Lots to Say: NFL Daily's Gregg Rosenthal

Matt Cassel starts with Bobby Bones finally breaking 80 on the golf course. Matt recaps his birthday weekend before looking at the NFL's hope to play 18 games in a season.  What kind of strategy is used if starters can only play 16 games? How does this change the record book?  Brock Purdy gets paid but he got a no trade clause? 

NFL Daily's Gregg Rosenthal gives thoughts on the Bengals dealing with Trey Hendrickson.  How do Geno Smith and Pete Carroll change the Raiders? Gregg touches on the Browns QB room before moving to optimism around the Patriots.  Matt wonders how George Pickens improves the Cowboys.  Should the NFL allow players to participate in Olympic Flag Football?  Greg weighs in on Aaron Rodgers interest in the Steelers.  Why has Gregg's opinion on Caleb Williams and the Bears changed this offseason? Plus, Gregg explains why working sports on the West Coast is better than the East Coast. 

Matt has played in Chicago and wonders how fans would receive the Bears building a dome.  Is the 'cold' really an advantage for other teams like the Bills and Packers?  Matt explains how he learned to watch film and got DVDs to take home.  Looking back to last week's conspiracy theories, did Shaq confirm an NBA Draft conspiracy? We wrap up with plans for the week, including Bobby wanting to go to Vegas to speak with Pete Carroll.  

Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Cassel is part of the NFL Podcast Network 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle is
a production of the NFL and iHeart Podcasts.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
We got lots. Just say we got lost? Just say.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
What Becker here and we hope you say because we
got lost?

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Just say, yeah, we got lost.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
Just say.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Here's Bobby That all right? You're the dealer, dealer's choice choice.
There's like eighty things to talk about. You're up. You
pick whatever you want. You want options or you want
to go blind. No, I mean.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
One thing that I did see on your social media
this week. We've got to start with your week of
sports last week. Yeah, well we've talked about it on
the show, right, never never broken eighty.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
And golf I've never broken. Yeah, yeah, we did talk
about that. We have never broken.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
And you've been close, you've been at eighty. But last
week you finally accomplished something that has.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Been choosing this over Brock Parties contract. You're choosing that.
There's like eight things, but.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
We're definitely going to talk about Brock Party's contract. But
I think first and foremost we got to talk about
the elephant in the room because that was one. But
you also meddled in your first ever pickleball tournament. Yeah,
I mean this is I'm basically putting you on a
pedestal to let you brag to our audience about one
year athleticism, your determination, and what you accomplished this week.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
I was reading online some people sent one of the
greatest weeks in sports history. Oh no, no doubt they've
both happened the same week.

Speaker 5 (01:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, I shot a seventy eight and as a quiet
seventy eight had no birdies.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
No birdies, and you shot a seventy eight. That's consistency,
my friend.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
As consistent as possible. You know what. I bought one
of those mini drivers. Oh you did buy that? And
not the Actress mini driver, No, the actual golf club Yeah,
which you can use as a driver, or you can
use its like a three would. But it's shorter shaft
also your nickammacoll yep, and a slightly larger head than
the three would, but a slightly smaller head than the driver.

(02:11):
And I just kind of kept it in the middle. Yeah,
I don't know what that so it was a game
changer for you. It was my irons where I was
playing pretty I was just playing consistently pretty good. And
if you can get near the green and have a
shot to two pint. That's all it was. I didn't
even realize I was getting close to breaking eighty until
like whole sixteen.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Okay, So is that when you clinch it up a
little bit and you're like, okay, look, I'm.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
At the I don't clean, I'm at the cuss. I
don't clinch. You didn't clinch, obviously, seventy eight. I don't clinch. Never. No,
there have been times, but generally I don't want to
say I don't feel pressure. But pressure doesn't make me clinch.
Pressure excites the crap out of me. So but there
really was any pressure? You weren't playing like a tournament,
were you?

Speaker 4 (02:52):
Nah?

Speaker 2 (02:52):
But I it was awesome. So I got a seventy eight.
And then I played in a pickleball tournament. Didn't really
know what I was doing. I signed up blindly and
I went and I played, and my rating is like
a three point seven eight eight or three point eight?
What does that mean? Exactly? What does that even mean?
So handy in golf, your handicap, your gin g hi
N right, So I'm like a twelve in golf. Okay,

(03:15):
I'd imagine you what six or seven?

Speaker 5 (03:17):
No?

Speaker 2 (03:17):
I'm right there with you. A duper is that in pickleball?
And I don't even know what that means. So you
gotta plug in your score. When you beat somebody, you
see where they were and then you get points. Got it?
Something like that? So do they mix and match partners
or you bring your own partner? I played singles? Oh
you played singles? Yeah, okay, I'd either grind it out. Yeah, obviously,

(03:38):
because I feel like that's the one thing I can control,
was me. Yes, and so I played singles and yeah,
I you play round robin. I'm gonna give you thirty
more seconds on this. I played fourteen games the whole day.
Oh my gosh, dead. It's a grind. It's a grind. Yeah,
like my ankles and my hip's heart still a little bit.
But you play like round robin. You play everybody and

(03:59):
your side of the bracket, which are like six people
on my side to play all of them. Then you
go to the medal round if you make it, and
you play another little tournament, end up with a bronze
medal that I got beat once in the round robin,
and then I beat that person in the medal round,
and then I got beat by somebody had already beat
but I ran into the fence and freaking kill my shoulder,
blood everywhere. Yeah, it was awesome.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yes, that's you're like a gladiator out there. Yeah, just
intimidating people.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
That was it. So that's what I did this weekend.
You were baseball games. Baseball games, eight of them this weekend.
Both my sons play your kids. I don't know, I
fast pitch.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
I'm going to go out and play fast pitch. So
your kids played eight games, played eight games. Great weekend.
Is my birthday on Saturday, that was that was fantastic,
get to go watch kids. But my one son, he
pitched in his game, pitched a one hitter, lost one
to nothing.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
No way, no run support. Who is he? Paul Skins?

Speaker 3 (04:53):
In a nine year nine you baseball team like nine
to ten year olds. There was one run between two teams.
It's unheard of. Normally these teams like they'll score sixteen runs.
It'll be like seemed to ten. It was absurd, but
we ended up losing, so we got knocked out of
a tournament. My other son, he's a big kid, goes
out there, knocks three home runs on Saturday. He was

(05:15):
four for four with three home runs, a pretty good
day at the plate. Wow, we say, a big kid,
bigger than the other kids.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, about a head taller your size was it? Are
you guys?

Speaker 3 (05:23):
He's taller than I wasn't at his age. She's only eleven.
He's wearing a size twelve. He's like five eleven.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
No way. Yeah. Do the doctor still think he'll grow?
I think so.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
I think he's going to be like one of those
seven footers at least that's what. He's so far off
the growth chart it's absurd. So maybe he'll hit early
puberty slow down.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
I don't know. Your wife was an excellent athlete at
USC volleyball player. Does she have a height in her family?

Speaker 3 (05:47):
She does both, so her grandfather, her two brothers. We're
all six four, six five, And aren't you six or dad?
I'm six four man, So there's there's possibility there that
he does get up.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Into that upper echelon in his hand. Eye coordination for
an eleven year old is pretty good.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
Great, great, Yeah, kids can play ball, so it's fun.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
What do they like the best? You know, it's seasonal.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Because I don't force them to play all the different
sports and the fun part about this age is you
don't really have to focus on one thing. So when
it's football season, they play football. When it's basketball, basketball, baseball,
they play baseball, and they kind of fall in love
with it for the season, and then as soon as
that's over they're onto the next thing.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
But it takes a little time.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
There's this period of time right after that season that
they're still in love with the last sport, so they're like, oh,
I don't want to play, but as well, this sucks,
and then a few weeks in they play a few games,
they're on board.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
When do they get to play tackle football?

