PMS 2.0 1451 - Thursday Night Football Preview, Heather Dinich, Mike McCarthy, & AJ Hawk

24:10Like if it was West Virginia coming to town, Notre Dame coming to town, those parking lots are always full with probably about 50 ,000 people that aren't going into the game.

24:18Pat McAfee:So I think the last big Notre Dame pit game there were some people we know that ended up in a hospital, didn't even make it. That was a good time. Yeah, they got carried out of parking. Oh no. Who's that? That person was if I remember correctly chugging a vodka bottle and it was going Somebody stop him. Yeah, there was people that were trying to save this man's life, and they had the forecasting ability of Joe Leonardo because he should have stopped. They were right. Yeah, he ended up, I guess, in between some cars. Sure. Found by other people, put into an ambulance, and then, you know, sent out there.

24:52Pat McAfee:And I think before chugging that vodka goes, Gus, because you can't do it, doesn't mean I can't. And then, you know, that entire thing, which we like the confidence, but certainly not the decision. But that's what we're talking about. I'm not saying anybody's doing that. 2025, everybody knows better. Everybody knows better. Definitely. But what we're saying is it is a football city. It should be pretty epic on Saturday, I'm thinking. The drinking event. Bingo. And it's warm. Yeah, the warm weather. I didn't even think about that. That's a huge game changer. Well, and we told a story about them putting in the alcohol attacks.

25:23Pat McAfee:You remember we told a story about the alcohol attacks that they dropped in there. And they projected whatever, and it was like 20x that. And they realized the city had a problem, but then they also said this tax is staying forever. You know, and Pittsburgh's going to be a good time. I can't wait to get back there. Pittsburgh's got a tough game, though. Hey, Notre Dame's a good team right now. Notre Dame's a good team right now. Doesn't matter, though. You know, their head coach said, hey, it doesn't matter if we get beat by 100. You know, we're just trying to win an ACC championship. So, you know, doesn't even matter.

25:54Run it. Do you feel like this is a must win for this team when it comes to something? Absolutely not. You know, it is not an ACC game. I'm glad you brought that up. It's not an ACC game. You know, I gladly get beat 103 or 110 to 10 in that game. They can put 100 up on us as long as we win the next two after that. But again, our focus is on Notre Dame and getting as many wins as we can.

26:19Pat McAfee:We'll be talking to Coach Narduzzi tomorrow and say, what was that? Yeah, why'd you say that? Why did you have such an exact score already? It felt like he had said that already to somebody else. It literally could be 103 to 10, 110 to 10. He gave himself 10 points there, which I think was good. When did they score that? Is that garbage time? Is that after it's already over 100? Like, is that before their last 10 times? Seems like he had thought about that answer. I assume what he'll tell us is he was just informing everybody, like, hey, the outcome of this game does not matter for what we still have going.

26:51Pat McAfee:So I think he's trying to get the narrative out there and the information to people, I think. Like, hey, we're still very much in the ACC race. this weekend you're going to see there's going to be a lot of eyes on our team does not matter i think that's probably what he'll say and on the flip side of that if i'm in the locker room i don't think i want to hear that from my coach but these are all narduzzi guys this is a narduzzi culture narduzzi has built this team and he's been there a long time he probably has a better feel of it i did not expect a coach to ever say that no no i did not a coach i did not expect but he also said yesterday on his radio show i saw too he told pit fans it's a noon kickoff get down there get liquored up.

27:25He said that? Yep, he said get liquored up.

27:27Pat McAfee:Yeah, so that's what I'm saying. He knows he gets what he's doing. And obviously, I don't know how to play a pit. I'll be excited to see how that all goes. Me too. Yeah, I will be excited to see how that all goes. I'll be excited to get back. But I don't know, like, the pit inside inner workings or whatever have to have a lot of buy-in to be able to go up there and say, if we lose by 100, we don't care. Nick, you want the pit. What are your thoughts on we could potentially lose 103-10 or whatever it is? You know, at first you hear that and you think that's a weird thing to say with a gigantic game coming up and, you know, a chance to go win the ACC championship and put on a national spotlight and beat Notre Dame on the way to do that.

28:08That felt like the right thing to do. But, you know, I think maybe just a little bit of a deflection. Maybe just a little bit. Let's get Notre Dame nice and comfortable. Hey, come in here. You can beat us. It doesn't matter.

28:18Pat McAfee:Oh, you think he's – you think his gamesmanship closed Sicilian out of Coach Narduz? Potentially a little gamesmanship from the Deuce down there. I didn't even think about Narduz coming on show tomorrow off air going, hey, I told the boys I'm going to go say this because these Notre Dame kids, they'll forget about the game. So you guys fell for it like a bunch of marks. You guys are a bunch of – what if Narduz, he says that? He says, listen, when I'm talking to the team and when I'm talking to Notre Dame and when I'm talking to the fans, it's all different. Tell the team, hey, I'm going to go save.

28:49Pat McAfee:Tell Notre Dame, yeah, hire a 3-10, whatever. Tell the fans, need you liquored up. Got to be more direct with the fans. You know, got to be a little bit more direct with them. With Notre Dame, you can kind of passive aggressively, hopefully lower the expectations on their end so maybe they're not as prepared to come into Accra-Shure Field sold out. Would that be more Notre Dame or Pitt? Pitt. What do you think it'll be, 70-30? 60-40. You think 60-40? It's going to be close. I wouldn't be surprised if it's 50-50. Jeez. I'm serious. It's a pro sports town. We all know that. Pitt has attendance problems because the stadium is too big for what the program is at the moment.

29:26They need their own stadium. Everyone agrees on that, Tony.

29:30Pat McAfee:Tony started it, and then Ben Roethlisberger backed him up. He was in a good spot, especially this week. You got Pitt Notre Dame on Saturday. Then you got Steelers on Sunday. Same grass. So look for that to definitely be a storyline coming out of Sunday's game one way or another. because Pittsburgh, you know, we don't have the best weather. Pittsburgh doesn't have the best weather. So do you always have the best grass in those types of towns? Absolutely not. Have the Pittsburgh Steelers ever said, like, hey, we're going to fix this problem and we're going to use the newest turf? Absolutely not.

30:00Pat McAfee:Football's on grass. It's outside and it's on grass is how Pittsburgh football town feels. So every single beginning of winter and then through the end of college football season, let alone high school state championships happening there, Whippeel Championships happening there. Always a conversation about how ass the field is. But that's just like what Pitt and Pittsburgh football is. Like you just play on an ass field. Hey, they're spray painting the dirt to make it look like grass. Not a bad play. Very Pittsburgh of them, I would say. That's a good angle. Hey, what are we doing? You're trying to do this?

30:33Pat McAfee:I can't wait to see what game day does. It looks like. It's going to be incredible. But the other side of the coin to this Pitt conversation is Notre Dame, and Marcus Freeman also know, like, hey, this is one of the last opportunities we have to really prove ourselves to the college football playoff. Like, is this the last-ranked opponent on their schedule? I'm assuming it is. I believe so. Like, they need to also make a statement. So, Narduzzi might be saying that because he knows there's a beast coming. There's a two-headed monster coming into town right now, and we might get beat by 100. So, I need to let the Pitt fans know.

31:03I need to let the Pitt fans know, like, hey, when we get beat by 100, don't, you know, absolutely kill me. We still got everything in front of us, okay?

31:11Pat McAfee:And the Pitt fans will say, sure, we lose by 100 Notre Dame. Yeah, we got everything in front of us. Sure, that's a – Heather just texted Mike Foss to get to us. Tell him that Heather Denich has just confirmed Mark Harlan, the Utah AD, has been nominated to replace Mack Rhodes, the chair of CFP committee, who stepped down earlier today because of something happening at Baylor. Not a lot of details. Outkick reported one particular incident. Well, I guess two separate incidents on one particular day. Who knows what else is coming down the line. But now Utah AD Mark Harlan. Hey, get it right, Mark.

31:47Pat McAfee:Come on, Mark. Hey, Mark, take a second and look at that WVU Mountaineers team, how they're playing now. Okay, if we're trying to get the best teams in there, Scotty Fox, these boys, a little bit of a hard edge. Maybe we slip in the back. Yep, here's the West Virginia Mountaineers playing against Colorado this past weekend. Steve Slayton was honored for going into the College Football Hall of Fame. the 2005 Sugar Bowl champions were in attendance. I think they said 60 ,000 people. Oh, hell yeah. Packed out. That's awesome. Yeah. Exactly. And I think we're going, look, look. Oh, yeah. That is packed.

32:19Pat McAfee:Yeah, packed out. And we are not going anywhere this season. Like, we are right now building for next season is what we are doing. Might end up with a bowl game. Got it. All good. Which would be great. But I think everybody is in the same understanding. Like, hey, we are building a program right now. So the fact that that place was filled up, good news. Yeah. So great news going forward. Did you get a chance to talk to the Utah AD when you guys were in there for game day or anything when you guys were there? Or was it just the head coach conversation? Yeah, yeah. Good chat. Yeah, it was a good conversation.

32:47Pat McAfee:He's a good guy. Brief. Very busy, obviously. And when you look at a photo of him, you obviously know, like, hey, when you see him, you know. When you see Mark Harlan, yeah, you definitely – when you see a photo of the Utah athletic director, Mark Harlan, you really know exactly what you're – you say, that's the Utah athletic – Yeah, I did meet him. Yeah, yeah, I did talk to him. Yes, yes, I certainly did. Kevin Harlan in him. Yeah, well, it may be related. That one with the Utah in the background is kind of a mix of Lombo and Brandon Bean. Ooh. That's not bad, actually, a little combo if you're going to be a football athletic person.

33:22Mark Lombeen. Good handshake here on Mark Harlan.

33:24Pat McAfee:He has now been nominated to replace Mack Rhodes in the college football playoff committee, who will be selecting the 12. That'll be counting down. The one. It's interesting because you can tell us like 14. Yeah, we'll see if they get in. You guys see Kevin's game here? I was going to say, don't get too comfortable, BYU. Don't get too comfortable. Tough loss to Texas Tech. Can't lose another one. Imagine Mark Harlan. How'd you see it? These guys are frauds. We've got to get them out of here. That's my first order of business. Get BYU the hell out of here. I do wonder how the Cougs feel this morning.

34:00Pat McAfee:I do. They had him out? He was out? Now he's back in. That's right. Oh, man. Bear Bachmar. He's going to have to deal with this for the next three years. His three-year terms. His whole career. Oh, no. That's tough. Ryan Smith needs to make some calls. Their basketball team actually has been making calls for BYU. They just signed a 22-year-old center out of the G League. Yeah, I heard that's becoming a thing. People aren't happy about that. Speaking of the G League, LeBron's head of Donner. He's designated for the South Bay Lakers. He will be in the G League doing some five-on-five practicing.

34:33Pat McAfee:I think that's maybe because the boys with the Lakers aren't doing that at this time of the season, so he needs to go get some work. If LeBron James is going to play in a couple G League games and pack these smaller gyms out, it's going to be epic, I think personally. This is just like in the offseason. I think Kevin Durant has done it. Obviously, Kyrie's done it. LeBron's done it. Kobe did it. Like Drew League and then Rucker Park games and other leagues. I think Equinox had a league. Jamal Crawford had a league as well. Yeah, Crossover League. Like every one of these leagues in the offseason, whenever a superstar shows up, the atmosphere in the gyms are just absolutely outrageous.

35:11Pat McAfee:So I don't know if he's playing in any of these games. I have no idea if that's even possible. But if we're getting an atmosphere like we see in those offseason games that guys are playing, like I think Kevin Durant just won absolutely apeshit at Rutgers if I'm thinking back. Yeah, you get like four or five threes in a row. Yeah, that's a moment that goes Kobe showing up, walking out. The major league stuff with Kobe is crazy. Yeah, insanity. Kyrie, obviously. It's like those are cool content pieces. And I'm not saying, hey, the NBA season should be treated like content. But I am saying if this dude's showing up in some G League gyms and the place is going crazy, that'd be great content.

35:49Pat McAfee:Especially with how the Lakers are. The Lakers are a good basketball team, right? He's not even playing? Yeah, they're rolling. A lot of people think that when he comes back, he's going to change the entire makeup of the team since he's LeBron and needs the ball. And then Luke will have the ball less. KD and Speed actually just played two on two. I don't know if you saw it. I saw KD walk down. Yeah, incredible. Yeah, like the fact that they do that stuff, I mean, it kind of goes back to the wingman conversation yesterday with the NHL. The NBA has always been really good at their stars kind of promoting themselves, but also just the league and basketball in general in the offseason.

36:19Pat McAfee:Speed, so athletic. Yeah, legit. That is an absurd athlete, this Speed guy. What a perfect time to be a freak athlete and have the ability to have moxie at all times. Hey, just watch me go conquer all of these things. Everybody that's great at everything is going to say, yup, this guy could have done this for a living. That's a great content piece. And that speeds life. I think he was even the mayor of a city in Peru. Yeah. I mean, this guy could have been a mayor. Yeah, exactly. He was like a second away from breaking the NBA record on the six-cone drill or whatever the hell it was. Yeah, he's outright.

36:52Pat McAfee:Almost won the Royal Rumble. Yeah. Well, that thing turned quickly. It did. That thing certainly turned quickly there. Braun Breaker's an explosive athlete as well. But on that note, Speed, keep doing it, man. We love watching. Yeah, baby, Speed, impressive. Very, very impressive. Lethal Shooter also incredible. Maybe Lethal gets on that South Bay team. Ooh. So you got Braun passing it. I didn't like the quick analysis you gave of the entire Lakers and the Lakers season that you dropped in right before that. But I want to let you know, it was good NBA stuff. Let's get back to college football.

37:23Pat McAfee:You're a Massachusetts guy. Did you see your university up there? Yeah, my father's a proud alumni, so go Minutemen, baby. UMass down 45 zip in the fourth quarter. Run it.

37:39Pat McAfee:No sound. Guy makes kick. 54 yards. Beautiful. What a time. Field goal's good. We're not shut out anymore. Great kick number 99. Fireworks. What are we doing? They were saving that all night. They got 1 ,400 people in that crowd. Maybe. I'm not 100 % sure. Sweet fireplace, though. Sweet. And the barracks in the back there, I don't know exactly what that is. It's a beer garden back there, the barracks. That's pretty cool. I assume some military veteran was part of that entire thing, so we appreciate that. The Minutemen, obviously, massive military conversation. They were waiting to put on a show.

38:12Pat McAfee:They got a night game. They got a night game. It's a brand-new stadium. What are they supposed to do, put up whenever they want down 28? No, they can't do that. So old buddy comes in, kicks a 54-yarder. They all go, wow, that's impressive. And the guy who's on the button, Mr. Zambelli probably, yeah, that deserves it. Send it. Six minutes left in this game. What are we going to do? Just have you sit here until next Fourth of July? Yeah, you're right. They sent it out there. You didn't want them to do that? No, I mean, that's embarrassing. You can't be doing that. They knew this type of stuff was going to happen.

38:40Listen, my wife is also a proud alum of Zoomass, so, like, I get it. But, I mean, come on. What? Fireworks show's cool. It looks cool. It looks very, very cool.

38:50Pat McAfee:Well, maybe it just so happened to be a fireworks show for the rest of the town. Maybe the kick happened to happen at the same time as scheduled fireworks show for the rest of time. Maybe it did just so happen to happen. This is the highlight of their season. A lot of people are saying this is the worst D1 college football team of all time. That's not true. That's not true. Don't listen to Tony. That's not true. You don't ask me, man. They got a lot of fight. Okay? Yeah. They're 0-10. Yeah. They set out fireworks after hitting a field goal to go down 45-3. But they're building. They're coming.

39:21That's a brand new stadium right there. They're setting out the fireworks because it's like, hey, are we going to crumble in the moments when we beat freaking Ohio State at home?

39:31Pat McAfee:Oh, you think the fireworks people are practicing for years to come? They're building a program too. Exactly. How do we know what these fireworks look like when we need them next year when we're running for a championship if we don't run them this year when we're down 45 zip? Boom. So they're like, we got to get eyes on these fireworks to see if they're the right one. Yeah, make adjustments. We're talking about Massachusetts. This is a do-your-job type of time. I don't know if it's a Zambelli, if I had to guess it would probably be a Mick something or an O something. But either way, it's still one of those things where, what, are they going to go in blind when they beat freaking Texas Tech at home next year?

40:01I mean, go down the list. I won't say my Hoosiers, but Ohio State, they're coming. Oregon, they're coming. BYU, don't even think about it. Afterthought. All those schools, and that is exactly why UMass had to let that one fly. And although the entire press box cackled at them, audibly laughed. We don't need that. Is what I read. Yeah. We don't need that. Practice makes perfect, all right?

40:24Pat McAfee:Jeez. You think fireworks are perfect all the time? No. Go to the hospital. Check the records. There's a lot of mistakes that happen. Now, speaking of fireworks, Audie Crooks, my new favorite basketball player. Hell yeah. 21 minutes last night, 43 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists. So there was a report it was in 19 minutes. Then we looked at the box score. The box score said 21 minutes. Now, this is reporting 20 minutes, whatever the case. Audie Crooks doesn't need a lot of time. Nope. But she's going to take over. And we just need to be prepared for March Madness for it to be the Audie Crooks show because my timeline has already become that.

40:56Pat McAfee:I think every game that she plays, I'm seeing absurd stat lines like this. And I legitimately don't think she's stoppable. No. Just from the highlights that I've seen, she goes, takes a break. She comes out, takes over the entire game. Okay, then it's Audie Crooks time. It's like a closing pitcher. She gets an entrance. Anytime she comes in, the whole place knows. The other team knows it's about to go down. Her team knows we're putting this ball in one place. It's awesome. Audie Crooks, I think they're winning a national championship. They could. They're going to win a national championship. She's an Iowa legend.

