Doug Gottlieb Show: Former SEA QB Matt Hasselbeck on Transfer Portal Fixes, Backing Up Favre, Seahawks SB Run, Lambeau OT Guarantee Regrets026 DGS Show

Coach Gottlieb is joined by former Former Seahawks - and 3-Time Pro Bowler - QB Matt Hasselbeck to discuss if he would have entered the portal if it existed during his time at Boston College, his memories as a young QB backing up  Brett Favre, if the officials deserve any blame for the Seahawks Super Bowl XL loss to the Steelers, 

Subscribe NOW to get all the latest Doug Gottlieb Show Podcasts and exclusive original content!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Completely different environments, different program, different teams. We're starting to

(00:04):
become a good team to find ways in any game.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
This is this is cool. That's what college basketball.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Question was about.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I said, really spot to be about. Hey, what up?
Welcome in.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
This is the Gottlieb Show. And some of you watched
last week's show know that I mentioned This weekend was
my two year anniversary of becoming a head's basketball coach.
It has gone. It's a lot like raising kids.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
I have.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
One of my closest friends in broadcasting is a man
named Dave Revson. You see him on the Big Ten
Network and Rever always utters the phrase about his kids
are now. I think all college age which was that
the days are long, but the years go fast. And
it's very very true with anything with being a college
basketball coach the same right, Like, wait, two years, I've

(00:51):
been in this two years already. But I do know
that I'm unbelievably fortunate, not just to get a job,
not having been a college assistant, but to get a
job in Green Bay, because I do think that Green
Bay is a very special and unique place. And I

(01:14):
get it. If you're a cynic, you're like every college
coach says their place is special, like, okay, but I
do think green Bay is actually unique and special. I'm
far and away the smallest, the smallest community to have
an NFL team, and I believe for our university we
have the best support system, best fan base, and town

(01:35):
and setup to be successful in the Rising League. Eventually,
there are some things that you have to have cleaned
up in that spirit. Matt Hasselback is our guest on
this show, and Matt was not a starter star. Obviously.
His biggest moment in lambeau Field was when he said
we're going to take the ball and win the game.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Right, that's when he's on the other side and oops, that.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Happened in the wild card. But regardless of it, he's
somehow kind of synonymous with green Bay, even though he
didn't necessarily have success in green Bay. But because he
was in green Bay, that's why Mike Holmgren brought him
to Seattle, which Jumps started his career and then ultimately
gotten to be a starting quarterback in Super Bowl and
the rest, as they say, is history. So he's sort

(02:21):
of green Bay had chasin I guess I don't know,
but I do know that Green Bay is a cool place,
a special place, and everybody has unique special memories in it.
And having Matt hasseback on the show is a pretty
cool thing that we'll definitely dive into some of those
Green Bay memories. As for me, it's amazing that it's

(02:43):
been two years. It really is. And I'm going to
give you this one little review where now I feel
like I am I'm a wisconsinine and I'll tell you
the moment that it happened. I was at Highland Howie's
having dinner on Saturday night. I did go. Yes, I

(03:04):
went to the show at Lambeau. I went on Friday
night to Luke Colmbs And I'm gonna be a little
critical of Luke Colmb's from this standpoint. It's a great
show and it's just a straight up big concert country
music show, not a ton of frills. But when you're
in Lambeau, I don't know if it totally works, so

(03:29):
it makes sense. I don't know if it totally works
like there was no Catwalk right. His songs are good
and people know them, but it's not like Kenny Chesney,
where Chesney songs are kind of summer anthems. And maybe
it's been doing it longer. He's got a greater catalog
of songs. I'm not sure, but like the more Luke
White and you're like, oh, I know that song, I
know that song, and is that song it was. I'm

(03:49):
not saying it was a bad show, but in the
big stadium tours, like, let's just compare him to comparables.
You do Morgan Wallin, who has a deeper library of shows,
but it's also and Morgan Wallen's I don't think he's
as personable as Lucoms who comes when he talks, You're like,
I actually like this guy. I don't know him, but

(04:10):
I like him. I could have a beer with him.
But there's something about the walkout that Morgan Wallen does.
There's something about the energy the song to song to
song to song.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
You don't really talk.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
He just goes bam bam, bam, bam, bam, bam bam.
Or then the Kenny Chesney style, which is trying to
make everything sort of like a beach party, you know
that that sort of feel. So there was something missing
to where you're like, that's the best show I've ever
been to. It wasn't a bad show. It was a
solid be a double off the Wall. It just wasn't

(04:45):
a home run, which is fine, like not every show
has to be a home run, but that would be
my take. Anyway, I'm sitting at Highland howis and if
you're not from Green Bay and this is on the
you know you listen to the podcast. So one of
the cool thing things about Wisconsin Screen Bay specifically is
like there's all these tiny little bars here there everywhere,

(05:09):
and on the east side of town there's a paucity.
There's not the same volume of places to eat and drink.
I live on the east side, down the schools on
the east side of town, and so there's the Settlement,
which is a tie little place that I enjoy a
great deal. There's the Black Sheep, which is the closest
to campus and we go to. And then there's Highland Howeys,

(05:32):
which I believe used to be owned by the same
couple and then they got a divorce and now one
owns Island Howeys and one owns Black Sheep. I don't
really know again, only been here two years. I'm not
getting in the backstory of different people, but I do
know that Highland Howeys they all have good food. I
think there are wings. They're dry rub the heat of
style wings.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
It's a big time.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
And then they have a half chicken dinner, which is
fried chicken and it's unbelievable so good. So they all
have different things.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Anyway.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
So I'm sitting in Highland, Howies, and it's literally the
two year anniversary, and I'm sending some people texts who
have helped me along the way. And the waitress could
not have been friendlier. And I order some Hey, let
me order some. You guys got to try these faheita
dry rub wings. And she turns and asks ranch or

(06:22):
blue cheese? And I go, what kind of question is that?
And I realized that, yeah, I'm full Wisconsin now, right,
because once you laugh off the idea of anything other
than ranch, I just I felt very Wisconsin there, you know.
I started looking at the walleye. You got walleye on
the menu. H like a changed man. So but two

(06:45):
years in and yeah, I at the idea of blue cheese.
So if that's not Wisconsin, I don't know what it is.
I really don't, really don't. And the wings were amazing.
But if you haven't heard me say so, you know
the one thing that I used to do all the time.

(07:08):
I covered fifteen NBA drafts, and it started with the
two thousand and three NBA draft, which was Lebron James
Lebron won dark o' millicit who I played against overseas
twice at two. And then you know you had Carmelo
to Dwayne Wade to Chris Bosh. Like that draft literally
made my career because I was on radio, and I'll

(07:29):
retell that story at some point in time. But I
remember all the drafts that we would do. I would
sit there and tell some of these kids, like, hey,
just remember how you feel today, how great feel you
feel today? So when you signed the one hundred and
fifty two hundred million dollar contract, if you can remain
that sort of human being, like you've won. And obviously

(07:52):
I have not signed one hundred and fifty million dollars
two hundred dollar contract. And I did go through a
very humbling We all did through a humbling first and
we could get into all the different stuff. I think
at some point in time I should tell people more
about all the stuff that was going on sort of
against us. And we had a very good turnaround season
this year. So if you didn't think I was humble.

