The Season with Peter Schrager: Bengals DC Lou Anarumo

Peter reveals his big announcement… he’s appearing on “Celebrity Jeopardy” Wednesday October 25th. Having already filmed the episode, he takes us through the experience of fulfilling a lifelong dream. Then, the pride and joy of Staten Island— Bengals DC Lou Anarumo joins the show. Fresh off a defensive masterpiece over Seattle, Lou goes inside the defensive huddle and recaps Sunday’s win, explains the brilliance of Sam Hubbard, details the Cincy D Line’s “Core Four”, and brings us back to the heated locker room scene after last year’s AFC Championship Game loss to the Chiefs. Peter and Lou, then, go through his awesome career journey which has included Wagner (Staten Island), the Mercant Marine Academy, Harvard, and more. Finally, the guys discuss the 2015 Miami Dolphins coaching staff, which included him, Dan Campbell, Lions OC Ben Johnson, and Bengals HC Zac Taylor.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's up, Everybody, This is
Peter Schreger. This is the Season with Peter Schrager. We

(00:27):
were entering Week seven of the NFL season, and I
gotta tell you, Aaron, this was the most surprising of
weeks we've had this year. But it's just it's true
to form. This is the NFL any given Sunday. But
you saw the forty nine ers, who were unbeatable and
averaging a margin of victory of twenty points, lose in
Cleveland to a backup quarterback without Nick Chubb and without

(00:49):
Joel Patonio. You saw Jalen Hurts strut into met Life,
take an early lead and then throw three uncharacteristic interceptions
and lose to the Jets. And then you saw the
Detroit Lions go into Tampa, a team that everyone was
high on, and just absolutely whooped them and beat them
twenty to with Aman Rossing Brown having a career day

(01:09):
and those creamsicle uniforms just being splattered across that home field.
Fun fun week to get some unexpected results. We go
on to Week seven, but I wanted to start the
pod this week with a personal note, Aaron, are you
ready for me to reveal why I was away for
a couple of days in late August filming something in

(01:32):
Los Angeles.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, we had to pay this off. This has been
a long time coming. This is a secret and we're
now getting the reveal.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
So I get a call around August fifteenth from a
production company saying, is there any way you can get
off of Good Morning Football a week from now on
the Monday, last week of August, to which I said,

(02:01):
I'd need to know what the opportunity is. The answers
probably No Morning Football does really good ratings in August,
and the NFL network puts a lot of eggs in
the August basket because we're the only ones to show
all the preseason games. Ratings are high. So if it's
to you know, do a spot on a reality show

(02:21):
or gosh, if Gordon Ramsey wanted me to be a
guest judge on Kitchen Nightmares, the entest probably know. But
this one was special. The production company was representing a
certain show called Jeopardy. Aaron, no response. I'm waiting for nothing.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
I'm waiting.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Details.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, yeah, okay, So they represent Jeopardy, and there.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Was a writers strike going on, and there was an
actor strike going on. I think the term Celebrity Jeopardy
was being tossed around very loosely at this time in
Hollywood's They asked me if I wanted to come on
Celebrity Jeopardy and compete as a contestant on Celebrity Jeopardy.
Aaron my lovely producer and friend. We've known each other

(03:11):
now about a year, maybe a little bit more than
a year. I grew up a Jeopardy kid.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
That makes total sense to me. No, no, you Your
ability to recall facts and numbers and names is uncanny,
and this feels like exactly the kind of thing that
you like. I don't know if you did trivial pursuit
as a kid, but I have a feeling like you
were in this from the beginning, and Jeopardy is like

(03:38):
one hundred percent makes sense.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
I get it.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
There was a TV in my kitchen as a kid,
and we would sit down for dinner at seven pm
every night in Freehold, New Jersey. The TV was about
the size of your laptop, and we'd sit at a table.
There'd be a little counter and then the TV was
on and my family family four. Wasn't much discussion about

(04:01):
our feelings. Wasn't much discussion about how our vulnerabilities are
and our failures and our strengths. It was more just
be quiet, let's listen to Drabek and then if dinner
goes on long enough, we might get a little wheel also.
I mean that's basically what it was. Every night, seven pm,
Trebec Jeopardy Old school, and then my brother and I

(04:23):
would would retire from the kitchen and we would go retire.
We'd go to something called the computer room, which kids
these days don't even know what that is, but it
was the room where there was a computer. And we
had a Commodore sixty four and eventually I think in
Apple pe or was Apple two? E? Is that what
it was? I have? Yeah, I'm sorry, east ms Okay.

(04:43):
The Commodore sixty four was an old computer. Then we
graduated to the Apple two, and then eventually we got
a Dell and if you know what Dell is, it
was like I got a Dell dude, like the Dell guy,
and we would play Jeopardy on the computer. Like I
didn't play Mario. I didn't play Tetris. We played Jeopardy
and it was like a pixelated version of Jeopardy on
a floppy disc and it was all sorts of characters.

(05:04):
And then they would eventually come out with Sports jepard
and I would play Sports Jeopardy. So when I get
the call to compete on Jeopardy, not only do I
not ask my employers out of the gates, I just
say yes. And I'm like, well, who wants the book
to flight? Like I'm going I'll lose my job, Like
I don't, I'm going like I'm doing this. Fortunately I
did ask our employers. They were cool enough to let

(05:25):
me miss a show. I think I got that vacation
day docked on the back end, But that's another conversation.
We'll talk about that at some other date. That said
I was in but I was told I couldn't say
a word. So here I am, and there's so many
things I have to go through, but I with no
further do. I will tell you the air date when
it is airing is next Wednesday, October twenty fifth, my

(05:51):
episode of Celebrity Jeopardy where I am a contestant, and
it will air at I believe eight o'clock Eastern, not
even that seven o'clock garbage that we usually see it on.
This is primetime, baby, and it's celebrity Jeopardy. I'm loud
to tell you who I went against, and I'll tell
you the story of how I've found out who these
people were. So they don't tell you who you're against.

(06:14):
You show up. Now. Let me ask you if you
fly in on a Sunday for a Monday filming of
Jeopardy and you found out a couple of days earlier,
you'd probably want to prepare somehow, right, right, right, So Aaron,
I ask you, if you were told in eight days
you're going on Jeopardy, how would you prepare? I had

(06:35):
no idea.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
I don't know how I would prepare if I was
told in a year you're going on Jeopardy.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
There's no way to prepare for Jeopardy. You either know
this stuff or not. And a lot of it's like,
you know, we's say white men can't jump, like words
that start with the letter Q. Like, it's a lot
of it is puns and a lot of it is homonyms.
So here's my thing. I'm like, I'm gonna fly out.
I'm on delta. They've got wi Fi. I am gonna
just take a look at the main thing. State capitals,

(07:02):
smart geometry, like hexagon, rahmbus, I'm getting down octagon, US presidents.
I'm pretty good on them. But then when I looked
at the Wikipedia page, I was not good on them.
I'm like, they better not anything from the year seventeen
eighty to nineteen ninety. Like I thought I had it.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
I didn't.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
I didn't know about Fillmore's thing, and I didn't want
to go into it. Then I was like, okay, world history,
world capitals, Olympic cities, like these are the things that like,
I'm a little so.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
So just to be clear, on your flight to LA,
you study geometry, state capitals, presidents, world history. This is
a large list of things.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
All right. I have a photographic memory. I could see
something and never forget it. So I'm like, if I
just look at these things, I'll just have it in
the back of my head, and you know, one of
them will come up. I can tell you, rest assured,
none of them. Seven hours seven hours on a flight.
It's like Scott Hanson some hours studying everything. All right,

(08:07):
So let me finish, let me get to the next thing.
So I'm studying. I'm nervous, but then I'm like bored,
Like I'm on the flight and I'm like, so I
think I watched Like I think I watched like remember
the Fableman's Instead was that.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
What it was called?

