PMS 2.0 1496 - Bill Belichick Not Elected to the Hall of Fame, Brock Lesnar, JJ Watt, Jimmy Johnson, Mike Tirico, AQ Shipley, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

15:05Pat McAfee:If you have an opportunity to do the Royal Rumble, we suggest you opt out. I agree. Right now, maybe the other 29 just say, we're not doing it.

15:13Mike Tirico:Maybe just do Punk-Lesnar. I mean, that'd be like a Rushmore matchup. If it was them two versus each other, that would be exactly what you want.

15:21Pat McAfee:That would be something that everybody would be looking forward to. Top four, maybe top four out there in the history of the business. Let's get back to top four, top two, top one probably, whatever you're talking about. Congrats to Brock. That's good news for WWE. Oh, certainly. That's great news for ESPN. 2 p.m. on Saturday. It's great news to us, too. Yeah, 2 p.m. on Saturday. We'll certainly watch that. I'm excited to call him back and see what else is going on in his life. He lives in the – Yeah, near Saskatoon, right? Yeah, the sticks. Yeah, he chooses to do – Middle of nowhere. Middle of nowhere, way out there.

15:49Pat McAfee:Skin and wolves. All right, let's talk about top one all-time, Bill Belichick. Darius, you were drafted by this man, this program, this franchise, the New England Patriots. D-Butch, nine-year NFL vet. I consider you to be one of the smartest ball-knowers of all time. I assume you attribute a lot of that to the time in which you're with Bill Belichick and how they went about doing your business and then obviously developed in your own ways there. But for this travesty to happen in a popularity contest. Now, congratulations on getting into the Bryant County Hall of Fame.

16:17AQ Shipley:Thank you. Thank you to the voters as well.

16:20Pat McAfee:Yeah, exactly. Anything that's voted upon, it's always an interesting feeling. Like, for me, I never won these votes, okay? So I think all awards that involve people voting and the people that are doing the voting normally hate my guts. Like I didn't even win male athlete of the year at my high school. I had scholarship offers in three sports. I don't know how often that happens. And my school is not like pumping out athletes all the time. Voted by teachers. Okay. So that didn't happen. Ray Guy award. Okay. That's where I met this guy. 12 year NFL vet, AQ Shipley. The guy who won didn't even have enough punts to qualify really for an average on the internet.

16:51Pat McAfee:But it was just no way is that asshole winning. So like I have been on the wrong side of a lot of these votes. So it kind of makes me feel like, who cares? Who cares? We got to judge the people that are doing the voting. But getting that honor bestowed upon you for your legacy is obviously something that is very, very special. So I've kind of always been indifferent about these titles that are voted on by people that I don't think understand what's going on in the reality of the situation. But this particular predicament, it feels like everybody's kind of viewing it the same way. And it's like, how do you think you are too good to put in the greatest of all time?

17:24Pat McAfee:There has to be a flaw in the system of some sort. That makes sense, D-Bot.

17:27AQ Shipley:This is an absolute joke. You've heard people, you mentioned anybody who knows ball, whether you hate the Patriots or you hate Belichick, Tom, everyone has come out and said pretty much the same thing. I grew up a Dolphin. I'm a Don Shula guy, perfect season, super, all that. Don Shula is obviously one of the GOATs. But when you talk about coaching, GM, a contributor, there is no one who tops the list, who is even really a debate when it comes to Bill Belichick. The same way it is with Tom Brady and quarterback, in my opinion. So this is a joke. And then the part of it about, like, how much he respects and love and how much reverence he has for the game of football.

18:04AQ Shipley:We all remember, like, the top 100 when he was sitting at the table in NFL films and him just doing, just going through all the football. I remember being a player probably my rookie year. We were going to play either the Packers or the Lions, and this dude had on film from, like, the 1950s, you know, talking about, I believe it was the Packers, talking about the evolution of the forward pass and the history of Lambeau and all these different things. So this is the type of guy that he is, the coach. We always felt more prepared than the other team. I thought the rules were changed for Bill Belichick to be able to go into the Hall of Fame.

18:39AQ Shipley:Earlier. Like literally I thought this was why it was changed. Same thing with Kraft as an owner. But Bill being left off first ballot, we've seen it happen with players. Terrell Owens is the first one that comes to mind. Like he was, I thought, a no-brainer first ballot. but we know his relationship with the media, so we thought maybe it would be some of that. But this is a joke. This is an absolute joke. It's a sham. It's a mockery.

18:59Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think there's a lot of words that you could use to describe it, and they'd all be accurate, especially if it seems like it's a fraud. Now everybody's questioning the Hall of Fame as a whole, which is not good because the Hall of Fame is a special place. The Hall of Fame is a special jacket to wear. 12-year NFL vet, Super Bowl champion, player coach, Jackie Moon of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, A.K. Shipley. Hey, Koush. Hey, Koush, obviously you were seventh-round draft pick as well. You did win the Remington that night. Congratulations. You deserved it back there whenever we were doing the ESPN College Football Awards down in Orlando.

19:28Pat McAfee:Great time. Your thoughts on Bill Belichick not getting in there and now the conversation that's surrounding the Hall of Fame as a whole because that did seemingly become the thing. When the voters aren't the Hall of Fame, though, the voters are just kind of handed the baton of who gets in and who doesn't. There's a lot of olds in there that have been around a long, long time that I wonder if they start to think that it's their Hall of Fame as opposed to the Pro Football's Hall of Fame, kind of an ownership-type deal because we've been here so long and this is kind of our world. I think they kind of get excited about that type of power.

19:58Pat McAfee:I think there are certainly some people in those positions that have that. Yeah, certainly, and I think my thoughts echo everybody else's sentiments. I mean, listen, Bill Belichick's arguably the greatest person, not just GM, not just coach, the greatest person that's ever been involved in football. And I know every single time I played him as a player, never beat him. always went into those games saying, yeah, we're going to beat him. Then you come out of the game and you lose 49-7. It's like, of course we weren't going to beat him. He was going to take away our best player. He was going to bracket this guy.

20:28He was going to make us play with our left hand, and there was no chance of us beating him. But, again, you just look at his record and you look at his time in New England, it seemed as if they were in the Super Bowl every other year. And if you look at the numbers, it basically comes down to that. I know it doesn't work out that way, but I think it was 10 Super Bowl appearances or Super Bowl. AFC championship, you get what it is, right? But I think whenever you think about Bill Belichick, it's not just the greatest head coach. It's not just the greatest GM. It's not just the greatest contributor.

20:57He might be the greatest person that's ever been involved.

20:59Pat McAfee:DC, offense coordinator, he met with Tom. We're talking special teams, obviously, he had great knowledge.

21:03AQ Shipley:16 conference championships. Coach. Three as a coordinator, 13 as a head coach. That was a himbo question. Great trivia. Here's another stat from himbo.

21:12Pat McAfee:Bill Belichick has an above 500 record against every NFL team in the NFL. Yeah. Yeah, he beat everybody. And, I mean, the list goes on and on about accolades, but also just topical references. We would meet a new head coach that got a job somewhere, and our immediate reaction would be, that guy's going to beat Belichick? That was literally, that guy's going to beat Belichick? It was almost like Bama. It was very similar to like Bama is in college. Everybody gets big wins, like we want Bama. That's what it was with Saban. In the NFL, it was like, they're going to beat New England? And Bill was the general manager and coach, and sounds like potentially partially D.C.

21:46Pat McAfee:whenever he was there. This is wild to think about. But remember, people of these ilk are voting on a lot of things. So we got to remember that.

21:56AQ Shipley:Quarterback coach, too, don't forget that. Tom Brady always talks about how critical he was to his evolution as a quarterback. And then, obviously, drafting him. Then making that decision to go from Drew Bledsoe, who was the top pick, one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the league, to move on and go with the young Tom. We never get that with 90 % of the head coaches that have been in that position.

22:19Mike Tirico:And there's a story. We talk about him being coordinator and head coach because that's two of the three main jobs. GM, of course, being off the field, up in the booth, but on the field. When Lawrence Taylor, when he was with the Giants, before he became the D.C. with the Giants, there's a story about how they hired Belichick and he was either a defensive assistant or a special teams assistant. And Lawrence Taylor went in to the front office. He's like, hey, what the hell are we doing? Like, I'm not going to be, you know, taking my orders from this young Bill Belichick guy. Like, why the hell would I do that?

22:50Mike Tirico:And they told Lawrence Taylor, like, no, the defenses that you've been running the past two years, this guy is the one that's been making them, giving them to the defensive coordinator, and you've had your most successful seasons. Like, it's not even just when he is in those positions. So you really can't even fathom what he does contribute, and that goes to what D-Bot says.

23:07Pat McAfee:Like, he can coach any single position. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who had the same thoughts as us. Can't wait to hear him depict it because he's a future first ballot Hall of Fame. Maybe. Well, I don't think so. I don't think so. That's right. Maybe if you're lucky enough to have similar mindset and ideals as the people who are voting you in to a fraternity that they are not in, but act as if they own, ladies and gentlemen, J.J. Watt.

23:35Mike Tirico:Yeah, J.J.

23:38Pat McAfee:Jage, one day you'll get into this media run Hall of Fame, not the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the media voter Hall of Fame. I don't know. Maybe you will. I don't know. Maybe you will. You're tweeting a bit too much. You're getting a little loud on Twitter.

23:50JJ Watt:Careful. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. Did I tweet a little too loud? Did I upset the apple cart a little too much? I mean, what are we doing?

24:03Pat McAfee:Okay, so you have the same reaction as everybody else. Whenever Don Von Nada Jr., DVN Jr., reported it, I thought it was fake. I'm like, well, how does he know? Do we already know who it is? Next Thursday night, I believe, they'll be naming the official Hall of Famers. We might have them on program Friday morning for a game show, actually. Now, do we have a spot reserved, you know, just in case there is a change of opinion before now, and then we shall see? So them reporting that he wasn't in there early, I thought it was a lie. but then as it was getting picked up and repeated it was like how is this even possible jage this does feel like the one that felt like a surefire lock that goes the other way and it sometimes you need that type of situation to kind of drive a little change in something do you think there's any way to fix this change this or what is kind of your thoughts of the current reality of the pro

24:53JJ Watt:football hall of fame yeah no there like you just said there are literally like two three people in history that are absolute no-brainer locks whatsoever, Bill and Tom being two of those. And I saw something where one of the voters was like, why should the votes be released? What are you going to do? Because you shouldn't have a vote. If you have Bill Belichick not making the NFL, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, you should not have a vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The guy has eight Super Bowl titles. There's only been 59 of them. He's got eight rings from 59. Like, what are you doing? What qualifications do you want?

25:38JJ Watt:How do you tell the story of the NFL without Bill Belichick? Yeah. If you didn't have him on your ballot, and I get this whole, like, well, there was three spots, and you can only put, like, I don't care. If there's only three spots, Bill Belichick is spot number one. Point blank, period. You figure out who fits in the other two. No other matter should happen. He is in the Hall of Fame, first ballot, no matter what. The guy beat me left, right, and center. multiple times. I should have every reason to hate him. He's a first ballot All-of-Famer without question.

26:08Pat McAfee:This is stupid. It feels like all the ball is coming out and saying this right now, you know, because there's a lot of people, obviously, for the last year and a half or so, even the final years maybe at New England, who started to feel a certain way about Bill Belichick and how, you know, the way he did handle the media and the way he operated in the public eye versus the way he operated with his team, it seems like very different. But in the public eye, he didn't want anybody to like him. He didn't care if anybody liked him. He's here to do a job. Let's keep it moving. Whenever you're not winning as much, whenever you act like that, people throw that in your face a lot.

26:37Pat McAfee:Like, hey, look at this. Look at this. So people have really celebrated and danced on the downfall almost in their eyes of Bill Belichick. Now, Bill Belichick will say that he's building something in North Carolina. It's going to be great. He was literally on the recruiting trail this morning. They tried to run him out of that job a hundred times. I mean, there was multiple different things about that. Obviously, his personal life is talked about very very loud it feels like this is the first time where all of ball has come together and acknowledge bill belichick for what he is do you not agree with that jage it's it's hands down the

27:06JJ Watt:best pr that he could have right now at a time where obviously it hasn't been the greatest pr forum the last year or two here with everything that's going on and it is a galvanizing i mean have you ever seen twitter come together about anything 100 all together at one time it's been incredible to watch this reaction because it's such that that's it's such a no-brainer this is

27:30Pat McAfee:i mean it's the stupidest for bill belichick i'm happy he's getting a chance to get his flowers yes you know and i hope he does get to experience that which is basically why i wanted to call this morning as they were on the recruiting show i'm like hey i just want you to know like everybody is going to bat on your side for this like i don't know how much you follow it i don't know how much you know but literally everybody in ball including hootie including hootie is coming out He's a Dolphins fan. He's coming out on your side. It does feel like he's getting a lot of flowers right now that maybe he didn't get.

27:59Pat McAfee:Because there's that documentary. Well, yes. There's all the other stuff that kind of happened. It's been a very negative post-leave of New England for Bill Belichick.

28:07Mike Tirico:And that's why after the documentary, which was two years ago, not that long ago, after that documentary came out, everybody was basically like, hey, Robert Kraft, what the hell are you doing? Why did you guys decide to paint Belichick in this light? And a lot of people in New England had a lot of qualms with Bob Kraft for years because of how they painted him. So you'd assume that maybe they learned something from that, just not even the Krafts because the Krafts did. They basically called their mistake and hired Mike Vrabel. But you would assume other people would say, hey, everybody who tries to bury Bill in the end inevitably loses because all the football people know how much he means to the game as a whole.

28:44Mike Tirico:So the fact that they still came out and did this is ridiculous. And now if the reasoning, which maybe we'll find out, maybe we won't, If the reasoning is, you know, Spygate and Deflategate, what is that set for next year with Tom Brady? Like, what's the president there? Because he was a part of it. I think he's two years, 20, 28, actually.

29:00Pat McAfee:That was me from earlier misquote. But it will be fascinating how the president is set now, you know?

29:05JJ Watt:How is the president set? Didn't he let in 20 people, like, a couple years ago?

29:10Pat McAfee:Yeah, post-COVID. Yeah, because of COVID. And then there was a gap because there was a backup here.

29:13JJ Watt:There was, like, a class where there were 20 people going in. But Bill Belichick's not in. I mean, if you got in, if you're in there, you're like, well, hang on a second. Should I even be here? Because Belichick's not here. Do I deserve to be here? No, because I don't have eight rings. Oh, Jage thinks there's a chance he's not making it now.

29:34Pat McAfee:Jage is like, hold on now. Well, he was using that thing. Oh, the bionic arm? I am curious, though, for guys like J.J., who you should unequivocally be a first ballot Hall of Famer, but after something like this comes out, like, does that even matter anymore? Like, it seems like the whole idea of being a first ballot hall of famer, like that doesn't mean shit anymore.

29:56JJ Watt:Well, that's what this does. Like that starts this conversation where it should never be a conversation. Like a first ballot hall of famer should be the most highest honor, biggest thing. And the guys that are no brainers should be no brainers. And now all of a sudden it's completely switched this whole mindset and it's turned the entire thing upside down. and to your point of how do you fix it i don't know because what now we're just going to wait a year and they're going to have a vote and he's obviously going to get in next year and then you're going to do a ceremony like nothing happened and he's going to go up there and he's going to not act like these people didn't screw him the year before and i'm sure he's going to do he has such respect and reverence for the hall of fame that i'm sure he'll do it but like we're all just going to act like oh yeah like no now we go back tomorrow and you say okay hey, commissioner's decision, we screwed up.

30:46JJ Watt:I don't know how you fix this. This is absurd.

30:49Mike Tirico:Well, and that's why Bill Pullian's taking it on the shins, but it wasn't just Bill Pullian. I am under the assumption that if you needed 40 out of 50 votes, there were 10 to 12 people who had qualms with Bill, and they thought, like, I'm going to be the only one. I'm going to be the one that doesn't vote him first ballot, so that when it comes out, it wasn't unanimous first ballot. Yeah, heroes, exactly. And then it turns out 12 people ended up having a qualm, And Bill Polian's taking it, and that's because he's the only one with his name on it and that has done an interview and stuff. And, you know, sure, if he didn't vote for him, whether he did or not, that doesn't matter as much.

31:23Mike Tirico:He doesn't know. Yeah, he doesn't know. But there are 11 other people. Change. Please. What?

31:29Pat McAfee:Connor's in the middle. We don't need you. He doesn't know. He said he doesn't know. He's 95. He's pretty sure. He doesn't know. He's 95 % sure. Okay? Is that not enough for you people? He maybe shouldn't be voting anymore if that's the case. I don't think you should be voting if you don't know who you voted for. Yeah! That's fair. He was 95 % sure the guy woke him up. He was in the middle of a nap, just had some milk. He's 83. Ovaltine, he's 83 years old. We've seen this guy at these games, these Colts games. It is news to me that he's doing a radio show, okay? I'm very grateful for Bill. It's news to him.

32:02Pat McAfee:He voted for the All-Star Game. All right!

32:06Mike Tirico:They might have woke him up from a nap and been like, you like Bill? I mean, what's going on?

32:10JJ Watt:I can tell you that. Clearly, I'm off his ballot in however many years.

32:15Pat McAfee:I assume Boeck Bowling has...

32:16JJ Watt:Maybe not. Maybe he'll forget.

32:18Pat McAfee:See, the issue is, though, like any personal biases getting in the way of a job that you're not supposed to utilize those is certainly just a reality of humans, I think. Which is why, like, we can't be having you right there say, Jage, does it even matter anymore if you're a first ballot Hall of Fame? We can't have that happening. It's already starting to happen at the Pro Bowl. It's already starting to happen.

32:38JJ Watt:That's been done for years.

32:40Pat McAfee:And, Jage, I will say as somebody that was in a Pro Bowl with you, Jage known for taking Pro Bowl, I don't want to say seriously, but treating it for what it is, celebration of ball and sport, won a truck. Wanted to win the truck. Won a truck. Still got it. And defensive end pass rusher is certainly a position in which if you were to go, you could steal a truck at the Pro Bowl every single year if you really wanted to. So I respect that. But, like, the Pro Bowl is... Da-ding-ga. Oh, yeah. Da-ding-ga. Tuesday night flag football. And I saw, was it Sean Merriman maybe that put the post out about what the Pro Bowl used to be?

33:17Pat McAfee:That was real from Sean Merriman. I grew up wanting to go to Hawaii to go to the Pro Bowl thing because of how cool it looked, how awesome it looked. When I make it to the NFL, I'm like, all right, I just want to get to Hawaii and do this Pro Bowl thing. And then obviously make it, first time I make it, it's in Arizona. And we had to drive out in the middle of the desert. It was freezing cold. Love Arizona, but it just didn't even have the full hotel. running out. JJ couldn't even hang out because there was another convention happening in the hotel. It's like, this is not what I thought this was going to be.

33:41Pat McAfee:And then everybody's like, well, the players aren't taking it seriously. Well, it feels like the NFL's not taking it seriously. We can't even sit at the lobby bar because there's a t-shirt convention happening at the same exact time at the same hotel. So I feel like everybody contributed to the Pro Bowl becoming ass. I think everybody contributed to that. We can't have that happening to the Hall of Fame, is how I feel, JJ. That's how I feel.

