April 23, 2021 • 9 mins
Shawne jumps on the Odd Couple with Rob Parker Jonas Knox to discuss new NFL rule changes including more flexibility with jersey numbers and how the fun is being taken out of the game with safety precautions. Shawne doesn't think any team looked at Trevor Lawrence's comments and doubted his commitment to football and he defends Jake Paul for how he's picking and choosing his fights.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, let's welcome in Shawn Merriman, uh, the former All
Pro linebacker and host of the Lights Out podcast, and
you can reach him on Twitter at Shawn Merriman Sean.
What's up, buddy, How you doing Welcome to the odd couple.
What's up, fellas? Are you doing doing good? Hey? Me
and Jonas have gotten into it because Tom Brady should
(00:22):
be as concerned about cheating in football as he is
about what uniform number players are wearing. What he's making
a big stink about the new rule players can wear
any number. Basically, where are you on this? Is this
that big of a deal? And if you could have
wore any other number, would you have changed to a
lower number or a different number? You know what? Um?
(00:44):
I don't totally disagree with him on one part, right,
I think that people making it such a big deal, Right,
You've seeing people going back to the college numbers, um
in the single digits. I'm like, okay, cool, it's a
number you still gotta go and perform, right, Uh So
on that part of I do agree with. You know,
I don't agree much with what Tom Brady got to
say anything he does, but on that part I do,
(01:05):
I do. I do think they're just making it too
big of a deal. It's it's a jersey number. It's fun,
you know. It sounds like they're trying to put some
kind of fun back in the football, which is always
a good thing because they've taken a lot of it
out of it over the years. Um, but yeah, it's
it's a big deal, guys. It's not a you know, nothing,
nothing serious to be talked about and then getting as
much as much media attention as it has for the
(01:25):
past week or so. Yeah, it's just slow news. But yeah,
I mean to teither that or baseball games. So you know,
we had we had, you gotta But now, in all seriousness, Sean,
every single year, it seems the NFL comes out and
there's different rule changes, things that they do differently, whether
it's the on site kick or moving the extra point back, etcetera, etcetera.
(01:49):
You being a former player, you being a guy who
played at the highest level, if you could change one
thing in the NFL, if you could make one rule
change right now, the NFL came to you and said
dealer's choice, make the call. I'm sorry that you know.
It's hard to say and I and I don't want
(02:10):
to sound um you know, Bob Barry called, you know
like I'm going back in old times. But I just
feel that um, you know, the hits to the head
or the timing and the guy gets hit, you know,
after he has two feet on the ground or whatever.
It's almost just as an assent. They're just protecting the
offense side of the ball just so much. Um so
so that or you know, the quarterback hits around the neck,
(02:32):
you know, those like teddy things like that. I wish
they could take away because you gotta you got point
five seconds man, and make a decision like that, and
then you can cast your team severely, um just by
you know, slapping down top of the shoulder patch right,
you know, as a pass rusher, you're just going buy
and you just get him around the neck, not even
tackle him. If you touch him around the neck, it's
automatic flag. So that part of it. I just think
(02:54):
that garden the offensive guys just way too much and
you're taking a lot of the fun um and instincts
out of the game before ball Sean, do you feel
just a quick follow up, do you feel like the
NFL has made it Obviously they've made it more difficult
on the defensive side of it. But do you talk
to other defensive players and say, man, it's so obvious
(03:14):
there's a bias towards the offense in this league. It's
so obvious that everything is slanted towards them. And if
that like the NBA where you can't touch anybody defensive
exactly exactly, Like, if that's the case, what are you
supposed to do? How are you supposed to coach these
guys up? When you when when, like you said, you
come anywhere near the head and you're gonna get flagged
and your team's out fifteen yards. Well, I can tell
(03:37):
you that it's just all depending on who you ask, right,
Because I had Roy Williams, who you know, the safety
for the Dallas Cowboys, on my podcast about a month ago,
and you know that conversation was deep, right because now
you have a guy who played the game four speed.
He was gonna lay you out no matter what. He
wasn't going for interception um. And so you know, it's
(03:57):
just depending on what era guys you talked to, because
you know, you might have some guys to say, hey, man,
you know, obviously there's a bunch of head traumu and uh,
you know, legal hits and we're trying to protect guys.