Speaker 3 (06:42):
So my oldest son played fifth and sixth grade tackle football,
which we never had like middle school affiliation between the
school and football at that age. But they have a
full football team for fifth and six So he played
last year and that was his Oh oh, maybe he
played the year before for Blaze. There's a youth group
out here he called Blaze Football. He played his fourth

(07:05):
but I think I was more comfortable with him playing
tackle football because I knew his size.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
He was the kid with the dot on his helmet.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
You can't carry the football, you can only play offense
and defensive line. Get him a little tough, so he
did that so that he's played for two years.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
When so we had fourth grade, I was good on
fourth grade. I got worse as it went because everybody
kept growing. Yeah, oh yeah, there's a lot of those guys. Yeah,
so in fourth, fifth, sixth grade, I played quarterback as
a kid. That's why boomer sized were my favorite player.
And then left young left handed. Yeah, when you were fourth,
fifth and sixth grade, were you playing football at all?
And were you heads and shoulders above the other kids?

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Fourth grade was when I started, and I played quarterback
when I was in fourth grade. But it's one of
those things in Pop Warner, you played kind of a
different position.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
I played quarterback and linebacker.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
I played a little bit of the defensive line just
to fill in. So I was always super competitive and
always had a skill set.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
I wouldn't say I was the best. The first year
I played, we had this kid named Justin Skullen on
our team. Running back.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Guy looked like Walter Payton, Like he just ran through
everybody every time he touched the ball.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
It was incredible. I think then, like you said.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
As we got a little bit older, everybody started to
mature a little bit he started to cap out, and
then you saw him go from being a human highlight
reel to just a normal player. So it's always interesting
at that age because you never know how guys are
going to develop into their bodies, how their skill set's
going to develop. And a lot of guys are late
bloomers and just come on later in life. But you

(08:36):
got a lot of those guys that go out there
and just blow you away with their skills at a
young age, but then people generally catch up.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
I think I'm late blooming now. I had a shot
at seventy and want to pick a ball metal. I
know that's what I'm saying. Same week now, greatest week
of amateur sports you've ever seen. I don't want to
put amateur sports tag on it all. Well you kind
of have to. Are you a professional? Well defined professional? Well,
are you a professional?

Speaker 4 (08:57):
I'm not right?

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Okay, okay, my pick. I want to talk about and
we've talked about it briefly, and we've get in our
own theories on the NFL going to eighteen games, which
at some point they're going to go to eighteen games. Right,
you don't float it for this long without having the
plan of doing it. They're kind of warming us into
it because they've already got us to seventeen games, like
they warmed us up for that. There's another game coming,

(09:20):
another game coming. And so the latest story has been
that the NFL is setting the groundwork for in either
twenty six or twenty seven, adding that next extra game.
So I'm going to read you some of the rumored twists,
some of them we were kind of on when we
were predicting what would and could work. Right, So, to

(09:43):
address growing concerns around player health and safety, the league
is proposing that each player be limited to sixteen games
per season, even with an eighteen game schedule. That's exactly
what you were saying.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
You've got to sit your starter at least one game,
and no matter who they are.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Which makes backup quarterbacks so much more valuable, right, And
there are running backs that can't play like you're there.
You literally can't play two of the games.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
So what's the even point of going to eighteen games
if you're you're competing for that last wild card spot
or whatever it might be. In the entire year, You've
played your same starting lineup and you've got your guys
to go. It's now week seventeen, and you've had to
grind to get to that point. And now you're saying,

(10:32):
we got to play with all backups.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Well, I think you're going to have to strategize.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
You're one hundred percent and you only have a fifty
three man roster. Are they talking about explaining ross?

Speaker 2 (10:41):
You have to expect this. So as of what I read, no,
but I think that has to happen. Right, you probably
go to sixty at least if you're having to play
because I mean also think about quarterbacks. How many quarterbacks
play the full season not hurt anyway, gosh, not a lot. Yeah,
so it's rare anyway that a quarterback is able to
play all seventeen games. But obviously it would be more money.

(11:01):
So that's another game. Television, right, everything, fewer preseason games,
so three now I think they want to go to
just more attention, right, So you have another week. But
then it's a strategy of do you set your quarterback
against weaker opponents? Right? Do you load manage a bit

(11:25):
like the NBA does.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
And you're also thinking about divisional opponents. You want all
your dudes for divisional games because if you win your division,
you're going to go to the playoffs, so then these
out of conference games don't have as much meaning because
you're probably sitting there going, ah, you know what, it's
not a divisional game. So let's set them now or
sit partial partially like the wide receivers or whoever it

(11:49):
might be that are going to be impact players for
you late, so you know at the end of the road,
you're ady to rock and roll.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
Do you sit players week one when you know the
other team isn't it full case? There's a lot of
strategy that will probably have to be played in order
to figure out. But backup quarterback I think their value.
I won't say skyrockets, but I'll say mid rockets.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
Yeah, I'm gonna definitely get back in shape just in case.
You know they've had they've had a few injuries at
the quarterback position this year. It's Week seventeen, they're not
going to play their starter. Yeah, he I'll come in
for a week.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Guys, think about how much how much more value the
third string quarterback would have huge value because for at
least four weeks, well two weeks for sure, they're going
to be the backup for sure, that third string guy
his I mean I think it drives everybody's value up
just a little bit, but especially the backup quarterbacks.

Speaker 3 (12:42):
You also might see teams keep four because, like you said,
how often do you see a quarterback lose time during
the year, let alone be done for the season that
backup quarterback's playing.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Now you've got a third string.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
I mean, case in point, brock Purty, that's exactly how
he stepped on the field. Was their starter. Both of
their stars get hurt, and that's the way he got
his opportunity and took advantage of it.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
It's wild, and I think the players would make more money.
I think the revenue, the revenue share would be bigger,
So I think it'd be a win. But again you're
talking about more it just hits, just hits, for sure,
more hits.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
And they're trying to say player safety, but I mean,
the salary cap is two hundred and eighty plus million
this year. Quarterbacks are getting fifty million a year guaranteed contracts.
I mean, it's a pretty good time to play in
the league.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Let's be honest. What do you think about because if
they did this, it would be even farther from like
the records. And I'm not always a big record guy.
But like all time records are, if you set them
in the seventies or eighties, they're pretty much all gone
right because they weren't playing as many games, but you
add another game. It's also why baseball doesn't really manipulate

(13:54):
itself because baseball is America's past time. We want everything
to be true in tradition. So they're going to be
a one to sixty two forever, even though it's to
the detriment of the sport. Right where the NFL has
at least embraced Hey, we're going to change in. Some
of the records will go because we're playing more games.
Does that bother you at off? They add games, therefore
they're giving players more opportunity to break old records.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
Well, I think the record should start if you have
a seventeen game season or an eighteen game season. They
shouldn't compare those records that are set in a single
season to the ones of teams that played only sixteen
games because they get an extra game or two. Whether
it's a rushing record or a passing record. I don't
think it's fair to compare those two things because we're

(14:34):
not comparing apples to apples here, So I think that
they should start when did we start the seventeen game season?

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Eighteen game season?

Speaker 3 (14:41):
Then those records should be held for those seasons that
took place with an extra game.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
That's just my opinion on it. So there's a record
for seventeen game right, there's an eighteen game record.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
Well, now they'll be an eighteen if they go to eighteen.
But with that circumstance where you only play sixteen, your
stars are only allowed to play sixteen games, it's kind
of weird.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
Imagine fantasy football. Oh my gosh, can you imagine lineups
at the end of the year just getting the hoes
isn't playing what do you mean Championship week?

Speaker 4 (15:09):
Oh my god?