34:01JJ Watt:Yeah, I agree. I agree. I mean, I'm hopeful to be in it one day and I'd love for it to hold the prestige and value that it's held my entire life and because of all the unbelievable names and legacies and legends that are in there. That's why this is so blasphemous because if Bill Belichick is not a first ballot Hall of Famer, no person in the history of the NFL deserves to be.

34:23Pat McAfee:Jimmy Johnson said, I don't want to hear it.

34:26Mike Tirico:Yeah, he said Bill Paulian was telling him how to cheat before as well.

34:30Pat McAfee:Well, say that three of his tweet, please. Okay, let's make sure we get the words right. If they're using the excuse he wanted to emphasize that, of Spygate. That's ridiculous. Many teams, including ourselves, I'm in the Hall of Fame, tried it. Howard Mudd at Kansas City, who later coached for Bill Polian and Tony Dungy, gave us the idea. He was the best. Rest in peace, by the way. We didn't get anything and stopped, but many teams gave it a try. Jimmy Johnson will be joining us, I believe, in like 30 minutes or so. Hell yeah. A little bit more about that. Do some journalism, but that is a fascinating thing because whenever this was all coming out publicly, media-wise, I think fan wise the spy gate all the gates gets very loud with these people and then everybody in ball was like not that big of a deal still got to execute still got to execute let's keep it moving let's keep it moving even a Connor Stallion stuff yeah it was very much like let's keep it moving let's keep it moving and I'm not saying everybody is cheating okay but there are certainly a lot of people that were potentially trying these things are like let's not look into this too deep let's go ahead and just keep it moving how we're doing it here so the spy gate felt like that from within a building but i do know there was people that thought it definitely crossed the line so i don't know where the spygate thing falls in all this i assume it certainly held over his head but but isn't that also the part like you're just grandstanding if you're one of these voters because like the only people who truly could be pissed about the spygate stuff would be other front office executives coaches stuff like that guys who what maybe two or three of those guys were actually in the league at the same time a bill that have a vote like it's all these other people who are saying like this isn't right this isn't right who weren't in a football building i guess would be the person yeah right in that particular instance jade your thoughts on that as we talk about like the football culture as a whole they're treating the spy gate scandal as like a punishable scam that that must be the the reasoning the logic that they're utilizing in

36:19JJ Watt:their voting i would assume there is no logic there is no reasoning like i don't get it man And the guy has eight Super Bowl rings. Like, what are we doing here? Like, this is... Jimmy Johnson's going to tell us he's been doing it the whole time. Howard Mudd's got a serious stray there. He wasn't expecting to wake up today being pegged with some... Wow. Jeez, James.

36:44Pat McAfee:Rest in peace to Howard Mudd.

36:46JJ Watt:I know. Oh, it's all right. I didn't care. Yeah, actually.

36:49Pat McAfee:And also, I will say that Howard Mudd and his family would laugh at what you just did right there. Yeah, so that is don't feel terrible.

36:57JJ Watt:But he's rolled over in his damn grave, that bullpen check. He's all like, step it on me. I stopped. He said, hang on. Was that my name being thrown around?

37:04Pat McAfee:Hey, Allen Muddy is tough enough to do that to you, buddy.

37:06AQ Shipley:Everybody knew about Coach Muddy. Really? Oh, yeah. On the sideline, he was, yeah, getting all the signals.

37:13Pat McAfee:Coach Muddy.

37:14AQ Shipley:But that's not fair, man. Everybody was trying to do it, though.

37:17JJ Watt:Which is why. Everybody is doing it, man. You got, they're literally spy reports for every single team. You're doing everything. But now I don't know how far it went. Don't say this. Don't say this.

37:26Pat McAfee:You're still up for votes. Now is about to time.

37:28Mike Tirico:They didn't even win the Super Bowl during the Spygate year. And then the other gate is Deflategate. And they came out, and that happened in 2014. And then in 2015, they did a study of all the footballs in the cold weather and said, like, oh, this happens every single cold game. Like, even Deflategate was basically cast out of the wish.

37:44Pat McAfee:The Spygate, you would assume that they've been doing that.

37:46JJ Watt:Yeah, you definitely have no ties to the situation, Connor. He's got a Boston Bruins shirt.

37:51Mike Tirico:Yeah, I got a Bruins shirt. I got the Pats helmet, all this. But still, like, even the deflator. Yeah, I got my helmet right here. And the Hall of Fame helmet. And the Hall of Fame. Oh, no. That's a great point. Oh, the Canton police, they're good people, I think. They're still up here somewhere. But seriously, the deflategate, like, that entire study about the footballs comes out after the fact, and they say, like, yeah, actually, what's crazy about air pressure is that when it gets colder, the air pressure, you know, goes down. I heal gas law.

38:21Pat McAfee:Any punter or kicker or catcher or thrower would be able to tell you that about balls whenever it gets colder. But the original report came from Bill Nye's Science Guy, bro. Bill Nye's Science Guy told me that it's too much. It doesn't move that much.

38:37JJ Watt:Anybody with a car that lives in the Midwest or anywhere cold will be able to tell you that. Because when it's cold outside and you get in your car, it beeps at you saying your tire pressure. You drive around for a while and it pops right back up.

38:49Pat McAfee:I'm going to be honest. Mine's down like 28, 27 right now. Me too, but you know what you got to do? You just ride it out. By the time we go home tonight, it'll be back up 30, 31. You'll be fine. We have a couple non-car cover people in the office. Tough morning the other morning. Yeah, geez. Geez, Louise. We're talking a foot on the hood, driving the whole way, clean out one side. It's not moving. That thing's frozen. It's like, can you see on that thing? It doesn't even worry, but we got a couple of that. Need that thing to get warm. Need the car to get warm. It is unbearably cold right now. And it's only starting.

39:24Pat McAfee:You're not in it anymore.

39:27JJ Watt:I'm in it here and there. It's been cold. We had snow days.

39:32Pat McAfee:You're not in your log cabin up in Wisconsin.

39:35JJ Watt:Don't worry about where I am.

39:36Pat McAfee:You're not in your log cabin up there in Wisconsin. I know that. Because those were the good old days. Whenever you turn on, JJ lives in a log cabin in Wisconsin. This guy's an actual fucking lumberjack. Ice bass in the lake. Yeah, I'm like, holy hell, I love this guy. This is Paul Bunyan. We got Paul Bunyan in it. And then I saw the –

39:55JJ Watt:I saw you bundled up with a nice scarf yesterday to go outside. What were you doing?

39:59Pat McAfee:Had to go clean a little thing off or two, you know? Blue, the dog that we have, his energy doesn't wait. You know, he ain't got the time, so you got to get him out there and run a little bit. So I had to get him out there and run. Snot frozen, that's where we're at. We're at snot freezing time. And there's another one coming. and I don't have a lot of cold weather stuff because I don't really get cold. So that was everything. What's that?

40:23JJ Watt:Yeah, you live in a place that you wouldn't need it for sure. James, I don't get cold. Get some cold weather stuff, brother. Get some Carhartt on you. Holy shit. Yeah, I know.

40:31Pat McAfee:I need a little Carhartt on me. Okay, I need it, but I don't get cold really. And if it's not, I just put a hoodie on. I got some gloves. I'm good. That one, face, had to do the full on scarf. That was from Travis Kelsey. I believe he sent me a gift back there. Thank you, Travis, for doing that. I pulled that out of a box. I'm like, do I have one of these things? What can help me? Oh, Travis, shut up. Super fashionable, did that entire thing. Yeah, I felt pretty good about it. But it's cold as shit, Jim. It's cold as shit out here.

40:56JJ Watt:Yeah, I believe that.

40:58Pat McAfee:Hey, you're hiring an American, I heard, for your team, Espanol. We'll see.

41:04JJ Watt:We'll see.

41:05Pat McAfee:What do you mean we'll see? Diego Luna deserves a spot.

41:08JJ Watt:We're working on a few different things. We've got some ref issues going on. We're trying to figure some things out here. Been some questionable things happening, and we're trying to make sure that everything is on the up and up. And we're not getting little club syndrome here. We're going to stand up to it.

41:26Pat McAfee:What? You're getting little bro'd by the refs?

41:30JJ Watt:We're not taking that. We're not taking that. We're looking for some answers. We'd like some answers.

41:35Pat McAfee:They're saying, hey, excuse me, Espanol. Why don't you shut up? I don't know how they say that in Spanish. Hush it. I can't. Is that what they're saying to you?

41:47JJ Watt:I mean, it's just, there's just been some questionable calls lately that we'd like some answers to. We don't like, we don't like just sitting there and taking it. So we're hoping to get some answers and some understanding of why things are happening the way that they're happening. So we'll see how that goes.

42:03Pat McAfee:Who do you meet with the commissioner? New territory here. This is very new. Are you guys sitting at a desk? Like, are you doing the whole, are you guys going to be across the table, like litigation type situation? Or are you being Zoom calls?

42:14JJ Watt:It's the early process. It's an early process, and we'll see how far the process goes. Yeah, but Manolo had his thoughts, and I appreciate him sharing them.

42:27Pat McAfee:Ownership backing Espanol coach Manolo's thoughts, in which he shared, in which he says, seems like there's one club that always gets screwed and nothing ever happens. Would like to know how this works. Jage, I'd like to say, as somebody that's been around you a few times, Your presence in the room is certainly worthy, I think. 6 '7", J.J. Watt walks in to meet with the commissioner of La Liga. I think that's not a bad play. Maybe do a couple of these on the desk. Hey, so how does this work? You're saying same old Espanol, okay? There are good people down there. They don't want to do this? I'll snap you in fucking hair.

43:01Pat McAfee:Yeah. Is that what you're going to do? Is that what ownership is going to do?

43:03JJ Watt:Our boys are working. Our boys are working. They're putting in shifts. They're trying. All I'm asking for is a fair opportunity for them to go out there and play. That's all.

43:11Pat McAfee:Nothing wrong with that. It's good ownership. Hey, that's good ownership. Atta boy, Jage. Way to go, Jage. Sign American now.

43:18JJ Watt:Dumpy, I saw you got to see Mike McDaniel yesterday. That was cool. Yeah, it was nice, too. Give him a nice sendoff. He deserved that. He was awesome. I liked him. I wish it would have worked out genuinely.

43:27Pat McAfee:How do you feel, Jage, about him going to L.A.? That feels like a great hiring. Also, best hiring in D-Bot's eyes is actually in Tennessee.

43:35AQ Shipley:Yeah, my favorite right now is Brian Dayball, OC, for Cam Ward down there in Tennessee with the defensive head coach, Robert Sala. So I would be interested to know, J.J., what's your favorite hire so far in this cycle?

43:47JJ Watt:They built a good staff there, man. Tennessee has built a nice staff there. How crazy is it? I was thinking about this right before I came on. How crazy is the NFL? We just had two championship games on Sunday. Everything that comes with that, we know who's going to the Super Bowl. We have head coaching hires going left and right, and those things are pushed down, down, down the media ladder because we have a bigger story. on our hand, like bigger story than the championship games, bigger story than the Super Bowl upcoming, bigger story than these head coaching hires. But in terms of who these head coaching hires, I mean, I saw today the Browns obviously hired Munkin.

44:21JJ Watt:Jim Schwartz, in my opinion, then seemingly would be available because I believe he interviewed twice for the Browns head coaching job this cycle and didn't get it. It has been reported.

44:33Pat McAfee:He's out.

44:35JJ Watt:So, I mean, there's another guy available right now for people looking at DCs and obviously been a very successful defensive coordinator in this league. So that would be a hot name to look out for. Who knows where that ends up. But this cycle has been really, really interesting to watch. I mean, obviously the Buffalo situation just happened there. They were looking for a new vibe after everything. And I think Joe Brady's a great coach. I think he has potentially be a great head coach. A lot of people have him on his radar. But I just don't know if new vibe is from within the same building. I don't know.

45:06Pat McAfee:we will have joe brady on tomorrow i believe at like 1 30 eastern or so uh i think he has a presser and then he's going to join us i've been told immaculate vibes now what does that mean

45:20JJ Watt:he is great i've talked to him a bunch this season because we had a bunch of their games he is great i am there is no doubt that he he's been a head coaching candidate for a long time for a reason he is great but what i'm saying is when you go out and do a press conference about the reason that you fired a coach being going in the locker room and seeing the vibes being down and feeling you need new energy. Like that, you can just see how optically that's just an interesting.

45:43Pat McAfee:Well, then there's another optic to it as well, Connor.

45:46Mike Tirico:Yeah, not to mention, Jage, when the owner comes out and says, like, hey, the coaches, they liked Keon Coleman, not Brandon Bean. And you think, well, Sean McDermott's a defensive head coach, so the coaches that like Keon Coleman would probably be the offensive guys, which would then lead you to think, well, the offensive coordinator is Joe Brady. So Joe Brady loved Keon Coleman. So Terry Pagula just once again throwing his guys without even knowing it under the bus.

46:09Pat McAfee:No, it's just a master class out of, hey, I'm just going to shoot from the hip up here. And you're allowed to do that if you're an owner, especially if you've got a new stadium coming and everything like that. But Joe Brady with his great fade taking over up there in Buffalo, I think is potentially special hiring. If he can get it right. Like we've seen some of these. Liam Cohen. What we've seen Liam be able to do down there in Jacksonville. Now, obviously, they're not playing for the Super Bowl. But still, what Ben Johnson was able to do. And I'm not saying that that's an exact comparison because Ben Johnson was bell of ball for head coaching role for like three, four years.

46:39Pat McAfee:Everybody knew he was going to be a guy. But if Joe Brady can bring a little bit of fresh energy, a little bit of a reset with Brandon Bean still doing his entire thing, maybe the Bills win it all. Maybe the Bills win it all.

46:50JJ Watt:I've heard Jim Leonard's name thrown around for D.C. I think Jim Leonard's going to be a phenomenal defensive coordinator in this league. He's obviously a Wisconsin man, but that's a guy who whoever hires him as a defensive coordinator, I'm very much looking forward to watching their defense play.

47:02Pat McAfee:How'd you feel about Pittsburgh yesterday? Big Mike McCarthy getting emotional before the first words even come out of his mouth. Obviously, TJ, Pittsburgh Steeler. Obviously, J.J. Watt has attended a lot of Steelers games, called a lot of Steelers games. Massive turnover, first time in longer than 19 years. McCarthy takes over. Got emotional, say he loved the city. And it feels like he won over some people in the city with his emotion and raw, authentic love and passion for the Three Rivers. What are your thoughts on Big Mike McCarthy getting the gig and his initial reports?

47:36JJ Watt:Yeah, I mean, I've seen everybody's reactions to the initial hire and the understanding of everything that's gone on from that standpoint. But I'm with everybody else. When you watch that press conference, and we know it's not about winning press conferences or anything, but the man had some moments. The man had some great moments in that press conference. And it was, I mean, the hospital line is just as good as it gets from an opener. And then he finishes it with, we're going to start the championship parade at my childhood house or whatever, 1137 Greenfield Avenue, I think it was. And he's got the entire McCarthy family tree there, which is a large tree.

48:12JJ Watt:Irish, yeah. It's, I don't know, he crushed it. It was a really cool press conference. It was great. I think people are starting to come around on it a bit. Obviously, the offensive coach, that'll be cool to watch in Pittsburgh for the first time. Haven't really seen that. So he did as great of a job as you can do at that press conference to get people on board.

48:32Pat McAfee:How do you feel about Pittsburgh Steelers' chances in a very new AFC North? Jesse Minter will be joining us tomorrow, new head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. They obviously have high hopes and everything they have cooking up there move on from Harbaugh. You know, Munkin just gets hired in Cleveland right now. Now Schwartz is going to be out. The big bad wolf potentially for that Cleveland defense is leaving the city. Very new AFC North with Zach Taylor and Joey B still sitting there in Cincinnati. What are your thoughts on how it kind of looks from this point of view as we know nothing about the actual rosters?

49:03JJ Watt:Yeah, that's the ultimate question. I understand the qualms about Mike McCarthy and I completely get it. I also think that in the desire for somebody new and somebody exciting and somebody huge, there is a little bit overreaction in the fact that Mike McCarthy is a good football coach still. It's not like, oh my gosh, how could we possibly go with that guy? Let's not take it that far the other direction. But it's the quarterback. Are you going to go with Will Howard? Are you going to go, is it going to be Rodgers again? Who's going to fulfill that position and how do you build that for the future?

49:40JJ Watt:That's the only pertinent question there is the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, how that goes. In Baltimore, you've got Lamar Jackson. So you add Jesse Minter on the defensive side. Defense would imagine him to be shorn up, see who the offensive coordinator is. But at the end of the day, you have Lamar Jackson. That's going to be great. Cleveland, they've got to figure some stuff out. Obviously, their defense is going to be great. They have Miles Garrett. But, I mean, they have work to do. Pro Bowl quarterback, please.

50:06Mike Tirico:Jerry Judy, too.

50:08JJ Watt:Yeah. And then you got the Bengals who are running it back and weren't able to make it, obviously. But Joe Burrow's back, healthy and ready to roll. One of the best in the absolute business when he's healthy and running. So going to be a great division per usual. And I would imagine I'll probably be covering a lot of their games like we were last year.

50:27Pat McAfee:J.J. Watt North. You know, I can't wait to hear it. You also had some AFC South stuff as well. Obviously a lot of Texans games. They were undefeated with J.J. on the call. Maybe we should look into that. Maybe the Hall of Fame voters will do some actual digging into things. How come all JJ's teams win whenever he's on the call? We'd like to get to the bottom of that. You know, you talk about the Cincinnati Bengals there with Joey B being one of the best in the world. They went from outhouse to penthouse. Joey B gets hurt his rookie year, comes back. They end up going to the Super Bowl, almost win nothing if Aaron Donald doesn't wreck the game.

50:56Pat McAfee:The Cincinnati team kind of gave hope to a lot of different fan bases. This year, it feels like that's been even more emphasized. Go ahead, AQ. Yeah, both teams in this year's Super Bowl did not make the playoffs last year. Now they're in the Super Bowl. what team or teams do you see that didn't make the playoffs this year maybe having that same

51:14JJ Watt:success next year oh man that's a great question uh it's definitely one i wish i had time to prep for oh jj wow a little bit i mean i would say that the ravens are certainly in that i would say that the kansas city chiefs are obviously in that i mean you're immediately looking at those types of teams that didn't make it this year but are stacked and ready to roll for next year but it also speaks to this league man it speaks to this league that this is what's capable of happening and we talked about with all the head coaching turnover like everyone expects you to win now and if you don't win within your first two years sometimes your first one year you are gone and they are looking for somebody else it is i i think it's great to watch and from a fan standpoint and somebody who's a fan of the game i love watching this but from somebody who also took some time to develop myself and if i was on this type of timeline would have been kicked out of the league like it's so damn hard to develop coaches to develop players to develop organizations properly when you are doing things on this fast of a timeline and the expectations are this high

52:19Pat McAfee:this quickly fernando mendoza with the raiders you know might turn them completely around who's the coach who knows maybe the arizona cardinals maybe they go on a super bowl run next year Nah. Yeah, maybe the Arizona Cardinals do it. The Jets, they've hired offensive defense coordinators, obviously. Don't see it. First-year coach. Tennessee Titans, Cam Ward, huh? Possibly. Maybe has an opportunity here with Dayball calling the play. Jackson Dart, New York Giants. Sexy Dexy. Hey. Sexy Dexy. Hey. Going very ham on the internet at the moment. They got Jackson Dart. They got Harbaugh. Do they have a complete culture shift to make this thing?

