PMS 2.0 1642 - TNF Recap, NFL Week 5 Preview/Picks, Ian Rapoport, Nick Saban, Stanford Steve, Mike Greenberg, & AJ Hawk

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to a fantastic Feel Good Friday, October 9th, 2026. On the eve of a massive weekend, this sports program begins now. Football is the absolute best. I am live here amongst a bunch of different colors of red. Okay, so this is going to be a tough one for my face and skin in general, but just know that I am incredibly pumped to be down here in T-Town as Alabama hosts the University of Georgia Bulldogs. Well, I guess we lost to Pat. I don't know where he's at, but yes. I'm A.J. Hawk sitting in for Pat at his desk here in Indianapolis. I guess, Pat, here we go. I think we got you back, man. There we go. That storm's trying to mess with your connection. Uh-oh. There is a chance of the case because Isaias is a storm front that is headed this way, and we don't think it's going to be affecting the game as much here in Alabama. A couple other games will be affected. As we will be talking to weather people across the South and the country throughout the next couple of days as this becomes a real story, but the game should be okay. Tomorrow morning, College Game Day has been moved inside the Coleman Coliseum here in Alabama. We got a chance to go check that place out. Cannot wait to be in there tomorrow. Going to have a full setup inside that gym, including the kicking is easy contest happening inside that particular coliseum. We think there's going to be a good amount of fans that are hiding away from the rain with us, but we have no idea what the storm is going to be. And we're just lucky and thankful that we get a chance. To celebrate the hell out of ball happening down here in Tuscaloosa. Let's talk about ball happening last night. It's not just me here getting a chance to chat amongst all the different various colors of red. There's a man back in Indianapolis at the Thunderdome who saved the day whenever this internet cut out. A.J. Hawke, good to see you, A.J. Hey, y'all. Hawke, last night, this Buccaneers team that we thought, okay, was dead. We had them in the shite division. We thought to ourselves, an undrafted rookie, Jalen Daniels, becoming the starting quarterback on primetime. Against the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas? Yeah, right. C.D. Lamb just came off a record-breaking day. Dak Prescott seemingly unflappable. And then Jalen Daniels, not only is he running people over, he's completing passes. He's throwing for touchdowns. He's rushing for touchdowns. He becomes one of the first quarterbacks in the history of ball to do that for his first two starts. This Jalen Daniels guy earned himself a lot of conversation about a future career here in the NFL. Baker Mayfield, obviously starting quarterback. He's out with an injury in Jalen Daniels. And Bucky Irving, the running back for Tampa Bay, absolutely cooked the Dallas Cowboys last night. Bucky Irving scores multiple touchdowns in the third quarter. He has a 72-yard run that looks like it's out of a video game. I'm going to run left. Then I'm going to run right. And then I'm going to go and I'm going to take this thing 72 yards. It looked like he was playing a different sport. And that Dallas Cowboys defense looked like absolute shite. Yet again, the Buccaneers get a huge win, get themselves out of the shite division in Dallas. A.J., it feels like the convo is going to be around this defense until they can put that fire out at some point. Houston hung a shit ton of points last night. Undrafted rookie Jalen Daniels, who we like, with a lot of stars and studs around him. They get a massive win over them. They make Bucas into paint. This Dallas Cowboys defense is going to continue to be the conversation. And I don't think Dak Prescott and the offense need to be left out of this particular convo either after last night, A.J. Yeah, I think you're 100% right. Obviously last night the boos started coming later in this game. Yeah. Because the Dallas Cowboys, every time you thought they were going to get back into this game, they're going to put it together. Something seemed to happen. And this, credit to the Tampa Bay Bucs, honestly. I mean, Bucky Irvin, he is just absolutely electric. Very fun to watch him run. But Jalen Daniels, like, he came out of the gate. Like, he's throwing the ball on time. Like, right here you can say, oh, he's wide open. You know, of course he can hit the wide open guy. It doesn't always happen. We see starters sometimes miss dudes when they're legit wide open. When there's a busting coverage or, say, a defender falls down like they did in this case. But I just, the poise. That Daniels played with. And able to use his legs when he needed to. Unfortunately did not get us what we need. 40 yards. Yeah. And CD got hurt. So I think we should talk about that. He was all banged up last night. You talk about him hitting the wide open guy there. You saw him go through his progressions. He goes through his entire progressions. He might have kept the safety off of that, actually. With how he was looking to the left and kept him wide open. Because there's no way an undrafted rookie should be doing this. Kirk Herbstree was telling the story last night on the air about coming out of camp. Who did they sign to be their backup quarterback? Jake Browning. Yeah, there it is. Jake Browning out of Cincinnati. They signed him as like a veteran backup behind Baker just in case anything happens. And Baker was going through the contract dispute as well. And then they said through camp, at least the way Kirk told the story, this Jalen Daniels guy like won him over. It was like, hey, this guy. The team loves him. His energy's infectious. His ability's outrageous. And then him and his mom. I mean, that was special. You could tell this is a special dude. And they needed this. I mean, they absolutely need this down in Tampa Bay. Todd Bowles takes a helmet to the gut. I think, okay. I think he takes a helmet to the gut. He goes down on a knee. But they were thinking about taking some stuff to his back if they were to lose last night. They were 0-13 against the spread. They stopped that drought getting a huge win as Todd Bowles had to battle through with the lads. That's the longest drought in the Super Bowl era to lose against the spread. Nobody could have expected them to get this win last night. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Dad! Cowboys, AP tone. Tone, you like the Bucs plus 8.5. You like the Bucs plus 9.5. Yesterday, obviously, you were the only one that was on the right side. But our Superboost doesn't hit. So, I hope you feel terrible about yourself just like I do. I do. I do. I obviously do because there's a lot more people on the Superboost than there was on Bucs plus 9.5. I can promise you that. And it just, we, like, in our, when you, like, we went through the game script. We're like, all right, Jalen Daniels is going to have to run a bit. He's going to get pressured. And he's a rookie contract. Or, sorry, he's a rookie quarterback. He's not seen it as well as everybody else. But, nope. No, he did see it well. You talk about him going through his progressions. He ran the ball on the first. Drive a couple times. But other than that, he really settled in. And he worked through the playbook. And he was really nice and comfortable. Like, the Dallas Cowboys defense didn't do anything to make him uncomfortable last night. He was, I mean, he was making throws from the pocket all night last night. He did not have to run like we thought he would have to run last night. And, yeah, like, when I went for the Bucs yesterday, it was, a lot of it was because the Cowboys are still ranked dead last. In almost every single defensive category. Even though they bring in a bunch of new guys on defense. They bring in a new D.C. and Christian Parker. And they still cannot stop. They still cannot stop anyone. It's absurd. They have to win on the backs of the offense. And if the offense makes any mistakes, if the special teams makes any mistakes, they're kind of screwed right now. Yeah, and Tempe Buccaneers special teams led by legendary yinzer Danny Smith makes a huge play in the second half. But toxic table at Boston Corner and Ty Schmidt last night just continues to prove we don't know shit about anybody, Ty. We have no idea what's going to happen. We thought the Bucs put them in the shite division. We 0-13 against the spread. And then on prime time with an undrafted rookie quarterback. Without one of the Bucs. They're best players on the defensive side. They're out, guys. There's no way they should win this game. And instead it ends with some contracted worker telling Dak Prescott he's embarrassing. And that, yeah, you heard me on the way out. We don't know anything, Ty, about any of these teams. No, we don't. And I think it's very easy to forget that we're talking about the NFL here. You know, we love our Saturdays and college football. And we'll see an upset there from time to time. But, like, all these guys are professional football players. All these teams are exceptionally good. And we talk about it all the time and should probably know, hey, like nine and a half points in the NFL is probably way too much. And even last week, you know, Jalen Daniels didn't look great throwing the football. But he had the Buccaneers in position to beat the Packers 17-13. There's AI videos of Jerry Jones going around. Don't watch that. Yeah, diving out of his suite. But I guess both of you guys would know this. Did you laugh? Yes. I thought it was very funny. It was very funny. You didn't? I did not laugh. No. AI slop. I didn't laugh. It was AI slop. I mean, it looked really real, actually, to be honest. It was one of the better ones. Do we know for sure it's not real? No. AI slop. I'm not laughing at it. But con man, Jerry Jones is obviously banging the table, you know, late at night. He's not the only one. Dak Prescott has to be feeling the same exact way. Well, against the Blitz, I think he had, like, one completion at one point. I mean, they were putting pressure on him. He wasn't able to figure it out. And then his passes, I know they're deflections, but defenses feast on that. There was a couple of pinballs that happened last night. Some of them. Hi, there was some others that could have been picked. Con man, are we worried about the entirety of the Cowboys, not just the defense? I think definitely, especially when you talk about, you know, the offense to your point. We kind of expected them to at least come out and score points. If this was going to be a game, you know, maybe both teams kind of go off a little bit. But for the Cowboys, possession-wise, touchdown, three punts, field goal was first half. Interception, kickoff, fumble, and then a turnover on downs. I believe they scored after that. But then that interception at the end, you mentioned, too. It was just ugly. Like, I feel as though Christian Parker. Coming into the season for Dallas, that was a huge deal. You know, he is basically revered from the Eagles and the secondary and all the work he's done and how great he was there. And then he comes over. And we talk about first-time play callers on offense. You're kind of seeing it on the other side with defense. Like, it doesn't seem as though Christian Parker has figured it out yet. Now, could he? For sure. I think they missed Joey Porter Jr. a ton. There was a couple penalties in the secondary that killed them early on. But, yeah, I would be very worried as a Cowboys fan. Because if you've got to have. If you've got to have that strategy of scoring 30-plus points a game to win football games, that's going to bite you in the ass when it matters. Hell of a start to NFL Week 5. And we have one of the greatest gifts of the season already in his own building. In his own building. That's done a lot of good for that place. Yeah. All-time leader in touchdowns. A lot of good. A lot of good for that place. And some guy just can't take it. I can't. Can't be Buccaneers. They were in a shite division just yesterday. And now we're losing to them on primetime? Embarrassing. Maybe he wasn't talking to Dak. Maybe he was talking to Shottie. Just thought he was first. far enough past shoddy for shoddy to hear it sure but if he's talking to Dak I mean what an absurd yeah okay I like that Dak yeah all right everybody got a real smart mouth huh I don't know uh I don't know if that's necessarily the right thing what did you do to help us win tonight sir uh I would like to ask you says Dak before we go any further uh we do have to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of an NFL icon Mike Ditka has passed away University of Pittsburgh great top five draft pick as a tight end the first tight end to ever go into the hall of fame obviously Super Bowl champion head coach and uh one of the most synonymous figures that the NFL has had for 40 50 years at this point tough hard-nosed badass football player gets into the coaching rank remains the exact same style leads one of the greatest teams in history will smoke a cigar will crack a joke will tell you the truth and uh will be remembered forever rest in peace to Mike Ditka we appreciate your contributions to sport we appreciate your contributions to Society and anytime anybody has a sweater vest and a mustache on we all know who they're trying to emulate and that's the absolute Stallion that you were sir so rest of peace to Mike Ditka we appreciate you uh and this is the worst part of this whole life thing is whenever people say goodbye forever and uh we'll talk to Mike Greenberg in the second hour obviously Chicago Roots we'll talk to Mike Greenberg in the second hour obviously Chicago Roots we'll talk to Mike Greenberg in the second hour obviously Chicago Roots with Northwestern, covered Mike Dicke, knew Mike Dicke very well in the next hour to have a conversation. But, A.J., you're talking about one of the toughest, baddest, most interesting and entertaining men in the history of the league, A.J. Yeah, when you say most interesting and most entertaining, like that's how I remember Mike Dicke. I don't remember him as a coach. I see all the clips and everything of him as a player and a coach. I remember Mike Dicke as an unbelievable personality on TV talking about football and in great movies like Kicking and Screaming. Yeah, he was an unbelievable youth soccer coach slash Will Ferrell's dad in that great cinema that we all got to see back in the day. But, yeah, Mike Dicke, he is Chicago. He is the Bears. He's what I think of when I think of the Bears a lot of times. Yeah, and we'll miss him for sure. And job well done, Dicke. Job well done, sir. Okay, let's pivot away from that back to NFL happenings around the league to join us for a weekly wrap-up with Rap Sheet and Friends. He being Rap Sheet, us being friends. Ladies and gentlemen, Junior, NFL insider Ian Rappaport. Yay, Rap Sheet! What's up? Junior, you've been around the NFL a long time. Mike Dicke, just a name synonymous with everything. Huge passing from the league today. Any thoughts that we might have missed on there that you have? No, I mean, I think you guys covered it pretty good. I mean, just an absolute icon. And, you know, it's so interesting to, I mean, obviously the passing is tragic. Although he lived an unbelievable, incredible, like iconic life. It's, you know, we, our age, sort of remember him as a guy who was on ESPN commenting on TV. There are people who remember him as one of the most recognizable and incredible coaches. One of the biggest personalities. And then he was also a Hall of Fame player and someone who redefined and basically invented the tight end position. What really stands out to me is just how many different generations he was an icon and legend for. Like, there's not a lot of people. There's not a lot of people that can do that. You know, there's great players and we can remember them. And most of the time it's over or there's great coaches or the people who contributed to the game or life. And he did all of it. And it's, I mean, it's truly, really an amazing life. An amazing life. Yeah, we're very grateful for his football life. And he'll be remembered forever, which I think is something that he obviously didn't aim to do, I don't think. But he certainly earned that notoriety. Okay. Let's talk about what happened last night a little bit here, Rap. CeeDee Lamb banged up, they said. Did not see a lot of action in the second half, especially whenever they get a goal line stand and have 99 yards to go. And we need him to get over 60 yards receiving. Could be a potential good time for us who are the gamblers. But seemingly not good time for CeeDee Lamb. Is he okay one week removed from a record-setting Sunday? Yeah, he seems okay. It's described to me as a quad bruise. One where, you know, not a long-term injury, but got hit basically in the same spot. And so that was sort of the pain. He was in and out of the lineup. I believe was in on the two-point conversion that didn't work, but was out on the last couple drives. Last drive or couple drives. But extra time is going to help. I believe CeeDee Lamb is going to be okay. Just, you know, terrible timing for that to happen, really. Okay, let's continue to talk about some wide receiver injury news. Ty has a question for you, Junior. Yeah, Rap Sheet, is there any update on either T. Higgins or Jamar Chase? I know