October 28, 2022 • 50 mins
On today's Dan Patrick Show, ESPN's Laura Rutledge joins from London to preview her sit down interview with Russell Wilson. SI's Senior NBA Writer Chris Mannix calls in to discuss the potential of NBA prospect Victor Wembanyama. Plus, Hall of Fame QB Troy Aikman shares the the most unusual thing he ever gave out during Halloween.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio Hour two. On this meat Friday, we'll check
in with Laura Rutledge from the Mother's Ship. She's doing
hosting duties there. You have the Jaguars and the Broncos
in London coming up this weekend. That'll be on the
ESPN Plus she gets to sit down with Russell Wilson
(00:23):
and I'm not sure if that's today or not, but
what questions or what question do you want to ask?
Russell Wilson eight seven seven three d P Show email
address DP at Dan Patrick dot com, Twitter handle DP Show.
Ravens have won back to back games for the first
time this season. Bucks have lost three in a row.
The Bengals will not be having Jamar Chase it for
(00:47):
at least another month. Tonight, it'll be World Series Game one.
College football weekend Ohio State at Penn State. Notre Dame
is an underdog at Syracuse, Lord at Georgia, Oklahoma State,
Kansas State, Kentucky at Tennessee, and Old Miss in A
and M. There's potential for a surprise or two here.
(01:10):
I'm not sure if Notre Dame losing to Syracuse. He's
a surprise. I don't know the qus is favored by
I got Syracuse two and a half. Okay, Florida Georgia,
go ahead. I was curious what the Florida Georgia line
might be. Right, he's been sitting on that one all
(01:32):
morning long. That's never been used before. No, that's great.
I'm glad I came up with that Lord of Georgia line.
What does that so? To turn the radio down, turn
the window down, the radio up? They got some kind
of they got some kind of sung Yeah, yeah, I
don only get turn up. Yeah, you're probably rolling. Yes,
it's called cruise Fritzie. No, No, you're Florida Georgia line.
(01:53):
Oh okay, good pull by you nice bloop? Yeah. I
like that. By the way, it's a meat Friday. In
case you're wondering what's on the tragger grill, the Sloppy
Joe's and the chicken nachos. Who has it better than
we do? No one, nobody does. Although those are two
(02:14):
of the lamest pumpkins ever carved, it was weeks our
cameraman and tyler out in the kitchen area. Those are
those are sad, sad pumpkins. Did you guys see them.
I just appreciated that they were actually caught. Oh yeah,
I probably would have just kept him clean, not done anything. Yeah, yeah,
(02:40):
they don't. Look if you're watching on Peacock. Those are's
kind of sad pumpkins. Those are sad. On the way out,
I asked Weeks the cameraman for a statement. He said,
they're great. It'll all makes sense later. I don't if
there's something more to it. Yeah, those aren't. Those aren't
good pumpkins. The second one's funny. That's sad, but in
a funny way. Guess all right, it's a meat Friday.
(03:02):
Your phone calls are always welcome. Eat seven seven three
D P show email Andreana Stupid Ann Patrick dot com,
twitter handle, a DP show, Troy Aikman, Next Hour. It
is a Fritzie Friday and Friday Fritzie. He is fired
up today, but that was first hour. How you feel
in second hour? Your astros in action tonight and nobody
loves the astros quite like you. That's true. Yeah, I'm
(03:25):
feeling good. Thank you to the Hour. Two pole questions
Seaton twenty three your wedding anniversary Sunday. I mean good spirits,
but I didn't know I didn't ask. I didn't ask.
Who cares. It's not like a big it's like a
silver or gold year. It's twenty three. Are you getting
your wife anything? Get something worked out? What do you mean?
I know we're gonna go for a nice dinner. They'll
(03:45):
probably flowers at a card involved And she told me
not to get her anything. But we all know what
that means. Yeah, you have to get some. Yeah you
don't have to get something. You want to get something. Yeah,
you have to get something. I really you do. It's
been a long stretch for here's the question, Will Fritzie
gets something for his anniversion? That is a much bigger question.
I'm not one. I'm cared to indulge. What's the full question?
(04:08):
For our two seats, We're going with Paul's smoking hot
pole questing enough our once Paul question, who would take
the Mulligan sixty have? Tom Brady followed Russell Wilson only
here's Tom Brady after the launch last night. I think
we struggled pretty much at everything. You know, we're just struggling.
(04:30):
Red area strugging, third down, strugging, run game, two point players,
short yardage, backed up start first quarter, started the third quarter,
not very good offense football anything go, well, did they
do anything right? I gotta put a lot of blame
(04:52):
on the defense too, because you know the Ravens carved
him up defense, you know, then they're supposed to be good. Yeah,
see what percentage of this do you put on execution
versus play calling? For the Buccaneers, they keep kind of
they can't run the ball, but they're trying to go
with that like dump off screen thing over and over again.
(05:13):
That does not work right now, and that you could
see that every week every week it hasn't worked. Yeah,
I just wonder when you don't you know, Brady didn't
have the time to throw. Even when he did, he
wasn't on the mark you just want. I mean, he
doesn't look good when you see him at these press conferences.
(05:34):
I mean his face he looks really gaunt. And maybe
that's on purpose, I don't know, but he just he
doesn't look healthy. And that team you lose three in
a row, I mean, you still got a hope because
you're in that division, and you look at the schedule,
you know they gonna be five and seven at some
(05:58):
point this year. And then you got Green Bay. Green
Bay goes to Buffalo. Can they win? Sure, there's a chance.
Didn't the line start out at like ten ten and
a half? Has it gone to eleven and a half
with the Bills? Yeah, Paul the Vikings, by the way,
they had the Cardinals commanders two winning two winnable games.
(06:19):
Now then they're at the Bills thirteenth in November. Yeah,
gets a little juici here for that is Buffalo favored
by eleven and a half? Now? Oh, I want to
play this, you know, I have the Gambling podcast with
bad Larry Dylan and Shay and Irving. We'll have that
for you coming up and we'll play a little clip
of what we recorded and it's become a great podcast
(06:43):
there with Dan Patrick Takes a Gamble, available at Dan
patrick dot com. Laura Rutledge set to join us ESPN
Plus exclusive coverage of the Broncos and Jags Sunday morning,
and they started at nine thirty am Eastern from London.
Steve Levey, Dan Orlovsky, Lewis Riddick and Laura Rutledge. I'm
the call and you can subscribe to ESPN Plus go
(07:04):
to ESPN plus dot com or ESPN the app. Laura
Rutledge the host of NFL Live joins us from London.
Where are you right now? So I walked down the
street from our hotel trying to find a very London
looking background, and turns out I'm in front of a convent,
so that made me laugh. I don't think I'll be
(07:27):
joining me today. You still get that feeling when you're
there in London. There's all these jerseys from all these
different teams. If you were going to describe the feeling
that you have NFL wise in London, like, what's the vibe?
They love it. They're so excited to have NFL games here.
(07:47):
I think the fandom sometimes is underestimated from the international fan,
but especially here in London. And I really have run
into a lot of people who, you know, whether it's
been me talking about this game being on ESPN Plus
between the Broncos and Jaguars, or just sometimes people watch
NFL Live over here so they've asked you about the show.
(08:08):
I've been surprised at the interest, to be completely honest,
And I think we are expecting a great turnout at
Wimbley on Sunday. I think they're going to be even
more excited as the NFL continues to try to make
sure it's in front has felt internationally. Do you have
access to Russell Wilson. We're talking to him tomorrow. Okay,
(08:31):
if I gave you one question, what are you asking?
I think I want to ask him what's gone wrong
in his mind so far, because so much of his
quotes and I think what sometimes has turned people off
this year. You know, listen, you can be Russell Wilson
the way that we know him to be if you're
(08:51):
winning a lot, but I think people would like for
him to acknowledge what's going on and where there's a
misconnect or a disc next between him and the coaching staff.
And you know, listen, the way the NFL works, we
know this, quarterbacks and high paid players don't necessarily take
all the blame when it comes to moving on from them.
It's too difficult to do, so it ends up being
(09:13):
the coaching staff that shoulders a lot of that blame.
But I would like to know, and I will ask
him this question. You know, from his standpoint, why haven't
they won more games? And why has the offense looked
so incredibly stagnant? And it's difficult, as you know that
he's always mister positive. It's rare when he gives you
a real answer. I think when he gave me a
real answer after the Super Bowl a couple of years
(09:35):
ago that led to oh my god, there's something really
going on there, and everybody was surprised. That's the frustrating
part is you're trying to get a real answer, like
how much does this hurt that Seattle's doing well? They
gave up so much to get you, and you know,
but then how much do you press him to go?
You know, I want to get a real answer out
(09:56):
of you. I think you try with him. I mean,
as you know, truly. I'm not just saying this because
I'm on your show. I think that your answer from
him about his issues with the offensive line and the
front office, that was one of the first times we
actually heard him break stride from what we've known him
to be for all this time, and so it's very
(10:18):
rare that he does that. I don't know what you
did that day, must be because you're an excellent interviewer,
but I think that you know, people would love to
see some of that wall broken down and listen, there
are plenty of people that love him the way that
he is. Those aren't allowedest voices right now because he
has struggled and because this team has struggled. But it's fascinating,
(10:39):
It's it's it's a bit of an outside of football,
fascinating case study in a prominent figure who is struggling
and fails to realize maybe the importance of being candid
and a little bit more open with the public. But
it feels like it's open season on him. Seattle didn't
want to keep it. It's not. It almost feels like
(11:03):
the public turned on him, like, yeah, you wanted out
to see Hey, you got what you wanted. But it
feels like even the subway commercials. I mean, we're analyzing
everything here, Laura, Yeah, I think it's overboard. I think, listen,
he's not immune to criticism and shouldn't be right because
that's what happens, you know, to who much is given,
much is expected, and all the things. But I think
(11:25):
it's a bit overboard. To me, the personal attacks are
too much. I just I don't see the need for that.
But I realized that what happens in this world is
when you're really successful and when you've had you know,
to your point, you've had the opportunity to go get
what you wanted. Seattle said, fine, we feel good about
what we have. And in fact, it's funny. I was
with them preseason and we actually felt like they were
(11:48):
over zealous in their praise for the team that they
had and for Geno Smith, and they didn't look great
in preseason. But it's preseason, right, and so now seeing
their offense click the way that it is and seeing
them play so well, we're kind of like, Okay, you know,
I think I think we know why they felt good
about moving on from Russ. And that's not even a
slight at Russ. I think it's more that they felt
good about who they had, So to me, you know,
(12:10):
it does it goes back to I get it. You
got to criticize the players on the field, and that's
part of our jobs. But I do think some people
have gone too far in some of the personal attacks,
and I think that's affecting Russ too. I think he
sees more of that than you would expect him to see,
and it affects him more. And I'll be interested to
ask about that too when we meet with him ahead
(12:32):
of this game. Talking to Laura Rutledge, she's joining us
outside of a convent that doesn't cleanse. That doesn't cleanse
any of your sins. Just letting you know, you guys
help me out here, like clean that. That's not going
to help you in the big picture. Just letting you know.
