Best of the Bus: Matt LaFleur On Packers, Jordan Love, Vrabel stories, Ben Johnson Beef

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're starting So Yeah podcast. This interview is brought to
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(00:20):
NFL Draft where we are currently at tight End University,
the UFC, and Shane Gillis's twenty twenty five tour, and
their partners include The Boys, Paid Manning, George Kittle, Baker
Mayfield and at Smith, Shane Gillis, Post Malone, and Dustin Pourier.
We have a very special guest, just uh.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Matt Laflur coach Matt Lafleur. Thank you guys. Hey, well
you can't memorize that.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
I probably can, but when it's just sitting there, it's like,
might as well.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
You read it?

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Well, thank you?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
He got your education in Nebraska.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah, what's the end stand for knowledge?

Speaker 3 (00:53):
That's right, That's why we get it done there.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
You know, they say the same thing about Northern Michigan
University really and stands for knowledge.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Everybody everybody just trying to copy thee Yeah, to copy league.
It was funny when you were when we were talking
about halving my hand and everything. When I was in
Oakland or Vegas, my linebacker coach like every game I'm
like dapping somebody up from the other team, like on
the side during three game war whoops. And he's always like,
I feel like you could just be the mayor. I

(01:21):
feel like you know somebody everywhere we go to and
we'd have a nice little laugh about it. But I
did feel like once I got to the back end,
like it was, I was more just having the greatest
time I possibly could. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
I mean you you were afforded the availability to be
playing at the highest level you can and in the
sport you love the most. Will also not caring, and
I think that is Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
No, he carred. He cared.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
He cares so much.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
This guy had the greatest pun sets I've ever seen.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
That he needs to hear that. Braves always coaching me different,
like you know, there's some different things fundamentally that if
I was yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
If I was especial, he just slacked a little length.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yes, and Ray was it was always about the punch
and for my length in my arms, like I needed
the guy to be in a little tighter so I
could finesse him a little bit. Because if I'm just
trying to release, most guys are gonna run with me downfield,
so I need them to kind of be in my
body versus shocking them because usually I got I got
the t Rex like use length, so you got.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
You're not a great quality play, not a great that
we always look at that arm length.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Ray wouldn't even let me on Punk Return. I've talked
about it before, but I couldn't even like be on
Punk Return because they just talked about my arm lengths.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Yeah is it that?

Speaker 1 (02:39):
No, Bro, that's like it's like, you know, getting them
at the line of scrimmage. We do those one on
one Remember we do those one on ones in front
of all.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
The murdered by Keith Carter.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
But I'm saying at training camp when Ray would shut
it down and you do the one on ones, like
in front of everybody, do you do that with green Bay? No,
it's not something you do with green Bay. I just
feel like you got the blood flow going, like fuck,
you gotta.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Kind of the stress of having the team watch you
do a one on one. I don't think you could
replicate that in any other scenario.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
That a little bit more this year.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
I think it's good for competitive juices.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Okay, that's good to know.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
I do like and if you're a young guy and
you're you know you're about to be called up.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yeah, usually the like yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Some of you, but yeah you might come up to
one of those guys respond.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Because usually do one on ones. But you're always broken
up where it's stations. But when it's like the head
coach calls it up and you're he's calling out different guys,
you're sitting there in lining being like, yeah, is he
about to call my number? And you just got that
little bit of anxiety.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
A little bit. It's a lot of it. Yeah, it
is a lot. But I think the reason why you
had the relationships with everybody is your time with the Redskins,
and that's where you come into play, because that's where
the nucleague is right now, it's incredible.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Everywhere we got he was there, he was there, we
got fired.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
That is how did it not work out there with
that many brains?

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, I think it just goes to show you the
power of the player. I mean, this is a hit,
Mike blow.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
The power of the player.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah. You know, you got to have great players in
order to have success in this league. And not to
say that we didn't, I just for whatever reason, it
didn't come together. You know, we had the one good
year in twenty twelve where we won our division and
lost to Seattle and the playoffs Robert towards a c L.

(04:28):
And the next year was a complete disaster. I think
we went three and thir Remember we got just smashed
by the Kansas City Chiefs and there was a That's
when I knew it was all over.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
That's what who is it?

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Coach? Your years were done after that?

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Oh yeah yeah? And he didn't. You didn't get retained
by the I did not got you because a few
of them did.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yes, yeah, sorry, Sewan did. Yeah, Sean Raheem. There's a
couple of guys, that's right, that's right, But not many.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, not many survivors.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
That's kind of the way of our you know, it's
the way of our profession.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, how does it like does that ever eat at
you a little bit? Like knowing that this NFL stands
for not for long and you're just no.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
I do think it. I just think that if if
you're smart about it, just ups your urgency level. You know,
you gotta you gotta be urgent and everything we do,
and you can't take it for granted, even when you
you feel like you have a good team, Like to me,
that's when you have to push even more. So you
can't let anybody kind of get complacent or rest and

(05:38):
so yeah, but that's it. But it's the beauty of
our league too, just the competitiveness. I don't think the.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Hell is your head too?

Speaker 2 (05:49):
What we got up there? What kind of place are
we renting here?

Speaker 3 (05:54):
Josh Jacobs state here when he first got here.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
I know that's what Eli Kingold.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
He texted when he saw video of our specially, it
sunds like this is spyt.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
To run out of that Wisconsin well, I mean, shoot,
it's nice and convenient. Lambo's right across. It's crazy, that's
it is. It's an interesting set up here, dude.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
It's a cool town. It's like knowing that you just
kind of like drive in this small town then out
of nowhere Lambeo Field just popps. Yeah, it's kind of
the center of it all.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
You think this town revolves run the fall and then
preparing for the fall like all the other seasons. Is like,
I can't wait for August to get here.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
It's got to be nice for a head coach knowing
that there's not as many distractions.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
There's zero distractions. So like, if you can't get the
most out of somebody here, I don't think you can
do it anywhere. I love it personally because we don't
have a lot of issues with our players, and our
guys can focus on football. I know, even for me,
and I think our coaches you could say that the
same thing for I mean, you focus on your job
and your family.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah, well, Josh are telling us about your schedule. You
gotta love schedule. Wednesday is getting done at like three o'clock?

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Is it that early?

Speaker 3 (06:58):
That's what he says.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
Put it like this. He was giving you a lot
of praise. He said, if there's one thing he understands
the efficiency.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
Efficiency, well, the one that's the only thing in life
you can never get back is time. Right, So I
try to make it just expedited as best we can.
And and I don't want to drag the days out.
I want our guys to get in get their work
in and then get out, go recovery, do what you

(07:25):
got to do. But there is an expectation. I expect
these guys when they go home that they're not just
shutting it off. That if, however, you've got to prepare
to get yourself to get ready for the next day.
That's the expectation. So you do put a lot of
onus on the players.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
If you were in a spot like l A or
Las Vegas, do you think you'd make the days a
little bit longer because of all the distinations?

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Right, probably we're.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
Gonna do good to Buffalo will Wings like we had
it last night.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
So beat ups is open right now?

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, okay, so run.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
You've been around a lot of amazing coaches. Which coach
do you feel like you've gotten the most from as.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Far as Yeah, there's been too many good ones, you know,
from from Mike Shanahan just the attention to detail and
I mean that guy could his focus was on another level.
To Kyle just he's never happy with anything. But I
think that that makes you better at what you do.

