Speaker 1: Around the NFL Podcast, Fink's Cliff Kingsbury has a sexy boys,
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition at the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansis I am joined in a
Speaker 1: room filled with some heroes Chris Westling and Greg Rosen thought,
Speaker 1: what is up? Boys? Hey Dan Yo. We are back
Speaker 1: in California after spending the last previous four days in Phoenix,
Speaker 1: Arizona at the Arizona Built Moore Resort, the site of
Speaker 1: the NFL Annual Meeting. And um, we're gonna get into
Speaker 1: what came out of that, including a surprise rule change.
Speaker 1: It's gonna have a big effect on the twenty nineteen season.
Speaker 1: On Monday Show. Of course, Freddie Kitchens, you heard from
Speaker 1: Sean McDermott well today in an interview we did over
Speaker 1: the weekend. You're gonna hear from Matt Laflora, the new
Speaker 1: head coach of the Green Bay Packers. Now, not to
Speaker 1: mention what another pack show. Boys, A D d caka
Speaker 1: Walla NFL Network Zone really plugged in on the ins
Speaker 1: and out of the Pittsburgh Steelers. We had a nice
Speaker 1: conversation with her about the state of the Steelers, the
Speaker 1: locker room and there, uh, present and future, and then
Speaker 1: there's some fun interact, you know, a different vibe between
Speaker 1: her and Mark two. I thought, which was interesting. It
Speaker 1: was a lot of interpersonal um play and uh it
Speaker 1: was a deep dive into the steel city. We you know,
Speaker 1: we go into the fish tank. We've we've been in
Speaker 1: the Ravens nest and this was I don't know, going
Speaker 1: into the steel mills. Hey, get to work, Erica. It's
Speaker 1: a new drop to put together. It's the steel mill.
Speaker 1: Can't wait? That sounds yeah, that sounds fun because you
Speaker 1: get to pour the molten uh stuff into the metal
Speaker 1: thing whatever they do high deal in cold. So I
Speaker 1: don't know what's happened into the steel mills. Uh, West
Speaker 1: is barely alive. He took a Z pack and UH
Speaker 1: and combine that with some fun living. So he's recovering
Speaker 1: uh at a decent pace. Mark under the weather. He
Speaker 1: meets Freddie Kitchens, he squabbles with add and now he's
Speaker 1: not here on our showback. So we hoped to have
Speaker 1: Mark back soon before he leaves for a big trip
Speaker 1: to South Korea. So there's a lot going on. Well
Speaker 1: what has happened? That's an understatement, Yes, that's you. That's
Speaker 1: well said and well putting. Nothing else needs to be said.
Speaker 1: All right, here we go, let's get into it. Um oh,
Speaker 1: and also we're gonna talk a little bit about the breakfast.
Speaker 1: Um uh what are they called? What is coaches coaches breakfast?
Speaker 1: Greg you checked that out and have some takeaways on that.
Speaker 1: But let's start uh with the news. Let me do
Speaker 1: he drinks a gallon of milk every day for strong bones. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think it's uh the milk that's not pasteurized either.
Speaker 1: The wow J Gruden Redskins coach on Colt McCoy who
Speaker 1: just had a second uh surgery on his leg that
Speaker 1: he broke a last Thanksgiving. I think it was h
Speaker 1: was the Thanksgiving? Yeah? Yeah, and uh, I guess he
Speaker 1: drinks wait how much a gallon of milk and it's
Speaker 1: unpasteurized straight out of the what? Right out of the tea?
Speaker 1: You know, everyone's got a John Gruden impression, but Jay
Speaker 1: Gruden is underrated for the way he uh like defines
Speaker 1: each word so clearly I love it. And he had
Speaker 1: the greatest um he in the annual coaches picture, which
Speaker 1: now we're down to about fourteen coaches that get their
Speaker 1: picture taken I don't know. Somebody's got to ramp up
Speaker 1: the attendance of the demands for that. It's a somehow
Speaker 1: balexs led to anarchy by never showing up, and now
Speaker 1: everyone else is like, well, if he doesn't do it,
Speaker 1: I don't have to. The photo of j and I
Speaker 1: can't believe that this was the best photo. I guess
Speaker 1: seventeen other guys were blinking. Uh. He's slapping at his
Speaker 1: his thighs with with his hands like the classic move
Speaker 1: where you, oh, you have a moment of panic. Where's
Speaker 1: my keys or my cell phone? And that's alright, Jake
Speaker 1: Gruden in the uh in the team picture of the
Speaker 1: coaches picture, this year, your past year really taking a hit.
Speaker 1: Here he's taking he's taking eat And what is what
Speaker 1: is Jay saying? I mean we'll save it for the
Speaker 1: milk podcast, But I mean the milk we've been told
Speaker 1: for decades, centuries, even you know, that's good for the bones,
Speaker 1: it makes you grow. And here here's Colt McCoy who's
Speaker 1: basically on injured reserve every four, you know, every four
Speaker 1: starts of his career Erica, how do you feel about
Speaker 1: being forced to drink milk? Forced to drink it. You see,
Speaker 1: you know, West, it's funny. It's funny. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I've ever gotten to tell you this, but when
Speaker 1: I when I was, you know, younger, my mom she
Speaker 1: she'd put a whole glass of milk at the table
Speaker 1: and I couldn't get up from the table until I
Speaker 1: drank the entire glass of milk. Even even when I
Speaker 1: came home from college. I would be home from college,
Speaker 1: my mom and be like, you can't get up from
Speaker 1: the dinner table until you finish your milk. And apparently
Speaker 1: I told West that story five different times in London.
Speaker 1: It scarred you. Was a whole milk, was a fresh
Speaker 1: out of the two Actually, no, um not been to
Speaker 1: a college high school? Yeah deaf um college you know
Speaker 1: out of the Yeah? Gross, wait, really, no one. We
Speaker 1: have to save this for the Milk podcast because I
Speaker 1: believes that like, nobody over the age of three should
Speaker 1: drink milk, So they went to save this for the
Speaker 1: for the podcast. Mark also believes no one should eat
Speaker 1: over the age of three. All right, let's get to
Speaker 1: the big, big story that came out of the owners meetings.
Speaker 1: The owners voted on Tuesday night. They locked the doors
Speaker 1: and brought in boxed food for owners. That's how serious
Speaker 1: this was. To approve a rule proposal that allows for
Speaker 1: offensive and defensive past interference, including non calls, that are
Speaker 1: now for the twenty nineteen season as a trial balloon,
Speaker 1: but that usually gives way to you know, full time
Speaker 1: rule UH to be subject to review. Coaches can challenge
Speaker 1: those calls in the first twenty eight minutes of each half.
Speaker 1: In the final two minutes of each half, those calls
Speaker 1: will be subject to booth review. Owners past this thirty
Speaker 1: one to one. UH. The Cincinnati and Galls, as is
Speaker 1: their way, we're the only team to vote no. Greg.
Speaker 1: You you mentioned you've been doing this for fifteen years,
Speaker 1: and this is just it's It always used to be
Speaker 1: thirty two two and Al Davis and Mike Brown to
Speaker 1: vote against the rules, and now it's just Mike Brown.
Speaker 1: So coaches will still have to challenge flags, only now
Speaker 1: they it's open to UH, both calls and non calls.
Speaker 1: And um, Greg, we'll start with you on this. UH.
Speaker 1: To me, I thought this was great and I think
Speaker 1: it was obviously a direct um reaction to what happened
Speaker 1: in the NFC title game. A team got essentially robbed
Speaker 1: of a chance to go to the Super Bowl, that
Speaker 1: being the Saints, of course, on a no call, and
Speaker 1: this happens. It's I mean, there's no way to deny
Speaker 1: that if that play doesn't happen. This doesn't happen no,
Speaker 1: because it was Sean Payton leading the way. And I
Speaker 1: think it's something because I believe this rule will stick
Speaker 1: in some form. I think it'll wind up, you know,
Speaker 1: being tweaked over the years to improve it, because there
Speaker 1: will be shoes. But Sean Payton was getting backslaps. He
Speaker 1: was hugging with Gayle Benson and the other coaches and
Speaker 1: owners were saying what an important job he had and
Speaker 1: kind of leading the way. Mike Tomlin was part of it.
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick was, And I think that's cool because I
Speaker 1: think that's a unique thing about the NFL over the
Speaker 1: last fifty years. They're always looking for better ways to
Speaker 1: improve the product and improve fairness. And yes, there's gonna
Speaker 1: be some issues that come up with this, but ultimately,
Speaker 1: I think you want to get the calls right and
Speaker 1: the as the technology keeps improving, this was always a
Speaker 1: bit of a blind spot in the review process. I
Speaker 1: like that they're not allowing the amount of challenges that
Speaker 1: you're allowed to take to go up. So coaches are
Speaker 1: still gonna have to be careful what they do and
Speaker 1: what they don't challenge. But why not try to get
Speaker 1: the call right? Why not try to prevent situations like
Speaker 1: that from happening again. I think it's a great thing,
Speaker 1: and I'm shocked because we entered the weekend hearing the
Speaker 1: owners didn't have much of an appetite. It was the
Speaker 1: coaches coming together, really thirty two to nothing they voted
Speaker 1: on a proposal, and some owners like Jeffrey Lury, who
Speaker 1: are frustrated with a lot of these entrenched old school
Speaker 1: owners have now been around for a while, who didn't
Speaker 1: want to make any changes, saying, we gotta try to
Speaker 1: be better. Let's not let what's it? What does it best?