Speaker 1 (08:22):
Yeah, I liked it, But like I gave up really
quickly in the studying. I was like ancient egypt facts
fell asleep, literally fell asleep. I'm like, I'm screwed. I
can't just like study the world. I don't know, I
can't do it. I land and they put me up
in a hotel in an area of LA called Culver City.
Culver City's where the NFL network used to be. I
don't know anything about it, but I'm like, all right,

(08:44):
I see there's a Roberto's Pizza there. They have one
of those in Brooklyn. I'm like, all right, I'll go
there for dinner. I get to Culver City and it's
the only time it's ever rained in the history of LA.
I think it's pouring rain, and then they're freaking out
that there's gonna be a hurricane. So now I've got
the stress of all right, I'm in a hurricane in
La which you know, They're the kind of city where
there's like a newscaster out there when it drizzles, and

(09:05):
it's like, what, the city's shut down, so everyone's freaking out.
I get to the hotel room and I again, I'm like,
do I study? Then there's three season football on. I'm like,
I want to look up Cumulus and Mbius or whatever
that is, you know. And all of a sudden, an
alarm clock that's next to the hotel room starts shaking

(09:27):
and falls off the nightstand, Like what the hell? And
then I see the TV's shit earthquake, a freaking earthquake.
I'm like, a hurricane and an earthquake the Sunday that
I arrive in La to do Celebrity Jeopardy the following day.

(09:49):
You can't make this stuff up. I decide to uh
just you know, just buckle down, go to sleep. And
then they're like, all right, your call time is two pm.
Call time for those of you in the uh not
in the entertainment business like me. I mean that's when
you've got to show up two pm. So I have
all I'm on East Coast time. I wake up at
like four point thirty wired coffee, Let's go sonny as

(10:12):
could be. I walked to some place like a long walk,
have breakfast. It was delicious, walk back and I'm like
just studying on my phone, like Wikipedia facts and looking
at like world leaders and facts about Bonaparte, and then
like World War two battles, like I'm doing it. I'm trying.
All this stuff was irrelevant. I then am like, all right,

(10:34):
thinking about it NonStop, nervous. I get to the Sony
lot where they're filming Jeopardy.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Still don't know who you're against?

Speaker 1 (10:43):
No, okay, and I walk in and they're filming the
episode before me. Okay, and I'm watching it from like
a small TV and the episode before me was, huh,
who was it? It was? I think I can give
it away. I don't know if it's released. Yeah, okay.
Brian Baumgartner from the Office who played Kevin, you know,

(11:05):
spilling the chili Kevin, who's a Packers fan. We should
have him on the podcast. He's good. You might need
to google this. Abbott Elementary Lisa Ann Walter, who was
very nice. And then the third was I want to
say Jonah from Deep Timothy Simon's yep, tall guy, funny

(11:26):
as hell. That's the trio before me, and I'm watching
their match, and as I'm watching it, they're like, all right,
we're gonna take you to your trailer. I've never been
in a trailer before. Celebrity here. Hello. Meanwhile, I think
last year nothing against those actors or me, but like
last year was like Martin Short versus Jimmy Kimble versus
Meryl Streep, and now it's like me, good morning football

(11:50):
host Peter Sugar on a cable. I'm not knocking it.
I was very flattered and I'm honored to be there again.
Writers strike, acting strike me. I pop into my trailer
and they've got a thermis that says Celebrity Jeopardy. I'm like,
can I keep this? They're like yes. I'm like, hell yeah.
They've got a T shirt that says Celebrity Jeopardy. I'm like,
can I keep this? They're like yeah. And then they

(12:11):
had like all these snacks. I did damage before I
went on Jeopardy. I was so nervous. I think I
had an entire cheese plate. I think they had proscrudo,
they had capacola, they had some gba ghoul I ate
it all. I had a full meat and cheese plate
before I even stepped on to that thing. And then
they're like, all right, put on a suit. I put

(12:32):
on a suit. I'm ready, and they're like, all right,
we want to take you to makeup. Get to makeup.
Really good looking guy is waiting for their makeup and
he's not in a suit. He's in like a cool
like satin jacket with like his muscles out, and I'm like,
who's this guy. They're like, meet Adam Rodriguez. He's he
was from CSI Miami. He's also in the Magic Mic films.

(12:55):
And now I want to say he's in Criminal Minds.
You might need to do a little resume search for me,
a little Wikipedia, if you will. We've given Wikipedia enough
love and Cee, I asked one.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
Of those like a CCSI Miami Magic like one and
double XL and Criminal Minds.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah. So, and Adam's like, right away, like the most
handsome person I've ever seen. He's a little bit older
than me. He's uh, he's competing against me. He's from Yonkers.
So immediately we start talking New York and he's like, yeah,
my best friend from high school and like, my best
man at my wedding played in the NFL. I'm like, oh, who,
and he's like Keith Bullock. I'm like, oh, Syracuse legend,
Keith Bullen, Tennessee Titans, and like my Jeopardy mind because

(13:32):
I was like, yes, yes, He's like, yes, that's him.
I'm like thirteen tackles in one game playing against the
Jacksonville Jaguars in nineteen eighty nine. He's like yeah, dude,
yeah yeah. So we're hanging a little bit and then
in comes our third contestant. I don't know who it's
gonna be, and I see her face and I'm like, oh,
I know exactly who that is. And there's no way

(13:54):
that I am playing against this person in Celebrity Jeopardy
because I also know she went to Harvard is like
mensa and like works for the United Nations. Mere Cervino,
the actress who was in Roby and Michelle's Course and
then won an oscar. What was the Rudy Allen movie
she won the oscar for with her and Michael Rappaport
and Woody U great movie. Look it up, Mere Servino.

(14:16):
This is what we do on the podcast. I just
come in out of his fire at aeron Mighty Afrodite
Mighty Afred Diity Very good movie nineteen nineties, Woody Allen.
She I think was either nominated or won an Oscar
for that role as Best Supporting Actress. She's fantastic in it,
and I have since watched it since did she win
Best support She supporting her father, the late Paul Cervino,

(14:37):
who of course is in Goodfellas as the top of
the family. And you know he's in prison and he's
slicing the onions whatever it is anyway, garlic or onions.
I forget.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
I guess that wasn't one of the questions. No, yes, yeah,
they didn't ask about her father.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
So we get out there and they tell me hand
me over your phone. No phone's allowed in the studio.
A because of the sancity of the quiz show and
the laws, and B. I think there's a certain magic
and a lord in that place. But Aaron, when I
tell you, it felt like walking into like you know,

(15:14):
picturing field of dreams in the corn stalks of Iowa,
and shoeless Joe comes walking out there, like that's what
I felt like, walking into this thing. They have you
write your name into the thing. Don't you always think like,
how would I write my name on Jeopardy, I went
all caps lock. But that was pretty cool, okay, and
I didn't go with Schrager or Shrags or with Peter,

(15:35):
just my first name, you know. I felt pretty good
about that. And then they do a full round practice
like warm up, warm up, You've got to get down.

