PMS 2.0 1441 - TNF Preview, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, Nebraska Head Coach Matt Rhule, Pete Thamel, Mike McCarthy, & AJ Hawk

15:24Pat McAfee:Because I think a lot of people have said, Scott's the athletic director for a reason. You're going to have people that aren't in athletics now making an athletics decision. Do you view it that way? And why do you think that is kind of how it's going to go?

15:36Jeff Landry:Look, let's unpackage that. Let's talk about number one, there's a number of bad contracts that seem to have followed Scott Woodard. OK, number two, his agent and Brian Kelly's agent are the same agent. That's something else that's misinformation out there. I believe that Armstrong represents them both. I don't even know if Armstrong represents some of our players in the legal profession. That is called a conflict of interest. How can I trust my athletic director who whose agent also represents some of the candidates that are out there? You would think that if the Board of Supervisors gave, what are the list of five coaches that are looking to come to LSU?

16:16Jeff Landry:And three or two or one of those coaches is the same agent that he has. Who do you think is going to make that list? That is a problem in college sports. Look, in the NFL, those agents are capped at 3%. I think in the MLB, they are. In the NCAA, there's no cap. And these are kids that we're dealing with. These are young people. Pat, it's time for the NCAA to start putting some guardrails around all this money. They are ruining one of the best sports in America. I mean, college football is the quintessential of football in America. And there's no guardrails.

16:54Pat McAfee:I love that you are the Louisiana governor and you love college football. Feels like that should be a prerequisite. Feels like that probably should be in a lot of those states down there in the SEC. because, you know, it is different down there with how you're raised. And every place is a cult. I mean, that is just, that is literally how it is down there because there's no professional sports. What you were saying about the guardrails for all this money, you know, that is something that I think everybody that is involved with college football says, yes, we need that. We need that. But they all say, DC needs to do something.

17:25Pat McAfee:You guys are saying the NCAA, but everybody that's in the sport says, we need DC to put some federal ruling into this thing if we actually wanted to make it work. Will this be something that maybe Governor Jeff Landry maybe takes on with the back pocket?

17:40Jeff Landry:Well, look, I'm hoping that we can create a contract with a great coach at LSU that can be the template. Maybe that's what needs to break in order for somebody to come over here and say, listen, we're going to start building contracts based on performance-based. I have no problem compensating these coaches, even at the level that we're talking about, as long as we're winning. The problem with the NCAA and Congress, look, I've been in Congress. Look, politicians love to kick the can down the road. It makes me a little difference. I don't like it. I like to step on a can. I like to solve the problem.

18:09Jeff Landry:But maybe the NCAA and Congress should hold a meeting and say, OK, who's in charge here? But the NCAA could absolutely. There's no reason that they cannot step in and create the guardrails. They've got great lawyers. They pay them a lot of money. OK, look through the federal guidelines. is look at what the Supreme Court says and come up with some guardrails. Somebody just has to step up.

18:32Pat McAfee:Yeah, somebody has to step on a can, you know, instead of cans kind of going back and forth here. And if we know anything about both parties, just as somebody that's not been involved in D.C. or in the NCAA, outside looking in, not a lot of hope in either of you. But hopefully that could be different. Hopefully that could be different, Governor Jeff Landry. We can hope that's the case. Last question here. You just talked about you're not worried about paying a guy or a woman or a coach, whoever you hire, an amount of money if they're winning. I would like to let you know, and you probably know this, the guy that did the Texas A &M deal, that agent over there, he reps a lot of coaches.

19:07Pat McAfee:He's got a lot of coaches. I think a couple of the coaches that you probably want down there, the Baton Rouge are going to be in there. When you say setting the template, what do you mean by that? Legitimately, what do you mean by that?

19:17Jeff Landry:Well, legitimately, I think that everyone is in agreement here in the state of Louisiana that the next coach that we hire is going to have a patently different contract. If that agent can't see what's coming down the pipe and the way that, look, these big name coaches, they're big names because they win. What are they afraid of? Right? If you're the best, you shouldn't have to worry. You say, guess what? I'm putting my reputation on the line. And when I win, this is how much money I want. There's no guarantee. The way the contracts are structured now, tells the guy, listen, in five years, see my guitar to do it.

19:49Jeff Landry:He's like, he doesn't have to worry about coaching because he's like, look, as long as I kind of go through the motions, I get another five years at$10 million a year. That's not a bad gig, Pat. If y 'all boys over there are giving great entertainment to ESPN and we don't enjoy watching y 'all, which we absolutely do, guess what happens? You lose sponsors. That's the free market.

20:08Pat McAfee:All right. I appreciate where your head's at. I think you're up against it, though, Governor. I just want to let you know. I think you're up against it. I appreciate the fact that you're in a position, though, to potentially drive some change in all these things to make our sports world even better. But I think it's a freight train that's already kind of been run away, Governor.

20:27Jeff Landry:I know, but Pat, listen, every one of you all, okay, all of the sports commentators, everyone who's in sports, and even former coaches, have been consistently saying this. And current coaches. And I give it some current coaches, too.

20:40Pat McAfee:Yeah. Yes, yes. Everybody's saying, somebody's got to do it, though, Governor. Somebody needs a kick. Hey, somebody step on a can, Governor. Step on a can. You're the man, boy. We're stepping on the can. Hey, we appreciate you joining us and explaining yourself a little bit more. It's crazy that the taxpayers, the state, are on the hook for that contract if somebody doesn't pay it. I wonder how normal that is. That's insane to hear, actually. And I can see why the governor would be like, ho, ho, this guy, he's got ruins a Saturday in Baton Rouge. We lose to Texas A &M by 50. This guy ruins everybody's life.

21:11Pat McAfee:And then we got to up taxes. Who did the contract? yeah that is a that is a hilarious turn of events we appreciate you looking into it hopefully you can drive some change to make sure this sport that you're saying could potentially be getting ruined ratings are only up and to the right governor things are only getting better just the back end needs cleaned up good luck out there in your fight on that and everything else and also gator hunt good luck out there with the gator hunt i listen come on with us pat thank you so much we love watching y 'all guys you're the man ladies and gentlemen governor jeff line yeah governor that guy's a character the best certainly that guy is an absolute character yeah he is just himself like what he's saying though as you see him is how he is in every room that i've seen him and gumpy's seen him in a couple different rooms we go down to lsu uh obviously and i say this again anytime you can go somewhere with coach saban you know when he's maybe i don't want a national championship there or six of them sure okay any of those types of things and you can just kind of happened to just kind of sidecar that thing you should do that and we got to do that at lsu you know i met some of these people that are potentially gonna have to step up so taxpayers don't have to pay 53 million dollars or whatever the case is because coach saban obviously old friends with a lot of the people there that's where he before he goes to alabama or before he goes to miami he's at lsu wins a national championship there and then the way they talk about governor jeff lander okay because that was in the middle of having a live tiger on the sideline okay so that was a big conversation governor jeff landry with governor then he was out and then governor jeff landry back in and then governor jeff landry said my childhood my some of my my best moments for my family when when that what's the tiger's name mike mike mike the tiger will roar the place will go crazy i want to tiger back on the sideline and they're like well we can't do that obviously we got mike outside the stadium in his own sanctuary but inside the stadium they said because of the loud and everything they don't like i won't we want a tiger dude only let's get a tiger and that was happening the week game day was going down so i literally just learned in this man's existence and also a governor just being like i don't care i want a live tiger and then inevitably live tiger was out now there was a full conversation about how many potential tigers there were because there was uh protests happening that could have potentially stop tigers from getting to sidelines so i i think there was potentially a situation happening but governor jeff landry the people that i talked to in louisiana and i don't think it matters what the rest of the country thinks what anybody the people that i talked to they're talking about jeff landry like hey jeff's his own guy but jeff gets shit done that is literally what jeff does and i think it takes a lot of pride in the state of louisiana you can hear the way he talks to hear the way he acts every single time he talks like that and are we as the rest of the world going to agree with everything that the governor of louisiana has to say or how he operates i would doubt louisiana is its own country okay that is they're not the only state that's their own country but louisiana is i mean we purchased it i don't have to go back to the entirety of it all but louisiana is a special place it is a dynamic place it is a unique place and it's like i appreciate the fact that his big thing was like we gotta pay for this guy as well he he taking his mercedes back i don't think so yeah no consequences for the guy that hired him yeah or Jimbo yeah exactly uh well so we know the guy that represented Jimbo out there in Texas and we know that he doesn't represent Brian Kelly no and uh so whenever he was look it up if I'm mistaken this guy everywhere and now this guy is everywhere when they talk about Jimmy Sexton and they're representing a coach's business and hey who's going where and everything like that but he just there was a there was a moment of clarity in there that had to be made like hey jimmy ain't now this guy though he also has got nussmeyer i think allegedly the trace the trace arm yeah so you're talking about and that's what he and the governor's reading through this contract who who negotiated this guy got ad coach and quarterback we're getting ahead but also to

25:17Matt Rhule:he said like he's not making the hire yeah uh he's responsible for the two biggest buyouts ever in

25:22Pat McAfee:college football history the ad is yes woodward yeah yeah crazy stuff all right well i'm excited to hear what people say he was wrong about in that conversation we just had with him and then that goes right to what jeopardy said last night uh which i guess you know this all kind of came together within the last 25 minutes and we didn't piece it together but uh i've had the incredible opportunity to do a lot of things the boys and i have gotten an opportunity to be in some wild places uh we made an appearance last night in a world that we're not supposed to be in please run at Foxy?

25:51Matt Rhule:More than a football player for$600.

25:54Jeff Landry:A former all-pro punter, he's had some controversial guests on his self-named ESPN talk show. Aaron? It was McAfee. That's right.

26:01Pat McAfee:Thank you, Aaron. Hey, thank you, Aaron. Controversial guests. I think they were trying to say, hey, we don't love everything this show is about without completely burying me. You know, like the show, I think they were trying to balance that. We'd like to say to the Jeopardy people, thank you for letting us see your word. That's a huge deal. I shit my pants. Yeah. That was a big one. I get it. I got a text from somebody, Jeopardy. And I was like, man, I'm missing the nice show, dude. And they're like, no, you were on there. I'm like, what? That's a wild moment for us, dude. That is. And then we just have the governor of Louisiana.

26:34Pat McAfee:And he goes, we didn't start fixing this. The NCAA can do this. I don't know. I don't know if they can.

26:40Matt Rhule:I remember we had Charlie Baker maybe a little over a year ago in studio. And like you said, that was his whole thing. He was like, yeah, we kind of need the government to spearhead this. Like, we can't really do this. So it seems like, like you said, the NCAA and, you know, D.C. are kind of just pointing at each other saying, hey, you guys need to fix it and you need to fix it now. So I don't know if it's going to get done anytime soon.

27:01Pat McAfee:I have no idea either, but good luck to all parties. It's a lot to get figured out. You got this. You got TV contracts. You got coaches' contracts. You got, I mean, players' contracts. You got billions and billions and billions of dollars. let alone the hundreds and thousands of tickets that are just sold in some places or i mean it's so much such a massive entity such a massive entity just be like we can corral it let alone when you start tossing in all the others basketball yeah yeah uh women's softball down there in sec and uh i guess big 12 right because yeah yeah the whole thing so and then you start thinking about these sports like where some of the teams make a lot of money some of the other teams don't make a lot of money.

27:46Pat McAfee:How do you kind of corral that? How do you corral all of it? Governor Jeff Landry got that. He's going to step on that can. He ain't kicking that thing down the road. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who just secured another bag via Pete Thamel's tweet. There's some breaking news out of the college football world. Nebraska coach Matt Rule signed a two-year contract extension this morning, which will take him through the 2032 season. It includes a$15 million buyout this year that effectively eliminates him from any jobs in this coaching cycle. Interesting wording for Pete. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, the head coach of Nebraska, managing signed two-year extension this morning, Matt Rule.

28:26Pat McAfee:Hey, coach! What's up, fellas? Congratulations. I know, obviously not the best outcome. We don't want that. We want to win by 100 every single time. But congratulations on an extension with Nebraska. How'd we get to this point? How long has this been in the works? And congrats. You watched us read Pete Dammel's tweet. I don't think he was as celebratory as he should be. Congratulations to you, bro. Hey, ran your ass out of Carolina, bro. Signing a new deal with Nebraska. Congratulations.

28:54Jeff Landry:No, thank you very much. Yeah, I mean, we were on, I think, two weeks ago, and we talked about it. And I just, you know, I told you guys, we love it here. You know, and to me, there's lots of great jobs. But very rarely in this business do you find a home. And we felt like Nebraska was our home. This program's our home. I love these players. I love this place. R.A.D. Troy Dannen has been amazing to me. Our president, Dr. Gold. I mean, it's just the alignment. I mean, you see places that don't have alignment. We got amazing alignment, and we're building. And so I think after about week three, Troy started talking to me about it, and I just was like, hey, I just got to focus on football.

29:31Jeff Landry:But I appreciate it. They're betting on the future, and we're doubling down.

29:35Pat McAfee:Congrats, man. That's very cool to hear. Yeah. You've been this way about Nebraska since you got there. I think you were very excited. There was other jobs that you could have had, And you also could have just become a professional golfer like some fired coaches have in the past and collected the check in it all. I'm excited that you're back in a place that you absolutely love over there in Nebraska. Fresh off beating Northwestern. Congrats on a big-time win. Obviously, Northwestern had been shocking a lot of people. Got James Franklin's ass fired up there in Penn State. Now you have huge game, obviously.

30:03Pat McAfee:USC at home, 7.30 on NBC. What's the mindset as you look down the last four games here, which are all pretty big down the stretch for your Nebraska Cornhuskers?

30:14Jeff Landry:Yeah, I think the thing that our team has learned, and I think we unfortunately learned it the hard way at Minnesota, and then it's like, hey, parity isn't here at college football. In the NFL, if you have a winning record, you're probably going to make the playoffs. We're pretty close. I mean, you know, 9-8 is a good season. 10-7 is a good season. Parity isn't college football. I mean, look at the teams that are in the top 10 that weren't there years ago. So every single week, you've got to show up and play. I mean, you know, the days of beating people, 45, some people are doing it, but not. I mean, I'm watching Texas the other night come back to win.

30:44Jeff Landry:I'm watching Alabama come back to win. It's just you've got to show up every single week. And so we have four chances left. And this Saturday, you know, obviously, it's an amazing opportunity for us to play a great USC team that's 5-2, and they're probably the best offense I think I've ever seen. So it'll be a lot of fun.

31:00Pat McAfee:You talk about the offense. I mean, you're talking about one man, Lincoln Riley. Go ahead, Con Man.

31:05Matt Rhule:Yeah, Coach, how's your relationship with Lincoln Riley? I believe you guys go back to the Baylor OU days, and you might have played a few times. I am not 100 % sure about that, just like most things. But how do you approach an offense like that? Do you go back and look at all the games he called both at Oklahoma and with Caleb Williams and things of that nature? And how are you feeling going up against a guy that was such an offensive guru for so many years?

31:32Jeff Landry:Yeah, I think he's brilliant. I think he's a great guy. He was the offensive coordinator at East Carolina when I was at Temple as the head coach. So, I mean, going all the way back to, he had a great offense at East Carolina. And then obviously at OU and Baylor, so I had a chance to go against him there. And I think he's one of the best offensive minds in football. And he does it so many different ways. You know, he played one way with Baker. The next year he had Kyler Murray played a different way. The next year he had Jalen Hurts and revamped his offense. But at the end of the day, he always scores points.

31:59Jeff Landry:They run the football. And so, you know, for us, there's no secret formula. We've got to play well. We're going to have to play well on offense, defense. We've been playing great on special teams. We have to keep that up. And you'll get to the fourth quarter. Hopefully it's, you know, in the 20s. It's freezing cold here Saturday night. And then I'll get to the fourth quarter and be ready to just go make one more play.