(08:29):
I mean, there's you always feel that that urgency, that
pressure too, and you better think things through before you
bring him an idea, otherwise you're probably going to get
your face ripped off to Sean. Sean was great with accountability.
Dan Quinn just kind of like our culture and in
our environment a lot with shape from just being around

(08:52):
him and making it a place where people enjoy going
to work. And so I think you take something from everybody.
Vrabel was was good to. I mean, he's going to
put the most on the best players on the team,
and you guys know that, and he's going to demand
the most out out of the best. And so I

(09:14):
think you learned from from everybody.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
I want to get I wanted I want you to
tell the story of the locker room at halftime with Taylor.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, this is against the Jets, right, I think it
was the Jets game.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
They tried to bench Quentin Spain, and I was so
mad because Spain was hurt or might have been hurt
or thinking about being hurt. He had something going on.
But there was no other guard. And I was obviously
Spain at least at the very least trusted me, and
I could trust Spain to do the things I needed
him to do. So Keith went to Rabel and was like,

(09:50):
we got to get spain out of here, he's not
playing well, blah blah blah blah. And then I went
in and I think I called Keith Cardar tattletale, which
if looking back, looking use different Burbidge. I walked out,
you're a fucking tattletale. There's no way to say tattletale.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
In a cool way.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
And he's like, would you say I remember Mike Sullivan
like pulled me out, and then yeah, Ravee came in
and I was like, Spae's not playing a must not playing.
He's then you're not playing Vrabel. He's like, then you're
not playing and then we got into it.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
But yeah, you guys were nose to nose, and I
remember I stepped in the middle. I'm like, guys, guys, guys,
and I gotta shut the fuck up Matt And I said, yes, sir,
and I just went back at the board got there.
I just got I mean, I was, I mean, look
at me compared to the size of these two guys,
Are you kidding, guys, guys, shut the fuck.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
Up, Matt Is.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
They ended up putting Ben in a guard and I
don't think ever like passed off games better than my
entire life with somebody like Ben was incredible at guard.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
And I can't even remember the detail of that or
why why you guys were going nose and nose, But
I do remember we won the game in overtime. Are
right before overtime? We're getting our ass kicked in that game?
We won't at the the end of the game.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
Yeah, I started off that game with like a penalty
I think in the first series, like got mode over
one time. It was like a bad start to the game.
And then we started to catch a little groove. Yeah,
but it was it was just turbulent times.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Obviously.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
I don't like he, I didn't like I wasn't a
fan of Keith, and there was just like a bunch
of other things you Keith, I do I love that
for you guys, man, I don't. Yeah, I don't want
to sit here just like be like demonstraship about Keith,
because I'm sure he does have good qualities off the field,
no doubt about it. But your time in Tennessee, Like,
are you running the same offense as you did in Tennessee?

Speaker 2 (11:34):
No, I'd say it's I mean, you're ever evolving, right, yeah,
but you're still in liketro and absolutely the core principles
stay the same. A lot of the techniques and fundamentals
that we coach are very similar. I think the philosophy around,
you know, your offensive game plan of trying to marry
up plays, trying to have the passing game be an

(11:56):
extension of the run game, and vice versa. I think
all that is stayed the same, but certainly you got
to adapt to your personnel number one, and I always
try to try to see the game through the eyes
of the quarterback and try to figure out what he
does well along with the other ten men around him.
So that's how you try to implement your system.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
Do you remember that first OTAs in twenty eighteen or
that much of a shit show it was?

Speaker 2 (12:24):
Yeah, I remember we got our ass kicked. We had
a bad practice, and it was doomsday around the building,
and I was like, oh my god, I hope we
never lose a game.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
As we went from just speaking from an office line perspective,
we were running like only DAP scheme and only inside zone,
so there was no like running off the ball techniques.
You guys came in and started implementing these techniques that
I've never done before. A lot of guys had never
done before. So I remember the first day like, oh, hey,
we're gonna run nineteen Wanda. I'm going towards the outside
shoulder of the defensive end and Brian Ripo just goes

(12:57):
right inside immediately cause I sprint was right, so immediately
get to TF. I'm thinking myself, this is we're gonna
this is terrible. I hate this and it ended up
being by the end of I was like, this is
the greatest offensive scheme ever.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
Well good, I'm glad you came around.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
Yeah, because it really became like my Obviously I like.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
Even your strength because you're super athletic.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yeah, and then once like once a lot more.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Then the guys sitting next to you. Damn, just you look.
I know, you look great in that fifty one in
the green and gold.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
And get some positivity.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, but that I I love that offense. I love it,
the Wanda, all of it. Yeah, just sprending off the
ball to cut offs like it became my favorite thing.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
But everything has to tie in together. The back's path,
with the old line, the quarterback, everybody has a responsibility.
You know, we're gonna demand that the wide receivers block
and I think that's one thing that I'm really proud
of with our group is they're they're going to go battle.
They're going to fight their ass off on every play.
And I don't think you see that, you know, from

(14:10):
every team around the league?

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Uh, can you? When you talked to when we were
talking to Josh last night, he also brought up a
conversation he had with Malik Willis. But it seems like
a constant when you talk to your players, is you
know how to teach the game? How did that start
to develop for you in when you are like delivering
the ins and outs of a play, Because I feel
like every player talks about how well you coach the

(14:32):
game and teach like the game within the game to
where the guys understand it. Because Malik Willis, like, what
was that early in the season, Week three or four?
He just showed up and you guys pulling off an upset.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
Well, you guys got him.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
We start he started week two versus Indy and he
had been here I think nineteen days, yeah to that
point before he started a game, and now it was
a We didn't try to put too much on his plate.
I mean, you can't when a guy's been here for
three weeks, and so he leaned on our run game
heavily and we had a great The first half was
we were killing it rushing the football. We had over

(15:06):
two hundred yards rushing in the first half, but kind
of slowed down after that quite a bit. But he
made some big time plays late in the game that
allowed us to win that game. And then the next
week it was the Malik Willis Revenge Tour going down
to Tennessee. And you know, I bet so much money
in the Titans that game, did you?

Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (15:24):
I did, because I felt pretty confident going into that game.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
Did you really? I did see Malik Like I had
the chance to play with Malik for a little bit, sure,
and the thing that I noticed was like he just
wasn't grasping the playbook and so he would do the
wrong cans or you know, he wouldn't understand like when
the safety's move, that's when you have to go to
the opposite away, all these.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
Different What year was that though? From this is his
rookie year.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah, yeah, but it would give the guy some grace.
But you just go off of what you know, right,
So I was like, oh, if this kid's coming in
he busted I mean they ran the ball a lot
against Indy this game to have a whole uh, they
have all this film on him now, or at least
one week of film like this is where it ends.
And I thought the Titans would get going at some
point and they never got going.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
That picked six by Jay or it certainly helped helped
our cause remember the first play of the game, you know,
just knowing that we ran the ball forty some odd
times versus Indy, that everybody was going to be geared
up for a run. So we faked a little toss
and hit Jay Reid out the back, the backside for

(16:27):
like a thirty yard game. It was great.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
Yeah, it's a little smile yeah about it?

Speaker 3 (16:34):
How is that the first fifteen? Like how much how
often do coaches overthink the first fifteen plays of the game.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Well, I know for myself that first fifteen has really grown,
so it's really like a first twenty five. Now you
never just rip it off. But what it does is
so for myself, I do this on Friday evening. Friday
is actually a long day for for me to kind

(17:01):
of like really think about the plays that I absolutely
want to get called, and then I get them to
our players on Saturday, and I think it gives them
an idea of Okay, I better be on point with
these twenty five plays that have a pretty good chance
at some point in the game, these plays are going
to get called. So it really it takes the game

(17:22):
plan and kind of shrinks it a little bit. And
I think what we felt it's been beneficial for our players.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
With that process. Are you looking at these twenty five
and is in your minds are these in order?

Speaker 1 (17:33):
Like in a.

Speaker 3 (17:34):
Perfect world where you're playing the most, you're calling the
perfect game, the guys are doing exactly what you want
them to do. Is that one, two, three, four, five, six,
all the way down to twenty five like in order
in your ease?