Speaker 1: Be the enemy? You know, better be the enemy A
Speaker 1: good like. They're just trying to improve it, and they're
Speaker 1: gonna try to improve it even more maybe after this year.
Speaker 1: I am staunchly opposed to all extra work stoppages in
Speaker 1: sports entertainment. This will have more stoppages in the game.
Speaker 1: And what the NFL really wants to do, what they've
Speaker 1: said they want to do is have fewer stoppages. So
Speaker 1: I don't like it on that count. That was the
Speaker 1: main ownership argument, right, And I don't like it on
Speaker 1: the count that it's going to increase controversy. It just
Speaker 1: is because past interference is a controversial call, and when
Speaker 1: you take the time to review it, the fans on
Speaker 1: the losing side are gonna be teed off every Sunday night,
Speaker 1: every Monday morning. This is gonna keep going on. And
Speaker 1: I think the heart of the problem with the NFL's
Speaker 1: replay review system is it's in the hands of coaches
Speaker 1: and it should not be. They have a worse viewpoint
Speaker 1: than than referees on the sidelines. There should be one
Speaker 1: game official who works for the NFL assigned to review
Speaker 1: egregious calls every game. That's the way you fix replay,
Speaker 1: not by giving coaches who are control freaks more chances
Speaker 1: to have work stopping. I like that. I like that
Speaker 1: there's not an added challenge, so there's it's not they're
Speaker 1: not adding um more opportunities to stop the game. I
Speaker 1: like that in the inside the two minutes, it's basically
Speaker 1: it's folded into the way the system is already set
Speaker 1: up and listening to Troy Vincent Uh, the e v
Speaker 1: P for NFL, who's in the middle of a lot
Speaker 1: of this um. He's saying, Listen, people are worried about
Speaker 1: hail mary's. What's gonna happen with hail mary's. There is
Speaker 1: not going to be a situation where you're gonna see
Speaker 1: the booth come down or or the game stopped on
Speaker 1: a hail mary at the end of the game, unless
Speaker 1: it is something absolutely blatant. That's what they're saying. They're
Speaker 1: they're they're gonna They're saying, the officials are going to
Speaker 1: there's gonna be an exercise and judgment not to let
Speaker 1: this go crazy. And Haywire and I think that it's
Speaker 1: important to this to to not to not go nuts now.
Speaker 1: And you're right West that it can't be touched calls.
Speaker 1: I mean, it can't be these fifty, right, But coaches
Speaker 1: are gonna go they're gonna throw flags for touch calls,
Speaker 1: and that's against the spirit of replay as it was
Speaker 1: instituted in the NFL. It was instituted for egregious calls clearing,
Speaker 1: but then how do you prevent the egregious mistakes on
Speaker 1: p I calls? I I said, have one FSU who
Speaker 1: works for the NFL who can stop playing any time
Speaker 1: for an egregious call. That's how I would fix replay.
Speaker 1: And I think I predict that will eventually come to agree.
Speaker 1: I agree. That's the thing is that I think the
Speaker 1: time like I think the time aspect, will be improved
Speaker 1: over time. Maybe they can put a shot clock eye eventually,
Speaker 1: but that's I'd rather take the short term hit of
Speaker 1: making the game better for the long term. But I
Speaker 1: don't think it makes the game better. I just don't.
Speaker 1: I think you can fix this without doing it this way,
Speaker 1: Like I said, with you take it out of the
Speaker 1: coach's hands, and then I'm on board. You also have
Speaker 1: to see this plays out. It's going to be an experiment.
Speaker 1: And for instance, you're saying coaches are gonna be throwing
Speaker 1: the red flag for things that could be perceived as
Speaker 1: tiki tech. If they're going up the challenge and shooting
Speaker 1: that will happen. Yes, But if as the season starts
Speaker 1: playing out, let's say that is happening and every time
Speaker 1: they challenge something that's tiki tech or borderline they get
Speaker 1: voted down, They're gonna stop throwing the flag because they've
Speaker 1: been doing this with the catch roll for you like
Speaker 1: they throw. They threw Tiki tech stuff and like I said,
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy did it twice in the first five minutes
Speaker 1: of game where it was you know, could have gone
Speaker 1: on a catch and it was like for four yards.
Speaker 1: This is the stuff you can't allow coaches to do.
Speaker 1: But what I'm what I'm saying is if it becomes
Speaker 1: a situation where they're uniformly getting shot down, that's eventually
Speaker 1: that's on the coach and that's and they lose the challenge.
Speaker 1: But I think there will be a learning curve as
Speaker 1: long as there. I think the only time you really
Speaker 1: should reverse it is if it's something that's blatant and
Speaker 1: because that's think about what happened with the Saints and
Speaker 1: Nicol Robie Coleman could not can't. But again that's why
Speaker 1: this happened. Everyone was an agreement that it can't be
Speaker 1: deciding seasons and fates and and fan bases. Hearts cannot
Speaker 1: be shattered over something that is so horrendous, is what happened.
Speaker 1: So I'm again, this is a one year trial balloon,
Speaker 1: and if it doesn't work, maybe they will either drop
Speaker 1: it or try something different. I don't think it's a
Speaker 1: bad thing to try it, and the coaches need to
Speaker 1: be better. I mean, I agree with you West that
Speaker 1: part of the issue is the guy who's upstairs calling.
Speaker 1: You know, it's ultimately not the coaches who are calling
Speaker 1: for replaces. You know, the majority of the time it's
Speaker 1: someone upstairs. They need to be better. They need to
Speaker 1: They don't give them enough time to be They need
Speaker 1: to be a well, that's that's part of it is
Speaker 1: you have to make a split second decision and decide
Speaker 1: whether it's egregious or not. And like I think that
Speaker 1: can be improved upon. But this get out of their hand.
Speaker 1: This is something that's been why need to have this
Speaker 1: power in the game. Let's see what Roger Goodell had
Speaker 1: to say about it. But it's your replay has been
Speaker 1: in hortant tool for us, and you know it wasn't
Speaker 1: able to correct something that we wanted to have corrected
Speaker 1: in the past. I think that to me, it was
Speaker 1: a driving force. Ultimately, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I think our clubs, including all our coaches, owners and
Speaker 1: everyone else realized that our job is to get these
Speaker 1: right and we should use every available means to get
Speaker 1: them right, and replay is a great means to be
Speaker 1: able to do that. Will this solve every problem? Will
Speaker 1: this get us the perfect? It was the old thing right,
Speaker 1: don't look perfect, get in the way better? And and
Speaker 1: this is a very natural evolution and obviously a very
Speaker 1: positive thing. Ian Rodgers on the same page. There there
Speaker 1: you go. Did you did you write his comments? So?
Speaker 1: I don't know. So I'm on the side of rog
Speaker 1: and West is on the side of Mike Brown. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: if you cared about integrity so long, why did you
Speaker 1: have a catchual that made no sense and messed with
Speaker 1: the integrity of the game. I just like the integrity
Speaker 1: bothers me. In the past, you have allouded the NFL
Speaker 1: for seeing things that are flaws in the rules and
Speaker 1: not being afraid to take chances and try to address them.
Speaker 1: That's what they're doing here, absolutely that I have said
Speaker 1: that in the past. What I think is the difference
Speaker 1: here is I think they have the wrong solution here.
Speaker 1: I think it's wrong, and I think they're putting themselves
Speaker 1: behind the eight ball. You know, they're saying in politics,
Speaker 1: nobody ever sacrifice. If you give somebody power, they're never
Speaker 1: gonna give it back. The more power you give to
Speaker 1: Congress or the President, it's gonna keep snowballing. That's how
Speaker 1: I think replay review is going. Here's the thing, Like
Speaker 1: the replay hasn't involved that much over the years. It's
Speaker 1: has a little bit now that there basically is someone
Speaker 1: in New York that's assigned to each game that's ultimately
Speaker 1: in charge of the reviews. It's not you know, it's
Speaker 1: not the officials that are there. It's someone in New York.
Speaker 1: And so it's slowly gotten better, but it hasn't nearly
Speaker 1: caught up to the incredible advance and technology that we've had, uh,
Speaker 1: the incredible amount of cameras that are at these games.
Speaker 1: Like the NFL has to start catching up on that front.
Speaker 1: And you hope that this puts a little fire. And
Speaker 1: then because I think it can be better, Like I
Speaker 1: just think it's as Sean Payton put it to all
Speaker 1: the owners and the like, we're not trying to split
Speaker 1: the atom here. This shouldn't be that hard for the
Speaker 1: NFL to figure out. And I do think get a
Speaker 1: lot better than it's been. Make the game faster. That's
Speaker 1: all I have to say. Alright, other rules that didn't
Speaker 1: go through. The NFL owners reject the onside kick alternative proposal. UH.
Speaker 1: We talked about that with Ian Rappaport on Wednesday. Show
Speaker 1: the idea that the UH team trailing has the opportunity
Speaker 1: to maintain possession of the ball a fourth and fifteen
Speaker 1: from their own thirty five yard line and in lieu
Speaker 1: of attempting an onside kick. UH shot down and UM
Speaker 1: John Mara the corner of the Giants found at gimmicky
Speaker 1: saying what are we the arena Football League? Fair? I
Speaker 1: get you uh, and also say he's the same one.
Speaker 1: I think that was very against the replay changes initially. Yeah.
Speaker 1: One another vote that did go through the lead owners
Speaker 1: vote to eliminate blindside blocks and UH NFL football operations.
