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Speaker 1: com backslash around be Around the NFL podcast is in
Speaker 1: litigation over courts of Thunder dot com. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast. My name
Speaker 1: is Dan Hansons. I am joined by the room filled
Speaker 1: with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's
Speaker 1: up boys? Hey? Then day to show too from the
Speaker 1: owner meetings in Orlando. Ah, this is great. Anybody have
Speaker 1: anything to say? Day four? Really, I'm getting a little
Speaker 1: whisk still here. This will be our last, you know,
Speaker 1: production that we tape here in Orlando. We've had a
Speaker 1: lot of people come through here. We're gonna drop some
Speaker 1: interviews on Thursday's show that we taped here today. We've
Speaker 1: got so much content. How do you liked your time
Speaker 1: here in Orlando? Chris Wessell? You know what? Talking to
Speaker 1: the coaches and the one GM that we spoke to
Speaker 1: it was more fun. They are extremely nice guys. They
Speaker 1: are very football heavy in their interests in life, maybe
Speaker 1: we could have gotten a few more you know, outside
Speaker 1: interest comments and thoughts from them, but they might not
Speaker 1: have them. If you're referring to some of the individuals
Speaker 1: I think you are, it might be football. That's one
Speaker 1: of the takeaways I've had football. Yeah, we have them
Speaker 1: for ten minutes to mark at any point jump into
Speaker 1: the show. I'm just sort of I'm letting it all
Speaker 1: seep in. I am on. It's funny because we're sitting
Speaker 1: in a room and there's six seats and I'm separated
Speaker 1: by two from the other three, and I do feel
Speaker 1: that way, and I but I've had a great week.
Speaker 1: I think we are showing the effects of you know,
Speaker 1: we've we've been doing this for a few days now.
Speaker 1: There's been some early mornings, there's been not super late nights,
Speaker 1: but you know, later than we would be back at home,
Speaker 1: not coldtown work. But also you know a bit of
Speaker 1: a grind grinders, like grinding grinders, a little bit I
Speaker 1: think very tame on the party scene. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: I think you're seeing some of the fatigue showing up.
Speaker 1: We learned about each of these coaches. I mean, I
Speaker 1: love these coaches from a distance, but I don't really
Speaker 1: know any of them, And I think it's cool that
Speaker 1: we've spent probably about ninety minutes plus with these guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I I now feel like I know everything about all
Speaker 1: these men, and like I can make total judgments about
Speaker 1: their character. And we're much closer to that point. The
Speaker 1: only it takes about ten minutes. We're much closer to
Speaker 1: be able to full judgment and being correct. And entered
Speaker 1: Central Florida dolphin. Sorry you're not making the playoffs. I
Speaker 1: entered Central Florida playing football checkers. I exit a chess master. Wow.
Speaker 1: All right? Coming up on today's show, Oh yeah, you
Speaker 1: know home as the NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport's joining us.
Speaker 1: Good stuff. Also, uh, you're gonna hear from Less Snee,
Speaker 1: the general manager of the Los Angeles Rams, as well
Speaker 1: as his wife, Kara, former NFL Network employee. And also
Speaker 1: now Mary did I say wife? Yeah, it is the
Speaker 1: same thing hanging out with him as his wife also
Speaker 1: longtime anchor of NFL Total Access was a reporter on
Speaker 1: NFL Network, you know, for Newes stud and uh, also
Speaker 1: don't forget about oh yeah, they call him the rage
Speaker 1: and irishman Dan Quinn and He's like, I'm my own
Speaker 1: one man blame ring John Harbaugh. All right, let's get
Speaker 1: into it first though, so stupid. Let's get into the
Speaker 1: news though. And uh and to do that, we will
Speaker 1: welcome in our first guest. Let's do it. Here he
Speaker 1: comes now. He was at the combine and did a
Speaker 1: nice job, so he said, grab him in the hallway,
Speaker 1: bring him back. He is the heartbeat of the news
Speaker 1: operation for NFL Media. He's in that select group, that
Speaker 1: Forever Fraternity, the Insider Ladies and gentlemen, Ian Rappaport, the
Speaker 1: rap sheet. It's hard to think it seriously with this
Speaker 1: music going on. I mean, I know, like that was
Speaker 1: a good intro and it was like drama and stuff,
Speaker 1: but it's really I feel like it's just like the
Speaker 1: getting of like a love scene or like a redemption
Speaker 1: scene in the eighties movie You Don't Right like it did.
Speaker 1: It's like a Skinnamax feature. It really sounds like Yanny
Speaker 1: like through the look. Why do you imagine it does
Speaker 1: sound like the Uber love scene, which just wanted to
Speaker 1: And just to make it clear to the shadow, we
Speaker 1: league figures it is not from mcgoverer. It is from
Speaker 1: Stock Cleared music footage. I'm looking directly out of cheving
Speaker 1: the figures into the eyes of all. Right, rap sheet,
Speaker 1: you're the man with the news and and you started
Speaker 1: Monday morning with the bang here at the owners meetings.
Speaker 1: You're on Good Morning Football, and you tweeted it out
Speaker 1: Odell Beckham and the Giants. It's it's turning into what
Speaker 1: I would classify as a tense standoff. Rap Sheet reported
Speaker 1: Monday on g m F that Beckham will not play
Speaker 1: without a new long term deal. Uh. Ian, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: quote you from that program. He's not gonna set foot
Speaker 1: on the field without a new contract agreed to, Whether
Speaker 1: the Giants or whether anyone else. Interesting, your thoughts expand, please, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's interesting. It really shouldn't be surprising, right, Like we've
Speaker 1: known that. It feels like it's a big deal. And
Speaker 1: when I heard it yesterday I sort of took it
Speaker 1: like a big deal. It should be obvious, like, of
Speaker 1: course he's gonna get one a new deal. Of course
Speaker 1: he's gonna he's gonna you need security before he hits
Speaker 1: the field. You know, last year stayed away during most
Speaker 1: of O t s and it was kind of a thing,
Speaker 1: you know, was it contract, was it not like, of
Speaker 1: course it was, um, but this does seem a little different.
Speaker 1: And I think what like my read on this is
Speaker 1: this is O'Dell's leverage. This is his his only way
Speaker 1: to take control of the situation and try to like
Speaker 1: have some say like and if like what the giants
Speaker 1: did seems pretty clear. Like they mentioned the words O'Dell
Speaker 1: and trade in the same sentence their owner in front
Speaker 1: of cameras, not like, didn't pull anyone aside and whisper it.
Speaker 1: It was like on camera with the lights on, on
Speaker 1: the record, and whenever you use those words together, you're
Speaker 1: gonna get trade speculation. And he I'm sure he knew
Speaker 1: what it was gonna be. And so you know that
Speaker 1: to me, signals the Giants are at the very least
Speaker 1: open for and it's open to listen. And you know
Speaker 1: O'Dell's sort of way to handle that is to say, well,
Speaker 1: if I'm gonna get trade, I'm gonna make sure I'm
Speaker 1: taken care of and I go to someplace I want.
Speaker 1: And so that's his leverage, and that's kind of where
Speaker 1: we are. You think you think they're trying to scare
Speaker 1: him a little bit. I mean, like putting that outblicly.
Speaker 1: Putting that out publicly has to be a message at
Speaker 1: on some level that hey, you're yeah, yes uh. And
Speaker 1: I asked the Giants person that just basically like was
Speaker 1: this sending a message? And the response wasn't no, it
Speaker 1: was he knows where we come from anyway, he if
Speaker 1: he doesn't get the message by now, then like what
Speaker 1: are we doing? Right? And so I think it's beyond
Speaker 1: like Coleman talking to It's beyond send a message to
Speaker 1: the media. At some point it's like is this gonna
Speaker 1: work or not? And I think that's kind of where
Speaker 1: they are, is like, all right, are we gonna go forward?
Speaker 1: Or say we had a great player and it didn't
Speaker 1: work out and he's ready to move on, and so
Speaker 1: were we. And John mar also had a comment where
Speaker 1: he basically said I'm tired of talking about Odell's behavior,
Speaker 1: and it was you know, he came hearing, pulled no punches,
Speaker 1: good getting a contract done. He's gonna want twenty million
Speaker 1: be the highest paid receiver in league, which makes sense
Speaker 1: considering what he's produced. But he's coming off of an
Speaker 1: injury and has all this stuff that the Giants aren't
Speaker 1: that happy for, like what are the odds they even
Speaker 1: could possibly coming into an agreew It reminds me a
Speaker 1: lot of the last time there was a super talented
Speaker 1: mercurial wide receiver UH that was entering the final year
Speaker 1: of his deal. You go back to the year two
Speaker 1: thousand and Jets and Keishan Johnson had a standoff that
Speaker 1: was very similar. They almost get a deal done, it
Speaker 1: falls apart, and then the Jets trade to trade Keishan
Speaker 1: to the Bucks for two first round picks, which I
Speaker 1: don't think would happened today. But Odell also is a
Speaker 1: way better player than Keishan was. But Keshan was viewed
Speaker 1: as one of the top wide receivers in the league
Speaker 1: at that time. I'm wondering, I know this is you know,
Speaker 1: you get excited. It's like, oh, Odell could be traded,
Speaker 1: But it doesn't seem crazy to me. If they could
Speaker 1: get back something big, but we don't think it could
Speaker 1: be a bounty like that, so what what? And but
Speaker 1: then he'd have to want to go there, and he'd
Speaker 1: have to want to say, like there, that's true, and right,
Speaker 1: there's not a long term quarterback there, and you can
Speaker 1: say they're gonna d I mean they're going to draft
Speaker 1: a quarterback one or four probably, Um, but you don't
Speaker 1: know who that is. And uh, you know, O'Dell, I
Speaker 1: think his reputation is worse than he actually is. Like
Speaker 1: he doesn't seem like a guy who winds all the
Speaker 1: time about getting the football, Like I think that's at
Speaker 1: this point everything he does is magnified so much that
Speaker 1: I don't think he's really liked this. However, putting him
Speaker 1: on the field with a rookie quarterback who's never played,
Speaker 1: like that's you know, that's a gamble for him. Um,
Speaker 1: so you know, would he even would he even do that?
Speaker 1: And then let's like, let's say you're the Giants. You're
Speaker 1: not gonna get two ones. But what would you be
Speaker 1: willing to take that would make it worth it to
Speaker 1: trade away a like generational talent, a receiver, Like what
Speaker 1: would actually make you say, aren't we we're okay doing this?
Speaker 1: A top five pick because Beckham as the best receive
Speaker 1: depends on them, depends on your frustration level with the
Speaker 1: guy who's the most talented player every time he steps
Speaker 1: on the field. And you know, judging from beat writers
Speaker 1: of the past four years, what the Giants have said
Speaker 1: what the coaches have said. This guy has to cause
Speaker 1: head ear splitting headaches almost every week. It seems like
Speaker 1: it's been like kind of fascinating because he's not definitely
Speaker 1: not a bad guy. Um, he's different. He's just different, right,
Speaker 1: Like it's never been like you know, I mean we
Speaker 1: he had the dog celebration thing, which was I think
Speaker 1: generally annoying but not necessarily bad or mean spirited. Like
Speaker 1: you sort of had to get be in on the joke,
Speaker 1: and I don't think everybody was in on like the
Speaker 1: kicking that joke. That was a big hit that became
Speaker 1: highly tedious very fast. But at least he embraced his
Speaker 1: like the ridiculousness question, is competitive this not at all?