32:19Pat McAfee:It does feel like it's starting to become Big Ten weather time. You know, it's raining this morning. The leaves are falling. You know, we've had these beautiful, majestic, orange, pink leaves like the last two weeks or so. it has been great this morning rain wind goodbye bare ass trees terrible weather coming is it like

32:41Jeff Landry:that in nebraska right now as well oh yeah um you know so i so i wear shorts every day pat and we don't i don't use the indoor and if i ever can't handle the cold i'm like all right guys let's go in the indoor so that's like my my barometer and yesterday it was so it was so cold yesterday that i walked over to holgerson i was like dana do you want to go inside and he said no i love out here i was like oh my gosh i mean it was debilitatingly cold and windy so you know but that's again you've heard me complain like that's football like it wasn't meant to be played all the time every game wasn't meant to be played indoors or in the sun like you got to deal with this and

33:11Pat McAfee:so i'm fired up to be in this type of weather now dana you want to go inside or no no this is good you let me down dc dc said same thing man everybody i just asked dylan i said dylan you I'm going to go and say, he said no. I'm like, what is your guys' problem? What is your guys' problem? It's freezing cold out here. Saturday during the day, 47 degrees. Nighttime, 31. Winds, light and variable. Good for kickers. Don't know where the hell they're coming from. Don't worry about it. And then obviously, 81 % humidity is going to make it a little chill. That's going to make a little bit of a sting on the face there whenever we talk about below freezing.

33:48Pat McAfee:Congratulations to you guys getting USC in Nebraska in that weather. Tone has a question for you.

33:53Matt Rhule:Yeah, Coach, I don't mean to go back to the loss to Minnesota, but Coach Saban always talks to us on this show about teams that – like his team specifically and then other teams that this year needed to lose. After that loss to Minnesota, was that something that was needed for your guys and what was the message after that?

34:10Jeff Landry:Yeah, I mean, honestly, I was pissed off after that game because I felt like – I think P.J. Fleck's a great coach. I think he's got eight years there, wherever he's been there, eight, nine years of establishing a culture. And I felt like as a team, we did not respect the process and how hard that game was going to be. And so it's 7-6 at halftime, and we're in the locker room despondent. And I'm like, what's wrong with you guys? This is what football is like. And so I thought we had to come. I didn't want to lose, but we came out of that loss, and then they bullied us in the fourth quarter. And they were very receptive to the message on Sunday and Monday.

34:43Jeff Landry:Like, hey, every game is going to be hard. We're going to have to battle every single game, get to the fourth quarter. So we go in at halftime this week and it's 7-6 again. Now we're up this time 7-6, but I walked in the locker room. I'm like, who are you going to be in the second half? And we got a 15-point lead. They came back, tied it up, and we go down and win the game at the end. And that's the type of team that you need in college football now. Resilient, humble, because it's just travel. There's weather. There's good teams. There's NIL. There's parity. You better battle every single week.

35:12Jeff Landry:And I wasn't happy after Minnesota at all.

35:14Pat McAfee:Okay, everything's still in front of you though, right? You're telling your team, obviously. Now, let's look at the final four games. USC, if you're able to get a win, you will be able to get a win. We're talking to the head coach on the team. That would be obviously huge. UCLA, obviously a win. You would like to have that. That would be a good win, but they've been playing good ball as well. Penn State, obviously, before the season looks different than it does now. And if Iowa next week is to beat Oregon, that game at the end of the year, obviously pretty gigantic. You go back to your first game of the season, Cincinnati's become a very, very, very big team.

35:46Pat McAfee:It's like all of a sudden everything literally still in front of you, Coach Rule, right? That's the angle. At least that's the you're seeing the same thing I'm seeing.

35:53Jeff Landry:Absolutely. I mean, you know, our whole goal as a program is to come down to this time of year, get to November and be relevant, you know, be chasing getting into the playoff, be chasing all these things. And so, you know, USC has that same hope. Iowa has that same hope. They're both at five and two and six and two. And that's that's the parody of the Big Ten. And so, you know, to your point, like we beat Cincinnati and they're a highly ranked team I mean, we've had some good moments, but it's all about what you do in November. You know better than anybody else, right? So all that stuff got you ready for this point.

36:23Jeff Landry:Everything's in front of you. Now go play great football, and this is an unbelievable challenge this week versus a great team, and we'll be ready for it.

36:30Pat McAfee:Still being in it is a great thing, brother. Ty has a question for you. Iowa Hawkeye, obviously.

36:35Matt Rhule:Yeah, speaking of all that, Coach, how much has it changed in terms of, like, the coaching staff's mentality, your mentality, and the players with the new 12-team playoff? Because like you said, I mean, obviously after the Minnesota loss, you know, things change a little bit. But you guys do still have everything ahead of you. Whereas, you know, maybe a couple years ago when you were at Baylor or whatever, if you have two losses at this point, you know, you're eliminated. You're not going anywhere. Like, how has that changed maybe how you approach things philosophically and also how the team just kind of approaches the game week in, week out?

37:10Jeff Landry:Yeah, I think there's a good and a bad to it, right? Like, you've seen a lot of teams in college football. Like they lose that second game and all of a sudden they go on a four game, you know, skid. Cause like, well, the season's over, you know, you know, our approach has been get better and better and better and play our best football in November, play our best football in December. Like, Hey, that's we're training the guys to go be pro football players. That's how it's going to be at the next level. And that's how college football has become. You know, I was on the Penn state football team in 1994 that, that went undefeated won the Rose bowl, beat Oregon 38 six and didn't win a national championship.

37:42Jeff Landry:The national championship we said came here to Nebraska. and that was a really different world back then. And then at Baylor, we finished 11-1. We go to the conference championship game against Oklahoma. We lose in overtime, and we don't get to go to the playoff. So it's the access, I think, has made football much more enjoyable and fun to watch coming down the stretch here because there's so many teams that are still alive. You just got to play your way in, and we're going to fight to play our way in.

38:06Pat McAfee:You got a nice black long-sleeved shirt on there. I got a black Henley on here, and I just saw on social media of the boys are going to black ops this weekend. I like that. What is the thought? And what is this going to look like in your state? Are we going blackout in the crowd too?

38:24Jeff Landry:Yes, our crowd is going to blackout. It's great. We wanted to do it. We wanted to do it. The players wanted to do it. The recruits wanted to do it. And we kind of felt early on, hey, this will be a night game. I think blackouts look great at night, obviously. And so there's nothing better in the world than a night game in Lincoln, Nebraska, except for maybe a blackout night game in Lincoln, Nebraska. We're going to we're going to go out there and we're going to throw the uniforms on. I think it's going to be electric and it's going to be a great football game. So it's something we planned in the preseason and obviously the game has some real merit now so it'll be fun.

38:55Pat McAfee:Okay, so you don't have to give anything away. Do not feel obligated to answer this, but is there a man that was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt next to a guy wearing six different costumes this morning on GetUp giving maybe a speech on your Jumbotron?

39:08Jeff Landry:Oh, I bet he better be on the Jumbotron. You know, I mean like we need We need Willie C to come through big for us this game. It's going to take everybody. I got Tommy Frazier going out to be the honorary coin box captain. I mean, this is a fun, big moment for Nebraska to be playing a game in November on national TV, and it's not because of the other team. It's because of us and the other team. And so we're fired up about it, and we're calling on all the greats.

39:37Pat McAfee:biggest game in the rule nebraska era happening this weekend we appreciate you taking time brother enjoy the hell out of it all halloween uh best candy best candy oof oof oof oh think about it oh my god butterfinger wow what were you battling with what were you battling with there

40:02Jeff Landry:um well because i hate to admit that my daughters have those nerd clusters things

40:08Pat McAfee:i'm a chocolate guy as well i'm a chocolate guy as well yeah it's hard to admit that the

40:12Jeff Landry:little candies are pretty good those are unbelievable they're amazing amazing amazing too many huh you have it a lot well i mean i just i'll say that i try to lose all this weight we get the halloween week i've been on a bender since like monday we do like a julie does like a trunk or treat for all the coaches kids and i've just been eating candy non-stop yeah you're

40:32Pat McAfee:supposed to though supposed to hey this is part of it yeah you're supposed to live a little yeah don't worry about your butterfinger nerd clusters reese's oreos exist yeah i mean you do whatever the hell you need to do over there you've earned it okay i feel good about that thank you my first

40:45Jeff Landry:time being uh in shape at this so i'm not used to the rules so thank you well that's interesting so

40:50Pat McAfee:i'm also a guy that uh easy come easy go with the weight you know like 70 pound weight spins for me throughout entire years are very possible with how much I like to eat and how much I enjoy eating. You probably understand where I'm coming from when I say this. You just got to make sure after this week you have the ability to stop. See, that's the issue with us fatzos. Us fatzos would say, you know what? We'll do the Halloween week and then we'll feel like such shit in fatzos. We'll stop immediately. And guess what we do right there on Saturday when November comes? Well, we got to eat what we had last week and then Sunday.

41:24Pat McAfee:And then on Monday you think to yourself. I just ate like shit all last week. I might as well get. Let me get some fried juice.

41:28Matt Rhule:We're two weeks away from Thanksgiving so we might as well just wait until after. We'll start the new year.

41:33Pat McAfee:Okay, so we're putting a red light. We're putting a red light after Halloween. Okay, that's what we're all doing here. Thank you. Done. I'm in. Alright, I'll send a text. Account of Bill of Buddies. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Coach Matt Rule. Congrats on the new deal. There you go. That was cool of them to announce that five minutes before he comes on. Certainly. That was certainly on purpose. Yep. And we are very, very, very thankful for that. Because he usually says, what do you need? When do you need us? Is normally his conversation. And this time they're like, hey, how about 1230? Is that okay?

42:05Pat McAfee:It's like, yeah, no problem at all, actually. And then 1225, Pete Thamel pops up into our feed. Matt Rule just signed a new deal that maybe limits him from possibly not leaving. What was that? I don't know. What was it?

42:19Matt Rhule:You would think just announcing the extension would kind of get across that, hey, I'm not leaving this coaching cycle? Source says Nebraska coach Matt Rule

42:29Pat McAfee:signed a two-year contract extension this morning, which will take him through 2032 season, seven years from now. It includes a$15 million buyout. We're listening to Brian Kelly's$53 million buyout right now. $15 million buyout this year that effectively eliminates him from any jobs in this coaching cycle. Okay. It effectively does, but definitely. This is college football. Anything can happen. Please call Pete D 'Amico. I didn't know why I worded it that way. We certainly need that. Nebraska's not off the hook here yet. $15 million? We see some of these billionaires. Achoo that.

43:02Matt Rhule:It could turn into quite a quag bar. This could be quite a...

43:05Pat McAfee:Listen, the wording is quite a sticky situation. That's potentially what he's going to say.

43:10Matt Rhule:Yeah, he might say all of that verbatim.

43:12Pat McAfee:Okay, let's give actual predictions on what Pete Thamel says here. I'm going to say he's going to say something about, if you read the fine print of the contract, it's not necessarily a guarantee that he's not going to be exploring other options this offseason. It's just whether or not—that's why I think the angle. What do you think the angle's going to be?

43:31Matt Rhule:Probably something along the lines of, well, you mentioned these billionaires, Pat. $15 million, if I'm not mistaken. Doesn't Warren Buffett live in Omaha? That's a stone's throw away from Lincoln if they decide they want to move on. Connor, what do you think Pete Tamo says? I think he's going to be quite gobsmacked that they got this done in the middle of the year and it was only a two-year extension.

43:53Pat McAfee:Okay, we just connected with him. I was just cold FaceTiming him as well because we called him in the back. He did not answer. He's probably got so many other things happening. Because everybody that saw that is doing exactly what we're doing. But it's not just idiots that are live on TV. It's like other coaches that are looking for things. Agents are potentially looking for stuff. Schools are thinking of things. I mean, ladies and gentlemen, the authority on college football. the man that just broke the potential news that Matt Ruhle is out of the coaching cycle. Ladies and gentlemen, Pete Dammel.

44:20Pat McAfee:Yeah, Pete! Hello, Pete.

44:22Matt Rhule:Love glasses, Pete. Hi, Pat. How are you?

44:25Pat McAfee:I'm fantastic. Thank you for doing that news break about Coach Matt Ruhle literally three minutes before he came on our show. That was awesome. I was reading your tweet for the first time live on air. Found the wording to be very interesting. Nebraska coach Matt Ruhle signed a two-year contract extension this morning, which will take him through 2032 season at seven years from now it includes a 15 million dollar buyout this year that effectively eliminates him from any jobs in his coaching cycles so this effectively eliminates him mean definitely eliminates him or do you think he's still potentially dancing around this offseason no dancing pat no dancing effectively eliminates

45:03Matt Rhule:is just a phrase for tie to repeat in my voice uh i think it would have with a little bit of flair So you can't ever deal with absolutes in the carousel, but Matt Rule is staying. And this is a clear, searing sign that Matt Rule is going to be at Nebraska. And really, let's just be blunt, not go to Penn State where his closest friend is the athletic director. He's a graduate of there. And they were obviously heavily linked since that job opened. So, no, Matt Rule is going to be a Husker for a while. I was told, Pat, by sources, this is a sign of Matt Rule's family loves it in Lincoln. They love Nebraska.

45:36Matt Rhule:And Matt Ruhle believes that you can win big at that place, and this is a tangible sign of that.

45:40Pat McAfee:Every week he joins us, there's some massive 8K LED board behind. I mean, it is – the way he describes it is they're all in. I'm happy to hear that he's all in as well. Congrats to Matt Ruhle on a new deal. Let's talk about those coaching opens, vacancies. Who's going to go to all these places, dude? Like I know Lane Kiffin's name is obviously up there, but what if he wants to stay at Ole Miss because of how good they are currently at Ole Miss? Is this just going to be a reshuffling of these coaches? There's going to be young names? Who do you think is going to take all these jobs that everybody is calling highly sought-after jobs?

46:15Pat McAfee:Signetti signs a$93 million deal. Matt Rule signs a deal through 2032. Obviously, there's going to be other moves made. Who's going to take all these jobs, Pete? Is it these guys that just got fired going to other places?

46:28Matt Rhule:Yeah, I think, Pat, one of the interesting nuances of today is that, and you mentioned Kurt Zendetti, we're seeing the unintended consequences of all these early firings. We have never had eight power jobs open before Halloween, right? So now you're giving the schools ample time and ammo to sign these guys up at a deal. Whereas if you make this move around Thanksgiving, the schools probably aren't as proactive if they don't know the competition is looming. So it's an interesting wrinkle. Like, what will Vanderbilt do with Clark Lee? I think that's a really interesting question, right? Like, He's obviously, we were just there last week, Pat, for game day.

47:03Matt Rhule:He has them as hot as they've been since Grantland Rice was a student at Vanderbilt, right? So, yeah, I think that's really interesting. But your point, Pat, is really, really a salient one. There are a lot of jobs open. And the kind of coaches you fire your coach for are starting to disappear from the board. There's only three championship coaches sitting in college football right now. They're not going anywhere. And if you're doing what Penn State did, if you're doing what LSU did, you are going to, you know, you are aiming for a national championship. And there are a couple names off the board right now who are some of the better names to go do that.

47:42Matt Rhule:So I heard Jeff Landry on the show today, Pat. My phone started to blow up when I landed at the airport in Salt Lake. How'd that go?

47:49Pat McAfee:OK, so, yeah, it's Governor Jeff Landry. And by the way, he appoints the commission of the committee. he appoints the regents. No, that's Texas. Yeah, Board of Supervisors. Supervisor, Board of Supervisors. It is my people running that. And it ain't going to be our people paying that bill. Okay, so we ain't doing that again is basically what he said. He explained that. Now, he didn't know that maybe Jimbo and Brian Kelly and Scott Woodward have different agents. Okay, so that obviously Big Deluxe wanted to make sure we got that kind of clarity through that conversation and all. But he was very much open about how, like, hey, hey, this is going to become – he's going to be trying to put incentive-based contracts in for these coaches going forward.

