Glue Guys, Leadership, and Quarterback Play with Jason Garrett

Jason Garrett joins Rosters to Rings to talk about what makes great leaders and great quarterbacks. From Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin to Dak Prescott and Justin Herbert, Jason shares behind-the-scenes stories and lessons from his years as a player, coach, and broadcaster. Thad, Ryan and Tom also dive into MLB playoff pushes, NFL and NBA roster management, and the always-debated “rest vs rust” dilemma.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Rosters, to rings everyone. I am Ryan McDonough,
joined as always by Dad Levine. This week we have
Tom Telesco, former NFL general manager, back with us, and
in the second segment, we're very excited to have on
Jason Garrett. You see him on NBC for Notre Dame
Football and NFL coverage. I also saw him on the
sideline in Dallas for almost a decade as the head

(00:27):
coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He'll join us shortly, but
that and Tom. Where I want to begin the show
today is with the Major League Baseball Pennant Races FAD.
This is your wheelhouse. There's only about a week left
or less than a week at this point left in
the Major League Baseball regular season, some fascinating playoff races
in both leagues, teams surging, teams collapsing. And the first

(00:50):
question I have for you that is, what is this
week like? Take us inside the front office, take us
inside the dugout. When you're in a Major League Baseball
clubhouse with just now days remaining in the season, what
does that experience like?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
It's glorious.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
I mean, this is what we all play for, right
is this opportunity to sprint to the finish line. It's
one hundred and sixty two games. You want to see
what you have left in the tank. You know, it's
a blend of like playing out every machination of who
needs to win, who needs to lose for us to advance.
You ideally want to clinch by winning. You also can

(01:23):
clinch by somebody else losing. It's a little bit less exhilarating.
I got to be honest, but there's nothing more empowering
for a team to be in that position where you're
in the driver's seat that if we win this next game,
we have a chance to have a champagne celebration. And
you know a few things that I think factor in
down the stretch here is you know, on the extremes,
like do you clinch early? If you clinch early, how

(01:45):
do you handle the balance between keeping your players fresh
versus really giving them an opportunity to rest. And so
to prepare to answer that question, I talked to Scott Servis,
a guy that we had on on an episode previously,
to ask like, what's the perspective on that? And he said,
like to address that, he simply would have a conversation
with the head trainer of the performance lead and say,

(02:07):
how is this guy's health right now? We need to
prioritize being healthy getting into the playoffs. But beyond that,
he was like, I really kind of wanted to play guys,
so I'd give them a day or two off and
then keep them in their normal routines. The last thing
you want to do is give a guy so much
rest that you have effectively ice them. And you know,
in baseball right now, it used to be in September
you could bring up up to forty players. Now you're

(02:30):
limited to only bringing up two extra players, so you
have twenty eight players on your roster. So he said,
ideally you want to rest your starting pitching, but with
twenty eight players you can't. So you know, he said,
I'd have modified looks for the starting pitchers. We'd go
maybe three to four innings rather than five to six,
but by and large, you had to keep guys in
the mix. On the other end of the spectrum is
what HAPs if you're out of it, Like, how do

(02:50):
you conduct yourself when you're playing playoff contending teams? Scott
felt exactly the same way I did, which is there's
an integrity to the game. You feel honored bound to
play the best you've got against playoff caliber teams to
make sure you're not negatively influencing a playoff race. You know,
the last thing you want to do is the perception
that you're maybe rolling over against a team that is

(03:12):
on the fringes of the playoffs and that propels them
into the playoffs. So from a from a managerial standpoint,
from a general managerial standpoint, I think you want to
play your best when you're even when you're out of it,
against those teams that are still in it to make
sure you uphold the integrity of the playoff configuration. And then,
you know, I talked to Scott a lot about would
you prefer to have a buy you know, the top

(03:33):
two seeds in Major League Baseball and both leagues get
a buye or would you rather just keep playing? You know,
you see, you see sometimes these teams have layoffs. So famously,
the two thousand and seven Colorado Rockies, they win twenty
of their last twenty one games, they really power through
until the World Series, but then they have a long
layoff and then they really played flat against the Red
Sox and ultimately lose the World Series, they had a

(03:54):
long layoff, it didn't serve them well. Scott's answer, which
was a little bit counter to what I thought, honestly,
was if you can always take the buy, always advance
to the next round, even if your guys kind of
you have to figure out how to keep them engaged.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
You know.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
You see oftentimes in baseball, the team that is hot
at the end, but who has to play every day,
gain some momentum in the playoffs and start surprising some teams.
And that's why baseball, and like a lot of other sports,
it's not uncommon for a fifth seed or a sixth
seed to ultimately win the World Series because those are
the teams that have the most I think momentum down

(04:29):
the stretch, and it really cares for through the playoffs.
But I'd be curious for you guys, how you felt
about those those elements as you were preparing for the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
Well, I'll tell you what.

Speaker 5 (04:37):
It seems like Baseball is so much different just because
the amount of games and the fact that you could clinch,
you know, with weeks to go in the season. And
I think about basketball and football that the rest is
really important, especially in football, is there's such a high
injury right, I will.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
Say with the NFL, I mean you may get one
game at the end of the year.

Speaker 5 (05:00):
You know, we be Week eighteen, but your seventeenth game
that may not have any bearing in the standings. Every
now and then you may have two games. When I
was with the Colts, we had we were fourteen and
oh one year. The last two games had no bearing
on our playoff seating. We end up resting players. That's
probably a story from a different day because we were
going for the undefeated season and the fans are not

(05:21):
happy that we didn't go for the undefeated season. But
we end up going to the Super Bowl that year.
But you know, from a general managers standpoint, in the
NFL is such a high injury rate and if you've
gotten to that point where you've clinched a spot by winning,
you can't you can't move up anymore, whether you have
a buyer, don't have the buy and I just don't want.

Speaker 4 (05:39):
To get players hurt.

