February 24, 2020 • 36 mins
Dave Dameshek is joined in Studio 66 by Tennessee Titans LB Rashaan Evans (and his dog, Batman)! Shek and Rashaan kibitz about Mike Vrabel as head coach (4:35), defeating the Patriots (8:16), Derrick Henry's free agency status (12:09) and what it's like playing against Lamar Jackson (15:30). Then after Rashaan exits, Shek and Spaghetti recap the interview (19:22) and talk about Dak Prescott's future (32:35).
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I think he's like the new era player friendly, a
lot younger. Um. He can he can relate to a
lot of the players, you know a little better than
what Belis cam because you know Belis his age move
is a lot older than some of these guys. D
(00:20):
the DAP Damage Chick Football program available on the Apple
Podcast and at NFL dot com slash DDF. Now here's
your host day Damage It. Well, I guess we should
uh take Rashaan Evans at his word. He seems to
know what he's talking about where head coaches are concerned. Obviously,
(00:41):
he toiled with with Nick Saban down at Bama and
making hay with with them Titans in Nashville, Tennessee. If
you haven't heard about that was quite a twenty nineteen season,
especially come January. Um, and guess who seeded to my
immediate left, wouldn't you know it? Uh? It is the
man himself, the guy who we really enjoyed kidbitts in
(01:01):
with down in Nashville, Tennessee around the draft back in
spring of nineteen. It's Rashaan Evans. How are you man?
I'm doing good, man, glad to be here, Good to
see you here. I'm gonna pick this. I'm gonna don't
don't bother man experien loud and clear, and wait a second,
you're not alone in Studio sixty six. Man, I got
a little friend right here. This this basically, this is
my first son. This is my first I call him
(01:24):
Batman for right now. I'm still trying to figure out
his personality to see if the name sticks. But he's
up on the table here, he's he's very eager to
see what's going on right now. He's he's I think
I think he took a nap just earlier, so he
got a lot of energy right now. All right, what
kind of dog is he? He's a cane corso. So
they get pretty big. They get up to buy one,
(01:46):
you know. So yeah, he's a big he pretty he's
gonna be pretty bigger than some place kickers. Oh no, hey,
so it's uh is doggie Here Batman makes his way
around the thing. I'm gonna vote this is a um uh,
maybe a hot take. I would rather that Batman go
number two, the number one I had to choose, i'd
(02:07):
because two we can. I mean, it'll stink to join
up a little bit. But but the one like you know,
that's that's gonna be a mess. And I don't I
don't want to be responsible for cleaning that up. Yet
he's got a full afternoon. Um, don't you jump off now, Batman?
You think he could flower already be cool man, But
even the real Batman can't fly unless he got on
(02:29):
his his his bat wings. Anyhow, let's talk to you,
Rashan Evans, and like I say, an eventful I guess
what nine ten months since last week kibbits over there
in Nashville, Tennessee and had a had a grand time.
And uh, I guess let's talk about January first of all.
And um, it really began in the wild card round
(02:51):
with the with the tremendous upset in Foxboro. And we're
talking about Rabel. What does that guy because that was
what a lot of people were talking about before that game,
like Ray Bowl, it's immune to the intimidation that Balichik
imposes on most head coaches. What what did Rabel have
any special insights about, like here's what we need to
do to witness I just you know, like you said,
(03:12):
I think he is immune to that. I mean, he
he's one of those guys where you know he's gonna
take something like that, that game, that type of game,
He's gonna take it personal, like this is this is
this is the type of game you leave you know
everything on the field. Um, you know they said whatever
they said about your mother, about your father, whatever it
is about your family. If you find stuff like that,
that kind of gets you to the point where you're like,
(03:33):
you're ready to run through a wall. So um, I
mean the fact that he's able to do that, man,
I think that's that's very unique too, because you know,
it's it's very hard to get guys to want to
play for you, and I feel like he's done that
these past two years. Um, you know, even even the
fact that when he first came in his first year
and we were still trying to figure out, you know,
our true identity as a team. And I feel like
(03:53):
we we've started doing that now this year, and you know,
he's he's led every bit of that way. It's interesting
too that, uh, the Titans ownership, you don't hear them
get complimenting the same way that Andy Reid gets complimented
for I listen the Alex Smith. Alex Smith was fine,
he had that tighten that Chiefs team going to the
playoffs and everything else, and they're like, yeah, good, but
(04:16):
my home's better. Same thing is Jim Harball way back
Wednesday and Alex Smith good, Colin Kaepernick better. And that's
the same sort of dynamic that went on in Tennessee
a couple of years ago. You're a playoff team with
Malarkey and they're like, good, let's get even better. They
as you look back on that, where you like, what
do what do they do? And or this is this
(04:36):
feels like the right move, man, it feels like the
right move ever, mean ever since I got picked. Uh,
you know, I just remember my first encounter with you
know very well. Uh. The first encounter was when he
first put on the pad and we we went one
on one with you this so you can kind of
tell just how our relationship want. Obviously I want if
I didn't win, I'll probably win. Well that's an interesting
(04:58):
choice because to me calculate like win, but I have
to know I have no other choice to win. But
he's one of those guys like he likes tough guys.
He likes guys that you know, that one that love
to play football, the aggressive that or physical, because that's it.
That's his personality. So that's how kind of how we
kind of jelled, you know, as far as you know,
player to coach. Both both of us are physical guys.
(05:20):
We were very very aggressive a couple of times. I mean,
my firstman year. We don't we don't wrestle with each other.
So I mean, it's you know, it's a very unique
relationship I had when a man, and it's been amazing
too to get coached by. But it's interesting though that
the calculation is like, I can't whip him too bad
because it's still the head exactly. I have to leave
him with his dignity, right, Yeah, no doubt. I mean,
(05:42):
and that be honest with you. At that point is
in that in that setting when we were going one
on one with each other, I hadn't I was not
even thinking about that. I was trying to literally squashing
demolishment from all of the coaches. But you gotta think
he's a big guy too. He played in the league.
I mean, so you're not gonna be able to do that.
But you know, uh, you know, this is the fact
that I was able to go one on one with him,
(06:04):
was able to show my skills set um, was able
to you know, be able to have that opportunity, to
be able to showcase my ability in front of him. Uh.
You know that that's the reason why I'm here today. Um.
And then another thing that he did, or the coaching
staff and uh and beyond did was pull the trigger
in October and say, again, Mariota is good. Tannehill gives
(06:25):
us a chance to maybe be even better. Um. At
what point did you guys start to feel it, like,
you know what, we're legitimate playoff contenders here man. Uh.
To be honesty, it kind of didn't even rain until
we got into the playoffs. Like we really weren't even
thinking about it. It was more of like we knew
(06:47):
we had to win as many games as possible and
as consistently as possible as we can because we started
out Tune four. Um, you know at that point, everybody's
thinking that, you know, you're not even gonna make the playoffs.
You started tune for like that. So we were able
to change that stuff around, change that our minds. That changed,
just you know, the vibe around the organization. You know,
when you lose games, everybody from the owner to the
(07:11):
gender that feels bad. Like everybody just in a funk.
But when everybody wins, you know, the atmosphere is totally different.
People want to get wake up in the morning, come
come to work and do those things. So um, even
from that, man, I just feel like, you know, from
that two and forward to being in the playoffs, it
was it was like a blur. It was more of
us trying to figure out what what we needed in
(07:33):
order to you know, win those close games because a
lot of those games were really close. Was there a
feeling though that it was the guy at the trigger
that it was Mario the versus Tannehill or it seemed
to me that I hate to pat myself on the back,
but Spaghetti confirmed for me. I think I might even
have told you this Rashane Evans and when we kid
it's I thought the move was Tannehill, and I thought
(07:54):
that he was a punchline a little bit because of
the Miami stuff, but he was a potential savior if
in the right situation. And then once those young receivers
that you guys gotta you can just wait till A J.
Brown really hits his stride, that that offense is gonna
be scary and uh, and so it was, so then
you get in there, you go up to Foxborough. Was
there a moment, you know, when you're warming up out
(08:17):
there an hour, hour and a half before the game.
There during the game at any point where like there's
Bill Belichick over there and that's whoa, that's Tom Brady
about the eight feet across the line of script from me,
do you have those moments or you too focused? And
I don't have no, none of those moments beyond well,
I kind of I kind of had a little bit
of that moment when I first played, uh Tom Brady
(08:38):
my rookie season, uh, and we were able to come
out with a win. But you know, from that point on,
it was more of like like I want I want
to I wanted in his career. I want to destroy
this situation. I don't even want to be able for
them to be whenever we played. I don't even wanted
to think that, you know it's gonna be a complete blowout.
