The Season with Peter Schrager: Mike Tirico

Peter starts this week on the Ben Johnson hire in Chicago, the expected Aaron Glenn hire in New York, and a conversation with long-suffering Bills fan Aaron Wong Kaufman on what this upcoming AFC Championship weekend means to him. Mike Tirico, then, joins for a delightful conversation and trip inside the booth. We get his thoughts on Jayden Daniels, Josh Allen, and what makes this year's final four teams so special. Mike joins with insights, analysis of two great calls, and incredible stories from production meetings and his days at NBC and ESPN.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the
NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up Everybody, Look to
the Season with Peter Schreger. I'm Peter Schreger. I host

(00:28):
Good Morning Football Monday to Friday on the NFL network.
I'm also on the Fox NFL Kickoff pregame show on Sundays.
I'll be on Super Bowl Sunday. Just got my assignment.
I'll be assigned to one of the teams throughout the
entire day, so I'll be boarding the buses and giving
reports Super Bowl Sunday as they load up and head
over to the stadium, and throughout the week. Of course,

(00:49):
I'll be doing Good Morning Football, but also giving you
insights on all the things happen around the NFL, so
stay tuned for that. And Fox has the Super Bowl,
so I'll be playing I don't know if i'd call
it a prominent role, but playing a role of Super
Bowl Sunday, and that is pretty cool. But today's monologue
is not based on any of the four teams that
are still playing, and we could have gone that route,

(01:11):
but you know, you'll go elsewhere for that. This is
a very specific podcast. Often about leadership and about coaches
and about gms, and I just want to praise the
Chicago Bears. I want to praise the Chicago Bears for
actually getting the guy. Do I know how Ben Johnson
will work out as an NFL head coach. I have

(01:31):
no idea. I've met Ben several times. We've had some
really good conversations, and I think he's a more than
competent guy. He's a father of three kids, thirty eight
years old, and he was the hottest name from the
offensive side of the ball that was out there this year.
The fact that the Bears bought him is such a
big deal to me because here's the bell of the

(01:53):
ball and he could have taken any of these jobs
outside of New England. They went with Rabel obviously, and
he only chose to interview with a few and when
it came down to it, he looked at two possibilities,
the Raiders and the the Raiders clean slate, go and
build the team. Go and work with your GM that
you're gonna probably have input on who they hire. Go

(02:15):
and work with Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time,
as a minority owner, and go build this thing from
the ground up. Now that all sounds great, and there's
probably more money attached to that Raiders job. We'll see
what actually is reported and what was offered, if anything
was offered at all. But with the Chicago Bears, there's
a comfort, and the comfort is I've got the guy.

(02:39):
I've got the quarterback. And obviously Ben Johnson not only
wanted the quarterback, but he wanted that logo and he
wanted the ability to bring this franchise back into relevance.
This was such a big hire for the Chicago Bears.
Not so much because of what Ben Johnson does with
the x's and o's and the trick plays and all that,
but that Ben Johnson chose them. He chose them. This

(03:02):
was the bell of the ball and not just this season,
but last season and the season before that. I could
tell you a really strong sourcing here that David Tepper
and the Carolina Panthers were ready to give Ben Johnson
everything he wanted two years ago, a UNC guy who
has real Carolina ties. He decided to not go that

(03:23):
route and to go back to Detroit. They have that
amazing offense. They go all the way to the NFC
Championship Game. I could tell you on really good sourcing
and really good reporting that the Washington commanders had Ben
Johnson circled as the guy, knowing they had the number
two overall pick and a young quarterback coming in Ben
Johnson with a new owner and all the stuff that
we're seeing with Dan Quinn right now. That could have

(03:44):
been Ben Johnson's opportunity. He said, no, I've got unfinished business.
I'm going back to Detroit, does another year with Detroit,
has another outstanding offensive season, and these teams are falling
over themselves to meet with them. He was very selective
with who he would actually talk with. It was Vegas,
it was Chicago, and it was Jacksonville. And at the

(04:04):
end of the day, he's choosing the Bears. Bears fans
take that in for a second. Ben Johnson has had
multiple opportunities to take head coaching jobs and has said
no thanks. He has had countless opportunities to interview with teams.
He said no thanks. He sought out this Bear's job.
Granted there's big money attached, but think about what Ryan

(04:26):
Poles had at stake here. You've already hired one coach
that was a failure in Matt Eberflus. You've already been
through multiple offensive coordinators that have been failures. You don't
get three cracks at this thing. As a guy who's
responsible for hiring a coach, Ryan Poles had to get
this right. And with talk of Eddie George interviewing on

(04:47):
Sunday and Mike McCarthy as one of the leaders in
the clubhouse, they got the bell of the ball, so
Bears fans this week, I don't know, before you start
analyzing who his hires are and what they're gonna do,
and take a moment to just enjoy this that for
maybe the first time in forever, the really attractive girl

(05:08):
at the dance, she chose you. She chose you. She
could have had anyone, she could have had the jock,
she could have had the valedictorian. She chose you. That's
a big deal in Chicago. This was a home run Higher.
I don't know if he's a home run coach. It
was a home run Higher. Now let's bring it over
here to New York where the Jets are set to

(05:30):
make a higher. We're recording this on Tuesday morning. If
things go horrendously wrong, this doesn't happen and something went
off the rails. But from all I gather, the Jets
have zeroed in on Aaron Glenn to be their head coach.
I'm not sure there's an option number two for the
Jets at the moment. In fact, I think they were
very interested with the Mike Vrabel interview and that went

(05:51):
really well from both sides, and they thought, okay, maybe
Rabel took the Patriots job more than a week ago,
and in the days that have passed since, they have
met with countless different head coaching candidates. But Aaron Glenn
has always made the most sense. If you go back
into his history. He is an all time Jets player.
He was an All Pro for the New York Jets

(06:13):
during the Parcels era. But what I like more about
Aaron Glenn than his playing days and his obvious connection
to the Jets. I like the fact that he took
the road less traveled coming out of his NFL career.
Aaron Glenn was very deliberate about what he wanted to
do with his career, and it wasn't just skyrocket to
the front of the line. He wanted to wear many

(06:35):
different hats. He was a scouting assistant as his first job,
then he went to Cleveland and learned from that franchise.
Then he eventually went to New Orleans where he would
grow to be the defensive backs coach under Sean Payton
on those great Saints teams of the mid twoenty tens.
He ultimately gets his first coordinator job in Detroit and

(06:56):
saw a great success with the Detroit Lions defense that
was a very young and then be very injured, but
they found a way and in a big game Week eighteen,
put the clamps on Sam Darnold, which I think raised
a lot of eyebrows around the league about whether or
not Aaron Glenn's x's and o's and all that is legit.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
It is.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
What I like most about him, though, is who vouches
for him. Bill Parcells vouches for Aaron Glenn. If you
think that doesn't matter in twenty twenty five, that Bill
Parcells is some eighty or no, no, no, in this
market with that owner, Bill Parcells matters. Sean Payton vouches
for Aaron Glenn. If you don't think that matters, I say,

(07:38):
trust me. In the NFL circles Sean Payton, who is
in everybody's best friend when he vouches for you and
says that's my guy that matters. Again, this might be
the right higher I don't know if it works out,
but it makes sense as far as the hire goes.
I will say this, and I've been critical of this
Jets process. Put it out there. They didn't meet with

(08:00):
any of the top offensive coaches. They didn't They didn't
meet with Todd Monkin, they didn't meet with Cliff Kingsbury,
they didn't meet with Liam Cohen, they didn't meet with
Kellen Moore, and they didn't even get an opportunity to
meet with Ben Johnson. Now, granted, they did meet with
some I think the world of Matt Naggy. I think
that's a worthy interview, but Joe Brady's coaching against Matt Naggy,

(08:24):
and the Jets didn't get a chance to speak with him.
You go down the list a lot of these offensive
wonderkin minds that are interviewing for head coaching jobs. The
Jets just did not bring them in. The Jets had
a different set of priorities, necessarily than what other teams have.
They're not looking for a quarterback whisperer. What they are
showing us with this hire and with this process of

(08:44):
interviewing guys like Vance Joseph and Joe Witt, and Ron
Rivera and Rex Ryan and Mike Locksley and Darren Rizzy
for the head coaching job of the New York Jets.
They're telling you they were looking for the CEO leader
of men type and they're figure out the offensive side
of the ball, and they'll figure out the x's and
o's and the hot shot, big name offensive of mind.