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah, I don't think it rarely goes like that, to
be honest with you, because the first fifteen or twenty
five are, however many somebody does, those are really just
non situational plays. Those are normal ball that's first down
first and ten that's second and medium to second and short.
It's never really third down calls. It's not the red zone,

(18:05):
it's not backed up, So you got a whole separate
area for those types of plays. But yeah, I would
say if you're if you're just ripping them off the top,
you're you're staying on schedule, and you're you're doing pretty well.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
How much is how much is it a chess match?
During a game when you're calling like how like? Essentially
the game to me is like the OC versus the DC, right,
and then you have all your pawns on the chessboard
playing like how much is it? You're seeing what they're doing,
you're reacting, they're reacting to you, and it's like a
back and forth with like.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Yeah, I think there's a lot of that, But at
the same time, it's you know, if I got a
guy that's better than your guy, there's a good chance
no matter what I call, that play is gonna work.
That's a fair point.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
And you know, you know he's got the you know,
he's thinking it's a chess match the entire time. Like
you look at his his bald fad he's got going on.
He's gonna be checking this.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
We see your bad.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
Okay, I need to get some product, little hat head,
Little hatthead, he showered today. Last night, okay last night.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
Long term, there's been a lot of conversations about this bus,
about showering lately.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
Visit are you somebody who has to shower every time
you travel at the end of the day.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
More than likely, yes, he says more than.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
Likely, more than likely, more than he says more than likely.
So last week we were at we're in Michigan.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
And where we're at Michigan, Okay.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
We're at the College for spring Ball Washington.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
We had to work out did he do any one
on ones? He kind of bout out, he kind of
I may or may not have seen a one on
one rep at the University of Org.

Speaker 3 (19:59):
You you get down if you're a coach scouting that
there is.

Speaker 2 (20:02):
Nothing to break down those I mean his ankles. He
definitely got his ankles, Bro's and ankles.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
See, the problem for me was just like, let the
very least make a reaction, like guess, even if you
guess wrong.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Well, we talked about because he told me he knew
he was gonna take away the inside said this conversation.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, when we were setting up the interview, it was like, hey,
I saw that one on one rep. We were laughing
about it. He's like, why don't you just guess to
the inside. I was like, I'm telling you, Bro, That's
what I was telling the boys right before. I'm like,
the cameras are going to be on. I'm talking to
JP stating there, the cameras are going to be on.
This kid is gonna want to cross my face. He's
gonna want to play, is right?

Speaker 2 (20:43):
Come on?

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Man?

Speaker 2 (20:44):
The body just didn't react, didn't react him almost grabbing
him just a little bit and already reacting.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
It is so tough, but.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Made me laugh. Though you did.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
I'm glad I gave you some entertainment.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
It was a lot. It was very entertaining.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
When we were seeing the locker room before he did
that one on one, I really thought, like, Will's gonna
get him, Will's gonna I started to believe it when
he was putting the patch.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
I'm sure he was.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
I'm dropping quotes, I'm sniffing the smelling sauce, like six
smelling salts.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
In a in a bottle of water, bottle of water.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
We're just like pumping it.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
I'm doing it too. I want to be a part
of the vibe. He's yelling at some security guard. Made
your heart turn black. And the guy's like, what the fuck.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
Is going on? Children?

Speaker 3 (21:36):
He runs out. I'm like this Ude's about to show
that he still got it.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
That was a very humb moment.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
Huh yeah, Yeah. I thought I was going to take
the young buck, and I was like, man, I's telling
Coach Landing. I was like, I hate to end your
running backs career right here. He can't get beat by
this thirty five year old in Missouri on Missouri.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
Yeah, God, it's tough to know when it's over. What
do you look at yourself in the mirror and be like,
once upon a time I could do X, Y and Z,
but now I can't.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, what was that like for you?

Speaker 2 (22:03):
Okay, here we go.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
Everybody loves outlaws like that.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
You he tagged my athleticism. Let's talk about when yours ended.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
Well, I'm like the line from Rudy. I'm five ft nothing,
one hundred and nothing. So I just I didn't have
the same opportunities. I don't think.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
All right, So you're blaming you're blaming on miserable.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
I'm just saying that you're blaming God, blaming God. I'm
blaming my mom messed up.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
A guy like You're in Target and some guy comes
up to you. Man, if I was your i'd be
a PROBA player.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
You know, he says it to everybody.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
In practice, he's thinking to himself, Man, if you know when.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
I was getting recruited in college, everybody would tell me
that if you were six to everybody in the country
be recruiting you. And I'm like, well, I'm not, so
you were?

Speaker 1 (22:55):
Were you a beast in high school? Like like that
he was student?

Speaker 2 (23:00):
I was. I would say I was a good high
school player. I mean I was good enough to play
in Division two football. I walked on at Western Michigan
and realized that it was going to be a lot
of years sitting there before and if that day would
ever come to to get on the field. I actually
was playing receiver at Western. We had when I was leaving,
Greg Jennings was coming in, so I would have I

(23:24):
would approbad.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Then what was the experience? Like you said, people bring
up the Omaha beef Like.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
I was on Dan Patrick yesterday he brought it up.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
Oh did he really? Yeah, that'd beef?

Speaker 1 (23:36):
Like what is how long did you play there?

Speaker 2 (23:38):
I mean, honestly it was so. I was a grad
assistant at Central Michigan and I can't believe they actually
let me leave. Like in today's world, that never would
have happened. But I got a phone call saying, hey,
you want to come play for the summer for this
indoor football team in Oman, And I was like, all right,
I'll check receiver. No, I was quarterback, so you obviously

(24:03):
haven't done your research on me.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
Well, yeah, that's all right, we get to learn.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, it's a good pod. So I played quarterback at
when I transferred from Western too Sagona Valley. I ended
up playing quarterback for three years there. But so I
go to Omaha, and you know I really would I
wasn't even the starter there. I just had gone into
a couple of games and did did pretty well. And
that's I only played a couple of games there though,

(24:29):
So it was a very The next year, the Billings
Outlaws called and I went out there, and this was insane.
So I went to a team who the court, the
starting quarterback was also the play caller. Well, he tore
his ACL so he couldn't play, and he had played
in a game against me the year before and I

(24:50):
did pretty well in it and wanted me to come out.
The team I went to was undefeated and I get
there and I throw four picks and I thought I
was going to get my ass kicked. After the game,
everybody's looking at me. I'd been there like for two days,
and I thought these guys were going to fuck me up.
So it was a pretty intense deal. And the next week,

(25:11):
ironically enough, we went and played in Omaha and ended
up went in like uh an I f L player
of the Week.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
No ship.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
I mean, so, but why were they? Why was there
for four weeks? And I was like, I got to
get out of here. It was just kind of a
renegade league. There were these were there were some talented
guys in that league, but there was a lot of
reasons they didn't play in Probably the biggest of stages.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
I mean in Nashville is this this team called the
Nashville Cats, and they're just at lipscumb right now training
and I see like these offensive linemen that have like
gray in their hair. I'm thinking, what are you all chasing?

Speaker 2 (25:51):
Yeah, you're well, I did it. I did it for
two summers. And I was like, all right, I'm I'm
full time coach.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
Yeah, why were they? Why is there by taking it
so serious? And where they wanted to whoop your ass
when you were just there two days like, how much
are you guys getting paid?

Speaker 2 (26:07):
Oh, like I think I got five hundred bucks. It
was like two fifty plus.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
You know, you know he's not getting rehab incentives. Yeah, yeah,
you know the quarterback, he just tore his acl and
he just hasn't He's got like a brace stack of bills.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
No, I was just hanging onto the dream.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
Hanging on into the dream. Yeah, you obviously just hearing
your You grew up your entire life loving football.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
My dad was a coach and at Central Michigan University,
and so I've been around the game my whole life.
And my grandfather, my mom's dad, was a high school coach.
So just grew up around football and just loved it.
It was all about it, all about it.

Speaker 3 (26:45):
And so when you're at like the Billings Outlaws and
you're like kind of bouncing around on your sackingaw, you
get fired from Washington, and then you had a point
where you were at the Falcons right quarterback coach, and
then you went to Notre Dame for a year.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Well, so we get fired from Washington and I well,
I mean, you talk about the loneliest time of your
life when you have no idea what you're going to
do next, and I've got two young kids and my wife.
But had I worked for Brian Kelly at Central Muscian
University and it was lucky and fortunate enough to go there.