Speaker 1: On Twitter, UM stated that third of all concussions on
Speaker 1: punts are caused by blindside blocks and the NFL has
Speaker 1: done a lot of work to try to make the
Speaker 1: game safer. Maybe not. You know, NFL doesn't get enough
Speaker 1: credit for they really have made, in my opinion, a
Speaker 1: concerted effort in recent years. UM, this one seems like
Speaker 1: a no brainer if one third of concussions in their
Speaker 1: studies is connected to this, we'll get rid of it.
Speaker 1: And then they've started to over the last few years
Speaker 1: certain blindside box and now they're totally off. I think
Speaker 1: that that one was a home run. I would have
Speaker 1: liked to see the fourth and fifteen concept. It's fun,
Speaker 1: but I get I I totally see where Mara is
Speaker 1: coming from it. There was also some thought of doing
Speaker 1: that at the twenty five. You know, the a F
Speaker 1: I think actually does fourth and twelve from the twenty eight.
Speaker 1: So there's different ways you could do it. I think
Speaker 1: that would have been one that would be worth a
Speaker 1: shot because I think it would be exciting and I think, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: you haven't done it in the past. You haven't done
Speaker 1: a lot of things in the past. The two point
Speaker 1: people thought the two point conversion was like harresy, and
Speaker 1: now it's like, you could love it. You can call
Speaker 1: any rule you don't like gimmicky, and that's just the
Speaker 1: way it works. It would have been fun. Uh. Jordy
Speaker 1: Nelson has reached the end of the road. Uh. He's
Speaker 1: turning thirty four years old next month or in May.
Speaker 1: Recently released by the Oakland Raiders, he ends a career
Speaker 1: that um for a period, especially over about a five
Speaker 1: year spend with the Packers, he was in the conversation
Speaker 1: as a top five wide receiver in the league, tremendous
Speaker 1: success with Aaron Rodgers finish his career with six catches
Speaker 1: for yards and seventy two touchdowns. West there was an
Speaker 1: a C. L tere in there that took away a
Speaker 1: year of his prime and he faded obviously very quickly.
Speaker 1: Uh not a Hall of Famer, but one of the
Speaker 1: best receivers of the decade at his peak, right. I
Speaker 1: think there was a five to six year span there
Speaker 1: where he was the best boundary receiver in the NFL,
Speaker 1: one of the best route runners in the NFL, the
Speaker 1: best back shoulder receiver in the NFL because he had
Speaker 1: a mind meld with Aaron Rodgers, and he was a
Speaker 1: red zone weapon and a deep threat at the same time.
Speaker 1: He was one of the best all around offensive players
Speaker 1: in the NFL for five to six years span. And
Speaker 1: I think when you look at Rogers's struggle struggles last year,
Speaker 1: maybe you could even say the last two years relative struggles.
Speaker 1: You know, part of it is losing that mind meld
Speaker 1: with Jordy and Jordy not being the same and James
Speaker 1: Jones and Greg Jennings in that group. I was talking
Speaker 1: to Michael Cohen, who writes for The Athletic, and he
Speaker 1: was saying, how you know, Rogers would sometimes call audibles
Speaker 1: in games for plays that they hadn't had in their
Speaker 1: playbook for three years, and that you know, that would
Speaker 1: that's the type of thing that would drive Mike McCarthy crazy. Uh.
Speaker 1: But it was the type of thing that you could
Speaker 1: pull off when you had Jordy Nelson and James Jones
Speaker 1: and Greg Jennings and these guys that all they were
Speaker 1: they had been running this offense for so long together
Speaker 1: that he could play that sort of schoolyard audible or
Speaker 1: change it to a play that they hadn't running forever,
Speaker 1: because these guys all knew it and they were a
Speaker 1: great like group. And then once that group kind of
Speaker 1: went away, Rogers can't do that sort of stuff anymore.
Speaker 1: Ring of honor, dude, not a hall, not a hall
Speaker 1: of fame, No hall of very good Packers. Ring of
Speaker 1: honor that same that sounds right, uh? In other news
Speaker 1: center career, Greg Jennings or Jordy Nelson, I'm going to
Speaker 1: Geordie was better at his very peak. Yeah, I agree
Speaker 1: for everything you said. Was he was a monster when
Speaker 1: he was you know, before the a c L tear.
Speaker 1: He even one comeback Player of the Year after he
Speaker 1: came back, but he was kind of in the decline
Speaker 1: at that point leading into that a c L year,
Speaker 1: he was on top of the yeast in the game. UM.
Speaker 1: Rob Gronkowski obviously, over the weekend announced his retirement his agent.
Speaker 1: That's funny story, Um drew Rosenhouse that same day and
Speaker 1: he's there. He spent the entire weekend in and around
Speaker 1: um the hotel where we were in the lobby, and
Speaker 1: in fact, there are multiple times where I was just
Speaker 1: maybe sitting outside or he was always talking to somebody.
Speaker 1: You could always hear him talking about Gronk and you know,
Speaker 1: openly discussing, oh oh, maybe he'll come back. And he
Speaker 1: went on, he went on a media tour and said
Speaker 1: the same thing that he wasn't necessarily convinced. Greg. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm just wondering if this gives you pause, Slash hope
Speaker 1: that Gronk could still be lining up week one for
Speaker 1: the new English No not week one, because I think
Speaker 1: that we eight was framed. It was like, Okay, maybe
Speaker 1: they're in a playoff run and they give old Gronk
Speaker 1: a call. But rosen House also said when he he
Speaker 1: presented a plan to the Patriots or he wants to
Speaker 1: Gronk where essentially, hey, what if I present this to
Speaker 1: the Patriots where you don't you don't have to show
Speaker 1: up till the middle of training camp or who knows,
Speaker 1: maybe even later than that, see what the Patriots think.
Speaker 1: Gronk wanted no part of it. He was definitive right
Speaker 1: now and what he thinks he is only twenty nine
Speaker 1: years old. I don't know. I I've said it on
Speaker 1: the last pot because I love the way he walked away.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't want him to come back like that, but
Speaker 1: I'm sure if they needed to help and he starts
Speaker 1: rumbling down the field, I had changed my mind. Like
Speaker 1: he's never taken the first three months of the season
Speaker 1: off and that just showed up for the playoffs. He
Speaker 1: just did it last Oh please, I'm mean he's out
Speaker 1: there getting Dan had him retired in November. I mean
Speaker 1: he's out there for sixty snacks, snaps, getting crackback blocks
Speaker 1: in the back. You tell him he's taking it off.
Speaker 1: That was an amazing blog. Now I'm saying he's getting
Speaker 1: crushed by defensive players who are taking shots at him. So,
Speaker 1: whether it was producing or not, it wasn't fun. How
Speaker 1: dare you come after his honor? Belichick is notoriously hard
Speaker 1: to predict. How do you feel he would handle that request?
Speaker 1: What he is? He so much of a team builder
Speaker 1: that he would say none? Whatever? Um? Alright, boys scrunk.
Speaker 1: It is now time for Golden Moments presented by McDonald's
Speaker 1: introducing the Big Mac with Bacon, Cheesy Bacon Fries, and
Speaker 1: quarter Pounder with bacon at participating McDonald's Mickey D's for
Speaker 1: a limited time only. Uh is it the best thing
Speaker 1: to happen to McDonald's classics or to bacon? Yeah? Who
Speaker 1: doesn't like bacon? You're all the way back? Can we
Speaker 1: got that free? That free? You know biscuit the other day?
Speaker 1: You know now I'm back in. Yeah, especially if it's free. Eric, Absolutely,
Speaker 1: Let's milk this a little bit. Let's milk this tea?
Speaker 1: Yeah all right? So, Uh, the golden moment was Tuesday
Speaker 1: morning at the breakfast Coaches breakfast. Greg, you were boots
Speaker 1: on the ground. Uh, what are some takeaways you had
Speaker 1: from that breakfast? Variety. Should I just like power through these, Yeah,
Speaker 1: because I had I had a couple too that had
Speaker 1: just from you know, reading around. You don't hit him,
Speaker 1: I'll hit him rapid fire. Number one Zach Taylor not
Speaker 1: getting a lot of publicity. I really like this guy.
Speaker 1: Tell people who he is. He's the coach of the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals. I thought he was a sitcom star from
Speaker 1: the ninety Every once in a while, I have to
Speaker 1: like re check what his name is because I have
Speaker 1: this mental block that he's Zack Robinson, who is this
Speaker 1: random quarterback in the NFL. He also like looks like
Speaker 1: a GUYNT help that the Rams just hired Zack Robinson
Speaker 1: to take his place, that that maybe is part of it.
Speaker 1: And he's yeah, he looks like he's just going out
Speaker 1: to play eight teen at the local, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of you know, municipal course, just like a regular guy.
Speaker 1: But I really he seems really comfortable in his own skin.
Speaker 1: I think he was being genuine when he talked about
Speaker 1: the amount of talent that's on that Bengals team. It's
Speaker 1: it's not that bad. And he just seems like a guy.
Speaker 1: After speaking to him, being around him, that is gonna
Speaker 1: be captivating for the players. I think can be a
Speaker 1: leader and I think hasn't gotten a lot of pub
Speaker 1: was impressed with him. Frank Reich talking up Devin Funches
Speaker 1: really struck me. I was sitting next to Frank Reich
Speaker 1: and man, he is convinced that Devin Funches is gonna
Speaker 1: be a huge part of that offense because of his
Speaker 1: footwork and his route running ability. That stuck out. Andy
Speaker 1: Reid when asked who's a leader on their defense was
Speaker 1: flu mixed. Tyrn Matthew was the first person that he mentioned.
Speaker 1: Tymond Matthew, hasn't you know practiced? That was? That was?