(09:07):
Wasn't necessarily what they were looking for with this hire. Again,
time will tell. But Aaron Glenn, on the surface, I
don't care how the process got there. I think he
is a worthy head coaching candidate and is a fine
pick considering the Jets market, the people who vouch for him,
and his connection to the franchise, and oh yeah, his

(09:29):
own resume. The fact that he's worn all those hats.
I dig that all right. So that leaves the Raiders,
the Saints, the Jaguars, and it leaves the Cowboys. Where
are they going to go? Well, we're recording this on Tuesday.
We might have some more dominoes dropping. But if you
think that Vrabel, Johnson and Glenn, who are universally considered
three really good head coaching candidates are off the board.

(09:52):
Let's play a little mix and match for the Jaguars.
Some interesting names. One of them who's been there twice
is Liam Cohen, who was a guest on our show.
And I would really urge you to go find that
YouTube interview or listen to it on Spotify or unesor
wherever you get your iHeart podcasts. Liam's really bright, really smart,
and I think the thought is you put him with

(10:13):
Trevor Lawrence, a young, bright offensive technician. Maybe that makes sense.
Robert Sala has now got two interviews with the Jaguars
on the books. Robert Sala, who is unceremoniously fired after
five weeks of football with the Jets this season. Could
he get a head coaching job the next Well? Why
Robert Sala? Robert Sala very respected defensive coach, also a

(10:34):
very respected guy in that organization where he did spend
some time in the mid two thousand pens. Sala to
the Jaguars after being fired, It's all possible. It's all
on the board. I would also look to the Raiders
and say what do they do because here you have
a blank slate, and you have Brady, and you have

(10:56):
money and you have Mark Davis, and you have private
jets from their owners that are being provided. But like,
would I be shocked if Pete Carroll was the next
day coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. Not one bit.
Pete Carroll comes in stabilizes things. They don't have a quarterback,
they don't necessarily have a GM hired yet. Pete Carroll

(11:16):
could come in and maybe just be that voice of
reason for a couple of years and help transition into
whatever the next phase is, the long play, even though
it seems like a short term higher but the Raiders
might also go with a young hot shot. We will
see what they do. Cowboys, the Dion stuff was fun.
That's fading away a little bit right now. Names like

(11:39):
Robert Sala and Kellen Moore and Brian Schottenheimer being batted around.
I don't know if you're doing, you know, runs around
the living room if you're a Cowboys fan over those names.
But all along, I don't know if Jerry Jones going
for the big swing big hire was ever actually gonna happen.
I think they enjoyed the Dion buzz and that was
a great story for a week that kept us afloat

(12:00):
on this podcast. That also kept us a float on
Good Morning Football. But we'll see if they actually go
that route. We haven't seen many more conversations about that
in the past seven days. I would think more of
a higher of those types of names, Kellen Shoddy, guys
who know Jerry, Guys that Jerry knows, and guys that
can work with Dak Prescott. Last, but not least, the Saints.

(12:23):
Here's a real interesting part of this Saints thing. For
the first time in New Orleans City's history, they've got
like eight inches of snow today. A lot of flights
have been canceled. They were planning on having Aaron Glenn
come in tomorrow. If Aaron Glenn could get out of
this Jets interview and at least have one last look
with the say, I don't know if that could happen
based on the flight schedule, that might expedite things with him,
to say, you know what Jets here here offers on

(12:44):
the table. I can't even get to New Orleans. I'm
not even gonna bother with that interview. But I'm not
sure New Orleans is that attractive a job right now.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Now.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
Look, Mickey loomis very well respected, very well regarded and
an all around legend in the game for building teams
in Seattle and in New Orleans that have played at
the highest of levels. But you got Derek Carr with
forty million dollars due to him, You've got a bunch
of players who are aging out of the primes of

(13:11):
their career. And then you got some wild cards there
that you might like in a Lave and Camara, who
we're not sure how they fit with a quarterback situation
that's going to have to change in the next few years.
It's not going to be Derek Carr for the next
decade or the next four or five years. So I
think there's a lot of questions in New Orleans. It's
also the thirty first market, I think, as far as
size goes. If you're a coach who's looking for bright

(13:33):
lights and you want that big challenge, a Dallas, a
New York and of course a Las Vegas with Brady
and all that comes with that might be a more
appealing option than going down to New Orleans. We'll see
how it all plays out. Last year, Dan Quinn was
the last coach hired and was kind of like hired
with like eh Dan Quinn Ghost Washington. He was the

(13:54):
best first year coach out of all these guys. A
couple of years back, Matt Naggy lost a playoff game
to the Tennessee Titans at home and was hired two
days later, and everyone was like, what he was the
coach of the year. The very next season, Brian Dable
wasn't everybody's first pick in New York. He was a
coach of the year. Time will tell. But if you're

(14:14):
telling me the higher and who got it done and
who wins this whole cycle, well, the Patriots are very
happy with Mike Vrabel. But for the Bears to get
Ben Johnson, that's a pretty pretty cool deal for Chicago.
Kudos to Ryan Poles, the McCaskey family, and of course
Kevin Warren, their president. I don't know if he's gonna
be a good head coach, but they got the bell,

(14:35):
the ball, and as far as first steps go, that
one is huge. We've got an all time guest coming up.
Mike Turrico's going to join us. I'm giggling just at
the thought of the fact that our POD's going to
have the voice of so many huge moments and truly
a guy who's become a great mentor and friend of mine.
In a second, but before we get to that, we've
got to go to a game that he's not calling.
I want to bring on my producer and pal, Aaron

(14:58):
wan Kaufman, who've been doing this for three years. Erin
and you have been the voice of Bills fans for
three years. You are on the doorstep of the first
Super Bowl appearance since nineteen ninety four for the Buffalo Bills,
and I gotta say, I think there's a real shot
this year. I feel differently, and the fact that Mark

(15:19):
Andrews dropped that two point conversion tells me that maybe
this franchise, the curse is over, whatever it is. But
who am I to speak. I'm just an objective guy
who picks the Chiefs every year to win. Aaron Bill's
fan your take now, five days out from another AFC
Championship appearance.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
I mean, it was an incredible game against the Ravens,
and I was texting with one of my best friends
from college. He's a Baltimore native, huge Ravens fan. We
were on a group text and I think both of
us were so impressed with the game overall. I was
we're both doom and gloom. We're both having fun. I
stood up when that pass went to Mark Andrews, and

(15:57):
I just thought he caught it, and I just closed
my eyes. I thought it was over. And then my
partner was like, he didn't catch it, and I was like, wait,
oh my god. So what an incredible game. I mean,
like the Ravens are great. I think I was terrified.
I'm so impressed with the Bills putting all that pressure
on Lamar other than the third quarter, like Derrick Henry

(16:19):
didn't even have I heard this stat. Derek Henry had
less yards this weekend than he did on the first
run of the game earlier in the season, which also
means he destroyed us that game. But here we are
back again with Kansas City since twenty twenty. I mean,
we just keep running into them, except for the Bengals
at one time. But it is it's the hill we

(16:43):
have to climb every single time. And the you know,
I think many times throughout the season you've asked me
about the Bills, and every time I'm really quick to
just be like, they can't stop the run.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
They're not.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
This is a rebuilding year. Who knows this feels exciting.
I don't. It's so easy to get your hopes up,
and I think Bills in particular, like there's just been
a lot of We've been a lot part of a
lot of great games, and we always seem to lose them.
It would really be great to just completely put the

