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October 11, 2025 42 mins

LaVar Arrington, TJ Houshmandzadeh,and Plaxico Burress talk about the usefulness of preseason rankings in college football, Cardinals coach Johnathan Gannon laying hands on RB Emari Demercado and getting fined for it, and more!

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is up on Game Nights camera hatch.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
You start to show we are backing.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
You want thatfl experience, then this is the show for you.
It's our time with LeVar Ary ten.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Has this team been exposed?

Speaker 1 (00:17):
TJ Hushman, Zanna, let the players aside the game and
Plexico Burress.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
All I gotta say is this don't pump the bear man.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
It's a show with three of the best to ever
do it on and off the field, and no lie
from the Fox Sports radio studios. Here's Pro Bowlers, LaVar
Ary Tent, TJ. Hushman, Zanna, and super Bowl Chippy and
Plexico Burrets.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
All right, all right, Happy Saturday to everybody out there.
Welcome into the show. Yes, this is up on Game
It's Panteen Man himself and Stretch Armstrong. You may know
them and it's either superhero names or you just made
no them by.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
TJ and the Flats. Yeah, I'm LeVar Arrington.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
I'm just the commentator, the hype man, the gast up
man for the superheroes. Let's have a great show today, guys.
You know a lot to get to. Unfortunately, one of
the opening topics that we will discuss it involves me
a little bit. And by the way, I'm broadcasting live

(01:26):
from Spike Stadium in State College, so if you hear
a lot of noise, it's because, well, I'm in a
football pregame environment that I'm in right now. So thanks
to Spike Stadium for lett me heir from here as well.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
But fellas, how.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Are y'all doing? I mean, the weather looks really nice.
I'm looking over a baseball diamond. I can see the
football programs going on on the jumbo tron, so it's
kind of a cool little deal.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
What y'all got going on? Man?

Speaker 4 (01:51):
Well, LeVar A, you not out here, clear skies, palm trees.
A great day, man, last night was great man. You know,
I'm coaching at Santa Margarita. We beat Modern Day for
the first time. Nice fifteen years. Congrats, congrats, yeah yeah yeah,
you feeling good?

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah yeah? Man, weekend it's gotten onto. Okay, let's start here.

Speaker 5 (02:16):
Okay, all right, man, you know me man three point
thirty oh not then will be getting it on the
versus NC State in South Bend. So I chose to
sneak in the back door late last night. Okay, you know, quietly,
I will make my entrance after this show and walk
across the street and enjoy a nice football game.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
What a beautiful in south. But this is real football
weather right here? You hanging out O what's real? What's
real football weather? What's the world?

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Man?

Speaker 5 (02:45):
It's probably about sixty seven sixty eight degrees not a
cloud in the sky.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
That is real football weather.

Speaker 5 (02:52):
Yeah, won nice nice fall Saturday afternoons.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Cut you on overheat, right, you don't You don't want
to be too warm, so you over you don't want
to be too cold where your body's trying to fight
the cold versus just being.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Loose to play.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
That is so yes for player, that's perfect for us
sitting in the stands watching that game and make it
a little chillian in But.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
For they all, nothing like it. Hey, let me.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Ask you all a question, man, because it opens up
an interesting kind of conversation. I was somebody was asking
me after they saw the Mike Irving video that surface
after you know, Bratt b Jake's podcast where Buddy was
saying that you know what he was saying. Somebody asked
me about, like, how would you have done in today's NFL?

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Bro?

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Have you got to a point now where you can't
understand how you were able to play football because I'm
there now. Like when I was asking a question, I
was like, bro, I can't even imagine what my body
felt like doing just the training that we had to do,
like the workouts, the winner workouts. I don't understand how

(04:01):
your body is able to do that. And maybe I've
just been in so much pain from playing the game
for so long. It just blows my mind. But I
can't even can y'all still recall what it feels like
when you played, like physically, what that felt like, what
that entailed.

Speaker 4 (04:19):
I mean for me, yeah, And I'm different than y'all two,
because I'm assuming I know LeVar, y'all started playing at
such a young age. Man, I was eight, and so
for me it's completely news tackle. I didn't really start
playing till I was in high school and my last

(04:41):
year of high school. So for me, yeah, that the
soreness and getting up after a game, especially as a receiver.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
You saw every game, LeVar.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
We only saw when we get the ball a lot
and we take a lot of big hits. But I
do it all over again me because I started, like,
I still love football and I don't care if I'm
sore from it. I do it all over again because
if everything it's giving me. I never sat up and say, man,
how did I do this? Why did I do this?