(08:15):
I was definitely humbled by the first year, and I'm
a pretty humble person anyway. But the point is that
two years ago I remember laying down on the grass
outside of the Crest Center, which is incredible gratitude for
this opportunity and chance to start a whole new career.
And two years later, through everything, I remain the same

(08:35):
level of grateful. Well, welcome into the Doug Gottlieb Show.
This is an awesome trade. Obviously, being a head coach
at GB you get a chance to kind of absorb
part of the Packers culture. And then when you start
to kind of build out what we're doing podcast wise
and TV show wise, you call on some of your

(08:57):
best friends say hey, like, it'd be great to have
kind of join you. So two things, And I don't
know how much our next guest knows this. So when
when I was at ESPN, the guy who taught me
the most about football was actually his brother Tim. And
I'm sure Matt will tell you his brother doesn't know
anything about football, but he knows way more than I

(09:20):
do about football, right, And then you know, I've I'm
super close friends as you guys who have watched the
show know with with Matt Holliday, and he's like, you know,
would be great. It's Matt Housebacker. He's just I was like, waita,
this is all like the Vinn diagram concentric circle. So
Matt Holliday joins us here. I mean Matt Holliday, Matt
Hasselback joins us here on the Doug Gottlieb Show.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
So your brother, like this is a real different bald guy.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
By the way, No, it's Matt Holliday myself. I'm working there, actually, Tim, Yeah,
we got all these well. Tim was the one who
taught me about going bald. His big thing was fire
it before it quits on you, right, And so I
so I check in with people all the time, like hey,
should I fire the second like that I hadn't good.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
On you yet.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yeah, you know, I disagree with Tim's assessment, but but
I do. I do agree with him on football, Like
you mentioned that, you know, he taught you football.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
He was one of my first calls.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
Every time after a game, I'd get on a bus
and I would, you know, probably talk to my wife,
maybe my dad, but I'd call my brother and get
his take on the game. He was just very, very
knowledgeable played for a bunch of different people, you know,
from Andy Reid to Steve Spurrier to Joe Gibbs to
Tom Coughlin, like literally played for like half the league,
And I think it gives him a really unique perspective

(10:36):
on things. But also I think he sees it really well.
So no surprise he's doing such a great job as
a coach right now. Still a great analyst for ESPN.
But you know, we fought and battled as kids. You know,
usually it ended with him crying, But I do trust
his football voice.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
Was he better at any other sport than you you
know what?

Speaker 3 (10:55):
In high school, he was like such a huge recruit,
like like the biggest recruit Massachusetts had seen, like the
biggest And even when I was at Boston College, Tom
Kaughlin left, got a new coach and then another new coach,
and my senior year, we're teammates at Boston College and
the head coach calls us into the UH calls me
into the into a meeting with him in the head

(11:16):
coach's office, and he's like, listen, I'm not trying to
start any family drama here, but everyone in the building
tells me that you're the best athlete on this team.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
You're the best quarterback on this team.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
And I'm not trying to start a family problem, but
if I don't mind starting you, I don't care if
your brother's older.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
And I was like, Coach, I'm the older brother. It
was a super awkward start.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
So luckily, you know, I think that I think that
coach felt so embarrassed that he gave me the best
opportunity to start that year my senior year, and I did.
But no, Tim was a great athlete, very strong in
the weight room, despite what he looks like. People would
be surprised by that. Just just a really just a
great athlete. And yeah, but we back, you know, we

(12:00):
still battle in some things.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
When you were at BC, that was when you guys
famously took down Notre Dame, right and they were number
one the country.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, so we did that a couple of times.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
But that first time that you're probably referencing is my
freshman year. They had just beaten Florida State, Yes, Charlie Ward,
Florida State. It was like, literally, whoever wins this game
was national champs. There was another game technically after that.
It was against Boston College, who they had beaten the
year before, like fifty four to seven, but they were
printing up the T shirts, you know, national champs all

(12:33):
the different years, and nineteen ninety three that was my
freshman year.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
What an incredible memory.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
Tom Coughlin, you know, after that game and after that
season got hired away by the Jacksonville Jaguars and kind
of the rest is history for him. But yeah, that
was an epic moment for BC kids and BC fans
because although we're not Notre Dame's rival, they are our rival.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yeah, if that makes any.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
Sense, No, it's totally true. By the way, David Gordon,
who made the kick, was actually a home builder, and
I moved into a home that he had built, like
a speck home he had built and he and I
think his ex wife now Connie, had had lived in
or whatever. So it all kind of comes back around
to the I never forget. I was sitting there with
Tim one day. I was like, you know, David Gordon's like, yeah, why,

(13:17):
it's like I actually built my house.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
I believe, if I'm not mistaken, I believe his family
maybe owned the Carolina or the.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Hartford Whaler, Heartford Whalers, Yeah, Harford Whaler. He came up
tough scrabble, no question.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
Well, what my recollection of it was when he became
the kicker at Boston College. I believe his family donated
like NFL style field goals that go like all the
way up.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
You know some college.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
Field goals goal post posts at the time, they didn't
go all the way up. Yeah, so like sometimes.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Those ones are hard, Like how do you know if
he went through or didn't go through?

Speaker 2 (13:48):
Yeah, it's not a science.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
I think if people think that that's a science for
referees to really know when it's a good field goal
and not a good field goal, it's it's a little
bit controversial if you didn't know that that's a real thing.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Okay, so what is your recollect you're a freshman, it's
Notre Dame. It was at Notre Dame Stadium too, But
at Notre Dame, right, that's like that that's a big thing.
It wasn't like Notre Dame. Be Florida State, then came
into Boston College and got beaten at Notre Dame Stadium
touchdown Jesus or whatever. And what's what's interesting about it is,
again selfishly, I'll bring this back to me my I

(14:22):
visited Notre Dame in the fall of ninety four, right,
and they lost to Michigan on a game winning Fueld goal,
And that was after beating Northwestern. It was Ron Paulis
is like first start you guys, remember you remember how
big recruit Ron Paulus was, right, Yeah, two Heisman trophies, right,

(14:44):
that was beIN o'cook, right, two Heisman trophies and then.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Said four Heisman trophies. But yeah, either way, all of
the Heisman trophies.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
That's you know, him and Johnny lou Jack. And and
then my first game as a freshman student, they lost
to Northwestern and if people like now you hear it's
not that big a deal. But Northwestern at the time
was in the conversation the worst programming college football. And
then in nineteen ninety five and into January ninety sixth

(15:12):
Northwestern actually went to the Rose Bowl that year. But
I never forget, Like we're walking home from the game
they lost Northwestern and students are crying, you can't believe
we lost there losing like, well, we even't lose anything.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
But yeah, oh no, you're right, I feel you on that.
In fact, David Gordon, you know not We just complimented him.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
He missed.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
He missed the game winning field goal against Northwestern earlier
that year and we lost to Northwestern. And back then
it was like, how, you can't lose to Northwestern. It's
like losing to you know, an ivy league school or
something like that. So it was it was embarrassing. So
when he went to kick the game winner against Notre
Dame and it was kind of a little bit of
a knuckleball, left footed kicker, and it I don't think

(15:53):
the confidence was high.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
That's why it was so incredible.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
So do you remember where you're standing, do you remember
what you were smutting or you're.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
Saying like it's a crazy story, Like I, you know,
I think statute of limitations are up now. So I
went to the infirmary that week because I had an
ear infection, probably because I had like an exam that
I wasn't ready for and I didn't travel on the trip,
so practiced all week. We travel on the trip, and
I stayed back with like the guys in my class