Speaker 1: He never it's never like to get over it. You
Speaker 1: have a Hall of Fame player that you just drafted,
Speaker 1: Make it work. I used to say that too, But
Speaker 1: it is possible that these guys are so annoying to
Speaker 1: everyone that they come into contact with it you just
Speaker 1: can't take it anymore. Well, let's track this. We're gonna
Speaker 1: continue to attract the Beckham because it is kind of
Speaker 1: a fascinating subplot around the Giants, And speaking of the Giants,
Speaker 1: they made a big trade one of the top players
Speaker 1: on their defense in recent years, Jason Pierre Paul JPP,
Speaker 1: was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers UH for a
Speaker 1: third round pick number sixty nine overall, nice was in
Speaker 1: the fourth round pick number one oh eight UH, a
Speaker 1: fourth round pick goes back to Tampa as well. And
Speaker 1: I'll start with you on this one too. Was this
Speaker 1: something that was surprising around the league or was it
Speaker 1: knowing that JPP might be on the block. It was
Speaker 1: known that the Bucks were looking for a pass rushert Like,
Speaker 1: at one point I thought they were I can't remember
Speaker 1: what day was the combine, but like I thought they
Speaker 1: were going to trade AID for Robert Quinn and then
Speaker 1: it ended up being the Dolphins the next day. But
Speaker 1: I kept hearing that a Bucks deal was going to happen,
Speaker 1: and so I thought they were close. And so then
Speaker 1: you know, they end up signing Vinny Curry. But there's
Speaker 1: still kind of snooper sniffing around on a pass rusher.
Speaker 1: And and this is one where like it it's a
Speaker 1: big deal and when it happens, like whoa, But it
Speaker 1: actually makes a lot of sense. Not great scheme fit,
Speaker 1: you know, it makes a lot of money. He's not
Speaker 1: maybe quite what he was, although he's still really good.
Speaker 1: But I could see the value not make it sense.
Speaker 1: It's just from the giant standpoint, like you know, a
Speaker 1: third round pick is good, like that's that's like a
Speaker 1: legitimate getting something back. But you're paying all the money
Speaker 1: this year also um dead money on New York set
Speaker 1: clears two and a half million this season on the
Speaker 1: saving cash. And if you're the Bucks like that. This
Speaker 1: is a move that an organization makes when the guy
Speaker 1: they're worried about getting fired, I think, I mean, which
Speaker 1: makes sense that Jason light has been there, their cutter,
Speaker 1: you know, barely survived last year, and that you signed
Speaker 1: Vinny Curry. They have to win this year and they
Speaker 1: sort of know it. And I don't think I think
Speaker 1: it's a good move for them. Actually, they get a
Speaker 1: that's been one of the worst positions in football for
Speaker 1: so long, and they get two pretty good starters. I
Speaker 1: don't understand how it's how it's been so bad, Like
Speaker 1: they have talent last year that one of the best
Speaker 1: defensive line coaches in the NFL who they ended up
Speaker 1: firing after a year, you know, and it's just I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's been surprising how they've struggled to make that
Speaker 1: work on the whole defense struggled in general. It feels
Speaker 1: like someone on their defensive line they just take turns
Speaker 1: getting injured every week. They're never healthy and their linebackers
Speaker 1: last year to Kwan, Alexander was out for a while
Speaker 1: and backwidth was out. But they've got they've got my
Speaker 1: attention now with this iss intriguing. I mean, they spent
Speaker 1: last offseason focusing on offense, adding place, you know, players
Speaker 1: all on that side of the ball, and now they're
Speaker 1: doing on defense. But you're right, Greg, if it doesn't work,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's surprising to a lot of people that
Speaker 1: the coaches there this year. Whatever a team sucks being
Speaker 1: on hard knocks, it's hard for me to get in
Speaker 1: on them. I didn't think they were good on hard knocks. No,
Speaker 1: I thought they were great, and I thought they were promising.
Speaker 1: It sucks after being I thought you meant actually because
Speaker 1: I thought that was a pretty good high. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: want to After that season finale, I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: nineteen and no, no problem. But it didn't work out
Speaker 1: that way, and they, in fact quite the opposite. They
Speaker 1: were a dreadful team. Um, but we'll see what happens
Speaker 1: with the last two games. James was healthy, they had
Speaker 1: no players, and they looked pretty good. It's funny how
Speaker 1: those games those weeks seventeen or the last couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ends up making such a difference. I think it helped.
Speaker 1: As we heard from Adam Gaze, I think it helped,
Speaker 1: not from Adam Gaze, from Andy Reid, I think it helped.
Speaker 1: The Patrick Mahomes and Alex Smith trade happened the way
Speaker 1: that my Homes played Week seventeen, and I think that
Speaker 1: Bucks win because I've heard this from a few different
Speaker 1: uh people talking in Tampa. The fact that they beat
Speaker 1: New Orleans in a game that New Orleans had to win,
Speaker 1: in a really exciting game, Like, I think it changed
Speaker 1: this season for the book. I wonder to focus the
Speaker 1: probably well, look at Tony Commas in here yesterday and
Speaker 1: the Jaguars. You know in two thousand sixteen that December
Speaker 1: their defense was phenomenal, so you could see signs. Then again,
Speaker 1: I remember when JaMarcus Russell closed out the year with
Speaker 1: the fantastic stretch in December and he was terrible the
Speaker 1: next year. Were well here can just wrap it out
Speaker 1: like we're done. Time. It was good, all good points.
Speaker 1: I just want to point out Tony Conn will be
Speaker 1: on the show a little later today. Uh. Next up
Speaker 1: in the news and Dominicans. Sue still without a job
Speaker 1: as of taping here on a Monday morning, but it's
Speaker 1: looking closer to a gig with the Rams. The New
Speaker 1: York Jets popped up heading into the weekend, UH with
Speaker 1: with the report that they had offered the most money,
Speaker 1: but then it was announced by the Jets or Christopher Johnson,
Speaker 1: the team CEO talked to Mike mccagnan, and they decided
Speaker 1: to rescind the deal. So now West it looks like
Speaker 1: Sue is back in it. And uh Ian on your
Speaker 1: uh you reported on Twitter that they are indeed the
Speaker 1: front runner. He hasn't ruled the Titans or Saints out,
Speaker 1: but those close to them are still open minded. What's
Speaker 1: that all about? Yeah? I mean I think, bro, there
Speaker 1: you go. Uh, Sue is a different dude. Uh, And
Speaker 1: so I think people are very careful to be like,
Speaker 1: he hasn't made up his mind, Like, yeah, he's leaning
Speaker 1: this way, and it looks like it could happen. But
Speaker 1: you know something could strike. It's just he's just different
Speaker 1: and the fact that he's taken so long to make
Speaker 1: his decision, I think he's probably driving everyone a little crazy. Um.
Speaker 1: But it does feel like it's going to be the Rams.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think their offer was good enough. Not
Speaker 1: the highest from what I understand, um, but good enough.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's gonna be a lot of money regardless.
Speaker 1: I mean, it really is gonna be a lot of money. Um.
Speaker 1: And I think for them, you know, that's a really
Speaker 1: good defensive line anyway, and it's gonna be really, really good.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be like a long term thing
Speaker 1: or it's just a one year, you know, more like
Speaker 1: a one year. And my guess is it's probably like
Speaker 1: a three year where like guaranteed money into the second
Speaker 1: year and he's thirty one. I can't believe we're spending
Speaker 1: this much time in a thirty one year old defensive
Speaker 1: tackle with no sacks. But um, he did play well
Speaker 1: last year, So I don't know. It's I did not
Speaker 1: foresee this sue, prolonged saga like this, But Mike mccagnan
Speaker 1: and Chris Johnson c J tu K were they just
Speaker 1: simply not on the same page here. It sounds like
Speaker 1: he swooped in and said no, no, no, you're not
Speaker 1: offering No. I think it was more like they weren't
Speaker 1: going to get him, you know, I think it was
Speaker 1: and I sort of heard this like it the Jets
Speaker 1: thing came out. Sue actually said it a couple of
Speaker 1: days ago, but I think it was by that point
Speaker 1: basically dead anyway, like they you know, did they make
Speaker 1: an official offer, Like, I don't know if it really
Speaker 1: ever got to that point, but they were definitely interested.
Speaker 1: Bowls definitely talked to him. It was just like he's
Speaker 1: not going to choose him. This is yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: I was Camp was like, how can we use this
Speaker 1: to get more money from the rams possible? Um? Another
Speaker 1: quick question, do you have female groupies being as powerful
Speaker 1: as you are? Um? I would say my my wheelhouse
Speaker 1: of groupies may make the final edit of the show.
Speaker 1: But interesting, I would say, um, definitely older women. Um,
Speaker 1: you know yeah, grandmother and mother. I'm big in here.
Speaker 1: Here's short of my here's short of my people. It's
Speaker 1: the older women big in that demographic. Um. I would
Speaker 1: say t s a agents really big there. Um, sort
Speaker 1: of people who deal with rental cars. I'm huge in
Speaker 1: that community. Um, these are short of less, these are
Speaker 1: short of like my people. Um there you are you
Speaker 1: pleased with the answer, Mar Yeah, I mean it's just
Speaker 1: very strange man here him both pretty strange guys. Uh.
Speaker 1: Less need by the way, coming up a little later
Speaker 1: on the show, so we'll ask him about the Sioux situation. Alright,
Speaker 1: a little free agent round up. We mentioned the Jets
Speaker 1: Terrell Prior agrees to a deal with Gang Green West.
Speaker 1: I know you like Prior as a player, and you
Speaker 1: think he just needs a fresh start after a last
Speaker 1: season in Washington, and I just needs somebody competent throwing
Speaker 1: the ball there. Yeah, this wasn't my favorite match for
Speaker 1: player and team, But the Jets, to me, got a
Speaker 1: talented receiver. Uh. And whoever is their next quarterback, I
Speaker 1: guess Josh McCown will be throwing to him. That's a
Speaker 1: nice receiver, corp. If Robby Anderson stays out of trouble
Speaker 1: with Jermaine Curse had a pretty good year last year.
Speaker 1: It's gotta be tough for West to watch one of
Speaker 1: his favorite quarterbacks and favorite white receivers throwing the ball
Speaker 1: to each other on the Jets. You may have to
Speaker 1: change change his opinion. Really enjoy it when Josh McCown
Speaker 1: is one of my favorite quarters of the Dolphins continue
Speaker 1: to make interesting moves. Frank Gore, the thirty five year
Speaker 1: old running back uh signs a one year on check
Speaker 1: with the Dolphins, the minimum deal. And Brock Osweiler, who
Speaker 1: he's got to be approaching NFL record territory for how
Speaker 1: many teams he's been on in you know, X amount
Speaker 1: of time. What do we have to do? Is it
Speaker 1: four teams in eighteen four in a year four? And yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a pretty plus. How about that? A minimum deal
Speaker 1: for frank Or? I guess is it just no guarantees
Speaker 1: that he'll be on the team, but frank Or gets
Speaker 1: a shot to continue. I think from what I understand,
Speaker 1: Frank Gore was like, I want to be here. What
Speaker 1: will you give me? Okay, fine, let's just do it,
Speaker 1: like I think, not right, I mean, and like that's home.
