PMS 2.0 1456 - TNF Preview, Kirk Herbstreit, Mike McCarthy, Dolphins CB Jack Jones, Dan Orlovsky, & AJ Hawk

21:38AJ Hawk:I need vitamin C.

21:39Pat McAfee:No, it's too late. You already lost. Yeah, you're done. You should have been seed up, bro. Hey, how long have we been seed up in here? Oh, since August. Hey, we actually, we're not a big like, hey, let's think months in advance type. I've already lost the battle. Oh, yeah, you're done. You're done. Sounds like it. And I don't want to. But we've been seed up.

22:00AJ Hawk:I've been battling my boys for three or four weeks now.

22:03Pat McAfee:Seed up, bro. You need to be seed up. You need to start. That's what we do every morning. There's actually somebody that delivers the seed, you know, around. Like, hey, here we go. Can't have anybody doing the whole.

22:13AJ Hawk:What brand on the sea are you guys going with?

22:16Pat McAfee:We're looking for the pure sea out there. If you have good, pure vitamin C, from our understanding, it is good for fall. Especially if you're in a position where you have to speak a lot and there's a guaranteed allergy or something going to hit everybody's this area.

22:30AJ Hawk:How about last week? We were in Athens and Todd Graves and Luke, Brian, were having a little house party. We were getting ready to call the game and my voice was like this. And I go over there with Peter. They wanted to say hi to Peter. Of course. I go over there and people are tailgating, having a good time. And I'm talking the way I'm talking right now. And Luke's like, what's wrong with your voice? And I go, man, it's just that time of the year, traveling. He's like, man, I got something in the house. He's like, you got to take this. And I forget what it was called, but he's like, here, you got inflammation.

23:07AJ Hawk:He's like, this will help you out. Runs into the house, comes out with this bottle. and this is how much I trust Luke. I had no idea what it was. And Todd's like, you sure this isn't going to affect his mind? You know, he's got to go call Texas, Georgia in a couple hours. And Luke's like, no, no, no, he'll be fine. It'll just help his voice. So I rolled the dice and took it. But I had no idea what I took. But it didn't affect my mind.

23:31Pat McAfee:That would have been sick, man, if it would have been like DMT stuff somehow. Imagine you're –

23:36AJ Hawk:But he said he was on stage. when you get on stage you'll be doing this too but i i you need to watch it you need to watch it

23:45Pat McAfee:there is something on the way uh up to something season is currently in full bloom but on that note uh i've talked to a bunch of those guys and they have a bunch of shit uh there's like a vaporizer thing with some stuff that helps because that's obviously the livelihood you know and they're doing a lot of traveling but for us i think in the fall i think in this weather it's

24:03AJ Hawk:I got to start taking my seat. I got to get on the team. Even Connor's doing it. He's one of the drivers. What the hell is that supposed to mean, Herbie? Let's not get this started. You don't want me today, Herbie. You don't want this. Hey, Connor, what did you think of – I know you guys tune in to Cam all the time on his takes. What did you think of what Cam had to say there about the quarterback that I love and this Patriots team that I love with Rage? I mean, what he said today, I think he's not too far off. Can you really say you trust Drake May more than Patrick Mahomes right now in the playoffs?

24:39No, no, fool's goal.

24:40AJ Hawk:I don't mean that. I thought he called him fool's goal. Oh, yeah. He said that originally, but even that, I'm not sure. I don't put too much stake in those shows just because we all kind of know how they work behind the scenes. So that entire thing is not something I really even – What's that? I don't know about that. Well, you know, when a person wants to say one thing and not everybody can say the same thing, even though one thing would be right, so the other person's going to go the other way for the debate itself. But I don't put too much stake in it. I also—

25:06Pat McAfee:We would like to say we do not know if that's 100 % their gimmick. We are saying that it's weird that it finds the microphone, the person who disagrees with the other person on a regular basis. Yeah, this is not factual. This is just based on how the show has gone for the last 10 years, all those types of shows. Typically, it's one side versus the other. Now, I don't know if Cam Newton truly feels that way. I do know Drake May grew up a massive Cam Newton Carolina Panthers fan, so it would be weird for him to take that stance as a young quarterback who loves him, who also did an ode to him versus the Panthers when he scored a rushing touchdown and did Cam Newton's celebration.

25:39So there's a lot of things that go into that thought in general. We just hope they move along this entire thing. But he has to prove it. No matter what, either way, whatever the schedule is, you've got to win the biggest games in the playoffs when that comes down the road.

25:52Pat McAfee:Yeah, Drake's still very young. Obviously not a lot of big-time football yet because he hasn't had the opportunity, just literally hasn't had the opportunity to be there. We're all excited to watch it. We all believe in him. And I don't think Drake May took a shot back at Cam Newton. No. I think if you pull the quote and write it and just put it out there, it certainly sounds like it's a shot. But what his actual answer and what he was asked, it's not a shot at all. Let's go to WEEI 93.7 FM. You're familiar with this guy, and he played for the Patriots. Cam Newton said the Patriots are fool's gold.

26:26That was his words, not mine. Do you hear those things? Do you react to those things? Any comment on that?

26:34Dan Orlovsky:Oh, no. I don't even know what show he's on. I think they get paid to make remarks and make certain comments. So I'm just worried about what people in our organization think and what we think and my teammates think. And everybody's going to have different opinions. So we should go out there on Sunday and worry about ourselves. Great answer. That was from? That was from Fitzy, and I really apologize. I'm not sure who his co-host was. Fitz and Witt. Fitz and Witt.

27:01Pat McAfee:We appreciate that. Just got pulled up right here. Okay, boom. Yes. No, Fitz and Witt is. I don't think that was a shot at all. No, it wasn't a shot.

27:08AJ Hawk:That wasn't a shot. He was asking if he heard it. Go ahead. I think he was just basically saying, you know, I don't know what show. I'm in the film room. I don't know what show he's on. I'm just worried about the guys in the facility. this organization. We're just trying to win games. I think he just went into kind of that Bull Durham quotes. I think he was... I didn't take that any... I really didn't take anything that.

27:31Pat McAfee:Me neither, but if you pull it and you put it up there and say, I don't even know what show he's on. That is certainly if you potentially put it out there, it's Drake May saying, who said what? Yeah, I don't even know what show he's on. Love the uni.

27:45AJ Hawk:Love that uni.

27:47Pat McAfee:Hey, we love everything they're doing. We actually kind of hate how much we love everything that the New England Patriots are doing. It's kind of a tough pill to swallow at this stage of life in football fandom. Yeah, but even to your point about pulling the quote, sorry Kirk, my bad real quick, he also called Stefan Diggs a diva in jest, and if you were to pull that quote, of course, and you read it, it's like, oh, what? He's calling his number one wide receiver a diva? But he's just joking, and yes, I guess it's kind of weird if your starting quarterback isn't watching ESPN every day from 10 to 12, but Drake May is a 23-year-old kid.

28:19All he knows is what Vrabel is teaching him. And what do you think Vrabel's saying? Like, hey, yeah, you should be listening to what everybody's talking about, Joe. Or do you think Vrabel's saying, hey, if you're listening to anything outside this building, you probably don't belong in the building to begin with.

28:32Pat McAfee:Well, and also, if you are listening to things outside this building, when you were speaking to the media, you were telling them you are not. I think that is certainly a part of it. And I think you were about to say something about the Patriots.

28:44AJ Hawk:I was just going to say two things. Number one, about Drake May, probably the nicest human being I've ever covered. He's got three older brothers. They all love to kind of bust each other's chops. And so if he does something, if he says, like, hey, I don't even know what show he's on, I don't think that was taking anything more than just trying to kind of spin it towards we're focused right here on what we're trying to do. He's entitled to his opinion. We're just trying to win games. But I do think, can you find more talented teams, more experienced teams on rosters? Absolutely. But as we know, this is a team game.

29:19AJ Hawk:And right now you have a team, a mix of old with young, that are having a lot of fun playing together. And you know what winning does to a team. And some of these games, Conard, they would have lost some of these games earlier in the year. You know, you start stacking wins. Think about how their season started. And think about where they are now 11 weeks into this thing. I just think this is one of those teams that looks forward to going over the facility, looks forward to practice, looks forward to the meeting rooms. It's incredible what good karma and what good kind of that mojo that you try to create.

29:52AJ Hawk:Culture. And right now this team has it. How far it will take them, who knows. Are they fool's gold? Who knows. They haven't played the toughest schedule. But I'll tell you what, the more they believe in each other and they play for each other, and the more they start to really show that, hey, we can win some of these games, they're going to be a tough out as we go down the rest of the way.

30:09Pat McAfee:One of the MVP favorites is the quarterback. So, yes, you can win any game with that. That's kind of the conversation. And to the Fool's Gold thing, I think the perfect encapsulation would be you can argue the two best wins for most teams this season. One would be Patriots in Buffalo in primetime in the last night game at Highmark Stadium when they were wearing their new uniforms like you're seeing in New England, and they beat the Bills. And then you can argue Todd Bowles off a bye on the road in Tampa Bay against Baker Mayfield, who was an MVP candidate before he played the New England Patriots defense.

30:42So the fool's gold, yeah, that's asinine. But aside from that, the other thing to talk about too, Kirk, would be I think it was the last 10 Super Bowl champions each played eight or more teams who were under 500. So if we want to do the whole schedule sucks thing, we can go back through every single Super Bowl champion schedule over the last 10 years and judge their schedules. But again, people who don't know ball don't realize that when you finish last or second to last in your division, your schedule does actually get easier. And that is what's happening.

31:15Pat McAfee:Hold on, Herbie. Hold on, Herbie. Hold on, Herbie. Hey, how sick of hearing that. I'm not even sick of it. It's just one of those things where it's like so many people don't know ball or understand how it works that you can't answer them all. And it makes sense why football coaches, football players, people who are actually in the game can't even go on the Internet just because of how stupid people are on there. Yeah, the Patriots are a wagon, though. That's all we care about right now.

31:41AJ Hawk:Exactly. And Trevion Henderson has become a great story. But Ramondre Stevenson comes back. Boy, they're going to have a one-two punch in that backfield. And they've been doing this the last couple weeks with just Trevion. So when they get healthy, it'll be fun. I think Baltimore on the road, Buffalo, of course, looking for revenge. Those are going to be tough games for them, but they're going to be heavily favored all the rest of their games. I mean, I said I think last week there's a real shock. This team's looking at 13 or 14 wins. You know, whether it's fool's gold or not, they're probably going to be the one seed throughout.

32:13AJ Hawk:In my opinion, I know you love Indy. I think New England's going to get home field throughout the AFC playoffs, and we know how important that is when you get to the postseason in that cold weather. With Brayville as the head coach, came so close to the AFC Championship when he was in Nashville. And I think if he gets that home field throughout, they're going to be a tough team to beat.

32:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, Foxborough always incredibly difficult and their fans very, very good. And you look at their road, they certainly have what seems to be a great path to that. And we got to remember, these are all NFL teams, even the teams that are ass at the end of the season. There's a lot of players, though, at the end of the season who are trying to earn spots and roster spots. So there's a team that is an ass team that is going to catch one of the very good teams towards the end of the season. That's just kind of how it always is. Who is that guy? We have no idea who that guy is. Well, he just earned a job next year somewhere.

33:03Pat McAfee:So that was like a Super Bowl-type situation for him. We talk about the Patriots obviously being the team that could potentially be the one seed. Let's talk about who they have, the Bengals. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Kirk, it looks like, I mean, speaking of ass teams, you know, this Sunday the Patriots play the Bengals, but it looks like the Bengals might be getting back Joe Burrow. He's a full participant at practice yesterday. We'll see what happens today. So they have that on Sunday and then quick turnaround and they play again on Thanksgiving. What's your take on that whole situation? Obviously, if you're a Bengals fan, if you are that franchise, he's your franchise guy.

33:38He's the face of the franchise. So if he's healthy, he's going to want to play and you're going to want to see him play but at three and seven uh i just i mean is there any way they can get into the playoffs we'll see but what are you expecting to see from joe burrow because they really he he can't be so so like he needs to be last year's mvp joe burrow right when he gets back into the game on sunday and can their offensive line protect him uh we'll see what do you think about

34:03AJ Hawk:that whole situation yeah i think anytime i mean i'm just a fan of not you know i'm growing up as a kid in southwest Ohio a fan of the Bengals but I'm a fan of Joe Burrow I'm a fan of Josh Allen Lamar Jackson I'm a fan of these great quarterbacks and watching them be healthy and watching them play like you guys and like all NFL fans so nobody can get into the mind of Joe Burrow this guy's dealt with so many injuries and very unusual injuries for a quarterback to deal with you go back to that calf that he had of course he had an ACL when his first year was Cincinnati now he's got a turf toe that required surgery.

34:37AJ Hawk:I mean, you know, I think for me, I never experienced turf toe. I've talked to Joey Galloway. Pat, I don't know if you ever had it. When you talk to people that had it to the level that Joe's had it, that's a serious injury. And to be able to put himself back there, I think speaks about the competitive spirit that he has. I mean, the team is sitting there at three and seven. They're easy for people to It would be like, what's the point? Season's over. Joe's probably looking at, like, man, if I get back, we can end up winning out, and we can finish 10-7. We can maybe get a shot as a wild card. I guarantee you that's how his mind thinks.

35:14AJ Hawk:So just his presence, just like, again, you put any of these Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, the presence of Joe Burrow being in that uniform, if he's able to go out there and play, not only impacts the offense and their execution, it impacts the defense. It impacts the guys selling the popcorn. It impacts the state. I mean, everybody is impacted when you bring back a guy like Joe Burrow, and we'll see. I'm shocked. I really didn't know if it was going to be after Thanksgiving. Is he going to wait to see if they're in contention? But not surprising to hear he's full go, and he's ready to roll.

35:51AJ Hawk:That dude is competitive. That's probably his greatest trait is how competitive he is.

35:56Pat McAfee:I found it very fascinating because there is, in theory, an argument. Okay? Because just like everything seemingly has an argument, which is why it's so hard to get everybody to agree on things these days, it feels like. There is an argument like three and seven, team's not going to win. We all know they can't win. Defense's not good enough. Put him back out there. He either re-injures something or gets hurt again. Then you miss next year and the offseason, which is more important. And I get that in theory. if careers were able to just last forever, you know, and, like, games were pick and choosable on whether or not you wanted to play them, which is not how professional athletes view anything, let alone, like, Joe Burrow.

36:32Pat McAfee:But it's, like, ownership definitely wants Joe Burrow out there. How much are we paying this guy? Yeah, we would like him out there. Fans definitely want Joe Burrow out there, right? Bengals fans that are going to game, at least, would like Joey Burrow to be there. It's, like, it's an interesting dynamic whenever you're the pillar, highest paid guy, most important guy, and you've been out, but you can come back. It's an interesting convo for the long-term shit.

36:56AJ Hawk:I totally get that, but I think for him, and I don't want to speak for him, but I've known him, watched him from 2019 on when he, to me, engineered the best college offense that I've ever seen. But that dude, just like Tom Brady, I think if Tom Brady were in this situation, I don't think it's about how much money I'm making or the potential of being hurt. It's just the elite guys. It's just the competitive. I need to get out there. I need to do what I do. Not because I owe it to the franchise. I owe it. It's if I feel healthy, this is, I think, how his brain works. If I feel healthy, give me the ball.

37:38AJ Hawk:Let's go play. I think that's how he is. That's kind of like the mindset. His dad was a defensive coordinator at the college level. It's kind of how he was raised. You ever hear him? He gets his ass hammered. People are like, wait, why don't you get? He's like, I'm a football player. Like he's a linebacker playing quarterback. That's how he plays the position. And so I haven't really been following how healthy he is or not healthy. But if he's full go in practice, number nine is going to play. Like you can't keep him out of the lineup.

38:06Pat McAfee:Nine. Welcome back. We're happy for that. I want to let you know. I know there's an argument by people who think they're smarter than the franchise and Joe and everybody saying, hey, we need to think about offseason. Next year, as opposed to right now, let's mail it in. But I also understand that the reason why Joey Burrow is Joey Burrow is because if Joey Burrow can play football, he's going to play football.

38:27AJ Hawk:What if he came back and they won seven in a row and went to the wild card?

38:32Pat McAfee:And we had those sweet shots of him going in warm-ups. Is Joe playing defense? And he's doing one of these. He's so cool. There's a chance dad, defense coordinator, he probably plays like a linebacker. yeah he actually told us that whenever we talked to him whenever he was a young lad we had a chance to interview him we were very pumped about it because we obviously watched that season as well uh alongside everything that was happening in 2019 and like just my first thing just like i told my homes the other day whenever we were down there texas tech i think you heard me as soon as i see him hey need you stop taking these hits okay need you for the good of football for the good of football brother we need you to stop taking these hits we need you everybody else can kind of take these hits.

39:13Pat McAfee:We need you to stop taking these hits. We told Joey Burrow that. I think I was a part of at least more than a few of those with Andrew Luck. They all have the same response. It's like, first of all, I'm giving the hit, and also, it's football. Like, hey, this is what football is, and it's like, Joey B, Ohio football guy. Can't wait to see him back out there, maybe since he does go on a run. All right, last question here about the game tonight. I know you have stuff going on all day. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Herbie, we know the championship fight tonight is Josh Allen versus the Texans defense, but I wanted to ask you about Davis Mills and what you've seen from him the last two weeks because we've loved him forever whenever he was getting his starts with Coach Dave Cully and carrying that Texans team.