41:29I want to say she's from Bishop Garrigan. I think that's where she went to high school. I want to say her mom is maybe a Hall of Famer at either Iowa State or at her high school. But she's been doing this stuff. When she really kind of popped onto the scene a couple years ago, I said, okay, I got to take a peek at this and kind of go through the layers a little bit. And I went back and looked at a lot of her high school box scores. She's been putting up stat lines like that since she's been a freshman. She's unstoppable. So now it's just a matter of, hey, our team's going to throw five defenders at her.

42:00And do we have other girls?

42:01Pat McAfee:How's she from the free throw line? I think she's pretty decent. I think she fills up the bucket. So yeah, if Iowa State can find, And I haven't done a deep dive on their roster this year. I don't know what kind of wing players they have, what kind of guards they have. But if they can get a little bit of production outside of her, she's going to average 30 to 35 points a game. 72 % shooter from the line. That's pretty good. Just did the research, and she wasn't the only one. Women's college hoops going crazy. Yeah, Hannah Hidalgo for Notre Dame. She went bananas. 44 points, yeah, that's cool. 16 steals.

42:33I don't know how that happened. and just, okay, they're playing Akron. I'm so sorry to the Akron women's basketball team that they had to get guarded by Hannah Hidalgo because talk about a nightmare. I don't know what the record is either for steals in a game, but 16 is the highest I've seen in a long time just across the board, men's or women. She damn near had a triple-double with steals. I mean, it's ridiculous.

42:56Pat McAfee:Hannah Houdini Hidalgo. Now you have it, now you don't. She's a magic woman. I think it's incredible that she can be the most athletic person on the defensive side. Normally that's the case. The steals is like reading, quickness, hand, eye coordination. You name it. And then on the other side, fills it up. I mean, just absolutely fills it up. Hey, women's college hoops. I'm not, I cannot sit here on this day. I cannot sit here and say that I have watched any of these games in full. I will try to at some point in the near future, but women's college hoops has been coming through the algorithm for me.

43:33Pat McAfee:and it's because they have superstars over there. Yeah. That's a record. For who? For the entire NCAA?

43:43Pat McAfee:Women's NCAA record, 16-0. The record was 14, so 16-0 is a record. So, like, these superstars seemingly in women's college hoops right now taking over Algo. Like, multiple. Audie Crooks. I don't know who's cooking up the internet for Audie Crooks. She's got memes. I mean, she's got gits. I mean, she is unstoppable. And then Hannah Hidalgo, right? I'm like, I've never heard of this person. Unbelievable. Is this the best player of all time? Yeah, and I have to say it because she plays for Fairfield. But this year's Caitlin Clark right now is Megan Anderson. She leads Women's Division I. And where'd she go?

44:18She goes to Fairfield University, Staggs. She's a Stagg. She's a Stagg. She's a Stagg. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Roll Staggs. I believe she's averaging like 33 points a game. Genuine problem. They beat Villanova in the first week of the season.

44:31Pat McAfee:They came and played Indiana, right? Yeah, they came play at Indiana. It was real tight for a quarter or two. But, again, we were a little bit outmatched, but we didn't have Megan Anderson. Update, 16 steals is a record for both men's and women's college hoops. Congratulations, Hannah Hidalgo. Unbelievable. Here are some Hembo stats on Hannah Hidalgo. 44 points breaks Notre Dame's scoring record as well. Jeez. Okay. Good night. A lot of great players playing Notre Dame. Sorry we did not know this. We are getting these stats in real time from Hembo. This is 100 % on it. We should have looked into it.

45:04Pat McAfee:We will, I think, hands up. I don't think we are the women's college hoops go-to, but maybe if superstars are showing up every single night, why not, Ty? And we also did take a program. We did. To go celebrate Women's March Madness. We did. In Iowa. In the middle of a blizzard. In the middle of a blizzard. Bad blizzard. We saw a lot of semis in the middle of the highway, that kind of stuff. But it's also, it's early right now. You don't need to pay attention to this kind of stuff. Once we get into conference play and we're seeing Audie Crooks taking on whoever Texas' best player, that's when you really zone in.

45:42You say, okay, college basketball season's here. They fill the bucket up. They do.

45:46Pat McAfee:They fill the bucket up. Did we watch before Caitlin Clark was playing? I remember watching the WVU women's basketball team whenever I was at school. Yeah, when I was in school, I went to a game or two. They were a cool group of girls. Like Taurasi, that era when they were at UConn. Taurasi was a beast. Yeah, I remember that. And then Candace. Candace Parker. Yeah, Tennessee. It's always like superstar driven. Skyler Diggins. I mean, I figured she had the Notre Dame points. Yeah, she did. I think 41 maybe. Nope. Ruth Riley in 1999 had 41. And Jewel Lloyd, obviously, in 2014 had 41. Scored 18 straight Notre Dame points in the first half and 12 straight points for either team in the second quarter.

46:27Pat McAfee:she won 12 in the second quarter against this team that's unbelievable zips are good yeah tough night yeah but that that's what we're just talking about with the nba like it is a stars driven league it's really just a stars driven sport like in college basketball we had cooper flag last year and there's a couple other players this year now but if there aren't massive massive stars just in hoops in general it's just not something you follow as closely but the women's basketball has a ton this year now. Yeah, let's talk a little bit more about the football, shall we? Cooper Cup is heading back to SoFi.

47:00Pat McAfee:You know, he's obviously back home with the Seattle Seahawks, a man who's from that area, has joined the Seattle Seahawks team, and they have become a wagon. Okay, a wagon. But Cooper Cup's no stranger to wagons. He's been a part of a few before. Remember, he's the man who won the, they always say triple crown, but they forget also the yards after catch. So he won all four of the wide receiver ones. We're talking yards, touchdowns, catches, and yards after catch. Cooper Cup, special talent. Nobody could have expected him either with who he was. Not a lot of fanfare. And then him and Matthew Stafford just won absolutely absurd.

47:34Pat McAfee:He goes to Seattle Seahawks. Now he's going back to SoFi. You know, won a Super Bowl there, won some awards there, did some things to welcome Los Angeles and the Rams back into that city and that stadium. And here's him talking about the emotions of heading back to SoFi. It's another football game. What? Yeah, get out there, play your game. Yeah, I mean, love these guys. Love so many of the guys over there. And by the end of the day, you got to go play a football game. So that's going to be what it is. Try to treat this the same as any other game. Yeah, go out there and just be a lock in for your job one play after the next and take that play-by-play mindset.

48:13And yeah, same as usual. Word is that they're going to do some sort of tribute to you there. How do you acknowledge that and also stay locked in like you're talking about? Yeah, I don't know. I didn't know that. I don't know. I mean, I didn't die. You know, I'm here.

48:33Yeah, I appreciate it. It's obviously so thankful for my time there. Incredible experience. Built so much with just the fans, with the guys that I was able to play with and just bring experiences to nothing but love. for that city and um yeah but i mean like i said you gotta be able to gotta be a lock in for the game and what's what's ahead of you so um i think it'll be it'll be fun i'm excited about it it's a really football team really football team um and present some great challenges for us and

49:05Pat McAfee:obviously players returning to a team that they had a lot of success with is no stranger to the nfl the business is the business uh business earlier this year micah parsons going back to dallas was obviously a huge story yeah and jerry said there will be no tribute. He's got enough good stuff. They're going to clap for him, basically. Now, if Emmitt comes back, that's a little different story. Troy Aikman, two eights. Different story. These are all different stories. Mountain pop here. Cooper Cup going back to L.A. I assume that's going to be a massive. I think it's probably going to be a massively positive response.

49:41Pat McAfee:I think that's how probably everybody feels about the situation, including Rams and Seahawks fans alike. Yeah, I mean, we talked about it. The Micah stuff never really made sense because they didn't win a Super Bowl. He was obviously an unbelievable player, but Cooper Cupp won a Super Bowl with them. I think we talked about it earlier this week. He was the last guy outside of quarterback to get MVP votes the year he had the Triple Crown and the Yaks. So it's like he is the one who kind of, him and Stafford obviously, but he was the best receiver in the NFL, and he was the one who really helped kind of launch this new Rams.

50:16I don't know, you can't really call it a dynasty, but like he was the one who, yeah, exactly. Like they are a pillar of them being in LA and it's like, hey, this is LA's team now. So it makes sense that they would have a very warm welcome for him.

50:30Pat McAfee:Cooper Cup, whenever you talk about history, he's sitting at the top of it. Damn. Receptions, including playoffs. 2021 Cooper Cup, 178. Receiving yards, 2021, 2 ,425 yards. Second place, Larry Fitzgerald in the history of the NFL, 1 ,977. That's crazy. Holy shit. Yeah, a lot of big playoff moments for him. Not a lot. I'll tell you what. That's an insane stat right there. Yeah. 2 ,425 yards, receiving yards is the most in NFL history, including the playoffs. Obviously, they win that year. Larry Fitzgerald in second, under 2 ,000. He's closer to 3 ,000? No. Yeah, I mean, he's – what a season. Is he going to do that again?

51:19Pat McAfee:Is he going to have a Sam Darnold next year, have a fully healthy season, and be able to do this again? And then first downs, obviously, in a season, he had 108. Michael Irvin, playmaker, had 100 in 1995. He was special. Cooper Cup and the Rams are special, special. If you're seeing a guy, as a fan of a team, go for 2 ,425 yards in one season, I assume your natural reaction whenever you see that person later in life is going to be, hey. Yeah. I love this guy. So this weekend, I think, will be a good return for Cooper Cup, and I'm happy for him for that. He must have had 200 catches. He had like four years worth of production in one season in a playoff run.

51:54Like, that's fucking insane.

51:56Pat McAfee:And for that reason, 78 %? What's the number of percentage of bets that are on the Seahawks right now? 74 % of the money are on the Seahawks. Really? Plus three and a half going into L.A. L.A.'s wearing very cool uniforms. Yes. They're wearing midnight mode. Yeah. Great name. Great uni. Okay. And we assume the fans are potentially going into midnight mode as well. Have to. I assume it's going to be pretty dark out there so far. It's going to be a daunting place. They'll clap for Cooper Crop. And then we're back to who's house? Ram's house. Matthew Stafford with those teeth all dark. I don't think you'll be able to see.

52:40Pat McAfee:He's going to turn like this. and he's actually going to use his teeth as a decoy for one of the safeties. Hey, this way. And that safety's going to go, I got Matthew Stafford in this piece. And then Matthew Stafford's going to do one of these. And it's going to go right over the seat. How's this son of a bitch? And then it's going to be Puka going, ha-ha. And then he's going to run so hard, maybe through a wall. Maybe through a wall on the back. That's what we're looking at in the 4 o 'clock slate this Sunday. Remember what last week 4 o 'clock slate was? Let's look forward to this one about to be gigantic, Tom.

53:11I just remembered when I was sitting at Hammered Downtown yesterday, I had a hypothetical for you guys. If you could pop that slate back up. So we're talking about Rams and Seahawks now. There's another huge NFC game, and that's Eagles and Lions. If I gave you Seahawks, Rams, or Eagles, Lions, which game would you take you would want the team to win the Super Bowl? Do you think Lions winner comes from that game or winner comes from the Rams and Seahawks? Let's not even say Super Bowl. Let's say wins the NFC. I'll go Seahawks, Rams. Me too. I think the Seahawks might be the best team in the NFL right now, and the Rams might be the second best.

53:47Pat McAfee:And I don't think they're getting anywhere near where they're headed. No. I think Seahawks are only getting better. It's like the Colts. The Colts are so new. A lot of new pieces. We're only going to get better. That's why I think we're so pumped. Seahawks, same exact thing. I mean, this is Sam's first year up there. He's on a big deal to be their quarterback. That's only going to get better, we assume, going forward. In McDonald's defense, that's going to be good. Unbelievable. We just say that's good. Seahawks very much up and to the right. And to your point, they're already up here. Seahawks have got to be going crazy.

54:17You've got the Super Bowl defending champion in the Lions whose ceiling is incredible. That's a good, good slate for the NFC.

54:25Pat McAfee:We'll answer that question tomorrow. Let's go back to college football. We have another update from Heather Dinnage. Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Juracek has been nominated to be the chair of the college football playoff committee. So he's already on the committee. He is being nominated to be the chair of it. And then Utah AD Mark Harlan nominated to replace Mack Rhodes, who stepped down. So we got a little two chair swing here happening at this point. Arkansas AD Hunter Urechek is being considered for the CFP committee chair. He is currently on the committee. The CFP management committee has to approve it before it's official.

55:00Pat McAfee:So the committee within the committee has to approve that the committee now has a new chair who was already a part of one of the committees. okay now this particular committee has an open spot they're bringing in utah mark harman in the committee and the committee in the committee have to agree to mark harlan coming back to join their bigger committee but probably not in the selection of the selection committee right and heather mentioned that it's possible that mac rhodes would come back based on this new information do you think we can assume that he's done and they're just filling this spot now and that will be the new person for the next three years i don't know they had to put somebody a chair right so they had to be the chair.

55:35Pat McAfee:So I assume that's a decision they had to make. I think the Mack Rhodes thing, like what we learned from Outkick and then what ESPN sources are getting, very different stories. Right. So maybe there's multiple things going on or maybe we don't know what's going on. Yeah. So like who knows what happens with Mack Rhodes because if it is a full investigation and it ends up being quick, I assume he's not coming back this season. Correct. But like it's three-year term. Does he come back next year and would it be that big a fanfare or a conversation? Probably not. Yeah, true. And that's probably what Mark Harmon, when Utah AD is coming in with the understanding, if I had to guess.

56:05Pat McAfee:Now, granted, if that investigation ends up being something for real, there's no way he'll be a part of the 12th. Yeah, no way. Do you think because of a situation like this, and I hate that I'm going to say it, but is it time to combine the college football playoff with the BCS model and possibly have not just humans deciding exactly what the playoff should be, but maybe bringing in an AI, maybe bringing in a computer to assist because then you don't have to deal with all this mumbo jumbo. Well, what's the AI going to do? That's what I'm saying. You're going to get the AI nose ball? I don't know.

56:36Pat McAfee:I don't think. I don't know. That time's coming. Not today. Combine the two. Humans and they are. Yeah, well, then it's always the human making the decision with more information than everybody else. And Nick just said what you said is the BCS. So you got it right. I want these humans just to get it right. Let's get it right. Let's get it right.

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58:05Pat McAfee:Football! He is the greatest. Tonight, week 11 of the NFL season kicks off in the AFC East as the Patriots host the New York Jets on Amazon Prime. That game will kick off at 8.15. The pre-show, I believe, begins at 7. It's a great show. They do a very, very good job. The show is phenomenal. The evening will be spectacular. And we'll be seeing if the New England Patriots are who we potentially think they are. Oh, yeah. Which is an absolutely dominant force. The quarterback for the New England Patriots, Drake May. The odds-on favorite to win the MVP. They got superstars all over the place. Mike Vrabel was doing his thing, which we all understand is winning football.

58:43Pat McAfee:Remember, he took the Tennessee Titans, where I think they had like 119 different guys on the roster, the most amount of IR people, to be the number one seed in the AFC. He has an ability to lead a group of men on a football field maybe better than anybody ever when it's all said and done. We have no idea what's about to happen here with the New England Patriots and Mike Vrabel for the next 20 years, actually. And if you look at what happened to the Tennessee Titans as soon as he leaves the building, and then you look at what happened to the Patriots building once he enters the building, you think to yourself, wow, this Ohio fuck might be good at leading men in football.

59:16Pat McAfee:It's fun to watch. It's a physical style of football. Everybody's bought in. In New England, people will once again have the ability to be incredibly arrogant about their football team. On that note, let's go to the talks table. At Boss Conner and at Ty Schmidt, do you feel, though, something from Conner today? It feels like he's more confident and more happy being more energized about this particular primetime game than maybe in years past when the Patriots were going to be watched by a lot of people. Yeah, I think so, but he's justified. I mean, I would not have wanted to hear him coming in and be like, oh, I don't know.

59:46I'm worried about this one. Maybe we're going to, you know, win 21-17, but no, we're going to win 42-0. We're going to beat the shit out of these guys because that's what good teams do. And I think like for, it was kind of a trendy pick in the preseason, you know, before the season started, hey, the Patriots are probably going to go to the playoffs. You look at their schedule, it's pretty favorable. But for guys like Vrabel and Harbaugh, the regular, hey, come in, take a while to build your culture, it doesn't apply. Vrabel is a winner. Harbaugh is a winner. I think you could just know, and obviously Drake May has taken a huge leap, but it was very easy to see once he got here, this guy's going to turn them around and he's going to do it very quickly.

1:00:25Pat McAfee:Connor, even when they were losing, every single game that they were losing, you'd say, Drake May's a guy. Drake May's a guy. Yeah, we lost, but Drake May's a guy. Right now it's all about Drake May surviving until next season. It's basically what you were saying last year about him. Has he gotten much better from last year? Has this kind of been who Drake May has been? Much better. I mean, without a doubt. And that's why a lot of the times on Monday I like to talk about how good McDaniels is. Because without Josh McDaniels, I mean, I've seen it firsthand with Mac Jones. As soon as that really good offensive coach leaves, that quarterback has a massive drop-off.

1:00:56And it's the reverse situation here where the right coach comes in and it just completely catapults the team, the quarterback, everybody, the city, the region, the revolution region, into a different stratosphere. That is why it's so special. And that's the same to what Ty said. That's why I came in here feeling this way, because there isn't that lack of confidence in the team. Everything they say about, you know, whether it's after the game, about the win, amazing. Everything they say about the game that is coming up the next week is perfect. There really isn't too many flaws right now. into Ty's point about the favorable schedule.

