Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
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(00:59):
for twenty percent and off at checkout. Well that was
that was quite the game because it was zero zero
for the majority of it. We had to buy another
streaming package in Hulu just to consume the game. And
the Eagles come out victorious. Lot Lot went on with
the crazy ending of Sirianni going for it. I guess
(01:21):
you could live with going for it if you ran
manageable plays, but they ran a go route to aj Brown.
We will dive into that. I do think the headline
is the Packers. They've lost back to back games at Lambeau.
The negative momentum and buzz on Jordan Love Matt Lafleur.
That combination feels like it's only gonna grow. We could
(01:43):
dive into both those guys' performances. I thought Jordan Love
came on definitely in the second half, but Lafleur, like this,
the negativity surrounding him is is only gonna grow. And
you know, AJ Brown quite the saga to have such
a talented player. The trade talks. Obviously, the trade deadline's over.
(02:05):
He went the majority of the game without getting targeted
till the end. But you can't even make this stuff up.
A couple other things for tonight, Tyler Shuck. I went back.
I got a text from actually someone in the Big
Easy and they're like, do you see my guy? Like no,
So I went back and I watched the highlights. He
actually played pretty good. So props to Tyler Shuck. Some
(02:28):
thoughts on Mike McDaniel. We got a lot of coaches
getting fired. I did a video earlier today, reaction video.
It's not gonna be on a podcast, so it was
only on YouTube for Brian day Ball when they announced
that he got fired, and then a couple other things,
and we'll get out of here tonight. But let's just
start with the ending of that game, because the first
(02:52):
half was rough. There's no way around it. That was
awful offensive football. We had turnovers and outs. I mean,
the craziest stat. Aikman mentioned that the Philadelphia Eagles lead
the league in three and outs, and I get it,
like their offensive line isn't as good this year. Saguon
Barkley is not, you know, making the consistent explosive plays,
(03:15):
but they still got Sagua Barkley. They still got Jalen Hurts,
they had Dallas Gottard, they got aj Brown, they got
Devonte Smith. Like that, that's a crazy stat. No wonder
people are on the offensive coordinator. I thought did a
valiant effort tonight. The defenses were really good. You know,
Fangio is one of the best. Uh, He's got a
lot of those young guys balling, and obviously Jeff Hafley
(03:39):
has been a stud most of this season. But I
just think if we fast forward right to the end
of the game, the more I thought. My initial reaction was, like,
what is Sirianni doing when he went forward on fourth down?
They have no timeouts. He's basically if he doesn't get it,
he gives him the ball at the thirty five yard
line with like twenty five to thirty seconds to go.
(03:59):
If they just pick up you know, a couple first downs,
they will have an opportunity to kick a fifty yard
field goal. And you got a great possession wide receiver
in aj Brown and a big time tight end and
he runs a go route down the left side, and
obviously it's broken up, and then Jordan loves giving the ball.
(04:20):
What I don't understand is the first play Lafleur, they
dial up a bomb to Christian Watson, who obviously is
one of the faster players in the league. But why
not just try to pick up fifteen yards like they
did a play later, and get and put them a
couple plays later and put themselves, you know, like a
sixty four yard field goal with fifteen seconds left, and
(04:44):
then give yourself an opportunity for another chunk play and
instead of having to attempt, you know, a sixty plus
yard field goal in the freezing cold in the win,
which even if you had Justin Tucker in his prime
or Brandon Audrey, that's not gonna happen, right. The only
opportunity you would have tie that game was probably especially
McManus is coming back from a quad injury. I mean,
(05:05):
that looked like watching a twenty five handicap t off
at TBC Scotts Stale. I mean that was pretty embarrassing
of an effort. Never had a chance. I mean I
bet he would have struggled to kick the fifty yard
field goal. So you have to know that as a coach.
And I think we can just jump right to my
main headline on this game is I thought Matt Lafleur
in the second half, that's pretty rough. And a lot
(05:28):
of people have been on this guy. A lot of
people have been questioning, like is this guy good enough?
And this season has been up and down. Obviously, anytime
you lose the Carolina Panthers like they did last week
at home as a big favorite, people are gonna be,
you know, on you when you coach a team like
the Packers. I looked it up tonight because I'm watching
the Packers on TV, and I go, I feel like
(05:49):
I've watched this color, lambeau Field, the uniforms my entire
life on Monday night football. And if you're gonna play
on Monday night football, typically you know consistently you're going
to be good, right, And I typed in to my
chat gbt app how many times or how many straight
years have the Packers played on Monday night football? It
(06:10):
was thirty two, so basically almost eighty percent of my life.
And for the last thirty two years the Packers have
played on Monday night football. It's an incredible stat longest
running in the NFL. But I thought Lafleur in the
second half, when Love was actually playing better, they had
multiple illegal formations, one of them cost them a big
(06:31):
first down, And that to me is coaching, because the
old adage goes you're either coaching it or allowing it
to happen. But on situations like that where they clearly
they practice heavier packages because they got one of the
best running backs in the league that they can run
play action off of. Like, that's simply on the coaching,
It just is. And I get, you know, their first
(06:53):
round receivers out their start tight end towards ACL they
lose their best wide receiver in this game to a
chest injury in the second half. But like that, so
it's like sometimes you're gonna have drops, and they did tonight.
They had a bad drop on a fourth down like that.
That's not on the player, it's on the wide receiver.
But I'm not saying it's not on Jordan Love. I
don't put that on Matt Lafloor. It's on the wide receiver.
(07:15):
And they had a couple drops to night that were
just pretty bad. But the illegal formations both of them
in the second half in big spots is just an embarrassment.
And honestly, when you get gifted that situation when Sirianni
goes for it and you try to dial up like
some deep post that the likelihood of that hitting is
very small. And it's not like there is ten seconds left.
(07:37):
You got almost thirty seconds. So if you hit two
chunk plays, you at least give yourself a shot like
a forty eight yard field goal. And that's not what
they did. And I understand the frustration when it comes
on Matt Lafleur after watching that game, because their defense
is really, really good. It really is. I mean Parsons
the one play where he chased down where he chased
(07:59):
down Jalen her when he was scrambled into his right Cooper.
The linebackers making plays all games. They play really hard.
That they are a well coached, physical, fast defense. It's
a defense that you go, we can make a run
in the playoffs with the offense. No chance, absolutely no
chance one. Jordan Love is too big of a roller coaster.
I mean, in the first half I thought Jordan Love,
(08:21):
I don't want to say it was like Aaron Rodgers
Sunday Night Football bad, but he was not good. I mean,
at one point in time, late in the first half,
I think they had one passing yard, he had thrown
one twelve yard completion, and he'd also taken an eleven
yard sack, which the eleven yard sack was just awful.
I mean, he just scrambled and turned right into it.
(08:45):
It was really really bad. But when your quarterback's gonna
be up and down, it is incumbent on your coach,
who is also the play caller and quote unquote a
quarterback guru, to figure it out like that. Like ultimately, Sirianni,
his job motivation, you know, corral the coaches motivate the players,
the timeouts when to go for it, like he's the CEO.
(09:07):
Matt Lafleor is not the CEO. Matt Lafleoor is the
maestro over there when the offense is on the field.
So why when the offense sucks for the Eagles, everyone
talks shit about the offensive coordinator, not Nick Sirianni. And
I thought Matt Lafleur tonight had his like first moment
for me where I went, yeah, he might be in
trouble if they're a wild card team and they get
(09:29):
bounced in the first round. I can see a scenario
where he's not the coach for the Green Bay Packers
in twenty twenty six. And I've been talking about that
because I've been getting asked about that a lot. I
don't know if I ever believed it. I just felt
the momentum from fans from the internet talking about it tonight,
sitting on my couch taking that game in when that
thing ended, especially the way it ended in the fourth quarter.
(09:52):
And I'm not even just talking about that last thirty
second sequence of their offense, just the entire fourth quarter,
the play call, even this, Like you can tell me
Josh Jacobs makes a mistake when he turns in on
what would have been probably minimum thirty five yard gain
(10:12):
if he just turns the right way. But why are
the details the illegal formations? Josh Jacobs turning the wrong way?
That is a reflection of coaching. That's the way football works.
You don't fire Josh Jacobs based on the contract. You're
definitely not firing Jordan Love. You're not firing these wide receivers.
You're gonna fire the head coach. So I finally come
(10:34):
to the conclusion that Matt Lafleur is now officially in trouble.
It was talked about before the season that like, yeah,
they didn't get a contract extension, and then you watch
a situation like this on Monday Night football against the
defending champs, against a team that's going to be in
the playoffs, and you make coaching mistakes and it costs
you the game. Because this was a situation, it's not like,
(10:54):
well we just got boat raced. We lost twenty four
to seven, right, we got killed. No, it was like
zero zero the majority of the game, Right, you lost
ten to seven, ten to seven. So I think that's
that one's going to be tough to stomach. And when
you have a you know, a franchise like this, losing
at Lambeau. That's that ain't good. That's not good at all.
(11:20):
And we look last year, what did the Packers in
They went one in five in the division. What's doing
in this year? Well, it's like they're losing to the
bad teams like the Panthers and the Browns, and now
they're also losing to the good teams. So I think
the Packers right now are just they got to have
a come to Jesus moment because if the Lions found
(11:43):
a little momentum with Dan Campbell calling plays, well they
get the Eagles next week on Sunday night football off
not only a short week, a short week on the road.
What time is Philly going to get in their beds tonight,
Well it's not tonight. They will get in their bed
probably like four or five in the morning. So if
you're a coach, Siriani and some of those guys are
they just coming right in to the facility. And I
(12:08):
just think that this thing could separate, and this thing
could separate fast. And when you make a trade like
Micah Parsons, who they clearly went all in on. They
they gave two first round picks. They gave one hundred
and eighty eight million dollars, which is, you know, the
biggest contract they've ever given to a player, not a quarterback.