39:51How do you think he does tonight? Because I mean, he is a big, strong, athletic, great arm quarterback. It's just that he's sitting behind CJ Stroud. How do you feel about the Texans offense and Davis Mills tonight going against the Bills?

40:02AJ Hawk:It's so interesting. I'm with you, man. I, you know, there's so many teams. I was talking to a friend of mine this morning about this the health of these NFL rosters and the teams that end up making it are the teams typically that are able to stay healthy and a lot of times if your starting quarterback goes down we were talking about Joe Burrow they were searching Jake Browning tried to come in and it didn't work out they had to go on the street they found Flacco fortunately to at least give him something but your franchise quarterback goes down like C.J. Stroud what are you going to do and they're fortunate to have Davis Mills.

40:37AJ Hawk:This will be his, as you guys know, this will be his 29th start. And it's not just like some guy that's back there. I feel like he's almost a guy, and when he looks at himself, he sees a starting quarterback in the NFL. And he's been able to, this is a team that was losing, losing close games, a lot of one-possession games. He started the last couple weeks while CJ's been down with this concussion. He'll start his third game tonight. They've won two in a row with him under center. But you're right. The story, really the matchup with Josh Allen against the best defense right now in the NFL is going to be a great story.

41:15AJ Hawk:But I'll tell you what. I don't know if you guys have really been watching Buffalo. Teams are running the ball down their throats. And all of their injuries really hurt them. Taylor Rapp back in safeties really hurt them. So as much as we're going to be looking at Mills, how will he do? if I'm Houston, I'm testing the interior of that Buffalo defense. I'm running the football. I'm possessing the ball. I'm keeping number 17 and four on the sideline as much as I can to try to possess it. And you've got to try to set up Davis Mills on some play action. Nico Collins, by the way, as you guys, again, know, one of the better receivers in the NFL.

41:53AJ Hawk:They will try to, if they can get their run game going tonight, They'll try to get Nico Collins isolated one-on-one against these corners from Buffalo to try to hit some big plays. So, I don't know. I like Davis Mills. I think he's a talented guy. And I think Houston's very fortunate with CJ down third week with a concussion. Maybe if it was a Sunday game, maybe he'd be okay. But hopefully he'll be all right the following week. But I think Davis Mills will play within the structure of the offense and play well.

42:22Pat McAfee:Yeah, we love Dougie Davis Mills. Yeah. We are a big fan of his. We've been following him closely. Called him the wrong name, okay? So whenever he first got his start, however long ago, was called him Doug Mills, okay? I did. Me. How'd you go Doug on him? I saw D. Mills. Yeah. And I was like, Doug. You're just like, hell with it. I'm going Doug. Doug Mills. I'm going Doug. Yeah, that was back whenever we were on just on the internet, you know? So obviously a little bit more wild. And, yeah, I was like, Doug Mills getting a start here for the Texans. He said he was good with it, though. So, yes, this is how this all came about.

42:55Pat McAfee:So I am very – it becomes a pretty big clip, obviously, because I'm Colts. They're Texans. And, you know, I kicked it on. I kicked it myself against them in their building on a Thursday night. It was awesome. But I respect their fan base. The loudest building I've ever been in whenever I played. I didn't get a chance to go to Seattle and play there. But, like, Houston yearly was the loudest place we were at. It was real. I had a lot of respect for what they were doing down there. So whenever I dropped the Dougie Mills out there, the Houston Texans fans, and he did well. They absolutely attacked me, and then the Texans reached out, and they're like, would you like to talk to Davis Mills?

43:29AJ Hawk:And I'm like, sure.

43:30Pat McAfee:Sure.

43:33AJ Hawk:Some people call him David Mills. I've never heard Dougie. That's another level.

43:40Pat McAfee:Only his closest enemies, I guess, at this point. So he comes on the show. We have a full convo with me and him calling him Dougie. Big brain. Huge. Huge brain. neck and can yeah and can spin it yeah yeah like yeah yeah he is he's a big son of a huge yeah we have followed so we have followed him since that moment so like i feel like we have an advanced level of information on dougie davis mills because literally from day one we have had a relationship with him so anytime he pops up we're like dougie mills is dougie yeah we talk about dougie a lot You said 29 starts or 25 starts. I forget what number.

44:22Pat McAfee:29.

44:23AJ Hawk:29 tonight. I'm going to say, when I see him on the field tonight, I'm going to be like, Dougie, what's up, kid? He will know.

44:28Pat McAfee:He will know where that is from. He said he was cool with it. It's certainly not cooler than Davis, but Dougie Davis Mills has been a big part of our show. So, like, we are a massive fan. And he was getting six points. He was getting six points with that number one defense in the league on a Thursday night. Josh Allen, 8-0 on Thursday nights. I know you know that. Josh Allen, 0-3. at NRG Stadium.

44:51AJ Hawk:Worst game of his career last year against this defense. He was like, what was he? 9 of 30 for 131 yards last year against this defense. So you know he's fired up to go up against them. Houston, they won two in a row. They were owed.

45:13Pat McAfee:Only 23 % of the money is on. Only 23 % of the bets are on Houston right now. But we love the Bills, too. What were you about to say? There was another snack?

45:23AJ Hawk:No, I'm just saying that I get so excited about the aisle.

45:29Pat McAfee:You got to keep it down. We're trying to do that with this one here, so please.

45:33AJ Hawk:Okay. Have you figured out Oregon, UNC yet? A given Oregon? It's a given at home, Oregon, right?

45:40Pat McAfee:Last time I was up there. Last time I was up there, I picked Indiana right in their face, and I've never been more. Oh, that's right. I remember. And it turned out, you're right.

45:51AJ Hawk:It's tough. Are you going Meta-Troy? I don't know. You're not going to go Meta-Troy, are you?

45:58Pat McAfee:I think you know me pretty good. I think you probably know which way I am.

46:01AJ Hawk:They're pretty good.

46:03Pat McAfee:Yeah, yeah, certainly. Southern California for sure. Yeah, that's probably... That's not your call. That's probably the way... But on that note, I've yet to dive in completely to the film. I will be doing that on our 14-hour pilgrimage. to Eugene, Oregon. I'll be watching the film of USC's offense, who obviously I've seen games them play throughout the season. I've followed the highlights. I've seen their stats. I haven't watched them for like entire games. Obviously, Lincoln Riley's a super talent. The offense is outrageous. And maybe, you know, they can really do some stuff here all of a sudden.

46:38Pat McAfee:Maybe. But if this Oregon fan... What up, Peter? Who do you like, Peter? Who's Peter like? Who's Peter like? What up, dude?

46:53He doesn't care.

46:55Pat McAfee:Peter. He's relaxing. He's got his tongue in his mouth. What's going on?

46:58AJ Hawk:I know. I just woke him up from a nap. How about the little, he's got a little wound underneath that left eye. What happened? Did he get into it? No, Bo and him scrap every day. And I think he got a canine underneath his left eye. Bo's the youngest, right? Yeah, 10 months. That was a good scrap. Coming for that top spot. He is. I think he is. We're going to have a little war here in a couple months. I got my money on the big fella. Hey, Peter. I'm pulling for you, Peter. Love you, Pete. That's the reason you're a top dog, Pete. Like the dims on Bo, though. Except if Pete's sleeping in satin sheets these days, he's getting a little too comfortable, Kirk.

47:33Oh, that's what Bo is saying.

47:35AJ Hawk:I think he is. I think that's valid.

47:39Pat McAfee:Peter is who we think he is.

47:41AJ Hawk:Yeah. To be 100 % transparent, when I first meet Peter,

47:47Pat McAfee:I love Peter, the dog, but I think, wow, Peter's, Peter's kind of doing whatever the hell Peter wants to do right now. Is this who Peter is? Then Peter, over the next few weeks, months. He loves you. Dude, he is an unbelievable dog. He's an unbelievable dog. I think you know that.

48:03AJ Hawk:He sleeps underneath you in the meeting every week.

48:06Pat McAfee:Unbelievable dog, though. Like, I think you know that. And rest in peace, Ben. We fucking, hey, rest in peace, Ben. The reason why Ben was so awesome is because Ben, like,

48:15AJ Hawk:knew what was majestic yeah just chill and knew what was happening like hey we're in a meeting

48:20Pat McAfee:so ben would just kind of like sit down all right i'm just gonna chill we're in a meeting right now peter was still young wanted to go see what everybody was doing in meeting it was like peter just i don't know if we can do this forever you know i don't know i don't know if this is gonna i don't know if this is gonna be a thing and then watching him become like the dog that you and bo and mitch and the crew have kind of yeah he's a great you should be very proud of what Peter has become. I mean, he is a awesome dog. He's a good

48:45AJ Hawk:boy. He's a good boy. He's getting more chill. He's more comfortable. He's not big on the crowds this year. He's decided to take a little bit of a rain check from the crowd.

48:56Pat McAfee:Which, by the way, we respect that. Yeah. We respect that out of Peter. Peter goes, I'm about done with these people. I respect that. But on that note, I can't wait to see him and you over there and Eugene. Should be an awesome scene. on Saturday morning.

49:13AJ Hawk:Be awesome. I can't wait to see what you're up to this week. It's going to be fun. We were just

49:19Pat McAfee:it's very early. Yeah. Oregon crowd is always insane, right? Like that is the Oregon crowd

49:27AJ Hawk:is undefeated. We've been there in the past, you know, before the 12 team playoff, it was a 14 playoff. We would go to, you know, Oregon often like twice, you know, when Chip Kelly was there and even previous years we'd go there twice a year a lot you know and and i know this year we've been kind of avoiding the the repeat uh school yes visit uh but i i would be shocked if it's not the same if not a better atmosphere or oregon eugene oregon is absurd when when the show goes out there and again my live hit is 5 30 a.m local for sports center and then we're live at six local.

50:09Pat McAfee:They are awesome, dude. It is. That is, it has been a special place, which is why I didn't like that I just knew Indiana was going to win that particular game because I grew, I'm in, I'm in Indianapolis. So like, I'm watching the Hoosiers games. Like I'm being forced to watch Fernando Mendoza. And I just kind of knew that at that time, at that time for both those teams, Indiana was the better team. Like, in my eyes whenever I'm making a pick, which is always what I do. Now, is there some places that certainly sway me into believing the other? If I think it's a coin flip, I will be swayed. But I'm trying to get winners, bro.

50:48Pat McAfee:I'm trying to win.

50:49AJ Hawk:Yeah, you're doing a great job of it. By the way, did you see Saban and Reese? I always wanted to ask you this. Do you like when they hold the chair? Because that chair is wobbly. What do you think about them trying to help you out there? Do you want them not to help you out? Because that thing's teetering.

51:07Pat McAfee:So I appreciate what they're doing. I understand what they're doing. And I obviously, the goat and many would say potentially the goat on the other side as well when it's all said and done. You know, so two goats there. My biggest fear is, and I don't know how to tell them this. I have told Reese because if I go down, it's going to be to Reese's side. Okay. So if I fall and Reese is like kind of signing up for it, not only am I the big ass that hurt myself. now i take out reese and the goat too like that that's kind of my only worry is like saman puts his arm out there it's like yo i'm i'm like 255 right now 260 you're gonna lose your arm if i'm coming down that's not like a good spot wait a second you're not you're not too you're 255 i think i'm like 250 right now yeah what are you like seven percent body fat there's no way you're 255 i don't know shout out to the folks at affinity we're you know we are uh we are working we got a morning routine we got some science brewing hey i went down to paris island last summer and i watched how like these di's operate trying to learn about them as much as possible as i was going to try to do the impossible task of acting like one especially in the world war ii uh era which is the greatest generation and then it's drill instructors who are like the most badass humans of all time uh these these men and women are operating on like three and a half four hours of sleep at maximum operation and it's like what all is possible with the human body i'm watching you and i'm like you know what i need to maybe kind of walk in a little bit because i get exhausted you know throughout football season great jobs easy jobs but we're doing a lot we're doing a lot and i get like tired and i'm like man maybe i'm not cut out for this i go down to paris island watch these di's and i'm like oh i need to rearrange what i'm doing here like these they're up early we're working out we're eating we're doing this like we're taking care of ourselves here so like i've tried my best after that to like kind of lock in and uh i am reaping the benefits i am reaping the benefits of it right now but boy thanksgiving's

53:06AJ Hawk:just nick what would you do what would you do for thanksgiving are you are you are you allowed to have normal portions are you you can only have a little bit i know you don't eat mashed but you don't eat mashed potatoes which is a total waste total waste of time okay i don't even know how you have Thanksgiving. Stuffing.

53:25Pat McAfee:Stuffing. Thank you. I'll put the mashed potatoes on. I'll put it on there. I'll put all the stuff that tastes good on top of it. Who's been making your taters, man? Whoever's been buttering your biscuits has been doing it wrong. We might blame my mom. I love her. My mom's sweet. No doubt. She was not a big, hey, I'm a cook stuff person. That was our thing. I do believe there is a chance I have that. My wife, she does make phenomenal mashed potatoes, but there's cheese in there. There's like flavor. It's like the stuff that tastes good. You know, there's butter, the amount of butter that's in mashed potatoes.

53:58AJ Hawk:That's part of the mashed potatoes. So that's part of mashed potatoes. You don't just mash potatoes with water. I mean, you got to throw in all kinds of stuff.

54:06Pat McAfee:You would, though, from my understanding is you. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You need, you need, you need stuff. It's like saying you don't like water. You got to sauce on it. Exactly. Yeah, but raw. Hey, naked. I'll eat those too.

54:17AJ Hawk:I've never had a mashed potato without salt and pepper and butter. You got to make them taste good. You don't just mash the mashed potatoes.

54:26Pat McAfee:Okay, you're right. We'll agree on that particular one. You got to make them taste good. I agree completely. Stuffing just pops right out there. It's just ready to go. Cannot wait for all the other fixings. The things that come along with the apple pie. The fixings. Yeah, the fixings. Crabberry. Oh, it's just next week. Is it not? It's next week. Week from today. Week from today. Ham to ham. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

54:50AJ Hawk:Oh, it's go time. Are you allowed to eat with your 7 % body fat? I'm not 7%. Are you allowed to eat? Are you allowed to eat?

54:59Pat McAfee:Yes, I'm eating at this point. It's just like got to do all the other stuff. You can't just like not do this stuff and do this stuff. If you do that, then all of a sudden, you know, you start becoming a tired person all the time and a little bit.

55:11AJ Hawk:Besides the 195 sauna for 30, are you doing any cardio?

55:16Pat McAfee:Walking. We're doing a little walking. I mean, the U-ball. U-ball is good. Playing U-ball for 10 straight games because me and Foxy can't be beat.

55:24AJ Hawk:Is Ty and Tone and Connor and the whole crew, they doing this with you? U-ball, yeah. Yeah, we play U-ball, but it's crazy, Kirk. I want to actually get your opinion on this. If you're playing a two-on-two sport and the two best shooters of that sport are on the same team, what do you think the chances are that they lose back-to-back games? Impossible.

55:45Pat McAfee:Okay. Thank you. Herbie, you knew where that question was coming from. And on that note, me and Foxy started shooting the same shots as everybody else at the exact same time. You're a professional athlete. Foxy's an athlete. Hold on, Kirk. You're a professional athlete, and Foxy is actually the only one that played high school basketball. So, yeah. Holy shit. The basketball game. It's a state fair game. It's a little ball. I bowl. I don't even shoot. Every game's a state fair game.

56:12AJ Hawk:Who's the best athlete on the squad? Me. by far. Yeah, Herbie. I'm going Foxy. Besides Pat, I'd say Foxy.

56:23Pat McAfee:Everybody has different strengths. Everybody has different strengths.

56:27AJ Hawk:If we hit a baseball, who do you think would hit the baseball the best?

56:31Pat McAfee:Probably Ty or Tone. Ty! Tone, I love it! Fuck you, Kirk. Have a good game. You're the best. Ladies and gentlemen, Kirk. What a dickhead. Fuck that guy. I'm done with Kirk forever. I am. And I'm sorry that we're going to be muted. That pissed me off. Fuck you, Kirk. Ruined Iowa season. And that was so condescending. You're a fucking asshole. We're back on the other side.

57:00Dan Orlovsky:Goodbye.

57:05AJ Hawk:This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You know those friends who support your preference for podcasts over music on road trips? That's the energy State Farm brings to insurance. With over 19 ,000 local agents, they help you find the coverage that fits your needs. So you can spend less time worrying about insurance and more time enjoying the ride. Download the State Farm app or go online at statefarm.com. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Hi, Diva. It's Rachel. And Jordan. Yeah, hi. Quick question. Why are you not spending your Venmo balance? Yeah, we're concerned. You can, like, buy stuff with it.

57:38Ugh, you love buying stuff. And earn cash back on eligible purchases. You love purchasing eligible things. So the money your friend sent you yesterday, that's today's ramen or ride share or eye patches.

57:50AJ Hawk:The skincare kind, not the pyro kind. Spend with Venmo and you can earn cash back with Venmo Stash.