(17:18):
clamps down on Kansas City because this team is doing
so well in a different way than everything you expect
from Josh Allen. This team is like like they did
against Baltimore, they just bully balled their way into running.
They're going out with extra offensive linemen putting pressure on Lamar.
I don't know. I'm incredibly nervous and I can't wait too.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
I love that take. I believe you're talking about complimentary football,
which is something not a lot of people expected. But
give Brendan being credit. He was willing to let Stefan
Diggs walk out that door. I think they had to.
I think that was a big addition by subtraction, if
we're talking real, I think he was fine letting Gabe
Davis leave despite being a twenty four year old stud

(18:05):
for this team at wider and found a way to
mix and match and put it together. I think the
stat that Nanson Romo gave and I could be wrong,
was They've had thirty rushing touchdowns and thirty receiving touchdowns
this year, which is like an insane number and shows
just complete balance from Joe Brady. I think they also
had the most players on a roster score a touchdown,

(18:29):
whether it be receiving or rushing, which is great. And
even in the biggest moments last week, it was like
Ty Johnson, who's been a great third down back making
huge plays, Ray Davis making huge plays, Keon Coleman making
big plays, Mac Collins, Mac Collins has been Mac Collins
is their gunner on special teams, and they're leading receiver

(18:49):
with touchdowns this year, which just tells you how different
in blue collar this team. Is my question to you,
and I pose this not knowing what your answer is,
because it could be as simple. Are you kidding? Of course,
we'd want it the other way. As I'm watching Saturdays
Texans Chiefs game as a football purist and as a

(19:10):
fan and as someone who cherishes the history of it,
I'm watching that game and I'm rooting really hard for
the history of it all for it to be the Chiefs,
because I think for Lamar and Josh. It's not the
same if you go through Stroud, and I know that
sounds dismissive to the Texans. I think their time might come.
Maybe not. But if you just think about, like the

(19:32):
pure history, if Josh Allen got to the Super Bowl,
but he did so by knocking off Bo Nicks, Lamar Jackson,
and c J. Stroud, I think it's a little different
than going through Bo Nicks, Lamar Jackson, and then Mahomes
in Mahomes's building. As a Bills fan, you might say
that I would much rather just play the Texans and

(19:54):
them throwing the ball at number fourteen Jared Wayne and
John Metchi than having to deal with Travis Kelcey and
Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
I think for me personally, you hit it round the
headlake he Mahomes is the piece and I want the
Bills to win the Super Bowl first and foremost, but
maybe even more than that, I want the Bills to
knock Mahomes out. I didn't care if the Ravens won.
I wanted Lamar to knock Mahomes out like this, I

(20:22):
don't think is only for Bills in Baltimore fans. Kansas
City is the dynasty is the top. They're the villain.
I mean, like, I think it didn't help that, you know,
they had the bye and then they play Houston, and
like if they had played the Ravens first and had
this really tough game, it might be different. But no,
I want Josh Allen to come in. I want him

(20:43):
to go toe to tote with Mahomes. I want von
Miller to get a stripsack on Mahome. Like I want
everyone to have their day against Kansas City, because Kansas
City is the one that keeps stopping us. It's so
much more important and full of vengeance that if that
result can be a complete return to the people who

(21:04):
keep beating us in their state, if we can beat them,
that'd be so much more fulfilling. I would say, there's
two whole games left, but.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
That would be huge.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
All right, let me just before we get to our guests,
let me just put you in two different sets of shoes.
Fourth quarter bills are up thirty one ten in Arrowhead,
and they show some Arrowhead fans leaving the building with
about two minutes left, and Nanson Romo just say, like
it was just Josh Allen's time. That's one set of shoes.

(21:40):
The other set of shoes for you as a Bills fan.
Fourth quarter, down, five three seconds left, You're on the
one yard line, Josh Allen's there. It's twenty five twenty.
They call hike, and Josh Allen plows behind Dion Dawkins
and you guys win a walk off style win in

(22:01):
Arrowhead to send them home packing. What's the more satisfying win.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
The first one to just demolish them. I mean, that
would be amazing to get a walk off. But I
want I want the Bills to I want this to
be a statement, you know. I don't want this to
be something where even with the Ravens game, I think
the Ravens played incredibly well other than the turnovers, obviously,
but the story from the Ravens game is, oh my god,

(22:26):
Mark Andrews dropped that pass, Oh my god, Mark Andrews fumbled,
Oh my god, Lamar through that interception. I want the
Bills to win, and I went the story to be
about the Bills winning, not oh that you know Kansas
City missed this and Josh was able to sneak around.
You always got to defend him run in that way. No,
I want this to just be the Bills came in
there and it's to steal from Bill Simmons. Nobody believed

(22:50):
to us, and we just went at them. And I
would much rather that this game ends with Mitch Trubisky
taking a kneel down, because like, we've just totally taken
them out of it. Yeah, the first one.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Can I give my last take? And Kyle and I
were talking about this in the commercial break on Good
Morning Football Comberate my colleague. I think the outrage and
the outcry and the public hysteria over the officiating last
week actually might help the Bills a little bit going
into this game. I think there's going to be a
great sensitivity. This has been a big talking point about
Mahomes flopping and mahomes sideline antics. I actually think the

(23:29):
refs are going to be really, really sensitive to that,
and I don't think he necessarily gets some of those
Jordan rules calls that mj and Lebron have gotten in
the past and that Mahomes seemingly gets. I think that
was actually a great advantage for the Bills going into
this thing, because that has been one of the number
one topics in sports this week, the way that Mahomes
games are officiated, and you better believe the league office

(23:51):
is very aware of that.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
And the three peat is a great news story. It's historic.
There are other things that are historic. If the Bills
win the super Bowl, that's historic. If Jaden Daniels can
take his team to the super Bowl, that's historic. Is
not the only fun narrative that we have here. So
I think that you know, there are a lot of

(24:13):
great outcomes we could have, and I think for everyone
in Western New York there's one in particular, and that
would be, like you said, thirty one to ten, Josh
is sitting on the bench. He's shaking hands.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Beggars can't be choosers. We'll see how it all plays out. Aaron,
great stuff. Mike Turco is our guest. He's up after this,
all right, with no further ado. It's one of my
favorite people in the world and the voice of so

(24:47):
many amazing moments in so many different sports. He's also
just a total mench and a mentor and big brother
of mine in this industry. Has been really good to
me over the years, and he's been good enough to
give us some time despite his season finally being over.
NBC Sports, the voice of everything, mister Mike Turico, how
are we doing so.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
Strange the postseason? My postseason has now arrived, and so
it's a good thing you're getting me early, because about
three days away from this gray Beard and all this
stuff in a week and just shutting it down, you're
going to.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Look like Tom Hanks and Castaways.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
Well not exactly, but you get what's it.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
Like when you're done but the rest of the games
aren't done. It's just like I guess Troy and Joe
are feeling it this week too. You called your last
game and the show goes on and we all move
right along, but like we're done hearing your voice for
the next eight months.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
The weird part is, honestly, is that it is, you know,
and it's not like we're building a building or we're
not building bridges or digging ditches. But it is work right,
and it's every day. As you know, there's no off
day in the NFL season when you do what we do.
So for gosh, twenty weeks plus a couple of preseason

(26:01):
weeks time seven days, so one hundred and forty five
to fifty days every single day is something watch GMFB,
listen to a pod start building my boards, add a game,
talk to folks, and then you just drop off the cliff.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
So it's it.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
See, I got in the flight on Monday, ago, Okay,
I don't have to start thinking about Okay, have we
had these teams? What's the deal? How much carryover stuff?
What's that nugget on Liam Cohen that I didn't get
during the regular season?