Speaker 5 (15:46):
The buzzer and here is the big reveal. The buzzer
is everything. So here's how it works. With the buzzer,
they'll say a facto. I'd say number one.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
iHeart podcast in NFL Slash really trying hard to get
to the super Bowl and doing a live show from there.
And you have to buzz in right away. But you
have to buzz in after Ken Jennings finishes. Okay, you
cannot buzz before it. If you if you buzz in
before he's finished with the clue, you're doc two seconds.
You're locked out. And so when you see people hitting

(16:24):
that buzzer like no, no, no, no, no, no, doing the
buzzer like that's because they're locked out. They're like, wait,
why is it not working? Why is that not working?
So timing on the butzer is everything, and you can't
practice that at home. You can know all the factoids.
You could tell me all of you know, King Henry's
wives or whoever it is, and you could know everything
about you know, Guadalajara. It doesn't matter if you can't

(16:46):
get that buzzer in on time and time and right.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
So it's like anticipating how long it takes him to
finish his sentence. Yeah, and then buzz oh.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
We go through the practice round Sorveno's got it down.
Her buzzer skills are insane. We go through a practice round.
She's what is Kim john Oun? What is Polio's string cheese?

(17:15):
What is remember the Titans?

Speaker 3 (17:17):
Like?

Speaker 1 (17:17):
She is on it? I'm psyched out. I needed like
a moment, so I think I was the first person ever.
They were like, we're about to start, everybody. I said,
can I take a pepe break? I went and I
got microphone off. I had to just take some time.
I didn't even have to go to the bathroom. I
took a lap around that studio. I soaked it all
in and then I straddled up and said let's go.

(17:40):
And then we did Celebrity Jeopardy and Guys It airs
next week. I will give you no more clues, no
more hints. Let's just say me and Mire Cervino and
Adam Rodriguez had a clash for the ages and I
want you to watch. I encourage you to watch. And
with no further ado, let's get to our guest today.

(18:02):
Aaron Our guest today is the defensive coordinator of the
Cincinnati He is one of the best coaches in all
of football. He's been running this unit for some time now,
and he's got a story to tell Lou and Aroumo
right after this, with no further ado. He's one of
the top defensive minds in all of football. He's also

(18:23):
a fantastic coach, and his team is coming off a
triumphant Sunday and a big win against a very good
Seattle Seahawks team. It is Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Lou
and Aromo. Lou, Welcome to the season with Peter scheger Man.

Speaker 4 (18:38):
I'm happy to be here. Appreciate the introduction.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah, and let's start with Sunday. Four sacks, eight tackles
for a loss, two interceptions, DK Metcalf and Camp Taylor
getting into it a little bit, a little spicy. It
was a must win for the Cincinnati Bengals and the
defense led the way. How did your unit get into
this one? And what was the approach as you saw
it all being executed on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (19:02):
So it was you know, didn't start out great.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
You know, they did a good jot with taking the
ball going right down the field, and you can see,
you know, the bye week they had a buy prior
to coming in, so there's a couple of new wrinkles
for them. But once we settled in, you know, that
was the only touchdown they scored in the game. And
you know, our guys just executed in the red zone
and as you mentioned, you know, our our front four

(19:23):
really really did a great job pressure in Gino and
it paid off in the end.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
Talk us through some of these players on this unit,
because I think it from a national perspective, they were
in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, but
there's been a lot of i would say not a
youth movement in the back end. But like at that
Super Bowl team, it was Von Bell, it was Eli Apple,
it was and now there's these young guys. I mentioned
Taylor Brett, but he's not the only one.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
Yeah, no, you know, we got rookie DJ Turner. You know,
cheetoh Wuzier has been injured and DJ's come in and
you know, getting better with each game. We signed Nick
Scott free agency from the Rams, and then as a
safety and Dax Hill playing another taking really Jesse Bates'
role he stepped in, and then Jordan Battle or rookie,

(20:07):
another rookie from Alabama. So you know, I don't have
a lot of gray hair, but I'm getting some more each.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
Other, right, I mean that is that the is that
still the challenge that gets see up in the morning.
They're like, all right, we have a new fresh fresh
blood and we've got to throw them in there. And
guess what you're covering? Tyler Lockett, go, do you get
excited by that? Is that the challenge that gets you
out of bed in the morning.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
The good news is, you know they definitely present challenge.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
You know these guys.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
It's just so different for the young guys coming in
from college these days, and you know, so yeah, it provides, uh,
it provides us more opportunity to make sure we're as
coaches staying on you know, dotting our eyes, crossing the.

Speaker 4 (20:41):
T's all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (20:42):
Because it's such a different game and you're playing against
guys that have done it for a long time. You
mentioned Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf and man Cam you know,
kind of you know, took it to him, and I
was happy and proud to see it.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
This this Bengals team again oh to two to start.
Everyone's saying they're done. Burrow can't move, and yet here
we are bye week three and three. What do you
know in the driver's seat, just like they usually are
at this point and feeling a little bit better than
they did in September? Did you have any doubts or
you knew that this team could bounce back despite the
O and two start.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
I mean, we've got such great resolve with the players
that we have. You know, I kind of stole a
phrase that the my my beloved Yankees we used to
use and you know, the Core four, you know, And
and it came to play this weekend where it's the
last drive of the game and I go over the
BJ Hill, DJ Reader, Sam Hubbard and Trey Hendrickson and

(21:40):
I and they were gassed now at the end of
the game, and I said, you know, I was thinking
about for a minute putting some fresh legs in there.
And I checked myself quick and said, you four want.
I don't want anybody else in the game besides you guys,
and let's go win the game.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
And they did what they did.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
And those guys are kind of are they They drive
this ship on our side, and man, they didn't flinch
in the beginning of the year. You know, again with
the great veteran leadership that they have, they know who
we are, they know what we've done and what we've
accomplished at you know, a high level, and it's just
a matter of time before we put it all together.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
That's your Jorge Pisada, You're Mariano Rivera, you're Jeter, and
you're who is the last one?

Speaker 3 (22:20):
Bernie?

Speaker 1 (22:20):
I would imagine, or do we go Tino Martinez?

Speaker 3 (22:22):
Bernie?

Speaker 1 (22:22):
Right, It's got to be Bernie. It's not it's who
is it? Who's the fourth? It's Pettit, Pettit Okay, Bernie
was before them. Bernie like, okay, got it.