(16:21):
and basically on campus. Took credit for the win because
it was like, yeah, the scout team.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
Prepared the defense for this incredible game. That they had today.
You know, we're taking scout team credit, but it was
epic team comes back partied. I think we flipped over
all the coaches cars.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
I think there's a big bonfire in the mods and
we actually be Notre Dame the next year too.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
It is the first game I ever played in.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
We ran a fake field goal called Leprechawn where I
catch it and when Bobby Taylor and those guys jump
up to block the field goal, I run right in
the a gap, like right up the middle. And it
was a similar, similar situation where we just kind of
set the campus on fire.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
I acted really stupid. Looking back, it was really dumb.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
We're in the fake field goal or you just get
the first down that it.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
Was a It was a fourth and eight and got
like eight yards and one inch and we scored on
the next play. So incredible, like an incredible moment. I was, uh,
you know, very low on the depth chart. I was
probably like the fourth or fifth string quarterback at the
time and unhappy. There was no portal. You just had
to suck it up and get better. That was your

(17:22):
only choice. It wasn't like you could go anywhere, and
it wasn't like they could even get rid of you,
you know, so it was you were kind of married,
so to speak.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Okay, So that's it leads.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
It's it to a perfect transition into some of the
things I want to get with you about Matt Hasselback
joining us here.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
So your dad was a pro. Okay, So when you were.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
Unhappy with your playing time, guys did transfer back then.
But again you had to go, you had to sit out,
and you had you hadn't played. So it's not like
yet film to show guys, what were the conversations like
with your father late father in regards to should I
stay and try and fight this thing out when I'm
like fifth sixth in the depth chart and they keep
bringing in guys every year.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
I mean my dad was great because you know he'd
been through most of it. You know, he played at Colorado.
I was born in Boulder. My parents are married when
they were in college there, and you know, he had
been the starter, he'd been an All American. He'd played
behind other guys that were, you know, better players than
him at one point in his career, and he had,
you know, ride the bench or not get the ball
as much. He goes to New England. He backs up

(18:30):
Rus Francis. He goes to the Raiders and he backs
up Todd Christiansen. He goes to the Vikings and he
backs up Steve Jordan. He goes to the Giants and
backs up Mark Bavarro. Like he had kind of lived it,
you know, like he had sort of like had this
mindset like, hey, you know, don't make excuses, just keep
working hard and you know things will work out. But
it also was tough, and you know, you mentioned like

(18:50):
guys did transfer back then. I probably explored the transfer
thing when Tom Coughlin left, because really the only reason
I chose Boston College was because I ended up a
Giants fan because my dad finished his career with the
New York Giants. And Tom Coughlin was one of Bill
Parcells's assistant coaches and we knew him and we really
respected him, and I love that team and all this stuff,

(19:11):
and when he left, it was kind of like, you know,
me and the twenty kids in my recruiting class, we
kind of looked around, like, wait a second, we came
here for Tom Coughlin, what's next? And the new head
coach came in. He's a really good coach. But he
eliminated the fullback position. He you know, changed the offense
so to speak, brought in his guys, and it was

(19:31):
you know, yeah, if there was a transfer portal back
then I would have jumped in it, definitely, But it
was just wasn't the situation Okay.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
So that leads to the question, are we better off
with the situation with what we have now?

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Well?

Speaker 3 (19:48):
I think the kids are probably better off, but it's
a total disaster of a situation. It's a total, in
my opinion, a lack of leadership at the NCAA level
that's kind of led us here and now it's all
like the toothpaste is out of the tube. It's all
it's all a mess. It's all a mess, and it's
a two way street, you know. That's the thing I
would say that. You know, when people talk about all

(20:10):
these kids are jumping ship and they're going in the portal, yeah,
that is true, like they're quick to go in the portal.
But I would also add the part that doesn't get
talked about. These coaches are kicking kids off the team
left and right, Like left and right. You know, there's
there's recruiting classes that are decimated they're down to like
twenty twenty four high school kids are graduating. Kids are

(20:30):
down to like one player left in the recruiting class.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
On the football side.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
In basketball, my alma ma out of Boston College, they
got a new head coach from Yukon and like literally
he cleaned house, like it's it's gonna be thirteen new
players there. That's just you know, it wasn't like all
thirteen to those kids. We're like, man, I really don't
like Boston College.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
Like no, there's no way.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
That's the situation. So it's a two way street. I
think that it can get fixed. It needs to get fixed,
but someone has to step up and lead the thing.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
Would what would your fix? What would your fix speak
I put I put mad.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
How my quick fix? My quick fix right now?

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Would that would be that we would have like literally,
what it is is really professional sports. So what we
would have is contracts, like a two.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Way binding contract. I signed a contract. We have contracts.
Sign a contract with me. We have They're not real contracts.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
No no, no, no, no no no no no. I'll
push back on you, but go ahead again. I just
from from my perspective, Well, okay, I'll just tell you
the problem with the contracts are I agree, I disagree
that they're not real contracts. I agree that we don't
enforce the contracts. Here's what I mean. Like, you can
put in a buy out into a deal, right, No,

(21:39):
you can put a buy out into a deal. But
every athletic director is like, well do we want to
make them pay a buy out? Because we make them
pay a buy out, then nobody else will want to come.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
Then it becomes prohibitive.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
Like, honestly, it is very very one sided pro player
in terms of the contracts because we have to, as
you diversities, live up to the contracts as they are written.
But we do not hold athletes necessarily accountable for those contracts.
That's my perspective in some situation.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
Sure, But I let's just say, like on the football side,
let's just say there's a new football coach that comes
to a school where you've committed to.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
They're going to run you off the team, no question,
but running you off the team that contract isn't a contract.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
They're running you off the team, and they'll do it
one of two ways. You know They'll They'll they'll say, hey,
we'll honor your scholarship, but you don't get to be
on the football team, you know, and if you were
a true competitor, like we know that you are, you'll
want to go somewhere else and play, you know something
like that.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
But do you want to do you want to play
for somebody who didn't recruit you?

Speaker 2 (22:42):
This is a lot like this, it's my thing. It's
not a contract. Then, it's not a contract. It's a
it's like you're dating.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
No, no, no, no, listen again. So you've worked for
media companies, you know this. When there's a change in leadership,
whoever is those people's guys, like you're the next to go.
I mean I can just tell you.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Right, Like, it's not just media companies, I would say, no,
it's any.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Any company, right And so it actually like I I
agree with you in general premise and in that sign
a kid, he's about the school whatever. But it just
it's it's not mutually beneficial. You can re recruit the
kids and you can get them to stay, but generally

(23:26):
the players, I actually think I agree with you. The
first mistake people make is the second there's a coaching
change of like I'm in the portal, I'm leaving. It's
like or you could listen to the coach, see his
vision and see if it fits with what you want.
But that's not how it works, and they do in
fact clean house. But part of it is the clean
house because you didn't sign to play for them and

(23:48):
they didn't sign to play for you. It's it's it
is a lot like to work.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
It's also it's also there's like, you know, if a
new regime comes in, they you're as the player, you're
probably not a high pro priority, especially if you're a
younger player freshman, sophomore, you're probably getting no callback and
they're probably seeing who they can bring with them. They're
putting their staff together, seeing how much money they have.