1:01:31It's like, yeah, great. We did have a favorable schedule. I didn't know if we were going to beat the Bills at Buffalo. I didn't know if we were going to beat Tampa at Tampa. But now we did. Now we're 8-2. And then when you're talking about the game tonight, it's like, oh, who's the keeper of the light? Oh, is it Larry Guy? No, it's Rob Gronkowski. With Gronk back. Good luck, Jets. Gronk re-signing for a day and retiring a New England Patriot. I don't know if he knows how much that means to people in New England. But for me, that was huge. I love you, Gronk. That is so cool. Julian Edelman did the entire Foxborough forever.

1:02:04He never left, but he did that once he was done. And that means a lot to people who are fans of the team. And for Gronk, he ended up going to Tampa with Brady to win another Super Bowl. You can't fault him for that. But for him to do this, kind of just strictly for no reason aside from like, hey, New England just means more to me. New England is where I was kind of birthed as Gronk, the Gronk spike. He wasn't a top-ten pick. He wasn't a first-round pick. He became Gronk with Brady, of course, and that's why he went to Tampa, justifiably. And then him coming back just means a lot. Him lighting the lamp tonight, keeper of the light.

1:02:36I mean, again, 42-0. That's what it should be tonight, and that's what I expect it to be.

1:02:40Pat McAfee:I mean, multiple times Gronk has said that he loves that area. I mean, they're going to trade him to another place. He said, I'll just retire. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not going to do it. And Tom had to talk him into going to Tampa. So him getting a chance to celebrate his time in New England, I thought was really cool. Sweet. And I think that is a great thing. Kraft also saying, ah, maybe two-day contract. Ah, maybe we get you on Thursday night, Drake May. Rob Gronkowski. Oh! Grable, Rob Gronkowski. That would be a great little pairing there to watch. And another thing about Gronk, just because I don't think he got a lot of national attention, a lot of people don't know.

1:03:14Pat McAfee:Obviously, he's a Western New York Buffalo guy. His final year of high school, he went to Woody High, which is in Pittsburgh, Woodland Hills. W-O-D-Y. Woody High. Great football team. That's where he graduated high school from. That's where Taylor's from. Jason Taylor. Jason Taylor's from. Many other greats have been through. You're talking about... Your mother? Yeah. Sally McAfee went through those hallways in that school. Stevie Breston. Stevie Breston, obviously. In the Wolverina, where they play at is folklore in Pittsburgh. He went there to play. He donated this past offseason, I think,$200 ,000.

1:03:50Pat McAfee:and then he got another company to match that$400 ,000 back to the school, which they certainly are very appreciative of that at Woody High. So it's like this dude is, he's certainly always Gronk. And as somebody who is very much me most of the time, there are certainly people that don't like the way I operate literally every portion of my life. I'm assuming there's people that don't like Gronk, and certainly we've seen it and seen it on the internet and everything like it. Gronk is just seemingly always the same guy. and you can tell his empathy with the things he chooses to do and what he doesn't choose to do i'm a big fan of rob gronkowski and when you talk about football that guy's in the pantheon of players of all time unguardable like actually unguardable and he never changed like he never changed he was never like too good for anything they said he always worked his ass off they talk about his football feel and his football iq as if it's at a level that nobody else has ever had He was the youngest guy on the NFL 100-year top 100 players team.

1:04:48Pat McAfee:Just had a big ass jacket on. You know, doing the entire thing. It's like Rob Gronkowski, special player, special person. The NFL was lucky to have him. I'm happy what happened with New England was happening as well. Me too. And just to echo your sentiment about Woody High, I believe he also did the same thing for Boston College High School, BC High, which has produced very, very high Division I players. So he did that entire weight room thing. and to your point about the Pantheon, I'm so glad that he retired a Patriots so that now I can come on here and say, without a doubt, I love Kelsey. I get it.

1:05:19Rob Gronkowski is the greatest tight end in the history of football. No question. You really can't even argue it when you truly look at football as a whole.

1:05:28Pat McAfee:People say Tonnigan's also played longer. So the thing is, these people all played longer. That's kind of the... Durability and duration of your career is certainly a big deal. Everybody talks about Barry Sanders retiring early, still making the Hall of Fame. Calvin Johnson as well still had a lot of years left, still made the Hall of Fame. Those are special outliers. Normally, whenever they're talking about the greatest, long, long careers is what everybody talks about. Gronk, with how big, athletic, strong everything that he was, had some back stuff coming into the league, played a lot of football, dominated a lot of football, and then kind of goes out on his own terms.

1:06:00Pat McAfee:That's the only thing you can really hold against Gronk, whenever you're in that conversation, is that he didn't play as long as everybody else. Yeah, absolutely. Because when he, I mean, you could not stop him. You just couldn't. When he was in his prime, he was literally unstoppable. That is a big part of it. Durability and all that kind of stuff. He played the way he played and that was so great. It was kind of inevitable. They changed the rule, didn't they? Because of ways that he was getting hit, going across the middle, going low. I think that kind of started maybe some of the knee or ankle problems he has.

1:06:33Pat McAfee:He's a left tackle out there. Exactly. And he was running up 4-5, 4-6. And he could block. That's the big part, I think, that people who remember him and watch him obviously remember that. But a lot of the highlights we see now are just this type of stuff where it's the run after the catch and him being untacklable. But he was a de facto left or right tackle if they needed him to be, and he was one of the best in the NFL. And that's why it's sweet watching guys like Tucker Craft because that is who he reminds you of. And now Tyler Warren. Like you're seeing all these fullback stats coming out about Tyler Warren as well.

1:07:07And just my favorite Gronk story is Gronk when he was doing the draft process. Bill O 'Brien was running him through the process. Bill draws a play on the whiteboard, erases it, says, hey, Rob, you know, redraw the play. Tell me what you're supposed to do. And Rob just says, like, I don't know what to do. And Bill O 'Brien says, like, well, how are we supposed to draft you if you don't even know what play or what you're supposed to do on that play that I just showed you? And he said, I don't know, Bill, just throw me the fucking ball and I'll make shit happen. And that is just the definition of Rob Gronkowski.

1:07:39Pat McAfee:Didn't he say the meeting went terrible? Rob said it went either very good or very terrible. Yeah, and that one was with Bill O 'Brien. The one with Bill Belichick, they bring them in there and they kind of take everybody through a psychological almost day. And they just left Rob Gronkowski in a room. You leave the guys who are visiting in a room for an hour, two hours to see what they do. And Gronk just fell asleep. He's the only player to ever just fall asleep in a room. And then Belichick still was like, yeah, this guy. I mean, we have to get him. What was that? Goldman Sachs, allegedly. They had a thing where every employee that became there became a millionaire, I think, because of how much money they had.

1:08:14Pat McAfee:And one of the things whenever you're first trying to get a job is they would tell you the interview is happening at 6 a.m. or something, or 6.30 a.m. And they wouldn't meet with him until 6 p.m. the next day. Yes, yes. It was like, all right, let's just see who will sit their ass in this thing for 36 hours or whatever the case is. and it's like, that's a hilarious thing that Patriots were doing that. Not a bad play. Not at all. But also, I don't know if I want my guy to, like. To sit there? Yeah, like, what do I want him to do? I don't know what the right answer is. Sleeping, probably the right answer.

1:08:42Pat McAfee:Yeah. All right, I'm just going to go ahead and snooze here. Maybe just, like, banging his head to the wall until you come back. Working on pass set. Yeah, is somebody taking that time to draw up plays, you know, like, because you're being watched? Like, how do assholes act in that thing? I don't know. Maybe on your phone, I have no idea what you would do. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Done. Cowboys AP tone. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us live from Manatic in Ohio is college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, A.J. Hawker. Hawker, what would you do if you were left in a room for two hours on one of the visits there?

1:09:11Pat McAfee:I didn't even think of that being a thing. Yeah, I think I would naturally fall asleep. I give him credit for really trusting his body, taking care of his temple. That's why I would tell the coaches, well, you know, coach, recover. I'm resting and recovering. You guys run me around all these meetings all over the place. I'm still in college. I don't know. I mean, you probably have some hardos like act like they're doing push-ups or something the coach walks in he says 226 227 like acting i mean maybe guys have done that i'm not really sure how to how to respond hey we were pumped to see gronk retire as a new england patriot oddly i was like oddly pumped to watch it all kind of go down mostly because i enjoy watching gronk uh get like flowers you know strictly because tom brady's talked about as the goat bill belichick obviously and there's a lot of great players on that team there's one guy that was there that just you know best of all time potentially uh just football as a whole and rob gronkowski and his natural energy about him is not like whoa look at me let's have a celebration for me and everything i want to have a good time i want to have a good time basically is rob gronkowski's mindset his vibes in the locker room had to be you're talking about maybe one of the greatest glue guys of all time if his vibes are always let's have a good time so them going out of their way to celebrate him i enjoy that for Rob Gronkowski, if that makes sense, A.J.

1:10:25Hawk. No, I think they should. And he absolutely had great answers, and they talked about building him a statue, whatever. He said, put me a small one in the back of the end zone because Tom's the only one that deserves a statue. Yeah, he is. I mean, when you run those highlights, we forget how dominant this dude was. You can argue whether he's the greatest of all time, whatever. I don't know if anyone's ever had as big an impact when he was in the game as Rob Gronkowski does as a tight end. Yeah, that might be the kicker because the argument of greatest of all time, you're never going to get to an answer but now that I'm thinking about it, it's more Shaquille O 'Neal.

1:10:57He is the most dominant player at tight end in the history of football.

1:11:02Pat McAfee:The catch was absurd. After the catch was insane. He has the feet of a shorebird somehow. He's the size of a Clydesdale. His stiff arm is lethal. I saw him just take people to the stands. Literally against us. Took a guy to the stands. Just because he pissed him off. A year prior. Yeah, so he has a spite, too, which is obviously incredible. Yeah, great player. Joining us now is a man who probably has an opinion or two about Rob Gronkowski and this new New England Patriots team that feels a lot like the old New England Patriots team. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, Super Bowl champion, our coach, Coach Mike McCarthy.

1:11:40Pat McAfee:Yeah, Coach! How you doing, Coach? Good afternoon, man. Doing great. How you doing today, Pat? I like what's going on there. What do you got behind? Is that me? I think I see me. Is that me up there? You're going back to the berg, yes. I thought we'd get – let's jump right into this thing here. We got – get right in there. I'm going to make it a little bigger for you. Oh, I hit the wrong button. It's all right. You see that thing? Yeah, I see that thing. Is that me? I see Permanis there. I see who? Permanis, yeah. Down the street. You know, every time I get on the show, Connor and Ty, all you guys are always talking about odds and everything, so I'm just trying to fit in.

1:12:13And I thought, well, what the hell could I come up with? and I thought, well, what are the odds that Pat's going to be at Permanese after midnight? So we put that out there, and you're a two-to-one favorite. They're getting ready to take off the field. And I just thought we would recognize you, and going back to Pittsburgh, because I know how fired up you've got to be, and you definitely got to hit Permanese when you get back to the Berg.

1:12:35Pat McAfee:Yeah, I certainly will, especially down there in the Strip. Whenever Nick got married, we stayed in the Strip. We did a couple laps around there, you know, for the nostalgia days. Yeah, we used to be roaming those particular alleys there at certain times of the night. You know, there was certain situations. But it always felt as if you got a Permanente sandwich. They got great pizza as well. Nobody ever talks about their pizza. Their pizza is phenomenal. It's an Italian thing. It's in Pittsburgh. The pizza's going to be great. But you have that 2.33 a.m., coach. It was funny how you all of a sudden just came back to life and felt amazing and went to bed.

1:13:04Pat McAfee:You know, it was kind of like a nightcap there at Permanente's. And I appreciate the fact that you understand that city. You went back a couple weeks ago. Was that your first time back, long time? because it felt like you got a little bit of a parade there as well. No, no, I try to get back here about every six, seven weeks now, you know, I'm off here for sure. But yeah, definitely. I mean, Permanente's for me was, you know, decades, many decades ago. And really the history of the place, my understanding, it really opened up because of the, you know, trucking industry down there at the Strip District and the produce yards back, you know, back in the day and then became a spot for after hours eating.

1:13:39And then, you know, obviously they've done a phenomenal job since then with their expansion, but a lot of great memories down there. It's just stripped.

1:13:46Pat McAfee:Well, everything's on the sandwich because we don't have a lot of time. We don't have time to eat the side alongside the sandwich. Allegedly, it was all placed onto the sandwich. There's a french fries, coleslaw, everything on top of the sandwich. So it was just one quick meal as opposed to everything on the outside, which I think is great indicative for what Pittsburgh is. Hard work in town. Hey, hard work in town. Football town. I think this weekend's going to be epic. And, yeah, thank you for giving me a little love there. I think that's a fatter version of me. I think that's a fatter version of me.

1:14:15Pat McAfee:Yeah, yeah, coach, I think. No, you know, obviously we blew it up because we wanted to make sure we highlighted the part of the picture. Yeah, that's not the scale. I appreciate you doing that. All right, let's talk some ball, shall we? Tonight, AFC East, Jets taking on the Patriots. We just got done talking about the glory days of the Patriots with Rob Gronkowski. What are your thoughts whenever I say his name? And obviously he was the youngest player on the top 100 team for the 100-year NFL anniversary. What do you think it says about Rob? And what are your thoughts on him as a player? I mean, dominant player has, I mean, you've already stated.

1:14:51But when I think of Rob Gronkowski, let's just go back to Pittsburgh. I remember the first time I heard about Rob when he was at Woodland Hills High School coming out. And I think he went out there to University of Arizona. So I think he and I know my time and in the NFL is by far the most dominant and pure why tight end. I mean, the play the way he played on the line of scrimmage and, you know, and just, you know, New England in their heyday with the 12 personnel. He was just always such a force. And just the connection that him and Tom Brady had was, you know, was was probably as good as there's ever played played the game as far as tight end and quarterback connection.

1:15:27And, you know, you watch these guys go through their career. Obviously a great player in New England, but, you know, there's a play that stands out to me. I was coaching the Cowboys and we were playing Tampa down there in Tampa. And, you know, there was a play down by the red zone where, you know, Tom just came right back, I think, on his third step and just freaking ripped it. And, you know, we practiced it all week. And the timing and precision of, you know, him throwing to Gronk, you know, the timing of it because, you know, his catching radius. and AJ could probably could attest to defending this is just it's ridiculous you know so he's just a guy that was always open and just and that's the connection that they had but and I really like the point that you made you know because it doesn't go you know it doesn't get talked about enough he was a dominant run blocker I mean he was a dominant player at the line of scrimmage and and you see the highlights him catching touchdowns running people over but you know he did he did it he did it on first second third down all the way through was a phenomenal red zone threat.

1:16:26Pat McAfee:I don't like that he's a keeper of the light tonight if I'm the New York Jets. Let's talk about the game. It feels like Drake May and Mike Vrabel are going to be special for the next 20 years. Josh McDaniels has come out and said, I like being with Drake. My family likes being here. Head coaching thing's sweet, but I'm in a good spot here. Drake's 23 years old. This could literally go on for two more decades if they play their cards right, which we assume they will. What are your thoughts on this current New England Patriots team? And Does it remind you of the last Patriots team or kind of how do you view this particular squad?

1:16:56Oh, yeah, definitely. I don't think you could, you know, the similarities are definitely just jump out at you for sure. You know, to be sitting there at 8-2, super impressive. You know, I think, you know, giving credit to, you know, Mike Rabel and also the personnel department there. You know, they got young guys that are playing, you know, right now and playing at a high level. And I think that's even more exciting to me as I watch them because, you know, they're eight and two, but there's definitely a lot of growth. I mean, you start with the offensive line because the line is always when I'm looking at this type of, you know, a matchup, you start with the, you know, with the offensive defensive lines.

1:17:31And I think both the Jets and the Patriots, you know, have committed resources to the to their own lines and definitely will benefit from it moving forward. But Drake's playing at a high level, but there's, you know, there's definitely still things that he's only going to get better at. And I think the fact that, you know, the point you made about Josh being there, you know, if you can keep the quarterback in the same system, I just know personally from working, you know, watching Joe Montana go through his whole career in the same system, Brett Favre and Rogers. And it was really a decision we made in Dallas to keep Dak in the same type of system and so forth.

1:18:05So that continuity for him will pay huge dividends. And they're off to a great start. Really love what they're doing on offense. And I think clearly defense is the strength of the football team. And, you know, and I like the way Mike's built this thing, because when you look at the way they play, the way they're built, when you're, you know, when you're top five, top ten, right out of the gate in year one and both, you know, both running a football and stopping a run, you know, that plays well for, you know, for playoff football and puts you in that championship, you know, formula of how you want to play, especially up there in New England.

1:18:38So really like everything I've seen the last couple of days on these guys. And definitely there's room for improvement. I mean, you look at some of their negative plays, ball on the ground and so forth. But when you play the Patriots over these last decades, they're going to fundamentally sound, always good tackling team, very matchup conscious. I think Josh does a great job schematically week to week challenging you. And I think for a young quarterback, you're always able to give him key throws early in games. you see some of them big play action, those big play action games that they're hitting early.

1:19:14I think that's a real tribute to the way they approach the game, and it definitely helps them get going because they play out – they get out in front. That defense is real.

1:19:23Pat McAfee:Yeah, the defense is real. Let's talk about Vrabel, and we just assume that his defense is going to be good with Mike Vrabel. How do other coaches view Mike Vrabel? Because obviously he gets fired from Tennessee out of nowhere. We're all kind of taken back. He goes to Cleveland on a year as like a consultant. That's where he's from. And then the New England Patriots job opens up, and every New England Patriots fan was like, yup. And it sounds like Vrabel was like, yup. Because whenever he went into the Hall of Fame up there, he said, there's nothing like this place. It is special. You need to know that.

1:19:51Pat McAfee:Feels like he's back at home in the right spot. How do you guys view him as a coach? That's a good football coach, right? That's just kind of how everybody views him. Is that how you guys talk about him in the coaching world? Definitely. I'm just how I view him. I think he's an excellent coach. And things I've always looked for, whether you're competing against another coach as a coordinator, as a head coach, the consistency, you know, he definitely has been consistent in the play style that he demands from his football team, both in Tennessee and New England. You know, it starts in the run game.