(05:10):
And I'm assuming it's because I wasn't forced to do
this at a young age that to this day, I
still love the game.

Speaker 5 (05:20):
Yeah, man, I don't really think I like to I
don't really think I say to myself that, you know,
how did I play the game of football? But I
sit here and look at it now kind of in
a different, you know way. I said, Man, we used
to just run into each other fast as we possibly could.

(05:41):
And I couldn't even imagine my body hitting the ground
right now and getting up from a tackle, and to
play through injuries. And you say, man, how was I
able to play through?

Speaker 3 (05:55):
You dig what I'm saying, right, You remember stirring them up?
I can't raised the shoulder. I can't remember how to
do I stub a toe today and I'm down for
like four days, Like I'm not moving for four days,
Like you stub a toe, yea, go straight to it.

Speaker 5 (06:12):
Yeah, I'm talking about like real football twenty five years ago.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah man, yeah, man, that's interesting. Man.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
That's when somebody got the ball plex and we're trying
to crack back levard. You see us at the last
second and we can't pull off. We still gotta go
to with that still got to you gotta keep rolling.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
I never had the opportunity to catch up with with
with either one of you guys. It would have been
an amazing I really wanted to bless plex you.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
You were crazy when I was crazy. You were psycho. Bro.
I was really good. I was out there.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
I was like playing I was playing like like Bro.
I was playing on a different planet, Bro. Like I
didn't feel like I was in the Earth. I was
like on like Saturn or something like that. We was
we was really on dust.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Bro like that. You played a psycho brand of football,
and now I feel a brand of almost.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
Now my body feels like why was you a psycho?

Speaker 2 (07:07):
But it's interesting, you know, we we were talking about football.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
You know, being rated high is an interesting thing. You know,
we've seen Penn State and we've seen Texas fall out
of the top twenty five after being rated very high
to start the season. It begs the question fellas, should
there be a ratings coming into you know, the season,

(07:34):
should there be a preseason ratings or should should we
wait and see who's who, what's what, what type of
teams are good and then have a rating. Maybe it's
the you know, the College Playoff Committee or whatever it
may be. But come up with with a ranking after
they start playing. What do you guys say, Oh, yeah,

(07:54):
I believe it should be a rating.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
And for the most part, let's be honest, the majority
of the time to teams that are ranked high, they
stay there. They may drop a spot or two, maybe three,
but they normally stay there. In the instance of Texas
and Penn State, Texas first year starting quarterback, they lost
a ton of guys, specifically the offensive line, and you assume,

(08:17):
because you know their top program, they just gonna replace
them and keep it rolling. That didn't happen. Penn State
don't earn a hand. You got a quarterback that's coming
back that's been starting for years. You lose Tyler Warren,
but your offensive line is pretty good, you have better receivers.
You're gonna use them. Oh they say they gonna use them,
but they really don't want to use them. And so
for me, Penn State is more they're beating themselves because

(08:41):
they have weapons and they don't use them until it's like.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
Oh my god, we gotta score. Okay, let's start throwing.

Speaker 4 (08:47):
You're like, oh, they can really throw the ball, But
they don't try to throw the ball until the game
is out of hand, and it's like, what are you
guys doing? Like stop playing scared? They play not to
lose instead of playing to win. That's what I get
from Penn State. And so I like the ranked is
because when you're being chased, you gotta be ready to
play every single Saturday. Or if you're chasing somebody and

(09:12):
you're playing a team and you're a good team, you
really want to beat them. And so because they're ranked
so high, So me personally, I love it. It's just
certain teams can handle it and others can't. But specifically
those two teams, I don't understand what Penn State is doing. Like,
you got a quarterback that started a ton of games, Man,
let this boy air it out.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
He can do it. That hour are aired out.

Speaker 4 (09:34):
Y'all treating him like he's a true freshman and not
a senior that's played a ton of games.

Speaker 5 (09:41):
Man, I'm looking at this whole You know, that ranking system.
I don't have a problem with the ranking system. But
you have to ask the questions, what are these teams
being ranked off of going into an entirely new season.
Last year, everybody pretty much crowned Archie man and as
the Heisman Trophy winner. He was supposed to be the

(10:02):
next great red freshman, true freshman quarterback red shirt at Texas,
and they come in with a number two ranking with
an unproven quarterback. That's the part that I don't understand
about it, because last year's team is not this year's team.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
So that kind of hurt them, I think.