Speaker 4 (22:32):
Yeah, I was surprised when I looked it back up.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
That's the core four. I think of Sam Hubbard. He's
like such a local guy and he represents everything about
this Bengals team and whether it be the Ohio state
roots at Cincinnati roots and the play he made last
year in the Wildcar Round is really the play that
most people know him from. But every day this guy
brings it. And I watch football, I don't. I'm not
sure everyone outside of Cincinnati knows just what type of

(22:54):
player and man that Sam Hubbard is.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
For that defense, well, he's terrific when they introduce him here,
when they do introduce the defense, you know, and the
guy the public address announcer starts with Cincinnati's own, you know,
and then Sam Harbor and he is what we are
as you mentioned. I mean, the guy played sixty four
plays the other day, had a ton of production, hit
the quarterback six times, you know, and just a great

(23:19):
He's been a great run defender for us for years.
He's got a you know, a heck of a pass
rush game. So he's everything we're all about. And you know,
you go back to the AFC Championship game two years ago,
and you know he's the one that's kind of getting
after Mahomes on that crucial third down stop to force
them to kick the field goal to get in to

(23:40):
get in overtime and eventually win the game. So Sam,
Sam's done so much for us and a great community guy,
and we just love him.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
We're gonna go backwards, We're gonna go through your career
a little bit. But let's let's go just a couple
of years backwards. That Super Bowl run and then the
AFC Championship run. When you got to Cincinnati, it was
it was you, Zach, and it was obviously Callahan is
the offhys like things were not things were not humming,
if by any means, And of course there had been
some good seasons, but no wins, playoffs, nothing in recent years.

(24:09):
Take us back just the last i would say, twenty
four months, and just how far this franchise has come
in the last couple of years alone.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
Well, we're you know, as you mentioned, Zach and Cally
just doing such a great job and on respective you know,
Zach as the head coach and Brian is the coordinator
on offense. But it's so satisfying as a coach and
some of the players that have been here from the
beginning when we got here in twenty nineteen, and as
you mentioned, you know, Marvin had done a great job

(24:37):
and had really good success, and we just we the
team that we inherited a little bit older. You know,
we knew we had to turn the roster over to
a degree, and those guys had done great things here
for Cincinnati, and we just knew that, you know, it's
our time to get some new guys in here and
to go through that whole thing. And you know, first

(25:00):
playoff win in thirty some odd years and then oh,
by the way, you get the first road playoff win
in team history ever, all those firsts.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
You're just very, very proud to be a part of it.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
Yeah, it's and I love, I'm so proud of you.
It's happy for your unit, as you guys have always
held up your end of the bargain. Let's go back
your coaching journey nineteen eighty nine. We go to the
fine borough of Staten Island and the running backs coach
at Wagner is lou and Arimo. What led you to Wagner?

(25:33):
And I know you're a Staten Island guy, So just
take us through how you even thought that this could
possibly be a career coming from Staten Islands. It's not
exactly a football hotbit, if I may say so.

Speaker 4 (25:43):
No, you're good.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
Just you know, my dad was a high school basketball
coach growing up, so it was always kind of around it.
He played college basketball at Wagner and was a principal
and kind of so I always knew I wanted to
teach and coach, and then one thing led to another.
You know, I never had a great stellar career playing wise,

(26:05):
but I always knew I still wanted to be around it,
and one thing led to another. I got my first
big break when you know, Dick McPherson called and I
was able to be a GA at Syracuse where I
worked for coach Mac and then coached Pascaloni, and kind
of everything gone from there was just you know, a
step I thought. I think I went about it the

(26:27):
right way. I've coached at all levels, you know, from
Marshall to Harvard to Purdue, you know, and then onto
the NFL. So great, great experiences along the way, and
I think that that's one of the things that I
think is a missing art these days, where you know,
you learn more what not to do along the way
and how to coach different types of people all along

(26:48):
the way, whether it be a non scholarship player or
an elite athlete in the NFL. So I feel like
I got the best of all worlds, and I wouldn't
change my career path for anything.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
I love it. And so you go from Wagner Tocus
and then this is a cool one US Merchant Marine
Academy as a defensive coordinator to defensive backs coach. Those
are young men and women who are going there for
a different reason than to become NFL players. And yet
you as a coach, you're going to get the best
of them, and you're going to see a probably different
type of individual than you might anywhere else. What was
that experience like coaching at the US Merchant Marine Academy.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
It was unbelievable because these guys are not only going
through training camp, but they're also going through what they
call their pleab year, where they're square in corners and
you know, getting up at dawn to go for runs.
And you know, by the way, you don't have those
guys in the offseason because they're going out to see
for six months to learn the what they're going to
do come on as a career and oh, by the way,

(27:42):
we want a bunch of games, you know, So again
you learn how to manage your time, manage those type
of people that have a you know, a greater goal really,
but at the end of the day. They when football
season came around, that's what they were all about. It
was really really unique.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
You know, the experience of being there. I remember talking
to I forget which player it was, someone came out
of the Citadel and was playing in the NFL. And
of course we have our Army and our Navy guys,
but there is something different about coaching those young men
and women because, like I said, the priority is of
course football when you're on the field, but there is
such a different thing going on. Did you have to

(28:17):
bend and kind of adjust your coaching style knowing that, yes,
they might be disciplined, but this is not their top priority.
Is why they're here at school?

Speaker 4 (28:26):
Well, one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
I was a super I was super young back then,
just learning how I was going to you know, become
as a coach. And again, as I mentioned earlier, you
learned so much of you know, the things you want
to do.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
And then well, maybe.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
We can't quite do as much with guys that, you know,
just coming from Syracuse, we had all these great defenses,
but you know, you're getting these guys in between their
you know, engineering classes and trying to install a game
plan is very challenging.

Speaker 4 (28:55):
Same thing at Harvard.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
You know when I coached at Harvard for all those years,
and I still stay in touch with a bunch of
those guys, and we had really good players there. You
know Matt Burke who played NFL Vikings for a long time, Ravens. Yeah,
you know, so we had a bunch of guys while
I was there. I just missed fits he had just
after me. But again, another situation where I'll never forget.

(29:17):
I'm in a in a meeting, in a defensive back meeting,
and I think I said, you know, this stuff isn't
rocket science. And I was like thinking to myself, like
anybody here like doing any of that kind.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I kind of am coach. I was like, oh,
gate so cool, cool stuff for sure.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
Okay, So I live in New York and I'm a
huge comedy nerd. And Colin Jost is the head writer
for Saturday Night Live. He's a Staten Island native and
he went to Harvard as and was a part of
the Lampoon all that. I have to think, you too
might be the only pipeline of Staten Island to Harvard.
What's it like when you get plopped in to that
Harvard and you're all of a sudden with world dignitaries

(29:59):
and you're in that kind of Was that an adjustment
going to the Ivy League and dealing with that for
what six years you were there?

Speaker 4 (30:05):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
It was quite the adjustment, especially going on some of
those home visits.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Uh, you know, all over the country. It was great.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
Again, another great experience because I got to nationally recruit
as a young coach where which helped me out later on.
And uh, you know you're going all over the place
and you're meeting all types of different people, and yeah,
it was.

