PMS 2.0 1426 - TNF Preview, Shams Charania, Al Michaels, Mike McCarthy, Jack Carr, & AJ Hawk

9 Oct 2025 · 2 h 15 min · 60 chapters

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In short

Episode topic NFL Week 6/7 preview focused on Thursday Night Football: Eagles vs Giants, plus broader NFL Week 6 news and betting angles. The show also pivots into NBA/Team USA coaching news (Eric Spoelstra), NBA trade/rumor talk (Giannis and the Knicks), and MLB postseason reaction (Yankees eliminated by the Blue Jays).

Guests (and backgrounds)

Al Michaels

veteran NFL broadcaster (joining for the TNF segment).

Mike McCarthy

Super Bowl-winning NFL coach (joining for NFC preview).

Jack Carr

former Navy SEAL sniper and author; promoting his fiction novel Cry Havoc (Vietnam War–set).

AJ Hawk

former NFL linebacker (joining as an NFL analyst/guest).

Shams Charania (ESPN senior NBA insider)

covers Team USA coaching cycle, NBA news, and Giannis trade discussions. Sean Ferraro (mentioned as joining; NBA/Team USA discussion participant).

Key claims / notable examples Eagles are 4-1 but ranked poorly in pass offense (31st) and run-related offense (25th), while Giants are 1-4; despite that, the spread is Eagles -7.5 and the hosts argue “anything can happen” in a divisional TNF spot.

Betting notes

touchdown road favorites trend (19-4 SU; 14-9 ATS; 14-9 under) and public betting leaning Eagles (65%).

Team USA

USA Basketball expected to name Eric Spoelstra head coach for 2027 World Cup and 2028 LA Olympics; Grant Hill is managing director; Spoelstra likely builds a new staff.

Giannis

Charania says Giannis privately wanted the Knicks as the only trade destination; Bucks held meetings (GM John Horst flew to Greece) and multiple Knicks offers were discussed, but no deal happened.

NFL trade examples

Jaguars acquiring Greg Newsome; Broncos adding Tyson Campbell; Joe Flacco to Bengals; Browns backup QB situation discussed (Zappe vs Shador Sanders vs Dylan Gabriel) with Steelers matchup implications.

MLB

Yankees’ playoff elimination by the Blue Jays; critique centers on Yankees’ reliance on stars/HRs vs Blue Jays’ “small-ball” and defense.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

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NFC East Showdown Preview

0:45 to 3:04

Discussion about the upcoming Thursday Night Football game between the Eagles and Giants.

“And there's a bunch of stats that have been Thursday Night Football, 7.5 points spread, Divisional this, Sirianni on Thursday, Day Bowl on Thursday.”

Analyzing Team Performance and Stats

3:04 to 7:09

In-depth analysis of team stats, performances, and predictions for the game.

“Talks to tables here at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt.”

Upcoming Guests and Their Backgrounds

7:09 to 8:23

Introduction of guests Al Michaels, Mike McCarthy, and Jack Carr and their credentials.

“Coach Mike McCarthy, Super Bowl champion.”

Jack Carr's New Book and Background

8:23 to 9:22

Discussion about Jack Carr's background as a Navy SEAL sniper and his new book.

“He saved the world now three times for us.”

Breaking News: USA Basketball Head Coach

9:22 to 14:01

Shams Charania shares news about Eric Spolstra being named head coach of the USA Basketball team.

“friend of the program, and a man who I believe had something just crossed his phone.”

Injuries in the NBA: The Impact of Achilles Tears

14:01 to 15:40

Discussion on Achilles injuries affecting star players and their season outlook.

“the three superstar players that tore their Achilles tendon in the playoffs.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo's Trade Talks and Future

15:41 to 18:02

Exploration of Giannis's potential trade to the Knicks and the Bucks' championship aspirations.

“You just broke some news the other day early in the morning on the internet.”

NBA Preseason and Opening Weekend Details

18:03 to 18:50

Overview of the upcoming NBA season and preseason games.

“If this stuff wasn't happening, I wouldn't have anything to talk about.”

Updates on Players: Tyrese Halliburton and T.J. McConnell

18:51 to 21:46

Updates on player recoveries and their involvement in offseason activities.

“And then ESPN has multiple doubleheaders after that.”

Inside the NBA's Transition to ESPN

21:47 to 24:24

Discussion about the future of the Inside the NBA show moving to ESPN and its impact.

“like half the time it takes a year Everyone's talking about Tatum coming back and awesome.”
Show all 60 chapters

NFL Trades and Team Strategies

24:25 to 28:00

Analysis of recent NFL trades and team strategies as the season progresses.

“People are going to be very mad that I was even in that sentence.”

NFL Trade Updates and Analysis

28:00 to 29:00

Discussion about recent NFL trades, including Joe Flacco's move to the Bengals.

“That bamboo tree he's been working with.”

Joe Flacco's Impact on the Bengals

29:00 to 30:50

Analyzing Joe Flacco's potential influence on the Bengals' upcoming performance.

“Obviously, Joe Flacco going to the Bengals.”

Cleveland Browns Quarterback Situation

30:50 to 35:10

Exploration of the Browns' quarterback decisions and strategies ahead of their game.

“Yeah, no shit Joe Flacco knows the playbook, knows how to spit the play back out.”

Shador Sanders: Future Prospects

35:10 to 36:40

Discussion on Shador Sanders' potential and how he fits into the Browns' plans.

“You wonder if they're viewing this like a Kirk Cousins RG3 situation.”

Steelers vs. Browns Game Predictions

36:40 to 37:50

Speculation on the possible outcomes of the Steelers and Browns game.

“That one team allegedly was just Cleveland Browns.”

Yankees Elimination and Performance Review

37:50 to 39:40

Review of the Yankees' playoff performance and their elimination from contention.

“Right after the game, I'll knock on Ty's door.”

Yankees Playoff Disappointment

42:01 to 44:20

Discussion on the Yankees' performance and postseason struggles.

“He batted 500 in the playoffs in this series.”

Al Michaels on NFL Season Insights

44:55 to 48:28

Al Michaels shares insights on the current NFL season and team performances.

“Number one, I tried to find a tank top in New York to dress appropriately for the show.”

Quarterback Controversies and Game Predictions

48:29 to 55:11

Discussion on quarterback situations and predictions for upcoming games.

“What are your thoughts on the Giants after talking to Dayball, Jackson Dart, Scadaboo, and the boys?”

Al Michaels on Kicking and Game Strategy

55:12 to 56:00

Al Michaels discusses the evolution of kicking in football and game strategies.

“Last year, we put up off-the-charts numbers.”

Previewing the Kickers' Performance

56:00 to 57:13

Discussion on the impressive performance of kickers this season.

“Can't wait to listen to you and Kirk call the game.”

Analyzing Tonight's Game Odds

57:39 to 1:01:21

Insight into betting odds and public money trends for the upcoming game.

“so you can turn that workout up a notch good energy in good energy out energy for life Football!”

Discussing Giants' Challenges

1:01:21 to 1:05:21

A deep dive into the struggles of the Giants and their performance issues.

“The schedule does come into account when you look at these numbers.”

Praise for Shane Steichen's Coaching

1:05:21 to 1:10:00

Highlighting Shane Steichen's impact as head coach of the Colts.

“He's gonna catch a touchdown here There it is.”

Baker Mayfield's Journey and Edge

1:10:00 to 1:11:52

Discussion on Baker Mayfield's career, his evolution, and the support from Tampa Bay.

“because he is a very thought-out person whenever he's giving press conference answers.”

Mike McCarthy on Baker and Young Quarterbacks

1:11:52 to 1:14:28

Mike McCarthy shares his insights on Baker Mayfield and the growth of quarterbacks like Dak Prescott and Trevor Lawrence.

“Our coach, a yinzer through and through.”

The Importance of Quarterbacks and Team Structure

1:14:28 to 1:16:37

Discussion on the critical role of quarterbacks in a team's success and the need for a strong supporting cast.

“But with that, the production, winning, obviously brings a lot of confidence.”

Drake May's Impressive Performance

1:16:37 to 1:18:38

Analyzing Drake May's standout game against the Patriots and his development as a young quarterback.

“Because, you know, if you haven't had a quarterback and when you're starting over, there's always growing pains.”

Joe Flacco's Unique Situation

1:18:38 to 1:21:08

Mike McCarthy discusses Joe Flacco's trade and the challenges he faces starting for a new team.

“He's got great throwing mechanics, yeah, no doubt.”

Coaching Challenges and Respect in the NFL

1:21:08 to 1:24:00

A conversation on the evolving dynamics in coaching and maintaining respect between players and coaches.

“He's understanding the offense maybe better than Joe Burrow does at this point.”

Reflecting on Disrespect and Team Dynamics

1:24:00 to 1:25:13

Discussion on respect within the team and the current vibes of the Arizona Cardinals.

“But, you know, it's something that, you know, probably it's where it happened, you know, how's it happened.”

Coach McCarthy's Top Quarterbacks of 2025

1:25:13 to 1:26:25

Coach McCarthy shares his thoughts on the top QBs of the NFL season.

“Hey, Coach, earlier today, we called you.”

Analyzing Daniel Jones' Performance

1:26:25 to 1:28:34

Deep dive into Daniel Jones' completion percentage and impact on games.

“Well, you know, when Connor asked the question, you know, where my mind goes in quarterback play is completion percentage.”

Matthew Stafford and Dak Prescott Insights

1:28:34 to 1:30:39

Coach McCarthy discusses the performances of Stafford and Prescott.

“I've gotten to see him play a lot of football.”

Baker Mayfield's Journey and Resilience

1:30:39 to 1:32:24

A look at Baker Mayfield's journey and impressive performances in tight games.

“Who are the top two, top five, first five QBs?”

Josh Allen's Dominance in 2025

1:32:24 to 1:35:08

Coach McCarthy highlights Josh Allen's impressive quarterback play.

“He can make all the throws in the pocket, out of the pocket.”

Previewing Tonight's Eagles vs Giants Game

1:35:08 to 1:38:00

Discussion on the upcoming game between the Eagles and Giants, including spread insights.

“Can any of these guys other than Stafford make that happen?”

Previewing Thursday Night Football

1:38:00 to 1:39:00

Discussion about the upcoming Thursday Night Football game and team dynamics.

“You get seven and a half with Jackson Dart and Scadaboo.”

Betting Insights on Eagles vs Giants

1:39:00 to 1:40:40

Analysis of betting trends and public perception surrounding the game.

“I'll be dead if they lose to Joe Flacco.”

AJ's Picks and Game Predictions

1:40:40 to 1:42:55

AJ Hawk and the hosts make their picks for the game, with AJ's insights on the Giants.

“So we got Scadaboo, and we got our 1 ,000-yard rusher from last season back.”

AJ's Picks and Game Predictions

1:42:59 to 1:43:24

AJ Hawk and the hosts make their picks for the game, with AJ's insights on the Giants.

“It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks.”

Diving into 'Cry Havoc'

1:43:56 to 1:45:50

Jack Carr discusses the themes and historical context of his new book.

“Our favorite part of anybody releasing a book is whenever you come here to Indianapolis to join us.”

Media's Role During Vietnam

1:45:50 to 1:47:40

Exploration of how media influenced public perception and policy during the Vietnam War.

“So it's a big shift from World War II to Vietnam.”

Jack Carr's Writing Process

1:47:40 to 1:49:18

Jack Carr shares insights on his writing process and experiences as a Navy SEAL.

“Obviously, you served our country, and we're very thankful.”

The Decision-Making of Snipers

1:49:18 to 1:51:34

Discussion about the responsibilities and decision-making processes of snipers in combat.

“So Marines obviously have a lot of moxie and confidence about their shooting.”

Researching Historical Accuracy

1:51:34 to 1:52:00

Jack Carr explains his research methods to ensure accuracy in his writing about the Vietnam War.

“Yeah, they need to get back on the push-ups.”

Researching History for Authenticity

1:52:00 to 1:53:12

Learn how the guest tapped into personal stories for his latest book.

“And I talked about that in multiple shows and appearances after the withdrawal.”

Reflections on AI and Creativity

1:53:12 to 1:54:41

Explore the intersection of AI, creativity, and authorship in publishing.

“and with an enemy slowly approaching your position.”

The Process of Storytelling

1:54:41 to 1:58:12

Discover the author's approach to crafting compelling narratives.

“We'll be back tomorrow reacting to tonight's Thursday night football game.”

Leadership Lessons from the Military

1:58:12 to 1:59:06

Gain insights into leadership and teamwork derived from military experience.

“It's a big sports thing, massive military mindset as well, right?”

Experiences in Navy SEAL Training

1:59:06 to 2:00:03

Hear about the challenges and lessons from rigorous Navy SEAL training.

“The big things will take care of themselves.”

Filming a Drill Instructor Role

2:00:03 to 2:01:54

Learn about the guest's experience portraying a drill instructor in a film.

“I don't know if it was the scariest part for me.”

The Bond Between Military Branches

2:01:54 to 2:02:47

Understand the camaraderie and respect between military branches.

“He came up to the house, played ping pong with my youngest.”

Future Projects and Goals

2:02:47 to 2:06:00

Get insights into the author's future projects and aspirations in writing.

“Pete sent me some pictures from set and it looks awesome.”

Exploring New Literary Ventures

2:06:00 to 2:07:03

Jack discusses his current writing projects and the importance of reading.

“Do you think about branching out possibly, writing a rom-com possibly?”

Previewing Tonight's NFL Game

2:07:04 to 2:09:04

A.J. Hawk and Jack analyze the upcoming game between Giants and Eagles.

“that's affecting everybody, but particularly young people in junior high, high school, those very formative years.”

Jack Carr's Acting Experience

2:09:05 to 2:10:59

Jack shares anecdotes from his acting roles and experiences on set.

“And so is Cry Havoc, the latest from the legend that is Jack Hart.”

Sports Teams Update

2:11:00 to 2:12:21

Discussion on various sports teams and their recent performances.

“We filmed the one for True Believer, too, for the next one.”

Wrapping Up with Gratitude

2:12:22 to 2:13:48

The hosts express their thanks and encourage kindness among listeners.

“Asia Wilson goes for 34 points last night.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00Pat McAfee:Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome. On this NFL Week 6 kickoff Thursday, October 9, 2025, this program begins now. Football! It is magical, and Week 6 of the NFL season is kicking off, and this weekend is Week 7 of the college football season. We're in the middle of it. Obviously, we're incredibly lucky that it's football season. We are excited for an NFC East battle tonight on Amazon Prime. The Eagles, fresh off a loss to the Denver Broncos at home, in which they lost the fourth quarter 18-0 in front of a bunch of Johns in Philadelphia. Could not wait to get on a football field again.

0:40Pat McAfee:Well, good news for you. You only got to wait four days. And who are you playing? The New York Football Giants. And the NFC East Battle Giants getting 7.5 points at home tonight. And there's a bunch of stats that have been Thursday Night Football, 7.5 points spread, Divisional this, Sirianni on Thursday, Day Bowl on Thursday. There's a lot of numbers. What I'm finding myself doing is this team right here just got embarrassed at home. We don't think Sirianni had kibbles and bits for the boys all week trying to find the inner dog to potentially blow out and railroad that New York Giants team. But then on the other side, it's like, wait a second, Jackson and Dart, Scattaboo and the boys over there, there's a lot of moxie.

1:19Pat McAfee:And if you look at this tale of the tape, now I don't want to put the numbers up here, but you look at the tale of the tape here. Now, this is from team rankings, and obviously there's different variables that go into all the rankings, and who knows if every play and every stat and what it accounts for. But pass offense, reigning Super Bowl champs, 4-1, Philadelphia Eagles, 31st. New York Giants, 1-4, laughing stock, everybody says. 18th. Russell offense, well, they had Saquon Barkley break a record last year for most yards gained in the history of running backs running footballs. They're 25th.

1:51Pat McAfee:Jackson Dart, Scadaboo, and the boys. 13th. Wow. 30th total offense versus 19th total offense. Well, let's go to the defensive side. 15th versus 24th. 22nd versus 26th. 20th versus 26th. But I'll tell you what, none of these rankings are desirable for either part. No, they're not. No. But I will say, if you were just blindly looking at these rankings, Thursday Night Football, maybe offense carries the day, you would think to yourself, wait a minute. Hold on now. Is the team on the right side of this graphic? Actually, the Super Bowl champs, the reigning champs, are they the team that's 4-1 instead of the team that is 1-4?

2:21Pat McAfee:Have Philadelphia Eagles just been able to slip and slide by with some bad ball? and having a lot of gripes underneath the allure of winning? Was that Band-Aid that was covering up everybody's happiness and success, was that kind of ripped off whenever you lose against the Broncos? It is A.J. Brown, Jalen Hurts, and Saquon Barkley's two-hour meeting where they said it was jovial. Did that pay off? Or is Jackson Dart and Scadaboo about to have an era-defining win on Amazon Prime with Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreet, Kaylee Hartung, big Witten Fitz, Carissa Thompson, Tony Gonzalez, and Richard Sherman celebrating the hell out of another week of NFL football kicking off.

3:03Pat McAfee:Anything can happen tonight. That's right. Seven and a half point spread. It's been big for these division games. Talks to tables here at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt. Sweet hat, Conman. Thank you very much, yeah. That looks cool. The best. And it fits like a glove. Didn't think it would be this, you know, well-fitted. Amazing. Well, with your hair that you have, you're going to have to have a little bit bigger hats. You know, there's some hats that don't have a, I would say they're like, a gas station condom, a little shallow box. And then whenever you get the better hats, you've got a little depth in that thing.

3:29Pat McAfee:Whenever you've got that big hair like you have right now, you've got to have good depth. And Jack Daniels has the most depth that I think anybody's ever had. Yeah, especially with the way they operate. So that hat looks damn good. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Cowboys, AP tone. Okay, so Eagles favored by 7.5 against the New York Giants. Wait before we went live, Connor said this about the number, actually. Touchdown road favorites are 19-4 straight up, 14-9 against the spread, and the under is 14-9. Okay, so that's Hembo's stat of the day in Conor's eyes. Now, Hembo sends us over a barrage of stats, if you will, in the morning, and they could be about absolutely anything, and if he sees we're talking about something, he'll send it over, and he's been an absolute weapon, but some of these stats kind of fall by the wayside and don't get a chance to breathe, so Conor actually is going to start picking out his favorites.