I want them to actually have respect, you know, for
(09:02):
for the Tennessee Times. But you know, I knew that
was something that had to be earned. It is it
did have that field by the fourth quarter, was like,
weren't the Titans aren't just gonna beat the Patriots here
and they're breaking they're breaking their spirit. Like I say
about for Able, you didn't take his dignity and did
have a vibe of like man, they just they just
trucked them. And specifically it was Derrick Henry, who, by
(09:23):
the way, you you matriculated with down there in Tuscaloosa.
Do you agree with my opinion on this. I've told
him to his face, you know, because because you know,
I don't drive people, and I'm not I'm not like that.
That's not my way to do that. I told Derrick
Henry that he underachieved in high school because he got
tackled a couple of times that whoever tackled that guy?
(09:44):
Can you imagine me at sixteen trying to tackle dey point?
Because I mean, if you look at if you put
his picture his high school pitch and you play his
pitching now almost identical, it's really weird to know a
high school player to be that big, that fast, that
strong at that point and still be able to not
only you know, gradually get better, but just surpassed all
(10:06):
of the expectations you would think that you would have
at that point, because I mean, he's on almost every level.
He's been elite. He's broke the high school record in
high school, he went to college when the high he's
been he's been in the NFL. Now he's the leading
Russia h this past season. So it's kind of like,
you know, this this guy, the sky's the limit for
(10:26):
him how great he can be. And I feel like
he's just getting started. I feel like he's now feeling
those three or four years that he's had. I feel
like now he's really truly getting that recognition that I
think he's so long for, for the for the for
for the longest, I didn't think I'll tell you again, no, job,
I didn't think he was going to be a great
NFL runner because I thought it took him half a
(10:48):
step together up to speed. Saw that from the outside
looking in, I saw from I saw how that could
be the case just because of you know, he had
for him being a high mitrophor winner and going to
the NFL. Your expectations are very high. You expect him
to be able to perform at that level, if not better, immediately.
(11:09):
So I could definitely see how that could be the case.
And but at the same time, me looking from the
from the inside, looking out of You know, there's so
many things that play into how a guy performed. You
gotta really look at you know, the you know, the
schemes that he's in. You gotta look at how how
the relationship between him and the coaches, how how his
(11:31):
environment has a lot to do with a lot of
those things. And finally, I feel like it all came together. Man,
when Raves Raves came in. Raves was able to you know,
bring kind of kind of bring that monster back out
of him, you know from Bama. And you know when
that monster came out you saw a couple of times,
even from you know, the year before, you saw a
couple of times what he could do. You saw from
(11:52):
the Jaguars game, how how dominant he could be. And
then now you see from this past year what exactly
what it looks like when it comes altogether. So um,
you know, just the fact that he's had this year,
I feel like he can use this momentum going into
the next year, like I know he will. And do
you think it goes Tannehill gets tagged and Henry gets
(12:12):
long term or vice versus at how you I mean,
I don't know if Vrable and Company or or asking
Evans for his insight. Yeah, like it like it would matter.
I mean, I don't make any of the decisions, but
in my in my you know, fantasy wheld, I would
I would definitely be honest, I'm biased. Man. I gotta
go with my guy first. You gotta pay him first,
going going and give him what, get what he deserves,
(12:33):
and you get then you get Sandy here, you get
those two, those two back there. Everything else is having
lenning itself. Last thing for you because you're a busy man.
That they do and TV and all that um is
Baltimore Ravens. My suspicion is what tell you? You tell
me you know better than I do with how you
just shut that down? Was it the second look at it?
(12:54):
Was it Simmons and Casey? Is that the Is that
the key detail that you guys had, those two guys
right in the middle there, or was it Evans or
what you guys were doing collectively, or is it something
that everybody's gonna be able to look at the tape
and now do that in and slow down that Raven's office.
It's kind of a combination of it all. Uh, I
(13:16):
would say more, it's kind of like sixty. The sixty
is more of just the fact that you know, you
gotta have those those those guys that you know that
want to get to the ball, that want to you know,
go full out every player order to get the job done.
Because you know, you got guys that are getting paid
a lot of money. Sometimes you know, they know that
if they can get a sackle, they can get a tackle,
you know, get that stat line up, they're good, you
(13:39):
know what I'm saying. So I feel like just the
guys are on that team won't really really don't really
care about that stuff. Man. I mean to be honest
with some of the guys are on the team that
should be you know, the publicize more. You know, it's
just just the mindset of our team. I feel like
that's the amazing thing and the blessing in itself, because
you've got guys that truly don't even really care about
(13:59):
being recognized. That's the trick, right you can get a
coach create that in the lockers and nobody that's what
they all say, nobody cares. I mean, we've we've been
expected to go with three and thirteen. At one point
a guy said, I forgot his name, but um, so
in that in that seven kind of builds more of
a chemistry for guys that could become closer now, like
we against it, it's us against the world. Everybody that
(14:22):
thinks that that where's that Tiene Jersey thinks that were mediocre?
You know, not the fact that we're playing the league
and that we get paid just as much as some
of these other guys in the league as well, but
just the fact that we won the Tennessee Jersey. So
why don't we go out there and change that? That's
there is There's not a ton of history after Steve McNair.
There's been some good teams and everything, but yeah, you're
right there that I always laugh at the last quarter century,
(14:44):
Like no one outside this locker room believes in us.
Like when the Patriots say, it's like people believe in you,
but you're the Titans, you know, after Thanksgiving of nobody
believes body but nobody believed that it. But it's the
game of football. We we love stuff like that. It
gives a different edge and it definitely makes the game
a lot funner now because now you're like, Okay, if
(15:07):
they feel this way, and I know that I can
change that, change that narrative to the point where I
can make you a believer. That's that's what you live for.
You live to be able to make those people that
that said all those things about you, to be able
to eat the words. And I feel like a lot
of times and a lot of those things that they said,
we we let them meet. So just to go back
(15:28):
with the forty on on on Lamar Jackson and the Ravens,
I feel like Lamar Jackson is definitely one of those
elite quarterbacks in the league. I definitely would say just
from his feet along, um, it's probably one of the
best I've seen on film my opinion, uh, you know,
in the in the past decade, just just on the
fact of its you know, he has probably one of
(15:50):
the most unique abilities as a quarterback because he I
feel like he's more athletic running than any other running
back I've seen. And he never I'm on up, he never.
He knows exactly when to go down, how he wants
you to hear him, and how he wants to hit
you as far as it's moves and all that. So, um,
you know, a guy like that a good a good thing.
(16:12):
That very was telling me, he was telling me about uh,
you know, keeping him contained. You can keep him contained
and not worried so much about tackling him one on
one as collectively as a defense, worried about him going
sideline the sideline, keep him so grass faster than anybody
else in the league. So if you can keep him
(16:32):
from eating up those stripes, um, you know, it's it's
it's you know, it's very unique to see a guy
that fast and that with that type ability, you know,
in real live, like real life situation. I didn't realize
how fast he was until I got up on him,
and then you're like, Okay, the hype is real. That
is amazing. A decade ago, talking some of those to
(16:54):
those Steelers dbs after Super Bowl forty, they're like, I
knew Aaron Rodgers had a big arm. I didn't until
I was on the field, Like, whoa that ball got
buy me more quick? Must have been like that in
the NFC title game here for you guys, Actually you
took down that my Homes team. Hey look, man, I
would say in that in that situation. Man, it's funny
how you win the first game and you come into
(17:14):
the second game you lose it when it matters, But
at the same time, and you gotta give respect when
respect is due. Um, Patrick mahomes Is, you know, he's
every bit of what people hype him up to be.
He's he's a hell of a quarterback. Um. You know,
I could be biased and be like, oh, there was
some things that we could have we could have did
to stop that, you know, to stop the game and
(17:35):
make it a different situation where we were up and
they scored. So, I mean you can say all those
things back at the same time. Man. I mean, those guys,
they they definitely came to play that game. Man. You know,
it was a blessing and an amazing experience for me
to be able to, you know, have that experience. I
know what it feels like to win. I know what
it feels like to lose. I know it feels like
being a championship. So I'm gonna take every bit of
(17:57):
that into next year to know that. You know, it's
not about how you started, definitely how you finish. Me.
