a lot of things start out looking the same, but they're different. Just really good principles of football. And the best thing about Flo is his ability to teach it, his ability to give the players ownership of each and every plan each week to allow them to just go out there and play fast and make it all come to life. You know, he he allows me to go in there and talk to the defense on Saturdays, you know, the day before the game, the plans in, I kind of have a grit, a good feel for that plan.

49:07And it's one of the most fun times I have all week because these guys are absolutely ready to, you know, get to the stadium the next day and go play and go do their thing but it's all the work that goes in that leads into that that that moment and then ultimately into these games that uh i think flo and his staff do a tremendous job and i'm so fortunate to have him here commanding that defense and and what it brings to the mentality of our whole team um week in and week out is has been a winning edge for us there's no question about that

49:37Pat McAfee:i love that you go in and talk to the defense i also appreciate every time we have a mic'd up video of you talking to the team yeah you're a great communicator bro you're you're uh you're a great i i don't know ba phenomenal communicator had his own way of doing things the way ba talked obviously chuck pagano i heard him he was uh more of a storyteller okay he was telling stories out there and he would act that shit out every once in a while as well rich rodriguez this guy hilariously intense human being okay like that is had a great message was all of them come in different ways your delivery and your messaging and your communication with uh the team obviously because you're an ex-player, you probably maybe saw a coach that acted similar to how you act now, maybe got some influence from, or how do you find who you are?

50:19Pat McAfee:And then, how much are you thinking about the messages that you're sending? Are you reading books, watching movies, looking things up? ChatGPT? Grok, maybe? How are you figuring out, hey, AI's got a big fucking brain. Grok's stupid. Grok has gotten a few things wrong about it. What was Grok saying out there? We can talk about after coach. I don't want to miss coach. Grok's been wrong a little bit. Grok's been on a little bit of a terror. But on that note, how do you come up with the messages and why do you think you communicate the way you do? Is it kind of following somebody else that you've seen or played for?

50:55Yeah, I think the one thing I learned after all these years and whether it was being a rookie around, you know, Coach Belichick, you know, getting to win a Super Bowl with Sean McVay, There was a lot of great coaches in between along that journey of being a player and a coach. I could not do this job unless I was me, just authentically me every single day. I think it'd be awfully hard to try to be somebody else and then try to handle the moments of adversity while you're playing the part of somebody else. That just seems like that just seems like an impossible task. So what I've tried to do is just figure out the principles of who I want our organization to be.

51:37And then I want to consistently be the version of that for our guys so that they never have to wonder who they're going to get in front of them. They never have to question the authenticity of the message. They know it comes from a place that is in the best interest of them, both as players and as people and ultimately about growth and development of everybody, me included. That's probably the best way to answer it. I would say that the messaging post game is authentic and as real as it gets, because I really do not think about any of those things before I go in there. And it's more about making sure I acknowledge the people that had performances that day that led us to winning football games.

52:19Many times it goes back to conversations one on one with the player like a Christian Darisaw throughout the week of, hey, I envision handing you a football after this game and saying how proud I am of you. and what you mean to me and what you mean to this organization, the journey you've been on post-injury. That's where we're going. Let's figure out how we're going to get there throughout the week is what I believe the formula to doing that is. You can't be one without the other. That wouldn't be coaching. That would just be motivational speaking at that point. You've got to be able to fulfill your obligation as a coach to then back it up with the messaging that you have.

52:56I do it all through the lens of as a former player. who don't, I never really thought I reached my truest potential and it wasn't a coach's fault, but it was more of a mindset of me, you know, allowing my mind to worry and focus on things that were outside of my control. So I'm constantly trying to be that voice for our guys to allow them to focus on the present, focus on what actually matters to help them win football games. And through that process, you build unbelievable relationships. I'm sure coach can attest to this is what he probably looks back on the fondest is just the relationships on an individual level with players.

53:34Even in this day and age with the dynamic of the college level that these players come from, guys, you can still form relationships that matter. You can still form things that will glue together your team in a way that allows you to handle the ups and downs of an NFL season. It's my favorite part of the job, if I'm being honest with you.

53:55Pat McAfee:That's awesome to hear. You just gave like a full synopsis on coaching and relationships and wisdom and passing things on to other people. That was wonderful. Listen, thank you for that. And Coach B.A., you coach with Bear Bryant, okay, all the way through, you know, coaching Tom Brady here and the boys down in Tampa Bay. How did you find who you were? And is it all just about finding the best version of the players? That's all you're trying to do? Yeah, I think players, they see through bullshit. First thing, you cannot bullshit players, man. You've got to be honest with them. And the truth hurts sometimes.

54:26I say, my door's always open. You might not get the answer you want to hear, but you'll get the truth. And why are you not playing? You suck right now. Now, you can get better, but you ain't trying to get better. They'll look at you like, I thought you were going to hand me the job. No, you got to earn this shit. But you got to be real with them all the time. And I think they really, really respect that.

54:49Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think so. And KOC, not every ex-player is a good coach either, man. So that's a trait that I think only very few have. Congrats on having that. And the game is lucky that you're deciding to give back. Now, on that note, game, giving back. You've got a couple international games here. Go in Germany. No, Ireland. Yeah, the McQuaid Bowl. Yeah, I forgot. You've got Pittsburgh in Ireland. There's a chance, McCarthy or Carson. I don't know if the decision's been made, whatever the case. I'm not putting you in shit right now. Carson Wentz running around there in Ireland, though. You could pick up an entire country of fans.

55:21Pat McAfee:First one off the bus no matter what. Yeah, definitely. and potentially make sure everybody sees that red shit and maybe have them play with a leather helmet yeah and wear shit yeah do the whole thing yeah do the whole thing okay have them do you might pick up the entire country pittsburgh steelers have a deep history with ireland you know ambassador over there and everything like that going to be electrifying their fans are awesome from what our experience was with college ball what is your thoughts quickly well i have like 30 seconds or so on the back-to-back international games and what you're saying to the boys about making history here in Ireland?

55:52Yeah, I think it's, you know, from the jump, it's always been about a great opportunity for us. I mean, to get to play in Ireland, first and foremost, is going to be an unbelievable experience. We've had success doing the kind of the one game trip before. That's how we'll handle this first game. And then we'll make our way over to London and we'll have a full week of preparation there before going into the bye. But I can tell you this much to get to play these games at these unbelievable venues that were technically the road team at both these games. But I know what it's like to have to go to Pittsburgh or have to go to Cleveland and those atmospheres and environments.

56:29You know, I know it's going to be electric, but it beats being the road team, the true road team on the, you know, going to some of these places to play these hostile environments. And we've got to go there and try to, you know, it's a great opportunity to build new Vikings fans, you know, make people learn about our team, how we roll, how we operate. and go compete and try to win a couple games against two really good teams.

56:50Pat McAfee:Yeah, we got Kevin O 'Connell, J.J. McCarthy, and Justin McJefferson coming off the bus. All right, good luck out there, man. Safe travels, you're the man. Yeah. All right, we're back on the other side.

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58:18Pat McAfee:We appreciate the hell out of you. The Talks at Tables here at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt. Nine-year NFL vet, host of Everything DB, Good D, Bad D. the Man to Man podcast and NFL matchup show. Ladies and gentlemen, Darius J. Butler. Thank you very much. Is that back? He's not back yet, Mr. Kim. We're working. He's on the board as well. He's busy right now, man. I mean, we've been working on the pod season two for months, brother. It's going to take some time. When's that coming back? Let's go to Detroit Lions superfan Evan Foxy. The pod not coming back is heartbreaking news on this glorious Tuesday for you.

58:53Pat McAfee:Listen, I'm so jacked up. There's not many things that could make me more happy after that Detroit Lions win. But if the pod came back, I'd be the happiest person on earth. Truly. Oh, yeah. Well, guess what? Not everybody has a cool team that does fun shit on offense and is in a caboodle all the time. Okay? So why don't you shut up out there? Well, then why don't you give me a cool podcast that I can listen to, okay? I was just going to say you are in luck because it is in production right now. We've actually just been given the heads up. We're looking at a 2028 season. I didn't know we were allowed to say that Well yeah I was selling it I know I didn't want to just spit it out But I figured You know what They're asking for it Let's just Alright Let's get a countdown Teaser Teaser drops next week too Don't forget Let's get a countdown This is like Avatar the movies Yeah Exactly It's that big of a production It's gonna be Just don't do anything to the whales Okay Do whatever you gotta do Just don't do anything to the whales We will say the villains Will be similar Okay Okay.

59:55Pat McAfee:Live from Hammer. Dive. Dive. It's one half of the Hammer. Dive. Cowboys AP Tone. Tone, in the first hour, we didn't chat much about college ball. Huge weekend this weekend for college. Obviously, we're heading up to Happy Valley for college game day for Oregon versus Penn State, which is a real, okay, here we go. Now we're playing football for both those teams, which we have for the rest of the year. What are some other games that we should be looking at? College ball is about to throw, I think, 105 maybe on the tape. Right on the tape. Right on the black. Yeah, I didn't remember if it was paint or tape.

1:00:27You can say it'd both work.

1:00:28Pat McAfee:Okay, well, that's MLB talk. It's better than what league you're playing in. And also, I wanted to pump a couple, Dean. Shout out Kershaw. Yeah, shout out Kershaw. What a run. Hell yeah. What a good one. But anyways, 105 right there on a paint, says college football. Basically, week in, week out. Certainly, this upcoming weekend. Yeah, week one was incredible with those three top ten matchups. This is the best weekend since then. Obviously, you talked about Oregon at Penn State. It'll most likely be a whiteout Oregon going in there. It is a whiteout. There you go. Neither of these teams have played anybody yet, so it's going to be really exciting to see that one.

1:01:04But there are a ton, Pat. Alabama is at Georgia. So, I mean, that one could decide the SEC. Alabama has played much better since losing to Florida State. Obviously, Georgia had that big win against Tennessee. USC goes into Illinois. Now, USC has been the talk of the Big Ten as far as teams that aren't getting talked about enough. You know, Stanford, Steve, and all those saying USC should be ranked higher. They go into Illinois, who came off a huge loss to Indiana, but it's a chance for both of those teams to make a statement there. Ohio State goes to Washington. It's kind of really their first test since Texas this season, so that's an interesting one.

1:01:40LSU and Ole Miss. LSU ranked number four, but their wins now are against Florida and Clemson. So, do we have a good view on LSU or not? So, and then going to Ole Miss.

1:01:50Pat McAfee:I don't know, they got a 6 '5 safety. They got a six-foot-three corner, I think. I believe in him. Do I believe in Brian Kelly? He might not make it through the rest of the season. Two big hits already. Two MRIs on Brian Kelly due to sideline shots. One from a ref, one from two gigantic SEC linemen. Just taking him out while he's trying to call a timeout. Will Brian Kelly make it through the season? And is LSU for real this season? Obviously, huge test this weekend. We shall see, Tony. Yep. And then Auburn and A. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tony, Tony. Whoa. What? Are we going to skip over the one storyline of Ole Miss LSU that hit the wire yesterday?

1:02:28I didn't want to bring that up. I mean, I feel like I should. Well, maybe, maybe not. Okay, fine. Then we won't. What do you think?

1:02:36Pat McAfee:I mean, I think. There's a relationship that hit the internet? I don't even think we have to. We don't have to talk about the relationship, but the head coach didn't tweet something. What did the head coach say? The head coach said, take the over. I'm just saying that. If the head coach says something like that, honestly, really, if anybody. That's something to think about. If anybody says something to me like take the over, I'm going to do it. If the head coach says it, I mean, there's a chance I owe somebody my skin by Monday. If they don't get it. Ole Miss is a great over team. Great. Especially motivated.

1:03:06Pat McAfee:And I appreciate Lane Kiffin, the way he operates, too. Just everything that he does. He's been there, done that with everything. Did you cross with Coach Kiffin, Coach Lane Kiffin at all? I coached with his dad, Monty, who's one of the best ever. I know Lane and really respect him. he runs a hell of an offense. So what is it about his offense? Do you like how aggressive it is, how wide open it is? Yeah, I think he's kind of like Kevin O 'Connell. Whoever's playing quarterback for him plays great. And Lane does a great job of putting him in great positions, throws the ball down the field, is going to score a lot of points.

1:03:37And when Ole Miss is playing, it's going to be entertaining.

1:03:40Pat McAfee:Yeah, certainly. And he is a lightning rod as well. I mean, he'll throw the clip. I mean, he was throwing oops last week on his sidetrack. Absolutely crazy. Empty stadium. Did you see that? Yes. In the background while he's throwing an oop. Was that 1 ,000 to nothing? It was at Memphis. Oh, okay. They left out of there. Or sorry, Tulane. Okay, sorry. They left out of there. I confused Arkansas was at Memphis. Arkansas lost to Memphis last week. Arkansas thought they were all the way back, too. Texas Tech fans pissed that none of us picked them. They certainly got some of that. Tech's Tech for real.

1:04:13Pat McAfee:Yeah, don't worry. They're going to get picked. Hey, going to be picking Texas Tech. Going forward, yeah. Message delivered. All right, shout out to college. ball for always delivering. How's Ohio State not really talked about? They haven't played anybody since Texas and you know Texas hasn't looked great on offense so Washington's okay. It's a tough travel for them so we'll get some answers there this weekend. Joining us now ladies and gentlemen is an Ohio State Hall of Famer. A man who has a tree on campus named after him and also a bird, a hawk in the said tree that lives there. Has a hawk keeper that comes and makes sure it lives in that tree and not any of the other trees that all the alumni that are prestigious get on campus.

1:04:53Pat McAfee:And that Hawk has created a family, much like his family, where there's 10 children out there. That particular Hawk can say it's a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, and a Ryder Cup winner. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hawk. How is that Hawk that lives on the tree on Ohio State's campus that they do for you? Yeah, I think he's doing great. I think they put a little collar on him. They chain him to the tree and give him, like, a 100-foot line so he can't really go too far. 100 foot, she's, what, three or four of these for Hawks? That's nothing. It's not that far, yeah.