Speaker 1: That was it that stuck out to me. And then
Speaker 1: King's kick Cliff Kingsbury. He's in a tough spot, but
Speaker 1: you know, he has to speak in a time where
Speaker 1: he really can't say anything. But when he's asked about
Speaker 1: Kylie Murray to compare him to someone, he literally says,
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's really another comp in NFL
Speaker 1: history that combined the running nobility of a Michael Vick,
Speaker 1: which I think he basically has in a true drop
Speaker 1: back passer that I think he's one of the great.
Speaker 1: He said, one of the great dual threat players of
Speaker 1: all time. That's what I mean. So to me, it's
Speaker 1: like Kyler Murray and his eyes are just lighting up.
Speaker 1: And then he's asked about Rosen he says the things
Speaker 1: that you have to say. But it's just it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, what, what are we doing here? You know,
Speaker 1: I get it. You can't you can't declare it. But
Speaker 1: talk to people that are in and around the owners meetings,
Speaker 1: everyone knows it that, yeah, this is what's happening, that
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray is their quarterback, and well, let's wait and
Speaker 1: see if it happens. I feel I feel like it's
Speaker 1: just but when yeah, it's hard not to read into
Speaker 1: these things. When when he he literally was asked about it.
Speaker 1: Whatever happened to the rule that you don't trust anything
Speaker 1: you hear about the draft for the two months leading
Speaker 1: up to the draft. That's fair, I mean. And then
Speaker 1: he's asked about Nick bo Of, said Quentin Williams, and
Speaker 1: he had like an eight second answer. Seriously, it was
Speaker 1: it was just like those guys are game changes. Speaking
Speaker 1: of Kingsbury at the meetings, he told reporters that he
Speaker 1: will implement implement a plan to keep his players attention
Speaker 1: to practice that he used at Texas Tech. Cell phone breaks,
Speaker 1: that's what it is now. Kingsbury said, they're itching to
Speaker 1: get to those things. I think coming from the college ranks. Obviously,
Speaker 1: those young men, it's got to be quick hitters twenty
Speaker 1: minutes at a time. Give them a break and get
Speaker 1: them back in west your thoughts. You know, when I
Speaker 1: worked for the Post Office and I worked at a
Speaker 1: law firm in in downtown Cincinnati, I was always flammixed
Speaker 1: by this ability of random smokers to just take breaks
Speaker 1: whenever they wanted. That always I've never made sense to
Speaker 1: not fair, but cell phones make make sense to me. Like,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna allow smoke breaks, you definitely allow cellphone
Speaker 1: broad Like you have this, you have this habit, this
Speaker 1: addiction to nicotine, and allowed your work day to be
Speaker 1: like third to you, the forty five minutes shorter than
Speaker 1: the person that abstains from smoking. And then you come
Speaker 1: back on the elevator and the whole elevator stinks because
Speaker 1: you've been smoking out there with all your good time.
Speaker 1: Buddy Ricky puts down two packs a day, so she no,
Speaker 1: it's so frustrating. When I was waitressing the bartenders or
Speaker 1: a waitress. They would take their smoke breaks, and it's like,
Speaker 1: we're in the middle of a rush and you need
Speaker 1: to go out and smoke a cigarette for fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: What if what if I was like, no, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go stand outside for fifteen minutes. I'm not leaving you
Speaker 1: in the weeds like this. It's ridiculous. I don't really
Speaker 1: know too many people that smoke anymore, but there is
Speaker 1: still a sizey portion of the population, and they all
Speaker 1: have chips on their shoulders, like, don't tell me what
Speaker 1: I could do with my body. And it's like, well,
Speaker 1: you do. You just ignore all the science on second
Speaker 1: hand smoke and the fact that your clothes and hair
Speaker 1: stink and now I stink because you do. But you
Speaker 1: don't have freedom to do that. West is right. But
Speaker 1: if you're a listener to the podcast and you smoke cigarettes,
Speaker 1: that's cool, man, Just moderation. Yeah, acknowledge secondhand smoke as
Speaker 1: a thing that exists. I do like this, like idea
Speaker 1: of Kingsbury as kind of like the millennial a whisper
Speaker 1: that he's gonna come up with does It seems a
Speaker 1: little on the nose, right, but it's it's not a
Speaker 1: bad idea. It's fine, it's funny. Larry fits. Larry FitzGeralds,
Speaker 1: everyone's gonna be doing this, And Clarry Fitzgerald was talking
Speaker 1: about right exactly. Larry Fitzgerald was talking on the Mina
Speaker 1: Kimes podcast. Uh how how that's like one of the
Speaker 1: biggest differences that you know, it's kind of like a
Speaker 1: cliche thing for an older guy to say, but just
Speaker 1: that it's true. Everyone in the locker room is on
Speaker 1: their phones. Uh, you know, and so it's like a
Speaker 1: different vibe, but it is. You know, it's just life changing.
Speaker 1: You just gotta recognize it. You gotta roll with it,
Speaker 1: don't fight against you. But you know, all we ever
Speaker 1: talked about on this damn podcast is how Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: is ahead of the game and the Patriots do things
Speaker 1: smarter and better. Do you think Bill does this? What
Speaker 1: do you think Bill thinks about the guys need anything?
Speaker 1: I think there are um psychiatrists or psychologists. I always
Speaker 1: get confused on which one to use. Win who have
Speaker 1: told Bill Belichick this is a smart thing to do.
Speaker 1: I think the I think they have told all NFL
Speaker 1: coaches this is the way it's going. You'll get more
Speaker 1: production out of these players if you allow them to
Speaker 1: use cell phone? Um, what else? Greg? What else did
Speaker 1: you hear? How about Bruce Arians on Gerald McCoy his
Speaker 1: superstar defensive tackle or is he he's a thirty eight
Speaker 1: point four million over the next three years of his deal.
Speaker 1: He's been floated around as a possible trade candidate, and Arians,
Speaker 1: as he so often is, was candid when asked about
Speaker 1: where McCoy is uh in two thousand nineteen. He's not
Speaker 1: as disruptive as he was four years ago. He's still
Speaker 1: a good player if he If he's here, he's our
Speaker 1: starting three technique, no doubt about that. Arians continued, What
Speaker 1: I'd like to see, what I'd like to see more disruptive. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we can use him. If he's here, He's going to
Speaker 1: be used a bunch. It just a matter of what happens.
Speaker 1: There's like an unwritten role among NFL coaches that you
Speaker 1: don't talk this way about a veteran player, a respective
Speaker 1: veteran unless you really want him to take a pack
Speaker 1: up or trade him. I was thinking it was maybe
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say this, Productions declined. I was just thinking,
Speaker 1: he's like, hey, come at us with the draft, give
Speaker 1: us a give us a third, give you a seventh thing,
Speaker 1: give you this guy who's no longer and that sort
Speaker 1: of doesn't make sense. He is, he's a solid player.
Speaker 1: I did remember one other thing, which is when I
Speaker 1: asked Andy Reid, it's I just went to the coaches
Speaker 1: that had after Kingsbury. I just decided to go to
Speaker 1: the ones with the fewest people around him. Taylor only
Speaker 1: had two, so it's just three people there. Uh. Frank
Speaker 1: Rank only had two or three, and Andy Reid surprising
Speaker 1: they only had a couple. Uh, And so I I
Speaker 1: one of the things I asked Andy Reid was, you know,
Speaker 1: like having a guy like my homes with that much
Speaker 1: like raw talent, Like does that get your you know,
Speaker 1: juice is flown because he's pretty good at like staying
Speaker 1: ahead of the curve when the season starts, and and
Speaker 1: he said yeah, and he's like, he's like, that's just
Speaker 1: that's what I love doing. I'm a teacher. He's like,
Speaker 1: if if I was your English teacher, I'd have you,
Speaker 1: you know, primed up and ready to go for your
Speaker 1: next article. And I kind of read into that that
Speaker 1: he was saying he knows he knows us from doing
Speaker 1: the podcast, he was saying, I'm kind of like the
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes of writers. See that's where mine Mark is
Speaker 1: going as well. What was on Edie's plate? Just out
Speaker 1: of curiosity he did wasn't eating. He didn't have any
Speaker 1: in front of it. Anybody eating openly. The coaches that
Speaker 1: I was, I sat in here, did not bother. I
Speaker 1: think some of them went and they got the food afterwards,
Speaker 1: you know, they get in there the shuttle. That's a
Speaker 1: lot and then the little breakfast bar still open for
Speaker 1: thirty more minutes. All right, So do students still still
Speaker 1: take a class called English? Of course it's not called
Speaker 1: something else. I believe it's English class. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: need to I have young, young children, and I'm like
Speaker 1: twenty years out of high school, so I'm not the
Speaker 1: best person to ask, but I think it's probably still
Speaker 1: the thing we would have heard about. It just feel
Speaker 1: like it would be called communication or something else. But now,
Speaker 1: all right, just just a questions. Have been getting it
Speaker 1: done for a long time. You gotta stick with it,
Speaker 1: but you learned to speak it by the time you're one,
Speaker 1: so you don't really need It's like reading books. You
Speaker 1: can call it literature if you want it, but it's
Speaker 1: kind of all incomb class. Those are golden moments, uh,
Speaker 1: presented by mcdone Donalds and that gorgeous new cheeseburger with bacon. Um.
Speaker 1: All right, as we promised here he is Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers coach Matt Lafleur. All right, we are very excited
Speaker 1: to have a new head coach. The new head coach
Speaker 1: of the Green Bay Packers, Matt Lafleur. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Around the NFL podcast. Appreciate you guys have it. We'd
Speaker 1: like to kick it off the little ray of music.