both those guys are listed as questionable. I mean, with the Bengals going to Miami on Sunday, it seems like, I don't know, there's been some talk that maybe they're both trending towards not playing. But is there any new news on that? We'll start with Jamar. He was back at practice yesterday. And, you know, in the NFL's concussion protocol, there's basically just a litany of steps that you have to pass through to be able to play. And some are decided by the player. Some are decided by the independent neurologist. And there's a lot of people. The fact that he was limited on Thursday gives him a chance to play on Sunday. Right? So, he's expected to be out there today. And if he's limited today, he's okay. If he's full today, that means he's got a good chance to pass. And then we will probably see him on Sunday. The T. Higgins one is a little more up in the air. He's got the adductor injury, which is more day-to-day. Then had a neck injury where he didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday. So, that to me is a little more up in the air than the Jamar Chase one. But more information on those coming. Let's stay at the wide receiver position. A.J. Has a question for you about former Buckeye great. Yeah, Marvin Harrison Jr. out in Arizona. There's all kind of rumors swirling about him possibly being traded before the deadline. What are you hearing about that? Yeah, I mean, I know there are teams interested. He's a really good player. He has been, you know, and he's not far removed from being a great prospect. And so, I think what you're seeing is teams being like, all right, hold on. He was our top receiver, or at least one of two, along with Malik Neighbors. Production isn't great. Targets aren't great. Hey, maybe he'd be good on my team. And that's, you know, generally what happens when you have a big-time talent whose stats haven't really matched up. So, you have teams calling the Arizona Cardinals. I don't get the sense Arizona wants to move him. But, I mean, as we saw this week with the Eagles and Ravens, there's always a number. There's always a compensation where it's like, I don't want to move him, but this makes sense to me. And, you know, we're going to see over the next couple weeks, if we get there, if teams say, I want him that badly, I'm going to give you premium draft compensation to do it. Okay, so they would like to hang on to Marvin Harrison Jr. Mike LaFleur has come out and said, it's not my job to force-feed Marvin Harrison Jr. We've got a couple other guys that are also 99s on Madden at this point. Hopefully, that relationship can continue to blossom because we are big fans of the Marvin Harrison family, both dad and son and everybody else. But, if he was to come back to Indianapolis, which would be, obviously, welcomed with open arms, especially with where we sit with wide receivers, I think everybody would be pumped. Would certainly make some sense. And I assume we're not the only ones, though, that are potentially snooping around right now? Not the only ones. Okay, let's talk about a team that did sign a wide receiver, Minnesota Vikings. Can you tell me about OBJ? Kevin O'Connell said he could be ready this weekend. Were the Minnesota Vikings the only team interested in OBJ, or did he have quite a market? No, I mean, the market isn't, you know, it's a practice squad market, so it's like not great, great. Oh, I want to give you an update. I'm just reading. Zach Taylor has just told reporters that Jamar and Higgins practiced today. Oh, okay. Both are questionable, but that's, if he hadn't been out there, that's a good sign. So, OBJ, you know, when you get to this stage in your career, you look for a couple things. A place that you could win at and a place where you're going to like to be. He had the relationship with Kevin O'Connell from the Rams, and I don't know that for Odell, he would have just taken anything. I mean, he's already rich. He's already had success. He's done all the things. I think it's just, can you get a good experience? Found it with the Vikings. I wouldn't be surprised if he plays this week. I mean, he knows, you know, and it would be just a standard elevation from the practice squad. I mean, he knows the system. I think that would make sense. Bigger question is, does Justin Jefferson play? And like, you know, one of the LSU greats going to play in New Orleans against the Saints. He was practicing this week. I mean, you know he is going to, like, do everything he can to be out on the field. Everything. Yeah, certainly. Especially with Randy Moss is in the building, and now OBJ is in the building, and Justin Jefferson is in the building. Feels like Kevin O'Connell is just trying to, you know, accumulate Hall of Fame wide receivers, and then hopefully that just turns into whatever it's going to be. And Kyler Murray picks up the offense and continues to crush with B-Flow in the defense, who have been absolutely dominant. Are the Minnesota Vikings on the rise? We should see. Any NFC team that everybody is kind of selling right now because it feels like they are. Philadelphia Eagles, what's going on? You just talked about the trade. So Lane Johnson, obviously, we all just want to send our, we hope he's good, hell of a career. We hope everything that's going on with you comes out with you being happy with how hard you've worked and the legacy that you've earned from being an absolute badass on a football field game changer. But not only him, then Cam Juergens happens a day later, and then, you know, Landon Dickerson was a few weeks back. Can you just tell us what's going on in Philly, what the mindset is? Because it's easy to think, like, oh, they're trying to punt on this year. But they got a franchise quarterback still, so I don't know. Yeah, I don't, you can't, you know, a wise person might have been Howie Rose. but I honestly can't remember told me a couple years ago you can't rebuild in Philly you really you can't rebuild in any of these big cities honestly um you can retool and you can move on the fly and you can be kind of nimble and you can do the sorts of things that Howie does you really can't rebuild fans demand a winner all the time so I don't I don't get the sense this is rebuilding I think the value was great found a team the Ravens that like had to have a center and you know Juergens is awesome a two-time pro bowler but a center only so when he was playing guard for the Eagles like that doesn't make sense so they found a team that would give them premium compensation a future second rounder and they had they liked Drew Kendall a young center and you know had a chance to move on from a lot of money and did so um it's going to be interesting to see if the performance is similar you know you can't make up for Lane Johnson so that's sort of different but going to be interesting to see if Drew Kendall's performance at center is similar to what you got from Juergens um you know I think if you're the Eagles to be able to get that kind of compensation you had to do it and now like they got the one from A.J. Brown they got a future two from Juergens what are they going to use that for I mean I I'm like really interested there's a lot of good players out there we'll see 2028 they're packed we know they'll make moves and have to make moves because once again they are Philadelphia as Rappaport said they don't take losing too well now the other team that was involved in this trade uh wanted a new center gets a new center has a quarterback that's going to be a hall of famer Tone has a question for you about him yeah Rappaport I'm seeing tweets less than a minute ago that Lamar uh looks like he is not at practice again today so that means he's not practiced this week I assume that means he's probably not going to go Sunday night against the Falcons then they have the Browns Bengals Bills and Jags coming up so a nice little two uh games in the division stretch with two games two really good teams in the AFC stretch could this be a multiple week injury or what are you hearing uh recently about Lamar yeah I mean first of all I no practice today for Lamar sort of indicates where this has been going which is unlikely to play we'll see what they list him as but I mean I don't know that Lamar's ever played I don't think so I don't know that Lamar's ever played without practicing and seems to be someone where you know you want to be on the same page with your quarterback so I would be surprised if he played could be a multiple week injury I know the Ravens hope not I know there's there's optimism that if he's out it's only one week but you know history has has showed us that there have been injuries to Lamar have taken a little longer than people have thought for whatever reason whether it's the public or whether it's in the building or who knows um but they have taken a little longer so I think it is possible uh that it's multiple weeks the timing is I guess it's always bad but you're right I mean the the the stretch of divisional opponents is you want your guy out there as AJ was trying to find his head on the shot as we cut back to the three shot uh thank you for that info on Lamar we love Lamar hope he's back especially with how that Ravens team can look with Derrick Henry running like he's 21 speaking of being back the original projection was week six then some people said maybe week five week six which we would be in right now and then I think you said week seven go ahead AJ we need an update yeah Micah Parsons what's going on there he hasn't practiced yet I assume like where are we with him so he is he is getting closer this is what this is week five right okay so not it was not able to practice this week I think next week you're getting closer to where like could be out there on the field it could be practicing and you know there's going to have to be a ramp up period I'm sure but from some of the reports from some of the local Green Bay guys who have seen Micah Parsons on the practice field next to the actual field sounds like he's putting in some work so if he practices next week you're probably getting to the window of like maybe maybe week seven is it um but he's he's getting closer I just there you go uh Simon does a good job um and I mean he's Mike is getting closer but I think the best thing for the Packers is when he is out there does he look like himself and to me like that's worth the weight I think uh Micah Parsons could potentially bring that Green Bay Packers team to where they want to be Tashmeet has not felt very positive about them here early in this NFL oh really but but last year last year when Micah was playing they were pretty good best team in ball one of the best teams I mean and then it's amazing sorry not to interrupt but like you really find out how unbelievable some players are when they are not playing like we have learned about Micah Parsons as he has not played isn't it crazy to think that Jerry Jones said we got to be able to stop the damn run and get rid of one guy to get five guys is good and then Bucky Irving goes from 170 or something like that on Thursday night and then their ranks against everything is just bad against rushing it's bad and that's why they thought you know that was one of the reasons why we move on from Micah is because you got to be able to stop the damn run we haven't been able to stop the damn run they try to bring in a defense that can stop the run turns out they're not able to stop damn run still you know and you don't have Mike out there either it could potentially take over a game but hey Jerry Jones is a much better businessman than I and last night he was upset he was upset about it speaking of Sean Payton was kind of getting upset with everybody saying hey hey hey hey hey hey turns out maybe the hey hey hey should have got him a little bit earlier con man has a question for you about a huge story happening we're actually first reported by Brandon Stokely yesterday and people kind of buried him but Sean Payton now becoming the head play caller once again as the head coach which is why he was hired in the first place what is this situation when did this start Bruin where hey Davis Webb maybe you're not ready yet and is there anything that's going to happen as far as jobs go is Davis Webb going to stay on as OC for the future or is this kind of last year for him and Sean Payton's just going to be OC head coach yeah so I want to go back to the offseason right Davis Webb was a pretty coveted certainly a coveted offensive coordinator candidate and a was a head coach candidate too for the Raiders and a couple other places and I don't know if we would have got a job but he was definitely in the mix and the way the Broncos kept him was to give him play calling and you know learn from Sean Payton but you're the guy calling plays and I remember Payton told believe it was Albert Breer like you know this is not going to be something where you know we're going to go get to week five and say all right well this isn't working um but that's like literally what happened and you know Peyton was asked about it yesterday it was basically like it wasn't working and it wasn't working that's true it's an early trigger um but his job is not to care about the feelings of Davis Webb will he stay on after this year like I don't know generally generally guys don't um when this kind of thing happens um but we'll see but I mean it's a pretty drastic demonstrative move Sean Payton is also one of the best play callers we have ever seen and so you know is it the right move to install someone who is excellent at it like it might be the right move it just causes a lot of a lot of waves and costs a lot of angst I would say I think Sean Payton was scared to lose Davis Webb right this is kind of how this all came together he was scared to lose Davis Webb because other teams wanted him to be their play caller he didn't want to lose him out of his system even whenever he made this decision his press conference he said uh Davis Webb is a future head coach I know he's a future head coach I think he thinks very highly of Davis Webb the coach and he didn't want to lose him so he kind of just hands over the reins all of us though that have eyes and have watched football for a while and maybe even experienced the Drew Brees Sean Payton tag team of destruction uh whenever they were together just immediately thought to ourselves why would Sean Payton like ever give up what he's maybe one of the best all-time at which is play calling why would the Denver Broncos organization benefit from him doing that well I think he thought long term will keep Davis Webb happy he'll be in the building if he ever wants to retire it's like Sean Payton I don't know if anybody's ever going to be able to do as good of a job as you and Bo Nix was getting better that's the problem better and better getting better and better and better and then all of a sudden you got a brand new I that just it never made sense for I have a lot of respect for Sean Payton this felt like a very dumb decision immediately upon upon us hearing about it and we were all bummed out about him no longer calling plays because we like the way he calls plays I mean he's he's great at it and like but I understand because you know the ability to keep your good young coaches is something that keeps coaches you know viable and like really good you don't want to lose coaches this is just I don't know what the right answer is and I I know it sucks for Davis Webb because I also believe he is a future head coach um it's just like you now have Sean Payton calling plays so like who would say that is not a good thing the Broncos have scored 13 points across their first five drives of games 20 total the lowest rate 0.65 points per drive in the NFL that's Sean Payton and Bo Nix who had his best year together last year and I would like to say sorry to Bo Nix because we just ran a shite football lowlight reel of him there while you were talking which is why I was tracking this file like damn we're murdering that guy right now I don't know if those are just play calls or Bo not playing great football I like the bows back with Sean hopefully the Broncos can be exactly what we all hope they would be coming into the season rap anything we missed there that we need to talk about no I think we covered it pretty good I'm just like no I think we covered it pretty good hey great season thus far rap you're already at the point you don't know which week it is that's pretty cool earlier you said what is it I forgot on there who the Vikings were playing we're doing great today Pat hey it'd be like that sometimes you're the man that's Junior NFL insider Ian rapaport I'm AJ the Sean Payton thing I mean was the most obvious we've ever seen thing coming. I mean, how many points did they have to score for him not to take over play calling? That's the thing. Like, Sean Payton, he seems to be like a pretty type A type guy that wants to have his hands on the wheel. So, it would be very, very difficult for a guy like that to give the reins over, especially after, I mean, he probably wanted to take it back after the first couple drives they had this season. Well, I think Monday Night Football, the interview he did with Lisa Salter or Laura Rutledge, he says, she asks, are you going to take over play calls? He goes, let's see how this half goes. And then he jumps off. And it's like we saw how the half went. It was not. And then we saw the next game one, and