(27:18):
So I spent the fourteen season at Notre Dame and
then Kyle in the meantime was going to go with
dan Quinn to Atlanta. And he called me up and
he was leaving Cleveland and that debacle that he had there.
My brother was actually working for him, and he called
me up and he's like, hey, I want you to
come to Atlanta. I was like, dude, I got a

(27:39):
great job. I was like, my brother's out of a
job because you guys are leaving Cleveland. I said, I'm
not taking that job if he can't get a job,
and he goes, I'm going to get you both. So
what a cool opportunity for me to go work with
my brother in Atlanta. And the first year was a
little rough because Kyle's pretty hard on his coaches in

(27:59):
a good way because I think it prepares you and
it brings out the best in you. But he was
hard on my brother and I was probably twice as
hard as my brother. So there was some some rough
moments in there in twenty fifteen.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
What are those? You got to have some stories with,
like whether it's a text after a game or a
group chat, like these coaches that you've grown and they're
all in their own head coaching roles or the coordinator roles,
Like after a game when you get one on Shanahan mcveay,
your brother, there has to be some.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
Type of communication right there is like you know, maybe
just like my brother is a guy that I'm going
to talk to after every game, win or lose. But
there's some games when, like when you lose a game,
it's a pretty miserable feeling, as you guys both know.
Because what people don't, I don't think really can understand
is how much time and effort and energy go into

(28:51):
a three hour window and like your all your work
is on display, and no matter how you prepared that week,
whether you had the best week of preparation or the worst,
all they care about is the outcome. So I think
like it's emotional right when you lose a game and
you're you're pissed off because you put so much time
into it. And so there's some games when we lose,

(29:16):
I don't want to talk to anybody, and I don't.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
Throw you a little just a nice little condescending jab
like having fun, like yeah, you thought like he just
he goes in, he goes into La beats McVeigh and
he just shoots McVeagh a message.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
No, no, they know they're on the bus.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
Afterwards, ayah, you thought great to see you. Yeah, hey
you said this in the press this week, that work
out material.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
There's none of that.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
I've never had an exchange like that with with anybody
close down.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
I mean, you might have some of those conversations amongst
your staff, but not none with the competitive I don't
think so. It's kind of what's that kind of bush league?

Speaker 1 (29:59):
It was like for you if I was a head
coach and I beat you, I feel like I throw
you something, Yeah, like maybe shoot you the eyes of Moji.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
Yeah, hey, not bad.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
Huh.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
That's why that that's what almost led to the from
what I heard, the hardballs Schwartz. Remember that interaction, Yeah,
the handshaking, the slop on the back, that's right, Jim, right, Yeah,
remember when Schwartz ran him down.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Have you had an aggressive exchange postgame with a coach?

Speaker 2 (30:29):
I wouldn't say aggressive, but there's been some I would say,
contentious moments where you know.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
You want to say names.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
No, Yeah, I was gonna say, yeah, that was a
bad deal. The pregame with a fan is a bad deal.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Yeah, what what happened there? I mean that was a
pretty that was going around the internet.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah, I would imagine there was after this fan. Well,
it's just so this guy was walking, you know, like
usually there's some healthy banner sometimes with some of those
guys that are holding the flag getting ready for the
national anthem, and I mean this guy's like throat slashing
our players. And I could see our bunch of our
players getting worked up, and I'm like, what that this

(31:12):
guy's in our space. It's different when it's coming from
the stands, right and got You expect that people are
going to talk. You're you're in enemy territory. You know
they're going to talk, trash you. You don't even hear
that noise, it's just noise. But when you're in our space,
on our field and you're doing this in front of
our guys and riling them up. I got a problem

(31:34):
with that. So I said something. He said something back,
and I was like, is this really happening right now
as we're walking towards each other. So it was just
one of those.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
Are you thinking at any point I might have to swing?

Speaker 2 (31:48):
I didn't know what was going to happen, to be
honest with you, Yeah, but I got to give the
officials a lot of credit. One of the officials came
in and just kind of side checked the guy pretty
pretty good. I was pretty impressed. But it's it should
never happen. It should never happen, And like you know,
you always reflect on what you could have done that differently.

(32:09):
It Preace would have just ignored it, but you know,
the heat of the battle.

Speaker 3 (32:13):
Yeah, but if you're talking about you spend a whole
week preparing, getting the guys ready. You're looking to your
your top twenty five plays, you're bringing to the guys
on Saturday. You're giving a speech. Now you're setting up
everyone's anxiety to the roof the peak. Anxiety is always
a national anthem. You're wondering, am I is this the
day I finally get got Your confidence is high low,
all these different things, and then you got some guy

(32:33):
who has the luxury of holding our nation's flag for
the national anthem, and he's doing a bunch of shit.
I'm sure, Like logically, it's like you handled it fine, well,
appreciate shut up, Like obviously you take all those things you.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
Put tattletale, How crazy is that? Were you there for that?

Speaker 3 (32:51):
Did you hear that part? The tattletoe thing?

Speaker 2 (32:55):
We just talked about it.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
I know, but I'm saying, were you in the room
when that happened?

Speaker 2 (32:58):
I can't remember that civic card. No, no, we're having
a moment. No, no, hey he said that.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
I was like, oh, ship, we got and we didn't
start the play.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
If I told if I told the Tetale story, no, no,
no cespn I was, so I jumped to were you
in the room when that happened? I was reflecting back
on the beginners.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
I think I was focused on trying to like just
get a first down at that point, and I saw
the commotion.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
Yeah, the commotion. From a coaching standpoint, you talk about
the week and the process it takes. I feel like
every year of a couple of years, there's always one
game where the coaches come in the next week and
they're like, I knew this was going to happen because
there a lack of preparation. The week before, like you
lose a game and it's like you could tell the
boys weren't focused up. How do you work through the

(33:51):
process when you see maybe your team is in as
focused as you liked to be going into a week.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
Well, you try to get in front of that if
if you feel it some type of way in the moment,
I'm gonna I'm gonna say it like hey man, we
better lock in or we're about to get our ass beat.
So you try to stay in front of it. But
I've also experienced when I don't think we've had the
cleanest of practices where we've gone out and had a

(34:20):
kick ass game, and vice versa where we've had great
practices and we go out there and land eggs. So
you know, you try to take it for what is
what it is and just hope our guys are balling
on Sundays.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
We were trying to get some some pregame speeches out
of Josh last night, but he was saying, you play
to your strengths. Well, like you have your words, you
have your things that you hit them before the game,
but then you kind of let the players say whatever
they need to say because we're trying to be like,
how's this speech game? How's his motivational speeches? He did
say you spit fire after you guys win games. All right,
he said, you always got some nice bars when you

(34:55):
come in the locker room and you say whatever you say.
But he was giving you some flowers. Okay, we're looking
for some funny moments.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
But because yeah, I think I'm more a little bit
more serious probably, And I mean, you guys have been
around me, won't you say so?

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Yeah? But you as the head coach, I haven't been
around it. Some some guys go. Some guys like flip
a different switch when they go from coordinator position coach
and then one day.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
Yeah, I feel like the NFL too. I've never really
been around coaches that like get the boys hyped up.
It's more like, you know, this is a job, this
is your process, Like these are the keys to victory.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
Onward, John Grude will get your pits hot?

Speaker 3 (35:30):
Really yeah, because Rabel the coolest thing. Yeah See, I
had a high school head coach, Charlie Ragel, who would
literally make you run through a fucking wall with a speech.
But after that it was kind of just like you
go play the game and play well, that's what we
do here? Fuck, all right, guess that's what we're doing.
What was it like for you calling places for the

(35:51):
first time, the first time, having a shoot in your hand?
The game is yours, it's your chessboard.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Well, the first time, I want to say, the first
time I ever called plays was in the stadium here. Yeah,
Sean had me it was back in It would have
been twenty seventeen with the Rams. It was a preseason game.
He's like, all right, you're calling it today. I was like,
all right, And it was a fun experience. That's in

(36:20):
the National Football League. I had called plays, you know,
at Ashland University back in the day, but in the
National Football League, I think it was right here. And
then I want to say that our year together in
twenty eighteen, didn't we open up the preseason here as well? Yeah,
so it's kind of ironic how it all comes full circle. Yeah,

(36:43):
but that first year in twenty eighteen of really especially
you get into the regular season, I realized quickly it
can be a lonely world, especially when sh ain't going right.
Do you remember the Baltimore Raven game and we got
absolutely trashed something like that. Yeah, it was eleven Okay,

(37:04):
we had like one hundred and twenty yards or I
don't even know. That might be generous of total offense.
And the whole stadium is booing your offense every time
you go out on the field and lonely man, it's
it's a I'm like, hey, is anybody got any suggestions?
And it's straight crickets on the headset.