52:55Pat McAfee:Bruce is nodding his head, yes, as a zoofaholic. 11 wins or bust. Can you show your hat to the camera? Zufa. Zufaholic, baby. He left with his bus. So maybe the Giants make a run at this thing. And then Washington Commanders, obviously, you think Jaden Daniels. Shuck came on at the end of the season. Boom! That's the one. Shuck potentially goes crazy down there in New Orleans. I mean, that's parody of the NFL.

53:18AQ Shipley:Shoddy. Cowboys. Dallas. Dallas has a chance. Baker, right? Dallas is Detroit. Easy. Quarterbacks.

53:25JJ Watt:It's crazy to look at this graphic because I'm sitting here thinking, like, all right, who's their offensive coordinator? Who's their D coordinator? And the guys they got, like, you can't even do that right now. There's so many teams that don't have everything in set, or there's so many things that have changed. It's crazy to look at this and try and figure it all out right now.

53:42Pat McAfee:And not mentioned here is the Indianapolis Colts, because we don't have our pick for the next two years. That's right. Okay? And there's a chance we make the playoffs next year. Well, let's... There was one team that nobody agreed upon, which is a shame because JJ's got great history there. Ty has a last question for you about an open coaching job still. Yeah, JJ, just curious. I know you played there for a little bit, and I guess this would be partially to you and AQ. Do you think Arizona's ever going to be worth a shit again? What? It kind of seems like the last couple times. Well, I'm just saying.

54:12They're kind of that team you circle, and it's like, boy, does any coach want to go take a head coaching job there? Because chances are two years, he's going to lose a bunch of games, then he's going to get fired, and they're kind of just going to run everything back. They don't have a quarterback. The area is beautiful. Beautiful. The stadium is beautiful. It seems like it'd be pretty easy to get people to want to go there. But what does Arizona need to do to kind of get back on the right track?

54:38JJ Watt:Yeah, I mean, right now they need to find out what their quarterback situation is for the future. When you're a head coaching candidate and you're sitting there and you're looking at opportunities, the number one first thing you're looking at is who's the quarterback of the team. And is this somebody that I can build off of? And am I going to tie myself to this and my personal success, knowing that this might be my only shot at the apple? Can this be my future? And then after quarterback, you start to look at the organization as a whole. And if you like how it's run and if you think there's potential for them to add an influx of cash and everything to help build this roster to be as good as possible and the staff.

55:10JJ Watt:But number one comes down to quarterback. And right now they don't have that solution for what their quarterback future is going to be. And so that's what makes it tough. But everything else, I agree with you, man. There's a reason I went out there. I thought we had a chance to win. We started out 7-0. We were very successful. Everything was going great. And then it kind of fell apart. But like you said, it's a beautiful place. It's a great place to go. And when you get the players right, everything can happen. But that's why it's still vacant in my mind right now. And that's why it's not necessarily super attractive at the moment because you don't have an answer for what that quarterback future looks like.

55:45Pat McAfee:Maybe J.J. Watt becomes the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. Ooh, maybe.

55:50JJ Watt:That's a lot of time commitment. I do not want to be a coach. I really enjoy my current work-life balance. It's beautiful.

55:58Pat McAfee:Okay, I'm happy to hear you're happy. Now, some places need a little change. Sounds like La Liga is one of them. Jay, get to the bottom of the officiating. You'll be doing it for the good of sport as a whole. We appreciate the hell out of you. Are you going to be out at the Super Bowl next week?

56:11JJ Watt:No, I will not be. Will you?

56:14Pat McAfee:Yes. it's part of our it's our whole thing. We do Radio Road Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. You don't know.

56:21JJ Watt:You're going to be at the Royal Rumble too, huh? Nice. Congrats.

56:24Pat McAfee:No, Brock Lesnar is going to be in the Royal Rumble.

56:28JJ Watt:There are rumblings, JJ. I thought that you were going to also take that big jet of yours and pop it over and go with him.

56:36Pat McAfee:No, no. Brock Lesnar is officially in the Royal Rumble. We learned that at the beginning of the hour with a cold FaceTime from Brock Lesnar. Okay? I not. Brock. Yeah. And by the way, Brock's going to win that thing. Is JJ in it? Oh! We'll see. Are you?

56:55JJ Watt:I don't. Nobody's told me. All right. I'll see you

56:59Pat McAfee:next hour. Goodbye.

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58:05Welcome back to, uh, yeah, that's a pepper thing. First up, we've got Harrison wrapping his Dr. Pepper in a tiny quilt so it feels at home. Oh, how tender. That's a Pepper Thing! And over to Becca, who's whispering affirmations to her can. You're sweet. You're unique. You're the best thing I ever poured over ice. She swears it makes it taste better. It's not a science thing, but it's a Pepper Thing! Why do they all do it? All for that sweet, delicious, truly one-of-a-kind taste of Dr. Pepper. It's a Pepper Thing!

58:39Football is the greatest.

58:42Pat McAfee:We got Hall of Fame controversy. We got a Super Bowl matchup ahead. We got new coaches in different places and we got optimism around the league that maybe next year could be the year that their team goes on a Lombardi hunt. This year, it's only going to be the New England Patriots fans or the Seattle Seahawks fans who are going to spend all offseason prancing around from Peacock and party to party, saying, we are the world champs. Will it be McDonald and Darnold? Or will it be Drake May and Vrabel? Will it be the return to a dynasty for the East Coast? Or one for the left coast? It's a magical matchup.

59:19Pat McAfee:It's a magical time for ball. Todd Monken just got named the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. They enter another rebuild of sorts in Cleveland. The Browns fan base, the dog pound. How, how, how. A lot of barking up there. They got a little leprechaun. Okay, a little mascot named Bronny. Right? He's a little leprechaun? I forgot about that, yeah. Is that what he is? Yes. I believe he's an elf. There it is. An elf. I couldn't think of the other word. I knew it was similar to a leprechaun. Bronny the elf in front of the dog pond. They sell out their stadium. They fill that place up. They have had zero continued success since I have been alive.

1:00:00Pat McAfee:A lot of quarterbacks have obviously come through there. Some have had success. They immediately get shipped out of town. Seems like there's a multitude of curses that could potentially be on the Cleveland Browns football team. But it does not turn the Cleveland Browns fan base away from being fans. Mike The Miz, Mizanin, WWE superstar, former real-world legend. He has belief every year that the Cleveland Browns are going to win the Super Bowl. Even in the middle of the season when Shador Sanders was playing football, winning a game there or two. And although his stats weren't saying he was doing great, They had some sort of magic that was kind of running through them and they were winning.

1:00:34Pat McAfee:Miz thought there was a chance they were going to win a Super Bowl last year. These Browns fans are diehard. Hopefully, Munkin's able to bring them something that's special on the offensive side. With Miles Garrett on the defensive side, hopefully they're able to be great. And it would be cool for those Browns fans if the Browns were good. But let's head to Hammer. Don, Todd. Is that ever going to happen, Tone, with the Browns? No. No. I mean, I don't. And this is nothing against Todd Munkin. He's a great offensive coach. Obviously, they have great pieces on the defense side of the ball. It's most likely a good hire as far as coaches go.

1:01:05But, I mean, there's just something in the water up there. I think it's poop, to be honest with you. Chance. It's just never going to work up there. And we all know that.

1:01:13Pat McAfee:There's not poop water up there. I mean, there's four teams that have never been to the Super Bowl. Browns are one of them. Lions. Titans and Jags are the other two, just in case people didn't know that. Titans have been to the Bowl, Tony. Sorry, sorry. The Air McTexans. Sorry, Jags and Texans. I get the stupid AFC South confused sometimes. This guy. But, no, I just don't think, you know, it's ever going to work there. History would tell us that it's never going to work there. That's Pittsburgh Steeler fan. Ten digs. We appreciate it. Let's go to the top of the table at Boston Corner at Ty Schmidt.

1:01:43Pat McAfee:Ty, how do you feel about the new hires? Ten coaching changes this cycle. Two still remain, Arizona and Las Vegas. Munkin being the most recent. Your thoughts from Harbaugh to Munkin, all the hiring in between. which one gets you most excited is it big mike back in pittsburgh honestly i think it's jesse minter going to uh well i mean not big mike is the easy one because that's kind of a close personal connection personal one exactly because you know i still have quite a bit of affinity for him from when he was the head coach of the packers but i something about jesse minter to me just kind of screams i really like this guy the the bigger question i really like again i kind of just asked JJ that like the Raiders I guess you know they have the first overall pick and you have Tom Brady there and everything but boy who wants who wants the Raiders job and who wants the Cardinals job because like even like Clint Kubiak we were talking about him and the timing of things I think is going to make it so he's probably not going to get one of these jobs and I think I said it out there just kind of thinking off the top of my head I was like you know what I could see Clint Kubiak sitting this one out, waiting until next year.

1:02:50Bengals, shit can, I can't even, Zach Taylor, and then Clint Kubiak is the Bengals head coach. But he was the guy we were hearing about all year. Like, hey, it's his time. It's his time. Look what he's done with Seattle's offense. I just, I don't know who wants the Cardinals job. Phoenix is a great place. It is.

1:03:07Pat McAfee:Got a nine-year NFL vet, Darius J. Butler. A lot of coaching jobs these days seemingly getting turned down by guys. Guys very rarely did that in the past. Felt like whenever you got a head coaching opportunity, you would certainly take it. It's a bigger paycheck. It's a chance to run your thing. You don't know when this is going to ever happen again. Now with no coaching salary cap for these teams, it feels like assistant coaches, coordinators can get paid a pretty good amount of money and then kind of pick and choose. Ben Johnson turned things down a lot. We heard this year a lot of people turning down head coaching interviews and staying in the coordinator world.

1:03:36Pat McAfee:It's a fascinating little development as we move forward about which job's a good job because we've seen so many jobs be shite jobs for people in the past.

1:03:43AQ Shipley:Yeah, and it's much more, I guess, reporting around it too. So we get much more insights of who's getting interviews, who's taking their names out of the hat, which, like you said, you don't really hear that in the past. And a lot of coordinators, I think, and coaches, they're going to stay with winners because winners, they will always be plucked from. So if you have good alignment from the top down, from the ownership level, from the coaching level, and then it all revolves around a quarterback. All these turnarounds that we're talking about, they are all connected to young, talented quarterbacks.

1:04:11AQ Shipley:and then you get the coach in there. So, like, I'm looking at this list, like Harbaugh, Jackson Dart. We saw some glimpses. We saw some flashes. If he can stay healthy, they have some other pieces with veteran players who have played well in this league that they can go and make a run. We know the NFC East is always a toss-up year in and year out. So these coaches, they want to find the right spot from the top, but also that quarterback. You've got to have a quarterback that you can build around and go all the way. So Joe Brady would have, you know, MVP winner. You know, you're obviously in a great spot.

1:04:40AQ Shipley:You already have that relationship there as well.

1:04:41Pat McAfee:And the Steelers, Mike McCarthy, they don't know what the quarterback situation is going to be. He was open to Aaron Rodgers. Definitely would love Aaron Rodgers, but that's an Omar Khan situation. Love Will Howard, love Mason Rudolph, whatever the future is. Salah with Cam Ward, there's obviously a chance there. Munkin, I don't think they know. Halfley down in Miami, I don't think they know. Stefanski in Atlanta, I don't think they know. You know, it's a fascinating little—

1:05:00AQ Shipley:The mentor, mentor. You got Lamar Jackson. Great news.

1:05:02Pat McAfee:And then Vegas, I think you have Fernando. Yeah, for sure. And I am a believer in Fernando. Not that I'm an NFL scout or anything like that, but I think he's going to be very good in the NFL. I think he has the traits to be great in the NFL. I think he loves football. I think he's obsessed with film. I think he likes breaking down plays. I think he's big. I think he's athletic, and he throws darts. So I think he has the NFL qualities, and I think he's built for it.

1:05:24AQ Shipley:For sure. But looking at Fernando, in my opinion, he is a quarterback and a prospect, and this goes for 95 % of prospects. You've got to have the good shit around him. You've got to have a good offensive line. You've got to have play. I felt like Cam Newton, for instance. Cam Newton was going to be successful damn near anywhere he went. Andrew Luck. Those guys were going to be successful regardless of where they went if you just weren't totally incompetent. But most of the other guys, you need the other pieces around. We've seen it with Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield. We've seen it with all these.

1:05:55AQ Shipley:Jared Goff, he was good. But then once he got in Detroit, even though you had McVay, once he got in Detroit, different pieces, different play action. They played his scheme with Ben Johnson. you saw him kind of elevate his game. I would put Fernando Mendoza kind of in that same vein, but he can definitely be a piece where he can have your team in contention year in and year out.

1:06:15Pat McAfee:So I think that's a nice piece there. Arizona, you have no idea. Now, 12-year NFL offensive lineman, also king of the wedge and Super Bowl champion, player coach for the Buccaneers. AQ Shipley is here, AQ. Hey, some of these places have terrible offensive lines, too. We talk about the quarterback not having a chance. A lot of places that means it has a bad offensive line. We saw a quick turnover for offensive lines in multiple different places. It is possible, right? It's very possible. You just have to get one or two pieces. Sometimes a lot of these teams have three guys, and now all of a sudden you get them one or two extra pieces.

1:06:46You get somebody through the draft. You get a guard through free agency. You have two bookend tackles already in the center, and all of a sudden you've got a great offensive line.

1:06:52Pat McAfee:Yeah, and I think if you have a good offensive line, you have a chance. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is the man who's a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, and the all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers, A.J. Hawk. Hawker, obviously we just went through all the coaching hirings. We'll certainly have a lot more time to chat about that. Let's talk about the main story of the morning, and I'm excited to get your take on this thing. As somebody who was also in the NFC North with Brian Urlacher at middle linebacker, all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers, but I do believe whenever it comes Pro Bowls, all those other nods, you certainly were not getting the votes for your particular division because Urlacher was also there when you were playing, so I don't know what your mindset is towards any popularity vote-type award to begin with.

1:07:30Pat McAfee:but Belichick getting kind of slighted here in everybody's eyes has certainly taken the entire sports world by storm your thoughts AJ on how this whole process has turned out yeah so you

1:07:42Mike Tirico:just said getting kind of slighted I don't know if anyone even someone that hates Bill Belichick like the most would say kind of slighted it's not kind of slighted it's no question no brainer first ballot Hall of Famer Bill Belichick is when you look at the the body of work this guy has produced. I mean, come on now, just check the graphic out. Yeah, I mean, I guess JJ said this is the best PR you can get because this happens and all of a sudden everybody comes out, even non-Patriots people, and they say, this is nuts. Like, what is this even, like, this doesn't mean anything anymore when you do stuff like this.

1:08:12Pat McAfee:Yeah, it kind of questions the credibility and legitimacy of everything whenever you have this big of a flub for a process as a whole. Obviously, Bill Belichick knows that he's supposed to be a Hall of Famer. You know, Bill Belichick respects the game and to your point about people that aren't just patriot people coming out in support of bill belichick one of the goats a hall of famer himself a man who's a two-time super bowl champion a national champion coach and player in college living legend tv icon ladies and gentlemen coach jimmy johnson yeah how you doing coach man how are you doing i'm fantastic thank you so much for joining us so we put the request in to talk to you because we thought you were obviously perfect for the moment as a Hall of Fame coacher, but also with what you said last night on your Twitter account, where you said if they're going to be using Spygate as an excuse for this entire thing, they're going to have to dig into basically everybody's stuff who is potentially trying this.

1:09:05Pat McAfee:Could you elaborate a little bit more on how common this type of thing is? And why did it make you so upset that they left Bill Belichick off the first ballot Hall of Fame? Well, first of all, I think this tarnishes everything in the Hall of Fame, all of the inductees, everybody in the Hall of Fame just because of, you know, 10 or 11 or 12 ignorant, jealous assholes who did not vote for him. I think it tarnishes everything about the Hall of Fame. As far as if they're using the excuse of the spy gate, you know, before they had the electronic communication between the sideline and the players, everybody was trying to steal signals.

1:09:47You know, a lot of people would not admit to it, but every team had an individual trying to get the signals or doing one thing or another. And then one of the scouts for the Kansas City Chiefs talked to us. They said, hey, we've got the system. Howard Mudd is the best at doing it. They had a camera and they would film the opponent's signal caller and match it up with the film. And then they would get their signals and and we noticed we watched the Kansas City huddle the offensive guard would look to the sideline and Howard would go ahead and give them a signal whether or not it was you know man coverage or zone coverage etc etc now Howard Mudd left Kansas City left and actually went and worked for Bill Pullian and Tony Dungy now I'm not accusing them of doing it but there were a lot of teams doing it back then before they put the electronic communication from sideline to the quarterback and the linebackers and so if they're using that excuse to not put bill belichick in the hall of fame it is absolutely ridiculous okay i appreciate you coming out and saying that and by the way we tried doing it we couldn't get a whole lot out of it we weren't real good at it so we

1:11:03Pat McAfee:stopped doing it we're wasting so much space and energy on these films that we can't we have does Does anybody know what this means? No. The thing about it, it happened so late. You only had a few seconds to get the signal in. Like I said, we really weren't very good at it, and we were spending more time on it than we needed, so we said to hell with it, we'd stop doing it. But I appreciate you coming out and saying, hey, this is much more common than we would believe, because I feel like I've been an NFL fan my entire life, growing up in Pittsburgh, playing for the Colts, and I'll talk about it every single day.

1:11:31Pat McAfee:I don't think until I saw your tweet, really, how prevalent it was. And I knew Coach Howard Mudd, rest in peace. So I think I appreciate you saying that, being transparent about it, but also explaining from a point of like, hey, if that is going to be the reason why you hold this guy out, you might need to look into some other people that are potentially in here. What is the precedent you think going forward here, Coach? Because you said this diminishes all this with how it is. Like, does this change going forward? What are your thoughts on the Hall of Fame as a whole? Because there is a lot of people saying the Hall of Fame is like fraud now, which is kind of what you were scared of happening as a Hall of Famer yourself and us all understanding what it is.

1:12:06well I talked to two or three of the voters today and of course every voter is going to say I voted for him you know which is bullshit you know a bunch of them a bunch of them are lying uh you know the thing about I guess the process they had five candidates and they could vote for three uh and I think some of the voters probably say well it's a slam dunk you know Bill Belichick's going to get in with all of his accolades you know eight Super Bowls six of the head coach on and on and on and so they assumed you know that he was going to get in so they voted for one of the candidates that they liked and uh and then it's fell through the cracks that he didn't get in uh but it's a real it's a crying shame because one thing i know bill personally and uh no one knows the history of the nfl more than bill belichick no one loves the nfl more than bill Belichick uh and it just pissed me off that it wasn't a slam dunk him going into the Hall of Fame he'll go in next year granted and everybody says well oh hey he's got Tom Brady you know well very few Hall of Fame coaches you know go in without a great quarterback I had Troy Aikman so to use that well it's you know it's Tom Brady hey Tom Brady needed Bill Belichick Bill Belichick

1:13:22Pat McAfee:needy tom brady yeah i think those are all very valid points and for him going in next year we're not we're just going to act like it's his first ballot next year jimmy you think we should all just agree to do that whenever we talk about it first ballot hall of famer here bill belichick as we move it ought to be i saw him at the national championship game miami and indiana by the way congratulations indiana and miami had a great year as well and bill you know i walked away and i was talking to him he said hey i hope to see you in the hall this year and you know i thought it was going to be an automatic so i chartered a jet i was going to go up there to hell with it i'm not going this year this can't be what this becomes we can't we need to stop this we need to correct this okay aj has we can't have jimmy johnson not going to hall of fame you are jimmy you are football brother you are just a part of ball college player national champion in arkansas coach national champion my the you were doing the entire thing two time for america's team You are a part of ball.