it was not. But everybody was saying, no, Sean Payton wants him to be good. He wants to keep him. He wants to keep him happy. And Davis Webb. And once again, Davis Webb, this is not a knock at you. It's just like, why in the world, if you're the Denver Broncos organization, would anybody want that, Connor? I think we were befuddled immediately upon hearing about it, especially with a young quarterback success. And Sean Payton's thing is how good of an offensive coordinator he is. And maybe it's because owners look around and they see Baltimore, where Mike McDonald gets shipped out, and then Harbaugh a year later gets fired instead of keeping him. Or even, I forget which other, Liam Cohen in Tampa with Todd Bowles, where it's like, hey, we have this great offensive play caller. Why don't we just let him at least call plays and then pass the reins to him? But this is so much different. This is much more Kansas City Andy Reid. Like, you don't have Andy Reid stop calling plays because you have some guy, who's an OC that should be calling plays or could be the future. But, like, with Sean Payton, I mean, you've played against him. Like, is he one of the best, if not the best play caller, probably save Andy Reid as far as offenses go? He's definitely one of those guys. You have to put him in that category as one of the dudes that is able to manipulate defenses and get you in the look you want. And he takes advantage of things like, oh, okay, he must have seen something eight weeks ago that we made a mistake on, that he's going to come back and check us to make sure that we fix these things. Like, I've always been really impressed with Sean Payton. And now it's also his, like, crazy competitive drive, too. That guy wants to beat everybody. Yeah, and how often does it work out where, like, yeah, the next guy you hire is great and the coach that is kind of fantastic and who's been there and done that, like, that actually works out. Buffalo, I feel like, is one of the few places I feel like that's done it right where Sean McDermott, who is a constant winner, you know, he kind of gets fired. But then they have Joe Brady in the waiting. And now, you know, they're 3-1 and their offense is still clicking. Well, Pat mentioned it, too. It's like they're in a window now where, you don't have to pay Bo Nix yet. Last year, you know, they have a Super Bowl defense. And if he doesn't get hurt, they potentially go to the Super Bowl last year. So, like, I understand you don't want to lose this guy. But, like, the windows to win and to actually be super competitive to go win a Super Bowl when you look at their division are so limited in the NFL. Like, you really can't mess around with this kind of stuff. Like, when you know what you have, you have to take advantage and you have to go for it. Oh, yeah, the window is small. Pat, I believe you may be sitting there with a coach that has a good idea of, you know, coaches going through things like this. What's up? Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest college football coach of all time, the star of Saban, the documentary about the process of becoming the greatest college football coach of all time and keeping your family incredibly tight and happy, ladies and gentlemen, Nick Saban. Yeah, coach! Thank you. Hey, no problem. Thank you for the hospitality down here in your town. Thank you for allowing the world to see your documentary. We will definitely talk about that. We're wrapping up a convo right now about Sean Payton taking back the play calling. Has that ever been? Has that ever been something that you have had to dealt with or people have called you and asked about? Because one of Sean Payton's, like, best gifts is calling plays. He's got a young quarterback that feels like a drastic decision, but he wanted to keep Davis Webb happy, one of his assistant coaches. How do you kind of view the entire situation? Have you ever been in something like this? Yeah, I've been in a situation before, but I think that the key to the drill is, you know, you can be a great, like, technical planner putting a game plan together and not be a great play caller because I think there's an instinct that goes with calling plays because things come up in the game quickly and your mind just works. I mean, to me, instincts, and you've probably heard me use this analogy before, is, like, you can teach somebody how to swing a baseball bat, you can teach strike zone is, but you can't teach them whether it's a good pitch to hit from the time it leaves the pitcher's hand and gets to home plate. That's an instinct. And some people have a great instinct for calling plays, like when situations come up in the game. And Sean Payton has always been one of the best in ball, at doing that. And I've had a few coordinators, and you've heard me use this term before, is they do a great job putting a game plan together, but they get marbles in their mouth when the game starts and they can't spit it out and they're not decisive in terms of calling plays. And players kind of see through that. And then I think when you're a great play caller, you also do a much better job of preparing your team because you know what you're going to call in situations and you make sure that you're going to call in situations. You make sure you practice that. And they're anticipating the same things you're anticipating. So there's a lot that goes into this, to me, that is not about planning or having a good plan. It's about how do you implement the plan, and that's a key to the drill to a good play caller. And Sean Payton's been able to do that so well throughout his entire career. Obviously a Super Bowl champion, was brought to Denver to do that. They rebuild post-Russell Wilson. Bo Nix is his guy. Excited to see them continue to flourish. Now let's chit-chat a little bit about last night down here in Tuscaloosa. You had a premiere. This is my first time ever at one of these things. We were at a Southern Theater. Dumpy, is that what you would call that? Is that a theater is what we were at? It was a beautiful theater. Yeah, we were at a theater. I've never done it. There was a stage up there. There was a beautiful thing. Two levels. It was down here in Tuscaloosa. There was a red carpet outside. People were taking photos. You were up on stage alongside the director. I believe his name was Russell. And Reese Davis was up there. Miss Terry. We watched some clips. And first question for me. After watching the documentary, you, and also watching the documentary clips in front of people, how did it feel to watch yourself? Because you were chewing some ass in there. And I don't know if you watch film of you chewing people out. How did it feel and how has it felt watching yourself and learning about people's reaction to you? Because I want to let you know, everybody that has seen any part of it, the boys tried to watch and binge. I think they watched three episodes this morning, watched a couple last night. We're trying to get through it all. Everybody has loved it. So you need to know that people have enjoyed you opening up. You're life and process to us. But how has it been for you watching others watch it and you watch it yourself? Well, there's been a lot of things written about me that were unauthorized. And the reason for doing this was to show the real deal, you know, get sets of records straight. But, you know, there was a method to the madness. You know, all this ass chewing that people talk about on people and throwing headsets and all that kind of stuff. I was not really. I was not really ever like emotionally out of control very few times. But I was making a point and to make the point with intensity, I thought was what the team needed or what the individual needed at the time. And, you know, tough love is always a good thing, in my opinion. Yeah, it seems like it worked out for you in watching it. I'm like, oh, I like that. That's the way you coached, you know, because we see you on TV. I've seen you at press conferences and accountability is something that you obviously are very firm upon. But learning about this. Sport psychiatrist, Dr. Rosen. Oh, man. I have you boys got the doctor. Oh, yeah. Just introduced weapon wizard. What do you call him? The players call him the wizard, dude. The wizard. Yeah. Just the thought of you. They're super intense. Accountability driven West Virginia guy. And your dad obviously same similar style of coaching and what he did for football in West Virginia. Driving kids, coaching kids. It's. And then. This wizard popping in here, Dr. Rosen, what a beautiful dynamic that is seemingly created what you called the process as a whole and what an enlightening experience for you. Was it nice to live the glory days and go back through all that? Was it nice to hear Dr. Rosen talk about you whenever you don't hear him? Because I don't think he does any interviews ever. Like, how do you kind of view going back in time and experiencing figuring it out? Because you said last night you don't beat Ohio State in that game after Dr. Rosen gets involved, your ass probably fired. And who knows what? You're doing at this point, right? Yeah, that's exactly right. Well, I think that what Dr. Rosen did for me is create a better understanding of human behavior and different personality types and how you need to coach different personality types in a different way. Like, I didn't give the example last night, but like Rolando McLean, great player, really good guy, very intense competitor, but a very obsessive, compulsive personality, and he would actually stop right in the middle. And I would get on him for stopping. But Dr. Rosen said his personality is going to stop when he's not sure what he's supposed to do. So instead of getting on him for stopping, you need to be teaching him what he should have been doing. So get off the effort thing and get on the technical aspect, and he'll respond to that because that's why he's stopping. He doesn't know for sure what you want him to do. So things like that. And then that guy becomes a great player. And then he's a great guy. premiere so he sent a gift and a card that was a letter basically to your family for everything that happened with us seeing that jalen hurts to a decision at halftime is just the amount of access the great filming i mean even that 7 30 a.m meeting that they talk about the camera person just kind of posted in corner they zoom in on 7 27 a.m because i guess even the camera person had a little wherewithal to say this is pretty outrageous that we're doing this and then go right to you it's like wonderfully shot greatly edited and your story is one i'm happy people are going to learn because i think you're going to inspire greatness amongst others so thank you for doing the doc generally we we enjoyed it but i'm let me just tell you this people think i didn't have fun coaching i had fun coaching you know being a competitor was great being around great competitors there's nothing i have more respect for i love the guys that played for us and i i and i had fun but you know what people don't understand about athletics the fun of it is winning yeah yeah the fun of it is winning yeah yeah that's the fun you got it takes what it takes to be able to get to where you need to get people to so that you have a chance to be successful and get the outcome that you want yeah well everybody's singing your praises and everybody's talking about your uh just your drive for greatness is what separates you from everybody else it's what separates michael you just won the fifth the people that are at the top of sports the obsessiveness with the process i think is what leads everybody to their greatness and you basically open up the blueprint for people to learn from in this doc so i will be watching i will be learning just like i do every single week now let's learn about what's happening here tomorrow yeah felon russell they're saying this guy's neo bro they're saying he might be the one one he's big he's strong he's smart he's fast he's confident he's calm he has all the pieces they're also been tested do you think that's a massive ordeal for this alabama team tomorrow that they've been tested already and georgia has not or what is your story kind of going in for both of these teams well first of all you know keelan russell is the maturity that he plays with and he shows for a guy that's a young player who's only started in what four or five games now uh is pretty phenomenal to me uh and his instincts as a player and his ability to make plays he is a playmaker you know i always told bryce young a point guard playing quarterback this guy is very similar knows when to scramble keeps his eyes downfield makes plays running it throwing it extending plays so this is a guy that has special in instincts and and really you know i always say processing is the most important thing for the quarterback this guy can do that very well and he can extend plays and i think that has helped create a dynamic on this team uh that is probably caitlin devore's best team that he's had in the three years that he's been here because this team has really come together i think in a positive way they've kind of banned together they've had to go through a couple different game struggles they've had a couple bad halves bad quarters then they've had great quarters will that help them against georgia georgia notoriously already this season against arkansas kirby was running one-on-ones on the sideline during commercial break because they didn't think they were getting enough hitting i think georgia does wonder if they've tested or been tested and what type of team they have how do you view that as somebody that's obviously had schedule lapses potentially heading into a big game well but i think george is one of the most complete teams in the country i know they haven't been tested but they haven't been behind they've dominated the competition which you know that's hard to do sometimes when you're supposed to win and you go out and win like you're supposed to so and they've been able to do that so how they'll fare against a little better competition uh look i think teams that have success and have won championships they're never going to say die they're going to compete in the game for 60 minutes there may be some adversity for them in the game but they're going to keep playing and whoever's going to beat them is going to have to play for 60 minutes to do it with the same kind of temperament and attitude to play a complete game yeah six seconds to hell you know let's not look up let's not judge let's keep it rolling gunner stockton's been through the ringer of all of this before if they get a huge win what does next week look like well that's an sec storyline this year ty has a question for you coach saban yeah coach that has been a trend this year so far going back with you know ole miss and lsu ole miss gets the the huge win and then they get routed by florida florida gets a huge win gets routed by missouri now missouri has texas a m this weekend how do you balance the hey stay away from the rat poison and don't listen to the media saying you know you guys are the up-and-comers right now you're one of the best teams in the nation and also like maybe um paralysis by over analysis and like hey don't go out there and play tight worrying about getting upset and you know then everything we did last week is kind of for not how do you how do you balance those two things when it clearly has been a trend in the league this year i i think that what i used to always try to do was i just try to prepare the team for being successful you know we always try to prepare people for failing you know when people fail uh they're humiliated and they usually respond the right way it was a lot easier for me to get players to change habits and behaviors when uh we lost then it was when we won but i i always conditioned our players to have success you know this is not the beginning and this is the beginning it's a new horizon there's a higher expectation uh people are going to bite at our heels you know we are the mountain they're going to try to beat us it's the number one game on their schedule so how are we going to play with consistency when you define success as consistency and performance that's different than just winning a game and that's what we always preach to our team but we were preparing them to be successful because we thought we were going to win 10 or 11 games but how we managed those wins was going to help us do that and everybody says well how did you get people to respond when you got beat that was easy they're all when we practice and coach let's go get all this fixed so it's just the opposite sometimes of what you think but when you're out there trying to tell everybody in the world our team should be rated in the top 25 and get them rated how do they respond to that yeah yeah i mean where's the chip on your shoulder go yeah so when you don't have a chip on your shoulder what are you motivated to do be dominant i need a chip on my shoulder for everything as you've experienced i think you've kind of understood that with me and you trying to find that for everybody in the day-to-day process as opposed to the outcome oriented i don't know i don't know what you're talking about i don't know what you're talking about i don't know what you're talking about i think is the entire documentary if i'm not mistaken i feel like that is a