48:31Pat McAfee:That is what he was saying, basically. It's like, if you're good, you're going to win. What are you scared about, baby? Is what he said. Perbative, what he said in this entire thing. What do you think the reality is of the shift of that potentially happening going forward? Because I tried to tell Governor, and listen, Governor Jeff Landry, he's obviously more in an order than I am about this particular situation. But I tried to tell him, like, hey, this is a freight train that's already gone, brother. He talked about how the NCAA needs to be the ones to fix it. And I told him, hey, the NCAA is saying you guys need to be the ones that are fixing it.

49:03Pat McAfee:And he goes, oh, well, the NCAA needs to reach out. They need to set the rules. So it feels like, you know, we are maybe meeting a melting pot at some point or a burning. Boiling point. There it is. A boiling point at some point here with all this shit. But what are your thoughts on it? And what do you think the reality of change is in all of it, Pete? I guess that's a pretty open-ender for you.

49:26Matt Rhule:Yeah, no, I appreciate it, Pat. It's a pretty hilarious, we could call it a vexing conundrum, right? You have a job without a school president. You have cut the knees off the athletic director, right, who's not going to hire the coach. So you need a coach desperately to fulfill championship expectations. But now, with no president and an AD who you've cut his knees out off, you want him to come without a lot of guaranteed money. That seems to me to be a bit of a contrast in thinking, right? Because – and you've compressed the market, too, by scaring some coaches off and then obviously, you know, prompting an economic stimulus to get some signs.

50:06Matt Rhule:So I think Governor Landry is likely not helping LSU find a better coach. Oh, what do you know, Pete? You're part of the problem now.

50:15Pat McAfee:You got to start looking at the agents with Pete now. There's one guy breaking all the news. There's one guy breaking all the news. I don't know. How many sports insiders here? None. There's only one named Pete Dammel. Who do you think he's got? Somebody's in his pockets. I'll get to the bottom of it. Jeff Landry is, I mean, Governor Jeff Landry, sorry, sir, is just awesome because he does, I assume, speak like how a lot of people, and his thoughts are exactly how a lot of people feel, especially in the state of Louisiana. And for us, it's just like, hey, how do you fix it all, brother? I don't know how yet because it's not just.

50:50Pat McAfee:You get a hell of a ball cut. There's a lot. He would have been an incredible football coach. I could imagine what he thought. But, yeah, I – but it's nice to know there's a governor now that's potentially on the side of, like, let's try to fix what college football is as a whole because I'm not sure you love it. Now, I'm not saying he can do it alone, but if Moore would kind of figure this out, we'll continue the incredible growth of the number two sport in the United States of America, college football, who only has one insider that we officially know, the authority, Pete Tam. We appreciate you, buddy.

51:18Pat McAfee:Hey, Pete. there's some hey hold on pete hold on pete pete yeah yes i just saw a tweet the connor

51:27Matt Rhule:stallion story just oh yes that is that came down today the ncaa made a ruling on the central michigan uh facet of that case uh if you recall uh connor stallions went in disguise with remember the sunglasses that allegedly had the videotaping component on the side that was That was one of the more fun wrinkles during that very fun time, Pat. I can't stress how much fun that was, that whole case. I do think seriously, though, like you guys, we've had some fun with Connor Steins in the case. There's a handful of coaches whose careers are over because of this. Small college guys at Central Michigan.

52:03Matt Rhule:They got show causes for multiple years. Jay Costner is one of them for getting wrapped up in that scheme. And my general thought on that, you know, Jim McElwain's retired. He gets a show cause. Who cares? You got a bunch of coaches who got wrapped up in that scheme, whose careers are at least now diverted, if not significantly altered because of this. So I feel bad for those guys.

52:24Pat McAfee:There's always people on the other side of like, what, how the hell story that are just living in the bullshit world that has been caused because of it all. So obviously we send our positive thoughts out. Shouldn't be cheating. All right. We appreciate the hell out of you. You're the man. I know that was a lot of fun for you throughout the time of it. feels like it's completely wrapped up now. Let's move forward.

52:45Matt Rhule:We've pulled up at BYU here, Pat, so thank you. My Uber driver's giving me some funny looks.

52:49Pat McAfee:Okay, sounds good. Tell them, hey, Mormon's supposed to be nice, I thought. He was thankful to be out there.

52:55Matt Rhule:Very patient. He's been very patient with me. You're the man.

52:57Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, Pete Damo, thank you. Yeah, Pete! Obviously, if we're in Utah, got a swing by BYU. Check in on Kalani Shatake.

53:07Matt Rhule:You know, she would huge up to.

53:09Pat McAfee:I say, hello, big oosh. Good to see you. Yes. Could you imagine Pete dressed like that? Coach, what up, Oosh? To coach the top player.

53:19Matt Rhule:Please. They have the number one college basketball player in the country, too, in there. Oh, yeah.

53:23Pat McAfee:He's so good. Ryan Smith.

53:25Matt Rhule:Oh, yeah.

53:25Pat McAfee:Okay? This is what we're talking about. And this is what Governor Jeff Landry, I guess a couple billionaires could come in. I can't believe he was on our show today.

53:33Matt Rhule:That was so awesome. It's been long overdue.

53:36Pat McAfee:You know what? Governor Jeff Landry down there, radio roll, down in New Orleans, he was standing there. We didn't even get a chance to sip on him. No, we didn't even say Gato one time. I did. I said Gato Hunt. Oh, you did say Gato Hunt. He did not say Gato Hunt. Yeah, correct.

53:48Matt Rhule:He said, you got to come down now.

53:49Pat McAfee:You got to come down to Hunt now, yeah. What a hilarious person. Just all of it. Just all of it is hilarious. Yeah. I think you have to be, though, probably to get into the politics world. No doubt. You could just be a robot, I guess. I see a lot of that. I thought in the politics world he had talk. Like, I thought that was, like, one of the things.

54:06Matt Rhule:Like, your first couple years. But you're, like, 40, 45 that you're in it. I think you just sit there like a mummy.

54:11Pat McAfee:Yeah. Oh, do you think that's because you can't actually speak?

54:14Matt Rhule:Yep.

54:15Pat McAfee:Oh, okay. I didn't even think about that when you see these. Yeah, pump list. It's not just them, by the way. It's other television.

54:21Matt Rhule:I think a lot of them don't remember what they said, and then they want to go the other way, and then they know that clip will be pulled, so then they can't say anything at all. Good luck out there, politicians.

54:31Pat McAfee:Thanks for doing it. That's right. Thanks. You guys did a good job. Actually, I think right now, actually terrible, right? Because it's not working.

54:39Matt Rhule:I don't think that even working right now.

54:40Pat McAfee:Yeah. So you guys aren't doing anything. Shut down. I don't know the ins and outs of it, but I hope you enjoy your vacation. What is it?

54:48Matt Rhule:Probably more watching us now than ever since they're sitting at home. Nothing to do.

54:51Pat McAfee:Let us tell you what to do. We've been saying this for a long time. You guys need a scoreboard over there. Okay. In sports, we have a scoreboard. So then we know, okay, who's winning and who's losing. Yep. Now, the issue with you guys, I think it's tough to know what a point is. because somehow I've heard some people talk and there'll be somebody tells me, massive loss for this person. This person will then pop on TV, look at me. So I don't know if there is a scoring system that you guys have over there, but in our world of sports, there's scores. So then you can say, oh, the one that won more probably should be the one that we maybe listen to or try to follow.

55:32Pat McAfee:Losers normally fade out in our world. It's called meritocracy. You guys should think about doing that in the government world, politics world. And we'd like to wish you luck in figuring that out. And we'd also like to wish Governor Jeff Landry luck on trying to make a, what was his name? Incredible pot smoker, greatest of all time, Ricky Williams. Yeah. A Ricky Williams-like deal for a coach is what it sounds like. It's potentially happening. That also was with the Saints, if you do recall. It was. It was with the Saints. when Ricky Williams and Master P, I do believe, negotiated a deal that was very incentive-based and incentive-laden.

56:13Pat McAfee:And obviously, incentives are good, but I think at this stage of where everybody else's contract is at, I think it's going to be tough for governor to get that one in there. But hey, if anybody could do it, Governor Jeff Landry. Amen.

56:28Matt Rhule:From 30 for 30 Podcasts. I don't know. He's on fire. Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down.

56:42AJ Hawk:The key to this case, it's Brian. Boy, he's ripped him. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit.

56:50Matt Rhule:You want the truth. They just want a conviction. Being placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us.

56:56AJ Hawk:Murder at the U. Listen now.

57:03Pat McAfee:I forgot to say, it's spooky Thunder. You see Big Skelly? Turns out we had one of these all along. This is the exact skeleton, two of them, that were in AQ Shipley's front yard. Then were ripped out of his front yard at 12.14am by a bunch of shirtless Caucasian hooligans. And yesterday we talked about it on the program alongside J.J. Watt. Word got back to the hooligans, and all of a sudden, guess what was returned yesterday? What? Yep, here's in the middle of the first inning of a U-ball game yesterday. AQ Shipley drifted away from the court on the phone in a sense of urgency and comes back with this announcement.

57:42Hey, boy. Scalpin is being returned.

57:49Pat McAfee:We're obviously incredibly happy for AQ. That was a splashy splash. I would go on to hit a few more after that, which is obviously perfect timing, but it was big news, not only around Arizona, but the United States of America, when Halloween was saved for the Shipley family, as these boys recognized the fault, returned to the home, scene of the crime, if you will, built it back up, what I've been told. And then, under the order of those who were there, 50 push-ups while chanting things, different messages. Love that. Yes. So there was a little bit of a, it wasn't full fist to face or boot to ass.

58:29Pat McAfee:But I do believe there was an example of it. Now, would these kids have gotten arrested maybe any other house in the United States of America if they just walked back with that thing? Probably. But we talked AQ Shipley into it. Remember, first hour, he was not about it. No, man. First hour, they bring it back. Good. Yeah, they come back. Good. That's when I can actually punch them in the face. Then by the third hour, whenever we talked to him, we're like, hey, these boys bring back Skelly, your kid's favorite decorate. We can certainly get this thing back. Yeah, that's true. We can do that. And then he acknowledged these boys made a mistake and they owned up to it.

59:06Pat McAfee:Halloween is back on at the Shipley house. This is good. Amazing. I mean, this is great news. Honestly, this is brilliant news. Is the world, I don't know. Talks to the table here at Boston Corner, at Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer, down. Cowboys, Luigi, Tony, Julie. You look unbelievable.

59:25Matt Rhule:Thank you. I appreciate that.

59:26Pat McAfee:Shout out to JC. You got that thing tight. Yeah, he did. Especially with that cowboy hat. You look really hot. How do you do? You look super hot. Hair look good, too. I don't know if the camera angle got it. Yeah, hair's flowing right. Yeah, Tone feels like a young 22-year-old paisano. Oh, sure. With this mustache rolling around. Cat looks super cool as well. Happy Halloween to you. Happy Halloween to you. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hawke. Yeah, Hawke. walk around that if you notice we maybe just had the best first hour of our show in the history

59:58Matt Rhule:okay i i was i i was watching as a fan it was very fun governor jeff landry always uh always entertains that guy yeah what a tree he's stepping on the can right now we know that during the break

1:00:08Pat McAfee:i found out that ryan clark was on television earlier today not happy with the governor uh i did not i would like to let everybody know that i i did not i legitimately did not know that i uh i did not see it but i legitimately had some questions on the shit that he said and i feel like because of what happened during the super bowl where we got to meet him chat with him and then whenever game day was down in lsu i got a chance to meet the people around him and chat with him a little bit we threw a hail mary we're like the hell with it let's go and see if we can get this guy to clarify some things like 15 minutes before show starts it's like let's see let's go don't we have a connection i think we do right don't they know us a little bit we talked to his people didn't we talk to his people his people knows right yep send it down there immediate responses the governor's got some things scheduled but we will see like we call you back it's like you got it you got it and then allegedly governor jeff landry was like thankful for the opportunity to explain a little bit but also was not looking for the moment like i saw a couple people down louisiana uh i saw one blogger at least uh post like the governor with a quote it is not i'm not gonna be the one picking the next head coach but a group that is appointed to by me and loyal to me will be the ones that will be making the selection.

1:01:16Pat McAfee:And then he did kind of say that. But then the guy afterwards said, and don't look now, I'm on a nationally televised podcast last show saying this. It's definitely not me. So I just want to clarify. We asked him. It wasn't like he said, hey, can I get out and do some more talking about football? We remembered that we potentially had a connection with him. If that makes sense, AJ, I just want to clarify all that shit.

1:01:39Matt Rhule:No, yeah, he's not on a press junket. when you see these people promoting movies, they do 50 shows in one day. He's not doing that. I'm sure he has some other stuff to handle. But it is pretty interesting the fact that how involved, I guess, he is in the, you know, not only the firing but the new search, I guess.

1:01:54Pat McAfee:Well, he said that that's like that in most states, I think, because all these schools are, you know, the highest paid state employee, I think, in every state but maybe two of them, is the head coach of the state university. And then it never really gets talked about, though. Like, hey, this is pretty – that's a state employee there? That never really gets talked about in the entirety of the contracts and conversations. And then Jeff Landry says, taxpayer got to pay 53. I don't think so. I mean, where's that money? We got roads we like to through. And they're raising prices. And they're raising prices on Friday?

1:02:25Pat McAfee:Yeah, right. Who's doing this? I don't think so. So I think that is why he did what he did at the press conference. And he's getting involved a little bit more, louder. but ultimately he said he wants to put gall rails on college sports and it's like uh hell yeah governor and then i told him hey the ncaa thinks you guys need to be doing that so they they can operate and he goes oh yeah i mean i had congress long time and what they like do kick can down rule i like step on the can you know i like get things done but the ncaa he goes they can certainly within the guidelines of the rules they can certainly take care of this and i call on them to do it i'm like that's exactly what governor that's what governor that's what they said so now we're kind of you know so the entire time back half of that conversation with him i was trying to motivate him to like actually try to take this on like hey somebody's gonna have to take this on you're signing up for a lot of work though aj yeah you let him know i feel like you told him like

1:03:21Matt Rhule:well i think you're up against it like i think it's a tough uh uphill battle no question but you are the guy for the job but it's true like how does it even start when they mentioned guardrails Where does it even start? What's the first thing to happen?

1:03:34Pat McAfee:70-what million buyout for Jimbo, different agent. 53 million here. I mean, we're doing the NFL right now. I mean, we just looked at Miles Garrett, you know, because our show and some others just certainly broadcast like, hey, Miles Garrett's spiking his helmet after getting five sacks. He's already said he wanted to be out there. And then Connor's like, who has a lot of money and who has a lot of opportunity and maybe didn't know they were going to be in this good a position? Holy shit, Myles Garrett's coming to the New England Patriots. And he didn't, he's not the only person that was saying that.

1:04:04Pat McAfee:There was other people that were certainly saying that. And then immediately as that conversation's happening or ending on our show, Schefter gets a text, we'd assume, from somebody pretty high up, if I had to guess. There's no chance of that happening. Okay, there's no chance of that happening. And we go, why is there no chance of that? And then they mention there's like$60 million in dead cap, which is exactly what this buyout money is for these state-run universities. It's like these types of deals have been happening in sports for a long time, let alone the universities trying to woo coaches because there's only a certain amount of coaches that are good.

1:04:38Pat McAfee:How do you woo anybody in any business? It's like, well, guarantees and you can do this. Amount of control, amount of leverage, amount of guarantees. So I think he is up against it. And I don't know if now is a good time to be up against it, especially with the 12-team playoff and all the opportunity that there is in college sports. It's like, how do you navigate that? If we know anything about Governor Jeff Landry, he's going to get that tackle on the field. He's going to get that tackle on the field. I think he's going to sort it out, but I will be intrigued to see what this contract inevitably ends up being with whatever coach that comes down there and what coach ends up taking the deal.