1:14:20Pat McAfee:So we need to make sure that you are not getting turned off by this entire thing. We've got to make sure we fix this, Jimmy. We've got to fix this thing. We've got to make it right somehow. I love football. Now that I've retired from Fox, I've got four TVs set up. I've got 12 hours on Saturday, 12 hours on Sunday. No one comes in the room. I only leave the room to get a little bit of food. I love football. And I appreciate, you know, greatness. And that's what you had with Bill Belichick, greatness. I'm a coach. You know, and if some of the players don't get in, it doesn't bother me that much if a player doesn't get in.

1:14:58But for a great football coach not to get in first ballot, that was wrong.

1:15:03Pat McAfee:All right, well, hopefully they make it up to you. AJ has a question.

1:15:06Mike Tirico:Coach, have you and any of your fellow Hall of Famers, have you spoken to anybody, you reached out to anybody at the Hall of Fame and tried to, I don't know, kind of wrap your head around this whole situation? I've talked to a few people. In fact, you know, Troy and I texted back and forth a little bit, and everybody is just shocked that Bill didn't go in first ballot. I haven't talked to a single individual that's even on the borderline. Every one of them is saying they're shocked that he didn't go in. Look at all the accolades. Look at what he did. You know, that's really the reason why someone goes into the Hall of Fame.

1:15:46And I just don't understand it.

1:15:49Pat McAfee:All those things that you're looking there are earned, you know, on the field. The accolade to get into the Hall is something that other people are going to judge upon. Obviously, there's some personal biases or lapses in the process that they miss it. Hopefully, they're able to get it right because just like Coach Jimmy Johnson, living legend, is saying, there's a lot of people saying, well, to hell with the Hall of Famer as a whole if Bill Belichick is not considered a Hall of Famer. And we can't have that. We've got to preserve these things. Pro Bowl has to remain. The Hall of Fame, we needed something, Jimmy.

1:16:17Pat McAfee:You know, we lost this Pro Bowl. Pro Bowl's gone forever, Jimmy. Pat, I know that, you know, Bill at times, you know, he wasn't the most friendly guy to some of the media. And so maybe some of them voted against him, you know, because they didn't get an interview of him. I don't know. So, you know, maybe there's a little tension between Bob Kraft and Bill, you know, and maybe there was some lobbying there. I don't know the reason for it. I don't need to know the reason for it. But it should not have happened. Yeah, Pro Football Hall of Fame feels like it. Coach, can we pivot to a couple other football questions now that we have one of the greatest minds in the history of ball on?

1:16:55AQ Shipley:What you got there? Yeah, you got it. D-Bot has a question for you about ball, boss. Hell yeah, Coach. Thank you, first of all, for your service growing up in South Florida. as a Miami Dolphins fan, Miami Hurricanes fan. Thank you. We got a new hiring cycle now. Eight new coaches hired. Four first-time head coaches. Four coaches now that have already been on the job. What are you doing day one on the job? Whether it's a press conference, reaching out to teams, putting your staff together. What are you doing day one? And then kind of a second part of it. How the hell do you win in Miami as a head coach in this environment?

1:17:27Well, I think Miami's got their work cut out for them because of the salary cap and their quarterback situation. I think for every new coach, well, first of all, it's ridiculous that we've got 10 openings. There's not 10 bad coaches in the league. But anyway, for a new coach going in, the number one thing, he's got to get his players all on the same page, set the stage. Here's what you can expect from me. This is what I expect from you. I think a lot of these owners are saying, hey, I've got to change the head coach because our fans are upset and I can't lose our fans. That has a lot to do with it.

1:18:06But the other thing is hiring the right staff. You know, I was fortunate every place I ever was in University of Miami or whether or not it'd be Dallas Cowboys or Miami Dolphins, I had some outstanding assistant coaches. And that's the reason I went in the Hall of Fame. I had great players and I had great assistant coaches. but you know they've got to put together the right staff and that's very difficult to do nowadays because coaches are under contract you can't talk to certain ones but putting together that staff and getting your players on the right page that's the first order of business good luck

1:18:40Pat McAfee:to all these parties who have to win within the next 12 months so their asses are going to be on the hot seat yeah jackson jaguars made uh made the playoffs chicago bears won on a run mike variable first year they had four wins last year you're expected to do the exact same whether the situation is similar or not it's a crazy time in the nfl but it's a good time in the nfl we talked about you know you being a legend in football a lot of us remember you from your time with the dallas cowboys obviously miami you looked cool great tan oh the hair was remarkable you know great but with the cowboys where you did so much damage and left so much history you know obviously you still keep up with everything going on over there connor has a question for you yeah coach

1:19:19Mike Tirico:Coach, how do you feel about the state of the Cowboys? It feels like Shoddy got in there in his first year and, you know, had success, but injuries hurt him a little bit, and they got off to that slow start. But where do you see the Cowboys going? What do you think of, you know, Dak, C.D., hopefully George Pickens again? And I also just wanted to say, miss that hair on TV, Coach. It is remarkable to see it. It was such a quick notice, I didn't do my hair today. No, you did.

1:19:44Pat McAfee:Yeah, you woke up like this. That's kind of what we're talking about. It's unbelievable. But as far as the Cowboys, you know, you know, Brian Schottenheimer did an outstanding job in a difficult situation last year. They were just horrible on defense. And I think if they can make some correctional defense, in fact, I talked to Jerry Jones not too awful long ago after the season. And, you know, I said, you can make some corrections on that defense. And, you know, it may not be that you're going to be dominant. it but if you're just good just so so you're going to be so good on offense if you can keep pickings if you can keep him and get the running back situation going yeah you can have an outstanding team you can make a run at it because you're that good offensively uh but they've got to make the corrections on defense how do you feel about the micah trade i don't think we've gotten a chance to chat with you now we've seen how it works out what are your thoughts i didn't like it uh I didn't like it at all.

1:20:40But, you know, of course, him getting injured, maybe it was the right thing to do. But, you know, because he's a little bit undersized and he's had a couple of injuries. I just don't think you get rid of game-changing players. Somehow, some way, you find a way to keep them. And he was a game-changer. He really could dominate the game, just him individually. But without Micah, you know, they picked up, you know, some draft picks. They got a lot of salary cap money. You know, they're going to be able to add some players. So Jerry, Jerry made the right move, you know, for what it was, because they were at an impasse as far as Micah Parsons.

1:21:18Like I said, if they'll make some improvement defensively, the Cowboys can make a run at it.

1:21:24Pat McAfee:Obviously, your relationship with Jerry is very publicly documented, I think. You know, in the Hall of Fame, there was a moment there, and there's been more. What is it? How is it today? I don't know. That's what I was about to ask. Do you keep up with Jerry? Do you talk to Dallas? Or are you just locked in your room with four TVs and only a state of the food? How is that? Jerry and I talk on occasion, and we're fine. We're good. Every time I talk to him, he says, man, I need to talk to you more. Hey, I love to hear that. My number. Yeah, well, he's got to act. He's in Landman. You know, he's got to, I think there was a natural gas.

1:22:01Pat McAfee:Yeah, he's searching for a honey hole that he thought he found. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's got that Comstock. I've got a little bit of, I've got some stock in that myself. We would like to see him. I hope he does well. We would like to let you know that the Johnson family does hope that Jerry does find said honey hole that he has. The weather by everybody, that natural gas price is going to go up. That's good information to have, actually. Let's go ahead and write that down. Let's dump that so nobody else hears it. Let's take advantage. Let's talk about the Super Bowl before we let you go here, Coach.

1:22:34Pat McAfee:Patriots, Seahawks. Obviously, Vrabel comes in, turns that culture so quickly. McDonald, just some defensive mastermind with Seattle. Your thoughts on these two teams, and how do you think the game goes? Well, you know, I think just like everybody, the edge is going to go to Seattle with McDonald. He did a great job defensively, and I love the way Sam Darnold played. I mean, it's so good to see Sam Darnold, you know, with all of his travels and being cast off three or four different places to play as well as what he played. uh and and so yeah i'm gonna give the heads to seattle but you look at the two coaches mcdonald just did a great job coaching their seattle and mike brable hey brable did a good job at tennessee you know and people may want to criticize him there but if he had had the quarterback situation in good shape uh then he could have done even better at tennessee but he's an outstanding football coach uh some people are going to knock him a little bit for the schedule this year, but hey, they're a good football team.

1:23:31They're well coached, and

1:23:33Pat McAfee:they'll have a shot at it. Jimmy, thank you so much for taking time with us. You're awesome. You're an inspiration right now, honestly. All right, Pat. Good talking to you. I hope my hair turns that Bob Barker white. Yeah. You know that Jimmy Johnson white, that radiant white, that if you get a good tan, you know, with our caucusoid skin, that thing pops out like that. We appreciate you, Coach. You're the man. Okay. Talk to y 'all later. Coach Jimmy Johnson. Yeah, coach! 82 years old.

1:24:03Mike Tirico:The GOAT. Not getting that jet. Not taking the jet up.

1:24:07Pat McAfee:I booked a jet to get out of this island. I live on an island. It is great. This is what you work for, by the way. I scheduled a jet to go up there and celebrate. Bill Belichick, greatest coach of all time. We're going to do this for the coaching community. Cancel that. I'm not going. I don't like that this is already happening. I didn't expect Jimmy Johnson to be late. I saw people on the internet being like, the Hall of Fame is not worth a damn thing. That's what I see people on the internet saying. Because they're attacking, obviously, because how stupid this whole thing is. Now we got Jimmy Johnson there being like, I'm not fucking going.

1:24:35Pat McAfee:You think I'm going back to Canton, Ohio? Nope. Not doing that. Come on. Am I even supposed to put my jacket on? Am I supposed to even put it on? Do I even? Should I even wear one? If Bill Belichick, Tom Brady said something similar. Tom Brady said, okay, so no coach is allowed to be in the Hall of Fame then? If Bill Belichick's not allowed in the Hall of Fame the first time he's available to go in the Hall of Fame, what does this even mean? I don't think I fully understand. it has been the same exact point of view from everybody in ball that's awesome hey that's

1:25:01Mike Tirico:awesome actually great yeah that's very rare very rare i think that's a good thing you know there's

1:25:06Pat McAfee:always like uh there's situations where very bad things bring people together for the first time long time like funerals i think about this friend passes away a celebration of life takes place i see people for the first time in like 10 15 20 years there's positive that comes from the very negative from something that you didn't wish would happen the positive from this entire situation is ball has come together. Ball has come together. Yeah. And it does feel like there is 50 names, okay, that represent an entire thing that kind of everybody has turned against. And be like, who the hell do you think you are, actually?

1:25:36Pat McAfee:And that's very rare. I think that is a very rare thing to happen. Now, Ty, you might be disagreeing. No, I agree. It's just unfortunately, like, five years from now, when we talk about this and, like, all this stuff kind of floats away, like it's still going to be Bill Belichick wasn't a first ballot Hall of Famer you know and it's like it'd be nice if either the Hall of Fame or like the commissioner could come in and just retroactively be like you know what no like he is but you also can't open that Pandora's box because then where does it stop you know the next time someone who we all believe should be a first ballot Hall of Famer doesn't get in does the same thing happen like that is what should happen today someone should come out and be like hey I understand that we do this but like this should have been a slam dunk.

1:26:21David Baker should come out.

1:26:23Pat McAfee:Exactly. But I should knock on his door. He should. And say, hey, I'm taking this one for me. Yeah. For Ball. He's going to look down at Bill. Congratulations, Bill. That's what we need in this moment. Because, like, you're right. Everyone is coming together, but, like, eventually, like, once the media cycle passes and we get past this in a couple years from now, like, that won't be the conversation anymore. Joining us now is a man who's going to be in every Hall of Fame that he is up for. We think.

1:26:51AQ Shipley:Who knows anymore? I don't know anymore.

1:26:53Pat McAfee:I mean, honestly, who knows? Guy's going to be calling the Super Bowl, obviously, and then he's going right into the Olympics. And then, oh, yeah, every human on earth is going to hear him and see him. And how's he going to handle it? Perfectly. Smoothest guy on television. I have no idea how he's capable of calling every single thing that he does. He can host a talk show while calling speedwalking, then a primetime football game, give you the most energy and juice, and then wake up in the morning and break down an entire political affair if he had to. one of the greatest on the mic ever ladies and gentlemen mike tarico yeah thank you

1:27:24Mike Tirico:morning boys how we doing how good was jimmy dude 82 oh my god he's 82 years old i'm like blow past me keep going with jimmy i don't care what i have to say this is too good

1:27:35Pat McAfee:well that's interesting you say that because in my mind i was thinking we got jimmy johnson and mike tarico in the same hour somehow we are so so thankful you need to know that's how we view you brother that intro that i just gave you i tried to hit you with like a bevy a bang bang boom boom boom because you did you are incredibly smooth at what you do what what do you think is like your main focus or the reason why you're able to kind of be in any situation can i give you what i think it is please come on i think you listen i think you're actually listening so whenever you and chris collinsworth do the open where you talk about a team he's giving an answer and you are always appearing to actually listen so that you can pivot off of what he says to go into something else.

1:28:15Pat McAfee:Whenever you host the Olympics, I think there's probably people that know more about the individual sports than you do. You listen to what they're saying. Are you always listening? Do you think that's your secret weapon? And why are you so confident being able to do that as opposed to force shit that you want to get out?

1:28:29Mike Tirico:I'm kind of glad that you said that. Thanks, because I do like to listen. I don't know. I don't know stuff. I just kind of gather it and share it. And I love to hear what people think. And for me, listening is the number one tool in this business, even though we make a living talking. So I love that you picked that up. I do love to listen to people who are smarter than me. That's why I love listening to you guys. Can I just bring up something, by the way? No, no. You know I can't? You know I'm going to do it anyway. You know I'm part of one of the great moments of McAfee on the field, right?

1:29:02Pat McAfee:No, which one? Tackle.

1:29:05Mike Tirico:The golf swing?

1:29:05Pat McAfee:Oh, yes, yes, yes.

1:29:07Mike Tirico:The golf swing in Charlotte, I believe. Panthers game?

1:29:10Pat McAfee:Yeah, yeah, it was rain.

1:29:12Mike Tirico:I blew you up for about 20 seconds and you delivered with an inside the five punt and the golf swing. That was me. That's my first McAfee. That's my second. My first one was your first backyard brawl.

1:29:26Pat McAfee:Oh, first one freshman year. It was negative 10 or something like that.

1:29:30Mike Tirico:That's exactly right. And Morgan, can you name the announcers for your first backyard brawl? You and Herbie. All people you know. Me, Herbie, Aaron Andrews.

1:29:38Pat McAfee:Yes, because you guys are spending Thursdays with us. There was a little bit of a run on Thursday night on ESPN where we were kind of like the Thursday night special, I think. Yeah, we had the legendary crew back then. I forgot you were the play-by-play guy, though. That's kind of, hey, that's on me. That's how good you were. That's how good you were.

1:29:54Mike Tirico:That's all right. I just, every time I see the golf swing in the little tees, the little open, the little thing that runs, I'm like, that was us. That was us on a Monday night. I remember that. And you delivered because I think I said something about how good you were pinning people, not just inside the 20, but inside the 10. and then you did it on cue and then you gave us the celly and yeah so that's why i've always had mcafee right real close to the heart the whole way well i want to let you know me too yeah put

1:30:18Pat McAfee:me over i appreciate you doing that it's very very kind of you that is abnormal as you've come to realize with people in your position and normally how i am but let's talk about why i think you are also great not only listening thing you talked about putting me over for inside to 10 you seemingly are always prepared you know and you pulled me aside you were the only play-by-play guy that pulled me aside out of the networks and be like hey see you're doing directional punting here. What are you trying to do? What is the aim? What is the target? It feels like you're always prepared. Do you do that with everything?

1:30:42Pat McAfee:Do you feel like you're naturally more inclined to do that? Do you feel comfortable doing that? And how much is that kind of different, you think, than what other people do?

1:30:49Mike Tirico:I think everybody does it. I think our business has gotten a lot better in the 25, 30 years I've been doing it, just like kicking has gotten to become a science, just like doing shows like this have changed and evolved. I think we all do it in our own different ways. I've got a curiosity for special teams. So I want to learn more. And fortunately, you find out real quick that special teams coordinators and kickers and long snappers, they're like offensive linemen and defensive linemen. They may give you the best stuff of anybody because nobody comes, everybody comes to talk to the quarterback, right?

1:31:25Mike Tirico:Everybody comes to talk to the star receiver. Everyone comes to talk to the sack guy. But when you talk to the meat and potatoes people, they tell you everything. And I've always found that to be the most interesting and enjoyable conversation. So I didn't know much about kicking or special teams. So I started to take an interest in it and talk to guys like you and coordinators around the league. I love doing that. And that's fun for me. So I do love to, I love to dig and find stuff, but this job isn't that hard. We all kind of do the same thing in different ways. And I love the fact that our business, our part of the business has never been better.

1:31:58Mike Tirico:More good people doing great work on a regular basis. And it's just a nice time to be

1:32:03Pat McAfee:doing this yeah but there are separators brother and you're certainly one of the one that separates you're nice well it's an enjoyable viewing experience how much are you thinking about that while you're calling it and how much are you trying to read like the moment because obviously we saw a game winner uh i forget which one was most recent maybe chicago caleb yeah uh that caleb call with that play you lose your mind and it's like everybody else is also losing their mind but you also don't go over the top and sound like uh caricature it feels like you have a great sense of feel how much are you thinking about that for people at home or is that your natural

1:32:34Mike Tirico:reactions that are taking place i appreciate you saying that uh that means a lot it's it's still fun for me i'm still a fan like i still like to go to games we live in michigan i go to some detroit tigers games i don't cover baseball i love going in a ball cap and having a beer and still being a fan and when i'm in the booth i'm play-by-play guy journalist but we're still there as fans. And that's what I love about being with Chris. I love hearing a great play, after a great play, Collinsworth laugh. Stop it. We both love the game, right? And I'm still into the game. Now, I'm not a fan of a team.

1:33:11Mike Tirico:I'm a fan of the game. And I love when people make big plays. And I think Pat, our business has changed a little bit. People now want you to be in there with them and excited and be in the moment. So I'm right there with you. When Caleb Williams makes that play, it's like, there's no way he can throw the ball that far backpedaling. And he does. What are you going to say? Touchdown? Oh, that's like amazing. Right. So if in any way it's being genuine, I just, I've stopped thinking about how is it going to sound and just try to do it and just try to react the way I would when I'm sitting at home watching the game on TV.