(12:28):
And I don't even think they're anywhere near giving I
mean that that contract for them is going to hold
for a long time. For a position player. Not good,
not good at all. The pressure you can feel it,
and you know, the floor's tightly wound. He's got that
tight haircut, he's got those perfect eyebrows, and now his
team's just dropping game after game after game. He got very,
(12:48):
very lucky that that game against the Cowboys is a
tie not a loss. Because of that that thing was
a loss, he would be he would be f to
I mean, he would be in major trouble. So when
it comes to the Eagles, I thought, defensively, Fangio did
a really good job. I mean, they have a lot
of young talent. But when I was watching the Eagles
(13:10):
to night, I was blown away. Jlex Hunt, if you
remember a couple of years ago, he was the guy
when he was drafted that picked up when Howie said, Jylex,
this is how he roseman the GM, and he said,
what a big pimpin and he's turned into a good player.
I mean coming off the edge, I was really impressed
with him. And you get Jalen Phillips who immediately starts
(13:31):
He's gonna be good for them. You know, Campbell had
a bad PI, but he's a good young player. Obviously,
Quinnon Mitchell, the guy they drafted in the first round,
you could argue besides Stingley, he is the most talented
young corner in the NFL. Like, if Sasgardner is going
for two ones, what's that guy going for? Cooper Dejen
(13:52):
making plays. Obviously, Jalen Carter is a monster. I would
be pretty excited about the young nucleus of the defense
for the Eagles. I mean they have one of the
most talented defensive coordinators in the last twenty years. So defensively, like,
let's face it, when you have an offense that leads
the league in three and outs, when you have an
(14:13):
offense that just can just go just sputter, I mean
look horrendous. And their run game, and I think at
this point in time, like Saque had the big pass
where he did the spin move and he went for
like thirty five yards. I don't know if he's lost
a quarter step or whatever. But I think a big
reason that they're not having the explosive players. Their offensive
(14:35):
line isn't nearly as good. Right You still got my
Latta at left tackle, but we saw it a night.
Lane Johnson hurts his ankle. He's been in and out
of the lineup. He's you know, a couple of games
this year. He's good, been dinged up and had to
come out, and they've had to come with a backup
right tackle. Their center play is not as good as
it has been since Kelsey's retired. Obviously, Use Beckton, who
(14:55):
was probably one of the more physical right guards, might
have been the most physical right guard in the league.
And their left guard situation because of injuries has not
been ideal. And they're just not as potent running the ball,
and you saw tonight like the passing game, they don't
target AJ Brown. I mean after the first drive where
(15:16):
he got a couple of targets, they didn't target him
basically the rest of the game, which is insane. I
was thinking to night A. J. Brown is like I
have hole insurance, I have car insurance, I have health insurance.
Like all my different insurance policies, I pay a ton
of money like most of you guys, and I don't
use any of it because ideally, not sick, I don't
get in a car wreck. But if I'm ever in
(15:37):
a pinch, I have to go to it, and I'm
gonna be very dependent on them. That's what it feels like.
AJ Brown. He's just the Philadelphia Eagles insurance policy. They
paying them a lot. They don't use them often, but
when they do, they're very dependent on him bailing them out.
And hell, they tried to night with the game on
the line on that fourth down, they threw it to
him after basically not looking his way all night long.
(16:00):
So I think that thing now that we've passed the
trade deadline, anytime you get into a situation where everyone's
just constantly talking about like even He's like, yeah, during
the bye was with my family if we got traded,
we got traded. Even Jalen Hurts is like, well, he
didn't get traded. He's here and we like him. He's
a big part of the offense. Well not really, And
(16:20):
I just think that the defense is gonna have to
carry him this year because offensively they're just not as potent.
They don't have big plays with the run game in
their past game. You just never know, Like at any
moment you saw to night, he hits that pump, fake
hits Davante, who smokes the safety. Jalen under threw it
a little bit, and Davante kind of when Heisman just
(16:40):
goes up high points. It just an elite play like that.
That dude is probably the best one hundred and sixty
five pound player in NFL history. I mean what a talent.
I mean, very very special talent. Route running ball skills,
toughest for a guy his size, and they have no
business to not be better in the passing game with
(17:01):
their weapons. But it's just out of sync. And I
have a hard time just blaming the offensive coordinator, but
it's clearly just a little out of whack. Now. The
Packers are good on defense, it's cold. You know, this
is not a game where even if you're on you're
gonna score thirty points. But when you're just doing nothing
for the majority of the game. At the end of
the day, though, I think what they would say is, listen,
(17:23):
we're playing a good team on the road Monday night football.
We win seal later. And I think if you would
have told them, hey, get you get the Packers and
the Lions back to back on the road. If you
win one of the two of them, you've done your job.
It's like a seven game series in the NFL or
in the NBA or baseball. If you are on the
(17:44):
road the first two games, all you're looking to do
is split. If you come home one in one, you're
in good shape. Because they show their schedule after this
Lions game. It's a lot of cowboys, a lot of commanders.
I saw the Raiders on there, a lot of winnable games.
So if I'm filled, I am feeling very very good.
Winning this game takes a lot of pressure off this
(18:04):
Lions game, which you're gonna be at a big disadvantage
of and if the Eagles are going to win the
NFC again, because that is the way Howie and Jeffrey
they show Jeffrey during the game. That's the thing the
Packers is like, is Lafleur gonna get fired? Who's really
mad at him? Ed policy? How much juice does he have?
Is the GM's call? Whose actual call is it? Can
(18:26):
the GM fight for him? Who knows? Like I know
in Philly when you see Jeffrey Lurie and maybe it
was just he was freezing cold. He was like he
would not looking happy, like this is not We're paying
way too much money to look this shitty. But a
win's a win, And I just think the Eagles have
to find a way to get more just explosive offensive
(18:50):
plays because they have way too much talent, Like I
understand at points tonight, like the Packers kind of have
a mass unit out there. So when the ball hits
you in the chest, it's where I will defend Jordan
Love in the second half, like he made some nice throws.
Guys just did not catch it. And this was not
a situation where it's snowing or sleeting. Like when the
ball hits you in the numbers in the National Football League,
(19:13):
you gotta catch it, right. I don't expect you to
catch everything. Not everyone's Jerry Rice or Randy Moss, but
a ball in the numbers on Monday night football on
third or fourth and long, you just can't let the
thing hit off your chest play and hit the ground
like that. That's how you get cut. So huh yeah.
Other than that, we made it through because I've had
(19:36):
to order Hulu, like most of you guys that have
YouTube TV. I'm not in the position, having doing this
for a living, to just be like, fuck the apps,
I'm not paying for another app. Though I am kind
of jealous of that mindset, even though I think a
lot of people saying that are still paying for something
to watch the game. So I'm not saying everyone's being disingenuous,
(20:00):
but I have a hard time thinking someone is just
gonna sit at their house who has a lot of money.
Some of these former players, even though they tweeted like
no chance and tonight not one thing last week Cowboys
Cardinals easy one to skip. Honey, you want to go
out to dinner, Hey, call somebuddies. You want want to
go get some pops? Right, this is a game that
(20:20):
you're gonna want to watch, even though it wasn't turned
out to be a great game and really wasn't even
that watchable, but when the game started you would feel
some fomo if you like football. So a lot of
people were paying someone like I did order Hulu TV
to watch this thing. Because it does not feel like
we are any closer to the resolution to Disney like
they have two options. You can either get ben over
(20:43):
and do what Google tells you to do and this
is their number, or Google will say we don't give
a shit, because I truly don't believe they care, and
it's such a small small sliver of their entire operation.
I just don't think they're losing that much sleepover and
Bob Iger is either going to have to give in
(21:03):
and take what is offered or this situation is not
gonna go away. And for those of you that are
in the predicament that I'm in, you almost have to
just you know, we had the basic Hulu because she
watches some show and I know because my brother a
couple of years ago had Hulu TV. And then I've
just heard a lot of people talking about it. They
owned Disney, so I'm like, I bet they have all
the ESPN things. So I just upgraded it, you know whatever.
(21:25):
It is twenty dollars and I'm not going to complain
about it like most people because it is what it is.
I don't have a choice. But ideally I would just
like to consume all my shit on YouTube TV. But
I also understand Google, like they're the big bad wolf.
It's like, what does Costco do? They tell everyone you
want in you do what we tell you to do.
Why because you need us more than we need you
(21:47):
and we do not need you, and like that's just
the way business works. So I'm not I'm not a
Google shareholder, I'm not a Disney shareholder. I am a
YouTube TV consumer though, so it would make my life
a lot easier if they could just figure something out
and buy a buy or it could just wave the
white flag. You're not winning this one, buddy. Today's show
(22:13):
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. A couple other things. I
(23:52):
had a friend text me that like, you need to
check out Tyler Shuck. Like I'll be honest, I didn't
watch any of the game. That was just not getting
my attention on on Monday or Sunday morning, I guess
it was, and so I just went back and I
just typed in Tyler Shuck to YouTube, and I just
(24:13):
watched all of his completions. I was blown away. He
actually looked really good. I get it, he's playing Carolina,
and I also get it. He's twenty six years old.
He's probably the oldest rookie or one of them, in
the history of the NFL. I think Brandon Weeden, remember
what fifteen years ago or twelve years ago, I think
(24:33):
was I don't know, twenty eight, twenty nine years old.
And he was obviously not very good. And I'm not
trying to overreact to one game. But if you just
go to YouTube and type in Tyler Shuck kind of
a weird spelling highlights against the Panthers, you will be
really impressed. He's big, he can move, and he has
a big arm, and he made some beautiful passes. He
(24:54):
was also really really good on third down. He had
a beautiful bomb down the right sideline to to Chris
Alave And like, you just watch him in that game.