Speaker 5 (10:23):
From their point of view, not even knowing how good
this young man was going to be going into the
season because they already said, oh, he has the last name,
he has the quarterbacking pedigree. So Texas is automatically ranked
number two based off of what everybody think he's going
to be. But looking at the whole Penn State situation

(10:45):
when the rankers came out, I believe that I did
say that a lot of people are saying that Penn
State is ranked higher than they supposed to be, And
I said, for this reason, you don't lose a Tyler One,
you don't lose an ad Dude Carty, don't lose a
Jalen Red and expect for your team to be the
last year's defense. It doesn't happen that way. And we're

(11:09):
getting back to the same situation. And when I'm sitting
here watching the Penn State game with you guys, we're
going back and forth, like, Yo, why is there al
are not throwing the ball to the wide receivers. It's
like they want to throw the ball to the tight
end and run the football. Listen, you have to have
be able to have a stout defense if you want
to play a time control football game. Right down, the

(11:31):
defense is giving up way too many points. So it's
putting Penn State and bad situations, bad down and distance,
and now they are getting out a character from what
they want to do and thlow the football to the
wide receivers. So they have to, you know, you know,
be better on both sides of the football.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
But from a ranking standpoint.

Speaker 5 (11:50):
Just like TJ said, Allan is winning what it's fourth
or fifth season as a starting quarterback. They just have
to find a way to be better offensively. And now
you're talking about two of the top five ranked football
teams not even being ranked or getting into the whole

(12:11):
postseason playoff picture in college football, and all that's going
to do is just open up the door for teams
like no to Dame.

Speaker 4 (12:21):
Oh gosh, oh gosh.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
Well, I think I think selfishly, from a non sensible perspective,
I would want to have rankings because it creates an
emotional connection to the win or the loss. Right, Like
if it's a number one team versus a non ranked
opponent and they blow them out, no emotion, Right, I
expected it, this, that and the other. But if that

(12:46):
unranked opponent knocks them off, then you freak out.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
You're like old snap, did you you know? Did you
see that that that upset took play? Can you believe that?

Speaker 3 (12:56):
Like last week with Pitt State and you see. I
think it creates an emotional connection to it. I think
it creates an expectation and ultimately in a way, a
standard of what how you have to handle your business
and do what it is that you're doing. So I
think that and like you guys mentioned the whole now,

(13:19):
now you got to target on you. You know you're
going to be chased and you're going to have to
bring your best game because the higher you're rated, you know,
in theory, you're the you're the team that's xed out
on on the schedule, Like, we want to win this
game no matter what our situation is. If we're in
the in contention, if we're not, this is still that

(13:39):
type of a game where you can get up. So
I think that's a big deal. And I also I
also look at it from the standpoint of sensibly speaking,
you you really can't tell how good a team is
whether they played a big team in the first week,
first two weeks, or if they played a small team,
the team that they were supposed to that they were
supposed to beat, you paid them to come take the

(14:00):
the whoop in whatever it may have been. I don't
think you can tell by a week preseason schedule or
strong preseason schedule if a team is really worth being
considered a top ten, top five, top twenty five team.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
So that's the sensible side of it.

Speaker 3 (14:16):
But for TV and for entertainment purposes, and you know,
like wow, I can invest in the fact that how big.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Is this game?

Speaker 3 (14:23):
How do I measure what game I want to watch?
I think rankings play play a major role in the
you know what else plays a major role in college football?
Hot sauce, Yeah, that's right. The original Louisiana Hot Sauce.
It is the perfect balance of Pepper's vinegar salt. You
could put it on your wings, nachos, burger, you put
it on all that mess. Yeah, I mean hit any

(14:45):
tailgate food with the bold, handcrafted flavor of the original
Louisiana Hot sauce. That's Louisiana Hot by you some And listen,
we're gonna go take a quick break. But on the
other side of the break, we're gonna talk about something
that the TJ had to say. We're going it's interesting
because we had one hundred thousand dollars fine touchdown on

(15:10):
a coach and well, TJ has some interesting thoughts on that.
We'll get to that and more on the other side
of the break. You're listening up on game it is
t J. Huschman is out of Plexico, Burt's on LaVar
Arrington and we'll be right back.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
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Speaker 3 (15:24):
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Speaker 2 (15:33):
That is that's right, hey, Listen.