1:05:23you think you could do that could you could you chain a hawk to a tree the hawk's chaining you

1:05:28Pat McAfee:to a tree brother you ever seen those things yeah i mean you gotta have your respects how do you how about last night feels like the brand new lions are for real feels like that win is huge and then for the ravens there's a lot of questions being asked about you know maybe the cut of the jib over there for what's been happening late in games to the ravens what are your thoughts aj on an electrifying over thriller last night between two of the game's best. Yeah, this is an awesome game to watch. I mean, Detroit, they had an 11-play drive, 18-play drive. Those things, that's a special thing to do.

1:05:57That offense has to gain so much confidence, I feel like, moving forward from that. But I didn't take it like, oh, the Ravens are garbage. The Ravens can't figure it out. I think the Ravens are going to be fine. I took it more as, hey, these Detroit Lions, they are – we slept on them. I picked against them, so that's on me. The Lions let me know, hey, we are still here and we're not taking a step back. I think this was a huge deal for them, getting a win like that.

1:06:17Pat McAfee:Coach B.A. said the Ravens still – yeah, great hit. Coach B.A. said the Ravens still going to win the AFC North, so they'll be in the playoffs. And to your point there, AJ, looked good. Okay, looked good. And I think Ravens fans probably, you know, not exactly thrilled about what's been happening maybe late here, early in the season. But this Lions team is going to be around in the end, we all assume, right? And this is how the game went. I think both sides take a lot from this and move forward better from this particular game. And then if you think about this Baltimore Ravens team, they got the Chiefs this weekend.

1:06:48Pat McAfee:One of these teams is going to end up 1-3. We got some stats from Hembo actually texted over. What's the stat? Yeah, it's about the NFL playoffs average one team basically over the last like eight, nine years that goes 1-3, starts 1-3 and ends up going to the playoffs. Last year, it was the Rams. The Rams ended up 1-3 and they lost in the division. And I think there was a couple year gap. And then there was one year, I think it was 2021, where three teams actually made it after starting 1-3. So it should actually not be kind of a complete detriment if you start 1-3 and your season's not over. New England Patriots actually started 1-3 and then won a Super Bowl.

1:07:23Pat McAfee:So that has happened in the past. And then since 1990, 34 of 235 teams that started 1-3 made the postseason. Okay, so it's not like a – it's not an it's over sentence there, Coach B.A. How do you feel about all the stats on how you perform early on what teams have done in the past? Obviously, you've got to keep it out, but they're stats for a reason. And whenever your team's struggling early, what is the messaging? Is it always long-term, still everything in front of us, you think everybody's saying? Yeah, I think it's the same thing that Kevin said earlier. It's week to week. You know, it's week to week.

1:07:51And a lot of injuries from training camp. I think some teams not playing guys in the preseason start off slow, but then they start picking it up, and the real football starts at Thanksgiving. All right? When Thanksgiving's rolling, you want to be in the hunt. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, and then you finish it to New Year's and roll on.

1:08:09Pat McAfee:So you can't get yourself too far out before Thanksgiving. Right. Like, the 0-3s, you're out. The 1-4s, you're out. But the 1-3s, sometimes you're missing a key ingredient. It might be your quarterback. And all of a sudden, you get him back. It might be your left tackle. You get guys back, and you get it going. Then you get that stuffing, that ingredient for Thanksgiving. You don't need that stuff. That's when your rookie should kick in. All your draft picks should be ready to play by Thanksgiving if they're not the highest pick playing already. On that note, ladies and gentlemen, and there has been a breaking of news for the New York football Giants.

1:08:43Pat McAfee:Jackson Dart will be starting for the New York football Giants going forward. Dayball was noncommittal at first to who was going to be a starter. Now Jackson Dart, the future of the New York Giants, will be wearing the starter helmet. Congratulations to Jackson Dart. Congratulations to the Giants fans who I think were wanting this. Not just because of a fourth down in the fourth quarter whenever you need it in the red zone throwing the ball off. the bottom of the upright and throwing it away, but also because if we're 0-3, why the hell would we not want to see what the future looks like? Well, the immediate comment is the schedule is not great to have him start.

1:09:21Pat McAfee:They don't have a bye until like week 14 or something like that. Then you look at the schedule and it's like, well, their division's tough, so they're going to have to play tough teams regardless. But boy, some of these are tough. You obviously have to take on an incredible Chargers team. Who's the DC? Jesse Minter. Then you get a chance to go down to the Saints in your second start, which is good, down in Superdome, but this might be positive with the D.C. It's Brandon Staley. Okay, so we got one game before we head down to the Saints, and then immediately afterwards, Eagles, Denver, Eagles, San Francisco, Chicago.

1:09:52Pat McAfee:There it is. Who knows what they are? Green Bay, Detroit, New England, bye. Okay, so that run is not going to be easy for any quarterback, but now for a rookie quarterback getting his first start with this particular New York Giants team, Coach B.A., What are your thoughts on dropping him in there? Is there ever a right time to put a rookie quarterback in? Is that a real thing? And how do you think this kind of fares? And how do you think they got to this decision? Yeah, I definitely think it was time to drop the clipboard. All right, start getting the reps in practice. Start playing. I think his legs can add so much to that offense.

1:10:23Now, be smart and slide. You don't have to show how tough you are. All right? Get your ass hurt. But his legs will help get some first downs, I think, that they haven't had. and the energy that he brings, and he can throw the damn football really, really well.

1:10:38Pat McAfee:Making this decision, how hard? Very hard, not hard? No, for me, I'd have made it three weeks ago. You told us actually more than three weeks ago. It would have been a few months ago. There would have never been a decision made at the beginning to a decision to have to make. But getting reps, regardless of what they look like, even if you're going against a terrible defense, is good for a quarterback's development in your eyes? You've got to get reps, man. You've got to see things. And, you know, your scout team does a great job of posting the other team's defense and reading it. You can't learn anything just watching.

1:11:08You know, you've got to physically do it. Your brain has to work so fast. And the only way to get that going is to get out there and play.

1:11:16Pat McAfee:T-Bot, your thoughts on the move to Jackson Dart? I mean, I agree with him. Even with everything else they did this offseason, bringing in Russ, bringing in Jameis. But once you draft a guy in the first round, what we saw in the preseason, which are glorified practices, but they're full speed. You got to do protections. You got to come out of the huddle. You got to take hits. We saw him perform at a high level. So most people didn't have high expectations for Russ in there or Jameis. So you drafted this kid to play high. He played in the SEC where there are big time ball being played. And you talk about, hey, when is the perfect time to draft?

1:11:49Like it's the National Football League. Every week, you know, Packers went and lost to the Browns. Like nobody had that on their menu. But every week you've got to go out and win either at home or in a tough environment. So you've got to throw him in that fire. You've got to throw him in that fire. Let him learn. B.A. said it. Can't learn holding a clipboard. I think Prime said the same thing with the Kelsey bros on the podcast. So, yeah, get him in that fire. Let him make some plays and bring some juice. We hurt the crowd every time he came in the game, and then we hurt the crowd every time he left.

1:12:17So starting 0-3, starting this hole. Let's see what you got with the rookie early.

1:12:21Pat McAfee:Is he going to wear the chains? He has to. Oh, he has to. Got to wear the chains still. Yeah, got to keep the moxie. AJ, what do you think defenses are thinking taking on Jackson Dart first, maybe a Russell Wilson? Well, you know, it's the old cliche coaches. Hey, we're going to heat him up. We want this rookie to not feel comfortable and get him off the spot, blitz him, all that. Sometimes you might be giving him some quick options if a quarterback is pretty good and he can identify the blitzes and get the protection set. But, yeah, you've got to find a way to make him uncomfortable. I think you've got to hit him early.

1:12:48Like if he tries to run, if he wants to run a little zone read or whatever, we might take a 15-yarder, bud, landing on top of you four or five yards down the field. Not in any dirty way, but the way that we would tackle a running back, I think. And you just got to let him know early on. And Jackson Dart, he'll probably pop up and it'll give him even more juice. Sometimes you wake a guy up like that.

1:13:06Pat McAfee:Yeah, sometimes guys are looking for that. Remember Joe Burrow, that was one of his things. I'll take a massive shot so I can just feel alive out there. Danny Dimes. Yeah, Danny Dimes saying he's got to hit to the jaw. Yeah, sometimes that'll wake you up. Yeah, I'll go through the – Tennessee got jacked up too on the goal line. Yes, exactly, trying to go. Yeah, he is one of those guys. We don't like that he likes it, but maybe Dart is one of those guys. Does that still exist, Coach? You heard AJ right there. That's an old-school mindset. You also old-school Coach. D-Butt also, we're old at this stage of the game.

1:13:37Pat McAfee:Him saying, yeah, first cut, we're definitely going to get an extra. Sorry about that, buddy. That's still happening in the NFL? Always going to happen in a physical contact game? I'll be shocked if it ever stops. Okay. Football. Football. That divisional game we won against the Broncos in Denver to go to the FC Championship. First drive, third in like five, six maybe. Peyton, he was kind of banged up that year. Late, cold, boom, throws it. Misses, Art Jones. Late, a little low, maybe around the knees. Rest of the game, Peyton wasn't the same. Rest of the game, so took the penalty. At that point, we're pissed off.

1:14:12Come on, Art. Come on, Art. Come on, Art. I see what you're doing. Art had won a Super Bowl at that point. coming over from Baltimore, you know, that's just football. Obviously, player safety, we're not trying to hurt anybody out there, but you're trying to win that game. Yeah, actually a little thought. Put chip in on the phone.

1:14:28Pat McAfee:It's games for chip. Yeah, he's a rookie, you know. So, like in the MLB, you know, we've heard stories about umpires with rookie pitchers, you know, and what that strike zone looks like. Like, no, we're throwing hittable balls up here, bud. Fuck this guy. Go right down the middle. Yeah, like the way they're doing it. It's like rookies in the NFL also have those moments as well, especially quarterbacks. Now, Jackson's got a lot of moxie. That's what I was going to say. He might be one of those guys where if you do hit him late, like that flips a switch and he just goes, yeah. Starts jawing. Yeah, exactly, and throws five touchdowns or you never know.

1:15:03Pat McAfee:Might be Dayball's guy. Do you know Dayball well? And you do know him? I do, yeah. So what is Jackson Dart, you think, like just from outside looking in? I don't know if you got a chance to meet him during the whole combine draft process down there in Tampa Bay. Him and Dayball good for each other, you think? And does Dayball feel the heat? Obviously, he knows that there's a little bit of heat over there. I think Brian, we all know what's going on. But I think starting Jackson Dart, getting him started, if he starts playing well, Brian saves his job. I don't think they have to win a lot of games, but if Jackson Dart starts playing well and he's coached well, which he will be because Brian's a damn good coach, and he'll save his job that way.

1:15:42Pat McAfee:Interesting. Didn't even think about that because in my eyes, if this is last year, he's not going to think about the future. But instead, maybe it's not last year, show some development, get these Giants fans to believe this is what the future looks like. Let's go to the Giants fan. Bruce, you're excited about this. Looks like that's the first smile you've had since the game. Yeah, I'm fired up. Hope springs eternal. I feel bad for all you guys. You guys only got one week one. I got two now. Week four is now week one again. I love it. Jackson Dart has the opportunity to be the first rookie quarterback to beat a 3-0 team since Jerry Garcia, or Jeff Garcia, sorry, in 1999.

1:16:18Jerry Garcia was great. He won a bunch. Jerry Garcia did a nice crew.

1:16:23Pat McAfee:Yeah, Jeff Garcia, though, remember his days. What a weapon. Yeah, Jeff Garcia was awesome. He was an absolute weapon. Such an athlete. I remember him just bouncing around. Oh, yeah. Bolt head. Yep. He was in the quarterback challenges, those old ones. And winning. At the Pro Bowl. If I had to guess, if he was doing that. First time since Jeff Garcia's on the line here, Darius J. Wow. I mean, it's week four. So at this point in the season, teams, B.A. talked about not playing the preseason. But at this point, we always talk about the quarter mark you just mentioned earlier. At this point in the season, these defenses, they know who we are.

1:16:55We know who we are, right? We're the Chargers. We know who we are. We know what we're good at. We know what we're not good at. We know what players are playing well in position. So putting Jackson Dart in is the right time. But you're hitting it while these teams are hitting their form. And now he's, you know, the guys, the offense, the play callers, everybody's going to have to get used to Jackson Dart while he's getting used to real NFL live action too. So maybe rough at first, but he's a rookie and he's got the talent. So I'm excited for it. I know Giants fans are excited. I love the – Love the face, man.

1:17:24Love the moxie. Aiden Hutchins last night had delivered quite a punch.

1:17:28Pat McAfee:Maybe it carries over to Jackson Dart. Other breaking news that happened, AJ, while we've been live, Mike Gundy fired from Oklahoma State football. We'll say Mike, hell of a run. Yeah. Love you, Mike. I don't know if that's how you're supposed to immediately respond to somebody being announced to be firing, saying, hey, it was a hell of a run. This one seemed like it was on the horizon for a little bit. Let's go to Hammer. Don, Don. Felt like this was being talked about a little bit. I didn't know if it was actually going to happen any time a coach is out of place for so long and becomes the institution.

1:17:58Pat McAfee:Obviously, making this type of move requires a lot of people saying yes to, and then also how you handle it, how the rollout is, is obviously a big part of the deal. Don, did we expect this out of Oklahoma State? I don't think so. Because like what you said, he's been there for 21 years. And before last season, he only had one losing season in those 20 years, and that was his first season. And then his second losing season was obviously last year when they were disappointing. They brought back 20 starters. They brought back Ollie Gordon. Like they were supposed to potentially win the Big 12 last season.