If you understand that, you know everything else, everything else
it comes in. You learned that. Now, Yeah, now you guys, Yeah,
you guys are gonna be It's gonna be hard to
break your will in any future November and December after
this experience, Oh man, I could kid, it's with you
for another hour, but you go do fancy TV stuff
(18:20):
in the meantime. It was really fun watching me in January. Uh,
come on you personally and uh and watching the teammaker
to run after we got the kidpits with you back
there in Nashville. Happy for you and uh. And Batman
here right. That means he's comfortable, all right, go ahead
there with Sean Evans. And by the way, Batman or
iron Man, who would win in a fight. I'm gonna
(18:43):
be honest with you, I think a man because it
just because of all the technical stuff, how would you
get through that? But the thing about I would say,
as far as everybody else, and I feel like everybody
else loves Batman more than they do are men to
be honest with you, just because he's more of a
like Batman, you know what. I'm both rich smart, both
risk smart guys. I mean, so it's kind of kind
(19:04):
of hard not to light both of them. But I
say Batman got the Rashaan Evans everybody there he goes,
he said it all um, thanks for the time as always,
And and Batman yeah, good luck with the cross country flight.
That well, there he goes Rashaan Evans. He still is
(19:25):
one of my favorites. That was too fast of spaghetti,
you know, yeah, but you hit a lot of topics.
You'd Rabel, Brady Derrick, Henry Tannehill. My home was large
act and you gotta get everything. And I kept on Kibbittson,
you know well, and in fact spaghetta spaghetti you can
confirm as he was walking in. I knew we didn't
have a ton of time, so I hit as many
subjects as I possibly could with it. One is, if
(19:47):
you are a d d FP listener, you may recall
that we visited or Evans and I visited a Zaxby's
in Nashville, and there was a cook behind the counter
and he went wild. Every buddy went wild to see
Rashaan Evans. He's we're all Titans fans in Nashville, Tennessee,
of course, but especially a guy named Espn behind the counter,
(20:08):
and he was shouting stuff at Evans, and Evans was
yelling back to him and um. At some point Rashan said,
I'll get your tickets for a game. I can tell
you're a legit fan, and I asked him, did you
ever hear from ESPN again? And he said he did
and he did get ESPN tickets. What a great guy,
Rashaan Evans. He's an awesome guy. Not even shocking the
least that he got in the tickets. And that guy
was a really hardcore fan. It was. It was cool
(20:30):
to see him light up when he came into like
the back area of the kitchen. He was, you know,
just talking with Rashaan and just showing how much like
he's This guy's been a lifelong uh Titans fans. So
really good job at Rashwan and get into a game
this year and Odsley, it was probably a great season
to go see. You know, it was a really good
Titans team. So hopefully building something special on there in Nashville.
I do suspect or you hope that you just sounded
(20:51):
like you're given a p R. Because I know because
I've been saying this is the theme of me this
whole year and talking about the the best story of
the season, and I always said the Titans are one
of the best stories because you switched the quarterback. They
have a likable team, ables a likable guy as a coach,
and I like when there's new teams involved instead of
the old guard, get rid of the old guard, bringing
the new guard. I'm all four the Titans being one
(21:12):
of the powerhouses. But speaking of old new, do you
like their old white hat uniforms or do you like
the Navy? I like the current I like the currents.
They they are one of the few teams that have
updated and made their jersey more modern. Uh And I
think that one they have right now is really good.
I like all variations of it. Um. I know that
the Buccaneers today put out a little teaser video, so
(21:33):
we'll see, you know what, looks like they're gonna be
red I think they're gonna go back to the the
pewter and red um with maybe a cream skills and
everybody want the cream sickle. But what the what? The Titans,
though they're they have a lot of sword themes. They're
like mythology based kind of team name and their swords.
But why don't the pants stripes? Why aren't they would't
(21:55):
the old charges that had the bolt, Yeah, it should
have been a sword on the pants. It's underrated. What's
under rated at the Titans jerseys too, is that they
used two different shades of blue, and that's I can't
think on the team on the top of my head
on the same uniform that uses it that I know
the charge on our argonauts right and similar fashion to
that XFL one of those teams has two shades of green,
(22:15):
which is a bold stroke. It doesn't exactly work, but
I admire the Well, I don't love it. I don't
love it. Spaghetti you, oh well, before I ask you
about your weekend. Um. One other thing I asked Rashan
about that football fans may care about is he was
talking about Mike Rabel being fiery like a player, trash talker. Um,
as he was. As he was getting in the chair,
(22:37):
I said, so, did Rabel say anything before the game,
any trash talk on Belichick? He said, he's a trash talker,
that's what he does, and said it was personal for him,
so it was personal for us. So that's what he
That's what he had to say about the Belichick stuff.
He didn't go into any specific detail, although that would
have been fun I mean, that old man, that would
have been funny. How many times was Rabel caught in
(22:59):
the sideline linds like cursing at an opponent, opposing player
or coach, whatever the guy. You could tell that the
he has not fully transitioned from like a player to
a strictly just a coach. Now he still has the
player mentality on that field and it's just like as
fared up as any guy. So I definitely will believe
what Rashaan Evans says. And I'm sure that his speeches
were you know, they probably can't be uh replicated on
(23:20):
this podcast, you know what, I'll say this and uh
as a as a little quick um analogy um and
and also a muzzle tov to Adam Carolla and the
Adam Carolla Show now on the at the time of
this recording, eleven year anniversary of podcasting really one of them,
one of the the forefathers of the podcasting medium that
(23:43):
everybody is in on now. I think there are seven
people in the continental US that don't currently participate on
a podcast one place or the other. But Corolla was
was one of the very first, if not the first,
to really break big in that and like I say,
eleventh anniversary of that, and we're still um uh still
enjoy uh yapping with him on Good Sports, which plays
(24:06):
on the atom Corolla Show most days and UM. But
you know, he always said that program directors, you know, uncreative.
People always say like when he when Corolla was young
or not when he wasn't young, when he was breaking
on UM his old show with Dr Drew Love line,
that the program directors would get in his ear and
(24:28):
they thought they were being creative by saying, like, you
gotta speak like the kids speak so that you're relatable.
And Corolla was wise enough to say, no, well, I
don't care if I talk like them. They will see
through that what they want is authenticity. It doesn't make
a difference what age you are. It matters if you're authentic,
and people will pick up on that at any age.
(24:50):
And I think that's exactly right. I think that's the
trick with with stuff like you know, yapping into a
microphone like Corolla but head coach too, right. I think
that Andy Reid wins the Super Bowl, he's certainly not
relatable as like, hey, yeah, let's line up and go
across from each other. Rashaan Evans. I don't think any
Reid's doing that anytime soon. But you can tell the
(25:10):
players love him because he seems to be his authentic
self to those guys that Rabel is himself. It would
seem that's the comment that Rashaun made the last year
in Nashville. It's actually when he said that Rabel is
like the new age Belichick Saban guy because he has
the same kind of mentality as them, but he's a
bit younger and he relates to them more. And I
think with players that goes along what you want to
(25:31):
not only a players coach um, you know, not just
a guy pad in your back, but a guy you
could almost relate to and you guys, a guy that
you trust because he did play in the league. Uh So, yeah,
you could be the Andy Reid Bill Belichick type. That's
a you know, a super smart, great play caller. You know,
you know every scheme and you could put the guy's
in decision to win every week. But I think a
lot of players in this league now, especially these guys
who were born and that you think about him the
(25:52):
two thousands, they wanted a guy that is more, uh
you know, closer to them in age and they could
trust because I think players me like and more if
the guy didn't play the league. It was a naming.
I kind of agree with that and Andy Reid is
an older guy, and Pete Carroll is an older guy,
and Bill Belichick is an older guy, And that what
I've picked up. And nobody directly, for the record, nobody
(26:13):
ever has sat in this studio or in the green
room one on one with me. Just y happened with
no microphones on. No players ever said, oh, it's miserable
in in Fox bro It's it's such an unfun thing.
But you do get the vibe of the rules, and
you know, as long as you leave all the nonsense
at the door when you get to the facility and
focus on football, that that trade off is like, Yeah,
(26:34):
we're gonna be in contention to win the Super Bowl
if we do this. But you do get a whiff
of it's not super fun every day there. You do
get that sense when you talk to the Titans about
Rabel and the Chiefs about Andy Reid, and the Seahawks
about Pete Carroll, that it's a more fun atmosphere. And
in the age of free agency, you know, I wonder
(26:55):
how these next couple of months are gonna go. And
you know, for for the record, Tom Brady has still
yet to commit to the Patriots, although I do still
think he winds up that back here. He's the big
chip Ben Roethlisberger. As I'm sure you saw over the weekend,
he threw went very nice and easy. He threw it.