Speaker 3 (26:30):
That are like damn.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Every game you walk out of it and you go, oh,
I can't believe I didn't get to tell this story
or that story. Right, So you start thinking about that
and it's just a daily process. So when it ends,
it is really like you're hitting a wall, falling off
a cliff, all that stuff, and you rediscover important things like, oh,
I've got a thousand thank you notes to write, yo,
the registration for the car needs to be done, all

(26:54):
that stuff that you put a suspended animation. You start
digging out.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
I always say this, and Daniel Jeremiah is the best.
You do the draft together, right, we both talk about this.
A lot of people talk about season being over. Go
to Vegas. Whatever it is you do to celebrate, go
to Daniel says. The Saturday night shower after the draft
when he's done with three days, and he says it
is the most rewarding thing of his year to just

(27:19):
know I could just it's all over. I did it,
It's done, and we could start anew But like I
guess that's how you almost feel when you land back
in Michigan after doing another incredible, incredible TV moment that
Rams Eagles incredible divisional round.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Game, the fun and good snow. And I'll say you
so that Monday, I got Monday, I got home, and
I sat down and you just kind of start doing
some basic stuff and go, oh, national championship games tonight.
And who knew Chris Faller has been a friend since
nineteen ninety one, so this is might you know, and
said Herbie a couple of years after this, this are
two of my best best pals in the business. And

(27:56):
I just texted him with luck have a great game,
and I was just gonna sit back and watch the
game and not I don't have to divide attention to Nope,
We're on a few notes while I'm doing this, because
usually my Mondays are you get home, you have a
nice dinner, my wife and I sit down, start to
watch the Monday night game. And then I open up
the laptop and I start to get a little bit
ahead on the team. But just to sit and watch
a game was just so much fun. It's relaxing. But

(28:18):
you're right, Peter, like you miss that assignment, no doubt
until you sit down next week and then watch the
games and I just watch those guys just do it
and have fun. And next year, you know, fortunately is
our super Bowl season. So next year we only not
only have the super Bowl, next year we have the Olympics,
which start right at the end of the Super Bowl.
The Winter Olympics in Italy are right the Friday of

(28:42):
Super Bowl weekend in Santa Clara is the start of
the Olympics in Italy. So we're going to be cranking through.
So I'm enjoying every second of these couple of weeks
because next year that plus we start with the NBA
on NBC, so we're going to be cranking away all
fall in with the next year. So I'm enjoying these
couple of days for sure.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
And I have to think that this year was not
just football because you were in pair for the Olympics
and it carried right through and you were the voice
of that and Obviously there was a lot of fanfare
over Snoops appearances, but beyond Snoop, I mean you were
you were unbelievable, and that's not a two day assignment.
And then you go right from there into training camp,

(29:21):
into preseason and then boom, football hits you like a
ton of bricks.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yeah, this was the longest run that I know I've had,
just because it started with really from the Kentucky Derby
in May through because you had the couple of Triple
Crown races, the Indy five hundred, and then June was
all the Olympic trials, making Team USA, which spilled right
into the US Open British Open Golf, which is really
the Open. But then that was right into the Olympics,

(29:48):
and the run just got home, had a week off.
We had a family friend get married that weekend after
the Olympics and before our preseason game, and then off.
So it's been a long run, but it's been it's
been great. Such a good year too. You know, sometimes
sometimes you get in ruts where you don't have great games.
We got lucky on Sunday night. We had so many
good and exciting games. Like you said, we got to

(30:08):
wrap up with an even more exciting game than the
first Eagles Rams game that we had, which was Barkley
GoF for two fifty five. He kind of does a
top five all time playoff rushing appearance in the playoffs
in the snow at home in Philly with the Rams
coming down the field with a chance to win the game.
It was really really one of those cool memorable postseason games.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Broadcaster question for you. So there's the four A crews obviously,
and we're down to the final four games, so you
each get it that Sunday night you're calling Tampa versus Washington.
You don't know the assignment yet for next week. When
do you find out that, hey, we don't have Bills

(30:50):
versus Ravens. Obviously that's going to CBS, but we actually
have an early windows Sunday game, which is not our
natural place. When do you find out all that information? Obviously,
Mike North and the schedule gods are working on it.
Do you get a note past you during the game
or is it after you're already back in the hotel.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
So it's you. We usually announce it before we go
off there. So I'll get I'll leave, I'll leave it
unnamed I get, I'll get a friend from one of
the networks text me, like, middle of the second quarter,
hat you know yet? Because usually the league knows, but
they really keep it so that only one or two
people know. So I didn't know until our game in
Tampa ended, until z Gonzalez duikes it in. Only then

(31:27):
did I know where we were going At some point.
Usually right before that, you may know the options or
where we're going to be a Sunday early game, Sunday earlier,
Sunday late. It all varies. I think if that result
of that game changes, we are in a different place
for a different game. So it is kind of fun.
So there have been Usually it's in that break before that,

(31:47):
our producer Rob Hiland will say, hey, here's a peak
of the schedule. We're going to show it coming out
of the next break. He's got to take it. And
that's the same thing with Week eighteen too.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yeah, does it feel like the tournament reveal show?

Speaker 2 (31:58):
Like it does a little bit like I wish I
wish we didn't have to fly through it in thirty
seconds because you want to start digesting it because okay,
the early window, this will be the the late window.
That'll be decided and you kind of know what game
is left at the end. It is fun and you know,
for us, we want to know where we're going, but
you also want to are they teams you know really
well teams you've had all that stuff, and so it's

(32:20):
it makes her a lot of fun, but you don't
find out until really the end of that Tampa game.
I did not know where we were going. And Sunday
at three o'clock is a little bit different. You know,
you've become creatures of habit. Right if you did Good
Morning Football at five o'clock in the afternoon, it would
still weird totally. So for us doing at three o'clock
Sunday afternoon game, I was I was lost all day, Like, wait,

(32:41):
a different time zone, right, Like what I truly at
seven to fifteen in the morning said, Okay, this game
kicks off five hours before normal, so right now it
should feel like twelve fifteen. I just want to make
sure I had like the right stuff ready. So it
wasn't panicking around the hotel trying to get ready, but
it was. It was cool and the weather timing was
incredible with the snow in Philadelphia to start dry begin

(33:01):
snow have a change over. It was. It was so
much fun, such a fun game, all right.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
One of the coolest things about being a voice in
the NFL is you get to speak with these players,
in these coaches the week of the games. Now it
used to be you're laying there on a Friday, You're
going to practice. Now a little bit more zoom than
in person, but I imagine you still get to see
these guys. Give us one thing you've gotten to know
about Jaden Daniels that the world should know, having done

(33:30):
his game obviously Sunday night against the Buccaneers.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
So we had the Falcons game, Yeah, and the Falcons game.
So we go in on Friday still and go to
the home team practice. I think, and I tore my
achilles week eleven, so I missed like two weeks, three
weeks you getting Friday practice, and I felt lost. I
love doing it. I love sitting in the sea line
with people, and not only that, but being at practice,

(33:54):
getting a chance to talk to the people around the franchise, right,
and that's what helps give you, if not that nugget
to that feel and that confidence to say things. So
that's the preamble. Let me go backwards. Our one preseason
game was New England Washington, and you see you sit
there and you go, okay, we'll just come off the
Olympics and now we're gonna turn around to a preseason game,

(34:17):
the last preseason game where usually people don't play, but
it's two teams we do not have on our Sunday
night football schedule. And I remember when dan Quinn got up,
He's like, hey, I hope we end up seeing you
guys before the years over. Like I was thinking the
same thing. I hope we're gonna flex into a commander's game.
Both Chris and I walked out of there on the

(34:39):
drive back to our hotel like, this team feels like
they could do something. Now. Did we see them making
the NFC Championship game. No, but we both tabbed them
as like the team on the rise, that team that
had something unique going and man, it was great. So
the point to your question, we did sit with Jayden Daniels.
He didn't play in that preseason game, but we still

(35:00):
met with him because he was the guy, and man,
did you see why the whole building was is in
belief that this guy could be really good? Right away?
Fifty five starts Arizona State to LSU, so he's done
the leave one environment and system, go to a new
coaching staff, new teammates, win the room over, win the building,