1:18:28Things have not gone well the last two years, obviously the disappointment of last year. And then this year losing by 70 or whatever to Oregon and then losing to Tulsa last week. It was going to happen at some point. I didn't know if they'd let him maybe walk away, keep a position at the university because of how long he's been there or whatever, but it just got to a point where it seemed like it had to happen. But being there for 21 years and two losing seasons in 21 years, incredible run at Oklahoma State, and it's tough to see him go out like this.

1:18:58Pat McAfee:What have you done for me? Pet A is what the world is. But it is a hell of a run. I'll be excited to see what they do next. He becomes the third college football coach that has been fired. UCLA fires Coach Foster. That was bad from the beginning. I don't know if UCLA, we love Coach Foster, but that one didn't go well literally from Big Ten Media Day all the way through the entirety. Got Nico Iomaleava. Then it goes worse somehow. I don't know how football-related UCLA wants to be, but maybe they'll be able to get in. I don't know. I hope they do, though. I hope UCLA, the Bruins, are a great football brand.

1:19:34Pat McAfee:I hope everybody's a great football brand. And then Virginia Tech also fired Coach Pride. Now joining us live in the Thunderdome is a man that was just reported as of yesterday being a part of the consulting group basically for Virginia Tech. He is Virginia Tech Hokie alumni, Virginia Tech Hokie beloved. I mean, this guy loves Virginia Tech. And also I think he's – you have a – I don't know how many records you have of Virginia Tech at the quarterback position, but I know there's a lot of them that are very impactful to society as a whole. Virginia Tech looking for a coach. So now Oklahoma State's in the game, UCLA's in the game, and now you guys at Virginia Tech are in the game.

1:20:09Pat McAfee:How does that process go, and what are you looking for at this point? It has to be business, almost like business angle of it as well, or how do you kind of view the entire process? Yeah, the whole thing's changed. It's all business now, and you've got to find a businessman. I think first thing for Virginia Tech, we're going to hire a general manager and get him in charge of football. Then we'll get into the coaching search. We're just in the ground stages now, but the university is making a huge financial commitment so that we can compete in the ACC like we should be. And, you know, I want to see Virginia Tech back when Sandman's blasting and we're winning games.

1:20:54Pat McAfee:The whole place going absolutely insane. Had a chance to spend a night over there, and those hills are a good time. It was awesome. Went to a saloon, I think we were in a saloon. I mean, it was good times. And then the pregame festivities, the tailgating, outrageous. I mean, it was a great time. And then the walk to the stadium is even its own little adventure. It's like that place was built to be a college football place, it feels like. The vibes are that. Will the team ever get there? You said Virginia Tech is offering up a huge financial boost for the football team. That's seemingly happening in a lot of different places.

1:21:28Pat McAfee:I saw West Virginia make an announcement that we will be a part of the top-funded tier whatever. What does that mean? What does that mean? It's probably about$50 million into the athletic department for all sports, but that's what you're going to have to have in the NAL business now. And you recruit a guy this year, you've got to recruit him back next year. And all they want to do is how much money am I going to make. But it's changed, and you've got to get people now that are in tune with the new business. pete thamel uh reported what you were talking about here with virginia tech board of visitors officially proposes athletics budget increase it's set to begin pending the current fiscal year from the current 144 million is set to jump to 190 million 204 million in the fiscal year in 2027 and 207 in 2028 which is when the pod will be coming out and 212 million in the fiscal year of 2029 so an increased budget for athletics as a whole at virginia tech hopefully it'll pay off But remember, as you and Coach Saban have said in the past, you pay the wrong guy, you're shit out of luck.

1:22:30Pat McAfee:Making this decision is a big deal, especially because I think universities feel obligated to have patience with people. Like, hey, we hired this person to run this job because this was their plan. Whenever they suck early sticking with them, or if they suck early, believing in the vision is obviously a big piece of it. But what if the vision never, you know, then what if you're just like this? That can happen. That's why I'm happy you're over there helping Virginia Tech legitimately. I really look forward to it. I'm very honored to be part of it. What are you looking for? You're looking for somebody who loves ball.

1:22:59Exactly. I'm going to see a guy that not only can coach and make adjustments, but also get out there and get the folks excited and raise money too because that's a big part of it now. We've got to have a charismatic guy that actually can coach ball.

1:23:15Pat McAfee:I think you're talking about him. Here we go. I'm way too old for that, brother. I thought that fiscal year bump was for you, brother. They're building a golf course out there. as well. Let's go to one of our favorite segments that has been added to this program. AJ, it is great to see you alive, but I think you even would say it was, wasn't it? I didn't like that photo. Me neither. That was sad. It was sad. It's upsetting. I'm still here. I'm doing well. But still, you look at it for a second and you're like, wait. Did he die? And does he look like that? So I just died on camera, I guess? Is that what you would look like?

1:23:48Pat McAfee:I think so, too. I think your head gets your traps. Yeah, tilt it a little bit. I think it would hold it up. Try it. Play it. I think that is what it would look like. I don't like it either. That is not real. No. That's for people that are watching this. It looks pretty real. That is not real. People don't know. What an absolute honor. But even you would say, AJ, or dead you would say, that BS or no BS with BA has become must watch and must do for us. Yeah, without a doubt. Ladies and gentlemen, it's another round of BS or no BS with BA where we will state headlines or statements of fact, and B.A.

1:24:21Pat McAfee:will tell us if it is bullshit or not bullshit. And this has become good because these are some headlines that could potentially run a little bit. Ty has the first one for you, Coach. Yeah, B.A., in the first hour we talked about John Harbaugh and Pat laid out the stats, how many blown fourth-quarter leads they have. For whatever reason, they just can't seem to close it out. We always expect them to be one of those teams to win a Super Bowl, but now a lot of people are saying John Harbaugh has become a liability for the Baltimore Ravens. Yeah, I know. So I'm asking you, B.A., is that BS or no BS?

1:24:55No, that's total BS. John Harbaugh is a hell of a coach. And there's a lot of things that go into it. That fourth quarter defense has got to get fixed. That's for sure. And I'm sure Chuck and the guys over there on defense are going to get it fixed, get those guys back healthy. And they're going to be there in November, December. Baltimore Ravens, they've got Lamar. They've got everything it takes. They're scoring points. And that defense is going to catch back up for sure. John Harbaugh is one hell of a coach.

1:25:21Pat McAfee:Do you think just like Coach Tomlin, whenever you're around a place for a long time, and I guess Mike Gundy, we could say, when you're around a place for a long time, you set your own standard and expectation. And if you're not consistently exceeding that, the fans naturally are going to say, are we getting better or are we just, like, do you think that just comes with consistency at a position? Harbaugh's been there forever. He is the Baltimore Ravens. Yeah, totally. And like you said, you raise that level of expectation every year. And then when there might be a year or two, things happen. Guys get hurt.

1:25:47You don't get there. Oh, it's the coach. Nobody wants to make excuses, all right? But it's not the coach. He's the same damn good coach he's always been. And, no, I think Baltimore Ravens are fine. They'll be there in December, January. Let's go to the next one, D. Butch. Yeah, we've had a lot of dynasties, whether it's Steelers, Cowboys, Patriots, Packers. Chiefs have been the most recent ones. Are we witnessing the end of a dynasty in Kansas City where the Chiefs make the playoffs this year? BS or no BS? I think BS, too. I think the Chiefs make the playoffs. They're probably in the wild card race right now until they catch the Chargers because 3-0, and they might be 1-3.

1:26:25So it's going to be a chase, but they're going to get there, and I'm never betting against Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs.

1:26:31Pat McAfee:Okay, so the Chiefs will not make the playoffs this year. You're saying that's BS. That's BS, yeah. They're going to make the playoffs. Okay, last one here. This one, we've seen people say it. Kevin Patulo? More like, Kevin Paul, you blow at call and play. That's the Eagles offensive coordinator. Is that BS or no BS that he blows at call and plays? I think that's BS too. Whoa! Kevin Patulo, more like Kevin Pa, you blow at call and plays. You can't blow when you've got Jalen Hurst, Saquon Barkley, AJ. You can call any damn play you want. It should work. Well, that's what people were saying. Kevin Patulo.

1:27:12People are saying, you saw it on Twitter? A lot. It was everywhere. I mean, people get Drew Brees said it today. They're boring offense. Yeah, running it down somebody's throat is boring. All right, but Jalen is throwing the ball better than he's ever thrown it.

1:27:27Pat McAfee:Did Drew Brees say this? Yes. Really? Really? Okay. But, I mean, I think they have a hell of an offense. How come it looks like shit for half a game and then the other half it is, you know, what we expect from the Eagles, just pure dominance? Yeah, the Rams' defense is damn good defense now. They went to the playoff last year, and those young kids can really play. So it takes time to figure it out as the game is going, too. What adjustments did they make for you this week, and do you adjust? And he adjusts very well. He said in the postgame, Jalen Hurts, that they were playing not to lose or calling the game not to lose on offense versus the second half where they were just calling it to win.

1:28:12What does he mean by that, like calling a game not to lose it? Yeah, in the first half, I think sometimes a lot of guys are very conservative. We're not going to put ourselves in harm's way. Now let's get into halftime. What do we got to do to win? Let's do that. All right? So I'm not going to put us in a position to lose the damn game early, throwing that all over the place and making mistakes. And he's keeping it very close to the vest. And then when crunch time comes, they roll, they score points, and they win games.

1:28:38Pat McAfee:Are we going to see more of what we saw in the late third and fourth quarter from Jalen Hurts in this offense? you think if you're an offense coordinator, does something like this empower you to call it a little bit more than maybe you would have before this performance? Probably not with that offensive line in Saquon. I mean, they're going to start there every time until you shut it down. If you don't shut it down, you're going to run it down your throat. Once you shut it down, the thing I think they have to do better is handle the blitz. The one thing that's been their boogaboo for a little last couple years is the blitz and being able to handle the blitz.

1:29:07Pat McAfee:All right, so maybe people will start bringing pressure. But he's saying it's not, Kevin, you blow a call and play. it's Kevin Patuolo still. And they're winning games. Let's remember that. Just like last year when everybody was coming for Coach Sirianni, they were winning still at that point. They'd go on to win the Super Bowl. AJ, what are your thoughts on the three BS no BS's, pal? I love it. I'm just thinking of Kevin Patuolo sitting down having a nice little lunch and looking up at the screen and seeing that graphic. Oh, man. Hey, guys, let's come on TV. Wait, what? It's BS, though. I hope the volume's up.

1:29:39He knows BA is on his side. It's BS. It is not. That's why you said we need the circle. We need the circle. I see the circle.

1:29:46Pat McAfee:This one's circle. Circle. I see. Okay, there it is. That's BS. That's BS. All right, joining us now, no BS. He's a guy who's a damn good football player. Right now, he's back with the Los Angeles Chargers, and boy, it's been great to watch. Used to wear a hoodie, I think. One of the coolest dudes to ever play football. Wide receiver for Justin Herbert in the Los Angeles Chargers, ladies and gentlemen, Keenan Allen. Yay! How you doing, man? That was BS. That wasn't an actual, that quote was BS. I hope you saw that. We're a positive place over here, Keenan. Nah, it's all good. What's going on? What's going on?

1:30:21Pat McAfee:How are you? How's it feel to be back over there? How's it feel to be a part of the hardball culture fully? How is life for you right now, being back home? Is that kind of how you feel? Yeah, absolutely, man. Great. Happy to be back in the building. The hardball effect is live and in effect, and I'm just happy to be a part of it. Okay, tell me about the Harbaugh effect a little bit. Obviously, we've heard stories. Everybody has shared stories in it. But is it every single day, every single meeting, every single encounter? Is that why every player that plays for him respects him? Inevitably, I don't think I've ever heard anybody that doesn't play for him, that has played for him doesn't respect him.

1:30:56Pat McAfee:Is that why? Because it's all the time? Yeah, yeah, 100%. There's no light switch. You know, there's on and off. There is none of that. It's always on. He's always on goal mode. And, you know, he's always, you know, trying to find ways to, you know, win the game. And that's what it's about. What do you see out of Herbert this year maybe that hasn't been seen in the past? He looks special, special right now. Obviously, everybody's had these high hopes for him. I think Darius Butler actually became a Chargers fan because of Justin Herbert and the possibilities. What have you seen, Adam, since coming back to the Chargers that makes you feel like, oh, we got a special guy here?

1:31:32Yeah, I think he's always been special. I think just being able to, you know, bring it to life and win the games. You know, early on when I was here, you know, it was kind of hard for us to win those tough games at the end of the game. But now you see us, you know, making the plays, making the game-winning drives and, you know, giving ourselves a shot to win the game. And that's all hats off to Herbo, you know, doing what he does, being great. You know, he's unbelievable back there. He's fun to watch, man. Go ahead, AJ. What's Herbert like, I guess, when cameras aren't? We see how he handles the media.

1:32:05Like, he's – I think it's very funny. I love how he handles himself. What's he like, I guess, in the huddle, day in, day out at practice? We've seen a little bit of mic'd up with him, but not too much. Is he – he seems like a guy that I kind of – the gel that holds everybody together, it feels like. Yeah, 100%. He's easy. He's a people's guy. You know, he's one of the guys in the locker room. You know, we can talk to him. You know, he's always there with us, there for us, joking around, stuff like that. In the huddle, you know, he's Herbo. You know, he's running the show. You know, everybody kind of – he has that aura where you shut up and listen when he walks in there.

1:32:40So, you know, that's always good from a quarterback.