massive piece of the entire documentary right yeah absolutely the process what were the things it said the man the myth the process yeah is that what it said yeah but the process is a definition of what you have to do to be successful that's what it is what do you have to do to be successful here's your goal all right what do i have to do to accomplish that and and the goal shouldn't be an outcome you know like receiver come to me and say i want to catch 50 passes that ain't that's not a goal that's an outcome what do you got to do to catch 50 passes run good routes have great hands be a complete player at your position i mean so that that was just we were crazy that way yeah it sounds like it worked out the process certainly ended uh in a great spot the greatest of all time and now a full documentary series six episodes available now on the espn app every thursday 6 p.m they'll be debuting a new episode live on espn i want to ask you a question since you were a specialist okay uh it was one of my pep thieves that whether we were kicking field goals i mean i stood this far from the kicker when we were in doing punt i stood like right beside the punter and and i wanted to see if it made him anxious and nervous so i had a punter once i'm not going to say his name because i don't want to embarrass him and he's shanking it in practice and he says i said hey man you know those are not winning punts we got to you know drop it better or whatever and he says well coach you're standing right beside me you're making me nervous i said i'm going to go to the games i'm really watching you what are you going to do in the game yeah okay so you said you were this far away where to the right far behind wherever i could get a reaction oh yeah i would have talked to you that's why you're chucking oh i don't love that yeah exactly trying to bump them too right yes definitely i'm giving them uh yeah afterwards the whole thing i mean if we're standing he said this far right oh this guy's standing this quarter you're following through he's going to kick him kick him in the back of the leg accidentally but only if you're making those kicks though so chuck did that to you oh yeah chuck was right here the whole time all right yeah the whole time every single point every single one he would tell me they would have blocked it too because he was a special teams coordinator from miami he had 39 blocks and 59 games you know he would tell me that every time so if i took a little bit of a gather and took a little bit of time blocked he would be saying get off my ass dude okay we are not rushing right i like that you're the same way i do appreciate that you were the same way let's talk about the coach who is the mountain right now number one team in the country has a huge rivalry game tone has a question for you coach yeah i do coach i'm uh talk about the red river rivalry between oklahoma and texas and i don't think it's breaking news that the defenses are probably the better units on the field for both of these teams in in this one and i remember some of your bama teams where the defenses had to carry the offense at times when you're coaching these situations and the defense is carrying the team or either side offense is carrying the team what's it like in the locker room and what do you do to try to combat that and, you know, not try to have any divisiveness? Well, I think the big thing is you've got to understand that everybody wants to try to be successful and win the game. And what I used to tell our players is sometimes we're going to win games because we outscore them, and sometimes we're going to have to play great on defense, and it's going to go back and forth as we go through the season. So nobody's pointing fingers at anybody. But I look at this, you know, it's a rivalry game. Oklahoma's really not as bad as you think. I know they're struggling in the offensive line. They haven't been able to run the ball. But if they don't turn the ball over four times and give Georgia basically 24 points in the game, it would be a game. It would be a competitive game. So they still have enough firepower. They still have enough weapons. If they would just eliminate their bad plays. And I used to tell players that all the time. I said, you're creating bad plays for yourself because you're trying to make big plays so that you can win the game. So I said, you're creating bad plays for yourself so badly, you're messing it up. So if we could just eliminate the bad plays. Don't forget about making good plays. Just do your job. We're going to have a chance because we're not going to give the other team all these opportunities that we're giving them. And we're going to have a chance to be competitive at the end of the game. Yeah, the Red River rivalry, not a lot of buzz this year. It's happening this weekend. Texas is the number one team in the country. I think it's just because nobody has faith in Oklahoma. But you do watch the film, it's directly in the foot on a regular basis. If Arbuckle and Mateer can find some magic and they can start moving the ball on the ground, maybe Oklahoma isn't as ass as everybody is talking about. Maybe that Red River rivalry has had a lot of surprises in the past, could have another one. Right, and I'm with you on that. And I'm just hopeful that Oklahoma's team has not lost confidence in John Mateer. Because that could be a bad thing. And sometimes I saw that happening on our team where, you know, you start thinking, okay, we got these significant players and they're not involved enough. How is that affecting them and how are we going to get them involved in the game? I mean, you need to do that so that, you know, your good players are playing great. Confidence is the biggest thing in all of sport. Confidence comes from hard work and execution. Can't execute, you could potentially lose your confidence. You lose your confidence, then you lose your work ethic, then you lose everything. You could spiral out of control. That's why we need to focus on process. That's why I need to focus on process. And you can't waste, you're failing. So even if you have, Kills morale. You don't have success, you got to teach. You don't teach, it kills morale. You said that last night it was a bar. You had about 30 bars left. I had not heard drop out of that documentary. And I'm going to be using them against you all season long. And also, 10 years at Michigan State, Foxy, five years as a defense coordinator, then he goes to Houston, then he goes to Cleveland, then he goes back to Michigan State for another five years. 10 years in a Big Ten. Does it sound like that on Saturday? Two at Ohio State. Okay, 12 years at the Big Ten. Does it sound like that, Foxy? No, it sure sounds like Coach Saban owes all of his greatness to East Lansing, Michigan, and Michigan State University. Coach, I need you to come back to Michigan State more often and maybe recruit some guys for Pat Fitzgerald. I will give you a lot of credit, though. One of your disciples, Mark D'Antonio, had a great, great, great tenure at Michigan State. That's when I was in college. Some of my most fun moments in college the entire time. So, Coach, thank you for that. And also, yeah, I think Coach owes a little more credit to East Lansing, Michigan. East Michigan State grad. They still owe you 100K, Coach. Yeah. Yeah, sounds like they do owe you some money. And it did sound like going into that LSU press conference, you weren't necessarily pumped that you were down there. And Miss Terry says, get your ass out of the snow. Okay? And let's go ahead and leave. It was fun to celebrate your love with Miss Terry, as you have done every single time you have a microphone. I'm happy that I got a chance to be seen as well. Connor has a question about the current cultures of teams. Kirby's a big fan. He's a bit different than seemingly everybody else at the top of the roster. Go ahead, Con Man. Yeah, and Kirby kind of started before this NIL era, Coach. But, you know, watching the documentary, it's crazy. Your early days in Alabama, just kind of how it started out. And I think everybody just assumes you got there and immediately started winning national championships. But do you think coaches today have enough time to establish their culture? It feels like it's very difficult to do and there's not much time for those guys. And if you were coaching right now and your career was just starting, do you think you'd have to change your process? As far as coaching up players? Or how do you think that would go? You know, I think it's so important that you have a high standard for what you want to accomplish and what you want to do. And the leadership is important that you maintain a high standard, but it's also important that you treat your people well. But I don't think you can compromise the standard of what it takes from a culture standpoint to develop people in the right habits of what they need to do to be able to develop in all they can be. And I don't know how you change that. And just because you're paying players, I don't know how you change that. And I think a lot of mistakes are being made by being too accommodating to players to try to get them to stay on the team. But then they're not playing the way they want to play and the other players on the team see that you're treating them a little differently and they don't buy into it. So it's hard to get everybody to buy into the principles and values of the organization and the standard if everybody's not bought in. So I wouldn't compromise that part of it. I mean, we had three years here where we had, you know, name, image, and likeness and we paid players and all that kind of stuff. But, and I think it's good that the players make money and they need to learn how to manage that part of their life and still focus on development personally, academically, and athletically in college. I think that's important. But they can make money and still do it. But they have to have maturity to be able to do that. But you still have to get players to do the right thing. And, you know, discipline is not necessarily punishment. Discipline is changing somebody behavior so they do the things they need to do to accomplish what they want them to accomplish. So everybody wanted to play. So my best friend was the bench. All right, your ass is going on the bench if you're not doing what you're supposed to do. And I'd still do it that way today. Yeah, of course. Everybody wants to be relevant, too. I think you've added to that and they're on the bench. You're not relevant. There's nothing you could do. So the threatening of play time was always something, especially with how deep your teams were. I think nowadays, I don't know if your teams would be able to be as deep those last three years whenever you were doing name, image, and likeness. Did you see the lack of, I guess, five stars that were in the backup positions for you getting plucked other places, right? Which I think is why the parody has kind of started to happen across the board. Yeah, we didn't have the depth because if you had a really good player that was waiting his turn to play, he'd leave to play someplace else a year early. That started to happen and you have to replace those players with somebody from someplace else. So now how do they fit into the culture of your team? So it is more challenging but I would not compromise what you need to do to have success in your organization. And I used to tell people before they came, this is how it's going to be. And if you come here, you need to expect that and buy into it because it's going to benefit you and it's going to benefit us. And if you don't want to do that, don't come. I think everybody that played for your Bama loved Bama. I think Julio was back talking to the team this week talking about what Bama is. I think there's a lot of ex-Bama people that are still coming around talking about what Bama is. And then what bowl game was that we were talking about yesterday, Con Man? The Sugar Bowl with Bryce Young when they played, I believe, Kansas State and everybody played for Bama. Yeah, and the conversation was how other schools, their top draft picks, even third-rounders weren't playing. And then Bryce went number one and I think he played in that bowl game. Yeah, and Will Anderson went third and he played. Yeah. But we should have been in the playoffs. Let me just say that. True. Because Kansas State beat TCU. TCU played nobody and got in the playoff. And we played a tougher schedule, didn't get in the playoff because we lost, I think, two games or whatever. And by one point on the road to good SEC teams. And we beat Kansas State by, what, 25, 30 points? I don't know. Yeah, all your guys played, though. And it wasn't, so. Well, all their guys played when they played them. Yeah, but. But I'm just saying, I like that what you're saying is, yeah, that game shouldn't have even happened. But you getting those guys to play where other schools have a full fight about getting a number one overall pick, a number three overall pick to play in games that aren't national championship or college football playoff, I think that goes to the culture in which you build about Bama, being proud about Bama and what it looks like to play for Bama. Yeah, but we have a responsibility to the players, too. And I think you're 100% right. Those guys wanted to play in the game. So then what were we willing to do as an organization? To make it safe for them to play in the game. We had to elevate their insurance and all that kind of stuff, which we wanted to do. They wanted to play, and we wanted to make them be able to play and feel comfortable about playing in the game. Smart. How come nobody else is doing that? Damn far, no. We're going to watch that doc, though. It feels like there's going to be a lot of you out there. You know, we're celebrating a lot of the successes. AJ has a question about maybe the other way. Yeah, Coach, when we watched everything you were doing, obviously you had tons of success every week. Everywhere you went, and you talked about the wizard dude, all these people you work with. Can you remember anything that you have tried over the years that didn't work? Like a schedule change? Oh, we're going to practice at 6 a.m. instead of 3 p.m. Or say, like, different workouts or anything that you ever tried that you felt like, okay, I think I need to abandon this maybe a year or two in? You know, we always evolved. So we always tried to analyze what we were doing and how we were doing it. Just like, I'd say, one of the biggest things we did is we used to do the old power powerlifting stuff. And, you know, Cochran did a great job with our team, work ethic, discipline-wise, and all that. And that was, like, what he'd like to do. Well, I wanted to get more into, like, velocity training, you know, which I thought was more relative to football. Like, not how much can you bench press, but how fast can you move the bar. You know, an explosive movement. Same thing with speed and explosive speed and initial quickness and things like that. So, we completely changed philosophies. It was probably, I don't know, four or five years from when I retired to get to that. Players liked it better. It was better for us to evaluate where our team was from a speed standpoint, an explosive movement standpoint, a power standpoint. So, that was a huge change that we made. But that was something that we were contemplating, you know, the whole time. And I think because we evaluate. We treated winning and losing the same. So, we evaluated everything that we did. You know, what did we do well? What did we do poorly? What can we improve on? What preparation errors do we make? All the time. So, we were constantly changing and being flexible. So, I can't think of anything that we tried that was just a bust. No. No, yeah. We wouldn't do it. Okay. That's why. That's why we have a documentary here in seven national championships. There was nothing that wasn't fully thought out before we activated. Do you like this shirt? The Ohio one? Yeah. Well, it's just another shade of red. Coach, they're a few years. Yeah, it's cute. It's just so cute. You were on staff for a couple years, Coach. Two years. Two years ago. I like Ohio State. I always drew for Ohio State. But you think the cursive is cute? Yeah, it's cute. They don't even teach kids cursive anymore. What? Bull. Can kids write anymore? I doubt it. Before we let you go, I have to ask you about something. It's a huge part of the doc where you're from. Where Miss Terry is from. This weekend is the coal miner appreciation game for West Virginia against Arizona. I think that's a huge part of the story of the documentary as well. Any thoughts to the West Virginia football team this week? Well, I'm hoping that the West Virginia football team can get things straight. But, you know, where they struggled is they're scoring enough points. They're moving the ball. They're controlling the ball. Can't play defense. At all. I mean, we've got to play defense. I mean, at some point, you've got to keep from getting beat before you win. And you've got to play defense. Can you tell the story quickly about your grandpa walking in the parking lot of the mine in 1968? Yeah. Number nine mine, which was where my granddad worked, blew up in 1968. And I think 68 or so guys got sealed in the mines because it's the only way they could keep from blowing up. But what happened was is between midnight