October 1, 2026 • 48 mins
MLB Network's Harold Reynolds joins the show before the Phillies and Braves face off in a winner-take-all Game 3 in their NL Wildcard Series. J.J. Watt stopped by the show to take a look around the NFL ahead of an action-packed Week 4. Lastly, Browns Hall of Famer Joe Thomas gave his thoughts on the Browns and their 2-1 start to the season.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Harold Reynolds. Harold Reynolds, the lead analyst for MLB Network.
And you can watch him on MLB Tonight, the national
pregame show throughout the postseason leading into Game 3, Phillies-Braves.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
All right, this is what I don't understand, HR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
The Phillies and the Braves had to wait until the
end of the Cubs-Padres game to find out what time
their game was going.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
To be today.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I mean, you guys were– your creature's a habit here.
I can't imagine going, are we playing at 2 or
playing at 8?
Speaker 4 (00:34):
It's a big difference. You know, it's funny.
Speaker 5 (00:38):
We had scenarios where if there was four games or
if there was three games, if there was two games,
it ended up being one game. I always thought– I
know everybody's into the Red Sox-Yankees, and everybody's going to
probably be upset at me, but there is more star
power in the Phillies-Braves series than the Yankees. Once Judge
(00:59):
was out, once Cole's not pitching, I'm watching Phillies-Braves.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
More compelling.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Better series. Bryce Harper redeemed himself. Explain that error. How
does that happen?
Speaker 4 (01:13):
He just misread it. He just missed it.
Speaker 6 (01:16):
That's all.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Sunlight, shadows, any of that?
Speaker 5 (01:19):
I don't think any of that played into it. I
think he just started in, hesitated, went back, missed it.
You know, the thing about Bryce, though, for me, and
I'm going to defend him on this, he should have
made that play. Yeah, he'll tell you that, too. But
when they've traded for Louisa Rice... He moved back to
the outfield. He hadn't been out there in three years.
(01:43):
To me, that's a team player. That's what you're supposed
to do.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Is he going to be a Hall of Famer?
Speaker 4 (01:49):
No doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
No doubt?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
No doubt.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
He's going to end up with 500 homers. He's got, what,
four more years on his contract?
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Five more years? He's going to play.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Him, all these guys, the long-term deals, if they go
out and you just average 30 homers a year on
their contracts, they're going to be Hall of Fame ballplayers.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
But I don't know if he's going to be compared
to Mike Trout, therefore, and maybe that's not fair, but
they kind of came in at the same time in
the first 10 years, but no doubt Bryce Harper, Hall
of Fame. Okay.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (02:27):
Well, if you look at it too, Bryce has been
in the playoffs. Mike Trout hasn't. He's been there one time.
But I think also with– how he turned around the
Washington Nationals organization, turned around the Phillies. They were nothing
when he showed up. I think all that plays into it.
And then, Dan, the numbers are not going to be
(02:48):
the same. We're not going to have 300 winning pitchers.
We're not going to have guys with 3,000 hits. All
those things have gone away. So we're going to look
at guys from a different window now, and I think
he's going to be uneasy.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
But the Nationals won the World Series without him.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yes, they did. Yes, they did when he left.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
All right. I got you. I just got to look
at the whole resume, Harold. All right. Glasses sometime half empty.
All right.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
That's true.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
All right.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
The Yankees win without Judge. That surprised me. The Red Sox,
Sonny Gray, I thought they would leave him in a
little bit longer. Red Sox bullpen didn't do well, but
Yankees somehow scraped and scrapped. Do you expect Judge to
be in the next series?
Speaker 5 (03:39):
Yeah, he'll play next series. I thought he might get
in this one. I think there'll be full go with
everybody next series. So they're better in a longer run.
They got through this. Look, the Red Sox had a
great summer. They had a great hot streak. If you
look at September, they didn't play great baseball. They're playing
like 500. They struggled down the stretch. I thought the
(04:02):
Sonny Gray stuff was great. I loved his comments after
the game. I'd rather live or die with me in
that situation. We just haven't heard that from players and probably...
five six ten years so it was great to hear
him stand up and say hold it I'm sorry take
the numbers and everything out of the out of the
equation we got that and then Contreras shined in a
(04:23):
little bit like hey we're playing baseball here so I
think we're seeing a little bit of a turn and
there's a little fight from players now saying hey don't
judge me by numbers let's look at the game and
I love that I love.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
The comments more disappointing season the Cubs or the Red Sox.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
I'd say the Cubs. I mean, the Red Sox fired
Alex Cora. They had injuries all across the board early
on the year. Roman Anthony went down. Crochet went down.
You fire the coaching staff. They got on the hot
streak that made everybody think the Red Sox were better
than they were.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
The Cubs were loaded.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
And then you have an MVP year out of PCA,
and you see a lot of guys mature. I'd say
the Cubs more so than the Red Sox.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
You know, the Padres, I think we've had hopes for them.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And they've produced like the Chargers do, where you go, yeah, this.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Is the man. They look great. Why are you.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Talking about Chargers, man?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I did find the college football comp for the Chargers,
Penn State, where we go, yeah, this is the year
for Penn State, man. This is when they're going to
do it. But the Padres kind of quiet, and maybe
that's a good thing for them. How dangerous are they?
Speaker 5 (05:49):
They're really dangerous. The problem is they got to face
the Dodgers. I mean, I don't think people realize how
good the Dodgers are. They won 100 games in a
bad year. They limped through, and now they're healthy, and
they've got pitching, they've got depth, they've got– a lineup
(06:10):
that's finally swinging the bat. They are, they are, they're the,
they're the core that like we saw with the Yankees.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
They're, they're that type of team right now.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Okay. You're taking them against the Padres get lost.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
The Yankees, the Red Sox had all those great years.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Carl Malone was great, but he didn't win because Jordan
won MVPs.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
That's kind of what we're seeing right now.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
All right. You've got the Dodgers or the rest of the, okay.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Dodgers and who else wants to play them?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Nobody from the American League can put up a fight
against the Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
I got the.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Yankees going through because their starting pitching has been really good.
But I think man for man, lineup for lineup, the
Dodgers don't win.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
It's their fault. They just didn't perform. They're loaded. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
We're talking to Harold Reynolds.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
You can watch MLB Tonight, the national pregame show throughout
the postseason. He'll be on at 6 Eastern, leading up
to Game 3, Phillies and the Braves. We had Jacob
Mizoroski on yesterday. He's a treat, man. He was unplugged.
He just was chatting up. He looks like he's 15
(07:25):
years of age. But he said that he hit a batter,
a Colorado Rocky batter in the helmet. Because I said,
you know, when you hit these guys, do you ever apologize?
And he said, I apologize for hitting this player in
the helmet. And I got him a bottle of bourbon.
I bought him a bottle of bourbon. And he sent
(07:45):
it over to the Rockies clubhouse. Could you imagine any
pitcher in your era would do something like that?
Speaker 5 (07:56):
No, he probably was on bourbon when he hit you
in our generation.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
No, I don't see that happening at all. I know
guys would be contrite.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
It's so funny, Dan, it leads me to almost like
the Randy Johnson story.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Randy was so afraid to hurt somebody. Nolan Ryan, and.
Speaker 5 (08:16):
This is folklore, maybe it's true, but I think it's true.
Nolan Ryan goes to lunch with him and says, you
get a guy at 3-0, throw at him and watch
him get out of the way. It's their job to
get out of the way. And that was the beginning
of Randy not being afraid to hit guys, and he
let the ball fly. So that was a different mindset
then from today. We got guys today, they slide in,
(08:38):
they hit you with an elbow, and they're like.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
What are you doing? Hit me. It's just different.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
But you had Randy when he was in Montreal, who
was a different pitcher. So maybe that Nolan Ryan mindset of, hey,
they'll get out of the way eventually.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
But that's the way pitching used to be.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
It's.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I hate when pitchers, you know, when you hit somebody
and you don't come to the plate. I mean, I
think there's some cowardly ways of hitting somebody.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
There's other parts like Pedro.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Oh, you're saying that because the pitcher's not hitting anymore. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah. But Pedro was going to pitch you inside.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
And I love that, that he's saying Bob Gibson, you know,
I grew up in that era where part of that
plate's mine, too. Just so you know, you can wear
all the armor you want. But Mizorowski didn't sound, you know, like, hey,
I throw hard. Sometimes it gets away from me. But
to get hit by a hundred mile an hour pitch.
(09:42):
Have you been hit by something close to a hundred
miles an hour?
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I get announced to the All-Star game. My first ever. 1987.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
We're playing the Red Sox. Clemens is on the mound.
I'm leading off the game. Congratulations to Harold. He made
the All-Star team. So I step out, tip my cap.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Thank you, everybody. I get in, first pitch. Boom!
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Drills me in the shoulder.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
All right.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Dan, it hurts so bad. I couldn't lift my arm.
And I'm going to first in that adage, you know,
no crying in baseball. I got a little tear coming.
Speaker 6 (10:17):
It's hurting. It is hurting.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
And that was just Clemens.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
And I talked to Roger years later and he's like, Hey,
you took too long to get.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
In the box.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I'm like, wait, so he hits you on purpose in
an all-star game.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
No, this is, I got announced to the all-star game.
It was Saturday. We're leaving Sunday to go to the game.
The game's on all-star Tuesday.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
And he drills me when I'm tipping my cap to
the Mariner crowd for congratulating me.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
And I get in the box.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Messed up, man.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I love that. I love that. More baseball talent, Ken
Griffey Jr. or Bo Jackson?
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Baseball talent, Ken Griffey Jr.
Speaker 6 (11:05):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
He was just stupid. Talent, unbelievable, unguarded talent, Bo Jackson.
We didn't get to see his baseball tap in.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Um, with everything he could do. And I've told this story, Dan,
and it's one of my all-time favorites.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
But I'm taking batting practice in the Kingdome, and he's
already ran over Bosworth. He's thrown me out at home.
He's done all these things, right? And he's Bo Jackson.
And I'm in there taking batting practice, and he's going,
you know switch hitter, Reynolds. You know switch hitter. So
then they hit next. He hops in, he takes a
couple swings right-handed. His last swing, he flips over left-handed,
(11:45):
and he hits the ball on the fifth deck in
the kingdom. I played there 10 years. I saw five
balls up there ever, and he was one of them.
One swing, fifth deck, and he drops his bat and
starts talking trash like.
Speaker 6 (11:59):
Bo always did.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Freak of an athlete.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
More baseball talent, Dion or Bo Jackson?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
That's really good.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
Deion became a pretty good player when he went back
to baseball. Bo, I still got to say Bo. I mean,
Bo just was raw. He just hadn't figured it out
fully yet. And I'd say Bo.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Help me understand, what is this sweeper pitch? Like, why
do we... Are we just renaming something?
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (12:32):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Actually, we call.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
It a slurve.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
It's in between a slider and a curveball. And so
it's just sweeping across the zone a little bit more.
It's a slider with a bigger break. And so we
used to call that a slurve.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Because it was kind of in between a curve and
a slider. So we called it a slurve. And it's
a sweeper now.
Speaker 7 (12:50):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I'm just, you know, getting caught up on some of
the things. Oh, I wanted to ask you about this
best of three thing. But you have the home team
gets to host all three. Does baseball stay with that format?
I know they've had it for a few years. Do
they stay with that?
Speaker 4 (13:07):
I think so.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
The problem was we had, what, the Miami, whatever they
were called then, Florida Marlins or whatever, they were.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
The wildcard team.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
And they ended up winning a World Series because they
got to go back and forth and have a home
field advantage, so to speak. It shouldn't be like that
for the wild card. I think you've got to make
it hard for the wild card to go through. And
I don't have a problem with them playing all three
on the road.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Do you think Otani will pitch in the playoffs?