Speaker 1: You know, I think they could be good. I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna be good, probably like they were two years ago. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, we'll see what they do in the draft,
Speaker 1: but I think they're going to be good. And so
Speaker 1: he was like let's just let's just make it work here.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure his agent kind of was like, okay, like,
Speaker 1: you know, because you could have could have kept him longer,
Speaker 1: could have kept him out last year, like Adrian Peterson
Speaker 1: had been discussing a draft week. You know, he's he
Speaker 1: gonna get two million or three million. But I think
Speaker 1: Frank was just like, let's just do this, find me
Speaker 1: a job, let's go. You know. Alan Hearns signs a
Speaker 1: two year deal with the Dallas Cowboys. Rap sheet has
Speaker 1: a two years worth twelve million. Does this affect Greg
Speaker 1: in your opinion the does Brant situation at all. No.
Speaker 1: I think all the contracts that came in this year
Speaker 1: kind of helped Dez Bryant. When Paul Richardson is making
Speaker 1: eighteen million, twenty million guaranteed, Marquis Leeve is making eight
Speaker 1: or nine, suddenly does is twelve and a half million?
Speaker 1: This year didn't look that bad. Alan Hearns is a
Speaker 1: secondary receiver and this is making what twelve and a
Speaker 1: half million, sixteen cap number, cap number, But that's kind
Speaker 1: of ultimately the cast that they're paying out like they
Speaker 1: need they need someone else. Alan Herns isn't bad gets benched.
Speaker 1: Who gets benched with Dallas? Where does he play? I
Speaker 1: I just don't see the fifth Terrence Williams. No, they
Speaker 1: just paid him and the salaries guaranteed. I my guess
Speaker 1: is Cole Beasley ends up being the men out there.
Speaker 1: Interesting because he had a really good year in two
Speaker 1: thousand six teams that didn't do anything like Like, I'd
Speaker 1: be curious if they talked about possibly dealing him around
Speaker 1: draft time, Like, I feel like that will be a
Speaker 1: sort of buzzy name where they drafted his replacement, probably
Speaker 1: make some money slot guy, like I could see that
Speaker 1: being discussed. Traymont Williams also returns to the Packers on
Speaker 1: a two year, ten million dollar deal after a short,
Speaker 1: forgettable stint in Cleveland. That's what's happening with the free
Speaker 1: agent roundups. And then finally, uh Bennett brother news and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of it. And oddly it broke on
Speaker 1: the same day, two very different stories. Or you think
Speaker 1: you think Mark tellis Bennett was trying to change the story. Well,
Speaker 1: let's get to the stories. We'll start with Michael Bennett,
Speaker 1: who was indicted on a felony charge in Texas and
Speaker 1: this dates back two moments after the allegiance and alleged
Speaker 1: ins and moments moments after the Patriots and Michael's brother
Speaker 1: Marty one Super Bowl fifty one over the Eagles. Uh.
Speaker 1: The Harris County District Attorney's off As accuses Bennett of
Speaker 1: injuring a sixty six year old paraplegic woman who was
Speaker 1: working to control access to the field during the game.
Speaker 1: Prosecutors claim Bennett injured the victim after he pushed his
Speaker 1: way onto the field after being told to use another
Speaker 1: entrance for field access. Uh, let's start here. Uh. Isn't
Speaker 1: the upset of this that hands is didn't get this
Speaker 1: on video? Iel? That would that would have been my school.
Speaker 1: But I was busy, as you recall at that's your
Speaker 1: will breaking big news of the e t and insider.
Speaker 1: But why is this? Why did this take so long
Speaker 1: to become a case? That's my my first takeaway from
Speaker 1: it was, I mean there is a I don't know
Speaker 1: if this is true or not, if he's guilty or not.
Speaker 1: I know he was indicted, but I don't know if
Speaker 1: he's guilty or not. That said, there are a lot
Speaker 1: of legitimate questions about this, just logistically, like you know,
Speaker 1: make a big deal of it. NFL player gets indicted,
Speaker 1: but you spend thirteen months trying to get here, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are other priorities, but stuff must have
Speaker 1: been really important. There's no video, there's a lot. There's
Speaker 1: a lot about it, including they quickly sort of changed
Speaker 1: the word and made clear with the wording that he
Speaker 1: actually never pushed the woman, and they sort of trying
Speaker 1: to pin down the and the sheriff's Everything about it
Speaker 1: is very questionable, but it'll play out, and it's one
Speaker 1: of those things like Darrell Reva's news a year ago,
Speaker 1: where I feel like it made a splash and then
Speaker 1: eventually it just wasn't a story anymore. And he did
Speaker 1: nothing except he was indicted in But like, how about this,
Speaker 1: when it happens, you know, the paraplegic person is injured,
Speaker 1: there's no commotion. Not saying the person wasn't injured. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, like you call an ambulance when someone is
Speaker 1: paralyzed and injured. I don't just just I mean in general,
Speaker 1: on the field after the Super Bowl, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of commotion anyway I could I mean, who knows, but
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just yeah, it's a strange case.
Speaker 1: And Howie Rosen was going to talk today and I'm
Speaker 1: very curious what he what he ends up saying about this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and uh, Marty Bennett, on the same day that this
Speaker 1: comes out, announced that he was retiring to uh take
Speaker 1: on like a full time role in I'm always a
Speaker 1: little confused what he's doing. He's the founder of the
Speaker 1: Imagination Agency. It's something to do with animation and children.
Speaker 1: But Marty Bennett ends his career after ten seasons bounced
Speaker 1: around a lot and uh disappointing final season where he
Speaker 1: thought he was catching a ton of passes with Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: goes to the Patriots and that doesn't work out, and
Speaker 1: he had an ugly exit from Green Bay. But a
Speaker 1: nice career, mark as a really talented pass catching tight
Speaker 1: end and a more intriguing personality than maybe even a
Speaker 1: good player. I mean, but he we talked about him
Speaker 1: on the last episode that he kind of broke out
Speaker 1: with the New York Giants after starting relatively slow in Dallas.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, I have taken a little
Speaker 1: bit of a look at some of this animation stuff
Speaker 1: that he's up to, and he's legitimately talented, So we'll see, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll see what what happens there? Is he the animator.
Speaker 1: I really got to dig in on this. I'm not
Speaker 1: I'm not plugged in. I'll go I will go to
Speaker 1: Ian for the further details on that. The source on this,
Speaker 1: um my favorite thing about Martellis Bennett is you never
Speaker 1: quite know what in the world is actually going on.
Speaker 1: So when he puts out this statement, I get an
Speaker 1: email from our desk being like, hey, you know, we
Speaker 1: think he's retiring. Can you confirm? And I'm like okay,
Speaker 1: Like I'll just double check. Reach out to his agent
Speaker 1: and he says, I don't know. Man was he was on.
Speaker 1: He was like Pellisero emailed him and he was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm retiring and like, okay, well then it's good back.
Speaker 1: The agent was like, I don't know. I hadn't heard him, Like,
Speaker 1: well he put at a statement. I think, like, I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure it's retirement, but you never quite sure. Could
Speaker 1: it be like I don't want to do training camp,
Speaker 1: but I will sign with someone on August or something.
Speaker 1: I think when he got he'll I don't know where
Speaker 1: he's gonna oh, but it's going to be some place
Speaker 1: I'm sure he will be unreachable in some place weird.
Speaker 1: In August, he was on the Bill Simmons podcast last weekend.
Speaker 1: It was a really interesting episode, was the two brothers
Speaker 1: together and he he was talking about football in a
Speaker 1: way you would have never thought that he was going
Speaker 1: to retire that week. I'm not sold yet, Norman. Let's
Speaker 1: see what happens. Always always will think of him as
Speaker 1: a guy that could have been almost caught the game
Speaker 1: winning touchdown and what would have been the greatest play
Speaker 1: in Patriots history, maybe from from Tom Brady. He talked
Speaker 1: about him, and Tom talked about that all the time
Speaker 1: that Tom really Tom Brady really regrets not putting the
Speaker 1: ball up a little high, referring to the play that
Speaker 1: would have won the Super Bowl against the Atlanta Falcons.
Speaker 1: They called past interference. It's set up the James White touchdown,
Speaker 1: but he just to play before. So you're wistful and
Speaker 1: you feel bad with you didn't get a chance to experience.
Speaker 1: I'm not hening touchdown play before the game winning touchdown.
Speaker 1: But if you were another sliding doors example for a
Speaker 1: tough franchise, I couldn't care less, But imagine if you
Speaker 1: were Tom Brady and Martellis Bennet wouldn't that, they wouldn't
Speaker 1: do that, of course. Yeah, Tom Brady is not gonna
Speaker 1: have enough highlights on his Hall of Fame video. All right, rap, rap,
Speaker 1: you got to get back in the lobby. You're moving
Speaker 1: and shaken and this is the money time. I got
Speaker 1: a lot of people to stuck getting exactly. So thank
Speaker 1: you for coming on. We appreciate it. And uh god,
Speaker 1: you're in that fraternity, bro, And once you're in that fraternity,
Speaker 1: you're different life. All those hurts agents, elderly ladies, hers
Speaker 1: Ian Rappaport following that rap sheet, I know you already
Speaker 1: do national All right, there goes Ian off to break
Speaker 1: some news. But we keep going. And yes, we just
Speaker 1: talked about and Domkin Sue and what's going on. So
Speaker 1: what great timing that we now get to speak with
Speaker 1: the general manager of the team that everyone is connecting,
Speaker 1: the big defensive tackle too. Let's throw it to that conversation.
Speaker 1: All right, this is different, this is special. Uh now
Speaker 1: joining us in sweet one oh five. He's the general
Speaker 1: manager of the Los Angeles Rams, the surging Rams Less
Speaker 1: Need and with him his lovely and talented wife Kara Anderson. Sneed.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Around the NFL podcast. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1: I can't believe this is the first time that I've
Speaker 1: I've been on you with you guys who admired you
Speaker 1: for so long. It's been great, like working with Kara
Speaker 1: and now seeing Carrott Leaguevan Settings bumped into at the
Speaker 1: Rams playoff, Flame had a great commensuration and uh and
Speaker 1: now less in the and the Rams are like one
Speaker 1: of the big teams in l A. And it happened
Speaker 1: really quick. Lastly, so I asked you to use the
Speaker 1: word surging big. How come when you and you introduced her,
Speaker 1: she got music? You know it? It was like she
Speaker 1: was like Rick Flair. The music was actually less The
Speaker 1: suspicions were correct. That was Yeah. I think that's that's
Speaker 1: like the first couple of Los Angeles football music. Do
Speaker 1: you like that? Like? Do you like to being known
Speaker 1: as that? Can we start that? I'm want to go
Speaker 1: with the keep to lead line, and you know I
Speaker 1: don't do nicknames. That's for you guys. Hey, while while
Speaker 1: we're here and we have a bunch of stuff to
Speaker 1: get to, but there is some news. We had rap
Speaker 1: sheet on the show earlier today that we were talking
Speaker 1: about Dominquan Sue and how the Jets very publicly rescinded
Speaker 1: their contract offer. Everyone's saying it looks like it's the Rams.
Speaker 1: Can you give us anything confirm it? What I did
Speaker 1: do is till Ian to let me know when he
Speaker 1: finds out, So that's what I can confirms. And I
Speaker 1: was just getting a text, so it could have been
Speaker 1: Ian and he might have found something out. But I
Speaker 1: feel for you to check it. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: want to do some breaking news of finding out Sue
Speaker 1: sign on the podcast, that'd be fair. It's probably best.