1:20:20You know, we all want to run the ball good. We all want to stop the run. And he's done that in both places. So I think the way, you know, the identity and how the teams build, you know, the personnel is definitely reflecting that. So, you know, the personnel department and coaching staff are clearly on the same page. But I think he's, and he's definitely playing to the climate of the northeast and all those i think all those things are important you look at drake make you know he is built for new lingham football it's you know something we always talked about a lot and it's something i truly believe in you know when you have brett farve and aaron rogers you know long hearts big hands you can you get you want your guy to be spinning it better than the other guy come december and january in those big games yeah and drake can run his ass off too

1:20:59Pat McAfee:yeah he led the uh unc tar heels in rushing and passing obviously i think his sophomore year whenever he was there. He didn't win the Heisman, but that's because UNC was – Yeah, won six games. Yeah, in their ass. But he's been special a long time. And then obviously on the other side – go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Coach, what about their opponent tonight? They're playing the Jets, and we've got guys like Boston Conner saying that the Patriots are going to win 42-0. They will. I think he actually believes it. He's saying that will happen tonight. I guess what's your outlook on the Jets this year? And obviously moving forward, they traded some very, very key pieces away at the deadline.

1:21:32But what's, I guess, the rest of this season look like for the Jets, you think? Well, I think, you know, number one, the Jets are in year one. You know, and I know also New England is too. But I think the Jets have more going on. But I start with their offensive line. I do like the way their young guys are playing. And I think it's going to be, you know, a good line moving forward, especially starting with those two bookend tackles. So, you know, sort of trying to do it the right way. Brees Hall, I think he's a dynamic runner. so they definitely have something to build off of too so you know they you know i i'm not sure if you guys i don't know who's going to play quarterback tonight so you have that going on i think it's a team that's that's learning how to win uh you know they've won their last two games and and obviously the return game was huge last week for them uh in getting that victory so i just see a team that's that's still going through some you know mechanics and things like you'd like to maybe experience more in the beginning the beginning of the year you know obviously they He lost Quentin Williams at the trade deadline.

1:22:32So that's definitely a force in the middle of your defense. So they have a lot going on. I made the mistake of talking to Connor this morning. And so I'm feeling the pressure to pick New England with the points. I do like New England games. But I'm going to say it every week, division games, that's a lot of points. Don't screw this up, Coach. All right. All right. I'm going to take the points with the Patriots. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

1:23:07Pat McAfee:Now, if you were to be picking Thursday night football games, and obviously we missed one, you'd be six and three. This guy's good. 75 % hit rate is not a bad thing. That's a beautiful thing. And Coach likes the Patriots and the points, but he was accosted this morning by Connor on a phone call. Is that how you would describe it there, Coach? I would. I was there. Brutal. Yeah, just brutal. I was checking in. make sure we're good to go. And I mean, we talked about the Patriots. I think probably 90 % of the conversation. Yeah. And I made some say, I want to talk about pack one of Pittsburgh. I mean, I was a herd, but it was a Patriot.

1:23:39Well,

1:23:41Pat McAfee:that's been talked about too much. You know, that's been talked about too much. The Patriots tonight kicking off week 11. I think it's a primetime opportunity for this new Patriots team to say hello to like, that's how I'm viewing this. Like legitimately, I think a lot of, we know it more. I think personally, cause we got Connor. Like, I think we, as a show, potentially have talked about it a little bit more. Nationally, I don't think everybody fully understands. I think they see the record, and they're like, wow, that's a good football team. Then you watch them, it's like, you see Drake? It's like, I can't believe this is his second year.

1:24:12Pat McAfee:And he's 23 years old. And then Vrabel's coaching in between plays, like literally in between plays. He's coaching a very young team. It's like they seemingly have a lot of upside still, and they are a great football team. Well, and that's why I like the kind of showing everybody everything will be greatest because Drake May is the one that does steal all the headlines. Naturally, he's the quarterback. But when you watch the defense play, they punish people. I'm not kidding. Everybody needs to watch Bob Spillane tonight. You need to watch number 14 on defense. He tackles so hard. It is the greatest thing every time watching the Patriots.

1:24:47And the greatest thing is watching Drake May. Let me say that. Aside from Drake May, watching Bob Spillane fly around that football field with an all-black visor with his sleeves and just screaming through holes is not to mention when Milton Williams gets in the backfield and makes a play, Christian Barmore is celebrating before the tackle is made. When Christian Barmore gets in the backfield and makes a play, Milton Williams is already celebrating. It's one of the most fun brands of football. If there was a bet out there for the New York football Jets to finish with total negative yards, I would take it because of how great this defense is.

1:25:21Listen to what he's saying, Coach.

1:25:22Pat McAfee:Oh, my God. This is unbelievable. People are watching. Football gods are watching this right now, and there's a chance that all of it happens from what we've seen from the New England Patriots. All right, let's talk about some different stuff happening around the end. Wait a minute. I want to change my bet. That marketing campaign is making me nervous. I mean, it's still just a football game. You're right. Take the point. I'm going to be a good teammate here, Connor, but still, it's one game. It's on a short week. It's a division game. That's a lot of points. And I do. I like everything that's been said about New England, but it's still pro football.

1:25:57And I think we all get caught up in the feel-good stuff and all the good stories and so forth. But it's the ultimate team game. It's still 11-on-11. It's so damn hard to win a football game in the National Football League. That will never change.

1:26:10Pat McAfee:I don't believe it. I'm told they should win by 12 and a half points, coach. That's what I'm being told. No, I picked it. I picked it. Don't back down, Coach. You went by two touchdowns. You went by two scores in this league. You've had a hell of a day. You've had some things go your way, too. But it is. It's difficult to win in this league. Okay. Difficult to win in this league. You have done a good job of winning when picking Thursday night games, if you were to be picking Thursday night games. So we're certainly excited about that. But to your point, New York Jets are a professional football team.

1:26:43Pat McAfee:There's 11 guys. They've got good players. Yeah, they have some good young players. these guys, best football players you've ever met in your entire life are lined up on the New York Jets. Your friend that you know from high school that was really good at football and then he played in college, really good at football. Yeah, these guys, all of them, 10 times better than your friend that you saw at football playing for the New York Jets tonight. So if they're able to piece everything together, they could beat anybody. And that's probably the messaging and the thought of what they can become over there with Aaron Glenn.

1:27:14Pat McAfee:But I just think tonight is a showcase night for the New England Patriots and who they're going to be for the next 20 years maybe, which is – Gives me chills, man. I mean, I'm legit. Yeah, but what do we do? What do we do? I was in Pittsburgh growing up watching this shit. Then I come play for the Colts and still hearing the Colts and it's just always been seemingly. But you have also greatness on the horizon. Let's not act like the Colts aren't the one seed and Danny Dimes is not 28 and Jonathan Taylor is now 26 and Quentin Nelson is also not in his 30s. Or wait, he might be 30, actually. Whatever, you get it.

1:27:48The Colts are also in a proposition. If anything, and I hate to do this to the guy, but we need to kind of direct our attention at how shitty the Steelers are looking down the barrel.

1:27:58Pat McAfee:Whoa, whoa, whoa. They've got a lot of ideas. Oh, I can't wait. AP Tone has a question for you, actually. I don't know why he did that, Coach. I don't know why. Game day's going to Pittsburgh. I don't know what he's doing. Yeah, what were we doing? Hey, kids, you guys are back, baby. That's it, all right? I just spent time in Echo Company, okay, and their nickname is Evil Empire. What's New England called back in the day? The Evil Empire. If you need a sign as to whether they're back or not, that's it, motherfucker. And also, great, yeah, I know, I know the Steelers and Colton and Broncos and Patriots.

1:28:34Like, we are looking at the old school kind of times in the AFC, and I don't think the Steelers are going anywhere. I just want to clarify that. I just want to shit talk Tony for a second there. That's good. Part of the game. There are a lot of good teams, but there is legitimately no team primed for the next 20 years better than New England. I only say 20 years because Andy Reid's 70. He might coach until he's 95. Yeah, you're right.

1:28:56Pat McAfee:And Patrick Mahomes might play until he's 50. Exactly. So then I might eat poop. But right now, I can say that with confidence. Okay, let's move off of the New England Patriots and New York Jets tonight. A lot has been said, and obviously it's all great analysis, and it needs to be said, especially in sports conversations. Let's talk about some other NFL storylines. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Coach, while we're talking about young and talented, we had some unfortunate injuries to young and talented rookies over this last week. Obviously, Travis Hunter of the Jags with a knee injury, not a good situation there.

1:29:25And then Jackson Dart with a concussion with the New York Giants. How would you handle those situations? There's been a lot of talk about it, one with Jackson Dart and running the football and not getting down and taking a bunch of hits. And then Travis Hunter, the whole story, the whole time has been, can he play both ways? What are your thoughts on those two situations? Well, I think, you know, number one, they're two separate situations. But in the realm that we're talking about it, I think, you know, risk assessment is something that you're thinking about all the time as a head coach. You know, how their practice, you know, the integration of, you know, going from a backup player to a full-time player, you know, playing both sides of the ball, the reps, the wear and tear.

1:30:04I think GPS has been a tremendous tool that's been used. I know we started using it back in 2010, 2011. So I think just being smart in every player is a little different too. So I think you've got to look at all those things because you're talking about two young men that should have great careers in the National Football League. And injuries are a big part that can set back, especially a quarterback. You know, you look at the number, you know, I saw staff, you know, being viewed, what, five, six times and never how many games he's played. That would be concerning for sure. So, I mean, you risk assess and it happens to, you know, every quarterback.

1:30:48I mean, quarterback, you know, pay scale. When you start paying a quarterback, you know,$5 million to$60 million, you need to have a conversation. Those are things of, I don't think you don't run your quarterback, but I think you can be more selective when you run them too. So I think that's a constant thought process that really probably doesn't, it's not talked about outside the walls of a coaching staff or outside the walls of a GM, head coach, owner, you know, relationship. But you have to. I mean, it's the business side of it is real. But these young men are going to play a long time and you don't want to see massive setbacks when they're just getting started.

1:31:25So I think you're always looking at how you can integrate, how you can best utilize these guys and let them get going, too. Because the thing that I've always been amazed with, when you look at a young player, he gets ready for his senior year or his last year in college. So all the training goes into leading up to his senior year. He has a great senior year. So obviously excited about the opportunity and potential going to the NFL. Then he's got to go train for the draft. Bowl game. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. Senior bowl. Also, whatever. That old gauntlet, that old gauntlet. And then, and then boom, he gets, he gets drafted or is selected.

1:32:03So then he goes into an NFL situation and now the training's different and so forth. I mean, it's, it's clearly the longest year and a half of their life and the tool that it takes, you know, both physically, you know, mentally and emotionally. I mean, you could, you have to factor those things in. I think that I've, I've always looked for the jump that players would make from year one to year too a lot of it's just naturally because year one it's so damn hard uh transitioning from college to pro football so you know all those things are elements you get you got to be in tune with which everybody is i'm not saying they're not but it's it's it's a grind and when you've got promising young players uh the risk assessment is is is very important i mean just to echo your sentiment even

1:32:44Pat McAfee:more because i've talked about this a lot because the rookie wall is a thing that is real that happens about right now in a season because there's no light at the end of the tunnel and we're really far into this thing you talk about the last year of college they started spring ball there okay we started spring ball let alone the winter workouts that are the worst part of it all in college but let's just say spring workouts there then you got summer leading in a training camp those workouts are impossible then you have training camp full training camp then you have full season then you have one of those bowl games then you have to work out for your pro day okay so then after your pro day then you got combine happening in there then for the workouts you got to travel around, go meet everybody, hopefully, still work out, then draft happens, then you got rookie minicamp, then you got spring camp or whatever, then you got summer for a couple weeks, and then you got training camp, then you have your longest season of your life, where there's, you've never played this many games.

1:33:33Pat McAfee:You got 17 games, and oh yeah, you're a rookie, so all the preseason games too, you're playing in those as well. Three games there, then 17 there, and then if your team's good, okay, we got another potential four at the end of that. So it's like, that rookie year, to your point, if you survive it, I think that offseason, the next one, you can really jump mentally, I think, because you're fresh. But also body gets a new feeling. It's the fact that you're thinking about that as a coach. I love to hear that. Legitimately, I love to hear that because everybody has to go through it. But it does suck for everybody, I think.

1:34:04Yeah, definitely. And frankly, then once they get through all that, if you just look at the situations that occur in February, March, and April, if you look at the rookies that go through that year, some of those guys may get in a little trouble. Maybe go to a party or two too much. Maybe hang out at Permanente's too long. But, well, I mean, they should. I mean, you know, after the damn year they've been through. So, no, it's a cycle. You know, there's a lot of data there. You've got to pay attention to it. And so when you see young guys getting hurt, you know, it's just, you know, I know it's just something that you're always thinking about because, you know, the head coach to me, the 32 head coaches in the league, you know, they get to compete on Sundays.

1:34:47but I always felt the biggest competition is, you know, how do you train your team? You know, how do you schedule your team? You know, are you having those conversations, you know, and just being in tune with each guy and risk assessment of how you utilize them is definitely part of those conversations.

1:35:01Pat McAfee:Yeah, you know, you got some pretty deep stuff coming out of that yinzer mouth, and it is wonderful to hear. We certainly appreciate it. How many years coaching in the NFL were you? 1993. 33, so, but I think it's a 19 and not in this year. So 32, 32, 33, whatever it takes. A little Michael Keaton for you. Let's talk about a couple more teams. Ty has a question for you. Yeah, Coach, I believe you were at Lambeau for Monday Night Football, and I think going into that game, a lot of people kind of assumed that there was a good chance it was going to be a defensive battle, obviously. We saw how the game ended.

1:35:40Looking at both those teams as a whole, how do you feel about Philly? And then for the Packers, a lot of the chatter has been, hey, this team needs to fix the offense and they need to do it right now because they're wasting a potential generational run from this defense. So how do you feel about both those teams? And if you were the head coach, how would you fix this Packers offense? Well, I think the biggest thing is I thought the game kind of went the way we all anticipated. I mean, it was definitely a defensive struggle. you know both defenses made both offenses struggle and I'll say this about the Packers you know I've been able to see them play live now you know four times three at Lambeau and one over there in Pittsburgh and have been very very impressed with them I mean their defense in all four contests you know very consistent I mean their energy and the level that they play I think is really bodes well especially with November December football in front and you know in offenses over the course of the year, I mean, this is the way these things go.

1:36:40And I thought the injury to Jenkins was definitely factored in the second half. I mean, you lose your center, you know, that's usually not an easy situation to overcome. They do have really good depth in the offensive line. So I think they'll move ahead accordingly. But that was a hard, hard-fought football game. You could see early. I thought the referees really let them play. You could see it really on the first series. so I mean the inline you know combat you know that was going on was I have no problem with it but I just thought they really let them play and I think you saw two playoff teams slugging out and you know but at the end of the day it was a three point game

1:37:24Pat McAfee:you saying I got no problem they weren't calling a lot in there they're playing football is what you just said I got no problem with it but on that note abnormal seemingly how loose it was in the trenches? Is that what you were just saying right there? No, I just thought the post-snap, no, that's, but that's, you know, that's really, I thought it had definitely some, you know, looked a little bit like a playoff game. You know, there's, there's some things obviously you're always trying to clean up, but, you know, I think, you know, I felt Monday when I walked out of the stadium that I just sold two playoff teams slug it out, you know, and Philadelphia made, you know, a couple more plays more than Green Bay.

1:38:00So, I mean, I thought the time of possession, you know, Philadelphia was able to, hold the ball a little longer. I thought, frankly, I just kept waiting for Green Bay to put that drive together because Vic does a good job keeping the lid on it.

1:38:17Pat McAfee:We're all still waiting is what Ty said. We're all still waiting for that drive to get put together. They almost had that field goal though. Yeah, very close. It was. It was this close. The first one. Oh, you're talking about the one he met. Definitely. Yeah, definitely. And I'll say this. I don't know what the wind ended up being, but it looked like the wind kicked up there in the second half. So, you know, that's – and that always can be a factor. How did you feel about how that was all handled at the end of that game? How did you feel about that, this 64-yarder? Oh, McManus, OG in the game.

1:38:47Pat McAfee:We can steal one. The refs aren't stopping us from snapping this. Maybe catch a little extra swing, catch the second one as a mulligan if need be. They find out he's a little bit short. Great gamesmanship out of McManus and the crew here. He ends up going a little bit short. LaFleur says that was the best ball I've seen him hit in weeks. He was short. We need to get a couple more yards. Send the offense back out there. Offense, obviously, the Philadelphia Eagles defense, because we know we just saw it too, dude. Yeah, we know what you're trying to do. You're not going to be able to throw this thing quick out.

1:39:16Pat McAfee:You only got five seconds to handle this whole thing. Then they send him back out. Massive miss. Packers fans say, why did we stay awake for this? Yeah. Why did we stay awake for this? That's where Packers fans are right now, Coach. I know you're probably surrounded by them up in Green Bay, but Packers fans not the most optimistic you know it's three-point game against Super Bowl champions I think everybody thinks that Philadelphia Eagles are going to be back in the hunt whenever the season ends three-point loss to your point but I don't think that's how Packers fans feel I don't think that's how they feel at all and what do you think that do you think that's because fans naturally react to the last thing that they saw or do you think fans potentially see what maybe isn't on the team for whenever the games truly matter at the end of the year what are your thoughts on that all?

1:39:58I think it's a week to week, you know, uh, thing that you're dealing with, with fans and definitely, yeah, they're going to react to the, to the outcome. But yeah, I think once again, it was a three point game. Um, there, there's definitely plays in a game that could have went through either way, you know, either way that could affect that game. So, and that's, and that's what playoff football is. I mean, 96 % of the playoff playoff games, I know the last five years have come down to the last series. So, um, I like games like that. Now you want to win them. I know Connor thinks his team's going to win by 40 tonight, but you really benefit from tight games in November and December because that's what really gets you ready for playoff football.