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(15:57):
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(16:19):
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(16:40):
and do it.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
All right, all right, welcome back into the show. This
is up on game. It's TJ. Huschman Zada, It's Plexico Burst.
I'm LeVar Arrington and listen up. You gotta make sure
that yeah, well, subscribe to the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.

(17:18):
Just reach or search out. Search out Fox Sports Radio
on your YouTube. Ben Well, you'll see our best videos
from all our shows. And don't stop there. Hit that
thumbs up icon and comment away. Let us know whose
takes you liking who you don't. It's Fox Sports Radio
on YouTube. Subscribe today, all right, make sure you tell

(17:39):
a friend we're gonna be talking a little a little
bit more football, and we're gonna touch some basketball as well.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Maybe we're gonna try to get there. You know, the
NBA playoffs. WNBA Playoffs are going on, so we'll see
what we got going on there.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
But fellas, I wanted to touch on this Jonathan Gannon story
because we hadn't had an opportunity altogether to touch on it.
And you know, obviously Jonathan Gannon gets fined one hundred
thousand dollars for I guess the incident on the sideline.
And when I say I guess I'm I'm assuming it

(18:13):
was the little little gut shot that he gave to
the player that Obviously, the news came out later that
that Gannon did indeed show them film of the same
exact thing happening the week before, and maybe that was

(18:33):
why he had the emotional meltdown that took place. Now,
I gotta be honest. When I was thinking about it,
I gotta do it. Plex Hey, did you do this
when you played?

Speaker 2 (18:48):
A coach?

Speaker 4 (18:48):
Would never do that to me? Why you say that
I'm knocking him out on the sideline. I promise in
every coach I've had, they know that. They know that
he wouldn't do that to me. He wouldn't do that
to me, dnocking the mount, I promise you, and they
know that they And I'm not not like I'm a
tough guy. You're just not gonna disrespect me like that,
because if I do that to you on.

Speaker 6 (19:09):
The sideline, I get cut. We know that I got
a son at home. What you think he gonna say
when you see this. I might argue with my wife
and I raised my voice.

Speaker 4 (19:19):
She louble to be like, oh, you want to raise
your voice at me, But you let that man hit
you like like I.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
Got off a man first. Y'all ain't home.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
Like gain it like, but I will say this, he
knows who to try. He not doing that to nobody
that he gonna put hands on him.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
That's from the Speakeasy podcast. That's a manualacho and and
that's TJ with the sound by all right. So again,
I just I need to understand because if I recall
and that we went to sound, I mean that was
my my bad because we were set up to go
into the sound. But I'm sitting there thinking to myself,
plex you was a part of doing this. I know,

(20:06):
I remember you did this.

Speaker 5 (20:07):
Oh I spiked the football when I wasn't when I
was a tackle.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
All you wasn't tackled I was. I wasn't touchdown.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
Okay, okay, all right, all right, because because in my
mind it's like, okay, how does a coach handle that
situation on the sideline? But if you did that, you're right.
The circumstances were different. But I mean, you're right, t J.
And I said the same thing before I even had
heard your take on it, Like if a coach, let alone,
if you talk to me the wrong way, like you're

(20:41):
not gonna if you're not gonna talk to me like
that in another profession, don't don't talk to me like
that here, Like, don't don't don't let alone.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Put your hands on me. If you if you.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Talk to me a certain type of way, it says
to me you have zero respect for me.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
That's that's what at the that says you have zero respect.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Yeah, I would even expect it at the college level,
but I think it's a little bit more acceptable because
you're not getting paid as a professional to do what
you're you're doing and you're still more of a like
kind of it's a different setup in scenario. But man,
as a pro like, you got to approach guys a
certain type of way. Man, let alone put your hands
on I was like, hey, I'm just being honest. Like

(21:22):
you could say I'm not coachable or whatever you want
to say, I'm a I'm an.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
Easily coachable dude.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
But if you put your hands on me and you
take it out of the ram of being a coach
and being a guide and being a mentor whatever it
is that you fall in the category of and you
put yourself in enemy, I'm I'm a I'm I'm gonna
put my hands back on you. I'm not gonna turn
the other cheek if you put your hands on me,
I'm gonna put my hands back on you. Like That's
that's my general thought process. But I mean, is he wrong?

(21:51):
Is he wrong for.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
How he reacted to the dude? Is one hundred grand
for what he did? Is that? Is that right? Is
that wrong? Like? Where do you y'all fall on that?