1:32:42Pat McAfee:Yeah, I like that. We like that a lot. D-Bot has a question for you. Love that. You all have been cooking with him. Seems like you guys are always on the same page with those second reaction plays, breaking the pocket, scramble drills. I want to talk about that a little bit. And then starting off 3-0 in a division. I know looking at the schedule, you've been around the league for a long, long time. You know how important these divisional games are. thoughts coming into the season starting off with three divisional games and just how you and her were always on the same page when he's breaking that pocket yeah um being able to get those three wins in the division huge um you know i can't even stress how big that is um that's going to show up for us you know late in the season um you know when when things get to crunch time and um you know we already have those three wins and under our belt so that's going to be huge um and then And, you know, the off-schedule play is just trying to get open, just trying to find the green grass, knowing which way he's going.

1:33:34And, you know, he can make any throw on the field. So if I can get to the spots, then there's a good chance he's going to put it there.

1:33:40Pat McAfee:Not bad, Dane, sir. I feel pretty good in there. I feel like you were vibing. I felt like you really hit all the marks. Do we have a plan whenever we're getting in there? Do we have a same? Yeah, yeah. I just came from the Chris Brown concert, you know, two days before that. So I'm like, I'm going to hit me a little Chris Brown. Did you pay for that VIP picture beforehand? Nah, nah, nah. Oh, yeah. I didn't know. I didn't know how big a fan we were. Coach has a question for you, Kenan. Yeah, Kenan, just watching those young wide receivers playing right now, they're playing at such a high level.

1:34:06It's got to be your leadership coming back. Talk to me how you handle your room a little bit. Yeah, man, I think we do a good job of just open discussion, especially with Ladd. You know, Ladd is one of the guys who put it on tape last year, and, you know, he knows the offense more than I did when I got here. So just learning from him, knowing what he sees, then I kind of give my two cents of how I would do it or how I see it. And the coach says what he says. So just having that open discussion and everybody be on the same page. And then once we get in there and somebody else is doing the job, they know exactly what they're doing and what we're expecting.

1:34:42Pat McAfee:Everybody all in in that building. We were in there this offseason from the pizza maker. Got a great pizza oven. Sweet oven. How is that? Are we eating that? Is everybody housing that pizza? It's delicious. Are you guys all so healthy nowadays you don't even eat the pizza? I am. I can't eat the pizza. If I eat a slice of pizza, I'm going to be a tight end.

1:35:03Because if it's one slice, it's going to be two. You're going to eat the crust, so it's bad. You can't do it.

1:35:11Pat McAfee:All right, let's talk about one of the wide receivers in your room who has certainly come on this year in a massive way. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Keenan, Quentin Johnson this year has been unbelievable so far, and it felt like when he came in, when he was drafted in the first round, The expectations might have been a little ridiculous for first-round receivers at the time. Kind of your fault as well because of how good you were early on. But what have you seen out of him since, you know, coming back to L.A., since you were gone last year? What has his process been like that's different? And do you see this kind of turning into basically you and prime Mike Williams?

1:35:44Because that's essentially what it's become. And Ladd McConkie's like the missing piece in the slot now. Yeah, absolutely, man. I think it's confidence. You know, he's walking around with that swagger. You know, the coaches have trust in him, you know, so he's always able to play his game. He's not worried about, you know, messing up and things like that. So once you can get a guy out there, he knows what he's doing and he has the athletic ability that Q has, then, you know, he's going to make plays, you know. So as soon as he starts getting into a groove and getting into the zone, things are going to start happening.

1:36:14Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, obviously you spent last season with the Bears. I'm just wondering, like, perspective-wise, Does it give you some kind of perspective of what – I don't know, just a different look at the NFL. You spent, what, 10, 11 years with the Chargers, and then you're there for a year and now you're back. I guess I think sometimes it's good to see how other teams run their program and what they do. Like, did that give you any kind of perspective and make you even more thankful to be back? Yeah, yeah, it did. But like you said, I wanted to see, you know, how other teams and organizations do stuff.

1:36:41I thought they had a, you know, well-ran organization over there in Chicago. You know, I loved it. The building was fun, the people, you know, amazing. and then, you know, the teammates, the guys were great too. So, you know, just being around that process and seeing how it was. It was different. Obviously, the weather is cold. You know, a lot more trees than L.A. But, you know, the people made it work well. So, but definitely happy to be back out here in California for sure.

1:37:09Pat McAfee:So whenever you make the decision to go back, what is the convo like? Is there any awkwardness? Not at all? Everything's just copacetic as soon as you decide to go back? Not really awkward. I mean, maybe a little bit for Joe Ortiz and those guys upstairs. But, you know, the locker room was I'll always love. And I've always talked to those guys anyway, even last year, watching the games, talking to Derwin, Herbo, you know, keeping in touch with the guys. Tell me about the Ortiz conversation, though. I would like to hear that. That would be interesting because obviously we know him. Good dude. He was on the show with Coach Harbaugh, and that was before Khalil Mack was signed.

1:37:44Pat McAfee:And Harbaugh was literally hitting him, go ahead and pay him. Go ahead and pay him. Ortiz, we're going to try to take care of everybody. Obviously, it's an interesting run over there. We love everything that they're about, seemingly all ball. When you come back, big hug from Coach Hardball, and then your conversation with Ortiz. Do you guys have a shake hand, move on quickly? Yeah, it was no beef. It was no beef. Definitely a shake hand. You know, get on. Let's just get to the locker room with my guys and, you know, get this party started. But, yeah, you know those upstairs guys, they like to do it their way.

1:38:18Pat McAfee:exactly yeah that's why i was so excited to see you back because very rarely do you see that especially with the bullshit that comes with everything so you going back and obviously it working as quickly as it did it's beautiful like we're uh we're big fans of that situation go ahead ty yeah keenan one of the knocks i think people that aren't in la have had on both the chargers and the rams is like you know there's really no home field advantage uh there's so much stuff to do in la people don't really give a shit about going to those games regardless of how good the teams are but then watching that game on Sunday like it it was it came through on the tv copy how loud and how deafening it was does it feel like you guys actually have a home field advantage uh this year in SoFi and that kind of everyone understands the moment at hand and it's like hey if you're a Chargers fan like now's the time to go we actually do have something special this year yeah absolutely like I said it was uh it was loud it was rocking in there um but that was one of the one of the things we talked about you know before the game the defense um just just you know getting the crowd on our side you know coming through clutch when we need them and um you know that that right there alone will make you know the fans stand up and scream and uh do what they're supposed to do on third and fourth down stuff like that all right keenan we appreciate the hell out of you have an incredible season tell dicker the kicker we are big fans of his operation what a he is he's an absolute animal dude maybe the greatest kicker of all time when it's all said done can you talk about him a little bit hey hey that's what he does man he shows up to practice he doesn't miss and you know he's uh he's doing his thing he's getting his fifa in you know in his short time and uh you know just keeping the keeping the leg clean we're gonna keep him clean and uh you know it's time for him to win the game that's what he gonna do oh that's awesome the kicker's the greatest gamer on the team yeah yeah yeah ping pong fifa yeah he running the show right now that's what the fuck i'm talking about that is what i'm talking about love everything about that who's all playing ping pong how many ping pong players we got in the locker room we got a lot of toolie k-mac um a lot of the guys man uh troy cam it's a good good little amount and cam's running it like that do we got cornhole over there too or no not no cornhole okay cameron will win that one outside of the hotel when we go to the hotel on On Saturdays, Cornhole.

1:40:34Pat McAfee:Dicker's going to win that one, too. From what I'm gathering, I think Dicker's going to win that one, too. I love everything I'm hearing right here. Yeah, Dicker also was the one that completed all the most difficult workouts at the Chargers facility when we went, where they had that whiteboard, and it was like all those very weird particulates. The balance. Yeah, Spingo. He's one of the only ones to complete every single one. Tell us about Coach Urban, that weight room. We know the Silver Bells Club, hilarious and awesome over there, But then there's this balancing shit that we were on a foam pad trying to pick up something small.

1:41:04Pat McAfee:It feels like the weight room is a massive piece of the culture over there. Not that it isn't. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, Herb is a beast, man. He don't play no mess. You know, everything's intact, in order. He's got it lined up. And when you come in there, it's all work. I like that. We're staying away from pizza. What about the ice cream? I was about to say that. Ice cream. Coffee, ice cream. New flavor every day. Yeah, it's right over there. It's very accessible. Did you do any ice cream? They do got the soft serve up there, but I haven't touched it yet, though. Very tempting. Very tempting.

1:41:34Pat McAfee:Keenan, they're trying you everywhere you walk. You got to touch out on everything. This guy's disciplined. Yeah, I like that. Hey, stay focused. Stay focused. Ninja could be a special year out there. Yeah, I got to be focused. Man, me too. I'll tell you what, though. Punter, walking into that room. Pizza's right over here. Soft serve's right over here. Fucking we hit the lot over here, boys. Hit one inside the tent on Sunday. Oh, my God. at me. Two soft serves. Two pizzas. Unbelievable. It's too nice. The facility's too nice. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, Keenan Allen. Thank you. Chargers facility is incredible.

1:42:11Pat McAfee:Yeah. Golf sim. Immaculate. They're right in the locker room? Yeah, right around the corner. Hey, is he still on Keenan? Keenan? Yeah. Hey, Dicker's running the golf sim, too, or no? No, I'm the golf sim champ. Oh. Wow. Does Dicker play in there he does play a little bit oh and you and we you are beating cameron dicker at golf we actually haven't had the duel yet we haven't had the one okay we need to know but he's in there though he's in there how's your game good it's decent i'm not good but it's decent what is your do you play on the simulator i'm gonna shoot i'm gonna shoot a good little 76 though on the simulator it's pretty good what's about gimme's uh we we don't putt we got time time You land on the green, it's auto.

1:42:57So it might be two putt, three putt. It depends on your distance, how far you hit it from. I'm usually a one putt parter. I'm dialed in.

1:43:05Pat McAfee:Of course. That sounds like great rules. Great rules. Yeah, we love those rules. Great rules. You know, we're on a time crunch. So once you land on the green, we ain't got time to go get the putter. And all that. We ain't got time. The Sim needs to figure out the putting aspect of it anyways. This is the right idea. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, Keenan Allen. That's the golf we need to start playing. That's genius. No putting? Yeah, just eliminate putting. The hard part. It's half the game. No, it isn't. It's none of the game. It's what I just learned. I'm not fucking doing it anymore. Nope.

1:43:33As soon as I get on the green, I'm done, brother. Now, that shit sucks, though. Sometimes you're, like, 15 feet away, hit 17, and it gives you a three-putt. It's like, wow, I would have two-putted that one. Oh, you're saying the Sims? Yeah, it's auto, depending on, like, your settings. Because if you put them, like, super tough, you know, pro setting, tour pro, whatever, you could be 17 feet away, three-putt. Like, oh, fuck. Would you rather be 15 feet away and hit it actually 15 feet and probably make it, and instead you hit it 45 yards off the green?

1:43:59Pat McAfee:Because you're reading a golf sim? Is that flag? I don't know. It should be perfect. Do you golf sim much, B.A.? Very little. You're always out on the actual course. I stay in warm weather where we're outside. Do you do driving range much, or are you on the course? I used to hit a bunch of balls, but now my back's so bad. It's like hit 15 or 20, let's go play. What was your last round? What did you score? Shot 76 yesterday morning. That's pretty good. Did you fall? So you must never three-putt, right? Yeah, I probably did twice yesterday morning. Hold on real quick, though. That was a good question from Connor.

1:44:35Pat McAfee:Did you hurt yourself? Because I know that is a question. Every time I play, my buddy says, not getting hurt today. It's just golfing. And we're not talking about from the action of golf. We're talking about the action of liquor. That's the problem. Yeah, the liquor is the problem. But it is also, it is a solution sometimes out there on that golf course as well. Big solution to that butter. I'm doing the golf course. We've got Ryder Cup week. It's Ryder Cup week. Yes. Yes, it is. Hey, look what BA got on right now. Pow! Here we go. USA. Hey, we're going to win this, right? We're going to win this or no?

1:45:10Pat McAfee:Hell yeah. The crowd's going to be great. Are you going? No, I can't walk that much. Yeah, but we can set you up for sure. We've got to be able to set you up somehow. Coach B.A., get you out there, need you. What is this, every two years? Three years? Two. Every two years. It alternates from Europe back to America. Now it's in New York. It's at Beth Bage Black, which is fantastic. And we are assuming that it is going to be a rompish environment for these Europeans. I would think so. Keegan Bradley was talking once again about, you know, not picking himself. I saw Scotty Scheffler was answering some questions.

1:45:42Pat McAfee:Anything else that we missed? Let's go to Hammer. Don, Don. What do we need to know about the Ryder Cup? Whose favorites? What should we be betting on? Like, what should we be thinking as we view the Ryder Cup other than America good, everybody else bad whenever it comes to this week? Yeah, also just for the people who, you know, definitely know and who love golf, like, how does it work? Yeah, and also, Ramon, who's on the team for other people? For other people, I know. USA is minus 150 to lift the cup. That's what I'm talking about. Now, is that home field advantage? Yes. Yes, Europe is plus 124.

1:46:15It is typically very, very hard to win on the other team's turf. It is at Bethpage Black, which is one of the hardest golf courses in the U.S. It's a U.S. Open course. The rough is always a bitch. How it works, Connor, Friday and Saturday is a morning session and an afternoon session. The morning and afternoon is split between best ball, which is four guys go out, two guys from each team. They each play their own ball. Say someone on U.S. shoots a four, someone else shoots a five on the U.S., and then you get two fives on Europe. The four from the U.S. will get a point for that hole. And then there's alternating shot is the other competition.

1:46:53So you and your partner, alternating shot versus the other team, two on two there as well. So that's Friday and Saturday. And then Sunday it's one-on-one, 14 groups I believe. Every player goes, everyone plays against each other, someone from the other squad. And there's a point up for each one of those matches as well. I believe, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, I think you need 14.5 points, I think, to retain the cup. I could be wrong there, but somewhere along those lines is kind of how it works.

