September 28, 2025 • 20 mins
We hear from the best of NFL Receivers telling us their favorite stories, and go behind the scenes on what it's like to play wide receiver in the NFL
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
A brand new highlight reel starts now with the compilation
of a couple of our favorite moments from the show.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Now Cooper Cup on what actually happens in the NFL
off season.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
How's off season been going.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
It's been really good. Yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 5 (00:16):
It is probably my first off season having a full
having a full off season and being healthy out the
gate where I can go and just craining how I
want to really since you know the end of twenty
twenty going into twenty one was the last time I
had a full off season, and so having that's been great.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (00:37):
Yeah, I mean you just can't You can't put enough
value on just that time and the preparation it takes
to get your body right to go make this push.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
What people to put in context, what people don't realize
is when you're banged up in an off season, you're
not getting better. You're trying to get to where you're at,
and the league is so smart that you have to
reinvent your yourself some MYI every off season because there's
film of how you've played the year before, So it
really takes a hamper in like your off season games. Yes,
(01:09):
when you're hurt because you're trying to get this, You're
trying to get to zero, you know what I mean.
You know you're not putting anything on top.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
So yeah, no, I've spent so I've spent the last
four years training with the same group at the same
trainer who actually this off season was hired by Atlanta.
So thanks to Rahiem for taking my trainer who can
no longer program for me. He's playing the he's playing
level five oh one ball over there in Atlanta. Yeah,
I mean, draft analysts might would say someone different, but
we can move past that. We were to talk about
(01:36):
that right now. But they took they took him over Bill,
Yeah they did.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
It's crazy.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
But what I was touching on was the off season
and again off again, all these rabbit trails off season
I've been from with these gusts for four years. When
you get to the end of the season, you go
back and you like you hit your baseline that first week, right,
and it's like you don't realize how much your body
breaks down the course of a season where that off
season you start so far from where you went into
(02:04):
the season because there's just no way, like you try
to maintain things as you go Yeah, it's dang near impossible.
You play those these long seasons and your body is
so broken down. There's so much just to build up,
like you said, just to get back to where you
were physically, and then all the armory you got put
on to prepare yourself, all the conditioning, the things you
got to do to put you know, create some change
in your body to be able to take the adaptation
(02:24):
from this offseason going into OTAs and say okay, now
we're we're gonna you know, grind through OTA's. Then you
get one month to basically gear up for training camp
in a seventeen game season, yeah, plus playoffs and so
it is a it's a big deal.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
But yeah, man, I feel I feel really good.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Now, what are some of the point of emphasis you
have going in this offseason to your game? Now that
you're healthy, you can self scout, you could check out
what you need to work on. What's some of the
things that you are trying to get better at.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
Yeah, I mean, I think I think the same mantra
into every every year. It's a bigger, faster, stronger. I
think the mobility side of things have been a huge
piece just being like coming off of the ankle surgery
a couple of years ago.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Things that come out of that.
Speaker 5 (03:10):
I mean, I think you get hurt, especially something as
low to the ground as an ankle, how it affects
things up the chain and you start compensating. And once
your body starts compensating, things start tightening, things start loosening.
There's just a you know, you want to get your
body back into balance and moving the way it's supposed
to because like professional athletes, uh, we are professional at
compensating and working through injury. When you do that, your
(03:33):
bodies that's not optimum, rightable exactly, and so pulling back
and finding what that optimum is again, that's been the
big focus, just in terms of how my body, how
I want my body to work. And then you know,
in terms of you know, skill wise, you're moving through
into like you know, the technical side of the game.
There's so much that you want to You watch film
and I think every you look back and you're like,
(03:54):
oh man, there's just so much you can do better,
so many things, so many details that you can press
yourself on and like, you know, what what kind of
what kind of tools can add to your tool belt
as counters to what worked, like what worked?
Speaker 4 (04:06):
How are people gonna stop it? How do I counter that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
And you're in the point of your career where you
could watch film and you can go practice off a
specific look of how it may not have went your way,
and you could put that and play that game in
your mind. And and you're probably at the point where
you're running routes.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
Oh yeah, you're running yeah exactly. I mean you get
better playing football, playing football exactly. And I think there's
there's a few different steps that just like the visualization
side of where you're like, you know, I'm I know,
my wife knows, I'm laying in bed, and suddenly I'll
just be like flinch out.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
I look like, what were you doing there? What was happening?
Speaker 5 (04:44):
Yeah, I got to I was running this rout the
safety was driving down, you know, like it's like it's real.
It's like you get to this point where you're visualizing
things to the point where your body is like reacting
to it, and you're going they take the next step,
and now we're OK, we're running routes on air, and
we don't run routes on there just to run rolfs
on there. There's an intent find what you're doing. You're
you're seeing, Hey, this is how this dbi's playing us.
(05:05):
Let's rest run this route and I'm talking to Matthew,
Hey is three carry it's a tight carry out side,
Like how we want to run this route on this one?