(35:22):
over the work habits. That a guy who I think
is really someone who deserves a lot of credit in
both college and pro football this year but is not
getting it is Brian Kelly. Brian Kelly is hard on
quarterbacks as any of them who played for but he
makes them better. And he really helped Jayden Daniels go

(35:42):
from here to here just in the large ess of
it of how you go about game planning, how you
go about situational football. And you know, Brian Kelly and
the LSU staff made it possible for Jaden Daniels done
academically essentially his last year at LSU, to get in
the gym in the middle of the night and get
ready and VR stuff. So that's a reality concept. And

(36:05):
he brought all those great in incredible habits to his meetings,
He brought him all to his practices, and he brought
him all to Washington, and Washington gave him the ability
to kind of expand and do that. So, yeah, we
saw a little bit of why this could be really
good and there's no way you could forecast there'd be
a championship game. But just a close the thought on

(36:26):
Brian Kelly, Notre Dame is not in position to play
for the championship if Brian Kelly didn't elevate that place
all the way through the end and then he hired
Marcus Freemans he's defensive coordinator. If he did Marcus Freeman
three years in takes him to a championship NFL team
saying hey, this big guy, we should look at or
talk to you somewhere down the line sooner, if not later.

(36:47):
Brian Kelly did a lot of credit for some of
the success stories of this football season, and it is
not getting a lot of it. But Jade Daniels is
wonder those.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
You've been in that premiere Sunday night seat for the
entire Josh Allen Mahomes our Borough era. You've seen these
guys enter the league and then play their biggest games
on those Sunday night regular season afternoons and evenings. What
makes Josh Allen a little bit different this year than
maybe years prior.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
Peter, he just took that step from here to here
of greatness, growth and what does greatness growth mean? It
means I got the building, all right, I got the
whole building. Now it's not. And he was so good
about not saying it's Stefan Diggs or anything like that.

(37:40):
Just the oxygen in the building changes every year. Stefan
Diggs greatness, his ability to bring the bills so many
wins was a little bit of that receiver me attitude,
and that helped give this team. When Josh Allen was young,
young ledge, you got it exactly man. And now now
like Josh looks around the room and it's him and

(38:02):
he's got to be that guy and he has. Now
that doesn't mean Dion Dawkins doesn't have an impact. Bernard
on defense are all the von Miller's still in the
building and still in the room, right. So I'm not
saying this is a one man show. But I think
the fact that Josh is able to read the room
and says, Okay, I know I'm really, really, really good.
I know it's my time. I've got to lead these guys.

(38:23):
And he's got a little bit of Rascal in him.
He's the fun guy in the room, and you get
that every time you sit with Josh. There's a laugh,
it's a humor, it's a it's never an edge, it's
always good. But you know, when it comes down to
the business, he's got he's got the buffaloes to do it,
you know. So I love the way he took that
step this year. And that's one of the things that

(38:45):
you can see. Okay, it's not just Lamar Mahomes Burrow,
it's can you carry the Bills franchise? And this generation
of Bill's Mafia. The younger fans only know about Jim
and Thurman and Bruce and Andre Reid from T shirts
and sweatshirts that their parents still wear and all that stuff.

Speaker 4 (39:06):
A documentaries, you know exactly, and Marv Levy's singing his
go Bill's song that he wrote, right and all of that.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
I think I think Josh is their generations guy, and
I'd love to see it. I do think it's the
most fascinating thing we're living in in a macro. Part
of this NFL JEN is that Lamar and Burrow and
Josh remind me of Ernie Else and Phil Mickelson of
They're like not good, they're exceptional. They're living at a

(39:39):
time when one of the best to ever do it
is in their way, and they've all got to try
to beat Mahomes every single year, and usually they go
over when it matters the most. And Ken Josh get
that one notch this year. That's the most fascinating thing
in the macro to me, that's happening in our NFL
right now.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
It's so interesting because it's so easy to do the
NBA thing and we talk about Barkley and Malone and
Ewing and Gary Payton and Sean kemp At. These guys
were all amazing, but it just happened to play in
that era. The golf thing is is something I haven't
thought of yet. I thought, that's a really good analogy.
You go into this game and it's Sunday, and it's
gonna be on Sunday night. Is there a little bit

(40:19):
of pang of jealousy that your voice won't be on
the call for this, for this monster game and it's
gonna be Nanson Romo.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
We all want to do a great game, right and
those legacy games, but you know, the wheel spins, we
all get our chance, and especially because you know these
guys know their season ends every year if not a
Super Bowl season with the AFC Championship game with the
NFC Championship game, and you know, and what's the balance.
The balance is Sunday night, we usually get a really
good game. Sometimes those guys will get the short end

(40:45):
of the schedule and have a one o'clock game that's
not as high profile as a primetime game. So it's fine.
It's the thing is that I enjoy is that all
these guys are friends, acquaintances, whatever you want to say.
And I love to watch him and Tony do a game.
Jim spin wonderful and kind to me since I was
in Syracuse in school and Jim was coming and doing

(41:06):
games with Billy Packer and I was working at a
CBS station and I got to meet Jim and interview
him in the late eighties and early nineties. And we're
represented by the same person, Sandy Montag. So Jim's a
thirty year acquaintance and friend, and I've got Tony over
the years, and save same day with Kevin and Tom too.
You know, I'm just excited to hear those guys do

(41:26):
these games. I remember Kevin and I were texting before
the game of Detroit Saturday, and then he texted me
after the game about our game on Sunday. So you
know this, look at we talked about it all the time.
We're all friends who do well. We all swim in
the same water and root for each other. So yeah,
would you love to be there, of course. But then
when it's four o'clock in the afternoon and you're like

(41:48):
the rest of America, you're eating what you want, you're
drinking what you want, you're watching great football, and you're
watching great people call the game. It's all good. We
all get our We all got our swinging at the
pitch every once in a while.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
You know how fond I am of your work and
you as a man, obviously, but some of your calls
have been legendary in just the last couple of years alone.
I want to play you a call from last year's
wild Card round. It's the Rams and the Lions, and
the Rams all but wrapped the Lions all but wrap
this thing up, and Chris Collinsworth kind of gave you
the stage to talk a little bit about what this

(42:21):
meant for the city of Detroit.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Take a listen, Mike, you live in this area.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Give me some idea of what this is.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
The turner out here, sol, same old Lions. They always
find a way.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
To screw it up.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
And Dan Campbell change that mentality, change that the people
who brought in they've lost their last nine playoff appearances.
It's a team that believes in themselves and they didn't
have a great second half, but this will be one
of the most memorable nights in Detroit football for that
eighty nine year old and the sixty two thousand others.

(43:05):
Here one morning and business is done and Detroit for
the first time in thirty two years, your Lions have
won a playoff game. How about it?