1:40:37I know, and AJ can attest to this, when we were really on a roll, I would get nervous with the blowout wins. They're fun. It's an easy ride home. You feel better in the morning. Everybody's in there by 6 o 'clock working out and everything. So there's so much great off the positive energy, But you need tight ball games because that's the game you're going to be in come playoff time. If you want to win a championship, you do want the experience of those tight games. So there is value for the Packers to come up and play that type of game. I really believe that. And I do. I thought they were not as in sync in the second half with the injury.

1:41:14And I could be wrong. But I think they had more first downs in Philadelphia. I know Philly was able to keep the ball to third downs and things like that. So you can cut through that game as much as you want. And you could find one or two plays that could have changed the outcome of that game, clearly. I mean, the fumble took points off the board. The Green Bay's fumble with love. And that's what those games come down to. But, yeah, post-snap now, they let them play. They definitely let them play. And I always hope that it's that way when you play in the postseason. So there's a lot of value to play in those kind of games.

1:41:53Pat McAfee:Yeah, the Colts get a huge win this weekend in Germany over the Falcons. And I saw some people saying, like, it's the Falcons, it's the Falcons. Like, I don't care. Falcons played great. That was a huge win. That was a huge win for the Indianapolis Colts. We needed that after the Pittsburgh Steelers game. But you talk about those close games. It was, like, fun to watch this team scrap, fun to watch this team get into the overtime and make big plays whenever they needed. like that ball right there from Danny Dimes. I don't mind, you know, watching the 930 game whenever your team's winning. Oh, that was a great morning.

1:42:22Pat McAfee:Yeah. God, it set up a perfect NFL Sunday. I mean, you just kind of, oh, we doing great. We just. Yeah, we're good. We're done. We won. Yeah, but your point there, Pat, is they responded from the week before. So, I mean, those are the things that create a lot of value. And I think you always talk about stacking success and the confidence you're trying to build, particularly November, December, into the playoffs, that's a great win for Indianapolis because, yeah, they had a hard day in the last time they were on the field and then they respond. I think the resilience and the responses you're going to have to have in just the four quarters of a playoff game, this is all training that pays forward, in my opinion.

1:43:04Pat McAfee:That's right. I agree with you more. Number one team in the AFC. Now, you talked about value to your team as you go forward. Let's talk about the most valuable, shall we? Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Coach, and just to clarify, I don't care if we win 3-0 or 30-0. I just want everybody to not get hurt and kind of stay healthy and keep this train rolling. Strictly just need to get that 8-9 in the win column. But looking at the MVPs, there are some big names on here. Drake, maybe we've talked about already, but Stafford, Jonathan Taylor, Mahomes and Allen still bringing it. Darnold up there. Jared Goff seems to be a little too low just looking at that list.

1:43:40But what do you think about the MVP odds? And we actually looked into something before the show, too, just about MVPs, the last MVP. Yeah, here it is. MVP's won the Super Bowl since 2000. Patrick Mahomes is the only one. So it's not as if you win the MVP, you just automatically win the Super Bowl. But what do you think about the MVP list this year so far? I like it. Just if you can put the list back up, but I thought Jared Goff was low. and I think he's been low for the last three years. I think this guy's been playing at an incredible level, and I think last week's game against Washington speaks volumes.

1:44:17I mean, because now you're going to give him a 250-yard performance in a run game and add his plate to it. So I think he's playing at an extremely high level. I think clearly, and he's done it now, and I think we just kind of – I don't know if we're taking him for granted. I don't think he gets enough love, And I'd definitely have him higher. I love Drake May that's up there. And it looks like you're in charge of the odds. No, no, no. I think it's cool that he's up there and speaks volumes. It's the kind of year he's having. And I think it's already been said. And there's definitely room for improvement with those guys too.

1:44:55So that is exciting for New England and Drake May. But I think Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff, clearly those guys with Drake have established themselves as a quarterback. But the guy I want to throw in, and AJ could talk on Adrian Peterson, I mean, to see a running back up there is refreshing because when you have a season like Jonathan Taylor is having, and I always go back when, like, Gronkowski, when's the first time you remember watching Robert Gronkowski play? I've been to two college football games in the last 35 years, I went to the Iowa-Wisconsin football game down there in Madison in 2019.

1:45:34It was exciting to see him play. He was having a Heisman-type season and so forth. It was just how you think an Iowa-Wisconsin game would go. It was tough, a lot of running and so forth. I remember after the game, Taylor was like, man, what a consistent, tough, hard-nosed runner. I think he carried it about 30 times. But I would have never thought he went for 250 or 260 that day because he just – so my point is he's that good. I mean, when great players just kind of do – they play at that level, you know, all the time. And I can't – I don't recall what year Jonathan's in. It was year five or six or seven now.

1:46:14Six. Six. I mean, he's been playing. When he's healthy, I mean, he is a dynamic player because, I mean, he just does it playing and play out. And then he also can hit that home run. So I think he's definitely having an MBC. It kind of reminds me of Adrian Peterson when he was really rolling for the Vikings.

1:46:32Pat McAfee:It's his fifth season for Jonathan Taylor. I'm sorry. Go ahead, AJ. No, sorry, Coach. I wanted to reiterate, yeah, the Adrian Peterson situation. I was lucky, I guess lucky enough to play against Adrian twice a year for, I don't know, seven, eight years in a row when I was in Green Bay. But it's true. When a dude is rolling like these guys are, like Adrian was forever and like Jonathan Taylor has been, I don't know. All week, you're preparing for it. You're preparing for it. And then if you go there, especially on the road, and this dude, it almost sometimes felt inevitable. Like, all right, we've got to keep boxing them, keep boxing them in.

1:47:02And then when they break one or two of them, it's like, all right, the dude runs for 240 on you and you're screwed. And it seems that these guys do it week after week. It's just so tough, I think, for defenses to consistently stop guys that are this good.

1:47:14Pat McAfee:It's a head game too, right? Huge head game, I assume, yeah. I mean, think of the things you'd run off of it, Coach. Like when you have a running back like that that's rolling, how does that open up your offense? it adds a second to your play action protection game that's what it does I mean because you know that those safeties got to be at the line of scrimmage and you know and you're really trying to suck them up too you gotta suck them up don't you suck them up good coach suck them up suck them up with that play action that's what we're trying to do coach we're trying to suck them all up everywhere right here sucking them up right here and then boom!

1:47:49Pat McAfee:Jonathan Taylor. Linebackers, where are you? Within two yards of line scrimmage? Tyler Warren's right behind you. Got the D. How you doing? Keep it moving. We are weaponizing it. Yeah, we got the D sucked up. Once you suck them up, you got the D and it's blouses. Yeah, you're 100 % right. I didn't even think about it. That's what we're doing. That's what Jonathan Taylor adds. I'll tell you what, we're going to have to pay him again. We don't need him with a hoodie on at the beginning of training camp. No. We need to pay this This man is money, and we need to continue to enjoy the Jonathan Taylor ride.

1:48:21Pat McAfee:Now, you mentioned Jared Goff there about how much respect you have for him. A lot of people thought maybe the Lions would see a little bit of a regression on the offensive side because Ben Johnson, the bell of the ball, offensive genius, leaves Detroit and goes to Chicago. Tone has a question for you. Yeah, I do, Coach. That's kind of been a talking point this week that Dan Campbell took over the play calling for offense coordinator John Morton. And obviously you've been a play caller, head coach in the NFL for a long, long time. How do you feel about that situation as a whole when the head coach takes over the play calling for the offensive coordinator?

1:48:51And how does that work out? I mean, obviously there's reasonings from within the staff that they talk through. And then when you have the result that you have, I mean, you can't argue with it. But I think, you know, number one, it's never easy to change like that, particularly at that point in the season. I've experienced it once myself. So, you know, that part's tough. But, you know, but also you can see the potential benefit on the other side of it because Washington not knowing that it was going to happen definitely, you know, helps Detroit in that particular instance. But, you know, Dan's an outstanding football coach.

1:49:35I love the way his teams play. obviously saw something that he felt like he needed to do got the results and but you know most importantly that connection between play call and quarterback is is for me is always the top of the list and and I think they clearly they clearly have that because uh you know I thought they

1:49:53Pat McAfee:looked dominant in that game against Washington what did I watch Foxy where I saw Dane Campbell like drop a tear for Jared Goff what was that there was an interview where they talked to both of them and Jared Goff talked about what Dane Campbell meant to him and what Dane Campbell talked about what Jared Goff meant to him. Do you remember what I'm talking about? I don't remember what you're talking about, but I will say this year, more so than ever, MCDC has given Jared Goff so much credit on what he does at the line of scrimmage with audibles and reading protections and all these things. MCDC has made it a point pretty much every single game.

1:50:24Pat McAfee:He's given Jared Goff so much credit for how good he is getting the guys right at the line of scrimmage. I think it was quarterback on Netflix, Jared Goff was being followed and they had to sit down with dan campbell and when the trade happened like dan wanted to talk to him and tell him like hey this isn't a this isn't you're my guy like told him that basically from the beginning and i don't know if one of them got emotional i remember i remember golf getting emotional for sure yes like they they was like a real you could tell it was like a real connection because both of them feel like they probably careers we we did this and then the first win in a city yeah and then they cry after first in a city that doesn't really have that a lot like that's a special connection a special bond i didn't even think about that whenever it came to him calling plays versus maybe somebody else and you got to keep in mind in year one i mean they started out oh and 10 they were 3 13 and 1 and i'll tell you what jared goff was not good everyone thought he was a bridge quarterback everyone thought he was gonna be out of there we're gonna draft someone and mcdc stuck with him and i know that means the world to him and now like he did what matthew stafford can never do in 12 years in detroit he's winning us playoff games which is just crazy and we all love the chant in detroit It's literally any sporting event you go to in Michigan, Jared Goff.

1:51:32Pat McAfee:Jared Goff. Jared Goff. And remember, he got kicked out of L.A. basically in that trade that happened in a hotel in Mexico. It's a crazy thing to think about. And you talk about their records the first year MCDC was there. Let's go back to a record, a good one. Coach McCarthy would be 6-3 if he was to be picking Thursday night football games. he has picked the Patriots minus 12.5 even though coach for a division game

1:52:03that's a lot of points that's a lot of points I made the pick I'll stick to it

1:52:11Pat McAfee:58 % of the public bets are on the Patriots minus 12.5 and in our YouTube chat Bill ran one, Bill's wearing a toboggan and the whole thing today he put a poll in the chat. Who you got tonight? Patriots minus 12.5, 70 % of the voters. So 58 % of the public, 70 % of the YouTube chat poll. Mike McCarthy, Boston Conner saying 42-0 maybe. Alright, Coach, good luck tonight. Hopefully that becomes a 7-3 and we appreciate the hell out of you taking time out of your life to chat with us. I just want to ask a quick question. What is the numbers on the team with the points on Thursday Night Football? Like, the team that gets the points, did the team with the points win, what, 80%, 90 % of the games?

1:52:58That's a lot of points. We have that. I noticed. Not last week. Early in the season, primetime games were being won by the underdogs. And it's flipped as of late. But I think it's right around 50 % right now as far as dogs and favorites. Yeah, last week was a huge lopsided line. Raiders, Broncos, and the Raiders did end up covering. But, Coach, I mean, you put your head down on that pillow tonight and tell me that you're okay with taking the Jets plus 12 and a half.

1:53:23Pat McAfee:Well, that's what I think the YouTube chat poll is. I think that's what the YouTube chat poll is. You either pick the Patriots with everything we've said for the last time, or you could take the Jets right here. Nobody. I mean, 30 % of the people aren't good for them. Those are the sharps. Yeah. But from us, Coach Carthy, we're going to wrap up here on ESPN and continue on digital. You got anything to say? You got the countdown clock right in front of you. Final message for the TV crowd? The TV crowd? Yeah. Yeah. AJ, you did a great job today. I thought you'd give me some more questions. Thank you, coach.

1:53:56Thank you. All right. Have fun. I'm not going this time. I don't know. Grants, we're over. We're already over. We're already over. We're still live. We're still live. We're still live. Yeah. We're still live. I didn't know what the hell was going on last week. I was like, what in the hell is he talking about? This week, you definitely did. You definitely knew. I was like, am I supposed to say something here? You totally screwed me up last week. All right. All right. Expensive football, coach. We appreciate your hell out of you. Oh, yeah, yeah. Super Bowl change. Stay in my lane. Stay in my lane.

1:54:29Because I can see you're doing a hell of a job with those TV contracts. I ain't going to bring that up.

1:54:37I'm trying, man. I have. Yeah. I would like to let them go. Yeah, you and your suit friends. I would like to let them go. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

1:54:44Pat McAfee:Whoa, whoa, whoa. I got to get out of here.

1:54:49Pat McAfee:Coach will be proud to know that I have, like a suit, sent some emails to both parties saying that ball is needed. More ball, good ball. Two parties that are actually involved in it. Not a website.

1:55:09Hey, let's remember.

1:55:11Pat McAfee:Come on now. Ball. There's some new news on that today. Ball. Yeah, it's ABC. ABC's the holdup. Apparently. Really? That would be a crazy turn of events, certainly with how the conversation has been going. But on that note, I think it's just a couple people that just need to... Yeah. We just need you to... Yeah, basically said get comfy. That's... We just need... Get comfy. Yeah, we... Hey, ball. For the good of ball. For the good of ball. You know, for the good of ball. Please. Please. And on that... Let's take a break. Yeah. On the other side, A.J. Hawk and I will make our official picks. We'll wrap up all the sports stories from around the sports universe.

1:55:51Pat McAfee:We will celebrate the fact that, oh, I just saw this for the first time. Like that. A.J., it's not because I beat you, but I am certainly, I'm going to pause the side of things heading into a. Oh, yeah. Big weekend. You're seeing the field. Did you take the Bucs? Oh, no. Oh, good call last week. I want to let you know. What was I thinking? I think you got a good chance of, you know me, when I believe in a team, boy, I believe in them. Remember, I lost hundreds of thousands maybe on that Chiefs team. Yeah. Do you remember that? That's for sure, brother. That was a lot of fun, AJ. You remember those days when the Chiefs were winning all those games, but nowhere near by enough points?

1:56:34Pat McAfee:Do you remember that? Yep. That makes it a little bit tougher now. That messes me up sometimes making picks these days. Yeah, I rode with that Chiefs team. Nate, because the Chiefs are still the Chiefs. And then I'd have to walk into the program on Monday and go, hey, they won. They're still the Chiefs. But boy, it feels like this sportsbook knows exactly what the number is supposed to be. So you don't win with the Chiefs. That's what it became. Because they weren't blowing teams out, but they were winning. And then lo and behold, when they were able to win those close games, they would inevitably win a Super Bowl.

1:57:03Because to Mike McCarthy's point, not every game can be a blowout,

1:57:06Pat McAfee:even if you're a great team. So when your team wins, you should be happy. like when the Colts beat the Falcons this past weekend, there were so many people that were like, it's the Falcons. It's like we're in fucking Germany. It's an international game. McQuaid was there. Yeah. Out of pressure. Any more stats coming out of Germany for that game? Jonathan Taylor running for that many yards. Has that been talked about in the history of Europe, especially in the football sphere? A big thing. They're saying, you know, this is the greatest performance in the stadium since Jesse Owens won the gold medal in the Olympics in 1933.

1:57:41You go and you look at everything, lads. They're saying this might go down as the most important running in the history of this stadium. That's not what McQuaid's saying. That's not what I'm saying. There's just a lot of lads around Berlin and in different European countries who are saying we haven't seen anything like that since Jesse Owens was running on this very hallowed field. And, you know, Jonathan Taylor, lads, reached actually a higher top speed than Jesse Owens did. on his 100-meter dash victory and whatever other medals. In full pads? In full pads, yeah. And I believe I want to say that his spikes were actually very similar, if not the exact same spikes that Jesse Owens ran when he won.

1:58:25I understand. It doesn't make any sense because he was basically wearing, like, you know, just pieces of leather with, like, little golf tees on the bottom of them, but, you know, the cleat technology. Actually, I did do a little bit of a deep dive in this. cleat technology actually has not come that far since those 1933 olympic games lads so it's unbelievable to think that basically jonathan taylor he walked into the stadium lads and i i haven't confirmed this i will look into it i will go back to berlin this week obviously in madrid this weekend for you know commanders dolphins i mean i am the internet yeah thank you i am the international man of mystery a la austin powers but i will go back over there yeah and i will see.

1:59:07I'm not, I, there was a little display case right when you walk in the stadium. These are Jesse Owens' cleats. These are unbelievable. Rumor has it. No way. Rumor has it. Shane Steichen walked in. Fucking smashed the display case. Sorry, Dale. That was not planned, obviously. Sorry, lads. Smashed the display case. Took him right down. He said, JT, got a new pair of cleats for you today. And JT didn't even need to say anything. Didn't even say like, no, I like my cleats a lot. I mean, I'm rushing for three touchdowns a game, 200 plus yards a game. He knew exactly what needed to be done. Took him, laced him up, and we saw what happened.

1:59:45Pat McAfee:I didn't see those on the field. Yeah, you'd have to maybe go back and look at the tape again because obviously we have these 8K images. Things get enhanced. But if you're watching it on like a potato or like a 720, 480. Here we have like 1080, I think. Yeah, you can see him. You can see him right there. I don't think that's them, McQuaid. No, I'm pretty sure. You're saying this was the best running in this stadium? You said people were saying that. Not you. I didn't say that. I heard that from a lot of people from around the surrounding area in the lower bowl. I believe they actually did paint the cleats blue before the games, lads.

2:00:18Because obviously they didn't look like that back then.