(24:13):
They're going to see like they're going to be in
the sweepstakes for the you know, million dollar running back,
the eight hundred thousand dollars left tackle that like you're
low on the priority list, sure, and so like you know,
and then the portal deadlines, which is this is my
real gripe with the NCAA. When you have these portal deadlines,
when these portal windows are open, makes no sense. It's

(24:36):
literally during school, during spring ball, during the competition, during
you know, in other sports, it's like literally during your
championship run, during bowl games, even like.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
It's the problem is the winner, like the winner transfer
for college football. That's really what it is the issue
is that I would say, so for football, help me
out here. So what do you think of the idea
of deregulating summer. Okay, deregulating summer for football, and you

(25:08):
can do for basketball as well.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Be great.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
That way, there's not the pressure to get guys to
enroll early, because that's why that's why the college the
coaching jobs open up when they do. That's why the
transfer portal is when it is because you have you know,
early and early high school kids.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
They all want them.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
They want them there in January, and they want them
to play spring ball because they don't have as much
time with them in the summer. What if we deregulate
summer and they can have like the NFL, they can
have their OTAs, they can kind of build up and
have more time with them. That way, getting them there
January fifteenth is not as important.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
I think there's they're still gonna get them there as
soon as they can. I mean, I coach a high
school quarter I coach high school kids now and they're
getting even if they're still at school, they're on the
zoom doing the installs with the coach right now, like
you know during exams in high school.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
It's just it's that's not going to change.

Speaker 3 (26:05):
I don't think the other the bigger issue that I
think that happens is that not all these schools are
on the same calendar.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Yeh know.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
There's some schools that are quarters system teams, like my
daughter who's at Stanford. You know, they go like I
think maybe June twenty second might be their last.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
They don't start to like almost October.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Yeah, the Northwestern is like that, UCLA is like that.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
There's a bunch of schools like that on that kind
of a on that kind of a calendar, whereas, like
you know, a bunch of these schools they're just already graduated. Yep,
you know it's it's early May. So you know, I
just think there's a lot of factors in there that
that that are really really screwed up.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
And again, I think the tooth baste is out.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
I don't know, I don't know how you go back
on some of it, but but truly truly being like
kind of like putting a ring on it with people,
whether you get.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
A new coaching staff or not.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
I think that that would be my quick fix if
I had one thing I was allowed to say, and
that what I mean by that.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Also is other schools.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
Like literally, it would be a real penalty if you
were to basically tamper and try to steal somebody else's
players that you're coaching, you're developing, because right now that's
just clearly going on.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
So how do you how do you limit that? Because
the way penalties penalty. But again the workaround is you
work through an agent, right just.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Like the NFL.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
Just like the NFL, it would be a penalty if
Aaron Rodgers agent he just signed with the Steelers today,
If Aaron Rodgers agent was contacted by the Arizona Cardinals
in a month said hey, go ahead and just like
retire from the Steelers and then we'll grab you, there's
there's hell to pay.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
The NFL will police that.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
They're on it, like we're not doing that to each other,
and there's like a governing board that's not going to
ever allow that to happen.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
There's hell to pay. In the nc double A, there's
not hell to pay.

Speaker 3 (28:00):
It's like come on, guys, please, don't you know coaches
talking like at the press conference, like you know, well
I got I know for sure there's coaches that are
reaching out to me. Tweets get sent, nothing happens, So
I think that's that would be just make it like
the pros is kind of I guess what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
Okay, how much has the sport changed from the quarterback
position from when you were in high school? Like you're
coaching high school kids, how much has it changed that
position specifically.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
You're talking you're talking about pro football or high school.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
Just let's just start high school.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
I don't know that it's changed too much with high school.

Speaker 3 (28:42):
I think the leadership side of it is down because
kids aren't in the huddle anymore. You know, everyone's just
like looking to the sideline. Everyone's getting signals and then
they just clap.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
You know. Part of like the most.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
Intimidating thing for me as a high school quarterback was
like being a sophomore or even a junior, like stepping
into the huddle with upper classmen like I come into
the game. Whenever I come into the game, my uniforms,
you know, totally white and clean. These guys have muddy uniforms.
They're upper classmen, they're seniors and juniors, and I'm getting

(29:13):
into the huddle and I have to like with confidence
in a pre puberty voice kind of like say, all right, guys,
we got green right, fox two x y hook on
one ready break.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
You know what it sounded like for me when I
was a sophomore, was like.

Speaker 3 (29:26):
Guys, we got green right fox two x y hook
on one ready break. You know, like it wasn't It
was like a step in leadership. I had to learn
how to command the huddle. I had to learn how
to know the playbooks so well that I could say
it in a way that the guys in the huddle,
the ten other guys believed in me.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
And that's all gone. Like that's just gone now.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
It's just like you know, the seven on seven world,
like just throw it here, throw it there. A lot
of screen passes, a lot of this and that, you know,
So I don't know like that part for me, I
don't know that.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
I love.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
I do think that the knowledge of the game, the film,
the way these kids get like detailed, detailed, high def
film from drones or you know, skycams, I think they
see it better.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
I think they learn it better.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
I think they've got a lot more time on the
field where they're throwing and throwing with friends and you know,
even whatever their motivations are, they're posting it on Instagram
or whatever Twitter.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
But it's I think in that regard it's a lot better.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
Yeah, it's I guess I'm wondering. Okay, So in basketball,
I think GUIDs are more skilled, but they play less
pickup ball, so they're lacking some of the feel aspects
of it, right where like they know how to do
things that I was not taught in high school. And
you know, like my high school coach is now one
of my assistants. He was a great junior college because

(30:48):
my dad was a college coach. Like so it wasn't
like I didn't grow up well coached, but the next
level of it we didn't necessarily prepare for. But what
I grew up just he would take them to place.
I just play all day, and I did basketball camps
and all the other things. But really it was more
I had really good feel And what we feel like
is missing is the feel aspect of it. Now with football,

(31:11):
and again this is perception, you know, reality, because this
is your world, they play flag football. Now everybody plays
flag football. Some play tackle football growing up. But then
they have quarterback coach, right, they have throwing coaches, they
have passing league. So I guess my question is do
they have are they still able to have the same

(31:32):
field because you don't have a pass rush in passing league,
you don't have a pass rush in flag football necessarily
depending upon the rules, but you are some of the
actual route concepts are the same, so that processing a
little bit like the processing for basketball, maybe at a
higher level, even if the field is at a lower level.
What is it like in football now as opposed to

(31:54):
football for you? And again growing up in a football family.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Yeah, I'm a huge fan of football for kids who
are growing up, But then when it gets to the
seven on seven leagues, like, I don't know that I
really care for that or even respect it. I would
much rather a kid, let's just say it's a quarterback,
a high school quarterback. I would much rather he spend
his summer playing pickup basketball the way that we did
when I was growing up. It was like after breakfast,

(32:21):
you would go, you know, be on the court to lunch,
take a break, and you go back, and you'd play
till dinner, like all day long. Play another sport, play basketball,
Go play competitive baseball. Feel the pressure of what it's
like being up against the pitcher who's maybe a little
bit more talented than you are as a hitter. Play lacrosse,
like play play something else, do other things. That's my

(32:45):
firm belief for kind of what you're talking about, just
like the feel, the teamwork, what kind of teammate you are,
what kind of leader you are. I do think it's
really good to play another sport where you're not the superstar.
Also like you know, understanding the pressure of what it
must be like to be the best player on the team,
but also understanding the pressure of what it's like to

(33:06):
be one of those guys that's like nervous to even
be on the team, or you know, afraid they're going
to lose their starting spot, or afraid they're not going
to get any playing time.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
You know.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
Like to me, those are the intangibles that I think
mattered more as a quarterback than you know, no one
when to throw an out route or an in route,
Like I think there's enough time. So football for me
is not a sport that you can kind of play
all day. I think you want to get obviously bigger, stronger, faster,
more efficient, good technique, but like, other than that, I
would find I don't want to say, other hobbies, but

(33:38):
I would find other sports, and I would find other
coaches to coach me other than just football coaches.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
You're drafted by the Green Bay Packers six round. What
do you remember?