57:55Pat McAfee:Venmo Stash bundle terms and exclusions apply. Max$100 cash back per month. See terms at Venmo.me slash slash terms. ID verification required to use a Venmo balance.

58:05Pat McAfee:Football is the greatest. We're so lucky we get a chance to chat about tonight. Week 12 of the NFL season kicks off as the Buffalo Beatles travel down to Houston to take on the Texans. A number one defense in the league from the Houston Texans battles against the reigning MVP fresh off a historic Sunday where he scored three on the ground and three through the sky. Buffalo Beatles looking to win a Super Bowl. Texans, where are they? We find out tonight. I know Dougie Davis-Mill, the quarterback for the Houston Texans, is a backup, and he's playing three games now with C.J. Stroud in a concussion protocol since that nasty hit where he got hit by shoulder pad in the head and also field by head.

58:41Pat McAfee:It was kind of a double whammy. We hope he is okay. He misses his third game. Dougie Davis Mills, tonight will be his 29th start, we just learned from Kirk Herbstreit, who will be on the call. Very experienced. Will they cover the six points that they're getting on a Thursday night football battle? The toxic tables here at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer. Done. Cowboys AP Tony's here. Last hour was 77 % of the bets, I believe, We're on the Buffalo Beals, favored by six on ESPN Sportsbook, five and a half other places. Yeah, 77 is still that number, but six has disappeared.

59:18I'm now seeing five and a half across the board.

59:21Pat McAfee:I would like to say I was pretty obvious about what I wanted. You did. You said before the show. Shout out there. I like it now. Lock it in now. And AJ, ladies and gentlemen, a man who's a college football national champion, the Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, and the all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers, AJ Hawk. Yeah, Hawk. AJ didn't get to hear it, but I locked it in at six earlier if I was to take the Houston Texans. I don't know what you did. Oh. So what can I get the bills at then? Five and a half. Five and a half. Or six. Yeah, or if you want to minus six. If you want to minus six.

59:51Pat McAfee:Yeah. No, I'll take the good one. I don't know who I'm picking yet, though. I don't know. Do you know? You already made your pick? No, I'm just saying earlier today I said, hey, if I was to pick the Texans. We locked it in. I would like it plus six if I was to. I kind of feel like this. I don't know. I don't know. But you were pretty steadfast about how you thought. Nobody knows what's going to happen. Well, don't you think you kind of know? Don't you feel? You don't feel? I have a feeling one way for sure right now. Maybe one of the most that you've had all season. Are you seeing this the same way I have?

1:00:26Maybe a little bit, but I don't know. Going off of what you have said, I don't know if we're on the same page here.

1:00:30Pat McAfee:So you feel a complete opposite maybe the way that I feel. I woke up this morning saying Houston Texans are getting six points at home on a Thursday night with Dougie Davis Mills against a team that is very good. Obviously a very good Buffalo Bills team, but I don't think any of us from watching them are like, hey, this is the team that's going to win the Super Bowl. So six points feels like a lot of points. And then on the flip side, Josh Allen's on their team. You know, like I woke up thinking Texans plus six, easiest bet. most I've felt about a pick all year. Other than the Indiana one. This is the most that I've ever had conviction about it.

1:01:06Pat McAfee:Indiana one hits. So maybe that gives me a little bit of a false hope here. You know what I mean? Which hope is something that you certainly need. I wrote an entire post about it this morning. Because Lane Kiffin asked me to send a daily message of motivation. It has become part of the routine. Don't look for it to last long. Okay, that one. Things are getting loud down there. What's that? That whole situation. Yeah. Is he still reading a daily message? He did put out his daily message as well, but just it's getting hot, Donner. What do you mean it's getting hot, Donner? I mean, obviously he's gone.

1:01:37We know that. What? Who said that? I mean, I'm just saying nobody said that, but in my humble opinion, he's out of there. See ya. All right, we'll put it on the ticker. We'll put it on the ticker. I mean, come on now. Like when you had him on, he was great. He was really good. I love him. I love everything about him. That's why he's being recruited by all these great schools. So what? I think all three places are getting real tired of waiting. A lot of shit or get off the pot. Yeah, you talked to a couple of Ole Miss fans, and they are damn near at the point where, sure, if he comes back, whatever.

1:02:07We're still going to hate him now. What? That is just the Ole Miss Reddit mills, if you will. The rebel Reddit. The message boards. Yeah, the message boards.

1:02:17Pat McAfee:They're still throwing their fastball, it sounds like. Oh, yeah. I haven't been able, believe it or not, to look at college football message boards since the year 2008. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so I have not – I've tried not to ever, you know, even – I don't want my algo to think yes ever to that just because, boy, I've been on receiving end and I assume they are pretty talented. They are not a happy bunch either and they are very passionate, you know. So I'm happy to hear that those are still throwing 100 on the paint and everything like that. He came on the show to clear up that there's been no ultimatum.

1:02:48Pat McAfee:He was doing yoga 6 a.m. with the athletic director. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And the fans don't give a shit whether there's an ultimatum or not. They have one. Mm-hmm. No, I think they just see the writing on the wall. You see all these openings. You see all these different coaches. These universities, what are these coaches doing? They're signing massive new contracts to stay at their school, so they're not lured away to the Penn States, the Floridas, the LSUs, and the world. Lane Kiffin's just, hey, I'm going to bide my time. I'm going to bide my time, which typically means we're going to have a great season.

1:03:18That season's going to end, and then I'm going to go somewhere else. No! And on my way out, I'm going to fucking ransack the pantry and take a bunch of players with me. So I think Ole Miss fans are starting to see the rest of the ball.

1:03:31Pat McAfee:I don't know if that's necessarily. Oh, yeah. I saw Ole Miss fans worried because they think this is going to happen that the college football committee is going to drop them in the standings because they're not going to have a coach for the playoffs. Did you see one of the things that they put up? Who? The college football playoff committee. No. They have stipulations underneath this. Look this up. Look up the college football playoff committee stipulations. I think there's like four of them. They have different things. The fourth one, or the last one, maybe it's the third one, it basically says, like, can judge a team depending upon who would be absent from the players and also from the coaching staff if the playoffs were to happen.

1:04:10Pat McAfee:Can judge or dock a team for that? It's in there. And I think that's in there because of Jordan, right, a couple years back with Florida State. That'll be in there forever. It should be in there. It should be in there. I agree. And they also give themselves, like, hey, if we want other relevant factors such as unavailability of key players and coaches that may have affected a team's performance. It's during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance. Great work there, Bruce. Way to find that. There's a lot of worries. That was in there. I saw that this week. So when it came out, I try to be as well read on everything as possible.

1:04:48Pat McAfee:You know, I try my best to stay up to date on absolutely everything. It's not necessarily the easiest to dive into all the Watchma College. but for the college football playoff committee with my entire thought like hey you guys have said that like good losses are better than like any of the good wins like basically what you have said is that is that is kind of how you guys are viewing this so then i wanted to like find out what are the stipulation like what are is that a stipulation so then i saw that one i was like wait a minute this seems like a pretty important little little stipulation to this entire thing that does give them an out if a coach is to be poached potentially to another job but you're going to another job what to win right you're going to win a national championship so you're going to potentially not get into the college football playoff with the team that you have currently to go try and win a national championship somewhere i don't fully understand why everybody just thinks he's leaving i genuinely i i genuinely because of i guess how college football has gone forever and i was at west virginia when richard went to michigan okay so and we're hopefully going to be in a national championship the next year.

1:05:51Pat McAfee:So I understand that this has been the thing. This has been the thing. But you watch that doc with Lane. You watch that doc with Lane. He is a unique character. I think we can all say that whenever it comes to being a college football coach and how he does things. There is a chance that he is enjoying the hell out of what he has at Ole Miss. And if they have money, which I don't know if they do, they might not have like Oregon and like Penn State, Ohio State, Texas, Texas Tech. I don't know if they have the highest money, but I think if the money is all comparable at all these places. Not saying they are.

1:06:28Pat McAfee:I don't know what everybody's finding. Nobody's really come out and said. I've been pressing. I have tried my best saying who has the fucking money? Has an extension even been offered? Exactly. That's what I want to know. Ask Wayne if they have offered him an extension. Then we can kind of gain some info, I bet. We agree a thousand percent with everything you're saying. All I'm saying is the fan bases are in a frenzy right now. All of them. All three of them. I completely understand that, too, because, sure, maybe an extension wasn't offered, which would make absolutely zero sense because to what Ty said, like, every single coach that was getting thrown out for Penn State for all these other jobs, they got extensions, and they signed them.

1:07:07And so maybe Ole Miss is like, hey, you know what? We're not going to do that. We're going to go the opposite way, actually, and make this as tough and miserable as possible for not just us, but for Lane and the entire university's alumni and fan base. But it feels as though an extension might have been offered, and instead of signing it.

1:07:26Pat McAfee:That's what everybody is kind of reacting to. And that's how it feels. That's how people are acting. Got it. Yeah. Wild situation. And there's not like just a bunch of coaches. Yeah. So a lot of people are saying that the fans are obviously at these schools would like some answers sooner than later because there's a lot on the line here. Ole Miss still very much. Oh, yeah. I mean, they're going to try to win a national championship. So it's like, what are you leaving for? Well, I'm leaving to go win a national championship and also maybe better resources. It's like, okay, that's a good conversation.

1:07:56Pat McAfee:I hope somebody will tell us the answers to that at some point. It feels like we have been asking for a few weeks now, like Florida, LSU, Penn State. We know what Penn State's doing. I think we've been very open with what Penn State's doing. Have I heard the same from Florida, LSU? I hear they're invested. Yeah, they're in. But then the answer is always like local recruiting is just so much easier, basically, at Florida and LSU than at Ole Miss. LSU, the statement is five stars fall off trees in Louisiana. And a lot of guys down in Louisiana take a lot of pride in being LSU. Like LSU is like their school.

1:08:29Pat McAfee:so they think like the natural recruiting and the talent of recruiting that you have much greater access to than the rest of the country is warranted enough of a national championship by itself so then when you talk about all the other resources it's like that's just kind of like added on top it's like interesting because are we in the world now where the other resources meet anymore and then you hear from people that are like no if you can sign a a five-star 4 '2 guy because he grew up four feet away from the university. That is much better than having to transfer portal guess if a person is happy there.

1:09:07Pat McAfee:So there's so much going on in flux. I assume it's not an easy decision, obviously, for anybody to have. But for Lane, it's like I think he's trying to win, and I think he wants to win a national championship. Yeah, he's focused on it, yeah. So all this external noise is loud. He says he's doing yoga at 6 a.m. with the athletic director. He's saying there's no ultimatum given to me, and everything he's talking about is trying to win. I don't know, man. I don't know when that answer comes, and I don't know what the right answer is at this point. Especially with the college football playoffs now.

1:09:34How do you do it? I know we played – Mark D 'Antonio took the Cincinnati job. He was our defensive coordinator at Ohio State, but he coached us – he agreed to take the job like at the beginning of bowl practice, I believe. And he was with us all through bowl practice, but he had already accepted that job at Cincinnati. So he coached us through all that. he coached us in the bowl game and then you know he's hugging us and crying on the field afterwards knowing he's leaving but we and he's sitting there on the bus trying to like put his staff together trying to bring recruits in like it's a thing but that's you can't be doing that through a college

1:10:04Pat McAfee:football playoff run no especially where the transfer portal window is too think about where the transfer portal window is so like the other places are certainly thinking themselves you need to be in here by him too up there and it looks like you want to climb a mountain these are guys you call now what are we doing here do you know what they're doing in there are we getting in that trailer that Matthew Stafford got in? Do you remember Matthew Stafford was in that trailer? The Immortal Chamber. Yeah, the Immortal Chamber that he was in during the offseason. I don't know if you know that. Are you getting into any trailers to live forever with the Optimized to Extreme boys?

1:10:36Dan Orlovsky:No, I haven't done that. Actually, I had a chance to work with those guys when I was with the Cowboys and just keep in touch with them. They do a lot of work with federal agencies, public service. Did some really excellent work for the Dallas Cowboys in their time. But they're just, you know, former Navy SEALs, all special forces throughout their ranks. They're just a really neat, unique group of people. So I really enjoy those guys.

1:11:04Pat McAfee:Hell yeah. Hey, Optimize the Extreme, we appreciate you. Let's go.

1:11:09Dan Orlovsky:I like that they go. You love them, Pat. They're right up your alley.

1:11:11Pat McAfee:Yes. I mean, as you were talking there, I was like, yuck. I'm a boss. What are we talking about? Yeah, they have a great website, Optimizing Our Nation's Heroes. Here, we just checked this out.

1:11:23Pat McAfee:I thought you were going to give a full breakdown. You said, there you go. Yeah, no, yeah. You said, I've said enough.

1:11:29Dan Orlovsky:We're still working through the mechanics of TV.

1:11:30Pat McAfee:Yeah, yeah. You're the best. Coach Mark McCarthy, Optimized City X. We appreciate the hell out of what you do for the United States of America. Let's talk about tonight, Coach. Hey, six points was the line and is the line at one of the sports books. You can get it at five and a half. Texans have the number one defense in the league. Josh Allen is an absolute alien. that's obviously what everybody is kind of putting on the marquee. What are your thoughts as we look at this game? And I don't want you to give a pick yet as you are continuing, you know, to be able to win inside things. But what is your thoughts on how they should both be looking at this game if you were the coach of both these teams?

1:12:06Dan Orlovsky:I think it's a great matchup, especially where we are in the season. You know, obviously, you talk about Houston, you know, with the quarterback situation. But Davis is, I remember him coming out of Stanford. I mean, he's a prototype quarterback, great size, can really spin it. I think you're really able to stay in tune with how you want to play on offense with Davis. So I think that is something that he's proved the last couple of weeks. But I just think the things that you look at, you've got great defense. I love Houston's defense. They've got great, excellent studs on all three levels. That's something that's the first thing I always look at.

1:12:47And they're, what, year three in their program down there, their defense.

1:12:51Dan Orlovsky:So, you know, the ability to take the ball away, end the noise, I think this is going to be a really tough outing for Buffalo. I think it's going to be tougher than we all think. I mean, Josh, it's hard to pick against him. I know personally, because I've always leaned towards a quarterback when you get into tight games. You get into November, December championship playoff-type games, you always tilt towards a quarterback. But I'll tell you, I think the ability to run at Buffalo's defense, which, you know, I think since they lose an Oliver, that is something I'm sure to be focused on. And I think this is really going to come down cleanly to who takes care of the ball.

1:13:28Dan Orlovsky:And, you know, Texans do a great job. They're running, hit defense, swarming the football. You know, they got the noise in their favorite. I mean, that's I think Houston's a place that's louder than people think.

1:13:38Pat McAfee:His knees, they said, his knees might not be good. It's like he's 311 pounds running around. Yeah, his knees might hurt. I mean, that is just like a part of it. A body that big, AJ, not supposed to move the way that he does. And it feels like he's only getting better, and they're using him even more, AJ. Yeah, we're finding him all the time. Think about like how many different ways you could use him. You could line him up on the end of the line of scrimmage like he actually is a tackle, have a block, block, and then he's releasing out to the flat. And then say you throw the ball to him, like a lot of defenses have a five-yard no-cover zone where they're not going to jump down anything under five yards.

1:14:10Say you're six, seven yards deep, you're dropping in coverage, and they dump the ball to him in the flat, and you have 10 yards in between, and he has a full head of steam coming at you. Like, what do you do? Like, you have to find a way to get all 11 dudes to tackle this guy. Because I think it's true. Like, the more and more he gets the ball, like, the more confident he is, and the more we're going to continue to see stuff like this.

1:14:29Pat McAfee:The play you're describing did happen against the Bengals this week, and it went exactly how you thought it would go. And whenever you talk about getting more and more confident, and it's like him looking like he's Derrick Henry in high school to these dudes. It does have to feel good to become like, I don't want to say a focal point because Fryermuth obviously great tight end as well. He's playing more snaps than all of them. But Mount Washington's becoming a focal point because of his ability to just be a tackle. And by be a tackle, he literally is 311 pounds, six foot seven or whatever. I mean, he could be a tackle if he wanted to right now and he acts as such.

1:15:02Pat McAfee:And then it's like you have a slip every single time if you want it and he's able to do whatever he wants. It's almost like an X factor that I don't even know how you stop. He's got, you know, he's very, I don't want to say it. Gronk was massive. His catch radius was gigantic and Gronk was impossible to tackle. And I don't want to put Darnell Washington in Gronk's world because Gronk is faster, I do believe, than Darnell Washington is. But there's a lot of similar qualities of being just dominating on a football field and he has certainly become that. Yeah, he has. And obviously that play happened, but there was also one where AJ was talking about where literally it was, I think it was third and 17 or third and 11.