Speaker 1: Does this match your sensibility as a man at all? Oh? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And he said, well, you know right off the bat
Speaker 1: um you are a rookie head coach. Rookie mistake. You
Speaker 1: show up. You are very dressed up for the owners meetings.
Speaker 1: Andy Reid we had here last year and he wore
Speaker 1: like an open Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. Uh, you
Speaker 1: are well dressed. Are you going to rectify that in
Speaker 1: the future? Are you going to show up other coaches
Speaker 1: by being the best dressed coach at owners meetings which
Speaker 1: angle here? Jason Wallers definitely set me up for this.
Speaker 1: It's all his fault. Alright, the Packers pr got you there,
Speaker 1: so all right, here we go. You have a great
Speaker 1: history with football, but it all started with the Omaha
Speaker 1: Beef national Take us through your time with the Beef.
Speaker 1: That was very, very, very interesting experience. Now what league
Speaker 1: are they in? I don't even know if that leaks
Speaker 1: still exists. It is flash was Indoor Football League, that's correct,
Speaker 1: the NFL and you were the quarterback. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: more of the backup, but I got a few opportunities
Speaker 1: to go in there, and it's run around. What's the
Speaker 1: uniform look like when you're the Omaha Beef. What was
Speaker 1: the color break black and orange? Remember that Lady Gaga
Speaker 1: dress you ward the Grammys like five years ago? It
Speaker 1: was just all meat. It was like maybe something like that.
Speaker 1: We did have the Rump Roasters as the dance team.
Speaker 1: That is amazing. So now you're in a slightly more
Speaker 1: high profile position as Aaron Rodgers is head coached. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean is that Rogers is a living legends send
Speaker 1: uh in Green Bay and one of the greatest quarterbacks ever?
Speaker 1: Is there is there any level of intimidation walking into
Speaker 1: the job when Aaron Rodgers is the guy now more excitement.
Speaker 1: I mean, to have a guy to that has that ability.
Speaker 1: I mean, these jobs just don't come open, So I'm
Speaker 1: very excited to get that opportunity to work with him.
Speaker 1: When you become like the Green Bay Packers head coach,
Speaker 1: do you suddenly have like is your phone blowing up
Speaker 1: like Brett Farve reaching out to you saying welcome to
Speaker 1: town and stuff for or or Brett Farve. If I'm
Speaker 1: still waiting on that one, come on, Brett, pick up
Speaker 1: the phone. When you watch go back and watch what
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers did last year, do you see a guy
Speaker 1: you're still confident I've got the best quarterback in the NFL. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's certainly got all the talent, and I just again
Speaker 1: it's looking forward to that opportunity to really sit down
Speaker 1: and get into the football component and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: try to teach him our system. You have some history
Speaker 1: with quality quarterbacks. You were um QB coach of Matt
Speaker 1: ro in his MVP year, Uh, Jared Goff, uh, Marcus
Speaker 1: Mariota and now Rogers. You've had pretty good luck or
Speaker 1: you've been surrounded by some really high level quarterback down
Speaker 1: but really nothing at this level that I mean is
Speaker 1: Rogers the type of guy and I know last year
Speaker 1: was a big disappointment, uh for everyone about but is
Speaker 1: Roger's type of guy, Like anything is possible because we
Speaker 1: have that guy in the building. Yeah, you feel really
Speaker 1: confident with when you got a guy at that of
Speaker 1: that caliber at that position because we know that is
Speaker 1: definitely the in my opinion, the most important position in
Speaker 1: all of sports because they got the ball in their
Speaker 1: hand on on every on every place. So, UM, certainly
Speaker 1: it's not just about Aaron Rodgers though. It's about our
Speaker 1: football team. And I think we've got a lot of
Speaker 1: pieces there to work with that um and some young
Speaker 1: pieces that were really excited about moving forward. Is there
Speaker 1: one coach that you've been with in the past that
Speaker 1: prepared you more than any other to come suddenly you
Speaker 1: were a head coach? It's like the job is completely
Speaker 1: different than anything you've done before. Who prepared you? Um,
Speaker 1: you know, you take pieces from all the guys that
Speaker 1: you worked with, But being in l A with Sean
Speaker 1: uh for one season and being so close to him
Speaker 1: and watching him implement his culture into the Rams that
Speaker 1: I certainly took a lot from that experience. I I
Speaker 1: noticed during the combine because you talked about you also
Speaker 1: worked with Kyle Shanahan. Of course you were on his
Speaker 1: staff with Sean McVeigh, but you know a lot of
Speaker 1: people got to know you, you know, when you were
Speaker 1: with the Rams. I I kind of noticed though you
Speaker 1: sounded a little competitive in terms of the age that
Speaker 1: you said you were. You were better. You're better looking
Speaker 1: than you are old. Likely that you're thank you like,
Speaker 1: like you're not as old as you look that you're
Speaker 1: grouped with these younger, you know, coaches. But it was
Speaker 1: almost like kind of a quiet flex that actually, know,
Speaker 1: I just look young. These guys are Yeah, reading that correctly,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a month older and Kyle so, but
Speaker 1: I've got seven years on Sean so um, yeah, he's
Speaker 1: still the baby of the coaching. Are you competitive with
Speaker 1: those guys? Like in other avenues other than football? Always
Speaker 1: like what? Uh geez, I mean it's hard to pinpoint
Speaker 1: just one thing. Um, but anytime we get together and
Speaker 1: we start doing anything competitive, whether it's playing cards or
Speaker 1: what or whatnot. Uh, certainly we're all going for each
Speaker 1: other's throats, like hair, Is that something there's a disagreement? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I feel like I've stepped up my hair
Speaker 1: game since I've been become a head coach. Greg, you're
Speaker 1: making that uncomfortable. Let me let me ask you. We
Speaker 1: play a game here. It's called They say, Okay, we're
Speaker 1: not saying it, but other people they say it. They say, yes,
Speaker 1: you have Aaron Rodgers, and yes you did a nice
Speaker 1: job building up that defense from uh Mike Patton with
Speaker 1: the big signings of free agency. But they say, you
Speaker 1: guys are not doing enough to build around Rogers with
Speaker 1: offensive playmakers in free agency. What do you say to
Speaker 1: those people that say that? How dare they? First of all,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna please everybody, So um, I think Goody
Speaker 1: and his staff did an awesome job going out and
Speaker 1: getting some some you know, key players for us, and
Speaker 1: it really opens up the draft for us, you know,
Speaker 1: as as an entire football team, or you know, when
Speaker 1: it comes to Goody, like, is it annoying when media
Speaker 1: people call him that when we don't know we saw
Speaker 1: that a question, like during the comment someone called him
Speaker 1: Goody and that just seems a little little presumptuous to
Speaker 1: go with the nickname if we have no relationship really familiar, well,
Speaker 1: pronounce his last name it's easy. People don't know how
Speaker 1: to do it. Uh, it says here, we did some research.
Speaker 1: You were a substitute math teacher in local high schools
Speaker 1: and also a graduate assistant at Saginaw Valley State. Is
Speaker 1: that right? Kind of kind of right? I once got
Speaker 1: a thirty thirty nine in a state mandated math test
Speaker 1: in high school. Does that I mean, could you possibly
Speaker 1: respect me less because you already at the math background.
Speaker 1: Does that change how you think of me a little bit? No?
Speaker 1: I think I think the world you It's unconfirmed that
Speaker 1: he thinks about you at all. But uh, I had
Speaker 1: a question about Aaron Jones. Should we expect to see
Speaker 1: him featured a little bit more than he's been in
Speaker 1: the past. Yeah, I'm I'm really excited about him. But
Speaker 1: I think anytime at this level, you better have multiple
Speaker 1: backs that can can you know, carry the workload for you,
Speaker 1: because it is that is a pretty physical position. And
Speaker 1: UM just kind of like what we did last year
Speaker 1: with Tennessee and then going back to UM Atlanta with
Speaker 1: you know, Davante and Tevin Coleman. I think you're at
Speaker 1: your best when you when you can really and multiple
Speaker 1: people at that position. I mean the Packers fans for
Speaker 1: so long had the same offense with with Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: What would be different, what would be in in terms
Speaker 1: of identity or what you'd want to stress What would
Speaker 1: be different this coming season. I just think you'll see
Speaker 1: a lot more condensed formations, probably more motion than than
Speaker 1: you've seen in the past. When we Dan asked about
Speaker 1: free agency, was part of that equation that it was
Speaker 1: a little less active in terms of the skill position,
Speaker 1: almost like a vote of confidence in the guys that
Speaker 1: you have there, especially like the rookie receivers that had
Speaker 1: pretty good production, you know, for guys drafted a little.
Speaker 1: I didn't say that. They said that. They said, yeah,
Speaker 1: actually did go ahead. No, No, certainly when you watch
Speaker 1: the tape, those three young guys and then you combine
Speaker 1: them with a Davante Adams, I mean, you're pretty excited
Speaker 1: about what you got to work with right there. All right,
Speaker 1: it's time. It's the Crucible, it's speed round, it's the
Speaker 1: lightning round, whatever you want to call it. It real vaunted.
Speaker 1: You ready, I'm scared. Here we go, Matt with Flora.
Speaker 1: Let's hit it, Ricky, best movie ever, Gladiator, last movie
Speaker 1: you saw in the theater, like Gladiator, the last episode
Speaker 1: of Sopranos, the Tony Die. Yes, you say that with certainty. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've never watched that is the podcast industry worthy of respect.