Speaker 5 (05:40):
And then usually have that conversation with the head coach
because there are some head coaches that may want to say, hey, look,
I want to keep playing, you know, rest versus rust
I don't I don't want I want to be sharp
going in the playoffs. I've seen it both ways. It
can work both ways, but I know from a GM standpoint,
I would just get worried about losing, you know, a
front line player going into the playoffs with the most
important time of the year. Now, we had a year

(06:01):
with the Chargers where we had a game at the
end of the year didn't mean anything. We end up
playing our starters and it worked both ways. We did
lose a starter in the game that couldn't play in
the playoffs. But in the playoffs we went in the
first round and we're up, i don't know, thirty four
to nothing at halftime, so obviously, playing our guys, they

(06:22):
were ready to play in the playoff game. Now, unfortunately
that game we couldn't hold the lead against Jacksonville end
up losing in the fourth quarter. Didn't have anything to
do with with playing on the guys the week before.
But we were sharp going into the playoffs, and maybe
some of that was because we played that last.

Speaker 4 (06:35):
Game of the year.

Speaker 5 (06:36):
But those are always tough discussions. It will happen every
year in the NFL. As far as you know, Rest
versus Rust. As a GM, On my side, I'm probably
always trying to go more the rest route because I
know I can't go if we lose a Pro Bowl player,
I can't go to the tree and just pick another
Pro Bowl player off and get him ready for the playoffs. So, Ryan,
I'd love to hear your thoughts on basketball, because I

(06:57):
know you guys played eighty two games, but you want
to save guys life two for the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, it's a very long season start to finish. There
is an injury risk, not nearly as high as in
the NFL, but you factor that in as well, and
just if your superstar goes down, all the planning, all
the work you've done to get in that position is
really not going to matter if he's not available to
play in the playoffs. The teams that historically have won
NBA championships have top five to top ten players playing

(07:23):
like MVPs. That's how you win. In the NBA, it's
more of a top heavy league. But it's fascinating how
different coaches and executives view this a little bit differently.
In Boston, Doc Rivers was our head coach for nine
years twenty four to twenty thirteen. We had a really
good run and his thing was always just rests, Just
have them be rested and healthy. We felt like we
could go on the road and win. We had more

(07:45):
of a veteran group there. You know, some guys really
want home court advantage, and I think a lot of
that depends on the makeup of your team. You know,
how mature are you on the road?

Speaker 4 (07:54):
How well do you travel?

Speaker 2 (07:56):
The NBA?

Speaker 1 (07:57):
You got to win four series, seven games series. That's
a lot of time on the road. The guys handle that,
and can they go into a hostile environment and perform
in that environment knowing that historically you're probably not going
to get as good of a whistle from the refs
and things like that when the opposing crowds going nuts
in a playoff series. So really interesting debate in that.

(08:17):
One of the things that I was studying that I
think is really important as we approach the playoffs in
Major League Baseball are the teams that usually end up
in the end are the highest spending teams. So why
don't you take our listeners inside that a little bit,
because we'll hear a lot over the next couple of
weeks about Cincinnati and the run they've been on Cleveland, Arizona,
you know, being left for dead and making a bunch

(08:39):
of forward looking moves. But those teams are right there.
But the question I have for you is are they
going to be there a month from now as we
are pro Talloween and get into the World Series. Because
looking at the numbers, history tell you that it's probably
the top spending teams who we are going to end
up in the World Series.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
And Ryan, I think he hit on one of the
central issues that Major League Baseball is facing right now.
It's just so different in your guys sports, Like in
baseball right now, there's not really a forum for the
Oklahoma City Thunder version of a small market team to excel,
or for you Tom, like the fact that Tampa Bay
and Green Bay are doing so well this year, Like

(09:14):
you just don't see that in baseball right now. So
to answer your question, Ryan, the top seven payrolls are
slated to make the playoffs. There are twelve teams that
will make the playoffs in baseball. Ten of the top
twelve right now are ten of the top twelve top
payroll teams. San Francisco and Atlanta are the only two
right now that don't aren't tracking for the playoffs. The
lowest payroll team that is going to make the playoffs

(09:36):
this year appears to be Milwaukee, unless Cleveland or Cincinnati
come out from the outside, and that's just not great
for the game of baseball. So ten of the top
twelve representatives will be the ten top payroll teams. That
means there's two spots for teams that sit outside of
the top ten. And then, as we've discussed before, the
nineteen ninety seven Miami Marlins are the last team in

(09:57):
the bottom half of the payroll, So the bottom fifteen
apparels to win a World Series. There just isn't enough
parody in the game to keep fans truly engaged their
chances to get to the playoffs. We're just not seeing
those smaller market teams excel in the playoffs. But you
also reference some of the numbers, which is just great
in the game of baseball. Fan Grafs is a website
that does a lot in terms of playoff projections, and

(10:19):
they started the season out. What they're using is their
assessment of the strength of your roster, but also overlaid
against the strength of your schedule, and so they interestingly
this year very atypical six teams that they projected to
win their divisions. Only one, the Los Angeles Dodgers, is
actually now going to win their division, so they went

(10:40):
one for six. Very low percentage for fan grafs this year.
They also had, just for the listeners to hear, the
Atlanta Braves were the second highest playoff percentage is to
start this year, over ninety percent chance to make the playoffs.
They're going to miss it. On the other side of
the spectrum, Milwaukee only had thirty four percent chance to
make the playoffs. They're going to be the number one
seed in the National League.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
You know.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
Teams like the Reds had a nineteen percent chance of
making the playoffs. We've got six games left. They now
have a forty three percent chance. They're still a lot,
very much alive. At the trade deadline this year, the
six American League teams had sixty percent or greater chance
to make the playoffs. The nationally eighty seven percent or more.
For the six teams. Now, all of a sudden, you
fastward two months and mayhem has taken place. The Houston

(11:23):
Astros of the trade deadline and a ninety two percent
chance to make the playoffs, sixty six percent chance to
make to win the division. Now they're down to one
point seven percent chance to win their division. The Mets
had a ninety five percent chance to make the playoffs
at the deadline. They're down to fifty percent with the
Red surging. And then one team I just want to
draw some attention to because they've done something so incredible

(11:43):
over the last two years.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
At the trade.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
Deadline last year, the Detroit Tigers had a one percent
chance to make the playoffs. One percent they sold at
the deadline. They built for the future. As you reference
the Arizona Diamondbacks have done this year. Not only did
they make the playoffs, they won the division and they
won a series in the playoffs. Last year as a
one percent chance to make the playoffs, this year they
may be on the other side of of the percentages.