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, that would be a nightmare, but it would also
be awesome. Like I as a fan who did not
have to get hit over and over. More football for
me is just more fun. Yeah, as a fan, it's great.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah, you get more more football, more entertainment. Your team's
gonna play, get another probably home game for all these
teams or most of these teams.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
So for as a.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
Fan, yeah, the more of the marrior. When football season ends,
it's always a depressing time of year. When you're like, oh, man,
what are we moving on to now? It's usually NBA
at that point, but it's always for true football fans.
You're sitting there going I want more, and then it's over.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
I think for mid and fringe players it's a benefit
because mids are gonna be worth more and friends are
actually gonna have a spot in the league, which they're
constantly fighting for if they're practice squad on another team, Like,
I think those guys get a shot. Yeah, we'll get
to eighteen. I don't know if they're gonna do all that,
but that's they flowed a lot of stuff just to

(16:07):
see how the public reacts to it. Oh for sure,
and then they react on our reaction. There will be
an eighteenth game, probably probably not twenty six. I would
say twenty seven. But man, if they I think it
will be so interesting. I won't say fine. I think
it'd be so interesting to have to have players sit
two games because it's strategy. But again, I don't pay

(16:30):
money to go watch an old ball dude strategize. Yeah,
plus the coach.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
Can you imagine the coach is sitting in the room
this week, like, all right, who you want to sit?

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Like just pissed off.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
Like you've got your your team's at full health, our
guys can go. You always talk about we're going to
play the best guy that gives us the best chance
to win. But now you're forced not to because you
have to strategize it. So it's a lot more work
in terms of the front office, GMS, coaches, everybody involved
in personnel decisions.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
That's a game changer. You mentioned brock Party a second ago. Yeah,
you got paid two hundred sixty five million bucks. That's
a lot of money. Heck, yeah, that's a lot of money.
How do you feel about that contract?

Speaker 3 (17:12):
I think he struck as the iron is hot. Is
that the term that he is. And he's a guy
that went in there has played well. I mean last
year was not as successful as he wanted to be,
but they had an ever revolving door at the wide
receiver position. There was a lot of injuries on that team.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
Running to maccapriy running he was hurt year doing stem
cell on.

Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yeah, they just need to put him in like a
little bubble. Just please don't touch the trophy. Please don't
touch the trophy. So at the end of the day,
they believe that he's a guy that gives them the
best opportunity to win. He stabilized that position where they've
been looking for that guy for a long period of time.
And when you turn on the film and you watch
this guy play, he does an incredible job of his

(17:55):
processing ability. He's accurate as all get out. He throws
with timing. So he's a perfect fit for the Shanahan system.
He's been there and he's proven that he can win
ball games.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
For him five year, two hundred and sixty five million
I think one hundred and seventy or so was guaranteed.
But he has a no trade clause in his contract.
Love that that would feel definitive, Like that would be
a great feeling to have a no trade clause, like
you actually have some control over your.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
Future, right when you have control over your future, Because
I've had it where I did not have the no
trade clause in my contract when I was with Minnesota.
I got traded to Buffalo Dallas in the same year.
From that point on, I was like, please put a
no trade clause. I didn't even know that that was
something that you really need to pay attention to. But
it's also a commitment by the team of saying, hey,
we believe in you long enough that we're going to

(18:41):
give you the option as a no trade clause. If
we want to trade you, we have to come to
you for your approval, and that gives you some sense
that they're committed to you.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
As a fan, I don't love it. As a player,
it would be the greatest. I just think a Bradley
bial like in the NBA, like you can't couldn't trade him.
He had a terrible contract, he ended up not being
worth the money in Washington, and then you know he's
like fine, get traded to Phoenix. He sucks with the Suns.
So as a fan you would like to be able
to trade them if they suck. As a player, man,

(19:14):
that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
Well forever. That's how the front offices work. The waves
that these contracts were designed, they'd put a they'd sign
a guy for six years guarantee the first year maybe
two years, but then from that point on for those
last four years, they can cut you, they can trade you,
they can do so. These contracts were always in favor
of the actual organization in the team. It was never

(19:36):
in favor of the actual player. Now that tide has changed,
dramatically because you're seeing a lot more guaranteed money, guaranteed contract,
no trade clauses and so, and that comes with the
success of the league.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
That's a lot of money. Congratulations to the guy that
was NFL poverty, not real life poverty, mister irrelevant. Yeah,
like eight hundred thousand bucks a year. So he's making Yeah,
he's barely getting by, but that's NFL poverty. And in
San Francisco that's like normal. Yeah, man, apartment costs me. Yeah,
he had a roommate, he had to have a roommate. Yeah,

(20:14):
I congratulations. Yeah, that's amazing. We have Greg Rosenthal from
NFL Daily coming up next and we'll talk about the Cowboys,
we'll talk about Aaron Rodgers, we'll talk about the Browns
quarterback situation. We'll do that when we come back on

(20:40):
now with Greg Rosenthal, host of NFL Daily, which is
a podcast. It's Daily NFL News. We were kind of
listening in a minute ago, and I think we should
start with some of the stuff that you guys were
talking about in the in the old Daily there. Do
you want to talk about the Bengals for a second.
Do you want to tell us what's happening with possibly
the second or third best defensive player in the NFL.

Speaker 6 (21:00):
Little Trey Hendrickson. Yeah, look, I don't think he's the
third best player. That's why you caught me off guard there.
I was like, is he the second or third best
pass rusher in the league. You could make an argument,
but to me, it's just like the Bengals being the Bengals,
which is not paying their players on time, and Bengals
fans will say, like, we literally just paid Jamar Chase

(21:21):
and we literally just paid to Higgins and it is
tough to pay everyone, but they're they're low balling Trey Hendrickson.
They tried to tell him before last season they would
take care of him. And when you make those sort
of promises, as I'm sure you know Matt like, then
you get into the next offseason and he literally led
the league in sacks, that you're going to have an
unhappy player.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Really unhappy player. Let's switch to the Raiders.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
You've had a long standing support for Gino Smith and
what are your expectations of the Raiders and also coach
Carrol this season. I mean, it's here one, he's he's there,
But I think bringing Geno Smith over is a big ad.

Speaker 6 (21:58):
Yeah, like the the Carol juice and just good vibes
is carrying like a lot of optims when you look
at their roster, it's not great. And Gino Smith being
a clear upgrade at quarterback, Like I love Gino and
I think he's a better than average starter, one of
the best like pure throwers of the football. But man,
they got a lot of holes. Like the offensive line

(22:19):
is a question pretty much the entire defense is, especially
the secondary. And yet I sort of believe that Pete
Carroll can get it done.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
I think between both of you, guys, Greg and Matt
talking about Pete Carroll, one of my buddies said, how
does Pete Carroll stay relevant being that old? So Greg,
I want to ask you first, and I want Matt
to follow up because Matt played for him. Because Pete
Carroll is no spring chicken. He still is very youthful feeling.
But does he feel youthful in person?

Speaker 6 (22:48):
Oh yeah, It's crazy to think that he's older than
every coach in the NFL. There's so many that like
seem older, that act older, Like he has just energy
Like that's crazy, And I think he just connects like
he's a person that's always connected with other humans in
a way that a lot of head coaches, frankly don't.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
I totally agree with him.

Speaker 3 (23:09):
Like he's got this youthful energy about him, and even
though he's what seventy three, he connects with his players,
He understands his players how to get the most in.
He teaches and coaches from a position of positivity, and
that's pretty special and I think that that's why he
gets the most out of those guys. So it'll be
interesting to see how he does with the Raiders. But
to say that he's still got it absolutely. I talked

(23:31):
to him last year when we went out to Washington
when his son was out there, and he had a
conversation with me over the phone for thirty minutes about
the history of the zone running game in the outside zone,
and I was like, coach, you need to get back
into it. He's like, don't worry, I'm not done yet.
So it's pretty funny.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
I guess that's my next question about Pete Carroll, And
again I'll go to Greg and then to Matt. Does
Pete Carroll need football to live?