Speaker 1: Do you want me to check it and then I
Speaker 1: can break it. And it's just I think it's a
Speaker 1: great idea. Yeah, and we were, you know, and domin
Speaker 1: Con Sue a different type of guy. I know you're
Speaker 1: in the midst of potentially working things out with and like,
Speaker 1: what's it like been talking to Don Consue like and
Speaker 1: talking about a potential deal and all that. Can you
Speaker 1: was always a fun thing about getting to know a
Speaker 1: player is you bring him in and and hey, we
Speaker 1: play Football's it's it's what what can we do as
Speaker 1: a team to help you essentiate your skills? And what
Speaker 1: can he do to help us. So it's always fun
Speaker 1: to bring someone like him in and say, okay, with
Speaker 1: Wade Phillips a three or four defense. He's always played
Speaker 1: in a four or three and let Wade and his
Speaker 1: staff explain him, this is how we're gonna use you
Speaker 1: in base, in in nickel, and and in some of
Speaker 1: the situations when you get into nickel or the when
Speaker 1: you're rushing the past, or what you might be able
Speaker 1: to do with him partnering with Aaron Donald. So those
Speaker 1: are the fun things. Let's talk about football and culture
Speaker 1: and and do we provide what he's looking forward to,
Speaker 1: he provide what we're looking forward You go out to
Speaker 1: eat it all the way there, We did go out
Speaker 1: to eat so so yeah, I'll give you the I'll
Speaker 1: give you the good story. That was a great GM answer.
Speaker 1: And you guys are like, okay, it's about football. It
Speaker 1: is about football, right and so and it is about football.
Speaker 1: I mean, you go through all of this and you
Speaker 1: can get involved in this and that, and then at
Speaker 1: the end of the day you're like, okay, but what
Speaker 1: is he going to do on the field with Aaron Donald?
Speaker 1: And how does he help our team? But we went out,
Speaker 1: we had done it meant together. And then we stopped
Speaker 1: at the dinner when he came into town with his girlfriend,
Speaker 1: who is so cool by the way, she's like six
Speaker 1: ft two, she played basketball. She's amazing. So I spent
Speaker 1: my night talking to her. But we had in Dominican,
Speaker 1: we had uh Stan Cronky, Josh Cronky, Kevin dem Off,
Speaker 1: so we had you know, Sean McVeigh. We had the
Speaker 1: whole group assembled at No Boo. You were asking in Malibu,
Speaker 1: which I mean, if you're gonna take somebody and show
Speaker 1: them l A like, that's where you're gonna do it.
Speaker 1: So Less and I walk in the front door. It's
Speaker 1: about football. Lesson, I walk in the front door, but
Speaker 1: we're still recruiting at this point. And we walk in
Speaker 1: the front door and there's James Corton, like literally like
Speaker 1: we bumped into him at the front door, and Less says, hey,
Speaker 1: good to see you again, because he had done a
Speaker 1: skit where he was in l a Ram's cheerleader at
Speaker 1: one of our games and quickly became clear to us
Speaker 1: that he doesn't know that much about football and doesn't
Speaker 1: so we're sitting here trying to way do we bring
Speaker 1: him back to meet in Dominican Sue or not, or
Speaker 1: he's even going to understand. He didn't, so we just
Speaker 1: let him go on and have his dinner. And then
Speaker 1: you passed by a table and there's David Spade and
Speaker 1: Chris Rock and you're like, oh my gosh, like this
Speaker 1: is like perfect l a fever dream if you're gonna parade,
Speaker 1: you know in Dominican Sue story was going to end
Speaker 1: with you guys doing carpool karaoke with you know what
Speaker 1: that would have actually been see we needed you. Yes,
Speaker 1: he probably probably would have liked it, but it was
Speaker 1: It was a really fun dinner and you know, you
Speaker 1: could really see and anybody who follows in Dominan Sue
Speaker 1: has seen, you know, him with Buffett and you know
Speaker 1: how he's interested. So he and stand we're really getting
Speaker 1: into some you know, some deep conversations. And that's the
Speaker 1: kind of guy um that he is. And the great
Speaker 1: moment and I'm gonna I'm gonna give a little bit
Speaker 1: of thing away the great moment of the night. Now
Speaker 1: he knows what I'm going to say. The great moment
Speaker 1: of the night is uh Stan pulls his chair over
Speaker 1: right next to and Dominican he goes, Okay, now I'm
Speaker 1: going to play the part of of uh In Dominican's agent,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to ask some tough questions. So then
Speaker 1: he started peppering questions to Sean to answer for Domican.
Speaker 1: And it was hilarious and it was fun and it
Speaker 1: was you know, it was a great night. But um,
Speaker 1: you know, he's a really really interesting guy who has
Speaker 1: a lot of broad interests and obviously very analytical. As
Speaker 1: we sit here on day number what of the quick
Speaker 1: counting quick counting? I spoke to his mom for a
Speaker 1: Mother's Day piece and she informed me that he was
Speaker 1: like a killer lego talent as a kid. So if
Speaker 1: that helps with your scouting at all, was if your
Speaker 1: talent at at the building even at a young age.
Speaker 1: So trying to think how that relates just we try
Speaker 1: to like left turn humble brag by Mark, it's pretty
Speaker 1: good part of the job. Well, he was also obviously
Speaker 1: a big soccer guy. I mean we all remember when
Speaker 1: he I think it was at the game when he
Speaker 1: missed the extra point when he had to kick the
Speaker 1: extra point right, Um, so he um, you know, he
Speaker 1: and Stan obviously could bond on that too. He's a
Speaker 1: big Arsenal fan. I'm just impressed CRONI can do improv.
Speaker 1: Oh he was no. See that's what you guys don't understand.
Speaker 1: He's really hilarious and he is when you get him
Speaker 1: in a situation like that, like he's a fun, dynamic
Speaker 1: person to talk. I feel like if he signs, it'll
Speaker 1: be because of all those celebrities that were that's at
Speaker 1: least how I'll put it there. I mean that that's
Speaker 1: l A coming through for you. Like when I was
Speaker 1: like twenty two years ago, a friend visited me in
Speaker 1: l A. He's like and he was like, can you
Speaker 1: bring me somewhere maybe a celebrity would be And we
Speaker 1: went to the newsroom and Jennifer love Huett was at
Speaker 1: the table next door, and like, I was a hero
Speaker 1: for life right there. And I think that's the same
Speaker 1: thing that's going to happen to you. Very interesting like that, Well,
Speaker 1: so is he waiting for more celebrities? Like so what
Speaker 1: about what less with with the team? And I respected
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of gms like you guys really um,
Speaker 1: I had a nice season last year, got to the playoffs,
Speaker 1: didn't work out against the Falcons, but it seems like
Speaker 1: you have this great core in place. Some front offices
Speaker 1: might kind of sit tight, but you have went the
Speaker 1: route of making changes, making big decisions on players. Uh,
Speaker 1: coming out of that season, did you still see the
Speaker 1: team is very much a work in progress and that's
Speaker 1: why we've seen so much, so much action and free agency.
Speaker 1: Excellent question. I think it's complicated answer, but no doubt
Speaker 1: last year was fulfilling and and the fulfilling part of
Speaker 1: that's hey, eleven wins NFC West champions. But I think
Speaker 1: after successful seasons you really to move forward. You need
Speaker 1: to take stuff back and go, Okay, why did we
Speaker 1: lose five? Why didn't we host a playoff game? Why
Speaker 1: didn't we get a buy How can we make sure
Speaker 1: that we repeat, as you know, division champs? Not just
Speaker 1: rest on your laurels and those are you got to
Speaker 1: be very critical. You need to take some time and
Speaker 1: and and get away and and get the emotions out
Speaker 1: of it and sit back. How do we get better?
Speaker 1: And one of the one of the reasons I think
Speaker 1: coming into the seventeen season, we said goal number one
Speaker 1: was find the right head football coach. I think we
Speaker 1: got that done right. Gold Number two fixed the offense.
Speaker 1: The offense has been our Achilles Hill. So obviously think
Speaker 1: we got that done. Didn't plan for it to go
Speaker 1: from one to or thirty two to one or whatever,
Speaker 1: but we did. We always knew, hey, let's don't forget
Speaker 1: about the defense. Let's don't forget about the special teams.
Speaker 1: But I think coming into this year, if you you know,
Speaker 1: bolted down to one goal is let's make sure that
Speaker 1: our defense keeps up with our offense. Because our offense
Speaker 1: is young and our defense was there was some aging
Speaker 1: parts and there was also some parts that weren't the
Speaker 1: best fits for for Wade scheme. And and he's in
Speaker 1: charge over there. He's proven to be very good. And
Speaker 1: if we can get that that defense up to his speed,
Speaker 1: and we got a really good chance to to do
Speaker 1: some of those other goals. Last year, there was a
Speaker 1: lot of talk about Sean McVeigh bean and Jared Golf's
Speaker 1: ear uh you know, with thirty seconds on the clock
Speaker 1: and then talking him up to the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: On one hand, we think, okay, that's kind of new
Speaker 1: and this is part of the reason behind golf success.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, coordinators have been doing this for
Speaker 1: a while how much of this was revolutionary and how
Speaker 1: much of it is just um typical NFL quarterback. I
Speaker 1: think you're right it you have you have up until
Speaker 1: fifteen seconds to to talk to your QB. That's why
Speaker 1: they put the QB two coach system in the helmets
Speaker 1: to do that. So I think it's nothing that's revolutionary,
Speaker 1: But I like, like anything, there's thirty two different head coaches,
Speaker 1: thirty two different offensive coordinators, and how they utilize their
Speaker 1: time with the QB before the snap is probably where
Speaker 1: the differences, you know occur, where edges are gained or not,
Speaker 1: and and and really really good coaches taken event to
Speaker 1: that was there You mentioned there were some guys maybe
Speaker 1: not great fits. Was that the decision with trading alec
Speaker 1: Ogletree because you had just given him extension. I know
Speaker 1: he was very highly thought of as a leader. That
Speaker 1: was probably the one that I think probably surprised RAMS
Speaker 1: fans the most. Yeah, it was that when I can
Speaker 1: say this great leader, great human. We resigned him because
Speaker 1: he was one of our best football players. But when
Speaker 1: we sat back and and really analyzed, talked about discuss
Speaker 1: what makes Wade's defense go is the corner position and Interestingly,
Speaker 1: we did the Marcus Peter's trade before we did the
Speaker 1: Key turn to leave trade. But once a key became available,
Speaker 1: how do you fit him within the parameters of your
Speaker 1: salary cap with with other things like Aaron Donald extension
Speaker 1: and things like that coming down the line. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: have to make sacrifices to to get gains. And that's
Speaker 1: how that occurred. As as we sit out this offseason,
Speaker 1: we said, look, we need to solidify the corner position,
Speaker 1: whether that's back Tremaine Johnson because we've got we've got
Speaker 1: some young players we like, but there's some injuries there,
Speaker 1: whether that's drafting someone, but we knew we need to
Speaker 1: solidify that position. And then once we came up with that,
Speaker 1: that vision, that goal, we we attacked the off season
Speaker 1: and then every now and then there's some adjustments you
Speaker 1: make halfway. The NFC West is kind of interesting right
Speaker 1: now because to me anyway, and we've talked about a
Speaker 1: lot about it on the show, it seems to be
Speaker 1: in transition and the rams uh surging just like that
Speaker 1: word like connecting surging to your organization. That's cool, right,
Speaker 1: That's a good verb. Is that a verb? Surgey, No,
Speaker 1: that's an action. That's, Oh, I'm not your duke. Tell
Speaker 1: me what the surgeon is got like this bubble over
Speaker 1: my head trying to figure it out. I wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: bring up duke today, by the way, but now thanks.
Speaker 1: But here's what's in my office right it's I got
Speaker 1: a nice frame and it's a duke diploma or degree
Speaker 1: that would be you know, and and people always, oh,
Speaker 1: you want the duke, gonna go always read the fine print.