The Broncos Jags Sunday morning, nine thirty am Eastern on
(12:55):
ESPN Plus. Steve Levy, Dan Orlomsky, Lewis Riddick, Laura will
be there on the call and you can go to
ESPN Plus. If I gave Tom Brady or Russell Wilson
a do over, oh yeah, I think they'd take it,
both of them. Do you think Brady would take a
do over and just stay retired. Yeah, don't you think
(13:18):
he would? And he would say, let me just go
ahead and commit to TV. Let me, you know, take
the personal side of it out of there, let it.
Let him just say, let me kind of step into
this next chapter of life and listen. I mean, in
his defense, coming into this season and when he thought
it was coming back, you know, immediately calls his center,
he says, let me make sure you're back. He assembles
(13:39):
a team that he thought was going to be a
team that would have great success, especially in an NFC
that you looked at preseason, you said, ah, who knows,
Maybe it's the AFC that's got more of the talent
and be more competitive. The NFC felt a little bit winnable,
kind of still does, you know, outside of maybe the
NFC's but anyway, you know, and then those guys start
dropping like flies, and you expect more out of the
(14:00):
run game. You think that Leonard Fournette's going to be
more productive. You think you've got that the old line
to protect him. And really he had been so well
protected there and they'd had so much consistent on that
old consistency on that old line that I think we
kind of took for granted with this Buccaneers team. And
you know, the thing that had shocked me is I
thought Todd Bowles would have a better handle on being
(14:23):
a head coach when it comes to the defense too.
I'm sure Brady thought that as well. He's looking at
this defense saying, hey, you know, this defense has been
what's carried them right, And so I would imagine, knowing
what he knows now, he would say, wait a second,
let me not mess around in that. And I think
we saw that last night. I mean, I don't blame him.
(14:43):
He looks he looks completely befuddled and simultaneously incredibly frustrated
by what he's enduring. Right now. The story of the
year in the NF fail not Tom Brady off the field,
But what is the number one story to you? I
think the number one story to me is some of
(15:06):
these veteran quarterbacks we thought would have great success going
to different spots and not doing well. I mean, who
had Matt Ryan being bitched for Sam Ellinger? You know
things like that that we all kind of looked around
and said, Wow, this movement in the offseason is crazy.
We're gonna see, you know, so many of these teams
that were so close, the Colts being a great example
(15:27):
of that, being contenders, but without a quarterback, they're just
missing the quarterbacks. So they finally got one, so they're
gonna be right up there in the mix. And then
they've benched Matt Ryan and you know, everyone's talking about
Frank Breich's job security, and to me, those are things
that I didn't see coming. So I would say that,
And you know, in turn, kind of the flip side
(15:48):
of that story is some of these younger quarterbacks, these
quarterbacks that are able to be dual threaded Jalen Hurts,
for example, and certainly the athleticism that we see out
of the Josh Allen's and the Joe Burrows, and obviously
Patrick Mahomes of the world. Just these wild plays, but
also the ability to handle these offenses so well. These
younger quarterbacks are ushering in a new age, and we've
(16:10):
seen the beginnings of it, but I think this year
might kind of put a stamp on that. With who
we see in the super Bowl and who we see
continue to have success. I'll leave you with this very
important question. Thanksgiving dinner. You can only invite too so
Dan Orlovsky, Marcus Spears, and Mina Kimes, but one doesn't
get invited. Oh man, that one's tough. I'm going to
(16:34):
leave out Dan. But it's not because I don't like Dan.
Dan is like family to me. But he's so annoying
with his food and his lack of taste that I
just I really appreciate food, and I would probably be
cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my friends, and so I would
be frustrated by having to make such bland food to
satisfy his remedial palette. I'm gonna go tell him, I'm
(16:56):
about to see him. I'm gonna go tell him that
I left him out of Thanksgiving dinner. He won't be surprised,
doesn't he put ice cubes in red wine? Oh yeah, imagine.
You know. Listen, I'm not a pretentious person, but you
sit there at dinner, you think, oh, we're ordering a
nice bottle of wine. You got you got the group there,
and all of a sudden, um, you know, he says, hey,
(17:18):
excuse me to the waiter, can I get a cup
of ice? And he proceeds it then pour it into
the wine. Are coming? Oh awful? That one that blastemy
toward wine. I think those are the bad take police.
They're coming after you. For um. Have fun over there.
(17:40):
Great to visit with you. Congrats on all your success.
Thank you, Laura, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
It's Laura Rutledge from the Mothership. ESPN plus will have
the game. The good news for the Broncos is if
they don't play well, it'll be at nine thirty in
the morning ESPN Plus. But if they play well, you're
(18:00):
probably not going to see it either. But you know,
these standalone games, we always have a referendum on those.
That's why last night, you're talking about the Ravens and
the and the Buccaneers. Sunday night, you're gonna be talking
about Packers in the Buffalo Bills. Monday night, it'll be
the Bengals without Jamar Chase against the Browns. That's how
(18:22):
it plays out these standalone games. Thanks for listening to
The Dan Patrick Show podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weekday morning nine to noon Eastern or six
to nine Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local
station for The Dan Patrick Show at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching f s R, or stream us
(18:44):
live on the Peacock Act. I was reading Chris Mannox's
latest column. One of the great writers with the NBA
and senior writer with sports illustrator, Mannox joins us on
the program before I get to the NBA white Men
can't jump? Good great? Yeah, oh great, yeah, and hopefully
(19:09):
not to be remade in some haphazard way over the
next few years. I think it's being remade. Isn't Jack
Harlow the rapper? Who else is in that movie? Marv?
Do you know? Effting? Okay? Yeah, it's I had I
had I had this feeling though, Damn when they remade
Point Break years ago, which wasn't actually terrible the remake,
(19:32):
it wasn't awful. It could have been a lot worse.
It just didn't make any sense. I mean, if you
had given me, like the option of going to a
theater to see Keanu Reeves, Gary Douse and the old
Point Break or a new point Break that I've never seen,
I would have chosen the Old Point Break in a theater.
I feel the same way about a White Man Can't
(19:53):
Jump remake Marvin's work. Yes, poet, Yeah, we have multiple confirmations.
White Man Can't Jump is in production. Billie Griffin's one
the producers. The musician Jack Harlowe said to make his
acting debut in it. And there's that's about all the
details right now. That's not not gonna go. Well wait, wait,
well who is Who's going to be his counterpart in
White Men Can Jump? He says, A gentleman by the
(20:14):
name of thin Quah Walls. All right, well, maybe he's
got more game than Wesley Snipes. All right, man, the
Lakers situation. I know that you said you got to
make this move right now, but and if you're the Pacers.
If you make this move, they're in the Victor one
Ba Yama sweepstakes, so they'd like to unload whatever talent
(20:37):
they have. Why hasn't this deal been done Because it's
a steep price for the Lakers to pay for two
players that may not guarantee them anything more than a
playoff appearance. Um, you know, the teams that are talking
to the Lakers, they want at least one or both
of those twenty twenty seven or twenty twenty nine drafts.
(21:00):
They want them unprotected because the expectation is the Lakers,
who look, even though they won the championship in twenty twenty,
in the last I think nine years, they've only what
been to the playoffs two or three times. So there's
a pretty good chance that when we get to twenty
twenty seven or twenty twenty nine, that team is a mess.
(21:21):
But the Lakers, you know, they made their deal Dan
when they extended Lebron James. They committed to doing whatever
it took to win a championship over the next two
or three is So, while I agree that Miles Turner
and Buddy Healed doesn't guarantee anything, at the very least
(21:42):
makes you better right now at the very least gets
you into the playoffs, and once you're in the playoffs,
maybe you can lead them Lebron to do something special.
But you ask what the hold up is? It's the
steep price the Pacers are have been asking in the
past the Lakers to pay. But I start to wonder
if the Lakers front office is saying, hey, Lebron, you
(22:04):
got yourself into this, you get yourself out of this.
We don't want to mortgage our future when you're not
going to be here. Do you think there's any validity
to that. Well, there was validity to that before Lebron
signed the extension. Right Like, if Lebron had not signed
that extension, we wouldn't be having this conversation. The Lakers
would be completely justified in not mortgaging the future for
(22:26):
a guy that may only be there for the remainder
of the season. But Lebron extended for two more years.
He's going to be a Laker. God knows how long
his career is going to last, but at least through
these remaining quality years of his career. So the Lakers
when Lebron did that, Look, this isn't conjecture. Rob Polaka
came out and said last month, we're gonna do whatever
(22:46):
it takes, including those picks, to make the Lakers better. Well,
the deal that's available right now, the best deal available
involves Indiana and involves Miles Turner and Buddy Healed. And
it feels like Dan that this is gonna get done eventually,
Like I keep hearing the Lakers they're gonna wait till
Thanksgiving before opening up things for Russell Westbrook. That's like,
(23:08):
I don't even know what the comparison. It's like, wait
till Thanksgiving for I decide which swimsuit model I'm going
to go out with. Like it the markets open for
Russell Westbrook right now. He's available right now. There's just
is no team out there other than maybe Indiana or
perhaps Utah who would offer up a Mike Conley centered package,
maybe Jordan Clarkson to get a deal done. So the
(23:30):
Lakers they've got to do it or else this season.
It very easily could unravel quickly. And then meanwhile, you
have the Clippers, who nobody talks about. Now I know
that they're up there with being one of the co
favorites or you know, one of the three favorites right now.
But what do you what do you see with the
Clippers so far? You know, I'm gonna reserve judgment on
(23:53):
the Clippers until around Christmas time because I don't like
the Kauhi sitting out games this ear because of the
knee is problematic. He's fifteen months removed from surgery like
that's well passed the normal time it takes for players
to recover from a procedure like that. Then there's a chance,
(24:13):
and I've talked to people within the Clippers that they're
just being overly cautious, abundantly cautious with Kawai over these
first couple of months as he re ramps up. But
I think around Christmas time we'll know what we have
with the Clippers, not just if Kauai is able to
play seventy five eighty percent of the games and still
be the old Kawhi letter, but also is their point
(24:36):
guard position championship level with Reggie Jackson and John Wall
some of the depth they have on that roster. I
just need more information about the Clippers before I can
judge if they are the Finals contender. We believe they're
going to be. I know it's a small sample size.
The Nets are off to their worst starts since twenty fifteen.
They won twenty one games that year they fired Lionel
(24:58):
Hollins as they head coach. I'm watching. I mean, Kyrie
had some unbelievable plays last night, crazy, crazy, unbelievable plays.