Compared to the quarterback on the other side, it's not
even a question the guy that has more talent. It's
the twenty six year old over the five foot nine,
one hundred and eighty pound guy. And I'm not trying
(25:15):
to beat up on Bryce Young. I like him as
a guy, but he's just not a very good player.
I mean, at this point, you just have to acknowledge,
Like sometimes a guy gets drafted and you look back,
you go, how did that guy get drafted number one overall?
And it's always easy to play Monday morning quarterback in
draft situations. I'm as guilty as anybody. And I'm not asking,
like acting like Tyler Schuck is the next Josh Allen
(25:38):
or Justin Herbert, But when you just watch those two
guys play, if you just type in the highlights of
the game, or you know, I looked over a couple
of times when the Panthers had the ball and he
threw one interception Bryce Young did where it was probably like,
you know, an eight to ten yard out and he's
just throwing it to a spot. But he would not
(26:00):
see because the offensive tackle is getting driven into him
and the defensive lineman. They're both five six inches taller
than him. He has no vision, so he's just throwing
it over there and it was like just your classic
out route. The guy sitting it was the easiest pick
of all of Sunday, and I was Shuck went nineteen
(26:21):
to twenty seven for two hundred and eighty two yards
and two touchdowns, and again made big plays with his legs,
made big plays scrambling around to throw through a beautiful
deep ball, through a couple seed passes over the middle,
because some of those, like you saw tonight, Jalen Hurts
to the backup tight end had the one when you
have to layer a throw it is down the scene.
(26:43):
It could be a really really hard pass, right because
you want to put a little air on it, but
if a guy's running and there are two safeties that
are gonna kind of converge, you also have to kind
of put it on the line. It's one of the
harder throws I think in the NFL, any throw over
a linebacker, but also not too high. You can't give
too much air. Is why these guys make a lot
(27:06):
of money. There's only a small percentage of guys that
can make those passes on this or in this planet
and or on this planet. And Chuck proved that he
kind of had that throw in the back. I was
blown away by him. The big news of Monday was
Dayball getting fired and which we had talked about yesterday
(27:30):
when I was with Colin. It was like, this feels inevitable,
especially after the stories that came out during the week
of day Ball almost getting fired, when they kind of
crumbled to Denver and their ownership was going back and forth,
and I think cooler heads prevailed when they landed in
New York, maybe a couple of cocktails and everyone just
(27:50):
chilled out. But there was no coming back from yesterday.
You can't blow a ten point lead with six or
seven minutes to go with the penalty situation, and it
cost him his job today and clearly they're giving Kafka
a run. But you know what's funny is Mike McDaniel
gets shitit on all the time about having no business
(28:11):
being a head coach. When it was he going to
get fired and Brian dave Ball went twenty forty and one,
twenty forty and one. I mean, that's that's really bad.
I look today Mike McDaniel in Miami, which is a
way worse franchise historically than the Giants. I mean, I
would say Miami post Dan Marino in like the late
(28:33):
nineties has been one of the worst franchises in the NFL.
Mike McDaniel has gone thirty one and thirty. Now this
year they're three and seven. They are not very good.
But after the GM gets fired, everyone's saying this team sucks.
They trade a bunch of guys. Two of their last
three games they have beaten the living piss out of
their opponent. Three weeks ago they played Atlanta and they
(28:55):
blew the doors off them. Yesterday against the Bills, which
I would say most people have the Chiefs game, would
say this is a legitimate Super Bowl contender. That game
was not close. The final score might say thirty to thirteen.
That game felt fifty to nothing. They beat the crap
out of him. There was a pretty funny video of
Mike somewhere in South Beach driving around by the Bills
(29:16):
bar like rolling down the window and smiling. I just
I wonder if he's getting a bad rap. I really
do not that he should get a contract extension or
even keep his job, but I think it shows how
we pick and choose. It does feel that a lot
of people, you know this, he's goofy, he's small, he
(29:39):
wears these stupid pants. Did everyone just started picking This
is what I've been saying about the Browns forever. I
don't hear anyone. Every time I look up.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Brown's lose, Brown's lose, Brown's lose, Brown's lose. They're playing
Dylan fucking Gabriel. They drafted him in the third round.
Browns lose brow You could you goo, you wouldn't find
anyone to go.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Yeah, you know, I think I think the Browns need
to contemplate making some tough decisions with management and coaching.
No one says the thing. Everyone's like Dave Ball's gotta go,
McDaniel's gotta go, everyone's it's crazy. I mean, if I
was Mike McDaniel, the Browns would die to have my
record over the last four years. They would die. And
the one thing he has shown is like, listen, we
(30:23):
could say whatever you want about Tua, Like on given weeks,
I can make him look pretty good. Every time I
look up at Dylan Gabriel, he looks awful. So and
again it gets back to listen. The Schor thing was
a story in itself. Never see anything quite like that. Obviously,
there was a lot of stories that came out after
the draft. Like most people, I thought, listen, he might
(30:44):
not go in the first round, but he's probably gonna
go in like second or third. Then you go in
the fifth. Not in a million years that I ever
think Dylan Gabriel is gonna go in the third. I
do a lot of hardcore Oregon fans like, yeah, I'd
probably get drafted in like the seventh round. It's not
because he wasn't a decent college player. He was good,
but he's got a weak arm. You play, We're seeing
it all over the country. You saw it tonight. You
(31:05):
play in Green Bay, you better have a big arm.
Wind is pumping, it's freezing cold. You play in Cleveland,
wind is pumping, freezing cold. You better have an arm. Baltimore, Philadelphia,
New York, New England. You give me a weak arm quarterback,
I will short that team because it's not possible to play,
you know, that team over a period of time in
November and December. You can't function. You can't pierce the wind.
(31:29):
It's like Caleb's ballt right through the wind. You need
a strong arm. Look at who the two best Bears quarterback.
We'll see how good Caleb is. You know, once they
start playing some real defenses. But Caleb's arm is gonna
work in Chicago, just like once upon a time, Jay
Cutler's arm worked in Chicago. Dylan Gabriel's arm ain't gonna
work in Cleveland. I think most people in the NFL
(31:50):
say neither is shad or neither guy has a big
time arm. It doesn't translate. So but no one ever
says anything about Cleveland. They just get to fly under
the radar. It's yet, they just get fucking work these
lots of the Jets. I saw a stat justin fields
he did not if you put his passing yards in
his rushing yards to get it wasn't even one hundred yards.
(32:13):
You lose games like that, like it. It does not
get much worse. Before we dive into a couple more things.
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things I did see. There was a story on Front
Office Sports about it's so hot in my office. I
(33:19):
got to make sure the AC is low. I don't
know why it's so hot. Near is lsuos Brian Kelly
fifty three million dollars And if you owed me fifty
three million dollars, there is no deal I would cut
with you, right. And I had heard people saying, like
would he accept a front payment of like whatever, eighty
(33:42):
percent or eighty five percent all up front? Basically like
I give you forty or forty five million dollars and
they get or maybe thirty eight million dollars and it
gets them off the hook a little bit for having
to pay him over a period of time. It's time
value money. So I went to Little AI and I
started typing in what is the present value if I
(34:02):
needed to get a lump sum right now right to
cut a deal with LSU if I was Brian Kelly,
and I did conservative like four percent interest rate, and
the number was like forty six million dollars. If I
did like seven percent, it was like forty three million dollars,
you know, instead of just taking fifty three million dollars
over a six year period, because money now is more
(34:25):
money is more valuable than money in four or five
six years. Right. But the report was that they had
offered him twenty five to thirty million dollars and Brian
Kelly rejected both. And I do wonder if some of
these programs, you know, I think Florida State is going
through this. They just got worked by the worst Clemson
(34:46):
team in twenty years, but they can't afford to pay
Mike Norvell fifty million dollars. So when you make a
decision emotionally to fire somebody, and I'm not saying they
were wrong to fire Brian Kelly, he was horrendous that
they were not good. He had he was in year
four and had built a bad team. He's an offensive
line guy. Their offensive line couldn't block mirror you. I mean,
(35:06):
it's a major, major problem. So you better have the
money to figure this out and understand the economics of
this sport of like, why would he cut you a deal?
So when it's reported that he's not going to accept
a buyout of twenty five to thirty million, it's like, yeah, no, shit, no,
(35:28):
my dog would say no to that. What are we
talking about? And I do wonder if some of these schools,
specifically LSU, made such a rash, emotional decision and the
ad just got fired right after, so the guy that
made the decision didn't even last an extra week. And
I think sometimes in these situations with money, I've been
(35:50):
saying this forever in college football different in the NFL.
Like when you're an agent and you negotiate a coaching contract.
In the NFL, you're dealing with the GM, the guy
that negotiates the salary cap, and the owner. A lot
of them that have a lot of business experience, Their
job is money. They talk about money, They talk about
(36:10):
contracts and they talk about million dollar deals, what's guaranteed
and what's not guaranteed. Where in college athletics you deal
with an athletic director, A lot of those guys work
their way up either in marketing or fundraising, not necessarily
doing fifty million dollar contracts with an individual coach. They
(36:31):
were just hey, will you give us five hundred thousand dollars,
We'll give you a suite, right, That's how they work
their way to become quote unquote guy running the athletic department.