(12:07):
At the trade deadline this year, they had a ninety
seven percent chance to win the division. They're now in
a three game series with the Guardians to win the
division with six games left to play, and it would
be a one percent chance for the Guardians to win
the division. So the Detroit Tigers and back to back
years may be on different ends of the spectrum of
one percentile outcomes that could possibly happen. It just would

(12:30):
be utterly remarkable in the game of baseball if that
actually took place.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
I got a quick question.

Speaker 5 (12:35):
So obviously NFL has a hardest salary cap NBA. I
believe it's more of a soft salary cap. Well, Major
League Baseball ever get to a cap system just for
competitive balance. So you're not a fan in a small
market that you know going into the season that you're
really not competing. But I'm going I'm a buying tickets.
I'm going to the game, but I'm watching for entertainment purposes,
but I'm not really watching to hopefully win a World Series.

(12:58):
We'll ever get to that point with baseball.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
So Tom, I think you're you're talking about the central
point that will be discussed in the next collective bargaining agreement.
So Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement expires after the
twenty twenty sixth season, they'll be tremendous debates between the
union and the Commissioner's Office, the union representing the players,
the commissioner Office, who represents the owners, and I think
that will be the central discussion. So heretofore they've always

(13:22):
back down on its insisting there's a salary cap, because
that's the biggest point of contention between both sides. There
will be a real risk of a workstoppage if they
press that point. But I think we're getting to that
point in baseball. You know, we celebrate when Tampa, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Cleveland,
those types of teams make the playoffs, but the reality
is they're just not winning when they get there, When

(13:43):
they're when they're facing teams that have upwards of one
hundred million more dollars that they're spending at the major
league level. It's just showing up in the playoffs. The stars,
the star started lineups are winning, and so I think
it's something they're going to have to address. Players are
really resistant to it. We just us as once before,
in rosters to rings. I think there's an opportunity that

(14:04):
if we establish a payroll floor, which also doesn't exist
right now, and if we raise that enough in a
company with a payroll ceiling, then I think there could
actually be more money in the game for the players
than there currently exists, because we're now forcing the teams
on the low end to spend more aggressively. But it's
also curtailing the upside earners, and I think it would

(14:26):
create a ton more parody in the game, which would
be so much more scintillating to the fans as much
as Milwaukee is a number one seed right now. But
my guess is once we get into the playoffs, they
won't be a prohibitive favorite. They may not even be
a favorite at all in the first round of the
playoffs as they face off against one of these payroll
behemas who just has more talent and a little bit
more depth at the top of their rosters.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
I love that salary floor idea that does exist in
the NBA. In the NBA, on opening night, you need
to spend at least ninety percent of the salary cap.
You need to do it before the season starts, because
what teams were doing under the old rules is just waiting.
They hold open a bunch of salary cap space and
use that kind of as a dumping ground for bad
contracts with assets attached, whether it's young players or draft picks. Tom,

(15:11):
the last question I have for you is relative to
the NBA's changed see me, the NFL's change in the
playoff format that started in twenty twenty before that six
teams and each conference made it and the top two
seeds got buys. Starting in twenty twenty, seven teams in
each conference make it. Now only the top one seed
gets by. You were running the Chargers of that time,

(15:33):
later one on to run the Raiders. What material impact
if any, did that have for NFL teams, especially the
top teams as they were approaching the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (15:43):
Well, Number one, I think everyone was excited about adding
an extra playoff team, every head coach, every GM that
and also just you know, there's nothing better in our
sport than playoff football, so that you go to seven
teams in each conference. But yeah, that buy is critical.
It just you know, there's only you know, three playoff
games get to the get to the super Bowl, So

(16:03):
that is a huge advantage. But if you can't get
the buy, it's still in the NFL, home field advantage
is very, very important. So you still have teams playing
usually gonna have to play it out through all seventeen
games to try and get home field advantage at least
for the first round. Because obviously in the NFL, elements
mean something. You know, whether you know a team plays

(16:24):
you know in in Los Angeles, in Sofi Stadium or
has to go to Buffalo and play in Buffalo in January.
Big difference. So yeah, I think teams are still pushing
hard at the end of the year for one of
those obviously for the buye but obviously, but the second
part is to get that home playoff game. At least
the first home playoff game just increases your odds of
getting to the next round. So I love the format

(16:47):
the way it is now. It's competitive and our season
it really is all seventeen weeks. You may get week seventeen,
you get a couple of teams.

Speaker 4 (16:55):
That will rest players.

Speaker 5 (16:56):
But what the league also did was they tried to
weigh more vision games at the end of the season.
So if you look at a lot of schedules, there's
a lot of divisional games because we're hoping those games
are going to affect who the division winner is going
to be. That's been a big help to not only
for competitive balance, but just for TV ratings as well,
to make those games exciting at the end. So yeah,

(17:16):
the league's done a great job is trying to make
that to make that change with the playoff system.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
As a fan of the game, it's been great. Stay
with us. Right after this, We're going to have former
Cowboys head coach, NBC broadcaster for Notre Dame and the NFL,
Jason Garrett. We'll be right back on rosters the ranks.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
Welcome back to rosters, to rings. Alongside Ryan McDonough and
Tom teleusco, we are ecstatic to bring on our next guest,
Jason Garrett. Jason was born into a football family. Jason's
father was an accountlish player, coach and scout. Jason attended Princeton,
where he was the starting quarterback. After stints in the
Canadian Football League in the World of Football League, Jason

(18:09):
played parts of eleven seasons in the NFL for the Cowboys, Giants, Buccaneers,
and Dolphins. Jason won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys
in nineteen ninety two, ninety three, and ninety five. While
a member of the Cowboys, Jason played with future Hall
of famers Larry Allen, Dion Sanders, Troy Aikman, Charles Haley,
Michael Irvin, and EMMITTT. Smith, and for Hall of Fame

(18:29):
coach Jimmy Johnson. After finishing his playing career, Jason became
the offensive coordinator for the Cowboys before being named as
a Cowboys head coach in twenty ten, a position he
held for ten years. Jason and his wife Brill founded
Starfish Charities, and they are in their twenty fourth year
of running a football camp at Princeton for underprivileged kids. Jason,
I always felt in baseball when we were building a