Speaker 4 (30:25):
It was walking around the.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
Hallowed halls of Harvard as a Staten Island guy was
pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Yeah, you go to Marshall for several I guess that's
during the Leftoo years. I guess you were at Marshall. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:37):
Byron was a quarterback. We we won a ton of games.
I was on the sideline when they carried him down.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
It was I don't know, minus twelve in the Rubber
Bowl against the Akron that day. I mean it was
freezing and you know Byron. It just tells you all
about Byron, what what kind of he was about to
be a top ten pick in the draft, and I'll
never forget. They asked him after the game, they said, hey,
you know, you know, weren't you worried about your family
and and what's about to come?

Speaker 4 (31:06):
He goes, my family was out on the field.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Yes, answer, I was Byron.

Speaker 3 (31:10):
Leftwich to a T and I love Byron Hill today.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
That's awesome. Then Purdue and you're stacking up years and
years years, and then there's a call twenty twelve Miami Dolphins.
Who made the call? How'd that come about? And then
after putting in decades at the college level, what made
you finally take the leap to get into the big leagues?

Speaker 3 (31:31):
So it's it's it had always been a goal, you know,
all the years in college. I uh, you know, I
would always go visit NFL places. I would come to Cincinnati.
Kevin Coyle was a friend, and I would come here
and see see those guys with Zim and Marvin. You know,
I made had an interview. I wasn't ready to get
the job, probably in two thousand and four or five,

(31:52):
with Money kiffing down in Tampa to be the coach. Yeah,
and money and I a lot of my stuff. You know,
the the u our stuff, I should say, the core
stuff of the fundamentals of just playing football. You know,
got a chance to talk to Moni for years, used
to come after that became good friends and talking ball,
and that was a great experience. John was the head coach,

(32:13):
and Rich Basaca was in the room, Joe Barry was
in the room. So a lot of guys that you know,
people know and again another great experience. But yeah, so Joe,
Philbin and I worked together at two colleges. We worked
together at the us MMA United States Merchant Marine Academy,
and we also worked together at Harvard, so you talk

(32:33):
about connections. And then Kevin Coyle was a defensive coordinator.
Kevin and I know each other for a long time.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
So it kind of just worked out.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
So you get there twenty twelve, What was that leap
like and what was your first welcome to the NFL
moment as a coach?

Speaker 3 (32:47):
You know it was it was you know, I remember
Kevin saying something to me about, you know, hey, these
guys are different than the college guys. You know, you
got to make sure you approach it the right way.
And but I really didn't. I didn't really see it
as a big adjustment. I just was always just me
And I've never in my life knock on Wood had
a problem with my players ever. And when there is

(33:09):
a problem, we sit down and we talk about it.
But I didn't see it as a huge adjustment, just,
you know, just another another group of guys that wanted
to be coached, and and as long as you're around
players like that, you know you'll get the best at them.

Speaker 4 (33:23):
And it worked out.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
Okay. Then you're there for a while and there's a
homecoming assort, so you jump for a job in twenty
eighteen and you come to the New York Giants wearing
the big blue jerseys, and of course that's in the
backyard of Staten Island, only a few miles away. DB's coach,
who was the coach was that McAdoo, who was the
coach there when you were there with them, Pat Shermer
uh Sherman.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
I was with Pat.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
You know, we we let you know when when Joe
Philbrim was fired down to Miami, Dan Campbell was the
interim head coach, and Dan named me the defensive coordinator
and Zach the offensive coordinator. So it's small world.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
Think about that right now, Dave Campbell was the head coach,
Zach Taylor was the offensive coordinator, and you were the
defensive coordinator. You look at those three games right now,
if you go through it, Campbell's maybe you got the
best team in football with the Lions. Then you and
Zach a together at the Vengals. How cool is that?

Speaker 3 (34:13):
And oh, by the way, Ben Johnson's floating around the
building too.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
It's the mastermind offensive coordinator in Detroit. But this is
like that team was a forgettable team. No offense to
those guys. But like no one's writing books about the
twenty fifteen Miami Dolphins, and here we are. There's all
that talent in the coaching ranks, similar to the twenty
eleven Washington Redskins that we talk about, or the mid
two thousands Buccaneers like you were talking about. There's just

(34:37):
all these young coaches and it's almost like an incubator.

Speaker 4 (34:39):
Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
And you know we always used to That's how Zach
and I became so close is during those years in Miami.
You know, he'd come down to my office or I'd
go down to his office and just say, what are
these guys trying to do? And you know, and that's
how you build friendships, and you know, you get to
know who you know, Hey, I really we have the
same way of thinking about things and our philosophies are
the same and so yeah, so we move on to

(35:03):
the Giants, which was you know, I mean, I grew
up in Giant fan. I grew up watching Lawrence Tailor
and Phil Simms and all those guys. It was, it was,
it was awesome. I actually my family stayed in Miami
because my kids were finishing high school and stuff. And
I'll never forget, like I moved back into you know,
I could say it now, I moved back into the

(35:25):
same house, the same room I grew up in. So
I moved until I ended up obviously got my own
place there.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
How long were you there in your old parents' house?

Speaker 3 (35:35):
Correct? It was about two months.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
We got Farah fawcet posters. What are we dealing with here?
We got Natari Tari and Nintendo? What do we got?

Speaker 3 (35:45):
Thank god, Mom had cleared out most of that stuff
and it was a guest room. But I will say this,
she was like, you know, what time are you gonna
be home for dinner?

Speaker 1 (35:53):
I said, I'm not, you got kids in high school.
I got what time you got dinner? Okay, your curfew
is this?

Speaker 4 (36:02):
It was?

Speaker 3 (36:03):
It was absolutely classic. But we finally found a place
to day. And but it was a great two months.

Speaker 4 (36:08):
I did.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
I did get some great meals and I packed on
about fifteen pounds.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Of course I'm cooking. Before we move on, Dan Campbell,
did you know then this guy had it?

Speaker 4 (36:19):
Yeah? I love Dan.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
You know, Dan is and he hasn't changed the lick.
And that's the great thing about Dan. I think myself
and Zach very similar in terms of while our approaches
may be different, we have none of us have changed
our personality. And I think Dan has remained. He's always
been that way. He was always that way as a
tight end coach. And you know we saw it for that,

(36:41):
you know, twelve games we had, you know, we had
most of the year that year as a head coach.
We saw how he would be and you know, the
players rallied around him and us right away, and it
was it was great.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
Yeah. Do you have a good Dan Campbell story? Sorry
to go on the Dan Campbell tangent here about the content,
give me, give me the Dan. You're in an elevator
at a dinner party. They're like, oh, you worked with
Dan Campbell. Give me a story.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
What do you got, Well, I'll give you. I'll give
you a locker room story.

Speaker 4 (37:09):
Nothing weird or anything.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
But he knows me and I know him right, So
I would come in, we'd come in about the same time.

Speaker 4 (37:16):
In the morning.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
We'd end up in the you know, just putting our
coaching gear on, and he would you know, I'm not
the happiest guy in the morning.

Speaker 4 (37:25):
I'm a little grumpy. And Dan's always ready to go.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
So he would say he would look at the clock,
say up, can't talk to lou It's not past seven thirty.
He doesn't talk to anybody, and just break my you
know what the whole way through.