But it still comes back to Ben Simmons. It's you
can't watch the Nets without just watching Ben Simmons, what
he does and what he doesn't do. And I'm wondering,
(25:19):
at what point is this. Can you make him a starter?
Can you bring him off the bench and give me
the I guess he's a liability here, Chris, I guess
there no other way to put it. He's not a
asset right now, that's for sure. Watching that game last night,
he had a couple of good moments. Yeah, he defended
(25:42):
well at times on Luca don Chich. He finished a
couple of shots around the rim. But then you can
see it in his eyes. He's not comfortable with a
position where he's going to have to shoot. Like you
can see it, like when the camera pans to him,
he has that kind of deer in the headlights. Look
when it's it's an opportunity for him to either take
a shot or collect the ball the other rim, whether
(26:03):
it's he's afraid he's gonna miss he had that airball
layoup which was not good, or if he's afraid to
go to the free throw line where he's still not
comfortable shooting free throws. I don't think the Nets have
much of a choice but to keep rolling him out
there thirty thirty five minutes per game and showing confidence
in him, because that's what this is all about. The
(26:24):
skills in Ben Simmons are still there. All the things
that made him great in Philadelphia are still there. His
confidence right now, though, looks like it's just a wreck.
So if you're the Nets, the only way to rebuild
that confidence is to play him and to keep pushing
him out there and see if time resolves some of
the mental issues he's been dealing with. Talking to Chris Manage,
(26:45):
the Sports Illustrated senior writer, this Clay Thompson situation, I
don't know if it's a big deal, little deal, no deal,
but minutes are reduced. He's struggling. He's not the player
he once was. I don't know if he ever will be.
But you know what happened with Devin Booker, What do
you make of that? Is that just a one off
(27:06):
that hey, bad night, and you know he'll be okay
down the road. You know we'll see It was certainly
the level of frustration we haven't seen from Clay Thompson
in the past. When I talked to scouts about Clay
before the season, I talked to people that watched or
were involved with in the Dallas series, and the one
(27:28):
thing that kept coming back consistently was, look, Clay still
make it shots Like you leave him open, He's gonna
beat you every single time. But he's not as quick
off the dribble as he was before the injuries. He's
not the defender he was before the injuries. And we're
now a good distance away from his return to basketball
(27:51):
and he's still not that guy now. Will that come
back over time, I don't know, but Clay Thompson right now,
in his thirties, it's unlikely he's ever going to get
back to being the player that he once was. And
I guess it all depends on how Clay deals with that, Like,
is he willing to accept some limitations in his game?
(28:11):
Because those limitations are there right now, it doesn't mean
he still can't be a top player. He helped that
team win a championship. They didn't win a championship without
him last season. But I don't believe will ever see
the Clay Thompson we saw before the two injuries, because
his body, you know, at least the people that watch
him tell me his body just isn't letting him do
(28:32):
the things he was used to doing. How are my
Cavaliers doing well? Ricky Rubio comes back, they'll take off.
But right now they're they're playing. They're great there like
they look. They're three and one right with Garland still
dealing with the eye injury. The Mitchell trade looks like
it works. They're still trying to figure out who goes
(28:53):
in that lowry market, an old spot, whether it's Isaaca
core O'dean Wade. They're throwing a bunch of guys in there.
But the Mitchell deal worked exactly as they wanted to work.
They needed another playmaker, they needed a perimeter scorer, and
that's exactly what Donovan's been. Is averaged almost thirty points
a game, and he's playing defense at a level we
didn't see last year in Utah. I mean, I still
(29:14):
I can't buy the Cavs as a contender this year
because there's too many young pieces there. Like I don't
know what Evan Mowgley is gonna do in the playoffs.
Mitchell has had playoffs success, but not at the highest level.
Garland same thing. Don't know what he's gonna do in
the playoffs. But of all the young teams in the
league that are kind of on the brink, that's the
(29:34):
team I'd want to be the most because they've got
enormous upside over the next couple of years. And if
Mitchell is happy there and wants to stay around and
wants to extend his contract, that's a team that can
be a contender from multiple championships down the line. We're
going to have that moment this year. It feels like
with the Victor Wamba Yama and these teams that you know,
(29:57):
managerial tanking. I guess we're going to see this, maybe
with the Pacers, maybe we see it with him. I
thought Utah was trying to do that. But how do
you discourage tanking if you're the commissioner, I mean you,
what was that? What do the owner in Major league?
Do you trade away all your good players like that?
(30:19):
That's kind of what you do. Look, I don't. I'm
sure Danny Ainge isn't sitting in his office in Salt
Lake City thinking he's going to be a buyer. Now
that the Jazz started three and one like the nineteen
win six, or started three and oz on their season
like the things regress to the mean and some of
the things that Jazz are doing are probably not sustainable
(30:39):
at the moment. But you are going to see these
teams that believe they have a chance to finish in
that bottom three trade away guys or in the case
of guys, they want bench them for the rest of
the season. The NBA hates it, but there's nothing that
they're going to do about it. The question the question
it's not new, right, I mean, Oklahoma City sat Al
Horford second half of the season a couple of years ago.
(31:01):
They've sat Jake Giltus Alexander seemingly every season that he's
been there. The question is not will teams do it?
It's how early our team's gonna do it? Will we
see a team or teams with the audacity to shut
down players before the All Star break because they want
to stumble and lose enough games to get in that
bottom three that that's what I'm most interested in see.
(31:22):
You got to see some guys traded away, and you
gotta see some guys shut down at levels that you've
probably never seen before. Because not to make this about Victor,
but he is outside of Lebron, and maybe even more
than Lebron, the best prospect we've ever seen. He is transformational.
Maybe maybe because Lebron coming into the pros was physically remarkable, right,
(31:47):
Like you never saw high school player that looked like that.
But he had some flaws in his game, right He
wasn't a perimeter shooter at that point, and he had
a ways to go to become a complete score. When
Byama's out there, you know, shooting a good percentage from
three seven foot four, he's he does everything, a little
bit everything right now at a really high level. And
if you're a team like Indiana, Utah, Oklahoma City, San Antonio,
(32:09):
a place that doesn't have a prayer of landing a
player the caliber of Victor Wembayamin in free agency, you
will stomach three months of bad basketball and public criticism
for the opportunity to get your hand on him. Have
a great weekend, Chris, Thanks for joining us. You got
a d. That's Chris Mannox, great NBA rider for Sports
(32:31):
Illustrated senior writer. Thanks for listening to The Dan Patrick
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
morning nine until noon eastern six to nine Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio, and you can find us on the
iHeartRadio app at FSR or stream us live on the
Peacock app. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every
weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
(32:55):
This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired
narratives down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you
honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats
to help you win big at the sports book, and
all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen
to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Troy Aikman,
(33:21):
the accomplished broadcaster The Notes Say and co founder of
eight Elite Lagger. We had that at the Super Bowl,
and I think I was one of the first to
point out. I said, there's an eight there with the logo.
You have to look at it closely there, but the
eight can challenge to raise money for a great cause.
We'll talk to Troy about that coming up. Right before
(33:44):
I walked over and turned on my microphone, Troy, Paulie,
my producer, goes, do you know Troy Aikman's middle name?
I go, I don't, And I said, is Troy actually
is real first name? So we're gonna play a game
before we get to you. Who thinks Troy is Troy's
real first name? Oh? Everybody on that side, all right,
I'm gonna say, no, it's not. What about his middle name? Todd, Troy, Benjamin, Aman,
(34:09):
Benjamin all right, Seaton, I'm gonna say Troy Anthony, Troy Anthony,
all right, Marvin, I'm gonna say Aloysius Ali witn okay,
Polly with Troy James Aikman strong sounding, I'll go Thomas
as his middle name. All right, Paully, here we go
the big unveiling. Well before I give it to you, Troy,
(34:32):
no offense. If you went by your middle name. I
don't think you would have made the Hall of Fame.
Troy sounds like a Hall of Famer. It's Troy Kenneth
Aikman if you were Kenny Aikman, Kenneth Aikman, I'm not.
I'm not afraid of you. I'm not afraid of the Cowboys.
Well you should be because my dad's My dad's a
(34:53):
Kenny Aikman and he starts bearing a lot of people.
But but Kenneth, that doesn't scare me as much. Yeah,
it's it's it sounds a little soft. I mean, uh,
Ty's a more masculine name for sure, y. Yeah, it's
a quarterbacks name, all right. Um, tell me what's wrong
(35:14):
with the Buccaneers from a quarterbacking perspective as you watch
the game last night. Oh, I there's a lot. I mean,
there's just a lot going on Dan with them, you know,
I think they definitely miss Gronkowski. I think you start
losing some players that that were a part of it.
And then the offensive line of course has had had
(35:36):
some guys that have left some injuries that have affected them. Uh,
the inability to run the football. Um, there's just there's
a lot to it. And there's a lot going on
with Tom as well as we know, and then with
the staff, it's just you got to pull it together
every year and it's not easy to do, and I
think a lot of times we take a lot of
(35:56):
it for granted when you see the quarterbacks like we
see in Green Bay with Aaron of course, and then
Tom and Tampa. But it doesn't always come together the
way that you like. And there's been so much to
overcome this year, and it's just been a struggle which
team would be easier to fix offensively for you, the Broncos,
the Packers of the Buccaneers. I think the Packers probably
(36:20):
would would be my guests. I mean, just just looking
at it, I think, you know, I've seen Denver now
a couple of times, and they they've gone through their
growing pains, for sure, But I would say right now
from what I see, I would say green Bay. But
but even them, I'm not certain. You know, they've got
their hands full of course this week, and you know,
(36:41):
I'm not certain that that when it's all said and done,
that any of them are going to be where we
expected them to be. When do do you know that
it's over for you when you start to go I'm
I'm not making the throws. I'm like, I'm just not
who I was. I think it varies, for instance, with Tom.
(37:04):
I mean, I Dan, I was thirty four when I retired,
so I mean I knew eleven years before Tom Brady did.
I mean, let's just say, but you know, for me,
I think what happened and I and it's probably true
of a lot of guys. You know, my legs started
to go, is what I felt. And of course a
(37:25):
lot of people think I retired because of head injury.