shift and day shift, the guy turned the fan on. There was gas in the mine. And that's what made it blow up. And my granddad worked on day shift. And he was in the parking lot walking when the thing blew up. So. Absolutely crazy. Very fortunate. Yeah, very fortunate, but also a very difficult job. Very important job to the United States of America for a very long time that West Virginians have done. So I appreciate the appreciation for coal miners out of the West Virginia football team. Let's get a damn win. We also appreciate the hell out of you, sir. Thank you so much for joining us. That's the greatest of all time, Coach Saban. Yeah, Coach. So how many more episodes? All six episodes are out, right? Correct. Yes, all six are out on the ESPN app. Okay, but they're playing every Thursday night at 6 p.m. Eastern. They're going to play like the next episode. Yeah, the premieres on ESPN. Okay, so if you are an old, stick around every Thursday night and watch this thing. If you're not, use technology. Find every single episode. But I also think, and Connor, I believe you watched it live on ESPN last night. And I think because it's at 6 p.m. on ESPN, you know, like prime time, I believe it's edited. If you watch it on the app, it is unedited. And you're going to want to watch it unedited. You're going to want to watch it unedited. I would say. So they're beeping stuff out on Big E. Yes, they bleeped it out live. But if you go into the app and just watch it, then no bleeps. It is completely raw, uncut footage. And it is, it delivers. It truly is the last dance just for Coach Saban. Okay, Pat, last night, did you get to watch any of the raw, uncut footage there over the dock? We just saw clips from each episode, and then they chit-chatted about them. So I haven't seen. I haven't seen the entirety of it. I've just seen portions of every single episode. I think it's going to be a very well-received documentary. I think they did a great job on it. And I think Miss Terry and Nick were very open through it all. And that's how we learned the most. All right. Hour one wraps up with Coach Saban. Hour two on the other side, we got Stanford Steve coming by. Yeah, to make some picks. And also, huge guest, 1.30 Eastern. Be a friend, tell a friend. Sound nice. It might change your life. We'll see you on the other side. Goodbye. Bye-bye. On October 16th, The King returns. Sylvester Stallone is back as mob boss Dwight Manfredi in the Paramount Plus hit series, Tulsa King. With new enemies closing in and his empire on the line, Dwight and his crew prepare for the biggest fight of their lives. Tulsa King. New season. Streaming October 16th, only on Paramount Plus. Every game, every practice, every moment. We rely on energy more than we realize. From the courts and fields we play on, to the gear athletes use, to the technology and transportation that bring fans together. Energy powers it all. And energy transfer helps safely deliver the energy that keeps it all moving. Oil and natural gas help make thousands of everyday products possible. Supporting sports and the moments that connect us. So whether you're playing, watching, or cheering it on, it takes energy. Visit ittakesenergy.com to learn more. Football! It is the greatest, and we are celebrating that right here in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. There is a storm on its way, so tomorrow morning's college game day will be live from the Coleman Coliseum, 8 a.m. local, 5.30 doors open. Cannot wait to celebrate this SEC clash. Georgia comes to town undefeated as the number two team in the country. Kirby Smart, Gunnar Stockton might have been waiting for this particular team to get their next national championship run. And then Kalen DeBoer in his third year with Keelan Russell now a quarterback. Grubb at OC in a defense that hunts. There's a chance this is a SEC championship preview here between Georgia and Alabama. Lucky to be here, thankful to be here. Cannot wait to chat more about this game. And then obviously last night in the NFL week, five of its season kicked off in Dallas as the Dallas Cowboys lose to an undrafted rookie quarterback out of Kansas. Bucky Irving, Emeka Ibuka, and a defense that found a way to deflect and distract Dak into throwing multiple turnovers and having the Buccaneers walk out of Dallas, the Big D, as a team that's no longer in the shite division. Bucky Irving went crazy. Jalen Danos became a pocket passer, and all the weapons that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had at the beginning of the season that made us exciting about what the Bucs could be showed up and showed out on Thursday Night Football. This is a video game-like run. This is what happens in high school when one player is more athletic than everybody else. And this has been happening against the Dallas Cowboys defense for seemingly the last five years. They trade Micah Parsons away because they want to be able to stop the damn run. Well, Bucky went for 170 last night, 165 on the ground, a couple receiving yards. He is now in the conversation of being one of the best players in the league in the NFC South. Quietly brewing some monsters. Congrats to the Bucs getting a huge win. Congrats to Todd Bowles, even though he got a helmet to the gut late in that game last night. That brought him down to his knees. He is a man who is now off of the hot seat, you would think, because it was getting loud in Tampa Bay last night. They put a beating to the Cowboys. It's not just me here getting a chance to chat about sports every single day. There's a man who traveled to Indianapolis from. He's a former college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hawke. Yeah, Hawke! Hawke, what you learned last night about the Bucs-Cowboys. You know what I learned? We could potentially get everything wrong, because who knows what's going to happen in this league. Undrafted rookie quarterback goes into Dallas and pounds him. I could have never expected that. That's why the league's great, I guess, but also impossible to maybe hit a super boost. Yeah, impossible to try to predict, I feel like. Week-to-week, what is going to happen? I know Dallas hasn't played well defensively the majority of this season, but if you remember going back to training camp, and we're all geeked up on football, and it's back, and here we go, we're watching clips. Their defense is all we talked about, like the whole team, really. Dallas had so much momentum, I think, coming from training camp, so I guess now we just know none of that matters, right? We sit here and we argue about OTAs and guys skipping an OTA, and what happens in training camp, and how good a team looks, or how bad a team looks in camp, but guess what? All that matters is what you do here on. Thursdays, Wednesdays, Sundays, every day the NFL plays now, I feel like. Yeah, Monday, Anzalone's still doing it down there in Tampa Bay. And the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers named Zach. Robinson. Good for him. Toxic table at Boston Connor, at Ty Schmidt. He gets a rookie undrafted quarterback to win on primetime against the Dallas Cowboys. What a win for Zach Robinson and the Bucs, Ty. Yeah, without a doubt, and especially after last year when he was in Atlanta, and a lot of people were saying when he went, to Tampa Bay, like, hey, why the hell did you hire this guy? what are you doing, you know, Baker Mayfield can't turn everything from shit to sugar, and, you know, maybe that's all he needed was a guy like Jalen Daniels. But I wanted to ask both you guys, have you ever been in a situation, because everyone's talking about Christian Parker and, you know, maybe part of it is, hey, they can turn it around, new system, new scheme, all that kind of stuff. At what point in the season does the locker room maybe think, like, hey, this is not going to work? Like, you know, like you said, preseason going into the season, that's what we were talking about. It wasn't the Cowboys' offense. It was how good this defense is going to be. Like, is there enough proof in the pudding right now? And there was no Joey Porter Jr. But, like, do you think they can turn this around? Because it kind of seems like it's plug and place with Dallas' defensive coordinator. Whoever they put in there, there's a lot of sizzle, not a lot of steak, and then it's just like, oh, ultimately this unit sucks again. I don't think it's ever too late to really turn it around. But if they – I have no idea how these players feel and how the scheme and everything, how they feel about Christian Parker, but it's not like it doesn't jump up and bite you out of nowhere. Like, oh, this isn't going to work. If they don't like what's going on, if they don't like the scheme and how it's being run, I'm sure there was questions in training camp and early in the season. Like, you're always questioning it. And then when you see if it doesn't work in the game, then yes, people can start pointing fingers and trying to – that's what you see. Like, it's all like a snowball effect. It starts rolling downhill and things start going bad. One guy peeks in this gap, oh, here we go. We're trying to make plays. Coach Saban talked about it earlier, Pat. He said, like, hey, instead of trying to make great plays, just worry about not making bad plays. Good plays will come, and that all happens. But defense is weird, man. The thing about the Cowboys now I think that worries me. If you watch any of these shows this morning, Pat, you see they're talking about the effort and attitude. Like, they're not talking even schematically really about this Dallas defense. They're saying, why aren't guys giving 100%? Like, that's the most basic day one install thing. Like, hey, we need to have relentless effort on every single play. And I guess when you watch this Cowboys defense, you don't really see it. Oh, I think that 72-yard run in the third quarter by Bucky Irving, I think a lot of people – I mean, it doesn't look like a lack of effort, maybe just a lack of speed. Sometimes I think people assume somebody else has already made the tackle or the tackle is going to happen. Like, okay, hey, I might be in my gap. Here we go. But I'm not going to go have, like, extra effort because he looks like he's already down. That seemed to happen multiple times on this play. Yeah, and I mean, 26 just went skipping by. 97 didn't think he was going to make the play. To your point, somebody will do it. There's a good quote about somebody, you know, how, you know, this person thinks, that somebody's going to do it and everybody thought somebody was going to do it. And it turns out nobody is actually somebody unless you want to take a little bit of onus upon yourself. I don't think that's the actual quote, but you get it. Somebody is always going to be taking blame for things. It looked like somebody was going to make the play and nobody thought it was going to be them for the Dallas Cowboys. 26 goes skipping by and he's still in bounds. You know, when it rains, it pours. That play alone is, like, just shows you – you've got multiple guys kind of run into each other. You've got three or four Cowboys on the ground. You feel like you had them in the backfield. I've been a part of teams where this happens. When plays like this happen, it just – it flat out sucks. Like, you've got to – you can do whatever you want in practice. You can do everything. You can have the greatest week of practice, but if you don't go out there that next Sunday and fix it, like, it's going to continue to happen over and over again. Now, Ty, to your question about the team saying, I don't have faith in this guy, I mean, I think there's some players who question a coordinator even if the coordinator is doing great. Anyways, I think there's always going to be those types of players. Players have been around football a long time, have their own opinions. But, yeah, if it doesn't get turned around, I think you're going to – you're probably going to hear a little bit of chatter out of Dallas. But the offense didn't have their best game either, so nobody can really complain. They just got to go and get better. We do something every single Friday that we're lucky to do, A.J. And, A.J., you've been seeing the board really well, so I think you enjoy this particular segment this year maybe more so than years past. We decided long ago that if not us, then who? Yeah. We have to pick. We have to pick every single game of the NFL slate. And doing it with us now for another week in a row. Ladies and gentlemen, he's not the other guy. He's not another guy. He is the guy. Ladies and gentlemen, living life like a 1985 independent professional wrestler on the road for ball. He was on a bike on Monday Night Football. Scott Van Pelt afterwards. He's on every sideline. He's in every basketball gym. Ladies and gentlemen, Stanford State. Oh, Steven. Big Steve-O. Rocking the bar merch. Yeah, Big Steve-O. What's up, boys? Hey, how you doing? How we doing? Irish pub hoodie, tied hat. How we feeling? Excellent. Can't wait to get this thing going. Yeah, tomorrow or. Whoever wins this game is number one. This game right here? Yeah. Really? What about Texas-Oklahoma? Texas is the number one team in the country right now. No. Hopped. Screw them. Whoever's here. What if it's 2-0? 2-0. Number one. Crown them. Wow. Is this the SEC-SPN bias or what's going on here? I just watch the games, watch the tape. These are the two best teams. Whoever wins. And the weather, from our understanding, we've been being told by meteorologists and others that have studied weather that by the time game comes around, should be good. Yeah, a little wind. But whoever wins this game also beats the other team and beats the weather. Wow. So now that makes them even better. Yeah, nobody else can get that kind of wind. Yeah, because in Texas the weather is just going to be warm. It's a rivalry game, though. You don't think, like, if Texas gets a big-time rivalry win, they're going to keep their spot at number one? No. Geez. I love that. I think they're going to get all their hands full tomorrow. Okay. I think Coleman Coliseum tomorrow morning is going to be electrified. Oh, it's going to be awesome. I can't wait. I like the setup in there. Yeah. I was very against it. Okay. I don't know if you were as well. I didn't care. We're here for the show. Yeah, but I'm here for football. I get it. You can't have people out there harmed. Agreed. You're worried about the lightning, aren't they, for the people watching the show outside? I don't know. Weather guy. Well, lightning does. Maybe Hoggle. Hawk DiNardo is certainly something. He is a meteorologist like Joe DiNardo. But I don't know if it's just a lot of rain is what's expected. But then when they talked about tornado stuff, that's what I did. Okay. Yeah, all right. Let's go ahead and go inside. Let's hunker down inside the Coleman Coliseum. Should provide a pretty electrifying environment. Okay, let's get away from this college game that Stanford Steve said is for the number one seed in the country. Congrats to these squads as they do battle for that. Let's hit the entire NFL slate, shall we, Steve? Yes. How do you feel about this weekend, Slate? We got another epic lineup, including another international game as the Jacksonville Jaguars head back to London on a two-week stint. The Philadelphia Eagles, who lose Lane Johnson in retirement, Cam Juergens to trade, are traveling internationally. Maybe a good thing for where that team is. Steve, how do you see this one? As the Jacksonville Jaguars favored by seven and a half. Well, with the Juergens trade, I was wondering if the Eagles are tanking the season. Yeah, a lot of people are thinking that, but they got a franchise quarterback. Yep, they do. So you can't really do that, can you? I don't know. They're taking away a lot of things around them. Certainly are. To help them succeed. You would hope that they would have others in mind that they could fix, and maybe the second round is enough to make the trade, but a lot of chatter about, like, are they giving up on this year? But can you in Philadelphia? How will you say no? I don't know. I like Jacksonville. I think they're the best team, and they're the best team in the NFL. Seven and a half? Yeah. Jacksonville Jaguars, best team in all of football. Better than the Chiefs. In my opinion. Better than the Niners. Yeah. Jacksonville Jaguars down in Duvall in the AFC South representing. I appreciate our comments. This is too straight for them overseas, too, right? Yes. They will be living over there. They have a lot of success over there. It seems like they have it figured out as an international team. AJ, do you agree with Stanford, Steve? Minus seven and a half. That's a lot against his Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah, I feel like this line was six and a half. At one point, the fact that it's seven, maybe after Juergens and all of this stuff. Two and a half at one point. I'm going to have to. I'm going to ride with Stanford, Steve, on this one. I like Jacksonville minus seven and a half at home. But also, do we have Steve's record from last week of how he did in his picks? I do not know if we do. I know that you have a good record. So whatever you're saying means a lot more than anybody else. Okay, so let's lock in and not think about anybody else, AJ. We need your brain to be seeing this. Now, Stanford, Steve. Stanford has seen it in the past. And