Then you got some guys saying like that's that's b s. Right,
I'm going in to make a hit. I'm going to
make a play. I should have an equal opportunity to
gonna make a play on the ball, and and and
(04:17):
and and have, um you know, some some leadway to
go out and make a big play. So it's just
a matter of what you talked to. And I just
hate sounding like the old I mean, I know I've
been retires some years now, man, but I hate sounding
like the old guy because when I was playing, you
have you got the guys to play in the ages
and nineties and like, oh you know they're that football
that they're soft. Now, we were leather hell mints and
we you know, didn't play with any teeth, right, I mean,
(04:39):
these guys just just like you know, I don't want
to come across as the old hater to the younger generations,
but there there are us. There's just some rules, man.
It just it takes the fun out of the game
because you can't control it. If if offensive linement is
blocking you, you're being held, you're reaching, you're scratching and
sprouting just to get the quarterback showed the path and
(05:00):
just throw him off a little bit. And if you
just grace his upper half, you know you're going to
get a flag. And that's just told. It's just it's
pointless to me. Hey, Sean, you said you don't want
to sound like that old guy, but we just took
your comments. We put him through our translator, and this
is what you sound like, all right, Sean Mary and
(05:25):
of course the former All Pro linebacker host of the
Lights Out podcast, joining us here on the odd couple.
Uh So, I why do you make up the Trevor Lawrence?
You know, the quotes came out like it's not the
end of the world. I'm not obsessed with football. I
do my job, I study, I do everything I'm supposed to.
The guy lost two games in college, looks like he
(05:46):
cares about winning, but a lot of people made a
big deal about it. Would you rather a guy say
the standard quotes that people want to hear and lie
or or be honest and just you know, tell people
who he really is. Which one which one do you want? No?
I love it because when I saw that, the first
thing that came to my mind is, Hey, I'm number one,
(06:07):
and it doesn't matter whether I love football like it,
Hey there's or anything in different. I'm going to but
one no matter what. Right, And that's that's just the truth.
And no one not one of the thirty two teams
and sitting back and saying, uh, you know, Trevor Launch
uh is not committed to football. Let's you know, let's
think about passing on them, right, Um, not one. And
I don't either if he came into they you know,
football is not a big deal to me, and I
(06:28):
just playing because I can and I like to make
a lot of money. He's still going number one no
matter what. Uh. And that was point. That was point proven.
I think that a lot of a lot of people
need to understand this too. This is the drive, you know,
from the combine to the drive that this is the process, right,
this is the same thing while we're seeing uh, you
know all the things that about justice, about fields and
(06:49):
everything else. That's the point where people start to nippick.
They started nippick on your character, They start a nippick
on every quote or everything you still work at. You know,
they're epic. This is the time to do it. So
I'm not gonna I'm not. It wasn't. I wasn't shocked
when he came out and made a big deal about
what he said, because they want him to say, Hey,
(07:09):
I love football, I eat, sleep and breathing. I go
home and I think about my playbook, that that's doing
this process. That's what a lot of gms and and
coaches in front office, that's what they're looking for you
to say. But he know in his heart of hearts
he's going number one no matter what, so he can
say that, Sean Merriman the last one for me before
(07:30):
we let you go. What's it gonna take? All right,
I'm gonna slide a blank contract across the table. How
much is it gonna take for you to get in
the ring with Jake Paul and and do what many
people have been wanting to do for a long time
and shut that guy up? How much is it gonna take?
You know what? To be honest, man, I've trained with
Jake and uh and I like the kid a lot.
(07:50):
I just think he's he's bringing so much attention to himself,
and it's a good thing him because attention in this
game means you're gonna get big pay checks, right, People
pay for attention. Um, and he's always gonna have that
until he goes out and fight the guy that uh
that's been doing it for a long time. But if
I'm Jake Paul, I'll be doing just exactly what I'm doing.
(08:12):
Pick and choose in my battles until I'm ready. You know,
I don't know what he made maybe five plus millions
last fight, Go and make another five and two million,
and then fight somebody when you're ready. Until then, um,
you know, just sit back and watch me and keep
getting attention. Yeah, good for him, man, good for him.
I just don't drink any water around the cooler around him.
I'm just people are going down left and right, all
(08:33):
right there? What is Sean Merrivin? I appreciate it. We
appreciate you stopping by giving us some knowledge you're under couple.
Thanks buddy, you got it. Man, appreciate it. Thanks Sean.
You know what I'm saying. It might be a little
sleepy juice in there. No, maybe, Oh is this the uh,
it's just like when they used to spike drinks back
and then what I'm saying, what was what was the
(08:57):
guy's name? Was it Aaron? Remember? Aaron Pry remember the
boxer Aaron Dryer, who, by the way, was a savage,
a great boxer. Remember Panama Lewis was his trainer, and
I think Panama Lewis there was reports that he had
put something in his drink like that was that was
one of the reports out there that it has always
been about that in boxing, back in the old days,
(09:20):
when you know a cooler was just sitting there, you know,
easily exactly. Yeah,
Now, let's welcome in Shawn Merriman, uh, the former All
Pro linebacker and host of the Lights Out podcast, and
you can reach him on Twitter at Shawn Merriman Sean.