That's not that's not true. But I do marvel that
A lot of people say, yeah, he really is. He
still has the arm strength and I and I think that,
you know, Breeze was a bit of the exception that,
but he had some arm issues. But for the most part,
like I bet Brett Farve could go out right now
and have the arm strength to do all the things
that's required to go play the game. And so I
(37:47):
think that's usually the last thing to go. But you know,
whether it's physical or even mental, I think getting up
to play at that level the great ones, the tom
Brady's and the U Brees, isn't Aaron Rodgers and those guys,
and even the guys of my generation Alway, Marino Kelly,
all them. You know, Mentally, I think that's what gets
(38:08):
lost in being a great quarterback is Yeah, you got
to be able to get out there and play physically,
but it's being able to rise to the level mentally
that allows you to play at the level that these
guys are able to play at each week. How tough
is it to go out and play a game when
something in your personal life is affecting you? Man, I
(38:30):
can't speak to that because I really well, I guess
I can. My mom was going through breast cancer back
in ninety seven and was I was dealing with a
lot with regards to that. So it takes a toll.
Now when it goes beyond extended family, now you're talking
about right in your own home. I can't imagine, because
(38:52):
I didn't even get married until going into my last
season of playing, so that was that was that was
a honeymoon as far as my personal life shows. But
I can only imagine the challenge and when you combine that,
when you combine when you're having the things you're trying
to deal with in your personal life and you don't
really have the time to spend on it because you're
(39:15):
an NFL quarterback, and you combine that with the struggles
that they've had on the field. I would imagine this
has been the hardest year in Tom's life. But did
you delay marriage strategically consciously? Uh? No, No I didn't,
But I will tell you that in hindsight it was
It was good because I didn't have kids until after
(39:37):
I had retired, so I wasn't getting pulled with family
life and I didn't have to try to strike a
balance with all that I was. But it was not
a conscious decision on my part. And hell, old are
your daughters now twenty and twenty one? When did they
know the dead was famous? That's a good question. You know,
(40:02):
kids don't really understand. I think when the first time
someone came up and wanted an autograph or a picture,
probably when they were four, they couldn't quite figure out,
you know, why this stranger was stopping us and doing that.
I think that's when they began to think, you know, hey,
But it probably wasn't until they were seven before they
really realized what my background was. Did kids come over
(40:24):
and want a toss football? Uh no, it don't come
to the house, you know. But speaking of it's funny,
damn that how here we are at Halloween and I
remember when I was playing, and of course was single.
And I got home from practice and I had totally
forgotten about Halloween. I mean I totally forgot about it.
(40:44):
And kids are coming to the door, and I didn't
have any candy, and I didn't know what to do,
and so I had a bunch of football cards. So
I started signing football cards and handing them out to
the kids as they came to the door. And the
next year, and I didn't know if these kids were
gonna be happy or not. You know, so kids want candy.
But the next year I got candy. I was ahead
of it. I was smart. And the kids then now
(41:06):
I got twice as many kids, and they were totally
upset that they weren't getting football cards that year. What
was the best costume you ever went with on Halloween? Uh?
I went as a vampire one year. I talked about
my father ken Aikman that we were discussing earlier, and
he worked on the pipeline and I put some grease
(41:29):
in my hair for to be a vampire and grease
it back. And it took me a week. I finally
had to use his industrial strength hands in order to
get this grease out. I don't know what grease I used,
but it wasn't made for hair. Probably some lube you
loube up ball bearings or something. I don't know. What
did you see from the Bears that might lead you
(41:50):
to believe that they can challenge the Cowboys coming up
this weekend. I will tell you Dan that last week's
game you always go in I don't predictions going into games,
which you go into a game broadcasting, you have thoughts
on how you think it'll play out. I've never been
more wrong. I really did not think the Bears had
a chance in that game, going in against New England
(42:12):
on the road in a primetime game, and you got
Bill Belichick with a chance to take sole possession of
second place on the win list and all that. But
they look good. They look like a team that had
had eleven days to prepare, and I thought Justin Fields
looked improved from what I had seen. I do like
I like Matt Eberflus a lot. I mean, I think
(42:33):
that this team is going to be coached and they're
going to be prepared. They don't they don't have the
penalties which you would expect. They're going to continue to
get better if they can do what they did last week,
and that is Justin Fields, of course, was a big
part of that in the run game, not turn the
ball over. I think defensively they'll I think defensively they
(42:55):
could do some things against Dallas to present some problems.
But this Dallas defense is really, really good, So they're
going to be a challenge for Justin Fields and the
entire group. But you were saying this on the broadcast.
These young quarterbacks always think they can make a play,
especially if you have athleticism. You're always thinking how do
I extend this? And I remember Steve Young saying to me,
(43:15):
I had to shut down that part of my brain
that said just take off and run, go through your progressions.
But easier said than done when you're sitting there in
the pocket and you've got guys who weigh three hundred
pounds coming in to take your head off. Yeah, and
they've had some issues up front with the offensive line,
there's no doubt. But if you're a quarterback that has
(43:37):
that ability, what happens is is at a very early
age of your career, you realize that, hey, if it's
not there, if that first raid's not there, I'm able
to go run and make some positive yards, and usually
a lot of you. The younger you are, the more
yard you're making, and then as you get older to
the talent of course gets a little bit tougher around you.
Steve was one of those guys who ran, like you mentioned,
(43:59):
but then he got to be where he was a
really great pocket passer. And ultimately everyone wants the guy
who can create plays with their legs when things break down,
But more times than not, you've got to be able
to sit in the pocket and deliver the football, and
the more you get through your progressions. So I think
what happens is for a young quarterback, even for me
(44:21):
for instance, and I wasn't necessarily a runner, but I
could run. When I was young, I ran a lot
as in my first and second year. Some of that
was because we didn't have a really good offensive line
it was coming together, but a lot of that more
of that was because I wasn't seeing things the way
that I should, didn't know the offense as well as
I should, didn't get through my progressions the way that
I should. And then as you start to get better
(44:44):
as a quarterback, the ball starts coming out quicker and
you're not relying then on your legs as much and
hopefully for a guy like justin fields, you only then
are running when you really absolutely have to. Who would
be better in today NFL? You or Michael Irvin? Oh,
(45:06):
I would be heading shoulders better. I mean because and
and and Dan, I'd get to throw the ball to
crying out loud. I mean, I think, I mean, I
think we you know, I think we would cow frustrating
was that though, that you're winning, but you're leading with Emmett,
but we're what You're winning, but you know that Emmett's
going to get the ball twenty five times. And I
(45:28):
didn't mind that, Dan, I can honestly say I never
never had an issue with it. But so in today's game,
if I threw the ball and we on that drive,
let's say we had ten plays and we threw the
ball nine times, and we went down to the one
yard line throwing the ball nine consecutive times, and then
on the tenth play we turned in, we handed to
(45:50):
Emmett Smith for a touchdown, we leave the game. And
if that happened on every series, this is a this
is an exaggeration, but if that happened on every series,
then we'd come out of the game and people would say, man,
Troy didn't play very well. He didn't throw a touchdown pass.
And so for me, I don't look at touchdown passes.
I don't look at touchdown runs. I mean, if a
(46:12):
team scoring points, then the quarterbacks doing his job. It
doesn't matter to me if he's if he's the guys
throwing the touchdowns. But we're in a fantasy world and
we were to a lesser extent back when I played.
But I think we put way too much stock in
numbers and that just never excited me. I mean, the
only numbers that mattered to me was winning and uh
and I was proud of what we were able to do.
(46:33):
But you never looked at what Marino was doing. It's like, well,
if they gave me that opportunity I could do, then well.
I I admired what Dan did. I mean, he was
a great player, and I admired what Young did and
Far and those guys played in offenses that and Jim Kelly,
those guys played in offenses that was that was very unique.
And when I was playing that you couldn't throw. You
(46:56):
couldn't throw thirty touchdowns unless you were throwing the ball
inside the ten yard line, which which we typically did
not do. So I was never going to put up
a lot of touchdown passes. But when I looked around
the league at the teams that were throwing the ball more, yeah,
I guess there was a part of me. I thought, man,
that would be kind of fun to be playing in
those systems. But I will say this, um and it's
(47:19):
a it's not a line. I had the most fun
because when in Super Bowls, you can't even begin to
imagine how good that feels. So that was all that
mattered to me, and I was able to do it
a few times. Did you throw up on Super Bowl Sunday? No? No,
I was actually more calm. I always had butterflies. It
(47:39):
was nervous, but I had a little anxiousness going into games.
But surprisingly I was at my commist before each one
of those Super Bowl games. I'm not sure exactly why either.
Tell me what you're doing with eight Elite Lugger. Yeah,
we're doing in an eight can Challenge, and it's a
chance for people to build a pyramid of eight beer
(48:01):
and knock them down, get creative in your videos, and
we're raising some money. We're going to donate eight dollars
for every video that's submitted, whether it's on Instagram, hashtag
eight can Challenge or TikTok, and we're given the money
to an organization called Back on My Feet, which helps
empower the homeless community in getting them, you know, back
(48:25):
on their feet and being productive. So it's a twofold thing.
It's a chance for us to expose eight Beer to
a lot of people who maybe haven't heard of the
beer or tried it, and then at the same time
raise some money for a community that desperately needs it.
Set a new record for the fastest independent beer launch
in Texas history. Yeah. Yeah, it's been fantastic. You talked
(48:46):
about it when we came on the show last year
during the Super Bowl week and it's exclusive to Texas,
but it's been amazing. The response has been phenomenal and
we're pretty fired up. What's the coolest thing in your
office or is that your office there? Yeah? This is
my If it's the coolest thing I have besides the
pictures of my girls, is this one eyed minion? And
uh and that that. People ask me about that all
(49:09):
the time because when I text people, the one eyed
Minion comes up. But you know, when my girls were young,
we saw all the movies and my favorite was The
Minions and it became kind of a thing with me
and my girl. So the one eyed and I and
it's got to be the one eyed Minion. That's the
one I'm partial too. So it's it's symbolic of of
my relationship with my daughters. There's no Super Bowl rings
(49:31):
around now now now, I uh, I've got to I've
got the trophies up. But outside of that, I'm not
sure if anyone walked in here, they would not. I
think they would think I was an engineer or something.
I don't think they think that I ever played football. Mean,
there's no frame jerseys, no nothing. I had have framed
UCLA jersey down in my gym, but that that has
(49:53):
since been replaced. But no, it's just never been one
of those you know, those those years Dan were fantastic
and I'm proud of him, and you know, we just
got done talking about some of it. Uh but you know,
as proud as I am of it, I'm you know,
I don't want to keep looking back and reflecting back
on a time in my life that was twenty five
years ago. It's just uh, it's just I'd rather look forward.
(50:17):
Um and and I still believe my best years are
ahead of me. Great to talk to you as always,
and uh, perhaps we'll cross palace at the Super Bowl.
Thanks again, Troy. That's t Roy Aikman. Is Michael Irvin,
that's Troy. Kenneth Aikman. Yeah, I think I'm right, though
Kenneth Aikman's not getting drafted by the Cowboys. Probably not Kenny.