1:47:19Pat McAfee:Okay, and D-Bott has a follow-up question on all that. Yeah, just some outside of the lines, a little bump in the gums in the media coming up, leading to it, which probably always is, but Rory talks some shit about Bryson, like, oh, you know, the only way this guy gets attention is mentioning someone else's name. Mentioning me name. Yep, and then I believe Scottie kind of came to Bryson's defense, like, hey, Bryce is a great teammate, great friend, brings a lot of juice, a lot of energy into our locker room. So just something to keep an eye on. I'll be chirping in his ear this time. Oh, that's Bryson, sorry.

1:47:46Pat McAfee:I'll be chirping in his ear this time. Now, if we go up against each other, I mean, you can be sure of it, says Bryson DeCham. Love that. Roy says, I think the only way – Ty, what does Roy say there? What does Roy say there? You know, but I think the only way he gets attention is by, you know, mentioning other people. This is, you know, basically what I think of that. I mean, to get attention, you know, but he will mention me or Scotty or others. Are you happy about this, Rory? You know, but, you know, I say but, you know, basically before every thought I have. You know, but we'll see. You know, Bryson's kind of a sack of bones, and I can see myself, you know, fancying a pint of Guinness after I take him down if we're matched up.

1:48:32Pat McAfee:Well, you know, the big thing this weekend is we've got 9.30 a.m. football. on Sunday. In Ireland. We got Minnesota and Pittsburgh. And we're going to have Ryder Cup happening at the same time. I'm a little bit worried about how we're going to watch all this shit. Saturday college football slate, incredible. I hadn't even thought of that. Yeah, we got football all damn day. It's a multi-view day. What is it going to replace? I would like to know. It's not multi-view, it's at a TV day. Yeah, that D-butt nailed it. If you don't have three TVs in this day and age, I mean, you might as well just be recruiting with the NIL of God like Davos Sweeney because you need cash.

1:49:15You need more TVs these days in order to watch all these sports, especially if it's Ryder Cup.

1:49:19Pat McAfee:I understand what you're saying. Ryder Cup weekend certainly needs to add another TV, but can we not do this before? It needs to be right after the Tour Championship. Right mid-August is when Ryder Cup should be. It's when everyone cares about golf anyway. I have no idea why it's during football season. I do like that it's a little bit colder, though, even though it's warm right now. No, I think it brings out a little bit of the feistiness because they're playing so early. AJ, you're a Ryder Cup winner. What are your thoughts on how the team looks this year? I like the time of year. I think it's a great change.

1:49:52All of a sudden we forgot golf was a thing, and then bam, it's right. It is hard to watch it at times, but I love it. I think it's great. I hope the crowd is crazy. I was just listening or watching a video of Keegan rallying the troops and talking to the boys and seeing the videos of them walking through the tunnel out to the first tee. It's going to be awesome. I think it's bullshit. I think both teams are pumped. I think it's bullshit the NFL scheduled a game this Sunday this early. Who's calling?

1:50:16Pat McAfee:If this goes in, America wins. Oh, shit. Hey, you got this. 1-4? Turn around. Just knock it right in that one. Turn around.

1:50:30Pat McAfee:Sorry, boys. Oh, no. It's all right. Get aggressive. Get aggressive. We all know that's not my butter. I was going to say. Get the real one. Yeah, that one's super quick. You know that? For Adam's skull.

1:50:48That's not the butter. All right, grab your actual butter. Yeah, come on. Quit jacking around. Yeah, I'm saying these. Oh, look at this other butter. There it is. There's the actual one.

1:50:58Pat McAfee:This is the actual butter for America. See you at the podium, bitch. Boom. There it is. There it is. We fucking won. We did it. USA. USA. USA. Now, this, from what I've heard, is like a Bruce Arians golf round here. Club's just kind of scattered everywhere. Balls all over. There's not enough water. Might be in the bottom of the lake. All right, what are some things we haven't chatted about? C.D. Lamb could miss three to four weeks with a high left ankle sprain. Oh, man. Yeah, the injuries right now, crazy. Tyler Booker for them as well. They're starting guard. Four to six weeks, they're saying, for him.

1:51:38Pat McAfee:I mean, injuries in abundance very early here in the NFL season. Coach B.A. actually sent me a text and was like, hey, can you ask stack guys if there's more people on IR now than normal in regular season stuff? I don't think there's a change in number or anything too wonky is the way I was told from Hembo. But it does feel like big names. There's a lot more big names hurt earlier than thought. That's what you were kind of leading to. Yeah, when MCD was down, Mike Evans went down with a hamstring. Hopefully not too serious, but too many really stars. We're missing too many stars. And I hate to see it because these guys are the game.

1:52:12Yeah, I agree. Yeah, Bosa. Bosa's out for the year. James Conner.

1:52:16Pat McAfee:Conner's done for the year. That was nasty over there. I'm happy they didn't re-air that on TV. They re-ran it in the stadium, they said, and you heard a bull. that's a tough call. Yeah, normalize doing that. I really appreciate when they don't replay the gross injury. They ran it on red zone. They didn't run the replay. Yeah, so they didn't have it. And then later, what's his name? Scott Hanson. Thank you, Scott Hanson came back and said, oh, we do have the replay. If you don't want to watch it, here it is. Come on, Scott. Well, Scott's trying to keep all the internet's got it. Yeah. Pretty important play.

1:52:48Pat McAfee:People are probably saying, show me, James Scott. We just hope everybody stays healthy. If this goes in Last putt Holy shit Oh yeah knowledge For the good of the boys

1:53:06Pat McAfee:Oh shit Hit the other ball It's going to be no more injuries Football gods I don't know You burnt the edge on that one I don't want to see it I should have made that putt It wasn't really me those football gods putting there. Throw a football for the football. That's why. Golf for a football? No. Duh. Don't ask New York for a replay. Hey, stop. You did set your feet there. Yeah. Bruce was talking. 10 seconds. You got it. You got it. 10 seconds. 10 seconds. 10 seconds. Oh. We'll see you tomorrow. Fuck, man. That's how the show ended.

1:53:51Pat McAfee:pretty good ending yeah that's a tough shot very dramatic people are wondering i know holy shit that's good tease bombed out that's really good i was bummed out it was a tough shot yeah all right let's get to a break we got to wrap everything up at the end and when we come back on the other side it's going to be the greatest conversation about the greatest things we've ever had isn't that right yeah absolutely especially because LaVontay David will be joining us. Okay, awesome, awesome. Hell yeah. He's number eight ranked linebacker tackler in the history of the NFL. Eighth overall. Unbelievable.

1:54:29Pat McAfee:Ray Lewis, I think, has the most of 2 ,059 tackles. And is it London Fletcher has like 2 ,039 tackles? Yeah, and I forget how the stats work with the playoffs and excluding playoffs because it's so annoying how they do that official tackles. Whatever the case, he's top eight. He's got 1 ,600 some or 1 ,700 some. He's still flying. That's a lot of tack. Still flying around. So one of the greatest football players of all time will join us here in a matter of moments. And also, obviously, a man that B.A. knows very well. We cannot wait to chat with Avante and also put a bigger spotlight on his Tampa Bay Buccaneers team.

1:54:59Pat McAfee:They got a lot of grit. Yeah, they do. And John. A lot of John. A lot of sandpaper. Feels like they're a team that we want to root for. And if we can get a boat parade out there. Oh, hell yeah. Come on, boys. We're throwing Lombardis from boat to boat. Is there any sharks out there with you guys? There are a few bull sharks in that water. Okay. I'm happy they got to celebrate Lombardi as well. Amen. Now the bull sharks understand what the Super Bowl is all about. Who's going to get it? We shall see.

1:55:28Good energy in. Good energy out.

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1:56:16Pat McAfee:Football! Good! Ladies and gentlemen, that's AJ Hawk to my left. That's 47-year football coach Bruce Arians right there. Nine-year NFL vet Darius J. Butler is there. The toxic table at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. Live from Hammer, Don, Don, is one half of the Hammer, Don, Cowboys AP tone. And joining us live from beautiful, sunny Tampa Bay, Florida. This man is a 14-year NFL vet. he's currently the eighth leading linebacker tackler in the history of the nfl currently on the season has 22 tackles one and a half sacks he's all over the place ladies and gentlemen an absolute stallion linebacker for the tampa bay buccaneers levante david how you doing man i'm good man how y 'all doing great hey no problem thank you for joining us we're not undefeated you know uh we we get some losses you guys undefeated down there how does it feel down in Tampa Bay?

1:57:13Pat McAfee:BA tells us it's a magical feeling down there. Feels like all the pieces are back in the right place. Are you feeling that as well with this Tampa Bay Buccaneers team? Yeah, man. Definitely feeling good. My guy, BA, I'm sure he gave me all the details about Tampa. But definitely feeling good, man. We all took a good hot start. You know what I'm saying? A lot of resilience he's been showing these past couple of weeks. But hopefully, you know what, we can make these next couple of wins be more easier. Yeah, a lot of cardiac situations four straight fourth quarter comebacks for the tampa buccaneers obviously baker mayfield getting heralded on the defensive side of the ball making stops in critical moments as well it's your sixth year i do believe if we did our math right in a bowl's defense what is it like at this stage of being in the same defense or understanding the same language for you and uh how do you think the defense as a whole is doing i think we're doing better man i think we came a long way from when me first, you know, came about, especially starting from training camp to now.

1:58:10Like you said, man, this being my, I believe it's seven, honestly. I think it's my 70 in this defense. And I'm kind of like that, that guy, you know, when a question need to be asked and guys get to ask coaches, they come to me, you know. So it's definitely, I'm comfortable in it. You know, I know what Coach Bowles expects from everybody that's out there. And when I'm out there, man, I just try to figure out what he's thinking about. So, you know, I kind of like try to beat him to the punch when you want to make a call and stuff like that.

1:58:37Pat McAfee:Yeah, you're Triple OG out there, bro. You're the ace leading linebacker tackler in NFL history. 14 years. You've been around a long time. Love that you're taking on that leadership role and have for a long time. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, I want to talk about your quarterback a little bit, Baker Mayfield. Obviously, everyone loves the guy and loves how he competes. What was it like competing against him in training camp? And what's it like being around him every single day and seeing how he leads this team kind of offensively? It's always fun to go against Baker, man. You know, he's somebody who when you chirp at him, he's going to chirp back.

1:59:04And it's amazing. You know what I'm saying? You don't want to go out there and be talking trash to somebody and you feel like you're just talking to yourself. No, he's going to give it back to you. And then he's going to try to compete with you and stuff like that. So it's definitely fun, you know, seeing him taking that same edge that we have in practice onto the field. And you've seen it for the past couple of weeks, man. You know, they could have got that fiery edge. One thing about him, once you talk trash to him, that gets him going. for the most part. That's like when people talk trash to Steve as a player.

1:59:31We can get us going. You know, we want to have that killer instinct. And the same thing with him. When you talk trash to him, he clicked to a different mold. And that's what I love about him.

1:59:40Pat McAfee:You don't want to wake him up, you know. And I like that about people. On that note, CJGJ has been released from the Houston Texans. Yeah. That is actual news. That is breaking news. CJGJ has been released from the Texans. The reason why that comes up here is because, obviously, Baker Mayfield down. we think maybe bruised patella maybe and then cjgj says something and he kips up like he's sean michaels what was that and it obviously does what he do it's uh feels like it's a special place down there for baker and uh it's obviously a special place for you down there as well connor has a question for you yeah levante the last three years you've been doing uh one-year contracts and you know you're 35 i'm sure that was more so just you know based on how the body feels and everything But what is it like now towards the end of your career, kind of with the process of everything?

2:00:27Are there things you've picked up over these last few years that you kind of didn't maybe realize early on in your career now that you are later in your career? And are there some days you go in there and just appreciate the entire process a little more since it is, you know, you're 15, 14? Yeah, I think that's the main thing, man. Just appreciating the whole thing more. You know, me coming in as a young guy, you know, all I just worried about was just, you know, football, football, football. sticking into that. And then, you know, now as I get older, I just kind of understand the dynamics of the whole game and the importance of relationships and, you know, getting to know people around you.

2:01:01And I think Jason and the guys have been doing a great job of just, you know, being transparent with guys, being transparent with me in particular about, you know, what they expect from me and how they view me when I come into the building and stuff like that. And then, you know, it's just been real good, you know, dialogue going back and forth on how we're going treat these years or whatever, whatever those years is, you know, year in and year out and how we're going to move forward from that. But, you know, I think it just what keeps me coming back, man, it's just, you know, just the transparency from those guys.

2:01:31And then obviously, man, the relationship that you're building and building, you know, me being there 14 years, you know, I'm the longest-tier guy there. So it's definitely been, you know, kind of like fun, just getting to know everybody even more.

2:01:44Pat McAfee:A lot of different eras of Tampa Bay Buccaneers football that you've been through. Let me read this list of the top eight total tacklers because I got sent this stat about you this morning and I'm like, damn, I don't think anybody knows that. More people should. Ray Lewis, London Fletcher, Bobby Wagner, Junior Seau, Jesse Tuggle, Zach Thomas, Derek Brooks, Levante David. Okay, that's the list. All the famous. Yeah, that's right. Hey, man. Good on you. It all worked out, bro. It all worked out. Now, I know you're still in the middle of it, so we can't just do as much reflecting and we got to worry about the day-to-day.

2:02:20Pat McAfee:But on that note, D-Bud has a question for you. Yeah, you talked about 14 years. A lot of that, I mean, we always talk about your best ability being availability. 14 years. What have you been doing to take care of your body, not only during the season, during the offseason? And are there any other goals out there? You've obviously won the Super Bowl. Any other goals, career goals that you have that you maybe want to meet before you hang it up? Yeah, man, the first part of the question is, man, And what I try to do is give my body a little rest as far as like physical activity. You know what I'm saying?