Speaker 4 (23:55):
I guess so. I think a lot of these guys do.

Speaker 6 (23:58):
He was teaching at USC, he actually finished out the
class after he took the Raiders job, Like people were
going to his class and he literally was the head
coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, which is wild.

Speaker 4 (24:12):
I think it's just in his blood.

Speaker 6 (24:13):
I think he wants to connect with like as many
people as he possibly can.

Speaker 4 (24:17):
That that's where he gets energy from.

Speaker 6 (24:18):
And you hear a lot of these coaches when they
stop coaching, like there's too big of a hole to fill.
That's why his old rival Bill Belichick's at UNC right now.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
Yeah, when you're a ball coach, you're just a ball coach,
and you have to have it.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
It's in your blood.

Speaker 3 (24:34):
And I think that he's that type of person where
he can't sit around and go through an offseason all that.
If he has the opportunity to coach, he's going to
do it.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Greg. Let me ask you about the Brown situation. If
we read Twitter, it's well, check it out, Sanders crushing Gabriel. Fine,
But then you start to read reports coming out of
the Browns and it's like, hey, they're both actually doing
pretty good. Like what do we believe are the other
PR teams already working within the Browns.

Speaker 6 (25:03):
It's just like a lack of information and people just
making stuff up. I mean, they're rookie mini camps. I
don't think you could take anything from anything. I do
think they'll give them a chance, both those rookies to play.
I don't see a world where Joe Flacco and Kenny
Pickett are on the roster in week one. I think
they'll keep both rookies, but neither one of those guys

(25:24):
going to start Week one. But man, they're just starting
in generally this time of year, I think anyone that's
trying to draw conclusions from anything has an agenda or
doesn't know what they're talking about.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
All right, let's talk about what the team that you
really want to talk about, your diehard Patriots. Let's go, Brabe,
had a heck of an offseason. What are your expectation
for them over under ten wins?

Speaker 6 (25:49):
Wow, it's so crazy how optimistic it is in New England.

Speaker 4 (25:53):
Like, man, they were such a bad team.

Speaker 6 (25:55):
But yes, they must have filled what seven to eight
starting jobs. I think because of the schedule being so easy,
it's reasonable to hope for them to have a winning red.
But I thought it was crazy that, for instance, in Vegas.
They look at the Jets as three wins worse than
the Patriots. To me, the Jets, the Dolphins, and the
Patriots are all in this similar sort of zone where

(26:17):
if things go right, yeah, they could win ten games,
you know, not really be a Super Bowl contender, but compete.
But there are a lot of ways that things could
go wrong. Still, they're counting on a lot of new
faces on the offensive line for the Patriots.

Speaker 4 (26:30):
I think the defense will definitely be better.

Speaker 6 (26:31):
Will it be good, I don't know, but either way,
we got Drake May and we're feeling good.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
So we're recording this Tuesday afternoon and it goes up
right in early Wednesday morning. So the last I read
was the Packers have changed their language on trying to
get the toush push canceled, and it's mostly you can't
pull or push. Where do we stand right now?

Speaker 6 (26:51):
Yeah, I think it sounds like there's a good chance
that it'll pass.

Speaker 4 (26:55):
I'm annoyed by it. I don't have that they're changing
the rule. To me, it just feels like sour grapes.

Speaker 6 (27:00):
It feels like this is sort of anti anti what
the NFL should be for, like a team exec to
play so well that we just get rid of it. Like,
I don't think it's that big of a deal. I
think they should keep it. We'll see if people agree
with me.

Speaker 3 (27:13):
Well, the Cowboys will probably see it week one because
they're playing in Philly. And my question is they added
George Pickens. How much of a difference will he make
for this team this year and does that put them
in a position now to compete in that division.

Speaker 6 (27:26):
I think it's huge because he just upgrades the position
they were the worst at, which was receiver depth, even
their tight end position. Like Jake Ferguson's a good player,
but they didn't really have a second weapon behind Cede Lamb.
Like he compliments him very well. He's never played with
as good a player as CD Lamb, who's a lot
more versatile than him. But you have Pickens kind of
in that old Michael Gallup role and he's playing.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
For a contract.

Speaker 6 (27:48):
They've had good success with guys coming in that were
maybe you know, a little divisive in their old spots
and then playing for a contract and then getting that contract.

Speaker 4 (27:58):
I think a Roy Williams back in the day, I
think a too back in the day. I think Pickens
could be a lot like that.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Let's stay with the Cowboys for a second and talk Dak.
But let's do Dak, and let's do Lamar, and let's
do Josh Allen. Like all three of these guys theoretically
needs something to happen this year, right.

Speaker 4 (28:17):
Sure, Well, what do you mean by Lamar needs something
to happen?

Speaker 2 (28:20):
Can't win to the playoffs? Josh Allen can't be Mahomes
and Dak can't can't win. I can't, Like they all
have different, different villains, like different bosses they need to beat.

Speaker 6 (28:31):
I know, it really reminds me of the Jordan era,
you know, Eastern Conference teams or even the Lebron era
Eastern Conference NBA teams, where it's like, I don't know
how much better Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson can be
on a week to week basis, Like they are clearly
the top three quarterbacks in the league along with with
Mahomes and things just got a break right that they're

(28:52):
doing it the right way, which is getting back to
that spot each and every year. But their offenses were
dominant last year, way better than the Chiefs, So I
just think they have to keep knocking out on the
door Dak's in a different position where he makes more
money than all of them because the.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Cowboys blew that negotiation.

Speaker 6 (29:06):
He's coming off a second serious injury, and he's got
the focus of really the entire country because they are
the team that gets the most attention. And it's an
interesting part of his career with a young offensive line
that there is a lot of heat on them. I
think with Alan and Lamar, like, if they keep getting
back to that point, eventually they will break through.

Speaker 4 (29:27):
That's just what sports usually tells us.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
What do you think about the NFL and the pushback
they're getting a little bit about the flag football being
part of the Olympics and allowing players to play. You
hear a lot of different opinions about it in terms of,
you know, potential injury, this, that and the other. But
what do you think the stance is right now in
the field for the NFL.

Speaker 6 (29:48):
Yeah, it seems like they're open to letting some players.
I want to see the details. I have no idea
how this is going to go. I guess it's a
question of what matters more to you if you're in
the NFL growing the game in terms of flag football.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
And getting that gold medal, which you.

Speaker 6 (30:05):
Know, I would think they would be able to get
without the super duper stars or or risking the injuries
of those players. Like to me, let let them play
if they if they really want to play. But I
you know, team owners might feel differently.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Maybe they And I guess it's all scheduled because Baseball
would let their guys play in the Olympics, the World Championships,
you know, and injuries weren't really a concern. I think
we only saw one guy even halfway get hurt. So
do you think they're worried more about injuries and just
not saying it than they Like, I'm just confused on

(30:39):
the flag football thing and what really is the issue here?

Speaker 4 (30:42):
Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 6 (30:43):
I don't really know either, Like and are those players
necessarily gonna be the best options, like if they trained
for it, sure, but I don't the skill sets to me,
would be different. First of all, you got to kind
of learn flag and then you know the players that excelled,
You know, some of those shifty slot receivers you played
with more than a few, Matt, like the guys who

(31:05):
domin and eight in padless practice early in training, Kip, like,
those are the guys that are gonna be awesome in
flag football. I would love to see it. It's here
in LA. I'd love to go. Maybe the NFL will
send me.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
Maybe the NFL is just worried that God forbid we
send Lamar Jackson Tyree kill all these guys out there
and just get drummed.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
Oh yeah, you say your best and you go and
just get drummed by Poland.

Speaker 5 (31:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
Oh, that would be humiliating the sport we inventor and
we're really the only ones that play it. It's now
an Olympic sport and we don't win. Aaron Rodgers, I

(31:51):
don't know dot dot diet.