Speaker 1: Uh got her name on it. So the Seahawks, we
Speaker 1: got so used to them being the powerhouse in the West,
Speaker 1: and they're a team in transition the Cardinals. It's hard
Speaker 1: to make sense of where the Cardinals are right now
Speaker 1: as a team. And but then there's the forty Niners,
Speaker 1: who if I were a betting man, and I'm not
Speaker 1: because I work for NFL Media and prohibited, that feels
Speaker 1: like the new rivalry on the rise in your division.
Speaker 1: About that little rams Niners for the next six to
Speaker 1: seven years. It's interesting that anybody in your division is
Speaker 1: always a rivalry. So I'm not gonna single out as
Speaker 1: much fun as this would be, uh those guys, because yes,
Speaker 1: what I can say that I respect about what Kyle
Speaker 1: John that organization has done is Hey, they've attacked, you know,
Speaker 1: their off season, They've tried to get better. They're trying
Speaker 1: to come, you know, take the division crown. But on
Speaker 1: the other hand, yes, the Seahawks maybe in some sort
Speaker 1: of transition, as every NFL team is, but they still
Speaker 1: have what makes them go, and that's Russell Wiltson. At
Speaker 1: the end of the day, that guy makes them go.
Speaker 1: That's been their heart and so on. Their defense has
Speaker 1: been their heart and soul. But Russell's a tough out
Speaker 1: and they still have him in. As long as he's there,
Speaker 1: they're there and they got a chance. And I think
Speaker 1: that you know what I really respect about the Cardinals
Speaker 1: is they hired a really good I think head football
Speaker 1: coach they's gonna have to replace. That's big footsteps to
Speaker 1: go in and replace uh coach Areans his staff. But
Speaker 1: I think, you know, like any team, they're fighting, they're
Speaker 1: can you know, they're gonna try to contend. There will
Speaker 1: be some rivalry elements though, I mean, I think it's
Speaker 1: a lot of fun when you you know, Poke Sewan
Speaker 1: about it because he and Kyle are like brothers and
Speaker 1: they are very competitive with each other and it's hilarious.
Speaker 1: So it's good. That's mean. And just when you see them,
Speaker 1: they're just like that, the same guy. No, that's that,
Speaker 1: that's Kyle though, that's him. Yeah, they don't look at
Speaker 1: anything alike Dan's work. And when we saw you at
Speaker 1: the playoff game, when Chris and Dana were there, and
Speaker 1: I know that I was pacing because it was it was,
Speaker 1: it was. It was a tough it was a tough moment.
Speaker 1: The thing I'd say though, because you know, you came
Speaker 1: from NFL network, but you seem to be having the
Speaker 1: time of your life watching because when you when you
Speaker 1: guys linked up, the Rams were not a surging team
Speaker 1: in the same way you guys were growing, And so
Speaker 1: I one y'all never used the word growing. Okay, you were,
Speaker 1: you were a work in progress, But I would wonder
Speaker 1: for you, what is it like to go to suddenly
Speaker 1: be linked to one team where you're Sundays are so
Speaker 1: much about it, and to not be viewing it as
Speaker 1: how long do we have? However much you want? There's
Speaker 1: Karen didn't use the word work in progress. It's interesting.
Speaker 1: I think in one way it was like I went
Speaker 1: to graduate school to then be married to a general manager.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I'm sure he wished I didn't know as much
Speaker 1: because I go home and ask, you know, all the
Speaker 1: tough questions that you guys, he has a press conference
Speaker 1: and you better tell me the truth. Um So I
Speaker 1: always tell people it's like the Iceberg effect when you
Speaker 1: know there's only ten percent above water. That's what I
Speaker 1: found out going from reporter to being on the inside.
Speaker 1: Is before I was like, oh, yeah, I've got this.
Speaker 1: I know everything and I'm going to report everything I know.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I didn't know anything, and I was
Speaker 1: still reporting everything I know. Now I know everything and
Speaker 1: I can't tell anybody anything. But I love being a
Speaker 1: fly on the wall. For you know, we were in
Speaker 1: Hawaii when the Marcus Peter's trade went down, and I'm
Speaker 1: just sitting there. I'm like, you know, what's going on?
Speaker 1: What are we doing? Who's you know? And so I
Speaker 1: it's I get to I get to now live it.
Speaker 1: And you were saying I was having the time of
Speaker 1: my life. It's awful. I mean it is awful. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I'm sitting there and pacing. I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's one thing to have all your adrenaline before and
Speaker 1: after a game when you're covering it, but when it's
Speaker 1: in it and you have zero control over the outcome
Speaker 1: and it's your whole life, it is so difficult. We're
Speaker 1: at the owners meetings. They just had this amazing, amazing
Speaker 1: panel UM with you know, some of the women who
Speaker 1: are the founding mothers UM owners of UM the NFL,
Speaker 1: and you've got the sense there. You're sitting there watching
Speaker 1: it and you're like, wow, they showed their timeline and
Speaker 1: you're like, I'm in the middle of this timeline when
Speaker 1: you're just literally in it to win it and like
Speaker 1: it as much as it's like the most painful thing
Speaker 1: you can go through. You know, like this is the
Speaker 1: time of your life you're going to look back on
Speaker 1: and this is the time where you know and and
Speaker 1: now when you start winning and you've been through the
Speaker 1: lean years, gosh, it means so much. And you know,
Speaker 1: when you've been through so many losses, you know, you
Speaker 1: you really, you know, bond with the people you go
Speaker 1: through this with and it'll be that way for the
Speaker 1: rest of your life. So it's a it's a pretty
Speaker 1: poignant thing. You better be taking notes for that book
Speaker 1: you're going to write in a few years. You know,
Speaker 1: I have a book in mind and and it's it's
Speaker 1: it'll be, it'll be a good one. It's called Fathered
Speaker 1: by Football and it's um, it's about all the coaches
Speaker 1: and lesson grow up with a dad in his life
Speaker 1: and really the football raised him and the code just
Speaker 1: raised him. And when you go through all the different
Speaker 1: coaches and you know what they taught him about being
Speaker 1: a man and you know, living your life, well, like
Speaker 1: that's what football can do. I mean, I know football
Speaker 1: can take some hits, but when you see firsthand in
Speaker 1: your life what it can do for someone like you
Speaker 1: can take the opposite position as well. I love that book.
Speaker 1: I would read it, follow up book all the Secrets,
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, the Iceberg. At one point I thought
Speaker 1: I was going to write a book called I've Seen
Speaker 1: Tom Brady Naked. But you know, I think that would sell.
Speaker 1: You know, it's that's probably if you want to sell it,
Speaker 1: that's probably the best way to Yeah, I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know that that's going to be
Speaker 1: the one before. Fathered by Football might be better. Less.
Speaker 1: I know you're very busy, so we got to let
Speaker 1: you guys go and carry know your busy as well.
Speaker 1: I'm really, are you guys going to go work out
Speaker 1: again to get today together? Is there any rivalry there
Speaker 1: by the way, we saw you guys going to the
Speaker 1: gym very early morning. What we didn't tell was we
Speaker 1: actually never made it to the gym, but we because
Speaker 1: we ran into Sean, and Sean had just come from
Speaker 1: the gym, so we actually got the shine off of
Speaker 1: Sean having worked out, and we read work out close
Speaker 1: right in the secret to me I have I have
Speaker 1: not worked out in the morning. The day just gets
Speaker 1: awfuller and awful and awfuller. And at some point that's
Speaker 1: why this interview is like that third awful right now.
Speaker 1: And that's why I was trying to look at the
Speaker 1: afternoon session and go, okay, what can I skip the
Speaker 1: skill that workout? All right? Before we let you guys go,
Speaker 1: It is the crucible portion of this interview. It is
Speaker 1: eight o'clock to light our speed round. You ready? You
Speaker 1: know what crucipal is, right? I can figure it out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's hard. Here we go. It's the tough thing. Hit
Speaker 1: it Netflix and Chill or Dinner in the movie. Netflix
Speaker 1: and Chill favorite hip hop artists, either of you chick,
Speaker 1: who's supposed to go here? I'd love to hear it.
Speaker 1: This is gonna jay z one. I mean, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: into Travis Scotty's taste. Okay, greatest SNL cast member, Will
Speaker 1: Ferrell did Oswald act alone? No, have you ever seen
Speaker 1: a ghost? No? I think so. Can the kicker be
Speaker 1: the coolest guy on the team? How about go ahead?
Speaker 1: Go ahead if it makes the game winner? Yeah? Most
Speaker 1: important Jewels song you here? I can't remember. The answer
Speaker 1: is foolish games. Name a movie you've seen at least
Speaker 1: several times? Seven times? Yeah, Glory, don't say game film,
Speaker 1: Rocky unless this is for you, because I respect your
Speaker 1: hair is so much preferred hair care product. I look
Speaker 1: up to you. Whatever, Joe, I ran out of this week,
Speaker 1: out of it this morning, and I'm nervous about tomorrow.
Speaker 1: But you know what, who has better here in the
Speaker 1: league other than you? Right, pennies. We were just discussing
Speaker 1: this while they were taking them one. Finally, what does
Speaker 1: Carol do when she needs a little caraton? Oh? That's
Speaker 1: it's a great question. I'm sure are you asking me
Speaker 1: or him? I have a lot of caraton. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you retired. Is I think, well, her time
Speaker 1: she loves during her time is reading and she can
Speaker 1: read a book. Really, there's about three a day she
Speaker 1: can read that, so during the course of a week
Speaker 1: it's twenty one books and makes me a lot smarter.
Speaker 1: So that's probably what she does in her time. That's
Speaker 1: her time. But no, that's no, it's it's it's very true.
Speaker 1: I mean that's all I do is read, and that's
Speaker 1: what we talk about. How the things that I read
Speaker 1: relate to football. The answer though, is you should be
Speaker 1: writing that trashy tell see, But it's not that trashy.
Speaker 1: It's just got the name to hook. It's like clickba
Speaker 1: it's just clickbait and there's really nothing to right. I mean,
Speaker 1: i've seen less Need naked is is not are going
Speaker 1: to be the same that can look at him look
Speaker 1: artist most it's going to be institutional control artist Twyman,
Speaker 1: RPR director Less Need. Thank you very much, good luck
Speaker 1: to season. Kara, You're the best. We love you know
Speaker 1: you guys are the best. Thank you, Thank you. What
Speaker 1: a love fest. What a delightful couple. Greg, It's it's
Speaker 1: how everyone wants their marriage to be. Yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 1: I mean it's a fascinating couple. Like listening to her
Speaker 1: talk about like grilling him when he gets from works
Speaker 1: like an amazing it's an amazing dynamic. And people, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe they're listening to this or they're thinking, oh, they're
Speaker 1: getting they're getting a little too close to the rams
Speaker 1: the team of around the NFL, like they're they're in
Speaker 1: the bag for the well we are, Hey, go shut it.
Speaker 1: It's it's a looking team. It's a good looking it's
Speaker 1: a it's a fun team. It's a fun team. They're
Speaker 1: in our backyard. And you said, you say, all right,
Speaker 1: come down. The dynamic it is fascinating because you have
Speaker 1: a one of the guys at the top of his
Speaker 1: sport in terms of management for one of the better
Speaker 1: young teams in the NFL, and his wife is this
Speaker 1: extremely polished media personality who it's like you're talking to
Speaker 1: him and then you have her like offering almost analysis
Speaker 1: on his team and she has the best source possible. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of like a funny thing to be
Speaker 1: in conversation with that type of tandem. And we were
Speaker 1: watching you know, less need provide the answer to no.