That's all right. You know what though, I I the
all of Steelers fans across the world went wild for it,
(27:18):
just went wild for it, because that is the ticket
for them to be a legit Super Bowl contender in
twenties for Roethlisberger. And without it, we haven't go back
and listen to our last podcast. In fact, if you
want clarification, all the hot takes out there from some
national voices are a little weird, the weird assertions and
assumptions being made about what the Steelers want, what Roethlisberger
(27:39):
is gonna do. But Spaghetti, I took the gang to
Momo Is in Tow Momo and Pop Opera in Town,
and uh so I took them and all four kids
to Disneyland and we went around Star Wars and we
did the whole thing. It was just dynamite. But on
the way down there we were we were just you know,
yapping about this that and the other, and about work
(28:01):
and the name Eddie Spaghetti came up, and both both
my parents said that you'll you'll be surprised to learn
that for some reason, your performance is somehow related to me.
You know, like Eddie Spaghetti is really good, You've really
done a good job with him. Yeah, I mean that's
my that's my responsibility that you that you do a
good job. I have nothing to do with your performance.
(28:21):
But but anyway, muzzletov on that professional note from from Momo.
But more importantly, she said, it looks like his girlfriend
is beautiful. Is she Is she really that beautiful in person?
Because she certainly looks to be. And I said, she's
a she's very attractive, and he said, yeah, because she
because you know, Eddie's I mean, Eddie's nice looking, but
(28:43):
I mean she's really beautiful. How does that compliment? It's
a no, it's a great comment. And I would agree
that you're not especially attractive, but I definitely disagree with that.
I write currently, I've I've been better, in better shape,
But you know, you're attractive, so at your peak, so
you feel at your peak for the long haul that
(29:06):
you two are a good match. You guys like I mean,
like just pure to the just to the eyeball. Yeah,
I'm not personal. I'm just talking about like it's like
when you and jay To walk down the street together
and stranger see you go by because you've played this game,
I'm sure with your friends, like, what's what's she doing
with that lump? With with that lump? You know that
(29:27):
kind of a guy, you feel? What do you think
people say when you and jay To walk down the street?
At my best, I think of people's sauce. There we go,
it makes sense. It's actually totally Do you really think
that I actually do all right? I'm gonna have to
take a poll on that now around the office at least.
I don't know. I'm gonna not today when we're in
sweats and like, you know, I just came off an airplane,
(29:47):
but in the past, or if I dressed up for
an occasion, you know, fix up the hair. I'm gonna
ask jayd to this. But this one might hurt though
a little bit, because she, if she has to confront reality,
she might be like, you know what, Momo asks a
good question. You know, maybe maybe I could do better?
Is that a worry for you know? I'm pretty confident, Okay,
(30:09):
I think you know the personality and my humor, my
uh you know smart. Wow. Wait, personality, humor and smart.
You got a lot going for you, I think so. Um,
how was you went off to Florida with your parents?
How were they? It was great? It was great to
get back down there. Haven't been in like six years
since my college spring break and to just you know,
(30:30):
be on the water. Did the main difference Florida looks
like California in the beach area, but the differences of
the humidity and it's way hotter down there. Unfortunately there's
a lot of rain. But but the rain comes and goes.
You're sitting a you know, a tiki bar, having some
you know, some fruit drinks, and it's it's very fun
to be down there. Um. And the last thing is
did you think it was appropriate for me to bring
(30:51):
the dog? For the dog to sit on the council
on the on the table here. We just broke fun.
It's history. That was the first time I think a
dog has ever been on the can and any you know,
NFL media in the NFL studios here in culver So,
I think we it's it's a historic day for us. Hey,
Mina Kim springs her dog Lenny her show, and look
how well she's doing. So maybe we can bask and
(31:12):
that reflected it's pretty funny too that Rashaan traveled with
his his dogs. He said, it's fairly new, so I
guess he has to be with the dog and train
it and uh so, yeah, he's just walking around the
campus today. I just realized something. Though he named it Batman,
shouldn't he have named it like Bruce Wayne. Isn't that
a better name for a dog, Bruce Bruce Wayne. I
think if you name a dog to names, I think
(31:33):
it's really really funny. Bruce Wayne, like a full name,
Bruce Wayne is hilarious. I always thought it would be
funny to name a dog lefty, you know, yeah, because
you don't know if he's a lefty art because he
because he isn't right, you know. Wouldn't that be funds? Okay?
If I got a dog, my dogs would na him
Hank for Hendrik Lonquist, Oh okay, not for handsome Hank.
That I mean that too. I didn't think about that.
(31:54):
Congratulations on Chris Cryers are going to be good in
two five years. Congratulations is on that in advance. I
think they're gonna be ready very soon. That's the reason
why they kept him um. All right. Well, in the meantime,
Marlow and hevn Rodriguez. In the meantime, color me excited
for for the postseason in the NHL this year. Oh,
(32:15):
it's gonna be great. I know everybody's getting geared up
for Lakers and Clips and Nugs and Bucks and all that,
But NHL is gonna be a lot of fun too,
all right. Oh. The last thing is uh football related
note is Dak Prescott and his agent have not spoken
to Steven Jones and Company since the start of the season. Today,
Steven Jones said they have not spoken to Dak's agents
(32:37):
since September. So this looks like to be a power
play from the Cowboys to get him signed, to sign
that tag. Do you really think that that Dak, Because
if Dak Prescott moves, that's the thing. I mean, like
Tom Brady moves to Dallas and to any place with
it where there would be a perceived incumbent like Dak,
that's what's really going to set the craziness off. The
dominoes are gonna start moving fast and furious. If Dak
(32:59):
is not there guy Um for next year, then then
who knows what I mean, where's Dak gonna wind up that?
I mean maybe New England. I guess the place for
him is, of course, for a team that does not
they should not be wasting a year to get up
to speed with a quarterback. Is the aforementioned where I've
(33:21):
put Tom Brady any number of times already, the Los
Angeles charge that makes so much sense in the world, right,
doesn't that if Dak was available, Da automatically is the
best quarterback on the market, better than Cam, better than
Rivers Brady. Whoever, that's a strong statement for this Spagett's
Is it that strong? Who elses the competition? I mean,
I guess you make it well in terms the name brand,
(33:42):
right will be expensive. But he's young, he's he had
a great season. I mean, he's uh. I agree with you,
But I bet you there's something you could find somebody
who would say I'd rather have Teddy b at the end.
I bet you could find not not pundits, but you
could find a head coach out there would say I'd
rather have Teddy Bridgewater than Dak Prescott. I don't because
he's just he's nice and safe. But Doc is so
(34:03):
versatile and Dak you know, he played well. I guess
this year wasn't that tough. But I mean, if he
goes to a team like the Charges, he goes to
a team like even the Bears, which I'm still high
on because their defense and they're running backs, if he
goes to a team like the Raiders, I think if
Dak is like one of those teams that have pieces
and have enough cap space or have enough traffics to
to move forward and and compete, I mean, I'll be
(34:24):
happy the Giant Spinnings out of the NFC East, I
can tell you that. But I mean, whatever team he
joins like there, he's going to improve them. There's nowhere
around it. It's weird. Also, the news about Derek Carr
is that he's a good fit for but he's a
really good fit for the Bears. Bears would be interested
in Derek Carr and what would that mean? And with
Derek then I assume sign off on being part of
(34:45):
a competition. Um. The assumption that we always hear from
David Carr isay is that he's going back or not
going back, But he is moving from the East Bay
of California to uh to Las Vegas along with Gruden.
But we'll see what happens there and again if Tom
eighty or Dak moves to one of those open positions,
I mean cam is out there. Oh, this is gonna
(35:05):
be such a fun, that a fun what like h
five weeks we have coming up here, because what's today?
It's like so yes, so we're you know, to less
than three weeks away from the start of uh um
legal tampering, one of the great one of the great
terms in all sports in the twenty one century. All right,
so that's it great thanks to Rashan Evans. By the way,
(35:27):
go back and listen to I mentioned podcasts last week.
Go listen to our one with Kyle Long. I thought
that was great. We we had a little more time
with Kyle Um and I got to talk about the
state of the Bears as we transition from twenty nineteen
into twenty Mitchell Drabinsky all that stuff, and Kyle, like
his brother Chris, one of the great delights in pro
football too. So so do yourself a favor and the
(35:50):
d d f P a solid and go and listen
to that one comment rate all that jazz and uh
we'll talk with you later. In the week. I don't
know Matt money Smith. He's in Indian Apple List this
week right. Maybe we'll see if we can check in
with him at some point. I don't know. I have
a devil may care attitude. If you can't tell um,
we'll see what happens, and we hope you'll check it
(36:11):
out one way or the other. Until then, thanks so much,
football fans, it's been a thin slice of heaven.