Speaker 4 (13:36):
No. I did early on. Not now. The injuries kind
of piled up and slowed him down. I don't think
we see that.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Always great to talk to you. And congrats to your
Oregon Ducks.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Well, we turned it around. Turned it around. We'll get
it going.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Could you have played football for the Ducks?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
What's that?
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Could you have played football for the Ducks?
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah, I could have.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
Yeah, I was a pretty good high school football player.
I got recruited by the Ducks, USC, Washington. I almost
went to Washington to play for Don James. He was
the only coach that was going to let me play
baseball and football.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
And what position?
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Defensive back.
Speaker 6 (14:19):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Returning punts. Reggie Bush.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Slow down there. Slow down. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
We always get better the older we get.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I always tell people. The older I get, the better
I was. Absolutely. HR, great to talk to you.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
You're the best, Dan. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Harold Reynolds.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Be sure to catch the live edition of the Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at 9 a.m. Eastern, 6 a.m. Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (14:51):
Stugatz here, pleased to be hosting college football with Stugatz
and the Bear.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
We do it two times a.
Speaker 8 (14:57):
Week, every Monday, every single Friday throughout the college football season.
You can expect a little bit of this. Will Stein,
the head coach at Kentucky, joins us. Open bar at
a wedding, ordering a Shirley Temple.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Will or will not?
Speaker 6 (15:09):
No.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Will not.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
Ketchup on steak.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Will or will not?
Speaker 6 (15:16):
Will not. Thank you. A little bit of this.
Speaker 8 (15:18):
Rhys Davis, host of College Game Day, is with us now.
And then I'm going home to the BBC, and they're
saying Jockovich instead of Jokovich. Right, because you can't say Jockovich.
If you do, you know the blowback you're going to
get from the American audience.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Right.
Speaker 8 (15:32):
And a whole lot of this. Listen to college football
with Stugatz and the Bear on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
You get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
JJ Watt joining us on the program. What is the
most painful injury you ever had?
Speaker 9 (15:57):
That's a really good question to inspire, you know, such
a respected journalist. The one, it wasn't the initial injury
that hurt the most, but the second step that I
took hurt the worst. When I broke my leg and
it shattered and Billing pieces. I didn't know, obviously, that
(16:19):
it was shattered. So I tried to get up and
walk off the field. And I took two or three
steps and quickly realized that it was indeed shattered. And
that was those two or three steps were the most painful.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
But you get that adrenaline going, though, that can carry
a little bit, you know, like Jackson Dart coming off
the field.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I mean, you see guys in the moment. You're like, no,
I think I'm OK. No, I'm not OK.
Speaker 9 (16:44):
No, we all think we're Superman. Like, no problem. Like,
we'll pop it back into place. And there's some things
you just don't pop back into place.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Was it worth it when you look back on all
the injuries that and how your body is going to
be 20 years from now?
Speaker 6 (16:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (17:00):
I mean, there's a reason that I did it. I
loved it. I mean, we don't have to beat around
it here. My family lives an incredible, beautiful life because
of everything.
Speaker 6 (17:09):
I have some unbelievable memories. I wouldn't have met my wife.
Speaker 9 (17:13):
I wouldn't have my two beautiful boys. There's so many
different things that this game has given me. Would I
have maybe done some things a little differently in taking
a little more time on some than others?
Speaker 6 (17:24):
Yes.
Speaker 9 (17:25):
But Overall, would I change anything? And do I regret
playing football? Absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I complimented you on Monday.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
I thought you rose to the crowd, noise, the atmosphere.
You were in the moment. It felt like that's as
close as you could get to playing. And I commend
you for being able to translate that to us, the audience.
Speaker 6 (17:49):
Thank you. I appreciate that very much.
Speaker 9 (17:50):
And I fully agree with you that this is as
close as you can get to playing in terms of
the adrenaline, the play to play, snap to snap, having
to be on your toes and reacting in real time.
And the atmosphere was that. The second half of that game,
that stadium, the atmosphere was electric. And so we were
(18:12):
just living in the moment. And then you get a
massive fourth and one stop on the goal line.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
Barham stops Henry. Cowboys go down the field.
Speaker 9 (18:20):
And then everything that transpired after that, I really don't
think anybody in that whole stadium sat down for the
rest of the game after that point.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
And it was just a blast.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
What does it feel like to tackle Derrick Henry?
Speaker 9 (18:33):
Depends on how far away he started. If you get
him where you got to him closer than he got
to you, it's not that bad. If you were far
away and he was coming from far away, it is
no fun whatsoever. And also if you catch, so like,
(18:54):
I'm a guy who like, I liked, I'm a big
gator roll tackler. I'm not like, I don't see any
reason to square people up in the hole. Like it's
all about getting the guy on the ground. So I
was a big gator roller. So I always try and
put my head directly in front of your thigh board
and like right at the top of your knee, the
lower quad. And sometimes that technique can put you directly
in the path of a kneecap straight to the side
(19:16):
of the head. And I've, I've caught a few of
22s kneecaps straight to the side of the head.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
Not fun.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Do you see these guys going up top? They try
to take on these guys up top. I don't understand
that logic.
Speaker 9 (19:31):
You see it a lot on the edge and outside
because it's the DBs. There's two options you can do, really,
because you're not going to tackle him just straight up.
They are trying to either go low and wipe out
his legs, but he's a hurdler. He'll jump over the
top of you or he'll just step over the top
of you because he's so big. So then you go
high and try to like almost hold him up so
(19:52):
that the cavalry comes or truthfully, I don't know, like
a 185 pound DB is not taking him down up
over the shoulder pads.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
And that's where the stiff arms come into play.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
He's J.J.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Watt. He called the Ravens Cowboys in Rio. And then
he's got the Broncos and the 49ers coming up on
Sunday at 425 Eastern with Jim Nance. I'm trying to
figure out the Niners. Like they've done everything they're supposed
to do, but it doesn't. I don't know if we
include them in the formidable teams, the really good teams.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Should we?
Speaker 6 (20:27):
San Francisco 49ers?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Yes, yes, we should. They are in the best teams.
Speaker 9 (20:33):
I think the injury is the same thing every single year, unfortunately,
right now, which we can take that to the, you know,
the transformer conversation if we want. But if they can
stay healthy, the way that they scheme things up and
the players that they have, absolutely.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
They are certainly one of the best teams in the league.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Do you believe in that transformer talk?
Speaker 6 (20:55):
I don't know. No, I don't.
Speaker 9 (20:57):
But I mean, like I can't help, but like look
at it and laugh a little bit every time it,
you know, the injury report pops up or all these
things just seem to happen over and over again. I mean,
I'm not, I'm not going to dismiss it completely because
I'm a guy who will try anything in any to
see if there's an advantage.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
So I guess maybe I just talk myself in a
full circle. Maybe I do a little bit.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Well, you're going to be out there.
Speaker 6 (21:24):
No, I have the Chiefs Raiders this weekend. Yeah, I
screwed that up. We got switched. Oh, boy.
Speaker 7 (21:34):
Every story I was looking at had them doing the
Broncos-Niners game and something must have changed quickly.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
Back to the dermatologist. Send him back.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Did you ask JJ?
Speaker 4 (21:43):
I meant to ask him.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
That is totally my bad.
Speaker 9 (21:45):
I meant to ask him because now it's Kevin Harlan
and Trent Green have the Broncos-Niners game.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
And I should have double-checked during the break.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
What kind of punishment should I give Todd, JJ?
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Pie to the face from me.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 9 (21:58):
At any time. You don't know when it's coming. We've
got to take it all the way back. We've got
to take it all the way back to the old days.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
They were initially scheduled to do the Bronco Nightingale.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
But they're not doing Bronco.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
No, I don't have a tie.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Into the CBS executives that at the last.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Minute changed the game. Oh, here we go.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
They didn't give me a heads up.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Just wanted to let you know, I know you're having J.J.
Speaker 6 (22:15):
Watt on, and it's actually not doing anything.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Didn't you hate having a teammate who always had an
excuse for everything?
Speaker 9 (22:22):
I was going with it because I was like, all right,
he's going 49ers.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
Let's talk 49ers here. I was going to roll with you.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
So what is your game this weekend?
Speaker 6 (22:32):
I have the Raiders and the Chiefs.
Speaker 8 (22:33):
3-0, 3-0.
Speaker 6 (22:34):
First time ever meeting undefeated.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
How real are the Raiders?
Speaker 9 (22:39):
This is where we find out. Um, I think that
the takeaways on defense.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
Have been massive. I mean, nine and three games.
Speaker 9 (22:47):
Is tough to sustain, but it reminds me a lot
of the bears last year. And for the longest time,
you're like, can they keep this going? Can they keep,
and they did for a very long time, but it
did cover up some things. I think that, that I
think the defense is strong. I do think the takeaways
are huge. Um, I think that Kirk Cousins is playing
phenomenally well in Clint's offense, three touchdowns, three straight games.
(23:11):
You do have to, and I know people don't like this,
but it's just the facts of the situation. The opponents
they've played are one and eight. And they now go
on a stretch where they have the hardest schedule in
football from weeks four to 11. So right now is
where we find out what this is about. Divisional opponent,
the Chiefs in your building. Haven't beat them too many
(23:31):
times over the years, but there have been some phenomenal games.
Speaker 6 (23:35):
Can't wait to see.
Speaker 9 (23:36):
What this looks like on sunday i'm a personal big
clint kubiak fan i mean his dad was one of
my favorite coaches i've ever had and i love the
way he runs that offense i think kirk fits it
perfectly so we'll see but the chiefs also that offense
and what they're doing now with kenneth and the play
action game and the rollout game and what he's opened
up by having a dominant running game they're very difficult
(23:56):
to stop.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
The ram's gonna be okay.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
Yeah Yeah.
Speaker 9 (24:02):
I mean, with the talent that they have, with Sean
McVay figuring it out, when Miles comes back and is
able to do it, they'll bring me just fine.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
I'm not sure about the Steelers and I'm not sure
about the Browns, so it's a perfect matchup tonight. But
Pittsburgh's favored by two and a half. Let's start with Cleveland.
I looked at their schedule. They got the Jets and
the Titans and the Ravens. If they win tonight, they
could conceivably go on a run to be five and two.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
And maybe solve their quarterback situation.
Speaker 9 (24:33):
And I could be wrong on this, but I believe
there's some weird thing about in Cleveland on Thursday nights,
the Browns are very successful against the Steelers. There is
just something about that. So it will be. I mean,
Munkin's done a good job of kind of putting the
us against the world. I mean, I guess the world
is kind of also just handed that to them on
(24:55):
a platter to say this you know the Browns is
the Browns all of that conversation and they've done a
good job of it he's kind of running a little
bit of that Ravens offense and they have Fanon they
have Junkins in the backfield they do they do a
good job tonight will be a good test I mean
the Steelers you kind of look at them and you
see obviously trade away.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
Joey Porter Jr.
Speaker 9 (25:14):
And you go for picks in the future so I However,
that was wasn't going to get resolved. One of the
better players on your team is now no longer on
your team and you didn't replace him with a like
for like player. So what does that exactly say about
your you know what the plan is right now?
Speaker 3 (25:31):
What do you think the plan is?
Speaker 6 (25:34):
I mean, you have Aaron.
Speaker 9 (25:35):
Rodgers, who's very clearly said he's in the final season
of his career. And so you would imagine you're trying
to go out there and win football games and try
and win a Super Bowl. And you bring in Mike
McCarthy because you don't like going nine and eight or
whatever it is every single year.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
And so.
Speaker 9 (25:52):
I think the situation probably played itself into this where
they weren't going to come to a resolution. So you
have to get what you can get and find a way.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
But I don't know. It's middle land.
Speaker 9 (26:03):
It's kind of middle land still to this day where
it's like, is this an all in operation to go
win right now? Or are you trying to do like
this mini rebuild? I'm not I'm not 100 percent.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, it feels like this is a rebuild. Do you
think your brother any chance gets traded?