What angles are we coming out at? So now you're
running ultse on air and you're visualizing these things. So
now when it does come time that you're competing, you've
seen that, You've seen it, You visualize that, you've felt
all those steps that you're gonna take. You've seen how
he's gonna play and react to each movie you're gonna do.
(05:26):
At that point, once you've played the game, it's like, man,
I've taken this rep over and over and over again,
although we.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Used to call that deja vu.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Next, we got Pooka Nakua revealing how much money it
costs to change your number over the.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Offseason, Davante Adams. That's a big addition. I think he's
gonna be a huge help for you guys, being able
to be a guy that could win on the backside
outside the numbers consistently, something you guys kind of lack
last year, like or red area target, you guys would
do all that, hey, and then you get in the
red area and Higgsby was a little banged up. So
(06:00):
having Davante there, that's gonna be huge. What what are
you gonna have?
Speaker 6 (06:04):
You guys talked well a little bit when he came
out of science contract. I think he's still been out
in Vegas, but I wanted one first. I want to
hit him on the basketball court too, because I'm like,
I feel like I always see it, like yeah, as
a wide receiver, I feel like that you see it,
like how they kind of moved through that on the
basketball court. But I know he's a big basketball fan too,
and I'm like, we'll get up. I'm for sure he's
gonna show up.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
To Ota Is. We're gonna get a lot of utes
and we're gonna talk about it him.
Speaker 7 (06:25):
Like, once I can see you on the basketball court,
I think I can understand how you think about football too,
Like you got that similar movement pattern is gonna come out.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I think, yeah, so what what did would you do
for seventeen?
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Like?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
What did he? That's a man? So it was so
fun the number you give you a couple Uh.
Speaker 7 (06:45):
I wish he got it for the free ski Free
Did you play Pig?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Were you gonna play Pig beat you?
Speaker 7 (06:52):
No? No, he definitely didn't beat me in Pig, No chance,
So that's that didn't happen. But I was already planning
to switch to twelve, so you know, you gotta fire
file the paperwork and stuff like that. They got to
buy out your jerseys and stuff like that. I'm like,
I was still a fifth round pick. I'm like they asked,
like how, They're like, uh, it's will be five hundred
thousand to switch your jersey. I'm like, I think you
forgot When I got drafted, I was like, I don't
(07:13):
got that type of money. I was like for a
jersey number doll, that's time. I'm like, no, so you
fail out. The paperwork had to wait a whole year.
So this year was like I was getting ready to
like the springtime, once that official season March or whatever
it is they switch over, I was going to be
going to number twelve. And it's like we signed Davante
Adams and everybody's like, yo, what are you about to do?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
And I'm like, man, if I would have waited.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
I would have waited like three more weeks like I
would have got und I.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Know that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
You go five hundred there, you get a couple here,
and then then we got a fun trip in the
off season.
Speaker 7 (07:48):
I know that's all I could have took the guys out,
But now Davante's got to do.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I'm make sure hold enough.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I think you need a couple more Jewish people in
your life. Okay, I'm just letting you know, but I
can't be talking about age and can't be getting impatient
with number changes.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Bill, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Now, Steve Smith on his favorite trash talking moments, if.
Speaker 8 (08:11):
I hit you down low, that was because I didn't
respect you. But if I didn't respect you, that means
also because you hit me down low. So we have
no regards of each other's career. So guess what, let's
do it.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
There heads different. You know, you knock someone out, that's
that's considered a kiss. You're taking out knees, that's considered
a career.
Speaker 8 (08:32):
Yeah, And so I got to the point where guys knew.
I was like, bro, I'm hit you up top. If
you hit me low again or you cheap shot me,
I got one question for you. When I cut you
and they gotta do surgery. My question is what kind
of flowers you want me to send you? They look
at me, just let me know, don'g. And you see
(08:53):
they go back to the huddle and they're trying to
They're trying to decide do I really want to go
there with them?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Because I was thinking they were designing tulips or roses?
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah? Nah.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
They was like really thinking, like, bro, where do you
come up with?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Like did you you've thought that before?
Speaker 7 (09:12):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Yeah, you've said that before.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Now is this spur of the moment ship talking where
it just comes to you? Or are you like a
poet where you have a couple of these You've you've
thought about these situations, you have a couple on the
tool belt for when you see him and say, is
is this just free free burden?
Speaker 8 (09:30):
It's just some of it, just like some of them.
I'm kind of embarrassed that I like said that. I
was like, dang, that was bad.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
What's the most embarrassing?
Speaker 8 (09:39):
So I remember Stuart was telling me one time, Jonathan
Stewart he had played with one of the DB's ore
out there and so the dB had did something.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
And I just was like, held him down and I held.
Speaker 8 (09:52):
Him down until the referee Hayman grabber and Stee said, Man,
why did you do that?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Steve? What did he do?
Speaker 8 (10:01):
And Bro, just like I was just like he was born.
He was like, hold up because he was born.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Bro.