1:05:11Matt Rhule:Let's see if they can change the mold on hiring and what contracts may look like moving forward. Obviously, they're LSU. There's different tiers to the jobs out there, but is he going to change things? I think he said we're going to set template.

1:05:24Pat McAfee:Didn't he say something about that? He did say that. He said others will see our template that we said here. It was awesome.

1:05:30Matt Rhule:His template recommendation was basically like, put your reputation on the line. You win, you get paid, you don't. UFL, baby. Yeah, I don't know how many coaches are signing up for that. But basically you get a million dollars per win each year.

1:05:42Pat McAfee:How about this? Five million from our taxpayers here, Louisiana. We will say thank you with five million dollars every win that you have. Good luck out there. What if it's the biggest contract in the history? If you win, biggest contract in history.

1:05:56Matt Rhule:Like some young hotshot kid takes a chance on himself and they give him a job. Or maybe if you lose, you've got to pay$2 million back. Like every loss, you've got to pay something back.

1:06:04Pat McAfee:Actually, you've got to go pave roads. Yeah, that'd be sweet. Go lay concrete. Hard labor. Go lay concrete. I don't know. I think, honestly, this is Jeff Landry right now. What this ends up becoming, I think, will be a good thing for LSU football until they lose games. if they lose games. But there's a chance to go undefeated. There's a chance to go undefeated going forward, and I'm excited to see who ends up down there. Honestly. I'm very excited. They want to win.

1:06:33Matt Rhule:We know that they want to win. We know some fan bases feel like their team or their school doesn't truly want to win. I feel like Jeff Landry and LSU, they want to win. I don't know if you may not agree on how they go about it, but they're trying everything they can.

1:06:45Pat McAfee:Yeah, and there's obviously a lot of interest in that job. LSU, as soon as it opens up, you hear all the people that know coaching, all the people that know like in the coaching world they're like lsu good job i'm like lsu great job okay uh i understand that their fans are awesome i understand that the environment is crazy why is it such a good job and then now it's three out of the last four but they always go three different coaches national championship down there three different coaches national championship nick saban miles coach all within the first four years too those three coaches all three of them as soon as they leave LSU they go on to become massive very very very very very successful head coaches is that right all three of those guys do one of them but at LSU all three of them win a national championship so all three of them win a national championship there because the amount of talent that is just in Louisiana that just wants to be at LSU I guess you're in it every year like there's never going to be a game where you show up and the other side is going to have more talent, be more physically gifted, all that shit.

1:07:52Pat McAfee:So if you're a good coach, not even elite, if you are a good coach, the thought is at LSU you should be able to get the boys rolling in the right direction, let alone if you're an elite coach, AJ, is kind of the conversation about it down there.

1:08:04Matt Rhule:Yeah, you've got to be an elite coach at some of these places, though. You have to. It just gets to a point to where they're sick of going 10-2, whatever it may be. You have to make a deep run. I don't know. It is wild to think about. Think about Penn State's basically a couple plays from making the national championship. Coach Franklin's gone. I get it. I understand why they do get it. But it is. You just have to win. There's a handful, 5-10 jobs where you have to win.

1:08:30Pat McAfee:Kirk Herbstreet chatted about it in our production meeting for game day and then on game day a little bit. These money people shouldn't have the power. They're not football people. They should not be deciding what it is.

1:08:43Matt Rhule:Why would they give any money then?

1:08:45Pat McAfee:that well that's everybody's response that's everybody's that was my i was sitting right next to him whenever he said it i literally just looked at him and i'm like i i agree with what you're i yes i yeah i do too in theory i agree i know what you're saying yes but these people giving 10 million dollars are like just going to expect something and then also if they don't like what's going on they could just say i'm not giving another 10 million and then both of those things are leveraged yeah anytime you get into the publicly traded market you know anytime you start taking outside money all of a sudden there's outside voices or pressures what are the pressures well they're not happy or they're threatening not to do that again so then it's both both of those things become pressures but you need it to win it's just like a part of the entirety but we all agree with kirk i would like to let it go that's not great that that is how it's going but it is

1:09:32Matt Rhule:the reality of the current situation yeah i'm sure it's been happening for a while but i feel like like when i was in college maybe when you guys were in college it was you'd have a big donor would give$25-50 million and that'd be like a one-time gift and then they'd put their name on like a football building or something like that. Now it's you give$10 million on let's say, you know, August 1st or whatever. Like, guess what? The following year on August 1st, they're coming right back to you and saying, hey, we need another $10 million. We need another$10 million. Like, you want to win? Let's go.

1:09:59Matt Rhule:We need this every single year.

1:10:01Pat McAfee:And they're even sending highlights of and once again, General Manager Rivera over there at Cal and the Calgary Rhythm, they got a lot of money. Let's assume that this is not going to be a conversation. but they will be sending highlights to Sanga Politelli if he's available to these boosters and be like hey could you imagine what this guy could do at our place? It's 100 ,000 people all in Sanga Politelli comes out of the top they're setting the tone for these people and you get a parking spot get a parking spot

1:10:31Matt Rhule:and you get the opportunity to pay$800 ,000 for a suite for the 8 home games we have

1:10:36Pat McAfee:this is not counting to the suite The suite is its own thing, which obviously you would like to see the stadium renovated. We appreciate you looking out for us like that for future generations of insert name of school here. But also, we need this so when you're in that suite, you know what would make that suite better? On the field. This guy. Look at this throw. Look at this third and seventh row that he delivers right here. This is a cow. People would say, this is just Song of Politelli. Once again, General Manager Rivera out of cow. We'll figure that whole thing out. I'm just saying it as, you know, Fernando Mendoza just happened.

1:11:07Pat McAfee:And it's having Will Howard whenever he was coming out. Like, these are just things that happen, and they're only going to continue to happen. You know, like, we could be the next Diego, Pavia situation with Vandy. All you got to do is give us$1.5 million. Well, I just gave him$2 million last year. Yeah, but those guys are developing. That's gone. Those guys are developing. Well, they're not on our team anymore, right? Yeah, they're developing somewhere else. You know, it's just always one of those. I don't know how you keep them coming. You can't.

1:11:32Matt Rhule:You got to win. You got to win every game. You want them to keep bringing money. Can you imagine that you gave$5-10 million and they call you again and the team went 7-4? Like, well, I might give you$1 million and then you can prove to me you can get back to where you were.

1:11:43Pat McAfee:And on that note, if you don't win, what does the person that is accruing that money say to these people to make sure it keeps... That's a tough game. Yeah, so then it's like, well, you got to make change. You don't make change. I'm not giving you money. It's like, well, we need you. What are we talking about? No, we're done with it. Ice that. Yeah. What do you mean ice that? Don't call me. I ain't giving you another dollar. This team sucks. I'm not watching. Well, you got a parking spot. Give it up. I don't want it. You can take that out of that whole thing. And then it's like, well, if I move on from the guy you're back, $15 million, you move on from that guy.

1:12:13Pat McAfee:It's like, all of a sudden, this person has a lot of leverage, which goes back to Herbstreet's point. That ain't how it's supposed to be. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who maybe signs up for that life. Sure, perhaps. Super Bowl, he'd be able to bounce it all. Oh, yeah. He'd be able to bounce it all, stay above it all. He'd be able to look down at it and say, hey, listen, let's sort this out. Okay? I know you want shit. I want to. Ladies and gentlemen, Super Bowl champion, Coach Mike McCarthy.

1:12:40AJ Hawk:Yeah, Coach. How are you, Coach? Ooh, enjoyed that segment. That was awesome. Okay.

1:12:46Pat McAfee:Coach, all right. I'm going to put you on the spot here. And I mentioned it at the end of the last hour. Your name has not been brought up for any college job at all. Okay? Now we're in the world, though, where NFL coaches think that college football is more similar to the NFL than it's ever been. And maybe, you know, with the draft class is basically just your recruiting class. And then portal is free agency. So maybe NFL guys are more likely to become college coaches because it's more of a similar operation. Now, like I said, nobody has mentioned the great Irishman from Pittsburgh for any of these college jobs.

1:13:25Pat McAfee:Have you ever considered college? Are you just NFL guy through and through? And what is your views on the current state of college football?

1:13:33AJ Hawk:Well, I mean, there was a time actually when I first got into coaching, I got into it for college football. I mean, that was my goal, you know, back at the University of Pittsburgh. You know, I was there in 1989 and 1992. And if you'd have told me I could have stayed there for 25 years on an assistant coach's contract, I would have signed it. I just felt that, you know, college football was the period of a young man's life that you could make the biggest impact. So that was my initial, you know, goal of getting into coaching and what attracted me to get into coaching. So, but then 1993, I got an opportunity at a young age by Marty Schottenheimer to be, you know, to be in the National Football League of Kansas City.

1:14:14AJ Hawk:And then really from there, you know, that's been my flight, you know, professionally. So, you know, I looked at some things early in my time in the NFL. But, you know, back then, I mean, it was so hard to get in the NFL. You know, it was, you know, I can just remember the first staff that I was on. I think I was 29 years old. And, you know, I think the next oldest guy might have been, you know, in his late 30s, early 40s. So, I mean, it was such a hard league to get into, even more so at that time. So, yeah, so I've always viewed it as, you know, I'm here, you know, do everything I can to progress here.

1:14:51AJ Hawk:And I've been and I've been very.

1:14:54Pat McAfee:Oh, he's been very blessed, I believe, is what he was going to say.

1:14:56AJ Hawk:I mean, hell, I think I'm going to speak to women's volleyball. I mean, that's it. That's a juggernaut out there. What these guys are going through. But I do agree with you. You see the parallels now how the college landscape has gone more towards the professional with the payment of players and so forth. And I know just the friends that I have in college football, they do feel that, you know, the regularity of the of the college game is starting to get, you know, more and more balanced. And, you know, there is a little more clarity, but it's a tough gig, you know, especially just seeing what's going on here the last two weeks with, you know, with some of these buyouts.

1:15:31AJ Hawk:So, you know, I thought you made a lot of excellent points.

1:15:34Pat McAfee:OK. Hey, I appreciate hearing that from you legitimately. And thank you for getting us a shout out on Sunday Night Football. I mean, we're having quite a little run here. I don't know if you know about us. You get us a shout-out on Sunday Night Football. Thank you. Run it.

1:15:47Matt Rhule:Among the interested spectators tonight, Mike McCarthy, who, of course, coached the Packers when they beat the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, coached Aaron for a long time, and a guy who grew up in Pittsburgh. He is Western PA through and through. Hell yeah. And, of course, after the run at Dallas, he has some time on his hands now. See him on TV. Pat McAfee's show every week. Always enjoy talking ball with Mike, and he is here. Thank you, man.

1:16:12Pat McAfee:Yeah, right. That would never happen. Also, you look so cool. Kangol hat up there. I see a couple maybe concoctions in it. How was the game? And then let's dive into the game. But first, how was the suite? How was life in Pittsburgh watching a game back home?

1:16:27AJ Hawk:I mean, it was great. It's always great to go back home without a doubt. So I had to hang out with the family. But, yeah, I was a little hesitant to go to the game. I'm so glad I did go to the game. The atmosphere was incredible. I mean, I just, you know, love that stadium through and through and the crowd on both sides. I mean, it was spectacular. I mean, especially in the first half and, you know, the Packers, I thought, played extremely well in the second half. But, you know, just, you know, my son Jack went back with me and I had my nephew and my two sisters there. So it was great. Hospitality was awesome.

1:16:59AJ Hawk:And I'm really glad I went back. It was, you know, good to see Aaron playing the black and gold and just a lot of great conversation around certain people coming to, you know, to say hello in a box. So it was a great night.

1:17:11Pat McAfee:I heard your post up in a corner, pinky ring can go on. Everybody's coming through saying, thanks for coming back to town. That's what I heard they were saying. I heard that's how it was going. Well earned, brother. Well earned over there in Pittsburgh. And obviously that evening showcased the worst uniforms, maybe in the history of ball, those yellow ass cheeks that they had on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Had Brett Michaels, obviously absolutely slaughtering it. How was the performance? Brett Michaels' performance pretty good.

1:17:38AJ Hawk:Crust it. Crust it. No, it was awesome. The whole night was awesome, but yeah, Brett was excellent.

1:17:42Pat McAfee:Okay.

1:17:43AJ Hawk:He really had the crowd going on.

1:17:44Pat McAfee:We've had conflicting reports from the stadium that maybe some places couldn't hear him as good, so maybe that's why the second half went the way that it went. But nonetheless, happy to hear that you like it. Oh, is that right? Yeah, some of that happening out there, Coach. Some of that happening out there, so I'm happy you enjoyed it. You got a front row seat. That's good. And then there was Go Pack Go Chance, allegedly, that turned the Pittsburgh Steelers into having to use a silent count at home. Bruce Arians, former Pittsburgh Steelers coach, says, I'm embarrassed for the Steelers fans. But other than that, what do we learn on the field?

1:18:12Pat McAfee:AJ has a question for you, Coach.

1:18:14Matt Rhule:Yeah, Coach, I don't know how many times you've watched the Packers or the Steelers offense play as a fan. I know as a kid I'm sure you have. But watching Aaron from the stands as a fan, what was that like and what do you think his game looks like? He's moving around pretty well out there, and we know he obviously can still throw the ball.

1:18:30AJ Hawk:Yeah, I think he's really starting to settle in. I really felt that way watching him against Cincinnati. you know, the week before. And, you know, I mean, it's, you know, it's like practice every day. AJ, you've been there. He makes, you know, three or four throws. You just, you know, they're routine, but they're, you know, he's still, his ball placement is still off the charts. You know, he's starting to use his legs more, but I thought he looked good. You know, the uniforms were different. You know, some of the, you know, throwbacks that we, you guys wore back in the day, but it was, it really was.

1:19:02AJ Hawk:It was a great atmosphere. The go back, go pack, go. We've heard that so many times on the road that that was something I don't think I'd ever hear in Pittsburgh. But it was a really cool night, and I thought Green Bay really stepped it up in the second half. I've seen Green Bay play live three times now and seen them in person. I've been very impressed week one, week two, and then this past game against Pittsburgh.

1:19:24Pat McAfee:AJ says whenever he watches a game, and I think a lot of ex-players say their natural tendency is to watch the position that they play. Okay, so AJ probably watching, like, linebacker potentially playing whenever he first retired. For me, obviously, I watched quarterback. That was kind of what I do in that entirety. When you're – easy, four-stringer. Brother, watch Thanksgiving. Go see the perfect pass for Reading. I don't know how often you played there. But, Coach, are you watching and, like, calling plays in your head or thinking about, like, what you would do next if you were calling the plays?

1:19:52Pat McAfee:Is that happening for you, especially with, like, Aaron? Like, okay, Aaron's doing this. I think we should probably do this next. And have you done that with every game that you've watched, if that question makes sense.

1:20:01AJ Hawk:Yeah, no, it makes perfect sense because I just think we're all a product of our experience. I watch it more from a game plan perspective. I'm always very interested in who's playing with quicker tempo, you know, the game operation, play entry, things like that, substitution, you know, particularly, you know, watching Aaron, you know, he had the, you know, the one offside that wasn't called, but, you know, the free play opportunities and things like that. So, and then, and then obviously the third down, the red zone, you know, the situational and the game management stuff. So I think you, you, you tend to just really try to go in the ebb and flow of the game.

1:20:35AJ Hawk:And it's, and it's funny because, you know, you're sitting there trying to watch the game and it's, it's cool. But when you have other people around you that want to talk and ask questions and you're, you're like, come on, man, it's third and five here. Yeah. I mean, you know, what defense are they in? So, I mean, yeah. So no, it's a, I think you just, you watch the game from what you're used to. So I just really try to really stay in tune with the situations. And because, you know, it's just like you look at that game, there's two or three plays for Pittsburgh that go the other way. You know, then, you know, maybe it's a tighter ball game in the second half.

1:21:08AJ Hawk:So, you know, it just, you know, because, you know, the ebb and flow of the game is so critical to the success in our league. And I think it's just the parity has been so evident that games are that competitive. And, you know, the big plays just can swing that momentum, you know, so far to the left that sometimes you can't get it back.