(18:51):
championship roster, there were two kind of fundamental types of
players you were acquiring. One was the muscle, and I
thought the muscle was always readily available in baseball. If
I want wanted to pay a price for a free
agent in salary or in trade and prospect capital, I
could go get thirty home runs or one hundred RBIs
or one hundred and eighty inx pitched. But the second
type of player was the heart and soul player. They

(19:12):
were the players who had the ability to elevate the room,
to elevate the standards of excellence in the clubhouse, in
the locker room, but also they had the spirit to
invest in that endeavor. And my sense is that you
were that type of player. You were the heart and
soul type player throughout your career. When I went to
look at highlights of your playing career, there was exceptional
night that you had on Thanksgiving when you got a

(19:33):
chance to start, But so much more of the video
was you picking up players when they came out the field,
You challenging them, you celebrating moments with them. My guess
that's why you extended your career as a backup quarterback,
when you got a chance to play in Tampa, in Miami,
and ultimately why you were so successful as a coach.
The question I have for you is, you got a
chance to play with so many Hall of famers and

(19:54):
for a Hall of Fame coach, but I would be
curious who are some of those heart and soul players
that you got to play with or you got to coach,
and how vital was that when you were building out
your rosters.

Speaker 6 (20:04):
Well, you know, I appreciate you saying that, and I
take pride in being that guy. You know, I was
far far from a cornerstone player. I was fortunate to
play for a long time. But I said earlier, I
was hanging on by a string. And so you want
to contribute in any way that you can. And you know,
we were talking about this the other day. You know
they have that Netflix documentary going on, you know about

(20:24):
the Cowboys in the nineties and so fortunate to be
part of those teams.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
And you know, I've said this out loud. If we
don't have.

Speaker 6 (20:32):
Those cornerstone players, those first ballot Hall of Famers, Michael Irvin,
Troy Aikman, Emmett Smith, Charles Haley, these guys that are
just off the charts players, we don't win. But the
magic of that team, to me, we're so many of
the other guys, and you know, the offensive lineman, you know,
they got some attention, you know, the.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
Big Wall, the Great Wall of Dallas or whatever they
were calling them.

Speaker 6 (20:56):
But these characters that we had, you know, the Mark
Stepnosky's and the Kevin Gogan's and the Mark Tuene's and
you know, these guys that a lot of fans probably
don't remember quite as much, but they were the fabric
of the team. And Tony Tolbert and Darryl Johnston and
you know, so many, you know, just different guys that
we had, Billy Bates and I remember we got Elvis Patterson.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
If you remember Elvis Patterson the end of his career.

Speaker 6 (21:21):
And just all these different guys, and so, you know,
I think Jimmy Johnson's greatness during that time was recognizing
the importance of talent, these these guys that were you know,
we all rallied around and were star players, but also
understanding all those other guys that were so necessary to
building a championship team and sustaining a championship team. And

(21:43):
for me, I always reflected back on that. When you
get in the role as the head coach, you say, Okay,
we got to do a great job in the first round.

Speaker 2 (21:50):
We got it, you know, and I thought we did
a really good job.

Speaker 6 (21:53):
You know, you think about some of those names I mentioned,
Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick and Zach Martin and you know,
z Elliott and some of these.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
Other guys we drafted. But then, you know, the magic
was always that other guy.

Speaker 6 (22:05):
You know, that guy who's running down on kickoffs and
playing ten plays a game, but just makes such a
difference on the team, productive on the field. When he
gets his opportunity, he plays well, but he's adding so
much more to the team.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
And you know, when we.

Speaker 6 (22:22):
Reflect back on those championship teams, we talk about a
lot of those guys too. You know, a lot of
those role players, a lot of those glue guys that
people people like to use that expression, because they do
make a difference, and they might be the special sauce
on building championship teams really in any sport.

Speaker 5 (22:40):
You know, let's when I flipped the quarterbacks real quick,
because you've you've played with, coached, scouted, you know, thousands
of quarterbacks over the years, probably all the way from
your backyard at mom with the beach, all the way
to the combine. So you've seen them all in the
last pray thirty forty years. What are some of the
aspects of that position that really are the highest predictors

(23:02):
of success?

Speaker 2 (23:03):
You know, it's a great question.

Speaker 6 (23:04):
It's so interesting you asked me that because last year
we did something with NFL films on the evolution of
the throwing motion and derived from a conversation I had
with Aaron Rodgers, where one of the best passers I've
ever seen in my life, and I just asked him,
I said, hey, just give me a thought. I'm throwing
and he starts talking about, you know, getting all the

(23:26):
weight to the inside of his left ankle, on the
inside of his left knee and his inside and jumping
onto my left foot, and I'm thinking to myself, what
the hell is this guy? Talking about I mean, you know,
I've been thinking about this my whole life, and I've
never heard anybody say what he's saying. And so I
reflected back on, Hey, you know, fifty years ago, who's
the best passer?

Speaker 2 (23:45):
Joe Namath was right.

Speaker 6 (23:47):
So I used to have this this throwing sequence on
my wall, Joe Namath eight throws, bump up, up, up, Bob,
And I was kind of like my model, and I'm
thinking he was the best passer back then, Aaron Rodgers
the best passer. Now they do it completely differently, right,
There's been an evolution, and there's all these guys teaching
these young kids how to throw now and all of that,

(24:07):
and so we did a deep dive into that. And
in the midst of this, we talked to Drew Brees
and Troy Aikman and Josh Allen and and Dak Prescott
and it was a fun little project with NFL Films.
I'm thinking about, you know, something we need to we
need to pull back and talk about quarterbacks in general.
And so this this year it's going to come out

(24:28):
this fall. We did something called it's going to be
called the Evaluation slash mis Evaluation of Quarterbacks. And and
and the question is why do we hit on guys
and why don't we miss on guys at this most
critical position. And again I go back.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
To my dad.