I think he's like the new era player friendly, a
lot younger. Um. He can he can relate to a
lot of the players, you know a little better than
what Belis cam because you know Belis his age move
is a lot older than some of these guys. D
(00:20):
the DAP Damage Chick Football program available on the Apple
Podcast and at NFL dot com slash DDF. Now here's
your host day Damage It. Well, I guess we should
uh take Rashaan Evans at his word. He seems to
know what he's talking about where head coaches are concerned. Obviously,
(00:41):
he toiled with with Nick Saban down at Bama and
making hay with with them Titans in Nashville, Tennessee. If
you haven't heard about that was quite a twenty nineteen season,
especially come January. Um, and guess who seeded to my
immediate left, wouldn't you know it? Uh? It is the
man himself, the guy who we really enjoyed kidbitts in
(01:01):
with down in Nashville, Tennessee around the draft back in
spring of nineteen. It's Rashaan Evans. How are you man?
I'm doing good, man, glad to be here, Good to
see you here. I'm gonna pick this. I'm gonna don't
don't bother man experien loud and clear, and wait a second,
you're not alone in Studio sixty six. Man, I got
a little friend right here. This this basically, this is
my first son. This is my first I call him
(01:24):
Batman for right now. I'm still trying to figure out
his personality to see if the name sticks. But he's
up on the table here, he's he's very eager to
see what's going on right now. He's he's I think
I think he took a nap just earlier, so he
got a lot of energy right now. All right, what
kind of dog is he? He's a cane corso. So
they get pretty big. They get up to buy one,
(01:46):
you know. So yeah, he's a big he pretty he's
gonna be pretty bigger than some place kickers. Oh no, hey,
so it's uh is doggie Here Batman makes his way
around the thing. I'm gonna vote this is a um uh,
maybe a hot take. I would rather that Batman go
number two, the number one I had to choose, i'd
(02:07):
because two we can. I mean, it'll stink to join
up a little bit. But but the one like you know,
that's that's gonna be a mess. And I don't I
don't want to be responsible for cleaning that up. Yet
he's got a full afternoon. Um, don't you jump off now, Batman?
You think he could flower already be cool man, But
even the real Batman can't fly unless he got on
(02:29):
his his his bat wings. Anyhow, let's talk to you,
Rashan Evans, and like I say, an eventful I guess
what nine ten months since last week kibbits over there
in Nashville, Tennessee and had a had a grand time.
And uh, I guess let's talk about January first of all.
And um, it really began in the wild card round
(02:51):
with the with the tremendous upset in Foxboro. And we're
talking about Rabel. What does that guy because that was
what a lot of people were talking about before that game,
like Ray Bowl, it's immune to the intimidation that Balichik
imposes on most head coaches. What what did Rabel have
any special insights about, like here's what we need to
do to witness I just you know, like you said,
(03:12):
I think he is immune to that. I mean, he
he's one of those guys where you know he's gonna
take something like that, that game, that type of game,
He's gonna take it personal, like this is this is
this is the type of game you leave you know
everything on the field. Um, you know they said whatever
they said about your mother, about your father, whatever it
is about your family. If you find stuff like that,
that kind of gets you to the point where you're like,
(03:33):
you're ready to run through a wall. So um, I
mean the fact that he's able to do that, man,
I think that's that's very unique too, because you know,
it's it's very hard to get guys to want to
play for you, and I feel like he's done that
these past two years. Um, you know, even even the
fact that when he first came in his first year
and we were still trying to figure out, you know,
our true identity as a team. And I feel like
(03:53):
we we've started doing that now this year, and you know,
he's he's led every bit of that way. It's interesting
too that, uh, the Titans ownership, you don't hear them
get complimenting the same way that Andy Reid gets complimented
for I listen the Alex Smith. Alex Smith was fine,
he had that tighten that Chiefs team going to the
playoffs and everything else, and they're like, yeah, good, but
(04:16):
my home's better. Same thing is Jim Harball way back
Wednesday and Alex Smith good, Colin Kaepernick better. And that's
the same sort of dynamic that went on in Tennessee
a couple of years ago. You're a playoff team with
Malarkey and they're like, good, let's get even better. They
as you look back on that, where you like, what
do what do they do? And or this is this
(04:36):
feels like the right move, man, it feels like the
right move ever, mean ever since I got picked. Uh,
you know, I just remember my first encounter with you
know very well. Uh. The first encounter was when he
first put on the pad and we we went one
on one with you this so you can kind of
tell just how our relationship want. Obviously I want if
I didn't win, I'll probably win. Well that's an interesting
(04:58):
choice because to me calculate like win, but I have
to know I have no other choice to win. But
he's one of those guys like he likes tough guys.
He likes guys that you know, that one that love
to play football, the aggressive that or physical, because that's it.
That's his personality. So that's how kind of how we
kind of jelled, you know, as far as you know,
player to coach. Both both of us are physical guys.
(05:20):
We were very very aggressive a couple of times. I mean,
my firstman year. We don't we don't wrestle with each other.
So I mean, it's you know, it's a very unique
relationship I had when a man, and it's been amazing
too to get coached by. But it's interesting though that
the calculation is like, I can't whip him too bad
because it's still the head exactly. I have to leave
him with his dignity, right, Yeah, no doubt. I mean,
(05:42):
and that be honest with you. At that point is
in that in that setting when we were going one
on one with each other, I hadn't I was not
even thinking about that. I was trying to literally squashing
demolishment from all of the coaches. But you gotta think
he's a big guy too. He played in the league.
I mean, so you're not gonna be able to do that.
But you know, uh, you know, this is the fact
that I was able to go one on one with him,
(06:04):
was able to show my skills set um, was able
to you know, be able to have that opportunity, to
be able to showcase my ability in front of him. Uh.
You know that that's the reason why I'm here today. Um.
And then another thing that he did, or the coaching
staff and uh and beyond did was pull the trigger
in October and say, again, Mariota is good. Tannehill gives
(06:25):
us a chance to maybe be even better. Um. At
what point did you guys start to feel it, like,
you know what, we're legitimate playoff contenders here man. Uh.
To be honesty, it kind of didn't even rain until
we got into the playoffs. Like we really weren't even
thinking about it. It was more of like we knew
(06:47):
we had to win as many games as possible and
as consistently as possible as we can because we started
out Tune four. Um, you know at that point, everybody's
thinking that, you know, you're not even gonna make the playoffs.
You started tune for like that. So we were able
to change that stuff around, change that our minds. That changed,
just you know, the vibe around the organization. You know,
when you lose games, everybody from the owner to the
(07:11):
gender that feels bad. Like everybody just in a funk.
But when everybody wins, you know, the atmosphere is totally different.
People want to get wake up in the morning, come
come to work and do those things. So um, even
from that, man, I just feel like, you know, from
that two and forward to being in the playoffs, it
was it was like a blur. It was more of
us trying to figure out what what we needed in
(07:33):
order to you know, win those close games because a
lot of those games were really close. Was there a
feeling though that it was the guy at the trigger
that it was Mario the versus Tannehill or it seemed
to me that I hate to pat myself on the back,
but Spaghetti confirmed for me. I think I might even
have told you this Rashane Evans and when we kid
it's I thought the move was Tannehill, and I thought
(07:54):
that he was a punchline a little bit because of
the Miami stuff, but he was a potential savior if
in the right situation. And then once those young receivers
that you guys gotta you can just wait till A J.
Brown really hits his stride, that that offense is gonna
be scary and uh, and so it was, so then
you get in there, you go up to Foxborough. Was
there a moment, you know, when you're warming up out
(08:17):
there an hour, hour and a half before the game.
There during the game at any point where like there's
Bill Belichick over there and that's whoa, that's Tom Brady
about the eight feet across the line of script from me,
do you have those moments or you too focused? And
I don't have no, none of those moments beyond well,
I kind of I kind of had a little bit
of that moment when I first played, uh Tom Brady
(08:38):
my rookie season, uh, and we were able to come
out with a win. But you know, from that point on,
it was more of like like I want I want
to I wanted in his career. I want to destroy
this situation. I don't even want to be able for
them to be whenever we played. I don't even wanted
to think that, you know it's gonna be a complete blowout.