Speaker 8 (10:08):
That was just the first thing came out of my
head because I didn't have a legitimate excuse. He was
like everybody's born. But then I was like, I have
my head down, but I'm not engaging in that. That
was my answer. Okay, accept it or don't accept it.
But that was the kind of dumb stuff I said
and did.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
I mean, but that's you know son. But you know
how some son he didn't finish a game. Bro, that
is you gotta put it out a goddamn T shirt?
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Is it?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
You got it on a T shirt yet? Yeah, they
got some dude trademarked it and offered it to me.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I watched it, and I remember as a kid, I
remember when we played against each other, and but you
have some fucking straight poems out there with how you
talk shit the fools right on the spur of the moment,
postgame interviews anything, I was sitting there like this motherfucker
should be a rapper.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
You should be a fucking rapper. You spit like nine
right after a game. The story, it's some kind of
funny ass way of doing it. You should. You should
have a marketing company or something.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Next up Danny A. Mondola on what Texas football is
really like.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
You went to high school in Texas, the Woodlands, Yep,
shout out. You played in Texas Stadium in high school, Yes, sir.
Didn't you play in the Astrodome in high school too, Yes, sir,
Jesus Christ and the Alamo Dome too, Just getting dome
all over Texas so much, Texas Dome, the trifecta.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Now, what give us? Give us one cool thing of
each of those stadiums. I mean, Texas's nothing like the
old school.
Speaker 9 (11:44):
In Texas Stadium, you see highlights of Ms Smith, Troy Eightman, uh,
you know Dion back in the day making plays there.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
They hung a couple banners up in there too.
Speaker 9 (11:52):
So the tradition in Texas Stadium, it's it's a mecca
for high school football championship games. A bunch of ball
games used to come through there, and you could you
walk into that stadium and you could feel to the tradition.
You know, it wasn't the prettiest site, but you know that, uh,
you know, there's there's been great football played there. And
(12:12):
they said an old Texas you know folk tale is
that they they cut a hole in the roof so
God could watch and.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
His team.
Speaker 9 (12:21):
So so it was it was really kind of it was.
It was the mecca for for high school sports.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I played.
Speaker 9 (12:27):
I played a three overtime game versus Tyler Lee in
that stadium.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
What year is this? This was two thousand and three,
two thousand and three, This is your senior year. It
was actually the two thousand and four I think it was. Yeah,
it was one of those two years.
Speaker 9 (12:41):
I know it was the end of the two thousand
and three, right before I graduated in two thousand and four,
but it was the two thousand and three year of
the season.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Is this state championship?
Speaker 9 (12:48):
It was a playoff game to go to the It
was a semi finals.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
So we're playing playoff games in Texas Stadium? Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
A lot of great athletes play there.
Speaker 9 (12:57):
I mean, anybody that's ever played in a big high
school football game in Texas has has played in front
of forty fifty thousand people at Texas Stadium and we
didn't play our state championship game there. We played at Rice,
but it was you know, these big stadiums get packed, dude.
I played in the state championship my senior year. It
was an all Houston final in Houston, and we had
(13:19):
fifty thousand people there and it was the first time
I really felt what a big game was really supposed
to feel, Like.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Wow, that's it. I mean, Friday Night Lights is real.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Now.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
What do you remember about the Alamo Dome. Where is
the Alamo Dome.
Speaker 9 (13:33):
The Almo Dome is in San Antonio. You see the
Alamo Dome in bowl games. You see it in a
lot of college basketball finals. Have played the final four.
They just played the Final Four there a couple of
weeks ago. It's it's kind of a basic stadium, but
the city of San Antonio fully supports and it comes
out to any high school football, college football game there,
(13:54):
any basketball event there, and it's a staple in Texas
as a premier bowl spot and in high school game.
I feel we opened up they have the Texas Football
Classic there every year. You open up, uh, you open
up the season first game of the year there. We
did that one year, and we got the opportunity to
play on TV UH in the state of Texas at
(14:15):
the Alamodome, and and again another opportunity to kind of
get your name out there, show your show, you know,
the world, the state what you can do, and and
and and try to keep moving up the ranks.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Such a Texans show the world.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Now even one outside of Texas in two thousand and
three watching that goddamn game.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Hey, you things about goddamn that's one thing Texas people
do love Texas. Now, what's about the astrodym.
Speaker 9 (14:37):
I played in the Astronome my sophomore year VERSU duncan
Villa was like it was my It was, you know,
a big game, another opener of the season.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (14:47):
And you play these schools all around Texas that aren't
in your district, you really have an opportunity to play
against a lot of great football teams.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
It was old school turf just smelled like old beer
in there.
Speaker 9 (14:58):
You could I used to go to as shows games
all the time, watched Craig Bigio and and Jeff Bagwell
and and and you know you walk in there in
the brightness of the turf like immediately illuminates your eyes
and then you just smell that old crusty beer in
the seats and it's like you're like, this was this
is what sports is supposed to smell.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Like, yeah, you know what I'm saying. So you hit
the trifecta. That's so cool. Uh, what's like growing up
in Texas? You know, it's all about football. You know,
my dad's a high school football coach in Texas. I
actually played against him in the district.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
And so you went to a different high school than
your dad's high school. Yeah, that he coached, and you
guys played them. We played against each other. They were
in our district. They are another really good, really good
team in our district.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
How does that go down?