1:15:36I can't remember, but they dumped it down probably like seven yards. And then he went and got the first down there too. And he's awesome. Aaron and Mason have been going to more on third down now because he's so big and it's so hard to cover him. But I know there's a lot of people. Daniel Jeremiah was the first person I saw say compared him to Jason Peters. He was a tight end in college who moved to left tackle pretty soon. Like when his, say his, his athleticism diminishes a little bit, he could go straight from 80 straight right to 79 and just probably be a pro left tackle because he's so like when he is at that position he is so good at blocking run and pass he's he definitely has a future as an offensive lineman if he wants to as well and there's going to be a reporting

1:16:15Pat McAfee:eligible forever basically for him here's him from high school age and we found his uh this is darnell mount washington's overtime footage that's him at wide receiver could you imagine yeah right yeah i believe it said in the tweet junior high yeah yeah i think this in eighth grade. Yeah, playing under the lights in eighth grade. That makes sense with Darnell Mount Washington at wide receiver. Excited that the Pittsburgh Steelers are using him, and I'm excited that maybe that becomes a new position. Maybe some 300-plus pound tight ends just start becoming a very normal, because if you can protect your quarterback, that's a huge deal.

1:16:48Pat McAfee:If you can run the ball, it's a huge deal, and if you can make it look like you're about to do both those things and be untackleable, that sounds unstoppable. Joining us now is a man who will love to call play with that type of guy. Ladies and gentlemen, optimized to the extreme, Coach Mike McCarthy. Hey, Coach.

1:17:06Dan Orlovsky:Good to be back. What the hell's going on? What happened over here, Coach? What the hell's going on? I mean, things started spinning. I think we went to the internet till 1 o 'clock. I think you got through. We're on the internet now, Coach.

1:17:17Pat McAfee:Don't worry about the fine. You disappeared on us. You know that. I know.

1:17:22Dan Orlovsky:Yeah, I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened. Where were we? I gave you the pick and everything, so I guess it's an automatic win.

1:17:29Pat McAfee:We missed that. We missed that. We'll get back to that at the end. We're talking about Darnell.

1:17:32Dan Orlovsky:I'm taking a winning team.

1:17:34Pat McAfee:No, no. We'll make sure you clarify that later. We'll make sure you clarify that later. We were talking about Darnell Mount Washington over there in Pittsburgh. And obviously, you know him coming out of Georgia. I assume you guys scouted and did the entire thing through the draft. National champion there. Very successful there behind Brock Bowers. He's starting to become like a focal point for the Steelers offense because I think they can disguise him as a protection guy. and then he can leak out at any given moment. And when he has the ball in his hands, he's untackleable. Big man with the ball who can move.

1:18:04Pat McAfee:Sound like a treat for a play caller or a play designer, I would assume, Coach?

1:18:09Dan Orlovsky:No, absolutely. I thought you – I was sitting here listening to you talk about him before and you asked the question. I thought you made some great points, particularly even in pass protection, that to have a Y on the line, tight end that big that also can chip from that position, also fully remove a great pass rusher to a wider gap, a wider alignment. I think there's so many little things that you can utilize too. And the Steelers have history. If you go back, was it, to the 70s, the Larry Brown move from tight end to left tackle and had a great career there in Pittsburgh. But he was definitely a unique talent coming out of Georgia.

1:18:47Dan Orlovsky:I think that the medical was the only question you had on him, but it's great to see him having success because, you know, the on-the-line wide tight ends that can play, you know, in that position and be dominant as a run blocker, I mean, that's something that really solves a lot of schematic challenges too because you're always trying to move tight ends, more movement tight ends and put them in position to block a defensive end. So when you have a tight end that can block a defensive end on the line of scrimmage, I've always felt that's a huge advantage because, you know, the first thing you talk about in your run game meetings is how do you win the C-gap?

1:19:23Dan Orlovsky:You know, the C-gap is where the front is connected to the second level of the defense. So that C-gap blocking area is a very important area to target and how you're going to, whether expand it in a zone scheme, you know, knock it down or, you know, cut the defense in a pattern scheme. And when you've got a guy, you know, that can do it right there on the line of scrimmage at 311 or 3, you know, whatever he is, that's a huge advantage in the run game. Also, the pass protection. because of the chipping and helping on these great pass rushers, which seems like everybody has three of them. And then obviously what he's doing in a pass game, like AJ said, no one wants to tackle him.

1:20:00Dan Orlovsky:So, no, I think he's a huge weapon. And I think Tone said they're using him a lot more, and rightfully so.

1:20:08Pat McAfee:Yeah, hey, I like that. Listen to your recall there real quick. I was picking up some stats you guys were dropping that I didn't necessarily have, but I think you're saying he's playing more. Nobody wants to tackle him. Yeah, I think that is all accurate. I agree with your assessment. If you were to get back into coaching, which sportsbooks are obviously putting you as a favorite at some different places. So congratulations. Oh, yeah, coach. If you want to get back into coaching, people are saying, hey, looks like this guy could do it. You know, which is good news. And we would certainly echo that particular sentiment.

1:20:38Pat McAfee:Are you looking for a 300-plus pounder that can catch the ball and move a little bit maybe for your next offense?

1:20:43Dan Orlovsky:No, absolutely. No, no doubt. I just think, you know, you look at the trends in the league, it's something I've always, you know, paid attention to. You know, when I arrived in Dallas, you know, it was, you know, an offense that was entrenched in more of 11 personnel as a starting point. I've always believed the game starts, you know, with a two tight end, 12 and 21 and, you know, migrate, you know, to the 13 personnel. And then 11, obviously, you know, with the three wide receiver six. I just think there's such value in being a multiple personnel offense because, you know, with that, with the injury challenges that you have and, you know, as a coach, when you're, you know, you're playing your fourth, fifth, maybe sixth receiver over your second or third tight end, you know, you're not utilizing your weapons as well as you can too.

1:21:29Dan Orlovsky:So, yeah, definitely. I think it's a big man's game. It always has been, always will be. And to have that type of player on the line of scrimmage, it gives you the ability to get in and out of one-back, two-back concepts very easily.

1:21:42Pat McAfee:All right, I'll start eating. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Coach, obviously next week's Thanksgiving, we know this is when the season truly starts, I think. A lot of the great teams, this is when they really come alive and start playing their best ball. I guess as a coach, what do you do when it comes to this point in the season? We know with padded practices, you could have one a week, and now I think you might not even – at some point, you can't have any more padded practices really towards the end of the season. What do you do to keep your team ready, I guess, to actually make them – help them ramp up to where these games actually matter?

1:22:11And this is if we can go try to win a Super Bowl.

1:22:13Dan Orlovsky:Yeah, I think every year as a head coach sets out the schedule for the season, you try to project as best you can throughout all 18 weeks. And with that, the first thing I always looked at the schedule is because people are always so caught up in who you play. It's really not who you play. It's when you play them. But I think the most important component of scheduling and regulating your football team is when you get in. How many seven-day runs do you have as a football team? How many seven-day sequences do you have? Because that's where the continuity, the regularity, the efficiency, the connection really happens.

1:22:51Dan Orlovsky:I'm a big believer in the padded practices on Thursday, not only just to get the players ready to play in the game at Sunday, but you're always developing the younger part of your football team. You know, some people don't believe in nine on seven drills and things like that. I think they're a must, not only, you know, once again, not for the older guys, as much so for the younger guys. So especially with the state of the league, with the offensive line, you know, how do you continue to develop offensive line, you know, into the season? And you've got to approach it coming out of the gate that way because, you know, ideally you like your younger players not to play until potentially, you know, November, December.

1:23:24Dan Orlovsky:Because, you know, definitely my history, I believe that they're definitely ready to play and contribute by then because they're able to get into that, you know, the regulation of a normal season. So, and that's tough. You know, when you're a popular team, I mean, if you play for the Packers, you play for the Cowboys, you've got a lot of Sunday night, you've got a lot of late night games and so forth. So the rest and recovery becomes a challenge. But those seven-day windows are important. And the reason why I'm making a big deal of it, because now I always felt when you get to Thanksgiving, that's when now you're going to a different shift.

1:23:56Dan Orlovsky:And AJ and our time together, the winter schedule. So you come into a winter schedule, and I used to try to take 60 minutes off the day on Wednesday and Thursdays, especially living up here in Green Bay. I mean, you go to work at Stark, and the players come out to get to go home in a Stark. So how do you, those are all things you think about, you know, part of the recovery and so forth. You get into this winter schedule and then you got the, was it 13 padded practices? So you got to filter them in on the short week and, you know, because they're vital. I mean, it's, you know, you have to play the game in pads and I think you need to definitely practice in pads once a week.

1:24:31Dan Orlovsky:So I just think the scheduling kind of shifts after this week. And this was a week that I, you know, always targeted because I always felt this is probably the last week that I could really, you know, keep my foot on the gas as far as trying to push the players. Because you do really got to look at the wear and tear of your football team, you know, throughout the season. But this is where, you know, where it comes down to because you got to make that push in November and make, you know, you want to be playing your best football in December. So I always thought this was a big week for teams as far as their overall development.

1:25:00Dan Orlovsky:I think it tells you a lot about your team, where you are when you get to this point. And I'm not talking about the guys that are lining up on Sunday. I'm talking about all 68 players all the way through your practice squad.

1:25:11Pat McAfee:Have you thought about this at all?

1:25:15Dan Orlovsky:It's just what I do, Pat. Yeah, that's right.

1:25:18Pat McAfee:I mean, you just gave so much good shit there. There are so many different things for me to want to dive into more to learn about. One of them, though, you talk about needing to have pads. Thursday was your day. You got 13 of them. We got to slide them in. is that full pads or were you a shells were you a shells guy what was your uh full pads

1:25:35Dan Orlovsky:I think it's full pads AJ used to try to get away and put the sweatpants over there yeah coach they knock on your legs if you're wearing sweatpants it's negative 30 on people oh I just want my sweatpants he won't know if I don't want my pants on nope they get you right away oh you we need

1:25:51Pat McAfee:to see the pants you are a the pants need to be on coach

1:25:57Dan Orlovsky:it's the details Pat I would have those sweats on. I think you've got to practice your team the right way. I don't think it's too much to ask your football team to wear all the pads on a Thursday. Good to go, Hawk. It's true. Coach, he did say one time, Coach said, if I lose somebody with a thigh bruise on a Thursday, I'm going to lose. I said, Coach, if I sit out a game with a thigh bruise, you can cut me on the spot. I'm just letting you know. But I did wear my pants.

1:26:27Pat McAfee:It is crazy, though, because the pants are just like Spanx these days. You know, they're like tights, basically. You're just kind of putting them on. Different mentality, though. There is like a different mentality or feel when you have your pants on. It's just different. Everybody thinks it, too. It's not like putting the shoulder pads on. All right, we're fucking strapping up. Got it. Okay. Even me, like punter, even like let's do this whole thing, obviously. Putting those pants on, it's everybody in there is like, you know, just stomping. Let's put these things on, I guess. All right. sick.

1:26:57Pat McAfee:Let's go have a full pad practice today. And the coaches are like, yeah, you're a football player. Put on your football pants. Chris Angel wears football pants whenever he's dangling from an NFL stadium. You can wear football pants whenever the hell you're doing football practice. I love that, Coach. We need more of that. Tone has a question for you about this weekend. Yeah, Coach. Kansas City Chiefs have won 10 plus games in 10 straight seasons, which is insane. Nine division titles in a row and now they are sitting five and five which would be the nine seed right now for the playoffs and they have a colts team who is one of the best records in the nfl coming in off of a buy oh is this i i hate saying this i hate this term but is this a must win for the chiefs this weekend to not go from five to six potentially drop to the 10 seed in the afc third best odds to win the super bowl still yes they still have the third best odds to win super what are your thoughts on the chiefs overall in this game this weekend against the colts uh i'm a big believer

1:27:53Dan Orlovsky:that sustained success in the league is clearly the hardest thing to accomplish. And, you know, what the Chiefs and Andy Reid in that group has done is spectacular. So with that, I don't think you could ever count them out. I think when you look at the length of the season, this is a time of year they're very comfortable in. They, you know, their experience of playing in big games, must-win type games. Who has more experience than them? So, and that's where I just think, you know, going back to, we were talking about scheduling, you know, before is this is the time of year you just got to keep your head down.

1:28:28Dan Orlovsky:And the old adage of just keep chopping wood. You know, when people are talking about winning a Super Bowl in week three, four, eight, nine, it's, to me, it's just, you're wasting time and energy because, you know, that's a conversation for the preseason. Everybody has their, you know, their time that you talk about the goals for the year. And I would hope all 32 teams are talking about winning the Super Bowl. But this time of year, and I point to AJ again, I used to just tell our guys, until we get to 10 wins, let's just keep our head down and keep working on who's in front of us. And, you know, you only have so much time and energy each week to prepare for your opponent.

1:29:03Dan Orlovsky:And I think Andy, whatever, you know, his formula of work and the way they grind and so forth speaks for itself. So I would not count those guys out. But, yeah, it's getting late. I mean, they have five losses, as you stated. But, you know, I think they've obviously done a great job with their record of sustained success. They know how to just keep their head down and keep grinding. And, you know, because really when you get to 10 wins, that's the only time you start looking around. I understand they may be the 10th seed, but, I mean, who's trying to win week 12? I mean, it's about being right where you need to be in the end.

1:29:36Dan Orlovsky:And, you know, the best mindset is just keep it about what's in front of you. And I think they've obviously done that as well as anybody who's done it in the history of our game.

1:29:44Pat McAfee:I love that you said they got five losses, of course. Quick math, 17 minus 5 is what? They still have 12 wins. And we all understand that they have Patrick Mahomes, 12 more than 10, which he was indicating a couple different times there about how he treated the building. Going to have to have 10 wins in most cases, unless your division is completely ass and you win your division somehow with less than 10. Going to have to have 10 wins to make the playoffs just in the NFL. It was like that, I think, with 16 games. Still like that with 17 games at the desired position. Is that accurate or no?

1:30:13Dan Orlovsky:10 or 11 probably, Pat, right? Right? Yeah. 10 or 11.

1:30:16Pat McAfee:Depending on the year, I think. Depending on how the top of the thing's doing. Yeah, I think four teams in the history of football have missed the playoffs with 11 wins. I only know that because Matt Castle and New England. But yeah, typically it's 11 or 10. 11 game. Just to have a chance, though, you've got to get to 10. So all these teams. We were just talking to Kirk Herbstreit about Joey Burrow's mindset. He's like, we can still get to 10 wins here. So there's a chance we still sneak in in an AFC that could have a lot of questions. Last year, there was one 10-win team that did not make the playoffs.

1:30:44That was the Seattle Seahawks at 10-7 last year.

1:30:47Pat McAfee:Was there any 10 wins that made it? Yeah, there was a lot of 10 wins that made it. Or sorry, the Bucs won at 10-7. They won their division. The Rams won at 10-7. They won their division. Yeah, so you're trying to get the double-digit wins, which is what it sounds like for you. And, A.J., obviously, you've been in there, Coach McCarthy's building. Hey, Coach, whenever he put his head down, did you guys put one of those flags on whenever it's like the oversized load or whatever the hell it is, whenever A.J. puts that whole thing down? Put his guardian cap? Yeah, the helmet on top of the guardian cap whenever he put his head down and go to work.

1:31:18Pat McAfee:That thing's got to be... That's two, three-foot radius right there.

1:31:22Dan Orlovsky:Isn't that right, AJ? What are we talking about? Did we have guardian caps, AJ? Yeah, AJ started it, actually, Coach. Did you know that? I tried to make it the hot cap. No. You didn't know that? What's that? Coach, you know better than to believe what these guys are saying, Coach. No, I was out of the league before the guardian cap became a thing.

1:31:39Pat McAfee:No, you're a trailblazer in the pillow on top of the helmet. So I had to lay in a cut-em. Yeah. You're right. I was pushing for him. How do you feel about the Guardian Cap, Coach? That's a good question. Now, you're still potentially going to get back into coaching, so obviously you have to say what you have to say here because of how the league is and where it's headed. But the Guardian Cap thing, A.J. Hawk and many others that maybe tackled people for a living still find it pretty tough that that is a thing. I think, right AJ? I don't want to speak out of pocket for you. I don't, I mean I'm not torn on it, I understand.

1:32:14If it helps then I have no issue with people wearing them. I think it's kind of weird seeing guys in games wearing them, yes. Practice, I don't think there's any issue.

1:32:20Pat McAfee:But he's talking strictly optically, if scientific which they say. It just feels like it'd be too heavy on my head. I don't think I have a strong enough neck to support that. It was a big change in football. People were talking about the kickoff being a big change. Having these massive things over top of the helmets I think was also a pretty big change there for a bit for a lot of people to kind of take in, but I do think it helps from the stats that we're hearing from the guarding cat people. How have you managed that entire conversation with your team as it was taking place?

1:32:45Dan Orlovsky:Well, I mean, the sports science, I mean, to me, when it comes in under that realm, I mean, you have to give the players, you know, the options to do those things. Yeah, I mean, I don't think anybody was, you know, was going, wow, these look great, man. I can't wait to put these on. I don't think anybody said that when they came out, but I think the reasoning behind it and the science and the numbers, it supports it. So, yeah, I've never had a problem with it. But, you know, I think the way they integrated it was smart. You know, they started with the linemen and they worked their way through.

1:33:15Dan Orlovsky:And I just think like anything, I know my time in the league, what does the data tell you? You know, and you have to do those things in the real work environment. So as time has gone on, now that they have the data that supports, you know, supports, you know, any piece of equipment, whether it's, you know, when they change the shoes or even the helmets, I think some of the greatest changes they made was when they started outlawing helmets that just weren't to the performance level. What do you mean?