2:00:22Pat McAfee:I don't know. We're going to have to check that. But I do appreciate the fact that that's some of the greatest run in the history of Germany. I mean, that dude went crazy over the international. Is it true that McQuaid is singing the national anthem in Spanish? In Spain? I saw that on the internet too. That would be. Okay. Would we be surprised? No. No. Not at all. That's kind of the way it looks like. Relieved. I just saw myself walk in TV in the morning. They're doing a pregame routine on the TV. Maybe I have a coffee. It's nice. Kenzie probably, you know, I'm telling her we're international.

2:00:54Pat McAfee:This is Spain. We'll get over there someday. And then McQuaid just pops up and goes, sorry, lads. And then just starts about now. Kills it. That'd be a great Sunday morning. If that's not the plan, it needs to be. Learning. Goodell knows, though. He understands. You think they've responded to the kickoff conversation that happened on Veterans Day? That's a good question. I do wonder if they take that as constructive feedback. We have not reached out for comment, but we do know that they heard it. Yeah, they definitely heard it. They definitely heard it. Thank you for sticking up, I believe. I think it's like, yeah, hey, we had to save the place, Mr.

2:01:33Pat McAfee:President. Are they even allowed to do that? I thought he was going to potentially get Cash Mattel to look into the NFL. Are you allowed to change the game? Still time. Are you allowed to do that? That fundamentally changed the game. The ball's in the air, he said. Nobody's moving. That's an interesting point, I guess, about it. Yeah. If the ball's in the air, there's always people moving, except for that time. Not that the play has started. The ball's in the air. I'm seeing it. Nobody's. Is this a live play? What is this? Is it football? Just him every time he watches it, probably just another thing.

2:02:06Pat McAfee:And I did want to tell him, and I did, that, hey, none of us are saying, yeah, this is better than the goal. Yeah, better than not having it. It's better than not having it. Yes, this is supposed to save the play. This is saving, you know, a lot of special teams' importance to the game. And I, former punter and kickoff guy and jobs, yeah, we would like to keep that in there. But they were saying, what's the data? They're still running into each other, he's saying. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, he did. He did. Oh, what a moment. Yeah, I would love to be a fly on the wall of wherever Josh Harris was when he just doubled down on the not commanders.

2:02:47Oh, with Josh? When he was just there two days before in Josh Harris' suite.

2:02:52Pat McAfee:I'm not even going to tell you what I was going to say. He said at one point. What was that going to be? What was that going to be? Who knows? Could go any different way. Uh-huh. Yeah. Shout out to the vets. Oh, yeah. Shout out. Yep. Absolutely. That was cool that we got to do all that. Yeah. So cool. Yeah. And I wonder if the VA gets a little bit of an uptake. Hopefully. I hope so. Hopefully.

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2:04:04Pat McAfee:Football! It is magical. That's AJ Hawk right there. Wow, AJ! Baby Hawk! Baby Hawk! Hey, I got a little delay. I tried to start saying football a split second earlier. Am I on time or am I behind everybody? I think this one was good. So whenever I'm at a place on Friday, I try to go right before everybody as well. I don't know how it sounds when I go. Yep. Same thing. It comes through right on time. Right on time. Okay, so it is like a little bit of a beat, though, AJ. It is hard to kind of guess, isn't it? Oh, yeah, because you don't know. You think you're right on time with everybody else, but you're like a second behind if you wait.

2:04:37So, yeah, I just got to jump it a little bit.

2:04:38Pat McAfee:Yeah, you got to feel it. I think you got to feel when you got to get in there. And I want to let you know, I think you did a great job. Yeah, head boy, Hawker. Thank you. Because I've been in your position on Fridays, you know, and I know what you're going through. It is always like, and then if you miss it, it's like, missed it. Yeah, we're gone. Now it's an echo. Football. A good thing that helps us with that, too, is watching you on the big board when we're all about to say it. Like, for Hawker, you should see when it's coming in, just where we're at as far as about to say it. Anyways, on all the football updates, college football playoff committees, got a lot of them.

2:05:14Pat McAfee:Mack Rhodes, Baylor AD, who is the chair of the college football playoff committee, steps down this morning amidst an investigation happening at Baylor. We don't know the exacts of all of it. Outkick reported an incident with a tight end and then a coach with the athletic director. He's also the chair, obviously, of the CFP committee. Your thoughts on this, AJ, as we've already had two CFP brackets released. They've already started to meet. He was the one that was the mouthpiece for the entire group that Reese Davis spoke to on those Tuesday night shows. They have a new chair. He's the Arkansas AD, Mr.

2:05:51Pat McAfee:Hunter Juracek. He was already on the committee. They're promoting him to be the new chair. There's a subcommittee within the college football playoff committee that'll vote on if he should be leading the entire committee. And I assume he will join that subcommittee that is the leadership committee of the college football playoff committee because we need another committee to be making decisions, even though we're in a room to make a fucking decision. On that note, we're appreciative of their process. We understand what they have going on. And then the AD, Mark Harlan from Utah, who has been in the CFP committee in the past, will join or has been nominated, once again, subcommittee of the CFP committee.

2:06:35Pat McAfee:He has to vote on it for him. But he's been there before, and they're nominating him to join it back. He's a Big 12 AD. They lose a Big 12 AD in Baylor. Eye for an eye is what Heather Dinnich said. AJ, I just said a lot there to kind of catch everybody up on what is happening. Your thoughts on this happening middle of season, late season here with so much implications on the line. Yeah, it is a bit unique, I guess, for the head of the whole situation to step down right now. All I know is what I've read from the OutKick stuff and what you guys have talked about. What a wild, wild allegations, I guess, if true, whatever is going on with the whole situation on the sideline.

2:07:10But this shouldn't change. The votes, the other people there, I would assume, aren't super swayed by Mr. Mack Rhodes, are they? Unless this guy was some David Koresh-type guy that could get people to really follow him. What are we supposed to do? I didn't mean to do that. It does work. It does work.

2:07:29Pat McAfee:I don't know if he's a Davidian leader or not in the CFB committee room or which committee potentially is the closer follower of his, but he is the mouthpiece of it. So I think there is obviously an expectation for him to at least have to hear every argument, if I had to guess, because he's going to be the one that's going to be speaking. So hiring from within the committee to be the new chair, I think was the only really logical move. Bringing a guy that's already been in there back, is that good news or bad news in your eyes? And then how do you think BYU feels? Oh, the phone here. We got Utah back in this thing.

2:08:01Pat McAfee:I thought we had him out. I thought we had him out of here. I just wonder, is the new guy that steps in, are they going to still do the hats? Or was that a Mack Road situation? Are we not going to hang the hat then? They definitely should still hang the hat. But the new hat that comes in needs to be maybe a big splash hat. Because that hat, gone. Yeah. That hat was chair hat that first time. So they have an open arm on a hot rock. Is that him? I think that's him. Side profile might be. That's a flashy outfit. I was going to say, yeah. Compared to what everybody else is wearing. He's got a lot of pizzazz.

2:08:40That's Mark D 'Antonio there.

2:08:41Pat McAfee:He doesn't like the yellow. Allegedly, via an outkick article, he did not like the yellow long sleeves, but he loves that shirt. Is that him? Can we go back to the beginning? Oh, man. Is that him? Looks like I'm side profile. It's a football player in the back of that jacket. Let's see. Go ahead. Yeah, I'd say. That might be him. Guy's got mocks. That shirt is so sick. Listen, whenever you're the one speaking for the group, you put your hat on the rack first, and you dress like this is what he said whenever they started meeting. And I can't blame him for that, but I think there's a lot of other stuff going on potentially in his life that people are certainly going to be looking into.

2:09:21Pat McAfee:And good luck out there, Bob. And to the new people that are a part of the committee and in new positions there, good luck to you guys as well. I cannot wait to see how you do. Maybe a fresh voice in a room on a season is a good thing, AJ. Yeah, of course it is. It's got to be a good thing. And the people that are being promoted from within, they know the process. They know how it works. You don't have to sit there and relearn and reteach them how the things go. Why couldn't we nominate Tone Diggs to be a point? Good question. I mean, we could nominate him. Let's nominate him now. Who's stopping us from nominating?

2:09:49Pat McAfee:We'd like to nominate AP Tone, who does not have an AP vote in college football, only in NFL football, but he is a two-time, two-time college football author. We'd like to nominate this man, AP Tone, for the open chair. Yeah. Yeah, we'll nominate him for the chair of the entire thing. But if not that, a seat in the CFP committee. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right. Tony. Who said that? You can't accept the nomination and vote against yourself. What are you doing right now? I solemnly swear to represent the CFP. What's the left hand? Normally right hand I would put on the college football ball or something like that.

2:10:40I think that is what they do. Your college football Bible. Your Bible that you wrote. That's what they all put their hair on.

2:10:45Pat McAfee:I think that is what they do, though. Right? So you put your heart because it's the same thing. Yeah, that's what I did. Yeah, college football. I solemnly swear to represent the CFP committee with the best of my ability. No biases, only stats, facts, and watching good old All-22 tape to come up with the best 12 teams we could possibly come up with. I don't know if it's going to work, but that was a good pitch. That was a good pitch. I'd also like to nominate Nick Saban. Just because everybody's nominating him for all these jobs. Step below tone. That's our second. That's our second nomination.

2:11:16Pat McAfee:Thank you. I would also like Desmond Howard in there just because I think he would mix it up. Just looking at the hats, looking at the hats and the thing, it would be great to get Des in there. I would love for Desmond Howard to be in that room. If not Des, obviously Reese, who does the interview, I think he'd be a good representation. Basically, anybody on the show that I'm a part of but me, I think is probably a good people to put in there. Mostly because, would you want to be there? No way. And now these two names are like the loudest, the two new spots. Hey, Hunter, you're a check out of Arkansas.

2:11:48Pat McAfee:He's taking over. This is the guy. And then Mark Harlan out of Utah. He's in there, too. Do we know who any of you? No. So whenever you get it wrong, the only three people you're going to associate, go out of Utah. Yeah. Yeah, true. I don't know if it's the best thing to be a part of. Just my experience with college football, you're going to piss off so many people. And they're very passionate. And I don't know if you're ever going to get it right, AJ. I don't know if you're ever going to. If you're a retired coach, I can see it. Like I saw my old DC, Mark D 'Antonio, he's on the committee. For him, he's retired from football.

2:12:16He still follows ball. I would imagine he keeps him involved. It's probably good for someone like that.

2:12:20Pat McAfee:Yeah, I bet. But you're going to get the backlash is immediately huge. He doesn't care. He's not here. He doesn't hear it. He doesn't care. I would imagine that. B.A. last week also said he was friends with a coach, I can't remember who it was, on the committee. And he was like, they make you watch more tape in these meetings than I have ever watched even as a coach. So I was like, oh, that is great to hear. Okay, so you're forced to watch this tape, basically. Who runs it, too? Who runs the tape, too? you can't just put film on and just sit there and look at it. Well, that's the thing. That's why Mack Rhoades got that shirt on.

2:12:48Pat McAfee:The chair's up there in the front trying to steal everybody's attention, make sure they're not sleeping. Okay, fourth quarter here. Ohio State Buckeyes are up 42. And then the projector hits off his shirt, and there's a glimmer of shine that captivates everybody's eyes. He's the one doing the show. He's the one doing the show, which is why, Hunter, you're a check. Good luck in there. Yeah, good luck. And that's why they should split up those kind of responsibilities. Instead of having that guy run the tape and be the chair, I do think that's where bringing in the other guy to walk him through the tape to just at least show him what we're looking for.

2:13:25He doesn't have to be on the committee, but at least he's maybe teacher of the tape.

2:13:28Pat McAfee:Here's some other stuff that we need to be looking at. And then he's highlighting things from another game. Let's go to another situation. Those types of things. Yeah, exactly. Premier player. So then we know at least what they're watching. Yes. Yeah. An individual time with Stanford, Steve, needs to be had too, so make sure he's reaching them. A couple cocktails before they go in maybe just because, you know, you can't go in like a stiff either. You know, you got the other guy saying, I mean, we were there in Pasadena getting ready to go out to dinner. Bar's about to close. About 10 minutes. We're about to go out to dinner.

2:14:02We're going to meet you down there, Steve. I got it. Don't worry about it. We came down. He had 38 Jack and Cokes. Oh, yeah. He's just waiting for us. Hey, how you doing, guys? I got a couple drinks for you here. Great guy. Spilled all over himself. Was being the greatest. Exactly. We need a guy like that just kind of rubbing off on these people. Because, you know, at the end of the day, we need to find the 12 best teams. And who better do that than Steve?

2:14:24Pat McAfee:Starting with 12. Count down to one. Who's it going to be? They decide. They choose. Good luck there. Go get them. I appreciate them taking their hats off going in there. It was a good game. Respectful. Because you could lower that hat and not watch the film. You're sleeping. True. It's like high school again. Can't have that. Take the hats off. We want to see your eyes and your eyelids. Let's make sure that's happening. We're going to force you guys six hours here. Film. Mm-hmm. Make sure we're seeing it. Is that what you're saying? Mm-hmm. They're saying like six hours of film? I don't know.

2:14:59We'd have to ask BA next time he's in here. But I was just looking at those people. They probably need a nap, too.

2:15:03Pat McAfee:Well, that's what I'm saying. How do you? That's immediate sleepy, sleepy time. That's why you need Stanford Stephen. Some warm milk. I mean, imagine the Ovaltine that's flowing through that room. While the lights are out, maybe some film happening. Ovaltine's good. Yes, absolutely. The spam for lunch, breakthrough halfway. Come on, nice meal. Do they got checkers in there? You know, every day is checkers. Cribbage. They need Stanford State, maybe. I think they put a shovel board in there. Fosci ball, yeah. Stanford State would fit in there well. Doesn't need a vote, though, because he already takes enough heat with his picks.

2:15:39Pat McAfee:Yeah, exactly. So I'm going to take him to the tape. Hey, 2-1 this last weekend, I think. Come on, now, Steve. He's going to get them all right this week. All right, let's make our picks, dude. Let's do this. I don't know what I'm doing. Yeah. I'll tell you what, Big Mike kind of – I thought he wasn't going to take the point. I thought it was a lot of points, and he actually is sticking with it. I think Con Man definitely bullied him into this. Yeah, so bad. Like, you know, Big Mike is a team guy, and he thinks he's – he's a team member. I'm part of the squad. Here we go. I'll take the Patriots.

2:16:09But, yeah, I'm trying to figure mine out. This is the first primetime game in New England in over two years.

2:16:15Pat McAfee:Exactly my point. This is a – that I said earlier, this is a hello, we're back from all of New England. You can certainly see it playing out that way, especially with how good their fans are. It's not like it's a brand-new fan base trying to figure out what a good team is. It's like they're a smart fan base. That is a smart fan base. They know when to be loud. They know what to say. They know who to target. I mean, that's a great atmosphere for a lot of different reasons. And then Vrabel and Drake, I think it's big for them too. Like, hey, here we go. Lights are on. This is our house. It's not the old dynasty's house.

2:16:46Pat McAfee:I think they can prove a lot. And on that note, it's been real loud. Like Kirk Herbstreet, Kirk Herbstreet, last Thursday, comes on the show and goes, Shh, shh, don't tell anybody. keep this quiet. Iowa's going to be the worst man in Iowa. And it's like, Kirk, I think a lot of us were thinking that. Well, not a lot of us. I don't think a lot of people nationally. A lot of people in the Thunderdome. Strictly because we were forced to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes team because of Ty Schmidt. A lot of people in this Thunderdome were thinking the same thing. And I guess we should have reached out to him and we should have told him, hey, yeah, there he is.

2:17:30We should have reached out to him and we should have told him,

2:17:33Pat McAfee:hey, we're not saying shit about this. Like, we purposely did not even. I mean, we were just staying completely clear of it. There is no reason, especially with the type of coach that Dan Lanning is. Like, Dan Lanning definitely feeds off of that shit. I mean, it is one of those things. So, if we think Iowa does have a chance, there is no reason. There's no reason to just go ahead and wake up Oregon, basically. Now, the Iowa fans, it wasn't like they just woke up and they killed us, but I thought Kirk made it way too loud. I agree. I think it got way too loud, way too loud, and he almost predicted the damn game.

2:18:07Pat McAfee:I mean, Kirk knows ball, obviously, and we thought we were on the same page as him with Iowa potentially upsetting Oregon, but it got too loud. Football gods maybe go, uh-uh. I don't think that's how that goes. If it's going to be a massive upset, it can't be something that the whole world's talking about for multiple days beforehand. And now I'm starting to wonder if that's what's going to happen here tonight with this jets team like there's no way anybody 70 of the youtube uh poll said uh patriots minus 12 and a half okay that was with 15 000 votes allegedly who knows you know i'm getting a lot of tweets that look very similar i'm getting a lot of tweets that look very similar and they're very mean and i'm like wow this many people are saying the same thing this could be a fake those could be bought saying yeah but then you read it again you're like kind of true though these bots are getting good.

2:18:55Pat McAfee:So who knows how many actual humans are in this particular poll. We assume YouTube and Google's algo is good at defense of those types of things, so we can say it's pretty accurate. 15 ,000 actual humans voted on this thing, but 70 % of them are on the Patriots. And I've literally, for two hours at the start of the show, just sang the praises of the Patriots. You also listened to me for four hours before the show. Am I a part of the problem? Am I a part of the problem here? Did I completely flip it? That's what I'm trying to figure out. AJ, who'd you officially take? I haven't officially taken anyone, but, you know, I almost flipped back to the Jets, but I am taking the Patriots.