Speaker 1 (43:22):
Mike Herring that back, what's your reaction.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
I wasn't expecting Chris to do that, which is why
Christian is the best to work with, because they'll do
things at times that you are unplanned. But also like
that's Christian's moment to kind of say what he should
be saying. But I think he understood that. Having lived
in Michigan for twenty five years, I had a different
read on the fans and the people, and I thought

(43:47):
seeing Kirk herb Street after the championship game on money
and I think it was emotional talking about Ohio State
was a reminder because Scott Vanpelt used the line as
Kirk was getting emotional. Everybody's from somewhere, and I'm not
from here. I grew up a Jets fan right and
moved here twenty five years ago. So I think as
you get older and do this, you have that professional
layer of non emotional attachment. But my family, their Lions fans,

(44:14):
all the people I know. I mean, you go to
the cleaners and drop off your shirts on Monday after
you come home from Sunday, and all people want to
talk about is what about Dan Skipper being eligible and
all that stuff. So what it means to the area
is what I think I've got the connection with, not
just the long suffering fans, but a city that had
been a pinata for some a city that got beat up,

(44:36):
and to see it turn around and parallel with the
success with the Lions and the downtown area coming back.
I just had a really good feel for it and
a read for it. And I was really blessed and
lucky to do both of those games that will be
all time memories for me. Just to be in that
stadium the night the Jared Goff chant began. It was

(44:57):
the night that it was given birth. And just to
be able to help an audience understand it better. And
as Sheila hamp the owner of the Lions, reminded me
when I saw her a couple of weeks ago, the
lines are seven and oh on NBC. When I've done
the games going back to the end of the Aaron
Rodgers in Green Bay era, it's an amazing game. I said,
I've got nothing to do with it. Bub will happily

(45:19):
take the credit for it. That was it.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
Ben Johnson calls a hook and lateral and then they
throw a fourth down pass the DJ Shark to eliminate
the Packers. That you were on that call.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
And that was a Schrager GMFB trivia question, and I
think that may have been the answer may have been
D because somebody don't know if Jamie brought it up.
Somebody brought up that oftentimes Schrager will just humor you
with choice D, which is now open the door for
Schrager to put the right answer in D. It's you see,
you're a great play caller. If they think they've seen

(45:51):
this ten times, give it to them the opposite way.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
I love I love that you watch our show. It
blows me away that anyone watches our show and the
fact you have to recall to do that. I so
appreciate it. Another call was from the year beforehand Lamar
Jackson's not in the play the game because of injury,
so Snoop Huntley is the quarterback. And then Sam Hubbard
makes the play that made Cincinnati a rock and roll concert.
Here's your call from that.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Game with the right round he reaches. They always some
Hubbard the Cincinnati could hundred's.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
Gonna come by, chased by Andrews what the thugy the
TNNY well stop.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
And Sam Hubbard, who grew up with Bengals fan want
a state championship at Bowler High School Championship in Ohio State,
makes the massive play to take it the other way
and give the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (46:47):
The leave Mike your thoughts here in that call back.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
Well, so we had Cincinnati in the wild card game
of the year before with Drew Brees, we did the
Cincinnati rad Racers playoff game Bengals on their way to
the Super Bowl. That you who would have thought, right?
And what was in interesting with that was you do
the research for that game and you're in and Dan
Horde is the voice of the Cincinnati Bengals and the

(47:14):
Cincinnati Bearcats. So all SINCEI things that kind of had
a little feel for because I've got one of my
buddies who I went to Syracuse with it was a
part of the Bengals world for the last twenty plus years.
So for some reason during that wild Card game prep,
we were talking about Hubbard and Cincinnati roots and how
rare it is and how much a championship would be

(47:35):
in to a guy who had just been in Ohio
and living in Michigan. You know, the people in Ohio,
it means so much to them to contribute, whether it's
the Buckeys, but also the high school football in Cincinnati.
It's Cincinnati is one of those you're from, where you're
from your high school or the parish that it went
to church, and the Cincinnati thing, you know. So I

(47:56):
had just had in my mind in Cincinnati ties, and
I hadn't written anything down, but that was the first
thing it popped in my mind when he got the ball,
and it just one of those He got the ball
on the right spot that his number was facing me
where I was in the booth, so I could see
right away with him at the fifteen yard line, and
I just popped in my head. I had no plan.
It was on my board Cincinnati Kid or anything like that.

(48:19):
And those are the fun ones when it just pops
in your head and just say what you're thinking and
feeling and prepared for. So it was nice to have
the backstory ingrained in my mind that when it happened
that we had something and it was good that he
ended up scoring on the play made it a lot
of fun.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
So good. All right, I'm gonna wrap with a couple
really fun questions that I'm looking for answers that might
not be what you would expect.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Now.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
I've always said one of the most entertaining production meetings
I've ever been a part of was for any relevant
Saint Louis Rams game against maybe the Tennessee Titans, and
Greg Williams came in as defensive coordinator under Jeff Fisher
and went on an hour long talk about defense and
the power of crystals, and people ask me, who is

(49:05):
the production meeting guy. I'm like, I don't know where
you're starting where you end, but Greg Williams is on
my list. Is just sit back and sit back and enjoy. Uh,
who's that guy for? You might not have to be
don't have to be Andy Reid, like give me like
that off the radar guy that you just love listening
to talk football.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
So the best, the best players were the best production meetings.
I always thought, like, if you asked me, who gave
the best production meetings the elite quarterbacks, especially when it
was Manning and Brady, like you know, Peyton who controls
everything in the line of scrimmage and everything else. I'll
never forget being an ESPN in those days. And gosh,
I'm doing the game with Gruden and maybe Jaws or
just Sushi Colbers, our sideline reporter, and Peyton's telling me

(49:45):
about how a receiver is going to have a role,
and it's somebody who had been on the practice squad, right,
So it's like so and so, so and so, and
we're gonna be I'm gonna be calling We're gonna be
calling up this guy, Mike. He should be make sure
you're ready for him to playing all the year. And
then and then he got and then he kind of goes,
and the guy goes. Johnny's got a really good wiggled
Bob Moos routes really kind of kind of like stokely

(50:06):
on the route running and Susane. He's got a great backstory,
and I'm like, oh my god, this man has just
produced the production meeting by telling all and all three
of those things you got on the air. So that's like,
that's like the Nirvana of production meetings. But I'm gonna
tell you a couple that Sean Payton can give you.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
We talk about the flip card for Sean Payton, what
it is because I did enough. Sean Payton comes in
and what a flip card is for the listeners. It's
every player on the roster. And tell him what Sean
Payton will do for I don't know if what the
point is, but he goes position by position and we'll
tell you everything you need to know about each one
of these guys. But go on, Mike, tell him now.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
We'll move over to line three and see, I got
this here. Okay, here's what he's gonna do. And Sean
gives you detail on every single player. He kind of
runs the clock out on you. You have no time
to answer ask any questions at some point, but he
gives you all the details. Mike Tomlin is priceless because
Mike gives you not just great great great answers, but
he also gives us such good detail hill along the

(51:07):
way on who's gonna play and why I love like,
you'll get to a guy and go, he's our jet
sweeper guy. He'll run the tricks and all that stuff,
and just it's just Mike Tomlin esque tones and terms.
He goes, he goes through the flip card and does that.
So they're they're all, they're all really good production meetings.
I'm trying to think if there's one.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
To kind of the radar guy, give me someone like
I just say Greg Williams, like, you know, Jeff Fishery
has to show up in leather jackets and do.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
That right, right right. Dan Campbell is like, you can't
keep him in his seat, he says, he starts rocking.
He starts rocking during the meeting, and he start going
back and forth. Now he's moving around his chair and
he's grabbing his coffee and he's got his dip of
the whole thing. He's he is so on brand uh
for production meetings. But no, the best ones are the

(51:56):
best guys, they really are. So my favorite production meeting
story is Belichick, who notoriously gave you very little right,
and that's in told for years it wasn't bad. When
you got to know Bill, it wasn't bad. You had
to know what you were getting into and what you
were trying to get out of it. So it's Thanksgiving night,

(52:17):
We're doing a game in Minnesota, I want to say,
and the Patriots are playing and we're getting nothing out
of Bill, right, And so Melissa Stark is going to
ask everybody about Thanksgiving because in case somebody wins there
to ducking leg or things like that, you want to
make it a Thanksgiving. It's a family show more than
an et Zo show. So we started asking Belichick, and

(52:39):
Belichick goes into this great detail on Army Navy being
the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Philadelphia and what a Thanksgiving night,
what Thanksgiving Day? Meet you? And he was and of
course his dad coaching at Navy. Well, Thanksgiving was the
last practice. It was the last practice at Navy. And
give us detail about the parade and the train up

(52:59):
to Philadelphia. And he went into like fifty it was
the greatest fifteen minute history lesson on Army Navy played
in Philadelphia for Thanksgiving. Maybe eight seconds of it got
on the air, but he was he was so into
the storytelling part of it and with detail, like I
never really had Thanksgiving dinner, Like Thanksgiving was just the

(53:20):
last day of practice with my dad with Navy because
Friday was the season ended on Saturday with the Army
Navy game, So like that, that's a day I'll just remember,
just sitting there and going, how cool is this? Like
I'm here in the nineteen sixties history of Army Navy
from arguably the greatest football coach of my lifetime, and
I'm getting football education that I will never ever ever lose.