Speaker 3 (37:22):
When you know, except for those guys here in the
anybody got suggestions?

Speaker 2 (37:26):
Yeah, well, I'm just saying nothing's working, so does somebody
else have a better idea? And that that that kind
of happens naturally in games. It's it's funny, you know,
when things are really rolling, everybody has an idea, but
when things aren't going good, it's crickets. Yeah, So like.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
Shit, I'll not put my ass on the line right.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
When games gets games like the Ravens games aren't going well,
At what point do you just say, hey, let's pack
it in, We're going to run the ball and get
out of here.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
I just don't have that mentality, really. I mean, don't
get me wrong, there's been games, especially I know here,
where you're like, you know, the game is over and
you just don't want to get anybody hurt, so you
do kind of resort to that. But you know, I
also think that there's sometimes if you're getting your butt

(38:18):
whipped and you want to get some momentum to try
to get something going maybe for the next week, so
maybe the guys give the boys a little confidence.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
Yeah, this in football, it's such a relationships driven business,
but also at the end of the day, it is
just a business with your journey and coaching. Would have
been a couple of conversations that have been the hardest
to have, whether you've gotten fired and been caught off
guard about it from somebody that you didn't think it
would come from, or maybe you're leaving a situation and

(38:52):
you're going into that you're going into that the coach's
office to tell him, or you've even let somebody go
as a head coach, like would have been a couple
of your hardest moments or conversations with somebody, or even
again you might be on the receiving end. But I
would love to know because we have a head coach
on and I'm always curious because you know how it

(39:13):
is like when you get cut and you might be blindsided.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Well, I don't know. I don't know. I never played
in the.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
N I'm saying getting fired, it's like getting fired, yeah, right,
like everybody gets fired. So and sometimes it comes out
of nowhere, or sometimes you're having a conversation with somebody,
whether you're getting benched, and it comes out of nowhere,
and you feel a little slighted and bitter because of
the relationship you feel like you have. But and it's
hard to compartmentalize and separate the business from the relationship
at times. But I would love to know as a

(39:38):
head coach and knowing that you've been in a lot
of different spots there with friends too.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Yeah, And that's that's the danger is when you go
through something together, especially something hard together, you form a
bond with somebody and then at some point that comes
to end and end for all players and for me
when I have to let go of coaches that guys
that have poured everything into it and for whatever reason

(40:04):
it doesn't work out. And that it's always the danger
of hiring people that are close to you as well.
I mean, I mean this well known I let Joe
Barry go, who's a very dear friend of mine, and
that that was like one of the toughest conversations I've
ever had with somebody.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
So how do you even prepare for that? Like it's
like you can't sit.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Here, he could give you any You can't prepare for it.
You just you just That's why you just got to
tell people the truth and whatever happens happens, but at
least your truth how you see it. And that's why
I just think you've got to be honest with people.
And it happens with players. When you have, especially veteran players,

(40:48):
you might maybe aren't performing to the level that you
feel like they should be performing at and you're going
to make a change and set them down. And I
mean those are those are off conversations, but conversations that
you absolutely have to have that you can't avoid.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
Has any conversation with sideways, You don't have to say names,
but if you have, is there any sideways? Yeah, we're
a conversation.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
Yeah, there's been a few.

Speaker 3 (41:13):
Really, Oh yeah, standing up, getting your face a little bit.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Oh yeah. I've had a player a couple of years back.
It was just him and I and this is before
we had we renovated our offense offices and we're in
a different spot at the stadium now, But I mean
we're in this center block room. I thought he's gonna
whip my ass and there was nobody around, so I

(41:39):
was just like, oh, well here here it goes. Guys,
this is this is the end, This is it, this
is it, and you just try to de escalate the situation.
But sometimes there's no getting through. And it was one
of those situations. So but I'm still here today, so
I lived to tell about it. He put his hands

(42:00):
on you, it was I thought it might go down,
but that didn't.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Does he get there because he's like, you say, we're
going to want ever let you go, and he's just like, no, you're.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
Not show Definitely, I would say everyone's a little bit different,
but yeah, there's.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
You.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
Just the one thing I've learned, the more you can
take emotion out of any conflict, and you can use
this in your personal lives as well, like I know
with my wife, the more I can take the emotion
out of it, usually the better the conversation goes.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
Yeah, that advice, but sometimes they want the emotion. They're like, hey,
what are you feeling well? So maybe you want the emotion.

Speaker 3 (42:50):
Maybe you did something you want to talk about.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
I guess I'm feeling shame.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Why.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
I'm just trying to think of the words, the seven
words feelings, seven emotions that you can feel. But there
his tres value in you know they're like, oh, confusion,
that's not a feeling, that's a thought. I hate that.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
That's deep.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
Yeah, getting cuts not fun. How times were you cut?

Speaker 1 (43:18):
That's the squad Titans Raiders three. That's not bad.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
I think as you were almost on every team, I feel.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Like it has more. Yeah, well, it's like he was
almost a green Bay packer.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
Bro Was he actually almost Green Bay packer? You guys
brought up his get brought up in a meeting room.

Speaker 2 (43:49):
Yeah, we talked about him.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
Man, it was Lafleur's first year.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
I had I had no I had no sea.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
He had no he he couldn't swing to bat, but
he wanted to. I don't know how much it happened,
but I think you're one to like he's you were saying,
this is when I ended up going to the Saints
in Oakland that year, But he wanted to go into
a meeting. I think pitch a few veterans. It was
like myself, I think Chris Thompson, if I can remember correctly.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
It's amazing what people do remember though, right because I
wanted this and sometimes they remember a little bit different
than you remember. But you don't remember that way. Wow,
I mean that was a long time ago.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
Text me.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
That's Mad's way of saying, no, he does not remember.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
Well. He can even say like, I mean he already
said like it wasn't close, like even when I was
going and worked out with the Saints and ended up
signing with the Saints because Ko was here, like it
was just set up that was it would have been
lovely for the boy, and.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
It would have been great because I know he's he's
about the right stuff.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
That's that's it seems like the Will Compton, like every
coach you talked to, it's been to come across school
confidence like that.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
Is the guy, because otherwise he wouldn't have lasted as
long as he lasted if you wouldn't have been about
the right compliment.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
But no, he's right.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
But that's it's like I told you earlier. Sometimes you
know you just got to go with the truth.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Ye yes, yeah, that's something. I'm proud of it that
he doesn't feel like a backhanded compliment.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
Okay, you should be proud of it. Yeah, yeah, I
played a long time in this leep. Was it almost ten?

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Almost ten? Almost ten?

Speaker 3 (45:24):
Some argue eight.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
Prable argues eight because he doesn't give me the practice
squad or he says the first year was a practice
squad year. I was like, bro, the last game of
the season. This was in thirteen. Yeah, when we were
at New York was London Fletcher's last game. I got
the backup London Fletcher for his final game of all time.
But that's when I got to I was on the
active roster for one game recorded once that got one
tackle and kickoff. So I am in the books for

(45:47):
that rookie year. Now if you go by the credited
and everything else, like yeah, I mean.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
I gotta give it to a practice squad. To me,
that counts. I'm counting it.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
Count he see. Yeah, up all the time with Jordan
Reed it was brutal.