2:19:30Here we go. I don't know if I just want to give one up to AJ here. Garrett Wilson's hurt, I know. I don't love that for the Jets. The Jets do one thing well, and that just so happens to be the best thing on the Patriots team. And they're very – like, I just –

2:19:44Pat McAfee:Yeah, fuck it. It's the – Fuck it. The Patriots are dominating tonight. We all are just in agreement that the Patriots are dominating tonight. There's a chance that this Jets team could have found some things in the last two weeks that they put up a fight and they're within two scores. I assume Aaron Glenn is hearing all this saying this is very disrespectful of our football team. They think we're just going to get blown out of here. He can pull from a lot of things, which almost makes me want to do the Jets plus 12 and a half thing. But I can't because what I've seen from this Patriots, actually watching them with Patriots fans, they are so good, like so good.

2:20:18Pat McAfee:And last week, maybe Drake starts out a little bit slow. He figures it out. And Josh McDaniels figures it out. It's like they are very talented. And then the defense is outrageous. So, man, it's first primetime home game for these boys. Yeah. I mean, the – Gronk. Yeah. Gronk's keeper of the light. There's so many things working in our favor where I am also in your shoes where it's like – Wait a minute. Wait, is it too much? And then it's not – No, stop thinking. Yeah, it's not one of those teams. It's a variable team. Like, it is a different situation. Yeah, very humble team. Very, hey, we're just going to work every day.

2:20:50If the messaging was different out of the building itself, like even social media stuff on individuals and things of that nature, then maybe, okay, they're taking their eye off the ball. But I think it's more so like, hey, if we dominate tonight, what's on the horizon is a four-day weekend. We're on the road next week. But, again, four-day weekend, and then you're back in the building. So this will be the first break in 11 weeks that they've really had if they just kind of get the job done, take care of business, and beat the fuck out of them.

2:21:22Pat McAfee:Well, they're already on vacation. Uh-oh. I don't think so. Give me the Patriots, minus 12 and a half. You as well. We're all on this, I think. Hammer. Don. How are you guys viewing this? Are you guys betting game? 12 and a half too many points? How are you viewing it? I think it's a dead nuts under. Okay. That's Tone's best pick. 4-2-0. Fresh out of Hammer. Don. Let's go to the other cowboy that rides in and says, you know what? I'll bet on everything. What do you mean everything? You heard me. All of it. Cricket. You sure? Yes. I'll take two. Actually, they got a good squad over there. They got a good team.

2:22:05Split two and a half wickets last week.

2:22:09Pat McAfee:International play, lad. And they're taking on a team that is just a group of Muppets. from Beirut. That's what Gumpy will say. Gumpy, what do you like in this game? Are you 12 and a half too many points? Are you staying away from that? I like the under as well, and the touchdown parlay of the quarterbacks is absolutely in play tonight. I imagine Drake May scores the first touchdown tonight as well. He gets loose. So, Gumpy just made four bets in his head. Also, if we're just talking about random sports, I like WVU, minus five and a halfers, Pitt, and college basketball. How about that? Okay, any other sports we want to venture into?

2:22:47Pat McAfee:Is Crooks playing tonight? I'd like to bet on her over. Is that possible? College sports parlays should not be happening. Crooks seemingly we like to support. We like to support. Their team will win. I don't like the props on the college games. Can't have it. I don't like it. I think it's not good. It's ripe. It's too ripe for a bad situation. It's already happened multiple times, too. Gotta play defense here. We gotta play defense of some sort. But you're taking away something that's really... Okay, well, we would like it to survive forever, though. Like, we would like this to continue to survive, so we're going to have to adapt.

2:23:19Pat McAfee:I think the college one's very scary. Yeah. Not that the professional... She's unbelievable, AJ. Have you seen this? Have you been watching this or following along with this story? Oh, yeah. She started popping up my algorithm and then watching these highlights. Like, she's killing it. Her little sweet little turnaround step back she hits, obviously, in the paint. Like, good luck stopping her. Yeah. You said she started popping into your algorithm. Me, too. I appreciate it, too. Did you see... Hannah Hidalgo. Did you see this? Yes. Yes, dude, women's college hoops is outrageous right now. She broke a record.

2:23:50Pat McAfee:Most points in Notre Dame school history, which obviously there's been a lot of greats. Most steals in the history of college basketball, both men's and women's in a game. Yeah, just absolutely insanity on the court by Hannah Hidalgo, A.J. Hawk. Yeah, 16 steals. That's like a season worth of steals for a lot of people, isn't it? Yes. Yeah. It really is. And she also, she beat the Zips 12-0, I think, in the second quarter. I think she won 12-0 over the Zips. Just her 12, them, nothing. Nobody else scored. Man. Yeah, I mean, where did I see it? I saw it on, like, Good Morning America. One of those morning shows, they highlighted her.

2:24:30Hannah Hidalgo, and they talked about her being, like, one of the next big superstars in college basketball.

2:24:34Pat McAfee:Well, then there's a Caitlin Clark up there in Fairfield playing for the Stags, I guess, Connor said. Yeah, Megan Anderson. She's averaging 33 a game for shoots. The woman stag team has been good for a little bit here. So now their recruiting classes have gotten much better. And Megan Anderson, she's a junior now. Genuinely, there's a chance of stags here going around. I mean, they were the, I think, 11th seed in the tournament last year. It's not like they've been bad. And, Gumby, let's go to men's college basketball. West Virginia tonight over Pitt. We got a good team. Hey, we brought that coach in who's really good at coaching that stuff.

2:25:05Yeah, both teams are 3-0. They both looked really good, actually.

2:25:08Pat McAfee:Yeah, and the coach for West Virginia, that guy can coach the hell out of a basketball game. I love that Coach Gumpy. Yeah, I wish I knew his name too. That son of a bitch from North Texas. Yeah, Ross Hollins. Yeah, Coach Hollins. Of course. Listen, you said two as if I didn't know his name. I know this man. I met him. I met this man. I respect this man. He's got a damn good fucking basketball team, this man. And I like the way he builds. I guess we play great defense. I guess it is a very difficult thing to score against us. I think if I'm remembering accurately whenever we hired him, I guess it's a ground and pound basketball team here.

2:25:46Pat McAfee:I mean, and going to be good quickly is what I've been told. And on that note, Coach Hodge is going to do that for him. You've been damn good. And West Virginia's former head coach, Darren DeVries, I've been watching Indiana. They look like they look to be pretty good this year. Oh, yes, his boy playing? Yeah, his boy's been lighting up the bucket. Yeah, I'm sure he is. His boy's a good fucking basketball player. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. We saw that at West Virginia for four games or whatever it was. He's a great player. He is. Indiana has looked very good earlier. They beat Marquette this weekend.

2:26:17They have. Yeah, they're –

2:26:18Pat McAfee:Yeah, West Virginia's really happy that we could have him for a year for you guys or for Indiana to get ready and hire him and his boy, and his boy, which we thought was potentially going to lead us to a Final Four. But now we've got Coach Hodge. He's got a fucking tough team this year. That's right. Tough son of a bitch. They'll chew glass on the wood. They'll chew wood on glass. They don't care. That's what the team does. They kick ass. That's West Virginia basketball. Where's Bob Huggins? Bring Huggie Bear back. To where? I don't know. Anywhere. We need him coaching in the NCAA tournament come March.

2:26:55Pat McAfee:All right. Yeah, maybe. Well said. I don't know. He had a hell of a run. There was a lot that happened, but obviously West Virginia. Teams played hard. His team's played hard. We know that. West Virginia, Cincinnati, obviously. A lot of great wins. A lot of things happened there towards the end, but Mountaineers, you know, thank him for his time, as do University of Cincinnati, I would assume. If this ball falls here, Gumpy's hitting all four of his bets. Boom, boom. Okay. All right. It's for you, Gumps. Oh, shit, Gumpy, I'm sorry. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.

2:27:31Do one for Tonga. Let's see if Chris Tonga gets in the paint tonight. Can you shoot one for him?

2:27:37Pat McAfee:Yeah, dude. Yeah, D-Lineman. Oh, yeah. Big fullback. I love Big Oose. Big Oose. Yeah, make throwing a ball. Yeah, exactly. Vrabel has two touchdowns against the Jets in his career. Oh, no. Same mess. Maybe next week, Tonga. No. No, no, for Tonga. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Yep. Boom! Ooh. Oh, good. That's probably plus 3 ,500. Just had to shoot it, you know? That just means he's scoring the second touchdown of the game. Ooh. Okay, so now, see? Here's another bet. Boom. See, what we're talking about here is like six, seven different bets that can eventually hit, and the universe just told us they should.

2:28:14Pat McAfee:Got a new game out here. I don't know if you saw it. Somebody sent it in. It's just a little round thing that's sitting at the free throw line. Pretty good little game. Oh, there's two. Yeah, so I think you set it up like cornhole. I think it is set up like cornhole. Okay, so you got a little hacky sacks, four per team, and they toss it, and if it lands on top of the board, it's one point. If it goes in the hole, it's three points, much like Cornhole or any of the other games that are kind of similar to this, horseshoes or whatever. But if it falls off, you get a kick because it's a hacky sack.

2:28:43You can hack it.

2:28:44Pat McAfee:So I think you're trying to throw it to make it in the hole, and then you're just trying to play a little defense with the feet. We put a couple – I don't want to say mileage on these things yesterday, but it feels like this is a good idea for a game. Great game. It feels like this is a very good idea for a game. We were playing it pretty good yesterday, and it just got sent to the office. Whoever created this has a good idea. I think you've got a good idea here, AJ. Go to Hacker. So is it two-on-two like Cornhole? You play teams? Same. Yeah, opposite ends. So if it's falling off, if they throw Hacker's like it falls off the board, you can kick it where?

2:29:19Into the hole?

2:29:19Pat McAfee:Try to make it in a hole or put it on top of the board. Oh, that's sweet. Yeah, that would be fun. Yeah, it's a good game. And then also, you know, if you accidentally overthrow, also it can be a half hoop if you want. Nice. The only bad shot is short because that's tough. Don't leave it short. That's tough to get to. Short is tough to get to because you've got to operate the entire thing. But that thing's rolling off. You can even do like a little scoopy to roll it back on. Yeah, start to get the hang of it a little bit. It's a good game. I think it's a good game. Hacky sack, not the easiest to toss.

2:29:48Pat McAfee:It's a weird size and weight. It's a weird size. Yeah, because you want to – like how you hold a cornhole back, like you want to – you throw a little spin to it. Yeah, that would be hard with the hacky sack. Yeah, so you're going – I think I want like this one here, but I think I saw some of this right here, little finger rolls. I was doing forward underhand before the show. You're doing? Pong toss. I didn't even think about that. Tony very consistently pong tossing that thing close to the hole. Has the office found a game maybe that can get them to the title? Yeah, exactly. Is that what you think it is, Popsie?

2:30:24Pat McAfee:Is that what they think it is? I prefer you ball over this game. Really? Yeah. Just at first glance, I would agree. You got to play for it. I don't hate it. I just don't fucking like hacky sack. Me neither. I was never a hacky sack. And you said that. But soccer. I played soccer. Yeah, exactly. I did. So it's like anything foot-wise because, I mean, I guess it's not really that much juggling. But, yeah, I mean. You definitely have to have feet-eye coordination. Which, I mean, you know, I'm not a fucking baby deer. I think I could do it. But just you ball. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's a good sport.

2:31:00Pat McAfee:Some athleticism. Some athleticism over here, some would say. This is how it goes in the office, though. We play a game, we burn it to the ground, and then, oh, new game over here. We burn that one to the ground, and we just kind of go on a little cycle here. Well, U-Ball, the thing about U-Ball is I don't think it's been burned to the ground. It's just you and Pat are so fucking good that it's just at the point where, okay, who the fuck's going to win? Nobody except for Pat and Fox. which this game can easily turn into as well. No, I'm terrible with my feet, so I'm trying to avoid this. Foxy was bad.

2:31:33Pat McAfee:He almost kicked a thing. Never been good. That's good news. Yeah, that's the – yeah. Come on, Fox. You need to start working. You'll get better. You need to start juggling. The World Cup's around the corner. True. I assume that game's not going to get played. It's a good game, though. We'd like to let whoever knows that it's a good game. But it's – I don't know. I think there's a chance it is. The good thing with a game like this, actually, is you could, in theory, kind of cross it up here. So while U-Ball game is going on, you could play it this way. Oh, that is a good point. So it could kind of be like the precursor to actual U-Ball because you're still kind of shooting it, getting its balls still.

2:32:17So you could play it vertically, perpendicular to the stage while U-Ball is going on this way.

2:32:22Pat McAfee:Revel Rond is the name of the game. It is a fun new lawn game, I'd say, developed by Indie-based Play Life Nation. Hell yeah, Indie. Oh, sick. I didn't know that was the case. Essentially, you have two round playing boards. Once again, we get things shipped here. We open them or don't open them. Just kind of like a hit or a miss. Open it could be cool. Let's go ahead and do that. Open it could be terrible. Let's act like we never saw that. Let's throw that thing away. And don't open it happens sometimes. Those things never get seen. So we are not saying you should send something here and that it will definitely get seen.

2:32:52Pat McAfee:But if you do send something here and we open it, there's a chance that it changes the course of the Thunderdome for at least a couple days. No doubt. At least a couple days. And those days get remembered for those people. Yes, they do. I mean, that's how U-Ball originated because somebody sent us the U-Ball thing that you put in the beach and then we just put it in the corner, didn't use it for a while, and then we're like, all right, let's just start shooting on it and then a game gets formed. Yeah, it's a pretty good time. And it's great for Thunderdome morale. Thunderdome morale. Some people get a little worked up, though.

2:33:23Pat McAfee:Like, D-Bone's been on quite a roller coaster with this U-Ball. Yeah, I get it. Remember, he was taking it serious early. Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Has he ever gotten off the ground and legally tipped a ball? Oh, no. He's not going to like that. I've watched him actually do a couple reverse dunks against me before. That was the only time I saw it. But, like, does he know you have to be in the air when you tip it, though? I don't feel like he does. I think you were talking about the most recent footage that was debuted U-ball insider Bruce Brown. You know, good if it goes off the golf cart. He's down.

2:33:54Pat McAfee:He's nowhere near up. That one's a close one. Foxy had a photo shot in New York. Want to zoom in photo. Bruce could have been up on that last one. You're supposed to be up on all three of those tips. But the effort was so immaculate that we had to really give him everything. Yeah, very down and then more down. That one's up. I'm flying right there, dude. You're right. You're right. But this counted, by the way. And that's a U-ball difference. Exactly. Gentleman's game. That's good effort right there. That is good effort. It was 10-3 at that time, I think. First golf cart point. Yeah. It was nowhere near a league.

2:34:32Way to stay with it. Way to stay with the point.

2:34:34Pat McAfee:That's right. Mental toughness. That's right. That's what they showed. And what's their name? What is it? Bruce's Bone? Yeah, I think it is. Brown Bone? Brown Bone. There it is. Oh, nice. I think that's what the name is. I don't know. It might be workshopping that one. Oh, yeah. That's a good point. Bone and Brown would kind of be better. Oh, yeah. Just like Bone and Butts. Yeah. They were a good team. They left each other. They did, yeah. Nobody's talking about the U-ball controversy behind the scenes. After this show ends, a lot happens. And there's been teams that have come together in great hope and separated in great despair.

2:35:08Pat McAfee:And Bone and Butts had a good run there early. They did. And I don't think I've seen them on a court together since. Have you? No. Has anybody got to the bottom of that? Well, Butch has a pretty powerful new team, actually. What's that? Tony. Well, you stole him the other day, so, like, I mean. Free agents is crazy. It's like the transfer portal. It really is. It's like the transfer portal. There's not a lot of honor in this office. What? Tony. What? Tony, you were throwing games, if you do recall. That was a Mickey Mouse game. Whoa. U-Ball, he's talking about. That game should have never been played.

2:35:43It should have never been tipped off.

2:35:44Pat McAfee:It's all about you. And that's the problem. We need to be the solution. You're right. And that's you, ball. All right. Let's get the hell out of here. Let's enjoy week 11 of the NFL season kicking off this evening in the AFC East on Amazon Prime. I'll be live tomorrow from Accrashire Field as I head to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for college game day. Pitt hosting Notre Dame. We're outside Akershire, I believe, Roberto Clemente Park, which is along the river. It's a great grassy area. It's supposed to be perfect weather. I think football is going to be celebrated in a huge way on Saturday, and I can't wait to get back and enjoy the hell out of it.

2:36:26Pat McAfee:College game day's atmospheres this year have been amazing. Yeah, delivering. Yeah. Lubbock, Texas. All time. All time. Nuts. That's actual. That was like JMU vibes. Exactly. Exactly. And what you guys couldn't see, what you did on the drone shots was the other way. Yeah, the one time they showed it, it was like, holy shit, like how deep it was. We had a crowd watching us. It was, like, I think they had actual, like, seats and bleachers, like, kind of going back that way. So stage, obviously, everybody sees this way. Back that way, there was a lot of people that were, like, kind of watching us.

2:37:00Pat McAfee:I'm like, did they always have these bleachers? Did they bring this in for this? It was, like, it was pretty awesome. And you've heard everybody talk about it. Herbie came out and talked about it. Stanford Steve talked about it. Obviously, I talked about it. It's like when you go to those places that, you know, their team is great for first time, long time. It's like they want to enjoy and celebrate the shit out of that. And they want everybody to know that they're celebrating the shit out of that. It's like Pitt can still win the ACC. Notre Dame, if they lose, they're out of the college football playoff.

2:37:27Pat McAfee:This is like massive implications. And also 20 years it's been since college game day was at a Pitt game in Pittsburgh. so it should be I think football time the celebrity guest picker dog has that been announced yet no it has not been I will announce it is not Mark Caboli I thought I saw a poster I saw a lot of things the AI renderings of him eating a poop sandwich are on call for hold on hold on we got some breaking news we got some breaking news We've got some breaking news. The NFL sent a memo to team officials today saying that in light of recent gambling scandals in other sports, the league has worked with lawmakers, regulators, and sports betting partners in recent weeks to limit and, where possible, prohibit prop bets in the NFL.