he has seen it this season. And he is a man who pays attention mightily to the gambling. But he's coming out here saying, whoever wins this game is the number one team in the country. Jacksonville Jaguars, best team in the entire league. Feels like you've got a good feel for what's going on. Yeah, I feel good. Golly, let's go to the talks table. Boston Connor, best team in the league is in Jacksonville, Florida. I mean, they're definitely up there, especially when it comes to complete teams. I'd feel comfortable taking the Jags minus 13 and a half. It is burning down in Philly. Feels like, kind of like last night, even though the Bucs came out and won, feels like this might be kind of a Jags route. Everybody going nuts in Philly next week, just burning it down. See, that kind of scares me because of how it does feel too obvious. Let's go to Gump's. Gump's, is this too obvious or are you riding with the other guy, another guy, big Stanford Steve? No, I'm fading other guy, like Eagles on the points here. Reeks of last night, just like Connor said. It does kind of reek of last night, like too obvious maybe. I mean, we're all too positive about it. Take the Philadelphia Eagles plus seven and a half. Wow. Go, Barry. Good on you. Good choice. Good on you, yeah. A lot of points. A-G-L-E-S. Eagles. Hopefully they don't blow up for the utmost time. Yeah, we need Johns on cameras immediately if they are to lose again. I don't like what I just saw here. Thursday, October 8th, injury report for the Philadelphia Eagles. Oh, yeah. It's all. Okay, I'll take the Jags. I would think Sorry, I'm so sorry about that. I'll take the Jacksonville Jaguars. Gumps, did you see that injury report right there? Yeah, still too many points over in London. All right, I think there's been blowouts over there. Bengals at Dolphins. Gumps, anything on this one? I didn't think T. Higgins and Jamar are playing. They both are. So I don't know if there's enough points here. We don't know if they're playing. We do know that they're practicing. It has not been official that they're playing in the game. Stanford, Steve, the Miami Dolphins and their community have little faith in the Miami Dolphins as a whole. Bengals favored by six and a half in Miami. Your thoughts, Steve-O? Got to watch the Dolphins game with Gumps last week, grinding it out for a cover. I can't get off the Dolphins. Those guys are coming back, and the line went down. That's fishy. Give me the Dolphins. That's fishy. I like that with Dolphins. They're actually a mammal, I believe. A.J., Bengals or Dolphins here? Give me the Cincinnati Bengals. I'll take the Bengals as well. Feels. Too obvious, but. A higher. It is a higher. A higher. Some people from Pittsburgh say Ohio. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh. Cignetti does it all the time. You kind of do it. Okay. Saban does. Saban does it. He does. Okay. A higher. All right. Hey, how about his doc last night? The clips? Dude. That was awesome. How about him watching himself in a lot of those situations? He said he couldn't. He hasn't finished it yet, because I was like, he walked in this morning. I was like, you got to be tired. You got to be tired of seeing yourself. Yes, exactly. He was on a stage looking at himself. Turned around. Very. Back to the crowd. Yeah, it was. Arm over. It was a great night. That was a good theater. You ever been inside of a theater like that before? Not with those dignitaries of Alabama. It did feel like we were a part of a southern celebration of a southern king in a nice southern theater last night. There were ball gowns. They love them. There was ball gowns out there. Toxes. Three-piece suits. Who are the people? People that he is. People that he has crossed pathways over the year. Who are the guest list? I'm going to phrase it as the people that helped him build what he built here. Okay. Okay. I don't know. Me and Gumpy got here as the entire thing was starting, so we didn't get a chance to do all the how you doings, how you doings. We just walked into the theater as it was basically pretty filled, looked around and said, holy shit, we are underdressed for this thing. There was gowns. We were doing a homecoming dance. There was tuxes. Guys behind me. Full. Suited. Booted. People outside the theater seeing who was going in. Dressed up. The band. The entire band. There was cameras just outside as if it was old school Hollywood event. Crimson carpet. Ball. It was a good southern celebration for one of the southern greats of all time. Who's the guy next to Gumpy? That's Parker. I'll tell you what. Parker had a great seat last night. Parker earned it. Hasn't he, Gumps? We think Parker has definitely earned that seat. Yeah, absolutely. We've talked to. Parker about who has sat in those seats before at events. Oh. Next to me and Gumpy. You know. Such an absurd life we are living. We all agree. Shout out to last night. Let's get back to these picks, shall we? Sorry. Let's get back to these picks. You look good last night, though. You're all dressed up. Raiders. Patriots. Patriots favored by three and a half. Connor, you love this or hate this at home? Don't hate it, but unfortunately, Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis, both out this weekend. So, we are very, very banged up on defense. Christian Barmore, I believe, will be back. Bad news for the Raiders. Ashton Jinty mispracticed today. Seems like he went from full on Wednesday to limited yesterday to now out today practice-wise. Brock Bowers, I think he was limited and then full, so he should be going. But, yeah, bad news bears with no Gonzo and no Carlton Davis. Top two quarters. It sounds like you're thinking Raiders is the right pick here. No, no. I don't think that. But, I do think three points. Three points is a lot of points. At the same time, Drake May finally kind of starting his ascension this year. Hopefully, we get another master class and then A.J. Bryant comes back next week. Sam, for Steve, who do you like? How do you like it? Fine with the quarters being out because you need the guys on the inside against that monster of Michael Mayer and Brock Bowers. Give me the Patriots. Three and a half. Fuck yeah. A.J.? A.J.? I'm riding with Steve on this one. I like the Patriots here at home. All right. I'll take the Raiders plus three and a half. Come on. Let me. Think about it. Good shave. Think about it. Raiders plus three and a half. Vikings. New Orleans Saints. Vikings favored by two and a half. OBJ potentially playing for the Minnesota Vikings. Whoa. Brandon Staley and the New Orleans Saints couldn't stop anything on Monday night. That is worrisome. Brandon Staley. Brandon Staley. Was asked about Troy Aikman's comments about it felt like he didn't really know what he was going to do to stop Bijan when we met with him. And clearly it hasn't happened. I appreciate Troy being that transparent about his thoughts. Obviously, he stops my Monday night countdown. He's great with those convos. And he didn't stop Bijan or Brian Robinson or Pennix at all on a 20 year anniversary of something very sentimental to the city. Steve, who do you like? How do you like in this one? I watched that Saints O-line in person last week. And then you see what Minnesota. Brings to the table from a defensive front. I'll take the Vikings. Yeah, it feels like that's going to be an obvious choice. I feel like they should be giving more, though. Yeah, it does. Yeah, well, Kyler, you know, he's only getting better, you would think, in the offense. Justin Jefferson's still a wonder. We all assume back in Louisiana he will play. AJ, who do you have? I like the Vikings here on the road. And I like, what are the odds? Like, Tone, can you look at, like, an OBJ touchdown? Can you get good odds? Those definitely don't exist. Will it by the time the game comes? Maybe. Plus 10,000. Maybe. If he's active. Yeah. I would like, is Kevin O'Connell talking about him? Yeah. And just like how Sean McVay, when OBJ joined the Los Angeles Rams, I think he might try to force feed him. Might try to force feed him, keep him happy. And if we recall, his cardio sessions with the Giants, whenever he was playing wide receiver for them this year, he was kind of open. Bruce, was that not accurate? He was kind of open and running very fast still. Yeah, yeah. He looked great in the preseason game. Our backup quarterbacks, Brandon Allen, specifically, struggled to get him the ball. And then once the regular season came around, it just didn't necessarily work out. And obviously, it's hard to have, you know, your fifth, sixth wide receiver not playing special teams. And with injuries, we just had to kind of move on. So, bummer, but it just kind of is what it is. Okay, I like OBJ touchdown out of AJ. That should be great odds. You like the Vikings. I like the Vikings. Steve likes the Vikings. Let's go to the Browns versus the Jets. Jets favored by two and a half at home. I'll take the Cleveland Browns. I'll take the Jets. Give me the Cleveland Browns. What do you like the Jets for? Because that line stinks. The stinkiest of the weekend. It reeks. What do you mean? Who won a flag? What do you mean? Cleveland should be favored. Yeah. Yeah, that makes it a stinky line. That's what you're saying. Yeah. Still got Munkin. Munkin. That's what Orlovsky calls him. That's not his name, I don't think. I think it's just Munkin, clearly, casually. AJ, are we falling for this? Like, Steve's basically calling us marks right now for going on the Browns. That's what it feels like. Yeah, I don't know. This is one that I definitely trust my instincts. And when I first saw this, it was absolutely give me the Browns. And I still stick with that. All right, me too. I'll take the Browns. Is Fireman Ed there or not? Yeah. He is. Ed's there. So that might be what it is. Could be the X Factor. Yeah, legit. That might be. X Factor, Fireman Ed. Speaking of X Factor, Daniel Jones, Jonathan Taylor, Shane Steiner. They can head over to Accresure. And, oh, mama, I'm in fear for your life from the long, long, long, long. Boom, boom. Good luck, Steelers. Give me the Colts plus two and a half in Pittsburgh. Steve, you agree that's awesome. I don't. Tone, don't the Steelers have good success against the Colts? Good would be the understatement. The understatement of the life of a lifetime. Yeah. It feels like they never, the Colts never win this game. And teams off of London as well. Very bad record against the spread teams off of London. Not taking the bye. Coming back to the States. Okay. So who are you picking? I'm taking the Steelers. You see them yelling at the coach and stuff? Yeah, I fired them up. That's what they needed. Steelers are 28 and eight all time against Colts. 28 and eight. There you go. Right there. Right there. That was, I knew I'd seen it somewhere. No, I just watched. You've seen all 36 of them. 28 and eight. No, I probably rooted for the Colts in every one of them. Thank you. That's very kind of you. Well, I need you to do it again. Oh, shut up. Thanks. We're finally got something here. Okay. We finally got a little positivity generating over here. AJ, who do you like? How do you like it? Well, I checked the, uh, the weather looks like it's going to be about 60 and a perfect, probably sunny fall day and aqua shirt. And you know, the Steelers, they're going to feel pretty damn good in this big Mike's going to feel great in this fall weather. Give me the Steelers at home. Did you call? All for the weather? What do you mean? It's going to be perfect weather. Perfect. You guys don't like, sorry, I might be a mark for weather, but these beautiful fall days we are having right now, like these are the good old days. We need to enjoy this. That means it's supposed to rain. It's a definite rain. Who's rain? Oh, I didn't even read that. I didn't even see the rain. Even better. Are you kidding me? Aaron. Pictures guy. Aaron's got big hands. Big Mike's been doing, big Mike's been doing wet ball drills since 2004. We're good. Give me the Steelers. I didn't see any of the raindrops actually on any of this little screen that I have. Either way. Give me the spoon. - You said that, I was like, I was wondering why Tom was looking at me weird. I thought I was tripping over here. I'm like, is he looking at the same thing I'm looking at? I'm like, Ackershire Stadium, Pittsburgh. Beautiful, sunny day. It actually says definite rain showers. I've never seen that on there. Actually, I feel better about my pick then because we know Big Mike and Aaron love the elements. They love some adversity. So, 60 and sun would be a perfect fall day. Perfect day. I agree. A little rain showers in Pittsburgh is almost a guarantee. I like Jonathan Taylor in that one. Give me the Colts plus two and a half. Texans favored by seven and a half after a battle with the Dallas Cowboys last week. Cowboys shite the bed last night against the Bucs. CJ had a great day against Dallas. They inevitably lose. Tennessee Titans, absolute shite division kings at this exact moment. Stanford, Steve, who do you like? How do you like in this AFC South clash? Well, I picked the Texans to go to the Super Bowl. So, start to look at the schedule. Do you give up? No, you don't give up. I do see a path to five and five. Five, but I'll take the Titans to cover. Texans win. Perfect fall day here, by the way, as well, in Tennessee. Remnants from the hurricane should be there all day. So, it'd be a perfect rainy day. Nice rainy day there, AJ. Nice rainy fall perfect day in Nashville. He likes the Titans plus seven and a half, but it feels like he likes the Texans. Steve's giving us a little two for there, which we appreciate. AJ, who do you like? How do you like it? You know what? I think this is a day that the Tennessee Titans get back on track. Give me Tennessee. Plus seven and a half at home. I'll take the Texans. It's a shite division bowl. I'll take the Texans doing their thing. I just can't believe in the Titans. It's hard for me to just say it coming out of my mouth. And I don't like that because I like their uniforms. I like the city. I like the people. I just think they are shite of football. I don't like it. I don't like it. AFC South, though, has the best team in the ball. Never forget it. Let's go to the NFC East. Giants, Commanders. Yes. Commanders favored by three and a half. You guys said the Jets line was stinky. What's going on here, Steve? How do we feel about this one? It smells a little. But Jaden Daniels doesn't lose to the Giants. I'm taking the Commanders. Jaden Daniels playing again after the dislocation of the elbow a couple weeks back is off arm. AJ, do you like the Commanders minus three and a half? I do like the Commanders here. Okay. I'll take Jameis. Right? That's who's playing over there? New York Giants? Heavy rain in this one as well. Heavy rain. He's going to throw. You know what? Give me the Giants. I want the Giants, actually. I switched. I'm going to take the Giants as well. Chicago Bears taking on the Green Bay Packers. Ty, how should we kind of think about this game? Well, the Packers are going to have basically another new offensive line again for the, what, we're in week five, fifth time this year. Kevin Zeitler got first team snaps all week. I don't think Kyle Menungai, he didn't practice today, so that's a big loss for the Bears. Very concerned with no Edron Cooper this week, but home. Home puppies. You know, I mean, AJ will tell you, blood ball, you know, rivalry game. Throw the, how the teams look out the window. If the Packers win this week, we are officially back. And I actually, I didn't feel good all week. I'm starting to, I'm starting to believe a little bit. I think, I think there's a chance the Packers might get this one. I love to hear that from you because let me tell you how I feel. Ditka? Yeah, right. Give me the Bears. Some of those guys even know who he is. By a million, I think. Great call. It's a rivalry game. Do NFL head coaches shake hands before the game? No. Some of them do. Usually they hang out. Not these two. Not these guys. Some of them I do think, but I don't think it's like a definite, right? I don't think. Yeah, that's what I was asking. I was kind of like, because this one's not happening if it does. Yeah, this is the get out of my face one, right? Yeah, this is. What if Ben Johnson wears the sweater? He should. Oh, gross sweater. Oh, gross sweater. Sweet Ash, wear the shade. Yeah. I'll take the Bears, Steve. I feel bad for Ty because his Yankees are out, so I'll take the Packers. No, Ty's not that. Actually, believe it or not, Ty tells us with his own words. Now, the way the word sounded, sounded contradicting to what he was saying. I think I was pretty spot on with that. He said his dauber's not that down with the Yankees. This is just who they are now, so why should he even get his hopes up? So his dauber was not down about the Yankees, but this is who we are now. We just suck at baseball. So it felt like his dauber was down, but his expectations. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. His expectations were also low. Okay. So I don't think anything that happens in this particular game is going to ruin him because he's already daubered down because of the Yankees. Yeah. So you're going with the Bears, it sounds like? No, I'm going to go with the Packers still. Oh. Hey, Dick, rest in peace. Speaking my language, Steve. I understand. AJ, you have to take the Packers. You're the all-time leading tackler for them, but did you just give a breakdown on how you think the game goes? I mean, I don't feel like I have to take them, but I like the Packers here in this one. Backs against the wall. This is like a pivotal game. Point back to it later in the year and say, hey, this was a moment when we took a big step forward. So give me Green Bay at home. Okay. I just. I understand Mike Dick could die, but I mean, someone dies from every franchise every week or so. Who from the Packers died? Obviously, Dick is a legend. I love the guy. He's an icon for all of football, and he always will. Yeah, Lombardi's dead. So they could. Vince, have you ever heard of him, Pat? They could gas that up. Curly Lambeau, he died? No, I understand that, but right now. Don Hudson died? Is Barton still alive? If you think Mike Dick. If you think Mike Dick is just heading straight to football heaven before one last little how do you do this weekend, you're out of your mind, okay? Broncos, Chargers, Broncos with Sean Payton calling plays again. Give me the Broncos. What's that, Tone? No, I was just going to say, former Green Bay Packers linebacker and two-time NFL champion Nelson Tobrin died at the age of 87 on Sunday. So, yeah, let's just say the boys got something else to play for. Tobes? What? Bingo. Toborin? I know. Rest in peace. I think he was supposed to do the coin toss. That's. Yeah, honorary captain. So they'll send his family, hopefully. Yep. But you Googled, did any Green Bay Packers die this week? Yeah, I don't like what just happened here. Did any Packers die this week? Any former Packers die this week? I would hope that that never has to happen again for any of us. Rest in peace. Rest in peace. But both teams have something to fight for now. Yeah. Yeah. I got the Denver Broncos minus three and a half against the Los Angeles Chargers. Stanford? BOMBED. about that at all, but I like them. Ravens, Falcons. Falcons favored by three. We watched them on Monday night, and it was special. It looks like Bijon is gliding. Him and Brian Robinson have an aim to be the best duo in the NFL, maybe in NFL history in the backfield. Michael Penick seems to be in control. Healthy, which is obviously great news. Defense with Oldbrick flying around on Monday night against the New Orleans Saints. Couldn't really get anything going for Tyler Shuck and the Saints. He's Lamar Jackson out. He is, says Coach Jesse Minter. Lamar Jackson out for Sunday night football, which Godspeed to Lamar. We will miss him on primetime football. The NFL obviously will miss Lamar Jackson. Stanford Steve, who do you like? How do you like it? I love what I saw from the Falcons. It does feel like they could be getting a lot of pats on the back this week after that effort in primetime. Got the ISO cam, Chris Lidstrom, the guard. God, I love that guy. Give me the Falcons. Okay, Falcons. Minus three, says Stanford Steve. Let's go to Gumpy. Gump, how do you like this one, pal? Dirty bird, dancing all over the place. I love this team. Brian Robinson mic'd up. If you haven't seen it, it's one of the best ones I've seen in a long, long time. Yeah, he's the one breaking down the running back group as they're going onto the field and when they're on the field, feels like he is a very vocal leader, beloved and he understands exactly who Bijan is and what they want to be. AJ, who do you like in Sunday night football? I love this Atlanta Falcons team and how they're playing right now, especially with Lamar out. I will take the Falcons. Me as well. Clean sweep there. Can't wait to see what we got right, what we got wrong. What we do know is we are thankful for the other guy. See you tomorrow morning, Steve. Not gonna see you tonight. Curfew. Go get beers. Don't forget. 10 p.m. 10 p.m. Central time. 10.30. 9.30 then, right? No. A lot of good games on tonight, Steve. Gotta go to the bar. 10.30. Yeah, but where we're at, we have a lot of TV. We've had a great Friday night set up on College Game Day this year. Shout out to Matt Garrett. He's getting a lot of credit. And a lot of heat. Yeah. Stanford Steve, see you later, brother. We appreciate you. See you, Steve-O. See you, Steve-O. Strong communities are built in the places where life happens. Where families build their lives. Where students build their futures. Where businesses create opportunity. Bloom Energy provides reliable power for the places communities depend on every day. From hospitals and college campuses to stores and factories, clean, quiet power that uses little water, right where it's needed, so communities can keep moving forward. Bloom Energy. Power America relies on. Jen Latta here. Somewhere in a run, things get fun. You stop counting. You stop trying. You're just here. Weightless. Wide open. More alive than you've been all day. That's the run doing what it does. Clearing the noise. 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Yeah, Greeny! Hi, guys. Greeny? Thank you for joining us here to make us better and smarter as we try to pay tribute to a man that we know is an NFL icon, that we appreciate the entertainment value. We understand he's tough, but we didn't really get to know him and see him in a lot of different portions of his life. Could you maybe explain to us what Mike Ditka meant to you, the city and all of sports during his run? Absolutely. The very first thing I ever got paid to do in this business, the first assignment I ever had for which I got paid, was to cover the Chicago Bears draft back in the days when the entire draft was held on a Saturday. I drove to the old Hallas Hall and covered the Bears draft in 1992. And after they made their picks, we would sit in the media room and all of a sudden, in walked Mike Ditka in the sweater and the cigar. And when I tell you he was larger than life, I don't even know how. That's an overused phrase. He literally embodied it. He was like something at the center. Everything sort of orbited around him. And I've told people many times over the many years, because I worked and lived in Chicago for seven years after college in the local media. And people don't necessarily understand or believe this. But the truth of the matter is, Michael Jordan was a global icon and certainly beloved in Chicago. But Mike Ditka was the biggest star in Chicago sports. And that is, in my opinion, it was inarguable. He was the most beloved figure in the city and it extended those SNL sketches that everyone remembers so vividly. Because he was the greatest player or one of the greatest players in the franchise's history. At the point at which he was playing, you could have argued he was the best player. And then he winds up coaching them to what remains their only Super Bowl championship. He remains to this day the only Hall of Famer to have played for a team and coached that team to a Super Bowl championship. He was the first tight end to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was a genuinely great player. He holds records that stand to this day for receiving the title for the first time in his life. And I think that's something he really revolutionized the position at a time when tight end had previously really just been a blocking position. He once told me, he grew up in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, as I assume you know, Pat. He once told me that if he had not made it in football, he wanted to be a dentist. And I've often laughed thinking about what it would have been like to walk into a dentist's office and find Mike Ditka sitting there ready to put those enormous hands in your mouth and figure out what was wrong. I'd love to tell you my favorite Mike Ditka story and then we can go home. You can go anywhere you want. But you might remember, Mike Ditka appeared on Mike and Mike in the Morning every Monday, I want to say for at least 15 years, maybe more than that. So we got to know him extraordinarily well. I covered him in Chicago as a reporter, but my relationship with him really began when we were both at ESPN and he was extraordinary with us. He was unpredictable and fun and funny and opinionated and all of the things that you associate with Mike Ditka. But you might remember, or maybe you don't, that Mike Golick, Mike Ditka, and I did two Monday Night Football games. Back in the early days when ESPN first got Monday Night Football, on the opening Monday night, there would be a double header. So there would be the primary broadcast team, which I think at that time was Mike Tirico and John Gruden, and then the late game would be, in two consecutive years, was me and Golick and Mike Ditka and Susie Culber was our sideline reporter. And this is a night that I will remember for as long as I live. The game ends, we're in San Francisco, the game ends, and they rush us to the airport. Me, Golick, Ditka, Susie, Culber, we're going to get on red-eye flights and fly back to the east coast. And I'm sure, well, you fly a little differently than most people, but most people have had the experience of getting on a red-eye, you're tired, you're bleary, it's west coast, everyone's boarding with pillows and all of this stuff, and we are racing in like a bad out of hell to try and make this plane. And we're going through security, and I notice out of the corner of my eye that in security they're giving Susie a problem with something, so I go over to try and help her, and I turn around, and I find that they have pulled Mike Ditka out of the security line, and they are wanding him. He's got his arms outstretched like this, still got his jacket on, tie tied up completely, chewing gum, sunglasses, and they are wanding him. And I looked up at the guy, and I said, "Are you aware of who this is?" And the person had no idea who it was. And so I said to him, "I promise you that if there is a problem on this plane, our best hope is Mike Ditka armed. The best thing that could possibly happen to us would be Mike Ditka with a weapon." And we got on that plane, and as it turned out, we were seated next to each other, so we're in like two first class seats next to each other, and you get like that horrible, we land in Chicago, we're connecting through Chicago, he's getting off and staying in Chicago where he lived, and I sort of half fall asleep a little bit on the plane, and I wake up when, you know, it's clear that we're landing, and I look up, and Mike Ditka is sitting in that seat, I swear on my life, wide awake, still has the tie tied up, still has the sunglasses on, still chewing gum. And I looked up at him, and I said, "How you doing, coach?" And he said, "I'm good, Greeny. How are you?" And he just sat there, and that was it. Motionless and fine, he was Mike Ditka in every single way. He was as Mike Ditka in private as he was in person. He could be prickly, he could be defiant, he could certainly be grumpy, but in the same breath, in the same moment that I saw him as prickly and grumpy as you've ever seen anyone, he could do the kindest thing for a stranger of anyone you've ever met. He had the biggest heart of anyone you could ever possibly come across. And to sort of wrap it up, I would say that he loved Frank Sinatra. And he would quote the song my way all the time regrets I've had a few, but then again too few to mention. No one embodied that. No one embodied the spirit of the song like my way, the way Mike Ditka did. He lived exactly as he wanted to, as he believed in. He was unapologetic and he wasn't going to hear anything else about it. And I genuinely loved him. And when I heard today that he had died, it genuinely felt like losing someone from my family. I'm positive Mike Golick feels the same way today. And I think the entire city of Chicago feels this way today as well. He was as iconic and as connected to a city as probably any sports figure has ever been. Thank you for taking us on that journey right there, man. Obviously, somebody that's very close to you. Thank you for joining us to explain who he is and what he meant to you, because I. Fellow Yinzer, only know him for being. Because we didn't really see him play. We only see the highlights. They're like, well, he's the toughest. He's the meanest. He's the baddest. And as a coach, he maintained that kind of lore. And then when he gets on TV, he becomes one of the most entertaining and informative people in the history of television. We are big fans of his. You being like close to him and giving us that perspective, we're very grateful for it, Greeny. And we know it's probably hard to talk about in this world, but there's very rare situations where a player becomes the first ever Hall of Famer. He coaches a championship, and then he's a lightning rod on a microphone, Greeny. I mean, when did you guys know that he was going to be who he was microphone-wise? Is that immediately? Day one, when he gets in there, as he's coaching, you know that's going to be the case? When did you guys know his media career was going to be what it was? Mike Ditka's media career, while he was the coach of the Bears, was the stuff of legend. His Wednesday press conferences, so I covered those teams in the early 90s. I covered him in 91, 92. I think. I think he got fired after the 92 season. Dave Wanstead started in 93 or 94. I've lost track of the years now. But however many years he remained as the coach. His Wednesday press conferences, I would have bought a ticket to go and attend them. He was so entertaining. He was. He would. You want to talk about going back and forth with the media. This was long before there was social media. But there were columnists in town, and it's with the very beginning, the infancy of sports talk radio. And he would go at it with people. He would go at it with fans. He didn't give a damn. I worked at the first all-sports radio station in Chicago. I was screening calls the day he legendarily said to a caller. A caller called in and said something they didn't like. And he said, well, I tell you what, my address is something, something North Washington, which is the address of the old Hallis Hall. He said, you call me up and you tell me what time you want to meet there, and I will whip your ass. Mike Ditka said that on the radio to a stranger. And that is exactly who he was. He was. Larger than life doesn't even begin to tell the story. And he was completely unafraid to say whatever he wanted to say. He was Charles Barkley before Charles Barkley. It was. Most of his opinions were the oldest of the old school, or he would have said the way things are supposed to be. He just sort of viewed things very differently. He was as old school as it got. I'm trying to think of what other ways I could describe to you. Here's one thing that I said. Hembo, we did a book a couple of years ago, and he was one of the chapters in it. And so Hembo sent me the notes that we had on him that day. And he reminded me of something I said, which I genuinely believe, that if Jerry West is the logo of the NBA, if the NFL were to pick a logo, Mike Ditka would be an excellent choice. There were very few people who had longer lasting impact on the league than Mike Ditka did. As a player, starting at Pitt, and then in the NFL from 1960, he scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl for the Dallas Cowboys. He won the NFL championship game in 1963 with the Chicago Bears as the best player on the offense of those teams. He went into the Hall of Fame as a player, is in the Hall of Fame as a coach. He is the only Hall of Fame player to win a hundred games or more as a coach. During his tenure as coach of the Bears, his teams won more games than any other team in the NFL during that time. And then he went on to a, I don't know, 20 or so year career as an incredible person, as an incredibly significant figure and ambassador for the sport on television and other places. So I don't know how many people have had more important and impactful lives in football than Mike Ditka did. And if the sport were, if the league were to adopt a person as the, as the logo, the way the NBA did, I think Mike Ditka would be as good a choice as I could think of. We appreciate the hell out of you sharing all of this. You're the man. Thank you for taking time. That's Mike Greenwood. You're the man. That's Mike Greenberg. We appreciate the hell out of you. Man. Perfect. I had to come on and talk about Ditka, it felt like. Rest in peace, sir. Thank you for your contribution to sport. Yinzer legend, football icon. Big one this weekend for the Bears taking on the Packers. That's A.J. Hawk. Anything to say to the people before we send it to Josh Payton, the Bustin' Boys? Yeah, hope you have a great weekend watching some great ball, college and NFL. Yeah, that's right. And we'll see you on Monday for Overreaction Monday. You're the best. Be a friend to other friends. Something nice might change your life. Oh, I don't know if I got that one in. Yeah, I think you did. I think so. You got it. Remember, delay game clock. Yep. Yeah, but we don't know if that's ever been real. We just say that every time. I saw it. You got it in. I'm looking right now on the, at the TV. Okay. I'm happy to hear that. That's, that's pretty exciting news. Do we get it? Even if we don't. You just threw it to A.J. Okay. Let's go. Come on, boys. Yeah, but it'd be cool to have a good one going in a weekend. Good timing, you know? Yeah. Yep. You got it. You got it. It was in there. Never, never a doubt. Yeah. There was a dot. Take a bow, lad. I let the dot creep in. You can't do