Speaker 6 (31:54):
Yeah, I expect him to be a Pittsburgh Steeler sooner
than later. I think he just wanted to skip this
part of the offseason or there's something going on with
him personally. But the the person who's spoken with most
clarity and this whole process is Art Ruiney, the owner.
He keeps saying what no everyone else seems to be
afraid to, which is just like, yeah, we totally expect
Aaron Rodgers to be on the team, Like he's gonna
be on the team. He said that multiple times in

(32:16):
front of a microphone. So I think they must have
some assurances that it's gonna happen eventually, and for whatever reason,
it's not happening yet, but I'm not too worried about
It does make them more interesting this year, certainly than
I if Mason Rudolph was their Week one starter.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
All right, Greg, I also know you're a huge tennis fan.
Who's your all time great man, greatest tennis player? And
also what are your thoughts on pickleball?

Speaker 6 (32:41):
It's a great question. I mean, who's my favorite? I
mean I was a Federer guy. Ultimately, I think it's
not just about like Grand slams that you want, It's
just like who is the absolute best at their absolute best.
I was a Kanie Shakory fan. He's still playing, actually,
just as a shorter guy myself who plays tennis. And
I know you're a big pickleball guy, Bobby, So I
kind of want to hear you because I need you

(33:03):
to humanize pickleball for me, because I feel like my
interactions with the pickleball community out here in LA have
been negative and I need you know it hasn't shinned
a good light on the pickleballers out there.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
So I'm gonna compare the pickleball community to the CrossFit
community as far as as the community because they won't
shut up, Like, shut up, you don't have to tell
us all the time, you don't have to talk about
your so and I play and I get annoyed with him.
I also love to go to TikTok and watch people
comment on how it's not a sport. Yeah, is it?
It's fun. It's difficult. It's as difficult as you want
to make it. One of my best friends was a

(33:37):
number one in the world tennis player, and he makes
fun of pickleball constantly, but he also will admit that, yeah,
it's it's pretty difficult. So I'm not somebody who's gonna
fight you over pickleball because tennis is by far, like
it is so much harder, no doubt about it. It's
why the best tennis players are the best pickleball players. Right.
It's like guys coming out of college going well, I've
kind of maxed out my tennis career, so let me

(33:57):
go and dominate pickleball. Do I love playing pickleball? I'm
meddled hey medal in tournament this weekend. But yes, but
I'm not going to act like I could also hop
into a tennis tournament. I used to get the best
tennis equipment for free, all of it. I get all
the lacst I wanted, I'll get all the babble law all.
I don't even know what they were best rackets, and
I sucked, and I never got better than slightly above suck.

(34:20):
I got to pick a ball in like two weeks, Greg.
So I'm gonna be honest with you. It's a lot easier.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
Wait, who's your friend Ronicky Rodick?

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Rodick was talking. Yeah, that's amazing.

Speaker 6 (34:33):
See, my thing was, I'm going out to the public
courts here with my son out in California, and when
the pickleball thing happened, like they swarmed and they just
weren't cool about it. They'd just be like dropping all
their equipment on the court, public courts and being like, no,
we've got these, And I was like, they're public courts.
There's those such thing as got the He's like, no,
we're starting like forty five minutes, like that's not how

(34:54):
it works. And they're trying to like kick kick me
and my son off and like that happened multiple times.

Speaker 4 (34:58):
I was like, you know, there's enough courts here for everyone,
that's all.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
I think that the bad taste in your mouth is
it's deserved because they are quite obnoxious with the battle
over how how tough the sport is. But anything can
be hard if you try hard enough at it. But
you no, No, it's pickleball the community. And I own
part of a professional pickleball team, so like, I couldn't wow,
I couldn't be anymore in yet yet I will say, Greg,

(35:24):
you're right. Greg, You're right about that type of person,
and they're everywhere, and I also don't get along with them.
So I do you still play tennis a lot?

Speaker 4 (35:34):
Uh? Not really. I play with my son.

Speaker 6 (35:36):
He's getting better and better, so there is a point
where he's going to just be better than me.

Speaker 4 (35:40):
But that that's mostly when I play, not with other
adults as much. But some of my good friends are
pickleballers too, so I know it's cool. I know it's fine.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Okay. I hate to get off pickleball because I could
do this for an hour, but I got like two.
I have like at least three other things I want
to get into. And first Caleb in Chicago, he was
watching film apparently by himself, crying in the treehouse. I'm
not sure what was happening with him in Chicago, But
and then Kurt Warner had a really interesting perspective on like, Hey,
they teach you how to watch film, but you don't

(36:07):
need somebody holding your hand the whole time. What do
you feel about this situation?

Speaker 6 (36:13):
That was so fascinating that he was that open with
a writer who was doing a book, so it wasn't
something that was coming out right away. And I don't
doubt that that was a bad fit for him. Shane
Waldron and Matt I Refluse. You just look at the
way the Bears have run offense for a handful of years.

Speaker 4 (36:34):
It was a bad fit.

Speaker 6 (36:35):
But him being as open and honest about man, they
thought they didn't even want to go to Chicago, that
they were going to try to burn the city and
all this stuff like before it happened, and then he
changed his mind and everything. It's one of those things
where we want our athletes to be honest. So I
think that's cool that he did that, but it's also
probably going to be a lesson for him that, Like

(36:56):
I'm not going to be that open and honest with
the writer in the future, and he ended up giving
this book a good plug.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
Yeah, one other question about that story and that part
of the book. Yeah, you know, if you read the excerpt,
which I just read the excerpt, it was that Eberflows
they were on their way out. They knew they were
on their way out, so they just checked out. I
find that not to be common in any part of life.
Whenever you want to stay in the same industry, you
don't just check out with a month to go, even

(37:24):
if it's going horribly, because you want to remain in
the industry. And owners, general managers not only do they talk.
It's a very incestual world.

Speaker 6 (37:34):
Yeah, it's it's it's funny because they were right, Caleb
Williams and his father, it was a bad situation to
go to. Everything that happened showed it. You know, the
offensive coordinator that they had doubts about, he got fired
before halfway through the season. If I'm remembering right, he
definitely didn't make it to the end, and so they
were right about that. But you got to try to
make the best of that situation. But it is the Bears,

(37:56):
you know, in the defense of the Williams is like
thing that they've done again and again and again and again,
which is that the coach and the GM aren't aligned,
that won is hired and the other is fired, and
then they're not on the same page. And you do
get a feeling with Ben Johnson coming in here hopefully
that it's really his show, and he's quarterback first, and
he's building up the offense. So I'm usually skeptical of

(38:19):
all the Bears optimism. I faded them on my podcast
three straight years when we do the over unders. Before
this year, I'm like, there's way too much hype about
this team. I'm kind of buying in this year that
at least Ben Johnson's the right guy I think to
turn this around.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
I was gonna say, because when you look at what
they did in the draft of Colson Lovelin, Luthor Bird,
and the Third they brought more personnel in for that
offense to surround Caleb Williams. Do you think this is
a situation for him? I do, But do you think
this is a situation where he's going to make a
significant jump from this first year, which was chaotic, to
the second year?

Speaker 6 (38:52):
Yes, I do, And that's that's the year you see
the biggest jump, especially with quarterbacks, used to be that
way late lately, like they've been coming out of college
more ready to go the great ones like c J.

Speaker 4 (39:03):
Stroud and Jayden and Daniels and their rookie ye.