Speaker 6 (24:43):
I can remember going to my first combine. I'm the
quarterback coach in Miami, and he says to me, he says,
you're gonna go there and you're gonna fall in love
with one of these quarterbacks. The way he looks, the
way the ball comes out of his hand, he can
really throw it. But just from that's only part of
playing the position. There's a lot more to it. And
so as we're doing this project, we put together ten

(25:07):
criteria for evaluating a quarterback and I'll share them with
you now. The first is passion for the game. You
gotta love it. Two is metal and physical toughness. If
you don't have that, you have no chance. Three is
your football character, your temperament, your competitiveness, all of that.
Four is leadership. It's a leadership position. You got to

(25:29):
affect other people in a positive way. And then we
start getting into those are all kind of non playing
traits right in tangibles if you will. And what I
always said was, Okay, I get they're intangibles. You can't
see them, but we have to look for the evidence
of them, and we have to be intentional about that
at all positions, but particularly this position.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (25:50):
Five is football instincts. They come in all shapes and sizes.
But if they're not instinctive, they don't have a feel
for the game, they don't feel it, and they don't
see it, they're not.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Going to be very good.

Speaker 6 (26:01):
I don't care what they look like in the workout.
Six is football intelligence. Yeah, you have to be able
to take information, process it, articulate it, and most importantly,
once the ball snapped, you got to be able to
process the game quickly and see overlay your play against
their play and make quick decisions. And then we get
into the other stuff. It is quarterback arm talent matters. Okay,

(26:24):
that's seven accuracy. Okay, you got to be able to
throw it where you want to throw it. That's a
critical part of it. And then we talked about playmaking
ability within the system and also outside the system with
your arm and with your legs. And lastly we talk
about the traits. What he looks like, how big his
hands are, you know, how high he jumps. All of

(26:46):
that stuff that is measurable. And so one of the
conclusions that I've come to is when we miss, we
go backwards. We get enamored with the guy we see
at the combine as he's walked out of the field, like,
oh my god, you know, and I always.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
Go back to Troy Aikman. Troy Aikman is the guy
that you can become enamored with.

Speaker 6 (27:05):
Right he walks out and you're like, ah, that's exactly
what a quarterback should look like. And then he starts throwing.
That's how a quarterback should throw. But haven't played with
that guy for eight years and know him really well.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
I get all that he.

Speaker 6 (27:18):
Has those traits, but he's a first ballot Hall of
Famer because he loves it.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
He's as tough a.

Speaker 6 (27:23):
Person as I've ever met in my life. His leadership,
his competitiveness, all of those things, that's what makes him
who he is. So identifying those those things first, anybody
can say, oh, six four two twenty two, he ran
four seven one. You know, the ball comes out of it.
Anybody can see that. The magic is seeing.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
The other thing.

Speaker 6 (27:46):
And something that we have to be realistic about is
when you have all those traits, maybe that does help
your competitiveness and your confidence and your leadership because you
have the physical ability. We're honest about that. But we've
all seen a lot of guys who look the part
and can throw it who cannot play, and then when
it gets hard and it's under duress.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
They really can't play.

Speaker 6 (28:07):
So so trying to intentionally identify those things at the
top of the list, I think is most critical.

Speaker 5 (28:14):
We should post those bullet points in every draft room
in the NFL. Because I'm the same I used to
think the Pro day for the quarterback is such a mirage.
I mean, they're out there, they're throwing routes versus air.
There's no defense. It's all the same routes they would
throw in pregame warm ups if you went to see
the player play live. I just I got nothing out
of a quarterback pro day, Like we already know at

(28:36):
that point of the draft process. We already know the
physical characteristics. We have to talk about what you just
talked about really one through seven, all those aspects that
go into play in the position so much more than
what the pro day looks like. But every year, and
I've been victim of it too. It and not only
a quarterback position. But some other positions is you know,
you fall in love with the physical traits and just say, well,

(28:58):
we'll fix the rest, or we'll get the rest to come,
or hey, we'll put him in our room and we'll
get them more competitive.

Speaker 4 (29:03):
It never happens.

Speaker 5 (29:04):
You know, Well, it's so yeah, it's just so. It's
the hardest position. The coach is quarterb era, the scout
his quarterback.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Well, to me, you pick one of the best guys.

Speaker 6 (29:14):
And to me, it's a little bit like Troy Aikman
for me because when you go to the.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Justin Herbert workout. Wow, I mean, look at this guy.

Speaker 6 (29:22):
He's actually six six. Look at the ball come out
of his hand. He never misses right. But what we're
seeing in him now is probably what you saw. I mean,
the competitor and how he wants to be great, and
how he's going to impact his teammates and all of that.
And then you overlay that with all this physical ability
and you have this wow player who's going to be
there for fifteen more years, and so you know exactly

(29:46):
what you're doing.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Could you pick the right guy?

Speaker 5 (29:49):
I had enough chances to do it, but that was
It's amazing too, especially the quarterbacks, is there. All their
personalities are different, you know, Peyton's, Peyton Man's personality is different,
Eli's personality, Justin Herbert's personality is different than Jim Kelly's personality.
But there's different ways to lead, and they all lead
in different ways.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
And Justin leads in a.

Speaker 5 (30:10):
Very it's more of a quiet way, but it's more
of a follow me. Now, he's got a little bite
to him on game day, but in practice it's basically
you follow me, you know, more so than getting in
people's faces. And everybody kind of does their leadership in
a different way, and it works differently for different quarterbacks,
but with him it works in his personality.

Speaker 6 (30:28):
Well, you know, I think the other thing is is
they're not finished products.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
He's twenty one years old.

Speaker 6 (30:36):
Right, and so when you think about him, and again
I'm watching him from Afar, you know him really well.
He loved it, he worked at it, he cared about it,
and he the personality is a little quiet, but you
know they're going to grow into this when he has
confidence in the NFL, when he looks around and says, hey,
wait a second, I'm one of the oldest guys on
the team. Now I'm gonna take charge, and I think

(30:57):
we're seeing that from him this year. He's been a
little bit more like willful with everybody, and I think
we've all seen players mature. It's different than changing the player.
He has all these traits that we don't like. We're
going to change him. You're not going to change him.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
But if you.

Speaker 6 (31:14):
See some positive things that maybe aren't fully developed yet,
like in a guy like Justin Herbert and others, you say, hey,
that's part of our job is to help them grow.
And I think he'll naturally grow the more he plays,
so allowing for that too. Understanding they're not finished products
is a big part of this thing, but also understanding
there's certain things you can't change and you have to

(31:36):
be convicted about that.