1:21:29Pat McAfee:Watching in public is certainly difficult, you know, with people around it. I don't want to say like I'm some super football expert, but Jesus, when you watch a game in public and you hear some things that people are saying, it's like, this guy being dumb. Has this person ever, have you ever watched the sport before? It is hard, isn't it? Coach, I couldn't even imagine for you. I could not even imagine for you, but it's great how much people love it, though, which is part of it all, you know, part of it all. You talked about the second half there for the Green Bay Packers. Connor has a question for you.

1:22:00Matt Rhule:Yeah, Coach, the second half numbers are coming out with the Steelers, and it's pretty bad. Hembo sent some stuff just basically saying, yeah, here it is. The Mike Tomlin Steelers allowed fewer points per game in 2008, 2011, and 2010 than they're allowing in the second half alone this season. And, you know, Tony's talked about this a lot. It's not as big of a deal if there wasn't so much money on the defensive side. What I want to ask you about is this clip from footballing with Big Ben and Spike.

1:22:28AJ Hawk:The Pittsburgh Steelers, when I was there, and for as long as I can remember, were the best in the world or one of the best in the world at making halftime adjustments. As players, we were proud of the coaches at halftime. Great coaches that were able to make halftime adjustments.

1:22:42Matt Rhule:We didn't play well in the first half. They were going to make adjustments, and we were going to go in the second half,

1:22:47AJ Hawk:And as long as we execute it and do what we're supposed to do, the adjustments made at halftime were going to give us an opportunity to win.

1:22:54Matt Rhule:As I'm watching these games, it doesn't feel like the adjustments are being made. Again, I'm not in the locker room. Maybe they are and the players aren't. I don't know. This is just my opinion. Now, is that coaching? Is it players? Is it adjustments? Is it lack of adjustments?

1:23:07AJ Hawk:I don't know. But it just feels like the second half of ballgames, we stink. and I'm just asking a question. Are we making the proper adjustments?

1:23:21Matt Rhule:Yeah, so coach, obviously even Big Ben is kind of questioning. We love Ben. And we love Ben. Yeah, that footballing show is electric. He came in the suite too. Awesome guy. And I'm a Patriots fan. I don't even give a shit about the Steelers. But when you're looking at something like that or hearing something like that, and then Tony just let me know, 47 % of the points they've given up have come in the fourth quarter. what the hell is going on? Because it feels like there has been, especially the past few years, where there's been issues with offense or defense and the halftime adjustments have been called into question.

1:23:54Matt Rhule:Obviously, they let go of Matt Canada midseason, which was very kind of not the Steeler way, if you will. Do you see something happening with the defense when it comes to something along those lines? What's your kind of understanding of it after being in there on Sunday night?

1:24:12AJ Hawk:Well, I think you've hit on a couple excellent points here. I think, number one, you know, and, you know, first off, you've got to love Ben's beard. It's looking sharp. Oh, yeah. That was strong. But I would say second-half adjustments, I've never been, you know, one to say, hey, let's get in there at halftime and get this adjusted. I mean, because it's really, from the coach's perspective, it's going on the whole game. I mean, you know, if your coaches aren't – If your communication network is not, you know, you know, flowing through the whole course of the game, then yeah, there's something wrong there.

1:24:44AJ Hawk:Halftime really gives you a chance to go down and show some pictures as a group, do more group talking and things like that and addressing kind of, it's more of a reset. So I think the adjustment component is something you just got to look at, you know, the flow of what's going on. I mean, I think when you get into games and you watch trends that continue to happen, then that's a potential issue. I think that's something that it's week eight, week nine. I look at these more as trends. I think that's why you got to really watch how you react to stats. And trust me, every head coach, every general manager, the analytics departments, the influx of information is constant.

1:25:26AJ Hawk:So I can promise you that they're looking at it and the reality of they're going to clearly know what's going on inside. You know, was it communication? Was there a breakdown on the adjustments that only the players know? Because, you know, sometimes, and AJ tested this, that things are said and it's not clear during the course of the game. And sometimes you don't get that ironed out to halftime or get an ironed out, unfortunately, until after the game. And to me, that's really reflected of your communication network that needs to go on throughout the whole game. So, yeah, I think these are things that they're definitely addressing and we all understand that when things don't go right and there's a lot of money involved, then the criticism goes way up, and that's justified.

1:26:09AJ Hawk:I think that's whether you're a coach in a situation that's going on at this time of year in our industry, but also with players. So that's part of the criticism, and the higher the stakes go up in the NFL, the intensity is only going to go up.

1:26:24Pat McAfee:I heard Peyton Manning say halftime adjustments were a lie. I've heard AJ and you say something similar. So whenever players like Ben say, like, we took a lot of pride in the fact that we made great halftime adjustments, is that just second half calling plays that are good as opposed to calling the same shitty plays from the first half on both sides of the ball? Is that what they're saying?

1:26:45AJ Hawk:I can't speak for them, but I think also the big part of play calling us too is the execution. I mean, you know, I always felt that, you know, a quick good call is better than a late perfect call. And because give it to the player like my my goal as a play caller was to get it to the quarterback as fast as he can. You know, no different if we're talking about the defense. I mean, AJ called the defenses for us in Green Bay. I mean, he's a much better communicator if he has it quickly because every play call in today's NFL, and it's been like this for decades, there are potential adjustments in pretty much every situation.

1:27:29AJ Hawk:So, you know, I just think when you talk about the communication network, it's not just halftime. You know, it goes on throughout the whole game. So, you know, because you want to be clear, concise, and get it to the players so that they, you know, because they got to communicate. the higher the communication, the higher the confidence is, and the higher the execution level will go up.

1:27:49Matt Rhule:Yeah, and the Patriots, as an example, they are terrible in the first quarter of games. If you go back and look at a lot of the games they've won, they're down either after the first 10 minutes or first quarter. Slow starters. Yeah, always. And then their defense after the first quarter, the numbers are insane. So that's why the adjustment thing feels real, but maybe not just halftime.

1:28:08Pat McAfee:Now, on that note, you talk about quick good play call instead of being late. and AJ had the green dot. AJ! What? I heard Chase Daniels. Oh, yeah. I heard Chase Daniels do a play call on his helmet, what it would be like. I obviously never got to experience that. That would have been so cool to be able to have that happen before going out on the field and then trying to do something very, very difficult. But now that I know that you've been this guy, and we know you're super chatty and stuff like that, so can you just walk us – Can you walk us through, because there's no other mics anywhere. Can you walk us through what a huddle will be?

1:28:46Pat McAfee:I'm going to huddle with you here. I want to feel like I'm in the huddle. I'm a part of the green bay.

1:28:50Matt Rhule:First off, it's not going to be nearly the conversation, the communication that Chase had. It would be very, very simple. I'd say, tight well me too, buster. Tight well me too, buster.

1:29:01Pat McAfee:Okay, any situations I should be thinking about later?

1:29:04Matt Rhule:No, that's the problem. That's the thing. When it's going in your ear, you've got to say it as the coach is telling me. So I'm speaking, but I can't hear myself as I'm yelling it to the rest of the whole defense and repeating it over and over. I've seen guys freak out like that, and all of a sudden they get the speaker, and it starts coming in, and they just freak out and panic and can't tell you the call. I've seen that happen.

1:29:22Pat McAfee:All right, give me one more.

1:29:28Oh!

1:29:29Matt Rhule:Oh, Bob, Dave. Don't keep that. Put them just loose. Shut up, Bob, Dave. What did you say? Shut up! What did you say? No, never call. I'm out. Do you have your ears in? Never call a timeout. If you're on defense, you call your favorite blitz or your favorite defense, buddy, and you tell them, sorry, pal, it didn't come through my speaker.

1:29:45Pat McAfee:I couldn't hear a word you were saying. I need you to be louder.

1:29:48Matt Rhule:Raucous environment.

1:29:49Pat McAfee:Jeez, we're just a Lambo, bro.

1:29:51Matt Rhule:Yeah.

1:29:51Pat McAfee:Fourth eye. Coach, did you hear that bullshit? We couldn't hear a word.

1:29:54Matt Rhule:Can you imagine a defensive – coach, can you imagine an offensive coach? Coach, if a defensive player called a timeout because he couldn't get the defensive call in, I would assume you'd be a little bit upset at me if I would have done that. Just give us a call, right? I can give the defense a call.

1:30:08AJ Hawk:Absolutely. No, you always have to have a go-to call.

1:30:11Pat McAfee:I was D-tackle there, too. I was turning around listening to you. Imagine D-tackle calls timeout because I can't hear. Wait, what's A-tackle? No.

1:30:19Matt Rhule:A-tackle, what's your favorite go-to call, though? If you couldn't hear, what's your favorite go-to call? I don't know. It's a little double A-gap blitzers. There you go. That's most likely the call. Why is that?

1:30:28Pat McAfee:Why is that? Who gets to go?

1:30:30Matt Rhule:Well, I would usually go first and go ram my skull into the first person and hopefully ricochet into the quarterback.

1:30:35Pat McAfee:All right, that's awesome. Thank you for taking us inside the huddle with you, AJ. That was an honor. God, Hall of Fame nominee. Got a chance to hear it.

1:30:41Matt Rhule:I know. Did you hear that? Chase had a lot of communication in that one. That was much different than the offensive.

1:30:47Pat McAfee:Well, I couldn't hear a word you were saying. Chase had a lot more projection in his voice. Did you hear him do that? What was your play calls like? Let's say, oh, here we go. Oh, okay.

1:30:56Matt Rhule:Yeah, this is the one you want to do.

1:30:59AJ Hawk:Are you talking to me?

1:31:00Pat McAfee:Yeah, definitely. Oh.

1:31:02AJ Hawk:You want a play call? Yeah, need one. I'll just go old school with you. Well, the other part, too, you've got blue right, C left, two jet flanker drive, X corner.

1:31:09Pat McAfee:Blue right, C left, two jet flanker drive, X corner. Downward down to X corner, Brady. Okay, let's get another one.

1:31:16Matt Rhule:Would you say anything after, Coach, would you say anything after, like, hey, watch him play in cover two, like if you had time. George Pickens is balling right now. Get in the ball.

1:31:26AJ Hawk:I'll be honest with you. I mean, every quarterback that, you know, as far as a play entry, like some guys wanted to play. Like Brett Favre. Brett was like, hey, tell me to play. You can talk to me all the way up to 15 seconds. He was fine. Now, Rich Gannon, because these are the guys I kind of learned with as a quarterback coach and coordinator, is Rich Gannon wanted to play and get the hell off the – just get out of my ear. Because he was going to talk more. Aaron was more like Rich. Dak was probably a little more like – so, I mean, every guy was a little different. And that was really what we called a play caller's purpose.

1:32:04AJ Hawk:and the play caller in the quarterback room, you spend a ton of time talking about each play call in the game because, you know, you go through your offseason, you put the plays in, and these are for normal down and distance. But if we use this same play in third down, then there are adjustments that go with it. So, you know, there's a lot of conversation that goes on about each and every play with the quarterback. So, you know, the purpose of the play call. So you always might want to tag a reminder, you know, with that, particularly if you're using, you know, a four vertical scheme in first and second down as opposed to four vertical scheme in third down.

1:32:39AJ Hawk:Because obviously the coverage will be tighter. You know, the matchup emphasis is maybe different. You change the formation, but the concept's the same. So I think, you know, the biggest thing for quarterbacks, and that's why, you know, so much as it goes into these offseason programs is these conversations. It's always the little stuff. It's the little things that you can give, you know, not only you give to the quarterback, but he can give to the X receiver breaking the huddle or, you know, to the tight end on a vertical scheme. You know, make sure you hit the inside edge of the hash, you know, just all those little coaching reminders, particularly the biggest ones.

1:33:12AJ Hawk:I think that's where you were going was in protection. You know, your protection adjustments are always, you know, that's really the starting point of getting the plets that, you know, you set the plate, you know, set the table, get everything ironed out, make sure you got a solid protection. because from a passing game standpoint, you feel if you've got a clean pocket, then you should be able to defeat the defense.

1:33:31Pat McAfee:Okay, I'd love to hear all that from your brain. Honestly, thank you for allowing us in on all that information. That is incredible to hear, especially from somebody that did it at such a high level for so damn long. I would need the wristband, I think, just kind of getting into the offense, but it's fourth and eight, okay? Fourth and eight, 47 seconds left. We have no timeout. We're on our own 32, okay? I do have George Pickens, and I do have C.D. Lamb, and I am the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. And you need to act as if I am Brett Favre or Dak. Like, I don't mind the reminders here. What would be your play call?

1:34:05Pat McAfee:Fourth and eight on your own, 30, whatever it was. 47 seconds left, no timeout. Got to have it. We're down four, okay? We are down four. Need a touchdown. And I like you being chirpy, okay? So I'm in the huddle, please, please.

1:34:17AJ Hawk:Okay, you got to just go double right, two jet, X knife, Z Puma. You want to get in a two-by-two, give you an option based off where they're going to tilt the coverage because you've got CeeDee on one side. Obviously, you've got George on the other side. So, if George gets the one-on-one, don't forget we call CeeDee.

1:34:34Matt Rhule:You've got to tell the team to play, Pat. You've got to tell the offense to play, too. He forgot to tell them to play. We don't have a timeout, Coach. When am I telling them to play? You've got to tell them to play as he's telling you. Oh, Mike, just give him a play. You said chatty, man.

1:34:46Pat McAfee:No, I know, but when am I supposed to tell the boys what the hell we're doing?

1:34:49Matt Rhule:He's not waiting on you to respond. You've got to tell the play. You got to tell the guy. I already gave you the play.

1:34:54Pat McAfee:Yeah, but when am I telling the boys what you're telling me about

1:34:57AJ Hawk:if George is single right there? I was explaining the play. Okay, hey, double right to Jeff Flaker, Travis Z Puma. Don't forget about the one-on-one with George. Take the Kodak. You got it. You got it.

1:35:15Pat McAfee:You got a five-yard penalty. Maybe a 10-second runoff if things aren't real. It's tough stuff. It is amazing. Oh, my God. Hey, we need to work on this in the offseason. It sounds like I need to be paying a little bit more attention in the offseason. That's insane to think about that right there.

1:35:29Matt Rhule:Yeah, but if you know his quarters, you can just throw it deep, baby. You can hit C.D. or George Pickens.

1:35:34Pat McAfee:We appreciate the opportunity there to kind of dive into what your life is on a regular basis and has been for a long time. That was cool. I got no shot. I think I'm more of a freestyler. I think I would be doing, can't hear, can't hear, can't hear.

1:35:49AJ Hawk:Well, we've seen that before.

1:35:51Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think that happens a lot. I think some of the quarterbacks that have actually done it have come on this show and go, like, other guys' things, like they say it's not working and it doesn't work. Mine actually go out every single time I do that. It's like, yeah, sounds like that's what everybody says. All right, let's go to massive game this weekend. Obviously, historic-type shit, especially if you look at literally the history of these two teams. Go ahead, Ty.

1:36:12Matt Rhule:Yeah, Coach, you talked a little bit ago about the parity in the NFL, and while I think that is definitely true, coming off a weekend in which we had more blowouts since 1970 or whatever it was. Chiefs and Bills always deliver no matter what. Basically, the AFC has kind of come down to one of these two teams for the last several years, it seems like. What do you think about this game? How do you see it going? And does this remind you at all of maybe Packers when you were coaching them and Seahawks where you kind of knew no matter what, you might have a game in the regular season, but there was a good championship to come, you know, NFC championship or, you know, deep in the playoffs, like you were going to see this team again.

1:36:52AJ Hawk:Yeah, definitely. I mean, we talked on the show before about, you know, division games. I've always loved the division games because they were always the most competitive games of the season. But when you do have the parental playoff, you know, contender that you'd see almost annually, you know, this may even go to a different level. So this will play like a playoff game. and that's the way these guys will, you know, they'll view it but won't talk about it because, you know, the intensity is going to be real because there is history. There's great history. You've got two marquee MVP championship-level quarterbacks, you know, that will highlight it.