Speaker 6 (39:05):
But I do think coaching makes such a difference, and
I just think they're going to focus on what he
can do well, and we know that Caleb Williams has
a lot of strength, and not ask him to do
things that he can't do well. And the offensive line
just on paper, they just gave Joe Toney this new contract,
and they drafted at the position, and they obviously got
a guy in free agency, Drew Doloman at center. Just

(39:26):
everything around him seems like it's in such better shape
that he's not gonna have to be a hero to
be a good quarterback, And to me, that'd be a
big step up. He's just got to get the ball
out of his hand a little faster.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
I want to ask one more quarterback question, and it
has to do with the Saints, and I don't know
who's gonna play quarterback there Are they even gonna have
a quarterback?

Speaker 4 (39:45):
Yeah, I think it's Tyler Shuck. Look, he's their guy.

Speaker 6 (39:48):
He is a really unique prospect in that he's twenty
six years old, but he didn't play that much in
college because he was always hurt.

Speaker 4 (39:55):
So those are pretty big red flags for me.

Speaker 6 (39:59):
On paper, he is really talented and like can throw
everything that you want to do and move well, and
I get why they were into him, and he's the
guy that Kellen Moore wanted. I don't really know what
Kellen Moore has done since he's gotten there other than
say I want Tyler Shuck.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
So I got to assume he's going to be the
starter week one.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
I mean, with everything, you've covered the NFL for a
really long time, right, and what are some significant changes
that you've seen over time, both on and off the
field that you look at our game now and it's
much better, much worse, whatever it might be.

Speaker 4 (40:32):
Hmmm.

Speaker 6 (40:33):
That's interesting because now I have the quarterbacks in my
head and the way that I think the skill position
players like quarterback and wide receiver especially come into the league.
They come into the league ready to go in a
way that I think the NFL has kind of met
college where it is and adapting a lot of what
they do well, but the other thing that goes along

(40:55):
with that is that the NFL, and you know this, Matt,
like how different offseason practices are compared to even twenty
years ago. It's crazy that it really feels like September
and the Patriots were always kind of like this where
they use the first month of the season to feel
things out.

Speaker 4 (41:11):
Where's your strength, where's your weekend?

Speaker 6 (41:13):
You talk to coaches now, they like September just seems
like an extended preseason, and even October and these games
mean a lot. It feels like September October like they
are just figuring out what they can do because they
weren't able to practice in pads and really get to
know their team and practice the situations as much as
they used to be.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
What's your day? Like, walk us through what it's like
for you because we listen, Yeah, we listen almost all
all days. But what I don't know what's I'm always
curious about someone's daily routine.

Speaker 6 (41:43):
I mean, it's it's like you, I'm sure I'll though
you have like four shows proably, I don't know you
it's prepping. It's it's like the second you finish a show,
So I just finished in the morning. Uh, you start
prepping basically and planning and getting everything together for the
next day show and whether that in the offseason, it's
definitely not as intense, but like we just did a

(42:04):
brock Perty episode that was was fun, kind of talking
about how he I think was worth the money and
helps like explain how quarterbacks are paid and stuff. So
it's kind of going through all the numbers with Perty
but also going through the tape. But I always just
enjoy watching the game so that you can, you know,
as much as you're talking about and like getting ready
for the next show and then then you do it
all over again.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
What time do you wake up in the morning.

Speaker 4 (42:25):
Uh, well, I have kids, so I'm now like a
six fifteen, six thirty eighth.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
You gotta get up before you gotta get up before that.
I tell you, I've got five and I'm a five
thirty guy. You got you gotta take a breath before they,
Oh you're.

Speaker 2 (42:38):
Saying, wake up before they Oh yeah, yeah you can.
I'm doing up.

Speaker 6 (42:42):
I'm not beating my son though. He's up at like
five forty five, five fifty every morning. I hear him
downstairs already, so I can't beat him.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
For whatever reason.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
And then what time do you get to check out
of the NFL office.

Speaker 4 (42:53):
Uh, I mean I'm not here every day in the offseason.

Speaker 6 (42:56):
It really depends in the season, and you know, we're
here through every game and then we do a show
after the late game, and so those are late nights
getting out of here ten pm. But that is one
of the best things about living on the West Coast.
I mean, the weather is great, but to me, sports
and I know you guys are East Coast guys, but like,
to me, sports are just so much better on the

(43:17):
West Coast, and working in sports is so much better
on the West Coast because you don't have those one
am days that I used to have on the East Coast.

Speaker 4 (43:23):
At least it's like ten pm.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
Yeah, I guess the problem because the weather's great, tax
is not great. Television, watching live television great, right, everything's
on earlier. But I think the thing that will be
difficult for me since my morning radio show is like
a syndicated show, I'd have to start at three eight,
like when I was out there living for Dancing with
the Stars. Because I'm not out there for like three months,
I had just start at three am, which because I

(43:47):
had to be on there on like Boston and all
those East Coast markets, like I think that would be
the tortuous thing about living out there full time. That'd
be brutal. And traffic because I'm always carsick. Are you
not always carsick?

Speaker 6 (43:57):
Greg, I'm not carsick. The traffic, you know, you learn
to manage, you learn to work around it. I've never
had a situation where right to like drive through crazy
traffic to get to work or whatever.

Speaker 4 (44:08):
So you just you just know what to avoid. But
you're right. They take Good Morning Football here.

Speaker 6 (44:13):
My friend Colleen Wolf was hosting it today and she
was here at three in the morning. So I'm glad.
I'm just I'm just a lowly podcast host. My advice,
you know, yeah, do podcasts.

Speaker 4 (44:23):
You can kind of plan it around your schedule at
least a little better.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
You guys, check out the show NFL Daily. It's NFL
news analysis, opinion. It's funny. Greg's funny. You guys follow
them on Instagram and Twitter, Greg g Rosenthal. No, it's
two g's in your name. Wait, Greg, you're two g Greg.

Speaker 6 (44:42):
That's I mean three totals sixty percent. G holds my
wrapping up.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
You have to it. So two g's at the end.
Has that always been misspelled?

Speaker 4 (44:52):
That is?

Speaker 6 (44:53):
That was the way to just like end it? You
know that that says there's no Gregory here. It's just
Greg Rosenthal. Is kind of a long name. It's filling
in a lot of boxes when you're you know, putting
your license name there.

Speaker 4 (45:05):
So they just wanted to keep it short and tight. Greg.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
All right, well Gregor too. Geez hey, Greg, thanks for
the time, man. We're big fans and we look forward
to seeing you again.

Speaker 4 (45:13):
All right, thanks Bobby, Thanks mat Hey, Thanks Greg.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
I want to talk about the Bears, and I want
to go to you first because the Bears first of all.
Soldier Field it's awesome, the history, but it kind of sucks.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
Yeah, it's an iconic place for sure. So like Soldier
Field going there, the vibe, the fans themselves are kind
of gritty everything, but the field itself.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
Yes, there's more to be desired amenities not the best,
not so much. Yeah, if you were to like go
and uh check out its travelosity rating. Probably not high,
uncomfortable a bit, and it's also freezing freaking cold in
Chicago in the winter, very cold. Did you ever play
in Chicago. We did. We played in Chicago.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
I was with the Tennessee Titans, so it was either
sixteen or seventeen that we went there. And it was
a cold, damp day. It wasn't wildly cold, it wasn't
that time of the year yet. But it's just miserable
to play in those conditions, honestly. I mean they have
a grass field, which I don't mind. It's better than
turf when it gets really cold because of the hits
and you when you actually land on the ground, it

(46:28):
doesn't hurt as much. But at the same time, as
you said, there's more to be desired.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
So if we were talking about the Bears and I said, hey,
they were considering moving into a dome, regardless of where
that is. If your Bears fans, is your identity so
much the cold that you don't want to go to
a dome, or if you're a Bears fan, do you
just want to be warmer.

Speaker 3 (46:49):
I mean, let speak from the heart here. I do
give me the dome all day long in Chicago. I mean,
players probably are fired up about it. Fans, if you're
die hard fans and you love going to games and
painting your chests, being that dude that's going to be
out there drinking his beer and just loving those elements.