Speaker 3 (33:49):
I was shocked. Didn't expect to get drafted. I was
picked with number one eighty seven. I was not invited
to the combine, the NFL combine, I I invited us,
so my agent I was very upset. I told my agent,
I'm like, hey, listen, you know, should I just give
up the dream? Like what do you think? He's like, no, no, no, no,
don't give up the dream. We'll have a pro day
and you can work out for all the teams. We'll

(34:10):
send him a highlight reel of view.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
So I do that.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Only one team shows up. It's the quarterback coach for
the Green Bay Packers, Andy Reid. He's the only guy
that shows up. And Boston College did not have an
indoor facility at the time, and so Andy Reid gets
there and he's like, hey, you want to.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Go outside and throw in the snow.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
And I was like, yeah, coach, let's go, and he's like,
I don't want to go out there, but I needed
to know that you would have been willing to throw
in the snow because I coach in Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
And you know, that was it.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
We kind of we talked on the grease board like
we you know, for probably like I don't know, an hour,
maybe forty five minutes, and he went back, He's no, way,
you see, never threw. I don't think I threw. Like
now when I see him, he's like, no, I think
we threw a little. And I'm like, I feel like
I would know that coach, like I don't think we threw,
you know. So I don't know if he feels like
he's going to get in trouble if we never threw,
or if maybe my memory was so disappointing that I didn't.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
Really get to throw.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
But no, I don't think I threw one pass for him.
I don't think I threw one pass.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
Okay, so give me the Like, everybody loves Andy Reid,
they just do. And I've heard I know different coaches
who have been associated with him, and some of the
kind of his sayings and things that people who are
any Reid guys do pick up them. But help me
out why does it work? Why has it worked for
him wherever he's been.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
He's very authentic.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
He reminds me so much of Mike Homngrin, who was
my coach for most of my time in Seattle, and
he's an amazing coach, very underrated coach. But Andy is
also like authentically himself. And he's a good listener. He's
a good learner, you know, literally, like when he was
when he came to meet with me. There was a
moment where he's telling me all about like he's teaching
me the offense of the Green Bay Packers, and I'm

(35:47):
kind of like daydreaming looking at him, like this guy
really the quarterback coach for the Packers. Like he kind
of gives me like offensive line vibes, you know, like
I'm just kind of like zoning out a little bit,
like man man, he said he was the quarterback coach' Bertie, Sure,
he said he was quarterback coach. Like, wonder why he's
here to see me? Like no one else thought it
was important to come see me, you know, like that
kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
So he's great.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
Though he's great, he simplifies things. I'll give you an example.
When I get to Green Bay he's coaching Brett Farv
and me and Doug Peterson and all these guys. Rick
Meyer he's like, he had one coaching point basically, and
he was like, stay low, bend your knees. People on
TV will say stand tall in the pocket quarterback. He's like,
it's a lie. Bend your knees, get into an athletic position.
Stay low. And he was like, if you stay low,

(36:29):
it'll fix all. It's fix so many things that you
do bad. He talked to Brett Farvor, He's talking to me,
stay low.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
And I like that.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
Because you go to take a golf lesson, you get
these golf gurus who tell you like a gazillion things
to think about all of a sudden, like you're a
worse golfer than when you started. That happens to quarterbacks too,
get all these quarterback gurus and want to sound so
stink and smart, who honestly don't know what the heck
they're talking about anyway, and they screwed people up. They
screw talented people up. And so I think for Andy,

(36:56):
one of the I could say many, many great things
about him, but I think one of the best things
I could say is that he finds something that will
actually help you that is so simple and that applies
to just about everybody, and he makes it the thing,
and he makes it the main thing and does such
a good job with it.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
I honestly, it's interesting. I'll share with you how I
kind of stolen what I believe is part of their
offensive philosophy for what I do. But I also and
I had no idea that's what he did. That's how
I try and work with guys on their game is
because I was my coach coach set and called me,

(37:35):
you're a Heinz fifty seven guy. You shoot the ball
fifty seven different ways. That's because everybody's got some suggestion
on how to fix it right, and that ends up
screwing you up. And so I try to do the
same thing. Pick one thing and that's all we're gonna do.
That's nothing else, just the process of that one thing.
Forget about the result of it going in not going in.
And I try and do that, honestly, like with golf,

(37:56):
I try and do that just I'm just going to
keep my head still, I'm not gonna wry about anything else.
And if I do that, I'm more likely to have
some success.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
So here and I would add, I would add like
you can kind of graduate, you know, like when you
you know, like so say you master whatever he's telling
you to do.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
And then you go to the next another there's another
simple thing to.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
Yeah, but what you're saying is you don't do the whit.
You gotta play in your hip here and you move,
you're there there, the ball goes here, You're like, wait,
what exactly? Because then you're then you can't just play.
You can't. Guys get locked up. So and I don't
know if it was this way in the early days,
either with the Pack or when you went to the Seahawks,

(38:33):
but my perception of Kansas City's offense is they only
run like ten plays, but they were in a million formations.
So it's like we'll take it over here, take it
over there that we're running power, you know, we're taking
over here, right.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
And with with the with the I would say that
he's given freedom and creativity within that those like small
amount of plays. Two guys like Travis Kelcey and Patrick
Mahomes and you know, he did it with Brett Favre
and Mike Congrin did it with me and certain people.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
You had to earn it.

Speaker 3 (39:02):
But like, instead of knowing, I think I would say
it this way, you're as a receiver, Like if you
do something outside of the scope of what the play is,
you know what you're never you know what you're never
allowed to do. So like that that means like, well, hey,
I know I'm never allowed to break out on this,
but that means maybe if the you know, coverage is tight,

(39:23):
I could break all the way in instead of just
hook it up, you know, so you give them a
little bit of freedom in that.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
So oh damn, because I took that the wrong way.
So what I do is I like, again, we run
probably more than ten, but it's like ten plays, but
from I would say ten twelve different kind of sets,
so you don't know what's coming, even if it's the
ends up being the same look. And then like you're saying,
once skies know this is the you know, this is
the action and this is kind of what we're looking at,

(39:51):
then you have to make a read off off that action.
So you got to remember the set. You got to
remember the action. And then you got to make the read,
which does kind of inside with what you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
You can't just yeah, I would agree with all that.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
But you know, when you get a guy in year
eleven in the same system, he usually I just have
seen it. They give one person, it's Kelsey. They give
him unbelievable amounts of freedom sure to like maybe set
a pick on his way to running.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
The route over the ball, or you know, like.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
Give a chip to the right tackle because he knows
he wants to get out late on this one.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
He's number five in the progression.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
You know, the little subtle improvements to the offense that
really are improvements in every single way.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
It's not somebody going rogue. It's not.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
It's not Junior sayou at the late great Junior say
who would he? Just do whatever you wanted to do
and somehow it sort of worked out. Then he went
to the Patriots like, yeah, he kind.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
Of can't do that, dude, Like, well, that's that's the
same thing.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
Like if the offense is built for you to do that,
Like Troy Polamalu was another one. Ye, Hey, everyone's gonna
play it perfect and then you go make a play
when Pete Carroll got to Seattle. He had coach Troy
polamalut at usc. He told Earl Thomas our free safety. Hey,
cover three is cover three, Like you've got the deep third.