But ultimately he's not even in charge. He answers to
the president and usually the border regents, which is full
of academia, full of academic people whose life revolves much
(36:52):
more around the classroom and the grants that a lot
of these schools get from government to fund research, fund
things in the academics part of their institution, which is
the reason the institution exists. And clearly Jimmy Sexton has
taken advantage of all these people over the I would
(37:15):
say robust economic boom of college football, you could include
college basketball as well, over the last fifteen to twenty
years of television and has taken the amounts of money
to a completely different level where in the NFL, it
is still very, very difficult to negotiate crazy contracts, like
(37:39):
Andy Reid had to win super Bowls before he started
making big money for the Chiefs, like Ady Reid wasn't
making I don't think fifteen million dollars seven eight years ago.
It is hard to get huge money in the NFL.
And even once you do, some of these buyouts are
not like college football, because you're not just going to
take advantage of of Howie Rosman, Jeffrey Lurry and the
(38:02):
seven people he has negotiating contracts. So not the way
it's gonna work. It's going to be much more difficult,
even if like you have a good relationship with everyone
in because you work hand in hand with them, right,
And I just think this college football situation I read
an article about. I think Feldman and a bunch of
guys talked to a bunch of unnamed agents if they
(38:22):
thought things were actually gonna change, and all the agents
laugh They said, no, no chance, Like these contracts are
not gonna change because you won't get my client if
you do not follow the precedent that's already been set
by all these deals. So I think Brian Kelly listened.
He might be a douchebag. I wouldn't want him to
be my coach. I have no problem with them firing him.
(38:43):
But once you decided to do it, like fifty three
was gonna be the number best case scenario, maybe if
you could somehow find forty five million dollars to cut
him a check today, maybe you get him to accept that.
But you can't, and now you're gonna be stuck paying
him for a long long time. Okay, I don't think
(39:05):
I've really mentioned this guy in the last twenty four hours.
And I do like these international games. Once the daylight
saving hits and we go to mountain time here in
Arizona and the international game starts at seven thirty, I
can get up, have a cup of coffee and watch kickoff,
no problem. And I would say one guy who has
been zoned in this entire season and it's been really,
(39:29):
really fun to watch, is Jonathan Taylor. Personally, my favorite
position in football is running back. It encompasses everything, right.
You got to take punishment, you know, physically between the
tackles and in the trenches like you are a linebacker
coming downhill, so you have to run into people countless
(39:51):
times of game, just straight downhill that there is no
avoiding it. You have to have the speed and the
agility to have outside the tackles make dbs miss and
run around them. You obviously have to pass protect like
you are an offensive lineman with screaming linebackers and outside
linebackers and pass rushers coming off the edge where you
(40:14):
have to square them up in the chin and slow
them down before your quarterback makes it throw. Obviously, you
also have to catch the ball like a wide receiver
in this modern game to be considered a three down,
all around high end back. And watching Jonathan Taylor, it's
kind of like football porn one. I really marvel like
(40:35):
to me a good running back, you watch any good player,
you know, bust a thirty forty fifty yard run. My
mom can see the ability. But like sometimes when you
watch a guy run for seven yards, it's like, God,
that guy that should have been a two yard game
or that should have been a one yard loss. It
happened at night multiple times, Like I think Josh Jacobs
(40:56):
right now, listen what Saquon did last year and the
hype on Saquon over the course of his career. Special
talent like Dave Gettleman once said he was a Hall
of Fame talent coming out of Penn State. I think
Josh Jacobs is a top three or four running back
in the league. I mean from a physical standpoint. He
(41:16):
did have the brain fart tonight where he ran the
wrong way out of the backfield, but catches the ball well,
breaks tackles, has great feet within the hole, can make
a guy miss, can break arm tackles, has excellent short
area quickness. Like just a pretty special player. And it's
just really fun to watch a running back have a
(41:37):
great season because it's weekend, week out. Everyone on the
other team knows you're gonna get the ball. Everyone on
the other team knows that they're going to depend on
you to carry them. And when a situation like the Colts, like,
let's face it, Daniel Jones is not some elite quarterback.
And you saw if you watched and got up early.
Once you start hitting him. I don't want to say
(41:58):
he melts because he's not a freight or anything, but
he does not play as well and it felt like
he was kind of crumbling. He did make a nice
road to Tyler Warren for a big first down, but
it was like, we're just gonna ride this guy, and
he has two hundred and forty four yards. He basically
has the game clinching big run. I guess it wasn't
the game clinching, but it felt like a moment that
(42:19):
helped win them the game. Obviously, they ended up winning
it in overtime, but I've just been blown away by
watching this guy play. And we have three straight years now,
from Christian McCaffrey three years ago or two years ago,
to Saquan last year to Jonathan Taylor this year where
we have just seen a running back basically put a
franchise on their back and be their best offensive player.
(42:42):
And I understand that everyone votes for quarterbacks. The MVP
feels like it has become a quarterback award, But like, if
the Colts win thirteen or fourteen games and are the
number one seed in the AFC, this guy has to
be very seriously in the conversation because he's not only
clearly their best player, I mean he's on pace potentially
(43:06):
for twenty five ish touchdowns, you know, seventeen eighteen hundred yards,
and he is the engine in this offense. And I've
just I really thoroughly enjoyed Sunday morning getting up and
just watching Jonathan Taylor play football. And if you're a
Colts fan, you guys have had some great offensive players.
(43:26):
I mean, if you're my age, you know, from Peyton
Manning to Andrew Luck to all the guys Peyton played with,
to Andrew played with, t Y Hilton to now this group.
You know, Alex Pierce is really really talented guy. Tyler
Warren looks like he's got a chance to be a star.
But Jonathan Taylor, you know, every once in a while,
you just like I had a special season, and it
(43:47):
feels like that is what he's doing right now and
what all else isn't working? Call twenty eight number at
(44:09):
John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire into
those dms, get your questions answered here on the show.
We'll start with Matt big picture question for you. I
still believe the Bills can win Super Bowl this year.
Because Josh Allen is the best player in the league.
You always have a chance. I don't quite get all
the McDermott hate. I think he's a good coach. People
seem to forget how bad the Bills were the last
(44:31):
twenty years. I could argue he's underrated. Josh gets a
lot of praise for winning games with quote good players.
Doesn't Sean deserve praise as well? At some point players
have to make plays. I never played football, but when
I would go three for fifteen from the three point line,
we wouldn't win many games. We got Klay Thompson hitting me.
The failure of this team are on Brandon Bean. This
(44:52):
was the year to make a move to put this
team over the top. He's concerned about the future, but
let's try living for today. I don't think anything's gonna change.
It's tight knit group up this way. I'm sure the
Poogoulas will be having the beans and McDermott's over for
Turkey Day. Where do we go from here? I don't
necessarily disagree with you on Bean. I think there's been
(45:14):
the last couple of years, he just hasn't been that aggressive.
I think the von Miller move kind of spooked him.
I did read, and I'm obviously I'm sure you know
this is like Jalen Wattle and Quinn and Williams were
two players who was all over and those teams wouldn't
trade him. So it's like, no team in your division
is going to trade you their best player, right, and
Jalen Wattle like, I I don't know if that's the move.
(45:36):
Like you play in Buffalo, like you have enough offense
to me defense, defense, defense, and more defense. When you
have a great player like Josh Allen, like you build
around the defense, you can win and listen, you know
Ken Kid is not Travis Kelce, right, Keon Coleman is
not justin Jefferson but with Shakir with Cook, Like, you're
(45:57):
good enough to win on offense, it's the defense which
always concerns you when you get to the playoffs, and
over the last couple of years, they should have been
more aggressive in that world. And sometimes you make a
financial mistake on von Miller at backfires. You get Joey
Bosa this year. Who listen, I totally that's a good move.
I got no issue with that move. But if you
(46:18):
can't win it, it's kind of like the Ravens, like
there was like a three four year window starting a
couple of years ago and with a dash right now
through president, like what the fuck are we waiting for here?
The Chiefs took advantage. They won three and five years,
So you guys have two of the great players I've
ever seen. I'm talking in sports. I've been watching sports.
(46:42):
I love just saying that sports since the early nineties,
and I would say Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson ars
talent that is any player in any sport that I've seen,
like just their pure raw ability, but like part of
being a big time player, whether you're you know, Alex
Rodriguez or Patrick Mahomes or Tiger Woods is winning when
(47:03):
it fucking matters. And you know, Josh Allen has come through,
but his team hasn't. At the end of the day,
it is a team game. Lamar Jackson's been pretty hit
or miss in the playoffs. But I think there's tangible
pressure every time the playoffs start on those two guys
more than any guy in the league because they have
been a dominant two players for much longer than everyone
else beside Mahomes. But Mahomes has already checked all the boxes,
(47:25):
like he's already done it though, And I will throw
it back to when you win early, Brady did it,
Rogers did it, It kind of takes pressure off you.
Not that there's not pressure on you each season, but
Aaron Rodgers never got back to a Super Bowl, but
it didn't matter because he rattled the one off in
twenty ten. Peyton Manning. I watched it grow and grow
when I was in high school in college, like a
(47:47):
lot of these guys ever gonna do it, and it
like carried over from college. And that's where I kind
of feel like in fairness, fear or not, it's on
Josh and Lamar of like, guys, you are too good.
You can't let Jalen Hurtz or Jordan Love or Jared
Goff or one of these other guys rattle one off.
But you gotta do it. But a lot of stuff's
(48:07):
out of their control. And like you said, the GM,
you know, I'm sure if if Max Crosby or Miles
Garrett would have been on the table, I would say
they would have been all over them, But who knows.
I mean, it would have feel like the Eagles or
the Chiefs would have been more likely to make a
big move. I'm in my early thirties and grew up
in a time when it seemed like there was a
(48:29):
lot more importance placed on the linebackers. It seems like
in today's NFL they're being talked about less almost like
an afterthought, with the d line and corners getting more
of the attention. How do you see the evolution of
the role of the linebacker in today's NFL am I
totally off base with this observation. Well, over the last
(48:51):
fifteen plus years, the league has become so pass happy.