(50:38):
Maybe Kenny Aikman out working on the pipeline. Though. You
don't mess with him. I don't want to mass. Hey,
who's that guy out there? It's Kenny Aikman. Don't You
don't want to mess with him. No, you don't want
that
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio Hour two. On this meat Friday, we'll check
in with Laura Rutledge from the Mother's Ship. She's doing
hosting duties there. You have the Jaguars and the Broncos
in London coming up this weekend. That'll be on the
ESPN Plus she gets to sit down with Russell Wilson
(00:23):
and I'm not sure if that's today or not, but
what questions or what question do you want to ask?
Russell Wilson eight seven seven three d P Show email
address DP at Dan Patrick dot com, Twitter handle DP Show.
Ravens have won back to back games for the first
time this season. Bucks have lost three in a row.
The Bengals will not be having Jamar Chase it for
(00:47):
at least another month. Tonight, it'll be World Series Game one.
College football weekend Ohio State at Penn State. Notre Dame
is an underdog at Syracuse, Lord at Georgia, Oklahoma State,
Kansas State, Kentucky at Tennessee, and Old Miss in A
and M. There's potential for a surprise or two here.
(01:10):
I'm not sure if Notre Dame losing to Syracuse. He's
a surprise. I don't know the qus is favored by
I got Syracuse two and a half. Okay, Florida Georgia,
go ahead. I was curious what the Florida Georgia line
might be. Right, he's been sitting on that one all
(01:32):
morning long. That's never been used before. No, that's great.
I'm glad I came up with that Lord of Georgia line.
What does that so? To turn the radio down, turn
the window down, the radio up? They got some kind
of they got some kind of sung Yeah, yeah, I
don only get turn up. Yeah, you're probably rolling. Yes,
it's called cruise Fritzie. No, No, you're Florida Georgia line.
(01:53):
Oh okay, good pull by you nice bloop? Yeah. I
like that. By the way, it's a meat Friday. In
case you're wondering what's on the tragger grill, the Sloppy
Joe's and the chicken nachos. Who has it better than
we do? No one, nobody does. Although those are two
(02:14):
of the lamest pumpkins ever carved, it was weeks our
cameraman and tyler out in the kitchen area. Those are
those are sad, sad pumpkins. Did you guys see them.
I just appreciated that they were actually caught. Oh yeah,
I probably would have just kept him clean, not done anything. Yeah, yeah,
(02:40):
they don't. Look if you're watching on Peacock. Those are's
kind of sad pumpkins. Those are sad. On the way out,
I asked Weeks the cameraman for a statement. He said,
they're great. It'll all makes sense later. I don't if
there's something more to it. Yeah, those aren't. Those aren't
good pumpkins. The second one's funny. That's sad, but in
a funny way. Guess all right, it's a meat Friday.
(03:02):
Your phone calls are always welcome. Eat seven seven three
D P show email Andreana Stupid Ann Patrick dot com,
twitter handle, a DP show, Troy Aikman, Next Hour. It
is a Fritzie Friday and Friday Fritzie. He is fired
up today, but that was first hour. How you feel
in second hour? Your astros in action tonight and nobody
loves the astros quite like you. That's true. Yeah, I'm
(03:25):
feeling good. Thank you to the Hour. Two pole questions
Seaton twenty three your wedding anniversary Sunday. I mean good spirits,
but I didn't know I didn't ask. I didn't ask.
Who cares. It's not like a big it's like a
silver or gold year. It's twenty three. Are you getting
your wife anything? Get something worked out? What do you mean?
I know we're gonna go for a nice dinner. They'll
(03:45):
probably flowers at a card involved And she told me
not to get her anything. But we all know what
that means. Yeah, you have to get some. Yeah you
don't have to get something. You want to get something. Yeah,
you have to get something. I really you do. It's
been a long stretch for here's the question, Will Fritzie
gets something for his anniversion? That is a much bigger question.
I'm not one. I'm cared to indulge. What's the full question?
(04:08):
For our two seats, We're going with Paul's smoking hot
pole questing enough our once Paul question, who would take
the Mulligan sixty have? Tom Brady followed Russell Wilson only
here's Tom Brady after the launch last night. I think
we struggled pretty much at everything. You know, we're just struggling.
(04:30):
Red area strugging, third down, strugging, run game, two point players,
short yardage, backed up start first quarter, started the third quarter,
not very good offense football anything go, well, did they
do anything right? I gotta put a lot of blame
(04:52):
on the defense too, because you know the Ravens carved
him up defense, you know, then they're supposed to be good. Yeah,
see what percentage of this do you put on execution
versus play calling? For the Buccaneers, they keep kind of
they can't run the ball, but they're trying to go
with that like dump off screen thing over and over again.
(05:13):
That does not work right now, and that you could
see that every week every week it hasn't worked. Yeah,
I just wonder when you don't you know, Brady didn't
have the time to throw. Even when he did, he
wasn't on the mark you just want. I mean, he
doesn't look good when you see him at these press conferences.
(05:34):
I mean his face he looks really gaunt. And maybe
that's on purpose, I don't know, but he just he
doesn't look healthy. And that team you lose three in
a row, I mean, you still got a hope because
you're in that division, and you look at the schedule,
you know they gonna be five and seven at some
(05:58):
point this year. And then you got Green Bay. Green
Bay goes to Buffalo. Can they win? Sure, there's a chance.
Didn't the line start out at like ten ten and
a half? Has it gone to eleven and a half
with the Bills? Yeah, Paul the Vikings, by the way,
they had the Cardinals commanders two winning two winnable games.
(06:19):
Now then they're at the Bills thirteenth in November. Yeah,
gets a little juici here for that is Buffalo favored
by eleven and a half? Now? Oh, I want to
play this, you know, I have the Gambling podcast with
bad Larry Dylan and Shay and Irving. We'll have that
for you coming up and we'll play a little clip
of what we recorded and it's become a great podcast
(06:43):
there with Dan Patrick Takes a Gamble, available at Dan
patrick dot com. Laura Rutledge set to join us ESPN
Plus exclusive coverage of the Broncos and Jags Sunday morning,
and they started at nine thirty am Eastern from London.
Steve Levey, Dan Orlovsky, Lewis Riddick and Laura Rutledge. I'm
the call and you can subscribe to ESPN Plus go
(07:04):
to ESPN plus dot com or ESPN the app. Laura
Rutledge the host of NFL Live joins us from London.
Where are you right now? So I walked down the
street from our hotel trying to find a very London
looking background, and turns out I'm in front of a convent,
so that made me laugh. I don't think I'll be
(07:27):
joining me today. You still get that feeling when you're
there in London. There's all these jerseys from all these
different teams. If you were going to describe the feeling
that you have NFL wise in London, like, what's the vibe?
They love it. They're so excited to have NFL games here.
(07:47):
I think the fandom sometimes is underestimated from the international fan,
but especially here in London. And I really have run
into a lot of people who, you know, whether it's
been me talking about this game being on ESPN Plus
between the Broncos and Jaguars, or just sometimes people watch
NFL Live over here so they've asked you about the show.
(08:08):
I've been surprised at the interest, to be completely honest,
And I think we are expecting a great turnout at
Wimbley on Sunday. I think they're going to be even
more excited as the NFL continues to try to make
sure it's in front has felt internationally. Do you have
access to Russell Wilson. We're talking to him tomorrow. Okay,
(08:31):
if I gave you one question, what are you asking?
I think I want to ask him what's gone wrong
in his mind so far, because so much of his
quotes and I think what sometimes has turned people off
this year. You know, listen, you can be Russell Wilson
the way that we know him to be if you're
(08:51):
winning a lot, but I think people would like for
him to acknowledge what's going on and where there's a
misconnect or a disc next between him and the coaching staff.
And you know, listen, the way the NFL works, we
know this, quarterbacks and high paid players don't necessarily take
all the blame when it comes to moving on from them.
It's too difficult to do, so it ends up being
(09:13):
the coaching staff that shoulders a lot of that blame.
But I would like to know, and I will ask
him this question. You know, from his standpoint, why haven't
they won more games? And why has the offense looked
so incredibly stagnant? And it's difficult, as you know that
he's always mister positive. It's rare when he gives you
a real answer. I think when he gave me a
real answer after the Super Bowl a couple of years
(09:35):
ago that led to oh my god, there's something really
going on there, and everybody was surprised. That's the frustrating
part is you're trying to get a real answer, like
how much does this hurt that Seattle's doing well? They
gave up so much to get you, and you know,
but then how much do you press him to go?
You know, I want to get a real answer out
(09:56):
of you. I think you try with him. I mean,
as you know, truly. I'm not just saying this because
I'm on your show. I think that your answer from
him about his issues with the offensive line and the
front office, that was one of the first times we
actually heard him break stride from what we've known him
to be for all this time, and so it's very
(10:18):
rare that he does that. I don't know what you
did that day, must be because you're an excellent interviewer,
but I think that you know, people would love to
see some of that wall broken down and listen, there
are plenty of people that love him the way that
he is. Those aren't allowedest voices right now because he
has struggled and because this team has struggled. But it's fascinating,
(10:39):
It's it's it's a bit of an outside of football,
fascinating case study in a prominent figure who is struggling
and fails to realize maybe the importance of being candid
and a little bit more open with the public. But
it feels like it's open season on him. Seattle didn't
want to keep it. It's not. It almost feels like
(11:03):
the public turned on him, like, yeah, you wanted out
to see Hey, you got what you wanted. But it
feels like even the subway commercials. I mean, we're analyzing
everything here, Laura, Yeah, I think it's overboard. I think, listen,
he's not immune to criticism and shouldn't be right because
that's what happens, you know, to who much is given,
much is expected, and all the things. But I think
(11:25):
it's a bit overboard. To me, the personal attacks are
too much. I just I don't see the need for that.
But I realized that what happens in this world is
when you're really successful and when you've had you know,
to your point, you've had the opportunity to go get
what you wanted. Seattle said, fine, we feel good about
what we have. And in fact, it's funny. I was
with them preseason and we actually felt like they were
(11:48):
over zealous in their praise for the team that they
had and for Geno Smith, and they didn't look great
in preseason. But it's preseason, right, and so now seeing
their offense click the way that it is and seeing
them play so well, we're kind of like, Okay, you know,
I think I think we know why they felt good
about moving on from Russ. And that's not even a
slight at Russ. I think it's more that they felt
good about who they had, So to me, you know,
(12:10):
it does it goes back to I get it. You
got to criticize the players on the field, and that's
part of our jobs. But I do think some people
have gone too far in some of the personal attacks,
and I think that's affecting Russ too. I think he
sees more of that than you would expect him to see,
and it affects him more. And I'll be interested to
ask about that too when we meet with him ahead
(12:32):
of this game. Talking to Laura Rutledge, she's joining us
outside of a convent that doesn't cleanse. That doesn't cleanse
any of your sins. Just letting you know, you guys
help me out here, like clean that. That's not going
to help you in the big picture. Just letting you know.