(41:11):
But I'm giving you the green light to go make
a play and and so you can empower I think
one guy, one guy, well, you know what, once you
trust them to kind of like sort of fire his
gun when he thinks it's time to do that.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
What was your first Holy shit, I'm with the Green
Bay Packers moment, Like you're in Lambeau, you're a rookie
or your second year or whatever, You're like, wait this
because I mean, I like, I'm I'm I can't imagine
the feeling of first putting on that jersey, even in
training camp. But your first Lambeau moment, like it gets real.

(41:48):
Do you remember what it was?

Speaker 3 (41:49):
I mean, every day was a dream come true to me.
They were paying me. I felt like I should have
been paying them. I mean my first I run this
one play two j X stagger watch all across peak forty.
I dropped back and I just like seventh step drop
one hitch, I just like sail it. I throw this
ball as hard as I can. It goes way high.
You know, it's an eighteen yard in route. I'm like, ah, shoot,
you know whatever. The dude run across the middle, catches

(42:11):
it like you know, makes it look like it's in stride,
and just hits it and everyone's like, oh, good pass,
good past. I was like, whoa, these dudes are so good.
That was not a good pass. That's not at all
where I wanted that ball to go, and they're making
me look good. I love the speed that they practiced with.
I loved how we were almost never in pads and
it felt like it was a game like we knew

(42:33):
how to protect each other and play so fast.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
And everyone's like, Oh, you're gonna love it.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
It's a small market team, you know, it's in Wisconsin,
bs man. My first game was in Tokyo, Japan. We
get off the plane and I'd never seen so many
cheeseheads in my life in Japan, you know, Reggie White
Brett fav it was. It was like it was the
biggest thing ever.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
It was.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
The whole thing was a pinch me experience. And I
was there for three years with three different head coaches.
The common denominators were kind of the fans, the organization
and guys like Brett Farv that were that really when
you boil it down, like he was the Packers at
the time, you know, it was him more than it
was anything else, and guys like him, and so it

(43:15):
was uh, I mean literally, it was a dream come true.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
All right, give me give me the ball?

Speaker 2 (43:19):
You remember?

Speaker 1 (43:20):
And I bring it up because I think I was
working with your brother at the time and he explained
to me Joe Flacco threw a ball, remember, to beat
the Denver Broncos in the playoffs, and he's like, I
want you to come watch this. I'm like, that's an
amazing past. Like you have no idea, Like, you have
no idea that He's like, there's five human beings on
earth that can make this throw and I'm not one

(43:41):
of them. And I was like really, He's like, yeah,
he's like that guy has like a ridiculous arm, town
so give me the Farv throw that. You're like, you're
like still sitting there, You'd still love to have the table, Like.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
Yeah, I mean, Flacco's got a great arm. Altitude helps too,
but he can throw it.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
Farv was amazing, Like, I think one of the things
I learned from Brett was that, you know, Mike Holngren
would say this all the time, you're an artist, not
a blacksmith. As a quarterback, You're an artist, not a blacksmith.
And in college I was like, I work so hard
at it. I wanted it so bad. It was like,
all right, if they're in an underfront and they bring
the sam and the mic and they play three fires
on the hot route goes to the full back, you know,

(44:18):
and like Brett was like, yeah, maybe unless they disguise
it and they come from far away, then I can
get the ball off to the wide receiver.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
And it was like that's just how he played the game.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
And so he'd say things like, Man, I'm gonna throw
this ball like like I'm throwing it through a car
wash and it's not even gonna get wet, you know
what I mean. They're like, hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna,
you know, put this ball in there and it's gonna
land like a butterfly with sore feet, you know. And
like he just had he made just made it like
an art and there wasn't like one way to do it.
He played He painted a canvas as the game would

(44:50):
go on. Sometimes it would be short short, short, deep,
then it would be deep deep deep short short, short short,
kill you with the thousand paper cuts like and so
I think like it was that kind of a mindset
where I don't know, guys like literally there ready to
like blow your head up back before they really were
protecting quarterbacks, and he would stand in there and throw

(45:11):
the throw that you're not supposed to throw, but throw
it so courageously and so accurately that it was like
this dude's on offense all the time. When he's on offense,
and a lot of the quarterbacks that I watch in
some games that I played in, I was playing like
I was on defense, and that was the thing I
loved most about him.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
It's interesting that you bring up that far had almost
like an artist flare to it, because the perception is
he was just a give me the ball and I'm
gonna try and fit it in the smallest pit window possible,
that it was more about ego than it was about skill.
But here is my question. This is a legit one.
I could make the case that as much as I

(45:57):
believe Tim Duncan could evolve to be being able to
shoot threes right like al Horford. I don't know if
you know the stat he made twelve threes I think
his first seven years in the league, and now obviously
he's made him So if al Horford can make himself
into three point shore, well Tim Duncan can sure as
he'll make himself to three point suo. Right, But there's
part of me that says, like, I don't know, I

(46:19):
don't know if it if it works in how college,
how NBA basketball has played now, right, the five man
is just such a different role. So FARV was a
high risk, high reward guy, a lot of turnovers. Efficiency
is the rule in everything we're doing. Started with baseball
with their advanced analytics, I think continued on to football.

(46:40):
Obviously Aaron Rodgers would became super efficient with not turning
the football over, Right, that's kind of the big thing.
Don't turn the football over now and then in basketball
everything's about efficiency, points per possession, sach selection, it's about efficiency.
Would Farv work today considering how the position is played?

Speaker 3 (47:03):
Yeah, and I think I think he matured. The thing
he did is he got bored so easily. He got bored.
Then that was like half of the job. Coaching him
was like hy Brett, don't get bored, keeping his attention
like in meetings at practice. You know, that was just
the thing. And it's funny because when Mike Hongren left

(47:26):
and went to Seattle, he had different head coaches. He
had Ray Rhodes, and then he had Mike Sherman and
Mike McCarthy was there as the quarterback coach with Ray Rhodes,
and then you know, I think he had Mike McCarthy
after that.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
He had all these different coaches and.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
When you know, he was still play that reckless style,
but when he would play against Mike Holmgren, he would
play the way that Mike Hongren always asked.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
Him to play. I don't get bored.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
You can never go broke, take in a profit, you know,
just let the system work for you. He played more
like Joe Montana when he played against Mike Holmgren, but
he had this like streak and I hear what you're saying.
But I think as he matured, he got to the
point where he was like, no, I'll I'm on Green
can lead the team and catches today. I'm fine with that, Like,

(48:13):
if that's what it takes, but uh, it wasn't you know,
it's almost like breaking in a racehorse, so to speak.
You gotta you gotta break it in, and you know
some some break you know easier than others.