Speaker 9 (26:17):
I would highly doubt that. Yeah, I mean, I have
no idea, but I mean. That's kind of the thing,
this thing. You have Aaron Rodgers, who's in the last year.
You have Cam Hayward, who's obviously up there in Hall
of Famer.
Speaker 6 (26:31):
You have TJ. You have Jalen Ramsey.
Speaker 9 (26:33):
You have these guys, and you just, is this, are
you making a run or are you not making a run?
Speaker 6 (26:39):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
The Cowboys getting Joey Porter Jr., who's great, but what
did you see from the Cowboys when you saw them
against the Ravens?
Speaker 9 (26:49):
Yeah, I mean, they have a massive amount of injuries
on the back end, so they need help there. They
still have trouble stopping the run game. They actually at
times did a really good job against Derrick Henry, but
also at times, especially with Lamar adding his legs into
the mix, Justice Hill, they struggle there. The back end
is just decimated, and it's more the safety position than
(27:11):
the corner position, but now the corner position in that
last game.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
In Brazil did start to go down significantly.
Speaker 9 (27:17):
So I know right now the conversation is a lot
about the Christian Parker defense and does Joey Porter Jr.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
Fit into that.
Speaker 9 (27:22):
Because he's a man corner and he's going to be
a guy you want manned up. They still run man
coverage about the league average, so it's not like he's
going to be doing something unbelievable, but it will be
interesting to watch if they decide to use him more
in a single-up situation and have everybody else play off
of that.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I know you got to react in the moment, you know,
The rest of us have to, like we can react
in the moment.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
But we're at home.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
You're on the air and you're watching the Cowboys goal
line stand. You're going down the other end. Dak has
Pickens wide open. I'm looking at clock management. All of
a sudden, you know, it's a field goal. Now, all
of a sudden, you put it in the end zone
instead of like, how do you how do you compartmentalize
(28:07):
that to go? Let me give you analysis here instead
of just watching it like, you know, normal fan would.
Speaker 9 (28:14):
Well, it's one of those things where you're seeing it
happen and there's part of you that's thinking like.
Speaker 6 (28:18):
All right.
Speaker 9 (28:19):
So they were just completely content to settle for a
tie here and take this thing to overtime as opposed
to going for the jugular and trying to win right now.
Because it's similar to what they did at the end
of the first half. And that was really the first
thing that came into my mind was at the end
of the first half, they started to just let the
clock go down and they really almost settled for a
field goal at the end of the first half. And
(28:39):
so I thought that was weird.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
At the time.
Speaker 9 (28:41):
And then you sync that up with the end of
the game where they just seem to kind of settle there.
But then they also rushed to get the timeout when
there's zero reason to rush.
Speaker 6 (28:49):
To get the timeout.
Speaker 9 (28:51):
And then kick the touchback, which also saves the time.
They've said it. I mean, it's kind of piling on
now after the fact. But they have said, you know,
we managed that one wrong. And I'm with everybody, with Dak,
with Shadi, with everybody who said, like, we overcoached that.
And he threw the ball away before he even saw
that George was open. I mean, that ball was being
let go. It just felt like they were content to settle.
(29:14):
And in this league, when you're trying to win a
Super Bowl, and I would imagine when Jerry Jones is
your owner, I don't think he wants to settle.
Speaker 6 (29:21):
He wants to win.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
I got to spice up your background there behind you.
Speaker 6 (29:26):
What do we got?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
Yeah, I mean, there's something. I don't know.
Speaker 9 (29:30):
My son must have taken something from right here.
Speaker 6 (29:34):
We've got an empty space.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Where are the defensive player of the year trophies?
Speaker 6 (29:38):
They're up here.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Oh, you got to bring them. them down.
Speaker 9 (29:40):
Nah, see, like you just get the taste. You just
get a touch of the bottoms. And then if somebody's like, oh,
one of those, you're like, oh, no big deal. They're
up here.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
You got the wife. You got my dad of the year. Oh, congratulations.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
You got dad of the year.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
Thanks, guys.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
Awesome.
Speaker 6 (29:57):
No big deal.
Speaker 9 (29:57):
If you guys ever heard of Augusta National Golf Course,
no big deal. Just played there. Shot a 103. So basically,
nothing might pass me.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
It doesn't matter what you shoot there. You can have
a bad round, but not a bad day at Augusta.
Speaker 7 (30:12):
No.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
Can I see a shot of Paulie quick?
Speaker 9 (30:15):
Because the shirt he was wearing today, when I flipped
this on and I saw Paulie's shirt, to me, it
looked like he might have been going dancing in a nightclub.
Speaker 6 (30:23):
After the show.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Paulie's on this kick of unbuttoning a button that you
probably don't normally do it when you're married with a
couple of kids. But Paul is going for a look here.
Speaker 7 (30:34):
Yeah, I don't want to go school teacher buttoned up,
but I don't have a middle ground, and I have
no chest hair whatsoever, JJ.
Speaker 9 (30:40):
Yeah, but, I mean, you look like you could head
directly out to Miami after this to a nice night.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Thank you. A little bottle service. Weirdly, I'm taking that
as a compliment.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
What, Todd? I just have a quick question.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Why didn't you ask the question when you saw JJ before?
Speaker 6 (30:57):
You lost speaking privileges, Todd. I mean, I don't.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Know what happened here.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
It's relating to that.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
No.
Speaker 9 (31:02):
I wonder why CBS demoted him and Nance from the
Broncos-Niners game to the Chiefs-Raiders game.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Because that to me is demotion.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Did you get demoted from Broncos-Niners to Chiefs-Raiders?
Speaker 9 (31:14):
I mean, no, it's 3-0 versus 3-0.
Speaker 6 (31:18):
It's a divisional matchup. It's Patrick Mahomes. It's the Raiders.
It's an unbelievable matchup, Todd.
Speaker 9 (31:24):
So don't try and spin this just because you got
yourself into a blender.
Speaker 6 (31:29):
All right? Don't take the rest of us, Tom.
Speaker 9 (31:31):
I think Kevin Harlan and Trent Green should be during
the Raider Chief game, and you should be doing the
Barack O'Neill game with that. I bet you do. I
bet you do. It would have you in a lot
better position right now.
Speaker 7 (31:40):
Yes paul and last thing jj i'll send you one
of these shirts medium of course yeah.
Speaker 9 (31:45):
Thank you thank you i'm more of a dan flashes
guy so i can you can send me some you.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Know do you purposely order shirts a little smaller me yeah.
Speaker 9 (31:55):
I i'm in this crazy in-between spot right now dan
i so like since i'm playing i lost you know
maybe 10 pounds what do you weigh in Right now,
I weigh like 271, 272. I played most of my
career around 290. My last couple of years were more
around 280, 282, and now I'm 270. But I am
directly between an XL and a 2X. And the problem
(32:18):
is 2X is super wide in the body, and so
it's like.
Speaker 6 (32:23):
A lifeboat cover over me.
Speaker 9 (32:25):
And then XL gets a little snug and the arms
start to get a little too tight. So every brand
is different. I'm in a blender every time I'm trying
to order something online.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Maybe we drop 10 pounds.
Speaker 9 (32:37):
I've considered like I'm, I will over time, but I,
it's this weird place to be in where you're like,
I still kind of want to be, you know, muscular
and bigger, but I also know that over time dropping
weight is the right call and, I don't know. I've
already dropped some. I feel slim right now.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Yes, Paul.
Speaker 7 (32:55):
You want to look like a football player, even if
you don't play football.
Speaker 9 (32:59):
Yeah, and I know over time that has to go.
I think you got Joe Thomas on, speaking of a
guy who looks good. Guy looks great. He's got his
beef farm. He's phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yeah, but I can't imagine trying to keep up that weight.
Like how much, you know, the calories.
Speaker 6 (33:14):
But I like food. Like I like food. And so
now I am. I'm dropping.
Speaker 9 (33:18):
I eat so much less food than I used to.
And it is literally difficult to train yourself to do that.
I mean, there's plenty of people that know that. But
like now I only eat three meals a day and
I used to eat six. And so it's just like
there's three. 30 to 45 minute sessions during the day
where I used to be at the kitchen table and
now I'm not.
Speaker 6 (33:39):
It's almost instinct just to walk in there and grab something.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Is the training table always open to players?
Speaker 6 (33:48):
Always as in like nighttime?
Speaker 3 (33:50):
No, no.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
If you go in in the morning or you're there
in the afternoon and then late in the afternoon, there's
always food for you.
Speaker 9 (33:59):
There will be definitely breakfast and lunch times, and then
they take those away. But there are always snacks, peanut
butter and jellies, drinks. There's something you can eat.
Speaker 6 (34:09):
At all times.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yes, Marvin.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Hey, JJ, do you want to keep the weight on
so you can still be the intimidating dad at school?
Speaker 6 (34:16):
Like, you know what?
Speaker 3 (34:17):
JJ, that's their dad.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
He's still a monster. Yes.
Speaker 9 (34:21):
When I go to soccer practice or we hit, you know,
whenever we get into baseball here, which I don't know
if I even want to go down that road with this.
Speaker 6 (34:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (34:30):
Anybody who thinks like they're going to say something you
want to know. Oh, that's the one team that you
really can't you can't argue with that squad.
Speaker 6 (34:38):
They've got somebody over there.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
OK, but if you do, you're with the baseball watching
your son or daughter watch from the outfield. Yeah, that's
what I did, because I never wanted anybody to think
I had any impact on the manager or my son
or any of that. I stayed out in center field
and watched the game.
Speaker 9 (35:00):
I've talked to many former athletes about the coach or kid,
not coach or kid conversation, because I think it's a
very good conversation. And I do think it's extremely important
to have other voices in your kid's life, teaching them skills,
discipline and have them not listen to you. But I also,
on the other hand, sometimes you sit there and you
watch a practice and you're like, you're not instilling anything
(35:21):
in them. You're not instilling discipline. You're not teaching.
Speaker 6 (35:24):
Like, I got to get out there and take control
of this. And that's a battle.
Speaker 9 (35:29):
I also don't think some of the other kids and
parents are ready for it.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
You can't make them cry, okay, if you're going to
go out there and yell at them, all right?
Speaker 6 (35:40):
Are you sure?
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Are you sure? Well, you know, when they're four years
old or five, no. I would say don't make them cry.
We're still three, so I probably should leave that. I
probably should.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
Safe travels, once again, J.J. Watt.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
Where am I going?
Speaker 6 (35:55):
Where am I traveling to?
Speaker 3 (35:57):
I think you're going to Las Vegas for the Raiders
and the Chiefs.
Speaker 6 (36:02):
We all get demoted every once in a while.
Speaker 9 (36:03):
He's going to be doing the Raiders-Chiefs and not Broncos-Niners,
which is obviously the game of the week.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (36:08):
Always a blast, guys. Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
That's J.J.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
Watt.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsportsradio.com. And
within the iHeartRadio app, search FSR to listen live. Let
me bring in the Hall of Famer, Joe Thomas. Make
sure you visit halloffamefarms.com. Check out everything that Joe Thomas,
(36:32):
the owner of the farm, has to offer, including the
Wagyu beef business.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Did you ever miss a snap in the NFL in
your career?
Speaker 6 (36:41):
Never missed a single one, Dan. Ten and a half years.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
How close did you come to missing a snap or
a game?
Speaker 10 (36:49):
The closest I ever came was, I think, 2012. It
was the last game of the season, Week 17 in Pittsburgh.
And I actually got a grade two LCL tear there.