2:38:17Pat McAfee:Okay, we're playing defense in real time here. The amount of people that have to okay that. Lawmakers take forever. Regulators take forever. Sports betting partners can probably be a little bit more nimble, but normally it takes them forever because the regulators and the lawmakers take forever. So the fact that they're playing defense in real time on all three sides of this thing, I love. I want to let everybody know that. And I think Adam Silver, whenever he was on the show a couple weeks back, he said that we're definitely talking to our sports partners about less meaningful props even being an option.

2:38:48Pat McAfee:Like, why are these things even here? One and a half over 100, it feels like it's too riggable. Let's play defense against this in the future. I love that the NFL has been able to accomplish this. and shout out to the regulators and lawmakers that it feels like they get paid by the day and everything seemingly in their world takes forever. So them in real time trying to make sure everything can continue to go that we all would like and see is really good news, I think. Yeah, I've kind of noticed that just with everything going on, seeing some of those bets. It's like I do love betting on player to catch a pass on this drive or player to have X amount of yards on this drive, but those are some of the bets that are just like completely unnecessary.

2:39:28You truly don't need them. They do damn near just set you up to get you back in there on the app, but there's plenty of those, and those are like the common ones. There's a bunch of other, you know, more uncommon ones that they're just pointless. You really don't need them.

2:39:42Pat McAfee:Yeah, I like to play in defense, AJ. Like when Adam Silver said I'm talking to the Sportsbooks partners to see if we can get rid of things, I'm like, oh, I like that you guys are trying. You know what I mean, AJ? Yeah. I mean, you have to. Like that's the one thing that could really truly hurt the NFL, NBA, any like these franchise. Like, yeah, we have to believe, we have to know that they're legit and it's real and they're not sitting there manipulating games and things like that. It's like what other, what's another threat to the NFL than this, than if they feel like, Hey, we actually have players throwing games.

2:40:11Pat McAfee:Here's some more details. Inherently objectionable markets or bets that are inherently or designed to be derogatory or inflammatory or otherwise based on subject matter. against public policy, player injuries, fan safety, misconduct. Okay. Officiating related markets or bets based on officials or officiating assignments, penalties, replays. Okay, I don't think any of these are on any of the actual sportsbooks. These are all offshore accounts. Determinable by one person in one play. Based on outcomes, 100 % determinable by one person in one play. Example, kicker to miss field goal attempt, quarterback's first pass to be incomplete, et cetera.

2:40:48Pat McAfee:These are what we're speaking of. I don't know why they even put those first two. Those are for offshore accounts. Offshore accounts aren't going to list any. Go ahead, Bruce. Do you have an update on that? They could be potentially trying to get ahead of the sort of prediction market stuff as well. Oh, the poly market now getting into this where it's yes, no, basically type stock investment. And for Super Bowl stuff, you can bet on like how many penalties there will be. And that's controllable by one person or one group of people, I guess. So like that's an interesting thing. Predetermined. Predetermined outcomes directly related to on-field competition.

2:41:17Pat McAfee:Example, will quarterback start this week? Will teams first play from scrimmage be a run or a pass? This does feel like the prediction market's kind of getting ahead of it on what's possible on those versus what's possible in sportsbooks because the prediction market world is obviously going to be the brand new thing here over the next three years, I think, two, three years. It's awesome from what we have seen. There's certainly some downfalls. There's certainly some downfalls. But, like, just being able to kind of try to predict something, and it's viewed as a stock as opposed to a bet. So like you get in when nobody else thinks something's going to happen, yes, no wise.

2:41:55Pat McAfee:And then you cash out. You don't even have to like when everybody else starts feeling your way. So you can like ride how you think like the public's going to feel. It's a very interesting, you're talking about talking about everything, reality TV shows, all this type of shit. So it's a fascinating new world that's about to come that I think a lot of people are going to be interested in, personally, just strictly because whenever I was showing it, I was like, oh, this is awesome. yeah this is sweet and it's not a lot you don't need to be better like it's i don't want this it's like fun it's like you know you just kind of if you're invested it's like let's do this so them getting ahead of that's very smart yeah that's a very smart because everybody's going to be doing it i think without a doubt and like you said i mean you know like we'll see what this evolves into but like something needed to be done right now too they couldn't really afford to because the nfl's i mean outside of a couple of guys last year like coming off what happened in the NBA and everything.

2:42:47Something needed to be done immediately.

2:42:49Pat McAfee:Yeah, hopefully all the leagues are doing this. Speaking of all the leagues, Cy Young winner, Paul Skeets. Hey, Paul. Good work, Paul. Proud of you, Paul. Hey, he was happy. See that? He was a huge reaction. I know. I saw. He won Rookie of the Year. No reaction. Wins his first Cy Young. Here's Rookie of the Year. You did it. Yep, I did. Thank you so much, Livvy. Awesome. Livy's been here, obviously, alongside of me this entire time. Literally, they chatted with us during that first year, first run. Hey, what are you guys' hobbies? We just kind of nap and do baseball. Yeah, we just kind of nap and do baseball, man.

2:43:26Pat McAfee:This guy's fully committed. And then he went to Cy Young last night and? Big smile. Yes. Yeah. Love you. Livy, thank you. Love you. Thank you. Mom, hell yeah. We did it. We're happy. Everybody's clapping. Look, everybody's clapping. We're happy. Okay? We did it. And on that note, that's what Paul Skeens loves. Paul Skeens wants all the cameras on him. Yeah, exactly. He wants all the lights on him. He wants the microphone literally as loud as it can coming out of his mouth. That's all he cares about. And it's amazing that he's able to win a Cy Young when all he cares about is all the glitz and glamour that come alongside.

2:44:02Pat McAfee:That's right. Being the best pitcher in fucking baseball. This guy is outrageous. They've called it since he was at LSU. I assume the LSU people would say, actually, we called it since the Air Force whenever we saw him. Very newer pitcher. He wasn't pitching his entire life. He was a catcher. So he actually has a relatively young arm in the grand scheme of the conversation of pitchers because of the reps that he missed whenever he was younger, where all these other guys have been pitching since their little kids, basically. So he's only getting better and better, seemingly. And the way he's talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates, fucking nobody talks about the Pittsburgh Pirates.

2:44:33Pat McAfee:Ty, what are your thoughts on him winning Cy Young? And was this obvious, I guess, in your guys' world? And what is the Cy Young? He was the best pitcher in your respective league. and he was a unanimous winner. So, yeah, I mean, like, his stats, or I guess I shouldn't say his stats. His stats were unbelievable. Shitload of strikeouts, very low ERA. But kind of the thing we talked about all year with him is, you know, usually the guy who wins the Cy Young is winning 20 to 25 games. And what, Diggs, he went 8-9, right? 10-10. 10-10. So, I mean, he just, like, yeah, Conor's got the stats right here.

2:45:07I mean, first guy since 1918 to post a sub-2 ERA with a non-winning record, which is kind of what, you know, if you're a Pirates fan, it makes you sick to your stomach because this guy just had one of the best seasons in, you know, 100 years, and they didn't come anywhere close to making the playoffs. And that's the big thing with him, too, is coming off LSU. It's like you want to see, because his stuff is unbelievable, you want to see this guy pitching in the playoffs and in the biggest moments. So hopefully they can do a little bit more to help him because he is – it's very rare you got a guy – I mean, obviously anything can happen, but every time he pitches, it's like you feel like he's going to strike out 10 guys and not give up any runs, and you're going to win the game.

2:45:49Pat McAfee:Yeah, he'll have a bad inning against the team, and that entire team's fan base will talk shit. That is who Paul Skeens is. He has a bad game. Everybody is seizing the opportunity to say, because every other game since he got here, it's just been dominant. In the Pittsburgh Pirates, let's go to one of their biggest fans, AP Tone. Are they going to invest him maybe in some wood, get this guy to the playoffs? Because, God damn, it'd be nice to see this guy in a big game. And PNC Park in a big game atmosphere would be electrified. It's the best. I was there in 2014. The wild card, it was awesome.

2:46:22No, they won't. I mean. No, but they're going to get a haul from the Boston Red Sox. And that's the coolest part about it, too, is that the other Cy Young, Tarek Skubel from Detroit, he's also rumored to be going to Boston. So at least in the end, it is awesome news that both of the best pitchers in baseball will be rewarded with massive contracts in a real baseball town.

2:46:46Pat McAfee:And for the Boston Red Sox. Who's rumoring these things? You? No, Buster Olney was the one rumoring Tarek Skubal. And with Paul Skeens, that is based solely on the fact that he knows Fenway Park's greatest baseball stadium in America. And he looked at the whole entire... I mean, when he actually went and pitched against the Boston Red Sox. He walked around and looked at the Green Giant. He commented he wants to be there. So you didn't hear the audio from that. He's like, boy, look at this shithole. What? I didn't hear that. Shit. Is that what he said? Did he say, wow, they really talk about this in such high regard?

2:47:22Pat McAfee:Yeah, right. Is that what he was saying? Yeah, and he was like, look at this piece of shit. Gumpy actually rented his apartment on top of that thing for, what, three, four days straight there this past season. We're putting Skeen all right next to him because Skeen is just walking around. Maybe he said that, but he also said, it doesn't smell like poop like Pittsburgh. Dead bodies. Wow, this is incredible. Look, I'm just telling you what's being talked about in baseball right now. Yeah, I bet they are talking about that. Paul Skeen said, I'm ready to be the guy that turns around to Pirates. And we love him.

2:47:52Maybe school will come to Buccos.

2:47:53Pat McAfee:Maybe we do pay school. Because the Tigers were$100 million off. They need to bone up and go pay the polar bear. Alonzo? Give Pete Alonzo$250 million over the next five years and let this guy hit fucking 50 homers next year, okay? That's what they need to do. Okay, I don't – is DH happening for the Pirates? Both leagues, yeah. But listen. You need a polar bear to get DH-ing? Off the top of my head, I don't know who was playing. Shorbo's available too. Shorbo is – you get both. And here's the thing. Hold on, we got Shorbo and a polar bear and Paul Schienes? You have to spend about$500 million this offseason.

2:48:32Yes, you could go get both those guys right now.

2:48:35Pat McAfee:He doesn't have seven springs anymore to go get$500 million. But he sold it for$125, so we get one of those guys. Guess where those two are rumored to be going.

2:48:49Where's that? Shoreboar wants to come home. He was already with the Red Sox. He wants to come home. And Polar Bear, I guess, said, I'm shipping up to Boston, bitch.

2:48:58Pat McAfee:I didn't hear him say that. Unfortunately, I saw a report yesterday that Skeens was telling everybody he wants to go to the Yankees, so that's tough. Who's Skeens saying that to you? He's just hanging out, walking around. The report said, yeah, that's exactly what he was in the locker room. A couple teammates have heard Skeens say he can't stop talking about the Yankees. Walk around the club, I'll say, ah, I play for the Yankees. I won't entertain that yet. I won't dive into it, but I saw it and I just said, yeah, it makes sense. We're right on track here. Just a couple more years. A couple more years.

2:49:25We had to do the same thing with Garrett Cole.

2:49:26Pat McAfee:If he was a New York Yankee. Best pitching staff in the history. Yeah, which is why I can't even entertain him. We're two years ahead of schedule right now. We just got to buy our time. He's going to win another Cy Younger. Exactly, exactly. And then, boom, I can't wait to fucking see him hold up that Yankees jersey at the press conference. $800 million. Yeah, again, we're talking two, three years from now, but it's going to be special. There was some positive reporting today about the Pirates. Mark Feinsand reported that there is a team that might be a surprise spender this offseason. And it was the Pirates that he was talking about.

2:50:08Pat McAfee:Wow, Pirates general manager Ben Charrington. Oh, I'm sorry. Yep, it's all right. Ben Charrington made it clear this week that he has no plans to trade newly crowned Cy Young Award winner Paul Skeens this offseason. In fact, this offseason. Pittsburgh's looking to take things in the other direction. According to sources, the Pirates plan to be spenders on the free agent market, something they haven't done ever. The left side of the infield and the corner outfield spots seem like the most obvious places for the Pirates to target. Though the club hasn't signed a free agent hitter to a multi-year deal since 2015 when they gave John Jasso a$8 million contract.

2:50:48John Jasso was actually a decent ball player. He was.

2:50:52Pat McAfee:Two years, eight million. He's a good utility guy. 30 to 40 million projected in payroll for 2026. How much are you guys paying? So they just... Why do they say they're surprise spenders if they're going to spend 30 million? Because they're not going negative, I think, is the surprise. So that they're spending it all is the surprise. Not that they're going to be like a surprise contender for anybody worth a fuck. Okay. We just got to clarify some of these things. Hey, what did I tell you yesterday? Two days ago. A lot of things done. You can't take anything that man says behind the glass when it's related to baseball and the Yankees seriously at all.

2:51:26Pat McAfee:Yeah, you're right. He's super biased with the information that he provides and when he provides it. I was talking about the Pirates. Yeah, but we know what you were doing. You were shilling for the organization. You wanted us to read that so we would say they're going to spend$8 million over the next two years. That was a long play by you to say how much the Yankees pay their highest paid guy a year. What judge is making? 40, 50? Yeah, somewhere around there. 50 million a year? One player. Now he's superhuman. Yeah, we've got a couple guys that are making. How much does Garrett Cole make? I think he's like 34, 35 maybe.

2:52:04Pat McAfee:Okay, it's 35 million. It's 50 million. It's 85 million. Stanton. I mean, how much do you want? 30, 40? Yeah, Mike. The artist formerly known as Mike Stanton. He's 40? I don't know if he's that much, but he's making a lot. He's making a lot. He's making 30. The Pittsburgh Pirates expected payroll was to be what? It was 90 last year. So you got a couple. 30 to 40 in off-season spending. Yeah, an off-season spending. Oh. They're not the last, by the way. So they're going to be like 100 and something. Just let everybody know that they're not last. They're not even second to last. What are we? Or third last.

2:52:42Probably third or fourth. Who's the last? The A's spend less.

2:52:46Pat McAfee:And their fans were protesting them even existing, right? They're going to Vegas. Yeah, they're leaving time. Rockies and Whitesides, right? You guys might not even be third a lot. Yeah, thank you. Might be fourth a lot.

2:53:02Pat McAfee:They got Cy Youngs. Last is the Washington Nationals, followed by the Miami Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, and then the Pittsburgh Pirates. Guardians somehow get in there. Yeah, they do, somehow. Manager of the year, back-to-back seasons. Hey, your team doesn't pay shit to anybody, and you guys win. you're good. Let's give you an award. Can't give it to Roberts. He won the thing back-to-back years. Yeah. He's going to do it again. Good chance. They got a bunch of salaries for bringing up, and it's none of their players that contributed. Red Sox gets scuba. Look out. There you go.

2:53:35Pat McAfee:Unless the Pirates. Paul Skins, we got Cy Young, a war winner. Ten games a year. Tara Jones and Bubba Chandler come back. Boy, watch out, boys. Hundo boys all the way back. Three of them. They all got hurt? to want to move in. Okay. Might be a little bit too much on the hundo boy's arms. We're electrifying for your team and our team. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice might change your life when this thing together. See you guys tomorrow. I'll be in Accresure. Hell yeah. Downsure. It's going to be hard not to call this place Heinz Old. You should. Just do it. It's fucking Heinz Field right here.

2:54:10Pat McAfee:They said they weren't going to get rid of ketchup bottle. They fucking did. Kind of like we said it would. Yeah. Like Joe. Put that thing back. No. Remember, there was a whole song and dance. I don't think it's back up there. Remember, they were walking it down the street and they'd take it in the corner. Yeah, they were fucking. They were like, it's actually staying. They're going to put it back in. And Akersher was like, who said that? We paid for the whole fucking thing. Yeah, that's a problem. You're just going to put the ex? You're going to put your ex-girlfriend up here? There's an Akersher location right next to my house.

2:54:38I egg it every time I go by.

2:54:40Pat McAfee:They invest a lot of money in the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yeah, well, I don't care. Who do you think is buying food for Pittsburgh Steelers? I believe it's a Michigan-based company. So basically Michigan owns the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh, boy. Oh, that's crazy because Fenway owns the Pittsburgh Penguins. The owner of the Steelers from Pittsburgh. That's cool. Does Fenway still own the Penguins? I don't know. It's the worst ownership group of all time. Even though the Pens are in first? They just tried to buy a Spanish soccer team, but they backed out at the very end. Yeah, it's because they needed to get a player for Penguins.

2:55:11And they saw what JJ Wiles was doing. They're like, what the fuck would we do?

2:55:13Pat McAfee:Yeah, especially that Spaniola in the morning. We drink coffee. In the afternoon, that is rum. And then we play the soccer. We win every one. Espanol. Espanol. Another goal for Espanol. Do they suck or are they still good? They lost to Villarreal 2-0. International break right now. Burnley. International break. Yeah. Burnley also lost 3-2 to West Ham. Oh! Can't lose to Hamlet. They're getting close to the relegation zone once again. Wait, what? Burnley's going back down? No, they're not there right now, but West Ham was right below them, so it was a game they really couldn't lose, and they lost.

2:55:56Pat McAfee:I thought they were top of the table. I thought Champions League were thinking. For Espanol, Burnley, not so much. Wednesday night soccer for J.J. Watt would be awesome. Oh, they're good. They're very close. What is it? The bottom three are gone, right? Yes, sir. So West Ham beat them last game 3-2. Oh, we're in the relegation zone. They're treading water. How many games left? 27. What? Oh, Jesus Christ. What are we talking about? Season just started. It might change our life. We're just sitting together. Have a good one tonight. We're all on the New England Patriots, minus 12 and a half. We love you.

2:56:31Pat McAfee:Thank you all so much for allowing us to do this for a living. And, hey, we're just trying to do it right. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Yep. I think we're doing okay. All right. Not your right.

2:56:49Pat McAfee:Not everything that is said in the microphone necessarily reflects the opinions of the peers. Team on me, team on three, one, two, three, team. Goodbye. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies 18+.

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