1:33:48Mike Tirico:So if that comes across, look, you got a thousand things to your thumb to go watch, right? You can go watch some show on Netflix. You can watch something on Peacock. You can watch something on Hulu. We have to be, and you guys are the kings of this, we have to have a little fun and be entertaining along the way. So if you feel like you're along for the ride with us, then we're doing the right job.

1:34:07Pat McAfee:I think you do an incredible job at all of that. You're hitting the mark on what you're trying to do. Last question for me before the boys all have some. You're a legend in our eyes, Mike. You need to know that. You are beloved amongst the Thunderdome. Like actually, so when you make your move to go over to NBC, and they talk about how he's going to be doing more things. The Olympics, he's going to be doing golf. I think hockey was potentially on the horizon of conversation. But you were certainly not doing football anymore. We all knew that as NFL fans, as football fans. So we were bummed out about it.

1:34:36Pat McAfee:You took the decision to work on everything else, I guess, and then we'll get football whenever Sunday night football opens up, which is the biggest show in town. How was that time whenever you were waiting to get back? And we are thankful that you are back and bummed.

1:34:50Mike Tirico:Well, I'm thankful to be a part of it, too. I'll give you the straight answer here. It was 25 years at ESPN, 10 years on Monday night, and I loved it. I didn't want to leave a big chair in the NFL doing Monday night, but NBC had a lot of things that were items and events that I hadn't done before. And part of the deal was, at that time, NBC was doing Thursdays and Sundays. So Al and Chris were doing like 31, 32 games a year, Thursday night and then Sunday night. Like, so part of the deal was I was supposed to do Thursday night for a bunch of different reasons that I don't exactly know the real answer yet, but it didn't happen.

1:35:24Mike Tirico:So I ended up doing some Thursdays and Sundays. So Al didn't do all 31. Al did 24 at 5, and I did maybe a half dozen. But I got to do Notre Dame football in that stretch, and that was one of the great experiences I have ever had. Like, going to South Bend on those home Saturdays was awesome. Like, you guys know what Morgantown's like. AJ, you know what the shoe is like. Like, you know what special places. I live in Ann Arbor. I know what Michigan Stadium's like. To go to South Bend, and ESPN wasn't doing games there because it was just the NBC contract. To have five or six years of doing games in the Cathedral of College Football, Notre Dame Stadium, was awesome.

1:36:01Mike Tirico:And then along the way, we did the NFL studio show, got to work on the Olympics. Bob Costas stepped away from the primetime hosting of the Olympics earlier than I thought was ever going to happen. Pat, I'll never forget, I'm on the road in Foxborough, that one lane route one driving into the stadium there and i got a call from our boss mark lazarus and he said hey bob's uh bob's gonna step away from doing the primetime olympics we'd like you to do it and i'm like i'm driving a route one here in foxborough and i just got the olympic job like what the hell's going on here uh that's so that happened before i ever thought it would happen and uh that's become like a huge part of my life like the stuff behind me over there is uh all pictures from the summer olympics places that we've been we got a uh paris and a tokyo and uh Rio over here.

1:36:47Mike Tirico:You can sing it for me now. Those are life-changing experiences. We got another one coming up here right after the Super Bowl in Italy. I love the time I spent at ESPN. People like Herbie, like Fowler, like Reece Davis. Those are people who are some of my favorite. Sean McDonough, those are still some of my favorite people and still friends. I cherish all that time. But this 10 years at NBC has been off the charts and you know like a month like this with the nba and the super bowl and the olympics like he nobody's ever had a month like this so i'm just blessed to be a part of it you're

1:37:22Pat McAfee:getting a chance to showcase that range brother you're all over the place and obviously we miss you in the nfl we're thankful that you're back you never talk down to anybody doesn't feel like you're talking down to the people that are watching it's a it's an elite ability to be able to talk about anything and have everybody follow along aj has a question for you mike

1:37:39Mike Tirico:Yeah, Mike, I know you have a huge Super Bowl Sunday coming up on the horizon. Can you explain a little bit what your day is going to look like, obviously, before, during, and then after the game? I know you have plenty of work that day and going to be on TV a little bit. Well, one of the cool parts, AJ, that I can't wait for, and it sounds crazy, is I'm going to wake up in the middle of the night and watch, see if Lindsey Vonn can win the downhill. Because the women's downhill is like, I think it's 4.30 in the morning, West Coast time, but I'm waking up because if that happens, that might be the greatest thing that's ever happened in the Olympics.

1:38:10Mike Tirico:And it sounds stupid to say that until you start thinking about it. 16 years after she started competing, she's 41. She has a titanium knee. Four years ago, she was on the set with me at the Super Bowl at SoFi talking about the Olympics. And then she was working as a commentator for us on the Beijing Games. And now she's back and she's winning. And if she comes back and does this with a titanium knee, it's one of the greatest things we've ever seen at the Olympics. So I'm going to wake up in the middle of the night, watch that, get to the stadium, obviously do the game, hang with Chris the whole afternoon, soak up every second of my first Super Bowl to call.

1:38:46Mike Tirico:And then as soon as the game's done, go right down to the field and be a part of the Olympic primetime show. We're going to host the Olympic primetime show from the stadium. So as the confetti is on the field and people are reuniting with families and all that, we're going to do our primetime show, which is the best of what happened that day at the Olympics. and maybe it's Lindsey Vonn winning gold. Maybe it's something else from figure skating, but we do that right afterwards. And then when we're done with that, hop on the plane to Italy and be there for the last 13 days of the game. So it's going to be a cool, a cool super Sunday.

1:39:17Mike Tirico:I keep thinking about it and the closer it gets, it still doesn't feel real. It's going to be a blast.

1:39:22Pat McAfee:Yeah, it sounds like a great 24 hours there of sport, you know, for the good of sport, for the love of sport, which we all have. You obviously clearly have as well. Is Nathan Chen still skating or do we know if he's out there?

1:39:34Mike Tirico:Nice pull by you. He's not. He's not. What? He's the reigning gold vest. However, I've got something even better. Okay. Ilya Malinan. Do you know Ilya Malinan's name, Pat? No, I do not, but I'll never forget it. It sounds like. Dude, he's known as the quad god. He does that. It's not just his quads, okay? It's not like a Saquon Barkley quad situation. Hamstrings. It's the rotations. He does the quad in figure skating. as many times as anyone has ever done it in his program. So he could fall. He's so good he could fall and still win. That's how difficult his program is. He's amazing.

1:40:15Pat McAfee:Okay, so his name is Eliam what?

1:40:17Mike Tirico:Eliam Malinan. He grew up in Virginia. Yeah, yes. He's one of ours. You got to watch him. The quad god needs to know.

1:40:25Pat McAfee:Eliam Malin, quad father out here. Yeah. Yeah, so it was like Simone's was so difficult, right? I'm trying to remember. Her stuff was so difficult, so her points, even if she didn't hit anywhere near a perfect one, would still outscore everybody else. You're saying this about Mr. Ilium.

1:40:48Mike Tirico:Ilium. Ilium. Maladin.

1:40:50Pat McAfee:Oh, there he is.

1:40:50Mike Tirico:There's my guy. Watch him. Oh, shit.

1:40:54Pat McAfee:Ilium.

1:40:54Mike Tirico:Go, go. He's doing backflip. He's unbelievable.

1:40:57Pat McAfee:He does kind of look like Blades of Glory here. Ilya Malin.

1:41:04Mike Tirico:Shulman. Ilya Malin. Shulman. Great dude. Great dude. I've been around him. World Championships in Boston last year. Event in D.C. Met him a bunch of times. Such a great, great young man. America will love this guy. He's the favorite to win gold in figure skating.

1:41:19Pat McAfee:Okay, so he's... Yes, I love this man. Yes, that's my first time seeing his face. Ilya, let's go, dog. Let's go. We need you on that. ice we need gold coming home on that note 127.7 million i believe is what last year's super bowl was uh i assume everything's up and to the right uh don't get nervous out there to rico don't get nervous out there first super bowl don't get nervous what is the thought of something that vast and what are the olympic numbers because i know we all watch everybody does but what are like kind of the numbers you're about to head into here yeah the numbers are in the 20s on a regular

1:41:54Mike Tirico:the basis for primetime olympics but like it's all right are you going to do a different show if you know the audience is 50 80 times no you're you're a guy who knows if i'm just myself then that's what i need to do i'm not going to sit there and go oh my god chris 120 million people are watching don't screw up i just just kind of talk to people there's the the only person i'm thinking of on the other side of the camera is my mom my mom's sitting home she watches every game she's sitting on her couch watching the super bowl that's i talk to one person i always tell young people along the way. So I got to take my own advice, I guess, at some point.

1:42:28Mike Tirico:Like if you're anxious or there's more adrenaline flowing, which there will be, you know, until you get that first hit, until you call that first play, you're going to be thinking it in your head unless you just kind of just chill and just say, I'm talking to one person. So I view, look, the audience numbers are great. We were doing 52 million at the end of the Bears game, Bears-Rams game. It didn't affect for one second what either one of us said i think maybe you're just more prepared more careful but i i don't worry about the numbers i hope we break a record i hope next year at uh joe and troy and the abc espn show breaks a record just the more people in the football tent the better off we all are man and uh i think football nation has proven that this year for sure good for ball you're great for

1:43:14Pat McAfee:ball but you're great for sport as a whole tie as a question for you about that yeah mike you just mentioned how no one's really had a month like this like do you do you even get time to really like catch your breath you go from the NFL season to the Super Bowl to the Olympics we know you're doing stuff with the NBA now I know you said you don't do baseball but I believe NBC just got like a Sunday night baseball package so so guess what yeah maybe keep your keep your summer open uh like and Pat talked about your preparation like so I don't think you can really kind of just turn your brain off during the week like do you get a chance to kind of just sit back and relax or is it kind of always preparing for the next thing because it seems like you work non-stop this was my half hour

1:43:58Mike Tirico:and you guys screwed it up hell yeah so thanks i appreciate that hell yeah we're not gonna be a

1:44:03Pat McAfee:part of your rest if you want us all just to chill we'll take a nap with you yeah sleep sleep with

1:44:08Mike Tirico:tariko okay that's what we'll do great come have a salad with me uh no yeah you know ty um this Honestly, this week I've hunkered down at home and I'm just doing prep stuff for all three events. Because we've got the Lakers and the Knicks on Sunday. We start our Sunday night basketball. So Sunday night football is over. Now it's going to be Sunday night basketball until the playoffs end for us in late May. And then it's going to be Sunday night baseball on NBC. So every Sunday night we've got some big game on the network. So being a part of that is really cool and fun. So I've prepared for Lakers-Knicks.

1:44:41Mike Tirico:than doing some time on, like, today is the Seahawks offense for me. I did the Seahawks defense yesterday. I'll do Pat's defense and Pat's offense the next two days and just try to plan it out and all that stuff and Olympic stuff along the way. So it's not, look, we talk about sports on TV. Like, we're not.

1:44:58Pat McAfee:Yeah, but you can't sound like an asshole, dude. 128 million people watching. And in the Olympics, you're representing sports that feel like they don't get the proper coverage year-round. So if you were to, for instance, eye on game day, you know, get dropped into this cult society which is college ball you say somebody's name wrong why is this asshole allowed to have a microphone when we got literally a hundred thousand people in this building right here that know how to pronounce this guy's name it's like though you can disrespect people just by not having information so like the amount you have to prepare especially for these figure skating yeah skiing outbine skiing all these things you have to know a lot of shit because if not you'll be like get this guy off of our tv he's not worthy of the microphone.

1:45:41Mike Tirico:Don't you agree with that though? I do agree with that, but I think you kind of know what you need to know, right? I mean, AJ probably spent hours and hours and hours studying opponents, but there's a point where you're going to get diminishing returns and you're going to stop yourself from doing what you do best. So over the years, you'll learn what you need to take into the booth, what you need to take onto the set. We've got like the greatest team of researchers. You know what the researchers are like at ESPN with Game Day. Pat, we've got an awesome research team for Olympics and Super Bowl, and they provide you stuff, and then you figure out how do I fill in and fit in along the way.

1:46:18Mike Tirico:And you just be smart about it. Like you said, you nailed it before. I can't go on the air and tell you that I know exactly what you need to do in the bobsled or the luge or the skeleton, but we have people who do know so you read about it you ask them a question or two as a curious person and you just try to bring it home to tv like i said like we're we're not put your ass

1:46:40Pat McAfee:in there you ever do any of these things they ever throw in that bob no i've curled have you have you done curling before uh i've seen it obviously i loved one curling maddie hamilton

1:46:50Mike Tirico:took down did you ever did you ever go with green bay because that green bay curling club was right across from where you guys practice. Yeah, there is a Green Bay Curling Club. A known player on the squad actually got drunk and got a concussion curling at one point in that club. No! No! Curling is dangerous, bro! Yeah. Pat, you should take the whole Thunderdome to curling. There's got to be a curling club in Indy. You've got to take the whole group.

1:47:19Pat McAfee:I think there is one up here because whenever Curling Matty Hamilton and the boys were doing it, we certainly got all in. And we have a Canadian here and gumpy so whenever we beat them in curling we really wanted to kind of hammer home that the hammer is really ours the hammer yeah so we i love curling i've never do how were you were

1:47:35Mike Tirico:you good at it were you a good one of these i was good at that i was i was a very good sweeper i was very very good at that no it was fun i actually we got the hang of the our monday night group when we would do a game in green bay uh our producer at the time jay rothman we would uh rent out the green bay curling club we do brought some beers and curling it was pretty damn good it was fun Gruden was with us at that point. That was the all-time great. Gruden Curley. It was classic.

1:48:00Pat McAfee:Okay, quick, Gruden, because there is another question or two that need to come, so we don't need full answer here. Gruden not being back in ball is crazy. I thought he was going to get hired. I thought college or NFL, somebody was going to hire him. I personally thought that. Did you feel the same way?

1:48:13Mike Tirico:I'd love to see John back in coaching. I know that's what he loves to do. Especially, I think John with the right college team would be something crazy, right? NFL knowledge and we're seeing more NFL stuff. It's become like the NFL because your team is changing every year. And a lot of football now is NIL recruiting, getting a group of people behind you. There's no person you want to kind of be in that arena of a winning football team with who's any better at connecting a group than John. So I'd love to see it. I hope it still happens. Man, he was so good. I got a PhD in football those years with John.

1:48:49Mike Tirico:He taught us so much. He made our group so much better, and he still remains a friend. I get texts from him all the time. There's nothing like time around John for sure.

1:49:00Pat McAfee:You guys are a great booth. Great booth. Now, speaking of booth, we thought maybe somebody was going to be in the booth this year with you guys. D-Butt has a question for you.

1:49:08AQ Shipley:Absolutely, Mike. Before I even get to that, you mentioned Columbus, Morgantown. We got AQ Shipley here too, Happy Valley. Obviously, you don't remember those nights in the rent. Special environment out there in East Hartford. 20, 30 people watching. Relax, have some respect. Go Huskies, man. Absolutely. Right off I-84. Let's go to the Reds. Come on. I love hearing that, especially from former Syracuse alumni. But pivoting back to the NBA and Michael Jordan, obviously that was a huge part of the announcement. And I grew up – I mean, I was born in the 80s. Big Brother forced me to sit down and watch basketball at that time.

1:49:40AQ Shipley:So I remember MJ. And we're going to hang on to every word that Michael Jordan says. How did that all come together? What's been your favorite part of it? And have you seen the reaction of it kind of being that one long interview being chopped up? What's up? Kind of that whole, that's a big question. But what you got for me, Mike?

1:49:57Mike Tirico:No problem. A lot of people thought it was going to be something that we never said it was going to be, which is fine because that's the way things happen. That was us. Yeah, that was us. Yeah, that was us.

1:50:07Pat McAfee:That was 100 % on. We were a part of that group, too, yes, we're saying.

1:50:10Mike Tirico:I was trying to be passive aggressive there. Yeah, I heard you. We heard it. Yeah, we heard it. We owned it.

1:50:15Pat McAfee:We owned it. We owned it.

1:50:16Mike Tirico:Listen, listen. Listen, so of course, Michael, anytime he talks about basketball, is going to make people stop and listen. Michael's above the day-to-day, hey, Sham said Giannis is going to be on the trade block. That's not Michael Jordan, right? Come on. So Michael was interested in doing this because of his connection and legacy with NBC. If Michael's going to do anything, it's going to be different and special. Michael's not going to throw himself into the ring to be one of the seven or eight guys making comments. That's not who MJ was, is, or probably will be. So the chance to go down and get, Michael really wanted to talk about where the game is and where it's going.

1:50:54Mike Tirico:And he had some feelings about it that he has not expressed publicly. And as I said, look, of course we do that, right? And the thing is, every time we do roll out a new piece of it, people are like, oh, Michael said this. This is interesting. And talk about it. Clip. So it makes sense. So was it great? It was awesome to hang out for a couple of days and talk basketball and life and all the stuff with Michael. Off the charts good. But I think what I got out of it personally, other than being able to hang with Michael, you showed the clip. I got great Jordans out of it. Did you see my shoes?

1:51:30Pat McAfee:Are you on Team Jordan now? What a move by you.

1:51:33Mike Tirico:I'm not on Team Jordan. Look at my shoes there for a second. My kids will tell you that is not dad at all. And it's great. So now I do bring them to almost every NBA game I do. I wear my Jordans and kind of walk around.

1:51:44Pat McAfee:You need to get multiple pairs, Rico. You've been rich for a long time now. Get some new shoes. But also, you should have been pitching Team Jordan when you were there. Actually, that should have been. You would potentially be a perfect Team Jordan member, actually, as the only people that would make it there. Did you guys golf whenever you were down there for a couple days, or was it all hanging?

1:52:02Mike Tirico:We did not. The golf course was closed. The golf course was closed. They've changed and adjusted some stuff for the golf course, so we didn't. But I hope to get an invite back at some point and go back down. I will tell you honestly, hanging with Michael is just so cool and so normal. And just talking about his NASCAR team, talking about the NBA, talking about those Bulls days, talking about TV stuff. It's just there are very few people who you're around and you go, this is really cool. And that's still the way it is when you're around Michael. He's a pretty special dude.

1:52:34Pat McAfee:That's how we felt with you the last 25 minutes. So we appreciate the hell out of you, man. The GOAT.

1:52:39Mike Tirico:Thank you, bud.

1:52:39Pat McAfee:On a microphone, potentially, when it's all said and done. Hey, Bill Belichick didn't get voted in. Do you have a vote? Are you going to stick up for your Syracuse grads that did the voting?