Speaker 4 (22:01):
Listen for me and let's talk about it again. I
understand where Gannon is coming from. You lost a touchdown
that probably ices the game for you, cost the game.
Imari de Mercado is a backup. He's not in a
position to do that if he want to support his
family playing international football league.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
We all know that.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
And that's the part I don't like, because we know
if this guy was a full fledged starter, had established himself,
Gannon wouldn't have done it to him. Because we've been
in a locker room. We know what players and again,
you're not many people I've had send me a message
about that and say hell yeah, we know we had

(22:46):
have had to hold you back. You're not many messages
I got like that Because that I don't know why
I'm like that. I have no idea why, but I'm
just not letting anyone do that to me. And for
getting one hundred thousand dollars fine, Yeah, I don't even
know if he should have been fined.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
I'm just saying, we got some.

Speaker 4 (23:07):
LeVar Arrington on a lot of teams, and if you
do that to them, it's gonna be a scene on
the sideline. It's gonna be a scene and the coaches
know that, like, yeah, de Mercado messed up. Yeah, I
don't understand why these dudes keep dropping the ball before
they get in to the end zone. Like, do you
guys not watch TV? But at the end of the day, Ganny,

(23:29):
you know there's cameras everywhere. You know this, Why would
you embarrass this young man like that? He already embarrassed himself.
He embarrassed himself by dropping the ball, and now you go,
he gonna have to live with that the rest of
his Oh I'm sorry sorry, is not going to undo
what you've done. And that, to me is the biggest
problem with that, because the player would have been released

(23:54):
one hundred thousand dollars coaching, that's nothing. The player would
have been released livelihood it over because nobody would have
signed him one hundred thousand dollars five.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
It just shows you.

Speaker 4 (24:08):
The way you are when it's a coach and a player,
because we know coach okay, one hundred thousand player out
the league.

Speaker 5 (24:16):
M yeah, man, when I sit here, I saw the
whole situation. Man, I've been in some dust up with
coaches for less than that. So when I saw the
whole thing happen, you know, it's automatic fireworks for me.
It's like the dude at the Alaballa, remember front that
Thoses had up in there. You're like, well, I just
lost my job because there ain't no way no coach

(24:40):
gonna be able to come over there and put his
hands on me on a play. Obviously they did lose
the football games, but you know, I'm I'm I'm not
taking you know, anything like that from a coach.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
I don't. You can ask everybody that I played with.

Speaker 5 (24:58):
The coaches wouldn't even wouldn't even talk to me, crazy
like they was talking to everybody else.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
Be carried out.

Speaker 5 (25:03):
Listen, somebody going there, I'm a grown man. You a
grown man. You gotta fast. I got a family. That's
my whole thing.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
It's got to be a respect factor there, right, Like
I mean when when these types of things take place,
I mean again, sometimes nowadays, you know, and even back then,
I mean, you could be the same age as somebody
who's coaching you.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
You know what I mean. Like, so this isn't like
there's the idea of.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
This authoritative figure that's thirty forty fifty years older than
you and you know it's an old man grabbing you
by your face. Man's like, I get that, But I
think there's also this should be said as well.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
It's in scenarios like that, if.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
It were to be a coach that were to be
able to do it, it would be because of what
our relationship dynamic was leading up to a moment like that.
If I'm not clear on what our trust level is
and our admiration and even love.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Like I've had coaches that I love.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
Now, if you're a coach that I love, and you're
a coach that I trust, and you came over and
you chewed me out, and I knew that that was
your style of how you coach, and I knew that
that's our relationship, and now that's how that I respond,
That's how I'm hyped to respond to that. I get
that if there's a true understanding, there's a true care
or true accountability for one another.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
So I don't want to make it seem like.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
This is like some hothead or, like you said, a
tough dude type of deal. The reality of it is
is that if I ever felt like we went in
from friend to foe, then I saw you professionally as
my coach. Right, if you're professionally on a professional level,
this is what we are to one another, and this

(26:45):
is our relationship and it doesn't go any further than that,
then you have to respect the fact that you have
to approach me as a professional and I have to
approach you as a professional. And I feel like that
makes a ton of sense when you take it outside
of the realm offism, because in reality, if he had
did that to somebody in a public space, he's getting arrested.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
He's getting arrested. You can't just.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
Punch somebody like, oh, you upset me with what you said.
Now you're gonna punch me in my stomach like like
or whatever it is he did, like, You're they're going
to take you off to jail. So it's clearly not professional.
It doesn't really make a ton of sense to even
think that it would have a place anywhere, but it
does have a It has happened in football, Like we