1:33:44Pat McAfee:You mean the ones that guys were wearing for 15 years that got F report card grades? Like, hey, these things are not good. And then guys are like, I'm not changing it, though. If you change it, I'm going to go out there without a helmet or I'm going to retire. And for a while, they were just youth. They were just legit, though. You're 100 % right. There was a while where people were just going out there knowing the helmet was basically a baseball hat. like basically knowing that and just going out there and finally the league was like enough we can't be doing this anymore we got to get better helmets that was all during your coaching tenure i i completely forgot about that because there were some players that were very pissed about it there were some players are very pissed about it at the time not now obviously no definitely i mean

1:34:21Dan Orlovsky:but i think just like anything you know if you can start these things you know in youth football through you know through high school through you know through college i mean then now you know now those situations are resolved. But, yeah, I just think equipment, you know, as a whole is just so much better. And I just remember when, you know, our two sons played football, and that's when they, you know, started upgrading the helmets and so forth. And I was very comfortable letting our kids, you know, play football. You know, football was under attack, you know, big time for a good decade. And so, you know, the numbers were going down in new sports.

1:34:57Dan Orlovsky:I mean, those things were real and understandable, you know, the why. So the fact that the league has got behind it and the research and development that's gone into the helmets and the other parts, the shoes. I mean, when they start regulating, having guys wear the proper shoes, I thought was a big deal. You look at all the lower extremity injuries, you can tie a lot of those in the old days to not having proper footwear and being in tune of which surface you play on. I mean, those are all very important factors that go into this. I think the league has done an excellent job of moving that forward and making the game safer and educating the players.

1:35:32But at the end of it, you've got to get it down into the youth sports and it works through.

1:35:37Dan Orlovsky:But I think a guy like AJ that didn't have it coming through. And AJ, I mean, look at his head. He didn't hit anything.

1:35:43Pat McAfee:Exactly. He did not.

1:35:45Dan Orlovsky:He didn't knock the hell out of anybody. I think this is why you were coaching. I think the fact that it starts. Oh, there it is. I think, oh, wow. Coach, I think we all know this. Told you, Coach. They would probably be kicking out of the game back then for wearing this hat. Told you. Is that a real athlete? The helmet. Yes, it is, Coach. It might be. I don't know. Maybe I got kicked up wearing that thing. I forgot it was. Back when they were the same color as the helmet, yeah.

1:36:11Pat McAfee:That was Trailblazer right there. That's the prototype. So thank you guys for your service to football because, to your point, there was a lot of things coming out that it felt like maybe our game was going to end up being kind of taken away from a lot of different people. And then the evolution and fighting back kind of by ball to remain is great. And now we're more popular. Football is more popular than ever. And that's a good thing for society, not a bad thing for society. And I'm happy we're doing it the right way. Ty has a question for you about, you talked about the amount of practices you have in a full week cycle with the team before the holidays.

1:36:44Pat McAfee:Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, coach, there's been a lot of chatter about J.J. McCarthy and his alter ego, 9, and people basically saying, well, 9 sucks. We need J.J. McCarthy. And there's also been people saying, hey, you don't really want your quarterback to have an alter ego. You kind of want that guy to maybe be the same person at all times. But in terms of development and all that kind of stuff, because we do have a lot of young QBs in the league right now who are making starts under immense pressure, and it's kind of one of those things where you want to develop them, but at the same time, they need to win these games.

1:37:17You know, you got Caleb, J.J. McCarthy, they're not out of it yet. Drake May with the Patriots, Bo Nix. Like, a lot of these guys are still young quarterbacks. But as a coach, how do you go in knowing, like, hey, I still need to develop this guy at the same time, understanding that come Sunday, he's going to have a start under an immense amount of pressure in a game that we're going to have to win?

1:37:40Dan Orlovsky:Yeah, you know, the first part there, Ty, I don't really follow the Vikings, is, you know, my fellow Packer mate there. You can understand that. No, yeah, for sure. I like shitting on him, though, when he doesn't play good. I'm sorry? I said I like shitting on him when he doesn't play good, though.

1:37:54Pat McAfee:Yeah, it's rude.

1:37:56Dan Orlovsky:Okay. Yeah, so I don't know about the alter ego nine question, but the young quarterback, definitely. I think, you know, you make a lot of excellent points, you know, where these guys are. And I think really playing with a young quarterback, you know, that process starts the day that they arrive, you know, on campus, you know, at your organization. and I think just the biggest thing, you know, to play quarterback in this league, obviously everything is, you know, about, you know, ultimately running a game plan and going winning and stacking success each and every week with that. So when I look at developing a quarterback, and it's really, frankly, how I look at how to train a football team, you have to reverse engineering.

1:38:37Dan Orlovsky:And what I mean by reverse engineering, if you look at the games in the National Football League, and I'm sure the guys can give us stats on this as we're talking about it. But, you know, 17-game season, you know, nine, you know, on an average nine of your games is going to come down to a two-minute drill. And if you look at the playoff football games, over 90 % of those games are going to come down to the last series. So that's the reality of winning a championship in the National Football League. So how do you train the most important position on the field with the quarterback? They have to be able to throw the ball from the pocket.

1:39:06Dan Orlovsky:And, you know, I could hear, you know, Paul Hackett, my old mentor, he'd always, you know, tell us as young coaches, you know, that we're working with the quarterbacks, you can't be spending so much time on a run game and a protection because these guys get paid to throw the football. At the end of the day, they've got to be able to pick the ball up and go win the game at the end of the game. So the hardest thing for a young quarterback, in my opinion, is the drop back game. So, you know, you start with the run game, and the run game today is a lot harder than it was in the 90s. I mean, these defenses today are, you know, they're giving you so much scheme in first and second down, you know, almost the way it was in third down in the old days.

1:39:41Dan Orlovsky:So you run the football, it creates more work as far as, you know, more check with me's, automatics and things of getting out of plays and that what that falls on the responsibility of the quarterback. Then you have protection adjustments, you know, are you a hot team? Are you, you know, a protection adjustment team? You know, I've always believed you had to be both. So there's more work too in the development of quarterback. And then the action game in the quarterback movement stuff, it's really a one-two run type decision, you know, so they have to be able to do that. And every quarterback that plays in this league can do those things, I think, in his sleep.

1:40:14Dan Orlovsky:I think that just comes into training. But the drop back part of it, I always felt that when a guy was playing in his first year, and Aaron's really the first one, the last one I've had as a starter. And if you go back and look at these young guys, we'd always ask them and say, what are your top seven pass concepts? And then really buy into those. You know, and, you know, two of them were usually a three-step or some form of a four vertical. You had to give them a runaway, but you kept their decision-making really clean. You know, either there are pure progressions where you just one, two, three, four, where the ball goes, or a pure progression to the field with, you know, an opportunity to throw the ball to a one-on-one match.

1:40:55Dan Orlovsky:So making it real clean because you wanted those quarterbacks at a young age to be able to play in seven concepts that they could just close their eyes and play. And what I've found is, you know, throughout their whole career of working with them, those concepts are the ones you'd always lean towards in a big opportunity in the game or if they're struggling and things like that. Because, you know, the drop back game, you know, the timing, the footwork, and all the work that goes into that, that's the hardest thing for young footballers to have success. And there you go.

1:41:30Pat McAfee:How's this drop back, Coach? I'm going to do Steve Young. Remember that shit? Remember when he used to do that one right there? Remember Steve Young used to do that drop back? What is the best drop back? Three step, five step, seven step? And what are we looking at? Are we flipping the hips and running backwards like this while staying square? What does a good drop back look like, Coach? Shut up! It's on you. You're the coach. What's a good drop back look like? What's a good drop back look like? It's on you, Coach. Call it.

1:42:02Dan Orlovsky:Oh, okay. Do I want a three, a five, or a seven? Yeah. How's he start? If you're training a quarterback, you always start with the five-step. And you talked about how you get away from center. You punch, reach. All right, so punch with your left foot, reach with your right. You left, you're ready.

1:42:20Pat McAfee:Right. I was doing steep.

1:42:22Dan Orlovsky:Yeah, punch, and then reach with your right foot right across the midline. A little more. Open that hip up. Can you turn the foot a little bit? keep your chin on your shoulder looking downfield? No, I mean, you got to look. Oh, shit. You got to get your helmet straight. Yeah, I don't know if my helmet's going to be able to get there, coach. He doesn't know if his helmet's going to be able to get there, coach. We just threw you out of the quarterback room. No, no, whoa, whoa. There you go. There you go. Launch, reach, crossover. Here you go, heel to toe. Now fire that son of a bitch. They're going to have four-step.

1:42:57Dan Orlovsky:Oh, yeah. There you go. That's a good ball. Now we got something to work with.

1:43:03Pat McAfee:Yeah, yeah, we can spend a little bit. The drop back, though, is so fascinating because everybody does it differently, but it's all expected to be the same. And then you hear the talk about, like, one hitch, no hitch. Hey, that ball needs to be out right now. Hey, this is a three. Like, we listened to AQ Shipley talk about it yesterday. He's like, hey, this is a five-step and outplay. You need to get the hell out of there. But if you can't do a drop back, there's no timing on anything is what you were kind of referring to in a lot of these colleges. I'm not saying JJ wasn't able to. He was under center giving the entire thing.

1:43:28Pat McAfee:But working on all this stuff is very pivotal to the timing of offenses and everything. Is that also accurate to say?

1:43:35Dan Orlovsky:Oh, definitely. That's where all the work's at. And that's where I go back to. I mean, how much time do you spend on the run game? How much time do you spend on protection? You got to invest a lot of time into the footwork of the quarterback. You know, and, you know, the thing about the old days in the offseason program, you know, we had a thing called quarterback school. Quarterback school started like March 15th. And you get four weeks just working clearly with the quarterbacks before the offseason started in the middle of April. So that was the only time really the quarterback that you could really hone in, you know, four days a week and hone in on all the little things that they got to do.

1:44:07Dan Orlovsky:Plus, you can do the introduction to all the installs and the new wrinkles that you were wanting to put in with the offense. And so then when the rest of the team came in the middle of April, those guys had already been through the installs once. But you had a whole month of working the feet. And so then you're able to go through a normal offseason, what I would call a normal offseason program through April, May, you know, in the first week or two into June. So with that, and just a product of how you visualize how you want to train the position. So how do you do that now in this season? You've got to find the moments.

1:44:39Dan Orlovsky:And I think that really most quarterbacks that I've worked with in the modern era these last 10 years and 15 years since 2011, they do a hell of a job with their personal quarterback coaches. You know, you have to have a relationship with those guys because, you know, you want to be on the same page. You want to, you know, when you're talking about a five-step drop, you know, this is how we do it in Green Bay or this is how we do it in Dallas. And, you know, it makes sure the training is all the same. I think Dak Prescott has a great support group around him as far as how he trains with his personal PT and as a quarterback coach.

1:45:13Dan Orlovsky:But it's all aligned. You know, it's all aligned because there's so much that goes into that position. And if you're not putting the time and the footwork and winning in the dropback game, that's the most important time of the game. When the game is on the line, the quarterback has to drop back in the pocket, throw the ball to win. And he's got to be able to come out of the pocket and make scramble throws and win. If he's got to throw it away, most situations, that's a positive play. So, I mean, the training for all that, it's a big-time commitment. And how you find time to do that today's game is just a little bit more of a challenge than it was in the old days.

1:45:47Pat McAfee:Fundamentals, baby. Win ballgames. That's what it is. I'm already into punch and reach. While you were talking there, giving your answer, I just want to let you know, quarterback school, four weeks of me working on this. Yeah, right, bro. I'm coming out of that thing looking like Peyton May and a quarterback. Hey, hey, here we go. That was kind of your guys' thing, right, you and Dak? Here we go. That was one of the greatest cadences of all time. Did you come up with that? How'd that become the game?

1:46:11Dan Orlovsky:That was a group effort. We were having some things we wanted to overcome, and the communication in the room was, you know, the linemen felt that they needed a little bigger indicator, you know, and that's what we came up with.

1:46:24Pat McAfee:How big do you need? Do you need three words to let you guys? Here we go. Hey, it's coming. about to snap it that's awesome coach you're the man we appreciate you so much for joining us every single week sorry you lost the connection there in the middle of it all feels like you like the the

1:46:47Dan Orlovsky:shoot I'm going to go against the grain I'm going to take the points Houston Texans

1:46:53Pat McAfee:plus six coach McCarthy if he was picking games he'd be seven and three the guy sees it

1:46:59Dan Orlovsky:I'm counting on that crowd noise in Houston. I think that's going to be lit up. And if Houston takes care of the football, I do think they'll get some takeaways. Because they've got to keep the point total down on Buffalo. I mean, if Buffalo gets that thing north of 25, I think that's going to be hard for Houston. Yeah, and they're pulling the game, run the football, action pass, run at them. So I think it's going to be a hell of a game.

1:47:22Pat McAfee:That's the Buffalo Bills ever under right there is 25, actually, what you just said. So the books are seeing it the same exact way you are. and I appreciate everything you've done for our show today. You were awesome. We'll see you again next week, ladies and gentlemen. Yinzer legend coach, Mike McCarthy. Yeah, coach! Like a sapphire. Great stuff. Get that chin right in your shoulder. Looks so natural. Thank you. It's going to be uncomfortable for me, I think, with a helmet on too and shoulder pads. That's going to be... It's Drew Brees. Yeah. Because that's what they were telling him to do. Look out the bottom.

1:47:58Pat McAfee:That's like Aaron. Didn't Aaron used to? When he first came in. When he first came in. Yeah. Yeah. That's such a big deal if you think about it. Like, hey, we need your drop to be the same as Justin Jefferson's route. So let's go ahead and make that happen. All right. We'll make our picks on the other side. We'll see you again tomorrow. Goodbye from Oregon tomorrow. Oh. Just remember that. It's Thursday? Yeah. Yeah, it's Thursday, right? Wow. One thing leads to another. I kind of forgot until Kirk was talking about. Old Pac-12 rivalry. Oh, yeah. Big one. That's going to be good. big one USC Oregon I just that's a we're putting a lot on these students hey yeah it's like it's a big school yeah but they show up their crowds are awesome like always awesome like historically great crowds Oregon and it's like we put them back like three weeks back to back basically it's like I mean till IU though like that was the conversation their fan base is rampant they love this shit They have one of the best home field advantages in all of college football.

1:49:00Pat McAfee:I think they're doing an Animal House Toga celebration. Big rival, too. Classic rival. I mean, going back to Pac-10, even. And then also, based on the rankings, Oregon can't afford to lose another game. Every week is kind of their Super Bowl from here on out. So I think they'll be juiced up and ready to go. And still very much in it. Yeah, exactly. USC is awesome, too, to tie the point. It's going to be a great game because Oregon needs to win. and USC still has the belief. Lurking. Yeah, we got everything in front of us, and they got NFL dudes. That graphic was at 10.5, a line also at 9.5. Here's some Hembo stats.

1:49:36Pat McAfee:Lincoln Riley against the spread with more than a field goal underdog. At USC, he's 7-2. At Oklahoma, he's 2-1-1. You do those numbers together, 9-3-1, that's 75%. Is that good or not? Yeah. And if we were to combine stats here, because Hembo does this, remember from a few weeks ago when they traveled to Notre Dame where the whole entire thing was, yeah, when they travel over 1 ,000 miles, his against the spread is terrible. This is not over 1 ,000 miles. So if you were to kind of do that with that stat, I wonder how many of those against the spreads that he lost were over 1 ,000 miles of travel.

1:50:08Pat McAfee:Interesting. Notre Dame, Mr. I believe they didn't cover. No, yeah, they did not cover because I rode with that fucking asshole stats. Hey, let's go, USC. What? Whose stats? I'm thinking of the opposite. it. I faded the stat of the over 1 ,000. Yeah, I thought it was a real stat. You thought it was a fake stat. I was like, fuck this. I used it on game day. That's how much I like that stat. I'm like, hey, this is a problem they have yet to figure out. I don't know if it's the way they're feeding them. I don't know if it's the way they're traveling. I don't know what it is, but these dudes are not good whenever they got to travel a long way.

1:50:43Pat McAfee:I think that's a trend. They broke it. Yeah. Congrats to them. Yeah. Huge win, Illinois. Ooh, no, they lost on the last second field goal, but I think they covered. Ooh. I think they – They traveled – No, they lost to Illinois. They traveled somewhere really far away, though, and won this year. Northwestern? Or no, that was at home. At Nebraska. There it is. Nebraska, Nebraska, Nebraska, Nebraska. Oh, yeah. Coach Rold, can't wait to catch up with him again next week. Can't wait for that. We also had a chance to talk to an absolute legend and a man who has an opportunity to be an absolute goat.

1:51:21Pat McAfee:and what he's doing down in Miami is obviously spectacular, especially because how I think are, I'm sorry, spectacular, especially with, is that right? I believe you nailed it, yes. He's the best. McCarthy is the best. Yes. Like, how could you not watch? I'm figuring out the mechanics of this TV thing. Yeah, I'm getting to it. You know, I'm learning. And then him dropping out, just started spinning, huh? I thought they weren't on the internet until two. Think about him going, oh, no. What the hell is going on here? Now I got to do this one time, and now I got to do it two times? This is the worst part of my day is figuring out how to connect this shit.