Speaker 1: Mckinsue is a very buttoned up, and I thought, here,
Speaker 1: here it is thirty five seconds. I'm gonna give everyone else.
Speaker 1: You'll wait and find out. And then she says, oh no,
Speaker 1: let's actually dig into the dinner we had with Sue
Speaker 1: and all the stuff that happened. And he's just looking
Speaker 1: at her like the same look that we have when
Speaker 1: our wives do something that we would rather than not
Speaker 1: um and be honest. Mark, I'm always honest. If some
Speaker 1: if someone sent you a free copy of the Tom
Speaker 1: Brady Naked Book, are you taking a look. Oh, I'd
Speaker 1: open it, I'd read it. I'd probably read it a
Speaker 1: second time. He pass it on to a friend then
Speaker 1: asked for it back read it or is gawk at it? Yeah? PERV,
Speaker 1: I mean, I you know whatever, what a great set
Speaker 1: up Less Neat has. He reads books through osmosis through
Speaker 1: his wife, and works out bias mosis through Sean McVeigh.
Speaker 1: He doesn't really have kind of figure it out. I
Speaker 1: don't know if Less would be in for it, but
Speaker 1: we we should try to set that thing up as
Speaker 1: a regular as a regular segment. We should try it. Okay.
Speaker 1: Up next, uh is Dan Quinn of the Atlanta Falcons.
Speaker 1: Their head coach entering his fourth season. And you will
Speaker 1: notice that we spend a good thirty complaining about how
Speaker 1: early in the morning it is, which speaks to us
Speaker 1: and that we're, you know, but amateur hour ultimately, but
Speaker 1: I mean, in our defense, it was early. I the
Speaker 1: first time ever on my way to the set, I
Speaker 1: was the first person at Starbucks. I waited for the
Speaker 1: door to open and I got the first drink. How
Speaker 1: about that. I didn't think I'd ever be that guy.
Speaker 1: It's impressive. It shows. I think it shows that you're
Speaker 1: not an amateur, You're an absolute professional. So I have
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Falcons PR team and Dan Quinn to think
Speaker 1: thank for that momentus scasion in my life. Let's throw
Speaker 1: it to Mr Quinn. Al right up next, he is
Speaker 1: the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Oh you know
Speaker 1: who it is. It's Dan Quinn. I'm pumped to be
Speaker 1: here with you guys today. M hmm. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is the earliest you're gonna hear electronic dancers or the
Speaker 1: latest oldest closure. By the way, we are recording this
Speaker 1: at six thirds morning, which vaguely ungodly who who was
Speaker 1: behind the schedules? Well, schedules. I gotta say it is
Speaker 1: a bit of fine like chronic dance movie love where
Speaker 1: you if we go back to like season one of
Speaker 1: The Jersey Strown seen, No, I think I've outdated myself
Speaker 1: for that one. Um, you know I was pretty cell
Speaker 1: phones Jersey Shore growing up, but uh no, living there
Speaker 1: and growing up it was a blast. And uh even
Speaker 1: in my hometown, you know, like uh all the the
Speaker 1: youth coaches and you know, growing up there, like that's
Speaker 1: kind of where like my love of football began, like
Speaker 1: watching the Giants and Bill Parcels and like that crew,
Speaker 1: Like that was a big deal for me. And you know,
Speaker 1: seeing that group coming up, and like even where I
Speaker 1: grew up in Marstown, there were so many people you
Speaker 1: know that kind of you know, helps you and backs
Speaker 1: you along the way, like youth coaches that you wouldn't
Speaker 1: know their names, but like I had a huge impact
Speaker 1: you know on me early on. Is it a competition
Speaker 1: to kind of get that, you know, the earliest possible interview,
Speaker 1: Because I saw Mike McCarthy on the way over here.
Speaker 1: He looked like he was already two or three interviews.
Speaker 1: He was ahead of you, and he was I did
Speaker 1: see him down here earlier. So I was disappointed that,
Speaker 1: you know, we weren't able to get the earliest lot,
Speaker 1: but uh no, it's just it's a cool week this week,
Speaker 1: and uh so having this experience and going through the
Speaker 1: whole thing, um, including the media this week, Um, it's
Speaker 1: all part of you might as well, you know, kick
Speaker 1: some of it out earlier. That is, this is the
Speaker 1: first we've done this podcast for five years. You've done
Speaker 1: like six fifty episodes. Is the first thing we've ever
Speaker 1: done before the sun came up. But that's like for us,
Speaker 1: it's like the biggest deal leather. We've been worried about
Speaker 1: this for days. But coaches life, this is, this is
Speaker 1: what it's about. Right, all you ever hear about is
Speaker 1: five am, I'm on the treadmill, six mn. This is
Speaker 1: a normal day for day. We clearly totally lack professionalism
Speaker 1: that we're making the entire idea about that. Um you
Speaker 1: know what like and sometimes you need those little windows
Speaker 1: and you guys know, like either whether it's working out
Speaker 1: or whatever it is, sometimes those little windows of a
Speaker 1: half hour or forty five minutes for like it's just
Speaker 1: your time. Uh, those are big ones because as a
Speaker 1: as a head coach. Uh, you know there's gonna be
Speaker 1: things that come, you know, across your desk You're like,
Speaker 1: where did that come from? So sometimes those early mornings, uh,
Speaker 1: you know they helped. We just talked about the Andy
Speaker 1: Read tree before we started here today. Who's someone if
Speaker 1: you get into a jam outside of your organization you
Speaker 1: gotta pick up the phone, call a coach who's been
Speaker 1: through it. Who's the who's the top of your of
Speaker 1: your dial list to help you out? Yeah? For me,
Speaker 1: that would be Pete Carroll, you know, And it was
Speaker 1: my time in Seattle that we just really connected. I
Speaker 1: had a blast coaching with him, but that was certainly
Speaker 1: you know through my first year. Uh, if there was
Speaker 1: stuff to come up, he would have been you know,
Speaker 1: the guy and would still be uh, somebody say, man,
Speaker 1: does this ever come up? And uh, you know those
Speaker 1: are the moments, you know, is he that willing to
Speaker 1: help the Falcons? For him? Oddly enough, just the connection
Speaker 1: for there is deeper. And I'm sure he's one of
Speaker 1: those guys that a lot of people you don't feel
Speaker 1: like they could call and and you know, if I
Speaker 1: got this situation, can we talk through it? And uh,
Speaker 1: I guess. The second guy is Mike Tomlin. He's somebody
Speaker 1: that you know, I've been connected for a long time.
Speaker 1: My first year coaching was Mike's senior year of playing,
Speaker 1: and then after that year we coached together the next season. Um,
Speaker 1: so we in friends for you know, twenty you know
Speaker 1: plus years and just a really cool guy. I like
Speaker 1: the idea of like the dark side of Pete Carl,
Speaker 1: who's this personable, upbeat guy, but you call him after
Speaker 1: taking the Seahawks job and he's like, lose this number
Speaker 1: year now the end. Uh Yeah, yeah, it was pretty
Speaker 1: cool about that, and uh, you know it certainly wasn't
Speaker 1: that way. And um, guys who you have long time
Speaker 1: you know connections with, you know it's past you know,
Speaker 1: one game now that week we're playing now, Like we
Speaker 1: ain't calling each other that week. So it just happens
Speaker 1: like this time of year. We don't share draft stuff
Speaker 1: for evaluations on players. But you know, getting back to
Speaker 1: if you had it, you know, something to come up. Uh,
Speaker 1: he'd be the guy. Him and Mike Tomin. You mentioned
Speaker 1: being a Giants fan growing up, and when I think
Speaker 1: of those teams, the first thing is defense. You started
Speaker 1: out two thousand sixteen, the best offense maybe in history,
Speaker 1: in modern history, just putting up crazy points. But then
Speaker 1: last year at the end of the year, you're a
Speaker 1: defense team. You're one of the fastest defenses in the league.
Speaker 1: Is that sort of the blueprint? You want to be
Speaker 1: a defense team. We just want to be a really
Speaker 1: good team. And uh, that's really where it comes down too.
Speaker 1: We don't want to be known to this is just
Speaker 1: an offensive club or a defensive club, but just one
Speaker 1: that really puts out kicks, ass battles for one another.
Speaker 1: And so, uh, we did add a number of guys defensively.
Speaker 1: So now I've always felt there can be like a
Speaker 1: big jump from a player from year one to year two,
Speaker 1: year two to year three, and we just so happened
Speaker 1: that we had a number of guys on the defensive
Speaker 1: side that we're probably in years three or four and under.
Speaker 1: And so that connection, that plan. There was definitely some
Speaker 1: on the job training for some of them in fifteen
Speaker 1: and sixteen. So now as seven team was coming through, um,
Speaker 1: they were ready to flip and you know, be the
Speaker 1: one that was the hammer instead of the nail, so
Speaker 1: to speak. So we're looking forward to a number of
Speaker 1: these guys making another jump. Again, just mentioned less mentioned
Speaker 1: the offense and how incredible it was, and seventeen Steve
Speaker 1: Sarkisian replaces Kyle Shanahan and offense not quite as explosive. Uh,
Speaker 1: my fantasy team, I waited from that Ryan to have
Speaker 1: statistical games and we got. You're you're not the first
Speaker 1: one to hear about this fantasy team. Really upset about
Speaker 1: Matt runs fantasy season last year. But my my point
Speaker 1: is there was criticism round the offense. It was it
Speaker 1: always to you it was gonna take time to get
Speaker 1: maybe back to where you were in twenty sixteen. Well,
Speaker 1: I never, you know, had expectations. Okay, we can surpass
Speaker 1: what we were. Um. The things that I was pleased
Speaker 1: with we were better on third down. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: the things that we weren't was scoring and uh, we've
Speaker 1: always had really good balance. That's really important to me.
Speaker 1: The run game, the play action, the keepers that goes
Speaker 1: with it. I would say probably the biggest disappointment we
Speaker 1: had was our turnover margin. One of the reasons I
Speaker 1: like that as a stat Uh, it's a team status,
Speaker 1: not just you know, the offense turned the ball over,
Speaker 1: but it's also that to get in the plus and
Speaker 1: a turnover margin, you've got to create takeaway. So um,
Speaker 1: we've had a number of good explosive plays, but our
Speaker 1: scoring was down. And as you go through the off
Speaker 1: season to audit, you know, okay, what do we need
Speaker 1: to tweet so to speak as we're going through it.
Speaker 1: And that was a good part and fum part of
Speaker 1: this offseason. But we've got some really explosive guys, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, certainly led by Matt Uh. He is a
Speaker 1: real competitor of the guys, a straight wolf and cheap's clothing,
Speaker 1: you know, like he loves the battle, love to fight.
Speaker 1: So oh here we got parabolic Mike. Sometimes that Matt
Speaker 1: Ryan is the intense competitor. Al right, Well he motivated
Speaker 1: something too. I didn't know there was a Mike. What's
Speaker 1: it called parabolic Mike. Yeah, that's new for me too.
Speaker 1: Yeah he uh yeah, he is uh yeah. If that
Speaker 1: Mike really said everything, it would be definitely a show.