that. You can't do it, man. Not in this world. Not in this world. Good work. We made, we made our picks. We covered everything we needed to cover. Yeah. I think we, I think we did good sports today. I think we did good sports today. I think we should make an announcement. We have some breaking news. First, from the college football team. Yeah, I think we, I think we did good sports today. First, from the college football side of things, we are incredibly honored to be able to say this and thankful to be able to say this. Season five of Field Pass with us for the college football playoff in the national championship will and has been greenlit. Let's go. Go, boys. The best. So much fun. A.J., on those sidelines of those games and Connor and Ty and Diggs, getting a chance to live these moments is outrageous. We understand how big of a deal it is. And I think, I think we try our best to be an additive. To these games. And I think that's what all casts are supposed to be. Just a little bit of an additive. We've tried our best to respect it all. And A.J., we've had a lot of fun doing these things. It's unbelievable. I mean, it's crazy to say it's season five of these. Just being there. Like any, anytime you go to any game, no matter what the level is, high school, college, NFL, the closer you get to the field, the closer you get to the action is when it, like, the scarier it is, how you realize how violent it is, how big these dudes are. And I'm, I've been blown away every single time. So yeah, this is, this is awesome. It's so fun. And you know, by the way, we get to do the biggest and best games of the year. So yeah, it's, it's amazing. Yeah. It's obviously the game that draws people, but our field pass has done pretty well and it has been well received by folks. And we are very grateful for that because it's actually led to another massive announcement. Evan Fox, obviously you're a lad from Detroit, huge lions fan growing up. All the boys in the back are diehard NFL fans. The toxic table at Boston corner. Schmidt diehard NFL fans. One half of the hammer died. Cowboys AP tone, lifelong diehard NFL fans. And there was a little bit of a pipe dream that maybe if we have a little bit of success with this field pass with college, maybe with the relationship that ESPN has with the NFL, that we could do some field passes for NFL games, Monday night football games. One thing led to another, I got a chance to chat with the commissioner a couple of different times, got a chance to explain what we would try to do, how we would try to do it. There are a lot of things written about it potentially happening. And we have breaking news. We will officially be doing a field pass for the Super Bowl this year. Outrageous. So thankful to everybody that helped make this happen at the league office. There had a lot of conversations and a lot of thoughts and a lot of explaining for what the hell is happening. We're going to let guys stand on a sideline to the boys. I think you've done such an incredible job at all of this. We try our best to respect the game. And you know, if you're going to be a little bit more appetizing for a different group of people that are watching alongside the best play callers on earth, not play callers, but commentators on earth. And AJ will still be with us for the college one. Dan Orlovsky, NFL quarterback, we're picking up for the NFL field passes. Select Monday night football games will also be happening. Washington Commanders at San Francisco 49ers is our first one. There will be others. And then obviously it culminates at the Super Bowl. I'll head over to the talk show. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. tribute in some way, whether it's us just yelling, what, or just the fact that we're there, it is pretty surreal. So it's an honor to be able to do it. Hopefully it's the Patriots versus someone else. I don't really care who else, but still, it is truly amazing. And even the regular season games we get to do, it's really, really cool. And Ty, in Chicago, when we did that first half to kind of showcase what we could be, I think, you know, it was a surprise to us about how natural it came with you guys up in the booth. So it's going to be a little different setup. The lads aren't going to be on the field. Me, Dan, and Darius will be down at the end zone. The boys will be up in a booth, kind of a sky cam type thing. Ty, I think that helps, actually, potentially, with the broadcast. Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, we all were talking about it when we were up there. It's like, oh, you can understand why coordinators want to sit up here. Like, you literally can see everything. It's happening on the field. And, you know, we always talk about with the college ones how the way we're positioned sometimes, it's like, oh, you can't. Is that a two-yard gain? Is that a nine-yard gain? Like, we have that vantage point, so we can kind of, you know, hopefully make things flow a little bit easier if there's a flag in, like, the very back. And then, just overall, you know, crazy to think with, you know, where we started this whole thing. I mean, you know, Pat, when you were going to, what, Cincinnati to do stuff NFL-related, like, eight years ago. And, you know, you end up sitting in a horse trailer for Dell or whatever it was to think that at the end of this year, we're going to end it by calling the Super Bowl on the field. Like, it is surreal. It's crazy. It's crazy to think that we've come that far, but it's pretty fucking awesome as well. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of us. Dot. Cowboys, AP Tone, dream come true to be a part of ball at all. And to kind of go off of Ty's point there, with where we started to being able to do this now. It's the dumbest life of all time. And we're going to try our best to make it better. Right, Tone? I think that is something that kind of misses the mark with some people with us. Yeah, I mean, it definitely does. And there will be some react to this, of course. But no, I mean, we're like, we're just trying to have fun with sports and trying to be an additive in any way that we possibly can. College football and now doing these on Monday nights in the Super Bowl is going to be unbelievable. And you talked about it. It is kind of better with us up in the booth because we can kind of see things like, you know, normally we're on the field for college. college football and we're like, you don't know what it is. But now like I, it was kind of hard to not jump in on Monday nights. We'll have to feel that out. Be like, we can see exactly how far the game was and stuff like that. So I think it'll be even better for the NFL and just a surreal thing that we get to do. Yeah. Shout out to all parties that made this happen. We cannot wait to be a part of the biggest games and hopefully this football celebration is one that we can do for the next 10, 15, 20, 30 years. Doubtful. But whenever you think about Greeny and how long he's been able to be a voice for sports, it's because of his obsession with sports. It's just like everybody that you see cover sports for a long time. They have to love it. They have to truly enjoy it. And we do. We are obsessed with this sport. We are obsessed with sports and hopefully we'll get a chance to prove that to people that have some doubts about what we can do for games. We are very lucky to do an NBA game live from inside Madison Square Garden. I think it did okay and excited for how the NFL ones will go. I think it's going to be a great game for them as we are the opposite Mondays of the Manning cast going forward. AJ, thank you so much for traveling out to Indianapolis on this glorious feel-good Friday. Good luck to your Buckeyes, pal. We've got a big one against Maryland. It is. Big test for us. I'm doing some film tomorrow on Jeremiah Smith on game day. What are you showing? How do you cover this guy? Yeah, pretty much. It's going to be a pretty exciting film. A guy named Chris, he's been video editor, former tight end for Florida State. He is the guy that pieces together the XO tape for game day and, you know, conversation. Hey, what do you want to talk about? I was like, can I just do a Jeremiah Smith highlight tape? Like, I know that sounds like an easy way out, but can I just showcase something that's happening over there in Columbus that is very abnormal? And even the head coach, Ryan Day, is coming out and saying like, yeah, if he's single covered, he's definitely open. If he's double covered, he's kind of open. If he's triple covered, I guess he's covered, but somebody else should be wide open. And then there's film of him being triple covered and the ball still going to him. It's like. Julian saying is going to come into his own throughout the rest of this season. And he's got a guy out there that's just a safety net actually can just catch half the field if you need them to. He's special. Can't wait to chat about him. But don't. Hey, don't look past Maryland. No, don't look past Maryland. That'd be a bad one for the Buckeyes as they continue to try to prove that they're the best team in football, even though they already have one loss, Alabama, Georgia here, Oregon has big game. Indiana has a big game, Nebraska, obviously undefeated. Can they topple the national champs? There's a lot of storylines around college and there's a lot of storylines around the NFL, including the top selling week five games. Hey, listen, Siki has sent us over the top selling week five games, Monday Night Football, Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Rams, Sunday Night Football, Ravens, Falcons, Giants, Commanders, NFC East with Jaden Daniels return, Raiders, Patriots, Niners, Seahawks. Right now use code Pat McAfee, get $30 off tickets at our friends at SeatGeek. SeatGeek is the greatest ticket buying platform on planet earth. The moon. That's right, when there's a live event on the moon, the only place to buy tickets for it will be on SeatGeek, because SeatGeek tells you the truth and they don't catfish you. They will tell you whether a green dot or a red dot, whether or not it's a good deal for a good ticket. If they think you're getting ripped off and there's a better deal somewhere else for a better ticket, both on their app or around the internet somewhere, they'll tell you. They just want you to have the greatest experience. Use P-A-T-M-C-A-F-E-E for $30 off tickets right now. Share that with your friends. You're alive, but are you living? Go live and experience something alive. Alright. Great week. Boys in the back. Bruce. How ya boys? How ya boys? Good week. Nick. Dirty. Gumpy. Way to go back there behind the glass. There you go, boys. More boys. More boys. Foxy, it's been an honor to kind of watch you blossom into this chapter of your life, both as a husband and now as a father. It's great to have you back. We love you, buddy. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you. It's been a very special time in my life. The most important time in my life, and I appreciate all of your grace and patience. It's been really awesome. Yeah. And you, when you started working here, you were just a young little naive, no beard, 98-pound kid. Yeah. Started on vacation. Blanky child. Yeah. I got to go on a golf trip over to Europe real quick. Sorry about that. I'll see you guys in a few weeks. Thank God you came back from Europe and didn't just become a professional golfer over there. We love you, buddy. Can't wait to meet baby boy. To the graphic design boys, way to go this week. Work, boys. Work, boys. It is amazing how one of the graphic design boys in particular, just how his brain can just take something that you say and make it the complete opposite somehow. I don't know. We got some special talent in there, in the graphic design boys, AJ. It's just the creative ways to do stuff that you could have never predicted is why we love him so much. Thank you, Bone. Thank you, Dirty. Thank you, boys. Congrats. Didn't he already get to, he got to Mordor, right? Bone did? No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. He's got a long way to Mordor. Whoa. Got like 1700. He got to like the first checkpoint then, I guess. And he went into the bar with the trolls and the gnomes and he's just been boozing in there as Connor continued his walk and then Bone stopped. Bone back on track though, from my understanding, Connor would know more. Yeah. He's back on track. I mean, he made it out. So it took a little longer than expected going forward, but now we're on to Rivendell. You know, here's where- How many stops do you have? I mean- Oh, brother. I mean, it's 1800 miles. Oh, okay. So you're 140 miles in, I think. Yeah. Okay. Well, Connor is. Oh, I thought, I assumed Bone was too. No. Bone's about 100 miles behind, Connor. He stopped for a few days. Connor couldn't help it. He said, "Hey, listen. We're going to get the Black Plague if we don't keep it moving here." And he decided to forge the river and right through the laziness and D-Bone tapped out for a little bit, but D-Bone found it, got back on the horse and now they're on their and now they're on their way to get the rings to the thing. Yep. Nailed it. Yep. Is that how hobbits spell borders? Well. Oh, no. I just read this. Yeah. Breein' beyond the borders of the shire. It could be old ancient language, you know, that they do over there in Mordor. Somebody put canjergens instead of camjergens on an earlier tweet, too, that we utilized. I saw that. I didn't want to point it out, but N and M's right there next to each other. Classic mistake. All right. Let's get the hell out of here. Safe travels back to Ohio, AJ. See you on Monday. You stay safe down there. To everybody that allowed us to do this. Good luck tomorrow. Stay safe down there. Stay safe from the elements. Yeah. I mean, they're saying overnight here should get pretty sketchy. Gale force wins. Cat three. Yeah. Am I getting my gym can tore on tomorrow? You should. If it's safe. I mean, Gump's probably going to have to shack up with you tonight. He's going to get scared. What's your problem? Dude. You know what? That is a, that is a cute sweater. I was saving with saying it was not, that was on a ship painter. What do you mean? You think the ship painter has the brain capacity to be scared about weather. That's a fascinating take. Jim Cantor said not a 0% chance for a tornado. Gump. Would you like to hunker down together as AJ is saying, or you think you're going to be okay? Like an adult. I should be all right, but whatever it takes for college football, you know, we'll be out there. There we go. Well, actually we'll be in there to be, we'll be out there. How's the kick going to go indoors? Enough space. They got a big, big space. They're going to do it. And I used to do it. You should get one of the Alabama basketball players to send that thing into the fifth row. I mean, and by that, I mean, block it. Yeah. Well, I don't know. I don't know if the Alabama folks will want to do that for the Alabama folks, but I have some ideas. I have some ideas. Herbie made one from half-court earlier, and then I took one deep earlier today just because I felt like I had to. Yeah, I felt really good. A lot of good vibes in that Coleman Coliseum. And, Stanford, Steve, did you get that? Did you get that? That's hoops, baby. Do you see me? I put up the number one there. Yeah, it's awesome. A lot of magic's been happening in Coleman Coliseum. Hopefully tomorrow morning it is electrifying as we stay safe from the storms. T's and P's to everybody that's going to have to deal with any of the weather, anything else that pops off this weekend that could happen, and we'll be back Monday celebrating the hell out of life. All right, be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're in this thing together. Hey, we can't thank all of you enough. We hope all of you have the greatest weekend of all time. Team on me. Thank you to everybody that set this up. Phenomenal job out here. Very, very, very grateful to all you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye. Bye-bye. Having uncontrolled eosinophilic esophagitis, or EOE, can mean you're stuck in many ways, like cutting your food into tiny pieces or stuck chewing food for a long time. Dupixentdipilumab, a prescription medicine for patients one year and older weighing at least 33 pounds, can help with that. It's a breakthrough treatment that can reduce inflammation in the esophagus and improve swallowing. You can get with this, or you can get with that. How about this? Dupixent is not a steroid. It proactively treats EOE so you can get ahead of it. Severe allergic reactions, including skin reactions, can occur. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or wheezing or swelling of your face, mouth, tongue, or throat. Tell your doctor of new or worsening joint aches and pain or a parasitic infection or asthma. Don't change or stop other treatments without talking to your doctor. Feeling stuck with EOE? Start treating with Dupixent. Talk to your gastroenterologist or allergist today about Dupixent. Learn more at dupixent.com or call 1-844-DUPIXENT. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. No two football players are exactly alike, and the same is true off the field. That's why State Farm gets to know you so they can help personalize coverage for your life and budget. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. © transcript Emily Beynon