1:51:56Pat McAfee:Worst part of my week is trying to connect this goal. Now I got to do it twice in one show. He's the best. But it was spectacular to catch up with. A man who has a chant for him down in the Dolphins locker room currently. How's that chant go, Gumpy? Jack Jones. Jack Jones. Jack Jones.

1:52:20Pat McAfee:We caught up with Jack Jones. A stud from Arizona State. A man who has the capability to take over any game, whenever. The last two weeks for the Miami Dolphins, this man has become a pillar for a success story that seemingly was impossible for this Dolphins family in this current season. Ladies and gentlemen, Jack Jones. Yeah! I appreciate it. How are you, Jack? I'm good. How you doing? Good, man. Okay, so let's talk about it. Obviously, game-winning interception this past week. Hey, let's go.

1:52:57Dan Orlovsky:Yeah.

1:52:58Pat McAfee:Let's go. Let's go. Especially, hola, you're saying. Hola to Spain, obviously. What was the mindset with the international game and where you guys are at right now as you took on the commanders? The international game was actually – it was kind of tough to start off the week because Spain is six hours ahead, and it's like nine hours ahead from Cali, where I'm from. So it was kind of tough. But once I got used to it, then, you know, you love the city. You know, Spain took care of us, showed us, you know, great hospitality. And the fans was lit in the stadium. So, I mean, I don't know. The atmosphere was crazy.

1:53:30Pat McAfee:Okay, Jack, every international game is seemingly crazy. I think one of my favorite stories from any international game this season comes from you. Allegedly, you know, before, you know, the interception against Mark Smeriota, you told the team, boys, stop the run. Okay, you just stop the run. This guy's going to throw me a ball. That is just how this is going to work. Did you know that? Was that a sense from film study, from the game, or why in that moment? And are you a chirpy guy? Are you one of the leaders of this team now, especially with where the Dolphins are trying to head to? Yeah, I would like to say I'm one of the leaders on the team, you know, being one of the older guys who have been in the league and been around a little bit.

1:54:07So, yeah, I would like to say that. But I think it was more so the game. As the Florida game was going, I felt like I had an opportunity at two other picks. I should have left the game with about three picks. But, you know, he threw one of them over my head. And that was a coverage against D-Bow. They called a bad P.I. call. And then there was one on the sideline where they called it uncatchable. And they tried to call it. I want P.I. too. But Mike McDaniels went crazy on the sideline and made the rest wave off the flag. But if I would have turned my head around and found the ball, I could have left the game with three picks.

1:54:38So I just was feeling it. I'm like, man, then he going to throw me one, man. And I felt like OT, I was like, they're going to try to run the ball. So I got to talk to the tackling leader in the NFL. let him go stop that run, and that boy going to throw me the rock, and we going to light it up in the plane.

1:54:52Pat McAfee:And it ended up working out exactly how you thought it would, which is spectacular. And I think, you know, we're going to highlight this today in a good D segment. So D-Butt will have a question for you about this play, I believe, here in a matter of moments. But let's talk about what you just said there about Mike McDaniel going crazy on the sideline for them to pick up a flag. Obviously, I didn't play for a team that he coached. I've never really been around him. Outside looking in, seems like a unique fellow. He seems like a very unique man. They fire Greer. Obviously, General Mandrew had been there for a long time, which basically kind of says, like, hey, McDaniel, this is kind of your team right now, kind of what you want to do.

1:55:27Pat McAfee:How has the building been rallying around him, and what is he like as a coach, as a player for him? Because I don't think any of us truly can talk about that much. I think he's actually a great person, and he actually cared for his players. He's not one of those, like, where he's not understanding. He's understanding with all the players, and he gives players, you know, opportunities and I think that's one of the reasons that I'm here you know he he give players opportunities and I think Mike is a good coach and I'm actually glad that they kept Mike you know and I appreciate Greer for giving me the opportunity but I'm glad they kept Mike.

1:56:00Pat McAfee:Yeah it feels like players love him we enjoy whenever he talks because it's entertaining you know I mean he's an entertaining fella he sounds like nobody else that is a coach in the NFL and on that note you You know, Miami's like nowhere else in the NFL, I think, as well. Obviously, you're in Las Vegas for a little bit. Sin City has its own thing. New York City, obviously massive. Los Angeles, massive. You know, Foxborough and Boston, obviously vastly different than all those other places, but still big city. Miami feels like a lot of distractions for me. Now, if I would have been drafted to Miami, and I only know this because of the conversations I had with Vontae.

1:56:32Pat McAfee:Rest in peace to Vontae. Fucking love that dude. But Vontae was drafted to Miami Dolphins. Me and Vontae are pretty similar type humans with how we wanted to live our lives. So when he gets the Indianapolis Colts, I start talking to him and hearing stories. I'm like, if I would have got drafted to Miami Dolphins, I'd be fucking dead right now. I don't even know what it would be. Feels like there's a lot of distractions down there. So I've always kind of had the thought, like, are the Dolphins even capable of fielding 53 professional athlete age guys to stay focused and try to win down there with all the distractions Miami has?

1:57:05Pat McAfee:What has it been like being a Dolphin? And do you think that you guys are able to be a team that can go on a real run with everything that happens outside down there? It is a lot that goes on around Miami. But I honestly think that, you know, you just got to lock in. I can't sit here and say that the distractions don't mess up the players because, you know, you got players coming from college. They just got paid. And, you know, they living in Miami, probably never been in Miami before. so I can't say that, but you just got to find a group of guys who care about football more than partying, you know what I'm saying?

1:57:38So if you got guys that care about football more than partying, then you're not going to ever let the partying mess up your football, you know what I'm saying? But I think we got a team this year, you know, even though we are a new team, you know, rookies and guys just got signed in the offseason during training camp, I think we're a pretty good team, and the way we're starting to gel together late in the season is showing everybody what type of team we can be if we just keep it going and keep stacking bricks.

1:58:06Pat McAfee:Well, congratulations on finding a group of guys that were able to do that because I was drafted when I was 21. If 21-year-old me was dropped into Miami, all I knew was Wayne saying, live on Sunday, King of Diamonds Monday. It's like, I'm going to Miami. I got to at least go check these places out. And then from what I've heard, once you check these places out, wow, these do live up to the hype. Sweet. He's doing it. It is pretty sweet. It is. Great hospitality. So, yeah, a lot of hospitality. A lot of opportunity down there from what I've been told. So, it's like I think finding a team or fielding a team down there, especially with the type of humans that are in football versus maybe other sports.

1:58:46Pat McAfee:Now, the Heat obviously able to do it. So, it is certainly something. But I think that is an added distraction that doesn't get talked about enough. Now, let's talk about you guys going to Spain and getting a big-time win. Go ahead, D-Butt. Yeah, we talked about that interception. You've had some of my favorite interceptions that I've seen in the NFL, period. Just great instincts on the field. You talked about being one of the older guys in the locker room. Now, how has your game prep changed? Watching film, getting ready for the game, and kind of getting in the moment and letting your instincts take over.

1:59:13One of the plays, I think it was maybe last year or the year before, that pick six. You don't see shit like this. Rarely do you see a play like this. So how has your game prep kind of evolved throughout the evolution of your career? Now, can we break down this play? Because I kind of feel like this play blew up, but it didn't really blow up how I'm supposed to really think about this play. This is a screenplay behind the backfield. I am a cornerback going behind the backfield, catching it one hand, taking it to the end zone. That's ridiculous. I agree.

1:59:50Pat McAfee:Hey, gas your shit. I like that. Hey, listen, we're on the Raiders. Not a lot of people talking a lot of good things, but let's talk about I had to commit. I didn't know this was happening, and if I miss this, this shit's out the gate the other way. Yeah, it's out the gate. Okay, you just want to make sure we all understand what took place there. Okay, got it, got it, got it. But on that note, you're an incredible ball hawk. I mean, it feels like your feel, right? Yeah, because you can't just go out there and just – like you got to anticipate that. Was it four by one or maybe you saw the back down and distance?

2:00:20So, like I said, like going into these games, like what's kind of your – how do you get ready for Sundays or Thursdays, Mondays, whenever you're playing? I think it's film study, man. Definitely film study and the coaches. One thing that I changed, you know, that I didn't really do when I was coming up, you know, like college, maybe like a little bit of my first year when I was with the Patriots is I never I didn't really listen to the coaches. Like I listened to the coaches, but I was listening to the coaches as far as like what plays we have to run. So when they was talking about the other team, it was just like it go blank for me because it was a point in time in college where I honestly stopped watching film.

2:00:57Like, I was a film junkie. We used to have, like, film days. Me and my boy, we'll go just watch film together after practice. And I remember it was one week in college, man. They told me, he was like, man, we're going to have you guard this receiver. You know what I'm saying? You following him wherever he go around the field. So I'm like, for sure, you know, that made me watch film crazy. Like, I watched film the most I ever watched that week. so then when i was watching film i noticed that every time the quarterback does a roll out to the right the the uh ex-receiver he he does a comeback so it just so happened that play comes up in a game and and i jumped it and i jumped it so crazy i guess he changed his route and he ran a streak and then so i kind of just blamed film on that i was like oh i was i was like i'm way too instinctual just to go out there guessing plays you know i'm saying i kind of feel like Like film, at one point, this was at one point, film helped me.

2:01:52Film was hurting me by I would look at a play and I would try to guess that play. But it's like it's three different plays out of that formation. So I can't just guess that play. I have to anticipate that play. And I think that's what the coaches taught me, you know, how to watch film and how to anticipate versus guessing. And then I also think that the coaches, like, they're more correct than I am. You know what I'm saying? They sit there and watch the film for millions of hours versus me, you know what I'm saying, versus my 5 ,000 hours or whatever it may be. You know what I'm saying? So I listen to the coaches and then go out there and let my instincts play.

2:02:23Pat McAfee:I love the fact, this is like when fat people have like a salad for the first time and they shit their pants. You know, because the salad, this isn't good for me. This is why I don't eat salad. That's why I don't do it. I shit my pants. You, watching film. They got me one-on-one with a guy. I'm going to know everything about this guy because I'm going to beat this dude's ass. And then it happens like, oh, I fucking know what we're doing right here. And then touchdown. down never watching film again because I don't even know why I'm happy you got back on board because it's a big difference it is a big difference between guessing play especially the DB guessing plays and anticipating plays and like kind of like yeah absolutely you see a split you see a release and it's like okay lining up it's three there's three options and then kind of as you get into that down it's like okay now I know and then you put that foot to the ground because the quarterbacks it's too good you can't just be out there reacting and trying to guard the whole route tree so learning that difference sometimes it's a coach sometimes it's players and OGs who teach you, okay, this system, this coaching tree, this, this, this, that.

2:03:18So I love to hear that from you and probably a lot of other players in the league as well. Hell yeah. Most there. Most there. That's a fact.

2:03:28Pat McAfee:How long have you had the grill? The grill is awesome. It's got to be one of the best in the league. You froze up here, but how long have you had that grill? Justin Jefferson has a great one. Yeah, this is good. Justin Jefferson has a great one. Yeah, I got a funny story about the grill, but I had the grill about a year now. It's been about a year I had it. I really don't wear the grill like that, so I decided to wear the Bills week. I was like, man, I'm going to just wear the grill. Why not? Swag it out. So I wore the grill, and I had a pretty good game. So everybody coming to the locker room, everybody on the team like, yo, Jack, when we go to Spain, don't pack no clothes.

2:04:00Just bring the grill.

2:04:04Pat McAfee:It seems to be working. I love that you are very much like, hey, it's working right now. Let's just keep it going. Yeah, grill works. Yeah, let's keep it going. Yeah, absolutely. And it looks so nice. Is South Florida, Miami, DB making the plays that you're making? I think grill is a necessity almost at that point. Let's continue to chat about you, the human. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Jack, as a Patriots fan, you know, it's been awesome following your career. You still got a lot of love in New England. I know a lot of Patriots fans who are big fans of yours. And that kind of all started your rookie year.

2:04:33And you didn't have really a welcome to the NFL moment. But you had a pick six on one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of football, Aaron Rodgers, in Lambeau. And that was something I think everybody was like, okay, this is an absolute dude. When stuff like that happened your rookie year, did you kind of realize, okay, I can dominate at this level? Was that something that when you make a play like that on a Hall of Fame quarterback like Aaron Rodgers, it just gave you kind of a bunch more confidence than you already had? You got to be delusional with this, man. You got to be sick in the head, like absolutely gone.

2:05:08You have to – I never lose. I was in high school thinking I could go up to the highest level and win. So it wasn't like I got to the NFL and I found that confidence. I've been confident. I've been one of them. You know what I'm saying? It's just about me going out there showing that. That's all it is.

2:05:27Pat McAfee:What sports? What other sports? I ain't playing no other sport. I tried basketball, but I ain't no basketball player, man. I like to hit people. That's the greatest, Jack. All right, last question here comes from Ty. Yeah, Jack, you know, a couple weeks ago at the trade deadline, and I don't think – definitely not the case in you guys' building, but the media, you know, we're talking about, hey, the Dolphins are going to be sellers. We see Jalen Phillips get traded and a bunch of other guys' names kind of get floated out there. And kind of the narrative is, okay, the Dolphins are packing it in.

2:05:54They're starting to look ahead towards next year. But then after that big win on Sunday in the last couple weeks, you know, and then what you guys have ahead of you, does it feel like, hey, okay, we weathered the storm. We're all the way back right now, and we still have everything we want to achieve in front of us? Absolutely. I mean, we know that it's going to take a couple moving pieces to get to where we want to go. And also us, you know, playing dominant football, you know. So we understand that. We just got to keep going, man, play it week by week. You know, we got the Saints coming up next week.

2:06:25So go out there, attack that, come out victorious that week and then move on from it. But we got to win games and pieces got to be moved around and for us to make the playoffs. And we know that. But we believe in our head that it can happen. So, you know, it can happen.

2:06:42Pat McAfee:Yeah, delusional, man. Got to be. I mean, that's literally happening. Got to be. Yes, yes, you do. AQ has a question for you about all the messaging here. Yeah, on that note, what is Coach's messaging been like as you dug yourself a hole early as you just touched on? Now you're climbing your way out of it. What is his messaging been? Do we have a motto or a mantra? Any of that shit? Yeah, be convicted. I mean, I think he says that all the time in the media. You know, be convicted. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, trust the team, trust the process. It's pretty simple, man. We all know, like, you can feel it in a building, like, where it was like, damn, we're a really good team, but something is not clicking.

2:07:20But, like, what is it? And for some reason, just from what I got from the team, I didn't really seem, it didn't really seem like a big question to where, like, guys started to change their formula and change their everyday, their everyday routine. team, they just kept going and putting one foot in front of another, trusting the coaches. And, you know, it's starting to look the way it should. And I think that's the way it should be. Just keep trusting the coaches, putting one foot in front of another, because this is a tough league, man. And, you know, every coach, every player go out there and train as hard as they can to get that dub on Sunday.

2:07:54Pat McAfee:All right. Well, good luck out there down the stretch. We can't wait to watch. We're on bye week right now. Is that right? Yes, sir. OK, how's it going? Where we got any plans? Obviously, we've taken care of business through it all, but what do you have going on? Nothing, man. I just honestly came back home, seen my babies, and then I'm going to go back out to Miami, start training. I'm not taking the whole week off. You know, it's still work to be done. Tell the babies we said hello. We appreciate you joining us. You're the man. Keep killing it. And it's been fun to watch your entire story, dude.

2:08:24Pat McAfee:You know? Thank you. I appreciate that. A lot of people not perfect, you know, myself included. I have one of the worst mug shots of all time. But watching you kind of go through everything here and continue to battle and continue to show up. And then watching your locker room fall in love with you down there in Miami is sick. You should know that us all watching, big fans, dude. Keep going. I appreciate that, man. I appreciate it, for real. Hell yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, Jack Jones. Yeah! Jack!

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2:09:40AJ Hawk:No, just Duracell. Goats only trust Goats, because they're built different. And Messi only trusts Duracell.

2:09:57Pat McAfee:The Toxic Table is here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer. Done. Cowboys AP Tone is here. Tone, I think it's almost time for us to make our official pick. Okay, here we go. Coach McCarthy, so I'm going to go against Grahue. Okay, and that is what his hat maybe looked like on top of his head as well. Chevy riding high, boy. I appreciate you doing that. And obviously, you and him had a great moment about the Minnesota Vikings and how we don't really pay attention to them as Packers fans. And then you and Kirk had a great moment earlier today as well that is seemingly captivating the internet where you got really – You did get upset.

2:10:37Pat McAfee:You got pretty hostile with Kirk Herbie. A little bit. You know, the internet has responded in a manner in which – No, expected, I think. Yeah, kind of expected. That's going big. I think it was one of your best outbursts I've seen in some time. Well, and I should have – because I love Herbie. I do. You know, that was just a moment. I may have woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, you know, and I was kind of just waiting for someone to just give me an opportunity. And he did. And he did. And Herbie did. But I should have thought that a lot of people who he maybe picks against their teams on Saturdays were going to co-sign and be like, thank you.