You know, obviously there have always been teams. If you
have a Peyton Manninger Aaron Rodgers, you're gonna pass more
than you run, right, But I think when you get
to the point where every team wants to spread you
out and throw it, like, who is quote unquote a
(49:12):
running team? The Lions kind of, I mean they still
pass it all the time, the forty nine ers. I mean,
I watched Mac Jones throw over like three hundred yards
a game. Everyone throws it. It's why I forget who
went on this rant. But like the difference between college
and the pros is in college football, you know, I
(49:32):
think we think of it much more as a run
or a pass happy sport. But quarterbacks run all the
time in college football, right most of them. A lot
of the offenses have quarterback runs as a huge part
of their game. And in the pros, like most of
the top teams. Let's just look at the AFC. Obviously,
(49:53):
Josh and Lamar can run and be very effective at it,
and you have to, you know, scheme up to control
their running ability. But they have no problem throwing for
three to four hundred yards, right Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow,
Justin Herbert. I mean, the game is won rushing them
and covering. So it's just the nature of the way
it's built. Where I'm with you. I grew up on football,
(50:16):
you know, thirty twenty years ago, Well, a lot of
people ran, like I formations. How many teams employ a
fullback now, so that I mean that's a huge part.
Like before, like most people had multiple tight ends, a
full back and would have no problem being up ten
points and just only running the ball from there on out. Hell,
(50:36):
teams historically, if they were down seven points in the
third quarter, would approach the game no different than the
first quarter. You watch teams now, they get very, very
pass happy in some of these situations. Got a question,
do you think that winning teams need to start putting
in bids when these great coaches or quarterbacks hit the market.
(50:59):
If the Broncos made a play for Darnold or the
Bills make a move for Vrabel. It should not just
be the bad teams fighting for these hires. I think
the problem with what you're asking is the two examples
you used the Broncos. How many touchdowns did bow Knicks
throw as a rookie they made the playoffs? And Sean Payton.
(51:23):
I think part of the reason that he's so soft
on bow Knicks is he's gone on a limb and
he said that I believe this guy is going to
be a star player. Bo Knicks is a rookie through
twenty nine touchdowns. So you have this guy as a
rookie not making any money, You've gone all in on him.
You know from a scouting perspective, you're not gonna pivot now.
(51:44):
I would agree that. I think if most Bills fans
would you rather have Rabel or McDermott today, I think
most of them would say that. Obviously, after the Dolphins lost,
you're going to fire Sean McDermott. After making the AFC
Championship Game. He beat the Ravens in the second round.
He's been in the AFC Championship Game a couple times.
Like to me, when he gets in troubles, like you
(52:05):
lose in the first round. It's I don't think you
see many people getting fired after AFC championship games. It's
just not gonna happen. So if you get bounced to
the first round, yeah, okay, we can have some different
conversations here, but when you say you win some playoff games,
You're just not gonna get fired. He's just not gonna happen.
(52:26):
He won multiple playoff games last year. Should the Browns
fire Stefanski and why don't they just play Chador? Now?
Gabriel will never be a franchise quarterback. I don't know
what the Browns are doing. Honestly, I'm just kind of
out on them. I'm kind of tired of talking about him.
I think their franchise is just kind of an embarrassment.
(52:48):
Trying to watch that game, like everyone shits on the Jets.
And this is what I've the theme I've had about
these two guys is, think how the Jets are treated,
Think how the Giants are treated. What the hell's the
difference with the Browns? Besides Stefanski and Andrew Berry clearly
are good with the media and listen, I have nothing
against Stefanski. First, I've met him one time. It's cool,
but they do get treated a lot different than other people.
(53:11):
I mean, they suck. Can you imagine if in New
York and maybe aby gis talked a lot about in Cleveland,
your star player who's older asked for a trade. Your
team's not any good, and you could have traded him
for like two ones, two twos and just completely blown
it up, and you just paid him a hundred million dollars.
He's just worthless on your team, Completely worthless. I don't
(53:33):
get it. Like to me, I will disagree with Spytech
and the Raiders if they don't trade Max Crosby this offseason.
Part of like team building is you gotta be realistic
where you are. Right. You shouldn't buy a one hundred
thousand dollars car if you're making sixty thousand dollars a year.
And I think some of these teams are like, well,
we got to double downs, Like you're not even close.
(53:56):
You're not seven players away from being a player away,
So let's hit the ejection button on this thing and
kind of pivot. It doesn't mean you have to tear
it down to the studs, but when someone has value
in the NFL and we've talked about this. They can
go from being worth a couple ones to one bad injury,
they're worth nothing. So I just think the Browns they
(54:20):
get an all time pass constantly. Now granted, if you
asked me what happened in that game, it was on
my little TV in one of a small boxes. I
didn't spend one ounce of energy. It was like that
game and the Saints and the Panthers. You talk about
bad products. I mean, you talk about something that like
(54:41):
you think the consumer wants to watch this. Now, I
get it if you're a brownser Jets fan, but I
think even you guys would agree like, that's that's rough.
I actually just got a text from a buddy who's
pretty close to the Saints, let's say, and he's like,
I think we might have something in this quarterback. Are
the Giants a serious or organization? Keeping Joe and firing
(55:02):
day Ball is the dumbest move possible for this organization?
In what world has Joe done to even warrant another year?
Say this all the time, man. The advantage of GM
has over a coach is they can backstab when you're grinding.
When you're on the field, you're hobnobine you're shaking hands
and kissing babies with the elites and totally with you.
(55:26):
Now just because you announced this guy's going to run
the search, well, who's in the search. Who starts contacting
the owners the agents? So I don't think I wouldn't
put my life savings that Joe Shane is the next GM.
Who is coming to work for Joe Shane? That's my question.
No one would, Juice and I said this on the
(55:48):
reaction I did a reaction video earlier when the news
was announced. The Giants cannot hire another coordinator. They've done
it a couple of times and it is completely backfired.
They need a guy with head coaching. Chops. I'll keep
beating this drum and if he keeps losing, Mike Tomlin
(56:08):
makes a lot of sense. Was Mike Tomlin gonna answer
to Joe Shane? Who knows? Maybe they just get along
and move forward. But to me, that's the thing I
have circled Mike Tomlin New York Giants vikings question. I
know most people like to shit on McCarthy for his
poor performances. I was at the game yesterday and yes,
(56:30):
the performance was terrible. Everyone says McCarthy, stinks, and Kevin
is a genius. On the year, they are dead last
and running the ball in third and short situations. When
they pass the ball in these situations they convert twenty
percent of the time, versus when they run the ball,
they convert seventy percent of the time. I thought the
(56:52):
mark of a great coach is his ability to adapt
what's working, even if it's not what he likes to do.
I just don't understand why Kevin is above criticism. You're
preaching to the choir. I said it last year after
the playoff game. I said, everyone is gonna pull down
their pants and take a giant dump on Sam Darnold,
(57:13):
and that's all that happened. I'm not trying toot my
own horn, but I've been around this sport doing what
I do judging it for a little while now, and
I was just stunned to see no one go. You know,
maybe you should have mixed in some more runs in
that game. Maybe you shouldn't when Sam was kind of rattled,
and you could even say, as the Lions game was
(57:33):
going on, hey take a deep breath, let's just have
three straight run plays or maybe two runs in a screen,
just to like take a little pressure off instead of
doing five and seven step drops trying to throw bombs
to Justin Jefferson. And this is why I thought the
JJ McCarthy thing was a giant reach. He came from
(57:53):
a place at Michigan where they dominated on defense, and
they ran the ball down your throat. You said uncle,
and then they ran it more, and then you said
uncle again, and they called full back dive with giving
it to a defensive tackle. Jim Harbaugh has wet dreams
about running the ball for the first time ever. He's
kind of changed with Herbert. Don't totally blame him, but
(58:17):
JJ McCarthy rightfully, so run, run and run again. What
did herba what's his name, not Herb Jones. I think
that's an NBA player, whoever the team USA coach was
in the ninety eighty hockey game. You know the famous meme,
like again again, that's that's that's Harbaugh. Kevin O'Connell's the
(58:38):
opposite four verticals. It's like, hey, Kevin, you're not really
covering here. This isn't quite working, But listen, you are
who you are. We all have our personality traits and
it bleeds into whatever we do. For a living. And
Kevin O'Connell's lean as a coach is the past former
quarterback likes to pass the rock. That's not the team
(59:00):
that drafted him. The new England Patriots. Bill Belichick would
fall out of his chair. The Bill Belichick in its prime,
not this version. You did whatever it took. What are
you gonna do well? What do they not do well?
Speaker 3 (59:12):
Well?
Speaker 2 (59:12):
They don't stop the run. Okay, we're gonna run it
thirty five times. Kevin O'Connell would pass. And listen to
you say, Andy Reid gets pass happy, boys had Downovan McNabb,
Alex Smith and obviously now Patrick Mahomes. So if you
had shitty your quarterbacks to be a problem. But he's
got an all time great so it kind of works.
And Kevin O'Connell is JJ McCarthy, who I typed it
(59:36):
into Twitter because I was like, what are people saying
about Justin Jefferson. He's kind of getting crushed to my knowledge,
and I watched I remember watching a preseason game with
Justin Jefferson. I'm like, God, this guy really pretty likable.
Everyone has always said good things that I know about him.
I think he's viewed as a high character guy. I
listen as a quarterback? What am I am? I supposed
to pretend to be happy. It's like, I think this
(59:58):
guy's not good enough. It's like, well, let him learn
through stuff. I'm getting paid thirty million dollars. We just
won fourteen games. I'm trying to fucking win right now.