(53:42):
Because Melissa Stark asked about what's your favorite Thanksgiving side?
And that's why those meetings are so informative. You hats
so fun and you build bonds with people along the years.
So you come in and you start talking about all
this random stuff and it's all part of the community
that you know, you live and you love. When we
go to the owner's meetings or the Super Bowl and

(54:03):
that whole community is in one room, it's really pinch
yourself that you are a part of this cool, cool,
cool fraternity.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
It's really special. I know you've got a relationship with
Brady as well. He's in his first year obviously, he
and Kevin are the team and the Fox guys have
them locked and loaded. Have you passed any notes along
to Tom? Have you exchanged any notes with Tom? I
know how much he values his friendship with you, Tom.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
Tom. Tom's great, Tom. I've reached out. Look. I live
in an Arbert's Michigan, so Brady's connection with Michigan has
always been cool. And we had stories about Lloyd Carr
over the years. Whenever I'd have Tom for a production meeting,
if I saw Coach Carr, who was his coach at Michigan,
we'd share stories about that because Coach Carr had been
in the area and his grandkids know my kids and

(54:49):
all that stuff, and we've gotten to know them. So
that's always been a common connection and built a bond
there over the years. But you know, Tom was great Tom.
I shared here's what I do for a game, Tom,
anything you need, because Tom had been so helpful to
me and to any who did this job all of
his years in the NFL. When you didn't get a

(55:10):
ton of information out of New England. Tom was great
in production meetings and really helped you do your job.
So I always felt the least I could do for
anybody who comes along after, especially if they helped us.
Could I be an olive branch? Is there anything I
can help you with? Answer a question from the side
that I do this on and Tom. I shared a
couple of things with Tom. Not much. He's done his
own thing. He figured out from typical Tom Brady or

(55:33):
outwork and everybody getting the most information how to go
about it. And he'll go about it and probably adjust
it as he goes through this year and on into
next year. But I've trained to test with him a
fut times. I've enjoyed listening to him, I really have.
I've enjoyed listening to his view on things. I love
his grades of throws right away because if Tom Brady
says it to Nay plus star, it's an A plus throw.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
You're not gonna question it, not at all.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
So I've enjoyed that. And you know, one thing that
happens with all of us, we'll get in these weird sequences.
I'll go three weeks in a row where I follow
I an Eagle and Charles Davis for Chris, and I
will file watching your game so far right for the
people wh don't know, like Monday and Tuesday One of
the first things we do is go back and watch

(56:20):
the entire game broadcast from the last week. At least
that I do, just because you want to hear themes,
you want to watch the game storylines. You don't want
to repeat the same attecdote because you know the fan
who's watching the Panthers every week. Okay, dude, I've heard
this three times in a row. I don't need to
hear it again. So if you do repeat it, say hey,
a lot of you are familiar with the story of

(56:41):
for those who are, and just to acknowledge the fact that, Okay,
here's the story, I'm gonna tell it again. So for
whatever reason, I think we have three weeks in a
row where we followed Kevin and Tom with our game
the following week, and I got to listen every weekend.
This sent Tom a text and I so enjoyed listening
to him called the Minnesota Green Bay game because we
had Minnesota Detroit the next week. It's it's fun. Our

(57:02):
business has become so criticized because tick up Twitter, I
hate why did you say this? You said it was second,
that was third. Yeah, that's right, that's fine. That's part
of life. We get it. But what I do respect
a lot, Peter, and you know it because you're around
it and you're a nerd of it a little bit.
I don't think our job has ever been done at

(57:23):
a higher level by more people. Like every game you
watch is really really well done. Like I learned stuff
with Mark Sanchez and Adam Amin are doing a game.
You know, like, oh man, that's really good. I never
thought of that. And we're all constantly listening to each
other and rooting for each other. It's the fun part
of doing this that I never imagined would be the case,
and maybe wasn't the case twenty five thirty years ago.

(57:45):
But whether it's we've all come up through the same
series of places, or we've interacted, or there are more
jobs than ever doing this, I love. I love the
fraternity of play by play analyst reporters that we all are.
And you know, you've become friends with people like Charles Davis,
like Laura Oakman, I and Eagle and I know each

(58:06):
other for thirty five years. So that's what this joy is.
And the fact that nobody has any property like the NFL,
the people watching these numbers. You just am very appreciative
of what you do and that you get a chance
to do it on a regular basis.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
There's a cool parallel. I talked to Cliff Kingsbury, the
offensive coordinator of the Commanders, this week, and I said,
third and five, you're throwing the ball to John Bates
with the season on the line, he goes, he goes.
McVeigh called that same play with Jordan Whittington earlier this
season when they played the Cardinals. It's a full back
corner route and I saw it and I said, oh gosh,

(58:41):
you put the full back in there and then you
have him run a corner. He's like, He's like, and
I'm like, you're okay with me saying that on air.
He's like, dude, it was a great play call.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
We used it.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
It was, of course, But that's the same thing with us.
It's like if Dan Orlowsky or Kevin Clark or Ryan
Clark makes a good comment, like I'm not so insecure
to not say, oh no, I'm gonna take this from
that comment because that was a really good point.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
And give the person credit who's says it when they
say it, and do what they do. Look, people aren't
sitting there with a scorecard they're sitting there enjoying it.
I always remind young broadcasters what we do, and Gruden
helped me understand this a lot. What we do is entertainment,
and lead courso too when I got to work with
the lead back in the nineties. What we do is entertainment.
It is very important business. It is your team, it's

(59:27):
your fantasy team, it's your daily wager, right, it's your parlay.
Trying to make sure that your running back gets ten
yards in each quarter. Whatever it is. You are being
at some level entertained. And we're responsible for some of
that entertainment. So we got to do that on a
regular basis. And to understand that that we are all

(59:49):
collectively doing this is pretty fun.

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
Okay, my last question to you, because Gus, it's two pieces.
It goes back to your years at the Worldwide Leader.
But I think of icons, I think of people that
you've worked with. Give me your best John Gruden's story.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
Oh my god, Okay, sure it. It may not be
the best, but it's my favorite. It's when we go
to Philadelphia and the Eagles are not practicing on Saturday
for a Monday night game, Friday for a Sunday game.
But they're doing like this spa day is quote unquote right.
It's like massage, get your body right, and then be outside.

(01:00:35):
And now Chip Kelly's come in and now they have
these protein shakes. So every day somebody gets a shake,
and it's based on what your body needs. So the
Schrager shake may be different in week eight than it
wasn't week fourteen because you've had a cold, you had
an injury, there's something right. So this constant analysis is
telling you this is what you need, so you get

(01:00:55):
somebody's making shakes. So Gruden goes, hey, can we get
a blender? Can we get a blender in the booth?
I'm like, it's very similar to the feeling I had
when I was sitting on the set with Marfa Stewart
and Snoop dogging what the hell I'm doing? I'm just
want called third and five, And like, now my man's
bringing a blender to the booth. And it's a meme
that shows up every once in a while out there.