Speaker 3 (46:03):
So wait, does it actually in the in the real
world does that You got the credited season though.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
Right, So since I'm vested, they count your practice squad year.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
Okay, I bet you know. I don't want to bring
will and I got into a whole thing. I was
making a joke one time about eight things got a
little fiery, and I started basically did all the things
he just said to you, but in a very demonstrative way. Understandably,
I was trying to poke the bear a little bit.
But right then and there, I was like, I don't
know if so, does it actually count it?

Speaker 1 (46:27):
So the moment you get vested like it was four years. Yeah,
once you get four years, then they go back and
count one practice squad year. So say I had two
practice squad years, like Lorenzo Alexander was somebody he played
like fourteen years and he started off to practice squad years.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
They only give they only give credit for well, they only.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
Give you credit for one.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
Have you ever been in a situation the kind of
like Will was and where coaches are kind of being like,
I need to get this guy three games to get
him a credit and season. Have you ever had a
sip with your guy where were like, all right, we'll
get him dialed or we'll give him a shot. We'll
see if we can make.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
It work for three weeks, not not too many, no.

Speaker 3 (47:02):
No, but it's come across once in a while.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
That's how it was with Pisacia but we'll never you know,
we were always going to do what's best for the team,
so as you.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
Should love everybody.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
No, I know. Yeah, It's like even when we were
trying to get year ten to happen, it was like
I was telling her, you just give me three weeks.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
I guess.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
But what how I was going to finish his thing off?
How I wasn't close to becoming a packer, Like even
when the Saints came in the hotel room and they
gave me the contract to sign and had me mulled
over for that night, because I remember being on the
phone with you too, called my wife called you guys,
I low key, I was like kind of struggling if
I even wanted to do it.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
But I remember calling broke some conversations.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
I swear to God, I will get on a plane
right now and go to Green Bay and play for
you guys, if if I can get it off, if
we can get it off from the table, or if
you can do anything like seeing.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
I think I straight up with you, Yeah, you.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
Were, You're like, man, it's not gonna happen. You need
to you need to go ahead and take that, Like
is just not a whole lot that I'm able to do.
But yeah, I was one too.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
I was trying hard to get number fifty one. What
could have been did he did you that conversation?

Speaker 3 (48:08):
Like immediately like what he called you? Did you know
what was coming?

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Or was he yeah? Blinds we were in communication training.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
Camp, but hey, you in shape?

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (48:17):
Okay, so there was you didn't blindside him with the conversation.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
That was just no, yeah, yeah, yeah, like we were.
I think we got on the phone and we were again,
are you in shape? And stuff like that. He might
have wanted to pitch a few veterans in a meeting
that was coming up, and then I would check in
either through him or Ko and like, Hey, what's the
what's the skinny? Ko be like, man, I don't even
go out to the workouts. And then when the same
thing happened, I was like, so are you sure nothing

(48:40):
can shape up with the Green Bay Packers? He's like nah, Man,
I would have been I kind of selfishly want you,
but yeah, working out. It would have been fun.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
Talk to me about your process of getting this job,
because we I don't know how much you were to
talk about what we were talking about before the podcast
started twenty eighteen year with the Titians and then all
of a sudden, it's like you're You're with the Packers.
And it was like I remember myself thinking like, damn,
I was bummed out that you were gone. I ended
up being happy because.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
Yeah, Art, Yeah, they Drap's made a great decision in
promoting Art. Yeah. It was one of those deals where
I got a call after the season. If you remember right,
we had a play in game to make the playoffs,
unfortunately against the Colts and it didn't go our way.
But I got a call that I was going to

(49:30):
interview for this job, and I knew I was the
last interview and I was like, all right, well, shoot,
I got nothing to lose, and I'm pretty I'm pretty
hard on myself anyways, and I went through the interview process.
Matter of fact, the Packers flew up to Nashville. I
had the interview at a hotel in Nashville, and I

(49:50):
called my wife right after and she's like, well, how
to go? And I was like, I think it went
pretty well, and she says that's the moment she thought like,
oh no, here we go. The next day, I get
a phone call from Aaron Rodgers and I'm like, that's interesting,
And I was actually thinking that it would be lead

(50:11):
to the second round of interviews, being that I've never
really been up here. But they called me later that
afternoon and offered me the job, and it was. It
was a pretty unbelievable moment in my life, one that
I'll never forget.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
What was that conversation like with Aaron Rodgers? Like did
it did you have his number saving your phone or
did this come up like a random number?

Speaker 1 (50:36):
No, who's it? I had?

Speaker 2 (50:38):
They had given me a heads up that Aaron was
probably going to be calling me at some point. He
called me, We talked for like, I don't know, forty
minutes or whatever, and it was. It was a great conversation. Obviously,
it went well enough where I think I'm sure he
reported back and said that we had a great conversation
and the rest is history.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
How was that process like the conversation with the Titans,
Like when you're interviewing or looking to take on a
different job.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
I was pretty easy. I'm saying, hey, guys, I'm I'm
leaving to be the head coach of the Green Bay Packers.
I think everybody understood that, So, yeah, it was. It was.
It was a very easy conversation, and I'm sure there
were some people in that building that were glad that
I was leaving too.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
Makes it easier.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
Yeah, God, I wish we would dip into that more.
What the just the coaches that that that inside ball
of the Titans and all that stuff that went down.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
Yeah, it's like it's like the bureaucracy's everywhere, right, like everybody,
there's going to be haters on the inside. The little
I always loved how Ray would say, it's a loser talk.
You get guys get into their clicks, losers start talking
about the negative, YadA, YadA, YadA.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
I feel like that's like, you know what my favorite
time with the Titans was. That was when Will Compton
did Mike Frable and the team meeting Halloween. That was
it was so spot on. It was unbelievable and.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
It couldn't have come at a perfect time.

Speaker 2 (52:03):
Because and I want to know who recorded that, Darren Bates, Oh, I.

Speaker 1 (52:07):
Think it was Betsy Yeah, I think it was dB
Iraq pos Usually that.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
Is kind of a rack, you know, you don't film
those those types of meetings.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
Yeah, but I think we knew going into it. I
think rack or dB or somebody was saying, hell, they
were going to get recorded. Yeah, because I was nervous
like that. Yeah, because Wesley Woodre was kind of be like,
I don't know if you should do it, Like guys
could get like cutover stuff like this. Like he I
guess he had an experience maybe in Denver. It's where
somebody might have did something for the rookie. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
I didn't think it was I didn't think it was
disrespectful in any way.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
Yeah. Yeah, no, I didn't think when you see when
you were about to do it, it's like you have
the the culture building that Rabel was doing. He did
a great job of like separating the you know, being
a players guy but also a coach and making sure
things ran strict and smooth to where you know he
was tired, like he was a hard ass at times,
especially in training camp kind of where the nerves are
coming from. Like, man, I hope you know he takes this.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
Find it when we have a rookie skit. If they
don't clown on me a little bit, I'm usually disappointed.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
Yeah. Yeah, you're thinking, what have I been doing and
not make these guys feel comfortable enough to joke on me.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
Yeah, so I think you go into it with that
mindset he can't be sensitive.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
It was a good It was a good time though.
We had some good.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
Laughs that that was awesome.

Speaker 3 (53:25):
But understanding your nerves for sure too, because like twenty eighteen,
Mike Vrabel was a different cat like and we were
all kind of just trying to figure him out. And
after practice and practices were hard. He was hard on us.
Those team meetings, buttles are tight every single camp.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
Practicely, that was the one year and I've talked about
it before, but that was the one year where a
lot of the times I was not looking forward to
driving into work, like I would wake up and not
have the mentality I had. I was just watching before that,
but not have the I'd be like dreading going into work,
really dreading going into whatever the team meeting, whatever he
was going to do in the team meeting, and if

(54:00):
you lost, it just felt like the world was crumbling.

Speaker 2 (54:04):
And usually, just in a lot of our experiences in
the National Football League, you flip that script because you
got to get onto the next week. Yeah, you try
to give the lessons and you try to learn from it,
and then you're onto the next opponent. But yeah, I
do remember those lingering a little bit.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
Yeah, yeah, there were there were the that was the
That was one year that those moments were seeping because
I remember I coming sit next to the locker and
Derek Morgan was next to my bed. Man, I fucking
hate this shit. Sometimes I'll just be laughing, kind of
like bonding over the embracing the suck.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
I mean, there were a few team meetings where I
was I said the same.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
Things, just hoping, you know, all the team keys everything.
Because eighteen was kind of a ship show. Nineteen is
when like he showed like being a little more easier.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
We lose.