1:37:28AJ Hawk:But, yeah, this game will be of tremendous intensity. But, yeah, you always love playing in those games. I mean, Seattle, I think of Seattle and Green Bay, you know, particularly in the regular season, you know, the first thing was where was the game because, you know, that was a little bit weird. You know, the crowd noise still was a factor. I think the offenses in today's NFL do such a better job at the line of scrimmage. And I know it's something, you know, coming out of the 90s and early 2000s, you really had to work on to handle crowd noise. Because, you know, back in the 90s when I was at the Kansas City Chiefs, we very rarely lost to home games.

1:38:03AJ Hawk:We had great defense, great special teams, and Arrowhead was just impossible to, you know, deal with from a noise standpoint. So I do think the noise factor is always a component that when I think back to those Seattle games, because, you know, we had some rough moments there up there in Seattle sometimes in our early days with the noise.

1:38:21Pat McAfee:Oh, my God. I just thought of four different rough moments for you guys up in Seattle. Literally, as you said that, just four different. John Ryan's throwing a touchdown on one of them.

1:38:29Matt Rhule:Oh, yeah. That was the big one.

1:38:30Pat McAfee:John Ryan's like, yes, right here.

1:38:32Matt Rhule:Yeah, that was a big one. Can see AJ in that one, too. AJ was in the worst spot possible on that play.

1:38:38Pat McAfee:That's because he called a double A blitz for himself. That's what he did. Coach McCarthy not having that. What are you guys doing here? I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. We're trying to exclamation point your point that, yes, we do remember the times up in Seattle. Now, on that note, there were some times in Green Bay. Let's go, Bay. Ain't that right, Ty?

1:38:58Matt Rhule:Yeah, definitely. That NFC championship game in Seattle, though, that one will stick with me for the rest of my life. I'm sure it'll stick with both of these guys. You know how mad Patriots fans were? You know how mad Patriots fans were? we finally were going to have Rodgers versus Brady in the Super Bowl. It was the most mad I've ever been at the Green Bay Packers because they screwed us.

1:39:16Pat McAfee:Okay, so let's get away from that. Obviously, when you're in the game for a long time, these moments are going to happen. Congrats to you both on getting to the top of the mind and still be a champion for the rest of your life. That's right. The rest of your life because some of us, you know, they never – okay, I thought you were going to pull your ring out right there and said it was that. Then were you – I don't know if you were with the Packers still at the time of the replacement refs. Were you there for that?

1:39:36AJ Hawk:Oh, yeah. The family area? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We were both there. Coach, is it hard? Man, what do we do? We're going to have a production meeting or something. I'm bleeding all over the place.

1:39:53AJ Hawk:I'm so sorry.

1:39:55Pat McAfee:All right, let's go through all my worst days. I'm sorry.

1:39:58AJ Hawk:That was a bad day.

1:40:00Pat McAfee:I know. I understand. I'm so sorry I brought those up. But you brought up the bad days in Seattle. So I'm sorry that my brain. I brought up crowd noise.

1:40:08AJ Hawk:I didn't say anything about them bad days. All right, all right. That's all right. Well, in my head, I heard you say that.

1:40:13Pat McAfee:And then so many bad days. And once again, they popped up in my brain. So obviously being a part of it has to be a difference. Hey, we won't let you know. Let's bury the ball. Let's bury the ball. We're going to bury that ball. Take four of them, I guess. We're going to bury four of those balls, and we're going to move on. We appreciate you, Packers boys. We appreciate you, Packers boys. Now, football is awesome. Parody a couple different times. Go ahead, AJ.

1:40:36Matt Rhule:Yeah, Pat mentioned parody. Coach, what do you think? Last week we had a slate of games where there was a bunch of blowouts. We don't really see in the NFL that often, I guess. Is there a reason for this? Is this a time of year? Why do you think we did see so many blowouts?

1:40:49AJ Hawk:Well, I think a lot of things. There's a lot of variables that go into this, but when I see stats like this, I know as a head coach, one of the hardest things, not hardest things, one of the things you enjoy the most is competing with the other NFL coaches as far as how you train your team. So, you know, to have that many blowout games, you know, at this point in the season, I think you've got to take a look at it. Why? You know, just when you look at the CBAs in 2011 and 2020, you know, less time with players and, you know, the youth, the NFL is a younger league now. So does that mean also the backups are younger?

1:41:28AJ Hawk:You look at the injury challenge that you have every single year. Are we doing a better job helping in that area as far as the training and things leading into that, the sports science? I just think there's so many factors. You know, you can also say, well, it just timed up that this team was hot and that team wasn't. You know, but I think these are things the league really needs to pay close attention to. Because I think you can go down a bunch of rabbit holes here. Because when you look at the success of the National Football League, you know, the first thing is you look at the money. And the money is just off the charts.

1:42:00AJ Hawk:it's greater than it's ever been, but I mean, is the quality of play, how are you evaluating the quality of play? So when you see things like this, I know for me personally, I go right to the training, okay? There's so much that goes into how you train your team in the off-season program, how you train your team in training camp, how you're in-season training, because all the adjustments you have to make with this injury challenge, the development of the back half of your team because you know your younger players your backup players are you are you spending money on the middle class of free agency for your backup players or you're also solely you know investing clearly in the young players as the backup too so all these different components play into it and i just think when you get there you'll see you'll see the separation in the competitive level and you and you have games like this so i i hope this is just an accident you know but i think it's a bit alarming is the quality of play we talked about september football and i've felt september football has been you know not not very good and in the in the last 10 12 years you know didn't really pay attention to it that much in my early years as a head coach but i also i started to you know trying to uh train differently in in training camp to to do certain things in september just because i just think that's the way this thing's gone because less time with players and coaches does not equate to higher quality play.

1:43:24AJ Hawk:I don't care what the numbers say, you know, what goes into it. And I think that is showing up here. That's rearing its head more and more, in my opinion, as we move forward here. I just wish there could be more time, particularly even if it's just with the younger players. And A.J. Yagolo, our experience in Green Bay, we had the thing called Vets Select. And the Vets thought it was great that they were, you know, getting some time off and things like that. But the other side of that was it was giving the coaching staff more time with the younger players. So these younger players are playing more and more each and every year.

1:43:58AJ Hawk:They're playing earlier, especially if you also, you know, if your roster development or your profile is that you're young all the way through, you know, particularly even with your backups. You know, where is the extra training to make sure these guys are ready to play? Because let's also, you know, let's throw in the injuries. When guys aren't totally ready to play, they play what? A little less confident. A little less confident player on the NFL field. And injury risk can go up. So I just think there's a lot of rabbit holes you can run through here when you see a statistic like last week. That's the first thing that hit me.

1:44:33AJ Hawk:I was like, wow, that's something you've got to continue to talk about. Now, with that being said, they're making more money than they ever have, so nothing's going to change. So thanks for giving me a chance to just add a limp here.

1:44:45Pat McAfee:No, you're sticking up for coaches there. Sticking up for coaches a lot. No, absolutely. Coaches get judged.

1:44:49AJ Hawk:They don't have enough time with their players.

1:44:51Pat McAfee:Exactly, but players get drafted off of potential. And then what do coaches say? Well, potential gets your ass fired. Potential is only really potential if you have the ability to work and get to that. And that's where the coaches come in. Coaches are getting judged on that, on, hey, this was the potential. This is where he's at. This is on the coaches. And then the coaches are like, you guys have cut into all of our training time. and I think what you're hearing from Coach McCarthy there is not just him, but the coaching community as a whole when it comes to the NFL. Whenever you talk about the new CBA, the amount of training time, we'll drop this off, we'll cut this off, and the people that are making those decisions you're saying are only worried about what percentage of the money are either side getting and what is the money as opposed to what the product is on the field, which is literally all the coaches are being judged about.

1:45:34Pat McAfee:Is that an accurate take on why you feel that way?

1:45:37AJ Hawk:No, absolutely. No, I mean, that's part of it. But, I mean, you know, we get into this profession and understands the risk. So, I mean, it's not as much about that. I just, you know, we want to be the best that we can be. And the biggest thing about coaching is developing every player to his fullest ability, you know, physically, mentally, and emotionally. And less time with those players does – it doesn't help that cause. So I would just like to see more time with the players, particularly offseason and, frankly, more padded work in training camp.

1:46:11Pat McAfee:Well, are you making a guardian for shoulder pads and thigh pads? And I know the tailbone pad maybe disappeared. We need to bring that back, too. That's a good pad. Yeah, absolutely. Maybe bubble ball. Oh, there we go. Maybe bubble ball in the offseason. You guys will get the physicality and the reps. Players get the safety because you can put them in those things. Yeah. They can do walkthroughs. You know what I mean? Everybody can kind of get blown up in those as well. Don't you think that could be a – but you know they're not going to let more training take place. Like in that kind of – No, I know.

1:46:40I just think the offensive line has been at a disadvantage.

1:46:45AJ Hawk:And I could just – I don't know if I've said this on the show before. I can remember when I was on the Coach's Madden committee and, you know, the late great John Madden would always bring it up and he'd say, how can we help these offensive linemen? I mean, they're at such a disadvantage. coming out of training camp because, you know, they, you know, they have the least amount of time to get ready to, you know, to do their job because of, you know, you know, only a certain amount of padded practices, you know, where the off season, the perimeter guys can still work on their footwork, their timing.

1:47:15AJ Hawk:And, you know, there's, there's a lot more training opportunity for the perimeter players.

1:47:21Pat McAfee:Yeah. And you're, if you're going to be a good team, you're going to have to have a good offensive line. And if you're going to be an ass team, it's probably because you have an ass offensive line. That's kind of how the football goes at this point, Coach McCarthy.

1:47:33AJ Hawk:Always has. It always has.

1:47:43Pat McAfee:That's football, baby. That's football, Coach, right here. That's what football is. Always will be. Where's game one, Coach? Where's game one? Where's game one? I'm in trashes. I'll be able to fight somebody in there, coach. That's football until the very end. No matter how much they soften it, no matter how much they try to change rules, you're always going to have to be able to punch somebody in the face better than the other team. It's what you're going to have to be able to do in football until the end. Amen. No matter how much they change rules, that is literally why football is football.

1:48:17Pat McAfee:And if you look at the teams that win, they are able to fight and win over your team. And you look at the Philadelphia Eagles last year. I mean, that was just like the perfect epitome of old school football coming back in the biggest way here in 2025. They say it's cyclical. Right now we're about to see some pining happen. Oh, pine time. Big pine. Big pine. Every time is turning a pine time, Coach Carr. You know what I'm talking about.

1:48:40AJ Hawk:Two, four, seven. Absolutely.

1:48:42Pat McAfee:Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

1:48:44AJ Hawk:No, I just think, I mean, you look at the playoff teams every year. You know, look at their offensive and defensive lines. I mean, it's clearly evident. You don't make enough playoffs if you're not able to get it done. They live there. You know, it'll never change. You know, I think with the run Philadelphia's on, you know, their offensive line this last decade has been so impressive. And I think it gives you the opportunity to have consistency and just their level of consistency here the last five years is unbelievable.

1:49:13Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think your population of Pantan needs to be a tough group. Pantan in the trenches, got to be a tough group of citizens that you got on your squad if you're going to want to win. And now, who are you bringing in to the team, maybe, if you want to go on a real run? And who the hell are you getting out if your team stinks, maybe, and is absolute shite? Tone has a question for you, Coach.

1:49:33Matt Rhule:Yeah, Coach, the next time we talk to you, the trade deadline will have passed. And obviously, your time with the Packers as head coach, the trade deadline was much different than it was when you were with the Cowboys just a year ago. How has the trade deadline changed, and what is the responsibility of the head coach during the trade deadline?

1:49:50AJ Hawk:Well, I mean, the biggest thing is I think people don't really, understand how much conversation these personnel departments, you know, that's going on. I mean, that's, that's been the same, you know, every place I've ever worked. So there's a tremendous amount of conversation that goes on. I mean, that's just really those guys doing their jobs. And really, from my experience, you know, it really gets to the head coach when you, when it's really becomes a possible and viable option. So, you know, we didn't do a lot of it at all in green Bay. There's, you know, more conversation in Dallas, you know, during that period of time.

1:50:25AJ Hawk:So, but, you know, it really comes down to, you know, how can this player help us, you know, at that particular time? And then there's also the financial component to it from a long-term standpoint. So, but, you know, these personnel departments, they do a hell of a job. There's a tremendous amount of communication that goes out there. You know, someone had asked me, Do you ever have to talk to players about when their name's out there in the public as far as being part of the trade talks? I really didn't have too many of those situations because I think really players, in my experience, lean on their agents at that time.

1:51:02AJ Hawk:Because there's a network of communication that goes on throughout this period, and it obviously heightens with the trade deadline in front of you.

1:51:10Pat McAfee:Coach, it feels like you handle every situation impeccably. If any university was to reach out to Coach McCarthy and get him as a head coach, not saying you would, I think they would win immediately. And if any NFL team was to reach out to Coach McCarthy, I think they'd become a winning organization immediately. We love the hell out of you, Coach. And it's not just because we think you could win anywhere you would go coach again, because that's what you've done your entire career and that you're a yinzer. It's also because you've helped us win, brother. Now, we won't be able to make this pick in the next minute 15.

1:51:38Pat McAfee:And it's not actually a pick. It's actually just listening to Coach McCarthy describe how he thinks tonight's game's going to go. And if he was to be making a pick off of how we hear his words, like we basically are making a pick for him whenever he describes a word, he'd be 5-3 right now. Not bad. That's not bad. We won't be able to get that in here in the final moment. Coach McCarthy chit-chatting about that. But we will continue digitally on YouTube, TikTok Live. I think we're also on ESPN Plus. Really? We're on Disney Plus. Yeah. Yes, we are. We're currently on Disney Plus. All those digital things, we will continue.

1:52:15Pat McAfee:And Coach McCarthy will break down what the game's going to happen. And we got 30 seconds to fill here, Coach, until the ESPN show ends. Any messages for the cafes or restaurants out there that are following along across the country, Coach McCarthy?

1:52:31AJ Hawk:Yeah, quickly, five and three, that's bullshit. But we ain't got time to get into that. But Baltimore, I think, clearly is getting healthy. You know, Miami, you look at these two teams statistically, There's a lot to sort through here, but I think Baltimore is – I watched them play last week. I like what they're doing. I think getting Lamar back, staying balanced on offense will serve them well. But I don't even know what the points are. You usually tell me what the points are. Seven and a half. Seven and a half, Coach. Seven and a half.

1:53:02Pat McAfee:Seven and a half.

1:53:03AJ Hawk:A lot of points.

1:53:04Matt Rhule:On the road. Non-division game. Non-division game.

1:53:07Pat McAfee:Non-division game. Yeah, Coach. Division game is tough with all those points. Big knife for the teal and the white. Oh, too. It's fresh. He's wearing a visor again. Clean. He's wearing a visor again.

1:53:20AJ Hawk:I really like Miami's front. I think, you know, clearly you look at them on paper. They're starting to produce. I mean, the pass defense is something that will be interesting if Baltimore tries to get after them there. But, you know, both teams run the ball well. Turnover ratio will probably be a big deal in this. I think one's minus five and one's minus six. So, you know, whoever takes care of the football will probably prevail tonight. So there's some evolutionary comment right there.

1:53:49Pat McAfee:Yeah, it is. It really is evolutionary, you know, because the stat you need to look for is the turnovers normally and see who wins the game. I forget what the percentages are, but if you win a turnover battle by like two, I think it's like 75. Yeah, I think whatever. Yeah. And then three plus is some absurd number. And then obviously if you're able to take care of it. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Cowboys at Bubba Gumpina. What did you hear Coach McCarthy say there? How does he think the game's going to go, and what are your thoughts on his thoughts?