Speaker 1: Absolutely best decade for hip hop. Oh it's got to
Speaker 1: be Yeah DMX, Netflix and Chill or A Hot Night
Speaker 1: on the Town, Netflix and Chill. Worst than Eyes, a
Speaker 1: submarine catastrophe or Grizzly Bear attack. It's a tough one.
Speaker 1: We have to go Grizzly attack. CARDI b overrated, underrated,
Speaker 1: properly rated, overrated, like it? Favorite favorite athlete growing up? Uh,
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's that's bar food, cheese skirts? Interesting like that
Speaker 1: beer of choice? Uh? Mill I like? Who will sit
Speaker 1: on the iron throne? Do you know what the iron?
Speaker 1: I do not know what that means his face just
Speaker 1: but greatest meat product? Uh? Does life exists beyond our planet? Probably? Okay,
Speaker 1: good answer there, we got. I like it. Coaches are
Speaker 1: open to worlds outside of our own. That's what we've learned.
Speaker 1: I agree. I think the answer is probably that is
Speaker 1: the right end. Yeah, all right, there we go. Matt,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Best of luck to you. Hopefully
Speaker 1: you and Aaron are like best friends. You know, some
Speaker 1: people say he's tough to get along with, but I
Speaker 1: feel like you're a guy that's gonna have Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: unlock great relationship chance being chips. It feels like something
Speaker 1: that could happen. Absolutely all right, Matt la Flour, thank
Speaker 1: you very much and good luck in the upcoming season.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you guys. All Right, there it goes mad you
Speaker 1: guys think about Mr la Fleur. He gave some he
Speaker 1: gives some good answers. You know. I think Greg has
Speaker 1: said that the Green Bay media, you know, they're not
Speaker 1: sure about him yet if he's gonna be boring. I
Speaker 1: thought he did give a few interesting answers. I think
Speaker 1: he's and you see this with younger coaches sometimes, is
Speaker 1: gonna learn on the job in terms that the media
Speaker 1: part of it is part of the job. He is
Speaker 1: said openly, so I'm not putting any words in his
Speaker 1: mouth that he does not like that part of the job.
Speaker 1: And I think he's trying to in situations like this
Speaker 1: warm up to it. But it's tough. You don't want
Speaker 1: to you don't want to get all those you know.
Speaker 1: Green Bay is not it's not New York, but it's
Speaker 1: also kind of a big market in terms of football.
Speaker 1: Just because you have thirty forty people there, I mean
Speaker 1: they're covered. That's the most important thing in time. You
Speaker 1: don't want all those people against you right off the
Speaker 1: bat if you start out one in three. I think
Speaker 1: he's um, you know there and it's when your first
Speaker 1: year coach. I think the experience, even the owners meetings
Speaker 1: and going through the car wash, that's probably all different.
Speaker 1: I know he has history in his career as a
Speaker 1: coach going back years and years, but he's still a
Speaker 1: young guy. Um. I'd be interested to see what he
Speaker 1: would be like in year two compared to year one. Um.
Speaker 1: But it really hit home when he said he, I
Speaker 1: guess I'll have to get a big get back coach
Speaker 1: like he's never had one before, you know, the inexperienced baby.
Speaker 1: It's a new era in Green Bay. Also, as we
Speaker 1: teased a d d Ki Kabwalla, we wanted to talk Steelers,
Speaker 1: we wanted to talk her relationship with Mark Cesler and
Speaker 1: we got all of that. Let's listen in here from
Speaker 1: the owners meetings at the Biltmore and we're joined by
Speaker 1: a woman who's never been on the show before. And
Speaker 1: you know what, it's overdue. She's NFL Networks own add
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Round the NFL Podcast. Thrilled to be here.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering why it took so long to invite me,
Speaker 1: but um, I'll try not to hold out against all
Speaker 1: of you. Seriously, it was the music that was kind
Speaker 1: of throwing Yeah, welcome to the show. Yes, it is
Speaker 1: overdue because for a lot of reasons. But we thought
Speaker 1: that the opportunity here at the boatmore to get together
Speaker 1: and have a conversation and the team that you cover
Speaker 1: many teams for NFL Network, but the Steelers. I don't
Speaker 1: think anybody in our building knows as much about the
Speaker 1: Steelers as you. How about you know, like double the
Speaker 1: amount of what anybody else knows, yes or not. But
Speaker 1: that's not always a good thing. I mean, Dave damashek
Speaker 1: liked me more before I knew as much about the
Speaker 1: Steelers as I knew. But as Dave damashek liking you
Speaker 1: a good thing. Well, you know my husband, actually my
Speaker 1: husband is a lifelong Steelers fan. He sat on the
Speaker 1: season ticket wait list for twenty one years. This year
Speaker 1: one day he said to me, you have ruined it
Speaker 1: for me, and I said, well, sorry for laundry, but
Speaker 1: why do you know too much? Are you dropping like
Speaker 1: negative insider bombs on him? That just reality, you know,
Speaker 1: Like I think part of fandom is not accepting the truth.
Speaker 1: It's this idealized image of my such and such as, this,
Speaker 1: my such and such as that, this is what happens
Speaker 1: inside a locker room, you know. I mean, did you
Speaker 1: imagine it to be something? Just before you came on
Speaker 1: with us, you were your your husband lovingly with his
Speaker 1: with your child, tried to call you and do a
Speaker 1: little face time, and you sort of just gave him
Speaker 1: the big old heisman. You just give them a little
Speaker 1: bit of accurate you know, let's be a little accurate here,
Speaker 1: since I am in the business of reporting facts. First,
Speaker 1: there was a FaceTime. My child was on the FaceTime.
Speaker 1: Then I was very loving and I said, baby, I
Speaker 1: need to Mama needs to do something right now. Can
Speaker 1: I call you back in ten minutes? Then the second call.
Speaker 1: Then the second one came in, and I thought I
Speaker 1: made myself very clear when I just said I'm calling
Speaker 1: you back in ten minutes. Very second one was the
Speaker 1: husband who was thirty five years old. You should know better.
Speaker 1: The tone was different, and you're sending a lot of mess.
Speaker 1: The ten minutes is kind of a subtle, passive aggressive,
Speaker 1: like keep this thing short. A lot was going that.
Speaker 1: Has everybody here been married? I mean not you, but
Speaker 1: everybody else is very longer than we're all like the
Speaker 1: five to ten year range. I'm at twelve. Speak for yourself, okay, twelve.
Speaker 1: And the tone that you had with your husband is
Speaker 1: the real tone of a husband and wife when they're
Speaker 1: not putting on any type of show for anyone, So
Speaker 1: that which is very important. It's important to be authentic. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't think I have to worry about that. Well,
Speaker 1: all right, you don't think less of me? I mean,
Speaker 1: let's yeah, I I don't. I don't know less. I
Speaker 1: have not been invited on the podcast. I think a
Speaker 1: little less of you. But that's okay, that can be goose.
Speaker 1: I've been a Brown's champion for many, many years. Why
Speaker 1: have you not? That's in the past. You've started to
Speaker 1: use that tone with Mark, you know, ever since last
Speaker 1: night when you learned so much about him before we started, said,
Speaker 1: she's learned so much about Mark in the last two
Speaker 1: days and she's not sure she likes Well, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know what I shared with you,
Speaker 1: but I would be concerned about where twelve hours ago
Speaker 1: what I was sharing Verbley would. Here we go, let's
Speaker 1: get into it because and that's a fascinating little nug
Speaker 1: we call it on the show a la ravill mcnifico
Speaker 1: when someone says something without maybe even realizing your husband,
Speaker 1: a lifelong Steelers fan no longer interested in season tickets.
Speaker 1: That's going a little too fun. He's not happy with
Speaker 1: what he sees. Slash. Here's from his wife. Now let's
Speaker 1: talk about reality. Because Levon Bell no longer with the team,
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown no longer with the team. Both of them
Speaker 1: had negative things to say about the quarterback on the
Speaker 1: way out the door. So let's start here, Big Ben,
Speaker 1: do you since he has an unusual place in his
Speaker 1: locker room compared to other franchise quarterbacks, where his vibe
Speaker 1: is where people were view him or is it just
Speaker 1: kind of blown up in Pittsburgh? Where do you come
Speaker 1: down on that? This is so dicey because I have
Speaker 1: to go back into that city and into that lacker.
Speaker 1: How do you you have like five million followers in Scotland? Well,
Speaker 1: heavily redacted if necessary, but let's just have the conversation.
Speaker 1: So every quarterback operates differently. Joe Flacco is a different
Speaker 1: personality than Tom Brady, who is a different personality than
Speaker 1: Eli Manning, who is different personality than Ben Roethlisberger. Ben
Speaker 1: Roethlisberger has been the quarterback for fifteen years or is
Speaker 1: entering his fifteenth year. This to Pittsburgh Sailor's organization is
Speaker 1: one unequivocally behind him. We heard Are Rooney say that,
Speaker 1: We heard my Kevin Colberg say that. Kevin Colbert reiterated
Speaker 1: that yesterday when he said this is a team that
Speaker 1: is completely comfortable with Ben Roethlisberger style of leadershaw question,
Speaker 1: is he different then other quarterbacks I have covered? Yes,
Speaker 1: he is. He is also brings different things to the
Speaker 1: field than others do the I think the at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, the only thing that matters here
Speaker 1: is that Ben Roethlisberger answers to his bosses. His bosses
Speaker 1: have absolutely no issue whatsoever with what he does, how
Speaker 1: he operates, how he leads. And I asked Mike Tomlin
Speaker 1: not more than thirty minutes ago, because we have talked
Speaker 1: so much this year about Ben Roethlisberger's radio show and
Speaker 1: how weakly this past year he went on the radio
Speaker 1: and was unbelievably frank in saying Antonio Brown should have
Speaker 1: run that route differently, Marquis Pouncey should have blocked that
Speaker 1: guy differently, James Washington needs to do this differently, extremely
Speaker 1: frank in putting all of that out there publicly. And
Speaker 1: we've heard from many players, including Antonio Brown and Leviyan
Speaker 1: Bell that that didn't necessarily sit well with them. So
Speaker 1: I asked mac Tomlin if he has had any conversations
Speaker 1: with Ben about the way that he has publicly chosen
Speaker 1: to lead his style of leadership or if he plans to,
Speaker 1: and Mike Tomlin said no, So at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, it seems like sort of wasted energy for
Speaker 1: us to sit here and talk about it when his
Speaker 1: bosses don't really care. Yes, fair enough. I like that answer.