Speaker 1 (48:27):
What is it?

Speaker 2 (48:28):
Like?

Speaker 1 (48:29):
I do think that you go into Seattle and now
having your own team, and I call it the Rabbi
in the room. Right, it's the same reason that you know,
you had a guy who believed in you and worked
with you, and so he brought you over. Right, So
I'm here run my offense, I know my offense whatever,
But a lot like a guy who's only been an

(48:50):
assistant coach. Now you got to decide as the head coach,
who am I going to be as a quarterback. You're
not Brett Farv.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
You're not.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
There's nothing about you that. The only thing that's comparable
his dad was a coach. Your dad obviously a great player. Right,
So there is the growing up in a football household.
But the way in which you've done everything you've done
very different unless I'm wrong, right, Like, So.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
No, you're right.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
I mean there's no chance that I could. In fact,
my first day ever at Green Bay, Andy Reid calls
me in. He's like, listen, I want you to study
Brett Farv. He's unbelievable. His leadership, that's what I want
you to study. His intangibles, that's what I want you
to study. But he gets away with things that only
he can get away with because he's so talented physically,
but his fundamentals are terrible. Please don't watch that. I

(49:38):
don't learn that his decision makes not good on and
off the field. Don't watch that. Like this is literally
what he's saying to me. But he said like study
him in other ways, Like notice how he knows every
single guy, every single person that works for the team.

Speaker 2 (49:53):
He knows their first name. You know. He shows them respect.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
Watch the way he motivates the huddle without really even
needing to say a word.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
Notice his body language.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
Notice how he intimidates the opponents without saying a word.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
Like all the stuff, you know.

Speaker 3 (50:08):
And so I think it was my job for three
years to like study that and kind of be a
lot more like him in like some of those ways,
keep it loose, you know whatever. But no, as a player,
never was it the goal or the thought to be
like him. What I struggled with though, when I first
got to Seattle, is that it was like, Okay, cool,
I know this offense, let's go, And Mike Hongrin was like, no, no, no,

(50:31):
no training wheels, like if we're going to first grade
with you, And that was a frustration for me. What
I well, I don't I think he would just like
he's got this like you got to walk before you
can run, teaching progression as a coach, and he wanted
it for the franchise, you know, like a simple, simple thing.
An example would be when I was with the Packers,

(50:51):
we had this thing called opposite, and so if we
have a play to the left and they've got a
great player or an overload on the left, we're going
to just say opposite, oppo say we're going to go
to the right. Sure I think we just said orange orange,
like orange for opposite, you know. And so I get
to Seattle and sure enough, we're playing the Raiders early
in the year and they've got too many Bill Romanowski

(51:12):
and Charles Woodson over on one side and too many people,
and I'm like, orange, orange, opposite, opposite, and like no
one has ever, no one has.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Ever heard that phrase before.

Speaker 3 (51:22):
It's very simple, but he hadn't introduced it yet, And
sure enough they got ten guys doing the right play
and I'm doing the wrong play, and he loses his
mind on me, like you haven't earned the right to
go opposite, And I'm like I was going opposite in
sixth grade, Like what are we talking about? Like this
isn't complicated. But I needed to humble myself and trust

(51:43):
his coaching progression. And that's I think where the struggle was.
I wasn't trying to be Brett farrv. I just was
trying to do what I had been trained to do
for three years. If Brett Favre breaks his thumb, which
he did, you got to be ready to go in
and play, you know, which I did, and you know,
felt like I did a good job. So when I
got to Seattle and I had to kind of go
back to first grade, it was, I don't know, I

(52:06):
was immature, but it was also like it felt like
an insult to my intelligence. And looking back, I should
have just submitted to his coaching and his authority and
his vision and it would have gone much better for
me quicker.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
But I thought it. You know, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (52:21):
Sometimes players don't realize that coaches have their best interests
at heart. It's not until like maybe you see behind
the curtain or you're coaching yourself that you finally realize like,
oh shoot, that guy didn't hate me. He just was
trying to get the best out of me.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
I think you started your first game right when you
went over there. Oh yeah, oh yeah, and.

Speaker 3 (52:41):
Hey nine to six win over the Cleveland Browns. Don't
act like you don't remember it, baby, So.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
You're like you'd played before, but now it's like this
is different, this is your team.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
I'll tell you that.

Speaker 3 (52:54):
The biggest difference that I could never ever have known
about or just was playing well while hurt. Like I
had watched Brett Favre play hurt and play so well
while hurt, like with a broken foot, broken ribs, broken thumb,
broken whatever, and he got out there and he played

(53:14):
at such a high level. Like for me, I so
I did a good job of playing hurt, but I
didn't do a good job of playing well while hurt.
And that was the thing that was like, man, Like
that first year two thousand and one, I was like
that dude is nuts, Like how does he even do this?
Like I can't drive a car right now, can't turn left,

(53:35):
you know, Like I can't breathe, and I'm supposed to
go out and play against the Philadelphia Eagles, you know,
Like I'm like Brian Dawkins sacked me three times, like
right there, and like I was just gonna go I
how did he do this for so long? Like the
cal Ripken junior streak too, Like you know, he Brett
fav never missed a game and played well and that

(53:55):
was the part that, man did I fall flat on
my face for that?

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Like flat to go from training wheels to taking the
Seahawks to their first Super Bowl? What's what's that like
to the I mean, because again, it wasn't easy early on, right,
wasn't Trent started a couple of games your first year,
then you get they get to playoffs, you guys, losing

(54:20):
the wild card, so you know, But now that you're
able to zoom out twenty years later, what's that like
from going with home Grin to Seattle to four or
five years later going to a Super Bowl, Well.

Speaker 3 (54:35):
It's incredibly rewarding because of how hard it was to start.
That's why I like, you know, holding up the trophy
or being inducted into the Ring of Honor the top
fifty players of all time with the Seahawks.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
It's like, are you kidding me?

Speaker 3 (54:47):
Like I remember getting booed out of this place, Like
that's why it's so rewarding, But it was.

Speaker 1 (54:52):
How do you how do you not hold that? Some people,
a lot of athletes, coaches too, they hold it against
the fans, right that oh.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
Yeah, the fans were right. Well they were right.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
It doesn't matter that they're right or they're wrong. You're
still like you're the one getting booed. No, and yeah,
it does feel very very personal, even if they're like, yeah,
you're like, yeah, I suck today, so I probably deserve that.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (55:14):
I think one of the lessons, one of the good
lessons that you learn through stuff like that, is that
you can't that's not where you can get your worth,
like I like good or bad, Like.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
Even if someone tells you how great you.