The Broncos Jags Sunday morning, nine thirty am Eastern on
(12:55):
ESPN Plus. Steve Levy, Dan Orlomsky, Lewis Riddick, Laura will
be there on the call and you can go to
ESPN Plus. If I gave Tom Brady or Russell Wilson
a do over, oh yeah, I think they'd take it,
both of them. Do you think Brady would take a
do over and just stay retired. Yeah, don't you think
(13:18):
he would? And he would say, let me just go
ahead and commit to TV. Let me, you know, take
the personal side of it out of there, let it.
Let him just say, let me kind of step into
this next chapter of life and listen. I mean, in
his defense, coming into this season and when he thought
it was coming back, you know, immediately calls his center,
he says, let me make sure you're back. He assembles
(13:39):
a team that he thought was going to be a
team that would have great success, especially in an NFC
that you looked at preseason, you said, ah, who knows,
Maybe it's the AFC that's got more of the talent
and be more competitive. The NFC felt a little bit winnable,
kind of still does, you know, outside of maybe the
NFC's but anyway, you know, and then those guys start
dropping like flies, and you expect more out of the
(14:00):
run game. You think that Leonard Fournette's going to be
more productive. You think you've got that the old line
to protect him. And really he had been so well
protected there and they'd had so much consistent on that
old consistency on that old line that I think we
kind of took for granted with this Buccaneers team. And
you know, the thing that had shocked me is I
thought Todd Bowles would have a better handle on being
(14:23):
a head coach when it comes to the defense too.
I'm sure Brady thought that as well. He's looking at
this defense saying, hey, you know, this defense has been
what's carried them right, And so I would imagine, knowing
what he knows now, he would say, wait a second,
let me not mess around in that. And I think
we saw that last night. I mean, I don't blame him.
(14:43):
He looks he looks completely befuddled and simultaneously incredibly frustrated
by what he's enduring. Right now. The story of the
year in the NF fail not Tom Brady off the field,
But what is the number one story to you? I
think the number one story to me is some of
(15:06):
these veteran quarterbacks we thought would have great success going
to different spots and not doing well. I mean, who
had Matt Ryan being bitched for Sam Ellinger? You know
things like that that we all kind of looked around
and said, Wow, this movement in the offseason is crazy.
We're gonna see, you know, so many of these teams
that were so close, the Colts being a great example
(15:27):
of that, being contenders, but without a quarterback, they're just
missing the quarterbacks. So they finally got one, so they're
gonna be right up there in the mix. And then
they've benched Matt Ryan and you know, everyone's talking about
Frank Breich's job security, and to me, those are things
that I didn't see coming. So I would say that,
And you know, in turn, kind of the flip side
(15:48):
of that story is some of these younger quarterbacks, these
quarterbacks that are able to be dual threaded Jalen Hurts,
for example, and certainly the athleticism that we see out
of the Josh Allen's and the Joe Burrows, and obviously
Patrick Mahomes of the world. Just these wild plays, but
also the ability to handle these offenses so well. These
younger quarterbacks are ushering in a new age, and we've
(16:10):
seen the beginnings of it, but I think this year
might kind of put a stamp on that. With who
we see in the super Bowl and who we see
continue to have success. I'll leave you with this very
important question. Thanksgiving dinner. You can only invite too so
Dan Orlovsky, Marcus Spears, and Mina Kimes, but one doesn't
get invited. Oh man, that one's tough. I'm going to
(16:34):
leave out Dan. But it's not because I don't like Dan.
Dan is like family to me. But he's so annoying
with his food and his lack of taste that I
just I really appreciate food, and I would probably be
cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my friends, and so I would
be frustrated by having to make such bland food to
satisfy his remedial palette. I'm gonna go tell him, I'm
(16:56):
about to see him. I'm gonna go tell him that
I left him out of Thanksgiving dinner. He won't be surprised,
doesn't he put ice cubes in red wine? Oh yeah, imagine.
You know. Listen, I'm not a pretentious person, but you
sit there at dinner, you think, oh, we're ordering a
nice bottle of wine. You got you got the group there,
and all of a sudden, um, you know, he says, hey,
(17:18):
excuse me to the waiter, can I get a cup
of ice? And he proceeds it then pour it into
the wine. Are coming? Oh awful? That one that blastemy
toward wine. I think those are the bad take police.
They're coming after you. For um. Have fun over there.
(17:40):
Great to visit with you. Congrats on all your success.
Thank you, Laura, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
It's Laura Rutledge from the Mothership. ESPN plus will have
the game. The good news for the Broncos is if
they don't play well, it'll be at nine thirty in
the morning ESPN Plus. But if they play well, you're
(18:00):
probably not going to see it either. But you know,
these standalone games, we always have a referendum on those.
That's why last night, you're talking about the Ravens and
the and the Buccaneers. Sunday night, you're gonna be talking
about Packers in the Buffalo Bills. Monday night, it'll be
the Bengals without Jamar Chase against the Browns. That's how
(18:22):
it plays out these standalone games. Thanks for listening to
The Dan Patrick Show podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weekday morning nine to noon Eastern or six
to nine Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local
station for The Dan Patrick Show at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching f s R, or stream us
(18:44):
live on the Peacock Act. I was reading Chris Mannox's
latest column. One of the great writers with the NBA
and senior writer with sports illustrator, Mannox joins us on
the program before I get to the NBA white Men
can't jump? Good great? Yeah, oh great, yeah, and hopefully
(19:09):
not to be remade in some haphazard way over the
next few years. I think it's being remade. Isn't Jack
Harlow the rapper? Who else is in that movie? Marv?
Do you know? Effting? Okay? Yeah, it's I had I
had I had this feeling though, Damn when they remade
Point Break years ago, which wasn't actually terrible the remake,
(19:32):
it wasn't awful. It could have been a lot worse.
It just didn't make any sense. I mean, if you
had given me, like the option of going to a
theater to see Keanu Reeves, Gary Douse and the old
Point Break or a new point Break that I've never seen,
I would have chosen the Old Point Break in a theater.
I feel the same way about a White Man Can't
(19:53):
Jump remake Marvin's work. Yes, poet, Yeah, we have multiple confirmations.
White Man Can't Jump is in production. Billie Griffin's one
the producers. The musician Jack Harlowe said to make his
acting debut in it. And there's that's about all the
details right now. That's not not gonna go. Well wait, wait,
well who is Who's going to be his counterpart in
White Men Can Jump? He says, A gentleman by the
(20:14):
name of thin Quah Walls. All right, well, maybe he's
got more game than Wesley Snipes. All right, man, the
Lakers situation. I know that you said you got to
make this move right now, but and if you're the Pacers.
If you make this move, they're in the Victor one
Ba Yama sweepstakes, so they'd like to unload whatever talent
(20:37):
they have. Why hasn't this deal been done Because it's
a steep price for the Lakers to pay for two
players that may not guarantee them anything more than a
playoff appearance. Um, you know, the teams that are talking
to the Lakers, they want at least one or both
of those twenty twenty seven or twenty twenty nine drafts.
(21:00):
They want them unprotected because the expectation is the Lakers,
who look, even though they won the championship in twenty twenty,
in the last I think nine years, they've only what
been to the playoffs two or three times. So there's
a pretty good chance that when we get to twenty
twenty seven or twenty twenty nine, that team is a mess.
(21:21):
But the Lakers, you know, they made their deal Dan
when they extended Lebron James. They committed to doing whatever
it took to win a championship over the next two
or three is So, while I agree that Miles Turner
and Buddy Healed doesn't guarantee anything, at the very least
(21:42):
makes you better right now at the very least gets
you into the playoffs, and once you're in the playoffs,
maybe you can lead them Lebron to do something special.
But you ask what the hold up is? It's the
steep price the Pacers are have been asking in the
past the Lakers to pay. But I start to wonder
if the Lakers front office is saying, hey, Lebron, you
(22:04):
got yourself into this, you get yourself out of this.
We don't want to mortgage our future when you're not
going to be here. Do you think there's any validity
to that. Well, there was validity to that before Lebron
signed the extension. Right Like, if Lebron had not signed
that extension, we wouldn't be having this conversation. The Lakers
would be completely justified in not mortgaging the future for
(22:26):
a guy that may only be there for the remainder
of the season. But Lebron extended for two more years.
He's going to be a Laker. God knows how long
his career is going to last, but at least through
these remaining quality years of his career. So the Lakers
when Lebron did that, Look, this isn't conjecture. Rob Polaka
came out and said last month, we're gonna do whatever
(22:46):
it takes, including those picks, to make the Lakers better. Well,
the deal that's available right now, the best deal available
involves Indiana and involves Miles Turner and Buddy Healed. And
it feels like Dan that this is gonna get done eventually,
Like I keep hearing the Lakers they're gonna wait till
Thanksgiving before opening up things for Russell Westbrook. That's like,
(23:08):
I don't even know what the comparison. It's like, wait
till Thanksgiving for I decide which swimsuit model I'm going
to go out with. Like it the markets open for
Russell Westbrook right now. He's available right now. There's just
is no team out there other than maybe Indiana or
perhaps Utah who would offer up a Mike Conley centered package,
maybe Jordan Clarkson to get a deal done. So the
(23:30):
Lakers they've got to do it or else this season.
It very easily could unravel quickly. And then meanwhile, you
have the Clippers, who nobody talks about. Now I know
that they're up there with being one of the co
favorites or you know, one of the three favorites right now.
But what do you what do you see with the
Clippers so far? You know, I'm gonna reserve judgment on
(23:53):
the Clippers until around Christmas time because I don't like
the Kauhi sitting out games this ear because of the
knee is problematic. He's fifteen months removed from surgery like
that's well passed the normal time it takes for players
to recover from a procedure like that. Then there's a chance,
(24:13):
and I've talked to people within the Clippers that they're
just being overly cautious, abundantly cautious with Kawai over these
first couple of months as he re ramps up. But
I think around Christmas time we'll know what we have
with the Clippers, not just if Kauai is able to
play seventy five eighty percent of the games and still
be the old Kawhi letter, but also is their point
(24:36):
guard position championship level with Reggie Jackson and John Wall
some of the depth they have on that roster. I
just need more information about the Clippers before I can
judge if they are the Finals contender. We believe they're
going to be. I know it's a small sample size.
The Nets are off to their worst starts since twenty fifteen.
They won twenty one games that year they fired Lionel
(24:58):
Hollins as they head coach. I'm watching. I mean, Kyrie
had some unbelievable plays last night, crazy, crazy, unbelievable plays.
But it still comes back to Ben Simmons. It's you
can't watch the Nets without just watching Ben Simmons, what
he does and what he doesn't do. And I'm wondering,
(25:19):
at what point is this. Can you make him a starter?