Speaker 1: So he if you if you're a future Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer type, can I interrupt a second? I've learned a
Speaker 1: lot more about Chris over the last twelve hours too,
Speaker 1: and I'm very happy with everything. Hold on, what is
Speaker 1: this now? Now? I now I'm annoyed on what is it? No? No, No,
Speaker 1: what is it that I've shared with you that you
Speaker 1: suddenly feel you want to ask that question? No, I
Speaker 1: will ask you later. But like, so Chris is amazing.
Speaker 1: He's marrying Lakeisha. Everything is so great, she has so
Speaker 1: many friends. Like I dropped some sort of information fact
Speaker 1: or anything is amazing. Like I'm not really happy about
Speaker 1: this whole idea that Ohio is the South, that's another
Speaker 1: part of just Cincinnati. Well, we're gonna get to the word.
Speaker 1: We'll get into this later. This is I am. Mark
Speaker 1: is getting more and more upset each minute of this interview.
Speaker 1: And it's it's fun, all right? So has everything to
Speaker 1: be happy about? Have you seen with the Browns? If
Speaker 1: you did? What if you were to ask Mike Tomlin,
Speaker 1: would you switch Cleveland's roster with Pittsburgh's right now? What
Speaker 1: would he say? Do you think he would not give
Speaker 1: an answer? He danced around. You know what, we've talked
Speaker 1: so much this offseason. Look, and here's another thing from
Speaker 1: the from the beginning of the time that I have
Speaker 1: been associated with the NFL that I've covered the NFL,
Speaker 1: people have talked about the Pittsburgh Steelers as one of
Speaker 1: your top five organizations. This is a club that just
Speaker 1: about every player in the league wants to play for, right,
Speaker 1: and it it means something. It's it's a franchise that
Speaker 1: stands for something significant. Now, this past season, all you're
Speaker 1: hearing sort of in the public chatter and the public
Speaker 1: sphere is that the Steelers are a circus, that the
Speaker 1: Steelers are a laughing stock, that the Steelers have not
Speaker 1: fulfilled their potential, That players want out of Pittsburgh. I mean,
Speaker 1: when was the last time that you heard players, not
Speaker 1: only Antonio Brown and Levi on Bell, but a guy
Speaker 1: like Morgan Burnett is demanding to get out. So I
Speaker 1: said to Mike Tomin, how does any of that affect you?
Speaker 1: Does it in the sense that do you feel that
Speaker 1: this organization that you feel so tied to, that you
Speaker 1: have such an affinity for, is being tarnished in some way?
Speaker 1: And he just was again very you know, it's chatter.
Speaker 1: It's chatter. It's not you know, like they're teflon. They're
Speaker 1: not letting them affect them. And what's interesting about that
Speaker 1: is sometimes when you keep hearing the same thing, do
Speaker 1: you need to take a minute and say, Okay, this
Speaker 1: is out there. Should we kind of examine this. I mean,
Speaker 1: if all four people sitting here saying, you know, this
Speaker 1: thing about Mark Sessler is a little bit interesting, should
Speaker 1: Mark kind of say is it really interesting? Or should
Speaker 1: Mark say I don't care what anybody says and the
Speaker 1: angle on this and not change anything exactly. That is
Speaker 1: exactly what's happened right now. It's funny though, because they
Speaker 1: have that reputation yet, like you know, Mike Thommins won
Speaker 1: three more playoff games, you know, in Antonio Brown's era
Speaker 1: than than Mark has. I mean, it's like they have
Speaker 1: that reputation as I'm at the top five team, but
Speaker 1: they don't have the results under Mike Tomins, Greg and
Speaker 1: I know. And for arguably for five years running, they
Speaker 1: had a two time Super Bowl winning quarterback who is
Speaker 1: ostensibly a future Hall of Famer. Okay, the GM said
Speaker 1: that he's definitely a future Hall of Famer. You had
Speaker 1: arguably one of the top two receivers in the game,
Speaker 1: arguably one of the top two running backs in the game,
Speaker 1: arguably a top five offensive line, and you had a
Speaker 1: defense littered with first round picks for five years and
Speaker 1: the sum total of those five years was three playoff wins.
Speaker 1: You don't, yeah, I mean, I just don't see how
Speaker 1: you don't feel that's an unbelievable waste of talent. In
Speaker 1: some way, you sense that in that building, like first
Speaker 1: the lavy On Bell drama and then the Brown drama follows,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden and they still you know that,
Speaker 1: the James Conner and your Smith Schuster, and they still
Speaker 1: have players. And I think we're all in agreement. We've
Speaker 1: talked about this, that the Steelers are going to be
Speaker 1: a competitive team again next year, regardless of those superstars
Speaker 1: being gone. But the organization, you sense that we really
Speaker 1: let this get away. This might have been the greatest
Speaker 1: missed opportunity in the history of the franchise, what we
Speaker 1: had in five years, and we just couldn't get it done.
Speaker 1: I don't think I hear that from players, But I
Speaker 1: also hear right now from players just a sense of relief,
Speaker 1: because if there's anything the New England Patriots have shown
Speaker 1: the rest of the league over the last five years,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter what your star power is. It's
Speaker 1: far more about the buy in. It's far more about
Speaker 1: everybody being willing to accept a role and work towards
Speaker 1: a common goal. And you look at that Patriots team
Speaker 1: and this past year Rob Gronkowski was a shell of
Speaker 1: himself essentially. But I mean, Tom Brady is the greatest
Speaker 1: of all time, but who else is really truly a
Speaker 1: transcendent player on that team? And meanwhile, the Steelers had
Speaker 1: all these transcendent players and couldn't do anything. So and
Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin talked about that today too. You know, he
Speaker 1: reiterated a line that he said that at the end
Speaker 1: of the season, we don't want hostages, we want volunteers.
Speaker 1: And he also said it's really really important to get
Speaker 1: good guys who want to do what we want to
Speaker 1: do and check our boxes and if not, then we'll
Speaker 1: just part ways. And so maybe this is a recognition
Speaker 1: that the sum of the team is much greater than
Speaker 1: the individual parts while they had individual parts. But the
Speaker 1: last thing that I would say is that I do
Speaker 1: believe that leadership fosters I think, and this is something
Speaker 1: I talked about at length with John Harbot yesterday. And
Speaker 1: it's sort of a chicken and an egg thing, Right,
Speaker 1: do you get the right kind of guy and therefore
Speaker 1: you have the right personality team, or do you get
Speaker 1: a guy and do mold him into the kind of
Speaker 1: guy that you want or is it some sort of
Speaker 1: mix of that and have the Steelers enabled and allowed
Speaker 1: guys to sort of turn into me me me guys,
Speaker 1: because I'll tell you this, Antonio Brown was not anything
Speaker 1: like what he was this year. I mean he has.
Speaker 1: We have seen a personality chan GM who I like
Speaker 1: to call Kevin Colboa Colbert I know, but I don't
Speaker 1: agree with how I just feel about him, but like
Speaker 1: he's always like, oh, there's no drama, Like we disagree
Speaker 1: with the idea of those drama. It's like, okay, but
Speaker 1: everyone watching the Steelers from the outside feels the drama
Speaker 1: was the evil ingredient that separated star power from this rock.
Speaker 1: And you know what's so funny about that, because I
Speaker 1: was listening back to so Mike Tomlin when he comes
Speaker 1: to the owners meetings, does this little session with just
Speaker 1: local reporters, and I have been invited to that the
Speaker 1: last two years, which no, it was sort of It's
Speaker 1: not even a humble brag. It's just I'm lucky and
Speaker 1: I am on tenderhooks that it doesn't get taken away
Speaker 1: because of whatever we may happen to say in this podcast.
Speaker 1: But last year, you know, it's sort of a free
Speaker 1: flowing he's a little more relaxed. You know. We talked
Speaker 1: for about five minutes whatever, and it's a very small
Speaker 1: group and we sit around a table. So last year
Speaker 1: I said to him at the end of the you
Speaker 1: know session, I said, well, you know, next year, i'd
Speaker 1: appreciate a little less drama. I'm not sure I can
Speaker 1: take it. And he said back to me, I'm not
Speaker 1: worried about you. But I foresaw this coming, I mean
Speaker 1: a year ago, and I actively said at that time
Speaker 1: last year, less drama would be good. This year we
Speaker 1: only saw more drama. But now this year he's the key.
Speaker 1: Doesn't more drama mean more a d D on television?
Speaker 1: M hmm, I suppose. But you know what, here's the truth.