I want them to actually have respect, you know, for
(09:02):
for the Tennessee Times. But you know, I knew that
was something that had to be earned. It is it
did have that field by the fourth quarter, was like,
weren't the Titans aren't just gonna beat the Patriots here
and they're breaking they're breaking their spirit. Like I say
about for Able, you didn't take his dignity and did
have a vibe of like man, they just they just
trucked them. And specifically it was Derrick Henry, who, by
(09:23):
the way, you you matriculated with down there in Tuscaloosa.
Do you agree with my opinion on this. I've told
him to his face, you know, because because you know,
I don't drive people, and I'm not I'm not like that.
That's not my way to do that. I told Derrick
Henry that he underachieved in high school because he got
tackled a couple of times that whoever tackled that guy?
(09:44):
Can you imagine me at sixteen trying to tackle dey point?
Because I mean, if you look at if you put
his picture his high school pitch and you play his
pitching now almost identical, it's really weird to know a
high school player to be that big, that fast, that
strong at that point and still be able to not
only you know, gradually get better, but just surpassed all
(10:06):
of the expectations you would think that you would have
at that point, because I mean, he's on almost every level.
He's been elite. He's broke the high school record in
high school, he went to college when the high he's
been he's been in the NFL. Now he's the leading
Russia h this past season. So it's kind of like,
you know, this this guy, the sky's the limit for
(10:26):
him how great he can be. And I feel like
he's just getting started. I feel like he's now feeling
those three or four years that he's had. I feel
like now he's really truly getting that recognition that I
think he's so long for, for the for the for
for the longest, I didn't think I'll tell you again, no, job,
I didn't think he was going to be a great
NFL runner because I thought it took him half a
(10:48):
step together up to speed. Saw that from the outside
looking in, I saw from I saw how that could
be the case just because of you know, he had
for him being a high mitrophor winner and going to
the NFL. Your expectations are very high. You expect him
to be able to perform at that level, if not better, immediately.
(11:09):
So I could definitely see how that could be the case.
And but at the same time, me looking from the
from the inside, looking out of You know, there's so
many things that play into how a guy performed. You
gotta really look at you know, the you know, the
schemes that he's in. You gotta look at how how
the relationship between him and the coaches, how how his
(11:31):
environment has a lot to do with a lot of
those things. And finally, I feel like it all came together. Man,
when Raves Raves came in. Raves was able to you know,
bring kind of kind of bring that monster back out
of him, you know from Bama. And you know when
that monster came out you saw a couple of times,
even from you know, the year before, you saw a
couple of times what he could do. You saw from
(11:52):
the Jaguars game, how how dominant he could be. And
then now you see from this past year what exactly
what it looks like when it comes altogether. So um,
you know, just the fact that he's had this year,
I feel like he can use this momentum going into
the next year, like I know he will. And do
you think it goes Tannehill gets tagged and Henry gets
(12:12):
long term or vice versus at how you I mean,
I don't know if Vrable and Company or or asking
Evans for his insight. Yeah, like it like it would matter.
I mean, I don't make any of the decisions, but
in my in my you know, fantasy wheld, I would
I would definitely be honest, I'm biased. Man. I gotta
go with my guy first. You gotta pay him first,
going going and give him what, get what he deserves,
(12:33):
and you get then you get Sandy here, you get
those two, those two back there. Everything else is having
lenning itself. Last thing for you because you're a busy man.
That they do and TV and all that um is
Baltimore Ravens. My suspicion is what tell you? You tell
me you know better than I do with how you
just shut that down? Was it the second look at it?
(12:54):
Was it Simmons and Casey? Is that the Is that
the key detail that you guys had, those two guys
right in the middle there, or was it Evans or
what you guys were doing collectively, or is it something
that everybody's gonna be able to look at the tape
and now do that in and slow down that Raven's office.
It's kind of a combination of it all. Uh, I
(13:16):
would say more, it's kind of like sixty. The sixty
is more of just the fact that you know, you
gotta have those those those guys that you know that
want to get to the ball, that want to you know,
go full out every player order to get the job done.
Because you know, you got guys that are getting paid
a lot of money. Sometimes you know, they know that
if they can get a sackle, they can get a tackle,
you know, get that stat line up, they're good, you
(13:39):
know what I'm saying. So I feel like just the
guys are on that team won't really really don't really
care about that stuff. Man. I mean to be honest
with some of the guys are on the team that
should be you know, the publicize more. You know, it's
just just the mindset of our team. I feel like
that's the amazing thing and the blessing in itself, because
you've got guys that truly don't even really care about
(13:59):
being recognized. That's the trick, right you can get a
coach create that in the lockers and nobody that's what
they all say, nobody cares. I mean, we've we've been
expected to go with three and thirteen. At one point
a guy said, I forgot his name, but um, so
in that in that seven kind of builds more of
a chemistry for guys that could become closer now, like
we against it, it's us against the world. Everybody that
(14:22):
thinks that that where's that Tiene Jersey thinks that were mediocre?
You know, not the fact that we're playing the league
and that we get paid just as much as some
of these other guys in the league as well, but
just the fact that we won the Tennessee Jersey. So
why don't we go out there and change that? That's
there is There's not a ton of history after Steve McNair.
There's been some good teams and everything, but yeah, you're
right there that I always laugh at the last quarter century,
(14:44):
Like no one outside this locker room believes in us.
Like when the Patriots say, it's like people believe in you,
but you're the Titans, you know, after Thanksgiving of nobody
believes body but nobody believed that it. But it's the
game of football. We we love stuff like that. It
gives a different edge and it definitely makes the game
a lot funner now because now you're like, Okay, if
(15:07):
they feel this way, and I know that I can
change that, change that narrative to the point where I
can make you a believer. That's that's what you live for.
You live to be able to make those people that
that said all those things about you, to be able
to eat the words. And I feel like a lot
of times and a lot of those things that they said,
we we let them meet. So just to go back
(15:28):
with the forty on on on Lamar Jackson and the Ravens,
I feel like Lamar Jackson is definitely one of those
elite quarterbacks in the league. I definitely would say just
from his feet along, um, it's probably one of the
best I've seen on film my opinion, uh, you know,
in the in the past decade, just just on the
fact of its you know, he has probably one of
(15:50):
the most unique abilities as a quarterback because he I
feel like he's more athletic running than any other running
back I've seen. And he never I'm on up, he never.
He knows exactly when to go down, how he wants
you to hear him, and how he wants to hit
you as far as it's moves and all that. So, um,
you know, a guy like that a good a good thing.
(16:12):
That very was telling me, he was telling me about uh,
you know, keeping him contained. You can keep him contained
and not worried so much about tackling him one on
one as collectively as a defense, worried about him going
sideline the sideline, keep him so grass faster than anybody
else in the league. So if you can keep him
(16:32):
from eating up those stripes, um, you know, it's it's
it's you know, it's very unique to see a guy
that fast and that with that type ability, you know,
in real live, like real life situation. I didn't realize
how fast he was until I got up on him,
and then you're like, Okay, the hype is real. That
is amazing. A decade ago, talking some of those to
(16:54):
those Steelers dbs after Super Bowl forty, they're like, I
knew Aaron Rodgers had a big arm. I didn't until
I was on the field, Like, whoa that ball got
buy me more quick? Must have been like that in
the NFC title game here for you guys, Actually you
took down that my Homes team. Hey look, man, I
would say in that in that situation. Man, it's funny
how you win the first game and you come into
(17:14):
the second game you lose it when it matters, But
at the same time, and you gotta give respect when
respect is due. Um, Patrick mahomes Is, you know, he's
every bit of what people hype him up to be.
He's he's a hell of a quarterback. Um. You know,
I could be biased and be like, oh, there was
some things that we could have we could have did
to stop that, you know, to stop the game and
(17:35):
make it a different situation where we were up and
they scored. So, I mean you can say all those
things back at the same time. Man. I mean, those guys,
they they definitely came to play that game. Man. You know,
it was a blessing and an amazing experience for me
to be able to, you know, have that experience. I
know what it feels like to win. I know what
it feels like to lose. I know it feels like
being a championship. So I'm gonna take every bit of
(17:57):
that into next year to know that. You know, it's
not about how you started, definitely how you finish. Me.