1:52:48Mike Tirico:I don't think any Syracuse grads are on. I got to check the list. Yeah, that's wrong. Like everybody said on the show today, how do you not have a Bill Belichick as a first ballot Hall of Famer? If you want to go to Spygate, that's fine. There's such a body of work above that. And like Jimmy said, I thought when now, Pat, that they have people on there who have played or have been a part of the game it's not just media members i didn't think something like that would happen it's it i'm gonna assume it's true nobody's confirmed it from the hall of fame side yet but that's true yeah that is something they did pivot me i did go to syracuse i'm a journalist i do have to point that out just keep my journalism card there we go but uh it's look it's not it's not right like the guy should be in there he's he's as good as it gets when it comes to coaching in the history of this league period end of statement

1:53:38Pat McAfee:that's not an arguable fact we can't wait for you to get into all the hall of fames you get into paizan we appreciate the hell out of you ladies and gentlemen thank you boys appreciate you yeah he is so good at everything yeah legit everything and he talks about just talking sports yeah sure i know the fourth fastest speed walker in the world from 1989 but yeah researchers are telling me that this is what I should know. It's like, yeah, people get information to people all the time. It's the act of retaining it and keeping it and studying it and taking the time to do it. It's like that's a work ethic that also matches a skill level that the GOATs have in sports and other facets.

1:54:16Pat McAfee:It's like he can do anything. That's the big thing because you could really look like an asshole if you're covering the Olympics. Oh, yes. Big time. You know, he's not watching downhill skiing every day of the week. But he has to act like it. Yeah. And he has to pass the test. Well, we passed the test and you coming back tomorrow. Who knows? Goodbye. did not know we're that close. Nice. I think I got it in there. There's a little thing that's been saying to me all show, though. It's kind of an interesting... There's a thing. Hey, Q. Sounds kind of weird. You've noticed this, too, right? I have.

1:54:46I thought it was a wrestling dummy, but it's a little small. It's like a little voodoo doll's just been sitting down here.

1:54:50Mike Tirico:Oh, no. Is that like a little jiu-jitsu practicer? Yes, it is.

1:54:55Pat McAfee:Yeah, but it's way too small, right? I mean, is that for ants? Who is fighting that? I actually offered it to AQ's son. I said, hey, does Quay want this thing? Maybe, you know, practice a couple double legs, a couple single legs. Listen, the Iowa wrestling team sent me a little gift box, okay? And, you know, I said, well, this thing's pretty heavy. I don't think it's going to fit on my desk. I got a bunch of other bullshit up here. So where am I going to put it? I got to put it down there. And it's pretty cool, but, you know, I'm willing to... To Penn State? You're going to give that to Penn State?

1:55:29Yeah, I don't know if you should do that. Feels like you guys gave the Big Ten wrestling to Penn State anyway, so I don't know if you should be doing that. From what he's been saying, AQ, it sounds like young Quay maybe needs it. What? This kid. It's too small. It's too small. This kid's really got to become a lot tougher if he wants to do anything in life. This is your boy? Oh, yeah. You're a little worried, huh?

1:55:53Pat McAfee:A little worried in nice life. He's got a built-in trampoline in the backyard. Got a beautiful pool, a shipyard there, full thing. Putting green. Putting green in the back. Is that what you're saying? I'm worried about this with my children as well. Is this what we're staring down here? I'm not worried about it for all my kids because my girls are dogs. They're animals. This kid, hey, just go cry to your mother. Get away from me. We'll talk in five years. No, and you, you're going to die to him. Come on, go cry to her. Get away from me. How old is he? He's three, and he's the softest three-year-old I've ever been around.

1:56:22Okay, you're going to die to him in these moments. Too old.

1:56:25Pat McAfee:You can't be giving up on him yet. This can't be happening. Dude, go to mom. I did one of these the other day. You know, like when you do like the wrestling, you put your hand on their head, right? Like I did that. I like that. And he just goes, get away from me. Hey, you, you need to start guiding me. I'm trying. You say you don't cry from that. Now, granted, maybe this little voodoo wrestling doll that has been staring at me all, fucking out of nowhere. I literally didn't notice it until maybe 15, 20 minutes in. I'm like talking, yada, yada, doing a thing. What are we doing? and am I even looking at anything right now?

1:56:57Pat McAfee:Potentially looking through people, and then there's a little fucking human down here. That's right. What's going on down here? Yeah. It's kind of weird. Jimmy Johnson, I think, was giving an answer, and that thing bobbled a little bit. I'm like, the little fucker's moving, okay? Because it's got little arms down there. It's got the whole thing. It's been quite a day. So I want to let the Iowa Wrestling Club know. Easy. Iowa Wrestling Club. It's saying some fucking intramural slap dick, okay? What's it say on there? I mean, technically, yeah. It says Hawkeye Wrestling Club. It's been staring at me.

1:57:27The way you phrased it was like it's some fucking slapdick thing that mid-30s guys do on the weekends, okay? It ain't fucking that, all right? So show maybe an ounce of respect to it, okay? I understand it says Hawkeye Wrestling Club on it. That's what it is. It was wildly, wildly disrespectful the way you phrased it.

1:57:47Mike Tirico:Like some intramural old man's league or something? Yeah, AQ's basement buddy. I didn't mean it that way. Basically. I should take that.

1:57:55Pat McAfee:I did not know how I meant that. What I meant was the Iowa Hawkeye wrestling camp. There you go. That's better. Them sending us little voodoo wrestling dolls, we do appreciate it. I like the fact they're showing you love because you do show them love on a regular basis. They send me this Dan Gable bobblehead. I think this is maybe like one of ten. This is a 1972 Olympic gold medalist. You can see it there. And it looks like, I mean, I don't want to say it. I might sell this thing on eBay for 100K, 150K. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what we got in that. I'd take it to Pawn Stars, Rick. Yeah, exactly.

1:58:27Pat McAfee:We don't know how big the market is, obviously, how long that'll be sitting, but there's a chance you're holding gold right there on your table. And it's also dented, so it does look like it's the original. Well, the package was, I don't know if it was in transit. There was actually a Gable, a 12-ounce beer in there because Dan Gable has a beer that a brewery around there does. That fucker was popped open. Everything was soaked in beer in the box. But I'd have it no other way. You know, that's just... That's Hawkeye Wrestling Club. Exactly. This hat, which is also Hawkeye Wrestling Club, this thing was fucking soaked in beer.

1:58:59I'm going to be smelling like a brewery when I get home, but that's just... That's the cost of doing business. That's the price you pay.

1:59:04Pat McAfee:Certainly because of that hat. Now, whenever you go to the Hawkeye Wrestling Club, they've been doing this since 73. Training the next gold medalist is the name of it. So you got some, like, I think pretty elite, established stuff here. I don't... I still don't understand what that little thing is supposed to do.

1:59:20Mike Tirico:Me neither, to be quite honest. I've seen full-size ones. AQ, I'm sure you've seen the full-size ones. Yeah, the full-size ones. It's for like three eggs. Yeah, that's what I thought. Boom. Can AQ show us some moves on them, like some holds or submissions? This little fucker will get you.

1:59:31Pat McAfee:Like, what are you supposed to do with this thing? You got to straddle it, and then you got to do the prank for it. What are you fighting, a toddler? Like, why the fuck would you practice this thing? This thing's been staring at me. It's a weirdly sized thing. It's because you're looking for precise blows when you're in the ground and power. Okay, yeah, you can have a full-size adult. What do you think is going to happen when you're aiming for a quarter-inch space on someone's forehead? How old is this thing? Aim small, miss small. This is what? A two-year-old? It's not a human being. It's a fucking training tool.

2:00:02What am I training to a two-year-old? That's what I'm saying. My hands is like this right here. What am I doing? That's what I'm saying. You're looking at precise spots. That way, when you actually get in a fucking match or you get into a street fight with somebody, you're cutting open someone's forehead big time with those 12 to 6 elbows.

2:00:19Pat McAfee:Oh, you're not going to think you're doing it to a toddler, though, whenever you're actually doing it to this size thing. Bill's back there with a camera right now. Bill probably has a couple of these at home. Yeah. Something to think about. What is this size? Is this like your toy? What do you think this is, Bill? I don't know. I get that it is a gimmick in this situation. I don't understand where the gimmick would have originated from. Who was going to make a one-fifth scale this for any reason? So this is what is this? You dumb fuck. Kids in Iowa start wrestling when they're two years old, when they're that big.

2:00:50Okay, so this is a kid's training tool. I don't fucking know. I'm just saying that would be if you just use a little bit of context clues and think about it a little bit. They're not sending that to 18 to 25-year-olds and thinking. They sent it to you. How old are you? I got kids. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Christ, man. Fuck, dude.

2:01:17So are you going to take it home? We'll see. I mean, that thing's kind of heavy. I don't really want that thing to get. How heavy is it? You said it's heavy. Is it heavy? I don't want that getting swung around. Because they couldn't ship a few more. My 14-month-old taking one off the head. So we'll see.

2:01:32Pat McAfee:The leather, though, would be good chew for dog. No, absolutely not. I know we're not going to do that, but I'm just saying. I think it would be. This is a crazy-sized little human that you're supposed to beat up. This is a hard thing to comprehend. It tastes sweet. It's cool.

2:01:47Mike Tirico:It's been staring me all fucking day. I know. Think about his little arms. Paint a little face on him. Put a little face on him. Someone should paint something there.

2:01:54Pat McAfee:Yeah, you're right. Thank you, Hawkeye Wrestling Club. We are fans, but we just don't know, I think, what this is. Let's take a break.

2:02:02Mike Tirico:Where are you going to put it now?

2:02:06Pat McAfee:I mean, that's... Just hold him. We can do like Elf on the Shelf with that. Just kind of hide it in different places around the office. And then you beat the shit out. You just beat it down. and he's pounding right in his fucking little mouth. Yep.

2:02:18Mike Tirico:Give it to AQ for when he wants to beat his son for crying. He can just wail on that thing instead.

2:02:24Pat McAfee:This is what my real son should be acting like. Okay? Look at the fucking traps on that thing. No emotions. Steadfast. Try to be... You need to start guiding the child. Combat Sports International-legged grappling dummy. 35 pounds, 50 pounds, 70 pounds, 120 pounds. This ain't any of those. Those are the big ones. So this is like a toy version of one.

2:02:48Mike Tirico:Yeah, because imagine trying to ship that thing to Ty. You got to get a whole crate proper.

2:02:52Pat McAfee:Okay, so this was just like, hey, there's a bigger one on the way. This is the child. Well, it looks like. There's a dad on the way you can beat up.

2:02:59Mike Tirico:I think. Maybe.

2:03:01Pat McAfee:Hey, didn't you used to train with these?

2:03:04Mike Tirico:No, I never really did in my extensive MMA training.

2:03:09Pat McAfee:Open a couple gyms, this guy. Yeah. This is weird. This one's weird. Well, once again, I ain't fucking looking a gift horse in the mouth. You know, I wasn't going to get on here and fucking bitch and moan about it. They sent it to me. It was, you know, free 99. I was very, very, you know, happy about that. The hat's sick. I do like the hat a lot. The hat is sick. Fucking WrestleTown, USA.

2:03:29Mike Tirico:The little guy is weird now that I think about it. He's saying like a merch box with his little person in there.

2:03:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, I mean, it's literally like right here. I mean, it's happening. You know, this is just. They should get this to high schoolers, maybe, Whenever you're thinking about going, you know, letting the swimmers swim, just say, this is what your life is. Deer straight. Yeah. It's good. Okay. All right. I'm doing this one. No one ever accused wrestlers of splitting the atom. So let's keep that in mind as well. There's no reason for that. Well, I'm just saying, you know. It's a good point. This is an awesome toy, though. It is. It's a cool toy. It's 100 % leather. I mean, it's like. Genuine leather.

2:04:10Actually, you know, I didn't want to say it. I might fucking strip that thing off and, you know, put a fresh layer on my baseball glove. I don't know. Not bad. Good idea. We'll see.

2:04:25Pat McAfee:Did you get that snowblower? No. No, no, no. I'm going to wait a little bit for that one. Price might go down. It might. All right. We'll be back on the other side. This is the greatest. That's one of the best things we've ever been sent to the Thunderdome. Especially because it's a little toddler drenched in beer when it gets here. Yeah, there you go. That was a weird thing, Age. It was literally just sitting there out of nowhere. Pops up. I thought I was tripping balls. I'm like, what is that?

2:04:51Mike Tirico:Did he say you didn't know about it until it showed up on set?

2:04:54Pat McAfee:No, I didn't know about it until I saw it on set. You looked at me five different times. throughout the first two hours. What is that? That's not normally here. That's what my brain was thinking. That is abnormal. It's what my brain was thinking the entire time. That's new. I can see it. Yeah, and it was, turns out. Yeah, put it there yesterday after the show.

2:05:18Yeah.

2:05:18Pat McAfee:Little baby Gable. Little baby Gable. That's right. 100 % leather. Exactly. For a low, low cost of 100, How many would you get rid of the bobblehead? I'd consider bids starting at$150 ,000. What if this was bundled with it? Well, I saw that that was, you know, retails for$399.99. No, that was triple the size of this one. Eh, I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what I can get out of it. Good hat, though. It is good hat. And also, we love wrestlers because their commitment to sport is insane. Bingo. Remember, they're going to get rid of wrestling. When was that? A couple years back. Yeah, in the Olympics.

2:05:54They should get rid of Iowa's. wrestling after Penn State beat them 30-6 earlier this year. They do that to everybody, though, Aikush. You're right. They should maybe actually look into that. I'm not so sure. We got a bunch of fucking Dagestani guys just coming over here, don't speak any English, don't know anything about anything, and they're wrestling at every fucking weight for Penn State. You're talking about the Penn State Wrestling Club? I am. And that's undocumented. I'm almost positive they don't have any Dagestani guys on their roster.

2:06:23Mike Tirico:I was going to say, pull the roster up.

2:06:24Pat McAfee:Yeah, I'm pretty sure they don't have any. Now, the Dagestani guys are the guys that took over the UFC, right? Correct. Yeah. Just in better shape than everybody. Yeah. Actually training in frozen rivers with bears and shit. Correct. Like, coming out, like, yeah, this is all we do.

2:06:38Mike Tirico:Well, they do other stuff, too, which is well documented as well.

2:06:44Pat McAfee:All right. Yeah, I don't think we're checking the roster. We don't see any Dagestani wrestlers for the Penn State Nittany Lions Wrestling Club. Yeah, I know. There are none, yeah. These boys are winners, though. Yeah, I was aware of that. Hey, this is the one.

2:07:00Mike Tirico:Kel Sanderson, yeah, Kel Sanderson. Yeah. What state did he come up in? He went to Iowa State, right? He did.

2:07:08Pat McAfee:Oh, he's Iowa State. He's a Cyclone.

2:07:10Mike Tirico:Yeah, undefeated. Never lost.

2:07:11Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah, and then he came as a coach and did the same thing, right, with Penn State? He was at Iowa State for a long time. That's why we went and got our football coach from Iowa State. We had to team them back together. Oh, Cyclone coming to Happy Valley. It's a cyclone of success. That's exactly right. The other side, we got good seg. Good seg on the other side. Super Bowl trenches. Trenches in the Super Bowl. Trench Super Bowl warfare. Trench Bowl fair. Try to name it properly, but it's the trenches basically in the Super Bowl. What did we land on? Do we remember what we... Super Bowl trenches.

2:07:47Pat McAfee:Smart. Okay, there you go. Got a breakdown of the offensive and defensive lines from both sides here. the Patriots and the Seahawks coming from AQ Shipley. We also got to wrap up all the other sports stories happening around the sports universe. College basketball had a great night last night. A lot of comebacks. First time, long time for the amount of comebacks from the ranked teams. And sports are incredible. We'll continue to talk about them. Be a friend, tell a friend, something nice might change your life. Take five. Five.

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2:10:02Pat McAfee:Football! It's the best. That's A.J. Hawk. The Toxic Table is here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. A man who's a nine-year NFL vet, an absolute stallion of a Yukon Husky representative. Darius J. Butler is here. Hey, what are you wearing there, man? Is that Sunday Red?

2:10:18AQ Shipley:Yeah, I don't know if you've been reading. Internet, up to the right.

2:10:22Pat McAfee:I have heard that the Sunday Red brand is up and to the right with TaylorMade. Ain't that right?

2:10:31Mike Tirico:Yep. Tiger, what did you expect? Who else wears it? Exceeding expectations, right? Exceeding expectations. Of course.

2:10:36Pat McAfee:Yeah, I mean, Justin, Nuclear Golf reported Tiger Woods clothing brand Sunday Red is growing faster than expected and is exceeding all revenue targets. TaylorMade CEO David Abelis tells Front Office Sports the brand is now looking to expand with a full roster of athletes to wear its product in competition. Sunday Red's starting to get into the action a little bit more. I've never seen anybody actually wear it outside of the Thunderdome. You don't golf more.

2:11:03Mike Tirico:You're busy.

2:11:04Pat McAfee:I don't really get out there much, I guess, but I don't see a big wave of Sunday red in my feed with golfing stuff that happens out there too. How many of us are in the building? Right now there's like 14, 13, 13.

2:11:18AQ Shipley:Okay, out of 13, we got 1, 2, 30, and then tone over a hammer down time. So that's 4 out of 30.

2:11:27Pat McAfee:About a third of the Thunderdome wearing it, but I think you guys just read it or worked because of how we all reacted to the pricing of it. Isn't that kind of what happened? Nobody's wearing it, Pat. This is a lie. There's no way people are wearing it. I've never seen one person in the wild wearing it. You go to their website, you look at just a standard sweatshirt, and you go, holy shit, that is way overpriced. I ain't wearing it. You see a golf polo. I ain't wearing it. It is incredibly overpriced, and like you said, never seen anyone wearing it in the wild. But on that note, Tiger Woods is a part of it, so I still want to kind of have a piece of it.

2:11:58Pat McAfee:Yeah, I love Tiger. Yeah, exactly. We love Tiger Woods, and it's his brand or whatever. AQ, you live in Arizona, a lot of golfing out there. How much sun, day, red are you wearing? Well, I'd say about 70 % of my My closet is Sunday Red. Of course, and my shoes. Got some shoes yesterday. Great shoes. Sunday Red shoes? Oh, yeah. They have shoes? Are they two grand or how much? Not sure.

2:12:21Mike Tirico:Like golf shoes or both? Golf shoes. Golf shoes. They're fairly great. Take down. Got a good take down. That was a DDT. DDT, yeah.

2:12:30Pat McAfee:That was a DDT on the chair. Very precise. Bit of a tornado DDT. Just had to get it off of the chair, you know. It didn't even know. I don't know if anybody's doing that. That kid's dead. Or a hot guy wrestling club. Oh, boy. Sunday Red, though. Congratulations. I love that. Tiger going to continue to grow his business and brand. I didn't expect Sunday Red to be what Sunday Red was, though, whenever it got launched. I thought it was actually going to take over my golf closet. I'm like, all right, I'm going to definitely do that. Tiger Woods is shit. I'm in. That is what I'm going to do. That's why everybody started wearing the fucking red.

2:13:01Pat McAfee:That's why everybody started wearing Nike. That's why everybody stopped wearing collars because he launched it. He basically was the influencer of golf wear, basically. It was pretty obvious to tell from outside looking in. So as soon as he starts his own shit, I'm like, hell yeah, I'm going to do that. And then just like Foxy, I go to the website. I go, come on. I can't do that.

2:13:19AQ Shipley:Hey, as Ty would say, this ain't a fucking soup kitchen, all right?

2:13:23Pat McAfee:Ty would say that. Ladies and gentlemen, there are sports happening around us right now that we need to start appreciating more because there's one football game left. 12-year NFL vet. until... We got the Pro Bowl games on Tuesday. Have we come around to how we feel about it? Are we going to give it an opportunity? Are we going to be open-minded? Shador Sanders is about to go for four or five touchdowns on Tuesday night, flag football Pro Bowl. Okay? Who's all playing? Do we have anybody? Do we know who's playing? Do we know what's going on? What the coaches are? Who the coaches are? Are there any other events?