Speaker 5 (31:38):
One more quick thing and I noticed this with when
we had Andrew Luck his rookie year with the Colts.
Andrew is an incredible leader, but when you come out
of college and you're twenty one twenty two years old
and you walk into the locker room full of adults,
it's hard to lead that way. You just haven't earned
it yet. And with him, we're actually trying to push
him along as rookie year, go ahead and lead. He's like,
I can't lead yet. I'm twenty two years old. I

(32:00):
got here these guys. I have teammates that have kids
in school. But you kind of grow into that. And
Justin is the same thing. Justice is kind of grown
into that role over the years. And you're right, that's
the development of any position, but certainly a quarterback position
developed that leadership role as you mature as an adult.

Speaker 6 (32:16):
It's so funny to say that because we drafted Dak
Prescott in twenty sixteen in the fourth round, and really
with the intention for him to be having a chance
to be the next quarterback.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Romo was our quarterback.

Speaker 6 (32:27):
We had no intention of him playing as a rookie,
and Kellen Moore was our backup. He got hurt, Tony
gets hurt, and all of a sudden, Dak Prescott, our
fourthront picks, are starting quarterback. And we lost the first game,
and then we won eleven in a row and we're
in the middle of this streak. And he's the greatest
kid ever. And you see that. I mean, I just
I love him to death, and I just I grabbed him.

(32:50):
I said, hey, hey, how are you doing this? I mean,
all these guys absolutely love playing for you, and guys
are running through the wall for him. How are you
pulling this off? I never see you make a speech
or I never see you rally the troops. He said, oh, coach,
you know, like I said, I just got here. I
can't do that. I said, what are you doing? He's like,
I spend a lot of time with him. It's about

(33:11):
building relationships. And so if it happened once, it happened
fifteen times. You know, we're't game planning on a Wednesday
night or Thursday night. You know, after practice we're upstairs
and I hear this hooting and hollering down in the
locker room. I go down in the locker room. There's
twenty guys. It's two hours after practice. They're in the

(33:32):
locker room. They're playing hamper basketball with this giant tennis
ball and you have to you shoot it, you balance it,
it goes into the hoop. I mean they're on teams,
they're going back and forth in Prescott's behind the whole thing,
you know. And so it's like, spend time with the guys,
get to know them, let them know you care about them.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
All of that, and then and then they're gonna play
for you.

Speaker 6 (33:53):
And obviously he's a much more outspoken leader now, you know,
as the face of that franchise, But early on it's
it's relationship building, and you know those guys understand that.
Andrew Luck gets it, Dak Prescott gets it.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
You know, guys, it's fascinating in hearing you guys talk
about this because in a baseball locker room, I feel
like some of the biggest mistakes we made what was
asking our best player to be also the best leader
on the team, and baseball doesn't correlate quite that closely.
You know, there isn't the position a quarterback that just
demands a lot of level of leadership and ability to
give those rousing speeches. Jason, And you know, I think

(34:29):
you also shed light on the fact that leadership comes
in a lot of different forms. I think people think
of it as the guy who's giving the raw ross speech.
But some of the best leaders I've been around, our
leaders by example, and the guys who are the relationship builders.
But I think in baseball what you see is all
too often is the leader of the team. May I
actually be the backup catcher or the utility infielder. It
is that heart and soul guy who really gets everybody up.

(34:52):
And then it's the best player who's leading by example.
And when you give them the freedom to be the
best version themselves as a leader, they shine. When you
ask them to be the guy giving the rousing speech,
sometimes they shrink because while they may be the best
hitter on the team, or the best fielder or the
best pitcher, they may not be the best orator, you know.
And so I think putting people in positions to succeed

(35:13):
both as your secondary players but also the leaders on
your team is just vital to the success of these franchises.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
Yeah, he couldn't say it any better.

Speaker 6 (35:21):
You know, we talked about doing this football camp at Princeton,
you know, the night before We've done a leadership for
him forever, and we have all these different people come
in and speak from all walks of life. And early
on we had Troy Aikman and Pete Carrill on a
panel together, and so we're all talking about leadership and

(35:41):
I'm talking about I'm bringing up John F. Kennedy and this,
that and the other thing and whatever. Courl's not even listening.
He's just drinking beers, grils, you know, he's just the greatest.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
And then when all dials down and all kind of
the lah, and when.

Speaker 6 (35:55):
Everyone quiets down, he just says, hey, Red, can I
ask a question? And I said, sure, coach, And he
turns to Akman. He says, hey, Aikman, you know when
you throw that that eighteen yard comeback and you put
that baby right on the guy's numbers, that's pretty good
for your leadership.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Huh. And Ty was like, yeah, it is.

Speaker 6 (36:15):
And so his point wasn't both those guys are cut
from the same claw. You can make any speech you on,
but so much of it starts with the example you said,
by performance and also your approach. And you know, that's
a vivid image in my mind that kind of helped
with your leadership, didn't it. There, Aikman, you know, and
it's true. So you know, credit you to understand that.

(36:38):
You know, even if the guy's hitting forty home runs,
we're not going to ask him to do some things
he's not capable of doing. You go lead that way,
We'll get other guys to lead other ways. And again
that goes back to the special sauce of these championship teams.
People recognize in all those different roles.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Jason, one of the best leaders I've seen across sports
is Tom Brady, who's made a lot of news over
the last week or so. I heard you discussing it
with Mike Floria the other night on NBC. As someone
who played the game, coached and is now a broadcaster,
what is your perspective on Tom Brady as both the
Raiders owner and Fox's lead commentator, And if you were

(37:13):
a head coach, how would you approach those meetings as
far as what you share and do not share with
Tom Brady who currently has both of those roles.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, well, he's greatness.

Speaker 6 (37:24):
I absolutely love Tom Brady, let's start there. I just
think to think about what he did in his career.
I mean, he's forty five years old and he could
have kept playing, right.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
He's just a.