(27:29):
would be naive to sit there and say that coaches
don't get hyped up and do crazy silly stuff like that,
or the way they talk to players.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
They talked to players pretty crazy too, So I.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
Mean, right, I mean, I mean think about it like
bro talk about I mean, I'd like to believe I'm
not I'm not hyping it.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
No, no, no, And it's our generation of football because
they came from coaches that did a lot of crazy talking.
And that's why I wasn't able to play much in
high school because I would go out to for practice
and the coach would just start yelling and cursing, and
then I yell and curse back at him, and he'd
be like, taking shoulder pads off and get the s

(28:09):
out of here. I'd be like, Hey, I'm waiting on
you after practice, right, you know here, I am fifteen
years old tonight.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Our high school.

Speaker 4 (28:16):
Coach is a former D lineman at Nebraska, Right, so
what I'm gonna do with him? But you know I
thought I could, right, I was ready though if he
was ready though, yeah, yeah, I was ready. I couldn't.
I couldn't take somebody yelling at me and talking to
me that way. And so we finally talked going into
my senior year of high school, and he understood where

(28:39):
I was coming from and we got along. And then
you get to the league and I never had a
coach yell at me really crazy because I think they
see how I am in practice in games with other
with my teammates and my opponents, that they were like, nah,
we not gonna try him like that. And that's what
when the viewers that are listening to coach knows your

(29:00):
personality because he sees you in practice, he sees you
in the game, and he knows like, oh this dude, Nah,
I can't mess with him like that. That's where the coaches.
I've never had a coach really yell at me like that.
They if I messed up and I wasn't a starter,
they just take me out. But they weren't gonna yell
at me because of that. But today's generation of coach,

(29:21):
the Sean mcvay's, the Kyle Shanahans, will like look at you,
but they not the younger coaches. They not really doing that. Really,
That's what shocked me about Gannon. And that shows me
that Gannon feels like his ass is on the line
and he may lose his job because these younger coaches
aren't really yelling at you the wait we got yelled at,

(29:43):
or our generation of players got yelled at when we played.
I just think it's a different day and age, and
that just shows me the pressure that Jonathan Gannon is
on it, that he's feeling when you do something like that.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
I don't know, man, it's interesting, but hey, we'll see
how that all continues to to to play out, and
you know, maybe it'll work out that way.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
All right.

Speaker 4 (30:07):
At an incident when none of your coaches before, I know,
we got to go to a break. You ain't never
had no incident before me?

Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yeah I had, I had a Yes, don will. We
don't even have to name the coach because I want
de Dell Lindsey. I tell you. I'll tell you because
I have zero respect for him.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
And I think that that's that's like the idea of
it is is that when when you're dealing with somebody
who's fake, somebody who is toxic, you know, got a
filthy mouth, no no regard, no no respect to how
they they communicate and how they handle things and how.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
They do things.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
There's is obviously going to be a volatile situation that
has the potential to turning into a more escalated situation.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
Right.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
So, there was a lot out of a backstory connected
to what ended up leading up happening with him and I.
But like basically, it was a long year.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
It was my last year in Washington.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
A lot had happened in terms of like what I
had going on relationship wise with the team and with
the ownership. But I ended up playing later in the year.
As I'm playing later in the year, we get to
a game. I forget what game it was. It was
a home game, and for the last few games that
I had, they had put me back on the field,

(31:32):
made me a starter. We start, you know, I noticed
the pattern of him talking crazy to me on the phone,
like he they called he called out. We get on
the phone and I'm playing ball like I'm doing everything
I'm asked to do. I'm not trying anything new. I'm
not like living on the adge or anything, just doing
what I'm told to do. Because that's where I was
at at the point, I knew they take me out

(31:53):
if I didn't. So he called down and just be
dog cussing me out like mother effort as my mother for
that mother F and this F and that, And I'm like, bro,
I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. You don't really
have any reason to call down here with with all
like with with the disrespect. So I stopped taking his calls.
Like two games later, I stopped taking his calls. Like

(32:14):
he called down and be like, yeah, I'm good. I
stopped taking his calls. So the game ends, this one
game in particular, it was a big win for us.
The game ends, and I do my my regular routine.
I go into the locker room. I go into the
training room and get my tape tape taken off. That's
how I like decompress from the game before we go

(32:36):
out and talk to the media.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
Da da dad, this, that and the other.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
So I'm in there and I'm sitting on the table
and and my guy's cut my tape off of my ankles,
and he comes walking in the room and he goes,
if you ever efing don't take my mother Evan called
during the mother avn name.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
I said you're gonna what you're gonna be. You're gonna what?
And I pushed, you know how?