2:13:55Pat McAfee:Are we doing a tug of war at any different time? Are we jumping off a diving board? Remember, we were trying to make this entire thing what it was. We were catching water balloons. Do you remember that at one point for the Pro Bowl? I don't like what has happened to the Pro Bowl. Okay, I don't want to be old man yelling at Clods. But we obviously learned too much about the potential risk of injury from these Pro Bowls. We started paying too much money. We started finding out things. Then obviously opt-outs started becoming just a normal part of the process because it's good for business. Can't blame people.

2:14:25Pat McAfee:Then the NFL, I think, stopped caring about the Pro Bowl. I talked about us going to Phoenix and having to split a hotel with some conference and they, you know, it used to be in Hawaii. So I think a lot of different people went into making the Pro Bowl, not what it used to be. But we need to make sure we take care of that. We need to figure that out somehow, you know? I feel like it's dead and gone, but I would like to figure that out. And maybe Tuesday night's awesome. Maybe Tuesday night's awesome, AJ. We got to think about that.

2:14:50Mike Tirico:Yeah, I'm going to give it a chance for sure, but what is the flag advisor there, that role? What does that person do?

2:14:55Pat McAfee:Well, obviously they come from the flag football world, so they actually know the rules, know the game. When I got a chance to be a part of the Pro Bowl games a couple years back, it was in Las Vegas, I do believe, there was like flag football people that were there on site to be of assistance for the game of flag football because it's a little different than regular football. But I do remember them never getting asked any questions. Sure. And I do remember them being like, we could certainly, you know, like, hey, there's a couple things here with the refs and like this type of thing that we could go through.

2:15:25Pat McAfee:I think they did end up getting a chance to speak, but I don't think they were being consulted with nearly enough in my eyes whenever I was like, hey, this is a different sport, these people with the reffing and what looks good, what doesn't look good. But I think obviously over the span of the last couple of years, it's probably become a little bit more, hey, flag football is a different sport. Maybe we should try to learn some things if we're going to try to play it, especially with how prevalent flag football is becoming in like the world of football. You know, it's a whole thing. So maybe Tuesday is bigger than it's ever been because flag football matters now.

2:15:52Pat McAfee:Maybe this is. Maybe we need, maybe it's perfect timing for this. maybe it does need a little bit of eyeballs. Maybe it does become a content creation place. But all we need to know is can we find a way to celebrate the best in the AFC and the best in the NFC every single year? Because it does matter, I think, especially whenever they judge people going into the Hall of Fame. But if you accomplish everything there is to accomplish it, will you get into the Hall of Fame? What's real? What is it? Oh, no, AJ. I don't want to get in that rabbit hole. I know. AI. Could just announce the All-Pro teams and just leave it at that and keep it moving.

2:16:22Pat McAfee:Mm-hmm. And have, like, some— Who votes on the All-Pro teams? Tony. Tony Romo? No, Tony Diggs. No, but I'm saying, you know, who votes on the Hall of Fame? Yeah, I wonder how much overlap. Not me. I'd like that to be known. I'm just sitting there staring at the camera. Just would like this to be very much understood that AP Tone does not stand for anything with the Hall of Fame. Or college football either. Just strictly AP awards in the NFL. NFL honors is his night to shine. Okay, he doesn't get invited to it, but it's his votes that are certainly happening with that. But it's always media, right?

2:17:01Pat McAfee:The old pro is all media. They usually get it right, though. I'm going to tell you, for my position, they don't. So, like, I think, you know, offensive line, I think people would say they don't get it right. You know, it's like positions you don't really know about. It's kind of hard to get it right because then you've got to pay attention to, like, every single snap. I'm not saying me in particular getting screwed out of any old pros, but it's like who's voting for the best punter? you're just going to whoever you know. Yeah. Like whoever you know is going to be an offense alignment. It's kind of the same thing.

2:17:29Pat McAfee:Yeah. So it's like what. It's fair. So what matters? Get rid of them all. No, because we should celebrate the greats. Yeah. I agree. Do we just use PFF?

2:17:40AQ Shipley:Is that just our goal? You know what? Oh, no. Every play, every snap, every game. That's the end all be all.

2:17:47Pat McAfee:And then their ranking at the bottom actually. That really matters. They don't get rid of it actually. They promote it even more. This is all we got. They should make a committee. Former players, every position, make a committee.

2:18:01AQ Shipley:But do all the former players watch, though?

2:18:03Pat McAfee:No. And also, a lot of former players, I'm not going to just bury all former players because we are certainly in that department, but there is a crew of former players that don't necessarily like the next generation that are maybe being considered better than them. So you got to make sure you get the right. How do you make sure that you get the right? Haters out there. A lot of haters out there, especially when we get on this. And it goes real big. It's like, oh, wait a minute. I can do that again.

2:18:32So if I say, this group's soft.

2:18:37Pat McAfee:Oh, fuck. There's an angle. Okay, I'm just going to do this for a living. That has happened in the past. Not with everybody. We're just saying we have seen that in the past with sports. So if we were to get the right, my immediate thought is like, how do we create something that becomes something that actually means something that matters? How do we do like a football for the good of football museum or something like in Las Vegas where it's like actual you get put into it. But the amount of time it would take for it to become credible and respected is just way too long. I don't know if you have enough time to build that.

2:19:07Pat McAfee:Because like the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the reason why it's so impressive is because the vault in the basement actually has like the original documents from we thought. We saw Clark Hunt had his own shit in his office, I guess. but down there it's like the history of ball is there which is why it's so sacred so can you just create something new i don't you know that's like an intro i thought about that last night for way too long i was i would say i thought about that for about an hour and a half about like could you create something that actually matters but then how do you make it matter well you would have to have the right people would you ever have the right people that's the hardest part and you never i don't know how you do it that's why it was sacred that we had it and then now we can't have this ruin the entirety of the Hall of Fame.

2:19:46Mike Tirico:Yeah, I think they could do it. I think it's just Bill and Tom. If Bill comes out and says he's going to start his own kind of museum Hall of Fame, like you were saying, and then Brady opts for that one instead of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I feel like that would do it. Like, Dion, we've heard before talking about how there are tiers. There needs to be tiers.

2:20:03Pat McAfee:They went to different halls.

2:20:04Mike Tirico:Yeah, tiers to the Hall of Fame, exactly. And if Bill was like, you know what? You're right. And this is going to be the one that is only for the, you know, Bradys and Belichicks, which there are none, but still, that would be the standard. I feel like that could gain legs, but Bill has too much respect for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, so he won't do it.

2:20:20Pat McAfee:Exactly. I think even Bill, I doubt we're going to hear a single negative thing from Bill Belichick about the Pro Football Hall of Fame because of how much he respects it. We will not hear a single negative thing about that because he knows these current voters aren't the Pro Football Hall of Fame that's been there for it. These are the keepers of who gets in at the moment, so he won't hold it against it. It's like that's why it's sacred because everybody's like, it's the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

2:20:42Mike Tirico:Have any of the no voters come out publicly and said, I voted no, and this is why?

2:20:47Pat McAfee:No. Jimmy Johnson said they're all full of shit. Everybody come out and say they didn't do it. Ignorant and jealous. Assholes. Ignorant and jealous. Assholes. Jimmy threw heat today. Right away. I loved it. I read his tweet, and I'm like, wow, Jimmy's got some real fucking passion here. He really does. So we send out Hail Mary, you know, like Hail Mary to Jimmy Johnson. Shout to Foskett and the Connect. Shout out to, I believe, Schrags. Helped in this entire thing as well. Schrags. I believe Schrags. So we're very grateful for the most interesting man in sport, Peter Schrager, making the connection there.

2:21:21Pat McAfee:But, yeah, we get him on. And I'm like, as he's talking, I'm like, fuck, I forgot how awesome Jimmy Johnson is. Like, I forgot how awesome he was, which is not good. And then as he keeps going and doing it and still having the juice, fire, complete, no flubs, like, hey, how you doing? Keep it moving. Like, how old is this fucking guy? Yeah. 82 years old, he pulls up on him. I'm like, golly, 82 years old, still throwing it? Plus having as much passion and talking shit. It's like this guy, this guy's got to figure it out, it feels like. Jimmy's a legend, absolutely.

2:21:51Mike Tirico:Yeah, and his hair looks unbelievable. And when you think about the Fox show the entire year, it's like, how was Jimmy Johnson the one that got the boot when they were adding people in? He retired. They were four, I wouldn't say four. There are three guys up there that Jimmy Johnson blows out of the wall.

2:22:07Pat McAfee:I believe, if I recall, and that was a very emotional. I remember those videos. They did the AI thing. Oh, my God. I got emotional for the guy, and I don't even know him. I'm like, hey, thank you for your commitment to sport. And I think we forgot he was 80 years old, how much he spent to and how much he committed to ball. And, I mean, if today was any indication, like, if he wanted to, that's why I think it is pretty clear that he was like, fuck this. I'm going to retire. I'm going to walk away now and do what I want to do. But, like, he could do that for another seven to ten years. With us, we would certainly have.

2:22:37That's what I'm saying. He's still as sharp as a fucking tack.

2:22:41Pat McAfee:Ian O 'Connor, who's been on top of everything from the Giants news, despite this column I wrote on how Eli Manning deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, word is the Giants QB didn't make the cut this year. What? How's it getting out on who made it, who didn't make it more specifically? Hopefully, Eli will go in next year with his old friend Bill Belichick, who I'm thinking will get 50 out of 50 votes the second time around. And Ian O 'Connor said, let me get it right because they were publicly called out. And those types of cowards usually don't get called out. So that's why they're able to do what they want to do.

2:23:10Pat McAfee:And then once somebody calls them out, then they grandstand completely the opposite way. And that's just like natural behavior by these particular group of people, I would assume. But Ian O 'Connor, they're talking about Eli Manning not making it. We assumed multiple Super Bowls is a Manning. Just we assumed, you know, that that kind of would be the case. So he's out. Bill's out. Who's in? How many years is this for Eli now? Two? Yeah, this will be a second time. Okay. So he's not first ballot or second ballot. When do they stop saying the ballots? This is like for kids with months of age. When do you stop saying it?

2:23:43Pat McAfee:They're after first. Yeah, because I was nominated three times, so I could have been the third ballot, I guess. Then they cut me off. AJ's first ballot still. Well, second ballot next year. Yeah.

2:23:56Mike Tirico:What do you say, 18 months? Is that when you stop saying months for kids?

2:23:59Pat McAfee:Year and a half feels like, yeah. That's probably the right time. you've you've had 10 kids when did you stop doing it i don't even know now probably 18 months yeah i'd say a year and a half did you ever buy any of the kids one of these little uh once they start

2:24:15AQ Shipley:walking whatever month you're at then you hit one or you hit you know a year and a half how long

2:24:23Pat McAfee:would this thing survive in the hawk house my kids would love that thing are you kidding me they

2:24:27Mike Tirico:would try to rip its arms and legs off, no question. Day one.

2:24:30Pat McAfee:Yeah, that's what we're talking about. Wow. So what we learned was this is for kids to take to get autographs.

2:24:39AQ Shipley:Oh, okay. Really? I don't know if I 100 % buy that. Who said that? Zito. I know it says that on there. If that's just an autograph thing, why is it that weight? Why does it look like that? I mean, because you know what you could do to get autographs? Like get like a pennant or a hat.

2:25:00Pat McAfee:There's a pennant right in front of you there. Do you think anybody's signing the arms? Like somebody that has a really good left arm drag. Sign a left arm right here. Maybe. That's me. Now these things are pretty stable. Very high quality. I think that thing is built for young Axel Hawk to just roll with that thing all day long.

2:25:22Mike Tirico:It's so small. I mean, that's for an 18-month-old kid pretty much. That's when you start Oh easy Oh He's in a plank position Unbelievable Getting back up

2:25:42Still up

2:25:44Pat McAfee:You're not going to beat me now Yeah I did kick out I didn't see that I mean Oh shit There you go.

2:25:56Mike Tirico:One, two. Oh, no. Two, two, two, two. Good kick.

2:26:11Pat McAfee:Still up. Undefeated. It's unbeatable. It's unbelievable. Maybe you should take that to little baby Quay. There we go.

2:26:22Mike Tirico:Oh, jeez. What are you doing?

2:26:26Pat McAfee:Welcome home, son. Stop crying, little boy. So that's what you did in the basement. That would hurt. That was cool. Did you guys have full-size those things? Oh, yeah, full-size. Okay. That's what it's for, though. Maybe you do take that to the boy. So you get your full-size one. You get the one for a boy. You guys are hopping and elbow-dropping all over the place. You're next. Yeah. And then if he doesn't want to, you can say, oh, get out of here. Send one of your sisters in here to beat the shit out of this thing. That's exactly what's going to happen. Last night, college basketball had a big one.

2:27:03Pat McAfee:No lead was safe is how it was being reported. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, do you remember him? Oh, yeah. Indiana State legend. Whenever he now goes to St. Louis. Yeah, he transferred with his coach whenever his coach moved on from the miraculous run he had a few years back. well don't you worry he's still doing it in the specs for three bang we win shout out to a via getting a huge huge dub six ap ranked teams overcame double digit deficits that's the most in one night over the last eight seasons this is really starting to pick up i see michigan state up there foxy this kid incredible story i believe he got shot and now he's back playing ball in michigan states for real yes sir that's jeremy fears i believe it was two seasons ago he got Shot in the leg, was out for the year, and now he is our best player.

2:27:54Last night, we're at Rutgers. We are down 12 with 10 minutes to go. Jeremy Fierce had 27 second-half points, takes us to overtime, and we win that game. He's an absolute dog on a long list of really good Michigan State point guards in our history. He's up there at the top.

2:28:09Pat McAfee:Okay, Arkansas, I see them getting a big win last night. That's Calipari's boys, right? How are they as a squad? Pretty solid. I mean, the SEC, you know, the SEC I don't think this year is quite as good as it has been. Holy shit, I'm going to sneeze very badly here. Looking at the light. Looking at the light? Yeah, look up. Look up. What does that do? I don't know. It either makes you sneeze or makes you not. No, it stops it. It stops it. It stopped it. But, yeah, Coach Cal's big thing as of late has basically been like he's trying to preserve. Like, I'm going to recruit high school kids, okay?

2:28:37I'm sick and tired of these 27, 28-year-old kids coming in. I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing. But, I mean, we know Coach Cal come tournament time. Arkansas, you know, the Razorbacks, they're always going to be a threat.

2:28:47Pat McAfee:Nebraska was undefeated until last night. They were 12.5-point dogs or 10.5-point dogs going into a game against Michigan. As an undefeated squad, they lose by three but get the cover. Congrats to Nebraska on an insane start, I would imagine. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy how good they are. Like, if you just watch them play just by the look of them, you'd be like, man, this team, it's just weird. Like, Michigan has been just beating the shit out of everybody for the most part. but offensively they just i mean fred hoiberg's got those boys really really playing well and i mean they'll be one of those teams we're talking about come march connor what's first half point

2:29:22Mike Tirico:scores of these games i mean nebraska michigan was ridiculous that was the first college basketball game i've watched all year not really a college ball guy till march mattis rolls around and it was like 50 to 44 all of a sudden i thought okay they learned how to play offense in college maybe i can buy into it and the teams are so good well they're getting ex-pro players in there as

2:29:38Pat McAfee:Well, you know, that'll certainly change it. Virginia gets a huge win over Notre Dame, and Miami preserves its undefeated streak, right? Miami has started undefeated. Miami of Ohio, they get a win over UMass. UMass had a chance to win it at the end. Talk about a massive upset over the undefeated Miami. No good. No good. UMass, Minutemen lose again. Some people are saying they're not impressed by Miami because they only got by UMass by two. I heard that in the Thunderdome. I hear people trying to diminish what the University of Miami of Ohio has been doing on a basketball court because they haven't played anybody.

2:30:13Pat McAfee:I hear a lot of that happening around time.

2:30:14Mike Tirico:Not to mention the UMass Minute Men. There hasn't been buzz like this since Marcus Camby has walked on the campus. Okay, this team is legit. I would look out for UMass as a sleeper when the tourney comes around.

2:30:25Pat McAfee:Best season start by any program in MAAC history, the Miami Redhawks. Congratulations, Ed. It's a good basketball team. That's right. We might talk to the coach here in the next coming days or coming weeks or whatever. We can't wait for that. College basketball is going to happen. which, remember, we've got to enjoy that. We do enjoy that, especially when nights like last night happen, first time in eight seasons. And then we look ahead to 11 days from now, the Super Bowl, the Patriots and the Seahawks. Just like any big game that matters in football, it's going to come down to who can control the line of scrimmage.

2:30:54Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to go Super Bowl Trenches with A.Q. Shippen.

2:30:57Mike Tirico:A.Q.

2:30:59Pat McAfee:A.Q., let's talk about these trenches, shall we, and what we should maybe be paying attention to on both sides of the ball. Who has the advantage? Who's potentially going to get God? Yeah, we're going to break down both sides. And I do think, I know we say this all the time, it always comes down to the trenches. It's cliche to say, but I do believe this game, more than any other game, is going to come down to the trenches. And when you talk about New England, you have to talk about Drake May's legs. He is part of the run game. So right here, he's pointing out, obviously, this backer to the right side.

2:31:28But the big thing here, you're going to get a quarterback draw. Garrett Bradbury has been fantastic. Watch him get skinny, 65, climb up on the linebacker, and then he sees a butt and he finds the end zone. We got one more run. On the next run, we got Jared Wilson. Take a look here. This all-rookie left side. Guardian cap. Guardian cap on. Smart. Likes to preserve his brain. This guy's got a big brain here. Yeah, it doesn't look so cool, but let's take a look at him. Climb on the second level. Now watch this. Stop it right there. Now watch him get his head back to the front side, run his feet, and bury him in the ground.

2:32:00Pat McAfee:Okay, Eli, this seems like a little holding maybe. No.

2:32:03AQ Shipley:That's good technique.

2:32:05Pat McAfee:That's clean. Yeah, it seems like he was hoeing a little bit. I like the big shot coming in here from six. You're saying Drake May in the run game for the Patriots is certainly a problem. They got two back here. They got two back here that they use. I think the big thing, yeah, their fullback's fantastic, and whenever they get in their two-back run game, that is when they're at their best or multiple tight end sets, and that is going to be key. But then we're going to take a look at Seattle's defensive line, and this is how you have to block them. You have to block them by taking care of this five-man front.

2:32:33Do we see five guys across? Point them out. Like the burger joint. There it is. This is what they're going to do.

2:32:40Pat McAfee:Hey, I want that thing double stacked. Give me a little bit of fries there. I like a little cheese. Maybe add some bacon. That's exactly right. Bam, bam, bam, bam. It all starts with Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy. That's their two studs, but I got Byron Murphy circled. Leonard Williams gets all the hype. Let's watch three clips here of drop knee technique. Look at this. See that little drop knee ricochet? If we can rewind this one more time. This is so good because if you watch this, he's going to drop knee, pause it when his knee hits the ground, keep it a little bit more right there. Now, the double team, the whole point of the drop knee is to get the double team off.