Speaker 4 (37:37):
So now we still talk about that today.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
I never called He never calls me in the morning
because he knows I'm not picking it up.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
He knows better. I love that, all right, And then
your name starts getting hot and you get to Cincinnati,
you're running this defense, and the last couple off seasons
you've interviewed for head coaching jobs. What's your approach to
those interviews? And the Giants were one I know Arizona
got down to the wire last year. When you go

(38:04):
in there for those coaching jobs, what is your message
to these own And I have no doubt you will
be a head coach in the coming years if you
want to be. But what's it like going in for
those interviews and what's your why they should hire coach
Lou Romo?

Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yeah? No, I appreciate it, you know.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
To me, I think at the end of the day,
what moves people, what moves teams, and it's it's how
you get these players and how you get them to
do things on a consistent basis, and how you motivate them.
This is a ultimate, as we all know, an ultimate
team game and team sport. But unless you can grab

(38:37):
each and every one of the guys on the team
at all positions, and I think I've been able to.

Speaker 4 (38:43):
That's one of my strengths.

Speaker 3 (38:44):
It's my biggest strength, is that I've never had an
issue of making sure that we come together as a group,
come together as a team, and ultimately, that's what the
head coach of a team should be is a guy
that can get guys to move towards a common goal
and do it in a way that they know that
there's a great amount of respect on both sides. You know,

(39:04):
I've always had I've always done a good job of
that and always done had away with players and make
sure we'll managing.

Speaker 4 (39:11):
Them the right way.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
And at the end of the day, you know, you
just listen to some of the things that they say.
You know, I'm not an ego guy or anything like that,
but our guys play for us over here and they
always have And to me, that's the sign of a
good coach is that you get your guys to do
things consistently.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yeah, and you guys play and you mentioned that Core four.
I watched these Bengals games. Those guys are so dialed
into the connection you have with Trey Hendrickson. Can you
talk about that guy, because I feel like he's most
underrated pass rusher in the sport in this week in
week out. He's causing trouble and we never talk about
him in the same conversation as a Miles Garrett or
a Bosa or even now Max Crosby.

Speaker 3 (39:49):
It's amazing, you know some of the things and DJ
Reader kind of in the same light in a different
way in the run game. But Trey is just a phenomenal,
phenomenal pass rusher. He is always around the quarterback. You know,
the amount of hits, the false starts, the holding call.
He's had three or four sacks taken away this year

(40:10):
because the penalty's on third down or l TV, leading
the league. So just a relentless guy and his approach
to the game and is in his approach to how
we pass rushes, but within this framework of what we're
doing on defense, which is rare to find these days.
And I think, to me, again, that's one of the
reasons why we've been good on defense is it's a

(40:31):
collective effort. It's not just one guy trying to do
more than he's supposed to do. And as you mentioned,
you know, we don't feel like we've got a bunch
of stars. We've got a bunch of really good football
players that play together as one.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Yeah, And it's just what it is when you're playing
for the Cincinnati Bengals, with the exception of maybe Joe
Burrow and Jamaar Chase, it's just these are not superstar
you know. It's not Dallas, it's not the Giants. It's
not necessarily one of these franchises that gets the same
light because historically they haven't. And yet it doesn't seem
like your defensive players cry about that or even seem
to care.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
No, they are a prideful group, number one, I'll tell
you that. And we just kind of quietly go about
our business. And we know, like the other day during
the game, I hear DJ reader behind me, just put
the ball down again, let's go, let's get another stop,
Let's get another stop. There's never any varying from that,
and that's rare in today's NFL. And I think again,

(41:25):
it's a part of the culture that Zach's built as
a team and what we've tried to do here on defense.
And we can control what we can control, and a
lot of people say that, but we demonstrate it, and
you know, you can see it by how what we've
done in the biggest games.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
Go around the division real quick, because I think that's
the most heated division when it comes to rivalry games.
And I feel like none of those teams like each other.
None of you guys want to lose to the other
one and another one want to see the other teams beat
the other ones. Like I think about even the Bengals,
like the dynamic between the Bengals and the Ravens is
very interesting in recent years. When you guys were down,
the Ravens were dancing on the graves, and then when

(42:03):
you guys had a chance a couple of years ago,
you poured it on the Ravens pretty bad. And there's
no love there. Steelers. Of course, the Browns for whatever reason,
continue to win against you guys, and then it's like
a round robin. Everyone seems to beat the other teams
those division games n AFC North, Now that you've been there
for several years, just how significant are those matchups?

Speaker 4 (42:21):
Yeah, I mean it's unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
I mean, you go back to last year's playoffs and
I felt like we played the Ravens fifteen weeks in.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
A row the last game of the season, that right
in the wild.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
Card, and you know, we all know what we're getting
into when we, you know, strapping up against those guys
or the as you mentioned, the Steelers and as you mentioned,
the Browns have kind of had our number a little bit.
But you know, it's fierce competitiveness. It's like, you know,
we used to have this great rivalry a Thanksgiving Day

(42:50):
game in high school where you got two neighbors they're
going to go against each other. That's how every one
of these games are, and you know it's going to
usually come down right to the end, but they are tough.
Everything I heard about the AFC North is true. You
know you're going to come in here and you know,
as I tell our guys, the only adjustments we're gonna
have to make is to tighten our chin strap.

Speaker 4 (43:10):
And right.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
Last year, after the AFC Championship game, there was the
late hit call and everyone's there, and there was the
clip of Pratt talking in the locker room, and that
could blow up a lot of teams. It seemed like
it didn't affect the Cincinnati Bengals. What was the conversations
afterwards Asi Pratt and then of course the late hit
called itself that that really was kind of a non
issue once the season started.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
So I think it's a great question, and I actually
used it on my interview with Arizona and because it
was a moment where, you know, Jermaine is an emotional guy,
and that's an emotional moment at the highest level where
three points away from going to back to back Super Bowls,
and so he said what he said, But the next

(43:55):
day in the locker room, Jermaine is basically crying and saying,
you know, it's my fault. I was.

Speaker 4 (44:01):
You know, I shouldn't have said what I said.

Speaker 3 (44:03):
You know, Joe is part of the reasons why we
got to this point and just squashed it immediately without
I didn't have to say nothing to him, Zach didn't
have to say anything to him.

Speaker 4 (44:12):
It was just a heated moment. But but it was
squashed right away.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
And oh, by the way, bj Hill has his arm
around Joseph who's crying in the locker room because he
obviously didn't.

Speaker 4 (44:22):
Want to do that.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
And just said, no more questions for him. I'll answer
his questions today. And so again, to me, I showed
that I had all I had my.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
Pet emotional, I get emotional. Are you talking about it?

Speaker 3 (44:35):
It was and I felt the need to like, well,
how do you how do you show culture? How do
you what's your way of changing our culture?

Speaker 4 (44:42):
Well? Here here it is, let me show you.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
Uh And and these guys want to you know, they
want to not only play for each other, but they're
going to stand up for each other in the most
heated moments.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
You know, when everything's going good and you're winning games,
anybody can be the head coach.