2:11:10Fuck this, dude. This guy sucks. That certainly wasn't the angle I was coming from. But, hey, you know, sometimes things just happen.

2:11:20Pat McAfee:Yeah, a lot of people saying that. A lot of people going, thank you, Ty. I've always wanted to say that. I didn't realize that would be the internet reaction so quickly. Yeah, I guess if Kirk's picks against your team, they hate him for life probably, right? Yes. Somebody that will speak for experience, yes. That is a tough show, you know, interaction-wise. Yeah, I mean, they're actually watching that, the picks, and they're paying attention to who you're picking, how you're picking them, why you're picking them. You know, a couple teams, I've seen some students or alumni or whatever, do the percentage of times I've picked their team versus picking against their team.

2:12:00Pat McAfee:Why have I picked their team? Like full breakdown. This guy hates us. We need to stop being nice to this guy whenever he comes to town. You know, there's – they really – yeah, it's a spot when you're picking against an entire cult, which there's a lot of them. There's a lot of cults out there. You know that. Ohio State's one. So it makes it great. So it makes sports great. Exactly. And you're picking against one of these cults for sure. and at least four times you got to pick against the cult each Saturday. And it's like, all right. Got to take that personal. You know, I've kind of mailed it in on a few this year.

2:12:30Pat McAfee:Saban said something. Yep, I kind of. He said it. Yeah, he said it. Go ahead and get there, you know, because at the end I'm going to very much get the loudest. That's been fun kind of figuring that out as the year has gone on, I must say. I really, because going back to Oregon, I'm like, how is it going to be there? Like, legitimate. See, they lost, though. Like, you were on the right side of that. So, I think, like, when that happens, like, you're justified. Now, if you do that whole, you know, spiel, song and dance, and then Oregon goes out and they win by, like, four touchdowns, then, yeah, like, you're going to get heat, but you picked the right team.

2:13:09Pat McAfee:Coach Dan Lanning will be joining the program tomorrow, I believe, from out there in Eugene. I can't wait to catch up with him. And, you know, he obviously – he understands what's going on. You know, he gets it. He was not thrilled. I don't think about me picking Indiana at Oregon, you know, because – He might love it. How I feel. Them losing to Indiana, he might love. That might have been something that would have been very good for his team, you know, throughout the entire process. But what he did for game day, he took his shirt off out there. Yeah. I mean, he's like such a good – for us, he drives from all – travel as far as he does in the morning, hops in a Sprinter van, drives from airport all the way out to Thunderdome for us.

2:13:44Pat McAfee:his SID not happy about it at all. Dan Lanning. We love Dan Lanning. I love Dan Lanning. I love Dan Lanning football. I love everything about it. Their fans are insane. I mean, those game day sets are, those shots are just magnificent with how early it is and everything. And Dan Lanning taking his shirt off. I mean, this is what, 6.30 a.m. or whatever. Yeah. Local time. And you got Dan Lanning out there with the students just going crazy in the middle of it. It's a special place they have out there. Far. It's far. it's out there. That's why they appreciate it so much. Also, is Dan Lane the lefty?

2:14:20How he did his little hand, it looks like he's a lefty. I didn't know that.

2:14:23Pat McAfee:Oh, run it back. I don't know. Normally I can tell if somebody's a lefty or not. Is it a fist pump or is it a shirt thing? It's just a one-handed finger, yeah, yeah, in a second. Whenever he gets his shirt off, you'll see. Not a hip-hip hooray, is it? Yeah. Interesting. I think you do that with your dominant hand, usually. Yeah, I think you would do that. But also, shirt came off on right hand, so maybe he wanted finger. Possible. Because it could have been audible real much. Look natural lefty, though, right? Is what you're saying? Ambidextrous. Yeah. Would you ever do that? Go back to that. Run that again.

2:15:00Pat McAfee:I don't think I ever have. You can see it. Shirt off. Goes to right hand. Right dominant, maybe. Shirt goes to right hand. Yeah, you never know. You're right, though, because the shirt is still over his wrist, so you can't really... Can't do the finger thing. You would have flipped it to your left and done right hand woo if you did. But he might have felt like in a moment need one right now is the right time. We'll ask him tomorrow. We'll get to the bottom of it tomorrow. Any chance you remember to ask him that tomorrow or no? Yeah, for sure. We got it. Yeah, you certainly remember stuff. Yeah, you certainly don't just...

2:15:34Pat McAfee:I say remember. I say remember. Don't say, hey, don't let me forget. No, absolutely not. I will remember. Let me tell my right... it's in there i do that sometimes though i do that as well where i go hey i want to remember this want to remember this to myself i want to remember this one real looking around looking around this is awesome this is awesome like right now i just went back to a situation i was in i was like you kind of take like a scan almost with your brain remember remember and it does feel like it does lock it in a little bit now you i think you say that like for a lot of things and then you just live moment to moment you know you're right i do live in the moment but i do try to remember things when I want to.

2:16:12It's tough. It's a tough balance, right? What's that? It's a tough balance. It really is to live in the moment, but also remember what you have coming up in the near future.

2:16:21Pat McAfee:Yeah, it's hard. That's chess players. That's how those chess players get after it, you know? You may be the most in-the-moment guy I've ever encountered. I like to be where my feet be, but boy, you, just the amount of, I didn't know that, the amount of like those types of things and then all in at the moment, You might be the most positive all-in, in-the-moment guy that I've ever encountered, even though brain, very toxic at all times, trying to potentially win the war. Just like 9 and JJ. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I do not know. I don't get it. I don't know. That's exactly what I'm talking about.

2:16:59That's AJ and 50.

2:17:00Pat McAfee:Yeah, let's talk about 9 and JJ. What is your take on it? Obviously, we've all kind of had our conversation about it. I think he has a chance to get better, and it'll be a good story long-term. They say J.J. McCarthy's awesome. Everybody likes everything about J.J. McCarthy, his moxie, his leadership, the way he goes about hanging with the boys, everything about him. They're like nine on the field, obviously going through some shit right now with the Minnesota Vikings offense, with what the expectation of the offense is, what we've seen the offense be, and what his performance is. Now, granted, he has some dog in him for sure, and in big moments he makes some plays, but there isn't a consistency.

2:17:31Pat McAfee:So now it's like he needs to develop, he needs to develop. I think everything we know about J.J. will tell me that nine will develop, is what I think. Do you feel the same way? And is that good for the Minnesota Vikings or bad? Because the thought of, I think Sherm said it to Kirk Herbstreet, if Kirk Herbstreet was remembering the story well, Matt Jones, think about him. That's starting to get steam. Everything he does. Yeah. Everything he does. It's like if you could get Kevin O 'Connell with Brock Purdy, would you? Yeah. What if you can get a taller Brock Purdy than we just saw kind of the last few weeks out there?

2:18:06Pat McAfee:Win a bunch of games. Isn't that who has a lot of football under his belt? He's seen a lot of defenses. Into the playoffs. Yeah, he has kind of been there, which is with this mid-season or mid-career resurgence thing that's happening. It's like they're going to have to stay committed to the development of JJ, and maybe they reap the benefits from it, obviously. But then there's going to be the constant, hey, you had Dimes. You had Darnold. Aaron wanted it. Mack was available. All that shit gets real loud, especially when your team's ready to go. I don't know what the right answer is, honestly.

2:18:36Pat McAfee:I think developing a guy who's going to be a guy is obviously the right play. But, like, what does that mean for today? I don't know. It's tough, especially when we live in the moment, you know. How many games do they have left? Do we know how many games left this year? Week 12 is coming up. Have they already had their bye? Seven. Four and six. Yeah. He's got to show, like, improvement and growth when it comes to, like, his footwork and accuracy. We know accuracy is a thing. It's tough. I know we've talked about it over the years on the show. Like, can you get much better at your – if you came in and you were an errant passer of the ball, but you had a strong arm in college.

2:19:07How do you hone in on your accuracy now? I think Josh Allen has changed that for a lot of people. He was not nearly as accurate as he is now when he first came into the league, so you can get better. But, yeah, it's all those little things. Listen to any great quarterback talk about it. It's all footwork, fundamentals, all the boring stuff that people don't get that guys like Tom Brady, Aaron, all these great quarterbacks, every single day of their whole life they've been doing all the tiny little footwork and all the little things that add up to become big things that give you a chance to be

2:19:37Pat McAfee:accurate when it truly matters you can be good sometimes which is raw talent you know but the fundamentals are called fundamentals for a reason like this is what you're going to have to be great at if you want to be great all the greats are good at this i think you go through any sport the greats are great at the fundamentals whatever the basic shit is that you have to be able to do all the people that are great at all the things they can do them now does it come easier to some people than other people potentially are some of them though just workaholics and workhorses and don't get bored being bored working on the things that are boring to work on you know that is that is a big piece of being great that's a competitive stamina and i think that's all jj was saying i think jj was saying hey listen i'm out and i'm trying to guess he's not getting bored at all he's trying to expedite the entire process and the development could be very real but what if you do all this and it never well you know because you talked about accuracy accuracy used to be something you either had or you didn't and then you brought up josh allen was like a great development that's right i mean he allegedly put lasers on his body and he obviously had incredible arm talent like i think everybody knew he could throw that thing like this he could throw the thing like this he could throw that thing like this but they're like if you get this thing actually locked in fundamentally sound guess what you'll be a lot more accurate you know why everybody who's accurate throws the same way because that's the most accurate way to throw a fucking football so you need to do that he want to work his ass off on that and to your point age i think that he changed how we all view it like like i i didn't think you could develop that skill i i thought you either had it or you didn't have it because i thought it was more of a uh a mental thing but then whenever they're like no whenever everybody's like i think they were saying about drake may too yes they're saying about drake may how drake may's foot uh footwork and his feet just weren't good and you could see it with younger guys anthony richardson we saw with like he had incredible talent but like whenever you're standing square to your target yeah like marry your feet remember it hasn't been there and he said you got to marry your feet to your arm and your upper body like you have they have to be in sync have to be together to give you a chance i think to make a play when it's third and seven and you got a tight window to fit that thing into and maybe you make one of those because you're so talented like maybe you're able to stand square and like jump and make a throw and it's like yeah that's awesome okay now we got another play right now bro okay and get we need a similar throw are you gonna be able to feel your way through that again oh maybe you are okay good good good let's get now to a third down in the red zone where everything gets a lot smaller and you do the same thing and it's just a little bit off and then bang they snatch it it's like hey if you would have fucking just done get your feet right and actually threw the ball like how you're supposed to since you're a kid they've deemed this the most the best way to throw a football is this way you are in the nfl throw the fucking football like this please that is basically the conversation that happens with these young guys a lot of them especially as the more and more athletic quarterbacks come through the nfl josh allen was one of them drake is another one jj see i don't think we view him as one of those like super high-end freak athletes right i don't i don't in my mind he's got a super strong arm and he is very athletic but you're right like we don't i guess we don't we haven't seen him use it as much he has the the mentality that like that's what I do love is his mentality the whole nine thing you get caught up in that but you know what's tough is when guys you think you hey can this guy develop or not and you kind of question whether how much he cares like I don't question how much old Jage cares like Jage loves ball we know that so he's if he's gonna develop and become more accurate like he's gonna do whatever it takes to try to become that guy now we'll see if it happens I guess I agree on that I think we all believe that J.J.

2:23:02Pat McAfee:McCarthy is gonna get better at something if he puts his mind to it Yeah, I think the biggest issue, and you hit the nail on the head, is he hasn't had very many starts, so he does need to develop, obviously. But like you said, this team was one win away from getting the number one overall seed last year. And everyone said going into the season, hey, if they get average quarterback play, this team should be in the NFC Championship. When you look at Josh Allen, the development, no one was expecting those Bills teams, they weren't on the precipice of going to a Super Bowl right before that. I was like, hey, if we can develop this guy, we'll be where we want to be in three to four years.

2:23:40Yeah, kicking it down the road. Exactly. That's not the case with the Vikings. Like, they had Sam Darnold, and I understand the playoffs went how they went, but they were there. They were knocking on the door, and the idea was, hey, if we get this guy, we'll kick that door in. So it's like, it's one of those things where I don't, it's not fair to blame all this on JJ because. Situation. Yeah, he's young. He needs to develop. But that was kind of what was thrust upon him is, hey, when you get in here, you need to pick up the ball and run with it because this team is ready to win a Super Bowl. Look at their defense.

2:24:11They're by no means young. They've paid a lot of guys. They were ready to go right now, so they don't really have the luxury of, hey, it's okay. It'll take this guy a little time to develop. They are not in that position. And to Ty's point, too, paid offensive linemen and free agency, two of them, Ryan Kelly and Will Fries from Indianapolis, paid defensive linemen. Now they lost like a Cam Bynum and some other players, but for the most part, they were spenders this offseason because they thought they were going to be that good. I will say, though, hearing the press conferences and kind of understanding a little bit more what's going on, definitely do believe in J.J.

2:24:50McCarthy as a quarterback in Minnesota. It's just there has to be, like Josh Allen, there has to be some sort of improvement that like you can legitimately see and it can't just be the hey most important time of the game he's playing great because a lot of the times those teams that you know you're hanging around with and that you do you know edge out in the end those teams aren't going to be there in the end like those are the teams also that are kind of squeaking by and then get exposed by the best of the best teams like the rams or seattle or the colts or the broncos like philly bingo like the I mean, I won't say Lions because right now, but the Lions are getting a bunch of guys back on defense.

2:25:29That'll be really cool to see. But still, all of those top, top teams. Who's calling plays up there?

2:25:33Pat McAfee:I don't know. Who's calling plays up there? This week is MCDC. But you're right, though. You're 100 % right, though. Whenever, you know, as. Like him saying that stuff makes me think like, okay, maybe he's not just exactly what he was in college. I mean, we know he's a hockey player. He's a fucking hard worker and the team loves him. But a lot of shit is going on behind the scenes with him changing how he plays quarterback that I at least was not aware of until he said he's just being very transparent as well I think there's a lot of development happening to a lot of young players especially if they have to come into a new system new scheme new game so they're working on stuff all the time like I'm punter so I can only speak from personal experience it's like I changed my drop completely which is obviously like a scary thing for a punter to do their drop is kind of the entirety of the punt how you're dropping where'd you go from where'd you go from but to where'd you what's the next So I had to tilt it in.

2:26:23Pat McAfee:I had to tilt it in like this because I used to watch other people do it, and they always murdered the ball, it looked like. And it turns out with the tilt in, if that thing was to move at all anymore, that thing is – with my leg swing, that thing's going like – I did that a few times in high school, yeah, put it into the stands. Yes, exactly. Exactly. I had a couple of those. I'm like, oh, this ain't good. Yeah, I'm going to get fired. I'm not going to have a job anymore. So I straightened the dropout a little bit more. And then even into like my second, third year, I think even into my fourth year, I was changing when I was dropping it during the season because it was, like, stuff that I was working on.

2:26:55Pat McAfee:Even day of game, I would, like, adjust something. I'm like, ooh, actually, I'm going to hang on to this a little bit longer. So, like, that's the most – I think there's always, like, an evolution or development happening, especially at a younger age at every single position. I assume there was shit that you had to work on as well, I assume. Always, yeah. Always something. Dude, footwork here. Dude, footwork. Hands is a big thing. Luke Fickle taught me in college, like, taught me to use my hands. Like, that changes everything. So, he's being very transparent, I think, as opposed to maybe what other people would be doing.

2:27:22Pat McAfee:Joining us now is a man who's very transparent on every thought that he's ever had. You're going to hear it. Ladies and gentlemen, Dan Orlovsky. Hey, Dan Orlovsky. Good light. Wow. Nice shot. Looks good. Looks great. You look really cool right now. Just want to let you know that. You look really, really cool. Oh, I don't like this with the cars zooming by. Yeah, I mean, exactly. What's this guy doing? This is a cold call. He answered. We appreciate him doing that. But we will live with constant anxiety that somebody in your rear view there will just not, you know, stop and just come right into our camera.

2:27:52I'm further off the road than it looks. I'm a good 10 feet off.

2:27:57Pat McAfee:Well, objects in the mirror are closer than they appear to. I mean, there's a lot of different. Have flashers on. Yep. Okay, sounds good. Very adult. Maybe stick your head out the roof. Is your Jeep still bright? Yeah, maybe put flares. You're right. Maybe just let people know that it's happening. Dan, thanks for the hidden yardage tweet. That was fun. Hidden yardage, obviously. a guy Williams concert and most of my hidden yardage in the history. Hidden yardage is in special teams, brother. So don't be giving me some quarterback stat about hidden yardage. I don't need to hear it. Maybe bonus yardage if you want to call it or like super duper after being tackled.

2:28:34Pat McAfee:Stat yardage shit. Don't be taking hidden yardage. That's our game. I like bonus yardage. I can alter that. I can appreciate that. Sure. Or stamp it. Dano yards. Call him Dan Yards. Yeah. Dan and Parcells. Because I think Big Tuna was a big fan of the bonus yardage that you were referring to there with Caleb, who should be sacked. But instead, his EPA goes up because he's Caleb, and he's able to do Caleb stuff. So he's got super-duper bonus yards that's actually hidden within his stat book because if he was to be sacked, that yard's not going to hit stat book. That's a bonus yard, right? Exactly.