Speaker 3 (54:52):
It wasn't so tough.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
I was best. Yeah, that was way different.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
You could just tell he was kind of like finding
his footing as a head coach, understanding the process.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
But I will say it takes some time. Yeah, it
definitely takes some time. I would say, if you asked,
we don't have too many guys that were here in
twenty nineteen when I got hired, but we've got Kenny Clark,
Elton Jenkins. I would bet if you ask those guys,
they would tell you I'm a lot different then than
I am now.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
Do you go through a process after your first season
as a head coach and like evaluate how you handle.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Yeah, you're always I think that's that's part of it.
If you want to be the best you can be,
is you know, sometimes you got to look at yourself
in the mirror and say, oh, man, I did not
handle that situation well and be real about it. So
I think you're constantly evaluating, constantly evolving in order to

(55:49):
be your best.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
How does the evaluation look though, because it's like you
can look in the mirror and be like, I could
have handled that better. But sometimes you don't know if
your blind spots are unless you're asking people close to you.
It's like, man, I need you to be trans.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
You got to have truth tellers and sometimes you don't
want to hear the truth. And I've got a couple
of guys on my staff that will You know, a
guy like Darryl Franklin who will, uh, sometimes tell me
the ship that I don't want to hear, and sometimes
I might get pissed off about it, but he keeps
coming back to me and he's resilient in that regard.

(56:22):
Joe mckillop's another guy like you've got to have guys
around you that will will feed you the hard truth
and you know, you just sometimes you got to accept it.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
Uh. With Since being a head coach, what do you
feel like it has been your looking back, like, what
do you feel like it's been your biggest challenge?

Speaker 2 (56:37):
Biggest challenge? Yeah, I mean there's been too many biggest challenges.
I mean we've navigated through some What's.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
One that's yeah, that's true, what's one that yeah? I
guess some stuff times I was going to ask, what's
one that's been surprising that you're like, Oh, this is
a challenge I wasn't even thinking about or I had
the fourth thought for it.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
I mean there's there's I feel like there's stuff that
comes up almost every well, it comes up every so
often where you just get caught off guard, you know
where whether it's guys are upset about you know, playing
time or production, whatever it may be that you're like, wow,

(57:15):
that that came out of left field that you have
to handle in the moment. But to sit here and
pinpoint and say just one, I think it's it's tough
to do because whether it's coaches, players, you're just dealing
with so many people. I think that's what separates our
game from most of these other sports is when you

(57:37):
think about it, you've got, especially off season, you've got
a ninety man roster. We've got like, I don't even
know how many coaches we have now, it's like twenty
five coaches, and you're you're dealing with you know, athletic
training staff, strength staff, you're scouting department. You're just dealing
with a lot of people that naturally, shit happens and

(57:58):
stuff comes up that you can't possibly prepare for.

Speaker 3 (58:03):
With the draft being in Green Bay, what is different
about this draft for you guys compare to other drafts.

Speaker 2 (58:08):
Because I would say, all this media stuff that we're doing.

Speaker 3 (58:11):
Yeah, this is right, Yeah, this is sure.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
That's your favorite.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
One absolutely is keep telling yourself that, Well, there.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
Was some media. There was some media saying that, like,
you know, people talk about the draft and how you know,
this is not the strongest draft in the world, and
a lot of these guys in the twenties are trying
to maybe trade out of it and stuff like that.
Do you is there ever, like a pressure from the
NFL for the team that if the draft is the
draft is in Green Bay, It's like Hey, we need
to make sure you guys have a first round draft pick.

Speaker 2 (58:38):
Is that I don't believe, So I don't think we'd
operate that way anyways. We're always going to do what's
best for the Packers and whether you've got a first
round pick or not. But I think there's a ton
of good players in this draft, and who really knows.
I mean, I'll tell you, isn't that weird? I'll tell
you in two or three years. Yeah, there's some guys
that are going to come in this league and have

(58:59):
instant success. But you guys know you've been through it.
I'm sure you're a lot different player your rookie years.
You were three years into it, so you know you
got to give these guys an opportunity to go out
there and perform.

Speaker 1 (59:13):
What's your best war room story?

Speaker 2 (59:15):
War room story?

Speaker 1 (59:16):
Yeah, day of the draft.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
Oh man, you're trying to put me on the spot. Well,
what I felt like?

Speaker 1 (59:22):
You got something probably just jump out at you in
your mind. I mean, there's just remember and you'll always remember, like, man,
that moment kind of changed X, Y and Z, or
this guy was right here when I was saying something different,
or I was right here when they were saying.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Yeah, I would say there's some moments where hey, we're
going to draft this guy and you're like, no, I
don't want that guy. And there's some back and forth
and hopefully you can come to a consensus conclusion on it.
And but ultimately I'll tell you this. I can tell
you that we've drafted players that I haven't been really

(59:53):
excited about that two years down the line I was
ecstatic about and I'd be like, man, can you drop names?

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
Because to me, that's a compliment. It's like you you're fired.
I was wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
I just I don't want to do that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:09):
Damn.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
Like I feel like I'm not giving a.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
Name and I'll never forget this. So we're in l
A And we drafted Cooper Cup and I thought we
needed a speed receiver and it didn't take long before
I realized. I was like, God, damn, I'm glad we
got Cooper Cup because he was a baller. So and
I know that makes me look like an idiot, because

(01:00:36):
how couldn't you see that Cooper Cup was going to
be what.

Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
What is a kid coming a white kid out of
Eastern Washington, like you know, you know, the flu.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
Was saying that too, Like, hey, like he's playing like
we need w a whatever that is, we need speed. Yeah,
not a white guy. Where did he go? Washington?

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
We went, We went and worked, and he's been I
mean he's been balling ever since he came in the
league his first year and was bawling and he would
he would have crossed you over, just like that kid
at Oregon did on that Choice.

Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
Man with Like you talk about Cooper Cup, like he's
known as a gold worker. Who are some of the
best workers you've been around? Like from player standpoint, best workers,
Like the best workers are like this guy, no matter
what he's going to be, he's just a grinder.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
Well, it's it's easiest if I talk about some of
the guys from our team right now, like a guy
like Tucker Craft coming in and just to watch him
work on a daily basis. I mean he's here even
when the players don't need to be here in the
off season and he's in there every day just grinding
a way.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
And he did.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
And I think he's going to get better and better
and better because of what you mentioned, just his work
ethic and how he approaches the game. I love his mindset,
but there's there's there's I mean you guys, I mean
I would say you guys were great workers. Once you
once you agree.

Speaker 3 (01:02:02):
Yeah, I like to think I was a hard worker.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
Yeah, so both of you guys, watching you guys work,
it was impressive.

Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
It was nice. Get insulted. But then all of a sudden.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Comes back around.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
It comes back around.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
He streat me like a lady. He's like being mean
to me, And what's man? You do a good job.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
To Dan Lanning the game he's playing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Yeah, yeah, he's playing chess right now?

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
Uh, do you have anything else? Do you want to
do the bud Like question?

Speaker 1 (01:02:28):
Yeah, we did a bud Like question. Go ahead, our
bud Light question brought to us by bud Light. You
coach will for you know people would do anything for
a bud light. What would you do anything for?

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
You want funny or serious?

Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
If you have one of one of each, then we'll what.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Would I do anything for? I would definitely. I know
you guys said this earlier, but you know I would
definitely do anything for my family.