4:16Pat McAfee:What did you see from this particular stat here, Con, man? Yeah, this one is more so just kind of the idea of the game tonight. I feel like Big Mike might come on and, you know, mention about this type of matchup once again. And you would lean, you know, hey, New York Giants. And then you think of the outside stuff. Yankees just lost. New York needs this. Like the Giants would be the, oh, have to go with them. And then when you look at the stats, it's like, oh, never mind. Seven and a half is actually nothing in a game like this. And one team is coming off a huge loss. One team is just lost to a quarterback who has literally never won.

4:49And then especially when you look at the tail of the tape, you look at that, it's like, okay. But then when you look at the last four weeks, Eagles have played Chiefs, Rams, Bucs, Broncos. They've gone 3-1 over those weeks. The Giants have played the Cowboys, Chiefs, Chargers, and Saints. Beat the Chargers. That was cool. That was the one-game boost. But then you go down to New Orleans laying egg against possibly the worst team in the league.

5:13Pat McAfee:Both teams, a lot of motivation, you're saying. A lot of motivation. Tough roads here for the NFC East, it sounds like, with their schedule set up. Tone, what are the numbers saying about the game tonight? Okay, so let's go back a little bit. I believe it was Monday or Tuesday. I talked about how now on the season, if the public is 60 % or more on a certain side, they are 13-30 against the spread. Tonight, 65 % of the public is on the Philadelphia Eagles. Now that would contradict the... This stat and that stat. Which stats tend to do. But no, I mean, if you're looking at strictly just off of percentage and betting that way, it's that number.

5:52If you look at it off of historic on Thursday night, it's that number. If you look at historic New York Giants on Thursday night, they've lost 10 in a row, which is horrendous.

6:00Pat McAfee:And then BetLab Sports puts out a tweet that says Jalen Hurts is just 1-8-1 against the spread in his last 10 games. He's a 7-point favor. You can pick and choose anywhere you want. When I looked at the tail tape, though, it kind of gave me some PTSD. As a Steelers fan, a lot of the people in here are like, oh, you guys are going to win the AFC North. You guys have this record. So do this record. We know when we watch and we look at the stats if it's not good or not. And that's why the Johns have been so pissed off so far at Petula to start this season because look at those offensive stats. They are shite, but they are still winning games.

6:34So they're still the Super Bowl champs and they're Eagles. So there's a lot to be determined.

6:37Pat McAfee:You're saying football towns have seen football. They've seen good football. they've seen bad football so yeah we might be winning this teammate winning shit is what some people feel at certain parts of the season yeah Steelers fans have obviously felt that over the last uh seven eight years yep as they've continued to be above 500 but not be great Philadelphia Eagles 4-1 what a great they're tied for a league lead yeah and then you look at their rank it's like they can get so much better they can get so so so much better we'll continue to dive in to this game tonight uh we have Al Michaels joining us in about 33 minutes or so Can't wait to catch up with the icon and the legend.

7:10Pat McAfee:Coach Mike McCarthy, Super Bowl champion. He'll be joining us. He knows a little something about the NFC. Yeah, I'd say so. And then Jack Carr will be joining us. Wow. Jack Carr. Jack Carr Day? Yes. Yeah, Jack Carr Day, the author. Yeah, he's got a new book called Cry Havoc out. Yeah, he does. It's the eighth installment, I do believe. He is an absolute beast. Former Navy SEAL sniper who has become an author. And his books are fiction. Correct. So they're stories, you know. but boy do they have a lot of things that if you think about who the author is Navy Shield sniper like 20 years in it and also I think he was a trainer at Bud's and everything like that for the Navy Shield and then he's writing it and it's like well this guy has a reason he's saying these things and then he's actually got caught up in some shit with the government having to like clear and these are all fake these are all stories this one is based in Vietnam I believe yeah 1968 Da Nang I think a good majority of it takes place during the Vietnam War and it'll be good.

8:08Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah. And they will turn this somewhere into a TV series or a movie or a documentary and it'll be phenomenal. And we can't wait for Jack Carr. Every time Jack comes here, something happens. I know, it's crazy. It's almost like, you know, eerie stuff follows him. Thank goodness he's here, though. Yeah, every time. Every time. He saved the world now three times for us. Yeah, exactly. Thank God. Three years in a row. Thank God. Yeah, I hope everything goes. It'll be the first time he's come here and everything just goes. He's like a real-life Ethan Hunt. And maybe that's just everywhere he goes.

8:36Pat McAfee:We don't even realize. We just only see him whenever he's here saving the world. And we broadcast it to everybody. We say, look, we caught this on camera. Jack Carr saved the world. You have to. He shot AI in the head. Yeah, Arthur Isaac Fischel. Yeah, Arthur Isaac Fischel in the head right here in the Thunderdome during a meeting of the minds, literally a meeting of the minds. And then he shot down a drone that was coming in. Yeah, took down an energy weapon. That was coming in. I hope everything works out well. All right, let's pivot away from Jack Carr. Let's pivot away from Cry Havoc. Let's pivot away from tonight's NFC East battle between the Giants and the Eagles.

9:05Pat McAfee:Both teams looking to get back on track. One of them's 4-1. One of them's 1-4. One of them has played nowhere near their best ball and have won a lot of games. And the other one's trying to figure out what the hell their best ball is. It's an intriguing matchup. Seven and a half point spread. We'll talk about that in a moment. Let's talk about some breaking news. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is senior NBA insider for ESPN, friend of the program, and a man who I believe had something just crossed his phone. Ladies and gentlemen, Sean Sharanya. Great to see you. You look amazing. Thank you for joining us.

9:36Great seeing you. And as much as I'd love to say how much I miss you, we do have some news. USA Basketball is expected to name Eric Spolster as the next men's national team head coach. Sources tell me. And so Spolster now succeeds Steve Kerr as the head coach. He'll be on the World Cup sideline in 2027, and then the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. Grant Hill, the NBA legend, he's actually managing director of Team USA Basketball, and he really narrowed on Eric Spolstra this entire year, ever since Spolstra served as the lead assistant on Steve Kerr's staff. And so what we've seen is an infrastructure, a cycle.

10:18Greg Popovich was the coach of the Tokyo Olympics several years ago. Steve Kerr was on his staff. He replaces Greg Popovich. This next cycle, Spolstra was on Steve Kerstaff, replaces, and now he's going to have a cycle here. And I wouldn't be surprised if it's going to be multiple cycles here for Eric Spolstra. The job he's done as an NBA coach, the job that he did on the international level, he really impressed a lot of the players, a lot of the Team USA officials in the last Olympics. And it's crazy how young he looks. He's actually the longest-tenured active NBA head coach. So he will be the next Team USA men's basketball head coach.

10:55Pat McAfee:Congrats, Spoh. That's awesome. Okay, so we got the World Cup. We obviously have the Olympics. What else is the head coach of the men's national team in charge of? What other things? Are they setting the tone for all of USA men's basketball and scouting, recruiting, all that type of stuff for the future generations? What added jobs here other than just this World Cup and Olympics that we all see does Spoh pick up now that he's the head of USA basketball? the greatest country on earth, the greatest basketball history on earth in a time where it feels like the world's getting good. The world's getting really good right now at hoops.

11:29Pat McAfee:So Spoh is going to have to manage that as we go forward. But what other jobs does he have other than the big tournaments that we see? Pat, it's going to be the culture, the team, the environment, the structure that he's going to implement first and foremost. And then as time goes on, the years go on as we get closer to the 2027 World Cup And in the 2028 Summer Olympics, it's being involved with Grant Hill, the rest of the USA basketball officials on figuring out who's going to be on these rosters. You think about how talented of a group that 2028 squad is going to be. It could also be a younger group.

12:00Steph Curry, LeBron James, they were very vocal privately, a little bit publicly that they wanted to have one final USA basketball run. So this is it for them. Kevin Durant has kind of left the door open. We'll see where he's at in 2028. But this is going to be a really new team. This is going to be a young team that we're going to see. It's going to be led by different players. So being a part of that. And then the next step is also setting his own coaching staff. And so you think about Steve Kerr's coaching staff. He had Eric Spolstra, Ty Lue, Mark Few, the iconic college coach at Gonzaga. So Ty Lue will not be on Eric Spolstra's staff from what I'm told.

12:39So Eric Spolstra is going to have a new staff as he takes over as the USA basketball coach.

12:44Pat McAfee:Is there a chance that maybe Missoula gets on there so Tatum can play? Yeah. That's a name certainly you have to look at. But when you think around the league, whether it's the Joe Missoula, Mark Dagenau in Oklahoma City, Jamal Moseley is another coach in Orlando who has had some time in the USA basketball pipeline, and he's someone you think about that Orlando team on the come up, they should have a good chance in the Eastern Conference as well. So I think those are some of the – I think you have to put Missoula in there as well. But I think those are the other couple names that I would look at as well.

13:16Pat McAfee:Well, strictly so that maybe Tatum gets on court. Yeah. Yeah. I think for the good of America, even though we won. So, hey, but going forward, we need to make sure that Tatum is on the court. Assuming that his Achilles recovery goes very well, which are we ahead of schedule in that? Am I reading things that we're in a really good spot? No, I don't want to put any type of – I think any recovery or rehab is its own journey. There's so many things that can happen during it, especially when you're talking about an Achilles heel. But when we're talking about Tatum, I get from what we've been reading, good signs, right, going forward.

13:49Pat McAfee:And I think he even came out and said, everybody else said that I'm not playing this season. I've never said that, which was wild to hear because it's just kind of understood almost at this point in basketball with the Achilles. So, Pat, you think about the three players, the three superstar players that tore their Achilles tendon in the playoffs. Damian Lillard, he's now in Portland. He's already said he's not going to play this upcoming season. The Blazers have already ruled him out for the entire season. The other player, Tyrese Halliburton, your guy, he's already been ruled out by the Pacers for the entire season.

14:19He's said himself he's out for the season. So those two guys suffered Achilles tears. They've already been ruled out. Jason Tatum, on the other hand, the Celtics have not ruled him out. I think the Celtics are cautiously optimistic. Clearly, Jason Tatum has a goal in his mind that he wants to play. Now, whether he can get there by the time we're in February, March, April, we'll see. and we'll see how that team is going to be. There's so many doctor's clearances that come into play here, Pat, as you get closer to the end. And let's say he's in March and he's feeling 100%, but the team's not really competing for anything.

14:53Do you really throw him out there? There's going to be a lot of questions. There's probably going to be 15 to 20 people in that room that are going to make that decision with Jason Tatum, I would say. While the other two are out for the season, though. So that is a saving grace. And Jason Tatum, I saw that video as well, like the rest of the world a couple weeks ago. He is moving differently than anyone that I've seen. What do we have? Several, you know, four or five months to remove.

15:16Pat McAfee:I saw Tyrese walking on a red carpet. So let's just make sure. I saw that too. That Russell Palooza, he actually came with me. We got right in there as close as possible so he didn't have to walk as far. Yeah, but was he cutting? Was he cutting? Was he cutting? Yeah, he's always got jokes, bro. Always. Like the jokes fly. Like he lets game winners fly. We're going to miss him. Maybe Coach Carlisle, another name that we need to float into the universe to be coach at Team USA. Would love to see him experience the Olympics and how he does. Would be spectacular. You just broke some news the other day early in the morning on the internet.

15:48Pat McAfee:Go ahead, Con Man. Yeah, Shams, the Knicks were the team Giannis wanted to go to. Was there any trades that were kind of basically about to be made? Was it ever that close? Was there any packages discussed? Or is this just more bullshit basketball news about stuff that almost happened that didn't? I think two things that happened here that have never happened with Giannis Antetokounmpo. One, he made clear privately to the people that needed to know that the New York Knicks were the only team that he wanted a potential trade to if the Milwaukee Bucks were obliged. Now, that's the big if. The Bucks have made it clear.

16:25They want to give this another shot with Giannis Antetokounmpo. They feel like with Giannis there, this team has a championship opportunity. And there were a series of meetings over the offseason, but there was one in particular. There was one in late June. John Horst, the Bucs general manager, I'm told he flew to Greece. It was a one-day trip, 6 ,000 miles. He went and sat down with Giannis Antetokounmpo. He sold Giannis on why this team is a championship-caliber team. Giannis had his concerns about whether he thought this team could actually win a championship. So you have a team that feels like this is a title-contending roster.

16:58a player that shared and aired out his uneasiness about it. And so that led to some conversations with the Knicks. The Knicks did make offers, I'm told, multiple offers. And so no deal happened. The Knicks felt like the Bucs were never serious. Some people in Milwaukee believe that the Knicks never made offers serious enough to even continue trade conversations. This was a multi-week process. One person described it to me as an exclusive negotiating window. We've never gotten to that point with Giannis. bullshit. But he's there now.

17:29Pat McAfee:It was a bunch of nothing, yeah. It was a bunch of bullshit. He's there now. We'll see what happens this season. The quarter mark of the year is going to be very important. 2025 games in. And Giannis Agumpo said it himself that right now he's committed. He's locked in. He said six, seven months from now, I don't know where I'll be. We'll see. Okay, so Shams, I appreciate that you're planting these seeds right now. That's what Shams is doing right now. Hey, I got big breaking news. We saw it across the internet. Giannis, you know, Baba, he's planting seeds right now. Just in case something happens in the future, he can just say, hey, just like we were telling you about, there is something brewing here.

18:02Pat McAfee:Okay? And that bamboo tree, you know, you water it for like five years. Okay? You water that thing. And then inevitably that thing, whoosh. Okay? I'm just a messenger. I'm just a messenger. If this stuff wasn't happening, I wouldn't have anything to talk about. No, but that's what I'm saying to you. Amen. I'm saying you're watering this plant right now. And then whenever it happens, people better say, Sean said it would. Yeah. Okay? And that's part of the insider process is following stories. And then every once in a while, one pops up out of the middle of the night right after a Royal Rumble in Indianapolis, and Luka is now all of a sudden the L.A.

18:35Pat McAfee:Laker. Wow. And it becomes historic, and everybody thought your phone was hacked. So, Shams, we appreciate the way you operate, the way you move, and the way you cover the NBA. You're the greatest. When do we start? Basketball's happening? Preseason is well underway. The Pacers actually played the other night against the Denver Wolves. It is well underway. How'd we do? Regular season starts October 21st. Houston at Oklahoma City. Then Warriors, Lakers, doubleheader. NBC has that. And then ESPN has multiple doubleheaders after that. So that is opening week. But, Pat, I'm telling you, preseason is underway.

19:11And this Giannis and the DeCumpo situation, this is what's going to grip the league to start the year. Take my word for it. Water that bamboo tree. That's right. Is Guangzhou coming up to Indy to play after the Spurs game? Who's that? The Guangzhou Sharks. I forget actually what their mascot is, but they were torn. The Spurs beat them the other day. One of the CBA teams.

19:32Pat McAfee:I think Victor Oladipo is on that team. Oladipo is playing for that team. He's trying to make a comeback after two years away from basketball. Really? Shout out to Victor Oladipo. Yeah, shout out to Indiana University. Great, Victor Oladipo. He's playing for the Guangzhou. The Guangzhou. I'm not sure. The Lions, I think? Yeah, Lions. That's a vastly different team. Anyways, we appreciate you so much. How did the Pacers do the other day? Did we do good? The Pacers lost to Minnesota. I don't know what happened exactly in the second game. They did just sign campaign. Shout out campaign. He just signed a training camp deal with the Pacers.

20:07Pat McAfee:I just saw some breaking news from the preseason. Let's keep him out of preseason. We don't need him playing. T.J. McConnell did have a – he did look like he strained a muscle. Holy shit. Because he was going to 1 ,000 % because he was on a basketball court. Everybody needs to stop. TJ McConnell doesn't need to play preseason. No. Coach Carlisle said, hey, listen, this is your team now. We do not need any injuries to TJ McConnell. That guy's going to be playing 45 minutes a night this year. Maybe. Maybe the whole thing. Yeah. He might be Max Crosby. He could be. How's Tyrese doing? Do we have an update?

20:38How's he feeling? How's he doing?

Read the full transcript

20:40Pat McAfee:I think his life right now is rehab, recovery, finding things in Indiana to do. Yes. That is so he doesn't lose his mind. So he is always on it, I think. And mindset very positive. and obviously the city of Indianapolis loves seeing him. He was at every Fever game, obviously the Colts game. If there's a charity event that he can get to, he'll go. I mean, he is trying to stay active without losing his mind because he's been confined to his house basically since this whole thing happened. So he's positive. I'd say he is naturally an optimistic, positive dog human, and it feels like he's carrying that into this.

21:14Pat McAfee:But that's a long road, brother, because it's such a slow road because he's able to walk. He gets out of the boot and you can walk, and it's like, hey, you're nowhere near dog. and it's like it's a mental task that's why the Tatum stuff is awesome to hear you know these are long recoveries but once you start walking and you start being able to move even a little bit on the basketball court just as a basketball player I'm sure their mind is going crazy like you want to be doing stuff at 100 % but you just can't you gotta it's a long monotonous recovery and then hey you got another seven months actually you're just gonna be staring at it you can't move the whole time and like half the time it takes a year Everyone's talking about Tatum coming back and awesome.

21:51That would be cool. But it feels like it even takes a year just for guys to get their legs back under them, and then they're back to what they're doing.