2:29:12Pat McAfee:I couldn't have said it better myself. Okay. You're going to be able to say something better than we could ever say because you're a quarterback and had to develop. J.J. McCarthy being as transparent as he is about what is happening behind the scenes and the development of him being a quarterback. Good thing, bad thing. And what is your kind of takeaway of how it's all going out there for Minnesota with all the other quarterback options that we know they had at the time with the team that they had? Yeah, I can always appreciate transparency. I think that, I don't know if you guys have heard Kevin O 'Connell's comments on him yesterday as well.

2:29:40I believe it was yesterday or sometime this week about kind of what they're trying to get figured out and some of the mechanical stuff that they're working through. I thought Kevin O 'Connell's like vantage point of it was fascinating. You know, it's, JJ has been really interesting this year because there's so many throws on tape that you sit there and say, that is perfect. It looks perfect. And then there's a throw that would happen, you know, five passes later that you, it blows your mind how bad of a miss it is. And so I live in the world. I don't find that to be your inaccurate. I find it to be, you're having some very egregious misses and don't get me wrong.

2:30:22The misses are awful and it makes no sense as to why. And so when you try to figure out, okay, what's going on with them, I think you find out the mechanical inefficiencies and the mechanical differences. Uh, you know, like I've heard Aaron talk about this that accuracy starts from the ground up um you know McCarthy over strides he's not a big dude so when he over strides I think the first thing that you see is like he is a front or back to front thrower he's a back instead of a rotational person so when you're back to front you're I think it's always going to vary when the ball comes out of your hands and so that's why you see some of those egregious misses I think the second thing is you see almost like watching a pitcher on a baseball mound his right leg flies all the way through if you guys put up video of like joe burrow at practice yesterday if you guys could pull up that video watch joe's right leg it very rarely leaves the ground it's just same with josh allen it stays on the ground instead of almost like the the old school pitcher off the the pitcher's mound so i think he becomes so on his front leg the weight follows through the other thing is his shoulders are constantly flat no matter if he's throwing the ball five yards or 25 yards you got to have a little bit of a tilt with your front shoulder and then you see his left shoulder constantly fly open I think that keeps him completely exposed on the front side instead of like Tom Brady was like the guy that I think first of like keep that left shoulder tucked keep that left shoulder so I think he's just got some really fixable but extreme you know mechanical things they got to figure out.

2:32:00Pat McAfee:Dan, what do you know about putting your jaw on shore during a drop bag? Yeah, I don't know a ton about that. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know if I see a ton of guys do it. Whoa. Oh, you smarter than Mike McCarthy. That's crazy. Holy fuck. I didn't say that. Yeah, you did. Yeah, you did. You said it without saying it. I want to punch and pull. I want to punch and pull. I want to punch. Punch and pull, yeah. Oh, you agree with that, huh? Is that okay? That one's okay? I didn't disagree with that. I said I don't know it. Punch and pull. Let's go ahead and flip those hips here.

2:32:33Pat McAfee:Let's go chin on shoulder looking downfield. Thank you. Let's go ahead and rip that thing.

2:32:39Dan Orlovsky:Rip it.

2:32:41Pat McAfee:JJ's going to be good? Yeah, dude. I think he's so still very talented. I guess I think he's – yes, I think he's going to be a good player. Probably undervalued all the time missed. you know he was so I thought mechanically that was a strength of his coming out of Michigan and so the injury last year and then the injury this year he's just I think he's missed time I also think he's developed really poor habits and they just got to work through them I don't think it's going to get fixed this season I don't believe it's something you can fix in season it's going to be an offseason fix good luck nine last quarterback question obviously it's a big one Go ahead, Tom.

2:33:24Yeah, Dan, two quarterbacks played in Pittsburgh. One played the first half, one played the second half. Which half did the Steelers' offense look better last week? Looked better in the second half. One ball went down the field more. What's your problem? I think there was a little bit more of a willingness to hang in the pocket and make a throw when you got a body or a hit. So I think if Aaron doesn't play, I think they'll be okay as a one-off or two-off with Mason Rudolph. Aaron's going to play.

2:33:52Pat McAfee:I mean, I don't even know what we're talking about here. I don't even know what we're talking about. He made a comment about, I don't know if it was AJ or Aaron. Somebody made a comment basically. It was like his non-throwing arm has something wrong with it. I don't know if you're going to miss a game because of that or whatever. And then I think Aaron said the same thing. Aaron wanted to go back in there. Aaron, old school guy, and let alone it being the Chicago Bears. Now, we have learned some things through a press conference of Aaron Rodgers. You know, he grew up with WGM being one of the six channels.

2:34:21Pat McAfee:He's actually a fan of Chicago, believe it or not. What are you for the opponent this week?

2:34:31Dan Orlovsky:There's incentive for every opponent, but I have enjoyed many a Sunday and Monday and many Thursdays in that city. It's a great sports town, phenomenal sports fans, and a great place to play. Ian, do you sort of thrive off of being the villain there a little bit? sort of enjoy that. I'd rather not be. I mean, I'm not in Green Bay anymore. I feel like we can let bygones be bygones. Maybe. I can, I guess. It's been, it's a great rivalry. I mean, in the history of all sports, you talk about the Lakers and the Celtics and the Red Sox and the Yankees. You got to talk about the Packers and the Bears.

2:35:13And there's been some great memories there. When I first got to Green Bay, the Bears had the all-time series lead. When I left, the Packers did. Since J-Love has taken over, it's even gotten better. But I hope those fans can put that behind them. I'm sure they can't. Don't expect them to. But I really enjoy the city. They've got a great sports fan. I grew up watching WGN on my five-channel TV back in the day. So I was a Cubs fan and a Bulls fan. How can I be a Bulls fan unless you don't like Michael Jordan? I did. I loved him. so it was a lot of fun memories over the years playing there yeah so he's playing Dan and they're

2:35:52Pat McAfee:cheering for him whenever he's jogging out on the field too you better understand that so what do they uh what should they be looking for with the Aaron Rodgers led Pittsburgh Steelers offense against the Chicago Bears defense Dano yeah I'd start first of all Pittsburgh should run the football against them Chicago's not a very good run defense and obviously some of the tight ends and the way that they run the football is a really big deal um the Bears defense is predicated 100 % off giveaways. If you don't give them the ball, you can move the ball up and down the field on them. It's not a shut-you-down defense in part because their whole secondary feels like it's been hurt for the majority of this season.

2:36:27But as long as Aaron's smart with the football, gets it out of his hands, yards after they catch a dopey, you're fine. Obviously, you've got to go score in the red zone, but it's not a defense.

2:36:39Oh, here it comes!

2:36:43It's like shaking the car.

2:36:46Pat McAfee:Be careful. Hey, we appreciate you, Dano. All right, so we're looking for the Steelers to run the ball. Darnell, Mount Washington, and Aaron Rodgers will do their thing. Do you have any more TV later? You're done. No, I'm going to do NFL Live now. Or at 4 o 'clock. I thought that was a 3 o 'clocker. No, of course we know it's 4 o 'clock. We watch every day. Every day? We watch every day. Yeah. Thank you. You do a great fudging job. Yeah, and why don't you just, hey, Dan, real quick, just stick to Drake May, brother. Don't be running your mouth about the Patriots defense, okay? Darius Butler said it to me.

2:37:21I don't even want to have to respond. Stick to Drake May, Daniel, but you got to, okay? D-Bot's got my number if he needs to share some things with me. Yeah, okay, just letting you know.

2:37:31Pat McAfee:Well, he's saying if you want to share things that are maybe certainly not going to be favored. Patriots fans were not happy with my thought on the Patriots. Which was unwarranted, but I just want – It's not unwarranted. When we do a segment on what could get a team beat, and the team is a pretty impressive team, you're trying to find out, okay, what is something that you could do against this team to gain an advantage to beat them. My thought was, well, New England, while the best run defense in football is in nickel. If I'm a team going against New England, and I let them play nickel all game long and don't run it on them successfully, that's my fault.

2:38:11Pat McAfee:Connor was on your side. I do appreciate you getting a chance to speak to the Patriots fans there, though, who I assume, because they're great shit talkers, which kind of leads to it's not great that the Patriots are all the way back, that they're back just because a very good group of shit talking human beings now has a lot of reason to shit talk. So, Dan, yeah, you decided to live in the paint. Patriots fans are going to go ahead and dunk on you. Good news, Dan. They don't care about you anymore, Dan, so you don't have to worry about the Patriots fans. Yeah. Sweet. Oh, yeah, I got another question.

2:38:42Ladies and gentlemen, that's Dan Orlovsky.

2:38:45Pat McAfee:Thank you, Dan. Stay safe out there. There's a truck coming, Dan. There's a truck coming, Dan. There's a truck coming, Dan. Yeah. Can I get out? Can I get out? No. No, no, no, no, no, no. Stay connected. Stay connected when you murdered. Floor it. Floor it. Floor it. I can't watch it. I can't watch it. I can't watch it. Dan, you focus on your driving. Jesus Christ. Oh, no, we're good. Three, two. We're out of here. We're out of here. Get him off my screen. Get him off my screen. I want to see you. You see him. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. Get him out of here, please. I don't want to be a part of that.

2:39:16Pat McAfee:I don't like watching that stuff. That's my least favorite thing of all time. Side of the road. Kirk Herbstreet. Legendary. Let me find the bottom of the hill around a bend. I'm going to stand outside, too, so we get a better view of this thing. Dan, get away from me, Dan. I don't want to see it. Dan, focus on driving, Dan. Yeah, what the hell? Hang up on Dan Rolovski. Someone pull this guy over. You know, a lot of her. Yeah. Australia, they do not fuck around with the phone thing. They got cameras everywhere. And it's just like, well, you know, people would say that's not great either. But they, you know, certainly argument, I guess, both ways for all these things.

2:39:51More cameras are better. Keep the roads safe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Certainly a lot.

2:39:57Pat McAfee:But they have cameras. So if you pull your phone out, it's an immediate. And they got everybody's license plate. Obviously, boom, bang, pal, so they're not doing any of that. But there are some people who are extraordinarily bad at being on their phone while driving. And if you're stuck in a car with those people, you would like there to be a jail sentence maybe for people getting on their phone while driving. Also, motorcycle rider. You know, I enjoy riding my bike with my wife. It's a good hobby. Now, Indiana as a whole, it's tough to ride in because, you know, we got potholes like actual the moon, like a lunar.

2:40:32Pat McAfee:Yeah, craters. Craters out here. So it's not necessarily as enjoyable of a ride because you turn a corner all of a sudden and you're. Yeah. But on a bike, you would like everybody to not have their phones out because it's really hard to pay attention. But on that note, I'm not going to act like, you know, I try to wait for stop signs, red lights. Bingo. Sure. because i would like to not be asshole driver strictly but boy whenever there's people sitting at the bottom of a hill around a bend and you got 18 withers coming down and you're facetiming with them feels like every time they're dying yeah kind of started to get that feeling with dan there more cars started coming on that all you do is swirl a little bit off the road and bam and on the internet we've seen enough of those yeah just yeah because Is all you need is somebody on the right?

2:41:19Pat McAfee:I'm okay. I'm on the far right side. There's no on-ramp anywhere. No way. Dan O 'Reilly is here. Dan O 'Reilly is here. Where? Yeah. Patriots fans. Which was unwarranted. I mean, the things he was saying were all valid. It was just, oh, Dan O 'Reilly, the quarterback guy, wants to talk about defense. And he just picked the Patriots defense. So Patriots people are as loud as possible. But what he was saying was all good football information. Yeah, Dan Orlovsky is going to be well studied. He's also not going to say no to a producer telling him to say something about something. No. You think maybe this will get clipped and I'll get murdered for this?

2:41:56Pat McAfee:Never has come out of Dan Orlovsky's mouth. Nope. Dan Orlovsky says, you need a what about what? How many different determiners are there? Is everybody going to know that this is the case? Sure. Give me the stats. That's what I thought. I got you. I can do it. The context of the situation was, nobody heard it, Dan. Nobody heard it, Dan, but we appreciate Dan. Dan's shins are very calloused, and he steps right back in there every single time. All right, let's make some picks for tonight, Age. This has been an interesting one for me because of how much I love one particular team and how good they've been to us with the Buffalo Bills.

2:42:30Pat McAfee:And then I guess Texans have been great to us as well. So I like that the Bills are playing great. I like that the Bills are winning. I don't love that they're six-point favorites down there in Houston against the number one defense in the league. So I will take the Houston Texans plus six tonight on Amazon Prime. And I do believe this is a Bills win. Like, I think in the end, Josh Allen will win this game. But I think we're in for one. And I think there's a little bit of a game. There's a chance Josh Allen wins by 30. There's a chance. I've already walked through it enough times because I've been so confident about Houston plus six since the moment I woke up this morning.

2:43:02Pat McAfee:And I've certainly had to fade myself in there going, yeah, right. Why are you so confident in this? Sportsbooks are going to get you. Then you look, and it's like 77 % are looking the other way. It's like, wait a minute. Maybe I'm a shot all of a sudden. maybe I woke up a shop pants a shop maybe a shop maybe a shop 22 % so I felt like okay about it and then I started seeing the other side I'm like well why would I not and it's like well they got Josh Allen James Cook's a fucking monster too let's not even get it twisted now they potentially without Kincaid right no Kincaid no Curtis Samuel here it is no Miko I love Gabe Davis, though.

2:43:41What's that? Gabe Davis, back. I love that.

2:43:45Pat McAfee:Look for Gabe Davis to get his feet in the paint tonight, I would assume. That's going to be something that they're going to look to do. I love the Gabe Davis Buffalo Bills time. But, yeah, a lot of guys out, to your point. And then, obviously, for the Texans, C.J. Stroud out. So you've got Dougie Davis Mills, which is kind of the entire storyline. It's like you've got a guy that not a lot of people really know about playing quarterback for a team that doesn't look like they have the best record. So now you've got the Buffalo Bills coming down. Is that why 77 % of the bets are on the Buffalo Bills, or they just think that the Texans aren't that good?

2:44:14Yeah, it's probably because they just think the Texans aren't that good. Bad record. Yes, bad record, and they watched them. They had to kick a last-second field goal last week against the Titans to win 16-13, so the offense has been pretty bad all season long. The defense has carried them, and I assume they see what the Bills did to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week in a big primetime game that everybody was watching. So it's probably a lot of recency buys as well.

2:44:39Pat McAfee:Just one touchdown way is sick. Just win by seven. Am I going to Buffalo? Who do you like? I am going Buffalo Beals, and I can get them at minus five and a half, right? That is correct. Oh, man. Am I fading myself right now? You called Seattle versus the Rams perfectly this past weekend. I felt very good about it. I need to remember that. You had Seattle plus three and a half, and you had the Rams one. Texans wearing all reds tonight, too. Look out. Pretty cool. Yeah. Look out. Part of it. Like the pants, too? All reds. Hmm. Those look sweet. What are you humming? Okay. We saw what you guys tried out of.

2:45:19Pat McAfee:I didn't love that either. Are they red pants? Are we sure? You think it's going to be blue or black? I feel like they've done the blue because the same color as the numbers. I feel like they've done before. All red. All red. We've been told. Yeah. Wow. These look pretty cool. Is J.J. leading them out? Oh, is that true? I don't know. Should we call J.J. See if he's leading? Who is? Is someone ringing a bell, or what do they do to start the game? They don't do that. They play football. Is Speed doing it? No. I need Speeds in Cincinnati on Sunday. Speed is the ruler of the jungle for the Bengals.

2:45:54Pat McAfee:Joey Burrow's return, potentially. And Speed ruling the jungle. Could he get a little scat back action on Sunday? They should maybe put him out there at slot. That's the thing about putting him at slot. Because Jamar's spit on a guy right in his face. It was disgusting. Yeah, a lot of people said that was the case. Here's the next ruler of the jungle I showed you. He should play wide out for the Bengals. Keep living, speed. Keep living, speed. I hope he has to give a speech. Maybe let him give a speech. Yes, please. Him calling out his chat while giving a speech to the entire jungle would be sick.

2:46:25Pat McAfee:There's no answer from Judge, so we'll move on. I like the Texans plus six tonight. You like the Bills minus five and a half? Correct. All reds change anything for you? A little bit, but I'm going to stick with it. I'm a Josh Allen guy. You know that.

2:46:42Oh! What was that going to be for? You know what? I just wanted a little certainty.

2:46:51Pat McAfee:But what I wasn't doing is I wasn't fucking... Tucking that chin. That's hard to throw. That was a front to back. Not a twist. That's hard to throw. I don't know how you're supposed to. I don't know if I'd be good at the quarterback camp.

2:47:12Pat McAfee:You sure? You sure? Got it. Yeah. Texans plus six. Takes a wrap. Be your friend. Tell a friend. Something nice that might change your life. We're in this thing together. I'll be in Eugene, Oregon tomorrow. Can't wait. AJ, safe travels over here. I appreciate the hell out of you. Let's enjoy this one tonight. Week 12 of the NFL season is kicking off. Hey, here we go. We're here. Here we go. Life is good. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Goodbye.

2:47:42Turn it up. Storm has zero sugar and 200 milligrams of caffeine. So you can turn that workout up a notch. Good energy in, good energy out. Energy for life.

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