(47:10):
They're probably not gonna like it, but you can still
take your shirt off in the dome, good point in
your chest, drink your beer, your beer, yeah, shower yourself
with beer, go for it, and still the same environment,
just better overall playing conditions.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
I would also say, and I say this to Bears
fans respectfully, you haven't won a lot, so your identity
is not attached to winning in cold where Buffalo is
that is definitely let's check a box in favor of
the Bills. If you have to go to Buffalo and
play in the winter, check that advantage Buffalo. Same thing
with the Packers advantage Packers, the Bears haven't won enough

(47:46):
to ever go. Yeah, the cold has given us an
advantage because they don't have advantages. So I would say
their identity is not tied to the cold, even though
it's freaking cold in Chicago, right, because that is an advantage.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
And you think about it with these teams that have
open stadiums and the elements, like you just brought up
two great teams with Green Bay and who's the other
time Buffalo, When you would travel from say Kansas City
or somewhere like that that does get cold. But say
you're having a hot week and then all of a
sudden you go to Buffalo and it is freezing cold.

(48:21):
The advantage is for sure the cold team. When Arizona
came out and played us in New England, they got
off the bus and they might as well just got
back on because we beat him by forty points because
they're coming from Arizona and that cold stings. It's the
same thing for cold teams going down to Miami in
November December, when they get that thirty degree change in
the heat, it feels like you're out in the desert.

(48:44):
And it's an advantage to the Miami Dolphins because they're
conditioned to play there. So there is advantages. But like
you said, for Chicago, show us the proof where it
has been just a major advantage to your organization to
play in the cold.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
Yeah, what advantage respectfully? Respectfully? Yeah, what did Jim McMahon? Yeah,
I mean the fridge, Yeah, eighty five. So they have
they're considering moving to a dome stadium in Arlington Heights.
I had to look up where Arlington Heights was. Yeah,
when I saw that, and I was like, no idea
where that is. So I'm a massive Cubs fan, but

(49:18):
I only know north Side South Side from my Cub's
White Sox life of going to those games Olkimiski and
new Stadium US Cellular. That's White Sox Field's called. Now
I think it's guaranteed rape Field. Oh did I think
about that? Guaranteed rate field? Come on down. I won't
even say that. I won't even learn the name of
the stadium. So, but okay, here's what Arlington Heights is.

(49:41):
Arlington Heights Heights is a village in Illinois. First of all,
a village. Yeah, is that like? Because is that a thing.
I've never even heard an area described as a village.
So in Louisiana, they don't have counties, they have parishes.
Oh did you know that? No, So the only reason
I know that is because you're from Arkansas. Arkansas. Yeah. So,

(50:03):
Arlington Heights is a village in Cook County, Illinois, a
northwestern suburb of Chicago. It lies about twenty five miles
northwest of the city's downtown, so not far. As of
the twenty twenty census, the village's population with seventy seven thousand,
but it's close enough to Chicago to still be Chicago.

Speaker 4 (50:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
The village things weird. Village things weird, like tiki huts. Oh,
you're right, full like I mean, we're gonna go to
a village. I guess I think of a village as
like the m Night Shyamalan.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
You ever said the village? Oh yeah, that's good. That
movie was good. I didn't see that. Was it good?
I don't want I don't want to say too much
twenty years ago, but yeah, yeah, we don't want to spoil it.
Those m Night Shamalans to get you in trouble if
you talk too much about them. I think the bear
should go Dome because they have no reason to for
advantage purposes, stay in the cold. I one hundred percent agree.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
And when you look at the speed that they've acquired
at the wide receiver position, young quarterback, obviously they made
the upgrades offense so like never packs the offensive line
as much as it does, but the skill position, those
guys go out there and they have no conditions to
deal with.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
And Caleb Williams no wind.

Speaker 3 (51:13):
Rain, snow, whatever, that's gonna definitely help him.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
We talked about it. Briefly with Greg Rosenthal, but Caleb
Williams playing quarterback, and he mentions and it kind of
comes secondhand, but he's like, yeah, I had to watch
film by myself. What was your relationship with film? And
did you have a coach sitting with you all the
time watching film? Did they teach you how to watch film?
What was it?

Speaker 4 (51:37):
No?

Speaker 3 (51:37):
I think everybody watches film a little bit differently, to
be honest with you, And I think when I first
came in the league, I really learned how to watch
film because that offseason Josh McDaniels was a stickler for
attention to detail.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
He's very meticulous about it.

Speaker 3 (51:53):
So we would watch film with a purpose, and it
was more just to fundamentally understand what defenses were trying
to do. And when I say that, it was if
you had we call it a post safety defense. So
you got a middle of the field safety one high.
But the way in which the defenders on the outside

(52:14):
of the defense play, particularly on the slot that Nickel
he can carry the seam, he can reroute the guy
and play outside. That would make the corner responsible. So
every team has these little nuances to their defense. It's
still considered cover three, but they change what they do
with the underneath coverage, also with the guys from behind.
So you have to learn these things and what to

(52:35):
look for when you're watching film. Now, a lot of
times when you start the middle of I mean the
beginning of a week, you go home, and we used
to get this is dating myself. We used to get DVDs.
It's before they could upload it onto your iPad and
do all that stuff, and so it would be plays
or you'd ask for a cutup on situational football, third down,
red zone, the important parts of the game, to watch

(52:57):
what they do defensively, and so you're trying to get
a head start.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
Now.

Speaker 3 (53:01):
I'll also say that I had a major advantage because
Bill Belichick, and I've told you this before, on Tuesdays
would bring us in and we'd just sit with Bill
and he'd break down the defense, everybody from the defensive coordinator,
his lineage, where he came from, what he learned from,
overall scheme, and then player by player would go through strengths, weaknesses,

(53:22):
how we're going to attack them, why we're going to
attack them, and so that taught me. It was like
a masterclass in learning how to watch film and what
you're looking for, in particular players and characteristics that you
could take advantage of on a Sunday. So then by
the time I came in on Wednesday and we're doing
install and we're putting in twenty five thirty passes. This

(53:42):
is why these plays are going in because we're trying
to take advantage of this type of defensive structure.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
And so you clearly understood.

Speaker 3 (53:48):
Now, not every teams run like that, and so it's
up to the player and the coaches of devising a
plan that is going to help that player understand. And
I know that sounded like it was chaotic there last
year between the head coach, the firing of the offensive
creator offensive coreator midway through the years, So then you

(54:08):
have all these things that you have to address as well.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
Yeah, it seems like, well I wanted to hear I
reflusis part of the story. I did too, But he's
not gonna give it. No, no, he's not. So we're
only really hearing Caleb Caleb's Dad's part of the store.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
They put me in a small room and made me
watch film away from everybody by myself, with.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
The lights out, and my eyes had to be closed
and only had one AirPod. It just feels like since
we're only getting one perspective, we're only getting one version
of the story, right.

Speaker 3 (54:38):
Because I'll tell you what, it would be hard for
me to believe that the team didn't come together offensively.
You always watch practice together when you're in quarterback rooms
and you're there just there with the offensive coordinator or
the quarterback coach, and all you do is watch film
like you break down film, you do install, you go

(54:59):
through the game plan, and so to think that there
was no time on task with coaches present or other
players present, it's hard for me to be believe.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
We were talking last week about the NBA Draft lottery,
and we had the brief conversation of do we think
it's rigged? And no, I think and so do you
that it's not worth rigging for a year to ruin
a whole brand. It's a billion dollar brand and so.
But Shack was talking about this. He was asked on
a podcast and he insinuates that David Sterne, who was

(55:30):
the commissioner at the time, asked him where he wanted
to play before the draft lottery took place, and he said, basically,
you want warm weather or cold weather.