Speaker 3 (32:58):
You know how the dudes like cutting off your tape,
go on taking your tape off.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
They're right in front of you. So I took my head.
I took my head, you know how?

Speaker 3 (33:05):
You I took my head, put it on his chest,
and moved him to.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
The opposite side of where the coach was.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
I sit up on the table, slide to the edge
of the of the sitting table, the taping table, and
I put my feet on the ground and I said,
and the next time, you're going to do what.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
Right?

Speaker 3 (33:30):
And he looked at me. He looked at me. He said,
you better take myf and call. I said, if you
say mother effort to me or you f for one
more time, I'm going to hurt you. I'm going to
hurt you. And then that was when everybody broke up,
like got involved, pulled him away, this, that and the other,
and that was. We never spoke again after that. I

(33:52):
think we went through the whole playoff run. When he
was coaching in the in the in the meeting rooms,
he would coach a different a different player, so he
would be correcting or talking about my film and talking
about what we need to do for my position. But
he would tell he was talking to somebody else like
you would say their name. So you know, coaches can
be bitches, you know what I mean, Like, let's be clear,
but it all depends and players can too. But it

(34:16):
just aught to me, it just all depends on what
the relationship is. I had a zero relationship with him.
I had a zero respect factor with him. He had
a zero relationship with me, a zero respect factor with me,
And I think that that was why you can't You
can't handle things in that type of manner because we're
already looking at each other as I don't mess with

(34:36):
you anyway, you know what I mean. If I love
the coach, I feel like the interaction, even if you
had a moment like that, the interaction, you know.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Would be received differently.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
You know, I wouldn't feel like I needed to respond
that way if that was a coach I knew and
loved and respect it. And he came in there and
he said that first of all, I would be taking
the calls. Second of all, we would if we had
a situation that popped off like that, We'll still hug
it out and be cool later. We just you know,
our temperatures was up, and I can respect that. We
come back, we we apologize, we're good, we move on.

(35:07):
Everything is cool. But I just think that it's the
relationship between you know, the player and the coach that's
going to dictate the way that you're able to handle.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Things with them. You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (35:16):
Yeah, I agree, Yeah, trust factor. If I trust you,
then you can get You could get like dang like
man that hurts, like you can't scream loud enough, Like
I'm already disappointed. I disappointed you because we created that
level of accountability. But that's just how I roll. If
I'm gonna die for you, I'll die for you. If
I respect you, I'll lay it down for you, bro.

(35:37):
But if I have zero respect for you, then anything's
possible and you're dangerous to me. That's a liability. I
don't really get down with that. Only and the only
way I'm gonna have zero respect for you, LeVar. If
you talk to me like I'm your child, if you
talk to me like I'm more truth than you, that's
the only way I'm gonna.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
Have that's true. That zero rs or less than that.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
You don't talk to your child the way some of
these coaches communicate that I've been around the way they
communicate to you. Bruh, you can't communicate to your There's
no way you can convince me you communicate to anybody
else outside of us the way that you're communicating. It's
some of the most grotesque, ridiculously foul, perverted. It's just

(36:21):
horrible talk. It's horrible talk, and people probably can't even
comprehend that. But you don't even talk to your kids
that way. So where are you placing me if we
don't have a relationship, Where are you placing me anyway?

Speaker 2 (36:34):
Coach?

Speaker 4 (36:35):
But I praise them. I'm a fiery coach, but I
praise them. And it's a fine line.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
It is a fine line. You know what else is fine?