I was able to kind of play through it the
rest of the game, kind of hobble through it. Doctor said, hey,
we'll check it out MRI tomorrow, but I don't think
anything's wrong. I think you're OK. Found out it was
an LCL, but thankfully it was the last game of
(37:09):
the season or I would have missed like four or
five weeks.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah, well, I nearly fainted today giving blood. So I
don't know if that's similar to the feeling you had. Yeah,
I was going down on the kitchen table today.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
Just want to let you know.
Speaker 7 (37:25):
Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I know the feeling. I know what it's like to
be in the trenches. I can relate, Joe.
Speaker 6 (37:31):
Yes, completely.
Speaker 10 (37:32):
You're a very relatable guy there, Dan. You know, the
card's in the mail. Hopefully we don't have to start
a GoFundMe here.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Thank you. Your Cleveland Browns are 2-1.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
And I look at the schedule, and you got Jets, Ravens, Titans.
You could conceivably be 5-2. You win tonight. How are
you looking at the Browns? As far as I don't
want to say a contender, but let's look at them
as competitive.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
How about that? Competitive, not a contender.
Speaker 10 (38:05):
I'm just happy we get to use the competitive word
because that's fun. And that's as far as I'm looking
into the season so far. I think going into the
season as Browns fans. We had hoped that they could
be competitive, they could be better, that Todd Munkin could
come in and kind of install culture and make them fun,
make them fun to watch. And I think that's what
he's done. And I think we're just trying to enjoy
the moment right now. If you win tonight, you're in
(38:26):
first place by yourself in the AFC North. Let's just
enjoy that without looking too far down the line and
spoiling it potentially.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
What is the key to beating Pittsburgh, considering they didn't
have Joey Porter and beat the Bengals, and then now
they trade him, but they do come in as favorites
tonight in Cleveland?
Speaker 10 (38:47):
Yeah, I think it's all about how do you get
to Aaron Rodgers? You know, he's got the quickest release
in the NFL. He's going to pick you apart if
you let him sit back there and you give him
a clean pocket. And that's where it really comes down
to Mason Graham.
Speaker 6 (38:59):
This is his second year. He was their top five
choice last year.
Speaker 10 (39:02):
Didn't have a lot of production, but he's already got
four sacks.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
In the first three weeks of the season. Yeah, he's
a problem.
Speaker 6 (39:08):
Yeah, and you've got.
Speaker 10 (39:09):
To be able to get pressure up the middle on
these quarterbacks that want to throw the ball quickly. And
so for him tonight– You've got to be able to
collapse the pocket, get in Aaron Rodgers' face, and make
him move off of the spot that he wants to
throw from so he has to readjust his feet and
throw off of an unusual platform.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
I like the Browns' nucleus in game plan moving forward.
I'm not sold on Deshaun, but if he plays competitive football,
doesn't make mistakes, okay, I'm fine with that. Then you
make your decision at the end of the year. Pittsburgh
is the one that is really curious to me, Joe.
You just got rid of Joey Porter Jr., who's one
of the best corners in the game.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
You're an old team.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
It feels like they're not sure if they're rebuilding, maybe reloading,
but moving forward with this team, I like the Browns
moving forward more than I do Pittsburgh.
Speaker 10 (40:04):
Well, doesn't it feel like the Pittsburgh Steelers have had
an old team forever? I mean, when I got into
the league, they were an old team, and it just
seems like they've done a great job of building culture,
building structure.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
They reload.
Speaker 6 (40:15):
They've done a good.
Speaker 10 (40:16):
Job developing players, and I think One of the reasons
they haven't won maybe more Super Bowls is because they
really never had to reload and completely tear things down
and start over with high draft choices and a lot
of salary cap space.
Speaker 6 (40:29):
But it's kept them competitive.
Speaker 10 (40:31):
But I think to your point, if you look over
the next five years, who's got the better outlook?
Speaker 6 (40:35):
I would say it's probably the.
Speaker 10 (40:36):
Browns because of their draft capital, because of the resources
that they've saved with salary cap space. And it's not
really clear if the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be
able to just quickly reload and find a new quarterback
next season and to be able to kind of continue
to build or if they are going to have to
go through one of those big, deep rebuilding phases where
they're bad for a several year stretch.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
We're talking to Hall of Famer Joe Thomas. Make sure
you go to Hall of Fame farms dot com. Check
out everything that he has on his farm, including the
Wagyu beef business there.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
We look at.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Quarterbacks, we kind of give them two years. But I'm
curious with other positions, how long do we give an
offensive lineman? And I know the pay is not the same,
but how long until you know somebody can or can't
play that position? Let's look at the other ones. And
any other position you look at and you go, you
(41:28):
might have a two-year window to prove yourself like quarterbacks.
Speaker 10 (41:34):
I think quarterback's the hardest one because it's so much mental.
It's about those quick decisions that you have to make
in a split second, two seconds back there in the pocket.
You've got to consistently make the right decision. So all
the quarterbacks in the league have great arms. They can
throw accurately. But can you do that consistently, whereas– an
offensive lineman, I think when you look at them, you say, okay,
(41:55):
do they have the flexibility, the mobility, the power, the
strength to be able to hit the positions biomechanically that
they need to, to be able to move guys off
the line of scrimmage, to be able to pass that
effectively and consistently. But then the question is, can you
do like those movements over and over again? And so
you watch a guy and can they win against all
(42:16):
the different pass rush moves that they're going to get?
If it's a yes, Then it's, OK, can they steadily
make progress where they're making fewer and fewer mistakes? So
I think it's easier to project alignment because it's physical
traits and then removing the mistakes. Whereas with a quarterback,
it's those mental mistakes.
Speaker 6 (42:31):
And two or three a.
Speaker 10 (42:32):
Game gets you on the bench and more than that
gets you out of the league. So I think it's
a lot more difficult to project. But I think the
timeline is probably the same. Two or three years really
gives you enough of a body of work. to be
able to actually legitimately say, Hey, you can be a
good player in this league, or you're not going to
be in this league much longer. And we got to
find somebody else.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
If you're looking at a tackle, maybe even a guard
as well, more important footwork or your hands.
Speaker 6 (43:00):
Footwork is everything.
Speaker 10 (43:00):
I mean, you can get your hands beat, but if
your feet aren't beat, you can always stay in front
of the guy and you can refit your hands. But,
you know, the footwork is everything. Balance, being able to
have that power, that leverage, get into those positions, move quickly,
move and balance to react to the second and third moves.
Speaker 6 (43:18):
That's everything as an offensive lineman.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Yeah, I'm always fascinated. And we've talked about this before.
Are we developing really good offensive linemen? It feels like
Edge rushers, we are going out of our way and
now coming back maybe to nose tackles as well. But
the college game offensively, as opposed to defensively on developing players,
(43:42):
are we further along defensively for developing you for the
NFL or offensively?
Speaker 10 (43:48):
Well, I think defense is way ahead and I think
it's going to continue to be that way just because
of how you learn the position. When you think about
what makes a great offensive lineman defensively, For the most part,
it's who pass blocks really well, right? And so to
be a good pass blocker, you have to get millions
of situations where you're reacting to what the defense is
doing which means you need millions of reps in practice
(44:09):
in games where you're going against a live pass rusher
that's coming at you and then you have to react
and to be able to adjust your hand placement your
footwork and on defense it's a lot easier to get
those reps against a dummy maybe against your teammate who's
giving you his hands he's showing you exactly what an
offensive lineman can do you can get those full speed
reps because you're dictating what happens in that play and
(44:30):
Whereas in offense, you have to have.
Speaker 6 (44:31):
Somebody to do it to you.
Speaker 10 (44:33):
And because we're just not practicing in pads quite as much,
we don't get as much training camp as we used to.
We're just not getting the reps that it takes to
develop an offensive lineman.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
But are we using the first four games?
Speaker 2 (44:44):
Are all teams using those first four games as the
new preseason?
Speaker 10 (44:48):
Yeah, but that just means then they're getting less reps
throughout the course of a season because you get less
training camp time. And then you're using those first four
games of the season basically as as almost like your
preseason where guys are getting into shape, they're getting those
extra reps. And I mean, I agree with the strategy
because the point is not to develop guys. The point
is to win a Super Bowl and try to be
great in December and January. But I think the things
(45:11):
that get hurt because of that strategy is because then
you don't get those reps in training camp that you
used to to be able to develop guys at position
like an offensive line.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
You started out two and one in twenty eleven.
Speaker 6 (45:26):
Great year.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
You were one and two, four times in your career.
You were oh and three, six times in your career.
Speaker 6 (45:33):
Damn. Why did you have.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
To set it up like that? I'm sorry.
Speaker 6 (45:39):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
How tough is it when you know you're going to lose?
The question is how you're going to lose.
Speaker 4 (45:48):
Well, that's awful because.
Speaker 6 (45:50):
You're like, what am I doing all this work for?
Speaker 10 (45:52):
If I'm going to go out, I just get to
find out how I'm going to lose on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Yeah, but you know you could take care of your
business and you did, but you were going to lose.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
Odds are you were going to lose.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
Not that you went in with a negative mindset, but
after a while, like the losing permeates a locker room.
And I can't help but take it home, I'm going
to guess. So how do you how do you go
about doing that?
Speaker 10 (46:19):
Yeah, I mean, you do take it home. And, you know,
that's why throughout my career, I had a moment in
year 10 where I really was struggling mentally, had to
go see our team psychologist to kind of talk to
somebody because that feeling of, hey, I'm putting in this work,
I'm getting my body ready to win. I'm convincing myself
we're going to go out and win and then you
don't do it. That happens so many times. Like it's,
(46:39):
it's hard to keep fooling yourself, but I think how
you do it and how you get the most out
of yourself is just focusing on the little details and
focusing on me trying to be perfect.
Speaker 6 (46:48):
Like that's my grade sheet.
Speaker 10 (46:49):
I'm not looking at the scoreboard.
Speaker 6 (46:51):
I'm not looking at our records.
Speaker 10 (46:52):
I'm just literally looking at me versus my grade sheet,
almost like you would in a track and field meet, right?
I was a track guy in high school, a couple
of years at Wisconsin shot and disc. And yes, I
wanted our team to score the most points and win
the meet and win big 10, but win nationals. But
like in the end, what can I do to help
my team win? And that's be the best version of myself.
It's me versus that tape measure and shot and disc
(47:14):
and football.
Speaker 4 (47:15):
As a left tackle.
Speaker 10 (47:16):
It's me versus my grade sheet. I need to go
out and be perfect to be able to set the table.
So those other guys, those skill guys have a chance
to go score touchdowns and be great. And then they
can be the ones that hopefully help your team win.
And then you can celebrate with them. But if not, Hey,
I can't get too emotional high or low when you
win or lose. I need to be so laser focused
on doing my job and figuring out how do I
(47:38):
be perfect and just focus on myself alone.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
But you went to see a therapist.
Speaker 6 (47:43):
I did. Did it help? It did.
Speaker 10 (47:47):
Honestly, just talking to somebody, talking through it, not feeling
like I was alone out there, not feeling like I
didn't have anybody to kind of share my gripes with
other than my wife, who heard plenty of them. And
I give her a lot of credit for dealing with
that for 11 years in Cleveland, but just... Honestly, just
the act of talking with somebody was huge for me
(48:07):
and being able to kind of share my feelings of
not having control over the outcome.
Speaker 4 (48:12):
That was really, really big.
Speaker 10 (48:14):
And just a few sessions helped me get that mental
reset that I needed to be able to go back
out there and find a way each and every week
to be the best version of myself.
Speaker 3 (48:24):
Well, you're a winner in my book, Joe.
Speaker 6 (48:26):
Hey, well, thanks, Dan.
Speaker 3 (48:27):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (48:29):
The only one that matters.
Speaker 3 (48:30):
Yes. Thanks for joining us. Enjoy the game tonight. We
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (48:35):
Awesome.
Speaker 10 (48:35):
I'll be having my Hall of Fame beef stick with
the family, watching the game, hoping we can cheer the
Browns on to 3-1 and first place in the AFC North.