2:02:50So the most thing I do is probably do a little cardio and things like that. You got to keep your wind up when you're playing this game. Kind of keep my endurance going. And then as the offseason progress, you know, I kind of like figure out what I need to work on more, like what's hurting me more and things like that. And I kind of work on that throughout the process. And then by the time, you know, spring or summer come around, I get into, you know, the hard weights and the explosive lifting and then the full sprints and stuff like that. And then, you know, just throughout the season, I've just been trying to I don't just be transparent with the training staff and the people who I work with about just, you know, lowering my workload and stuff like that.

2:03:28But I'm a guy who, VA can tell you this, man, I'm a guy who like, I need practice. You know what I'm saying? I don't feel right if I don't have practice. You know what I'm saying? Like, some day had to, sometimes they have to tell me like, nah, man, you can't practice today, things like that but that's just me you know what I'm saying so uh I just I just that's just how much I love the game like I like I just try to be overly prepared as much as I can as much as possible and then um you know just it just just goals and stuff like that man like really no goals in particular man like I always say man once I stop loving the game of football I'll be done playing the game of football and right now I'm still in love with it I'm still having fun with it you know as you can see we all took a 3-0 start so that's extremely fun for me i've never been in this situation before so i'm taking advantage of it for sure but uh definitely uh loving what we're doing and um i think uh we can be a championship team this year yeah it's

2:04:19Pat McAfee:extremely rare to be 3-0 and that's strictly good times down there in tampa i would assume at this point you know i don't know about goals and scats i don't know if that's how you say stats or not with that type of lingo, but there was one that might have been left on the board. Coach B.A. actually has a question. Bro, how long you been on the jugs machine the last two weeks? You stole Vito's interception and you dropped it. Yeah, yeah. I know he's wearing you out about it too. Yeah, since that day I haven't heard from him just trash talking. Then he recovered the phone with his pass and we go on the sideline and tell him something.

2:04:59I could have had two turnovers so far. Hey, that's about it. One thing I want people to know, the thing I love about you most is I did have to make you take a day off. Because he would never take a day off. And that's what the great ones do. And one of the greatest ever played the game.

2:05:16Pat McAfee:B.A., when you get to that building, obviously we see the success that you guys end up having. Having him in the building, though, is a massive piece of that entire building up of the foundation of the entire franchise again. Oh, totally. He'll know. He'll tell you that I rely a lot on my veterans. and this guy was in my office because I brought him up there. What do we got to do? You know, I want to hear it from the vets and no one ever bullshitted me or anything. Levante was the best one. Oh, that's awesome. Hey, I don't know if you ever got to hear that, Levante. A lot of Levante David celebration happened here.

2:05:47Pat McAfee:Take these flowers, brother. You deserve them. You've obviously worked your ass off for them all. He was very pumped you were coming on the show, as were we. And what is it like? B.A., Bulls, who else? were some coaches that you've had? What has it been like through all the eras of the Tampa Bay Bucke? You had Sciano. Obviously, me coming out my first couple years, I had Greg Sciano. That whole situation, I felt like I was in college still. I didn't really feel like, understand what it was like to be in the league, you would say. Yes, we would say. Everybody was saying. Are we taking a knee or no, we're not?

2:06:22Yeah, and then going to Lovie Smith, You know, a lot of ups and downs those two years. And then going on to Dirt Cutter, you know, it was pretty smooth, but we didn't have an identity as a football team. We didn't have no real culture. And then, you know, when Coach B.A. got hired, you know, he could probably tell you this too. You know, I thought about leaving. I reached out to Jason, man, saying, like, you know, I know you guys bring in a new head coach. It may be time for me to leave and try something different. And, I mean, like, a couple hours later, a few moments later, I got on the phone with B.A.

2:06:52and changed my mind ASAP. And when he got there, I definitely, you know, I figured out what it was like to be an NFL football player. You know, with him coming in, changing the culture and just reestablishing a foundation as a football team and me falling in love with the game all over again. I can definitely tell the, to say that Coach B.A. helped me with that. And then me, all my first seven, eight years, I played in the 4-3 defense. And then when Coach Bowles came, I was a little, you know, wasn't too sure about that. And then I got a chance to sit down with Coach Bowles and kind of like pick his brain about certain things.

2:07:30And then I got a chance to get into it. And I've been having fun ever since. So I definitely, you know, thank B.A. and Bowles, man. Those guys definitely, you know, helped me fall in love with the game again.

2:07:39Pat McAfee:That's a cool football life right there. Yeah. Yeah, that is a very cool football. B.A., that's got to feel good to hear from one of your players. I mean, we're having good moments right now. It's awesome. And I had the great honor of being there this weekend. and the guys from 76 and I sat in the room with Hardy Nickerson and Derek Brooks and now you. I mean, that's the chain of command. Hardy Nickerson handed it to Derek Brooks, Derek Brooks handed it to Levante. I'm worried who you're going to hand it to. You've got to stay for a couple more years, man. We've got to find somebody for you to hand it to.

2:08:06Pat McAfee:Yeah, but let's keep running up those one-year deals. Fully guaranteed. And those tackles. That's good business. We like that. Let's talk about the team you guys have right now. There's a young guy from Ohio State that's seemingly very captivating. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Levante, one of the stories of the season so far has been Emeka Abuka. And, you know, he's made already highlight catches. Should have had another one that they didn't call a catch, which is ridiculous. That one was filthy. The other one on the sideline was ridiculous. Coming from you, I mean, everything that's happened during this conversation has been amazing, let alone you tied him up falling back in love with the game.

2:08:42But as one of those guys, triple OG, Hall of Famer, top 10 in tackles in NFL history, Have you ever seen a rookie pick up the game like Emeka Abuka? It feels like what he's done in college has translated to the NFL seamlessly, and he is unbelievable. Once Godwin gets back, I assume he's going to be even better. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I got asked the question before, and I always say, man, when I first saw Chris, he was in a similar aspect, but Chris didn't get the opportunity right away because we had Deshaun Jackson and things like that. So and then like just seeing Emeka come in and just drill guys with questions and just how the way he go about his business, the way he handles everything.

2:09:22You know, I used to watch the film, you know, though I watched I watched the rookie minicamp. And then I watched, you know, OTAs and all that stuff when I wasn't around. So I just got a chance to see like, OK, you know, this kid like he's getting it like they everybody's gravitating to him. Baker is feeding him the ball. So he must be doing something right. Then I got a chance to see him in the training camp. He's a kid. We won't even call him a rookie, man. He's definitely, you know.

2:09:45Pat McAfee:Oh, no. Too much compliments. Too many compliments to a rookie. Yeah. We lost you there for a second. You were complimenting him mightily, and then it cut off because you're too nice to a rookie, even though you don't consider him a rookie is what you were saying. It got cut off. But you're saying all good things about him literally since the day he got to Tampa. Yeah, since the day he got to Tampa, man, he carried himself like a vet. And like I said, man, we won't even look at him as a rookie no more. He's helping us big time. and the way he do things, the way he carries himself on and off the field, he's a man of God.

2:10:15He's always working on himself, just trying to be better and better and trying to help us win. And it shows, man. You know, Baker's finding him. You know, that means, you know, he's doing something right when your veteran quarterback has a lot of confidence in you.

2:10:28Pat McAfee:What did Baker say about the one-handed catcher? He disrespected his ball. Yeah, yeah. He disrespected my ball, man. Yeah, disrespected my ball, man. Catcher with two-handed next time, rookie. And then he went around and said, I told the rookie, and he's catching that with two hands, you know. Because people are going to think that was a bad ball because he won one-handed. That was a good ball. It's like, as long as he's catching it, who cares? And if he's that confident, let me go ahead and snag that thing. Special, man. He was number two at Ohio State. Number two at Ohio State every year that he was there.

2:10:56Pat McAfee:Had to block. Had to do the shitty routes. Like, had to do the tough jobs. And now he's spectacular for Tampa Bay. AJ has a question for you. Yeah, Vontae, being in the league 14 years, you've kind of seen different eras of offenses and how they try to attack defenses. You know, there's spread them out. We've always seen that. Sometimes I think now it's starting to get a little bit more downhill, trying to be able to pound the ball with what the Eagles were able to do last year. Like, do you take pride in being able to last that long and be so durable and play and start every single game? Like, you're able to obviously play in the box, go downhill with the best of them, but also spread you out and you can play in space.

2:11:28Is that something that you've actually thought about as you've gotten older because you continue to play at such a high level in all different aspects? Yeah, I mean, honestly, man, that's something that I always think about. You know what I'm saying? I wanted to prove that, you know, you guys keep signing me to these contracts. I want y 'all, I want to prove that I can still play the game at a high level, you know, no matter how young the talent gets, just know that I'm still going to come out there and do my best and do my part. And like you said, man, nowadays the offense is trying to do things to kind of like get you, you know, try to out leverage you and stuff like that defensively.

2:11:58And so, you know, for me, you know, it's all a mind game for me. So I love those mind games. I love facing challenging offenses. So they helped me, you know, kind of like help my game as much as I can. And when they try to get you in space and things like that, you know, I just want to show that I still can make those tackles just like the younger guys and stuff like that. So even when they get to a physical football game, I still want to let you all know that I can still bring it. You know, I still remember last year was playing the Chargers. You know, Chargers was down here running a football team.

2:12:27And I made a couple plays and Coach Larry Foote, he had to put me to the side. I said, hey, man, you ain't young no more. You got to chill out with all that. So, you know, that right there kind of like, you know, kind of like, you know, boosted me a little bit. Like, okay, I still got it. You know what I'm saying? So just because the game kind of did go away from that a little bit, and now you're getting back to the physical football. So that's what I love to see.

2:12:47Pat McAfee:Yeah, you got former teammates coaching and people you played against now. And I assume there's going to come a time soon where you're going to be playing with somebody's kid that you played alongside. And every play, just I'm not old. I'm not old. I'm not old. I'm not old. Eat it. Eat it. Eat it. I love everything. Whatever motivates you to be great. Obviously, it's working. I mean, Coach has a question for you. Yeah, I know you weren't surprised, but I thought Tyrod Taylor played his tail off in that game, man. Yeah. And I know you guys were – you did not sleep on him. And you chased him around all day and gone day.

2:13:16And he played really good for him. But I just want to give him some props. But for you, chasing him all day is still amazing to watch you play, man.

2:13:26Pat McAfee:Oh, look at this. You're not old. You're not old. Yeah. I don't know. I might be, man. I missed him three times. I didn't say that. You said that. All right, let's talk about who you are. Go ahead. He slipped right on my hands three times. So, yeah, he still got it. Hey, there's a lot of guys that still got it in the league right now. Motherfuckers will jump over you backwards. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Levante, this week you guys got the Eagles on Sunday. Now, I mean, obviously you've played for as long as you have. I don't think you're really losing sleep over any team that you're going to play. But with the challenges they present with Saquon and Jalen Hurts and that offensive line, what does that prep look like?

2:14:05And I don't know if anyone's told you this, but when it comes to the tush push, like, you can start moving early too because they're going to do it several times and they're probably not going to call it. So, you know, you can kind of shoot your gun whenever you want to on that. Yeah. I'm up to date what's going on with the tush push, man. We was one of the teams that stopped it, so I ain't chirping about it. Feet a man, baby! Yeah. But, you know, those guys present a different challenge, man, all over the field. Like you said, they got Saquon, they got A.J. Brown, they got Devontae Smith, they got Goddard.

2:14:36They got a lot of playmakers, man. Obviously starting with Jalen Hurst. It's going to be a fun football game. We've been seeing these guys a lot and they've been seeing us a lot. I expect nothing less than a four-quarter battle. Like I said, man, these type of games bring the best out to you. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

2:14:52Pat McAfee:You went through the CTE era then to the spread them out era. Now we're in the Guardian cap era. AJ started this entire thing. AJ, anything to say about the ability to evolve throughout the different eras? Because we know you were the first one to put that Guardian cap on your helmet, AJ, so we appreciate you doing that. No, I wasn't, but Levante can play in any era. I think that's the greatest thing. You could throw him back in the 50s and he would still be bashing dude skulls in. Are you wearing a Guardian cap on game day or just at practice, Levante? Only at practice, and if the Guardian cap truly because of you, AJ, come on, man.

2:15:29It is true. It is true, LeVon. Do not let Pat. Pat tries to tell people I drink my piss and all this stuff. Goal! So, no, you know, whatever. To each his own, whatever you want to do. But how does it feel for real? What's it feel like hitting somebody with that on? Yeah, I mean, we have to wait in training camp. And, you know, in training camp, you know, you got the 907 drills. And you want to hear it. When you get a 907, you want to hear the pads clapping. Pow, pow, pow. But you can't hear it with a guardian cap. And it sounds so soft. So you can't really gauge and tell or nothing like that. But it definitely protects you, though.

2:16:00I would say that. I mean, nobody really has an issue with it. We have a player who wears it. But they're doing a better job with the helmets and things like that, helmets that get improved by the league. So some people who have the more up-to-date helmets don't have to wear in practice and things like that. But for the most part, it's doing what it's supposed to do, I would say.

2:16:18Pat McAfee:We need you to put a couple guardian caps on, remember? Because two helmet condoms better than one. Exactly. That's what they say. Their lineman might have two on. He's got the biggest. At Tampa? Yeah, the biggest head of all time. Massive. Guardian cap. Had to put three guardian caps together for that guy. Yeah. Unbelievable. All right, man. Well, good luck on your next 14 years of your NFL career, I guess. Seems like it's just going forever. And we appreciate your time. Yeah, appreciate y 'all, man. We'll see what next year brings. But we're going to worry about this year right now, man. Appreciate y 'all.