Speaker 5 (55:38):
I don't know if you heard this story, but in
nineteen ninety two, I believe what the draft was in
in June or something. I meet mister Stearn in March
and he says to me, hey, no you are can't
wait for you to come to the NBA. Then he
pulls into this hot You want to play where it's
cold or it's hot?

Speaker 2 (55:55):
He asked me that. Yeah, he did.

Speaker 5 (55:57):
He asked me that, and I was like hot, and
he smiled and I smiled.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
That's kind of just a question that you can ask
though right without it being fishy. They do play the
music behind it on TikTok, which it means there's a conspiracy. Yeah,
that's the general conspiracy technok music. I don't feel like
that question is a wink wink question. Would you rather
go play somewhere cold or somewhere warm? Yeah? Warm? And also,
if you're gonna like rig it, do you send him
to Orlando?

Speaker 5 (56:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (56:22):
I don't think so. I don't think he sent him
the magic Guy, though he probably sad up ahead and
cut everybody off. Somewhere warm. That's that's thanks, Commissioner. That's
from Ashley Neville and her podcast and also from Legion Hoops.
I don't think it was a conspiracy. It is very
interesting now to see Cooper flag go to Dallas. They
got the first WNBA pick two. Oh, the commissioners are

(56:46):
working together. Dallas just sold their sold to the devil, Mike,
I think so. So what was it? Uh?

Speaker 3 (56:51):
Who got picked? In the one where they they said
they froze the envelope?

Speaker 2 (56:56):
Oh, the Knicks. That was a good one's Patrick Ewing? Yeah,
frozy the envelope? Yeah, frozen envelope. So I thought i'd
follow that up. What's happening this week for you anything? Uh?

Speaker 3 (57:05):
This week, we got some friends coming in town, some
dear friends, actually Ken O'Brien who played for the Jets
for a bunch of years. Their good family friends are
coming here for a wedding this week, and they get
in today, so we get.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
To have him out.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
He's also the godparents, he and his wife are the
godparents and my son Matthew, so we get to see
him be around him for a little bit.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
It'll be great. You guys just talk football the whole time.
Oh every day. We're just such meatheads. I don't know if
you're kidding. I feel like you told the truth.

Speaker 3 (57:28):
No, you know, we talk a little bit of football,
but like we're close friends. I've known him since I
was seventeen years old. He was coaching quarterbacks at USC
when I was getting recruit there. Came to my house
when I was seventeen to recruit me. So I've known
him forever.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
Did he stay when you went? No, he couldn't.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
He didn't get along with the head coach, Coach Hackett,
so he left as I was coming in.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
I was just so devastated by it. Wait, you didn't
go in under Carrol.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
No, I went on under Hackett. That's probably why I
didn't play, because Pete Carroll brought in Oh man, Yes,
that's my conspiracy theory. I wasn't his dude play that
conspiracy music?

Speaker 2 (58:05):
See music right now? When did Carol come in? My
second year?

Speaker 3 (58:11):
So the first year I was there, we didn't even
go to a bowl, and we had a good talent
like Troy Palmer, Carson Palmer, go down the list. We
had some dudes, and then Carol came in the next
year like just raging with energy, fired up right a roll.
We went six and six, went to the Las Vegas

(58:32):
Bowl on Christmas Day awesome to be in Vegas, but
still Christmas Day really Vegas, Like we had an Elvis
impersonator performing for us, Like I'm just like, what are
we doing here? Then the next year is the year
that we went to a whole new level. We went
Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, won all those games

(58:53):
back back to back or three Pete in terms of
national champion, and then I left after that. That's the
year that they went and played Texas and the Rose Bowl.
So we got it going.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Pete Carroll earlier and you talked about his energy. What's
he like when he comes in at first? Did he
have a meeting with the whole team and like an auditorium?
I don't know. That's what I consider every coach doing,
like coming in talking to everybody all at once.

Speaker 3 (59:14):
Oh yeah, every head coach I've ever been to, especially
new head coaches that come in, they come in, they
meet in front of the team, say that they're excited
for their opportunity, but they get right to business. They
kind of set the tone for what the expectation level is,
or talk about their foundation for their program, whether it's physicality, toughness,
all those things, and then just kind of lay the

(59:37):
groundwork for this is our expectation, this is what we
want to do, and I'm excited to work with you
and get to work. So he came in, but he
has a different type of aura about himself.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
You know.

Speaker 3 (59:49):
You see when you see him in those press conferences
or if you've ever seen him interviewed, you know, everybody
describes him as useful, and that's true, but he brings
that energy. I'm not kidding you. Every single day you
never see this dude down. You always seem interacting with
play on the field. He's he's playing catch, he's getting

(01:00:09):
into drills, he's doing everything that he can do to
try to connect. And that's the special quality that Pete
Carroll brings everywhere he goes.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
I've never met him. We should go out to Vegas
before the season actually starts and like sit down with them.

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
Oh he we absolutely should do that. Awesome, Yeah, because
he'll he'll talk for hours. I'm telling you, I just
meant to call him. I knew he was probably busy
or something to talk to him about his son, Brandon Carroll,
who was the offensive coordinator, Just like a, hey, what
are your thoughts about now? Where he's progressed to He
talked about that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
For maybe five minutes. Oh, he's great, Mattie, this, that
and the other.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
But then immediately went into their scheme, what they're doing
the run game, how they need to be more physical upfront,
play from under center so they get better play action.
And I was just like, man, this dude still still's
got it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
Well, man, I hope you have a good week. What
do you got, what do you got on the docket. Well, so,
my brother in law is a heading coach at Arkansas.
They won the regional of four teams, let's go. So
now they're in the Super Regional and so they play
one series of three games against Ole Miss in Fayetteville.
So there are sixteen teams left in the entire CAA tournament. Huh.
If they win that, it'd be their first appearance ever

(01:01:20):
in the College World Series. That's a big deal. So
when he was at Utah, he went in as a
hitting coach and their second year took Utah to their
first ever College World Series. And if he's able to
do it here again his second year, again he's a
hitting coach. But it will it will not be a coincidence.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
No, he'll be a head coach anywhere he goes. He's
turning these programs into gold.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
His mom has won four national championships in a row
at Oklahoma has won eight in total, has won like
six the last eight. Wow, it's in the bloodstream. She
had him. And he's like.

Speaker 3 (01:01:49):
She's like, is it okay if he plays softball because
I know how to do that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Yeah, And he's like, Oh, we're gonna go to Fatville
and hopefully watch Rockets. I'll bet all miss let's go.
That'd be awesome. Hey, I appreciate you guys, thanks for listening.
If you don't mind giving us a review, if you
don't mind writing a little comment, and if you say, hey, Matt,
your pants are much loose this week. I think because
he's really been focused on his pants and not being
so tight. Now these are tight too.

Speaker 3 (01:02:11):
I think it's just my legs are getting betterer with
all the squats I've been doing.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
Front squats. Bro Front squats suck. They suck like on
my shoulders, my shoulders, in your wrist. It's not the
most masculine like hold of a bar either. Elbows have
to go in front of you. Sometimes I'll just fold
it over. I'm trying to make myself feel a little
bit better. Or I do towels. You ever do the
small towels? No, I never never tell you wouldn't do that.
Now you're kidding me, You're real dude. All Right, that's it.

(01:02:34):
Thank you guys. Mike de producing for Kickoff Kevin. Who
kick Off Kevin is out. He had twins, twins, a
boy and a girl. Incredible blessing. We haven't heard from
him other than him commenting on a video. It was
the baby video of you and I great video. Yeah,
and he was like this is hilarious. So Kickoff Kevin
did have twins. But Mike D's producing, Brandon Ray is

(01:02:55):
shooting video. He's Matt Castle on Bobby Bones. We've had
lots to say. We'll see you next week by.

Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
Every buddy, lots to say with Bob villains in. Matt
Castle is a production of the NFL and iHeart Podcasts.
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