21:57Pat McAfee:At least a year. Even the second year afterwards, it comes in for our sport at least. And then Tyrese, it takes a year. When was his? Oh, the last possible game of the season. Game seven of the final. The latest possible game. And he was going to score 60. I know. No time for what ifs. No time for what ifs. Huge news around the basketball world. Obviously, this was tweeted by Sheffield this morning. inside the NBA is making its official broadcast debut over on the ESPN network says TNT Sports will still create that from Atlanta and it'll be licensed through ESPN who got a majority of the NBA coverage rights remember TNT could have kept it yes everybody's attacking everybody but there's still a way that that could have happened instead ESPN gets to broadcast one of the greatest shows in the history of sport Shams have you met these guys Yeah, I mean, I've spent time with Turner.

22:49I've done stuff with Shaq, done stuff with Kenny, know Kenny pretty well, talked to Ernie every time we see each other. I mean, these are just great human beings. Chuck is hilarious. I actually was a part of the 75 Greatest Players draft that Turner held. I want to say it was 2022 or 2023, but the All-Star game was in Cleveland, I believe, that year. Nailed it. But it was a treat just being a part of that stage. Jerry West was there. So it was just an honor to be there. And those four guys I got to talk to at length. And, you know, it's going to be amazing to continue to see that show now on ESPN, our airwaves.

23:32Pat McAfee:Yeah, it's great, honestly, that it's going to continue. You know, this many years into it, their resume is like greatest show of all time. How many more Emmys can you win? how much more can you impact a sport and a league and help build it and everything like that and then for it to continue i think we're all very lucky and thankful i don't know how current players feel you know about it all but need that they're like the uh they're how many nba teams 30 30 okay so they're like the 31st nba team yeah and uh they're on prime time every single night and there's good reason so i appreciate the fact that we're still getting them in our lives and i can't wait to watch and i do appreciate everybody saying espn's gonna ruin tnt's still producing yeah which i I respect and appreciate that.

24:11Those guys aren't changing. We're going to see the personality, all those guys. I think they're going to bring the heat. I think they're going to be as feisty as ever. And shout out to Ernie Johnson. People like you, Ernie, just amazing interviewers. No, that's not. Don't even fucking put me in. Ernie's one of the best.

24:27Pat McAfee:No, that's disgusting. People are going to be very mad that I was even in that sentence. And also, the Pacers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves. So, you need to. Wake up, Sean. Suck it, Sean. Okay, Sean. Okay, and that was with TJ McClung. Soar hamstring. You asked me when the season starts. The season starts October 21st. That week. Ladies and gentlemen, Sean Ferraro. That was awesome. Those pregame shows. Jordan's on the opening night, right? And then Prime has Dirk Nowitzki. All of a sudden, I'm thinking of all those pregame shows. Vince Carter's on one of them. Having legends everywhere. Yeah, all three of them have unbelievable studio shows now.

25:08I mean, we'll see, obviously, how good they are because they haven't done it together yet, but the people they have is crazy.

25:14Pat McAfee:Maybe Shams needs to go start shaking some hands down there inside the NBA offices. Sounds like he needs to. Yeah. Why didn't he become their insider? I'm going to think about it. It'd make more sense. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be on ESPN. He's the ESPN senior insider. I think they would love to do what we do to Shams. Yeah, I think so. Is he going to be on the show? I don't know. We'll see. He was waiting in the bullpen. There's no other insiders, right? Yeah, but I think, yeah, we want your info. We want your opinion. Oh, yeah, I agree. Both. I think it's what people were saying. I think there was a little bit of that maybe at the beginning.

25:49That's what they say about Choms, too. No, who says that? Foxy table. I've never said that. Excuse me? Not once have I said that.

25:57Pat McAfee:Well, I think that is like a natural feeling by some TV executive that went to school at Syracuse or Northwestern or something and has never actually been on camera and never done anything or created anything in their absolute life. They naturally have that opinion. Insiders have this job. We don't need you to do this. You're not Woj either. Don't even think about being Woj. You're never going to be Woj, kid. He's probably had that said to him a hundred times. But they didn't say it actually. They were saying it in here. And then they were saying, we don't need you on the show tonight, kid. That's what they were.

26:28Pat McAfee:That's what they were. Only your information is what they were actually saying in there. So Shams has just sat in the pocket. battle broke the biggest story in the history basically of internet uh news breaking yeah and just kept it rolling chomps is the best dude we are very lucky that we're friends with chomps yeah super great guy too uh actually yeah when he comes to indy during the pacers run too and it's hilarious thinking about chomps job just because then he does break news like yannis and we're like no that's nothing that's nothing so the honest one we say no to but whenever luka uh gets traded oh everybody goes that's fake there's no way shams shams you got hacked you're just saying dumb right there and then it's like no actually me that's real i was surprised as well i had to get my hands oh my god oh my god how long am i gonna be the only person that has this six minutes maybe i gotta get it right what are they are we sure yeah this one's gonna do some numbers here i think yeah might be the biggest ever does he have a dog yeah anybody screenshot Send to somebody.

27:30Pat McAfee:This is what I'm sending. Is this actually what's happening? Send it.

27:38Pat McAfee:Big. Huge. That's Life of an Insider. This is the tweet. 109.9 million views at this point. Jesus Christ. That is massive. Let alone how many times that's just ripped and then posted. According to Sean, boom, this happens. Bang, the boom, the boom. We don't know how internet platforms work and how things get taken and run with. And that's unbelievable that this particular post has 110 million views. That's unbelievable. Also, is it sustainable? Good luck, Shams. Good luck, Shams. Give it up, Shams. I'll top that. That bamboo tree he's been working with. Yeah. It's that bamboo tree. There's been a lot of trades, a lot of action.

28:14Pat McAfee:Kind of happened around the NFL. Albert Breer broke down the most recent one in beautiful fashion, talking about people finding good fits. Jags and the Browns make a trade overnight. uh jags get greg newsome a corner who uh in albert breer's breakdown uh has great eyes on qb reading reacting and sued for their zone heavy scheme down there in duval also he's in a contract here so newsome gives them a little financial flexibility not only this year but for the future and maybe they renegotiate a deal here in a couple of weeks if he ends up doing great and then tyson campbell he goes up to the bronzes better scheme fit with the team he's got you know He's man-matched corner with speed, length, and competitiveness.

28:52Pat McAfee:He signed through 2027, so a little bit of stability in a position. They're obviously going to hope that he hits. I like the teams are making kind of moves right now. We're getting into the part of the year where people are starting to kind of move and shake. Obviously, Joe Flacco going to the Bengals. There's news coming out of Cincinnati. Yeah, Joey Flacco is back to take on the pack, Jack. Now, he just got traded on, what, a Tuesday? And we're getting word on Wednesday that Joey Flacco is expecting. Yep. Hey, Flack's starting. You've seen where we've been. We ain't doing that again. You think we brought that guy down from Cleveland to have him sit here and watch what we've been doing?

29:26Pat McAfee:Yeah, right. This season's slipping away. So we got Joe Flacco walking across city streets onto a practice field to be the leader we need over here in Cincinnati. We got weapons all over the place. And if our defense can maybe do something, our offensive line can maybe protect for a second and a half. Maybe Joey Flack's able to cook the Packers for the second time this season. And Ty, this is nightmare scenario for you. And did you hear what Chase Brown had to say about Joe Flacco? Chase Brown, running back for the Cincinnati Bengals. Last year, he had like 1 ,300 yards and 11 touchdowns. He can certainly catch the ball out of the backfield.

30:00Pat McAfee:This is what he had to say about Joey Flacco's brain immediately upon arrival in Cincinnati. He hearing them first and repeating them? Yeah, yeah. So Zach would like read him a play and then he'll like pause for a second and then he would recite the whole play like perfectly. so good memory. Joey Flack saying it back, no problem. Day one, he knows the offense. You know what that means? Not only does he know the lingo, he knows the terms. He also knows the checks. He knows where we're supposed to go. He knows the right play they're supposed to be in. That's why whenever he went to Cleveland, middle of the season, out of the couch, off the couch, he knew Stefanski's offense inside and out, was able to take them on a playoff run out of not playing football at all.

30:37Pat McAfee:Everybody remembers the Jets. It didn't go good. Everybody thinks about the Colts last year. It didn't go good. But if Joe Flacco's in a situation that he likes, which very clearly from day one sounds like he's in love with it, look out for the Bengals to be a problem in the AFC North or a problem this weekend with the Joey Flacco boost that's potentially come to town. Yeah, no shit Joe Flacco knows the playbook, knows how to spit the play back out. He's been quarterback in the NFL for about 25 years. He's won a Super Bowl MVP. He's a pretty good quarterback. He's a little older now. But, yeah, I mean, if you're a Packers fan, you knew this was going to happen.

31:10You know, I had that reaction on Tuesday and everyone's like, what are you, moron? He's not going to play on Sunday. It's like, yeah, he is. He's Joe Flacco. He needs 15 minutes off the couch to get ready to play a football game. We've seen it before. Now, I did see Jake Browning was pretty red-ass figuring out that. He's basically saying, like, you know, I don't think I was the entire part of the problem. But, you know, I understand Joe Flacco getting in there and playing. But, yeah, I mean, you know, we'll see. Because I think if the Bengals are going to win, Joe Flacco is going to have to throw for 350 yards, which he might do.

31:44But if the Bengals beat the Packers on Sunday, there is a good chance I'm going to take a bath. What? I'm going to head upstairs, bring a toaster, plug it in, and drop it in the bathroom. No. If Joe Flacco beats the Packers, I just don't know if I got the heart for it. He's familiar with the defense. He can't be doing that. He is familiar with the defense. No.

32:03Pat McAfee:You can't be doing that. No, he threw for 104 yards. He did. in that first game. And obviously, he made a lot of good decisions for the Browns. He was very efficient. And that goes to the Cleveland Browns. Let's talk about the Cleveland Browns. Stefanski has not come out publicly and said definitively who the backup quarterback is. Uh-oh. Is it zip on the ball Zappy? Bailey, who's been around in New England, and then he was at the Raiders now, obviously, with Cleveland. He was the practice squad quarterback, I do believe, for them, or the fourth eligible, whatever the hell the ruling is. And then Shador Sanders, obviously, fifth-round pick.

32:36Pat McAfee:He has been the third-string quarterback throughout the year when Joey Flacco was the first string, and then Dylan Gabriel got his first start in England this past weekend, was the second string. And now Stefanski's not just coming out and saying that Shadur is definitively the backup quarterback. What's that all about? What is that all about? Well, I have a theory. And listen, it might be because he's anti-Shadur, and maybe Shadur needs to go and find another home at another NFL team. I don't know how that would happen, because they have his contract and his rights, but maybe another place would be good for him.

33:08Pat McAfee:But also, maybe Stefanski's thinking, we're playing the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh Steelers got T.J. Watt, Cam Hayward, Herbig. They got a lot of dogs across the front. We got a rookie quarterback who, by all counts, looks like he's very comfortable in an NFL system and on an NFL field, and there's a chance that he goes on to become the greatest quarterback of all time or one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. I'm not saying that. But also, 5 '11", T.J. Watt eating, Cam Hayward eating. There's a chance backup quarterback has to play this weekend against Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm not saying that is something I'm wishing for or hoping for.

33:43Pat McAfee:I'm just saying fact of the matter, reality, AFC North football, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, the way the Steelers are built, there's a chance backup quarterback has to play. There's a lot of big book on Bailey Zappi. People have seen Bailey Zappi play a lot. Mike Tomlin knows what he's potentially getting with Bailey Zappi or digging into to understand what Bailey Zappi's got. So I think there's a chance that he's being kind of aloof with it. Coy. Coy with it. Maybe out of strategy purposes. No, coaches don't do that. Coaches always are up front and give the utmost information to their opponent the week before the game.

34:14They've always done that in the history of football. So there's no reason why Stefanski wouldn't say who the second-string quarterback is.

34:19Pat McAfee:So now Tomlin. Unless he hates Shadur. Well, that's. Whoa. Which they drafted him, and, you know, who knows if they hate him, and that's why they hate drafted him maybe. Yeah. I'm not 100 % sure. but there is a chance that they do want the Pittsburgh Steelers to prepare for three quarterbacks. Like, hey, you're going to have to prepare for three quarterbacks. That's an added amount of stuff that you have to look into. That's an added amount of things you've got to think about. It's just, even if it's four or five plays that you've got to add to the itinerary for practice or the script for practice, that's shit that you're not thinking about something else.

34:49Pat McAfee:Miles Garrett, for instance. You're not thinking about any of the other Dylan Gabriel stuff. You're not thinking about other things. So maybe there is a chance that this is strategery here by Stefanski to not just give up who his backup quarterback is. But then also we're in a world of everybody knows everything about everything. So is this a waste of time if this is a little bit of a coy competitive move by Stefanski? Well, even based on last week, Judkins seems to be the bell cow of that offense. Kind of everything. I think he got 25, 28 touches. And he was great. You wonder if they're viewing this like a Kirk Cousins RG3 situation.

35:23Maybe they like them both, and they think they both could play. But if Shador's the backup, and Gabriel goes down, and Shador goes in and does really well, can you ever go back to Gabriel? Like if it's Zappi, and Gabriel gets hurt, and then... Well, then that would be exactly why everybody would be pissed about being coy about Shador

35:42Pat McAfee:not being named backup. You don't want him to succeed, is what people potentially are thinking. And I would like to say, I'm a Shador Sanders fan. You can call me a Shador Fanders. There you go. I am a big fan. And I just saw him working out with sunglasses on with a bunch of Cleveland stuff on. I don't know if that was from the summer or from this week. He looks good. I appreciated the way he handled the Joe Flacco trade whenever he was at the car dealership with 8K cameras around him. The miming thing, I thought it was incredibly creative and hilarious. But I could also see it as something that, hey, don't want to act like that as a starting quarterback going forward just strictly because it's not about how I feel or my fans feel about things.

36:15Pat McAfee:It's about decision makers in the NFL. If I want to actually do this, I'm going to have to appease these people at some point. I'm going to have to do that at some point. but I also got to remain myself because Shador has done great things for Shador. And what we've seen Shador do at places where there hasn't been as much support and there hasn't been as much talent. We've seen him do special things. He has a aura about him that is magnetic for people and for cameras. Okay. So that's obviously a potential big time distraction, but all you need is one team to say, we like them. You know, that's all you really need.

36:42Pat McAfee:That one team allegedly was just Cleveland Browns. Then the story came out like, well, during the draft Ravens, why are you familiar? Like, no, no, no, no. place probably again this week yeah and obviously you can't forecast that but a lot of other people around the nfl could say so he's turning down opportunities to get into the nfl whenever he wasn't at first that's how people that are negative would spin that and then positive people could potentially say he wanted to go to a place where he'd get on field which we appreciate and respect and it's like well now that this is happening will he get on field yeah um and if you're a true Steelers fan, everyone's got it in the back of their head right now.

37:20You might have to save a reservation for two for that bath. Nick, what is the worst possibility for Sunday in that Browns and Steelers game? You see Dylan Gabriel get hurt, which would be unfortunate. We never wish injuries on anybody. We actually hope to end all injuries in sports. Amen. And then Shador comes in and carves him up. Yep.

37:41Pat McAfee:For 250, three touchdowns? Yep. 247. I don't know if he was kidding. 247, three touchdowns. Jerry, Judy just all over the place. Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. Right after the game, I'll knock on Ty's door. Hey, coming in. Let's do this together. You guys can hold hands. You had bye week last week together. Yeah, exactly. This week, you guys kind of hold hands and jump in there? Yeah. Okay, well, we would miss you, certainly. But Shador, I think, has handled things in the best possible fashion. The mime thing people hold against him, but it's like he's still very young. And that quarterback room, he has not turned his back publicly on any of them, and they haven't done that to him at all.

38:16Pat McAfee:Right. It's like, that's a tough situation. They're managing it. Good luck. But let's hold out hope that Stefanski, former coach of the year, is potentially using a little strategy here. I mean, why would he? If he doesn't have to make a decision on this now, why not wait until you actually have to decide? I mean, it's gamesmanship. This is a division game. Yeah, it's a big deal, especially if you can add just a little bit of a question mark on the other side and have them have to focus on that just for a matter of moments, even hours maybe. That's a big win for a team. Speaking of a big win for a team, did you see last night oh no the yankees lose oh my you talk about a post game show being electrifying i didn't even think about big poppy uh on a microphone after big vladi the yankee daddy gets a chance to do a live interview from the locker room with beer flowing everywhere and And Vladi coming off maybe the greatest series anybody has had against the New York Yankees.

39:17Pat McAfee:This is immediately after the Toronto boys knock off the New York boys. Dale. The Yankees lose.

39:31The Yankees lose. Let's go, baby. Let's go. Hey, hey, let's do it again. The Yankees lose.

39:46But you don't take it personal. I get it. One more, one more, one more.

39:52Pat McAfee:The Yankees Luz. Oh my god. I'm so pissed. I don't think there's anything else left to be said live. You were awesome. We'll see you in the next round. Go enjoy it, all right? Llama me, llama me, llama me. Thank you. Dale, te llamo, te llamo de una vez. Gracias. Giro. Giro. Gracias, gracias. Gracias. Anderson said that, obviously, what a moment for those two to have. Ty, how did we get to that point? And when you're watching, old Jeets have to sit in the pocket for that on national television. How does that make you feel? Yeah, it hurts. I mean, I'll be honest with you. I've gotten over it because it's funny.

40:27Being a Yankees fan is very similar to, ironically, being a Packers fan or being a Steelers fan. You kind of notice the six or seven Achilles heels that are really going to bite you in the ass come postseason. and you know that stuff needs to change, none of it's ever going to change. So they got eliminated. I mean, the stuff that kind of killed them all year. And to lose to a team like the Blue Jays, who are just the antithesis of the Yankees, like how are they scoring runs? Boom. Just a good piece of hitting. Single the other way. Score two runs. Get guys on base. Move them over. Don't need to do it with the long ball.

41:01And then look at this. I mean, a guy hits this eight miles an hour in the right field. But that's all you need to do. Puts it in play. Yeah, biggest fatso in the MLB. Whoa! Wobble body Alejandro Kirk scores. And the Blue Jays end up winning 5-2. It just, the defense killed them when they needed to. It's almost like Aaron Boone went into that game last night and was thinking like, well, yeah, Cam Schlitler's just going to throw eight innings and have 12 strikeouts and completely handcuffs these guys again. I mean, he's only pitched in like 15 games this year. He was unbelievable, but that's what the Blue Jays do.