2:16:51Pat McAfee:Hey, man, that's Super Bowl champion and future Hall of Famer, Levante David. Yeah, Levante. Hey, that had to be pretty cool. That was sick. That was awesome. Anytime one of your players says, like, hey, everything you were doing worked, that has to be pretty fulfilling. Legit, said he found his love for football. Want to leave. Yeah. Get me out of here. Maybe the game. We played 10 years of college. I feel bad for the guy. I don't know what they're talking about, about being in the league. I mean, this is the same as college. We're not allowed to smile walking off the field, and we're diving to people's knees while they're kneeling it down in the NFL.

2:17:23Pat McAfee:Start practice with. We got$200 million right there, and we're just diving at the knees of it. We got some maniacs back in the Big East days. Because Sheano, Rutgers, Big East. Brian Kelly, Cincinnati. Leavitt, South Florida, Rich Rod, West Virginia. Wonstash. Wonstash. Obviously a weapon. If we could have got Maryland in the Big East, kept them in the Big East with Big Fridge. Ralph Fridge. Yeah, Big Fridge. And Rich almost got into it one time. I'm thinking there's a chance that I'm not bringing up the money. Did him and Mangino ever get into it? That would have looked like Andy Reid, but instead of Travis Kelsey, it would have been Andy Reid.

2:18:04Pat McAfee:Against Andy Reid. Seismic activity. How do you feel about that, Andy Reid and Travis Kelsey having a little bit of a bump on the sideline? Hey, it's ball, man. Shit happens on the sideline. Neither one of them have any animosity towards the other one. They love each other. and you know that that only happens out of love. Yes, can only have good relationship and have that happen. Yes, because if it's a bad relationship, they're throwing blows. What do you think he's saying? Do you think he's telling him to wake up? If you had to just guess, now obviously he won't tell us, we will never know. I'm sure NFL Films has it and Andy Reid maybe has said don't let it out or maybe at some point we'll see it in a documentary in the future, whatever it is.

2:18:39Pat McAfee:What do you think he's saying to him there? Is there a moment to say like, hey, wake the fuck up or something like that on a sideline? Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, you got to go, You got your stars. You got to get on your stars' ass so you can get on everybody else's ass. You know, if I'm jumping his ass, all them other cats go, oh, shit, he's getting Travis. He's going to get me, too. But, yeah, it was a good moment, I thought. Chiefs, Dynasty is not dead. No. No. And that's BS. No, that's no BS. That's BS. No, he said that's no BS. B-A. He's just disagreeing. Oh, you're saying? You're disagreeing with B-A on BS or no BS?

2:19:15Pat McAfee:I don't think the dynasty's dead. I agree with them. But I think this year they're fucked. I think they're shit out of luck. We had an incredible opportunity to catch up with new Indianapolis Colts because I think the Colts are definitely a story I'd like to hear you chit-chat about, especially with what's going on. Nice little rançance kind of. A little rebirth of the Indianapolis Colts. We got a chance to catch up with Cam, bind him early. We're going to run the entire thing or release the entire thing tomorrow. It was a great convo. This is what he basically had to say about the leadership in the building And then obviously I can't wait to hear everybody's response.

2:19:47There's so many vets on the team. So everybody's comfortable talking, but nobody talks too much to where it's like, okay, you're doing too much. You're trying too hard to be a leader. Everybody has their natural leadership role. For me, it's the lead by example, lead with energy. For Isaiah Franklin, it's the I'm turnt up, I'm going to run through your face type of leadership. Kenny, you know what you're going to get. He has his finesse and his swag and he's still going to be like a leader. So, like, just those three pieces on defense with Mooney just being locked in, knowing he's going to lock things up on the outside.

2:20:18Everybody has their certain type of leadership. Then on the offense, obviously quarterback Danny Dimes, he's a little more quiet, but, you know, he's still making sure everything is operating well. But Q, he's a vocal leader. He's running to everything. That's awesome. Incredible. Like, just everything. So you get a little bit of everything from everybody to the point where everybody is, locked in on their certain role where nobody's overstepping their boundaries of, okay, this guy needs to calm down. He's trying too hard. So it's a natural leadership in this locker room.

2:20:48Pat McAfee:Anybody missing team meetings or treatments or anything like that? No. There you go. Never. That's an expectation just around the league. You don't do that. You're not late. You don't miss meetings. You will get fine one. The money's one thing, but the embarrassment if you miss it and coach puts you on the spot, it's like nobody wants to be that guy that's late and has to talk in front of the team and give your excuse. Amen. Do you hear what our culture is being described as in Indianapolis? It was not like that just a year ago. Coach, I'll ask you, with all these pieces, is it just adding the right couple guys to a locker room that can kind of change everything?

2:21:23Pat McAfee:Maybe you're not as far away as you think sometimes because this Colts team, I think from a culture standpoint, a lot of question marks last year. The stories we were hearing, like, that is not what winning football is at all. Then we bring a couple pieces in, different quarterback. Cam Bynum comes in. We get Mooney comes in. I mean, we get some guys that come in there. Ryan Kelly leaves. Quentin Nelson feels like he can maybe be empowered to be a leadership. Is it that easy to kind of fix some things, bring in some new pieces? Or what are your thoughts on the culture changing as drastically as it seemingly has with India?

2:21:54Yeah, I think it really is. I mean, it's bringing the right people. And it's not always the best player. It's the right person. And obviously with Cam and the guys that love football, love practicing, love preparing, those are the guys you want in your building and they're natural leaders and it permeates through everybody and then danny dimes being as smart as he is being accountability is the key word and as long as guys are accountable they don't like each other you got to be accountable to each other and i think these guys are holding each other to a standard it's wonderful and obviously

2:22:25Pat McAfee:when you win it like very much justifies all of it it's like hey everything we're doing is for the right reasons we're winning games we look very good and obviously we are going to talk about the Colts here in Indianapolis and we're at the games and everything like that. But this year, I said it early, we're going to win a Super Bowl. And then I watch them again. I'm like, we're going to win a Super Bowl because all the things you need, you need an offensive line. You need to be able to stop the run. You need to be able to make some throws and make some decisions on the offense side. You need to have somebody that can get open.

2:22:52Pat McAfee:We got two, three guys that can get open. And on the defensive side, you need to create turnovers. The boys are creating turnovers. They're not giving up much. It's like everything you need in the big games, we have shown early. We have. Rosters always had talent. Feels like they have a real team this year, Conman. Well, and just like the decision-making. You mentioned like them, you know, this hasn't happened and they haven't started like this and things of that nature. And I forget if Michael Pittman Jr. said this is a really smart team. Everyone kind of gets it. But just even Steichen. Like we talked about this when they beat the Broncos.

2:23:2228-23. It's fourth and two, fourth and three. And they decided to kick a field goal to go down by two instead of go for it. It feels like in the past maybe Steichen was kind of, hey, hey, fourth and two, no risk and no biscuit. We need to score a touchdown either way to get the lead. Let's do that. Instead, hey, we can kick a field goal, rely on our defense, get the ball back, and then go kick another field goal to win the game. It doesn't feel like the team of the Indiana past, perhaps, didn't have that type of respect or faith in either side of the ball. And now there's faith in the defense.

2:23:55There's faith in the offense to have a drive and come through. and I'm sure Steichen also for himself maybe. Okay, thank God. I can't catch a team. I'm not a dipshit.

2:24:05Pat McAfee:I almost got Carter mentioned a Pro Bowl. We almost won the AFC South. Deebo, what did you hear from Cam Bynum both in that and the entire conversation? It was kind of similar to what KOC said about leadership and accountability. You got to be yourself first and foremost. Being yourself and then talking to Levante David, hearing what B.A. says about him. I asked AQ about him as well, knowing he was going to come on the show. When those guys are there every day and you hear those voices, whoever comes into the building, you just kind of get on the train. You get in line with those guys. So the leadership, it stops down.

2:24:33It starts from the top down. So big three, big three, new ownership. Carly, Kalen, Casey. And they've been around the game their entire lives. They've been prepared for this moment. So then you get the front office. They got to be on the same page, bringing in the right guys, paying the right guys. You know how that impacts and affects the locker room as well. And then it trickles down into the locker room with all the pieces coming together, Danny Dimes, being an organization that is, you know, Supporting him, he's obviously confident, more confident than I've ever seen him on the NFL field week in and week out.

2:25:03You've got to show up on game day. You've got to show up and make big plays. That's what guys are doing. It is early in the season. We're at the first quarter of the season. It's a long season. We know that. But as long as you can keep riding these waves, keep winning. You mentioned the phases straighter, too. We know how important having a good kicker is in today's NFL. He's been nails from wider wire so far. I'm excited what we've got. We've got all the pieces. We're in the driver's seat in our division. So I'm excited about the Colts' future and the direction that they're headed. Not only this year, but it seems like for the future.

2:25:33Pat McAfee:AJ, it seems like you even become a believer because normally he would laugh at the member. Oh, yeah. Every time we make our picks, he would laugh at it. It feels like you're even a believer. How could you not be at this point? I'm definitely a believer. And hearing Cam Bynum speak, that was awesome when he said, we don't have guys overstepping and trying too hard. We have talked about on this program many times. people that say, oh, they feel like, hey, a coach wants to see me be a leader. I'm going to break it down every day. I'm going to try to get voted captain. And every player, like every NFL guy sees right through that.

2:26:02And it's just, it's not a great setting. I think, too, when you have these guys that are great leaders making plays, it also, like, sometimes I think bad teams, they hope somebody else is going to make the play. Okay, here, big third down. We got, this guy's a stud. He's a vet. He's going to make a play. I think when you have like this and you empower everybody, each guy wants to, they're saying, no, I'm going to make that play. I'm going to go make that big third down stuff. I'm going to get that pick. I'm going to do whatever it takes. And it's like, it's a trickle-down effect. Like D-Bot said, it's from the top down, man.

2:26:28They have it rolling right now.

2:26:29Pat McAfee:We talked about that with Sonic and Knuckles, you know, with Montgomery and Gibbs with the Detroit Lions. They both want to make big plays, and they both are pulling for each other, which is a good thing. The way he talked about the defense with Lou Anarumo running this entire ship, I mean, it is a different vibe watching them play on Sundays. Lou didn't come alone to this defense, though. You mentioned a name that I don't think I've said yet, and I should have. Yeah, James Boettcher. I think, you know, when Boettcher was the defensive coordinator at the Giants, Lou was with him. Now Lou went to Cincinnati, took Boettcher.

2:26:59That's a great tandem. I mean, you talk about two guys that know each other, work together. Their personalities are different. You know, Boettcher's going to bring the heat a lot. Lou knows his stuff. I think it's a great combination on defense for the Colts.

2:27:11Pat McAfee:We signed him, and we were all pumped up. Then we started looking into the Cincinnati Bengals' defensive rankings. And it's like, not good, not good, not good. Then we start thinking, well, they didn't really pay anybody on the defensive side or have any players. He's got weapons on the defensive side here in Indianapolis. We got players, which is why I always had hope. I always had hope that this team was going to be good because we've paid so many people. Legitimately, we've made so many people on this team. We got talent. Lou seeming to be calling it right. He seems to be calling it right, and he's enjoying it too, I think.

2:27:38Pat McAfee:Because he just kind of got it. Yeah, unceremoniously, they shoved his ass out the door. You know, and it's just I think the big thing, too, is like this isn't like the Chiefs last year where they go 15 and two. And it's kind of like every week, like Jesus Christ, like they're beating the hell out of everybody. And like it's a very entertaining brand of football. So, like, that's why when you talk about, hey, like they might be the best team in the NFL right now, like they might go to the Super Bowl. Like their play dictates that it's not just like, oh, hey, we're three and oh, we've squeaked by like they've they've dominated all three teams.

2:28:10I mean, I guess maybe not the Broncos, but like the Broncos are a good team. A lot of people picking them to win the Super Bowl. Long season.

2:28:16Pat McAfee:That's the only worry, AJ. Long season. We started really hot, which is good because history tells us the teams start hot are good teams. They'll end up being good, too. But it's like we're clicking full cylinders right now. Good test on Sunday. They go to L.A. to play the Rams. So it's like if they win that one, that's a massive jump up. And it's like, okay, yeah, everything we've been saying is true. Rams, Raiders, Arizona. Jonah, how you doing, West Coast, into the Los Angeles Chargers? I can't wait to see who this team really is as the season goes on. They've been fun to watch. Danny Dimes putting up historic numbers.

2:28:51Pat McAfee:Obviously, the punt conversation has happened and the amount of successful drives percentage has been talked about. Now we're comparing them to the MVP. Daniel Jones, quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, is now being compared to Josh Allen and the greatest show on turf in offense, the Buffalo Bills MVP offense. For Josh Allen, congratulations. You're being compared to Daniel Jones. I mean, certainly would not have expected that before the season, but now we're at a point where it's like maybe Danny Dimes is the new standard. No doubt. Maybe Danny Dimes is the new bar. You know, smart, physical, fast, can throw it.

2:29:23Pat McAfee:Josh Allen obviously has all the same attributes and has the Buffalo Bills in a great position every single week, and he won the MVP for a reason. But Danny Dimes being a quarterback of the Colts was not a guarantee whenever he signed here. It was a competition between him and Anthony Richardson. Think about the conversations. Think about the optimism-pessimism meter that came out from The Athletic after Danny Dimes was named the starting quarterback over Anthony Richardson. We had seen Anthony Richardson as a quarterback. We had heard and hoped that maybe he had evolved his professional quarterback-ism, I guess would be the way to describe that and everything.

2:29:55Pat McAfee:And we'd seen some things that did that. But nobody gave the Colts, outside of us, I would say, hope with Danny Dimes as a quarterback. Why is that? Why do you think everybody thought he had no shot, B.A.? And how hard is that of a decision whenever you, like how early into the process do you think Shane knew Danny Dimes was going to be the starting quarterback? Do you think that's real? Probably by third OTA. You think he probably. When he already had it mastered. You think he probably knew very early. He said, if we can protect him, if we give him running game, this guy's a weapon now. He's a hell of an athlete.