So it's like, you have some patience. If I here
have patients one more time, I'm gonna fall out of
my chair. I really am. This isn't nineteen eighty seven.
There is not patience. If JJ McCarthy, like can't beat
(01:00:18):
the Bears this weekend, who are not good on defense.
If he cannot beat the Bears, we got major problems.
And I'm not even a Vikings fan. I'm just I
just root like I like a lot of their players,
and they're a fun franchise to be good. But man,
he's just you have no clue what's coming pass to pass.
He's just like one of the great roller coasters we've
(01:00:40):
ever seen. Question for the pod. I don't know what
to make of Darnold's bizarre turnovers multiple I he's bouncing
(01:01:00):
off lineman's helmet in multiple fumbles from the blind side.
Is this a random chance or is he holding the
ball too long or something else? Your thoughts, Yeah, I
mean that's probably some randomness to it. Once they were
up thirty five nothing, like I'm sorry, I check out
of that game, like the game is officially over against
Jacoby Brissett when you're up thirty five nothing and one
of the turnovers I saw like the ball slipped out
(01:01:22):
of his hand and he pushed it forward, it kind
of spun and then they picked it off like he
was up against his own goal line. Yeah, listen, he's
gonna turn it over every once in a while. He's
not gonna be Aaron Rodgers right from it. He's probably
much closer to Stafford. There's a little gunslinger to him.
But if I was a Seattle fan, I'd be pretty
(01:01:42):
fired up because I think he looks pretty freaking good.
You go up thirty to nothing on someone that fast,
and I think they've I heard someone say today that
they've been up thirty thirty points in the first half
multiple times this year. I mean, that's that's pretty crazy.
I'm just trying to pull up Seattle's stats really quick.
(01:02:08):
It's pretty crazy how accurate he's been. Seventy percent Kubiaks.
The Shanahan Kubiak offense is very quarterback friendly. He does
have six picks, but he only has ten sacks through
nine games. That's pretty damn good, basically averaging a sack
a game. I think Daniel Jones will sacks seven times yesterday, Okay,
(01:02:31):
a couple more. I think it's clear everyone in Atlanta
will be fired. But what I'm not sure is what
happens to Penix right now, he looks like a bust.
My thoughts, Atlanta needs to bring in McCarthy. That's Mike McCarthy.
He is a proven coach with a history of getting
a solid quarterback play. Either he makes Pennix into a
serviceable starter in twenty six or Mike is allowed to
(01:02:53):
pick his own quarterback in twenty seven. McCarthy has also
proven he can operate well with weird ownership. I think
the only works with Blank and Rich McKay commit to
giving McCarthy three or four years. I think, now you
have a couple of years of hiring these coordinators with
you know this, what's your GM's name, Terry, Terry? Why
(01:03:16):
am I blanking on it? But the GM that came
with Arthur Smith, that survives. He's there now from the Saints.
I just think that you bring in McCarthy, maybe try
to hire someone from Green Bay and get some stability
in your organization, because I'm with you, it is a
little bizarre. You got rich McKay that is in charge
of a trust, So anytime you're in charge of the
(01:03:39):
owner's trust, you're not really a football guy, but you
kind of are. You clearly can medal. You have a
lot of juice, So I think McCarthy makes a lot
of sense for Atlanta. I do wonder would Kaylin Duboorr
be a sleeper? Would you just hire as college coach,
because even if Pennix doesn't work, you could always get
another quarterback. Him and Grubb are pretty good with quarterbacks.
(01:04:03):
Or if you're Kaitlin, I mean, would you even entertain
leaving Alabama if you're a top two or three seed?
Obviously wouldn't leave till the end of the season. But
that's pretty good gig, you know. I'd argue the Alabama
Crimson Tide is a better job than the Atlanta Falcons.
What are your thoughts on the Colts After the big
(01:04:24):
win in Germany, they still have some things to figure
out our O line and pass pro needs a little help,
but the team has a reliable running back. I think
he's more than reliable all pro level players currently injured
Ward and Buckner. If they were to get the one seed,
I'd feel okay about my chances against anybody in the AFC.
Totally agree. I mean, you have a guy that on
(01:04:45):
any given game can go for two hundred yards and
he is a dominant player, right, I mean, Jonathan Taylor
as good as Saquan was last year, as good as
Chrisian McCaffrey was a couple of years ago. That's the
level Derrick Henry in his two thousand yard like, that's
the level of this guy's dominance. It's a joy to watch.
Running back's my favorite position. So I thoroughly enjoyed. I was.
I watched every snap of that game, and it was
(01:05:08):
fun because just watching him, I mean, break tackles, even
just random like six seven yard runs are really impressive.
I think offensively, you kind of got it all. You know,
Pierce's big playability, Tyler Warren's ability from like from the
line of scrimmage, probably the fifteen ish yards. He's just
such a big target. So anytime you're in second or
(01:05:29):
third in eight or nine or ten, you feel pretty
good about Tyler Warren and then you saw I think
it was like the fourth and two or fourth and three.
Just throw it up. There's not gonna be a defender
that can be that tall, right d Linemen aren't gonna
be able to cover him, so you gonna have a
safety or a linebacker on him. Most of those guys
are like six to two at most, so you have
(01:05:49):
such a big it's like playing basketball throwing an alley oop.
To Kevin Garnett, I like your Offensi's chances as long
as Daniel Jones isn't getting hit. If Daniel Jones starts
getting hit, he kind of turns into a pumpkin. He
kinda is like a crappier version. He can run, so
it's not apples and apples, but kind of like the
Cousins the golf. Like those guys when they start getting hit,
(01:06:11):
they just they don't feel like the same player because
they can't move. Daniel can move, but he definitely wants
to stay within the pocket and throw. He's tough. I'll
give him that. He got blast in the face and
handled it. Congrats on getting married. We're on a similar timeline.
I got married a few months ago and now we're
expecting a baby boy. Congratulations. As a Niner fan, it
(01:06:34):
sucks seeing the team get decimated by injuries in a
year where the Super Bowl seems wide open and being
played in Santa Clara. I think the Niners can be
really good next season, assuming they get brock Ayuk Pierce, all,
Fred Bosa, Mike yel Williams back. Do you think Salo
will still be around our teams out there? You think
he has a realistic chance of getting hired as a
(01:06:55):
head coach If he does get a job, do you
think he'd want to trade for mac joees bonus question?
Have you been paying attention guy calling the games on
the radio? I have guys actually about to have a baby.
My good buddy, Guy Haverman tomorrow he calls forty nine
er games now is having a baby tomorrow, So he's
I think he's off this month of November, which he's
(01:07:18):
not missing much like the Browns and the Panthers. But
get back you call like the Seattle game. I uh,
I just think there's a lot of unknown. You know,
Ricky Piersoll, he got hurt last year, he's hurt again.
Now he's been hurt in the off season. Like he's
obviously an exceptional talent. I mean, he popped when he played,
(01:07:38):
but he can't stay on the field, and he's so
injured right now with I don't even know. They just
say me he can't even practice, you know. And I've
said this about Brandon Ayuke, like I don't really expect
him to ever be the same. Whatever they get out
of Brandon Ayuk is a bonus to me. Out of
those two guys, much more dependent on pearsall. If they could,
if they hadn't given that, they would cut Ayuk yesterday.
(01:07:59):
They just can't because financially, you know, I think you hope.
I saw Bosa was at the game walking around, Mikel Williams.
It's an ACL and they're fine. Fred he's been at
the game with a big contraption on his leg. Hopefully
he's fine as well. But I mean, those are all
those guys pretty big injuries. So I just think there's
a lot of question marks. You know, they're gonna win
(01:08:21):
probably minimum nine games, a decent chance ten, so it's
not like they're gonna be drafting seven they're gonna be
drafting twentieth. I just think they have a lot of questions.
You're in, you're out. And Robert Sala, you know, it
just depends how many different jobs are open. He'll definitely
get some interviews. I don't think it's a great class,
Like who are the top guys around the league that
(01:08:41):
are gonna be interview? Kubiak, Joe Brady. I mean they
got punked yesterday. I don't know some of these college coaches.
Maybe Robert Sala has a decent chance. Maybe Robert Sala
actually is much more likely to get a head coaching
job this offseason than even I assume just based on
(01:09:03):
the candidates. Okay, last question. I've listened to every single
episode you've ever created. I like this guy. I know
Thursday night football has been a thing for a long time,
and I'm sure they're making a lot of money, but
don't you think they would be better off making it
on Friday instead? Gives an extra day for players to
(01:09:25):
rest their bodies and coaches an extra day off of preparation.
It's about TV, and Friday night's not a good TV night.
Just historically. Maybe society changes with technology, but people aren't home.
I mean, the best television night of the week is
usually Sunday. Everyone's home, right, Friday and Saturday can be
(01:09:48):
pretty hit or miss. So I think Friday that has
more to do it. And there's that rule based I
think it's like tax exempt status is tied to, you know,
or high school football playing on Friday. The NFL is
not allowed to except like after a certain date, which
is like early December. Why they play Friday games in December.
(01:10:10):
So I think that plays a part too. I think
Thursday good night, most people are home, and the Friday,
you know that, whatever that rule is, I'm probably speaking
out of turn a little bit. I don't know all
the details. I know people have talked about it before,
but I think more has to do with that. So yeah, okay,
(01:10:45):
very excited. A long time ago, within the last maybe
eighteen months a year, one of our sales guys said, hey,
we got this opportunity, and I had seen folds of
honor around and he kind of explained it to me,
and it was a no brainer for me. I mean,
my father, his brother David, was killed in an ambush
(01:11:05):
and Vietnam, and back then, just like in any war,
you know, he was stationed over in Germany at the time.