Speaker 1: More stern phone calls to husband, I'm about to go
Speaker 1: on live. Please stop calling me on multiple devices. You guys,
Speaker 1: this is such a professionally speaking, it's great for us
Speaker 1: when there are things to talk about and when people
Speaker 1: are fascinated by whatever it is you are talking about.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you, very, very honestly, when I got it,
Speaker 1: when I fell in love with this game, when I
Speaker 1: fell in love with journalism, when I got into this.
Speaker 1: It wasn't stories like this that got me going. And
Speaker 1: while sure, in some ways this is nice for my
Speaker 1: er that people are fascinated by what I am talking about,
Speaker 1: it's not any fun to talk about this. Who wants
Speaker 1: to talk about guys? Who? Wow? I think it's the
Speaker 1: only two things I do have a que jealous jealous
Speaker 1: I just like I can see where it's going. We talked,
Speaker 1: We talked about how the players felt about Ben Roethlisberger.
Speaker 1: How did the players feel about Levian Bell and Antonio
Speaker 1: Brown by the end of the year. I don't think
Speaker 1: you know, at no point has anyone thought that Levian
Speaker 1: Bell or Antonio Brown is a bad teammate or a
Speaker 1: bad guy to play with, or not a hard worker,
Speaker 1: or not to say that that's what they think of Ben.
Speaker 1: These are two separate questions, but there's never been any
Speaker 1: negative thought. I think that would happened at the end
Speaker 1: with Antonio just became a little bit too ridiculous. And
Speaker 1: I think the team itself lost in the appetite with
Speaker 1: the appetite for any of this. I mean, you heard
Speaker 1: Jesse James go to Detroit and he played for his
Speaker 1: hometown team, the Steelers, it was a dream. And he
Speaker 1: got to Detroit and he said, you know what, it
Speaker 1: was just time to get away from the drama. And
Speaker 1: you have Ramone Foster, who's one of the paid him
Speaker 1: way more money than the Steelers would have, and had
Speaker 1: plans to use him well, and had plans to use
Speaker 1: him in a variety of ways that are greater than
Speaker 1: the way the Steelers used him. Sure, there are multiple reasons,
Speaker 1: but he still said that, you know, and it's the
Speaker 1: same thing that I would say to you that being
Speaker 1: around all of that week in, week out, the constant
Speaker 1: it's exhausting, it's tiring, and there's not that lift of
Speaker 1: there's an energy. Any reporter who regularly spends time in
Speaker 1: a locker room and tells you that he or she
Speaker 1: doesn't care if the team wins or loses is full
Speaker 1: of it. Because a winning locker room is always a
Speaker 1: better place to be. People are in a better mood,
Speaker 1: they're more gregarious, they have more time for you. The
Speaker 1: question asking is not so onerous. It's always better to
Speaker 1: be around a happy team. Well, final question, because it
Speaker 1: kind of ties into what you're saying. You saw the
Speaker 1: storm clouds gathering entering it played out that way. If
Speaker 1: you look years ago, I saw the years ago. If
Speaker 1: you look, if you look above, where where's the Steeler's
Speaker 1: home base? Again, what's the address? There's like one Steeler drivers. No,
Speaker 1: it's uh southwater Stream, right, you look above southwater Stream?
Speaker 1: Is his narrative. Basically, what does the sky look like
Speaker 1: right now? I mean the clouds clearing with all this
Speaker 1: bad energy? Okay, I do think that it very much
Speaker 1: feels as if now it will still go on a
Speaker 1: little bit. And we were talking about that today, that
Speaker 1: this feels like the most exhausting season. Can we turn
Speaker 1: the page and move on? But until Ben Roethlisberger speaks,
Speaker 1: because as you reference, Ben Roethlisberger has taken quite a
Speaker 1: beating on the national stage for his leadership, for his style,
Speaker 1: his personality. He will have a contract extension at some point.
Speaker 1: He will then have a press conference. He is bound
Speaker 1: to be asked about what Levyan and Antonio and etcetera.
Speaker 1: Have said. Until that is all addressed, I don't think
Speaker 1: that it's fully page turned, but I definitely feel that
Speaker 1: the organization has had a weight lifted off to show
Speaker 1: some degree. Do you have anything else to share about
Speaker 1: your encounters with Mark and West before we say goodbye. Well,
Speaker 1: I was just really desperately disappointed that you chose not
Speaker 1: to break bread with us last night. About well, tonight,
Speaker 1: maybe we'll catch up. That could be fun. We could
Speaker 1: potentially do that. Took the night off, that's all right,
Speaker 1: you could do that about Greg? It is Greg going
Speaker 1: to be social. They have the whole uh going to
Speaker 1: the same party, the the little thing where the people
Speaker 1: walk around the little thing where it's like it's like
Speaker 1: an alien trying to describe what a party is. It's like, hey,
Speaker 1: how would you describe it? It's like, hey, and well,
Speaker 1: you know what you missed yesterday, Greg? Is that it was. Indeed,
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia is sitting just a table
Speaker 1: away from us, and Mark was gathering courage to go
Speaker 1: talk to Bill Belichick about all the letters that he
Speaker 1: wrote him as a young man. And I was told
Speaker 1: by Lindsay Rhodes like, no, Like, when the moment happens
Speaker 1: and suddenly you have a chance to meet your young hero,
Speaker 1: don't go pursue that person. Wait till later. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: now that's not gonna happen. So I've gathered no, but
Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about, breaking people, destroying people's dreams.
Speaker 1: So when I was a young kid growing up in
Speaker 1: New Jersey, I was a massive Yankees fan and I
Speaker 1: used to go to Yankee games and go Mr Manningley,
Speaker 1: Mr Manningley, you know, because I wanted him to sign
Speaker 1: a ball. And then I grew up and I covered
Speaker 1: the Yankees and I'd be in the clubhouse with Don
Speaker 1: Mattingley's letter. Not be a negative Don Mattingley story. I
Speaker 1: won't have it on this podcast. Well, you know, one
Speaker 1: day I said to him, because we became friendly, I said,
Speaker 1: you know, I used to be a kid who would
Speaker 1: say Mr Manningley, Mr Manningley. And he's like, oh, and
Speaker 1: I definitely came and signed your ball, right, And I said, no, never,
Speaker 1: not ever. But I will leave you with this Rickey Henderson,
Speaker 1: who was my all time favorite player. I got to
Speaker 1: meet him as a writer and he was tremendous. Like
Speaker 1: I remember going home and being like, I got that one, right,
Speaker 1: I got that one, you knew? Yeah, I'm Mike Mattingly.
Speaker 1: Donnie signed my ball. I put ran up to his
Speaker 1: car as it was leaving to get on the Bronx
Speaker 1: River Parkway, and uh. He opened his window and Kim,
Speaker 1: his then wife, UH did not work out well. Um,
Speaker 1: but Kim was like, Donnie, come on, let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1: He's like, no, I gotta I gotta do this, signed
Speaker 1: the ball and said you're my hero, and he'said thanks.
Speaker 1: Man rolled up the window, pulled onto the highway, onto
Speaker 1: the Bronx Expressway or he never I never spoke to him.
Speaker 1: Clearly he never felt compelled. I think it was Dan's
Speaker 1: like the hair hair. I know that would have been weird.
Speaker 1: I was probably wearing a yagge at the time, but
Speaker 1: all right, it just happened. A d D. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us. Follow a d D on
Speaker 1: Twitter or don't h and maybe can before we end,
Speaker 1: can I just say I really love Mark and of
Speaker 1: the four of you, Mark was my friend first and
Speaker 1: we bonded over the ab years ago and it was
Speaker 1: like the friendship is ending. Well, this is all done
Speaker 1: just a poke fun because I thought Mark could handle it.
Speaker 1: But apparently, if there's anything that we've known about Mark,
Speaker 1: he handles poking fun. Great. I will handle it the
Speaker 1: way I'll handle it. Thank you. Your thoughts on the
Speaker 1: Steelers Greg based on what a d D said. I
Speaker 1: thought she had, you know, I mean, I wasn't, as
Speaker 1: you know, a kiss asses West in terms of praising her,
Speaker 1: but they really were good answers. She was overdue to
Speaker 1: come come on the show, and maybe we should, maybe
Speaker 1: we should, maybe we should bend that rule. We're not
Speaker 1: really into phone ers. We only want to do something
Speaker 1: in person. So that's why we don't have a lot
Speaker 1: of these reporters because they're not really here. They're off
Speaker 1: doing their thing. But I thought she provide a lot
Speaker 1: of good context you could read with lines with something
Speaker 1: she told, the line with the Mattingly comments. And I'm
Speaker 1: still deciding whether she'll be back on the show. You
Speaker 1: can call me a kiss ass, but I actually appreciated
Speaker 1: how deep she was willing to think on these issues
Speaker 1: and consider it from multiple angles. Gave nuanced answers, very
Speaker 1: very deep thoughtful answers. All right, good stuff, UM, great stuff.
Speaker 1: In fact, that's our Wednesday show. We'll be back on Friday,
Speaker 1: UM with more action. It's gonna be a wild show
Speaker 1: on Friday. We haven't planned it yet, but I feel
Speaker 1: like whenever we come up with people are gonna be happy.
Speaker 1: It's our annual Bacchanalia episode where just things get insane,
Speaker 1: not much clothes being worn, just it's wild. It's just
Speaker 1: Erica you. You're like Matt la florain away. This is
Speaker 1: all new to you. We've never been a part of
Speaker 1: our back Inalia show. Uh so get ready, all right,
Speaker 1: that's it is. Dan hands Is signing off for the
Speaker 1: Mailman and the Old Boss and Ricky Hollywood behind the glass.
Speaker 1: Thank you everybody for listening, and come on back with
Speaker 1: the buck in Allia. Still Friday Pressure