Speaker 3 (55:26):
Are, like oh, you're the man, You're the man, You're
the man, Like no, there's no relax I'm just I'm
constantly maniacally obsessed with being the best that I can
possibly be. And that comes from your position coach normally
you know, or or coordinator or head coach or all
of them whatever. So like for me, I get benched
Trent Dilfrett just won the Super Bowl. He came in
and he did exactly what Michael Longren was asking. He

(55:48):
did it exactly the way Mike was.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
You know.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
I sat there on the bench, got benched, and I
sat there and I'm like watching Trent do it, I'm like, okay, well,
all right, I could do that. I could do that.
And Trent went undefeated. We went far or know with
him as the starter. They named him the starter, and
he was the starter the next the next season, and
it wasn't until he tours achilles down in Dallas and
like a big Emmett Smith, will you know, break the

(56:10):
NFL rushing record game where he tears his achilles And
I go back in and through the training of my
position coach Jim Zorn, who he never gave up on me.
He stayed hard on me, you know, coaching me up tough,
and then I was ready the next time around. And
he basically was like, listen, you're gonna get another opportunity.
You don't know what it's gonna come. Might be here,
might be somewhere else. You better be ready the next

(56:30):
time around, you know, be coachable. I come in that
game and I did more what Trent was doing in
terms of like, all right, Mike wants you to just
do this, and I was like, I'll just do that
and I'll just tell you some lessons along the way.
Like there was a backup that I had Jeff George.
If you remember him first overall pick you know, the
coach killer. People would say that wasn't my experience with

(56:51):
Jeff George. Jeff George was unbelievable for me, unbelievable and
sort of a long story. But I go into a
week seventeen game against the San Diego Charger and it's
Rodney Harrison and Junior Sayu and this great Chargers team
and we're not a great team. And I've got this
contract incentive that I need to hit. If I finish
the year with like the top I'm in the top
five of completion percentage in the league, my contract goes

(57:15):
from nothing to something. And Jeff George is like coaching
me up on this game, and he was like, listen,
you know it's a long story, but basically, I go
into that game and I'm just trying to get completions.

Speaker 2 (57:29):
I'm just trying to get completions. Aggressive completions, and I
throw for four hundred and fifty yards and the more
yards than I've ever thrown for in any game I've
ever played. We win the game in overtime.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
It was like this epic lesson for me that kind
of all this stuff that Mike Holmgan and all these
guys have been saying this whole time, like, hey, dude,
you can't go broke taking a profit. Just just let
the offense work for you. Throw every throw with conviction,
or don't throw it. You know, if it's not there,
do something else, take off and run away, let us
play another down, like just trusting in the coaching.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
And it was the craziest thing.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
And so we had like the number one offense in
third down like the second half of that year, and
then we just take off. They make me the starter,
and it was just like this whole a whole bunch
of little things that kind of clicked. But ultimately, like
I said earlier, like if I had just sort of
humbled myself and been more coachable early on, didn't need
to hear it from like a veteran mentor quarterback who'd

(58:27):
been there and done it, just had the humility to
trust Jim Zorn who'd done it trust Mike Holmgren had
done it with Steve Young and Joe Montana and Brett
Farv Like it could have gone a lot quicker and
a lot smoother.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
Sometimes you need another voice, though you just you just do.
Sometimes you need it in another voice. It's like it's like,
I'm sure you have this with your kids, right, we
can tell our own kids. Then some person who is
the exact same age just come in they be you know,
you know, I don't know if he's like that. I
don't know if I just to do That're like, you know,
I don't like this. Wait, I've been I mean, your dad,

(59:00):
I've been telling you this for years.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
I thought it's so funny you say that, because my
son during COVID we moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Because they
you know, use their brains and lived life and got
tested in some other places like where I lived, they
you know, shut down forever and uh. And so we
moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and he played freshman football for
Trent Dilfer, and literally I would tell him something and

(59:27):
he'd be like whatever, Dad, and Trent would tell me
the exact same thing he'd be like, well, coach Dilfer
said to do it this way. I'm like, this dude
was literally my backup, Like, what are you talking about?

Speaker 2 (59:37):
You know, well, he's like, he did beat out to you.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
He tours Achilles. Just he's he did beat out to
tors Achilles, and he's.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
And he's a he's a way better coach. And you
know he has a Super Bowl and all the stuff.
But it just as a dad when you get frustrated
with your kid, who's like, you know, why don't you listen?
Like I kind of know what I'm saying, kind of
you know, I'm not not putting somebody on the moon.
I'm talking about a three step dr And then all
of a sudden, Trent says it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
It's like, yeah, it's the law.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
It's the law.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
It's the law.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
It's it's it's it's the law. Okay, I got I
got two more for you.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
Here.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Here's the first one. I am not a Seahawks fan.
I'm not a hater the Pittsburgh Steelers. I simply I
don't care enough about either team to sit there like
my my bone to pick with Seattle was simply and
I wasn't even huge Packer fan at the time, I
did think it was incredibly lucky when Russell throws the

(01:00:34):
ball up in the air and Aaron has the torn
calf whatever that year to get.

Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
To the super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
That said, the super Bowl you play in with the Seahawks,
you guys got screwed. Like it's just it's horrendous officiating.
And again I'm not it doesn't. It's not like I'm
a Seahawks fan going. But what I found interesting is
over time, when we tell stories of any sporting event,

(01:01:00):
we very rarely go to a call that was a
blown call. Instead, we look back at it as well.
Ben Roethlisberger won his first sup Bowl and did you
know Jerome Bettis was from Detroit? Right, That's what that
Super Bowl is kind of known for for you. You
look back this unbelievable rise right from back up to

(01:01:26):
starter to back up, back to starter. You take the
Seahawks to their first super Bowl ever, and I don't know,
it doesn't sit well with me. Even though Seahawks won
a super Bowl this year, that your first time, it
didn't feel like a fair fight. How do you years
later process that?

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
Well, first off, I think we didn't play our best
football that day and Kobe Bryant. You know, when Pete
Carroll got Seattle, he played this Kobe Bryant video and
I grew up a Celtics fans.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
I didn't really want to hear it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:53):
And Kobe's talking about overtrying and how sometimes you can
want it so bad that you over try and you
don't play yourself. And I think that he described exactly
what we did in that Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
We were the best team in football that year, no
question in my mind.

Speaker 3 (01:02:08):
Uh, the games we lost, like like you know, we
we kind of sat people like at the end of
the year, like we were, we were clicking, and for
whatever reason that day, we just wanted it so bad
we didn't play our best. And so that's the first
thing that I go to. In terms of the officiating.
I don't think I've ever like I don't want to
ever be somebody that like blames officiating. You know, I've

(01:02:32):
had officials from that Super Bowl Super Bowl apologized to
me saying, like they didn't do their best that day.
Like I've played in games where I haven't done my best.
So like we're humans, So like I'm never going to
make that excuse. I will say this though, this is
a disappointment for me. I hate how for the Super
Bowl that the NFL separates officiating teams. How they take

(01:02:54):
like the person who graded out best as umpire or
side judge or back judge, and then they get to
officiate the Super Bowl. Because being a team is one
of the number one things that I've learned through sports.
And I don't care if it's a team at ESPN
or at an insurance company or a car sales like,
I don't care what you're doing. The teamwork and knowing

(01:03:14):
your you know, your producer, your director, your you know whatever.
That's the same in officiating. Like when you see somebody
throw a flag, like during an NFL game, like literally
count to one, one thousand and two one thousand, there's
three more flags, Like they got their brothers back or
sisters back, and then they huddle up and then they
want the players out of there because they're talking.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
What you see.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
Well, I can say I saw that too, like you know,
like you're you're like, well, I didn't see that, you know,
I'll tell you what you know, and they they there's
an art to it. There's an art to officiating, and
so like to do these all star teams in big
moment games like a Super Bowl. I just don't think
it's fair to the people who are asked to do
the officiating.

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
My thanks to Matt has Back for joining us. Remember
the entirety of that interview is available on WFRV Plus
as well as the next our digital network.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
Thanks so much for watching this The Doug Otleib Show