They immediately yank him out because you can't have the
whole family die in war. And I saw the impact
that had He didn't even have children, but I saw
the lasting impact that had on my father. Not now
my brother's younger son is now named David, so his
name can can live on. We have a lot my
(01:11:28):
both my grandparents were My mom's dad flew in World
War Two, and my wife's cousin was just just got
out of the Air Force and flew for for years
in Iraq and Afghanistan. So I'm very, very excited to
have on the president Folds of Honor Colonel Nick Nichols.
And yeah, it's just this is awesome. So I need
(01:11:50):
to tell a little people about yourself because where I
come from, reading your bio, you would be considered a
certified badass. So to tell what's your background a little bit.
Speaker 3 (01:12:01):
John, It's an honor to be on with you. Thank
you guys so much for having us, and thank you
so much for a sport and the gear that you
got on right there, Man.
Speaker 2 (01:12:10):
I love it. I need more.
Speaker 3 (01:12:12):
Yeah, So my background, so I'm a third generation fighter pilot,
so kind of a rare breed and stuff, so followed
in in my dad's footsteps, and who was also Vietnam
era fighter pilot who tours in Vietnam, who I unfortunately
lost when I was young, and so my dad was killed.
So I'm one of the you know, kind of the
gold star kids that we support. But you know, life
(01:12:35):
turned out, you know, to be a rich blessing for
me and my family. Married my high school sweetheart, been
married for thirty six years now, did thirty years as
an F sixteen fighter pilot in the Air Force, seven
combat deployments in both Iraq in Afghanistan. So I'm sure
I was there at much the same time as your
(01:12:55):
relative was, and so that's that's a pretty cool connection.
But you know, it's been you know, pretty much the
honor of my life to be able to go and
do that, to be able to do it for as
long as I did it, to achieve you know, my
high school dream and stuff like that. You know, sometimes
you as a kid, you dream big and kind of
diet yourself along the way and stuff like that. But
(01:13:16):
and everything kind of worked out, worked out in spades,
and super honored to be sitting in the seat as
a president of the Folds Wonner Foundation.
Speaker 2 (01:13:25):
Before we dive into Folds of Honor, I talk a
lot of football, and I do think there are a
lot of parallels with you know, kind of the hierarchy
when it comes with the coach down to the players,
the discipline of training. You train way more than you
actually play. You try to make practice harder than the
actual games. Obviously, football, you know, knock on wood is
(01:13:46):
never life and death like you know combat. But I
you know, I don't think it's it's by accident that
a lot of football coaches have been directly connected and
gone over. But you know, you are flying one of
the most expensive pieces of equipment, you know that this
country owns. Right, So the training that goes into missions.
(01:14:08):
You can't just become a pilot just because your dad
was a pilot, right, This is not one of those jobs.
You have to meet certain requirements, you have to pass
certain tests. Obviously that isn't there. Height, you know, you
can't be too tall. Talk to a little bit about
the training, and when you finally kind of I don't know,
quote unquote get your wings or know that you kind
of passed and you have the opportunity to do this. Yeah,
you bet.
Speaker 3 (01:14:28):
So, you know, for me, I want to four year
degree is required to college or you know, one of
the academies and a church college and went through the
ROTC program and everything life through college and the ROTC
program is pretty pretty basic, right, and then you know,
you graduate, you get commissioned and everything and go to
pilot training. When you hit the deck at pilot training, okay,
(01:14:49):
that is when you get the literal two by four
to the face because you show up and go, okay,
this is real now, I mean, this is like super real.
I mean you're past a massive stack of books and
all the things and everything else, and just the first
year of your life is is just basic flight school. Okay,
we've leave with the T thirty seven and the T
thirty eight and you're not guaranteed anything. And so you know,
(01:15:12):
from start to finish, you know the exact statistics what
it looks like. You know, less than three percent of
guys who start down that trail are actually going to
make it out the other side as a fighter pilot.
And you know, you develop, everybody kind of develops their
own disciplines and stuff, and what's kind of neat with
fighter pilots is like, you know, it's an eclectic group.
(01:15:32):
It's like we're not like a cookie cutter version. I mean,
I had guys who were, you know, six three, two
hundred and twenty five pounds college football players and stuff
like that, all the way down to guys who were
you know, five foot five and a buck twenty. But
one thing that was common in all of us is
just like a like a mindset. Okay. And I remember
(01:15:53):
when I showed up at pilot training just married and
everything else. I'm meeting all of these guys, and you know,
they're sharing, like, you know, hey, I just graduated from MIT,
or I just finished up my master's and whatever, and
I've got two thousand hours of you know, civilian time
and all this other stuff. John I had just graduated
(01:16:14):
from Valdosta State University that nobody knows where it's at,
with a degree in criminal justice. Okay, and god across
the finish line with probably a solid three point zero.
So at that moment in time, I just kind of
looked at it and I just went, I went, Okay,
you know a little bit intimidating, right, hearing guys resumes
and stuff like that, But I think the mentality that
(01:16:35):
exists in all fighter pilots is that you might be
smarter than me, you might be better looking than me,
whatever it is you want to throw out there, but
the one thing I can control in life is my
own self disciplines and not let myself get out worked.
And that was it, And that's the mentality that carries
you through because you're going to get beat up, you're
going to have things that don't go your way and
(01:16:55):
stuff like that. But it's in those moments, you know,
those the guys and gals with the mental toughness to
sit there and take a look at it and believe
in yourself, like literally, trust yourself more you trust anybody else,
because nobody else is going to help you. I mean, yeah,
we fight as a team as fighter pilots, but ultimately,
at the end of the day, you're in that cockpit
by yourself and you control your own destiny. So I
(01:17:16):
really think it was that aspect of it. And from
start to finish, you know, pilot training is that first
year and then you go to intermediate training called fighter
lead in, and then you finally get to your F
sixteen training, which is another six months. Okay, now, you're
quote qualified in the F sixteen, but you're not combat ready.
Then you show up at your first combat unit for me,
(01:17:38):
Misawa Air based, Japan, and that's when you go through
another three to four months of what's called mission qualification
training to go. Man, they need to make sure that
you're ready to be put on the pointing end of
the spear, put bombs on the airplane and go be
able to deliver the president's mail at that point and stuff,
and so it's a long process. Once you're on the
(01:18:00):
other side, it is a brotherhood like none other. I
mean it is. I mean, these are your bros, your
friends for life, the guys that you fought hard with
when to combat with all the things. And again, just
a huge privilege to be a part of that community.
Speaker 2 (01:18:18):
How fast is that F is sixteen going?
Speaker 3 (01:18:20):
So it can go twice as speed of sound, which
is super fast, which is like, I don't know, nobody
check me on my mouth here. It's like twelve hundred
miles per hour something like that. It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (01:18:29):
Do you ever get used to that up in the
air going that fast or is it like the first
time does it kind of blow you away from simulation
to actually flying it to then you kind of not
numb to it, but just kind of realize the power
that you're kind of flying behind.
Speaker 3 (01:18:41):
Yeah, well you realize the power behind it. The funny
it's like on takeoff when you hit the after burner
and you're in five stages of after burner are going in,
it's throwing you back in your seat, and that jet
can accelerate from zero to five hundred knots and like
nothing seconds. It's unbelievable. And speed's kind of relative, right,
It's kind of like you know, you've got speed like
a NASCAR driver, where it's super relative because you're close
(01:19:03):
to everything. So if you're up at thirty thousand feet
doing the mock two point zero, it's not a whole
lot different than you know, doing three hundred miles prior. Now,
when we get low to the ground and stuff, there's
a whole different ballgame there.
Speaker 2 (01:19:16):
How about landing on aircraft carriers, I'd imagine you've done
that in your career.
Speaker 3 (01:19:20):
No aircraft carriers for me. So I'm an air Force guy,
so we like a nice long eight to ten thousand ways.
I'm not out in a stormy sea and stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:19:29):
So't I can't even imagine doing that because what I
don't care how much training, what prepares you for the
the heartbeat flying into that thing, because there's there's literally
no margin for air.
Speaker 3 (01:19:39):
Right. Oh no, this guy's are incredible, right and stuff.
We give them a hard time, but you know the
standard you know, Air Force, Navy, Marine pilots and stuff
like that. You know, kind of fun camaraderie and giving
each other a hard time. But yeah, mad respect for
the guys that have to do that.
Speaker 2 (01:19:54):
So you get out of the military, how'd you connect
with the Folds of Honor?
Speaker 3 (01:19:58):
Yeah, so Dan Rooney, Colonel Dan Rooney or CEO and founder.
He and I go way back. So we're fighter pilots together.
That's where we've met. So I met him way before
Folds of Honor started, And kind of a fun story
with us is that he flew his very first combat
mission on my wing, which is neat right, And so
it's kind of a brotherhood that has existed for a
very long time, and like I said, just a massive
(01:20:20):
privilege for me to be where I'm at.
Speaker 2 (01:20:22):
How tell us a little bit about Folds of Honor,
you know, really kind of the meat and the potatoes
behind what you guys do.
Speaker 3 (01:20:30):
Yep. So we're in the education business. So we provide
educational scholarships for the spouses and kids of both military
members and first responders who have either been killed or disabled.
We've been in the first responder business for about three
years now, but in total we have put sixty three
thousand scholarships out the door. We've been in existence for
(01:20:51):
about eighteen years now, to the tune of about three
hundred and forty million dollars. And those are big numbers
and stuff, but what's most important here is the lives
we get to impact with this money and helping kids
achieve their educational dreams, whether they want to go to
college and university, tech, trade school, whatever they might do.
We want to be able to come alongside them and
(01:21:12):
help them and make sure that they can get there.
Speaker 2 (01:21:14):
To tell the story you were telling me before we
hopped on here about obviously the situation at the NFL headquarters.