Can you bring him off the bench and give me
the I guess he's a liability here, Chris, I guess
there no other way to put it. He's not a
asset right now, that's for sure. Watching that game last night,
he had a couple of good moments. Yeah, he defended
(25:42):
well at times on Luca don Chich. He finished a
couple of shots around the rim. But then you can
see it in his eyes. He's not comfortable with a
position where he's going to have to shoot. Like you
can see it, like when the camera pans to him,
he has that kind of deer in the headlights. Look
when it's it's an opportunity for him to either take
a shot or collect the ball the other rim, whether
(26:03):
it's he's afraid he's gonna miss he had that airball
layoup which was not good, or if he's afraid to
go to the free throw line where he's still not
comfortable shooting free throws. I don't think the Nets have
much of a choice but to keep rolling him out
there thirty thirty five minutes per game and showing confidence
in him, because that's what this is all about. The
(26:24):
skills in Ben Simmons are still there. All the things
that made him great in Philadelphia are still there. His
confidence right now, though, looks like it's just a wreck.
So if you're the Nets, the only way to rebuild
that confidence is to play him and to keep pushing
him out there and see if time resolves some of
the mental issues he's been dealing with. Talking to Chris Manage,
(26:45):
the Sports Illustrated senior writer, this Clay Thompson situation, I
don't know if it's a big deal, little deal, no deal,
but minutes are reduced. He's struggling. He's not the player
he once was. I don't know if he ever will be.
But you know what happened with Devin Booker, What do
you make of that? Is that just a one off
(27:06):
that hey, bad night, and you know he'll be okay
down the road. You know we'll see It was certainly
the level of frustration we haven't seen from Clay Thompson
in the past. When I talked to scouts about Clay
before the season, I talked to people that watched or
were involved with in the Dallas series, and the one
(27:28):
thing that kept coming back consistently was, look, Clay still
make it shots Like you leave him open, He's gonna
beat you every single time. But he's not as quick
off the dribble as he was before the injuries. He's
not the defender he was before the injuries. And we're
now a good distance away from his return to basketball
(27:51):
and he's still not that guy now. Will that come
back over time, I don't know, but Clay Thompson right now,
in his thirties, it's unlikely he's ever going to get
back to being the player that he once was. And
I guess it all depends on how Clay deals with that, Like,
is he willing to accept some limitations in his game?
(28:11):
Because those limitations are there right now, it doesn't mean
he still can't be a top player. He helped that
team win a championship. They didn't win a championship without
him last season. But I don't believe will ever see
the Clay Thompson we saw before the two injuries, because
his body, you know, at least the people that watch
him tell me his body just isn't letting him do
(28:32):
the things he was used to doing. How are my
Cavaliers doing well? Ricky Rubio comes back, they'll take off.
But right now they're they're playing. They're great there like
they look. They're three and one right with Garland still
dealing with the eye injury. The Mitchell trade looks like
it works. They're still trying to figure out who goes
(28:53):
in that lowry market, an old spot, whether it's Isaaca
core O'dean Wade. They're throwing a bunch of guys in there.
But the Mitchell deal worked exactly as they wanted to work.
They needed another playmaker, they needed a perimeter scorer, and
that's exactly what Donovan's been. Is averaged almost thirty points
a game, and he's playing defense at a level we
didn't see last year in Utah. I mean, I still
(29:14):
I can't buy the Cavs as a contender this year
because there's too many young pieces there. Like I don't
know what Evan Mowgley is gonna do in the playoffs.
Mitchell has had playoffs success, but not at the highest level.
Garland same thing. Don't know what he's gonna do in
the playoffs. But of all the young teams in the
league that are kind of on the brink, that's the
(29:34):
team I'd want to be the most because they've got
enormous upside over the next couple of years. And if
Mitchell is happy there and wants to stay around and
wants to extend his contract, that's a team that can
be a contender from multiple championships down the line. We're
going to have that moment this year. It feels like
with the Victor Wamba Yama and these teams that you know,
(29:57):
managerial tanking. I guess we're going to see this, maybe
with the Pacers, maybe we see it with him. I
thought Utah was trying to do that. But how do
you discourage tanking if you're the commissioner, I mean you,
what was that? What do the owner in Major league?
Do you trade away all your good players like that?
(30:19):
That's kind of what you do. Look, I don't. I'm
sure Danny Ainge isn't sitting in his office in Salt
Lake City thinking he's going to be a buyer. Now
that the Jazz started three and one like the nineteen
win six, or started three and oz on their season
like the things regress to the mean and some of
the things that Jazz are doing are probably not sustainable
(30:39):
at the moment. But you are going to see these
teams that believe they have a chance to finish in
that bottom three trade away guys or in the case
of guys, they want bench them for the rest of
the season. The NBA hates it, but there's nothing that
they're going to do about it. The question the question
it's not new, right, I mean, Oklahoma City sat Al
Horford second half of the season a couple of years ago.
(31:01):
They've sat Jake Giltus Alexander seemingly every season that he's
been there. The question is not will teams do it?
It's how early our team's gonna do it? Will we
see a team or teams with the audacity to shut
down players before the All Star break because they want
to stumble and lose enough games to get in that
bottom three that that's what I'm most interested in see.
(31:22):
You got to see some guys traded away, and you
gotta see some guys shut down at levels that you've
probably never seen before. Because not to make this about Victor,
but he is outside of Lebron, and maybe even more
than Lebron, the best prospect we've ever seen. He is transformational.
Maybe maybe because Lebron coming into the pros was physically remarkable, right,
(31:47):
Like you never saw high school player that looked like that.
But he had some flaws in his game, right He
wasn't a perimeter shooter at that point, and he had
a ways to go to become a complete score. When
Byama's out there, you know, shooting a good percentage from
three seven foot four, he's he does everything, a little
bit everything right now at a really high level. And
if you're a team like Indiana, Utah, Oklahoma City, San Antonio,
(32:09):
a place that doesn't have a prayer of landing a
player the caliber of Victor Wembayamin in free agency, you
will stomach three months of bad basketball and public criticism
for the opportunity to get your hand on him. Have
a great weekend, Chris, Thanks for joining us. You got
a d. That's Chris Mannox, great NBA rider for Sports
(32:31):
Illustrated senior writer. Thanks for listening to The Dan Patrick
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
morning nine until noon eastern six to nine Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio, and you can find us on the
iHeartRadio app at FSR or stream us live on the
Peacock app. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every
weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
(32:55):
This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired
narratives down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you
honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats
to help you win big at the sports book, and
all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen
to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Troy Aikman,
(33:21):
the accomplished broadcaster The Notes Say and co founder of
eight Elite Lagger. We had that at the Super Bowl,
and I think I was one of the first to
point out. I said, there's an eight there with the logo.
You have to look at it closely there, but the
eight can challenge to raise money for a great cause.
We'll talk to Troy about that coming up. Right before
(33:44):
I walked over and turned on my microphone, Troy, Paulie,
my producer, goes, do you know Troy Aikman's middle name?
I go, I don't, And I said, is Troy actually
is real first name? So we're gonna play a game
before we get to you. Who thinks Troy is Troy's
real first name? Oh? Everybody on that side, all right,
I'm gonna say, no, it's not. What about his middle name? Todd, Troy, Benjamin, Aman,
(34:09):
Benjamin all right, Seaton, I'm gonna say Troy Anthony, Troy Anthony,
all right, Marvin, I'm gonna say Aloysius Ali witn okay,
Polly with Troy James Aikman strong sounding, I'll go Thomas
as his middle name. All right, Paully, here we go
the big unveiling. Well before I give it to you, Troy,
(34:32):
no offense. If you went by your middle name. I
don't think you would have made the Hall of Fame.
Troy sounds like a Hall of Famer. It's Troy Kenneth
Aikman if you were Kenny Aikman, Kenneth Aikman, I'm not.
I'm not afraid of you. I'm not afraid of the Cowboys.
Well you should be because my dad's My dad's a
(34:53):
Kenny Aikman and he starts bearing a lot of people.
But but Kenneth, that doesn't scare me as much. Yeah,
it's it's it sounds a little soft. I mean, uh,
Ty's a more masculine name for sure, y. Yeah, it's
a quarterbacks name, all right. Um, tell me what's wrong
(35:14):
with the Buccaneers from a quarterbacking perspective as you watch
the game last night. Oh, I there's a lot. I mean,
there's just a lot going on Dan with them, you know,
I think they definitely miss Gronkowski. I think you start
losing some players that that were a part of it.
And then the offensive line of course has had had
(35:36):
some guys that have left some injuries that have affected them. Uh,
the inability to run the football. Um, there's just there's
a lot to it. And there's a lot going on
with Tom as well as we know, and then with
the staff, it's just you got to pull it together
every year and it's not easy to do, and I
think a lot of times we take a lot of
(35:56):
it for granted when you see the quarterbacks like we
see in Green Bay with Aaron of course, and then
Tom and Tampa. But it doesn't always come together the
way that you like. And there's been so much to
overcome this year, and it's just been a struggle which
team would be easier to fix offensively for you, the Broncos,
the Packers of the Buccaneers. I think the Packers probably
(36:20):
would would be my guests. I mean, just just looking
at it, I think, you know, I've seen Denver now
a couple of times, and they they've gone through their
growing pains, for sure, But I would say right now
from what I see, I would say green Bay. But
but even them, I'm not certain. You know, they've got
their hands full of course this week, and you know,
(36:41):
I'm not certain that that when it's all said and done,
that any of them are going to be where we
expected them to be. When do do you know that
it's over for you when you start to go I'm
I'm not making the throws. I'm like, I'm just not
who I was. I think it varies, for instance, with Tom.
(37:04):
I mean, I Dan, I was thirty four when I retired,
so I mean I knew eleven years before Tom Brady did.
I mean, let's just say, but you know, for me,
I think what happened and I and it's probably true
of a lot of guys. You know, my legs started
to go, is what I felt. And of course a
(37:25):
lot of people think I retired because of head injury.
That's not that's not true. But I do marvel that
A lot of people say, yeah, he really is. He
still has the arm strength and I and I think that,
you know, Breeze was a bit of the exception that,
but he had some arm issues. But for the most part,
like I bet Brett Farve could go out right now
and have the arm strength to do all the things
that's required to go play the game. And so I
(37:47):
think that's usually the last thing to go. But you know,
whether it's physical or even mental, I think getting up
to play at that level the great ones, the tom
Brady's and the U Brees, isn't Aaron Rodgers and those guys,
and even the guys of my generation Alway, Marino Kelly,
all them. You know, Mentally, I think that's what gets
(38:08):
lost in being a great quarterback is Yeah, you got
to be able to get out there and play physically,
but it's being able to rise to the level mentally
that allows you to play at the level that these
guys are able to play at each week. How tough
is it to go out and play a game when
something in your personal life is affecting you? Man, I
(38:30):
can't speak to that because I really well, I guess
I can. My mom was going through breast cancer back
in ninety seven and was I was dealing with a
lot with regards to that. So it takes a toll.