2:30:27He's accurate. He's smart. You're not going to fool him. His stats against the Blitz against the Broncos were just unbelievable.

2:30:33Pat McAfee:So I think that conversation then goes back. I wish I would have asked Kevin O 'Connell this. Does KOC think he could have been one of those guys? Learns, journey, travel, gets to the next place, already experienced. I mean, at his offense over there, Sam Darnold's experienced it. Kirk Cousins has experienced it. I guess you could give Danny Dimes credit because he was there. Dobbs. Dobbs. I don't think he got a second resurgence, though. Oh, yeah, true. But, like, KOC has seen the second career resurgence kind of happen here. And Danny Dimes is the most recent one, He might be the fucking best.

2:31:06Pat McAfee:Baker, obviously, is what you're shooting for and striving for whenever you're doing this. Well, and I don't know if people would have expected this from Danny Dimes, but Shefty has said this a bunch, that the feeling around Danny Dimes in the NFL was much different than how the media was talking about him. You know, he said there were a handful of teams before he signed with the Colts where it was like, hey, they've given the opportunity, like, you know, and you've got all these guys who are available, who would you take? And he was saying, you know, Danny Dimes, multiple teams were saying, Like, there's something there.

2:31:37So, I mean, obviously he's probably outperformed what everyone's expectations for him were. But that just goes to show you, too, that, like, around the league, people still knew, like, this guy's a talent. You can put him in the right situation and something like this could happen. I'm sorry, go ahead. So, shout out to the front office. Once again, being, I guess, the most aggressive in getting him. And then, obviously, Danny Dimes looking at the situation and saying, hey, this is a great situation for me. and like you mentioned the coaches around the league, guys like B.A. Okay, here we go right here from the Ross Tucker.

2:32:08Pat McAfee:This is from the Ross Tucker podcast. Tom Pellicero reported that Danny Dimes took a little bit less money to come to the Colts, I think, because of the situation because he wanted to be starter again. And that's amazing to hear because there was conversations about how much Minnesota offered. They're like, Minnesota made a real offer. Colts paying him$10 million a year, I think. I think that's the number. Yeah, like up to$14 million or something. Something like that for starters. So he took less money to come to Indianapolis because he understood the situation, was going to be in a competition.

2:32:34Pat McAfee:He certainly made the most of it. I'm sorry, go ahead. Yeah, so seeing that as a landing spot, and to Ty's point, like NBA can see it because these guys are coaches, and coaches got egos too, and it's a reason that they have those jobs in the NFL because they can see a player and say, okay, I can get more talent out of them. Now for the rest of us, the reason that pessimism meter or whatever was so high is because we saw Danny Dimes in a New York Giants jersey getting obliterated every week, turning the ball over, doing those things. So it's like, oh, man, this is the guy we got, Danny Dimes in AR.

2:33:02We draft the A.R. top five. Let's at least give the kid a chance and see him develop. But once he was named a starter, and once again, just like you, made some calls to some people in the building, no one was surprised. And that's the thing we said. If somebody wins a quarterback job, nobody in the building should be surprised. Offense, defense, coaches, trainers, everybody knows what NFL quarterbacking looked like. So that was a very positive sign. So I love what I'm seeing from Daniel Jones this far on.

2:33:28Pat McAfee:Play callers, head coaches have egos? I didn't hear that. A little bit. gotta have it gotta have it the Shane Steichen whole entire game week I'm sure is just so much different this year than it has been in years for sure yeah especially because third OTA you mentioned I think that probably was accurate when Danny Dimes picked up Shane's offense I don't know how similar it was the things he had in the past I don't know how easy it was from the transition into the lingo but just like him commanding that offense we haven't seen that in years here in Indianapolis that was week one he called out a blitz shifted the offensive line one way, then he pointed out something else and goes there.

2:34:01Pat McAfee:Shane Steichen has to be like, yes, fucking man. Yes, thank you. Right? That helps. Totally, bro. Totally. I mean, when you got a guy that sees it, gets it, and does it. Now, some can see it, they get it, they can't do it. He does it. And, like you said, a couple of those plays, change the line. We're going to be hot right here. This guy's coming free. The ball's coming up. Alright? Touchdown. Then him also in the pocket, navigating the pocket, then being able to run much faster than anybody gives him credit for. It's like Shane Steichen's sleeping much easier and a much better spot this year.

2:34:39Pat McAfee:Not just what they are. We are recycling quarterbacks. Hey, come in. Welcome. Here's a whole new offense. Master it, please, and let's move on. There were stories of Matt Ryan and the offensive line not having a clue what the fuck each other were saying for like eight weeks or something like that. So Danny Dimes coming in and understanding. Shane Steichen, that's crazy. There was some crazy times here in Indianapolis over the last few years, so we apologize for being overly enthusiastic about what is happening right now, but this looks like a professional team, and he looks like a professional quarterback, and it looks like Steichen's offense is the perfect one for him.

2:35:09Yeah, he's a great fit. I mean, I think he fits in any offense. We loved him in Tampa. We talked about him a bunch because his first win was against us, and he played lights out in that ballgame, throwing and running. So, yeah, I think Shane is real, real happy right now.

2:35:25Pat McAfee:He was great on the Manning cast last night. Obviously, he watched Super Handsome. Did you catch the Manning cast last night, AJ? I just saw a little bit. I go back and forth usually with main broadcast and Manning cast. Oh, do you? I like what Peyton Eli do. You know me. I love when we just get to watch Peyton and Eli digest the game in real time and see Peyton freak out about blitzes coming, that quarterbacks don't pick up, and refs missing calls, all that. Yeah, his football IQ on display is always good. He made a bunch of new rules. Did you see that? No, I didn't. I missed that. They made a bunch of new rules.

2:35:56Pat McAfee:They were good. Which ones? There's something about public apology or something for drops or something. I mean, like, there was – First one was Hail Mary interceptions don't count on the quarterback. Yeah, don't count on the quarterback. And then he pointed out that the NBA no longer puts it on the shooter. They put it on the team as a miss. True rule. I'm okay with that. He said Hail Mary should not count against quarterback. That sounds like a little bit of bullshit, which I respect. I like that. I'm all for that, too. I mean, I've seen a quarter guys not throw it just for anyone to throw an interception.

2:36:24Yeah.

2:36:24Pat McAfee:And then drops not continue. Yeah, here we go. Intercepted Hail Mary shouldn't count. False start offsides. Equity within the 10-yard line. Okay, I don't know what that means. Targets should not be official statistic. He hates that. He says that basically every single game. This guy got six targets last week. Okay. All right, what does that mean? Batted balls should be illegal. Should not be able to put your hand above it. And then cash payments on field for late hits was something he said. That was the public apology. That's awesome. Which I respect. You got to actually pay the money for late hits right there.

2:36:51Pat McAfee:That'll probably slow people down a little bit. Carry it in your football pants. And literally, did you hear what Darius told the story about us playing the Broncos? Yeah. You talk about late hits, the reason why Peyton's thinking about that. Art Jones just happens in the first series, just crawl a little bit later on to Peyton. And in his mind, it's like, Dash, I want$10 ,000 cash right now. I don't want it to be removed from your check. I would like you to see that. My money. I'm surprised he didn't say drops don't count as incompletions. I'm surprised he didn't add that because anytime a wide receiver drops a ball, Peyton just means...

2:37:25Pat McAfee:Catch the fucking ball. That is your job out there. I'm surprised that was probably right on their fringe. What has he got against the targets? I think he thinks it's a bullshit stat that's just kind of created to keep people happy basically. It seems like. New school dude thing. Big for betters. I think it's one of those... He had eight targets and two catches. is like, guy can't bitch, I'll throw it to you eight times. I mean. I think that's what Peyton has a problem with. It's like, it is like, I don't know, I've not asked him, but the targeting targets number, he has brought up on numerous man and guests.

2:38:00Pat McAfee:He's brought it up like a lot of times. So I'd always known that there's certainly something he doesn't like. I think it's because he thinks it's all bullshit just to keep people happy. Totally. Well, they gave him four targets last week. And it's like, well, you didn't give him the fucking ball though. But, like, so I think he doesn't love that it's just kind of been created out of nowhere. You're saying for gamblers, though, it's nice to know how many times the ball is going in the direction. Yeah, and I don't play fantasy, but I would assume fantasy, too. Like, knowing, hey, I got a guy starting.

2:38:28I got targeted 12 times last week, and he caught eight of them. He's probably going to get targeted again a bunch this week. So it's definitely good for, you know, the people that have other interests going into the game for sure. Yeah, targets definitely matter for fantasy. I wonder if Peyton is more so thinking from the angle of, like, you know, If quarterbacks target Jamar Chase or one guy, 20 times they're going to get killed. Everybody else. Back in the day, I was throwing to Marvin Harrison 28 times a game. We don't need to let everybody else know how many times I'm throwing to them. Exactly.

2:38:57Pat McAfee:We don't need this to be a publicly stated number. Sure, I fucking threw to Austin Cawley one time. I don't need that to be known by Austin. It was a big catch. It's moved forward. It was a big first down. That was a great ball. There you go. But Marvin got 30 targets. And we don't want to talk about that on Monday, so it's not a real thing. That would have been a sick lineup. If we had had Marv, Reggie, and Austin in NTY, holy fuck. It's cheating. Stokes wasn't mad. And Edge. So I wasn't there for Stokely. I was not there for Stokely. He was unbelievable. They followed with Peyton over to Denver.

2:39:30Pat McAfee:He was so good. Yeah, that was a good position. Austin Colley, though, was a – he was not a Wes. The offense in Denver is damn near as good as it gets when it comes to, you know, Peyton's offense is when it came because Welker went with him. How many touchdowns? DT. Fifty-five. Yeah, 55 or something. He had seven in the first game. Julius Thomas, the nobody to end. Comes out of nowhere. He's a basketball player. He was unbelievable in his first. He had like 18 touchdowns that year. Yeah, it was fun to watch. And we got rid of him. Well, he came back here. We handled him. Took care of his looks.

2:40:07Pat McAfee:Yeah, the war of 1812. That was pretty loud Sunday night of football. Oh, yeah. That was a pretty good little place. Made a tackle on that. A couple good plays that game. A lot inside 20. Nobody remembers that. Shout out. Before we get out of here, we did have somebody pass away that we care about mightily. Sportsbook can say, Jens are a legend in the gambling world. We had a chance to meet him multiple times, hang out with him multiple times. And then obviously we followed along on the internet as everybody else who gombo to ever followed along with Sharapan, who's an absolute dog. Had the greatest hat collection I've ever seen.

2:40:45Pat McAfee:I think Gumpy is trying to keep up with him. We'll always be chasing his greatness. His vibes and his spirit were always immaculate with us. The guy gave out all the winners. Let's go over to Hammer. Don, Don, Tone. Obviously, Kinsig is a guy we love over here. We're all going to certainly miss like hell. Kinsig was the best. He was just always happy and always wanted to talk and just always be around everyone, especially at Super Bowl Radio Row. He came on Hammered Down a lot. He was just the nicest dude. You could call him, and he just always wanted to talk and be friendly with whoever he came in touch with.

2:41:26He was awesome to us. He was a Yinzer legend. I know Connor and Gumpy FaceTimed him almost every weekend just to talk ball. He was just one of the best dudes. A great dad. Great husband and just gone too soon.

2:41:39Pat McAfee:Yeah, amen. Rest in peace, brother. We appreciate the hell out of you. And I believe there was some sort of sickness inside. I don't know what it was. But we were following it online. I don't think any of us knew how serious it was from afar. And then there was a couple updates like, hey, this is getting pretty serious. And then all of a sudden we hear he passed away. We obviously don't see him on a day-to-day basis, so I don't think it hits him as much. Radio Row at 1 ,000. Oh, yeah, without a doubt. He is an ever-present person when we're at the Super Bowl. And he's always, for us, he's always been so complimentary and uplifting and motivating.

2:42:16Pat McAfee:Like always telling us not even to get on the show. Did not care to get on the show. Asked him to come on the show. Would definitely do it. Did not have any personal agendas whenever he was talking to us. No. Felt like he genuinely wished for our success. So we will miss the shit out of him. Rest in peace, Kinsig. You've done good, bub. You've done good. Gone way too soon. Gone way too soon. All right. We'll get out of here. We'll be back tomorrow. Now, I sent off on ESPN in the most glorious fashion. Oh, it was awesome. Fantastic. I don't know if they'll turn that one in for an award. They should think about it.

2:42:46Pat McAfee:Tony, why don't you head out here, buddy? But this one's going to be sent off in a beautiful fashion because we've got a Super Bowl champion. B.A., another incredible week. We appreciate the hell out of you, man. That's what B.A., B.A. We appreciate the hell out of you. And on that note, be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. B.A., anything you say? Better one next week. Hell yeah. Next week, I want fucking speakers. And I want a goddamn highlight video. That's it. One of the greatest Saturday night speeches of all time.

2:43:15Pat McAfee:I love it. And what are you going to say to the boys tonight? Well, I'm going to tell them we got no fucking highlight reel and we got no music. And I want that next week. Anything else? No, that'll do it. Get your asses out of here. Go to bed. Next week, I want fucking speakers and a highlight video. Get your ass out of here. Go to fucking bed. Guess what we have the next week? Highlight video and speakers. I don't know if that's true or not, but I assume it wasn't. Obviously it worked. What the hell am I talking about? AJ, great work. Boys in the back, way to pull it off. Team on me, team on three.

2:43:44Pat McAfee:We'll see you tomorrow. One, two, three, team. Goodbye. You know when you're locked in, focused and fearless. Welcome to the WNBA. You're vision arrows. You can't look away. Every assist, every stop, every logo three. From beyond the logo. Every did you see that moment. You bet. What records are going to be broken this season? All of it right here. Lock in. It's the WNBA on ESPN. All season long.