41:35They put balls in play. They make your defense work. Timely hitting. I mean, that's just the way it goes. And we talked about this a little bit. The thing that sucks the most is Judge has that moment last night, and now it doesn't mean shit. It doesn't mean anything. For him it was good, sure, but you talk about moments in Yankee history. That's not even the top 100 anymore, unfortunately, because they got eliminated the next night. He batted 500 in the playoffs in this series. In this series, he was 9 of 16. The rest of the Yankees batted 207. He was literally the only guy who showed up. So, like, that's the thing that hurts the most is the Yankees have their best player probably since Babe Ruth.

42:19Like, this guy will go down as maybe one of the five best baseball players of all time. And because they're front office and they just choose to do the same thing year in and year out, and they just think because we're the Yankees, we can spend more money, we can hit more home runs and we'll just beat anyone. Well, in the playoffs, you get a team who doesn't do that. They just play clean, solid, sound baseball, and they fucking embarrassed them. Just embarrassed them. So I'll be looking forward to next year. It'll be a whole lot of the same. Judge, you'll have another phenomenal season, might win another AL MVP.

42:50And at the end of the day, this is probably what's going to happen, whether it's the Tigers or the Blue Jays or the Mariners, one of these teams who doesn't have the star power, doesn't have the same names, doesn't have the stats, they will beat the Yankees. And this will just go on for eternity, unfortunately.

43:06Pat McAfee:Forever and ever, that's the Yankees' life, is what Ty says. I refuse to believe that. Every once in a while, your bats go cold, especially if you're a big bat-bopping ball club. And if the bats get cold, all of a sudden you're not as good. Who was the other guy, Gold? He was above front. Paul Goldschmidt, yeah, who the Yankees gave$20 million in the offseason to for one season, play first base, former NL MVP. He's been great all year. But, you know, once again, we've gotten into this analytics portion of the world where it's like he's right-handed, so he can't get a base hit off a right-handed pitcher.

43:37He can only play when lefties are in there. So he basically got like six at-bats in the series. Jeez. Got several hits in those at-bats. But, yeah, too little, too late. You know, you get in a position where, you know, there's so many guys that I don't want to do this to, and I won't do it to you. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. You're emotional. You're emotional. But that's the thing is I'm not. I feel like I'm very clear-minded right now. Like, I'm not emotional. Last night after they lost, I kind of just sat on my couch in disbelief in two hours and just sat at a TV that was turned off.

44:10Just sat there and just kind of let it all wash over me.

44:13Pat McAfee:Die Yankees! That was awesome. That was actually really funny. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who's been calling primetime NFL football for 40 years. He's also a baseball historian. And we saw that on an episode of Rushmore on Exit debuted this Tuesday, this past Tuesday, where he and Bob Costas chit-chatted about the four biggest sports chokes. And what ended up happening on this episode was just a sports history lesson for all of us to listen along. From hockey and football all the way to wrestling and baseball. Got a big storytelling in it all. And joining us now, a man who kicks off the NFL week for us on Prime every Thursday night, living legend and icon Al Michael.

44:55Yeah!

44:57Pat McAfee:Al, how you doing, Bob? Patrick, two things. Number one, I tried to find a tank top in New York to dress appropriately for the show. Secondly, do you have another$300 ,000 that I could be a part of in terms of, you know, maybe have Hermstree throw another thing through the uprights? Al, maybe I should start tapping into your bank account now that I think 40 years of prime time NFL football, I need to start drawing from that bank. well you know uh what do i have to do it's a good question um i'm looking for uh i'm you know i'm trying to what am i trying to do right now i'm trying to do nothing why don't you give me money for these okay so you will be funding al michaels will be the sponsor for the field goal kicks going forward that is awesome news hey i'll run you out of that plane that you're in every week if you let Let me, Nick's this week,$2 million kick from Al Michaels' money.

45:53Pat McAfee:Herbie Drandat for Gabby down there in Alabama. It was a magical moment. You and Herbie obviously now year four together on Amazon. How has it been this year? Feels like we've had some great games. Fantastic. I mean, the last two games have gone down to the wire. Can't ask for anything more. We had Green Bay, Washington in the opener. Good game. We had Miami. They didn't figure to hang in there with Buffalo, and they did. So that was a good game. Arizona-Seattle went to the end, and last week went to overtime and the end. So we're on a roll right now. Hopefully it keeps up tonight. I don't know.

46:25We'll see. But the Eagles are something like a one-touchdown favorite tonight. I mean, Pat, the sky is falling in Philadelphia. They have won 20 of 22 games. What? I mean, I don't get it. This is crazy. I know everybody hates everybody, but it's a little ridiculous at this point. They are 20-2 over the last calendar year.

46:47Pat McAfee:I know that. Not good enough. I know that as well. They're 4-1 right now. But if you look at this tale of the tape here that we found from team rankings, it's like the Philadelphia Eagles have not been playing like what we know the Philadelphia Eagles can play like. So that has brought the Johns out to be very negative about a 4-1 team. On that note, they just got embarrassed at home against the Broncos. Fourth quarter, they lose 18-0 in the fourth quarter at home. This could have been a Sunday game and they would have had to wait seven days. Could have been a Monday night game and they would have had to wait eight days.

47:18Pat McAfee:Instead, four days and they're back on the field. What has it been like talking to the Philadelphia people? Are they eager to get back out there? And on the flip side, Jackson Darden, the boys lose to the Saints. They give Spencer Rattler his first win in 11 starts. So both teams, I assume, wanted to get back on the field. What are you hearing from both of them? I think any team that loses on Sunday wants to play on Thursday, you know, so they can wash it away real quickly. so you get the sense that that's the case. You know, with the Eagles, I mean, go back a year. They were 2-2. They wanted to fire everybody a year ago.

47:50And then they got on, of course, a roll. But before that, too, remember in 23, they melted down. What were they, like 10-1 and 6 of the last 7 or whatever? And the wild card game in Tampa Bay. And then they're 2-2 last year, and everybody's saying, oh, get rid of the coach, get rid of this guy, get rid of that guy. Who lifted the Lombardi trophy? So it's amazing. Those numbers were terrible. They're at the bottom of the league in almost everything. Defensively, when they were great last year, I mean, defensively, they're so-so this year. So nothing seems to line up statistically. But, you know, this team has too much talent not to get on a good roll down the stretch.

48:28I think they will.

48:29Pat McAfee:What are your thoughts on the Giants after talking to Dayball, Jackson Dart, Scadaboo, and the boys? It feels like they're trying to start their new era here, a brand new era of Giants football. Oh, yeah. Everybody was so excited, of course, after the Charger game. The Chargers come in undefeated. Now it's the Jackson Dart era. This kid has, do you know him at all? He's got a lot of moxie. And I'm telling you, he's a confident guy, makes his decisions very quickly. We love talking. We've had him in the preseason. Now we've had him again between him and Scadaboo. I think the future is extremely bright for both of those guys.

49:03You know, for the rest of the team, we'll see. I mean, this is a team. You know what's so crazy, Pat? Over the last eight years, the Giants in preseason, we had the number that they had the worst record over the last eight years coming into the season. Now they have the second worst. Which team has the worst over the last eight years?

49:23Pat McAfee:I say years. Jets. Got to be. Got it. You got it, man. Bang! Didn't they call Cleveland the factory of sadness? What is MetLife? Well, especially after this Yankees loss with what they're going through, Al. I know you're a big baseball guy. There you go. Did you hear Ty losing his mind right there as a Yankees fan about what happened? Look, he's still pissed. Not only that, the Penguins shut the Rangers out 3-0 the other night. True. Yep. Oh, we're back, by the way. The Pens are back, brother. They amused. This new guy, bald head, not a lot of voice. He's ready to take over. But, yeah, it's a state of sadness over there.

50:00Pat McAfee:And then also we hear Giannis wanted to go to the Knicks, but they couldn't make it. I mean, everything. New York-wise. It's porn right now. Not great. Not great over there. Okay. So tonight, obviously, we have an NFC East battle. Feels like there's a lot of divisional games happening on Thursday again. This used to be the story. You were on Sunday nights, I think. So I don't know if you paid attention to what Thursday night used to be. Keller rushing on that shit. It was always a divisional game because they felt like it was fair for all parties to have a meaningful game on a Thursday night. And then also, I think they were trying to build up Thursday night as an NFL night.

50:33Pat McAfee:so they wanted good games. The divisional game certainly gave them that. We're seeing that again this year, it feels like. Is this going to be a new norm again, almost, for Amazon? I think so. Not only for Amazon, but, I mean, you look at the Netflixes of the world coming in and the YouTubes. The league wants streaming to work. There's no question about that. So we started out that first year. The schedule was so-so, had a couple of decent games. I thought a seminal thing was last year when the league gave us Cowboys Giants streaming on a Thursday night, that was big because, I mean, that's always been kind of a primetime matchup for either NBC or for Monday Night Football.

51:15So I thought that was big. This year, again, we've got a lot of great Detroit and Dallas down the line. But the way we started out, Washington and Green Bay and the rest. So the league is definitely invested in making – this is the future. There's no question about it. We're not going to stop this runaway train, as you know. Linear TV will be here for a while. It'll still be here for a few more years. And then all of a sudden, you know, when I'm at Forest Lawn, we'll be streaming everything.

51:41Pat McAfee:Now, that'll never happen because the way you've dieted throughout your entire life, we think there's a chance you live forever. Okay, there's a chance you live forever. If you don't eat a vegetable, there's a chance I'm on the Oprah show in like 2096 and say this is the key to life. Don't eat anything out of the ground. just out of the stockyards. Let that meet to someone. Al, you're the greatest. Your brain's still quick, by the way, but I think you talked about the last couple of seasons. All the conversation was, Al's not getting excited about any of these games. That is all it is. And you come on this show, and you're like, these people want me to scream.

52:17Pat McAfee:We're week six. It's the second quarter. What do you want from me? I've never done that. I think this year, because it's been such good games, I don't think that chatter's happened at all. I think you're throwing your fastball. You feel the same way? Pat, everybody hates everybody, right? If you go on to anti-social media, Mother Teresa would have been a bank robber. I don't know if anti-social media would do that to Mother Teresa, but I understand what you're saying. The point remains. Of course you do. The point remains. All right, we got some questions for you from the boys here about this season.

52:54Pat McAfee:Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Al, you had the Niners last week, and they had that huge win against the Rams. And Pat was by far the first on this, talking about how Mac Jones and Kyle Shanahan, they had their history when Kyle kind of wanted him in the draft, and now he's there and he's playing incredible. Did you get a sense or a vibe around there that it's anyone but Brock Purdy's team when he's healthy, even with Mac Jones playing incredible? Not before that game. but I think you're going to wind up having a little bit of a quarterback controversy, maybe more than a little bit in San Francisco, because we'll see how healthy Purdy is.

53:31I mean, what a performance by Jones the other night. Not only that, we thought he was out for the game after the season. He's on the turf for almost three minutes. Gutty performance, great performance by him. I guess, I mean, you might know more than I do at this point. I haven't seen the ins and outs for this weekend, but I guess it'll be Jones starting for them in Tampa Bay this weekend. It's interesting. I mean, look, San Francisco is used to, you talk about quarterback controversies? Oh, yeah. No greater quarterback controversy than going back 30-some-odd years, Montana and Young. That may have been the all-time controversy.

54:08So not that this is going to get to that level, but I think it's going to be extremely interesting, especially if Mac Jones goes down there and beats Tampa Bay this weekend.

54:18Pat McAfee:Mac Jones has been slinging it. And remember, Shanahan won them at first. They traded away the entire business to get Mac Jones there, and then they changed their mind. And now through, you know, football universe gods coming together, he got a chance to get back there, and he is spinning. And now speaking about going back somewhere, any time the Eagles and the Giants play going forward, there's going to be one player that's certainly going to be talked about, and Mara's losing his sleep still about it. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Al, Saquon had quite the day against the Giants last year a couple times, and then tonight he's got the dock releasing before the game.

54:50A lot of people are saying there's maybe some tidbits from his conversation with Mara when he asked for a trade and Mara said no. But he only had six carries last week. He obviously hasn't looked like he had last year when he just went gangbusters from week one. Do you get the sense that this is maybe a get-right game for Saquon in that Eagles rushing attack tonight? I do. I do because, I mean, obviously he's not off to the greatest start. Last year, we put up off-the-charts numbers. I thought this team had been more run-oriented to the first four games. And then last week, I thought what was really interesting, considering all the stuff with Brown and carrying on a little bit with poems and the rest of the stuff, I thought it was very interesting.

55:37The first play of the game last week went to Brown, and then they threw to Brown a couple of times on that first drive. So I think I felt, watching it on television, that this was to assuage the wide receivers a little bit, too. You know, get Smith involved as well. So last week, I mean, it was amazing that Barkley would only handle the ball nine times, three catches, six runs. I think you'll see a heavy dose of him tonight. That's my guess.

56:00Pat McAfee:Can't wait to watch you. Can't wait to listen to you and Kirk call the game. And, hey, these kickers are bombing balls. Let's make sure, you know, we're spotlighting that out. We got a golden era right now of kickers with these new balls. Pat, I got to ask you a question. I mean, to me, it's getting to the point where, you know, two first downs, you kick a field goal to win the game. Do you think they should deflate the kicking goal? Don't, Al. Enough, Al. Get out of here. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a legend. Al, fuck you, Al. Don't even put that in the universe. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Al Michaels.

56:36Pat McAfee:Get him, Al. Al, don't say that on the game. Don't say that on the game, Al. Jeez. Trying to get rid of our... Trying to ruin us. He's going to say it on the game. You pay me$300 ,000, I won't say that. Shut up! Get out of here! Get out of here! Howard, you're on the other side. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. Like, Al, you're the greatest of all time. Okay? We appreciate what you do. Don't do that, Al. We don't need that right now. The kickers are flying high. We're living a good life. Let's not change it. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back.

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57:44Pat McAfee:so you can turn that workout up a notch good energy in good energy out energy for life

58:20Pat McAfee:Football! I thought maybe the Brooklyn Bridge because I believe that's where he's from, but I could be wrong. Yeah, it looked like it was a bridge. I didn't have enough confidence in the convo to let that one fly. And it's hard to identify just by looking on the hat which bridge it is. Could see that it was something. Right. What was the something? We're in the middle of it. Normally we like to at least have a little bit of a convo because there's a reason he was wearing that hat. You don't just put that hat on for no reason. We should have asked about it. That's on us. But he put out a terrible suggestion on what should happen to the cable.

58:56Pat McAfee:So that's how it goes sometimes. At Boston Connors here. At Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer. Done. Cowboys AP Tony. What is the percentage of money for tonight's game looking like? And as we know, anytime the public is over 60 % is not good. Are we still sitting in a situation where the public money is more than 60 % on one side? Yeah, as you said, it is not good. 13-30 on the season when the public money is over 60 % on a certain side. and it is currently hovering at the same 65 % it was in the first hour. So nothing we have said in the first hour has changed anyone in the public's opinion.

59:27Pat McAfee:Didn't we say, I said to me, I said, Pat, this is what you're doing. If there's more than 60%, automatically go any other way because it's 13-3. It's hard to do. Because I wake up on Mondays thinking I did good. And then I look at my score on how I did against the spread, and I look at my account, and I realize I didn't do good. but all of us thought we were going to do good anytime the public is losing like this how long is that going to last for? couldn't it be this weekend that we break? joining us now is a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion a Ryder Cup winner, a father of 10 ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawker AJ, this could be the weekend though that changes it in the public's favor that could be the case and tonight could be a perfect depiction of that AJ so we would have to go with the Giants then if we're going to do that, right?

1:00:19We're going to buck the trend?

1:00:20Pat McAfee:Yes. If we would like to be on the 30 side of 13 and 30 for the more than 60 % bet people, we currently be sitting Giants plus 7.5, which is more a touchdown obviously in a division game all short week. Yeah. Okay, which these teams know each other, do they? I don't know. Jackson Dart was at Ole Miss last year. Scadaboo was at Arizona State last year. Those guys are absolute dogs. Dayball will certainly understand a Sirianni team, I guess, more than maybe anybody else because they have to play each other two times a year. Saquon Barkley certainly understands both these buildings very well. So I guess there is a familiarity and obviously the fan bases and there is a rivalry.

1:00:54Pat McAfee:I think Eagles and Giants notably hate each other. I think that is like supposed to be a thing. So we could expect a cagey affair. You look at the numbers, not great for the world champs, AJ. I mean, it's a, there's so many different stats that we can look at and basically none of them tell us an accurate story. Okay, so it's all on us this week, AJ. It's all on us. You guys can do it. You're as hot as you've ever been, both of you. Yeah, you're right. AJ was what, 11-4? 11-3. 11-3. The schedule does come into account when you look at these numbers. I know Conman went over that earlier in the show.

1:01:26The Eagles have been – yeah, we don't understand what the standard is with the Eagles coming off a Super Bowl win, but they've been playing some tough teams, man, so I get why these numbers might be down a little bit.

1:01:34Pat McAfee:Well, so have the Giants, though. The team of the Giants have played – I mean, the Saints, they just played. So the Saints win. Saints get their first win at home. First win with Spencer Rattler as quarterback. Kelly Moe. Kelly Moe. Way to go. Kelly Moe down there. Obviously, Philadelphia Eagles. Success down there. So, good luck to them. But, I don't know. Naturally, just seven and a half doesn't feel like enough for an Eagles team that got embarrassed at home. And the stats say 13-30 or whatever. And it's like, that just feels like a Sirianni-led team. This is the week that it doesn't matter who's on that other side.