Speaker 9 (15:41):
It's cool, man, And we had a he was the
defensive coordinator. Obviously I played receiver. So game one, yeah, no,
we we. He beat us my sophomore year, then we
beat them my junior and senior year. But he was
out on the numbers calling out the plays. They're going,
they're doing this, they're doing that. He's been watching our offense,
you know, as I came through the ranks and my
brother there came through the rank, so he knew every
(16:01):
play that we were about to call.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Why didn't you guys go to his high school? Because
we lived I lived in my brother and I grew
up in the Woodlands. All our friends were there in
the Woodlands. That's where our house was.
Speaker 9 (16:10):
He traveled like fifteen minutes south at the time to
Westfield High School.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
And and they were good.
Speaker 9 (16:15):
Man. We went to the state finals and my senior
year and then the next year his team went to
the state finals. We both ended up losing that game,
but really good teams. So the talent was there.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Now, how's the dinner table after your dead?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
It was?
Speaker 9 (16:26):
It was it was quiet man. You know he you know,
he humbled me early and and and got us. He
had to get some good players. And then and then
we we got on my my junior and senior year.
There's I have one great memory though. Uh we had
a we had an interception that their dB ran down
(16:46):
their sideline.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
I go to tackle them.
Speaker 9 (16:48):
I get blindsided, blown up and into the into the sideline.
My dad catches me and then throws me back on
the field and I go back and I'm starting to
run this try to ride this guy down, but he
scored on it. So it's just, you know, I remember
every every game before he played each other. You know,
he'd come up tell me he loved me and he's
proud of me. And then he'd he'd you know, we
go about our business and have fun for the next
(17:10):
three four hours, and then it was a great It
was It was awesome, man, great, great memory?
Speaker 3 (17:14):
How bad did you want to beat him?
Speaker 9 (17:16):
You know, I was begging him to put you know,
guys on me that I I knew I could toast.
I'm like, give me, give me, Bobby, give me, freaking
give me. You know whoever, Billy, I don't care.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
I want.
Speaker 9 (17:26):
I want to toast all of them. And then you know,
he put their best player. I think I forget his name,
but he ended up going to play in college. And
we had a battle.
Speaker 10 (17:34):
Man.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
They were they had some some really good, uh really
good teams.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So next up Keishawn Johnson. I'm the biggest fight he
ever saw between Parcels and Belichick. Before the half, Jimmy
Smith scored I believe, fifty two yard bomb.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Six seconds half. I was supposed to go in the game,
oh in the safety to be the safety.
Speaker 10 (17:55):
Wow, Barseals and Belichick got into it and it was
the crazy see a ship we ever I ever seen
on the sideline between two coaches ever, because Belichick didn't
want to put me in, Parcels wanted to put me in.
Belichick said no, and they went right up the rail
bomb touchdown them.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Parcelles just lit his ask Oh my gosh, how was
that relationship?
Speaker 10 (18:22):
At that time? I thought it was fine. And it's
great now they like now, But at that time I
thought it was fine.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I don't know the difference.
Speaker 9 (18:30):
Right.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
He came back the next year, but that thing, my eyeballs.
Speaker 10 (18:33):
I was like, because I'm standing there ready to go
inn you know the situation, you know, And he's like no,
and Parcells told him. At this time, Parcells said something
to the effect of you think you know every fucking thing.
That's your fucking genius. Hunh, you think you know everything.
That's why you fucking got fired from Cleveland. Yeah, that'll
(18:58):
that'll get it, that'll get the fume going. Shots fired.
I was like, this, oh ship, And so when the
situation came up again, I went in and got the deception.
Speaker 8 (19:11):
Yo.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
That was the craziest gus. But I've seen Bill do
that to the coaches before ourselves. The type of coach
that goes for neck. He going for throat, He's gonna
go for kill. Shot man, try to light that fire
in your shot.
Speaker 10 (19:24):
I watched the I watched Bill get it. I watched
Bill get it. Charlie Weis's what time? Because you know
how you do the cards. The cards wasn't in sync.
It was like all messed up. And at this time,
Krispy Kreme Krispy Kreme Dodus had just became a big thing,
came to the East coast of New York. So we
used to make all the younger guys go pick him
(19:45):
up or whatever, Yeah, pick him up, put him out
at the top, and Charlie would come to the players
lounge and gets up like donuts.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
He had messed up the cards?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
What time? And Bill's hid?
Speaker 10 (19:57):
I bet you if those these fucking cards, Krispy Kre,
don't let you have got that right Jesus.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
We was like, oh shit, thanks for listening.