Speaker 4 (48:42):
Thanks for having me on, Dan.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Halloffameforms.com. He's Hall of Famer, Joe Thomas.
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Harold Reynolds. Harold Reynolds, the lead analyst for MLB Network.
And you can watch him on MLB Tonight, the national
pregame show throughout the postseason leading into Game 3, Phillies-Braves.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
All right, this is what I don't understand, HR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
The Phillies and the Braves had to wait until the
end of the Cubs-Padres game to find out what time
their game was going.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
To be today.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I mean, you guys were– your creature's a habit here.
I can't imagine going, are we playing at 2 or
playing at 8?
Speaker 4 (00:34):
It's a big difference. You know, it's funny.
Speaker 5 (00:38):
We had scenarios where if there was four games or
if there was three games, if there was two games,
it ended up being one game. I always thought– I
know everybody's into the Red Sox-Yankees, and everybody's going to
probably be upset at me, but there is more star
power in the Phillies-Braves series than the Yankees. Once Judge
(00:59):
was out, once Cole's not pitching, I'm watching Phillies-Braves.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
More compelling.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Better series. Bryce Harper redeemed himself. Explain that error. How
does that happen?
Speaker 4 (01:13):
He just misread it. He just missed it.
Speaker 6 (01:16):
That's all.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Sunlight, shadows, any of that?
Speaker 5 (01:19):
I don't think any of that played into it. I
think he just started in, hesitated, went back, missed it.
You know, the thing about Bryce, though, for me, and
I'm going to defend him on this, he should have
made that play. Yeah, he'll tell you that, too. But
when they've traded for Louisa Rice... He moved back to
the outfield. He hadn't been out there in three years.
(01:43):
To me, that's a team player. That's what you're supposed
to do.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Is he going to be a Hall of Famer?
Speaker 4 (01:49):
No doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
No doubt?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
No doubt.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
He's going to end up with 500 homers. He's got, what,
four more years on his contract?
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Five more years? He's going to play.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Him, all these guys, the long-term deals, if they go
out and you just average 30 homers a year on
their contracts, they're going to be Hall of Fame ballplayers.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
But I don't know if he's going to be compared
to Mike Trout, therefore, and maybe that's not fair, but
they kind of came in at the same time in
the first 10 years, but no doubt Bryce Harper, Hall
of Fame. Okay.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (02:27):
Well, if you look at it too, Bryce has been
in the playoffs. Mike Trout hasn't. He's been there one time.
But I think also with– how he turned around the
Washington Nationals organization, turned around the Phillies. They were nothing
when he showed up. I think all that plays into it.
And then, Dan, the numbers are not going to be
(02:48):
the same. We're not going to have 300 winning pitchers.
We're not going to have guys with 3,000 hits. All
those things have gone away. So we're going to look
at guys from a different window now, and I think
he's going to be uneasy.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
But the Nationals won the World Series without him.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yes, they did. Yes, they did when he left.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
All right. I got you. I just got to look
at the whole resume, Harold. All right. Glasses sometime half empty.
All right.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
That's true.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
All right.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
The Yankees win without Judge. That surprised me. The Red Sox,
Sonny Gray, I thought they would leave him in a
little bit longer. Red Sox bullpen didn't do well, but
Yankees somehow scraped and scrapped. Do you expect Judge to
be in the next series?
Speaker 5 (03:39):
Yeah, he'll play next series. I thought he might get
in this one. I think there'll be full go with
everybody next series. So they're better in a longer run.
They got through this. Look, the Red Sox had a
great summer. They had a great hot streak. If you
look at September, they didn't play great baseball. They're playing
like 500. They struggled down the stretch. I thought the
(04:02):
Sonny Gray stuff was great. I loved his comments after
the game. I'd rather live or die with me in
that situation. We just haven't heard that from players and probably...
five six ten years so it was great to hear
him stand up and say hold it I'm sorry take
the numbers and everything out of the out of the
equation we got that and then Contreras shined in a
(04:23):
little bit like hey we're playing baseball here so I
think we're seeing a little bit of a turn and
there's a little fight from players now saying hey don't
judge me by numbers let's look at the game and
I love that I love.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
The comments more disappointing season the Cubs or the Red Sox.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
I'd say the Cubs. I mean, the Red Sox fired
Alex Cora. They had injuries all across the board early
on the year. Roman Anthony went down. Crochet went down.
You fire the coaching staff. They got on the hot
streak that made everybody think the Red Sox were better
than they were.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
The Cubs were loaded.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
And then you have an MVP year out of PCA,
and you see a lot of guys mature. I'd say
the Cubs more so than the Red Sox.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
You know, the Padres, I think we've had hopes for them.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And they've produced like the Chargers do, where you go, yeah, this.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Is the man. They look great. Why are you.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Talking about Chargers, man?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I did find the college football comp for the Chargers,
Penn State, where we go, yeah, this is the year
for Penn State, man. This is when they're going to
do it. But the Padres kind of quiet, and maybe
that's a good thing for them. How dangerous are they?
Speaker 5 (05:49):
They're really dangerous. The problem is they got to face
the Dodgers. I mean, I don't think people realize how
good the Dodgers are. They won 100 games in a
bad year. They limped through, and now they're healthy, and
they've got pitching, they've got depth, they've got– a lineup
(06:10):
that's finally swinging the bat. They are, they are, they're the,
they're the core that like we saw with the Yankees.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
They're, they're that type of team right now.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Okay. You're taking them against the Padres get lost.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
The Yankees, the Red Sox had all those great years.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Carl Malone was great, but he didn't win because Jordan
won MVPs.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
That's kind of what we're seeing right now.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
All right. You've got the Dodgers or the rest of the, okay.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Dodgers and who else wants to play them?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Nobody from the American League can put up a fight
against the Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
I got the.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Yankees going through because their starting pitching has been really good.
But I think man for man, lineup for lineup, the
Dodgers don't win.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
It's their fault. They just didn't perform. They're loaded. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
We're talking to Harold Reynolds.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
You can watch MLB Tonight, the national pregame show throughout
the postseason. He'll be on at 6 Eastern, leading up
to Game 3, Phillies and the Braves. We had Jacob
Mizoroski on yesterday. He's a treat, man. He was unplugged.
He just was chatting up. He looks like he's 15
(07:25):
years of age. But he said that he hit a batter,
a Colorado Rocky batter in the helmet. Because I said,
you know, when you hit these guys, do you ever apologize?
And he said, I apologize for hitting this player in
the helmet. And I got him a bottle of bourbon.
I bought him a bottle of bourbon. And he sent
(07:45):
it over to the Rockies clubhouse. Could you imagine any
pitcher in your era would do something like that?
Speaker 5 (07:56):
No, he probably was on bourbon when he hit you
in our generation.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
No, I don't see that happening at all. I know
guys would be contrite.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
It's so funny, Dan, it leads me to almost like
the Randy Johnson story.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Randy was so afraid to hurt somebody. Nolan Ryan, and.
Speaker 5 (08:16):
This is folklore, maybe it's true, but I think it's true.
Nolan Ryan goes to lunch with him and says, you
get a guy at 3-0, throw at him and watch
him get out of the way. It's their job to
get out of the way. And that was the beginning
of Randy not being afraid to hit guys, and he
let the ball fly. So that was a different mindset
then from today. We got guys today, they slide in,
(08:38):
they hit you with an elbow, and they're like.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
What are you doing? Hit me. It's just different.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
But you had Randy when he was in Montreal, who
was a different pitcher. So maybe that Nolan Ryan mindset of, hey,
they'll get out of the way eventually.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
But that's the way pitching used to be.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
It's.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I hate when pitchers, you know, when you hit somebody
and you don't come to the plate. I mean, I
think there's some cowardly ways of hitting somebody.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
There's other parts like Pedro.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Oh, you're saying that because the pitcher's not hitting anymore. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah. But Pedro was going to pitch you inside.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
And I love that, that he's saying Bob Gibson, you know,
I grew up in that era where part of that
plate's mine, too. Just so you know, you can wear
all the armor you want. But Mizorowski didn't sound, you know, like, hey,
I throw hard. Sometimes it gets away from me. But
to get hit by a hundred mile an hour pitch.
(09:42):
Have you been hit by something close to a hundred
miles an hour?
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I get announced to the All-Star game. My first ever. 1987.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
We're playing the Red Sox. Clemens is on the mound.
I'm leading off the game. Congratulations to Harold. He made
the All-Star team. So I step out, tip my cap.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Thank you, everybody. I get in, first pitch. Boom!
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Drills me in the shoulder.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
All right.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Dan, it hurts so bad. I couldn't lift my arm.
And I'm going to first in that adage, you know,
no crying in baseball. I got a little tear coming.
Speaker 6 (10:17):
It's hurting. It is hurting.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
And that was just Clemens.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
And I talked to Roger years later and he's like, Hey,
you took too long to get.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
In the box.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I'm like, wait, so he hits you on purpose in
an all-star game.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
No, this is, I got announced to the all-star game.
It was Saturday. We're leaving Sunday to go to the game.
The game's on all-star Tuesday.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
And he drills me when I'm tipping my cap to
the Mariner crowd for congratulating me.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
And I get in the box.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Messed up, man.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I love that. I love that. More baseball talent, Ken
Griffey Jr. or Bo Jackson?
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Baseball talent, Ken Griffey Jr.
Speaker 6 (11:05):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
He was just stupid. Talent, unbelievable, unguarded talent, Bo Jackson.
We didn't get to see his baseball tap in.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Um, with everything he could do. And I've told this story, Dan,
and it's one of my all-time favorites.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
But I'm taking batting practice in the Kingdome, and he's
already ran over Bosworth. He's thrown me out at home.
He's done all these things, right? And he's Bo Jackson.
And I'm in there taking batting practice, and he's going,
you know switch hitter, Reynolds. You know switch hitter. So
then they hit next. He hops in, he takes a
couple swings right-handed. His last swing, he flips over left-handed,
(11:45):
and he hits the ball on the fifth deck in
the kingdom. I played there 10 years. I saw five
balls up there ever, and he was one of them.
One swing, fifth deck, and he drops his bat and
starts talking trash like.
Speaker 6 (11:59):
Bo always did.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Freak of an athlete.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
More baseball talent, Dion or Bo Jackson?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
That's really good.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
Deion became a pretty good player when he went back
to baseball. Bo, I still got to say Bo. I mean,
Bo just was raw. He just hadn't figured it out
fully yet. And I'd say Bo.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Help me understand, what is this sweeper pitch? Like, why
do we... Are we just renaming something?
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (12:32):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Actually, we call.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
It a slurve.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
It's in between a slider and a curveball. And so
it's just sweeping across the zone a little bit more.
It's a slider with a bigger break. And so we
used to call that a slurve.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Because it was kind of in between a curve and
a slider. So we called it a slurve. And it's
a sweeper now.
Speaker 7 (12:50):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I'm just, you know, getting caught up on some of
the things. Oh, I wanted to ask you about this
best of three thing. But you have the home team
gets to host all three. Does baseball stay with that format?
I know they've had it for a few years. Do
they stay with that?
Speaker 4 (13:07):
I think so.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
The problem was we had, what, the Miami, whatever they
were called then, Florida Marlins or whatever, they were.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
The wildcard team.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
And they ended up winning a World Series because they
got to go back and forth and have a home
field advantage, so to speak. It shouldn't be like that
for the wild card. I think you've got to make
it hard for the wild card to go through. And
I don't have a problem with them playing all three
on the road.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Do you think Otani will pitch in the playoffs?
Speaker 4 (13:36):
No. I did early on. Not now. The injuries kind
of piled up and slowed him down. I don't think
we see that.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Always great to talk to you. And congrats to your
Oregon Ducks.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Well, we turned it around. Turned it around. We'll get
it going.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Could you have played football for the Ducks?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
What's that?