If you understand that, you know everything else, everything else
it comes in. You learned that. Now, Yeah, now you guys, Yeah,
you guys are gonna be It's gonna be hard to
break your will in any future November and December after
this experience, Oh man, I could kid, it's with you
for another hour, but you go do fancy TV stuff
(18:20):
in the meantime. It was really fun watching me in January. Uh,
come on you personally and uh and watching the teammaker
to run after we got the kidpits with you back
there in Nashville. Happy for you and uh. And Batman
here right. That means he's comfortable, all right, go ahead
there with Sean Evans. And by the way, Batman or
iron Man, who would win in a fight. I'm gonna
(18:43):
be honest with you, I think a man because it
just because of all the technical stuff, how would you
get through that? But the thing about I would say,
as far as everybody else, and I feel like everybody
else loves Batman more than they do are men to
be honest with you, just because he's more of a
like Batman, you know what. I'm both rich smart, both
risk smart guys. I mean, so it's kind of kind
(19:04):
of hard not to light both of them. But I
say Batman got the Rashaan Evans everybody there he goes,
he said it all um, thanks for the time as always,
And and Batman yeah, good luck with the cross country flight.
That well, there he goes Rashaan Evans. He still is
(19:25):
one of my favorites. That was too fast of spaghetti,
you know, yeah, but you hit a lot of topics.
You'd Rabel, Brady Derrick, Henry Tannehill. My home was large
act and you gotta get everything. And I kept on Kibbittson,
you know well, and in fact spaghetta spaghetti you can
confirm as he was walking in. I knew we didn't
have a ton of time, so I hit as many
subjects as I possibly could with it. One is, if
(19:47):
you are a d d FP listener, you may recall
that we visited or Evans and I visited a Zaxby's
in Nashville, and there was a cook behind the counter
and he went wild. Every buddy went wild to see
Rashaan Evans. He's we're all Titans fans in Nashville, Tennessee,
of course, but especially a guy named Espn behind the counter,
(20:08):
and he was shouting stuff at Evans, and Evans was
yelling back to him and um. At some point Rashan said,
I'll get your tickets for a game. I can tell
you're a legit fan, and I asked him, did you
ever hear from ESPN again? And he said he did
and he did get ESPN tickets. What a great guy,
Rashaan Evans. He's an awesome guy. Not even shocking the
least that he got in the tickets. And that guy
was a really hardcore fan. It was. It was cool
(20:30):
to see him light up when he came into like
the back area of the kitchen. He was, you know,
just talking with Rashaan and just showing how much like
he's This guy's been a lifelong uh Titans fans. So
really good job at Rashwan and get into a game
this year and Odsley, it was probably a great season
to go see. You know, it was a really good
Titans team. So hopefully building something special on there in Nashville.
I do suspect or you hope that you just sounded
(20:51):
like you're given a p R. Because I know because
I've been saying this is the theme of me this
whole year and talking about the the best story of
the season, and I always said the Titans are one
of the best stories because you switched the quarterback. They
have a likable team, ables a likable guy as a coach,
and I like when there's new teams involved instead of
the old guard, get rid of the old guard, bringing
the new guard. I'm all four the Titans being one
(21:12):
of the powerhouses. But speaking of old new, do you
like their old white hat uniforms or do you like
the Navy? I like the current I like the currents.
They they are one of the few teams that have
updated and made their jersey more modern. Uh And I
think that one they have right now is really good.
I like all variations of it. Um. I know that
the Buccaneers today put out a little teaser video, so
(21:33):
we'll see, you know what, looks like they're gonna be
red I think they're gonna go back to the the
pewter and red um with maybe a cream skills and
everybody want the cream sickle. But what the what? The Titans,
though they're they have a lot of sword themes. They're
like mythology based kind of team name and their swords.
But why don't the pants stripes? Why aren't they would't
(21:55):
the old charges that had the bolt, Yeah, it should
have been a sword on the pants. It's underrated. What's
under rated at the Titans jerseys too, is that they
used two different shades of blue, and that's I can't
think on the team on the top of my head
on the same uniform that uses it that I know
the charge on our argonauts right and similar fashion to
that XFL one of those teams has two shades of green,
(22:15):
which is a bold stroke. It doesn't exactly work, but
I admire the Well, I don't love it. I don't
love it. Spaghetti you, oh well, before I ask you
about your weekend. Um. One other thing I asked Rashan
about that football fans may care about is he was
talking about Mike Rabel being fiery like a player, trash talker. Um,
as he was. As he was getting in the chair,
(22:37):
I said, so, did Rabel say anything before the game,
any trash talk on Belichick? He said, he's a trash talker,
that's what he does, and said it was personal for him,
so it was personal for us. So that's what he
That's what he had to say about the Belichick stuff.
He didn't go into any specific detail, although that would
have been fun I mean, that old man, that would
have been funny. How many times was Rabel caught in
(22:59):
the sideline linds like cursing at an opponent, opposing player
or coach, whatever the guy. You could tell that the
he has not fully transitioned from like a player to
a strictly just a coach. Now he still has the
player mentality on that field and it's just like as
fared up as any guy. So I definitely will believe
what Rashaan Evans says. And I'm sure that his speeches
were you know, they probably can't be uh replicated on
(23:20):
this podcast, you know what, I'll say this and uh
as a as a little quick um analogy um and
and also a muzzle tov to Adam Carolla and the
Adam Carolla Show now on the at the time of
this recording, eleven year anniversary of podcasting really one of them,
one of the the forefathers of the podcasting medium that
(23:43):
everybody is in on now. I think there are seven
people in the continental US that don't currently participate on
a podcast one place or the other. But Corolla was
was one of the very first, if not the first,
to really break big in that and like I say,
eleventh anniversary of that, and we're still um uh still
enjoy uh yapping with him on Good Sports, which plays
(24:06):
on the atom Corolla Show most days and UM. But
you know, he always said that program directors, you know, uncreative.
People always say like when he when Corolla was young
or not when he wasn't young, when he was breaking
on UM his old show with Dr Drew Love line,
that the program directors would get in his ear and
(24:28):
they thought they were being creative by saying, like, you
gotta speak like the kids speak so that you're relatable.
And Corolla was wise enough to say, no, well, I
don't care if I talk like them. They will see
through that what they want is authenticity. It doesn't make
a difference what age you are. It matters if you're authentic,
and people will pick up on that at any age.
(24:50):
And I think that's exactly right. I think that's the
trick with with stuff like you know, yapping into a
microphone like Corolla but head coach too, right. I think
that Andy Reid wins the Super Bowl, he's certainly not
relatable as like, hey, yeah, let's line up and go
across from each other. Rashaan Evans. I don't think any
Reid's doing that anytime soon. But you can tell the
(25:10):
players love him because he seems to be his authentic
self to those guys that Rabel is himself. It would
seem that's the comment that Rashaun made the last year
in Nashville. It's actually when he said that Rabel is
like the new age Belichick Saban guy because he has
the same kind of mentality as them, but he's a
bit younger and he relates to them more. And I
think with players that goes along what you want to
(25:31):
not only a players coach um, you know, not just
a guy pad in your back, but a guy you
could almost relate to and you guys, a guy that
you trust because he did play in the league. Uh So, yeah,
you could be the Andy Reid Bill Belichick type. That's
a you know, a super smart, great play caller. You know,
you know every scheme and you could put the guy's
in decision to win every week. But I think a
lot of players in this league now, especially these guys
who were born and that you think about him the
(25:52):
two thousands, they wanted a guy that is more, uh
you know, closer to them in age and they could
trust because I think players me like and more if
the guy didn't play the league. It was a naming.
I kind of agree with that and Andy Reid is
an older guy, and Pete Carroll is an older guy,
and Bill Belichick is an older guy, And that what
I've picked up. And nobody directly, for the record, nobody
(26:13):
ever has sat in this studio or in the green
room one on one with me. Just y happened with
no microphones on. No players ever said, oh, it's miserable
in in Fox bro It's it's such an unfun thing.
But you do get the vibe of the rules, and
you know, as long as you leave all the nonsense
at the door when you get to the facility and
focus on football, that that trade off is like, Yeah,
(26:34):
we're gonna be in contention to win the Super Bowl
if we do this. But you do get a whiff
of it's not super fun every day there. You do
get that sense when you talk to the Titans about
Rabel and the Chiefs about Andy Reid, and the Seahawks
about Pete Carroll, that it's a more fun atmosphere. And
in the age of free agency, you know, I wonder
(26:55):
how these next couple of months are gonna go. And
you know, for for the record, Tom Brady has still
yet to commit to the Patriots, although I do still
think he winds up that back here. He's the big
chip Ben Roethlisberger. As I'm sure you saw over the weekend,
he threw went very nice and easy. He threw it.