Speaker 6 (37:37):
Remarkable example of an approach and put winning first, and
the example and the combination of what we're talking about
lead with performance, but also lead in other ways to
help people be their best. My admiration for him when
they start chiseling the best players ever on the Mount
Rushmore of NFL player since nineteen twenty, he's the first

(37:57):
face they chisel, right. I mean, he's he's off the charts.
So I love the guy, but but I do think
it's a tricky thing. And to me, it's not it's
not really about him. It's about the NFL. And the
NFL has to decide if they're gonna let a broadcaster
own a team and be in meetings and have these
have these conversations. And you know, so if I'm in

(38:20):
Tom Brady's shoes, I'm trying to gather as much information
as I can.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Tom.

Speaker 6 (38:24):
You know this before a game in the NFL, everyone's talking,
everyone's bs and everyone's doing this. But you know, the
great ones are letting the other guy talk, right, and
you're listening to your gathering information.

Speaker 4 (38:35):
It's like a good scout.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (38:38):
Yeah, So if you're in these roles, you know, like
Tom is, Tom's doing exactly what he should do.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
He's in a conversation. He's gonna take that.

Speaker 6 (38:46):
He's not gonna overtly cross boundaries on things. But someone
just told me something about the Kansas City Chiefs whatever.
I'm actually the owner of the Raiders, right am I not?
Am I going to keep that to myself?

Speaker 2 (39:01):
Right?

Speaker 6 (39:01):
So to me, it's on the NFL to make sure
that there's some sort of a Chinese wall there that
doesn't allow him to be in certain conversations, and and
then he just has to kind of live with whatever
those regulations are. But I don't begrudge him at all.
He's just he's just being who he is. I just
think it's a tricky spot that he's been put in.

Speaker 5 (39:20):
Yeah, that's uh, it's so unique to the to the league.
I mean, we just had never had never happened. No,
so maybe you need to you need to end up
any up a little bit so you can get in
the same boat.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
Oh yeah, yeah, how about that.

Speaker 6 (39:35):
Geez, what they're paying for ten percent of these teams
for having no say or no voice in anything is
just it's unfathomable.

Speaker 4 (39:43):
Yeah, So I got one more quick question.

Speaker 5 (39:46):
So with the Chargers, like Derwin James is as good
a playry as he is. He's just an incredible leader,
Like he just has that natural leadership where people want
to follow him. I Mean I've never or anybody like him,
who is the player with the Cowboys that kind of
embody the same type of example for you guys, actually,

(40:09):
as when you're a player or when you're coaching.

Speaker 6 (40:12):
You know, I think if you ask all the players
back then, I think the consensus answer on the best
teammate we all had would be Michael Irvin. And you know,
Michael Irvin is a little bit of a lightning rod
figure for people because he had some issues off the
field and he's a little.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
Flamboyant and all of that.

Speaker 6 (40:30):
But you know, I have countless stories about him. You know,
you talk about a vision for the team and having
your players represented. He represented that team and his competitiveness,
his work ethic, all of those things. If you're a
young player and you see this guy, I don't know
if we have time for it. But one of my
favorite stories that I've shared with a lot of people

(40:51):
through the years, and I still think about to this day,
was we used to do these things called metabolics, And
a metabolic was t routes for a receiver, simulating plays,
and you would essentially do the route tree. And the
idea was you'd run the route, you'd catch the ball,
you turn up the field, you'd burst for ten yards
and then you jog back and you go again, and

(41:13):
and so you know, you would build up when you
for early part of the off season you do two
sets of metal bollock, so you run in twenty routes.
Right the next week it's three or whatever. So we
we go through the off season, everyone has that whatever,
that three week break, and then we're coming back for
training camp. And so I'm one of the backup quarterbacks.

(41:33):
I've thrown more balls to Michael Irvin than than Troy
Aikman has right, because Troy would throw the real ones
and I'd be in the background throwing the one when
he'd say, hey, Red, let's go throw, and I'd go back,
you know, I'd go throw to Michael Irvin. So we're
all away out of town leading up to training camp.
We're coming back a few days before and it was
the days of voicemail and you know, answer machines, and

(41:56):
so we get back to our house and it was
a Sunday night. I'll never forget. I think we're going
to camp on Wednesday, and I have a message from
Michael and it says, hey, Hey, Red, Hey Hope, you
guys had a great time off.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
When you get back in town, give me a call.

Speaker 6 (42:13):
So this is say three o'clock on Sunday, and then
three point fifteen, Hey, Red, Hope hope you had a good,
good vacation. Holler when you get back. Now it's three
point thirty. Another message, another message. The last message is, hey, Red,
when you get back in town, get your ass up
to value your ants.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
We're throwing tonight, right, So so I get back.

Speaker 6 (42:31):
It's probably seven o'clock at night on Sunday, and we're
going to camp two days later. And he's like, I
need to get a throw in. I need to run
some routes. I need you tonight, and so Texas, let's
call it July eighth. It's it's one hundred and five
degrees at seven o'clock at night.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
You guys know this.

Speaker 6 (42:52):
And so I get up to val there's no there's
one car in the parking lot. When I get there,
called seven o'clock at night, and I pull in and
Mike Michael's not in there, and so I get my
cleats on, I put my grays on, I get a
couple of footballs or a bag of footballs, and.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
Here we go.

Speaker 6 (43:09):
And I go out there and he's out on the field.
I'll never forget it for the rest of my life.
Only guy in the field and he has his Remember
the old Speed TV shoes, those receiver Nikon shoes.

Speaker 4 (43:19):
Yeah, he's got campos.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
Yeah, tempo exactly right. He's got him on.

Speaker 6 (43:24):
He's got his high wits on like Michael Cooper used
to wear. Right, he's got this. He's got this. It's
almost like a like a wet suit like girdle on
as shorts. He's got his gray shorts stopping wet on
top of those. He's got a weighted vest on underneath. Oh,
he's got weight He's got weights in the thighs of

(43:45):
the girdle.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
He's got his weighted vest on.

Speaker 6 (43:47):
He's got his shoulder pads on, his practice jersey and
his helmet. And he used to wear this, this Walter
Payton mouthpiece if you remember that, it would hang off
his and so he's got his mouthpiece and he's like,
let's go. And so he's like, you'll give you a
five throws. So I get loosened up real quick, and
he just wines up on the left. And so we
had done this a million times together, so it didn't

(44:09):
take a lot of words. Right, So we go slant
and then.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
We go hit.