Speaker 7 (20:07):
Remember to tune in every Tuesday for a brand new
episode and every Sunday for another Games with Names Highlight
Rol
A brand new highlight reel starts now with the compilation
of a couple of our favorite moments from the show.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Now Cooper Cup on what actually happens in the NFL
off season.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
How's off season been going.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
It's been really good. Yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 5 (00:16):
It is probably my first off season having a full
having a full off season and being healthy out the
gate where I can go and just craining how I
want to really since you know the end of twenty
twenty going into twenty one was the last time I
had a full off season, and so having that's been great.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (00:37):
Yeah, I mean you just can't You can't put enough
value on just that time and the preparation it takes
to get your body right to go make this push.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
What people to put in context, what people don't realize
is when you're banged up in an off season, you're
not getting better. You're trying to get to where you're at,
and the league is so smart that you have to
reinvent your yourself some MYI every off season because there's
film of how you've played the year before, So it
really takes a hamper in like your off season games. Yes,
(01:09):
when you're hurt because you're trying to get this, You're
trying to get to zero, you know what I mean.
You know you're not putting anything on top.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
So yeah, no, I've spent so I've spent the last
four years training with the same group at the same
trainer who actually this off season was hired by Atlanta.
So thanks to Rahiem for taking my trainer who can
no longer program for me. He's playing the he's playing
level five oh one ball over there in Atlanta. Yeah,
I mean, draft analysts might would say someone different, but
we can move past that. We were to talk about
(01:36):
that right now. But they took they took him over Bill,
Yeah they did.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
It's crazy.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
But what I was touching on was the off season
and again off again, all these rabbit trails off season
I've been from with these gusts for four years. When
you get to the end of the season, you go
back and you like you hit your baseline that first week, right,
and it's like you don't realize how much your body
breaks down the course of a season where that off
season you start so far from where you went into
(02:04):
the season because there's just no way, like you try
to maintain things as you go Yeah, it's dang near impossible.
You play those these long seasons and your body is
so broken down. There's so much just to build up,
like you said, just to get back to where you
were physically, and then all the armory you got put
on to prepare yourself, all the conditioning, the things you
got to do to put you know, create some change
in your body to be able to take the adaptation
(02:24):
from this offseason going into OTAs and say okay, now
we're we're gonna you know, grind through OTA's. Then you
get one month to basically gear up for training camp
in a seventeen game season, yeah, plus playoffs and so
it is a it's a big deal.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
But yeah, man, I feel I feel really good.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Now, what are some of the point of emphasis you
have going in this offseason to your game? Now that
you're healthy, you can self scout, you could check out
what you need to work on. What's some of the
things that you are trying to get better at.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
Yeah, I mean, I think I think the same mantra
into every every year. It's a bigger, faster, stronger. I
think the mobility side of things have been a huge
piece just being like coming off of the ankle surgery
a couple of years ago.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Things that come out of that.
Speaker 5 (03:10):
I mean, I think you get hurt, especially something as
low to the ground as an ankle, how it affects
things up the chain and you start compensating. And once
your body starts compensating, things start tightening, things start loosening.
There's just a you know, you want to get your
body back into balance and moving the way it's supposed
to because like professional athletes, uh, we are professional at
compensating and working through injury. When you do that, your
(03:33):
bodies that's not optimum, rightable exactly, and so pulling back
and finding what that optimum is again, that's been the
big focus, just in terms of how my body, how
I want my body to work. And then you know,
in terms of you know, skill wise, you're moving through
into like you know, the technical side of the game.
There's so much that you want to You watch film
and I think every you look back and you're like,
(03:54):
oh man, there's just so much you can do better,
so many things, so many details that you can press
yourself on and like, you know, what what kind of
what kind of tools can add to your tool belt
as counters to what worked, like what worked?
Speaker 4 (04:06):
How are people gonna stop it? How do I counter that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
And you're in the point of your career where you
could watch film and you can go practice off a
specific look of how it may not have went your way,
and you could put that and play that game in
your mind. And and you're probably at the point where
you're running routes.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
Oh yeah, you're running yeah exactly. I mean you get
better playing football, playing football exactly. And I think there's
there's a few different steps that just like the visualization
side of where you're like, you know, I'm I know,
my wife knows, I'm laying in bed, and suddenly I'll
just be like flinch out.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
I look like, what were you doing there? What was happening?
Speaker 5 (04:44):
Yeah, I got to I was running this rout the
safety was driving down, you know, like it's like it's real.
It's like you get to this point where you're visualizing
things to the point where your body is like reacting
to it, and you're going they take the next step,
and now we're OK, we're running routes on air, and
we don't run routes on there just to run rolfs
on there. There's an intent find what you're doing. You're
you're seeing, Hey, this is how this dbi's playing us.
(05:05):
Let's rest run this route and I'm talking to Matthew,
Hey is three carry it's a tight carry out side,
Like how we want to run this route on this one?