That's all right. You know what though, I I the
all of Steelers fans across the world went wild for it,
(27:18):
just went wild for it, because that is the ticket
for them to be a legit Super Bowl contender in
twenties for Roethlisberger. And without it, we haven't go back
and listen to our last podcast. In fact, if you
want clarification, all the hot takes out there from some
national voices are a little weird, the weird assertions and
assumptions being made about what the Steelers want, what Roethlisberger
(27:39):
is gonna do. But Spaghetti, I took the gang to
Momo Is in Tow Momo and Pop Opera in Town,
and uh so I took them and all four kids
to Disneyland and we went around Star Wars and we
did the whole thing. It was just dynamite. But on
the way down there we were we were just you know,
yapping about this that and the other, and about work
(28:01):
and the name Eddie Spaghetti came up, and both both
my parents said that you'll you'll be surprised to learn
that for some reason, your performance is somehow related to me.
You know, like Eddie Spaghetti is really good, You've really
done a good job with him. Yeah, I mean that's
my that's my responsibility that you that you do a
good job. I have nothing to do with your performance.
(28:21):
But but anyway, muzzletov on that professional note from from Momo.
But more importantly, she said, it looks like his girlfriend
is beautiful. Is she Is she really that beautiful in person?
Because she certainly looks to be. And I said, she's
a she's very attractive, and he said, yeah, because she
because you know, Eddie's I mean, Eddie's nice looking, but
(28:43):
I mean she's really beautiful. How does that compliment? It's
a no, it's a great comment. And I would agree
that you're not especially attractive, but I definitely disagree with that.
I write currently, I've I've been better, in better shape,
But you know, you're attractive, so at your peak, so
you feel at your peak for the long haul that
(29:06):
you two are a good match. You guys like I mean,
like just pure to the just to the eyeball. Yeah,
I'm not personal. I'm just talking about like it's like
when you and jay To walk down the street together
and stranger see you go by because you've played this game,
I'm sure with your friends, like, what's what's she doing
with that lump? With with that lump? You know that
(29:27):
kind of a guy, you feel? What do you think
people say when you and jay To walk down the street?
At my best, I think of people's sauce. There we go,
it makes sense. It's actually totally Do you really think
that I actually do all right? I'm gonna have to
take a poll on that now around the office at least.
I don't know. I'm gonna not today when we're in
sweats and like, you know, I just came off an airplane,
(29:47):
but in the past, or if I dressed up for
an occasion, you know, fix up the hair. I'm gonna
ask jayd to this. But this one might hurt though
a little bit, because she, if she has to confront reality,
she might be like, you know what, Momo asks a
good question. You know, maybe maybe I could do better?
Is that a worry for you know? I'm pretty confident, Okay,
(30:09):
I think you know the personality and my humor, my
uh you know smart. Wow. Wait, personality, humor and smart.
You got a lot going for you, I think so. Um,
how was you went off to Florida with your parents?
How were they? It was great? It was great to
get back down there. Haven't been in like six years
since my college spring break and to just you know,
(30:30):
be on the water. Did the main difference Florida looks
like California in the beach area, but the differences of
the humidity and it's way hotter down there. Unfortunately there's
a lot of rain. But but the rain comes and goes.
You're sitting a you know, a tiki bar, having some
you know, some fruit drinks, and it's it's very fun
to be down there. Um. And the last thing is
did you think it was appropriate for me to bring
(30:51):
the dog? For the dog to sit on the council
on the on the table here. We just broke fun.
It's history. That was the first time I think a
dog has ever been on the can and any you know,
NFL media in the NFL studios here in culver So,
I think we it's it's a historic day for us. Hey,
Mina Kim springs her dog Lenny her show, and look
how well she's doing. So maybe we can bask and
(31:12):
that reflected it's pretty funny too that Rashaan traveled with
his his dogs. He said, it's fairly new, so I
guess he has to be with the dog and train
it and uh so, yeah, he's just walking around the
campus today. I just realized something. Though he named it Batman,
shouldn't he have named it like Bruce Wayne. Isn't that
a better name for a dog, Bruce Bruce Wayne. I
think if you name a dog to names, I think
(31:33):
it's really really funny. Bruce Wayne, like a full name,
Bruce Wayne is hilarious. I always thought it would be
funny to name a dog lefty, you know, yeah, because
you don't know if he's a lefty art because he
because he isn't right, you know. Wouldn't that be funds? Okay?
If I got a dog, my dogs would na him
Hank for Hendrik Lonquist, Oh okay, not for handsome Hank.
That I mean that too. I didn't think about that.
(31:54):
Congratulations on Chris Cryers are going to be good in
two five years. Congratulations is on that in advance. I
think they're gonna be ready very soon. That's the reason
why they kept him um. All right. Well, in the meantime,
Marlow and hevn Rodriguez. In the meantime, color me excited
for for the postseason in the NHL this year. Oh,
(32:15):
it's gonna be great. I know everybody's getting geared up
for Lakers and Clips and Nugs and Bucks and all that,
But NHL is gonna be a lot of fun too,
all right. Oh. The last thing is uh football related
note is Dak Prescott and his agent have not spoken
to Steven Jones and Company since the start of the season. Today,
Steven Jones said they have not spoken to Dak's agents
(32:37):
since September. So this looks like to be a power
play from the Cowboys to get him signed, to sign
that tag. Do you really think that that Dak, Because
if Dak Prescott moves, that's the thing. I mean, like
Tom Brady moves to Dallas and to any place with
it where there would be a perceived incumbent like Dak,
that's what's really going to set the craziness off. The
dominoes are gonna start moving fast and furious. If Dak
(32:59):
is not there guy Um for next year, then then
who knows what I mean, where's Dak gonna wind up that?
I mean maybe New England. I guess the place for
him is, of course, for a team that does not
they should not be wasting a year to get up
to speed with a quarterback. Is the aforementioned where I've
(33:21):
put Tom Brady any number of times already, the Los
Angeles charge that makes so much sense in the world, right,
doesn't that if Dak was available, Da automatically is the
best quarterback on the market, better than Cam, better than
Rivers Brady. Whoever, that's a strong statement for this Spagett's
Is it that strong? Who elses the competition? I mean,
I guess you make it well in terms the name brand,
(33:42):
right will be expensive. But he's young, he's he had
a great season. I mean, he's uh. I agree with you,
But I bet you there's something you could find somebody
who would say I'd rather have Teddy b at the end.
I bet you could find not not pundits, but you
could find a head coach out there would say I'd
rather have Teddy Bridgewater than Dak Prescott. I don't because
he's just he's nice and safe. But Doc is so
(34:03):
versatile and Dak you know, he played well. I guess
this year wasn't that tough. But I mean, if he
goes to a team like the Charges, he goes to
a team like even the Bears, which I'm still high
on because their defense and they're running backs, if he
goes to a team like the Raiders, I think if
Dak is like one of those teams that have pieces
and have enough cap space or have enough traffics to
to move forward and and compete, I mean, I'll be
(34:24):
happy the Giant Spinnings out of the NFC East, I
can tell you that. But I mean, whatever team he
joins like there, he's going to improve them. There's nowhere
around it. It's weird. Also, the news about Derek Carr
is that he's a good fit for but he's a
really good fit for the Bears. Bears would be interested
in Derek Carr and what would that mean? And with
Derek then I assume sign off on being part of
(34:45):
a competition. Um. The assumption that we always hear from
David Carr isay is that he's going back or not
going back, But he is moving from the East Bay
of California to uh to Las Vegas along with Gruden.
But we'll see what happens there and again if Tom
eighty or Dak moves to one of those open positions,
I mean cam is out there. Oh, this is gonna
(35:05):
be such a fun, that a fun what like h
five weeks we have coming up here, because what's today?
It's like so yes, so we're you know, to less
than three weeks away from the start of uh um
legal tampering, one of the great one of the great
terms in all sports in the twenty one century. All right,
so that's it great thanks to Rashan Evans. By the way,
(35:27):
go back and listen to I mentioned podcasts last week.
Go listen to our one with Kyle Long. I thought
that was great. We we had a little more time
with Kyle Um and I got to talk about the
state of the Bears as we transition from twenty nineteen
into twenty Mitchell Drabinsky all that stuff, and Kyle, like
his brother Chris, one of the great delights in pro
football too. So so do yourself a favor and the
(35:50):
d d f P a solid and go and listen
to that one comment rate all that jazz and uh
we'll talk with you later. In the week. I don't
know Matt money Smith. He's in Indian Apple List this
week right. Maybe we'll see if we can check in
with him at some point. I don't know. I have
a devil may care attitude. If you can't tell um,
we'll see what happens, and we hope you'll check it
(36:11):
out one way or the other. Until then, thanks so much,
football fans, it's been a thin slice of heaven.
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