Speaker 6 (44:12):
So we go quick out, then we go twelve yard
hook bang eight, you know, so we throw the route
tree and every time he catch, burst up field, jogged back,
boom boom boom, without saying a word. Do ten of them.
We're done with ten. You get like a ninety second break.
He throws down a gatorad go to the other side.
Ten more over there, Okay, same thing. Boom, third, one, fourth, one, fifth, one.

(44:33):
We do five sets of metabolics, and he's catching, bursting
every time. The last one we do kind of in
the red zone. He's scoring touchdowns on every one.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
Boom boom, boom, boom boom.

Speaker 6 (44:45):
And the last one he spikes it like Michael Irvin
spikes it, and we're done.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
And I'm about forty.

Speaker 6 (44:50):
Yards away from him, and I'm just thinking to myself,
you kidding me.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
I mean, this is what it takes. This is what
it takes. This is what greatness is. Right here.

Speaker 6 (45:00):
You know, it's Sunday night. It's freaking eight o'clock at
night at Valley Ranch. There's no one around. We're not
at Texas Stadium, right, this is a playoff game, sixty
thousand people hollering his name, right, this is just greatness
right in front of us. And I walked off the
field and I said that's what it takes. And at
the time it was Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin. He saw

(45:20):
himself kind of in this competition with the great. Jerry
Rice is the you know, the great receiver of the
game at that time.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
And I'll never forget.

Speaker 6 (45:29):
It because it was like, Huh, this is what greatness
is individually, this is what greatness is collectively for our team,
and he represented that, he embodied that, and he brought
that out in all of us. Now, Troy Aikman did two,
Emmitt Smith, Mark two and a all these other guys
did too. But you know, he was that guy. And
you know we talked about relationships earlier. He knew everybody

(45:51):
on the team. It wasn't like Michael Lervan, I'm a star.
I remember my first day he comes in and shakes
my hand and says, hey, I know who you are.

Speaker 2 (45:59):
You know kind of thing. He knew that, he knew
the ball boys.

Speaker 6 (46:02):
He just knew everybody and was just such a huge
part of the spirit of those those amazing teams that
were a part of So you know, there were so
many guys, but you know, he sticks out for me
as much as anybody.

Speaker 5 (46:15):
And you know what, when your best player is your
hardest worker. So when then you have young players come
in the organization and they say how hard he works,
and they say to themselves, I'm not as talented as
he is, so I need to work at least as
hard as he is, and probably harder.

Speaker 4 (46:30):
But that just raises the bar for everybody in the
whole organization.

Speaker 5 (46:32):
So I can kind of see why cowboys we had
they kind of were who they were because of guys
like Troy Been and Michael Irvin, because they kind of
set the bar, set the standard.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
They set the tone.

Speaker 6 (46:43):
And I can remember years later we had we had
a player who was a really good player, a great player,
and he was having a hard time, you know, inconsistent
with his work and in the off season all of that,
and I had Michael visit with him, and I sat
in on the conversation, and I can remember Michael saying, Hey,
you can make all the interception in the world, you
can score all the touchdowns in the world, all of that,
but if you don't work out with.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
Your teammates, you'll never have a voice with them.

Speaker 6 (47:07):
So we get in the middle of the fourth quarter,
we need to drive because you've worked, because you've been
in the trenches with them. If you say something, let's go,
guys will respond. And if you scored six touchdowns in
the game and you didn't do that work with them,
you'll never have a voice. And I always thought that resonated.
You know, that time you spent, that shared commitment gives
everyone a voice. And what we're doing in the critical moments.

(47:29):
And again more wisdom from the great Michael Irvin, amazing teammate.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
You know, Jason, I think that's another measure of a champion,
is what do you do when nobody's looking right like
they're willing to put in the work And it's not
for eyewash, it's because they know it makes them great.
Last question I have for you, Jason, is a chance
to maybe give a message to the young people out
there who aspire to play sports. And I'm going to
harken back to the Dallas Cowboys touchdown. Make one slight

(47:56):
variation to it if I can. It reads this as
a privilege, not a right to play, coach and work.
And I'm going to say in sports, it reads for
the Dallas Cowboys, but for sports. I just be curious
your message to young people in today's age of instant gratification,
self promotion, and social media. How do you instill this
ideal in athletes of tomorrow.

Speaker 6 (48:19):
Yeah, you know, when I reflect back on it, I
just think about the lessons learn, the relationships made from
all those different experiences that we had grown up. And
I can't remember my dad telling me once he said,
you know, some of the most memorable times I've had
in sports where when I was changing into my baseball
uniform in the back of a station wagon fifteen minutes

(48:41):
before the game, when I was playing semi pro, you know,
and you know, independent of being part of Super Bowl teams.
You know, the opportunity to play and the lessons learn
and the relationships you make. You know, we're talking. I'm here,
I'm on Long Island. We're gonna have this amazing golf
trip over the next couple of days. They got I'm
with for the guys I met when I was eighteen

(49:02):
years old, right, we played football together in college, and
the bonds we form way back when last so many
years later. So, you know, besides it being just so
much fun to be able to do this, you know,
there are so many lessons that you learn that apply
to so many different parts of your life, whether you're
raising a family or in the workplace, all of that

(49:22):
and then the relationships that you make. And you know,
I just think, you know, coaches and teachers have such
an important role in life to have a positive impact
on kids and get them on the right path, and
the vehicle of sports allows you to do that as
much as much as anything else.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
And you know, I'm.

Speaker 6 (49:42):
Hopeful that we all kind of put our phones down
a little bit more, get out on the playground and
play a little bit more, be part of teams a
little bit more. And I don't want to be a
guy who's in the stone ages, but it's just an
amazing life when you get a chance to do those
things if it's something you're interested and so I certainly
encourage that, and I encourage those in roles where you're

(50:04):
teaching and coaching these guys to take advantage of the
opportunities to share the lessons because they last a lifetime.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
That is Jason Garrett will let him run and get
to his golf match on Long Island, which, full disclosure,
may not be the best event played on Long Island
this week in golf, with the Ryder Cup at beth
bat Black in a few days before Jason Garrett for
Tom to LESCo for Thad Levine. I am Ryan McDonald.
Join us next week and every week right here on
rosters to rings,