1:02:08Pat McAfee:This feels like an Eagles win by a lot. Yes. now it being the Giants and being a known division rival, does that change things? I guess so. Yeah, I mean, it's just one of those things where you've got to talk yourself into the Giants. You know, it feels like even on Sunday Night Football, Bill's pats, like that was a different situation, division game, and eight and a half was too much. Whereas on Thursday, Bill, sorry, Eagles, Giants, tonight it's more so just, hey, this one's obvious. We could overthink it with the division and all the bullshit and stuff like that, but we could also just think of, hey, one team is extremely motivated.

1:02:41Didn't the Eagles just get rid of victory Monday and then they lose after getting rid of victory Monday? Like, is it another thing where they kind of get there, kind of, hey, we can enjoy the wins because these losses do suck that much? I don't know. Maybe. I also am not really a big believer. Like, Connor mentioned it earlier. Like, hey, you know, New York needs this with the Yankees last night. But I think. Not just the Yankees. Well, yeah.

1:03:02Pat McAfee:Yankees, Knicks, Rangers. Yeah, you put all that. I think there is a world in which if the Eagles jump out to a 10-0, 14-0 lead early, MetLife might turn into a morgue, and it could end up just being like, here we go again. Our lives suck. Everything sucks, and we're about to get steamrolled by the Eagles. Isn't there a casino over there? Is there a casino near there? Sportsbook. Oh, sportsbook. And harness racing. Okay, maybe go put some money on the horses. I would be shocked if the Giants did turn over five straight possessions this game. like they did last week. Bruce, you're a Giants fan.

1:03:38Pat McAfee:What did you see? What have you seen from this Giants team that makes you think, yeah, tonight Giants definitely, I mean. What the hell is that? That's going to happen. He's a rookie. He's a rookie. He's a rookie. Rook-ass, rook fumble. Yeah, no, Tony is getting at the positive spin zone. Thank you, yes. Five consecutive turnovers. We're running the ball well. Our defense save a Rashid Shahid bomb is generally playing a good bit better. But, yeah, obviously, you know, the Eagles in a get-right spot off an embarrassing loss. It could be tough. The latest in sort of the calamity of errors that befall the Giants organization.

1:04:14Obviously, we have Malik Nabors, torn ACL. He's done for the year. We had the opportunity prior to the Saints game to elevate some practice squad wide receivers. Elected not to. Said, hey, screw it. We don't need wide receivers. We'll go four tight ends. We won't bring anybody up. During that game against the Saints, Darius Slayton gets a hammy. Now, all of a sudden, you got Gunnar Olszewski and the Funky Bunch out there. We got no wide receiver one. We're rolling with Jalen Hyatt. And then the man featured on Goody kind of giving up on a route. That was Bo Collins, rookie wide receiver number 81.

1:04:47So, we just play a game of whack-a-mole. We got no kicker. Russ stinks. Now we got no wide receivers. It's just, you know, that stuff's brilliant.

1:04:55Pat McAfee:It's a calamity of errors that befall the New York Giants. Unbelievable. Yeah, yeah. So, who's your pick, Bruce? I actually do love the Giants. To be completely honest with you. Scadaboo's going to run wild. We'll see if Saquon gets right and gets loose, but I still think it'll be less than week seven last year when he had the 175 on us. A calamity of errors that beef all the New York Giants. On that note. Give me a Giants. Give me a Giants. You know who I love, A.J. Hawk? Who's that? The Indianapolis Colts. Listen to this mic'd up of Shane Steichen on the sideline that the Indianapolis Colts social media department released

1:05:37Watch this thing we're good this thing's gonna be gone to touchdown Yeah, he's gonna throw it to do one for a touchdown watch this. He's gonna catch a touchdown here There it is. Oh, yeah, hit it touchdown Touchdown. Hit it. Inside. Right there. Touchdown. Woo! Go score! Touchdown. Woo! Oh, yeah! Yeah! Woo!

1:06:04Hell, yeah! Let's go! Let's go!

1:06:07Pat McAfee:Let's go! Every play's a touchdown, AJ. That's the type of offense coordinator, head coach, that I like to see. But this team has a fantastic kind of vibe around it. And Shane Steichen, I think, is really coming into his own as being the full head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. He has the opportunity to have a quarterback that knows how to execute his offense. He has leaders both on the defense and the offense now. It feels like he's in a very comfortable state, and he gets to be exactly who he is. And it sounds like he's a guy who thinks every play is going to be a touchdown, AJ. And I love that as a fan.

1:06:40Yeah, he does. And watching him, watching his mic'd up with him, You want to know your coach is invested, that he cares, and that he's on your team. He's rooting for you. So I think the players are going to love I'm sure a lot of them have already seen that, clips of him mic'd up like that. I've mentioned on here multiple times, I played against Adrian Peterson twice a year for eight, nine years in a row, and that dude was so pissed off every time he got tackled because I truly feel like he felt like, if I get the ball, I should score every single time. Seems like the Colts have some of those feelings as well, even with the coaches.

1:07:08Pat McAfee:Adrian Peterson certainly thought that, and it looked like that whenever he got the Rock. In the Colts for a while, I mean, we only scored touchdowns. We did nothing else. We're not going to punt. We're not going to turn it over. We're only going to score touchdowns. We'll kick a field goal from Spencer Schrader whenever we need it. He gets hurt, obviously, last game, tears a couple ligaments. He'll be back hopefully next season stronger. We signed Michael Badgley. But, yeah, I enjoy the hell out of what Shane Steichen's doing in the team. And you talk about him being in it as much as everybody else, absolutely.

1:07:35Pat McAfee:And that Doolin, Doolin got an opportunity because A.D. Mitchell dropped the ball, held it. A.D. Mitchell's time kind of got pulled back. A little bit of accountability from the Colts, which is abnormal to what we have seen in years past. Doolin gets his opportunity. He does. We're in a good spot. It feels like the culture's in a good spot with the Colts. Which is crazy to talk about after what it was last year. Insane. It's even crazy with even the Jacks. It's crazy to think about some of these teams that have just completely flipped and some teams that have completely flipped the other way. Maybe it's just because they're winning now.

1:08:08Steichen's got a top three game day fit. I mean, he's got unbelievable swagger on the sideline. The hoodie with the white shirt underneath. Very cool. I believe they're a white Nikes Air Force team, right?

1:08:21Pat McAfee:Isn't that a coach? Well, they got new white Nikes on for each week, I think. I think they do change it up, actually. But, yeah, their white shoes had white Air Forces last year. They will switch it up. I like the all black with the blue that we have with the white. Yeah, he's got mocks. He's a NorCal. Oh, I didn't realize he was a cow. Yeah, Austin Cawley and he, brah, went to high school together. Wow. Great swag. A lot of brah. Good hat. Got the J.I. Jim Irsay hat on there. He looks – yeah, it's a great spot to be. Also a great spot to be a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. Baker Mayfield was in the middle of a press conference the other day, and he was asked by Jenna Lane of ESPN if he enjoyed having that moment with the Seattle Seahawks fan and then obviously getting the win afterwards.

1:09:01Pat McAfee:He said yes, obviously, And then that led to this question, Doranus Presser. Is there something where you kind of realize maybe your younger years, I don't know if you were as accepted for doing some of that stuff, and now it does seem like it's a little bit more embraced. You know, people gravitate to it a little bit more, the narrative changes around that. Do you notice that? Yeah, I mean, I told you guys I try and not get too high, not get too low, which is something that I was not doing early on in my career. but early on in my career, yeah, it's looked as cocky, immature. Now it's Moxie. He's a dog.

1:09:39So it's the same, different day. As long as you play well, they change the narrative. But you just got to be yourself, and I've always been like that.

1:09:47Pat McAfee:Don't want to put myself into everything, but he's taking a shot at us. What? Is that a shot at Moxie? I use a lot of that. He's a dog. I think we use every other sentence. We've given compliments the whole time, though. We were never killing fake. We always loved his Moxie and his confidence and his charisma. We know that. Okay, I hope so. because he is a very thought-out person whenever he's giving press conference answers. There's a reason why he says things. We've seen him absolutely bury people in his own brilliant way. And it's like whenever he describes, you know, they used to say this, now they say this.

1:10:13Pat McAfee:We've been a Baker supporter, I think, since the beginning. But on that note, whenever you win, obviously it's viewed differently. Now, granted, did he win in Cleveland? Yes. He still did. He won a playoff game. Wow. He said, obviously, learning and evolving and everything like that. But he has always had the Baker Mayfield edge. I think since we've seen him. And I think that's his point. It's like, I've always been me. I have never not been me. Now, was he a little bit too high, a little bit too low at the beginning as like most 22, 23-year-olds potentially are as they become men? Yeah, he acknowledged that.

1:10:45Pat McAfee:But he's always going to be Baker. And I love that. I love that Tampa Bay has said this guy is our franchise. They've paid him like he's the franchise. And against Seattle, anybody can get it if they want to run their mouth. He is still Baker Mayfield. I love that. And I'm thankful he's getting a chance to kind of talk his shit, too. Yeah, agreed. And now, even though we tend to use Moxie and dog when talking about him these days. Talking about everybody. And everybody, yes. I know other people use these terms, but boy, Moxie. Yeah, they didn't use him six years ago, but yeah. But he was on this show two years ago to the date at the Dallas State Fair.

1:11:20He was. Yes, he was. And that was not his younger career. That was later in his career. So if he was talking about you or any of us in his early career.

1:11:29Pat McAfee:Remember, he started playing bad after going on our show, though. It did not go great after it came on our show. Now, he's got a long-term contract with that team. Yeah, exactly. And everything ends up working out well in the long term. But I appreciate that Baker Mayfield has probably taken it on the shins for a large portion of his career. And in Cleveland, I think there should have been more people saying, hey, this guy wins. Why wouldn't we have him there? Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, Super Bowl champion, head coach of the NFL. Our coach, a yinzer through and through. Absolute legend.

1:11:58Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Mike McCarthy. Coach, good to see you. Good to see you, Coach. You look amazing. Hey, can you talk a little bit about a quarterback with that edge like Baker has there? What are your thoughts on him, the player, and where he's at in his career right now with Tampa basically saying, this is our guy for the foreseeable future? I love everything Baker's doing. I had a chance to watch Baker play in high school in Lake Travis down there in Austin in Texas as a Cavalier and, you know, his whole flight out there to Texas Tech to Oklahoma. And I love what he said in the press conference because he's exactly right.

1:12:29He hasn't changed. I mean, he's always been feisty, maybe a little more up and down in his younger years, but he's always played the position of quarterback, super competitive, but he also does a really good job of distributing the football. So love what he's doing. He's having a great year and I'm just really happy for him to have that success. And I think Tampa did a great job committing to him.

1:12:50Pat McAfee:Is it accuracy that is Baker's best thing? Obviously, his competitive edge is awesome, but he can put the ball as if he was to hand deliver it. Is that the biggest thing for quarterbacks to have success in the NFL? I would say the accuracy, but it's anticipation. I think he's a great anticipator. Obviously, he has a receiver group that he's in tune with. Those guys have played a lot of football together. But when you watch him play, he's not sitting on his back foot. He's going through the progression. There's always rhythm to his feet. Ball comes out on time. So very composed in the pocket. But I think he's an excellent anticipator.

1:13:27Pat McAfee:AJ, he's not the only hot quarterback in the NFL right now. We've been chitchatting about two guys that I think Coach McCarthy loves as well. Absolutely, Coach. We've heard you talk about Dak Prescott and how much you appreciate him as a player. Also, Trevor Lawrence, two young guys, seem to kind of be taking that next step, maybe playing very well early. What's your thoughts on those two guys? Well, so much, you know, as we said about the quarterback position as far as productivity and really, you know, getting the ball distributed to their playmakers. But I love it when you see players go to another level emotionally.

1:13:59The confidence just oozes out of their ears. And I thought Trevor with that big win, you know, the other night, I mean, that's a nice stepping stone. You always talk about stacking success as a football team. You definitely need to do it as a quarterback. You know, and no different with Dak. I thought Dak has done a great job playing the way he needs to. I thought the time clock passing game he had against Green Bay was exactly the way he needed to do, and he did it for four quarters and an overtime. And I thought he did a great job against the Jets just getting that ball distributed. But with that, the production, winning, obviously brings a lot of confidence.

1:14:36But when your quarterback is that dude, that dog, and you see the body language and how they're winning, I think it lifts everybody up.

1:14:46Pat McAfee:Yeah, I appreciate the fact that Dak and Trevor, not young at this point, they're kind of middle of their careers. Both of them have been paid. And if their best football is still very much in front of them, which it feels like you think that is the case, right, for Dak and Trevor and Baker? Oh, definitely. Definitely. I think today these quarterbacks are playing until they're 40. I mean, I just think the way the NFL players are, you know, just with the support and, you know, the science and everything, you know, they take great care of themselves. It's not uncommon to see guys having great years in their late 30s.

1:15:18So, yes, definitely, I think they have great years in front of them.

1:15:20Pat McAfee:Is there a chance that, just like we're seeing whenever guys have to go to a new spot, like Trevor could potentially, let's say, with the way this career has gone, if he wasn't number one overall pick, gets cut from Jacksonville because of the chaos that happens down there, goes and finds a new team. finds a new team, and then has this mid-career run, we'd say, oh, this is like Baker, Sam Darnold, Kirk Cutt. We're saying this right now. Trevor and Dak have been at the same places. Now there's been some change and some turnover. Them still playing their best ball and being the pillars of the team is vital to the success, right?

1:15:52Pat McAfee:I mean, that is something new coach needs, new organization needs. Coach McCarthy? It's critical. I mean, it's critical. I mean, when you have the quarterback there in place, everything else is built around it. And then really the first component I've always felt is the defense, because the quarterback needs a great defense to support him because you don't want to stress your quarterback out every single game. It's fun to throw the ball 45 times. But having a run game and playing complementary football is very important to winning, to get your win totals up during the regular season. And obviously that's what wins in playoff football.

1:16:27So I think the fact that the organizations have recognized the importance of both these young men is a great job on their part. And then just continue to build around them. Because, you know, if you haven't had a quarterback and when you're starting over, there's always growing pains. You don't ever get to skip those steps.

1:16:46Pat McAfee:Yeah, life sucks when you don't have a quarterback. When you stink, life sucks. Yes. I'm just going to say that outright. And obviously quarterback, good indicator on whether or not you're going to be good. Feels like New England's good again. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Coach, got to talk about it. Sunday night was kind of the rebirth of Tom Brady, some people are saying, and Drake May in New England. I know a lot of Bills fans were asking themselves, is it 2025 or is it 2015? We suck again and we're losing to the Pats. What the hell? People are saying that? Yeah, I saw that on the internet. I mean, it's hard to argue because Drake May answered basically every call on Sunday night.

1:17:24What did you think about this performance from him? Obviously, young, 22, 23-year-old quarterback feels like this was kind of his coming out party for the world. Anybody who watched him last year and even beginning this year thought, okay, so Drake's good, but this team maybe not so much. The team has caught up, and the Patriots seem to be a legitimate problem now for the NFL. What do you think about Drake, and is this one of the more impressive kind of young coming out performances? I mean, that play right there is ridiculous, and that is with two minutes left on first down, beginning of the drive, trying to go down and win the football game, which he did.

1:18:03Love your analysis, though, clearly. I think the thing I really enjoyed watching him play, and you can even see it in the highlights, is when he's in the pocket, he's stepping in every throw. So obviously they're doing a good job of giving him pretty much a clean pocket there. But he played on time. He was accurate with the ball and made the biggest plays of the game outside the pocket. So I thought he played a hell of a game. And to go head-to-head with Josh Allen, that's definitely a win. That's a nice niche in your belt. But I thought he was so composed throughout the game. And that is so big for particularly where he is in his career, being so young.

1:18:37Pat McAfee:Yeah, he's super accurate. Uh-huh. Yeah. He's got great throwing mechanics, yeah, no doubt. Yeah, very accurate. Just the way he throws, super accurate. Don't you think, Coach? You want me to say accurate?

1:18:54is that greenfield behind you right there that's greenfield yeah that's mccaslin and parade street my parents live right pretty much that's the view from their front porch so i'll give you a little

1:19:04Pat McAfee:pittsburgh today yeah i love it feels good it feels good and also it feels like fall you see the way yeah yeah no leaves yeah it feels like football that feels like my childhood there with football is what i'm looking right over your shoulder there so i appreciate you doing that for us on this glorious week six kickoff from drake may being young quarterback to the middle of careers guys having resurgences to how about end of career brand new home traded into division now expected to start in about four days go ahead tone yeah coach i wanted to ask you about joe flacco getting traded on a tuesday and then going to start on a sunday for a team that he is not familiar with i don't know uh what his uh passes with zach taylor i don't think it's much if any So how do you do that as Joe and also Zach Taylor going into Sunday?

1:19:51Well, I mean, it's amazing in today's NFL, but I think it's so unique, especially in the division too. But Joe's played a tremendous amount of football. So really the biggest thing for him will be the language and the terminology and the cadence. And like I said, he's played a tremendous amount of football. But what I tend to think when I saw that happen, I don't know, AJ and Ty, you remember this, is when you play the same team twice in one year. That was actually a very bad experience for our team in 2011. We played a quarterback by the name of Kyle Orton that put up some other good numbers.

1:20:28And we played him in the Denver Broncos earlier in the year, and then Kyle was traded to the Chiefs. And we went down to Kansas City, and that was the 15-1 year. And Kyle beat us. So I'm not saying that's going to happen to the Packers. I think they've definitely learned their lesson. But I just think it's really unique to play the same team in one season. I think that's going to be something to watch.

1:20:51Pat McAfee:Oh, especially with Joey Flack's brain. Joey Flack's back and it's bad for the pack, I think, is what a lot of people are saying down there in Cincinnati. Chase Brown said Joey Flacco's got like this brain that is just otherworldly. He said he memorized the play call right in front of Zach Taylor the first day he got there. Puts the uniform on. All of a sudden, he's starting. He's understanding the offense maybe better than Joe Burrow does at this point. Wow. Joe Flacco actually saying to Zach Taylor, hold on, brother. I did this 20 years ago. You need to run this, actually, instead of this. Let's go ahead and feast on T.