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
So I forgot to get the insurance and I forgot
to get no family.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
No family, family, why kids? Yeah, you would do anything
for your family? You want to. I'll tell you what
I did for my family one time. So Milwaukee Bucks,
right they win the NBA Championship, and my wife and
I were we were celebrating at the arena and having

(01:03:19):
champagne and with a bunch of people from the Bucks,
and I was thinking, after the game, so we were
staying in Milwaukee, I'll just get an uber and go
back to the hotel or whatever. And I didn't realize
they kind of like what they've done here for the Draft,
where they just close off a bunch of streets. So
it was really hard to get an uber. You couldn't

(01:03:41):
get anything close to the arena. So we had to
take a walk. And we're walking down by all these
bars in Milwaukee Crosswater Street and we're walking along and
all of a sudden we hear and it was gunfire
going off. And I I immediately initial reaction and you

(01:04:02):
just start taking off and I look behind me and
my wife's and heels and I'm like, let's go. She's like,
I can't run. I'm in heels. So I literally fireman carrier,
put her up on my shoulders, run across the street
around the corner about two three blocks to get her

(01:04:24):
out of harm's way.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
So fucking Superman out here.

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
That's that's adrenaline. That was a lot of adrenaline right there.

Speaker 3 (01:04:33):
I thought you were going to keep on running based
on this story.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Right up to some police officers and may have may
or may not have name dropped and said, hey, can
you help me get back to my hotel? And they
got us there. So but in the process of that,
as I was scooping her up, there was a railing
that separated the sidewalk from the bars. May have skimmed
her eye across that railing a little bit, and as

(01:04:57):
I'm as I'm running with her, she's telling me to
to set her down. I'm like, oh, no, we're getting
out of here. So but yeah, outside of that, I mean,
I would do anything for a Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
Ring you know what we have to ask you now,
I know, I know it's coming. So Mike Rabel, Yeah,
said he would cut off his penis for a Super Bowl.
Talked about how long he was married, kids, the whole
thing he had. He won three as a player, he
made sure to mention that and then said he would
do it for a Super Bowl as a coach. Would
you cut your dick off for a super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (01:05:28):
I don't think I can go that far.

Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
Guys.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
Sorry, it's fair, that's.

Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
Fair and logical. Like I thought for sure you were
ready to say, yeah, you're like I would do anything
for a super Bowl, and.

Speaker 3 (01:05:36):
I would that Yeah, yeah, I do know what's coming in.
The answer is no.

Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
What do you think is going to take for you
guys to get over the humph?

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
You know, that's a great question. That's something that I've
obviously been thinking about for six years now in my
time because we've gotten close. Yeh uh. I just think
like when you get to the NFL playoffs, it is
Sean McVay and I talk about this all the time.
It's March madness. So it takes you playing your best

(01:06:11):
in the moment and we've got to make the plays.
And certainly there's always things as you can do as
a coach that could be better, but you need everybody
clicking on all cylinders because we've been right there. Shoot,
we hosted an NFC championship game in Lambeau. Unfortunately it
was the year that it was the COVID year, and

(01:06:32):
you don't get to take advantage of that home field crowd.
So I just think we need everybody to perform in
those tough moments because I mean, when you get to
that stage, I mean it's the margins are razor thins.
So you have to be at your best. That's what
it takes.

Speaker 1 (01:06:52):
Yeah. In the health health, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
And we were healthy the majority of that season.

Speaker 1 (01:06:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:06:58):
And I mean not to mess your division is just
scary good.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
It's a pretty pretty competitive division right now.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
Yeah, Vikings, Lions, Bears.

Speaker 3 (01:07:09):
Now, it's like a Wizard of All his story.

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
Man, do you have beef with coach Johnson?

Speaker 2 (01:07:14):
I was waiting for this. I don't know Ben Johnson?

Speaker 1 (01:07:19):
So do you have beef?

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
Do I have beef? I don't know Ben Johnson. I
respect him as a football coach. I think he did
a nice job.

Speaker 3 (01:07:35):
Yeah, but do we not feel in all the feeling
the same thing right now?

Speaker 1 (01:07:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:07:40):
Yeah, yeah, But if you don't know him, why why
why is it tight in here?

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
It's not tight? I'm not tight, I guess.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
I thought it was interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:07:53):
What was interesting?

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
I thought the press conference was interesting. But I don't
have beef with him. I don't. I don't get it
all into that stuff. I thought about you you'll harness it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:04):
Here's the emojis after a wind.

Speaker 2 (01:08:07):
I don't know have his number, so that won't happen
to Jim Horball after a game. No, beat, I would
never do that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:13):
Do you have a strength to do that?

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
I don't know, probably not apparently not apparently not.

Speaker 1 (01:08:21):
No, No, I'd never do that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:24):
You think, am I not not strong enough for you? Will?

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
I know you're And you told your peck.

Speaker 2 (01:08:31):
I did a year ago. It's it's a lot better now.
A year ago. I flew back on draft d Ay
after getting surgery. No ship.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
Yeah, how'd you tear your pack?

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
Yeah? Bench pressing?

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
How much was on the rack?

Speaker 2 (01:08:48):
Fifteen? Be honest, man, huh how much you think will one?

Speaker 1 (01:08:52):
Thirty five?

Speaker 2 (01:08:53):
It was not one little more two to a two?

Speaker 1 (01:09:00):
Well five? It was no doubt, no doubt, you know,
you know, you know we hit one five and then
put the two and a halfs on just to get you.
He had the camera set up just to.

Speaker 2 (01:09:11):
Prove and seriousness. It was one and I was just
wrapping it out, last set, last rep, and you just,
you know, sometimes you just try to like throw it
up there. Well, I got a little careless with my form,
and sure.

Speaker 1 (01:09:25):
Enough, are you by yourself?

Speaker 2 (01:09:27):
No, I was getting I was in the in our
weight room and our strength coach was right there, thank god,
because one side went up and the other side went
it went right on my chest.

Speaker 3 (01:09:38):
God, did you hit all that shoulder pain or chest pain?
Never feel tired?

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
Just now just happened.

Speaker 3 (01:09:44):
That's terrifying.

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
You know, I'll never do it again.

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
Well, I will never barbell bench ever again in my life.
I will dumbbell bench, never barbell. So I would tell you.

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
How old you know, thirty five?

Speaker 2 (01:09:57):
Yeah, I would if I was you, I would never
for barbeo match.

Speaker 1 (01:10:01):
I don't have a barbelle in the garage. Well, I
mean you're you're right though, It's like we we bench
pressed more so for ego than anything else. Yeah, that
sucks though. Did your chest cave in?

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Like, oh yeah you could. I had a big differ.
I mean it was I had to go tour both
tendons and you know, oh yeah you could feel it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
You could.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
I could feel it like when it happened. Yeah. So
I went to doctor Cardasco and New York and had
surgery and it was it was not a good time,
such a pain. But he did a great job. If
you ever tear your pack. Go see doctor cardasco He's

(01:10:43):
the He's the guy that's the.

Speaker 1 (01:10:45):
Guy to go to. Coach.

Speaker 3 (01:10:46):
We appreciate you man, makes for coming, so thank you
for making the time to come out here.

Speaker 1 (01:10:51):
We'll talk more after the no, but you're the best
and good luck this season.

Speaker 2 (01:10:56):
I appreciate the guy.

Speaker 1 (01:10:57):
You hope you get whoever you want?

Speaker 2 (01:10:59):
So do I?

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
Hey, who do you hope you get? This isn't coming
out till next Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (01:11:03):
Yeah, I don't know who.

Speaker 1 (01:11:05):
Do you hope you get?

Speaker 2 (01:11:06):
A really good player?

Speaker 1 (01:11:07):
Well? Position? What if we do this?

Speaker 3 (01:11:10):
What if we do this? You call a shot right now,
and if it doesn't hit, we don't put in the podcast.
But if it hits, it's like, oh ship Matt quality.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
I really, I really he would Yeah, I don't know.
I just there's a lot of good players. Like I said, So,
whoever we get, we're going to embrace and we're going
to coach them.

Speaker 3 (01:11:32):
I love that hell of a coach. Can't wait to
see you guys, want it all bake hugs time he guessus.
Please subscribe eight five stars, mount the floor, packers, go
pack up.

Speaker 2 (01:11:41):
Thank you all right, guys,

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