What's up, buddy, How you doing Welcome to the odd couple.
What's up, fellas? Are you doing doing good? Hey? Me
and Jonas have gotten into it because Tom Brady should
(00:22):
be as concerned about cheating in football as he is
about what uniform number players are wearing. What he's making
a big stink about the new rule players can wear
any number. Basically, where are you on this? Is this
that big of a deal? And if you could have
wore any other number, would you have changed to a
lower number or a different number? You know what? Um?
(00:44):
I don't totally disagree with him on one part, right,
I think that people making it such a big deal, Right,
You've seeing people going back to the college numbers, um
in the single digits. I'm like, okay, cool, it's a
number you still gotta go and perform, right, Uh So
on that part of I do agree with. You know,
I don't agree much with what Tom Brady got to
say anything he does, but on that part I do,
(01:05):
I do. I do think they're just making it too
big of a deal. It's it's a jersey number. It's fun,
you know. It sounds like they're trying to put some
kind of fun back in the football, which is always
a good thing because they've taken a lot of it
out of it over the years. Um, but yeah, it's
it's a big deal, guys. It's not a you know, nothing,
nothing serious to be talked about and then getting as
much as much media attention as it has for the
(01:25):
past week or so. Yeah, it's just slow news. But yeah,
I mean to teither that or baseball games. So you know,
we had we had, you gotta But now, in all seriousness, Sean,
every single year, it seems the NFL comes out and
there's different rule changes, things that they do differently, whether
it's the on site kick or moving the extra point back, etcetera, etcetera.
(01:49):
You being a former player, you being a guy who
played at the highest level, if you could change one
thing in the NFL, if you could make one rule
change right now, the NFL came to you and said
dealer's choice, make the call. I'm sorry that you know.
It's hard to say and I and I don't want
(02:10):
to sound um you know, Bob Barry called, you know
like I'm going back in old times. But I just
feel that um, you know, the hits to the head
or the timing and the guy gets hit, you know,
after he has two feet on the ground or whatever.
It's almost just as an assent. They're just protecting the
offense side of the ball just so much. Um so
so that or you know, the quarterback hits around the neck,
(02:32):
you know, those like teddy things like that. I wish
they could take away because you gotta you got point
five seconds man, and make a decision like that, and
then you can cast your team severely, um just by
you know, slapping down top of the shoulder patch right,
you know, as a pass rusher, you're just going buy
and you just get him around the neck, not even
tackle him. If you touch him around the neck, it's
automatic flag. So that part of it. I just think
(02:54):
that garden the offensive guys just way too much and
you're taking a lot of the fun um and instincts
out of the game before ball Sean, do you feel
just a quick follow up, do you feel like the
NFL has made it Obviously they've made it more difficult
on the defensive side of it. But do you talk
to other defensive players and say, man, it's so obvious
(03:14):
there's a bias towards the offense in this league. It's
so obvious that everything is slanted towards them. And if
that like the NBA where you can't touch anybody defensive
exactly exactly, Like, if that's the case, what are you
supposed to do? How are you supposed to coach these
guys up? When you when when, like you said, you
come anywhere near the head and you're gonna get flagged
and your team's out fifteen yards. Well, I can tell
(03:37):
you that it's just all depending on who you ask, right,
Because I had Roy Williams, who you know, the safety
for the Dallas Cowboys, on my podcast about a month ago,
and you know that conversation was deep, right because now
you have a guy who played the game four speed.
He was gonna lay you out no matter what. He
wasn't going for interception um. And so you know, it's
(03:57):
just depending on what era guys you talked to, because
you know, you might have some guys to say, hey, man,
you know, obviously there's a bunch of head traumu and uh,
you know, legal hits and we're trying to protect guys.
Then you got some guys saying like that's that's b s. Right,
I'm going in to make a hit. I'm going to
make a play. I should have an equal opportunity to
gonna make a play on the ball, and and and
(04:17):
and and have, um you know, some some leadway to
go out and make a big play. So it's just
a matter of what you talked to. And I just
hate sounding like the old I mean, I know I've
been retires some years now, man, but I hate sounding
like the old guy because when I was playing, you
have you got the guys to play in the ages
and nineties and like, oh you know they're that football
that they're soft. Now, we were leather hell mints and
we you know, didn't play with any teeth, right, I mean,
(04:39):
these guys just just like you know, I don't want
to come across as the old hater to the younger generations,
but there there are us. There's just some rules, man.