1:21:20Pat McAfee:Higgins and Jamar Chase. These are all things that possibly happen, Coach. These are all things that possibly happen. Oh, no, definitely. I mean, he obviously understands the pieces that he has, but he also knows we're, you know, once again, already playing the team. He has a game day experience. He's probably going to have a really good idea where he wants to go with the ball and pre-snap. And, yeah, I think that, you know, that's definitely a game I'm going to be watching. Is that in the jungle? No, it's at Lambeau. Oh, okay. It's a great game. Yeah, and those O-line stats. He said, that's a game I'm definitely going to be watching.

1:21:49Pat McAfee:He's going to be here. He's going to be here. I'll have eyes on Joey Flack this weekend, actually. Maybe have a couple cold pops, you know, like his old Greenfield days. Fine. And then we'll go watch Joey Flack turn back the hands of time against Green Bay at Lambeau. With Steve Sable lingering over top, telling the story of Joe Flacco, this journeyman who has been to the mountaintop previously and has been worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Going back. Unbelievable. What the hell? I'd say that. Yeah, well said, Pat. Thank you. Thank you, Coach. I definitely appreciate it. Love the shirt. Hey, I love your shirt.

1:22:22Before we get done here, I want to make sure I comment on it. That's strong.

1:22:26Pat McAfee:Thanks for trying to get out of here. I appreciate that. No, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah. Sounds like you're trying to get out of here. Yeah, sounds like you're trying to get out of here, Coach. Yeah, I understand what you're trying to do. Where am I going? Yeah, shit. I'm waiting for that. No, I appreciate that. Yeah, it feels good. You know, the daughter growing, getting older. She's two, like two and three, four months, whatever it is. I've done the exact math. A lot of chatting, a lot of chirping, a lot of noises, a lot more words coming out, though. We're starting to do that. And she's at the don't go dad stage whenever I got to go to things.

1:22:56Pat McAfee:It is tough. This is not good. Okay, I thought this was coming later in life. I thought I had a few years before they cared if I left. You know, now I'm getting the hug and the grab. You were the little nails in the back of my neck. Let's get back to ball. Let's get back to ball. AJ has a question about something vastly different than me being a dad to McKenzie. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Coach, I'm not sure if you saw out in Arizona Coach Gannon got a$100 ,000 fine, I guess, for making physical contact maybe with a player. I guess, what are your thoughts on that? And also, you can tell us honestly here, has this ever happened with you?

1:23:32And if not, how close were you? Have you ever been to maybe punching, pushing, or maybe getting in a fight with a player on the sidelines? I would say today is definitely different. I think that's just definitely an experience that leaves a dent on both sides of it. I always go back to when I came into the league in the 90s. We all remember as young coaches when you got your ass ripped by Marty Schottenheimer. I mean, you really weren't, you know, initiated into the league until Marty, you know, Christians did that. But, you know, it's something that, you know, probably it's where it happened, you know, how's it happened.

1:24:11And I just think it's a different day. You know, it's a different day. And I know, obviously, you know, Jonathan regrets it. But, you know, and it's vice versa. I just think when you have situations that cause, you know, there's disrespect on both sides of it. it's definitely a learning experience because you don't want it. I mean, I just always felt as a head coach, I didn't like a lot of rules. And as you recall, my only rule is no disrespect because it covers everything. If we can get to where we need to get to, we can have disagreements, we can raise our voice to one another, but the disrespectful behavior, I just don't think there's any place for it.

1:24:49Pat McAfee:Well, hopefully they're all able to move on. Coach Gannon said that the team room was dope or lit. I forget which word he used. It was one or the other, talking about the vibes in the building moving forward. So hopefully they're all able to do that. And obviously, that Arizona Cardinals team, are they ever going to go? You know? Are they ever going to go? We shall see. Before you go, like you're trying to get out of here, geez. Let's talk about tonight's game. Yeah. Put me on another segment. All right. We'll lock it in. All right. Let's lock it in. You have the five? Oh, yes. Let's actually do a segment.

1:25:22Pat McAfee:Let's do a segment with you. Hey, Coach, earlier today, we called you. Oh, I remember. Yeah, that's why I'm helping you out here. I'm doing a good team. I wanted to send you on your way. I thought you were leaving, but you are producing. This is good leadership out of you. Earlier today, AJ, we called Coach McCarthy. And on the spot, because of the conversation we were having in the Thunderdome, we're like, hey, who are the top five quarterbacks from the 2025 season, we said to him. And he goes, oh, he starts thinking he has to look. I think he was dropping off his kid at school, right? Is that not what you're doing?

1:25:50Correct. and I pulled over legally and returned your text. Yes, you did.

1:25:55Pat McAfee:Yes, you did. We appreciate that. Thank you for doing that. But he said, well, off the top of my head here, because he didn't get the – so we would like to preface this, that we asked Coach McCarthy for his top five of the first five of the 2025 NFL season, and he was not given any thought or checking of anything. This is literally fastball. This is immediately upon being asked. Number five, who did you have, Coach McCarthy? Daniel Jones. Yes, he did. I like that. How come? What do you think? Well, you know, when Connor asked the question, you know, where my mind goes in quarterback play is completion percentage.

1:26:32You know, that's where who's dealing the football, who's getting the ball to the playmakers, you know, completions and rushes, staying on time. And, you know, and obviously who's winning, who's affecting winning. And so, I mean, Daniel is definitely off to a great start. His numbers speak for themselves. I'm not sure exactly what they are, but I know he has great numbers, situational numbers. You know, you see that in his red zone production, you know, throwing touchdowns and so forth. But I think he's doing a hell of a job getting the ball distributed because, you know, the old 70 % completion percentage is something that I've always, that's what I grew up on.

1:27:07You know, you go back to the early, can I pontificate here? Do we got to get through these?

1:27:11Pat McAfee:No, take your time, bro. Pontificate. Yeah, I mean, you know, when I got in the league in the 90s, you know, Paul Hackett was my mentor, and he always quoted Coach Walsh about 70 % completion. That was the essence and really a key component of the West Coast offense. So we used to have a sign in our quarterback room that said 70 % completion percentage, and there was only four at that time in the history. And they were Joe Montana, Steve Young, Ken Anderson, and Sammy Baugh. And three of the four were coached by Coach Bill Walsh. So that's my base on being productive, getting that ball completed.

1:27:48And then now you look at this generation of quarterbacks. There's got to be 8, 9, 10, 11. I mean, there's so many guys that play where I think Drew Brees has done it so many times. I've lost count. Aaron, Tom, I think Mahomes has done it. So, you know, Goff has done it the last couple years. So I just think you're seeing the quality of quarterback play. But that's always been a starting point for me. They're not throwing interceptions. Who's getting the ball completed?

1:28:16Pat McAfee:Slinging Sammy Ball, also a punter. People forget about that every once in a while. Incredible ball kicker. And the quarterbacks have only gotten better. Danny Dimes has certainly seemingly reached his maximum potential here in Shane Steichen's offense. Let's go to a guy that would fit in any era. At number four, you said Matthew Stafford. How come, coach? I've gotten to see him play a lot of football. and I just, you know, what I have seen in him this year, he's on time. Obviously him and Puka are shattering records right now. So, you know, ball distribution, he can make any throw still on the field.

1:28:52Great anticipator, phenomenal confidence on the inside throws. I've always loved that about Matthew. But I think he's playing at the, you know, the Pro Bowl Hall of Fame level that he's played on his whole career.

1:29:03Pat McAfee:Devontae over there, obviously McVay doing his thing. Puka is on pace to break some records. I mean, that's a special team out there, especially with their young defense clicking in all cylinders so quickly. They obviously put the Philadelphia Eagles deep into the 12th round in that last year's playoff game. They were the only ones that came close once the Eagles started kind of pummeling teams. Seems like McVay's only going to have good squads. All right, let's go to the top three QBs of the first five weeks of the 2025 season. Dak Prescott! Homer. Go ahead, Coach. Oh, Homer. Absolutely. He's playing his ass off.

1:29:41I mean, I don't know what his completion percentage is, but I know it's got to be well over 70%. I just love the way he's distributing the football. 71.3. 71.3. Thank you. And I like really the maturity of the perimeter group, and you've got an offensive line that's got a lot of depth there. So exciting on offense, and I just think he's managing that thing exactly the way it needs to be managed.

1:30:04Pat McAfee:There is 10 guys above 70 % completion percentage right now. Hembo just sent a text in letting us know that. Dak is certainly one of them, 71.3%. Yeah, so it's 10-1, including Tyrod Taylor. He's played two games. Tyrod, Josh Allen, Tua, CJ Stroud, Dak, Dan Jones, Lamar, Sam Darnold, Drake May, Jared Goff are the 10-1. So Dak Prescott, 71.3%, operating incredibly in Schottenheimer's first year as the head coach over there. Dallas Cowboys could go on a run. Dak playing special ball down there. That's number three. Who are the top two, top five, first five QBs? Baker, there he is. Hey, he's got a dog.

1:30:46Pat McAfee:This dog's got Moxie. What do you think about him, Coach McCarthy? Well, he's got a completion percentage, too, I'm sure. He's definitely playing. What I love about Baker, and that's really why he's where he is, is four of the five games have come down to the end. So, you know, he's playing great football at the most important time. You know, when you look at the, you know, over the course of a regular season, half of your games will come down to a two-minute drill. And he's already got, what, four under his belt already. So I just think he's playing top-notch football right now. We love Baker, especially four games, four comeback wins in their first five games.

1:31:24Pat McAfee:And then they have two last-play wins. So that means you're talking about a team, a belief, a culture that he is leading. and to go into Seattle, that's a long flight, and get a big-time win. After shit-talking with that fan before entering the field, that's what we love about him, AJ. That is the little things that we love about Baker Mayfield. He's the man. Coach, I understand you like Baker and everything. Did you ever see this success, like him making this step, especially the weird route that he has traveled to get to Tampa and where he is? I actually think when you get to the end of these journeys, he's, you know, those experiences are probably a big part of why he's having the success he's having, because it's really been going on his whole life.

1:32:03You know, he went to Texas Tech as a, you know, as a walk-on, I think. I mean, and then, you know, and then had to leave Tech to go to Oklahoma. So, I mean, this guy has, you talk about resilience. I mean, he could write the book on it. So, I think it's just part of his journey, and I think there's no surprise why he continues to get

1:32:23Pat McAfee:better currently has 10 touchdowns one interception he's fourth in yards in the nfl and obviously we're watching the tampa bay buccaneers in incredible jerseys play yeah electrifying football games and the number one quarterback in the nfl this season through the first five the reigning mvp the odds-on favorite to be the mvp josh allen what have you seen in the first five weeks of josh that puts you number one here coach i just i just love the way he attacks the position. He can make all the throws in the pocket, out of the pocket. His patience and confidence in play extension is as good as you can be.

1:33:02How many times you see him just get to the sideline, gain another two seconds, three seconds. There's never a play that can't be made when Josh has the ball. I just think he's playing at an unbelievable right now.

1:33:18Pat McAfee:He was just smacking that guy's head right there, too. He's not scared to mix it up. He'll get in there in the gruff a little bit. And he's undefeated. I mean, it's one of those things. They're not. Well, they lost to the Patriots. Yeah, that was Connor, obviously, Coach. Oh, that's all right. He did this to you right there. He literally just fished. Hook out and seek your coach. But Josh is special. He is, Coach. He's special. He's special. No, he is. He really is. I mean, and really the size, strength, and speed, just the way he plays the position. He just attacks it. I love watching him play.

1:33:56Pat McAfee:How about his development from year one to year two, year three? Like every offseason, there's like significant growth in his game. Like literally from year one to year two, it was like, wait a minute, this guy doesn't suck. We thought he potentially was just a runner. This guy might become a tight end. Maybe we put big hands, he can catch the ball pretty good. Let's put him at tight end. He's jumping over guys. He can't throw a ball. Then year one to year two, he gets better. Then year two to year three, he becomes elite. Then year three to year four, it's like, is this guy the best player in the NFL?

1:34:23Pat McAfee:And then he's kind of carried that along. So his work ethic is stupendous. And I think his love of the game is very evident if you watch that hard knocks. He's a good face of the NFL right now, even though obviously we have a few. Josh Allen is a very good face of the NFL, I think, coach. Yeah, definitely. And I remember just when Josh came out of Wyoming, there had statistics, you know, the college breakdown about his accuracy. and I can just remember, you know, talking through the evaluation process. I said, yeah, but it's hard to be when you throw the ball to the damn moon. I mean, this guy just needs help.

1:34:55So, I mean, I just, you know, he's one of the best players or maybe the best player in our game right now.

1:35:02Pat McAfee:MVP, can he win a Super Bowl? That's all anybody wants to know. And that's all Josh is hunting now for the rest of his life. Can any of these guys other than Stafford make that happen? We shall see. Congrats to these top five of the first five in Coach McCarthy's non-real deep thought list of quarterbacks around the NFL. All right, Coach, before we let you go, and we appreciate you taking time, we need you to talk about tonight's game because I know you don't want to make official picks, obviously, but if you were to this season, you'd be 4-1. Jeez. Okay, you'd be seeing the board, what we like to call, very well.

1:35:36Pat McAfee:Okay, this would be 80 % hit rate if my math holds up out of five total opportunities. And once again, we don't want you to make a pick, but how do you see tonight's game going? Division game, seven and a half points spread. Eagles coming off an embarrassing loss at home to a very good Broncos team, but the way they lost and the way they collapsed in the fourth quarter is certainly something Sirianni could pull from. And then on this Giants team, they're hosting obviously a May live. That place is going to be, those Giants fans are going to be going crazy on a Thursday night because the Yankees lose terribly.

1:36:09Pat McAfee:The Knicks lose out on Giannis. Bruce just asked why we're laughing. The Rangers lose to the Pens 3-0. The Jets are losing his team over the last eight years. Nothing sports-wise is going good, but tonight they have the Giants hosting the Eagles, a team that they hate. NFC East matchup, NFC East rivalry game. Coach McCarthy, how do you see the game going, and what are your thoughts on 7.5 being the spread that the sportsbooks, who have been hitting at a high rate, say this is? That's a lot of points. I think the first off, as we always talk about, is a division game. And, you know, when you look at the numbers, I mean, Philadelphia knows how to win.

1:36:46And that's what they're getting done. But, you know, obviously, you know, there's some – when you look at the numbers, you know, it's, you know, who they are on offense right now, you know, as far as getting the ball distributed. I think the key for them is really they've got to get the ball to the key guys tonight. But I think there's going to be, you know, some big matchups that I'm going to be watching. I'm going to watch that D-line of New York, you know, versus the offensive line of Philadelphia. because I think New York, just the way the pressure that they're getting after. We saw Denver do some of that against Philadelphia there in the second half.

1:37:18So I think there's going to be some really interesting matchups, really some scheme challenges that see how they affect. But it's a division game. It's going to come down to who really takes care of the football. Actually, I want to see how they use Jackson Dart. I hope to see him more from the pocket, more quarterback, and 10 runs and things like that. So you've got to get the ball, get them all spread around a little bit more. But, yeah, I just struggle with seven and a half points. That's a lot of points in a division game.

1:37:47Pat McAfee:All right. So Coach McCarthy's on the Giants plus seven and a half if he was to give a pick, even though he's saying it's a lot of points. Eagles get the win, he says. Eagles win games. They win course games. Seven and a half, though, is close. Everything you were saying is this is a twofer here. You're welcome. You get seven and a half with Jackson Dart and Scadaboo. The boys are going to run wild on Thursday night. And then the Eagles are going to get a win and go to five and one. and people are still going to bitch about what they are. Perfect. All right, Coach, we appreciate the hell out of you.

1:38:10Pat McAfee:Is that exactly what you're saying?

1:38:15Hey, yes. Couldn't say it any better.

1:38:18Pat McAfee:Hey, when are we going back to Greenfield? Are we ever going back to Greenfield? When do we get an opportunity to walk down those roads? And I think it needs to be November, December so we can get a little bit of the same type of vibe that it is right now. I need six. Oh, yeah. Hey, let's do it. Yeah, I'm going to be getting over there the next couple weeks, so let's make it happen. It looks like a place you just need to walk down, breathe here. You going Sunday Night Football Packers-Steelers, Coach? I don't know yet. I don't know yet. Okay, let's make a decision on that. That might be a celebration for all of us.

1:38:48Pat McAfee:We'll see if we can make it back. That's a huge game. But at that point, had the Packers already lost to Joe Flacco twice by the time that game comes around. We'll see you this weekend. Ladies and gentlemen, the man, Coach Mike McCarthy. Yeah, Coach! Coach. I'll be dead if they lose to Joe Flacco. So you guys have fun at that game. I won't be around. Come on. Joe Flacco. I heard the toaster. I heard a toaster comment. It's not good. I don't like that that's what he's thinking. Joe Flacco's a good quarterback. He is. He is. You just. Don't get beat by Joe Flacco two times in 17 days or whatever.

1:39:21Two different teams. Two different teams.

1:39:23Pat McAfee:AJ, how about you and me make our picks here to start our Thursday night football? Because what we're about to do is have an incredible conversation with an absolute weapon. Yes. An icon, an American hero, actually. And a man who has an incredible brain will be joining us live. And every time he stops by, there's always something, isn't there? Always something. There's always something. Tonight, the Eagles will take on the New York football Giants. Seven and a half points spread. Mike McCarthy likes the Giants, plus seven and a half. He's saying, that's a divisional game. That's a divisional game.

1:39:49Pat McAfee:That's a lot of points for a Thursday night. Both coming off losses. Where is the public's money at right now, Tone, as we sit at 143 Eastern time? We had a jump up to 76 % from the Philadelphia Eagles. I was talking about the above 60 % earlier being 13-30. When you go to above 70%, it's 3-13 against the spread. And it's currently sitting at what? 76. All right. AJ, does that change the way you view this game tonight? Coach Mike McCarthy's on 24 % party. The New York Giants plus 7.5. Bruce Brown's on the plus 7.5 with the New York Giants as well, even though he laid out a calamity of errors. We just got no wide receivers, but who needs them?