What angles are we coming out at? So now you're
running ultse on air and you're visualizing these things. So
now when it does come time that you're competing, you've
seen that, You've seen it, You visualize that, you've felt
all those steps that you're gonna take. You've seen how
he's gonna play and react to each movie you're gonna do.
(05:26):
At that point, once you've played the game, it's like, man,
I've taken this rep over and over and over again,
although we.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Used to call that deja vu.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Next, we got Pooka Nakua revealing how much money it
costs to change your number over the.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Offseason, Davante Adams. That's a big addition. I think he's
gonna be a huge help for you guys, being able
to be a guy that could win on the backside
outside the numbers consistently, something you guys kind of lack
last year, like or red area target, you guys would
do all that, hey, and then you get in the
red area and Higgsby was a little banged up. So
(06:00):
having Davante there, that's gonna be huge. What what are
you gonna have?
Speaker 6 (06:04):
You guys talked well a little bit when he came
out of science contract. I think he's still been out
in Vegas, but I wanted one first. I want to
hit him on the basketball court too, because I'm like,
I feel like I always see it, like yeah, as
a wide receiver, I feel like that you see it,
like how they kind of moved through that on the
basketball court. But I know he's a big basketball fan too,
and I'm like, we'll get up. I'm for sure he's
gonna show up.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
To Ota Is. We're gonna get a lot of utes
and we're gonna talk about it him.
Speaker 7 (06:25):
Like, once I can see you on the basketball court,
I think I can understand how you think about football too,
Like you got that similar movement pattern is gonna come out.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I think, yeah, so what what did would you do
for seventeen?
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Like?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
What did he? That's a man? So it was so
fun the number you give you a couple Uh.
Speaker 7 (06:45):
I wish he got it for the free ski Free
Did you play Pig?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Were you gonna play Pig beat you?
Speaker 7 (06:52):
No? No, he definitely didn't beat me in Pig, No chance,
So that's that didn't happen. But I was already planning
to switch to twelve, so you know, you gotta fire
file the paperwork and stuff like that. They got to
buy out your jerseys and stuff like that. I'm like,
I was still a fifth round pick. I'm like they asked,
like how, They're like, uh, it's will be five hundred
thousand to switch your jersey. I'm like, I think you
forgot When I got drafted, I was like, I don't
(07:13):
got that type of money. I was like for a
jersey number doll, that's time. I'm like, no, so you
fail out. The paperwork had to wait a whole year.
So this year was like I was getting ready to
like the springtime, once that official season March or whatever
it is they switch over, I was going to be
going to number twelve. And it's like we signed Davante
Adams and everybody's like, yo, what are you about to do?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
And I'm like, man, if I would have waited.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
I would have waited like three more weeks like I
would have got und I.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Know that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
You go five hundred there, you get a couple here,
and then then we got a fun trip in the
off season.
Speaker 7 (07:48):
I know that's all I could have took the guys out,
But now Davante's got to do.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I'm make sure hold enough.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I think you need a couple more Jewish people in
your life. Okay, I'm just letting you know, but I
can't be talking about age and can't be getting impatient
with number changes.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Bill, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Now, Steve Smith on his favorite trash talking moments, if.
Speaker 8 (08:11):
I hit you down low, that was because I didn't
respect you. But if I didn't respect you, that means
also because you hit me down low. So we have
no regards of each other's career. So guess what, let's
do it.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
There heads different. You know, you knock someone out, that's
that's considered a kiss. You're taking out knees, that's considered
a career.
Speaker 8 (08:32):
Yeah, And so I got to the point where guys knew.
I was like, bro, I'm hit you up top. If
you hit me low again or you cheap shot me,
I got one question for you. When I cut you
and they gotta do surgery. My question is what kind
of flowers you want me to send you? They look
at me, just let me know, don'g. And you see
(08:53):
they go back to the huddle and they're trying to
They're trying to decide do I really want to go
there with them?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Because I was thinking they were designing tulips or roses?
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah? Nah.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
They was like really thinking, like, bro, where do you
come up with?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Like did you you've thought that before?
Speaker 7 (09:12):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Yeah, you've said that before.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Now is this spur of the moment ship talking where
it just comes to you? Or are you like a
poet where you have a couple of these You've you've
thought about these situations, you have a couple on the
tool belt for when you see him and say, is
is this just free free burden?
Speaker 8 (09:30):
It's just some of it, just like some of them.
I'm kind of embarrassed that I like said that. I
was like, dang, that was bad.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
What's the most embarrassing?
Speaker 8 (09:39):
So I remember Stuart was telling me one time, Jonathan
Stewart he had played with one of the DB's ore
out there and so the dB had did something.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
And I just was like, held him down and I held.
Speaker 8 (09:52):
Him down until the referee Hayman grabber and Stee said, Man,
why did you do that?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Steve? What did he do?
Speaker 8 (10:01):
And Bro, just like I was just like he was born.
He was like, hold up because he was born.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Bro.
Speaker 8 (10:08):
That was just the first thing came out of my
head because I didn't have a legitimate excuse. He was
like everybody's born. But then I was like, I have
my head down, but I'm not engaging in that. That
was my answer. Okay, accept it or don't accept it.