Speaker 3 (36:42):
The original Louisiana hot sauce that has that perfect blend
of Pepper's vinegar and salt, wings, nachos, burgers, all that
hit it with that nice, bold flavor that's right handcrafted
and flavor driven by the original Louisiana hot sauce that's
Louisiana Hot. Make sure if you buy you some, we're
gonna take a quick break. We're going touchdown in Cleveland. Yeah,

(37:06):
we're going round out this hour, touching down in Cleveland.
We want to talk about what's going on there. You're listening, Yeah,
you're listening to up on games. T. J. Huschman's Eyes,
Plexico Burds. I'm LeVar Arrington. We take a quick break,
and well we'll be right back right back to you.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
All right.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
I've been telling y'all, and I always tell y'all it's
all about.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
That blue you man.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
And you know why, because bluech you will have you
performing at your finess. Yeah, I've used it and I'm
a proud user of it, and I support the message
that I'm giving you. You know why, because you don't
want to just show up. You want to show up
and show out, you know what I mean. You don't
want to show up with your pencil not having lead

(37:51):
in't it.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
You can't write with it.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
You want to make sure that lead is there, it's
strong and ready to write.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Write your story the right way.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
That's right, And you could go to blue Choo dot
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Go to Bluetooth dot com and at your check out

(38:22):
put in LaVar as your promo code.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
All right.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
Now, you're gonna pay five dollars shipping, but we're gonna
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Speaker 2 (38:39):
All right. Hey, you're welcome. Just chew it then do
it all right?

Speaker 3 (38:45):
All right, welcome back into up on game. Hey, make
sure you get at that iHeartRadio app. You can stream
us wherever it is you happen to be. Catch us
and all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty
fours evan in the new and improved iHeartRadio app. Just
search Fox Sports Radio in the app stream us live

(39:07):
all day every day. Be sure to select Fox Sports
Radio is one of your presets as well.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
On the iHeartRadio app. It just pop up.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
At the top of your screen, so make sure you
check that out as well. Fellas before we end the hour,
let's let's jump into this conversation of who is the
backup in Cleveland. Kevin Stefanski was asked about that very thing.
I mean, yeah, I guess it's more relevant now than
asking who is your third string quarterback, which has continued

(39:39):
to be questions in Clevelands as we know why.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
But here's what Stefansk you had to say.

Speaker 7 (39:44):
The Joe trade took us by surprise. That was not
something that we saw coming. You know, they called us
and happened very fast, and happened not too long ago.
So still working through all roster type of things. I
always have to be mindful of our players and our
players development, and I want to make sure that I'm
always doing what's best for our players and of course

(40:04):
our team. But you know, with young players, I'm always
thinking about last week making the change with to Dylan.
You have to think long and hard about that because
these these are young players that you're so invested in
their development. So I'll let the week play out, make
a decision later on that.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
So I know we don't have a lot of time.
But I mean he goes with Dylan Gabriel. What's y'all's
take on that he didn't name definitively Shador or anyone
else the backup.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
What's y'all's take?

Speaker 4 (40:33):
Listen, man, I don't know what the hell going on
with Kevin Stefanski. Is he being directed to do some
of these things and make some of the comments that
he's making. If Joe Flacco is traded and Shader Sanders
is on an active roster, who else gonna be the backup?
You're gonna bring baby Zappy off the practice squad to

(40:56):
be the backup when Shadura has been on an active roster? Like,
what was the hold up? This is killer player's confidence
one on one If that's what Kevin sefans should be
trying to build Shadir Sanders confidence. We believe in him.
Of course he's gonna be the backup if something happens
to Dylan. We have all faith that Shadirl Sanderson come
in the game and get it done.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
Oh, we don't know who's gonna be the backup. We
gotta wait through the week of practice.

Speaker 4 (41:21):
If he ain't good enough to be the backup, why
is he on an active roster over a quarterback that's
on the practice squad?

Speaker 5 (41:27):
Super quick? Last word plex super quick. Yeah, I just
don't understand it. He just said that a Joe Flacco
trade came too kind of quick. Well, you didn't have
to trade him, but you still traded him. So that's
what I don't understand. But for Kevin Stefanski not to
mention and say, who's the backup quarterback? Who else do
you have on the roster? We all know that your
doll Sanders is going to be the backup to day

(41:49):
Dylan Gabriel. Listen, everything things happen in football games. He
could go down tomorrow. You never know. Then, then who
you're gonna put in a game. You're gonna have to
put ash your door, Sanders, because you're not gonna put
a practice squad quarterback in Belli Zappi in front of him,
period point blank.

Speaker 3 (42:05):
It'll be interesting to see how that situation continues to unfold. Uh,
there's a lot of different directions that it could go in,
and it'll be interesting to see how that again, how
that develops.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
You're listening to up on game. We are at the
end of the first hour.

Speaker 3 (42:21):
But the good thing for you is that we got
one more to go, so make sure you stay locked
in loaded, all right. We're gonna take a quick break
and then we will be right back.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
This is TJ.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
Huschman's out of Plexico Bert's LeVar Arrington up on game
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