It just it takes the fun out of the game
because you can't control it. If if offensive linement is
blocking you, you're being held, you're reaching, you're scratching and
sprouting just to get the quarterback showed the path and
(05:00):
just throw him off a little bit. And if you
just grace his upper half, you know you're going to
get a flag. And that's just told. It's just it's
pointless to me. Hey, Sean, you said you don't want
to sound like that old guy, but we just took
your comments. We put him through our translator, and this
is what you sound like, all right, Sean Mary and
(05:25):
of course the former All Pro linebacker host of the
Lights Out podcast, joining us here on the odd couple.
Uh So, I why do you make up the Trevor Lawrence?
You know, the quotes came out like it's not the
end of the world. I'm not obsessed with football. I
do my job, I study, I do everything I'm supposed to.
The guy lost two games in college, looks like he
(05:46):
cares about winning, but a lot of people made a
big deal about it. Would you rather a guy say
the standard quotes that people want to hear and lie
or or be honest and just you know, tell people
who he really is. Which one which one do you want? No?
I love it because when I saw that, the first
thing that came to my mind is, Hey, I'm number one,
(06:07):
and it doesn't matter whether I love football like it,
Hey there's or anything in different. I'm going to but
one no matter what. Right, And that's that's just the truth.
And no one not one of the thirty two teams
and sitting back and saying, uh, you know, Trevor Launch
uh is not committed to football. Let's you know, let's
think about passing on them, right, Um, not one. And
I don't either if he came into they you know,
football is not a big deal to me, and I
(06:28):
just playing because I can and I like to make
a lot of money. He's still going number one no
matter what. Uh. And that was point. That was point proven.
I think that a lot of a lot of people
need to understand this too. This is the drive, you know,
from the combine to the drive that this is the process, right,
this is the same thing while we're seeing uh, you
know all the things that about justice, about fields and
(06:49):
everything else. That's the point where people start to nippick.
They started nippick on your character, They start a nippick
on every quote or everything you still work at. You know,
they're epic. This is the time to do it. So
I'm not gonna I'm not. It wasn't. I wasn't shocked
when he came out and made a big deal about
what he said, because they want him to say, Hey,
(07:09):
I love football, I eat, sleep and breathing. I go
home and I think about my playbook, that that's doing
this process. That's what a lot of gms and and
coaches in front office, that's what they're looking for you
to say. But he know in his heart of hearts
he's going number one no matter what, so he can
say that, Sean Merriman the last one for me before
(07:30):
we let you go. What's it gonna take? All right,
I'm gonna slide a blank contract across the table. How
much is it gonna take for you to get in
the ring with Jake Paul and and do what many
people have been wanting to do for a long time
and shut that guy up? How much is it gonna take?
You know what? To be honest, man, I've trained with
Jake and uh and I like the kid a lot.
(07:50):
I just think he's he's bringing so much attention to himself,
and it's a good thing him because attention in this
game means you're gonna get big pay checks, right, People
pay for attention. Um, and he's always gonna have that
until he goes out and fight the guy that uh
that's been doing it for a long time. But if
I'm Jake Paul, I'll be doing just exactly what I'm doing.
(08:12):
Pick and choose in my battles until I'm ready. You know,
I don't know what he made maybe five plus millions
last fight, Go and make another five and two million,
and then fight somebody when you're ready. Until then, um,
you know, just sit back and watch me and keep
getting attention. Yeah, good for him, man, good for him.
I just don't drink any water around the cooler around him.
I'm just people are going down left and right, all
(08:33):
right there? What is Sean Merrivin? I appreciate it. We
appreciate you stopping by giving us some knowledge you're under couple.
Thanks buddy, you got it. Man, appreciate it. Thanks Sean.
You know what I'm saying. It might be a little
sleepy juice in there. No, maybe, Oh is this the uh,
it's just like when they used to spike drinks back
and then what I'm saying, what was what was the
(08:57):
guy's name? Was it Aaron? Remember? Aaron Pry remember the
boxer Aaron Dryer, who, by the way, was a savage,
a great boxer. Remember Panama Lewis was his trainer, and
I think Panama Lewis there was reports that he had
put something in his drink like that was that was
one of the reports out there that it has always
been about that in boxing, back in the old days,
(09:20):
when you know a cooler was just sitting there, you know,
easily exactly. Yeah,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!