Speaker 1: And tell him that it's cool. I mean, and they're cool,
Speaker 1: We're cool. It's just just that be a motivator. To
Speaker 1: find out that the Dance Fantasy results were not up
Speaker 1: to part uh, I'll bring it up in the belly. Man,
Speaker 1: is it possible to overpay for a franchise quarterback in
Speaker 1: the NFL? It seemed like, uh, you know at that spot. Um,
Speaker 1: it's almost like a whole another you know, cap is needed,
Speaker 1: you know for quarterbacks because they're so unique in what
Speaker 1: they do, and when you have when you know how
Speaker 1: fortunate you are and know that for us to have
Speaker 1: a guy like Matt who not only is a really
Speaker 1: good player, but like what a kick as competitor or
Speaker 1: the right guy in the locker room. So, uh, we're
Speaker 1: fortunate that he's right in the middle of it. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know the league, you know, in terms of the structure,
Speaker 1: the way the cap set up to have you know,
Speaker 1: opportunities not only to have him, but guys you know,
Speaker 1: to bring along with them. Um, I think they got
Speaker 1: to set up in the right way. You're known, you
Speaker 1: know for somewhat your your hip hop playlists before the game,
Speaker 1: which is almost it's a little kind of setting. It's like, Wow, hey,
Speaker 1: a head coach actually knows hip hop. It's like, you
Speaker 1: know that this music isn't necessarily all that new. It's
Speaker 1: like Tupac and Biggie you put up, But what does
Speaker 1: it mean definitely putting my age into it, you know,
Speaker 1: my wheelhouse where I'm at. But do you you kind
Speaker 1: of you you reside kind of in the epicenter right
Speaker 1: now of of hip hop and in America, So like
Speaker 1: is that is that important to you? Are going You're
Speaker 1: you're going to like use like Meghos or Gucci going up.
Speaker 1: We do um, And it was really cool, like even
Speaker 1: you know, with the super Bowl being in Atlanta this year.
Speaker 1: I think it was Bruno Mars who had said was
Speaker 1: Brunal Marts who had said, you know, I hope they
Speaker 1: do something, you know regarding you know, all the artists
Speaker 1: that are from Atlanta and uh, not just hip hop
Speaker 1: you but like Zach Brown is a huge Falcons fan,
Speaker 1: so like you know, like where we're at, Like obviously
Speaker 1: the hip hop world is big, and like it's really
Speaker 1: cool how it started in Atlanta, you know, like from
Speaker 1: the club scene to how the music you know come through,
Speaker 1: so um, it is pretty cool. Like living in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: It's a cool spot. Like football in our state is
Speaker 1: really important and so high school ball, college ball, pro ball, uh,
Speaker 1: and then the music scene there it's a it's a
Speaker 1: pretty lit space like to live it's cool like Mike
Speaker 1: Vick got a cameo in Atlanta. I feel like you
Speaker 1: could work on that. You know what, Um, I wish
Speaker 1: i'd had it, you know, just a little shot at something.
Speaker 1: You know that was Mangini was in the Sopranos. You
Speaker 1: know that's a good you know the man? All right?
Speaker 1: Before we let you go, Dan, And this time for
Speaker 1: our speed round, it's called eight o'clock. Delight, Are you right?
Speaker 1: It's literally let's call six thirty delight you ready? I'm
Speaker 1: down with it. Go name a movie you've seen at
Speaker 1: least seven times? Force gum, What does Dan Quinn get
Speaker 1: up to when it's time for a little meta? I'd
Speaker 1: have to stay at least enjoyable. Hey, your dues task.
Speaker 1: As a young coach of the I would say it
Speaker 1: wasn't in the league, but my second year coaching I
Speaker 1: was at Virginia Mills staring Stead, and back then you
Speaker 1: had to bring up film to the airport. So driving
Speaker 1: from Lexington, Virginia the Rono Airport and sometimes at like
Speaker 1: four or thirty A yeah, aftergo and I remember telling
Speaker 1: my wife Stacey at the time, someday we're gonna live
Speaker 1: back at this November where we didn't have to go
Speaker 1: to the Rono Airport teams. You know, yeah, now here
Speaker 1: you are with us, it looks back. I would have
Speaker 1: to say it might not have been the NFL part,
Speaker 1: but the best stadium in the NFL pside drum besides
Speaker 1: Mercedes fans. For me, it's always been fun, you know,
Speaker 1: going back home on the dast necessay because of family,
Speaker 1: friends and rolling up through New Jersey. And that's kind
Speaker 1: of like we line love the Passion obviously from Nostalgias
Speaker 1: Gampoint and I'm like the metal speaking of the metal
Speaker 1: ends best Springsteen so mm hmm, that's a cool one.
Speaker 1: I saw him for the first time last year and
Speaker 1: now instead springs of concerts, I would blown away like
Speaker 1: this is like lit from like the time one show
Speaker 1: and the one song ends to the next one like
Speaker 1: well dude three and right back to it again. So
Speaker 1: no filibuster ring though, what is the best Springstein song? Um? Well,
Speaker 1: you're also going to dave me back like which is
Speaker 1: the best video? I mean thunder Road Classic there you
Speaker 1: can't argue with that, dan Quinn, you survived the Crucible,
Speaker 1: that is six thirty Delight. Well, the six thirty delight,
Speaker 1: Let's see if somebody can top it. But yeah, it
Speaker 1: really cool to be on with you guys. Thanks d
Speaker 1: best of luck to you into thousand, all right, thanks guys.
Speaker 1: Thunder Road is an excellent Bruce Springsteen song. The definitive
Speaker 1: Springstein song is Born to Run. Obviously I would go West,
Speaker 1: and I know you're a Springsteen fan as well as
Speaker 1: most white men sportswriters are in their thirties, forties and fifties,
Speaker 1: but Jungle Road would probably my favorite. Bruso. Jungle Road
Speaker 1: is in the top ten. I think of any great
Speaker 1: Springsteen file, you gotta you gotta have Jungle Road in there.
Speaker 1: Do you have a lot of more more road songs?
Speaker 1: It's just jungle and he wrote about cars, cars and
Speaker 1: girls and factories. Closing that that basically makes a um
Speaker 1: any other takeaways from dan Quinn West and I when
Speaker 1: we covered these Seahawks two years in a row in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, really fell for dan Quinn. I mean,
Speaker 1: anyone that listened to those podcasts back then we're probably
Speaker 1: found us quite annoying and how much we like Dan Queenn.
Speaker 1: But we promised to have beers with him or wanted
Speaker 1: to that did not happen during this interview. But I
Speaker 1: don't hear you guys even ask We didn't even ask.
Speaker 1: We it was six thirty in the morning. I was
Speaker 1: not really in the mood for a beer, to be
Speaker 1: honest with you. But he was a delightful conversationalist. Well,
Speaker 1: you can see when just his energy and I think
Speaker 1: this is true. Of this is true. The media believes this,
Speaker 1: Other coaches believe it's just like they like being around
Speaker 1: and Dan Quinn because of his energy. You can see
Speaker 1: when he gets into an interview, for instance with the Falcons,
Speaker 1: that you're like, I just gotta give him my team
Speaker 1: to this guy, I did want to ask him and
Speaker 1: because you know, these things go buy quick. But he
Speaker 1: was a he was a record setting hammer thrower at
Speaker 1: the collegiate level. Looks like I just wanted to know
Speaker 1: if that if that skill set still paid off in
Speaker 1: any way, A missed opportunity. Now that he's out of
Speaker 1: the room, well these interviews, you know, suddenly it's like bang,
Speaker 1: we're out. He's leaving, so you know, all right, moving on.
Speaker 1: So thank you to Dan for joining us. A Super
Speaker 1: Bowl winning coach for the Baltimore Ravens, John Harbaugh. We
Speaker 1: we had a lot to talk about with John, who
Speaker 1: the only guy that rolled in no entourage at all,
Speaker 1: which I thought was kind of super confident in just
Speaker 1: coming in on his own, not scared of us, Like sure, sure,
Speaker 1: why not? Uh, let's throw it to John Harbor right now.
Speaker 1: Just got serious in room one oh five, sweet one
Speaker 1: oh five, because we have a Super Bowl winning head coach.
Speaker 1: He is John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens. This is
Speaker 1: his introduction music. John requested, it is that like a
Speaker 1: drum roll? What is that? Nice little E D M hit? Yeah,
Speaker 1: a little electronic music, a little dance music. Here in
Speaker 1: your younger years, prey family, did you ever have like
Speaker 1: a club period? The club? No, we were never allowed
Speaker 1: in clubs. The hardballs. It seems like we have a
Speaker 1: band from everything everywhere we were ever at fault of
Speaker 1: course out of friends. You know, you can come, but
Speaker 1: don't bring your brother. You're a veteran at these owners
Speaker 1: owners meetings. You kind of have the strategy that you
Speaker 1: came in as late as possible. Is that because you've
Speaker 1: done so many at this point, probably, Yeah, come lately
Speaker 1: early and you know, and keep a little profile. Don't
Speaker 1: be seen. How how do you guys find me? They
Speaker 1: have the tentacles with the shield on our side. That's
Speaker 1: how we tracked down John. I mean, it's an interesting
Speaker 1: time for the Baltimore Rave is right. I mean, three
Speaker 1: years without the playoffs, we've been We've gotten used to
Speaker 1: the Ravens always being in the mix, and it is
Speaker 1: there in the organization and for you just like that
Speaker 1: sets of pressure as we had intoen to to end
Speaker 1: that dry spell. Well yeah, I mean you don't we
Speaker 1: I mean, you want to make the playoffs. We want
Speaker 1: to be relevant. You know. We're not too happy with
Speaker 1: the fact that we're not in there, you know, and
Speaker 1: I thought we were in there last year, you know,
Speaker 1: and obviously you get you get your heartbroken. This is
Speaker 1: a this is a great thing about about the NFL,
Speaker 1: about sports. It's drama, you know, and you never know
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen next, and ain't crazy thing can happen.
Speaker 1: And I think that's why it's uh, you know, people
Speaker 1: watch it, but you know it can be it can
Speaker 1: be the incredible happy joy high. I was at the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. I was rooting for the Eagles. You know,
Speaker 1: I coached there for ten years and pretty much know,
Speaker 1: everybody in the organization, and man I was I felt
Speaker 1: like I was as happy as they were, you know,
Speaker 1: you get that, not not quite not as quite as
Speaker 1: happy as I wasn't twelve, but but happy, you know.
Speaker 1: And then you have you know, like us, and we
Speaker 1: fought our way and clawed our way back into the
Speaker 1: thing this year, and then we got knocked out right there.
Speaker 1: And and you're referring to the week seventeen lost to Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: and is it extra annoying? Obviously a painful loss, but
Speaker 1: then and not not that the Bills are doing anything wrong,
Speaker 1: but then that becoming the big news story that following
Speaker 1: that the next couple of days, them celebrating after the
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton touchdown. That probably was unnecessary at that point.
Speaker 1: Well it probably would have been if I had watched
Speaker 1: it paid attention to it, but I made a point
Speaker 1: not to. You know, I kind of shouted, you know,
Speaker 1: close the doors, pulled the blinds down, and didn't read
Speaker 1: it or listen to anything for a while. You men
Speaker 1: started it, they were happy, you know, the city deserved it.
Speaker 1: You mentioned you were in Philadelphia and you were enjoying
Speaker 1: that game, you know, considering your time with Andy Reid.
Speaker 1: We talked to you know, Andy earlier, like what what
Speaker 1: kind of influenced even just seeing like that Eagles when
Speaker 1: do you think he sort of had a part in
Speaker 1: that Eagles win and just the influence kind of that
Speaker 1: he's had throughout the league, the godfather, I do, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he is, and yeah, I do feel that way. I
Speaker 1: mean I feel like, uh, I kind of feel like
Speaker 1: the Eagles are are kind of back to the roots now.