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Could you have played football for the Ducks?
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah, I could have.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
Yeah, I was a pretty good high school football player.
I got recruited by the Ducks, USC, Washington. I almost
went to Washington to play for Don James. He was
the only coach that was going to let me play
baseball and football.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
And what position?
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Defensive back.
Speaker 6 (14:19):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Returning punts. Reggie Bush.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Slow down there. Slow down. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
We always get better the older we get.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I always tell people. The older I get, the better
I was. Absolutely. HR, great to talk to you.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
You're the best, Dan. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Harold Reynolds.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Be sure to catch the live edition of the Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at 9 a.m. Eastern, 6 a.m. Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (14:51):
Stugatz here, pleased to be hosting college football with Stugatz
and the Bear.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
We do it two times a.
Speaker 8 (14:57):
Week, every Monday, every single Friday throughout the college football season.
You can expect a little bit of this. Will Stein,
the head coach at Kentucky, joins us. Open bar at
a wedding, ordering a Shirley Temple.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Will or will not?
Speaker 6 (15:09):
No.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Will not.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
Ketchup on steak.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Will or will not?
Speaker 6 (15:16):
Will not. Thank you. A little bit of this.
Speaker 8 (15:18):
Rhys Davis, host of College Game Day, is with us now.
And then I'm going home to the BBC, and they're
saying Jockovich instead of Jokovich. Right, because you can't say Jockovich.
If you do, you know the blowback you're going to
get from the American audience.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Right.
Speaker 8 (15:32):
And a whole lot of this. Listen to college football
with Stugatz and the Bear on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
You get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
JJ Watt joining us on the program. What is the
most painful injury you ever had?
Speaker 9 (15:57):
That's a really good question to inspire, you know, such
a respected journalist. The one, it wasn't the initial injury
that hurt the most, but the second step that I
took hurt the worst. When I broke my leg and
it shattered and Billing pieces. I didn't know, obviously, that
(16:19):
it was shattered. So I tried to get up and
walk off the field. And I took two or three
steps and quickly realized that it was indeed shattered. And
that was those two or three steps were the most painful.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
But you get that adrenaline going, though, that can carry
a little bit, you know, like Jackson Dart coming off
the field.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I mean, you see guys in the moment. You're like, no,
I think I'm OK. No, I'm not OK.
Speaker 9 (16:44):
No, we all think we're Superman. Like, no problem. Like,
we'll pop it back into place. And there's some things
you just don't pop back into place.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Was it worth it when you look back on all
the injuries that and how your body is going to
be 20 years from now?
Speaker 6 (16:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (17:00):
I mean, there's a reason that I did it. I
loved it. I mean, we don't have to beat around
it here. My family lives an incredible, beautiful life because
of everything.
Speaker 6 (17:09):
I have some unbelievable memories. I wouldn't have met my wife.
Speaker 9 (17:13):
I wouldn't have my two beautiful boys. There's so many
different things that this game has given me. Would I
have maybe done some things a little differently in taking
a little more time on some than others?
Speaker 6 (17:24):
Yes.
Speaker 9 (17:25):
But Overall, would I change anything? And do I regret
playing football? Absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I complimented you on Monday.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
I thought you rose to the crowd, noise, the atmosphere.
You were in the moment. It felt like that's as
close as you could get to playing. And I commend
you for being able to translate that to us, the audience.
Speaker 6 (17:49):
Thank you. I appreciate that very much.
Speaker 9 (17:50):
And I fully agree with you that this is as
close as you can get to playing in terms of
the adrenaline, the play to play, snap to snap, having
to be on your toes and reacting in real time.
And the atmosphere was that. The second half of that game,
that stadium, the atmosphere was electric. And so we were
(18:12):
just living in the moment. And then you get a
massive fourth and one stop on the goal line.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
Barham stops Henry. Cowboys go down the field.
Speaker 9 (18:20):
And then everything that transpired after that, I really don't
think anybody in that whole stadium sat down for the
rest of the game after that point.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
And it was just a blast.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
What does it feel like to tackle Derrick Henry?
Speaker 9 (18:33):
Depends on how far away he started. If you get
him where you got to him closer than he got
to you, it's not that bad. If you were far
away and he was coming from far away, it is
no fun whatsoever. And also if you catch, so like,
(18:54):
I'm a guy who like, I liked, I'm a big
gator roll tackler. I'm not like, I don't see any
reason to square people up in the hole. Like it's
all about getting the guy on the ground. So I
was a big gator roller. So I always try and
put my head directly in front of your thigh board
and like right at the top of your knee, the
lower quad. And sometimes that technique can put you directly
in the path of a kneecap straight to the side
(19:16):
of the head. And I've, I've caught a few of
22s kneecaps straight to the side of the head.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
Not fun.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Do you see these guys going up top? They try
to take on these guys up top. I don't understand
that logic.
Speaker 9 (19:31):
You see it a lot on the edge and outside
because it's the DBs. There's two options you can do, really,
because you're not going to tackle him just straight up.
They are trying to either go low and wipe out
his legs, but he's a hurdler. He'll jump over the
top of you or he'll just step over the top
of you because he's so big. So then you go
high and try to like almost hold him up so
(19:52):
that the cavalry comes or truthfully, I don't know, like
a 185 pound DB is not taking him down up
over the shoulder pads.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
And that's where the stiff arms come into play.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
He's J.J.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Watt. He called the Ravens Cowboys in Rio. And then
he's got the Broncos and the 49ers coming up on
Sunday at 425 Eastern with Jim Nance. I'm trying to
figure out the Niners. Like they've done everything they're supposed
to do, but it doesn't. I don't know if we
include them in the formidable teams, the really good teams.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Should we?
Speaker 6 (20:27):
San Francisco 49ers?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Yes, yes, we should. They are in the best teams.
Speaker 9 (20:33):
I think the injury is the same thing every single year, unfortunately,
right now, which we can take that to the, you know,
the transformer conversation if we want. But if they can
stay healthy, the way that they scheme things up and
the players that they have, absolutely.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
They are certainly one of the best teams in the league.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Do you believe in that transformer talk?
Speaker 6 (20:55):
I don't know. No, I don't.
Speaker 9 (20:57):
But I mean, like I can't help, but like look
at it and laugh a little bit every time it,
you know, the injury report pops up or all these
things just seem to happen over and over again. I mean,
I'm not, I'm not going to dismiss it completely because
I'm a guy who will try anything in any to
see if there's an advantage.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
So I guess maybe I just talk myself in a
full circle. Maybe I do a little bit.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Well, you're going to be out there.
Speaker 6 (21:24):
No, I have the Chiefs Raiders this weekend. Yeah, I
screwed that up. We got switched. Oh, boy.
Speaker 7 (21:34):
Every story I was looking at had them doing the
Broncos-Niners game and something must have changed quickly.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
Back to the dermatologist. Send him back.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Did you ask JJ?
Speaker 4 (21:43):
I meant to ask him.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
That is totally my bad.
Speaker 9 (21:45):
I meant to ask him because now it's Kevin Harlan
and Trent Green have the Broncos-Niners game.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
And I should have double-checked during the break.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
What kind of punishment should I give Todd, JJ?
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Pie to the face from me.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 9 (21:58):
At any time. You don't know when it's coming. We've
got to take it all the way back. We've got
to take it all the way back to the old days.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
They were initially scheduled to do the Bronco Nightingale.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
But they're not doing Bronco.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
No, I don't have a tie.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Into the CBS executives that at the last.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Minute changed the game. Oh, here we go.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
They didn't give me a heads up.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Just wanted to let you know, I know you're having J.J.
Speaker 6 (22:15):
Watt on, and it's actually not doing anything.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Didn't you hate having a teammate who always had an
excuse for everything?
Speaker 9 (22:22):
I was going with it because I was like, all right,
he's going 49ers.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
Let's talk 49ers here. I was going to roll with you.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
So what is your game this weekend?
Speaker 6 (22:32):
I have the Raiders and the Chiefs.
Speaker 8 (22:33):
3-0, 3-0.
Speaker 6 (22:34):
First time ever meeting undefeated.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
How real are the Raiders?
Speaker 9 (22:39):
This is where we find out. Um, I think that
the takeaways on defense.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
Have been massive. I mean, nine and three games.
Speaker 9 (22:47):
Is tough to sustain, but it reminds me a lot
of the bears last year. And for the longest time,
you're like, can they keep this going? Can they keep,
and they did for a very long time, but it
did cover up some things. I think that, that I
think the defense is strong. I do think the takeaways
are huge. Um, I think that Kirk Cousins is playing
phenomenally well in Clint's offense, three touchdowns, three straight games.
(23:11):
You do have to, and I know people don't like this,
but it's just the facts of the situation. The opponents
they've played are one and eight. And they now go
on a stretch where they have the hardest schedule in
football from weeks four to 11. So right now is
where we find out what this is about. Divisional opponent,
the Chiefs in your building. Haven't beat them too many
(23:31):
times over the years, but there have been some phenomenal games.
Speaker 6 (23:35):
Can't wait to see.
Speaker 9 (23:36):
What this looks like on sunday i'm a personal big
clint kubiak fan i mean his dad was one of
my favorite coaches i've ever had and i love the
way he runs that offense i think kirk fits it
perfectly so we'll see but the chiefs also that offense
and what they're doing now with kenneth and the play
action game and the rollout game and what he's opened
up by having a dominant running game they're very difficult
(23:56):
to stop.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
The ram's gonna be okay.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
Yeah Yeah.
Speaker 9 (24:02):
I mean, with the talent that they have, with Sean
McVay figuring it out, when Miles comes back and is
able to do it, they'll bring me just fine.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
I'm not sure about the Steelers and I'm not sure
about the Browns, so it's a perfect matchup tonight. But
Pittsburgh's favored by two and a half. Let's start with Cleveland.
I looked at their schedule. They got the Jets and
the Titans and the Ravens. If they win tonight, they
could conceivably go on a run to be five and two.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
And maybe solve their quarterback situation.
Speaker 9 (24:33):
And I could be wrong on this, but I believe
there's some weird thing about in Cleveland on Thursday nights,
the Browns are very successful against the Steelers. There is
just something about that. So it will be. I mean,
Munkin's done a good job of kind of putting the
us against the world. I mean, I guess the world
is kind of also just handed that to them on
(24:55):
a platter to say this you know the Browns is
the Browns all of that conversation and they've done a
good job of it he's kind of running a little
bit of that Ravens offense and they have Fanon they
have Junkins in the backfield they do they do a
good job tonight will be a good test I mean
the Steelers you kind of look at them and you
see obviously trade away.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
Joey Porter Jr.
Speaker 9 (25:14):
And you go for picks in the future so I However,
that was wasn't going to get resolved. One of the
better players on your team is now no longer on
your team and you didn't replace him with a like
for like player. So what does that exactly say about
your you know what the plan is right now?
Speaker 3 (25:31):
What do you think the plan is?
Speaker 6 (25:34):
I mean, you have Aaron.
Speaker 9 (25:35):
Rodgers, who's very clearly said he's in the final season
of his career. And so you would imagine you're trying
to go out there and win football games and try
and win a Super Bowl. And you bring in Mike
McCarthy because you don't like going nine and eight or
whatever it is every single year.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
And so.
Speaker 9 (25:52):
I think the situation probably played itself into this where
they weren't going to come to a resolution. So you
have to get what you can get and find a way.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
But I don't know. It's middle land.
Speaker 9 (26:03):
It's kind of middle land still to this day where
it's like, is this an all in operation to go
win right now? Or are you trying to do like
this mini rebuild? I'm not I'm not 100 percent.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, it feels like this is a rebuild. Do you
think your brother any chance gets traded?