2:33:16You see the double team, the guard coming down to hit him? It's to get him off. So when he comes off, now he's supposed to ricochet back to the right, but then the back scoots out the backside, still has enough wherewithal to get him to the left.

2:33:26Pat McAfee:So he hits the drop knee to make that guy think he's already blocked and he's out of it. This is a feint of some sort. No, the whole reason for it is because now he knows the double team is. And so you do it to the main guy, which is the post guy. Now the double team guy comes in. You get lower than him, so now he can't move you. That's how you hold your ground. And then you wait for him to come off because he's climbing. He's climbing to Ernest Jones, the linebacker, and you wait for him to come off, and then you ricochet back off to make the play. So that's an insane play right there. Insane play.

2:33:55Pat McAfee:Now, I thought taking a knee back in the day was bad for D-linemen. Now it's being weaponized is what you're saying? It's being weaponized. And now there's a couple more clips we got. And you'll see they do a good job of taking the center. I think this is the clip right here. He's going to motion down. So there it is. There's the five-man front. This is how they handle the run game. There it is. And now we let this thing run. And then watch him do what he does to the center. You see that? He posts the center. Ricochet pulls him through. Gets him back on the drop knee. So watch. Watch him pull the center through right there.

2:34:23Now there's the drop knee. Gets back in the gap. And is still able to climb and get in on the tackle.

2:34:28Pat McAfee:So he's an animal. Byron Murphy. They draft him in the first round out of Texas, and they pair him with Leonard Williams. We got one more. Here's not the five-man front. This is when they go true nickel, six-man box, four up front, two linebackers. And again, we get another drop knee. Let's watch this. There it is. Knows the double team's coming. Get off. Ricochet. Get back in on the play. Jesus Christ. He's a fucking guy. He's sending feints in here, and then bang. I'm down. No, I'm not. I'm gone. How much does he weigh? Do we get a weight? Dames on this guy? He's not huge. He's actually a twitchier guy.

2:34:59He's like a 6 '3", 300-pound guy. Kind of reminds me, I know he's out of the league right now, of Christian Wilkins. That's who my comp was of him when he was coming out.

2:35:07Pat McAfee:I mean, it's an unbelievable explosion to be able to get down that quick, get up that quick, while still not getting buried by professional offensive linemen. The reason I wanted to show this versus New England's run game is the fact... 6 '305". There it is. Yeah. Smaller guy. There it is. Smaller guy. 305 pounds. Dropping to a knee. Hopping right back up. Most nose guards are 350. So when you see this 300 guy, he's a great pass rusher. This guy's a twitchy guy. But the reason why I wanted to show this, New England's run game is heavy double teams. So you're going to see this double team. And I think the key is if you can get him moved off the ball, get low on him and move him off the ball, move Leonard Williams, you can get a little run game started for New England.

2:35:44Pat McAfee:Okay, so you think Murphy good for what New England does? I think he's very good. I think it's going to be a problem trying to block him. and I think if they can find a way to get low, because the key is right there, if we take a look at all those ones on the drop knee, the double team, the second guy coming in, always hit him in the shoulder. The key on a double team to move him, you got to get low and hit the hip. See how he's up on the shoulder? If he can get low, see how low he is and get the hip. That's how you move the guy.

2:36:10Mike Tirico:And that's the thing is I'm watching these. None of these O-linemen are knocking his dick in the dirt. And that's what the Patriots have been doing all year to D-tackles. Dick in dirt and that's how you bury him. and maybe that's just the Rams' MO,

2:36:23Pat McAfee:I expect Vrabel to have the trenches a little more ready. I mean, what a play. What a move, though. How long has this take a knee move been going on? Drop knee's been going on for a while, but this guy's one of the best I've ever seen. When I was watching this film, I was like, holy shit. Most guys can't get up like that, Pat.

2:36:37Mike Tirico:Yeah. People do it, but most guys can't get up, or they take that knee and they get pushed, you know, two, three yards into the linebackers.

2:36:43Pat McAfee:So this is something that is very rare, I would say. Absolutely. Absolutely. And this clip in particular, that exact clip right there, because if we watch this here, if I stand up here. Yeah. So let this run a little bit, and right whenever he gets the ball in the handoff. Oh, yeah. Okay, so right there. This ball's supposed to hit here. That's why the double team's coming there. So once he comes off, you're supposed to ricochet back here. But then we talk about what? Juiciest cut in football is this backside. Backside A. There it is. So now he goes to hit that juicy cut, and still, so he ricochets one way and then gets back off this side.

2:37:16This guy's like a whiplash on her. Yeah. Yeah.

2:37:18AQ Shipley:That's the crazy part, getting off of it. Yeah. Because usually if you can get down there, I've seen big fellas get down there and just hold on and keep the double team so now that backer can get over the top and make the play. When you can do that and get back up and make the fucking tackle, that's elite.

2:37:31Pat McAfee:I mean, what a beast. How old is he? He's young. The second year in the league. That was from that Texas defense a couple years back, right? Tone, how many guys on that defense from a couple years back? I remember the big bodies were definitely talked about, him being one of them. Yeah, it was him. It was Tavondre Sweat who went to the Titans. that that whole front for them was awesome, and it's been awesome in the NFL. Yeah, he's 23 years old, that guy. Sweet neck tats from this photo that I'm seeing. Oh, he's a stud, man. Sick neck tats, if that photo is accurate. I mean, we're talking absolutely.

2:38:01Pat McAfee:If you could drop me like that, I'll tell you what, you can do whatever you want, can't you? He's a stud. But I do think whoever performs better on the defensive line is going to win this game. Let's take a look at Seattle's run game. Kenneth Walker finally gets his opportunity to be the guy. Look at this combo block. Graze Abel, I know we've talked about him. Gets the rookie trenchy this year. Charles Cross paid at left tackle. We get him moving. Now we get the little handoff. Look at it. Okay, so if we rewind that one more time. It sounds like he just got bodied right there. I just saw who was blocking who here.

2:38:31Dude, he's getting set. I mean, he just took him nine yards across. That's incredible. The cutback off of him. It's incredible. You're saying what he did was good right there? It's a good block. It's a great block because it just gets a great block. They just took the D tackle nine yards. The cutback went right off it. Yeah, that's incredible. That's a double team, brother. I like that. Getting that way out of there. But it appears that this is Zabel, right? That's Zabel.

2:38:52Pat McAfee:They're pushing him left. So he's getting blocked out of the hole. The Rams guy just said, you know what? Fuck it. I'm just running into bodies, whatever I got to do. Okay, so it's funny that you think that that. But the whole key to offensive line play in the NFL is horizontal movement. We're not trying to take guys. This isn't high school football where we're taking guys 20 yards down the field. His gap, so go back to the very beginning. This defensive tackle's gap is right there. Right there. Hold right there. Let's watch where he finishes. He will be on the other side of the road. Yeah, I know.

2:39:27Pat McAfee:Look where Zabel ends up at. Zabel's fine. Zabel's fine. He is alone for the ride, but still part of a double team. That's a good double team. He just took them 10 yards. I like that. If they're going to just get people to go run willy-nilly like that, I mean, that's a great win. That's a mental fuckery as well. But the key is Kenneth Walker. Let's take a look at Kenneth Walker. right when he gets the ball and comes to a little standstill. Michigan State, go green. For one year. He was late for us before then. He was so good. Yeah, and then he goes to Michigan State, and he was unbelievable. He's been unbelievable for the Seahawks, too.

2:39:57Pat McAfee:Did you hear that?

2:39:57AQ Shipley:Yeah, I am. It's the chant. I can leave him hanging.

2:40:00Pat McAfee:What's the chant, Foxy? What is it?

2:40:02AQ Shipley:Go green.

2:40:03Pat McAfee:Go white. Thank you, D-Buck. That's crazy. Watch. That's crazy. All right, perfect. Look at this. Oh! Come on. Holy shit. Look at that move. Come on. I mean, there's nothing else to say. 48 under.

2:40:21Mike Tirico:Especially how he turns his shoulders to the sideline to get you running early. Watch this. Watch his initial move. He gets the linebacker open up. Oh, see, take off, and you're already out of balance. Terrible. Brutal. There's nothing else to say. I mean, just let that clip do the talking. It's incredible what Kenneth Walker does. He does. Both Michigan State guys, too.

2:40:42Pat McAfee:a little bit there, a little patience in the back.

2:40:45AQ Shipley:Patience makes the extra guy miss in the backs. That's what the special ones do. Obviously, you know, a lot of most backs in the league can run when it's blocked up well, but when you have free hitters and you can make them miss, make them look silly like this. This is James Cook. That's great. All the great backs do this. I mean, it looks like a huge play. That's a big time runner in the NFL.

2:41:05Pat McAfee:Congrats to Kenneth Walker coming back. Huge. That's huge. But again, we talk about this all the time. I like this group up front. I like both groups up front, but they both have had some guys that haven't played their best in the playoffs. Anthony Bradford's supposed to get to that linebacker, doesn't get there, number 75. I sent a clip to Connor of a pass rush play during the game. That guy, if they can take advantage of him, he's the weakest link on their O-line. And then Will Campbell needs to step up, too. But again, they don't have edge guys like Will Campbell's seen the last couple weeks.

2:41:33So the interior defensive line on both groups is the problem. Now let's take a look at the Patriots' interior defensive line. Starts with Christian Barmore. Starts with Milton Williams right here. Look at Christian Barmore on the backside here. First of all, they're going to slant the line to the left. There it is. Handling line movement is key. But there is no movement. If we look at that group, just watch them. If we can pause this on contact. A little bit more. Right. Keep a little bit more. Right there. Okay. Look at Milton Williams. Look at Barmore. Look at them. They're all extended with two hands.

2:42:03No movement. That is the key. Defensive lineman got to play with extension. Boom. Stalemate. There it is. And then get off the ball and make a play. Where you going? This Patriots group is as good as anybody at doing that. Boves Bollain filling the gap, too. Holy shit. A little later in the game, obviously second half, we got the elements. Question. Yeah. Offensive line like the elements. Offensive line like the elements in terms of pass rush. It's tougher in the run game because of the footing. So the pass rush, now you've slowed the defense down. They can't get the get off. But in the run game, it probably benefits the defensive line because you can't get your footing.

2:42:37Pat McAfee:Got it. And that's why I think this is super impressive. We got good on good. Barmore versus Quinn Miners right here. Watch him not give up any ground. Right there. Just extend. Get off. Make the play. That's one of the best. That's your first-team All-Pro guard going against Christian Barmore. He just gets off. Two-hand press. Extend. Find the ball. Get off. Make a play. We got one more clip. Big Tonga. We love Big Tonga. He's a weapon as a fullback. He's a great fullback. but he's a great nose. Okay, so he's going against Luke Wattenberg, who just got paid at center. Center reaching his frontside shade by himself.

2:43:15Nightmare. Yep, getting pressed three yards in the backfield. This defense is a problem, too.

2:43:19Pat McAfee:Fourth quarter, less than seven minutes left. First and ten. Denver's on New England's 33. Could be driving. Nope. Let me actually stop you right there.

2:43:29Mike Tirico:Miss field goal on this drive.

2:43:31Pat McAfee:Unbelievable stuff. I love watching just like freak athletes do freak athlete shit. And this is one of those. And this is. And this is an absolute nightmare block. And again, I don't know if you guys remember Brandon Meebane. He was a hell of a nose guard for the Seattle Seahawks. But this block versus Brandon Meebane, this block versus any good nose guard, it's one of the hardest blocks in football. Well, you talked about the run game in the snow, not easy for the offensive line. Tonga had better get off air. Had to leverage immediately and just gave him a snow ride.

2:44:02AQ Shipley:Again, 9-7 right next to Williams. He did the same shit right to his right.

2:44:07Pat McAfee:This guy's unbelievable.

2:44:09Mike Tirico:Unbelievable. And that's the thing. They're fresh. You know, you don't see Barmore on there. Yeah, you don't. Because right there, it's Leonard Taylor, Tonga, and Milton Williams. They got Barmore. They got another guy, Durden, Corey Durden, who's been unbelievable. Like, the dudes they have up front, they rotate in and out, and they're always fresh.

2:44:27Pat McAfee:All right. Well, sounds like we got a great trenches warfare coming up in the Super Bowl. We sure do. It's going to be fun to watch. But, again, my prediction, whoever wins the defensive line, Whoever plays better on the defensive line will win this game. Okay, and who is that? Don't tell us. We'll see you next week. Yep, yep, yep. Radio room. Parties. We appreciate you all for allowing us to do this for a living. Thank you for spending your Watt Wednesday here in Super Bowl season with us. AJ, what's your big takeaway from today's show? What did you learn from today?

2:44:53Mike Tirico:I mean, just some recency bias. I feel like, obviously, the D-line thing, that was great to see, but how square that Patriots defensive line is, like their shoulders square to the line of scrimmage, that's so impressive to me because then everything behind you is very clean and there's nowhere to go and just like boom boom boom just bullets filling gaps

2:45:10Pat McAfee:yeah it sounds like they're uh technically sound that's what they said about the indiana defense that's right like the indiana defense is always where they're supposed to be seattle seahawks defense doing the same damn thing debout what's your big takeaway from today's program just the

2:45:24AQ Shipley:trenches i love just getting schooled up on the trenches watching it from usually from zoomed out so zooming in and then the edge guys always get all the love on the d-line and these are two of the best interior guys on the D-line on both sides, so I'm interested to watch this matchup.

2:45:38Pat McAfee:I like that you're teaching a lot of people a lot of things here from the Super Bowl trenches. Ty, how about you? What's your big takeaway today, other than having a little voodoo doll thing? Jimmy Johnson doesn't fuck with the Hall of Fame anymore. Fuck. I think a lot of people aren't fucking. I think he's out permanently. He can be one back, I think. Until he decides, yeah, to go back. But as of right now, where we stand right now, he's fucking done with them. I don't like that. Fans are already saying they're done with it. Yeah, it's about Connor, what'd you learn today? Anything?

2:46:06Mike Tirico:My biggest thing is goodbye Nathan Chen, hello Ilya, whatever the hell his name is, the quad god. We got the guy again. He's doing four rotations and backflips and frontflips and all that cool shit with all that pizzazz and the way he looks is awesome. So I can't

2:46:25Pat McAfee:wait for the Olympics. Shout out to JJ. Shout out to Tariqo. Shout out to Jimmy Johnson. How about Tony Romo yesterday? Brock Lesnar. Brock Lesnar called him. Yeah. I should call him back. The Riyadh Rumble. I should call him back. How about him? Hey, what's going on, man? What do you got going on? Just doing a show, man. What do you got? You mind if I? Yeah, sounds. Hey, I'm going to Riyadh. I'm going to go win that thing, yeah. All right, boys. I'll talk to you later, dude. All right, just such a casual, hey, yeah, I'm going to go win the Royal Rumble. I don't think he knew that we were on necessarily there.

2:47:00Pat McAfee:Probably not. Good time to tell the world that he's in Royal Rumble. Perfect. How do you stop him? You don't. I think we're probably going to talk to him. With a gun?

2:47:08Mike Tirico:Yeah. That's it. A large gun. Yeah. A large. I could see, you know, Braun Breaker sneaking one in in his singlet. Shoots him in the leg and throws him over. Mames him. Yeah, mames him a little bit.

2:47:22Pat McAfee:Is that enough to stop him? I don't know. Does it have to be between the eyes? I don't know. I don't know. That's a really good question. I have no idea. We'll find out Saturday, 2 o 'clock Eastern. Boom. Brock Lesnar is in the Royal Rumble. All right. And he's going to win it, he said. Yeah. Easy. You think Brock Lesnar's flying all the way to Rio and Saudi Arabia not win the Rumble? No. How far is that fling? What? 18? 22 hours?

2:47:45Mike Tirico:22?

2:47:46Pat McAfee:I could see Triple H winning. I'll tell you what. Is he in? That would be a good gimmick, actually. Yeah. I'm hoping. Vince McMahon, you know, whenever he was running shit, he blew both his quads running down to fix the Royal Rumble.

2:48:01Mike Tirico:Yes, he did. He did.

2:48:03Pat McAfee:I don't know if he ever booked himself to win the Royal Rumble, but there was a time there where he was in charge of everything and running everything both on camera and off camera, where him winning the Royal Rumble would have been right on for it to happen.

2:48:15AQ Shipley:Was he in first battle at the Hall of Fame?

2:48:18Pat McAfee:I don't think he's in the Hall of Fame. Really? I do not believe he's in the Hall of Fame. Wow. He also didn't allow anybody to say his name during their Hall of Fame speeches. That was like one of his things. and he did win the Royal Rumble in 1999. Okay. Yeah, so that would make a lot of sense. Thank you, Nick, for that information at the back. Yeah. Me.

2:48:40AQ Shipley:Yeah. That's great. Who's winning? I got to see the footage.

2:48:43Pat McAfee:Who's winning? Me. Who's the last one thrown over? Your ass. Yeah, that is just the thought of that.

2:48:50AQ Shipley:99.

2:48:51Pat McAfee:That's good wrestling, baby. Yeah, exactly. So if Triple H was to win it, I would be excited to see where they had with it. You know, I'd be excited to see. because, you know, entertainment. Yeah. And real sport. Yeah, for sure. Be your friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change. Tone!

2:49:09Mike Tirico:We know if The Miz is in there, if he's going to make it. They're saying he might win. Yeah, he's plus 200 ,000 right now.

2:49:14Pat McAfee:Apparently, they love real world season, whatever that was, in Saudi Arabia right now. It just came out. Good to see you, Tone. Hammerdown's going to be great today, huh?

2:49:24Mike Tirico:Always is.

2:49:27Pat McAfee:Be a friend, tell a friend something nice if I change your life. We're in this thing together. AQ, anything you say to the team? Great work today, buddy. Hey, football season never disappoints. One more game to go, boys. This is one of my favorite things to do every single week. Come here. Spend the time with you, boys. I appreciate the opportunity. Let's go have a fucking week next week, huh, boys? Yeah, we'll see you at Super Bowl. I like that a lot. D-Buck, great work this week. You too, brother. Hey, thank you for battling. Snowed out.

2:49:54AQ Shipley:No place I'd rather be.

2:49:57Pat McAfee:Maybe Warner would have been okay this week. Thunderdome did have to do some battles. He's still battling. What the fuck was that? Everything just fell. I think it actually was, yeah. Dolls work.

2:50:10Mike Tirico:Look at the doll down there. This is man with his arms up.

2:50:13AQ Shipley:Entrant number two. That's what I looked like whenever I fucking broke my neck. He was entrant number two, Vince McMahon? Threw over Stone Cold and win it.

2:50:22Pat McAfee:Your ass. That's exactly. that's exactly what happened me who's concerned you god damn team on me team on three one two three team goodbye two teams one cup the primetime stage is set for the tgl presented by sofi finals los angeles golf club versus tigers jupiter links keep up it's playoffs tune in monday march 23rd 9 p.m eastern on espn2 and tuesday march 24th 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and on the ESPN app. Thought Sweetgreen was just salads? Think again. There's a new way to do Sweetgreen. Wrapped and ready. These handheld wraps pack bold flavor and 40-plus grams of protein into something hearty, satisfying, and built for life on the go.

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