But that was the kind of dumb stuff I said
and did.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
I mean, but that's you know son. But you know
how some son he didn't finish a game. Bro, that
is you gotta put it out a goddamn T shirt?
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Is it?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
You got it on a T shirt yet? Yeah, they
got some dude trademarked it and offered it to me.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I watched it, and I remember as a kid, I
remember when we played against each other, and but you
have some fucking straight poems out there with how you
talk shit the fools right on the spur of the moment,
postgame interviews anything, I was sitting there like this motherfucker
should be a rapper.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
You should be a fucking rapper. You spit like nine
right after a game. The story, it's some kind of
funny ass way of doing it. You should. You should
have a marketing company or something.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Next up Danny A. Mondola on what Texas football is
really like.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
You went to high school in Texas, the Woodlands, Yep,
shout out. You played in Texas Stadium in high school, Yes, sir.
Didn't you play in the Astrodome in high school too, Yes, sir,
Jesus Christ and the Alamo Dome too, Just getting dome
all over Texas so much, Texas Dome, the trifecta.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Now, what give us? Give us one cool thing of
each of those stadiums. I mean, Texas's nothing like the
old school.
Speaker 9 (11:44):
In Texas Stadium, you see highlights of Ms Smith, Troy Eightman, uh,
you know Dion back in the day making plays there.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
They hung a couple banners up in there too.
Speaker 9 (11:52):
So the tradition in Texas Stadium, it's it's a mecca
for high school football championship games. A bunch of ball
games used to come through there, and you could you
walk into that stadium and you could feel to the tradition.
You know, it wasn't the prettiest site, but you know that, uh,
you know, there's there's been great football played there. And
(12:12):
they said an old Texas you know folk tale is
that they they cut a hole in the roof so
God could watch and.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
His team.
Speaker 9 (12:21):
So so it was it was really kind of it was.
It was the mecca for for high school sports.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I played.
Speaker 9 (12:27):
I played a three overtime game versus Tyler Lee in
that stadium.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
What year is this? This was two thousand and three,
two thousand and three, This is your senior year. It
was actually the two thousand and four I think it was. Yeah,
it was one of those two years.
Speaker 9 (12:41):
I know it was the end of the two thousand
and three, right before I graduated in two thousand and four,
but it was the two thousand and three year of
the season.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Is this state championship?
Speaker 9 (12:48):
It was a playoff game to go to the It
was a semi finals.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
So we're playing playoff games in Texas Stadium? Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
A lot of great athletes play there.
Speaker 9 (12:57):
I mean, anybody that's ever played in a big high
school football game in Texas has has played in front
of forty fifty thousand people at Texas Stadium and we
didn't play our state championship game there. We played at Rice,
but it was you know, these big stadiums get packed, dude.
I played in the state championship my senior year. It
was an all Houston final in Houston, and we had
(13:19):
fifty thousand people there and it was the first time
I really felt what a big game was really supposed
to feel, Like.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Wow, that's it. I mean, Friday Night Lights is real.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Now.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
What do you remember about the Alamo Dome. Where is
the Alamo Dome.
Speaker 9 (13:33):
The Almo Dome is in San Antonio. You see the
Alamo Dome in bowl games. You see it in a
lot of college basketball finals. Have played the final four.
They just played the Final Four there a couple of
weeks ago. It's it's kind of a basic stadium, but
the city of San Antonio fully supports and it comes
out to any high school football, college football game there,
(13:54):
any basketball event there, and it's a staple in Texas
as a premier bowl spot and in high school game.
I feel we opened up they have the Texas Football
Classic there every year. You open up, uh, you open
up the season first game of the year there. We
did that one year, and we got the opportunity to
play on TV UH in the state of Texas at
(14:15):
the Alamodome, and and again another opportunity to kind of
get your name out there, show your show, you know,
the world, the state what you can do, and and
and and try to keep moving up the ranks.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Such a Texans show the world.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Now even one outside of Texas in two thousand and
three watching that goddamn game.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Hey, you things about goddamn that's one thing Texas people
do love Texas. Now, what's about the astrodym.
Speaker 9 (14:37):
I played in the Astronome my sophomore year VERSU duncan
Villa was like it was my It was, you know,
a big game, another opener of the season.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (14:47):
And you play these schools all around Texas that aren't
in your district, you really have an opportunity to play
against a lot of great football teams.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
It was old school turf just smelled like old beer
in there.
Speaker 9 (14:58):
You could I used to go to as shows games
all the time, watched Craig Bigio and and Jeff Bagwell
and and and you know you walk in there in
the brightness of the turf like immediately illuminates your eyes
and then you just smell that old crusty beer in
the seats and it's like you're like, this was this
is what sports is supposed to smell.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Like, yeah, you know what I'm saying. So you hit
the trifecta. That's so cool. Uh, what's like growing up
in Texas? You know, it's all about football. You know,
my dad's a high school football coach in Texas. I
actually played against him in the district.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
And so you went to a different high school than
your dad's high school. Yeah, that he coached, and you
guys played them. We played against each other. They were
in our district. They are another really good, really good
team in our district.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
How does that go down?