1:54:14Matt Rhule:Sounds like he was leaning Baltimore until the spread was spoken of. So I think he's leaning fans to keep it tight tonight by the sounds of things.

1:54:22Pat McAfee:Yeah, he said both teams can run the ball well. We heard him talk about the trenches earlier. AJ, what did you hear from former ball coach here, what he was saying?

1:54:29Matt Rhule:I heard the coach might be leaning Baltimore. He said they're getting healthy. Lamar wants to put on a show, and he thinks that Dolphins may be – that wind may have guarded their head a little bit. They're taking them easy.

1:54:39Pat McAfee:That's interesting. So, Gumby says one way. AJ says the other way. At Toxic Table, are you just as befuddled as I am in this entire process, Ty?

1:54:47Matt Rhule:Well, like we mentioned, with it being seven and a half and kind of starting on Baltimore, it's not a division game. That's not too many points for a division game. So, I think Coach is going to stick with the Ravens here. Yeah, it's the biggest put-up or shut-up game of all time, you could argue. You know, Lamar, put-up or shut-up. You got rid of all of our fun games? You better go out there and play your ass off. And the other side is Tua. You've been bumping your gums about how leadership sucks. And you got a huge win on Sunday. You can go from one and six to three and six in six days. Time to pull up or shut up.

1:55:23Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think it is big time to pull up or shut up. Yeah. Put up toys or shut up for Baltimore.

1:55:30Matt Rhule:Yeah.

1:55:31Pat McAfee:Put up something or just see you, I guess, is kind of how Dolphins fans might be feeling.

1:55:36Matt Rhule:Yeah.

1:55:37Pat McAfee:So how does he feel, you think? I don't know. He's a big pop show guy, I feel like.

1:55:41Matt Rhule:Yeah. I think he just had a homecoming back to Pittsburgh. He know Lamar's having a homecoming back down in Miami. He thinks he's a big night for the purple and black.

1:55:48Pat McAfee:Oh, because he had a great night back in Pittsburgh. Yeah, but that team.

1:55:51Matt Rhule:That team and the homecoming didn't have the best night. Yeah, they wait to him.

1:55:55Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah, you're right. In the ass uniforms. The dog right behind you is beautiful. What's the name of the dog?

1:56:03AJ Hawk:That is Gus.

1:56:05Pat McAfee:Oh, what a name.

1:56:07Matt Rhule:great dog man yeah uh he's a great dog taking that is that a um is that from is that a majestic

1:56:15Pat McAfee:golden retriever that's all white like peter and uh and and ben rest in peace and mitch and herb streets type dog is that what that is if i'm looking at it accurately that's a yellow lab he's a yellow lab he's a hunter hunting dog how is he how old uh seven seven years old master

1:56:33AJ Hawk:Master champion. What's that? Excuse me? He's a master champion. He's got his 11 medals.

1:56:42Pat McAfee:Master champion. So he goes to Augusta. What happened? Bird dog.

1:56:46AJ Hawk:Yeah, he's a bird dog.

1:56:47Pat McAfee:Oh, so he gets a bird faster than any other dog?

1:56:50AJ Hawk:Yeah, duck, pheasant. Yeah, he's legit.

1:56:54Pat McAfee:Are we duck jumping with him as well?

1:56:56AJ Hawk:As soon as I get off his damn show, I'm going duck hunting. Hold on. One second.

1:57:02Pat McAfee:Sorry, I'm slowing up your duck. obviously pull we do the entirety of it are you calling ducks as well are you calling ducks as

1:57:08AJ Hawk:well no no i'm i am an amateur when it comes to bird hunting so and you got an 11 time champion

1:57:15Pat McAfee:well how's this get mad it does does gus lead you to duck hunting or you lead gus to duck hunting

1:57:19AJ Hawk:how did this come hey he he was he was bred you know he's bred to be a champion so i let him fulfill his dreams.

1:57:29AJ Hawk:11 times. No, it was good. No, he's a... You got to get 11 ribbons. That's what it is. 11 ribbons. You got to go through the different classifications to get the master champion. Oh, like karate. I get it. Dungeons and Dragons.

1:57:42Matt Rhule:Black belt will burn on it.

1:57:43Pat McAfee:Dungeons and Dragons. Obviously, valedictorians do that. Okay, we appreciate the hell out of you, Coach. You're the man, Mike McCarthy. Yeah, Cole. Wait, wait, wait.

1:57:50Matt Rhule:What's his pick?

1:57:51Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah. Who do you like? Oh, yeah.

1:57:54AJ Hawk:Oh, he's muted. He's muted. No, no, no. Who's my pick?

1:57:58Pat McAfee:Yeah. Yeah.

1:57:59AJ Hawk:So it's seven and a half?

1:58:01Pat McAfee:Uh-huh. Mm-hmm.

1:58:02AJ Hawk:That's not right. I'm going to go against the grain here. I'm going to go Baltimore. Wow.

1:58:06Pat McAfee:All right. Not the vision game. Yeah, we appreciate you.

1:58:08AJ Hawk:That's not – I don't like – that's a lot of points. I like Lamar going home. I think that's going to – Are we in a blind? Where are we? Where are we headed to? How many do you get to shoot?

1:58:21Matt Rhule:Carson, Dylan?

1:58:22Pat McAfee:Oh, he's going. The duck's got you. The duck's got you. That's them fighting back. Coming in and attacking you. You're in a blind?

1:58:30AJ Hawk:Yes, we'll be in a blind.

1:58:32Pat McAfee:Okay, how many people?

1:58:35AJ Hawk:Well, I'll let you know if I go.

1:58:38Pat McAfee:He's just having a mic before.

1:58:40AJ Hawk:Yeah, go.

1:58:41Matt Rhule:Too many questions.

1:58:42AJ Hawk:Yeah, enough of the shits.

1:58:43Matt Rhule:Okay.

1:58:51Matt Rhule:This is a show. What's with all the questions? What's with all the questions? I'm going to get interrogated up here. That is hilarious because we want him until like 1.45 every week. I bet after that he's just looking down at his clock like, we're still going? What the fuck's going on?

1:59:10Pat McAfee:We fucked it up. I guess it's 1 o 'clock central is where he is, right? Oh, yeah. 1 o 'clock pickup.

1:59:18Matt Rhule:Gus is waiting on me. Yeah, Gus is all full of pissing vinegar with his leg.

1:59:24Pat McAfee:Could you imagine him booping him underneath the table? Hey, hey, hey, hey. Both ribbon on the way. What do you want me to do, Gus? We're trying to get the fuck out of here. These guys can't take the hint. All right. So he picked Baltimore? Yeah. Baltimore. He's the best, dude. College started that way. I would have taken assistant coaching job at Pitt. 25 years they would offer, definitely. I would do it.

1:59:48Matt Rhule:You're taking it.

1:59:49Pat McAfee:You just give me a regular price, right, for the time that we're in? For 25? Yeah, I'll take it. You just give me a regular price, just the whole way? It's a calm place, like Patricia on offense, except times 1 ,000. Just creating a monster there and never leaving. Actually, I'm just going to stay coordinator here, yeah. He could go to Wisconsin, right in his backyard.

2:00:08Matt Rhule:He played tight end himself. He was a tight end in college.

2:00:12Pat McAfee:Gosh, so is MCDC. So is Vrabel. So is J.J. Watt.

2:00:18Matt Rhule:Dicka.

2:00:20Pat McAfee:So is Dicka. Mike McDaniel. He did not, okay? Oh, shit.

2:00:27Matt Rhule:Slot receiver, I was thinking.

2:00:28Pat McAfee:Yes, exactly. He's running routes with McVay out there.

2:00:31Matt Rhule:Shout out to you.

2:00:33Pat McAfee:Shout out to you. Shout out to very smart people. And shout out to the Miami Dolphins. All right, Gumpy, we're going to make our picks, and let's get the hell out of here. Gumpy, you say what? As Tone tells us, the percentage that is on the public and the percentage is with the sportsbook and any other fun factoids about tonight's Thursday night football battle.

2:00:53Matt Rhule:Tonight, the Ravens are minus 7.5, heading down to Hard Rock. They are getting 69 % of the bets against this red, which is the same exact percentage as the Chiefs on Monday night when they took care of business down there. It is 7.5 across the board. You cannot get it any other way.

2:01:12Pat McAfee:Okay, over under 51.5. where's that rank amongst the season? It's pretty high.

2:01:16Matt Rhule:It's a pretty high NFL total. They're both over teams, though.

2:01:20Pat McAfee:Go on, go.

2:01:22Matt Rhule:Dolphins been over. Their defense looked better last week. Like I said, I've been saying it all week. They started using 6-0 linemen. They averaged over seven yards of play when they did that. They got to stick with it, but if they fall behind and they get pass-happy, that's when they're going to get into trouble.

2:01:35Pat McAfee:Your confidence level is pretty high.

2:01:38Matt Rhule:I've been so negative when they lose that since they won and look so good, I got to ride the wave. I got to support the boys right now. Malik Washington, touchdown tonight is plus 400, I think. He's been the second guy since Tyreek has got hurt. He returns kicks and punts. He's electric. Sixth rounder out of Virginia last year. I love him. I had a baby Gump. Thank you, Gumpy. Is Marlon Humphrey playing? Do we know?

2:02:02Pat McAfee:Playing ping pong? No. Not playing ping pong.

2:02:05Matt Rhule:He's on that field.

2:02:06Pat McAfee:They're not playing ping pong over there. We appreciated Lamar being the one coming out and saying it was me. We were taking the TVs. I'm about to say, we don't need to. Yeah, Mr. Steve. We're all done. Mr. Steve, thank you for the TVs. Mr. Steve, we love these TVs, but just can't have – take the remotes, unplug them. It can't have power to the locker room. We need to lock in. They do, but people think they're going to. People think they're going. Sportsbooks think they're going to lock in and go on a run. I think that's just because of our belief on who this Baltimore Ravens team is, even though this year with our eyes – and we're getting pretty deep into the season now.

2:02:38Pat McAfee:Okay, we're getting pretty deep into the season. Okay, we're getting pretty deep into the season. our eyes are kind of telling us something and maybe they aren't who we thought they were and does that make sense because we haven't seen them with Lamar over the last few weeks no so that's why tonight on prime time with the world watching Lamar return to Miami he's gonna go absolutely ham AJ Hawk is that what you're expecting from Lamar Jackson uh yes that would be my prediction

2:03:03Matt Rhule:I'm taking the Ravens minus seven and a half on the road tonight I think Lamar I think he comes out there and you know he's a jolt of energy for this ravens team they play well in offense and

2:03:12Pat McAfee:defense uh i will be doing the exact same strictly because i've been you know traveling with a miami dolphins fan i feel like i know this dolphins team pretty well i feel i feel like i uh i know their players i know the way they operate i know the way ownership likes to operate i know the way general manager slash president slash guy who has a lot of say for a long time down there likes to operate. Just certain things, I think. Not necessarily every single day of his life or their lives. Just their worst decisions, for sure. I'm hearing about those on a regular basis. And in my eyes, I see some stuff.

2:03:45Pat McAfee:And it's like, yeah, that seems to match up with everything that I'm hearing from, you know, lifelong fan of team who is just, what are we doing? What are we doing? From the offseason when they traded away all their good players. And then said, yeah, we're trying to try to win this year. It's like, well, yeah, we've got to figure it out. Did you guys get rid of, like, the drama that was in there? No, no, he's still on team. Yeah, we got rid of actually the people that like this team and were like proud to be on the team. So it's like, okay, so what is the plan down there? And then it starts going the way that it's going and you immediately think to yourself, like, I guess Miami Dolphins fans could probably say that this was going to be ass from the very beginning, but they had a blind optimism strictly because they had seen success in the past.

2:04:27Pat McAfee:And in my eyes, they have a huge win against the Falcons. That was awesome. Massive. huge win. Is that enough to just swing the pendulum to be able to stop the Lamar Jackson momentum that's coming that everybody's expecting, including sportsbooks who are risking a lot of money by saying they think he's going to come back and dominate and they seemingly are right on a regular basis? I like the Baltimore Ravens as well. And this Miami Dolphins experiment thing, it's going to be fun to talk about like 10 years from now. Mm-hmm. It is good. Because they could still become, they have all the talent out there.

2:05:00AJ Hawk:For sure.

2:05:00Pat McAfee:And legitimately, just like Dolphins fans were able to sell themselves on this Dolphins team, that's still all there. Now, granted, no Tyreek Hill, so that is a game changer for his electricity. But still, offensive innovation, a quarterback that can make great decisions, get the ball out quickly, defense can make some stops. We've got some special teams. We've been able to win games in the past. It's like this Dolphins team has everything that can get – and Waddle's faster than everybody still. So fast. And, you know, we hope to see a lot of Waddle. We hope he Waddle will be the Waddle in the end zone a couple different times just because he is electrifying.

2:05:30Pat McAfee:So you can get caught up in the, wait a minute, the Miami Dolphins are the team. And maybe they are. And maybe tonight they prove it to everybody that what you had seen with them isn't actually who they is. And then on the flip side of that, maybe last week was the anomaly. You know? Possible. And maybe this Baltimore Ravens team figures out how to play defense. Yeah.

2:05:55Pat McAfee:I like the Baltimore Ravens tonight, minus 7.5, strictly because I can bet on Lamar Jackson with clear conscious. It's tough for me to do that on the other side.

2:06:04Matt Rhule:That's fair. There was one other massive change last week, Frank Smith, the OC. First time in two years he was down on the field with the guys. He's talking to the boys. And he was actually the reason Darren Waller said he'd only come out of retirement to play for him or John Gruden. So that made a big difference last week as well. Best the offenses looked all year.

2:06:23Pat McAfee:Coach Smith down on the sideline? Frank, you said?

2:06:26Matt Rhule:Big Frank Smith, yeah.

2:06:28Pat McAfee:Francis Smith they say whenever he's around yeah

2:06:32AJ Hawk:I just didn't want to leave anything out

2:06:34Matt Rhule:is Big Mike calling plays or is Big Frank calling plays what's that Big Mike McDaniel calling plays or is Big Frank calling plays

2:06:40Pat McAfee:I think it's a Mike and Frank duo okay

2:06:43Matt Rhule:I think it's Little Mike too since we have a Big Mike

2:06:47Pat McAfee:Big Mike was great on the show yeah he was so good today

2:06:51Matt Rhule:you think he's going duck hunting

2:06:53Pat McAfee:I mean he's got a fucking 11 time award winning dog yeah I hope so If he was not duck hunting, that'd be wasting that dog. Like, actually.

2:07:03Matt Rhule:You've got to train him. That's what a dog's trained to do. You need to take him out. That's what he wants. It's his drive.

2:07:08Pat McAfee:All that dog wants to do is just go get a bird. Wakes up. How much longer until I get a chance to go get this fucking bird?

2:07:16Matt Rhule:He just wakes up, see bird, get bird. Bingo. Just like AJ woke up, see ball, get ball.

2:07:20Pat McAfee:AJ actually woke up and said, let me punish myself in this weight room for two hours to showcase that I still have discipline and I'm humble. then let me go then see ball

2:07:28Matt Rhule:get ball

2:07:28Pat McAfee:yeah then when he got drafted he was coming right out of the weight room they said he was so Andrew Brandt said I'll never forget it AJ comes in dripping sweat dripping sweat from a workout I said do you want to go through this he goes no I see where my agent got it yep

2:07:43Matt Rhule:sign up a dotted letter I just want to play

2:07:45Pat McAfee:football and lift weights

2:07:46Matt Rhule:point me to the weight room

2:07:47Pat McAfee:click clack dude also they're paying me so

2:07:50Matt Rhule:you're right yeah always

2:07:52Pat McAfee:hey you had a good click clack moment there for a long time that was a good ad campaign Fantastic That was really good I'm still talking about it The youngs would never understand No When Click Clack came through Changing the cleats game dude

2:08:05Matt Rhule:First year they had football cleats It was my rookie year

2:08:09Pat McAfee:What was another game changing commercial with sounds The Squeak basketball

2:08:14Matt Rhule:Yeah the Nike basketball ones Budweiser Frogs Great one The basketball so Christmas jingle Where they're shooting threes and it's just The bells on the nets Clydesdales during Christmas time. Yep.