1:40:29We're going to run that ball right down their mouth. We're going to run Scadaboo. Against the Eagles. Yep, until the wheels fall off, man. Tyrone Tracy's back. Is J.R. Carter playing? 4-4-6. Questionable. But Tyrone Tracy is back. So we got Scadaboo, and we got our 1 ,000-yard rusher from last season back. AJ, who do you like? How do you like it? All right. I don't like to be swayed by the public, but Bruce does sway me a bit when he talks about his Giants in such glowing fashion. But give me the Giants plus 7.5 here tonight.

1:40:56Pat McAfee:I'll take the Eagles minus 7.5. You can get a 7. I got my 7. I'm 3 in what? The 70 %? Okay. This is always when it turns around. You always get the weekend. Could be this one. Where all those public bets do hit. There's a chance also that we just continue to lose. No, no, no. For AJ, I guess it would be good if that was to happen. Congrats to you taking the Giants tonight. Legit. Yes, congrats to me. I've gone back and forth over the course of the last hour for sure. I've wanted to take the Giants plus 7.5 numerous times. I've done it in the past, actually. And I think I'm going to stop doing that.

1:41:33Pat McAfee:I think I'm going to stop doing that. I'm going to wake up tomorrow and say I took the world champs. That's what I did. 7.5, 10.5, 20.5, who cares? I'm taking the world champs. They've got a lot to prove after embarrassing themselves. Two-hour conversation, Jalen, Saquon, and AJ? Yeah. That's maybe team chemistry building. Yeah. You know, maybe they're back to who we thought they were. Where they absolutely hate each other. No, no. Two hours, joyful? Huh? Wait, was it like scheduled or did it happen organically? If they had to make it to 4 p.m. in this room, sit down, 4 to 6 p.m., I hope it wasn't that way.

1:42:01Pat McAfee:Just as somebody that maybe has a little bit of a busy schedule, I'm okay with scheduling time to chat with people. I actually reached out to see what they did for those two hours. Good news. They watched Remember the Titans, and they said, hey. Same wars that they were fighting on those fields back then. We're still fighting right now. Amongst ourselves. So I think they got back together. All right. I'm hoping tonight they have a big one. We'll be right back. Are all batteries the same? That's like asking if all soccer players are the same. Take Messi, the most decorated player ever. Is there any other player who has achieved that?

1:42:38No, just him. Now take Duracell. Is there any other battery with Power Boost ingredients inside? No, just Duracell. Remember, goats only trust goats because they're built different. And Messi only trusts Duracell.

1:42:56This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies 18+.

1:43:24Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, speaking of a big one, this might be the biggest book this man's ever wrote. Yeah. We have no idea what this is going to lead to. Ladies and gentlemen, a man who's authored nine books, eight in the terminal of this series, this one that he's releasing is called Cry Havoc. The author, an absolute stallion of an American hero. Former Navy SEAL sniper, whiskey drinker, ladies and gentlemen, Jack Cole.

1:43:51Let's go. I love Jack Car Day. That's for you?

1:43:57Pat McAfee:Yeah, yeah. Whatever you bring. Who's young Jack Car Warrior, bro? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. You're the best. Favorite part of Book Tour right here. No, no. Our favorite part of anybody releasing a book is whenever you come here to Indianapolis to join us. It's like shooting guns yesterday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw a couple of little things in the room back there. Yeah, there's a little bit of magic happening. And then I saw you're on Rogan. Yeah. That's right. Awesome. That was incredible. It's a good time always. We appreciate every time you stop by here. Congratulations on all the success. Thank you.

1:44:29Pat McAfee:Unreal. And we talk about this every single time. AJ and I obviously retire from the NFL. It's like, what's next? What's next? Military experience the same thing because it kind of takes over your entire life and everything you're a part of. You're in the military a long time. Family in the military a long time. Whenever you retire, to be able to transition into something that is very difficult and have success is obviously something that's worthy of celebration. But you always representing for the military and putting the military over while doing it is honorable and awesome. So congratulations.

1:44:56Pat McAfee:Thank you. Thank you. Let's talk about cry havoc a little bit here. Okay. So this is Vietnam. Vietnam 1968. It's like a time machine back there. I didn't want to just throw on some Creedence Clearwater revival and say it's 1968 and then just drop this contemporary thriller into the sixties. I wanted to transport people back. So if you had walked into my office about a month or two ago, as I was doing it right in this book, finishing it up, it would look like I was invading North Vietnam. I had maps all over the walls from the sixties. I had Car 15 in the corner, Browning High Power, Randall Knife.

1:45:24I had stacks and stacks of books and manuals everywhere, and it did look like I was going to invade, and I probably could have.

1:45:28Pat McAfee:Yeah, you're a method writer, and obviously we would bet on you if you were to invade anybody right now to win. Also, on that conversation, it feels like invade is something that is happening on a regular basis at this point in time, which I don't think any of us could have expected. Let's talk about Vietnam. Viet Cong, obviously, the big problem over there, but also kind of public perception of everything happening over there. Is that a part of this book as well? That is part of that book. It's the first time that I think that the media really realized that they weren't just a check on government power and on government overreach, but they could actually influence policy, influence events, influence people's perception.

1:46:01So it's a big shift from World War II to Vietnam. And I talk about that in there. You had a lot of these guys that were out there. They'd step outside Saigon for a minute and take a video. So it looked like they were out in the field. And then they'd go back to the Continental Hotel and start drinking all the rest of the night until the next day when they do their next report. but they had a vested interest in an outcome to this war. I think they got, what do they say? You say you find out someone's true character, you give them some power. And I think the media during that timeframe, during the 60s, really felt that power and we're seeing their character.

1:46:30Pat McAfee:Well, media manipulation has always been a part of warfare since media has been a thing, right? Vietnam, massively. I think Middle East has been something like that. Right now, there's people that talk about that. it's always been a source of weaponry for, I think, in these wars. How deep into the war do you go in this, and how long did this book take for you to write? It took a lot longer than I thought at the outset, because I wanted to just make it, for someone who lived through the 60s, particularly for those guys who went to Vietnam and went downrange, I wanted to make sure I honored them by getting those details right.

1:47:02So I really wanted to transport everyone back to 1968. It goes from January of 69, so one full year. Starts with the USS Pueblo, taken off the coast of North Korea in 68, and almost a full year, these US sailors were held captive by North Korea. But that was the idea that I had about taking the most sophisticated technology, encryption technology of the day. North Koreans get it, they give it to the Soviets. What do the Soviets do with it? Well, they start encrypting US communications, and that's the basis for this book. It's really an espionage thriller dropped into the heart of Southeast Asia in 1968, which was the bloodiest year of the war for US forces.

1:47:35Pat McAfee:Congratulations to you, man. So many books, so many different projects, such a big brain. How long were you a sealer in? 20 years. 20 in a wake-up, I like to say. 20 was good. So literally 20-year anniversary? Yeah, yeah. And then you woke up the next day? Bam, out.

1:47:52Pat McAfee:Well, thank you for your service. Hey, 20 years in a wake-up. Sometimes that's all you need. Obviously, you served our country, and we're very thankful. And you also gave back in a big way. And that's what it feels like you're always trying to do in all of your books and all your work. Congrats on the prequel. Yeah, yeah. You guys watched Dark Pool? Oh, yeah. Not bad. So sweet. It was awesome. Congrats, dude. Thank you. Thank you. So many different avenues now. So many different avenues now. Yeah, got to build it. Got to build. And then we just finished in Morocco, finished True Believer, which is the second book over there.

1:48:19Finished that up with Chris Pratt about two weeks ago and then came right directly to book tour. And that is looking good. It's like you have all the ingredients when you make something like that. It's like each scene is an ingredient for the meal. And now you have to make that meal, put them all together. And that is going to be the show. So we have the ingredients. Now it's time in post-production to make a fantastic show.

1:48:36Pat McAfee:So much respect, dude. Ty, has a question for you. So when it comes to that and you have to kind of put that cap to the side and go back to write a book, are you at the point now where it's just like training a muscle and it's like you sit down and you get – or have you noticed that the more of these you've written, does it become more difficult? Like do you hold yourself to a higher standard almost at this point or how does that process go? Yeah, the goal is always to improve. So I wanted Dark Wolf to be better than Terminalist. I want True Believer to be better than Dark Wolf and same with this book.

1:49:03This book is better than the last one. I feel like I've gotten better every time. I always want to improve. same thing in the seal teams i want to be a better leader and operator today than i was yesterday and now i want to be a better author today than i was yesterday and then just as a human being i want to be a better father a better husband and better citizen today than i was yesterday so it's

1:49:18Pat McAfee:all about constant improvement let's go are you still shooting you still bet you better shooter today we got on the range the other day and it uh it worked out pretty well yeah part of book tour my book tour is a little different so yeah yeah hit a range out in austin staccato so went out there shot one of their their new pistolas out there and it was it was awesome tell me this So you were a Navy SEAL sniper, right? Yeah. Okay. So Marines obviously have a lot of moxie and confidence about their shooting. Yeah. Obviously, the Rifleman's Creed is a part of the Marines and everything like that. And Full Metal Jacket actually talk about all the snipers that have been in there.

1:49:48Pat McAfee:Navy SEAL snipers, obviously, very high level. How many groups of snipers are there that are – do you guys talk to each other too? Like, hey, we see through a scope better than any other human. Who are the groups of snipers that really amongst you guys? Every different unit has its own sniper school. So the Marines have theirs, Navy has theirs, Army has multiple. And then we send guys to those other schools as well so we can cross-train and we can disseminate that information and make everybody better, not just us. We don't want to keep it just pigeonholed or in our own little silo. So we want to make sure that everybody is benefiting from our lessons.

1:50:23And that really came out of the – we were doing a little bit before the Global War on Terror, but after that it became readily apparent about how important that was because now guys are going down range and it can be the difference between life and death.

1:50:34Pat McAfee:Okay, so I don't want to bring up negative stuff, okay? But snipers, you actually are seeing, because I had a friend who was a spotter, I think in the Marines for a sniper, and we got pretty boozed up numerous occasions. And then just like the story, the PTSD story of him, binoculars, watching people. Snipers, same thing, right? You're kind of watching it all happen. That's a different level, I think, of warfare that you guys are in. And obviously the patients and the can't move and the targets are taken out or the people that you're protecting. But you're I mean, you're seeing I mean, you guys are literally seeing it all.

1:51:05Pat McAfee:That's a whole different animal. Yeah, you're seeing it. And then you're having to make that decision. So policy decisions that are made up the executive level with the president. And it goes all its way down through the admirals, through the generals, through every level of command. And the last decision maker in that chain of command is that person. It could be 18 year old kid with a rifle at a checkpoint. It could be a sniper in an overwatch position. but that is the last decision maker in a chain that starts with the president. So as a sniper, you're making those decisions just like anybody holding a rifle out there down there.

1:51:31Pat McAfee:That chain of command can't be fat anymore. No way. That's right. No, it cannot. Yeah, they need to get back on the push-ups. They look a little nervous out there in that little meeting that they all had back in Quantico, some of those guys. But it's interesting. In this book, actually, I have a conversation between two guys, and they talk about the Department of War versus the Department of Defense. And so this was written months and months ago. But I talked about that also after the withdrawal from Afghanistan. I talked about the difference of precision in language reflects precision in thought.

1:51:58Defense means something's different than war. And I talked about that in multiple shows and appearances after the withdrawal. And I'm not saying that the administration got this idea. You're a good writer. They should think about it. But I am saying that I never heard anybody else talk about it until I did in 2021.

1:52:13Pat McAfee:Well, thanks for bringing it back into the lexicon because it is a hilarious title. I mean, Department of War. There's just so much. How are you doing? oorah out there. AJ has a question for you from Ohio. Yes, sir. Yeah, Jack, I know you tried to take yourself back to 1968 for this recent book. How did you do that? You talked to guys like Carlos Hathcock, his family, maybe Demo Dick Marcinko. Did you reach out to their families and really get in on what was going on back then? Yeah, I read all the autobiographies I could read from guys that had been in McVeigh Sog specifically, so guys going into Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam, into denied areas where Americans were not supposed to be.

1:52:48Read their autobiographies and then had them on my podcast and then got to know them. So I would text them, I would call them, I would email them to check on certain things. I would send them chapters because I wanted to really honor that service with the details and getting those details right and making people, the reader, transporting them back there so they could feel the sights, the sounds, the smells, and what it was like to be there across a border in a denied area, in the dark, in the jungle, with bugs, with the snakes, and with an enemy slowly approaching your position.

1:53:14Pat McAfee:We appreciate you doing that, taking the time. How many bottles of this were? Yeah, not so. Before we have a heart out, Connor has a question for you. Yeah, Jack, last time you were here, you were releasing Beirut, the nonfiction, and then Red Sky Morning. And Red Sky Morning was predominantly about AI. And the last year of AI has been pretty insane. Have you kind of seen comparisons between what you wrote and what is going on right now? Yeah, I started with AI and quantum computing a few books ago before anyone had heard of ChatGPT. True, yeah. And then ChatGPT becomes a part of the lexicon. And this next book that I write will be another contemporary thriller, James Reese.

1:53:49and with the way that AI is into our lives and the intelligence services and the military apparatus, it's going to be, it's going deep into that. But also just generally publishing Hollywood, what's AI doing there? And, but he told me a story, I'm going to make it real quick, because I was kind of concerned about the AI side of this. What does it mean for authors if someone can say, hey, write my book in a Jack Carr style or whatever else, and just, you know, have it printed out there. And it's Waylon Jennings sitting down with a Waylon Jennings cover band guy back in the 80s. and the Waylon Jennings cover band guys telling Waylon Jennings how amazing he is and how much he appreciates it.

1:54:21And Waylon Jennings says, yeah, man, there's just one problem with what you're doing. And the guy's like, what is that? And he says, you're always one album behind. So I'm like, I'm going to think of it like that. Yeah, because it's chasing you, brother.

1:54:32Pat McAfee:If they're trying to be you, they're chasing you. And obviously imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Everybody's going to want to be Jack Carr whenever they grow older. You're a badass, an American hero. And your new book, Cry Havoc, is available now everywhere books are sold. We'll be back tomorrow reacting to tonight's Thursday night football game. Yeah, that's a fucking – I hit that. Jack, you see that? Jack, I'm fucking on the zero with the book. With the fucking book. You make me better. You talk about being a better leader. We're still live. We're still live. You know that. We're still live.

1:55:02Pat McAfee:You talk about being a better leader and everything like that. You walk in this building and I just boom, bang, pow, boom. See you. Yeah, that was – you make us better, Jack. Oh, man, you guys fire everybody up, not just me. You guys don't know what influence you're having. It is awesome. It fires me up. Well, we fire people up in positive and negative. Yeah, there's a lot of fires. We like to bring fire. Bring the juice. Tone has a question for you, Jack. Yeah, Jack, in Dark Wolf, there is a scene where Reese, Chris Pratt, and they're sitting around a fire, and he gives his father's, I believe, compass?

1:55:34Yeah, Waltham compass from Vietnam. He either gives it to Rafe or Ben. Okay, so he gives it to Rafe. so now when I was talking or when I was looking at the book or whatever that ties back to that's Reese's dad so when you were filming that did you know that was in the book or when you were writing the book did you know that was going to be in the tv series and how much does that all tie together yeah there's a lot of overlap these days so the book that part of the book was written well before that scene and uh so just any little touch point we can put in there little easter eggs we can put in there anything we can little foreshadowing little things we can hope to explore more in the future that's all woven in there if you got to the last episode Beirut's woven in there in 1983 that's in there so it hits the the non-fiction as well so man making that show was amazing and uh all those guys just brought it how tall is uh the actor for rave what's his name he's like six five he is so tall and uh yeah my wife was really excited about that show because she loves uh texas forever you know taylor kish friday night lights and uh and so she's watching that show really excited we got to know taylor taylor's amazing become a great friend and uh then tom hopper gets out of that pool in episode two and i don't know why my wife's favorite episode is now episode two.

1:56:38Pat McAfee:I want to be on a set. Yeah. We got any more pool scenes. I understand. Hey, that's the movie world as a whole. There's a lot of glitz, a lot of glamour, a lot of moments where you can kind of get lost in the sauce. Now that you're so famous, you are. Now that you're so famous, so successful, everybody wants to be a part of your shit. Do you feel like a pressure to still represent for the military? Like, how do you kind of, I know you're probably just going to say, well, I just got to be me or whatever. There's a lot of distractions, I assume for you now. There's a lot of people that want a bite of the Jack Carr apple.

1:57:09Pat McAfee:Yeah. For good fucking reason, by the way. But how do you ground yourself in all of it? Do you have like a morning routine or anything? No, it's get shot out of a cannon, three kids, dog, wife, chaos. That's the morning routine. Everybody expects to say that you wake up at 3 a.m. and you're all disciplined and all this stuff. It's just chaos. But no, I'm just focused on the story, just being the best author that I can possibly be. And there are more distractions these days. There are definitely more asks coming in, as you guys, I am sure, know. which is good uh which is great we want those what's your hope problem yeah we want those to continue that is true that is true so it's uh it's it's go go go but it's about improving as a as an author improving uh in this profession and always honoring the story and if i honor the story and not worry about any of this other outside stuff meaning uh oh am i going to upset somebody if i say this or is someone not going to buy the book now or people like shorter chapters or whatever else or i need to grab a headline i think of none of that it is all about the story and if i do that If I focus on the story, then I'm honoring that reader and that listener who's spending time with me, then they're never going to get back.

1:58:09So it's solely focused on making the best story that I possibly can.

1:58:12Pat McAfee:That's the process, right? That's trusting the process. That's obviously a big football thing. It's a big sports thing, massive military mindset as well, right? You do the work here, and then it will show up whenever we go later, especially Special Forces. Oh, absolutely. I mean, you put in that time, put in that mat time, put in that time on the mat. It's the same thing. So all the books up to this point, that's mat time. Next one, same thing. I'm improving. I'm getting better. But it's about being as prepared as you possibly can be for when that call comes and you go to war. So the job in the military is to go to war.