Speaker 1: You know, um Andy's first year, you know, Doug was
Speaker 1: the quarter backup quarterback, he was my holder, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, all the coaches that were there, and I
Speaker 1: think there's I just feel like, you know, with Jeffrey
Speaker 1: and how he's been there forever, and I just feel
Speaker 1: like it's kind of the way the Eagles are supposed
Speaker 1: to be and to see them have that success and
Speaker 1: to have a kind of flow back around through Andy
Speaker 1: is very appropriate for you guys to notice that. I
Speaker 1: mean all of us who are part of that, I know,
Speaker 1: we feel that way. You know, so you feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, you wanna have a little stake in it.
Speaker 1: Probably maybe they don't feel that way, but I think
Speaker 1: they do. I think that uh it do really and
Speaker 1: really if you're honest about it. It It goes back to Jeffrey.
Speaker 1: I mean, jeff Lory is the owner, he's the leader,
Speaker 1: and uh, he's built that, you know, and uh and uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty pretty awesome to see it all come
Speaker 1: together for him this year. Something I've always wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you because we were at the Super Bowl. You
Speaker 1: one incredible game, but when the lights went out, well,
Speaker 1: yes it was my job as his, But when the
Speaker 1: lights went out, what was the first thing that went
Speaker 1: through your mind? I remember my wife was down in
Speaker 1: the stands, and I'm thinking, what on earth is happening
Speaker 1: in this building? Did you have more knowledge that that
Speaker 1: could happen? I mean, well, I heard the story. I
Speaker 1: heard the story. I had the story the next morning
Speaker 1: that they talked about some switch, some switching station outside
Speaker 1: the stadium. You know, I was a little skeptical. Uh,
Speaker 1: he's on records saying it's a conspiracy designed to let
Speaker 1: San Francis go back and get back in that game.
Speaker 1: I I, you know, I I My first thought was
Speaker 1: like maybe it was like some kind of attack. You
Speaker 1: know that you first thought, you know, and I didn't.
Speaker 1: I don't know that I thought of that some of
Speaker 1: my said that to me, you know, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh man, you know we're kind of exposed out here,
Speaker 1: but uh, not really you really in just being straight up,
Speaker 1: you really, it's just kind of like another thing, another obstacle.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, it's crazy. What the heck is going on?
Speaker 1: This has never happened before. This is ridiculous. It's not
Speaker 1: really what you think about. What you really think about,
Speaker 1: and that as a head coach is how are we
Speaker 1: gonna deal with this? You know, how We're gonna have
Speaker 1: our guys ready. Unfortunately, we didn't do a very good job,
Speaker 1: you know, because we were up to six and they
Speaker 1: came rolling back. Um, you know, they got their guys
Speaker 1: more ready. You know, we were. I was over there
Speaker 1: in the sideline and towards the end of the whole deal,
Speaker 1: they were trying to tell me that my coaches weren't
Speaker 1: gonna be able to go back up to the press
Speaker 1: box or something. You know, I'm like, well, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like I'm telling you how it's gonna go here.
Speaker 1: You know, we're gonna play when we're ready to play,
Speaker 1: and it's not gonna before coaches in the press box
Speaker 1: and there's nothing you're gonna do about we gonna do,
Speaker 1: you know, throw the flag? You got anybody gotta go,
Speaker 1: you gotta called the game. I don't think so, you know,
Speaker 1: so that was kind of I gotta yelled at the
Speaker 1: one guy, Mike. Mike Cancel, by the way, he was
Speaker 1: became a local legend in New York City, right everybody
Speaker 1: knows and he says he goes to the seven eleven.
Speaker 1: So we laugh about that now, But it was crazy.
Speaker 1: Then I look out there and I see my brothers
Speaker 1: in the huddle with Cap calling to play. You know,
Speaker 1: It's like, I don't think he's allowed to be out
Speaker 1: there on the field right now. You know, it doesn't
Speaker 1: surprise me that he's out there. But but it was.
Speaker 1: It's just pretty cool the way the whole thing. You
Speaker 1: look back on it now and I think even Jim
Speaker 1: feels that way. You know, it was a pretty amazing deal.
Speaker 1: Did you ever get like a you know, one of
Speaker 1: the guys that came back, helped the forty niners come
Speaker 1: back in the game, Michael Crabtree now playing for you, Like,
Speaker 1: what kind of like special intel do you get from
Speaker 1: your brother when you're posibly signing one of his He
Speaker 1: told me to sign him. Man, he loved him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I talked to Jim and Bohm. He's like, he's like
Speaker 1: Crab as a man. You know, he's tough, he's rough,
Speaker 1: he's he's hard. Nos. You know you want to scare
Speaker 1: on your team. He loves Crab. He wants to claimed
Speaker 1: the Crabtree has the best hands ever. Yeah. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: I'm all for it, man, And we need you guys
Speaker 1: that can catch. I mean, you know that's last time
Speaker 1: I checked. Isn't that the main like trait a wide receiver?
Speaker 1: You are steeped in special teams knowledge, so you can
Speaker 1: speak with authority on this subject. Has anyone ever had
Speaker 1: a better two year kicking window than Justin Tucker? And
Speaker 1: just no nobody ever has? You know, funny thing about
Speaker 1: Justin it's not just the stats. And you know I
Speaker 1: had a great kicker, we Andy David Acres. Okay, so
Speaker 1: one time I thought David Acres was a machine and
Speaker 1: he was and Tuck and it comes to our training
Speaker 1: camp and he actually works with Tuck sometimes and he's
Speaker 1: he's amazed by bye bye talk. You know, it's not
Speaker 1: just the fact that he makes every kick. He makes
Speaker 1: every kick in practice. You know, and we just like
Speaker 1: the rare time he misses, it's like we just love
Speaker 1: it because he's such a good guy and he's not
Speaker 1: going guy, but he's such a perfection. It's like singing
Speaker 1: and everything else, and he's perfect and everything. This guy
Speaker 1: does nothing wrong. He's perfect and you can ask him
Speaker 1: about that. He'll he'll probably tell that to you too
Speaker 1: as well. Perfectly humble. Yeah, he's a yeah, totally made
Speaker 1: your confident guy. So when he does missing practice led
Speaker 1: by Terrell Suggs, you know, as a course of we
Speaker 1: just all really appreciate the fact that he's not actually perfect.
Speaker 1: Dan is always making the case there is no one
Speaker 1: in the league he would trade Justin Tucker for that.
Speaker 1: That is Dan's numbers. I'm like the biggest Justin Tucker
Speaker 1: fan in America. Well, you're probably ahead, but true, but
Speaker 1: my daughter may I tell all the all the all
Speaker 1: the all the Baltimore Girl fans, you know, the teenage girls.
Speaker 1: Who's probably even bigger than you and I Justin Tucker
Speaker 1: figured it out? Did the kicker who did it? One
Speaker 1: thing I wanted to ask you is that you're one
Speaker 1: of those coaches I feel like has a lot to
Speaker 1: say at these owner meetings that you speak up like
Speaker 1: there's a you know, the rules are being talked about,
Speaker 1: and I feel like you have opinions, you have feelings
Speaker 1: on those rules, and you let them know. Well, they
Speaker 1: spoke to me about that. So that's why I think
Speaker 1: I've been muzzled leaving right? Um, all right, So this
Speaker 1: is the part of the interview I called the crucible.
Speaker 1: It's the speed round. It's called eight o'clock delight. Are
Speaker 1: you ready? I'm so bad at this stuff. Well, it
Speaker 1: won't be too painful, or maybe it will. Let's hit
Speaker 1: it Netflix and chill or dinner in the movie Netflix
Speaker 1: and favorite Netflix favorite hip hop artist. I don't know
Speaker 1: any Okay, best Seagal movie. I've never seen any bare
Speaker 1: hot tub, hot tub relaxing, bliss or cesspools of filth action.
Speaker 1: Greatest SNL cast member of all time? What's one thing
Speaker 1: most people don't know about your quarterback? Uh? He's really opinionated.
Speaker 1: Do you believe that it's true? If you say so,
Speaker 1: I believe it. Speaking of rules and stuff, did they
Speaker 1: fix the catch rule this proposed? They did? They did.
Speaker 1: It's not perfect, but it never can be. Is this
Speaker 1: the new muzzle? Did Oswald act alone. Yes, have you
Speaker 1: ever seen a ghost? No? I don't believe in ghosts.
Speaker 1: You know Sessler is a major Oswald conspiracy guy. Because
Speaker 1: Michael also a Browns fan, so like you and Michael Lombardi,
Speaker 1: I I'm worried about the grass, you know, just a
Speaker 1: little bit something. There might have been something over there.
Speaker 1: The Greatest Generation? Accurate nickname or needlessly braggy accurate nickname?
Speaker 1: Is there intelligent life beyond this planet? Yeah? Spiritual best
Speaker 1: Tom Petty song, I won't back down. M that's right, going,
Speaker 1: can very good? Can the coolest guy on the team
Speaker 1: be a kicker? Adam Gates said no with authority on
Speaker 1: that one. He doesn't have Tucker exactly. John Harbaugh, best
Speaker 1: of luck to you in the two thousand and eighteen season.
Speaker 1: We will be watching. Thanks guys, you guys are great.
Speaker 1: Thanks there you go, John Harbaugh, and uh. I like
Speaker 1: the idea that that Justin Tucker is just a guy
Speaker 1: that everybody wants to see fail because he's he's perfect,
Speaker 1: which isn't a surprise to me. My goal one day
Speaker 1: is that the Ravens going entire season and only Justin
Speaker 1: Tucker scores. That's my goal. They've been getting, they got
Speaker 1: closer to feel like seems achievable, and that might be
Speaker 1: why they end up drafting a quarterback in this draft.
Speaker 1: But we shall see any other takeaways from Mr Harbaugh.
Speaker 1: I had promised at one point to gift Westling a
Speaker 1: train system from l A to Tybee Island called the Mouser,
Speaker 1: and to fund it would we would melt down the
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens to pay for it. I have to say
Speaker 1: I still like the idea, but um, it was a
Speaker 1: little tougher to comprehend. After hanging out with John Harbor,
Speaker 1: because you know, another um signal that we are very
Speaker 1: easily impressionable. I started to like him and feel a
Speaker 1: little less angst towards the races coming out of it.
Speaker 1: Between that and you forgiving art model. It's been halfway
Speaker 1: to Baltimore. It's been an off season of healing for
Speaker 1: marking the Ravens. And you know what it is because
Speaker 1: Mark thinks the Browns are on the right path. He
Speaker 1: won't say it, but he feels like things are going
Speaker 1: better for the Brownies and he can start letting go
Speaker 1: that this is ultra projection. I don't feel any of this.
Speaker 1: There's only one direction they can go is that at one. However,
Speaker 1: you take your pick if you I don't like that,
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Speaker 1: Oh my god, we gotta get out of here. Uh.
Speaker 1: Next time you hear from us, will be back in
Speaker 1: the studio in Culver City, god willing. But we will
Speaker 1: also have more great content uh that we collected here. Um,
Speaker 1: we're gonna hear from Tony Khan of the Jaguars and
Speaker 1: of course Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs, who
Speaker 1: it was a real peach Andy Reid. It was great
Speaker 1: talking to him the godfather. Uh. So that's coming up Thursday.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. Uh, and uh now it's time
Speaker 1: Mark and Wes especially Wes and Greg. Let's get a
Speaker 1: little shut I yeah, let's do it. Time to get
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Speaker 1: on the table till Thursday. Take your shirt all yeah,
Speaker 1: Usually wait till the show is over.