Now when it goes beyond extended family, now you're talking
about right in your own home. I can't imagine, because
(38:52):
I didn't even get married until going into my last
season of playing, so that was that was that was
a honeymoon as far as my personal life shows. But
I can only imagine the challenge and when you combine that,
when you combine when you're having the things you're trying
to deal with in your personal life and you don't
really have the time to spend on it because you're
(39:15):
an NFL quarterback, and you combine that with the struggles
that they've had on the field. I would imagine this
has been the hardest year in Tom's life. But did
you delay marriage strategically consciously? Uh? No, No I didn't,
But I will tell you that in hindsight it was
It was good because I didn't have kids until after
(39:37):
I had retired, so I wasn't getting pulled with family
life and I didn't have to try to strike a
balance with all that I was. But it was not
a conscious decision on my part. And hell, old are
your daughters now twenty and twenty one? When did they
know the dead was famous? That's a good question. You know,
(40:02):
kids don't really understand. I think when the first time
someone came up and wanted an autograph or a picture,
probably when they were four, they couldn't quite figure out,
you know, why this stranger was stopping us and doing that.
I think that's when they began to think, you know, hey,
But it probably wasn't until they were seven before they
really realized what my background was. Did kids come over
(40:24):
and want a toss football? Uh no, it don't come
to the house, you know. But speaking of it's funny,
damn that how here we are at Halloween and I
remember when I was playing, and of course was single.
And I got home from practice and I had totally
forgotten about Halloween. I mean I totally forgot about it.
(40:44):
And kids are coming to the door, and I didn't
have any candy, and I didn't know what to do,
and so I had a bunch of football cards. So
I started signing football cards and handing them out to
the kids as they came to the door. And the
next year, and I didn't know if these kids were
gonna be happy or not. You know, so kids want candy.
But the next year I got candy. I was ahead
of it. I was smart. And the kids then now
(41:06):
I got twice as many kids, and they were totally
upset that they weren't getting football cards that year. What
was the best costume you ever went with on Halloween? Uh?
I went as a vampire one year. I talked about
my father ken Aikman that we were discussing earlier, and
he worked on the pipeline and I put some grease
(41:29):
in my hair for to be a vampire and grease
it back. And it took me a week. I finally
had to use his industrial strength hands in order to
get this grease out. I don't know what grease I used,
but it wasn't made for hair. Probably some lube you
loube up ball bearings or something. I don't know. What
did you see from the Bears that might lead you
(41:50):
to believe that they can challenge the Cowboys coming up
this weekend. I will tell you Dan that last week's
game you always go in I don't predictions going into games,
which you go into a game broadcasting, you have thoughts
on how you think it'll play out. I've never been
more wrong. I really did not think the Bears had
a chance in that game, going in against New England
(42:12):
on the road in a primetime game, and you got
Bill Belichick with a chance to take sole possession of
second place on the win list and all that. But
they look good. They look like a team that had
had eleven days to prepare, and I thought Justin Fields
looked improved from what I had seen. I do like
I like Matt Eberflus a lot. I mean, I think
(42:33):
that this team is going to be coached and they're
going to be prepared. They don't they don't have the
penalties which you would expect. They're going to continue to
get better if they can do what they did last week,
and that is Justin Fields, of course, was a big
part of that in the run game, not turn the
ball over. I think defensively they'll I think defensively they
(42:55):
could do some things against Dallas to present some problems.
But this Dallas defense is really, really good, So they're
going to be a challenge for Justin Fields and the
entire group. But you were saying this on the broadcast.
These young quarterbacks always think they can make a play,
especially if you have athleticism. You're always thinking how do
I extend this? And I remember Steve Young saying to me,
(43:15):
I had to shut down that part of my brain
that said just take off and run, go through your progressions.
But easier said than done when you're sitting there in
the pocket and you've got guys who weigh three hundred
pounds coming in to take your head off. Yeah, and
they've had some issues up front with the offensive line,
there's no doubt. But if you're a quarterback that has
(43:37):
that ability, what happens is is at a very early
age of your career, you realize that, hey, if it's
not there, if that first raid's not there, I'm able
to go run and make some positive yards, and usually
a lot of you. The younger you are, the more
yard you're making, and then as you get older to
the talent of course gets a little bit tougher around you.
Steve was one of those guys who ran, like you mentioned,
(43:59):
but then he got to be where he was a
really great pocket passer. And ultimately everyone wants the guy
who can create plays with their legs when things break down,
But more times than not, you've got to be able
to sit in the pocket and deliver the football, and
the more you get through your progressions. So I think
what happens is for a young quarterback, even for me
(44:21):
for instance, and I wasn't necessarily a runner, but I
could run. When I was young, I ran a lot
as in my first and second year. Some of that
was because we didn't have a really good offensive line
it was coming together, but a lot of that more
of that was because I wasn't seeing things the way
that I should, didn't know the offense as well as
I should, didn't get through my progressions the way that
I should. And then as you start to get better
(44:44):
as a quarterback, the ball starts coming out quicker and
you're not relying then on your legs as much and
hopefully for a guy like justin fields, you only then
are running when you really absolutely have to. Who would
be better in today NFL? You or Michael Irvin? Oh,
(45:06):
I would be heading shoulders better. I mean because and
and and Dan, I'd get to throw the ball to
crying out loud. I mean, I think, I mean, I
think we you know, I think we would cow frustrating
was that though, that you're winning, but you're leading with Emmett,
but we're what You're winning, but you know that Emmett's
going to get the ball twenty five times. And I
(45:28):
didn't mind that, Dan, I can honestly say I never
never had an issue with it. But so in today's game,
if I threw the ball and we on that drive,
let's say we had ten plays and we threw the
ball nine times, and we went down to the one
yard line throwing the ball nine consecutive times, and then
on the tenth play we turned in, we handed to
(45:50):
Emmett Smith for a touchdown, we leave the game. And
if that happened on every series, this is a this
is an exaggeration, but if that happened on every series,
then we'd come out of the game and people would say, man,
Troy didn't play very well. He didn't throw a touchdown pass.
And so for me, I don't look at touchdown passes.
I don't look at touchdown runs. I mean, if a
(46:12):
team scoring points, then the quarterbacks doing his job. It
doesn't matter to me if he's if he's the guys
throwing the touchdowns. But we're in a fantasy world and
we were to a lesser extent back when I played.
But I think we put way too much stock in
numbers and that just never excited me. I mean, the
only numbers that mattered to me was winning and uh
and I was proud of what we were able to do.
(46:33):
But you never looked at what Marino was doing. It's like, well,
if they gave me that opportunity I could do, then well.
I I admired what Dan did. I mean, he was
a great player, and I admired what Young did and
Far and those guys played in offenses that and Jim Kelly,
those guys played in offenses that was that was very unique.
And when I was playing that you couldn't throw. You
(46:56):
couldn't throw thirty touchdowns unless you were throwing the ball
inside the ten yard line, which which we typically did
not do. So I was never going to put up
a lot of touchdown passes. But when I looked around
the league at the teams that were throwing the ball more, yeah,
I guess there was a part of me. I thought, man,
that would be kind of fun to be playing in
those systems. But I will say this, um and it's
(47:19):
a it's not a line. I had the most fun
because when in Super Bowls, you can't even begin to
imagine how good that feels. So that was all that
mattered to me, and I was able to do it
a few times. Did you throw up on Super Bowl Sunday? No? No,
I was actually more calm. I always had butterflies. It
(47:39):
was nervous, but I had a little anxiousness going into games.
But surprisingly I was at my commist before each one
of those Super Bowl games. I'm not sure exactly why either.
Tell me what you're doing with eight Elite Lugger. Yeah,
we're doing in an eight can Challenge, and it's a
chance for people to build a pyramid of eight beer
(48:01):
and knock them down, get creative in your videos, and
we're raising some money. We're going to donate eight dollars
for every video that's submitted, whether it's on Instagram, hashtag
eight can Challenge or TikTok, and we're given the money
to an organization called Back on My Feet, which helps
empower the homeless community in getting them, you know, back
(48:25):
on their feet and being productive. So it's a twofold thing.
It's a chance for us to expose eight Beer to
a lot of people who maybe haven't heard of the
beer or tried it, and then at the same time
raise some money for a community that desperately needs it.
Set a new record for the fastest independent beer launch
in Texas history. Yeah. Yeah, it's been fantastic. You talked
(48:46):
about it when we came on the show last year
during the Super Bowl week and it's exclusive to Texas,
but it's been amazing. The response has been phenomenal and
we're pretty fired up. What's the coolest thing in your
office or is that your office there? Yeah? This is
my If it's the coolest thing I have besides the
pictures of my girls, is this one eyed minion? And
uh and that that. People ask me about that all
(49:09):
the time because when I text people, the one eyed
Minion comes up. But you know, when my girls were young,
we saw all the movies and my favorite was The
Minions and it became kind of a thing with me
and my girl. So the one eyed and I and
it's got to be the one eyed Minion. That's the
one I'm partial too. So it's it's symbolic of of
my relationship with my daughters. There's no Super Bowl rings
(49:31):
around now now now, I uh, I've got to I've
got the trophies up. But outside of that, I'm not
sure if anyone walked in here, they would not. I
think they would think I was an engineer or something.
I don't think they think that I ever played football. Mean,
there's no frame jerseys, no nothing. I had have framed
UCLA jersey down in my gym, but that that has
(49:53):
since been replaced. But no, it's just never been one
of those you know, those those years Dan were fantastic
and I'm proud of him, and you know, we just
got done talking about some of it. Uh but you know,
as proud as I am of it, I'm you know,
I don't want to keep looking back and reflecting back
on a time in my life that was twenty five
years ago. It's just uh, it's just I'd rather look forward.
(50:17):
Um and and I still believe my best years are
ahead of me. Great to talk to you as always,
and uh, perhaps we'll cross palace at the Super Bowl.
Thanks again, Troy. That's t Roy Aikman. Is Michael Irvin,
that's Troy. Kenneth Aikman. Yeah, I think I'm right, though
Kenneth Aikman's not getting drafted by the Cowboys. Probably not Kenny.
(50:38):
Maybe Kenny Aikman out working on the pipeline. Though. You
don't mess with him. I don't want to mass. Hey,
who's that guy out there? It's Kenny Aikman. Don't You
don't want to mess with him. No, you don't want
that
Hosts And Creators
Todd "Fritzy" Fritz
Dan Patrick
Patrick "Seton" O'Connor
Paul Pabst
Marvin Prince
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