Well that within the last couple of months where the
shooter and an off duty an officer was involved in
his life was taken.
Speaker 3 (01:21:28):
Yeah, so detective Islam, who believed was with the forty
seventh Precinct in the Bronx, it gave his life so
others may live, and he was off duty, ran towards
the gunfire at the NFL headquarters, ultimately was killed, but
saved lives in the process. Left behind three young kids, Okay,
one of them who was born after his death. And
(01:21:49):
this is I mean deeply and meaningfully impactful and stuff too.
You know, we want you know the world to know.
We want these police offers to know that folds waterbacks
the blue. Okay, I mean, these folks are putting their
literally their lives on the line for us each and
every day, two hundred and forty million times a year,
nine to one one is out. That's nine one one
(01:22:11):
is out.
Speaker 2 (01:22:11):
Every say that.
Speaker 3 (01:22:12):
Say that again, two hundred and forty million times a year,
nine one one is out. That's a nine one one
dial every six seconds. Detective BusinessLand answer that call. And
you know what is you know, a blessing at this
point for us, is that we can do more than
just go to the family and say hey, we're sorry
(01:22:34):
for your loss. We can say that, but then come
alongside them and go you know what, we want to
support you. We want to support your kids and make
sure you achieve your future educational dreams.
Speaker 2 (01:22:45):
So in those situations, I mean that that's a pretty
national story, right because the NFL is involved, But this
happens all across the country firefighters as well. How do you, guys,
besides just seeing a headline on your phone or in
the paper or on the internet or whatever, get a
hold of this information so you like connect with these
people or these units or these you know, fire departments
(01:23:06):
or whatever to make sure that none of this slips
under the crack.
Speaker 3 (01:23:09):
I guess no, absolutely, So what happens in real time? Like,
the best thing that we can do, I mean obviously
is being on you know, awesome podcasts like this, right,
and so get people getting the word out. People are
going to listen. The word spreads organically when things happen
that hit the news. Okay, we never contact families directly,
that would be that would be insensitive of us to
(01:23:31):
do that. But we do contact you know, the leadership
in the organization, whether it's a firefighter, first responder, EMT,
whoever it might be, just to let them know, hey,
when it's appropriate, we are here as a resource for
the family. Now within that, we are marketing hard towards
the first responder families that bud Light in the NFL
(01:23:52):
have been absolutely amazing with this. You know, when we
presented the Islam Family with future youth scholarships for the kiddos,
you know, Roger Goodell was there and present, and so
the NFL is, you know, very impacted by the work
that that Folds of Honor is doing well.
Speaker 2 (01:24:11):
I want to everyone listening kind of tell them or
point them in the right direction on behalf of my family.
We made a five thousand dollars donation this morning. Like
I said, the military, you know, shape my life having
seen what I saw with my dad and both my grandparents,
and now as my family expand sing it. You know
with my my wife's family who flew and some of
(01:24:34):
her best friends are firefighters and police officers, women, they
are her friends. They've married guys, and you know, you
see some of these stories and it just make sure
your heart hurt. And you know, anyone with young kids
knows they can't imagine one of their parents is disappearing.
So I want to point everyone that's listening right now
in the direction of how they get involved, because it's
(01:24:54):
it's not about a financial number. It's there's a lot
of different levels in which you can donate make an
impact for you know, young kids to have a chance
with their father or mother never going to be seen again.
Speaker 3 (01:25:07):
No, that's exactly right. So go to Foldsvonnor dot org.
You go to Foldsvonnor dot org. Okay, you click on
that donate tab, and we want you to become a wingman.
Everybody knows what a wingman is. Everybody's out there's probably
seen Top Gun Maverick or the first top gun, So
you know what a wingman is. A wingman is somebody
who flies alongside you, checks your sakes and never ever
(01:25:29):
ever leaves you. We want you to become a wingman.
And the dollar amount is thirteen dollars a month. That's
thirteen dollars a month. The people might ask like that, well,
that's kind of a strange number. Thirteen. Well, like the
folded flag that you have on your chest there, and
like the folded flag I have on my T shirt here,
it takes exactly thirteen folds to bring it to that
(01:25:51):
iconic triangle shape of freedom, and that flag means something.
When you see that flag folded, it means somebody has
paid the ultimate sacrifice and we can come alongside these
families at thirteen dollars a month, which is probably less
than what you know, folks spent at Starbucks this morning
and received news about these families and let them know that, hey,
(01:26:12):
we see you, we hear you, and we want to
come alongside you and be a part of this Folds family.
Speaker 2 (01:26:18):
Tell us about the future of Folds of Mine or obviously,
like you said three years ago, you guys have expanded
to first responders, you know, from just the military, so
anything else on the horizon it.
Speaker 3 (01:26:27):
Is, you know, the need is great. We have, we
have an amazing group of donors. We've been blessed to
grow each and every year in terms of revenue. But
the one thing that outpaces our ability to raise money
is the number of qualified applicants that we get each
and every year. So you know, I talked about some
big numbers earlier, sixty three thousand scholarships three hundred and
forty million dollars. For the twenty twenty five and twenty
(01:26:49):
twenty six school year, we were able to fund eleven
thousand scholarships. That was almost fifty four million dollars out
the door. Just for this year, we had another seven
one thousand and seven hundred qualified applicants that we could
not fund. So our campaign moving forward is fund the unfunded.
And you know, we can talk about several initiatives that
(01:27:10):
we have going on with that, but the biggest thing
for us is, like, while we are proud of what
we have accomplished, you know, as as the president of
the foundation, you know, I'm the guy that's sitting there
with a spreadsheet every year after we take all these applications,
and budgets are budgets, and we always stretch as hard
as we can to fund as many scholarships as we can.
(01:27:30):
But we've always had to draw that red line at
some point. And you're above the red line, you're getting
a scholarship, you're below the red line, you're not. So
the goal is for us a challenge to the team
that three years from now, you know, the bill will
be somewhere near two hundred million dollars. Okay, the bill
this year to cover everybody would have been one hundred
(01:27:51):
million dollars. Those are big numbers, right.
Speaker 2 (01:27:54):
Well, what on average is that per person?
Speaker 3 (01:27:55):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (01:27:55):
Is it like five thousand dollars per person?
Speaker 3 (01:27:58):
The five thousand, So you funded a scholarship that you
changed one life, You know, and that's what we're asking
people to do. So excuse me. It's five thousand dollars
per school year. So once we get a kid in
the system, we keep them until graduation. So once we
say yes, we're committing to twenty five thirty thousand dollars
in educational support, which is which is amazing, and we're
(01:28:20):
not covering the full biddle, but we're taking a huge
burden off of these families as we move forward. So
what I've had challenged the team to do. You know, hey,
we can sit around each and every year and go,
you know, should it could have? Would it? Right? I'm
like going, let's draw it. You know, we're going to
put a flag in the ground and go, hey, three
years from now, we're going to fund one hundred percent
(01:28:41):
of scholarships. And you know, we're going to do that
by amazing partnerships like b Anheuser Bush and bud Light
and Budweiser and Yetti and Winchester and all these amazing
companies that we have partners with. But it's the folks
out there that are listening right now. Just think about it.
If we could get a million people, a million people
giving us thirteen dollars a month. What would that look
(01:29:02):
like for the organization, We could say yes to everybody.
Speaker 2 (01:29:06):
That's awesome, and you know, what you're doing is obviously
very powerful and it feels like, you know, for a
guy that transitions, we talk about, you know, or read
about people transitioning from the military, what do they do?
It has to be a pretty powerful thing for you.
The transition has worked out pretty well. So that's that's
really awesome and glad that we could be a part
of this and you know, help kind of spread the
(01:29:27):
message it is. I want to get out on a
little bit of a light lighter note if flying F
sixteen like riding a bike, Could I just pop you
in one right now and you just fly it around?
Or what would you need a little a little time.
Speaker 3 (01:29:37):
I think I could well, at least in my dreams,
I can still get in it and like, yeah, I'm
still you know, I'm still a top gun level kind
of guy and stuff like that. Honestly, I could get
in it. I could get her started, get her safely
airborne and safely landed. As far as like employing their
plane tactically, probably not, but I'm confident I could get
(01:29:58):
her off the ground and on ground safely.
Speaker 2 (01:30:01):
To me, what's crazy is the technology aspect of everything, right,
a guy flying a plane now relative do you watch
some of these things on the guys flying the planes
in the World War two, even Vietnam. I mean, it's
it's it's pretty impressive what they were able to operate
back in the day, right.
Speaker 3 (01:30:18):
Oh my god. I mean if you sit there and
especially like at our you know, World War two era, right,
especially think about you know, the bomber pilots, the pursuit
pilots and stuff like that. I mean, they were literally
like when you know, the formations were coming back home,
sending there, counting how many airplanes would come back because
they weren't all coming back, and they were flying into
(01:30:43):
some of the most dangerous skies that you know, the
world has ever ever seen. And just the you know,
unbelievable heroism and everything else that went with that. And yeah,
they're literally old school. They're clocked them up to ground,
you know, navigating around you know, they didn't have GPS
systems and all the other things that we have right now.
(01:31:05):
In bad weather didn't matter, you know, they were they
were going to go downtown to get the job. Done.
Speaker 2 (01:31:10):
Ye had no yetti coolers and no protein bars on
their side, you know, was it was the complete bad assets.
Well well, colonel, I really appreciate your time and thanks
again for everything you do. And it was a it
was a pleasure finally meeting you.
Speaker 3 (01:31:24):
Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you, John. Thank you
again for your donation and you know, for the crowd
out there Foldsvonnor dot Or become a wingman at thirteen
dollars a month.
Speaker 2 (01:31:32):
We appreciate you. Thanks the volume