2:08:28Pat McAfee:Good sounds.

2:08:29Matt Rhule:For Coca-Cola. Click clack. That was kind of a click clack, too.

2:08:32Pat McAfee:Those are good Super Bowl commercials. They need to do that. I'm not kidding.

2:08:36Matt Rhule:I mean, Bud Light's dude. Yeah. It was kind of short-lived. Apple had a run where they were. Which one? The one where the guy basically just goes around and his buddies are doing stuff that pisses him off. And he just keeps saying, like, dude. And, you know, it's like.

2:08:50Pat McAfee:Ah, yeah. Those were classic. And what was the other one? Budweiser had the Was That

2:08:57Matt Rhule:That was huge That was the Dudley Boys

2:09:00Pat McAfee:More so afterwards The Dudley Boys

2:09:05Matt Rhule:Apple had a good run where they were just Coming out with banger songs that no one had ever heard of before But they were sick Yeah that was great

2:09:12Pat McAfee:Yeah that was one of them Still listen to it every single day From the moment I heard it Yeah where do they find it That's Jimmy Iovine I guess Apple Music Yeah, that's what they say. There's other people that say he couldn't hear my shit. I saw those on here. But hey, you're always going to have that. Governor Jeff Landry, thanks for stopping by today. Thank you, Governor. Busy man. Busy man. He's going to have to change all of everything. And also, a gator or two are going to have to die doing that.

2:09:42Matt Rhule:Yes, they are.

2:09:43Pat McAfee:Ain't that right, AJ?

2:09:45Matt Rhule:That's absolutely right. Does he have his own gator farm? Do we know? The whole state? Yeah. Yes, you're right. He rules all the land. He can go wherever he wants. Louisiana.

2:09:57Pat McAfee:We can go hunting that swamp.

2:10:02Matt Rhule:He got an airboat parked in his front driveway. I've been down in Louisiana.

2:10:06Pat McAfee:I went hogging, frogging, and... Holing, right? Definitely went holing.

2:10:13Matt Rhule:Yeah. Whatever it's called. You're plugging holes. Noodling? Noodling.

2:10:22Pat McAfee:You shouldn't be doing that around gators, they say.

2:10:24Matt Rhule:And don't stick your noodle in a hole.

2:10:27Pat McAfee:Yeah. Nice. That is what they say. And it's, yeah, I think that is what they say. Banana to mouth, not mouth to banana.

2:10:35Matt Rhule:Bingo.

2:10:35Pat McAfee:Sure. All right.

2:10:36Matt Rhule:Hold on.

2:10:38Pat McAfee:All right, here we go. That's what they say.

2:10:42Matt Rhule:I think either way, it might look similar. Nope. Yep. You tried out that day. Tone, show us. Show us, Tone. I'm not your guinea banana. Geez. No, you're my getting banana. Okay. Get it? I'm going to tell you. No, no.

2:10:59Pat McAfee:Whoa, whoa, whoa. What? Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, I was saying. Hey, hey, hey.

2:11:06Matt Rhule:A little bit.

2:11:07Pat McAfee:A little bit.

2:11:08Matt Rhule:It's Halloween. You can say whatever you want.

2:11:10Pat McAfee:Happy Halloween, everybody. Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. Titan's got a new mustache, new face. Did you see that, age? That's a big day. Yeah, he looks good.

2:11:16Matt Rhule:It does look, honestly, every time he cut, it looks very different. It's weird. It's true.

2:11:21Pat McAfee:Yeah, beard to mustache does kind of change. Didn't you just go beard, full beard to nothing on us one time? Did that happen?

2:11:29Matt Rhule:I think it was close. Like Tom Selleck right now. That's cool.

2:11:32Pat McAfee:You do look good. That's a good beard. Or mustache.

2:11:35Matt Rhule:He dated Monica Geller.

2:11:36Pat McAfee:Hey, JC took that thing tight too.

2:11:38Matt Rhule:Yeah, he did. I told him. Gotta take it down.

2:11:40Pat McAfee:You see Skelly's here. Nice return.

2:11:44Matt Rhule:Man. So those kids took that giant thing out of AQ's yard and brought it back, obviously.

2:11:48Pat McAfee:Yeah, one of them. They tried to get two of them, but that's something the bitch on the other side fought back.

2:11:52Matt Rhule:We got trick-or-treat tonight, and it's been a monsoon since last night, and it's still going.

2:11:58Pat McAfee:Tonight? I thought it was on Friday.

2:12:00Matt Rhule:Come on, it's so hot. You don't trick-or-treat on Friday night because there's high school football on Friday night. No one's ever done that here. God, that's awesome.

2:12:07Pat McAfee:I didn't even think about that. Love that.

2:12:09Matt Rhule:You're lost, brother.

2:12:10Pat McAfee:Wait a minute. No, we don't need it.

2:12:11Matt Rhule:Trick-or-treat's a great added weeknight that feels like a weekend night. No, definitely.

2:12:15Pat McAfee:Definitely in my mind, in my head, and I think back as a young lad, young boy, I think about middle of the week Halloween is what I think about.

2:12:23Matt Rhule:When we were young, it actually never fell on the weekend.

2:12:27Pat McAfee:I don't know if that's true or not.

2:12:28Matt Rhule:Stat that. It did kind of feel like that.

2:12:29Pat McAfee:It felt like that, though.

2:12:30Matt Rhule:Yeah.

2:12:30Pat McAfee:Yeah, because you go to school, obviously do the thing, and then you have the night. It was like a full thing.

2:12:35Matt Rhule:Feel like shit at school the next day always because you ate so much candy the night before.

2:12:39Pat McAfee:Exactly. It felt so cool staying up real, real late. Yeah. Yeah. Also hustling. This one's for my brother. It's sick. You know, two different pillowcases. He's at home. He wasn't able to call. This is for my brother. He's sick. Got the flu. It's terrible. Thank you. They got big candy bars here. That's my brother, my sister, too. Yep. I have to go ahead and collect these things. What a time. Halloween was legendary.

2:13:03Matt Rhule:Yeah, so fun.

2:13:04Pat McAfee:So much shit happened around Halloween when you just look back in my life, at least. Oh, yeah. I mean, college. Jesus Christ. Yeah. I mean, yeah, right, dude. Morgantown Halloween. I know there's other places to talk about it. Everybody was celebrating. There's people that don't celebrate Halloween. I'm like, what fucking happened? It's crazy. What happened?

2:13:23Matt Rhule:Did you know that if you go to a Catholic school, the day after Halloween is always off, All Saints Day? Oh, brilliant.

2:13:29Pat McAfee:Some of these things are just really smart. What's tonight, though? Oh. No, last night. Devil's Night. Which started in? Detroit. Detroit, Michigan started tonight as Devil's Night, which I think, I don't know, the way we kind of viewed it as young, reckless teens was purge, basically. So we can kind of just go do whatever the fuck we want. Can't kill anybody, but we can certainly run a little rough shot around here. No rules aside from that. Yeah, we can certainly do some stuff here. People are going to be on guard. Got to look for them. There's going to be people waiting.

2:14:01Matt Rhule:My old man used to sit on the front porch with a BB gun.

2:14:03Pat McAfee:Bingo. Those are the guys you can't run into. Yeah. That'll get you. That'll be a bad devil's night. Probably, though. You don't want to hear those. You show up Halloween there in school, what happened? Mr. Moraldo. Nobody needs to be going there. Golly. Maybe drink some in. Big Frank's out there with his boots and his boots. Those were good times, man. Halloween's a great holiday. I appreciate Taylor LeJuan celebrating this morning.

2:14:31Matt Rhule:He did a great job.

2:14:32Pat McAfee:That was great work. Six different costumes. I texted Will Compton in the middle of this. I'm like, yo. Just kind of let him do it. I think it was his. Because he did have.

2:14:42Matt Rhule:Oh, yeah.

2:14:43Pat McAfee:He had a hot dog in her.

2:14:45Matt Rhule:Mm-hmm.

2:14:46Pat McAfee:That was good. Long-haired biker guy. I didn't get it. I think it was supposed to be.

2:14:49Matt Rhule:From Tim Robinson. I believe that was supposed to be Macho Man. Yeah. Savage? Or Hulkster. I forget which one. It was supposed to be Macho Man. He actually apologized for the low quality of it later.

2:14:59Pat McAfee:Holy fuck, man. Okay, that was the first one, too, right? Wasn't it?

2:15:02Matt Rhule:Yeah, right out the gate.

2:15:03Pat McAfee:Oh, no. Should it?

2:15:05Matt Rhule:Can't be having to explain how you are. Right out the jump. Can't. He had good. This is Captain. Captain Taylor. Who are? Yeah, yeah. I think that was a good one.

2:15:13Pat McAfee:He was a pirate. Referee, great one. Obviously, Average Rose is good. These are good. Great will. What do we see? Yeah, these are all good. Great costume. The first one was? It was supposed to be Macho Man. Oh, I didn't know that. I wasn't watching at the time. I only saw the picture. Okay, I see it.

2:15:32Jeff Landry:Do you? Seven, Con.

2:15:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, I missed it. Oh, yeah. See, I don't know if he even tried to do that. Smart. He may have. but this is what we're talking about here hey good effort though good effort i like that he did it i like that he did it i appreciate he loves halloween they got the spooky uh he's all in on i really respect it i do halloween good time man also nfl teams all gathering yes you can learn a lot about team halloween party that's good middle season check here you know you talk about like uh draft day where they're like birthday party the whole conversation about that with that quarterback coming out it's like team check here halloween how's it how's it how's it checking out which is why i think now i think there were some punishments that were levied upon certain teams during covid whenever you saw some teams gathering it was like oh these boys really fucking like each other like don't you think so aj i think that we can really judge a team from that

2:16:23Matt Rhule:i think yeah one of your absolutely if i'm a head coach right now i would i would be i mean i would be questioning the guys the next day or afterwards hey how'd it go how's the hallway party guys anyone you know was a bit of a runaway maybe if you guys stay hopefully you stayed uh you know you were safe, but I want you guys to have a good time together.

2:16:38Pat McAfee:Also, who wasn't there? Can we talk about that? Trade deadline next Tuesday.

2:16:42Matt Rhule:Who's pouting? Who's pouting that didn't show up?

2:16:44Pat McAfee:Trade deadline's Tuesday. Just so we can get a nice little... Send them out. I'm not saying you're getting traded because you're not at the Halloween party. Obviously, people have lives and families and shit like that. But on that note, if there is somebody that is not maybe playing as well, and also not getting along with the boys, I'm not saying that's going to immediately leave to a trade, but it certainly wouldn't affect it. It certainly wouldn't affect it. And then there's some, I don't know, maybe not anymore, but there was an era of people making decisions about teams that didn't even think about whether or not these humans would get along or like each other.

2:17:14Pat McAfee:Are they like-minded? Like that is something that was happening for a little bit. It feels like we've kind of gone away from that, from every gatekeeper we talk to at least, AJ, don't you think?

2:17:23Matt Rhule:Yeah, you'd hope so. They at least say they do. They at least claim that they're worried about the character and if the person, how they're, how they would fit in the locker room. I think the majority of the guys bringing people in absolutely do think about that. I don't think everybody does, but the majority do. I think you have to. I think Halloween is a good thermometer.

2:17:43Pat McAfee:Because maybe if I can, like cards, you give back to the whole team. Yeah, I think you could. There was no Halloween party? Who hosted a Halloween party? One of the trainers had a gather. Nobody on. The quarterback didn't even. Oh, no.

2:18:00Matt Rhule:Do we think your controversial guest held a Halloween party this year? He always does, right? He does love Halloween.

2:18:05Pat McAfee:He actually got into a little bit of a quagmire.

2:18:08Jeff Landry:He did get into a bit of a quagmire.

2:18:10Pat McAfee:Because his very public stance on which part of the entire jab he was on certainly said, you're not allowed to gather around the others if that's how you're going to operate with your things inside your body. Was he right in the end of the day? Well, listen, everybody's going to be right somehow. I don't know, but I think he certainly feels vindicated. a lot of things she has seen in red.

2:18:33Matt Rhule:Absolutely feels vindicated.

2:18:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, but everybody else, which goes back to you guys need a scoreboard over there. They need a scoreboard in politics. I don't know the world, politics world, well enough. I've gotten to the point now where I've gotten a chance to chat with people that have dabbled in that world, whether it's former teammates of mine going all the way in. Okay. How's he doing? Great now. He's watching. He's great. But also, you know, from different events that we've been at where we've had a quick interaction, maybe a quick pepper of a question. And I do utilize, I think people would say that are around me in these moments, I utilize this time with these people to ask questions that I assume most people would not ask.

2:19:17Pat McAfee:Like, I very much have a, oh, fuck, I don't know if I'm ever going to see this person again. Gotta get it out. Gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta get it out. So I've had a lot of those moments in the entirety. that world is just no it feels like there's no winning but also somehow there's no losing i don't know how that even works i i don't know how that works everybody's spinning that they're saving the world and everybody has somehow stats that they're saving the world and if you have that you're never going to get somebody to disagree or change their opinion so i don't they need a scoreboard age they need a fucking scoreboard people say election day scoreboard it's like yeah but does everybody listen to that and pay attention who's tallying who's tallying

2:19:53Matt Rhule:the scoreboard is the question. Who's putting the numbers up?

2:19:56Pat McAfee:Yeah, and what's a point?

2:19:58Matt Rhule:Yeah, because what's a great thing for one person, and they're his whole group, the other group's going to come out and say, you're killing babies. That's just how it works.

2:20:06Pat McAfee:Yeah, there's always a very strong counter.

2:20:09Matt Rhule:There's always a very strong counter.

2:20:11Pat McAfee:What's that?

2:20:12Matt Rhule:We need to elect a grand scorekeeper. We need to do a point one, like Jeff Landry. We need to do a point one.

2:20:16Pat McAfee:Yeah, well, he's not going to make decisions, but maybe the people that he puts together... Who does everybody like nick saving boom nick saving he'll keep score all right one then they'll make a counter argument make out a half you got no points that you lost points why did you think about doing that and that's part of the problem you know as the counters start coming in oh no you're ruining the world oh no you're the worst person and then this oh no you're yeah but what about the good no we're not keeping score on that we're talking about what the worst possible outcome could be here because that's probably inevitable.

2:20:52Pat McAfee:That's why we love what we have here in sports. All right. Be your friend. Tell your friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. To the politician people, we appreciate your efforts if your efforts are pure and you're trying to make everything good. Without a doubt. Which we'll just assume you all are. Mm-hmm. Knowing that's not true. We will assume and hope that that's the case. Mm-hmm. So we appreciate you all so much. Let's go ahead and get football and college sports figured out. Yeah. Because you guys sent that over to NCAA. They're never going to get that done.

2:21:17No.

2:21:18Pat McAfee:Right, H?

2:21:19Matt Rhule:No chance.

2:21:20Pat McAfee:No chance. They're waiting on you guys. And then he said, well, why don't we meet? Yeah. That's what I think should happen. Exactly. And on that note, everybody should meet. Everybody should be meeting all the time. Let's be learning. Let's evolve. Let's work together. Let's be a friend, tell a friend something nice might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.

2:21:42Jeff Landry:But what I wanted to tell you is that my daughter is playing a lot of studies. Semesterbeitrag, Laptop, books, software, hand, internet. So a Master is really cheap. Say her, she can get it back. You mean from the Steuer to set up, right? But she doesn't pay.

2:21:55AJ Hawk:No. It's a loss of a loss. She makes it simple with Visa Steuer. And when she works, it's kaching.

2:22:02Matt Rhule:That's it?

2:22:03AJ Hawk:Safe. Visa Steuer. Hol dir dein Geld zurück. Now to try it.