1:58:36It's to be prepared to go to war. And I always kept that at the forefront of my mind. I focused on the guys, too, focusing on that team. Rather than the mission, people just repeat, focus on the mission, mission first, mission first, mission first. Maybe, but I think you just repeat that over and over again. It just becomes something that you say. But if you focus on the guys and take care of those guys, then that mission is going to get accomplished by default. So I always focused on those guys, and it's something I haven't really heard from anybody else. And when I was in, I didn't really talk about it because everyone's like, oh, mission first.

1:59:02But you focus on those guys. You take care of them. They're going to crush it for you downrange.

1:59:05Pat McAfee:The boys are the culture. You take care of the little things. The big things will take care of themselves. That's very much process driven. That is, God, do you think about running for president? Yeah. That's an easy question to answer. Absolutely not. That's like the worst job ever. We made back in the 60s, 70s, 80s, something like that. But today, oh, my gosh. Wow, what an awful position to be in. Remind me, were you a big, good swimmer in high school before you joined? I was okay. I was okay. I was definitely a better runner than I was a swimmer. And you do a weird stroke in Buds, for those who have ever seen it.

1:59:33It's this combat side stroke. So that's what I was about to say.

1:59:35Pat McAfee:We now know what Buds is because of all the documentaries and everything you guys have been through. Obviously, we didn't experience it, and none of us could that haven't, and we'd ring the bell quickly over there if we were to do it. But the water shit seems to be the scariest. I mean, for me, as somebody that not the greatest swimmer, you know, we all have our jokes, potentially end up in jail. I would have never chosen to swim. I'm not good in water. but that feels like the scariest part of Bud's for you whenever you're... I don't know if it was the scariest part for me. I was very comfortable in the water, but if you could be the greatest guy, you could have that mindset, the mental fortitude we're looking for, that mental courage, that physical courage, all those things we're looking for, the team ability, make it all the way through Hell Week, get to the second phase, which is dive phase, and that's where we want to really see if you're comfortable in the water, get to pool comp, and then you have to say goodbye to some really good guys because they're just not comfortable in the water.

2:00:24That eliminates. Yeah.

2:00:25Pat McAfee:It's crazy. I assume that he's a great eliminator there. Okay, we're going to flip you upside down in this pool. You're not going to be able to get out, and you're going to be blindfolded. You do that, smash them up against the bottom of the pool, hit them in the ribs a couple times. They exhale some air, pull the regulator out of their mouth, and it's the old school one that comes around like this. You can tie it in a knot. And then see how you just calm yourself and go through the procedures to get going again, and then you get hit again. It's about 15 minutes worth of that on the bottom of the pool until the instructors are like, yeah, this guy's comfortable.

2:00:54Bring in the next one.

2:00:55Pat McAfee:That is literally the, let's see if this guy's got the cut of the jib or not. That's not Hell Week. Yeah, that's after Hell Week. Yeah, I made it through Hell Week. We got a lot of respect for you guys. Now, bottom of this point, we're going to beat the shit out of you guys, man. Boom, punch him in the ribs a couple times. Let's make sure we get that air out of you, man. Yeah, we want you to feel like you are drowning. You are drowning, by the way. We see if you can imagine. I love that part because that's the only time in Bud's it's like you against the instructor. The rest of the time, you're just going to yell that.

2:01:19You're doing push-ups and sit-ups. You're being told you're the worst recruit ever, like that sort of a thing. but pool comp, it's like, okay, now it's you and me. Same thing with a thing called life-saving. They have the instructors out in the pool and they're each doing something different. Like one's being aggressive and fighting you. Another one's just dead weight and they're different body shapes and all that stuff. You got to swim out and bring them back. But that's also another time where you get to put your hands on an instructor and it's like, all right, let's go. So those are very few and far between those times when you get to do something like that in Buds and I love those.

2:01:47Pat McAfee:I don't know if you know this. I played a drill instructor in a movie. Did you hear about it? I heard about, yeah, it's a mosquito bowl, right? Yeah. Pete Berg is doing that. I love Pete. He's awesome. He came up to the house, played ping pong with my youngest. He's great. What a legend. Yeah, he's fantastic. Obviously an incredible storyteller. He loves the military. Obviously does a lot of war movies. Getting a chance to be the drill instructor. I went down to Parris Island. I got a chance to watch him for a few days. What a wild life. I mean, we're talking about three hours of sleep. And also, we are the example of what the greatest could look like.

2:02:16Pat McAfee:And we're on ass all day, every day. Incredible talkers as well. I mean, the way you got to put words together to tell people they're the fucking worst, but also we need them is it was quite an honor, man. It was I know, obviously, Marines is under the Navy and everything like that. You guys have a relationship and I've never been out to Bud's and what you guys do in San Diego and wherever else that happens at. But going through Parris Island, just the amount of just the level of just respect, obviously, is heightened even more so once you see it in person. Oh, it's amazing. Pete sent me some pictures from set and it looks awesome.

2:02:50that movie but uh there's something in us i think between let's say age like 10 and 18 somewhere in there because uh we used to have to prove ourselves to the community to the tribe uh to your family to show that you could provide value and otherwise your tribe your community wasn't going to last much longer and that's still in us and marine boot camp in particular is something that draws young men to both test themselves and to prove that they can add value to this country and uh and and that's one that uh that i think high school in particular these days that is the calling Marine boot camp, like, okay, Paris Island, I am going.

2:03:21And there's such history right there. But there's a calling, I think, inside all of us to test ourselves somehow. And Marine Corps boot camp is really the real test. It's a crucible.

2:03:30Pat McAfee:Hoorah, brother. The crucible is the end of that thing. And that's actually the final test that they have to get through. It's like a four-day, three-day process where obviously they're not sleeping. You've got to get through the entire thing. And it was an honor to be down there. And then, obviously, the yellow footsteps and the history and Mike. It was really cool. it was an honor to be a part of your guys's world for a tiny little portion and uh yeah i'll be excited to see your thoughts on me as that i think i did pretty i saw the pictures it looks good it looks like i shaved my face now because i started to shave my face oh yeah they shaved it on set there first time like in my life that uh i mean i guess like the third time that i've shaved my face you're gonna do a good one time was for a vince mcmahon yep i was gonna be vince mcmahon on wwe on a throwback nice hey they were having this entire thing i get there it was during COVID, I get down there and they're like, hey, we're doing a throwback night.

2:04:20Pat McAfee:Everybody's going to act like somebody. We wonder if you would be Vince McMahon. Vince McMahon is there. I'm like, absolutely. Holy hell. I'm just going to yell the entire night at people. I'm going to be Mr. McMahon the entire time. They shave my face, the whole thing. Michael Cole is looking like an asshole dressed like himself from back in the day. Then we shoot something. Baby blue talk. Then obviously, yeah, the baby blue talk is the whole thing. They just mail an hour before the show starts. No, we're not doing it. Everything's canned. It's like, I shaved my face. I shaved my face for this.

2:04:49Pat McAfee:You shaved my face for 10 years. Yeah, that's good. So then I grow my hair back immediately after that because my face is obviously not one that should be like that. And when I'm Irish, when I get fat, it all comes right here. So I put the beard on there. Got covered up. So doing this thing, I shave my face. I try to do it. I make my bed in the morning. Hey, I'm waking up early. I'm a 5 a.m.er now. I mean, it is. Nice. It has changed my entire life just witnessing the greatness that you guys have in the military. It has changed me completely. Yeah, I'm trying my best. Some of that stuff didn't take with me, like the making of the bed and the getting up early part.

2:05:17Those things didn't take. I feel that's my act of rebellion, though. A little bit of act of rebellion is by not letting some of the things take.

2:05:23Pat McAfee:And on my note, I wasn't yelled at to do it. When I played soccer, they would make us run as a penalty. So as an older lad, though, you won't see me running. It's like, nope, not doing that. Every time I was told to run, it was a bad time. So I think mentally that kind of affected us that played football, soccer. I think plenty of other sports. So making the bed, you, 18-year-old, 19-year-old, this shit needs to be tight. I can see how you as an adult go. I'm never doing that. Exactly, never doing that. AJ has the last question for you from Ohio, Jack. Yeah, Jack, honestly, I know we always ask you this, but what does the future look like?

2:05:58Are you going to stay in this realm? Do you think about branching out possibly, writing a rom-com possibly? Like my mom used to always read those books with the weird covers when I was growing up, like a novel where it's like a romantic situation? Novella. Those sell really well. So I consider it for half a second. But no, I think I'm going to stay with what I'm doing right now. I very deliberately, in the early novels, introduce characters that I would find interesting, that I think readers would find interesting, and that would be able to write books on their own. And so this is the first one, Cry Havoc, the dad, but also the grandfather, World War II, post-World War II, the Hastings family in Rhodesia.

2:06:35Two, three generations there to explore. So I have all that. And then I have some other projects here outside the Terminalist universe out there. a couple in Hollywood, a couple in publishing, and the next nonfiction. I go right from book tour into some research for that, and that one will get announced here in the next few months. But always working, always expanding. I always want to expand that readership because really today, readers have dropped off, and it's not making anybody better when they're sitting on their phone instead of opening a book. And really today, an act of rebellion, like we talked about being a rebel, is reading and to rebel against the digital tyranny that's out there that's affecting everybody, but particularly young people in junior high, high school, those very formative years.

2:07:15You want to be a rebel today, you pull out a book instead of the phone. Digital tyranny.

2:07:19Pat McAfee:I love everything you just said right there, the way you described that. Before we let you go, Jack, we'd like you to pick tonight's game. Giants are hosting the Eagles. The Eagles just lost their first game of the season against the Denver Broncos. They lost the fourth quarter of that game, 18-zip, kind of just gave the game away. Not normal for them. They're currently the Super Bowl champs. So there's a chance that with a four-day break, they could come back and really just want to beat that ass. This would be a good team to potentially beat that ass of. They're 1-4. They just lost to the Saints.

2:07:49Pat McAfee:Quarterback for the Saints, Spencer Rattler, he has started 11 games. His only win was against the Giants on Sunday. So both teams kind of have a little bit of want to get a bad taste out of their mouth. 7.5 points the Eagles are favored by. So that means at the beginning of this game, it is negative 7.5 to 0. The Giants are in the lead. I don't know how much you know about sports gambling. Who do you think wins and who do you think covers? I'm going to go with the Giants here because they're – I like the underdog story. So even if it's by a degree, I'm going to go for them. Do you know the quarterback at all?

2:08:20Pat McAfee:I do not. You would love the quarterback. And then the running back, Scadaboo, you would love the running back. We've got a lot of mocks here, quarterback and running back. Tough guys. Nice. I like it then. Running back, kind of undersized. Head, though, the size of very big guy. And he will run through somebody's face, the running back. He's a rookie. Yeah, he's great. I love it. I remember back in the day, just playing football in the mud, and Marcus Allen going over the top when we were little kids, you know, doing that, another smaller guy. Always practicing that, going over the top. Okay, so maybe Scaboo flies around.

2:08:47Pat McAfee:Okay, so you have the New York Giants plus 7.5. Let's do it. A.J. Hawk has the New York Giants plus 7.5, and then I have the Eagles at minus 7 because there is a little better line somewhere else for me on the other side. I think Nick Sirianni is a good leader. I think he has a great team. I think they got embarrassed. I think they're going to improve it. And on that note, a complete opposite could happen to him with the era of the Giants. That's why football is greatest. And so is Cry Havoc, the latest from the legend that is Jack Hart. Now, not only is he a New York Times bestseller, but he's also a series creator that is award-winning.

2:09:20Pat McAfee:Not just one of them, multiple. And then movies are going to follow suit. And whenever this guy dabbles in nonfiction, go ahead and take a seat and learn something you need to know. This Jack Hart brain is a special one, and it's on display in the Vietnam version. and cry have it. Available now. Man, that was good. Well done. I feel like I really fucking hit that one. You did. I feel like you really knocked that out of the place. That's probably the best line you said today. Okay. I said a lot of lines today. That was amazing. But it felt good. You know, because we do move some books here. Oh, yeah.

2:09:47Pat McAfee:You guys are awesome. We had a book club here for multiple years. It was, if you go just strictly off of people that purchase shirts, the Aaron Rodgers book club, I think we're the second largest book club in America. Obviously, Oprah had hers. We had multiple, I think we had like four or five thousand people a part of our book club so a lot of people assume because we are i am i'll speak for myself no a bit of a dipshit that we would not have a lot of book readers that watch but i think i think we do and i think this one is going to be one that our people are going to love thank you thank you oh hey oh yeah look at that look at the stage oh is that brad Coop?

2:10:28Pat McAfee:No, that's not Bradley Cooper. You might recognize him from episode four in the tunnel sequence. I got stitched up the side in this one and go down. I got a little stuntman pay, which was pretty cool. And you got, and didn't you get shot in the head in the first one? Shot in the first one. Got a little shootout with Chris Pratt. Exactly. This time I got out of a car. So first time I don't get out of the car, had that shootout with Chris Pratt. But I had to tell him ahead of time I said if this was going to go down in real life, it would end up a little different. I'm going to make sure we're clear about that.

2:10:53Pat McAfee:Just so we understand, this is acting. Real life, I take that thing. You got two in your forehead before you even get to me. We filmed the one for True Believer, too, for the next one. That one's probably my best death sequence yet. Okay. There we go. I don't love seeing you die all the time, but I do appreciate it means you're celebrating another successful story being told. Thank you. Congrats to you. Thank you for stopping by. Tonight's a big one, AJ. Hopefully you, Jack, and the Giants fans have something to celebrate, and that's just keeping it within seven and a half. That's right. We don't even need to win.

2:11:23Pat McAfee:Let's just keep this thing close against the Eagles and maybe we'll have some hope. Is that accurate, Bruce? Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty sick of the moral victories, but I would certainly take a cover tonight after what the Yankees did last night. Well, what about also, not just the Yankees. Come on, let's make sure we fully tell the story here. The Knicks had Giannis, chose not to. Rangers could have started the season a little better. They lose 3-0 to a team that's literally, allegedly washed in the coach. Can't even speak. And you talk about the Jets, worst of all time. Islanders, I guess, have a chance to maybe make some things right for the entire area, but they're on Long Island.

2:11:57Pat McAfee:and they're not even considered out there. So all sports bad. Tonight could be good for you is what you're saying. Matt's also missed the playoffs. Oh, my gosh. That's$750 million. Yeah, no. Lion King's off Broadway. It's stark days. It's stark days. I don't think we have to drag the Knicks into this. They haven't even lost a game yet. Could have had you honest. You lost. You lost. You lost Greek freak. That's all I want. Liberty got bounced from the playoffs. They did. Speaking of, the Aces are looking to sweep the Mercury in the WNBA finals. Asia Wilson goes for 34 points last night. I forget what it is.

2:12:28Pat McAfee:And puts them up 3-0 against the Mercury. Ishbia's team over there in Phoenix obviously got a$100 million practice facility built up within the last couple years. Obviously, they're in the finals. It's all working. But the Aces are just saying this is our league. It will be until further notice. They're up 3-0. That could be a clean sweep, AJ. That could be a clean sweep in the finals. We'll see. We'll see if Phoenix can find a way to make this thing a series, right? Yeah. We will see. We will see. Well said. Thank you. Thank you. We will. I did watch that last play. It was amazing when she hit that game winner.

2:13:01Yeah, when Asia hit that. Asia's unbelievable. I was watching this real time.

2:13:04Pat McAfee:Asia is legitimately unbelievable. Now, on that note, we were certainly saying that Caitlin Clark was going to become the best in the league. Asia said, I don't think so. I'm seven inches taller than Caitlin, and I can go to work. And this Aces team, they're used to being at the top. Now, they traded away Kelsey Plum and didn't know if they were going to be able to get back there. They are. Congrats to them. And if Phoenix can come back being down 3-0, you're talking about one of the greatest comebacks and maybe chokes of all kinds. Yeah, essentially. Rushmore on X, available now at Rushmore on X.

2:13:30Pat McAfee:We're going to get out of here. A lot of travel. A lot of travel. A lot of travel. Safe travels. We'll be back tomorrow. You're right. Safe travels. We'll be back tomorrow. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living. You're the greatest people on earth. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. Buy this book. It's available now. Cry Havoc by Jack Carr. Team on me. Jack, you got anything to say to the team here? Oh, man, you guys keep crushing and firing everybody up. It's bigger than you guys, and you guys are the frigging best. Boom. Thank you, Jeff.

2:13:59Pat McAfee:That's amazing. Yes. God damn, I needed that. Keep your hand up, though. Strengthen on. Strengthen on. Keep your hand up. Keep your hand up. All right, team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for$15 a month is back, so I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills, but it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required.

2:14:34$15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. MLB.tv on ESPN is your home for every out-of-market game, live or on demand. Catch your favorite teams and players, plus MLB Network and ESPN app features like Multiview, syncing your stats, key plays, bets, and fantasy all in one place. Sign up now for MLB.tv in the ESPN app. Separate subscriptions required, blackouts, and other terms apply. Visit stream.espn.com slash MLB TV for more information.

From the publisher

On today's show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys preview tonight’s Thursday Night Football game between the Eagles and Giants, and look back at last night’s magnetic night of baseball, before covering all the other stories floating around the NFL as they prepare for week 6 of the NFL. They are also joined by several great guests including ESPN NBA Insider, Shams Charania to break some NBA news, the GOAT, play-by-play announcer for the NFL on Prime, Al Michaels to chat about tonight’s game, Super Bowl Champion and former Head Coach of the Packers and Cowboys, Mike McCarthy to give his biggest takeaway’s from week 5 and preview tonight’s Thursday Night Football game. Lastly, retired Navy Seal Sniper, New York Times best selling author, and creator of the Terminal List series, Jack Carr joins the progrum to chat about his new book. Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you, we’ll see you on Overreaction Monday. Cheers.
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