(01:01:16):
We're in the booth, we're in Philly and John the
Eagles go up like by seventeen points and John goes, hey,
we should did a blender bit now and it was
still it was telling a story, but it was in
an entertaining way. And so John brings the blenderings thrown
bananas and strawberries in this blender. He's just being the
mad scientist. And it just reminded me that every great

(01:01:38):
coach and a teacher. Yep. And that was just John's
way of giving you an unforgettable moment to say, you
know what, this coach is doing something very different. I
could have done the story. Hey, no, John, Each guy
gets his own protein shake on Saturday, and they're just
trying to make sure that they're chemically balanced properly, and
blah blah blah sports science and no, but he did

(01:01:58):
it with a blender, and it's still in my head
fourteen years later. Whatever the heck it is, that to
me was one of a thousand examples of John being
as good a teacher as I've ever been around.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
I'm gonna ask you one more, and I'm gonna preface
it with my story, which is so limited. I've never
worked with this guy. I'm in the Arizona Airport, delayed
for a flight Monday morning after the Super Bowl, after
the Patriots beat the Seahawks on the Malcolm Butler play, yeah, okay.
Delayed flight back to LaGuardia delayed four hours. Sitting at

(01:02:30):
the gate, No fancy lounge, I'm sitting there. I'm a nobody.
No one cares. This larger than life presence wearing a
giant what I would describe as a sun hat or
a sombrero, comes rumbling down oh Way with people asking
for photos and autographs, and then he leans this huge
six foot five, two hundred something pound body, leans right

(01:02:53):
into my shoulder and just says, you got the modern
day Earl Campbell in the backfield and you're throwing the ball.

Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
To lock it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
What it was and it was Chris Berman over my shoulder.
And I'm like that, and give me your best Chris
Berman story.

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
Yeah, I think it's good. There are so many. First off,
my favorite one was he's doing West Coast Baseball Wednesday
nights on ESPN when ESPND double headers on Wednesday Friday
and then Sunday Night baseball, and I'm breaking in doing
sports Eights nineteen ninety one, probably August maybe, and the

(01:03:37):
Mariners bullpen was stunningly bad on Wednesday nights in ninety
one and ninety two. I can't tell you how many
nights we sat on the set and the Mariners gave
up three in the eighth and five four in the
ninth to send it to X gratings two eight in
the morning. Right, So I'm sitting on the set and
after those double headers, it wasn't at eleven o'clock or two.
A sports at the time you do one show at

(01:03:58):
one thirty, and so sometimes it we won from the
eleven one from the two. So I did that show
with Bob Lee. That's the middle of summer. Everybody off, Yeah,
and I was like, maybe the first or second JO
I'm doing with Bob and Boomer's out there doing the game.
May have been with Jerry Royce made his House and
Bob was Sports's next Bob Lee. Mike Turrico, Mike, welcome, Bob,

(01:04:20):
you're breaking in another one. Here, here's the next one.
Here's the next one. So then fast forward a few
years later in the studio with Chris and doing a show,
and I got to work as like the second host,
the sub host on NFL Countdown, I think it was
back then whatever the shows were called. His nickname is

(01:04:42):
Boomer for a reason. He's the loudest individual ever, he's
so loud in such a presence, but it was like
walking around with when we travel together, it was like
being with Elvis. There's a true story about Bill's Super
Bowl at the Rosewawn, Pasadena. We did the pregame show
and then we're going out. We're in a car. Russell
Baxter was our research guy, Tom Jackson, Boomer, myself. I

(01:05:05):
think maybe that may be the whole car. Maybe one
other person get a flat on the side of the highway.
And there we are on the side of the road
with Boomer and Tom Jackson. We're waiting for somebody to
fix the fly here right with Chris Berman and Boomer. Well,
the way it happens with the Bills gotta circle the wagons, right,

(01:05:26):
we got the flat fis We got there. The Cowboys
had an incredible late second quarter. Boomer was disconsolate. He
just wanted to see the Bills win once. So sure,
maybe this will be Maybe this will be the year
that the Bills win.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
Maybeeah, maybe it is. And we'll think of Boomer and
we'll think of all the different times he predicted the
Bills and the forty nine ers in a Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
It might not be there it'll be so, he says,
for the tenth year, it'll be the Niners and the
Bills in the Super Bowl. You can count on it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
Beautiful, Mike Tarico, we went way over the time I
asked you to give us. That was awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:05:59):
Thank you so, like our regular text exchanges, they want
to see the Super Bowl power somewhere down the line
here and thanks for all the MFB mornings. You you
and that team just just crush it. And like the
thing you did on Tuesday in the vein of Mark Andrews,
of the guys who had great careers at playoff moments,

(01:06:19):
that was like, that's like vintage Schrager. That's somefing appreciating
that like people don't do right now. I'm like Trey Junkin,
I forgot about that and it was just really cool.
The history of football is so great and you do.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
My God, there's a place for it. And I say
it to a mad Dog. I do Mad Dog Russo Show,
and I'm like, I think there's a very small group
of us left to care to actually use the platform
to do it, but you're one of them. I think
the history of football still matters.

Speaker 2 (01:06:46):
But Peter, it does because it mattered to us, like
to hear the stories in the greatest game ever played
in nineteen fifty eight. Fifty eight is later, thirty years
later for me to talk to people who are Bill
Curry to talk to me Curry about that, right, sure,
like those things, those things last with me forever and
now as I involved, didn't playoff football and historic stuff.

(01:07:09):
As I get older and hopefully you know this generation
as the technology and baby, we'll go back and look
at it and see clips. But to keep it alive,
to keep it fresh in people's minds is one of
the many awesome things you do. So thanks for all right, dude,
thank you right back at your season and there you

(01:07:29):
have it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:30):
Uh, that's the Mike Turrico experience. I love that guy.
We've had the honor or. I've had the honor to
work a couple of games with him for NFL Network.
We did a Chargers Ravens game in Carson City on
a Saturday night. It was me and him and Kurtwrner them.
The next year we did Bills versus Patriots in a
big game that the Patriots beat the Bills and said

(01:07:51):
not yet, it's not your time yet. With Brady as
the quarterback one of his last great wins, and and
it was Tariko, Warner and I and those were those
really fun Saturday night NFL Network games down the Stretchman
we used to work together. Those games have now been
given to the NFL Network people in house. Eisen does
them with Warner and my colleague Jamie and it's great.

(01:08:12):
But like that, that's where I really connected with Tariko,
and he watches our show, and obviously I watch everything
he does. But Aaron, just listening to Mike talk, like
you could tell why you know, sometimes the good guys,
it's there's a reason they have so much success, and
it's not just the skill and the work, but also
it's cool to hang it's cool to hang with and
it's cool to get to know.

Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
Seemed like a genuinely great guy. And having heard him
on the broadcast so often, it was it was the
same guy, and it made me think he like appreciate
what he does on broadcast even more too. He just
seems so nice.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
Yeah, he was.

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
His season's done, but ours is still going, and so
is our folks who work at Uber Eats because we're
represented by Uber Eats, and it is time for delivering
results presented by those fine, fine individuals. I'm gonna discuss
a team or player that delivered from this past week's games,
and I have nowhere else to go than to Dan Quinn,

(01:09:08):
the head coach of the Washington Commanders. He delivered. This
was against a Lions team that not only was the
number one seed in the NFC playoffs, but they were
the home field team and the heavy favorites nearly double digits.
And incomes a Washington Commander's team that had four wins
last year, and they go in there and they upset
Detroit in Detroit. Dan Quinn's team brought it on offense, defense,

(01:09:32):
and on special teams. They find a way to win
an advance. Dan Quinn, like we said, the last coach
hired in last year's coaching cycle, and yet one of
the four last coaches remaining in this year's NFL season.
Dan Quinn now heads to Philadelphia with his Washington Commanders
for the third time. They play Philadelphia in what will

(01:09:53):
be an awesome NFC Championship game on Fox. Dan Quinn
delivering results presented by Uber Eats, where you can get
the best deals on game day food all season long.
The official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Go
ahea an order. Now all right. There you have it, guys,
A long pod. Enjoy it on your commutes, Enjoy it
on the treadmill, Enjoy it wherever you want. We got

(01:10:14):
two games left this weekend. Then we got the big
one in New Orleans. Enjoy NFC and AFC Championship game weekend. Folks,
have a good one. The Season with Peter Schrager is
a production of the NFL and partnership with iHeartRadio. For

(01:10:34):
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
wherever you get your podcasts.