Speaker 3 (44:57):
Okay, it's when you have gone through what we've gone
through here from five years ago to where we are
now and and all of the steps away, both positively
and negatively, that you really know what is needed to
be done to change a team around.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
That's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
All right.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
We did a little rapid fire here to wrap things up.
I love talking to you. I can talk to you
for an hour. You don't have an hour. You're doing
a solid and giving me some time. You're prepared for
your next game. You've coached for many years NFL college.
Who is the offensive player that you would say is
just an absolute freak that you prepare for night and day,
and then they get out there and it's like could
be active, could be current, could be for me, You're

(45:36):
just like, holy crap, there is no answer for when
this guy is on his game.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
I mean, there's there's there's some ones that you know.
I go back to Calvin Johnson. We were trying to
get ready for him at when he was at Detroit
and it's like, okay, what do we do? Thank god
I had thank god I had Brent Grimes where he
could like jump through.

Speaker 4 (45:56):
And made that great.

Speaker 3 (45:57):
I remember that one yeah, great one, but but he
had Brent was hanging all over him on another where
he caught a touchdown on him and he couldn't get
you know, kind of get through to him. But I
mean that from a wide receiver standpoint, he was damn
near impossible. You know, We've got Lamar in our division
that we have to face twice and just to you know,
just a he's the best athlete on the field when

(46:18):
he's out there. But there's there's so many. Those are
the two that come to mind. You know, we're going
to see one in two weeks. You know, the running
back at San Francisco, who's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
You know, Caffrey's pretty good.

Speaker 4 (46:30):
So there's a.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Lot of them, you know, and I'm just fortunate we
can always draw back on some of those great matchups
that we've had to try to help our guys, you know,
get through. And I think, you know, you know, you know,
an example would be Cam Taylor brid from last week.

Speaker 4 (46:47):
It's DK and you.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
Know, I had showed him some clips of when we
played Julio Jones back in the day, and I said, listen,
you know, here's a size difference, but it doesn't matter
if you play with proper technique and this that.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
And the other thing. How's that work? So I love that.
So Camp Taylor Britt second year guy. You know SEC guys,
talent everything. Does he know? Oh who Julio Jones is?
Did he grow up watching Hulo? And you're like, look,
your receiver is DK Metcalf, you know him, But here's
Julio Jones. And here's how you would defend a guy
who's arguably the greatest of his generation. And is he
like all right, I'll go watch tape of Julio Or
is he like get out of here, coach, I'm watching

(47:20):
DK metf or I don't want to deal with it
at all.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
No, he's like a sponge. He wants to he wants
to learn and hear everything. I just showed him a
couple of clips when we played him, probably twenty thirteen,
I think it was when he was Atlanta, you know.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
At his height of his Grenking shop.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
Yeah, and we had a couple of good plays against him. Now,
there was some bad ones I didn't show him, but
of course hi that yeah, yeah, yeah, but he cam
listens to everything. But I just think it's it's great
when you can show former players against great players and
really some of the similar things that we're doing.

Speaker 4 (47:54):
Now.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
All right, a couple more. Your favorite defensive player in
the history of the sport. You mentioned you were a
fan of LT growing up, but as a mastermind of
defense who has been doing this since nineteen eighty nine
coaching football, who is your prototype? You say, defensive player?
Give me this guy?

Speaker 3 (48:10):
Yeah, I mean it's hard not to say LT. I
mean that would be you know, the one.

Speaker 4 (48:14):
I mean.

Speaker 3 (48:15):
I've been around some great rushers. I'll tell you about
the guys that I've been around, you know. I mean again,
a quiet guy that probably doesn't get as much.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
Can I guess? Can I guess who it's going to be?
Go ahead, you're gonna say, Cam, Wake, Wake, Let's go.
Can't wake? His flowers gets no love.

Speaker 4 (48:31):
No love the guy.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
You know, there's only about thirty some odd guys in
the NFL that have over one hundred sacks in their
career and maybe more now. Last time I checked, it
was in the thirties. I mean thirty guys, ever, and
Cam is one of those.

Speaker 4 (48:43):
Now.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
Cam used to sit next to me for six years
in the team meeting, so he's my guy. But I've
never seen a guy rush as consistent as Cam and
is as powerful as he was, and how he affected games.
You know, So giving me a guy, I mean.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
I.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
Get it all right. Last one coolest non football person
that you've got to come across that you've got to
spend time with, whether it be a celebrity, legendary leader,
someone in the business world that this career has led
to where hey, I got the opportunity to meet this
person as well.

Speaker 4 (49:23):
Yeah, let's see.

Speaker 3 (49:24):
So I would say, you know, just some of my
Harvard buddies that I used to coach are now very
prominent people around the in the business world and other things.
So Jase Snowden, who's the CEO of Penn Gaming. Jay
and I played some golf this summer and he introduced
me to a few people. But when you're around, when

(49:45):
you're around guys like that and the and the reach
that they have and the way they talk about the
people that they talk about, it's pretty cool. And just
listening to how a guy like.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
That how build a company is how.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
They build a company, how they manage their employees, how
all of that And not only do we play golf,
but you know, you just s in there and we're
going back and forth because when I was coaching him,
it was probably about a six year age difference.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
I don't know six eight What position was he in college?

Speaker 3 (50:14):
Jay was a quarterback that we turned into it I
wanted as a safety.

Speaker 4 (50:18):
In his last two years he played safety for me.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
And he ends up selling Penn Gaming or the rights
to pend At to ESPN for about a billion dollars.
Like last week or something that's not.

Speaker 4 (50:27):
Bad, No, not a bad day at the office.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
Yeah, when I asked him, like, you come into the
game this week, I don't want to hear any you
know bs. You can't you know, can't get a flight?

Speaker 1 (50:39):
Yeah? Who else? I love this? You go down these
Harvard walls, You're probably having all sorts of different people.
I love this, this image of you as a football
coach of all these guys.

Speaker 4 (50:47):
Well, we had I tell you what we did have.

Speaker 3 (50:51):
Warren Buffett walked through the halls of the Miami Dolphin facility.

Speaker 1 (50:55):
Do we have a coke? Was he drinking? The story
is he has every day he starts with a coke.
I think I bet you he's not drinking coke.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
I didn't do that, But this is not like I'm
not telling any he was in pregame?

Speaker 1 (51:08):
Is any friends with Sue? Is that what it was? Like?

Speaker 3 (51:10):
Him? A sewer boys, So he was in pregame with
shoulder pads and.

Speaker 4 (51:19):
Go find the tape.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
It's out there, some Warren Buffett wearing shoulder pads and
a helmet and h and Domkin Sue Jersey after Mike
Tannebaum just signed Sue for the biggest contract of all time.

Speaker 4 (51:33):
Yes, sir, yes, sir.

Speaker 1 (51:37):
Do you ask Buffett anything? Are you just kind of
sheepishly nod your.

Speaker 4 (51:40):
Head like is that really? What is am I dreaming?

Speaker 1 (51:43):
Like?

Speaker 3 (51:43):
What is going on right now? As we're getting ready
to play somebody, I'm like, is that really warm? Buffett
in a in a Halloween costume essentially?