Speaker 9 (15:41):
It's cool, man, And we had a he was the
defensive coordinator. Obviously I played receiver. So game one, yeah, no,
we we. He beat us my sophomore year, then we
beat them my junior and senior year. But he was
out on the numbers calling out the plays. They're going,
they're doing this, they're doing that. He's been watching our offense,
you know, as I came through the ranks and my
brother there came through the rank, so he knew every
(16:01):
play that we were about to call.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Why didn't you guys go to his high school? Because
we lived I lived in my brother and I grew
up in the Woodlands. All our friends were there in
the Woodlands. That's where our house was.
Speaker 9 (16:10):
He traveled like fifteen minutes south at the time to
Westfield High School.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
And and they were good.
Speaker 9 (16:15):
Man. We went to the state finals and my senior
year and then the next year his team went to
the state finals. We both ended up losing that game,
but really good teams. So the talent was there.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Now, how's the dinner table after your dead?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
It was?
Speaker 9 (16:26):
It was it was quiet man. You know he you know,
he humbled me early and and and got us. He
had to get some good players. And then and then
we we got on my my junior and senior year.
There's I have one great memory though. Uh we had
a we had an interception that their dB ran down
(16:46):
their sideline.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
I go to tackle them.
Speaker 9 (16:48):
I get blindsided, blown up and into the into the sideline.
My dad catches me and then throws me back on
the field and I go back and I'm starting to
run this try to ride this guy down, but he
scored on it. So it's just, you know, I remember
every every game before he played each other. You know,
he'd come up tell me he loved me and he's
proud of me. And then he'd he'd you know, we
go about our business and have fun for the next
(17:10):
three four hours, and then it was a great It
was It was awesome, man, great, great memory?
Speaker 3 (17:14):
How bad did you want to beat him?
Speaker 9 (17:16):
You know, I was begging him to put you know,
guys on me that I I knew I could toast.
I'm like, give me, give me, Bobby, give me, freaking
give me. You know whoever, Billy, I don't care.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
I want.
Speaker 9 (17:26):
I want to toast all of them. And then you know,
he put their best player. I think I forget his name,
but he ended up going to play in college. And
we had a battle.
Speaker 10 (17:34):
Man.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
They were they had some some really good, uh really
good teams.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So next up Keishawn Johnson. I'm the biggest fight he
ever saw between Parcels and Belichick. Before the half, Jimmy
Smith scored I believe, fifty two yard bomb.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Six seconds half. I was supposed to go in the game,
oh in the safety to be the safety.
Speaker 10 (17:55):
Wow, Barseals and Belichick got into it and it was
the crazy see a ship we ever I ever seen
on the sideline between two coaches ever, because Belichick didn't
want to put me in, Parcels wanted to put me in.
Belichick said no, and they went right up the rail
bomb touchdown them.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Parcelles just lit his ask Oh my gosh, how was
that relationship?
Speaker 10 (18:22):
At that time? I thought it was fine. And it's
great now they like now, But at that time I
thought it was fine.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I don't know the difference.
Speaker 9 (18:30):
Right.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
He came back the next year, but that thing, my eyeballs.
Speaker 10 (18:33):
I was like, because I'm standing there ready to go
inn you know the situation, you know, And he's like no,
and Parcells told him. At this time, Parcells said something
to the effect of you think you know every fucking thing.
That's your fucking genius. Hunh, you think you know everything.
That's why you fucking got fired from Cleveland. Yeah, that'll
(18:58):
that'll get it, that'll get the fume going. Shots fired.
I was like, this, oh ship, And so when the
situation came up again, I went in and got the deception.
Speaker 8 (19:11):
Yo.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
That was the craziest gus. But I've seen Bill do
that to the coaches before ourselves. The type of coach
that goes for neck. He going for throat, He's gonna
go for kill. Shot man, try to light that fire
in your shot.
Speaker 10 (19:24):
I watched the I watched Bill get it. I watched
Bill get it. Charlie Weis's what time? Because you know
how you do the cards. The cards wasn't in sync.
It was like all messed up. And at this time,
Krispy Kreme Krispy Kreme Dodus had just became a big thing,
came to the East coast of New York. So we
used to make all the younger guys go pick him
(19:45):
up or whatever, Yeah, pick him up, put him out
at the top, and Charlie would come to the players
lounge and gets up like donuts.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
He had messed up the cards?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
What time? And Bill's hid?
Speaker 10 (19:57):
I bet you if those these fucking cards, Krispy Kre,
don't let you have got that right Jesus.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
We was like, oh shit, thanks for listening.
Speaker 7 (20:07):
Remember to tune in every Tuesday for a brand new
episode and every Sunday for another Games with Names Highlight
Rol
Host
Julian Edelman
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