Speaker 9 (26:17):
I would highly doubt that. Yeah, I mean, I have
no idea, but I mean. That's kind of the thing,
this thing. You have Aaron Rodgers, who's in the last year.
You have Cam Hayward, who's obviously up there in Hall
of Famer.
Speaker 6 (26:31):
You have TJ. You have Jalen Ramsey.
Speaker 9 (26:33):
You have these guys, and you just, is this, are
you making a run or are you not making a run?
Speaker 6 (26:39):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
The Cowboys getting Joey Porter Jr., who's great, but what
did you see from the Cowboys when you saw them
against the Ravens?
Speaker 9 (26:49):
Yeah, I mean, they have a massive amount of injuries
on the back end, so they need help there. They
still have trouble stopping the run game. They actually at
times did a really good job against Derrick Henry, but
also at times, especially with Lamar adding his legs into
the mix, Justice Hill, they struggle there. The back end
is just decimated, and it's more the safety position than
(27:11):
the corner position, but now the corner position in that
last game.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
In Brazil did start to go down significantly.
Speaker 9 (27:17):
So I know right now the conversation is a lot
about the Christian Parker defense and does Joey Porter Jr.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
Fit into that.
Speaker 9 (27:22):
Because he's a man corner and he's going to be
a guy you want manned up. They still run man
coverage about the league average, so it's not like he's
going to be doing something unbelievable, but it will be
interesting to watch if they decide to use him more
in a single-up situation and have everybody else play off
of that.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I know you got to react in the moment, you know,
The rest of us have to, like we can react
in the moment.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
But we're at home.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
You're on the air and you're watching the Cowboys goal
line stand. You're going down the other end. Dak has
Pickens wide open. I'm looking at clock management. All of
a sudden, you know, it's a field goal. Now, all
of a sudden, you put it in the end zone
instead of like, how do you how do you compartmentalize
(28:07):
that to go? Let me give you analysis here instead
of just watching it like, you know, normal fan would.
Speaker 9 (28:14):
Well, it's one of those things where you're seeing it
happen and there's part of you that's thinking like.
Speaker 6 (28:18):
All right.
Speaker 9 (28:19):
So they were just completely content to settle for a
tie here and take this thing to overtime as opposed
to going for the jugular and trying to win right now.
Because it's similar to what they did at the end
of the first half. And that was really the first
thing that came into my mind was at the end
of the first half, they started to just let the
clock go down and they really almost settled for a
field goal at the end of the first half. And
(28:39):
so I thought that was weird.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
At the time.
Speaker 9 (28:41):
And then you sync that up with the end of
the game where they just seem to kind of settle there.
But then they also rushed to get the timeout when
there's zero reason to rush.
Speaker 6 (28:49):
To get the timeout.
Speaker 9 (28:51):
And then kick the touchback, which also saves the time.
They've said it. I mean, it's kind of piling on
now after the fact. But they have said, you know,
we managed that one wrong. And I'm with everybody, with Dak,
with Shadi, with everybody who said, like, we overcoached that.
And he threw the ball away before he even saw
that George was open. I mean, that ball was being
let go. It just felt like they were content to settle.
(29:14):
And in this league, when you're trying to win a
Super Bowl, and I would imagine when Jerry Jones is
your owner, I don't think he wants to settle.
Speaker 6 (29:21):
He wants to win.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
I got to spice up your background there behind you.
Speaker 6 (29:26):
What do we got?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
Yeah, I mean, there's something. I don't know.
Speaker 9 (29:30):
My son must have taken something from right here.
Speaker 6 (29:34):
We've got an empty space.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Where are the defensive player of the year trophies?
Speaker 6 (29:38):
They're up here.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Oh, you got to bring them. them down.
Speaker 9 (29:40):
Nah, see, like you just get the taste. You just
get a touch of the bottoms. And then if somebody's like, oh,
one of those, you're like, oh, no big deal. They're
up here.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
You got the wife. You got my dad of the year. Oh, congratulations.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
You got dad of the year.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
Thanks, guys.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
Awesome.
Speaker 6 (29:57):
No big deal.
Speaker 9 (29:57):
If you guys ever heard of Augusta National Golf Course,
no big deal. Just played there. Shot a 103. So basically,
nothing might pass me.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
It doesn't matter what you shoot there. You can have
a bad round, but not a bad day at Augusta.
Speaker 7 (30:12):
No.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
Can I see a shot of Paulie quick?
Speaker 9 (30:15):
Because the shirt he was wearing today, when I flipped
this on and I saw Paulie's shirt, to me, it
looked like he might have been going dancing in a nightclub.
Speaker 6 (30:23):
After the show.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Paulie's on this kick of unbuttoning a button that you
probably don't normally do it when you're married with a
couple of kids. But Paul is going for a look here.
Speaker 7 (30:34):
Yeah, I don't want to go school teacher buttoned up,
but I don't have a middle ground, and I have
no chest hair whatsoever, JJ.
Speaker 9 (30:40):
Yeah, but, I mean, you look like you could head
directly out to Miami after this to a nice night.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Thank you. A little bottle service. Weirdly, I'm taking that
as a compliment.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
What, Todd? I just have a quick question.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Why didn't you ask the question when you saw JJ before?
Speaker 6 (30:57):
You lost speaking privileges, Todd. I mean, I don't.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Know what happened here.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
It's relating to that.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
No.
Speaker 9 (31:02):
I wonder why CBS demoted him and Nance from the
Broncos-Niners game to the Chiefs-Raiders game.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Because that to me is demotion.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Did you get demoted from Broncos-Niners to Chiefs-Raiders?
Speaker 9 (31:14):
I mean, no, it's 3-0 versus 3-0.
Speaker 6 (31:18):
It's a divisional matchup. It's Patrick Mahomes. It's the Raiders.
It's an unbelievable matchup, Todd.
Speaker 9 (31:24):
So don't try and spin this just because you got
yourself into a blender.
Speaker 6 (31:29):
All right? Don't take the rest of us, Tom.
Speaker 9 (31:31):
I think Kevin Harlan and Trent Green should be during
the Raider Chief game, and you should be doing the
Barack O'Neill game with that. I bet you do. I
bet you do. It would have you in a lot
better position right now.
Speaker 7 (31:40):
Yes paul and last thing jj i'll send you one
of these shirts medium of course yeah.
Speaker 9 (31:45):
Thank you thank you i'm more of a dan flashes
guy so i can you can send me some you.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Know do you purposely order shirts a little smaller me yeah.
Speaker 9 (31:55):
I i'm in this crazy in-between spot right now dan
i so like since i'm playing i lost you know
maybe 10 pounds what do you weigh in Right now,
I weigh like 271, 272. I played most of my
career around 290. My last couple of years were more
around 280, 282, and now I'm 270. But I am
directly between an XL and a 2X. And the problem
(32:18):
is 2X is super wide in the body, and so
it's like.
Speaker 6 (32:23):
A lifeboat cover over me.
Speaker 9 (32:25):
And then XL gets a little snug and the arms
start to get a little too tight. So every brand
is different. I'm in a blender every time I'm trying
to order something online.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Maybe we drop 10 pounds.
Speaker 9 (32:37):
I've considered like I'm, I will over time, but I,
it's this weird place to be in where you're like,
I still kind of want to be, you know, muscular
and bigger, but I also know that over time dropping
weight is the right call and, I don't know. I've
already dropped some. I feel slim right now.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Yes, Paul.
Speaker 7 (32:55):
You want to look like a football player, even if
you don't play football.
Speaker 9 (32:59):
Yeah, and I know over time that has to go.
I think you got Joe Thomas on, speaking of a
guy who looks good. Guy looks great. He's got his
beef farm. He's phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yeah, but I can't imagine trying to keep up that weight.
Like how much, you know, the calories.
Speaker 6 (33:14):
But I like food. Like I like food. And so
now I am. I'm dropping.
Speaker 9 (33:18):
I eat so much less food than I used to.
And it is literally difficult to train yourself to do that.
I mean, there's plenty of people that know that. But
like now I only eat three meals a day and
I used to eat six. And so it's just like
there's three. 30 to 45 minute sessions during the day
where I used to be at the kitchen table and
now I'm not.
Speaker 6 (33:39):
It's almost instinct just to walk in there and grab something.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Is the training table always open to players?
Speaker 6 (33:48):
Always as in like nighttime?
Speaker 3 (33:50):
No, no.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
If you go in in the morning or you're there
in the afternoon and then late in the afternoon, there's
always food for you.
Speaker 9 (33:59):
There will be definitely breakfast and lunch times, and then
they take those away. But there are always snacks, peanut
butter and jellies, drinks. There's something you can eat.
Speaker 6 (34:09):
At all times.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yes, Marvin.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Hey, JJ, do you want to keep the weight on
so you can still be the intimidating dad at school?
Speaker 6 (34:16):
Like, you know what?
Speaker 3 (34:17):
JJ, that's their dad.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
He's still a monster. Yes.
Speaker 9 (34:21):
When I go to soccer practice or we hit, you know,
whenever we get into baseball here, which I don't know
if I even want to go down that road with this.
Speaker 6 (34:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (34:30):
Anybody who thinks like they're going to say something you
want to know. Oh, that's the one team that you
really can't you can't argue with that squad.
Speaker 6 (34:38):
They've got somebody over there.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
OK, but if you do, you're with the baseball watching
your son or daughter watch from the outfield. Yeah, that's
what I did, because I never wanted anybody to think
I had any impact on the manager or my son
or any of that. I stayed out in center field
and watched the game.
Speaker 9 (35:00):
I've talked to many former athletes about the coach or kid,
not coach or kid conversation, because I think it's a
very good conversation. And I do think it's extremely important
to have other voices in your kid's life, teaching them skills,
discipline and have them not listen to you. But I also,
on the other hand, sometimes you sit there and you
watch a practice and you're like, you're not instilling anything
(35:21):
in them. You're not instilling discipline. You're not teaching.
Speaker 6 (35:24):
Like, I got to get out there and take control
of this. And that's a battle.
Speaker 9 (35:29):
I also don't think some of the other kids and
parents are ready for it.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
You can't make them cry, okay, if you're going to
go out there and yell at them, all right?
Speaker 6 (35:40):
Are you sure?
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Are you sure? Well, you know, when they're four years
old or five, no. I would say don't make them cry.
We're still three, so I probably should leave that. I
probably should.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
Safe travels, once again, J.J. Watt.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
Where am I going?
Speaker 6 (35:55):
Where am I traveling to?
Speaker 3 (35:57):
I think you're going to Las Vegas for the Raiders
and the Chiefs.
Speaker 6 (36:02):
We all get demoted every once in a while.
Speaker 9 (36:03):
He's going to be doing the Raiders-Chiefs and not Broncos-Niners,
which is obviously the game of the week.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (36:08):
Always a blast, guys. Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
That's J.J.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
Watt.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsportsradio.com. And
within the iHeartRadio app, search FSR to listen live. Let
me bring in the Hall of Famer, Joe Thomas. Make
sure you visit halloffamefarms.com. Check out everything that Joe Thomas,
(36:32):
the owner of the farm, has to offer, including the
Wagyu beef business.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Did you ever miss a snap in the NFL in
your career?
Speaker 6 (36:41):
Never missed a single one, Dan. Ten and a half years.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
How close did you come to missing a snap or
a game?
Speaker 10 (36:49):
The closest I ever came was, I think, 2012. It
was the last game of the season, Week 17 in Pittsburgh.
And I actually got a grade two LCL tear there.
I was able to kind of play through it the
rest of the game, kind of hobble through it. Doctor said, hey,
we'll check it out MRI tomorrow, but I don't think
anything's wrong. I think you're OK. Found out it was
an LCL, but thankfully it was the last game of
(37:09):
the season or I would have missed like four or
five weeks.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah, well, I nearly fainted today giving blood. So I
don't know if that's similar to the feeling you had. Yeah,
I was going down on the kitchen table today.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
Just want to let you know.