Speaker 1 (51:51):
And it was all right. My last one is very
personal to you. Saturday Night Fever is a movie from
the seventies. Anyone who knows anything immediately it says about
Staten Island all like Saturay Night Fever. You had to
answer those questions your entire childhood, I'm sure, right through
college and right through the pros. It's kind of a
dated reference now. I think Staten Island's having a little
resurgence right now. You got you doing this at the

(52:12):
NFL level. You got Pete Davidson, you got Colin Jokes,
you got the impractical jokers. I feel like Staten Island's
having a moment. How proud are you of Staten Island?
And take this moment here to tell all those Manhattan
snobs that, you know what, You're not the only show
in town.

Speaker 4 (52:26):
Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 3 (52:27):
We've always felt like the forgotten borough. When I tell
people that I'm from New York City, they will where
I'm like, well, Staten Island.

Speaker 4 (52:34):
They're like, no, no, no, it's not New York. No, I
said it is.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
There's five boroughs and we're one of them. But no,
I you know, I love growing up there. It's part
of again who I am and what you know, I'll
never forget. I was going to probably fifth or sixth grade,
standing on a city bus, waiting for the city bus
to go, and you know, you're getting on that bus
with all types of different people, and it's that's one scenario.

(52:59):
But that's made me who I am today, and I
wouldn't want to grow grown up anywhere else around. I
still have great friends from there, and you know, most
of my family lives there still, and you know, I
go right back to Donino's Pizza every time I go.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
Come on, talk about it, Danino's Pizza. Were you a
faery guy into the city or do you take the verizontal.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
Bridge more the more? The bridge ferry every now and again?
But uh uh yeah, I was more of a more
of a go over the arizonta.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Okay, are you into the Impractical Jokers? Do you know
their work?

Speaker 4 (53:32):
So I do. I watched them. They're funny.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
My son when I went to the Giants, he transferred
to from Saint Thomas Aquinas down in Fort Lauderdale to Farrell,
my senior Farrell and my brother in law went to college.
I went to Farrell, I guess at the same time
when those guys were there. So, uh, funny story. A
bunch of Farrell guys came to this past game against

(53:56):
the Seahawks.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
Yeah really yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:58):
They were wearing Farrell pullovers and they got asked like
five six times like, hey, is it that where the
Impractical Jokers are from?

Speaker 4 (54:06):
So there you go.

Speaker 3 (54:07):
But yeah, we've got we're getting a little bit of
a name for ourselves for sure.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
I love it, dude, Thank you and the Bengals have
a name from how's that transition? The Bengals are making
a name for themselves. You guys are already well on
the scene. You know my feelings felt. You've seen me
talk about you on TV, but also just in our interactions.
I think you're the best of the best, and it
means so much to me that you would come on
the podcast and from the Merchant Marine Academy to now
the top of the game in the NFL. It's been
a pretty cool story, dude.

Speaker 4 (54:32):
I really appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (54:33):
Appreciate you having me and uh, we're just looking forward
to keep this thing rolling.

Speaker 4 (54:36):
Man, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
That's the approach, guys. Lou Amo defensive coordinator of the
Bengals and a head coach of your team in the
next couple of years. We appreciate you coming on, man.
Thanks thank you Aaron coach Louena Rumo. I feel like
these guys come on and you walk away, You're like,
all right, hire them for my head coaching job. I
don't know how Arizona walked out of that meeting. It
wasn't like, yes that guy now, Agan, It's been great,
But I love lou and I think his unit always

(54:59):
ends up playing well, and that's with a rotating bunch
of names at that defensive back position, which is not
an easy position to fill, especially with young guys in
that conference.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
Yeah, and like he was saying, I mean, they don't
have a big star, they don't have Aaron Donald. They
just have a group of guys that are all great
and working together. And that's one of the things that
makes that defense so frustrating to have to play against.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Twenty fifteen Dolphins. Joe Fildman is fired midway through the
season after they go to Europe or they go to London.
Come back. Dan Campbell, the tight ends coach, is interim coach.
Ben Johnson is now the tight ends coach, Ben Johnson,
who's now the innovator in Detroit. Zach Taylor is the
offensive coordinator, and lou Ana Roumos a defensive coordinator. I
did not know that until this interviewer. That is fascinating.
It's a deep dive. We I mean, I love that stuff.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
Yeah, yeah, I like the vague memories of when Dan
Campbell took over are not something that is that I
would be able to recall if I were on a
Jeopardy game.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
It would not come up for me unfortunately, so it
all goes back to jeopardy. Anyway. Thanks to coach Lou
Bengals are always going to be in the mix. Even
when they were zero and two or one and two,
it was like, they're gonna be players when it matters more.
If Burrow's calf is healthy, they'll be in there. And
then of course they rattle off too in a row
against two good teams. That's where they are now. We

(56:14):
love to give love to those who love us. It's
time for delivering results. Presented by Uber Eats. I'm gonna
discuss a team or a player that delivered from this
week's games. And you know who I'm going with right now.
I'm going with the New York Jets, and I'm going
specifically with the New York Jets defense, which stepped it
up despite not having DJ Reid or Sauce Gardner, Guys

(56:38):
like Jordan Whitehead making huge plays, and then in the
biggest moment, Tony Adams. Tony Adams, an undrafted free agent
out of Illinois in his second year playing safety, having
to move all around tuk to Robert Sala, he said
they had only four active dressed cornerbacks for this game
against an Eagles offense that had been lighting up the league.

(56:59):
They go into battle and they find a way. Both
Williams Brothers, Quincy and Quinn fantastic. CJ. Mosley all over
the field, Jermaine Johnson looking like a first round pick.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Olbrich, the New York Jets defense for
finding a way to get the key turnovers when needed,
intercepting Jalen Hurts three times and giving the Jets just

(57:21):
enough chance to go and get that win Sunday against
the Eagles. They are the recipients of the Delivering Results
Award presented by Uber Eats that was Delivering Results presented
by Iberts, where you can get almost almost anything the
official I'm the Man delivery partner of the NFL. Go
ahead and order now, Aaron, set your DVR. October twenty fifth,

(57:47):
eight pm Eastern Celebrity Jeopardy My ass versus Mira Sorvino's
ass versus Adam Rodriguez's Ass. I just wanted to curse
on this podcast and get you guys fired up. A
great episode as always, Aeron, please root me on.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
Of course, I'm gonna have a print out of state capitals, geometry,
cloud formations, and roll.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
Napoleon, Yeah, Napoleon and Henry like a spoiler alert, not
a single question about Waterloo. And I was ready, dude,
I was so ready. This is another episode of the
season with Peter Schrager. Many thanks to you, Aaron wan Kaufman,
my great producer, to Jason English, who is like the
core four here, the three of us, every week we're together.

(58:33):
We're doing this. I jokingly said that we're trying to
get to Las Vegas and the super Bowl. Take the
jokingly aside. If we want to get a go fun
me prage, we need to get to super Bowl. Let's
go for it. Let's make it happen. Let's bring this
thing on the road. Let's see what we can do.
Meredith Batton who stopped by today, she's our mastermind out
in La a Michigan alum, and she got to go

(58:54):
to see her Wolverines kick Indiana's asked this weekend and
that was cool for her to everyone in the audience.
So appreciate you guys listening. Tell your friends and Bengals fans.
If this is the first time tuning in, Welcome the

(59:23):
season with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL
and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.