Speaker 7 (37:25):
Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I know the feeling. I know what it's like to
be in the trenches. I can relate, Joe.
Speaker 6 (37:31):
Yes, completely.
Speaker 10 (37:32):
You're a very relatable guy there, Dan. You know, the
card's in the mail. Hopefully we don't have to start
a GoFundMe here.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Thank you. Your Cleveland Browns are 2-1.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
And I look at the schedule, and you got Jets, Ravens, Titans.
You could conceivably be 5-2. You win tonight. How are
you looking at the Browns? As far as I don't
want to say a contender, but let's look at them
as competitive.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
How about that? Competitive, not a contender.
Speaker 10 (38:05):
I'm just happy we get to use the competitive word
because that's fun. And that's as far as I'm looking
into the season so far. I think going into the
season as Browns fans. We had hoped that they could
be competitive, they could be better, that Todd Munkin could
come in and kind of install culture and make them fun,
make them fun to watch. And I think that's what
he's done. And I think we're just trying to enjoy
the moment right now. If you win tonight, you're in
(38:26):
first place by yourself in the AFC North. Let's just
enjoy that without looking too far down the line and
spoiling it potentially.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
What is the key to beating Pittsburgh, considering they didn't
have Joey Porter and beat the Bengals, and then now
they trade him, but they do come in as favorites
tonight in Cleveland?
Speaker 10 (38:47):
Yeah, I think it's all about how do you get
to Aaron Rodgers? You know, he's got the quickest release
in the NFL. He's going to pick you apart if
you let him sit back there and you give him
a clean pocket. And that's where it really comes down
to Mason Graham.
Speaker 6 (38:59):
This is his second year. He was their top five
choice last year.
Speaker 10 (39:02):
Didn't have a lot of production, but he's already got
four sacks.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
In the first three weeks of the season. Yeah, he's
a problem.
Speaker 6 (39:08):
Yeah, and you've got.
Speaker 10 (39:09):
To be able to get pressure up the middle on
these quarterbacks that want to throw the ball quickly. And
so for him tonight– You've got to be able to
collapse the pocket, get in Aaron Rodgers' face, and make
him move off of the spot that he wants to
throw from so he has to readjust his feet and
throw off of an unusual platform.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
I like the Browns' nucleus in game plan moving forward.
I'm not sold on Deshaun, but if he plays competitive football,
doesn't make mistakes, okay, I'm fine with that. Then you
make your decision at the end of the year. Pittsburgh
is the one that is really curious to me, Joe.
You just got rid of Joey Porter Jr., who's one
of the best corners in the game.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
You're an old team.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
It feels like they're not sure if they're rebuilding, maybe reloading,
but moving forward with this team, I like the Browns
moving forward more than I do Pittsburgh.
Speaker 10 (40:04):
Well, doesn't it feel like the Pittsburgh Steelers have had
an old team forever? I mean, when I got into
the league, they were an old team, and it just
seems like they've done a great job of building culture,
building structure.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
They reload.
Speaker 6 (40:15):
They've done a good.
Speaker 10 (40:16):
Job developing players, and I think One of the reasons
they haven't won maybe more Super Bowls is because they
really never had to reload and completely tear things down
and start over with high draft choices and a lot
of salary cap space.
Speaker 6 (40:29):
But it's kept them competitive.
Speaker 10 (40:31):
But I think to your point, if you look over
the next five years, who's got the better outlook?
Speaker 6 (40:35):
I would say it's probably the.
Speaker 10 (40:36):
Browns because of their draft capital, because of the resources
that they've saved with salary cap space. And it's not
really clear if the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be
able to just quickly reload and find a new quarterback
next season and to be able to kind of continue
to build or if they are going to have to
go through one of those big, deep rebuilding phases where
they're bad for a several year stretch.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
We're talking to Hall of Famer Joe Thomas. Make sure
you go to Hall of Fame farms dot com. Check
out everything that he has on his farm, including the
Wagyu beef business there.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
We look at.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Quarterbacks, we kind of give them two years. But I'm
curious with other positions, how long do we give an
offensive lineman? And I know the pay is not the same,
but how long until you know somebody can or can't
play that position? Let's look at the other ones. And
any other position you look at and you go, you
(41:28):
might have a two-year window to prove yourself like quarterbacks.
Speaker 10 (41:34):
I think quarterback's the hardest one because it's so much mental.
It's about those quick decisions that you have to make
in a split second, two seconds back there in the pocket.
You've got to consistently make the right decision. So all
the quarterbacks in the league have great arms. They can
throw accurately. But can you do that consistently, whereas– an
offensive lineman, I think when you look at them, you say, okay,
(41:55):
do they have the flexibility, the mobility, the power, the
strength to be able to hit the positions biomechanically that
they need to, to be able to move guys off
the line of scrimmage, to be able to pass that
effectively and consistently. But then the question is, can you
do like those movements over and over again? And so
you watch a guy and can they win against all
(42:16):
the different pass rush moves that they're going to get?
If it's a yes, Then it's, OK, can they steadily
make progress where they're making fewer and fewer mistakes? So
I think it's easier to project alignment because it's physical
traits and then removing the mistakes. Whereas with a quarterback,
it's those mental mistakes.
Speaker 6 (42:31):
And two or three a.
Speaker 10 (42:32):
Game gets you on the bench and more than that
gets you out of the league. So I think it's
a lot more difficult to project. But I think the
timeline is probably the same. Two or three years really
gives you enough of a body of work. to be
able to actually legitimately say, Hey, you can be a
good player in this league, or you're not going to
be in this league much longer. And we got to
find somebody else.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
If you're looking at a tackle, maybe even a guard
as well, more important footwork or your hands.
Speaker 6 (43:00):
Footwork is everything.
Speaker 10 (43:00):
I mean, you can get your hands beat, but if
your feet aren't beat, you can always stay in front
of the guy and you can refit your hands. But,
you know, the footwork is everything. Balance, being able to
have that power, that leverage, get into those positions, move quickly,
move and balance to react to the second and third moves.
Speaker 6 (43:18):
That's everything as an offensive lineman.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Yeah, I'm always fascinated. And we've talked about this before.
Are we developing really good offensive linemen? It feels like
Edge rushers, we are going out of our way and
now coming back maybe to nose tackles as well. But
the college game offensively, as opposed to defensively on developing players,
(43:42):
are we further along defensively for developing you for the
NFL or offensively?
Speaker 10 (43:48):
Well, I think defense is way ahead and I think
it's going to continue to be that way just because
of how you learn the position. When you think about
what makes a great offensive lineman defensively, For the most part,
it's who pass blocks really well, right? And so to
be a good pass blocker, you have to get millions
of situations where you're reacting to what the defense is
doing which means you need millions of reps in practice
(44:09):
in games where you're going against a live pass rusher
that's coming at you and then you have to react
and to be able to adjust your hand placement your
footwork and on defense it's a lot easier to get
those reps against a dummy maybe against your teammate who's
giving you his hands he's showing you exactly what an
offensive lineman can do you can get those full speed
reps because you're dictating what happens in that play and
(44:30):
Whereas in offense, you have to have.
Speaker 6 (44:31):
Somebody to do it to you.
Speaker 10 (44:33):
And because we're just not practicing in pads quite as much,
we don't get as much training camp as we used to.
We're just not getting the reps that it takes to
develop an offensive lineman.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
But are we using the first four games?
Speaker 2 (44:44):
Are all teams using those first four games as the
new preseason?
Speaker 10 (44:48):
Yeah, but that just means then they're getting less reps
throughout the course of a season because you get less
training camp time. And then you're using those first four
games of the season basically as as almost like your
preseason where guys are getting into shape, they're getting those
extra reps. And I mean, I agree with the strategy
because the point is not to develop guys. The point
is to win a Super Bowl and try to be
great in December and January. But I think the things
(45:11):
that get hurt because of that strategy is because then
you don't get those reps in training camp that you
used to to be able to develop guys at position
like an offensive line.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
You started out two and one in twenty eleven.
Speaker 6 (45:26):
Great year.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
You were one and two, four times in your career.
You were oh and three, six times in your career.
Speaker 6 (45:33):
Damn. Why did you have.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
To set it up like that? I'm sorry.
Speaker 6 (45:39):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
How tough is it when you know you're going to lose?
The question is how you're going to lose.
Speaker 4 (45:48):
Well, that's awful because.
Speaker 6 (45:50):
You're like, what am I doing all this work for?
Speaker 10 (45:52):
If I'm going to go out, I just get to
find out how I'm going to lose on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Yeah, but you know you could take care of your
business and you did, but you were going to lose.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
Odds are you were going to lose.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
Not that you went in with a negative mindset, but
after a while, like the losing permeates a locker room.
And I can't help but take it home, I'm going
to guess. So how do you how do you go
about doing that?
Speaker 10 (46:19):
Yeah, I mean, you do take it home. And, you know,
that's why throughout my career, I had a moment in
year 10 where I really was struggling mentally, had to
go see our team psychologist to kind of talk to
somebody because that feeling of, hey, I'm putting in this work,
I'm getting my body ready to win. I'm convincing myself
we're going to go out and win and then you
don't do it. That happens so many times. Like it's,
(46:39):
it's hard to keep fooling yourself, but I think how
you do it and how you get the most out
of yourself is just focusing on the little details and
focusing on me trying to be perfect.
Speaker 6 (46:48):
Like that's my grade sheet.
Speaker 10 (46:49):
I'm not looking at the scoreboard.
Speaker 6 (46:51):
I'm not looking at our records.
Speaker 10 (46:52):
I'm just literally looking at me versus my grade sheet,
almost like you would in a track and field meet, right?
I was a track guy in high school, a couple
of years at Wisconsin shot and disc. And yes, I
wanted our team to score the most points and win
the meet and win big 10, but win nationals. But
like in the end, what can I do to help
my team win? And that's be the best version of myself.
It's me versus that tape measure and shot and disc
(47:14):
and football.
Speaker 4 (47:15):
As a left tackle.
Speaker 10 (47:16):
It's me versus my grade sheet. I need to go
out and be perfect to be able to set the table.
So those other guys, those skill guys have a chance
to go score touchdowns and be great. And then they
can be the ones that hopefully help your team win.
And then you can celebrate with them. But if not, Hey,
I can't get too emotional high or low when you
win or lose. I need to be so laser focused
on doing my job and figuring out how do I
(47:38):
be perfect and just focus on myself alone.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
But you went to see a therapist.
Speaker 6 (47:43):
I did. Did it help? It did.
Speaker 10 (47:47):
Honestly, just talking to somebody, talking through it, not feeling
like I was alone out there, not feeling like I
didn't have anybody to kind of share my gripes with
other than my wife, who heard plenty of them. And
I give her a lot of credit for dealing with
that for 11 years in Cleveland, but just... Honestly, just
the act of talking with somebody was huge for me
(48:07):
and being able to kind of share my feelings of
not having control over the outcome.
Speaker 4 (48:12):
That was really, really big.
Speaker 10 (48:14):
And just a few sessions helped me get that mental
reset that I needed to be able to go back
out there and find a way each and every week
to be the best version of myself.
Speaker 3 (48:24):
Well, you're a winner in my book, Joe.
Speaker 6 (48:26):
Hey, well, thanks, Dan.
Speaker 3 (48:27):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (48:29):
The only one that matters.
Speaker 3 (48:30):
Yes. Thanks for joining us. Enjoy the game tonight. We
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (48:35):
Awesome.
Speaker 10 (48:35):
I'll be having my Hall of Fame beef stick with
the family, watching the game, hoping we can cheer the
Browns on to 3-1 and first place in the AFC North.
Speaker 4 (48:42):
Thanks for having me on, Dan.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Halloffameforms.com. He's Hall of Famer, Joe Thomas.
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